Revelation 1:10-11: I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send [it] to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
John seems to have been worshiping on the Lord’s day when the Holy Spirit came upon him in a powerful way and gave him the vision he recorded in this book. The Lord’s day was the day Jesus rose from the dead—Sunday in our week. Verse 10 provides the earliest evidence that early Christians began meeting for worship to remember Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday, a common practice for most Christians today. By the second century, Sunday had become the day of worship in the church. The word translated as Lord’s (kyriakē) is in the form of an adjective, meaning something like “the day that pertains to the Lord.” The vision came as John was in deep worship and in the Spirit. Genuine worship is a core requirement for an overwhelming experience of the Holy Spirit. The type of experience John had was special and was used by God to reveal his words for the seven churches and all believers to follow. The purposes of the book indicate why God came to John at that special moment and way. The messages of this book were intended for believers in the first century and for all who would come after. This was no ordinary dream because of the loud voice that spoke to John.
Revelation was written specifically to seven churches located in major cities in Asia Minor. Each church received its own special letter embedded in chapters 2-3. Being on the island of Patmos, John was not far from the city of Ephesus. All the other cities were close to Ephesus. All these churches likely knew him. John was also likely an old man by this time, possibly the last surviving apostle. According to church tradition, all the others died as martyrs, but John lived to old age. This is one of his parting messages to these churches that knew him, and he knew them. Although John received this book as a revelation, it is filled with his personality and insights.