February 25 Sermon: Freed By His Blood

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Revelation 1:4-8:

1. How does the message address the theme of divine justice and its implications for believers facing persecution?

2. In what ways do Jesus' titles, such as "faithful witness" and "firstborn from the dead," help us understand His eternal kingship and victory over death?

3. What insights does the sermon offer regarding the role of believers as priests and servants in God's kingdom, particularly in the context of the Book of Revelation's promises?

Transcript:

Last week we started out in the book of Revelation, and one of the main points that I wanted you to come away with as we were starting to consider this book is to consistently have in front of you that the point, the focus of the book is Jesus. That is what we're going to be focusing on as we go through this final book in Holy Scripture, and if we didn't get a sense of the supremacy of Jesus in those first three verses last week, we absolutely and most certainly see that idea in what we have read this morning. These five verses absolutely show us the supremacy of Jesus, they show us His authority, they show us the point here is that Jesus is Lord, that he has authority, that he is over all things and that he is at the center of the book of Revelation. The purpose of this book, as we talked about last week, is to bring comfort to the people of God. They are going to be facing persecution, and so John writes this letter to these seven churches in Asia, as we will see here in just a minute, to let them know what is coming. They should expect persecution, but he is speaking words of comfort and words of victory to these churches.

Now we come to Revelation and we get really confused. We actually, I think, often avoid the book because we have a whole lot of trepidation about what any of it means. But my hope is that as we do this, as we go through the book of Revelation, you will start to have that trepidation that you might feel replaced with a confident expectation of hope, of understanding that God is in control and that he consistently comes in judgment to judge sin, that you have been freed from your sin in Christ and that he is reigning over all things, even now. So this hope, the only way we can have that is through Jesus, and we see what this means in these verses that we're going to be looking at this morning. But before we dig into those verses, let's knock out the three points that I always have and then we'll move forward. So the first thing that we're going to look at is what I've been saying already we're going to be looking at the supremacy of Jesus. As we start to get into the book of Revelation, john is showing us that this letter to these seven churches is not merely a letter from himself. It's a message from God, and he wants the recipients of these messages to know that Jesus is above all and that he is the one who is in control, even in the face of this coming persecution. Secondly, we will see that Jesus has done something for His people. We've been freed from our sin by His blood and now we have a change in our identity. We're a kingdom, we're priests. Finally, we will see that Jesus is coming in judgment and because of this they can have peace, they can have hope, they can have comfort because, despite what they're going to face, despite the evil that they see in the world, despite the evil that they will experience toward themselves in the world, they can have a confidence that, because God judges sin, justice is going to be done.

So let's look at these verses here. We have only five of them, but there's quite a bit of ground to cover. So we're going to take a look at our first point here, in verses four and five, and we come to these words and we see that it is John who's writing. This is clear for us. There is a specific audience that is in view. It is the seven churches in Asia and, of course, because this is holy Scripture, these words and the entire book of Revelation and all of Scripture are not only to these seven churches. Of course they're to the whole people of God in every time and every place. But we have to be sure that we consider the original audience as we read Revelation. These are real churches in Asia, who the Apostle John is sending this message of comfort because they're going to experience terrible things.

And as we wrap our minds around this section of introduction here to who the letter is to, I think this is a great time for me to really help us to consider everything that's going on in the book of Revelation, as far as what is at work, what is going on, who the characters are here in this book. Now, I've already pointed out and actually the text pointed out that John and the seven churches are active. They are important in this. We can't forget them. Well, the next section that we're moving on to lets us know who the message is from. It identifies for us the most important actor in the book of Revelation. The most important actor in not only Revelation but every book of Scripture and in history is the Triune God. That is who the main character is in, like I said, not only this book, but every book of Scripture and history.

But there's something else that we need to understand as we consider the historical context here. There is another actor in the story and I would say it's a specter, right, it's in the background and it's looming, and that is the Roman state and the emperor, because that is who is going to bring the persecution, who is going to bring the oppression on the people of God. Now, to quickly elaborate on this, we have to really consider when the book of Revelation was written. So there's really two primary views. One view is that it was written in the late 90s, under the reign of Emperor Domitian. I do not agree with that. I don't think there's evidence in Scripture of that or externally of that. I believe that it was written in 68 or 69, when Nero was emperor, and we all have heard of Nero. To say that he was a bad man is an understatement, right. And so there is the Roman state and the oppression that is coming under the reign of Nero. That's kind of in the background, that's what's looming, that's sort of the monster in the distance, for lack of a better way of saying it. Here we have to understand that all of this is coming, and all of this is in context of a coming that they wouldn't have known about yet, but we know, because it's historical, this coming siege of Jerusalem by the Roman state and the destruction of the temple. That's sort of what is going on here.

So in the face of all of this, john has a message, and he wants us to know that this isn't just a message from him, this isn't just John's word here. He begins with a statement and we hear this all the time Grace and peace. And we read those words and we're familiar with them and I think we too easily sort of slide past them and see them as just sort of a formal greeting, kind of like how you see somebody you know and you're like, hey, what's up or how you're doing? You don't really want to know, you're too busy, right. And even when somebody asks you how you're doing, you say good, even if you're not doing so good, right. We sort of see these words grace and peace. It's sort of just something we say. But let's slow down and think about what these mean. These words mean as they're being said here by John. These are words that are meant to be comforting to these churches.

Grace here is more than just a statement of well-wishing. This is grace. And where does grace come from. It only comes from God. He is the author of grace, he is the one who provides forgiveness of sin for his people, and then a statement of grace is so much more than a pleasantry that you put at the beginning of a letter here. The grace that's being talked about they have received as a gift from God, and so they also have peace, more than just a sense of well-being, but peace in the sense that hostilities have ended, that the war is over. They are facing persecution, they are facing hostility, and what do they need? They need peace, but, as we will see moving forward, there's also going to be judgment from God, talked about in this letter and they need comfort that, because of the grace they've received, even in the face of the coming conflict, they have peace. They have peace with God Because of the grace that they have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their war with God is over. The judgment that is coming is not on them. Like I said, their war with God is done. They have peace. The hostility is over. The wrath that they deserved for their sin was fully taken on and swallowed up in the death of Jesus and soak these words in a second, if you ever hear me or anyone else say grace and peace be unto you from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this means that you have grace from God and because of the hostility that you once had with God as a sinner is done. It's over, thank you.

This isn't just well wishes, it's a declaration of the gospel and it's meant to cause you to be filled with hope, just as it's intended to make these seven churches in Asia feel hope as well. And that hope, it can only come from one place, right? John identifies the source of it very clearly here. It's from him, who is and who was and who is to come, and you've likely heard that statement many times. It's a very liturgical statement. You hear it in church the one who is, who was and who is to come. And it's a great statement of the power and the majesty of God, the Father. And I've heard it so many times that I kind of pass over its significance way too easily.

But as I was considering this passage, I slowed it down a little bit and had to think through it and had to study it. And really it's kind of a clumsy statement in English because you're repeating something, right. Why are we saying who is, who was? Who is? What's going on there? Maybe you don't do the same thing as me, but I'm so obsessed with the word come at the end I'm like who is coming? Who was coming? Who is coming? I focus on the word come there. I tend to read fast. I unfortunately don't absorb like I should. I am more concerned with checking off that I've read something than I am with digesting it. That's, I'm getting better, but that's something I do. Maybe you're not the same way, but let's take in this statement here in smaller bites, the one who is. Let's stop.

It is this first one here, when we disconnect it from the idea of to come at the end here for a second, what the idea is here is God is the one who is the idea of being Okay. So we're going to do go to a familiar story to illustrate this. It's a story we know the story of Moses and the burning bush when God tells him that he is to go in to speak to Pharaoh. So when God speaks to Moses here, moses asks God his name and what does he say? He says I am who I am. In other words, I am the God who has within himself the power to be. He has essence within himself. You and I cannot be on our own. We need God to be. God in and of himself is the only one who is, who has the power to be, and so this is the idea being conveyed to us here in Revelation 1. And it's also the same thing. This is not only who is.

Who was this idea of the God, who is the God, who alone and in and of himself, has the power to be? But then we do have to deal with that word come at the end. It's an important word. We have to take a look at that here, and so we need to remember that this isn't the idea of hey, god, the wonderful fatherly figure, is going to come for a visit. That's not the idea. When God comes, he comes in judgment. He comes in judgment, and he's doing so in the way that he always does, to defend his people, to do justice, and he has always defended his people. Yes, his people have been an enslaved people, his people have been an exiled people, but God always judges those who stand against his people. We can go back to the familiar stories of the Exodus. Right, they were enslaved there, but what did God do? He came and he judged them, he, and he rescued his people. This is who he is, and the idea here is that, as these churches face the persecution that is coming, this idea of God coming in judgment is going to remain true. He is going to protect his people and we're going to see this idea as we continue to move through the passage and through the book of Revelation.

And the next statement here about where that grace and peace that is so important here comes from is actually a reference to the Holy Spirit. Now, the idea here is that they have that there are seven spirits who are before the throne. The idea here is that this is proceeding out to these seven churches from the throne, so it has to be something from God. This is not necessarily seven individual spirits, but the Holy Spirit nurturing the church, going out to the church here. And why do I say that? Because we're again talking about grace and peace. Grace and peace only come from God. He is the source of this. That does not come from anywhere but God Himself. So also the number seven is not only the number of churches, but it's also the number of perfection. It's a number of fullness, of fulfillment, of complete wholeness, and so the spirit that's proceeding out from the throne is a spirit of fullness to the churches and perfection coming from the throne of God, with this message of grace and peace.

So here, what have we seen? We've seen the first two persons of the Trinity, and now we finally come to the focus of the book of Revelation. We come to the Lord, jesus Christ. Now this is sort of a Trinitarian formulation that's out of order. Normally it's Father, son and Holy Spirit. Right, that's how I say it every Sunday, that's how you've known it to be said. It's how the Apostles Creed flows, it's how the Nicene Creed flows. This is how this normally works. But here the book of Revelation puts this formulation in a different order because of the primacy and the superiority of Jesus here in the way he is going to act for his people.

So the book of Revelation is about Jesus. It's showing us Jesus. It's showing us that he's the ruler of all things. And John expresses to us that Jesus is a faithful witness. He is the firstborn of the dead and he's the ruler of the kings on earth. And so what we see here is a statement of his life and his death. He was faithful, he was the faithful witness in his life and in his ministry, and he was faithful in his death. But John wants us to understand very clearly that in his faithfulness, as he died, in that faithfulness, he did not remain dead, lang Economic. So he's the firstborn of the dead. He is victorious over sin, death and hell. Death could not hold Jesus, and so John wants us to know that power that Jesus has. Jesus is not a guru who said some things that the state didn't like or that the religious leaders didn't like, and so they killed him and he stayed dead. And now we should also follow his good sayings. He's the firstborn of the dead. He has victory over those who oppressed him and the one who oppresses us death. He has power over it. He is alive, he is ascended, he is at the right hand of the Father, and the result of that is that he is the ruler of the kings on earth. He has authority and power and superiority over all of it.

And this statement right here is really important and we have to make sure we don't miss this. This is the reason persecution is coming. This is why this. It isn't because they think Jesus was a wise teacher who told people to love one another, and because Jesus has this message of loving one another. We don't want people to hear it being nice to people so we're gonna oppress the Christians. That isn't the reason for persecution. They're going to be oppressed, these seven churches, because they believe that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. It's not that they are saying these nice things. Like I said, they aren't gonna be oppressed because they have a different regional God that they worship, different than the rest of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was pluralistic. You could worship whatever you wanted to, as long as you said Caesar is Lord. They just added it to their list of gods. They didn't care. It was the fact that Jesus is ruler of the kings on earth and he is Lord, not Caesar, that persecution is coming. They could have bowed the knee to Caesar and everything would have been okay. But Christians believe and confess back then and now that Jesus is Lord of all. He is not just a savior who will be king later on, at the end of history. They believed, and we believe, that he is ruler of the kings on earth. Now he is sovereign over all earthly authorities. Like I said, this is why the persecution is on the way.

John knows it because he is experiencing this persecution himself. That's why he's on the island Patmos and his response is not hey, let's, let's say it's the lordship of Jesus thing. Go, guys. If we just forget that, nothing bad will happen. Let's let them put Jesus in the pantheon of gods that they worship and we'll worship him privately. We will worry about him in our hearts and in our private devotions. We won't be persecuted. Then Everything will be fine.

Instead, john reaffirms the statement that is going to cause persecution to come, the thing that's gonna get them in trouble. He says Jesus is Lord. Jesus is king. Why would John do this? Because it's true, jesus is king. He's at the father's right hand, ruling over all. This is why he says this.

This isn't just some story. That would be okay if we just changed it a little bit and throw Jesus into that approved list of things the Roman citizens are all about. They changed the list of things the Roman citizens are allowed to worship. They can't do it because Jesus is king of all. He is Lord of all. Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord. He is ascended at the father's right hand. They can't give this up in the face of persecution.

Because it's true, and so this causes them to have loyalty to King Jesus. The reason we see that is because he has done something for us. They are loyal to Jesus because the second half of verse five shows us the gospel, and it's as clear as it can get. He has freed us from our sins by his blood. The story of who God is and what he has done in Christ is to lead the people of God to praise this whole thing is as clear as it can be. It's the love of God and the fact that he's freed us from sin.

The issue that we have is not a lack of enlightenment or that we focus on the wrong things in our lives. That's not our problem. The problem is sin. The problem is our rebellion against the holy God. We spend so much time softening sin that we far too easily forget what sin is. Sin is treason against the king of all creation. It is us trying to usurp his authority and usurp his throne, and we are entrapped by sin and because of it we are subject to decay and death.

But John wants us to know that we've been freed from all of that. Wouldn't even like to think about the idea that we're entrapped by sin, do we? We think if we can do whatever we want, then we're free. But the witness of Scripture is that this is enslavement. What we think is freedom is not freedom at all. We are enslaved to sin, and it isn't that. We're servants and slaves for Christ and if we reject His authority, then we're free. No, we're gonna have a master over us, no matter what. The question is what kind of a master do you serve? One who loves you or one who will destroy you? So John wants us to know that we've been set free, but he wants us to know the cost that that freedom came to us through. The cost was death, because when we see the word blood here, it's meant to point us to the idea of a sacrifice. This isn't blood shed because of a scratch or a small cut on an arm. It's blood poured out. This is talking about death, and it's at a high cost. This is what Jesus does for His people. But it isn't just this freedom that Jesus brings.

John tells us that we are a kingdom and priest. Our status is not only from slave to set free, to be a servant of Jesus. We are now a kingdom. We've made a people, even though we were once not a people, as our words of assurance said this morning you were once not a people, but now you're a people. By the way, I did that on accident. What a wonderful surprise when that was our words of assurance this morning. We were once not a kingdom, we were once not a people, but now we are God's people. We were once aliens and strangers, but now we're united to Christ and we are now a people, united to Him, united to one another, and other than that, we're also priests. In other words, through our great high priest, jesus, we now have access to God. We are priests. We can go into the presence of God. Remember, in the Old Covenant, only priests could go into the presence of God and they had to do so with blood. But now, because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that has set us free, we are priests because we have access to the throne of God. All people of every ethnicity have access to God now through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are a kingdom of people who have access to God. And so the high point of all of these verses is at the end of verse 6 here. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This is to cause us to praise God for what he has done for us in Jesus, and so worship is a huge theme in the book of Revelation and here in chapter 1, we see why we praise Him, why he is worthy of praise, and we're going to see this over and over. Like I mentioned last week, really the high point of the book of Revelation comes in chapter 5, and we hear that anthem of heaven worthy is the Lamb who was slain. That's the theme here in Revelation. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. That is the song, that is the anthem we will sing in heaven and that's what we're seeing here. It's just a foretaste of that moment that's coming in Revelation 5. Here we see it at the beginning of the book and we're going to see this worship of our King, our Savior, there in chapter 5. So we've seen so far the supremacy of Jesus and the truth that he is reigning at the Father's right hand. We have also seen what he has done for us and why he is worthy of praise. So as we close up with our final verse here verses 7 and 8, we see that this great King is coming in judgment, and verse 7 gives us the idea that he is doing this he is going to protect His people.

Now, this statement coming with the clouds is a statement that is often used in Scripture. We are actually familiar with it If you read the prophets, even if you read the Olivet Discourse and the Gospels. This idea of God coming on the clouds is an idea of judgment. Like he is writing a chariot to come and protect His people, he's going to win victory for them. He destroys the wicked for the rebellion against the King who is over them. As I said, this is a very familiar way of speaking about judgment. It's spoken of this way multiple times in the Old Testament. God in the Old Testament would speak of coming with the clouds and what we would see is that foreign armies or the armies of Israel would come and destroy those who were opposed to the people of God. That is how God came in judgment in the Old Testament and he's promising the same thing here, this idea of coming on the clouds and bringing judgment against the oppressors of the people of God.

Here's where we once again run into that time-sensitive language that confuses us. We saw this last week when it said the time is near and at hand and that he is to soon. The things of revelation are soon to come. We see time-sensitive language here again and we're going to take it seriously, as if these things were to soon come to pass for these seven churches in Asia. So here's the. Where is the language here that is time-sensitive?

Well, he starts out very generally. He's saying that every eye will see Him, but then he gets really specific because we see who this judgment is coming upon, even those who pierced Him. Judgment was coming for those who were responsible for crucifying the Lord of Glory. Judgment was coming on Him. Even this judgment that is coming is even going to be seen by the ones who crucified Jesus, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. So what is coming for those who rejected the Lord Jesus as Messiah is devastation, and it is going to be known to all people and again they will know that it's God who is causing this destruction. He comes in judgment and this should be great comfort to us as the people of God. This should bring us just absolute peace, and it should have been and it was great comfort to these seven churches in Asia. They have bowed their knee to the king, they have decided that Jesus is Lord and they are not going to say Caesar is Lord and this is going to cause them to be oppressed, but that oppression is not going to go unpunished. God is going to protect his people. He will judge the wickedness that is going to be done to them, just as he did in the Old Testament when he came in judgment on the people who oppressed the people of God then. So these New Testament people can have confidence to stand firm in the face of this oppression that is coming, this persecution that is coming, because God is going to protect them and justice will be done, even the injustice that will be done against them for their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.

Now, we don't like language of judgment, do we? It's harsh, it's not good for our modern sensibilities, really. But, like we saw when we looked at the imprecatory Psalms this past summer, we need this to be true. We need to know that injustice will be judged. We need to know that God comes in judgment and takes care of wickedness. When we look at the wickedness in the world, to think that nothing will ever be done does not give us peace. It makes us wonder is there ever judgment? But these statements like this like I said, the imprecatory Psalms talking about God's judgment. As harsh as they are, they should be a source of hope and peace for us as the people of God, Because no one likes the idea that sin will go unpunished. As painful as the idea of judgment is, we need to know that God is a God of justice. We need to know that the God of history comes in judgment for the wickedness that is done in the world. And when we complain about the injustice that we see in the world, we need peace and we can have it knowing that God does something about sin. God does something about oppression. We need these words to be true and we need to know that he is a God who is and who was and who is coming in judgment to save His people. This is where peace comes from. We have to have confidence that he is the one who is almighty, that he is the one who saves His people.

Now there's so much here and we're going to see the bigger picture of all of this unfold. There's a lot, but as we sit here today, maybe we aren't sure what to do with this, but I think there are two things that are so crucial for us to help us in our Christian walk as we leave here from today, and this is where we're going to bring it home. This is where we're going to land the plane and understand all this stuff in Revelation that confuses us. This is where it comes to you and I in our personal lives today. There's two things I want us to walk out of here with today. The first is that Revelation makes it infinitely clear who Jesus is. He is Savior, he is King, and neither of those identities are pending realities. They're not pending Now.

We understand that Jesus is our Savior, but I think we struggle with the idea that Jesus is King now. We aren't waiting for Jesus to be our Savior. He's our Savior. He's our Savior right now. But it's also true that Jesus is right now our King. We aren't waiting for some cataclysmic event at the end of history for Jesus to be our King. He is our King now. He is above all rulers, he is above all authorities. Jesus tells Revelation tells us this about Jesus he is the ruler of the rulers and when Jesus returns at the end of history, he will deliver His Kingdom to the Father. And, as we've read today, you and I are that kingdom, we are priests in that kingdom, and you and I have likely heard me say, you have likely heard me say before I really think we struggle with the idea of Jesus as our Ascended Lord and King.

The Ascension is kind of a doctrine that we've forgotten about and we think it just explains why the risen Jesus isn't around now and then we sort of forget about it that he is, you know, king of our hearts. He's our personal Savior. But there's more to the idea of the Ascension than that. He is Lord of all. Right now that is the reality, and living like that is hard in a world that is in rebellion against His rule. But you and I, like the churches in Asia, are called to be faithful to our King, even when the world around us is committing cosmic treason against Him. We're called to be faithful to our King.

And secondly, which comes from that? We see that he is and was and is the God who judges. He is the Almighty, he is the Sovereign of History. He will judge wickedness, and this truth should humble you and I.

It isn't just the world that is in rebellion against our King. Even His people have moments where we are in rebellion against Him. We try to usurp His authority and His throne all the time. We sin every day, but we have a confidence and we see it in this passage that we have been freed from that coming judgment. Our rebellion against our King was paid for by the blood of the King Himself, and that's why we praise Him, that's why we serve Him. This is the reason that we are the humble servants of Jesus Christ, because he has sent us, set us free.

So may we, then, live in confidence when we look at the world and we are reminded that there is a judgment coming.

May we live in confidence and in hope instead of in fear. May we know that God is a God of justice, but His justice is fulfilled in the work that he did for us as His people. Our King was a servant for us and, as we remember our King on His throne in this coming week, may we be moved to loyal service to this one who is and who was and who is to come. Amen, let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, we praise you for the gift of your word, because it speaks of grace and peace, and we know that we need grace and we know that we need peace, and may we have a confidence that, because our King has freed us from our sins. We have that grace and peace, and so may we remember, this week and every week, that you are our King and you are on your throne, and may we be your humble servants to our good and gracious King, who is, who was and who is to come. Amen.