Metal Man
The description of Jesus in Revelation 1 follows the Bible’s new Creation matrix.
Jesus is the Word, and His manifestation is described in the pattern of the Creation Week. He is the Word made flesh, the Sacrament who “tabernacled” among us, and so is described in the pattern of the Tabernacle. He is the Word in Government, ruling over the pastors of the churches, and so we also see elements of the corresponding Dominion pattern.
Revelation is indeed a sublime book. Every stanza refracts the structure of every section, which in turn refracts the structure of the book, which in turn refracts the structure of the entire Bible. This literature comes from the mouth of the uncreated, the One who creates things fully formed from nothing; it is irreducibly complex. Nothing can be added, and nothing can be taken away.
(Chart from Totus Christus, with some minor additions.)
Creation – Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me,
Division – and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands [1]
Ascension – one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
Christ no longer wore linen. As High Priest, transfigured Adam, He now wore glorious robes. The linen was left in the tomb. Ascension is Levitical. [2]
Testing – The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
Christ is the human Lampstand. With white hair, He is both an elder and a blossoming almond tree, the staff of Aaron, the Watchman. Perhaps white hair was part of the original pre-Fall Creation, a sign of maturity and transfiguration (Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 16:31). With flaming eyes, He watches over His people.
Maturity – his feet were like burnished bronze, refined [when it has been caused to glow] in a furnace,
Here, the image of maturity as the result of Testing by fire (Daniel 3) is combined with plunder (bronze). In Daniel 7, His legs were streams of fire connecting heaven and earth. As the Captain of the Lord’s armies, He stood ready to conquer, His holy–refined–feet ready to cross the river in Conquest.
Conquest – and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars,
His voice alone would part the river to allow His people into heaven. As the human Tabernacle, He held the rulers of the churches in His right hand as a Lampstand-sceptre. Notice that the seven lamps correspond chiastically to the seven stars. They had been bought with seven sprinklings of His blood before the Ark in heaven. The sevenfold blood is now the sevenfold Spirit. Adam’s corrupted work-week had been redeemed.
Glorification – from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, [3] and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
The Shekinah united heaven and earth. Jesus here is the Shekinah, and the rest of Revelation shows Him filling the New Covenant Tabernacle.
We have seen chariots and letters carrying this sharp sword into all the world in previous patterns. Here is an Adam who obeyed God and qualified to inherit the flaming sword. The sunshine indicates He is Samson, a mighty judge who was bringing down the Temple of God’s enemies to crush them under it. The ruling stars of the Old Creation would soon fall from heaven. They would lose both the earthly sanctuary, and the access to the heavenly sanctuary given to Joshua the High Priest. He was also Solomon, majestically crossing the firmament surrounded by His elders with shields of gold.
This cycle is actually the second part of a greater sevenfold cycle. It is: DIVISION – the firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1:12-16)
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[1] When the seven Spirits/Lampstands appear at Division, they are filling and governing the firmament as Covenant Hierarchy.
[2] Clothing is always symbolic. Like the Old Covenant, the linen was left behind, never to be reused. But like a rigid, broken, empty cocoon, the Old Covenant is a continuing testimony to the birth of a new humanity.
[3] See Jordan’s comment on this in The Liberating Curse.
October 2nd, 2011 at 7:14 pm
I dunno. Most of the chiastic patterns outlined in your ‘Matrix’ book seem extremely strained to me, and this one almost takes the cake! I’d like to give a text like this to, say, a dozen people who understand your chiasm concept, and ask them to identify the seven parts of the chiasm in the text. I doubt even two of their breakdowns would match.
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Hi Joel
I don’t believe I get it right all the time, but in many cases it has been like ticking the boxes. Recently I’ve been working through Joel, which is a fairly complicated application of the structure. From where I was up to, the next step to be expected was Trumpets. Lo and behold, the first verse of the next chapter was a command to sound a trumpet.
It’s not an exact science. It’s an analysis of poetry. But I’ve gone through the entire Revelation looking for this structure and it works like clockwork. I tend to think that if it was present to the level of “obvious” that you require, the Bible would actually be the same text over and over again. But it isn’t. It is literary allusions, and I believe that the authors are making subtle points by where they put them in their prose and poetry. The key words in bold are most often at these exact points in the structure.
An example of allusion from the passage above would be the reference to the two-edged sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth. According to Jordan, this is an inversion of the Covenant oath, which we find at around the same point when this passage is viewed according to the Covenant structure. So the reference means Jesus has actually done what He promised, kept the Covenant, unlike ancient Israel at Sinai. And now He is going to apply the curses to unfaithful Israel, which is what the rest of the book (or most of it) is about.
If it’s not for you, fine. But I’ve seen enough of this to make a firm case for it.
Thanks for the comment.
October 4th, 2011 at 4:01 am
I’m not asking for it to be an exact science, Mike. I actually wish your ‘fractal’ theory were true! But sorry: the alleged chiastic breakdowns I’ve read seem too contrived to be convincing to me. Interesting anyway, though. Good brain food.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Hi Joel
Plenty of other people can see it. If a free copy of the next book would help, let me know.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:57 am
If Joel doesn’t want that copy I’ll take it (kidding).
I’m a little confused. I thought “one like the son of man” was supposed to be the bride, and “the son of man” was Jesus (I think I may have asked you about this on a previous post somewhere), from Ezekiel (son of man) and Daniel (one like the son of man). Please let me know where I went wrong in this…thnx
October 4th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Dave – no probs. If Joel doesn’t want it, it’s yours.
Good point. It seems to me that Daniel 7 covers the same event in two parts, two witnesses, the prophecy and the confirming interpretation.
In the first part, head and body are spoken of in Adamic symbols (the NKJV puts the “One” in parentheses). In the second part, the angelic interpretation, they are spoken of in Evian symbols, as the mystery is opened. According to Jordan, “Most High” is the name of God used by Gentile believers, like Melchizedek which adds another layer onto this “opening” of the mystery to Daniel.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:17 am
After a quick look, I reckon Daniel 7 follows the structure – will do as a blog post and we’ll see what falls out.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Here’s a start: http://www.bullartistry.com.au/wp/2011/10/04/the-zoo-lounge/
November 3rd, 2011 at 5:51 am
Thanks for the book, Mike – just got it now. I look forward to reading it.
November 4th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Excellent!