Beholding Christ as He Is: Part 4 - Revelation 1: 12-18

1:03So it's my goal this morning to continue setting Christ before you as he is revealed in this passage. Let me just read, beginning in verses, well, let me just begin really in verse 12. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. Me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun, shining in its strength.

2:14We intend to pick up right where we left off before Christmas, beholding Christ as he is. We find ourselves in this vision. There are several elements in this first vision. Where Jesus was describes his primary interest, just by way of reminder. And Jesus isn't standing among the colleges of the earth. We know that he's standing among the churches of the church, I mean, of the world. He says so in verse 20. We know these lampstands represent churches. They don't represent colleges. His primary interest is in college. I mean, if we're worried about the world, I'm sure Texas AM would have been one of the colleges, we know for sure, right?

3:06He's not standing among the financial institutions or the critical industries of the earth. His primary interest isn't about the banking system or the supply chain. He's not concerned primarily with those. He's not standing among the governing bodies of the earth or the national capitals of the earth. If so, I'm sure the great nation of Texas would be one of them, right? No, he stands among churches. The lampstands are the churches. That is his primary interest in this world.

3:57Notice in verse 13, to whom Jesus is equated. He is equated to the Son of Man, speaking about his supremacy over all. In verse 13, we also see what he was wearing. He's dressed as a man of distinction, his role as king, priest, and judge. Then we come to verses 14 through 16, and John starts describing. What Jesus looked like. And here we start getting a feel for his personal attributes, his personal characteristics. In verse 14, we looked at his head and hair, which describe his attributes that's equivalent with the Father. He looks like his Father, holiness, judge of all.

4:58Looked at his eyes in verse 14, that penetrating eyes of fire that pierce through the hidden places of the deepest part of our inner being and the whole world. There's nothing hidden from his sight. He has penetrating vision. And then we come to verse 15. Let me read to you verse 15. That's where we'll spend our time this morning. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. So this morning I want us to continue looking upon Jesus as he currently is, and so that we will not be afraid of the difficult pressures or circumstances that we find ourselves in.

5:59Such was. The case with the churches of Asia Minor to whom these were written. Let's look at his feet. Let's look at his feet. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace. Burnished bronze. Reading the King James, fine brass. The word only appears here in the New Testament and chapter 2 and verse 18 describing the same thing, his feet. What does it look like? It's certainly the word speaks of a metal alloy, certainly involving copper.

6:51Burnished bronze, gleaming bronze, fine brass. But then he adds this note: as when it has been made to glow in a furnace, still in that heated state where the metal becomes glowing red hot. His feet were like this metal in a furnace that has reached that point of glowing, radiant heat. Glowing metal. What does this description signify? You remember the four living beings in Ezekiel one, where Ezekiel sees the glory of God and he sees these living beings. He sees the glory coming, and in this midst of this cloud, he sees something like glowing metal in the center of it.

8:04And then he describes these living beings, these four living beings, and he describes their legs. They were they gleamed like burnished bronze. The living creatures have legs gleaming, burnished bronze. Well, what does this description intend to signify? Is it strength, stability, beauty? Certainly these are all implied. But when the components of this metaphor, feet, like burnished bronze, made to glow in a furnace, are all put together, two key concepts certainly come to the surface. Clear. Two concepts: purity and movement. Purity and movement. Feet move. That's what they do. Speak of movement. And metal in a furnace at that level is as pure as metal gets. Purity and movement. Purity and movement. And certainly as we reflect upon Jesus' incarnation, the time of his humility, when he walked among us, he certainly was a man of purity, innocent, holy, set apart.

9:54His feet always moved in the direction of the path that pleased God. His feet took him, went to those places that pleased God, in holy places. His feet went there because that's where his mind always went. He was pure throughout when tested. As much as a man can be tested, he was pure without fault, without blame. His feet always went. In the way of purity, and always led his disciples in the way of purity. And Jesus wanted the same thing for his followers as God desired for Israel. Be holy, for I am holy. You remember Leviticus 19:2? God spoke to Moses and said, Say to the Israel, speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

11:12And Jesus wanted the same for his followers. Matthew 5, 48, Jesus said, Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. And it's clear that Jesus saw himself as the perfect man because he says this in Matthew 10, verse 24, a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. He's saying to his disciples, It's enough for you to become like me.

11:54And that takes you to that place of perfection to be. Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, and if you will follow me, I will take you there. That's basically what Jesus was saying to his disciples. His passion was always about the purity of his disciples. So his feet always led in the way of purity. There was purity in all of his movement. But there is also movement to purity. Movement to purify. Jesus' passion was the purifying of his disciples.

12:41No place is more vividly displayed of the movement of his feet is in Mark chapter 10 and verse 32 and 33. You can turn there or you can just listen. But in Mark chapter 10, verses 32, they're going up to Jerusalem. Let me read to you, verse 32. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And this is for that fateful journey of crucifixion to Jerusalem, the final trip to Jerusalem before the cross. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed.

13:30And those who followed were fearful. There was something in his stride, something in his step, something in the way he walked that amazed those who followed him and terrified those who followed him. He was going up to Jerusalem. His feet were moving toward Jerusalem, toward the place of purification. Not just for temple worship, but for the purification of all mankind who will come to him. And here he is. And he took the twelve aside on the road and began to tell them what was going to happen, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him. Three days later, he will rise again.

14:35How's that for comforting your disciples? You're afraid? For good reason. But here's Jesus marching up there, and it's in his feet. Movement. He does not have feet that run from judgment, that run from the darkness. He has feet that run toward it. He has an ambition for holiness, and it has consumed him. And he moves in that direction. Shortly after, in Mark 11, he enters Jerusalem, comes to the temple in verse 11, and he looks around and then he goes home, goes out to Bethany for the night. It was late.

15:20And then the next day came into Jerusalem in verse 15, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money chambers, changers, and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say to them, Is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber's den.

15:52And this is the reason why the chief priests went out, sought to destroy him. What are you doing? This is our operation. It's perverted worship. What's going on here? In fact, John, commenting on a similar situation in John chapter 2, verse 17, his disciples remembered, zeal for your house will consume me. Purity in his movement and movement to purify. That's what's in his feet. And it's informed. By what he sees with his penetrating sight. Such was the case in his humility. How much more do we expect the case to be in his glory? It's the same person. Same person.

16:49As Revelation makes plain, holiness is still his aim. Perfection among the churches is still his aim. Perfection, he still wants perfection. His standard desire, or his standard, and his desire, and his purpose for his people is still the same. Be holy. Be perfect, like your heavenly Father is perfect. He has provided a sufficient sacrifice to take us there. And he provides us with a sufficient spirit to transform us. He takes us there. And it's not a work that we can make happen, right? We know that. Even as believers, we still fall, we still sin, and yet his sacrifice is sufficient.

17:53And yet, his ministry is sufficient. He takes us there. This is what Revelation 2 and chapter 3 are about. Christ walking among his churches. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write, the one who holds seven stars in his hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this. He is one who is walking. That's among the lampstands. That's where he is. That's his primary interest. And he wants them to be perfect as his heavenly father is perfect. Now, look it over at verse 18 as he speaks to Thyatira. Verse 18, and to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write, the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this.

18:52I know your deeds, love, and faith, and service, and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you. You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet, and she teaches and leads my bondservants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent.

19:31Of her deeds, and I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and the hearts. God is the one, Jesus is the one who searches the minds and the hearts of every individual, and all the churches will know that as he deals with this prophetess called Jezebel, his feet are moving in the direction of purifying his people. He never leads anywhere else. We have to decide if we're really going to follow him right.

20:14He wants perfection in his churches, but he also wants perfection on planet earth. You remember in Revelation 19, this great, beautiful picture of Christ coming in his glory in verse 11. And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. All the armies have gathered. And in verse 15, and from his mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword, so that he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them.

21:00With a rod of iron, and he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. That's him, his feet treading the wine press, the enemies of God Almighty. Purification, movement, whether it's in the case of the church, churches, he wants purity, he wants, and he moves them to purity through discipline, through judgment. Planet Earth is going to be a holy place because that's the place where his feet are going to touch and dwell.

21:52You know, in the Old Testament, Leviticus is all about a walk with a holy God. Remember, he called the children of Israel out of Egypt. But he doesn't just call them out and say, okay, there, you're free, you're liberated now, go do what you want. No, he called them out of that darkness, out of that slavery, so that they could walk with him. And he tells them how to walk with him. And he gives instructions about this tabernacle that was to be constructed.

22:31And to be with the Israelites as they journey through the land and to the land and through the land. And you know, the first thing that you saw when you came through that screen, through that tent, into that courtyard, was a bronze altar, the place where the fire burned, the place where sin was dealt with. You also saw the bronze basin where they were to wash. All the tongs, all the implements which facilitated the ministry of the altar, the wash basin were all of this fine bronze. Stationary, but it still indicated God's judgment upon human equity and the need for humanity to be clean. If you're going to walk with a holy God, you're going to have to approach Him through sacrifice, through cleanness of heart, and deal with sin.

23:49And as depicted by Christ, God's judgment is still movement toward purity, whether He's pure. Purifying his church, or whether he's destroying his enemies. So, what do these feet, like burnished bronze, when made to glow in a furnace, indicate? They indicate the moral purity which he demands from those among whom he walks. Feet. He walks and he demands moral purity. And his feet always lead those who follow him to holiness. There's purity in his movement, and there's movement to purity. So it was in his incarnation, so it is now, so it will be when he returns. It's the same person.

24:57Next, after describing his head and hair and his eyes and his feet, John describes his voice. Look at verse 15. And his voice was like the sound of many waters. Many waters. Now think about it. John's on the island of Patmos. He probably heard the constant crashing of the waves of the Aegean Sea night and day, all the Time upon the shores of Patmos. What are the characteristics of many waters? If we're just thinking about many waters, well, first thing that comes to mind, comes to my mind, is that they are deafening, deafening. It drowns everything else out. I remember one of the hardest things I had when I first moved out to Southern California and lived right there near the Pacific Coast Highway is just how loud everything was. I couldn't get out. It didn't matter where I went. I couldn't get away from the noise of traffic. And it was just loud, constant roar. And I like to get away sometimes where it's just, it's so quiet that you can't, it's almost deafening, just the quietness. And I never could find a place like that there in all my time, except when I went to a mountain. But there was, if you go down to the beach, guess what?

26:31You can hear, you can drive to the beach, you can be walking to the beach, you can see and hear this traffic noise. But the moment you step down to the beach, guess what? You can't hear the freeway at all. It's like being close to the water. The sound of that water just drowns out something as loud as a busy freeway. And you could see them. It's like, man, I can't hear them. But you could see them. Experienced something similar as I was down at Galveston last week.

27:11And just you get down to the beach, and you can see the cars go by, but you can't hear them up there on the sea wall. Deafening. Deafening. It's one of the characteristics of many waters. Another characteristic of many waters just comes to my mind is the power. Not only are they deafening, but they are powerful. Water is powerful. In fact, I'm kind of scared of water. That was my profession, hydrology. I studied water. And I've seen the power of water. I've seen just a little water blow out the side of a mountain on one of my projects.

28:04I've been swept downstream in a river. I have swam out into the ocean to the point where I've seen the bottom fall out and the deep before my eyes. And I feel very, very small. You know, the Grand Canyon was formed. By water quickly. In fact, we have some ocean engineers in here. It's constant battle. Power, the force of water. And yet his voice is as powerful like many waters. Look at verse 10. Look back at verse 10. You remember, he's in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of trumpet, of a trumpet, that penetrating noise. His voice penetrates. And here, this metaphor speaks of that powerful, deafening penetration, that authority.

29:26His voice is as powerful as it is penetrating. That's why he can say, My sheep hear my voice. It's not because we have good ears, it's because we can't miss it. And those who do miss it have to work very, very hard. But this was Jesus, remember his voice and his humility? Remember his when he walked, you remember when he calmed the sea, when he quieted the sea? Talk about a powerful voice. In Mark chapter 4, verse 35. Let me just read to you the narrative. On that day when evening came, he said to them, Let us go to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

30:42Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And here's some fishermen that are afraid. I mean, you talk about the noise, the gale of wind, the waves breaking over the boat. And where is Jesus asleep on the cushion? He had an inner calmness greater than a fierce storm. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush, be still. And the wind died down, and it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?

31:32They became very much afraid and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? A calmness. This loud, deep, the waves obeyed his command. He spoke and drowned out the noise. His inner calmness calmed the sea, his authority. I mean, I could see myself being on that boat and being very much afraid. I'm already afraid of water like that. I mean, I've seen its power. I've been out on the sea. I've been out there.

32:33It's just the smallness, the littleness that I feel, the out-of-controlness of seeing the sighs of waves. And I haven't even been in a storm, nothing like this. And seeing waves, it makes one feel so small and so insignificant. And then to have, to be on a boat like that and to have a situation occur like the disciples experienced, and then all of a sudden, Realizing that there's one more powerful than all that watery chaos, one who can control all the strength of the waters of the earth. He's in the boat with me.

33:19I could see myself being very much afraid. I could see myself, oh. I probably wouldn't say anything. I'd probably go to one part of the boat and say, Lord, get me off this boat. Depart from me. I understand what Peter was saying. Depart from me. I am so little, so insignificant. What would you have to do with me, Almighty God? Who am I? Who am I that I can be this near to you? Yeah, they were very much afraid.

34:11That was Jesus in his humility. You remember, we see this all over. I could give you so many examples, but you remember Lazarus. John 11. He rolled away the stone, and Jesus said to Lazarus with a loud voice, Lazarus, here. And the man who had died came forth, bound hand and feet with wrappings, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. That's the voice in his humility. The power. Even the grave is afraid not to respond.

35:12Who are you and I that we should fail to respond to Almighty God when he calls us and he has called you? Come, follow me. Here is son. Follow him. I'm afraid not to respond to that. He has the voice of many waters. And yet he's as gentle and cares for the mother carrying her children. That's him in his humility. Even death responds. He's deafening. Death can't silence him. No power on earth can silence him. That's his humility.

36:10In his glory, John uses the same metaphor to describe the voice of Christ as that which describes the voice of God. The voice to hear Jesus is to hear God. He is the glory of God. You remember Ezekiel 48? It's about the glory of God returning to Israel, specifically to a future temple that is yet to be constructed. And listen to how Ezekiel describes the glory of God. Ezekiel chapter 43, verse 1 says this. Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east. If you'll remember, the glory departed from Israel and the temple. God gave the temple over to the Babylonians to destroy the nation.

37:17But there's also a lot of hope in Ezekiel. It's about the glory of God departing, but then it's about the glory of God returning. And then he says, he led me to. The gate, the gate facing toward the east, where he saw the glory depart. And behold, the glory of God of Israel was coming from the way of the east, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

37:51You see, the glory of God is a person, it's not just some bright light, it's a person, and he speaks, and he has spoken, and to hear Jesus is to hear the voice of God. Listen to the words of the psalmist, Psalm 93: The Lord reigns, he is clothed with majesty. The Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength. Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Your throne is established from old. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their pounding waves more than the sound of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea. The Lord, Yahweh, on high is mighty. Your testimonies are fully confirmed. Holiness befits your house, O Lord. Forevermore. John describes Jesus' voice as that of Almighty God. So to hear him is to hear God.

39:16Well, we've looked at Jesus' head and hair, his eyes, his feet, his voice. He moves us to purity. He moves to us for purity. His ways are pure. He leads his disciples and all who follow him in the way of purity. Do you follow him? Have you really responded to this one? What do you need to confess this morning? As we bow, I encourage you to do so. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do come before you, knowing that your eyes see right through us, that it is your good desire for our holiness. It is an expression of your love to lead us in a way that is good and right and clean and pure in the ways it is good.

40:25And so, Father, we recognize That we can be very hypocritical. We recognize that we can very much point the finger at others. We recognize we can be very slow about dealing with our own sin. But your word is true. There's nothing hidden from you. And there's nothing slow about your movement to us to refine us, to cleanse us, to renew us, and to lead us in the path that most pleases your Father. So, Father, we just confess to you this moment of silence.

41:24We thank you for everything. In Christ's name, amen.