As we proceed through the first chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, seeking Christmas Truths in a passage not normally associated with Christmas, we discover a detailed description of Jesus:
“When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.”(Revelation 1:12 NLT)
The first thing to note here is the solemn reaction of John, one of Jesus’ closest friends: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.” (Revelation 1:17a NLT). We must also note that John doesn’t even dare call Jesus by name. Rather, he refers to Him as, “…someone like the Son of Man.” Now I don’t know about you, but if I were reunited with a dear friend, Kathy, of over 40 years, my greeting might have been something like, “Kathy! Oh my! It’s soooo good to see you!” and I might have then given Kathy a huge hug. But not John. He falls at Jesus feet.
Why would he do this?
Because he recognized Jesus for Who is truly is: King of the universe. John was humbled to even be in the presence of such a great King, and in reference, he fell at Jesus’ feet!
What does this have to do with Christmas?
Just this: When we think of Jesus, the tiny baby whose birth we celebrate this month, do we even think of the fact that He is a baby … king? When we say, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!”, are we recognizing in our minds that Jesus is our King? That He paid the highest of prices to redeem us to Himself? That He is not only the King of the universe, but that He will soon usher in His perfect Kingdom on Earth? That there will soon be an end to the harsh existence on this sinful planet? I’m afraid that these thoughts don’t really cross my mind. In fact, I wonder if our passing thoughts as we rush around cooking dinner, decorating our homes and buying Christmas gifts, do Him justice at all! What if this year were different? Instead of trying to remember that it is a birthday we are celebrating as we rush about getting ready for the holidays, what if we were to follow John’s example and fall at Jesus’ feet? What if we were to spend time contemplating that King Who loved us so much that He gave up His Heavenly home to come to this Earth?
As we continue to make our way through this verse, the next thing of note is that Jesus is standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands.
In order to understand the relevance of this, we must first realize what those lampstands signify; and to know this, we need go no further than seven verses later. Here we see that Jesus tells us Himself that those lampstands are: “…the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20a NLT). This little description, showing that Jesus is standing in the middle of the lampstands, reinforces in our hearts the Truth that Jesus is the head of the church! Jesus walks among the churches because they are His! And the fact that He is “walking” among those lampstands helps us to understand that Jesus knows what is going on in the church. He truly knows what is going on in the hearts of each of us.
So what does this have to do with Christmas?
When Jesus came to this earth, He set up His church, what we now call the “Christian church”, or the “bride of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). That means that the baby whose birth we celebrate is our … celestial Husband! I don’t know about you, but that changes how I look at the baby in the manger! It entices within me the desire to stop in my tracks, put all the Christmas preparations aside and attempt to spend time truly honouring the Christ Child who is, in essence, my celestial Husband, and who is the head of the Christian church!
In His Love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart,
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire “Christmas Revelations” mini-series, click here)
