A Voice Like A Trumpet.

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet 

 

John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day- and - he heard behind him a great voice… like a trumpet. A voice like a trumpet. I've heard a trumpet before, as most of us have and they can be very loud. To hear a voice like a trumpet, a great voice, how startling that must have been to hear coming from behind you. I have a feeling I would have jumped a foot into the air if a voice like that sounded behind me.  Have you ever been startled by someone speaking to you from behind you where you can't see them there? I know I have. I've seen people jump slightly from being startled by my speaking from behind them when they don't expect me to be there.

 

John heard this impressive voice, a voice obviously coming from no one he may have been used to hearing. He was exiled to Patmos according to tradition and according to early historians, a very small island, and the chance that there were a lot of people there is very slim. Was he completely alone? I doubt that he was the only person on the island but of those who may have been there they wouldn't have had voices such as the voice of trumpet that John heard.

 

This voice commanded immediate attention.

 

Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

 

The Alpha and Omega.

 

The First and the Last.

 

This person was the First and Last! Who lays claim to such a thing?

 

Isa 41:4  …I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. 

 

Isa 44:6  Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 

 

Isa 48:12  Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 

 

The LORD was speaking to John, not an angel in this particular verse, but the LORD. And the Lord told John- What he sees he has to write down in a book. After it's written John has to send it to the seven churches in Asia.  Now we've already talked about the fact there were more than seven churches in Asia, but Jesus using the number of perfection, of wholeness, of completeness chose seven of those churches to receive these messages personally. All the churches would eventually hear the words, all would need to hear them. All who desire a blessing need to hear these words.

 

Jesus said the book was to go to - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

 

John knew these churches, John understood this book was meant to go far and wide to all seven churches, to the people filling those churches in need of the revelation about to be given to them.

 

To be continued…