For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
�Matthew 24:27
I find it interesting that not one apostle ever took the time to write a couple of lines about the appearance of Jesus when He walked this earth. Could someone have told us what He looked like? Scripture doesn't record this for us. But in Revelation 19, we find a description of Him at the Second Coming.
Three things stand out about his description: His eyes, His head, and His robe.
Verse 12 tells us that "His eyes were like a flame of fire." It has been said that the eyes are the window of the soul. When you look a person in the eye, you get a sense of them. Christ has eyes like a flame of fire as He returns again. Hebrews 4:13 tells us, "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."
Then there is His head, on which He wears "many crowns" (verse 12). He wears many crowns because He rules over many kingdoms. He is Lord of all. He is sovereign, all-powerful, and all-knowing.
Last, verse 13 tells us, "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. . . ." This phrase also could be translated "spattered in blood." Upon his first arrival on earth, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, or rags. At His second coming, He will be clothed royally in a robe dipped in blood. The first time Jesus came to earth, He came to die and shed His blood. The second time, He will come to judge. In His first coming, He was the Lamb of God to die for the sins of the world. At His second coming, He will be the ferocious Lion of the Tribe of Judah, bringing judgment.
"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."
�Revelation 3:8
Jesus says to the church of the end times, "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength . . ." (Revelation 3:8). The door is a symbol of opportunity.
The apostle Paul used the concept of an open door to illustrate his opportunity to share the gospel. He said, "When I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, . . . a door was opened to me by the Lord" (2 Corinthians 2:12).
In the Book of Acts, we see Paul and Barnabas gathering the church together and declaring all that God had done and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles (see Acts 14:27).
Jesus has not only opened the door of opportunity, but He also has the key. He describes himself as "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens" (Revelation 3:7). There is no door so tightly closed that God cannot open. There is nothing that is impossible to Him. Or to put it another way, there is no person beyond the reach of God.
We live in a critical time in human history. I think it can be summed up best with the opening words of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . ."
That is the United States today, don't you think? It is the best of times and the worst of times. In some ways, things have never been worse morally. Yet there is great opportunity for the gospel. There is an open door for us as believers. So take advantage of those doors that God opens.
