This morning, we start a new series in the Book of Revelation. In the outset, we see that Jesus is both the one who reveals and he is that which is revealed. As we look to the reading of God’s word, if you please join with me in prayer. Most gracious God, our heavenly Father, in you alone, well all the fullness of light and wisdom. We ask then that you would enlighten our minds by your Holy spirit to truly understand your word, that you would give us grace to receive it reverently and humbly. The Father may it lead us to put our whole trust in you alone. And this we pray and ask to Christ our Lord. Amen. Beginning in verse one, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, blessed are those who hear, who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you in 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 first born of the dead and the ruler of the Kings on earth. Do him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father. Do him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with a cloud 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. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I did check, but haven’t read it. If you’re wondering, there is a a Book of Revelation for Dummies. Probably it’s helpful. We recognize Revelation is fascinating and gripping. It’s also perplexing and confounding. It can be like one of those opening scenes of a Christmas Carol and trying to get Ebenezer Scrooosh to open his wallet for a charity donation, just daring you to try and try it open for a contribution.
And then there are those handled Messiah-type moments. The Hallelujah course, the worthy as the Lamb course in our reading, it captures our hearts and it lifts us to heaven itself. If we’ve experienced both of those. And what is very clear is that effort is going to have to be expended to get very far. It was the Lord’s delight to bring us this final Book of the New Testament in a manner different and more dynamic than any of the others. And as such, it’s not then some secret code, da Vinci code thing that if you get all the clues right, you’re brought into this mysterious inner chamber of the truly enlightened, where the hero comes and place the last piece there in the center, and then everything starts to move. Ancient gears and wheels start creaking and vibrating, and the last hidden stone door opens, and there we see the apostle John, ancient and dusty, looks you straight in the eye and he tells you it took you long enough. That is not what we see. That is not the Book of Revelation. Because the Lord has given us this Book to reveal himself. We can trust that is a blessing for the church, the body of Christ in all times and in all places.
To be very clear, I’m not going to outsmart all those who’ve gone before us. I don’t have some new technique or key that they did not. The goal before us is simply to preach Christ through his word. To that end, we first need to contend with some of the crazy stuff and then move to contemplating the joy of Jesus. What I mean by contending with crazy? And by crazy, I mean that there are things that are actually bewildering in the book, bewildering images, and then we’re given All these very strange and crazy things that people through the ages have said that they are. I’m sure some of you grew up in youth groups where they scared you straight with films like The Thief in the Night, people driving along and then disappearing in cars crashing. You heard songs like, I wish we’d all been ready. I wish we’d all been ready. There’s no time to change your mind. The sun has come and you’ve been left behind. Great poetry, which leads us into the Left Behind series. And on it goes. The types of things that so often have been put out there have been indeed a little strange.
Charles Spurgeon, who’s the great English preacher, he remarked, Only fool’s and madmen are positive in their interpretation of the Apocalypse. Then an American Bible scholar who was one of Spurgeon’s contemporary, he reminded his students that revelation, he said, was resistant to the way of regular interpretation as applied to other books. Resistant to the way of regular interpretation. Why? Because revelation is a letter given almost entirely through symbolic language steeped in the Old Testament. The book, it starts out clearish enough. The Revelation, which is the Greek word, Apocalypse, which that’s our word for Revelation. The Revelation, the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants, his servants, all of us, to God’s people, the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John. Truth about Jesus is being shown, is being revealed for things that are about to happen. The John mentioned here is almost certainly the apostle John, and the time frame is near the end of the first century. That’s clear. But you get in verse 4, the seven spirits who are before the throne. You’re like, Well, that’s strange.
What’s that? Well, don’t worry. We’re soon enough. We’re going to get seven golden lampstands, a man with a sword coming out of his mouth and seven stars in his hands, seven angels, seven churches. Then we’re off to the races because we are also going to see a dragon, mystical beast, crazy amounts of horns, angels on horches, creatures with animal faces, human voices, demonic locus, and a marriage supper of the Lamb. All of that is included in Revelation. And yet here we start. John tells us in verse 2, he’s bearing witness to all that he saw. It’s a series of symbolic visions. John speaks of seeing about 55 times in this book. Almost 70% of the verses have at least one Old Testament allusion. Five hundred Old Testament references, about a thousand Old Testament parallels. The very strange thing is that there are virtually no direct quotations. The very opening of verse one is patterned after Daniel 2. There in Daniel 2, it said, These are the things to be revealed in the last days, the latter times. And now we see what must soon take place. If you don’t know the Old Testament, revelation is going to be mostly impenetrable to you.
It’s a bit like reading or watching that third installment of the trilogy with no knowledge of the first two or a whole series of something, and you come in towards the end. That person watching who says, Well, that’s dumb. The ring makes you invisible. Just put it on and walk it into Mordor. Problem solved. Well, there’s this whole story that goes before it. Other times and places do so much better than us when it comes to understanding symbolism. People often approach the book with the idea that you should interpret everything literally unless you can’t. Well, that doesn’t help with symbols. The literal way to understand symbols is symbolically. I’m sure many of you have heard the nursery rhyme, Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. If someone runs out and starts computing the escape velocity needed for the cow to break through the Earth’s gravitational pull, you missed the point. That’s not what this is about. Symbols convey truth, to be sure, but they do so in a different way. Numbers in the Book of Revelation are used symbolically, and they’re all through it. The number 4, the number 7, the number 10, the number 12, all these about 120 times in the Book.
There are lots of numbers, and there’s symbolism to these numbers. The other question then is, okay, why would God do this to us? What’s the purpose? I really appreciate Saint Augustine’s comment on Revelation and put it in your bulletin. He said, In the Book entitled The Apocalypse, there are, to be sure many obscure sayings to exercise the mind. To exercise the mind of the reader. And there are a few so clear enough to throw light on the meaning of others, even at the cost of effort. From the beginning, Effort was required to understand this book. From the earliest commentaries, go back to the second century. Effort was required to understand this book. The Lord forces us to slow down, to ponder more slowly. It’s two things we don’t like to do. You don’t have to be a super slew of four PhDs. You don’t have to be a part of some crazy group that’s certain that they have the inside track and the key to it all. No, the Lord is revealing himself to all of his people, but it’s not a fast food, door-dash grab. It’s a simmering in the oven all day, full sit down family dinner approach.
And historically, there have been four main approaches to the book. We’ll talk about those another day, but it’s important to be willing and able to hear from all of them, even if you disagree with some aspects of their ideas. It requires humility, patience, and a lot of listening. Some strange podcast or TikTok video, it’s not going to cut it. You have to do some contending with both the difficulties that the book itself has and the myriad of odd and crazy things that people have wrapped into it. But to do so, there is joy there. Look at verse three, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. Blessed are those who hear who keep what is written for the time is near. I say this is joy because it’s a blessing from God given to his people because it’s speaking about Jesus. A blessing giving, and not surprising, this is the first of Seven blessings, mentioned in the book. In the ancient world, few people actually had books or scrolls, and so they were read out loud. That’s what it’s referencing to. It doesn’t mean you have to read it reading it out loud.
It’s telling you that when people were to hear these things, they would go and someone would read out loud to them so everyone could know what’s happening. Most people in the ancient world, strange to us, but they did not read silently. You learned how to read, you read out loud. It wasn’t something people did until later. And so that’s what it’s referencing to, the speaking, the conveying of this truth to the people of God. And then we were told to keep what is written. And it’s like, well, what does that mean? I mean, how do you keep the Book of Revelation? We are called repeatedly to be faithful to the faithful one, to endure, to persevere. As Christians, to keep what is written means that you inhabit an entirely new way of looking at the world. Everything changes when you’re looking at the world through the eyes of Christ. This is about allegiance to him. As one put it, we are motivated by love on the basis of Christ redeeming death. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we are now in allegiance to him, and we’re looking at the world through his lens.
And in verse three, we’re told this is a prophecy. And to say that as a prophecy, situated in the Old Testament tradition, a prophecy spoke to the past, the present, and the future, all three in various ways. And we see from the start that this is not a book for only God’s people who happen to live at the very end of history because everyone’s thinking, Oh, it’s about the very end. It’s like, Well, that only is helpful for that group of people. No, it’s written to Christians in John’s day for their benefit for things about to happen soon. Soon. And the end of Revelation in chapter 22, it circles back. It uses the very same language here used in chapter 1. It was intended for the soon. Behold, I am coming soon of John’s day. But this message It takes the past, the present, and the future to speak to all ages and all places. He says, Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. A glorious statement of our great God, but a statement that includes Jesus, the one who is to come, and the spirit.
It’s solidly Trinitarian to the book. And when then we see that from the seven spirits who are before his throne, we’re going to look at the number seven in more detail next week, but it speaks of fullness, completeness of the Holy spirit. Same as when we see a reference to the seven churches, it’s a reference to speaking to all the churches. The point was this is for the people of God everywhere. And verse 5, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. Jesus is the faithful one. Psalm 89, Isaiah 43, Jesus is the faithful witness. And the Greek word for witness is martyr. And we’re used to that because in Christianity, that carries with a double meaning. A martyr is one who’s often killed for their testimony, for their witness of Jesus. Jesus is the faithful witness, the faithful martyr, the first born of the dead, the ruler of the Kings of the Earth. To speak of Jesus as the ruler of the Kings of the Earth is a direct confrontation with the Roman emperors who claimed that they were in some sense a form of divinity. Now we have Jesus coming, and he is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the King of all the Earth.
No one stands next to him, and his love supremely is shown through the death that he died for us. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. We have been loved. We have been set free by Jesus and by his atoning death. And then the description goes on in verse 6, And made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father, deem me glory, dominion, forever. Amen. A kingdom of priests comes right out of Exodus 19, which jumps into 1 Peter 2. The role of Israel’s national priesthood now belongs to all who are united to Christ. We are a kingdom of priests because we belong to Jesus. Our role then is that going into the world. In verse 7, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will wail on account of, even so, Amen. And this very opening line of verse 7, it comes right from Daniel 7. And it also comes from Zechariah 12, a reference to also the judgment on the horizon at Christ’s return. And then we’re given this grand and this glorious statement in verse 8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
God is sovereign. He’s transcended over all human history. He is the beginning and the goal of history. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and omega is the last. We would say he is the Lord from A to Z. From the opening salvo, the great drama of this letter has been set. Jesus reveals to John the revelator his revelation, which is himself. And one of the strange things that has happened with this book. It has often been the source of both anger and fear. Christians mad and angry of disagreements about its meaning. Christians filled anxiety over the current events of the world they find themselves in. This is not how this letter opens up. Our Triune God has all things under his control. He is working all things according to the counsel of his own will. He’s the coming one. He’s the victorious one. He’s the one who has loved his people and freed them from their sins. And he says, Grace to you in peace. From who? From our Triune God. And if it comes from him, we know it’s going to be good. If grace and peace come from God, it’s going to be good.
And there’s an anticipation set for now what follows. It’s like sitting in an IMAX theater where you’re about to be immersed in a visual explosion of images and ideas that present the rule and the reign of Christ over absolutely everything. And the challenge for us is to hear this all afresh. If you have avoided Revelation of bewilderment, if you have avoided it because of the crazy things that people have done with it, I would encourage you, listen again to its message. Keep your eye on Jesus. Center yourself on him, allow his reassurance to wash over you as this great drama of human history is symbolically unfolded before you with Jesus on center stage. Think about it. What tips our little boat? Most of the time it’s uncertainty. We’re afraid of the unknown. And of course, there are many people out there who play on that, who stoke our fears about the time we live and what’s happening around us. And to that, I would simply just say, hear the words of Jesus to his disciples, both in the boat in Matthew 14 and just before he left in Matthew 28. Take heart. It is I.
Do not be afraid. Jesus is telling his people, Do not be afraid. Nothing that has happened that’s outside of the Lord’s control, out of his plan. The faithful witness calls us to faithfully follow him wherever he leads. And what that means for us is that we are not to circle the wagons, to bunker down here. Everybody in here is good and everybody out there is bad. They’re the enemy. No, this should free us to go into the world around us with this good news of Jesus. Think about it. If there’s an important game for your team that’s about to be played and you don’t get a chance to watch it, but you’re told the score and you know the outcome, and then you go back to watch it for the first time, you know the score. It’s not quite as scary. You’re like, Oh, no. Are we going to win? Are we No, we’re going to win. I know the score. We win by a lot. That’s what’s taking place. Jesus is coming to his church and he’s saying, We win by a lot. That’s good news. There isn’t a fearful anxiety for us of wondering what’s going to take place.
We might not know the details, but we know the outcome. This is what should drive us and fuel us to go into the world around us rather than fear and anxiety and pitching those people as, Oh, they’re the enemy. They’re the evil ones. We got to… No, they are resistant to Christ. Yes, some are. And you, by God’s grace, have been called to proclaim, to witness to the truth to them, to the love of Jesus who has freed you from your sins and to convey that truth to the world around you. That’s not fearful. That’s wonderful. Exciting, anticipating that, not really knowing exactly in that given instant what the outcome is going to be, but we know the end. And so if we are driven by the current events and people, or this is happening, and this is happening, yes. Do you know that has been the case for every generation of the church from the beginning? That is when he’s saying, these are the things that are happening soon. He’s talking about John’s Day. He’s talking about 1450. He’s talking about 2026 and everything in between. All of these events are occurring just as the Lord of glory has foreseen.
And we get a symbolic picture of this great victory of Jesus that causes us to slow down, to ponder, to think anew, to see with a different set of eyes the wonders, truths that we know through all the rest of the books of the Bible, to be sure. And this one is going to say, I want you to see something different. I want an image to capture your heart, not to drive you away with anxiety, but to fulfill in you a boldness and a surety of the faithful witness, Jesus Christ, the Almighty one who was and is and who is to come. You should come away from Revelation emboldened with the glory and the Majesty of Jesus and his love for you. That is the empowering grace given by his sevenfold spirit. That you would then into the world around you with the outcome. We win and we win big. Pray with me. Father Almighty, we thank you and praise you. Lord, nothing escapes your purposes, your plan. And Father, we thank you for that. And Lord, we would ask, Lord, where we have walked in fear, where we have walked in doubt, where we have questioned what you were doing, Father, forgive us.
Forgive us for not trusting and believing in your goodness, your grace and your mercy, triumphant over the world. And Lord, we would pray, too, that you would be pleased to use us to the purposes to the end of this generation, of where you placed us now in history. Father, use us to take this good news into the world. Father, use us to overcome the darkness because, Lord, you have called us by name. You know each one of us and you have empowered us to go. Use us, Father. We pray and ask that all through the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.