The Lord Jesus is the most wonderful Person in the universe, and throughout the Bible we see so many of His aspects and characteristics.
When He was on the earth, His walk among men was full of life and light, and people were comfortable in His presence, enjoying His speaking, and benefiting from His works. This is clearly seen in many examples in the four Gospels.
In the Epistles we see that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4), we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25-26), and many other aspects of this wonderful Christ as our life and person.
But when we come to the book of Revelation, right in the first chapter, we see some very interesting aspects of Christ as the Son of Man in the age of intensification. Here He is clothed with a long robe reaching to the feet, He is girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle, He is walking among the churches and speaks to them, His head and hair are as white as white wool and snow, and His seven eyes are like a flame of fire.
His feet are like shining bronze, His voice is loud, like the sound of many waters, and He holds the seven stars in His hand. Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword, and His face is as the sun shining in its power. Wow, what a Christ!
In this blog post, we would like to see what does it mean for Christ to have feel like shining bronze and for Him to have a voice like the sound of many waters, and what are the seven stars held by Him in His hand.
Lord, we open to You as we come to Your word. Unveil us from any natural or religious concept. Lord, remove anything between us and You – we want to have a clear sky with a throne above it that we may clearly see You as John saw You. Open our eyes and our understanding to see who You are and what You are in this age of intensification, and make us one with You in Your desire to gain Your overcomers!
The Lord’s Feet are Like Shining Bronze – His Perfect Walk Qualifies Him to Exercise Divine Judgement
In Revelation 1:15 John saw that the Lord’s feet were like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace. Feet signify walk and move, and bronze signifies the divine judgement (see Exo. 27:1-6). In His walk on earth, Christ was tried, tested, and judged by God, and the result was that He came out shining – He was fully approved by God in everything.
Christ’s feet are now “as shining bronze” (see Ezek. 1:7; Dan. 10:6). Christ’s perfect and bright walk on earth qualifies Him to exercise divine judgement, and when He will come to possess the earth by judging it, His feet will be like pillars of fire (Rev. 10:1).
He was tried by being burned (“fired in a furnace”) – through His sufferings on earth and through His death on the cross, Christ was fully tried, tested, and judged. Christ’s walking was tested and tried, and His speaking in His move is bringing us into the same move as His through His testing and trying.
In our walk today we are being tried and tested, and as we have an ear to hear the Lord’s speaking today, we will be brought in the same move of the Lord in our walk and move.
Christ’s Voice is Like the Sound of Many Waters – the Sound of the Voice of God in its Seriousness and Solemnity
The Lord’s voice is like the sound of many waters (see Rev. 1:15 and 14:2), which is a tumultuous sound. In the Old Testament, we see that the voice of the Almighty God was like the sound of many waters (Ezek. 1:24; 43:2) – He was solemn and serious in His speaking (see Rev. 10:3).
Most times when the Lord speaks to us His voice is sweet and gentle, making us feel comfortable in His presence and open to Him all our problems and situations. However, due to the fact that most Christians are degraded today, not being up to God’s standard in His economy, the Lord sometimes speaks to us in a loud voice, like thunder.
Since we are sleeping or sloppy, the Lord speaks loudly to us, awakening us from our sleep and drunkenness with the things of this world. He is speaking loud and clear to call the overcomers in this age, and this is serious and solemn! He wants to wake His believers up, warn them, and cause them to aspire to be the overcomers in this age.
Christ Holds the Seven Stars in His Right Hand – the Bright Messengers of the Churches
In His right hand, Christ holds the seven stars, which are the messengers of the churches (Rev. 1:16, 20). In Acts and in the Epistles we see that the Lord ordained elders to oversee and shepherd the saints (Acts 14:23; 20:17; Titus 1:5), but in Revelation, the Lord is looking for “stars”, the messengers in the churches. Footnote 1 on Rev. 1:16 concerning “stars” (Recovery Version) says,
Both lampstands and stars are for shining in the night. A lampstand, representing a local church, is a collective unit, whereas a star, representing a messenger of a local church, is an individual entity. In the dark night of the church’s degradation, the shining of both the collective churches and the individual messengers is needed.
The Lord today is looking for those in the churches who answer His call to be His overcomers, those who bear the responsibility of the testimony of Jesus in the church and on behalf of the church.
The Lord is not calling for “elders” or “pastors” or “reverend” or even “spiritual giants” – He holds in His right hand the stars, the messengers of the churches, those who are shining with Christ as the light in this dark age.
Both the lampstands and the stars are for shedding light during nighttime. The world is evil and corrupted to the uttermost, and the church is in degradation – it is “night-time”. It is time for the stars to shine bright! It is time for many in the local churches to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches and be produced not as “clergymen” nor even as “elders” but as messengers, as stars!
In this age we all are responsible to the Lord ourselves – we can’t hide under a more spiritual one’s shadow, and others are not responsible for our growth in life…Even more: maybe at one point we were shining stars but are now “dead stars” since the energy has run out and we are dead…or maybe we are wandering stars, on our own somewhere…The Lord is looking for those who listen to His voice and allow Him to intensify His organic salvation to produce them as His overcomers today, the stars in this dark age.
Don’t wait for the elders to assign you to do something in the church – pick up the burden, pray to the Lord, open your home, care for the young people and the new ones, get into the truth, be revived every day, practice the God-ordained way, be vital and living with the Lord, etc – and do all this before the Lord and not before man!
We need to come to the Lord daily to receive a fresh message from Him, a fresh speaking from His mouth, to be His messengers to the world and in the church (Rev. 2:1). The nature and position of the messengers in the churches is heavenly, and Christ holds these ones in His hands – He holds them, maintains them, and keeps them living!
How we need to aspire to be the shining stars in the church today and open to the Lord in a fresh way every day to be produced by Him as His messengers in the church! We all need to shine by enjoying His shining and reflecting Him!
Lord Jesus, we come to You as the sevenfold intensified Spirit in this dark age – produce us as the overcomers! Lord, make us stars in the churches. We don’t want to go along and be taken downstream with the degradation in the church today. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be produced by You as the overcomers You need in the church. Our aspiration is to be the messengers in the churches, those who hear Your fresh message and shine You out in this dark age. We don’t want to be a star performer or a star elder – we simply want to be the stars in Your hand, those shining today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation (msg. 9), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Mending Ministry of John, week 4 / msg 4, The Vision of the Glorious Christ.
- Further reading: recommending Rev. 1:15-16 with the footnotes in the Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh, to be nothing, nothing! / Only as led by His hand— / A messenger at His gateway, / Only waiting for His command; / Only an instrument ready / His praises to sound at His will— / Willing, should He not require me, / In silence to wait on Him still. (Hymns #900)
# In the age of Revelation, / Out from all denomination, / We are in the local churches, / In spirit one. / Nothing old or religious binds, / Everyone’s a star that shines; / Every church a golden lampstand, / Burning with Christ. (Hymns #1264)
# Caring for the churches / Is the Son of Man: / Voice of many waters, / Stars in His right hand; / Eyes aflame; His face is / Shining as the sun; / Churches—fear no trial, / He’s the living One! (Hymns #1259)
# I hate to lukewarm be! / Lord, burn me thoroughly. / My first, My best, I come to Thee. / The seven Spirits burn, / Intensified to turn / My heart for You to be so firm. / Grant me a hot pursuit! / All else in me uproot! / Oh Lord, do burn each part! / Grant me a fresh new start. (new song on Revelation)
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