Today’s Sermon Notes: 1-19-2024
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BBC Vision Guide
VII – Book of Revelation
A Sermon Series
“An Introduction to The Revelation”
Revelation 1
Prayer
Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we’re to be lights as we watch and wait.
Introduction (vv. 1-20)
Prologue (vv. 1-8)
Introduction (vv. 1-3)
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
(v. 1) “The revelation” means an uncovering of something that was hidden, and it is prophecy but specifically apocalyptic.
Exodus 21:5-6 “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
Matthew 24:42, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
James 1:25 “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” The book calls upon its readers and hearers to act.
What are we (the church) to do as a result of hearing the revelation from Jesus?
Greetings From A Triune God (vv. 4-5a)
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
What are we (the church) to do as a result of hearing the revelation from Jesus?
Stand firm with what you know about Jesus. He is a faithful witness.
Doxology (vv. 5b-6)
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”
Declaration (vv. 7-8)
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Luke 7:19-20 “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
2 Peter 3:3-4 says “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”
“What are we (the church) to do as a result of hearing the revelation from Jesus?”
Stand firm with what you know about Jesus.
We anticipate Jesus’ Arrival – Be ready, remain faithful!
Vision of the Son of Man (vv. 9-18)
John Explains Why He Wrote the Letter (vv. 9-11)
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
The Son of Man Amongst the Seven Lampstands (vv. 12-18)
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and this face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”
Hebrews 13:5 “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
God loves you enough to not leave you where you are.
“What are we (the church) to do as a result of hearing the revelation from Jesus?”
- Stand firm with what you know about Jesus.
- We anticipate Jesus’ Arrival – Be ready, remain faithful!
- Seek to be the Church Found Faithful – strive for holiness.
Conclusion (vv. 19-20)
19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
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[1] Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume VI, The General Epistles and The Revelation of John (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1933) 284.
[2] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11 (Chicago, Illinois; Moody Press, 1999) 23.
[3] MacArthur, 25.
[4] MacArthur, 26.
[5] Matthew 17:1–13; Mark 9:2–13; Luke 9:28–36
[6] The order of the churches are given in the order a postman or messenger would travel in a route to deliver the letter.
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