Revelation 1:12-16

Subject: Christ
Scripture: Revelation 1:12-16
Sermon: “One Like the Son of Man”

Introduction:
A.  Mark Moring in Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1: When our church organized a work team for a short-term missions trip to Spain, they wanted “skilled” workers, but were willing to take a few non-handy guys like me. (You’ll never see my face on “Home Improvement”!)
   Fortunately, we had enough “Tim Taylor” types for the trip--including Art, who knew just about everything there was to know about pouring concrete. We were building new teepees at a Christian camp for kids, and the teepees were to be built on concrete foundations.
   Another church team had worked at the site the week before we arrived, building a few teepees. Unfortunately, the foundations they’d poured were already beginning to crumble at the edges.
   But Art knew how to do it exactly right, using forms around the edges and reinforcing rods underneath to hold things together—for a long time. Jesus tells us to take the same care with our spiritual foundations, to build our “house upon the rock.”
   How do we do that? By honoring Christ through worship, prayer and obedience to God’s Word.

B.  Honoring Christ begins by knowing Christ for who He is and we find out who he is in God’s Word and our walk with Him

Bible Background:
A.  Introduction:
1.  Rev 1:1-3 = Introduction
2.  Rev 1:4-6 = Source
3.  Rev 1:6-7 = Theme
4.  Rev 1:9-11 = Setting and Commission of John
5.  After including God’s emphatic declaration (1:8) that confirms the prophetic theme of the book, John turns his attention to a description of his encounter with glorified Christ on the island of his exile: first commission to write (1:9-11) source of the commission (1:12-16) restatement of the commission (1:17-20)

B.  John is about to have his first revelation of Jesus Christ in all his glory, the second time he would see him this way but not since the Mount of Transfiguration – Before he sees Christ, He is commissioned by Christ to reveal His Word to the churches – now he is shown Christ in all His glory and is told to share this with us – we get to see Christ!

C.  “And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me,”
1.  John turns around to see the voice (voice cannot be seen) = metonymy = “and I turned to see Him who spoke with me.” – used this way throughout the OT as in Exod 20:18 lit. “and all the people saw the voice”
2.  Article with fwnh is anaphoric referring back to the noun fwnh in v. 10
 
Transitional Sentence:  To see Christ, we must see His position, His person, and His practices

I.  Position of Christ  Rev 1:12-13

A.  Midst of 7 lampstands  Rev 1:12-13a
1.  Dependence of Rev. on OT – lampstands were 7 in number and made of gold
(a)  Zech 4:1 THEN the angel who was speaking with me returned, and roused me as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it
(b)  The lampstand that stood inside the first and outside the second veil of the tabernacle of Israel (Exod 25:31-40)
2.  Lampstands = emblems of churches in separate cities – embody and give forth light – Matt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 “Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. = symbolic of the witness that God’s people were to bear to surrounding Gentile peoples
3.  In the midst of the lampstands – v. 13a = in the midst of the churches = central position = “Head of the church” = position of authority – churches are inseparable from their head, Jesus

B.  Messiah  Rev 1:13b
1.  Son of Man = Dan 7:13; 10:5-6, 16, 18 – accepted by most Jews as a messianic title for Jesus – Jesus applied Dan 7:13 to Himself in Mark 13:26 – one like the son of man = supernatural – emphasis upon His right to judge
2.  “Son of Man” recur at the beginning of six of the letters, but not to the church of Laodicea
3.  Description of the exalted, glorified Christ – appearance of Christ in this vision is designed to emphasize the aspects of His nature that are most relevant to the needs and circumstances of the seven churches who are the primary recipients of this book
4.  Exalted Christology of the book makes natural the ascription to Christ of attributes assigned to God in the OT (Dan 7:13)
ILL Joni Eareckson Tada in Lamp Unto My Feet. Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 8.
“Just think, every promise God has ever made finds its fulfillment in Jesus. God doesn’t just give us grace, He gives us Jesus, the Lord of grace. If it’s peace, it’s only found in Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Even life itself is found in the Resurrection and the Life. Christianity isn’t all that complicated ... it’s Jesus.”

C.  Authority  Rev 1:13c
1.  Clothes in visions often depict something – here show authority
2.  Dan 10:5 – Not necessarily a priestly reference to Christ (dressed to the feet) but common of anyone of high rank – long robe is an Oriental mark of rank and dignity – Greek poetry often dressed their gods like this – Jesus is the only true God with the right to wear these clothes!
3.  Golden belt about the breasts = like the Messenger of Dan 10:5 but looks forward to the judgment inflicted by the angels of the seven last plagues of Rev 15:6 – Ezek 9:2 describes one like this who was making judgment and that is what is seen here; so position of dignity or high rank is meant
ILL Diogenes Allen in Quest: The Search for Meaning through Christ.  Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 7: The Latin root of “authority” and “authentic” means “that which allows growth and life.” Our resentment of the authority of God in Christ is, therefore, foolish.

II.  Person of Christ  Rev 1:14-15

A.  Wisdom & Purity
ILL Sinclair B. Ferguson in A Heart For God. Christianity Today, Vol. 32,  no. 1. When we look back on what the masters of the spiritual life have written and said, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that we have been the victim of a confidence trick in our century.  Over the past few decades, the evangelical church has been gripped by a series of issues and concerns that have primarily been marginal, or at best of secondary importance.
   Conferences, seminars, and books on a whole series of “vital concerns” have dominated center stage and determined the agenda in many churches and for many individual Christians.  “But strikingly absent has been concentration on God Himself.” Indeed, on the rare occasions when this absence has not been the case, we have sat up to take notice as though something out of the ordinary were being said!
1.  Hair and head white as wool – Dan 10:6 – Ancient of Days transferred to the Son of Man = Metaphor for years and wisdom coming from them – also speaks of the eternal nature of Christ
2.  Hair white as snow – Dan 7:9 of God’s clothes – depiction of purity – holiness

B.  Insight & Wrath
1.  Eyes like a flame of fire – Dan 10:6 eyes were as lamps of fire
2.  Emphasis upon Christ’s omniscience and holy wrath = penetrating scrutiny or fierce judgment

C.  Steadfastness  Rev 1:15a
1.  “Feet like burning brass as in a furnace set on fire” – metaphor for being severely tested and standing the test of time – refined = lit. having passed through the fire and become purified = still in molten state as pictured in Ezek 1:13, 27; Dan 10:6
2.  Not sure what the metal is “bronze” found only here and in 2:18 and nowhere else in ancient Greek literature – made up of two Greek words = calko" = copper mixed with tin and libano" = frankincense – could mean brass-like, yellow frankincense, amber, or glowing metal named from amber by this name or even Lebanonese brass, copper zinc – Ezek 43:2 = one of three instances where Ezek is quoted exactly in Greek translation (Rev 10:10 quotes Ezek 3:3 and Rev 18:1 of Ezek 43:2) – phrase from Ezek 1:24 or 43:2
3.  Weight and powerful majesty of the figure compared to pillars of gold ore, an alloy that was considered as valuable as gold (burnished bronze) and purity of the Lord

D.  Awesomeness
1.  Doesn’t used Dan 10:6 “like the voice of a multitude”
2.  Voice of many waters = deep, awe, inspiring sound of the masses of moving water = Niagara Falls
3.  He commands attention – fearfulness of the Lord is seen – not my buddy, but my Lord!

III.  Practices of Christ  Rev 1:16

A.  Control of the seven stars
1.  “And in His right hand seven stars”
ILL Mrs. Harvey Kidd, Hernando, MS.  Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart.”: My young grandson, Richard, and I recently vacationed in the Rocky Mountains. One day we had stopped to admire their grandeur, and after a few minutes of thoughtful silence Richard broke out, “Just think--God did all this with only one hand!” I puzzled over this for a moment, then asked him what he meant. “Oh, you know, Grandmother,” he replied, “the Bible says Jesus was sitting on the right hand of God.”
2.  Right hand = seat of strength and power – dominion = supreme command and authority Means the stars (churches) were subject to Him and totally in His power
3.  Holding the stars in His right hand = protection in the midst of persecution – John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.” – Christ’s authority and control over the churches as well as their messengers
4.  Ps 110:1; Heb 1:3-4

B.  Word of God
1.  “And from His mouth a sword, two-edged, sharp was going out” = Isa 11:4; 49:2; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; 2 Thes 2:8
2.  Rhomphaia (Luke 2:35 only other NT occurrence) was a large-bladed sword of Thracian origin – short Roman sword was shaped like a human tongue – double edged = greater sharpness = judicial authority of Christ
3.  Function of the sword = fight those who do not repent (2:18) and smite the nations (19:21)
4.  Effective speech and the Word of God are compared to a sword (Ps 52:2; 57:4; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12 – allusion to Isa 49:2 – Word of the Lord will not return void
ILL Dorothy L. Sayers in A Careless Rage for Life. Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 4.   I believe it to be a grave mistake to present Christianity as something charming and popular with no offence in it.  We cannot blink the fact that gentle Jesus meek and mild was so stiff in His opinions and so inflammatory in His language that He was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand and a public danger. Whatever His peace was, it was not the peace of an amiable indifference.

C.  All-seeing
1.  “And His sight (face, appearance, oyi", is found only here and in John 7:24; 11:44 but common in LXX) like the sun shine in its power” – Judge 5:31
2.  Association of the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:2) = John is the only one to get a second glimpse of Christ’s future manifested glory
3.  Shine like the sun (Matt 17:2) and of the righteous (Matt 13:43) and the angels (Rev 10:1)

Conclusion:
A.  Jesus is almighty God and should be feared – has the right to judge – we should fear Him, but not His wrath if saved

B.  Believers  Dan 12:3 “And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever – shine the gospel of Jesus Christ