Facing Jesus

Revelation 1:15-18

His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Revelation is not about the seven candlesticks, churches, nor even the stars and the Spirit of God but about a knowledge of God himself. The churches are but an imperfect reflection of him. Every quality he praises in the church is seen in himself. This passage proves his unalienable right by position to judge the church. He endured to the point of death and beyond to rise again and pave the way for the church's redemption. This idea of redemption here is a buying back as it were from someone or something powerful. Ephesians 5:25 speaks how Christ "loved the church and gave himself up for her." He who died and now lives forevermore under his own authority and power is his claim, credential, and title to being who he says he is. He is God's Son and the world's ultimate Judge. The one who suffered and whose life was taken, now has the authority to judge those of the whole world.

When 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.

Those who rejected Christ, he now rejects them. Those who love him are adopted and become his family. The keys to death and hell are his alone. The one whom the world called nothing, a madman, and a liar now has all power and authority. What has been done to him gives him the right. He does not have to assert his authority. His presence and credentials prove his claim. He does not demand worship as does the evil one. His presence alone invokes it. His power and position do not affect him as they did Satan. He could easily have a complex of some sort, either of grandiosity or superiority, yet he remains the same. His feet are as one burned in the fire: refined yet not consumed. His response to the church's prayers, trials, suffering, riches, or success are Christ alone. He does not give based on merit or worth; he rewards all equally because of a relationship with him in Revelation 20:15. The first church continued his mission on earth; the mission was not greater than the one who gave it in John 13:16. The second tells the story of a persecuted church whose only possession on earth may have been Christ in the end. The third church followed Christ from a distance in the world but not completely apart. The church's ability to withstand trials is rewarded by Christ as is their reliance on him. The self sufficient church is the one judged by Christ as not his in Revelation 3:17. He is divisive because the truth divides rather than restores. He causes conflict because his presence is without fault. My friends, if ever you meet someone with glowing feet, a voice of many waters, a double-edged sword in his mouth, a radiant face, and feel an overwhelming urge to faint, please do not make the same mistake of misappropriating Deity twice.