Rich Realities of Revelation: Who is Jesus (1:8-20)
Rich Realities from Revelation:
Jesus Has All Authority (Rev. 1:8-20)
INTRODUCTION:
Imagine a few scenarios… What if…
The federal government decided under the auspices of “civil rights” to require doctors and nurses to perform gender reassignment surgery (or feminizing hormone therapy or abortion) or assist in them, or at least sign a statement saying they would if the hospital administration required them to. Imagine… That the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department wrote a letter to our local hospitals (Hurley, McLaren, and Genesys) and informed them if that they did not require all their doctors and nurses on staff to sign a statement to that effect, the federal government would cut off all Medicare and Medicaid funds to that hospital? What would our Christian doctors and nurses do? What if…?
What if the American Medical Association decided they would require the same statement - under the auspices of “civil rights” - from any doctor who wished to be recognized by the Medical Association?
What if the state of Michigan decided to require the same statement before they would issue a medical license?
What if the American Dental Association required the same thing? Even though dentistry might not have anything to do with gender reassignment surgery or hormones, logic does not apply to the left’s thinking.
Rachel and I have a friend - a former mission team member - who teaches 6th grade science in Texas. A family moved in from California and they had a 6th-grade child who wanted to “identify” as the opposite gender. The principal was going to put that child in Julie’s classroom. Julie told the principal, “Look, I’m a science teacher. I cannot teach there are more than two genders. And I will not use opposite pronouns for that child (he, or she, or “they”).” Julie said she would be respectul and teach the child and call him or her by their name. The principal decided to put the child in a different classroom, but the principal told Julie, “I won’t do it again.” Who is going to defend Julie’s right’s to practice her religion as she feels compelled? What if the school system decided to only hire teachers who would affirm gender dysphoria? What would our school teachers do?
Jewell - our daughter - is an editor. What if a writer came to her and asked her to edit a book what was overtly homosexual in its nature and content? What if Jewell turned the author down and then the author sued Jewell for everything she and Jacob have, under the auspices that Jewell has violated that author’s civil rights? What if…?
What if the federal government’s civil rights division heard me preach against homosexuality and decided to put me in jail? They did so publicly, coming to worship services and - in order to intimidate everyone else - handcuffed me in front of all of you and hauled me to a federal cell, in California? What if the civil rights division of the justice department confiscated my property, forcing Rachel to move out? What if they told her that they were not going to pay off the mortgage either. I’m not talking about the emotional impact this would have on Rachel; I’m simply talking about the financial impact. Rachel would have to find another job, a full-time job. Jewell and Ana are now old enough to handle themselves financially, so I’m not concerned about that.
But who would step up and fill God’s pulpit at Swartz Creek? Jared is our associate minister. Even though Jared is convicted of the truth, wouldn’t there be an unconscious pressure on Jared to be careful what he said? Michelle can provide for herself financially, but what about those three little kids? What impact would it have on them if their daddy was taken away - even for a brief period of time like 3 or 5 years? If Jared did confront the government and was taken away also, sent to a “re-education camp” in California, who would step up and fill the pulpit in Jared’s absence?
Like me, you probably think this is all outlandish - and maybe is not highly probable. But it is not impossible.
Barak Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a mandate in January 2012 requiring most employer health plans to provide “all FDA-approved forms of contraception” including some that act as abortifacients. Pretty much the only exemptions Obama wanted to allow were full-time employees of churches. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court issued a 5–4 ruling against the administration’s attempt.
Barak Obama’s HHS also tried to force medical facilities, doctors, and nurses and other medical providers to perform abortions, even though it violated their religious convictions. His effort was blocked in federal court. However, Joe Biden has picked up the same cause and has tried to force doctors, in certain situations, to perform abortions regardless of their convictions.
This past Sunday, Cody was preaching at North Central c of C and I was going to fill in for him in Bible class. I had planned to teach a class on “Deception by Nuance.” One of my illustrations comes from the First Amendment…
We are all familiar with our first amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
On January 6, 1941 early in the days of World War II, President FDR gave his state of the union address in which he proposed four fundament freedoms that people all around the world should enjoy: “freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.”
Did you notice a change in nuance? President Roosevelt did not mention freedom of “religion;” he mentioned “freedom of worship.” There is a very big difference. I do not know if he intended to unleash such deception on the American people, but I surely believe modern politicians do. “Freedom of religion” is broader than “freedom of worship,” isn’t it? In fact, just to make things clear, our Founding Fathers wrote: “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The Secular Left in our country are fine with us worshipping any way we want; they just don’t want our religious beliefs to impact or influence our behavior in the public square. The question of freedom of religion is at the core of a lawsuit before the SCOTUS right now in which the justices will decide if a web designer in Colorado has the right not to design a website for same-sex couples.
We think our freedom to practice our religion is enshrined in our Bill of Rights to the Constitution, but as the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case showed, our freedom of religion comes down to being defended by five men and women in black robes in the SCOTUS.
But, at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s senate confirmation hearing earlier this year, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee asked Jackson: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” And Jackson responded “I’m not a biologist.”
Our Constitution is just words on paper…
If these things concern you, the book of Revelation has something to say to you.
What if Protestants decided to stand up against the federal government’s impingement on our freedom of religion and they wanted to join with us - but that required us to compromise our biblical convictions relative to worship and the plan of salvation and other matters - would you being willing to compromise your convictions in order to present a unified effort against the federal government? If so, the book of Revelation has something to say to you.
If you would not be willing to compromise your convictions in order to join with Protestants to present a united front agains the federal government, then the book of Revelation has something to say to you.
I do not want us as Christians to hide behind the robes of men and women on the SCOTUS. I want us to stand firm and courageous on the Word of God and trust Jesus to take care of us and His church.
In 2023, we are going to study the last book of God’s word, the book of Revelation and I will point out some “rich realities from Revelation” that will encourage and inspire us as we try to stay faithful to Jesus Christ.
PRINCIPLES FOR INTERPRETING THE BOOK OF REVELATION:
John gives us four principles in the first four verses to help us interpret the book of Revelation as God intended it to be interpreted. The book is the most misunderstood and most abused book in the whole Bible. It is a shame how many so-called Bible scholars treat the book and how preachers treat the book.
Here are John’s four principles:
1.) The book of Revelation is full of symbols. Notice in verse 1 that John uses the word “communicated” (NASV). The NKJV and KJV use the word “signified.” Notice the root word is “sign.” This is the word that describes the signs of Jesus, His miracles. This verb denotes the communicating of God’s message through the use of symbols. What that means is that the book of Revelation is full of symbols that cannot be understood literally! It is silly how men want to take the 1,000 year reign of Christ literally but they don’t want to take the spirits like frogs literally. Due to the nature of the book, we must take its images figuratively unless there is compelling reason to do differently.
2.) The book of Revelation refers to things that “must soon take place” (ver. 1) because “the time is near” (ver. 3). What that means is that the book of Revelation is not talking about the 21st century! It was not talking about the 20th century or any other time frame. John says these things were going to take place soon from the standpoint of this audience.
3.) Speaking of his audience, verse 4 identifies John’s audience as seven churches of Christ located in Asia Minor. These were real congregations of Christians with real challenges and real concerns, suffering real persecution. That means that in whatever way we interpret Revelation, the interpretation must have made since to John’s audience! I cannot overemphasize that point enough. Revelation is not about us! It’s not about the US, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, or any other country existing today. If an interpretation of a specific verse or chapter in Revelation could not have been understood by the first-century Christians, then it is a false interpretation.
4.) The final point to make is that these Christians were experiencing persecution, even death, because of their religious convictions, must like what I have pictured for us today. We’ll see in just a moment that John was under house arrest on the island of Patmos because of him preaching the gospel of Christ (1:9). In 2:10, John will suggest that some Christians might be thrown into jail. In 2:13, John refers to a Christian named Antipas who was killed because of his religious convictions. We see this emphasis on religious persecution throughout the book of Revelation.
What is Revelation about? Revelation is “Part 2” of the book of Daniel. The prophet told King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon that in the days of the Roman Empire, God would set up a kingdom which would never be destroyed (2:44-45). In a separate message, Daniel described the Roman Empire as “dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong” (7:7). That nation waged war with God’s saints and overpowered them until the “Ancient of Days” came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints, against the Roman Empire (7:21-22). The book of Revelation finishes the story of the Roman Empire’s war against God’s saints - who are Christians - and how God brings the Roman Empire to its knees. Now, in Revelation, John will picture Rome as “Babylon” (6 times) because Babylon was the nation that uprooted the Jews and took them into exile.
Against Rome, against persecution, against challenges to their faith, John’s message to those Christians in the first century was that faith and obedience to Jesus Christ will bring “victory.” The verb “to be victorious” or “to overcome” is used 17 times in Revelation.
At this point, I want to look at John’s call to be Jesus’ messenger…
JOHN’S COMMISSION BEGINS WITH GOD - 1:8:
The Caesar is not the “lord;” God is the Lord and He is “almighty.” God is identified as “almighty” nine times in Revelation: 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22.
We can have confidence in God and trust His message because He is all-powerful.
JOHN WAS THE “FELLOW-PARTAKER” - 1:9-11:
John was suffering with his fellow Christians. He was experiencing tribulation along with them, for the sake of the kingdom, with the need to persevere for the sake of Jesus and our own eternal salvation.
“Patmos” was a prison island - similar to Alcatraz in the US - for the purpose of political and religious prisoners. That’s where John was.
And, on the “Lord’s Day” - Sunday - perhaps while John was in worship services, God sent him this message that is the book of Revelation. And now how visually oriented the message is. In verse 11, Jesus tells John to write what he “saw.” I have compared Revelation to a “pop-up” book we read with children, where you open the pages and pictures “pop-up” off the page. That’s what Revelation is - its images that are used to convey a message. And the message was designed for the seven churches of Asia Minor, which we’ll study next month.
WHAT JOHN SAW - 1:12-16:
The description of Jesus shared here in this text is the description of God from the book of Daniel. Jesus has the authority, the nature, and the power of the “Almighty.”
We see, in Jesus, glory, majesty, holiness, power, and authority. He had the power to rule, to command, to know, and even to punish.
When John addresses the seven churches of Christ in chapters 2-3, he will use descriptions of Jesus which come from this text.
Jesus was standing in the middle of His churches. The seven lamp stands represent the seven churches, which we’ll see in just a moment in verse 20. Jesus is always and has always been among His people. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
The robe and sash indicate royalty.
The white symbolizes purity and holiness.
The eyes portray penetrating knowledge.
The bronze pictures strength and stability.
The seven “stars” are seven angels of the seven churches, which we’ll talk about in just a moment. Out of Jesus’ mouth came a sharp sword with two edges. Jesus’ offensive weapon has always been the power of His word - whether that power is found in the blessings of the gospel or in the curses of divine judgment. Jesus exercise all power through His spoken word. That’s why it is so important for us to trust that word and build our lives on that word.
WHOM JOHN SAW - 1:17-20:
John reacted with fear and fell down as if he were dead. Jesus laid his hand on John and said, “Do not be afraid.”
Then Jesus used the same expression for Himself that God used of Himself in verse 8: “I am the first and the last.” That means Jesus was present before the Roman Empire started and He will be present when the Roman Empire is destroyed. We could insert “USA” in that statement too: Jesus is present before the USA started and He will be present when the USA is destroyed.
Jesus is the “living One,” meaning that He “was dead, but behold, I am alive forevermore.” That was important for Christian in the first century to keep in mind because they might be killed for their faith. Jesus was killed for His faith. But, as John wrote in 1:5, Jesus was the “faithful witness.” He calls on us to stand on His truth and to do so, as He did, faithfully.
Jesus has the “keys of death and of Hades.” In other words, there was no reason for the Christians to fear Greek gods like Hades. Jesus controlled the unseen world and He controlled who would die and where they would spend eternity. He has all power.
Therefore, for a second time (1:11, 19), Jesus commands John to write what He sees in His vision - things that had happened in the past; things that were going to be happening in the present; things that would happen in the future.
Then in verse 20, John identifies for us the meaning of the symbols of the lamp stands and the stars. The lamp stands, shining the light of Christ in their respective communities, are the congregations of the churches of Christ, specifically E, S, P, T, S, P, and L. And the stars symbolize the “angels” of the churches. In Matthew 18:10, Jesus alludes to His followers having “angels” who are constantly in the presence of the Father. Here, it appears that congregations of Jesus’ followers also have “angels” who are constantly in the presence of the Father. It seems to mean that these “angels” are a metaphor denoting the idea that Jesus knows exactly what is going on in every congregation of His people - for better or for worse. In chapters 2-3, Jesus will encourage and correct those seven congregations of His people.
Rich reality from Revelation #1: Jesus is: The Loving One. The Faithful One. The Ruling One. The Glorious One. The Coming One. The All-Powerful One.