The first
thing said about Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation connects him to the revelation
which “God gave him to show his servants” (1:1). In verse 5 Jesus Christ is
more fully introduced as “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead,
and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
What we should
know about Jesus Christ even before we start reading the book is that he is the
one “who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made
us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father.” (1:5-6).
The one to
whom we look now, ascribing glory and dominion to him, is the one “every eye
will see” and all over the earth people will wail on account of him when he is
revealed to everyone for who he is (1:7).
He is the one
in whom Christians at present share both “the persecution and the kingdom”
along with “the patient endurance” required in these days (1:9). The day named
in his honour “the Lord’s day” (1:10) links us weekly to the day in the past
when he became “the firstborn of the dead”.
While he is
the coming one, he is also present, in the midst of the seven churches
(lampstands) that represent the people of God.
and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force. (Revelation 1:13-16)
John says, he “fell
at his feet as though dead” upon seeing Jesus but was assured not to be afraid,
I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18)
A list of attributes
does not do justice to the portrait but it can help us see which different
facets are and are not highlighted for the different churches and what features are added:
the faithful witness --> Laodicea (able to testify to the true situation), cf. Philadelphia “the true one”
the firstborn of the dead, cf. below Smyrna
the ruler of the kings of the earth
in the midst of the lampstands --> Ephesus (cf. the threat of lampstand being removed)
clothed with a long robe and with a golden
sash across his chest.
his head and his hair white as white wool,
white as snow;
his eyes like a flame of fire --> Thyatira (cf. "I am the one who searches minds and hearts")
his feet like burnished bronze, refined as in
a furnace --> Thyatira (cf. need to be purified of false practices)
his voice like the sound of many waters, cf. "These are the words..." which opens each message
in his right hand he held seven stars --> Ephesus, Sardis (emphasis on being able to see behind a façade?)
from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword --> Pergamum (cf. presence of false teaching)
his face was like the sun shining with full
force *
“I am the first and the last, and
the living one” --> Smyrna
“I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and
ever” --> Smyrna (cf. "be faithful until death")
“I have the keys of Death and of Hades” --> cf. Philadelphia: the one “who has the key of David, who opens and
no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” and who has set before the church in Philadelphia an "open door which no one is able to shut".
To the angel
of the church in Sardis Jesus is presented as the one “who has the seven
spirits of God” (cf. 1:4) as well as “the seven stars” and to the angel of the
church in Philadelphia Jesus is introduced as “the holy one, the true
one” not dissimilar to the presentation to Laodicea where Jesus is also designated
“the origin of God's creation”.
* "The most prominent impression from the Son of Man vision in Revelation 1 is of a great effusion of light, a dazzling incandescence. Light cascades from that image in great force and quantity, and floods the churches. It is the first-day light of Genesis, and the light that enlightens very person who comes into the world. The light does two things: it shows what is good and therefore to be celebrated in the light; it exposes what is sinful to the healing warmth of the light. The light reveals and heals."
Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John & the Praying Imagination (HarperCollins, 1988), 50.
The churches are lampstands; "places, locations, where the light of Christ is shown." (54)
