Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. This is study #44 of Revelation, chapter 1, and we going to be reading from Revelation 1:17:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Once again, as we are continuing to go verse by verse through this chapter of the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John is receiving a vision from God Himself. As he turned, after hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was given a glorious look into the Person of Jesus, and this is his reaction. This is the Apostle John, who was a true child of God (his sins were forgiven, and the Lord had saved him and paid for all of his sins), and when he turns, he sees the "one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle, and 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. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."

We all know the brilliant light that the earthly sun can put out. But, here, this is an image or picture of the brilliant spiritual light of Eternal God; the glory of God is shining toward John, and, so, in response (when he saw him), it says, "I fell at his feet as dead."

You know, the Bible tells us about God and His holiness, His purity, His sinless perfection, and the Bible tells us of His glory, His greatness, and of His almighty power; we read these things and, yet, there were men in the Bible who were given glimpses into the nature of God that go beyond words. Of course, the words that God has given us are glorious enough in themselves, and we are very thankful to Him, and we do not need to "see" these things. Yet, some men were given visions of the Lord, and all we can do is look at their response.

Let us do that, and let us turn to Isaiah, and this is one of the more commonly known reactions from a prophet of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah, who was also a true believer. This is not a reaction from a sinner who is in his sins, but of a true believer who has had his sins forgiven. Yet, at the same time, it is a true believer that remains in the flesh, in the physical body, and in the physical body there is still indwelling sin, and that, without any question, is part of the reason that these true believers react this way, and it says in Isaiah 6:1-5:

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is JEHOVAH of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, JEHOVAH of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

With this act by one of the seraphims (and this would be an act of God, as the seraphims are another picture of God Himself), they qualify Isaiah to stay in the presence of God to receive this particular vision. Yet, we see Isaiah's natural reaction when he sees this awesome God, this great "King of kings and Lord of Lords" seated upon His throne, and when He sees the holiness of God and the glory of God, all he can say is, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." And that is a normal reaction for the believer.

You know, Ezekiel was shown an image when he was by the river Chebar, and that image also was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of JEHOVAH. Let us just read toward the end of that chapter, after he had seen many of these things, and it says in Ezekiel 1:26-28:

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of JEHOVAH. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

And then the Lord told Ezekiel to stand upon his feet, and then he began to give him divine revelation from the mouth of God. But, again, we see the reaction, that the place of a man in the presence of God is face down; he fell upon his face. It is the cry, "Woe is me! I am undone."

Remember the prophet Daniel, when he was given one of the many visions that God gave to him, and it says in Daniel 10:4-9:

And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.

Daniel, the most faithful of men! We only read of his wonderful obedience in the Bible, of his desire to pray to God, no matter what. He would even sacrifice his very life, rather than to deny God and refuse to pray. And this man, when he encountered the LORD of Hosts, when he came into the presence of the almighty God of the Bible, all that he saw within himself was---not a faithful, obedient child of God---but his "comeliness was turned in me into corruption," and he "retained no strength." He saw his sins, his failures, the ones the Bible does not record. He saw his tendency not to be perfect before God, or to obtain to that perfect standard of the glory of God. So he ends up on his face, as in a deep sleep, with his "face toward the ground," and that is a proper position for a sinner before the One we have sinned against, as we are in these bodies of flesh.

Of course, once God changes these bodies, and He gives us new resurrected bodies, and we enter into the glorious new heavens and new earth (where God will dwell with us, and we will be with Him forever more),then we will not have these types of reactions at being in His presence. But as long as we do have sin in us, as long as it resides in our earthly bodies, and we have to say we are sinners, then these kinds of reactions continued while God was writing the Bible. No one is meeting God in the way in which these prophets met him; we meet him today in the Scriptures, since the Bible was completed.

Let us continue here in Daniel 10:10-11:

And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

Then it says in Daniel 10:14-19:

Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.

By the mercy of God, we have an intimate relationship with Jesus. Each elect is as Daniel, "a man greatly beloved" in Christ and, yet, that does not change the holy nature of God, and our feebleness to stand before Him, unless He qualifies us to do so. This is also what the Apostle John was experiencing as he "fell at His feet as dead."

Let us go back to our verse in Revelation 1:17:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Now, here, John has fallen down at the feet of the "one like unto the Son of man," as dead. And the response is that Christ "laid his right hand upon me," and we discussed this just a little while ago, as we saw that in His right hand were seven stars, and we talked about the "right hand of God."

Let us just go to a verse to remind us quickly of what God has to say about his "right hand," in Psalm 17:7:

Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

Again, Jesus is the one at the "right hand" of God. We saw that with the verse in Romans 8:34, but it also says in Colossians 3:1:

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

This is why the Bible says in Psalm 16:11:

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The "right hand" of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He saveth by his "right hand" (by Christ), and through Him there is eternal life and "pleasures for evermore." So the picture in this mini-parable, as the Apostle John is on the island of Patmos and received a vision from God, and saw these things that cause him to fall on his face as though he were dead, is that due to his own sinfulness (as he was still in the flesh, although he was a child of God), there is a reaction from John that is a normal reaction because of the sins that we still possess in our physical bodies that lead to death. And, yet, the Lord Jesus touches him and laid His right hand upon him, and with that physical act of reaching out his "right hand" and laying it upon John, it points to salvation.

It is as though the Lord Jesus is saying, "Look, John, I have saved you, and I am qualifying you through the fact that I have taken all your sins upon me, and I have already given you a new resurrected soul and, shortly, I will give you a new resurrected body." All of this is being conveyed as Christ laid his "right hand" upon him; and even though it does not say that John rose up, or that he lived, or anything like that, the implication is that through this action of the "one like unto the Son of man" in laying his "right hand" upon him, he would no longer lay at His feet as dead.

Notice that Jesus goes on to say to John, "Fear not; I am the first and the last." Now that is exactly what we read that God said to Daniel: "Fear not, Daniel." This is a statement to encourage the true believer, a man like Daniel who was greatly beloved. "Fear not, Daniel, although you still have sin within you due to your physical body, yet, be assured that your sin has been forgiven---all sin that you have ever committed, in body or soul, has been forgiven; your past sins, your present sins, and any future sin, have been laid upon me, Eternal God the Messiah, so even though temporarily, at this time, you cannot stand of your own in my presence, yet I will qualify you to do so now. And know that there is a day coming when you will always be able to stand in the presence of God---when you have been given a new body, and along with your new soul, and you will become one whole personality---without sin of any kind within you." So that also was being relayed to the Apostle John, "Fear not, I am the first and the last."

Notice Revelation 1:18:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore...

Now we can see how that relates to the fact that John fell at His feet as one dead, and Christ lays His right hand upon him, the hand that points to salvation. It is as though Jesus is saying, "Look, John, though you be dead, you will live, because I was dead, and I lived, and I live for evermore, and so, too, will you live for evermore. You have been given eternal life, even though at present you are troubled by my presence, due to my perfect holiness."

Well, this phrase, "fear not," the Lord sometimes says to His people so that they do not fear the enemy, or they do not fear men. For instance, in Isaiah 41, God really stresses this in Isaiah 41:10:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

See that? Here, that "right hand" in view again. In this passage God is speaking to Jacob, or to the elect, to each child of God. This is how God is able to say, "Fear thou not," because He qualifies us through His own mercy and grace---He bestows salvation upon us---and He upholds us with the "right hand" of His righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.

It goes on to say in Isaiah 1:11-14:

Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, *even* them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I JEHOVAH thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith JEHOVAH, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

You see, "fear not," even in the presence of the Holy One of Israel, because He will help us. This is just the great and wonderful comfort that the Bible offers to the children of God; we do not have to fear anything. We do not have to fear any man, any spiritual force, any working of the world. We do not have to fear principalities and powers operating deceitfully in high places.

We do not have to fear even God, even because of our sins. We know that God sees all. We know that when we sin God is aware of it, that "all things are naked and open onto his eyes." Sometimes this troubles us and it causes us grief, and we are very sorrowful in His presence; it is really as though we have our faces to the ground; we are cast down in soul; we cannot look up to heaven. We are like the publican that beats his breast and says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"

We know we have sinned. We have offended God. We know that sins reside in our physical bodies and, yet, we desire it to be gone. We want to please God, and to be right with Him. We no longer want to sin in any part of our bodies or souls; we want that holiness that we see in the Person of God.

So God is speaking to His people, and in our present condition, when He says, "Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead and, behold, I am alive for evermore." Just as Christ was resurrected from the dead, so will we finally be delivered from the bondage of this death. Each true believer---each one whose name was recorded in the Book of Life, each one who had the atoning work of Christ applied to him before God shut the door to heaven---will receive their resurrected bodies, and they will live in God's presence, and dwell with Him for evermore. This is the glorious hope and expectation and future for each child of God.

Now the phrase, "I am the first and the last," is something we have seen already. God, in this chapter, is really emphasizing this point in a major way, in a way we do not often see in the Bible. God is very capable of emphasizing a truth; He does that all the time. But, remember back in Revelation 1:4, it said in the middle of the verse, it said, "Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come." Then in Revelation 1:8, it said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." And in Revelation 1:11, it said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last," and so on. And now, again, we read, "I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead."

Once again, God wants us to remember, and to keep in mind, that He is *first*; He is the first begotten from the dead; He is first in that sense. He is the first, since He is the Creator of all things; He is the first, since He is from everlasting past, Eternal God. You cannot get any more preeminence than that!

The Lord Jesus Christ is the *first* of everything and anything. There is nothing that comes before Him. He is the One who was at the beginning, the *first*, and He is also the *last*, as He will destroy this world. He will speak the word, and it will be the last word, and the earth and the universe, and everything in it, will be destroyed.