Since we're going to deal with only the first couple of chapters, I have the title slide as Revelation, a letter to the churches. That's what we're going to primarily deal with and look through how God deals with the churches that are there and the time of John as John writes. And I'm going to start to jump into the first three verses, then we'll go back and kind of characterize what the type of literature this is, and to give you an understanding of that, and kind of explain a little bit about the background. We'll let the video tell you a little bit about Patmos, the island where John is, and we'll kind of see what God has for us as we launch into this. So as we begin, if you turn to Revelation chapter one, let's bow in prayer, ask God's help to understand his word today. Gracious God, thank you so much for the power of your word. Lord, thank you that you have not left us without your word, without your spirit. And Lord, we thank you that we can read and understand. Thank you for the love that you've shown to us by giving us your word. And so I pray that you would, in our time this evening, Come, and by your Holy Spirit, open our eyes to understand. And Father, may we see you in this, which in Christ am I praying. Amen. Begin reading in verse one. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his bondservants the things which must soon take place, and he sent it, communicated it by his angel to his bondservant, John. who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed it, which are written in it, for the time is near. Kind of sets the stage. Sets the stage for what we're gonna do. First of all, this is a letter. This is a letter written. Some of the books that we have in Scripture, the Old Testament, are written as history. A lot of the New Testament, you understand, are written as letters. And so John is writing this, but John is writing this, it would seem, from a different standpoint than, say, Paul. Paul, the Holy Spirit is working in his heart. And this is John's revelation from Jesus to others. Now we say John writes here in verse 4 to the seven churches that are in Asia. So he's writing to these churches. Later on in verse 11 it says, write in a book, this is what Jesus tells John, in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. So it is a letter but as the first verse says it is a revelation. the word that you see, apocalypse. It's a revealing, and primarily it's a revealing of Jesus Christ, but also by Jesus Christ. Jesus is revealing himself as he works in John. Now, in John's day, in the Greek times, The word apocalypse did not have kind of the overtone that it does now. You think apocalypse, you think of a movie, it's horrible, it's the end of time. Well, apocalypse is really simply a revealing, an unveiling, a rolling of the scroll, as it were, to give insight. And so this Jesus is giving insight into himself primarily, and into what will be later on, and it is indeed prophecy. There's very much a prophetic bent to the book. It's giving understanding because in verse one it says, the things which must soon take place. And so John is receiving as the bondservant of Jesus this communication. But we primarily think of this book as a prophecy book, a foretelling rather. But it's more than just words about the future, more than about future events. The letter includes words of action for the church in John's time, but also in our time. And that's primarily where I'm going with these eight or nine messages is that that it is the words to the church that's present now. Taking from what John wrote in his time, to how God uses scripture in his word to us, so that we can understand what's going on. So the prophecy is definitely there. But also, it's a revelation, and it's a letter. But if you notice in verse 3, there was something special there. This is one of about seven blessings. Look at verse 3 again. blessed or happy is he who reads and those who hear the word of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near." Three things, reading, hearing, heeding. Reading, hearing, heeding. We read Now, you understand that, yes, some of John's audience would have been able to read this. Others of the audience, it was strictly oral. They heard from someone's mouth. They listened with their ears. So they listened. They heard the word. But the important part is those who heed the word, who do it. So there's the blessing, the first of seven blessings. So what was the setting? Well, the Revelation was written late in the first century. We have, to kind of give you a timeline, here you can see it. Proximate dates, all dates are approximate, they're right. Jesus raised from the dead, it's AD 3031, depends on when people set the time of Jesus' birth. 37 to 41, Caligula is the emperor, Claudius, Nero comes 54 to 68, Rome destroys the temple in Jerusalem and lays waste to Jerusalem in a great way. And so that was, it was already happening, but if there was a time at that point, everybody dispersed, except for the small contingent of the church in Jerusalem. Domitian is Roman emperor in 81 through 96. John writes somewhere between 90 and 95 AD. The church, there is persecution going on in the church. And you'll see that flavor as we look into the letter to the different churches. There's persecution going on. And then they said at the end, actually I'm not sure why they decided to set that in Lagos, the Bar Kokhba revolt ends in AD 135. That was pretty much the last time there was an uprising by the Jews toward the Roman Empire. So here it is. This is kind of the setting. So John's writing later, much later, at the end of his life, we believe that probably there is no other living disciple besides John. Others had died, many of them meaning a very violent death. So here John writes as the last revelation from Jesus. And so he has information that he wants to know. In this time, Just to tell you a word about the Emperor Domitian, he insisted that he be worshipped as a god. In fact, the name that he took upon himself translated to English, Our Lord and Our God. He wanted to be called Domitian, Our Lord and Our God. But of course, the Christians refused to worship any god but Jesus. And so John is, and they're not quite sure why he was not killed, other than that Jesus promised this for him. but many others who rejected worship, who were especially Christians, were killed. But John is exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Some would say this is a penal colony. We're going to watch a video that says it may not be a colony for prisoners. Let's watch this video, kind of give you a picture of what it is, what's going on here. I was on the island called Padmas on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. With these words from Revelation chapter 1 verse 9, John begins his narrative of the sights and sounds that filled his mind as he prayed to God and considered the challenges facing his churches on the mainland. Tradition is more eloquent than the actual evidence, however, concerning John's stay on the island. A mural over the entrance to the traditional Cave of the Apocalypse, a major tourist destination on Patmos, depicts John dictating his visions to his scribe and disciple, Procorus, known in scripture only as one of the seven deacons chosen in Acts chapter 6. Procorus sits inside the cave where John allegedly stayed during his season on Padmas. Such a scene comes to us not from scripture, however, but from a 5th century AD legend, the Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, written in the name of Procorus. Scholarly study of Revelation has developed and perpetuated its own traditions as well, such as the oft-repeated idea that Padmas was a penal colony or even a site where prisoners were condemned to work in the mines. Explorations of the island and the scouring of ancient references to the island, however, have not turned up evidence of either. Padmas was simply the place of John's banishment, his removal from the mainland where he had no doubt been stirring up trouble with his virulently anti-Roman views. It's a mystery that he was banished rather than executed like Antipas, the martyr named in Revelation chapter 2 verse 13. Perhaps he was himself a member of a privileged class. Perhaps he was sentenced more as a peddler of a superstition, for which banishment was the standard punishment, than a disturber of the social order. The island of Padmas is about seven miles from north to south. At its widest, it is about five miles. At its narrowest, a mere few hundred yards. When John found himself on Padmas, he did not look out upon barren, rocky, deserted landscapes. Padmas had been settled during the Hellenistic period and continued to support local populations throughout the Roman period. An inscription found on the island bears witness to the presence of a Coltan temple of Artemis. The 12th century monastery of St. John now stands on the site that had once been occupied by this temple. which previously commanded the Padma skyline, as its Christian successor does now. Another inscription attests to the presence of a gymnasium, a center both for Greek education and athletic training and practice on the island, and thus to a population of sufficient size to support its activities. An Acropolis once stood on the top of Mount Castelli, overlooking the modern port of Scala. Those who hiked to its summit can still see the remains of significant fortifications from the Hellenistic period. All that remain are the foundations of buildings that would have stood proudly here during John's time of exile. These might be the remains of a military fortress. Though the same 5th century Acts of John that so many on Padmas are willing to receive as gospel truth, also speaks of a temple of Apollo on the island. The hill opposite the one on which the temple of Artemis, Apollo's sister, once sat, would have been the perfect location for such a twin cult site. Unfortunately, there appear to be no signs of excavations that might unearth greater certainty about the purpose or extent of the buildings on the Acropolis. A bold landscape of Padmas suits John's visions well. Vistas to the sea on every side still invite us to imagine the forces of evil rising from them like the hydra-headed monster of Revelation 13, verses 1-10. We can imagine the islands not too distant from Padmas' own shore, shaking and falling before the coming wrath of God and God's Lamb. Active cult sites, even here on the island of John's banishment, where the worship due the one God was, in his opinion, being offered to demons, serve as a reminder of how against the grain Christian practice was throughout the empire. Exile was the consequence of John's witness, but it did not silence his witness. And so he left to his own churches and the church in every age, one of the most vibrant summons to witness to what was due the one God and to avoid compromising that witness. So no matter exactly how John got there, according to the Roman government, we know that the Lord took him to that island for the purpose of writing this letter, this final. So we have the Gospel of John, we have 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, now we have Revelation. And so he is writing that. And I think as we look at that, what is the overall purpose? And as one, I think his last name is Scott, who was a commentator said, he believes the purpose is a trumpet call to faith, a call to faith. And as you read the book of Revelation, as you see the The things set forth for the churches, but also the prophecy of what will come. You see, it requires us to trust in God amidst persecution, understanding, and we might put it this way, in light of God's victory, we are to endure with faith and patience. Because what revelation does tell us is that God is victorious. He will win. And so no matter the persecution that John and other believers were experiencing at the time, and it was great, they have the reassurance from God as he wrote that he would win. Verse four. Let's take a look at how he continues his introduction. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace for him who is and who was and who is to come from the seven spirits who are before his throne seven churches first of all just kind of give you an idea of their location there will dig into a little bit later you're not responsible for for a quiz after this to label them yet but he's writing to the seven churches but look what he says grace and to you and peace a common greeting but who is it from grace and peace from him Who's the him? Look how he describes him. Him who is, and who was, and who is to come. As John begins this, as he writes this for them, that he wants them to know that the greeting is from, as he really does here paraphrases Yahweh, it's from the great I am. See, an uncertain future of what will be, because John's at the end of his life, persecution's all around, an uncertain future calls for one who by his virtue of his eternal existence is sovereign over the universe and over our circumstances. So it is, first of all, from him, from God the Father. Then it says an interesting thing, that seven spirits were before his throne. Now don't mistake that as the Holy Spirit, because in no other place is he but one. But the best of our understanding is one other place that refers to the spirits around the throne. Best understanding is it's kind of a royal entourage that is there before the throne who witnesses what God is doing. God the Father is doing. He's witnessing those things. They are witnessing those things that God is doing. And so, as you see, John unfolding this. He's not speaking of the Holy Spirit. And then he says, in verse 5, and from Jesus Christ. Now begins really the focus of John's writing is to magnify Jesus. Here, Jesus Christ, first the faithful witness. The faithful witness. Which is an interesting thing. Jesus testified of the love of the Godhead by coming to earth. We spoke of that this morning. God came to earth. Jesus came to earth. He was the faithful witness of the love of God. But also, he says he's the firstborn of the dead. That's a phrase that we might remember from Colossians 1.8. It speaks of priority and sovereignty. Firstborn. If the faithful witness does result in death, Jesus is the ideal example to follow because he is the firstborn of the dead. He did not remain in the grave. And for those who trust in Christ, we have eternity before us in heaven with God. And then he's ruler of the kings of the earth. This is Jesus, the one who is above all, that everyone bows before him. The name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. But it's interesting what John does because he takes us back to his Jewish roots in Psalm 89, verse 27. As God writes, I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of earth. Foreshadowing of what John will write about, John sees that the Holy Spirit already written, introduces the phrase there. This is who he's praising and who the letter's from, the father, those who are surrounding the throne, and also Jesus. Jesus, the one who is the firstborn, the highest of all, the faithful witness. So as we continue, next is a doxology of praise. There's no other way around it. There is praise to Christ, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood. This doxology is present. He who loves us, who loves us now, right now, and the one who released us past, he saved us, he released us from the bondage of our sins. How did he do it? He did it by his blood. He did it by his blood, and you start to see that this Jesus is wonderful and marvelous. The doxology of praise here is something that John will repeat in not the same words, but throughout. The praise goes to the Lamb. Praise goes to the one who is worthy to open the book. Praise to Jesus. I mean, personally, John writes, who loves us and who released us. If you think about this and Jesus, there's that personal relationship that Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you and if you're a child of God, he has released you and freed you from your sin. It's not something he's done for somebody else, he's done that for you. And John here really is, in this doxology, he is speaking of the personal nature of Christ's love and our response, a personal response, each of us, as he writes to these churches, we who make up this church in our age should have the praise to our God and Savior. This one, he has made him to be, verse six, kingdom made us to be a kingdom, a priest to his God and Father. Look at this. It's no longer one tribe who has the duty of the Levitic tribes to worship God, to perform service in the temple. Now, he has made us all to be a kingdom of priests before God. There's no more mediator on earth, now it is Christ. So here now, he has given us the idea of a royal priesthood. You may have heard these theological thoughts, this idea of a royal priesthood, that we are made kings and priests before God, to God his Father. I think that is so important, that it is that we stand because of Christ's righteousness and Christ's release, we stand as priests unto the Father. And we have standing through Christ. Not that we have to hang our heads in shame because we're not worthy, we can't get close to him. It's because of Jesus, now we are ushered into the presence of God. And this is the one, he says to him, Jesus, be glory and dominion forever. Amen. Look at this. This idea of glory of adoration. Of dominion of control of rule forever and ever. See what John's doing here. He's not still relegating Jesus as other cults would do to someone who is less than God. But he says this is the one who will rule forever and ever. This is the one all glory should be focused on. Here is Jesus is God. Forever and ever. So be it. Amen. He continues because then he starts to paint the picture. Behold, behold, he is coming with clouds, not in clouds, but with clouds. Clouds often in scripture symbolize the presence of God. coming with clouds. And every eye shall see him." And notice this next passage here. Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen. What does John do? He takes us back to Zechariah. Zechariah is prophesying, I will pour out. God says, I'll pour out on the house of David. and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication, so they will look on me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one who mourns an only son, and they will weep bitterly over him like a bitter weeping over a firstborn." There will be a day when the house of Israel, their eyes are opened, and they will see that collectively, as a body of people, they crucified their Messiah. And they will weep over Him. And John uses this language to bring back in verse 7, and he says, I will see Him, even those who pierced Him. Echoes of Isaiah 53, right? Even those who pierced Him. And then, not only those, the Hebrews, but all tribes of the earth, all the tribes will mourn over Him. Why will they mourn over Him? They're mourning because of how they have treated or rejected Him. There will come a day when Jesus comes in great power and glory, and those who have rejected Him will weep. Those who reject it will mourn, and they'll be given an opportunity to the house of Israel. They will see him, and those present, their eyes will be opened that Jesus is the Messiah. This Yeshua is the Messiah, the anointed. This is the one. The echoes that John brings in from the Old Testament here is so important to understand and to see what God is doing. That God has, as John uses these phrases from the Old Testament, God has provided and is fulfilling and will fulfill what he has written so many years ago. God does that. So every tribe will understand and see. I am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty. And after this doxology of Christ, God the Father speaks here. God the Father puts his imprint, his stamp of authority on this. As you look at his words there, I am the Aleph and the Tau, the beginning of all things and their end. I am the great I Am, he is saying. So as John writes to the people of his time, some Gentiles now come to Christ, other Hebrews, Jews, who have now come to Christ. God the Father speaks, I am the Eternal One. I have always been. I set things in motion. I chose Israel. I brought them out. I blessed them. I pronounced blessings to them. And also, standing between the two mountains, the people read the blessings and the curses. They obey God, they will be blessed. If they do not follow God, if they are disobedient, they will receive curses. But God's covenant still is there upon them. And it is as if he places his stamp of approval on the beginning of this book here. That God the Father, I am the one who gives this. I am the one who is proclaiming the great praise that everyone should praise the Savior. I am who I am. This is God. He emphasizes the work of the Son. You know, so often we think of Jesus dejected hanging on a cross, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. And that is helpful when we think of the price that was paid for our salvation. It is helpful to understand and see the suffering of our Savior. It brings the realness of how awful our sin is that would take the Son of God to die in our place. But He does not stay as the suffering servant. And yes, In Revelation, we'll see Him as the Lamb. But we'll also see Him in great power and great glory. And John presents here not the suffering servant, not the one hanging on the cross, but the Savior who is ruling and who is reigning. All power given to Him. The power that He spoke in creation is the same power now as He rules. And we start to see prophecy unfold. As it was written here for us, we start to see the power of God, we see the power of our Savior. This is the picture John is bringing for us. That Jesus will return in power to reign. This is no now meek and mild. This is the line of the tribe of Judah who comes, who is in control of all things. Now why is that important? to you and to me. Well, just as we think about and we've seen already the persecution that these people are undergoing now. The persecution for proclaiming the name of Jesus. The persecution for not bowing down to an emperor and not saying that He is our Lord and our God. It's important that they understand that the Savior reigns. And no matter what happens here on earth in their time, the persecution their Savior will come and return in power and might. And He will set all things right. And that's important for us to understand, too, because we watch the news, we read the interwebs, and we do all those things, and we can, yeah, you didn't want to live in Hawaii, was it yesterday? Your iPhone pops up a ballistic missile alert. This is not a drill. I read one article, and we were huddled in whatever they thought would be protected, confessing our sins. At that point, it might be a little late, but there are plenty of things in our world to cause us dismay. You look at our political landscape, you look at the world, you look at the wars, the fighting, the threat of wars. And if we're not careful, we are afraid, we are dejected. And John writes a powerful Christ, the one who's coming in power and reigning. And as he writes, you begin to see that we are to be a witness, just as he is the witness for us. That we are to be a faithful witness, as Jesus was a faithful witness for us, for God's love. That we, because of the power of Christ, we stand protected. Absent of the body is present with the Lord, as Paul said. And so the worry that might come our way if we had another God, small g, should not encounter our lives because we have a great, powerful God. It in no way changes our circumstances, but it changes our outlook and who we trust, where we place our faith. And John's going to deal with this in the churches and how they lived out their faith. And some were dynamic in living out their faith and their witness. Others did not get quite such a good report card. But it teaches us. It reminds us we have a God who is powerful, who is strong, upon whom we can depend. See, fundamental in the Christian walk is faith in God, not only in salvation. That's important, obviously. But faith in Him daily. That my life is in His hands. Your life is in His hands. Your loved one's lives are in His hands. Not the God of all the world do just that. Well, he'd do right. We can trust in God. This is the introduction. So what I want you to do is, over the next couple of weeks, just read through the first three chapters. First three chapters, and just, you can supplement your reading. So you come to the end of chapter three, and that's as far as we're going to go presently. Just read it and understand and look with the eye of faith of who Jesus is, how John represents Jesus to the church, the particular church he's writing to, and their response to Jesus, and our response to Jesus. Go to the last chapter, the last few verses, verse 16. 22, 16. Final words written. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root, the branch, the descendant of David, the bright morning star, the spirit, and the bride say come. And let the one who hears say come. Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. And he who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. And john signs, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen. We have a risen Savior. The Savior who's going to come in power and glory. We have a God who loves us who loves his children. and He watches over His children, we have that final, those final words, He bids us come. We can trust in Him. Let's bow for prayer. Gracious God, by Your mercy, we see a great, a powerful God through Your Word. Thank You for loving us. For those of us here who know You, as our Savior, as our Redeemer, who have been released, as John has written, from our sins. Lord, we praise you. We thank you and we glorify you, we magnify you. Oh God, may we see our lives as you see them. May we see our Savior triumphant, victorious. We see Him glorified in the pages of Scripture. And may we place our trust our daily trust in you. Thank you that you have loved us. I pray that we would love you more and more. Thank you that we can be your children. Thank you that we can echo with John, even so, come quickly. In Christ's name I pray, amen.