Bible Talks - Traditional Church (Sunday 8am)
Series: Letters from Heaven · Talk No. 1
One Sunday on Patmos
Sunday, 23 July 2006
This morning we’re setting out on a series of sermons from the book of Revelation. Revelation seems to occupy one of two positions in people’s affections. Either it is totally neglected or it is elevated to a prominence shared by no other biblical book.
The reason that many neglect it is that apart from the letters to the young churches in chapters 2 and 3 it is given over to weird and exotic images and literary forms. These, coupled with its constant use of Old Testament images and ideas, puts the book in the too hard category for many ordinary readers.
On the other hand there are those who just seem to revel in the books weirdness and give it undue prominence. When the modern prophets and futuristic gurus have finished their extraordinary explanations and mapped out their visions of the future of the world, the ordinary reader is so frightened out of his wits he steers well clear of the book. His fright is a combination of the awful events that are claimed to be about to burst upon us and the apparent measure of expertise that is required to interpret the book of Revelation properly.
The book is to some extent about future events, but then again so is much of the bible --- the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the consummation of God's Kingdom --- these are all future events.
There is also the matter of all the weird and wonderful imagery in the book, that seems to require an expert to interpret it, someone who posses the secret key to unlock it. Well there is a key to unlock it but it’s no secret, the actual principals of interpretation are well known and are accessible to us all. Graham Goldsworthy, in his introduction to his book “The Gospel in Revelation” writes,
“In talking about principles of interpretation, I do not want to give the impression that there is some secret key which unlocks all. There is a key, but it is not a secret. Nor do I want to suggest that it is a wholly technical matter which removes interpretation from the grasp of the simple minded and the theologically untrained. All disciplines and specialization of interest have some technical terms. A housewife tells me that she is a simple person and not up to any theological technicalities, and then turns without a thought to operate the latest in sewing machine gadgetry, or to interpret without a mistake a knitting pattern which makes Egyptian hieroglyphics pale into insignificance. A man tells me he is uneducated and not able lo understand anything beyond the "simple gospel", and then proceeds to tune a car engine with the aid of some very sophisticated electronics. More often than not, it is unfamiliarity which daunts us rather than inherent difficulty. If we are motivated, most of us can and do come to grips with technical terms and abstract ideas.”
So as we set out to explore the book of Revelation I’m going to start by taking you through the principles behind interpreting the book and the keys to much of the weird imagery.
We start off with a set of 11 propositions: Which I’ll put up on the screen.
Proposition 1
The book of Revelation gives 7 parallel descriptions of the same historical era, namely the time between the first and second comings of Christ.
Proposition 2
The 7 descriptions are grouped into 2 major divisions. The first division shows the STRUGGLE ON EARTH – the church is persecuted in the world, it is avenged, protected and is finally victorious. The second division shows the deeper STRUGGLE IN HEAVEN – Christ and the church are persecuted by Satan and his cohorts – Of course Christ and his church are ultimately victorious.
Proposition 3
The book of Revelation is not just a collection of odd prophesies and images lumped together but shows a unified development and purpose. Like the Old Testament prophesies its purpose is to elicit a certain human moral conduct based on the revealing of God’s purpose and actions. It contains promises of reward for those who choose to obey God and warnings of peril for those who disobey. It gives a progressive revelation of God's purposes leading up to the descriptions of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Proposition 4
The sections are arranged in ascending climactic order:
Announcement > Introduction > description
Proposition 5
Each detail of the verbal picture presented MUST be interpreted in harmony with the rest of the picture rather than in isolation. e.g. the rider of the white horse in chapter 6 is one of the four baddies but the rider of the white horse in chapter 19 is Christ.
Proposition 6
Revelation, like the rest of the bible, is speaking primarily to the people it was first written to, so we have to look for interpretations that were relevant to them. It is only then that we can work out the divine principles involved and apply them to our situation.
Proposition 7
Like all scripture Revelation must be interpreted in harmony with the teaching of the whole Bible.
Proposition 8
Much of the imagery belongs to identifiable “Apocalyptic” style and so the meaning of the imagery must be sought there. There is some imagery for which the meaning has been lost.
Proposition 9
The real author of Revelation is God and it contains his purpose concerning the history of the church. Some commentators see the author as being Jesus himself.
Proposition 10
Stick to what is actually written as the revealed word of God rather than the speculations of sinful, fallible, men.
Proposition 11
Pray that God's Holy Spirit will reveal his purpose and meaning to us as we study this book.
Right. Let’s do that now then we’ll listen to a dramatized reading of Revelation Chapter 1. It’s from the Good News Bible and you can follow it on the screen if you wish.
What did you think of that? During this series we will use the dramatized readings for Revelation instead of having someone read it.
John saw two visions. One is referred to verses 9-20 of chapter 1, and we’ll meet the other in a couple of weeks when we get to chapter 4. These two visions form the substance of what he calls the revelation.
This "revelation" originated from God who gave it to Jesus who in turn sent his messenger to his servant John. This messenger was probably a human messenger from the churches of Asia, who had come to Patmos to tell the revered Christian leader about the grave difficulties Christians were then Facing in the mainland cities.
One of the difficulties of translating the Bible is that the Greek word for messenger is used equally for a human messenger and a heavenly messenger or ANGEL. Often you can only tell from the context which type of messenger it is and we have a tendency to spiritualize and always think of a heavenly messenger rather than a human one.
As John reflected in "the Spirit" on this news from Asia, God gave him the two visions about which he proceeds to write. Once completed, couriers took the "book" containing his prophecy to the seven cities in the Roman province of Asia where it was to be read aloud to the assembled congregations.
Clearly John is writing his "prophecy" for the benefit of hearers who were at that time facing suffering and death, which "must soon take place" in the churches in Roman Asia. This is not to say that John's words only apply to the hearers in the immediate times about which he wrote. His "book" is applicable to Christians throughout the whole of human history. But we must begin by asking what the writer meant his original readers to understand, and only then can we work out what his words mean for us now.
John clearly regards what he has written as scripture. He refers to "the prophecy of this book" a number of times. He calls it a "revelation" which originated with God to be read aloud in the churches and in the final chapter gives a strong warning that it was not to be added to nor subtracted from.
It was not John's intention to give a detailed or event-specific preview of world history, as did for example the French astrologer Nostradamus in the 16th century. Rather, John gives a prophetic interpretation of those evil forces which were and are at work within history before the final return of Jesus as they will affect people in general and Christians in particular. John's prophecy where it relates to the future is not event-specific but general in character.
John is not so much focusing on the future as on the past. The future is entirely controlled by the past. The past in question is the already-completed victory of Jesus over those evil forces which were against him and which, though defeated, remain to afflict those who bear witness to him. Understood in this way the futuristic references are made in order to identify as demonic the sources of suffering to Christians and others in the world and to show that, in the words of Luther's great hymn, "their doom is writ". Indeed it is. Christ has conquered, prevailed, triumphed; the victory is his, the outcome not in doubt.
John's "prophecy" is not a series of bizarre forecasts about future historical events but a presentation of the "word of God", that is, the "testimony" or "witness" to Jesus. It is nothing more or less than the gospel of Jesus as applied to the sufferings of believers in a hostile environment.
In the formal greeting in vs. 4&5 John prays that his readers will enjoy the blessings of grace and peace
· from him who is and who was and who is to come
· from the seven spirits before his throne
· and from Jesus Christ
In the doxology following the greeting, special reference is made to Jesus Christ, the one to whom God gave his revelation to make known to his servants through John. This is the person whom John chiefly brings before us. John gives us an astonishing wealth of information about Jesus Christ. Jesus is to be the focus of the reader's attention throughout the Revelation and this is made clear by the emphasis given to him in this the first part of the "book".
We are told in the doxology that Jesus loves us, he has freed us from our sins he has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. This is the Jesus that John is proclaiming and his powerfully evangelical greeting-doxology concludes with a strong statement affirming the return of Jesus. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him , and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. The return of Jesus is the climax of history and the final element in the gospel as Jesus himself stated Matthew 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other”.
John now tells his readers about the first vision.
Although remote from the Asian Churches on lonely Patmos he identifies himself as their brother, their companion in suffering and in the kingdom and in the patient endurance that are his and theirs in Jesus. The Roman authorities had taken exception to John's gospel-ministry in Asia and deported him to this remote island in the Aegean. It wasn’t just a rest cure, he would have been a slave in the sulphur mines. Both he and the Asian churches, though physically separated, share in the common experience of suffering on account of their public witness to Jesus.
One Lord's Day, that is Sunday, John was in the Spirit, either prophesying to other Christians on Patmos or engaged in some form of spiritual reflection or meditation. It was then that he was startled to hear the trumpet-like voice behind him directing him to write on a scroll the things he saw.
What John saw when he turned towards "the voice" was an amazing sight. Before him stood the seven golden lamp stands, later identified as the seven churches of Asia which figure so prominently in the Revelation. Among the lamp stands was, a human figure, someone "like a son of man". These words derive from the Book of Daniel chapter 7 where Daniel describes one "like a son of man" who comes to the "Ancient of Days" who has given to that man-like person an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, a sovereignty over all peoples for all time. Son of Man was Jesus favorite name for himself, laying claim to that prophesy from Daniel. The point is that here, in place of the transient empires of the world is the transcendent, permanent ruler, who would be worshipped by all.
When John saw this person before him he fell at his feet as though dead (v.l7). The total impact of his physical appearance and clothing were overpowering. The full-length robe as of a king, the white hair like that of the "Ancient of Days", Yahweh from Daniel 7 and the blazing, all-seeing eyes of the divine Judge drove John to kneel before this awesome figure. The fiery bronze feet of the conqueror, the thunderous, authoritative voice, the powerful right hand holding the seven stars representing the local church leaders, the sword-like tongue in the mouth and the face brilliantly shining complete the image of the One who stood before John.
To John's immense relief this Judge-King reassuringly placed his right hand on him and spoke the following comforting words:
Do not be afraid.
I AM the First and the Last.
I AM the Living One.
I was dead, and behold
I AM alive for ever and ever.
I hold the keys of death and Hades, (vs. 17-18)
Jesus' deity is implied by the threefold I AM, by the title "Living One" and by his sovereignty over history as the "first and the last". And the keys to death and Hades which is God's eternal punishment are by virtue of his own victory over death. Though dead he is alive for ever and ever.
The completed, past victory of Christ is in mind. There is no future battle in prospect; the victory already Christ’s. His absolute control over death and Hades is good news for John, for the churches and for us. He exercises that ultimate control over death, the last enemy for our benefit. And finally, the Risen One directs John to write what has been revealed to him:
- What he has seen; that is the circumstances of the seven churches in chapters 2-3 that Neil will tell us about next week.
- What is; that is the reality of God the Almighty and of the Lion and Lamb that we’ll see in chapters 4-5.
- What is to come i.e. the things which are yet to occur in history in chapters 6-22.
If you wish to read ahead next week we’ll be looking at the letters to the churches in Chapters 2 & 3 and I’ll be explaining some of the symbolism and imagery before we start on the rest of the vision before we look at chapters 4 & 5 the following week.
Let us pray.