Revelation 1:13–20

AND AMONG THE lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

19“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Original Meaning

John’s Vision of the Son of Man (1:13–16)

THE FOCUS OF many reported visions by Jewish mystics and apocalyptic seers was God on his throne,1 but Revelation opens with Jesus as the revealer. The robe and girdle may recall the biblical high priest (Ex. 28:4; 39:29; Lev. 8:7)2 and suggest that Jesus is his people’s high priest (cf. the similar garb of Jesus’ bride in 21:19–20; she is a kingdom and priests). Though the girdle might also recall Daniel 10:5, which is relevant in this context, it may still derive its symbolic meaning from priestly imagery; the only other occurrence of girdles in Revelation is 15:6 (also “golden”), where it is priestly imagery for angels in the heavenly temple. Thus Jesus appears not only as king, but as priest, a combination of images that grew familiar to Jewish people in the Maccabean period.3

The image of Jesus in this passage weaves together imagery from three sources in the book of Daniel. The first (the least important) is the angelic revelation in Daniel 10:5–6, but the two most important stem from the same passage: the reigning son of man (7:13–14) and the Ancient of Days (God), before whom the son of man appears (7:9).

The angelic features in John’s vision of Jesus (eyes like fire and limbs like bronze in Dan. 10:6,4 though bronze limbs may also recall Ezek. 1:7) do not reduce Jesus to an angelic level, but probably simply suggest Jesus’ great glory; he cannot be portrayed as less glorious than a glorious angel. Eyes like fire describe passionate eyes in Greek literature,5 but they can also depict the supernaturally flaming eyes of divine beings or angels;6 glowing metal may also depict God’s glory in Ezekiel 1:27.

Yet other features suggest that while John portrays Jesus’ glory as no less than that of an angel, it is certainly more than that of an angel. The voice like “the sound of rushing waters” (1:15; cf. 19:6) may recall the voice like a multitude in Daniel 10:6, but especially recalls the sound of God’s own voice as many waters in Ezekiel 1:24; 43:2 (cf. 4 Ezra 6:17).7 Jesus’ title (“someone ‘like a son of man,’ ” Rev. 1:13) recalls the figure who would reign as God’s agent in Daniel 7:13–14; the hair like wool and comparison with white snow (1:14) allude to God himself, the “Ancient of Days” in the same Daniel passage (Dan. 7:9–10).8

Jesus’ face also shines like the sun (1:16). Greek texts sometimes portrayed deities shining like the sun or lightning;9 Jewish texts did the same for angels (cf. 10:1) and others,10 but also for God himself.11 The point of Jesus’ fiery eyes, white hair, and bronze feet (1:14–15) is that he was radiating light or fire (the bronze is said to be “glowing” in 1:15)—like some visions of God in the Bible (Ezek. 1:27; Dan. 7:9–10; cf. Rev. 21:23; 22:5).12 Other deities were portrayed as bearing swords,13 but this image is an allusion to Isaiah 11:4 (“He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked”)14 and Jewish images of God’s Word as a warrior with a sword (Wisd. 18:15; cf. Rev 19:15).

Bridging Contexts

JESUS’ APPEARANCE IN 1:13–16. Some interpreters have misapplied the image of Jesus in this passage, although sometimes with good intent. A pitfall that occurs in some circles is the attempt to identify the glorified Jesus’ ethnic features. Some have pointed to the hair “like wool” (1:14) and argued that Jesus must have been African.36 To be sure, Greeks and Romans described African hair as “wooly”;37 Daniel 7:9 compares God’s clothing with the whiteness of snow (also 1 En. 14:20) but describes his hair only as being “like wool” (also 3 En. 28:7). But John specifically calls the hair “white like wool” (Rev. 1:14; also 1 En. 46:1; 71:10). Lest anyone miss the point, John clarifies further: “as white as snow” (Rev. 1:14), which was an even more common ancient way of describing whiteness.38 The white hair, of course, means neither that Jesus was blond (as in some portrayals) nor that he was on the verge of dying from old age; it recalls the symbolically “aged” hair of the “Ancient of Days” (Dan. 7:9), reminding us that Jesus is God in the flesh.

These reservations hardly mean that Jesus was a white European. One would not expect to measure his pigment level while he was glowing, but during Jesus’ earthly ministry he could blend into a crowd (John 7:10–11, 25), suggesting an appearance compatible with most of his Jewish contemporaries. Jews were not Europeans and included a mixed ethnic heritage of primarily Middle Eastern but also some northern African blood.39 Of far greater importance for Christians of any race or culture is Jesus’ appearance in this glorified state: The risen Lord is powerful, even deity, and therefore can protect and empower his people in the face of their oppressors. As one charismatic Catholic writer remarks, the symbolic language of this passage does not give us an exact portrait of what Jesus always looks like; “it would be a horrible picture of a man with a sword sticking out of his mouth to begin with.”40 Instead, it teaches us about who he is.

Content of the revelation. One of the most blatant examples of reading something into a biblical text in this section is that committed by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who try to evade the clear implications of Jesus’ divine title “the First and the Last” in 1:17 (cf. 2:8).41 Exactly this same title is a divine title in Isaiah (Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12) and is applied to God elsewhere in Revelation (21:6), especially in the form “the Alpha and the Omega” (1:8), which is equivalent (21:6; 22:13; see comment on 1:8) and also applies to Jesus (22:13). The book repeatedly applies Old Testament images concerning God to Jesus (e.g., 7:16–17). But such evasive interpretation may serve the helpful purpose it served me as a young Christian when I debated with Jehovah’s Witnesses: It can force us to recognize our own evasive tactics in trying to get around various texts that conflict with our prejudices on various issues.

Some interpreters, for example, find in 1:19 (“what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later”) a structuring device for the rest of Revelation: Beyond what John has already seen, he will report on the present (the seven churches) and things to come (the future in the rest of Revelation).42 Clearly the verse promises revelation about both present and future, but it does not specify which passages in Revelation represent his own day and which represent the future.43 One might argue from 12:5–6 that much more of Revelation than the letters to the seven churches includes John’s own day; certainly many promises and warnings in the letters to the seven churches also involve the future.

Interpreters concerned with the symbols in Revelation should pay special attention to 1:20, where two of the key symbols are explicitly interpreted. As Gordon Fee emphasizes, “When John himself interprets his images, these interpreted images must be held firmly and must serve as a starting point for understanding others.”44 Jesus’ triumph over death (1:18) is likewise relevant to his church as we face opposition today, but remains applicable to all believers, who will ultimately face death if they do not live until Jesus’ return.

Contemporary Significance

JESUS’ APPEARANCE IN 1:13–16. One could feel the tension as I began to read from this passage in a Sunday morning service in a black Baptist church in North Carolina, the church in which I had been ordained some years earlier. In recent months white supremacists had burned a number of churches across the South, and this church had received threats that they would be next after the pastor had publicly taken a courageous stand against the burnings.45 The threats had become so severe that a local rabbi had even promised to surround the church with his members to protect it—though I doubt that white supremacists would have considered Jewish volunteers a less appealing target.

Before the burnings had become a threat to us, I had already felt that the Lord wanted me to speak from this text when I would visit my church again. Now I explained that the point of Jesus’ description here was not to tell us his complexion—but to declare his power. He was the reigning Lord of the universe, the one with the power over life and death (1:18). John was writing to persecuted Christians, reminding them that God was bigger than their trials; and that day John’s message spoke across the centuries to our church in our trials. Our tension quickly gave way to celebration as we recognized the awesome power of our faithful Lord.

Jesus’ message. In contrast to some passages in Revelation, this one requires little work to translate from John’s setting to our own. John’s audience included those suffering directly for their faith (2:10; 3:8–10), those facing economic testing (13:17), those facing invitations to compromise (2:14, 20), and other sorts of challenges that continue today. Both we and the people in our churches face daily challenges that render relevant the reminder of Jesus’ triumph over death and his lordship over human history. Specific applications will vary, depending on the experiences people among whom we minister face (such as unemployment, abandonment by a spouse or parent, bereavement, or harassment on the job for religious, sexual, or other reasons).

Most of all we must hear the promise that no matter what Christ’s church faces, the future belongs to us. Some older North American Christians recall a time when symbols of Christianity were widely accepted as part of the fabric of our culture. Times have changed; in some parts of the United States, “freedom of speech” is held to uphold artwork insulting to Christ or a “cultural” statue of a pagan deity, whereas arguably “cultural” public nativity scenes at Christmas are banned as an insult to religious pluralism!46

But such a situation should not alarm Christians into paranoid responses; Revelation addressed churches in a much harsher situation. In the Roman Empire Christians were a small and persecuted minority; no one but those who trusted Christ could have imagined that we would outlive that empire. In many parts of the world Christians today are advancing the gospel in the face of tremendous opposition;47 the future of the church is bigger than any of us singly, but the future belongs to the church and to all its members, who share its hope and destiny (21:2–7). Like Jesus’ triumph over death (1:18), the fact that Jesus holds the churches in his hands (1:20) reassures us that in the end God’s benevolent purposes will triumph.

Original Meaning

Jesus’ Message (1:17–20)

JOHN RESPONDS TO this revelation of Jesus’ glory by falling down prostrate at his feet “as though dead” (1:17). Other prophets had responded this way to divine and angelic glory (Ezek. 1:28; 3:23; 43:3; 44:4; Dan. 8:17; 10:9), so this came to be a standard response in Jewish tradition based on Scripture.15 Falling as if one were “dead” simply drives home how completely John is overwhelmed; such language is again familiar as a response to traumatic revelations or news (Matt. 28:4).16 When recipients of a traumatic revelation respond in such a manner, the revealer often raises the recipient on his feet or declares, “Do not be afraid” (Dan. 10:11–12; cf. Matt. 17:7).17

Most important, Jesus is “the First and the Last” (1:17). This means more than simply “firstborn from the dead” (1:5); its sense is exactly equivalent to “the Alpha and the Omega,” a title appropriate only to God (1:8; 21:6), probably applied to Jesus also in 22:12–13. Because it is precisely the same title that identifies deity in the same context (cf. Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12), Jesus thus opens his revelation to John by announcing his deity. The state might demand worship of Caesar and many synagogues demand renouncing Jesus’ deity, but if Jesus is truly Lord of the universe, he is worth suffering and even dying for.

All the claims of 1:18 involve Jesus’ triumph over death. In the Bible and Jewish tradition, God is the “Living God” or the “Living One” (cf. also 7:2; 15:7), but Jesus is specifically called the “Living One” here because, though he had died, he is alive forever. Jewish people believed in a resurrection of the righteous at the end of time; the early Christians recognized Jesus’ resurrection as the actual firstfruits, or first installment, on the future resurrection (see comment on 1:5). Thus by rising from the dead, Jesus guaranteed eternal life to all his followers, even if they faced death for his name (20:4)—a promise to the churches quite relevant in view of the rest of the revelation that follows.

Because of his victory over death, Jesus held the “keys of death and Hades” (1:18). In ancient palaces, the one who held the keys was an important official, able to admit or shut out people from the king’s presence (see comment on 3:8). Hades was a Greek deity who ruled over the realm of the dead, the “house of Hades,”18 but by this period his territory was widely known as “Hades.”19 “Death and Hades” together represent death’s power; as Jesus had told Peter, the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18). Greek texts spoke of coming to the realm of the dead as coming to the “gates” of Hades;20 some Jewish texts likewise spoke of the “gates of [Sheol]” (Isa. 38:10) or the “gates of death” (Job 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18), which appeared in Jewish texts written in Greek as the “gates of Hades” (e.g., Isa. 38:10 LXX; 3 Macc. 5:51).

Greeks told stories of heroes like Orpheus, who sought to bring his deceased wife from Hades but failed, and of Heracles, who succeeded in bringing some people up (e.g., Diodorus Siculus, 4.25.4; 4.26.1); but none of these heroes held the power to restore the dead in general. Pagans assumed that their god of the underworld (Hades, Pluto, or Anubis) held the keys to that underworld.21 In reality, however, only the truly risen and Living One, “the firstborn from the dead” (1:5), could release people from Hades, the realm of death. Jewish texts attributed this authority to God alone: “You have the power over life and death; you lead mortals down to the gates of Hades and back again” (Wisd. Sol. 16:13). The one who knows Jesus’ identity, however, will not be surprised that he functions in this divine role (Rev. 1:17).

Others like the emperor, employing the brute power of the state, could have persons executed even if they could not restore the dead. Yet because Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades, he—rather than the Roman emperor or believers’ other persecutors—controls who lives and dies. No hair of theirs will fall to the ground apart from his knowledge and will (Matt. 10:29–31), so those who trust his loving care do not need to fear. Death will not come to them by accident; when it comes, it comes only in the time our loving Lord permits it.22

When Jesus tells John to write “what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (1:19), he casts John in the typical role of a “witness” (1:2), one who must testify of what one has personally seen (Acts 22:15; 1 John 1:1–2).23 (For “writing” apocalyptic visions, see comment on Rev. 1:11.) The combination of past, present, and future revelation in this verse reminds us again that Jesus is Lord of history (1:17): God is, was, and is to come (1:8). Pagans spoke of prophetic diviners and deities who recounted the past, present, and future,24 but Jewish people and Christians recognized that only the true God reveals past, present, and future to his servants (Isa. 42:9; 48:5–7).25 John encourages the persecuted part of his audience that the true Lord is genuinely in charge of history, hence of their heritage, their present situation, and their destiny.

The “mystery” in 1:20 is not one which God wishes to keep secret (cf. 17:7); God sometimes revealed his “mysteries” to seers in both the biblical (Dan. 2:27–30, 47) and apocalyptic (1 En. 103:2) traditions. That the stars in Jesus’ hand represent the angels of the churches and the lampstands among which he stands represent the churches indicates Jesus’ intimate care for his people: He is among them (cf. 21:3), and their future lies in his hand (cf. John 10:28–29). The star (of David) occasionally appears as a Jewish symbol in Roman inscriptions, but nowhere as early or as frequently as the lampstand.26 More important, astrology pervaded Mediterranean thought by this period; people felt that fate controlled their future, guided or revealed through the stars. Even most Jewish people believed that God revealed the Gentiles’ future through the stars.27 By contrast, Jesus’ followers have nothing to fear: Jesus holds the stars of the churches in his hand.

The more difficult question is: What are the angels of the seven churches? In Greek, the term used here (angelos) can mean simply “messenger,”28 sometimes used for “messengers” of the gods.29 Thus some interpret them as prophetic messengers bearing John’s message.30 Others apply the term to readers of the message in the congregations, that is, leaders whose title could also be translated “messengers.”31 Because a public reader in a congregation functioned as its “messenger” or agent before God, a reader who executed his task inappropriately could bring trouble on the entire congregation (m. Ber. 5:5). Some even apply them to bishops of local communities.32

But Revelation, like other apocalypses, is full of angels; early Christian texts rarely use “angel” for a human being, and it is thus more natural to read the text as a reference to angels of some sort. The book of Daniel (Dan. 10:13, 20–21) and most of early Judaism recognized that heavenly angels guided the activities of earthly rulers, and in some Jewish traditions these angels shared the responsibility for the earthly rulers’ behavior.33 Thus these angels most likely represent guardian angels of the congregations.34 Alternatively, one might view them as the heavenly representatives of congregational leaders, again functioning like guardian angels but of individuals (cf. Matt. 18:10).35

Bridging Contexts

Contemporary Significance