Revelation – Chapter One VII

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“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” (Revelation 1:13).Our text from Revelation 1:13 recalls Jesus’ message from the New Testament Gospel of Matthew: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). However, we should notice that this passage identifies the speaker as someone who was “like unto the son of man” (KJV). Since “Son of Man” was one of Jesus’ favorite self-designations, why didn’t our author definitively identify Him as such?

We might find the answer to that question in the verses that follow…

“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” (Revelation 1:14-16).Before we continue, let’s reflect on the qualities that define Jesus from this passage….

• He had a golden sash around his chest.
• His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow.
• His eyes were like blazing fire.
• His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace.
• His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
• In his right hand, he held seven stars.
• Out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.
• His face was like the sun “…shining in all its brilliance” (NIV).

This was Jesus, but He was not like the person who called John to serve as His disciple many decades earlier. This helps explain John’s use of a qualifier here in Revelation 1:13. He was like the Son of Man John once knew, but now, John saw Him as much, much more.

“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” (Revelation 1:17-18).

While some erroneously consider Satan to be the “keeper” of death and Hades, this passage identifies the one who actually possesses those keys. Therefore, we would be well-advised to make our peace with Christ, for He is the one who says, “I hold in my hand the keys of death and the grave” (Phillips).