He had been exiled to the isle of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." He is believed to have been an old man, and hard labour was probably part of his exile. But the Lord Jesus was about to reveal to him the extraordinary revelation which forms the book "to show his servants things which must shortly take place."
The circumstances might appear to have been against John. The Lord's Day wouldn't be observed on Patmos. But nothing could come between John and his Lord.
Consider:
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing.
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psa 92:12 - 15.
And again:
We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:37 - 39.
Nothing - neither authorities nor powers, old age, illness nor infirmity, accident, geographic position nor any other thing - can separate us from God's love.
