These are some notes I made for leading a Bible Study on this subject. (Imust add that it was only on the last half of Revelation 1)
Too often the picture we have of Jesus is of "gentle Jesus meek and mild", or the baby in the manger. We tend to forget the crucifed and tortured Saviour, and most certainly the Ascended Lord in Revelation.
Because we do not hold these three images in balance, people tend to dismiss our Lord as being on the same level as fairy stories and the like. Even the truth of His earthly existence is ignored. Here John is portraying Jesus as the Great High Priest, our Intercessor.
Do we really know what is meant by the fear of God?
When I was a lot younger, I used to go to bed terrified that the Day of Judgement would come before I woke up next morning!This is not what is meant. It is much more an understanding of the holiness, and awesomeness of God, which John could not in any way adequately put into words.

Jesus in the midst of the seven lampstands shows Him to be at the centre of the seven persecuted churches He later addresses in this letter.Whilst light is an image of The Holy Spirit, (Acts 2), here it also signifies the function of the church to spread the Word of Life, (cf Phil2 v4-6). The physical description of Jesus is beyond earthly imagining. What our group found most noticeable were His eyes, (v14), His voice and feet (v.15), and the sword and His face, (v16). The present day Church needs to be reminded, as we had to be, that this is OT imagery, and easier perhaps for John's readers to understand than it is for us.Even so, It was a glimpse of God's Glory, (cf 1cor 13 v.12,Luke 13 v.30, and 1 John 4 v18). For this reason, John needed The personal touch of The Saviour to encourage him. We all need to let Jesus touch our lives, whilst holding the concept of His Glory in tension.

There is a very real danger in today's church, of treating God, and Jesus, with less than the honour due to them. Idon't think this is in any way deliberate, but simply because we do not have enough teaching on God's Glory.We are meeting with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords when we go to church, so should we not dress and behave accordingly? (These views do not even go down very well in the fellowship I belong to, so feel free to flame away!)I don't mean we should be excessively formal. At the end of our morning service last week we sang "Bind us Together". It was lovely!

Much more it's a question of not wearing tatty jeans. Ok if that's all you've got, but can't they at least be clean?
What I am trying to say is that we should express our love for God as best we can, with the whole of our being, but without forgetting just who He is .We should be free to lift our hands, to dance if we want to, but equally, we should not be constained from falling on our knees in adoration if we are led to.
We must be prepared to listen to hear Jesus' voice of encouragement. So often that voice is deafened by pride.If we hear that voice, we are reminded of the power to overcome that He gives us, and our eventual hope of Heaven.

Today, the church is facing a more insidious form of persecution than the church in Jesus' day, (at least in the West).

In this passage we are reminded that we are accountable to Jesus, and the sins of our society mar this pure vision. (Remember that gold does not tarnish).Pray that we all are given the grace to recognise the counterfeit in our society. Shalom