Chapter One
The Glorious Revelation of Jesus Christ
The One Who Holds Everything in His Hands
Orientation to the Book
The book of Revelation is supremely “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). From its opening verses to its closing benediction, Jesus is presented through a remarkable collection of names, titles, designations and descriptions. Together they reveal His identity, character, work, authority, suffering, victory and eternal reign.
Some expressions are formal names or titles, such as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the First and the Last, and King of kings and Lord of lords. Others are Christological designations, especially the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the Root of David. Still others are descriptions of Christ rather than strictly names or titles—for example, the One who holds the seven stars or the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
Revelation is not primarily an unveiling of events; it is an unveiling of Jesus Christ—and the events can only be understood rightly when He remains at the centre. Revelation does not merely accumulate titles for Jesus; it progressively unveils who He is.
Some of the Protestant Reformers approached Revelation with considerable caution. Martin Luther initially had serious reservations about the book, although his later assessment was considerably more positive. John Calvin did not write a commentary on Revelation, though he did not reject its divine inspiration or authority.
Yet Revelation itself opens by declaring its subject: “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It introduces us to Jesus and unveils Him in majestic and glorious ways.
The Origin of the Revelation — a Four-Stage Process
This is a revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants (lit. slaves) the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant (slave) John, who faithfully reports everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1–2, adapted from NLT).
The revelation moves through a clear sequence:
God → Jesus → angel → John → churches.
God gives the revelation to Jesus; Jesus sends it through His angel to John; and John records it for the churches.
What Kind of Book is Revelation?
Revelation is at once apocalyptic, prophetic and epistolary. As a circular letter, it contains a sender, addressees and greetings, together with the added feature of a doxology (1:4–8). Its postscript (22:10–21) summarises the message and confirms John's role as its divinely commissioned writer. Together with the letters to the seven churches of the Roman province of Asia (Chapters 2–3), these features root Revelation firmly in the historical circumstances of its first readers. [1]
Revelation is also a prophetic book (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18–19). Its visions reveal how history moves towards its appointed conclusion: the judgement of evil, the bodily return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the final establishment of God's kingdom. This is the climax of God’s story of redemption.[2]
At the same time, Revelation is apocalyptic. The word comes from the Greek apokalypsis, translated “revelation” in 1:1. The word Revelation is essential for understanding this book. Through visions, God unveils realities that would otherwise remain hidden. Robert Thomas describes Revelation as belonging to a visual prophetic genre. [3] What John sees enables believers to perceive the spiritual realities lying behind the visible events of history.
Revelation therefore encourages believers facing persecution and warns them against satanic deception and pressure to compromise. Its imagery reveals the deeper conflict between Christ's sovereignty and the satanic powers that oppose Him, rather than merely describing temporary political events.[4]
Revelation and the Old Testament
Although John rarely introduces explicit quotations from the Old Testament, Revelation is saturated with its language, imagery and patterns. Hundreds of its verses contain echoes or allusions to Old Testament prophetic material.[5] John uses OT words, images, phrases, and patterns as a rich linguistic arsenal through which explain rich truths.[6]
The number seven occurs repeatedly throughout Revelation and commonly conveys completeness. The book contains seven churches (1:4, 11, 20), seven spirits (1:4), seven lampstands (1:12), seven stars (1:16), seven lamps (4:5), seven seals (5:1), seven horns and seven eyes (5:6), seven thunders (10:3), and later seven angels, seven plagues and seven bowls (15:6–8). This recurring pattern contributes to the carefully structured character of the book.
Worship Interprets the Visions
Revelation is punctuated by scenes and songs of worship (for example, 4:8–11; 5:9–14; 8:3–4; 11:15–18). These are not incidental interruptions to the visions. They help interpret what John sees. Again and again, Revelation turns the reader's attention away from symbols, the apparent power of earthly events and towards God and the Lamb who rule over them.
The Pastoral Purpose of Revelation
The primary purpose of Revelation is pastoral. It is written to engender confidence in the living, redeeming, reigning and victorious Lamb who moves with majestic purpose through the climactic events of history. He was sovereign over the chaotic world of the first century and will remain sovereign through every succeeding age, including the final period before His glorious return.
Revelation is therefore not to be “expertified” and left to specialists. It was written for ordinary believers. It was not given to leave us frightened by what lies ahead, but to prepare us to live faithfully in a world in which believers face suffering, persecution, deception and pressure to conform.
Revelation:
· prepares us for the last days;
· challenges us to consider what we are living for;
· helps us recognise whether we are living for Babylon or the New Jerusalem;
· gives us a way of facing death, pain and persecution;
· anchors us in a credible hope.
Above all, Revelation lifts our eyes above our circumstances, fixes them upon Christ, and fills our hearts with praise to God.
Let us therefore focus our eyes on Christ as we work through the book of Revelation.
Two Recurring Profiles
Profile of Jesus Christ
Revelation is first and foremost the revelation of Jesus Christ. Throughout the book, a rich variety of names, titles, images and descriptions reveal His identity, character, work, authority, victory and coming reign. Each Profile of Jesus Christ draws these features together to highlight what that section reveals about Him.
Profile of Believers
Alongside its revelation of Christ, Revelation also reveals who His people are because they belong to Him. Each Profile of Believers draws together the descriptions, characteristics, experiences, responsibilities and destiny of God's people found in that section.
Above all, Revelation defines believers by their relationship to the Lamb: they belong to Him, follow Him, bear witness to Him, suffer for Him, overcome through Him, and finally reign with Him.
Chapter One — A Dynamic Rendering
1 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, given to him by God to show his servants what must soon take place. Jesus made these things known by sending his angel to his servant John. 2 John faithfully tells us everything he saw—the word of God and the testimony given by Jesus Christ. 3 God blesses the person who reads these prophetic words aloud, and he blesses everyone who hears them, takes them seriously, and lives by what is written here. The time is near.
4 From John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who always was, and who is coming; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to rise from the dead never to die again, and the ruler over all the kings of the earth.
All glory to Jesus Christ! He loves us and, by shedding his blood for us, has set us free from our sins. 6 He has made us his kingdom, priests who serve his God and Father. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen! 7 Look! He is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him—even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes, it will happen! Amen!
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End,” declares the Lord God, “the One who is, who always was, and who is coming—the Almighty.”
9 I am John, your brother. Because we belong to Jesus, I share with you in suffering, in his kingdom, and in the patient endurance he gives us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos because I had proclaimed God’s word and testified about Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was caught up in the Spirit. Suddenly, behind me, I heard a powerful voice, clear and penetrating like the blast of a trumpet.
11 It said: “Write down everything you see and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and there, standing among them, was someone like the Son of Man. He wore a long robe reaching to his feet, with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His hair was white as wool, as white as snow. His eyes blazed like flames of fire. 15 His feet gleamed like bronze glowing white-hot in a furnace, and his voice thundered like the roar of mighty waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, double-edged sword, and his face shone with all the brilliance of the midday sun.
17 The moment I saw him, I collapsed at his feet as though I were dead. But he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One. I died—but look! I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold the keys that unlock death and the grave. 19 So write down what you have seen, what is happening now, and what will take place after this. 20 Here is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars represent the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
The Central Message of Revelation Chapter One
Chapter one unveils Jesus Christ as the risen, glorified, sovereign Lord who rules over the kings of the earth, walks among His churches, holds His servants in His hand, possesses authority over death and Hades, and is coming again in glory. Because He is alive, present with His Church, and sovereign over history, believers can remain faithful even in suffering and confidently await the fulfillment of God’s purposes.
In John’s Sunday supernatural vision, he sees the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, a figure “like the Son of Man” standing among seven golden lampstands and described with highly symbolic, divine imagery: a radiant face, white hair, blazing eyes and feet like bronze. He holds seven stars in His right hand, while a sharp, two-edged sword proceeds from His mouth. His long robe and golden sash evoke priestly and royal imagery. He stands among the lampstands, actively present with and ministering among His churches.
Overwhelmed, John collapses as though dead, but is reassured by Christ, who identifies Himself as “the First and the Last” and the One who holds the keys of Death and Hades. Christ tells him not to be afraid, for He has authority even over death. Persecuted believers need not fear that death will separate them from Him. Christ then commissions John to write what he has seen, what is happening now, and what will take place afterwards (1:17–19).
Three—Lens Analysis of Revelation Chapter 1
At the outset, Chapter 1 introduces the purpose of Revelation as “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). Verse 19 then provides an interpretive framework: John is to record what he has seen, what is happening now, and what will take place after this.
This threefold framework of Revelation 1:1 and 1:19 helps us read Revelation 1 according to the stated purpose of the book. Revelation 1 establishes the lens through which the entire book is to be read. Remarkably, all three elements of this framework are already present in the opening Chapter.
1. Christological focus – “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” — What does this chapter reveal about Jesus Christ? (1:1). Chapter one is the foundation for the entire book. It is first and foremost the Revelation of Jesus Christ—the unveiling of His person, authority, and glory. The glorified Christ stands at the centre of His churches, ruling as the sovereign Lord, faithful Witness, victorious Redeemer, and righteous Judge.
2. Pastoral application – “The things that are” or “what is happening now” — John is instructed to write the things that are (1:19). The present age is portrayed as one in which believers faithfully endure suffering while serving as God’s kingdom of priests under Christ’s constant presence.
3. Eschatological hope – “The things that must soon take place after this” (1:1, 19). The reader is directed toward the certainty of Christ’s visible return, the completion of God’s redemptive purposes, the defeat of death, and the consummation of His everlasting kingdom. Everything that follows in Revelation unfolds from this foundational vision of the exalted Christ.
1. “The things that you have seen” — What does Revelation 1 reveal about Jesus?
Revelation is first and foremost the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Before believers are shown beasts, judgements, or the New Jerusalem, they are shown the glorified Christ. Chapter 1 contains one of the richest portraits of Jesus in the New Testament.
John describes his first major vision of the risen and glorified Jesus Christ, which he receives while in exile on the island of Patmos for his faith (Revelation 1:9–20). This encounter serves as the foundational authority for the rest of the Book of Revelation. A voice like a trumpet instructs him to record this vision and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. John receives a message for persecuted believers that he is to send to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia [modern-day Turkey]. The order in which the churches are listed is probably the order in which they were visited by the person who delivered the letters.
Jesus is the Revelation of God
The book begins: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him…” (1:1) Jesus is both:
· the One who reveals God’s purposes
· the One who is Himself revealed.
He is the central subject of the book, not merely its messenger.
Jesus is the Faithful Witness
“Jesus Christ, the faithful witness…” (1:5) He perfectly revealed God the Father during His earthly ministry and remained faithful even unto death. Believers are therefore called to imitate His faithful testimony.
Jesus is the Firstborn from the Dead
His resurrection established Him as:
· conqueror of death
· firstfruits of the coming resurrection
· Lord of life.
His resurrection guarantees the future resurrection of His people.
Jesus is the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth
Revelation declares that Jesus is already: “the ruler of kings on earth” (1:5). The present age is therefore characterized by the apparent triumph of earthly powers but the actual reign of Christ. Although earthly rulers appear powerful, ultimate authority belongs to Christ. Jesus reigns over:
· governments
· empires
· nations
· history itself.
Jesus is the Redeemer
John praises Christ: “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood…” (1:5). Christ’s sacrificial death accomplished redemption and established believers as:
· a kingdom
· priests serving God.
The cross remains central even in this book of glory and judgement.
Jesus is the Coming King
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds…” (1:7) His return will be:
· visible
· universal
· glorious
· final.
Every eye will see Him.
Jesus is the First and the Last
In Revelation 1:8 God identifies Himself as “the Alpha and the Omega,” while in 1:17 Jesus identifies Himself as “the First and the Last.” The application to Christ of divine titles and attributes throughout Revelation contributes powerfully to the book’s presentation of His deity, eternity, and sovereignty.
Jesus is the Son of Man
John sees One: “like a son of man.” This title recalls Daniel 7 and identifies Jesus as the promised Messianic King who receives everlasting dominion.
Jesus is the Priestly Lord among His Churches
His long robe and golden sash recall priestly imagery.
He ministers among His people and represents them before God.
Jesus is the Divine Judge
His appearance reveals divine majesty:
· white hair (eternal wisdom)
· blazing eyes (perfect knowledge)
· bronze feet (righteous judgement)
· powerful voice
· sharp two-edged sword (His Word).
Nothing escapes His judgement.
Jesus is the Lord of the Church
He walks among the seven lampstands. He is not distant from His churches but present among them, observing, sustaining, correcting and encouraging them. His churches belong to Him. He holds the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20). The churches and their messengers remain under His sovereign care.
Jesus is the Living One
He declares: “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.” He possesses:
· the keys of Death
· the keys of Hades.
Death itself is under His authority. No enemy can act independently of His authority.
Chapter One – The Profile of Jesus Christ
Revelation opens with an extraordinarily concentrated description of Jesus Christ. He is Jesus Christ, the historical Jesus who is God’s promised Messiah; the Faithful Witness, whose testimony can be trusted absolutely; the Firstborn from the Dead, who has conquered death; and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth, whose sovereignty extends over every earthly power.
As One Like a Son of Man, He fulfils Daniel’s vision of the glorious figure who receives universal and everlasting dominion. He is the First and the Last and the Living One, sharing in the eternity and sovereignty of God, yet He is also the One who died and now lives for ever and ever. Finally, as the One who holds the keys of Death and Hades, He possesses absolute authority over death and the realm of the dead.
Revelation therefore begins not merely by telling us what will happen,
but by showing us the One who controls what will happen:
the crucified, risen, eternal and sovereign Christ.
2. “The things that are” — What realities characterize the present age?
Although Chapter 1 is introductory, it provides profound insight into the Church’s present condition.
The Church lives in partnership with Christ
John identifies himself as “your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance…” (1:9). The normal experience of the believers includes:
· suffering,
· persecution,
· patient endurance,
· faithful witness.
Tribulation is not merely future but is a present reality for believers.
Jesus Walks Among His Churches
Jesus walks among the lampstands. The Church is never abandoned. The Lord is actively present among His people. His blazing eyes indicate perfect knowledge. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows every church’s true spiritual condition. He knows:
· their faithfulness,
· their struggles,
· their compromises,
· their suffering.
This becomes a dominant theme in Chapters 2–3.
The Church is called to faithful witness
As Jesus is “the faithful witness,” so His people are called to bear faithful testimony in a hostile world.
The Church is a kingdom of priests
The church’s identity is not determined by political power but by worship and witness. Believers are presently:
· a kingdom,
· priests serving God (1:6).
Their lives are devoted to worship, service, and proclamation.
Believers live with confidence
Christ possesses:
· the keys of death
· sovereign authority
· eternal life.
Therefore, the Church need not fear persecution or death.
The Church lives by Revelation rather than sight
John receives revelation while exiled as a prisoner on the Island of Patmos. The church often experiences weakness outwardly while possessing heavenly knowledge of ultimate reality.
The Church lives between Christ’s first and second coming
Revelation is not given merely to satisfy curiosity about future events but to produce faithful and obedient discipleship in the present. Believers, redeemed by Christ’s blood, live in expectation of His visible return. The present age is therefore one of faithful waiting.
Chapter One – Profile of Believers
Believers are depicted as loved and redeemed by Jesus Christ, freed from their sins by His blood and made a kingdom and priests to serve God (1:5–6). They are called to read, hear and “take to heart” what has been written (1:3), and to endure suffering with patient endurance (1:9). As members of churches, they have a corporate identity as lampstands in the world, living and witnessing in the presence of their risen Lord (1:12–13, 20), while awaiting the return of the One who conquered death and holds its keys (1:7, 18).
The profile that emerges is of a people loved and redeemed by Christ, constituted as His kingdom and priests, called to hear and obey His Word, faithfully enduring suffering as His witnesses, living in His presence, and awaiting His victorious return.
3. “The things that will take place after this” — What future realities are introduced?
Chapter 1 introduces the great themes developed throughout the remainder of Revelation. People have always been fascinated by the future and have often sought forbidden means of discovering it. Scripture directs believers elsewhere. Revelation does not invite speculation or occult attempts to uncover the future; it reveals that history is securely under God’s sovereign control and moves toward the return and triumph of Jesus Christ.[7]
Christ will return Visibly and Universally
John declares: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (1:7). His return will be:
· bodily,
· visible,
· public,
· worldwide.
His coming will be seen by:
· every nation
· every tribe
· every individual.
History moves toward His glorious appearing. His return becomes the climax toward which Revelation moves.
The Nations Will Face Him as Judge
John says: “all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (1:7). The future includes accountability before Christ for every nation and individual. Those who rejected Christ “will mourn because of Him.” His return brings both salvation and judgement.
God’s Redemptive Plan is Unfolding
The command: “Write…the things that are to take place after this” introduces the prophetic visions beginning in Chapter 4. History is moving according to God’s sovereign purpose.
Christ Reigns over Future History
The One who holds the keys also controls everything that follows. Nothing in Revelation occurs outside His authority.
Death and Hades Will Ultimately Be Defeated
Since Jesus possesses the keys of Death and Hades, death’s reign is temporary (1:18). The resurrection and final victory are certain. The future includes:
· resurrection,
· final judgement,
· the destruction of death itself.
These realities are fully developed later in Revelation.
Christ Will Receive Universal Recognition
Every eye will see Him. His present hidden reign will become universally acknowledged.
God’s Kingdom Will Be Completed
The kingdom believers presently experience will one day become fully visible when Christ reigns openly over all creation.
Chapter 1 – Key Revelation about the future
Jesus Christ will come again openly and triumphantly; every eye will see Him, the nations of the earth will face the reality of His sovereign authority, and God’s purposes for judgement, redemption, and kingdom will be brought to completion. The One who is the First and the Last, who conquered death and lives forevermore, guarantees the final fulfillment of everything Revelation is about to unfold.
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Why Do the Followers of the Lamb Need to Know This?
Imagine hearing Revelation read aloud as a believer in one of the seven churches of Asia. You live under the authority of Rome, surrounded by competing religious claims and increasing pressure to accommodate yourself to the values of the surrounding world. Before you are shown beasts, judgements, Babylon, persecution or the New Jerusalem, you are given something far more important: a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Believers need to know that the Jesus they follow is not merely a figure from the past. He is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (1:5). Earthly rulers may exercise considerable power, but none possesses ultimate authority. Jesus does. Knowing this enables His followers to give Him their highest allegiance, even when obedience to Christ conflicts with the expectations of the world around them.
They also need to remember what Jesus has already done for them. He is the One “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” and has made His people “a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father” (1:5–6). Their identity is therefore not determined by their social standing, political influence, prosperity or suffering. They are loved, redeemed and given a place and purpose in God's kingdom. Knowing who they are because of Christ enables them to live as His people in a world that pressures them to become something else.
John himself embodies the kind of discipleship Revelation will require. He describes himself as their “brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (1:9). Followers of Jesus should therefore not interpret suffering as evidence that something has gone wrong. Until the kingdom is openly established, suffering, kingdom and patient endurance belong together. Knowing this prepares believers to remain faithful when following Jesus becomes costly.
Then John sees the glorified Christ walking among the seven golden lampstands. Jesus is not distant from His churches. He stands among them. His eyes are like blazing fire; He sees and knows the true condition of His people. He holds the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20). Before the churches hear His commendations, warnings and corrections in Chapters 2–3, they need to know that they live under the searching gaze and sovereign care of the risen Christ.
The appearance of Jesus also transforms their understanding of fear and death. John falls at His feet as though dead, but Jesus places His right hand upon him and says, “Do not be afraid” (1:17). He is “the First and the Last” and “the Living One”. He was dead, but now He is alive for ever and ever, and He holds “the keys of death and Hades” (1:17–18). Believers facing the possibility of persecution and death therefore need to know that death does not possess the final authority over them—Jesus does.
They are also told from the beginning where history is going: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (1:7). The Jesus whom the world may presently ignore, reject or oppose will one day be universally revealed. His followers therefore live between what He has already accomplished and what He will openly accomplish when He comes.
This means that Revelation's blessing is intensely practical: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it” (1:3).
Revelation is not given merely to be understood.
It is given to be heard, taken to heart, and lived.
The followers of Jesus are told these things so that earthly powers will not command their ultimate allegiance, suffering will not persuade them that Christ has abandoned them, death will not have the final word over them, and the pressures of the surrounding world will not determine who they become.
Knowing that Jesus loves and has redeemed them, walks among His churches, sees their true condition, rules over earthly kings, holds the keys of death and Hades, and is coming again enables them to worship, endure, obey, bear faithful witness, and live every day under the lordship of the risen Christ.
Revelation begins not by showing us what will happen
but by showing us
the One who holds everything that will happen in His hands
[1] Gentry, Kenneth L., Sam Hamstra Jr., C. Marvin Pate, and Robert L. Thomas, Four Views on the Book of Revelation. Edited by C. Marvin Pate. Counterpoints. Accordance electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.
[2] John MacArthur, Revelation 1–11. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Accordance electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 14.
[3] Robert L. Thomas. Revelation 1 –7, an Exegetical Commentary. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 29.
[4] I have adapted parts of this paragraph from: Johnson, Alan F. “Revelation.” In Hebrews–Revelation, vol. 13 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Revised Edition, edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, 571–789. Accordance electronic edition, version 2.3. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.
[5] 278 of its 404 verses refer or allude to Old Testament prophetic truth. John MacArthur, Revelation 1–11. Op.cit p 15.
[6] According to Swete (1911: cliii n. 1) there are 46 references to Isaiah, 31 to Daniel, 29 to Ezekiel, 27 to the Psalms, and then Genesis, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Joel, and Zechariah.
[7] Many people are fascinated, even obsessed with the future. They faithfully read their horoscopes, seek out Tarot card readers, have their palms read, feed on futuristic science fiction material, or call one of the many “psychic hot lines” advertised on TV. Some people delve more deeply into the occult, seeking out mediums (as did King Saul), futilely and sinfully attempting to obtain information about what is to come by “consulting the dead-on behalf of the living” (Isaiah 8:19). The dead cannot, of course, respond to such efforts at contact, but demons do, masquerading as the dead and propagating lies. For a Christian these are “out of bounds”, “no go” areas. John MacArthur, Revelation 1–11 Op cit pp 13-14.