back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 3
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So the text that we're going to be looking at today is in Revelation chapter 1 verse 00:00:08.160 |
9 through 20 and it's the beginning or the commissioning of Apostle John so that he sees 00:00:17.040 |
the vision, he encounters the glorified Christ and then the vision that he sees he is commanded 00:00:23.240 |
to go and teach to the six or seven churches. 00:00:26.800 |
So we're going to be looking at that this afternoon. 00:00:31.680 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for answering our prayers and we thank you Father God for 00:00:44.080 |
guiding our steps and at times our hearts become anxious Lord God because we don't know 00:00:53.960 |
We look at our present circumstance and it's not exactly where we would like to be. 00:01:00.360 |
So we pray Father God that as we continue to walk with you that every day and everything 00:01:05.760 |
that we experience and as you continue to answer our prayers and reveal to us that you 00:01:11.200 |
are concerned for us and that you have our well-being in your mind that you would continue 00:01:21.160 |
As we are exposed to your word that we would have continued confirmation Lord God that 00:01:26.920 |
you are truly Lord, that you are sovereign, that everything that you've promised and everything 00:01:34.000 |
that we study in this book that one day will come true and that we would have that solid 00:01:41.240 |
assurance Lord God to build our lives and our future in Jesus name we pray. 00:01:47.040 |
All right so we're going to start looking at the beginning Revelation chapter 1 verses 00:01:59.360 |
The first section where John, okay John who's the recipient of the vision and we're going 00:02:08.440 |
to look at that in verse 1 and starts by saying John your brother partner in the tribulation 00:02:13.600 |
and so God gives this vision to John in order that he may be prepared. 00:02:20.200 |
So basically the first section begins with John being called and revealing his glory 00:02:25.480 |
and his vision to him so that he can convey it to the church. 00:02:28.640 |
So God gave this vision and glory and this is very similar to what you'll see and again 00:02:33.240 |
I'm for the sake of time I'm not going to turn there but Isaiah, Ezekiel and the book 00:02:37.760 |
of Daniel and we can give countless other examples but every time God wants to use somebody 00:02:42.520 |
to represent him he basically reveals himself in a greater light and the purpose of that 00:02:48.360 |
obviously is so that he can be his messenger and so we see that with his disciples where 00:02:52.840 |
before he sends them out he doesn't sit there and say here's some instructions and I want 00:02:59.200 |
He spent allows him to spend a significant amount of time walking with him, watching 00:03:03.640 |
him, knowing him because their calling wasn't simply to say here's the gospel information 00:03:10.440 |
that I have for you and it is no different for us that our calling in life isn't to regurgitate 00:03:19.480 |
It is very ineffective so if you've ever tried to share the gospel with somebody here's a 00:03:25.080 |
bunch of facts that I know that I believe in and I hope that one day you'll believe 00:03:31.840 |
The gospel was never meant to be transferred from fact to fact, from person to person that 00:03:39.120 |
It was always meant to be as a form of testimony. 00:03:43.680 |
That's why we call it witnessing, that we witness something and then we convey what 00:03:48.840 |
we witness to the other person and so that's the pattern that we see in the scripture. 00:03:53.640 |
He is about to give this revelation to the church and obviously to all of us but in order 00:03:59.280 |
He does that, we see that in the book of Isaiah chapter 6, Ezekiel chapter 1 and we're going 00:04:04.160 |
to refer back to Daniel's prophecies over and over again as we're studying Revelation 00:04:11.600 |
That God first reveals himself to Daniel before he gives his prophecies. 00:04:18.720 |
We know that John had intimate knowledge of these churches and why I say that is because 00:04:25.120 |
he calls them partner, he calls them partner in tribulation and in kingdom and patient 00:04:36.880 |
So John is not writing this letter to seven churches that he doesn't know. 00:04:40.200 |
He's very intimate and he knows their faults, he knows their strengths and especially the 00:04:49.040 |
He probably has a lot of interaction with the other churches because he spent so much 00:04:52.080 |
time in the church of Ephesus, most likely he spent a lot of time with these other churches 00:04:57.520 |
So John is not taking this message and sending it to a group of people he doesn't know. 00:05:03.160 |
He knows them very well, he knows that they're in the midst of intense suffering and that's 00:05:06.760 |
why he's writing to them and he says, "I'm suffering with you. 00:05:10.080 |
I'm not just saying these things and saying, 'Hey, you should suck it up because Jesus 00:05:14.360 |
He said, 'I'm in the same boat as you and the same things that are encouraging me will 00:05:22.520 |
We're told that he's at the island of Patmos and he said it's an account of his word, meaning 00:05:28.440 |
specifically in the context of him suffering. 00:05:34.120 |
This island of Patmos was used by the Romans for political prisoners. 00:05:40.920 |
So there was a small group of people that already lived in that island but for the most 00:05:46.720 |
part it was a pretty desolate area, not a lot of vegetation. 00:05:52.760 |
So just for your information where Patmos is. 00:06:07.320 |
This is Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Lathaiatira, Sardis. 00:06:11.640 |
So you'll see that all the seven churches are located right in this area. 00:06:21.680 |
Apostle Paul begins his ministry somewhere over here in Antioch. 00:06:27.000 |
His first missionary journey is limited to right in this section. 00:06:31.760 |
Second missionary journey, he comes here and then he tries to venture out and he comes 00:06:36.560 |
And then he wanted to go to Asia Minor but the Holy Spirit tells him not to go. 00:06:41.040 |
The Holy Spirit tells him not to go and then he crosses over to Philippi and then he begins 00:06:54.040 |
So what he's writing to them is not, he's not writing as a third person. 00:07:03.880 |
This is an actual picture of the island itself. 00:07:11.600 |
Obviously there are people, there are villages there now but this is probably a lot closer 00:07:16.040 |
to what it may have looked like for John when he was on this island. 00:07:40.400 |
Now all of your Bibles probably have that capitalized as the capital S. 00:07:47.320 |
Is he talking about that he was filled with the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit was the 00:07:50.920 |
one who was kind of like put him in a trance and he was speaking to him directly? 00:07:55.960 |
We don't know for sure what exactly that means but we do know that there is a pattern again 00:08:03.280 |
where God shows himself and it says in each one of these instances where Peter or Paul, 00:08:12.200 |
They tell us again in Acts chapter 10, 10-11 that he became hungry. 00:08:17.400 |
Talking about Peter when he has this vision of Jesus telling him not to call the Gentiles 00:08:24.840 |
If God calls them clean, that you should consider them clean. 00:08:28.140 |
But here we can see that he fell into a trance. 00:08:35.200 |
Now again we don't know exactly what that trance is. 00:08:38.720 |
When I used to be a part of the charismatic group, I thought I knew for sure what that 00:08:43.680 |
And it could be, it could be kind of like you're not asleep, you're not awake, it's 00:08:50.600 |
But again that's all conjecture, we don't know that for sure. 00:08:53.680 |
And we see that Apostle Paul, same thing, when Jesus speaks to him, he said when I had 00:08:58.040 |
returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple I fell into a trance. 00:09:02.360 |
And so most commentators believe that John also was in that kind of a state where visions 00:09:08.000 |
were given to him so he wasn't necessarily awake like we are awake now, and he wasn't 00:09:12.960 |
necessarily asleep like we would normally sleep, but he was somewhere in between. 00:09:18.040 |
Now we don't know, we can conjecture and add stuff and say this is what it was, but again 00:09:28.140 |
But that's the context in which John receives, and he said that he received this on the Lord's 00:09:35.400 |
Day, and the reason why this is significant is because the Lord's Day is most likely in 00:09:41.320 |
reference to the first day of the week, Sunday. 00:09:49.220 |
Why is it significant and why are we spending time talking about the Lord's Day? 00:10:04.160 |
They called, the early church began to call the day that they were worshiping God on Sunday 00:10:19.400 |
Today we have one worship on Sunday and we have a lot of churches that don't do it on 00:10:24.280 |
We have Wednesday, Saturday, oh why do we have to do it on Sunday? 00:10:27.400 |
And I know that some churches debate this issue, and maybe even within the church. 00:10:31.440 |
It's like well let's not be legalistic, you know, like missing church every once in a 00:10:37.720 |
And I know we have kind of a nonchalant attitude toward corporate worship, at least in our 00:10:42.720 |
You have to remember that the Jews for 1500 years, what happened when they blasphemed 00:10:58.640 |
They were taken out of the city and they were stoned. 00:11:07.800 |
So remember when Jesus was performing miracles, right? 00:11:12.840 |
Remember in John chapter 5, he heals a man, you know, and his great miracle took place 00:11:18.820 |
and everybody sees this and then the Jews get angry because of what? 00:11:26.600 |
They were so committed to the Sabbath that even after seeing a miracle, a man who was 00:11:32.160 |
obviously lame, and even they acknowledge this, clearly a miracle took place, but they 00:11:38.760 |
How can this be a man of God if he breaks the Sabbath? 00:11:41.500 |
So they decided that he must not be from God. 00:11:44.680 |
If he's a man of God, he has to keep the Sabbath. 00:11:47.280 |
So if you read the New Testament, if you read the Gospel, you can see just how important 00:11:53.120 |
So, you know, one of the things that we say that as evidence that something very, very 00:12:00.280 |
drastic, spectacular must have happened in order for the early Jews to begin, even just 00:12:09.080 |
It may not sound like a big deal to us, but this is how they worship for 1500 years, right? 00:12:16.180 |
And all of a sudden, the Lord's Day for them changed from Saturday to Sunday. 00:12:20.760 |
And obviously the reason behind that is because that's the day that Jesus was resurrected, 00:12:25.760 |
Something drastic has to have happened for them to have changed that, right? 00:12:30.240 |
And that, again, we believe is the resurrection. 00:12:31.960 |
I think it's significant here as well because when John is giving this revelation, we can 00:12:36.880 |
already see the impact of the Gospel in the early church, even in the introduction. 00:12:44.880 |
The first thing that John hears, before he sees anything, he hears his voice. 00:12:51.460 |
And the voice is, what does the voice sound like? 00:13:03.120 |
He turns around to hear this voice and it is not a quiet whisper, right, like Elijah. 00:13:09.520 |
He's sitting there and a gentle whisper comes and God speaks to different people in different 00:13:14.720 |
He speaks like a trumpet, like he said it sounded like a trumpet, right? 00:13:24.920 |
So what is the significance of him turning around and he hears Christ's voice? 00:13:31.840 |
So Jesus is somebody that he knew personally, walked with, slept with, ate with, right, 00:13:41.920 |
But he turns around and he hears his master's voice, right? 00:13:47.040 |
In fact, John says of himself, the one that Jesus loved. 00:13:53.680 |
That's how he describes himself in the Gospels. 00:13:56.860 |
So he had an intimate relationship with Christ, but when he turns around and he sees his resurrected 00:14:06.120 |
Not that he isn't a friend, not that he isn't somebody that he was very intimate with, but 00:14:14.840 |
So if it is a trumpet, what was the trumpet blown for in Israel's history? 00:14:31.160 |
But it's definitely, you don't use a trumpet if you have something quiet to tell somebody. 00:14:36.160 |
Trumpet is not what you would use if you have something to tell and you don't want anybody 00:14:41.920 |
So the fact that John turns around and he hears his voice and his voice sounds like 00:14:46.100 |
a trumpet, it immediately tells us this is something that needs to be declared. 00:14:51.440 |
And when you blow the trumpet in the context of war, it means it's something urgent. 00:14:56.460 |
That what he's about to show him and his calling to go and tell the people is very, very urgent, 00:15:03.880 |
Now we can look at that and say, well, we're 2,000 years removed from that, so it's no 00:15:09.540 |
This obviously was written for all of mankind, not only for the first century. 00:15:16.280 |
So the impact of us reading it and saying, well, he's blowing a trumpet, we should receive 00:15:20.860 |
it with the same kind of impact that the early church had. 00:15:23.720 |
That what he's about to say in the book of Revelation requires careful attention because 00:15:36.080 |
The recipient of the letter, the seven churches, they're all about 50 miles apart, so these 00:15:41.560 |
little tiny dots represent the churches, and they're all about 30 to 50 miles apart, so 00:15:49.760 |
What would be about, like from here to LA, would that be about 50 miles? 00:15:58.000 |
About 30 miles would be from here to maybe Downey, Gwinnett Park? 00:16:04.240 |
So it's not that far, even if they were walking, I mean, for that time. 00:16:10.120 |
So they're all about close proximity, and again, when he's commanded to write this and 00:16:18.440 |
then take it to the churches, it was meant not only for one church, but they were to 00:16:23.460 |
take his writing and go to each church and read it out loud for every church. 00:16:28.420 |
So the content of what he says, even though it says Church of Ephesus, Church of Smyrna, 00:16:34.060 |
Church of Thyatira, those letters were not just meant for an individual church. 00:16:39.520 |
What he says to those individual churches may be relevant to that particular church, 00:16:44.040 |
but the general content was meant to be read by every church. 00:16:49.000 |
There are certain things that he meant to say universally to everyone. 00:16:56.240 |
The order in which the churches are mentioned, again, we're going to get into a little bit 00:16:59.120 |
more detail next week, so I'm not going to get into it too much today. 00:17:05.080 |
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, so basically, you know, knowing that this is where the letters 00:17:09.880 |
are going to go first, so most likely if one of John's disciples takes the letter, he would 00:17:17.900 |
probably cross the sea right here and then stop by Ephesus and just make his way and 00:17:22.620 |
just kind of travel this road, and that's why it's written in that order. 00:17:26.440 |
And next week, we're going to deal with the first four, and the week after that, we're 00:17:29.240 |
going to deal with the second four, second three. 00:17:39.400 |
The vision itself, if you Google image of Jesus in Book of Revelations chapter one, 00:17:52.820 |
I chose the most acceptable one for the church. 00:18:00.640 |
I don't think I have, there's one with Jesus literally fire coming out of his eyes, double 00:18:04.820 |
edged sword coming out of his mouth, but I chose the more tame one. 00:18:10.060 |
So the seven lampstands, Jesus standing in the midst, first thing that John sees is the 00:18:18.140 |
These lampstands are not like the lampstands that they saw at the temple where you had 00:18:25.180 |
kind of like the seven candles on one stick, but it's just seven separate lampstands. 00:18:37.020 |
The very first vision that he sees is not of Christ, is not of all these other things. 00:18:45.420 |
First thing that he sees is the seven lampstands. 00:18:54.380 |
So what do you think the significance is that John turns around and the first thing that 00:19:00.020 |
Jesus shows him is the seven lampstands representing the church? 00:19:10.380 |
That Christ is very concerned about the church, right? 00:19:16.260 |
He says he sees the lampstand and then the second thing that he sees is what? 00:19:20.300 |
Jesus standing in the midst of the lampstands. 00:19:24.100 |
So the first image that John sees before Jesus shows him anything else is that these seven 00:19:30.000 |
churches and Christ is in the midst of them and he's about to write a very intimate letter 00:19:35.500 |
So everything that he has to say, not only from chapter three, we can kind of disconnect. 00:19:41.980 |
He writes the seven things to the church and then the rest of the book of Revelations up 00:19:45.900 |
to chapter 22, we can study it as if it's not connected to the first three chapters, 00:19:54.180 |
So we have to be careful to remember that everything that Jesus has to say in the 22 00:19:59.620 |
chapters of the book of Revelation is directly related to what he says in the first three 00:20:07.340 |
Because he says, "I want you to see this vision. 00:20:09.940 |
I want you to see that I'm genuinely concerned for them and I care for them and then tell 00:20:15.820 |
them that these things are about to happen so that they may wake up. 00:20:26.660 |
If you're compromising in doctrine, if you're not careful, Christ is going to come and he's 00:20:32.700 |
So everything that he says in this book is directly related to the seven churches that 00:20:40.100 |
Some churches have no particular issue and he's telling them to hang on. 00:20:46.460 |
And you've been faithful to the end, stay to the end because Christ is coming and he's 00:20:53.500 |
So the first thing that he sees, again, the significance of that is it connects us to 00:20:59.420 |
So when we're reading the book of Revelation, we have to read it like you're one of the 00:21:07.220 |
What does chapter 20 have to do with the church of Ephesus? 00:21:12.340 |
How would a lukewarm church, a Laodicean church, how would they have read chapter 13, chapter 00:21:20.260 |
And so you kind of have to see it in practical application because he wasn't just writing 00:21:24.540 |
a bunch of mysterious things for the rest of the church to figure out for the next 2,000 00:21:30.540 |
It was a very personal letter to these seven churches where John says of himself that, 00:21:41.740 |
And then the very first thing that he sees is Jesus standing in the midst of these seven 00:21:46.020 |
And he said, "What you have seen, take this to the seven churches." 00:21:51.460 |
And then he says he sees the Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven churches, right? 00:22:03.100 |
It is the most favorite self-designated term that Jesus used of himself, right? 00:22:19.700 |
But the term Son of Man is the term that Jesus used most frequently of himself. 00:22:24.540 |
Now the term Son of Man generically, kind of like the term Son of God, generically can 00:22:33.220 |
But the term specific Son of Man is related to the term that is used in Daniel chapter 00:22:42.700 |
Can you turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter 7, 13 because this is very important and I 00:22:58.500 |
And I think I mentioned to you, I think the very first day that when you study the book 00:23:02.860 |
of Revelation, a big chunk of some of the prophecies, you'll see the direct connection 00:23:10.500 |
So this was not, a lot of these prophecies were not new. 00:23:14.340 |
It was a continuation or fulfillment in Christ. 00:23:17.100 |
So if you look at Daniel chapter 7, verse 13, Daniel sees a vision. 00:23:21.020 |
He says, "I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one 00:23:26.180 |
like a Son of Man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to 00:23:31.300 |
him was given dominion, glory, kingdom that all people, nations, languages should serve 00:23:37.540 |
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that 00:23:42.740 |
So we see elements of this also in Hebrews chapter 1, describing Christ. 00:23:50.160 |
So clearly this is talking about the Messiah that's coming and this Messiah is not just 00:23:54.740 |
a glorified human being because his kingdom will last forever. 00:23:59.220 |
And all the nations, every single nation will bow before him. 00:24:09.820 |
So Jesus uses that of himself, that title of himself more than any other title. 00:24:22.020 |
And you'll notice that when John sees Jesus, he says he sees one like a Son of Man. 00:24:39.540 |
Now why do you think he uses that term "like a Son of Man"? 00:24:59.140 |
Like the long robe, golden sash, his hair was of his head and was like wool, the word 00:25:06.100 |
like flame, like furnished, like roar, right? 00:25:14.500 |
So in all the descriptions of Christ, he uses the term "like." 00:25:18.460 |
He's like this, he's like that, he's like this. 00:25:21.100 |
So when you Google Jesus' vision or John's vision of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1, if 00:25:26.780 |
you were to draw him literally, I mean, it's a pretty scary picture, right? 00:25:32.380 |
And you got a sword, double-edged sword coming out of his tongue. 00:25:37.140 |
He's got eyes of fire, hair like wool, white as wool, and all this stuff. 00:25:48.260 |
He's seeing a vision, a glorified Christ that he may have seen a glimpse of maybe at the 00:25:59.580 |
But again, that was only a glimpse, and this is before he was buried and resurrected. 00:26:04.540 |
So now in his full glorified, resurrected body, he's seeing Christ like he's never seen 00:26:11.060 |
So everything that he's seeing, is he actually seeing a sword coming out of his mouth? 00:26:18.900 |
Maybe it was a sword, maybe it wasn't a sword, we don't know. 00:26:21.340 |
But he's trying to do his best to describe the glory that now resides in Christ. 00:26:30.040 |
And so if you've never seen anything like that, he can say, "Well, I mean, Jesus, I've 00:26:35.900 |
Maybe the emperor of Rome, there's this majesty about him, and there's something about the 00:26:40.820 |
beauty of that, or the power of the nuclear bomb." 00:26:43.540 |
And you can kind of sense that, but if you've never really seen glory up close, how would 00:26:55.100 |
If you've ever traveled anywhere, and you've tasted a flavor that you've never experienced 00:27:00.220 |
before, and you just loved it, you loved it, and you come back and you say, "Man, I went 00:27:07.180 |
to India and I tasted this particular spice, and it was so delicious. 00:27:14.180 |
It was kind of like burrito and sushi and pizza. 00:27:30.060 |
But you're trying to convey something that you've tasted that doesn't exist. 00:27:36.660 |
This is the first time you've tasted it, and you loved it. 00:27:40.860 |
So you're going to use language that's going to convey that this is what it was like. 00:27:47.640 |
But I can't tell you it was like a burrito because it wasn't a burrito. 00:27:51.060 |
I can't tell you that it was like hamburger because there's nothing quite like it. 00:27:54.660 |
So the best that I can do is to give you an image of this is what I saw. 00:28:01.220 |
So everything that he sees is something that he can't explain with words. 00:28:10.380 |
So we can draw a picture of him with the fiery eyes and all this stuff, but I don't think 00:28:29.020 |
I've already mentioned this, so I'll move on. 00:28:36.900 |
The next part is very important because he sees a vision of Christ, and it's not conveyed 00:28:42.680 |
in one verse, but in totality what he sees, he's presented as Jesus, as prophet, priest, 00:29:05.020 |
No king was ever allowed to give sacrifice, and only people who are in the line of Judah 00:29:14.140 |
But Christ comes as a prophet, he's a priest, and he's a king. 00:29:20.180 |
And this is an office that only Christ can hold. 00:29:23.700 |
This is unique to Christ that no other human being, no other king, no other prophet, no 00:29:26.880 |
Levite has ever come close to, and they're not allowed to, because this is specifically 00:29:33.760 |
So all those offices that was created and God used for a particular purpose in the nation 00:29:44.100 |
So if you look at the Levites and the things that he told them, all of that was to convey 00:29:47.860 |
the office that Jesus was going to come and fulfill. 00:29:51.380 |
Every single king in the nation of Israel, they were sub-kings of the real king. 00:29:58.620 |
Because Saul didn't recognize a king above him. 00:30:01.300 |
He thought he was the king of Israel, and he was punished for that. 00:30:06.220 |
So every king subsequent, after that, that they need to first and foremost recognize 00:30:10.660 |
that they were simply servants of the real king, which was Christ. 00:30:15.560 |
So in this beginning picture of Christ, he's presented to us as a prophet who receives 00:30:22.120 |
the revelation of God and to give to the servant through the angels. 00:30:28.680 |
He comes as a king who is exalted, sorry, prophet, and then he comes as a priest, finally. 00:30:39.400 |
In fact, the very first thing that is mentioned, Jesus is clothed in long robe and golden sash 00:30:49.040 |
For the sake of time, we're not going to go there, but in Exodus 28 and 29, 5, that's 00:30:55.320 |
the dress of a priest when he would come and serve. 00:31:10.080 |
Let me go back real quick because the picture of Jesus mentioned here, "Son of man, he came 00:31:17.280 |
the ancient of days and was presented to him." 00:31:29.440 |
All right, I'm going to go through this real quick because I'm not going to sit here and 00:31:36.440 |
say the hair means this and feet means this and, you know. 00:31:48.960 |
I think we can guess when he says eyes of flame that he has piercing eyes, he sees all 00:31:56.080 |
His feet were like burnished bronze refined in furnace ready for action. 00:32:08.920 |
And again, that same description of Christ is given about God in Ezekiel 43 verse 2. 00:32:16.400 |
So all of these qualities that are describing Jesus is exactly the way God is described 00:32:25.200 |
So if any Jehovah Witness comes to you and says, "Now, Jesus is not God. 00:32:30.360 |
There are so many places in the Bible that can only refer to Jesus as God himself, right? 00:32:38.320 |
Nobody who reads the Bible faithfully can come up and say Jesus never declared to be 00:33:11.360 |
And so each one of those angels, when he writes to the seven churches, he says to the angel 00:33:16.160 |
of the church of Ephesus, the angel of the church of Smyrna. 00:33:19.380 |
So we're going to talk about that later when we get to that. 00:33:21.720 |
Okay, I'm not going to get too deep into that today. 00:33:29.300 |
And obviously, you know, in Hebrews 4, it says the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged 00:33:35.460 |
So meaning that it's sharp, it can cut, right? 00:33:43.640 |
His face was like the sun shining in full strength, again, to convey that he was seeing 00:34:19.600 |
John's response to the vision is the typical response that we see in any human being in 00:34:33.520 |
He said of Jesus, "I'm the one that he favors and loves." 00:34:38.040 |
I mean, if anybody had an intimate relationship with Christ, it was John, and it's according 00:34:45.620 |
But he sees the glorified Christ, and he's in terror. 00:34:52.440 |
Maybe at the transfiguration, he saw a glimpse of that. 00:34:55.520 |
Maybe after the resurrection, he saw his glorified body when Jesus came forward. 00:34:59.440 |
Remember, I think it was in Matthew chapter 28. 00:35:05.740 |
So they saw a glimpse of that, but nothing like this. 00:35:10.040 |
As soon as he confronted with that, he has a similar response of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, 00:35:17.280 |
every single person in the presence of his glory falls down in terror. 00:35:25.560 |
Now I think this is so crucial to a proper relationship with Christ. 00:35:32.760 |
Because we can have an intimate relationship with Christ, and we know that he loves us, 00:35:36.680 |
he cares for us, and all of these things are true. 00:35:39.680 |
But if we don't know that same God who terrifies sinners, then that grace isn't going to be 00:35:49.160 |
It's going to be a grace that's created in our culture, kind of like grace like a generous 00:35:53.640 |
grandfather or grandmother that just kind of lets you get away with anything. 00:35:59.440 |
It's going to be a kind of grace where there is no punishment for sin. 00:36:02.960 |
God just kind of overlooks the things that we do. 00:36:07.380 |
So if we don't understand grace in the context of this terrified vision of Christ, and the 00:36:13.720 |
only reason why John is able to have any kind of contact with Christ is what does Jesus 00:36:35.240 |
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. 00:36:40.280 |
He was terrified, but laid his right hand on me saying, "Fear not." 00:36:48.040 |
The only reason why John is able to even look up is because Jesus lays his hand in gentleness. 00:36:55.680 |
Even though he's in his full glory, he says, "Fear not. 00:37:08.240 |
You would think that he would say, "Don't fear. 00:37:19.440 |
Now all of these things are true, but he says, "Do not fear because I am almighty God." 00:37:53.160 |
Isn't that the reason why he was fearing him in the first place? 00:38:01.200 |
Wasn't that the reason why he saw the glorified Christ and said, "Oh my God, she's in his 00:38:05.000 |
glory," and he's terrified and Jesus says, "Do not fear." 00:38:20.800 |
Why this letter is going out and who it's going out to. 00:39:10.320 |
When he says, "I am the first and the last," he's not simply telling that to him. 00:39:15.560 |
He's conveying to him because his world has been flipped upside down. 00:39:22.680 |
We don't know for sure if he was actually put into boiling oil and then he survived. 00:39:29.440 |
We don't know that for sure, but we know for sure that all of his friends have already 00:39:33.520 |
If not everybody, most of them have already been martyred by this time. 00:39:39.920 |
So John knows, he himself probably was thinking, "I'm ready to go myself," and he sees his 00:39:46.120 |
brothers and sisters suffering in Christ in these churches and they're all terrified. 00:39:52.960 |
We're talking about a very painful death, some of them. 00:39:56.680 |
Crucified, thrown into boiling oil, having lions and wild animals tear them apart. 00:40:09.320 |
So when Jesus tells John, "Do not fear because I am the first and the last. 00:40:14.040 |
I died and I was resurrected and I have the power to give life and I have the power of 00:40:19.000 |
death and hell," all of this is conveyed to John that this Almighty God is on your side. 00:40:30.560 |
That master that you followed for three years was resurrected and you thought was being 00:40:39.600 |
So can you imagine, John already probably knew this because he bowed down and worshipped 00:40:44.680 |
him, but now he's meeting God himself, which he already conveyed. 00:40:51.120 |
He already bowed down and worshipped him, but now he's in the presence of his glory. 00:40:57.240 |
So can you imagine just being a part of the transfiguration, how that might have changed 00:41:03.320 |
And how Peter talks about that later on, how he was there in the transfiguration. 00:41:07.880 |
So can you imagine if that had that kind of impact on them, that what kind of impact this 00:41:16.720 |
I think his letters would have been affected by this. 00:41:20.600 |
His sermons probably would have been affected by this. 00:41:23.880 |
Every person that he met probably would have been affected by this. 00:41:26.400 |
How do you stand in the presence of the glory of this God that you've been worshipping, 00:41:31.560 |
ancestors who created the universe, and then not have that as the center of your conversation 00:41:42.960 |
So we see that John is given the privilege to be in his presence because he has something 00:41:54.040 |
The sinful man is clear, the Old Testament says the sinful man in the presence of God 00:41:58.120 |
without his mercy and grace, without being covered by his blood, would surely die. 00:42:05.360 |
Only because Jesus lays his hand and says, "Fear not." 00:42:09.560 |
Because he's the high priest, he's the mediator. 00:42:15.320 |
And so all of this leads to his commissioning. 00:42:25.080 |
He is alive forevermore that even when you die, you shall live. 00:42:43.320 |
And then the final, and this is kind of related to, again, going forward to help us to understand 00:42:49.520 |
these prophecies, his commissioning involves past, present, and future. 00:42:54.640 |
So if you look at, let me put the last part up there. 00:42:59.600 |
He's commissioning, he says, verse 20, "Ask for the mystery of the seven stars that you 00:43:06.600 |
Okay, verse 19, "Write therefore the things that you have seen," right? 00:43:44.560 |
So we talked, again, I think we talked about this in the introduction, that why when we 00:43:51.120 |
interpret these visions that we have to keep in mind that he wasn't simply talking about 00:43:59.160 |
Because even as he is commissioning him, he says, "Write down what you have seen, what 00:44:06.480 |
So when we're trying to interpret these visions, we have to keep that in mind, that John is 00:44:16.840 |
He's also looking at the things that he's already seen. 00:44:19.380 |
So we have to dig and find out which makes the most sense. 00:44:23.320 |
So there's always threefold application, right? 00:44:27.320 |
There's present things that are going on that may have already happened that John has already 00:44:32.480 |
And so the things that he has to say to the church of Ephesus, he already knows all of 00:44:39.960 |
Those are things that he's already known about them. 00:44:42.760 |
And then there's things that are, meaning that there's things that Christ is fulfilling 00:44:50.360 |
It's not the ultimate deliverance, but Christ, is he their mediator now? 00:44:58.960 |
Like all of these things are true as of now, right? 00:45:03.680 |
And then there's things that he says will be, right? 00:45:07.200 |
These are things that can be ultimately fulfilled when Christ comes. 00:45:10.860 |
And those are the things that we ought to look for. 00:45:12.440 |
So again, everything that he's about to tell us is not present tense, is not past tense, 00:45:36.600 |
When was the last time that you thought seriously about the second coming of Christ and how 00:45:39.600 |
does the hope of the second coming affect your walk with God? 00:45:42.440 |
So I think for today, it'd be great to be in your small group and take some time for 00:45:47.960 |
personal discussion about where you are in your walk with God. 00:45:51.120 |
Do you have a personal relationship with Christ or is it just a legal standing? 00:45:56.560 |
And again, I think I mentioned this last week and Sunday and even today. 00:46:05.840 |
The question is, do you actually have a personal relationship with Jesus or is it just a legal 00:46:17.360 |
Well, think about any human relationship that you have. 00:46:23.080 |
Is it anything like if you, your relationship with Christ, right? 00:46:34.360 |
So would you consider that you have a relationship with another person if it looked like the 00:46:49.520 |
I'm not asking where do you stand legally before God. 00:46:53.800 |
It's a much more practical, personal, subjective question. 00:46:58.400 |
Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? 00:47:03.240 |
So take some time to think about that because the cliché is it's not religion, it's about 00:47:10.080 |
relationship and I know it's a cliché and everybody uses it, but it's a cliché for 00:47:18.120 |
Because at the core of the meaning of that is Christ died for us so that our sins could 00:47:23.960 |
be forgiven, so that our relationship could be reconciled, so that we can have a personal 00:47:32.640 |
So that's a more practical question, number two. 00:47:35.320 |
And third, why do you think the study of the end times is important in the life of a Christian, 00:47:41.240 |
Why do you think God communicated mostly through visions and dreams when speaking in the end 00:47:44.800 |
times rather than through clear writings like the epistles? 00:47:50.080 |
We talked a little bit about that last week, but maybe you can take some time to talk about 00:47:53.880 |
this and maybe it'll help us to prepare for the future study in Revelation, okay? 00:47:59.280 |
All right, so let me pray for us and then I'll get you guys to get into your small group. 00:48:04.280 |
Heavenly Father, I thank you for my brothers and sisters and at this time as we break up 00:48:14.080 |
into our small groups, I pray, Father, that you would bless the times that we will have 00:48:20.320 |
and that discussions would be honest, that we would be transparent, that in our weakness, 00:48:28.720 |
And I pray, Father, that those of us who are striving and enjoying our fellowship with 00:48:34.480 |
you, I pray, Father God, that you would turn the frustration into compassion. 00:48:40.160 |
Help us, Lord God, to be strong for the brothers and sisters around us and care for them, Lord 00:48:48.960 |
For those of us who are struggling and weak, help us to be vulnerable enough to lean on 00:48:56.280 |
Help us not to think about what they will think. 00:49:00.080 |
And I pray, Father God, that each one of us has been called because we are weak. 00:49:04.520 |
I pray, Lord God, that you would give us the spirit and you give us strength, Lord God, 00:49:09.120 |
to empty ourselves, that Christ may be magnified. 00:49:11.960 |
So I pray that our small group time will be sanctifying for all of us.