The Living Jesus (Revelation 1:1–20)
Old, alone, and banished to Patmos, John asks what his churches under pressure are asking: is Jesus really Lord? Can he protect his people? Revelation answers with a person, not a puzzle. The living Jesus has freed us from our sins by his blood, he is coming with the clouds, and he walks among his churches now. "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Look at him, and fear not.
Revelation! Here we go.
Put yourself in John’s sandals. The disciple who once leaned against Jesus at the Last Supper is an old man now, alone on a rocky island called Patmos, banished on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (v. 9). Across the ocean are seven congregations he loves, and they’re under pressure. The Empire calls Caesar Kurios, “Lord.” Their neighbors expect them to honor the gods of their cities and Empire. In Pergamum, a faithful believer named Antipas has already been killed (2:13). The question pressing on John’s heart and on those churches’ consciences is this: Is Jesus really Lord? Can he protect his people?
Revelation is Jesus’ answer. That’s why I’ve called this series Jesus Wins.
Four Keys for Reading Revelation
Before we look at chapter 1, let me give you four keys for reading this book.
First, Revelation is about a person, not a puzzle. It’s the revelation of Jesus Christ (v. 1). That means from him, about him.[1] Children: when you get lost in the thousand pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, what do you do? You look at the picture on the box. Jesus is the picture on the box.
Second, Revelation reveals. Apokalypsis means taking the cover off. This book was not given to be interpreted by us but to interpret the world for us.[2]
Third, it was written to real churches in real trouble (v. 4), in signs drawn from the Old Testament. You don’t need a prophecy chart to crack its code. The code is the Old Testament.
Fourth, it’s meant to be heard and kept: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it (v. 3). That’s you tonight, gathered to hear it.
Theme
Here’s the answer to John’s question: Jesus is Lord, and he keeps his people—not from tribulation, but in it and through it—because he’s alive. The living Jesus has freed us, he’s coming for us, and he walks among us. So look at him, and fear not.
Transition: What does Jesus show a suffering church first? Not scary dragons and beasts. Jesus, the living one (v. 18).
The Living Jesus Has Freed Us (vv. 4–6)
John greets the churches with grace… and peace from the Triune God (v. 4). From the Father, who is and who was and who is to come. Everything God was to Israel in Egypt and to Daniel in Babylon, he is now, and he always will be. From the seven spirits who are before his throne, the Holy Spirit in all his fullness, whose fire burns in every lampstand-church, including this one (4:5). And from Jesus Christ. Notice how John describes Jesus.
He’s the faithful witness, who told the truth and was killed for it.
He’s the firstborn of the dead, the first of a whole family who will rise.
He’s the ruler of kings on earth (v. 5).
Again and again in this book, the kings of the earth are the ones who oppose him (6:15; 17:2; 19:19). They killed him; he rules them. Caesar said he was “Lord,” but he wasn’t. No president, parliament, or party is Lord today. Jesus is.
No wonder John bursts into praise: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (vv. 5–6).
Church, you’re unloved by the world, but you’re loved by your Savior, right now, present tense. You feel the marks on your wrists and ankles where the chains of sin were, but you’ve been freed. You’re so small in the eyes of the world, but you’ve been made…a kingdom, priests. What God called Israel at Sinai (Ex. 19:6), he now calls you.
Transition: That’s what the living Jesus has done. But freed people still suffer. John is on Patmos, Antipas is in the grave. So what do we hope for while Caesar still sits on his throne? Look where John looks next.
The Living Jesus Is Coming for Us (vv. 7–8)
Then comes the first “behold” in this chapter: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him (v. 7).
In the Bible, clouds mean glory. The glory-cloud covered Sinai and filled the tabernacle. Daniel saw one like a son of man coming “with the clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13). A cloud took Jesus out of the disciples’ sight (Acts 1:9). He will return the way he left, in glory.
Many of us were taught to hope for a secret rapture, when Jesus takes the church away before the trouble starts. But look at what Jesus gives seven churches already in trouble: Himself. Every eye will see him. As William Hendriksen said, “The Bible knows nothing about an invisible or secret second coming.”[3]
For all who trust him, that day is our hope. We wait for the Judge who’s already stood trial in our place (HC, Q&A 52). But for those who refuse him, it’ll be a day of hopeless wailing. Zechariah spoke of them looking on the pierced one and mourning (Zech. 12:10). Look on him now in faith; rejoice to see him then.
We can say Amen because of who’s speaking: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (v. 8). He is the A to Z, the beginning to end, and everything in between. The coming One is the Almighty; at the end of the book Jesus uses these very words for himself! (22:13) Take courage! No enemy can destroy your Christ.[4]
Transition: He is the one who was and who is to come. But notice where that name starts: he is the one who is. We live between verses 5 and 7, in the pressure of the present. So what about right now?
The Living Jesus Walks Among Us (vv. 9–20)
Back to Patmos. John calls himself your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus (v. 9). Tribulation means pressure, and it isn’t only future. Neither is the kingdom. We live in both now. As Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).
It was the Lord’s day, the day of resurrection, the same day we gather tonight. John was in the Spirit, and he heard a loud voice like a trumpet (v. 10). He turned, and he saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man (vv. 12–13).
Where is Jesus while his churches suffer? In the midst of the lampstands.
Look at him. He wears a long robe and a golden sash, clothing fit for a king and a priest (Ex. 28:4). Caesar claimed to be both Imperator and Pontifex Maximus—Emperor and High Priest of Rome. Jesus is the true King; he is the great High Priest. His hair is white, like white wool, like snow (v. 14), the way Daniel saw the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9). This Son of Man is God himself. His eyes were like a flame of fire: nothing is hidden from him. His voice was like the roar of many waters (v. 15): pounding the rocks of Patmos. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength (v. 16).
Don’t pull this picture apart piece by piece. Take it in whole. This is the holy Jesus, who comes to purify his churches and to judge those who persecute them.[5]
No wonder John fell at his feet as though dead (v. 17). But listen: he laid his right hand on me. The same right hand that holds the seven stars (v. 16) now rests on a trembling old man, as He says, “Fear not.”
The vision wasn’t meant to terrify, but to comfort.[6] Here’s why he doesn’t need to fear: 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 (vv. 17–18). That’s the second “behold” in this chapter. He’s coming; he’s alive. And he holds the keys. Death can’t keep your soul from Christ. On the last day he’ll raise your body and reunite it with your soul (HC, Q&A 57).
Then Jesus says: write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this (v. 19). That’s the map. Tonight, we’ve seen what John saw: the living Jesus. Next Lord’s Day, we’ll hear those that are in Jesus’ words to his churches (chs. 2–3). From then until December 20, we’ll see those that are to take place after this (chs. 4–22).
Don’t read 1:19 as a timeline of what happens after the church is gone. After this simply means the future, and the future John sees stretches across the whole age between verse 5, when Jesus freed us by his blood on the cross, and verse 7, when he comes with the clouds.[7] John tells that story again and again, like painting a wall: top to bottom, back to the top, and down again, each time ending with the return of Christ. And each time, Jesus wins!
Conclusion: Look at Him and Fear Not
Beloved, whatever you carried in tonight, look at Jesus and fear not. You’re not your own. You belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to him (HC, Q&A 1). He died. Behold, he is alive forevermore. And he holds the keys.
You’re free; so live like it tomorrow morning. You were bought with blood and made a priest to serve your boss, teacher, or customer.
You’re waiting for a person. It’s going to be sunny all week. North County is so comfortable that you forgot you’re waiting for something. That’s our pressure. Not a sword like Antipas, but a life so pleasant that Jesus becomes optional. Look up. He’s coming, and every eye will see him.
You won’t face this week alone. Jesus isn’t watching from a distance. He walks in the midst of the lampstands, and that’s this room, tonight.
Notes
- William Hendriksen reads this as the revelation Jesus gives. More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation (1940, 1967; Baker Book House, seventh printing, 1990), 51. G. K. Beale sees both. The Book of Revelation, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 1999), 183.↩
- See David A. deSilva, Unholy Allegiances: Heeding Revelation’s Warning (Hendrickson, 2013), 8.↩
- Hendriksen, 54.↩
- Hendriksen, 55.↩
- Hendriksen, 56–57.↩
- Hendriksen, 57.↩
- Hendriksen, 16, 58, 82.↩