Revelation 1:4-8

The Fountain of Peace

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on January 7, 2018 at Beacon Church

Revelation is the last book of the Bible, not only the way our modern copies are arranged, but the last of the books written with the approval of an Apostle of Jesus. And at such a time! It was about 95-96AD. The man who wrote these words down was the last of the 12 apostles; the Roman Emperor at that time was the 12th Caesar. Maybe just a coincidence, but a reminder that the Empire of the Caesars and the churches of Christ were on a collision course. For both Church and Empire, the end of the first century was the end of an era—everything was changing. The next Emperor was the first ever to be elected by the Senate of Rome. But the greater change was in the Church. As the last of Christ’s Apostles died, not long after Revelation was written, who would lead the churches? Who would guide them? When the government of Rome began their war against God’s people—as predicted in Daniel 7—how would Christians endure? As false teachers twisted the teachings of Jesus—as He predicted—who would protect the flock? Persecutions did come; the truth about who God is, and of His Gospel, were challenged and twisted. But with this last book, Christ was giving His churches one last prophecy of His own to prepare believers for what was coming.

I dropped out of Karate classes before very long, but I do remember the instructor emphasizing the importance of a proper stance. If you stand wrong, you’re too easy to knock down; if you stand properly, you can learn to be ready for anything. John’s opening greeting to the book of Revelation plants our feet properly in God and the Gospel so that we are ready to face the future, to read and understand, and be blessed by (v3) this prophecy in which Jesus shows us “what must soon take place” (v1). If we hold firmly to what God says about His nature, and about the salvation Jesus has accomplished for us, then no matter what the future brings, nothing can shake us. And that’s important because as the churches established by the 12 apostles came into conflict with the Empire built by the 12 Caesars, the Gospel itself, and therefore the fate of the whole world hung in the balance. We’re going to see how Jesus puts His Church on solid footing already in chapter 1, in this salutation, in its invitation, in the explanation of the authorship of this book, and end with some thoughts on application.

THE SALUTATION: RECORDER AND RECIPIENTS

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia…” (Rev. 1:4 ESV). The last Apostle, John, was a very old man, at least 75 years old. He called himself the “disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel he wrote; “the elder”, and his readers, “little children” in the letters we call 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. His humility is similar here in merely giving his first name. After Jerusalem was destroyed about 20 years before writing this, John moved to Ephesus, the capital city of Asia, and had a long and effective ministry in that province. He was very well known, which is why he can just call himself “John” and everybody would know him. He was after all, the most famous Christian alive.

In verse 4, John directs his writing to seven churches in the Roman Province of Asia. From where he sat, in exile on the island of Patmos, part of Greece today, off the west coast of Turkey, he could see his home province in the distance. Spread out before him in an arc, he could visualize the 7 cities along the highway from east to west, where Gospel-preaching churches had been planted. This is more than just a detail: it will affect how our interpretation. The geography in the vision John was shown assumes the perspective of that area in region where his original readers lived. But choosing only seven churches[i] spread right across his province—seven like a week full of days, a completed sabbath—suggests these churches represent all churches. Jesus meant it for all “his servants” (v1), not just the Christian residents of the ancient Roman province of Asia. Wherever they were living, and wherever Christians have lived since, under whatever tyrant or king, the next verses make it clear that while it was John’s pen that wrote these words, the authorship was not John’s, but God’s. It has been pointed out that this book had 3 Authors—God the Father and God the Son, identified in verse 1, and God the Holy Spirit identified in verse 4.[ii] This book, and these letters, are from GOD to all His servants, including you and me. With such an introduction, how important do you think it is for us to know this book and receive its message? 

THE INVITATION: GRACE AND PEACE

“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…” (Rev. 1:4 ESV). Grace and Peace. “Grace” is a common New Testament play on words from the ordinary written greeting in Greek that meant something like “cheers” or “be happy”. “Peace” was the customary Hebrew greeting (“Shalom” in Hebrew).[iii] Right in the greeting, racial tensions are addressed in an invitation from God for Jews and Greeks in the Church to receive His kindness and shalom. Perhaps to show that the Gospel is for all people? In any case, this grace and peace is equally from each member of the Godhead. Together and equally, the Trinity is the three-fold source of grace and peace here. The Triune “Fountain of peace” as one 400 year-old commentator put it.[iv] Equal as the source, each member of the Trinity has a unique role and function in His care for the Church, for you and me.

I’ll come back to that in a minute, but before I do, let me point out the authority behind this offer of grace and peace. First, God the Father is portrayed on a “throne” (v4c); the Holy Spirit also ministers from His place before the throne (v4c); the Son, Jesus, is the “ruler of kings on earth” (v5a). When you get an invitation from the highest place of authority in Heaven and Earth, it’s not optional. It’s like an RSVP but without the “if you please”. From the second century, for readers who were about to be shown “the things that must soon take place”, this “grace and peace” from God is the only way to be prepared for anything that happens in this world. The promise is from the fullness of God, for all believers, and the last words of this last book reaffirm, through Jesus: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen,” (Rev. 22:21 ESV).

THE AUTHOR: FATHER, SPIRIT, SON

The first divine author of the Revelation, according to verse 1, “which God gave Him”, is the Father. "…from him who is and who was and who is to come… [and is on] his throne" (Rev 1:4b ESV, clarification added). If you were hearing this in your own language the way it was first written it would sound at first like bad grammar--as if John told you who this peace is coming from by saying "it is from He" instead of "Him". But what at first sounds like poor grammar turns out to be very deliberate because the highest and most mysterious truths about God cannot be contained in the rules of grammar: This peace is first from He (not Him) who is now existing in the present; He who was in the past, and He who is coming. The third part has a future sense to it, but the words are not, "He who will come", but "He who is coming"--in this one word, God the Father indicates that He is not going to wait any longer, but that all of His plans and goals from the beginning of space and time are already now rushing toward completion! Some scholars see a possible reference here to Psalm 90:2, or "I AM", Yahweh, the personal name of God that affirms He had no beginning, has no end, that His existence does not depend on anything or anyone.[v] or to Isaiah 57:15, "who inhabits eternity", high and lifted up, or the enthroned (implied) Ancient of Days in Daniel 7.

The second divine author in the greeting, is the third mentioned in the chapter: the seven spirits (Jesus Christ is given as the secondary author in verse 1, “the apocalypse of Jesus Christ which God gave to him”.) “…And from the seven spirits who are before his throne,” (Rev. 1:4 ESV). “…And from…” For readers of the New Testament, this is obviously a way of describing the Holy Spirit (He is named “the Spirit” 13 times in Revelation).[vi] So this doesn’t mean there are seven Holy Spirits. It is a symbolic description for The fullness of His Presence. The first thing to observe is that the "seven spirits before God's throne" mirror in the same verse, "the seven churches in Asia". Since the seven churches are meant to represent all churches everywhere, the seven Spirits represent the One Holy Spirit in all believers. The fantastic comfort we have in the Holy Spirit is here implied: the churches of Christ, scattered as we are, on our own are weak, but the Spirit who indwells us is strong; we might be scattered, but He who dwells within us helps us: Rom 8:26. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” (Rom. 8:26 ESV). Think about how encouraging this is: that He who dwells within us also stands before the throne of God the Father! That for every one of the seven churches in a particular time and place of need, the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God is even then interceding for the people of Christ, on our behalf, always ready to exercise the sovereign will of the Father. We will learn more about the fullness of the Spirit’s anointing and ministry later in chapter 1.

From Jesus Christ. He is the second author given in verse 1, but the third mentioned here in order to finish with the focus on Him. “…And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth,”  (Rev. 1:5 ESV). The original describes Jesus as “the faithful martyr, the firstborn from the dead”. One of my commentaries had a note that for many generations since then, faithful Christian martyrs have hung onto those words, remembering that they follow in the steps of Christ, and that His resurrection guarantees theirs.[vii] But also ours. The Return of the King will be the day of our resurrection. All because of what He did at His first coming. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” (Rev. 1:5 ESV). Springing from His decision to love us, He freed us by from sin and death, by shedding His own blood, giving up His life for us and dying condemned for our crimes against God. But being freed from sin is only the beginning of what Jesus did for us: “…And made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen,” (Rev. 1:6 ESV).  By that work that He has made us and is making us citizens of a new Kingdom under Him, a Kingdom populated by priests--every one of us with access to worship God forever! We don’t need priests anymore if HE has made us priests. No earthly king can separate us from Jesus, if HIS dominion is forever and ever. And if all glory belongs to Jesus, then our inheritance does not depend on our strength but on His divine power.  “He loves us”, “He has freed us”, “He has made us”, “He” deserves the glory: Him, Him, Him. The Christian Faith is not about the goodness of Christians, but the glory and power of Jesus. Amen.

THE APPLICATION: BELIEVE AND RECEIVE

He is coming again. “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,” (Rev. 1:7 ESV). He is coming in the same way He left.

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"  7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,  11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:6-11 ESV)

So when John writes in this salutation that Jesus Christ, who died and is alive, "is coming with the clouds", it means both that the Saviour and Lord of the Church is coming, and that the Judge of the world is coming--He is Jesus. Daniel 7:9-10 prophesies of the day when God will take His seat to judge the whole world, but then Daniel saw Jesus:

13 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.  (Dan. 7:13-14 ESV)

Meaning that on Judgement Day, God rules in favour of Christ and those who belong to Christ. But slow down and notice what those words imply: “every eye will see him” (v7). This quote from Zechariah 12 reveals that Judgement Day will be a day of sorrow for most people.[viii] When every human being sees Jesus with his/her own two eyes, they will be more devastated than if they just got the news their only child had been killed (that’s how the original passage reads in Zechariah)—that’s why “all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him”: They will suddenly realize what they missed, and they will mourn not for themselves but for Him. On that day it will be too late to repent. The nations will despair for the One they have lost the chance to love, for Jesus.

Maybe you wouldn't describe yourself as a religious person, a true believer in Christ. Yet. And you probably feel offended at all this talk of Judgement and Jesus. But it’s a prophecy that will come true no matter how you feel about it now. In chapter 3 of John’s Gospel he wrote that Jesus didn’t come to the world at his first advent in order to judge the world, because the world was already condemned. Condemned because they did not believe in Jesus when God sent Him as our Saviour. So when He comes again He is coming as Judge. And He’s given people 19 centuries of lifetimes in between His first coming and His second coming to make up their minds, how will they respond to the invitation of grace and peace from God through what Jesus did to save us? The day is coming when it will be too late, but right now there is still time to change your eternity. Look with me at who it is you have rejected, and who it is who makes grace and peace possible for you instead of condemnation:

I Am the Alpha and Omega. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’," (Rev. 1:8 ESV). Alpha and Omega, in the language this book was written in, are the first and last letters of the alphabet. This is Jesus Himself, saying to the readers of this book: I Am the origin of the Universe, and I am the destiny of the Universe. I am the Author and Finisher. I am the Beginning and the End. I am the Cause and the Reason for everything--for history, for the world, for you.

There is no other reason, no other hope, no other way, no other God, than this Divine Trinity of Father, Spirit, and the Son appointed to be the Saviour and lord of all. Look who He is, the one speaking in verse 8, "the Lord God… the Almighty". This is Jesus whom His enemies crucified, and whom you rejected. Knowing who He is, and continuing to refuse Him is insanity. So are you still going to stubbornly resist Him? Or will you now pray with me and ask Him for mercy?

The way to experience peace with God, is to ask for peace from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, on account of His grace to you in sending Jesus to die for our sins 2000 years ago. The whole Godhead promises grace and peace, but only through believing in Jesus. The Trinity is the fountain of peace, Christ Jesus is the only Way to drink it. “Grace and Peace” from the eternal Father; from the seven-fold Holy Spirit; from Jesus the Faithful Martyr and Firstborn from the Dead: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen,” (Rev. 22:21 ESV).