Revelation 1:4-20
Aaron Campbell
March 24,2013
“SEE” illustration from Chapman family - “Beauty will Rise” CD notes
The Chapmans were desperate to SEE... SEE that their little girl
was OK... SEE that God had not left the picture...
God wants His Church to SEE for the same reason - He wants His
people to SEE that He has not left the building! SEE that He is WITH His people.
Context of Revelation - a church facing significant persecution.
Question arises - Where is Jesus now? How does a crucified and ascended Jesus fit
into the world they found themselves living and struggling in?
God wants them to SEE that Jesus is WITH His people.
Revelation - an apocalyptic book filled with many pictures, much
symbolism, and lots of Old Testament...
•
unusual order: is-was-is to come, not just
saying He’s eternal but highlighting location: “He is here right now. He was
here before. He is coming in the future
to make all things right.”
•
And from Jesus Christ the faithful
witness - Being faithful witnesses is the precise thing they are finding
themselves under persecution for
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The firstborn of the dead - We are with
Him in His death and He precedes us in resurrection.
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And the ruler of the kings on earth - a game
changer. When they find themselves under
Domitian’s thumb it helps to know that Jesus is not a frightened bystander
watching this persecution unfold. He is
the King of Kings! He is ruler over
Domitian!
Rev 1:5 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins
by his blood 6 and made us a
kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will
wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the
Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the
Almighty.”
•
He is making some pretty clear allusions to
Daniel 7 - with some subtle differences.
Earlier in Daniel 7 Daniel sees four beasts rise out of the sea and
given dominion for a season. Then...
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days
took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.”
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of
heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and
was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
one that shall not be destroyed. -Daniel
7:9,13-14
•
John peels back the veil on the culmination of
history - which should be no small encouragement for those who are in Christ
Jesus, especially for those reeling from trial and tribulation!
How else will John reveal that He is with His
Church?
1:9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
•
John is simply referring to the common Christian
experience: In this world we will have trouble/tribulation, which can make the
Kingdom we are part of hard to SEE and recognize, which is why we need to
patiently endure.
•
Where Paul’s visit to the Third Heaven seems
primarily to be for his benefit, it is clear that what John SEEs is for the
churches. He is SEEing this so that they
can SEE - so that WE can SEE.
So what does John SEE?
12 Then I turned to see the
voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with
a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his
head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of
fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and
his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held
seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like
the sun shining in full strength.
•
much of this is symbolic - John is not
necessarily describing what Jesus looks
like but what He is like. He wants us to feel what He felt
when he saw what he saw.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his
feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am
the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am
alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write
therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to
take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you
saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
•
Remember who this is that is on the floor right
now: John saw Jesus transfigured - He watched with his own eyes as his teacher
chatted with Moses and Elijah. This is
the disciple called “the beloved”
because of the favor and closeness he had with Jesus. This was the one reported reclining on the
Savior’s breast during the last supper.
The one Jesus entrusted the care of His mother Mary to while hanging on
the cross. He outran Peter to be the
first disciple to the tomb. He watched Jesus be crucified, He dined with
Him after the resurrection, He watched Jesus ascend! If anyone could boast of an intimate personal
relationship with the risen Jesus it was John...but there is no boasting at the
moment of this reunion! Instead this
most favored apostle is laid out as a dead man because of what he SEEs. What he saw was fearsome! This view of the resurrected Jesus was much
different than the last time He laid eyes on Jesus!
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lampstands and stars - each represent the
churches (ch 2-3 give the context for understanding this)
Again John recalls images from Daniel - ch 10 this time with a
few more distinctions:
I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in
linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like
beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming
torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of
his words like the sound of a multitude.
Then he said to me, “The prince of the kingdom of Persia
withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to
help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you
understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision
is for days yet to come.”
Then he said, “But now I will return to fight against the prince
of Persia; there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael,
your prince.”
-Daniel 10:5-6, 13-14,
20-21
•
John gives this picture of the Son of Man
combined with the Ancient of Days - the true God-Man, Jesus Christ - standing
among the churches with a sword coming out of His mouth.
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Again, I don’t think Jesus really has eyes that
are on fire or a sword for a tongue, but John wants us to see that the
resurrected Jesus means business - this is no “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”
John is picturing!
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This searcher of hearts, full of consuming
holiness and boundless wisdom is the perfect priest standing for his people
before the Father and the perfect king defending them against the devil by his
invincible Word!
•
Revelation’s visions show us how things are, not
necessarily how they look to the physical eye.
Where is Jesus in the midst of the trials and tribulations the
churches are undergoing?
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For all the questions the Dan 10 passage raises,
it makes one thing clear about the Son of Man - He is fighting on Israel’s
behalf!
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John reveals Him to be holding the churches in
His mighty hand.
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He is also standing in their midst, and He is
fighting on their behalf!
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He is the first and the last, He is the Risen
One, the One who holds the keys to Death and Hades and He has not forgotten His
people, He is in their midst, He is fighting their battles, and He will not let
them go!
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The stars in His hand emphasize His
transcendence and His protective possessiveness.
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The lampstands highlight his immanence - His
nearness and presence with them in their trial.
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The glorious Son of Man lives among His
congregations, even in their suffering; He holds their lives in His hand, and
He comes to John because He wants His people to SEE Him.
This privilege of SEEing Jesus’ sovereignty over, and presence
in, the midst of trial and tribulation wasn’t just for 7 churches 1900 years
ago.
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He is still
with His people in their suffering. He
holds US in His almighty hand. He will make all things right.
•
No matter how dark things look in the moment,
the hands that were pierced for you are right now holding you and won’t let you
go.
•
You may not be able to SEE it clearly now but a
day is coming when that hand will wipe every tear from your eyes.
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No matter what our trial or distraction might be
today, let us pray together for eyes to SEE.
Questions
Where do you need to SEE God as WITH you today?
How does John’s picture of Jesus in Revelation 1 echo last week’s
message from Hebrews of what can and cannot be shaken?
How does SEEing Jesus in Revelation affect the way you look this
week at His journey toward the cross and grave?
How does/would SEEing this Jesus WITH you, affect how you walk
through any current or looming trials?
Who else can you encourage with this picture of Jesus?
