Advent - He's Been! He's Coming Again!
The Bible in a Year Series • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsUnderstanding the connection between Christ's First and Second Coming.
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Transcript
Revelation 1:4-7
Revelation 1:4-7
Revelation 1:4-8
“John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
In his 1942 devotional Abundant Living, E. Stanley Jones, Methodist doctor and missionary to India, writes: “The early Christians did not say in dismay: “Look what the world has come to,” but in delight, “Look what has come to the world.” They saw not merely the ruin, but the Resource for the reconstruction of that ruin. They saw not merely that sin did abound, but that grace did much more abound. On that assurance the pivot of history swung from blank despair, loss of moral nerve, and fatalism, to faith and confidence that at last sin had met its match.”
This is how John the Aposlt viewed the world - not focusing on all that has ghone wrong with ut but all that is going right with it because Jesus has been and is coming again!
John wrote and prohesied during the time when the Roman Emprie completedly dominated the scene. He speaks to the condition of the Church at the time and in particular the seven churches of Asai Minor that are directly addressed but there were certainly more than 7 in that region (see Acts 20:5ff;Col 1:2;4:3). However be aware that the number 7 is used symbolically as a number of completeness, so these churches may be seen as representative of the church as a whole.
However this book looks not simply at what is, but also what is to come, “an inspired forecast of human history”(Morris). It certainy sets out a broad outline of Western European history, stretching from the Roman Empire until the Second Coming of Christ and the Final Day of Judgment.
It reveals to us that the whole of history is under the control of God. The One “who is, and who was, and who is to come” stressing the changelelessness and immovability of God, so important to dwell on when so much of life is uncertain!
Leon Morris, in his introduction to his commentary on Revelation said, “It is of the utmost importance that we do not lose touch with the eternal realities so stressed in Revelation. Perhaps there is no age for which its essential teaching is more relevant. These are days when the decisions of great powers have far-reaching effects on ordinary men and women. We may have no great interest in ideologies, yet find that our lives are affected by decisions reached in Moscow or in Washington, decisions in which we have had no voice, nor conceivably could have. Are we then no more than pawns caught up in a great ideological conflict? Nobody wants a nuclear holocaust, but are our lives destined to be snuffed out in a worldwide inferno brought about almost against the will of those controlling the destinies of the nations? Is there something demonic about those evil forces which even our most powerful statesmen seem unable to control? Revelation speaks to an age which is tortured by problems like these, for it was written to a minority with problems of its own about the realities of power. Indeed it has been called, not unjustly, ‘a theology of power’, albeit power exercised in love, for it is the slain Lamb who is triumphant.”
So let’s put ourselves in the place of these early Christians to who John initially wrote.
The gospel had been preached throughout the Roman province of Asia. Some had believed and become Christians. They had been taught that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of God. He had been rejected by the Jews and crucified. But that was simply the way in which he brought salvation to us.
Having died for us he rose triumphant now to die no more (1:18). John reveals to us that He could be greeted by those in heaven with the words: ‘you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’ (5:9).
Jesus went back to heaven, but in due course He will come again and will destroy the kingdoms of this world to set up God’s perfect kingdom in which God’s will would be perfectly done throughout the whole earth.
And nothing happened!
The church continued to be a tiny group, doubtless adding a few members from time to time, but not becoming, and not looking like becoming, a mighty force to take over the Roman Empire.
That Empire continued on its wicked way. Oppression and wrong abounded. Evil men prospered. Idolaters persisted in their idol-worship, and the cult of the emperor flourished.
Because they would not conform, the tiny band of Christians found themselves the object of suspicion and sometimes outright persecution. A few of them were killed. Some were put in gaol.
If God was active in the world it demanded a very strong faith to perceive it. And most of the Christians, as they always have been, were people with no more than an average faith.
Had they been mistaken in coming to Christ in the first place? Was it all a delusion which must inevitably be shattered on the hard rocks of social and political realities? Was real power in the hands of the emperor and his associates?
This was the immediate reason why Jesus communicated His message through John to the Church, a letter to a persecuted and perplexed Church that needed reassurance and remidners that God not Ceasar was in control of human destinies!
John continually takes us behind the scenes and shows us that earthly potentates do nothing but fulfil the plan mapped out for them by God. God is supreme and that he brings his purposes to pass in the affairs of men.
God in his own good time will intervene catastrophically and destroy evil - it is after all an apocalypse!
In his unforgettable picture of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world he sets forth the truth that the Messiah has already come and has paradoxically won his triumph through crucifixion. He bears the marks of his suffering, but is King of kings and Lord of lords.
And furthermore He is coming again! - “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.” That is what ADVENT is for, a reminder to us that “this same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
I. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS GOD!
I. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS GOD!
Notice also the hint at the Trinitarian concept of God here as equal dispensers of “grace and peace” - The origin of our salvation is grace, the effect peace. In proportion as we perceive the grace, we have peace.
God the Father is referred to as the “one who is, and who was, and who is to come”.
God the Holy Spirit is referred to by this rather unusual expression of terms of “the secen spirits before His throne”, which though it might be argued, could conceivably refer to the “angels” of each of the seven churches referred to in chapter 2 and 3, but because of the symbolism of the number 7 and also the position of the “seven spirits” in relation to the Father and the Son as a dispenser of grace and peace, suggests the “sevenfold Spirit”, is a good translation of the Greek text, referring to the Spirit’s perfection and perfect operations on earth and in Heaven (see on Rev 2:7,17;3:1;4:5;5:6). see also Isa 11:2-3.
God the Son is referred to as “the faithful witness, and the firstborn from the dead, and the fruler of the kings of the earth”
II. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS DEPENDABLE!
II. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS DEPENDABLE!
Jesus is here described as “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
a). You can depend on His word - He tells the truth and His word is reliable, full of the Spirit and life (see Rev 3:14; John 6:63.
b). You can depend on His presence - He is “the firstborn from among the dead”.
This means more than to merely say He came back to life. The concept of “firstborn” here is Hebraic, meaning, having the ful right and privilege. Being supreme! —the resurrection being looked upon as a kind of birth into a higher order of life. He is the first of mankind to enter into resurretion life in a glorified, perfected and spiritual body and is therefore the guarantor of eternal life for all who trust in Him.
He is alive and with you. He will be “with you always”(Matthew 28:19,20). - “Faith in the resurrection gives us a living Lord to confide in, not a dead one, whose work we may look back upon with thankfulness, but a living one, whose work is with us, and by whose true companionship and real affection, strength and help are granted to us every day.”(Joseph S Exell).
c). You can depend on His power - He is the ‘ruler of the kings of the earth.” or as John puts it elsewhere “King of kings and Lord of lords
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.
Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn’t go to college.
He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born.
He did none of these things one usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. When he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together,
have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life.
– Unknown
III. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS GRACIOUS!
III. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS GRACIOUS!
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.:
Jesus is God; Jesus is a faithful, dependable and powerful King who is always with us but He is also immensely gracious and merciful to us.
“Grace:—1. A world of grace surrounds us. 2. A time of grace lies back of us. 3. A hope of eternal grace opens up before us. (B. Hoffmann).”
It tells us of...
The CHRIST OF THE PAST loved us and freed us from our sins
The CHRIST OF THE PRESENT intecedes on our behalf as we serve God as a Kingdom of Priests.
The CHRIST OF THE FUTURE is coming again!
It tells us that...
a). He loves us - This is a PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, meaning “Jesus continues to love us.” This affirmation is very important in light of the weaknesses and failures of the seven churches. In spite of us, even in the face of our faithflessness and failure as Revelation chapters 2 and 3 show, mixed up, failing congregations who has lost their first love and had tolerated error and evil. Yes He calls them to repent and threatens to remove their “lampstands” but He will never remove His love from them!
b). He freed us from our sins by his blood - His love expressed itself supremely at the cross in the glorious redemption secured for us “by His blood.” This was the purchase price for our freedom, loosing our bonds caused by sin and setting us free to worship and serve God.
c). He “has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father” - The “Kingdom of God” was the main focus of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. Jesus constitutued a Kingdom unlike any other eathly one. It is a Kingdom made up of men and women who are made “priests’ so that they can live in perpetual service to “God His father.”
This is an allusion to the OT terms used of Israel in Exod. 19:6 and Isa. 61:6 where the nation was considered to be a kingdom of priests. God chose Abraham to choose Israel to choose the world (cf. Gen. 3:15; 12:3). Israel was meant to be a nation of witnesses but they failed in this assigned, evangelistic task (cf. Ezek. 36:22–38). Therefore, God chose the Church to reach the world (cf. Matt. 28:19–20). The very same phrases which were used for Israel are now used for the Church (cf. Gal. 3:29; 6:16; Phil 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).
Notice that all Christians are priests, not just a privileged hweirarchy of chosen and appointed individuals. And what do priesst do? They represent men to God and they represent God to men. They act and speak on behalf of God and they mediate between God and man! They pray to God on behalf of men and sacrifice and reconcile to bring men to God - 2 Cor 5:20. They also sacrifice themselves to do God’s will - Rom 12:1
The challenge to us is “To live as members of God’s kingdom is to incarnate the values, perspectives, and relationships of God’s kingdom in our daily living. To be priests of God is to be agents of God’s redeeming, healing, liberating, and transforming grace to a broken and hurting world. When we hear this call through John’s vision and live it out obediently in our lives, we experience God’s blessing of wholeness. We are also called to live as faithful citizens of God’s new kingdom, looking expectantly for its ultimate consummation in the return of Jesus.” (Revelation M. ROBERT MULHOLLAND JR).
IV. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS AWESOME!
IV. THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN AND IS COMING AGAIN IS AWESOME!
Christ, who has done so much for us, is ascribed glory and power for ever and ever!
There are many such expressions of praise in Revelation. John delights in his Lord, and loves to bring this out in doxologies and songs -to him be glory and power for ever and ever!”
The term “glory” is an OT commercial term that meant “to be heavy”; that which was heavy (i.e. gold) was valuable. The term came to be used of God’s brightness, majesty, holiness, etc - It is nearly always used to refer to God the Father in the NT - (cf. Rom. 11:36; 16:27; Eph. 3:21; Phil. 4:20; 1 Tim. 1:17; 2 Tim. 4:18; 1 Pet. 4:11; 5:11; 2 Pet. 3:18; Jude 25; Rev. 1:6; 5:13; 7:12).
a). His Coming will be Glorious:
And the earth will be filled with praise to His glory when He comes “with the clouds”. WHEN will this be? We are not told BUT we know HOW “with the clouds”.
Clouds are often mentioned in the Old Testament in connection with divine activity (e.g. Num. 11:25; Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1), and we are to think here of a scene of divine majesty as the Lord Jesus returns to earth in triumph, reminicent of Daniel’s prophecy of‘one like a son of man’ (Dan. 7:13). There are three distinct ways in the clouds are referred to in respect to divine activity in the OT:
(i) to show God’s physical presence, the Shekinah cloud of Glory (cf. Exod. 13:21; 16:10; Num. 11:25);
(ii). to cover His Holiness so that man would not see God and die (cf. Exod. 33:20; Isa. 6:5);
(iii) to transport Deity (cf. Isa. 19:1). This is how it is used in Daniel 7:13 This prophecy in Daniel is alluded to over 30 times in the NT. This same connection of the Messiah with the clouds of heaven can be seen in Mark 13:26; 14:62; Acts 1:9, 11 and 1 Thess. 4:17.
This triumph will be open for all to see, and it is this reversal of things at the first coming on which John seizes. In language reminiscent of Zechariah 12:10 he depicts the manifestation of the Lord to his foes, who will be disconcerted at this unexpected reversal of roles.
b). His Coming will be Terrifying:
No one misses this event! Every eye will see him. His ultimate victory will be open for all to observe. In contrast, hardly anyone noticed his birth except a few shepherds and magi. Only a few hundred witnessed his resurrection appearances. whole of mankind, in its totality from Adam to the last person birn will be summoned by a general resurrection! - “And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”
The peoples of the earth will mourn because of him - those who have rejected Christ in every age, beginning with those who pierced him. This is an allusion to Zech. 12:10, 12. late they will realize their terrible error. He will become their Judge and as this sinks in, they will mourn because of him. They will realize that all is lost and that he is about to inflict judgment on them
John is not being vindictive here when he annonces his double and emphatic AMEN. When Christians suffer persecution the name of their God is reviled and their cause is despised. But this is not final.
John records in vivid detail in the book of Revelation, the overthrow of the wicked and the vindication of God and of all that is righteous! He is wholeheartedly committed to the cause of God and he is eager that that cause be seen to prosper. He rejoices in the triumph of good and the vindication of Christians who had suffered so much.
c). His Coming is Certain:
It is doubly “AMEN”, solet it be and it is proclaimed by the One who is “alpha and omega” - the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (cf. Rev 21:6; 22:13);
God KNOWS it will happen because He is before all things and he outlasts all things - the One who is, and who was, and who is to come (Rev 1:4).
God ENSURES that it will happen because he is “the Almighty” - (Gr. pantokrator), the one whom none can resist used 9 times in this book. see Revelation 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22.
This is an expectation that was given by Jesus (Matt 24:30; 26:64; and parallels), was an early expectation of the church (Acts 1:9–11), and was affirmed by Paul (1 Thess 4:17)
He's Been! He's Coming Again! - and you and I need Him!
The First Time Jesus Came
He came veiled in the form of a child.
A star marked His arrival.
Wise men brought Him gifts.
There was no room for Him.
Only a few attended His arrival.
The Next Time Jesus Comes
He will be recognized by all.
Heaven will be lit by His glory.
He will bring rewards for His own.
The world won’t be able to contain His glory.
Every eye shall see Him.
He will come as Sovereign King and Lord of all.
– John F. MacArthur Jr.
“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; but our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”