From Fear to Freedom
Notes
Transcript
A Clarifying Vision
A Clarifying Vision
We all need reminders that we need help in seeing things more clearly…
Something we will never know unless someone points it out to us.
I was given and read an article this week written by Catherine Ricketts…titled “Death’s Vision”
In the article she discusses the death of her father of cancer…and later…her brother from an opioid overdose...
She said something in that article…that reminded me of the universal need for a clarifying vision...
She said: “There is a certain clarity that comes when death is near.”
She goes on...
“In the Christian tradition…death and sight have long been closely related. For centuries, in the church—in the East and West alike—understood the visio Dei…or the vision of God in Christ…to be the final aim of human life…and beholding God the primary activity of eternity. “
In other words…in this life…we never see things with absolute clarity…as one witness learned in the movie “My Cousin Vinny” ...we sometimes need thicker glasses if you will...
Being around or near death…in Rickett’s opinion…has a clarifying effect on the mind…she experienced this by being able to appreciate the so-called little things in life…and enjoy them on a more regular basis…as she walked with her dad during his final…painful…last two years of his life.
Through her proximity with looming death…she found some solace…and some peace.
In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day...
In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day...
Last week we discussed the point of John writing this letter…what we now know as the Book of Revelation...
He wrote it as a testimony to Jesus Christ…a revelation…a reveling of...
what is…and what is to come...
Last week we emphasized…that despite many terrifying and vengeful images of God’s wrath portrayed in this book…that…ultimately…this is a book of hope...
Specifically…this is a book of hope for Christians being persecuted for their faith…living in perilous times…and who need a reminder of God’s future for them…a reminder that GOD WINS…NOT THE POWERS OF THIS WORLD...
So if last week we discussed the purpose of the writing…today we get the reason John wrote down his visions in the first place...
In short…he wrote it down because he was following orders...
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
As we go through this strange book of the Bible this summer…we always want to keep in mind that it was originally a letter…sent to 7 different churches…about the visions that John saw…and he wrote them down…at the Lord Jesus’ command.
For you sci-fi lovers out there…there was a 1992 movie titled “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” …appropriate title…especially when talking about the book of Revelation...
There was one scene where the Terminator (a machine from the future…sent back in time to protect John Conner…the leader of the human resistance against the machines…of course played by Arnold Schwarzenegger)…in one scene we find out that the Terminator…a powerful machine…in human form…with great destructive power…we find out one of his program parameters was to obey the commands of John Conner…a pre-teen kid...
But due to its programming…the terminator follows the child’s orders…even to the point…believe it or not... where he obeys the kid’s order not to kill anyone…A TERMINATOR…who doesn’t kill…all because he was following orders...
As Christians we are not machines…we are relational…in body/spirit/soul …we were created for relationship...
...and we follow the Lord Jesus’ commands…not because we have to....but because…by the power of the Holy Spirit…we want to…we desire to please God in all that we do…because our hearts have been changed...
John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”…seeking the mind of Christ…so when he was given an order to “write down all that you see”… “to the 7 churches” he eagerly did so.
Then v.12 reads
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
New Testament Professor Grant Osborne writes about John turning to “see” the voice that came from behind...
He writes:
“The action of ‘turning around’ is given special emphasis…however…by the repetition of the verb in the second clause with the temporal participle (when I turned).”
Dr. Osborne says “It is possible that there is double meaning…with a metaphorical aspect added—John not only ‘turned around’ …but this was a ‘turning point’ for the church…namely…that moment when the visions of God’s plan to end world history were to begin.”
That is an interesting point…that in the giving and writing down of these visions…that it was meant to be a turning point for the church...
Turning point in what way?
Perhaps it is a turning point in the church’s self understanding…not as underdogs on the losing side of worldly powers…a place the early church knew all too well...
but instead...on the side of God…who is faithful…and who will come through for us in the end. Or more accurately…God is on the side of the church...
Jesus not only presents John with a vision…but is generous enough to decipher or decode the images that he sees...
He sees 7 golden lampstands = Jesus says these represents the church (as it says in Matthew 5:13-16 …Jesus says:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The letter of Revelation is in part…a call to repentance of the church…for every time…and in every way…they have failed to be the light to the world...
The seven stars = the angels of the 7 churches to whom the letter is addressed. Apparently each church has an appointed angel over it…In wonder what BPC’s angel is like?
Then John sees an image of Jesus…with:
a long robe and golden sash…indicating Jesus’ as our high priest...
Dr. Robert Mounce writes about the description of Jesus this way:
The Book of Revelation (C. Inaugural Vision and Commission to Write (1:9–20))
The description of the celestial visitor continues with statements about his hair, eyes, feet, and voice.
Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 58.
Caird wisely cautions against over-interpretation, noting that to track down the source of each descriptive phrase and compile a catalogue would be “to unweave the rainbow.”
John uses his allusions “for their evocative and emotive power … . His aim is to set the echoes of memory and association ringing … to call forth from his readers the same response of overwhelming and annihilating wonder which he experienced in his prophetic trance”—as did Daniel before him (Dan 7:7, 10).
In other words…in response to see the glorified Jesus…John’s description is a description of the ineffable…the indescribable…a vision that leave John “as though he were dead”
…a common reaction to seeing or experiencing the things of God…we are immediately put in our place…we feel as though we were dead…unable to move.
When we encounter the living God…our natural response is fear and trembling...
But God never leaves us there…in that state of shock and awe and fear...
Immediately Jesus puts his hands on John’s shoulder…his right hand…the same one that held the seven stars...
And how does Jesus offer comfort to John…and to you and me?
With a reminder to:
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Isn’t that reassuring?
We are not to fear…we are to remember…that Jesus is the first and the last…and the living one…and he holds the keys to death and hades…that he secured with his resurrection…(power and victory over sin and death)...
The world of John’s day…our world today…does have power over us…the world and its systems can kill and destroy…but there is one thing this world and all the evil and power it can muster..can’t do...
And that is…it cannot bring life…it cannot bring resurrection…only Jesus…the Christ…can do that...
In essence…one can live this life in fear of what the world can (and does) do to you…or one…who is a child of the living God through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord…can live boldly…and confidently...
in Jesus Christ…who tells us not to fear…and who leads us into a life of freedom from the fear of death and hades...
May we find some solace…some peace…in the first and the last…and the living one…Jesus Christ our LORD.
Thanks be to God…AMEN.