The Key to Life

Friday night it rained. So yesterday morning I went to the front window to look out on the driveway to see how much rain we’d had. It’s like my unofficial rain gauge. When an enormous creature reared up to attack me. I jumped back in alarm. Only to realise the next minute that it was just a praying mantis climbing up the outside of the window. I mean, even if it was on the inside of the window, it was just a praying mantis, and even if it was a huge venomous spider it would still have been on the other side of the glass. I was never in any danger, but I sprang back because at first I didn’t see what was really there.

Today and over the next four Sundays we are going to take a brief look at the book of Revelation the last book in the Bible, and we are going to stare together down the barrel of the end of all things. Although “end” is probably not the best word. Revelation doesn’t describe the end of love or the end of life. It is not the end of God’s plans for the world. And it is certainly not the end of us, the end of you.

Maybe a better word than “end” would be “goal”. If Genesis records the starting gun that begins the race of God’s purposes, then Revelation describes the finishing line, the end towards which the race is running. The fulfilment of all that Christ has done for us. The meaning and purpose of our life in the Spirit in the fellowship of the church.

The book of Revelation does this by revealing. Revelation reveals. It’s a vision of the truth that lies behind the appearances that we see. It shows us what is really there. It’s a message of hope to those who are losing hope. It’s the promise of victory to those who feel defeated. It’s a message of encouragement to those who are afraid. Because we are afraid of so many things. We are afraid that there is a conspiracy in the media to destroy the church and to suppress the gospel. Or we are afraid of evil men and how they can bring sudden death and destruction. Or we are afraid of the man child who is the President of the United States, the leader of the free world. We jump at shadows. The book of Revelation exposes the truth that there are real beasts who threaten the world and who would make war if they could against heaven.

But the real truth is that to our heavenly Father, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, they are nothing more than a praying mantis climbing up the outside of a window. And if there is a war against heaven, and if there will be battles between good and evil, and if we must make a stand for what is good and right and true, then God’s victory is certain, if we do not lose faith or hope or love.

Today we are looking at Revelation chapter 1. In it we are given a vision of Christ. In the very first paragraph we learn that it is “the revelation of Jesus Christ”. Firstly, because it belongs to him, because God his Father gave it to him to reveal to his servants. Jesus has a message for us.

But it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, secondly, because it is about him. This book reveals Jesus Christ, who suffered and died, but was raised to life, and ascended to his glory in heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand. At present we don’t see him. It’s like he lives on the other side of a curtain. We trust him. We follow him. All our hopes rest on him. But he is hidden from our sight. What the book of Revelation does is to draw that curtain aside for a moment to give us a glimpse of our Lord and Saviour.

This revelation is about “what must soon take place”. It reveals that our Lord is close. He is near to us. He is near to us in his Spirit. All his blessings are ours through the work of the Spirit who lives within each one of us as believers but who also lives and works within the community of the church. The Lord is close. And he is near to us in time. Jesus Christ is coming. He came once and shared our life. But he is coming again. Soon. To bring all that he has done for us to its rightful conclusion.

Revelation reveals the future. Not what we are afraid will happen. Not what we wish would happen. But what must happen for God’s plan to be complete. Jesus Christ is coming. Jesus, the faithful witness to the truth of God. Jesus, the firstborn from the dead, who was raised to life to be the promise of our resurrection. Jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth, king of kings and lord of lords. Jesus who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood. Who has made us to be a kingdom and priests to his Father. Jesus Christ is coming and every eye will see him. Not just believers with the eyes of faith in some kind of mystical vision, but he will be clearly seen as Lord by all for their good or ill. Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess him as Lord. Because he is the Alpha and the Omega. The first and the last. The source of all and life’s true goal. Who was and is and is to come. The journey’s starting point, its destination and the journey itself. He is the Almighty.

This revelation was given to John. Possibly the apostle John who wrote the fourth Gospel. Possibly the same John who wrote three letters in the New Testament. Maybe even probably, although these other things aren’t mentioned. What is said is that John is our brother. “Our companion in the suffering and the kingdom that are ours in Jesus”, one who shared all the good things and the bad from following Christ.

John had been exiled to an island called Patmos. Patmos is about 40 km from the west coast of Turkey, about 10 km long and 2 km wide. Today it has a population of 3000. In John’s day it could have had a lot less people. John had been exiled there because of his witnessing to the word of God and to the gospel. Instead of being put to death, he had been put on Patmos where the authorities believed he could do little harm with his preaching.

On this tiny island, this backwater of the great Roman Empire, this insignificant place where he could do little harm, John received this revelation. It began with a vision of Christ.

John heard a voice telling him to write what he saw to seven churches in Turkey. He turned to see who it was that spoke to him and this is what he saw:

Seven golden lampstands and among them was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were 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 out of his mouth came a sharp double- edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

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, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

What John sees is a human being. One like a son of man. Not an angel or a ghost or a spirit. When Moses or Isaiah or Elijah saw a vision of God, they saw no body or face. But John saw a person like us. Jesus is our brother. In the vision he is dressed in the robe and sash of a priest. He offered himself as a sacrifice and now he lives to offer continual prayer to the Father for us. His hair is white with wisdom. His eyes burn with insight and nothing is hidden from his gaze. His feet glow and his face shines with the glory of heaven. And his voice is powerful with authority, like a double edged sword that cuts on the forehand and cuts on the backhand, destroying lies and exposing illusions, shining his light into the shadows.

He walks among seven golden lampstands, which the Lord himself explains are the seven churches in Turkey that John is commanded to write to, and in his hands are seven stars which are the angels of the churches.

In this vision we see the truth. The curtain is swept aside so we can see what is really there, the reality that is behind all the shadows. And what we see in this vision is the Lord who is among us. Jesus is Lord. We do not see the disfigured Jesus of the crucifix, still hanging on his cross in pain and shame. We see the glorious exalted Jesus, our prophet, priest and king, the one who tells us the truth, the one who gave himself, the one who rules over heaven and earth. A man like us, but not just a man like us. This Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Don’t jump at shadows. Don’t be anxious about the future.

Some preachers of this book want you to be afraid. And yes it does contain warnings for those who will not repent, for those who will not bow the knee to Christ, for those who work evil and injustice. But the risen and exalted Lord Jesus wants you who love him, who follow him, who serve him, who have been saved by his love and who live by his love, he wants you to be unafraid. Set free from the terrors of the powers of evil. Because Jesus is almighty God, the first and last, the living one who died and lives forever. Because he holds the keys of death and Hades.

Hades here isn’t hell, the place of eternal punishment. Hades is a shadowy, gloomy place full of ghosts. It is the land of the dead. But Jesus holds its key. Hades will not be our home. Death is not our fate, a prison that can hold us. By his own death and resurrection, Jesus has won the key to death and to the land of the dead. He holds the key to life. The door isn’t locked. It can’t keep us. Jesus holds the key and he can unlock the door and set us free. We were made for life. And Jesus has saved us for life. Not for an existence in a shadowy, gloomy place. Not to keep on going forever as a ghost. But for life as a real human being with flesh and blood.

This is what it means to confess our faith in the resurrection of the body. We will not be ghosts. We will not be angels. We will be human beings. Because Jesus is Lord even over death.

He is the Lord who is among us. He walks among the golden lampstands, the churches. He is not absent. He is hidden. We cannot see him now with our physical eyes. But he is among his people. And he holds the seven stars in his hands, which are the angels of the churches. The angel of a church could be its guardian angel. Or it could be a representation of the spirit and mindset and atmosphere of a church. But for Jesus to hold that star in his hands means that he is at work in his church. He hasn’t gone on holiday. He isn’t away and too busy. He is among us and at work among us. Not just the Lord. But our Lord. He knows what we are going through. He knows what we are frightened about. And his message is, “Do not be afraid. I walk among you. I hold you in my hand.”

In conclusion, the book of Revelation reveals. And it reveals first of all a vision of Christ. The Lord of heaven and earth. The Lord of his church. He is with us and at work among us. He has made us and saved us for life. And he holds the key to life. So we are not to jump at shadows. Though the forces of death assault us, the Lord commands us to trust him and to not be afraid.