Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;
4 sermons cite this verse
… to Ephesus and to Smyrna, to Pergamon and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in full strength. And when I saw him, I felt his feet as though I were dead. But then he laid his right hand on me saying, fear not. I am the first and the last. I'm the living one. …
… And this is what he sees. I turned, verse 12, to see the voice that was speaking with me. And it was, of course, the Lord. This is the Lord speaking to John, and He's going to tell him what he's doing in the church in spite of what it looks like. I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. The setting is the lampstands. Those would be oil lamps. There would be seven of them, representing the seven churches. And the seven churches, because seven is the number of completion, represent the church in full. So what he sees here is seven golden lampstands, golden because the church is valuable, lampstands because the church is the light of the gospel shining in the world. And so the vision is of the churches as lampstands. And in the middle of these lampstands, verse 13, I saw one like a son of man. Now that has to be Christ. The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches. …
… to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys to death and hate. …
… in a kind of symbolic way. Every eye will see him. The conservative churches have said, yes, we take this as a real historic, actual future event. But the conservative churches have tended to obsess on when will it be? What year will it be? What will the signs be? So that we can predict his coming. Now, not only did Jesus repeatedly say, no one knows the day or the hour, Nobody knows when that's going to be. In fact, Jesus, when he was on earth, said even he didn't at the time know when it would be. But to even try to guess shows that you don't understand how this doctrine is supposed to really shape our lives. So what is this doctrine? Well, take a look here. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him, so may it be. Amen. Now, all Bible scholars over the years have said that the book of Revelation, more than any other New Testament book, draws on Old Testament imagery. …