17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last. 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.