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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Revelation 1:16 - 1:16
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In his right hand seven stars - The stars are afterwards interpreted as representing the seven angels, messengers, or bishops of the seven Churches. Their being in the right hand of Christ shows that they are under his special care and most powerful protection. See below.
Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword - This is no doubt intended to point out the judgments about to be pronounced by Christ against the rebellious Jews and persecuting Romans; God’s judgments were just now going to fall upon both. The sharp two-edged sword may represent the word of God in general, according to that saying of the apostle, Heb 4:12 : The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, etc. And the word of God is termed the sword of the Spirit, Eph 6:17.
And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength - His face was like the disk of the sun in the brightest summer’s day, when there were no clouds to abate the splendor of his rays. A similar form of expression is found in Jdg 5:31 : Let them that love him be as the sun when he Goeth Forth in His Might. And a similar description may be found, Midrash in Yalcut Simeoni, part I., fol. 55, 4: “When Moses and Aaron came and stood before Pharaoh, they appeared like the ministering angels; and their stature, like the cedars of Lebanon: - וגלגלי עיניהם דומים לגלגלי חמה vegalgilley eyneyhem domim legalgilley chammah, and the pupils of their eyes were like the wheels of the sun; and their beards were as the grape of the palm trees; וזיו פניהם כזיו חמה veziv peneyhem keziv chammah, and the Splendor of Their Faces was as the Splendor of the Sun.”