The hidden presence of Jesus among His churches

Sermon for Midweek of Advent 3

+  Revelation 1:9-20  +

What was it Jesus told His disciples before He ascended into heaven? Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Or earlier: Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. That’s what Jesus promised. That’s what He said, that He is in the midst of His believers when they are gathered together in His name. So it must be true. Even here, even now, before His coming at the end of the age, Jesus says He is with us, among us as Christians who are gathered together in His name. But it’s hidden from our sight. It sure looks like—and often it sure feels like—we’re on our own. It must have looked the same way to the suffering churches at the end of the first century. But for a little while, on the island of Patmos, the hidden reality was uncovered for St. John to see. That is, after all, the meaning of the word Revelation: the uncovering of a hidden reality. In our ongoing review of the book of Revelation, tonight’s reading reveals to us the hidden presence of Jesus among His churches.

Listen first to how John describes himself as he writes to the churches of God: I am both your brother and your companion in the tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Now, he’s writing specifically to the seven nearby churches in Asia Minor as a true companion of their, someone who was living at the same time, in the same area, and who was going through the same kinds of things. We, today, aren’t exactly John’s companions. But we are all his brothers and sisters in Christ, believers in the same Lord, heirs of the same salvation. And we all have much in common as we live under the cross of tribulation, as beloved subjects of Christ’s kingdom, and as we patiently endure the sufferings of this world, just as Jesus did on earth, and as we patiently await the promised coming of Christ and the promised Paradise with Christ when He comes.

As for the vision John saw, he says he heard a loud voice, commanding him to write down the vision and send it to the seven churches. Then he turned around to see the voice, and the first thing he saw was seven golden lampstands. At the end of the vision, the lampstands are identified for us as symbols of the seven churches to which John was writing.

Again, while the number seven here refers literally to those seven churches, that perfect number seven is symbolic of all Christians churches in this whole New Testament period. But what is the significance of symbolizing them with lampstands?

The lampstand God instructed Moses to make for the tabernacle and temple had seven little lamps on it—one on top of the “trunk,” if you will, and three branches coming off the trunk on each side. It stood in the Temple, in the Holy Place, alongside the two tables with the 12 loaves of showbread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

The lampstand also represented the church of Israel, one giant congregation. They were to have the light of faith ever burning and the fire of love ever blazing, one lampstand in the world as a beacon of light placed in the midst of the rest of the nations, which were shrouded in darkness and ignorance of the true God. The lampstand was to stand within the Holy Place of the temple, in front of the presence of God, who “dwelled” symbolically right next to the lampstand, though still on the other side of the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

But now, in the New Testament, instead of one lampstand, one giant church in the world where God was present to reveal His Word, to hear, and to forgive, there are now seven lampstands, which represent the whole number of churches, gatherings of Christians throughout the world, in the midst of every nation, with the light of faith ever burning and the fire of love ever blazing, with the light of the Gospel ever penetrating the darkness, with Christians letting our light so shine before men that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.

In the midst of the seven lampstands, one who was like a son of man, clothed with a garment reaching down to his feet, his chest girded with a golden sash. The lampstand in the temple was separated from God’s presence by that curtain. Meanwhile, the priests were to be continually attending to the lampstand, to make sure it never ran out of oil, to make sure the lamps always stayed lit. But now that Christ has died for the sins of the world, there is no longer a curtain separating the people of God from God Himself. That curtain was torn in two when Jesus died. And so Jesus, the perfect High Priest, the Son of Man and the Son of God, walks right there among the lampstands. His clothing, in John’s vision, resembles the priestly garments of the Old Testament, showing Him to be our great High Priest who personally tends to the lampstands, making sure that each church, wherever it is, receives exactly what it needs.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. This is like the vision of the Ancient of Days that Daniel saw: I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. That was a picture of God the Father, but here it represents the Son of Man, who is, according to the book of Hebrews, the exact representation of the Father’s Being. His divinity and His eternal nature are being highlighted here, along with His wisdom.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. That’s a symbol of His omniscience, as His eyes burn right through to our hearts, so that He sees the ugliness of sin there, but also faith where it exists, which covers up sin and is counted for righteousness to all who believe. As it says in Hebrews 4, there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

His feet were like bronze, as though fired in a furnace. He is able to crush His enemies under His feet, as it says about the Messiah in Psalm 110, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.

And his voice was like the sound of many waters. If you’ve ever stood at the foot of a waterfall, or on the seashore as the tide comes crashing in, or even if you’ve heard the sound of rainwater pouring off the roof, you have some idea what the sound of many waters is. It’s overwhelming. You can’t really talk over it. It drowns out every other sound. Such is the voice of Jesus when He insists on being heard. Such is the voice of Jesus when He has an urgent message for His churches.

He had in his right hand seven stars. Those stars, one for each of the seven lampstands, are identified as the “angels,” that is the divinely appointed messengers (or ministers) of the seven churches. They’re symbolized by stars, because they shine with the light of the Word of God.

This is important. Jesus walks among the churches, but He doesn’t minister to them directly. He doesn’t speak into the ear or into the heart of His Christians. He speaks through His appointed messengers. Jesus holds the ministers in His hand. He is the one who sends them, who places each one with the appropriate lampstand, again, emphasizing that Christ has always intended for His Christians to be served by pastors whom He has sent and set in place through the divine call of the Church. But even as He sends them, He continues to hold them in His hand. He is the one who governs what they preach, who defends and upholds them against all sorts of illegitimate criticisms and attacks, and who will hold them responsible for faulty teaching or a wicked life.

And out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. As it says in Hebrews 4, For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.

His face was like the sun shining at its brightest, as John had seen Him once before, at the Transfiguration. Divinity was His during His state of humiliation on earth, but it was hidden under His humble flesh. Now John is given another revelation of the hidden reality.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Fear not; I am the first and the last and the Living One. I was dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore. Again, very similar to what happened at the Transfiguration, or what happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord in a vision. To see God in His glory is too much for any mortal, especially because we’re sinners who can’t stand in His presence. But Jesus comforts John and us. Fear not, He says. I am Jesus who died for your sins and who was raised to life for your justification. I live forever, and (as John recorded in His Gospel), because I live, you also will live.

And I have the keys of hell and of death. “Hell can’t take you, death can’t hold you, unless I give them permission. So don’t worry about what men may do to you or say about you. Don’t worry about any danger you may face in this world. Just cling to Me in repentance and faith,” Jesus says. As Jesus said once to Martha as she grieved her brother’s death, He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And he who lives and believes in Me will never die.

This is the one who walks among the lampstands, true God and true Man, the same Jesus who became our Brother, who died for our sins and who came back to life. John’s Revelation reveals the hidden reality, that this Jesus is present in the midst of all His churches throughout the world, inspecting, tending, shepherding, defending, teaching, governing, guiding, and warning, and doing it all through messengers whom He holds in His hand. We don’t see Him, but we aren’t supposed to. We’re supposed to believe in what we don’t see but in what has been revealed to us by His Word: that Jesus reigns as God and Lord in the midst of His holy Church, scattered though it is throughout the world, and composed of all the individual churches that still confess His Gospel and use His holy Sacraments. Truly He is with us always, until the end of the age.

But if that’s true, then let us also be courageous Christians, as those who know that Christ our God is right here in our midst, tending to us through the ministry of the Word. Let us be bold to confess Him before men, not denying or concealing any of the truth revealed in Holy Scripture. And let us also lead holy lives of repentance, obedience, and love, as those who believe that our hearts and our deeds lie open, at all times, before Him who walks among the lampstands. Amen.