I was in the Spirit. I came to be (see on Revelation 1:9) in a state of ecstasy capable of receiving revelations; like γενέσθαι με ἐν ἐκστάσει (Acts 22:17; comp. Acts 10:10; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
On the Lord's day. The expression occurs here only in the New Testament, and beyond all reasonable doubt it means "on Sunday." This is, therefore, the earliest use of the phrase in this sense. That it means Easter Day or Pentecost is baseless conjecture.
The phrase had not yet become common in A.D. 57, as is shown from St. Paul writing, "on the first of the week" (1 Corinthians 16:2), the usual expression in the Gospels and Acts. But from Ignatius onwards, we have a complete chain of evidence that ἡ κυριακή became the regular Christian name for the first day of the week; and κυριακή is still the name of Sunday in the Levant.
"No longer observing sabbaths, but fashioning their lives after the Lord's day" (Ign., 'Magn.,' 9.). Melito, Bishop of Sardis, wrote a treatise περί κυριακῆς (Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' IV. 26:2). Dionysius of Corinth, in an epistle to the Romans, mentions that the Church of Corinth is that day keeping the Lord's holy day (Eusebius, 'Hist.
Eccl.,' IV. 23.11). Comp. also Clem. Alex., 'Strom.,' VII. 12.98; Tertull., 'De Con.,' 3. and 'De Idol.,' 14., where Dominicus dies is obviously a translation of κυριακὴ ἡμέρα; and fragment 7 of the lost works of Irenaeus.
That "the Lord's day" ( ἡ κυριακὴ ἡμέρα) in this place is the same as "the day of the Lord" ( ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυίου) is not at all probable. The context is quite against any such meaning as that St.
John is spiritually transported to the day of judgment. Contrast Revelation 6:17; Revelation 16:14; 1 John 4:17; John 6:39, John 6:40, John 6:44, John 6:54; John 11:24; John 12:48. Whereas, seeing that the visions which follow are grouped in sevens (the seven candlesticks, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials), the fact that they begin on the first day of the seven is eminently appropriate.
Great voice. The voice is evidently Christ's; but throughout the Apocalypse the speaker is frequently not named. By a construction common in Hebrew, "saying" agrees with "trumpet," the nearest substantive, instead of with "voice" (comp.
Ezekiel 3:12; Matthew 24:31). "Therefore it is from behind, for all the symbols and references are to be sought for in the Old Testament" (I. Williams); comp. Isaiah 30:21.