Brandywine Valley Baptist Church
7 Mt. Lebanon Road
Wilmington, DE  19803
302.478.4255
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Traditional Services at
McCrery's Auditorium
8:45 a.m.    10:00 a.m.

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the BVBC Gym
8:30 a.m.    10:00 a.m.
11:15 a.m.


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God's Prophetic Word (Revelation 1:1-3)
Pastor Bo
Sermon from May 16, 1999
Sermon from May 16, 1999
The fulfillment of the ages has come upon our generation (1 Corinthians 10:11). We the Church know that the world as we know it is coming to an end. It gives us pause to say so. We may well ask what it will come to, and whether it will end in destruction or in fulfillment. Thoughtful non-Christians may dispute whether it will end with a bang or a whimper. On the whole, the majority thinks it will end with a bang. They have a look in their eye and a nagging in their hearts that tell them it is so.

We with our nuclear weapons alone have the technology with which to do it in an afternoon. We entertain ourselves with fantasies of an earth-destroying comet or a global virus. Prophets of doom get a hearing nowadays. Even the restrained among us welcome a responsible word that might bring good tidings of the end of all things.

In this frame of mind we willingly turn for help and encouragement to a great gift of Christ and His Church to humanity. This gift speaks of the end of all things, not with despair but with hope. It is the book of Revelation, and its beautiful and beastly visions will never change, until the old heavens and the old earth themselves change, and God changes the fortunes of fallen humanity and His grievously used creation.

Revelation speaks about the end of all things as a way of helping the Church amid the sundry and manifold changes on its earthly journey to the end of all things. Humanity needs a vision of the end of all things. Revelation gives such a vision, and I call on you to grasp that vision with all your heart, as I labor with all my heart to expound it.

I had a professor once who said, "It is okay to build castles in the air; but when you try to move in, the psychiatrist collects the rent." Revelation has inspired many castles in the air, some of them fantastic testimony to the creative impulses of overheated imaginations. I do not say that to demean them. Overheated imaginations will always rank far above cold hearts, and even wild interpretations have kept the Church sensitive to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, as you try to grasp the vision of Revelation, don't try to rationalize it too much.

Very simply, Revelation is God's answer to the petition in the Lord's Prayer, which says, "Thy kingdom come." The interpretation of 666 is shaky or complicated or both. The New Jerusalem is rock-solid. To identify the woman dressed in purple and scarlet as the European Union may be said to be uncertain. To identify the rider on the white horse with the name King of kings and Lord of lords written on his robe and on his thigh (Revelation 19:16) as Jesus Christ, come to rule the earth, may be said to be quite certain. The question of whether the ancient sacrifices of Israel will be resumed in the Millennium will generate considerable debate. The invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb will generate considerable joy.

Revelation speaks to us of the end of all things with an appropriate gravity and an unexpected joy. That gravity and joy make themselves felt in its startling, opening chapter, which introduces us to Christ, the towering figure in whose hand rests the destiny of all nations and the destiny of the Church, the multicolored crocus which has sprung up all over the old creation to announce the coming of Eternal Spring. It is time we began our reading. Let us read with appropriate gravity and with appropriate joy.

The book receives its title from its opening words. Revelation 1:1 says, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. We are dealing with a revelation. Right away, we feel a tension between the ordinary meaning of that word and what may have been our experience when reading this book. A revelation makes things clear. The book of Revelation seems anything but clear.

Its contents do lack clarity in one way, but in another way they give clarity to life itself. The lack of clarity comes mostly from the unfamiliar. At times John wrote down strange visions that he had seen, and we do not know what they mean. Revelation has a lot of that. As Christ helps me and as you have a willing heart, I think I can make you feel more at home in this book, which Christ has given to the Church for times like ours.

Without any help from me, the clarity of Revelation will prove itself to anyone who simply reads its story as a brilliant fantasy. Resist the impulse to analyze everything, allow the different parts to have their say, follow the story line to the very end, and the story that Revelation has told will come through clearly. You will also know that it has told a good story, and you will discover why Christianity has shaped all the best stories of Western Civilization. The ending of Revelation says, in effect, "And they lived happily ever after." Read to enjoy. Be patient with the details. The opening three verses weave a seven-fold strand that will further our enjoyment of and patience with this revelation.

This revelation had its genesis in God. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. It was God's to create, and it was God's to give. So, it is worth reading patiently, because it provides us with access to the purposes in the heart of our Creator. It is worth reading its happy ending with joy, because it is His happy ending. He makes it happy, because He rules sovereignly despite and through and over all that opposes Him.
The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
     he thwarts the purposes of the people.
But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
     the purposes of his heart through all generations (Psalm 33:10-11)

God created this revelation, but He did not implement it. He gave that task to someone else. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. This act does not seem to mean that God informed Jesus of this revelation, but that He entrusted Him with it to carry it out. So, if Revelation gives the answer to the petition in the Lord's Prayer, which says, "Thy kingdom come," then God is the One who designed a way for His kingdom to come on earth, and Jesus Christ will build that way in this world. To do that involves us. So, first, Christ had to show his servants what must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John. If you have an interest in angels, Revelation is your book. You will read about many of them here, but none of them will remind you of the angels on "Touched by an Angel." The angels of Revelation make strong men fall down prostrate and risk blasphemy. One of these mighty creatures made know to John the revelation that God had given to Jesus Christ.

We do not know how he did that. That is, we do not know whether John had dreams or came into an ecstatic state of mind or found himself inspired as great poets are inspired. Revelation does not concern itself with the human psychology involved. John wrote out what the angel had made known to him. As you will see, John wrote with great skill and care. These 22 chapters have about them an artistry that matches the splendid themes of John's visions.

So John wrote down the revelation that he had received, but he did not deliver it. Verse 3 says, Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy. We might think that John was talking about anyone who read Revelation, until we read the rest of verse 3. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it. That gives the distinct impression that one person whom John charged to do so read Revelation to a group of people who had assembled to hear him read. Remember, they had no printing presses. Additional copies would have to be turned out by hand. Reading aloud when the church had gathered to worship offered the quickest way possible to expose the maximum number of people to what John wrote.

However, hearing did not complete the process. John wrote. Someone read. The congregation listened, and the congregation had one more responsibility. Verse 3 says, Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it. Isn't that a lovely word picture: take it to heart. Take what Revelation gives right into the center of what you love. Allow it to make a home there and to modify what you presently love and your love for others and your love for God. If you are willing to take to heart what we hear in the months that lie ahead, we may well become a noticeably different church in noticeably important ways.

Still we have not unwoven all the strands that hold our joy and patience together. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it. Who does the blessing? God does it, who created the revelation in the first place. For the first time but not the last in the book of Revelation God begins something and God ends it.

1) God created the revelation. 2) He gave it to His Son. 3) His Son sent an angel to make the revelation known to John. 4) John wrote down what he saw. 5) At John's bidding someone read what he had written to the Church. 6) The Church was to take to heart what they heard. 7) God would bless him who read and those who took it to heart. The book of Revelation will show clearly what God's blessing will be. We too will be blessed when we take to heart what is written here.

But what is written here? Verses 1-3 give us several clues about this revelation. First of all, it has to do with human events near at hand. Verse 1says that Christ must show his servants what must soon take place. Verse 3 says, Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Two questions engage us here. The first asks, "The time for what?" "What must soon take place?" Verses 1-3 do not answer this question. The answer requires a better foundation. We need to wait; but clearly, when Revelation first appeared, it had an urgency, which at first it does not seem to have for us. That brings us to our other question.

Do the words the time is near have any application to us? Does the book of Revelation have to do with human events that are near at hand for us? Can I responsibly say to you, "Yes, it does!"? I want to answer this before we stop today, but my answer will make more sense if we hear what else verses 1-3 say about this revelation.

First, it has to do with human events, near at hand. Second, these human events are somehow bound up with the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Jesus made this revelation known by sending his angel to his servant John who testifies to everything he saw – that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (v. 2).

Third, John calls what he wrote a prophecy. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy (v. 3). In the Bible, true prophets, above all else, speak in such a way as to reveal the divine meaning of human events. Whatever John meant exactly by the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, he meant that they would interpret the divine meaning of those human events that were near at hand for his listeners, including those events that are near at hand for us.

We think of prophecy and think of predicting the future. We do well to think that. We go wrong in thinking that predicting the future means something like reading tomorrow's headlines today. Revelation predicts the future in that it tells us how the story is going to end, but it does so in a way that baffles every effort to name names and set dates. I will not do that, and I hope that you will follow my example.

Biblical prophecy has one more feature. It requires a response from us to what it reveals. It calls for a decision whose consequences reach far into our habits of mind and into our lifestyles. Our decision will also reach into the life of our culture and ultimately into the whole world. Revelation has a breath-taking perspective on humanity and on the Church's impact on humanity.

Biblical prophecy reveals the divine meaning of human events. It tells how the story is going to end. It requires a response to what it reveals about the divine meaning of the events of our lives. Does the book of Revelation have to do with human events that are near at hand for us? Can I responsibly say to you, "Yes, it does"?

Something frightening was about to happen to the first churches that received this prophecy. In places it had already begun to happen. Has something of the same kind already begun to happen to the churches of North America that hear this prophecy? I say that it has. The thing that was just beginning to reach the ancient congregations who first heard Revelation was frightening, because it promised to overwhelm them with pain. The thing that is just beginning to reach congregations in North America is frightening, because it promises to overwhelm us with unparalleled freedom and unprincipled pleasure.

In our generation God is leading the church of North America into a test, which is also a temptation by the devil, just as He led our Lord into the perilous desert test, which was a temptation by the devil. The test is this: Can we Christians be people of integrity in a culture where we are free to do anything we can get away with? The fire for Christians in the West is staying true to Jesus Christ when around us all allurements entice when no one is watching. The only answer to the test will be the answer of our lives. Revelation gives a crucial perspective on this test.

It teaches us to see in the corrupting of our liberty the hand of the great dragon that was hurled down out of heaven – that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray (Revelation 12:9). He has given his servants power to make war against the Church (Revelation 13:7). The apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians, in 6:11, interprets this warfare precisely. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We should expect to find the enemy waiting for us in our uses of power and knowledge, money and sex, entertainment and, supremely, suffering and its meaning. The prophetic word of God in the book of Revelation speaks to us about that battle and its meaning for the salvation of the world and our unique role in it. "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" (Mark 4:23-25).
Last Published: March 14, 2007 6:55 PM
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