Jesus, All Dressed Up
Series: To the Seven Churches
October 31, 2021 - David Stockton
First of all, as we go into the Book of Revelation, it can bring out the crazy and make us confused, but it's supposed to actually make things clearer. There's a guy named Eugene Peterson and he wrote a kind of a book on Revelation. And he has some interesting things to say, but he says:
“I read Revelation not to get more information but to revive my imagination. Familiarity dulls my perceptions. Hurry scatters my attention. Ambition fogs my intelligence, selfishness restricts my range. Anxiety robs me of appetite. Envy distracts me from what is good and blessed right before me…Saint John's apocalyptic vision brings me to my senses, body and soul.
And all of those things that he described in the beginning really do seem to describe our society well. And there's something about Revelation that is jarring, that wakes us up. What I wrote was that:
Revelation doesn't add new teachings to which Jesus's life in the New Testament epistles teach us.
It's not like we're getting something new. That we haven't heard already in the New Testament.
But what we're getting is it's putting those teachings in a supernatural and poetic light to keep us from allowing those things to become dull or commonplace. Revelation gives us a fuller perspective of the urgency and the importance of everything we do.
And as we go through the Book of Revelation, this is our hope, as I think about the messages lined up ahead of us. We're going to get to know Jesus more. If you go through Revelation and you don't know Jesus more, you failed. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ.
And so we're going to spend a lot of time really looking at Jesus today. We'll see Jesus as way more than just a baby in Bethlehem who became a man killed on a cross. We’ll discover the spiritual world is way more permanent than the natural or physical world, and that is a really tough thing for us to understand. Our empirical senses have been guiding us our entire life, but but God's trying to teach us that there's more to it than that.
We'll learn about how Jesus sees his Church as a community of collectives, as family more than individuals. There's an individualism that kind of is an American thing, which has done some good things for civil liberties and all of that. But at the same time, we have to remember that too much individualism is actually a really bad thing. And that when Jesus comes, he doesn't write seven letters to seven different churches — he writes one letter that all seven churches are supposed to chew on. There's a community that Jesus is trying to create.
We'll see how highly Jesus values patient endurance, suffering well, faithfulness to his name and teachings and overcoming.
We'll see also how Jesus's disciple despises tolerance of false teachings and wants our communities to be pure in thought.
We will learn how to be one who overcomes the challenges, darkness, tribulation and adversity in this temporary life.
And finally, we'll see how God has great rewards for those who remain faithful to him until the end.
It's going to be rich, it's going to be good, it's going to be wild, it's going to be challenging and I hope you can track with us. We’re going to have some different things put in our minds, kind of images that we’ll borrow from later on as we go through the series. And if you could stick with us through the whole thing, I think you'll have a real rich perspective on how you can process Revelation on your own, but also what messages we can receive from the Book of Revelation and how it applies today. Because Revelation, as we all know, is full of tribulation. It's full of really, really tough things.
There was a time where these demons are given power over the Saints for a certain season. It was a time where the martyrs are under the throne and they're crying out, saying, “How long do we have to wait?”
And the reason that's so important is because Jesus was coming to John, who had been through 60 years — since Jesus’ resurrection — of persecution, of pain. He had watched all of the other disciples be killed in horrible ways because of the name of Jesus. He had watched many others that he loved, and people in his church that he pastored in Ephesus, and the rest of these in Asia Minor. He’d watched them be tormented and tortured and killed because of the name of Jesus.
And he himself, what tradition tells us is he himself went through much persecution, even to the point at which they dipped him in boiling oil to try and kill him. But he survived. They didn't quite know what to do with him, so they exiled him to this island where he lived out there as a prisoner, alone, forsaken in his old age. He knew what tribulation was. He knew what suffering was. He was experiencing pain and Jesus visited him.
And he visited him with a message to tell him, that’s the message of Revelation: “John, your tribulations will result in triumph.” And he showed up to John in an image that is so stark, different, so drastically in opposition to what John saw as Jesus was in the flesh, was in weakness with small town, was oppressed, and ultimately crucified as a criminal. When Jesus shows up, he shows John the full reality of life in abundance.
Let's read about that in Revelation Chapter one.
Now kids, whether you're online or in person, if you're online, totally understand how we really want to track together, though. So for kids — and when I say kids, I'm old enough now that means 18 and under — I think I'm old enough to say that now feel I feel old enough to say that now — 18 and under, but anyway, kids, it's a little contest for you.
There is a prize, there's Dutch Bros gift cards for the winners. There’ll be multiple winners. We’ll put them into categories depending on how many I get. All of this is going to be fair. It's going to be real good. You're going to be real happy you did it.
But I'm going to read this image of Jesus that John gets in Revelation chapter one. We're going to borrow from this a bunch as we go through Revelation. But if you want you to draw it, you can draw it now if you're bored in here — but don't say you’re bored because I'm teaching. But you can do it later on. Either way, parents, you can send their pictures to me, David@livingstreams.org. You can email to me. I'll check them all out. Should be fun. Could be fun. Anyway, I'm going to read this image. If you draw it and send it to me, if you're over 18 and you feel like a kid and you want to draw it, just do it. Try it. I’d love to see it, you know? Anyway. OK.
Revelation 1:12
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,…
It looked human.
…dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
And that’s the imagery I want you to draw. But here’s a little bit more detail in this interaction between Jesus and his suffering servant, John.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead…
As you saw, John, you saw me on that cross,
…and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!
Ooh, this is good stuff right here.
And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this:
This is what I love. Revelation interprets Revelation. Yes, we’ve got to borrow from the epistles. We've got to borrow from the life of Jesus. We've got to borrow from the Old Testament. Really got to borrow from the Book of Daniel. But the nice thing is Revelation, obviously at times, just interprets itself here. So what's the mystery of the seven stars? Well, here it is.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
And this is what directs our study into this letter. It was written one letter to the seven churches to encourage them. Because, just as Jesus was wanting to encourage his suffering servant, John, he was giving John a vision, a message to take to the suffering servants in the churches of Asia Minor. To share with them, to give them hope, to teach them how to endure well and persevere well, even in the face of horrific challenge and tribulation.
And then ultimately, that message is now being passed on to us. And it's a weird thing to say, but I'm really convinced of it, that one of the most righteous things that we can do as followers of Christ, one of the most beautiful things in God's eyes that we practice, is suffering well. There's times in Revelation where all hell is literally breaking loose, and then this voice will cry out and say this calls for patience, endurance, on behalf of the Saints. And that is the message of Revelation. That was the message from Jesus to John. “John, I’m so proud of how you've endured well. And I want you to hold on until the end.”
And John's message to the churches of Asia Minor. “You are going to go through severe punishment and persecution for following Christ. But I want you to hold on. I don't want you to lose hope. I don't want you to lose heart. I don't want you to lose reward. This is now the way that you can bring the most glory to the name of Jesus is to endure with patience. And persevere with peace.”
And as James says, learn to rejoice in trials, knowing that it's going to produce, knowing that ultimately all tribulation will be swallowed up in triumph. This is the hard, hard message of Revelation, but it's consistent and thorough, and it's for us today because we live in a world full of tribulation.
Now our tribulation is different than what these were experiencing, at least in our neck of the woods. There are people in our in our world today that are definitely going through extensive persecution for the name of Jesus, losing their life, losing all kinds of privileges and and liberties. All of that, no doubt about it. But for us, we don't quite have the same level of persecution as they were actually losing their live.
But we all we all are going through some tribulation. The pandemic is real. And it has fostered a lot of other things that are real, that are challenging. And we've been kind of trying to hold on and hold in, and some of our marriages have just been really like challenging, and some of our families have been really challenging. And added to all of the normal challenges of life, we have just this constant, incessant pressure and stress from the world around us.
And what has happened is, is what you know, this sociologist writes, he calls it a failure of heart, failure of nerve and falling away.
And I've been chewing on this for months and months and months now, because I really think this is this is the stage that a lot of us are entering into now, even if we've tried to stay strong in Christ or stay strong for each other. We're running out of gas. And I'm getting texts from people and emails from people all the time that are falling down.
And so failure of heart. What have we got?
Failure of Nerve is the first one.
This is described as:
I do not have the internal fortitude to handle the disorientation and anxiety of the people around me, therefore for the sake of personal comfort, I will collapse back into their acceptance and anxiety.
Basically, it's just, “I've been trying to stay strong. I've been trying to stay true. But around me, it's just become so different than where I am that I feel like it's just time for me to give in and to give way.”
You think of the thermostat or a thermometer. It’s like, “I'm trying to be a thermostat and set the temperature in my marriage, and my family, and in my workplace, and all these things, but it's just become too difficult. So I'm just going to become a thermometer and go to whatever temperature might be in the room.”
And though that is a strong temptation that's not fitting for the people of Christ. That's a failure of nerve.
Failure of Heart is where:
I may be able to keep going, but I stopped doing it with love and compassion. So as a result of Christian faithfulness without Christian love, which is ultimately just noise.
So we grid ourselves and we lock ourselves in and we say, "All right, fine. The world around me is going crazy, so I'm going to separate, I'm going to consecrate, and I'm just going to be a jerk about it. I'm just going to talk trash about everybody else, and that somehow is going to make me more holy.”
And this is what I think Jesus would say if you're in that space, he just wants to spit you out of his mouth because you don't taste good. There's no fragrance of Christ in that. That's what the Pharisees were doing. Jesus wasn't wasn't pleased with them. That's a failure of heart and where many of us, ugh, that's a real situation for us.
And then the last thing is the Falling Away.
I'm done. The Christian faith following Jesus is either not true or not for me.
It's just, “This is too hard, so I'm out.” And some of us know people that are in that state as well. Or they're trying to just kind of tweak the faith to be something that that does fit what they want.
And this is the result of tribulation, this is what the result of prolonged disorientation, prolonged uncertainty, which we're going through. And so it's so important for us to now have the the book of Revelation, this message, speak to our hearts, wake us up, and teach us how to be those who practice the perseverance. Figuring out how to do that, so that's what we're going to do.
So let's go to Revelation Chapter two, and what we're going to do is we're going to take the little imagery of each of these that was given to each of these churches about Jesus. Again, we're going to be borrowing from chapter one a lot. But each of these churches doesn't get the full vision of Jesus. They get a part of the vision for Jesus. So I want to kind of unpack each of these in our study today.
So Chapter two, verse one:
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
So to the church and emphasis the image that they received, the piece of the image that they received of Christ was this one who was holding the seven stars and walking in the seven golden lampstands. And I think what that meant to John, what was so important about John to hear that was that Jesus was dressed with this robe from shoulder to feet, and he had this white sash on him. And the imagery that must have gone in John's mind, as he saw this image of Jesus dressed that way among the golden lamp stands, is he had to have harkened back with his Jewish mindset to the priest. The priest of the Tabernacle or the temple, they were the ones that would go into that holy place, and their job as a priest was to tend to the golden lampstand that was in that place — to make sure it was burning, to trim the wicks, to make sure there was oil. And they would be dressed in something very similar.
And so John — who is a pastor, who is one of the only people left that was connected to Jesus in that way, and he's shepherding and trying to to see the people of God come into fullness of life and understanding — he’s been removed from the churches that he was overseeing. And he's grieving. He knows they're going to go through tough times, but he's not going to be there to help them. And yet what he sees from Jesus is this image of Jesus as a priest among the lampstands. And this is a very comforting thing for a pastor's heart. Hopefully, it's a comforting thing for all of our hearts that Jesus is the one who is tending to the Church. Jesus is committed to his Church. Jesus is the one who is constantly trimming and tending and supplying everything needed so that his people, his Church, can be the light of the world.
And for John, that must have been so comforting as he thought, I wish I could be there. I wish I could help but to know Jesus is among the church with two or three are gathered he's there in their midst. He will go with us to the ends of the Earth. These promises were so meaningful to John.
The second image that that comes with to the Angel of Smyrna.
To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna, write:
These are the words of him was the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.
This is something that's sung over and over. Whenever there's these songs that are spoken in the Book of Revelation, they continually talk about how Jesus was the one who was, who died, and has come back to life again. And in the church in Smyrna, what we know of Smyrna is they were going through serious persecution. That's where persecution broke out first. And they were suffering.
And the imagery that comes to John, that ultimately he spoke to Smyrna was that Jesus is someone who has passed through death but has not state dead. And the message to them and to John was, “Look, John, look at Jesus.”
As John saw this image in Revelation one, Jesus’ face the shining bright as the sun. Jesus is beautiful in all these ways. Death has not diminished him at all. Suffering, pain, crucifixion, injustice has not diminished him, but actually, somehow, caused him to enter into this space where he is above every other name. Every tongue confess confesses he is Lord, every knee bows at his authority.
And John gets to see him. And what a message to John to just say, “John, look, there is coming a time where death will be swallowed up by life. All tribulation will be completely eaten by triumph.”
Or as Jon Foreman, one of my favorite songwriters, says:
Until the sea of glass we meet
At last completed and complete
Where the tide of tears and pain subside
and laughter drinks them dry.
He's talking about that moment at which we enter into that space where the laughter and joy of God completely consumes all the sorrow and pain in the world. That was the message that John was getting. “He was dead, but he's alive again, more alive than he even was when he was in the flesh."
Did you hear what I just said? I don't know how to understand it. Revelation just sometimes points us to things that I don't understand, but it's pointing that way, so I’ve got to point that way.
In this moment, John was seeing Jesus more alive than he had ever seen him when Jesus was walking in the flesh. Chew on that for a little bit if you want.
All right, the next one is Chapter two, verse twelve:
To the angel of the church in Pergamum, write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double edged sword.
This is an interesting image, this is not one that you know makes you want to hang out with Jesus so much. Sword coming out of his mouth. It's quite intense. However, Jesus is super intense about the truth. We know from Hebrews that the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. We know in Revelation 19, when Jesus returns, the picture of Jesus riding this horse, and he's coming to Earth to basically finish all that is evil. And written across him in this sash, says “Word of God.” And he comes in at that point, and he does. He casts Satan into the lake of Fire, binds everything. He brings this finality to it.
And that's the beauty of what God's word can do. God's word seeks and destroys all lies. It sets us free. And so this image to this part of the church was that Jesus speaks the words. If you stick with his words, it's going to cut through all the crap in life. And we have so much misinformation, disinformation in our world today. But the words of Jesus, they know how to cut right through, divide joint and marrow, soul and spirit. They cut through all of it.
And the truth is is we don't just have all of the junk swirling around us, but we got junk coming from within us. Our own hearts, our own minds have been tainted and broken through the fall of sin. And yet the words of Jesus are trustworthy. They even come and cleanse what's going on in our own souls and our own minds. We’ve got to stay faithful to his word.
The next thing was Thyatira. It says:
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
And so the feet being like burnished bronze speaks of Jesus having to walk through all of the pain and agony and tribulation that we do. He was refined. It says that Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered in the Book of Hebrews.
But I want you to focus on these eyes for a second. These eyes of fire. These eyes were of flame. And I've always kind of wondered what that was like. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? Is that is that going to hurt? Is that going to feel good? And I think it's a mixture of it all. You see, the Bible in Revelation Chapter 21, talks about Jesus wiping away the tears from our eyes, and this is just the way that I kind of unpack some scripture. This is the way I think it's going to go down when we actually see Jesus and these eyes of fire. I think in that moment, we're going to look at Jesus’ eyes, his eyes are going to meet ours and we're going to be completely consumed in the fullness of his love, in the fullness of his passion, in the fullness of his purity.
And in that moment, like what Paul says, that all of our works are going to pass through as though passing through a fire and everything that's wood, hay and stubble will be burnt away. Everything that we did that was selfish, or that wasn't for for God, or that wasn't done in a heavenly mind, will be burned away in that instant.
And I think that's what happens. I think when we see Jesus, it's all a moment, and we see Jesus and those eyes are able to penetrate us and immediately we are burnt. We are consumed. All of the stuff of Earth is consumed. All of the times we should have, and we didn’t. All the times we shouldn’t have and we did. All of those things are just going to burn through us.
And we're going to weep. It's the only time there will be tears in heaven, I think, is that first moment when we see him. We’re going to weep for all the lost opportunity. All the times we didn’t. We're going to weep. And Jesus is going to come with those eyes of fire and he's going to wipe away our tears. And there's going to be a newness. There's going to be a freshness, and then we move into the place where there won't be no more crying, no more weeping, no more sorrow, no more pain. There's something about his eyes. They’re so important.
And then you've got the Church of Sardis. In Chapter three, verse one:
To the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
This, I think, speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit and his angels. Jesus is the one who can give the Holy Spirit, which is what guides us to live free and full, no matter what the circumstances we’re in. Revelation, two and three have this haunting refrain that says, “He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches today.”
And Jesus is basically saying, “Just so, you know, John, I am going to be speaking and I'm going to be giving my Spirit to the churches to empower them.”
And if you try and go through tribulation without the Comforter, without the Spirit of God, without the guide that Jesus gives us — foolish. But we're so thankful that Jesus freely gives that.
And then to the church in Philadelphia:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
God is holy and true. There's this image in Revelation Chapter 16, where it's basically all hell has broken loose on the world. It's crazy town. People dying all over, meteors coming down called wormwoods, destroying people, darkness covering a third of the earth, I think two-thirds of the earth, something burning. It's not a good time. It's not a good time to take a vacation or anything like that.
And yet in that moment, all of a sudden, it's like the camera pans up into the throne room of heaven and the angels who are witnessing all that's going on. And it just seems like it's so horrible. The angels cry out to the throne, cry out to God and say, "Righteous and true are your judgments, Lord. We know that everything you're doing is good and right and will bring about the best.”
That's a hard teaching to hear. But it's consistent throughout the book of Revelation that what you're going through right now — no matter how horrific it could be, no matter how wrong it may be — there will be a day where you will be able to stand with God and look at this exact moment of pain, and you'll be able to declare, "Righteous and true are your judgments, Lord. I see it now. I get it. I see how that was working for these things.”
Right now, I don't think you can see it. But you can hope. And you can believe and you can trust that one day even your heart, your broken, broken heart will be able to say over the brokenness, “God, I get it. Righteous and true to your judgments.” That's the refrain that's spoken in heaven.
And then the last one, the Church in Laodicea:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
And there's this imagery in Chapter five where John is there and he's weeping. He’s weeping as he looks and he sees on the throne, there's God, and on his lap is like the scroll that has these seals on it. And John's weeping because no one's able to open the scroll. So the scroll has something to do with renewal, has something to do with revival, has something to do with with what the world needs, is not is not being able to give given to the world because no one's able to open the book.
And yet an angel, an elder comes up to John, taps on the shoulder and is like, “Hey man, not really supposed to be crying up here.” And he says, “Behold the Lamb. He is worthy to open the book.”
And there's something about Jesus becoming the ruler of creation, that he came on to Earth, not just to rescue us — for sure, he came to rescue us — but he also came to rescue all of God's creation. Somehow, it's as if when God created Adam and Eve, he gave them dominion. He gave them the title deeds of the Earth. And when they sinned, they gave that to Satan. And Satan comes to Jesus in temptation when Jesus was here and says to him, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the Earth.”
And Jesus didn't say, “You can't do that.” Jesus said, “No, I'm not going to bow to you.”
But somehow through the cross and the resurrection, Jesus has won back the authority and the dominion over all of creation. And I don't know why he hasn't used it yet. This seems a little weird, but we're in Revelation. But what we heard in the Book of Acts is that Jesus has set down at the right hand of the Father. And from there he will come. On the day appointed he will come and he will restore everything.
So we are in a bit of a waiting season. A time for perseverance and endurance. But there is coming a time where, the promise is Jesus will come and he will restore everything.There won't be one place you can find the shadow of death anymore.
And, as Tim Keller says it — I love this — he says that “On that day, everything sad will come untrue. But it will somehow be better for having once been broken.”
Again, I have no idea what that means. How to access that with my broken heart and my futile mind. But I see the gospel pointing to that. And so I'm putting my hope in it. And that's what Jesus is revealing here to the people of Laodicea, that he's the ruler of all creation.
So to wrap this whole thing up, here’s the deal. If you're going through hell, keep going. Don't stop. Don't quit. Don't fall down. Don't try and make the most of it. Keep going. And how do you keep going? You grab on to Jesus’ hand. And you join up with Jesus' family. All you ever need — please hear me, no matter what you're going through — all we ever need is more Jesus. He is the answer for the world today.
There never has been and never will be anything needed in addition to him. The whole world revolves not around the sun, but around Jesus. He is what upholds the whole world together. He's the atomic glue. It keeps the protons and neutrons and electrons from not flying apart. He’s everything. And the whole reason you have a beat in your heart and breath in your lungs and a mind is so that you can know him.
And whatever you're going through, ultimately what you really need, is not a new wife. It's not a new husband. It's not new kids or new parents. It's not a new job. What you need is more Jesus. What you need is more Jesus.
And when we go through tribulation, this is the last of the imagery I'll share with you. Like, I think of an earthquake. You know how when an earthquake comes, you know, in the movies you always see it like creates these big cracks in the world. The tectonic plates are shifting and it creates all these changes. And I feel like when we go through tribulation and hard times, what happens is there are cracks that open up in our soul. No no doubt about it. And some of you are very aware of those cracks that you've experienced over the last, whatever, 18 months.
But those cracks, you know, something's going to seep into those cracks, and it's either going to be more of the world or more of heaven. And Revelation is really trying to teach us how to make sure it's more of heaven that seeps in. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us, Jesus said. The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and it's the violent people that take it by force. That requires intensity, that requires fight to make sure that the world is not able to seep in to those cracks. But what is of heaven, what is Jesus comes in.
And it's so important to remember because, you know, every time you go through pain, you have a choice. The world has so many things they can offer you to numb the pain. So many options to numb the pain, but if you choose the world's options to numb the pain, more of the world seeps in. And pain, whether we like it or not, is the greatest former of our souls. But it doesn't determine which direction the formation happens. That is determined by your choices in the pain.
Are you going to cling to Jesus? Are you going to set yourself in the community of the Saints? Are you going to trust his word or are you going to find the the other things that can numb the pain. This is our challenge.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word, we thank you that heaven can even find us. Thank you that you found us.
And Lord, I pray for those who are going through real brokenness, Lord, that right now would be a moment where a lot of heaven seeps in.
Well just stay in this place of quiet, if you would, and we're going to sing a song. I just encourage you to really just just do your best to try and let the words of Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven seep in to the places of pain.
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