Revelation 1:12-20 GOD’S WORD Translation
12 I turned toward the voice which was talking to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lamp stands. 13 There was someone like the Son of Man among the lamp stands. He was wearing a robe that reached his feet. He wore a gold belt around his waist. 14 His head and his hair were white like wool—like snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like glowing bronze refined in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of raging waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun when it shines in all its brightness.
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. Then he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell. 19 Therefore, write down what you have seen, what is, and what is going to happen after these things. 20 The hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Throughout his teaching ministry, Jesus gained a reputation for reaching out and physically touching people.
When people with leprosy cried out to be healed, Jesus physically touched them.
He physically touched the eyes of people who were blind.
Touch was an absolutely integral component to Jesus’ healing ministry.
We see the gift of Jesus’ touch in this passage of Revelation too.
John fell at Jesus’ feet—as though he were dead—because he could not remain standing in the Lord’s presence.
Jesus responded to John’s fear by reaching out, placing his right hand on him, and saying, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18 the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever.”
What a calming touch this now heavenly Jesus provided to the distressed John!
What powerful words of assurance he spoke!
This biblical story does more than just provide a picture of what happened to the exiled John on the island of Patmos when he stood face to face with Jesus.
This reveals who Jesus is as the ascended and exalted Son of God: Jesus is the Lord of love and compassion.
Just as when Jesus came to bring the good news of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-34), touch is central to his healing ministry.
The Spirit of God invites us to see ourselves in this picture.
Jesus reaches out to us.
He not only reaches out to us but he actually touches us.
He places his right hand upon us, and we hear him say these powerful words:
“Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, 18 the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. ”
The story of John receiving the book of Revelation from Jesus own hands brings a steady flow of tears to my eyes.
I imagine an isolated, weary, and lonely John on Patmos spending his days waiting until he finally gets to be with his beloved Messiah Jesus again.
Through my tears, I imagine his heart yearning just to see his friend and Savior.
And now suddenly, after years of serving Jesus, he appears to John once again, his Lord, Savior and King standing before him, reaching, touching, revealing, speaking exclusively to him, that which will be the final words of Scripture.
As much as anyone can, try to imagine for yourself the joy and awe in John’s heart as his Rabbi Jesus reveals himself in glory to once again, as He first did in life, when they walked together, to share with him history-altering revelation.
Imagine if you can the distress in John’s heart coupled with his physically aged and distressed body, imagine afterwards the passion John would feel as his last days, which he thought he would spend alone in exile, are interrupted by a final chapter of pure kingdom work delivered straight from the mouth of his Savior.
God loves to interrupt the physically and spiritually distressed seasons of our lives in which we feel most useless and lost with glorious encounters with him.
He loves to reveal Himself to us, reach, touch us, seize on our distressed states, repurpose us for incredible kingdom work just where we thought, we believed we were at our most defeated, most useless, most weakest life circumstances.
He longs to reveal Himself, reach out to us, to meet with us, to touch us and to then re-masterpiece us, envision us for his plans to bring his kingdom to earth.
No matter where you are or how old you are, how physically and or spiritually distressed, God has tremendous plans in store for all those who will serve him.
There is no kingdom work He gives us which is too small, too inconsequential.
There is never a time in our lives that we are, from God’s perspective, unusable.
There is no age or infirmity in which we are to stop being used by our Savior.
The passage of years since John was touched by the right hand of Jesus, wrote the Words of Revelation, has changed exactly nothing about our Jesus’ desires.
Our heavenly Jesus still longs to reach out and to touch us today with His hope.
Jesus still longs to meet with you today and tell you of his plans for salvation.
By His Words of Life, longs to empower us to do a mighty work for his kingdom.
He longs for us to see his kingdom come to earth all the days of your life until we inevitably, finally, take your final breath here and so wake up with him.
May we each receive and share the revelation Jesus gives each of us today with a physically and spiritually world that absolutely, desperately needs to know him.
From our own places of spiritual and physical distress, to be comforted today by Jesus’ own touch, His Words of assurance, His presence that removes our fear.
As John himself, touched by the right hand of Jesus himself, refreshed of spirit, might then have unleashed his heart upon his unsuspecting churches, readers;
Victory In Jesus by EM Bartlett 1939
I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood’s atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow’r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, “Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,”
And somehow Jesus came and bro’t
To me the victory.
I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there
The song of victory.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
1. Meditate on God’s heart to meet with you in every season of your life. Allow Scripture to fill you with faith and desire to meet with your King today.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13
“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” 1 Chronicles 16:11
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh today. Open your heart and receive him that you might live empowered to see the kingdom of God come to earth.
3. Ask God what it is he would have you do today. How does he want to use you to advance his kingdom on earth?
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10
What an incredible gift God would choose to use us for his kingdom purposes.
You and I can have a real, eternal impact on the earth.
No matter what our age or past failures, God longs to use us.
And through the coming of the Holy Spirit, we have God dwelling within us.
The same God who raised Christ Jesus from the grave, empowered the disciples for miraculous works, has been at the root of every great spiritual awakening, lives and dwells within us, lives and dwells and intercedes for us when we can’t.
May we allow God touch us with His righteous right hand to use us in mighty and powerful ways today to spread the gospel of Jesus unto everywhere we go.
Forgive us, Lord God, for thinking you might be far away from us and out of touch. Lead us more and more into the strong embrace of your healing touch. Amen.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the wonderful revelation of Jesus and the glorious hope that I have in You. I pray that Jesus may be first and last in every area of my life as I wait in glorious anticipation of His return. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 