Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. This is study #39 of Revelation, chapter 1, and we will be reading from Revelation 1:13-15:

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

I will stop reading there. We have been looking at verse 13 in our previous studies, and we saw how the Lord Jesus was the "one like unto the Son of man," who was "in the midst of the seven candlesticks." This teaches us that Christ was in the midst of the churches and congregations, and since He was there throughout the period of the church age, that was where God's people were to be found.

We sometimes hear of an individual who says, "Well, I was out of the church even before the end of the church age." There is nothing admirable about that. That would be going contrary to God's purpose; during the church age the people of God were to go to church. The Lord Jesus Christ was in the midst of the congregations, so we attempted to find a faithful church, a faithful congregation, and we were obligated by the word of God to go, if possible, to meet with other believers and, more than that, to meet with Christ who was in that place. Spiritually, the Holy Spirit was still there, and that was where the Lord would have us to go, but only until the end of the church age---until God opened up that information and revealed it to His people.

At that time, we were shown that the Holy Spirit came "out of the midst," and He left the congregations, and God commanded that His people follow; we always follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ was in the church, then we wanted to be in the church. If the Lord Jesus Christ has left the church, then we will leave the church. We are sheep that follow the Good Shepherd. He is the one that directs our course and guides us, and that is why we left the church.

You know, there are some very independent-minded people that left the congregations because they do not like being under authority. They did not want to be under the authority of the pastor or the church leadership, and they heard about the end of the church age, and that worked out just fine for them. They enjoyed being outside of the church, in order to be free of church authority. They did not have anyone telling them what to do, or what rules they had to follow, or what doctrines they needed to adhere to. Of course, if it were a proper church, they should have been teaching doctrines that were in line with the Bible. But certain individuals are proud and independent-minded, and, so, the news of the end of the church age suited them well, and they got out of the congregations and, yet, perhaps, for many of the wrong reasons.

God's people are not outside of the church because they are independent-minded or because they do not like being under authority---if God has placed authority over us, so be it. If the Lord has placed authority over us in the government, we obey the authority placed over us. If the Lord placed authority over us in the churches, giving spiritual authority to the elders and the deacons, then we followed their authority, according to the word of the Lord.

We did not come out of the church to escape authority, to escape being subject to what others would teach, or so forth. We came out of the church only in obedience to the word of God, and to God's command to flee the churches and congregations; and that is why the Lord's people continue to remain outside of the churches and congregations. We are obligated and duty bound by the word of God to remain outside of the church. That command of God will never be rescinded. The church age is over. It is a finality. There is no returning to it, and that is where we are today.

But, here, it says, is the Son of man in the "midst of the seven candlesticks," and then it goes on to say in Revelation 1:13, "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." John, when he turned, saw one "like unto the Son of man," and this is what He looked like: He was "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."

Why is God giving us this particular language? First of all, when we read the Greek, there has to be a minor correction made here in the language of "clothed with a garment down to the foot." The word "clothed with a garment" is a translation of one Greek word, and that word should be translated, "having been clothed," and that would be more correct. The Greek is letting us know that there has been a *prior action* with the clothing, "having been clothed with a garment down to the foot." And, why? Because Jesus Christ is the great High Priest of His people, and these garments, we will see, are related to priestly garments.

And when did Jesus perform His High Priestly duties? The Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus was "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world," and since that is the point when He offered up Himself and died for the sins of His people, He was also the High Priest and offered up Himself, and, likewise, that would have taken place at the foundation of the world; that is when He would have put on His priestly garments.

We are going to look at Exodus 28 and look at a few verses, to get a feel for this. In Exodus 28:2-5:

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.

Here, the priest had special garments made for him, for Aaron and his sons, and they were to wear these garments when performing their priestly duties, when going about the ministry of the tabernacle, and later, the ministry of the temple (when that would be built).

And Christ is attired in His priestly garments, and it says in Exodus 29:9:

And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

The priestly garments had a girdle about them, just as the "one like unto the Son of man", in our verse in Revelation, is clothed with a garment and "girded about the paps with a golden girdle."

We also find in Leviticus 8:7:

And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith.

Many times where we find the word *girdle*, we are going to find a priest is in view, or someone who is performing priestly duties is in view. Let us go to one more passage in Isaiah 11:1-5:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of JEHOVAH shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of JEHOVAH; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of JEHOVAH: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

This is describing Christ. He is the one who is "out of the stem of Jesse," and the one who is being spoken of here in Isaiah, that "righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins."

Actually, when we looked up "clothed" in the Bible, we find that it is often identified with *righteousness*, and, yet, that *righteousness* often is speaking of the righteousness given to the children of God, to the bride, in Revelation 19, or to the elect who are "clothed with fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints," as it says there. That *righteousness* comes as a result of the work of the Lord Jesus on the behalf of the elect, as He paid the penalty for our sins in that glorious act of His before the world began, as He was the Lamb slain, and suffered and died for the sins of His people. In so doing, by the "obedience of one...," Romans 5:19 tells us, "...shall many be made righteous."

But, of course, Christ Himself had to be righteous, perfectly righteous in Himself---in His Being, in His essence---in order to be the pure Lamb of God to take the sins of the world, the sins of His people. He could not be with "spot or blemish" of any kind. He had to be sinless, perfect, and without error or transgression. So His garments are pure garments, and His *girdle* is a "girdle of righteousness," and it is all righteousness which belongs to Him. It is not imputed to Him. It is not granted to Him based on the work of another. It is the righteousness that is Christ, and His Being, in itself, is righteousness. All of this is identified with these garments He is wearing, as He is seen by the Apostle John, in our verse here in Revelation 1.

But, let us continue in Revelation 1:14:

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Now the first thing we want to look at here is the description of the Son of man, whom we are certain is Christ. "His head and his hairs were white like wool." God is linking together the head and hairs of Christ with a whiteness like wool, and why is He doing that? Well, we have already mentioned that Jesus is the Lamb of God, and that is the figure that God uses to describe Him. He is the sacrificial Lamb of God, the offering on behalf of His people. Wool comes from lambs. We read in 2Kings 3:4:

And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.

Of course, the wool would come from the animals---the lambs and the rams---as they were sheared, and the wool would be gathered, and it is very white. That picture is relating Christ to the Lamb of God and, since it was white like wool, God is letting us know that the Lord Jesus was a pure sacrifice, no sin of any kind within Him. He was the totally perfect, spotless Lamb of God and, therefore, qualified to offer Himself in order to take away the sins of His chosen people.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 1:14:

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow...

And, again, God is driving this point home. He does not want us to miss it---the glorious holiness and purity of Christ. We really do not understand that because we live in such a sinful world, and we ourselves are such sinners. We have often failed God. We have often transgressed His law. With us, if we transgress in minor things, we think we are doing well. With man, it is the idea of just not transgressing in the major things that makes one a good man. If you transgress in a minor thing, (we think) "Oh, well, everyone does that. We all tell white lies. We all do these little things that are not right, but as long as we are not a murderer or a thief, or something really bad, we are basically good people."

You see, that is the low, low, low standard of man that they hold themselves (and one another) up to. That is not the perfect, absolute standard of God's perfect law. God commands, by the way, each one of us: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I think that is in Matthew 5:48. That is the standard that God has set because that is how He lives---perfectly. He has perfect righteousness, perfect obedience, and perfect adherence to all of the commandments of His word. He upholds them and walks according to them, and this is what the Lord Jesus Christ did perfectly from everlasting past, as He is and has been God, without sin.

Even when He entered intot he human race, there was no sin or transgression of any kind---not in the least bit---even of what men would consider to be the lesser aspects of the law. Of course, God makes no such difference between laws in that way. The law is the law, and it must be kept and upheld perfectly. The Bible says if you offend in one point, you are guilty of all, and Jesus did not offend, even in one point, and therefore He has this perfect obedience, perfect righteousness. He is "white as snow."

Now, when He was laden with the sins of His people, then He had to make payment for them, so it is good of God to reveal to us that payment was made, also in a perfect way, in order that those sins might be purged from Him, and the law of God's demands completely satisfied---no sin that Christ took upon Himself for any of His children remains---not the least bit of any sin. All the necessary payment has been made for all of the sins of all of the great number of souls that Christ did save.

We read in Mark 9:2-3:

And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

And there is the purity, the sinless perfection, of the Lord Jesus Christ, as only our human language can describe. You cannot get a more accurate description, or fuller description, using the words of our language to describe someone who is holy in His very being---righteous and just and pure, and without sin---than that picture. So God uses the language "as white as snow" here, also, in Revelation 1:14 to describe the "one like unto the Son of man," as John looked upon Him.

Now this also reminds us of what we read in the Book of Daniel, as the prophet Daniel was given a vision, just as John was given a vision in our passage. And, yet, Daniel's vision was six hundred (or so) years earlier, but it is pretty much the same vision because it is the same God, who is "the same yesterday, today and for ever." He changes not. It says in Daniel 7:9:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

And it continues...and it really is an interesting passage, but we are limited in our time, so we are going to just focus on verses 9 and 10 where "the Ancient of days did sit," and this is a description of the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of God. Here is the "Ancient of days," since God is from everlasting and He is eternal in His being; He has no beginning point, and He has always been, and, so, we can see why He would take the title or name of "Ancient of days."

This is, likewise, describing Christ because the "Ancient of days" has a "garment white as snow" and "the hair of his head like the pure wool." And, just think of our verse in Revelation 1:14 concerning the Son of man, who had a garment down to the foot and the girdle of gold about His paps, and His head was described as wool, white as snow. It is a matching description, and this is another proof text (of just numerous proof texts in the Bible) that show clearly that Christ is the eternal God of the Bible, JEHOVAH. He is the Ancient of Days, the Judge of all men, and, here, He is seated upon His throne of judgment.

One thing this gives some evidence to a matter we discussed earlier---if you remember earlier in our study in Revelation, when we saw that John was on the island of Patmos on the Lord's day---and we were discussing whether this means "Sunday, the Sabbath," or is this referring to the "day of the Lord," judgment day? And since the description that we are reading of the Son of man matches the description of Christ upon His judgment throne, then that does add a little more evidence that the Book of Revelation itself may be set, or cast, in the setting of judgment day; that is, God is giving the Apostle John this divine revelation from Himself in the setting of judgment day, which would mean the entire Book of Revelation is set in the "day of the Lord."

That may, in turn, also relate to information we have been reading about God who speaks of the "day of wrath and the righteous revelation of the judgment of God," that is, it is God's plan to reveal more truth that was sealed up, and to reveal further information in the day of judgment itself, which we have entered into.

We will continue to keep that in mind, as we go along. But, here, we see just how glorious a Person the Lord Jesus Christ is, and how infinitely holy He is, as the Bible describes Him with this type of language.