12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Dig Deeper
Years ago I was able to go see the President of the United States speak in my hometown. I was with my father and son and we all waited for him to come out which turned out to be a much longer proposition than we expected. Before he came out to speak, an important local politician came out and gave him an introduction. He mentioned all of the great things that the President had done, and even alluded to the fact that he was, in fact, the most powerful man in the world. Now that everyone in the room had a proper understanding of who we were about to listen to, the President himself came out on stage.
In a sense, this is what John is doing here. Jesus Christ is about to address His people directly, but before doing so, John sets the stage to ensure that we all know exactly who is speaking. The physical description and titles that he gives to Jesus make it very clear that we are talking about much more than just the ‘most powerful man in the world’. John is setting the stage for the very God of the universe to speak, and when God speaks, we had better sit up and pay attention.
1:12-15 - John clearly uses imagery from the tabernacle here, with one difference. Whereas the tabernacle had one lampstand with seven lamps; John describes seven lampstands. The imagery is clear that Jesus is the one person that unites the seven lamps (each which turns out to be a lampstand itself). The church is an earthly shadow of heaven which Jesus holds together and walks around in.
The description of Jesus given in verses 13-16 makes more sense when considered in light of passages like Daniel 7:13-14 and Daniel 10:5-11. His garb is reminiscent of the clothes of the high priest (Ex. 28:4; 29:5; 39:27-29; Lev. 16:4). The impression given by the vision of Christ here is that of fiery light. Many have used this passage to claim that Jesus is a black man due to the references of his hair being like wool and feet being bronze colored. This is a violent misreading of the passage. John’s point in mentioning wool is that His hair color was as white as wool, he is not referring to the texture. The term for bronze here possibly refers to an alloy of gold and silver (Mal. 3:2-3). The point of John’s description is that the appearance of Christ is a brilliant blaze of glory.
The statement that His voice was like the sound of rushing waters, identifies it with the sound of the glory cloud, a familiar sound throughout the Old Testament. It is a sound that is described through the terms of many earthly phenomenon: wind, thunder, trumpets, armies, chariots, and waterfalls (Ex. 19:16; Ezek. 1:24, etc.). The overall point of this description is rather plain when all the imagery is taken into account. Jesus, now resurrected and transfigured, is the incarnate glory of God.
1:16 - The seven stars are explained more fully in verse 20, but its worthy mentioning here that this would havelikely brought forth thoughts of Pleiades for the original readers. Seven stars make up the cluster of stars known as Pleiades. They form part of the constellation Taurus, and are mentioned several times in Scripture (Job 9:5-9; 38:31-33; Amos 5:8). The sun is with Taurus in Spring and was a fitting symbol (that of rebirth and resurrection) in connection with the coming of Christ. Thus, He is pictured holding in His hand the stars that announced the rebirth and flowering of the world each spring. Another common first century imagery for the seven stars was the fact that they appeared regularly on the Emperor’s coins as symbols of his supreme political sovereignty. This, then, is strong anti-Emperor imagery. The symbol of Christ holding seven stars in His hand would have been a strong and obvious statement to first century readers that it was Christ who had the real dominion through the church, not the Emperor or Rome. Out of his mouth, John describes a double-edged sword. The point is that, although they will face opposition, Christ is clearly on the offensive. He is ready to do battle for His dominion rights. The imagery here is taken from Isa. 11:4; He will be victorious over the nations with His sharp and powerful two-edged sword, His Word (Heb. 4:12).
1:17-20 - John’s reaction to seeing Christ is similar to Daniel’s (Daniel 1 0:9-11). Fear is a normal first reaction but Christ tells him not to fear. The presence of God is often depicted in dual terms of striking fear in His enemies but a source of comfort for His people (Hab. 3:10-13). Jesus tells John that He is the First and Last (Isa. 48:12). Again he uses another Old Testament title for God. Jesus also informs him that He has defeated death. The Roman Empire claimed to have all authority over life and death, but Jesus declares that it is He who holds the keys to that power. Holding the keys was the symbol of authority over something in the first century.
John is then told to write what he has seen (the vision of Christ), what is now (more correctly "what they are", i.e., what they signify or correspond to), and the things that will take place later. The seven stars, John is told, correspond to the angels of the seven churches. Both angels and stars are associated with government and rule in biblical symbolism (Gen. 37:9; Judg. 5:20; Dan. 8:9-11; 10:13, 20-21). Thus, the point is the seven stars, the constellation (Pleiades) of resurrection and dominion, are the angels, which correspond to the government or responsibility of the Church. The seven churches mentioned are both specific and universal images as mentioned earlier.
Devotioinal Thought
John’s first reaction to the presence of Jesus is that of fear. He falls down as though He is dead. Do you have the same type of reverence for Christ when you enter His presence to worship? What can you do to worship God with the proper perspective each Lord’s Day?
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