Revelation 1

¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. ⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, 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. ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” ⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet ¹¹ 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.” ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that 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.

My first foray into politics was as a boy when I wrote a letter to President Ronald Reagan informing him that a girl at my school named Jennifer had told me that he was possibly the antichrist since his full name was Ronald Wilson Reagan and each of those three names has six letters: 666. I wanted to make President Reagan aware of this but also inform him that I, for one, certainly did not believe Jennifer’s allegation. One of the reasons I did not believe it was because I thought the antichrist was likely Mikhail Gorbachev since he had a big birthmark on his forehead. I do not claim that I possessed the detailed understanding of Robert Faid, of course, who wrote of the birthmark:

“When I look at the top of Gorbachev’s head, I see a red dragon and over the right eye, there’s a tail that hangs, representing stars,” says Faid. He explains that St. John, in Revelations: 12:3-4, portrays Satan in similar terms, as a “great red dragon . . . and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. . . “

Thus, says Faid, “If Gorbachev is truly the Antichrist, Satan branded him in his mother’s womb.”[1]

All I knew was this: that birthmark was ominous and it was on his head and Gorbachev was Russian and the movie Red Dawn, among others, let me know that they were the bad guys. So it added up. I was also fairly sure that Gog and Magog from the book of Revelation were Russia and China and that the locusts of Revelation represented Apache helicopters and that the European Common Market was an ominous sign of an encroaching one world government and that the pope had to be the “Whore of Babylon” etc. etc. etc.

Such was my youthful immersion into the book of Revelation…though, not really, because, when I think back on it, I was more interested in these theories about Revelation’s application to my own mid-1980’s reality than to the book itself. Later on I began to grow a bit suspicious about the certainty that Christians had in their own interpretations of the symbolism of Revelation, including my own certainty. By the time, in college, a friend sent me an entire sermon on audiotape meticulously detailing how Prince Charles was the antichrist, I was inclined to agree with the frustrated member of that congregation who I could hear yell out from the audience on the tape: “How do you know this is true?!”

How indeed?

And this is why I approach this journey with some sense of hesitation. There is a part of me that wonders if folks in churches love what we think Revelation might say and what we want it to say more than what it actually says. Put another way, if we are not careful, this amazing book with its astonishing and, at times, terrifying images, can tempt us to a kind of eschatological voyeurism where we watch the unfolding events of calamity as we conceive of them with perverse glee.

But surely the book of Revelation was not given to titillate our imaginations. In fact, I am going to argue that it certainly was not. There is something more important than Christians being prodded by the colorful images of the apocalyptic and that something would be Christians being inspired by the greatness of Jesus Christ and His victory and promised return. So I would like to begin our journey by laying down a few promises that I want to make.

Promises for Our Journey through Revelation

1. I will preach what Revelation says, not what any system of prophecy
2. I will not forget the original audience who received this book.
3. I will not engage in forced efforts of identifying prophesied events, people, or entities today, though I will point out where our culture seems to be evidencing what was prophesied.
4. I will not overly-stress the differences between prophetic systems, though I will mention them for context.
5. I will refuse to miss the forest for the trees.

These promises are as much for me as for you. I believe they will keep me honest and keep us all focused. This book is too important to be squandered by ear-tickling flights of fancy. Everything in this book is intended to exalt the Lord Jesus and encourage and strengthen His church. Toward that end, I would like to propose a thesis statement for the book of Revelation and also for our journey through it. Here it is:

Revelation reveals the victory of Jesus Christ and how that victory, culminating in Christ’s return, can embolden the faith and endurance of the church today in the fallen world order.

I believe our journey through Revelation will bear out the truthfulness of this statement. In fact, I want to show that the very first chapter of the book does so. We will break this thesis statement down into its parts as we walk through chapter 1.

Revelation reveals the victory of Jesus Christ…

As we turn to this book, let us first make a note about it. It was written, most likely, near the end of the 1^st century during the reign of the Emperor Domitian (though the number two candidate would be the Nero which would place the book some years earlier). It was written during a time of persecution for its author, the disciple John. He had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos for his faith and preaching. The church father Tertullian alleged that John was first plunged into boiling oil but “suffered no hurt” from it. After that he was sent to Patmos.[2] Take that how you will.

John having written this book from the Isle of Patmos has given that island quite the reputation. Pink Floyd went there in the 1960s and took drugs and recorded some very strange music. And as late as the mid-2010’s a band called The Residents produced a weird web series about a member of the band who disappears and goes to the Isle of Patmos. When he is finally discovered it is revealed that in his confusion he went not to the Isle of Patmos but rather to Patmos, Arkansas, which is down in Hempstead County! For our purposes, however, it is enough to know that this is where John was when he wrote our book. He was exiled, cut off from friend and relation because of his faith.

But the persecution also applied to the church at large who was suffering for their faithfulness and for their refusal to swear allegiance to the Emperor as a god. This historical context helps us understand our thesis statement a little better:

Revelation reveals the victory of Jesus Christ and how that victory, culminating in Christ’s return, can embolden the faith and endurance of the church today in the fallen world order.

That Christ is victorious—over sin, death, hell, and all Satanic systems and figures that plague the people of God—is the resounding note of the book of Revelation. We can see it in how the book begins:

¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

We begin by noting the four-fold movement of the revelation of God:

• from the Father to the Son
• from the Son to an angel
• from the angel to John
• from John to us

The revelations of Revelation are therefore great gifts from on high. As such, they bring with them great blessings, as all gifts of God do.

³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Verse 3 constitutes the beatitudes of the book of Revelation: to the one who “reads aloud” and to “those who are.” But the hearing is not merely hearing. It is hearing for obedience: “and who keep what is written in it.” John next names those to whom the book is addressed:

⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne

The book is from the Lord and, curiously, “from the seven spirits who are before his throne.” Who are these seven spirits? Jewish tradition asserted that there are seven archangels in Heaven. 1 Enoch gives this list of their names:

• Uriel
• Raphael
• Raguel
• Michael
• Saraqael
• Gabriel
• Remiel[3]

But is this who is being referenced by “the seven spirits”? This list of names is not provided in scripture. Some point to the number seven, the number of completion and perfection, and suggest it is a reference to the perfection and sovereignty of God Himself. However, the seven spirits seem to be seven heavenly entities, seven particular members of the host of Heaven, and it is therefore likely best simply to leave it at that.

But the letter has another seven in it. It is addressed “to the seven churches that are in Asia.” This is a book, then, for the church. It was for those churches, it is true, but the fact that it is sent to seven churches is likely a nod to the church in its totality (the number seven again) and in its universality. That is to say, it is for the church throughout the ages and throughout time. It is for us, just as it was for them.

In verses 5 and 6 we see the victory of Jesus Christ of which our thesis statement speaks.

⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

It is “from Jesus Christ.” Then, John lists the titles and accomplishments of Jesus:

• the faithful witness
• the firstborn of the dead
• the ruler of kings on earth
• the one who loves us
• the one who freed us from our sins
• the one who shed His blood
• the one who made us a kingdom
• the one who made us priests His God and Father
• the one who has glory
• the one who has dominion
• the one whose dominion is “forever and ever. Amen.”

John’s vision of Christ is powerful and awe inspiring! This is Jesus the King! Notice the reference to the kingdom and to the priesthood of believers. It is powerfully reminiscent of 1 Peter 2:

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

This is the victory of Christ: what He suffered, what He purchased, what He has wrought in and among and through His redeemed people! The church is Christ’s great accomplishment: that He would snatch us from Hell and make of us this kind of people.

But there is something else here, something that we miss if we rush through this. Imagine with me that you are in a small house church in Pergamum. You are worshiping but quietly so as to not draw the attention of the authorities. There have been some instances of persecution that have you all on edge. Christians are being rounded up and told they must recognize the Emperor as a god and offer incense to him. Those who refuse are being tortured or killed.

Imagine that in this church meeting a man stands up and speaks, tears streaming down his face: “Brother. Sisters. Last Tuesday my brother was reported to the authorities. He is part of a fishermen’s association and was asked, along with all the members, to make homage to the Emperor as to a god. He refused. One of the members of the association reported him. He was taken in the middle of the night. They killed him. They killed my brother. The Emperor had my brother killed.” He sits down, buries his head in his hands, and weeps softly as those around try to comfort him.

After a long and uncomfortable silence another person stands. “Brothers and sisters. My heart grieves for our brother. But I have something I need to share. We have received a letter.” With trembling hand he holds it up. “It is from John.”

There is a gasp of surprise in the room. “I thought John was dead!” somebody says.

“Not so,” the other replies. “He has been exiled to Patmos but he is still very much alive. He has written a number of the churches. Here is our copy of the letter. I would like to read it now.” And he reads:

⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

At the words “the ruler of kings on earth” the weeping man in the corner looks up. The voice of the reader cracks with emotion. At “and made us a kingdom” there are nods around the room, even from the grieving brother.

Do you see? This letter is not first and foremost trying to shock us with strange images. It is rather trying to encourage us in time of suffering. It is saying that there is a King above all kings and a Kingdom above all kingdoms! It is saying that our King Jesus is and will be victorious and that death does not get the last word!

This is a book to make us worship, not a book to make us confused! This is book that should bring forth a “Hallelujah!”, not a question mark.

…and how that victory, culminating in Christ’s return…

And, yes, it is a book that shows how the victory of Christ will ultimately culminate in the return of Christ Jesus.

⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, 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. ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Yes, church, Jesus is coming back! He has not abandoned us! He has not disappeared to leave us on our own. He has given us His Spirit but He will return “with the clouds.” We learn from verse 7 that His second coming will be visible (“every eye will see him”) and also that whereas it will be a return of joy for the church it will be a return of judgment for the world that rejected Him: “all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him.”

Even so.

Amen.

There will come a time when the curtain will fall and the sad story of human rebellion against God will come to an end. The Lord Jesus will step out onto the stage and that will be that.

Even so.

Amen.

The people of God will rejoice and the enemies of God will “wail on account of him.”

I realize that this is not popular to say, but whereas Jesus came meek and mild in His first coming, His second coming will be anything but. What is more, if your view of Jesus does not leave room for the rebellious world to “wail” in terror at His perfect wrath, then your view of Jesus is stunted by sentimentalism.

To the hurting who call on His name He is gentle and gathers us in. To those who turn from Him He is a consuming fire.

Jesus will return. Literally. Not spiritually. Nor will He return figuratively as the church somehow utopianizes the world through increased humanitarian efforts. No, the return of Jesus is depicted in scripture as a cataclysmic intrusion into a decaying and rebellious world order hell-bent on rejecting Him. It is into this situation that the heavens will split and the Son will come in power!

…can embolden the faith and endurance of the church today in the fallen world order.

And what does this mean? It means that the church can endure and even thrive in the hardest of circumstances because we have been shown this good news of glory!

⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet ¹¹ 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.”

These seven churches may have been the seven “distribution centers for the seven postal districts of west-central Asia Minor.”[4] Meaning, their locations may be evidence of John’s desire for this letter to be distributed far and wide throughout the word. And again, their being seven of them also speaks of the church universal. This is a book for the church! Why? Because, like John, the church was “in the tribulation,” they were “partners” with John in suffering. This means that this book is what suffering Christians then and now truly need!

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

This is symbolic imagery, not a detailed photo of Jesus, of course. White was the color of wisdom. Jesus’ white hair here is a picture of His perfect wisdom and knowledge. He is dressed regally as is fitting for the King of Kings. His eyes were like fire: fire purges, fire illuminates, fire warms, fire burns, fire destroys, fire empowers. This image of fire is good news for the children of God just as it is terrible news for the lost. And Jesus is strong: “his feet were like burnished bronze…and his voice was like the roar of many waters.” What a picture of Jesus this is! This is different than baby Jesus in the manger. This is Jesus unveiled in awesome power! Thus, John’s reaction:

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that 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.

Ah! Do you see? The trembling church need not fear this awesome Jesus! He is tender to us: “Fear not.” He is the risen Lamb who has all power! And then we see something awesome: this Jesus is standing “in the midst of the lampstands” (v.13) and these lampstands “are the seven churches.”

Jesus is in the midst of His suffering church.

Jesus is here, now, with us, among us, in our midst! This powerful, awesome Jesus has not turned His back on His struggling people. There is no power that can overtake Him, no hell that can capture and keep Him, no earthly king or government or state that makes Him tremble, no Caesar or Emperor or President before whom He bows. There is no devil that can ensnare Him and no Satan that can cause Him to stumble. He has no equal! And He has purchased and saved us! And He is with us and among us! And He is coming back for us! This is good news, church, good news!

Lift up your countenances and smile the smile of free and loved and redeemed men and women and boys and girls! The great King is coming! The Lamb is coming! There is terror in His approach for the wicked but there is peace and victory for His children!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The King comes!

 

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/06/05/the-devil-in-gorbachev/34f9db9b-9498-4894-9800-90f7d3d4e434/

[2] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Gen. Eds. Ned B. Stonehouse, F.F. Bruce, Gordon D. Fee. Revised Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), p.55.

[3] Ibid., p.47.

[4] Ibid., p.56.