Bible Passage: Revelation 1:12-18
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: April 24, 2022

Bulletin April 24, 2022

When the Risen Jesus Comes Up Behind You

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, the risen Jesus,

$2.16.  That is what it will cost you for a ticket to enter the “Grotto of the Apocalypse.” The what?  The “Grotto of the Apocalypse” is on the Greek island of Patmos.  Patmos is where the apostle John had been exiled by the Roman government as punishment for preaching the good news of Jesus.  Patmos is where John received the vision that is preserved for us as the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.  And on the island of Patmos there is a cave called the Grotto of the Apocalypse where tradition holds that John saw the risen Lord Jesus in our text today.

Now, I don’t know if the cave that will cost you $2.16 to see is really where Jesus came up behind John.  And that isn’t really important.  What is important, though, is that we might be comforted the same way John was When the Risen Jesus Came Up Behind Him.

It was a Sunday on Patmos when the risen Jesus came up behind John.  John says he was in the Spirit (Revelation 1:10) when this happened.  This means John was in a state in which the Holy Spirit was going to give him a vision.  It was in this state that John heard behind him a voice, loud and attention-getting as a trumpet blast!  The voice told him to write what he is about to see and send it to the seven churches of Asia Minor.  He spins around to see who is talking to him.

And then he gets a look at who has come up behind him!  He looks like a son of man (v. 13).  Which is to say it looked like a male human being.  He was clothed in a robe that went down to his feet.  And he had a sash wrapped around waist/chest area.  He was standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks.  His whole head and hair were a dazzling white and his face was radiating light like that of the noonday sun.  His eyes looked like two pilot-lights.  His voice rumbled like Niagara Falls.  And his feet were glowing bronze, like liquified metal taken out of a blast furnace in a foundry.   In his right hand he held seven stars.  And he’s armed!  A sharp, two-sided long sword was coming out of his mouth!  This is who came up behind John!

What do you do when such a one surprises you from behind?  What do you do when you find yourself in the presence of a being so holy and pure even his hair shows it?  What do you do when you find yourself in the presence of One so glorious his face could illuminate a solar system?  What do you do when you find yourself in the presence of a being so powerful and mighty his legs can only be compared to metal?  What do you do when you find yourself in the presence of a being whose eyes can burn a hole right through you and see into your soul?  What do you do when the one who comes up behind you shakes the ground when he talks?  What do you do when the one who comes up behind you draws a sword, not out of a scabbard, but out of his mouth?  John tells us what he did:  When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. (v. 17)  He collapses, a man undone.

God is scary to us sinful, mortal beings.  His attributes frighten us.  His holiness makes us feel our own unholiness.  His other-worldly glory makes me realize I am dust.  His power makes me nervous.  His all-seeing eyes multiply feelings of guilt within me.  I tremble at the sword coming from his mouth, because I fear with it he will cut me down to size.  The Bible is filled with examples of people who were scared of God.  Adam admitted why he tried to run away from God in the garden, “I was afraid…so I hid.” (Genesis 2:10).  The Israelites at Mt. Sinai said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen.  But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” (Exodus 20:19)  When Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord on the throne, he said, “I’m dead…I’ve seen God!”  At the miraculous catch of fish, Peter has this moment of realization and says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!”  (Luke 5:8)  And there are many other examples of this fear of God.  Have you ever been afraid of God?

John is lying there like a dead man.  And Jesus comes to him, and reaches out his right hand, and gently touches him, like a mother waking her child.  And then Jesus uses that sword from his mouth.  But it doesn’t hurt!  It is a good cut!  Jesus uses it to cut away John’s fear!  Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last – the Living One.  I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! (v. 17-18)  Notice what Jesus calls attention to – his death and resurrection!  That is what makes fear go away!  That is what makes God not scary!  Here is God’s Son who diverted God’s frightful anger for sin and his ferocious punitive justice onto himself on the cross, and softened the heart of God.  The evidence God has accepted Jesus’ death for us is the rising of Jesus from the dead!  The risen Jesus is God’s “gentle touch” on all us terrified and dead sinners.  The risen Jesus is God’s great, “Don’t be afraid” to humanity.

Notice what else Jesus calls attention to.  I also hold the keys of death and hell. (v. 18)  To have the keys is to control access.  If I am the only one with the key to the lock on that door, I control who goes in and who goes out.  Here the risen Jesus proclaims his power over death and hell!  And is there anything that frightens people more than death?  Isn’t that what scares people most about the war in Ukraine?  People are dying.  What if it escalates?  What if it becomes nuclear?  That scares people because they are afraid to die.  What so scared people about COVID?  Wasn’t it death?  The fear that someone they love would die?  The fear that maybe I will die? But here stands the risen Jesus and says, “Don’t be afraid!  I’ve got the keys!”

One of the saddest parts of funerals is when the casket is closed for the final time and a funeral director walks to the end of the casket and they insert what is called the “casket key.”  They turn this key a number of times until the casket is locked up tight.  Friends, Jesus has the real “casket key.”  One day he will open our caskets and open our graves and glorify this dust so it is fit to stand and gaze upon God’s unveiled glory for an eternity!

Friends, this is what happens when the risen Jesus comes!  Fear of God can go away!  Fear of death can go away!  Fear of hell can go away!  This is the power of those words spoken by the risen Jesus, “Do not be afraid.” 

Amen.

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