Revelation 1:17-20

Okay, sorry for the picture in such a serious topic as Revelation.  I mean no disrespect to God's Word, but I thought it was great that someone took the time to make such an image from LEGOs.  

¹⁷ When 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. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

The same right hand that holds the seven stars, the angels of the seven churches, and controls the heavens is the same hand that reaches down to touch John. And it is the same hand that touches you and me in gentleness of Spirit and power over all life. This is a very important aspect to recognize and let sink into our spirit. The same hand that holds the authority and power over the universe is the same loving hand that reaches down to us. A current day vernacular would be, “mind blown”. We must accept how great our God is and how personal He is to each of us.

He is the First to the Last. Psalm 90:2 tells us He is everlasting to everlasting. He is first because there are none before Him and He is last because there are none to follow Him.

Here He declares the only description that is specific to Jesus. He is the Living One who was dead but now is alive for ever and ever. He is the living one who became dead, He had a redemptive death and resurrection.

And He holds the keys of death and Hades. He speaks here of authority and power over death, as one who has been dead but now lives, and over the unseen world. Hades can refer to the grave or where the spirit goes. Both of which Jesus has been and conquered.

A few things to note here:

1. There is the intercession of Christ.  He is standing at the altar in heaven today, at the right hand of God making intercession for us today.  He is alive and in great power and He represents us. 
2. There is the intervention of Christ.  He steps out of the Holy Place in heaven and He walks with us.  He intervenes to us for our best.  He is ready to wash our feet, forgive our sins, so we may be spotless before our heavenly Father. 
3. Here in Revelation, we are learning of the inspection of Christ.  As we enter into chapter 2 we will see that He is walking among the churches and He is about to hand out an inspection report.  In the tabernacle, the high priest had the sole oversight of the menorah.  He took care of the lampstand.  He put the oil in, trimmed the wicks, and lit the lamps.  Jesus is taking sole oversight of the lampstands, the churches.  John describes in chapter 15 that He will prune the branches to produce fruit.  This is Jesus’ inspection.

This should not be a surprise. If we walk close to Jesus, we are aware that the Spirit does inspection. I feel as though I am always aware of where the Spirit wants me to advance and what I should be cutting away. If we are constantly being raised by our heavenly Father in love to be made perfect then we should expect that He’d do the same for the church as a whole.

19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The 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.

We have covered this pretty thoroughly. John’s job is to write what he has seen. What he sees is past, present, and future. This could also be a reference to what he saw before, what he is seeing now, and what he will soon see.