17 When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,
18 the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
19 Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.
20 This is the secret meaning of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.