Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Imagine opening a letter, and in the enigmatic greeting, because of your personal knowledge of the writer, you just know who sent it to you, before they even tell you who they are.

Main Thought: Behold, He Cometh!

Are you ready?

Sub-intro: Whet the appetite for the infallibility of our AV text, without giving away the point to be made later about the importance of every letter, each jot and tittle.

Body:

I.

The Human Author: John (Rev.

1:4a).

Note - Reference previous messages to defend the human author as John the Beloved and Apostle of Christ.

II.

The Honored Recipients (Rev.

1:4b).

A. To the Seven Churches:

Note - the number of completion

Note - the semi-circle locations in reference to Patmos

B. Which Are in Asia:

Note - the Hebrew word ash literally means ball of fire; as a reference to the sun which rises from the eastern horizon from Jerusalem.

III.

The Heavenly Greeting (Rev.

1:4c-5a).

A. Bestowed Blessings (Rev.

1:4c):

1. Grace (Eph.

2:8-9).

Note - you must have grace first before you can ever have peace.

2. Peace (Rom.

5:1ff).

The words of greeting “Grace and peace unto you” tell of the two great possessions of the church.

Though the professing church may fail in her testimony, grace and peace, even in the dark days of apostasy, will never fail.

[Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible, Volume 9: James to Revelation (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 211.]

B. From the Gracious Godhead (Rev.

1:4d):

1.

From God the Father:

a.

The One Who Is (Ex.

6:3; 3:14).

b.

The One Who Was (John 1:1ff).

c.

The One Who Is Coming (Acts 1:11ff).

Note - the description fits Jesus, but the title is that of the Father's; hence John makes Jesus co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with the Father; because Jesus is very God of very God, and very man of very man.

2. From God the Spirit:

a.

The Complete Comforter (Is.

11:2-3).

See Rev. 3:1; 4:5; 5:6.

Ex. 25:31-39; Zech.

4:2ff.

b.

The Commissioned Convicter (John 14-16).

See John 16:7-11.

John 1:33; 7:39; 14:26; 20:22; 1 Jn.

5:7.

Rev. 2:7ff.

3. From God the Son, Jesus Christ:

a.

The Faithful Witness

See Heb.

12:2; Ps. 89:37; 1 Tim.

6:13.

b.

The First-begotten of the Dead

Note - Ps 89- God promised to make David’s seed the firstborn- priority of position (Primogeniture) Highest of the kings of the earth.

He is not only the first to rise, He is most important (Col 1:18)

See Ps. 89:27; Heb.

1:6; Matt.

1:25; Rom.

1:4; 8:29; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor.

15:23; Col. 1:15-18.

c.

The Ruler of Earthly Kings

See Rev. 19:15-16.

Compare Eph.

2:2 with Rev. 11:15; 17:14.

IV.

The Hallelujah Doxology (Rev.

1:5b-6).

A. The Prince of Peace's Past (Rev.

1:5b).

1.

His Love Covered Us.

An African missionary, walking down a forest path where a day or two before fire had swept, leaving desolation in its train, found the charred remains of a nest.

In the nest was the carcass of a mother hen, burned to a cinder.

Idly he kicked the ashes with his foot and, to his astonishment, out from under the heap ran some baby chicks!

Mother love had taught that hen to give her life for her brood.

That was creature love.

What can we say of Calvary love—of the love that many waters cannot quench, the love that will not let us go, the love that suffers long and is kind?

It is love that endures!

[John Phillips, Exploring Revelation: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Re 1:5b–6a.]

2. His Blood Cleansed Us.

Note - discuss the difference of the texts between versions: AV = "washed"; CT = "loosed"

Using two aorist participles, John described the past activity of the Prince.

He “loved” (avgaph,santi) us and “washed” (lou,santi) us, the Apostle evoked.

The Lord’s ultimate act of love was His finished work on the cross as Christ shed His blood (vide Jn. 15:13; 19:30; Rom.

5:8-9).

With the messianic metaphor of washing His garments in blood (cf.

Gen. 49:11, Isa.

63:1-3), the Apostle John predicted that the Great Tribulation saints will receive redemption, having washed white their robes “in the blood p 43 of the Lamb” (Rev.

7:14;89 cf. also Rev. 12:11).

When a repentant sinner trusts in the ultimate act of divine love (i.e., Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection), the sinner is immediately saved, having his sins washed by the Lamb “in his own blood” (evn tw/| ai[mati90 auvtou/)91 and made white (cf.

Isa.

1:18; Rom.

3:24-25).

The CT reflects changes in the Greek text concerning the tense of the first participle and the root of the second.92

These changes affect the full understanding of the verse, diminishing the redemptive work of Christ relative to His blood.

Instead of the aorist participle avgaph,santi (“loved”), the CT has the present participle avgapw/nti (“loves”).

Further, the CT changes the root of the second participle from the aorist lou,santi (“washed”) to the p 44 aorist lu,santi (“loosed”).93