Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation Lesson #2 Chapter 1:1-19

 

*Grace and Peace To You*

 

If there is anything we need today it is the Grace and Peace of God

 

We are covered by sin, full of our self, and unsettled about the future.

We need the Grace and Peace of God Today

 

 

The Great Bible teacher, Warren Wiersbe, calls this first part of Revelation … *The Christ John Knew, The Christ John Saw, The Christ John Heard*

 

Let me take a turn on that today as we study

 

 

What do you Know about Jesus?

What have you Seen of Jesus?

What have you Heard from Jesus?

 

John says

*READ v 4-19*

* *

This is more than just "hello" - grace and peace - this is a proclamation of the greatest need we have in our lives today and the greatest need that this Revelation will fulfill in our lives, that is GRACE and PEACE

 

I will go a step further and say that if you come to Revelation without realizing and seeking Grace and Peace you will probably come up short of being full of what you need, desperately, from this book.

Today we are going to see the Outline, the Purpose, The Provision

 

Simply in vv19, 17, and 18

 

I see the *Outline*

1) Things which you have seen

2) Things which Are Now

3) What will take Place

 

I See The *Purpose*

To Dispel Fear

Be Not Afraid

 

I See the *Provision*

*I AM*

 

 

We will come back to that at the End but lets walk through this chapter

 

I'm using right now an outline by Warren Wiersbe for these verses then come back to what the Lord showed me today

 

*The Christ (or God) John Knew vv4-8*

 

  A.

We See the Father

    1.

him which is, which was, which is to come v 4 - He is ETERNAL God

    2.

He stands APART from History, looks down on his and can observe it, direct it, make conclusions, decisions, plans, based on the totality of his external understanding of History

    3.

CS Lewis pictures God as seeing our life in it's totality and able to draw a line himself that parallels or intersects every step of our life as he sees fit

 

  B.

We See the Spirit

    1.

the "seven spirits before the throne, or the sevenfold Spirit before the Throne"

2. Isaiah 11:2 -of … ?2?

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of power,

the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord-

Speaks of the Holy Spirit as Spirit 1) the Lord 2) Wisdom 3) understanding 4) counsel 5) power 6) knowledge 7) fear of the Lord

 

    3.

7 = completeness - 3 is the number of divine completeness 4 = earthly completeness the two together heaven over earth, = 7 - we will see completeness in this 7 fold Spirit; 7 lamps; 7 eyes; The Spirit POINTS to Christ that was what Jesus said in John 13 and John 16 that he would do

 

  C.

The Son

    1.

3 Fold Person

      a.

Prophet - Faithful Witness

      b.

Priest - Firstborn from the Dead - preaching Resurrection to Us

      c.

King - Ruler of the Kings of the Earth

    2.

3 Fold Work of Christ completed in the Cross

      a.

Lover - He Loved us - laying down his life

      b.

Redeemer - Freed us from our sins

      c.

Sanctifier - a Kingdom and Priests - or Kingdom OF Priests - what we lost in authority and dominion through Adam we regain in Christ

 

He KNOWS that he Is Returning

 

Verse 7~/8 - He knows what he has seen and is about to tell us but as he writes in light of what he has already seen, he just has a praise and prophesy fit for a minute - /"HOLD MY MULE I've Got to Shout"/

 

LOOK - he IS coming in the clouds (usually clouds symbolized judgment)

Every eye will see - you may not believe me now but wait

Even those who pierced him - The Pagan unbelieving world

The people of the earth will mourn - It won't be a happy day for them

(I think he was saying "but I'm going to be praising")

Because Jesus is the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End The Almighty

El Shaddai - The Lord

 

This is NOT the Rapture or Parousia of the church this is a PUBLIC return not a THIEF in the Night and it means the opportunity for Grace and Mercy are gone and thus the wicked will mourn and they will know what "time it is"

 

*The Christ John Heard vv9-11*

 

John wasn't making up this Revelation - every bit of it was from God - Through Christ Jesus to Us

 

John wants to make sure we know he is nothing more than we

 

V 0 I am Your COMPANION - we are in the same boat - on the same journey

 

Which is …

1.   Suffering

2.   Kingdom

3.   Patient Endurance

 

Which he says those three are OURS in Jesus - that is he is Taking Grateful Ownership of Suffering, the Kingdom and Endurance - Longsuffering

 

V 10 - I was "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day"

 

John was exiled for preaching boldly as the pastor of Ephesus was an old man closing in on the end of the Century

Well It was SUNDAY - so he would have done what he always did and been in the Spirit

a.   Worship ~/ Prayer ~/ Meditation

b.   Focus on Christ

c.   Reading Scripture - at this late date of 94 AD he would have had probably copies of the other writings of the Apostles in addition to the Old Testament Scriptures

 

V11 - I HEARD … Write on a Scroll

-1  that is "write this down, preserve this, this is going to be good, this is not just for YOU

-2  Write to 7 churches - number of heavenly and earthly completeness - by this time there would have been at least 3 other churches in Asia 10 so this represented completeness in the Church

-3  Trumpet - clear - clarion - attention grabbing - startling

-4  He wheeled around to see

~*~* It doesn't matter where you are or what the circumstance even in Exile you can know, hear, and see God

 

*The Christ John Saw*

 

We are at times too familiar with Christ - he is more than your BIG Brother

Yes he is accessible, and loving, caring, but we cannot see him as we've seen him in the gospels if we are going to see him in his completeness as we see him in Revelation

 

The closest thing we get in the Gospels to seeing Jesus this way was on the Mount of Transfiguration

 

Paul says in 2 Cor 5:16 /from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so NO LONGER/

 

John needed a fresh look at Jesus

-5  this is NOT the baby in the manger

-6  this is NOT the teacher on the hill

-7  this is NOT the helpless lamb being slaughtered