1. "Knowledge of the future is a precious commodity. We so want to know what will happen to us. And yet we worry most of all, perhaps because down deep we don't think we can know the future."

2. "You have to produce so many predictions that are wrong in the process that you'll only look prescient after the event has already taken place."

3. "Faith seems to be designed as such a part of our daily experience and the deepest parts of who we are that it seems as if that's there for a purpose. Certainly, as Christians reading through Hebrews chapter 11, we can see how knowing the future has made possible great acts of faith."

4. "The more I've meditated on this vision, the more amazing it seems to me, the more quiet I feel like I need to be around it. We need to almost work to overcome our awe in order to ask some questions to understand it."

5. "Those who get closest to God in the Bible are those who seem to have the most respect for him. When I saw him, John says, I fell at his feet as though dead."

6. "Times of suffering for our faith are not times when we've been deserted by God. Rather, they're special times of fellowship with Him."

7. "Because we are in love with the future, we know what's going to happen, and we love it. And that gives us a whole different attitude about our lives, about what we experience, about how we approach the day to come, the week to come, the month to come and the year to come."

8. "There is nothing that can be taken from us that we are so sorry to have go, that it will outweigh our joy of what is to be given to us in Christ."

9. "Let me just save us all time. I promise they will all disappoint. Every single one of them. Your own health, your job, the friends around you, the family members, even the members of your own church - they will disappoint you. But if your heart is set on Christ, there is no disappointment."

10. "We may or may not call ourselves Christians, but our hearts will tell the truth of the matter. If we value him most, if we look forward to and relish him most, that hope which cannot be disappointed, then we are truly Christians."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 1:12-16, what specific details does John use to describe the risen Christ? How does this description compare to Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:9-14?

2. According to Revelation 1:9, what three things does John say he shares in common with his readers? What specific circumstance had brought him to Patmos?

3. In Revelation 1:17-18, how does Jesus identify himself to John? What specific authority does He claim to possess?

4. Looking at Revelation 22:6-7, what two things does the angel affirm about the words of this prophecy? What blessing is promised?

5. In Revelation 22:16, how does Jesus describe himself? What Old Testament prophecies might this language be referencing?

6. Throughout Revelation 22:7-20, how many times does Jesus say "I am coming soon"? What different responses to this statement appear in the passage?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the sermon emphasize that John simply identifies himself as "John" without additional titles or credentials? What might this suggest about his relationship with these churches?

2. What is the significance of Jesus standing among the seven lampstands in Revelation 1? How does this image relate to the churches' experience of persecution?

3. Why does John fall "as though dead" at the sight of the risen Christ, even though he had known Jesus personally during His earthly ministry? What does this teach us about Christ's glory?

4. How should we understand the angel's statement in Revelation 22:11 about the righteous continuing in righteousness and the wicked in wickedness? Is this a command or a declaration?

5. What is the relationship between the warnings (Rev 22:18-19) and the invitation (Rev 22:17) at the end of the book? How do these work together?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you experienced genuine awe in worship? What about that experience made you, like John, want to fall down before God?

2. Think about a current trial in your life. How does the certainty of Christ's return change your perspective on this situation?

3. What disappointments have you experienced recently with things or people you were counting on? How can these disappointments redirect your hope toward Christ?

4. In what specific ways might you be putting your hope in temporary things (health, career, relationships) rather than in Christ's return? What practical step could you take this week to reorient your hope?

5. How would your daily decisions be different if you lived with constant awareness that Jesus is coming soon? Choose one area of your life and describe specific changes you would make.

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 40:1-31
   This extended passage explores God's sovereignty and power in contrast to human frailty and limitation, deepening our understanding of why only God can truly know and declare the future.

2. 2 Peter 3:1-18
   Peter addresses similar themes about Christ's return, explaining why it may seem delayed and how this knowledge should affect our daily living.

3. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
   This passage provides additional teaching about Christ's return and how this hope should distinguish Christians from those without hope.

4. Hebrews 12:1-29
   Building on the great faith chapter (Hebrews 11), this passage shows how future hope enables present endurance, just as Jesus endured the cross "for the joy set before him."

Sermon Main Topics

I. Humanity’s Futile Quest to Predict the Future

II. The Bible’s Unique Claim to Divine Foreknowledge

III. The Context and Structure of the Book of Revelation

IV. The Vision of the Risen Christ in Revelation 1

V. The Concluding Promises and Warnings in Revelation 22

VI. The Urgent Call to Faithful Living in Light of Christ’s Return

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Knowledge of the future is a precious commodity. I think I've shared with you before some of the prescience about the rise of computers that our greatest experts in the mid 20th century showed. So in 1943, Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, said, I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.

Years later in 1949, in Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of of science, the magazine predicted in one article that computers in the future may weigh no more than one and a half tons. Of course, that may have been a little optimistic given some of the laptops that I've had. In 1957, the editor in charge of business books for Prentice hall said, I've traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked to the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year. In 1968, one leading engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems division of IBM, commenting on the microchip, said, but what's it good for?

And finally, in 1977, Ken Olson, the president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, said, there's no reason anyone would want a computer in their home now. No matter how bad we are at predicting it, human nature seems to want to know it. Businesses are built upon it. Political decisions are made based upon projections of it. Health choices are made because of assumptions about it.

Relationships flourish or flounder depending upon how we imagine it. Even something as mundane as the weather or something as economically important as sales, it's the future and projections of what it will be that lie at the center of much of our lives. We so want to know what will happen to us. And yet we worry most of all, perhaps because down deep we don't think we can know the future. Many of us try, perhaps especially in times of widespread uncertainty.

I noticed that a recent survey of 500 bookstores by the Evangelical Christian Publishers association found that the number of so called nonfiction books about prophecy sold in the eight weeks since September 11 had increased by 71% compared to the previous eight weeks. 2 Since then, there's been a wave of attention for the predictions of the 16th century French physician and soothsayer Nostradamus, inspired by various hoaxes as people create or distort various quatrains of Nostradamus about twins and new city and things like that. Well, I remember as a teenager becoming fascinated by Nostradamus prophecies, buying a book of them and, and reading through it. But if you haven't read them, let me assure you I can hardly exaggerate their ambiguity. I mean, absolutely everything that's ever happened has been predicted somewhere in the vague lines of Nostradamus.

Of course, sheer probabilities are going to get you some right predictions if you just make enough of them when you make as many as he did. But you have to produce so many that are wrong in the process along with it that you'll only look prescient. Knowledgeable about the future after the event reminds me of what Churchill said that he said, I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it's much better policy to prophesy after the event's already taken place. But people go on predicting the future. Of course, the 19th century was full of optimistic certainties about the future of mankind.

Probably the most noted of Those was the 19th century optimist Karl Marx, who foresaw the current world structure inevitably giving way to the proletariat utopia, where man will no longer be alienated from the produce of his hands by capital, and where good shall be given from everyone according to his ability, to everyone according to his need. And in case you're uncertain, let me assure you that Marx's optimistic vision of the future has not proved accurate. The 20th century certainly became less optimistic about the future. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984 are examples of of the growing darkness that the future took on to the generation that lived through two world wars and saw the rise of totalitarian communism. In that latter novel, Orwell's 1984, there's this one moving place where O'Brien says to Winston, if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever, and remember, it is forever, friends.

Imagine the despair of living today with that kind of certainty about the future. It was in recognition of the torture of just such despair that Dante pictured engraved above the door to hell the horrible words, abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Well, if Dante was right, and that is the essence of hell, and many in our century seem to have imported that sense of everlasting hope, hopelessness into this present life. The philosopher Bertrand Russell said that the life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none may tarry long, well, it all makes you think that though you can't change the past, you can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future, doesn't it? I mean, if that's all people come up with, so many People have been absorbed by such thoughts about the future, whether inspired by their hopes or terrified by their worries.

But then I think we have to stop and ask ourselves, well, what is. What is right with worrying? Is there anything good about worrying? And it seems that as you think about it, we humans do need to know the future, even in the most simple, small, minute matters, in order not to be irrational. I mean, daily we do small things, from turning on switches to pushing buttons, with the assumption that if we do this in the very near future, something particular that we know will happen.

That's very closely allied to what we think of as just being rational, being sensible. In fact, we seem to be designed to be motivated for action in the present by what we think will happen about the future. That doesn't seem to be something accidental. It seems to be such a part of our daily experience of the deepest parts of who we are that it seems as if that's there for a purpose. Certainly, as a Christian reading through Hebrews chapter 11, I can see how knowing the future has made possible great acts of faith.

Now, it may surprise you to know that even for some who believe the Bible, knowledge of the future has become something of a controversial topic. There are some people writing today who claim to believe the Bible and who at the same time teach that because the future does not yet exist, therefore God does not cannot know it. They call themselves the openness of God writers. I call them the limitedness of God writers. These writers are saying that the God of the Bible is ignorant of the future.

When you turn to the Bible, nothing could be further from the case. The Bible has so much to say about the future, and in fact, accurate knowledge of the future is one of the chief ways the Bible tells us to recognize those who truly are prophets of God, as opposed to those who simply falsely claim to be. We read in Deuteronomy 18, you may say of yourselves, how can one we know it when a message has not been spoken by the Lord? If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously.

So the validity of the prophet is determined by accurate knowledge of the future. Now why is that? Well, it's exactly because it is just such knowledge that God says distinguishes him from false gods. So far as this from being a speculative idea, maybe God can know the future. This seems to be an absolute hallmark of what sets apart God from the false gods.

So Daniel was distinguished from all the wise Men of Babylon, both because he could read the handwriting on the wall, but also because of the judgment that handwriting foretold and that it happened. In Isaiah 41 we have what's been called the trial of the false gods. It's an amazing passage, if you've not looked at it. Isaiah 41, where Yahweh, the true God, says, present your case. Set forth your arguments.

Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what the future holds so we may know that you are gods. Could it be any clearer a few chapters later?

Isaiah 40:4. This is what the Lord says. Israel's king and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty. I am the first, and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God.

Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people and what is yet to come. Yes. Let him foretell what will come.

Do not tremble. Do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?

No. There is no other rock. Well, this morning we turn to a prophet of the true God, the future knowing God, a true visionary, a man who really did see the future, the apostle John. And the future that John saw was better than Marx could have dreamed and worse than even Dante could portray. As we study the vision of the future over this next month, I think we'll find truths that we need to guide us in our lives in the present.

So this morning we turn to the supreme vision of the future in the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Now, we must admit up front that this vision, this book of Revelation, is famously difficult. It's a well known fact that the book of Revelation was the only book of the New Testament which the great biblical scholar John Calvin never wrote a commentary of. I could go throughout history telling you examples of people who have talked about the formidability of understanding Revelation. Many of you have told me how much you're looking forward to the series and what I would say about this or that particular thing.

And I met more than one person who's told me that they deliberately avoid this book. So what do we do? Well, I guess I could tell you that it's really not a difficult book. You know, sort of like Mark Twain's comment about Wagner's music. It's not as bad as it sounds.

But then if I do that, I know what will happen. You'll go home and you'll read the book of Revelation. You'll go on and you'll read it and you'll find dragons and angels and beasts and scenes from heavens and locusts with human faces and beasts and that you haven't even imagined before. So I think rather than just telling you, well, it's really not that difficult a book, what we better do is simply give ourselves to some careful study of the book. And because this book is so much the center of ill considered controversy, my sermon this morning will not be a normal sermon.

It will be unusually teachy. So if you'll allow me to put on my professor's hat a little more than I normally do on a Sunday morning, I think even though it's going to be slightly commentary like I think it will set us on the course well for the next four weeks, which will be more normal sermons as we think about the vision itself. What I want to do this morning is to help you learn how to read the book of Revelation and to understand it yourself. And then I hope that will bear fruit in your own study. But then also for us as a church over these next four weeks as we look through the vision.

One of our challenges when we come to this book is the difference that there has been about how even to begin to read it and understand it. There have been four basic ways to approach this book. So let me just tell you what they are, all right? And they're pretty easy to remember. Number one, some Christians have understood it as representing events almost entirely in the past, basically in the first century.

Number two, some people have given it, has seen it as giving a path of historical development from Christ's resurrection to through until the second advent. So it's like it's a timeline. You could find your 1350 in there somewhere, you know, the year 1800, it'll be in there somewhere. That's how some people have viewed it. One little interesting note on that.

It's interesting how often that only goes through Western European history of the church. That's interesting. Third, some have seen it as entirely future, like everything in it is only about things that happen at the very end of time. And number four, some people have understood revelation as timelessly symbolic of the struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil.

Now, all of these basic ways of understanding this book as things about the first century, as presenting happenings throughout history, as being mainly about the end of time, or as presenting ever present truths, all of These four basic ways to understand the book, and if you're taking notes, you can call them past, continuous, future, and timeless. All of these ways of understanding the book have something to teach us about revelation. And I think we'll see that clearly as we go through the book, as we study the visions in it. At the outset. I think there are a couple of general suggestions that I can give you this morning that may help you come to understand the vision that John has recorded here.

First, consider approaching the book in large sections, kind of like pictures taken from the air. Try to get the overview first. The whole set aside sometime this week for reading the book in one sitting. I did that this week with a friend. It took a little less than an hour and that was out loud.

So if it helps me to concentrate, to read it out loud, that may or may not help you. But I don't think you'll find it as long as you might think you'll spend a lot more time doing other things that are a lot less worthwhile this week. So maybe just set aside 45 minutes to read it silently yourself. And I think it'd probably be helped in doing that if you take this outline that we've provided for you of the book. Did you notice that in your bulletins somewhere here it is, page six.

We provided a little outline of the Book of Revelation just for you. Just the size it can fit in your Bible. Unless you have one of those really tiny Bibles, then you can probably fold it and it'll work. But if you keep this in your Bible, when you read through it and notice where you are, I think you might see something more of the plan and progression that is intended to be there in the book. There's also an overview sermon that I've done, just one sermon on the Book of Revelation that you can get at the tape stall that would be of help to you.

Also a second thing, something Mortimer Adler said in his famous book, how to Read a Book, I found very useful. One way to get a good overview of a non fiction book is to look at what the book is trying to do. And you, you do that by reading the beginning and reading the ending. Read the beginning and read the ending. See what the author is doing, what he's trying to say or prove.

I mean, if you've written something, you know that the last thing you write is the introduction and the conclusion. Because you need to know what you've argued and you need to know what you're introducing. Well, that's the same way in giving us a Hint, an understanding of what Revelation is about. So we will begin this morning by look at the beginning, looking at the beginning of the Book of Revelation, seeing what the human author tells us that he understood his book to be about. And we'll do that by letting John tell us what he's aiming at before he launches into his message.

And to find that this morning we'll look at the book's introduction and conclusion. So if you will, this morning we're going to be looking at the setting of the Jewel. The Jewel is the vision that if you're looking at this outline, it runs really from chapter four to the beginning of chapter 22. Well, this morning we're going to be looking at chapter one and then at the end of chapter 22, to look at the context and the setting for this great vision. So take just a moment now to find the Book of Revelation in your Bible.

First, if you pick up your Bible, go to the end, and there you are. You found it. That's it. I'll begin reading with chapter one, verse one.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it. Because the time is near.

John, to the seven churches in the province of 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 of priests to serve his God and Father. To him be glory and power forever 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.

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's day. I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a Trumpet which said, write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.

And among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe, reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars.

And out of his mouth came a sharp double edged sword. His face was like the sun, shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead. And behold, I am alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Write therefore what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Now, at this point of view, turn to the last chapter, chapter 22, and we just pick it up with verse six.

The angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers, the prophets. And of all who keep the words of this book, worship God. Then he told me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong. Let him who is vile continue to be vile. Let him who does right continue to do right. Let him who is holy continue to be holy. Behold, I am coming soon.

My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say come and. And let him who hears say, come. Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

We'll look first at the beginning of this revelation of Jesus Christ, and then at the introductory vision in chapter one, and then finally at the conclusion. So we'll see John's description of Jesus, Jesus instructions to John, and finally the joyous declaration that the whole book drives towards that Jesus is coming back. So you'll be helped even more than you normally are, I think, by following along. As we look at this together.

These first few verses in chapter one are really a summary of the book. And careful attention here, I think, will help us to not go astray later on. So we'll. We'll look at this first part phrase by phrase. This book is called the Revelation.

But I guess the most basic question that we might have in trying to understand it is, whose revelation? Who's doing the revealing? Well, it's John's in the. In the sense of it being, through him what they call apocalyptic writings. Writings at the time that were to reveal things that were hidden were generally ascribed to some person of great authority in the distant past.

And they'd say they've been hidden for a long time but now brought out. But this book is different. The author here, very plainly and simply identifies himself as right there in verse one, as John down in verse nine, he does it again, or there in four, he does it again, and in nine, he does it again. He describes himself as your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are Ours in Jesus. And then in the end, in chapter 22, again in verse 8, he refers to himself as John, the one who heard and saw these things.

Now, the very fact that he simply just calls himself John, just an unadorned name, seems to show that he's assuming he will be a known person, that all he has to do is speak his name and the people he's writing to will know exactly who is being talked about. Well, so from the latest, from at the latest, rather very early in the second century, this John has been identified as John the beloved disciple, John the Apostle, John the Evangelist who settled in Ephesus and who lived there a very long life until he died. So this is the revelation of John, as it's often called the Apocalypse of St. John. But also if you look there in chapter one, verse one, we see too that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's the very first phrase, the revelation of Jesus Christ, who, as he says down in verse five, is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. So this is the one who's really revealing the things of God to people. John was the man who saw the future, not because of any innate foresight in him, but because he was shown it. And this is the whole Christian idea of revelation. We don't think the people who wrote the Bible are special because they were unusually good poets or unusually insightful reflectors on human nature, as if there's something innate in them that made them different or special.

Now, we understand as Christians that the people who wrote the Bible write down things that are inerrantly true because that is what God willed. Because God was deciding to reveal himself, to show the truth about himself to people. So this is the revelation of Jesus Christ through John. Well, then it's the revelation of what? Well, look again in verse one of what must soon take place and what we find must soon take place.

Well, look down to verse seven. We sang this earlier with lo, he comes with clouds descending. 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. So John calls him the Son of Man.

He picks up that imagery that is in Daniel. It's in Zechariah as well as from this vision he just had. And he gives out the sort of headline of the article look, he is coming. This is the revelation of Christ's soon return in judgment. That is what the book of Revelation is about.

Well, who is this a revelation to? Is it to John? Well, no. I mean, at least not in the sense that it's a private mystical experience just for John. Again, look in verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants.

So it's these servants of Jesus Christ that this is ultimately written to. Specifically, it's his servants in the seven churches. That becomes clear, you see, in verse four, to the seven churches and then again down in verse 11, where Jesus even names the seven churches. So these words are spoken to these churches. Of course, though they're relevant to other churches.

They would have been read by all seven of the churches, just as all seven churches read all seven letters that are in chapters two and three. They wouldn't have read just one of them. This would have been circulated on a scroll. The scroll would have had the whole thing. So it would have been sent out to these seven churches.

And since it was a scroll, they weren't going to be dividing it up and, you know, just tearing off this one little bit and sending it to Pergamum and another part to Thyatira. No, by the very nature of how it's written, the whole thing is going to be shared with all these churches. So each one of these seven churches is meant to read the letters to the other six churches as well. Now, you need to know these are real churches in very particular situations. They were all undergoing persecution.

But these churches also are representative churches. The message which these churches needed, all Christian churches need. Some have thought that's even why seven churches were shown, because in the Bible, seven is a number of completion of perfection. So seven churches is going to help us to think. Well, this means it's for all churches.

Some people have said it's because of their central location, their prominence in this area of Asia, which we think of as Turkey, central and western Turkey. Well, I think all of these things are pointing to the fact that the prominence of these churches, the number of them, the fact that it would be circulated, we're not surprised that this book of Revelation was circulated to these seven churches and many more beyond. This was seen to be a genuine revelation of Jesus Christ, just like Paul's letters were and other letters that circulated among the early Christians. This revelation then, is to all the servants of Jesus Christ, all the servants of God. But now, here's the most important bit of information that people tend to overlook when they come to this book, why was it revealed?

Why was this revealed? Well, look in chapter one at verse three, so they will read and hear and take it to heart. This book is meant to be taken to heart. It is not just supposed to be passive knowledge that we build up in the kind of exciting second coming file of our Christian brains. No, this is supposed to be knowledge that's not esoteric, but that has value to us today, that affects us today.

Now this is a very practical book in that sense. The letters that are addressed to the seven churches in Asia call for some very specific changes. We won't take time to read those now, but again, when you read through it, look at chapters two and three and you'll see some very specific changes. They're to return to their zeal of their early Christian life. They're to prepare themselves for suffering.

They're to stop tolerating false teaching. They're to repent of sexual immorality. They're to obey God's commands. They're to renounce a kind of smug self satisfaction. And to all the other churches which read this book and these commands, and that includes us here at Capitol Hill Baptist Church this morning, we must say, if the prophecy fits, wear it.

This is meant to be a challenge to us. The risen Christ writes an epistle and this is his epistle to his churches. It is for us to take to heart. Now this book is certainly fundamentally about what God will do, period. But it is also in a very real sense a practical pastoral letter calling people to particular actions because of the certain outcome of the victory of God.

And if you misunderstand this, you'll miss the point of this book. You'll miss it as entirely as the man who was given a prescription by the doctor, instead of filling it and taking it, went away and framed it. You know, well, that's what so many people do with this book of Revelation. They take it and they kind of hang it up as abstract knowledge to be debated about or to go, well, what's your position on this or that? And all the time they're missing, what's the point of the book?

The point of the book is that our lives today are to be different because we know that Jesus Christ is coming back. We know how history ends. That's the point of this book of Revelation. So you might ask yourself each week in our study, if this is true, how should I live differently today? If this is true, how should I live differently today?

That's the best way to rightly understand the book of Revelation. Christ, who redeemed us also reveals God's truth to us, and he does it to affect us today and to change us. Well, naturally, we want to know more about this. We're curious. We want to know exactly what happened then.

Okay, well, that's what John sets out to tell us. Let's listen to the story. Verse 9. I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Okay, so here's what was happening.

John was not on vacation with the money he'd gotten from preaching, you know, or the royalties from his gospel. No, John had been exiled from off the mainland, off to a small, rugged, rocky island in the aegean Sea about 50 miles southwest of Ephesus. Last year, I had the privilege of visiting it. And it is a striking island, four miles by 10, in the deep blue waters of the Aegean Sea. Rocky, mountainous.

The Romans regularly used that little remote island as a penal colony. A bit like Australia, I guess. No offense to our Australian friends. Well, why had John been sent there? What had he done that got him exiled?

Well, he says here, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Now, in a general sense, this means he was preaching. He was preaching as a Christian. He was preaching the Christian gospel. More specifically, you should know that during the last decade of the first century, the emperor Domitian, who was the emperor for the last couple of decades of the first century, the Roman emperor, encouraged some persecutions of Christians because they would not worship the idols.

Christians were charged with atheism, especially because they would not worship him. He presented himself as master and Lord as God. And because they would not acknowledge him as that, Domitian had them charged with atheism and with being treasonous. So the letters to the churches that follow and even the visions later, all give evidence of this rising tide of persecution that these Christians would have to endure. And so as they suffered, they were about to suffer even more.

For bearing faithful witness to Jesus. John suffered very real tribulation of exile and that what was most likely a very advanced age. We think that John may have been in his 80s or even in his 90s when he was sent to this island in exile. Okay, so that's where John is. What happened?

Verse 10. On the Lord's day, I was in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. Now, the voice of the Lord is usually represented in Scripture as being thunderous and powerful. In Psalm 29, the Psalmist says that the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

In the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel, God's voice is said to be like the sound of a multitude. Now, can you imagine what a multitude sounds like when it speaks with one, one voice? Sometimes we get a bit like that with our singing. You know, it's just an amazing and awesome sound to hear a whole congregation of hundreds of people singing out loudly the same words. But imagine without the music, them just speaking.

And not like in one of our readings where we read corporately, but where there is one mind behind this gigantic voice, all of these multitudes speaking out in one voice. John describes it even more down in verse 15. His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. You know how loud the seaside is. And then you put that with a storm and you see how incredibly loud those sounds can be.

His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. Well, what did this loud Voice say? Verse 11. Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches. That's why John wrote this vision down.

We have this book of Revelation because of verse 11. Right there, the voice said to John, write this vision down. Okay, so what was it John saw? He was to write down what he saw. What did he see?

Verse 12. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. A natural thing to do. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe, reaching down to his feet, with a golden sash around his chest.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze, glowing in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars.

And out of his mouth came a sharp double edged sword. His face was like the sun, shining in all its brilliance. Friends, the more I've meditated on this vision, the more amazing it seems to me, the more quiet I feel like I need to be around it. We need to almost work to overcome our awe in order to ask some questions to understand it. What does it all mean?

Well, the lampstands and the seven stars we can consider in a moment. First though, let's notice what John seems to be captivated with. You or I would probably sit and try to draw a drawing of all this. You know, show what it all looked like. But John seems absolutely captivated with the central figure.

He describes someone like a son of man. Now that's the description that we read in Daniel chapter seven. That's the background to that Son of man. And in Daniel 7 we read as I looked, thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow.

The hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire and its wheels were all ablaze. In my vision at night I looked and there was before me one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.

All peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Now that's from Daniel before Christ. An amazing thing for a Jewish person to write.

Then God comes in Christ and you have the earthly ministry of Christ. And then we have decades later this vision that John has of the risen Christ. So this revealer of the things of God, this ruler of the kings of the earth, is here described as being clothed. Really what's like the Jewish high priestly clothes, with the exception, I think the sash isn't of, of linen but of gold. Here in the vision his hair is like the Ancient of Days.

In Daniel's dream we just read his eyes are blazing. I mean nothing can be hidden from his searching and commanding view. The glowing blazing feet convey an idea with a bronze there of solidity and strength. And again we have the description of the voice like the sound of rushing waters. The double edged sword we learn from later in the book is a symbol of the certain power of his word of judgment.

And just as John had seen the incarnate Jesus shine with divine glory at the transfiguration decades earlier, so here again he says he appeared like the sun shining in all its brilliance. This is just an amazing vision, like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Now what was John's reaction to this amazing vision of God? We find it in verse 17. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Why did he do that? Well, I think he was awestruck.

I think he felt some of the most profound reverence he would have ever felt in his life. To see Christ unveiled before him is the risen and ruling and reigning Almighty God. Friends, we have a very hard time, I think, imagining this. So much of our literature, so much of our entertainment in movies has to do with taking that as what that is, which is amazing to us in helping us relate to it, you know, so any, any movie you see about a great person will help show you how he was really just an ordinary guy. In the wizard of Oz.

You know that famous scene where they're walking down the aisle, then it turns and walking down the aisle, it's all getting grander and grander in the big organ with fire and the man's face and everything. But of course, you go behind it, just a little old man, he's sitting back there. That's, that's what all of our visions of grandeur are like in this life. But here it's not like that. Here it's not like that at all.

We, we may treat God rather casually. We seem to enjoy, you know, when you get to know somebody famous, you enjoy saying, oh, he's really just like us. Well, God, after all, calls himself our friend, isn't he? But it's interesting to me that those who get closest to God in the Bible are those who seem to have the most respect for him. When I saw him, John says, I fell at his feet as though dead.

And I want you to notice we're reading the New Testament here. I was, I was talking to one friend recently who said, mark, why aren't you more expressive in your worship? So what do you mean? He said, well, you know, you're an expressive guy. Why don't you put your hands up and jump up and down?

He said, you know, I think, I think you seem more like you're stuck in fear and reverence, like you're in the Old Testament. Well, you know, as I was reading this and meditating on it, I was thinking, nowhere in the New Testament do I see a kind of rock concert style enthusiasm for the worship of God. It's just not there. I'm not criticizing you. If you do jump up and down, and certainly not if you put your hands in the air, that's biblical.

But I am saying, although I know it's popular in the Bible, if you just want to know what the pattern is, in the New Testament, the most intense times of worship seem to bring about silence and falling down. So if you just want to kind of silently slump over, that seems to be a bit closer to what he's saying here. But seriously, that's why in our churches, in our services here at this church, we don't strive for that kind of rock concert atmosphere. I don't think that's what you're going to find in heaven. We do something that's exceedingly unusual today.

We don't have these kind of serious Somber services because we're stuck in tradition. Goodness. The average age of members of our church is only 26. No, we do it because from what we can tell in the Bible, this is actually what it's like to worship God. That seriousness and soberness about it, what shows that you're beginning to understand something of who this God is that you're worshiping.

Well, I'll leave that with you. What did the Lord do when John fell like that? Well, look, in verse 17, he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one.

I was dead. And behold, I'm alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of death and Hades. This glorious figure identifies himself as the risen Jesus. Thus he says, I was dead and behold, I'm alive forever and ever. Now think about this.

If this is John, the beloved disciple, then when the Lord placed his right hand on John, it was a hand which he had known before, 50 or maybe 60 years earlier. These were words which John had heard before from his lips. Fear not, do not be afraid. This is the Jesus whom John knew. This is why, in a sense, John should have known not to be afraid.

But when you see Jesus coming in judgment like that, regardless of how beloved a disciple you've been, there's going to be, I think, this natural, reverential, awe struck experience.

Now there's one detail in this which can be particularly instructive to us and how we're to understand this book. What does it say that Jesus placed on John his right hand? But whoa, whoa, I thought we just learned about his right hand. Something else in the verse before, it says, in his right hand he held seven stars. Okay, then my question is for the way a lot of people look at this book.

What did he do with the seven stars? Did you like lay them down and then put his hand on John? No, that's not how we're supposed to read this book. That's not how we're meant to understand it. That's not how it was written.

And if we do that, it's artificial details can be distracting from the point of the vision if we're not careful. In this book of Revelation, keep your eye on the main thing. What are they trying to communicate? And you will do a lot better than if you try to allegorically read and every single symbol in there and try to figure out what it stands for and what the relations mean to each other. Try to listen to what John is talking about, what the main point is.

You'll understand the book much better. And then he tells John something else to do there. In verse 19, he says, Write, therefore what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later. So he reinforces these instructions he'd given to John up in verse 11 when he had simply heard the voice before he turned around and looked. But now that he's looking at him, he.

He reinforces it by saying the same thing. And to encourage John to understand something of what he was writing, the Lord explained the vision that he was seeing even then at the time. It's kind of a little miniature of what he's going to do with the big vision. In the book, Jesus turns John's attention from himself. Because if you notice verses 12 to 16 there, Jesus is very much at the center of John's description.

John is not taken up with everything else around that some people who seem to be interested in the second coming really seem to be interested in. They are far more interested in a Jewish temple being rebuilt than they are in Christ returning. There's everything else that seems to have their attention, but it's very interesting. John seems to be terribly interested in Jesus. That seems to be the focus of his attention to the point that Jesus even has to turn his attention away from him to these, you know, John, did you notice that lamp stands around me here?

And these angels, you know. Now let me explain these things to you. So Jesus specifically explains these two images. First, the lampstands. Those lampstands are clearly standing for the churches, the things that stand there holding forth the light of God's word, the light of the gospel.

Christ stands there in their midst, present with them in their sufferings. That's what that's showing. I'm not as sure about the angels. Some commentators suggest that the angels are the spirit of the church. Most of them think that the angels are clearly servants of God in some way connected with each individual church, some preferring to think of them as guardian angels, supernatural beings, others as the human pastors of those seven churches represented.

I find the latter, the understandings, more persuasive. Human PASTOR But. But whatever the answer, the message is the same. Christ is present with his churches, his concern for them, even at a time when they may well be feeling deserted. They need to know that he is present with them.

They may be enduring suffering, but the enduring message of this book is that times of suffering, of our faith, for our faith, are not times when we've been deserted by God. Rather, they're special times of fellowship with Him. What we see Here is that Christ is the living one. He too suffered and was persecuted, he was killed, but he is now alive forevermore. He's risen and he is with his churches that are now suffering.

That's what the point of this message is. Well, at this point you get into the letters in chapters two and three and then the main vision of the book, chapter four, that we'll pick up with next week. But we need to go on over to the end of the book now, chapter 22.

And when you come to this conclusion, it's right after the ravishing vision of the new Jerusalem that we'll see, Lord willing, in just a few weeks. The angel who's just poured out one of the bowls of plagues and acted as John's tour guide of the new city since chapter 21 earlier. He turns to John here in chapter 22, verse 6, and he says, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. And again we're reminded of all those things we began with in the first three verses of the book.

You know, that this is the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, that the this is his revelation of the things that must soon take place, that this revelation is to his servants. I mean, all these same ideas. And again, why? What's the purpose of the revelation? Well, we'd seen back in chapter one, verse three that it was to have a practical effect.

It was to be taken to heart. So here again look in verse seven of chapter 22, the statement of Jesus, behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.

Now what about this idea of soon?

Soon is an idea that is not a word we would use to describe things the way it seems to be used here. I mean, does it seem ludicrous even for us to pay attention to a 1900 year old book that describes at least some events which have evidently still not taken place as happening so soon?

Well, the New Testament is united in presenting all the days since Christ's ministry here on earth as the last days. After all, hasn't Satan already received his mortal wound at the cross and the empty tomb? Hasn't the resurrection of the dead already begun with Jesus Christ being raised from the dead? Isn't God's spirit poured out freely, so freely that the dwelling place of God is with man more fully than it's ever been since the beginning of human history? It's clear then from the perspective of this book as it is really from all the New Testament that we are witnessing the last days.

We are experiencing them already as Christians. And so if there's anything that's indisputably biblical in this, it is that Christ is poised to return at any moment. So on earth he told his disciples, be ready. Because as he tells us throughout this book, he says, listen to me, I am coming soon. He says, here, I am coming soon.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. How do you keep the words of the prophecy in this book? Well, God's told us all there is to it, what's going to happen, right? What else is there to do? Well, John really acts, I think, as a model of response.

Here, look in verse 8. What does John do? He says, I, John, and the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. You know, he.

He does this earlier, back in chapter 19, falling down in front of an angel guide, just like he did in front of Jesus in chapter one. And I guess, I mean, I thought about, well, why is he doing that? I guess that must mean that as far as we can tell, angels look a lot like God, at least from our perspective. Which would explain some confusion that's gone on with Moroni, the supposed angel of the Mormons. I mean, I guess what happened is it was a rogue angel.

Maybe Joseph Smith had a vision, I don't know. But it seems to me that angels must, to us humans, appear a lot like God. But this angel is not corrupted by that possibility of temporarily usurping God's prerogatives. And so this angel says in verse nine, do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and of all who keep the words of this book, worship God.

So the angel redirected John's worship to God and exhorted him again, just as Jesus had in verse seven, to keep the the words of this book. And the angel here is quite adamant that this book should be widely published because the time is near. And he obviously thinks that the things contained in this book will be a much needed encouragement to persevering obedience. So he exhorts the people to continue there in verse 11. Let him who does do wrong continue to do wrong.

Let him who is vile continue to be vile. Let him who does right continue to do right. Let him who is holy continue to be holy. Now, you need to understand what he's saying here. He's not saying they should do evil now.

What this is. He's standing in this vision at the. At the end of time. And he's saying the end is near. In fact, so very near that we're at the edge of the harvest.

And everybody is now about to reap as they have sown, with no time left for changing crops now, let alone changing our characters. If recounting this coming judgment doesn't challenge and change us, what will? Then again, we have this interruption from Jesus to underscore this. This nearness of judgment. There in verse 12.

Behold, I am coming soon. My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you all this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star. But then, lest a hearer of this book or a reader of it think that it's too late, we have these precious words. The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let him who hears say, come.

Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. Oh, friends, this is an exhortation to evangelism. Let him who hears say, come. If we hear this, we are to turn to others and say, come.

We are to invite them to this. It's an exhortation also to take this free gift of life, of the water of life, ourselves. Whoever is thirsty, let him come. Whoever wishes, let him take this free gift of the water of life not think about coming. Now, this is come.

This is an urgent book. It says the. The end is upon us. We must come. So if you are here not as a Christian, this is an urgent summons to you.

This is an alert that you will give account to God. And it is time for the thirst of your soul to be quenched by Christ. It is time for your sins to be washed in the blood of Christ and for you to know forgiveness of your sins by repenting of them, changing from them and turning to God, trusting what he's done in Christ, as Christ has borne the penalty that you rightly deserve. That's what we find He's Talking about here, John is saying this, and he wants to let the people know it, because this is the important message of this book. And it's underscored by these warnings in verses 18 and 19, these terrible warnings.

And then in verse 20, one more time, we hear the promise of the coming bridegroom. Yes, I am coming soon. And that's answered by the prayer of his bride. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

I mean, you know, that's what any of us who are truly Christians feel in our hearts, and particularly if we're in a time of persecution. All of us endure things in our life. All of us undergo difficulties. Many of us, maybe all of us who are true Christians, also endure difficulties, particularly because we're Christians. And surely when we are, it is at those times we, with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world, even now, that we quite naturally pray, Amen.

End this, bring that. Come, Lord Jesus. That's the prayer that this book knows. But we Christians aren't to spend our lives worrying, but waiting. That's what we Christians are to be marked by, because we're not afraid of the future.

We don't have to worry if this and this happens, then that's going to happen. It'll be terrible. No, because we are in love with the future. We know what's going to happen, and we love it. And that gives us a whole different attitude about our lives, about what we experience, about how we approach the day to come, in the week to come, in the month to come and the year to come.

Because there is nothing that can be taken from us that we are so sorry to have go, that it will outweigh our joy of what is to be given to us in Christ. That is, if you're truly a Christian, brothers and sisters, here, this is a challenge to your hearts. Christ is returning. What does that do to your own heart?

How lovely is youth, but it flies from us. If you want to be happy, be happy now. There is no certainty of tomorrow. So said Lorenzo the Magnificent, the patriarch of the Medici family of Florence in the Renaissance. And it was said like a man who has everything to lose by losing what he has in this world.

If you want to be happy, be happy now. There is no certainty of tomorrow. Now, does that sound like a Christian sentiment to you, A biblical sentiment?

And yet, has just such a grimness been growing across our land, even in our churches, since September 11? Has the terrible realization of our own vulnerability revealed to us through mundane things like planes and even letters? Has the realization of our vulnerability revealed to us the future that even we apparent Christians really care most about, the future that can be jeopardized by planes and letters, we find ourselves agreeing with what Yogi Berra once said. The future isn't what it used to be.

Friends, one thing that I hope you learned from this study of revelation is that we Christians do have a certainty about tomorrow. And it is a glorious thing. It is a certainty that our risen Redeemer has revealed to us. And the most significant thing that he's revealed to us is that he's coming back. And no opposition from tyrants or terrorists can prevent the returning Christ from establishing his righteous rule.

You know, we thought at the beginning about how everybody, from health professionals to stockbrokers, from weathermen to politicians would love to know what will be happening in the future. And here we are as Christians, in possession of the most important knowledge about the future that we could ever possibly have. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily besets. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, and here's the crucial phrase for the joy set before him, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. I promise you will grow weary and you will lose heart if your heart is set on anything less. I'm so sorry. As your pastor, I have to deal with it again and again. When you do, as I too am tempted to do, set your hearts on those lesser things.

Let me just save us all time. I promise they will all disappoint. Every single one of them. Your own health? Yes, that will ultimately disappoint you.

Your job? Yes, that too will disappoint you. Whether through retirement because you love it, or because of other reasons you don't love it. The friends around you will disappoint you. The family members, even the members of your own church.

They will disappoint you. Yes, that's going to happen. If your heart is set there, let's just save us all time. You will be disappointed. But if your heart is set on Christ, there is no disappointment.

That is the thing that sees us through, through all the endurances we're called to, through all the things that we must persevere through. And that will what be what marks us out truly as those who love Christ most, truly as those who are Christians. We may or may not call ourselves Christians, but our hearts will tell the truth of the matter. If we value him most, if we look forward to and relish him most, that hope which cannot be disappointed, then we are truly Christians. May God lay these great hopes to our hearts this morning.

Amen. Let's pray together.

Oh God, we freely and with some shame confess that we do tend to lay our hopes on things so much smaller and more temporary. O God, forgive us. Continue to be patient with us. Be persevering in your love. We pray.

Pick up our hearts, lift up our faces, turn our eyes towards you and to the hope that we have in Christ. Lord, we are weak and apart from us our minds will wander and our hearts will go down and settle on other things. But oh God, through the words of this vision, we pray that you would stir us up to know you and love you above all else. Do this, we pray, Lord, for your own glory. In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.