Rev. 1:17-18 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead; and He placed His right hand on me, saying, Do not fear; I am the First and the Last, and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
The Christ that John saw and described in Rev. 1 is the glorious Christ we need to see and be one with today in the age of the degradation of the church. A vision of such a Christ is needed in order for us to be awakened and taken out of any drunkenness and stupor of today’s age, and in order for us to see today’s degradation and be one with the Lord to be produced as His overcomers.
We have seen that Christ as the Son of Man is the High Priest, cherishing the churches in His humanity and nourishing them in His divinity. This Christ is so glorious – His hair and face are white, His eyes like a flame of fire, His feet like bronze, His voice as loud as many waters, and He is holding the seven stars in His hand.
Furthermore, in Rev. 1:16-18 we see that out of Christ’s mouth proceeds a two-edged sword, and His face shone as the sun shines in its power. When John saw this Christ, he fell at the Lord’s feet as dead, and He placed His right hand on him, saying,
Do not fear; I am the First and the Last and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
John was amazed and even scared of such a Christ, but He encouraged John not to be afraid – Christ is living, He overcame death, and He who has begun such a wonderful process of salvation in him will also accomplish it!
We need to see such a Christ. In today’s age of darkness and degradation, we need to see a vision of the glorious Christ and be one with Him. We need to let Him judge us, infuse us, search us, and make us the same as He is to be the overcomers in this age!
Out of Christ’s Mouth Proceeds a Sharp Two-Edged Sword – His Word
In Song of Songs 5:16 we see that the Lord’s mouth is sweetness itself. In the Gospels from Christ’s mouth proceeded out words of grace, giving grace to those who heard Him (Luke 4:22). In the Epistles Christ is perfecting and beautifying the church as the bride of Christ through the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26).
But now, when the church is degraded and the Lord as the Spirit intensified Himself sevenfold, out from His mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword (Rev. 1:16). This is Christ’s discerning, judging, and slaying word (see Heb. 4:12 and Eph. 6:17), which divides the soul from the spirit, and discerns the intents of our heart.
We need to pray-read the word of God and it will become a two-edged sword, killing both the adversary within and the enemy without. God’s word especially kills our opinions and our concepts.
We may think we are right – and we may be right – but when the word of God becomes rhema (living and instant word), all our opinions, “rightness”, and concepts will be killed; only Christ will remain.
We need to let the sharp two-edged sword come in and kill our opinions and concepts, and the church life will be thriving!
Christ’s Face Shone as the Sun Shines in its Power
Christ’s Face Shone as the Sun Shines in its Power
In Song of Songs 5, the Lord’s face is lovely for appreciation and enjoyment. When He was on earth, the Lord’s face didn’t have anything special; rather, as Isaiah 53 describes Him, He was not a “handsome man”.
However, in Matt. 16:28-17:2 we see that Christ’s face was transfigured before three of His disciples on the mountain, and that was a prefigure and foretaste of the coming kingdom.
Today, toward the end of the age of the church, Christ’s face shines as the sun shines in its power (Rev. 1:16; Dan. 10:6) for the judging enlightenment to bring in the kingdom.
He wants to bring in the kingdom of God, and for this His face is shining and judging anything not according to God. When He comes to take over the earth for the kingdom of God, His face will be as the sun (Rev. 10:1).
We need to appreciate the Lord more and more, looking in the index of His eyes, so that He may be to us the Morning Star and eventually He will be like the sun! To this sun there will be no sunset – He will be shining and shining forever!
Christ is the First and the Last – He will Finish what He has Begun
It is so easy to read and understand the Gospels, where we see the Lord Jesus as a Man doing many things for God and for man. But when John saw the vision of the glorious Christ in Revelation 1, he fell at His feet as dead, and the Lord’s word of encouragement was, Do not fear; I am the First and the Last.
The Lord is the First – He is the beginning, and He has begun in us all a work of salvation and transformation, and He has begun the church life. Christ will also accomplish and consummate what He has begun!
Christ has started a work of recovery among us, and in all the local churches we need to believe that He will also accomplish it! Don’t be afraid and do not lose heart: the Christ who has saved you and brought you into the church life will also consummate what He has begun – He will make you an overcomer!
He will finish what He has begun! His word assures us that Christ will never leave His work unfinished, and He is the Living One for the churches as the expression of His Body to be living, fresh, and strong (Rev. 1:17-18).
Christ is the Living One, and He has the Keys of Death and Hades
Hallelujah, our Christ is the living One! The Head of the Body, the One who walks in the midst of the churches, the One who lives in us, is living and full of life! Christ passed through death and He has overcome death – death could not hold Him or retain Him, it was powerless to do so (Acts 2:24).
Our Christ today is living, and we should all be living as He is, full of life and overcoming death. When we touch this One in spirit and listen to His voice, He will be the living One to us, He will enliven us and vitalize us to make us as living as He is!
Death today operates in us both physically and psychologically and spiritually. Even in the church life and in the family life, we all have death situations – but when we turn to Christ and enjoy Him as the living One, He in us will break forth out of death and will make us living.
Right now Christ is vital and living so that we may live our Christian life in Him and one with Him! Even more, Christ has the keys of death and Hades.
Death is like the dustpan, and Hades is like the rubbish bin. What death collects, Hades retains. In our life death and Hades may be manifested through things such as depression, incapacity, “I can’t help it but…”, impotence, sadness, and eventually….death.
There are so many negative things in this final age, but let’s turn our attention to the vision of the glorious Christ! When we see this One, the Living One, He will take care of all our situations and He will bring us into a state of livingness, consummation, and intensification – so that we may become His overcomers to meet His demand!
We simply need to give the Lord the ground, the opportunity, and the way to move and act among us by exercising daily to deny the self, take up our own cross, and lose our soul-life. When we use these three keys, death and Hades will be under the Lord’s control in the church life, and life will be manifested in any kind of death (see Matt. 16:18, 21-26).
Just give the Lord more ground in you today by denying your self, taking up your own cross, and losing your soul-life, and Christ will swallow up any death and release life for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Lord Jesus, You are the living One in us. Keep us turning to You and taking You as our life and person. Lord, we want to give You more ground in our being so that You may have the opportunity and the way to move and act among us. Have the free way to shine on us, judge us, and slay the enemy in us, so that any death would be swallowed up in life and we would be produced as Your overcomers. Lord, we want to see You and be one with You as the glorious One! Produce Your overcomers and gain what You are after in us!
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.
- Hymns on this topic:
# For the word of God, word of God, / Is living and operative, operative, / And sharper than any two-edged sword, / And piercing even to the / Dividing of soul and spirit / And of joints and marrow, / And able to discern / The thoughts and intentions of the heart, / The thoughts and intentions of the heart. (new song based on Heb. 4:12)
# His life is fully qualified / To bring us through to glory; / Were it not for His tested life, / ’Twould be another story / His life was fully tried on earth, / To crucifixion from His birth: / He passed through death and Hades. (Hymns #1130)
# Oh, when this living One we see, / We’ll fall as dead, we’ll finished be. / But then the Lord His comfort gives— / He once was dead, but now He lives. / Let every church just love Him more / His riches then He will outpour. / All other loves now lay aside; / Let’s take this Jesus, none beside. (Hymns #1184)
