Revelation 1:9-20
Notes
Transcript
9 I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. 10 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. 11 It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13 And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
19 “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. 20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
This morning we deal with the Second Major theme of this letter = Faithful witness/testimony
1 This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, 2 who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
We are told that John faithfully reported (NIV= “Testified) everything he say and his report was about the faithful testimony of Jesus.
9 I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.
The word “witness”/ “Testimony” = Greek word Martyr. This word, in English, has become used for those whose witness or testimony was so faithful that they were willing to die because of it.
Like most prophets John has a courtroom drama in mind. In this courtroom God is the Judge and the Jury (while also the defender through his Son, Jesus Christ). Satan, the great accuser, is the prosecutor.
God is calling forward his witnesses to give their faithful testimony of God and Jesus Christ while the prosecutor tries to throw everything in their way to prevent them from being faithful witnesses.
Into this scene, in which these 7 churches find themselves being called forward to witness (and encouraged at times in how they can better be faithful witnesses) the defending attorney, Jesus Christ, gives us his credentials.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
The one who defends the Faithful Church is the one who has all power and authority. It is the one who has died and gone through it. And, who because of that, has the keys, the power, the authority over death and hades. It is as though our attorney has told us that in the court of man we might be tried and convicted as guilty because of our faithful testimony but he has the keys to break us out because he knows we are innocent in the Court of God!
But also, we get a glimpse of what it means to be faithful. Jesus IS the MOST FAITHFUL witness. How, because he GAVE UP his life and in doing that was VINDICATED and declared VICTORIOUS by God (See Revelation 5).
The Church can be FAITHFUL Because they have the presence of CHRIST among them!
There is an interesting image where John blends two characters from Daniel 7 (the Ancient of Days - God on the throne. and the figure of the Son of Man - a human figure representing God’s people). These 2 figures are blended into one character, Jesus Christ who is both God and the human representative in God’s court.
But, this figure has 7 stars in his right hand (the whole universe maybe…) and he is walking among (or standing among) the 7 golden lampstands.
Jesus tells John how to interpret this image. This does not happen often, so when it does we MUST pay attention.
Jesus says Revelation 1:20
20 This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
This is reason (as well as the fact that Jesus has authority over death) this is reason for grace and peace.
1- Jesus has, in his hand the “angels” of the 7 churches.
angels in Greek is “aggelos/angelos” = a messenger sent to announce, teach, perform, explore.
It is possible that Jesus is declaring that the messengers to these 7 churches (ie the pastors/teachers/proclaimers) are held close by Jesus!
2- Jesus is walking/Standing among the lampstands.
He is among his church. He is not absent from the church that faithfully testifies about him to the world! No matter that chaos, he is still Emmanuel, God with us!
The Gospel of Matthew has at its beginning
Matthew 1:22-23 (NLT) 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
And at its end Jesus Promises
Matthew 28:20 (NLT) 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
And Jesus earlier promised
Matthew 18:20 (NLT) 20 For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
Here, John is told that Jesus makes good on his promise to be present with his faithful church!
One of the warnings to these churches (the church of Ephesus that we will look closer at next week) is if they refuse to be faithful their lampstand will be removed. They will no longer be considered to be a faithful church and they will no longer have the presence of Christ in their midst!
Revelation 2:5 (NLT)
5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.
This is a PART of the POINT of PENTECOST
God cashed the check of the promise HE made to be CONTINUALLY with HIS people. God’s presence by the power of the Holy Spirit enables the Church to be the Faithful Church.
HOWEVER, God’s presence CHALLENGES the church in what it means to be faithful - TO ENDURE TO THE END. To lay aside our wants, our desires, our perceived needs. God’s presence CAN be with us, but in order to accept it, we must lay down ourselves.
THAT is a part of the letter to these churches, and to the WHOLE CHURCH.
So Revelation is a letter. Yup, it’s full of images that are sometimes hard to understand. But, ultimately it is a letter to provide some wisdom to a church that is uncertain about her times and her place in the world. It is a letter that declares God’s word and thought into their current situation. It is a letter that reminds the church that God is still on the throne!
And, ultimately, it is a letter, as we will see in more detail over the next couple of months, that calls the church(es) to continue to be faithful. And that calls the church to make changes in order to remain faithful witnesses in their uncertain world!
May we continue to come this summer and allow the Spirit of God to address us and transform us into being His faithful individuals as well as His faithful church.
The question of us, as a church and as individuals, this morning is: Are we willing to continue to be the Faithful Witnesses of Jesus Christ in our world? Are we, in order to remain faithful, willing to be addressed by the Spirit of God to make the changes necessary to be faithful? And are we willing to make those changes?
Each of these churches is applauded and also encouraged to make changes. May we be willing to be and continue to be the faithful church that allows God to address us and our needed adjustments this summer!
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL FRESH ON ME!
This week, read Revelation 2:1-7 EVERY DAY!!!