Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

I want to introduce this morning’s topic with a quote within a quote.

Philip Yancey, a Christian author, took the daunting task of writing a book that might answer the seemingly unanswerable question: why does a good God allow pain and suffering with the book: Where Is God When It Hurts.

I do not want to mislead you, this is not our topic this morning but an introduction to the topic.

In this book, Philip records an interaction between an elderly lady and her pastor.

He says:

“J.

Robertson McQuilkin...was once approached by an elderly lady facing the trials of old age.

Her body was in decline, her beauty being replaced by thinning hair, wrinkles and skin discoloration.

She could no longer do the things she once could, and she felt herself to be a burden on others.

“Robertson, why does God let us get old and weak?

Why must I hurt so?” she asked.

After a few moments’ thought, McQuilkin replied: “I think God has planned the strength and beauty of youth to be physical.

But the strength and beauty of age is spiritual.

We gradually lose the strength and beauty that is temporary so we’ll be sure to concentrate on the strength and beauty which is forever.

It makes us more eager to leave behind the temporary, deteriorating part of us and be truly homesick for our eternal home.

If we stayed young and strong and beautiful, we might never want to leave!”

This puts into perspective for us the eternal, and how with an eternal perspective we are changed.

When we see how beautiful is the spiritual and how ugly is this life our outlook changes and hope flourishes in tremendous strides.

Transition:

I think perhaps this is what the Apostle John is doing with our passage this morning.

With the book of Revelation written for struggling churches by a man of God in a struggle himself, a right perspective is in order for them and for us here today.

Scripture Reading:

John again gives his name as the author of the letter and described his whereabouts and why he was there.

Next he explained his commissioning to write this letter to the churches.

Then he described his vision of the exalted Christ, leaving no mistake as to Christ’s true identity—theses are all things already introduced in the first 8 verses—it is almost as if he is rewording his introduction from the first 8 verses.

Then, his vision he starts describing in verse 12 makes some wonder if he is loosing it from perhaps malnutrition or dehydration from being on an island alone too long.

But then we will see that this description has much in common with Isaiah 6, Daniel 10, and Ezekiel 1 - which vindicates John’s sanity and also highlights our need to understand the O.T. in order to understand this book.

So, later on, I plan to review with you what was going on in those books and what is the connection here.

Transition:

This morning, I want to see with you what John is really trying to tell us with these curious words and pictures in these 5 verses:

I. THE REALITY OF THE REVELATION (v.9)

John seems to be using this first portion as a striving to prove the validity, the veracity, the truthfulness of what is about to follow

“I, John, your brother and partner”

in other words he is saying, “it’s me guys, the same John that you’ve always known—we’re family” Although John was an apostle and an elder of the church, he described himself as their brother in Christ because he and the persecuted believers were partners in suffering as persecution against believers began to escalate at the end of the century.

They were partners in God’s coming Kingdom because they were already its citizens.

And they were partners in patient endurance as they awaited the arrival of God’s coming Kingdom.

This identity buys the Apostle John more credibility.

Historical tradition indicates the Apostle John was exiled by the Roman Emperor Domitian to the isle of Patmos about a.d.

95, then released after Domitian’s death in 96.

The Romans used Patmos, a small rocky island about ten miles long and six miles wide in the Aegean Sea, about fifty miles offshore from the city of Ephesus on the Asia Minor seacoast (see map), for banishing political prisoners essentially to die on this island.

John had paid for his faithfulness of preaching the word of God and speaking about Jesus by this exile to Patmos.

Although John was away from the churches and unable to travel, his exile did not stop what God would do through John, nor did it stop God’s message from getting to his churches.

Transition:

John was not living a cozy life that the prosperity Gospel promises—especially at this time when he’s writing this letter, but now he has a new job to do:

II.

THE COMMISSION OF THE REVELATION (v.10-12)

Now John sets the scene to when he recieved his instruction to write and share

It is difficult to imagine what life was like for the apostle on the Isle of Patmos.

It must have been a monotonous, hard existence, with each day being about survival very much like the one that preceded it.

Even though the days were bland and blended together, John still knew when it was the Lord’s Day, and he kept it holy even in his lonely isolation.

How do we know he kept it holy?

Because John was worshiping in the Spirit, which refers to a visionary experience given to John by the Holy Spirit.

On this day, John heard a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast.

If John, given his circumstances, could be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, how much more should we Americans, in better circumstances, seek to observe the Lord’s Day and be ‘in the Spirit’ everyday!

however our circumstances do not dictate our ability and privilege to worship our Lord—and John is proving it here.

What we see here is Spirit-led worship transforms us, motivating missions and ministry

Illustration:

Quote: Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin.

Calvin once wrote that:

“man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”

In other words, when we see YHWH, we come to understand ourselves better, opening the door to repentance, inspiration, and transformation.

Worship opens our eyes once again to the wonder and majesty of the God we serve.

Like nothing else, a vision of the Lord can move us out into mission.

John is with the Lord in his spirit, but is now in person right when he heard a insanely loud voice, as if a presence of a king.

The trumpet heralds the return of Christ (1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4).

The voice claimed a divine kingship, as it commanded, with the authority of a king, to “Write” (v.

11).

We already mentioned last week how the seven local churches listed were not the only churches in Asia Minor at that time.

These churches were likely chosen as examples of what was happening in their midst at the time and because they were located on the connecting roads of a circular postal route that would make the letter spread more efficiently.

Jesus tells us what the lampstands are symbolizing a few verses later in verse 20—the churches.

But this is not the first that we hear of churches being symbolized as lampstands: God’s people are as seven lamps in Zechariah's 5th vision from YHWH:

So now we have this picture again of 7 golden lampstands.

Transition:

so he has this commission to write and we have the circumstances in which he was writing so the third thing I want to look at this morning is:

III.

THE MAJESTY OF THE REVELATION (v.13-16)

In a vision John saw Christ, the resurrected, glorified, eternal King.

In symbols John tells us what caliber of king he is--one totally different from any Caesar.

The long robe pictures Jesus as a leader.

From the O.T., we can gather that the gold sash across His chest reveals him as the high priest who goes into YHWH’s presence to obtain forgiveness of sin for those who have believed in Him.

In the first century secular realm, wearing a sash, especially across the chest, indicated leadership and authority.

Hebrews 2:17 identifies Jesus as the final high priest.

More than that, He is among the churches.

He holds them, their leaders, and their destiny in his power.

No matter what the churches face, Jesus is in control and protects them with his all-encompassing love and reassuring power.

His snowy white hair indicates his wisdom and divine nature (see also Daniel 7:9).

His blazing eyes symbolize judgment of all evil (see Daniel 10:6) and deep insight, not only over the churches and the believers but over the entire course of history.

The feet like bronze picture an exalted person with great power (also from Daniel).

Bronze usually symbolized the might of Rome—bronze shields and breastplates were used by the Roman army.

Again, this is a picture of an all-powerful Victor (see also Ezekiel 1:13, 27; 8:2; and Daniel 10:6).

The voice like mighty ocean waves evokes the image of a huge waterfall roaring over a high cliff.

Thus, the voice is powerful and awesome.

When this man speaks with authority, nothing else can be heard.

In his right hand, Christ holds seven stars, explained in 1:20 as “the angels of the seven churches” to whom this letter is addressed (1:11).

That Christ is holding the stars implies his protection of these churches as he walks among them.

We learn from this then: He is holy; he cannot be deceived, for he sees (knows) all; his power cannot be broken; his authority cannot be resisted; his judgment cannot be avoided; and his majesty cannot be imitated.

This is what picture we might get taking John literally

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however, while still maintaining a literal interpretation, we see that John uses the word “like” (Greek: ὡς) which tells us readers that it is not literal fire in Jesus’ eye, nor is there literally a sword coming from His mouth, but that is how John can try to describe what he sees—we must pay careful attention to the small words “like” or “as” in order to properly interpret what John and Jesus are communicating.

Nonetheless, this is the picture that we are encouraged with.