A Portrait No Artist Can Paint
(No. 2498)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 3, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
26, 1885.
"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 shines in its
strength." Revelation 1:16.
WHILE reading this description given by John of what he saw in the isle
called Patmos, I think you must have noticed that it would be quite
impossible for any painter to depict it upon canvas and, equally
impossible for any sculptor to embody it in stone or marble. Those who
have attempted to copy the lines here given have signally failed–they
may paint a picture of the garment down to the feet and the golden
girdle–but the rest, if it is viewed from an artist's aspect, would be
found to be incongruous. "His head and His hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire." No great
painter would ever venture to give us a portrait of our Lord with His
head and His hair, "white like wool, as white as snow." If he did, it
would be quite impossible to depict eyes that were "as a flame of
fire." How would it be possible to make us realize, with the aid of any
pen or pencil, that His feet were "like unto fine brass, as if they
burned in a furnace"? The task would have to be given over as quite
hopeless when it reached this point–"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 shines in its strength."
I believe that this difficulty of giving a truthful representation of
the Lord Jesus Christ is according to the Divine purpose. Nothing, it
seems to me, can be more detestable to the Lord's heart and mind than
the worship of His image in any shape or form. If any are determined to
break the Law of God about making graven images and bowing down before
them, then let the idol be the image of something that is beneath the
earth, or in the water under the earth, but, O, you idolaters, pray do
not, as it were, make the Lord Jesus Christ accessory to your idolatry!
That, He never really can be, for He abhors it! "Get you behind Me,
Satan," would be His answer to every proposal that His image should be
worshipped, for He could not endure it! It is a dreadful thing that men
should ever dare attempt to make any likeness of the Son of God,
Himself, to be the occasion of sin. If you must make an image, make it,
if you will, of a serpent, or of an ox, but not of the Son of God who
came on purpose to redeem us from this, among other sins! Let us not
degrade His sacred Personage by making even itto be an image before
which we prostrate ourselves!
I know it is said that idolaters do not worship the image and that they
worship God through the image, but that is expressly forbidden. The
First Commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Then
the Second Commandment forbids the worshipping of God by or through any
symbol or image whatever–"You shall not make unto you any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you
shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them." The worship of
the image of Christ appears to me to be not the more excusable form of
idolatry, if there is any that is less evil than others, but it seems
to me to be the more intensely wicked form of it since it is making
even the glorious Personage of the Lord Jesus subsidiary to an act of
transgression against the Commandments of His Father. If we cannot say
concerning the Divine and human Personage of our Lord, "You saw no
similitude," yet we can say, "You saw no similitude such as can be
engraved in any way whatever."
The fact is that we have, in this apocalyptic vision, very
extraordinary hieroglyphics put together. Hieroglyphic language does
not aim at the artistic and the poetic–a hieroglyph has a higher
objective than the mere gratification of taste. It is intended to give
us mental ideas–not ideas for the eyes, but ideas for the heart–not
what we shall see, but that which we shall feel and understand. Hence,
these figurative representations of different parts of our Lord's
Person, though they cannot be put together so as to form a picture,
are, nevertheless, deeply instructive to every loving and reverent
heart.
So I want you, dear Friends, without wishing to make a complete
portrait of your Lord, to try to follow the teaching in this verse.
There are three things here. First, the stars in Christ's hand–"He had
in His right hand seven stars." Then, secondly, there is the sword in
His mouth–"Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." And then,
thirdly, there is the glory of His face–"His countenance was as the
sun shines in its strength."
I. First, then, when John saw our Lord Jesus Christ, he naturally
looked to His hands and, therefore, he saw THE STARS IN HIS HAND.
Note, dear Friends, that our Lord Jesus has a hand. He is not, as some
fancy, an abstract idea of a personage without life. He has a hand and
that hand is a working hand. The hand that was pierced by the nail is
not paralyzed–it has strength to hold in itself seven stars. The hands
that worked out our redemption have not ceased to work for us. Christ
holds in His hands that which He bought with the blood of His heart.
John saw that His Lord held in His right hand seven stars. Let us
always think of our Lord Jesus Christ as full of power and actively
using it. Let us think of Him at this moment as having a deft, skilled
and mighty right hand which He will lift up on the behalf of all those
who put their trust in Him. On the right hand of the Majesty on high
there sits a right-handed Christ, still carrying on, according to His
own good pleasure, the work of the Lord which always prospers in His
hand.
When John looked at Christ's right hand, he tells us that in it he saw
seven stars. These are generally understood to be the ministers of the
seven Churches of Asia. We are told, in the 20th verse, that "the seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches," and I do not know who the
angels of the Churches can be unless they are the messengers of the
Churches–those ministers of whom Paul wrote–"they are the messengers
of the churches and the glory of Christ." At any rate, we shall take it
for granted that these stars represent the pastors of the Churches, the
ministers of Christ.
These stars are said to be in the Lord's right hand, first, because He
made them stars. They are in the hand of Him who made them what they
are. Under the Old Covenant there were to be, in the Tabernacle, seven
lights always burning upon the seven-branched candlestick, or lamp
stand. But John saw in Christ's hand seven stars–not ordinary lamps,
but stars shining with a greater brilliance and a more heavenly light
than could ever be seen in the oil-fed lamps in the ancient Tabernacle!
If any man in the Church of God shines like a star to guide others to
the port of peace, he owes his light entirely to Christ. It must be so,
because it is Christ's right hand that has made him what he is–he is a
light because Christ has given him light! He owes his spiritual
radiance entirely to Him who is the Lord and Giver of light in the
midst of His Church. My dear Brothers in the ministry, if you want to
shine for Jesus, you must be made into stars to be held in His right
hand! There is no possibility of your being of spiritual use to your
fellow men, or exercising a ministry that shall tend to their eternal
salvation, except as you are made into a light to be held in the right
hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the education in the world, all the
natural talent that any possess, all the acquired practice of oratory,
all the powers which are the result of long experience can never make a
good minister of Jesus Christ! The stars are in the right hand of
Christ–ministers are not made by men, but by the Lord, Himself, if
they are worthy to be called ministers at all. So, the stars are in His
right hand, first, because He made them.
They are there, next, dear Friends, because He holds them up. Every
Christian has to face great perils and every Christian has need to pray
to the Lord, "Hold me up, and I shall be safe." But ministers of
Christ–ministers whom He makes to be stars–are exposed to sevenfold
peril. Against the leaders of the spiritual Israel the sharpest arrows
of the enemy are sure to be shot. The command seems to be still passed
round to our adversaries as in the ancient day of battle, when the king
of Syria said to his captains, "Fight neither with small nor great,
save only with the king of Israel." If there is a captain anywhere who
leads the way and comes to the very front of the host, the temptations
that gather about him will be most fierce and terrible. Slander,
misrepresentation and every kind of evil shall dog his heels and he,
above all men who are on the face of the earth, must cry to his Lord,
"Hold me up, and I shall be safe." The mercy is that the true minister
of Christ is held up in Christ's right hand. He shall be kept faithful
even unto death! He shall not fall and, God helping him, he shall be
caused to shine on right to the end of his ministry.
Every now and then we hear a rumor that some of God's own children have
fallen from Grace. I do not believe it. It is said that they have
fallen away and perished. I do not believe it. Those of you who live
till next November and go out late at night may see a great many
shooting stars. And some of your little children will cry, "Look,
Father, the stars are falling!" And possibly some children will believe
that stars have fallen from their places. Take the telescope and look
at the heavens–sweep the sky as far as the range of the instrument
will permit. Jupiter is all right, and Saturn, and Mars, and Venus, and
Mercury, and all the planets–they are all in their places–and the
fixed stars are shining on as they have done ever since the Lord first
kindled them to charm away the gloom of night! I do not know what these
shooting stars may be–there have been many guesses with regard to
them. Neither do I know what these apostates may be–there have been a
great many guesses about those that did flame out so brightly. But I do
know this–Jesus still holds the seven stars in His right hand and He
will not drop even one of them–they shall not be reduced to six, or
five, or four, or three, or two, or one, or vanish altogether–and
neither shall it ever be with any of the true sons of God!
Our Lord Himself has said, "They shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to Me, is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's
hands." If you, my Brother, are kept in the right hand of Christ, then
you are kept. If you wish and hope to shine for Jesus through all the
years that you shall live, then you must be heldin His right hand, for
He alone, who made you, can hold you up!
Next, are not the stars represented as being in Christ's right hand
because He holds them out as well as holds them up? As a man holds a
lamp in his hand and holds it up and out as far as he can, that its
light may shine the farther, so does Christ hold His servants up.
Sometimes He holds some of them up high aloft above the multitude, so
that, on the Sabbath, they rise quite out of themselves. They say what
they could never have thoughtof saying by themselves and they are
enabled to plunge into mysteries which before had not been opened up to
them. And there are given unto them burning words that shine as well as
burn, for their Lord lifts them up and holds them out. Dear Friends,
pray much for us who are called to preach the Gospel, that we may
always be lifted up in the right hand of Christ! If we try to shine
simply with our own natural brightness, it will be a very poor,
miserable exhibition of darkness. And if we try to work ourselves up,
as some do, into a state of excitement, we may goad ourselves into a
condition of semi-madness and lead others into the same folly, but no
good will come out of it! That elevation of spirit which comes from the
right hand which once was pierced for us–that lifting up of holy
speech which is given through contact with the right hand of Him who
spoke as never man spoke–that is the kind of uplifting that we need!
Pray, Beloved, that every star in the right hand of the Lord Jesus
Christ may be held up and held out–and so shine yet farther and
farther across the wild waste of the waters of sin and sorrow!
Do you not also think that by the stars being in the right hand of
Christ, is meant that He claims them as His own? Every faithful
minister is Christ's property. He belongs to his Lord and he recognizes
that blessed fact. "You are not your own, for you are bought with a
price," is true of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is
especially true of as many as are called out from among their fellows
that they may be the mouth of God–and that God may speak by them to
the feeding of His flock–and to the bringing home of His lost sheep.
They are peculiarly and especially in the hand of Christ, for they
belong entirely to Christ.
Is not this the highest honor any man can have, that he should be in
Christ's right hand because he belongs to Christ? You see it is
especially mentioned that these stars are not in the left hand of
Christ, but in His right hand, as if the Lord intended to put peculiar
and special honor upon His servants who are faithful to Him. Brothers,
it does not become any of us who preach the Gospel to seek honor of
men! What is it, after all? What is the value of commendation from the
lips of men? Suppose they should praise us and flatter us, and say that
we are "thoughtful men," "abreast of the times," and I know not
what–all such stuff as this is but carrion, fit for the scavengers of
the earth–not worthy to be set before the angels of the Churches! The
true servants of Christ may well be satisfied to eat of the crumbs that
fall from His table, rather than to feast upon the dainties that load
the tables of the ungodly. If our hearts are wholly set on shining for
Christ and shining for nothing but Christ, and shining with nothing but
Christ's own Light, and the Light of Christ's own Truth, then are we as
the stars in His right hand, beloved of Him and precious in His sight!
Verily I say unto you there shall be a glorious reward at the last for
those who are made by Christ into stars and who are held up, and held
out in the right hand of their Lord, and so claimed by Him as
peculiarly and especially His own!
So much, then, concerning the ministers of Christ. Brothers and
Sisters, pray for us, and pray for all the preachers of the Word, that
they may be stars in the right hand of Christ!
II. But now, secondly–and upon this I would dwell with great emphasis.
Notice THE SWORD WHICH COMES OUT OF CHRIST'S MOUTH–
"Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword."
The conquering power of the Gospel is in Christ Himself. It does not
lie with His ministers. The power with which Christ contends for the
mastery against all the powers of darkness resides not with His
servants, but dwells within Himself. The two-edged sword of the Lord is
in the mouth of the Lord. We shine, dear Friends–such little twinkling
stars as any of us are–we shine and God blesses the shining, but if
ever there is a soul saved, we have not saved it! And if ever there is
an enemy of Christ who is wounded and slain, the deed is not done by
our sword. By ourselves, we have no power–the really effectual work is
done by Christ, Himself–and by Him alone. The sword that goes out of
our mouth is a poor blunt instrument which can accomplish nothing. It
is the sword that goes out of Chrstsmouth that does everything in the
great battle for the right. Notice how the right hand of Christ has to
be used, even, to hold up these stars– ministers are not His right
hand–they are only as stars that He holds up with His right hand! They
derive all their power from Him. And even when they are held up by His
right hand, they are not the real warriors–it is not their strength
with which the battle is fought and won. The power is in Christ,
Himself. It is out of His mouth that there goes the sharp two-edged
sword that wins the victory.
Notice, dear Friends, that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to
conquer men is a power which is like a sword. "The sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God," comes out of the mouth of Christ, Himself,
and coming out of His mouth, it does several things which I will
briefly mention to you.
First, it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This
sword pierces "even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of
the joints and marrow." When I am preaching most earnestly, some of you
may find it possible to go to sleep–while I am talking to you about
the most sacred things, they may glide over you as oil might run down a
slab of marble. But if my Lord speaks to you, you will be compelled to
feel the power of this sword that goes out of His mouth! Every Word
that comes by His Spirit out of His mouth will seem to rip you open and
lay you bare, for, "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do"–and He can make you feel that He is
discerning the thoughts and intents of your hearts! The Lord Jesus
Christ, when He comes into our midst, brings His fan in His hand and
with it He will thoroughly purge His floor. With every movement of that
fan and every breath of His Spirit, He is separating the chaff from the
wheat. There is no escaping His observation when He is at work among
us– private thoughts are detected, the secrets of the heart are laid
bare and the precious and the vile are severed, the one from the other,
when He is working in the midst of His Church, for out of His mouth
goes the Word which is sharper than a two-edged sword.
When this sword comes out of the mouth of Christ, it wounds as well as
discerns. As a sword cuts, pierces, pricks and wounds, so does the Word
of God. I do not wonder that people are sometimes angry with the Word
of the Lord. Who would not be angry when he is cut as with a sharp
sword? I am not surprised that others retire to weep as if their hearts
would break. Who would not weep when the knife cuts into his flesh and
touches his very marrow? When the Lord Jesus Christ blesses the Word by
His Spirit, the wounded are all around Him. The ungodly begin to
tremble and the godly ones, finding that Christ is fighting against the
sin that is within them, are wounded and bleeding in a hundred places
because of that two-edged sword of His which cuts through coats of mail
and wounds, even, to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit!
Out of Christ's mouth comes not only a wounding but a killingsword.
When He speaks with power–and, oh, how I wish that He would do so just
now!–sinners feel that their self-righteousness is killed and that all
their carnal hopes are killed. They can say–and I trust that some of
you can say, with John–"'When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.'
I was alive till I saw Christ, I seemed to be all that I wanted to be
till I saw Christ. But when I saw Him on the Cross. When I read the
mystery of His passion and understood what it cost Him to redeem a soul
from death, then I saw what a sinner I must be–and I also saw what
would be the result of my sin if Ihad to bear the penalty of it. And
then, 'I fell at His feet as dead.'"
Brothers and Sisters, let us pray the Lord Jesus Christ to use that
sword which is in His mouth–constantly to use it among us, for what is
the use of the seven stars in His right hand–what is the use of
anything unless Christ's own voice is heard and Christ's own Truth is
driven home to the hearts of men? We have a good deal of preaching,
nowadays, do we not? But one Word out of Christ's mouth would be worth
fifty thousand out of the mouths of the greatest preachers who have
ever lived. Oh, if HE will but speak, though the preacher may be very
illiterate and may not have much to say–if God speaks through him,
there will be a power about his message which cannot be resisted! On
the other hand, the preacher may be one who has been well-trained and
taught and he may speak eloquently, so as to please his hearers, but if
God does notspeak through him, what mere froth it is! It is gone like a
vapor and no result comes of it. Let us keep on crying that the Master,
Himself, may be at work in our midst with the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God, proceeding out of His mouth!
Did you notice that the text said that out of Christ's mouth there went
a sharp sword? There is nothing so sharp as God's Word! When we are
speaking, it is very seldom that God blesses merely our words–it is
usually what we quote from the Scripture that is the means of the
salvation of our hearers. I think it was McCheyne who said, "It is not
our word, but God's Word, which saves souls." I notice that in most
conversions, the point of decision has been reached when a text has
been quoted. The word which God has blessed has been mainly
Scriptural–even if the Truth of God has not been spoken in the exact
words of Inspiration–yet it has been most clearly and manifestly a
quotation from the Scripture put into other words. There is nothing so
sharp as the Word of God! People will get around what we say, but they
cannot get around what God says. They can ignore your opinion and my
view of the case and another person's dictum upon it, but they cannot
forget that which comes to them with this message, "Thus says the
Lord," or, "It is written." And when the Spirit of God applies the
Truth of God to their hearts, it is, indeed, a sharp sword!
It is also two-edged, for the text calls it, "a sharp two-edged sword."
There is no handling this weapon without cutting yourself, for it has
no back to it–it is all edge! The Word of Christ, somehow or other, is
all edge. I remember preaching a sermon, on purpose, upon the
Resurrection, to see whether God would bless it to the conversion of
sinners. There were many brought to Christ by that discourse. With the
same intention, I have preached Divine Sovereignty and the Election of
Grace–and I have seen many won to Christ by those stern Truths of God.
I have often noticed that when I have been preaching for the comfort of
God's people, there have always been sinners wounded, even then, for
the Word is all edge–and even the consolations of the Gospel, while
they cheer the Believer, will cut the sinner in two! There is even
something about that which is the sweetest Truth of God to the Believer
which is sour to the unbeliever and cuts into his conscience. Only let
us preach the Gospel and we shall never find any other weapon like it!
As David said of Goliath's sword, so may we say of the sword of the
Spirit, "There is none like that, give it to me." When I am invited to
preach the novel doctrines of the present age, or to try the modern
methods of fighting the devil, I look these new weapons up and
down–and I advise those who offer them to me to send them to the
Exhibition of Inventions up in the West of London! You may see them
there, but you will never see them here The old sword suits my hand and
God blesses it to the cutting and the wounding and the killing of
sinners! God the Holy Spirit, who made it, uses it most effectually.
So, by the Grace of God, we will keep to it–and use no other as long
as we live.
I beg all of you who try to bring sinners to Christ, to stick to that
old sword, the two-edged sword that goes out of Christ's mouth! If
souls are not saved by the preaching of the Truth of God, they will not
be saved by the telling of lies. I have sometimes heard really awful
doctrine preached at revival services and an easy-going Brother has
said, "Well, you see, it was an evangelistic meeting." Yes, but you
should not tell lies at evangelistic meetings! "Oh, but if we were to
preach the same Truth of God to these sinners that you would proclaim
to a company of Believers, it would not do them any good!" Well, then,
nothing else will, depend upon it! If the Truths of God will not have
any effect upon them, your toning down of those Truths, or your
screwing them up will not improve them, but will spoil them. I believe
that the very Gospel that comforts saints is the Gospel that saves
sinners–that there is but one Gospel for all purposes and all people
and that, therefore, two gospels will never be required! You have only
to strike this way with one edge of the sword, and that way with the
other edge of it–or to swing it to and fro like that ancient warrior
did with his great two-handed sword–and you will strike sinners down
right and left, smiting the self-righteous this way, and the licentious
the other way! Only keep to that grand old sword which the Apostles
used, which was in the martyrs' hands, and by which Christ, Himself,
triumphed, is triumphing and will triumph even to the end!
III. The third part of my subject will have but few words from me and,
perhaps, the fewer I shall say, the better it will be. The point to
which it refers is THE GLORY OF CHRIST'S FACE–"His countenance was as
the sun shines in its strength." I will not attempt to explain these
words, but will only call your attention to one or two thoughts
concerning them.
First, what do you see in Christ's right hand? Seven stars, yet how
insignificant they appear when you get a sight of His face! They are
stars and there are seven of them–but who can see seven stars, or, for
that matter–seventy thousand stars when the sun shines in its
strength? How sweet it is, when the Lord, Himself, is so present in a
congregation that the preacher, whoever he may be, is altogether
forgotten! I pray, dear Friends, when you go to a place of worship,
always try to see the Lord's face rather than the stars in His hand!
Look at the sun and you will forget the stars. If you look for the
stars, it may be that you will see neither star nor sun, for the Lord
may withdraw His light from His servants because you are looking to
them rather than to Him. In Christ's hand are the stars, but His
countenance is "as the sun shines in its strength."
What does this mean but that there is about our Divine Lord an
inexpressible, indescribable, infinite splendor?No man can look at the
sun–it would blind him. The sun, when it shines in its strength–not
when it is rising in the morning, nor yet when it is setting in the
evening, nor yet when a cloud passes over it–but the sun in its
strength, no man can look at! He would soon lose his eyes if he did.
So, who shall ever know, much less tell, the glories of the Lord Jesus
Christ? To know Him is our great ambition, but His love surpasses
knowledge. That is our confession after years of endeavoring to search
into the height and depth and length and breadth of His love. Think of
your Lord, then, as covered with inconceivable Glory.
But this expression is to also be regarded as setting forth Christ's
overpowering pre-eminence. The best of His servants are only stars, but
He is the Sun! In Christ there is more light than there is in all the
Prophets, saints and Apostles who have ever lived! All their light came
from Him, but all their light was still remaining in Him! And all the
light that ever shall be, throughout all the ages, will be as
nothingcompared with the light that there is in Him. One said of Henry
the Eighth, that if all the tyrants who ever lived had been dead, they
might all have been considered as reproduced in that one man. I may say
of our Lord Jesus Christ something very different, that is, if all the
good things and all the virtuous things and all the loving things that
have ever been since the world began were gone, they are all to be
found in Him! As the sun is the great source of light and heat, so
there is an overpowering pre-eminence about the Lord Jesus Christ!
Yet, further, this is a communicable excellence. The sun, when it
shines in its strength, is pouring out its light–the sun has not light
merely for itself, but its light is for all the worlds that are round
about it, as the face, the glory, the excellence, the merit of Christ
is for all His people. He is forever pouring it forth and this is His
splendor, that He shines upon the sons of men to fill them with joy.
Yet this figure of the sun has in it something justly terrible. Who
could fight against the sun that shines in its strength? If all the
powers that are contended against the sun and attempted to invade its
territory, the sun would consume them all! And who shall fight against
You, O Sun of Righteousness? You shall utterly consume them in the day
of Your wrath. There will be something terrible about the face of
Christ when He comes to judgment–then shall men cry, "Hide us from the
face of Him that sits upon the throne." But to His people there is
something in His face that is intensely joyful. We shall never be in
the dark, for our Lord's face is like the sun! Put out all the lamps
and let all temporal comfort and all spiritual comfort vanish, yet
spare us Christ–give us but to see His face and to be favored with His
smile–and we shall need no candle, neither light of any other sun, for
the face of Christ "is as the sun that shines in its strength."
Dear Friends, are you on the Lord's side? Are you on Jesus Christ's
side? If so, be happy that you have such a Savior! Are you an opponent
of His? Then tremble and bow before Him! "Kiss the Son, lest He be
angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a
little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." May He send
this choice blessing to you all, for His dear name's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 1
Verses 1, 2. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which Godgave unto Him, to
show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass. And He
sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John who bore
record of the Word of
God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he
saw. John was a most suitable person to see and to bear record of the
Word of God, for in his Gospel, (John 19:35), he describes himself at
the Cross as both seeing and bearing record. So now that his
once-crucified Lord is in His Glory, it seemed right that the same
beloved disciple should both see Him and bear record concerning Him. No
eyes were so fit to see the Glory of Christ as those which had looked
with so much love into the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth in the days of His
humiliation. The head that had rested upon his Master's bosom at the
Supper Table was prepared, thereby, for all the Glory that should
afterwards be revealed. The nearer your communion with Christ is, the
more will you be permitted to know of Him. Our perceptions of Christ,
if they are true, will be spiritual–and in proportion as our spiritual
life is in a right condition, shall we be able to know more and more of
Him.
3, Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time
is at hand. I do not perceive that John says, "Blessed are they that
understand this Book," for, surely, they would be very few. I do not
doubt that there are portions of Scripture which are not meant to be
understood as yet–things concerning the future which are wrapped up in
a phraseology which will be plain enough when that future arrives–but
which, for the present, are not intended so much to gratify our
curiosity as to stimulate our watchfulness. To keep us constantly on
the lookout is the main objective of every Revelation concerning the
future. So far, then, we have the proem, or preface, of this great Book
of the Revelation.
4, 5. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you,
and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and
from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. John's benediction to
the seven Churches of Asia is like that of Paul when he is writing to a
Christian Church, "Grace be unto you, and peace." You have probably
noticed that when Paul is writing to an individual minister, his
greeting is, "Grace, mercy, and peace," for they who have the solemn
charge of souls need "mercy" above all other men! May they find mercy
of God in that day! But to the Churches, themselves, it is simply this
double benediction, "Grace be unto you, and peace." These blessings,
coming in their proper order–Grace, first, and peace afterwards–are
very precious. That peace which is not founded upon Grace and does not
follow Grace, is a false peace. "Grace be unto you, and peace." But if
you have Grace, peace ought to follow–you have a right to it–it is a
logical sequence to the possession of the Grace of God. Well does Dr.
Watts sing–
"If sin is pardoned, I'm secure; Death has no sting beside."
If Grace is given, Glory will follow. Therefore, Beloved, "Grace be
unto you, and peace." And this Grace and peace must come from the Lord
Jesus–"From Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." This
Grace and peace must come from the eternal Father, the self-existent
Jehovah, and from the ever-blessed Spirit. God alone is the Lord and
Giver of Grace and peace! And this double blessing must come from a
realization of the Lord Jesus Christ in His glorious Character as "the
faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of
the kings of the earth." Never forget, dear Friends, that even today
Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth! The Queen reigns, and
the Czar reigns–but it is still more true that "The Lord reigns."
There is One who is higher than the highest of all earthly kings, even
"the Prince of the kings of the earth."
5, 6. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, andhas made us kings andpriests unto God and His Father; to Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever Amen. Do not all of us who truly
know our Lord, say that? Do we not wish for Him, Glory and honor beyond
anything that we can conceive? May all dominion be His forever and
ever, for it is His by right!
7. Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they
also which pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall wail
because of Him. They have crucified Him! All of the earth have, alas,
had a share in Christ's death! And dying unforgiven, or being found
alive at His coming without repentance, they "shallwail because of
Him."
7. Even so, Amen. Though the wicked shall wail at Christ's appearing,
the saints must give consent to the judgments of God as well as to His
mercies–"Even so, Amen."
8-12. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I
John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the
kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last
and, What you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches
which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos,
and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto
Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. This was a
very natural thing for John to do. We always feel a desire to see who
it is that addresses us and especially would this be the case if we
heard such a sentence as this, spoken with a trumpet voice by One who
could truly say, "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last." Who
would not have turned to see such a Speaker? I am sure that John would,
for he must have recognized that voice, though it was pitched in a
higher key than usual, and was full of more sonorous force than when he
last heard it. He must have known the voice of the Well-Beloved as He
spoke, again, to His highly-favored servant!
12, 13. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man–It was
the very same Son of Man, but John could only say, "like unto the Son
of Man"–like unto the One whom he had known long before and whom he
had loved with undying affection–like He, but, oh, how unlike He! The
Christ in every position is still discernible as "like unto the Son of
Man." As John sees Him, with His face shining like the sun in its
strength, yet still He is "like unto the Son of Man." In the manger He
was like to what He was afterwards upon the Cross. On the Cross He was
like to what He is now upon His Throne–and when He comes again in all
His Glory, He will still be like unto what He was and always is–"the
Son of Man." "In the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the
Son of Man"–
13-18. Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
chest with a golden band. His head and His hair 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. 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 shines in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His
feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear
not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that lives, and was dead;
and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen. And have the keys of Hell
and of death. That dear familiar touch of Christ's right hand had
quickened John into sensibility, again, and brought him back from his
swoon when he was lying at Christ's feet as dead. O Master, if we are
dead in a worse sense than John was. If we have fallen into a spiritual
swoon. If we have come into a fainting fit, lay Your pierced hand upon
us, now, and we shall live! Come near us, O Lord, come nearer, nearer,
still, and touch Your servants with Your hand of love and power, and we
shall be able to hear what You have to say, and our heart shall be
strong to obey Your command!
19, 20. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are,
and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars
which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. Then
He proceeds to explain what He meant, just after the manner of the Son
of Man who, when He pronounced a parable in public, opened it up to His
own disciples in secret, even as He still does. Oh, how blessedly is
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever"! His
characteristics never change! What He was, He is and that He will ever
be, blessed be His holy name."
20. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven
candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches. The Lord bless to us
all the reading of this precious passage from His Word! Amen.