A Vision For A Vision

Thank you. You can be seated. If you're our guest, my name is Brian. I'm the lead pastor here. We're glad that you're with us.

Take your Bibles. There are Bibles in front of you on the racks. You can grab them. and turning them to the book of Revelation. We're in a summer series that's looking at Revelation 1 through 3.

As we move that direction, I want to make mention and just remind you of this coming Saturday. If you're available to come join us, we have a service outreach for our whole church over at Columbia Elementary School, just on the east side of Bangador Highway in 7800. And we'd love to have you come join us from about 8 a.m. until I would imagine we'd be done by noon or 1. And our plan is to just work there and swap out their landscaping from rocks to bark and as a way of us loving people in our community.

So the more we get, the merrier it is. Because then we're doing it quicker.

So come join us. We'd love to have you bring some rakes and gloves and shovels. Um We're going to be in Revelation, so we'll be in Revelation 1, verses 9 through 20, as we think about Jesus' letter to his churches. And I've titled this A Vision for a Vision. Um In the early nineteen uh early nineteenth century.

Um The psychotherapist, psychiatrist, psychologist Carl Jung, who is probably one of maybe the three most influential. People forming modern psychotherapy, him and Freud, and probably B.F. Skinner. But Jung, who's the father of analytic Psychology. Um was based out of Switzerland and he was helping different people.

And there was a woman who came to see him from the US. And she came to see him after her father had died and she was battling depression. And as he was helping her, in one of the correspondents to assist her. He wrote a letter to her. And I want to rule just a paragraph of a letter he wrote where he's efforting to help her.

deal with her depression. in lieu of the death of her father. He wrote, I realize that under the circumstances you have described, you feel the need to see clearly. You're muddled, you're not able to see reality for what it is. But your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.

Without, everything seems discordant. Only within does it coalesce into unity. Who looks outside dreams? Who looks inside? awakes.

I read that. And I hate it. And I think most people read that and go. Wow, yeah. Man, that's inspirational.

We've gotta really look inside ourselves to figure out what's going on. I don't like it. because of two parts. Your vision will become clear only when you can look in your own heart and awakening comes from looking inside. Do you think that the present culture and light?

Of the therapeutic craze for finding all of your answers within yourself has made us a better society or a worse society. We we live in a world Where we don't just go to a good counselor, which is very helpful. We have a counseling center for crying out loud. We believe in it. But we don't just go to a counselor for an iteration.

We go to a therapist for the rest of our lives. We have our own therapist. Who gives us a weekly pep talk and invites us into the journey of the inward self. to discover who we really are, to secure our identity from within our own spacelessness and our own voidlessness. And I read that, and I think this is part of the problem that we face: is that what distinguishes, for example, a biblical counselor from modern psychotherapy.

Is that a biblical counselor does want you to eventually look inside and see things about your own life? But you can only square the things inside in regard to your own life as you have a vision of something outside of yourself. And when we start here with this Book of Revelation. I have mentioned to you two weeks ago that the enticement in it is to sort of use it as a decoder ring to predict the future and we get lost in chapter 44 through 19, 20 a little, but 21 and 22 tell us everything's going to be great in the end. 1 through 3 seem rooted back in history and so the exciting parts for us are these middle visions and we get lost, put our decoder ring.

We're Ralphie in the Christmas story with it and we're figuring it all out. And I mentioned that that's precisely the wrong thing to do with the book. Whatever interpretation you would like to take from the options that I mentioned to you a couple weeks ago. The point of the book is singular, dual. regardless of what interpretation you take.

The point remains. And the point is this. That wherever you are, You are existing as a human over against a world system that would like to see you destroyed. It gets co-opted by the evil one, and your own flesh comes alongside and bears witness to it and invites it in. And those three great enemies are at war with you all the time.

And because those enemies are at war with you individually, but then they're also heightened collectively by the circumstances that happen in individual lives and as societies come together and we find ourselves in great cultural difficulty and people have always found themselves in great cultural difficulty. We're not in some kind of brand new, nuanced, never-before-seen culture war, no matter what media you'd like to see. It's always been the case, just with different forms. as we happen to that world. The revelation sits for you and I to create for us a vision of something.

And the vision of something is so that we would gain comfort in the midst of our daily life. as we pursue Christ, and it is so that we would then live perseverantly in obedience to Him over against those broader systems. Uh That those two things trace themselves throughout the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, in many ways, the text we're going to look at this morning. is the beginning of that. In many ways, it is The s th the the uh paradigmatic Ultimate vision. of Jesus.

Sometimes there are things that move you more than words. There are things that you can't quite put into a sentence. If you look at a piece of amazing art and somebody says, what does that make you feel, it's likely that you're going to take more than a sentence or a word to describe it.

Some of you can think back in your life, even your own walk with the Lord, and how different experiences moved you, and you can't put them into a propositional sentence. It's textured, it's bigger, it's broader. In fact, there are times in your life, my guess, like me, that you go back to different points in your life. You go back, in a sense, and renew the vision of the experience in your own psyche because it actually aids you moving forward because there's something that that brings to you that is just very tangible and palpable, but at the same time, kind of indescribable. It's to that end that John begins.

The revelation. And I want you to look with me in verse 9. I know you read it for scripture reading, but I'm going to read it again. And then we're going to zip down through. I have so much scripture this morning that I've put some of it on the screen, and we'll see how much of it I just get utterly lost in.

But there's just a lot of illusions here. And I do want to remind you of one thing as we go through it, and that is that John's primary. Referent point for what he is pulling from for these visions of Jesus is the Old Testament. That's where he's pulling from.

So, as much as it is kind of like what's called first, second century type apocalyptic literature and so forth, more than anything, this vision corresponds to the Hebrew scriptures that John was familiar with. links for us. The Old Testament to the new, all the way into the end.

So I want you to look with me in verse 9. I, John, your brother, and partner in the tribulation, in 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, to Smyrna, To Pergamum and to Thyatira to Sardis 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 wool, white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and his feet 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. And when I saw him I fell at his feet, though dead. But He laid his right hand on me. saying, fear not. I'm the first and the last and the living one.

I died and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Write there for 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. I'm going to show you a chart up here, real quick, and I'm not going to spend much time, but I just want you to see the structure of this. When you read through in chapter 2 and 3, the seven letters.

In the introduction that I looked at two weeks ago, verses 1 through 8, but mainly this section, verses 9 through 20. Phrases are used and then they are picked up on in every single introduction of each individual letter.

So what I just read to you had a number of these phrases, and each letter highlights different facets of this vision. I want you to see this because I want you to understand that when I say what we're going to look at is in some ways the key, almost artistic, visionary representation, real, but visionary representation of the purpose of the entire letter, I mean it. The intent here is that in these letters to the churches, in the circulation of the revelation at large, that this vision of who Jesus is. would be so in front of them. that when they face tribulation, When they face difficulty, when they face disappointment, when they're discouraged, when they feel like their very life hangs in the balance, they would not look within.

But they would look without. that they would look to a vision of Christ. And that the vision of Christ, who, as we sang a moment ago, indeed receives the greater glory, would be that which calls them up. And so that's why each. Each letter starts like this.

There's this brilliant piece where we're reading a literal introduction in different ways.

So As we go through this, what I want us to do is see four facets of this vision. And we'll run through the first, we'll spend a little more time on the second and zip through the third and the fourth. Verse 9, as I read, gives us the atmosphere for the vision. And that atmosphere comes to us. In sort of four pieces in verses 9 through 11.

And I'll just talk through these and we'll put them up on the screen for you. The witness to the vision, the location for the vision, the occasion of the vision, and the audience for the vision should be apostrophe, the vision's contents. The vision's contents.

So you get in verse 9, I, John, your brother, and partner in what? And what I want you to see in this little verse 9, especially the first half, is partner in, and he has three things: tribulation, the kingdom, and patient endurance that are in Jesus, and all three are in Jesus.

So he's a partner in these three, and all three of them are in Jesus. What does that mean?

Well, the reason that they'll face tribulation is because of Jesus. The reason that they can move forward and be part of a larger kingdom, and they themselves are that kingdom, one and the same. Is because of Jesus, and the reason they can have patient endurance is because of Jesus. And John is saying, I'm a partner with you in all of these. I've entered into each of these things with you.

So I come to you as a fellow traveler, one who knows what it is to live a life where I need patient endurance. And if you know anything about John and his history, you'd know that's the case. This is a guy in Acts 4 who he and Peter are up against it with the religious authorities, and they have to ultimately say, Look, we're going to obey God rather than men. And they go against the grain and against the winds of culture and against the winds of the world.

So he's actually, next, this location, he's actually found himself on Patmos. Why? Because he has walked out in obedience, because he knows what tribulation is, and because he knows what it is to hold on to the kingdom life in the midst of tribulation, and he's living amidst patience in patient endurance. That's why it says he was on the island called Patmos. On account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

So the reason he's there is because he held on to, and the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, it's like a Hendiatus, two ways of saying the same thing. This witness to the gospel. His commitment to doctrine, his commitment to Christ, his commitment to walk out his faith have led him to the island of Patmos. If you had a map, Turkey in the south, west. Corner off into the southern Aegean Sea is a little island called Patmos.

It's about the island is about two-fifths the size of West Jordan. I just loved looking at that stuff, so I figured that out. It's like 13 square miles, something like that.

So it's not very big. Not very big at all. And it's odd-shaped and so forth and rocky and all this stuff. And he is on this island and he is experiencing at this location in exile, sort of in his own sort of Alcatraz kind of thing. He's out here because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

And he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. Do not read that as the day of the Lord as some people have done. Like, I was out in the spirit and it was the end times. No, I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day means it's a Sunday.

Okay. And he's in the spirit in the sense that he is experiencing a vision. God has taken him up into a transcendent experience, much like the Apostle Paul, who has this third heaven experience in 2 Corinthians 12. And he says, And I heard behind me A loud voice like a trumpet. Saying.

Write what you see in a book. That's what we're reading: the Revelation, and send it to the seven churches. And then you have them listed: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thai, Tyrus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, on a map. If you go to the closest church from Patmos, it is Ephesus. And then, if you begin to work your way clockwise, you find the route of the circular letter that finishes in Laodicea, which is about longitude-wise, something it's kind of parallel to.

Laotis to Ephesus. They're sort of right across from each other. And so he'd go up north and then down and around. And he's just giving the pattern for these letters. It's the pattern that he'll orchestrate and orient the letters in chapter 2 and in chapter 3.

So the atmosphere is a vision on an island with a man who is in exile who knows what it is to need comfort and who knows what it is to need perseverance and who knows what it is to have a heart for churches who will need even more of the same. And man, by the time he's done with his vision, he'll know exactly how much they will need. That. Um I want you to Just think about this for a moment. as we kind of move into this vision.

Paul, writing to the Philippians, said, Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked, twisted generation, among whom you shine. as lights in the world. holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. I want you to think about that when you hear the language of lampstand. as we move through this.

Why that image of the church? Why that image? What is so crucial about you and I being able to maintain a kind of posture? being, as it were, a lampstand as a church, shining our light. in the world.

in the world, not letting it get extinguished. One of the things that's been discouraging personally to me lately is I've been reading about a lot of people publicly in ministry failing, and it feels like it's happening all the time. It really does. And it's deeply discouraging. It's discouraging because what it communicates to the world is that we can't hold on to the light.

And what happens is The more you look inside to try to hold on to the light, the more it fades away from you. But as a church collectively and as a person individually, our job is to look to Christ, to always come back to the North Star that is Jesus, and to look at this vision that's about to be described of him and to think about what it means and why it is the way that it is. And how it might help us in different ways.

So, to that end, let's think about the awesomeness of this vision. And quite, I mean quite, I don't mean awesome in a sort of Keanu Reeves way. Dude. I mean, awesome in like that. which emits a slack-jawed Wow.

That you come back to, and it's never. Never outdone by anything that the world affords you or that it comes against you with.

So, as we think about this, we'll kind of work through five aspects of Jesus. Awesomeness. And again, please do not turn that into some Christian cage. I don't mean Jesus as your awesome best buddy. I mean, Jesus is the one who could sustain your breath right now or just zap you and you'd be dead.

That's what I mean by awesome. You aren't hanging loose with Jesus this morning. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And I'm turning. He says, I hear a voice, I turn, and I saw seven golden lampstands.

And in the midst of the lamp stands one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe with a golden sash around his chest. I don't know. What that evokes in you. But there is a richness Going back to Old Testament scripture here, and he is attempting to communicate these two ideas. He's attempting to communicate Jesus as a priest-king.

It may not be what first came to your mind when you see that. It might feel more like Adam's family's spooky here and he's on the lap stands. It's intended through an Old Testament background to communicate King and priest. And it's this because when you go to Exodus and you see the description of the temple. With the golden lampstand that had one lampstand.

Now, this is not one lampstand, it's seven lampstands. which is important because it's seven individual churches that are receiving this. But in the Old Testament you have one golden lampstand in the holy place. It then forks out, three on one side, three on the other, one straight up, seven. Lamps on the lampstand.

Um you have other texts. The Old Testament. 1 Kings 7. 48 and 49.

So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, the golden table, for the bread of the presence. The lamp stands. Of pure gold. Five on the south side, five on the north, before the inner sanctuary, the flowers, the lamps, the tongs of gold.

So ten lamps stand in the temple.

So the language of lampstands with one standing among them immediately is a temple vision. That's really crucial, especially for what I'll show you next, because the primary text that stands behind it was actually preached in this church last summer when I was on sabbatical by our associate staff. And it's Zachariah 4. is the text that is standing behind this. In Zechariah 4, we read: And the angel who talked with me again and woke me.

Like a man who is awakened out of his sleep.

Now, notice it's an angel speaking. And he said to me, what do you see? And I said, I see and behold a lampstand. All of gold with a bowl on top of it, and how many lamps are on it? Seven.

With seven lips on each of the lamps. that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by. This is like the kind of dreams I have, where you're like, what are we doing here? We have lampstands and olive trees.

I had a dream the other night about driving a truck off the road, and the next thing I knew, I was choosing fast food somewhere. I don't even know what it all means. I had no idea. I just remember chicken nuggets being involved. Like you read this, you go wait Olive trees.

Lamps, stands, and seven, and the lips, it doesn't mean anything. Lips, I mean you got the lip, you know, on the edge of the lamp. One on the right of the bowl and the other on its left. And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these, my Lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are?

I said, No, my Lord. Then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel.

Now, who's Zerubbabel? Zerubbel was a governor under the Persian Empire who came and ended up coming back and leading the Jewish people. in the rebuilding of the temple.

So he was a governor, he was a descend uh a relative of the next to last king of Judah before it all went to pot.

So he is a regal figure. In Zechariah. And he plays this kind of role. He's leading the rebuilding, and the word Zerubbabel concerning the rebuilding of the temple is: not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forward the top stone amidst shouts of grace, grace to it. What's that mean? It means that Zerubbabel? is going to rebuild the temple. And nothing, none of the mountains, none of the things in his way are going to stop him because the spirit of God is going to enable the rebuilding of the temple.

Now, just before this, in Zachariah, in chapter three. It talked about Joshua the priest. The two olive trees Are Joshua The priest. And Zorobable. Who are standing and the key figures in the rebuilding.

of the temple.

Now Jesus is seen. John turns and he sees seven golden lampstands. John who knows the Old Testament. And he sees this one who is described, and we'll get to this in a moment, who is like a son of man. Let's get a golden sash.

Which is a sign of authority. You can write down Isaiah 22, 20, and 21 to that end. where you see Eliakim being placed in a position of authority replacing Shebna, who has not done well under the king Hezekiah and as Eliakim comes up he's given a sash and the text says demonstrating his authority.

So you have this king who's functioning as a priest. Standing here amidst the lampstands. What are the lampstands?

Well, we read the text. The lampstands are the churches. You've been with me if you've been here a while studying Ephesians. What is the church? The temple.

That's the point of Ephesians 2. Do you remember? The church is The locusts where the people of God worship, and in that way is a temple. Him and here among the temples, if we could say it that way. In the lampstands, this is why the whole vision goes this way.

Stands this one as a king priest. And if you doubt this, it's interesting. I'll read to you something that's tucked away in the annals of history. When they discovered the scrolls in Qumran, the Dead Sea scrolls, in the first Qumran scroll on the ninth column in the eleventh verse. It reads this way, and it tells us something about how people at the end of the first century, early second century, particularly in the Jewish religious community, the Sassem community, conceived of the Messiah.

Until there shall come the prophet. And looking forward to the end times, it said, until there shall come the prophet. And the Messiahs Plural. of Aaron and Israel. Why does that matter at all?

Because What we learn from the Qumran scroll is that people at this time had a religious expectation of not just one, but some had a religious expectation of two Messiahs, one of Aaron, priestly. one of Israel who would be a political king. And here John turns. And he sees one who is like the Son of Man, and he is a priest king among his temple, the church. And John is making all of this connections that this is the one who comes.

In this way, in full fulfillment of all the expectation that has been awaiting. Uh In this vision, and it says he's one like a son of man. Very important phrase.

So the the famous verse this comes from is Daniel 7. Thirteen I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. He came to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

Now I've shared with you before That I do believe this is Jesus after his ascension, coming to the ancient of days, who is the Father, and he is being given the kingdom. And to him, verse 14, was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed.

So when he says, I turned and I saw one like a son of man among the lampstands, he's seeing one who is the fulfillment of being the leader, the one enthroned, the one who has been given a kingdom.

So it's all about his authority, his priestliness, receiving a kingdom.

Now, this plays itself out in the New Testament in the language of the Son of Man. We could go verse upon verse, but just listen to just a couple. Mark 2:10 and 11. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to do what? to forgive sins.

He says to the paralytic, I say to you, rise up, pick up your bed and go home. Authority, what? To reign?

Well, yes, but that's not the emphasis. The Son of Man is linked to a priestly act, the forgiveness of sins. Luke 19:10, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The language of the Son of Man is both regal and it is priestly. And here he turns and sees this one with Zachariah 4 sitting behind it, with temple imagery sitting behind it, with Son of Man language.

One who has authority is a priest-king. In the midst of the lamp stands one like a son of man clothed in a long robe with a golden sash around his chest. And then he continues the description: The hairs of his head. We're white. like white wool.

Like snow, why that description?

Well, the answer is uh because that's what he saw. But why that representation? Why that representation? Um It speaks of divinity. And it speaks of divinity because again, Daniel 7.

As I looked, thrones were placed, the ancient days took his seat. Look at his description. His clothing was white as snow. and the hair of his head, Like pure wool. His throne was Fiery flames, we'll come to that in a moment.

Its wheels were burning fire.

So he's picking through. Old Testament imagery sits behind this. And here, this priest-king bearing divinity, we get another description. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

What does that mean?

Well, we saw a reference to a fiery Throne a moment ago in Daniel 7, but his eyes. His eyes were like a flame of fire. What would that imply? It would imply judgment. How do we know that?

Because we see the same descriptor. in Revelation 19. Then I saw heaven open, behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it. He's called faithful and true. In righteousness, he judges and makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire. That description is the vivid. Picture of one who comes, who's faithful and true, but who comes in judgment. making war and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on it that no one knows but himself. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

His feet We're like burnished bronze. Burnished bronze. Most scholars think this points to purity. We see again in Daniel a similar description. I lifted up my eyes, looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen.

This is an angel with a belt of fine gold from Upaz. Around his waist, his body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning. And now listen to the whole description because it maps onto the broader description, but I want you to focus on the burnished bronze. His eyes like flaming torches.

Sound familiar? His arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude, which is exactly where the text ends up going next. 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. That description. I'm going to give you some scripture. Just listen. Ezekiel 43, 2, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east, and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters.

And the earth shone. with his glory. Like the sound of many waters, this picture of the glory of God. in power Isaiah 49. 1 and 2.

This is talking about the servant of the Lord to come. You've got these five servant songs in Isaiah. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention to you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He named my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow, and his quiver he hid me away. Um in Revelation 19. You get a description.

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. That's verse 15. Verse 21. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse.

Now, I've told you this is symbolism. If in your mind you think that we're going to look up in the sky and see a horse. Right out. And Jesus is on it, and he's got a big old sword coming out of his mouth. Like y you're You're missing.

This isn't like Lord of the Rings.

sort of thing. This is ancient symbolism. to communicate deep Crucial, more powerful realities. What is the sword that comes out of his mouth? It's the judgment of his word.

And the fact That when he speaks, just as he spoke and you existed. He speaks and everything can change. It's a vision that this Word of God, ever heard of the Word of God as a two-edged sword? Hebrews 4. It's a vision.

that this one Who John back in Matthew 19. It says, we saw him and he shone. The description is very similar in the transfiguration to this idea of his face was like shining in full strength. That his face shone like the sun. We get this description in Matthew 19.

This one who was transfigured on a mountain with John. is the same one that John turns, hears a voice, and goes, Wow. among the lampstands. Priest king. Hair.

Clothing white. Divine. Eyes Flame of fire. He's a judge, feet like burnished bronze, he is pure. And now a sword coming out of his mouth.

That is evidence of the fact that the one who creates is the one who judges and you are not before bro Jesus. You are before one who can snuff you out in a moment. If you think John. doesn't need a good pair of depends right now, you're crazy. This is a vision.

That is. In fact, what happens to him? When I saw him. I fell at his feet as though dead. He just down.

But here's so so this is so beautiful this next phrase But he This one wrapped in light, this flames for his eyes, burnished bronze for his feet. White glistening. Priest and king, who can judge him in a moment, but he, Laid his right hand on me and said, Dear not. I love that. Because just when I'm ready to think.

He's so austere. He's so Transcendent. He's so majestic. He's so powerful. Powerful, he's coming in judgment, and just when I'm ready to cower because of my own failings.

I'm reminded of that John did what I would do and just fell down. Overcome. But that the grace of God comes and says, don't. Shmo. Don't get the wrong idea here.

Don't get the wrong idea. Don't be afraid. The authority that comes is a comforting authority. Watch. That's beautiful.

He laid his right hand on me, saying, fear not. I'm the first. And the last. I'm the first and the last. Listen to Isaiah 48.

You have to understand the context of Isaiah 48. is about The Uh uniqueness. Transcendent glory of God over against any other gods. There's no one else who has his glory.

Okay? It's in that context that we read in verse 11. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it. For how should my name be profane? My glory I will not give to another.

Yahweh is saying, I will not give my glory to anyone else. Listen to me, O Jacob in Israel, whom I called, I am he. I am The first And I am the last. And now here. Jesus says, Yeah, that one, that's me.

When King Uzziah Guide The nation was thrown into turmoil. Difficulty and challenge as any situation with a monarchy would be in a hostile era where there are warlord kings all around you waiting to destroy your people. We get nervous enough in a Democratic Republic where we get to go into a booth and vote. Can you imagine when everything hinges on one person? And now he's dead?

And in Isaiah 6. Verse 1, we read, in the year that King Uzziah died, I, Isaiah, saw the Lord seated on a throne. He talks about how the train of his robe filled the temple. You know the glorious vision of angels echoing back and forth, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And then John, who wrote this, also wrote in his gospel in chapter 12.

That That vision that Isaiah had was a vision of whom? Do you remember? He said it was a vision of Jesus. See this I am the first. I am the last, is Jesus reminding John that there is not one thing that is about to come.

That I In this vision, will not be listen alongside you. and for you and alongside these churches and for these churches and trafficking in and among my people. It is as though Jesus is saying, don't get the vision twisted. If you see the vision that you just had of me, you fall down and you're terrified because you think somehow this might, this power is over against you. You have misunderstood the nature of the vision.

If you are a member of my kingdom, if you're a partner in tribulation, if you're a partner in patient endurance, then it is not that I am over against you. No, I am alongside you. Fear not. Fear not. I am the first and the last.

and the living one. I died, and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death in Hades. Whoa. We looked at this a while ago. Make it Easter time.

Talking about things about the descent and so forth. And after that, rather, and when we looked at Ephesians 4. the nature of his descent. He's saying I'm the one Here, this powerful one. This vision you just saw, I'm the one who.

came, condescended. And died. To redeem you. to forgive you of your sin. And I Was once alive, I died and I'm alive again.

And in that process, what did he do? I descended. And I have the keys meaning. I control Death and hell. I control judgment.

There isn't anything that's going to happen that's outside of my purview. No one. comes to the Father. Except Through. Me.

In Revelation 9.1, I won't take the time to read Revelation 2.1, you see the key link to the bottomless pit. And that's what he's talking about here. It's actually a little bit different than the background for the key that'll be mentioned in regard to the church at Philadelphia. As you'll see when we get there, that key has to do back with Isaiah chapter 22. It's a key of David.

But here? This is the key of death in Hades, holding life. As it were. He is the one.

So therefore, know this. Nothing can separate you from. I am with you. Paul says things like, nothing can separate us from the love of God, right? Nothing can separate you from the fact that this regal one, this mighty one, this transcendent one, this one that maps on.

To everything that is painted in this amazing vision, this one who doesn't, who says, I'm not against, right here, I'm for you, I'm with you, is the one through which you will persevere because I hold the keys to life and the keys. to death. As for the mist, verse 19, write therefore. the things that you've seen. Those that are Those that Have seen those that are and those that are to take place after this.

I've seen a number of people take this to mean like. They make it like an outline of the book. I think it's misunderstanding it, frankly. But they take it to mean like those that all have seen are like the beginning here in chapter one. Those that are is chapter two and three, and then those that are take place is like four moving forward.

And I don't think that's what's happening at all. And the reason I say that is because when you study Revelation itself, it's not as simple as just saying this is past, this is future, or anything like that. It's not that simple because you get into like chapter 12, for example. Even if you held a futurist view of Revelation, you get in chapter 12 and it's looking back at the birth of Christ.

So it's not as simple as mapping it out like that. He is authorizing him from this vision. Do you see me? I want you to translate this. Because what you experienced here Of the grand vision of judgment and one who comes in regal authority as a priest-king is.

What the people need, but the people need to know that I put my right hand on you. They need to know that I am with them. They need to know that as I walk among them, I am for them in that way. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels, messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Um Given the nature of this revelation, I think that the angels, some have said, well, they're like the pastors of the churches, and that's very anachronistic.

It's looking back into an early church from a sort of single pastor mode of church life. It's not at all seeming to fit. I think it's just angels. We never see angels never stand as a figure or metaphor for church leaders. in Scripture.

So it never shows up that way.

So it's just angels. Calvin used to talk about guard I was asked in in his Institutes, do we have guardian angels? And Calvin's answer was basically: well, yeah, but it's not, you don't have just one, you got like tons of them, legions of them. Daniel chapter 10. Speak of angelic beings that stand with nations.

So there'll be angels that stand with churches. And here he addresses that spiritual So what does all this yield? What's the whole point of all of this? He authorizes him to send this vision out.

Okay. And what's kind of the big point of it all?

Well Think of Hebrews 12 for a moment. We read this, but I want you to notice.

something that maybe we don't spend enough time thinking about. Looking to Jesus, the founder. and perfector of our faith.

Some versions will say the author and Finisher. of our faith. John is getting a picture. of the finisher. John is getting a vision.

of the perfector. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The first is the founder, the second is the perfecter. He founds the faith because of his work on the cross. He perfects it because he reigns in majesty.

And John is getting a picture of the latter half of this looking to Jesus. And he's given that. because he's supposed to come back to that. Again and again when he faces difficulty, trial, tribulation, and tension in life.

So that's the invitation. Here for you. The invitation is that as you go throughout your life, do not look within yourself to solve your problems. And don't point other people. to look within themselves to solve their problems.

Yes, we need to know ourselves. Yes, the Bible has some things to say about self-knowledge. But it is always a second move. It is always a second move, after the first move, of orienting yourself properly to a vision of the one who brings to you your faith, but who ultimately is the one who guarantees the victory of that faith. Back in the medieval times, there was a song that got written.

And it was like a poem for a while, and it hung around and hung around until the early 20th century. Woman picked it up. Put it together. And it goes like this. Be thou my vision.

O Lord of my heart, Be all else but not to me. Save. That thou art. Be thou my best thought in the day and the night. Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.

The final verse of five. It goes like this. High King of Heaven. Thou heaven's bright sun Looks like the vision that John had. Oh, grant me its joys.

After victory is won, great heart of my own heart, whatever it be full, still be thou my vision, O ruler of all. You up against it? Go not within. but look to Christ. Look to Christ.

God, I pray that you would help us. to see you rightly to perceive you in majesty and wonder and glory and Ah Lord, let this vision that is painted for us of this Apocalypse. be the kind of thing that we That we note That we Can sense your power. and at the same time see your priestly love for us. your affection for us.

Your right hand as it were. Where you position yourself in power alongside us. And we thank you for that, Lord. And we ask that you would help us and bring comfort to us and perseverance to us wherever we are in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.