²² But you have come to Mount Zion,^[a] to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands of angels gathered together with joy. ²³ You have come to the meeting of God’s firstborn^[b] children whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, the One who brought the new agreement from God to his people, and you have come to the sprinkled blood^[c] that has a better message than the blood of Abel.^[d]

²⁵ So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. Others refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth, and they did not escape. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to God who warns us from heaven. ²⁶ When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”^{[e] 27} The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made—things that can be shaken—will be destroyed. Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain.

²⁸ So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear, ²⁹ because our God is like a fire that burns things up.

⁹ I, John, am your brother. All of us share with Christ in suffering, in the kingdom, and in patience to continue. I was on the island of Patmos,^[a] because I had preached the word of God and the message about Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands ¹³ and someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man.”^[b] He was dressed in a long robe and had a gold band around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace, and his voice was like the noise of flooding water. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the One who lives; I was dead, but look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys to death and to the place of the dead.