Pastor Marq Toombs • June 14, 2020

Sermon Overview

REVELATION 1:9–20

In John’s vision in Revelation the first thing he sees is the glorified Christ arrayed in splendor. The description of Jesus is a powerful statement of who he is and points back to Old Testament promises. Then Jesus begins to speak with John to show him the end of all things. What does this vision teach us about Jesus and who he is?

Sermon Transcript

Grace and peace with you from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is indeed a privilege to be with you on this Lord's day. And my hope and prayer is that as we enter into the story that we just heard, that God will give you eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to feel the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come from a great tradition in the Reformed faith.

We are Rockwall Presbyterian Church, and we have roots that go back to the time of the Protestant Reformation. And some of our forefathers in the Protestant Reformation struggled with the Book of Revelation. Not knowing what to do with the Book of Revelation. There was a time in Martin Luther's life when he did not consider the Book of Revelation to be inspired or apostolic. And his rationale for that statement was that he could see nothing of Christ in the Book of Revelation. I think in later years he changed his mind about that. John Calvin was suspicious of the Book of Revelation, as were many of the other reformers, in their day. And they were suspicious, not because they couldn't see Christ in the Book, but they were suspicious because, as Calvin would put it, "The symbolism of the Book of Revelation, "seemed to veil Christ to the average Christian." And he was concerned about that.

It is one of the few books, in the canon of Scripture that Calvin did not write a commentary upon. Well, all due respect to Luther and Calvin, I want to point out that the Book opens with the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a book that introduces us to Jesus, and unveils Him and discloses Him to us, in truly majestic and glorious ways. This summer we are beginning a series, in fact today, we are beginning a new series, a brief series, on the seven letters of the church, to the churches throughout Asia Minor. And I want to introduce to you today, the author and the source of those letters, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who is going to send His Word through John, writing the letters out for Him, serving as the secretary of Jesus, and John is going to make sure these letters get to the churches. And we'll unpack this a little bit more as we go through.

But today, we're not going to deal with the letters, we're simply going to deal with the author of those letters. And you have just seen and heard, the vision of Jesus that was revealed to us. But travel with me, if you will, in the Spirit, on the Lord's day, to the Island of Patmos. An island in the Mediterranean, not a resort island, not a place where we would go for vacation. Not a place we would go for tourism, at least in John's days. It was sort of like the Alcatraz of the Roman Empire. And there we find John who has been exiled, banished, away from his family and friends. Set apart from all that he knows. Because of the Word of Jesus Christ, and the testimony about God. The Word of God that had been operating in his life, and driving his ministry, has finally led him to a point where the Roman Empire can't take it anymore, and they send John away, on a permanent vacation. One way ticket to the Island of Patmos. And imagine if you will, what it's like to be John in those days.

By the time John is on the Island of Patmos, and by the time John has this revelation from Jesus, he is an old man. Not just an elder man, as we say when we're trying to show respect, but he is an old man. He's pushing 90 at least. He has outlived all of his friends, all of his coworkers, have either been imprisoned, stoned, decapitated, they have been killed in some way. He is the last of the Apostles of Jesus. Rumor had it, that John would live forever, so to speak. That John would never die. That he would remain until Jesus returned. And he was living in such a way, and his life was prolonged in such a way, that probably gave credence to that rumor. But here John is, an old man, on the Island of Patmos, and apparently he's by himself on this day. And I want you to notice what he's doing. And I especially want you older brothers and sisters to see what John is doing on the Lord's day. He is worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.

The conditions are not perfect. He doesn't have comfortable pews. He's not gathered in a place of worship, as he might have been accustomed to doing. He is shut in, as it were. Sheltering in place, far away from his normal place of worship. And he seems to be alone, and yet, he's not alone, is he? He is worshiping in the Spirit, on the Lord's day. I am fascinated, I am fascinated, truly fascinated, by older men and women, who keep the faith, all the way to the end of their life. In the course of my ministry, I have been blessed by God to be associated with a wide range of older brothers and sisters. Who have given me encouragement to keep the faith, and to press on.

I'm encouraged by the members of this church. The men who invited me to lunch recently. To talk about anything and everything under the sun. But it was the experience of being with older, saints, who are still following Christ in their older age. I'm encouraged by that, and I hope you younger Christians are encouraged by that as well. It's not how we start out in the Christian life that matters so much, as how we finish up. And we see John as an old man, finishing strong. Even though the conditions are not perfect. Even though he doesn't have all the friends and family around, that he would like. He is finishing strong, because he is in the Spirit, on the Lord's day. And it's in that moment, as he is meditating, and praying, and worshiping God, in spirit and truth, that the Father seeks him out, and unveils to him, His son Jesus. And you see in the vision that John is moved and shaken by the vision, don't you? He hears a voice behind him speaking.

And this isn't the first time in the Scriptures that a voice has spoken from behind someone. Go all the way back to the first Book of the Bible, and God came speaking, the voice of God, was heard in the Garden, as He was seeking Adam and Eve. Fast forward to Mount Sinai, when the voice of God sounds forth, like a trumpet on the mountain, as the Law is given. Fast forward even farther to Isaiah, where in a vision, he is told, a time will come, and this is to the people of God, a time will come when you will wonder should I go left, should I go right, and the voice behind you will say, this is the way. And now, on the Lord's day, in the Spirit, John hears a voice behind him saying, not only this is the way, but it is the voice of the way. John turns to see the voice that was speaking to him.

Several years ago, back in the day, when you could go into airports and move about freely, and meet your family and friends at terminals. A friend of mine and I were at a terminal, out in West Texas, at an airport terminal. A friend of ours had spent the summer in Indonesia, and he flew into Lubbock, and we were supposed to go pick him up, and we realized we were running late, so we thought, you know, we don't wanna be too weird about it, but if we see him, we'll explain our situation. As we were walking through the terminal, there was an art display. And we saw our friend, with his backpack over his shoulder, moving in and out of the art display, checking out the paintings and the sculptures that were on display in that terminal.

And so we decided that instead of going to our friend, hat in hand, and apologizing to him, that we would go up and pretend to mug him, and welcome him back to the States. And so we snuck around this art display, and our friend turned his back, and as we snuck up behind him, we were so excited, I grabbed the backpack, my friend, Nick, grabbed our friend's arm, and we spun him around, and said, "Give me all your money!" And it was then that we realized that was not our friend.

Imagine John's surprise, when he turned to see the voice behind him, and when he turned to see the voice behind him, what did he see? Lampstands. And then walking among the lampstands, he saw one like a son of man. He saw someone who was very familiar to him, and yet someone who was also very unfamiliar to him. The last time, that we know of that the Apostle John saw the Lord Jesus Christ, is at the end of the Gospel of John.

And in that story in John 21, Peter and Jesus were walking ahead of John, and they were having a conversation about Peter's life, and mission. And John was trailing behind, and Peter was very concerned, after he discovered that he would die a death by crucifixion. He wanted to know, what about John? Well, the point I'm trying to get to you here is, that the last time John saw Jesus, he looked like a Jewish man. Maybe 5' 8", maybe a little stout, as he was a builder. That's how he remembered Jesus. Maybe he had Him frozen in time in that way.

And now in Revelation 1, he turns around and what does he see? He sees Jesus, but he sees Him unveiled, with all of His majestic glory. He sees Jesus in a way he's never seen Him before. The first time he met Jesus, Jesus was the Word made flesh, and He's still the Word made flesh, but now He's the Word made flesh glorified, not humiliated. And John sees Jesus with all of His majesty and glory. And you heard the vision, you saw the vision, you imagined it as it was being read. RPC kids, those of you that are here and at home, and any artist we have in our community, I wanna encourage you to take some time this week to draw or paint the image, the vision that you see there. And when you do it please send me a picture of it, I'll stick it in my office for awhile. I want you to see how difficult it would be to get your heart and mind around who Jesus really is, even when He unveils Himself to you.

What does John see? He sees Jesus unveiled in all of His glory, and we can summarize the vision in this way, in that John saw Jesus as the true priest, the true King, and the true prophet. The true priest, because he sees Him dressed in priestly garments. He's wearing a white robe, with a golden sash, and He's in the temple, and walking among the lampstands. The true King, because He has white wooly hair, curly, kinky, hair. Eyes like fire, He is wise. The true prophet because He has a sword coming out of His mouth, it is the Word of God. This is what John sees in his vision.

He's never seen Jesus like this before. He's only heard glimpses, and bits and pieces of this vision, and now he is confronted with this vision of the majestic and glorious Lord Jesus Christ. And one of my favorite sections of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is a doctrinal statement that our denomination uses, in one of my favorite sections, it describes the Prophet, Priest and King Jesus in this way. "Let it please God in His eternal purpose to choose "and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten son, "to be the mediator between God, and man. "The Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior "of His Church, the Heir of all things, "and the Judge of the world unto whom He did "from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, "and to be by Him in time redeemed, "called, justified, sanctified, and glorified."

Brothers and sisters, this is what John saw. He turned to see the voice that was speaking to him, and he got far more than he anticipated. Far more than he imagined, or expected. And what was his response to this glorious and majestic vision of the Lord Jesus Christ? He fell down on his face, as if he were dead. This happens in life, doesn't it? We tend to keep people frozen in time, we neither allow them to grow and mature, nor do we allow ourselves to grow and mature with them. And so we like to keep people kind of in a nutshell, or in a box. And Jesus comes and blows up the box in John's mind. And John sees Jesus for who He truly is, and he can't take it. Like every other prophet who has come before him, he is entirely unhinged, and unraveled, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He falls down as though he were dead, but we might think of this as simply an act of reverence and awe. It's reverence and awe because he is standing in front of someone that he didn't expect to see. But it's also the realization that Jesus has been there all along. Every step of the way, this Jesus, who is revealed to John, has always been with John. And He's been with him on Patmos, for as long as John has been on Patmos, and John just didn't have the eyes to see. There's the other realization that John is not merely stuck on the Island of Patmos. As he is caught up in the Spirit, on the Lord's day, and worshiping in spirit and truth, and the vision comes to him, and his eyes are opened, and his ears can hear, and his heart can feel, he realizes that he's not simply in exile in prison, but he finds himself in the temple of God. How do we know that? We know it because he sees the lampstands, which is where the lampstands stand in the temple of God.

The churches, alight with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus in their presence, in their midst. John realizes that heaven and earth have come together in this moment. And that he is not simply on earth, but he is caught up in heaven, as they come together in Christ. I wanna suggest to you that, as you gather on the Lord's day, the same is true. Christ is present among us, and not just any old Christ, but this Christ that we see in the vision, is present with us, even now. Though we don't have eyes to see, or ears to hear, in the way that John did, He is with us. And this congregation of His people, is also in the temple. Where heaven and earth meet together, we haven't simply come to RPC, on Rusk Street, in Rockwall. Although we've done that. We haven't simply logged in online and sit in our living rooms, and we're merely in our living rooms, or in our kitchen watching the service, and participating. No, we have been caught up into heaven, with the Spirit of Christ, and Christ is really and truly with us.

For those of us who have felt discouraged by not being able to gather in this specific place on the Lord's day, perhaps we can take encouragement from our brother John. Who found himself in exile on the Island of Patmos, and was still able to worship in spirit, and truth, and still able to encounter the living Christ. Something I want you to see in the vision, is, John is on the ground as a dead man, trembling with fear. In the vision, we learn that Jesus is holding seven stars in His right hand. What are those seven stars? They're called angels. And commentators debate whether they were guardian angels of the Church of Jesus Christ, or whether they were the Bishops of the Church in Asia Minor, over all the churches, or maybe they were the pastors of those churches, who were going to receive the letters. I don't have a strong opinion about that one way or the other, but I bring it up, only to show you something very important in this vision.

Is that, when John falls to the ground as a dead man, I want you to notice that he sees the hand of Jesus, the right hand of Jesus coming towards him. As Jesus stoops down to comfort His friend. What did He do with those seven stars? Did He smash them into John's back, or into John's head, or John's shoulder? No, He set them aside for the sake of His friend. And He set them aside, not to do away with them, but because He knew they were safe. He goes to seek the one that who needs His help. Do you know, that in your time of fear, and your time of undoing, and your time of need, Jesus does the same for you? He does the same for you. He comes to you in your fear, whatever the fear may be, and He brings comfort to you. I do wanna make a distinction here between fears, because in these last several months many of us have noticed fears creep up in our lives that we didn't always feel before. And we've become afraid or nervous about a lot of different things, and we've become anxious about things that, in the past, never bothered us. And it's easy to be concerned about the body, and about life, and about our economy, and about our own personal well being and welfare.

It's easy to be concerned about where the next check is going to come from, or is there too much month at the end of the money? Is my job going to hold? Am I going to get sick, is my loved one who is suffering, going to recover? It's easy to feel fear about all of those things, and I'm not discounting that, or marginalizing it in any way, I've felt all of those things in my own life. But what I want you to see here is, that John is not fearing the imprisonment, he's not focused on the rocks, he's not watching the waves of the sea crash upon the stony shore of Patmos. His fear here, is a holy fear, a fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not that he's terrified and afraid of Him and wants to get away, it's that when he realizes that Jesus is sovereign over all things, that He is the One who holds the keys of Life and Death. That He is sovereign over even the thing that gives us the most fear, it's then that he feels undone.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And it was right and good for John to fall on his face as a dead man. It was right and good for the Living One, to stoop down, and bring life to his friend, and raise him up. "Hey John, it's me Jesus. Remember me? It's gonna be okay man, it's gonna be okay.” And sometimes that's what we need to hear from Jesus isn't it? It's gonna be okay. And to feel the strength, and the warmth of His hand upon us. Bringing us back to life, getting us back up on our feet. Making us steady. "It's gonna be okay. I know you're an old man, you probably think your time is up, that you're useless, you can't do anything anymore. I need you to sharpen your quill, I got some letters for you to write. I want you to write what you've seen, I want you to write what you've heard. And I want you to share it with my church. Not just the seven churches in Asia, but with the church catholic. These letters are for all the church, in all places, and in all times."

Who writes these letters to us, who is going to send these letters to RPC? Not John, but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, has a message for us, for the Church in the 21st century. A Church living in a time of exile, a Church living in a time of quarantine and pandemic. A Church living in a time of riots, and protests. A Church living in a world that is dividing itself, tearing itself apart, burning its cities down. A Church that is in the midst of a culture that is raging with frustration and anger and fear. What does the Lord Jesus Christ have to say to us, in the midst of all of that? He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

One of my professors, made a comment on Revelation 1, that I jotted down and I've carried this with me, for many years now, and I share it with you now. He said, "It's not so much the location and the circumstances of ease that are the chosen places for God to use you for His glory. He is able to take you into the most disadvantageous circumstances, and use you far more there than He might have used you had you been in advantageous ones." And we certainly see that, in the life of John, John needed comfort, after encountering the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And perhaps some of you identify and relate to John in that way, and wish that you had some comfort as well. But, I remind you of what John knew in his heart to be true, that your only comfort in life and death, is that you are not your own, but you belong, body and soul, to your faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He loves you so much, that He will set aside treasured, and important things, to reach down to where you are, to come to where you are in your time of need, and meet those needs.

So with everything else going on in your life, and everything going on in the world around you, my hope and prayer is that, somehow the Spirit of Christ will help you, turn your eyes upon the the Lord Jesus Christ, and look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.