A Peep Behind The Curtain
Hazel is part of the team at Gas Street, overseeing Gas Street Academy.
Revelation 1:12-13 (NIV) —
‘I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lamp stands was someone like a son of man.’
As a child, I sometimes struggled to sleep. When this happened, my mum’s consistent remedy was: 'Imagine the thing you are most excited for.' And so each time, I’d return to bed envisioning a family holiday or Christmas and making my imagination as vivid and real as I could. What I remember most is that, as I drifted to sleep, what had begun as nice thoughts came alive in my mind, becoming so real it would entirely replace my night worries, flooding my dreams with the light and joy of the daytime.
John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1 is bursting with imagery and symbolism crafted to activate our spiritual imaginations in a similar way. John was in exile, persecuted for his faith and crying out to God for help. What he received was not a rescue operation or promise of escape but a revelation of Jesus as he is now, greater and more vivid than John had known before. Jesus was revealing to John a reality that he couldn’t see with his natural eyes, but that, should he take hold of it, would transform his understanding of his current situation.
Over these five devotionals, my prayer is that Jesus would begin a similar mind-transforming work in us as we are reminded of the risen Jesus, victor over sin and death and alive right now, working in our midst — the great unseen reality of the present. Today’s passage is a reminder that this Jesus is not distant or removed but right in the middle of his Church, living with us, not just aware of us but present in our lives.
Prayer — God, this week would you give us a deeper revelation of who you are. Lift our eyes beyond what we experience in the natural world and remind us of that we cannot always see. Jesus, glorified and alive, present among us, magnified in our minds.