Revelation 1:17 Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead," etc. The apostle was not "dead" not in a swoon, but rather in a trance, as Peter was, \ and astonished, as Daniel was, \ whose comeliness was turned in him to corruption. \ Did not God hold back the face of his throne, as Job speaketh \ or put us into the cliff of the rock, as he did Moses, while his glory passeth by, \ we should not be able to behold the glimpses of his glory; nor can sanctified believers behold the shining light of the glory of God, but in the face of Christ, \ and that glory of the LORD, they must behold in the glass of the gospel. \ Such raptures and ravishments of soul in the revelations, and manifestations of Jesus Christ put Paul into so great an ecstasy, that he knew not, whether he was in the body of out of the body. \ "And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I AM the First, and the Last" John the servant of Jesus Christ now lying at his "feet," not only as one deeply humbled, but as one "dead," not at all alive, but a mere passive creature; his gracious LORD showed him mercy, and laid his right hand upon him to strengthen him with strength in his soul, (as he did his poor worm Jacob; Isaiah 41:8-10), saying unto him, "Fear not, I AM the First and the Last" Christ’ s deity "I AM," and his eternity "the First and the Last" revealed and believed, and by himself applied unto sanctified believers, will abate their fears, and remove them. \