Sight for Sore Eyes - Part 1 (Manuscript)
The following is an unedited, full manuscript of the sermon.
I think it’s obvious to us that these are distressing times in which we live. Really, for the first time in the history of our country, we are, as believers, an alien assembly in a hostile land. That’s new for us. But that’s the world the church was originally born into. As John begins this wonderful book of Revelation, he does so with that recognition. He will write about his own trials in verse 9, of chapter 1. Author Eugene Peterson wrote these thought-provoking words fourteen years ago,
God’s revelation of Himself is rejected far more often than it is accepted, is dismissed by far more people than embrace it, and has been either attacked or ignored by every major culture or civilization in which it has given its witness: magnificent Egypt, fierce Assyria, beautiful Babylon; artistic Greece, political Rome, enlightened France, Nazi Germany, Renaissance Italy, Marxist Russia, Maoist China, and pursuit -of-happiness America. The community of God’s people has survived in all of these cultures and civilizations but always as a minority, always marginal to the mainstream, never statistically significant (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places; Eerdmans, 2005, p. 288).
Jesus told us, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. . .If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18, 20). Paul told Timothy, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12). The mark of a Christian is suffering and the apostle Paul made this very clear to the early church when this new revelation of the gospel was revealed through Christ. Paul said it would provoke spiritual warfare and be ready to battle with the right kind of weapons and the right kind of attitude (Ephesians 6). He said that the gospel would be offensive to the unbeliever (I Corinthians 1:18). In other words, those who believe in their religion of works suddenly become quite intolerant of those who trust alone in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you happen to subscribe to the magazine, the Voice of the Martyrs, you can read that all over the world today, the blood of martyrs is flowing like never before from those who will not deny the singularity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. Because of Satan’s undercurrent of false religion, the religions of the world can tolerate anything and everything but true, gospel-believing, Christ-exalting Christianity. The church existed from its very outset in a highly pagan world. Persecution resulted. The apostles were virtually all rejected, most of them martyred. Imagine what this Revelation meant to the early church. The prospects of the infant church looked bleak. What hope did they have? Where was the risen Lord? Did He really care? Was this the end? Their questions were all vanished, fears removed and hope restored after reading the opening paragraphs of this book of prophecy, in which Jesus Christ says, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Revelation 1:8). When John received this vision, he saw anew the glorified Christ. What comfort when times are tough and particular crises seem to overtake us. John found himself in just this kind of situation, exiled as a political prisoner in the rock quarry of Patmos. Here in our text this morning, chapter 1, verses 5-11, the apostle John shares with us His amazing experience of seeing the Lord exalted in splendor. Let’s look at three of them.
Prayer:
In Rome the only rule for religious groups was that you had to worship Caesar. Rome believed that stability came with the common worship of their leader; however, the Caesars were pictures of human depravity. The emperor at the time of the Revelation to John was Domitian, one of the most wicked of all the Caesars. He called himself the king of kings and lord of lords. His problem with the Christians was that they worshipped none other than Jesus Christ. So, Rome felt like this superstition called Christianity would break down their empire and thus Christianity became illegal. Many were killed unless they were willing to deny their faith in Jesus Christ. Can you imagine if you were a Christian mother in that day? Living with that frightening pit in your stomach that your husband could be executed and your children taken to the coliseum to be devoured by wild animals for sport? Then sitting in church one day, you hear your pastor read this letter. “John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (7) Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. (8) ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” This same message is from God the Father, to God the Son, to His angel, to John and to us. How do you think that would have made you feel?
Maybe you remember being in the military or at summer camp and at mail call they called your name. Someone remembered where you were and wrote to you. It was a huge picker-up for you. I think that when the church received this letter it was very encouraging. Friends, we may not have had our blood spilled for our faith in Christ and are probably not facing exile, like John experienced. But this does not mean that we have not been ridiculed for our faith in Christ. Have you ever had family members resent your presence—even if you haven’t said anything—but just because they know what you believe? Have you ever been accused of being judgmental? Have you ever been called “narrow-minded,” “arrogant,” “self-righteous,” “intolerant,” “bigoted,” or “unintelligent” because you believe that the only way to be right with God is to trust in Jesus Christ?
That’s why all persecuted Christians can draw great comfort from the book of Revelation. The first prominent person John reveals is truly a Sight For Sore Eyes. This vision is the revelation of Jesus Christ. There are some who will read this description of the Lord Jesus quite casually and coolly. It won’t make any difference to them. “So, He was a Man. He lived. He died. Maybe He rose again. So what?” There are others here whose hearts will rejoice as the glories of the Savior are unfolded before our eyes. To you, it will be exciting. Why the difference? The apostle Peter tell us what makes the difference: “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious” (I Peter 2:7). So, let’s see Jesus in all of His glory for comfort and for accountability.
- Sore eyes fix their vision on the exalted Christ - vv. 5-8 In verses 5-8, John reveals Christ exalted in six different ways, it’s like turning a diamond in the light and seeing the radiance of the diamond from six different angles.
- Who He is:
- (1) He is exalted in His revelation - v. 5 As a faithful witness, Jesus declared unto us everything that the Father wanted us to know (John 12:47). He could stand before Pilate near the end of His life and affirm confidently, “. . .I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37). He has faithfully testified to us of the Father, and has sealed His testimony with His blood. He is the faithful witness
- (2) He is exalted in His resurrection - v. 5 “the firstborn from the dead,” Jesus is exalted as the victor over death. There had been a number of resurrections prior to our Lord’s, but in every case the persons were restored to physical life, only to die again. Christ was the first to rise to a new kind of life, and His resurrection establishes the pattern for our own. Paul calls Him the first-fruits of them that slept (I Cor. 15:20).
- (3) He is exalted in His reign - v. 5 His witness and resurrection are now past. His fulfillment of the role of “ruler of the kings of the earth” is future, to be achieved after His victory over the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19), fulfilling Isaiah 9:6-7 which says, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that forward, even forever. . . .”
- What He did:
- (4) He is exalted in His redemption - vv. 5-6 Here, we see special emphasis to what has already been accomplished for believers. Christ is the one who “loved us and washed us” clean from our sins with His own blood. His has loosed us from the penalty and the power of sin and one day we will be loosed from the presence of sin. Drawing from Exodus 19:6 John declares our induction into Christ’s kingdom as kings and priests. We are now a holy priesthood. Peter stated, “But you are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). What did priests in the Old Testament do? They brought people near to God. We also, as believers, bring people the gospel, which, by the power of the Spirit, draws them near to God. Priests sacrificed. What are we to sacrifice? We saw in Romans 12:1, “. . .our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.” It was messy, but the Old Testament priests had to kill the animal before offering it as a sacrifice. Offering a dead sacrifice is easier than offering a living sacrifice. Dead sacrifices do not have the ability to crawl off the altar. We must offer ourselves daily to this One who is worthy. Hebrews 13:5 informs us that we are to, “continually offer [up] the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” We are not only priests but also kings destined for thrones. How should that make you feel? I think it should make us feel like John at the end of verse 6, “Amen!” It’s true!