Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
A B C 'Aleph (') read, 'Write therefore' (since I, "the First and the Last," have the keys of death, and vouchsafe this vision for the comfort and warning of the Church).
Things which are. "The things which thou hast seen" are those in this chapter (cf. Revelation 1:11); "the things which are," the present state of the churches when John was writing (Revelation 2:1-29 and Revelation 3:1-22); "the things which shall be hereafter," the things symbolically represented concerning the future, (Revelation 22:1-21.) Alford, 'What things they signify;' but the antithesis, next clause, forbids this, 'the things which are about to come to pass hereafter.' The plural х eisin (G1526)] "are," instead of the usual Greek singular, is owing to churches and persons being meant by "the things which are."