The Man in the Middle (of the Menorahs)
John's Vision of Jesus (Part 1)
And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed with a long robe and a golden belt around the chest. Further, his head and hair—white as wool, white as snow—and his eyes like flames of fire, and his feet like burnished bronze as fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters, and having in his right hand seven stars, and coming out from his mouth a sharp double-edged sword, and his face like the sun shines in its power. Revelation 1:12-15
On numerous occasions in my life, usually on a hike or more likely a backpacking trip, I have turned a corner or crested a hill and the view is so magnificent that I am left speechless and in awe of the sight before me.
I can only stop and gaze and seek to take in the grandeur of the scene—a scene that cannot be adequately described in words, and certainly not captured with an iPhone or any camera.
And how do you record the massive volume and power of a huge waterfall with a video camera?
Impossible.
This is the dilemma that John faced when he turned to “see the voice.”
Whatever he thought he might see was engulfed by the sheer reality of the sight and sound before him.
In my very literal translation of this passage, I have sought to convey something of this awe.
John could only throw out word pictures with virtually no verbs.
And he could not actually convey what he saw, but only use like or as.
The reality was far more than words could express.
John was having a vision of Jesus in his magnificent divine glory and it exceeded anything he had ever experienced, even Jesus at the transfiguration or after his resurrection.
What John saw was Jesus exalted and shining in the full force of divine power.
And when he tried to put what he saw and heard into words, the results could only be paltry, only a shadow of the reality, and only with the metaphorical language of simile.
But what he did manage to get down into words is rich beyond measure.
The images of the lampstands, the human figure, the robe, the belt, the hair, the eyes, the feet, the face, and the voice—all of them are brimming with allusions and thus to meaning.
At the same time, the description of this glorious sight leaves a great deal not described.
This vision only gives hints of what we will learn about the exalted Jesus as we traverse through Revelation.
This first vision only teases us to want more.
And John did not disappoint—the entire book of Revelation (especially Revelation 5 and 19) expanded this vision of the exalted Jesus in surprising ways that ultimately brought out the fullest picture possible (in human language) of who Jesus is in his overwhelming glory. (continued)
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Symbolism
What John saw was what he saw, but we learn very quickly that what he saw represented more than the sight.
Each element in itself spoke of a deeper symbolism.
The sight and the sound were like paintings: multiple layers of paint built up to form the image, but each layer with its own integrity and significance. Revelation itself is a massive, cosmic-sized painting, and this first vision is but one small scene—think of the Sistine Chapel, but with John actually experiencing every scene in real time.
In this post I can only introduce the levels of symbolism in the images of this scene, but the text of Revelation itself will interpret them as we proceed.
Image one: Lampstand
“when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands”
To those reading this passage with any knowledge of the Old Testament, a gold lampstand (Greek lychnia) was the menorah of the Tabernacle and then the Temple.
The seven lampstands could be interpreted several ways. They could be seven single straight lampstands or perhaps one single menorah with seven branches (all with a wide base).
But since a menorah was actually described in Exodus as a lampstand with a central column and six branches, what John describes is likely seven menorahs—and as we later learn, each lampstand represents a church.
But there is another OT allusion that adds to the symbolism: a vision in Zechariah 4 depicts a menorah with a bowl on top and seven lamps with spouts and an olive tree on each side. John will return to this symbolism in Revelation 11.
That John saw seven gold lampstands begs for more detail, but John gives no more.
We must wait patiently for each image—in this case the lampstands—to be explained later, culminating in Revelation 22 where God is the light with no need for lampstands or even the sun.
Image two: One like a Son of Man
“And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man”.
This “son of man” image is a human figure.
It is a phrase that occurs all through Ezekiel, when God speaks to Ezekiel “O son of man …” It is also familiar from the Gospels since Jesus referred to himself as “the son of man.”
But “son of man” does not contain an article (“the). “One like a son of man” first refers to a human.
What John saw was a man, a man already known from the Old Testament.
John perceived who the man was and used the same words to describe him.
“One like a son of man” is a direct allusion to Daniel 7:13—“coming with the clouds like a son of man” (and thus connects with “he comes with the clouds” in Revelation 1:7).
In Daniel 7:13, this human figure comes to the Ancient of Days—God—who gives this son of man dominion and glory and a kingdom.
This son of man was in the middle of the lampstands, which surrounded him.
(cont.)
Image three: Robe and belt
This man wore a floor-length robe (down to the top of the feet) and had a gold belt around his chest (literally “a gold belt around his breasts”).
This robed figure with golden belt may suggest the high-priest, but the lack of detail makes this a guess at best—despite what most of the commentaries say.
John does not give the color of the robe or whether there was a tunic underneath. Neither does he describe the gold belt as the breastplate or ephod the high priest wore. To say he represents a priest is beyond the text.
But there is one close approximation to this clothing in the Old Testament, Daniel again.
In Daniel 10:5, Daniel was describing a vision and wrote these words:
“And I lifted my eyes and I looked, and behold, a single man, clothed with linen, and his loins girded with gold from Uphaz.”
At best we can say that John depicts a human figure in a belted robe in the midst of seven menorahs—but the same figure as in Daniel 7:13, and perhaps 10:5.
Image four: Everything but the robe!
The robe with belt only covered the body of this human figure.
His head and hair, eyes, mouth, his feet, his voice, his hands, and his face were all visible for John to attempt a description.
And that description once again used language from the Old Testament, but language not about humans but God.
“his head and hair—white as wool, white as snow”
Wow! Where do we find this exact image in the Old Testament? In Daniel 7:9.
But not to describe “a son of man” but the Ancient of Days!!
Daniel 7:9 “As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire.”
John began his description with language used for God.
But wait—there’s more.
“and his eyes like flames of fire, and his feet like burnished bronze as fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters”
Remember the man from the vision in Daniel 10:5. Here is the rest of that description:
“And his body was like beryl, and his face like lightning, and his eyes as torches of fire and his arms and his feet like polished bronze and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.”
John described the figure in Revelation 1:14-15 in words very similar to how Daniel described the man in linen of Daniel 10:5, who just a few verses later Daniel describes as “one in the likeness of sons of a human” (Daniel 10:16) and “one like an appearance of a man” (Daniel 10:18).
John depicts a human form but with angelic or God-like features, and what he saw was very similar to what Daniel saw (and check out Ezekiel 1:22-28!)
Image five: stars, a sword, and the sun
John finished his description of the man with his right hand, his mouth and his face.
“In his right hand are seven stars.”
Only in Revelation in the entire Bible do we read of seven stars.
In the first century, readers might naturally think of sun and moon, plus the five visible planets: sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, though the Big Dipper has seven stars, as does the Pleiades star cluster.
But as with everything else in this vision, though the cosmic power of this figure is evident, the seven stars represent something that comes later in the vision.
We’ll have to wait.
“and coming out from his mouth a sharp double-edged sword”
Just like the seven stars, the two-edged sword coming from his mouth is forward looking.
Revelation itself will reveal in due time the symbolism of the sword from the mouth in John’s vision, though Hebrews 4:12 has a hint, “the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword,” and Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:17, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Where do words come from? The mouth—and so it is here.
“and his face like the sun shines in its power”
In this last descriptor we finally have a correspondence with the Gospels and specifically to Jesus: in his account of the Transfiguration, Matthew wrote that Jesus’s “face shone like the sun.”
But here his face is like the sun shines “in its power” at his highest and brightest. It is no wonder John fell down.
And this last item brings us back around to the man in the middle of the menorahs.
The menorahs with their lamps may put out bright light, but the man in the middle is infinitely brighter than all of them.
And as we will learn, those lampstands actually receive their ability to shine from the man—the exalted Jesus.
John has finished describing the man, and what a description it is. And almost every feature of Jesus that John saw here will appear later in Revelation to further characterize the exalted Jesus.
These verses are only the first part of the vision, but they emphasized a feature I have been stressing from the beginning:
Revelation is about Jesus Christ first and foremost.
All that follows must be interpreted in light of the first chapter, a chapter all about Jesus.
Thanks for reading
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LOVING the audio version. I’m able to follow along with the written version as I listen to the audio version!!! The best of both worlds.