THE REVELATION OF JESUS

Part 1
Revelation 1:18 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. 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. 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. 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. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

JOHN WAS JESUS BEST FRIEND

You ever burned yourself? Do you remember that? The first time I really burned myself, I was a little kid. My parents knew I would eat all the candy, so they put it up on a top shelf above the stove. So, I climbed up on top of the counter, and then I took a step on the stove to get the candy out of the top, burned my foot horrendously. Immediately just blew up like a puffer fish. I had no idea what had happened to my foot, and it was filled with water. You had that? And I didnt know what had happened. I was just a kid. I didnt know burning could be so bad. Have you had that experience? Now, imagine that on your whole body. Theres a guy in the Bible named John, and he was a friend of Jesus, and they couldnt get him to stop talking about Jesus, and so they tried to kill him by boiling him alive, and he didnt die. So they exiled him out to an island called Patmos. And in that place, Jesus came down and met with him. Were going to

get into that, as we begin our series, the Seven, where we look at the seven churches of Revelation, and we look at the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Revelation 13. But I want you to see John as a man who endured horrendous pain and suffering. He likely bears the scars on his body from this suffering for Jesus. And its important for you and me to get to know John. He was Jesus friend. I want him to become your friend, because hes the author of Revelation. As, over the course of the next few months, we look at Revelation 13 and the historical events that happened in the first century, Johns the author. Johns the one that Jesus is speaking to. John is the one that Jesus is speaking through. I didnt even know this until this week, but John was possibly, if not probably, Jesus cousin. I didnt know that they were related. And it was a relationship through Johns mother. And so as we get to know John, I want you to know, first of all, that Johns family were Jesus faithful friends. And we learn that not only was Johns family faithful to Jesus, John himself was faithful to Jesus. So, you see multiple generations of this family loving, serving, giving financially, serving faithfully to the cause of Jesus. And isnt that what you and I want for our families? Right? That the parents would love and serve Jesus, give generously, that the kids would love and serve and give generously to Jesus. It gives us this great hope that it can actually be a multigenerational ministry family. Where we see Jesus calling John into ministry is actually on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which is in the region where Jesus grew up, and there we find that John was at work with his dad. His dad had this fishing business, and Jesus comes up, and John is mending the nets and fixing the boat, and hes at work with his dad, and he did something that was really unexpected in that day, culturally, because in that day a business would be handed from one generation to the next. So, if your dad was a farmer, youd inherit the land and be a farmer. If your dad was a fisherman, youd inherit the fleet and become a fisherman, and that was your financial security. That was your family legacy, and that was how you would take care of your children and grandchildren. And so John is at work with his dad at the family business, and Jesus comes along and invites him to leave the family business, to take a job that pays nothing, to follow around his homeless cousin, who claims to be God. And John takes him up on the offer. He walked away from it all to walk with Jesus, and then his whole life changed. When Jesus was preaching, and teaching, and healing, and casting out demons, John was there, because, in addition to the twelve disciples, there was an inner circle of senior leaders, and this is how it works in all organizations, including Mars Hill. There will be leaders, and then there will be leaders of leaders, and senior leaders, and the senior leaders for Jesus were Peter, James, and John. They were three men, who had privileged access to Jesus.

So, they were there, for example, when Jesus raises Jairus daughter from death. The other disciples werent there for that. When Jesus went up onto a mountain, and he was transfigured, shown in glory, and Moses and Elijah come down for a lunch meetinga pretty fantastic day, however you look at itthey come down to meet with Jesus, and Peter, James, and John are there. The other disciples are not. When it comes time to prepare the Last Supper, John is one who is sent ahead to prepare it. In addition, in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is in anguish and sweating drops of blood, as he prepares for his execution via crucifixion, he invites closer to him three men to pray for him: Peter, James, and John. Peter, James, and John. So, John is one of the closest people in the history of the world to Jesus, and I would say he was Jesus best friend, because one of the gospels says that he was, quote, The one whom Jesus loved. Jesus really loved John. You look at it like a big brother and kind of like a little brother. My belief is that their relationship was something like that. John was the youngest of the disciples. I dont know how old he was when he started following Jesus. We know Jesus was around thirty when he called John into ministry. John was probably, Im speculating, in his twenties, probably a young man. And he left everything and walked away from his opportunities to walk with Jesus into whatever Jesus had for him. And if you want to know something about John, theres really one scene of his life that I think is most interesting. When Jesus is being crucified, who is there at the foot of his cross? John. And whos standing next to John? Mary, Jesus mother. And so John is standing next to Mary, and Jesus looks at Mary, and he looks at John, and he tells John what? Do you remember? Take care of my mom. Take care of my mom. Friends, that tells us everything we need to know about John, amen? You know that Jesus trusts John more than anyone, when from the cross he assigns him to look after his own grieving mother. John is Jesus best friend. John is the one that Jesus loved. John is the one that Jesus trusted. And when Jesus died, John was there. And when Jesus rose from death, the first people to arrive at the empty tomb were women, and one of those was Johns mother. She was so devout. She so loved Jesus. And then the word came back to the men, Hey, the tomb is empty. Maybe Jesus is alive. So, Peter and John, who worked closely together for the rest of their life, until Peter is crucified upside down, they run together to the tomb, and the Bible records that John got there first. Im guessing not only younger, also maybe slimmer. I just see Peter as thick. I dont know why. I just see Peter as thick. So John gets there first, and the tomb is empty, and the stone is rolled away, and John respectfully waits for Peter, and then Peter is the first one to walk in, and he sees the empty tomb, and John sees Jesus risen from death, and

John sees Jesus ascend into heaven, and John continues to testify about Jesus. He did miracles. He cast out demons. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. He gave food to the hungry. He said he was God. He died for our sins. He rose. Hes our Savior. Hes ascended into heaven. They couldnt get John to stop talking about Jesus.

FOR JOHN, ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS

And he was faithful. Johns an amazing man! John has what I like to call a boring testimony. I met Jesus, and for eighty years, I served him. Thats Johns testimony. Well, tell us about when you failed, or when you denied, or when you were impetuous. Theres no evidence that John was like that. Im not saying he was perfect, but Im saying he was steady. He was absolutely rock-solid dependable. You know, he was that way for maybe eighty years. He saw all of the other apostles murdered. He saw Peter crucified upside down. I mean, hes the guy who would be preaching the funeral of the other Christian leaders. He goes on to write books of the Bible. First, Second, and Third John are letters that he wrote. The Gospel of John is a whole biography about Jesus that he wrote, and Revelation, where we will be for the next few months. He wrote that, as well. He contributes much to our New Testament, and its, for John, always about Jesus. Its all about Jesus for John. Thats all hes ever talking about. When John was an old man, he oversaw a network of seven churches. So, multi-site is nothing new; multiple locations with one writer, preacher, author is nothing new. Yeah, I know, Johns way better than me. I apologize. But thats how it was organized in that day. John oversaw seven churches in what is now modern-day Turkey, and he has these seven letters hes going to deliver on behalf of Jesus to them. As an old man, maybe one hundred years of age when hes writing Revelation, around that time, history outside of the Bible records that they would bring John in to talk to the church. Can you imagine that? Imagine Billy Graham with more years, having hung out with Jesus personally. Thats amazing. And so they would bring John in, and he would talk to all the new Christians, the second, third, fourth, fifth generation, right, the folks that they didnt see Jesus risen from death. He had already gone to heaven by the time they were born. Theyd bring John in, and everybody would gather in, and the church would be packed. And John was so old and feeble, pushing one hundred years of age, that they would bring him in, carry him in, and they would sit him down up front, and he would just talk about his friend, Jesus.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine him saying things like, Now, this one day I was with Jesus. Wow. And he was a good friend to me, and we had lunch together. Wow. And then we had lunch with Moses and Elijah. Wow. Ive gotta put this on my Twitter feed. This is amazing stuff right here. John would always talk about God as a Father and Jesus as our big brother, and he takes away our sins, so we can be the family of God. And this is really his heart. As you read 1, 2, and 3 John, he keeps talking like an old grandpa to a bunch of grandkids. And he would say the same thing over and over and over, as he would talk to the churches and to the new Christians. He would say, You are the children of God. Love one another. Thats what John always said. Feeble and old, sitting in a chair in front of the church. Love one another. Jesus loves you. Love one another.

EXILED TO PATMOS
Like I said, they couldnt silence him. They tried to get him to stop talking about Jesus. They couldnt. So, they boiled him alive. How much do you have to hate somebody to boil them? They really hated John, because he loved Jesus. And because he didnt die, they exiled him off to Patmos, and Patmos is a rugged area. Its basically a rock in the middle of the ocean, and its about six miles by ten miles. In a modern-day motorized boat, it takes a few hours of traveling and throwing up to get there. Its a rough ride. In Johns day, I dont know how long it wouldve taken on a sailing ship, but this was a hard place to get to. Now, Ill show you it in just a moment. Heres one of the cool things. Im so blessed to live in the day of video, because I get to do show-and-tell with you all, and take you all around the world and let you see things. So, let me show some of the footage to you. And this is Patmos. First of all, its basically a rock in the middle of open sea. As you can tell, it doesnt have high vegetation. Thats because it has no protection. The winds are fierce. Storms can come up on the sea very suddenly. As you can tell, its a very harsh, rocky, rugged terrain. And this is where they exiled John, thinking, If we put him on this rock, then hell stop writing, preaching, teaching, planting churches. Well get him away from ministry. As I said, its a lengthy journey across the sea to get there. And as one whos made that journey, it can be very rough seas. So, at the top of one of the high points on the island of Patmos is an ancient cave that history and tradition tell us is where John physically was when Jesus showed up to meet with him. And its been turned into a tourist destination, and they have put in icons and paintings that show John and Jesus showing up to meet with him, and John writing

down the book of the Bible called Revelation. History and tradition say that this is actually where John prayed up against the wall, as an old man, pushing one hundred years of age, holding himself up. So, he was in this very dark, lonely, cold, isolated place, and none other than Jesus Christ, his good friend, came down from heaven to meet with John, to speak to John, to encourage John, and to reveal to him the entirety of the book of Revelation. Its amazing. Ive been there, and I can tell you that its an actual place, and that everything that is recorded actually occurred. If you can imagine being John, you love Jesus, you miss Jesus, youre in exile. Youre alone. Your body is hurting. You are elderly and lonely, and you cant be with your church on Sunday. And Jesus shows up, and he reveals himself to you, and he speaks to you. That is the story of John. That is the story of Revelation. Its amazing, isnt it? Its amazing. Now, some of you would hear the story of John, and you would say, Man, I wish I could be like that. By the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can. You may not have been faithful consistently up to this point, but the same Holy Spirit that empowered the life of Jesus and empowered the life of John is very glad to empower your life, so you could be faithful for as many days, years, decades that God would give you. Johns story is not one just to be admired, but to be imitated, that we could love Jesus, we could serve Jesus, we could follow Jesus, that God could use us to make Jesus known and to see churches planted, just as he did his friend, John. And John loved Jesus, and Jesus loved John, and Jesus loves you, and Jesus loves us, and Jesus is inviting us today to, together, love him and serve him like John did. So, dont just take Johns life as an amazing example. Take it as an imitable example. Amen?

REVELATION IS ALL ABOUT JESUS CHRIST

And that being said, now we get to open Revelation, and the first three chapters are about things that happened in and around the first century. The rest of the book, chapters 4 through 22, I believe, are primarily about future events. So, in our time together, in The Seven series, were just going to look at the first-century issues in Revelation 1:13. So, here it goes. The revelation of Jesus Christ is how it begins, because, ultimately, Revelation is all about Jesus Christ. Heres how it starts, Revelation 1:1, The Revelation of, who? Jesus Christ. How many of you have not read Revelation, because it just seems spooky? Or all the people who say they understand it, theyre weird. Amen? Or how many of you have read it, or you started reading it, and it just freaked you out? Youre

sleeping with a helmet on, one eye open, and the lights on. Youre like, That is a scary book. The beast, the false prophet, the antichrist, blood flowing. You know, Im scared. Heres what Revelation is about. Heres who Revelation is about: Jesus Christ. And what happens is sometimes people go to Revelation, they read right through the early words, and then they get into all the imagery. Heres why Revelation is sometimes hard to understand. John had a vision. Its like watching a movie. And he saw the future, and hes trying to write it down. Its all true, but its not as easily understood as other parts of the Bible. The key to understanding Revelation, the key to understanding any book of the Bible is that its all about Jesus. Right? And so as youre studying, reading Revelation, keep asking the question, Who is Jesus? What does it teach me about Jesus? Where is Jesus in this book? And our conviction is that the whole Bible is about Jesus, that everything is about Jesus, and that each particular book of the Bible ultimately points to Jesus, because its all the revelation of Jesus Christ. And by revelation, it means something that was unknown is now made known. Its God revealing himself to us. Its God talking to us and showing us who he is. And God does this through history, showing up in places, working with people, like John. So, if youre here, and you wonder what is the difference between Christianity and other religions, well, this is the big one. We believe that everything that needs to be known about God has been made known in Jesus Christ, and that we dont believe in speculation. We believe in revelation. We dont believe that we can know God apart from Jesus, but in Jesus we know everything that we need to know about God. And so its the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. So, this book of the Bible, like all books of the Bible, is ultimately for those who are servants of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you. Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Some of you say, I believe in Jesus. Good. John believed in Jesus as his friend and Lord. We want you to believe in Jesus as your friend and Lord, but you need to serve. Jesus himself came not to be served, but to serve. And to be a Christian is to be served by Jesus and to be a servant of Jesus. One of the great problems in Western Christianity is this: Its about consumption, and the church gets treated in a way that really is selfish and not servant minded. So people will come in and say, I want these services. I want these people to do these things for me. And Christianity really is to be about Gods people servingnot just being served, but serving. So, I would ask you, what are you spiritual gifts? What are your natural talents? What are the things that God is compelling, and calling, and gifting, and enabling you to do? What has the Holy Spirit already given you a burden for, or who has the Holy Spirit given you a burden for? Serve.

And sometimes what happens is we become very self-centered, and very selfish minded, and we can walk into the church and say, You all need to serve me. And Jesus would say, All need to serve one another. And sometimes when we start serving others, our problems really find their perspective. Theyre not as big as we thought. What we thought were really our needs were really just our wants. As we serve others, we start to appreciate Jesus more, because he serves us, and we start to have a growing heart of compassion, and love, and empathy for others, and we realize that God doesnt just love me, but that God loves us. And I would invite you, I would invite you to not only be a believer in Jesus, but a servant of Jesus. For those of you who are serving Jesus faithfullyCommunity Group leaders, Redemption Group leaders, deacons, elders, however, whoever you are servinglet me just say thank you, and let me say that the promise here is that the Scriptures dont make any sense unless youre a servant, because the Scriptures are written to those who, what? Who are servantsto help them be encouraged in their serving, to help them see Jesus as a servant, to motivate their service. And if youre not serving or wont serve, ultimately, the Scriptures are, for you, not going to be fully understood or appreciated. And so he goes on: to show his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John. So, an angel showed up to talk to John. Now, in our day, there is a growing interest in angels, and angels are spirit beings. Theyre not equal to God. Theyre not eternal. Theyre made by God. They came into existence at a point in time. They dont share Gods attributes. Theyre not all knowing, all present, and all powerful. Theyre limited, created spirit beings. That being said, some are good, some are evil. All were made good, but some chose evil. We call them demons. Theyve rebelled against God. They want the glory that is only due to the Lord. And so youve got to be careful. And this is where spirituality is ultimately very dangerous. John tells us elsewhere in 1 John, he says, Dont believe every spirit, but test the spirits, because not all spirits come serving the Lord. Some of you have been lied to. Youve been lied to. Youve been told to be spiritual is a good thing. Its not good to be spiritual. Its good to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Its good to love Jesus, but its not good to be spiritual. But those who are angels, those who are holy, those who do serve the Lord, they have two primary ministries, as they did for John. Number one, theyre messengers; number two, theyre ministers. So, they will sometimes deliver a message like an ambassador. They will deliver a word from the Lord, and theyre doing that here for John.

And sometimes theyre ministers. Theyll show up and serve. Hebrews says sometimes we entertain angels, and we didnt even know it, because they show up looking like people. How many of you, looking back on your life, you say, Yeah, that person was a total gift from the Lord, and now theyre gone. Maybe it was an angel that God sent to minister to you in a season. Angels are ministers and messengers, and one is sent to John to reveal to him the message of Revelation from Jesus. This is all miraculous and supernatural. This is something that God does to tell us things that we otherwise could simply not know.

JOHN WAS AN EYEWITNESS

And he goes on to say, He made it known by sending his angels to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Now heres something amazing about John. He was an eyewitness. See, when you and I, when it comes to Jesus, we have to rely on testimony from someone. Some of you, youll read books, youll listen to philosophers, or youll examine other religions, and youll become confused, and youll say, Well, I dont know if I trust the Bible. I dont know if I trust the witnesses. Ive read some other people, and Im not sure who to trust. Trust the people who were there. Trust the eyewitnesses. Now, again, I would submit to you, perhaps no one is more trustworthy than John. If he was Jesus cousin, they grew up together. He was one of Jesus disciples. So, of the twelve human beings on earth, he had the closest access. In addition, he was one of the inner circle of three, so he had privileged access, and he was the one that Jesus loved, the guy that Jesus picked as his best friend. He followed Jesus at great personal financial cost. He did so without any risk of reward. He simply did what was right. Furthermore, he was there for the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Jesus, and he lived the rest of his life being hated and persecuted. He suffered. He had nothing to gain. He was just telling the truth. Everyone that he loved got murdered. He has no motivation for enduring as he did and persevering as he did, other than its just the truth. Heres who Jesus is. Heres what Jesus has done. He says this, as well, in 1 John, one of the letters that he writes, he begins 1 John 1:1 talking about Jesus, and he says, number one, its, quote, what we have heard. Number two, We have seen with our own eyes. Thats a quote. And number three, heres another quote, We have touched with our hands.

Heres what Johns saying: When Im talking about Jesus, when Im telling you, Heres what he said, its because I heard it with my own ears. When Im telling you what Jesus did, its because I saw it with my own eyes! And did he really live? Did he really die? Did he really rise? Yes! I hugged him and embraced him with my own hands. Theres no one more trustworthy, more credible than Jesus friend, John. Amen? So, when you get those moments of doubt, or youre confused, or your faith is a bit shaken, go back to John. He was there. Youve got to trust somebody. Trust him. And what a godly man; what a humble man. I mean, theres no hint of scandal in his life. Hes not greedy. Hes not immoral. Hes not impure. Hes not selfish. Hes a man who suffers, loves, gives, serves, and even if hes boiled and exiled, hes still talking about Jesus with a smile on his face, and hes saying, Love one another like Jesus loves us. What a guy! Ive been hanging out with John for weeks. I want him to become your friend. I see why Jesus picked him as his best friend. I want him to be a friend to you, as well. And so he tells us this is a testimony even to all that he saw. And then he says theres a blessingas if this isnt enough. Theres a blessing. Number one, for the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. Yay! Im blessed today, right? What am I doing? Im reading it. Im blessed to read it to you. I know Im blessed. I feel Im blessed to read it to you. We read it aloud because faith comes by hearing the Word of God, the Scriptures say. So, its good to be under preaching and teaching. Its good to listen to the Bible on your way to work, or during your workout, or commute, or whatever the case may be, to just hear the Word of God. If you read it to your kids, youre blessed! If you read it to your Community Group, youre blessed! If youre in Community Group, you open it up and say, Let me read something from the Scriptures, youre blessed. How many of you have felt that blessing, sharing the Scriptures with others? Someone comes to you with a question, say, Well, let me open the Scriptures, and let me read it to you. Immediately, the Holy Spirit confirms in the believer the blessing. Wow! I now get to be a messenger for the Lord! I get to do what the angels do. I get to tell the truth, and I get to share the love of God. So, thank you for letting me be blessed today. In addition, theres a blessing for those who hear. And hearing is not just listening, but its listening attentively. Its listening carefully. For me, its an act of worship to present the Word of God to you. For you, its an act of worship to receive the Word of God for you. You get that? You are worshiping God now and will be blessed if youre listening, paying attention. This is where I want you to bring your Bible. This is where I want you to take notes. This is where I want you to bring a journal. This is where I want you to write it down on your phone. Whatever your method is, I dont care. But be an

attentive listener. Be listening for those things that the Holy Spirit would say. That ones for you. Write that one down. Think about that. Pray about that. Memorize that verse. Spend time with me. We need to talk about that. Thats for them. Go share it. Share the Word of God with them. Bring the truth to them. Pray for them. Serve them. In every way, bring the Word of God into your life and through your life to others. And those who hear it, theyre blessed. Theyre blessed. The Word of God is a blessing. The Word of God is a source of life. Thats what we believe at Mars Hill. So, youre blessed if you get to read it aloud, youre blessed if you get to hear it, and well all be blessed if we obey it. It says, And who keep what is written, for the time is near. And this is obedience; otherwise, the Word of God becomes information, not transformation. And for some of you, it becomes a way to win arguments with other people, or a way to judge other people, or some of you have a religious view and say, Yes, I read the Word of God, and I make note of all the things that other people need to hear. We use the Word of God first for ourselves and then for others; first for our own sin and then for theirs; first for our own maturity and humility, and then for theirs. And youre blessed if you speak the Word of God; youre blessed if you listen to the Word of God; and we can all be blessed if we obey the Word of God. If we do what the Scriptures sayJesus brother says it this way: Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

JESUS LOVES THE CHURCH

And what happens here is much of the obedience is in relation to the church. So, what happens is Johns alone on the Lords Day, a Sunday, the day of Jesus resurrection. Hes alone in this cave, in all likelihood, up on the mountain of Patmos. Hes a very elderly man. And Jesus shows up. And heres what Jesus doesnt talk about. John, how are you feeling? John, what can I do for you? How can I encourage you? Whats it like to be boiled? Thats not the conversation. Because, see, heres what we do. We reduce Jesus down to our therapist. And if he does show up, its just to talk about me and my feelings, and my hurts, and my wants, and my needs, and the spanking of my inner child, and my father issues, and, you know, how hard this life is, and how depressed I am, and he needs to sit there and listen to me and nod, and smile, and take notes, and give a prescription so that my whole life can get better. Thats not who Jesus is!

Dont let the American version of Jesus reduce him down to sympathetic therapist, that he allows you to be the center of your world, and he shows up to glorify you, to take away all your problems and to give you all your rewards. That comes at the end of the age, not in this life. John is suffering, and John is hurting, and do you know what John didnt get from Jesus? A bunch of statements of ways that he could make his life better. What Jesus immediately did is he redirected his whole focus to the church, to the church, to the church, to the church. Friends, this, Im telling you, this is where its at. Its about knowing who Jesus isLord, God, Savior, King, Christ, risen, ruling, reigning, coming againand then keeping your eyes on the church. Who needs to meet Jesus? Whos hurting? Whos suffering? Who could we help? Who could we serve? Where could we grow? How could we mature? And what God does then is he gives this series of seven letters to and through John, and they are about seven churches. Itd be like our multi-site, multi-campus, multi-church network of churches. This ones doing good. This ones doing bad. This ones suffering. Help them. These guys are greedy. Tell them to give generously. These guys are all theologically, doctrinally correct, but theyre jerks! Tell them to be nice to people. Jesus is looking at all the churches, and he says, John, I need you to look at the churches. I need you to pay attention to the churches. I need you to serve the churches, teach the churches, rebuke the churches. Cause heres the truth, friends. If you love Jesus, you have to love the church! Cause Christ gave himself for the church! And what can happen is sometimes we think its just me and Jesus. Its not. The majority of the books of the Bible are written to churches, not individuals. So, the application is often for the church, not just for the individual. There are individual applications, but its us together, and we even teach our kids, falsely, Jesus loves, who? Me. This I know. We should sing, Jesus loves us. This we know. Jesus does love you, but he loves us. And the goal is not that you would just know Jesus, and love Jesus, and enjoy Jesus, but that you would love what Jesus loves, that you would do what Jesus does, that you would go where Jesus is, that you would give for what Jesus gave his life to: the church. I am just sick, tired, frustrated with people saying negative things about Christian churches, browbeating, criticizing, standing back, holier-than-thou-ism. Jesus loves the church! We love the church! We know the church isnt perfect. The seven letters to the seven churches show the ways that they need to change, and repent, and learn, and grow, but theres a heart in John that says, And Im here to help. Its not the heart of a critic who stands back to find fault. Its the heart of a servant who jumps in to make better.

This is what God wants for you. This is what God wants for us in this particular sermon series and this section of the Bible: to have a heart for Jesus and the church, to love Jesus and the church, to serve Jesus by serving the church, by being the church. And this is exactly what is revealed to John. And let me say this. Whatever youre struggling or suffering with, I dont want to in any way diminish it or downplay it, but it is not equal to what John was enduring, amen? A hundred-year-old man, boiled alive, in a cave, all alone. Whatever your week looked like, his was worse. Amen?

REVELATION IS ALL ABOUT JESUS CHURCH

So, number one, Revelation the book is all about Jesus Christ. Number two, Revelation is all about Jesus church. And so well just unpack it. Revelation 1:48. So, to John, through John to the seven churches that are in Asia. So, its this network of churches, like weve got a network of churches. Its to this network of churches. Grace to you and peace. Lets just start there. Grace. God is good to us. Amen? God is so good to Mars Hill Church, its crazy, nutty, freaky, ridiculous. Okay? Heres Mars Hill Church: An angry twenty-something guy, whos never been a member of a church, has no formal theological education, decides to get a bunch of people committed to anarchy together for a small Bible study in the least-churched city, in the least-churched region in the United States of America, trying to reach the least-churched person, a twenty-something college-educated guy, educated beyond his intelligence, whos still single, because he hates responsibility. And, oh, by the way, he wont give, because hes broke. Okay, so thats the plan. Okay? And then boom, fifteen thousand people. Its crazy, nutty, freaky, ridiculous. It doesnt make any sense. Mars Hill Church is a joke in the Wow, Lord, thats hilarious kind of way. We dont deserve to exist. Ill travel around. People will say, Whats the secret? Whats the secret? Heres the secret. Jesus is alive. Hes nice. Thats the secret. Thats the secret. Everything weve ever accomplished is solely, totally, fully, thoroughly, from beginning to end, by the grace of God. Mars Hill, I want your heart to be for Jesus. I want your heart to be for the church, and it will be, if you know that the grace of God is not just on you, and its not just on me, but the grace of God is on us. Hes doing something I dont understand, but its pretty fantastic. Hes being gracious. Hes pouring out grace. Were a blessed people. This is where I want you to love this church. I want you to serve this church. And its not just enough to say, Well, its me and Jesus. No, friends, its us and Jesus, and grace is on us, and theres peace. And so dont hear this as a guilt. Dont think Gods going to punish you, or Gods angry with you, or God hates you. If youre a Christian, and youre in

Christ, God loves you. God cares for you. God is not done with you. God is not forcing you, hes inviting you to be on mission with him, to see lives get changed, to see people get saved, to see churches get planted. Thats what got John up every day to supper for eighty years of his life. Its the only thing thatll keep you motivated and keep you from being frustrated is to love Jesus and serve the church. Jesus has peace with us, through the cross, and he has grace for us. And, Mars Hill, theres still grace to be had. There are still people to reach, leaders to raise up. There are churches to plant. There is work to be done, and this is a herald call from God saying everybody is welcome! And theres grace for you, as well. He goes on to say, Grace to you and peace from him Now hes going to talk about Jesus again. You know, heres John: Something, Jesus, something, Jesus, something, Jesus. Hes always talking about two things: something and Jesus. Grace, Jesus, peace, Jesus, church, Jesus, Bible, Jesus. Its all about Jesus for John, and Jesus is the one who is, who was, and is to come. This is a statement of deity. He was before heaven and earth! He is living today, ruling and reigning, risen from death, and in heaven as King, Lord, God, Savior, and Christ. And he will come again. This is our Jesus, who was, and is, and is to come . . . from the seven spirits who are before his throne. Angels are worshiping Jesus right now. And when you and I sing, we raise our voice. We raise our hands! Its a form of prayer. Its a form of surrender, saying, Jesus, youre worthy, and we want to join the angels doing that for which we were made, because it is glorious to you, it is good for others, and it makes us glad. And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead. He says that Jesus is the pattern of the resurrection of the church. You need to know this. Were all going to die, and we will not rise individually. We will rise corporately. Well rise collectively. Well rise as the church. There will be a day when you die, when your funeral is held, and your family sheds their tears and says their goodbyes, and there will be a day that Jesus Christ calls us together from our graves, risen from death, no sin, no sickness, no suffering, to be together forever with him, like him. And this is how it says it in Daniel 12:12, that the multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth, they will arise! Friends, were going to rise together. We could still get together as Mars Hill Church in the heavenly kingdom of God. Youll still see your friends in Community Group forever. Theyll be perfected. So will you. Itll be much better than it is right now. Right now its sinners just learning how to be sanctified. Okay? But, ultimately, you need to know that were going to be together forever, so we need to get along right now and practice for then. Amen?

And so the story continues. The ruler of the kings of the earthlove this! This is big King Jesus. All kings, all kingdoms, all rulers, they will all give an account to him. You know, your parent, your spouse, your employer, your critic, theyre not Jesus. Theyre not in ultimate authority. They will give an account to him, as you will give an account to him. The truth is we should all live for that day, that day, when we sit or stand before Jesus, and we give an account to him. And whatever he calls it, thats what it is, because he is what? He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. It doesnt matter what someones title or position might be. Ultimately, they are under Jesus and give an account to him. That includes you and me. To him who, what? This big Jesus, he what? He loves us! Not just me, not just you, but us! Jesus loves the church! Friends, this is why I want to give my whole life to the church! I could speak, I could travel, I could write, I could take a nap. There are other things to do! Im not opposed to a drink with an umbrella and a hammock. Like, Ive prayed about it, and Im open to it, but Jesus loves the church! Jesus gave himself for the church, and he loves who? Us. Mars Hill, we are a loved people. You are a loved people. Does he love you individually? Yes. But does he love us collectively? Yes. I want you to love what Jesus loves. Love your church. And if Mars Hill is not your church, or youre visiting, or listening in, love a church and give yourself to what Jesus gave himself to. Your treasure follows your heart. You could follow this with your giving, your finances, your prayers, your service. They will follow your heart. We dont just want your time or your money. We want your heart for Jesus and the church, and everything else will follow, because he loves us! Thats awesome! Theres nothing better than being loved by Jesus. He makes enemies friends. He takes those who are far away, he brings them near. He takes those who are dirty, and he makes them clean. He takes those who are guilty, and he makes them righteous. Were loved! We are absolutely loved by Jesus. And he goes on to say, and has freed us from our sins by his blood. How do we know that Jesus loves us? Look to the cross. He suffered, died, shed his blood in our place for our sins. God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus says, No greater love has anyone than this: they lay down their life for their friend. The Bible says that its not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his only son, Jesus, to be the propitiation for our sin.

If you doubt, disbelieve, or disregard the love of Jesus, look to the cross, and you will know youre loved! You are loved by God himself, and he takes away your sin. You are forgiven. You are not who you were. You are someone new, and youre becoming increasingly more like him. Hes not sick of you. Hes not done with you. Hes not frustrated with you. Hes not given up on you. Hes not overwhelmed by you. He loves you, and he has a calling, and a mission, and a purpose on us, as a people. He determines when and where youre born. He has you here to be on mission with him. And you may have come here thinking about someone or something else, and that was probably Johns experience on that day, and Jesus is revealed in glory, and that changes the heart and redirects the course of life to be on mission with him together as the church, because we are a kingdom of priests! Thats crazy talk! Thats crazy talk! Cause in the Old Testament, if you were a Jew, who were the priests? Holy guys, went to school, knew Hebrew, memorized the Pentateuch. These guys are holy, righteous, devout nerds. Thats who they were. And you had to go through a lengthy process to be a priest. You had to qualify. And then there were rankings, and these were the guys who get to do the holy stuff. And what he says is, in Christ, as Christians, all of Gods people, youre all priests, all priests! That means youre in full-time ministry. When you go to work, youre going to work for Jesus, representing the kingdom of God. When you go love, serve, give, care, youre going as an ambassador of the King of kings. You are in full-time ministry. Youre a kingdom of priests. When youre home raising your kids, youre doing so as a priestsomeone who belongs to God and represents his kingdom and serves his cause. Everything we do is meaningful. Everything we do is sacred. Everything we do is worshipful. Everything we do is missional. Everything we do is ministry. All of life for Jesus is the work of a priest in a sacred place doing a divine task. Thats you. Dont look at what you do as something less than full-time ministry. Some of us get paid; some of us dont. All of us who belong to Jesus are on mission, in ministry with him as servants. Hows it going?

JESUS IS GOD
He goes on. To him be, what? Glory! Its about Jesus. Its all about Jesus. Its about Jesus in the family. Its about Jesus in the church. Its about Jesus in the home. Its about Jesus in the workplace. Its about people seeing Jesus, people knowing Jesus, people meeting Jesus.

Glory and dominion forever and ever it never ends. Well never stop celebrating him, and hell never stop ruling over all. And it says, Amen, which means, Thats what I want! Yes, Lord, be it so! Behold, he is coming with the clouds. Jesus is coming back! We dont know when, but we know its a fact, because all the other prophecies of Scripture have been fulfilled, and were waiting for this one to be fulfilled as well. Jesus is coming back on the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Friends, when Jesus comes back, you will see the scars of crucifixion on his body. He was eternally, spiritually God, and then he added to his nature, his essence, humanity. So, in addition to his divinity, he assumed humanity, that the spiritual God took on a human body to associate with us, to relate to us, to live without sin, to die for our sin, to rise as the pattern of our resurrection, and he now lives forever in a glorified, resurrected body. And when you see Jesusand the Bible says youll see him face-to-face as a friendand he goes to embrace you, you will see the price he paid for your sins. You will see the marks of crucifixion on his hands and on his body, and you will know how much God loves you. And every time you see Jesus, you will remember the price that he paid for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life. All the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Heres Jesus. Heres how this section ends. Jesus is God, Jesus is God, Jesus is God, Jesus is God, Jesus is God! He says, Jesus says, I am. Well, thats the God who spoke to Moses through the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. Hes having a conversation with a bush, and the bush says, Go take down the entire Egyptian empire. And Moses says, Well, who should I say sent me? Because if I say the bush, I dont think its going to have the punch I was anticipating. Thus saith the bush! You know, so, Really? Okay, so So, God says through the bush, Tell them I AM has sent you. So thats a title of deity. Jesus is God. The Alpha, thats the beginning, that Jesus is without beginning, that he is the one who creates all that is. Hes the beginning of everything. And the Omega. Hes the end of it all, too. Everything is created by Jesus, and everything ultimately will give an account to Jesus. So, I AM, thats a statement of God. Alpha, thats a statement of God. Omega, thats a statement of God; Alpha and Omega being beginning and end in Greek. Says who? The Lord God. Whos Jesus? The Lord God! John knows that his friend, Jesus, is also his Lord God.

Who is. Hes risen from death! Jesus is alive right now. Who was. He was around before the foundations of the earth. He is the uncaused cause. Hes the beginning of all things. Hes the Creator God. And is to come. Hes not dead. Hes alive. Hes coming again. Not only that, just in case you missed it, hes what? Hes Almighty! Jesus is God! And then John says it this way. He says it regarding the throne. Let me read it to you. Grace and peace from him who is, who was, who is to come, from the seven spirits who were before his throne. All of this imagery, it culminates, and it explodes in my favorite piece of furniture in the whole Bible, the throne, the throne. When you think of throne, who do you think of? What do you think of? King, Judge, Ruler. If you walk into a room, and theres one big throne with somebody on it, you just assume that guy is in charge, right? When you see the throne, you know that somebody regal, and royal, and respected is there. Well, this imagery of the throne, its throughout the New Testament, but three-quarters of the time that it appears, it appears in Revelation. The throne of Jesus Christ appears no less than forty-five times in Revelation. And whos seated on the throne, Mars Hill? Whos seated on the throne? Jesus is seated on the throne. Hes King! Hes Lord! Hes God! Its all about Jesus! And the angels are worshiping him, and all of the nations are worshiping him, and all of the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, theyre worshiping him, and all the martyrs are worshiping him, and the twelve tribes of Israel are worshiping him, and the twelve disciples and all of their followers, theyre worshiping him, and the church is all of Gods people, together, around the throne of Jesus. And what that means is this. The center of human history, the center of theology is not you! Its not me! Its him! Its all about Jesus! He is high! He is exalted! He is lifted up! This is the same Jesus in glory, and I need you to not see Jesus in his humility, but in his glory! Sometimes when we think of Jesushumble, poor, broke, marginalized Galilean peasant. That was his incarnation. Now hes in his moment of exaltation. Hes not in humility. Hes in glory! Hes not suffering. Hes reigning. Hes not hearing, Crucify him. He is hearing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Seven hundred years before Jesus was even born of Mary on the earth, Isaiah had this magnificent vision, much like Johns vision in Revelation, and he says that, I saw heaven open, and I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne. And the train of his robe filled the temple, and the angels gathered around him, and they cried out, singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Heaven and earth are full of his glory.

In John 12:41, our author of Revelation says, Isaiah saw Jesus and spoke of his glory. John saw Jesus and spoke of his glory. You and I, through the pages of Scripture and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, we get to see Jesus and speak of his glory. And so thats what were going to do today, right now. I want you to in your mind imagine the throne of Jesus, heaven opened up, him being worshiped. And as we sing, as we rejoice, he is being glorified, and we are being satisfied. As we take our offering, we are saying, Jesus, for your cause. Jesus, for your kingdom. Jesus, for your church. As we take Communion, were saying, Jesus, its your body, its your blood. Im loved. Were loved. Thank you that we get to be the church together forever. Amen! Thats what we want. Let me pray.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, right now, we confess you are high and exalted. You are seated on a throne. You are ruling and reigning. You are the Alpha and the Omega. You are the beginning and the end. You are the one who has shed your blood to purchase the church. Jesus, we acknowledge that John walked away from what looked like everything; but in comparison to you, it was nothing. Lord Jesus, we ask that you would visit us, as you visited John. We ask right now, Holy Spirit, that you would come to reveal to us Jesus. For those who are not Christian, I pray, Holy Spirit, you would give them new birth and life, to love Jesus. Jesus, I ask for those who have been observers, that they would turn into servers. God, I pray for us, as a church, that not only would we look to you, but that we would look to the church, that we not only look out for ourselves, but we look out for each other. God, we acknowledge we are a blessed people. We are a graced people. We deserve hell. Everything we have is a gift, and I thank you for the gift of Mars Hill Church. I thank you that I am blessed to read the Word of God. I thank you that there is a blessing for those who hear and obey the Word of God. And, Jesus, as we come now, we ask that you would receive our praise, that you would receive our repentance, that you would receive our tithes and offerings, and that you would receive our church as your people, and that you would continue to pour out grace on us, so that you would get glory and that we would have joy, because this is what we were made for, and its all about Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.

Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.