Jesus, our Glorious Judge

Revelation 1:

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

The first chapter of Revelation describes Jesus as this:

• the One who IS
• the One who WAS
• the One who IS TO COME
• the faithful witness
• the firstborn of the dead
• the ruler of kings
• the One who loves us
• the One who frees us
• the One who made us a kingdom
• the One who made us priests

This Jesus is the awesome, glorious, ruling king, the rider on a white horse who is described in the 19th chapter of the book of Revelation. This Jesus is no meek and mild-mannered, gentle Jesus. He is the risen, glorified Christ. See Him standing among the lampstands, clothed in white, girded about with a belt of gold. See His white hair and head (Daniel 7) which signifies His great age, His sinless purity, His pre-existence. He declares with a great voice, "I am the first and the last. Beside me there is no God!"

His eyes are a blazing fire (Jeremiah 25:34) and they miss nothing. There are no secret sins. Nothing can be hidden from the scrutiny of God. You may think you got away with looking at that dirty magazine that's hidden under your mattress, but you didn't. You may think nobody saw your rendezvous with the lover you can't stay away from, but those eyes of flame were watching. Nothing is hidden from God.

His mouth has a sword that protrudes - a sharp, double-edged sword, used for close fighting. This God is up close and personal as He holds us accountable for our sin. He is wrestling with us, just as He wrestled with Jacob, reaching out and touching the sinew of his thigh to humble him and make him see the truth.

He is here, in the midst of our churches. He knows our deeds. He knows. Everything.

Not only is He here, now, right with us, but He's coming again physically, in power and great glory, and every eye will see Him.

Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen

All the tribes of the earth will wail. They will all weep and mourn. Like John, they will cast themselves to the ground in utter terror.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

Wouldn't you? If you saw Jesus, eyes ablaze, with a sword coming out of His mouth, dressed in glistening robes, hair and face shining brightly, wouldn't you fall at His feet in awe? This is the reaction of a sane man who knows his sinfulness and sees perfection. Woe is me. I am undone.

Yet look at Jesus again. What he does next is astounding.

But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Fear not.

The hand on the shoulder. The comforting words. Words we never deserve to hear.

What we deserve is judgment and accusation. What we deserve is the Wrath of God. What we deserve is to have our deeds exposed, laid bare before all the world to see, so we are shamed and filled with sorrow.

Yet Jesus, our glorious Judge, the One who holds the keys of Death and Hades, the One who is alive forevermore, says "Fear Not."

What grace!