Revelation 1:17-20

Subject: Reaction/Response
Scripture: Revelation 1:17-20
Sermon: “The Proper Response to Jesus Christ”

Introduction:
A. Tammy Lindsey, Utica, New York: The praise chorus "We Exalt Thee" took on a whole new meaning when I heard my three-year-old daughter singing her version: "We exhaust thee. We exhaust thee, O Lord."

B.  The Lord is the ever living one and we must exhaust Him, which is an impossibility

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.  Rev 1:12-16 = Vision of Jesus Christ
6.  Rev 1:17-20 = Reaction to the vision of Christ
7.  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!

Transitional Sentence:  What is the proper response to Jesus Christ?

I.  To Be Fearful of the Lord  Revelation 1:17a

A.  Fearful Recognition of His Sovereignty – “And when I saw Him, I fell before His Feet”
1.  Act of submission and worship – our face at His feet – John reacted as Mount of Transfiguration in Matt 17:6 And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid.
2.  Fall at his feet = totally overwhelmed – prostration to the earth was a frequent reaction of those who received visions

B.  Fearful Recognition of His Holiness
1.  Same response of unbelieving guards at Jesus’ tomb in Matt 28:4 – all sinners react the same way to the presence of God
2.  Sinful human beings must perish before the holiness and purity of God
3.  Daniel 10:8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. 9 But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.; Isa 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”; Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.; 3:23 So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.; 9:8 Then it came about as they were striking and I alone was left, that I fell on my face and cried out saying, “Alas, Lord GOD! Art Thou destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Thy wrath on Jerusalem?”; 43:3 And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.; 44:4 Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I fell on my face.; Judg 13:22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”; Job 42:5 I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees Thee; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”; Acts 26:13  at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14 “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’; Rev 6:16  and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
ILL stark contrast to those who say they have seen the Lord but great fear – holy God brings fear and unbelievable sense of sinfulness and unworthiness – Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
ILL Robert Macfarlane in a sermon: The church speaks the language of the End, so that we will know just how high the stakes are in the present.

II.  To Be Comforted by the Lord  Revelation 1:17b-18

A.  What Christ Does
1.  Did He drop the stars to touch Him? Ha! All figurative language!
2.  Touch brings comfort and assurance – same one whose breast he had lain at the Last supper 65 years earlier – loud voice like the sound of many waters (1:15) – comfort a person who believes he is in a difficult situation [deep weeds]

B.  What Christ Says
1.  “Do not be afraid” = lit. “stop being afraid” [of destruction from God’s wrath]
2.  “Do not be afraid” = 365 times in the Bible – some say do not be afraid = 365 times in Bible but only if all variant readings are included – actually this construction of “fear not” occurs 93 times in OT and 24 times in NT = 117 times

C.  Who Christ Is = compassionate assurance – comfort based upon who He is and the authority He possesses
1.  Characteristics of Deity
(a)  “I am” = Tetragrammaton in Exod 3:14 = found 5 times in Revelation and 48 times in the NT and is almost always attributed to Christ or God – (Matt 14:27; 22:32; 24:5; 26:22, 25) Mark (6:50; 13:6; 14:62) Luke (1:19; 21:8; 22:70; 24:39) John (24 times) Acts (9:5; 10:21; 18:10; 22:3, 8; 26:29) – here uttered only by God or Christ – John uses the I AM formula the most “I Am the bread of life” (6:35, 48) “I Am the living bread descended from heaven” (6:51 “I am the light of the world” 8:12; I am the door (10:7, 9) “I am the good shepherd” (10:11, 14) “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25) “(I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6) “I Am the true vine” (15:1, 5)
(b)  “first and the last” = title for God in OT in Isa 44:6; 48:12; 41:4; 22:13
(c)  “And the One who lives” = John 1:4; 14:6 – Josh 3:10; 1 Sam 17:26; Ps 84:2; Hos 1:10; Matt 16:16; 26:63; Acts 14:15; Rom 9:26; 2 Cor 3:3; 6:16; 1 Thes 1:9; 1 Tim 3:15; 4:10; Heb 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; Rev 7:2) – John 5:26 Jesus claimed life in Himself as God has life in Himself
(d)  lit. “I was once dead and behold I am living into the ages of the ages = redemption accomplished by him – 1 Pet 3:18 humanity died but God lives – behold = statement of wonder – “I am alive forevermore – Christ lives forever in a union of glorified humanity and deity according to the power of an indestructible life (Heb 7:16) – Rom 6:9; Heb 7:25 in spite of his sinfulness, John had nothing to fear because Jesus had paid for his sins
2.  Control of Deity
(a)  Keys of death and Hades = synonymous in that death is the condition and Hades the place
(b)  Hades = place of the dead (Sheol in OT) – Keys = access and authority
(c)  Jesus decides who lives and dies and controls life and death – no fear of death for the believer John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies; 14:19 “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. – Heb 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

III.  To Be Obedient to the Lord  Revelation 1:19

A.  Write
1.  Healthy tension between fear and assurance, reminder of his duty
2.  Based upon all this authority, Christ sends messages to the churches the commands and promises of this book

B.  Vision
1.  What you saw = Rev 1:12-16
2.  What is = Rev 2-3
3.  What is about to happen after these things = Rev 4-22

IV.  To Be Teachable by the Lord  Revelation 1:20

*You can’t be teachable until you are fear the Lord, are comforted by the Lord and are obedient to the Lord’s Word and His calling

A.  Mystery concealed but now revealed = 1 Cor 2:7; Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:5, 9-10; Col 1:26-27; 2 Tim 1:9-10; Tit 1:2-3; 1 Pet 1:20 – 1 Cor 15:51  Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.; Rom 11:25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in
ILL Weirsbe:  It is a Christ-centered book; open book (Rev 22:10); symbolic book; prophecy; blessing (Rev 1:3) relevant book; majestic book (46 times throne is found); universal book (all nations); climactic book

B.  Meaning
1.  angelo" can be used of the supernatural or human messenger – used 77 times in Rev but only here and to the seven churches in chs. 2-3 does it refer to the angels of the seven churches but everywhere else as agents of God – teaching elders of the churches who would expound the prophecy to the church
2.  lampstands represent the seven churches found in chapters 2-3

Conclusion:
A.  Like John all believers have a responsibility to pass on the truths they learn from the visions recorded in this book – must pass on these truths to equip the saints

B.  2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.