Introducing the Lord Jesus Part 3

REVELATION Number 35
Introducing the Lord Jesus
Part 3

Our Lord introduces Himself in the letter to the church at Thyatira as “The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze” Revelation 2:18 (NASB 2020).

This is the only time in The Revelation where, the Lord Jesus is identified as the Son of God, rather than the Son of Man as is done elsewhere in The Revelation. In his voluminous work “The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text” *, G. K. Beale writes, “Here the added designation “Son of God” confirms that Daniel 3 is in mind, since the three friends [Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednigo] are delivered by “one like a son of God(s).” Just as that “son of God” protected them, even in the midst of persecution (Dan. 3:25), so will Christ do the same spiritually for those who are faithful in Thyatira. The alteration of Christ’s name to “Son of God” also has roots in a Jewish and Christian interpretative tradition that understood the Son of man from Daniel 7 as identical to the Son of God of Daniel 3, so that the two titles were sometimes interchangeable.” [Brackets mine]

For evidence of such interchangeable use, see Matthew 16:13-16, Mark 14:61-62, John 1:49-51, 3:14-18, 5:25-27.

The facet of burning eyes and gleaming bronze feet is also noted in Revelation 1:14-15 as characteristics John saw in his vision. In reading this our minds are called back to Daniel 10:6 where the prophet recounted the same aspects. “His body also was like topaz, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.” (NASB 2020)

We will see this imagery again in Revelation 19:12. “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.” (NASB 2020)

Nothing is hidden from the penetrating vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man looks at outward appearance, we are told in 1 Samuel 16:7, but God looks at the heart. As we saw in Hebrews 4:12 earlier, the Lord “is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The Lord Himself put it this way, as Luke records in Luke 12:2, “there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” (NASB 2020)

Most commentators agree that bronze feet indicate strength and stability. I would certainly concur. I see another important echo in this detail.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is the Son of Man. Fully God, and fully human, He is a type of amalgamation that Bible scholars refer to as “theandric union.” This is such an important aspect of our lovely Lord that we don’t want to miss it or gloss it over as nothing more than a fascinating detail.

Numbers 21 records a time when the Israelites were being harmed and killed by snakes. In this passage, the snakes represent the sinful disrespect for God the people had shown. In verse 9 we find God’s way of redemption. “So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” (NASB 2020)

This snake made of bronze (A few translations have “brass”) was made from an amalgamation of two base metals, either copper and tin for bronze, or copper and zinc for brass. When these metals are combined, they make a new material with specific new properties. In the case of bronze, (which is what we’re concerned with here) those properties are hardness and resistance to corrosion.

Now let’s fast-forward to John 3:14–15 “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.” (NASB 2020)

So, I agree with the many commentators who point out that the strength of bronze represents the unshakable strength of the Lord Jesus. More than that, I see our great Lord identifying Himself not only as the Son of God, but also as the Son of Man. Though He is Lord of all (see Matthew 28:18, Romans 10:12), and truly the Son of God, yet like us, fully human, He identifies with us profoundly. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.” (NASB 2020) He has compassion for us, just as He demonstrated in Mark 1:41 “Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” (NASB 2020)

*G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 259.