The Ascended Christ

Revelation 1:11-16 (NLT)11 It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” 12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13 And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

In the 13th verse, John uses a description sounding like verse 13 in the seventh chapter of Daniel that Jesus used to "justify" the Sanhedrin to crucify Him. Daniel had the revelation of The Triumphant Christ and now John, who had known Him as his Messiah walking in His ministry to this realm, now sees Him in His Majestic Office standing in triumphant victory as Head of the Church. John fell at His feet as though dead. This revelation of Jesus in His Ascended glory came after John had gone about ministering, as the Holy Spirit led him, his witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing he had known of Jesus, either in His ministry, death or in His appearances after His resurrection, prepared him to behold the Ascended Christ. The magnitude of His glory, His holy God-majestic appearance and the sound beyond natural description of His voice, caused John to be as one dead. It was the end of any human related identification. Now he faced the eternal God triumphant in the accomplished work of redeeming and perfecting man in the image of God. I am reminded of Ezekiel and Daniel when they had revelations of God's splendor and became incapable of holding up physically to such revelation. Any religious imagery is lost when He is revealed in His glory. Moses had a physical reaction to being exposed to His glory. We need desperately to have such an awakening!

Revelation 1:17-18(NLT)17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. New meaning to familiar territory! Bringing up from human understanding to spirit awareness, Jesus ministers with the same love and compassion that John is familiar. Now the realization of Who Jesus is, was and ever will be, dawned in John's heart. He will never again be able to relate to Jesus as he had once known Him. He realized the privilege he had been given to walk as one of His disciples. We see it in his first epistle. I John 1:1-4(NLT) 1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

In these verses in the Revelation, Jesus pronounces in covenant language His identity and position in covenant. He is ABLE to present an eternal covenant to His church. The open-ended expectation is to produce the desire of God--man in His image. His Love, His Life, His Nature and His Glory are to be shared with His Church. The response that is expected is to be exposed to, accepted and walked in of all He has provided. We will come to understand these expectations as we look at the letters to the seven churches. As we study these letters, we will see greater revelation of Whom we are responding and recognize the human tendency to fail in this response so we can be on guard and overcome that human failure in our own selves. I pray the Spirit will open our eyes and hearts to see more than we have ever seen in these passages. The Lord bless you and open your spirits to all He has reserved for this day for His Church to walk in and so minister.