Read Revelation 1:7–18
Questions from the Scripture text: With what command does Revelation 1:7 begin? What is Jesus Christ going to do? With what? Who will see Him? Especially who? Who will do what because of Him? How does verse 7 affirm/approve this? Who claims to be what eight things in Revelation 1:8? Who speaks in Revelation 1:9? What two things does he call himself toward them? In what three shared ways? Where was he? For what two reasons? What was he “in” (Revelation 1:10)? When? What did he hear? From where? What was it like? What four things did the voice claim to be? What did He command John to do? To whom? What did John do in Revelation 1:12? What did he see? Whom did he see in the midst of them (Revelation 1:13)? How was he dressed? What was His head like (Revelation 1:14)? Hair? Eyes? Feet (Revelation 1:15)? Voice? Right hand? Mouth? Face? How does John respond (Revelation 1:17)? But what does Jesus do to him? And command him? Why—what does Jesus say about Himself (Revelation 1:17-18)? What does He have?
Who is Jesus? Revelation 1:7–18 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twelve verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus is the great King, and faithful prophet, and especially the glorious Priest Who intercedes for us.
Why we need this revelation of Christ. We need to know about Jesus now, because we will look upon Jesus later (Revelation 1:7). He disappeared into a cloud (cf. Acts 1:9), and He is coming with clouds (cf. Matthew 24:30). Every eye will see Him. Your own eye will see Him, dear reader. If John’s response, like Daniel’s (cf. Daniel 10:16–17) is to fall down as dead, then what will the terror and weeping be like of those who were not His, or even who rejected and pierced Him?! We need to know Christ now, and respond to Christ now, before we see Him, then.
Who Christ is. Revelation 1:8 identifies Jesus as being of one nature with the Father (cf. Revelation 1:4, “who is and who was and who is to come”). Furthermore, He is the origin (Alpha) and end/goal (Omega) of all of history. The flesh (and the world, and the devil) tells you to be the hero of your own story. But your life isn’t your story; it’s part of His. And He is the Hero of it.
Jesus is King. He is the Almighty, the all-powerful One. Although His people are in tribulation now (Revelation 1:9), belonging to Him means being patient, because His kingdom is invincibly coming. John knew this; his own exile was worth it, for Christ’s sake.
Jesus is Prophet. The Lord’s Day in Revelation 1:10 is not “the Day of the Lord”; it is one of two places where the root for “Lord” is actually formed as an adjective (the other is 1 Corinthians 11:20). On His day, by His Spirit, He gives His Word, through His apostle to His churches (Revelation 1:11). This He did in the giving of this revelation. This He does every Lord’s Day in the preaching of the Word. He has the seven stars (Revelation 1:16), the preachers from Revelation 1:20, in His hand. And, within their preaching is the sword that proceeds from the mouth of Christ. How careful we ought to be about how we receive faithful preachers and their words!
Jesus is Priest. Here is the emphasis in this passage. The description in Revelation 1:13-15 identifies Jesus as the glorious King of Daniel 7:9–14 and Daniel 10:5–6. From Daniel 7:9 comes the image of the hair white as snow like pure wool. From Daniel 10:5–6 comes the image of the robe with the golden band, the face like lightning, with eyes of fire, feet like burnished bronze, and voice like a multitude. John calls Him “like” the Son of Man because, while He knows Jesus as intimately as any man ever has, even John has never seen Jesus like this. Yet, this Glorious One appears not so much as a King here, but as a Priest.
The scene is familiar from the Old Testament. One of the High Priest’s great duties was the tending of the lamps and the lampstand in the Holy Place (Revelation 1:12-13a, cf. Leviticus 24:1–4). And here is Christ, not just sending the book to the churches, with a letter for each, but He Himself among them and tending carefully to them. How great He is! His purity is communicated in the whiteness of the head/hair, His burning gaze in the flaming eye, His personal glory in the face like the full-shining sun, His Word and its power in the voice like many waters. But what is He doing in all of this glory? Tending the lamps, caring for the churches. Almighty power faithfully, constantly cares for the visible church!
And almighty power cares for His servant. When John falls own as dead, Jesus touches him. He is exhibits His almighty glory not in condemning John but in caring for him. He commands John not to be afraid. Jesus’s resurrection life (Revelation 1:18a) is for John, not against him. Death and Hades are no longer inescapable prisons, because Jesus has the keys, and He has sprung His servant free. What it is to be His servant! Are you one of them, dear reader? It is just right that you should be awed by Christ, humbled as if dead before Him. If you have never been, then how can you think that you know Him? But, it is also just right that you obey His command to put away your fear. Behold Him here, our Priest, applying His glory to our encouragement and liberty.
When have you been most aware of the greatness of Christ’s glory? When have you been humbled and awed, as if dead, before Him? How is His glory actually the solution to every difficulty for you?
Sample prayer: Lord Jesus, we must some day see You in person. But, we have not grappled, as we ought, with the greatness of Your glory. Forgive us for taking Your worship lightly, and Your Word lightly. Forgive us, even, for forgetting that You are exercising Your great glory as our great High Priest, Who cares for Your churches, always living to intercede for us. Grant that by Your Spirit, in Your Word, You would come and lay Your hand upon us, and lift us up out of every fear and trouble, we ask in Your Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song” or TPH381 “Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power”
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