Patmos, with which the Apocalypse is closely connected, is a small island off the coast of Asia Minor. It is volcanic in origin, rocky and barren. At any time its population must have been small and backward. John was sent there during the Christian persecution perpetrated by Diocletian towards the end of his reign. He was succeeded by the Emperor Nerva, who reigned for a very short time, and was followed by Trajan, who reversed the acts of Diocletian. John’s exile, therefore, was not a long one; but even a stay of two or three years in such an island must have been trying to a man used to an active Christian life. The terms of his banishment may have enforced a solitary life, and tradition associated the Revelation with a cave. To John, therefore, Patmos may have been the equivalent of Paul’s imprisonments in Caesarea and Rome—a time for quiet meditation and reflection. There was time to think over the events of the past which he had seen, and in some of which he had been an actor. It was part of the process that changed a “Son of Thunder” into the “Apostle of Love.”
There is a lesson in this. It is possible to be so engrossed in the activities of life that opportunities for thought and reflection are crowded out. Such a thing is not good. Even Jesus, with his unusual qualifications, sometimes sought quiet and solitude, and spent whole nights in prayer. If he needed such occasions, men of far lower spiritual powers need them, though sometimes it seems to be necessary for an apparent, calamity to occur to give the occasion. Patmos was necessary for John; times of quiet and enforced rest may be necessary for his fellow-workers in the Twentieth Century. If such occasions do come, they should be accepted in a spirit of submission, and made the occasion of meditation and self-examination.
In describing his position, John uses a strange expression. He says he was a “brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus.” (The italicised words shown in the Revised Version are omitted, as they are not found in the original). The statement is interesting and suggestive. The priestly kingdom to which John had previously referred is something very different from the kingdom in which he was told he should sit in the regeneration, and in which he desired to be placed on the right, or left, side of his Master. It was associated with tribulation and patience; tribulation is part of the way to the Kingdom, and patience is the outcome of tribulation rightly borne.
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Author: W. H. Boulton
Keywords: Patmos, isle of patmos
Bible reference(s): Rev 1:9
Source: “Personal Letters from the Apocalypse,” The Testimony, Vol. 23, No. 275, November 1953, pp. 326-7.
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