And all this is blessed, only blessed. They see Him in His personal relation to themselves. But there"s something more than this. No one knew more of this blessed personal part than John. But John saw more than this on Patmos. He saw Christ _as He is now_.
This is clearly a new sight of Christ. It was new to John. It would seem to be new to us. It is new in the pages of this book. It is something different from any sight seen before. In the Gospels we see Jesus the _Man_. In carpenter shop and little whitewashed stone cottage, in the ministering life clear from the Jordan bottoms to the healing touch at Gethsemane"s gate, and in the suffering clear up to the ninth hour of that fateful day He is the _Man_, one of ourselves, though clearly more even in His humanity than the humanity we are.
On the Transfiguration Mount the favoured inner three, the leaders, see the glory within shining out through the Man. So bewildered are they that the chief impression that remains is of a blinding brightness. Yet this is up on a high mountain far away from the crowd, and from the haunts of men.
As Stephen is being stoned his eyes are opened to see the Son of Man standing in glory up at the Father"s right hand. The Damascus traveller sees an overpowering burst of glory out of the blue and hears a voice speaking. In the epistles Paul pictures Him seated at the Father"s right hand with an authority greater than any other. All the power He has is placed at the disposal of His followers on the earth. He Himself is above in the glory.[55]
But in this very end of the Book John is given a _new sight of Christ_.
He sees Him _as He is now_. That is to say, this is the sight of Christ as He is now _characteristically_. It is the distinctive sight that stands out above all these others.
He _is_ at one"s right hand in closest personal relation, through His Holy Spirit. He _is_ at the Father"s right hand in glory waiting expectantly till the time is ripe for the next direct move on the earth.
But there"s more than these. There"s a sight of Him that overshadows these. It is the characteristic sight that lets us see Him as He is peculiarly _now_ in His relation to _affairs on the earth_.
Christ as He Is Now.
This new sight of Christ is the heart and soul of this crowning book, this end-book of the Book.
It was out of this sight that this end-book grew. It is written wholly under the spell of this new sight of Christ. It is a revelation both _of_ Jesus Christ and _by_ Jesus Christ; first of, then by.
John begins his story by telling that he had gotten such a revelation, and of the special blessing attached to reading and fitting one"s life to it.[56] Then follows his salutation to those for whom the revelation was given, and the book written.[57] It is peculiarly a _Church_ book.
Its message is not peculiarly for individual followers, but for groups of believers gathered together as Churches.
The salutation is absorbed with the One whom he has seen in the vision, what He has done for us in shedding His blood, and that He is actually coming again. "Behold He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they that pierced Him." The Jew is specifically designated: the coming has special significance for the Jewish nation. And all the people of the earth shall penitently mourn as they see Him. And then like an endorsing signature from the One of whom he is writing comes the sentence: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord G.o.d, who is and who was, and who cometh, the Almighty One."
Then comes the new sight of the crowned Christ.[58] It was on a Lord"s day. John was on the lonely sea-girt isle of Patmos. He was alone, brooding probably over some bit of the Word of G.o.d, and about the Jesus of whom he had been so earnestly testifying. It was these that had brought him to his lonely island prison. These ever burned within him, the wondrous written Word, the immensely more wondrous Word made flesh, of whom he had written, the Word that was G.o.d and became a Man and walked the will of G.o.d.
And as he brooded he became conscious of the Spirit of G.o.d overshadowing him, gentle as the soft breeze, noiseless as the fragrant dew, mighty as an enveloping presence that filled his being and had possession of him.
Then a voice spake and the tone of authority in it was unmistakable.
"What thou seest, write." He was to see something. He was to tell what he saw. There"s a delightful touch of the simplicity of natural speech here. He turned to _see_ the _voice_. And he saw Him who was the voice of G.o.d to him. Then the sight is told in the same simplicity of speech.
There is a group of candlesticks, light-holders, made of gold. And in the midst of the group there is some One standing. He is in outer form like a _man_. But there is such an overpowering sense of divine glory that John falls on his face as one dead. Yet through all this overwhelming experience the impression of a man stands unmistakably out.
With keen, quick glance John takes in head and hair, eyes and feet, voice and hands, mouth and face. A simple, natural man in every outer particular like himself, a brother man, wearing man"s garb and girdle.
This is the first impression indelibly stamped on John"s mind.
But there"s more, ah, much more than a man in this man! This is the stupendous part. There is some One, other than man, and more than man, possessing this man. The divine fills the human. It is this sense of the glory filling the man that is so overpowering to John.
A glorious presence overshadows the man and shines out of Him, but never obliterates nor makes the man less. That indescribable glory within shining out through the man magnifies every part of His human being. The head and hair are white, not like a pale or painted white, but a transparent whiteness, an intense searching, glowing light shining out from Him through the human head and hair.
The eyes are as a flame of pure fire, the feet like melting metal glowing in fire. And the whole countenance was as the sun in its noontime strength shining out of a rainless, cloudless sky. Humanity enveloped in deity, yet remaining true, full humanity. G.o.d within man immeasurably more than man, yet not overwhelming, not disturbing nor obliterating, any part of his humanity, rather making every part stand out more distinctly.
Is this incidentally a kind of parable? Is it something like this on an immensely humbler scale that was meant for us men? G.o.d the Holy Spirit dwelling in a man. He the chief one, the divine one, yet expressing Himself _through_ the man, and doing it fully to meet the need of the hour. His presence magnifying, vitalizing, and using every human power, yet Himself the dominant personality.
It is most striking to note that this is the same in principle as every appearance of G.o.d in the Old Testament pages. Sometimes He talked with men when there is no suggestion made of any appearance or of what the appearance was like. But wherever the appearance is spoken of it is always either fire or some touch of the human kind or both.
In Eden He waits and speaks, two human things. He talks with Abraham as a man talks, and ratified the covenant by pa.s.sing fire through the pieces of the covenant sacrifice.[59] It is as a simple, natural man appearing at Abraham"s tent door that He talks about Sodom. It is a human voice speaking about Isaac, though no appearance is mentioned.
Moses sees a flaming bush, and hears a voice in the desert, and sees a whole mount aflame while a voice speaks at Sinai.
And so it was always: the fiery presence-cloud in the Wilderness, Joshua"s Captain taking command, Manoah"s angel ascending in the flame of the altar, the voice in the night heard by Samuel, the flooding of Tabernacle and Temple with the glory-presence, Carmel"s fire descending, Elijah"s "still small voice," Isaiah"s vision of glory and the voice, Ezekiel"s man of flame speaking, and Daniel"s, both of the latter two akin to this Revelation appearance.
But there is a distinctness and a fulness of description here greater than at any previous time, yet the same essential thing as at every appearance of G.o.d in Old Testament pages. The coming of Jesus among us has brought G.o.d closer to us and made Him mean more. Jesus was G.o.d coming closer and in a way that we could understand better and take hold of more easily.
The Identifying Mark.
But let us reverently look a little closer that we may understand yet better. There are certain characteristics of this Man of Fire that are allowed to stand sharply out here. We are meant to look at them. This is part of the purpose in the heart of Christ in letting us see Him as He is here.
The sense of _purity_ is intenser than can be put into words. Fire is pure. There is nothing so pure. It resists impurity. It burns it up. It is most significant that this is the one thing familiar to us that always accompanies the presence of G.o.d as He appears to men. It is always in fire whether to speak His message of peace and love or to remove the impurity of evil.
Our G.o.d is a consuming fire. Yet fire only consumes what can"t stand its flame. The fire reveals purity and makes pure. G.o.d is pure. The presence within the man looked out in eyes of flame, in a countenance like the sun, and feet like molten bra.s.s glowing in a furnace. There could be no stronger statement of purity than this.
Then there is an overwhelming sense of _authority_. That seems the human word to use, though the word seems to tell so much less than John felt.
John feels it more than he can tell it. He cannot tell it in words. His limp figure lying flat on the earth tells what words never can. He had seen the glory outshining in the Transfiguration Mount, but this is unspeakably beyond that.
There was a voice like a trumpet. It commanded John to write. It says: "I _became_ dead, and, behold! I _am_ alive forever more." It is an authority over life to yield it up, and over death to put it to death, and call life back, never again to be touched by the finger of death. No such authority is known among men to-day. And this is further emphasized in the quiet words: "I have the _keys_--- the control--of death and of the whole spirit world."
But immensely more than all this to John was the intense feeling of majesty which completely overpowered him. The sense of authority was overwhelming. The items in the description can thus be catalogued, but it is impossible to get the overwhelming sense of majestic authority that came to John, except as he got it,--by a _sight_, something of a sight of this great crowned Christ.
But _who_ is this? Is this not merely Ezekiel"s vision repeated?[60] He saw just such a vision, one in the likeness of a man, enveloped in fire, and sitting on a throne. And the effect was the same as Ezekiel lies flat on his face. Is it not the same as Daniel saw?[61] A _man_ clothed in linen, aflame with inner fire, and the same authoritative voice, and Daniel in a deep sleep of awe-stricken stupor with face on the ground?
He does indeed seem to be the same. The descriptions tally remarkably.
But listen. He speaks. And the sense of terrifying authority in the voice that spake is gentled to John"s tense ear in the quiet words that come. Like the loving words that came to Daniel"s quaking heart is the personal message that came to John,--"Fear not." And with the words, as ever, come the new sense of stilling peace within. "I am the First and the Last, and the Living One."
Still it may be Ezekiel"s Man even yet, or Daniel"s. But listen: "and I _became dead_." Ah! this identifies Him. Now we know for the first time that this Man of Flame is Jesus our Brother-man. The cross becomes the mark of identification. The form of the words as spoken fits in with the sense of authority. With great strength of heart in carrying out a great purpose He "_became_ dead."
This is Ezekiel"s Man and Daniel"s and _more_, unspeakably more. The Man they saw has lived amongst us for a generation of time, and then given His life clear out for us. He has become more in coming as Jesus. He has taken human experience and suffering up into Himself. He was Creator. He has become more--Saviour.
There is the same purity and authority speaking out here as there. But here is _love_ speaking out as never was spoken out before. Here is love _lived_ out; aye, here love is _died_ out, and never living so much as when dying. Here is love putting death to death for us. Purity and authority fastened on a cross! This is love such as man had never known, and G.o.d never shown before. Calvary lets us see the love that burned in the purity and controlled in the authority.
John"s Man is Ezekiel"s and Daniel"s, but with the love shining out through purity and authority, and outshining both. Yet that love is the purity and authority combined in action. We don"t know love only as we know G.o.d. And we don"t know G.o.d only as we know Jesus not living merely but pouring out His life for men. This is love--that Man, that G.o.d-man, but with the G.o.d-glory hidden within, using all His authority over His life to fasten His purity on a cross with the thorns of our sin, and then throttling death and bringing up a new sort of deathless life for us. This--He--is love.
The Outstanding Characteristic.
But we haven"t gotten to the heart of this yet. There is immensely more here than even this. The distinctive thing, the characteristic thing in this sight of Christ, is yet to be noticed. All of this can be gotten from other sights of Christ. But notice now keenly _where this Man of Fire is_. For this is the distinctive thing. He is not up in the heavens, as in Ezekiel. He has not come on a special errand, as in Daniel"s experience.[62] He is walking _down on the earth_. His whole concern is about affairs on the earth.
But note where He is on earth: not in Jerusalem, the Jew centre; not in Rome, the world"s ruling centre, nor in Athens or Corinth, the world"s culture centres. He is seen walking among a small group of candlesticks.
This is the centre of earth action for Him. This is _the significant thing_ of this new sight of Christ. Let us look at it a moment to get at the simple significance of the scene.
The candlesticks, we are told, are the Churches, the little groups of followers banded together here and there. These small groups of Christ"s followers are called _candlesticks_ or lampstands.
There is no suggestion yet of their giving any light. No lighted candles nor oily wicks are burning and shining. They are only candle_sticks_.
They are of gold, the most precious metal, but they can give no light, they can only hold the light some one else supplies. The Man standing amongst them is the light. The whole effect of the sight of Christ here is that He is the light. The presence within the man shines out through head and eyes and limbs, as light, intense dazzling light, even as the sun in his strength.
Here is the distinctive thing. Christ"s whole interest centres in the earth. All heaven is bending over watching the run of events down here.
The intensity of His suffering and death tell the intensity of Christ"s interest in the movement of things on the earth. He has a plan. He has put His very life into it. It centres wholly in the affairs of us men down here. And it centres in His Church.