Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.29 – August 1995

 

The Lord Among The Golden Lampstands

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Kossen on Revelation 1:12-20

 

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

If we would read through these first chapters of Revelation, one thing that really stands out is that we are accountable and responsible to the Lord for what we have done.  It is just like the last day of school when your teacher gives you your report in a closed envelope to bring home to mum and dad.  And before you see what's in it, you really wonder what it is going to say.  Especially under the comments.

You might have been playing around all year, and you know that now this might come out.  Johnny has not tried, Johnny has disrupted the class this year.  Johnny has been a nuisance to the rest of the class.  Or, maybe they are good comments.  Mary has really tried hard this year.  Mary has been a pleasure to work with.  And so on.  But when you bring it home to mum and dad, you wonder: what is it going to say?

Sometimes your dad too might have to give an account for what he has done in the past year at work.

The Bible teaches us, that at the end of our lives, we will all have to stand before the Lord to give an account for the things we have done while we were alive, the way we served the Lord, the way we used our talents and so on.

But we don't have to wait for the end of our lives.  Today also, as church, we are called to come and stand before the Lord, to give an account of ourselves.  We are going to evaluate ourselves as church in the light of these chapters.

1.  HIM TO WHOM WE GIVE ACCOUNT

I find these seven letters to the churches to be one of the most powerful and direct parts of Scripture towards us.  John is in exile on the isle of Patmos, and is in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.  He hears a great voice behind him saying, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches of Asia."  He turns to see who was speaking to him.  When he turned he saw seven golden lampstands.

In the Old Testament, in the Tabernacle, there was one lampstand with seven branches.  You may recall that Aaron, the High Priest, looked after this lampstand, lighting the lamps, trimming them, and snuffing them out.  In the Old Testament the one lampstand with seven branches was a picture of the Old Testament church.  The Church had a visible unity in the nation of Israel.

But in this New Testament picture, we find seven separate lampstands.  No longer is Aaron the High Priest tending them, but Jesus Christ Himself is lighting them, trimming them and snuffing them out.

In the first instance, these seven lampstands are the seven churches of Asia (vs.11).  But of course there were more than seven churches in Asia.  For example, the churches of Troas and Colossae are not mentioned here.  These seven churches are representative of the church of all ages, the church of all times.  And in this picture of the seven separate lampstands, we see a picture of the New Testament church.  It is no longer the church of one nation, of one place, but the church of all ages, scattered throughout the whole world.  We, as New Testament church, no longer have a visible unity as Israel did.  But we have a spiritual unity, in Christ the High Priest, who walks among the lampstands.

The focus of this vision, however, is not the seven lampstands.  A lampstand is only a stand.  What is important is what it holds, the lamp.  And here also, the lampstands are only the setting for Him who walks among them.  Among the lampstands was someone like a Son of Man.

When Jesus walked upon the earth, John knew Him as the Son of Man.  Now he sees someone like a Son of Man, the same Lord Jesus Christ he had walked with, but now in His glorified state.  And this one, like a Son of Man, is dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet.  Dressed as a king, in righteousness, glory and honour.

The golden sash around His chest shows His exalted position.  His head and hair were like white wool, as white as snow.  In Daniel 7:9 we find that same description made of the Ancient of Days, God Himself.  A crown of glory, of wisdom and dignity And His eyes were like blazing fire.  Eyes which see everything, which search everything, which know everything.

His feet were like bronze, glowing in the fire; feet which would trample the wicked underneath them.  And His voice was like the sound of rushing waters, like a powerful waterfall.  When He speaks, He speaks with authority and conviction.  It is a voice which drowns out everything else.

Again, Ezekiel, in Chapter 43, says this same thing about the voice of God.  Then, in His right hand, He held seven stars (which we will look at in a moment), and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword, His Word, which penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  And His face was like the sun, shining in all its brilliance.  A dazzling and glorious appearance, terrible for His enemies.

When John saw this vision of the risen, glorified and ruling Lord, he fell at His feet as though dead.  This is a common picture in the Old Testament.  All those who came into the presence of God, when they were confronted with Him, were filled with awe and fear.  We see it with Abraham, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.  But now we also see it in the New Testament, with the disciple whom Jesus loved: John.

And this lesson also needs to be impressed upon us as New Testament Christians.  The church today can sometimes be so casual in the presence of God.  It is true that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ and that therefore we have no fear of God.  But there is a difference between the fear of terror, and the fear of reverence.

Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire, and that therefore we must worship Him acceptably with reverence and fear.

Here we stand today as one of the seven golden lampstands among whom the glorified Lord is walking; in whose presence the glorified Lord is walking.  And I would suggest to you today that for us to keep ourselves in proper perspective, we need to come and stand here regularly before the Lord.  Who are we?  What are we here for?  What have we done this past year?  Where are we going in the year ahead?  What goals ought we to set?

All these questions are answered when we come and bow down in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of His glory.  When we sit under His blazing eyes of fire which search us out.  Yes, the Lord walks among us, and weighs up our deeds, examines our hearts, and thoughts, and motives.  And in the weeks ahead, when we look at the seven letters to the churches, may we also be enabled to examine our church life in the light of His powerful and searching judgments.  And may He, by His Spirit and Word, steer us in the way He commands us to go.

Today as we humble ourselves in fear and reverence before the Lord, in our passage, we can trace a two-fold call.

2.  A TWO-FOLD CALL

i.  Do Not Be Afraid.

When we look at our lives and our church in the light of the Glory of the Lord, the Lord dressed in royal robes, the Lord with eyes like blazing fire, the Lord with feet like bronze which crush His enemies, the Lord with a voice like rushing waters, the Lord with a face shining like the sun, we might have reason to be afraid.

We have proven ourselves to have failed the Lord in so many ways.  As individuals, we have not lived up to our great and high calling.  Have you loved the Lord your God with all your heart?  Have you served Him in complete faithfulness, every moment of every day, putting His kingdom above your own interests?  Have you put the spiritual well-being of His Church above everything else?  Have you sought to serve the Church of our Lord with all your gifts and talents?

Have you loved your neighbour as yourself, with the love of Christ, being willing to lay down your life for him?  Have you practiced forgiveness towards your neighbour?  Have you sought his interests above your own?  To put it straight down the line: have you been able to say with Paul, "to live is Christ", the life I lived in the body I have lived by faith in the Son of God?  And now, do we come before the Lord of Glory to give account of how we have done?  Along with John, we do well to humble ourselves in the presence of His Holiness.

But, as we come before the Lord in humility and reverence, He also lays His hand upon us and speaks kind words to us.  We also hear the familiar words of our Lord which He spoke already in the Gospels: “Fear not, it is I.”  And the Lord, when He speaks to John, gives also the reasons why we ought not be afraid.

First, He tells John of His Divine Nature, of His Eternal Being.  I am the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  Secondly, He tells John of His former suffering.  I was dead.  This is the same One Whom the disciples had seen, dying on the cross, dying for the sins of men.  But thirdly, He also declares His Resurrection: I was dead, and behold, see, look, I am alive for ever and ever.  I have conquered death, and opened the grave, and death no longer has any hold over Me.  I shall live forever and ever.  And then, fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ also declares His present power and authority.  I have the keys of death and Hades.  He is in sovereign control over life and death.

“Do not be afraid, little flock,” says the Lord.  I have been pleased to give you the kingdom.  I have died on the cross, to take away your sin.  I am alive forevermore.  And on this rock, on this confession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Let us never be proud of our accomplishments as church.  All we can say about the things we have done for Him is: we are your servants, we have only done our duty.  But even in that duty, how much we have fallen short.  And at the end of the day, and at the end of the week, and at the end of the year, we are always driven back to that confession, "Not what my hands have done, can save my guilty soul.  Thy blood alone, O Lord, to me can pardon speak."

As long as we rest in this Gospel of repentance and humility before the Lord, the Lord's blessing continues to rest over us.  Do not fear, it is I, your Saviour.  And, brothers and sisters, today again, may this alone be our boast, that Christ Jesus is our Lord, and that He has died to save us from our sins.  May we always continue in our calling, aware that His blood alone is the sufficient sacrifice for all our sins.

But may this Gospel of repentance and humility, also lead us every day again to listen to His voice.  Our passage is a two-fold call.  The first, is, do not be afraid!  The second call is:

ii.  He who has an ear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the churches.

Yes, immediately after John has received the Lord's blessing of peace, John is commanded to write what he sees, what is now and what is to take place later.  And the first thing John is commanded to write, are the seven letters to the seven churches.

The Lord walks among the lampstands.  He is not sitting down, He is walking among them.  In the same way that on the factory floor, the floor manager walks from one job to another, to make sure each is doing their job properly.  Each one of those lampstands is set in place, as a witness to Him.  You are the light of the world.  He knows each of the seven churches.  He walks in their midst.  He sees them.  He judges them all.  And by His Spirit He speaks to them all; words of comfort, words of encouragement, as well as words of rebuke, and words of warning.

You will see in each of the letters, He addresses Himself to the seven angels of the churches.  What does this mean?  Does this mean each church has its own guardian angel?  Well you need to bear in mind, that the word 'angel' simply means 'messenger'.  And the angel in each of the churches was to receive the letter, and then have it acted upon within the church.

It seems to be that the angel referred to is not a heavenly messenger, but an earthly one, speaking specifically to the pastor of the church, and the ruling council of the church.

This brings out again the high position of the offices of the Church.  In verse 16 we read that the seven stars are in His right hand.  Christ exercises complete authority over them.  They are His instruments.  And He keeps them safe and protects them when they obey Him and are faithful in His service.

And this all makes it very personal.  Often in session we get letters from different people, different churches.  But now all of a sudden we have a letter like this, a letter directly from the Lord of the Church Himself.  Now, the letters are first of all addressed to the angels of the churches.  But they are to do with the life of the church itself.

And so, brothers and sisters, these letters from the Lord to His Church speak directly, today, to our existence as Church.  The various issues touched upon in those seven letters are also the very issues over which churches stand and fall today.  If they heed His message, they will overcome, they will be kept safe, and their light will shine into eternity.  But if they do not heed His message, the Lord Himself will turn against them, He will spew them out of His mouth, and thus the lampstand will be removed from its place.

Today as we evaluate ourselves, where we have come from and where we are going, perhaps there is no more direct message that the Lord could leave us, than the message He leaves in these seven letters.  Letters written directly to the church in New Testament times.  And whenever you trace the rise and fall of the church in the history of the world, you can always trace it back to churches which have responded to the message of the Lord spoken here, and to churches which have ignored that message.

In each one of these letters, you could substitute, "To the Reformed Church of ___________ write...!"  Then it remains for us to apply it to the existence of our church life.

Today, again, may we thank the Lord for these letters.  The Lord has no desire ever to remove a lampstand.  The Lord speaks just so that this will not be necessary.  Even when He speaks to the lukewarm church of Laodicea, whom He threatens to spit out of His mouth, the Lord expressly says, "Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and repent.  Here I am.  I stand at the door and knock."

And so, brothers and sisters, as we evaluate ourselves in the coming weeks, may it be our express desire, to come before our Glorified Lord and Saviour, to humble ourselves under Him, and to listen to what His Spirit says to our church.

And, as time goes on, may our light shine more brightly, and may we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, putting into practice the things we have heard, living out our faith, in a renewed love for the Lord, and a renewed love for one another.  The time is coming when we will all be called to stand before the Lord.  By His grace may we all be granted the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

May we all have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Amen.