9 I am John, a follower together with all of you. We suffer because Jesus is our king, but he gives us the strength to endure. I was sent to Patmos Island, because I had preached God's message and had told about Jesus.
10 On the Lord's day the Spirit took control of me, and behind me I heard a loud voice that sounded like a trumpet.
11 The voice said, “Write in a book what you see. Then send it to the seven churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands.
13 There with the lampstands was someone who seemed to be the Son of Man. He was wearing a robe that reached down to his feet, and a gold cloth was wrapped around his chest.
14 His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes looked like flames of fire.
15 His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall.