The main point of revelation is not to give you a specific timeline of events. The point, the main point is to pull back the curtain of history so that we can see the powers at work behind the politics on earth and the authority of Jesus above it all. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. Have you ever found yourself asking, does this really matter?
In our new featured resource titled, Why Does It Matter?, Pastor JD tackles some of the most important questions that Christians wrestle with but don't always know how to answer. you'll explore why foundational beliefs shape the way that we live every day. From understanding why correct theology matters, to discovering the power and purpose of prayer, to seeing the significance of everyday faithfulness, this resource connects big truths to real life. We'll send you a copy by email immediately when you make a donation of any size at jdgreer.com. Before we dive into today's message, let's shift our focus for a moment.
If you've ever avoided the book of Revelation, you are not alone. With its vivid imagery and unsettling scenes, it can feel more intimidating than inspiring. But this isn't a book meant to stir fear. It's meant to anchor your hope. Today on the Summit Life podcast, Pastor J.D.
Greer begins a new teaching series in Revelation by showing us why this often overlooked book might be exactly what we need in uncertain times, starting with a clearer, more compelling vision of Jesus. Let's get started. If you got a Bible, and I hope that you do, open them to the very last book in your Bible, the book of Roman. Revelation. We are going to spend the next few months in this wild and crazy book.
Many of you are fairly unfamiliar with the book of Revelation. If anything, it feels like the sci-fi section of your Bible. And you are confused by it, even if you're a little intrigued. And if we're honest, some of you are downright terrified by this book. Right?
I mean, fear not, though, my friends. I am a professional. I'm certified to take you in and out of this book and to ensure that no one gets left behind.
Okay. Seriously. How many of you have never heard, never heard a sermon series on the book of Revelation? Raise your hand. Like, never heard a series on the whole book.
Okay. For me, growing up, I heard them all the time. The tradition I grew up in was fairly obsessed with the end times in general and the book of Revelation in particular. We had our charts and our timelines of the last days with little speculations about which contemporary political figures were the various beasts of the apocalypse. We had our annual prophecy conferences, which was the best attended events of the year.
We had our end times movies, our rapture bumper stickers in case of car rapture, this car will be unmanned, and our rapture board games. And none of that is a joke. I myself was particularly terrified by the concept of the rapture, which is the belief that Jesus will come again suddenly, like a thief in the night, at which point all true believers rise to meet Jesus in the clouds, and those who are left behind go through the tribulation with the Antichrist and the mark of the beast and the four horsemen and the bowls of blood and all that stuff. It could happen at any minute. And so as a kid, if for any reason I could not find my parents, even for a moment, if I called up the stairs and nobody answered, I would start running through the house in a panic saying, I knew it, I knew I wasn't really saved.
I'd be certain that I was going to bust into my parents' bedroom and find my mom's clothes falling into a pile on the floor because a rapture had happened and I'd been left behind. By the way, I am not sure why we always assumed that everyone flew up to heaven naked, but that's just the way it was in the movies and I didn't ask questions.
Okay. In fact, true story, true story. I had a recurring nightmare as a kid in which the rapture occurs, and me and my whole family start to ascend up to heaven, but I only got to the top of my house and then I dropped back down to earth because that was all the faith that I had. It was terrifying. Right.
How many of you can relate in some way to that kind of childhood? Just raise your hand.
Okay. Yeah, there's a lot of us. The other night, Veronica and I were lying in bed, and I was telling her about. This upcoming series on Revelation. And she started to ask me all these questions about the rapture because you grew a Presbyterian.
They didn't talk about these things. And she started to ask me if it was really true that one day, in one instant, all the real Christians would vanish. And she was talking about how scary that would be. And I was like, well, not for you if you're a Christian. But anyway, while she kept talking about it, I just softly and silently.
Slipped out of bed. And lay down on the floor beside the bed. And so after she talked for a while, she's like, JD, JD. And then she starts smacking the bed where I'm supposed to be. And she's like, JD, that's not funny.
But I told her I was just trying to test how confident she was in her salvation.
Okay, just kidding. I didn't really do that. But we're going to get into the specifics of some of that kind of stuff later. But let me just say, I'm actually glad that we're not obsessed like that at this church, though I do sometimes wonder if we have fallen into the opposite error, namely that we rarely ever talk or think about the end. In fact, if I asked you, when was the last time you had the thought, hey, you know, today might be the day of Jesus' return?
If I asked you that, many of you would have a hard time remembering a time that you ever thought that. And scripture says that we ought to live every day with that awareness because only then will you begin to live rightly. In fact, get this: Bible scholars point out. that the Apostle Paul frequently ties his moral commands to the return of Christ. And that's because it's not until you see your life through the perspective of the second coming that you'll develop the mindset to obey.
And so see, all of that makes the book of Revelation a crucial book for us to study. Because while mysterious, it is one of the best practical helps for living out the Christian life.
So this weekend, I'm going to walk us through the first chapter. But first, before I do that, I want to highlight for you verse 3, which says this. 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, for the time is near.
Y'all, this is the only place in the Bible I know of. Where a promise like this is made. Specifically, a blessing promised to the one who reads this book aloud. And a blessing on those who listen to that person.
So, we're going to try to honor this as literally as possible and as often as we can in this series. We are going to just read the text aloud and listen, we're not going to do it the same way every week. But at least for chapter one, can we do it this way? Can I have you stand as I read chapter one over you? Revelation chapter 1, verse 1 says this.
The revelation of Jesus Christ. Which God gave him to show his servants, the things that must soon take place. Jesus made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God. And to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Again, verse 3: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear.
and who keep what is written and it for the time is near. Verse 4, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, real quick. The Apostle John's the author of this book. It's the same John who wrote the Gospel of John and the three other letters to the church that bear his name, 1, 2, 3rd, John. Revelation, in fact, was first and foremost a letter to seven churches that John had helped plant in Asia Minor.
We'll learn more about them later. 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 the throne, you're like, seven spirits. Yeah, that's not a new construction for the Trinity.
Seven just represents perfection.
So this is a poetic way of depicting God's fullness. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth. to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. Made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.
To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him, even so. Amen.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. I 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 and to Smyrna, to Pergamon and to Thyatira and to Sardis and 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 was 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 like wool, like snow.
His eyes were like a flame of fire. 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. and 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 as though I were dead. But then he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not. I am the first and the last. I'm the living one. I died.
And behold, I'm alive now forevermore. And I have the keys now of death and Hades. Write therefore, John, the things that you have seen. These that are, and those that are to take place after this, as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw on my right hand. and the seven golden lampstands.
Well, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches themselves. And all God's people said. Amen. Amen.
You may be seated. You may be see to keep your Bibles open, if you will. And jump back to verse one, verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Revelation in Greek means literally the unveiling. This book is the unveiling of Jesus Christ, but The first question that presents is, What is it exactly that is being unveiled?
Is Jesus the one doing the unveiling, or is it Jesus himself who is being unveiled? You see how that phrase could mean either? If I said to you, ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to have the presentation of Pastor Curtis. I might mean that Pastor Curtis is going to come up here and present something to us, or I might mean that we are presenting Pastor Curtis. See what I mean?
So does John mean that this book is a revelation? Of Jesus, where Jesus is the one being revealed? Or does he mean it is a revelation by Jesus, where Jesus is the one doing the revealing? And the answer is. Yes.
In fact, scholars say that the way this phrase is written in Greek seems intentionally ambiguous because what follows is both a revelation of Jesus and also a revelation from Jesus about the things that must soon take place.
So let's just consider both of those. First, it is a revelation of Jesus. Hear this very clearly. The main point of Revelation. is not to give you a specific timeline of events.
Or help you figure out which beast represents Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, or Angela Merkel. The point, the main point, is to pull back the curtain of history so that we can see the powers at work behind the politics on earth and the authority of Jesus above it all. People read the book of Revelation with all the dragons and the beasts, and they imagine this as this delusional fantasy world. But see, almost all the images in Revelation have a direct correspondence to something in the Old Testament. John is pulling back the curtain to help his readers look at their world through spiritual eyes and to recognize the powers that are at work and the structures around them, spiritual realities that have been true in every era of human history, from the days of the Old Testament when God first revealed them until now.
This is not just a book about future things. It's a book about victorious spiritual struggle in every era. This is the unveiling, the unmasking of what is really going on in the world. It was probably the most shocking reveal in human history, film history. Darth Vader looked down at a desperate Luke Skywalker.
who was now helplessly clinging to a pole above a massive pit, His right arm recently severed by Darth Vader's lightsaber. And Darth Vader says, join me. We will rule the galaxy together. And Luke says, never. And Vader says, Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
And Luke said, he told me enough. He told me you killed it. Beda responded by saying, No, I am your father. Interestingly, that line. Was kept secret from the entire cast and crew of Star Wars until the movie's premiere.
It was a surprise to everybody. When they shot the scene, what Darth Vader actually said was, Obi-Wan killed your father. They changed it later to I am your father and dubbed it in and didn't tell anybody. Only George Lucas, Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, and the movie director knew the actual line. The rest of the cast and the crew, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Archie D2, C3PO, all of them, they all learned about it at the movie premiere.
Revelation is the revealing moment where Jesus pulls off the mask and he shows us who he actually is and what has actually been going on in the world.
So it is a revelation of Jesus, but it's also a revelation by Jesus, verse 1, about the things that must soon take place.
Now, as you might know. Theologians are divided. as to the best way to interpret a lot of the symbols and the timelines in Revelation. And let me just say it really clearly: this is going to disappoint some of you. Theologians that I respect.
are on different sides of some of these questions. The two main approaches to this book that I think you should take most seriously are what we call the premillennial approach and the odd millennial approach. Want to learn some big words? Want to nerd out for a minute? All right, stay with me for just a minute, okay?
The premillennial position comes from the belief that the earthly reign of Christ described in Revelation 20, a thousand-year millennium, will actually physically occur on earth sometime in the future. We're not there yet. Right? It's coming in Revelation 20. It's something coming in the future.
So we are pre. Millennial.
So is the whole book of Revelation. This approach takes a straightforward, fairly literal approach to the book of Revelation, believing that John is foretelling actual things that will occur at some point in the future. The other is what we call the a millennial approach. Amillennial means literally no millennium. Ah in Greek means no.
And this view takes that name because a millennialists interpret almost everything in the book of Revelation, including the teaching about the millennium. as symbolic and pointing to some deeper spiritual reality. Thus, all the judgments, the sealed judgments, trumpet judgments, the four horsemen, the Antichrist, the beast, the false prophet, the mark of the beast, these are not specific things or people that are coming in the future, as much as things that symbolize what we experience now. Specifically, the millennium, the reign of Christ described in Revelation 20, they say that's not an actual millennium. That's just symbolic of the present church age that we live in, during which Christ reigned spiritually from heaven, so therefore they are ah millennial.
Now, personally, I take a pre-millennial approach to the book, meaning I believe the things that we read in Revelation are about actual future events. I take that approach because.
Well, first, it's literally what John said about the book. Verse 1, this letter is about things that must soon take place. It's not just about the future. It's not just about the present. I also believe that this approach gives the fairest treatment of all the biblical evidence.
I believe it takes most seriously all the Old Testament promises. Finally, I believe it because it's the oldest view in the church. It's the one that was embraced by most of the earliest church fathers who spoke about these things. But here's the thing: hear me. Even if you disagree with me on that.
There's still a lot in this study for you to be blessed by. Because again, back to verse one, this is primarily a revelation of Jesus and the spiritual forces at work in the world. But interestingly, John, who wrote this book, said in his other letter to the church, he talks about evil going on in the world, and he says this: He says, This is the spirit of Antichrist. Which you heard is coming into the world, that's future, but is already the spirit of which is already here. You see that?
He is coming into the world. But he's also kind of already here.
So in other words, even if you disagree with me on some of the timing, the principles we will learn about doing battle against the forces of evil, they're as applicable today as they will be to anybody in the future.
So again, we'll return to this over and over and over again. One of the primary keys for interpreting Revelation is realizing how much the imagery in the book of Revelation has its roots in the Old Testament. Y'all get this. Of the 400 verses in Revelation, there are over 500 specific references to the Old Testament. That's more than one per verse.
Primarily, the Old Testament books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zachariah, and Jeremiah, if you're curious. which means when you see something mysterious in revelation. To figure out what it's talking about. The first place you look is backwards. To see what that thing symbolized back in the Old Testament.
For example, The locust plague. Instead of saying, you know, locusts with beating wings, those probably represent an invasion by Apache helicopters. And the Apostle John just didn't know how to describe what he was seeing, which is why he used locusts. That's an actual explanation that I've heard, by the way. Instead of saying weird stuff like that, what you should probably first ask is: what do locusts represent in the Old Testament?
So, as we move through this book, I'll explain how I interpret various things, how Jesus and I interpret various things, okay? But even if you disagree with Jesus and me, you will still be able. To benefit from the principles that we learn about the powers that are at work in the world and Jesus' sovereignty above them all.
Okay? You in for that? Which brings me to the question now. of why Jesus chose to reveal all these things to John. John tells us quite matter of factly in verse 9, he says, I, John.
Your brother and your companion in suffering, which is the NIV translation there. You see, the church in John's day was not doing particularly well. At least in the physical sense. By this point, all the apostles, every single one of them, had been martyred. Except for John.
John, John had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, however, which was the Roman equivalent of Alcatraz. And church history tells us that before being put there, The Romans at first boiled him in oil as a way of torture. Which never really registered with me until I burned my own hand with oil a few months ago. I was doing the initial seasoning of my Blackstone grill with some of my friends to give me as a gift. And the instructions told me to cover the surface of the grill really thick with this special oil they provided, to bring it to a boil, and then wipe it off with this little scraper they gave me.
Well, I did it after dark because I wanted to be able to use the grill for breakfast the next morning. I mean, patience has never been my strong suit. And so I'm out in the dark and I'm in a hurry and I got a little careless. And as I was scraping off the boiling oil with the little scraper, a little wave of it washed up over onto my hand. Yo, it has been a while since I've been in that kind of pain.
It would not stop burning. I literally submerged my hand in ice water for three hours, but it wouldn't stop feeling like it was on fire. Eventually, around midnight, I went to the emergency room. I felt like such a wimp doing that, but they numbed my entire hand from my wrist forward so I couldn't feel anything, and then I felt better. And then I showed up at church that weekend and preached to all of you, and I didn't tell any of you what happened because I was way too embarrassed.
And then I thought, John experienced that all over his whole body. With no anesthetic. And needless to say, John was suffering. The people that John was writing to were suffering too. You see, the church was going through one of the worst persecutions in history.
Nero had made Christians the scapegoat for Rome's calamities, and he used that as a pretext for hunting them down and killing them, men, women, and children. Emperor Trajan, the new emperor, seemed like he was going to be just as bad as Nero. John from his remote isle in Patmos. John sees no immediate relief on the horizon. And John knows that the church needs a vision to keep them going.
But hear this. The vision that he receives is not that this is all going to go away tomorrow. That might have been the vision that he first wanted. It's the vision that you probably want to. But the vision John received is one we need more than that in a time of suffering.
And that's a vision of Jesus sovereign over all of it. You see, I know some of you need to see that same kind of vision this weekend. Yeah, your suffering might not be the same as John's. Maybe you're not literally being fed to the lions. You didn't literally have boiled in oil.
But suffering is suffering, right? And some of you have asked God this very week. You've looked at heaven, you've said, How long, oh Lord? And you got unanswered questions and you got pain and you got disappointment, acts of injustice that have been committed against you. And you're like, how am I supposed to come into that place and sing about victory in Jesus when my life feels like a constant strings, a string of disappointments and tragedies and failures?
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So here we go. The revelation of Jesus Christ, John says, verse 10: I was in the spirit of the Lord's day. That's a Sunday. And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. And so I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me.
And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. In the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed in a long robe and with a golden sash around his head. Chest, you recognize, by the way, that you recognize that? Golden lampstands, a long robe, golden sash. You should, since we just studied the tabernacle design.
These are the garments of the high priest standing in the holy place. John's like, here's Jesus, our great high priest, standing in. The holy place. John then gives a description of this being that is standing before him. It's a breathtaking vision.
He has white hair, white like wool. In those days. White hair symbolize wisdom.
So saying Jesus had brilliant white hair like snow means that Jesus is wiser than the wise. His eyes were like a flame of fire, which means his insight penetrated more deeply than the sharpest laser. His face shone like the sun at full strength. We can't look directly at the sun lest we go blind. John couldn't even look directly at Jesus' face.
It shone with that kind of energy. His voice was like the roar of many waters, which indicates not just decibel level, but fullness and immensity. Just think of the roar of the ocean or a waterfall. In his right hand, he holds seven stars. The average star puts out, what, a trillion megaton bombs of energy every single second?
Which is why it's good that we're 93 million miles away from the nearest star, our sun. But here, John is no longer 93 million miles from the power of one of those stars. He's 9.3 steps from it. Out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, meaning It wasn't just that this being radiated with energy from his fingers. His words possessed the ability in themselves to pierce and to destroy.
So when I saw him. I felt his feet as they're dead. No wonder. That's not intended to be a figure of speech either. John literally thought he was going to die.
Now, something I want you to consider. This is the first time. That John has seen Jesus in over 60 years. And Jesus and John had been BFFs. when Jesus was on earth.
In fact, in John's Gospel, John refers to himself rather confidently, I might say. As the one who Jesus loved. Which I've always thought was a huge flex. John was like, Jesus likes you too, but I'm his favorite. By the way, in reality, what John meant by that was not that he was Jesus' favorite.
What he was communicating was his amazement at the fact that Jesus would keep on loving him despite how badly he'd failed him. You see, the tense of the verb in Greek is continuous. Which means you should really read that as the one who Jesus kept on loving. But see, suffice it to say Jesus and John were close. In fact, John 13, John says that at the Last Supper.
He leaned his head back and rested it on Jesus' chest. Y'all listen, I got some awesome guy friends that I feel pretty close to. But ain't a one of them that's gonna do that with me during dinner. And honestly, if that's your idea of male friendship, I just assume that you and I and I be friends, okay? I'm just going to say that right now.
But you know what male would do that with me? My son. Jesus was more than a friend to John. He was John's comfort and his shield, his refuge, his safe place. His Abba Father.
And again. This is the first time. that they're seeing each other in over 60 Years. And Jesus reveals himself to John in a way that makes John think he's going to die. Why would Jesus appear to him that way?
It's because that's how John most needed to see Jesus right now. He needs a Jesus who is sovereign over everything. And that's because Jesus' plan was not to deliver John or his church from persecution and pain. Jesus was not showing up with news saying, hey, John, relax. It gets better.
Blessing's just right around the corner. No, no, in the near future, it wasn't going to get better.
So, what Jesus shows to John is his incredible power and majesty over all of it, so that John could rest in him even when he couldn't understand what in the world Jesus was doing. You see, in times of intense persecution, in times of unexplained suffering, or when you've really gone through injustice, you don't need a sentimental Jesus who makes you feel warm and cozy at night. That Jesus, who is one part genie and one part therapist, and one part life coach, and the rest part warm blanket. You need to see a Jesus who is sovereign over all the other powers that are at work in the world and in your life. See, I grew up with this picture of Jesus right here.
You might have seen the same one. Maybe for you, it was up in a Sunday school classroom or on the back of a fan you used at your non-air-conditioned church that had Jesus on one side and advertisements for the local funeral home on the back. This is like an oil rendition of an Olin Mills portrait, right? You got Jesus with his perfect skin and his beautiful flowing John Mueller hair, and in these pictures. In these pictures, Jesus always somehow has the expression on his face like he's just seen a bird fly by or something.
You know? But the result was that my image of Jesus growing up was this sad, jobless guy with tears in his eyes who lived a lot in his fields. And hear me, y'all. I do love the tenderness of Jesus. I do.
Because see when you're really in pain And when you're suffering under injustice, you don't just need a warm, tender Jesus. You need a Jesus who holds the power of the stars in his hands. A Jesus who speaks with the roar of many waters, and who you know has the last word in all of it. A Jesus who is sovereign over crazy emperors and cancer cells and malicious ex-husbands and hit blog pieces. It's like the Reverend Tom Skinner, the African-American preacher from Harlem, always said.
He said, It's hard for me to worship a Jesus who looks like somebody who wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in my neighborhood.
Now the question That you ask yourself, is this Jesus we're seeing? Here in verses 10 through 17, is that a different Jesus than the one John had presented in his gospel? The one that John leaned his head back on his chest? Has Jesus changed? Did Jesus get an upgrade?
Is this like Jesus 4.0? No, Jesus hasn't changed. Of course not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't ever upgrade.
He doesn't need to upgrade. It's just that in his first coming, Jesus' incredible power and glory were. Failed. Yeah, we got little glimpses of it, of course. Like when Jesus spoke to a hurricane and the wind, the waves died down immediately, like it was just an unruly toddler that Jesus was rebuking.
We saw it when Jesus spoke to legions of demons and they instantly obey, crying out with fear in his presence and pleading for mercy. Or one of my favorite scenes when the soldiers and Judas come to take Jesus off to be crucified, and they're like, hey, which one of you is Jesus? And Jesus says, I am. And just saying that name, the name of God, makes them all stagger backwards and fall to the ground. That's just his glory peeking out through a little minute.
It just pops out for a second. Or here's one I learned recently for you nerds. You'll like this. This scientist I was reading considered how much raw power it would take to generate the matter and the food necessary to feed the 5,000. Remember, Jesus created all that food out of thin air.
Right, the loaves and the fish.
So, how much energy would it take to create that much matter for all that food to create that out of nothing? I know most of you have never had that question. But this scientist had the question.
So he estimated that every person ate about eight ounces of food. And then using Einstein's famous matter to energy formula, E equals MC squared, he concluded that the amount of energy necessary to create that much matter out of nothing would be equivalent to all the electrical power available on Earth working at 100% capacity for four years straight. And Jesus does it in about three minutes in the middle of an afternoon on a hillside in Galilee without even breaking a sweat.
So truth be told that power was always there These just failed. But here it is now. Unveiled. in all of its strength.
so that John, his body still scarred and blistered with oil burns, Can know that Jesus is in charge of all of this and John's story. will end quite well indeed, just like Jesus has promised. And so John goes on, verse 17, he laid his right hand on me. See, in fear nine, I'm the first and the last. The first and the last.
Well, that means Jesus is God, right?
Well, of course, because whatever's first before everything else is God.
So people are like, well, Jesus isn't really God. I'm like, well, then how is he first? Because whatever's first is God. But Jesus' point in bringing this up to John right now is to say, John, if I was standing there at the beginning and I'm standing there at the end, you can be sure that I'm in charge of everything here in the middle too.
So he laid his right hand on me. That was the one that had the seven stars in it, the power of seven stars radiating out of his hand.
Somebody with the power of seven stars in their hand radiating from the man touches you? How could you even survive that? Interestingly, by the way. Daniel 10. God appeared to Daniel in a way strikingly similar to this.
Remember how I told you so much of the imagery here goes back to the book of Daniel?
Well, in Daniel 10. When God appears to Daniel this way Daniel passes out just like John did, thought he was dead. But Daniel records that an angel then come and touched him to revive him and told him not to be afraid. An angel did it. God couldn't do it directly because that God touched Daniel.
His holiness would have killed him.
Now we got John. Deviating from the Daniel script. God touches John directly and it doesn't kill him. How?
Well this hand of God is now nail scarred. Look at verse 18. Jesus says, I'm the living one. I died. I died and behold, now I'm alive forevermore.
That means all the wrath that God had against John's sin had been put into Jesus, so there was no more wrath left for John. There's nothing left to threaten him with. The full measure of penalty for John's sin had been removed. All that remained was unbroken, unchallenged, unfiltered acceptance and love. Listen.
If you're a Muslim or a Buddhist, First of all, I am so glad that you are here. But I'm telling you, this is what you most yearn for from God. You yearn for the knowledge that he is totally for you. That he has no anger or displeasure to direct against you, but you don't feel like you can know God that way because you know that you sinned. Me too!
Me too, but the gospel is that Jesus took the full punishment for that sin so that you could stand without fear in his presence. He might radiate with the power of the stars, and the brilliance of the sun might emanate out of his face, but he can literally touch you. You can literally stand in his presence before his face, and you won't die. Stand in wonder, my friend. God's hand has the power of seven stars in it, and it's nail scarred at the same time.
That means it is fully in control of all things, and yet the only thing it ever bestows on you is tenderness and love. Jesus continues. In those same hands, I have the keys of death in Hades. Or hell. There's nail-scarred hands now hold the keys of death and hell.
Death and hell are what are all causing all the problems for John and for you and me too. What's the significance of Jesus holding the keys?
Well, the one who holds the keys has the power, right? I remember being at a place recently. It was like a nice hotel or a resort or something. It was one of those places where the valet puts all the expensive cars. you know, up there right around the entry of the hotel.
Somehow, they never keep my rented Jeep Cherokee up there when I throw them the keys and say, hey, bro, leave it up top, okay? But one of the cars they had up there was this beautiful Lamborghini, just blessing all of us with just its beauty. And I'm sorry, ladies, if you're like my wife, but when you're a guy and you see a car like that, you just got to go look at it.
Okay, it's part of the contract. Right? Savronica is always annoyed at me because I'm going to check out some random car.
So I walk over there. I'm peering into it. There's nobody around. You know, it just feels just amazing, this vehicle, when suddenly it starts. This guy who owned it had his remote start button that he pressed from over there inside the hotel.
He sending me this little symbol, right? Like, hey, bro, you can look. But you're not taking that car anywhere. Right. And don't touch it.
I got the keys. The one with the keys has the power. Jesus is saying, The powers of the world may threaten you, John. They may look awesome, John. They may look terrifying, John.
They can boil you in oil and lock you up in isolation, but I hold the keys to all those things. These things are all my servants now, ultimately serving my purposes. Nero's not in charge, John. Trajan's not really in charge. I'm redeeming for good all that they mean for evil, and I'm weaving it all for your good, just like I promised.
I'm in charge, not them. Here's how the Apostle Paul says that same thing in Ephesians 1. He says, We have been predestined. That's about as strong a word as you can use. By God's firm decision, we've been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
All things. All things. Meditate on that, Christian. There's not one stray molecule. Not one straight cancer cell.
Not one stray child, not one stray spouse that is not redeemed by Jesus according to the sovereign dictates of his counsel for your good and his glory, because that has always been his purpose. I do want to be careful here. Because I'm not saying that God is the one making bad things happen to you. No, the powers of death and hell are at work in the world because of our sin. Our world is cursed, and a lot of people, because of that, do a lot of terrible things to each other.
And even the earth itself brings calamities and misfortunes upon us. God is not the one doing these things to us directly. What I'm saying is that Jesus promises that none of those things are outside of his control, and he promises to redeem every single one of them as a part of his perfect purpose in your life. He's using even the pain, the tragedy, and the persecution as a part of his good plan because he's got the keys now. Like John, you might feel like you're in the middle of tribulation.
You didn't really love for Jesus to show up right now with either answers or relief. But I can't promise you that tomorrow it's all going to go away. I wish I could. And we can come down here and we can pray about it, and we'll ask God to take it away, and He might do that. But I can tell you that whatever tomorrow has, His purposes remain, and they might remain a mystery to you for a little while longer.
But this vision of Jesus assures you that there is a purpose that He pursues in all of it, and He will not fail to fulfill it. That's the vision that Jesus gives us in the midst of tribulation. He's the sovereign one standing in the holy place with the stars in one palm and the keys to death and hell in the other. He was there at the beginning and he's the one standing at the end. And because he's the one standing at the end, I can be sure he's got a plan in the present.
I've told you this before. Two years ago. I had a friend about my age, so again, in his mid-30s. Say to me, He said, hey. I'm watching this great show on Hulu.
Have you ever heard of it? It's called 24. I'm like, bro, where were you for the entire decade of the 2000s? That was all we talked about. I told my friend about the time, Veronica.
I've told you this too: about we really got into the show and we were a little late to it.
So we watched the whole first and second seasons in the space of, it was like a month. May each season is like 24 hours long. And so then we took a, we had this little like romantic, you know, beach weekend getaway set. And so we took the third and fourth seasons with us on that weekend beach retreat. I'm not sure we ever made it outside of the beach that weekend.
We just stayed inside and binge-watched the show. I'd wake her up in the morning and I'd be like, hey, you want to see what happened to Jack, you know, the star of the show? Right. And I wake her, I woke her up on Sunday morning, and I was like, hey, you want to watch Summit Online? And she was like, no, we got to see what happened to Jack.
Just kidding. I didn't have Summit Online back then. But at the end of one of the seasons, I think it was season three. At the end of one of the seasons, Jack dies. Like guys.
Or at least you think he dies. And I remember just staring at the T Vause I was like. What, that's it? That's how it ends? I mean, Lost hadn't even come out to compare it to that, you know, how awful that ending was, but I was like, that's it?
This is the worst ending ever. But then I was like, wait a minute. I've got season four right here. And the box on season four on the back has Jack's face on it. I'm like, wait a minute.
Something doesn't add up.
Something sinister is afoot. I'm being tricked. It looks like Jack is dead, but his face is still on the box of the future seasons.
So I think everything's going to be all right. John pulls back the veil. And says his face is still on the box of the final season. It may look like the bad guys are in charge, but they're not the ones who wrote the script. Let the powers of earth do what they want.
His face is still on the box. That is the message of the book of Revelation. His face is still in the box. That means whenever I'm discouraged or when I feel overwhelmed. I just look at the first chapter of Revelation and say, well, his face is on the box there.
And then I'll flip over to the last chapter of Revelation and say, and his face is on the box there too. And if it's his face on the box in chapter one, and then again in chapter 22, then I know he wins in all of 2 through 21. If his face is on the box at the beginning and the end, then I know that he's in charge of everything in the middle. Jesus says to John in this opening vision of Revelation 1, John, look at me, look at me, look at me. I'm more powerful than you could ever imagine.
Look at me, John. I died for you. In your worst moment, I showed my love for you. Death and hell can't touch you now, John, because I absorbed those things into my nail-scarred hands, and now I'm turning all their power for my purposes and your good.
So, what are you afraid of, John? What are you afraid of? You really think Caesar is winning, John? The only legacy Caesar's going to leave is a cheap pizza place and some ruins in Rome. And Nero, Nero, don't be afraid of Nero, John.
One day, your name, John, your name is going to be the most common name in the English language, and people will name their dogs Nero. John, look at me. I got the keys to debt. Really apologize if your name is Nero right now, okay? But.
John, look at me. I got the keys to death and hell. Look at me, struggling believer. Look at me. You think I can't control cancer?
I got the keys to that. You think I don't know you need a job? I got the keys to that too. You think I don't know you're worried about your marriage? Yeah, I got those keys.
You're overwhelmed by your weaknesses and your addictions. It's pornography just destroying you, and you don't know how to shake it.
Well, I got the keys to all those things. Look at me, lonely college student. I'll take care of you. Look at me, divorced mom. I'll be your strength and your shield.
I'll be the father to your fatherless children. Look at me. Look at my power and my control. My right hand holds the power of the stars and the keys of death and hell, and it's a nail-scarred hand, which means it's filled with nothing but blessing and healing for you. The purpose of Revelation.
Is not to terrify us, it is to give us a towering vision of the justice of God and the authority of Jesus above it all. Yeah. Here's been my prayer for this series. That God would open your eyes. and mine.
to see the authority of Jesus. It's one of my favorite Old Testament scenes. 2 Kings 6. The wicked king has sent an army to come after Elisha and his servant to kill them. The servant is terrified because he sees this massive army coming up over the hills to.
Destroy them and he and Elisha don't even have any weapons. But Elisha is totally unfazed. And the servant's like, How can you be so scared? Calm. And Elisha kind of rolls his eyes and says to God, Lord, open his eyes.
Lord, pull back the veil. And suddenly, the servant sees that around this massive invading army, there's an even more massive army of angels standing ready to protect Israel. God pulled back the veil on what was happening in the world, and that was enough. That was enough for Elisha and his servant just to see that God was in charge of it all. That's what they needed to have peace.
Friend, what if you could see? That in all times and in all places, in the scariest moment of your life, there was that kind of Savior standing guard over you. with his right hand of tenderness sitting on your shoulder, A Savior with the power of the stars in his hand that won't let any tribulation into your life that he doesn't intend to use for good. And whether you get delivered or whether you get banished to Patmos, he's still in charge. You see, friend, that's the vision that you need to see this morning.
Listen, I know some of you would love for me to preach a theology that says if you'll just do what God wants, he'll make all your problems go away. And I would love to do that. I really would. In fact, I might be able to grow the church bigger if I did preach like that. But that is not the biblical message.
The biblical message is that Jesus is sovereign over all of it, even the bad stuff, and he pursues his good purposes in all of it. Christian Counselor Larry Crabb. A professional counselor says that he loves using the book of Revelation to counsel suffering people because he says on that island of Patmos, Jesus didn't give John relief from dire circumstances. Instead, what he gave him was an unforgettable vision of the Son of God. That's what Jesus gives to a discouraged church.
and to you in your pain.
So friend, it is time for some of you to... to behold that vision. You need to stop shrinking before your tribulation. You need to start gazing at your Savior. You see, the key to victory in tribulation is worship.
Worship in which you defiantly declare, like John, yeah, my problems are big. But Jesus, you're bigger. See, our praise is a weapon. Praises where Christians for centuries have found refuge when the spirit of Antichrist threatened to overwhelm them. Christians for centuries have looked defiantly into the worst kinds of pain and they've made statements like when peace like a river attends my way or when sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. To Lord, haste today. When my faith will be actual sight, the clouds be rolled back like a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. Because of that I can know it's well.
with my soul. As you think about today's teaching, we pray that it continues to shape your week. If you'd like to view the transcript or get your copy of the new book titled Why Does It Matter?, you can find them online at jdgreer.com. Thanks for spending time with us. See you soon.
Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Uh
