The Lord of the Church Unveiled- Part 1

Series: Seven Churches of the Revelation

The Lord of the Church Unveiled- Part 1

Rev 1:1-8

There are two things that need to happen early in the life of a new believer. One is believers baptism and second is membership in the local church. The idea of a person that is a baptized believer but yet not a part of the body is foreign to the scriptures.

Image: Luis cartoon- “Humanity I love its people I can’t stand”

The assumption is that every genuine believer will have a supernatural desire to get together and fellowship with other believers. This is one of the true evidences of true christianity. This has been the case for 21 centuries now. For centuries believers have gathered together just like we are doing this morning to encourage and edify one another with the preaching of the Word and singing of spiritual songs.

Our series: Messages to the Seven Churches will be from chapters 2 and 3. Each one of these churches has a personality just like each one of us has an individual personality. Some of us are more outgoing than others and some of us have bad habits that are not conducive to the promotion of body life. In other words each one has good and bad traits that should either be emulated or discarded.

Rev 1:10-11

Ephesus- the loveless church Smyrna- the suffering church Pergamum- the compromising church Thyatira - the worldly church Sardis - the lifeless church Philadelphia- the faithful churchLaodicea- the lukewarm church

I believe the timing of this series with become apparent as we discuss the impact of the church on society. Ultimately the church is to be the body of Christ upon the earth. She is to be a revelation of Jesus Christ in the present. I.e. Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the One in the midst of the lamp stands. (cp. Rev 1:12-20)

These letters are not written by some church growth guru who is evaluating churches to promote them in the world. These are the Words of the everlasting One who is interested in our being a reflection of Him in the World. This means we have to know more about Him!

So before we get into the letters to the seven churches we must take the time to study what chapter 1 says about the author. I have entitled the message “The Lord of the Church Unveiled. This will be part one of two.

As you know the word revelation means unveiling. It is the root of our word apocalypse.

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Ill: Tech companies are famous for having their unveilings of their latest and greatest big thing. And people will stand in line for whole days in order to get the first peek or own the latest product.

Here we are going to receive the vision of Christ before He is absolutely and physically known by everyone. It is not so much of a unveiling of the future as it is the unveiling of the One who is both the beginning and ending of History. It is not that the other books of the Bible do not spiritually reveal Him but this book reveals him as past (God and creator of all) , present (his presence in the churches, and future (ultimate culmination).

The servants here are all of us that are interested in this unveiling. The word “servant” signifies a bondservant who is not forced to know but greatly anticipating the unveiling. This servant hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He or all of those that are interested become the recipients of this revelation from the throne through John to us.

Trans: The Lord of the Church Unveiled- pt. 1

The Unveiling of His Purpose (vv. 1-4)

The Unveiling of His Person (v. 5-6)

The Unveiling of His Plan (v. 7-8)

The Unveiling of His Purpose (vv. 1-4)

The Person of the Book (v. 1a-b)

v. 1a The Person Of Christ Unveiled - Jesus is revealed in all of His glory.

v. 1b The Purpose Of God Unveiled - To reveal what will shortly happen.

The Pathway of the Book (v. 1c-2)

The Pathway by which He received this Revelation (v. 1c) - ⇒ Signified; Lamps = assemblies; Stars = angels; incense = prayer, etc.) (⇒ All of the symbols are explained in this book or elsewhere in the Bible) (⇒ Words change = Symbols do not!)The way He Recorded this Revelation (v. 2) - He recorded what he was commanded, not contradicting, but building on the testimony of Jesus.

The Promise of the Book (v. 3)

Note; In the first century there was no such thing as everyone having their own copy of the Word of God. There would be those that stood to read and those that would open their ears to hear.

A Special Promise - (Rev. 22:14, 18-19)

To the reader “he that readeth” singularTo the hearer “they that hear the words” plural

The common phrase repeated in the messages to the seven churches is this- “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”

Ill: In these days we have opportunity to both read, hear and apply what we come to know.

A Special Period

- “the time is at hand” These are the last days - ⇒ Israel - Mat. 24:32-34. (It reveals events relates to our days!)

Ill: The excitement and anticipation attached to an unveiling is dependent upon who or what is being revealed.

If a big time person or event coming to town there will be great preparation and anticipation. i.e. military I.G.

The Penman of the Book (v. 4) John is the Apostle John writer of a gospel account as well as three other smaller epistles we know as 1,2,3, John. John is writing seven local churches that existed in the first century.John is ministering “grace and peace” which are the NT and OT greetings. John is the human pen of the Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

John uses the number seven Over and over again the number seven pops up in the revelation: “seven Spirits of God” (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) seven churches in Asia (Rev. 1:4, 11). seven golden lampstands with seven stars in His hand (Rev. 1:12-13, 16). There were seven lamps of fire before God’s throne (Rev. 4:5). A scroll was sealed with seven seals. Seven thunders said things that weren’t written down (Rev. 10:3-4). The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes (Rev. 5:6), and the dragon and the beast both had seven heads (Rev. 12:3; 13:1; 17:3, 7). There are seven mountains and seven kings (Rev. 17:9-10). Throughout the scripture the number seven signifies a completeness. John writes of seven “I Am”s in his gospel accountThe whole of the creation week is seven days. seven pairs of each clean animal on the ark (Genesis 7:2); seven stems on the tabernacle’s lampstand (Exodus 25:37); Naaman dips himself seven times in the Jordan.Jesus said we need to forgive 70 X 7. Multiples of seven are found in various places of prophecy to show completenessseven qualities of the Holy Spirit of Messiah in

Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Trans: We go from the unveiling of His Purpose to…

The Unveiling of His Person (vv. 5-6)

The unveiling of the faithful witness

Jesus Christ was very God in the flesh (John 1;1,14)Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)

The unveiling of the first begotten from the dead.

The offerer of the perfect sacrifice - His pure Blood, and the intercessor for men's souls, Heb. 5:6; 7:25.

Ill: The Gospel-

The first to rise to die no more, the promise of more to come - 1Co.15:3- 23 (⇒ First Begotton = Protokos - The prototype of what is to follow!!)

The unveiling of the ruler of Heaven and earth (v. 5)

“prince of the kings of the earth”

1 Timothy 6:13-16 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; 14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

The unveiling of the One who made us kings and priests (v. 6)

Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Ill; The church exists to reveal the Savior and preach the gospel to every creature.

Trans: The Unveiling of His Purpose, Person and now…

The Unveiling of His Plan (vv. 7-8)

Note: many call this the thesis statement of the revelation- Jesus is coming again - on time. He cometh with clouds. This does not say He will come. It says He is on His way!

This verse brings together two other passages: Matthew 26:64, in which Jesus tells the Sanhedrin they will see the Son “coming on the clouds of heaven”; and Zechariah 12:10, which says that Jerusalem’s inhabitants will mourn when they see “the one they have pierced.”

Ill: People laugh at this which is what 2 Pe 3 addresses

The Revelation of Jesus (7a) “every eye shall see Him”

Note: the cloud in the day gave Israel a physical thing to see to lead Israel in the wilderness. A cloud descended on Sinai as Moses received the law. At the dedication of the tabernacle and Temple we read that a cloud filled the place.

The Remembrance of the Jews (7b) “they which pierced Him”

He will be vindicated before all those that rejected Him. He came to His own but His own received Him not. The jews

The Remorse of the Nations (7c) “the earth shall wail”

The Gentiles will mourn over their sin. The will mourn in terror.

The Restoration of the Kingdom (8) “the alpha and omega”

the One who finishes what he starts and never breaks a promise.

Our God is orchestrating things to come to His prescribed end.

In Genesis we see that God made everything and controls everything.

In Revelation we see that God made everything for His glory and He will be glorified in the end.

Conclusion: “the Almighty”

“the Almighty” is the final word of our passage. (Gen 17:1)

The unveiling which is the revelation of Jesus Christ is received by those that have ears to hear.