A Glimpse Of The Glorified Christ Series

A Glimpse of the Glorified Christ

Revelation 1:4-20

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/GlimpseGlorifiedChrist.html

Revelation = Unveiling

There are many descriptions of Christ in the OT and the NT, but none like this one today.

It’s the only time we see Him in His glorified, unveiled presence.

We will all stand before Him someday, and we will all see Him in His radiant splendor.

The overall theme of Rev. is the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, the literal, bodily return of our Lord to this Earth.

Jn. 14—“I go to prepare a place for you…I will doubtless come again, and receive you unto myself.”

Ascension: Angels said, “Why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, which is gone up into Heaven, shall so come in like manner…”

v. 7 Don’t confuse w/ rapture! Not every eye will see Him then. “Thief in the night.” Many will disappear, but not many remaining will know where we went.

( Aliens? )

At the 2nd coming, every eye will see Him, even the Jews “which pierced Him”, and all will wail. (Wailing wall…that’s nothing!)

I can’t wait to see Him…I don’t have to wait. God in His infinite wisdom has given us here in ch. 1 a glimpse at the glorified Christ! (Preview)

v. 8 I am A to Z! (1st and last letter in Greek alphabet)

v. 11 I am A to Z!

Jesus makes here a remarkable statement: I am the alphabet of God.

What is an alphabet? It’s a way of storing accumulated wisdom.

Jesus is the accumulated wisdom of God. He is the full revelation of who our God is!

From an alphabet you make words…in Jn. 1 Jesus is called the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word”. He was there at creation, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

He’s the beginning of all things, He’s the ending of all things, alpha and omega, A to Z, the accumulated wisdom of God.

It’s just more proof of the deity of Christ. Watch out for any group that denies His deity…they’re just another cult. (PTL for my last convert…rare…a JW who, confronted w/ Jesus’ deity, was born again!)

v. 9 It has been 60+ years since John has seen or heard from Jesus, yet He’s still believing, still preaching, and that’s why he’s incarcerated now!

John is in exile on Patmos, undoubtedly w/ ordinary, common criminals. But what happened next is anything but common or ordinary…

v. 10 John is having his daily devotions when he’s interrupted…by the Lord.

v. 12 he turns to see

v. 17 he falls on his face!

v. 19 write this down for me!!

Not an ordinary day!

We preached all the way thru this book…over 60 sermons all about what John wrote down. Incredible facts about the future! Prophetic truths that are, literally, out of this world!!

And none greater than this revelation we study today in ch. 1, as we get our first glimpse at the glorified Christ!

John paints us a picture now of what Jesus looks like…in the only terms his vocabulary can handle. He not only tells us what He looks like, but what He IS like. Let’s look at it verse by verse:

v. 10 John saw Him and heard from Him every day!

Intimacy / daily walk / communion

Going to church is not serving God!

It’s not enough…just what you get on Sunday!

If all you eat is spoon-fed to you…you meet the most basic qualification of being a baby!

Our Lord wants to speak to us every day, and He sure did speak to John on this day!

v. 11 7 churches: We can see church history for the last 2,000 years painted for us in broad strokes, and even today’s churches in each of these letters. See sub series on “Reading Someone Else’s Mail”. Chapter 2-3 [inc. in Rev. series]

What did John see?

1. Christ the Human

In Bethlehem, Jesus took on human flesh. Amazingly, He retained that form, though glorified, even after He ascended back to Heaven.

v. 13 “son of man” This underscores His humanity.

Jesus came as the God-Man. 100% God / 100% Man…as much God as if He had not been man, vice-versa.

Born as a man / crucified as a man / resurrected as a man / ascended as a man / will return as a man in a literal, glorified body.

Throughout all eternity he exists for us…the God-man.

“The only things in heaven that will be man-made are the scars in His hands and His feet.”

At the Lord’s supper—we remember what Jesus did for us.

His Scars—These will remind us for all eternity what He did for us.

Ill—scar on my forehead / Jacksonville, IL / just a kid / learning to ride bike / viciously hit by a parked car / didn’t say I was a very smart kid / hit and run (ran to my momma!)