Alive and Reigning

Sermon Transcript

I’ve been enjoying watching some of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament in recent weeks, and every so often during the tournament former Villanova coach Jay Wright appears on screen. When he does, two rings are often visible on his hands, each representing one of the national championships he won while the head coach at Villanova. I watched plenty of Villanova basketball in my life, and so I saw Jay Wright’s face on TV many times. But he just looks different now with those two big rings on his hands. The rings say something about him: This isn’t just Jay Wright; this is two-time NCAA men’s basketball champion Jay Wright. 

 

In Jesus’ time on earth, a lot of people saw him. His disciples especially saw a lot of him. But in the passage on which we are focusing today, one of Jesus’ disciples, John, tells us about a time he saw Jesus, and Jesus looked different, so much so that John fell down as though dead at the sight of him. In this passage, John didn’t just encounter the Jesus of Nazareth he knew, walked with, and ate with. He encountered the Jesus of Nazareth who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Today is Easter Sunday, the day many Christians set aside to focus especially on Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and we’re going to see in this passage that because Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus is the exalted ruler over all his churches. And this passage shows us how we encounter him, what he looks like, and who he says he is.

 

How we encounter him

 

John begins our passage this morning with a bit of background. He said back in verse 4 of chapter 1 that this book was written to the seven churches of Asia, which are representative of all churches. And though John was an apostle, the highest office in the church under Jesus, he introduces himself in verse 9, when writing to the churches, as their brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. This is what it’s like to belong to Jesus’ church: To be a brother or sister, not only to the members of your church, but to the members of all his churches, and to be a partner with such brothers and sisters in tribulation, rule, and patient endurance. What do you expect following Jesus to be like? John’s description here includes in it the concept of reigning: He says he is a partner with the churches in the kingdom of Christ. But it’s clear that’s a kingdom not of this world, because he also says he’s a partner with them in tribulation and patient endurance. That’s the path scripture teaches us to expect as citizens of Jesus’ kingdom: tribulation, and patient endurance, until that kingdom into which we’ve been transferred comes in its fullness.

 

So John says he’s a partner with us in such things, and then he says he was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. So just in case you thought all that talk of tribulation was merely theoretical, realize that John is on an island in exile because he proclaimed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Patmos was just off the coast of modern-day Turkey, where these seven churches to whom he was writing were located. And John says that while he was there, he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. To be “in the Spirit” is to be in a kind of prophetic trance, and John says this happened to him on the Lord’s Day, which is the first day of the week, the day we call Sunday. It’s worth noting on this Easter Sunday that Easter Sunday is not actually in the Bible–the Lord’s Day is. That is, there is not one day per year set aside for Christians to gather in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead–there is one day per week set aside for Christians to gather in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And so Christian churches have historically gathered weekly on the Lord’s Day for worship.

 

But John was in exile, and couldn’t gather with a church. Nonetheless, on this day the Holy Spirit met him, and he heard a loud voice telling him to write down what he sees in a book and to send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia (that’s ancient Philadelphia in modern-day Turkey, not our Philadelphia) and to Laodicea. Why does John give these churches this background on the Lord’s Day when he was in the Spirit? He wants those churches receiving this book, and us, to realize that what he writes are not his own ideas, nor was it even his idea to write at all. It was this loud voice he heard while in the Spirit who told him to write what he saw in a book and to send it to the seven churches. So even as we look at the rest of this passage, let’s look at it not primarily as the words of John, but as the words of this loud voice. As John himself introduced the book in the very first verse of it, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, whose voice is that loud voice John heard.

 

How do we, the members of his churches, encounter Jesus, then? We encounter him through the words that John wrote down in this book, along with the other books that he and the apostles and prophets wrote, which are compiled for us in the Bible. That’s what gets sent to the churches. John doesn’t tell the Christians in the churches to go to an island by themselves and wait until they are in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day to hear the voice of Jesus. Instead, he writes down what that loud voice said to him, just as that loud voice told him to do. So today, the way we hear God’s voice is not by going to an island and waiting for God to speak to us in our minds or through nature. The way we hear God’s voice is by opening this book. So earlier in verse 3 of chapter 1 we read, “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.” 

 

If you are here today and you are not a Christian, but you want to encounter the real Jesus, the way to do that is by hearing and reading the words of this book. We gather each Lord’s Day to read aloud and hear the words of this book, and we’d love to have you join us regularly as you explore Christian faith. Here’s a simple step you can take alongside that: Pray, and ask God if he’s really there to send his Holy Spirit to open your mind to truly hear the voice of Jesus speaking in this book. Brothers and sisters, this is what we pray for when we gather on the Lord’s Day, isn’t it? This is why we gather every Lord’s Day: To encounter Jesus personally, to see more of his glory, and to hear his voice as his word is read aloud. Come to church expecting that, come wanting that, and let’s pray that God would give us more of that. We encounter the resurrected Jesus through the writings of his apostles and prophets.

 

And John did write down what he saw. So let’s look next at what he saw, by seeing what Jesus looks like.

 

What he looks like

 

He heard a loud voice first, so he did what any of us would do if we heard a loud voice behind us: He turned around to see who it was who was speaking. On turning the first thing he saw were seven lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands he saw one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. This long robe was part of the vestments God instituted centuries earlier for the high priest of Israel, the highest ranking priest, to wear, along with a sash, a common accompaniment to a robe. There were many priests in the time before Jesus, but only the high priest wore that long robe. Now John sees Jesus wearing it. For as unique as the high priest was, though, his sash wasn’t a golden sash. The only time in the Bible we read of someone wearing something like a golden sash is when the prophet Daniel encounters an angel who had a belt of fine gold around his waist. But here we see that it’s not around his waist–it’s around his chest. If one wore a robe, you’d have your sash at your waist if you were “girding up your loins”–that is, trying to keep up the bottom of your garment so you could engage in manual labor. But Jesus’ golden sash is up at his chest, as if to indicate that he’s at rest. His work is finished.

 

Then John says in verse 14 that the hairs of his head were white, like wool, like snow. Here the background is another vision the prophet Daniel had, but this one was of God himself, who was sitting on his throne to judge, and we read in Daniel 7 that “his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool” (Dan 7:9). So now Jesus is appearing not only as the high priest, or the angelic being whose work is finished, but he’s looking like God himself, the God who is seated on his throne to judge. His eyes being like a flame of fire further reveals his capacity to judge, as God’s eyes throughout the Bible go out for judgment. Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” That his eyes are like a flame of fire shows us the penetrating clarity and power of his judgment. Then his feet are like burnished bronze, a strong metal that’s been refined in a furnace to maximal purity. He’s a pure judge, he’s a judge with the power to execute judgment, and unlike another image who appears in the visions of the prophet Daniel, his feet are not like clay that will eventually be destroyed, but burnished bronze that will stand forever. And when he speaks, his voice is like the roar of many waters, much like the voice of God is described in Psalm 29 as being above the waters, thundering, powerful, and full of majesty.

 

So the image John is given of Jesus is not arbitrary, nor is it reducible to one image from earlier in the Bible. One image cannot exhaust his glory. Rather, Jesus is revealed here to be simultaneously the true and greater high priest, the true and greater angelic messenger, and the true God himself. He’s the high priest whose work is now finished. The previous high priests had to keep working to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, but on Good Friday we recalled how Jesus offered himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, bearing all the sins of all his people, and suffering the penalty they deserved. And on this Lord’s Day we celebrate that after making that purification for sins, God raised him from the dead and exalted him to his right hand, above even the angels, over whom he also now reigns.

 

In this heavenly temple he sees all with the fiery eyes of his judgment that look out over his churches. When we judge by what our eyes see, we are often deceived, because we can’t see through people to their thoughts and motives. When we think we can, we make harsh and unjust judgments of others. But Jesus, with his eyes of fire, sees through mere appearances to the heart. And so in chapter 2 when he addresses his seven churches, he can speak of those who call themselves apostles and are not (2:2), he can speak of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan (2:9), and he can also look at his churches that are facing tribulation and poverty, and assure them that they are truly rich (2:9). He sees the sin that remains in our churches that needs to be purged by his refining fire. He sees our faith and good works, and promises to reward them. 

 

Verse 16 concludes the physical description: 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. He tells us in verse 20 that the seven stars are the seven angels, and the seven lampstands the seven churches to whom the letter is addressed. He’s Lord over the angels and over his churches. But what’s this sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth? It’s showing us the power of his word, as we read in Hebrews 4:12-13 – “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” I mentioned earlier how we encounter Jesus through his word, and here we see something of what that word is meant to do to us: It is meant to sit in judgment over us, to expose the thoughts and intentions of our heart to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

 

If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, I assume some of what you’re doing is evaluating the word that you’re hearing, and that’s not totally illegitimate. You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, and I am not Jesus, so my words should be evaluated according to the standard of Jesus’ word, written down in this book. But if you want to personally encounter the real Jesus who exists and is alive today, you need to realize that he’s not waiting with bated breath for your evaluation of him. Rather, he is exalted as judge over all, and his word stands to evaluate you. If you’re really starting to encounter him through his word, it won’t feel like blanket affirmation of you. Instead, some of what you will start to feel is naked and exposed before the eyes of him to whom you must give account. The thoughts and intentions of your heart that you are able to hide from others will start to be exposed by him, with the gracious and kind purpose that upon seeing them, you would repent, turn to him, and receive his promised blessings.

 

In C.S. Lewis’ children’s novel The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, he captures something of this in his description of Aslan, the lion who represents Jesus in the book:

“Aslan a man!” said Mr Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”

 

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

 

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

 

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

 

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

 

Jesus, safe? Course he isn’t safe. His eyes are like a flame of fire, his feel like burnished bronze, his voice like the roar of many waters, from his mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword, and his face is like the sun shining in its strength. But he’s good. Don’t you know this, brothers and sisters? How often has his word exposed the thoughts and intentions of your heart, like a sharp two-edged sword, or like the scalpel of a surgeon, who cuts you in order to heal you, who convicts you in order to lead you to repentance? And how often has his word comforted you, as you faced tribulation and poverty, but he assured you that he knows your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance (Rev 2:19)? How often has his word given you hope as he promised that to the one who conquers he will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Rev 2:7)? 

 

Jesus is the exalted ruler of his churches. He looks like the greatest high priest, a mighty angel, and even more than that, he looks like God himself, standing in judgment over all by his powerful word. So let’s look next at what he says when he speaks, as he tells us from his own mouth who he is.

 

Who he says he is

 

John writes in verse 17 that when he saw him, he fell at his feet as though dead. I’ve already alluded to the fact that John had seen Jesus before. John is even called Jesus’ “beloved disciple” in the Bible. They had such a close relationship that at the Last Supper, John reclined on Jesus’ chest. He certainly hadn’t fallen on his feet as though dead before this time. So why now? Because when John saw Jesus on earth previously, Jesus’ divine glory was still veiled under human flesh. No doubt here Jesus is still in his human flesh. Jesus, having become man, will always be man, and verse 13 of our passage describes him as one like a son of man. He’s still truly man in heaven, and when he was on earth, he was truly God. The difference is what was revealed. The theologian John Owen compares it to an eclipse: “A total eclipse of the sun does not destroy its natural beauty, light and glory…So the glory of Christ in his divine nature was deliberately eclipsed in his state of humiliation on the earth. But now the glory of his divine nature shines forth in its infinite lustre.” Recall that verse 16 even described the face of Jesus as being like the sun shining in full strength. So John responds not like someone encountering a friend he hasn’t seen in years, but like someone encountering God: He falls down at his feet as though dead.

 

But here again we see that though he’s not safe, he’s good. Jesus laid his right hand on John and said, “Fear not.” If you stare directly at the sun shining in full strength, it’s not going to reach out its hand and tell you to “fear not.” Jesus is not a powerful spiritual force; he’s a person. And though he is infinite in power, majestic, and exalted as judge over us all, if we will fall at his feet, we don’t need to be afraid of him! He comforted John with his touch, he told him to fear not, and he goes on to tell him what this majestic vision means. What does it reveal Jesus to be?

 

Jesus says he is the first and the last, and the living one. Back in verse 8 of chapter 1 we read a similar quote: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and did you catch who said there that he was the alpha and the omega? The Lord God. Now here’s Jesus, and what does he say? I am the first and the last. In case his resemblance to the revelation of God to Daniel  wasn’t enough, let me just make it abundantly clear, Jesus says: I look like God because I am God. I am the first and the last, and the living one.

 

Jesus is the first, because there is nothing before him. He is the God who is, the God who is there, the God who exists outside our minds essentially and eternally. In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. Even scientists now recognize that time is wrapped up with space, such that it has a beginning. But if it had a beginning, it must have a cause, and that being which is its cause we call God. Everything that exists, then, is either God, or something God caused to come into existence; everything that exists is either creator, or creature, and Jesus is saying of those two options, he’s on the creator side of the ledger. He is the first, because everything else that exists is something he made. Before you and I were born, before our parents were born, before the United States of America was born, before William Penn got the charter for the city of Philadelphia, before the human Jesus of Nazareth was born, before the hills in order stood or earth received its frame, from everlasting Jesus is God, to endless years the same. He is the first, and he is the last.

 

As his being has no cause for its existence, but simply is, so it simply remains. He is the eternal one, not even simply the one who exists at all points in time, but the one who transcends time and rules over it as its Lord. This morning we worshiped him as “the potentate of time,” and that’s right. The future feels way unpredictable right now. What’s going to happen with oil? What will be the damage and end of the wars now taking place? Who will still have jobs in 5, 10, 20 years? Will that average temperature on earth ever stop just going up? None of us know the answer to these questions definitively, but here’s one thing we can all know: Whatever the future ends up looking like, Jesus will be there, exalted as ruler over it all, and he’ll be the same. He’s the first and the last, and so he is the living one. You and I are alive incidentally, and one day we will die. Being alive is not the essence of what it means to be Mike. But part of what it means to be God is to be alive. He is the living one, who is pure actuality, pure life, pure being. He is the living one who cannot die.

 

And yet, what are the next words he says in verse 18? I died! He’s the first and the last, the living one who cannot die, and yet he did really die, because he really did become human, so that he might serve as the mediator, the representative, the high priest of humans before God, and offer himself as the sacrifice for our sins. But such a living one could not be held by death, and so he says what we gather to celebrate every Lord’s Day: I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. He’s not only alive forevermore because he’s the living God, who lives necessarily. He’s alive forevermore because he’s the man Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, never to die again. We don’t gather to worship a dead savior. We don’t gather to celebrate the memory of a dead hero. We gather to worship a living savior, who is alive forevermore, whose word is living and active.

 

This is why we can not just know about Jesus; we can know Jesus. He’s a living person, who relates to us personally. Do you know Jesus today? I assume you know something about him; hopefully you’ve at least learned something about him today even if you came here knowing nothing. But do you know him? Don’t stop seeking him until you do. And never forget, brothers and sisters, no matter how hopeless your world or life looks, that Jesus is alive, and alive forevermore.

 

And Jesus says what that means is he now is the one with the keys of death and hades, hades there referring to the realm of the dead, the place to which we refer when we confess in our creed that he descended into hell. Having now died himself and having emerged victorious over death, Jesus now rules over it, like the owner of a house has the keys to the house. And so Jesus is saying that he is the one who will ultimately unlock death and hades, such that all the dead will rise and appear before him for judgment. He’s the one to whom each of us must ultimately give an account. 

 

Maybe you’re still making up your mind about Jesus, and that’s understandable; the Lord was drawing me for years before I was actually converted. But I do want you to see that you can’t go on forever undecided about Jesus. The keys of death and hades are now his, and you will face him one day. How you respond to him now will determine how he responds to you then, and there are only two ways to respond to him ultimately: Rejection, or acceptance. If you reject him now, he will reject you then. That’s fair, isn’t it? The book of Revelation ends with death and hades themselves being thrown into a lake of fire, but along with death and hades, all those who refused to repent and submit to Christ are thrown into that lake of fire, where they are tormented day and night, forever and ever (Rev 20:7-15). The Bible calls that the second death, where after Jesus opens death and hades with the keys that are now his, he sentences those who refused to repent. If you reject him now, he will reject you then.

 

But if you accept him now, he will accept you then. In Revelation 2:11 he promises that the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. Instead of a lake of fire, for those who are willing to repent and turn to him, a new heaven and a new earth will come down from heaven, and there they too will be alive forevermore with this glorious Jesus, never to fear again. For some this sounds too good to be true: Those who accept Jesus live happily ever after. What reason do we have to be sure that this is really the future for those who trust in Jesus for their salvation? The reason we have to be sure that it is is that Jesus already died, and yet is alive forevermore. This is not a fairy tale; it is a firm and certain hope based on facts of history that really occurred in our world. There was a real Jesus who really died, who really rose again, and who really is alive forevermore.

 

Consider briefly even the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. The books of the Bible that record his resurrection as a historical fact were written within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses, roughly 20-30 years later. I’m 38; imagine if I started publishing stories about things that happened in my hometown when I was 8. Imagine I published crazy stories, like of someone rising from the dead. What would happen? All the other people who lived in my hometown 30 years ago are going to start publishing stories that call me out for my lies. You know what they definitely wouldn’t do? They definitely wouldn’t start following my religion. They definitely wouldn’t die for it. And yet, the first Christians knew whether they saw the risen Christ or not, and somehow, a bunch of them started saying they did, a bunch of them started following that religion, and a bunch of them were killed for doing so! Then more who easily could have gone and asked other eyewitnesses if they saw the same things, who could easily have found out the story was nonsense if it was, ended up also following this religion, and being willing to die for it.

 

Maybe you have a lot of questions or doubts about the Bible, but the center of the whole thing is Jesus, and it really does come down to this: If Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure who is as dead today as Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, you can forget all about Christianity, and just treat Jesus like another object of historical study. But if Jesus of Nazareth is alive forevermore, then he is the one to whom you must give an account, and he has told us clearly what the result of that account will be: Those those who refuse to repent he will consign to everlasting judgment, but those who repent and receive him as their Lord and Savior he will grant eternal life with him in the paradise of God.

 

And so, he tells John once again, to write these things down, so that the churches will know what reality is now, and what is to come after this, so that they will know who really is ruling, however the world looks, and who really will judge the living and the dead in the world to come. Church, Jesus is Lord, and he is alive forevermore. Let’s pay much closer attention to his word, for it is through it that we personally encounter him. Let’s not domesticate Jesus into a better version of ourselves. Let’s encounter him as he truly is, in all his glory and majesty, and let his word expose the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. That’s not “safe” for us–it means he’s going after all the sin that remains in us, and calling it what it is. But it’s so good. He is alive forevermore, to be with us always, and his promise to the one who remains faithful to him to the end is that we too will live forevermore with him.