Neither Moses nor Elijah nor Ezekiel, who all had many celestial visions, saw God. Rather, what they did see were likenesses of the splendor of the Lord and prophecies of things to come. It is evident that the Father is indeed invisible, of whom also the Lord said, “No man has seen God at any time.” But his Word, as he himself willed it, and for the benefit of those who beheld, did show the Father’s brightness and explained his purposes, as also the Lord said, “The only begotten God, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared [him].” … John also, the Lord’s disciple, when seeing the priestly and glorious advent of his kingdom, says in the Apocalypse: “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in their midst One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white, as white as wool, and as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if they were forged in a furnace. His voice [was] like the sound of waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. He looked like the sun shining at full strength.” For in these words he sets forth something of the glory [which he has received] from his Father, as the head. He sets forth something of the priestly office, as in the case of the long garment reaching to the feet. And this was the reason why Moses vested the high priest after this fashion. Something also alludes to the end [of all things], as [where he speaks of] the fine brass being forged in the fire, which denotes the power of faith, and constant prayer, because of the consuming fire which is to come at the end of time.
That after He had risen again He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be everlasting. In Daniel: "I saw in a vision by night, and behold as it were the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, came even to the Ancient of days, and stood in His sight. And they who stood beside Him brought Him before Him: and to Him was given a royal power, and all the kings of the earth by their generation, and all glory obeying Him: and His power is eternal, which shall not be taken away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed." Also in Isaiah: "Now will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I be glorified, now will I be exalted, now ye shall see, now ye shall understand, now ye shall be confounded. Vain will be the strength of your spirit: the fire shall consume you." Also in the cixth Psalm: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my fight hand, until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet. God will send the rod of Thy power out of Sion, and Thou shalt rule in the midst of Thine enemies." Also in the Apocalypse: "And I turned and looked to see the voice which spake with me. And I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a long garment, and He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle. And His head and His hairs were white as wool or snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like to fine brass from a furnace of fire, and His voice like the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and His face shone as the sun in his might. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, and said, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and He that liveth and was dead; and, lo, I am living for evermore and I have the keys of death and of hell." Likewise in the Gospel, the Lord after His resurrection says to His disciples: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
"The court which is within the temple leave out." The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church.
"It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles." That is, to the men of this world, that it may be trodden under foot by the nations, or with the nations. Then he repeats about the destruction and slaughter of the last time, and says:-
"They shall tread the holy city down for forty and two months; and I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall predict a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth." That is, three years and six months: these make forty-two months. Therefore their preaching is three years and six months, and the kingdom of Antichrist as much again.
Resting on three arms, a lampstand raises the body of a single shaft, and upon this shaft there is placed a lamp of light. “For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” says the apostle, “from which the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love, according to the work and ability of each member.” This is that branch of which it is said: “There shall come forth a branch from the stump of Jesse.” Upon this branch a light is placed, that is, the light of the catholic church is made ready, so that seized by the truth of his light, she might herself bring forth perpetual light, and marked by the manifestation of one faith, she might be exalted by the light of the divine majesty.
He shows that the voice was not sensory when he says, “I turned,” not to hear but “to see the voice.” For spiritual hearing and spiritual seeing are the same thing.
And having turned, etc. Here the form of the Church is beautifully described, bearing the light of divine love in the brightness of a pure heart. According to what the Lord says: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning" (Luke XII). He designates the perfection of its interior and exterior by the two parts of the number seven, while each one, consisting of the four qualities of the body, loves the Lord God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength.
The seven candlesticks are the seven churches that he was commanded to write. He called them candlesticks as they produce the enlightening of the glory of Christ. He did not call them candles, but candlesticks. The candlesticks cannot not be enlightened all by themselves, for it possess what it needs to be able to enlighten. Christ enlightens His churches spiritually. Just as the holy apostle counsels those who have received the faith, “shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.(Phil. 2:15-15)” Indeed, the star does not have light on its own but is able to get light from something else, just like the evangelist saw the churches as candlesticks and not just candles. For it says about Christ, “For it is you who gives light marvelously from everlasting mountains. (Ps. 75:3)”
For concerning Christ it is said, “You shine gloriously from the everlasting mountains”—perhaps meaning angelic powers—and, again, addressing the Father, “Send out your light and your truth,” and again, “the light of your face, Lord.” So those who share in the divine light are described in one place as stars and in another as lampstands.
He calls the lampstands golden on account of the honor and transcendence of those thought worthy of receiving the beam of divine light.
And in the midst of the seven lampstands, he says, one like a son of man: for since the Lord himself promises to dwell in the souls of those who have received him and to walk in their midst, how could he not have been seen in the midst of the lampstands?
He calls Christ son of man as one who for us humbled himself as far as “taking the form of a slave,” who became “the fruit of the womb,” according to the divine hymn, the womb of Mary, unwed and ever-virgin. Since Mary was a human being and our sister, naturally he who is born from her without seed as a human being is called God the Word and the son of man. He has carefully called him not a son of man, but one like a son of man; but he who is Emmanuel is also God and Lord of the universe.
The vision shows his varied appearance by his operations and powers, as it depicts his form. First he clothes him with a priestly dress, for the long robe and girdle are a priestly dress. He was addressed by God and the Father, “You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedek,” but the apostle, too, calls Christ “the high priest and apostle of our confession,”49 as being in the priestly service and leading us to make our confession of faith in him and the Father and the Spirit.
He puts a golden girdle around him, whereas the priests according to the [Mosaic] Law had a girdle of embroidered cloth. The difference between slaves and a master had to be pointed out, that is, the difference between the shadow of the law and the truth shown by the new girdle.
His head, he says, and his hair were like white wool and like snow: for God’s secret purpose in Christ is new in its appearance, but it is before all ages in its intention. For the blessed apostle has written about it as “the secret purpose which has been kept hidden in all past ages and from generations, which has now been revealed to those of his holy people whom he wished.” Therefore, the age-old intention of the purpose revealed in God’s good pleasure is represented by the hoariness of the head and its comparison with wool and snow.
He says, and his eyes were like a flame of fire: this either means that the flame of fire has the form of light—since Christ both is light and calls himself light, saying “I am the light and the truth”—or it exposes the danger and the threat against the seven churches to whom the facts of the Revelation are passed on, in that they were not fully following his laws.
And his feet, he says, were like burnished bronze: he refers to the bronze mined on Mount Lebanon as being pure even in itself and as rendered even purer when it has been refined in a furnace and cleansed of its slight impurity. In this way the steadfastness and constancy, as well as the brightness and glory, of faith in Christ is signified when it has come to assurance. For the apostle calls Christ “a rock,” and Isaiah calls him “a precious stone” in the foundations “of Sion.”
Else he means that the burnished bronze is the copper-colored frankincense which medical men are accustomed to call male. This is fragrant when burnt; for the fiery furnace represents the symbol of the burn ing of incense, which is the foundation of the preaching of the gospel—for the feet are the foundation of the rest of the body, which is Christ. For he is fragrant, and with spiritual fragrance he gives charm to the things in heaven and the things on earth.
Paul, too, calls Christ “a foundation” in writing the first epistle to the Corinthians, saying, “Like a wise master-builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. Let each one take care how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
That Christ is spiritually sweet-smelling, the bride in the Song of Songs who has experienced his sweet scent bears witness. In one place she says, “and the fragrance of your oils is above all spices,” and in another, “your name is oil emptied out,” and the Lord himself also describes himself as sweet-smelling in the words to the bride, saying, “I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys.” What then? Did not Paul, too, after becoming sweet-smelling from his communion with Christ, say, “for we are the fragrance of Christ”; and again, to us “he reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him”?
And his voice, he says, was like the sound of many waters, and reasonably so; for how could his voice have come to all the earth and his gospel to the ends of the world, unless it had been clearly heard, not as a perceived loud sound, but by the power of the preaching?
And he had, he says, in his right hand seven stars: he himself goes on to interpret these stars, saying they were the angels of the seven churches, about whom blessed Gregory spoke at the coming of the bishops: “with reference to the presiding angels, I believe that each is a guardian of each church, as John teaches in the Revelation.” I think that he calls the holy angels stars on account of the abundant light of Christ, which is in them.
They are in his right hand. They have been thought worthy of the most honorable position by God’s side, and, as it were, they rest in the hand of God.
And from his mouth, he says, there was issuing a sharp twoedged sword: blessed David says to the Lord, “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one.” For he had not then commanded us to keep the laws of the gospel, to transgress which was destruction. Therefore the actual position of the thigh indicated the postponement of punishment; for it was not the most suitable position for killing.
But now the sword issues from his mouth, the metaphor symbolizing that those who disobey the injunctions of the gospel will be in mortal danger of being cut in two by the sword. This is made clear by what the Lord says in the gospels. The apostle, too, said, “For the word of God is living and active and keener than a two-edged sword,” that is to say, holding out a threat against the disobedient. So this is described by John as sharp, which is the same as what Paul calls “very keen.”
His face, he says, was like the sun shining in full strength. Deservedly like the sun, for the Lord is the sun of righteousness according to the prophet Malachi. But lest you should think that the light of the countenance of Christ, which “gives light to everyone, coming into the world,” was a manifest body giving perceptible light, he added by his power, just as if he were saying: “The light of Christ is to be spiritually perceived, ‘operating in power,’ not a physical appearance, but giving light to the eyes of the soul.”
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:12