The Book of Revelation - Part 4

22 Feb 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Where We Are in Revelation (00:00)

Let's turn in our Bibles to Revelation, and we will pick up where we left off last time. One of the joys of making this more interactive is that I think it makes everything better. I get to learn from you, you get to ask questions, and everybody benefits from that dialogue. The downside is that sometimes I may not get all the way through my notes. I just want you to know that's okay. I would rather have good dialogue than get through the last blank on your notes, and I hope that's not frustrating to you.

So we want to come back to the section we looked at last time and pick it up here. If you have Revelation open to chapter 1, let's look again at the section we're in, the vision. This is vision number one. Just by way of review, we have an introductory section that we're looking at right now. We have the letters to seven churches that we'll look at in the coming weeks, chapters 2 and 3, and then this big long section where Jesus says, through the angel, these are the things that are going to take place after that. Then we have to answer the question: what are we talking about? When did these things take place? I know you're eager to hear more about how we date the timing of all these things, so my role is to try to unfold that for you. I'm going to put a lot of emphasis on the book's own interpretation of itself. Certainly there'll be things where we have to make an educated guess, but a lot of these things the book actually answers, as we'll see even in our passage today.

So the big long section runs from 4:1 to 22:21, culminating in the new heavens and the new earth. There were some copies back there, so probably most of you who wanted one have hopefully been able to get one: the revelation diagram. I did not make this. Someone else did, and it's apparently copyright free, which means I can give it to you. It gives you a bit of an overview of a very complicated book in a visual way, so hopefully that will be useful.

The Setting of Vision One (02:02)

We're in vision number one, chapter 1, verse 9, where John describes his situation. He's on Patmos, probably because of persecution. He suddenly hears behind him a loud voice, verse 10, like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches":

Ephesus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Thyatira
Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea

Then John says he turned to see the voice that was speaking to him, and having turned, he saw seven golden lampstands. In the middle of the lampstands he saw "one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like white 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."

Let's stop there. What I want to do is circle back, because we went through that briefly, and I want to draw in some of the imagery so we can try to make sense of what John is seeing. I was having a conversation with a friend about this last week, and it's really important, as we try to interpret this, to remember what John is doing. He is doing what he's told. He's writing what he sees. This is not John sort of saying, "Huh, I think Jesus is like this or something." This is John seeing a vision of Jesus, and he's merely writing what he sees.

If that had happened to you or me, we would still have to borrow from our own vocabulary and our own sense of how to describe what we see. You know how homeschool moms give the same assignment to different kids and they write about it differently because they describe things differently? We recognize that John is leaning on his own vocabulary here, but suffice it to say John isn't just making this up. He's writing what he's seeing. So as God presents this vision of Jesus to us, we have to ask what we are to make of the vision itself and its imagery. We're going to think about what the book says about itself, primarily, but the second biggest contextual toolbox we have for interpreting this material is the Old Testament itself. A lot of the images here reflect things John would have been familiar with from the Old Testament, and to some degree from the New Testament. That's how we're going to work through this.

Okay, so there he is, having this vision on the island. He turns around. Remember the pretty pictures of the island I showed you. He's "in the Spirit." That's the reference to the agency of the Holy Spirit, which we talked about last time. We'll see that phrase "in the Spirit" used multiple times throughout the book as he receives new visions. "The Lord's Day," of course, is Sunday. And yes, you wish you had the video clip, right? The loud voice like the sound of a trumpet saying, "Write in a book what you see." That's what he's doing. What we're reading is a reflection of his obedience to write what he has seen, and then send it to those seven churches we've looked at, on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. We're going to talk about each one in detail, so I'll save some of that for weeks to come.

He turns and sees the voice that was speaking to him, and having turned, he saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of those lampstands he sees one like the Son of Man.

Who Is the Son of Man? (06:14)

We talked about this last time, so let's get back into it and pick it up where we left off. The phrase "Son of Man" is used most frequently in the book of Ezekiel. It was the title God used to address the prophet Ezekiel. We also see it in Daniel 7, which we'll come back to and look at in particular today, and in other places like the Gospels and Acts, where it's used to describe the Lord Jesus. So the term has a breadth of usage. But the context makes very clear that this one like the Son of Man is none other than the Lord Jesus.

You say, "Well, how do we know that?" Because the book tells us. Flip over to chapter 2, verse 18, where it says, "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze, says this.'" So lest there be any doubt as to who we're talking about in this vision, we just kept reading, and Jesus himself identifies himself here as the Son of God. We kind of figured that out already, but you see how the book helps us interpret itself. We don't have to guess, even though the title "Son of Man" is used of prophets and of the Lord Jesus in the Bible. In this context, it clearly is the Lord Jesus.

The Robe and the Sash (08:21)

So he turns and sees these seven lampstands, and this being in the middle, who is like the Son of Man. We talked last time that he's clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and he is girded across his chest with a golden sash. I appreciate your feedback. I've been talking with a lot of you on Sunday and during the week about this, so let's look at it. Here's Jesus wearing a robe. The word literally means a robe that goes to the feet. That's it. It's not like Joseph back in Genesis with his Technicolor dreamcoat. No, it was a long robe*. That's literally what the word means, and there's no technical meaning here. It simply is a robe that goes full length to the feet. The Scripture says very clearly that he is girded around his chest with a golden sash, and that leaves us asking what we are to make of this. The priest wore a similar robe, but if you go back and read Exodus and Leviticus, the high priest and the other priests who worked with him didn't wear the same garb. So whether there's a priestly role here or not, it could simply be what he's wearing, and it's majestic and beautiful. But there may or may not be a priestly role here. Interestingly, the sash the priests wore went around the waist, whereas Jesus' sash here goes around his chest. So there are some differences, but nonetheless it doesn't take away from the awe and splendor of this Son of Man as he speaks with a voice like a trumpet, and, as we're going to see, a voice like many waters.

All this, and his head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow. Here's where I want you to look closely. If you want to hold your place, go back to Daniel 7. Or if you brought your long-distance glasses today, you can look at the screen. Just follow me back to Daniel chapter 7 for a moment. I want to show you something interesting about this vision.

Comparing Daniel 7 (10:23)

You remember the first six chapters of Daniel are historical. We talk about Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and later on some of the Medo-Persian guys who come in and take over. In the second half of the book, Daniel recounts several visions he receives during his ministry in Babylon. This is one of the most significant visions he receives. There's a lot of overlap between Daniel 7, Daniel 10, and the book of Revelation, so I'm taking you here again because I want you to get familiar with it. We're going to do a Revelation study, and you're going to get a minor in Daniel along the way. Two for the price of one.

So in his vision, follow along in Daniel 7. Daniel writes that he kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat. "Ancient of Days" is an interesting title for God. It speaks to his eternality, even his self-existence. Now look with me at the description here: "His vesture was like white snow, and The hair of his head like pure wool.

The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man (11:25)

So what do you see there? That's the exact same language we're seeing here. What's the difference between what Daniel's seeing and what we just saw in Revelation?

Okay, all right. Yeah, so we get Katie. Thanks for being a good Bible student. That's right. So the Ancient of Days. You say, well, who's that? Well, if we keep reading, it says here that a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him, myriads upon myriads were standing before him, the court sat, and the books were open. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words. Remember, in context, there are these horns, and one horn is boasting. He says the beast is slain, its body is destroyed, it goes to the fire. The rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away.

And verse 13: "I kept looking into the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven. One like the Son of Man was coming up, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him."

So what do you think about what Katie said? Well, he's the image of the invisible God, right? So that would still be true. Yeah, so if we back up, what Katie's saying is that the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man are two different persons, and according to this vision, she's correct. What's interesting is that the vision John is seeing of the Messiah is combining those two images, isn't it? Using the title Son of Man, but describing Jesus to some degree in terms of the Ancient of Days, who we would understand to be God the Father. So you see, that's not a problem. George is right that if Jesus is the image of the invisible God, it would not be surprising that they would be described similarly.

But what else is this communicating in the book of Revelation about the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus? That he's God. If you think about it, with that vision of Daniel, what John is seeing is that Jesus reveals himself in this vision by using the same language as what we see of the Ancient of Days. It's probably emphasizing his deity and his oneness with the Father. It's interesting how we do that. So there's a similar description: his head is white like wool, and then the language of the Son of Man there. Interesting. We're going to come back to this multiple times, so let's get it in our heads here. "One like the Son of Man comes, he comes up to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him."

Now watch this, verse 14: "And to him, meaning the Son of Man, was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." I want you to remember that, because we're going to see similar language as Revelation unfolds, and what the Father does with the Son. Now, if you know your Bibles, you're thinking, man, this sounds like Psalm 2, this sounds like 1 Corinthians 15. And it does. The Bible is a big Lego set. Remember when your kids were little and they got the Lego set for Christmas? It's got, you know, 50,000 million pieces to it, and before you know it, where are all those pieces, Mom and Dad? All over your living room. Then the rest of Christmas Day is spent trying to put this thing together. They got smart at some point and put them in bags and numbered the bags. Anyway, that's what the Bible is doing. It's putting all these pieces together.

And you know what's fun about the book of Revelation? Revelation, in many ways, is the picture on the box. It shows us how to take these pieces that we've seen and put them together. Now, the bad news is we're going to get to the end of Revelation and you're still going to go, where does this piece go? But we're going to put a lot together for us. So keep these things in mind. You might even peek back at Daniel 7 and Daniel 10 to keep those images and visions in mind, because there's a lot Revelation is going to lean on here.

Okay, so back to Revelation. Any questions on that? Do you see the imagery coming together? It's probably stressing the deity of the Lord Jesus by mixing the terms for the Ancient of Days with the Son of Man, reflecting, as Colossians says, that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

His Eyes, Feet, and Voice (16:48)

Okay, now don't go too far from Daniel, because the next phrase we see in the book of Revelation is a description of his eyes. "His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze." Josh, I was going to call on you last week, brother, because you're the expert on what glows. What does furnace bronze look like? We'll get to that in a minute, but listen to this before we get to the feet. The eyes were like a flame of fire. With that in mind, go to Daniel 10. You can go back and forth. You guys will be like a teeter-totter: we're going to go back and forth between Daniel and Revelation, but listen to the description in Daniel 10. This is another one of the messianic visions Daniel receives, and he says it's really terrifying. But listen to the description.

In Daniel 10:4, on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the Great River, that is the Tigris River, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body was also like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like flaming torches, his* arms and his feet were like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words was like the sound of a tumult. Very similar to what Revelation says.* What's a tumult? A storm? So you see some of this parallel language going on as Daniel describes what he's seeing: eyes like a flame of fire, or Daniel's term here, like flaming torches, right? We also see the same description: feet gleaming like polished bronze. Again, the words Daniel says here, like a tumult, Revelation says like the sound of roaring waters. So again, similar imagery and similar descriptions.

What do you make of the eyes like a flame of fire? Other than, "I'm not sure, I want to get too close"? What does fire do? It consumes. It removes impurities. Yeah, so this is where we say, okay, is it just that Jesus has fire eyes? Okay, awesome. Or is there something behind this? I want you to remember some of this. The fun of the book of Revelation is that if we just sit here and stare at this and say maybe the flame means this, maybe the fire means that, we can do that. But the reality is, you know what we need to do most? Keep reading. I'm going to show you an example. We keep reading, and just reading along will allow us to interpret some of these. So we think of the fire as judgment, or perhaps refining fire. Let's keep those pl

Look down at Revelation 19:12 for a moment. We come back to this image way back at the end of the book. Revelation 19:12. The picture here is the return of the Messiah. That's the context here. Revelation 19:11: "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. His eyes, here it is, are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, or crowns. And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself." So we see that same description. Look down at verse 15: "From his mouth comes a sharp sword." What's the next two words? "So that.*" So what's that? It's a purpose clause. Awesome, which tells us what the sword is for. So we don't have to guess back in chapter 1. The sword that comes out of his mouth, and we go, huh, what's that like? Well, here the Bible tells us the purpose of that sword. "From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron." So what's the sword for? Disciplining the nations, or maybe even destruction of the nations? Judgment of the nations? That makes sense, right? So the sword is indicative of his judgment and his punishment, his discipline, as he comes in that second time.

So back up. Why would John see that vision in the first part of the book with that description, and why does it circle back to the end of the book? Why does Jesus want to tell us he has a sword in his mouth at the beginning of the book? Say it.

The Sword and the Warning (24:13)

It's a warning, isn't it? We don't see him use the sword at this point. We see him use the sword at the end of the book. In chapters 2 and 3 he alludes to that sword as he brings verbal judgment to the seven churches. But that verbal judgment, if it is not heeded, will culminate in a physical judgment when he returns. Do you see that? So, knowing the book is why you need to read it. Are you reading the book of Revelation? Are you dreaming about some of these? No, okay. We don't necessarily want that, but you need to get this book in your head, because it's a whole. There are going to be clues we get later in the book that help us with things that are earlier in the book.

So, "his feet were like burnished bronze, when it is made to glow in the furnace." The brilliance of that, the eminence of that, is one of the things I love about this passage. "And his voice was like the sound of many waters."

Many Waters and Thunder (25:19)

We see that described if you're still back in chapter 19. Look down again at Revelation 19:6. This is the shout of the great multitude of heaven, and listen to this. "A voice came from the throne" (verse 5), "Give praise to our God, all you his bondservants, you who fear him, the small and the great." Verse 6: "Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder. … Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." Remember the description we read earlier of the tumult, right?

So we're getting congruity here between when we hear something coming from the throne and it being described in terms of storm language or waterfall-like, flowing-water language. "Many waters." We see it again if you back up to chapter 14, verse 2: "I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps."

Okay, so: many waters, thunder, harps. We can walk away and say, "I have no idea what that sounds like," but it must have been awesome. And remember, John is just trying to put together things no one has heard before and describe them to us. This must have been completely overwhelming to him.

Consistency Across Scripture (27:21)

You don't need to turn there, but listen to Ezekiel. Ezekiel received visions as well, and the description aligns here. This is Ezekiel's vision of the glory of God in the temple. You may remember Ezekiel 43:1–2*: "Then he led me to the gate, a gate facing toward the east, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. … His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory." And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when he came to destroy the city. He goes on to describe the glory of God there.

So we're starting to see consistency. When we hear a voice from the throne, whether it's from God the Father or God the Son, we are hearing deity speak, and we get similar descriptions: roaring waters, a thunderstorm, a tumult, a harp. We're seeing consistency there.

Someone said, "Some people heard the Lord said this, and some others said they heard thunder." Yes, that's right. It could be that they actually heard the voice and to them it sounded like thunder, or maybe they were making excuses, but there is some alignment there, isn't there? Are you with me? We're putting the Lego pieces together. We're seeing congruity between how the Lord Jesus is described here and in other places in the Bible, and what's that doing? It's confirming again and again that this Son of Man is no other than God himself. This is God himself in the person of the Son.

The Sword Speaks Judgment (29:28)

With that in mind, let's go back to Revelation. "In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword." We see that Isaiah talks about the sword in chapter 49, verse 2. You don't need to turn there, but hear it in context. Isaiah is describing the Lord, and probably, in context, the coming Messiah. Listen to the Messiah describe himself in Isaiah 49:2: "He has made my mouth like a sharp sword, and in the shadow of his hand he has concealed me; and he has also made me a select arrow, he has hidden me in his quiver, and he said to me, 'You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.'"

So we have similar language in Isaiah, and putting these things together, we see the same description in Revelation. We saw it in Revelation 2:16. We just saw it in 19:15, and again in 19:21, where he wields that sword in judgment of the nations.

So let's put this together. Revelation has told us the purpose of the sword: there is coming judgment. But notice the judgment comes in two phases:

Chapters 2 and 3: a verbal warning. Remember Revelation 2:12, to the angel of the church at Pergamum: "the one who has the sharp two-edged sword says this." Why doesn't he just say, "I've got a message for you"? Because it's a warning, isn't it? Then he describes what they're doing well, but more importantly, the things they need to repent of.
Chapter 19: a physical judgment. Verses 15 and 21 show the sword as an actual physical judgment.

That's a good reminder. So what's the main purpose for Jesus coming at the second coming? Yes, he's coming in judgment, isn't he? Remember we talked about this back in Zechariah, that the Messiah comes twice. He comes first to save, and he comes second to judge. So, consistent with the image here, the sword represents judgment, both verbal and physical. That makes sense, because the Bible uses the sword to describe the Word of God. We saw that in some of the cross references, but the sword also indicates his physical judgment on the nations. Yes, you get all these descriptions that overlap. John wrote that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and the Word is the... So yes, that's right. Very good. Anybody else? This is interactive time, so jump in, otherwise I keep talking. Are you good?

John's Response to the Glorified Christ (32:39)

Now I want you to put yourself in the sandals of John on the island. You're seeing this. What are you thinking? We'll see this in a moment in John's response. This is the disciple who often leaned against Jesus, because they were such good friends, and here is that same apostle seeing his Savior. He falls at his feet like a dead man.

Last description here: "his face was like the shining of the sun in its strength." We mentioned Matthew 17, the Transfiguration, where Jesus is described similarly. We see it again in Revelation 10, the same description: "I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book which was open." In this context it's describing an angel, but you get the same imagery of bright, shining strength. We talked about Acts 26 as well, the description of the sun shining. So you get the idea.

What John sees, he tries to describe, and it's like, "This afternoon, go out and draw a picture of the sun." That's more challenging than it sounds. So his face is like the sun shining. Consider the brilliance, the eminence, the overwhelming sense of it:

the fire of his eyes
the brightness of his hair
his feet, gleaming like burnished bronze
the robe and the sash that communicate his splendor

All of this John is seeing and writing about, and he's beginning to be overwhelmed. It looks something like that. It's not a perfect rendering of what we just read, but it's pretty close. What would you think if you saw that?

Awe and Intimacy (34:47)

I was reading an old author this week. Do you read old authors? Not just any old author, but men and women who went before us in church history, who had a deeper faith than I do. The author was describing the Son's relationship to the Father, and as we, God's children, relate to him as Father. He said something like this: it's a comfort and a fear. It's a security and a reverence. It's the same awe that draws you toward the power of a coming tornado, and the same caution that leads you to say, "I'm not sure I want to get too close to that."

You can see that in what we're looking at here. This is the one who says, "I'm not going to call you slaves anymore, I'm going to call you my friends." This is the guy who says, "You're my family*, you're my brother and sister in Christ." And yet when he comes in his glory, there is a godly fear that ought to be part of that experience. John sees that, and it's pretty wild, isn't it? Maybe one of you can throw Revelation into your favorite AI graphic tool and see what it comes up with, but that's pretty good.

So come back to it. John says, "when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man," verse 17. He is the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who leaned on his side, the one closest to him of the twelve. That shows the same complicated relationship: close, friendly, secure, intimate oneness, alongside fear, awe, and a sense of danger.

Fear and Glory Before the Living One (38:13)

Remember the disciples in the boat? First they were scared because they thought the storm was going to kill them. Then Jesus stilled the storm, and what did the biblical writers say? The disciples were filled with fear, but not the fear that they were going to die. What did they say? Who is this?

That even the waves in the wind obey him. It's a different fear. It's not "I'm going to die" fear. It's "I'm standing next to the King. I'm six inches away from the one who commands the winds and the waves, and it obeys them." I'm seeing a less diluted* image of who God is, who the Lord Jesus is in his glory.

Yes. Those of you who love C. S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia know the famous line about Jesus being the lion: he's not safe, but he's good. That's good.

So he falls on his feet. "When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man." And yet what did he do? "He placed his right hand on me, saying, 'Do not be afraid.'"

"I Am the First and the Last" (39:15)

"I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

So here he comes in his glory. He's going to come in his judgment. This is a sort of pre-visit warning. "I am the first and the last" again. We've heard that title before and we've talked about it already. Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 48. It parallels the Alpha and Omega idea, beginning and end, speaking of his eternality and his existence, that he's always been.

What do you think of this? He calls himself "the living one." "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." We've heard something like that before. Where have we heard it?

Luke 24. Don't look at your notes.

Where have we heard that before? That's Sunday morning, when the ladies went to the tomb and Mary stayed behind, and she turned around and saw the one she thought was the gardener. Remember that? And in the conversation: "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" We're going to see this unfold. We saw the reference to him being pierced. We'll see it later on, the Lamb as if slain. But we see here that this is very clearly the Lord Jesus Christ, who did really die but who did really rise again.

And he says, "I am the living one." You know what that means? He's overcome death, doesn't he? He holds the keys of death and Hades. Hades would just be another reference to death.

Death, Hades, and the Lake of Fire (41:26)

I know we have time. Oh, you know what's Sheol and what's Hades? What's the lake of fire? We're getting there. Okay, trust me. We're going to get there, all you people who are like the technical part of that. But right now it's simply another way of saying, "I've overcome death. I've overcome this."

Remember, Paul says the last enemy, right? First Corinthians talks about this, the last enemy that is vanquished: death. He says, "the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and Hades." Again, his authority over death.

We'll see that again in Revelation 6, and then where we really see it is in chapter 20, when Jesus, in a sense, judges death and Hades, calling people to give account and then sentencing them from there.

So John is like a dead man at his feet, and he says, "Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things" (Revelation 1:19).

Write What You See (42:30)

So again: John's like a dead man at his feet, and he says, "Pick up your pen. Write what you see." That's going to be repeated over and over as John sees things that are overwhelming to him, and this isn't the last time we're going to see him fall like a dead man. But write what you see, and that's what he's doing. He's writing what he sees for us.

Now this is helpful. Jesus helps him here in verse 20. "As for the mystery of the seven stars... the seven angels, and the seven golden lampstands... represent the seven churches." Okay, so far so good. We don't have to guess what the stars are or what the lampstands are. We go back to this picture, right? We see the stars he's holding in his hand and the lampstands he's surrounded by. We don't have to wonder what those represent, because Jesus tells us.

The Seven Angels of the Churches (43:32)

What we do have to figure out is this: who are the seven angels of the churches?

The word "angel" in English is pulled right out of Greek. Angelos would be the transliteration. It's where we get it. Its basic meaning is not an angelic meaning. Its basic meaning is messenger. Sometimes those messengers are heavenly beings, and that's what we think of as angels. But sometimes angelos is used to describe just human messengers or some other messenger.

The challenge is: how do we understand these seven angels? There are a few possibilities:

They could be heavenly beings.
They could be just messengers representing the churches.
They could be, as Brenda said, an elder or pastor from the church who represents the church.

And you say, why would we not just take them as angels, since that's the typical word? I want you to look here, and this is your homework assignment for the week. Look at chapter 2, verses 1 and 2: "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand... I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance.'" Do you see that little word "you"? It's singular. It's you, not y'all. So Jesus is directing through John, specifically to this angelos, this messenger, and calls that messenger out.

The challenge with taking that as a heavenly being is that we don't have any other examples in the Bible of a human author being the agent to call out an angel. And it doesn't even make sense at this point, because if he's writing to an angelic being, he's calling that angelic being to repent. Well, that doesn't make any sense.

So then we have to back up and say: if a heavenly being is not the likely meaning here, what does it mean? So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to study that this week and figure out what that angelos, that messenger, represents here in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 as we get into this.

Closing Prayer (45:43)

Okay, let me pray for us.

Father, thank you. As we have looked over John's shoulder to see this vision of the coming Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, he is not a tame lion, as Lewis said. We get something of a picture here of his splendor and his awesomeness, his power, the radiance of his being, the sense of his person, the magnitude of who he is. And as John simply fell down like a dead man at his feet, we can hardly imagine what it must have been like for him, as close as he was to Jesus, to see him less veiled in his glory.

Father, these images do serve as a warning to us. This is the one who lived and died and rose again. This is the one we celebrate at the Lord's table today at communion. This is the one who comes again. Father, would you help us adjust our picture of Jesus today, and ensure that we are taking him seriously, that we see him as powerful and glorious? If we're going to put our eternal destiny into his hands, we need confidence that he's able to handle that task.

So we thank you for this vision that does so much for us. And I pray, as we will all stand before this one one day, that whatever work needs to happen in our hearts this afternoon, you would do it, and remind us of who he is through the description we've read today. We pray in his name. Amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

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