END OF TIME PROPHECIES 016

"I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; and what thou seest write in a book a send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia."                              Revelation 1v10-11

We come now to the details of the vision by John of the ascended, glorified Christ.   This vision is something no one had ever seen.   There were glimpses of it on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew chapter 17)  but nothing to compare with the awesome glory which is now before us.   This vision parallels with that given to Ezekiel in chapter one but goes further than that by identifying the Person so glorified.   The place of the vision was the barren rocky island of Patmos, a bleak place, a largely uninhabited place and a place surrounded by waters, so it was entirely conducive to receiving the vision that follows.   The timing of the vision is said to be on the Lord's Day.   Some interpret this as a Sunday being the day of commemoration of the Lord's death, but there seems to be no other indication in the New Testament of such a day.   Paul said in Romans 14v5  "one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike.   Let every man be persuaded in his own mind."   For me this would discount such an interpretation.   It is not so much the commemoration of His death and resurrection that is in view here, it is the day of the revelation of the ascension glory of Christ, a day never to be forgotten, a notable day, the day of the Lord, the day when the Lord asserts His control, and the power of this will come out during the exposition. This is indeed a notable day for all God's people, when finally they realise just who He is.   It was a spiritual vision  "I became in the Spirit."   The teaching of the New Testament is that the Holy Spirit is always with His people, but there are times when He would especially move them and reveal to them the things of God.   This is what is happening here.   The details of the vision are numerous and each one should take up our attention.   In verses 10 - 18 John speaks of his whole body covering; he speaks of His breasts; he speaks of His head and his hairs; he speaks of His eyes; he speaks of His feet; he speaks of His voice; he speaks of His right hand; he speaks of His mouth; and he speaks of His countenance.   We anticipate now John's reaction to this vision  "when I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead "  verse 17.   This is the same John who was closest to Jesus of all the disciples and who was on daily speaking terms with Him, but he had never anticipated anything like this and his reaction tells all.   We are immediately confronted with the awesome glory in all its detail of the person of Christ who once died for us on a Roman cross.   The fact that He is seen by John in that character as walking in the midst of the seven churches should bring before every gathered believer a sense of awe when we come into His presence.   It is perhaps true to say that such a sense of awe has disappeared from our churches and we need to recover it.   In some ways we have become besotted with the fact that He has died for our sins and we have quite forgotten just who He is.  

"I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet."   verse 10.   When God of old would bring about any announcement or demand any movement or suggest any action it was always by means of  trumpets.   The details of this can be found in Numbers chapter 10.   Other portions are Exodus 19, Exodus 20, Joshua 6, Judges 3,6 & 7.   Two silver trumpets were sounded in the camp of Israel and the number of trumpets sounded, the length or shortness of the blast, and the low or high sound of the blast, would give very well known instructions to the people of Israel.   These were used for the gathering of the leaders, for the gathering of the congregation, for the moving of the camp, for the call to war and for rejoicing on the feast days.   The sound of the trumpet was meaningful to Israel and should be meaningful to us today as we are called to attention to the vision before us.   This was no trivial matter and called for urgent, swift and immediate action.   This was a communication of great importance.  The action called for here was for John to stop everything he was doing; to write what he saw in a book; and to send it promptly to the seven churches of Asia.   The clarion call of the trumpet demanded immediate action. 

The essence of the book of Revelation is that God is about to become directly involved in the affairs of earth, and this will inevitably mean judgement because of sin.   God always gives warning to His people of impending judgement and this is what He is doing here.   This Divine communication is not now so much of a Saviour God coming to forgive peoples' sins but of God as the Judge of the whole earth to punish those who have rejected His grace.  

The presentation of Jesus Christ in the vision, as we shall see, is one of the Judge, just as the scriptures reveal  " The Father ....... hath committed all judgment unto the Son ."   John 5v22    Again in Acts 17v31   "God......hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained."    What we have here is a vision of the Man by whom God will judge the entire world."