- Valuable Insights

In detailing his vision of the risen, glorified Christ, John conveys valuable insights to us. Jesus’ vesture is the priestly robe. His golden sash is designed for royalty. His snow-white head and hair speak of God’s utter holiness. His eyes, “like blazing fire,” and his feet, “like bronze glowing in a furnace,” depict God’s wrath and judgment. John saw the face of Jesus as the sun shining in its full strength. How can anyone add to that? If you want to know how strong the sun is, try looking into the sky at midday. You never, never can gaze directly into that full glow. But we are Jesus’ disciples, and we think of another time and another scene when Jesus’ “appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14). It was a time when “he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2-3).

Yes, this Jesus Christ had come to live among us and to give His life a ransom for the sins of a lost world. Evil men took Him and said, “We know how to deal with Him.” They beat Him with their whips and bruised Him with their fists. They tore at His beard, leaving His countenance marred and bleeding. In final insult, they spit in His holy face. Yet, as He bled and died on a Roman cross, He cried out in prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). As one of the redeemed and forgiven, I can better understand Isaiah’s portrait of the suffering Savior, the Servant of Jehovah. I know He was willing to die in my place. But in John’s vision, Jesus is the Overcomer, the One who was dead but now is alive for ever and ever. I cannot fully comprehend the power and the glory belonging to this One whose face will shine eternally with the brilliance of the sun! I do not have the words to explain that kind of brightness and light.