The Picture Of The Risen Christ

1:14-18 His head and his hair were white, as white as wool, like snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet were like beaten brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice was as the voice of many waters; he had seven stars in his right hand; and out of his mouth there was coming a sharp two-edged sword; and his face was as the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he put his right hand on me and said: "Stop being afraid. I am the first and the last; I am the living one although I was dead, and, behold, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades."

Before we begin to look at this passage in detail, there are two general facts we must note.

(i) It is easy to miss seeing how carefully wrought the Revelation is. It is not a book which was flung together in a hurry; it is a closely integrated and artistic literary whole. In this passage we have a whole series of descriptions of the Risen Christ; and the interesting thing is that each of the letters to the seven Churches, which follow in the next two chapters, with the exception of the letter to Laodicea, opens with a description of the Risen Christ taken from this chapter. It is as if this chapter sounded a series of themes which were later to become the texts for the letters to the Churches. Let us set down the beginning of each of the first six letters and see how it corresponds to the description of the Risen Christ here.

To the angel of the Church in Ephesus, write: The words of him

who holds the seven stars in his right hand ( Revelation 2:1 ).

To the angel of the Church in Smyrna, write: The words of the

first and the last, who died and came to life ( Revelation 2:8 ).

To the angel of the Church in Pergamum, write: The words of

him who has the sharp two-edged sword ( Revelation 2:12 ).

To the angel of the Church in Thyatira, write: The words of the

Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feel

are like burnished bronze ( Revelation 2:18 ).

To the angel of the Church in Sardis, write: The words of him

who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars ( Revelation 3:1 ).

To the angel of the Church in Philadelphia, write: The words of

the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens

and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens ( Revelation 3:7 ).

This is literary craftsmanship of a very high standard.

(ii) The second thing to note is that in this passage John takes titles which in the Old Testament are descriptions of God and applies them to the Risen Christ.

His head and his hair were white, as white wool, like snow.

In Daniel 7:9 that is a description of the Ancient of Days.

His voice was as the sound of many waters.

In Ezekiel 43:2 that is a description of God's own voice.

He had the seven stars in his hand.

In the Old Testament it is God himself who controls the stars. It is God's question to Job: "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?" ( Job 38:31 ).

I am the first and the last.

Isaiah hears the voice of God saying: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no God" ( Isaiah 44:6 ; compare Isaiah 48:12 ).

I am the living one.

In the Old Testament God is characteristically "the living God" ( Joshua 3:10 ; Psalms 42:2 ; Hosea 1:10 ).

I have the keys of death and of Hades.

The Rabbis had a saying that there were three keys which belonged to God and which he would share with no other--of birth, rain and raising the dead.

Nothing could better show the reverence in which John holds Jesus Christ. He holds him so high that he can give him nothing less than the titles which in the Old Testament belong to God.

The highest place that heaven affords

Is his, is his by right,

The King of kings, and Lord of lords,

And heaven's eternal Light.