Revelation 1:19 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Write the things which thou hast seen (better, sawest). — It is well to notice the small connecting word “then,” which has been omitted in the English. It gives the practical thought to the whole of the previous vision. This vision is to be described for the benefit of the Church of Christ, that she may never forget Him who is the foundation on which she rests; the true fountain of her life; and in whom she will find the source of that renewing power to which the last Note alludes. In the history of the faith it will be always true that they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:28-31). Lest, then, at any time the saints of God should be tempted to cry that “their judgment was passed over from their God,” the Evangelist is bidden first to detail this vision of Him who is the Life and Captain of His people. He is also to write the things which are — those eternal principles and truths which underlie all the phenomena of human history; or the things which concern the present state of the churches — and the things which are about to be after these things — those great and wondrous scenes of the fortunes of the Church and of the world which will be unfolded.