The Vision of Jesus
2 Reactions: undue excitement; abject fear
undue excitement: curiosities are peaked, as though the primary and sole purpose of Revelation is to satisfy our curiosities about the future; to enable us to be code-crackers about every current event; or to assure us and bolster our pride that our way of thinking is correct over and against what those other people think – whether they be liberals whose view of the bible is too sophisticated even for the bible; or whether they be literal fundamentalists whose view of the bible we think isn’t sophisticated enough even if they may approach it with more faith than we do;
But Revelation isn’t given to merely satisfy our curiosities about end-times-road-maps and timelines; or as the key to crack the codes of ever current event; certainly not to instill a spiritual pride and inertia in us that we are at risk of whenever we approach the bible only to be more convinced that we have the right theology and others have the wrong;
Revelation is prophecy – v3 – but we often think that “prophecy” simply means prediction – but when you read biblical prophecy – prediction certainly is a part of that – but it’s only one small part of what Biblical Prophecy is – Prophecy is when God addresses his people through his spokesman, so that they could say “Thus says the LORD” – and much of the content of that word from God is 1) God calling His people to faithfulness 2) in the midst of present hardships, 3) in the light of future realities – but often general, large-strand realities as I’m convinced Revelation primarily deals with.
undue excitement; abject fear.
EX: Public Library – “I used to read the bible; but there’s one book I’d never read; it terrifies me.”
And just as much as Revelation isn’t there to simply satisfy our curiosities, neither is it there to terrify all who read it;
v3 – it’s there to bring blessing to those who hear it and take it to heart –
Revelation is for blessing. And of course, when we reject any of God’s word or God’s message of salvation or God’s call to repentance, we ought not to feel comfort and peace – terror is then a good and right response – but for those who embrace the message of Revelation – for you, the purpose of this book is blessing, because the message of this book is encouragement because ultimately it is a message of hope & comfort.
v1 – It is the revelation from Jesus – given to his servants (v4 – addressed to the church) and those who embrace that message are blessed by that message
It’s from Jesus, to those who love Jesus and at that time were suffering for Jesus.
Written to: a suffering Church
Message is: Persevere;
Basis for that message is: God will have the final victory
And, Written by: a fellow sufferer for Jesus.
John, (v4 – introduces himself simply as John, because he really needs no introduction – this is the disciple of Jesus and apostle of Jesus – the same one who wrote the gospel according to John and the letters of John in the NT) – received this revelation and wrote it down for the strengthening of the church – and so we ought to be strengthened when we read it today.
John – who at the time of receiving it, had been banished as an exile to the Island of Patmos because of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” – in other words – because of his faithfulness to those things; because of his standing firm and proclaiming of those things and unwillingness to shrink back or compromise from those things – and the result, was suffering –
And you might think that being banished to an island on the Mediterranean wouldn’t be so bad but this was not some kind of Island resort where he was being served a drink in a coconut in the sand by the pool; this was a rocky barren desolate place.
John, like all the other apostles, like many other Christians in his day and many others who would come after them in history – had a real faith, that didn’t vanish like the morning dew as soon as the heat of hardship came but persisted and persevered and was willing to suffer for Jesus; and he found strength to continue to persevere by this Revelation he receives –
Edwards: “Sufferings are part of the cost of being religious. He, therefore, that is not willing to meet this cost, never complies with the terms of religion…He that does not receive the gospel with all its difficulties, does not receive it as it is proposed to him. He that does not receive Christ with his cross as well as his crown, does not truly receive him at all.”
Revelation means “unveiling” – the picture is like a pulling back of the curtain that once obscured sight and understanding but now the true nature of things is revealed.
And that true nature of things, which is sometimes obscured by the ups and downs of life for the Church and for Christians in this world – the true nature of things is that Jesus has all power and authority and dominion and glory – and rules now and will have the final victory – and so we have every reason to not despair, every reason to have hope and confidence, every reason to hold on to him and keep holding him up.
and that true nature of things encourages John when the realities around him suggest otherwise; and he writes it to encourage the church – those who – v9 are his brothers and sisters and companions in suffering for the kingdom in patient endurance.
John wants his brothers in suffering to find strength to persevere through the hardships they were facing and would continue to face, until Jesus comes back for his Church.
Revelation shows the true nature of their struggle – that it is not a struggle against flesh and blood but they are involved in a spiritual battle;
And Revelation shows the true end of their struggle – that in the end, God wins (Seminary class).
It reminds them that in the end God wins; and that even dying in Christ as some of them would – that only ushers one into the glorious presence of Jesus;
and, knowing the outcome of the battle changes one’s attitude in the battle.
Jonathan Edwards:
“It is the greatest of all disadvantages to a soldier to have to go forth to battle without the hope of being able to conquer, but with the prevailing expectation of being overcome. As hope in the one case might be half the victory, so despondency in the other would be likely to ensure defeat.”
Knowing the outcome of the battle changes one’s attitude in the battle – it makes all the difference.
EX: Sports movies: losing; despair & hopelessness. But then they get a pep-talk which injects hope back into their hearts – so that they don’t give up but keep going because they can win this;
Of course, that’s wishful thinking; they don’t know the outcome; But Revelation is so precious but it isn’t wishful thinking; it’s the Word of God that assures the people of God that God will have the final victory – not matter what the apparent reality around us; we know that even when it appears the church will be snuffed by the darkness of the world, even when it feels like our faith is foolish and in vain; it is not; because we know that Jesus will come back; Jesus will conquer all his and our enemies; Jesus will vindicate and rescue his people; and until then Jesus will strengthen his people so that they can continue to stand firm in the battle.
Before I go on; I should say, that in this sermon series we’re only looking at the first 5 chapters of Revelation – the fairly non-controversial non-exciting non-terrifying parts – mainly focusing on the letters to the Churches in chapters 2 & 3.
And the reason we are doing that is that we just saw the brith of the NC Church in Acts – we just saw what the church is supposed to be and do; and here in this early part of Revelation, you see Jesus’ evaluation of the church some 60 years after its birth;
And if they needed Jesus’ encouragement & correction then, how much more do we.
And of course, all of the Bible is the Word of God – and we shouldn’t make too much of the red letters vs the black letters of our bibles – but there has always seemed to me to be something particularly weighty about Jesus personally addressing these churches – And John seems to think so to.
In these first chapters of Revelation, 7 specific churches which existed in Asia Minor at the end of the 1st Century (v4) – and so it was a letter that was circulated among them, and if you look ahead you can see, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus…Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, & Laodicea.
This letter addresses real, historical, situational issues & problems present in those churches at that time; but just like all the NT epistles, which were written to specific churches in specific situations, as divinely inspired writings they had bearing beyond those specific churches and contained God’s truth for the Church even to us today – similarly, these addresses to these 7 churches carried with them God’s message for the Church.
Stressed in 2 ways: 1) in a book that is highly symbolic and where numbers play a significant role in that symbolism, it can’t be a coincidence that there are 7 churches – 7 symbolized fullness and completeness – and so these churches though specific churches are meant to be representative of the Universal Church in all times and all places – and when we look at what Jesus says to them, we see that the struggles of Christians and churches – the contexts and situations might change, but the struggles that they faced are very familiar to what the struggles the church always and still today faces.
2) we see that every church is meant to listen to and benefit from what is said to each church – at the end of each address to each individual church (singular) Jesus says, “hear what the spirit says to the Churches (plural) –
So let’s listen to what the Spirit of Christ says to the Church.
Before we do that – that’s most of the overview and orientation to the book of Revelation I’m going to do – I’m going to do any more orientation or overview except for what’s relevant to chapter 1; someday we’ll continue through the more challenging parts of the book and I’ll do more then; but I know that won’t satisfy anybody – so I have a handout from a Sunday School class I did…
- John’s vision of Jesus
- The meaning of John’s vision
John’s vision of Jesus:
v10 – John hears a loud voice like a trumpet, v12 – he turns around to see the voice that was speaking to him – and that speaker, who we discover is Jesus – is described by John in vv13-16 –
we’ll come back to that description in a minute, but what I want to jump ahead to is John’s response – v17.
And remember, John knew Jesus; he knew him well, he followed him closely for a number of years as 1 of the 12 disciples – and surely if there is anyone familiar with Jesus; close to Jesus; anyone who could claim to be “buddy-buddy” with Jesus – it would be John.
And after all those years since Jesus ascended into heaven, you expect a different reunion than this – I’d expect John to be thrilled, pumped up, running up to Jesus and giving him a high-five –
but it’s a very different reaction than that; because Jesus doesn’t look anything like he did when John walked with him on earth; it’s the same Jesus; but without the veil of his humility masking his true identity and glory;
He sees Jesus not as he was in his humiliation but as he is now and forever in his exaltation – he sees Jesus in the fullness of his glory as universal King and Eternal God and Ultimate Judge; and he falls down as though dead; he is humbled; he is afraid.
“describing what Jesus is like; not what Jesus looks like”
And, you need to be careful picking it apart and analyzing it too much, because John is trying to describe the indescribable; he is really painting a picture of glory.
And the palate that he uses to paint that picture – is the OT.
This picture of Jesus is full of OT allusions and imagery; in fact, all of chapter 1 is; in fact, all of Revelation is (OT is the primary reference point for the symbolism of Revelation).
And so you see in this description of Jesus allusions to the son of Man in Daniel 7 & 10, and to Ezekiel’s vision of God on his chariot in Ezekiel 1
v13 – standing among 7 lamp stands (come back to that)
Robes to his feet – of a high priest
v14 – hair white as wool, white like snow – dignity and honor
eyes like blazing fire – the penetrating insight of the one who is sovereign and sees and knows all things;
v15 – feet like glowing bronze – strength and stability;
voice like the sound of rushing waters (waterfall) – his powerful and awe-inspiring speech
v16 – holding 7 stars in his hand (come back to that)
a sharp double-edged sword in his mouth – his divine & powerful & infallible judgment
To us this description of Jesus might be strange, weird; but to those fluent in the language and imagery of the OT, Jesus is glorious.
And often in the OT, prophets of the Lord were prepared for their calling as prophets by being given a vision of Jesus’ glory – it showed them who they were serving; and it showed them who they were in comparison.
And we don’t know what is going on in John’s mind – overwhelmed for sure – but possibly – probably – if it were me – thinking of all the things in his life that get more glory than Jesus and he is ashamed in the realization of how fleeting and foolish and empty they are in comparison to Jesus.
And how his view of Jesus has been just far too small.
But no more;
He is humbled; he is afraid; he realizes that “to stand as an equal would be the height of blasphemy” and so he falls to his face.
And I think that many of us could grow in cultivating a biblical and healthy fear of God and corresponding humility.
Jesus is not your buddy; God is not a God to be trifled with; he’s not a God of sentimental mush who exists simply to make you happy feel nice; God cannot be ignored; and the sole result of an encounter with Jesus is not sentimental warm-fuzzies.
We would benefit from having an encounter with Jesus that results in us being overwhelmed and undone – convicted of our sin & unworthiness; captivated by his majesty and overwhelmed by his glory and holiness and realizing that apart from him reaching out to us in grace, we can have nothing to do with the one we ultimately have to give all account to; resolved to lift him up above everything else in our lives; above ourselves;
such that Jesus becomes so real to us that we bow our lives before him, dying to ourselves, holding nothing back for ourselves but laying it all on the altar in service to him no matter what the cost, because we see that he is worth it all.
v17. Do not fear (familiar words).
And Jesus response to the one who fears him in humility; is comfort. Is the assurance that if we rightly fear Jesus – if he is given proper place in our lives – then we have nothing in the whole universe to fear.
v17 – the first & last (eternal, & stands above history – outside of it’s ups and downs and is sovereign over all of it)
v18 – the living one who conquered death – so that he can deliver us from death
then we know that there’s nothing to fear, because even death itself enables us to know and experience the high-point of Jesus’ victory for us.
v17 – Places his right hand on John’s shoulder – v16 in his right hand he held the seven stars)
the same hand which sovereignly rules over all the church – – and carries every concern and every burden of all the church – cares for John.
the hand of the eternal king and Glorious God and universal judge and transcendent Lord – reaches down low – to come near to you and, to lift us up.
Jesus puts his hand on John’s shoulder, and essentially says, “Everything will be ok.”
You’ve probably heard someone say that to you; you’ve probably said that to someone (if you’re a parent). But whenever you say that or someone says that to you – you can’t actually promise that.
The person saying that has no ability to assure the truth of that promise; but Jesus does. No matter what. Feel his hand on your shoulder, hear his words “Everything will be ok” and be lifted up.
John’s vision of Jesus;
the meaning of that vision – v20
It’s great when the Bible provides it’s own explanation as to its interpretation and meaning; but it’s not so great when that explanation is less than clear. And we have both of that here:
lampstands = churches (clear enough)
stars = angels of the churches. not so clear, no consensus among bible scholars
especially when you consider chapters 2-3 he addresses each letter to the angel of that church, but speaks to it as though it is the church itself – even rebuking and correcting – which would be odd if it were a literal angel.
Church viewed from earthly perspective (lampstands); vs church viewed from heavenly perspective (stars)
consistent with so much of Revelation – contrast between heavenly/spiritual reality vs earthly appearances.
lampstand – earthly appearance of church – scattered, sometimes dim, extinguishable;
stars – inextinguishable, held onto and ruled over by the sovereign hand of Jesus.
“Jesus is teaching John to link in his mind the church as he sees it: lamps that gleam here and there across the dark world, ever seemingly threatened by extinction; and the church as Christ shows it: a cluster of inextinguishable stars, in the hand of their maker, gleaming brightly for their Redeemer for all eternity.”
2 applications:
- Jesus is with His church (stands among the lampstands)
- Jesus rules over His church (holds the stars in his hand).
Church is called to be a light – not as the source of light but as a reflection of the light of Christ – which we can only do as we faithfully represent him, even through hardship & suffering.