What does Jesus look like?

Revelation 1:1-18

 

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Now this is strange; if you read all four gospels, you will not find one single detail about Jesus’ appearance. Every modern biography will describe the appearance of its subject, but not the gospels. The only description of Jesus ‘appearance’ is found here in John’s Apocalypse. Be careful though, and don’t take it too literally, these portraits are wildly symbolic. In the book of Revelation things are not always as they seem.

 

 

Apocalypse

 

We call it Revelation; John called it the apocalypse (churches in Greece still do). Apocalypse; what better word to describe the catastrophic visions in this book; a sequence of judgements leading up to the end of the world and the beginning of a new one.

 

There are dozens of different and irreconcilable interpretations of John’s visions. All of them are utterly compelling to those who hold to them. If I am quite convinced of my particular view then I need to remember something: there are many better informed and more spiritually advanced Christians who take a different one... this is a place for humility.

 

John's introduction (1-5a) is important because it tells us what to expect as we read:

 

  • It is a revelation of Jesus Christ – this book is about Jesus (not the Beast or the Antichrist or any other side-show)
  • It is a prophecy – foretelling things yet to take place (1)
  • It is also a letter – specifically addressed to seven churches (4) John expected it to be read out loud and understood by these people(3-4). We ought to be cautious about any interpretation inaccessible to those first hearers.

 

Now since there are dozens of possible interpretations on the market, we are going to stick with what we can know for sure. For this series, we are going to focus on John’s portraits of Jesus (7-8)

 

 

Who was John?

 

Tradition tells us that this John was the apostle who wrote the gospel, the problem with this is the elegant Greek of the gospel compared with the rough language that scholars find in the Apocalypse. We should hesitate do doubt good quality tradition but in this case, it is best to assume that John was a respected leader of a church in Asia Minor: let us call him John of Patmos.

 

John was a prisoner on that island, “for preaching the word of God and speaking about Jesus” (9). This was probably in the late first century under the reign of Emperor Domitian. John hints that this was a tough gig (9), Domitian and his colleagues used these islands in the eastern Mediterranean as a place to exile troublemakers, but he acknowledges that his readers are suffering the same hardship. Why was John in exile, he says it is because of his Christian testimony (9). Citizens of the eastern empire were serious about worship of the emperor, the seven cities John mentions were centres of this imperial cult. Christians were expected to make an offering to the emperor and get a certificate – failure to do so had serious consequences.

 

When people encounter hardship, God is often the first to get the blame; people who once worshipped passionately can become very angry and spiritually cold. Not John of Patmos, suffering for Christ did not stop John worshipping, and one day his faithfulness was rewarded – Jesus appeared and gave him the task of challenging and encouraging the churches (10-11). This book is the product of those visions.

 

 

 

So what did Jesus look like?

 

What he sees is visionary, but not obscure; sometimes John explains what an image means (20). Where he does not, he expects you and I to work it out; but you are not on your own, the first 65 books of the Bible provide the key! When I first became a Christian a good friend gave me some advice, “Read the Bible every day”, he said, “Leave Revelation ‘till last!” It was excellent advice: you need to read the Apocalypse in the light of so many clues given in the rest of the bible. Young Christians who head for Daniel and Revelation first are heading for trouble.

 

John says, “I turned and saw the voice” – The gospel of John presents Jesus as the Word incarnate, God become a carpenter in Nazareth: John says, “We beheld his glory...” Now John of Patmos describes the same Jesus but he has changed; the Word made flesh is now glorified. John’s vision is intended to give us a glimpse of his majesty and beauty. What did he look like?

 

Revelation 1:12-18

 

We find ourselves in a temple of some kind, and the lamp stands are identified as the seven churches (20). Our first sight of Jesus in the Apocalypse is to see him moving among the churches. Those seven communities of Christians most have been quite impressive to invite Christ’s presence among them! Well... no, actually; read the individual messages to these churches[1] and you see that they are all struggling, and some are failing.

 

It is impossible to glamorise communities of faith. Churches are characteristically poor, often sordid, and frequently faithless. It is precisely in this environment that God chooses to show the Christ in the splendid form of the Son of Man.[2]

 

Bill Hybels calls the local church ‘The hope of the world’, he is right. But Bill is an optimistic guy and frankly you need to be an optimist in most churches. It is hard to see the hope for the half-heartedness, spiritual poverty and backbiting! Churches can be difficult and emotionally dangerous places to work. But this is where the Lord chooses to reveal himself.

 

So never give up on the church!

 

 

Pontifex Maximus

 

Anyone reading this account in the first century would immediately recognise this the outfit Jesus is wearing – his clothing gives it away – he is a priest. Go back to the Old Testament and you realise that Jesus is dressed in the robes worn by the priests of ancient Israel.[3] This is a vision of Jesus as a priest.

 

I was in Rome a short while ago and noticed that one of the Pope’s titles is Pontifex Maximus – Latin for High Priest – it is a title that goes way back to the days of ancient Rome. There is a river running through the middle of Rome – the Tiber – and there are many bridges joining the two halves of the city, the Ponte Palatino, the Ponte Garibaldi, the Ponte Sublico.

 

I was jogging across one of these bridges one morning when I realised that Pontifex and ponte sound very similar. I looked it up when I got home; in the ancient city of Rome a pons was a bridge, and facere meant to make something – a Pontifex is someone who makes a bridge.

 

This is exactly what a priest does – he forms a bridge between the perfect world of the God we worship and the imperfect world of the people we live with.

 

The priest opens up routes closed by fear or ignorance or guilt or superstition, so that there is access. A priest mediates. He is just as much on God’s side as on our side. He is just as much on our side as he is on God’s.[4]

 

This is what Jesus did – he sacrificed his life on the cross so that we could cross the bridge of his obedience and enjoy friendship of God. This is what Jesus still does – look at verses 9 to 11 – still telling us what the Father thinks, praying for us:

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

I don’t know about you but there are times in my Christian life when I doubt that I will make it through to the end – I get weary and tired, and sometimes I loose interest. Are you the same? However, because Jesus will never stop being a bridge between us and God, the imperfect and the perfect, he will never stop praying for us – I know I am going to make it.

 

I know I am going to make it, not because of my superior will power, but because of the faithfulness of my great Pontifex Maximus – Jesus Christ the Son of God.

 

 

The Son of Man

 

John describes Jesus as “Like a son of man” (13) and this takes us straight back to the gospels and the Old Testament book of Daniel. Jesus favourite nick was ‘the son of man’ and he got it from Daniel 7:13-14. Read the passage and see that the person described, though human, receives the worship of the nations, as though he were God.

 

Daniel 7:13-14

 

The rest of Johns vision expands on this divine title:

 

His head and hair were white like wool reprises the image of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 – it as though God the Father and God the Son are both somehow present in this portrait. This happens several times in Revelation; we will see this again in chapter 4 and 5, where the Father and the Lamb are located in the same place, on heaven’s throne.

 

When John caught Jesus’ eye he saw passion – his eyes burning like a man with a longed for goal in sight, like someone in love. Remember the classic Christmas reading, “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this...”[5]? This is Jesus, passionate to fulfil his purpose. When he looks at us, he doesn’t look at us, he looks into us! The Bible describes him as a consuming fire and he invades us... he wants us to be as pure as he is. He is going to get his way!

 

When John looks at Christ’s feet he sees that they are glowing bronze and he takes us back to Daniel again, this time it’s Daniel 2:31-45. A magnificent image made of priceless materials representing the empires of the world – but it has feet of iron mixed with clay and when struck it disintegrated. Bronze combines the strength of iron and the malleability of copper – very heavy, strong and stable. His kingdom will never be destroyed: Rome fell, the British Empire evaporated, one day the influence and power of the USA... will disintegrate. His kingdom will never end.

 

Then John hears his voice, impossible to ignore – like the roar of a mighty waterfall – it demands attention. Out of his mouth comes a sharp two edged sword. These are the conquering words of the Son of God, they bring rebellion to submission, ther cut through wilful resistance, they establish what is true and what is just, they tell us what is good and what is evil, they alert us to what is wise and what is folly. Everyone will hear these compelling words – we either hear them now, as we humbly let him speak to us, or at the judgement when our fingers are forced out of our ears and we can block him out no more. Everyone must hear what this king has to say.

 

In his right hand he holds seven stars.

 

John identifies these later (20) but his readers would detect a double meaning: the seven stars were the seven planets known to astrologers in John’s day. As these moving stars wandered ‘round the heavens their changing positions in the constellations would govern the fortunes of humanity. The art of astrology existed to predict their influence. Jesus holds these in his right hand! Cold impersonal forces do not govern history, neither do the distant gods and godlets of the ancient world – our destiny is in his hands!

 

And his face is shining – like Moses whose face shone when he brought the commandments down from Horeb. It was Moses brother who first prayed “... the Lord make his face shine upon you”. The shining face of the Lord signals his love and blessing and approval. What John saw was Jesus the priest-king radiant with warmth and love and a desire to bless his people.

 

This is Jesus.

 

The current long-running L’Oreal campaign employs some of the most expensive women on the planet to promote their range of cosmetics. Each one concludes with the strap-line, “Because you’re worth it!” Perhaps wittingly the copy writers have managed to sum up the entire zeiggeist in one slick phrase – our deeply embedded self-interest that asks, “What’s in it for me?”

 

It is the opposite of the strap-line you could write for John’s Apocalypse; “Because He’s worth it!” Again and again John will affirm that Jesus is worth whatever we are asked to do or to suffer for him. I guess that this is the diagnostic test of the truly Christ-centred person, when you have made the transition from asking, “What is in it for me?” to affirming, “Because He’s worth it!”

 

[1] See the ‘Postcards from Patmos’ section of the next talk

[2] Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, p32

[3] The word used here is the word used in the Greek Old Testament for the High Priests clothing. The description also tallies with Josephus description of the priest’s active in the temple in first century Jerusalem – John is seeing someone dressed like this.

[4] Peterson, op. cit.

[5] Isaiah 9:7