Josh Broward
July 9, 2006
In the 80’s and 90’s a sunglasses originally designed for NASA were sold to the public in the USA. Let me show you their most famous TV commercial. Show: Blublockers commercial
Blublockers work by blocking out “the dangerous UV (ultraviolet) and blue spectrum light waves.”1 Although I’ve never owned my very own pair of Blublockers, I have tried on a pair. They really do change the way the world looks.
In reality, we all have glasses through which we view the world. Some people call this our “worldview.” Our worldview works like Blublockers to filter our world through its lenses, to help us make sense of the world. Not everyone has Blublockers (Thank goodness!), but everyone has a worldview.
The problem we face is that our worldview is not always accurate. Sometimes our worldviews distort reality. Instead of making sense of reality, sometimes our worldviews hide reality and trap us in a virtual reality.
I remember a sermon Dr. Cho preached here almost two years ago. He preached on the story of Elisha when his city was surrounded by a large attacking army. Elisha’s servant looked out at the enemy and was afraid, but Elisha could see a different reality. “And Elisha prayed, ‘O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). Dr. Cho pointed out that what the servant could see with his physical eyes was only the virtual reality. The army of angels surrounding Elisha’s city was the Actual Reality.
In our world, we often live in virtual reality. The point of the Revelation is to help us see the world from God’s perspective. The point of the Revelation is to free us from the faulty worldviews that the world sells us or forces on us and to see Actual Reality God’s perspective.
In the Actual Reality described in the Revelation, one image shines brightly: Jesus as King. Let’s read Revelation 1:4-20 and allow the image of Jesus to come into focus.
Who is this King who comes so clearly into focus for John? Let’s move through this passage again to help King Jesus come into focus for us, too.
First, let’s look at how Jesus is King in ways we would expect.
In verse 5, Jesus is “the commander of all the rulers of the world.” This is an incredibly bold statement. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Caesar and all his governors, the kings and queens and emperors around the world are all under Jesus Christ! The Roman pledge of allegiance was something like: “Caesar is Lord.” The Christian pledge of allegiance is: “Jesus is Lord.” John is saying Jesus is King over all, and everyone is under his power whether we realize it or not. No wonder Rome killed Christians.
In verse 6, “Give to him everlasting glory! He rules forever and ever! Amen!” No earthly person has everlasting glory. Glory fades. Fame withers. Power dies. But Jesus is worthy of everlasting glory. Why? Because he rules forever and ever! Earthly kings could hope, at best, to rule for a few decades, 30-40 years if they are lucky. Sometimes Caesars in Rome didn’t even last a few months. Jesus rules forever and ever. He is an eternal King of an eternal kingdom.
Most people cannot see Jesus as King now, but one day they will. One day everyone will see him. In verse 7, “Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him” even those who rejected him. In that day everyone will see the Actual Reality.
Verse 10, John hears a voice that sounds like a trumpet blast. When I think of trumpets, I usually think of Louis Armstrong and jazz music (Bee-bop-i-do. …), but I think what John heard was more putting your ear right next to a fire truck’s siren: (WHAAAOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!). We find out in verse 12-13 that the trumpet-blast voice was Jesus, the Son of Man. In verse 15 John tries again to describe his voice: “his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves,” not like the gentle rolling of waves on a sandy shore, like the violent crashing of huge waves against rocks, so loud that you can’t hear anything else.
Now John sees him, Jesus, the Son of Man. Dan Boone explains, “John saw the Risen Christ. He wanted to tell us what he saw, but how could he describe the indescribable? It’s like a poet … looking at a sunset. … Trying to describe his vision of Jesus stretches John’s imagination… He reaches for the “-est” words – brightest, whitest, loudest, strongest.”2 The gold sash is a sign of Jesus’ Kingship, like a crown. The stars in his hand communicate “the sheer cosmic magnitude” of Jesus.3 Jesus holds stars in his hand like a sack of marbles. Jesus’ words are as powerful as a two-edged sword; “it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Amazingly, Jesus then rephrases the words of God just a few verses earlier. God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z - the beginning and the end. I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One” (1:8). Jesus says, “I am the First and the Last” (1:17). If you have ever wanted Jesus to say with his own words that he is God, this is it. Jesus is saying, “I am what God is. I, too, am the beginning and the end. I, too, am the Almighty One. I am alive forever and ever!” Jesus clearly understands himself as God. John clearly sees Jesus as the divine King of the universe.
But John also describes Jesus in ways that we don’t normally associate with a King, and these are very important for our understanding of Jesus.
In verse 5, Jesus is the “faithful witness.” The word witness and the word martyr come from the same Greek root. Jesus is the archetypal martyr-witness. He testifies to the truth no matter the cost. Jesus asks the believers to follow this example (2:10).
Again in verse 5, Jesus deserves all our praise, not first of all because of his overriding power, but first of all because of his love. He loves us “and freed us from our sins by shedding his own blood for us.” Jesus is like no other King. He gave his life for us, his people, so that we could be free – not just from outside oppressors but from the inner oppression of our own sinful selves. Jesus is King with a self-sacrificing love that cost him his very life.
In verse 6, Jesus has made us his kingdom. Jesus’ kingdom is not defined in terms of geography. North and South Korea are divided by the 38th parallel. No lines like this define Jesus’ kingdom.
In verse 9, John says, “In Jesus we are partners in suffering and in the Kingdom and in patient endurance.” If we are already participants in the Kingdom of the King of the universe, why do will still suffer? This is what theologians call the already and the not-yet. Jesus is already King, but not everyone sees it yet. We are already Jesus’ Kingdom, but the world has not yet fully become his Kingdom. Because his Kingdom has not fully come, suffering is still part of living in a not-yet world.
In verse 17, when John sees the amazing vision of the blazing Jesus, John falls at his feet like a dead man – not surprising. I would probably pee my pants! What is surprising is Jesus’ response. Jesus responds with gentle compassion. The same right hand that held seven stars gently touches John. Extending the right hand was a gesture of friendship,4 so Jesus is saying, “Even though I am the overwhelming, shining King, I want us to be friends. In fact, you know me. I am the living one who died. I am Jesus of Nazareth. I am the man Jesus who lived and died on the cross. Look, you can see that I am alive forever and forever, and I am standing with you in your churches. Now, you are my kingdom and my priests. You are my partners in my kingdom. I want you to tell everyone what I’m going to show you.”
Jesus is surely King, but he is a different kind of King in a different kind of Kingdom. Jesus’ as King and Jesus’ Kingdom can’t be seen by the world at large, but only with eyes of faith. His Kingdom is not about domination and power. Jesus is extremely powerful. John will use the word “Almighty” nine times in Revelation, but Jesus uses his power in a different way. Jesus’ power as King moves in service, sacrifice, love, and empowerment. Jesus doesn’t beat us down. He lifts us up. Jesus doesn’t imprison us or crucify us. He frees us through his own pain. Jesus doesn’t kill us. He gives us life. Jesus doesn’t enslave us. He invites us to join him as partners in his kingdom, to bring more of the not-yet into the already.
If Jesus is the one true King of the world, then who or what is not King? The seven churches would immediately reply, “If Jesus is King that means Caesar is not the ultimate King, and his governors are not part of the ultimate power. They may abuse us, imprison us, or even kill us, but Jesus is still the King.” Pastor Brian McLaren says that Jesus’ Kingdom challenges the authority of not only physical powers like Caesar, Kim JeongIl, presidents, or bombs, but also other more intangible empires which hold even more power over us: “The Kingdom of God, then, is a revolutionary, counter-cultural movement – proclaiming a ceaseless rebellion against the tyrannical trinity of money, sex, and power.” McLaren calls the quest for money, sex, and power the “invisible Caesar” which really rules most people this not-yet world.5
What does it mean for us to recognize Jesus as King above all powers in this world? What will it look like for us to live in the Actual Reality, focusing every day and every minute on Jesus as King?
First of all, we will have the faith of the early Christians that led them to keep their faith in Jesus no matter the cost. We will have confidence of peace in the end even as missiles are tested over our heads. More importantly, we will stick to our faith even when this world challenges us in direct or subtle ways.
Second, we will put more faith in love than in power. We will put more faith in giving than in making or keeping money. We will have more faith in purity and good self control than in the philosophy of instant gratification (whether it be sex or food or alcohol or whatever).
Third, we will live together as partners. “In Jesus we are partners in suffering in the Kingdom and in patient endurance” (1:9). We are in this together. We need each other. When we see the Actual Reality of Jesus as King, we also see our actual need for each other.
Last, we will join the King in bringing in his Kingdom. We are his kingdom and priests. We are his partners, his agents, his coworkers in this world. He asks us to stand up and join him in the field of action.
The book of Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ as King of the universe. It is a revelation calling for a revolution. The Revelation is Jesus’ call that we overthrow the false, virtual kingdoms which oppress us and involve us in oppression. The Revelation is the call to see Jesus as King and to join him in his Kingdom, where everyone has a place to serve. Nazarene pastor, Jim Dorsey says, “Revolutions start with people like you who see a different possibility and resolve to cause a new reality.”6
What do you see? In what reality are you living?
2 Dan Boone, Answers for Chicken Little: A No-Nonsense Look at the Book of Revelation, (Kansas City: Beacon Hill, 2005), 18.
3 M. Eugene Boring, Revelation, Interpretation, (Louisville: Knox, 1989), 83.
4 Marva Dawn, Joy in Our Weakness: A Gift of Hope from the Book of Revelation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 43.
5 Brian D. McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything, (Nashville: W Publishing, 2006), 134.
6 Jim Dorsey, “Revolution,” Grow Magazine, Fall 2005.
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