-When you think of Jesus, what comes to mind? Is it a nativity, where he lays silently (obviously no crying he makes!)? Or as a movie states is “Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m sayin’ grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown-up Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus or whoever you want.” Or do you picture him with the long flowing locks like this picture that my grandma had hanging in her house? Or the Jesus from the Cru 1979 film? Or maybe the newest rendition of Jesus from The Chosen? Let me tell you, no class at seminary prepared me for the question: “Daddy, is that really Jesus?” 

-Obviously, none of these are a direct representation of Jesus, we don’t have a painting of him, and the Bible is scarce on physical descriptions of him. We know He was a man, where He was born and lived, and someday we will actually see what He looks like. And today’s text tells us what He looks like, but it’s not the way many of us would expect Him to look!

READ/PRAY

1. John’s Commission (9-11)

-John is chosen by God, but notice how he describes himself:

-Brother: the familial attachments of the church. I don’t know about you, but I love the fact that I get brothers in the church, because I grew up with only sisters! In fact, I still keep up with my guy friends from high school because of the closeness we had, and the faith we shared. And that’s supposed to be true in the church as well. 

-One of the ideas that has just captured my imagination over the past couple years is this idea of the church being a family. The early church realized that we cannot exist as pure individuals: we need others who will encourage us when we’re down, help us when we’re weak, take care of us when we’re sick, bring diapers when we have twins. In a world where everything tries to tell us to focus on ourselves, that we are our own isolated and independent people, the church is supposed to be the place that shows that’s not true. And we see that reality all around us. Loneliness at an all-time high, trust in other people doesn’t seem to exist anymore, and into that world we’re supposed to represent a different ideal where no matter how difficult things get, you have a group of people who love you and will walk with you. And not only is this the relationship John has with other believers, he’s also:

-Partner in 3 things that are expected for anyone in Jesus:

-Affliction (tribulation). We saw last week that John was exiled because of his beliefs about Jesus. The persecution of the church was in full force during the writing of this letter, so John writes this to remind them they’re not alone. I have a friend who was just informed this past week that he was let go from his job, and I texted him and his wife after I heard that we’re with them as they navigate this! I’ve even heard life summarized as: hard, and then you die. And there’s an element of truth to that, right? Even Jesus said: John 16:33. Yes, life is hard, the question is what do you do with that fact? If you have a partner in that reality it gets a lot easier, which leads to the second piece:

-kingdom. This is one of Jesus’ favorite topics. Think of the Lord’s prayer: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Remember, we are now a part of God’s kingdom, even though it doesn’t appear that way by what we see taking place around us. Again, part of the reason we need a partner to remind us what’s truly true! Finally:

-endurance. One of the repeated refrains throughout the NT is to endure! Remain faithful! Once again, we don’t do this alone or in isolation. I ran cross country my Sr year of high school, and one of the best ways to grow in running is to have other people pushing you on! Encouraging endurance until the end of the race. Favorite verses on this topic: Gal. 6:9-10

-Patmos (remember this map) penal colony

-Under persecution most likely for not bowing the knee to the emperor. One of the themes we’ll see throughout this book is the regular reminder to not give in to the civil religions of the world. Emperor worship, idol worship, economic worship are all rampant in the first century, and also remain rampant today. Don’t give in to their allure! 

-“In the spirit” Mentioned 4 times: here, 4:2, 17:3, 21:10 each one a precursor to the next step or revelation of John’s vision. Signifies he’s the next step in a long line of prophets. Jude 20 “But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,”

-“Lord’s Day” only time this phrase is used in the NT. Closest is “Lord’s supper” in 1 Cor. 11:20. Change in worship from before Jesus’ resurrection to after, Acts tells us the early church met “on the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7)

-One of the reasons to believe in the reality of the resurrection! Nowhere in the Bible does it show Jesus or His disciples disobeying the law. LOTS of occasions of disobeying the man-made laws, but never once disobeying God’s revealed law. So why would these law-abiding Jews change the day of their worship, unless something dramatic happened, like Jesus rising from the dead!

-Loud voice like a trumpet: Ex. 19:16 Just as God’s presence is ushered in with the sound of a ram’s horn (trumpet) in the OT, this is telling us that God is coming.

-Contrast this with the way Elijah hears God’s voice 1 Kings 19. God can speak through a still voice, or a trumpet so loud your ears ring! Just like Jesus’ first and second comings can be compared.

-Just like every other prophet chosen by God, John is given a job.

-God is going to be revealing things to John, his job is to write them down, and unlike Daniel’s vision (which John has a TON of similarities to), his job is to share it!

• John’s Vision (12-16)

-As one does, he turns around to see who’s talking to him. First thing he notices isn’t at person, it’s seven golden lampstands.

-Once again, if our minds aren’t saturated with the words of Scripture this won’t make any sense to us! First is the immediate context: look down at vs. 20, we know these are the 7 churches that have already been talked about a couple times. Since we know this refers to the churches, that leads us to something Jesus said: Matt. 5

-But it also references back to a couple OT passages: 

-Ex. 25:31-37: the lampstand was created to light up the tabernacle. This was the place where God’s very presence dwelt. Keep that in mind, but there’s one more passage that John’s borrowing from:

-Zech. 4:2, 10: the lampstands demonstrate God’s oversight into what’s taking place. So just as in the OT God’s prophecy to Zechariah is accompanied by God’s revelation of His plan, so in Revelation, God is revealing to John His plan.

-Only after seeing the lampstands do we see who was talking, he was standing among the lampstands “one like the Son of Man.”

-Dan. 7:13-14. In the NT, often when the author wants you to think about the whole passage of Scripture, they would only quote a portion of it. People in the 1^st century had FAR better memory retention than we do – their culture trained them to hear and retain things. So Jesus on the cross when he cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” people would have connected it to Psalm 22. Jesus only needs to quote the first verse, because everyone would know the rest of the story (it ends with the Psalmist having God’s victory) So when John refers back to the Son of Man, those hearing that would be thinking about the whole passage from Daniel.

-I got a complaint last week about not including any LOTR, so this is the perfect time for another clip! Gandalf the gray was thought to have been killed in the first book, and another wizard named Saruman the White was seen to be leading the forces of evil against the fellowship. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are looking for 2 of the hobbits who had been captured, leading them to this point.

-Robe: think of Joseph who was given a special robe from his father. Also significant in the Greek it says it goes all the way to his feet: different levels of authority had different lengths of robe. Also denotes priestly, Ex. 28:4

-Golden sash: Ex. 28:4 priestly garment, and another reminder of royalty.

-Hair: the less color the more wisdom. Opposite today! Had a chat with a friend last week about letting the gray come in, despite all the commercials telling us to use “Just for Men” and sometimes even kids commenting that “Dad, you need some of that!” Prov. 16:31 “Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness.” I think this also connects back to the one moment Jesus’ glorified image was seen by the disciples in the transfiguration: Mark 9:3. Jesus is seen as full of wisdom (connecting back to the Ancient of Days, or is and was and is to come), and purity.

-Fiery eyes – as eyes age they become less bright (cataracts), not so with Jesus. Also comes up again in 2:18 and 19:12 connected to judgment. Jesus’ eyes can penetrate beneath the surface and get to the heart of the matter. Like if you’ve ever been in a conversation with someone who suddenly asks the exact question you needed to hear and it feels like they were staring directly into your soul. That’s what Jesus does!

-Feet: Dan. 10:6 denotes strength and stability, as well as complete purity. If the bronze has been polished they’ve had all their impurities removed. Notice as well the description of the voice in Daniel. Now let’s go back to Rev.:

-His voice: think of a hurricane. This also connects to Ezekiel’s vision in 2 places Ezek. 1:24 where we see the angelic beings carrying the Lord, and in43:2 where we see God’s glory finally returning to Israel.

-3 final descriptions of Jesus: 

-Holding 7 stars: Commentary on NT use of the OT quote. And the fact that they’re in Jesus’ right hand signifies that He’s in control of them. Nothing happens to them apart from His guidance.

-Sword from the mouth: Jesus’ second coming brings division. Isa. 49:2 where God’s words become a sharp sword 2 Thess. 2:8 where God’s final judgment and destruction come about through His words, Matt. 10:34-35 where we see Jesus’ arrival is accompanied by a sword. You think it’s peaceful, but He came to wage war against the works of the flesh and the devil.

-Face was shining: Matt. 17:2 another reference to the transfiguration. What the disciples got to see was a little picture of the glorified Jesus. Ex. 34:29-35 This also signifies the connection to the ultimate Prophet from the OT, Moses. Anytime Moses would meet with the Lord he would end up with a glowing face (kind of like when we MN see the sun for the first time in the summer and forget to put sunscreen on, I think there’s been some summers where my face glowed in the dark!) In order to not blind the people, Moses would put a veil over his face. Where this gets amazing is what Paul says about us today in 2 Cor. 3. Just as Jesus’ face in Revelation is said to shine like the sun, that’s what our faces are supposed to do as well. Where we once had a veil covering the us, when we turn to Jesus we now are commanded to shine brightly into the darkness of the world (just like the lampstands signified at the beginning of this section)

-Revelation is a beautiful summary, cherry on top, of the whole message of Scripture encapsulated in 1 book. All these little ideas that have been alluded to before are finding their fulfilment here!

• John’s Response (17-20)

-Since He sees Jesus, he responds like Isaiah in Isa. 6. Isaiah sees a picture of God and comes undone! He realizes He has no right to stand in before the perfect God so he says “Woe is me for I am ruined!” And how is he able to stand before God? He’s touched by an angel and all his sins are dealt with. In this case, Jesus already dealt with the sins, but He still reaches out and touches John.

-One of the most underrated aspects of Jesus’ ministry is that of touch. Something comforting and strengthening about being touched by someone else. A hug, an arm around the shoulder. Think of all the people Jesus touched, even though He didn’t need to! A leper who hadn’t been touched in years, a women who had been dealing with a bloody discharge for 12 years leaving her unclean, a blind man whose eyes hadn’t worked since birth. All touched by the Savior!

-Jesus’ touch brings comfort and strength

-Why don’t we fear? Connects to the Ancient of Days in 7:9, 13. He’s always existed, He will always exist, so because of that we can trust in His guiding of every circumstance in our lives. Jesus is different than the Ancient of Days in that He died! The different roles of the Father and the Son.

-Defeated death and Hades. What are the keys? Keys signify authority. The church is given keys by Jesus to manage church membership (Matt. 16:17-20; 18:15-20), but Jesus is given keys to manage death and Hades. Death kills the body, Hades kills the soul (the place where the dead dwell)

-John’s commission: seen, is, will take place.

-John’s vision, directly applicable to the 1^st century, blessing and connections for churches throughout history, and a picture of what will happen as Jesus returns

-Mystery explained: in the Bible, mystery often refers to something that wasn’t understood before, but is now revealed and has special redemptive purposes.

-Some debate around the angels. A couple options: pastors of the churches (every time angel is used in Rev. it refers to the spiritual beings), guardian angels of the churches, heavenly counterparts of the earthly reality. The last 2 seem the most likely, and ultimately doesn’t matter which it is, because they’re still subservient to Jesus. Remember, keep the angels in the background and Jesus in the foreground.

-Churches as lampstands? Jesus standing among them tells us the significance of being a part of the church. Do you want to be where Jesus is? Become a member of a local church. The church is who Jesus is given the keys of the kingdom to (Matt. 16, 18), and is the place where Jesus currently dwells.

-This week’s blessing: the risen Christ is present wherever His church is. If you’re a part of a church, you get Jesus’ comfort, His touch, and you get to participate in shining as a light into the world!