Encouraged by Knowing God

Revelation 1:4-6, 9-18
Related Sunday School Lesson Family Bible Series, September 26

In our day and age, we are inundated with information which comes at us from many different angles. Most of what we hear through the news media is bad and discouraging news. We are taken to the very center of conflict and trouble in the world.

People today internalize all this disturbing information with which our forefathers never had to deal. It is producing a society constantly frustrated, discouraged and worried. In such a day, we need to focus on the fact that there is someone bigger than all of this and that someone is Jesus Christ.

In our focal passage for today, John is giving us the foundation for our confidence. He is supplying us with information which should encourage us as we deal with the situations in modern life. John gives us some wonderful assurances.

The Assurance of Redemption, Rev. 1:4-6

The greatest thing John said about Jesus Christ in our passage is that "He loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Everything we are or will ever be is contingent upon the fact that we are washed from our sins and cleansed in the sight of God. The world does not understand or accept this and therefore they devise a myriad of ways in which man can please God and get to heaven. They think that if people can just feel good about themselves and their relationship to God that everything will be fine.

Nothing is further from the truth. It is not how I feel about God that counts; it is how God feels about me that matters. And, God only feels good about me if my sins are washed from me in the Blood of Jesus Christ.

None of the other religions of the world offer the assurance that Christianity does. The adherents of other world religions are all trying to get to God, while with Christianity we have God coming to us. Nothing man can do will ever be good enough to bring them into God's presence without the Blood of Jesus.

Man is not the one who has been wronged, God is. And it is God who decides what it will take in order to go to heaven. He sets the parameters, not man. How would man ever know when he had done enough to satisfy a limitless God? But, God set the parameter on salvation and it is simple faith in Jesus Christ. He washes us from our sins and makes us a kingdom of priests forever.

Assurance of salvation is something that one can acquire only through the indwelling Holy Spirit who will witness with our own spirits that we are saved.

The Assurance of God's Care, Rev. 1:9-16

It is wonderful to know that we, the church, are not left here on earth with no hope. We are the Lord's bride, not His widow. He is coming back for His bride. Every person, whether they believed in Him or not, will see Him at His coming.

Christians have always been a people of the future. We look for and anticipate the Lord's coming with expectant hope. How terrible it would be to think that what we are now and what we have now is all there is. Some people believe that when life is over, it's over. Christians believe that when life on earth is over that real life is just beginning. We are a people of the future as well as the present.

As we examine v. 12-18 we find a stunning revelation. John was given the privilege of seeing the risen Lord Jesus in all His glory. When confronted with Him, John did as others have done and he fell down as dead. He was overcome with the Lord's presence, power and holiness.

When the world reads this passage they probably think that it sounds like a movie scene which has been directed by Stephen Spielberg. But, as Christians, we gain wonderful assurance concerning things to come. We cannot imagine the true glory of the Lord in heaven. Our minds cannot receive the total fullness of what John saw. But, we get enough to know that our Lord is a supernatural being who has our best interests at heart.

If I can trust my eternity to Jesus, then I should be able to trust Him more in time. When the world seems ready to consume us, we must turn to passages such as this one under consideration today so that the Holy Spirit can use it to assure us of the absolute care that is given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is at the right hand of God today intervening for us and He stands ready to come back and receive us to Himself. Christians have a calmer assurance when facing the troubles of the day. They also have a calm and well-grounded assurance for the future.

When Christians are faced with the funeral of a loved one, they do not come to that hour with no hope. They come with confidence that they will see that person again. We do not bury Christians, we plant them and when one plants a seed they are expecting a bountiful harvest. The Lord will call forth the planted Christians and give them a glorified body which is much more and much better than anything they have ever known before.

So, when we plant a Christian, we have the assurance that there will be a harvest. We also know this will be true of us as well. The Lord Jesus as described by John is the one who washes us from our sins and makes all things new. We can have confidence and assurance in Him.