I was struck with the desire to declare much of revelation as figurative, and needing to be spiritualized. The scenario was singing a song which has the chorus which goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full and his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim…
I’ve sung these for years. I find it inspirational. I, along with the rest of the congregation really love these words. My problem is that I had been reading the book of Revelation. Actually, it’s not really a problem, but it sets up a bit of cognitive dissonance.
Here is how the Bible describes the face of Jesus in revelation,
Revelation 1:14-16 (KJV) 14 His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 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.Take a moment and look at the literal picture being drawn. Not only is his hair white, but the impression is His entire head is white as snow. Then you have these eyes with flames coming out of them, a voice it sounds like Niagara Falls, a sword sticking out of his mouth, and finish it all off of face that is so bright that it would blind you if you looked at it.
Not a very inspirational sight. Now, I will admit that there are probably some deep hidden meanings here, if you look at this as John, seeing Jesus and all the splendor and having trouble describing it, you’re good. However, this does not describe a face that I want to gaze into and sing about.
There are times when I wish I could just turn off my imagination.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.