Revelation 1:9-20
9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. 19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. 20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
The book begins with the Son of Man speaking to John on the island of his exile for the faith in Jesus Christ on the Lord’s Day. He wrote to an audience of fellow believers and one who shared in the sufferings as well as patience for the gospel of the coming kingdom of God in the testimony of Jesus the Christ. On this day, he heard a trumpeting voice announcing that He was the I AM, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the one who is firstborn from the dead! He already said this in verse 8 where Jesus also called Himself the ever-existing Almighty, the I AM of Exodus 3:14 who is God the LORD. Jesus the divine LORD now spoke to His servant John to observe all he would be told and shown so that he could record it all in his limited understanding and send to the seven churches of the time and of all time to come. When John turned to see who spoke to him, he observed the most awesome and wonderful vision of all, the Son of Man standing among the seven lampstands representing the seven churches he would be writing to. The overwhelmingly bright image of the Lord before him was of a man in a robe with a gold sash and having pure white head and hair with fiery eyes and oven-purified brass feet. The Lord spoke with a voice as if many voices of a bubbling brook (Ezekiel 43:2) as He held seven stars which were the seven angels of the churches and glowed like the sun as His tongue was seen like a sharp two-edged sword (Isaiah 49:2, Hebrews 4:12, Revelation 19:15) which is the word of God He uses to judge the world (Psalm 9:8, Acts 17:31) in righteousness. Of course, the only reaction John or any of us in his position could have was to fall prostrate on the earth in complete worship and realization of his sinfulness in the presence of the Holy One! The Lord then comforted him and told him to rise and fear not because of who He was as the ever-existing God who was the first (Colossians 1:15-16, 18) of all creation because all was made through Him and is the Last (Isaiah 48:12-13) because He will judge the world and keep all given Him in eternal life after judgment. He reminded John that Jesus was dead as the Son of Man in the flesh and and lives forever as the Son of God in power and authority. He alone has the keys to release us from sin’s imprisonment of bondage through atoning grace earned by His propitiating lifeblood on the cross of our curse (Galatians 3:13) laid upon us all by our universal inheritance of sin through Adam. He alone has the keys to release us from that sentence of judgment from Hades and from Death itself in spiritual and bodily forms. After assuring John of His person and work, the Lord then commanded the aged apostle to write down all he would see, both as things were described as present and the future events to unfold over time. Such is the beginning of the mysteries to come in the ongoing unveiling of history climaxing in His final judgment and bringing His throne to rule for a new earth in His kingdom to come () in the universe remade apart from the presence of sin! We have this record to guide us through it all until we see Him face to face at last (Job 19:25-27, Revelation 22:4). This is a book of ultimate hope come to fruition at last in seeing the Son of Man.
No comments:
Post a Comment