¹⁸ I am the living one! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead. ¹⁹ Write, then, the things you see, both the things that are now and the things that will happen afterward. ²⁰ Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars that you see in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.