The Prophet's Commission

Revelation • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Introduction

This is the lengthiest and most magnificent prelude to the body of a book in our Bible. Nothing in the NT even parallels it., Ezekiel may come close in the OT. Why?

Remember that this is a letter.

Impressive nature of what surrounds a house to what is in it.

This body of material is spectacular. So to put up some sort of lean-to as a porch will not do.

This book, takes us through a series of entrances so that when we finally get to the body of it we have a more appropriate recognition of what is taking place.

What we have been dealing with are those series of entrances. Those entrances/introductions have done three things:

1. They have introduced us to the theme.

This book is an unveiling which God gave us to Jesus Christ to show His servants, things that must shortly come to pass. This is an unveiling of future imperative events. These events climax in the coming of Christ Himself.

2. They have introduced us to the sequence of transmission

God the Father to the Son to an angel to the apostle who wrote it down for the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of that is intended to impress you with the majesty and solemnity of it’s contents.

3. Introduces us the the peculiar three fold blessing. Those that read, hear, and keep

Then… even the salutation gives us something tangible. As you await these coming events you can be confident of a guarantee given to you as a believer. One is that you will be given grace and peace. This is no social convention, this is a guaranteed promise of God. That provision of Grace and peace is absolutely essential as we wait for the coming of our Lord. Whatever it may be that you need from the Lord, the foundation of it will be securely fastened to His disposition of grace and peace towards you.

Revelation 1:9–20 KJV 1900

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

What we are going to look at today is something repeated throughout the book. So before looking at verse 9 look at a comparison between Rev 1:11 and 1:19. There is a phrase here that is repeated almost verbatim.

Revelation 1:11 (KJV 1900)

Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Revelation 1:19 (KJV 1900)

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

Verses 9-20 of chapter one give us a 3rd section of this prelude. What we are looking at now is the commissioning of John to write these things. We will probably take a few classes to go through this because it is the lengthiest section of this prelude.

No other commissioning passage in Scripture comes close to the detailed description of the one who is doing the commissioning. in verses 9-20 you have John and Jesus. Jesus is speaking directly to John

The last time we have anything in our Bibles about them speaking was when Jesus was on the cross. When He said to John, “Behold, thy Mother.”

We see John pop in Acts 8 where He and Peter go to lay hands on the believers in Samaria. After that the Scripture is silent on Him. The early Christians say that He was in Jerusalem for many years, but then went to Ephesus to pastor the church there for 3 decades. Probably there He wrote the 3 epistles. But now we see Him again and Christ is addressing Him again, but the scene is a dramatically different as it could possibly get.

An introduction like this ought to dismiss any notion that we have that what we are dealing with in impractical. Very often believers look at it that way. That is prophecy, but what I need is something practical. Opening up like this ushers us into a scene where we see the ascended Christ in a way unlike any other. What is being communicated to us is being done so from a place of power and majesty.

Again, any time we are handling Scripture we are handling the very words of God, but there are places where that fact ought to just overwhelm us. When we were in John 17 listening in to the Son of God communicate with God the Father we were in a place like that. We are in a place like that again where the Christian ought to take the shoes off of His feet because we are standing on Holy ground. Moses was commissioned by a burning bush and took His sandals off. The way Christ is presented here is nothing short of spectacular

But first. Let’s look at

John’s description of Himself.

Revelation 1:9 (KJV 1900)

John, the one commissioned from majesty and power refers to himself as someone who is a brother and a companion in tribulation. Doesn’t refer to himself as an elder or apostle or any elevated position, but merely a fellow brother and companion.

Companion: The word companion has in it the word we get the word fellowship from.

The word koinonia. The word fellowship is used of people who have something in common with each other. So John says he has something in common with these people, what is it. the commonality is three things

Tribulation, the Kingdom, and Patience

Companion in Tribulation

Tribulation- Believers were facing persecution at this time and would continue to face it for the next two centuries. In the world you will have pressure. John was by no means immune from the intense pressure that his readers were under. He partnered with them in it. At the moment of this revelation, John was writing from a place of tribulation to a place of tribulation.

Companion in the Kingdom

The Kingdom- The Kingdom is experienced by believers on three levels:

You are literally transported into God’s Kingdom.

Remember, He is not waiting to be King, He is king. and when you submit, you enter His kingdom

Colossians 1:13 KJV 1900

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

At the same time you enter the Kingdom, you become the Kingdom.

Think about where it is that Christ’s Kingdom is located? What is it’s location. You can’t point to a piece of real-estate because His Kingdom is us. Not like the OT Whatever someone rules over, is their Kingdom.

But there is also a future kingdom

One day, though, that Kingdom will be global.

John, has in common with these people, the kingdom

And this leads us right into what is that necessary third component that He is a companion with them in and that is:

Companion in patience.

This is not the “keeping your temper” kind of patience. This is what is necessary for the time in-between. The time between the tribulation and that future kingdom. This is the term for putting up with something. The word is hupomeno and a really good synonym for this would be endurance or perseverance or So think of the pressure being brought upon the believer. This would be the ability to remain under that load until the coming day

It is a necessary school that God brings His ministers through that they experience the common difficulties and struggles as their people. You’ll probably end up asking God why you have to deal with consistent inconveniences so that you can get to the “real work” of the ministry. Why do these distractions keep popping up? Why are these things continually eating into my time? But the lessons the Lord is bringing you through during those time are going to be vital for you to understand how to minister to the very people you are called to minister to.

You don’t want to be delivered from that kind of training. What you think will be a blessing will end up being a curse to you.

So we have a messenger here that is not coming from an ivory tower or pristine environment down to the muck of every day people. No, He is coming from the same place as those to whom he is writing.

Now verse 10 Where is he?

Revelation 1:9–10 KJV 1900

John was in the Isle of Patmos

About 160 miles SE of Athens. 40 miles to the west of modern Turkey

about 13 square miles. No rivers, no streams.

Not really sure which direction this is looking from. about 3000 people live there mostly employed in tourism of some sort

During John’s day, this was a place of quarrying stone for buildings and it was also a place of iron mines.

Remember that John is at least in His 70s. May put him in His 90s. He’s been a pastor for over 30 years in Ephesus to which the first letter is written. So what is He doing there?

John tells us.

Rev 1 9

Revelation 1:9 KJV 1900

He was there because of the word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

This tells us that he was there as an exile. Patmos in the first century housed a penal colony. very similar to Alcatraz or even as the whole content of Australia was in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A commentary written in the 200s states that John was forced to labor in the mines. And now, John is being commissioned to write more of the same thing for why he is being persecuted. Have you ever thought about that. John is suffering for preaching and teaching Christ, and now he is being told by Christ to do more of that.

Now the other part of this demonstrates who really is reigning. They have exiled Him to Patmos to shut him up, to keep him from preaching. But if Jesus Christ wants a particular vessel to bear His message, His word is going to go out regardless of any earthly attempts at restraint.

Think about the conditions under which the gospel writers write. Moses wandering around the desert for 40 years. David hiding out in caves. Daniel and Ezekiel writing as basically slaves to a conquering kingdom. Paul writing his “prison epistles.”

The last book of our Bible written by someone who wasn’t just in prison but completely cut off from people.

It was also a Lord’s Day

Revelation 1:10 (KJV 1900)

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

What does that mean? This is not “the day of the Lord” That is something different. There are good commentaries that suggest that. But they are not referring to the same thing. They are very clearly two different expressions. This phrase a possessive adjective Lord’s. That adjective is also used in 1 Corinthians to refer to something else that is the Lord’s

1 Corinthians 11:20 KJV 1900

When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

There are a lot of tables, but only one that is designated as the Lord’s . The same things with days. There are a lot of them, but one is particularly designated as the Lord’s It has been spoken of that way often of Sundays.

And he was in the Spirit

So it is on a Sunday and John “becomes in the Spirit.” The reason we are talking about it this way demonstrates something very particularly. We need to look at it this way because this is different than John saying He was in the Spirit like all Christians are supposed to be controlled by the Spirit. John is referring to an experience that is similar to those who were already possessing the Spirit that we see in the book of Acts were filled to a special degree with God’s Spirit

And there is more. Not the exact wording, but obviously a similar experience is seen in Ezekiel

Ezekiel 2:1–2 KJV 1900

And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.

This is a unique experience where we see the Spirit of God taking control of all of the faculties of the seer. And it allows them to see into the Spiritual realm and still accommodate their physical perceptions.

We believe that there is a spiritual realm, right? Can you see it? There are people who have been so controlled by the Holy Spirit that it permits them to see and hear from that realm. John is going to talk about a door in Heaven being opened where He is asked to come up hither. There is a unique possession given to him in order for this to take place.

So this is the circumstances. He is on Patmos, He is in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. And lastly, there is something that He heard...

He hears a voice. A voice so great that it sounds like a trumpet and then it says this:

Revelation 1:11 KJV 1900

So when He is told to write here in verse 11 is the first of 12 times he is told to do that.

You don’t have that in any other NT book. Where it says this over and over and over again. He is even told to write down that He was told to write it down. Why???

A book like this would constantly need the affirmation that what is it communicating is not of some human conjuring, but being intentionally directed and transmitted by Heaven. God is reassuring us and any other readers that these words are heavenly words.

He is writing this all down in a book, actually a scroll, but in one book that is addressed to 7 churches.

I had trouble finding a image that demonstrated this, but what you see is that from that penal colony you have the letter sent out to some of the most influential and populous cities in the area.

Revelation 2:7 KJV 1900

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

That conclusion is given verbatim to every one of the seven churches

This revelation was given to Jesus Christ to give to John. But this expression says what? Who is giving it to them? So how do you account for that?

John is hearing the ascended Christ speaking to Him. Christ says, Take up a pen and write this down. And when John does that, He does it under the influence of the Scripture. He is using his brain. He is using his hand to hold his pen, but when He writes these things...

We are assured seven times that what is being written is what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Let there not be any doubt. You have no other book in the NT where you have the same kind of assurances that it is inspired (breathed out by God) material. That is not to cast doubt on the other books in any way, but to simply demonstrate the uncanny emphasis given to Revelation.

The second thing. Is that the admonition is directed towards all the Lord’s people. If you have an ear, you are suppose to hear what was given to these churches.

Did you know that what that means for us, is that as we have been sitting here going through this material, we have been in complete obedience to God? We have been hearing what the Spirit of God said to those churches. If we go through this, and yield ourselves to it, and not entertain any doubt over it. We are doing exactly what the Spirit of God commands.

That’s what is happening when we are in the Word. Now most of the time, we could do more. And I don’t want to blunt the edge of conviction where it is due, but the point of this isn’t to make you feel guilty, but for you to rest in knowing that right now you are being obedient. And we are being obedient every time we intentionally put our minds to this exercise.

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