A Revelation of hidden things

Sermon for Midweek of Advent 2

+  Revelation 1:1-8  +

Two years ago, we walked through the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, during Advent and during Lent, focusing on the seven letters to the seven churches. We’ll cover those chapters again this year, but we won’t stop there. Tonight we begin a year-long journey through the whole book of Revelation, and I’m looking forward to reviewing it myself even as I teach it to you. Because the Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John, not only for the strengthening and comforting of Christians who lived at that time, but for the Christians who live in every time, and especially for us Christians who live in these dark times as the world rushes headlong to its own destruction.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things which must soon take place. He sent it by his angel and made it known to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to everything that he saw.

“Revelation” is our translation of the Greek word “apocalypse.” The true meaning of an apocalypse is the revealing or the unveiling of something hidden. In this case, the hidden things are future things, from John’s perspective, things that “must soon take place.” The only way for us human beings to know future things is for God, who dwells in the past, present, and future all at once, to reveal them to us. The “hidden things” are future things, but also present things that are going on behind the scenes, things that we can’t see, so God has to reveal them to us. The “soon” includes things that would literally happen in the near future to the churches of God at the time of John, near the end of the first century AD. But it also includes the things that are coming “soon” for every generation of Christians, because the book doesn’t only describe the very last events of the story, right before Christ returns. It reveals many things that have been going on for this entire New Testament period.

According to John’s introduction, God the Father gave this Revelation, this apocalypse, to Jesus, so that Jesus, in turn, might show His servants the things which must soon take place. Why is God the Father giving a revelation to God the Son? Because that’s the way it works in the Holy Trinity. God the Father is the Source of the information. Jesus is the Revealer of the information, the Doer of the Father’s will. And even now, as the God-Man, in His state of exaltation, Jesus remains the true Prophet, the One who reveals the Word of God to mankind.

He did that revealing, in this case, to John, through an angel. It’s an angel who appears to John and shows him the revelation. John is called Jesus’ “servant” or even “slave.” So God chose to use his servant John to reveal those hidden things to all of His “servants” or “slaves,” that is, to all Christians, because we all need to know certain things that will happen leading up to Christ’s return.

Then we encounter the first of seven divinely inspired beatitudes in the book of Revelation: Blessed—that is, fortunate, happy, enviable—is the one who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written in it, for the time is near. John doesn’t envision the situation we have, where every Christian has a Bible to read in his own home. “The one who reads” is the one who is to read this letter out loud in the Church: the pastor. And those who hear are the members of the congregation. So preachers and hearers are all called blessed here, blessed, because we get to see what’s coming, we get to see the reality, how things really are behind the scenes, blessed if we not only read and hear, but also keep—that is, cherish, believe, and put into practice—the things that are written in this book.

John, to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come. We’ll hear more about each of those seven churches in the weeks to come. John is the writer, but the grace and peace he delivers to his readers don’t come from him, just as they don’t come from me when I begin my sermons with similar words. Grace and peace come from the Triune God: From him who is, and who was, and who is to come, here referring to God the Father, since the Spirit and the Son are mentioned next. That’s essentially the meaning of His name, the LORD, Jehovah, or Yahweh. While the world changes around us, while people come and go, God the Father is, just as He was, just as He will be. He doesn’t change. And He doesn’t go away, no matter how much men try to ignore Him or contradict Him.

And from the Seven Spirits before his throne. This is clearly a reference to the Holy Spirit, who is said to be “seven” here because of the sevenfold gifts He gives, as proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and godliness, and the fear of the Lord. Also seven, because He gives them in perfect measure, in just the right measure, everything His Church on earth needs as it waits for Christ’s appearing.

And from Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, and the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. Grace and peace are bestowed on the churches by God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son. He is the faithful witness, the faithful “martyr,” who stood before Pontius Pilate and allowed Himself to be killed rather than to deny the truth of God, which would have been to deny Himself. But Jesus’ martyrdom didn’t end in death. He was raised from the dead, the “firstborn,” the first one to be raised from the dead, never again to die. And if the kings or presidents or governors of the earth trouble you or oppress you, know that this same Jesus Christ, whose servants you are, is the Ruler of the kings of the earth. They don’t intentionally do His bidding. No, they do many wicked things. But He still rules over them so that all that they do, even the wicked things they do, must serve for the good of those who love Him.

To him who loved us. Who loved us, past tense, because John is talking about that great act of love on the part of the Son of God that began with His incarnation and continued all the way up to His death and burial, all one great act of love. That act of love was done for all people, but what John says next doesn’t apply to all people. To Him who washed us from our sins in his own blood. That’s Holy Baptism, the washing with water by the word, the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Spirit. It’s that strange washing with the blood of Christ—the “rosy-red water of Baptism,” as Luther called it—that leaves a person, not dirty, but clean, justified, forgiven. To Him who made us kings and priests to God his Father. It doesn’t look that way right now, that believers in Christ are kings and priests. But Jesus didn’t look like a king or a priest on earth, either, and yet He was and is. And He has made you kings of a much better kingdom than this world is, and priests who have direct access to God with your prayers and with your sacrifices of thanksgiving. To him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds; and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. John points our gaze upward, to behold in faith our Savior coming with the clouds. It will happen. He will come. And it won’t be in secret; every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him on the cross, because He will raise them from the dead and they will have to answer for it. Those who pierced Him by attacking His body, the Church, will also see Him. All the people who mock you and marginalize you now for believing in the God of the Bible, for believing God’s Word when practically the whole world tells you you’re wrong—they will see Jesus coming with the crowds. And they will mourn because of Him. Because when they see Him, their time of grace will have ended, and they will experience His wrath and punishment. Then, finally, the words of the prophet Jeremiah will be fully fulfilled: He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. To that John adds a, Yes, amen! It isn’t wrong for Christians to yearn for the day, even to pray for the day, when our enemies will mourn and be condemned. At the same time, it has to be our goal, now, for our enemies to repent before that day, so that they are converted from being our enemies and reconciled with God through faith.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. Here it isn’t just the Father speaking, but the Lord—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Nothing comes before Him. Nothing comes after. No one can get rid of Him, no matter how hard they try. And no one has power to thwart His plans, because He is the Almighty. Behind all the terrible things that happen in the world, behind all the apparent successes of the wicked, the Lord is ruling unseen for the good of His Church, waiting to show Himself visibly in the end. Everything is going according to His plan, though we don’t see how.

But that’s what the book of Revelation is for, to give us a glimpse of those things that we can’t see, to reveal the truth of God’s hidden reign over the wickedness of this world for the good of His holy Church, and to unveil what the future looks like for you who hold fast to the Lord Christ: victory in spite of struggle, life in the midst of death, and glory at the end of it all! Amen.