Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with along robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters…
Revelation 1:12-15
It is a shame that the church has largely forgotten the last book of the Bible. There is no shortage of wild-eyed commentators ready to cram the Revelation of Jesus Christ into their end times scenarios but, far fewer who are willing to wrestle with the book as a piece of Christian literature with the power to shape disciples. We are too busy dissecting the book and not at all interested in reading it. We pull it to pieces, label its parts, pin them to a timeline and then, leave it for dead. Because of this faulty approach we encounter the one like a son of man described here in Revelation 1 and we analyze every bit of his appearance. The white hair means one thing and the golden sash another but, when we are done we forget to do what John did. He fell at his feet as though dead. We forget to fall on our faces in awe of the one who was dead and is alive forevermore.
The churches to whom John wrote on behalf of Jesus had good reason to be afraid. Being the church in Ephesus demanded patient endurance (2:2). The disciples in Smyrna faced tribulation (2:9). In Pergamum, the church lived where Satan had his throne (2:13). The Church in Philadelphia had but little power (3:8). The list could go on. There are seven churches each with their own struggles. Each with their own reasons to be afraid. Each in need of something more than a timeline. They needed encouragement. They needed the assurance that God still held the reins. They needed the assurance that Jesus walked in the midst of his churches. That the saviour held his people in the palm of his hand and, that he would not let them go. This is what lies at the very heart of the Revelation of Jesus Christ– a call to courage. This is what makes this last book of the Bible so important to disciples in all times and places.
The world has a long history of trying to make people in general, and disciples in particular, afraid. There were and are wars and rumours of wars. There was the threat of being thrown to the lions or burnt alive to provide light for Nero’s garden parties. There were trials and inquisitions. Today one party peddles fear of another– as if life as we know it will come to a screeching halt if election night ends with the map displaying too much of the wrong colour. One person is afraid because of the state of the environment. Another is afraid of the destruction environmentalists might wreak on the economy. Some voices call on us to be afraid of a new virus and other voices tell us that our real fear should be what our elected officials are up to under the cover of this virus. Against all of this fear, the Bible says hundreds of times “Do not be afraid!” Revelation, specifically calls us to join John at the feet of Jesus. There, at the feet of Jesus, we will find that our fears begin to disappear. Our fears disappear because at his feet we are reminded that every other kingdom will be shaken. Every other kingdom will eventually fall but, not his. In Discipleship on the Edge Darrell Johnson writes, “All other kingdoms rest on shaky feet. His kingdom rests on feet that endure forever.” Our trust is not in the tottering kingdoms of this world but in the kingdom that rests on the burnished feet of Jesus.
Disciples have to make real and important decisions about creation and our role in it, about politics, about economics, and about responding to a pandemic. This is unavoidable but, we do not make these decisions out of fear. We do not make these decisions based on who or, what we fear most. We make these decisions based on who we trust most– the one who reigns forever and ever.