8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," says the Lord God. "I am the One who is, and who was, and who will come. I am the Mighty One."
9 I, John, am a believer like you. I am a friend who suffers like you. As members of Jesus' royal family, we can put up with anything that happens to us. I was on the island of Patmos because I taught God's word and what Jesus said.
10 The Holy Spirit took complete control of me on the Lord's Day. I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet.
11 The voice said, "Write on a scroll what you see. Send it to the seven churches in Asia Minor. They are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12 I turned around to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
13 In the middle of them was someone who looked "like a son of man." (Daniel 7:13) He was dressed in a long robe with a gold strip of cloth around his chest.
14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a blazing fire.