Various Ways the Blessed Lord Is Represented
in Revelation 1
Turn to the first chapter of the Revelation and then turn to the last. In our first chapter, first verse we read: "things which must shortly come to pass," the third verse of the same chapter: "the time is at hand." The last chapter shows how we have it doubled. Verse 6: "These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of His holy prophets sent His angel to shew unto His servant the things which must shortly be done." Verse 10: "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." Thus it begins and thus it closes.
Judgment is the character of the book of Revelation from the first to the last. That is what is at hand; that is what is coming. God showed Pharaoh in Genesis 41 what He was about to do, and God shows us from His Word—this word especially—what He is about to do. So it runs through those seals, trumpets and vials. Yet it is very blessed to find that the book doesn't end with judgment. This book brings before us as no other part of the Word of God eternal results, and the book properly closes with a new heaven and a new earth and the tabernacle of God with men and He dwelling with them. All that follows in the remainder of that chapter and the next is supplementary; but that is the result of the different dreadful courses of judgment that await this world. The years of plenty are drawing now to a close. How long the plenteousness of the grace of God has been proclaimed! How much longer it is going to be proclaimed, He hasn't told us. He has kept that to Himself. We don't think God told Noah his days would be 120 years; He told Noah what He was going to do but not how long before it would come to pass. He told him what to do: build an ark and so on.
May we give a word on the 9th and 10th verses of our chapter, Revelation 1: "I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ"—(It doesn't say "Lord Jesus" here. John seldom uses that, and the "Lord Jesus Christ" but once. With the apostle Paul we get it constantly. It is another line of truth before the Spirit of God.) "Was in the isle called Patmos." How comes that servant of God to be there? His Master hasn't sent him to the isle of Patmos! "For the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." That is what put him in the isle of Patmos. In principle and in spirit there must be more or less of the isle of Patmos with us if we receive the Revelation that John received, an outside place, a place that faithfulness to Christ and the Word of God puts us into. Lot was where God could rescue him and did but not where he could receive communications from God. Abraham was where he cold receive communications from God.
How remarkable too, the introduction here: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." There is an atmosphere of distance. And here the Lord Jesus Christ or Christ as Man, receives from God a communication to show unto His servants. How did He make known that revelation He received to communicate to His servants? "He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John."
Notice how the Persons of the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Ghost—are brought before us. Not "Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ" but "Peace from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come," the eternal One. That eternal One is the One that the Christian knows as his God and Father. "And from the seven Spirits which are before His throne"; that is the Holy Spirit in the completeness of His Being, from Whom judgments are about to proceed. The Holy Spirit is now on earth gathering the church of God, dwelling in and with the saints. He is that other Comforter. All is changed when we come to the book of the Revelation because the seven years of famine are about to begin. What about the third Person? "And from Jesus Christ...the faithful witness." God in all His dealing with man from the first down to the last has had but one faithful witness. The blessed Lord when addressing the church at Laodicea speaks of Himself as "the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."
Verse 10: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Some of God's people are feeling very distinctly and very sorrowfully what we speak of as the desecration of the Lord's day. The Lord's day, the first day of the week, has a wonderful place in the thoughts and ways of God. What a day that was for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit too when God brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, and when the Shepherd Himself arose triumphant over all the power of death and Satan, a mighty Victor! That day has a special place in the Word of God if we spiritually discern it. It would be inconsistent with the truth of Christianity and the heavenly calling of the church to set apart a day by commandment. The way in which God has sanctioned the first day of the week for His people is this: What day of the week did He raise the Lord Jesus from the dead? The first day of the week. It was a wonderful day in the history of God, and in the history of Christ, and in the history of the world! When the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, on what day did He come? The first day of the week. The disciples gathered together to break bread on the first day of the week; and here, on that same day, the apostle is in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and in that state of soul he receives his communication.
We would exhort as to the sacredness of the first day of the week in the sight of God, to each and all of us. We forget it. We have little conception, perhaps, of what that event was for God and His Son when He rose from the dead, the beginning of a new creation. We may remember the time when there was a question as to whether we should refuse the breaking of bread to those who unnecessarily went to work on the Lord's day. The sacredness of that day is very largely lost; but though that may be so with His people, it is not so with God. That day is still sacred to the thoughts of God and ought to be so in the thoughts of His people.
In various ways Christ is presented in this chapter; first, as receiving communication from God. That communication is God introducing His Son into this world as the faithful witness: first begotten from the dead and prince of the kings of the earth. This communication is the fact that God is going to give Christ His earthly inheritance. There is very little about heaven here, and so, the faithful witness, first begotten from the dead and prince of the kings of the earth is coming, but not to receive the church. Before then He will have received the church, and she will long at this time have shared His heavenly home. The marriage of the Lamb and all the blessedness of it will take place in heaven. There is nothing about that here. "Behold, He cometh with clouds," "the faithful witness, and the first-begotten from the dead, and prince of the kings of the earth." "And every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him."
This communication God gave to Christ, to show to His servants things which must shortly come to pass. Perhaps some say, "That was nearly two thousand years ago!" The day of plenty is extended. Let us ask, "According to the ways of God and the truth of God what kind of a world do we live in?" There is a verse that says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." We are in a world, sentence against which has long since been pronounced; a sentence which the blessed God finds no joy in executing. There are those seven vials, seven seals, and seven trumpets. It won't take eighteen hundred years for them to run. God will make a short work of it when once the time comes. "Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."
This world is guilty of an evil work of which it has never repented, the most evil work there ever was or ever will be! It crucified the Son of God. The world has never repented of that and it never will. What it has to bear is the execution of a suspended sentence, a sentence that mercy has suspended. That is the kind of world we live in; it is doomed as sure as the Word of God; a doomed world in which the mercy of God works preparing a people to take out of it, to take them to heaven far beyond the reach of the execution of the sentence under which the world lies. There is one thing most difficult to hold in the soul: that is the character of the world in which we live, and especially that part of the world in which we live.
Here we have a mixture of grace and gospel, neither one thing nor the other. How much there is that hides the truth from our eyes as to what the world really is. Look at the advances in different ways which have been made in the last fifty or sixty years. The effect of all these advances in learning and science is just to hide from poor man's eyes the truth of what the world is, and elevating him in his own estimation. Do any of these advances, achievements, tend to make poor man know what a sinner he is? To make him know more about the God with Whom he has to do? Just the opposite, and we as Christians need to steer clear of it. It is like an intoxicant; it stupifies. Steer clear of it simply by the Word of God and His grace giving us to know from day to day from His Word the reality of what the world is.
The Lord Jesus Christ hasn't given up His claims to the earth, and God hasn't given up His purposes for His Son in giving Him His earthly inheritance. His Name shall be great to the ends of the earth, not by preaching the gospel. When His Name shall be great to the ends of the earth, He shall have come as the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, and prince of the kings of the earth. What solemn truth it is that Christ is coming to take possession of what belongs to Him. That possession was refused Him when He was here, and instead of His getting the crown, He got the cross—a Man of shame crowned with thorns. We live in a world that is guilty of having crowned God's faithful witness with a crown of thorns, guilty of having refused Him His rights and having cast Him out. Go for a moment into the palace of the high priest and see that blessed One as captive, bound and led away. Let us hear the high priest questioning Him: "Art Thou...the Son of the Blessed?" He is put under an oath and now those silent lips are opened; God's honor is in question; He kept silent until adjured. He could not keep silent now. In Leviticus, if any one hears the voice of swearing, he was to utter it. So He says, "Thou hast said: nevertheless" (that is, in spite of My circumstances, in spite of My being at this moment your captive, and at your mercy)..."Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power"; but He doesn't stop there. This world would be very glad if He stayed up there, but He adds, "and coming in the clouds of heaven." When God seated Him at the right hand of power, He said to Him: "Sit Thou on My right hand until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool." That is what God is about to do. He sits on the right hand of power on high waiting in expectation of God's subduing His enemies and giving Him possession of the earth.
"Behold He cometh with clouds." What wailing when He comes in that way. God's faithful witness has been in death for His faithfulness.
This aged servant, John, is sharing his Master's cup for he is in banishment. One says "Happy servant!" Poor world! "For the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." There is no such thing and never has been and never will be in the history of the church of God as being faithful to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and not getting a taste of Patmos. The more faithful we are to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the more we will get of Patmos, but we will get where God can communicate to us. Why is it that we are so dull in our apprehensions of the things of God? Unfaithfulness to the truth and testimony of Jesus Christ produces a state of soul where these things cannot be revealed. That is important to realize.
He has this revelation from God for a purpose: to show unto His servants. Being servants is our character, the Christian character, all through this book, we're never seen in relationship to God as Father here. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Servant here and has His servants.
Verse 1: "And He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant." This faithful and true witness has angels to wait upon Him. He sends and signifies what He wants to make known by His angel unto His servant John.
Verse 7: "Behold, He cometh with clouds"; nothing is secret about it. When He was rejected, He said, "The world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me." The world is going to see Christ, and it is going to see Christ to its utter dismay and confusion when He comes as the faithful witness, first begotten from the dead and prince of the kings of the earth.
Years ago it was observed one evening that people were in doorways and windows looking, and everyone seemed so alarmed. There was one of the most peculiar setting suns ever seen! What consternation was on people's faces! Somehow people got the idea that the end of the world was coming. There is nothing that scares people like the coming of Christ, the truth which is so blessed to Christians. The way in which He will come to receive us to Himself and the way He will come to the earth are quite different.
Further on we get that last course of judgment, trumpets, and the manner in which He comes to earth (the vials run on concurrently, not successively, with the trumpets). See chapter 10:1: "And I saw another angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." That is Christ the second time He is seen in angelic character in this book. "And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth." That open book is prophecy, nothing secret about it. Those prophecies tell of earthly glory. "Setting His feet upon sea and earth" is His taking possession of all represented by sea and earth.
The first time the Lord Jesus is seen in angelic character is in the 8th chapter, where He is seen in gracious intercession for suffering saints.
Revelation 10:5-65And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: (Revelation 10:5‑6): "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer" or "no longer delay." Time will go on, but no delay in His coming in the clouds and every eye seeing Him. How do we know that? "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." That seventh trumpet covers the millenium from beginning to end and goes on to eternity.
What is meant here by the "mystery of God" is God governing with an unseen hand—providentially. That is what He has done ever since the days of Nebuchadnezzar and will do until Christ comes to claim the earth Himself.
Revelation 11:1414The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. (Revelation 11:14): "The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly." Those trumpet judgments are all on earth. We get very little beyond the earth either as to heaven or hell in those trumpets.
Revelation 11:1515And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15): "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." When He comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment and to claim His rights, every eye shall see Him and all kingdoms shall wail because of Him. The kingdom of our Lord will have no successor. "And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats , fell upon their faces , and worshipped God" (verse 16). It is very sweet to see those heavenly saints are at rest, seated there in the presence and glory of God, while a storm is coming on all below. All is calm and secure above.
Revelation 11:1717Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. (Revelation 11:17): "We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty [Jehovah Elohim Shaddai], which art, and wast, and art to come." What do they give thanks for? "Because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned."
Revelation 11:1818And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18): "And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." All is subdued. That is a general summary of what takes place under the seventh trumpet, or the last blast of providential judgment.
Returning to Revelation 1, what is especially striking is the various ways in which the Lord Jesus is brought before us in human and divine glory. There is a Man before God, God's faithful witness, Whose faithfulness in testimony brought on His death. "First begotten from the dead." Christ before God in resurrection tells a marvellous tale in different ways. As God looks upon that Son of His in resurrection, how many are His thoughts of Him! What admiration He has for that One as He looks upon Him, the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead and prince of the kings of the earth—that Son of His love! Not simply as ever He was, the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, but He beholds Him as the One Who has been in death, Whom He has brought out of death. Oh, the thoughts of God!
One asks again, how far is it habitual for God's people to contemplate Christ in His varied glories— varied relationships? They are many. Almost the first word we hear about Joseph is this: "His Father loved him." What did He do? "Made him a coat of many colors." The Father loves Christ. Now, not only as the eternal Object of His love, but "Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again." Acquired, purchased glory—Christ as the One Who laid down His life in obedience to the Father's will—the obedience of love. Here it is receiving a communication from Him which is and which was, and which is to come, and from that Holy Spirit, the One we know as Comforter, earnest and seal— sevenfold completeness. In the 4th chapter, it is as the "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." The Spirit of God takes a place before that throne in association with Him. "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." (JND Trans.) It is very beautiful to find the Eternal One, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, all as it were, on a common plane!
At the end of the chapter, verse 13, we get this wondrous Person again. We find Him "in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters . . . His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
What are we to learn from our seeing Him in this new position and character? The lesson is very solemn. From the symbol, "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow," we get the Divine glory of the Ancient of Days. "His eyes were as a flame of fire"—the same One, blessed and wondrous One. How wondrous and glorious is Christ! May the Spirit be less hindered in leading us into the wonders and glories of Christ! The eyes symbolize penetration from which nothing can be concealed.
"And His feet like unto fine brass"—feet that shall subdue in righteous power and judgment all those eyes discern in righteous judgment. "His voice as the sound of many waters"—majesty again, Jesus Christ head of all. "And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and His countenance was as the sun shineth in its strength." One says again—wondrous Saviour, wondrous Son of God! He is in the midst in this judicial garb, a garment down to the foot, not girded about for service. He walks in the midst of them. He is not there as the Head of the church which is His body, but as Son over God's house and He is looking for what is according to God. We find that in the address to Sardis: "I have not found thy works perfect before God." That is very solemn.
Why that golden girdle about the paps? All symbols mean something. It is the affections restrained by divine righteousness. In heaven, there will be no restraint to the outflow of His affections—His love will flow in all its fulness.
Now we have something else. John, this witness of His, in the Isle of Patmos, place of banishment for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, falls at His feet as dead. Now this One reveals Himself in another character, not as the Eternal One, the Ancient of days, but as the Living One that became dead, the same Person. "He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore," never to die again, a Living Man Who has passed through death to remain a living man forevermore. The eternity of the manhood of Christ in resurrection is very blessed. That restores the apostle, and the Lord continues His communication.
Part of the 5th verse and the whole of verse 6 is a parenthesis. Who is this wondrous One, the One we have before us in human glory in death and resurrection in so many ways? Who is He to us? The strain is interrupted: "Unto Him that loved [loves] us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and bath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." That is very beautiful. It is present tense—loves. What has He done for us in His love? We know Him as the One who became dead and is alive forevermore, the One who is coming, and every eye shall see Him, and all nations and peoples wail because of Him. We know that One is the One who loves us. Isn't that a very sweet little interruption—a sweet little parenthesis? As these things are brought before us, the soul says, "He is the One who loves us." Do we, individually, know Christ, this all-glorious Person, as the One who loves us? "The Son of God who loved me," said the apostle. Well, what has He done in His love? "Washed us from our sins." What else? "Made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." Out of full hearts, we say: "Unto Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen."