Bible Gem 2193 – John’s Description of Christ (Revelation 1:10-20)

¹⁰ It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast.

¹¹ It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands.

¹³ And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.

¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire.

¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.

¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid 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 died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

¹⁹ “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.

²⁰ This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation 1:10

I have told you before this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s John’s revelation in the sense that Christ spoke to him and showed him things. I have told you also the simplicity of Revelation is that John was told things and saw things. Then as we see in the quote above he was told to write down what he saw and heard and send it to the seven churches. Clearly what he saw and heard concerned someone like the Son of Man. Here John takes from Old Testament apocalyptic writings the references to a coming figure called the Son of Man – which is a reference taken straight from Daniel 7:13 and one Jesus used to describe Himself. I have explained this term before in the Gems and tagged it for you.

This short passage is a description of Christ. Notice the reference to the seven gold lampstands, which ought to bring to mind the Menorah. The Menorah is the seven branched candlestick symbolising the light of God’s presence, the central symbol in the Tabernacle and the Festival of Lights, Hannukkah. Jesus describe himself as the Light of the World. We are told the lampstands are the churches and this One like the Son of Man is standing in middle of the lampstands, the same lampstands to whom the letter is to be addressed. The clear message to be conveyed to the seven churches is that the Son of Man is standing in the middle of the churches during the difficult times to come!

Now let’s look in detail at what John’s attention was drawn to:

• His head
• His hair
• His eyes
• His feet
• His voice
• His right hand
• His mouth
• His face

This is a very clear and detailed vision or image of a man – The Son of Man. In Daniel’s terms a figure associated with Israel’s coming Messiah, the One promised to come and save them. John’s words here form a combination of images and references as to who this One is. In verse 1:13 John makes it very clear by using the words from the Septuagint to describe the full length ceremonial garment of the High Priest. It immediately brings to my mind all I wrote concerning Jesus being our Great High Priest from the letter to the Hebrews. John’s readers here in Revelation were to understand that Jesus, the Son of Man, was being presented as the Great High Priest.

Let’s gather the bodily references together as they should be. All features come together to make a combined statement about this One whom John saw. The head and the hair are likely a symbol of purity and wisdom. After all, a grey head is a symbol of wisdom and experience but the whiteness of the hair is also likely to convey the idea of purity. This same word picture is also found in Daniel 7:9. John’s source is clearly the apocalyptic writing of Daniel. However his references have been cherry-picked from numbers of parts of Daniel. I can’t help but connect the image of the head and hair in this example with the reference to Christ being the Ancient of Days. Surely that is what the head and hair of pure white also conveys. Wisdom sourced from ancient times past, tested, tried and true. The kind of wisdom which lasts and lasts as opposed to us moderns who think the latest ideas we come up with trump the wisdom of the ages.

The eyes require comment in more ways than one. Yes these eyes are described as being like blazing fire, plucked from Daniel 10:6. The connection appears to be to the piercing nature of the eyes perhaps but essentially to the purity. Christ’s gaze is penetrating and deep, evaluating whomever is looked at with a depth that pierces to the heart. But there is surely more to this than meets the eye. [Sorry I couldn’t resist the pun.] Why is the Spirit described as the sevenfold Spirit? Isn’t it obvious that the sevenfold spirit equates with the seven churches to whom this letter is to be sent. The Spirit of God and thus the eye of the LORD is present with each church to evaluate and make judgments. Many writings in apocalyptic literature have multiple eyes [Ezek 1:18, 10:12] indicating the eyes of the Lord which are all-seeing.

“What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks. . . Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the LORD that search all around the world.)

Zechariah 4:2, 10

The feet of this Son of Man are like bronze glowing in the furnace, a clip taken from Daniel 10:6 which is in contrast to Daniel 2. These feet are not a mixture of clay and iron which crumble and lack strength and durability; rather the feet of the Son of Man are firm and unmoved and unable to be tarnished or the metal from which it is made able to be compromised.

The voice of this Messiah is like the sound of rushing waters from a confluence of sources all of which rush on in one direction, tumbling over itself. [Ezekiel 1:24] This voice comes out of the mouth in combination with the right hand which holds the sharp two edged sword, capable of dividing soul from spirit, bone from marrow and discerning the thoughts of man; cutting right to the heart of each of us. [Isaiah 49:2, Hebrews 4:12] Don’t you think it’s significant that John lists these word pictures in a very telling way which combines them together with a purpose? He has moved through the head to the voice and mouth and then back to the power of what is to come. That being what this Messiah has to say to each church! All of which highlights what is to come in the letters to each church.

I will explore the significance of this more for each church when we move into the following two chapters. Don’t you think like me that it is fascinating how John has repeated elements of the description of Christ for each church but that they are all different? He reminds each one of different aspects of who Christ is. Now that has to be significant. Each message is tailor-made for each church. But before we come to that we have one more element to look at.

His face brings to mind the image at the end of the book of Revelation and reminds us of that classic encounter Moses had with God. Desperately asking to see the face of God Moses was told “You can only see my back.” The backside of light is the afterglow. Here John sees something similar but with a different outcome. What comes to my mind are the words describing Jesus Christ’s face shining like the sun in all of its brilliance. That word picture takes us to the closing chapter of Revelation and the consummation of it all.

And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.

Revelation 21:23

John has the same reaction as Ezekiel. It is like John has just been reading Ezekiel on Patmos before seeing these visions. Like Ezekiel, he fell face down. This is the appropriate response to being confronted with the face of Messiah or God. Many prophets and disciples have fallen at the feet of Christ or the Angel of the LORD, yet John had an experience similar to Daniel (10;10,18).

But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

Revelation 1:17-18

The human race crave the experience of awe & wonder. And there is no reality more breathtaking than Jesus Christ.

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There is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history.

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The most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ.

Brennan Manning

Don’t let Jesus Christ be your stumbling block; make Him YOUR Cornerstone.

 Ian