New Testament lesson is the first chapter of the revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John, which John then communicated to the church of his day, and which has been preserved by the Holy Spirit for the church of this day. Revelation 1 beginning at verse 9, I John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, what do you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches? To Ephesus, to Smirna, to Purgamas, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laedesia. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength, and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead, but he laid his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am He who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death, therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which 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. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to John 15th chapter in the first eight verses. I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. They gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you desire and it shall be done for you, and by this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to the Lord. Let us pray. We adore you, Lord Jesus, that you have made us clean and you have united us to yourself and that you prune us in order that we might be more fruitful. We gather this morning to hear from you, to hear your word. Would you buy your spirit, come to us and seal it to our hearts? Would you glorify yourself in our midst? Would you remind us that you are the Lord God omnipotent, that you do reign, that you are king and Lord, and may we rest in that knowledge and have great encouragement and confidence because it is true. We pray in your name, amen, may be seated. We continue to work our way through this book of the revelation. I want again for you to be encouraged by it and not see it as something which is a riddle, as something which you can't understand, but as something which you can understand and something which you can benefit from very greatly. Now there is no getting around the fact that this book is filled with symbols. I want to play a word association game with you to get this started. I am going to mention something to you and I don't want you to tell me what is the first thing that comes to your mind, but just focus on the first thing that comes to your mind. That is what you do when you do word association games. Here is the phrase, Uncle Sam, somebody over here has an Uncle Sam, that is why she laughed. I had an Uncle Sam, he was not a blood relative, he was someone who married into the family rather late in his life, he was 95 years old when he died, he had a rather unfortunate end and I can tell you that story sometime, but basically it had to do with the fact that the local governing officials, the police to be exact, took his driver's license away from him and without his driver's license he couldn't drive into town to see his girlfriends and he became deeply distressed and despondent about that and his depression grew and well anyway. Now when I mention Uncle Sam, that's the kind of thing that comes to mind for me and maybe you had an Uncle Sam and so there is some specific person who comes to mind, but I suspect that all of us in this room when we hear the phrase Uncle Sam think of that white hair guy with that goat-like beard who is pointing his finger at us telling us that he wants us. Uncle Sam wants you, now I learned over the course of the last weekend where that particular image originates and it appears that it originated in the Civil War there was this fella who was a butcher who lived in Troy, New York and his initials were IJS and he sent meat and had figured out a way to package this meat in such a way that it wouldn't spoil before it got to the troops out in the field, the federal troops during the Civil War. His initials were IJS but the I and the J were so closely associated, it looked like a U and so everything was stamped with this IJS which looked like U.S and so the troops out in the field thought that the government was sending this and they came up with this little phrase Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is sending this stuff to us and it's stuck and when you think of Uncle Sam you think of the federal government and you tend to think particularly of the United States military and that fella with his funny little beard who wants you to serve him and he'll make sure that the culture well supplied with spam and dry crackers and whatever else it is you need when you're out in the field that's a symbol. Uncle Sam is a symbol now it may mean something particular for you but for us as a culture it means something else and something we all know about and if you live in this culture and are familiar with the symbols of this culture then when you hear that phrase Uncle Sam it represents something to you and biblical symbols are like that they represent certain things and if you are immersed in the culture of the Bible then when you hear one of those symbols it resurrects or you see one of those symbols it resurrects all kinds of images for you and the symbols which are present in this book are not ordinary symbols but they are symbols loaded pregnant with theological imagery sometimes the symbols are numbers sometimes the symbols are words sometimes they are phrases sometimes they are descriptions such as the description of the Lord Jesus Christ exalted and glorified splendid and majestic and radiant in glory and that is an image which may not mean a whole lot to us but if you're John the first century prophet it means a great deal because all of the prophets had visions of the glorified God and they were commissioned by that glorified God to communicate that God's message to the people of their day this vision is like Isaiah's vision it's like Moses's vision it's like Habakkuk's vision and the effect of this vision upon John is the same as the effect of their visions which they had he falls before this risen and glorified Christ as a dead man coming and imposing vision of the glory of God that is a symbol and if you were a first century Christian familiar with the symbols of the Bible familiar with the images of the Bible you know exactly what is going on you know that John is being commissioned you know that the words in his mouth are not his words but they are the words of Almighty God and you sit up and you listen and you heed and you obey that's a symbol pregnant with theological substance content implication
regarding mentioned the number seven this book is filled with sevens there are sevens all over the place I said to the Sunday school class this morning as you begin to wrestle with this imagery and these symbols and you see their connection to the Old Testament and you see how over time these symbols are used again and again and again and they have all kinds of attachments and associations it's a little bit like Lucy walking through the wardrobe in Tanarnia you open these doors you think you're dealing with fur coats but you realize there's a whole lot more there you've walked into a world which is filled with wonder and significance and beauty and color it's like passing out of this existence into another place and these symbols and these numbers really do not to confuse us not to confuse us but these numbers and symbols really do have multiple kinds of meanings and significancees and they suggest varieties of things now it doesn't mean again that it can't be understood it can be understood but in order to understand that you've got to know the culture of the Bible
there is a system in the Bible of symbolism and it begins in the first chapters and it runs straight through to the end and as you familiarize yourself over and over and over and more and more and more with those symbols what they represent what they refer to what their implications are you find this book to be something filled with wonder astounding in its imagery verse 10 is a very very important imagery John says that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day and that he heard behind him a loud voice as of a trumpet now that really happened to John that really occurred in his experience he was in the spirit caught up in the spirit on the Lord's day and he really did hear a voice as of a trumpet but each of those three phrases is pregnant with meaning for someone who knows the culture of the Bible spirit and day and voice
and the association of those three words together resurrects again a picture in the mind of John of the God of heaven and earth who reigns in majesty and who comes in judgment who comes in judgment to vindicate and to judge look all the way back at the third chapter of Genesis in the third chapter of Genesis there is this verse the eighth verse which almost all of the translations render at least according to the commentaries I read and the linguists who have analyzed this text render this eighth verse really rather inappropriately you remember what the context is here you remember that the man and the woman have been created and have been set in this idyllic environment this paradise and they are given the freedom to enjoy the entirety of that paradise they are given responsibility for subduing that paradise for bringing order to it and they are commanded to stay away from one particular tree but they don't and they commit an offense a capital crime against the holy god and offense against his majesty and they begin to suffer the consequences of their disobedience now here is what the situation is the law has been given the law has been broken and when the law is broken what is the consequence there is a punishment folks there are always consequences to the violation of the law and that is true for Adam and for Eve so you read in verse six when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise she took its fruit and age she gave also to her husband with her and he ate then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings and then verse eight they heard and let me give this to you literally they heard the voice the coal is the Hebrew word the voice it can be translated sound they heard the sound voice of the Lord God walking and the word is an intensive form it doesn't refer as one of my seminary professors described it it doesn't refer to an evening constitutional it doesn't refer to a rather carefree stroll through the park it is an intensive form it describes someone who is pursuing something who is walking after something who is ranging to and fro as he walks this is a search and destroy kind of mission this is the hunt for the red October they heard the voice sound of the Lord God walking in the garden and this is the phrase which rendered the cool of the day seems to me and the others to be really rather inappropriate walking in the garden in the Ruach Hayon the Ruach Hayon the spirit of the day the spirit of the day and what the biblical theologians understand this to be a reference to is that great day of the Lord when the Lord comes fully and finally to exercise and execute judgment what has happened here there is law breaking and the judge of heaven and earth is coming in the spirit of the day of judgment to find the offenders to prosecute them to judge them and to execute his judgment upon them this is not the God of heaven and earth looking for his son and his daughter this is the omnipotent and omniscient God of heaven and earth who knows exactly where they are and is pursuing them as lawbreakers they've broken the law they are guilty and notice what their response is what does Adam do oh I'm glad it's you Lord I thought I was in trouble and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden and to use new testament imagery if they could have they would have pulled the rocks the mountains in upon themselves so deep was their fear and dread at the arrival of the prosecutor and the judge they heard his voice there's a similar passage in first kings 19 it's another one which is rendered rather unusually I did some language study on this again this week and I just don't understand how these things happen first kings 19 remember Elijah and the 450 prophets of bail and how God accomplishes the great work God destroyed those prophets and manifested his glory and after that great event Elijah fled I mean there he was the only prophet the only one and he knew that the king and queen were going to be enraged because all of their prophets were dead he just seen this display of the power of God this great majestic display of the power of God but he looks around and he doesn't see any friends he's all alone so what does he do he flees he takes off he escapes he finds eventually a cave and you read this and there he went into a cave this is verse 9 and spent the night in that place and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him what are you doing here Elijah my God where he was God what he was doing God always asks these questions not because he needs information but he wants us to come to terms with ourselves where are you Adam what are you doing here Elijah so he said I've been rezealous for the Lord God of hosts for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant and torn down your alters and killed your prophets with the sword and I alone and left and they seek to take my life and then he said go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by the great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake I mean think about this here's this guy in this cave and everything has fallen apart around him the ground is trembling under his feet the Lord was not in the earthquake remember Bob England talking about being in that earthquake out in San Francisco on the 13th or 14th floor of his hotel and the building was moving and plaster is coming down from the ceiling it's what Elijah's experiencing and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire this was so it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and he went out and stood in the entrance of the cave why do you have to wrap your face in a mantle in order to confront a still small voice
it wasn't a still small voice the term coal is used again the voice sound check the etymology of the words come to my office we'll look at them together I'll show you in the lexicon's what the words mean the words really mean a loud crushing sound a roaring crushing sound more intense louder more frightening than all of the physical and natural phenomena the Lord was in the coal and the coal is always the summons so what is God doing God is summoning Elijah to get up God is saying to Elijah you've left your post Elijah see my power see my glory hear my voice and furthermore know this there are 7,000 in this country who have not bowed the knee to bail get up go back to work and know that my power is with you see what is God doing he's doing the same kind of thing which he did with Adam and Eve he's doing the same kind of thing which he does with John he is coming in judgment and he is coming in vindication vindicating those things which are precious those things which are to be preserved and kept and loved and he is coming to judge those things which are contrary to his character and opposed to him when John hears those words particularly the word voice but also the language of the spirit and the day in association with the voice what he is reminded of and what any reader would be reminded of is this great and majestic God who comes in glory and who shouts and who proclaims and who delivers who vindicates and who judges and that is what you see in the revelation you see the exalted lord of glory and you hear his voice which is like the voice of a trumpet blast it is no teeny little voice it is earth shattering John when he looks and he beholds this he sees this one who is like a son of man this glorified risen Christ in the midst of all of this splendor with fire with bronze he is reminded of old testament symbols of the son of man from Daniel chapter 7 you remember that passage where there is the ancient of days seated upon his throne and one like a son of man who approaches him who comes to him it is a scene of judgment it is a scene of enthronement it is a scene dare I use the word of dominion and John sees another picture of that glory and knows that this God has come in his life for the same reasons he has come in the past he is coming to vindicate what is precious he is coming to pass judgment upon what is opposed to him and there are two above other symbols very briefly which are found here John sees in the hand of the risen and glorified Christ seven stars the seven stars Jesus tells John are the angels of the seven churches but also for John those seven stars would have reminded him of something else that in his day in his time seven stars were a symbol of authority and on the emperor's coinage when you would see a coin with the bust of the emperor that head would be surrounded by seven stars and represented in those seven stars are this assertion that Caesar is King and Caesar is Lord but you see that that symbolism means something else to John it means that Jesus has taken those seven stars back and he is the King and he is the Lord over everything and particularly his church not nearer not Caesar but Jesus the seven stars are on his coinage for he is the rightful King and Lord
and then there is a sword which comes out of his mouth and that sword is his word which is a two edged sword and it is by his word that he conquers that he subdues read later in the revelation in the 19th chapter beginning at the 11th verse now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and make war makes war see there he is upon his seed in all of his glory coming for this purpose to make war to judge to vindicate and deliver and to punish his eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen followed him on white horses now out of his mouth goes a sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron what is John being reminded of in his day that the Lord of glory comes he comes with all of that glory and power and he comes to vindicate he comes to judge he comes to deliver his people and exalt his people and protect and defend his church which is precious in his sight and he comes to do battle in behalf of his church overcoming her enemies in order that she might flourish he comes as her lord protector the one who possesses all authority and dominion and he comes accomplishing his purpose by his word and there is a reminder to John and to us in our day that it is not by might it is not by political activity it is not by our strategic marketing schemes it is not by our technologies it is not by our wisdom it is not by our resources but it is by my word say of the Lord that the nations are subdued and brought to bow before King Jesus John was a member of a minority a persecuted and in his particular case imprisoned minority and Jesus comes to say I am King preach and teach my word that is the weapon of your warfare and so we today have no armament we have no uncle Sam off in Washington some place supplying us with resources with which to do battle we have the king of glory who has given us entrusted to us his word the gospel and it is by that word knowing that he stands ascended and glorified it is by that word that he through us extends his kingdom in all the earth brothers and sisters this is the day of Christ and this is the day to be encouraged let us pray together Lord we thank you that when you speak you rattle mountains you break rocks and you subdue the earth we ask you that you would enable us to give up this foolish business of trusting in ourselves this foolish business of trusting our own resources this foolish business of looking to political power the social programs the theological accuracy the marketing skills and technologies the strategic initiatives forgive us that we look far too much to programs and man-made things than to you give us grace to give it all up and see you as John saw you ascended glorified speaking powerfully coming to vindicate your people coming to beat down her oppressors coming to subdue the nations and gather to yourself a people from every nation and tribe and tongue that they might be one glorious kingdom with you as their ruler and husband and father and friend and we look to you and believe you that you will do far more than we can ask her imagine and your name do we pray and now receive O Lord our gifts our tithes and offerings for your own names sake amen