The First and the Last, the Living One

"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like a burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand he held seven starts, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.'" Revelation 1:12-20

I have a rather vivid, wild imagination, and I really must to read verses like that. We can't read it just as a story, we read some pretty bizarre tales sometimes that we imagine what would be like, then move on to real life. John's experience is not just story though, this was real this actually happened. It's so incredible, so unbelievable, can we even truly imagine what it would really be like to see such a sight? This amazing, awesome, God, the vivid picture which John portrayed Him as, became a simple man, a man's body and in our cursed world. He died, but 'behold I am alive forevermore,' Breathtaking, that's what, and humbling. I really want us to get a true picture of this, our hearts should nearly leap when we read it, white hair, a face shining like the sun, a voice like the roar of many waters, his feet like burnished bronze, and my personal favorite, which really adds so much to what our Saviour looks like: "His eyes were like a flame of fire." Think of fire, not a little candle burning in your living room, but an actually fire a big glowing flame, His eyes were like this, it almost makes me shake because it's not just a random description, this is REAL. Real: alive, not fake, not just imagination. No wonder John dropped down 'as though dead', you would too. Yet, Jesus said, 'Fear not'. Fear not, when you've just seen what John saw? Wowee. But we need a good imagination to picture it properly. I wish I could post a picture of what I see it as, but I doubt I could find it on the internet, and I know I can't draw it, so I leave it up to your imagination.
Now, "from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword." This, I personally believe, is not a sword sticking out of His mouth, but I believe it is an analogy for words, sort of the the 'sword of the spirit', except He is speaking them. Which I think, is the most powerful of all.
So, use that imagination God has given you, to picture this real, and to USE it. 'Use it?' you ask? Yup, use it. Figure that one out :)

Here's a hint