Message Four
The Vision of the Glorious Christ Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:9—2:1, 7
I. The book of Revelation is “the revelation of Jesus Christ,” and it is a book on the overcomers—1:1, 3; 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21; 21:7; 22:18-19; 12:11:
A. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the overcomers:
1. The overcomers will be the New Jerusalem in the coming age, the age of the millennial kingdom, as the precursor of the New Jerusalem in eternity—2:7; 3:12.
2. In the New Jerusalem in eternity, all the believers will be overcomers—21:7.
B. In the book of Revelation what the Lord wants and will build up is Zion, the overcomers—
14:1; Psa. 51:18; 102:21; 128:5; 135:21; Isa. 41:27; Joel 3:17.
C. In order to be a constituent of Christ’s overcoming bride (Rev. 19:7), we must see the vision of the glorious Christ in Revelation 1:
1. We are on this earth for the word of God (the revealed Christ) and the testimony of Jesus (the testifying church)—vv. 2, 9-20; 19:10.
2. We need to be in our spirit to receive the vision of the glorious Christ as the Son of Man in the midst of the golden lampstands—1:10, 13a; cf. 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
II. Christ as the Son of Man is the High Priest, “clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle” (1:13), to cherish the churches in His humanity and nourish them in His divinity:
A. The Son of Man is Christ in His humanity, the golden girdle signifies His divinity, and breasts are a sign of love:
1. Christ is girded at the loins, strengthened for the divine work (Exo. 28:4; Dan. 10:5) to produce the churches, but in Revelation 1 He is girded about at the breasts, caring for the churches that He has produced by His love.
2. The golden girdle signifies Christ’s divinity as His divine energy, and the breasts signify that this golden energy is exercised and motivated by and with His love to nourish the churches.
B. Christ takes care of the churches in His humanity as the Son of Man to cherish them—
v. 13a:
1. He dresses the lamps of the lampstands to make them proper, cherishing us so that we may be happy, pleasant, and comfortable—Exo. 30:7; cf. Psa. 42:5, 11:
a. The Lord’s presence provides an atmosphere of tenderness and warmth to cherish our being, giving us rest, comfort, healing, cleansing, and encouragement.
b. We can enjoy the cherishing atmosphere of the Lord’s presence in the church to receive the nourishing supply of life—Eph. 5:29; cf. 1 Tim. 4:6; Eph. 4:11.
2. He trims the wicks of the lamps of the lampstand, cutting off all the negative things that frustrate our shining—Exo. 25:38:
a. The charred part of the wick, the snuff, signifies things that are not according to God’s purpose and need to be cut off, such as our flesh, our natural man, our self, and our old creation.
b. He trims away all the differences among the churches (the wrongdoings, short- ages, failures, and defects) so that they may be the same in essence, appearance, and expression—cf. 1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 12:18; Phil. 2:2.
C. Christ takes care of the churches in His divinity with His divine love, signified by the golden girdle at His breasts, to nourish the churches—Rev. 1:13b:
1. He nourishes us with Himself as the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry of three stages so that we may grow and mature in the divine life to be His overcomers to accomplish His eternal economy.
2. As the walking Christ, He gets to know the condition of each church, and as the speaking Spirit, He trims and fills the lampstands with fresh oil, the supply of the Spirit—2:1, 7.
3. To participate in His move and enjoy His care we must be in the churches.
III. The heavenly ancientness of the Lord is depicted by His head and hair being white as white wool, as snow—1:14; Dan. 7:9; Job 15:10; cf. S. S. 5:11.
IV. The Lord’s seven eyes are like a flame of fire for watching, observing, searching, judging by enlightening, and infusing—Rev. 1:14; 5:6; Dan. 10:6:
A. Christ’s eyes are for God’s move and operation on earth, since seven is the number for completion in God’s move.
B. The Lord’s eyes being like a flame of fire is mainly for His judgment—7:9-10; Rev. 2:18;
19:11-12.
V. The Lord’s feet are like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace, signify- ing that His perfect and bright walk qualifies Him to exercise divine judgment—
1:15; Ezek. 1:7; Dan. 10:6.
VI. The Lord’s voice is like the sound of many waters (Rev. 1:15; cf. 14:2), which is a tumultuous sound, the sound of the voice of the Almighty God (Ezek. 1:24; 43:2) in its seriousness and solemnity (cf. Rev. 10:3).
VII. Christ is the Holder of the bright messengers of the churches—1:16a, 20:
A. The messengers are the spiritual ones in the churches, the ones who bear the responsi- bility of the testimony of Jesus.
B. The messengers, who are of the heavenly nature and in a heavenly position like stars, are those who have a fresh message from the Lord to His people—2:1a.
C. Because the leading ones are in His right hand, there is no need for them to shrink back; Christ truly takes the responsibility for His testimony.
VIII. Out of Christ’s mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword, which is His discern- ing, judging, and slaying word for dealing with negative persons and things—
1:16b; Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17.
IX. Christ’s face is as the sun shining in its power (Dan. 10:6) for judging enlighten- ment to bring in the kingdom—Rev. 1:16c; Matt. 17:2; cf. Mal. 4:2; Judg. 5:31; Matt.
13:43.
X. Christ is the First and the Last, assuring us that He will never leave His work unfinished, and the living One for the churches as the expression of His Body to be living, fresh, and strong—Rev. 1:17-18a.
XI. Christ has the keys of death and of Hades—v. 18b:
A. Death is a collector and Hades is a keeper, but Christ nullified death on the cross and overcame Hades in His resurrection—2 Tim. 1:10; Acts 2:24.
B. As long as we give the Lord the ground, the opportunity, and the way to move and act among us by exercising to deny the self, take up the cross, and lose our soul-life, death and Hades will be under His control—Matt. 16:18, 21-26.
© 2013 Living Stream Ministry
