I Fell at His Feet

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. But he put his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m the first and the last, 18 and the living one.
(Revelation Chap 1, CEB)

On Sunday mornings for our youth discipleship class we’ve begun a deep dive into the book of Revelation. This is indeed a challenging endeavor, but it is something our students were requesting and have an innate curiosity about. We are just getting started but right off the bat in the first chapter we encounter John’s description of the risen Jesus as he appears in his vision.

He wore a robe that stretched down to his feet, and he had a gold sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white as white wool—like snow—and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine brass that has been purified in a furnace, and his voice sounded like rushing water. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun shining with all its power.

I challenged our students to think of how they would represent this scene as a drawing on paper. Very quickly it became clear that a literal representation of this image would be challenging to draw. The language is poetic, almost like an impressionistic painting. NT Wright adds this about John’s description, “It appeals not to logic, but to the imagination—which has been starved rotten in some parts of our culture, and over-stimulated in others. Now we are being asked to imagine: what would it look like if the curtain between heaven and earth were suddenly pulled up, revealing the Jesus who had been there all along but whom we had managed either to ignore or to cut down to our own size?”

This is a challenging thought. The Jesus we encounter in Revelation is other worldly, he doesn’t easily fit in our human categories. So often we depict Jesus in the category of “friend” or “brother,” if we’re not careful I fear we can lose sight of his divinity. Here John’s vision draws our attention to Jesus full identity as the incarnate Lord. A being who glows like the sun and whose voice sounds like rushing water.

Yet, in the midst of this vision Jesus calls out to John and declares, “Don’t be afraid. I’m the first and the last, and the living one.” I find hope in this reality. It is the hope of the power of the resurrected Jesus. A power that is unfathomable, hard to even imagine, hard to put in words. It is a power that has defeated death; and at the same time is the power working to set the world right. In this power, Jesus reaches out to John, and calls on him to write about the experience.

John’s automatic response to this encounter is to drop to Jesus’ feet and worship. I think if you or I were privileged to share in John’s experience, this would be our experience as well. In the presence of the God of the universe in the flesh, we too would bow in worship.

Here is the question I’m left with, Is the picture of Jesus I’ve imagined in my mind too human? Do I forget that this man who shared life with the disciples, and died a human death on a cross, was simultaneously God in the flesh? He was both the Son of Man and the Son of God.

Will you pray with me?

God help me to embrace this bold picture of you that John paints with words. Remind me that even though you call us not to fear you, you are divine. Forgive me when I make you my own size, when I imagine you too comfortably, forgetting you are all powerful and truly are the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Help us to fathom your power and greatness, while also embracing your grace and humility. We pray this in the name of the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is, and was, and is coming, the Almighty. Amen.

-Pastor Shawn