PODCAST

The Revelation from Jesus Christ

January 12, 2025 | Brandon Cooper

The sermon introduces Revelation as a book meant to reveal, not hide, the truth about Jesus Christ and God’s sovereign plan for history. It emphasizes the need to read Revelation symbolically rather than literally, focusing on the big picture rather than getting bogged down in the details. The sermon highlights key themes like grace, peace, worship, and the vision of Jesus as the faithful witness and ruler over all. The main application is that seeing Jesus in His full glory should replace fear with worshipful perseverance, as we love him and long for His appearance.

TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+

The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.

Okay, alright, buckle up. Here we go. Grab your Bibles. Revelation, chapter one. Revelation, chapter one. We’ll get started in our series this morning. Now, as you’re turning to Revelation chapter one, if you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the Magic Eye craze. Think it peaked kind of like mid 90s ish or something like that. And these were, if you are not of a certain age, these were these computer generated weird, you know, kind of abstract patterns. But what happened was the computer would twist the pattern just slightly, this recurring pattern to fool your brain into seeing a 3d image, kind of a hidden within the design. Now, if you were one of the Illuminati who figured out how to work this thing, and I was not, by the way, okay, but if you were one, you know that the trick was not to look at the design itself, not to look at the surface, right, but to look behind it, beyond it, beneath it, something like that. And the far sighted would actually have an advantage here, because they have trouble focusing right there anyway. And so that’s kind of how it worked. Well, the Magic Eye craze, it was a little bit of a parable for the Christian life, if you think about it, because we so often need to look behind, beneath, beyond the surface level, the circumstances that we’re in, the mundane. In order to see the deep realities of this world, we need to be, you know, if we can put it this way, spiritually, far sighted in a sense, and if we are a new pattern emerges. We get to see in 3d we see God’s Wise Providence, the big picture going on behind the details, everything from, you know, finances to foreign affairs. And as we’ll see, even in our passage this morning, what we need to see there, as we’re looking with our spiritual far sight, we need to see Jesus at the risk of blasphemy, for sure, he’s the 3d image behind the surface design. He’s the one that makes sense of history for us. You Magic Eye craze, not just a fitting parable of the Christian life, but really good introduction to Revelation as well, right? Because revelation feels like a magic eye picture, doesn’t it? Alright? Some of you been looking at it for a long time, going it doesn’t make any sense. Some of you feel like I’m never going to see the image that’s supposed to be there. It’s frustrating. Can feel a little bit mystical, like I’m I have to be part of the Illuminati in order to understand this book, and clearly I’m not. So we’re going to talk some more about that as we go even today, of course. But the good news that I want to give you up front as we dig into Revelation is that you can understand revelations. Main Idea, you can understand this book. You may not get every detail, because no one does, but you can understand most of it, and that’s what we want to talk about. We’re going to actually kind of hit that as we go by asking three questions of Revelation. Anna, the why, the what and the WHO as we go. So first of the why, why we need Revelation, the book and frankly, just the idea of Revelation. Here’s Revelation, chapter one, verses one to three, the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who testifies to everything he saw that is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. I was man probably eight years ago now that we did Genesis and started in Genesis, one one. So it’s taken us a while to get to the end of the book, I guess. But how I started Genesis, when we were started there, is I would read it, you know, in the beginning, God, and then I would cry out, right there, stop right in the beginning. God, stop. Like we gotta stop there and go, if you don’t believe that, there’s really no point in reading the rest of the book, like we have to understand in the beginning God. God is what stands behind it all. Well, we have a similar sort of moment here in Revelation, when we read the revelation. Stop Okay, stop there, and let’s make sure we get that. Because what does revelation mean? It means God is trying to it’s going to shock you all I know, reveal something. It means to disclose, to unveil, not to hide. So we have to believe that as we start, this is meant to be revelation. This is meant to ill. Eight not to confuse. We don’t need a PhD in New Testament studies to read the book. I get that it feels complicated. It certainly does. One reason it feels so complicated, though, is because we start at the wrong end. It’s a little bit like grabbing the knife by the blade. It’s a bad idea. And so what is the blade that we always grab at. It’s the details we want to start with, understanding every little image in it, as opposed to the big picture. So we want to know what the bear’s feet represent in Revelation 13, verse two, instead of seizing the idea that God is King, that he is ruling over history and will bring it to its consummation in Christ, Jesus, that’s what’s being revealed. And so revelation is, I heard someone say this. I liked it a lot. I hope it helps you as well. Revelation is a picture book, not a puzzle book, so some of us come to Revelation like it’s Sudoku, and we think we just, you know, a pie enough brain power to it, we’re able to fill in all the bubbles and feel smart at the end of it. That’s not at all. It is a a picture book, which is why, by the way, kids tend to understand revelation better than adults, because they know how to read picture books. You just, you like, sit back, enjoy it. You just drink it in, and that’s it. Like revelation gives us these large and startling figures in, quote, Flannery O’Connor, they’re large and startling figures that that pack a lot of oomph, and they’re meant to that is the nature of apocalypse, the genre, by the way, that is the the word is a Greek word that’s translated as Revelation. So again, you hear Apocalypse, and you go, scary. I don’t know how to read that. And God’s going revelation. I’m trying to reveal something. Okay, that’s what we’re talking about here. But that’s the nature of apocalypse, is that you get this startling symbolism that’s meant to generate an impression. So think of a picture. Think of like Picasso’s Guernica or something like that. You don’t look at this picture and go, boy, I wonder why the horse’s head is turned this way. You go, wow, war is awful, and that’s what you’re supposed to get from it, and that’s what we’re supposed to get from Revelation, that impression. But all right, we got through two words. We’re doing really well here. All right, let’s get to word three, the revelation from Jesus Christ. The revelation from Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus is the source of this revelation. What we have here are not John’s thoughts, but divine revelation, because this book has a divine author, and that, by the way, is why we pay attention to it, because this is God’s word to us. In fact, you get this incredible chain of revelation in these opening verses, the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who testifies to everything he saw. That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, you have this chain. We have God the Father, who gives it to God, the Son, Jesus Christ, who then sends His angel to show John, who then writes it down for us. That’s how much care God takes to make sure we understand this. And the mediation that happens there doesn’t change the origination. This is still God’s word to us. This is helpful, by the way, not just for revelation, but for the Bible as a whole. This is how God speaks to us. But notice why we get this chain of Revelation, and that is to show His servants. So again, our purpose is understanding. God’s trying to show us something and show us what must take place. What must take place. God is sovereign. This is what will happen. We can be certain that this is how the story unfolds, and that will then give us confidence to live in light of it, as we will see. But it’s not just what must take place, but what must soon take place. And I know some of you are thinking, okay, but it’s been 2000 years. Was John wrong?
Probably not. I don’t think so. We are dealing in visionary time, and visionary time is a little bit different than like clock time. So why is it going to take place soon? Because we are already in the last days. We’re in the last hour even. And we actually saw this in Daniel so Daniel, chapter two, verse 45 if you were here for our Daniel series, you might remember this. But it says, The Great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. This is, you know, Revelation very clearly, echoing this verse here. So this is Nebuchadnezzar. Is the king, and he’s got that dream of the statue, right? Gold, head, silver, bronze, and then iron legs and then feet made of iron mixed with clay. And it was in the middle of that last kingdom the iron mixed with clay, most likely the Roman Empire, that. This rock, not cut by human hands, comes in, kind of smashes the feet. The whole statue topples. And the rock is Jesus, Christ, with his coming into the world. You know, his kingdom comes, and his kingdom is the final kingdom. So why is it taking place soon? Because the rock has come. Jesus is here, right? We just celebrated at Christmas, and so we are now in the middle of that last period of history, the time between Christ first and second comings. And he is coming soon. And scripture, by the way, is so careful with this, even Jesus himself would say things like, I’m coming soon. You know, kingdom of God is here. And then he tells parables where he’s like the parable of the foolish virgins, they thought he was coming sooner than he was, and they weren’t ready to wait that long. And then he tells the parable of the wicked steward, who, you know, beats all the other servants because he thought his master was coming later than expected, and so he wasn’t ready for him to come as a we just need to be ready. We just need to be ready. That’s the point. That’s what Scripture says over and over and over again. He is coming. He’s coming soon, whatever that means. So Jesus reveals to John what will certainly happen in the last days, and we can trust John, because John wrote it down faithfully, and he wrote down faithfully the word of the one who is the original faithful witness, Jesus Christ, which can be a major theme in Revelation. We’ll keep coming back to the faithful witness idea. Jesus is the unfailing word. He is the truth itself. And if he’s truth, and if he reveals truth, and what must we do with his word, pay attention? That’s verse three, right? We get this, this benediction pronounced on those who pay attention. This is, by the way, the first of seven benedictions in the book of Revelation. That is not coincidence. Seven is going to show up a lot. We’ll talk about that in a moment. There’s this deep structure to the book again, maybe just looks like a random computer generated image. Nope, there’s a big picture behind it. This is one of the ways we can tell that. But look at this blessing specifically. I love the way the NIV renders it. Blessed is one who reads aloud, because this is a public worship setting. People didn’t have their personal Bible at home or anything like that, so we are talking about reading aloud. Nothing wrong with reading it at home. Of course, that’s great, too. But so what is the the blessing here? Blessed is the one who reads aloud. That’s me. That’s my job here today. And then Blessed are those who hear that’s you. But then it goes on to say, this is not just an empty reading or hearing or studying. No we are to take to heart what has been written down for us, to keep it, to guard it. Notice that it says we’re to take to heart the words of this prophecy specifically. And that actually makes sense, because what does prophecy do? Two things normally. One, prophecy tells us about future events. It foretells, okay, check that’s in Revelation, right? Plenty of future events. And then prophecy also tells us how we should be living in light of that truth. It fourth tells, but you put it that way, check, that’s what Revelation does as well. So we’re supposed to hear of Christ’s coming. You know, believe what it says, And then keep those words, take those words to heart by repenting of our sin and worshiping the Christ who is to come. That is the goal of Revelation. Again, if we read Revelation together, and those two things happen, that’s a win. That’s what’s what we’re supposed to be doing here. We’re blessed when we do that. But notice in the context too, we’re blessed when we do that, despite the danger of persecution, which we know is the background of this book. We’ll talk about that again here in just a moment, like I just finished Shusaku endo silence, the book about persecution of the Japanese church in the 17th century. Some of you probably saw the movie and all that stuff, and you understand the danger in those settings of actually gathering to read these words aloud. And that was the danger that these churches were facing. And so there’s this extra blessing going, yes, it’s dangerous. You may be persecuted, but persevere, read it together still. So why do we need revelation? Because we need to know and believe what’s coming and commit to living in light of it, because it is true. Second question then is the what question, what Revelation produces in us when we take it to heart. Read verses four to eight, John to the seven churches in the province of Asia, Grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his. Blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priest, to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. Alright, so we’ve got that revelation is apocalypse and also prophecy. It’s also a letter. Interestingly. This is how letters begin in Greco Roman culture. This is from John two seven churches. What are those seven churches? I’m hoping you all remember, we did this one right last summer. We did the seven letters series that was to give us the historical context, you know, the original context for this book. You weren’t here for that, or even just don’t remember, go back, listen to those kind of get ourselves in the right spot once again. But there’s a group of seven churches in western Turkey undergoing persecution and also undergoing temptation to faithlessness as a result of the persecution. So that’s who’s receiving this letter, which is also a prophecy, which is also an apocalypse, who is writing it that would be John, like the apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, first, second, third, John. How do we know it’s John? A couple different reasons, but the main one is it’s the uniform witness of church history. And we actually learn this from people who knew John personally, who were discipled by John, which sounds pretty awesome, I might add, guys like Papias and Melito and Irenaeus, there are some differences, sure, in his style here compared to the Gospel of John, that’s because he’s writing Apocalypse instead of a gospel that probably accounts for most of it. Now, it is written to these seven churches in Asia. You can see which in verse 11. We’ll read them in just a moment, but we talked about the fact when we did the seven letters series that it’s not just these seven churches. In fact, we read over and over and again in those letters, you know, to those who have here ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches plural, like all of us, we know that too, because this is Apocalypse, and in Apocalypse, in apocalyptic writing, numbers have symbolic value. The number seven has a lot of symbolic value. Imma prove it to you by just showing you some of the things that show up seven times. In Revelation, I already mentioned the benedictions, we get seven churches, seven spirits, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven torches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven heads, seven crowns, seven plagues, seven bowls, seven mountains, seven kings, seven songs of praise. And by the way, that’s all I could fit in my notes. That was one whole line. There’s more. Alright, so do we think seven is an important number in Revelation? Yes, few other numbers that are going to show up a lot, four, like four corners of the earth 12 like 12 apostles, 1000 and multiples of all of these numbers, like 14 shows up a lot, or 144,012
times, 12 times, 1000 shows up. These are symbolic. These are symbolic numbers, okay, not a coincidence. This is usually showing the completeness and perfection of God’s work in history. Again, just like Genesis, you read Genesis one, you get these multiples of seven over and over and over again, because it’s showing God’s creation is very good. It’s perfect. Well, so is his sovereign rule over history. So these revelation is written literally to seven churches in first century, western Turkey, but also symbolically to all churches we talk about in letters here is because these are addressing issues that are common to all humanity. So there’s a lesson here that we’re going to need to learn for the rest of Revelation, which is that numbers count. Numbers count, but they count symbolically. And that’s going to help us with the book as a whole, because we get lots of symbols and lots of visions, and they’re not meant to be taken literally, because they’re symbols. And you take symbols, wait for it symbolically shocking. I know I get that some of you are really uncomfortable with that, because you know of churches, maybe even whole denominations, that say things like, we take the Bible seriously, but not literally, and those are churches and denominations that have abandoned the historic faith. And you think, well, we don’t want to do that, so we better take it literally. No, let’s read it well, let’s read it literally, which means taking the literal stuff literally, and the symbolic stuff symbolically. And some of you are like, Okay, but how do we make sure we’re doing that? Because Is there anything that is tethering our interpretation to the text so that we don’t just go. The bearer’s feet. Maybe that’s, you know, evangelicals insistence on reading the Bible literally, what is helping us ground our interpretation in the Bible? And the answer is the Old Testament, because the symbols and the visions are driven by the Old Testament. That’s what will tether our interpretation to the text as we keep going. So that’s just getting us ready for the rest of it. Alright, what do we get next? Then grace and peace from our Triune God. First we get it from the Father, who is and who was and who is to come. Really fascinating, by the way, that it doesn’t say who is and who was and who will be, but who is to come, because, yes, he is coming as our deliverer, and then we get it from the seven spirits. You can look down if you’re in the NIV. There’s a text note that says, maybe the seven fold spirit, capital S, the Holy Spirit. Yes, exactly, absolutely, right. That’s it, because where he got this Trinitarian context, we’ll talk more about this next week, though. It’s drawing on, guess what? The Old Testament, Zechariah, chapter four, next week, next week. Hang on. Okay, I’m going to be long today already, and then we get this grace from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. And the Greek word for witness is martyr. And Jesus, of course, is both witness and martyr. And he is an example to us than a faithful perseverance, even if it leads to martyrdom. So good thing that he’s also the firstborn from the dead. That is, he is the guarantee and foundation of our resurrection hope, which, if you’re in danger of martyrdom, seems really important, doesn’t it? And then He is the true ruler who’s reigning? Not Rome, Jesus. He is the ruler over kings. Good to know as well. If you’re being persecuted by a government. There’s just a larger lesson in all of this, the reminder that we really need, which is that in the midst of challenging circumstances, we must remember who God is, and then to interpret our circumstances in light of him. Instead of giving into the temptation to interpret God in light of our circumstances, I’m being persecuted. God must not care. No, we know God cares. And so how’s that going to help me in the midst of persecution? And so, of course, we get a doxology coming out of that then, and what a doxology we get to him who loves us. Notice present tense, ongoing. This is the atmosphere in which we live, the love of God and who has freed us. That’s perfect tense, a completed action, a past finished work that accomplished our redemption, freed us from our sins by His blood. This is getting at a negative salvation, right? There’s something that’s taken away from us in salvation, namely our sins and the punishment that they deserve, but there’s a positive element to our salvation as well. We’re being saved for a purpose. There’s something that is given to us, and what is that? It’s that He has made us to be a kingdom and priest, to serve his God and Father, and as priests, we mediate God’s glory to the world, calling others into the kingdom of light, offering sacrifices of praise and giving and service, worship is the only proper response to everything that we’re seeing about who God is and what he’s done, by the way, that is exactly where we’re headed next week. It’s all worship at that point, but you can see how important this is in the context like worship this this doxology gives you a constant reorientation in the midst of spiritual warfare, like you sing these songs to remind yourselves of these truths that we need to see behind the surface to the deep reality beneath it. And that’s exactly what this collection of Old Testament references communicates, too, that we get in verse seven, he’s coming with the clouds. That’s reference to Daniel seven. Verse 13, Julie read it for us earlier, but here it is again. There before me was one like a Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. And the one who approaches the Ancient of Days like a son of man that would be Jesus, of course, is given this everlasting kingdom, this dominion that will not end, and he will rule over all nations Good to know. And then it’s joined with a vision with a quote from Zechariah 1210 which says, They will look on me the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first born son. Of course, this is getting at Jesus’s sacrifice, pierced on the cross. Now, what does it mean when it says they will mourn because of him? Why are we mourning because of Jesus on the cross? Well, there are two options here, and certainly both are happening. It depends on who is reading it. We’re either mourning because we are grieving. Receiving our sin and the cost of our salvation, Jesus’s sacrifice, or we are mourning because we are wailing bitterly at the coming judgment. You can see in this verse, then that everything depends on how we respond to Jesus. We can either receive His love and forgiveness, be freed from our sins and live joyfully under his rule, or we will face judgment for our sins. There gonna be parts of revelation gonna be really hard to read. They’re not hard for believers, because we have been spared this coming judgment. Very hard to read as you’re thinking about the people you know and love who do not know Jesus. The point of these visions is to open our eyes. It’s a little bit like maybe you had this at your high school or something before homecoming or prom, they would do the drunk driving presentation, and like I remember from us, at least they, like, brought a car in that had been told people had died, kind of thing. It was not meant to be fun to read or to see to hear, but it was meant to make you think so, that you would choose wisely in light of what could be coming otherwise. And that is what Revelation is trying to do for us here, because Jesus will judge, because he is the judge. And once again, verse eight, we’re given everything we need to know about him to face the varied trials that are coming our way. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. That’s the first letter of the Greek alphabet, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. In other words, he’s the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And he holds everything in between as well. He holds history in his hands. He also is and was and will come, because he is also the eternal God, and He is the Almighty right, the eternal God who rules in power. So what does revelation produce in us? Then? Is a right understanding of who God is, and what our response to him should be, which is worship, worship. And really, that’s what we get in the last question as well, more worship because we have more understanding of who Jesus is, because that is the last question, the who question, who is revealed. Let me read the rest of chapter one for us, verses nine to 20,
I John your brethren, companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. Was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s day, I was in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said, right on a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me, and when I turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. And among the lamp stands was something like a son of man, someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white, like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I was dead, and now look, I’m alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death. And Hades write, therefore what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later, the mystery of the mystery of the seven stars that you saw on my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp stands is this, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. Alright? So we get kind of the end of our Prolog there in verse eight. And so verse nine is, is the beginning of the book proper, the the meat of Revelation, and John sets the stage for the first vision that he has. He’s on the island of Patmos, little island off the west coast of Turkey, and he is there because of his testimony, because of the Word of God. That is most likely. He has been exiled to Patmos because he continues to preach the gospel of Christ Jesus. What that means then is that John gets it. John understands what the seven churches are facing. And so he says, I am your brother. That’s getting at our common adoption in Christ, that we are now children’s children of the Father and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ. So I’m your brother and companion in the suffering, right? It means he experienced this persecution too, because he’s just been exiled. He knows what this imperial cult in western Turkey is like, that there really. Pro Rome, and they’re really against anybody who says somebody else like Jesus, say is king. But look at how this is phrased. I find this so fascinating, like what a phrase I am your companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, suffering and kingdom. And when you think about it, these are the two sides of the Christian experience in this life. We are heirs of God, heirs of his kingdom with Christ Himself, and we will reign with Jesus forever. And at the same time we are subject to trials and tribulations, the world will hate us like it hated our Christ. And so the main application of the revelation is is kind of bringing those two together. It’s perseverance, right? Faithful and patient endurance that are ours in Christ, Jesus, you will not patiently endure unless you have both of these truths held together in tension, like if you got kingdom and not suffering, you got a theology of glory without a theology of the cross, you will be disappointed by this world. You will think God should be doing more for you than he is, and you will quit. You will give up. And at the same time, if you think this world is just suffering and there’s no kingdom to come, well that’s just gonna breed hopelessness. Of course, you need both together. You need a quote from James Hamilton in his commentary on Revelation. You need this understanding. He says, Your Best Life is not now. Your best life will begin when the skies are split by the shout of the archangel, when you patiently endure whatever afflictions you face in your life, you follow in the footsteps of the Old Testament, prophets, the Lord Jesus and his disciples. That’s what we are called to. So John gets it. John gets all of that, what the seven churches and all of us must endure, and why we would choose to endure it. So there’s John on Patmos in exile. It’s the Lord’s Day. It’s Sunday, and he’s in the spirit. By the way, that phrase, being in the spirit, it’s going to be a major marker in Revelation. It could show up four times. That’s weird, right? Four? That’s not a symbolic number, I’m sure. And each time, it’s going to start a new major section, a new vision that’s coming, we’ll actually get the next one next week, because we’re skipping chapters two and three, since we already did them. So what happens when he’s in the Lord’s day in the Spirit, he hears a loud voice like a trumpet. That is, of course, the voice of the Almighty Exodus 19 when God reveals Himself to Israel at Sinai. Guess what it sounds like trumpets, right? So that’s it, except here it’s Jesus speaking. So we are reminded once again that Jesus is Himself God, and John is told to write this vision to seven specific churches. So we keep saying they’re for all of us. You know, anyone who’s got ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church is yes, but this book was for them too. It was written to them, specifically, seven church, real churches in a real context. That’s going to help us read this book without falling into what one commentator called newspaper eschatology. Is there? Some people want to read Revelation with the newspaper open so they can go, what’s being fulfilled, what’s being fulfilled, what’s being fulfilled, really reached its peak, like between 1960 and 1990 and by the way, go back and read those and see how dumb they sound now, because they’re all about how this was gonna happen in 1988 and stuff. And here we are in 2025 almost at 2024, 2025, didn’t happen. So slow your roll, right. Okay, put the newspaper away. Understand what it’s saying to these seven churches. It has to make sense to them. This was written to first century Turkey, not 21st century America. Gotta keep that in mind. John does what we would all do. He turns around to see who is speaking, and he has his first vision. We get seven golden lamp stands taken from Zechariah, chapter four, verse two, it’s a temple vision, and Zechariah says, I see a solid gold lamp stand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it. So it’s a single candelabra that’s right there in the temple of God, although here Zechariah is seeing it in a vision. It represents Israel seven. Wow, that sounds cool, right? Like symbol the whole nation of Israel. It is one lamp stand, because Israel is one nation. We now have seven lamp stands because there are many churches. Yes, we can comprise one global church, but these are seven separate churches, and there is one among the lamp stands. That means that Jesus is with his people. Mike. Reached Matthew 28 for us just a couple weeks ago. And Jesus says, The the promise that he closes with is, I am with you always to the end of the age. Here he is with his people among the lamp stands. Jesus is with us even now. So the the one that he sees among the lamp stands is one like a Son of Man. Again, that’s from Daniel 713, we already read that he’s dressed in a priestly robe, just like the one who’s speaking in the vision in Daniel chapter 10. And Kyle told us at that point that that was christophany, meaning an appearance of Christ, because it’s described exactly how Jesus is described here. So this priestly robe, underlining His purity, he’s got a golden sash, which is what the priests wore. It’s also what the prophets often wore. He’s got white hair. Who else has white hair in Daniel? Not the one like the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, that the one like the Son of Man is approaching, isn’t that interesting? Here we have the Son of Man distinct from the Ancient of Days, and yet, like him, sounds like the Trinity to me, doesn’t it? So he is not the father, but he is god of God, very God, a very God, as the Athanasian Creed says it, he is himself, the second member of the Triune God. He’s got feet like bronze that’s glowing like it’s on fire, strength, sure, beauty, probably, I don’t know. He got a voice like rushing waters that would certainly seem to indicate his authority. He’s got a face shining like the sun. That’s His Majesty. All of those images, by the way, are taken from Ezekiel, chapter one, which we’ll look at next week. He holds the churches in his hand, these seven stars, right? What’s he doing there? That’s actually not from the Old Testament. The other place we’re going to draw imagery from is Rome,
so on, Domitian, whose Emperor at the time, domitians coins, Domitian is holding seven stars in his hand to show Rome’s universal rule. Now, if you know anything about Rome, you know they ruled the Mediterranean basin. That’s it. They weren’t in India, they weren’t in China, they weren’t in South Africa. They weren’t in the America. Universal rule. Jesus actually has universal rule. He’s got all the stars. He’s got all the lamp stands in His hands. His eyes are like fire. Fire often accompanies an appearance of God, but also, because His eyes are like fire, it means that he can see the secrets of our hearts and burn away our impurities. And there’s a sword coming from his mouth that is the authority of His word, of course, to bring salvation or to declare judgment, like we talked about last week in Jeremiah chapter one, the word of God, it can build up or tear down. We know it’s his word, because this imagery of the sword is used elsewhere. Ephesians, six, of course, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, or Hebrews 412, and 13. For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered, revealed, by the way, same word and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Note again, by the way, this is symbolic. Jesus does not have a literal sword coming out of his mouth. And so we once again see the danger of reading Revelation literally, unless it’s impossible. No, we’re going to continue to read symbolism as symbols drawing in the Old Testament. But what just happened? Like what just happened in all that? I know we ran through that quickly. John truly had a vision of Jesus. And then it makes sense the vision he drew on the Old Testament Daniel Zechariah Ezekiel, because his mind is steeped in the Word of God. And so he describes the vision in these terms, in order to encourage us, to explain it to us, because what we need to persevere faithfully is a vision of Jesus. We don’t need times and dates. We need trust. I love the way Herman bavinck says this in his reformed dogmatics, one of the greater theologians ever to live. And he talks about the relationship between eschatology and Christology. Eschatology, study of the End Times, last things, Christology, study of Christ babbing says this. He says eschatology is rooted in Christology, and is itself Christology. I love that. He says, You want to know the last things look at Jesus. So eschatology is itself. Christology, the teaching of the final, complete triumph of Christ and His kingdom over all his enemies. Let’s keep that in mind as we read. We need to know Jesus better, not left behind better. It. Well, what happens next? Exactly what you’d expect if you saw someone like this. John falls over like He’s dead. He’s got an Isaiah six moment. Woe is me. I’m undone. Okay? Like just good time to die at this point. So Jesus, what the angel does to Daniel when he has his vision, right? Jesus touches him to restore him, and says, Don’t be afraid. Which I find interesting. Jesus is not saying, don’t be afraid because I’m not terrifying because he is no one can see God and live. Scripture tells us so it’s not because he’s not terrifying, but because he’s on our side if we trust in Him. And CS Lewis, as is often the case, explains this better than anyone. When the Pevensey children first hear about Aslan and discover that he’s a giant lion, and Susan says, I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. And Mrs. Beaver says that you will, dearie. And make no mistake, there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking. They’re either braver than most, or else just silly. And Lucy, who’s always the voice of reason in Narnia says, Then he isn’t safe, and Mr. Beaver says famous quote, safe. Course, he isn’t safe, but he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you. And that’s exactly right. It’s exactly what we get here. Is Jesus safe, no, but he’s good, and he’s the king, I tell you, and that’s good enough for us. We are only safe in his presence when we trust because, of course, Jesus must judge our rebellion. And so that rebellion will either be punished in Christ on the cross or not, in which case will be punished in us. And so that is the plea to those of you who are here today still waffling on the issue of Christ, you can either leave terrified, or you can leave trusting. You don’t have to be afraid when you see Jesus as He is, if you will receive Him as Lord and Savior, and then what does Jesus give us? More Christology. I’m the first and the last, which means again, he holds the middle also, which is where we are. And he says, I’m the living one. I was dead, and now look, I’m alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death. And Hades. Hades conquered death for us. He holds the keys to the grave. That’s what we need again. Imagine you’re one of these seven churches. You’re experiencing persecution. Members of your church have already been put to death, like Antipas in Pergamon, and you’re thinking to yourself, What if Rome kills us and Jesus says they killed me too? How’d that work out for them? Right? It turned out all right. So we can persevere in worship. That’s what the seven churches need to know. That’s what every church needs to know, which is why that last paragraph John is supposed to write all this stuff down, send him to us, explains the symbols we’re talking about, the seven churches we kind of talked through all that last summer. But when we pull this together, our big idea, just as we close, fear turns to worship. Pull perseverance when we see who Jesus is, right, we exchange fear for worship and perseverance when we see who Jesus is. Now, what fear? There are two fears, right? There’s the external fear of persecution, but there’s the internal fear temptation to sin and the fact that we’re going to have to stand before the living God. But if we look at Jesus’s person and work who he is and what he’s done for us, cast out all fear. Cast out fear of both so that we press on. We keep his word, we take his vision to heart, we stride forward in unceasing worship with the kind of perseverance that Paul talks about very end of his life. This is in Second Timothy, last letter he writes before he is martyred for his faith. And he says, I fought the good fight, right? I finished the race all that stuff. And he says, Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day, not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing, everybody who loves and is longing for Christ to come again, which is in contrast, by the way, to Dimas, two verses later, Who left the church left Jesus because He loves this present world. You see everything we’re talking about today. It’s a question of loves. That’s all it is. Are you gonna love this world and what it offers? Are you gonna love Jesus and the world that he is bringing that future, perfect, consummated kingdom. So as we close, what do you love most? If you just love God for what you think he can give you, you will not persevere, because the first time he doesn’t give you what you want, the first time you face trials, you will. Quit. So ask yourself even now, do you love God’s goods, or do you love God’s goodness? God for who he is? Do you love Jesus? So that you love His appearing and you long for it with a terrified awe and a worshipful perseverance? If so, hear this word, believe it, take it to heart. Let’s pray now, Lord, we come before you trembling. We know that we should feel terror in your presence, because we know who we are sinners, and we know who you are, the sinless Savior as we sang earlier, the righteous judge that Paul talked about, the one with eyes like fire and feet like burning, bronze Lord, how could we stand in Your presence? We couldn’t, unless you came to love us, to free us from our sins by your blood. That is what you have done, and that is why we worship You, Lord. So help us to worship you now, to love you now, and in worship and love, to persevere no matter what this world throws our way, we pray for Your name’s sake. Amen.

© 2024 Cityview Community Church

Top