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The Revelation of the King Revelation 1 Snug Gospel Chapel:
31/05/2015
Benjamin Searle
[email protected]
This morning were going to be taking a very brief look at the
opening chapter of the book of Revelation.
Before I begin, however, Id like to make a quick disclaimer:
Having spent some time studying this chapter, I have become
solidly convinced that you could preach out
of this passage for a thousand years and still only just skim
the surface. Ill spare you the thousand years
this morning, but I would like us to focus on a single idea: The
Revelation of the King.
Lets turn to Gods Word.
(Read the Chapter)
Keep your Bibles open to this passage, as were going to follow
it closely in our time this morning.
Revelation is one of the few books in Scripture that has the
added benefit of adding a complete summary
in the first verse. This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave Him to show His servants, to show
them what must soon take place. If you were to walk away from
this sermon today with nothing more
than that concept firmly implanted in your minds, Ill be happy.
This book was given to, was written about,
and was expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ, given to His
servants, and He is coming soon. That really is a
perfect summary of the book of Revelation.
Lets break it down a little further, though. What we are dealing
with, what the Apostle John is describing
to those who hear the words of his book, is a revelation the
Revelation of Jesus Christ. The term used
here in the Greek is apocalupsis, and it refers to the literal
process of removing a veil, so that an object
that has previously been hidden, may be revealed.
So, what can we learn about this unveiling from the text?
First, that this is a literal physical revelation. Lets look at
verse 7. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and
every eye will see Him. It is Jesus Christ Himself who will
appear (verse 7), coming with the clouds, and
every eye will see Him. Of course, we now know from experience
that the Lord Himself has been hidden
veiled in the heavens and seated in the right hand of God the
Father for the better part of 2,000 years. It is
also true that Revelation outlines in explicit detail the
unveiling of the Messiah, and His glorious return to
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earth, to take, in emphatic fashion, the throne promised to Him
by His Father but theres something here
in this passage, a very distinct, and a very new revelation,
that took even John by surprise.
What well see today, through this Revelation of Jesus Christ,
given to John through the angels, is not
merely a practical, literal revelation of the arrival of the
Messiah, but also a very real unveiling of the
person and of the power of the King of Kings.
What Id like to do today is to break down this passage into two
parts, followed by the practical
implication, demonstrating what this passage means for us, and
how were to respond to what the Lord
has written here. Well look first at The Jesus John Knew,
followed by The Jesus John Saw and then well
look at the manner in which everything in heaven and on earth
responds to this; the Revelation of the King.
Lets start with the Jesus John knew.
Look with me at verses 1 and 2.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His
servants things which must shortly take
place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant
John, who bore witness to the Word of God.
Im going to stop that reading there, and highlight something
that even my Bible has missed. John has
begun the Revelation in the same place, and the same manner, as
he began his gospel, in that he bore
witness to the Word of God. Whenever you hear or see phrases
like this, it should cause your ears to prick
up. This isnt talking about a text, or about Scripture, its
talking about the fact that John Himself bore
witness to the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the One whom John
describes in the opening of His gospel, the Jesus Christ who was
in the beginning In the beginning was
the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What
John is doing here, what he is
highlighting in the opening verses of this passage, is the fact
that he is writing about someone he knew
intimately. Remember, John was the disciple Jesus loved in John
13:23, the blessed apostle. If anyone
knew Jesus, it was John. John knew Jesus so well, in fact, that
when he and Peter had been arrested for
preaching about this same Jesus, and His resurrection for the
dead, the Sanhedrin found themselves
powerless to contradict them. Acts 4 tells us that when they saw
the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they
marveled and they took note that they
had been with Jesus.
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You see, the apostle John had been so changed by his interaction
with Jesus Christ that it literally left him a
changed man. This is no ordinary acquaintance, no mere
biographer not even merely an apostle. John
wasnt just part of the twelve, but he was part of that select
group of three, along with Peter and James,
that were always by Jesus side part of that key group that saw
the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, that
amazing flash-forward of sorts we read about in the gospels
where Jesus appeared prefigured in all His
glory while still here in the flesh among us.
John has identified this Jesus for us. He is the One who was,
and is, and is to come, verse 4. He is
eternal, unchanging. He is the faithful witness, both the
witness to and the power of the gospel, the One
whose sinless perfection made Him uniquely qualified to testify
to the truth. He is the ruler over the Kings
of the earth as echoed in Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. John knows this
Jesus so well, in fact, that he almost
seems to lose control of his own text and breaks out in a
gushing and somewhat premature doxology
beautiful as it is! verse 6
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and has made us kings and priests to
His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
Doesnt that sound like one of the closing statements from Pauls
epistles? A triumphant and eloquent
extolling of the glory of God?
Do you see what John is doing here?
Hes introducing us to His Messiah a Jesus he knows and loves
intimately. By the time John writes this
book, he is an old man possibly as old as 92 but he has clearly
not lost sight of His King.
If I were to end this sermon here, youd be justified in thinking
that you have a pretty complete picture of
who this King of Kings is, wouldnt you. The Faithful Witness.
The Firstborn from the dead. The ruler of
the Kings of the Earth. The Alpha. The Omega. The beginning and
the End who is, and was, and is to
come. The Almighty.
I tell you what, I think John might have thought so too. But
what he encountered next shook him to his
very core, and left him on the ground as though dead.
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Lets look at Jesus John saw.
Turn with me to verse 12.
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.
And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the
midst of the seven lampstands, One like the
Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band. His
head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His
eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like
fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the
sound of many waters; He had in His right hand
seven stars. Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and
His countenance was like the sun
shining in its strength.
and when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
No doubt you can see the shift here. In the previous verses,
John has introduced the Jesus that he knew.
In these verses, however, Jesus Christ reveals Himself. but He
doesnt just pull back the curtain here it
flings it wide, throwing into full display the glory and majesty
of the King.
His eyes BLAZE with fire.
His head and hair are white and pure like snow
His feet as brass, refined in a furnace
His voice like the sound of many waters
THIS is the Revelation of Jesus Christ THIS is the unveiling of
the Messiah.
Let me ask you where is this image of Jesus Christ in our
churches? Where is the glorious and terrifying
judge of all the earth? The world can live with gentle Jesus,
meek and mild, they can deal with the
teacher who brought wisdom and peace, they can even tolerate the
idea that a good man died upon a
cross, but where is this Christ? Where is this radiant and
all-consuming God?
This is no mere prophet, no mere priest - this is the thundering
King of Kings, come in glory and in
judgment, and the man who knew him, loved Him best of all is
TERRIFIED!!! and he falls at his feet as
though dead.
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So immense, so powerful, so majestic and pure and glorious and
perfect is He, so utterly holy and
righteous in all of His radiance, that John literally falls upon
His face as though dead. THIS is the
Revelation the great and glorious Apocalypse of the One who will
judge the living and the dead.
Keep a finger in the book of Revelation, but turn with me for a
moment to the book of Daniel. Chapter 7
Beginning at verse 9.
I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened.
You see the parallel, dont you.
This is Jesus Christ, not as intercessor, not as sacrifice, not
as servant, but as judge and He is terrifying in
His holiness.
Brothers and sisters, listen to the Word of the Lord.
This is Jesus Christ, the righteous judge of all the earth, and
He is coming soon.
and when He does come, all the people of earth will mourn
because of Him.
Lets look more closely at these descriptions. Turn back to
Revelation 1, and verse 13.
Who is this Jesus?
He is One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to
the feet and girded about the chest with a
golden band. This Jesus is dressed in regalia, with the golden
sash of Kingship. He is glorious, regal the
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true King of Kings. We saw earlier on, in verse 5, that Jesus
Christ is the ruler over the kings of the earth.
Now He comes to claim those kingdoms. His head and hair were
white like wool, as white as snow. He is
pure, as every righteous judge must be with a purity both
symbolized and literally realized in radiant
white. We see this picture elsewhere, dont we? Though your sins
be as scarlet, yet they shall be white as
snow and His eyes. His eyes were like a flame of fire. If you
werent terrified before, you should be now.
As if it werent enough that Jesus Christ is impossibly pure,
impossibly glorious, impossibly regal, His eyes
are like tongues of fire, piercing and holy and righteous.
Hebrews 4:13 says there is no creature hidden
from His sight, but all things are naked, and open to the eyes
of Him to whom we must give account. Do
you know who this is? This is the righteous judge before whom no
secret can be kept hidden and will
not the judge of all the earth do right?. Look again verse 15,
His feet were like brass, as if refined in a
furnace brass, of course, was the symbol in the Old Testament of
the judgment of God against sin.
Weve seen, then, that this judge WILL come, but now Scripture
explains, through symbols, why He must
come in judgment against sin.
Scripture is so very clear on this. Our sin our rebellion, our
inability to live up to Gods perfect, holy
standards means that God must judge. Romans 3:23 says For all
have sinned, and fall short of the glory of
God. I hope you caught that, because Scripture doesnt use words
lightly. Its incredibly precise. The
Glory of God. Thats the standard. Thats the requirement. If you
think you live up to that standard...
that youre good enough for God... then frankly you need the kind
of help that Im not qualified to offer
you. ...but lets see what Gods Word has to say on the issue.
Psalm 51 and verse 5 says behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Do you understand this? From the day you were born, you were a
sinner by nature. Its your default
setting. Youll live a sinner, and youll die a sinner, and youre
utterly powerless to change that.
You know, theres a phrase in the Bible that occurs many, many
times... and it always brings me hope.
But God.
Its there hundreds of times, and every time its used, it has a
powerful, powerful truth to convey. Listen to
it here. Romans 5 and verse 8. But God demonstrates His love for
us in this: that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, shall we be
saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life. And not only that, but
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we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have now received the
reconciliation.
Theres another side to this image of Jesus feet, though. Weve
seen in this passage that Jesus Christ is a
terrifying judge... and that His judgment is against sin. But
Scripture will never, ever let us forget who
Jesus Christ is. Even in the middle of one of the most
confronting passages in the Bible, the Holy Spirit
reminds us that the Jesus John knew, and the Jesus He saw, are
one and the same. Look again at verse 15.
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace.
What is fire, in Scripture? What does it represent?
Let me answer my own question with a verse from the book of
Hebrews. Our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29. Fire is a symbol for the righteous wrath of God.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes
away the sin of the world, has not entered into eternity
unscarred. His feet walked through the fire of the
wrath of God, that the punishment for our sins might be upon
Him, that all who believe in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
Turn with me briefly to Revelation 5 and verse 6.
And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne, and of the
four living creatures, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain.
You can see it here, cant you.
The same God who will be your judge took the punishment due for
your sin and mine, and He bears
those scars forever.
Look with me again at verse 15.
and His voice was as the sound of many waters.
He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a
sharp, two-edged sword, and His
countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
and when I saw Him, I fell at his feet as dead.
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Its little wonder, isnt it, that John responded as he did. With
a voice thundering like many waters, and the
Word of God proceeding from His lips, piercing, living, active,
able to divide even between soul and spirit
who could stand against such a righteous, holy judge?
Two Types, Two Reactions.
Just as there are two distinctly different visions of the King
here in this chapter, there are two distinctly
different types of people. Identifying which of these two groups
you belong to is key to not only
understanding, but responding to this passage.
Their reactions to the Revelation of the King are actually quite
similar, but their reasons are very different.
The first of these groups is typified by the apostle John and
His response in this passage. They know the
Lord Jesus Christ, and are identified in verse 6, by that
incredible doxology we read earlier. They are those
who have been loved, and washed in His own blood, who have been
made Kings and priests to God.
But thats not all, and its not the only place they appear in
this passage.
Look at verse 7.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him,
even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes
of the earth will mourn because of Him.
One of the amazing aspects of Scripture is that the Holy Spirit
is an incredibly creative Author. Words that
might otherwise be glossed over run deep in Gods Word. Look at
this. Behold, He is coming with
clouds. Listen now to the opening verse of Hebrews chapter
12.
Therefore we also, wince we are surrounded by so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us
Do you see the link here? What are the clouds of Revelation 1?
Now, dont get me wrong, Im sure you
can take this passage entirely literally but the more I read of
Scripture, the more I become aware that the
Holy Spirit loves to tangle up His words. Its my conviction that
when this passage says that Jesus Christ
comes with clouds that it is stating that when Jesus Christ
comes as judge, that the Redeemed will be
coming with Him. Now, theres an obvious question in that: How is
it possible for the saints to return with
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Christ, if they havent first been called to Christ? Well, Im
getting ahead of myself a little here. Im not
going to preach a sermon on the Rapture today, but when we reach
Revelation 4, well see and understand
that timing a little better. Suffice to say, the catching up of
believers precedes the coming of believers, at
the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His return, accompanied by the saints, is stated even more
explicitly in Scriptures oldest prophecy, voiced
by Enoch, the seventh man from Adam. Enoch is quoted in Jude,
verse 14, as saying:
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to
execute judgment on all, to convict all who are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
committed in an ungodly way, and of all
the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against
Him.
For the Christian, this Revelation is a message of hope. We see
these things coming upon the earth, we
see that the time is near, and hallelujah, we see that Jesus
Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will
snatch us away from this earth - and more than that, that we
will return with Him when He comes to claim
His throne and establish His Kingdom, in righteousness and with
justice.
but for the sinner, His coming is the judgment of a righteous,
holy King both terrible and beautiful to
behold. Look at verse 7 again.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him,
even they who pierced Him. And all the
tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.
Whats important to note here is that these people arent mourning
because theyve seen their Saviour.
Theyre mourning because they rejected Him as Saviour... and now
He comes as judge.
So the question, then looking at these two groups of people;
those who come with the Lord Jesus, and
those who mourn because Him, is a simple one.
Where do you stand?
Weve seen from this passage two very different aspects of the
person of Jesus Christ. Weve seen the
Lord Jesus as John knew Him: the Alpha, and the Omega, the
spotless Lamb of God and as John saw Him
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the terrifying, holy judge of all the earth. ...but even there,
weve seen the reminder that nothing
separates Christ the Saviour from Christ the Judge.
When it comes to the people in this passage, though... there is
a great separation, and we need to
understand what that is.... and, more importantly, we need to
act... and call upon the One who is mighty
to save.
What weve seen in this passage today is both a warning and a
foretaste of what is to come. Jesus Christ
will come as judge, and He will sit down, and open the books,
and the judge of all the earth will do what is
right... and He will condemn sin in sinful man... and only those
who are covered by the blood of Jesus
Christ will be safe from His righteous anger.
Where do you stand?
If youve never laid your life down at His feet, if youve never
fallen on your face before Him in total
recognition of your own sinfulness and His great glory and cried
God, have mercy on me, a sinner!, if
youve never felt the power of the Holy Spirit working within you
to transform you, to conform you to His
likeness, to produce good fruit and present you blameless on the
day of Christ...
What are you waiting for?
Look with me in closing - at verses 17 and 18.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He
laid His right hand on me, saying to me, Do
not be afraid. I am the First, and the Last. I am He who lives,
and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of
Death.
If youve never committed your life to Jesus Christ
If youre never been washed in the blood of the Lamb, made clean
from every spot and stain and sin, never
been made right before the God of all the Universe
Would you do that today? Would you do that now? For this same
Jesus Christ, while He is a terrible
judge is an even greater Saviour... and He will lift you up.
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Look with me to verse 3.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are
written in it; for the time is near.
Time is short. The hour is late. Dont wait. Dont put it off.
Dont delay. The King is coming.
Lets pray.
Father, we thank you and we praise you for this amazing,
intense, awesome vision of the glorious Son of
God. We thank you for the incredible testimony that this is and
Father, we thank you that One so great,
so glorious, would even consider giving His very life to bring
us back to you. Lord, there is nothing we can
bring to you, nothing we can give, nothing we can offer. We
thank you, Father, for revealing Your Son to us
this morning. We ask that if there are any among us who have not
given their lives to you, that you would
work powerfully and effectively in them today to reveal yourself
as Saviour and Redeemer. Father, like
John, let us not leave this place unchanged. As we leave here
today, we ask that you would leave your
imprint on us, that people would see and know that we have been
with Jesus: who loves us, and freed us
from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and
priests to serve our God and Father. To
Him be the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
