Though we share a transformed identity with the Apostle John, he also underlines how he differs from us. King Jesus, John tells us, had transformed him into a prophet with a special commission to write a book to us his siblings and partners. John rehearsed the particulars of his transformation for us (Rev 1:10-11). He had been exiled to Patmos for his testimony and ministry.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands … we proclaim also to you (1 John 1:1-3). All that and more is why the Apostle John wrote as he did in Revelation 1. He wrote out of his own up-close-and-personal experience of the resurrected and ascended Jesus, out of his own transformed life, and out of his participation in the early church’s phenomenal growth. In truth, he also wrote as he did because he saw in his day, as we see in ours, Christians being shoved to the margins of societal life or sent off into cultural exile. John, however, did not go quietly, and neither should we. In Revelation he speaks to us still, having written to inspire our courage by spotlighting not only the condition of Christ’s churches but also the position of Christ Himself. Consider first the condition of Christ’s churches in this world, according to Rev 1:9-11. In sum, says John, the churches are in tribulation (conflict), as he was. Transformed, however, as we are by the resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus, John underlines crucial facts of the life that he, as our brother and partner, shares with us who are in the congregations of Christ’s church (Rev 1:9).

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