Way back in Exodus 3, Moses had his “burning bush” experience. God wanted to release his people from enslavement in Egypt, and he intended to use Moses to get that accomplished. All of the sudden, Moses came down with a case of the “Yeah-buts.”
Yeah, but who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?
Yeah, but what if they say, “What’s the name of your God?”
Yeah, but I have a speech impediment!
Yeah, but won’t you please send someone else?
Moses was worried, probably for good reason. He had previously fled from Egypt on bad terms and was not eager to return to tell the king, “Hey, you know the entire blue-collar work force you have to build your pyramids? My God wants you to let them all leave Egypt!” Furthermore, he had to convince his own people of that as well. Perhaps one might have asked, “Moses, who do you think you are?”
Maybe Pharaoh could have been convinced that Moses was right, but before considering that, he would want to know, “What are your credentials? What makes you think you can come in here and tell me what to do? By whose authority do you come in here and try to get my slaves to just leave?”
Apparently, Moses was equally concerned that God’s own people would have the same reaction, as evidenced by the second “yeah-but”. “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex. 3.13). Even more, “What if they don’t believe me?” (Ex. 4.1).
"Who do you think you are, telling us what to do? By what authority do you come in here and start shouting orders?"
The answer is simple: By the authority of God Almighty, that’s who! It wasn’t Moses telling them what to do, it was God telling them what to do, using Moses as his mouthpiece. “I will be with you,” he tells Moses. “Tell them ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Moses alone really had no right or authority to tell either Pharaoh or the Israelites what to do. But he does have credibility because God is with him. Moses and his message are reliable because of who stands behind Moses, the One who gives him his message.
It may be that the apostle John could have faced the same kind of scrutiny by sending the message of Revelation to the 7 Churches in Asia. In Revelation 2 and 3, the author is going to say some pretty harsh things to the people of God, harsh things about sins they are involved in. Things like:
You have forsaken your first love (2.4)
If you don’t repent, I will remove your lampstand (2.5)
You commit sexual immorality and hold on to false teachings (2.14)
You tolerate Jezebel; those who are with her will suffer intensely (2.20, 22)
You are dead (3.1)
I am about to spit you out of my mouth (3.16)
You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked (3.17)
Beyond that, he also has some harsh things to say to Good, Faithful people who love and remain loyal to him. Things like, “Be faithful, even to the point of death” (2.10).
For those unfaithful Christians who have compromised their beliefs, participating in the more sinful parts of Roman society (and who are getting an earful from the author) perhaps they might pose the question to John, “Who Do You Think You Are? By what authority do you dare to write us, telling us to ‘repent, or else’?” Even those faithful believers who have not caved to society might have asked, "What do you mean, ‘Be faithful to the point of death’? Who are you to tell us that?”
Those would be fair questions, and Revelation 1 seems to anticipate that kind of reaction from the first readers. So even before giving those stern warnings and messages about repenting and being faithful to the point of death, John starts his Apocalypse by establishing his credibility.
The author, like Moses, gets his message from someone else. In Moses’ case, he was simply the mouthpiece for the Almighty God. In John’s case, he is simply the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. After all, it is “The revelation of Jesus Christ,” who “made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw.” If Moses’ answer to Pharaoh and the Israelites was, “My message is from God,” John’s answer to those anticipated questions would have been, “My message is from Jesus.” Then, in powerful terms, the rest of Revelation 1 reminds the readers just who this Jesus is.
One cannot read Revelation 1 without coming to the obvious conclusion that “Jesus Equals God”. Many of the ways in which Jesus is described in Revelation 1 are identical to how God was described in the Old Testament, and many of the things Jesus says about himself are exactly what God said about himself. In 1.10, John heard “a loud voice like a trumpet.” On Mount Sinai, just before giving the 10 Commandments, God’s own voice is described as a trumpet blast, God speaking to Moses in the thunder (Exodus 19.16-21). As John turns to see what voice was speaking to him, he sees “one like a son of man” in the midst of 7 lampstands. The images of this “son of man” in Revelation 1.13-16 are taken directly from Daniel 7 and 10, where Daniel describes a Divine figure who visits him in a vision. Specifically, Jesus:
- is dressed in a robe with a sash (Dan. 10.5, something a king would wear)
- has hair and a head of white (Dan. 7.9; a metaphor for one having wisdom)
- has eyes like blazing fire (Dan. 10.5; a metaphor for divine judgment; he is aware of their spiritual condition, and able to make accurate, just judgments)
- has feet like bronze, glowing in a furnace (Dan. 10.6; a metaphor for moral purity - in essence, he has “put his feet to the fire” and has been proved blameless)
- has a voice like rushing waters (Dan.10.6; his voice commands the attention of those listening)
- has a face shining like the Sun (Dan.10.6; see Judges 5.31, where a divine warrior is depicted as having a shining face: Jesus is a divine victorious warrior)
In addition, he also had a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth, an image derived from Isaiah 11.4 and 49.2. If having flaming eyes gives God the ability to make just judgments, having a sword come out of his mouth gives him the ability to execute those judgments fairly. Furthermore, in Revelation 1.17-18, what Jesus says about himself is what God says about himself in the Old Testament. Jesus:
- is the First and the Last (from Isaiah 41.4; 44.6; 48.12)
- is the Living One, who was dead but now lives forever and ever (Deut. 32.40 - “As I live forever” is something God says)
- holds the key to Death and Hades (probably from Isaiah 22.22, where a Divine Messianic figure is promised the keys to the house of David; what he shuts no one can open and what he opens no one can shut)
A person reading Revelation 1 cannot escape the fact that Jesus is God. But far more than standing as a proof-text against those who want to strip Jesus of his divinity, the association of Jesus with God gives the message that follows some credibility. Suppose someone did ask John, “Who do you think you are, coming at us with these threats and warnings?” or “By what authority do you come at us, telling us to ‘repent or else’?” The answers would be, “I think I’m simply the mouthpiece of Jesus and my authority comes from him, who is the same God of the Old Testament.”
Yet there is even more credibility to his message. The author is preparing the reader to be willing to face imminent persecution and certain death for doing the right thing: for refusing to compromise to the sinful society; for refusing to deny Christ and say, “Caesar is Lord!” But the persecuting Romans are not threatening to do to the readers what they have not already done to John himself. His own personal introduction in 1.9 states that he is their, “brother and Companion In The Suffering and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus.” When he got the message, John “was on the island of Patmos Because Of The Word Of God and the Testimony Of Jesus.” In other words, John himself is being persecuted by the same Roman government that is threatening to persecute his readers.
But there is even MORE credibility to be had. This Jesus, who has just been unquestionably identified as the Almighty God Himself, also suffered and died at the hands of this same Roman Government! It is as if John introduces his Apocalypse by saying, “They aren’t doing anything to you they haven’t already done to me, and they aren’t doing to you anything they haven’t already done to Jesus Christ, And Yet He Is Alive! Don’t you think that same hope of life awaits you if you overcome?”
Life at many levels can be terrifyingly uncertain. This is especially so when your government is hostile and intolerant towards your faith and refusal to conform to pressures from society. If there is any comfort to be had, it is that they cannot do to us anything they haven’t already done to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If there is any hope to be had, it is that despite having been killed, nevertheless Jesus lives, and gives that promise of life to those who also overcome.
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life!
This message has credibility, because the one making the promise is none other than the Divine Messiah, Jesus Christ who suffered the same fate and yet overcame!
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