Revelation 1:9-18
Christ is Risen. Today is Easter. May this be a time of hope and joy for you.
The opening reference in this sermon is to Ohio State University's loss in the "final four" of the college basketball playoffs. For those who may not know, the OSU teams are called "The Buckeyes," after the nut that grows on a tree indigenous to Ohio.
The Book of Revelation fascinates some Christians who believe they know what every image and detail means. Other Christians don’t read it because they say we can’t understand it at all. I could never be as confident as the first group but I’m not ready to give up like the second group. When we approach this strange book I think we have to keep in mind that it was addressed to Christians in the first century just as surely as it is addressed to Christians in the twenty-first century.
Attempts to date the book usually suggest it was written either about AD 70 or AD 95. I’m not dogmatic on the issue but I think the weight of evidence points to the later date. And, I’m content with accepting the traditional view that it was written by a very elderly Apostle John. But, again, I’m not going to be dogmatic on the issue.
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Last Saturday was disappointing, wasn’t it? I’m sure many fans found it heart-wrenching to make it all the way to the “final four” only to be kept from the championship game by three points.
Put last Saturday out of your mind. Imagine it’s a day a few months from now. You’ve gathered some snacks and drinks. Kickoff is only a few minutes away. The pregame show flashes an aerial view of the shoe and it’s packed. You enjoy attending the games but it’s so cold today you’re glad you have your comfortable chair in the warm family room. And, you’re happy because it looks like the Bucks could go all the way this season. Sure, that’s been said before but this year will be different. Anyway, the teams are taking the field. This is what you’ve been waiting for. A win in this week’s game will put a bounce in your step. Buckeye football—it’s why you can hardly wait for Wednesdays.
No, the NCAA is not thinking of changing college football from Saturdays to Wednesdays. Of course, I’m not sure they would call me first anyway. College football has been a Saturday tradition for as long as most of us can remember. Some traditions you just don’t mess with.
Yet, John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” Raised a Jew, John would have worshipped on the Sabbath, the seventh day, not the first day of the week. Something really major must have happened on the first day of the week to inspire that kind of cultural revolution.
We don’t know if John was alone on Patmos or in the company of a few other believers. That’s not especially significant. Even if he were alone he would have known that thousands of other believers were gathered to worship at that same hour. What is significant is his description of that first day of the week as “the Lord’s Day.”
What inspired that revolution and what gave the first day that designation?
Well, years before John told a story which began, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early….” The tomb she came to was the tomb where the body of Jesus of Nazareth had been placed after he had been crucified. To her surprise, Mary found the tomb empty. Very shortly after she found that empty tomb she encountered the Risen Christ. Very soon thereafter John and many others would begin to tell the story of the Resurrected Lord. Among those who believed the story, the first day of the week became the day for worship and praise; eventually it would come to be known as “the Lord’s Day.” One writer says, “Little is said in the gospels and epistles about observing the seventh day. The emphasis changed with breath-taking suddenness to Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day.”[1] The change reflected the conviction that Jesus had risen on the first day.
Of course, the discovery of that empty tomb on that first day of the week had happened years before. The story had been carried to the far reaches of the empire and beyond. Now John was old and alone. The others in that band of apostles who had travelled so closely with Jesus were gone. His dear brother James was the first of the Twelve to die for the faith and then one by one the others had paid the ultimate price. Now he was exiled on this island prison.
If he was tempted to despair or give up, there’s no evidence of it. Instead, we find him where we would have expected to find him on the Lord’s Day. He was at worship.
In the midst of this ordinary experience something extraordinary happened. (In fact, this is a clear reminder that the Risen Lord of the church isn’t bound by what’s written in the order of service.) I say “the Risen Lord of the church” because that’s exactly who John saw.
… in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.
Using images drawn especially from the Book of Daniel, John describes the one he saw. We won’t take the time to look at each detail. Let’s just say this is the picture of a person in charge. If John has any questions about who this may be, they are answered in just a moment.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. [2]
Don’t be too critical of John. You and I might have fainted too. Then the One John saw reached out his right hand. Remember the “right hand” is the hand of power and strength. Here it is the protective, comforting hand, cradling “the seven stars,” the churches, the people of God.
He says, “Don’t be afraid.” Why not? Seems like it might be a good time to be afraid. There was another madman on the throne, trying to destroy the Christians. This Remarkable Person who stands before John explains why John need not be afraid at that moment or in the future.
--He says, “I am the first and the last…” As the Jews began to immigrate throughout the empire for trade and commerce, their philosophers sought ways to explain their God to the people they met, especially the Greeks. In time, they began to describe God as “Alpha and Omega” (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) or simply, “the first and the last.” The One standing before John was claiming deity.
--He says, “I am…the Living One.” He is saying that life is part of his make-up. To put it in terms John might appreciate, he was saying, “No matter how many years ago we may have stood together on the lakeshore, you can’t really speak of me in the past tense.”
--“I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever.” John knew only one person who could be described that way. He is the One who gave us Easter. John had seen him die; John had peered into his empty tomb; John had seen taken a post-Easter seminar from him on God’s plans for the world. This was Jesus, the Living Lord of the church.
Now, comes a word for all the pressured, beaten-down, confused, frightened believers in that first-century world and ever since.
--“I have the keys of Death and Hades.” He had the keys. It means he had defeated these ancient enemies. He was the victor. As the hymn says, “He arose the victor o’re the dark domain…”
When we speak of Jesus as “Victor,” especially on Easter morning, it’s inevitable we should think of the Resurrection. That’s appropriate.
But when we think of his Easter victory we come to see that victory as culminating and confirming a life of victory.
He was victorious over the human tendency to take the easy, comfortable way. It led him to a cross.
He was victorious over the onslaught of the Tempter. After each clash he walked away the victor, sinless.
He was victorious over the forces of the demonic enslaving the people he encountered. For his trouble, he was accused of being demon-possessed himself. He marveled at the very ironic notion of Satan casting out Satan.
He was victorious over the thinking that prized flash and dash over substance. He wouldn't put on a show no matter how insistent the crowd.
He was victorious over a system that said we ought to answer might with might, force with force.
He was victorious—over injustice, betrayal, the demonic in what appeared to be his greatest defeat—the crucifixion.
In Colossians 2:15, Paul pictures the “powers and authorities” that played so large a role in world-view of the false teachers threatening the Colossians’ peace as being conquered by Christ, the crucified. Christ is seen as a conqueror leading these vanquished beings in a parade where their defeat is broadcast for all to see. This gives a new image of the Cross.
Dermot McDonald comments, “Today’s men turn to black magic, to the horoscope, to drugs, to numerous cults, to find release from the pressures of life and an answer to the problems of mind and heart. To any one of these it is easy to become a willing, and finally, a degraded slave. But the cross liberates from every bondage; for the cross is Christ’s cosmic victory, his holy conquest, over every evil power and all human schemes. His scaffold is his throne; and his cross is his chariot.” Because of that victory on the cross we don’t have to be demeaned or dominated by any memory, habit, or obsession.
The Resurrection was the capstone of these other victories. Without the Resurrection victory those other victories would have seemed illusory, temporary.
John presents Jesus to us as the eternal victor.
The amazing thing about the Easter victory was the fact that it was won for us. We share the victory Christ has won for us.
Jesus the Victor allows us to face the reality of our sin with peace. It is not the peace of complacency, but the peace of knowing that our sin has been dealt with. We may have real forgiveness because Jesus has provided the perfect sacrifice. Through him we have the remedy for the deadly disease that continues to infect humanity. His resurrection endorsed his sacrifice. Usually, knowing a disease we have is always fatal, unnerves us. After all it will kill us. But because of Christ’s victory we can have forgiveness, our sin problem—which was beyond our power to manage—is resolved.
Jesus the Victor allows us to face the certainty of death with confidence. Because of his victory, the Risen Lord holds “the keys of Death and Hades.”
Throughout human history the grave has been a mystery. We have wondered and debated what, if anything lies beyond the grave. Easter answers that. Death the last enemy has been soundly defeated. Because Jesus holds the keys, no grave can hold us just as no grave could hold him.
Our life does not end. We are not absorbed into some amorphous cloud, we retain our identity. We have the potential for a life of richness and beauty, a life in the presence of God.
That is the promise to those who put their faith in the Risen Victor.
Jesus the Victor allows us to live with confidence whatever life may throw our way. John and his fellow believers who were miles away in Ephesus faced an uncertain future. Rumor had it that Emperor Domitian was the reincarnation of Nero. He wasn’t, of course, but he was just as much an ego-maniac as Nero. He enjoyed the notion that the emperor was a god. And, the emperor cult was especially popular in Asia Minor where John was. The followers of this cult had even designated the first day of the month as “Emperor’s Day,” and some historians believe each week had a day by the same name. So, as the early Christians gathered on “the Lord’s Day,” those who worshipped the emperor were incensed. And they agitated for the destruction of the church. In fact, some of the most severe persecution at the end of the first century was in Asia Minor.
It’s here that John’s imagery is especially significant. As he describes the Risen Lord, John says, “…in his right hand he held seven stars.” This is a reference to the seven churches of Asia Minor to whom the Revelation was originally addressed; symbolically, it refers to all of God’s people.
God’s people, collectively and individually, are in God’s hands. He is their protector, advocate, and life-giver. Whatever may come their way, they are secure. Should they die, they are with the Lord. Should they live, the Lord is with them. This, too, is part of the Easter promise: Hope on this side of the grave. We have that hope whether our lives are filled with challenge or sometimes boring.
Conclusion:
Last Saturday was disappointing, wasn’t it?
If last Saturday was disappointing, imagine how the disciples must have felt the Saturday following the first Good Friday. Of course, on that Saturday they would have never imagined calling that Friday “Good.” Their hopes were dashed. Their dreams had died. That Saturday was a day of defeat.
But the first day—what would become “the Lord’s Day”—brought victory. Before the sun had set on that first Easter, Jesus would stand among them as Victor. Fifty days later Peter would stand before a crowd of thousands. Peter, remember, was the disciple who had gone with John to investigate Mary’s report. He reminded them that Jesus had been crucified and then told them that he had defeated death. In fact, it was impossible for the grave to hold him.
Decades later, Peter had been martyred and tradition says the rest of the apostolic band had also met martyr’s deaths in a variety of places and in a variety of ways. All but John, that is.
John continued to tell the story of the One who had been victorious over death. He continued to encourage people with the message that this Victor was on their side.
Every Easter, indeed, every Lord’s Day, we echo that message about the One who is the Victor.
[1] Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (719). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[2] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Re 1:12–18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
