Originally posted at A Little Perspective.
Read Revelation 1 at Bible Gateway.
Rev 1:8-20 chiastic structure
1a.1) Rev 1:8-11a, Jesus: I am the Alpha + Omega, the Beginning + End, the First + Last;
1a) Rev 1:8, “I am the Alpha + the Omega, the Beginning + the End,” says the Lord, “who is + who was + who is to come, the Almighty;”
1b) Rev 1:9a, I, John;
1c) Rev 1:9b, Both your brother + companion in the tribulation + kingdom + patience of Jesus Christ;
central axis) Rev 1:9c, Was on the island that is called Patmos;
2c) Rev 1:9d, For the word of God + for the testimony of Jesus Christ;
2b) Rev 1:10a, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day;
2a) Rev 1:10b-11a, I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha + the Omega, the First + the Last;”
1a.2) Rev 1:11b, And, “What you see, write in a book;”
1a.3) Rev 1:11c, “And send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea;”
1b) Rev 1:12a, Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me;
central axis) Rev 1:12b-16, The description of the Son of Man;
And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength;
2b) Rev 1:17a, And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me;
2a.1) Rev 1:17b-18, Saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First + the Last/ I am He who lives, + was dead, + behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades + of Death;”
2a.2) Rev 1:19, “Write the things which you have seen/ the things which are + the things which will take place after this;”
2a.3) Rev 1:20, “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand + the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches + the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”
My Rev 1 study notes
Revelation 1:10, the Lord’s day
Revelation index of studies
Revelation Scripture Pictures (terms of use)