Day 6
THE GOD WHO WALKS WITH US
Revelation 1:12-16
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across His chest. His head and His hair were white as white wool, white as snow; His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining with full force.
‘Is it really you?’ We might say that when we meet up with someone we haven’t seen for years. They look different somehow. They are wearing different
clothes, perhaps they have lost or put on weight, maybe they have changed their hairstyle, but there is a familiarity about them that makes us certain it really is them.
However, for John, he had no doubt that it was Jesus who was speaking to him, the one who has broken into his exile, his memories, his loneliness, his faith and hope. There is so much that is different in this amazing, glorious figure he sees. Old Testament images come to his mind as the person comes into focus.
The long robe and gold sash around the chest would bring to mind the robes of the High Priest and point to Jesus as the one who died for us on that first Good Friday, and who truly is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The white hair and flaming fire come from the picture of Almighty God in Daniel chapter 7. There is no doubt that the one who speaks does so with the character and authority of the Lord of all things. Of course, the language of Daniel 7 has been there from the start of today’s reading in the phrase ‘One like the Son of Man’.
Children at an Anglican School in Fiji
John sees the victorious Lord of the Old Testament who is also his best friend from the Gospels. The Son of Man is how Jesus often spoke of himself.
Imagine: you look around on hearing the voice of God and find your closest friend looking at you. A friend who walked with you by the shores of Lake Galilee and through the streets of Jerusalem. A friend who knew how to party at a wedding in the village of Cana and who had seen all His disciples run away in terror from the garden of Gethsemane. This friend has feet ‘refined in a furnace’. The phrase speaks of Jesus’ humanity just as the rest of the picture points to His deity.
This same friend of John wants to be our dearest friend too. He offers to walk with us. The Son of God who was born in a stable, who fled as a refugee, who earned His living as a carpenter; the one who loved the leper, had supper with the tax collector, befriended the sex worker and fed the hungry.
This same Jesus continues to offer us a hand of friendship.
Pray that your five people will know more of the Jesus who really understands what it is to walk in our shoes.
Paul