And I, John, am the one who HEARD and SAW these things.
After HEARING Jesus speak directly (previous verse), John comes forward as if to say, "I did what you asked of me." (Revelation 1:9). Interestingly, with the SEEING more powerful than the HEARING as modern physiologists note, it was John HEARING Jesus speak (previous verse) that elicits John's response. But we must admit that most of the preceding chapters of the Revelation have been very visual. After all he has been shown (Revelation 1:1): 7 churches, THRONE area, seal judgments, trumpet judgments, bowl judgments, the harlotry, the marriage supper, the great white THRONE, and new heaven/earth, no wonder John says
And when I HEARD and SAW, I fell down to worship at the feet of the ANGEL who showed me these things.
Oh my! John does it again (Revelation 19:10); This is the third time John falls down. The first time was appropriate (Revelation 1:17), but the last two times were not. The rebuke is the same in both cases.
And he said to me, "DO NOT DO THAT; I am a FELLOW SERVANT of yours and of your brethren the PROPHETS and of those who HEED the WORDS of this BOOK;
John's angel-guide points out that both of them are SERVANTS. John is a BOND SERVANT (verse 6) and his angel-guide is a FELLOW SERVANT. We sense that the angel-guide is aware of Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 6:1-3-8, and that NO ANGEL should be worshipped. That is exactly what Lucifer (Satan), the star of the morning, is looking for (Isaiah 14:1-12-15-23). The angel-guide does not want the remotest chance (temptation?) to be worshipped, even though he could have been held in high esteem as a "presence" angel (Revelation 21:9 and Revelation 15:6). For the angel-guide to say this gives us a little insight into the completeness and humility with which they serve:
We now can understand how the events shown to John might make John fall down at the angel-guide's feet. But the angel-guide is quick to point out we are to WORSHIP GOD and not the events. How guilty we believers may be if we make so much fuss over Christmas, Easter, Ascension, etc. The truth is that even as a SERVANT serves daily, we, too, should WORSHIP GOD daily. Have you taken the time TODAY to WORSHIP GOD? It's good practice, you know, for our eternal life.
We also could say that John really fell down to WORSHIP JESUS while he was standing next to the angel-guide. It is good to WORSHIP JESUS for He is GOD (Matthew 9:18-18-26, Matthew 20:20-20-28, and Mark 5:1-6-20). All created beings should WORSHIP GOD (JESUS) including angels (Hebrews 1:1-14-14).