The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation): Why is the world the way that it is? And where is all this headed? While in exile, the Apostle John received a prophetic vision revealing both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth about how the story ends. The book of Revelation can be difficult to understand, but it’s worth it! Watch for an introduction to the whole book. Recorded on May 10, 2026, on Revelation 1 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of the Revelation: All Things Made New series. Christians live in incredible tension. In Christ, we’re already saved, but we’re not yet delivered from this broken world. We’re being made holy, but we’re not yet perfected. We have love, joy, and peace, but we still long for justice, healing, and the death of death. How can we endure all this without giving in to complacency or compromise? In our series, we’ll pull back the veil of reality, exposing both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth about how this story ends. One day, Jesus will return and bring a final end to evil. He will defeat his enemies and vindicate his people, wiping away every tear. Jesus will finally, fully establish his kingdom on the earth, making everything new. “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Sermon Transcript
Why is the world the way that it is? What’s really going on? I find it fascinating that many modern people—even very secular people—can’t seem to shake the sense that there must be something more than what we can see and perceive in this world. Maybe there’s someone working behind the scenes, controlling or influencing the events of our world? Many conspiracy theories attempt to explain this feeling. But is there really something or someone behind reality, shaping the direction of history and affecting people, maybe in ways they don’t even realize? Well, according to the Bible, the answer is yes. But it’s not a shadow government or secret club. There is something behind reality. But what?? Last week, we finished our series on the book of Jonah. And I hope that series was helpful for you. I love Jonah’s story. If you missed it, you can always go back and watch or listen online. But today, we’re starting a new series on the book of Revelation called All Things Made New. And in Revelation, God pulls back the veil of reality to help us understand what’s really going on and where all this is headed. Revelation exposes both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth of how our world and this current age will come to an end with the return of Christ. By God’s grace, we know how the story ends. The prophetic visions of Revelation are hard to understand and might even seem scary. I know many Christians who avoid reading it, while others are a little obsessed with it. But fear not, from the beginning of the Jesus movement, the visions in this book have given Christians real strength to endure in the faith—even in the face of terrible suffering, persecution, and death. Do you want faith like that? Faith that even on the day of evil, empowers you to stand firm? Then you need this book. Revelation is worth it. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Rev 1:1. It’s the last book in the Bible, so it’s easy to find. We’ll cover the whole chapter today, but we’ll unpack it as we go.
Revelation 1:1–8 (NIV), “1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. 4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! 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.” Ok! The prologue here shows that Revelation is a letter written by a man named John, a servant of Jesus Christ. The earliest Christian scholars all believed this was none other than the Apostle John, the man who wrote the gospel of John and three other letters in the New Testament, and one of the closest friends and followers of Jesus. The Apostle John was really the only John in the first century who needed no further introduction. So it was John, son of Zebedee, and brother to James, who was given a prophetic message from God, a revelation, which he was instructed to address, “To the seven churches in the [Roman] province of Asia,” which is modern Turkey. In Greek, the word translated as “revelation” (v.1) is the root of the word apocalypse. But what does that mean? Well, since this is an introduction to the whole book, but especially because of what kind of book Revelation is, we need to do some work to understand what exactly we’re reading. This is very important. The first three chapters are written in the form of a letter, no different from other letters in the NT (e.g., Romans or Ephesians). But then, chapter 4 takes a wild turn! John switches to a different literary style or genre, known as apocalyptic literature, which was popular from about 200 BC to 200 AD. Commentator Thomas Schreiner writes, “Apocalypses are ‘intended to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future…’” (p. 39). The problem for us is that we really don’t have anything like it today. Modern fantasies like The Lord of the Rings, or even Marvel superhero movies, are probably the closest thing we have. They have beasts and cosmic battles between good and evil, but it’s not exactly the same thing. The images and symbols of Revelation communicate truths about the present and future of our world; it’s not fiction. But the original audience would’ve known exactly what they were reading! This style was normal for them. However, because of this unique style, it can be difficult for us to know when in time certain things are happening and whether to take them literally or metaphorically. Another challenge is the inherent limitation of earthly language in describing the heavenly realities John saw. We see the same thing when Old Testament prophets try to describe encounters with God or heavenly visions. Words always fall short. If you study the history of the interpretation of Revelation, you’ll find a number of different approaches taken by mature believers over the last 2,000 years. And different interpretive approaches or frameworks lead in very different directions! So, we’ll fight to “keep the main things the main things” as we work through this book. But the difficulty of Revelation is worth it. John says there’s a blessing for anyone who reads it, listens to it, and takes its message to heart. Revelation is a wild book. Christians down through the ages haven’t always known what to do with it. I get that. But as we work through this book over the next few months, I hope to help you see the blessing that it is. Let’s keep going.
Revelation 1:9–20 (NIV), “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 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.” 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, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 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. 17 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. 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. 19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” This is God’s word. So John shares a bit of the circumstances of his vision, and he’s characteristically humble in describing himself. He doesn’t call himself an apostle, elder, or overseer, or demand that they recognize his authority. He simply calls himself their “brother and companion.” John says he was on Patmos, which is a small island in the Aegean Sea. And if you’ve ever seen pictures of islands around the Mediterranean, you might think John was on vacation. But he mentions suffering and the need for patient endurance, which doesn’t sound like a vacation, right? John says he was there “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus,” and most scholars take this to mean that John was sent into exile on Patmos for preaching the gospel. Now, this wouldn’t be too surprising for several reasons. First, John was likely serving as the overseer of the churches in and around Ephesus when he was exiled, and Ephesus is close to Patmos. If anyone got in trouble for preaching the gospel, John was a likely candidate, and Patmos would be a likely place to be sent. Second, we know from the book of Acts and other historical accounts from that time that many Christians experienced persecution throughout the Roman Empire, and sometimes it was really bad. Stephen had been the first Christian martyr, but by this time, all the other apostles had been martyred for the faith. It was risky being a Christian. So exile wasn’t that unusual for the time. Just like the OT prophets Ezekiel and Daniel, John became a prophet while in exile, and I don’t think that fact was lost on him. John makes many references to Ezekiel and Daniel in this book. In fact, there are too many OT references, images, and allusions to count. Chapter 1 alone borrows from Ex 19, 20, 25; Isa 6, 44, 49; Eze 1, 43; Dan 7, 8, 10; Zech 4, 12; and probably more. I don’t think John ever missed a Bible study, and we’ll see that throughout this series. But it’s really a beautiful thing to see all the plotlines of Scripture woven together in such a beautiful way at the end of the Bible. We see God’s plan unfolding from beginning to end. But who was John writing to? Who was the original audience? If we look at a map, we can see the island of Patmos, where John was, and the seven churches that John was writing to. They’re probably listed in the order a messenger would take to deliver the letters, something like a loop. Over the next two weeks, we’ll dig deeper into these churches, what was going on with them, and the specific message of Jesus for each of them. But for now, I just want to remind you that Revelation, along with all the other books of the Bible, was not written to us. Revelation was written for us, but it was originally written to these seven churches. And as I shared in my email this week, one of the principles for interpreting Revelation is that it can’t mean something to us that it never meant to Christians in the past. That’s not how the Bible works. It was just as much a blessing for them as it is for us. Ok! But when did this happen? It’s in the New Testament, so we know it happened during or after Jesus’ earthly ministry. The truth is, we don’t know exactly when this took place or how long it took John to write it out. Most believe it was the last book written, and the best evidence says it was around 90 AD, during the reign of Emperor Domitian in Rome. If John had been a young man (late teens to early twenties) when Jesus called him to follow, then he was in his 70s or 80s by then. Next, let’s consider some of the features of apocalyptic literature we see here. First is the use of symbolic numbers. You probably noticed the number seven here in chapter one. In the Bible, the number seven symbolizes perfection or wholeness. But the number seven shows up more in Revelation than in any other book of the Bible. Most of the images come in sets of seven (churches, stars, lampstands, bowls, & trumpets). The title of Christ appears seven times, which, I’m sure, was no accident, just as there are seven blessings. Sevens are everywhere. Its use in Revelation poetically reinforces the idea that John’s vision describes the fulfillment or completion of this age of creation. A new age will one day begin, but only when this one is complete. The second feature is the use of sometimes pretty wild imagery. These images all point to spiritual realities, which, as we’ve said, are sometimes very hard to describe. Seeing the Lord Jesus walking among the seven lampstands corresponds to the seven churches. The churches are represented as lampstands, shining like beacons in the night. Though we are surrounded by darkness, we’re called to shine brightly, to radiate the light of our Christ, who is the light of the world. The darkness is heavy, so where is our Lord? He is near to us; he walks among the lampstands, dressed as our Great High Priest in a robe and sash, and he holds the stars of our angels, our spiritual representatives, in his hand. This is such an encouraging picture of the loving care, the protection, and provision that Jesus gives to us day by day. Will there be difficulties in our future? Perhaps persecution, opposition, or some other suffering? Yes. This is still a broken world, at least for a time. But Jesus hasn’t lost track of us. He walks among us. He is present with us and carries on his ministry to us as our Great High Priest. His own Spirit is the fire within our lampstand, his own gospel and good works are the light we shine, and his angels minister to us. Some images of John’s vision are explained, like the mystery of the seven stars/lampstands at the end of chapter one, while others remain mysterious. Even when certain images are literal rather than metaphorical (e.g., we know there really were churches in those cities), they often point to greater or deeper truths. In this series, we’ll do our best to uncover the meaning of these apocalyptic images. But finally, really, the main feature of Revelation is how it presents Jesus. John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation is incredible. Right from the beginning, Jesus is presented as the promised Son of Man from Daniel 7. Jesus is the Cosmic King, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the lion of Judah and the lamb who was slain, and more. So many worship songs in the last 2,000 years have borrowed from Revelation because of its rich imagery and vision of Jesus. It doesn’t hurt that worship is itself a key theme of Revelation. But, and this leads us to one of the main applications of this book, that if this is who Jesus is, if this is the one who walks among us, who created, saved, and sustains us, then what do we have to be afraid of? Whom shall we fear? It’s easy to give way to fear when we hear of wars or rumors of wars, or we hear of the threat of a new pandemic, financial crash, or an enemy with a nuclear weapon. Some people are afraid to bring kids into this world because of all their fears. And I get it, it’s easy to be ruled by our fears, especially when we think of all the unknowns of our future. But my friends, one of the blessings of Revelation is that it produces courageous endurance. Courageous endurance—not timid, not cowering in fear—not because of who we are, not because our circumstances are always easy (sometimes things are very hard), but because of who Jesus is, and because of his loving care. He has given us everything we need to stand, even in the day of evil, even in the face of terrible suffering for our faith. So do not be afraid! We know how this story ends. Fear might’ve ruled your past, but it doesn’t have to rule your future in Christ. But this is just one of the applications of this great book. So the book of Revelation is based on a prophetic vision the elderly Apostle John received while in exile on the island of Patmos. He wrote it as an apocalyptic-style letter to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia toward the end of the first century AD. Got it. And why should we care about Revelation? Because of what it reveals. Revelation is an unveiling, a pulling back of the curtain of reality to reveal the unseen, spiritual realm, and things yet to come. There is something behind reality. Do you want to know what’s really going on? And where all this is headed? You need this book. “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” Why? Because one day, Jesus will return and bring a final end to evil. He will defeat his enemies and vindicate his people, wiping away every tear. Jesus will finally and fully establish his kingdom on the earth—all things made new. He says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” And we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Let us pray.
