Let's turn to the book of the
Revelation and we'll read from the first chapter from verse
12 down to verse 15. So just a few verses in this
first chapter in the book of the Revelation. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment
down to his foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as
the sound of many waters. Well, as we've already commented,
of course, John was on the Isle of Patmos by himself, we believe,
and God came and gave him this vision of the Revelation. And we're thankful that we have
it recorded for our benefit. We're thankful to be able to
read it and to meditate on it. Well this evening we're going
to speak on these verses from 12 to 15 and really they're very
remarkable verses because it really describes the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the kind of thing that
perhaps we've read many times and have not perhaps realised
the significance and the importance such statements. We do have descriptions
of the Savior in the Old Testament. We have one in the seventh chapter
of Daniel and we have one of course in the Song of Solomon.
But it's amazing how these descriptions fit very clearly into that wonderful
pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle John was here
and on this isle of Patmos, and he heard a voice, a voice behind
him, speaking. And we've already commented on
some of those comments which were made and he heard. And then
we come down to the 12th verse of this chapter, and we're told,
he says, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me. being turned I saw seven golden
candlesticks. Well we know that the seven golden
candlesticks represent the seven churches of Asia. We're told
that in the last verse in this chapter. So we see here that
John is told to turn and saw And heard this voice, and turning,
saw seven golden candlesticks. And then he says, and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. And then he gives a description
of what he saw. And it's really very wonderful
to think of the description that he observed. And he says, one
like unto the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot. You might think, well, what does
that represent? Well, we can be fairly sure it
represents the righteousness of Christ. And it's important
to notice or to realize that, of course, by this time, the
Lord Jesus died upon that cross at Calvary, he had made an atonement
for his people, different to the previous two descriptions
we have in the Old Testament. So therefore he had, by the glorious
work that he completed on Calvary's cross, he completed that wonderful
work of atonement for his church. And so now we know that the glorious
Saviour rose from the dead and is ascended up to his Father
in heaven, there to intercede for us as our great and glorious
heavenly High Priest. And so we have this picture before
us here, clothed with a garment down to the foot, a priestly
garment, the high priest was clothed with a garment down to
his foot. And then we're also told that
he was girt about the paps with a golden girdle. And of course
gold, as we know, is by itself a very pure metal. And therefore, and this was girded
round the saviour on that vision and of course we know that it
was girded around his paps which is where the level of where our
heart is so we can be thankful to realise that the Lord Jesus
here shows before us the wonder of that robe of righteousness
because as I said he made the atonement sin was taken away
from all the Church of God, but nonetheless there was still the
necessity to have that clothing of Christ's righteousness to
cover our nakedness. And then there was this golden
girdle. In the Old Testament there was
the ephod, you may remember. They had the ephod to go round
them. And what does it signify? It
was more or less round and it was gold. Surely it sets before
us in the scripture that which is so valuable and so wonderful,
which is none other than the love of Almighty God. So there we see, signified there,
positioned by the centre to sow forth his great love toward his
church. Well, we should be very thankful
then that we have a picture like this shown to us. And obviously
important, it was recorded by John for the benefit of the Church
of God. And then we're told his head
and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow. Well, that shows to us purity. And indeed, what a mercy it is
to realise that the Lord Jesus was pure. What a wonderful thing
it is. And in the book of Daniel, we
have a repetition of this statement. In the book of Daniel, the seventh
chapter and the ninth verse we read, And I beheld till the thrones
were cast down and the ancient of days, that is, of course,
the Lord Jesus, did sit, whose garment was white as snow, that
glorious robe of righteousness, and the hair of his head like
the pure wool. Pure wool. And here we have this
statement. His hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow. And I understand that the whitest
wool is from a young lamb, a freshly born lamb. The wool is the whitest. And his eyes were as a flame
of fire. Well, it's the great design of
omnipotence, the great design of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those eyes, they penetrate into
the deepest recesses of our hearts. As we may be under condemnation,
we cannot escape those eyes which look right into our heart. We may try and turn away from
them, we may try and appease our conscience, but those eyes,
and they were told here so very clearly, his eyes were as a flame
of fire, a flame of fire, never going out, fiery flame, what
a thing, what a situation it was, what a blessing it was to
the Church of God and what a blessing it is for us today to realise
then that we have the eyes of Almighty God looking into us,
into our hearts, And what a mercy to recognize that through his
grace, he sees there that glorious life of God, which he has placed
within us. Not something that you and I
can put there, but it's something which God puts into our hearts
so that we can understand what the Apostle Paul said when he
said, in you hath he quickened. made spiritually alive or what
a blessing it is if you and I have the evidence then that we are
indeed made spiritually alive and then we come down to his
feet his feet are spoken of here and what a A blessing it is to
realise that the Lord Jesus has those feet like fine brass, as
if they were burned in a furnace. The blessing is that the Saviour
will never lead us astray. He'll always lead us in that
right way. His feet never vary, His feet
never go in a wrong direction. what a blessing therefore for
you and me today if by faith we can see the path that the
Lord Jesus walked when he was on this earth it was a wonderful
path that he sets before us and what a mercy it is and then we
come on to Really what we've already touched on and that's
the eyes which really shine forth and penetrate right into our
very soul. And then just finally we read
about the voice. His voice as the sound of many
waters. It's quite clearly a very loud
voice, wasn't it? Now, when the Holy Spirit speaks
into our heart, it may sometimes be like it was with Elijah, a
still small voice. But sometimes it may be a very
loud voice, which condemns us, perhaps in things that we've
said, perhaps in things that we've done, perhaps just in our
thoughts. to realise that the powerful
voice of God speaks into our hearts. And it is described here
as the sound of many waters, where Revelation speaks farther
on about that powerful voice, that loud voice as a trumpet. And here we have then this statement,
his voice as the sound of many waters, So it's just made a few
comments here tonight on this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
and it's worthwhile going home and just reading these verses
really from 12 to 15. Not a long, not a long section
is it? And yet describes the Savior and it's important because
John was directed and he turned to see the voice and this is
what he saw. So we must recognize It is relevant
and it is important. And may we rejoice indeed that
God has given us such a description. And as we ponder these words,
we'll see how great they are, how pure they are, how wonderful
they are. And what does it do? Surely it
elevates the Saviour to show to us a little of His greatness. a little of his love, a little
of his mercy, a little of his favour towards such unworthy
sinners. And therefore surely we can indeed
go on our way rejoicing that God in his wonderful favour has
recorded such words as these. As I've said, words perhaps that
we may have read a number of times and may have passed them
over without really pondering what they mean. So it would be
good to think upon them so that our souls may be strengthened
and encouraged, and we're able to come and conclude what a saviour. Well, may God bless you.