March 3 Sermon: The Vision of the Son of Man

As we finish Revelation chapter one, we focus on the vision of Jesus as the Son of Man, a sight so glorious and powerful that words can barely do it justice. Join us as we unpack how these descriptions provide comfort and assurance to believers facing tribulations, reminding us that the sovereignty and majesty of Christ are a source of unwavering confidence.

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Revelation 1:9-20:

1. How do the divine encounters, as depicted in the Book of Revelation, provide comfort and assurance to believers?

2. Revelation tells us the keys to death and Hades are held by Jesus. How does this imagery impact your understanding of Christ's victory over evil?

3. Why is a written Word from God important? How does the authority and sufficiency Scripture provide comfort for Christians facing trials and tribulations?

Transcript:

We've all had someone come to us with a story of something amazing that they've seen. Now some people experience, say, a rare phenomenon or an unlikely event, and it becomes something that they just have to tell other people about. It's something you just can't keep to yourself. You have to share, and actually the chances are that you've been on both sides of having to tell a story like this. I know that I have been and I will say that I find it to be just as hard to explain something amazing to someone as it is to understand something amazing that someone is telling you. I don't know about you, but when I'm telling people about something amazing, I find myself spitting out well, it was like this, but it wasn't quite like this. It was that, but it wasn't that right. I'm sure it doesn't make any sense to them, but I'm excited about it. It's something I need to share and I'm sure if you have ever been on the other side of me describing something in this way, you're just trying to keep track of what I'm saying. You're trying to picture in your mind, but you know that unless you see what I'm talking about yourself, you'll never fully be able to understand what it is that I'm trying to describe. Regardless of how well somebody describes something to you and regardless of how well you understand it, you can never really understand it unless you see it. But you do come away with something. You do know that what they saw was exceptional, maybe it was even amazing. That is easy to convey.

Now, as we finish up with the first chapter of Revelation this morning, we come to John's description of his vision of the Son of man. Now, we haven't written down for us in Holy Scripture, but imagine you were hearing somebody describing this to you face to face for the first time. You would probably follow along really well at first, because what do we have? We have someone who's described as looking like a man among seven lampstands. I can picture that pretty well and you probably can keep up pretty well when he is described as having a long robe and a golden sash and white hair like white wool and like snow. We might not understand what white wool looks like, but we understand what white snow looks like. Right, we can picture this. But then, all of a sudden, the description has this one who looks like a son of man, having eyes of fire, feet like burnished bronze, and I don't know about you, but my brain would struggle to keep up with this description. And then the description keeps going. You have to imagine seven stars in his hand and then a two-edged sword coming out of this person's mouth, and I think at that point my mental picture would become pretty useless. To me it would probably look like something Picasso's painted. I would be lost. But regardless of my coherence of what was being described to me, I would know something. What is being described is spectacular. It is amazing.

The big point that John is making here is that Jesus is glorious. Jesus is powerful. That's the big image that John wants us to see In this morning. I want us to see how this brought comfort not only to the people of God in the first century who received this letter, but it also brings comfort to us in the 21st century. We should have confidence and comfort in the glorious nature and sovereign will of Jesus.

So let's outline our three key themes for today and then we will get into this passage. So the first thing that we see is that Jesus provides comfort and assurance in the midst of tribulation. Now we have seen that persecution is coming for these seven churches in Asia. But here there's a word that comes from Jesus to them. Secondly, we see the sovereign majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we've had a focus on Jesus back to the beginning of Revelation, but as chapter 1 closes up, here we get an image of how he is in control and how glorious and powerful he is, and that he is sovereign over all things. And third, we're going to see the presence of Jesus among his church. In the middle of the trials that these people are going to face, we see that Jesus isn't distant from them, but he is with them and he is caring for them.

And so we start off with verses 9 through 11 today, and we see something that we've known from the beginning of the book. We've been told before that this is all from John, and now this is once again made clear for us. Not only is he the one writing this down, he's the author, but he is the one who is receiving a vision, and that is what he's going to be writing about. And in his confirmation of his identity for us, he also tells the readers of the book something else that's very important. He isn't just telling these people in the churches distant from him that they are going to be experiencing persecution. He is their brother, he is their partner in the tribulation.

And here is another one of those time texts I've been talking about right Earlier. We've seen in Revelation it was talked about that it was going to be happening soon, that the time was at hand, and then last week we saw that the ones who pierced Jesus were going to see his coming in judgment. Well, now we have John letting these people know that he is going to be a partner with them in what they are going to experience Together. He says they are a part of the kingdom and together they patiently endure what is before them. So John is not only telling them to endure for the sake of the kingdom, but he's letting them know that he has to endure as well. He is experiencing this right along with them. They aren't experiencing persecution in proximity to one another. He's not there with them, but they are going through it together.

And the call on the churches and the call on John is to endure and to trust that the kingdom of God prevails over the kingdom of man. And John lets them know what he's already facing, that he is in the midst of persecution. Now he tells them that he's on the island of Patmos. Now, this was an island off the coast of modern-day Turkey and it was essentially a prison for those who were causing a disruption to the social order of the Roman Empire. They wanted to maintain social order. That is what they wanted, and if you were a dissident, you were sent away. And we're told that he's there because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. It is his faithful witness to the Word of the Lord and the truth that Jesus is Lord that has him confined on this island, and it's important that I remind you what I talked about last week.

The reason there's persecution is because Christians say Jesus is Lord, and they will not say that Caesar is Lord. If they would have bowed the knee to Caesar, they would have been allowed to go about their business and done whatever they wanted to. In regard to worshiping Jesus, it is the idea that he is the resurrected and ascended Lord of all, that he alone is the one who reigns, that he alone is the one who provides salvation. That is why persecution is coming. In a pluralistic society, what you believe doesn't matter very much, does it? It doesn't need to be logical, it doesn't need to be practical. It just needs to be not exclusive. Everything has to go. It has to be. Everything has to be up for grabs. You can't say we alone have the Lord Again. The Roman Empire would, let you say praise whoever, if they just would have said Caesar is Lord. But the Christians will only say Jesus is Lord. John wouldn't say Caesar is Lord and he wouldn't be quiet about it. And the other apostles were martyred. They were stoned, beheaded.

Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down, but John is sent to the island of Patmos. He is in exile, and so that is the context. That is where he is as he sends out this message of hope and comfort. It's coming from a man who needs hope and comfort himself. He is in a place where he needs the good news of this book himself just as much as those churches are going to need it. He needs hope in the midst of tribulation as well, and notice when this vision happens. We're told he's in the Spirit.

On the Lord's Day, the day of Christian worship, the day where the people of God come together to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the day that he rose from the dead, and so we gather and we worship in anticipation of worshiping him forever in heaven. And it's on the Lord's Day that this happens to John. He hears a voice like a loud trumpet. Now, he's not saying that the voice was musical, that's not the point here. The point is that it is loud, it is clear, it's unmistakable, and the message that he is to write down is a message just to go to the seven churches listed here.

And this is simple, but it is significant. This lets us know that the message that is coming is not just for John, but the message is for the seven churches as well, and because it is written down for us, it is established. This is important as well. It's written down so that it can't be changed, so that it can't be embellished by whoever would pass the message on like oral stories so easily. Do we know this? How often do we embellish our stories over time? And you can go even simpler. We've all played the telephone game in grade school. We know how oral stories get embellished. But it's written down so that it will be accurate, and we know why this is Now.

Normally, you know that I like to deal with what we're working on as far as the passage goes and not look too far ahead, but today. It's important that we see this significance of writing this down and look to the end of Revelation. We see at the end of the book and you know this, you've heard this, you've seen it before it has a warning Everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book, if anyone adds to them, god will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book, of this prophecy, god will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city. There's a warning. John is writing this down so that they can't add to it or take away from it. What he is going to tell them is sufficient, because this prophetic word of the revelation of Jesus Christ is written down. It's established. In fact, john makes it clear that the bad things described in the book will happen to you if you add to them. In fact, they'll be added to, and if you take it away, you will have your access to the tree of life taken away from you.

Now, this is specifically about the book of Revelation here, but it holds true to all of Scripture, doesn't it? I regularly remind my Catechism class of the blessing that it is to have the Word of God written down, to have it established. It is a good thing for us that the Word of God is a written word. If anyone adds to it, we know that we should reject their teaching. We know that we want to be faithful to the written Word of God. If there's anyone who takes anything away from it or adds to it, we know that we are to abandon those teachers and remain faithful to the written Word of God and because of this, you and I aren't subject to the tyranny of the individual who comes to us and claims to have heard from God. We know that if anyone claims that God has spoken to them, we should go the other direction, because we are a people who is blessed with a written Word from God. It is established, it can be known, it can be evaluated and it goes to all of us.

There's no secret knowledge here. It is established and that is sufficient. And the message of Scripture and the message of the book of Revelation is one that doesn't need to be changed. Like I said, it is sufficient, it's authoritative. It is a message of hope that we need and the message that helps us to endure through hardship, through persecution and through tribulation, and so this truth is our first application. We are a blessed people to have a written and authoritative word from God, and we are to hold to it. And as we see this truth, this leads us on to our second point. The one who provides and assures this hope, the one that is talked about in this authoritative and sufficient word he is sovereign and he is full of power and majesty.

So John turns and he sees who's speaking to him, this voice like a trumpet, and, as I said when I opened up, there's a progression to this description here. There are seven golden lamp stands, and we'll come back to them in our third point, but among them is one like a son of man. In other words, he's human. There's a long robe with a golden sash and he has white hair. Now this is where it's helpful for us to know our Old Testament. John isn't trying to give us a picture that we can make of Jesus so we can worship an image of him. That's not what he's doing. He's trying to establish who Jesus is, and so, when we know our Old Testament, we can see that this is a clear reference to Daniel's description of the ancient of days. This is John calling on Daniel to let us know who Jesus is. He has always been around. He is the ancient of days, and when you read this, you can't miss the connection with the Old Testament here.

The idea is that the one who is speaking to John is divine. He's not just a man. The imagery we're given is to help us to understand who Jesus is, his divine nature. We only then see that his eyes are like flames and his feet are like burnished bronze. In other words, he's bright, he is glorious, he is powerful, and John also tells us that his voice was like the roar of many waters. Now, the other descriptive stuff makes sense for me. But the roar of waters, what's being said there? I mean, that's just white noise. Right, you might have an app on your phone that has roaring waters to cover up the snoring of your spouse, right? White noise is all that we think of when we see this.

But once again, john is connecting this to the Old Testament and it's important. We see it from the book of Ezekiel. Again, the purpose here is not for us to have a mental picture of Jesus that isn't going to do much for us A drawing of this description is not going to make much sense, but the connection of Jesus to the Old Testament and the connections to the descriptions of the Almighty. The ancient of days tells us about who Jesus is, about his sovereignty and then, because of that, the authority of the message that is coming here in the book of Revelation. And then we get to verse 16, and it also shows us his authority and his power. He holds seven stars, and this shows his power and authority as well, and we'll see what the seven stars are in our third point, with the lamp stands. But before we move on to that final point, we have that image of a two-edged sword coming from his mouth.

I don't know about you, but that's kind of a tough image for me to wrap my mind around, but this is imagery from the Old Testament. It's about God speaking judgment on his enemies. When God speaks judgment, it happens. The idea is that God ordains it and he is so powerful and he merely speaks and what comes out of his mouth is powerful and it cuts, it judges, and it will be accomplished. That's the imagery that we're meant to have here, that what is going to be seen about Jesus will come to pass, because he is mighty, he is great, he is connected to the ancient of days, and then the final image of God's sovereignty and majesty is that of the sun shining in full strength.

If we don't get any of the other imagery, I think this one we get. Especially for me, this time of year. The sun is coming back from where it was over there and it's starting to get here. And when you drive down the east-west streets here early in the morning, about the time the kids are going to school, it's shining right in your face, and if you have your sunglasses on, you have the shade down and you're shading with your eyes. You still are only driving five miles an hour because you don't want to hit a kid. Okay, it is so bright. There's nothing that we can do about it. We cannot look upon the sun. It's impossible for us, and that's the idea John wants to convey to us here. He is so powerful, he is so mighty that you can't even look upon him without needing to protect your eyes.

And this is the one who is speaking to us in the book of Revelation. He's divine, he's powerful, he speaks judgment and it comes to pass. These are not the words of a disgruntled Roman citizen who's been banished to the island of Patmos. This is the word of Jesus, the powerful one, the almighty, the one who has always been. He is not a mere man, but he is God, the Son, and he is the ancient of days. And the readers of this message are meant to have confidence that what they're about to read is true, because it's a word from God himself. And to show us the power even fuller, we see John's reaction and then the reply of Jesus.

But before we move on, I want to have another quick note of application. From this image that we have of Jesus here, I want to ask a question Do you have a confidence in God's Word? Do you trust that it's true and that it's sufficient, that it is a word from the Almighty, from the ancient of days, the one whose glory is over all the earth? And just as the seven churches are to understand the authority of the message that they are receiving, we're to have that same confidence in the message that we have received from God. His Word and the message of the Gospel is not some invention of human ideas to be placed among the philosophies of man, but it is a word from the one whose mouth is a sharp, two-edged sword and whose face is like the sun shining at full strength. As you think about this passage in the coming week, may this image of Jesus speaking to John build up in you a confidence in the power and sufficiency of God's Word as you face the trials and circumstances of your life. And this is not only because of his power that we can do this and have this confidence. We can also think this way because he is the God who is with his people.

John falls down as though he's dead, and I think this is a reaction that we can understand. It's the reaction of those who are in the presence of God's power. If you're in the presence of a holy God, what else do you do? John is conveying us to hear, with his falling down, that he is in the presence of God. But what we see here is not just simply that he lays flat or that he lays dead. We see Jesus laying his hand on John.

How amazing is this? Like seriously, he cares for and touches John. He is all-powerful, he's all-mighty. He's got a sword coming out of his mouth. He's as bright as the sun. He holds stars in his hands, but he cares for and touches John. He is near to the ones that he loves, he cares for his people, and the statement of Jesus here is one of great power for us. And remember, this is a word of comfort to John and to the seven churches and to all the people of God. He is the first and the last, and you probably know this better, as I am the Alpha and the Omega, which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

What Jesus here is saying is that there's nothing before him and nothing after. This is, once again, a clear claim of divinity from Jesus. In fact, it doesn't get any more straightforward than this that Jesus is divine. And then he makes a statement of his power here, but it is a statement that is also of ultimate comfort for the people of God. He is the living one. He isn't an apparition, he isn't just a spirit. He is alive. Yes, he died, but now he is alive forevermore. In fact, he makes one of my absolute favorite statements in the book of Revelation I have the keys of death and Hades. He isn't locked up, he is the one who is in control. The keys of death and hell in Christ's hands are held. The wickedness that opposed will forever fail. Any tribulation that's coming for these people, for these seven churches is nothing compared to the power of Jesus. They can endure because he has the keys of hell and death in his hands. He is the victor and the idea that we're going to see here is that he holds this power and he is the one who's going to be with them in the coming persecution. And John is told to write down what he's seen and what he will see. And then Jesus gives us insight into the mysteries that I said that we were going to come to, that we were going to address now.

The seven stars and the seven lampstands are not just fancy ornaments to make the image of Jesus more elaborate. That's not what's happening here. They are telling the people of God in these churches something the seven stars are the seven angels of the churches. He is the one who sends them out and this should comfort the people of God, that God is sending them angels for comfort and protection. But the greatest comfort, the greatest comfort should come for these churches in how they're symbolized. You see, we see that those seven lampstands are the seven churches. They are a light that's going to shine out and they can stand in the face of persecution. But that isn't the only comfort that they can have. In fact, that isn't really where their comfort should come from, that they can stand out in the midst of it.

We need to go back to the start of this vision and to see Jesus and how where he is brings comfort. In the midst of this symbol, jesus is in the midst of the lampstands. He is not at a distance. The message that he brings is shouted not from afar, but where he is with the churches. It's spoken in the midst of them. Jesus is among His people. He is right there in the midst of persecution, amongst the lampstands, and this should not surprise us at all. He is the one who said he would never leave us or forsake us, and this means that when trouble and tribulation comes, he is going to be with His people. John has delivered the message that oppression and persecution has already come for Him, and it's coming even more for those seven churches, but they can know that they can endure because the one who holds the keys of hell and death in His hands is right there with them, regardless of what they are called to endure. They have something greater than that tribulation. They have Christ, and he will be with His people and he will deliver them and, as I have said, this is true of the seven churches of Revelation, but it's also true for the people of God.

Now. Christ is with us. Whether the circumstances we face are individual or corporate, we can know that Jesus is with us because we're His people. In the face of all that we may be called to endure, we can know for sure that he has ultimate victory because we are in Him. We have no fear of death and hell, and those are the worst two things that can happen to us but we have been delivered from them. The one who is as bright as the sun. He was brought low, he endured the wrath of God for us at the cross, but he rose again and he snatched the keys of death and hell, and they are forever in His hands.

And now, as our ascended Lord and King, we know that, no matter what we are called to endure, we are victorious because Christ is victorious.

And may we daily be built up in this comfort and this peace and this hope, through the word and the spirit at work in us, that we might boldly live for Him, that he might receive all the glory for His great redeeming work and for the fact that he is always among His people. Amen, let us pray Great and mighty and sovereign God. We praise you for the gift of your Word, because we have heard today that in Christ's hands are held the keys of hell and death, the greatest fears that we have. But he has laid hold of those and he has set us free. We pray, o Lord, that you would call to mind this great and glorious image of Jesus to us, that we might remember that our Lord and King is the one who holds us and it is a sure promise that we have salvation in Him. Through your Word and spirit, bless us with this comfort, with this hope and this assurance that we might leave from here and serve your great name to the glory of Christ alone. It's in His name that we pray, amen.