“His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.” — Revelation 1:16b
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John sees Jesus in all of His glory. What a moment it must have been for this faithful disciple who now found himself exiled and imprisoned. John’s description of what he saw is filled with as much symbolism as it is with wonder. In examining this vision thoroughly, there are countless things that stand out to me, but one thing shines more intensely than all else. And that is the description of the very face of Christ. His countenance, John tells us, was shining as bright as the sun in its full strength! So bright that it would have diminished and transcended everything else.
As John saw Jesus’ face, I would imagine that he wasn’t overly concerned with the magnificent robe, or the brass feet, or even the stars in the Lord’s hands. I think all else faded away as John stared at and beheld the glory, the splendor, the majesty of the Lord! There is also one more thing that I think was overshadowed as John saw Jesus’ face clearly: Patmos. Patmos was the island that John was exiled to for the sake of the Gospel. It would have represented everything that was bad in John’s life. It was a place of persecution, rejection, injustice and abandonment. The reality is, that as John saw Jesus in all of His brilliance, in all of His strength, Patmos and everything it signified got smaller, possibly even disappeared.
What’s your Patmos? What represents all the bad in your life? Are you complaining to God about it? John easily could have. How natural it would have been for John to play the victim’s card to the Lord. None of us would have thought any less of him for it. His problems were real and they were extreme. They were of the caliber that none of us will ever see. He didn’t look closely at his very legit and very difficult problems (looking too closely at and scrutinizing our issues is half of the problem), he looked closely upon Jesus’ face, he fell prostrate before Him and all of his problems were put in their appropriate place. Like John, may we also look intently into Jesus’ glorious countenance, fall in full reliance and submission to Him and put our own problems in their proper place.
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