Reveal Who is Jesus Christ: Seven Lampstands

​Let Revelation 1:12-16 give you a better picture of who Jesus is and see Him as the King in all His glory

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Bible References Go Here
​Revelation 1:12-16
John 1:14
1 Timothy 2:5
2 Chronicles 13:5
1 Peter 3:12
Luke 22:61
Jeremiah 52
Exodus 38:30
Hebrews 8:5
Numbers 21: 4-9
​Revelation 14:2
Revelation 19:6
Matthew 7:39
John 8:11
Hebrews 1:3
Romans 1:20
Ephesians 1:6
Hebrews 4:12
Judges 3:16
Ezekiel 21:3
Revelation 19:11-15
John 12:48
1 Kings 19:12
Matthew 17:1-2
Numbers 6:24-26
​Daniel 7

​as we've been discussing and we talked
about this a little bit
on wednesday as we introduced the book
of revelation
the bible is a book about Jesus Christ
he is the main character and main theme
of the word of God
and it's it's uh you know for us we tend
to go to the bible looking for answers
to our problems
and really what we ought to do is go to
the bible to look what our problems
actually are and we do that
by discovering who the book is really
about it's not
about us it's not about
say with me it's not about us or
turn to the person next to you and tell
them with your it's not about you
right the word of God is about
Jesus Christ the word of God is the word
of God and Jesus was in john chapter one
the word of God made flesh see the story
is the story of God and Christ and the
plan of redemption
but the main character of the bible is
not man
the main character of the bible is Jesus
Christ and so when we look
at the bible as a whole the 66 books of
the bible
we see some divisions with regards to
Christ we see the old testament as the
preparation for his coming
we see the prophecies and predictions
and shadows and foreshadows
and the types and and the anti-types and
we see all that about Christ we see that
in the garden we see it in the temple we
see it in the ark we see it
then the rock that moses struck when the
water came out we see him in the
prophets we see him in the judges it's
the preparation
for his coming then we see matthew mark
luke and john that's the realization
of his coming so the old testament is
the preparation the gospels are the
realization
the book of acts is the propagation
that's when the story
began to be told and spread and the holy
spirit began to work in the early church
and the gospel was propagated the story
of Jesus propagated
then we have the epistles written by
paul
and james and and and timothy and we
we're
not uh and jude and we see these guys
these writers of the word and they are
making the explanation of Jesus Christ
so they explain what he did and they
explain the connection
between the preparation and the
realization and the propagation
they explain the connection between the
types and who Christ is
they explain the the abolishment of the
law for the jews through the work of
Jesus Christ on the cross and the
introduction
of the gospel to the gentiles all an
explanation in the epistles and then we
see
in the final book the consummation of
Jesus Christ it's all about
Jesus Christ so when we look at the book
of revelation
we don't want to go to the book of
revelation looking for topics
we don't want to go looking for current
events and and things
we'll find them there but the main thing
that we want to see
in the book of revelation is Jesus
Christ his character his nature
and i'll be honest with you we've never
seen him
like this he is different
in the sense not a different because
he's the same yesterday today and
forever
but we see him differently than we ever
have before he's described differently
he even does some different things
in the book of revelation in first
timothy 2 verse 5
we see that the mediator
was one and it was the man Jesus Christ
and we see his mediation his ministry as
a prophet
and uh and it's really quite beautiful
he is now at the right hand of God and
what's he doing he's interceding for us
in the present
right when he was on the earth he
mediated and his message
was a one of mediation one of
reconciliation with God
and now in our present time he's
interceding
so as a prophet on the earth he is
interceding for us in heaven
he's going to return as king and so we
have the three ministries of Christ the
prophet priest and king
but i want you to look with me uh this
morning
in the book of revelation in chapter one
on wednesday night we're going to be
going into chapter 2 and 3 and talk
about
the letters to the churches but
periodically on sunday
i'm going to pull out something that we
what we looked at briefly and expand on
it
on sundays
and give some and give some practical
insight so revelation chapter one
starting in verse 12 we're going to see
and i turned
to see the voice that spoke to me
john says having turned i saw seven
golden lamp stands and in the midst of
the seven lampstands
one son of man with a garment
down to the feet girded about the chest
with a golden band now there's a
description of him personally
that begins in chapter 14 that is
absolutely
astonishing
it starts by saying his head and his
hair
were white like wool and white
as snow and his eyes like a flame of
fire
his feet were like fine brass
as refined in a furnace and his voice
the sound of many waters he had in his
right hand
seven stars and out of his mouth
when a sharp two-edged sword and his
countenance
was like the sun shining in its strength
there are seven aspects of the person of
Jesus Christ
that i want to discuss for a few minutes
this morning beginning
with the very first his head in chapter
12:00:00 AM
verse 14 his head now in proverbs
chapter 20
verse 29 the white head is a sign
of wisdom
and purity and the whiteness
of Jesus Christ here is not talking
about
just white hair
so many people picture him in heaven
the ancient of days as some weak
old man sitting on a throne he's got a
cane
you know he's kind of there that is not
the picture that john is presenting here
nor is that picture of the old man on a
throne
one that we want to propagate
the white here is talking about his
purity
not a description of his age how can God
who is eternal
age hello
if God is eternal he has no age he
doesn't age
Jesus 30 35 years old as a man aged
right but there is no age God has no age
Christ has no age in heaven
and when he ascended and is operating as
a high priest most of the
the priests were middle-aged men but the
bottom line here
is that this is not a reference to his
age
so when we see this whiteness of Christ
what we want to be seeing here and what
i want to be thinking about is the
absolute
purity and glory and the manifestation
of his power
that we see john trying to describe
it moves from the head to his eyes
his eyes now his eyes have a little more
his eyes have a description also his
eyes like a flame
of fire like a flame of fire this
piercing
purity and holiness
a purification that comes from fire
in second chronicles chapter 16 verse 9
the word of God says that the eyes of
the lord go to and fro
around the earth he is all
seeing and all knowing the eyes of the
lord
go to and fro across the earth turn to
first peter chapter 3 with me for a
moment
first peter chapter 3 verse 12
for the eyes of the lord are on the
righteous
the eyes of the lord around the
righteous what's that mean
that means his care and concern and view
and and observation are on the righteous
they're on the righteous but there's
something about the eyes of Jesus Christ
you know when you look in a person's
eyes many have said this the eyes are a
window to the soul
often you can see and discern
pain in a person's eyes you can see
sorrow in a person's eyes you know
you can see gladness in a person's eyes
you can often see tiredness in a
person's eyes
what do we see in the eyes of Jesus
Christ we see fire
and purity we see energy and strength
but there's one case that was kind of
interesting to me and this made me think
of this in luke chapter 22
luke chapter 22.
as predicted the rooster has crowed
and peter has denied Christ three times
and luke in in the in this passage in
luke 22
verse 61 it says the lord turned and
looked at peter
peter remembered the word of the lord
how he had said to him
before the rooster crows you'll deny me
three times and peter went out
and wept bitterly and i was thinking
about the look
what kind of a look did Jesus give to
peter in that moment
i don't think it was a look of disgust
because Jesus wasn't surprised he
predicted it
i think it was a piercing look of the
reality of our sinfulness
peter came face to face with something
he could not bear to see
himself what peter saw
what he looked at Jesus Christ must have
been
the piercing fire of the reality
of truth and the truth was that as much
as peter wanted to be strong
as much as peter wanted to be bold as
much as peter wanted to be the man
he was not and in that moment that look
from Jesus Christ exposed all of that
with one look peter went out and wept
bitterly
when the world sees the eyes of God
and every knee bows and every tongue
confesses they're going to see
that look people will see the look of
God
they'll see the eyes of Jesus Christ one
day
often times uh i when i pray i
i think of his face
and i i picture what his eyes might look
like
the eyes say a lot for those of you who
ever gotta get a look from your wife you
know what the eyes can do
you know the eyes of a person
[Laughter]
you know the eyes of a person can be
quite a thing
to hear these uh these beautiful
piercing
holy eyes john looks at them
and describes him here his eyes couldn't
he couldn't
couldn't believe what he saw his eye he
was stunned
and as we mentioned on wednesday this is
the disciple
who was very close to Christ very
intimate with Christ
he described himself as the one Jesus
loved
and he's making this description then it
moves to his feet
his feet were burnished or polished
brass
refined like it had been through the
fire there's no impurity
in the feet of Christ here nothing
impure about him ever
and i was thinking about bronze and it
brought me to jeremiah chapter 58
the description of the sacking of the
temple
uh by nebuchadnezzar jeremiah 58
yeah 58 where am i going 58.
i did it again guys
when the temple was sacked they took all
kinds of bronze items from the temple
and when they did so
these bronze pillars chapter 52. i know
it was the last chapter
i don't know why i wrote 58 down but
that's what i got in my notes chapter 52
zedekiah was 21 years old when he became
king and reigned 11 years in jerusalem
his mother's name was hamato
a hamital the daughter of jeremiah of
libna
he did evil in the sight of the lord
this is not a good king
according to all that jehoiakim had done
because of the anger of the lord this
happened in jerusalem and judah until
finally cast them
out of his presence zedekiah rebelled
against the king of babylon
in the ninth year of the reign the tenth
month the tenth day
nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon and
his army came against jerusalem and
encamped it
and they sieged it with a wall around it
and it kind of goes on here and it
begins to describe
the things that were taken verse 17
bronze pillars
that were in the house of the lord and
the karts of the bronze sea
that's the brazen laver which were in
the house of the lord
the chaldeans broken pieces and carried
the bronze to babylon
they took away the pots and shovels and
trimmers the bowls and spoons all the
bronze utensils
which were the priests which the priests
ministered
the basins the fire pans the bowls the
pots the lamb stands the spoons and cups
whatever was solid gold and whatever was
solid silver
the captain of the guard took away the
two pillars
1c 12 bronze bulls which were under it
and the carts which king solomon made
for the house of the lord
the bronze of all these articles was
beyond measure there was an abundance of
bronze at the temple
bronze
the capital of bronze was on our verse
12:00:00 AM
the height of one capital was five
cubits it's just all this
bronze and i you say what's with all the
bronze in the temple
well when exodus instructions were given
to moses
chapter 38 verse 30 God told moses this
is going to be a type or a copy of the
one in heaven
this tabernacle and all the inside
articles in the holy of holies those
were covered with gold
once you got inside the holy of holies
there was no bronze in there
the holy of holies had the ark which was
made out of wood but it was covered with
gold
and they had handles that ran through it
and those were made of wood and they
were covered with gold
and all the rings were made of gold
everything inside the holy of holies was
gold
but everything outside was bronze
the the altar that the sacrifice was
made outside the holy holy
bronze the brazen laver where all the
water was kept
bronze the pillars outside the temple
bronze
everything outside was bronze everything
inside gold
in hebrews chapter 8 verse 5 all these
things serve as a copy
or a shadow both of what the temple
looks like in heaven
but also about Jesus Christ
what he's like in his bronze we see
humanity
that was outside the gold deity
kingship holiness glory so inside
was one thing outside was another to
look at and what we saw
and see here is bronze
and outside
where the temple and the lava were what
would happen on those two bronze
articles
the sacrifice was made and blood was
shed and collected
in a bronze bucket
and then cleansing was made from the
bronze sea or the bronze
labor
atonement and cleansing
judgment rendered outside
judgment bronze
that's what i think in numbers 21
moses didn't raise up a gold serpent God
told them to raise up a bronze serpent
judgment so here the feet of Jesus
Christ are about to move
to judgment it's an amazing thing to
think about
polished highly polished bronze
feet of Christ and the feet that are
moving
towards judgment in this scene the next
thing we see
in this passage is his voice
it's described as the sound of many
waters
how many have ever been niagara falls
it's quite a loud thing when you get
close isn't it
it's quite something this is mentioned a
couple times the description of his
voice like water
a few times revelation 14
2 repeats it
and it says here in revelation 14 2 i
heard a voice from heaven
like the voice of many waters and like a
voice of thunder
i heard the sound of harpists playing
their harps
19 verse 6 revelation
and i heard as it were the voice of a
great multitude the sound
of many waters
psalm 29
psalm 29 verse 3 the voice of the lord
is over the waters
the God of glory thunders the lord is
over many waters
there's a relationship of God speaking
the sound
of many waters
and i i was thinking about the volume
of many waters like if you're standing
by a waterfall
the amount of volume of water that comes
over a waterfall
in a matter of just a couple of moments
is immense
even like a small waterfall somewhere
thousands and thousands of gallons of
water going over waterfall at the same
time
so it's not just about the volume in
terms of
how loud but the volume in terms
of quantity and amount
and the authority that that water comes
over
a waterfall with absolutely incredible
matthew chapter 7 verse 29 it describes
Jesus when he spoke as one having
authority
he didn't it wasn't about that he was
yelling
it was about his words had authority
even when he spoke calmly he must be
born again
those words have such authority to them
he speaks with such authority
here is john describing Jesus
and he's saying the glory
from his of his head his head alone the
magnificence
the power and fierceness of his eyes
his feet i've never seen his feet like
this says john
john saw Christ's feet of course he did
in three years all the
streets they walked on the dirt all over
his feet sandals i mean when you walked
around
your feet were filthy that's why when
you went into a house
customary greeting was to wash your feet
for you
you came in someone's house wash your
feet we come in
each other's house now we might want to
take off our shoes
can you imagine if every time someone
came over your house you had to help
them wash their feet
but the world's a dirty place isn't it
that's why the foot washing was so
important
but there's also a cleansing power to
his words
the voice of many waters
john chapter 8 this woman caught in
adultery
about to be stoned by these legalistic
pharisees who trapped her and tricked
her
probably paid the guy who you don't hear
anything about
he disappears and there she stands and
Jesus with her
and he says these cleansing words to her
neither
do i condemn you go and sin
no more
those words to that woman
were not just an acquittal where she
could run off and do what she was doing
again
the words that came out of his mouth had
a cleansing power to her
when Jesus spoke there was power
and authority and when he said go and
sin no more
along with those words came an ability
for that woman to live that life just
like you and i
when we hide the word of God in our
heart
it's not that we're learning rules to
live by and we're going to try our best
to meet those rules
there's an authority and an ability that
comes along with the word of God
isn't there there's a strengthening that
comes
through the word of God many many times
i've been at a place in my life where
i've been ready to give up
i've been ready to quit i've been ready
to just cash it in
and then the word of God would come in
my pastor's preaching or the word of God
would come
from my wife or the word of God would
come from a dear friend
who would speak truth into my life and
it wasn't just to
say try to go do this there was a an
ability and a strength that came from
knowing God is for you
who can be against you you can do all
things through Christ who strengthens
you
he is strengthening us with his words
the voice of many waters is a cleansing
purifying
ability giving life rendering supply
these many waters point to not just
authority not just
cleansing but i think also the range of
topics
that come out of his mouth many waters
God is speaking to us about prayer God
speaks to us about love
God speaks to us about sacrifice God
speaks to us about discipline
God speaks to us about caring God speaks
to us about evangelism
God speaks to us about conflict God
speaks to us about speaking
God speaks to us about anger God speaks
to us about peace
all the topics from the range of things
everything from war
to business to money to marriage
the range of topics many waters
with great authority and great cleansing
he speaks
now john gives the visual of that and
says
audibly it was overwhelming like being
at the foot of niagara falls
almost deafening
the voice of many waters
then we see his right hand
now this is probably one of the most
beautiful things i i've never seen i
never saw this until last night i never
thought this
until last night and i've mentioned here
the place
of the right hand is a place of honor
Jesus ascended into heaven in hebrews
chapter one verse three he's
where at the right hand of God
that's the place of honor
that's a place of well done that's a
place of you belong in a special place
of honor
Jesus is at his right hand
but the but the stars
this is just incredible let me go to
romans i want to read it
read it again so i get it right
in his right hand seven
stars
seven stars chapter 1 verse 20
describes the seven stars as the
messengers of the church
and i saw this and i thought how
beautiful this is
that Christ is at the right hand of God
and we are in his right hand in a place
of honor
that just blew me away last night i i
don't know maybe it has a different
effect on you
but for me it floored me
not only have i been accepted and when
we think about ephesians 1
6 being accepted in the beloved
sometimes we look at that and say well
God is tolerating my presence and his
life and i've been accepted
seated above in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus means
that not only am i accepted and in a
position
that's perfect and and irretrievable
irrevocable but i'm now in a place of
honor
undeserved irrevocable
honor is that something
people live their whole life wanting to
find that kind of
acceptance and honor you want to be
recognized and loved and appreciated
there's nothing like this i'm in the
right hand of God
i'm in the right hand of Jesus Christ
i'm seated in heavenly places with him
accepted and honored
amazing menzo was talking about
why people do certain things and we he
mentioned one thing and i know
what he's talking about there some
people do things so they can get or
give me an award you know they want to
get some kind of an award
so they serve an organization and then
they figure out a way to get on
multiple boards and then they figure out
a way to it's just pathetic
but that speaks to the root emotion the
root
nature of a person to lust
after people's recognition
but getting recognition is different
than honor
and getting recognition
passes but the honor we're going to
receive
and have received in Christ will never
pass
i've been given the permanent honor of
being called
his child i've been given the permanent
honor
of being his son
it's an irrevocable eternal honor
and that's not something that passes
then it moves to
something we've heard before maybe seen
before
out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged
sword
no surprise there that's the word of God
right
hebrews 4 verse 12
but i was thinking about the two edges
of the sword by the way this isn't some
big
long you know three musketeers
sword these things were talked about
they were
you know frankly the the one like ehud
made
he had made a sword in uh judges chapter
three
and e-hud who was a judge remember the
guy he killed big
big uh he was a big guy
and he stabbed him and sand came out i
mean it was just the guy was
just huge huge
and it says that the sword he hud made
had
two sides two edges to it
was a sword and to it were two edges i
think it's
judges three verse 16.
what is this about two edges on the
sword had a
somebody sent me a text and uh
they said something about the sword that
was kind of frightening
to them like
God's coming after them with a sword she
didn't say it like that but
i understood what she meant
but you know something sharp about this
long
uh can do some damage in the right hand
but it can also be used like a scalpel i
mean sometimes God it's not a sword he
uses on me but a scalpel
right he's doing his little surgery and
he's
like the book of hebrews describes it
it's
separating for me and dividing things in
my life and kind of setting apart listen
this is why you're doing this and
why you're thinking this let me expose
your motives kind of like the eyes
you know but it's the word the word of
God comes and it's sharp
it cuts through what it needs to get
through
imagine if the word of God was like a
hammer
described like a hammer thump thump
thump
no it it it gets through where it needs
to go and does what it needs to do
so
the drawn sword in ezekiel chapter 21
verse 3 is a declaration of war
so in this instance where we see this
sword coming out of his mouth
this is something i mean he's prepared
for war we know where he's going
very shortly we're going to see when
Jesus appears
in the end of book of revelation 19
11-15 that sword is out
and he devours his enemies with these
words
but it shouldn't surprise us
because john chapter 12 several years
earlier about 60 years earlier john
wrote
or john hurd excuse me
john 12 28
boy i'm really messing up my references
the word of God will be the judge
and the sole judge the only judge
and so here the word of God judges
mankind it judges the
thoughts and intents of the heart the
word of God
is a judge in john 12. you got the right
verse 12 48 i'm 28.
this what happens when i'm on my reading
glasses on i'm
making my notes he who rejects me does
not receive my words
he that has that which judges them the
word that i have spoken will judge him
in the last day
the word of God is the judge
but you know the the two edges could
also kind of point to this
first kings 1912 when elijah's
running from jezebel God kind of quiets
him down
and he hears what's referred to as the
still small voice
right sometimes God's voice is still and
small
he whispers to us in our pain
but he shouts to us in our pleasure
here's what that means
when that's been said that's not a bible
verse that's just something that's
very revealing when we're in pain
when our heart is broken God has our
attention
he whispers to us but when we're doing
really great
and we have all this pleasure in our
life sometimes God's got to do some
yelling
sometimes God's got to do some shouting
so he whispers to us in our pain
but shouts to us in our pleasure maybe
that's what the two edge sword is
sometimes it's gentle sometimes it's
sweet kind and soft
other times it's a bit of a sharp rebuke
but it's never
out of the hand of God the same hand
that gives those gentle words to us with
that sword
would thrust into a place of necessity
correction needed as well now my mother
used a wooden spoon when she made her
sauce
and that sauce was something she started
with a wooden spoon and it was the same
woods but
my mother had another use for the wooden
spoon
it was a two-edged wooden spoon
the same love that she used to stir that
sauce
she took that spoon and wrapped it
against my posterior on many occasions
the same spoon same love
different side she probably used the
rounded back side
on the back side and she stirred the
sauce with the concave side
right is concave be the right word or
yeah whatever
you get the point right so
the two-edged spoon kind of like a
twitch all right
finally is countenance this countenance
it's described here shining
like the sun
and its strength
matthew 17 verse 2.
start in verse 1 verse chapter 17 after
six days Jesus took peter james and john
let him on a high mountain by themselves
just the three of them
and he was transfigured before them his
face shone
like the sun and his clothes
became as white as the light and behold
moses and elijah appeared to them
talking with him
here in the book of revelation we see
the same description of Jesus
his countenance his face shining like
the sun
isn't interesting that in heaven
there'll be no need for the sun
or moon as the the
light of God shining off the face of
Jesus will light the whole place up
pretty powerful but he's with two people
he's with moses and he's with elijah
and they're transfigured too
you know what i love about this i love
that you know moses was never allowed
into the promised land remember he
he couldn't go in in deuteronomy he
wrote the letter to the
joshua for deuteronomy but he was never
allowed to go here moses is there he's
in
God is such a promise keeper
moses had never seen Jesus physically
no one before bethlehem saw Jesus
physically
as a man which is why i don't believe
melchizedek was Jesus
but anyway to say that Jesus face
shone like the sun this incredible
bright countenance is shining
glorious manifestation of power and
purity
and light light is such a
beautiful thing and
we need light today don't we
the little dark places of our life the
darkness
surrounding us in the world the
countenance
of Christ is needed more than ever
it needs to be seen through believers
let's look at the book of numbers for a
moment
and chapter 6.
chapter 6 24-26
this is the uh aaronic blessing
the lord gave to moses over aaron and
said
the lord bless you and keep you the lord
make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
see for us
we have nothing to be afraid of with the
glory of God with
the picture we see of Jesus here
shouldn't strike fear in our hearts but
great joy
the plan of redemption is going to
culminate in the book of revelation
and that time coming
God's name and holiness validated
everything he said absolutely validated
every eye will see him at one point
every knee will bow every tongue will
confess what a joyful time that will be
for you and i
what an amazing thing and the lord's
face
shining on us is a beautiful faith
it speaks of his grace and the lord lift
up his countenance upon you
and give you peace for us the result of
seeing his countenance
is grace and peace
those enemies of God when they see his
countenance will be something quite
different
but john as we close
after seeing this description writing it
down
does something you wouldn't expect
he says when i saw him i fell at his
feet as dead
but he laid his hand on me and he said
don't be
afraid don't
be afraid someone uh
someone communicated to my dear wife and
said
i've read the book of revelation once
and it gave me nightmares
and the pastor had me over the house or
the assistant pastor something like that
had me over and we watched a horror
movie
you know it's like what
what is this group of people you were
with i don't know
but here you know when we read the book
of revelation it's about Jesus
it's about getting to know him and john
who knew him better than all is so
surprised at what he sees he's so
shocked
he's in awe now he knew Jesus was
special
he knew Jesus was amazing he saw Jesus
raise people from the dead
he saw Jesus feed the thousands he saw
Jesus
heal people the blind saw the deaf could
hear again
john was eyewitness to all those things
and yet here he is he describes Jesus
like this
and says whoa boom down he goes
he fell at his feet as though dead total
adoration total worship
and the first reaction is a natural one
oh boy
yikes but here
he laid his right hand on me
see that every word of God is so
important what hand did he lay on him
the right hand what does that mean again
honor acceptance approval
he puts his right hand on him and says
you don't get the fire of judgment
the brass feet of the bronze feet of
judgment you
you get the right hand of honor john
you're not going to get the wrath
you're getting the honor
don't be afraid
so many times Jesus said that to his
disciples don't be afraid
don't be afraid don't be afraid
father we want to thank you for this
picture of who you are
who Jesus is so powerful
so purifying so glorious
and great and grand
indescribable as the ancient of days
in daniel chapter 7
we see him he's in full authority and in
full control as he always has been
but now we see him as king
in all of his glory
and we bow before you today lord
humbled that you have honored us
bless our day lord here God we ask you
to minister each one of our hearts and
help us to continue to follow you
strengthen us with your word
bless us with your spirit
in Jesus Christ's name amen