Daily Devotional For January 22, 2025
And in the midst of the lampstands was One like a Son of man, dressed in a foot-length robe and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash. His head and His hairs were white like wool, white as snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like polished brass which had been purified in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. He had seven stars in his right hand, a sharp, two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. Rev 1:13-16.
When I was in college, I naturally assumed that Jesus looked roughly like the pictures of Him that I had seen growing up in church. While I was not aware of any need that Jesus look like a German-American, the difference between the pictures of Jesus and the kind of people you see in the Middle East was lost on me.
It was in the late-60s and I was at the ground zero of college protests, the first Earth Day, the arrival of Black History Week, and lots of marches; for racial equality and against the war in Vietnam. An African-American student pulled me aside one day to catch me up on neglected aspects of my education.
He explained that Jesus was definitely not “white,” that in fact he had African features. Pulling out our text for today he explained to me that Jesus had hair like wool. Pointing to his “Afro” he said, “Just like me, not like you.” He also noted that the color of polished brass was a lot closer to the color of his feet than of mine. This encounter provided quite a jolt to my comfortable mental pictures of Jesus, and I am grateful for it.
What is especially interesting is that white supremacists in the American South used the same text to prove that Jesus was white. After all, his head as well as his hair were white like wool. According to them, the reference to wool had to do with the color of the hair rather than its texture. It goes to show that Revelation is easily used to support opinions not actually addressed in the book.
It was not Jesus’ purpose in this vision to give us an exact portrait of what He looks like. After all, it would be a horrible picture of any man to have a sword sticking out of his mouth. And the whiteness of Jesus’ head and hair is not to show that He is blond, rather it recalls the “ancient of days” in Daniel 7. Jesus comes to John directly from the throne of God to give him divine encouragement for the difficulties that would lie ahead for him and for his churches. It would be a shame to miss the greatness of Jesus in order to focus on the color of His skin.
Lord, help me not to be distracted by the many interesting side tracks that Revelation seems to offer. Keep my eyes focused on the message about who You really are.