Revelation 1:10

“On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet… I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me…  And when I turned I saw… someone “like a son of man.”

It was Sunday, the believers’ Lord’s day. It was the day after the Jewish Sabbath. John was, as he wrote, “In the Spirit,” probably praying for the seven churches for which he was responsible – no doubt looking north – across the great sea, where the churches were, in Central Turkey.  While “in the Spirit” he heard a commanding voice behind him.  Turning from the object of his love and prayers, the precious churches, he heard the loud voice behind him. Amazing. I assume he had not heard that voice for sixty or more years, yet it had a familiar ring to it. The voice ceased but as John turned in the direction of the voice, he saw wonderful, amazing, heart-warming things that we shall now brood upon.

I am learning, when perplexed, not to expend my energy on studying the problem, rather looking unto the “someone” who is walking among the problem; it is Jesus!  Only then can we find satisfaction for the soul, even if we fail to sort out the problem.

Back to John;  he saw a person, a “someone”, walking among the lamp stands. I remind myself that the Temple was, by then, rubble, destroyed by the Romans. forty or so years earlier.  The scene of priests among the lamps was but a memory. But it was a memory that God used to bless John.

We recall that in the temple, in the Holy Place, stood a large lamp stand with seven lamps. All were being tended by the priest on duty.  John was drawn to concentrate on the “someone” and not necessarily on the lamps. It was that person’s responsibility to trim the lamps and replenish them with pure olive oil.

John saw that in this vision the lamps still burned, each one of the seven.  And each did so because the “someone” kept them trimmed and fueled employing the cleansing scissors and the vessel of oil.

Did each lamp represent a living church in central Turkey? John probably thought that because that is what he saw, a faithful ‘someone” supplying all their need. If John made this connection, he must have responded with a “Thank you, Lord”

That “someone” was dressed in a robe that reached down to his feet. v 13  It was the robe of a priest. He was a man, a person, in God’s service, keeping the lamps of faith burning. That “someone” is in fact, Jesus Christ. As the priest was responsible to keep the lamps burning brightly so Jesus is diligently doing what he can to keep the light of the seven churches burning brightly. After all, in the Temple the seven lamps provided the only light for the Holy Place which had no windows to let in the light.  Without the burning lamps it was perfectly dark.

So, I see Jesus, moving among the lamps now. Right now, in my life. He examines my need – maybe cleansing, maybe filling, maybe just encouraging me to keep on burning. He has in his hands all I could ever need for ongoing cleansing and filling.  What need I more?

And he loves me with a focused love. He keeps me fresh, bright and strong.  Thus the lamps chase out the darkness!  May the seven churches keep bright, and all of us who believe keep burning, forever.