Revelation 1:4-18 Sermon

The Second Sunday of Easter

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

  

Easter Revelations: He Holds the Keys

Revelation 1:4-18

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 peoples on 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." 9 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 The hair on his head was 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 coming out of his mouth was 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 now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (NIV)

He had imagined how cool it would be to pick up his prom date in his dad’s sports car, certainly much cooler than the old family minivan which had as its claim to fame being easy to spot in a parking lot from long distances away – and not for any good reasons (he always thought it was odd that his dad could somehow be so proud of both vehicles, but for completely different reasons).  Sure, his date would be pretty impressed with the sports car, and he would be on cloud nine showing up at prom to be seen by all of his friends with such a ride, but his dad would never let him drive it – not in a million years.

At least that’s what he thought, until his dad knocked, cracked open the door of his room, and poked his hand in, dangling the keys – not keys to a minivan, mind you – but the keys to his pride and joy, his sports car.  “Be careful, take good care of it, and don’t do anything stupid,” his dad said.  Then he tossed him the keys and shut the door.  Those keys meant everything to him.  They were the difference between his showing up at prom and being the butt of everyone’s jokes, or being the envy of all the other guys.  Those keys were a big deal.

But when Jesus revealed to John that he held keys of his own, he wasn’t speaking of car keys.  Yes, car keys, like the keys Jesus holds, will allow you to get from one point to another, but car keys will never allow the kind of access that comes with the keys Jesus holds.  He said, “I hold the keys of death and Hades” (v.18).  While it may be difficult to nail down with 100% certainty exactly what the implied meanings of “death and Hades” are here – the grave, death in general, and/or hell (the same words appear with the various meanings in different places throughout the New Testament) – the point is that Jesus is the one who determines the final destination of every soul.  He alone holds those keys, and simply put, there are no more important keys than those.

What authority does Jesus have to be the keeper of those keys?  Our first Easter Revelation makes his authority abundantly clear in several ways.  Jesus said of himself, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever” (v.18).  His authority to hold the keys to death and the life to come stems from the fact that he himself overcame death and returned to life!  Think of how powerful that statement is – “I am the Living One.”  It would mean nothing for me to speak it, or for you, or anyone else to claim to be the “Living One,” for it would be stating the obvious.  But it’s a testament to Jesus’ authority because he was dead, but only temporarily.   So if I had died and you all had seen my lifeless corpse neatly arranged in the casket, only to hear me introduce myself the following Sunday as “the living one,” then that phrase would pack some punch.  But for all of us who will die and stay dead that phrase is meaningless.  It is only a testament to the power of the One who speaks it after having tasted the reality of death.  Only One has that kind of authority.

Another of Jesus titles, one which we focused on during our Lenten journey this year, shows his authority.  He calls himself the “Alpha and Omega” (v.8), the “First and the Last” (v.17).  You’ve probably heard it said that what’s important is not how you start, but how you finish.  That may be true of a lot of things in life, but it falls short when it comes to making payment for our salvation.  As the one designated to be the Savior of mankind, Jesus needed to start perfectly and end perfectly, and remain perfect everywhere in between.  And he did.  From start to finish, A to Z, beginning to end, Jesus completed everything necessary to unlock the door to heaven.  So it stands to reason that he alone would have the keys.

Jesus’ authority is also made clear in the opening verses from this section of Revelation, where he is praised in connection with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the one true God.  There is no higher authority than the Triune God, and so who else could possibly be more worthy of holding on to the keys that determine the eternal welfare of every human being?

Finally, we look at the picture John reveals to us and see that it is one so terrifying that it caused John to fall “at his feet as though dead” (v.17).  Would one expect any other reaction when coming face to face with what is described here?  “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. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (v.13-16).  If John ended up falling down as if dead simply at the sight of the Son of God, then it isn’t so far-fetched this Son of God would in fact hold the keys to real life and death.

Christ’s authority to hold the keys of life and death are clearly attested here in our Easter Revelation.  We look at the picture of Jesus and see that John had every right to be overtaken with fear.  That is why he needed to be reassured with the words, “Do not be afraid” (v.17).  Both God himself and his angel messengers have spoken those words whenever God intervened in the natural order of things.  His presence should terrify and frighten all people, including us, for in the presence of perfection and purity, before Righteousness and Holiness itself, our sins scream out and condemn us.  Yet he tells us not to be afraid.  Why?  Because Jesus’ resurrection is the proof that any fear of judgment or condemnation has been replaced with peace – the very peace with Jesus bestowed on his disciples in our Gospel this morning. 

And, we see something else in that Gospel: we see that Jesus doesn’t hold on to those keys by himself, but hands them to his Church, the family of believers in Christ Jesus.  He said to his believers, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23). The church has historically referred to this responsibility as the Use of the Keys.  That is, Jesus shows that since he is the One who holds the keys, he alone has the authority to put those keys to work through us, through all believers, all Christians.  When we forgive, we are saying that Christ has forgiven and unlocked the door to heaven.  When we refuse to forgive another because of impenitence, we are saying that the forgiveness Christ freely won and freely offers is being rejected and forfeited by an unbelieving heart.

So this Easter revelation is not just that Christ holds the keys, but that he also hands us the keys.  The Father has cracked open the door from heaven and dangles before us something greater than keys to any sports car; he gives us the keys to the kingdom, of which we’ve been made priests.  He “has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father” (v.5,6).  We have been freed and been made priests with a purpose: to serve God.

Easter reminds us of the battle and the ensuing victory that Jesus won on our behalf.  We owe him with our very lives.  Winston Churchill complemented the Royal Air Force after World War II with the words, “Never have so many owed so much to so few.”  With our footprints to the cross still freshly behind us and the wonderful aroma of the empty tomb still wafting in the air – no scent of disgusting decay - we might take it a step further and say “never have all people owed so much to One.”  All that we are and do will be a reflection that we owe Jesus a debt of love that can never be paid back. 

Yet as we put his keys to work and get about the business of his kingdom, as his priests, we make every effort to try to pay back that debt of love nonetheless. 

Throughout our series, the book of Revelation will reinforce different Easter truths about Jesus by which we’ll pray the Holy Spirit firms up our faith and builds up his church.  This morning his authority to not only hold the keys, but to hand them over to us reminds us that although Jesus’ work through cross and tomb is complete, his work through us is not.  He gives you the keys to get the job done, and they’re better than any set of car keys you can imagine.  So grab your keys and lets get to work.  Amen.

                                                              

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)