There is Hope for the Church in the Resurrected Christ!

Revelation 1:4-18 Do you know the phrases “back on his heels” and “against the ropes”?  They come from the world of boxing and they describes a boxer who is so beaten and battered that he is no longer able to fight back and is about to be knocked out.  Sadly, that’s the way that many Christians think of the church, especially here in the United States.

            In their eyes the church seems beaten down by the culture wars and the fact that millions of our fellow citizens no longer share the same convictions regarding marriage and family and sexuality and the sanctity of life.  The church seems battered by the lack of commitment from its own members.  The church seems broken by the claims of science. 

Beaten, battered, and broken down, too many Christians see the church as “back on its heels” and “against the ropes”—one strong assault away from being knocked out for good.

This is not the first time in the history of the church that Christians have felt this way.  The disciples felt this way after Jesus’ crucifixion.  The day of our Lord’s resurrection found them hiding out for fear of the Jews.  The reign of Nero led them to the same place of fear and worry.  They wondered:  How could the church stand against the Roman Empire and its emperor who accused them of burning down Rome?  Beaten, battered, and broken down.

So it was in the final years of the first century A.D.  Domitian was the emperor and he was committed to the old pagan religion of Rome and so he persecuted Christians even more severely than Nero and exiled and executed their leaders.

That is the context for the Book of Revelation:  the church seemingly back on its heels, against the ropes, persecuted by the most powerful empire of the day, its members and leaders going through great tribulation. 

It was at that moment—when all seemed lost—that God had a message for the church—a message that is still timely for our day because it is a message of hope in the resurrected Christ who promised that not even the gates of hell would prevail against his people the church—not then and not now.  John wrote: 

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, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.  To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  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.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

            One thing that happens to us when we are going through hard times is that we lose perspective.  The crisis becomes everything.  The blessings and good times of the past fade from view- and the future has a dark cloud over it that hides its blessings from our eyes- and all that we can see and know and experience is the tribulation of the moment.  That is the way that many Christians feel about the church.

            But the hope we have in the resurrected Christ is that he is the God over all of it—the past, the present and the future—he is the one who was and is and who is to come—and his powerful presence and bountiful blessings can be counted on today and always!

The persecuted Christians of John’s day and the worried Christians of our own day need to be reminded of what Jesus Christ has already done:  that he has accomplished our salvation by the shedding of his blood—that he has brought us into God’s kingdom and made us his priests.  These are the accomplished facts of salvation history! 

We also need to be reminded of the glorious future still to come—that Christ’s work of salvation is not just what is in the past-- but also our hope for the future--that has prepared a place for us in heaven. 

When we feel that the church is about to be overcome, it is the greatest encouragement in the world to remember that Jesus is coming with power and glory to destroy our enemies once for all and take his people to heaven.  The gates of hell will not prevail against the people of God!

That Jesus is the Lord of the past and Lord of the future matters as we view our present struggles—for he is Lord of this moment as well—whether it is a time of persecution and exile like it was for the Christians of John’s day--or a time of trouble like it is for the church today. 

Jesus is Lord and the ruler of the kings of the earth.  In other words, it is Jesus who is in charge of this world at any given moment and we can count on his promise that whatever we undergo as the people of God- it must serve his saving purpose for us and the world. 

That is why the Lord showed this vision to John—so that the Christians in every time and place could have courage and be strengthened to fight on another day.  Jesus told him:

Write what you see and send it to the churches.  Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 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.  The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

      I don’t know how you picture Jesus in your mind’s eye but I doubt that very many of us picture him like this!  And yet this is just as true a picture of Jesus as the Babe of Bethlehem and the humble carpenter of Galilee and the Good Shepherd and the dying man of the cross. 

The fact of the matter is that this is how the resurrected Christ is right now.  He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who was and is and will be, the absolute ruler of the kings of the earth—powerful and wise and mighty!

He revealed himself this way once before on the Mount of Transfiguration as just a few disciples saw him for who is truly is right now and always will be:  his face shining like the sun and fire coming from his eyes and his feet like burnished bronze.  

You can imagine why this image of our Savior was such a comfort for the persecuted Christians of John’s day.  They were facing execution and exile from the most powerful man in the world—a man whose image they saw everywhere they looked, on their coinage and in statues —a man whose image struck terror in their hearts. 

It wasn’t the image of a peasant baby or a crucified man who would drive the terrifying image of their enemy from their minds—it was this picture of the King of kings and Lord of lords that gave them the courage they needed to face persecution.  So it is for us too!

There is nothing weak about the resurrected Christ—he does not appear as “gentle Jesus meek and mild”.  The resurrected Christ is the One who truly rules the kings of the earth, the One who strikes terror in the hearts of his enemies, and the One who is mighty and powerful and strong to save.  That was a comfort of the people of John’s day and so it is in our own. 

What are the forces of evil- and the faithlessness of our fellow citizens-and the apostasy of so many former believers-- compared to the resurrected Christ?  How can we ever doubt that the resurrected Christ is not more than able to provide for and protect his people?  Why should we be back of our heels and against the ropes when Jesus is with us right now?

John saw that Jesus was in the midst of the seven golden lampstands and he held seven stars in his hand.  And so what were the lampstands and the stars?  Listen to how Revelation begins:  John to the seven churches that are in Asia.  The seven lampstands were the seven churches and the seven stars were their pastors.  And it’s not an accident that there are seven-- but that biblical number of completeness tells us that these words are for every church and every pastor in every time and place.

The point is this:  whether it was the persecuted Christians of John’s day or the troubled Christians of our own day we can be confident that the resurrected Christ is with his people.

When we are going through hard times, when it seems as if the church is losing ground to the godless culture around us, when we face persecution for our faith- it is easy to fall victim to the temptation that God has somehow abandoned us; that we are all on our own; that it all depends upon us.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!

The resurrected Christ is with us, upholding us in his Almighty hands, accomplishing his saving work by the sharp two-edged sword which is the word of God which will accomplish the saving purpose for which he sends it.  There is nothing for us to fear—whether it’s the difficulties of the moment or the uncertainties of the future-nothing for us to fear!  John says that when he saw the resurrected Christ:

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, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

            Fear not!  So said Jesus to his frightened disciples on the day of his resurrection—so he said to the persecuted Christians of John’s day—so he says to the Christians of our own day.  Fear not! 

The resurrected Christ has paid for your sins by his shed blood and made you to be a part of his kingdom.  He has defeated death for you so that you can face eternity knowing that there is another life to come.  He is ruling this world right now (including everything that is impacting your life) in such a way that IT MUST work for your good.  And he has robbed the devil of any power that he might have over your life.  Fear not!

I know it seems at times that in the life of the church at large and in our own lives of faith we are “back on our heels” and “against the ropes”.  But it is exactly in those moments that these words are spoken to us and this vision is set before our eyes so that that we can know and believe that there is hope for the church in the resurrected Christ.  May God grant us faith to live without fear!  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.