The Cosmic Christ
For Meditation
Last week we spent our time looking at the type of book that Revelation is. We saw it first was a letter that John wrote to all the churches of Asia Minor at the time to encourage them. We also saw that it was a prophecy that was meant to critique the ruling Roman power at the time. And finally we learned that Revelation is an apocalypse, which is a style of writing that simply means revealing or disclosing. Through this book we get a revealing or disclosure of the true reality that Jesus is seated on the throne of God.
This week we get into the first of seven visions John sees and records in his book. This is a powerful, dramatic vision of Jesus. John loves the Old Testament, and Revelation is full of many, many different allusions to Old Testament scripture. This particular image seems to be drawing heavily from the book of Daniel, Chapter 7, which describes God as the ancient of days and also describes a mysterious figure called Son of Man. In this vision, those two images are merged together as John sees a dramatic vision of Jesus standing among the churches. This vision also gives us a dramatic picture of who Jesus is, reminding us that in him we see God himself, and that he is a figure of such dramatic power, that if like John, we truly saw as he is now, we would fall at his feet as though dead. This image is both a challenge and an encouragement to us. The challenge is that we would find our hope in him and him alone and not the many other things that we trust in when we find ourselves in trouble. And the comfort is that despite everything we are going through, Jesus is reigning as the Powerful King.
Revelation 1:9–20
9 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. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 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. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 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. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 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.”
Note: We will not be going through the Revelation series at our outdoor services. Instead, we’ll be looking at short stories about Jesus from the Gospel accounts. Keep up with this Revelation sermon series by listening here.