Revelation 1:19

19 “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.

Revelation 1:19 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 1:19

Write the things which thou hast seen
The Alexandrian copy and some others, and the Complutensian edition, read, "write therefore the things" meaning what he had now seen, the vision of one like to the son of man, amidst the golden candlesticks, with seven stars in his right hand, and as above described; this was what he had seen ( Revelation 1:12 Revelation 1:13 Revelation 1:16 ) ; for it does not refer to what he had seen of Christ in the days of his flesh, but to what he had now seen in this representation of him:

and the things which are;
the state of the churches of Christ in the apostolic age, and at that time signified by the Ephesian church, and that part of the Smyrnean which John lived to see:

and the things which shall be hereafter;
from hence unto the end of the world, in successive generations, signified by the rest of the churches, and in the visions of the seals, trumpets, and vials.

Revelation 1:19 In-Context

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last.

18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

19 “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.

20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or what you have seen and what they mean—the things that have already begun to happen.