Hello everybody and welcome in to episode #333 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Revelation 1 today and our focus is on What Does Jesus Look Like in Heaven? + What Has Jesus Done For Us and What Will His Return Look Like?   We are a daily 10ish minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in .  Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\

Revelation is a fascinating and mind-bending book of the Bible. Highly debated, difficult to understand, but it contains some of the most encouraging passages in the entire Bible, including a very dense and wonderful summary of what Jesus has done for us and what His Second Coming will look like in just a couple of  verses:

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1:5-7 

What do we learn in these three short verses? Several important things:

  1. Jesus loves us.  – He has expressed that love by coming to the Earth to be born in weakness, and suffering torture at the hands of the Romans and Jews, death on the cross, and the punishment that was due all of us for our sins.
  2. By His blood that was poured out for many, He has FREED us from the penalty of our sins. As Isaiah says, “the punishment that brought us peace [and freedom!] was placed on His head.
  3. He has made us into a Kingdom – we are part of His wonderful Kingdom. Not merely as peasants, though that would be good enough – but also as co-heirs of God the Father, the ultimate King of Kings.
  4. He has made us priests – not just a select few, chosen by their blood-lineage, but all who are in Christ have been made priests. No Christian is a pew-sitter, or a worthless cog in a big machine of people. All followers of Jesus are set up apart and called as priests – ministers to the world with a mission to bring lost humans into relationship with the teachings, love and Person of God the Father and His Son Jesus.

What will His coming be like? Well – apparently it won’t be a “severe clear” day, as the weathermen say of blue sky days with no clouds. His return will be accompanied by clouds of some sort. Somehow, someway – every eye on the Earth will be able to see His return. Will this be through technology like the internet – some sort of livestream? Such a thing is quite possible now what would not have been possible less than 100 years ago. It is also possible that His return will essentially circle the Earth so that all of mankind will be able to look into the sky and see He and His entourage approaching. What will the reaction of the people be? Some will rejoice, certainly, but according to our passage today – ALL tribes of the Earth will wail on account of Him. The return of Jesus and the Day of the Lord will be great for some – those saved by grace through faith -and will be terrible for others – those who have rejected the grace and mercy of the Son of God. They will see His return and immediately and intrinsically know His Kingship, and they will wail and mourn. As a pastor, I have really learned to appreciate these short Bible passages that are packed with so much truth!

Second topic: What does Jesus look like NOW – in Heaven? What does the resurrected and ascended Jesus look like – does He still look human? Apparently not, according to John’s vision in Revelation:

12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. 14 The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. 16 He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 1:12-17

To my knowledge, this is the most descriptive depiction of Jesus in the entire Bible, and it is likely, I believe, that this description is of the resurrected/heavenly Jesus in much of His glory. Revelation 19:11-16 also gives us a description of the current and Heavenly appearance of Jesus:

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Revelation 19:11-16

And finally, there is one one other small description of the Heavenly Jesus from Revelation 2:

18 “Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze:

Revelation 2:18

So, putting it all together – what does Jesus look like in Heaven now? I am quite sure that words fail to fully describe His glory and radiance, but at least we know from these passages that His eyes are like fiery flames, His hair is like snow-white wool, and His feet (perhaps his entire skin-tone?) appears to be like gleaming fire-polished bronze. His face is radiant like lightning or the sun at full strength. His appearance is utterly overwhelming and powerful, and it literally makes John faint like a dead-man with one look. All hail Jesus the magnificent Lord with fiery eyes, snow-white hair, gleaming body and lightning-faced. If we saw Him now in His full appearance, I am quite sure we would do exactly the same thing that John did – fall down at His feet like we were dead. Hall, hail the lamb who was slain and the King of Kings!

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Bible Memory passage for the month of November:  John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The Bible 2021 Podcast Is a ministry of Valley Baptist Church A Baptist Church in Salinas, California.

Happy by Mike Leite https://soundcloud.com/mikeleite
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