1. "Christianity does not promise a life of no suffering in this world. That has never been the true Christian gospel. That's never been what the Bible teaches. Sometimes people think that Christianity teaches this—that the Bible is a kind of locked-up special book that's somewhere hidden deep and maybe some numerical code in here is the secret to all of life, means of a happy, trial-free life in this world."

2. "If God would teach you patience in suffering, you will have gotten your passport to all the obedience He will ever call you to in this world. There's no place you can't travel for Christ as long as you're willing to suffer with Him."

3. "Casualness with this God may suggest that you may not really know this God. Because when you really encounter this God, there will be no casualness whatsoever. There will be mortal awe."

4. "When we address God, this God, it is an awesome thing. Toward the end of his reign, the Roman Empire, Domitian was pushing the worship of the imperial family with the result that these officials were persecuting Christians like John. Domitian was known as a particularly ruthless emperor—very efficient administrator, tended to kill those who opposed him. So there he was killing people in '95 and killing people in the year '96 until he was killed in the year '96. Even the most powerful human ruler is not the final judge."

5. "Let your prayers reflect the majesty and power of who this God is. Pray bigger prayers."

6. "We fall before Christ in order that we can stand before the most hostile powers in this world. We acknowledge Him alone as our Lord. Christ brings us courage."

7. "No man, not even presidents, are lords of their own fate. There's something in the raggedness of death which unsettles us. And is meant to, I think. There is a plainness and truthfulness about it."

8. "We either cower before the fear of death or we acknowledge Christ alone as Lord. And we realize the victory that He has won over it. And we begin to live in the courage that comes from that victory."

9. "Confidence in our prosperity should not be the basis of our peaceful sleep tonight, but rather confidence of God's providence. Even if through times of poverty or social ostracism and rejection. Entrust yourself, entrust your loved ones to His care."

10. "What are you not doing because of your misplaced fear of man? How are you not following Christ? What are you not doing because of your misplaced fear of losing comforts? Or closing options, young people, or because of your fear of death."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 1:9, what three things does John say he shares with his fellow believers "in Jesus," and what reason does he give for being on the island of Patmos?

2. According to Revelation 1:12-13, what does John see when he turns around to identify the voice speaking to him, and where is the "son of man" positioned in relation to what John sees?

3. In Revelation 1:14-16, what specific physical descriptions are given of the one "like a son of man," including details about his head, hair, eyes, feet, voice, hands, mouth, and face?

4. What is John's immediate physical response when he sees this vision, as described in Revelation 1:17?

5. In Revelation 1:17-18, what three titles or descriptions does Christ give of Himself, and what does He claim to hold?

6. According to Revelation 1:20, what do the seven stars and the seven golden lampstands represent?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that John describes himself as a "brother and companion" in suffering, kingdom, and patient endurance, rather than emphasizing his authority as an apostle? What does this suggest about the nature of Christian community?

2. The description of Christ in verses 13-16 draws heavily from Old Testament imagery, particularly Daniel 7:9-14. What does this accumulation of divine imagery communicate about who Jesus is and His authority over the churches?

3. Why do you think John "fell at his feet as though dead" (v. 17), and what does this response teach us about the appropriate human reaction to encountering the holy God?

4. Christ tells John "Do not be afraid" immediately after John falls down in terror. How can these two responses—mortal awe and confident peace—coexist in the Christian's relationship with God?

5. What is the significance of Christ saying He "holds the keys of death and Hades" (v. 18) for Christians who face persecution, suffering, or the threat of death for their faith?

Application Questions

1. John was exiled to Patmos "because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." In what specific areas of your life might you be tempted to soften your witness or compromise your obedience to Christ in order to avoid discomfort, social rejection, or professional consequences?

2. The sermon challenged listeners to examine whether they treat God casually, especially in prayer. How would you describe your typical approach to God in prayer—is it marked by reverent awe or routine familiarity? What is one concrete change you could make this week to cultivate greater reverence?

3. Christ's command "Do not be afraid" is grounded in His victory over death. What specific fear currently has the most power over your decisions and priorities? How does Christ's authority over death speak to that fear?

4. The sermon asked whether we are prepared to follow Christ even if certain jobs are closed to us, our children are mocked, or we face social ostracism. What would it look like for you to practically prepare your heart and your family for potential costs of faithful discipleship?

5. Christ stands "among the lampstands," present with His churches especially in suffering. How might this truth change the way you pray for persecuted Christians around the world, and what is one action you could take this week to express solidarity with believers who are suffering for their faith?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Daniel 7:9-14 — This passage provides the Old Testament background for the "Son of Man" imagery and the "Ancient of Days" description that John sees applied to Christ in his vision.

2. Isaiah 6:1-8 — Isaiah's encounter with God in the temple parallels John's response of falling down, demonstrating the consistent biblical pattern of human awe before divine holiness.

3. Philippians 1:27-30 — Paul teaches that suffering for Christ is granted to believers as part of their calling, reinforcing the sermon's point that suffering is an expected aspect of following Jesus.

4. Hebrews 4:12-16 — This passage explains the penetrating power of God's Word (the double-edged sword) while also encouraging believers to approach God's throne with confidence because of Christ's priestly mediation.

5. Romans 8:31-39 — Paul's declaration that nothing can separate believers from God's love provides the theological foundation for the courage Christ offers to those who face suffering, persecution, or even death.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Human Attempts to Avoid or Accept Death

II. Jesus Brings Us Suffering (Revelation 1:9)

III. Jesus Brings Us Awe (Revelation 1:10-17)

IV. Jesus Brings Us Courage (Revelation 1:17-20)

V. The Call to Follow Christ Without Fear

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Detailed Sermon Outline

By day, Randolph Wicker, 63, runs a lighting shop in New York City. But in his spare time, as spokesman for the Human Cloning Foundation, he is the face of cloning fervor in the U.S. I took one step in this adventure and it took over me like quicksand, says Wicker. He's planning to have some of his skin cells stored for future cloning. If I'm not cloned before I die, my estate will be set up so that I can be cloned after, he says, admitting, however, that he hasn't found a lawyer willing to help.

It's hard to write a will with all those uncertainties, he concedes. A lot of lawyers will look at me like I'm crazy. As a gay man, Wicker has long been frustrated that he cannot readily have children of his own. As he gets older, his desire to reproduce grows stronger. He knows that a clone would not be a photocopy of him, but he talks about the traits the boy might possess.

He will like the color blue, Middle Eastern food, and romantic Spanish music that's out of fashion. And then he hints at the heart of his motive. I can thumb my nose at Mr. Death. And say, you might get me, but you're not going to get all of me. The special formula that is me will live on into another lifetime.

It's a partial triumph over death. I would leave my imprint not in sand, but in cement.

While neither cloning oneself nor taking a part of oneself and through cryogenic storing oneself to be cloned later has not yet become a popular way to try to avoid death, These are simply some of the latest in a long line of attempts. Myths are full of stories of people being dipped in rivers to make them immortal or drinking from fountains of youth. The 19th century Baptist theologian J.R. Graves maintained that shaving was contrary to God's laws. The God who placed a beard upon man's lips, jaws and face did not intend for it to be shorn any more than the eyebrows or the hair on man's head Shaving originated in Canaan as an act of idolatrous worship. For example, optic nerves extend into the upper lip and constant shaving causes poor eyesight.

Shaving the throat causes frequent colds, hoarseness and baldness. Graves judged that deaths by consumption could be reduced by one-half if men stopped shaving.

I'm with you, brother.

Others set their sights not so much on cheating or even temporarily avoiding death, but on learning to accept it. The Maury of the best-selling Tuesdays with Maury was a man who had cancer and who shared his thoughts with the world through a former student, Mitch Albom, who wrote in his book, the Story of Maury, Maurice said, At one point death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made. It's natural to die, he said again. The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don't see ourselves as part of nature.

We think because we're human, we're something above nature. We're not. Everything that gets born dies.

Well, in fact, few people come to this kind of emotional equilibrium about death.

Especially their own death. As the famous journalist, Stuart Alsop, said in his notebook when he was writing about being deathly ill, he said, It was the most interesting experience, though one wishes one were not so personally involved.

That wish is repeated in human experience day after day after day all around the globe as people come to the end of their time. As they face death.

But for some, death is too tragic to be simply accepted. Newspapers report too often of tragic events. This person killed so that somebody can have some money or some drugs or some revenge. Sometimes death seems to come for no reason at all. So why is it that four young people were attacked while at a prayer vigil here in Northeast D.C. this past Tuesday night?

And then why was 14-year-old Arthur Daniels killed last month, earlier up on Nanny Helen Burrows Avenue when he was out walking on a Saturday night with his church youth group? And he simply didn't answer the question that somebody had put to him.

And why is it that even when someone who is not young dies in a way that is not violent or sudden, There's still the emptiness and the pain and the grief.

You can understand Macbeth's great lament, Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It's a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

And yet, friends, most of us are in none of these positions.

We are not anesthetized to the possibility of our death through a Maori-like acceptance or through a Macbeth-like despairing indifference. We want to live. That is normal for human beings. And governments know that we want to live. And governments use this to teach us, to educate, to guide, to manipulate, to coerce, and to enforce their will.

Now, in democracies like ours, such authority may be used mainly benevolently, benevolently. A little less so in dictatorships. And as we just considered, we don't need government anyway to take life. Mobs and robbers and haters can take life as quickly as paid agents of a government. And life can be taken for whatever end people are willing to determine.

And often behavior can be effected, even short of causing death. You can cut off the funding for something or threaten to even or change the tax laws as Muslim governments have often done to Christians. In fact, that's largely how Christianity was eliminated from North Africa. Through changing the taxation laws when Muslim governments came to power. Yes, we Christians too are subject to the coercive powers of our world.

You can pass laws against Christian. You can pass laws against certain Christian behavior. Or you can sue Christians in court for doing things they think they should do. You can threaten to execute Christians as the Parliament of Iran did last year and has been carrying out. And destroy their buildings as has been happening in Uttar Pradesh in India just in the last few weeks or by the government even itself in Vietnam.

Or you can beat up Christian converts or torture Christian pastors as has happened in Bangladesh recently or do what the Chinese government has just done in Henan Province where they have fined some Christians and imprisoned others and sentenced three to re-education.

Beatings, demolishing, arrests, threats, massacres, torture, accusations, attacks all have been committed against Christians around the world in just the last few weeks.

And so it has ever been in this land of protection of liberty and freedom and prosperity, we sometimes forget this. But this is the way not of recent history, but of all history. This was the lot Jesus' first disciples found, including John, to whom this famous vision was given that we know by the name of the book of Revelation. Well, it's this book that we're studying this spring And we've come this morning to chapter 1, verse 9. Chapter 1, verse 9.

If you're not used to sitting through an hour-long sermon, an hour-long sermon, an hour-long sermon, I think you'll find that actually taking your Bible and opening it will help you make it through, all right? So if you take your Bible, just open the back cover and you'll write in the book of Revelation. It's the last book in the Bible. If you're using the Bibles provided up in the balcony and on the west hall, you'll find the passage beginning on page 1286. Nope, 1215.

And in the Bibles here in the main hall floor on page 1286.

This morning we want to look at the beginning of the revelation that God gave John. Revelation chapter 1, beginning 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, Tyre, 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 this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Friends, here we see three aspects of following Christ that we need to keep in mind if we're going to follow Jesus. Through such a fallen world as the one we inhabit. Jesus brings us suffering. Jesus brings us awe, AWE. And Jesus brings us courage.

Jesus brings us suffering. Jesus brings us awe. And Jesus brings us courage. I pray that as we study this passage together, you will be encouraged in your own discipleship as you follow Christ wherever He may lead you.

First, we see that Jesus brings us suffering. Look again at the first verse, verse 9. I, John, your brother and companion in the sufferings 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. Well, John introduces himself here, announcing immediately that he is their brother That's not only like, I have solidarity with you in suffering because you're suffering and I'm suffering, I'm in exile. It's more than that.

He's actually saying that he's a member of the same family. He's a member with them of God's own family, indwelt by God's own Spirit. So this same Spirit that indwells them, indwells him, he's saying. He's also a companion with them in these three things that he mentions here as being theirs in Jesus. I don't know if you noticed that sort of triplet.

The suffering, he says, and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. Now we as Christians know and understand that Jesus has given us the kingdom in the sense that we are brought under the rule and reign of Jesus when we become Christians. And that we, the Bible teaches us, actually reign with Him. We understand that somewhat. That reign has begun even as the Holy Spirit fills us, as enables us to keep following Him even through difficulties and challenges.

And the patient endurance, I think we also like the fact that it's promised to us. You know, this means we can continue on as a Christian even in tough circumstances.

We understand that we have that patient endurance given to us even now. But I think what surprises us is that idea that we are given suffering.

Now Jesus taught that He was called to suffer. He quotes Old Testament prophecies about the suffering Servant. We understand that Jesus was called to suffer. You know, in one sense we could say, We're sorry for that. I mean, we understand that to be His lot.

But isn't it crazy to think that we Christians are called to suffer as part of our following Jesus? I mean, this isn't the message that we hear, is it? But apparently that's how the early Christians understood Jesus' own teaching about taking up your cross. And following Him. If you look in Acts 14:22, you see that the Christians went around teaching that we must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.

And so Paul told the Philippian Christians in the letter that Michael led us through just a few months ago, Paul said in chapter 1 verse 29, It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but to suffer.

For him.

John was experiencing suffering. He was experiencing suffering as someone who had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Exiled, we understand, because he was a Christian. It appears that Rome exiled political prisoners there. I got to visit Patmos about 10 years ago.

It's just a small rocky island about 40 miles west of the Turkish coast, about 50 miles southwest of Ephesus. Where John had been the pastor. Exile was a serious penalty, but it was not nearly as serious as governments then often doled out. It tended to be reserved for people that were respected or at least had a certain community of people who respected them so that if you abused them, that community might be upset and social stability would be threatened. So it's not unusual that an aged pastor like John, so respected among Christians, the last living apostle, that he would be not summarily executed for refusing to worship the emperor, but simply removed and placed safely far away on an island.

There weren't really empire-wide persecutions then that we know of, just to be clear historically. We assume that he must have been exiled under the emperor Domitian who did, at the end of the first century, he was the emperor from 81 to 96, and he did increasingly demand worship of the imperial family. But it wasn't empire-wide. It was up to local officials how they handled things. Where the local officials in western Turkey, what was called in Asia, had probably the most number of Christians at any place in the world at that point.

And some of those officials were more severe in their application. We know that even over in Rome, Clement was writing in '96, a Christian, and he wrote of persecutions that were happening then that were more severe than any that had happened since the time of Nero 30 years earlier. When Peter and Paul had been killed. So we know there were persecutions going on at that time, not a systematic imperial persecution, but increasing instances of persecution, especially in Asia Minor. And if John is the pastor of what's probably the most prominent church in the area, it's not surprising that he would then take the brunt of that opposition to Christianity if he refused to worship the emperor.

Now if you're here today and you're not a Christian, you might be surprised to learn that Christianity does not promise a life of no suffering in this world. Christianity does not promise a life of no suffering in this world. That has never been the true Christian gospel. That's never been what the Bible teaches. Sometimes people think that Christianity teaches this.

They think the Bible is a kind of locked-up special book that's somewhere hidden deep and maybe some numerical code in here is the secret to all of life, means of a happy, trial-free life in this world. That's not what the Bible has ever taught in any part of it. That is not what Christianity teaches. Now, I remember in my own life getting a lot of teaching like this back in the 1970s. Name It and Claim It teaching, as it was called, was very popular in the circles that I was in for a while.

And I remember somebody asking me one day, How you doing? And I said, oh, pretty good under the circumstances.

And He rebuked me saying, Under the circumstances, brother, what are you doing under the circumstances? Get on top of them with Jesus.

Well, I understand what He meant. And I know that teaching is still popular on TV. But it's interesting that's not exactly what we see in the book of Revelation. It's not what we see taught elsewhere in the Bible. The God who made us all is perfectly good, and we are not.

We have all sinned against Him. And if you're here and you're not a Christian and you would debate me on that, you don't need to turn to the Bible. Just consult your own conscience. We have all sinned against God, and I obnoxiously maintain, my non-Christian friend, that you know that. And I would happily talk with you about that afterwards at the door.

And because God is good, He will punish you. He will punish all of us for all of our sins because He is truly good. There is no matter of unjust oppression that has ever been affected in the history of the world that God, the eternal God, does not note and will not mete out completely appropriate judgment for.

Which means that we need a Savior. We need someone to take that punishment for us.

You may also be surprised to know that the Bible says nothing about Christian countries.

It is true that rulers are supposed to use their power for good for those they govern. Very true. We should be stewards of what we have in a democracy.

But biblical Christianity has never been a religion that is bent on getting its hands on worldly power. Now, when Christians are given it, they should use it well for the prosperity of everyone under their authority, Christians and non-Christians. But it was no part of the ministry of Jesus or the apostles to acquire government power or use it in the way you would see and say Islam. Islam sees the human condition, you could say, in a more shallow or optimistic way as a matter that human coercion can fix. Whereas Christianity established not by a conqueror, but by one who was crucified, kind of the opposite ends of worldly power, Christianity is far deeper and more pessimistic, you could say.

About what the problem is with humanity. It is so deep that only the power of God Himself can fix it. Thus, Islam tends to centralize power in the hands of monarchs, and Christianity's influence has been slowly but surely to be more distrustful of human nature and therefore more distrustful of absolute power in human hands and tends to speak of the image of God and inalienable human rights, therefore, and tries to decentralize human power into things like republics and democracies. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in that if you're here and you're not a Christian. That's the sort of background of Christianity and its relationship with worldly power, which you need to understand if you're going to understand this book of Revelation.

I don't know how people believe in a Christian nation read a book like Revelation. This book shows us that worldly power again and again is in rebellion against God. And has been since the fall.

Anyway, brothers and sisters, that Savior that we need, that one is Jesus, and Jesus suffered for us. Christians, are you willing to be suffering for Christ as a part of following Him? It's a funny question really, because the whole idea of following a Messiah who was crucified would seem to assume that in your decision to begin following Him you know where the path leads. But still I know that in America we enjoy such acceptance and such prosperity that we forget we have immediate amnesia. We think that we become a Christian and all of our problems go away.

Well yes, of course, a lot of our problems do immediately go away when we're converted. First of all, our eternal problems are solved which we will be thankful for forever.

But also in the short term, God's Holy Spirit gives us the new birth. We are changed. Friend, if you're a Christian, I trust you noticed some change in your heart when you were converted. Something really did begin to change in you. And the Holy Spirit progressively makes us more holy.

So we are liberated from some of our past problems. But, as you've no doubt found by now, we are introduced into a whole different set.

Of trials and problems and sufferings in this fallen world that is opposed to Christ. It happens in our lives. It happens even in our homes and families. So God gives us other mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and children and family to love and be loved. Some of you here today, I know, have been rejected by your parents because you've become Christians.

You're not the only ones to experience this kind of tragic abuse of the authority that was given really for the very reason to mirror God's authority now being twisted and used against you. Take solace in the love of your Heavenly Father.

Christian, have you suffered for being a Christian? John was suffering for being a Christian, probably for this refusal to worship the emperor.

Are there ways you have actually limited your obedience to Christ because of the mere possibility of encountering suffering for obeying in that way?

Does even the threat of suffering scare you off?

Friend, pray that God would teach you patience in suffering.

If God would teach you patience in suffering, you will have gotten your passport to all the obedience He will ever call you to in this world. There's no place you can't travel for Christ as long as you're willing to suffer with Him. Jesus brings us suffering.

But number two, Jesus also brings us awe.

Look again and see what John sees here in verse 10.

He says, 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 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 his 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.

When did John say this took place?

On the Lord's Day. What does that mean? Well, it could just be the day that he was spending in prayer, a day that he kind of had dedicated to the Lord. It's more likely though that it's indicating Sunday, that it's indicating the first day of the week, the day that was associated with the Lord Jesus Because it's the day on which He was raised from the dead.

We know that the first Christians met on the Lord's Day, it seems, from inferences in the New Testament, from 1 Corinthians and from Acts. We know that within 50 years after this, this is the phrase that the early Christians used to refer to Sunday. So we have just no evidence against this. Friends, this seems to be Sunday.

And so Christians have from then till now met on resurrection morning. And long before we had governments that gave us Sundays off, long before societies decided to do that, Christians would just meet early in the morning before they would go to work in order to remind themselves of and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. So you'll notice here that the hymns on Sundays often have to do with the resurrection of Jesus because we don't find in the New Testament an annual cycle, but a weekly cycle that's to remind us of the resurrection of our Lord. So this is Resurrection Day, the first day of every week. And so this congregation has always assembled on the first day of the week since it's been founded, and Lord willing, will continue to as we rejoice together in the resurrection.

Friend, if you have a job that keeps you from meeting regularly with God's people, consider quitting that job.

John says that he was on this day in the Spirit, meaning not necessarily, I think, in ecstasy, but filled with the Spirit. He's like the Old Testament prophets who we see were filled with the Spirit and then they prophesied saying. That's what we see here with John. He hears this voice then that instructs him to write down what he sees and send it to the seven churches. The churches listed here in verse 11.

These churches were in an area that's not too far from Patmos. They were in a sort of circle. You could deliver a letter or these seven letters. It would make a natural round from Patmos through this circle of what we think were administrative and maybe postal centers in which there were churches. But more important than the seven individual churches is their number, seven.

Seven you will find throughout this book of Revelation was meant to show a completeness, a universality.

So Christ is saying here by sending edicts, letters to seven churches that these are to all churches, all over the world. And thus there are the general promises that there are in the book. Thus we don't find these churches mentioned again after chapter 3. Rather it's talked about the church universal and its struggle.

Seven usually has that kind of universal reference, especially in a highly symbolic book like this. Now let's consider what John saw. God gave him a vision replete with aspects of what we find in many different places in the Old Testament. I don't even have time to note all the sort of backgrounds there are, all the things that Jesus picks up in this appearance to John in order to reinforce the message. John turns around to hear the voice we see in verse 12 and the first thing he mentions that he sees are these seven golden lampstands.

Now a lampstand, a golden lampstand had been put in the tabernacle in Exodus and in the temple in the Old Testament. And it stood for the presence of Israel, of God's people, always before God, always in His presence, before the ark of the covenant. Zechariah 4 has an especially rich vision about this. You can read this afternoon if you want to with background of this. But it's clear that this vision in Zechariah was to remind God's people of His presence with them.

Well, that's what's going on here. Simply not with one lampstand representing Israel.

But there are seven lampstands representing all of God's people from every nation. We also see this pattern that we'll see again in this book of John first hearing. You notice how he hears and then he turns around and he sees. In this book, vision actually brings greater clarity to words. In our reality, it's often not that way.

Sometimes it is, often isn't. But when we have to deal with God Himself, that immediacy of sight and the trustworthiness of sight and the satisfaction of sight is restored. And so what John has heard from this voice as loud as a trumpet, he then turns around and he sees. We'll see this pattern again in chapter Five, when John hears of the Lion of Judah and he turns and he sees the Lamb who was slain. We see it again in chapter 6 where he hears of the 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel and he turns around and he sees a great multitude from every nation that no man could number.

Again and again in this book of Revelation it is a vision. That is revealed. So you hear something, you read of John hearing something, and then you turn and he sees much more fully. That's what's going on here in our passage this morning. Verse 10 he hears this loud voice like a trumpet.

He's told to write. He's commissioned to communicate Christ's edict, His words to His churches. Very much like Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah were told by God to write. And He was specifically told to write what you see. That is what we'll see in the book.

And right here, well, let's look. What does He see? Look down at the vision. He saw these lampstands. But what does He say there in verse 13?

What did He see among the lampstands? Someone, He says, like a son of man. Now to us that may just seem like, well, you're saying He saw a human being. That's true.

But the particular phrase Son of Man would have had an association in their minds with one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament, Daniel 7, where in verses 13 and 14 you have one like a Son of Man who seems himself to be the Ancient of Days who accepts worship. It is God. You actually have the incarnation appearing, being prophesied pre-dicted, pre-spoken of in the Old Testament. They are most clearly in Daniel 7:13 and 14. And that's the reference here to this divine human figure.

And John sees him dressed here in verse 13 like a priest or a king or both. There in verse 14, that reference to his head and hair being white as snow would clearly be a reference to the angel of days who in Daniel 7:9 when he's having this vision of God, he says, Daniel says, Thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, the hair of his head was white like wool. Well, John here is seeing Christ as the Ancient of Days, as the one holy, eternal God. The white hair is showing and symbolizing age and wisdom.

God is as infinitely wise as He is old.

And He is infinitely old. John also saw, we see in verse 14, Christ's eyes like blazing fire.

Christ can see through pretense. He can see to the substance of a matter. The bronze feet here in verse 15 show a purity and a strength that will assure victory. Again, then we see His voice characterized there, though this time not as a trumpet, but like the sound of rushing waters. His is a voice that rings with authority and power.

And speaking of power, verse 16, we see these stars that are mentioned, which we find out down in verse 20 are related to the churches. Notice they are held where? In His right hand. And His right hand is a metaphor. For power, they are in His power.

And then we see in verse 16, the double-edged sword, that is, what comes from His mouth, what He speaks, the Word of God, the truth coming from the mouth of Christ. What is it the writer to the Hebrews said? In Hebrews, chapter 4, For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. And we see then at the end of verse 16, to cap it all off, his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Friends, I have a visual commentary on the book of Revelation, which is really a bunch of Albrecht Dürer woodcuts from the 1500s. And he has one whole page that is this vision of Christ. And I just got to say, Durer didn't get it. It's not like that. If you start taking it in that sense, then you're going to say, But wait, if his face is like the sun shining in all its brilliance, how can he describe anything else?

Because he'd be blinded. Okay, then you're not understanding how you take a vision. Each of these aspects is meant to represent something. It's pretty straightforward. It's just what I walked through just now.

We're seeing the glory of God in this vision of Himself that God gave here. It's very much like the vision He gave to Ezekiel that Luke read for us earlier. Remember how God was presented there? He was described with brilliant light surrounding Him. Friends, all these descriptors that are being used are the extremes of the experience somebody in John's day could have had.

He is grabbing for the greatest vocabulary he can to try to describe what he's seen. So Christ's voice is even glorious. He grabs for snow and blazing fire and the glowing bronze in a furnace and the sound of rushing waters and stars and the sun shining in all its brilliance. Friend, this Christ is the one who is God and has the authority of God and certainly has the authority to speak His truth to his churches. And the awesomeness of this vision explains John's response here in verse 17.

It's really part of the vision in that sense. He says, I fell at his feet as though dead. And what we find as we look through the Bible is that this is a pretty typical reaction to God. What does Isaiah do when he has a vision of God in his holiness? He falls down.

When Moses encounters God, he must be hidden behind a rock. Job despises himself and repents in dust and ashes. It seems that according to the Bible, this God isn't quite like many imagine him to be today. Casualness with him is not the height of intimacy. In fact, casualness with this God may suggest that you may not really know this God.

Because when you really encounter this God, there will be no casualness whatsoever. There will be mortal awe. John fell at His feet as though dead. Oh friend, do you ever treat God casually?

In one sense we could argue that every time we sin is treating God casually. But even in a more immediate sense, I'll tell you when I think I am most guilty of treating God casually. It's when I pray and it's when I begin my prayers. That first word that I speak is often little more than a speed bump that I quickly go over in order to get to what I'm really there about, which is asking for stuff. Even if it's good stuff, advance of the gospel, you know?

When I address Him, Lord, God, Father, It's usually just a very quick and then right into all, maybe some things I praise him for and then right into all the things I'm asking. Friends, when we address God, this God, it is an awesome thing.

Toward the end of his reign, the Roman Empire, Domitian, was, as I say, pushing the worship of the imperial family with the result that these officials were persecuting Christians like John. Domitian was known as a particularly ruthless emperor, very efficient administrator, tended to kill those who opposed him. So there he was killing people in '95 and killing people in the year '96 until he was killed in the year '96. Even the most powerful human ruler is not the final judge. This one is.

This one is the final judge. This is a vision of Christ as the judge of all who will judge the churches first. That's what He's about to do in the letters that we come to next week, Lord willing. Very much like what Peter said in 1 Peter 4:17, For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God. And if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

And if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. This vision of Christ shows that he is threatening to the worldly oppressors of Christians and to those within the church who would lead in compromising God's truth as we'll see next week, Lord willing. Christians, do you remember that God is that Great? As you approach Him, as you conceive of Him, as you go to Him in prayer, are your prayers all about the things that you need or your friend needs?

What does that say about your view of God? Do your prayers reflect the largeness that there is in God? Friends, pray for great things. We have a great God. Let your prayers reflect the majesty and power of who this God is.

Pray bigger prayers.

God has shown His love for us so clearly. He has amazed us that He has loved us as He has in this Christ. I don't know what you thought about Jesus before you walked in today. If you're here and you're not a Christian, you may very well have thought of Jesus mainly as a rabbi or a teacher. But friend, this is no mere rabbi or teacher presented here.

The Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, is the Lord. He is God. He came amazingly to live a perfect life, a life that you and I should have lived, a life fully trusting God's Word and obeying Him. And He died on the cross suffering the penalty that all of us deserve who will ever turn from our sins and trust in Him. God raised Him from the dead.

He had this glorious station given Him to show that He was victorious and that His ministry is to be accepted and His death is to be trusted for our right standing with God. If you want God to forgive you of your sins, you must trust in this Christ. You must trust in Him alone. There is no other way.

Brothers and sisters, I wonder what people would say if they were observing your life that you worship.

Is it clear to people around you that you worship God, this God?

We're here in D.C. Many of you are young. I wonder if those around you might say you worship your job.

What do you fear about? What do you dream and anticipate about? What causes you the greatest angst and the greatest joy?

Friend, don't live your life for something you will one day retire from that ends before your life does. Realize your life is bigger than your job and it's meant to be. My friends, let's live our lives in awe only of this One whom we should serve with all our being. Jesus brings us all. Number three.

Jesus also brings us courage. Look again at the last four verses, beginning in verse 17.

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 this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

So we find out here in this last verse, verse 20, that the lampstands are the churches. We can understand that, especially given the fact that the single lampstand in the Old Testament stood for the people of Israel. Well, they're a symbol for God's people. You understand that. What about these angels?

Well, you know, the NIV here just chose not to translate because angel is a Greek word and they just kept the Greek word. When we do translate it, it means messenger. Sir John the Baptist at one point in the Gospels is called an angel. He's called a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord. Well, here we see the seven churches are said to have these messengers of the seven churches and they are either heavenly beings who somehow represent these churches before God, perhaps a kind of personification of the congregation, or they could be literal pastors of the congregations.

Either way, the point is simply that they are connected to these churches. In verse 19 we see John's commission is restated. He said this before, up in verse 11, he says it again now, Write therefore what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later. I think Jesus here is not suggesting that the vision He's about to give John will be a sequential chronological outline of history stretching through this book. But rather it's going to be the whole of history, especially the latter days to the end.

And the time of the end, which has begun with the resurrection of the dead, which began with Jesus, the firstborn from the dead, will be, we know, a time of conflict between the forces of God and the forces of this fallen and rebellious world. But though the outcome is certain that God will win, the battle is fierce. And that's why Jesus goes to the trouble to describe Himself as He does in this vision, to describe Himself in this full power. He gives Himself here in verses 17 and 18, three descriptions, three titles about Himself, you see. Verse 17, the First and the Last, very much like God described Himself up in verse 8.

Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. This is a merism. Remember we said last week the two extremes meant to include then everything in between. He is all powerful. He is in utter control of events.

Even the darkest of tragedies is not beyond the scope of this one's purposes. I love the mystery that William Cooper so worshipfully acknowledges in his great hymn, God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take.

The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan His work in vain. God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain. It says here in verse 18, He says, He is the Living One. He is dependent on no one else for life. He says there, I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.

He is the One who was crucified. This One was crucified for us, and He is alive forevermore. Friend, the divine Messiah would come and die for us. This is the ground of the Christian's courage. This wonderful vision of Christ was to encourage John to be faithful in his task and to all Christians to encourage us to persevere in obedience.

That's why specifically he tells them here in verse 18 that he holds the keys of death and Hades. He's saying even this thing that could be your greatest ultimate fear, you need not fear because listen, I've been there and I busted open the door and I have the keys here anyway. He is the Lord even of death itself. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?

The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Tradition says the man who wrote that about 15 years later had his head chopped off for writing those sentences. Do you think he would go back and rewrite those sentences if he could? No. No, exactly what we're saying as Christians is not that we expect not to die. Not even that we expect not to be killed, but that we expect beyond the mortal death there is a life forever with God that He has made us for in His image.

So John sees this vision because Jesus is giving him this kind of encouragement. You see it even in verse 17. Didn't you notice, and again, a good study in the symbolism of this book. I can ask you there in chapter 1, what's Jesus doing with His right hand? Well, he has seven stars, but here in his right hand he places his right hand on John.

Well, what's going on there? Did he lay the stars down and then put his hand on John? Friends, that's not what this vision is meant to be like. That's not how we're meant to understand it. Each element of it clearly communicates something that would have been understood very clearly by the first readers.

Well, here he places his right hand on me, John says in verse 17, and said, he's placing his hand on him.

By doing that, he's saying to John, this awesome God is saying to John, I'm with you. You will be upheld by My power. His right hand again and again in the Bible is a metaphor for His power, His power that holds the churches. And so He pledges His power now to uphold John. And so when he says here, Do not be afraid, that's not just a message to John after this.

Awe-inspiring message, not to be too creeped out by the vision. But it's a statement to John and to all Christians saying, Do not be afraid. Fear is done because I have come through death and I have the keys of death and of Hades. He is the one who has done that. Christ is telling us that He, with all His power, is for us.

Friends, what turns this kind of awe into courage? What alchemy is there that could do that?

It is this. The fact that this Christ is telling us that He is for us. That He is with us with all His power. So He says to us, Do not be afraid. Do not despair.

Do not compromise. That's the point. We see here in verse 13 that He stands among the lampstands. Christ is with the churches, His people, even when they suffer. Especially when they suffer.

Now if you're here and you're not a Christian, I want to make sure you don't misunderstand this point. The Bible here says, Do not be afraid. The Bible here is not speaking to you.

Christ is saying, Do not be afraid to one who has repented of his sins and trusted in Christ. No, to you the risen Christ would say, Be afraid. Be afraid of my judgment because I am truly good. Be afraid that I know all that you have done and thought and wished, and that I will judge you for it appropriately. Come to learn to fear only Him.

And so repent of your sins and trust in Him, and there will be forgiveness for all your sins and a restored relationship with the God who made you to know Him. It's to give us encouragement as Christians that Christ gave this vision. So my Christian brothers and sisters, are you prepared to keep following Christ? Are you prepared to do so as the government begins to reduce tax exemptions for charitable giving?

Are you prepared to do so if they're removed altogether?

And what about when the government attempts to restrict our speech? Or when Christians are even less socially tolerated than we are now. I don't just mean in the media, I mean in your neighborhood. And what about when they begin to make fun of your children? And what if certain jobs are closed to you and certain opportunities are not for you anymore?

What if others would slander and abuse and imprison you for your following of Christ?

What if they just tell you that you can keep following Christ? You just can't do this or that that Christ commands.

Are you prepared to keep following Christ?

Are you prepared to do what He commands? Friends, confidence in our prosperity should not be the basis of our peaceful sleep tonight, but rather confidence of God's providence. Even if through times of poverty or social ostracism and rejection. Entrust yourself, entrust your loved ones to His care. Brothers and sisters, if He is for us, this one, who can be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? As Paul said in Romans 8.

Will you not trust this God?

Oh, friend, find your fears and you'll find those idols that are keeping you from fully receiving the courage that Christ would give you to follow Him in this fallen world.

We fall before Christ in order that we can stand before the most hostile powers in this world. We acknowledge Him alone as our Lord. Christ brings us courage.

Friends, we should conclude.

I enjoy reading about history. I particularly enjoy reading about certain figures and Abraham Lincoln is one of them. Many people enjoy reading biographies and other things about Lincoln.

Are you aware of his last writing?

It was a simple note to his secretary. Allow Mr. Ashmun and his friend to come in at 9 a.m. Tomorrow.

But of course, Lincoln wasn't there to meet him. He'd been killed. No man, not even presidents, are lords of their own fate. There's something in the raggedness of death which unsettles us. And is meant to, I think.

There is a plainness and truthfulness about it. Churchill reflected once on the... or referred once rather to the tuning fork of death. It's the great reality with which we all must reckon and considering it carefully has a way of reorienting us. We thought in the introduction about how some try to avoid death and others try to accept death and others despair over it, friends.

We either cowl before the fear of death or we acknowledge Christ alone as Lord. And we realize the victory that He has won over it. And we begin to live in the courage that comes from that victory.

We've prayed, I don't know if you've noticed in the pastoral prayer for several weeks now, for Christians suffering in Burma.

Friends, how did all those Christians get there in Burma? Well, it wasn't part of the apostolic witness. Like we think even in nearby India, we do think the apostles got that far. We think Thomas got that far. But how did the Gospel get to Burma?

It was actually from a young man from the United States. One of the first Christian missionaries ever to come from the United States, Adoniram Judson. Brought up in a Christian home in New England, he himself rejected that Christian faith of his parents. He went to New York City to sow his wild oats, and after some weeks or months of a dissolute life with a particular circle of friends, one night he simply left them. He decided to pursue his fortune alone in further west.

On the way west, he stopped at this village inn and the innkeeper said the inn was very full. He only had one room left and that it was next to a young man who was very ill and perhaps even dying. Judson, who had become quite hardened to human life since accepting deism in college as an undergrad, said it wouldn't bother him at all. And so he took the room and he settled in for the night. Yet once the night set in and the groans could be heard again and again from the next room over, In fact, Judson couldn't sleep.

He wasn't quite as hardened as he thought he was. He thought about his own fate. He considered what his father had always taught him. He thought of his faith in deism that he had come to own through a friend in his undergraduate years just a couple of years earlier, Jacob Eames, who was a couple of years older than Judson. He was from Maine and he was a classmate at Brown and a strong deist and a center of a circle of friends, and he had led Adoniram into rejecting his Christian faith.

And then he thought all of a sudden, what would Ames say of his fears about death and judgment that night? And he felt silly and kind of ashamed. He went to sleep peacefully. The sunlight seemed to dispel the superstitious illusions of the night. Judson got up and felt refreshed and went to pay his bill and preparing to continue his journey he asked the innkeeper kind of offhandedly what happened to the man in the room next to him?

Oh, he's dead the innkeeper said dead said Judson yes gone poor fellow Do you know who he was Judson asked offhandedly yes said the innkeeper young man from the college in providence very fine fellow his name here was let me see Jacob Eames Judson recounts himself as he rode away on his horse, hearing the thought of the horse hooves and his thoughts of his admired friend whom he had now lost to death. And he just could think only of dead, lost, dead, lost, dead, lost. And in facing that, he came to see that God had been true in Christ and all the things that Christ had said that he had been taught by his parents were in fact true and Judson's life was changed. He was converted and he ended up giving his promising life to go and take the gospel to people in Burma. Suffering greatly by doing it.

Suffering by losing family members. Seeing no conversions in his first year there or second or third or fourth. Or fifth, it's not till his sixth and not even then, not till his seventh year there, he saw anyone confess Christ. And yet he persevered through the oppression of the government, the indifference of friends. He persevered.

Now, friend, my question to you is, what are you not doing because of your misplaced fear of man? How are you not following Christ? What are you not doing because of your misplaced fear of losing comforts? Or closing options, young people, or because of your fear of death. We know, as the hymn says, that all His saints are by man rejected.

This is Christ with us. He was rejected, and He continued on. If He tells us not to be afraid, what is there possibly in this world that we should fear if even death is under His control?

Can we not follow Him all the way He would lead us, even to death?

Let's pray together.

Oh God, we give you praise that falling down before this risen Christ and taking Him as our Lord we can now stand against any danger or opposition to the faith, even threats to our lives.

Lord, you alone know what it is that yout desire to call us to individually or as a congregation. But God, we this morning place our hope and our faith in youn. We confess that yout alone are our Lord. We thank you for the deliverance from our sins you have wrought by the death of Christ and by his being raised for our justification. We rejoice in the victory over death that we know in him and we absolutely delight in the freedom that gives us in this life.

And we give you praise in the name of the risen Christ. Amen.