Revelation 1:19-20

‘Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter, the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands.’

These words have borne a host of interpretations as they have been used as the basis for various theories. But what he is being told to do is fairly simple. He is to write what he has seen - the vision of the glorified Son of Man and the seven golden lampstands - the things that are - the present state and position of the seven churches - and the things that will be hereafter - the impact of coming events on the seven churches, and their final destiny, as will be described in the letters and the remainder of the book.

The word ‘hereafter’ means simply ‘after the present moment’. The letters to the seven churches include descriptions in the future, and things even reaching into eternity. Nothing could be after those. Thus to make ‘hereafter’ mean ‘after the time described in the letters to the seven churches’ is totally artificial. We must therefore seriously dispute the suggestion that it can be given the stressed meaning of ‘after these things’ in the sense that it relegates the happenings to the far future beyond the time span of the seven churches.

It should be noted that these words to some extent parallel the words spoken of God in Revelation 1:4; Revelation 1:8 but in a different order. The One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, has brought about and will bring about that ‘which you saw, and the things which are and the things that will happen hereafter’. This in itself stresses that ‘the things that are’ refers to the things in being at that time, controlled by the God Who is.

A glance at the letters to the seven churches shows quite clearly that they themselves contain elements which are eternal which will be enjoyed by the overcomers in the seven churches. What could be after those? Besides the letters include descriptions which are dealt with later in Revelation, and consistent exegesis means that we must take the two together. The truth is that the natural translation here is ‘hereafter’, ‘after this point in time’, and ‘the things that are’ means ‘are now’ i.e. the present state of the churches at that point in time. Any other meaning is forced and unnatural.