Focus on Jesus • Devotion 5

Inspection!
Joanna Montgomery

I remember going to youth camp. Each morning, we would tidy up our bunk area. During breakfast, an inspection of the cabins was done, and at morning chapel, one cabin was declared the winner and received a reward. I was not fond of cleaning up, but when my cabin won, I loved the reward. Inspection and correction are part of our spiritual walk. In Revelation, John shows Christ in all of His glory, inspecting His church.

Revelation 1:12-16 says, “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 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.”

John hears a voice, turns, and sees Christ clothed in perfect glory with a golden sash around His chest, walking among seven golden lampstands. In John’s day, most people wore the belt around their waist, but Josephus (a scholar from the time of Christ) writes that Jewish priests wore a sash around their chest. The chest represents power, but the word for chest used here also represents the nurturing love a mother has for her child. Christ is a powerful high priest judging with love and understanding.

Christ is faultless and perfect in pure white with the sash indicating He’s our high priest. His white hair shows eternal existence, “The Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9), the One who always exists. His eyes like a flame of fire have penetrating insight and knowledge, and He knows everything about us. His feet like bronze represent the judgment He took when He died for our sins on the cross, and represent the bronze altar for sacrifice at the tabernacle.

His voice like the roar of many waters has the power to speak the universe into existence and will one day raise His own from the grave. The seven stars held in His right hand show He controls the universe; and from His mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God judges by His Word. Back to our passage, John said, “His face was like the sun shining in full strength.” I cannot stare directly into the sun, and the glory of Christ is even brighter.

John saw Christ inspecting the lampstands, His church. The tabernacle had one solid gold lampstand with three branches on each side of the main stem. The top of each stem was fashioned into an open almond blossom where oil lamps sat. The oil lamps represent the Holy Spirit. Only the high priest took care of the lampstand. He lit the lamps, poured in oil, and trimmed wicks. If a lamp began to smoke and did not give a good light, he would snuff it out. Christ is inspecting the lampstands (His church). He trims the wicks, pours in the oil (the Holy Spirit), and sometimes uses a snuffer. Any believer misrepresenting Christ or hurting the mission of the church can be set aside. We do not lose our salvation, but we can be removed from use until we repent. Christ is inspecting His church and wants them to produce light.

As believers, we are responsible only to Christ. He paid the price for our sin, but He wants our hearts. He will inspect us, and one day will reward us for things we did to help further His Kingdom and help others find salvation through Him.