Meeting the Exalted Christ
Revelation 1:9-12
Purpose: To describe Christ’s awesome glory.
Aim: I want the listener to deepen their adoration for Christ.
INTRODUCTION: The Christians who received this letter from John were something like us. They had never seen the Lord Jesus Christ. They had heard about Him through the preaching of the gospel and as a result had committed themselves to follow Christ. But, their conversion to Christ not only didn’t bring them better health and more prosperity, it brought them intense persecution. Imperial Rome was in the midst of brutally torturing and killing those who claimed to be followers of Christ.
These were frightening times. Was it worth suffering and maybe dying for this Jewish rabbi called Jesus Christ whom they had never seen? Who was really more powerful: the Caesar in Rome or the Christ in heaven?
We have similar decisions to make. Are we going to look to people or governments to provide for our needs or are we going to look to Christ?
REVIEW:
1:1-20 I. John’s Vision of the Past “the things which you have seen”
Vs.1-3 A. The importance of this book “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”
Vs.4-5a B. The character of God
Vs.4-5a 1. The Father is eternal “Him who is…was…is to come”
Vs.4b 2. The Spirit is all-knowing “the seven Spirits”
Vs.5a 3. The Son is exalted “the firstborn of the dead”
Vs.5b-6 C. The change Jesus makes
Vs.5b 1. Jesus cares for His own “Him who loves us”
Vs.5c 2. Jesus forgives His own “released us from our sins”
Vs.6a 3. Jesus empowers His own “made us to be a kingdom, priests”
Vs.6b 4. Jesus uses His own to glorify God “to Him be the glory”
Vs.7 D. The coming of King Jesus “He is coming with the clouds”
Vs.8 E. The superiority of King Jesus
Vs.8a 1. Jesus is altogether sufficient “Alpha and Omega”
Vs.8b 2. Jesus is absolute ruler “Lord God who is…was…is to come”
Vs.8c 3. Jesus is all powerful “the Almighty”
Vs.7-8 F. The certainty of the return of King Jesus “it is to be”
LESSON:
➽Vs.9-12 G. The setting for this book
➽Vs.9a 1. The person writing “John”
John was the last living Apostle. He was probably about 90 years old at this time. When he died there was no one left to talk to who had actually seen Jesus Christ. John, though, did not refer to himself as an Apostle. Rather, he saw himself as a brother and a fellow partaker of persecution with those who were reading this book.
➽Vs.9b 2. The place “island called Patmos”
John himself received the message of this book while he was a prisoner of Rome on a small island called Patmos. [ picture] Patmos was 70 miles SW of Ephesus. It is one of the smallest of hundreds of islands that dot the Greek coastline. It is only 10 miles long and 6 miles wide.
“One might describe the physical features of the island as a treeless area rising abruptly from a massive stone wall encompassing the whole region. Against this volcanic heap the waves of the Aegean dash themselves continually.” [“Bibllical Backgrounds” P.190 ]
John must have wondered why the Lord put him in such a barren place. But, the Bible is full of stories of God’s people in exile who were blessed by the Lord.
• When Jacob was in exile running for his life from his brother Esau he saw a vision of God in a place he called Bethel.
• When Moses was in exile running from the Pharaoh of Egypt God appeared to him in the burning bush.
• It was while Elijah was in exile hiding from Jezebel that he heard the “still small voice.”
• In exile Ezekiel saw, “the likeness of the glory of God.”
• Daniel was in exile in Babylon when he saw a vision of “the Ancient of days.”
• It was while Paul was in a Roman prison that he wrote the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. [“From Suffering to Singing” by Bob Marcaurelle P.1 ]
You may be in a type of physical or emotional exile from your friends of loved ones, but there is no reason why you can’t see Jesus Christ. Circumstances do not hinder God.
➽Vs.9c 3. The persecution “tribulation”
Notice that “in Jesus” John found “tribulation and kingdom and perseverance.” As Job put it “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”(Job 2:10 NAU)
Pain is as much a gift from God as is health. Do we really believe Romans 8:28? And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NAU)
"In one word, they lived in an age of intense persecution. Domitian [the emperor who followed Nero] was a devil. In 29 B.C., with the death of Julius Caesar, the people of Rome began to worship the Roman Empire and later the Roman Emperors as divine. They kept other gods but looked upon the Emperor as a sort of god. Most of the Emperors simply tolerated this practice but Domitian took it seriously. He called himself a god and began all official documents with these words: ’our Lord and God Domitian commands...’ Everyone who addressed him was commanded to say, ’Lord and God." Anyone who refused to pay this homage was labeled ’atheistic’ and became the object of persecution or execution. His rage fell especially heavy on the Christian Church. Many Christians were beheaded, some were exiled, and others had all their property confiscated and were thus reduced to poverty.
The refusal to worship Domitian was the main reason for this intense persecution but there were several others:
1) Christianity was considered an illegal religion because it sought to win converts.
2) Christians placed love for Jesus above love for the State and were thus looked upon as subversive.
3) Christians separated themselves from many Roman social and religious activities because of their immoralities and they were thus looked upon as fanatics.
4) Christians, because they met in secret, were accused of practicing all kinds of evil including cannibalism.
5) Christians refused to go to war for Rome and were looked upon as traitors." ["From Suffering To Singing" by Bob Marcaurelle p.11]
In the original Greek the following words are in this order: "tribulation" "perseverance" "Kingdom." So, problems produce patience before we receive the promise.
This is always the way the Lord works to help us grow closer to Him. Romans 5:3-5 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (NAU)
➽Vs.10a 4. The situation “I was in the Spirit”
In the original language there is no "the" before "Spirit" and "I was" would be better rendered "I became" which would show a change of condition. The word SPIRIT means: Strong’s # 4151 pneuma (pnyoo’-mah); from 4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy Spirit: KJV-- ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare 5590. (DIC)
So it could read, “I became in spirit”. I think this means that John was changed from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the spirit. This probably happened to Paul: 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 1 … I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.[i.e. where God dwells] 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. (NAU)
A futurist commentators feel that the sentence, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (v. 10), would be better translated, “I was [carried] in the Spirit unto the day of the Lord.” This would be a way of saying that the Spirit carried John into the future so he could observe the actual “day of the Lord,” i.e., the Second Coming and its precipitating events at the end of the age. [Gregg, S. (1997). Revelation, four views : A parallel commentary (Re 1:9-11). Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson Publishers.]
I think this helps explain what we read in: Revelation 4:1-2 1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. (NAU)
Revelation 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. (NAU) Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, (NAU)
“If this view is correct, it would appear that John was transported by some spiritual time device that placed him at the time of the future events mentioned in this book. John actually saw them occurring” [“The Coming World Leader” by David Hocking, P.21]
➽Vs.10b-12 5. John’s responsibility “Write…send it”
Even though John was in his 90’s God still had work for him to do. There is no retirement for those who serve God.
We want it both ways.
• We want God to perform miracles, but we do not want to take any risk.
• We want God to meet our needs, but we do not want to make any sacrifice.
• We want God to clean up our messes and then leave us alone.
When have any of us suffered because we were Christians? How much have we been willing to sacrifice? Are we ashamed of Christ?
God is more interested in our character than He is in our comfort. Overcoming problems is what develops our faith.
John refused to let himself become preoccupied with his problems. How do we know? Because in the entire book of Revelation, he only mentions his problems one time here in verse 9. It’s as though he became so focused on Christ that he didn’t have time to talk about himself, or to even think about his own suffering.
CONCLUSION: In verse 12 John tells us that “having turned I saw.” When we turn toward Christ, then we can “see” Him. Do you see Jesus Christ in your everyday life? If not, then turn toward Him.
Augustine once posed the following experience.
Imagine God saying to you, “I will make a deal with you if you wish. I’ll give you anything and everything you ask: pleasure, power, honor, wealth, freedom, even peace of mind and a good conscience. Nothing will be a sin; nothing will be forbidden; and nothing will be impossible to you. You will never be bored and you will never die. Only… you will never see my face.”
Would take God up on that offer? The question is answered by whether we love God more than our comfort. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (NAU)
Are you longing to see Jesus?
➽They lose nothing who gain Christ. Samuel Rutherford [Thomas, I. (1996). The golden treasury of Puritan quotations. Includes index of authors. General index created by Christian Clasics Foundation. (electronic ed.). Simpsonville SC: Christian Classics Foundation.]
SONG: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus”
