Revelation 1
Notes
Transcript
The Glory He Saw
The Glory He Saw
Good morning my friends!
Here we are, the first Sunday of May! Wow...
Summer is almost upon us, we have already been enjoying the warmer weather and we are grateful for the changing of seasons.
I want to remind you, next Sunday is Mother’s day and we will have some special gifts for the moms here with us. Plan on being here as we celebrate these special ladies.
Today we embark on a new study, Now this is difficult task, to preach and work through the book of Revelation.
It is difficult, because we must be careful not to read our thinking or will into its meaning. We have to be sure it is God’s message, His meaning and not our interpretation.
This is what we refer to as eschatology, the study of last things.
These are the things that must take place as we move closer to the time of His appearing, the blessing of His kingdom and the judgment for the disobedient.
I would ask you to pray for me and each other as we walk through these verses this day and the days to come. Ask God to speak to you, the Holy Spirit to illuminate your heart and mind as we walk through these verses.
Now when we speak to the idea of revelation, we are talking about the things that were once hidden, kept from us - but now it has been unveiled, or unveiled to some degree.
For us, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity and His work in the days to come.
He is the one who was revealed at the right time, laying down his life as a sacrifice for sin that man might be forgiven and freed from the penalty of sin, having life eternal
Interesting here in the text of the book, some 32 times Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God. And rightly so… He is the one who takes away the sins of the world.
So the Book of Revelation allows us to see the plans God has in the days to come concerning His Son and the world which we live.
So lets begin today with this first thought...
1. Jesus Revealed...
Revelation is the Book or record of the things to come...
This message was given to John some 60+ years after Jesus resurrection and ascension into heaven.
And John is given the privilege to writing down the message God gives to him concerning these events that are given to him.
So lets open the text and see what God is telling us. Revelation 1:1-3
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
This message begins with the word “revelation.” Now the word “revelation” comes from the Greek word Apocalypse, it is the secrets or the things hidden and unknown until the time when God allows for it to be known.
The message itself is about Jesus. Well, lets just establish this fact. Who are we talking about?
Jesus is the Christ, the annointed one of God. The one who is the “Logos.”in John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He is God himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity who has always been but in accordance with God’s plan was made like us.
He was born of a virgin. He lived a perfect, sinless life as seen in Hebrews 4:15,
He entered into His public ministry, teaching and preaching the kingdom of God, doing many miracles as a witness to the message He spoke, ultimately laying down His life as a sacrifice for sin. He was crucified on a cross, died and was buried, but on the third day He rose again, glorified.
He appeared to more than 500 over 40 days after the resurrection before ascended back into heaven living the sight of His apostles, which we see in Acts 1.
This is Jesus, who is both Savior and Lord of all things.
All authority and power has been given unto Him and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
And the text goes on and says God gave this word, prophecy… to Him (Jesus), to show his servants the events that must soon take place.
This is consistent with the message Jesus spoke while here during his public ministry, listen to John 12:49-50
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
So Jesus reveals only what the Father has told him, in both cases here. it is the direct Word of God that the angel of the Lord has brought to John.
This is the truth that the angel of the Lord bore witness, the angel says and enables us to know 2 things here in verse 2.
The angel bore witness to the “Word of God” and to the ‘testimony of Jesus Christ.” Essentially he is speaking all that God the Father has made known about His plans the purposes around Jesus.
Jesus coming to the earth and giving His life as a sacrifice for sin was only part of God’s plan. Jesus is coming again, one part in the air to gather His church and secondly when His heal will touch on down on the Mount of Olives.
The one being revealed is Jesus my friends. His work is what we must focus on each day as He calls us to walk and serve alongside of Him.
The first question we must ask of you my friends is simply this...
Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
If you haven’t, the Scriptures tell us that today is the day of Salvation.
Now this moves us into our second thought for today
2. The Blessing of Jesus…
There is a blessing in knowing and walking with Jesus Christ, we are rich my friends because of all Jesus has done for us. We have eternal life.
We were once broken but now we are whole and well.
There is a blessing in knowing Jesus.
Lets go back to our text, verses 4-5 Rev 1:4-5
4 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, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
So the text begins with allowing us to see the author of this letter, it is the Apostle John.
At this point in time John who was known as John the Beloved, (he writes the gospel of John and 1st ,2nd & 3rd John). He is old at this point in his life, we believe he is in His 80’s to 90’s.
Now where is John, well at the time he receives the vision we know that he is imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos there in the Mediterranean sea. So this is before he is released from his exile.
And this message has an immediate audience, it says in the text, John to the 7 churches in Asia....
These churches we know are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
But be aware the message spoken to them, will have a universal audience in the days to come, the warnings and words to them are also meant to warn and encourage other churches in the world, even today.
And John says “....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 kings on earth.”
This is a message that is meant for the church, He says “peace,” lasting peace is only available to those who have experienced the wondrous grace of God.
Peace and grace radiate, it flows from the one who is, who was and who is to come.... Now this is known at the “Tetragrammaton” This is the 4 consonants of the primary name of God… Y H W H, ...Yahweh...
This is the name of God as revealed to Moses, Ex 3:14
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Only God could be the one who could exist with John at that moment while also being the one who has always been and is yet to come..
How wondrous for all who would read these words in Revelation and have the blessing of knowing His grace and peace.. it is indeed a very special thought my friends..
Think for a moment of the grace you have experienced. .....Oh the day that He reached out and spoke life to you, called you and saved you… man or man how wonderful
And then to have a peace that passes all understanding.. so often we recount the events in life where our world was turned upside down And God showed up, He was there in the midst of our struggle.
And John goes on and says not only grace and peace from God but from the seven spirits before His throne...
Now this is interesting, When we think of God’s Spirit, we know there is one Holy Spirit. But here he is portrayed as the 7 spirits that are before the throne of God.
We are not completely sure, as to why He is referred to as 7 spirits… We know that 7 is a special number in Scripture.
The number seven is a sign of the Spirit’s divine fullness, this might also allude to the LXX (Septuagint) translation of Isaiah 11:2–3, with its sevenfold description of the gifts and activities of the Lord’s Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, godliness, and the fear of God.
So the idea here is the reference to the 7 spirits are not something impersonal and it is certainly not angels. This is the Holy Spirit’s divine work in the world.
And then John says that this word is also from Jesus Christ… and look at the way Jesus is described.
A. A Faithful Witness… Jesus is the one true witness, the faithful one who is dependable. Jesus can testify as to the true nature of man and the salvation He has brought to humanity through his death, burial and resurrection. He can testify to the unfolding events in this world and his assessment of the 7 churches is reliable.
B. The First Born from the Dead… Death is the tyrant that threatens all of creation, but Jesus has dealt with death. He has rendered death helpless,He is the first born from the dead, yet from that place he arose on the third day. Death no longer holding any victory, any power or any place. And since Jesus rose from the dead, so all that are in Jesus will rise as well.
C. Ruler over the Kings of the Earth… All earthly authorities are subject to Him… Remember Jesus told us that “…All authority has been given unto him..” He reigns, all are subject to him and those hold power here on earth only reign only as he permits.
Paige Patterson says it is here that Jesus may be observed in his three ministries..
Prophet- faithful witness,
Priest- satisfying the penalty of sin that held men captive in death, Jesus took our penalty and shame and bore them upon his own life, for satisfying the wrath of God.
King - ruling over all since all authority has been given to Him by the Father.
My friends when we think of Jesus, and all He has done for us, can we say “He is good!” Yes, because Jesus is good my friends. He is good.
And in these last few verses that we will look at today, I want you to see this last thought for today.
3. The Work of Jesus...
I love the opening to the book of Revelation, it tells us so much about our Savior and the work of the Father in heaven.
Lets finish out text today, down to verse 8...
So lets start with the second part of verse 5 and down to verse 8, this is a doxology of sorts for this opening part of our text...
5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
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.”
Look at what his being said here, John says “ to Him who loves us...” The redemptive work of Christ is grounded in love. Christ loves us, you and me..
All that Jesus did in making his way from His entrance into the world to the cross is based in love. And in love Jesus has freed us from our sin, from our shackles by His own blood.
You see sin, required a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice to forgive sin.
In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve commit the first sin, and the scripture says that God made garments of animal skin for them to cover their nakedness after they sinned.
God just didn’t undress that lamb, that goat.. no taking its skin cost it dearly, it cost it death, blood was shed.
For the children of Israel, on the day of Atonement, a lamb or goat was killed, its blood shed and carried into the mercy seat, and once there God would declare their sins forgiven.
Jesus took out death, he took our place upon the cross, we deserved it, we held sin in our hearts. He was perfect, sinless Son of God and yet he look out place and bore our death, and sin upon His own life..
Death and sin held us in those shackles, we were doomed but Jesus , oh But Jesus paid the penalty, He cancelled our sin debt, it was forgiven.
We were set free and the one who has been set free is free indeed...
Now, it gets better… John says he has make us a kingdom of Priests. Look at verse 6 again.. Rev 1:6
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
He have been forgiven and now vested with significance… to be a kingdom of priests tells us that there is a King… King Jesus and we are to serve him.
As His servants we have access to God and we serve Him, bearing is name, his message and His kingdom to the world around us.
We have the best news, the most wonderful words and we are to tell the world about Jesus. We serve him in carry the gospel to the world, because the world is dying, death is reigning, and the Devil is applauding those that die in their sins every day.
We have the words of life… and we tell them how to be free…Come to the most benevolent King, who will receive you just as you are and will call you to come to His Kingdom and walk in His forgivenss, His freedom and his love..
Wow, it doesnt get any better than that my friends…
We do all this for his glory, power and dominion..
We are the lighthouse keepers, we are shining a light of hope with the world calling them to come and repent of their sin and find life, and life eternal
We are calling them to get ready.. The King is coming/
Look at verse 7 Rev 1:7
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.
Behold, look, get ready the King is coming and he will be here before you know it...
He is coming in the clouds… Jesus left in the clouds. He is coming in the clouds. His second coming will be two fold now..
He will come first in the clouds and gather his church, the body of Christ and then he will come and establish His kingdom after that..
How remarkable that John says every eye will see Jesus.
The world may not be excited to see Jesus, but oh church we are going shout as we rise, as the grave opens, there will be some praise given to Him I believe..
But John goes on and tells us something interesting here.... John says every eye will see him, even those who pierced Him..”
What does this mean.... Well the idea here is that even those who have long been dead, even those even men will know of his coming into the world physically and visibly....Even in hell they will know of their mistake, of their shame and they will wail, cry out because they know their judgment is certain.
Friends, this is why we must be a witness today, the time is close, with all that we see happening in the middle east around Israel.
With the persecution of Christians in our world, even this week Baptist Christians were persecuted in Mexico, driven from their homes, churches and communities...
Jesus is coming soon and then it will be too late. Please tell someone about Jesus today...
Invite a friend, a stranger, a family member to church.
Finally verse 8 Rev 1:8
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Here John tells us something wonderful about Jesus.. His character and nature are unchanging.. Jesus declares I am the Alpha and the Omega, meaning the first and the last..
Jesus as part of the triune God has always existed, no beginning and no ending. He simply ‘is” always existing
John tells us the one who is, and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
God is unchanging, we see that God in the OT is still the same one of the NT, and the one who is alive today and over this world.
He is the Almightly… He is supreme over all things, He is the one over all things
I asked you a question earlier, do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? That is the first point that must be attended too.
Unless Jesus is Lord of your life, you truly have no life, and certainly life is not eternal.
If you are here today and uncertain, I am asking you to be certain..
If you are here and certain that you are His. then is he Lord over your life. Does your life bear witness to Jesus.
To be His disciple, means that we are fully following him. Living for HIm, following Him and being a witness for Him.
Today, is there anything in your life that you need to lay down, put it in the trash and get out of your life?
Today I am asking you to know clearly that you are His and you are following Him fully.
Come today as we sing a him...
The Revelation given to John
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