Hebrews 1:3 (NIV84) says,

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, …

So, if we want to know who the Father is, what He’s like, we can look at Jesus. We’re supposed to. 

The visible Son is a mirror image of the invisible Father. 

One great advantage of the incarnation (God in human form) is that now we can see God. Just look at Jesus. So, let’s do exactly that. Let’s take a close look at Jesus as He is right now, in order to get a clear picture of God, of the one we’re talking to when we pray.

One author writes, “No other book helps us see Jesus as he is right now as clearly and compellingly as the last book John wrote.”’ Darrell W Johnson, Discipleship on the Edge: 

Revelation 1:9–20 (ESV)

⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 

¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I want you to think with me about this image of Jesus. As we think on this, ask yourself, is the image that’s presented different from the way you’ve pictured God?

For what we see here is the vision the Father gave John of Jesus Christ as He was then and is today.

Look at…

HIS POSITION

John sees Jesus “standing in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man.”

The lampstands represent the churches not as they were, but as they ought to be. And Jesus stands in the middle of them as if they were circled around Him. There is nothing between Jesus and the churches, for He is the Head of the churches and the Judge fo the churches. 

HIS NAME

John refers to Jesus as “Son of Man.” This was an expression used in Daniel 7:13 to refer to Christ. This was Jesus’ favorite designation of Himself. It was recognized by the early church to be a name for the Messiah. By calling Jesus a “son of man,” John identifies Him as a human, as one bearing a human nature. Yet, he is not quite the same as other humans—he is one “like a son of man.”  Jesus is human, but at the same time, He is set apart from all other humans.

HIS CLOTHS

John describes Jesus as “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.”

The description was that of a priest dressed in a long robe with a golden sash around his chest. This long robe was not that of just any priest, but a priest prepared to judge His church. The band around His chest symbolizes the righteousness and faithfulness with which He will judge..

Isaiah 11:5 (ESV)

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

When a man was preparing to work, he fastened the sash around his waist, so the flowing material wouldn’t get in his way. When his work was finished, he lifted the sash around his chest.  Jesus’ work for our salvation is a finished work. Yet, His work as head of the church has only just begun. The girdle (or sash) is an Old Testament symbol of power, righteousness, truth. Jesus come bearing all of that. He comes as Prophet, Priest, King, as a spokesman from God, as the way to God and He comes as God Himself.

Just from this part of how John saw Jesus, are you challenged to look at Jesus in a new way?

The rest tomorrow.