¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.^[a]

¹⁹ “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.^{[b] 20} This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels^[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.