4. One Like a Son of Man (Rev 1:12-20)

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Summary

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Daniel 7 and 10

The so-called “Vision of the Risen Christ” in Revelation 1:12-18 has several similarities (and key differences) with Daniel 7 and Daniel 10. It is beneficial to read the Daniel passages before we begin a verse-by-verse study of the remainder of Revelation 1.

In the Daniel passages, focus on the depictions of the “Ancient of Days” and the “Son of Man” in Daniel 7:9-14, and then the description of the unnamed angel in Daniel 10:5-10.

Rev 1:12: Gold Menorah

• Remember back in verse 10, John heard a great voice behind him. Here he turns to look.
• Your Bible may say, “lampstands or candlesticks,” but what John sees is unquestionably a menorah, as Stern translated in the CJB.
  • He renders as “seven menorahs.”
  • A menorah has seven branches; this is one Menorah with seven lights. To the right is a photo I took of the Temple Institute Menorah in2013.¹
  • Later, we will find out that each “candlestick” is a congregation with Jesus in the midst.
  • The Menorah is also reminiscent of a tree or a vine with branches.
    • Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15).
    • Jesus is also the light of the world.
    • Also, the tabernacle/temple menorah was made of gold, which fits with verse 12.
• According to Missler, this scene should remind us of the Tabernacle.²
  • The robe and gold band in verse 13 may allude to the High Priest (Exodus 28:4).
  • The high priest was the one who tended the Menorah, including snuffing out and correcting if unsatisfactory.
  • Lizorkin says, “the presence of the Temple menorah would signal to John’s audience that his visionary experience took place in the vicinity of the Temple. And more precisely in the inner section of the Temple."³
• The Temple/Tabernacle Menorah also testifies to God’s presence.
  • The seven fellowships are supposed to live in such a way that their communities see God’s light and presence.
    • Num 7:89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.

Rev 1:13: One Like a Son of Man

• This is often called the “vision of the Risen Christ.”
• The fact that John noted one dressed as a priest in the “midst” of the Menorah may suggest he was witnessing Jesus as High Priest in heavenly Tabernacle (Heb 9).
• The photo shows the “Holy Place,” where the Menorah was located. In the foreground is the Table of Showbread. By the curtain leading to the Holy of Holies is the Altar of Incense. (Ex 26:33)⁴
  • This is from a Tabernacle replica that one can visit near Eilat, Israel.
• Interestingly, John does NOT identify Jesus but says “one like a Son of Man.”
  • John and Jesus were very close during Jesus' earthly ministry.
  • Presumably, He would have said, “and among the Menorahs was Jesus wearing a robe…"…but he didn’t.
  • We know from 1:1 and 22:8 that John is not talking directly with Jesus
  • This angelic divine being is at the same time Jesus but not quite Jesus
• As we saw from some of the parallel passages, the description of the one like a Son of Man is inherited from the Ancient of Days.
  • Dr. Baruch Korman writes, “This is a depiction of Messiah taking on the mantle of God the father."⁵
  • Dr. Lizorkin writes, “The garments are highly symbolic, showing that Jesus is the heavenly priest, fully prepared and qualified to carry out His duties."⁶
  • Dr. Keener writes, “the cumulative impact of these images is to present the risen Jesus as the greatest conceivable figure."⁷
• There are numerous parallels among Revelation 1:12-18, Daniel 7, Daniel 10, and to a lesser extent, Ezekiel 1 and even Matthew 17 and the Transfiguration.
• We will compare Revelation 1 and Daniel 10 towards the end of the lesson.
• Jesus physically is seated at the Right Hand of the Father
  • This may explain why it appears to be an Angel and not Jesus directly who speaks with John.
  • Jesus is to remain seated at the Right Hand until the appointed time.
  • In either case, Jesus is also spiritually amid our fellowships and us.
• Remember also that the earthly fellowships were undergoing intense persecution. Perhaps they felt abandoned by God, but here we see God is right in their midst.⁸

Rev 1:14: Head, Hair, and Eyes

Photo caption: “Lambs in the Negev."⁹

Rev 1:15: Feet and Voice

• As a biblical type, brass speaks of judgment

Photo caption: “Bronze greaves (armor that protects the leg) from Derveni, 300 BC."¹⁰

Rev 1:16: Right Hand, Mouth, and Face

• We occasionally see drawings, some quite grotesque in my opinion, of Jesus with a literal sword coming out of His mouth. This misses the point entirely. Obviously, the sword is symbolic. As Lizorkin says, “this being is powerful enough to destroy with his voice alone."¹¹
• Early Jewish believers saw the two edges as two aspects of the Word of God
  • Either the “law and the prophets” or “Moses and Jesus.”
    • Unfortunately, Reformation theology sees “Law” and “Gospel” as opposites. They are not. The opposite of “law” is not “grace” but “lawlessness.”
    • If this is the model, here we see that Law and Gospel are not opposed to each other but are two sides of the same sword
    • Both bring judgment for the wicked and life for the righteous.
• Dr. Baruch pointed out that a sword also divides and separates, in the sense that in Genesis 1:4, God divided the light from the darkness.¹²
• I saw a meme recently that the light never flees in the face of darkness. It is the darkness that runs when confronted by light. For darkness to prevail, the light source must be removed. John 3:19 has more about this.

Photo caption: “Sunrise over the coastline at Assos” (western Turkey).¹³ Assos is not too far from Pergamum.

Rev 1:17: Fear not!

• There is a common reaction when people in the Bible are given a glimpse of God – even if it’s “just” an angel, they are terrified!
• The drawing on the right illustrates Abraham bowing before angelic visitors, one of whom is the “Angel of the Lord."¹⁴
• Most of our Bibles have from 1:17 through the end of chapter 3 in red text; the translators assume Jesus is speaking. It’s a fair assumption; however, if we’re faithful to the text, John does not record who is speaking.
  • Rev 1:1 and Rev 22:8 tell us John received the vision from an Angel, not from Jesus directly.
• Assuming this is John the Apostle, he knew Jesus better than anyone. Was he afraid because this incredible and terrifying being wasn’t Jesus?
• Even if we assume it was Jesus, there is a lesson.
  • No matter how well you know Jesus, He’s still God. We can’t get too casual.
  • CS Lewis captures this beautifully in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Susan Pevensie is talking to Mr. Beaver. “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh,” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…"Safe?” said Mr. Beaver …“Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
• In any case, the angel has the authority to speak for Jesus and God the Father in the 1st person.
  • If we look back in Genesis, the “Angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament has the authority to speak for the Father in the first person. It’s as if Abraham is communicating with God Himself.
  • I believe that is the case with John. The text tells us John is not speaking with Jesus directly, but he might as well be since He’s the only One who purchased our life with His death
  • The safest avenue is to say John is speaking with an Angel of the God of Israel, acknowledging some elasticity in our definitions of the Father, Spirit, and Son.¹⁵

Rev 1:18: “I was dead but behold, I Am alive!”

In 1 Corinthians 15:54, Paul says, “the saying will come about as it is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory!” He was quoting Isaiah 25:8. The words spoken to John appear linked to this passage also.

This was the great find of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 in a cave by the Dead Sea: a complete and relatively intact scroll containing the book of Isaiah. Before this, the most recent full copy of the Hebrew Bible we had was from the 9th or 10th century CE. This scroll dates to 1000 years prior, the 1st Century before Christ, or before the Common Era. There are minor differences only.

Photo caption: “Isaiah 25:8 on the great Isaiah Scroll."¹⁶

Rev 1:19: μετα ταυτα

• Conservative scholars tend to see this as an Outline of the book, though this is debated:
  • What you see: the Vision of the Risen Christ – chapter 1
  • The things which are: the seven assemblies/churches - chapters 2-3
  • The things that shall be after – chapters 4-22
• The Greek phrase for “after these things” is μετα ταυτα meta tauta.
  • Meta tauta acts as a signpost throughout Revelation.

Rev 1:20: The Meaning of the Stars/Menorah

• A topic of debate is whether the seven stars/angels are natural or supernatural
• About all the “natural” camp has going for it is our western minds can understand it better.
  • In this view, the angels of each congregation are human.
  • More than likely, the messenger would be the pastor of each community or a designated reader in the synagogue.
  • Unfortunately, no church leadership position is ever called an angel or messenger anywhere else in the New Testament.
• In favor of the supernatural angel view, the entire book of Revelation has angels everywhere, so why not in Chapters 2 and 3?
  • Jewish texts often portray angels as stars.
  • In this view, churches/fellowships have designated angels just like nations do.
    • In Daniel 10, the angelic messenger had to do battle with the spirit of Persia and then had to go back to do battle with the spirit of Greece.
  • In other words, there is a heavenly counterpart to an earthly reality.
  • Admittedly it is foreign to think of a fellowship having a “guardian angel.”
    • If our churches had such an angel, wouldn’t it keep false teaching and division out of the church?
  • Protestants tend to deemphasize angels, which is odd given that “angels” or “angel” appears over 180 times in the New Testament- about 80 times in Revelation and the other 100 in the rest of the New Testament.
  • There is probably much more going on in the supernatural angelic community than most of us realize.
  • In both Hebrew and Greek, the meaning could be either a supernatural angel or a natural messenger. However, only about six times out of the 180 can we be certain that the word references only a human messenger.
• This certainly raises several questions:
  • Do churches today have designated angels?
  • Was this a 1st-century phenomenon?
  • Was it ONLY these seven specially designated congregations?
  • Who knows!
• By having the stars in his right hand, the hand of power, John is possibly communicating, “Christ is Lord over the universe including Lord over the angels who guide the churches as well as the nations."¹⁷
  • Keener also notes given the tensions between non-messianic and messianic branches of Judaism in that day, “by identifying the churches as (a menorah), John claims that the Jesus movement is the true form of Judaism."¹⁸
• One thing we do know: a menorah’s purpose is to give off light in a dark place
  • This is what our churches should be doing
  • This is what we as disciples should be doing.

Photo caption: “Tabernacle Model Golden Menorah."¹⁹

Postscript: Rev 1 and Dan 10

As a postscript, let’s do a quick side-by-side of Revelation 1 and Daniel 10. In this way, we can see how the book we hold in our laps or in our smart devices is ONE book with one consistent message from beginning to end.