Will You Turn To See Jesus? Part 1 (Revelation 1:12-16)

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Will You Turn To See Jesus? Part 1 (Revelation 1:12-16) 

GIST:  We need to see Jesus for who He is: powerful, compassionate… bigger, better, and brighter than everything. 

Today, we’re continuing our journey through the book of Revelation. As advertised last week ☺️, we’re coming to the first of the more challenging visions. Last week, we saw that John is worshiping while exiled on the island of Patmos and hears a voice like a trumpet: clear and unmistakable. Here’s what happens next→ 

“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.”

It is easy to get lost in the imagery here (and we’re not even going to try and go through all of it this morning!). My prayer is that we’re able to leave our discussion today less focused on interpreting the details of this picture and more focused on remembering we serve this amazing Savior. Let’s pray as we walk through this text that our hearts are drawn to understand more about this Jesus who loves us and guides all those who are following after Him, and that we don’t miss this incredible opportunity by trying to conquer these words. Here’s our gist: We need to see Jesus for who He is: powerful, compassionate… bigger, better, and brighter than everything. Let’s dive in→ 

I. WE NEED TO SEE JESUS

Heard The Voice, And Turned To See.  Verse 12 starts by saying, “12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me…”. It’s important not to miss the expectation in this verse. John heard a voice like a powerful trumpet, and he turned to see the voice. He expected to be able to see the voice because Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is God’s message and purpose to us. 

Now, when he turned though, he didn’t see the voice at first. The verse says “and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands…” Here’s our first picture, and what it reminds us is that→ 

We Need To See Jesus. I want to emphasize the “we” because, like last week, this verse zeroes in on the importance of the Church to Jesus. There is a lot of speculation attached to many of the images in Revelation, so it is often dangerous to say this is 100% the only thing being pictured here. That’s not the case with this picture though, because… John interprets it for us in verse 20 “20 As for the mystery of ... the seven golden lampstands, ... [they] are the seven churches.” We mentioned this before, the seven churches represent the whole body of Christ. 

So, the first vision John sees is one of the churches portrayed as golden lampstands. Gold is both precious and refinable. And the church is both refined by Jesus and precious to Him. Lampstands are a really neat picture of what the church (what we’re) meant to be because they were designed to display light, but they can’t produce it (Gill). Light has to be put into them for them to accomplish their designed purpose. Do you see the awesome parallel here? We are designed to shine God's light! He puts that light in us. We don’t somehow conjure it. I love Matthew 5:14-16, “14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This is our purpose. This is the purpose of the church. That’s why it’s so vital that we come together to shine His light all the brighter to each other and the world! Moreover→ 

Jesus Is In The Midst Of The Churches. Look at verse 13. “13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man…”.  This designation “son of man” is used throughout Scripture. It’s first seen in the book of Daniel, which is referenced several times in Revelation.  We see it in Daniel 7:13a, "and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man...". In Daniel, this is part of a "messianic prophecy" (a prophecy about the Messiah, Jesus). Interestingly, this was also Jesus' preferred self-designation. In fact, when I did a quick search, I found this term is used over 8o times in the New Testament. Only 4 of those were not in one of the Gospels (including this one) and, of those found in the Gospels, only 2 others weren’t direct quotes from Jesus! So… I feel like we can be pretty confident this speaker is Jesus. ☺️ 

Notice also God’s design: Jesus is in the midst of the churches. He still is. He works and moves amongst His people. I know I said this last week, but it’s in the text again, so I can’t ignore it. Worshiping and serving together as the body of Christ is so vital to living the Christian life. We can’t neglect this! We are meant to be walking through life together. We are meant to grow closer to Him together. We need Jesus, and we need to see Jesus→ 

II. FOR WHO HE IS

I feel like I need to make a disclaimer here. We’re going to break down the cultural context of this imagery just a bit. John was steeped in the Old Testament, so he draws on those visuals to try to describe what He sees. In fact, check out that whole Daniel 7 passage, and you’ll see some major similarities.

Nonetheless, I don’t want to be dogmatic about any of these images and miss the bigger picture. Again, this is not about decoding. We can look at the symbolism as it would have been understood by the early church to the best of our ability, but it’s most important not to miss the central message: Jesus is incredible! This is our king. This is our savior. This is the one who died for you and is standing with you in the midst of the broken world. There are things we can learn from diving into this imagery, but the bird’s-eye-view isn’t less spectacular—Jesus is powerful and compassionate. 

Too often we have a view of Jesus in mind that needs shaken a bit. A few weeks ago I quoted See The Strange: The Gospel According to Revelation which pointed out that sometimes we can become so familiar with people and places we love that we miss out on their beauty. It often takes seeing them in an unfamiliar light to really appreciate how precious they are. That’s what I don’t want us to miss about this picture of Jesus. We can talk about the implications of this imagery, but if we’re doing that with the primary purpose of “explaining away” this picture, we’ll miss the main point→ Jesus is more powerful and beautiful and wonderful than we think. Or, as I put it in the gist, He’s bigger, better, and brighter than everything. 

There is a lot to chew on here, so let’s break down the first few images this morning. Then, we’ll tackle the rest in “part 2” next week. First, He’s depicted as the→ 

Sovereign God. In Daniel 7, the “one like a son of man…” was given ultimate authority. In fact, just look at 7:14: “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” 

We also see him as→ 

Priest & King. He is “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.”  This clothing has been compared to the garb worn by both a king and a high priest. And while high priest might be more in view here, Jesus functions in both roles. He rules and He intercedes in our place. This makes me think of Hebrews 7:26-28, “26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”

He is→ 

Holy and Pure. “14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.” Now, this might seem odd. Why is Jesus portrayed with white hair? Is He aging? Nope. Let's look at a few more passages real quick. I know we’re quoting a lot of Scripture this morning, but this is the context John was in.

Daniel 7:9a  “9 As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool…”

Isaiah 1:18 “18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Matthew 17:2 “2 And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.”

This points to Jesus as the Ancient of Days, as the eternal God. However, I think also in view here is His purity. Remember, He is the stainless Lamb of God! Pure is what He is and what He makes us through His incredible sacrifice in our place.

There is more in this picture, but that was a lot for this morning, so let’s hit this quick reviewing→ 

TAKEAWAY

We—as the Church (Body of Christ)—need to see Jesus—our incredible & loving Savior—for who He is: powerful, compassionate… bigger, better, and brighter than everything. 

Do you?