“I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk by your side.” According to MercyMe, there are lots of possibilities: “Will I dance for You, Jesus, or in awe of You of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing, ‘Hallelujah?’ Will I be able to speak at all?” But when John, the beloved disciple who reclined on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper (John 13:23), got a glimpse of Him in His glory, he simply passed out, falling down like a dead man (1:17).

And why is that? Drawing on the imagery found in Daniel chapter 7, John sees Jesus in the righteousness and holiness, not just of the Son of Man, but of the Father, the One sitting on the throne. His feet, shining like refined bronze, are too pure to contact any evil, while His burning eyes see right through all the sin that lies within our hearts. And He speaks the truth with the clarity of a trumpet’s call (1:10) and with all the power of the ocean’s waves (1:16). John simply couldn’t endure such purity and power.

So, if such a vision of Christ was completely overwhelming even to the holiest of saints like John who had been exiled because of his faith (1:9), what hope do any of us garden-variety sinners possibly have? Listen to what Jesus tells John: He is the One Who died to pay the penalty for all our sins. And because He is risen, He is able to release anyone from bondage to sin and death (1:18). It is faith alone in Christ alone that gives us access to His grace which alone can save us.

Yes, this message lies at the heart of the truth Christ reveals to His universal Church, represented by seven congregations in the southwestern part of the place we today call Turkey, the place where John conducted much of his earthly ministry. And these seven congregations are in turn symbolized by seven golden lampstands, holding aloft the light and the truth of Christ as all congregations of believers in every place and every age are called to do.

So, let’s proclaim the power and holiness as well as the grace and forgiveness of Christ today, shining His light with our lips and with our lives, so that more people will surrender to Him and thus be able to look forward to His certain coming.

Daniel 7:9-14 (ESV)

9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Revelation 1:9-20 (ESV)

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
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.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. 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.
19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.