Audio Download

Rev 1:14 – Why is Christ Both “White As Snow” and also “As a Flame of Fire?”

[Updated September 22, 2023]

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

What does this verse have to do with you and me? Isn’t this simply a description of what we can expect to see when the day comes that we finally get to meet and be with Christ? How do we “keep what is written therein” in this verse?

I hope by this time you have come to see that whatever we read about the revelation of Jesus Christ is something you and I should recognize as being within each of us, and not as an ‘out there’, ‘over there,’ ‘in the past,’ or ‘in the future.’ “For the time is at hand” and it is in us now in “this generation” that we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” This verse is no exception to that principle. If we do not see this verse as “Christ in us… now,” then we will not benefit from what is being said. If on the other hand we see Christ in us and we see “His head and his hairs… white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes… as a flame of fire;”  and if we know what that means, then we will have “kept the things that are written therein…” as we are instructed, because we realize “the time is at hand.”

Rev 1:3  Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

So how do we “keep this 14th verse of Revelation one?  “… Because as he is, so are we in this world.”

In our study of verse 13 of this chapter we saw some of the depth of the truth of this verse of scripture:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. [Greek: kosmos]

Knowing Christ’s lot is our lot gives us boldness when we are being judged, and just like Christ, we are “learning obedience by the things which we suffer.”

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from [Greek: ek, out of] death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

If Christ “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” as the Son of God, who are we to expect anything less?

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above [his] master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more [shall they call] them of his household?
Mat 10:26  Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

Luk 6:40  The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

Christ tells us that He has sent us just as His Father has sent Him:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

What did the Father send Christ to accomplish:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Christ is the One who tells us that we are Him:

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

His Father sent Him to save the world and we are Him therefore we must fill up in our bodies what is behind of His afflictions for His body’s sake, which is the church:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

We are Christ. Therefore we, too, must die for the sins of the world by dying daily, being crucified with Christ, and offering our bodies as a living sacrifice:

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

That is how plural “saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the house of Esau”:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Christ tells us He came preaching the kingdom of God, and He tells us that the kingdom of God is “at hand.”

Mat 3:2  And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mar 1:14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Does that sound like Christ was speaking of something that was 2000 years away? No, of course not, and the reason He said “the kingdom of God is at hand” is that the king of that kingdom was, is and will always be here within us, ruling “the kingdom of God [which] is at hand… within you.”

Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

So the king of the kingdom of God within us has “hairs of His head, white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes… [are] as a flame of fire” within us. What are we being told about the Christ who lives in us? Why do we need to know this about Him?

His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow

What does the holy spirit have in mind when it tells us that our “head,” the Christ within us, is “white like wool as white as snow?” Who better to tell us than the spirit itself. Here is what the spirit has in mind when it inspired our fellow servant John to use this phrase:

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Remember the filthy garments of Joshua the high priest in Zechariah from our study of last week?

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

There it is in Isaiah 1, both phrases, “white like wool” and “white as snow” are found there being contrasted, not with the color black, though that certainly is a scriptural contrast, but being contrasted with the color red, or “red like crimson.” The phrase “red like crimson” is the same as “filthy garments,” and the phrase “as wool… white as snow” is the same as “change of raiment.” Just as Christ gave up His “corruptible flesh” for His “body of incorruption,” so must we take on that same “seal of the spirit,” the earnest [down-payment] of our [incorruptible] inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” [That blessed and holy first resurrection of Revelation 20:6).

Here is how we have this “head and hairs… white as snow” living within us:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: arrhabōn, down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Why the resurrected Christ is contrasted with the color red

The ‘white wool’ and the ‘white snow’ signify Christ’s righteousness in us.  Why is our resurrected Lord being contrasted with the color red? Because red in scripture, in its negative application, is “sinful flesh and blood.” We have covered this in depth in our series on colors in scripture. Be sure to read The Spiritual Significance of The Color Red. As always, God’s Word is counterintuitive to the mind of the natural man. Sinful flesh and blood is red, but what happens, according to the scripture, if we “wash our robes in the blood of the lamb?” What does that do for our robes? Does it make them red like flesh and blood? What does the counterintuitive word of God say?

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The raiment or the clothing of all of God’s messengers is “white as snow”, and in that sense is always contrasted with the red of sinful flesh and blood:

Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Mat 28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Mat 28:3  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

All of Christ’s messengers have “raiment white as snow…”

Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

“His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow.” Nothing “on earth can [so] white them.” Here we have, in Matthew and in Mark, both Christ and His messengers dressed in white raiment as white as snow. That is the contrast which the holy spirit makes between the resurrected life and life of Christ in us with a life dominated by sinful flesh and blood “on the earth.” That is the contrast between living “in the spirit of life” and “living in the flesh.”

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

Rom 8:1  [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Does “walking after the flesh” or “walking after the spirit” have anything to do with our supposed “free will?”

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Where in all of scripture does, Christ, or Paul, or any other of Christ’s apostles teach the doctrine of “free moral agency??? Paul emphatically declares that our sins are not the result of our choices, but of “sin that dwells in us… that is in our flesh.” What does that say about those who declare that flesh is not of itself sin?

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it [no free will], but sin that dwelleth in me.

The beast and the man of sin say it is you and me who decide to sin or choose not to sin, but what does the word of God say? “It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Flesh is sin and “sin dwells in me, that is in my flesh” and in all flesh. We are flesh, and it is not we who sin, but sin that dwells in us. That is what the scriptures teach. We are what we are “in the Potter’s hand.” It is He who makes us, first marred vessels of clay, and it is He again who makes us a new vessel, “conformed to the image of His Son.”

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Our will and our actions are ‘both the work of God in us’. If we are ever cleansed of our sins it will be ‘God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure’:

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

It is all a work of God. Our new raiment is white as snow, because our sins which are in our flesh are given a change of raiment, and our filthy garments are “made white in the blood of the lamb.”

Why are Christ’s eyes “as a flame of fire?”

What does this have to do with us?

Isa 66:15  For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

Let’s look at the whole of verse 14 again:

Rev 1:14  His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;

All of Christ’s messengers are “flames of fire.”

Act 7:30  And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Heb 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

There it is! All of Christ’s ministers are “a flame of fire… [with] eyes as a flame of fire,” because “as He is, so are we in this world.”

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Just like us, Christ’s clothes are “dipped in blood.” Christ’s own flesh had to be sacrificed for the lives of us all. Now we, too, must “fill up in our bodies what is behind of His afflictions”, because we are “his body… His flesh and… His bones”:

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Christ is “the ancient of days” of:

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Why are Christ’s eyes in us “as a flame of fire?”

Rev 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

What do “seven eyes” have to do with “eyes like fire?” What are ‘the lamb’s seven eyes’? Here is what those seven eyes are.

Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

So there it is: “here a little and there a little” (Isa 28:10-13). The Lamb’s “seven eyes are the seven spirits of God,” and “seven lamps of fire are the seven Spirits of God.” What are the spirits of God which are “seven lamps of fire?” What is the fire of scripture? Here it what “sees all things and makes all things naked before Him.” Here is what burns up all the “wood, hay and stubble” in our lives:

Deu 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp [of fire] unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit [fire], and [they] are life.

It is only “by fire” that we are “saved”:

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

What is the fire that destroys the enemies of the two witnesses? It is the same fire that is in the eyes of Christ and His Christ. It is the Word of God.

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

“The seven spirits of God and the seven lamps of fire are “the words that I speak unto you, which are spirit.” All three are one and the same. They are the fiery word of God, spoken by all who can see that the Lamb with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, [which is also the] seven lamps of fire [which are also called] “the seven spirits of God.”

Now we know what John the baptist meant when He said that Christ would baptize us in fire:

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Now we know what Christ meant when He said He had come to bring ‘fire’:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Luk 12:50  But I have a baptism [“with fire”] to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

“Eyes… as a flame of fire” can see and hear and live by fiery words which are fiery spirit:

2Sa 22:9  There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Whether it is in His eyes or His mouth, the ‘fire’ of scripture is the Word of God which devours all that will burn:

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

Rev 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

What do “seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God” have to do with “eyes like fire”? Here is how these same “seven spirits of God” are described in chapter four:

Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Conclusion

Rev 1:14  His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;

We have seen once again, that “as He is so are we in this world” is the truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have seen that the principle “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” is just as applicable to Christ and “His body, which is the church” ” as it is to Christ and His Father:

Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

As we see the Father in seeing Christ we also see Christ in His Christ:

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

What we should see in this 14th verse is that as our Head and His hairs are described as being ‘white as wool, as white as snow’ as His body, which is the church, we also in Him are “whiter than any fuller on earth can white [us],” only because Christ in us has died to our “red like crimson” sinful flesh and blood, and has been “made white in the blood of the lamb.” The truth will always be counterintuitive to the natural man, but it will be “hidden words of wisdom” as “the holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual with spiritual.”

Finally, we have seen that “His eyes were as a flame of fire” is speaking of the seven eyes of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and the seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne; both of which we are told “are the seven spirits of God” which are “the words that I speak unto you” (Joh 6:63), which are “My words in your mouth as fire” (Jer 5:14 and Rev 11:5).

In the next study we will, Lord willing, see why Christ’s feet are said to be “like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace” and why His voice is “as the sound of many waters.”

Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.