Our translation says directly overhead. John is on the ground, on Patmos, and so “directly overhead” would describe a rather limited area over the island where the angel was active. The Greek, however, uses the term mid-heaven. Scripture uses the word “heaven” with different nuances, eg, God’s dwelling, the realm of the distant stars, the space between earth and clouds. Given that this angel is proclaiming a message to the inhabitants of the earth, we ought to understand the term “mid-heaven” as a reference to the airspace directly above the ground.