Then I Turned to See
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I saw
I saw
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.
As we continue through the book of Revelation, we are given an assurance “Do not be afraid”.
The believer shall not go through the judgement as the wrath of God has been poured out on Christ so that we may now appropriate the righteousness of Him unto our lives!
Now before we leave this opening section, I want to take this week to look at the one of whom this letter highlights, Jesus Christ
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
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.
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;
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.
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.
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.
Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
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 first real description of Christ in the Bible
“Like the Son of Man” - an important description
The first use of this phrase is to describe man the creation
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
This description contrasts the reality of God vs the reality of fallen man
In Psalms agin we find the phrase:
What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
Again Hebrews
But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Here we see the incarnation of Christ into the stream of humanity!
Remember the description of Jesus in the beginning of the letter?
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
“The faithful witness” reveling the Father to fallen man
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
And the description of John
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.
We clearly see the unity of the message !
And why was it important that Jesus was seen as the “Son of man?
Again we turn to the Scriptures
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Death was the prison from which none could escape!
But we are told that He did!
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Paul wrote:
Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
It is the one in he same Jesus Christ that is now seated at the right hand of the Father waiting to redeem His purchase
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
This is why he encourages John after he sees Him to “fear not”! Now no need to fear God’s wrath and judgement for He has born our sins upon Himself and set the captive free!
He was clothed with a garment -
Agin we look to the workings of the temple of God
The priest was to dress symbolically after the ceremony of washing!
And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.
The Robe - Pure whits symbolizing purity and righteousness
“And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.
Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod.
Now we see the picture of the need to be cleansed before coming to the presence of God
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Paul told us that
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
The priest donned the robe of white symbolizing his ritual cleansing and then placed the breastplate over his chest carrying the names of the people of God into His presence based upon the sacrifices that were made prior to his entry
That practice was the foreshadowing of the coming sacrifice that would be the one to cleans and not just cover the sins of the people!
and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Forever and ever! No more need for the daily sacrifices, we are now clothed with the righteousness of Christ, washed by His precious blood, renewing our minds daily by the washing of His Word to prove the will of God in our lives!
That is exciting!
The problem was that soon, people would turn the symbolism of it all into a system of segregation establishing a worldly priesthood and separating man from God once again!
I hope that you can see and appreciate that the book of Revelation is more than just a prediction of the future!
Yes, we see events that are yet to take place, but it contains the entire revelation of the Scriptures!
It is important that we are assured that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!
We will not meek a gas cloud or alien looking being when we reach our final home but rather we see Him whom they have pierced and the wounds in His hands, feet and side, reminding us of the terrible price He paid and most likely fall to our faces and hear those words “fear not My child for My love has covered a multitude of your sins”