April 23rd, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

On Wednesday, we started looking at a description of Jesus in all His glory – the only description we have of Jesus!  It is a stunning, beautiful, meaningful portrait – so today let’s look at it some more, shall we?

His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace (1:15)

• In ancient times, a king’s feet symbolized authority [see Psalm 45:5].  The fact that Jesus’ feet are red-hot shows His authority to judge and discipline.  [See Hebrews 12:5-10]

His voice was like the sound of many waters (1:15)

• We discussed this in “When God Speaks… Listen.”

In His right hand He held seven stars (1:16)

• Jesus Himself decodes this for us in 1:20 – The 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.
• We will discuss this more through chapters 2 and 3, but we clearly see that Jesus is the Lord of the Church!  He is aware, He is active, He is guiding His church.

Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword (1:16)

• In the Jamison, Fausset, Brown commentary, they make the following observation:   His WORD is omnipotent in executing His will in punishing sinners. It is the sword of His Spirit. Reproof and punishment, rather than its converting winning power, is the prominent point. Still, as He encourages the churches, as well as threatens, the former quality of the Word is not excluded. Its two edges (back and front) may allude to its double efficacy, condemning some, converting others.
• It is interesting to me that the mention of the sword coming out of His mouth is in the same verse as the observation that the seven stars are in His right hand.  Again, as we move through chapters two and three, we will see Jesus in a role of righteous evaluation, warning, and judgment of His church.  He will reprove error, condemn those who are arrogantly in rebellion against Him, encourage those who have stood fast.

His face was like the sun shining in its strength (1:16)

• This reminds me of Exodus 34:29-35, when Moses would veil His face after talking to God because His face was radiant and the people were afraid to come near him!  The glory of God’s presence was reflecting off of Moses!

Just like we said in the first post on this passage, this is not a soft and fluffy Jesus. Jesus does love His people and He walks with us through whatever comes our way.  But He is the victorious, ruling King who will discipline and judge.  He will purify and reprove His people.  He will judge those who claim to be His but are not.

His glory is radiant.

Ponder this… and then consider: how does taking a closer look at this description of Jesus deepen the meaning of verse 17 for you?

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.

So tell me:

Does John’s reaction make sense to you?  How can we keep balance in our intimacy with Jesus, comfort with Him, boldness to approach His throne and the reverent fear we should have in His presence?

Revelation just keeps getting better as we go on!  I hope you will consider subscribing in a reader or by email so you don’t miss a thing!

Art used (with permission) by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her “Revelation Illustrated” site,  http://revelationillustrated.com.

April 22nd, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Image from wikipedia

The other day I was watching the birds at my bird feeder.  Actually, the birds under my bird feeder.

Just that morning I had gone out and filled up the feeder and even hung up two different seed bells/ blocks.  Added to the block of suet already out there, there was plenty for our bird friends to choose from!

I sat and watched as a few birds pecked at the ground, trying to find uneaten sunflower seeds.  They seemed oblivious of the buffet of seed above them.  I wanted to go outside and say, “birds!  You have all the seed you need RIGHT HERE.  Just look up!”

I wondered to myself…

Is this how God feels when we ignore His Word?

When we leave our Bibles closed on the shelf and try to fill the hunger in our souls for the true Bread with leftovers from what others have gleaned?

I don’t know what you’re filling your hunger with today, friend.  Inspirational blogs, Christian books, praise music… even food or twitter… nothing can satisfy your soul like time with the Bread of Life, feasting on the buffet He lays before us!

Don’t forget to look up.

We’ll return to the Revelation series tomorrow – in the meantime, you can catch up on any posts you missed here.  Better yet, read it in your own Bible. :)

April 21st, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Need to catch up on missed posts, or want to bookmark a single page to return to for later reference?  All the Revelation posts are/will be indexed here.

Mentally scan through the Gospel accounts in your mind.  Can you think of any physical descriptions of Jesus that are given?

I can’t.

The only description that comes to mind of His physical appearance is Isaiah 53:2 – “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”

Knowing that God inspired all of His Word and it is without error – both what is included and what is not – I know the lack of description wasn’t an accident!  We’re not supposed to know what Jesus looked like as a man.  If we were, the Gospels would have described Him.

But oh, how we love to try to picture Him.  There are whole galleries of pictures showing how we have attempted to depict Him over the years.  It is fascinating to me how many “images” of Jesus we see… and yet they RARELY (if EVER) reflect the description of Jesus given in Revelation one.  The ONLY description we are given of Jesus within the pages of Scripture.

This description of Jesus is far different from the one that is usually in our minds – for this description is of Jesus in all His glory!  Now let me state: do I know that this is how Jesus will look when we see Him face to face?  No.  This was a vision given to John – each aspect symbolizes something significant.  Personally I’m not expecting to see a sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth when I see Him – that is a symbolic description.

On Monday we began looking at a bigger view of Christ – this description of our Lord in Revelation chapter one enlarges the vision in our minds of the meek and mild Jesus of our flannelgraph days into the ruling Christ in all his glory.  Yesterday we discussed the meaning of how Jesus’ voice is described – today let’s spend a few minutes considering the physical description given of Him in chapter one.

One like a son of man (1:13)

• “Son of man” is both a common description of humanity and of Jesus Himself.  You can see all the uses of this phrase here.
• He still is in his physical, resurrected, glorified body that the disciples saw first hand!

Clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across His breast with a golden girdle (1:13)

• These are priestly garments!  This description parallels the specified garments for the Israelite high priests.  See Exodus 28:4, Leviticus 16:4
• As our high priest, Jesus completely paid the debt of sin we owed – He is a merciful and faithful high priest!  (Hebrews 2:17-18)

His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow (1:14)

• Yesterday I mentioned that the description of Jesus’ voice was the first of several clear parallels to Old Testament passages which describe God.  This is the second!
• Daniel 7:9 “…the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.”

His eyes were like a flame of fire (1:14)

• Jesus’ gaze is revealing, penetrating.  NOTHING is hidden from His sight.  See Matthew 10:26, Hebrews 4:13

Jesus is fully God, fully man.  The one who suffered as we do, triumphed over sin, and has become our ultimate High Priest.  He is the omniscient God – and nothing is hidden from His sight.  All will be laid bare.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the rest of this description, and particularly what this tells us as the Church.

Tremble before Him, sisters in Christ.  While we are fully forgiven and deeply loved, He is worthy to reign.  And He will judge His Church.

Revelation just keeps getting better as we go on!  I hope you will consider subscribing in a reader or by email so you don’t miss a thing!

Art used (with permission) by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her “Revelation Illustrated” site,  http://revelationillustrated.com.

April 20th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

I have a small voice.  I have trouble getting the attention of a large group of people.  When I speak in public or lead Bible studies I have to concentrate on speaking loud enough to be heard.  Sometimes I wonder if I still sound like a child on the phone… and then hear a voicemail message and the fear is confirmed. ;)  My voice just does not command attention and convey authority.

In Revelation 1, Jesus’ voice is just the opposite.

In 1:10, John remarks that he heard “a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.”

In Exodus, the sound of a trumpet was heard before God would speak to Moses and/or the Israelites.  (see Exodus 19 and 20).  In the battle against Jericho, God commanded the Israelites to attack the huge city walls in faith… at the sound of their shouts and the sounding of the trumpets, He would knock the walls down.  (see Joshua 6).  Trumpets would be sounded before the ark of the covenant. (2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 15).

Over and over again trumpets are associated with the presence of God, with God’s victory over His enemies and salvation of His people, with the arrival of the Day of the Lord.  The sound of the trumpet most definitely meant: PAY ATTENTION.

In these opening paragraphs of Revelation His voice gives us a taste of what is to come: God is present, active, and preparing to reclaim what is rightfully His!

In 1:15 he adds, “His voice was like the sound of many waters.”

Notice Ezekiel 43:2:

Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.

This description of Jesus’ voice is the first of many parallels we will see between the Jesus of Revelation and descriptions of God given in the Old Testament.

If you’ve ever wondered deep down, “was Jesus really God?”… I think Revelation clears the issue up completely.  He really was.  He really is.

And when He speaks, listen.

Revelation just keeps getting better as we go on!  I hope you will consider subscribing in a readeror by email so you don’t miss a thing!

Art used (with permission) by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her “Revelation Illustrated” site,  http://revelationillustrated.com.