Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 38:17–20 (ESV)

17 For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.

18 I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.

19 But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.

20 Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.

Revelation 1:4–20 (ESV)

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: 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 his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.

Even so.

Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and 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. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 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.

14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

16 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.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one.

I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

20 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.

Slide

Introduction

Last time we looked the makeup of Revelation noting some of the major ways in which it is interpreted.

The most favourable is that which is termed The Spiritual Historicist View in which we see principles relevant throughout history.

The history is that of the Church of Christ from the first advent of Jesus to the second advent of Jesus.

A study of the book reveals a series of seven parallel sections all covering the same period of time but with different emphasis in each.

Today we look at all seven.

1. Christ in the Midst of the Lampstands – Chapters 1-3

2. The Vision of Heaven and the Seals – Chapters 4-7

3. The Seven Trumpets - Chapters – 8-12

4. The Persecuting Dragon – Chapters 12-14

5.

The Seven Bowls – Chapters 15-16

6.

The Fall of Babylon – Chapters 17-19

7. The Great Consummation – Chapters 20-22

Inevitably our look will be somewhat cursory but hopefully will enable us to know the blessing expressed in Revelation 1:3 “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 in it, for the time is near.”

Slide

1 - Christ in the Midst of the Lampstands (1:1–3:22)

THE central theme of the first three chapters of Revelation seems to be Christ in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

These lampstands represent the seven churches (1:20) Hendriksen, W. (1967).

More than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation (p.

16).

Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Slide

These lampstands represent the seven churches (1:20).

To each church John is directed to write a letter (see chapters 2 and 3).

As this number seven occurs again and again in the Apocalypse and is everywhere symbolical of completeness, we may safely take it for granted that such is the case here, and that it indicates the entire Church throughout the full span of its existence to the very end of the world.

Thus interpreted, each individual church is, as it were, a type, not indicating one definite period in history, but describing conditions which are constantly repeated in the actual life of the various congregations.

Therefore this section appears to span the entire dispensation, from Christ’s first coming to save His people (1:5) to His second coming to judge all nations (1:7).

The last of these seven letters is written to the church at Laodicea.

Hendriksen, W. (1967).