Ever been surprised by someone’s true nature? Join us as we explore John’s encounter with Jesus in Revelation. Just like John, let’s open our hearts to discover that Jesus is more than we can imagine. Tune in and don’t miss out on this journey of encountering the extraordinary Jesus! ? IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
Oh man, there is nothing better than The Princess Bride!!!
“I am not left-handed!”
Sometimes, people are not what they seem.
- You’ve experienced this right?
- Dated a guy who seemed nice but was just a terror
- Got hired on and quit after a couple weeks because the environment was toxic
- Misjudged someone by their looks only to find out just how good they really were at what they do.
Today, we are going to look at an encounter with Jesus that showed him to not be who he had been thought to be…
INTRO:
We are jumping to the year 95 AD.
John the Apostle is now an old man. He has been preaching about Jesus for years. His skin has gone from stretched taught to wrinkled and thin. He has preached about his experience for the past 60 years or so. The stories have dug deep grooves in him and his experiences with Jesus are distant memories. Fishing with him, sitting around campfires, bewildered by meeting Him, and watching Him work with people. John has written his account of Jesus and he has led a church full of people devoted to Jesus – this man who turned out to be God in the flesh.
Now, an emperor of the Roman Empire has taken root named Domitian. He became violent towards Christians.
Domitian brought the second great persecution against Christians.
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“[Domitian] showed great cruelty toward many, and, after displaying various kinds of hatred and avarice and pleasure-seeking and pride, he finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred toward God. He was the second to raise persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter 17)
During this time, John, the apostle is sentenced to be imprisoned on the Island of Patmos – in the Aegean Sea – this beautiful location for vacationing today – would have been difficult living then – just rock/brush
It is here that we enter John’s story and his encounter.
Revelation 1:9-18
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day
This is Sunday – it’s the day Jesus rose from the dead and the reason Christians meet on this day… John is worshipping by himself because he’s been abandoned here.
I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
John is worshiping Jesus and hears this loud, piercing voice behind him. My dad played the trumpet and I used to love to play with it as a kid. The sound of a trumpet is vivid – it’s powerful, it’s loud and piercing.
John is about to have letters that he will have to dictate to these churches that have popped up and are undergoing this same persecution.
Lots of us have been told Revelation is a guidebook to the end times. It’s actually more like a medic’s manual for bringing healing to wounded people.
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Throughout this book, Jesus is going to remind persecuted people that in the end – they win because He won.
back to this encounter.
You picture it right, John is all by himself, he’s on this rocky island, waves crashing. He’s worshipping Jesus – it’s all he has. And he hears a voice crack through the silence.
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[a] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
I’m not going to go into it, I’ve referenced it a bunch before – but you can draw a line between Daniel 7 and this passage. John is seeing Jesus – the Son of Man – who in Dan 7 is with the ancient of days. John will see Jesus embodying the same essence of the ancient of days – in Revelation – it’s clear that Jesus is both, the ancient of days and the son of man.
14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was a kid, my brother told me you can’t look at the sun for very long without going blind. I was dumb enough to be like, “Oh yeah…” I tried and couldn’t make it even a second I think. Lol. I was not the smartest cookie…
Did you get the picture John is painting?
I wish I were an artist, if I were, I would try and draw this picture.
Can you picture him? lamp stands – think golden menorah’s robe down to feet, golden sash – this is the dress of an emperor or a conquering general. His eyes look like a fire. His feet are beautifully bronze in color – like he’s glowing in a furnace. When he speaks it sounds like the rush of white water rapids, he holds stars in his hands, and from his mouth is a sword protruding – meaning his words cut things to pieces. You can’t look at his face because it’s like the sun.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
I’m not sure if John fainted or just became faint. but he can’t handle what he’s being exposed to.
Have you ever had something knock you off your feet?
My wife Jenni describes meeting me this way…. lol
I can’t express enough how serious this meeting with Jesus is for John.
Then in a moment of tenderness, listen to what Jesus does:
Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Jesus puts his hand on him and tells John just who He is.
He is the First and last. The living one, who has died and now lives forever. He unlocks and locks death for who He wants.
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Maybe you are sitting there going, “So what Kent?”
What are you trying to get at?
Listen, John knew Jesus.
-He had camped with Him
-Marveled at His unique teaching
-Watching Him heal people
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He would have thought He knew who Jesus was.
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and still, Jesus is able to knock him off his feet.
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One of my biggest concerns for our generation of Christians is that we live in a world where we settle for scientific certainty about things and miss the grand scope of the world around us.
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People do this with God and Jesus all the time.
If I can promise you one thing. It is this:
Jesus is more than you think or imagine.
John knew the kind, gentle Jesus who touched lepers and healed blind people, who stood against religious intolerance. But the uncloaked Jesus he met on Patmos was so much that he could only use analogy, metaphor and simile to describe Him.
Jesus is more.
Just off the top of my head…
- Jesus is Savior from your Sins (Romans 5:8, Acts 4:12)
- Jesus is the originator and mechanism of creation (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16-17)
- Jesus holds all things together (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3)
- Jesus is the judge of the world (Matthew 25:31-32, Acts 17:31)
- Jesus unlocks death for those who turn to Him (John 11:25-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
- Jesus authors and perfects faith (Hebrews 12:2, Romans 12:3)
- Jesus restores and patches up our spiritual deficiencies (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:5)
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Jesus IS MORE!
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
I recently read the book Undaunted Courage about Lewis and Clark and their expedition West. As I was reading it I felt the Holy Spirit whisper, “This is what life with me is like.” Your relationship with Jesus should be an adventure. It should be you bumping into God in awe-inspiring ways. Sometimes taking you to the brink of disaster and other times leaving you speechless.
Listen. We are getting ready to launch Encounter on Sept 13th and our prayer for you is that you won’t view encountering Jesus as a one-time event, but as an ongoing adventure to get to know the Jesus that is more. Turn to Jesus!
Because if you encounter Him long enough, at some point, He’s sure to turn to you and say, “There is something I need to tell you… I am not left-handed either…”
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