Tag Archives: authority

like a dead man

Okay since I didn’t sleep last night for working on code, and I didn’t sleep today for lack of common sense, I’m too tired to do any reading today. However, I never really did a real entry for yesterday, and I did read yesterday.

In my sleep-deprived state, the one thing I clearly remember from my reading yesterday was Revelation 1:17 — the first half of the verse in another version (NASB) reads: “When I saw Him I fell at His feet like a dead man.”

If memory serves me, the Greek actually says “fell dead at his feet” or something like that, so one take on the verse I heard was that the sheer glory of the Lord caused his heart to stop. I don’t doubt that that could happen, and could be what happened here, but I always like to think of it slightly differently.

People in Biblical times had a much healthier fear and respect for the Lord. It’s quite possible that, realizing he’d just seen God, his natural reaction was to fall down in worship.

I bring this up becuase I honestly can’t imagine that happening today. I don’t remember the last time met anyone with a healthy respect for authority, let alone that kind of respect for God. I find myself wondering if any of us would even think to bow. It’s kind of sad, really.

I’m looking for comments on this one… do you think you would bow in the presence of God out of reflex?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Bible Study