Coming Soon: Jesus
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Last week I shared that the word “Revelation”, not revelations, was like pulling back the curtain to show what was behind.
Think about a movie premier or a play.
You would have several Key figures involved.
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood,
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—the glory and dominion are His forever and ever. Amen.
7 Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him. And all the families of the earth will mourn over Him. This is certain. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”
The same thing is true as the Revelation unfolds.
You have
The Author: John
The Author: John
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne;
This is the Apostle John. He was very young when Jesus walked the face of the earth. He wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John, and Revelation.
At the time of the writing he would have been very old. I will mention this again in the next message, but he is on an Island called Patmos. It was not far from the churches that he will be writing to.
He has been a faithful servant to the end. He has seen a lot. He would have many reasons to doubt, but he still holds fast to the idea that Jesus is coming soon. All his hope is in Jesus.
The Audience: 7 Churches
The Audience: 7 Churches
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne;
This is the first of 54 times the word 7 is mentioned in this book.
7 is the number of perfection or completion.
I talked to my dad back on his birthday on July first. He turned 77. I said you know that’s number of perfection, so I hope its a perfect x2 day for you. He said, its also the number of completion so this may be my last year.
So the idea of completion of fulness will show up over and over again in this book.
I also want you to notice the word church.
Church or churches shows up 22 times in chapters 1-3, and no times from chapter 4 until chapter 22 where is shows up once. I believe there is a reason for this, but I’ll save that for a later day.
As I thought about John banished to the Island of Patmos by the Roman Government, it is very telling that his heart (led by the Holy Spirit) to churches.
I sound the alarm often concerning people who claim to be Christians but don’t think church is important.
The only time I know of where any Christian in the New Testament was not plugged in with other believers is John on Patmos, and yet his mind is on the church.
You can’t separate Christianity from the Church. The church is the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the family of Christ. The very word means called out to assembly. And most of the time, the word is used in a local sense. A group of believers gathered together in a certain place at a certain time.
You need church and your church needs you.
John’s audience was not 777,7777 individual Christians trying to be lone ranger Christians, but 7 churches.
The Main Character: The Triune God
The Main Character: The Triune God
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who was, and who is coming; from the seven spirits before His throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood,
God the Father is seen in verse 4
The seven fold Spirit or fulness of the Holy Spirit is seen in verse 4
And then there is Jesus 5
the faithful witness- always speaking the truth.
the firstborn from the dead- He is the prototype and pre-eminent one resurrected from the dead
the ruler of the kings of the earth- He is every King’s King and every Lord’s Lord.
The Accolades: The Glory goes to Jesus
The Accolades: The Glory goes to Jesus
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood,
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—the glory and dominion are His forever and ever. Amen.
We see Christ as Savior.
He saves us because he loves us, so you could say this is a love story. (it has lots of action, and gore) but it is a story of redemption based on love.
Set us free from sin by his blood. Wednesday night I spoke about the false gospel of “Liberation Theology” that sees Christ’s suffering and the cross and pictures of the oppressed winning out over the oppressor. John sees the blood of Jesus as liberating us, not from some oppressive master, but from OUR OWN SIN.
He has made us a kingdom. A Christian’s highest allegiance should be to King Jesus. We have to remember that this world is not our home. We are ambassadors for Christ. We are living in America, as representatives of our final home.
Priests to God.
We have no higher duty than to represent God to others, and others to God. Who are sharing Christ with, and who are you talking to God about/
It should be to the one whose glory (brightness, beauty, greatness, laurels) and dominion (absolute power- think dominate) is forever.
We will pick up with verses 7-8 and next time.
Have you accepted the love of Jesus that will free you from your sin?
Are you serving Jesus as a faithful ambassador of His Kingdom?
Are you dealing with anything today that needs a fresh reminder that He holds all the power. He dominates. You can trust Him with your predicament.