Revelation 1:4-11 (Praises from Patmos, Jeff Kliewer)

Revelation as a Revelation of Jesus Christ

Verses 4 through 11. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, 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 kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priest 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 tribes of the 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.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called 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 to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

So here we have John introducing for us the book of Revelation. He's in exile. He's sent away to some island in the Aegean Sea. He's been there for a time, probably feeling washed up, sent there to die, and yet God has this great final use for the Beloved, for the Apostle.

In verse 4, John to the seven churches that are in Asia. We learn that John, the Beloved Disciple, the Apostle, is now receiving a revelation from God, but it's not just for himself, it's for the seven churches.

He has a message to deliver to the churches and the first thing that John will say, this is now in the voice of John, he's writing kind of a prologue, an introduction to the book, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

Grace. Charis. Grace summarizes God's outreach and his loving disposition toward us. Grace is a holy God extending his favor to a people that don't deserve it. We here on earth who are rebels to his throne, enemies of God in our hearts following this world, the course of this world, and the Prince of the air, in the lusts of our flesh, and yet in grace he extends mercy to us and the result of that is summarized by the word peace.

Because he extends peace, making known to us the way of salvation, we, because he extends grace, we have 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 Trinity and the Sevenfold Spirit

So here we have a Trinitarian statement. God exists as him who is and who was and who is to come. That's God the Father, Yahweh. Remember at the burning bush, God identified himself as I am who I am. And the interesting description of the Spirit here, the seven spirits who are before his throne.

Remember that the Spirit is a person, but he's described here as the seven spirits. Why seven? Well, in the Greek this could just as easily be translated the sevenfold spirit. Seven is a number of completion, perfection.

And in that number we recognize that the Spirit is complete and perfect, but I think it also has reference back to Isaiah chapter 11. The attributes of the Spirit that would be upon the Son of Man. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his root will bear fruit and the Spirit of the Lord will be upon him.

The Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of wisdom and the fear of the Lord. And if we read the attributes of Isaiah chapter 11, these are a description of the Holy Spirit. And after that description of the Spirit being upon Jesus, he comes and conquers and sets up a kingdom of peace.

In other words, in Isaiah chapter 11, the Spirit is described according to these seven attributes, which listed are the Lord, he's the Spirit of the Lord, that means he is God, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

So it could be a reference to this Isaiah chapter 11, but in any case we recognize it's apocalyptic literature, it's a vision, and the number 7 represents perfection. So he's the perfect Spirit. Next we see that Jesus Christ is described.

And really, because he's listed third among the Trinity and described the way he is, there's an emphasis upon Jesus at this particular point. Jesus is the one being emphasized. From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth.

Jesus is exalted and described with emphasis. Now wouldn't that make the Father and the Spirit a little bit jealous? No. There is no competition between the members of the Trinity. Jesus tells Philip, when you see me, you've seen the Father.

There is glory given to the Father by glorifying the Son. The Son is the revelation of God that we would know him. In Philippians 2, 5 to 11, when every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord, that is to the glory of the Father.

So there's no competition, there's no jealousy between the members of the Trinity, but the emphasis is on Christ, who's the very express image of the living God. And so we see him here in verse 5, as the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

He's a witness, meaning he speaks, he declares, he's a prophet. He is the firstborn from the dead, meaning having died the death that we deserve, he rose from the dead, which shows that his payment was complete and acceptable to God.

The priestly work of Jesus has been accomplished, it is finished, there's nothing left to be done. He is the priest, and he is the king, the ruler of kings on earth. Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king.

Christ's Blood, Priesthood, and Doxology

Next we see in chapter 1, verse 5, the second half of the verse, we see a doxology, a hymn to Christ for who he is, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. John was exiled to Patmos. He's growing quite old, he's in his 90s, and yet he's worshiping the one he loves. Here he writes a hymn to Christ, just like Paul wrote a hymn, or actually probably recited a hymn in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 11.

Many scholars think because of the flow and rhythm in the Greek of Philippians 2, 5 to 11, that this is one of the earliest worship songs of the church. Speaking of Christ, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is a hymn to Christ as God. In fact, the name for that hymn is the Carmen Christi, the Carmen Christi, the hymn to Christ as God. This is what John is doing to begin his gospel. How do you begin your day?

When you're sitting down to do the work of your day, do you jump right in to dishes and packing a lunch and getting ready, or do you take some time to steal away alone with the Lord and sing a hymn to Him, hear the words of the hymn are, to Him who loves us.

Praise Him for His love. What love is this that He would lay down His life for a sinner like me, me deserving death, and yet He loves me and came and took my death and died the death that I deserve, has freed us from our sins by His blood.

Do you thank Him for His blood? His blood represents His life. Life is in the blood. Leviticus 17 11 says that blood must be given on the altar to make atonement for sin. Why is that? Well, to atone for sin against a holy God, the lifeblood must be poured out, but if my lifeblood is poured out, I die and I go to hell.

Yet we have a Savior who came and His lifeblood was poured out on the cross. He died the death. His blood shed for a sinner like me, and I am washed clean in this blood, and my sin is white as snow. His blood cleanses us, and so we sing like John to the one who has freed us from our sins by that precious blood.

Maybe you get alone in the morning and say, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You get alone and sing about the blood that cleanses us. And thirdly, John sings and praises that we have been made a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

That He would exalt us to to make us a kingdom of priests, that we would be sent out to tell the good news and stand in the gap between sinners and a holy God. Well, there's only one who sheds His blood for sin, and His name is Jesus.

So how are we a priest? How are each of us priests to our God and Father? How is it that we're the kingdom? Well, people need to know. People need to know what Jesus has done, and so in a priestly way, we step in between a sinner who is destined for hell and the eternal God.

We step in between the sinner and the holy God, and we plead with the sinner to be reconciled to God. Like a priest, we tell them, standing in the gap. He's given us this role, and it's such a privilege.

This is what John spent his time doing for all those years as he waited on his Lord. And so, moving on to verse 7, Jesus is coming to be seen by all. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.

And all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, amen. After all those years, John's memory of Jesus was beginning to grow dim. He couldn't picture His face as well, and he longs to see Him again.

Of course, Jesus comes to him in Revelation. We'll get to see that vision of Him next week, or you can read ahead and see it for yourself. But he longs for the coming of the Lord. The first coming of Christ changed the world more than any other person who ever lived, or the combination of kings and all who came before.

Think about the one life and the change that it made in the world. There's a poem about it. It was written by James Allen Francis, and this is an adaptation of that. It's been changed over time. It's called One Solitary Life.

Consider what the coming of Christ has meant to the world. His first coming. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked until he was 30.

Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place he was born.

He did none of the things that one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies, and he went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that one solitary life.

Jesus is coming to be seen by all. His first coming changed the world. Imagine when he comes to be seen by all. He was seen by just a narrow segment of humanity the first time he came, and it changed everything.

When he comes back, it's to be seen by all, even those who pierced him. A reference to Zechariah 1210, where the Jewish people look upon the one whom they pierced, and they mourn for him. There has been a partial hardening of the Jewish people for a time.

When that time runs out and the Gentiles have come in, God will resume his program with Israel, and there will be a massive revival among the Jewish people. No longer partially hardened, now there will be, as the Gentiles came by the millions to believe in the Son of God, so the Jewish people will be grafted back into their own original branch.

Looking on the one they pierced, they will mourn for him, but not only will they mourn in repentance and then come to faith, all of the world will see him at his coming, and the weeping will be the weeping of distress.

It says in verse 7, he comes with the clouds. This comes at the end of Revelation in the 19th chapter. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.

Wailing because he's coming in judgment, and they weren't ready. They weren't ready for him to come, and yet John says, even so, amen. Even so, amen. It's horrible that many will not be ready for his coming, and yet we trust God's sovereign plan with that, and we say, come Lord Jesus.

The Alpha and Omega Against Pluralism

Now, the crescendo is building. Do you see how this is all about Christ? Notice Revelation 1 .1. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is not just about knowing about the future, things to come.

That happens. It's to show us the things that must take place, but fundamentally, it's to see him now, so we're ready for him to come. It's a revelation of him, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 8, this is building.

He's the prophet, the priest, and the king. He's the one who loves us, and has freed us by his blood, and made us a kingdom. Now, it's declared he's coming. In verse 8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

I believe this is a reference to Jesus, and one of the reasons I'm quite sure of that is, if you look down at verse 17, when Jesus speaks to John, it's clearly the second member of the Trinity here, he identifies himself as, fear not, I am the first and the last, correlating with I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

So, in verse 8, I take this as Jesus speaking. Now, John, as an apostle, is writing the words that Jesus would say, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come.

No other religion has a language. We live in a pluralistic society that would say, Christians, you can have your Jesus and worship him in private, just don't try to make him Lord of all. For surely, all the religions of the world are equally valid, and there are many paths to the same God.

It's really only a matter of culture, but the words of Christ do not allow for pluralism. Some of the worldly people have gone so far as to say that we can judge which words of Jesus, of what Jesus spoke, are authentic.

There was a movement from 1985 to 1991 called the Jesus Seminar, and 200 scholars gathered twice a year, for six years, to vote on which words in the Bible are actually belonging to Christ. They would cast beads according to different colors to say, this one is certainly authentic, and this one is certainly not.

They cast their votes, and they did this because they cannot believe and accept the teaching of Revelation 1 .8. If these words are true, if Christ is who he's claiming to be in Revelation 1 .8, then every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

One of the leaders of the Jesus Seminar was Robert Funk. I think his name is somewhat appropriate. He summed up their project this way, it is no longer credible to think of Jesus as divine. Jesus's divinity goes together with the old theistic way of thinking about God.

He cast that off as a relic of the past, but Revelation 1 .8 says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, implying I change not. Jesus is who he claimed to be. John Hicks said this, that it's only dogmatic diehards that would continue to believe this.

Only dogmatic diehards. He put the words this way, in the light of our accumulated knowledge of the other great world faiths, Christian exclusivism has become unacceptable to all except the minority of dogmatic diehards, for it conflicts with our concept of God, which we have received from Jesus as the loving Heavenly Father of all mankind.

Could such a being have restricted the possibility of salvation to those who happen to have been born in certain countries and in certain periods of history? We've all heard that objection, haven't we?

Haven't you heard that? People say that all the time. You know, you're only a Christian because you were born in America, in a Christian country, in the day and age that you were born. But if you were born in India, you would be a Hindu.

And if you were born in Saudi Arabia, you'd be a Muslim. So it's really all just a matter of subjectivity, where you were born, and only dogmatic diehards would say that Jesus is the only way. Hick goes on to say the alternative to traditional orthodoxy need not be to renounce Christianity.

Another more constructive possibility is to continue the development of Christian self-understanding in the direction suggested by the new global consciousness of our time. In other words, we don't need to throw out Christianity, we just need to change it, to make it fit with a pluralistic society.

To what extent is this likely to happen? Will Christians come to see Christianity as one among several authentic ways of conceiving, experiencing, and responding to the transcendent? And will they come to see Jesus in a way that coheres with this, as a man who was exceptionally open to the divine presence, and who thus incarnated to a high degree the ideal of human life, lived in response to the real?

Do you see what he's trying to do? When you start with the premise of pluralism, when that's your highest value, pluralism, that there must be different ways that all lead to the same place. When you start with that value, you run to where Hick has wound up.

You have to change who Jesus is. You need a different Christology. You can't let him be God. He has to just be, as he put it, a man who is exceptionally open to the divine presence, a high degree the ideal human life lived in response to the real.

You have to redefine who Jesus is, if you start with the premise of pluralism. But brothers and sisters, Revelation 1 .8 says, I am the Alpha and Omega. When you start there, at the very beginning, that Jesus, the Son of God, has always been and always will be, that he is who is and who was and who is to come.

There is no changing who he is. When you start with him, every other aspect of theology falls into place. He calls himself, at the end of verse 8, the Panta Kratos, the Almighty. This word is only used ten times in the New Testament.

Nine of them in the book of Revelation. The Almighty, all power, every knee must bow to this Jesus. Jesus wasn't open to the divine presence. He was divinity among us. Jesus wasn't just incarnating a high degree of the ideal human life.

He is the incarnation of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is God among men. When we began with Revelation 1 .8, we recognize that he is due not only our worship here in America, but due worship in Saudi Arabia and India and every spot on this globe.

He is worthy. So where are we, finally, verses 9 to 11? As we wait on him, imagine yourself as in exile on the island of Patmos. It says in Revelation 1 .9, I, John, your brother and partner, in the tribulation and the kingdom and the endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

He says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and heard a loud voice like a trumpet, and he's told to write down what he hears. Notice, and we love this part, we are promised the kingdom. The King of Kings has come and we belong to his kingdom, but that's not all that we're promised until he comes.

What else is in verse 9? Your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance. We are not promised a smooth and easy ride until he comes. We are promised tribulation as we wait.

We are exiles. We're waiting for Christ to come. This is our Patmos. I love the story in the Old Testament of Mephibosheth. For one, I just love the name Mephibosheth. Great name. But Mephibosheth was a disabled man, and he was the son of a king that had been overthrown.

God had removed Saul, and Mephibosheth was living in a place called Lodabar, which means nothing land. Crippled, discarded, cast off by the world. But David, who then pictures Christ, who is the son of David, calls for Mephibosheth and calls him out of nothing land and brings him into his court to eat at his table and treats him like the son of a king.

His true identity raises him up, lifts him up into that place of the kingdom. Brothers and sisters, the New Testament equivalent of Lodabar is Patmos. This island at sea, this rock with nothing but desolation, cast away by the world.

You and I are rejected by this culture. Rejected, treated as nothing, pushed aside as irrelevant. I was looking at some statistics from Pew Research this week, and I think in the Northeast where we live, only 13 identify as evangelicals.

Thirteen percent. That's a small amount who even claim or profess to be evangelical. We're pushed aside to Lodabar, to Patmos, suffering for the sake of the name. But listen, John would not have been sent to Patmos for going to church on Sundays.

He surely did that, but he would not have been sent to Patmos for that. What does it say in verse 9? He was sent there on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. John was sent to Patmos because he dared proclaim the exclusivity of Christ.

He preached Christ above all. If you will pinch the incense and drop it into the altar and proclaim that Caesar is Lord, Rome will not persecute you. You can still worship Jesus or you can worship what other other religion they find acceptable.

Just don't say Jesus is Lord in an absolutist kind of sense. Don't proclaim him and call people to repent of other things and turn to the living God. If you'll pinch that incense and say Caesar is Lord, you will live among the people.

But testify to the exclusivity of Christ. Say that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, that there is none other but him, and that unless you repent you will die in your sins. Call people to him in faith and the Roman Empire will be threatened.

And it's so it is today in our Patmos. If you stay quiet in your workplace, if you stay quiet among your friends in your neighborhood, you'll coexist and all will be well. But the degree to which you preach Christ will be the degree to which you will be excluded to Patmos for the sake of the testimony.

When you preach him, it's a threat. Martin Luther led that Reformation and he points out the culture moves and and rebels against the Lordship of Christ. And if we're only willing to say the acceptable portions of Scripture, well, all will be well with us in the eyes of the world.

But when we touch those crucial points, when we say what the Bible says regarding hot-button issues, that's when we're rejected. But listen to what Luther said, if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ.

However boldly I may be professing Christ, where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battlefront besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

Did you hear that? Let me repeat some of that because that's deep. Luther's always deep. He said, if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ.

However boldly I may be professing Christ, where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battlefronts besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

We live in a culture that will accept your pluralism, but it will not accept your claim that Jesus is Lord of all. It will not accept your call to repentance and faith. If you'll stand boldly and testify that Jesus is Lord and call men and women to repentance and faith, at that point of the battle you will be excluded.

You'll get along well until you tell people that they need to turn and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as you begin to testify to who He truly is, when you say, Alpha and Omega, the Almighty, who is and who was and who is to come, there is none like Him, and you exalt Him to the highest place.

Call Him Lord of Lords. This is the point of conflict and this is what gets you sent to Patmos. I need to make something clear. The claims that Jesus made did not originate in Christian pulpits. The claims of Christ came from Him.

He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And if I don't repeat that claim, then I'm fleeing the battle. It's Christ who claims to be the exclusive Lord of glory.

It's Christ, when people hate this message because it sounds intolerant, narrow-minded, they'll say bigoted, though it's not. It's not the preacher that they hate. It's the one who said it in the first place.

Christ claimed to be the only way to the Father. He claimed this and we cannot run from that message as much as we'll be excluded. And don't miss the fact that in this culture, that exclusion will only intensify in coming days.

It feels like Patmos to some degree now, but it will feel like Patmos more and more as the culture departs from the Scriptures. So in verse 10, we're not waiting alone. John was by himself, excluded to Patmos, but he was still in the Spirit, wasn't he?

Jesus said, I do not leave you as orphans. If I go, I will send another helper, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit who will be with you. And John, although alone and surely very feeble and frail in his nineties, living on a rock, he was not alone.

He was in the Spirit. He was worshiping. He was praising his God. He was filled with the Spirit and that's when he heard the voice in the midst of that worship. Guys, get alone with Jesus. Get in the Spirit, especially on the Lord's Day, the day of the belonging to Him, which I think is Sunday here, the first day of the week, the day He rose from the dead.

Verse 11, it says, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. And then list the seven churches. Until He comes, we gather in local churches. And we'll pick up with this next week when we see Christ appear.

We see His glory. But until He comes, we're waiting together on the coming of the Lord. In closing, D .A. Carson says that so-called scholars assume pluralism and then ask what kind of Christology would be necessary or what kind of changes would have to be introduced into traditional Christology in order to fit the given of that pluralism.

In other words, he's saying the culture says there's no one religion or culture that's superior to others. All understandings of the divine in their practical outworking are essentially the same at root.

And you'll hear that all religions teach the same thing. They teach us love. This is the teaching of the culture. The teaching of the Scripture, when you begin with theology from above, the revelation that Jesus is God, it implies and it says directly that Jesus is better.

He's better than anything else in this world. He's better. There, I said it. He is better than anything else. Better than anything in your life, any sport or hobby or culture. Jesus is better than Moses.

He's better than angels. He's better than religions. He's better than other priesthoods, other covenants. He's better. He's just better. How much better? He's so much better as the truth is better than a lie, because he said, I am the truth.

He's better like infinity is better than finitude, because he is the Eternal One who created everything that is, through whom all things were made. Jesus is better and the presentation that John gives of Jesus is the highest glory.

He reserves no adjectives of praise. He exalts him to the highest place. This is what we take from Revelation 1, 4 to 11. In your life, as you wait, speak of him. Lift him up with your words. You will be excluded for it, but continue to praise him for it.

Be willing to suffer with him in Patmos, praising his name, knowing that he is coming. He is. He will come for his church. He will have his bride, a spotless bride that loves him and worships him and adores him and is not unfaithful to him.

Running after other gods, other religions and other interests, he will have a bride that's spotless and pure, washed in his blood, that loves him with a pure love, like John. John the Beloved. It's what he was doing on Patmos.

He was writing praise to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us a kingdom and priest to his God and Father. The Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and end, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

This is how John praises and this is how we should go forth praising the one we love. Let's pray. Worship team, come on up. And so Lord, as we've looked into Revelation 1, 4 to 11, we ask that it would be for us a revelation of Jesus Christ.

If there's any here who have never seen him with spiritual eyes, I pray Lord, give them eyes to see. Lift the blinders that they may see the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. And for us who have caught a glimpse and we're waiting for him, help us to see more clearly.

Help us to see who this Jesus really is. There is none like you God. You alone are God. We lift up the name of Jesus above every name. We lift him up as King of kings and Lord of lords. We stand to worship our Lord in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's stand.