This is a sermon that was preached in 2016.
Revelation is a weird book. I mean, really weird. Like, demon-locusts and sulfur-breathing horses with snake tails weird. Yet for all of its weirdness, Revelation is a crucial book of the Bible for understanding how the story of humanity will end.
The premise of the book is that Jesus reveals Himself to the Apostle John several decades after He ascended into heaven, leaving behind His disciples to continue His ministry on earth. Think about it: John was essentially Jesus’ best friend, the disciple whom He loved, and Jesus appears to John again. Surely this must have been a reunion of the highest order, right?
Well, John describes Jesus’ voice as being as loud as a trumpet and that His face was shining like the full strength of the sun. In fact, Jesus’ glory is so overwhelming that John immediately faints from the sheer enormity of it all. Needless to say, it likely wasn’t the reunion that John had imagined.
Nevertheless, as we study the first section of Revelation, Jesus’ seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, let us approach these words with their due awe and reverence. Just as John gave this book for the hearing and obedience of the first-century church, so must we be ready to listen and obey them today.
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST // VERSES 1-3
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 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.
The title of this book comes from its very first words: The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word revelation translates the Greek word apokalypsis, which literally means an unveiling, pulling back the curtain, or perhaps, since we just came through Christmas, the “unwrapping.” A gift under the tree is hidden until the wrapping comes off, and then the joy is in seeing what’s inside. Revelation is like that: God pulls back the wrapping to show us what is really true.
Now, sometimes when people read this book, they get lost in the strange imagery and symbolism, and they miss the main point. Revelation isn’t meant to confuse us; it’s meant to reveal something to us. So let me give you a two-word summary of the whole book: Jesus wins. That’s it. That’s the message. Whatever things look like right now, however deep in sin the world seems to be, Revelation declares: Jesus wins.
Period.
End of story.
At the end, Jesus will make all things new. He will restore creation to what it was meant to be from the very beginning.
And I love how John describes the authorship of this book. Technically, John writes it down, but he’s more of a scribe than an author. He makes it clear: this message comes from Jesus. John is simply writing what was given to him. That’s how we believe all Scripture came to us—through human writers carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). They weren’t inventing their own ideas; they were recording God’s words. John emphasizes that here because he knows the visions are intense and even bizarre. He’s saying, “Don’t ask me what all this means; I didn’t make it up. Jesus gave me these visions, and I just wrote them down. This is his word.”
And Revelation, like all of Scripture, is prophecy. Verse 3 even attaches a special promise: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it, for the time is near. This is the only book of the Bible that explicitly promises a blessing for reading it. But it’s not the only book that blesses those who hear and obey God’s word.
Think of Jesus’ parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount: two men build houses, one on rock and one on sand. When the storms come, only the house on the rock stands. And what does Jesus say? The one who hears and obeys his words is like the man who built on the rock. The one who hears but does not obey is like the man who built on sand. Both men heard, but only one obeyed. The difference is obedience.
That’s the call for us as well. Revelation promises blessing, yes, but so does all of God’s word, when we hear it and obey it. That’s how we build our lives on Christ the solid rock.
So let me ask: Do you open God’s word? Do you listen to what he says? And do you obey it? Because blessing doesn’t just come from hearing; it comes from obeying. If you want to hear God speak audibly, read the Bible out loud. These are his words. He gave us this book so that we could know him, hear him, and follow him. There is blessing in hearing, and even more blessing in obeying, the word of God.
TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES // VERSE 4
John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Here’s where we get the framework for this sermon series. Revelation is structured with great intentionality, and already in chapter 1 we begin to see the importance of the number seven. In Scripture, seven is the number of completion. Creation was finished in seven days. Even in music, the scale has seven notes. God has woven this pattern of order and fullness into the world. And John draws on that symbolism all throughout this book.
So, the letter is addressed to seven churches in Asia. If you look at the map (the one Tiff made), you’ll see them marked out across what we would call modern-day Turkey, known then as Asia Minor. These were real churches in real cities, with real people, living at a real point in history.
But here’s the question: when John says he is writing to the seven churches, does that mean the message was only for them? I don’t think so. For one thing, there were other churches in the region. For example, Colossae, just a few miles away from Laodicea, isn’t listed here, even though it was an active church. The point isn’t that these were the only churches that mattered. The point is that these seven churches, together, represent the church as a whole.
That’s why John addresses them: they serve as a complete picture. The conditions of these seven churches mirror the spiritual conditions that churches face in every place and in every age. And that includes us. At Western Meadows, at any given time, we will likely find ourselves resembling one of these seven churches.
Consider Jesus’ messages:
- Three of the churches receive both encouragement and criticism.
- Two receive only rebuke, with no encouragement.
- Two receive only praise, with no rebuke.
That’s a broad spectrum here, from faithfulness to failure, from steadfastness to compromise. And Jesus speaks into each situation. That’s why these letters still speak powerfully to us today. They are a mirror for the people of God in every generation, a call to examine ourselves, and an invitation to hear what Christ says to his church.
GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE // VERSES 4-8
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 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of Earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of Earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
John begins in a way that feels familiar. Like Paul and Peter, he greets the churches with a blessing of grace and peace. Grace, the free gift of God in Christ. Peace, the shalom of God, the wholeness and rest that comes from him. Together, these two words capture the heart of the gospel: the unearned favor of God leading to the unshakable peace of God.
But then, instead of moving on with a simple greeting, John launches into this soaring doxology, an explosion of praise to God. And right in the middle, in verse 7, comes a theme that runs throughout Revelation: Behold, he is coming with the clouds. Revelation is not about charts and timelines. It is about this great hope: Jesus is coming again. He will restore all things. He will make right everything that is broken.
But before John looks ahead to that final day, he points us to what Jesus has already done: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom.
That is the heart of the gospel in one sentence. Jesus loves us. And how did he love us? By freeing us from our sins. How did he free us? By shedding his blood, by taking on our flesh, living a sinless life in our place, and dying the death that we deserved. The punishment for sin fell on him, so that freedom from sin could belong to us.
But notice that Jesus did not free us so that we could simply go our own way. He didn’t die just to hand us a “get out of hell free” card. No, John says he freed us and made us a kingdom. We are not just forgiven; we are re-created. In Christ, we are made into a new people, a new humanity, a kingdom within the kingdoms of this world.
This means that as Christians, we live in two worlds at once. We walk the same streets, we work the same jobs, we face the same struggles as everyone else, but our citizenship is in heaven. Peter calls us strangers and exiles in this world. People should look at us and sense something different. The way we live, the way we speak, the way we hope, it should make them ask, “You’re not from around here, are you?”
That’s exactly John’s point. Jesus has made us into his kingdom. We belong to him. Our allegiance is to him. Our identity is in him. And so even before Revelation shows us visions of beasts, thrones, and battles, it begins by reminding us of this unshakable truth: we are his people, and he is our King.
PARTNER IN THE TRIBULATION // VERSES 9-11
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea.’
John tells us where he’s writing from: the island of Patmos. Patmos was not a vacation spot; it was a Roman penal colony, a rocky island where political and religious exiles were banished. And John says, I am your brother and partner in the tribulation, in the kingdom, and in the patient endurance that are in Jesus. In other words, “I’m not above you; I’m alongside you. I’m suffering with you. I’ve been exiled for the word of God, and I’m writing to encourage you.”
Notice that he doesn’t say, “I will be your partner in tribulation someday.” He says, I am your partner in tribulation. He’s already in it. The churches are already in it. Tribulation is not some far-off event; it is the present reality of following Jesus in a hostile world.
Now, this cuts across a popular idea that’s developed only in the last couple of centuries, that Christians will somehow get to skip the “great tribulation” at the end of history. For most of church history, believers never thought that way. Why? Because they already knew what John says here: tribulation is not just coming, it’s already here.
And honestly, it makes sense that this “escape” theology took root in America, a nation where Christians, comparatively, have faced very little persecution. We’ve had it easier than almost anyone else in history when it comes to practicing our faith. But friends, that’s not the norm. That’s the exception. And if we’re not careful, we’ll start to think our current ease is how things are supposed to be.
But tell that to our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, in parts of Africa, or in Asia today, where following Jesus can cost your family, your freedom, or even your life. Tell them tribulation is only a future event. No, for them, tribulation is a present reality. And for John, writing from exile on Patmos, tribulation was a present reality.
So, here’s the encouragement: Revelation is not written to fuel speculation about the end. It’s written to strengthen perseverance in the present. John says, “I’m with you in tribulation. I’m with you in the kingdom. And I’m with you in patient endurance in Jesus.” That’s the call: to endure, to remain faithful, to keep holding fast to Christ even when the pressure mounts.
Let us not be a church that spends all of our time looking for signs in the sky. Let us be a church that partners with suffering brothers and sisters right now. We may not be persecuted here, but they are persecuted there. Let us bear their burdens in prayer. Let us encourage them, support them, remember them. Because whether it’s here or there, whether it’s now or later, tribulation is part of the Christian life, but so is the kingdom, and so is the hope of Jesus’ return.
A VISION OF JESUS // VERSES 12-20
Next, John hears this voice behind him, a voice like a trumpet. And when he turns to see who’s speaking, he sees something overwhelming. Here’s verses 12-16:
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined by a fire, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. And in his 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.
This sounds a lot like the Transfiguration, the time when Peter, James, and John saw a glimpse of Jesus’s glory on the mountain. And it’s fitting that the John who writes Revelation is the same John who was there on that mountain. He’s the disciple who, in his Gospel, calls himself “the one Jesus loved.” John had a uniquely close relationship with Jesus. You might even say John was Jesus’s best friend here on earth.
And now it’s been decades since John last saw him. By the time he’s writing this, probably in the 90s A.D., it’s been about 60 years since Jesus ascended. Imagine what it must have been like, for John to see Jesus again after all those years. You’d think it would feel like a sweet reunion: “Finally, my Lord, my friend, it’s so good to see you again.”
But no. What he sees is so overwhelming that it drops him to the ground.
Think about it: hair blazing white, eyes like fire, a voice like a roaring waterfall. If you’ve ever stood near Niagara Falls or another massive waterfall, you know how the sound is so deafening you can barely think. That’s what Jesus’s voice sounds like. And then there’s this sword coming from his mouth. Don’t even try to picture it realistically. John is straining for language to describe majesty that’s beyond words. And somehow Jesus is holding seven stars in his right hand. The point is: this is power, this is glory, this is Jesus unveiled.
So how does John respond? Verse 17: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. That’s about right. Remember, this is John, the one who leaned against him at the Last Supper. If anyone might run to embrace him, you’d think it’d be John. But even John collapses like a dead man in the presence of this glory.
And honestly, I love that. It reminds us that the men of the Bible were not superheroes. They were just people. People like us. If you or I saw Jesus unveiled like this, eyes flaming, voice thundering, stars in his hand, face blazing like the sun, we wouldn’t walk up casually and shake his hand. We would hit the ground too.
And if I’m being honest, when I read this description, my gut reaction is fear. Part of me doesn’t want to see this Jesus. I want to see the gentle Jesus, the Jesus who shows me the scars in his hands and says, “I did this for you.” I want the suffering servant, not the radiant Judge. This Jesus is terrifying.
And that’s what makes what happens next so beautiful.
But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’
Do you see it? The hand that holds seven stars also reaches down to touch John. The voice that roars like many waters also speaks, Fear not. The blazing glory doesn’t destroy John; it comforts him.
This is Jesus in his fullness: he is the holy, terrifying Son of Man, but he is also the tender Savior who stoops down to strengthen his servant. He is the eternal one who conquered death, and he now holds the keys. That means death doesn’t hold the keys anymore. Satan doesn’t hold the keys. Your fear doesn’t hold the keys. Jesus does.
And then he gives John his mission: Write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. In other words, “You’re not done yet, John. I’ve got work for you to do. Write this down for my churches.”
And finally, he explains the vision: the seven stars are the angels of the churches, and the seven lampstands are the churches themselves. And where is Jesus standing? Right in the middle of the lampstands. Right in the midst of his churches. The glorious Christ is not far off—he’s right there with his people.
And here is how chapter 1 closes: Jesus appears to John in all of his glory. And John, understandably, collapses at his feet as though dead. And what does Jesus say to him? “Fear not.”
Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Because over and over again in the Bible, we’re told to fear God. But at the same time, over and over again we’re told not to be afraid. So, which is it? Do we fear, or do we not fear?
I think one of the most misunderstood truths in Scripture is exactly this: the “fear of the Lord.” If I had to boil it down to one word, it would be this: terror. And that sounds negative at first, but think about how that root word works. From terror we get “terrible,” “terrifying,” and “terrific.” Very different words, right? But they all come from the same root idea of being overwhelmed.
And that’s the point. The fear of God isn’t the fear of horror, or the fear of danger, or the fear of harm. It’s that holy terror of standing before something utterly beyond you—someone infinitely greater than you.
Let me put it this way: if you told me there was a ghost in this room and I believed you, I’d be afraid. But that’s a different kind of fear than if you told me that you had just released a starving tiger in the room. Both are fear—but not the same fear. One makes me unsettled, the other makes me run for my life.
That’s a picture of the fear of God. It’s not simple fright; it’s holy terror. God is both terrifying and terrific. In his presence we ask, “Am I safe?” And the answer is both yes and no. Yes, because I’m in Christ, and he’s with me always. And no, because he calls me into situations where I’m anything but safe. God is a paradox like that: absolutely glorious, beyond comprehension, and yet tenderly near to his people.
That’s why this moment is so striking. John falls at Jesus’s feet, paralyzed with fear—and Jesus puts his hand on him and says, “Fear not.” He is the one who inspires fear, but he is also the one who casts fear out. How do you resolve that? I don’t think you can, except to say this: our fear of God must be greater than every other fear.
If we see Jesus as John saw him, glorious, mighty, terrifying in his holiness, and if that same Jesus is the one who says, “Don’t be afraid,” then what in the world can the world throw at us? What else could possibly frighten us?
That’s my prayer for us as a church. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” And for two thousand years, through ups and downs, through persecution and trial, he has been faithful to that promise. So, let’s be the kind of people who fear God and nothing else.
Let the only thing that strikes holy terror into our hearts be the majesty and mercy of Jesus Christ. And then let everything else, the world, the threats, the trials, fall into place. Because if Jesus is with us, if for us to live is Christ and to die is gain, then what can we possibly fear?
Read verses 1-3 and discuss the following.
- Revelation comes with a promise of blessing for those who read, hear, and obey the words within it. How is this promise similar to Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:24-27?
Read verses 4-8 and discuss the following.
- In verse six, John declares that after God loved us by freeing us from sin He made us a kingdom and priests of God. What is the significance of these two things? What do other books of the Bible say on the matter?
Read verses 9-20 and discuss the following.
- In his vision, John hears Jesus tell him to write down the words that Jesus will dictate to him. In what ways does this mirror Peter’s explanation of how Scripture is written in 2 Peter 1:21?
- John’s immediate response to Jesus’ glory is to fall down before Him. Even though John is likely afraid, Jesus tells him not to fear. Given how often the Bible speaks about the fear of God, how is it possible to rightly fear God but also obey such commands to not be afraid?
ACTIONS TO CONSIDER
- Reread the entire chapter, paying careful attention to the glorious descriptions of Christ. Prayerfully consider whether your view of Christ and His glory matches His revealed majesty here.
- Reflect upon your reading and obedience to the Scriptures and in what ways you may better submit yourself to the obeying the Word of God.
B. C. Newton 