2498. A Portrait No Artist Can Paint

No. 2498-43:1. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, April 26, 1885, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, January 3, 1897.

He had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was like the sun shines in its strength. {Re 1:16}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 357, “Christ of Patmos, The” 347}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1976, “Lessons from the Christ of Patmos” 1977}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2498, “Portrait No Artist Can Paint, A” 2499}
   Exposition on Re 1 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2498, “Portrait No Artist Can Paint, A” 2499 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Re 1 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3467, “New Creation, A” 3469 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Re 1 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3501, “Feast of the Lord, The” 3503 @@ "Exposition"}

1. While reading this description given by John of what he saw in the isle called Patmos, I think you must have noticed that it would be quite impossible for any painter to depict it on canvas, and equally impossible for any sculptor to embody it in stone or marble. Those who have attempted to copy the lines given here have failed miserably; they may paint a picture of the garment down to the feet, and the golden sash; but the rest, if it is viewed from an artist’s aspect, would be found to be incongruous: “His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” No great painter would ever venture to give us a portrait of our Lord with his head and his hair “white like wool, as white as snow.” If he did, it would be quite impossible to depict eyes that were “as a flame of fire.” How would it be possible to make us realize, with the aid of any pen or pencil, that his feet were “like fine bronze, as if they burned in a furnace?” The task would have to be given up as quite hopeless when it reached this point: “He had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was like the sun shines in its strength.”

2. I believe that this difficulty of giving a truthful representation of the Lord Jesus Christ is according to the divine purpose. Nothing, it seems to me, can be more detestable to the Lord’s heart and mind than the worship of his image in any form. If any are determined to break the law about making carved images, and bowing down before them, then let the idol be the image of something that is on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; but, oh you idolaters, please do not, as it were, make the Lord Jesus Christ an accessory to your idolatry. That, he never really can be, for he abhors it. “Get behind me, Satan,” would be his answer to every proposal that his image should be worshipped, for he could not endure it. It is a dreadful thing that men should ever dare attempt to make any likeness of the Son of God himself to be the occasion of sin. If you must make an image, make it if you wish of a serpent, or of an ox, but not of the Son of God, who came on purpose to redeem us from this among other sins. Let us not degrade his sacred person by making even it to be an image, before which we prostrate ourselves.

3. I know it is said that idolaters do not worship the image, and that they worship God through the image; but that is expressly forbidden. The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Then the second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by or through any symbol or image whatever: “You shall not make for yourselves any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you yourself shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.” The worship of the image of Christ appears to me not to be an any more excusable form of idolatry, if there is any that is less evil than others, but it seems to me to be the more intensely wicked form of it, since it is making even the glorious person of the Lord Jesus an accessory to an act of transgression against the commandments of his Father. If we cannot say concerning the divine and human person of our Lord, “You saw no similitude,” yet we can say, “You saw no similitude such as can be made in any way whatever.”

4. The fact is, that we have, in this apocalyptic vision, very extraordinary hieroglyphics put together. Hieroglyphic language does not aim at the artistic and the poetic; a hieroglyph has a higher object than the mere gratification of taste. It is intended to give us mental ideas, — not ideas for the eye, but ideas for the heart; not what we shall see, but what we shall feel and understand. Hence, these figurative representations of different parts of our Lord’s person, though they cannot be put together so as to form a picture, are, nevertheless, deeply instructive for every loving and reverent heart.

5. So I want you, dear friends, without wishing to make a complete portrait of your Lord, to try to follow the teaching in this verse. There are three things here; first, the stars in Christ’s hand: “He had in his right hand seven stars.” Then, secondly, there is the sword in his mouth: “Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.” And then, thirdly, there is the glory of his face: “His countenance was like the sun shines in its strength.”

6. I. First, then, when John saw our Lord Jesus Christ, he naturally looked at his hand, and therefore he saw THE STARS IN HIS HAND.

7. Note, dear friends, that our Lord Jesus has a hand. He is not, as some imagine, an abstract idea of a person without life. He has a hand, and that hand is a working hand. The hand that was pierced by the nail is not paralysed; it has strength to hold in itself seven stars. The hand that worked out our redemption has not ceased to work for us. Christ holds in his hand what he bought with the blood of his heart. John saw that his Lord held in his right hand seven stars. Let us always think of our Lord Jesus Christ as full of power, and actively using it; let us think of him at this moment as having a deft, and skilled, and mighty right hand, which he will lift up on the behalf of all those who put their trust in him. On the right hand of the Majesty on high there sits a right-handed Christ, still carrying on according to his own good pleasure the work of the Lord, which always prospers in his hand.

8. When John looked at Christ’s right hand, he tells us that in it he saw seven stars. These are generally understood to be the ministers of the seven churches of Asia; we are told, in the twentieth verse, that “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,” and I do not know who the angels of the churches can be unless they are the messengers of the churches, those ministers of whom Paul wrote, “they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.” At any rate, we shall take it for granted that these stars represent the pastors of the churches, the ministers of Christ.

9. These stars are said to be in the Lord’s right hand, first, because he made them stars. They are in the hand of him who made them what they are. Under the old covenant, there were to be, in the tabernacle, seven lights always burning on the seven-branched candelabra or lampstand; but John saw in Christ’s hand seven stars; not ordinary lamps, but stars shining with a greater brilliance and a more heavenly light than could ever be seen in the oil-fed lamps in the ancient tabernacle. If any man in the Church of God shines like a star to guide others to the port of peace, he owes his light entirely to Christ. It must be so, because it is Christ’s right hand that has made him what he is; he is a light because Christ has given him light, he owes his spiritual radiance entirely to him who is the Lord and Giver of light in the midst of his Church. My dear brethren in the ministry, if you want to shine for Jesus, you must be made into stars to be held in his right hand. There is no possibility of your being of spiritual use to your fellow men, or exercising a ministry that shall tend to their eternal salvation, unless you are made into a light to be held in the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the education in the world, all the natural talent that any possess, all the acquired practice of oratory, all the powers which are the result of long experience, can never make a good minister of Jesus Christ. The stars are in the right hand of Christ; ministers are not made by men, but by the Lord himself, if they are worthy to be called ministers at all. So, the stars are in his right hand, first, because he made them.

10. They are there, next, dear friends, because he holds them up. Every Christian has to face great perils, and every Christian needs to pray to the Lord, “Hold me up, and I shall be safe.” But ministers of Christ, ministers whom he makes to be stars, are exposed to sevenfold peril. Against the leaders of the spiritual Israel the sharpest arrows of the enemy are sure to be shot; the word seems to be still passed around to our adversaries as in the ancient day of battle, when the king of Syria said to his captains, “Fight neither with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.” If there is anywhere a captain who leads the way, and comes to the very front of the host, the temptations that gather around him will be most fierce and terrible. Slander, misrepresentation, and every kind of evil shall dog his heels; and he more than all men who are on the face of the earth must cry to his Lord, “Hold me up, and I shall be safe.” The mercy is, that the true minister of Christ is held up in Christ’s right hand. He shall be kept faithful even to death, he shall not fall; and, God helping him, he shall be caused to shine on right to the end of his ministry. Every now and then, we hear a rumour that some of God’s own children have fallen from grace; I do not believe it. It is said that they have fallen away and perished; I do not believe it. Those of you who live until next November, {a} and go out late at night, may see a great many shooting stars; and some of your little children will cry, “Look, father, the stars are falling”; and possibly some children will believe that stars have fallen from their places. Take the telescope, and look at the heavens; sweep the sky as far as the range of the instrument will permit. Jupiter is all right, and Saturn, and Mars, and Venus, and Mercury, and all the planets, they are all in their places; and the fixed stars are shining on as they have done ever since the Lord first kindled them to charm away the gloom of night. I do not know what these shooting stars may be, there have been many guesses with regard to them; neither do I know what these apostates may be, there have been a great many guesses about those who flamed out so brightly once. But I do know this, that Jesus still holds the seven stars in his right hand, and he will not drop even one of them; they shall not be reduced to six, or five, or four, or three, or two, or one, or vanish altogether; neither shall it ever be so with any of the true sons of God. Our Lord himself has said, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hands.” If you, my brother, are kept in the right hand of Christ, then you are kept. If you wish and hope to shine for Jesus through all the years that you shall live, then you must be held in his right hand, for only he, who made you, can hold you up.

11. Next, are not the stars represented as being in Christ’s right hand, because he holds them out, as well as holds them up? Just as a man holds a lamp in his hand, and holds it up and out as far as he can, so that its light may shine all the farther, so does Christ hold his servants up. Sometimes he holds some of them up high aloft above the multitude, so that, on the Sabbath, they rise quite out of themselves. They say what they could never have thought of saying by themselves; and they are enabled to plunge into mysteries which previously had not been opened up to them; and there are given to them burning words that shine as well as burn, for their Lord lifts them up, and holds them out. Dear friends, pray much for us, who are called to preach the gospel, so that we may always be lifted up in the right hand of Christ. If we try to shine simply with our own natural brightness, it will be a very poor, miserable exhibition of darkness; and if we try to work ourselves up, as some do, into a state of excitement, we may goad ourselves into a condition of semi-madness, and lead others into the same folly, but no good will come out of it. That elevation of spirit which comes from the right hand which once was pierced for us, that lifting up of holy speech which is given through contact with the right hand of him who spoke as never a man spoke, that is the kind of lifting up that we want. Pray, beloved, that every star in the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ may be held up and held out, and so shine even farther and farther across the wild waste of the waters of sin and sorrow.

12. Do you not also think that, by the stars being in the right hand of Christ, is meant that he claims them as his own? Every faithful minister is Christ’s property; he belongs to his Lord, and he recognises that blessed fact. “You are not your own, for you are bought with a price,” is true of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; but it is especially true of as many as are called out from among their fellows that they may be the mouth of God, and that God may speak through them to the feeding of his flock, and to the bringing home of his lost sheep. They are particularly and especially in the hand of Christ, for they belong entirely to Christ.

13. Is this not the highest honour any man can have, that he should be in Christ’s right hand because he belongs to Christ? You see, it is especially mentioned that these stars are not in the left hand of Christ, but in his right hand, as if the Lord intended to put particular and special honour on his servants who are faithful to him. Brethren, it does not become any of us who preach the gospel to seek honour from men. What is it, after all? What is the value of commendation from the lips of men? Suppose they should praise us, and flatter us, and say that we are “thoughtful men,” “abreast of the times,” and I do not know what else — all such stuff as this is only carrion, fit for the scavengers of the earth, but not worthy to be set before the angels of the churches. The true servants of Christ may well be satisfied to eat some of the crumbs that fall from his table, rather than to feast on the dainties that load the tables of the ungodly. If our hearts are entirely focused on shining for Christ, and shining for nothing but Christ, and shining with nothing but Christ’s own light, and the light of Christ’s own truth, then we are like the stars in his right hand, beloved by him, and precious in his sight. Truly I say to you, there shall be a glorious reward at the last for those who are made by Christ into stars, and who are held up, and held out in the right hand of their Lord, and so claimed by him as particularly and especially his own.

14. So much, then, concerning the ministers of Christ. Brethren, pray for us; and pray for all the preachers of the Word, so that they may be stars in the right hand of Christ.

15. II. But now, secondly, — and on this I would dwell with great emphasis, — notice THE SWORD WHICH COMES OUT OF CHRIST’S MOUTH. “Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.”

16. The conquering power of the gospel is in Christ himself; it does not lie with his ministers. The power with which Christ contends for the mastery against all the powers of darkness does not reside with his servants, but dwells within himself. The two-edged sword of the Lord is in the mouth of the Lord. We shine, dear friends, — such little twinkling stars as any of us are, — we shine, and God blesses the shining; but if ever there is a soul saved, we have not saved it; and if ever there is an enemy of Christ who is wounded and slain, the deed is not done by our sword. By ourselves, we have no power; the really effective work is done by Christ himself, and by him alone. The sword that goes out of our mouth is a poor blunt instrument, which can accomplish nothing; it is the sword that goes out of Christ’s mouth that does everything in the great battle for the right. Notice how the right hand of Christ has to be used even to hold up these stars; ministers are not his right hand, they are only like stars that he holds up with his right hand. They derive all their power from him; but even when they are held up by his right hand, they are not the real warriors, it is not their strength with which the battle is fought and won; the power is in Christ himself, it is out of his mouth that there goes the sharp two-edged sword that wins the victory.

17. Notice, dear friends, that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to conquer men is a power which is like a sword. “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” comes out of the mouth of Christ himself; and coming out of his mouth, it does several things, which I will briefly mention to you.

18. First, it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This sword pierces “even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.” When I am preaching most earnestly, some of you may find it possible to go to sleep; while I am talking to you even about the most sacred things, they may glide over you as oil might run down a slab of marble; but if my Lord speaks to you, you will be compelled to feel the power of this sword that goes out of his mouth. Every Word that comes by his Spirit out of his mouth will seem to rip you open, and lay you bare, for, “all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to deal”; and he can make you feel that he is discerning the thoughts and intents of your hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he comes into our midst, brings his fan in his hand, and with it he will thoroughly purge his floor; with every movement of that fan, and every breath of his Spirit, he is separating the chaff from the wheat. There is no escaping his observation when he is at work among us; private thoughts are detected, the secrets of the heart are laid bare, and the precious and the vile are severed from each other when he is working in the midst of his Church, for out of his mouth goes the Word which is sharper than a two-edged sword.

19. When this sword comes out of the mouth of Christ, it wounds as well as discerns. As a sword cuts, pierces, pricks, and wounds, so does the Word of God. I do not wonder that people are sometimes angry with the Word of the Lord; who would not be angry when he is cut as with a sharp sword? I am not surprised that others retire to weep as if their hearts would break; who would not weep when the knife cuts into his flesh and touches his very marrow? When the Lord Jesus Christ blesses the Word by his Spirit, the wounded are all around him. The ungodly begin to tremble, and the godly ones, finding that Christ is fighting against the sin that is within them, are wounded and bleeding in a hundred places because of that two-edged sword of his which cuts through coats of mail, and wounds even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.

20. Out of Christ’s mouth comes, not only a wounding but a killing sword. When he speaks with power, — and, oh! how I wish that he would do so just now! — sinners feel that their self-righteousness is killed, and that all their carnal hopes are killed. They can say — and I trust that some of you can say, with John, — “ ‘When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.’ I was alive until I saw Christ, I seemed to be all that I wanted to be until I saw Christ; but when I saw him on the cross, when I read the mystery of his passion, and understood what it cost him to redeem a soul from death, then I saw what a sinner I must be, and I also saw what would be the result of my sin if I had to bear its penalty, and then, ‘I fell at his feet as dead.’ ”

21. Brothers and sisters, let us pray the Lord Jesus Christ to use that sword which is in his mouth, constantly to use it among us; for what is the use of the seven stars in his right hand, what is the use of anything, unless Christ’s own voice is heard, and Christ’s own truth is driven home to the hearts of men? We have a good deal of preaching, nowadays, do we not? But one Word out of Christ’s mouth would be worth fifty thousand out of the mouths of the greatest preachers who have ever lived. Oh! if HE will only speak, the preacher may be very illiterate, and he may not have much to say; but if God speaks through him, there will be a power about his message which cannot be resisted. On the other hand, the preacher may be one who has been well-trained and taught, and he may speak eloquently, so as to please his hearers, but if God does not speak through him, what mere froth it is! It is gone like a vapour, and no result comes from it at all. Let us keep on crying that the Master himself may be at work in our midst, with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, proceeding out of his mouth.

22. Did you notice that the text said that out of Christ’s mouth there went a sharp sword? There is nothing so sharp as God’s Word. When we are speaking, it is very seldom that God blesses merely our words; it is usually what we quote from the Scripture that is the means of the salvation of our hearers. I think it was McCheyne who said, “It is not our word, but God’s Word, which saves souls.” I notice that, in most conversions, the point of decision has been reached when a text has been quoted. The word which God has blessed has been mainly scriptural; even if the truth has not been spoken in the exact words of inspiration, yet it has been most clearly and obviously a quotation from the Scripture put into other words. There is nothing so sharp as the Word of God. People will get around what we say, but they cannot get around what God says. They can ignore your opinion, and my view of the case, and another person’s dictum on it; but they cannot forget what comes to them with this message, “Thus says the Lord,” “It is written”; and when the Spirit of God applies the truth to their hearts, it is indeed a sharp sword.

23. It is also two-edged, for the text calls it “a sharp two-edged sword.” There is no handling this weapon without cutting yourself, for it has no back to it, it is all edge. The Word of Christ, somehow or other, is all edge. I remember preaching a sermon on the resurrection, on purpose to see whether God would bless it to the conversion of sinners; there were many brought to Christ by that discourse. With the same intention, I have preached divine sovereignty, and the election of grace, and I have seen many won to Christ by those stern truths. I have often noticed that, when I have been preaching for the comfort of God’s people, there have always been sinners wounded even then, for the Word is all edge; and even the consolations of the gospel, while they cheer the believer, will cut the sinner in two. There is something even about what is the sweetest truth to the believer which is sour to the unbeliever, and cuts into his conscience. Only let us preach the gospel, and we shall never find any other weapon like it. As David said of Goliath’s sword, so may we say of the sword of the Spirit, “There is nothing like that, give it to me.” When I am invited to preach the novel doctrines of the present age, or to try the modern methods of fighting the devil, I look these new weapons up and down, and I advise those who offer them to me to send them to the Exhibition of Inventions {b} up in the West of London. You may see them there, but you will never see them here. The old sword suits my hand, and God blesses it to the cutting and the wounding and the killing of sinners; God the Holy Spirit, who made it, uses it most effectively; so, by the grace of God, we will stick with it, and use no other; as long as we live.

24. I ask all of you, who try to bring sinners to Christ, to stick with that old sword, the two-edged sword that goes out of Christ’s mouth. If souls are not saved by the preaching of the truth, they will not be saved by the telling of lies. I have sometimes heard really awful doctrine preached at revival services, and an easy-going brother has said, “Well, you see, it was an evangelistic meeting.” Yes, but you should not tell lies at evangelistic meetings. “Oh, but then, if we were to preach the same truth to these sinners that you would proclaim to a company of believers, it would not do them any good!” Well, then, nothing else will, depend on it. If the truth will not have any effect on them, your toning of that truth down, or your exaggerating it will not improve it, but will spoil it. I believe that the very gospel that comforts saints is the gospel that saves sinners, that there is only one gospel for all purposes and all people, and that, therefore, two gospels will never be required. You only have to strike this way with one edge of the sword, and then that way with the other edge of it, or to swing it to and fro, like that ancient warrior did with his great two-handed sword, and you will strike sinners down right and left, striking the self-righteous this way, and the licentious the other way. Only stick with that grand old sword which the apostles used, which was in the martyrs’ hands, and by which Christ himself triumphed, is triumphing, and will triumph even to the end.

25. III. The third part of my subject will have very few words from me, and perhaps the fewer I shall say, the better it will be. The point to which it refers is, THE GLORY OF CHRIST’S FACE: “His countenance was like the sun shines in its strength.” I will not attempt to explain these words, but will only call your attention to one or two thoughts concerning them.

26. First, what do you see in Christ’s right hand? Seven stars; yet how insignificant they appear when you get a sight of his face! They are stars, and there are seven of them; but who can see seven stars, or, for that matter, seventy thousand stars, when the sun shines in its strength? How sweet it is, when the Lord himself is so present in a congregation that the preacher, whoever he may be, is altogether forgotten! Please, dear friends, when you go to a place of worship, always try to see the Lord’s face rather than the stars in his hand; look at the sun, and you will forget the stars. If you look for the stars, it may be that you will see neither star nor sun, for the Lord may withdraw his light from his servants because you are looking at them rather than looking at him. In Christ’s hand are the stars, but his countenance is “like the sun shines in its strength.”

27. What does this mean except that there is about our divine Lord an inexpressible, indescribable, infinite splendour? No man can look at the sun, — it would blind him, — the sun when it shines in its strength; not when it is rising in the morning, nor even when it is setting in the evening, nor even when a cloud passes over it; but the sun in its strength, no man can look at that, he would soon lose his sight if he did. So, who shall ever know, much less tell, the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ? To know him, is our great ambition; but his love surpasses knowledge. That is our confession after years of endeavouring to search into the height and depth and length and breadth of his love. Think of your Lord, then, as covered with inconceivable glory.

28. But this expression is to be regarded also as describing Christ’s overpowering preeminence. The best of his servants are only stars, but he is the Sun. In Christ there is more light than there is in all the prophets, saints, and apostles who have ever lived. All their light came from him, but all their light was still remaining in him; and all the light that ever shall be, throughout all the ages, will be as nothing compared with the light that there is in him. One said of Henry VIII that, if all the tyrants who ever lived had been dead, they might all have been considered as reproduced in that one man. I may say of our Lord Jesus Christ something very different, that is, if all the good things and all the virtuous things and all the loving things that have ever been since the world began were gone, they are all to be found in him. Just as the sun is the great source of light and heat, so there is an overpowering preeminence about the Lord Jesus Christ.

29. Yet, further, this is a communicable excellence. The sun, when it shines in its strength, is pouring out its light; the sun does not have light merely for itself, but its light is for all the worlds that are all around it, as the face, the glory, the excellence, the merit of Christ, is for all his people. He is for ever pouring it out, and this is his splendour, that he shines on the sons of men to fill them with joy.

30. Yet this metaphor of the sun has in it something justly terrible. Who could fight against the sun that shines in its strength? If all the powers that be contended against the sun, and attempted to invade its territory, the sun would consume them all. And who shall fight against you, oh Sun of righteousness? You shall utterly consume them in the day of your wrath. There will be something terrible about the face of Christ when he comes to judgment; then men shall cry, “Hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne.” But to his people there is something in his face that is intensely joyful. We shall never be in the dark, for our Lord’s face is like the sun. Put out all the lamps, and let all temporal comfort and all spiritual comfort vanish, yet spare us Christ, only let us see his face, and to be favoured with his smile, and we shall need no candle, neither the light of any other sun, for the face of Christ “is like the sun that shines in its strength.”

31. Dear friends, are you on the Lord’s side? Are you on Jesus Christ’s side? If so, be happy that you have such a Saviour. Are you an opponent of his? Then tremble, and bow before him. “Kiss the Son, lest he is angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled only a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him.” May he send this choice blessing to you all, for his dear name’s sake! Amen.

{a} The Leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. It peaks around November 18 each year. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids" {b} The International Inventions Exhibition was a world’s fair held in South Kensington in 1885. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Inventions_Exhibition"

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Re 1}

1, 2. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and communicated it by his angel to his servant John: who bore record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

John was a most suitable person to see and to bear record of the Word of God, for in his gospel {Joh 19:35} he describes himself at the cross as both seeing and bearing record. So now that his once-crucified Lord is in his glory, it seemed best that the same beloved disciple should both see him and bear record concerning him. No eyes were so fit to see the glory of Christ as those who had looked with so much love into the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth in the days of his humiliation. The head that had rested on his Master’s bosom at the supper table was prepared by it for all the glory that should afterwards be revealed. The nearer your communion with Christ is, the more you will be permitted to know about him. Our perceptions of Christ, if they are true, will be spiritual; and in proportion as our spiritual life is in a right condition, we shall be able to know more and more about him.

3. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it: for the time is at hand.

I do not perceive that John says, “Blessed are those who understand this Book,” for, surely, they would be very few. I do not doubt that there are portions of Scripture which are not meant to be understood as yet, — things concerning the future which are wrapped up in a phraseology which will be plain enough when that future arrives, but which for the present are not intended so much to gratify our curiosity as to stimulate our watchfulness. To keep us constantly on the look-out, is the main object of every revelation concerning the future.

So far, then, we have the proem or preface of this great Book of the Revelation.

4, 5. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

John’s blessing to the seven churches of Asia is like that of Paul when he is writing to a Christian church, “Grace be to you, and peace.” You have probably noticed that, when Paul is writing to a minister individually, his greeting is, “Grace, mercy, and peace”; for those who have the solemn charge of souls need “mercy” more than all other men. May they find mercy from God in that day! But to the churches themselves, it is simply this double blessing, “Grace be to you, and peace.” These blessings, coming in their proper order, grace first, and peace afterwards, are very precious. That peace which is not founded on grace, and does not follow grace, is a false peace. “Grace be to you, and peace.” But if you have grace, peace ought to follow; you have a right to it, it is a logical sequence to the possession of the grace of God. Well does Dr. Watts sing, —

    If sin be pardon’d, I’m secure;
    Death hath no sting beside.

If grace is given, glory will follow. Therefore, beloved, “Grace be to you, and peace.” And this grace and peace must come from the Lord Jesus: “from him who is, and who was, and who is to come.” This grace and peace must come from the eternal Father, the self-existent Jehovah, and from the ever-blessed Spirit. Only God is the Lord and Giver of grace and peace. And this double blessing must come from a comprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorious character as “the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.” Never forget, dear friends, that even today Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth. The Queen reigns, and the Czar reigns; but it is still more true that “The Lord reigns.” There is One who is higher than the highest of all earthly kings, even “the Prince of the kings of the earth.”

5, 6. To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Do not all of us, who truly know our Lord, say that? Do we not wish for him glory and honour beyond anything that we can conceive of? May all dominion be his for ever and ever, for it is his by right!

7. Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and those also who pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.

They have crucified him; all kindreds of the earth have, alas! had a share in Christ’s death, and dying unforgiven, or being found alive at his coming without repentance, they “shall wail because of him.”

7. Even so, Amen.

Though the wicked shall wail at Christ’s appearing, the saints must give consent to the judgments of God as well as to his mercies: “Even so, Amen.”

8-12. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last”: and, “What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” And I turned to see the voice that spoke to me.

This was a very natural thing for John to do. We always feel a desire to see who it is who addresses us, and this would especially be the case if we heard such a sentence as this, spoken with a trumpet voice by One who could truly say it, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Who would not have turned to see such a Speaker? I am sure that John would, for he must have recognised that voice, though it was pitched in a higher key than usual, and was full of more sonorous force than when he last heard it. He must have known the voice of the Well-Beloved as he spoke again to his highly favoured servant.

12, 13. And turning, I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, —

It was the very same Son of man, but John could only say “like the Son of man,” — like the One whom he had known long before, and whom he had loved with undying affection, — like him, but, oh! how unlike him, notwithstanding. The Christ in every position is still discernible as “like the Son of man.” As John sees him, with his face shining like the sun in its strength, yet still he is “like the Son of man.” In the manger, he was like what he was afterwards on the cross; on the cross, he was like what he now is on his throne; and when he comes again in all his glory, he will still be like what he was and always is, — “the Son of man.” “In the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man,” —

13-18. Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like fine bronze, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was like the sun shines in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last: I am he who lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

That dear familiar touch of Christ’s right hand had quickened John into consciousness again, and brought him back from his swoon when he was lying at Christ’s feet as dead. Oh Master, if we are dead in a worse sense than John was, if we have fallen into a spiritual swoon, if we have come into a fainting fit, lay your pierced hand on us now, and we shall live! Come near us, oh Lord, come nearer, nearer still, and touch your servants with your hand of love and power, and we shall be able to hear what you have to say, and our heart shall be strong to obey your command!

19, 20. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands.

Then he proceeds to explain what he meant, just according to the custom of the Son of man who, when he told a parable in public, explained it to his own disciples in private, even as he still does. Oh, how blessedly is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever!” His characteristics never change what he was, he is, and that he will always be, blessed be his holy name.

20. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”

May the Lord bless to us all the reading of this precious passage from his Word! Amen.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — Crown Him” 418}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — Christ’s Glorious Person” 425}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — Worthy The Lamb” 413}

Jesus Christ, His Praise
418 — Crown Him
1 Crown him with many crowns,
      The Lamb upon his throne:
   Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns
      All music but its own.
2 Awake, my soul, and sing
      Of him who died for thee;
   And hail him as thy matchless King
      Through all eternity.
3 Crown him, the Lord of Love;
      Behold his hands and side,
   Rich wounds, yet visible above
      In beauty glorified.
4 Crown him, the Lord of Peace,
      Whose power a sceptre sways
   From pole to pole, that wars may cease,
      Absorb’d in prayer and praise:
5 His reign shall know no end,
      And round his pierced feet
   Fair flowers of paradise extend
      Their fragrance ever sweet.
6 All hail! Redeemer, hail!
      For thou hast died for me:
   Thy praise shall never, never fail
      Throughout eternity.
                     Matthew Bridges, 1848.

Jesus Christ, His Praise
425 — Christ’s Glorious Person
1 Now to the Lord a noble song!
   Awake, my soul, awake, my tongue;
   Hosanna to th’ Eternal Name,
   And all his boundless love proclaim.
2 See where it shines in Jesus’ face,
   The brightest image of his grace;
   God, in the person of his Son,
   Has all his mightest works outdone.
3 The spacious earth and spreading flood
   Proclaim the wise and powerful God,
   And thy rich glories from afar
   Sparkle in every rolling star.
4 But in his looks a glory stands,
   The noblest labour of thine hands;
   The pleasing lustre of his eyes
   Outshines the wonders of the skies.
5 Grace! ‘tis a sweet, a charming theme;
   My thoughts rejoice at Jesus’ name:
   Ye angels dwell upon the sound,
   Ye heavens reflect it to the ground!
                           Isaac Watts, 1709.

Jesus Christ, His Praise
413 — Worthy The Lamb
1 Come, let us join our cheerful songs
      With angels round the throne;
   Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
      But all their joys are one.
2 “Worthy the Lamb that died,” they cry,
      “To be exalted thus”;
   “Worthy the Lamb,” our lips reply,
      “For he was slain for us.”
3 Jesus is worthy to receive
      Honour and power divine;
   And blessings more than we can give,
      Be, Lord, for ever thine.
4 Let all that dwell above the sky,
      And air, and earth, and seas,
   Conspire to lift thy glories high,
      And speak thine endless praise.
5 The whole creation join in one,
      To bless the sacred name
   Of him that sits upon the throne,
      And to adore the Lamb.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.