A couple driving home from a conference talked about how they might use what they had learned at their jobs. Rounding a curve in the road, they came upon a serious motorcycle accident. The bike seemed to catch on something and flip into the air. The helmet-less driver was thrown fifty yards or so, and the bike landed not far away.
The two were the first to arrive. The man pulled off the road just north of the accident. Before he shut off the ignition, the woman was out of the car and running to the victim’s side. The man stopped another car and sent the occupants for help while he began to try to direct traffic. At one point in the chaos, he saw his wife crouched by the unconscious young man, stroking his hair and talking to him.
When the ambulance arrived and whisked the young man away, the couple got back into their car in silence. There was blood on the woman's hands and around the hem of her skirt.
After a bit her husband said, "I saw you talking to that young man. He was obviously unconscious. He may even have been dead. What could you possibly have been saying to him?"
She replied, "I just told him over and over, the worst is over. The healing has already begun."
[The healing has already begun; hold that thought—OYBT Rev 1—In this grand model of apocalyptic literature, John shares with seven Asian churches a vision that God gave him. A vision of victory; a vision of hope; a vision of Christ, the most exalted of kings.]
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Today is Christ the King Sunday, a day on which we are to recognize the Lordship and Kingship of Christ Jesus. Pope Pius XI instituted this day in 1925 to celebrate the kingship of Christ as a way of combating the destructive forces of his age (needed now more than ever).
A. Theologically, it is the end of the church year. For Christians, the year begins with the birth of Jesus, follows his life to Easter and culminates with the recognition that Christ Jesus is King. The end of the year typically features a look at prophecies concerning the second coming.
B. You may be surprised to know that for every prophecy in the Bible concerning the first coming of the Messiah there are 8 that look forward to the second coming. Scholars estimate some 1845 references to the second coming of the Messiah in the OT. In the NT, one out of every 30 verses speaks of the second coming of the Messiah.
C. This Messiah, or Anointed One, is Christ; John begins his epistle by establishing Christ as the King above all Kings, the one worthy to be called the Anointed One.
2. The first chapter of Revelation should be a must-read for anyone forming an opinion about Jesus Christ. The typical Christian has an image of Christ taken from liberal theology, cultural philosophies, Hollywood characterizations and personal beliefs, but not from the Bible.
A. For them the modern Jesus is tolerant. He loves and accepts everybody regardless of his or her beliefs, morals, values, or lifestyle choices. He doesn’t make any demands of them. Doctrine and holiness aren’t important. All that matters is that you profess to love Jesus, and that will make Him happy.
B. The vision of Revelation strongly contradicts that view. It presents a figure of Christ that makes many professing Christians uncomfortable. Yet, amid the `sometimes-frightening portrayals stands the most exalted of Kings: the hope of every Christian.
[Today we consider the role of Jesus that John shared with seven churches. It is a fitting reminder of who Christ really is, and a stern warning to those who see him as something other than Savior and Lord. He begins, however, with the attributes of God the Father. . .]
II. ATTRIBUTES OF GOD THE FATHER (1:4)
1. God the Father is the source of divine favor and its resulting spiritual well being; he opens his salutation with Grace and peace to you from [God]. Grace is divine favor shown to the human race; peace is the state of spiritual well being that follows as a result. Apart from God’s grace, man has no peace; apart from grace and peace, man has no hope.
2. God is eternal; him who is, and who was, and who is to come. Christians in John’s day faced terrible persecution from both political and religious figures. They needed reassurance that the power of Christ in them was God’s power, and that said power would not wither away. That is John’s point; God is, was, and is yet to come; he has no beginning, no end, and there is no limit to the grace and peace John wishes them.
[If God is the eternal provider of grace and peace, what then is Christ’s role? How do his life, death and resurrection affect the eschaton (Gk for last)? Let’s look on.]
III. THE ROLE OF JESUS CHRIST (1:5a): Not only does grace and peace proceed from the eternal God and the seven spirits before the throne, but from Jesus Christ as well, who is designated by a threefold title that expresses his role in God’s plan.
1. He is the faithful witness.
A. Christ mediates the revelation he received from God (the “testimony” of 1:1 and 22:16).
B. Christ bore witness to the truth from God (Jn. 3:32-33; 18:37); so much so that his death followed as a result. You may find it interesting that the Greek word for witness (ma¿rtuß) has come over to English as martyr, one who suffers death for allegiance to a cause.
2. He is the firstborn from the dead.
A. Col. 1:18 declares Christ sovereign over the church by virtue of his resurrection from the dead.
B. Psalm 89:27 says of David (and extends to his descendants culminating in Jesus the Messiah), I will appoint him my firstborn.
C. Robert Mounce writes, “If faithful witnessing should result in a martyr’s death, the believer is to remember that Jesus, the ideal martyr, is the firstborn from the dead. As the risen Christ now exercises sovereign control, so also will the faithful share in his reign (Rev. 20:4-6).”
3. He is the most exalted king.
A. This comes from his being the firstborn from the dead. The expression looks forward to Christ’s manifestation as “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14; 19:16).
B. At the consummation, mankind will universally acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Supreme Ruler (cf. Phil. 2:10-11).
[This role, explained in his threefold title, encourages and sustains believers entering a time of persecution for their faith in Jesus. It reminds them Christ has gone before, opened the way through death to victory.]
IV. CONCLUSION
1. We must evaluate our understanding of Christ. If we see Jesus Christ as anything less than the most highly exalted ruler of all that is in heaven and on earth, we miss John’s point and have adopted the contemporary concept of who Christ is:
2. The tolerant Jesus, who loves and accepts everybody regardless of his or her beliefs, morals, values, or lifestyle choices. The one who makes no demands, and to whom doctrine and holiness aren’t important. You profess to love Him, and it makes Him happy.
3. This is not the Jesus John is talking about; it is a fabrication of those who want to have salvation without a lifelong commitment to Jesus; those who belief that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a one-time event that requires nothing of them from that time on.
4. There is, however, great hope for those who embrace Christ as their Savior and Lord. Those for whom life centers around their own spiritual formation, those dedicated to living the life God intends for them to life.
5. Despite the sins of your past, despite your anemic allegiance to Christ, he stands ready to heal you. As the woman at the scene of the motorcycle accident said to the unconscious rider: “The worst is over, the healing has already begun.”
