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I’m going to invite you today to Revelation. Chapter one is where we’re at together. Revelation chapter one. Um, where, you know, anytime you get to the book of Revelation, you just you just say to yourself, oh, we’re going to open the can of crazy today, are we? And get into that book. I find when when people talk about this book, there is some fondness I think people have for it, because you look at the imagery that’s described, it’s beautiful. Um, and but some of that imagery, for some of us, it’s clouded in a little bit of mystery. We don’t understand. So there’s this kind of attraction to the book one, because it’s a beautiful book. You know, it’s talking about the future, so that gets people excited. Then there’s a little bit of mystery, of not quite knowing what it is. For some of us, it causes maybe a little bit of fear, you know. And I encourage you last week, written to the church, this book is not a book written to the church to make you walk in fear, but but rather in hope. This is a this is a book of hope for God’s people to know that God is still in control and has a plan. So this shouldn’t, shouldn’t be a a book that causes you fear. So that’s that’s generally a the typical group of people I find with Revelation. Right. There’s like I like it I like what I’m reading.
I don’t completely understand it, but it seems like a great book. Right. And then there’s another group, and I’m just going to pretend like everybody today is in that first group, because in that other group, these are the people that get out the flip charts and just walk paranoid all the time. They’re kind of like they do the Cramer everywhere they go and everything they say reverts back to Revelation. Um, that’s that’s weird. All right. So so so if we if that’s you today, we want you to start moving to the first group. And then we’re going to walk through the mystery of Revelation together and understand what it is. And to be honest, at different points in my life, I probably fell in either one of those groups. Right? I one of the things that I’ve, as I’ve read Revelation, I think is a beautiful image for me, or maybe a maybe not beautiful, but an image that kind of describes how I’ve seen Revelation is, is is the image that I was familiar with in the 90s. I don’t know if it was like this everywhere but the mall where I grew up in the 90s, um, malls were cool. People used to hang out kids, in case you’re curious about that. But when I remember in the 90s, when you. I don’t know if I was never cool, but in the 90s, you walk through the mall and there were these photos that would often come across that were they’re called autostereograms.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with these, if they were where you grew up, but you’d walk by these little kiosks in the middle of the mall. And there were always these photos of autostereograms, which are these images that if you stare at long enough, they’re supposed to be something that kind of pops out of them. And I don’t even know if this would work, but I just I got one off the internet and it just kind of Wikipedia provided this one, but it just kind of pops out to you and you, you look at the image long enough, you start to see something emerge. Well, part of my frustration with these autostereograms is I have never been able to do one. I mean, it doesn’t matter how long I’ve stared at these things. I mean, it got to the point where I would sit and stare and stare and stare and I would ask strangers walking by me, what do you see? And they would tell me something. I’d get so mad. I’m like, you made it up, and the next person come by, you’d be like, what do you see? And then they would say what the other person said without even talking to each other. I’m like, man, right? So frustrating, I don’t understand. Well, for a lot of people, I think that’s what Revelation is.
And we get into a big mistake when we read this book and we think, is John’s writing this letter to the church? He’s thinking about 21st century America, right? He’s like, man, I can’t wait till these guys get this book. This book is going to mean nothing to people for 20 centuries. But in 21st century, right, it’s now all of a sudden going to matter. And if you approach the book that that way you’re going to walk away with some, some crazy thoughts about what Revelation means. In fact, anytime a book of the Bible is written, it’s always important to ask the question, what did it mean to the people there and then before? It means anything to us in the here and now. You got to put it in the text of the century in which it was written. And so if you want to understand Revelation, the best thing that you can do in order to go forward, you first have to go backwards. You have to look at the image that John’s talking about, the images that John is describing and say, what did that image mean to the first century reader? What did they understand from the Hebrew pool of images from the Old Testament, in order to comprehend what’s what’s being written in their day, so I can make proper application to my day. Because while the book was written for the there and then, it’s been relevant for every generation of God’s people.
But you can’t make good application until you have good interpretation, but you can’t have good interpretation until you understand the images from which John is drawing from in the Old Testament. And so rather than move forward immediately, we want to go back and look at the the Jewish mindset. And what you discover in the book of Revelation is that this is a book born out of tribulation and adversity, and there’s this broken world that we find ourselves in. And sometimes in the midst of that brokenness, you might ask yourself the question. God, where are you? And is what you said, is that really going to happen? Are you true? And are you determining the future? Because right now, in the midst of adversity, it’s not looking that way. In fact, when you look at the early, early church in the way that they lived life for God’s glory, it was certainly in the midst of challenge. And I just threw up a few historians here. The first one is a political leader. The second one is a historian, Tacitus. The third one is Tertullian, and each of them describing what the early church encountered. In fact, the political leaders said this about Christians. This is Pliny. He’s often referred to as Pliny the Younger. He said Christians were depraved, and they followed an excessive superstition. And the contagion of the superstition has spread not only in the cities, but in the villages and rural districts as well.
So he’s acknowledging there’s this frustration among political leaders over Christianity. But how how it’s taking over Rome. Uh, the Roman historian Tacitus, in looking at how Roman leaders have treated Christians, he wrote this Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class called Christians. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs, nailed to crosses, or doomed to the flames. Yeah, he’s. He’s acknowledging. This was during a time when Rome caught on fire. Nero blamed the Christians. And this is what Nero did to the Christians. Even Tertullian, who was a church leader in the second and to the third century, said this If the Tiber reaches the walls, talking about the river reaches the walls. If the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the sky does not move on the earth, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is a plague, the cry is at once Christians to the lion. In Rome, Christians were actually viewed as atheists because they were monotheistic. They only worshiped one God. And in Rome it was. It was determined that you were to worship many gods. You would worship the gods of your ancestors, and if you lived in a city, you would worship the gods of that particular city.
And if you ever moved to a different town, you would worship the gods of those areas as well. And part of the reason they were encouraged to do this is because if anything bad ever happened, it was because the gods got angry and the people weren’t worshiping them well, and so they would have to try to appease the gods. And when they look to the Christians who only worship one God, if anything bad happened, they immediately blamed the Christians because they angered the other gods, that they refused to worship. And because of that they faced judgment and punishment. But this is what the Christians endured in the early church, and even continuing to do so today. And you know, Jesus promised us in Scripture that we would face adversity. So that should not be a shock to us that just because you follow Jesus, it doesn’t mean life goes easy. In fact, because you follow Jesus, there can oftentimes be more challenges with that. In fact, Jesus promised us in Matthew 24, in verse nine, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, And you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. Acts 1422. Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Romans 1212. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Jesus certainly said there’s going to be tribulation for his people. But you know what’s interesting? When you compare what Jesus says to his church with early Rome, Rome promised its people peace, but what they received was brutality.
Jesus told us there would be tribulation, but what we receive in him is peace. And the book of Revelation, born out of adversity. Born out of tribulation is a book that helps us understand how to live in light of fallen Babylon. We walk in a broken world, but in the midst of that brokenness, God doesn’t doesn’t move despite the brokenness, but rather God has the power to move through the brokenness. And we don’t put our life on pause. Wait for things to get better before we follow Jesus. But rather, what John is saying to the church is that in the midst of all of this adversity on the mountaintops and the peaks, God is the same and he moves through it all. And so this is what we’re going to talk about today as we look at the second half of chapter one is how do we live life well and whether we’re in good times or bad, and especially in bad times, that’s often where we need the most encouragement. And when things are going well, it’s easy to remain optimistic. But when you’re going through adversity, how do we know? How can we be reassured? How can we move forward confidently? God, what are you doing? How do we how do we do life well or live life well? Especially discouraged? Point number one in your notes is this be devoted to a team on mission for Jesus.
Be devoted to a team on mission for Jesus. I mean, this is talking about the church, right? The team on mission is the church, and God wants you to be a part of that group. And there’s there’s a few primary reasons why that becomes essential. One, Because God is glorified. This is this is his bride. One of the best ways to show your love for Jesus is loving his bride, right? As a maybe if you’re a husband this morning, you know what that means, right? Someone comes against your bride, you’re going to take them out. But someone wants to honor your bride. You’re blessed by that, right? Because you want to honor her. And. And one of the best ways to show your love for Jesus is that way. And then, in a practical way, as it is, it connects to us as people in our relationship is, you know, there there are two things I think the church primarily that we can focus on is one is helping us walk through the difficult times. Relationships do that. This is certainly what John is focused on in this, this chapter. Relationships help us when we when when life gets challenging and we we might be in a place of despair, the depth of the friendships that we have become the place in which God often wants to work to encourage us.
And so the quality of the relationships you take time to develop within God’s community is important. They’re there to spur you on, but not only just for bad days, not only for discouraging days, but also to move forward. Because every day is not necessarily a discouraging day. And we can be answering the question, God, what is the next? What is the next mountain you’ve called us to climb? What’s the next target in front of us you want us to achieve? What’s our next step as ABC in order to walk as light in our community? God, what do you have for us? And so we get to collaborate and work together amongst one another according to our giftedness, to achieve what God desires to do through our community. In fact, seat back in front of you are those cards you can take home to remind you of what our church is doing now. But the only reason we’re able to do this is because the beautiful work God has done, and the continued collaborative effort as God’s people united towards that mission in which God has called us on. This is a tangible expression of how Jesus is moving in his community. And so John is writing to the church for that desire to encourage them in the brokenness, to move forward in adversity, to recognize that God has so much more for them.
I had someone this this week send me a message from an individual that it was a talk they were giving. It was an individual dying from cancer. And in that, in that talk, he gave something very, I think, important. He said, you know, um, the closer I get to death, it’s kind of, he said, refining me in what should matter in life. And there are two things that he focused on. He said love and legacy. How can I really appreciate the relationships around me? He said, first with God and then with others. How can I just savor that? But then, how can I make my life meaningful, leaving a legacy? How can I make a difference with the life that God has given me with whatever time I have left? And I think it’s the beautiful, beautiful thing about God’s people is knowing who Jesus is. It refines us in our mission in this world as light, in the midst of darkness, in the midst of a broken, fallen Babylon. What it means to find peace in Christ. And I hope that transcends our circumstance because of who he is in John. I should jump into the text. Does that in Revelation chapter one, verse nine. Look at this. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation. Do you see that connectedness there? He’s saying, I see you. Not only do I see you, but I’m with you. And I think that’s one of the most valuable things we can offer to people in the midst of adversity that you’re seeing, and I care.
I’m right there with you. And this is what John’s doing. Maybe we could ask in a personal way and in your own life. I mean, what what is God’s community to you? Do you under do you understand it in the in thought of this is his bride, and there’s nothing more valuable to Jesus than than his bride. And therefore, how am I connecting in relationship to this bride to spur it on for what God has called them to do. I have depth of relationship among God’s community. Or do I just show up and leave? Am I looking for ways to to to put roots down, to develop community for which God has called me to in him? This is what John’s saying, and especially in adversity. This is how we work through it. I see you, you’re not alone, right? And he says, in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. I was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He’s saying to us, look, not not only am I with you, but but I’m sticking it out. We’re going to get through this together. This is patient endurance. He’s talking about to the point that he’s even been exiled as a prisoner to another island.
And John is writing from this island, encouraging God’s people, saying, this is not the end of the story. This is not over yet. Our best days are still in front of us because of the one that we’re following. And then he goes on, I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. There’s there’s a couple of ways in this passage when you hear God speak that it describes God’s voice. One is like water we’re going to see in a little bit. The other is this trumpet. And both of those come from different passages. The water from a passage in Ezekiel. The trumpet comes from a passage in Exodus chapter 19 and chapter 20. But what it’s saying in both of those examples is that God’s voice is unmistakable here. It’s so loud, it’s drowning out everything else that this should be paramount to us in understanding how we live life well in the midst of adversity. And it starts in the development of healthy community in Jesus, our identity together in him. Are you saying this is on the Lord’s Day? And there’s a little bit of debate as to what the Lord’s Day is? Some say that this is Sunday and actually became common vernacular in the second century to refer to Sunday as the Lord’s Day. And so if you do that today, you’ve been observing a practice since the second century.
The what’s important in thinking about the Lord’s Day is honestly, every day is the Lord’s Day. Now, because Jesus is your rest, Jesus is your true rest. But this is also the day that the church is acknowledged as Jesus’s resurrection day, which is the ultimate sign of victory for his people. Then, in the midst of darkness, the worst day in history is the crucifixion of Christ. The resurrection becomes the greatest day of celebration, that God takes the darkest day and turned it into the greatest of moments for God’s people. And so we rejoice on that day. And so there’s this gathering. The other is the day of the Lord. It could be the day of the Lord, which is the day of judgment and rescue. Um, theologians don’t really know because this is the only time in the New Testament this word is used the Lord’s day. But either way, it’s encouraging towards worship. And it says, and he says, write these things down. And verse 11 saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, Thyatira, and to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. So he’s saying, John, John, write this letter and send it. You need to encourage John. Tell. Tell the churches that are going through it right now. We we want them to have hope. We don’t want them to lose sight.
We want them to keep perspective transcending where they are and the greatness of who God is. That I have not given up on them. But my plan is working beautifully in the midst of darkness as they stand for the light of which I am so, so he’s encouraging John to write this letter. But here’s my question when you read, this is why seven churches? Why not all of them? Why? Why not six of them? Why? Why not eight of them? You know why, why, why why these particular seven churches? You know what? What makes that so important? I mean, when you look at the name of the churches, why is it these churches? Some of them, you might be familiar with their names because you read some of them in the New Testament. Other ones? This is the only time they’re mentioned. And none of these churches exist today. Why is he writing to these seven churches? Well, if you ever study these churches, you find these churches exist in what is in today modern day Turkey. And they make a perfect circle, which I find interesting. But the idea of seven, I think, is more important than the name of the church itself. He’s going to get into the particulars of the church as we’re going to read about them in chapter two and chapter three. But but the idea of seven is a number that you’re going to hear repeated throughout the book of Revelation.
And that number seven is a word for completeness, fullness, wholeness. In fact, we became familiar with the idea of seven all the way back from the very beginning of Genesis, Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two, because that’s the in Genesis one and two. Those are the seven days of creation and what you find. What we find unique about the seven days of creation is that God was finished with his creation on the seventh day. It was complete seven meaning complete, but on the seventh day of creation. What’s interesting is in that seventh day, there was never in God’s design an intention for the seventh day to end. If you read the first six days of God’s creation, Genesis chapter one, It says with each day it was morning and evening of the first day, morning and evening of the second day, morning and evening of the third day. When you get to chapter two, it then starts the seventh day, but it never says. It was morning and evening of the seventh day, that in God’s design his desire for us was for mankind to rule and to reign this world honoring God and everything that we did and walking in beautiful, harmonious shalom relationship with him. That’s the Hebrew word for peace. This holistic well-being of all of creation, including us in his presence, forever perfect and complete. But mankind rebelled against God in our in our rebellion.
All of that was broken. And that’s why Jesus pursued us with his life, to restore what was broken and bring us back into relationship with him. And so this idea of seven is this picture of completeness. And God is moving, is telling us in this story through the churches to accomplish his will to bring about his plan. That’s God’s desire for us. So he’s saying, write to the churches and let them know my plan is completely alive. In the midst of a broken world, the King of Kings continues to rule, but God’s people are called to be that encouragement to one another. So how do we live life? Well, it starts in community. A community according to how God’s called us, that we are devoted to the team to live on mission. And John is saying here he’s going to endure patiently. But my my question may be related to John’s statement is to ask John to say, John, how do you know you’re going to be faithful? How can you say that so confidently with the things that you’ve gone through and and the things that you are going to go through? I mean, the world is against you. How can you walk faithfully with point number two in your notes gives us an answer. Let me let me give you the the blank and I’ll get in the next passage. But embrace the glory of Christ.
Embrace the glory of Christ. How do we live life well? We’re devoted to a team on mission, and we embrace the glory of Christ. Now, that’s a flowery way of saying what I could say more practically, which is this church worship. What John encourages the church to do in this moment is, is worship. And the best thing that you can do in your life when you’re facing adversity is dive deeper into the richness of who Christ is. How can you be confident that you’re going to have hope, where your confidence is built on everything that Jesus is? And so the truthfulness of who Christ is should matter to all of us, not some Jesus that we make up. But but honestly, what Scripture says about him, let the Word of God fill our hearts with the truth of who he is. And this is what John does in verse 12 to 16. I mean, John takes these these images of the Old Testament and says, church, let me just encourage you to worship in the way I want you to do this, is to see how God has been faithful from beginning to end. And I’m going to pull from the Old Testament, and I want you to see from the Old Testament the faithful hand of God, even into today, so that you can rest secure in his presence in your life. And when John does this in verse 12 to 16, he predominantly takes the ideas of Jesus from two passages in the Old Testament.
One is Zechariah four and the other is Daniel seven. He takes two stories from Zechariah four. Daniel seven. He ties them together and says, now church worship, because this is who Christ is. And I want you to see the the beauty of that in this passage. Let me read it. And then I want to kind of break it down just real quickly. And then we’re going to talk about why those passages are important and focus it on this phrase, son of man, which is why it’s highlighted. It says. 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, and the hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. Now, if you didn’t know John was taking these words from the Old Testament, you might be thinking, what on like Grateful Dead concert is he talking about? Right? Like, he is, he is. He is on some right. Like this guy is. Woo. But but when you read the when you, when you read the image of the Old Testament, you realize, oh, what John is doing here. He’s not just making something up just how he feels in this moment.
He’s taking the beauty of Scripture and everything that Jesus is. And so verse 15, it says his feet were like the, the, the burnished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held the seven stars. For his mouth came a sharp, two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. So these images are important. It’s telling us something about about who God is, for example. I’ll dive in this a little bit more, but the the sash and the that he’s wearing in the robe is symbolic of a priest or royalty. And then his the purity of his hair being white shows one who is pure. His eye is like a flame of fire, saying that he he sees into everything with the purity of his own eyes. There’s nothing that’s that’s hidden from him. His feet, like the burnished bronze is is saying, you know, being bronze wherever he goes, it’s got a step of authority as a as a ruler. And also his authority is pure because this bronze is refined. So his rule ruling is one with authority and of purity. His voice again, like many waters which it drowns out the sound of everything else around it, so that you could see with clarity and who Christ is. And then his right hand is this, this hand of authority.
He controls the seven stars, which, if you read in verse 20, you find out this is the image of of the angels, and he’s in front of this lampstand, which is the image of the seven churches. And so he’s showing the authority of who Christ is with this two edged sword, which is one that’s coming with judgment and protection, protecting his people, judgment against injustice, and his face shining like a sun, which is an image of of purity that he’s radiating in. Like you can think of times in the New Testament where when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, the disciples fell down before the purity of Christ. The Apostle Paul went blind at the great light that was the Lord coming before him. And so this is giving us that, that image of who Jesus is. But the important thing is, where did this come from? Why did John pick this? Well, to really understand this, I think it’s important to, to to understand the concept of the Son of Man. What does that mean for us? And this is especially important for, for Bible students as you read God’s Word, because this was Jesus’s favorite way of referring to himself in the Gospels. And so if you don’t understand this phrase, son of man, you’re not going to understand a lot of what Jesus is saying about himself in the Gospels. And part of the reason this is important is because Jesus chose this name to represent himself, because in the first century, when he came, the Jews had this idea of what the Messiah should be.
And their preconceived ideas of the Messiah were so strong they were going to miss who the Messiah truly was. And so, in order to help them understand, Jesus chose this phrase that comes from Daniel chapter seven. Now, what makes this phrase important is when you study this in the Old Testament, what you discover is the phrase Son of Man was actually how God referred to all of us. In fact, when God created us at the beginning of time, God, when he makes the earth, he tells us as sons of man to rule the earth, to display the glory of God and all that we do and bless those around us. That’s what God’s called to you in Genesis 128 was that you, the sons of man, would rule and reign, represent at the hands and feet of God in this world, because nothing else in this world that God made is made in his image. Only mankind was made in the image of God. So we become the reflection of God in this world. And because we’re made in God’s image, we’re made to connect to God. But but rather than follow after what God has called us to, we rebelled against God. And we usurp the position of God, declaring life for our own glory rather than for his.
And because of that, all of creation is broken, and we, rather than ruling over the beasts, are now dominated by the beasts. In fact, if you were to read Psalm eight, you see the description of that, the intentions for the Son of Man. It says, when I look at your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man, that you care for him. Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. And you have given him dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet, all the sheep and oxen, and the beasts of the fields. So saying, this is what you were created for, to reflect the glory of God and the way that you demonstrate your life in this world, to bless others, not, not domineer over them, but rather represent who God is in shalom, in harmony. But rebelling against God, we became like the beasts. And rather than. Rule the beasts ruled us. And when you get to Daniel chapter seven, that’s exactly what you find. In Daniel chapter seven, the book of Daniel talks about four different beasts that are dominating humanity, and they are destructive beasts.
But in Daniel chapter seven, verse 11 and 12, those beasts are destroyed. And when those beasts are destroyed in verse 13, you’re introduced to someone else who rules and reigns. And rather than it being a son of Man, it becomes the Son of Man, the one who was truly faithful, which is Jesus. Look at this. I saw in the night visions. And behold, with the clouds, which is a sign of deity, the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the Ancient of days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, that in the midst of the fallen Babylon, where the beasts try to rule, there is a greater ruler who will overrule them all. And he is an a son of man. But rather, when Jesus shows up, he tells us he is the Son of Man, the one who truly lives the way which we were intended to. He is the ultimate deliverer. In fact, in Daniel chapter seven verse nine, When the Son of Man comes before the Ancient of Days, it describes that Ancient of Days. Look at this. As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat. And look at this. His clothing was white as snow and his hair of his head like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame. And when you look at Revelation chapter 12, verse 16, this is exactly how it’s describing Jesus white hair of wool, this fiery bronze burning flame beneath him. It’s this. It’s this demonstration of Jesus being both of these things. He is the Ancient of Days. He is the Son of Man. All of Daniel culminated in Christ himself. How could John be so confident? Well, it’s because this is who Jesus is. And connecting to him in worship in the midst of our challenges helps us understand that in the eyes of God, these things are just momentary and the glory of who he is, that he is ultimately in control of all things, that this is not my defeat or demise, but this is just a moment in which I am going through. But I am not going through this alone. That God’s people are called to walk through me with me in this. And God certainly walks through this with me. And not only do you have Daniel chapter seven, but you also have Zechariah chapter four. And what’s interesting is Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah four is this image of two olive trees and a candle stand. And this is this. This candle stand is represented as the menorah that would burn in the temple. And when you read Zechariah chapter four, it’s important to understand the context is that God’s people have have gone through the Babylonian captivity, their temple destroyed, and now they’re coming back from captivity and they’re discouraged.
But God gives Zechariah this vision and tells the people, he gives this vision to the priest and to the king, to the priest Joshua, and to the kings rubble. And he says, tell the people that they they are going to be faithful to what I call them to, and they will be successful in what I’ve called them to, that they will rebuild, the temple will be rebuilt. And in Zechariah four, these two olive trees, one represented Zerubbabel the king and the other represented Joshua the priest. And they were seen as the ones that were supplying to Israel the light, the light of God, that they would be, that they would be successful in what God called them to do, that the light of who God is would burn through God’s people, that it would radiate around them. And when you get to the New Testament, this is in Revelation again, what John is describing. But what’s interesting about this story is the way that John has shaped the image? Because in messianic understanding, when when the Jews would read Zechariah chapter four, they would look at the king represented by Zerubbabel, and they would look at the priest represented by Joshua. And in Zechariah four they saw Joshua and the king in this story, but they also saw a future calling of a greater Messiah who would come.
And in fact, when they would read Zechariah four, they often thought it was going to be two messiahs. There would be a messiah who was a king, and there would be a messiah who was a priest. But what you find in Revelation chapter one is Jesus is the combination of both of those things, that he is the priest and he is the King, and he is ruling. And rather than ruling in a temple, he has called the church to be the living temple of God, the light to the world that this king is working within his people, the seven churches, which is a representation of all of God’s churches of all time, fulfilling his plan in this world, and that he will supply what we need to to be faithful to what he’s called us to. And so Zechariah becomes this beautiful image. And and John, therefore, is encouraging us, church in the midst of adversity. What we need is what happened. Important moment. Worship. Worship. What are you going through right now? What challenges are you facing? How is your heart engaged in worship? Do you see not only the importance of worship in your own life, but but also for this community that we would be successful in what God has called us to together faithfully. And the reason we’re able to do that is because he is faithful. And this is what John wants us to understand, from Zechariah to Daniel, all the way into the book of Revelation, here is how God has worked his story.
Church, does that not inspire your heart to worship? All this is going to fade away. All of it will be gone. But the one thing that it will endure forever is the Word of God and the people of God and His presence for eternity. Worship. Worship. Point number three. Then, in relation to that worship, is this that you would walk in the power of the gospel, that you would walk in the power of the gospel. And what I really mean is walk in the truthfulness of what Jesus says about you. What is it Jesus says about you in light of who he is? You know, oftentimes when people had an encounter with the Lord, the way that they responded was in fear, in fact, as if they were dead. And when you come before a holy, perfect God, as it’s described in this first verse 12 to verse 16, the only thing that that God owes us truthfully is judgment. But what’s amazing is that rather than judge, he gives us grace, not because of us impressing him, but because of what Jesus does on our behalf. And look, John says, says it. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid the right hand on me, saying, fear not, for I am the first and the last.
And can I just tell you John’s response very common in Scripture. Isaiah did it in Isaiah chapter six verse five. I am a dead man. Ezekiel does it in Ezekiel chapter one. Daniel does it in Daniel chapter ten. I mean, all these prophets, when they see the the glory of God revealed to them, this is how they describe their posture before this God I am a dead man. But rather than destroy us, what God does is pick us up. I love this he lays his right hand of a favor on John and the first things he says. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of me. Don’t be afraid of your future. I mean, this is this is truly resting in who you are because of who he is, not because of what you do, but because of what he’s done. This is saying you get to. You get to rid yourself of the past and walk with your head held high, looking to a glorious future because your future is wrapped up in his strength and what he has accomplished for you on the cross. Don’t listen to what Satan says about you. Don’t let the past of the things you’ve done weigh upon you, but rather in the present for what Christ has done for you. That is where true freedom is found. And now, because of that, we get to walk in the newness of life, but not the way that we want to.
The way that he’s always called us to because of what he’s allowed us to do in him. And so he says, fear not. And then verse 18, and in the living one, I died, and behold, I am alive for evermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. So he’s saying, look, you thought the story was over when you killed me. But that was just the beginning. Jesus saying not even death could hold me back. In fact, I have the keys to death and Hades. Hades is the place for the dead which shows authority and control. I am in charge of all of this. So? So what can man do against you? Nothing Jesus is saying, because I have ultimate authority over all things, and write these things that you have seen, those that are and those that are, those those that are and those that are to take place after this. That’s a great way of seeing Revelation. There are some things immediate, some things that are going to take place. 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, let me give you a nerd Revelation moment for a minute. Um, I don’t know what these angels are, and if you want to go study it and figure out what these angels are, feel free.
It doesn’t take away from the text, but the word angels literally translates messenger. And so sometimes angels can literally be what we often think about as those figures with wings playing a harp, which sounds more like hell with a harp to me than than heaven. But but you kind of get that image of little babies with wings playing harps. Um, so it’s that kind of an angel. Or it could just mean someone sent out as a messenger. Someone sent out to declare a message on behalf of God, which could be a human being. But either way, this message is going out to the seven churches, which is a representation of all of God’s churches. Was saying, in the midst of a broken, fallen Babylon, where a people still have tremendous hope because we serve a greater King, the Son of Man has conquered the beast, and we rule and reign with him. So we get to step bravely in the midst of darkness, piercing it with the glory of the light of Christ. How do we live life successfully recognizing the importance of God’s community, worshiping in the truthfulness of who Christ is, and walking in the power of of that gospel, The matchless splendor of Heaven’s King attracts the attention and compels the obedience of the church that John addresses in this passage. Adversity may be on the journey, but victory is mine. You know, when I think about church history, I read in the beginning just some some of the thoughts towards the early church in this first couple of centuries in the midst of adversity.
And I want to close thinking about a more recent illustration with a man by the name of Richard Wurmbrand. This is his wife, Sabina, in the picture. They passed away. Sabina passed away in 2000, and Richard passed away in 2001, and both of them were living in California at the time when they passed away. But what’s amazing about their story is that they they ministered. He was a he was an evangelical Lutheran minister in Romania, and he ministered during the time of Holocaust, the Holocaust. And he would often preach in bomb shelters. And he helped Jews escape the Holocaust. And at one point he was captured and imprisoned, and he was tortured for 14 years. He was tortured, and at one point he describes in his in his own autobiography how he was tortured so severely that he couldn’t walk for several days. And on that particular occasion, when he was drugged back to his cell, he started to pray for those who tortured him. And as he prayed, his own heart was softened to them, and he remarked, I want to pray for them because I’m broken just like they are. And he continued to pray, and God started to work on the hearts of of those soldiers that would abuse him.
And eventually they started to give their lives to Christ. After 14 years, Richard Wurmbrand left that prison cell, and he went on to start an organization called the Voice of the martyrs. And he became a voice for our brothers and sisters in Christ who faced tribulation every day. I mean, you can still get his magazine today, even though he’s he’s passed away. But they share the story again and again of what God’s doing around the world despite tribulation. You know what’s amazing about Christianity? Can I tell you the place where Christianity is growing in this world? It’s everywhere where the church is facing adversity for their faithfulness in Jesus. I mean, if there’s anything that speaks to the power of who God is, it’s when the church faces an obstacle. How they rise up to the challenge to demonstrate the goodness of Jesus. I mean, I tell my friends constantly, I think when it comes to America, the strength of America’s church is going to be here in Utah. When you when you pay a price for your faith in Jesus, there’s something about the sweetness of Jesus that comes real to you in the midst of trials. How do we live life faithfully? Connect in community worship with all that we are, the goodness of who God is and let’s the richness of his gospel pour over us.