Revelation Chapter One Talk. BIG IDEA: Come to know Jesus unveiled as the glorified Christ.

Transcription

1 Revelation Chapter One Talk BIG IDEA: Come to know Jesus unveiled as the glorified Christ. Introduction A kindergarten teacher told her students to draw a picture of what was important to them. In the back row Johnny began to work hard over his drawing. Everybody else finished and handed in their picture but Johnny didn t. He was still drawing. The teacher walked to the back row and put her hand on Johnny s shoulder and asked: Johnny, what are you drawing? Johnny didn t look up; he just worked harder on his picture. Then, he said: God. Gently, the teacher said, no one knows what God looks like. Johnny answered, They will when I am through. Question number 9 in your homework asked you to draw in color a picture of the glorified Christ whom John saw in his vision. Like Johnny, did you work hard on your drawing? Or, did you just avoid the question because you are not artistic. I am not artistic, but I wanted to try to bring to imagine what John saw. When I got out my crayons to select colors based on the text, I soon realized that there were no colors in the pack which were adequate. There was not a white lustrous enough to depict the glistening whiteness of hair like snow. There was not a good color to show feet glowing like bronze being refined in a fire. What color or colors could even come close to the brilliance of a face shining like the sun? In fact, we cannot even look directly at the sun without harming our eyes. Then I realized that when John saw the vision of Christ, he fell at His feet as a dead man. I realized that not even the greatest artist could produce a picture of the deity of Christ which would instantly knock us to our feet in worship and awe. I thought about how difficult it was for John to describe what he saw. John could easily have described Jesus in the flesh. John was on the road with Jesus three years. He saw Jesus hungry, thirsty, tired totally human. Then there were times when the deity of Christ flashed. John saw Jesus turn wine into water at the wedding at Cana. At the pool by the Sheep s gate in Jerusalem John saw Jesus heal a man who had been ill 38 years. At the words of Jesus the man took up his pallet and walked. John saw Jesus feed five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish. John saw Jesus give sight to a man born blind. John had a sneak preview of Jesus deity at the transfiguration. At Bethany, John saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. And John saw the resurrected Jesus appear in the locked room to the disciples. Later in Galilee John saw Jesus on the shore, grilling fish for them to eat with Him. But how does one describe the glorified Christ, the son of God, who appears in all the majesty of deity? John has done his best to describe Jesus unveiled. Did you notice how many times John used the word like in his description? Give examples: one like a son of man, his head and his hair were like..., His feet were like..., His voice was like... John saw Christ in heaven and there were no words to truly describe Jesus. In chapter one Jesus describes Himself as the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which indicates that He is the beginning and the end of all things. My question for you today: Is Jesus your reason for living? Is He your A to Z? Do you truly realize that without Him you have nothing? He formed you in your Mother s womb you are fearfully and

2 wondrously made. He sustains your life. Without Him you have nothing that can change your life or save you from sin. He determines the length of your days. Jesus told John: I have the keys of death and of Hades. Christ decides who lives and who dies, and when. What are you living for? Your husband? Your children? Your grandchildren? Maybe you are living to reach life goals such as building your dream home, reaching retirement age in order to travel. Perhaps you want to see your children raised and launched into adulthood, or see a grandchild marry. My prayer is that as we study Revelation we will come to know Jesus as our all in all, our A to Z. When you can say that Jesus is your reason for living, then you have become Jesus bondservant. Let s get started for the unveiling of Christ has been given by God the Father for you and for me. Our Big Idea: Come to know your savior as the glorified Christ. 1. Verses 1-3: The Title Page You can think of the first three verses of chapter one as the Title Page for the book. Like a modern book we are given the name of the book The Revelation of Jesus Christ. We are given the writer s name: John. But what is unique for this book compared to any other book is the promise of blessing for those who read this book and obey it! (title, writer, promise) Verse 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond servant John, (1:1) Notice that from the opening words of the first verse we get the title for the book: REVELATION. Revelation is a translation of the Greek word apokalypsis which means unveiling or uncovering. And from the opening verse we learn that Jesus Christ is the subject of the entire book. The phrase of Jesus Christ can be translated from Jesus Christ or about Jesus Christ or belonging to Jesus Christ. All are true. The revelation comes from Jesus Christ He is the source. The revelation is about Jesus; He is subject of the book. And the revelation belongs to Him because God, the Father, gave it to Him. The revelation is Jesus possession and He is pleased to reveal the revelation to His servants. Notice the steps in the order of communication. God gave the revelation to Jesus. Jesus gave it to His angel. The angel gave it to John and John wrote it down to communicate the revelation to others. God >>> Jesus >>> Angel>>> John >>> Servants This message came from heaven, from God the Father, through His Son Jesus. Then the revelation was given to an angel who gave it to John. John sent the revelation to Jesus servants. The writer of the book is the apostle John. Three times in chapter one the writer gives his name merely as John. And he will again give his name in the last chapter simply as John. As the sole surviving apostle John would be so well known that he would have no need to do more than give his bare name without any identifying information

3 The angel mentioned here is not named. Many believe it is the angel Gabriel who brought messages to Daniel, to Mary, and to Zechariah the father of John the Baptist. But we do not know. The word show is significant. The revelation is by words but also by means of word pictures-- by symbols which are direct and sometimes indirect representations of reality. For me, the word pictures, the symbols, are special. While words can change meaning over time, word pictures do not change their meaning. Think of how visuals of clouds, mountains, stars, bears, eagles, never change in meaning. Think of Revelation as John making for us a video in words of what he saw and heard. Observations of the phrase: the things which must soon take place Notice the word must in verse 1. It is a word that means the message is of utmost importance. It is urgent. The word must also emphasizes the absolute certainty of the events to come. Notice the word soon. This word does not imply that Jesus is coming back soon. It implies that the action will be sudden when it comes. The word soon implies that the end time events will happen quickly, in rapid succession when they begin. Observations on the reference to John as a bondservant. The word bondservant, or doulos means slave and is the term used by Paul, James, Peter and Jude when they speak of their position or relationship to Christ. Jude 1:1: A bondservant of Jesus Christ. II Peter 1:1: A bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ. James 1:1: a bondservant of God and of Jesus Christ. They see themselves as sold out to Christ and in His service. Jesus is their reason for living. Verse 2: who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. In verse 2 we see that what John saw was a communication from Jesus and about Jesus. John is using language from the courtroom. John is a reliable witness; he is reliably testifying to everything he saw and heard. Revelation as a book claims to be the Word of God. Think of Jesus and John as the two witnesses to the truth of the book of Revelation. READING, HEARING, AND KEEPING Verse 3: Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near. There are seven beatitudes in Revelation. This is the first. The other six: 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14. The Revelation was to be read at once and aloud to the seven churches. At the time of the writing of Revelation there was little literacy one person, the reader, read aloud to many listeners. Both the hearers and the reader were to take the book to heart. The verb heed can be translated keep or observe. The promised blessing applies not only to the reader and to those who hear the book read aloud but to every generation of followers of Jesus who read the book and heed it. Note that the revelation is called prophecy.

4 2. Verses 4-8 are the greeting. Verses 4-6: John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. John is writing to seven churches in Asia. As you study Revelation don t forget that Revelation was written as an urgent letter to struggling churches churches enduring persecution. Refer to the map. Asia does not mean the continent of Asia or all of Asia Minor. The area of the seven churches was in what we call modern Turkey today. We know that John had been the pastor at Ephesus. It appears that he would have been known to all the churches in the area. (Map) There were certainly more than seven churches that existed in 95 AD and more than seven churches that knew the apostle John. But John was told to write to seven specific churches. As we will see in chapters two and three, these churches were representative of the state of the churches at John s time and are representative of churches in our time. The number seven. In this verse we have mention of seven churches and seven Spirits. The number seven will appear 54 times in Revelation. In the Bible it is the number associated with completion and with perfection. In Revelation we find seven spirits, seven churches, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven seals on the scroll, seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb, seven angels and seven trumpets, seven thunders, etc. It appears that the number seven had meaning which was apparent to the people of John s day, but is not as clear to us. However, based on the use of the number seven in OT Scripture, it seems most likely that the number seven denotes completion and fullness when used in Revelation. The greeting is from the trinity God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Notice the word from appears three times. And all three persons of the Godhead extend grace and peace. Grace is the Greek word charis a form of greeting. Peace is the Hebrew word shalom, also a greeting. God the Father is referred to first as: Him who is and who was and who is to come. The eternal and unchanging nature of God is emphasized by the phrase. God the Holy Spirit is referred to by the phrase from the seven spirits who are before His throne. The seven spirits may be understood to refer to the Holy Spirit in His perfect fullness. If we look to Scripture we see the fullness of the Holy Spirit described in Isaiah 11:2: The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

5 Vs. 5: and from Jesus Christ Christ is mentioned last in the greeting which is unusual. Perhaps the placement is because Christ is the subject of the book. Christ is first described by three titles. The faithful witness. The firstborn of the dead The ruler of the kings of the earth. Let s examine each one for its meaning. 1. Faithful witness. Christ is the only trustworthy witness of the facts of this book because the revelation is about Him and from Him. He testifies of Himself. In John s gospel Jesus said: John 8:14: Even if I testify about Myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; and in John 8:18: I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me. 2. The Firstborn from the dead. Jesus died and then rose in triumph from the grave. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Firstborn is the Greek word protokos, which implies priority and sovereignty. Jesus is the leader of all who will rise triumphantly from the dead to live with Him forever. And right now Jesus is in heaven actively working to accomplish the Will of His Father for this age. 3. He is ruler of the kings of the earth. This probably refers to Christ s role after His second coming which is in chapter 19. However, Christ s kingship is clearly acknowledged in the New Testament. Read this: Phil 2:9-11. Next Christ is praised for three things He has done for us. (1:5-6) He loved us, He released us from our sins by His blood, He made us to be a kingdom of priests to His God and Father 1. He loved us enough to die for us and He is still loving us according to the verb tense of the word love in verse 5. Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 2. He released us from our sins by His blood. The blood is so important although rarely emphasized today. In the OT God taught His people that the life of the flesh is in the blood... (Lev. 17:11) and they were taught that the blood from the sacrifice was the means for atonement for sins. When Christ shed his blood in physical death He gave His life, His blood to make an atonement for our sins. I Peter 1:18-19: knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from our forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 3. He made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. When I read this phrase, I immediately think of I Peter 2 which describes Jesus as the livening cornerstone and believers as the living stones. I Peter 2:5: you, also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Verse 9: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people for

6 God s own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Verse 7 tells us of Christ s second coming, which will be glorious. Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. The clouds are not ordinary clouds, they are the shekinah glory. His second coming will be visible. This triumphant return of Jesus is based on three attributes of His deity. Christ says I am Alpha and Omega, which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. We say from A to Z to indicate completeness, absoluteness, perfection. An alphabet stores and communicates knowledge. Christ knows all: He is omniscient. He has all understanding and wisdom. Christ says He is the Lord God who is, who was and who is to come. Christ is omnipresent in terms of time. He existed in eternity past, and is currently present everywhere at all times and will exist in eternity future. And Christ states that He is Almighty. Christ is omnipotent, all powerful. Eight times in Revelation the term Almighty occurs to emphasize that God s power is supreme over every person, every object and every event. Not one molecule is outside of His dominion. 3. The Vision: 1:9-20 This section begins with I, John and it is the third time in this chapter that John refers to himself as the human author. John tells us in verse 9 that he is on the island of Patmos. Patmos is located off the coast of Tukey and is a barren, rocky island no more than ten miles long and less than six miles wide. It served as a penal colony for Rome. John was exiled to Patmos as a prisoner because of his witness to Jesus. He identifies himself as a fellow brother who is enduring suffering because of his faith. Like other brethren John refused to worship the emperor Domitian as God. Verse 10: I was in the spirit on the Lord s Day... In verse 10 we learn that John was not dreaming when he had the vision. He was awake but was supernaturally transported out of the normal experience of the senses. The Holy Spirit empowered his senses to receive the revelation. Two meanings are given for the Lord s Day. It may be a reference to Sunday, the day to worship in New Testament times. Literally it is translated Lordian day. Some Bible scholars think it refers to The Day of the Lord which is a familiar expression in both the OT and NT. Thus the idea for those who hold this meaning is that John was taken, not bodily, but through his senses to that future day of the Lord when God will pour out His judgment on the earth. From the loud voice that sounded like a trumpet, John heard the command to write down what you see and send it to the seven churches. This is the first of 12 commands for John to write what he saw. When John turned to see the source of the voice He saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands someone like a Son of Man. The expression Son of Man refers to Daniel 7:13. In that Scripture Son of Man is the title given to the Messiah who is to come. One like a son of man tells us about Christ s shape. Jesus maintains His essential humanity even in His glorified state.

7 In the introduction we observed how many times John used the word like in his description of the glorified Christ. Remember, the vision is not literal, it is symbolic. Think how bizarre it would be if a real sword was coming out of Christ s mouth. Although no artist could paint the picture John described, we can understand the symbols. We have looked at Christ s shape and noted that this is the same Jesus that John followed as a disciple. He is God in the flesh. Clothing. At the cross, Jesus was stripped of his garments and the centurions gambled for His clothing. On Patmos, the glorified Christ who is in heaven appears in the garments of a priest. Christ is dressed in a long robe with a golden sash around his chest. This links Christ with the high priest of Israel. (Ex. 39:2-4) Hair. The whiteness of the hair corresponds to that of the Ancient of Days described in Daniel 7:9. Christ is described as being like the Ancient of Days which is a reference to God the Father. Therefore God the Son is seen as having the same purity and eternity as God the Father. White hair was also a symbol in the ancient world of the wisdom that comes with age. Eyes. The eyes like a flame of fire are thought to describe Christ s piercing judgment of sin. (Rev. 2:18) It may also refer to the fact that Christ sees everything there is to see (Psalm 139). Feet. In verse 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace. One of the Messianic Psalms announces that god the Father says to His Son: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. (Psalm 11:1) The picture is of a powerful king who has subdued his enemies and they are know just a footstool for His feet. Victorious kings symbolized their victories by placing their feet on the necks of the defeated kings. Voice. His voice was like the sound of many waters. Think of the sound of Niagara Falls. There is no use in talking back to the thunderous sound of the falls. And it is a sound that cannot be ignored. The Living Word of God our Bible must be constantly heard and obeyed daily. Hands. Jesus hold seven stars in his right hand. The stars are explained as the angels or the messengers of the seven churches. Some interpreters see these as guardian angles for each congregation. Others see these in the sense of human messengers--those who were to convey the message of Revelation to the churches. This would mean they are the pastors of the churches and that Christ holds these leaders in His care and protection. Weapon. The strangest symbol is the picture of a two-edged sword coming out of Christ s mouth. The sword described is a long sword for battle. The sword stands for Jesus power to conquer His enemies. Revelation 19:15: out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

8 Face: The face of Christ is shining like the sun in all its brilliance. When John had the sneak preview of Christ s full deity in the transfiguration (Matthew 17:2), Jesus face shone like the sun. John made the response humans have to the full and direct appearance of God in His full deity John fell at Christ s feet in worship. Verse 17: When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And he placed His right hand on me, saying do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Jesus our creator and comforter assured John that He has power over time I am the first and the last. Jesus assured John that He has power over life and death. Jesus is the Living One, creator and sustainer of all life. Those living in Jesus will never die. (John 11:26) Jesus has unending life and the power to extend eternal life to all who trust in Him. Keys are for opening or locking doors. Death and Hades are limited in their power by Jesus who is the keyholder. (Hades is the Old Testament equivalent to Sheol the place of the unsaved dead.) Do you realize that Christ decides who lives, who dies, and when? The last judgment in Revelation 20 expands on this theme of Jesus power. He will send into the lake of fire all those who have rejected Him, all those whose names are not recorded in the Book of Life. Conclusion. I want to close by asking you again: Is Jesus your reason for living? Is He your A to Z? As I worked on the questions for Revelation this summer, I attached an attribute of Jesus for every letter of our alphabet. Example: A is for Almighty. B is for the One who bestows Blessings. C is for Creator. D is for Deliverer. E is for Eternal. F is for Faithful. G is for Grace. H is for Holy. I is for Infinite. I challenge you to attach an attribute of Jesus to each letter of the alphabet. Then each week, take one letter (one attribute) and ponder when and how you have experienced this attribute of Jesus in your life. For example, if you see Jesus as almighty as all powerful-- then identify a time when you or your circumstances were changed by His supernatural power. I know that by the time you get to the last letter of the alphabet, you will have come to know and worship Jesus as the glorified Christ.

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