Read with Me
Revelation 1:12-17a (HCSB)
I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest. His head and hair were white like wool—white as snow—and His eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters. He had seven stars in His right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth, and His face was shining like the sun at midday.
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.
Listen with Me
John had lived with Jesus for nearly four years. But the person whom John saw when he turned around did not look anything like the Jesus he had grown used to. This was the risen and glorified Jesus, with all His glory restored to what He had had with the Father for endless eternity past (John 17:5).
Jesus was dressed in a robe and sash reminiscent of those worn by the high priest when performing his duties of intercession (Exodus 28:4). But Jesus wore no turban; He stood before God as an equal. So, John could see his hair, shining brilliant white with God’s glory, a glory that showed even in the brilliance of His eyes and in the brilliance of His glorified body as well.
As John looked, he was reminded of the transfiguration of Jesus that he had witnessed on the mountain along with Peter and James (Luke 9:28-36). But as stunning as that vision had been, it paled in comparison to the full brilliance of Jesus that he saw now.
Jesus appeared to John standing in the midst of seven golden lamp stands, reminiscent of the seven-branched lampstand that stood in the holy place in the Tabernacle. In His right hand were seven stars, and John saw coming out of His mouth a sharp, double-edged sword. All these, like nearly everything that John was shown in this long vision, were symbols that God was using to convey deeper truths. And those symbols also were included in the personal notes included for each of the seven Churches of Asia in chapters 2 and 3. Jesus Himself explained many of these first symbols to John immediately in verse 20.
John’s response was not praise and worship of this glorious being who stood before him. The glory that he beheld in Jesus was so overwhelming that John fainted dead away, and he had to be revived before the vision could be continued.
Pray with Me
Father, I am reminded in this of the fact that many Churches these days have paintings or sculptures of Jesus as a help to focus on the Savior. But these representations, though they may or may not actually look like Jesus’ earthly form, look nothing like He truly appears in His eternal glory. Even the vision that John saw, a vision that overwhelmed him so completely by its glory, was toned down so as not to completely destroy him. He saw “indistinctly, as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12), being given more symbol than substance, something that he could communicate in earthly language, although words still occasionally failed him. Lord, help me to remember that, even though it was the man, Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross, I serve the risen and exalted Son of God, glorious beyond all description, because of the salvation I have received through Him. Amen.