Sermon

Click here to print this Sermon

April 18, 2004
2nd Sunday of Easter
Revelation 1:4-18
Pastor Joel Zank

Our Risen Lord is with Us!

(Revelation 1:4-18) John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,11 which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,13 and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

In the name of Jesus who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, dear fellow redeemed,

Ever since she was a little girl our daughter Carrie has enjoyed using as one of her bedtime prayers the words of the hymn All Praise to Thee My God This Night (592 C.W.). She likes all the verses of this simple song, but her all time favorite is the one that reads, "Teach me to live that I might dread the grave as little as my bed. Teach me to die so that I may rise glorious at the awe-full day." What better request can we make as the people of God, than that our Lord teach us how to live and how to die. Our gracious Lord answers this prayer of ours as he speaks to us throughout his holy Word. We certainly find an answer to our prayer in the words of Scripture before us today from Revelation 1. Let's study these words, taking as our theme: Our Risen LORD is with Us! 1) to take away our fear of living; and 2) to take away our fear of dying.

While many of us might find the book of Revelation quite intriguing we would probably agree that in places it can be quite difficult to understand. It helps to remember that on the one hand this book of the Bible is like many other New Testament books in that it comes to us in the form of a letter. In this case we have a letter from Jesus, written out for us by the Apostle John. On the other hand, this book is quite different from other New Testament books in that it uses a great deal of picture language to communicate God's truth to us.

And what is it that God wants to tell us in this letter? Speaking first to people who long ago belonged to seven churches in the province of Asia, and now speaking to you and me as well, God wants us to know that while we Christians are engaged in a deadly battle against powerful enemies, seen and unseen, we are on the winning side of this conflict, because we have a God who stands and fights for his people, a God who shows us grace - love we don't deserve; and a God who fills us with peace by assuring us that his quarrel is not with us - not anymore.

In verse 5 of our text, John tells us that this wonderful God who is willing and able to fight all our battles is none other than the Triune God who is three persons in one Divine Being. He is our eternal, unchanging Father who is, and who was, and who is to come; he reveals himself as the "seven spirits," no doubt a reference to the Holy Spirit who goes out from before his throne in heaven to bless his people with sevenfold gifts spoken of in Isaiah 11:2; and he is our Savior Jesus Christ, the long awaited Prophet who faithfully testifies to the Father's love for us. Notice that John says this is something that Jesus is doing right now. But how can that be? Isn't this the same Jesus who was put to death on Good Friday? Yes it is! But John goes on to explain that this Jesus is our High Priest who laid down his life as our sin payment and, then, took it up again as the firstborn from the dead who lives to promise that while he is the first to rise and live forever, he will not be the last. All of us who trust in him as Savior shall also be raised from death to eternal life. Because he lives we shall live also!

The Bible makes this all sound so certain doesn't it? But doesn't God know that our spiritual life is such a fragile thing? Doesn't he realize that there are so many forces trying to tear us away from him? Doesn't he understand the dangers we face and the fears that we have? Oh yes; he knows these things so very well. But even better than knowing about them, he's busy doing something about them! You see, though he has certainly earned a well-deserved rest, our Risen Lord is not on vacation. He's not up in heaven taking life easy. Our Risen Lord is with us. He's actively involved in our lives; he working in our world. After all he is as John calls him, "the ruler of the kings of the earth." Talk about taking away our fear of living! Isn't it great to learn that nothing happens to us as a group or as individuals without the Savior's knowledge and consent? When we confess with Paul in Romans 8:28 that all things must serve our good, this isn't merely wishful thinking on our part. This is our great confidence because the One who died to win us heaven, lives and rules to see we get there. The troubles and problems we experience in life aren't accidents that take place outside the scope of our Lord's power and influence. There is no such place. He rules always and everywhere which can only mean one thing - sooner or later our troubles will become blessings. In fact, they are blessings right now - blessings that are only disguised as trouble. May God give us faith to see them as such!

And while he's at it, may God give us faith to see ourselves for what we really are-priests and kings just like Jesus. Let's be honest, so much of our fear in life comes from doubting who and what we are in Christ. We know what awful sinners we are-worse than all the others on earth; for unlike the unbelievers of our world, we know Jesus and his grace and still we sin against him. In spite of all that he has done for us, we get angry, we lust, we're selfish and greedy, we covet and steal, we're mean and spiteful, and yet we have the nerve to call ourselves Christians. Who are we kidding? We're afraid because we're sure that God's promises are meant for better people than we. We live in fear because we're still of the mind set that we must earn God love and we know that's impossible. Because we of all people are deserving of God's anger and punishment - we know it; God knows it too. But here's the amazing thing: God's not angry with us and he isn't going to punish us. It's this happy truth that causes the Apostle John to blurt out these words of praise: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen" (Revelation 1:5-6).

Our Risen Lord takes away our fear of living by reminding us that the blood he shed on Calvary frees us from the guilt and punishment of all the sins we commit every day. Our slate is always clean. God's grace not only brought us into his family, it keeps us in his family. God doesn't view us as ex-convicts on probation, people who must daily prove their worthiness and earn God's love and respect. No, God chooses to constantly shower us with his forgiveness and his blessings because he always sees us as having the status that Jesus earned for us. For the sake of Jesus, God always sees and treats us like royalty. In God's eyes we are kings - the owners of this world; and we are priests-people who have the ear of the C.E.O. of the Universe. It's our privilege to speak with God anytime day or night; and as his priests God regards all that we say and do in his service as a sweet-smelling sacrifice of thanksgiving. Christian, you don't have to live your life in fear. Jesus has done everything that needs to be done so that you can approach God and live before him every day knowing that he's not angry with you. In fact, as John says, you can go about your life happily awaiting Christ's return. When you see him coming with the clouds, there will be no sadness for you. Only those who lived apart from him in unbelief will mourn his coming. How can you be sure of this? Because in verse 8 of our text Jesus claims to be just like his Father, eternal and unchanging. He must fulfill the promises he has made to you because he is Alpha and Omega. Beginning to end he is always the same. He cannot change his mind or go back on his word.

It is so important for us to remind each other of these truths every day because these truths empower us to believe with our hearts what we do not yet see with our eyes. We are kings and priests. Jesus says so, but we don't always feel like kings and priests. Rather than rulers of the world, we seem to be the objects of its scorn and hatred. The Apostle John knew that only too well. In verse 9 he calls himself our companion in suffering. John had been exiled to the island of Patmos, the Alcatraz of his day, for no other reason than he proclaimed Jesus to be the world's Savior from sin.

It's not hard to imagine that John must have grown pretty discouraged, as we so often do. But, then, Jesus gave him a vision to brighten his spirit and ours. It was on the Lord's day, on Sunday that John had the privilege of seeing someone "like a son of man" - a human being, and yet no ordinary human being. For this was none other than Jesus, the very Son of God who in the greatest love of all took on our humanity to save us from death and hell. John saw the God-man standing among seven golden lampstands, representing the seven churches to which John was writing - another reminder from John's vision that our Risen Lord is with us, the people that he himself refers to as the light of the world. Jesus was dressed like a High Priest in a long flowing robe with a golden sash. His head and hair were as bright as the sun, shining forth with the same pureness that John had seen beaming from Jesus' face on the Mount of Transfiguration. But now his eyes were like blazing fire - the eyes of the Judge who is able to see right into the hearts and minds of sinners. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, the feet of one who will soon make his enemies his footstool. His voice was like a crashing tidal wave. In his hand he held seven stars, the pastors of those seven churches; and coming out from his mouth was a sharp double-edged sword - the law and gospel of his holy Word.

As I said, the vision was meant to encourage John, and yet at first it was all too much for him. He fell at the Lord's feet as though he were dead. Who wouldn't? Can you imagine coming face to face with Holy God? We soon will you know, on the day that we die. Perhaps that thought frightens us. But it need not. Our Risen Lord is with us to take away our fear of dying. How relieved John must have been to feel the warm and friendly touch of the Savior he knew so well. Jesus put his hand on John and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18).

We Christians can afford to live fearless lives because death is the worse thing that can happen to us, and for us, death isn't bad at all. That's what Jesus says and he should know. He already died as the sacrifice for our sins. He took our place in hell where he served our death sentence, living just long enough to speak one simple phrase that is the key to our eternal freedom: "It is finished." But Jesus did more than say it, he proved it. He went to the grave for no other reason than to rise from the dead and by his rising to show us that death holds no power over us who believe in him. Our last great enemy has been conquered by Jesus. Now instead of serving as our ticket to hell, death must actually serve us by delivering our souls to the Savior's waiting arms. You see, we don't have to fear death. We don't have to shrink back in terror when it touches our lives. We can approach death with confidence, even with anticipation, knowing that never ending bliss with Jesus is waiting for us just the other side of the grave. Believing this we each can pray to our Risen Lord: Teach me to live that I might dread the grave as little as my bed; teach to die so that I may rise glorious at the awe-filled day, only for your sake, dear Savior. Amen.