[I’ve taken some of the thoughts in this sermon from Anne Graham Lotz’s The Vision of His Glory.]
The second coming of Christ does not always conjure up the same emotions.
• If you are to narrow down your emotions regarding the return of Christ to one word, what would that be?
• Discomfort, Fear, Anxiety, Disappointment, Panic, Happy, Excited?
For some, they are unprepared and they are afraid.
• Those who are sick and elderly may look to it with gladness, since there isn’t much they can do on earth.
• For many, there may be too many things left undone and they want to finish them.
• The young ones may want to get married and enjoy the world a little bit more.
I wonder what God would want us to feel.
• I believe there isn’t any right or wrong emotions.
• But one thing is sure – the Lord does not want us to love this world and treat this as our home.
• Jesus wants to return and bring us home to be with Him. He is delaying because He wanted more to come home.
Look at what John writes, after he saw a glimpse of Christ in His glory.
• …the last part of the Book of Revelation - Rev 22:20.
• The Lord says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” And he says, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
• The vision of the glorious Lord changed him.
• I believe it will change us too, and help us appreciate Him and see His return in a new light.
I will share a series of messages through the book of Revelation.
• And see through the eyes of John the Person of Jesus Christ in all His glory.
• The return of Christ will be “The Beginning of the Very Best”, Max Lucado says, I borrowed his term for this series.
Let’s read Rev 1:1-9.
• John describes this book as “the revelation of Jesus Christ” – this is the theme of this book.
• It’s not primarily about prophecy, or symbolism, or future events, but Jesus Christ.
• This book unveils Jesus to us in such a way no man has ever known.
John had a unique experience.
• He is the only man who has seen Christ more ways than one.
• He was one of the three disciples closest to Jesus. He saw Him bodily, and then in His resurrected form, and finally in His glorious state (through revelations).
• He was a prisoner placed in the island of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (1:9). And he was given visions of Christ in heaven.
No one then, except John through these visions, had seen Jesus in such a complete way.
• Not Mary or Joseph, not his step-brothers and sisters or even the other disciples. They cannot fully understand who He was while He was on earth.
• Through Revelation, God lifts the veil and enable John (and us) to see Jesus in a way that those who walked and lived with Him on earth could not.
No wonder John says in 1:3 “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
The first thing John did was to praise God, and draw our attention to what Christ has done for us.
• Rev 1:5-6 “…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, 6and 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.”
• John said this out of a personal experience. He saw Jesus crucified. He was at the foot of the cross, and probably the only disciple there. Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to him (John 19:26-27)
• He saw the shedding of His blood for our sins. He loves us and died for us.
• We are related to this God!
1:6 “…And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.”
• We are intimately related to Him, John seemed to remind us.
• We owe our lives to Him. He bought us with His life.
• No wonder He will come for us, personally. We belong to Him. We are His.
One day, the daughter of Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz was sitting in an airport between flights, feeling very depressed by the smallness of her life.
As she watched the hundreds of people rushing through the terminal and did not see anyone she knew; as she watched the television report of world and national news and knew that not one of the important people quoted or pictured even knew she existed; as she thought of her own family members who have achieved so much while in comparison she seemed to be doing so little. She said, “My thoughts made me feel smaller and smaller. Insignificance, unimportance, and inferiority swept over me.”
Have you ever felt that way? Feeling that you are small, and of no significance.
• And that week, she read Rev 1 and an amazing realization came to her.
• Who did John saw? The glorious Christ, the One who loves you and saved you.
• And He is waiting for you to come home.
“The most important man in our nation is the president. For how long will he hold this status? Four years? Eight years? Fifty years from now, who will remember his name or his accomplishments, outside the history books?
In comparison, Jesus is the most important Man, not just in our nation, not just on planet earth, but in the entire universe! And He isn’t important just for four years or eight years, but forever and ever and ever!
Furthermore, the most important Man in the universe thinks I am so important He gave His own life for me! How can I feel depressed by the smallness of my life when the most important Man in the universe died for me, rules over me now, and will one day return for me?
In the eyes of Jesus Christ, I am important. I am of value. How can I consider myself anything less?
• On the day when Jesus returns, everyone will be looking at Jesus.
• But have you ever considered where He will be looking?
• He will be looking for you!
• He has told us, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3)
Then John records what the Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega…”
• The alpha is the first letter and the omega is the last in the Greek 24 alphabets.
• It’s like the English from A to Z. He is in control of everything.
• This title describes the omniscience of Christ.
• Through our alphabet, all our words, wisdom and knowledge are expressed.
• If Jesus is the beginning and end of the alphabets, He is the sum of all wisdom and knowledge.
“…who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
• That is, He has always been so and will be so forever.
• He is eternally omniscience. In order words, the eternal Christ has never had a new thought.
• If He had a new thought, it would mean He had previously not known something.
• But since He is omniscient, He knows – and has always known – everything!
What does this mean to me personally? It means I have always been on His mind.
• Think of it - the most important Person in the universe has always been thinking of you!
• We have never been out of His thoughts!
• Even as He hung on the cross, He was thinking of you! He died for you.
And not only is He eternally omniscient, He is eternally omnipresent.
• Rev 1:8 says He is “the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come…”
• Jesus Christ always has been, always is, and always will be.
• He is eternally the same yesterday, today and forever.
Have you had this experience - you came to know something about Jesus, through the Gospels, the sermons or someone’s testimony and you are touched?
• You came to see His love for you, maybe His mercy, His grace, or the way He guides you and provides for you.
• Let me tell you this: He has been that way all along. He has been so eternally.
• What you see at the cross is the same Jesus at creation, the same Jesus in John’s time, and will be the same Jesus we see one day.
• We only DISCOVER an aspect of His character through our experiences and testimonies; He has always been so.
If Abraham knew Him as his Friend, if David knew Him as his Shepherd, and if Paul knew Him in His transforming power, then we can know Him today.
• …Because He is eternally the same, and fully present in every age.
• You and I can know and experience Him in the same way.
• Isn’t it great to know that God, the Almighty God, is knowable!
We pray and we trust Him today, because we believe He is fully present with us here today, and with our parents, with our children, with our friends, wherever they are.
• Being everywhere at once does not deplete or dilute His Person or His power in any way.
Jesus Christ is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent!
• Rev 1:8c says He is “the Almighty”. No one or anything is mightier than Jesus!
• What problem are you facing, that is bigger than you are?
• He is mightier. He is greater, more powerful, than any problem or situation you or I will ever face.
Phil 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
• In fact, one reason God allows us to have problems and be in situations that seem bigger than we are is so we can discover by experience His “incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph 1:19)
• If our lives are easy, and if all we ever attempt for God is what we know we can handle, how will we ever experience His power in our lives?
• It is when we are drowning, when we are cornered with no way out, when we are up against a brick wall…
• It is when we are facing the Red Sea in front of us, the desert surrounding us, and the Egyptian army behind us…
• That’s when we discover His power! That’s when we see His power!
Re-focus on who Jesus Christ really is. Praise and worship Him!
• Look at Jesus. Meditate on His attributes.
• We cannot remain depressed if we saw what John saw.
• It’s a joy to see Him, together with our loved ones, and church friends.
