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"Here as in Heaven."
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Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. We're in a series in the book of Revelation. We're gonna spend the next 26 weeks doing a deep dive into both how to read and how to interpret this amazing book. Enjoy.
Jon:I wanna welcome pastor Darren, our lead pastor, to continue our series in Revelation. Darren, let me pray for you. Jesus, I thank you for this man. I thank you for the ways that you are moving in our community and the outpouring of your spirit on the word this morning. Jesus, I pray that rivers of living water flow from Darren's heart, as he is connected to you, Holy Spirit.
Jon:And I pray for just a fresh revelation of who you are. We won't may you may we see you clearly, Jesus. In your name, we pray. Amen.
Darren:Amen. Good morning. 9 AM. Good morning. Outside, how you doing out there?
Darren:Outside, you're not you're inside. So you guys are sitting out there. Hey. We're in a series called Revelation. We are we're doing a study through the book of Revelation.
Darren:I love that we have our youth in here because this should be really for me growing up, it would be really helpful to have had some good theology of revelation rather than the stuff I got. I don't know about you, but I was grow I grew up in the church and was formed by the wrong vision of the end times. And so today and the next 24 or 5 weeks we have, we're trying to present this book in light of what scholarship in context, taught this, or or what it was written to. So today we dive back in. So go ahead and grab your Bibles.
Darren:Would you just pull them out? Grab your Bible and see them. Let's wave them up. Let's see. That's why.
Darren:Yeah. Look at more and more. Great job. If you need a Bible, we have some Bibles in the back. The book of Revelation is some review.
Darren:Here's some some artwork we have to remind you of the players that we will come into contact with. You will see this is the playbill that will unfold. We don't really get into too much of these characters today, but we're going chapter by chapter through this book. And I there's no other way to approach it in my opinion to give it, what it needs as a letter, just good biblical teaching. So it will feel like a Bible study every time I'm here.
Darren:So hopefully you're okay with that. If not, probably go to another church because we're gonna preach the word of God and we're gonna teach through the scriptures. And I really believe as as the church today, we can do better in our study. Right? We don't just need 5 minutes.
Darren:We need a life of devotion to Jesus, including studying the word. And if you're like, I'm not somebody who really has the capacity, I really believe the Lord will increase your capacity. He expands the minds of his followers. This is a biblical thing. So revelation was written, this is review around 96 AD.
Darren:It's written as an epistle, as an apocalypse and as a prophecy. The word revelation means apocalypse in Greek is translated apocalypse, but it means unveiling. It is an invitation to see beyond what is obvious to peer behind the curtain of reality and grasp what is truly happening from God's perspective. That's the purpose of the book. One scholar says, revelation provides a divine perspective on the world, urging believers to see beyond the immediate and the temporal to the, ultimate and the eternal.
Darren:So this is so important. I really want you to understand as we talk about revelation, we're talking about apocalyptic literature and apocalyptic literature is grounded in the fundamental conviction that things are not as they seem. So what we see with our eyes are only part of the story. There's more to the present moment that meets the senses that we have and behind the turmoil or the struggles that you have in your life, God is at work. His purposes are unfolding and his kingdom is advancing.
Darren:Daryl Johnson writes, apocalyptic literature accomplishes its purpose through vivid imagery, sometimes grossly vivid imagery. Why? Why? Because truth conveyed in imagery transforms our vision more powerfully than truth conveyed in propositional language. Imagery goes beyond the intellect through the emotions and into the imagination.
Darren:This is why revelation is full of symbols and visions. It's not meant to inform our minds. It's meant to capture our hearts, to reshape our imagination. Revelations imagery is not meant to be decoded, but to be absorbed, forming our imagination in a way that shapes our faith. That's Eugene Peterson.
Darren:So let's go to Revelation 1:9. You guys okay? I wanna pray. So let's just pray for this moment. It's good to be back.
Darren:Last week, there were a lot of people here and in all the services, we were very crowded and so going to 4 will be great. But I was just thinking about how I don't get to I don't really know everyone anymore. Our church has grown quite a bit and that's a challenge for us as leaders. We're we're really trying to navigate how to, how do we continue to feel small. And that's, that really is our goal.
Darren:We know that the Lord is entrusting us with a growth. That's not we've been doing this for 16 years. We've never tried to build a certain size of church. We've tried to build a church that looks like Jesus and for whatever reason, right in this moment, more and more people are coming here and calling garden home and we love it and we're doing everything we can in our leadership and our skills to grow and expand our our structures and strategies to serve the spirit and his anointing and listen to the voice of God. But there are challenges like I I wanna encourage you that church is not something you attend.
Darren:It's not some, it's not an event on Sunday. This is a family and it is hard as we grow. So it takes you being a disciple to make it family. And when I open the text, when I, when I'm thinking about what I'm about to read, I think of John a lot right now because he was a local pastor and he led local churches and he had oversight for multiple churches as an apostle, but he was committed to his people. So listen to these words and we're gonna go through verse by verse through a couple of these today.
Darren:And I just wanna, I wanna read this verse 9, we get to intro John introduces himself to us. He says, 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. John was exiled because of his faithfulness to the gospel. He was a prominent leader and the authorities chosen not to kill him because perhaps they were afraid of a person like this, the the kind of, perhaps fame that he had would only embolden the Christian movement at this point. As one scholar says, nothing renews the spirit of a minority movement more than a martyr.
Darren:So instead of execution, they banish him to Patmos And imagine John on a barren Island alone yet deeply connected in the spirit to the churches facing severe persecution. We know that Emperor Domitian's reign was a reign of terror for the Christians. They were losing homes, they were losing businesses, they were losing lives, they were suffering poverty, but not just that there was a pressure in the church to conform to the demands of the emperor and accommodate worshiping false idols. There was an external pressure to give in, but there was also internal pressure that the churches were facing where there was disunity and heresy and a temptation to compromise to the surrounding culture around. Does that resonate today?
Darren:And in this context, in the context of revelation, we have suffering. This letter is written in the context of suffering. Revelation comes to us in a context of suffering. There's a crisis in the local church and there's a crisis within John as a leader. He himself is a companion in the suffering only from a distance.
Darren:So Patmos where where he finds himself is like a a hospital chapel. Have you ever had to use a hospital chapel before? Man, you pray differently in hospital chapels, don't you? I remember when my wife was having a heart procedure in 2012 and group of friends were with us. I had the service emotional, animal.
Darren:The emotional service dog came up and sat on my lap. And the the person with the dog said, is your loved one in there? I'm like, yeah. How did you know? My dog told me.
Darren:Found myself waiting. And then I walked into that chapel. And I've seen those before, but I've never had to use one. And, you pray differently in those chapels, don't you? Pray with a level a level of desperation in your prayers.
Darren:The prayer in the hospital chapels are different than when you feed her up with a pour over coffee early in the morning. I remember just a couple weeks ago walking into the hospital to see Anessa, intubated day 3 after a surgery that should have been only a few hours of intubation. Death was in the room. I just talked to her this week. She's doing much better, but death was in the room.
Darren:I remember leaving the hospital after being there, calling my wife, and then calling our team. And next thing you know, we have an entire church interceding for Anessa on Tuesday morning only to have the prayers during that intercession be answered in the hospital room where she's extubated. You pray differently in times of desperation, don't you? So Patmos is not a time of aimless exile for John. He is he is experiencing something in his isolation as he carries in his heart, the people of God.
Darren:That's the kind of leader we need to follow. You know, I wanna raise up kids who know the names of saints more than they know the names of celebrities. It's hard in our culture where all the images are coming, all their friends have access to it. They wanna be a part of all the YouTubes, and it's not as fun to learn church history as it is to watch some snake bite a guy or some insect get on the arm. Coyote Peterson, it's quite entertaining.
Darren:John is on an island suffering a different kind of suffering than the church he's praying for. But listen to what he writes. Alright. I just want you to appear in Revelation 1:10 on the Lord's day, what day is that? Just so you know, he has a day.
Darren:We'll come back to that. I already can tell. Let's let that marinate for the rest of the talk. We'll come back to it at the end. On the Lord's day, I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said right on a scroll, what you see and send it to the 7 churches that are already on your heart to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Darren:In the midst of his crisis, John is not defeated. He is doing what he's always done on Sunday morning. He gets himself in the spirit. This is a theological term for praying and worshiping and seeking god. This is doing church, amen, hallelujah, all by yourself.
Darren:On the lord's day, John receives a revelation. It wasn't a Tuesday. It wasn't a Wednesday. It was Sunday morning, the day Christians move their worship gathering from Saturday ordained by the creation order to Sunday because something new happened. What was it?
Darren:Jesus died and rose again on Sunday in recreation. The new creation begins on Sunday morning with a resurrected Christ. So that's the day that they're gonna gather as the church. It gets instituted 300 years later after this, but by the time John writes, it's his day. Not John's day, Jesus's day.
Darren:And it's there that John is met by a voice that he turns to see. We'll read it in a second. But he he gets this he gets this word. Write this down what you see. Write down for the churches what you see, and it's this crisis the church faces, this crisis of suffering that John is experiencing that Jesus comes and brings about revelation.
Darren:And here's the secret. He doesn't get a new program. He doesn't start a podcast. He doesn't start a resource platform online for others to consume. That's not the the solution to the crisis.
Darren:What we will see as the solution is the revelation of Jesus. You don't need a problem solving program. You need a better revelation of Jesus. You don't need a strategy to fix every issue in your marriage. You need to recenter around the resurrected Jesus.
Darren:You don't just need the help with all the habits that aren't going the right way. You need a better picture of the risen lord Jesus Christ, and that's what John's given in this moment. John had already had images of Jesus. He was a disciple for three and a half years. He camped with him.
Darren:He saw the women woman touches him and be healed. He saw demons flee. He saw people he saw Jesus walk on water and Peter go a little bit and then sink. He saw the sermon on the, sermon on the mount. He saw the transfiguration.
Darren:He saw water get turned into wine as the first miracle in his gospel. He saw Lazarus get raised from the dead. He saw him wash his feet. He saw him at the lord's table. He saw him bit whipped.
Darren:He saw him beaten. He saw him get crucified. He saw his body get buried and he saw the resurrected Jesus, but it doesn't need that image of Jesus anymore. He needs to glorify Jesus. He needs Jesus now.
Darren:You know, when I'm reading my sermon, it doesn't come out like this in practice. I don't really practice anymore. I read in Sunday mornings, people always ask you ready. I'm like, not yet. And then there are these moments where the urgency of what I'm saying is met by your face, knowing so many of your stories, knowing in my heart this week alone, the things that we've had to walk through as a pastoral team with so many people in our church who are missing their mothers this week because of death or struggling to find apartments because they can't, they don't have enough money for apartments or calling, police officers because they're lonely in dealing with mental health crisis.
Darren:That's this week alone. And I think about how the word of God intersects with everyone and I'm praying holy spirit do something here that no sermon written on an iPad can do. Make it alive, and I'm watching it right now. And it's what is it about? It's about Jesus.
Darren:And at some point, you need to submit. Humble. Stop thinking you have it all figured out because the world's gonna throw everything at you, not just the world. John will say the beast will throw everything at you to allure him, to allure you into worshiping him through wealth and comfort and safety and security until you see Jesus for who he is, it will never be enough. Things will still occupy that place in your heart.
Darren:People will still occupy that space in your heart that only Jesus should occupy. So he's given this perspective of Jesus and now we're gonna see what he sees. And you know that he's he's writing theologically because 5 to 800 references in 404 verses of the book of, Revelation are about the Old Testament. So we can't understand the last book of the Bible until we understand the first section of the Old Testament. Are you with me?
Darren:Somebody commented and don't worry, it doesn't bother me too much, but we get negative comments all the time. I like to read the Google reviews occasionally, and on our YouTube channel, someone was like scholarly, they commented. So if you're listening right now, whoever you are, in love, I wanna suggest that you can read the book of revelation with faith, but you won't understand the message without some helpful teaching. That's why we have teachers. There were always teachers teaching the word of God and when they referred to scripture in the new testament, they're referring to the old testament.
Darren:So you had people who understood the old testament and interpreted the events of Jesus in light of the old testament and preached about Jesus. Do you understand? We need gifted anointed educated teachers. K. That's a freebie.
Darren:Actually, that was just for me. Typing it back to send. Verse 12. Let's get refocused. It's a strange world we live in.
Darren:I I just did a a talk for midweek with a bunch of leaders who asked me to teach on the heart of a pastor. And I I would say to them that there's no harder time to be a pastor than right now. That we've grown up a generation of church people that think they can speak and live with their words being heard and validated if they've shown up for a moment and think they can critique anything that's happening here without recognizing the years of sacrifice and prayer that have gone on to these events. We just walk walk around as a Yelp generation thinking our voice matters. I'm I'm a pastor.
Darren:I'm a part of the processional of patriarchs from Genesis to like to be a leader in the church is not to join a platform or to have fame. That's not why we're doing we're doing it because we're called, and lord Jesus, please don't follow anyone that's not called. And the expectation should be holy and blameless and moving towards Christ, not just on stage, but in the home with their staff when things aren't going well. And it's not a good time to be a pastor because everyone wants you to be an expert on politics, to be an expert on cultural issues, an expert on social media, expert on every generation, on mental health, on they expect all of that and you have to be a good parent at the same time and have a perfect wedding or marriage and you could have no problems and you can't talk about money too much, but you gotta talk about a little bit because you're running programs. You can't be too big or too small and there's a 1,000 expectations.
Darren:John doesn't give a rip about any of that, so I don't either. All right, I feel better. Let's get back to Jesus. Verse 12, listen to what he says. This is so profound.
Darren:You ready? I love this. You ready? Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. It's cheaper than therapy.
Darren:There you go. It's not. It's it's expensive. I turned around. Okay.
Darren:Here it is. Oh, this is I want you to think of this phrase. Ready? I turned around to see the voice. The voice behind John is a reminder that God often approaches us from unexpected directions, calling us to turn and see reality as it truly is.
Darren:That's Eugene Pearson. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me and when I turned, I saw 7 golden lamp stands and among the lamp stands among the lamp stands was someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was was white as wool was like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
Darren:In his right hand, he held 7 stars and coming out of his mouth was a sharp double edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. Read it literally. He has his sword. This is this is language drenched in theology.
Darren:He's grasping for ideas to make sense of the image he has. John's vision begins with an external call emphasizing that revelation is not merely subjective, but did a divine intervention in history. That's from Craig Coaster. You put that slide up. I think it's up.
Darren:Okay. There it is. He says someone like a son of man. Now this is drawing from Daniel chapter 7 and you have to go there. So go to the old Testament, go to Daniel chapter 7, another, a prophet of the old Testament.
Darren:He was held captive in Babylon. We know Daniel, he's the one that, redeems an empire one meal at a time. Remember he's not gonna eat from the king's table. He holds back from the food that was sacrificed to idols. And so he remains faithful to the covenant of God.
Darren:They throw him into the lion's den, but he has this vision verse 13 of chapter 7. And it says this, Daniel chapter 7. I'll give you time because you're like, where is it? Okay. Daniel, Isaiah, Jose, 1st Peter, go back Matthew, where, Jeremiah.
Darren:Sorry, there's a table of contents. You can use that. I'll take time. There's no Hey, I mean that sincerely, if you got, if you brought your Bibles, I'll give you time to find it. You can circle what you read today.
Darren:Verse 13, in my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a son of man. So when John writes like a son of man, we immediately go back in time to Daniel. And this is a prophetic word from the book of Daniel, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached me. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
Darren:He was given authority, glory, sovereign power, all nations, which nations, all nations and peoples in every language worshiped him. His dominion, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Daniel was talking about Jesus. And so John uses this phrase that would be electrifying in the ancient nearest culture. It was a very prestigious word.
Darren:If you use that word yourself, one scholar says, it would be arrogant and prideful. But Richard Bauchamps says the title son of man in revelation emphasizes Jesus's role as the ultimate judge and ruler, embodying divine authority over what all creation. GK Beal, another great theologian on the book of, revelation says the imagery of the son of man in rev revelation connects Jesus with this divine figure promised in Daniel who inaugurates God's, eternal kingdom. So what we see in the book of revelation is the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the preexisting heavenly, heavenly being who comes to establish God's kingdom and it will never be destroyed.
Darren:Is that good news? Okay. There's a lot of theology. I'm gonna keep going for the sake of time. Where is the glorified Jesus?
Darren:Throne. Not on the throne. Not here. Where is he? What?
Darren:Among the lampstand. Among the lampstands. Oh, this is The lampstands we'll read next week. The lampstands are the churches. Where's Jesus find himself right now?
Darren:He's not above. He's not in front. He's not on the outside looking in. He is right in the middle, right in the middle of the church. Think about that.
Darren:What image do you have of the glorified Jesus? You see throne, you see distance, he is right in the middle. He knows what you're going through. Do you hear the language? It's not just absent.
Darren:It's in the middle of the churches. He's right in the middle of the chaos, right in the middle of the suffering, right in the middle of the body that's still not healed from COVID 2 weeks ago, right in the middle of the back pain, right in the hospital bed with you, right at the dentist chair as they're ripping it out, and it causes all sorts of fear. He's with you. You keep crying out for help. He's right there.
Darren:Do you see how the image of Jesus changes the perspective of the crisis? You don't need a program. You need the right Jesus in your head. John describes Jesus and now he's gonna draw from all this old Testament language. He's gonna use Exodus.
Darren:He's gonna use Daniel. He'll use Ezekiel. He'll still rob Roman propaganda. He'll take Hellenistic folk religion and make an astrology and make it about Jesus because he's making statements about what this Jesus is like that would have been understood in the 1st century context. It says he's dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet.
Darren:This is a very specific old testament description of Aaron's robe. Why? Because Jesus is our priest. Jesus is dressed like the high priest, but he also has And by the way, the word priest in the Latin Pontifex means bridge builder. The the Yeah.
Darren:We are supposed to be a kingdom of priests. All of you who have said yes to Jesus, you have said yes to standing in the gap, to standing in the gap. On one side is fallen humanity and the broken people around you. On the other side is the kingdom of heaven where life is going in the first place, and you stand in the gap going, come on people. Jesus, come on.
Darren:And you hold. You hold together the broken, the hurting, and the not yet reality of this world with the coming reality of God's inaugurated kingdom. Who is the ultimate priest? Jesus, who models that life we do. In church, it's time for intercessors to wake up.
Darren:It's the role of the intercessor to stand on behalf of the church. They they are the ones advancing before the rest of us. They're discerning in their intuitive spirit what's coming and they call the church forward, not to action and activation, but into the presence of God to be who god's called us to be. As I'm preaching this word about intercessors, some of your hearts are on fire right now because it's in you. You you know there's a generation on your heart.
Darren:There's a people on your heart. There's a geographical region on your heart. And when someone says intercessors, your heart is quickened. That's the holy spirit. He's wanting you to stand up and be the intercessor.
Darren:We need intercessors covering our church. Stand up right now. Stand up. Stand up. Intercessors.
Darren:Hold yeah. Hold no. Wait. Wait. Hold your hands out.
Darren:Yes. Holy spirit. Lord, you extend a hand. Holy spirit, release the intercessors. Release intercession, Jesus.
Darren:These these prayer warriors who are doing battles in the quiet space, in their alone time, who are drawing from heaven's resources into this present moment of darkness. Release the intercessors, Lord. May you give them visions and dreams. May they wake up in the middle of the night praying in tongues with scripture on their hearts to cover the move of God that's coming to Southern California. Release the intercessors in Jesus name.
Darren:Amen. Thank you so much. We're getting we're getting some work done today. You don't need the email to get organized. You need the spirit of God to strategize and focus your prayer.
Darren:Get intentional with your prayer, intercessors. You you zero in on that bulls that he puts on your heart and you just keep beating that drum until the water flows, till the fire comes. I gosh, I'm not gonna get through this. I'm just gonna skip a bunch of stuff. He's wearing a golden sash that's if you wear a, if you wear a belt around your waist in 1st century context, you're going to work.
Darren:You put that belt up high, it's finished. Isn't that good? Not just any belts, a gold sash. That's a kingly, that's a kingly dress. He's he's, you know, you, you wear clothes to say something whether you do this or not.
Darren:If you don't care, you're saying I don't care. If you really care, you're saying I really care. We all project an image unintentionally and intentionally. This is a very intentional image. He is the high priest and the king who's accomplished all things.
Darren:Oh, the hair on his head is white like wool, white likes. No, that's a demonstration of Jesus as wisdom, connecting him to the ancient of days in Daniel, but also talking about the eternal nature of God himself. His eyes blazing like fire. It's the fire that purifies his eyes, penetrate the masks we wear burning away all the things that are impure, His feet like bronze, tying us to Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's dream that Jesus's feet are like the furnace strong, stable enduring because he stands on an unshakable kingdom of God. His right hand holds the 7 stars, symbol of him having authority over all creation, over all the powers who claim patrol, who claim control.
Darren:Here's a great quote from, Daryl Johnson. He says in the 1st century mind, the 7 stars will be clearly referred to the 7 planets known at the time. People thought that all of life was under the sway and control of those planets. People anxiously consulted astrology tables. The Roman emperors understood this and so asserted their supposed cosmic rule by surrounding the throne, their actual throne with images of stars and planets.
Darren:In Greek religion, the goddess, Hecate held the stars and calls herself the beginning and the end in Greek literature. So the counter image, the alternate vision, the 7 stars are in Jesus' right hand. Hecate does not have the stars. Caesar does not have the stars. Jesus has the stars.
Darren:The planets do not control anyone. Jesus controls them. The stars do not run life. Jesus does. The son of man is the lord of the cosmos.
Darren:The universe is held together by and in him. Can I get an amen? Amen. Let's keep going. The sharp double edged sword from his mouth.
Darren:This is so fascinating. His words cut through lies and darkness, establishing truth and righteousness. William Barclay notes that in John's use of this specific sword, there were many different kinds of swords. This was the kind of blade that was meant for up close fighting really close hand to hand combat. What's it saying that Jesus is coming right up next to you?
Darren:This is not from distance. This is really closed. And Eugene Peterson says, Christ's words are not limp. They cut through willful resistance, divide good from evil, overcome rebellion and establish righteousness. His face shining like the sun in all its brilliance.
Darren:The greatest blessing imaginable in the entire old testament was that, his face would shine upon you. This is the blessing from numbers and it's the risen and exalted Lord who turns his purity towards his people, not to crush them, but to free us and to shine light on us. You see it? What's John's reaction to this vision of Jesus? When I saw him, I felt his feet as though dead.
Darren:Right? That makes sense. Point of view. What do you do when you encounter the living Jesus? What do you do when you come into a place that honors the presence of God?
Darren:Is it sacred for you in your heart and your preparation, or is it just like everything else in your life? Casual, comfortable and made for you. John lays down, he is in awe, he's already been worshiping in the spirit, but now he has an encounter with God and he puts his place, he puts himself in the right place, he lays down dead. That vision of him laying down dead is the word worship by the way. He's in awe, he lays down and then it says this verse 17, then he placed his hand on me and said, do not be afraid.
Darren:I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead and now look, I'm alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death in Hades, the very thing that is terrifying the church I have. Right therefore what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
Darren:The mystery of the 7 stars that you saw in your right hand and the 7 golden lampstands is this, the 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches and the 7 lampstands are the 7 churches. And we're gonna get those 7 messages with the rest of revelation over the next several weeks. So he sees Jesus and Jesus isn't some image that you can't come close to. He reaches out and touches his head and and in the Greek he says, stop being afraid. Stop being afraid.
Darren:Stop being afraid. I was dead and now I hold the keys of death. This revelation of Jesus changes everything. Now I wanna make something clear cause I think it's important to get this in your imagination. Okay.
Darren:He says the 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches. Now there's 4 different perspectives on this. 1 is a metaphor. Metaphor means the stars of the angel represents the ethos of the local church. The other, translation is that the angels, because the word angel means messenger represents the leaders of that local church, write this to the 7 churches, to the 7 angels, the leaders of each local church with John knew the local churches and the leaders.
Darren:Others think that the translation of angel is symbolic, it represents a spiritual state of the church. But I wanna suggest you based on most of my research and the scholarly opinions that I agree with on this interpretation of all of Revelation is how the word angels use for the rest of the book and how the word angels use in almost all of the old Testament, the word angel is talking about a spiritual being that is in and for and above and with and working to empower every local church. That we have heavenly beings that are committed commissioned by Jesus to be providing oversight and empowerment for a garden church. What does that do to you? Have you ever thought about that?
Darren:Like, you're like, I wanna judge the church by how the pastor made me feel by its website, by the availability of the pastors, by how great the worship set is or how, you know, how much space I have to worship, the timing of the services, I want 20 minute worship, 30 minute talk and I wanna be done in an hour. Have you thought about the supernatural realm that is here? That's present when the people of god are here, that there are principalities of sunset, Surfside, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Long Beach, Southern California that are angry at us. Maybe they're angry at you. I know they're angry at me.
Darren:I know they're angry at my wife. I know they're angry at some of you because we're playing team lamb, baby. Some of you are here saying amen and hallelujah, but you just go home to team beast. I know. Let's let's chop it up and get viral legs, whatever.
Darren:You need to get this in your heart. So all to say, he speaks with this powerful perspective and the purpose is not to get caught up in angelic visions or not to like seek the angels. The point is that there is a power given to the local church and we need to remain faithful to the mission, to the lampstand we've been handed. We'll talk about that next week. There's a story from the early church that captures this transformation that takes place when you really see Jesus.
Darren:I I love church history. It should encourage us. History is so important right now, more than ever before. We need to be students of history. We need to study empires and understand the the way empires end as we head into another Babylon that could fall.
Darren:You're not gonna like what revelation talks about when it comes to Babylon. You know, it's not just Rome, it's that there have been Babylons throughout history. There will be Babylons in the future. There are these great cities and empires that use military power and wealth and technology to displace the presence of God, to draw people into worshiping their leaders. This is all what revelation is about, which is why we're teaching on it.
Darren:But there was a story in the early, 2nd century and I love this story because it's a disciple of John, the author of revelation, a young man who took over leading the church in Smyrna, a church we're gonna read about in a couple of weeks. He became the Bishop of that area of Smyrna at the time he planted lots of churches after John passed, he was leading in the 2nd century and during the time there was a great persecution as there was for the 1st 300 years of the church, church life, a man named Polycarp, that's who I'm talking about. Polycarp was arrested and he was brought before the Roman authorities in the story of Polycarp is he was warned that the Romans were coming to arrest him, but he didn't leave. And when the Roman guards came to arrest him, he offered them hospitality as it was commanded from the apostles that when people come, even if they're your captors provide hospitality. So he made a meal for them and they said, would you give me some time to pray?
Darren:And he didn't pray for 5 minutes. He went upstairs and prayed for a couple of hours then came back down and said, take me away. So he goes to meet with the Roman authorities. They they send him in this mini coliseum and they demand that he deny Jesus and swear allegiance to Caesar or face execution and he said this famous line, 86 years, I've served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme the king and my savior?
Darren:So Polycarp stood in the arena with the crowd shouting for his death. He was given one last chance to recant, but Balikar has a vision of Jesus as history tells us. He had encountered the reality of the risen Jesus. And in the vision, it says that, the vision gave him courage to face the flames of death. And according to tradition, his body did not burn on the stake.
Darren:It was untouched by the fires that they tried to burn him. So this is the story of church history where they'll try to light him on fire and his body is not consumed. And while the fire is going, flames are flowing. It says his face was filled with peace. And even as the fires rose around him, Polycarp praise God saying, I bless you father for judging me worthy of this hour.
Darren:So in the company of the martyrs, I may share the cup of Christ. Flames didn't consume him, so they had to stab him to death. Here's an image we have of that drawing. This is from the sick, the 1600. Polycarp was stack of wood.
Darren:His body didn't burn. All the people saw, they heard a voice from heaven in the arena saying, play the man, which is the word in Greek courageous. Be courageous. Polycarp's death was fueled by a vision of Jesus. He would have received the letter of revelation when he was leading Smyrna.
Darren:He would have received, a letter where it says these words of him, who is the 1st and last who died and came to life again, I know your afflictions and your, and your poverty, yet you are rich. I know about the slander. I know that you serve, people serve in the synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid. He's one of the few churches in Smyrna that doesn't have something against him.
Darren:Ephesus has forgotten their first love. Smyrna remained faithful. What empowered his death? It was when he was living, he lived for Jesus. The invitation is not to learn how to die for Jesus.
Darren:The invitation is to learn how to live for Jesus today. So I have 3 points and we'll end with this. You good? Number 1, stop being afraid. Why do you continue to live with such fear in your life?
Darren:Why do you live with such insecurity and uncertainty every time crisis comes? What he took on death has been overcome. So he's victorious over all things that you will face. We don't need to fear Nero or Demetian. We don't need to fear prison or harassment.
Darren:We don't need to fear rejection. We don't need to fear misunderstanding. We don't need to fear financial loss. We don't need to fear criticism even on Google review, we don't need to fear sickness, we don't need to fear loss, we don't need to fear death. So as far as the fear goes, it goes away and we hold on to the Jesus.
Darren:Why? Because I turned around to see a voice and he was among the lampstands. Jesus is not far away from you today. He's right here. If you make yourself open to him, you keep begging for him to show up.
Darren:Maybe it's time to humble yourself and say, I'm here now. That's great. Because you're never here. You're always somewhere else. You give him a second of your attention saying, will you come?
Darren:But you don't prepare the table to host the divine. The glorified Jesus walks into the room. Will you receive him? Do you have an accurate vision of Jesus in this opening revelation? This first unveiling, Jesus is declaring that he's overcome all these things.
Darren:You need to have a clear vision, a refined imagination. You need to see life in light of the future so that you can live for Jesus now and unto death. And it starts with the accurate vision of Jesus. Is he an absentee landlord? Is he an angry dad waiting to disappoint and not show up?
Darren:There's all these false images we have of God that we carry around. And the first invitation in the book of of revelation is to get the right picture of God in your heart and head. Good? Yeah. The last thing, let's come back to that thing.
Darren:I said, we'll come back to you. What do you do in crisis? When everything's working against you? Have you trained yourself in and out of seasons? Have you prepared yourself for when things are going well?
Darren:How to live when suffering comes? Cause you are promised persecution and suffering. Revelation 1:10 says, on the Lord's day, I was in the spirit. It's his day. What aligned for the church today.
Darren:John is worshiping in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was in no doubt about this praying for his churches, praying to God. And on Sunday morning, which was his ritual, he encounters the holy spirit and it leads him to a vision of Jesus. This day is Jesus's day. This is not a day for sport activity.
Darren:Is this a day for the lord or is this the day for you to catch up on your chores? Is this a day in our modern context of church for you to have a Sabbath? Meaning, you time. This is his day. And for 2000 years, no matter what, we gather as the people of god to come and worship the resurrected Christ even when we don't feel like it, Even when we're busy, even when the work week is filled and the chores didn't happen, we submit to his day because we're training ourselves in a rhythm, in a ritual so that when crisis comes, we don't opt out of the rhythm or ritual.
Darren:We run right to it. I see so often when things get hard, we pull back from community. We pull back from the willingness to be vulnerable in the pain, to be vulnerable with our weakness, to be vulnerable in our suffering. We wanna do it alone because that's what the world has taught us. John's teaching us.
Darren:It's his day. Is it a day of going back and forth to the soccer and baseball and water polo or dance meet? Is it a day for you to watch as the football season starts? Look, we got 4 services. There's that's a commodity.
Darren:Right? That's like you come at your own desire, but is it his day in your life? Have you raised your children, parents, in a household that commits to his day? Set your children know that no, no, no, no, no. This is what we do.
Darren:This isn't this isn't a chore. This is a privilege. John in the middle of a crisis had already been formed by a weekly rhythm of worship. So he was amening and hallelujah all by himself. And as a result of his amening and hallelujah all by himself, book of revelation.
Darren:How many more works will be written because you learned amen and hallelujah by yourself? How many more moves of God will we see in our lifetime for just a few to take seriously what it means to get in the spirit even when you don't feel like it. Should we pray? Alright. Would you all stand?
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