Statesman63
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 | | Subject: Revelation Chapter 1 (Part 9) (verse 16) Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:13 am | |
| Revelation Chapter 1 (Part 9) (verse 16)
Verse 16 says, “In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” This is still a description of Jesus’ Second Advent. It is describing Jesus. We have some help interpreting this verse because verse 20 says, “The seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches...” I haven’t proved it yet, but the 7 churches ultimately represent the prophetic stages of church history starting with the ministry of the apostles around 33 AD. We saw that there is an angel at each of these 7 churches. Jesus is in command of these angels. “Right hand” in the bible refers to lordship, or authority. Ephesians 1:20 shows us an example of such usage: “which He [God] exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” Jesus has a position of authority next to the Father. We, who are faithful, will have a position of authority next to Jesus. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...” 2 Timothy 2:12 says, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” Not all Christians will reign with Him as we will much later see, but we see here that this verse states a condition—it says, “if we endure” then we will reign with Him.
By the way, we see this part of our verse repeated in Revelation 3:1: “These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” I believe, as I mentioned, that the seven spirits, which could be rendered Seven-fold Spirit, is likely the Holy Spirit. The seven stars have been identified for us as the seven angels. Revelation 3:1 states them as being two separate things so I think that strengthens my interpretation, as opposed to them both being angel references or them both being Holy Spirit references (which, the latter wouldn’t be accurate as the 7 stars are defined for us; only the former could be a possibility).
Back to Revelation 1:16, it says, “...and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.” The weapon that Jesus is going to use when He faces the massive armies against Him in the Battle of Armageddon is going to simply be His spoken word. Whatever He says will come to pass. Let’s quickly scan the New Testament about this. John 1:1 and verse 14 say that Jesus is the Word of God. This is the same Word that spoke the world into existence in Genesis chapter 1. Ephesians 6:17 says that the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. What that is really saying from the construction of the Greek is that the Holy Spirit (and the Word) is the sword. You access or initiate the Sword using the Word of God. Even more precisely, you access the Sword of the Spirit through the Rhema of God. Rhema is the Greek word for “Word” here. Rhema means the word spoken or uttered. Before I continue, quick question: Who are we supposed to be using this sword against? This spiritual weapon is to be used against the spiritual forces of darkness: against Satan and his goons. Our battle is not against people, but against the kingdoms, authorities, and forces in the heavenly places. I haven’t seen any evidence that Satan is able to read our minds; therefore we must speak the Word to him if we are to apply and thrust our Sword into him. There is a second entity that we should use the Rhema Word against and that is our mountain. A mountain is any burden that is difficult to overcome that prevents us from experiencing a closer and deeper relationship with God. A mountain is also any burden that steals the peace that God gives us in Christ Jesus. We have to speak the Rhema Word with faith, and speak it to the situation. Jesus spoke to the storm and said, "Peace, be still." The Rhema Word is particularly God's Word spoken and applied to the situation (or demon) that we are trying to overcome. The Rhema Word is not our word: that is, it does not originate in us. Demons and your mountain will not respond to your opinion or threats. They respond to the Word of God: the Bible applied and spoken to the situation in faith. God spoke verbally in Genesis chapter one to create all things. Jesus spoke verbally when He was tempted by Satan and then Satan left Him. We are to use the Sword of the Spirit by verbally Rhema-ing the Word against Satan and our mountains.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word [logas] of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This is a different Greek word for “Word”. In the other passage the word for “Word” was “Rhema”. In this passage in the Greek it is “Logas.” Logas refers to the message that the word is conveying. The message of the Word is living and active, and sharper than any double-edged sword. A message has no meaning unless it is known (read and study your bible) and understood. Even once understood, a message is still without power unless it is acted upon. We must apply the message to the situation; we must do the message. To use the message against Satan, we still need to rhema the Logas against him. We need to understand and obey the Logas before we are able to effectively rhema it against our enemy. If we disobey the message, it’s power will not be realized by us.
All of that is nice, but in Revelation, Jesus, the Word himself, shows up and slices and dices every foe with His words. I’m quoting Revelation 19:14-15, and 21 which reads as follows:
“The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.” And verse 21 reads, “The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the Rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.”
I’m not sure how that will look. I can imagine Jesus saying “Die!” and visually, literally, a spirit sword comes out of His mouth to smite all of His enemies. There is nothing allegorical here. Jesus is the Word of God and He is going to quickly put down the insurrection against Him with His word alone.
We also see this part of the verse repeated to the 7 churches. Revelation 2:12 says, “These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” And 2:16 says, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” In fact, many aspects and themes of Jesus that we are reading in Chapter 1 are repeated throughout the discourse to the 7 churches in chapters 2 and 3.
Finally, we come to the last part of the verse: “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Perhaps the first thing the student of the Word should recall is the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus shone as bright as the sun in Matthew 17:2. That verse says, “There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” You recall when Moses got the 10 commandments from God on Mount Sinai, he came down glowing because he had been in the presence of God whose glory radiates light. In Acts 26:13, the Apostle Paul is describing his account on the Damascus road when he encounters Jesus face to face. He says, “About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.” Paul saw the glory of Jesus. And Revelation 21:23 says of the Kingdom city in Heaven, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” What happened on the Mount of Transfiguration was that Jesus uncovered His human flesh to expose the glory of His Deity within. No one can look directly at God and live. Jesus is God, but while on Earth, His flesh covered His divine glory of light within Him. His glory will radiate and be seen again during His Second Advent.
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