THE DIVINE MESSENGER

And I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me; and, when I had turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and, in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.

— Revelation 1:12—13

WE now begin on the first of John’s visions; and we shall see that he is so familiar with Scripture that element after element in the picture has an Old Testament background and counterpart.
He says that he turned to see the voice. We would say: ‘I turned to see whose voice it was that was speaking to me.’
When he turned, he saw seven golden lampstands. John does not only allude to the Old Testament; he takes items from many places in it, and out of them he forms a composite picture. The picture of the seven golden lampstands has three sources.
(1) It comes from the picture of the candlestick of pure gold in the tabernacle. It was to have six branches, three on one side and three on the other, and seven lamps to give light (Exodus 25:31—7).
(2) It comes from the picture of Solomon’s Temple. In it, there were to be five candlesticks of pure gold on the right hand and five on the left (1 Kings 7:49).
(3) It comes from the vision of Zechariah. Zechariah saw ‘a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it’ (Zechariah 4:2).
When John sees a vision, he sees it in terms of scenes from the Old Testament places and occasions when God had already revealed himself to his people. Surely there is a lesson here. The best way to prepare oneself for new revelation of truth is to study the revelation which God has already given.
In the midst of the lampstands, he saw one like a son of man. Here, we are back to the picture of Daniel 7:13, in which the kingdom and the power and the dominion are given by the Ancient One to one like a son of man. As we well know from Jesus’ use of it, Son of Man became nothing less than the title of the Messiah; and, by using it here, John makes it plain that the revelation which he is to receive is coming from Jesus Christ himself.
This figure was clothed with a robe which reached down to his feet, and he was girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. Here again we have three pictures.
(1) The word which describes the robe is podÄ“rÄ“s, reaching down to the feet. This is the word which the Greek Old Testament uses to describe the robe of the high priest (Exodus 28:4, 29:5; Leviticus 16:4). The Jewish historian Josephus also describes carefully the garments which the priests and the high priest wore when they were serving in the Temple. They wore ‘a long robe reaching to the feet’, and, around the breast, ‘higher than the elbows’, they wore a girdle which was loosely wound round and round the body. The girdle was embroidered with colours and flowers, with a mixture of gold interwoven (The Antiquities of the Jews, 3:7:2, 4). All this means that the description of the robe and the girdle of the glorified Christ is almost exactly that of the clothes of the priests and of the high priest. Here, then, is the symbol of the high priestly character of the work of the risen Lord. A priest, as the Jews saw it, was a man who himself has access to God and who opens the way for others to come to him; even in the heavenly places, Jesus, the great high priest, is still carrying on his priestly work, opening the way for all to the presence of God.
(2) But other people besides priests wore the long robe reaching to the feet and the high girdle. It was the dress of great ones, of princes and of kings. Podērēs is the description of the robe of Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:4), of Saul (1 Samuel 24:5, 24:11) and of the princes of the sea (Ezekiel 26:16). The robe the risen Christ was wearing was the robe of royalty. He was no longer a criminal on a cross; he was dressed like a king.
Christ is Priest and Christ is King.
(3) There is still another part of this picture. In the vision of Daniel, the divine figure who came to tell him the truth of God was clothed in fine linen (the Greek Old Testament calls his garment podērēs) and with a belt of fine gold (Daniel 10:5). This, then, is the form of dress of the messenger of God. So this presents Jesus Christ as the supreme messenger of God.
Here is a tremendous picture. When we trace the origins of the thought of John, we see that by the very form of dress of the risen Lord he is showing him to us in his threefold eternal office of Prophet, Priest and King, the one who brings the truth of God, the one who enables others to enter into the presence of God and the one to whom God has given the power and dominion forever.

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 51—54). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

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