Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Revelation 1:4-8

Theme: Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega — the beginning and the end.

Date: 10/01/2017 File Name: Revelation_02.wpd

ID Number:

Weather it’s in the sciences or the humanities, most fields of study will categorize the past into distinct, quantified blocks of time or periods that we often refer to an age — i.e. the “age of discovery” or the “age of empires.”

Major categorization systems include cosmological ages (time periods in the development of the universe), geological ages (time periods in the development of the Earth), and historical ages.

When I was in school I can remember being fascinated by the different historical periods of man — the Prehistoric Age, the Neolithic Age, the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and now the Nuclear Age.

There are also theological ages of biblical history we find in the Scriptures.

These theological ages are known covenantal periods.

They include:

The Adamic Covenant

The Noetic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant

The Mosaic Covenant

The Davidic Covenant

The New Covenant

We are in the period of the New Covenant.

The new covenant age was prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah in (Jer.

31:31–34, NIV84), and was fulfilled in the life and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first five covenantal periods are are described as the Age of the Law and are found in the Old Testament.

The Age of Grace is described in the New Testament.

John’s Gospel alludes to this: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

(John 1:17, NIV84).

This New Covenant era is also referred to as The Church Age, and is the period of world history beginning on the day of Pentecost and culminating at the Second Coming of Christ.

There is one last theological period, and the Bible simply refers to it as “The Age to Come.”

It includes Christ’s millennial kingdom and then eternity.

In our text for this morning the apostle John describes the characteristics of the age — that is, the theological period — in which we live.

I. JOHN DESCRIBES THE COMMUNITY OF THE AGE

“John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,” (Revelation 1:4, NIV84)

1. the primary community of the age is Christ’s Church

a. the revelation of Jesus Christ is not for everyone

1) it is for a specific group of people, and that group is his Elect who make up his body, called the Church

b. the local church is not an organization of individual believers, but a single body united in Christ

1) the word the New Testament authors use to describe this sense of unity — this sense of community — is koinonia

2. Koinonia expresses a relationship of great intimacy and depth, and the implications of this word when used to express the nature of our bond with Christ and the brethren is profound

a. the Church is not simply a society; it is a fellowship in God and with God, AND a communion with other people who are in fellowship in God and with God

b. the fundamental nature of this fellowship is love

3. the apostle is writing specifically to seven churches in the province of Asia — which today is the modern nation of Turkey

a. theses are not the only churches in the province of Asia at the time — there are many more

1) seven church will receive specific messages from our Christ as we will see in the 2nd, and 3rd chapters of the book

2) these congregations include the Church at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea

b. but once John arrives at chapter four, the message of Revelation concerns all congregations of the entire church age

1) how do we know?

c. seven is a number we’re going to see crop up again and again in the Book of Revelation

1) Revelation 1:4 is the first verse in the book where the number seven appears

2) before we are finished with the book we will come across it 54 more times

3) it’s a number that represents fullness or completeness

b. so when John writes to the seven churches, he is giving a message for the whole church throughout this age

4. the essential community of the age is the Church

a. in our society we often refer to different types of community

1) some are identified by race — we refer to the black community, or the Hispanic community

2) some are identified by location — we talk about the urban community, or the rural community or the suburban community

3) some are identified by age — there is the millennial community versus the baby-boomer community

4) in more recent days we’ve come to identify people according to sexual identity — we talk about the gay/lesbian community, the transgendered community, and the straight community

5) and of course some are identified by economic status — there is the blue-collar community, and white-collar communities

b. all of these community types have different characteristics, a different focus, different mores, different interests, and different agendas all of which tend to alienate one community from another

5.

only one community transcends all societal differences and unifies its members

a. that community is the church — the Body of Christ — those who have been born from above, cleansed from sin, and made part of the household of God

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

(Galatians 5:6, NIV84)

1) did you hear the Apostle clearly?

... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love

b. all the things that alienate us from others in the broader culture, all the things that separate one cultural community from the other cultural communities in our society are transcended by Christ, and our allegiance is to the one Lord who indwells his community, and commands that community to “love one another”

1) some would say this is pollyannaish in today’s culture ... that America is so divided that even the local church cannot transcend our differences

c. it’s pollyannaish only if God’s people are disobedient to the Scriptures

ILLUS.

When I was young, I learned the little rhyme — it even had hand motions — that goes like this:

Here is the church,

Here is the steeple,

Open the doors,

See all the people.

I have a better version of that rhyme:

Here is a building,

On top there’s a steeple,

Open the doors,

The Church is the people!

6. the church is the essential community for raising Christian — no other community within our culture can do that

II.

JOHN DESCRIBES THE CONSOLATION OF THE AGE

“John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” (Revelation 1:4–5, NIV84)

1. scarcely has john picked up his pen then a blessing pours from it to God’s people

a. our consolation — our solace, our comfort — derives from grace and peace

2. the book deals primarily with judgment, yet God begins it with grace

a. in this book, wicked men receive richly deserved judgment from God

b. the floodgates of God’s wrath, held back since Calvary, burst over their banks and pour forth in all of their fury

c. yet God begins revelation by telling men they can have what they do not deserve — grace!

1) later in the book John sees a multitude that no man can number, men and women who have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb and who loved not their lives unto death — all because of grace

3. in our consolation in Christ we also receive peace — the kind that passes all understanding

a. here is a book that deals with graphic violence

ILLUS.

If the judgments found in this book could be accurately portrayed on film, the movie would most likely be “R” rated, for excessive violence.

1) it deals with bloodshed and war, and rings with the din of noise and strife

2) it tells of carnage and conflict — earthquake and famine, pestilence and woe

3) it tells of purges and persecutions that dwarf all those of history — blood flows in crimson tides

4) the book tells of the crash of Empire, of anarchy, oppression, terror, and despair

5) it tells of war in heaven, and of war on earth — revealing a possessed beast of a man, driven and indwelt by the devil, wrecking fearful vengeance on the saints of the Most High

6) thunder’s role, stars fall from heaven, plagues issue up from the abyss, demons take control of human affairs, armies are marshaled by countless millions of men

b. and yet, God begins this book with the word — peace!