Series: The
Stained Glass Series
October 16, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught
a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to
destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders,
went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the
steerman, at his post holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning
the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. Then,
the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: "I have seen
the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well." In such a simple way, with such the simple
gesture of a smile, the pilot of that storm caught ship provided comfort not
only for that daring passenger, but for all the passengers on that ship. Well just like those passengers found comfort
in that smiling steerman, so also we find our comfort in Jesus Christ our
Savior. In fact, this is the very comfort
that the Lord Jesus proclaims to us through the Apostle John in our lesson today!
Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to
open your bibles and take a look at the words that Jesus brings to us through
John his Apostle in Revelation 1. Now, I
don’t know about you but I love looking up the book of Revelation because it is
one of the easiest to find since it is the last book of the Bible, so I often
tease my Confirmation class that if they cannot find Revelation they fail my
class. Now, the thing I love about this
book is the comfort that the Lord bestows on his people at the end of the 1st
Century AD. It was the early 90’s and
the Roman government was turning on the Christians. In some cases the persecution was nothing
more than mild announces because people didn’t like the Christians. In some cases the persecution was more
difficult as Christians were being brought to economic ruin because they were
viewed as untrustworthy, security risks and un-hirable for the good of the
empire, while in other cases, especially in Rome, the Christians were being fed
to lions in the coliseum simply because they believed in Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Savior and would not acknowledge the Roman Emperor as a god.
Thus, Jesus speaks to all his people through these
words of John in our lesson today: “The
revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must
soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2
who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus Christ. 3 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, because
the time is near. 4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace
and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the
seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made
us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and
power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every
eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth
will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the
Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the
Almighty.”(Revelation 1:1–8, NIV84)
With such simple and beautiful words, the Apostle
John lays out the Savior’s greatest comfort both to the people of his day as
well as to you and me. For with these
words John is assuring each and every believer that no matter what situation we
might be facing, no matter what hardships, no matter what frustrations or
persecutions, we are at peace with God through the comfort that is ours through
the forgiveness of sins. Just take a
look at those beautiful words that John write in verses 4-6: “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and
who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the
dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and
priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and
ever!” (Revelation 1:4-6, NIV84)
In three simple verses John reminds us of the very
things that we have been studying in detail for the last 10 or 11 weeks. He reminds us how Jesus came to the earth to
be our Savior. He reminds us that it was
Jesus who gathered up all our sins in the same way that we are right now
working in our yards to gather up all the leaves that are falling from the
trees. But unlike the way that we have
to continually go back and rake or mow to get the majority of the leaves
without ever getting all of them, it was Jesus who collected every single one
of our sins at one time. He loaded those
sins in the bags of his forgiveness and carried them with him to the bonfire of
the cross where he threw them in and burned them up even as he suffered the
very flames of hell in our place. It was
this Jesus who not only cried out “It is Finished!” to assure us that he had
completely forgiven all of our sins through his innocent suffering and his
death, but it was also this Jesus who was raised to life again on the third day
to assure us that we had been completely acquitted of all our sins. We had been completely forgiven of all our
sins. Those sins that had been piled so
deeply in our hearts that they were beginning to rot and spoil our hearts; all
of them have been removed. Our hearts
have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus our Savior who has had mercy on us
and who freely pardons us, as Isaiah told us in our first lesson today! (Isaiah
55:6-9)
Yet this is not the only comfort we find in Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior! For as his
children, who have been washed clean by his blood, we have the great comfort
and assurance that he is the one who dwells among us and holds us in the palm
of his hand! Take a look at how the
Apostle John reveals this very truth to us in the next verses of our lesson
today: “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. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a
loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and
send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia and Laodicea.” 12 I turned around to see the voice that was
speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among
the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down
to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were
white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His
feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of
rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth
came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its
brilliance. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he
placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the
Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and
ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 “Write, therefore, what you
have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the
seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is
this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven
lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:9–20, NIV84)
With such beautiful words the Lord Jesus reveals
himself as the King of all kings who comforts his people with his
presence. Even though the Christians of
John’s day were undergoing persecution and suffering death for their beliefs,
John saw and reported that Jesus himself was dwelling in the midst of his
people. Jesus himself was the one whom
John saw, the one like a son of man who dwelt among the seven golden lamp
stands, which as verse 20 tells us were the seven churches to whom John was to
write. But not only was Jesus dwelling
among his people and his churches, he was also holding the seven stars, the
seven angels or messengers, or pastors of those congregations in the palm of
his hand. Even though the Christians
were dealing with hardships, persecutions and in some cases begin hunted down
and driven from their homes because of their beliefs, they could take comfort
in the knowledge that their Lord and Savior dwelt with them and was holding
them in his hands.
The same is true for you and me today! We can still find comfort in Jesus Christ our
Lord and Savior! Even though we are now
dealing with the beginnings of economic crisis that the experts warned us about
two or three years ago, we can still look to our Savior who has always provided
for us and will always provide for our needs.
Even as we’ve begun to feel the economic sting as it has affected our
jobs, our careers our industries, and our ability to find profitable employment
or even provide for our families, we can take comfort that the Lord our God,
Jesus Christ our Savior dwells among his people. Just as he promised his disciples before he
returned to heaven that he is with us always and will be with us even to the
very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20) We
can take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus our Savior is the living one! Though he was dead, he has risen from death
and now lives and reigns eternally.
Though he sacrificed his own life by throwing himself on us as the
mortar fire of sin and death rained down on us, he is the one who took back his
life. Even as we crawled out from under
his protecting arms knowing that there was no way he could have survived such
an attack, when we least expected it, he stirred. He stirred.
He stood up, and he revealed himself as the Son of God our Savior “Who
comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4,
NIV84) He comforts us with the
forgiveness of our sins. He comforts us
with the peace we have with our God through faith in Jesus as our Savior. He comforts us with the assurance that no
matter what we might face in this life, not only does he dwell among us, he
also holds us in his hands because we are his dear children.
Now, knowing the comfort that is ours through Jesus
Christ our Savior, it is our mission to carry the message of salvation with us
wherever we go! This is what the
believers did with the Word when the left Jerusalem. This is what Jesus told
his disciples to do when he told them that they would be his witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, as we
heard last week. (Acts 1:8) This is also what Jesus commanded us to do at his
ascension when he told us, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age.”(Matthew 28:18–20, NIV84)
What greater comfort could we carry with us than the
comfort that the Lord Jesus, our Savior, is with us always! He is the one who dwells among us. He is the one who holds us in the palm of his
hand. He is the one who goes with us
wherever we go. He is the one who helps
us in our weaknesses. He is the one who
protects us from harm and danger. He is
the one who gives us the words to speak when we are sharing our faith with
others and he is the one who protects us and is preparing a place for us. Could there be any greater comfort than the
comfort we receive from Jesus Christ our Savior who is and who was and who is
to come! This is the comfort that we
carry with us. No matter how stormy the
seas of our lives might be, Jesus is the pilot of the ship of our lives. Just as that daring passenger sought comfort
as he came to the wheel house, so also we find our comfort in Jesus Christ our
Savior. He is the one who has freed us
from our sins. He is the one who has
promised to be with us always. He is the
one who dwells among us and even holds us in the palm of his hand.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
