1. "Brothers and sisters, the church is a communion of sufferers. We suffer all of the hardships of this fallen world and on top of that, we suffer extra because of our profession of faith in Jesus. Suffering should draw us together, not separate us."

2. "Jesus's speech is sovereign. He summons us by his word. His speech is effective and active. It creates a new reality where none existed before. Jesus speaks faith into existence. Jesus speaks new life into existence. Jesus speaks the future into existence. Our words can't do any of that. His words do all of that."

3. "Jesus is more glory than you can take in. Jesus has more glory than your eyes can receive. Jesus has more power than your mind can comprehend. He has more beauty than your heart can hold. He has more wisdom than your mind can realize. He has more authority than every power on earth combined."

4. "When you grow up in church, it can seem like, oh yeah, Jesus, I've heard it all before. But with Jesus, you have never heard it all. There's always more to discover, there's always more to wonder at, there's always more to be amazed by, there's always more to be overwhelmed by."

5. "He's the judge who underwent his own judgment so that all those who believe in him would not be judged. He's both severe and sympathetic, gracious and glorious. He's high above us and he's near to us. He's utterly truthful and utterly forgiving."

6. "When you see Jesus as he truly is, two things should happen at once. Your confidence in him should skyrocket and your confidence in yourself should be demolished. When you see Jesus as he is, you should fall on your face before him."

7. "A critical test of whether you've really met the real Jesus is whether it shattered yourself. Whether he shook you to your roots, whether he turned your life upside down. Jesus demolishes everything you take confidence in, chiefly yourself. He takes away your former confidence and gives you an infinitely better confidence in its place."

8. "He entered into death and then escaped from death. When Jesus rose, he blew a hole out the back of the grave so that anyone who trusts in him will follow him out the back end of death."

9. "Fear not, your sin can't separate you from your Savior. Fear not, your suffering will not shatter your soul. Fear not, your loneliness won't last much longer. Fear not, your worst disappointments don't deserve to be compared with the glorious eternal satisfaction Jesus himself will give you."

10. "Jesus has not abandoned his churches. Jesus will never neglect his churches. Jesus is the heavenly priest who walks among the lampstands, and he will not let our light go out."

Observation Questions

1. According to Revelation 1:9, what three things does John say he shares with his readers as their "brother and partner," and why was he on the island of Patmos?

2. In Revelation 1:10-11, what was John doing when he heard the voice, what did the voice sound like, and what specific command did the voice give him?

3. Looking at Revelation 1:13-16, list at least four distinct physical features John describes about "one like a son of man" and the objects associated with him.

4. In Revelation 1:17, how did John respond when he saw the glorified Christ, and what was the first thing Jesus did and said in response?

5. According to Revelation 1:18, what three claims does Jesus make about himself regarding life, death, and authority?

6. In Revelation 1:20, what does Jesus say the seven stars and the seven golden lampstands represent?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that John describes Jesus using imagery from Daniel 7 (the "son of man," white hair like the "Ancient of Days")? What does this reveal about Jesus' identity and relationship to God the Father?

2. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus' voice "shatters and then rebuilds." How do the details in verses 17-18—John falling as though dead, then Jesus laying his hand on him and saying "Fear not"—illustrate this pattern of demolishing and rebuilding?

3. What is the significance of Jesus holding the seven stars in his "right hand" and walking among the seven lampstands? What does this communicate about his relationship to the churches?

4. How does Jesus' statement "I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades" (v. 18) serve as the foundation for the command "Fear not"? Why should this truth give believers confidence?

5. The sermon connects the churches as "lampstands" to being God's light in the world. How does Jesus' priestly role of walking among the lampstands relate to his ongoing work of shaping and sustaining local churches through his word?

Application Questions

1. John identified himself as a "partner in the tribulation" with other believers. In what specific ways might you be tempted to let your own suffering—or someone else's suffering—create distance between you and other Christians? What is one practical step you could take this week to draw closer to a fellow believer who is going through hardship?

2. The sermon warned that those raised in church can treat Jesus like "wallpaper"—so familiar that he goes unnoticed. What specific practices or habits could you adopt to cultivate fresh wonder and awe at who Jesus is, rather than taking him for granted?

3. Jesus' command "Fear not" is grounded in who he is, not in who we are. What is one fear you are currently facing (about your future, your sin, your circumstances, or death itself)? How does the truth that Jesus holds "the keys of death and Hades" speak to that specific fear?

4. The sermon emphasized that Jesus' voice "demolishes and then rebuilds." Is there an area of your life—a source of confidence, a self-protective habit, or an aspect of your identity—that Jesus may be calling you to let him demolish so he can rebuild it according to his purposes? What would it look like to surrender that area to him this week?

5. As a "lampstand" meant to shine God's light, how is your local church community reflecting Christ's character to the surrounding world? What is one concrete way you personally could contribute to the brightness of that witness—whether through service, reconciliation, hospitality, or faithful presence in your neighborhood or workplace?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Daniel 7:9-14 — This passage provides the Old Testament background for John's vision, depicting the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man receiving an everlasting kingdom, which Jesus fulfills and claims for himself.

2. Isaiah 6:1-8 — Isaiah's vision of God's glory and his response of being undone mirrors John's experience, showing the pattern of encountering divine holiness, being overwhelmed, and then being commissioned.

3. Ezekiel 1:22-28 — Ezekiel's vision of God's glory, including the "roar of many waters," provides further prophetic context for the imagery John uses to describe the risen Christ.

4. Hebrews 4:14-16 — This passage presents Jesus as the great high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to approach God's throne with confidence, reinforcing Jesus' priestly role among the lampstands.

5. Colossians 1:15-20 — Paul's hymn declares Christ's supremacy over all creation and his reconciling work through the cross, echoing the themes of Jesus as "the first and the last" who conquered death and holds authority over all things.

Sermon Main Topics

I. What Causes a Crisis of Confidence in Someone—and in Christ?

II. The Voice of Jesus: Sovereign Speech Summons Followers to Faithful Witness (Revelation 1:9-11)

III. The Glory of Jesus: A Vision of the Exalted Christ as Divine King, Priest, Judge, and Savior (Revelation 1:12-16)

IV. The Power of Jesus: The Risen Lord Who Conquered Death and Walks Among His Churches (Revelation 1:17-20)

V. Why You Should Place All Your Confidence in Christ

Detailed Sermon Outline

What causes you to lose confidence in someone?

Maybe they failed to keep a promise or fall apart under pressure. Maybe they're caught in a lie or you learn something about someone that's hard to square with everything else you know about them. Sometimes a challenge to your confidence in someone else becomes A crisis. Do you need to have a serious, awkward conversation with them? The kind of conversation that, depending on how it goes, might change your relationship with them forever?

When your confidence in someone has been threatened, what can rebuild it? Somehow they have to regain your trust. Usually, this doesn't happen all in a flash but step by step, seeing a new track record, a series of actions that bears witness to their character somehow the threat to your confidence in them is resolved. Or maybe you gain a deeper view of the person that shows you that you were wrong in the first place. Maybe the problem wasn't ever them, it was you or the circumstances or a misunderstanding.

You had no reason to lose confidence in them in the first place.

If you're a believer in Jesus, have you ever had a crisis of confidence in Christ? Have you ever been shaken to your core because you wondered if following Jesus is really worth it? Have you ever been upset, turned upside down, because you haven't been able to get questions out of your head about whether Jesus really is who he says he is or whether you can really trust what the Bible says about him?

This morning we continue our new series in the book of Revelation with chapter 1, verses 9 to 20. This passage functions as a kind of second introduction to the book. And John here receives his prophetic commission from Jesus himself. And then that commission is backed by a vision of Jesus. What he sees of Jesus what he sees in Jesus.

And what happens when he encounters Jesus is the basis for everything he's going to say in the rest of the book. What happens when he sees and meets Jesus gives him enough reason to put all the confidence he has in Jesus. If you're not a believer in Jesus, Why should you be confident in Jesus in the first place? Why should you believe what he says about himself or what the Scripture says about him? You'll be helped throughout the sermon by considering how our passage answers those questions.

Please follow along as I read Revelation 1:9-20. It's on page 1028 of the Pew Bibles.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last. And the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.

Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Why should you be confident in Christ? Our passage gives three answers and they're all tied in together. The voice of Jesus, the glory of Jesus, and the power of Jesus, the voice of Jesus, the glory of Jesus, and the power of Jesus. Point number one, the voice of Jesus. We see this in verses 9 to 11.

These verses' main point is this, Jesus' sovereign speech summons his followers to faithful witness. The voice of Jesus is the most powerful reality in these three verses. And the voice of Jesus sets all of the following action in motion. The voice of Jesus finds John in exile, grabs hold of him, and commissions him as his own mouthpiece. Look again at verse nine.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. John has been exiled to this island because local government authorities back on the mainland regarded his preaching of Jesus as a threat to the political order. Patmos wasn't a penal colony and John wasn't necessarily in prison, though he may have been, but this was still a punishment. He was cut off from life on the mainland, separated from the church he served, isolated from the whole life he lived before. His ministry was, at the very least, severely restricted.

His whole life had shrunk. And so, John has good reason to identify himself with all other believers. The way he introduces himself, places himself not above us, but with us. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. He's saying that suffering for the gospel, reigning with Christ and persevering in faith are all part of the package deal of being a Christian.

He's saying that to welcome Christ is to embrace suffering for his name. To trust in Christ is to sign up for an endurance race of faith and obedience. And to come to Christ is to become a king with him. But here and now that kingship is opposed and hidden. John gets all of this from many places in Scripture, but one of the key places is the passage in Daniel 7 that Susan read to us earlier.

It's why we had such a long reading. In that vision, the Son of Man receives authority from the Ancient of Days, that is the Father. His people also receive authority at the end, even a kingdom. And yet both the Son of Man and his people are opposed, persecuted. There's spiritual warfare going on against both the Son of Man and his people.

So when John says that this tribulation and kingdom and endurance are in Jesus, well, there's a sense in which he could have got all that from Daniel chapter seven. To belong to the Son of Man's people is to share in that kingdom. It's also to share in the suffering because the opposition aimed at him, and so that creates a need for endurance. Brothers and sisters, the church is a communion of sufferers. We suffer all of the hardships of this fallen world and on top of that, we suffer extra because of our profession of faith in Jesus.

Suffering should draw us together, not separate us. Are you in danger of letting someone else's suffering separate them from you? Are you in danger of letting your own suffering drive a wedge between you and other people? Believers. What does it look like to suffer well together?

Now we have this book in our hands because of what happened next. Look at verses 10 and 11.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. As we saw last week, these seven churches in Asia Minor were selected to symbolize the completeness of God's people throughout the world. And this book that John wrote, this prophetic apostolic letter, was a circular letter. It had multiple destinations. Someone was going to carry it from John back to the mainland and then the way, the order these churches are listed in forms a kind of arc, kind of clockwise going around on the north.

Someone would travel and bring this letter to all those churches. So this is a prophetic commissioning. It's a summons and it took place on the Lord's Day. John means Sunday. He calls it the Lord's Day because that's the day Jesus rose from the dead and that's the day when Christians began to gather for corporate worship.

Worship. It's tough to know exactly what John means by being in the Spirit. It may be some kind of reference to worship. It certainly includes him in the sort of succession of prophets who were anointed with God's Spirit and singled out for a special ministry by that Spirit. When he was in this Spirit, John heard a voice, a loud voice, a voice he wasn't expecting.

This voice sounded behind him, like a trumpet. John wasn't looking for this voice. John didn't prepare for or invite this voice. The voice just came. And when it came, John could not possibly ignore it.

These days, it seems like the younger you are, the more scared you are to answer the phone.

Some of you young people might be surprised to discover that with this little device you keep in your pocket, you can actually call someone. And then if they answer, you could talk to them voice to voice in real time. You could say words that just come out of your mouth instead of having to type them and text them. It's very convenient.

Why are people afraid to pick up the phone. I can think of two reasons. One is that in real time with the other person on the phone, you're more accountable to them. It's harder to hide. They ask you a question you don't really want to answer, it's a little more awkward than not answering a text message.

They've got you. But another reason answering the phone can be scary is that you never know who's gonna call. You never know what they're gonna say. It could be good news, it could be real bad news. That phone call could be an invasive intrusion.

As the poet Alicia Stallings puts it, At any hour, the future or the past can dial into the room and change our lives. That phone call could be the past or the future breaking into and shattering your present. As we'll see later in the passage, when Jesus's voice first comes into your life, he shatters it.

And then he rebuilds. He rebuilds. As no one else can. Jesus's word is how he begins his work in us. Hearing Jesus's voice and accepting it, embracing it, believing it, obeying it is the beginning of a right relationship with him.

Jesus's speech is sovereign. He summons us by his word. His speech is effective and active. It creates a new reality where none existed before. Jesus speaks faith into existence.

Jesus speaks new life into existence. Jesus speaks the future into existence. Our words can't do any of that. His words do all of that. The testimony of so many new Christians is something like, I wasn't really looking for God, it's like God came looking for me.

I wasn't really thinking about God or Jesus but then all of a sudden it's like that's all I could think about. You should be confident in Jesus. Because his voice speaks with power, authority, and unerring accuracy. You should be confident in Jesus because his voice is more powerful than anything in the universe. That voice sounded behind John.

So he turned around to take a look. What did he see? Point two, the glory of Jesus. The glory of Jesus. This is verses 12 to 16.

In verses 12 to 16, John sees a vision of the exalted, glorified Jesus reigning in heaven. In a highly symbolic form, he sees Jesus's divine character and dignity displayed. In a nutshell, John sees that Jesus is our divine human, king, priest, judge, and savior. Look at verses 12 to 13. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

When John tells us that he saw seven golden lampstands, he's telling us that he saw a vision of God's temple in heaven. The earthly tabernacle and later temple held a lampstand that had seven lights on it, seven branches going out holding candles on the end. And it symbolized God's presence with his people. The lampstand in the earthly tabernacle symbolized the light of God's face. Shining on his people.

Now John sees seven lampstands for reasons we'll get to. And amid these lampstands, John sees one like a son of man. This is Jesus described in the language of Daniel chapter seven that we read earlier. What is this son of man doing among the lampstands? Both his location and his clothing tell us that he's a heavenly high priest.

He's the one mediator between God and man. His long robe is a priestly garment. And its golden sash symbolizes heavenly power and purity. Throughout Revelation, gold is a symbol of heaven's beauty, heaven's transcendence, and how it's separate from all the fallen realities of the world down here. Then John goes on to give us a description of the risen Christ's glory.

As we considered last week when we thought about the genre of the book of Revelation, the point of highly symbolic visual details like this is not to suggest that this is literally what Jesus looks like. If you try to put the whole picture together, it doesn't even really work. You can't do it literally. Instead, each detail conveys symbolic significance, most of it coming from Old Testament passages that it's alluding to. So look with me at verses 14 to 16 and then we'll kind of walk through these features one by one.

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Start with the white hair.

Again, this comes from Daniel, chapter 7, verse 9, and it echoes the description there of God himself. So Jesus fulfills Daniel's vision of the Son of Man, not only by being the human figure approaching God on the throne, but also in being identified as the God who reigns on the throne. His white hair is a symbol of his divine eternity. If age means Wisdom, eternity means infinite wisdom. Jesus's flaming eyes are a sign of his divine knowledge and the fact that by his divine knowledge he discerns and evaluates and judges all people.

Fire is both purifying and destructive. If you apply it to metal it cleanses out impurities. If you apply it to wood it burns it up. So Jesus's works of judgment proceeding from his knowledge, his divine vision, both purify and destroy, depending on who receives them. Then we have Jesus' feet in verse 15.

His feet, like refined burnished bronze, are a sign of strength, a sign of resilience and stability. In King Nebuchadnezzar's vision of kingdoms earlier in Daniel chapter 2, the feet were of iron and clay mixed together. And were able to be broken in pieces. That was a sign of these worldly kingdoms weakness and ultimate downfall, their vulnerability, the fact that they wouldn't reign forever but some other kingdom would come in and take them out. So using that prophetic vocabulary, that prophetic repertoire, John is saying, Jesus will never be toppled by any rival kingdom.

There is no weak spot, there is no feet of clay, there is no place where if some enemy ruler can come in and just get him in the right way, well poof he'll be gone. John is saying that'll never happen to Jesus. It's not just though that his feet are unbreakable. They're unbreakable because they've been refined. They've been passed through fire.

His eyes blaze fire. His feet have been fired. This seems to suggest that Jesus has passed through the judgment that he himself passes out. He is the judge judged in our place. Verse 15 again describes his voice.

His voice, this time it's not a trumpet, but a whole ocean. His voice was like the roar of many waters. In Ezekiel 1:24 and chapter 43 verse 2, Yahweh's own presence makes the sound of a roar of many waters. The voice of Jesus is the presence of Yahweh. Jesus is the voice of Yahweh in person.

Verse 16 tells us that in his right hand Jesus holds the seven stars. That number seven was probably influenced by the fact that in ancient Rome seven heavenly bodies were especially prominent and kind of reflected on: the sun, the moon, and the five planets that were visible to the naked eye. They were all called stars because they all shone in the sky. That Jesus holds them in his right hand shows that they're at his disposal. They're at the ready.

That's the hand of power, the hand of action, the hand by which you can do anything at a moment's notice. Since the movements of planets also mark the passing of time, it shows that Jesus is sovereign over history. He can do whatever he wants with the whole universe whenever he wants to.

Then we have the double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. And again, this is where we're not meant to take this literally but to ask what it symbolizes. What does a sword coming out of his mouth symbolizes? It tells us more about his word. It tells us more about his speech.

It tells us that his word is an implement of judgment. His word will decide people's final destinies. His word will triumph over all dispute, all opposition. His word will expose all falsehood and in the end it will show itself true before everyone. Words can seem so flimsy, right?

If someone makes a threat but they seem evidently weak and puny, you're not necessarily inclined to regard that threat. Words can seem so empty, so flimsy, so meaningless. Some people's words have more binding authority. Some people's words have the force of law behind them. Some people's words can declare war.

John is ratcheting up that kind of power to the highest degree and saying that Jesus' words are all conquering. However opposed, however contested, however flimsy their effects might sometimes seem now, it is Jesus's word that will triumph over all enemies, all opposition, all contradiction in the end.

Finally, John tells us in verse 16, his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Jesus's face radiates divine glory. It's brilliant. It's beautiful. It brings blessing to those who see it in faith.

It is so bright you can't stand to stare at it directly. It's more glory than you can take in. And that's the point of John's whole vision. Jesus is more glory than you can take in. Jesus has more glory than your eyes can receive.

Jesus has more power than your mind can comprehend. He has more beauty than your heart can hold. He has more wisdom than your mind can realize. He has more authority than every power on earth combined. God revealed Jesus to John in this overwhelming series of images so that the glory of Jesus would overwhelm John's mind and heart and then overwhelm our minds, and hearts.

When's the last time you felt overwhelmed? That can either be a really good feeling or a really bad feeling, depending on why you feel so overwhelmed. Sometimes it's both. Maybe it was a group of friends who all secretly planned and conspired and plotted to throw you a surprise birthday party. You walk in, it's a big reveal, you're overcome, You don't know what to say, you don't know what to do, you just feel stunned.

You're surprised, you're taken aback, you're not prepared for the moment. Maybe it's that there's too much goodness to take in all at once. You see a friend who doesn't even live here and you're like, wait, did you fly in from Chicago just for this? What's going on? I can't believe you would do that.

You're overwhelmed. You feel like you don't deserve all the goodness being shown to you. In this moment. When's the last time that you were overwhelmed by Jesus?

Kids and teens in the congregation, you are in a very blessed position. Your church, your parents, your Sunday school teachers, your youth group leaders work very hard to continually hold up before your eyes the glory of Jesus. We're doing this in the prayer that your heart and mind will be captivated by the glory of Jesus. And yet if you're not careful, hearing so often about Jesus can lead you to take Jesus for granted. It can lead you to treat Jesus like the wallpaper of your life.

When is the last time you paid any attention to the wallpaper in the kitchen. You've seen it so often, you don't notice it anymore. When you grow up in church, and especially in a church that's trying to constantly teach you and equip you and disciple you, it can seem like, oh yeah, Jesus, I've heard it all before. But with Jesus, you have never heard it all. That's the point of this action-packed vision.

That's the point of every single detail being bursting with significance about his power, his word, his authority, his saving might, his beauty, to say, you've never heard it all, you've never seen it all. There's always more to discover, there's always more to wonder at, there's always more to be amazed by, there's always more to be overwhelmed by. And whether you ever feel that way about Jesus is an important test of your spiritual liveliness, your spiritual life, your spiritual maturity. Jesus himself is the point of all we do in church. If you're a kid or a teen in this congregation and you're not sure whether you want to be a Christian, not sure whether following Jesus is worth it, stare as long and hard as you can at Jesus himself.

If you're not a believer, why should you place confidence in Christ? Why should you become confident in Christ when you wouldn't say that's something that you are or that you would intend to be? Here's one reason that kind of sums up the witness of these verses. Consider what radically different qualities are united in his person and work. He came to us humbly as a suffering and serving human being, and now he reigns over all things in heaven.

He's the judge who underwent his own judgment so that all those who believe in him would not be judged. He's both severe and and sympathetic, gracious and glorious. He's high above us and he's near to us. He's utterly truthful and utterly forgiving. He's utterly perfect and utterly able to cleanse us from our imperfections.

Jesus holds together in himself so many things that the world would say you have to choose between. Authority or compassion? Power or service? Standards or sympathy? Brothers and sisters, members of CHBC, what should you do with a vision of Christ like this?

You should let it lead you to delight in Jesus and to desire him above all earthly goods. A vision like this is meant to stir up our longing to know him, serve him, love him, be like him, and ultimately be with him. Make Jesus supreme in your life. He is supreme over all things. He must be supreme in your heart.

Make Jesus your greatest authority and your greatest good. Seek him more than anything and submit to him more than anyone. When you see Jesus as he truly is, Two things should happen at once. Your confidence in him should skyrocket and your confidence in yourself should be demolished. When you see Jesus as he is, you should fall on your face before him.

And that's just what John did. Point three, the power of Jesus, the power of Jesus. We see Jesus's power and its effects in verses 17 to 20.

We'll see in these verses that the risen Jesus is God himself, the divine I am who possesses indestructible life. And because he passed through death and out into eternal life, he can deliver us from death, assure us in the face of all threats, and be present with us in all our suffering. Verse 17 tells us how John responded to this overwhelming vision. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

John was utterly overwhelmed. He was shattered. He was undone. He couldn't stand before Christ's glory. Why not?

Because Jesus is God's holiness incarnate. It's as if John dies from the exposure. This is a common theme in prophetic commissioning. Isaiah sees a vision of God's glory filling the temple and he says, Woe is me, I am undone. Ezekiel is commissioned to be a prophet by seeing a vision of God's glory in his heavenly temple.

John is commissioned to be a prophet by seeing a vision of Christ's glory. He is the divine eternal one seated on the throne of heaven. And John can do nothing but die. But Jesus doesn't leave him dead. Verses 17 and 18.

But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Jesus shattered John and then put John back together. That's how he commissioned him to be his prophet.

The same hand that holds the stars held out comfort and assurance to his terrified servant.

There's a lesson here for everyone who would follow Jesus. He demolishes and then he rebuilds. Jesus tells John not to be afraid, not because of who John is, but because of who Jesus is. In the modern world, the self is everything. You have to discover yourself, develop yourself, fulfill yourself, promote yourself, optimize yourself.

Justify yourself. It's no wonder that the modern self is so fragile because so much weight rests on it all the time and more every day. Because the modern self is so fragile, people end up putting all kinds of work into caring for themselves, preserving themselves, protecting themselves, maintaining themselves, putting the pieces of their inner self back together. And given all that the modern self has to do day by day, some of that work is legitimate, even necessary. But so often, the work people do on themselves only goes one way.

All the effort goes toward protecting the self, guarding the self, preserving the self, keeping the self safe from any threats or even any calls to change. But what about those parts of yourself that really do need to change? Are you aware of any aspects of yourself that deserve to be demolished?

What if self-obsession is not the solution but the problem? A critical test of whether you've really met the real Jesus is whether it shattered yourself. Whether he shook you to your roots, whether he turned your life upside down. Jesus demolishes everything you take confidence in chiefly yourself. He takes away your former confidence and gives you an infinitely better confidence in its place.

That confidence is rooted in who Jesus is and what he has done. Look again at verse 17.

Fear not, I am the first and the last. Jesus is borrowing God's own self-description from chapter 1 verses 4 and 8. Jesus is claiming to be the true God who alone is the beginning of all things, as their creator, and the end of all things, as their ruler, as their goal, their satisfaction. Jesus is telling John, don't be afraid, because I am the ruler of everything. And he says, he's the living one.

Unlike us, he has life in himself. Unlike our life, which begins and ends, his life simply is. But then what comes next is a paradox. Fear not, I'm the first and the last and the living one. I died.

And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Here, Jesus is pointing us to the heart of his saving work. He died and rose again. And when he rose, he rose with indestructible life. Life is a gift from God to all of us.

And because it's from God, we owe it back to him in obedience, in service, in worship. But the essence of sin is that we choose to live for ourselves rather than God. And so, God is just to turn us away. God is just to warn us. God is just to threaten us.

God is just ultimately to punish us eternally in hell because we've scorned him and used his gift for ourself instead of for him. What we deserve is death, not life, and that eternally. So, Jesus, who has life in himself, came to earth and took on human life. He entered into our life, lived a perfect life, and gave himself in death to suffer the consequences for what we all deserve for scorning God. He took on our death, not only physical death, but spiritual death.

On the cross, he suffered God's wrath. On the cross, he paid the penalty that we all owe to God, but cannot pay. And as he says, I died and behold, I'm alive forevermore. He entered into death and then escaped from death. When Jesus rose, he blew a hole hole out the back of the grave so that anyone who trusts in him will follow him out the back end of death.

That's his promise. If you believe in him, that he will become your life and he will deliver you from death and will give you an indestructible life, just like the one he now has as a glorified human being. That is what Jesus holds out to you today. If you'll simply turn from sin and believe in him. And this is why, if you believe in Jesus, you need not fear, should not fear, must not fear.

What is there to be afraid of? Look again at verse 17. The words of Jesus himself, fear not. If you trust in Jesus, these words are addressed to you as much as to John.

Fear not, your sin can't separate you from your Savior. Fear not, your suffering will not shatter your soul. Fear not, your loneliness won't last much longer. Fear not, your worst disappointments don't deserve to be compared with the glorious eternal satisfaction Jesus himself will give you. Fear not, no harms of this life will survive into the next.

Fear not, for Jesus, death is a memory and one day it will be for you.

After assuring John on the basis of his divine power, His saving work and resurrection life. Jesus reminds John that He has authority over everything. Look at the end of verse 18: I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Jesus has power over every person's life and death, and over their eternal destinies. And it's on that basis that he commands John to write.

Look at verse 19. Write, therefore, the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this.

Jesus' unparalleled authority is the basis of John's prophetic commission. And now we see the shape of the whole passage. Jesus first speaks to John, summoning him to declare his word to all the churches. Then he shows himself to John so that John will personally experience the reality of what he's going to write. Jesus makes the message pass into John before it passes through him.

Jesus makes John submit to his supremacy before he proclaims his supremacy. And then once John has seen who's talking, Jesus commissions him again and reminds him of who he is, telling him to say what he sees. Jesus tells him that the vision he's going to receive is about both the present and the future, the things that are and the things that will take place after. One of the reasons Revelation is such a practical book is because it pulls back the veil on reality and shows us what's happening right now but that our eyes can't see. Revelation is immediately relevant because the things it's telling us, many of them, are taking place right now before us, just not before our eyes.

Then Jesus goes on to explain two elements of the vision that John saw, the stars in his right hand and the seven lampstands in the heavenly temple. Look at verse 20. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

When Jesus says that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, I think he means heavenly spiritual angelic beings. The Greek word translated angel can also simply mean messenger. So in theory, this could refer to human messengers and many throughout church history have taken it that way. But everywhere else in Revelation, Sixty-seven times total, in fact. The word angel always refers to a heavenly spiritual being.

And it makes better sense here to see a reference to angels than humans because they're symbolized by heavenly bodies shining in the heavens. And many biblical and early Jewish texts associate angels with heavenly bodies like stars. What role do these angelic beings play in the life of the church? I don't really know. They somehow represent and are responsible for the earthly congregation.

Does CHPC have an angel?

I don't know. Maybe.

The second image Jesus unpacks is that of the seven lampstands. He says the seven lampstands are the seven churches, meaning the seven churches in Asia Minor that John's about to address and that Jesus is about to address. What does it tell us that these lampstands are with Christ in the heavenly temple? It's a way of saying in apocalyptic imagery what Paul says in Ephesians 2:6, that God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Or in Colossians 3:3 that you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

In other words, the life of every local church spans earth and heaven. We exist visibly, bodily, down here on earth and spiritually and invisibly in heaven. We already have communion with God in His heavenly sanctuary. We already have access to His heavenly throne. And not only that, but consider what the very next verse of Revelation says.

Revelation 2:1, To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

Where in the Bible have you heard that?

Before. God in the Garden of Eden before the fall walked among Adam and Eve. In the church's heavenly life, edenic fellowship with God is restored. Though Jesus is absent from us in the flesh, he's with us because we're with him. No matter how far away Jesus seems, he's near.

He's with us. Now, the fact that the seven churches are seven lampstands is another way of saying that we are a city on a hill, a light to the nations. In the earthly tabernacle, the one lampstand was shining out God's presence. Now, taking that image and extending it and applying it to the churches shows that we are meant to shine with the very character and glory of God. We are God's light shining out in the world.

Our character and our corporate life together is meant to reflect God's character to the world.

Light should shine in and through us. Now, it never does that perfectly. Sometimes it seems like hardly any light gets through at all. But that's one of the reasons why Jesus continues to walk among us. In ancient Israel's tabernacle, one of the priests' duties was to trim the lamps and supply new oil to keep the lampstand burning brightly.

So what's Jesus doing among the lampstands in heaven? He's trimming our wicks and he's providing fresh oil to keep us burning brightly. That's exactly what he's going to do throughout chapters two and three as he writes to these churches with encouragement, instruction, rebuke, promises. He's molding them, shaping them, refashioning these churches. Through his word so that they reflect his heavenly character.

Jesus has not abandoned his churches. Jesus will never neglect his churches. Jesus is the heavenly priest who walks among the lampstands, and he will not let our light go out.

Why should you be confident in Christ? Because he has God's own life and God's own power. Because he entered death, exited death, and demolished death. Because he has the power to raise you from death forever. What other religious teacher could even possibly claim to do that?

Why should you be confident in Christ? Because he not only knows the future but rules the future. Because he's with us, attentive to us, cares for us, and will not leave or forsake us. Whatever makes it hard for you to believe, look to Jesus himself for your answer. Look to his eternal divine person.

Look to his saving work. Look to his power and glory to his reign over all things. Look to his voice that blares like a trumpet and roars like the ocean. Look to the one who died and behold, He's alive forevermore. Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for revealing Jesus to us in this passage. We pray that we would receive Him by faith. Pray that we'd be humbled before him. Pray that you would take us apart and put us back together by the power of your spirit in light of who Jesus is in himself and who he is for us. We pray that you would give us confidence in Jesus in the face of all opposition, all persecution, all hardship, and in the face of death itself.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.