Revelation 1 has given us a lot of valuable information so far, both about who Christ is, and how we are to correspond to Him as His people. It has been our task so far to both hear and keep the message (verse 3). There is something to be said about how John has laid out this chapter so far. First, he introduced us to the book as the Revelation of Christ, and we have been charged to both hear and keep its message. He then moved immediately to his firsthand witness of Christ and of His gospel, which undergirds the whole message of Revelation. That is the foundation for all the rest, without which, none of what Revelation says will make any proper sense. He then spoke about Christ’s return, showing us that God Himself guarantees the message of Revelation with His own name and person. After affirming the gospel as the foundation and the inevitability of Christ’s return, John spoke of the partnership that all true believers have as those being partakers of the gospel, as we await Christ’s return. Just as Jesus faced tribulation for God’s kingdom and patiently endured, so we must, in this present life, follow His example. That is part and parcel of the Christian life, and will be true of all genuine believers. Thus, as believers, we are to live according to His example during His earthly life. However, during Jesus’ earthly life, His glory and majesty was hidden from the world. He took on the form of a servant, so that the world could not see Him as He truly is. He has to do this, since He took on the role of the new Adam and the true Israel of God, and, having fulfilled His mission, His humanity was exalted to perfection. The transfiguration was a glimpse of His majesty, and we have a more full description of the Christ that we serve in Revelation 1. So, as we read Revelation 1, we have come to see Jesus for who He is, with unveiled faces, if we are truly His own. What we seldom think about is how Jesus’ heavenly appearance and purity marks the standard: that we can be those worthy to stand in His awesome presence, having lived a life that increasingly corresponds to His own in holiness, endurance, and love. The level of Christ’s glory and majesty is to the utmost height, that extreme trembling—as though dead—cannot be avoided. The same holiness that confronted Moses is even greater for us, since the veil is removed and we can behold Him not as the world sees Him, but as He is in all of His true splendor. Having examined what Christ looks like in glory, we will now examine His words describing Himself. All of Revelation 1 serves to frame His messages to the seven churches, so it is important that we grasp all of this before moving forward.
After giving us a lot of information about who Christ is, both by His gospel and His appearance, John shared about Christ further describing Himself in verses 17-20,
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that 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 are the seven churches.
As mentioned prior, the proper response of any human being to seeing Christ in His majesty is great trembling, as if dead. The humble and low Christ—who came in the form of a servant—is now the exalted and glorified Christ, showing His true form to all. For Jesus to place His right hand upon John showed His favour upon him, even with all of His great majesty and glory. Such are we in Christ. In Christ, we have nothing to be afraid of. Yes, we are to fear the Lord (reverence and awe towards careful obedience to Him), but not be afraid of Him (as if we lack Christ’s righteousness and God’s grace in salvation, which was designed to fit us for the glory of Christ). Verses 17b-18 is very interesting, in that Jesus refers to His two natures: that of God and that of man. For Jesus to call Himself “I am the first and the last” (ἐγώ εἰμι, the divine “I Am”), He is declaring Himself to be the eternal, living God. For Jesus to claim of Himself, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades,” He is describing His exalted humanity. (1) He died for all who would believe in Him, (2) His sinlessness meant that death had no hold on Him, and (3) His being the one true gateway to God means that He alone can permit people to go to either heaven or hell. Christ then again commissions the Apostle John to write to the seven churches. All-in-all, Jesus’ words both fit the description of His appearance, and yet, at the same time, shows that we have access to Him through His gospel. Never before has something like this ever happened since the fall: that we can behold God and live—and more than that. . . have perfect fellowship with His full glory on display.
To help us to grasp the significance of what we have observed from Revelation 1 so far, it is important that we understand how this compares with Moses’ experience of seeing God’s glory, as limited as this was for him. In Exodus, Israel had just sinned against God and broke their covenant with Him. Moses was interceding with God, pleading that He would go with them. Exodus 33:12-23 says,
Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
There is a lot in this passage that helps to convey what our proper attitude and place should be relative to Christ’s glory as the Son of God. Christ’s revelation in glory firstly shows that He knows our name and that we have found favour in His sight (this is inevitable for all true believers, who will persevere and become more and more like Christ). Second, our proper response to God for our whole life is “please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.” That is to be the desire of our hearts, determining the meaning and purpose of our lives. Thankfully for us, we have this in the Bible, His Word for us. Third, given this, God said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” That is what we are promised in Christ Jesus, and His glorious presence will be ever before us, even while we do not behold Him directly (we will do so one day). Just as Moses recognized, life is meaningless and fruitless unless the presence of God goes with us, and His tremendous glory calls for and demands a life given over to Him in its fulness. Fourth, the majestic glory of God in Christ—His presence with us—is what defines us as the distinct people of God. Without God’s presence, we are nothing, and so we are to live to Him in everything—giving up all so as to gain Christ as our most precious and treasured possession. All else can die a thousand deaths, as we kill all in us that opposes this end. Fourth, given this relationship between us (bound in covenant to Christ) and our common aims (to seek Him above all), Christ shows us His glory, but in a greater way than He did Moses. Notice God’s perfect sovereignty, in that He alone chooses who to be merciful and gracious to in this way, fitting them for Himself. While God said to Moses, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live,” Jesus responded to John seeing His glory in Revelation 1:17b, “But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last.” What Moses longed to see—the full glory of God—was hidden from him. However, we can see His glory in its fulness in true and everlasting life. We can see His face and not only live, but correspond to Him intimately as His distinct and holy people. This is very evident in Revelation 1, where Jesus situates Himself—in His full glory—in the midst of the seven churches (representing the whole church), and where He holds the emblems of the churches in His right hand. The gospel of Christ has made it so that we can both be forever in His glorious presence, and become those who properly correspond to Him as His distinct people. So, Christ can tell us to not be afraid, even when in His great and magnificent presence. He can put His right hand upon us—in His most glorious state—and treat us as His friends. This is a drastic change from how people related to God before the revealing of the gospel. As you go through your week, think on these things. This is the Christ that we serve, and we can see how our role is to correspond to Him in holiness, purity, and love. He made a way for us to have this unimaginable relationship with the glorious God, and such ought to be the supreme aim of our lives. All else is as less than nothing—the loss of all things, if not for the presence of Christ, in whom is all value and worth.
Next time we will be looking at Christ’s message to Ephesus.