The Transformative Power of Christ

The danger John and the believers faced was reducing the Gospel to simply getting by and surviving til the end.

The other apostles had been sentenced to death; John had been sentenced to uselessness.

- What puts us on the island of Patmos?

o Sickness, death of a loved one

o Broken relationships of trust

o Circumstances beyond our control

o Doing the right thing

When John turns around:

- He tries to describe the indescribable

- His first action is to fall down

o Speechless

o In fear

At the end of this great vision we call Revelation

1) John is still on Patmos

2) His faith has been transformed

o John the exiled becomes John the empowered (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 40-41)

John sees:

1) One like the Son of Man

a. Seven lampstands are the 7 churches

b. Christ is not an absent landlord

2) What is His role?

a. The clothes representative of a King and a Priest (Daniel 7:13-14)

b. Presenting us to God/Presenting God to us 9 (Hebrews 2)

i. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, p. 33-34

3) What is His character?

a. White hair (He knows) Daniel 7

b. He sees (Eyes like fire)

i. Purifying effect

ii. Changing effect (Psalm 139 “Search me o God…”

c. Feet of burnished bronze (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 35-36)

i. Daniel – Nebuchadnezzar had feet of clay

ii. The Redeemer has solid feet

d. Voice of cascading waters

4) What is His function?

a. Hold the seven stars (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 36-37)

b. Right hand – ready for use. His control

c. Words like a sword

d. Light

What is your place of disappointment?

Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, p. 32-33