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Sermon preached on Revelation 1:9-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/17/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
In our country, the churches of Jesus Christ can be tempted to despair at the current state of Christianity here. In many ways it could be described as in
decline. Less people identify as Christian. Church attendance is down. Biblical literacy has fallen greatly. Typical Judeo-Christian ethics are increasingly rejected by our culture. Sometimes the term post-Christian is used for our society. What naturally follows from such a shift in the population is at least some form of persecution for Christians. We’ve seen a rise in bigotry against Christians from people who don’t agree with the Bible’s teachings. We are called by Christ to bear witness to them, and that can make people hate us. We can be “cancelled” by the culture which means they can ostracize us in ways that can afflict us socially, financially, emotionally, or in other ways. And there is the threat that this might just get worse. The more such trouble comes, the more Christians can even be tempted to think being a Christian isn’t worth the trouble.
This vision from Revelation is given in light of such trouble. John begins by relating that he is a partner in this tribulation Christians are facing. John has experienced persecution himself, that is why he is in exile on Patmos. This vision he receives speaks a word of encouragement to all Christians who experience such tribulation. Indeed, this passage sets the context for the entire book of Revelation, showing God addressing his people under such tribulation.
Let us begin in our first point by considering John and the seven churches that are addressed here. Here, John receives his first vision in this book. We’ve been talking about that Revelation is in this apocalyptic genre, full of symbolic visions, and this is the first of many. Notice in verse 10 how this starts out. It says that John was in the Spirit when this vision came to him. This is like how the prophet Ezekiel repeatedly received various visions through the Spirit entering into him. Here, John similarly has some ecstatic experience through the Holy Spirit that becomes the venue for him to have this first vision. Let us also appreciate that verse 10 mentions that this took place on the Lord’s Day. That is a reference to the first day of the week, a term the early church used to describe Sunday in honor of the Lord rising from the dead on that day. That he received such a revelation on the Lord’s Day is a subtle confirmation of how Sunday has become set apart for God’s people now under the new covenant, but I digress.
So then, we see how this first vision comes to him. He hears and he sees it. He hears a voice like a loud trumpet in verse 10. Then he starts to see the vision in verse 12. So, his senses are engaged with his hearing and seeing as he is caught up into this vision in the Spirit. This is how these apocalyptic visions work. We are reminded that such apocalyptic visions involve symbolism as we see the main symbols of the vision interpreted for us. Verse 20 says the stars symbolize angels and the lampstands symbolize churches. Verses 17-28 also reveal that the son of man in the vision represents Jesus. Revelation won’t always interpret all the symbolism for us, but in this first vision a lot of it is. Sometimes, by the grace of God, we’ll need to use our Spirit-illuminated brains to do that. For example, in verse 16 John sees a two-edged sword coming out of the mouth of this son of man. The text doesn’t explicitly tell us that such is symbolic. But surely, this does not mean that Jesus has a literal sword coming out of his mouth. Surely, we are to understand that the sword is also symbolic, representing the power of the words that come from Jesus’ mouth. And those powerful words here say that he has a message to give to the seven churches and he instructs John to write down in a book what he sees and send it to seven churches.
Those seven churches are listed in verse 11. They make up a clockwise circuit through the heart of Asia Minor, which that region itself was in the heart of the ever-growing new covenant church as it expanded throughout the nations. While it began in Jerusalem, it had now grown throughout the Gentile lands, creating a church made up of both Jews and Gentiles who are united together in a single kingdom with Christ our Lord. John explains that even in verse 9 when he expresses his solidarity with these churches by calling himself a brother and also a partner in the kingdom of Jesus with them. So why does he write to these specific seven churches? Well, besides them being geographically in the heart of church at that time, the number 7 also gives us a clue. That number in Scripture symbolizes completion, going all the way back to the week of creation. So, for there to be seven churches roughly in the heart of the entire universal church would have us think how they effectively are representative of the church as a whole.
This is not to say that these weren’t real congregations situated in those areas. The next two chapters will see Jesus give a specific letter to each of them dealing with their specific circumstances. But their number and geographical location helps us to see them as typical. What I mean is that the kinds of things that they are going through are the kinds of things we expect to find in different congregations through the whole church of Jesus Christ. Let me say this is different than treating them each symbolically representing successive eras in church history as is common in the historicist view. Rather, these were surely real churches with real issues at that time which by extension contain various timeless applications, timeless, that is for this current age.
Let us then appreciate that these churches, representative of the church as a whole, were symbolized in the vision through these seven lampstands. In general, a lampstand of this sort makes you think of the old covenant tabernacle. It was the job of the priests to keep the lampstand burning all night long, so it would never be dark in the tabernacle. So, the priests tended the lampstand to keep it shining. But we can say more when we remember that last week’s passage referenced Zechariah 4 which was a vision of a lampstand with seven flames in the context of the rebuilding of temple after the exile, under the leadership of governor Zerubbabel (a descendent of David) and Joshua the high priest from the line of Aaron. That vision continues to be in the background yet with intentional differences. Here, there is not one lampstand but seven, representing how the new covenant temple is made up of all the congregations of Christ’s churches, versus being in a single location in Jerusalem like before. Also, in Zechariah there were two olive trees next to the lampstand, presumably representing Zerubbabel and Joshua, the prophet and the priest, who stood by the Lord even in their support for the new temple. In contrast, instead of olive trees, you have the son of man, Jesus, King and High Priest, in the midst of these lampstands. This is what we will see repeatedly in Revelation, God making use of previous prophetic visions but with important changes to tell us something wonderful about what God is doing in these last days. The rebuilt temple after the Babylonian exile has given way to the spiritual temple made up of all Christ’s churches throughout the earth.
Let us now turn in our second point to consider these seven stars which we are told represent the seven angels of the seven churches. Now, it is sometimes asked if “angel” is the best translation here. That’s because some think it might be surprising to hear of a church having a specific angel connected to it. In fact, in the next two chapters, we’ll see that the letter given to each of the seven churches is actually addressed specifically to the angel of that church. To try to explain this, some have suggested that we should translate this word for angel here as “messenger”, either referring to a human courier who will deliver the letter, or possibly to the human pastor of that local church. Grammatically, “messenger” is a possible translation of the Greek word here for angel, however, I’m not convinced that’s what is intended here. In the New Testament, the Greek word here is only used arguably 3 times to refer to a human messenger and somewhere around 175 times to refer to actual angels – spiritual angelic beings. Unless it is clear from context, the default way to take this should be angel. In this chapter, the context already began in 1:1 to speak of an actual angel, not a human messenger. And the book uses this word 67 times, all presumably as angels. So, I think surely we are to understand this to mean there is in fact an angel associated with each of these churches.
We should not be surprised by this. As I’ll show in our third point, there are also allusions to visions from Daniel here. And it’s in Daniel 10 where Daniel learns there are angels associated with geographical places there, that are even somehow involved in the conflicts with the Persians and the Greeks. Here then, we get to see that there is an angel that somehow heads up each congregation of Christ’s church. Presumably our church has an angel assigned to it. Isn’t that an encouraging thought?
Think further of the symbolism that comes out here. The angels are represented by stars. Stars are in the heavens. We refer to angels as heavenly beings – a very fitting symbol. And what do stars do? They shine light onto the earth. So then, compare that with the lampstands. They are here on earth from the temple also shining light onto this earth. So, this vision presents a picture of the heavenly and the earthly closely connected in a ministry of shining light onto this world. When we think about the tribulation going on for Christians, what we can look around and see happening on this earth, we are also given a glimpse here to consider the spiritual warfare that is present behind the scenes, and the Lord has his holy angels here in support of his people.
Again, appreciate the symbolic imagery of this vision when verse 16 tells us these stars are in the right hand of this one like a son of man whom we are told represents Jesus. These angels connected to the churches are in Jesus’ right hand. Not his left hand. His right hand. Since most people are right-handed, this is the visual imagery of strength. Part of Jesus’ help for the churches is the power of these angels that he has to support each church. The world may seem mighty in its attempts to afflict us. But Christ’s right hand of power is with us.
Let’s turn now to our third point for today, to consider this one like a son of man. This is the greatest focus of this vision and has imagery that draws heavily from the Old Testament, especially Daniel. Start with the language of one like a Son of Man from verse 13. That comes from Daniel 7 where it describes the coming Messiah with that title. There, the Son of Man is presented in heaven before God, the Ancient of Days. Interesting, God is there described as having the white hair there, but here it is applied to Jesus. The setting there in Daniel 7 is of a heavenly courtroom with God judging the world, and such white hair might suggest wisdom and possibly holiness as such a judge. Indeed, Scripture tells us that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.
The vision goes on to describe other features of Jesus that are drawn from Daniel 10 which describe a mysterious heavenly being. That one is similarly dressed also with eyes like a flame or fire and burnished bronze feet. That passage is the one describing the angelic warfare going on behind the scenes and is meant to comfort Daniel that God sees and hears the affliction of his people. Similar to Revelation, that heavenly being goes on to describe to Daniel what will happen to God’s people in the latter days. That is exactly what Jesus is doing here.
There are also some minor references to other parts of the Old Testament which point to the divine nature of Jesus. The description of his voice sounding like the roar of many waters draws from Ezekiel 43:2 where it describes the sound of God’s coming. Likewise, the language of his voice sounding like a trumpet blast in verse 10 is how God’s theophany sounded at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:16. That he is called the first and the last in verse 1 is also a divine title from Isaiah 44:6. As for his shining face, we remember how Moses face had a fading glory after being in God’s brilliant presence, but in contrast Jesus’ face shines not in a fading glory, but one as the sun in full strength. For he as God himself is the very source of all light.
So then, the description of Jesus here is so very exalted. He is presented as a heavenly being but also one like a man. He is clearly presented as divine, yet also one died but then rose again. The picture is here is one of an exalted, heavenly, divine man. In other words, this is the incarnate Son of God, the Messiah, our victorious Savior and Lord. He is the one holding even the keys of death and hades, our resurrection and our life!
Let us put this in the right perspective. If at that time, you as a Christian were tempted to be afraid of the world’s persecution, this vision tells you what you really need to be concerned about. As Jesus said, don’t be afraid of him can just kill the body, but be afraid of him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. The one to fear should be this Son of Man who is so arrayed in highest power and splendor. Indeed, that’s John’s first reaction, is to fall down in fear, verse 17. Yet, Jesus’ immediate response is to encourage John, “Fear not.” Christians don’t need to fear Christ’s presence but are rather comforted and encouraged by it.
So then, I want you to appreciate what is being pictured here. Jesus is being pictured as a royal priest walking among his lampstands tending to them. Remember, the old covenant priests were responsible to keep that lampstand lit at night. Jesus is here tending to his churches to keep them lit in this dark world, so to speak. That is meant to greatly encourage us in the face of tribulation. But don’t miss the other side to this. Remember that two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. His tending to his churches includes his powerful word coming to us. In the next two chapters, he speaks a powerful word to each of these churches. Some of his words encourage them to persevere under temptation. He also has some words of warning. He warns against forgetting our first love. He warns against receiving false teaching. He warns against returning to a life of immorality. He warns how someone could outwardly appear to be spiritually doing well but really be spiritually dead. He warns against lukewarmness of faith.
His words are sobering because Jesus is warning of the threat of apostasy. But this is surely part of why Jesus has we his church enduring this season of tribulation. Because it is simultaneously a season of testing. For those who are truly God’s elect, it is a season of refining and growth, even while for others it will reveal they have never truly known the Lord. This shows us that his awesome word is at work to grow us as we find him speaking by extension even to us through these seven letters that we’ll study over the next two chapters. This is how Christ, figuratively, keeps us lit as his lampstands that shine the testimony of Jesus throughout the earth.
Brothers and sisters, fellow partners in the tribulation and the kingdom and patience endurance that is in Jesus, may we be encouraged by this vision today. In this world, we could be tempted to walk by mere earthly sight. We could see the world appearing to win against Christians and think we are losing and all alone. But this vision shows us a glimpse of the heavenly and spiritual realm. Jesus walks among us. He walks among his churches tending to us by his word and power. If we are ever tempted to despair, even doubting if God is winning, this vision reminds us that God has already won. The exalted Jesus is with us and will always be with us, even until the end of the age. May this passage reminds us of this.
Ultimate fear is cast out if Christ is with us. This vision reveals that Christ is with his churches even when we can’t see it with our eyes. Let us have the eyes of faith today and find the courage to live for Christ in this life, with patient endurance until the coming of the kingdom in the fullness.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
