How many of you have ever seen a portrait of Jesus? [Pause for response]. For those of you who raised your hands, I’m assuming that you’re referring to a depiction of Jesus that might look something like this. [Show painting of Jesus]. Would you be surprised to find that in the first sixty-five books of the
Bible, we actually have no description of the physical appearance of Jesus whatsoever. About the closest we get are these words from the prophet Isaiah:
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 53:2 (ESV)
That doesn’t tell us a whole lot about what Jesus looks like does it? Not even the gospel accounts reveal anything about the physical appearance of Jesus. So all the portraits we have of Jesus are merely the artist’s guess of what He might have looked like. And not surprisingly, most of those portraits portray Jesus in a way that fits the cultural and ethnic background of the artist.
But as I pointed out last week, the Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus, and for the first time in the Bible, we are given a portrait of Jesus. In fact, Revelation is bookended with portraits of Jesus – the one we’ll look at this morning in chapter 1 and then the one we’ll see in Revelation 19. So let’s go ahead and read our passage for this morning:
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
THE SETTING (vv. 9-11)
If you wanted to paint or photograph a portrait of a person or a family, one of the most important aspects of that portrait would be to establish the proper setting. So before we examine the portrait of Jesus this morning, we need to take a step back and look at the setting for this portrait.
• The artist – John ?
It is really interesting how John identifies himself here. He doesn’t depict himself as an apostle, or as an eyewitness of Jesus, but merely as a brother and a partner with all of the other believers. This really puts to rest the notion of some kind of clergy/laity hierarchy in the church. Although Dana and I may have a different role than the rest of you, we too, are merely your brothers and partners.
John uses another triplet to describe the nature of his partnership with his brothers and sisters in Christ:
o The tribulation
Since the article, “the”, is included here, John is referring to some specific tribulation. Most likely it is the persecution that the church is experiencing under the Roman emperor Domitian.
o The kingdom
As we’ve discussed before, the kingdom of God has both a present and a future aspect to it. John is obviously writing here of the present aspect of the kingdom which he is currently experiencing along with his brothers and sisters in Christ.
o The patient endurance
This Greek word literally means to “remain under” or to “abide under”. It conveys the idea of bearing up under pressure, regardless of the length or intensity.
Together, those three characteristics described what it meant to be part of the body of those who had committed their lives to Jesus. And it remains an accurate picture of what we can expect to face as followers of Jesus. Jesus promised His followers that they would face tribulation in this world, but he also promised them that they are part of His kingdom and that He will provide the patient endurance that is required. Once again, we are reminded of the box art for our journey through Revelation:
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (ESV)
Although John certainly appears, at least at first glance, to be the artist here, when we get to verse 11, we find that the true artist is Jesus Himself. For the first of twelve times in the book of Revelation, John is commanded to write what he sees.
• The artist – John? – Jesus
The portrait that we are about to see is actually a self-portrait, painted by Jesus Himself. John is more like an art critic who is merely describing the portrait that Jesus is going to reveal to him.
• The place – the island of Patmos
John is on the small island of Patmos, which was kind of like the Alcatraz of the Roman Empire. It was a rocky, desolate island about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide where prisoners were sent to quarry the marble that was abundant there. Although some commentators conclude that John had gone there on his own to share the gospel with the prisoners, the context of his tribulation and patient endurance make it much more likely that he had been banished there as someone the Romans considered to be a political rabble-rouser.
• The occasion:
o In the Spirit
This is the first of four times that we will see this phrase in the book of Revelation. In each case, John is empowered by the Holy Spirit and taken to an experience that was beyond our normal human senses where God could supernaturally reveal the things that He wanted John to record.
o On the “Lord’s Day”
Although there is certainly not universal agreement on this, I am convinced that the term “Lord’s Day” serves two purposes here.
First, we know from historical records that during this time the Roman officials designated one day a month as “Augustus Day”. Over time, as the Roman emperors began to demand that they be worshipped as deity, these days became to be known as the “Lord’s Day” – a day when the people were to proclaim Caesar as Lord. So it’s likely that there is some sarcasm being used here. Perhaps John was even in exile on Patmos because of his failure to take part in those events and he is pointing out that the real Lord is Jesus, not Caesar.
Although there are those who claim that the use of the phrase “Lord’s Day” is a reference to Sunday as a day of Christian worship, both the Biblical and historical records make that doubtful. First, we know that the early church consisted largely of Jewish Christ-followers like John, who continued to gather for worship on the Sabbath. And the phrase “Lord’s Day” is not used anywhere else in the New Testament to refer to Sunday as a day of worship. Whenever the New Testament writers wanted to refer to Sunday, they consistently just call it the “first day of the week”. And there is clearly no command from either Jesus or any of the other New Testament authors to establish Sunday as a “new” day of worship.
The first recorded references to the phrase “Lord’s Day” being used to describe the day when believers gathered for worship actually occur well after the time when John penned Revelation. Therefore, it seems much more likely that the phrase began to be used that way based on a misunderstanding of the way it is used here in Revelation rather than the possibility that John was using it because it was an already established description of Sunday worship.
So if the “Lord’s day” is not Sunday, what is it? The underlying Greek consists of two words – a noun that is translated “day” and an adjective that means “belonging to the Lord.” It is an unusual construction not found in exactly that form anywhere else in the Bible. But it could also accurately be rendered “the day belonging to the Lord” or merely “the day of the Lord”. Since that is indeed the topic of the entire book of Revelation, that seems to be the most likely reason that John uses the phrase here.
• The audience – the seven churches
For the second time in the introductory verses of the book, we find that the audience for what John is about to write consists of seven specific churches in an area that was known at that time as Asia – present day western Turkey. We know from Biblical and historical records that these were not the only churches in this region. Paul wrote a letter to the church at Colossae, which in the same and there are also Biblical references to congregations in Troas and Heirapolis. So why these seven churches?
There are both practical and theological reasons for directing the book of Revelation to these seven local churches. As you can see from this map, these seven cities are laid out in an almost circular path through the region, which would have facilitated the communication of this message to the believers in the area. There is also evidence that these seven cities were the postal centers for the region, which would have further aided in spreading the words in the book.
The fact that the message is addressed to seven churches also has theological significance. In fact, this is the first of many times we’ll find the number seven throughout Revelation. The number seven is significant because it pictures completeness – like seven days in a complete week. So there is a sense in which the seven churches represent all local churches in all ages. By addressing seven actual churches in the region, Jesus is making the point that while the letters we’ll see in chapters 2 and 3 to the individual churches address specific issues in each local body, the entire book also is relevant to church as a whole. We’ll need to keep that in mind in a couple of weeks when we begin studying the letters to these seven churches.
Now that we’ve examined the setting, we’re ready to look at the portrait of Jesus.
THE PORTRAIT OF JESUS (vv. 12-16)
The beauty of a portrait comes from taking in the entire picture, not focusing on the individual brushstrokes or pixels. So as we look at this portrait of Jesus, I’m going to avoid the tendency to overemphasize the individual details, but rather step back and see if we can see what this portrait reveals about Jesus that is relevant to us. Although almost every element of the portrait can be traced backed to the Old Testament, I’m going to leave that exercise up to each one of you. If you’d like to pursue that further, and I certainly encourage you to do that, almost any Bible that contains cross-references will assist you in that kind of study.
As John turns to see the voice that is speaking to him, the first thing that he sees is “one like a son of man” walking among the seven lampstands. We don’t have to guess what John is seeing, because as we’ll see next week in the last section of chapter 1, the lampstands are identified by Jesus as representing the seven churches. The picture here is unmistakable – Jesus is walking among His churches. And the portrait that He paints of Himself reveals what He is doing in this midst of the churches:
Jesus is among His churches:
• Reconciling
Jesus refers to Himself in verse 13 as “one like a son of man”, no doubt a reference to the way He is described in Daniel 7:
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
Daniel 7:13 (ESV)
That is also the title that Jesus uses most often to refer to Himself in the gospel accounts. That title, “Son of Man”, is an indication of both the human and divine which were joined together in Jesus at His first coming for the purpose of reconciling man to God.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 19:10 (ESV)
So the first part of this portrait reveals to us that Jesus is walking among His churches for the purpose of reconciling man to God through His shed blood.
• Interceding
In the next part of the portrait, Jesus is pictured as “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest”. There can be little doubt that what is pictured here are the garments that were worn by the High Priest. The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as our great high priest:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16 (ESV)
In His role as priest, Jesus is at the right hand of God, constantly interceding on our behalf. (Romans 8:34)
• Purifying
John goes on to describe Jesus as follows: “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace…”
In the book of Daniel, it is the Ancient of Days, God the Father, who is described as having hair that is white like wool and by applying that same description to Jesus here, the deity of Jesus is confirmed. While the white hair certainly represents the wisdom of Jesus, the emphasis on its whiteness is a picture of purity. Later in Revelation, we’ll see believers in white robes, which is a picture of their purity in Jesus.
The eyes of fire also point to the purifying work of Jesus among His churches. Fire is often used as a picture of refining. We saw an example of that just a few weeks ago in Zechariah 13 where God described how He would refine the preserved remnant with fire.
The feet of burnished bronze are also a picture of purification. In the Temple, all the furniture and items used in the sin offering were made of bronze. And once again we see the picture of refining by fire in connection with the feet of bronze.
As we study the letters to the seven churches, we are going to clearly see how Jesus is constantly purifying His bride, the church, just as Paul described in Ephesians:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV)
• Guiding
The next two parts of the portrait both picture Jesus guiding His church:
First, John describes the voice that he hears: “his voice was like the roar of many waters”. Earlier in the passage, John had described the voice of Jesus as being like a trumpet. As we’ll see later in the book of Revelation, the trumpet was used to signal that something important was about to be communicated.
Ezekiel describes the voice of God the Father exactly the same way the voice of Jesus is described here – like the roar of many waters. The picture here is that this is a booming authoritative voice. Jesus is speaking with authority to His church.
The next part of the portrait shows Jesus like this: “In his right hand he held seven stars…” Again, we don’t have guess about what this means. Next week we’ll see that Jesus reveals that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Since the right hand is the hand of authority, the idea here is that the seven churches are firmly under the authority of Jesus. He didn’t just initiate the church and then leave it on its own. Jesus is still actively guiding His church, primarily through His authoritative word.
• Protecting
The next element of the portrait of Jesus shows that “from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword”. The sword that is pictured here is the large double edged broadsword. We’ll see this again later in the book as the instrument of Jesus’ judgment against those who would come against His church.
Although the church has faced tremendous persecution through the ages, Jesus is right in the midst of the church, faithfully protecting it. We’re reminded here of the words of Jesus:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 (ESV)
• Shining
The last aspect of the portrait in this section is this: “his face was like the sun shining in full strength”. We’re going to look at this in some more detail next week, but the picture here is twofold. Jesus shines on His church and He also shines through His church. The lampstands, which represent the churches, don’t give off their own light; they merely reflect the light from the lamp, Jesus. That’s exactly what Paul had in mind in his benediction at the end of Ephesians 3:
…to him [Jesus] be glory in the church…
Ephesians 3:21 (ESV)
The portrait of Jesus here in Revelation 1 is certainly a lot different than the way I think most people tend to see Jesus in their minds. Frankly most of us are a lot more comfortable with seeing Jesus the way He is pictured in these kind of familiar pictures [Show pictures of Jesus] rather than the way He is portrayed here in Revelation. But there is no doubt that John’s vision is a much more accurate portrait of Jesus and what He is doing right now.
APPLICATION
I really struggled this week with how to apply this passage to our lives. In a general sense, the application is that we are to think of Jesus as He really is and not how we want Him to be. But beyond that, how should our lives be different as a result of what we’ve learned this morning? The words of Jesus answer that question for us:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do…
John 14:12 (ESV)
If we believe in Jesus, then we are to do the works that He does. That principle is certainly demonstrated by the fact that the church is represented by a lampstand that is to reflect the light of Jesus. And the church reflects the light of Jesus by carrying on His works in this world. To be sure, there are some things that only Jesus can do, but many of the activities that we see Him carrying on in the midst of the church are also things that we need to be doing as His followers. In particular, here are a few ways that we can do the works of Jesus.
• I am to do the works of Jesus by:
o Being a minister of reconciliation
Jesus has given His followers the responsibility and privilege of being His ambassadors on this earth for the purpose of making know the message of reconciliation.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (ESV)
A person who is an ambassador for the United States is required to represent the views of our country and communicate those policies to others even if those may not be his or her own personal views. As ambassadors for Jesus, it is His message of reconciliation, and not our own personal wishes, desires and comfort, that is to be the driving force behind all that we do. God has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation and we are to be ministers of that message in the lives of others.
o Being an intercessor
One of our most important functions within the body of Christ is that of intercessory prayer. If you’ve been with us on Thursday nights, you have seen how the idea of intercessory prayer is developed progressively in the Bible. One of the most important principles that we have learned about intercessory prayer is that it requires both words and actions, a principle that is confirmed by Paul in the Book of Galatians:
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (ESV)
As intercessors, we bear the burdens of others, both with our words and our actions, following the example of Jesus. Jesus prayed for His followers, but then He also bore their burdens through His action of dying on the cross.
o Purifying my life
Although Jesus is certainly engaged in purifying the lives of others, our primary responsibility is to purify our own lives. Peter describes the importance of developing holiness in our lives:
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16 (ESV)
The Bible is clear that it is not our own attempts at holiness that make us right with God. However, out of gratitude for what God has done for us, we are to strive to purify our conduct and to live holy lives.
o Making disciples
Just as Jesus is constantly guiding His church, we are to guide others in their walk with Jesus by developing disciples, just as Jesus commanded:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19, 20 (ESV)
Notice that Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not just converts. And the process of making disciples is not just for the pastors and elders – this is a command to every follower of Jesus. Every one of us needs to have someone who is helping us to grow deeper in our faith and then we also need to be helping someone else to grow in their faith.
How do you see Jesus? Do you picture Him like the portrait that is painted here in Revelation as the Almighty God in the midst of His churches – reconciling, interceding, purifying, guiding, protecting and shining? Or have you relegated Jesus to some picture of what you think He ought to be or what you want Him to be? Perhaps you’ve just done that out of ignorance, but now that Jesus has revealed what He is really like, you now have a choice to make. Are you going to hang on to your own portrait of Jesus that really doesn’t require you to change your life at all? Or are you going to accept the portrait of Jesus that we’ve seen in His word today and change your thinking and use that portrait as motivation to do the works of Jesus?
