SERMON SUMMARY
Scripture: Revelation 1
What we “hear what the Spirit saying to the church” in Revelation is simple and profound. This is a Revelation of who Jesus is and what He’s up to in the world. He is the incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended, glorified Lord. He rules over everything from government to galaxies while standing in the middle of His churches. He says to us, “Listen to Me,” “Keep your eyes on Me,” and “Don’t be afraid, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to Death and Hades.”
SERMON SCREENSHOTS & KEY POINTS
When we open to the Book of Revelation, for many of you, I know your heart starts beating faster, your mind runs off in all kinds of directions because you’re hoping that I will decipher all the strange and bizarre images that make this book hard to understand. It’s true when you read Revelation (not “Revelations”), you step into a strange, unfamiliar world of angels and demons, of lions and lambs, of horses, locusts, and dragons. Seals are broken, trumpets blown, and the contents of seven bowls are poured out. And then two particularly malicious beasts appear; one emerging out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, and the other rising from the earth with a lamb’s horns and a dragon’s voice. There is thunder, lightning, hail, fire, plagues, blood and smoke. The whole book is a chaotic mess of weird and mysterious signs, symbols, and visions. And for the most part, we’re not going to get into much of that. Why not? Because the book is primarily a “revelation of Jesus Christ”—a revelation of Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ, and about Jesus Christ. It’s about, “What the Spirit is saying to the churches” through Jesus Christ. IF, in your study of the book of Revelation, you are not overwhelmed by the beauty and benevolent sovereignty of the risen, glorified Jesus—IF, He is not front-and-center in your mind and heart—IF, you don’t understand more clearly who He really is—THEN, you’re totally missing why the HS put this book in the canon of Scripture.
This book is a “revelation”—an “unveiling” of who Jesus is and what He is up to in the world. It’s an “unveiling” of Jesus and His relationship with His church, specifically, the local church. It’s an “unveiling” of the cosmic battle that’s going on behind the scenes of what we see going on in the world. It’s a book that underscores our summer sermon series “Church Matters” because no other book in the Bible reveals to us that the “church matters because it matters to Jesus” like the book of Revelation. Again, it is an “unveiling,” meaning, the imagery is not so much meant to be deciphered as it’s meant to be taken at surface level to see the reassuring message that Jesus is powerfully ruling and reigning over all that’s going on in this world. He’s reigning over and in control of all that Satan and all his demonic forces have done, are doing, and will continue to do until the time of His return. All this imagery is meant to give comfort and reassurance to Jesus’ suffering/persecuted church as He encourages them and us to patiently endure the pain and persecution brought on by Satan’s evil forces because (and this is the “big idea” of the book, “Jesus wins”). So, this Revelation of Jesus Christ seeks to set the present moment in light of the unseen realities of the future—“He is coming.” “Jesus is gonna win.” But even more so, it seeks to set the present moment in light of the unseen realities of the present. In other words, there is more going on behind the scenes of our TV screens than we realize. There’s a world even more real than the one we call “the real world.” In this introductory message to this series, all I want to talk about is what John tells us about Jesus. What I want to talk about is “What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches” about Jesus. I will unpack other important details in our next study.
READ 1:12-20. On the Lord’s Day, Sunday, John was worshiping. He was worshiping while he was suffering. And as he was worshiping, Jesus showed up and revealed a vision of Himself to John. The vivid imagery comes right out of the Old Testament (Daniel, Exodus, Ezekiel, etc). The imagery is not meant to be taken as a literal, physical description of Jesus any more than in chp5, Jesus is described as a lamb with seven heads and seven horns. The description is given in terms of “like”—one “like” the son of man; His hair was “like” wool, white as snow; His eyes were “like…,” His feet were “like”…His eyes were “like…;” His eyes were “like” voice was “like…” What Jesus is revealing is not so much what He looks like today, but He’s revealing His character and kingship to John. The sermon will unpack what all this means.
*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.