Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Tuesday, July 06, 2010 10:19:27 PM
I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island 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 I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,”and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. [Revelation 1:9-18]
In Revelation chapter 1, the Apostle John gives his readers an important key to the interpretation of the symbols used in the book. It is a common practice for him to ‘hear’ one thing and then to ‘see’ the same thing in more detail or from another perspective. So when the hearing and seeing are used together as in the passage quoted above, then we can take the language as descriptive of the same symbol. In the example from Revelation 1 it is plain that John heard and saw the risen and glorified Christ.
The voice he heard as well as the Man he saw identified Himself as the ‘First and the Last’. John heard Him say to write to the churches, and John saw Him in the midst of the lampstands, which are identified for us as a symbol for the churches in Revelation 1:20. The language is symbolic. Christ speaks to and abides with His churches through His word given to His messengers. The authority of His word is absolute.
We will use this key to help interpret some of the symbols given in the book that are less obvious. [credits: YoungerElder]