Island of Patmos

I remember several years ago when I was walking on a sidewalk and I was hit by a car. Fortunately I only broke my leg and had a few bruises on my head.

I was forced to be bedridden for a while. I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t make my own food. I couldn’t do most things that I was use to doing. Basically the only things I could do on my own was watch tv and read.

After a while you get tired of watching the same tv shows. So I did a lot of talking to God and reading the bible.

Through that, I encountered the presence of God in a whole new way. It was through that time of suffering, adversity, and pain that I experienced the healing power of God.

I think we all face situations in which life circumstances forces us to face them.

Whether that is being bedridden because of a accident like I was

Whether that being in Prison like Paul was

Whether that being in a cubicle at work next to someone who rubs us the wrong way.

So as broken people, how do we deal with all that?

I believe the apostle John speaks to this, as we find him exiled to the island of Patmos because of the persecution he was facing for preaching the gospel.

the island of Patmos was used to exile prisoners. It basically had nothing in it. It was small, dirty and dry. The only signs of life were the prisoners sent there.

who with the exception of John were lifeless them self’s

it’s amazing to think how God uses this small island to give John these huge visions.

Lets read...

Revelation 1:9–20 (NASB95)

9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,

11saying, “Write in a book what you see, 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.”

12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;

13and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.

14His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.

15His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

16In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

17When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

18and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

19“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

20“As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

One way I think John deals with the isolation he is dealing with is that he knows he is not alone.

He starts off by saying “I John, your brother and partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus.

Tribulation

The tribulation, or “suffering,” or “persecution,” is that which the followers of Christ are called upon to experience before the coming of Christ.

G. E. Ladd is convinced that tribulation is the lot of the church in every age. Then follows the kingdom, which is gained by endurance.

Ladd cites Acts 14:22, which indicates that one must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations.

R. Mounce follows with confidence, citing Ladd’s conclusion that “tribulation here includes all the evil which will befall the church, but especially the great Tribulation at the end, which will be only the intensification of what the church has suffered throughout history.

Kingdom-

The kingdom here has a future reference, the coming Kingdom in which God and Christ will reign completely over the world.

Perseverance-

John and his fellow believers must wait with patient endurance for the coming of the Kingdom

John’s Exile and John’s Vision

According to verse 9 John was exiled on the island of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

Jesus was so real and so precious to John that he would rather be exiled to a barren island than not to talk about Christ.

John had gazed at Jesus long enough to become like him in this way: obedient fellowship was more important than the comforts of life.

But now on the island God gives John another remarkable chance to gaze at Jesus. He gives him a vision.

And he does this not just for John but for the seven churches of Asia and for us.

In verse 10 John says that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.

So much so that suddenly (v. 10) he “heard behind [him] a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.”

The voice says in v. 11 “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches.”

This means that the vision John is about to get is meant not just for him but for us as well.

And the point of writing it down is to transmit to us the same kind of experience of seeing Jesus that he had.

“Write What You See”This is not easy to do—“write what you see.” It is easy to write words that you hear.

God wants us to seek him in his Word, and to know him by his Word, and gaze upon him through his Word.

And when we do, the Lord stands from his Word in ways beyond what we read. His Spirit becomes alive in us.

The primary way of gazing on Christ today is through his Word.

That is the clear implication of these words in verse 11 “Write in a book what you see and send it to the … churches.”

Another way John deals with the isolation is he see’s Jesus

Jesus is Standing in the Midst of the Churches

Verse 12: John turns to see whose voice was like a trumpet (v. 10). And what he saw was seven golden lampstands and Christ in the midst of them.

Notice verse 20 for an interpretation of the lampstands: “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

So the vision of Jesus that John gets is him among the churches.

Christ is standing among the churches.

He is not merely over the churches.

He is not distant from the churches.

He is in the middle of them.

Verses 12–13a: “I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lamp stands one like a son of man.”

John begins the record of his vision by telling us that the Christ we are about to look at is in our midst.

He is among the churches.

He is not far away in time or space.

He moves among his lampstands,

trimming the wicks and carving wax, breathing life back into flickering flames

One Like the Son of Man

Jesus is referred to with a unique title,

Though the “son of man” title has been much debated as to both its origin and its importance, clearly Jesus used the term to describe himself throughout the gospels.

John, through his use of that title here, intends to identify this Son of Man,

he now beholds as the resurrected, glorified Christ.

There is this parrallel of what follows as a description of the “son of man” with Daniel’s description of his own encounter with the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:8-14.

John goes on to describe how he sees the son of man…

Clothed with a Robe and Girded with a Girdle

We see the son of man is “clothed in a robe reaching all the way to his feet.

This refers to Jesus as our great high priest.

He is the great high priest because in the old covenant priests would come over and over again to offer animal sacrifices for the sins of the people

but, Jesus came as the perfect spotless lamb of God who was slain for our sin and he gave himself once and for all by offering himself as the ultimate sacrifice.

His Head and Hair Were White like Wool and Snow

The hair appeared like wool, as white as snow. In the ancient world, white hair symbolized the respect due to the aged for the wisdom of their advanced years (Prov. 16:31).

This part of the picture points to Jesus’ wisdom.

I think it also represents the purity and Holiness of Christ.

Eyes “Like a Flame of Fire”

Next it describes that the Son of Man had eyes that were “like a flame of fire”.

It is said that our eyes are like windows to our souls. When you look into someone’s eyes you can see a lot.

When Jesus looked at people, sometimes it was out of compassion, sometimes out of sorrow. He is the God who see’s.

Bronze Feet

The picture is of a powerful king who has so subdued his enemies that they are nothing more than the king’s footstool.

Some ancient kings symbolized their victories by literally placing their feet on the necks of defeated enemies.

These powerful feet of Jesus point to his ultimate triumph over all the forces of evil, natural and supernatural alike

Out of his mouth a doubled edged sword

The voice which called to John was also stern and demanding: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword.

The gospel of Christ cuts.

It bruises in order to bless.

It cuts in order to cure.

It hurts in order to heal.

It proclaims retribution as well as restoration, judgment as well as mercy.

Application

Now we are being asked to imagine: what would it look like if the curtain between heaven and earth were suddenly pulled up,

revealing the Jesus who had been there all along but whom we had managed either to ignore or to cut down to our own size?

This is the answer: a Jesus who is mind-blowing, dramatically powerful but also gentle and caring;

What if the places that we are forced to be are exactly where God wants us to be because that’s where he wants to us to encounter His manifest prescence and hear His voice?