III THE VISION (Chapter 1:9-18) (1) The place of the vision. The location of the vision was “ in the isle that is called Patmos.” This island has been described as a small rocky and rugged region off the barren coast of Asia Minor, approximately twenty-five miles from the mainland in the Aegean sea--a gulf of the Great Sea (the Mediterranean), which formed the coastal provinces of Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia and Caria, and in which were situated all the seven churches of Asia, mentioned in the vision. Tradition claims that John was banished by the Roman government and exiled on Patmos. There is no conclusive scriptural evidence nor verified factual history to sustain this traditional claim, and it stands somewhat on the same basis as the Petrine tradition that the apostle Peter once resided in Rome. It is not said in the text, nor necessarily implied in the contents of Revelation, that John was a prisoner on Patmos. If John was a prisoner on Patmos, as Paul was a prisoner in Rome, it is singularly strange, if not unaccountable, that no mention was made of it, and no reference was made to it, by himself or in any other New Testament epistle. (2) The purpose of the vision. “ For the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ"--1:9. The English preposition for in this passage is dia, which Professor Terry states that, by its established usage with the accusative, means for the sake of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. It gives the ground or the reason for John’ s presence on Patmos: that the reason for being there was no other than to receive the revelation, that is, for the vision itself--for “ the testimony of Jesus Christ” and “ of all things that he saw,” and not because of banishment and exile. The coupling of the testimony with the vision in verse 2, supports the view that he was there to receive the things that he saw, and that these things were themselves the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, for which he was there. A further evidence of this concept in John’ s own statement, in chapter 10:11, of his intention to leave Patmos for an active itinerary among the people of many nations, to carry to them in personal evangelism the testimony of this apocalypse. If John had been prisoner in exile, no such liberty existed on which to base such an announcement, for he was imprisoned on Patmos, and his status would have been no different from Paul’ s imprisonment in Rome. Further comparisons in the context will support the purpose, not the consequence, of the determinative expression for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is worthy of notation here that the similar expressions “ for the word of God” and “ for the witness of Jesus,” in Revelation 6:9; Revelation 20:4, are in another context and carry another connotation, therefore do not warrant the same construction as in Revelation 1:2; Revelation 1:9. In one the testimony was being received; in the other it was being upheld. (3) The companionship of suffering and citizenship. 1. “ I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation” --1:9. The common ground of fellowship between John and the members of the Asian churches was not his apostleship. It was the brotherhood relation and the mutual participation in the sufferings existing and anticipated. He was speaking not of the incident of his presence on Patmos, or of imprisonment there, but rather to the threat of the gathering and darkening clouds of persecution, such as mentioned in the letters to Smyrna, Thyatira and Philadelphia; particularly as related to its then present and incipient stage; and as in Hebrews 10:31-39, the portent of the things to come. 2. “ And in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” --1:9. The preposition in with the conjunction and--that is, the phrase in tribulation and the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ--joins the three together as existing and present. It follows that if John was not in the kingdom then, and if we are not in the kingdom now--then John was not in Jesus Christ then, and we are not in Jesus Christ now. But the apostle, in Colossians 1:13-14, declares that all the Colossians who were delivered from darkness had thereby been translated into the kingdom when they received redemption in Christ.