Revelation 1:16

In His right hand, the symbol of official honor and sovereign control, He held seven stars protectively (cf. Revelation 9:1; Revelation 12:3; Job 38:7; John 10:28), the angels or messengers of the seven churches (Revelation 1:20; cf. Revelation 2:1; Revelation 3:1).

A sharp double-edged sword (Gr. hromphaia), the type the Romans used to kill with (Revelation 2:12; Revelation 2:16; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 19:21), proceeded from His mouth. His word will judge His enemies (Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 49:2; Ephesians 6:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 19:13-15). This sword was tongue-shaped. [Note: See the Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastings, s.v. "Sword," by W. Emery Barnes, 4:634, for a picture of one.]

His face shone like the unclouded sun, a picture of pure holiness and righteousness (Judges 5:31; Matthew 13:43). John saw Jesus at the Transfiguration with such a shining face (Matthew 17:2).

". . . Christ was presenting Himself to John in a character that would prepare the apostle for various aspects of the vision to follow." [Note: Robert L. Thomas, "The Glorified Christ on Patmos," Bibliotheca Sacra 122:487 (July-September 1965):246.]

"This first vision of John, then, included an indication of Jesus’ Messianic office with its associated functions: judgment of the unrighteous and comfort of the suffering righteous, His high rank that fits Him as an agent of imposing divine wrath, His activity in imposing that wrath, His preexistence along with God the Father, His penetrating intelligence that enables Him to perform righteous judgment, His movement among the churches to enforce standards of moral purity, His identification with the Father in the power of His utterance, His authority over the seven messengers and the churches they represent, His power to overcome His enemies and pronounce judgment upon them, and His return to earth to implement judgment upon mankind." [Note: Idem, Revelation 1-7, p. 105.]

It is primarily as Judge that Jesus Christ appears in Revelation (cf. Matthew 3:11). He judges the churches (chs. 2-3), the whole earth (chs. 4-16), Babylonianism (chs. 17-18), world rulers at Armageddon (Revelation 19:19-21), and Satan (Revelation 20:1-3; Revelation 20:10). He also judges the earth during the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6), the rebellious earth at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:7-9), and all the unsaved dead (Revelation 20:11-15). The first 20 chapters of the book deal with judgment and the last two with the new creation.