ASSURANCE

Heavenly Hand, Branson, MO

“And standing in the middle of the lamp stands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave’.” (Revelation 1:13-18)

That image of the Son of Man represents wisdom, divinity, judgment, royalty, and strength. Most Biblical passages convey that we mere mortals fall to our knees in the presence of divine spiritual beings and are given the assurance to fear not. But this encounter also conveys the imagery of the Son of God laying his firm right hand on the Apostle John’s shoulder to reinforce that assurance. This assurance of God’s strength to face life’s trials is always available to us along with the assurance that Jesus has the power over sin and death. The steady hand on our shoulder in difficult times from a close friend is one of the best antidotes to difficult times. And that hand is always there if we simply ask.