Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 1:14

"And his head and his hair were white as white wool, [white] as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;" — Revelation 1:14 (ASV)

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.—The whiteness here is thought by some to be the sign of the transfiguration in view of the glorified person of the Redeemer.

“It is the glorious white which is the color and characteristic mark of heaven.” This undoubtedly is true; but it seems to me a mistake to say that there is no hint here of age. It is argued that the white hair of age is a sign of decay, and that no such sign would have a place here; but surely this is straining a point, and making a mere emblem an argument.

Age and youth alike have their glories; the glory of young men is their strength; the hoary head, too, the sign of experience, dignity, authority, is the glory of age. Physically, white hair may be a sign of decay; typically it never is, otherwise the effort to produce the appearance of it on monarchs and judges would never have been made.

The white head is always considered in public sentiment the venerable sign of ripe knowledge, mature judgment, and solid wisdom. As such, it well signifies that full wisdom and authority wielded by the Ancient of Days. He, though always the same in the fresh dew of youth, is yet from everlasting, the captain of salvation, perfect through suffering, radiant in the glorious youth of heaven, venerable in that eternal wisdom and glory which He had with the Father before the world .

Saadias Gaon beautifully says, “He was one, with the appearance of an old man, and like an old man full of mercies. His white hair, His white garments, indicated the pure, kind intentions He had to purify His people from their sins.”

His eyes were as a flame of fire.—(Daniel 10:6). The eyes of the Lord, which are in every place, beholding the evil and the good, are here described as like fire, to express not merely indignation (He had looked once on the Jewish rulers in indignation) against evil, but determination to consume it; for our God is a consuming fire, purging away sin from those who forsake sin, and consuming in their sin those who refuse to be separated from it (Daniel 7:9–10; Jude 1:7).