February 18 Sermon: The Revelation of Jesus Christ

The message for this week explores the Book of Revelation's unveiling of Jesus Christ, emphasizing its divine purpose and origin. Amidst potential confusion, the focus is on Christ's victory, a call to faithful witness, and an urgent proclamation that the time is near.

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Revelation 1:1-3:

1. The central theme of victory in the Book of Revelation comes from the focus on Jesus. What implications are there for those facing challenges and persecution?

2. What specific challenges and misconceptions about the Book of Revelation are addressed in the sermon? How does Pastor Mark encourage a Christ-centered interpretation while dispelling potential obstacles?

3. Regarding the urgency emphasized in Revelation, particularly the statement that "the time is near," how does the message reconcile the immediacy of certain events in the original context with the broader theological perspective of the already and not yet aspect of prophecy?

Transcript:

It's fun to be a part of when something is revealed to people who are unexpected, when they are waiting for something, and my mind immediately goes to those renovation shows that are on television. While watching those shows, you get insights into what the owners of the house would like to have done to update their home. And then we're taken along on the process of remodeling, but we're never really given the full view. During the course of the heart of the show we're given some updates but we don't ever see the full finished project, and the shows are edited in such a way that we have a very good idea of what the exterior and the other rooms are supposed to look like, what they might look like, but we don't really see the full thing until we get to the end. And then, right before the final commercial break, we get a preview of the reaction of the owners of the home and they're gasping. We are excited to see the full reveal. Usually we see their faces light up as they see the finished product of their renovated home, and then, when we return from the commercial break, what we see is a giant picture of what it used to look like hiding the house right Now. What cracks me up about that is there's multiple talks during the course of the show about how the budget is tight, and then they spend a few thousand dollars on that giant picture. But anyway, all that aside, this picture splits open and then we're seeing the full final finished product. Now we had an idea of what the home would look like, but now it is fully known. It is revealed to us, and the editors of the show give us the video of the before and the after, and the problems that were talked about during the process are accentuated when they show us the finished product. There was a problem here, but look how great it is that they fixed it. The difficulties were overcome. Now, I'm not a huge fan of these kind of shows at all, but I can't deny the power that they have. The way that the story is unfolded for us and the way we wait for this big reveal brings you in. You can't watch the middle, say five, ten minutes of those shows and not watch till the end. You're waiting for this revelation. You're waiting for it to happen because once you're brought into the story of this process, you can't help but want to see what the designers have done. You're excited for the big reveal.

Now, as we start off in the book of Revelation, we come to a book that evokes many different feelings in the people who approach it. So often people don't have any idea of what to do with the book and so they kind of avoid it altogether. We also have a scenario where we have heard so much about it it's about the end times and people bring charts out and graphs and explanations and it ends up confusing us. Well then, if you're like me, you see the charts and the graphs and you went to the book of Revelation and very little of the stuff in those scenarios is actually in the book of Revelation. The title of the book is Revelation, but we don't feel like anything is being revealed. Instead, we come away feeling like everything is being concealed Instead of the big reveal, like at the end of these shows.

When we come to the end of the Bible, we often come away feeling like there's a big reveal, because in the Bible we see the story of creation in the fall. Then we immediately get the promise of redemption in Genesis 315, in those prophetic words telling us that one day the one will come who will crush the head of the serpent, and then the narrative is directed through this line of the Messiah, through the people of God, and we get to the story of the Gospel at the beginning of the New Testament and everything becomes clear. The life, the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus wins victory for the people of God. And then, after that, in the Gospels, we get to the book of Acts, and it tells us of the church spreading and the Gospel going out to all nations. Jew and Gentiles are now both the people of God. They're all part of God's family. Well then, if there is anything that is maybe confusing for us in all of that, the letters of Paul and others help us to understand the scope and the ramifications of the Gospel in very clear letters to the churches. Then we get to Revelation, and while the message of the Bible has become increasingly clearer for us from Genesis to Jude, we feel like we run into a roadblock at the book of Revelation. But really, the book of Revelation is showing us how all of this has come to pass. It shows us who Jesus is and what he has done. It is not a big conceal, it is a big reveal. It's showing us the ramifications and the scope of who Jesus is and what he has done.

Now, before we begin looking at the three verses that we read this morning, I kind of hope to dispel some of the obstacles or fears that we might all have with the book of Revelation by having five things. I want to be very clear as we come to the book. The first thing about our approach to Revelation is I want you to know we're going to be focusing on Jesus. The big point of the book of Revelation is the victory that Jesus has over sin, death, hell and the devil, and that idea isn't complicated. He is victorious. But the imagery that the book of Revelation uses is confusing for us. But the big point the book wants us to see isn't difficult to grasp. Jesus has won victory, and the victory that the people of God have with him is so important for understanding who we are in Christ that, in a world of suffering, we have that promise at the end of the book that one day every last tear will be wiped from the eyes of the people of God because of the victory that Jesus has won. That is clear.

Secondly, no confusing charts, no graphs. We're going to be focusing on the text. That's what we always do and so we're going to be focusing on the text, just like any other Sunday. We're going to be considering the text of Revelation in context, with the goal of faithful interpretation that will build up the people of God and bring glory to Christ. That's what we're going to do. We're concerned about who Jesus is and what he has done, and we're going to praise him for what he has done. That's our focus. Thirdly, as part of that, a major consideration of this book is going to be the historical context.

One of the most helpful things that I've ever heard regarding Bible interpretation is that if it didn't mean anything for the original audience, how does it have any meaning at all? We have to consider what this book meant to these people who received it in the first century. It's important in understanding the Bible on a whole, but it's really important for us to understand with Revelation because, as we're going to see in the coming weeks, this book was specifically addressed to seven churches, seven real churches, who were going to be facing persecution. If this book is only about something in the very, very distant future, then what were they supposed to take from it? And it's not only a good rule of interpretation, but when we do this, we honor what our brothers and sisters in the first century experienced in that persecution. They faced real persecution, and we should honor that by considering how this letter brought them comfort.

Fourth, I think one of the most helpful things that we can do to prepare ourselves for working through Revelation is to remember that, while the book is telling the readers something that is going to soon come to pass, it's telling them that something is going to happen in the future. It does this by pointing backwards, because the book of Revelation actually has more references and allusions to the Old Testament than it has verses. Think about that More allusions to the Old Testament and references to it than there are verses in that book. We're obsessed with looking forward, and Revelation does say it's telling them about something that is going to come to pass, but it does it by looking backwards, by looking to the Old Testament, and so that brings us really back to the first thing in our approach. It's all about Jesus. If it's pointing to the Old Testament, what was the Old Testament doing? It was pointing to Jesus, and so revelation is doing the same thing.

Jesus, once again, is the focus, and so that was a long introduction, I know, but a necessary introduction, and honestly, this is part of the reason that we started this the week after the Super Bowl, because I thought everybody would be really upset about a long opening sermon to revelation if I preached for 12 hours and you missed the big game. So today you need to settle in. I don't know that I'll go 12 hours, 11 is probably more likely but get ready, feel free to stand up at some point and stretch. No, but seriously, there's a reason we're only looking at three verses this morning, and it's because I knew how much setup time we would need, and so let's get into our three points and then we will get into the passage itself. The first thing we're going to look at this morning is that revelation has not only a divine purpose, but it is of a divine origin. Secondly, there is a call to not only hear this prophecy, but we're also called to keep these prophetic words. And finally, there is an urgency to the message the time is near Now. This statement confuses us, because if the time was near some 100,000, 1900, or 1,950 years ago, the time was near for them. What does this mean for us now? And we're going to consider that. So let's get going and take a look at the first verse here.

Now, the first words here really set the stage for us in revelation and really this phrase here can kind of rank up with other openings of books as being memorable. Like, say, call me Ishmael from Moby Dick or it was the best of times, it was the worst of times from a tale of two cities. This first sentence would let you identify the book. If you heard this you would say that's from the Bible and that's from the book of revelation, and not just because the word revelation is in there, right out of the gate. John lets us know what this book is going to do. And as we come to this opening statement, it's good to know what the original Greek word here is that's translated as revelation. Now, you don't know Greek, but you know that word, you're going to know it. When I say it, you can recognize it.

The very first word in the book of revelation is apocalyptic, apocalyptic, eccalypsus. Like I said, you know what that word is. It's apocalypse, a very common word. When we hear that word, our minds immediately go to the idea of a final, ultimate destruction, right, or the end of all things, and honestly I use the idea of a sign of apocalypse far too often as a joke. For example, if a catcher for the Cleveland Guardians were to hit over 200, I would say that's a sign of the apocalypse. The end is nigh. I use that for a whole lot of stuff, but I bring that up as an example because we have taken that word and we've given it a particular context that we understand. It is a finality, it is a destruction. Right, it is the end.

Well, the word apocalypse actually means an unveiling of something that is hidden, or revelation. There isn't a sense of destruction in the word, in the original language. It's the unveiling of something that is hidden. So, while we come to the book of revelation expecting it to be confusing and we expect it to be cryptic and don't get me wrong, it can be, I'm not saying it isn't the actual statement about the book that sets the stage at the beginning actually is the idea of removing a veil, of being able to see things. Essentially, we're to see the plan that God has for the world and, more specifically, the church. That is what is being revealed in revelation.

The idea here is that God is going to act in a special way and he is going to do this for his people. This is what is being revealed, and this is why we want to be deliberate in taking a Christ-centered approach to the book. He is the focus, he is the one who has won victory, he is the one reigning at the Father's right hand, and you can argue that the high point of the book of revelation is chapter five, because we arrive at the throne and what happens? The anthem of heaven is there. Worthy is the Lamb who is slain. Really, that's the high point of the book bringing praise to Jesus for who he is and what he has done. He is the one who has won victory, and so Jesus is the point the Lamb has overcome. That's the story that is being revealed for us here, and everything pales compared to Jesus, and so that is why he is our focus as we navigate through revelation.

This is the revealing of Jesus, and in this book we will see what he has done and the consequences of his activity and history, but we will also see what he is going to do, and it's important to see that this message is to show his servants that which is going to soon take place. Now we're going to do more with that time indicator in our final point, but remember what I said, this book has to mean something to the original audience. What a disappointment for the churches receiving this message if God didn't act for them in the face of what they were going to experience. What a disappointment this whole thing would be if it didn't mean anything for them. You see, this is not a message to random people in the distant future. The book of Revelation is two God's servants showing them things that will happen soon. In other words, doesn't this let us know that the people receiving the book should be able to understand it? It isn't a cryptic message for a few people to figure out in the 1800s. It's a message that the servants of God are to hear and understand. In the first century, when this message was being delivered, it was a pressing message in the context of coming persecution for them. This unveiling of who Jesus is and God's intervention in history is supposed to give them endurance. It's supposed to comfort them in the face of what is on the horizon.

And with those facts spelled out about the divine purpose of this book, we need to consider the divine origin of the book before we move to our second point. We see this in the second sentence that is up here today, as it leads into verse 2. Jesus made this known by sending his angel to his servant, john. The claim here is that this message is from Jesus. Right, and it came from an angel to John. This is a divine message of a divine origin, and so this pulls us into our second point here about keeping the words of this prophecy. Remember that word prophecy, it's not just a prediction of the future, it's a prophetic word from the Lord. It's a proclamation of thus says the Lord. Just like I mentioned when we're looking at the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the book of Revelation is a combination of statements about the future, but it's also a call to return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful. It's also a call to repentance, a call for people to be faithful to God. And so what did John do with the prophetic message that he received? Clearly, it's from Jesus. An angel, deliver it. What does he do with it? Well, understanding its origin from God, he bore witness to it, he testified to it. And notice what it says here that he also gives testimony to Jesus Christ. He is bearing witness to what the work of Jesus was.

Again, we want to go back to this idea of impending persecution. What's the goal of persecution? To make you be silent. To make you be silent. That is the goal of persecution. If people don't say anything about Jesus, will anyone try to stop them? No, it's when you open your mouth about who Jesus is that persecution is going to come.

As I frequently remind you, the early church didn't face persecution because they were going around telling people to be nice. If they would have walked around in the first century and said, hey, there's a teacher who says to love one another, none of the apostles would have been martyred, not a one of them. Nobody would have cared. Their oppression was not a result of a message to be nice. No one gets upset about that. Their hardship came as a result of confessing Jesus as Lord and not Caesar, and for saying to the Jewish establishment that Jesus was the Messiah. That's why they were killed.

So what's happening here? John is saying I'm open to persecution because I'm going to testify to who Jesus is. I'm willing to say that he is Lord, that he is on the throne. I'm able to say that he is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. I am going to bear witness to Jesus in the face of persecution. That is what is being said here, and he's saying that he's willing to be martyred for it. And he's calling the people of God that this letter is going to do the same. He is encouraging them to testify to the work of Jesus, and by writing this message down, this message from an angel about Jesus, john is being a faithful witness, isn't he? And so this is a call for the churches to continue in faithfulness, in their witness, even when they experience tyranny from those who are in power over them. This is a divine message with a divine purpose, and they're to bear witness to the message of Jesus, even though it may bring mistreatment and persecution to them. Be faithful, be a witness, as John is a witness, as he is writing this down. Have the courage that John has to face persecution, do what John did and be faithful to Jesus. And it's with that in mind that we move to verse three and see this idea of keeping the message continue, because John speaks of a blessing to those who will keep it.

Now, the blessing is on the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and this isn't some sort of magic formula here where if you wanna be blessed, then read the book of Revelation out loud. That's not what's being said. The idea here is that this is a word from the Lord, and this is a blessing to his people, because they've received salvation in Christ. God rewards the faithfulness of his people, and so, even though it may cause trouble for them, they are to proclaim the words of this book, because the God who speaks this prophetic word will be faithful to them. They're called to be faithful because God is faithful, and notice, though it isn't just those who read it aloud, it's also those who hear. The ones who put themselves in a position to hear the proclamation of this word from God will be blessed, but it isn't just speaking and hearing. They that keep what is written are blessed as well, and we understand this.

Saying something is important. It's important to speak. Hearing is vital. You need to hear, but what is most imperative is keeping the word of God. It's in the keeping of God's word that our faithfulness to him is shown, and connected to the importance of this brings us to our third point that there is an urgency to this. This is urgent, and we see this in the words here, telling us that the time is near, and don't forget, though, that this is the second time that John has let us know this idea. He's expressed to us multiple times that the things that this book is talking about are soon to take place. Now I mentioned before we struggle with this statement Because in our time, all that most of us have heard is that revelation is confusing, it's cryptic and it tells us about something in the future. Many different things have been come up with to explain the clear language here and the clear language in verse one to explain that away. John said soon, but he meant a couple thousand years in the future. All kinds of things have come up to explain this, but, as with anything else, the most obvious answer is that what we are reading is soon to come to pass and that it did come to pass, that it was near to the original audience. Now I wanna be clear. I'm not saying that everything that we're gonna look at in Revelation is 100% in the past.

In prophecy we have to remember what we talk about with the prophecies of the Messiah. Remember, during the Christmas season we read these prophetic statements about Jesus. They have a near fulfillment to the people that the prophets were speaking to in the Old Testament, but then the writers of the gospels take those and say they are about Jesus as well. There is a already and a not yet, and so there are things here that we are looking forward to in the future. There are fulfillments of prophecies to come to pass, but what the New Testament writers do is they use those passages in the Old Testament to say, yes, this happened, but there was something greater, there was a greater promise. Yes, there was, for example, peace in the land when this person became king, but we're looking forward to the greater king, the Messiah, who will bring an eternal peace. There's an already and a not yet, and much of what the book of Revelation speaks of did take place in the first century, and we'll discuss that as we go through the book, and I acknowledge that idea is tough. I really struggled with it when I heard it for the first time.

Prophetic teaching and literature from roughly the last 200 years have completely forgotten this. They have pushed everything into the future to the point that they have to make up scenarios to explain away plain language. Like the time is near and, like I drew out already, the nearness of what Revelation is saying must be important because it's repeated, it's soon to come to pass. The time is near. It must be important, and we want to be faithful to God's word. And doing logical back flips to explain why a clear statement the time is near isn't to be taken seriously is not being faithful to Scripture Period. Like I said, in the last 200 years, an idea of an indefinite pause to all things prophetic was made up to explain this away. Nothing, and I mean nothing in Scripture supports that Nothing. So what are we gonna do? We're going to take God's word as it says. We're going to understand this in the historical context and the context of Revelation the historical context and the context of Revelation. It meant something to them and that's a deep comfort for us. And now it means something to us.

Now I've taken you on an interesting journey. I can tell from looking at some of you that this idea blows your mind, but it's faithful. Historical interpretation of Scripture Isn't my idea. It's not brand new. This is kind of what everybody thought until 200 years ago, and as we close up, I want to bring these confusing ideas home to you. All right, I want this to mean something to you, and it's with the urgency of the book of Revelation that I want to focus on here as our application. This urgency is for us too. Unfortunately, because of all the noise surrounding the book of Revelation in popular literature and prophetic speculation, I acknowledge that I may have dumped far too much on all of us this morning and that's why, like I said, I want to be as practical as I possibly can be as I finish up.

So what's the message of these three verses? What's the point? Jesus Christ has been revealed. We know who he is. We have seen the salvation of our God. Jesus has been revealed, the revelation of Him into history. That's the story of salvation for both the Jew and the Gentile. It's for all peoples in all times, and we read here that persecution was coming for the churches in the first century and that they are to hear the word of the Lord and be prepared to boldly proclaim the gospel, to hear it and to keep the word of the Lord even when times are hard. And we see here that there's an urgency to this. It's near, it's at hand, it's to soon come to pass, and so strip away today all the questions of interpretation. And isn't that a message for us? Isn't that a message for me, right now, in 2024? Jesus has been revealed to us. We have received the gift of salvation by faith in Jesus and we're called to be faithful to Him.

Our remaining steadfast to the message of the gospel isn't dependent upon our location geographically or our location historically. Each and every person who has been saved by the grace of God is called to faithfulness, to proclaim, to hear and keep the word of the Lord. This isn't just a message to the seven churches in Asia in the first century. This is a message to the churches everywhere and in every time. Remaining faithful isn't easy. We are prone to wander, we're prone to step away, especially in the face of hardship and persecution. But there's an urgency to the Christian message.

Today is the day to repent and believe. Today is the day to remain faithful to your Lord. Today is the day to proclaim and hear the word of the Lord. Today is the day to keep the word of the Lord. So, as we consider the beautiful messages found in the book of Revelation, may that idea be consistently in front of us the urgency of the message of this book.

The time where we might be tempted to turn away.

It's near, it's at hand.

It is soon to come to pass. That temptation is coming to you, brothers and sisters. It comes to all of us. There will be a temptation to turn away. There's a time coming for you where you will be tempted to forsake the one who is forsaken for you, and the call of the book of Revelation is to remain faithful, to remain steadfast. Our Lord, jesus Christ, was faithful to death to save his people, and so, as we await our coming King, may we remember the urgency to remain faithful to him, and may the Word and the Spirit build us up that we might do so.

Amen. Let's pray. Almighty and everlasting God. We praise you for the gift of your Word, that you have revealed Jesus Christ to us, that in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, we have hope, but we also have hope that our King is returning, and so we pray, oh Lord, that you would give us this urgency, that when we face temptation to turn away, we would remain faithful. That when sin knocks at our door, we would feel the urgency to run from it. And may we flee to Christ, the one who has saved us. May we be his faithful witness, regardless of what happens, that we might glorify him for all that he has done. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen. We continue.