The Easter season is the universal celebration of Christ’s resurrection. All over the world Christians celebrate this marvelous and wonderful holiday of Christ rising from the dead completing man’s salvation.
Many will reenact the crucifixion of Christ. One church north of us have people taking turns hanging on the cross depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I'm not sure this is the proper way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Too many are focusing on the crucifixion and not realizing that it was the resurrection that completed our salvation.
On the cross, you remember Jesus said, "It is finished."
He did not say, "I am finished."
The Scriptures do not tell us we are to reenact the crucifixion of Christ rather we are to walk day by day in the power of his resurrection.
Just south of us we have a religious theme park where the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the entertainment. I'm not sure anything could be closer to blasphemy than this.
I listened to some news people setting around a table talking about heaven and that their aspirations were to go to heaven. They talked about heaven and what they expected heaven to be like, but they miss the whole significance of heaven.
Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no heaven.
If you would go to heaven and Jesus would not be there, it would be hell. If you went and descended into the very abyss of hell and Jesus was there, his presence would make that heaven. It is the presence of Jesus that makes the difference.
Then I need to ask this question. What Jesus are we talking about?
Most people's idea of Christ is some mythical person not rooted in reality, biblical or otherwise. Their ideas of Him are simply flights of fantasy that in no way represents the reality of Jesus Christ. We need to understand who it is that we call Jesus Christ.
I want to focus on what I shall call, The Christ of the Resurrection. We need to know who this Christ is and what he is all about. If I am to follow Him my need to have a pretty good idea of who it is I am following.
I want to focus on a phrase found in verse 13. "In the midst."
The Christ "in our midst is someone transcendent and majestic and totally worthy of our worship.
John gives us the description of this Christ of the Resurrection. We will face this One when we die if we are Christians. This One is sitting at the right-hand of God the Father in heaven making intercession for us.
Most of us are familiar with the Christ of the Gospels. This is Christ prior to His resurrection. But the Christ that we have do deal with is the one found in Revelation chapter 1.
John gives us the glory of Christ’s appearance.
1. (1:13) "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a Golden girdle."
This is the picture of Christ as the Royal Priest who is in the midst of his church. Standing in the midst of his church Christ is overseeing the church as the Royal Priest. And he is judging the church on a daily basis. The Bible says the judgment begins in the house of God. The one who oversees this judgment is this Christ who is our Royal Priest. He is both King and Priest and holds all authority in His hands.
2. (1:14a) "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow;"
There are two aspects of this.
A. The pure white of holiness and heaven. The holiness of Christ is pure without any kind of contamination. It is the absoluteness of His purity that makes His judgment fair.
B. It also has to do with perfect knowledge and solid judgment. Standing in the midst of the church is one who has the authority of the "Ancient of Days."
3. (1:14) "and his eyes were as a flame of fire."
Here is One who sees through everything and everyone. You and I can see, but only the Christ of the Resurrection and sees through. There is nothing that he does not see and understand and therefore His judgment is going to be absolutely fair and He will overlook nothing.
4. (1:15a) "and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace."
Here is a picture of One who judges what his eyes had seen. Just as He sees perfectly and completely so His judgment will be absolute. Nothing will escape His eye and therefore nothing will escape his judgment upon us.
5. (1:15b) "and his voice as the sound of many waters."
Here is the strong, majestic, deep voice of One who has all authority. His voice drowns out all the piping voices of men. His voice will be the determining voice in all matters connected with his church. Here is one voice that matters and supersedes all other voices.
6. (1:16a) "and he had in his right hand seven stars."
The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches. These are in his right hand, the hand of authority. These messengers will do the bidding of the Christ of the Resurrection. Their actions will be judged thoroughly.
7. (1:16b) "and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword:"
This is the word of God going forth to accomplish the will of the Christ of the Resurrection.
8. (1:16c) "and his countenance was as the Sun shineth in his strength."
This is the brilliance of His appearance that no man can stand against. It is impossible to look at the Sun without damaging your eyes. And here is the One to whom we can look because we have been redeemed and no one else can see Christ, the Christ of the Resurrection.
Now, this is who Christ is. This is the glory of his appearance and when John saw him he said, "I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
I want to close with the splendor of our Redeemer.
I. This Christ is transcendent.
As we look at the Christ of the Resurrection, we discover that He surpasses and exceeds all others. In his very appearance, He excels and exceeds all human expectation. What people look for in this Christ of the Resurrection is far exceeded when we see Him as he is.
He is above anything that we could think or imagine. The Christ that we are serving is the Christ of the "much more.” There is nothing in earth that in anyway comes near in comparison with this Christ.
II. This Christ is majestic
As John sees him here, He is elevated and exalted above anything that John ever saw before. Remember John was very familiar with Jesus but when he saw this Christ of the Resurrection, he fell before Him in a posture of absolute worship. This Christ is prominent among all other creatures. Nothing comes close in comparison to Him.
III. This Christ is worthy of our worship
Throughout the ages, there have been many contenders for man's worship but there have been no rivals. Remember Satan tried to tempt Jesus to worship him. There is nothing more that the devil desires than the worship that has been directed to Jesus Christ.
This he has done out in the world mainly through entertainment. Someone once said that entertainment is the devil's religion. And the devil so lusts for worship that he will do anything and say anything and promise anything but he will never follow through on any of it.
Only the Christ of the Resurrection is worthy of our worship. He earned it in two ways.
1. He is the Creator of all things… Which is why there is such controversy in the area of creation. Creation implies a Creator, which implies worship.
2. He is the Redeemer of all mankind… Which is why there is so much religion in our world today. All religion is to take away that which rightfully belongs to the Redeemer.
To know the Christ of the Resurrection is to experience God in all his splendor and wonder and majesty.
To know this Christ is to create within an insatiable appetite for him that nothing can satisfy.
