. And what a blessed side that is only they
who know it know. They think of Him as a personal Saviour, and the heart
glows. They see Him at the Father's right hand interceding, and
gratefully remember that He will forget no name where there is a
trusting heart. They think of the Holy Spirit, the other Jesus, Jesus'
other self, always "alongside to help," alongside _in_side. And they
practise letting Him work out the Christ-likeness within themselves.

And all this is blessed, only blessed. They see Him in His personal
relation to themselves. But there's something more than this. No one
knew more of this blessed personal part than John. But John saw more
than this on Patmos. He saw Christ _as He is now_.

This is clearly a new sight of Christ. It was new to John. It would seem
to be new to us. It is new in the pages of this book. It is something
different from any sight seen before. In the Gospels we see Jesus the
_Man_. In carpenter shop and little whitewashed stone cottage, in the
ministering life clear from the Jordan bottoms to the healing touch at
Gethsemane's gate, and in the suffering clear up to the ninth hour of
that fateful day He is the _Man_, one of ourselves, though clearly more
even in His humanity than the humanity we are.

On the Transfiguration Mount the favoured inner three, the leaders, see
the glory within shining out through the Man. So bewildered are they
that the chief impression that remains is of a blinding brightness. Yet
this is up on a high mountain far away from the crowd, and from the
haunts of men.

As Stephen is being stoned his eyes are opened to see the Son of Man
standing in glory up at the Father's right hand. The Damascus traveller
sees an overpowering burst of glory out of the blue and hears a voice
speaking. In the epistles Paul pictures Him seated at the Father's right
hand with an authority greater than any other. All the power He has is
placed at the disposal of His followers on the earth. He Himself is
above in the glory.[55]

But in this very end of the Book John is given a _new sight of Christ_.
He sees Him _as He is now_. That is to say, this is the sight of Christ
as He is now _characteristically_. It is the distinctive sight that
stands out above all these others.

He _is_ at one's right hand in closest personal relation, through His
Holy Spirit. He _is_ at the Father's right hand in glory waiting
expectantly till the time is ripe for the next direct move on the earth