EYES LIKE FIRE

EYES LIKE FIRE

Rev. 1:14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;

John was struck by the eyes of fire Jesus had in his encounter on the Isle of Patmos. He had never seen eyes like this before even though he had many other encounters with The Lord. People always say you can tell a lot about someone by their eyes, you can tell a lot about Jesus by His eyes. For John it was a look into into eternity. Adam Clarke said, “His eyes were as a flame of fire, to denote his omniscience, and the all-penetrating nature of the Divine knowledge.”
Looking into the eyes of Christ will expose the darkness in our souls, it will try the motives of our heart, and purify us like a refiner’s fire. Here is how the author of Hebrews expressed it.
“Heb. 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

These eyes of fire also speak of the indignation of our Lord. Many people only see Jesus as a softie who overlooks sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ bares the mark of judgement against sin in His body, it is the holes in His hands and feet that He suffered at Calvary. These eyes of fire are burning against the sinfulness of mankind. Christ bore our sins as He willingly suffered God’s judgement on sin on our behalf, for those that reject His offer of mercy, there is a horrible day of justice yet to come. Here are some comments from Vincent’s Word Book.

“Fire, in Scripture, is the expression of divine anger. The figure may include the thought of the clear and penetrating insight of the Son of Man; but it also expresses His indignation at the sin which His divine insight detects.”

As John looked into the eyes of The Lord he was reminded of another encounter that had happened in an upper room many years before. In that experience, tongues of fire came upon all the disciples they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Here are some thoughts from the Fire Bible about that baptism of fire.

“John teaches that the work of the Messiah will involve baptizing his followers with the Holy Spirit and fire. This baptism would provide great spiritual power and enthusiasm to live for Christ and spread his message.”

All of us will have our moment to look into those same eyes of fire that John looked into, how will that day be for you. There are only two options, it will either be the greatest or worst of all of your days.