Revelation 1:17–18 — When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Years ago, I sat down with a friend and asked him who Jesus Christ is to him. He was a good man, a man of morals, highly educated, successful, and a wonderful husband and dad. His answer threw me off balance. He replied that Jesus came to this world from another universe to help us. He’s an alien being from another galaxy. My head wanted to explode. Let me reassure you that his version of Jesus Christ is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible, or of history.
Last week, we looked at Revelation 1:12-16 and saw what Jesus is like. Remember, this is not a picture of what Jesus looks like in his resurrected, exalted body. This is what Jesus is like in his exalted position.
Today, we are going to see the beauty and the marvel of Christianity. It is the beauty and marvel of the Gospel, which is Christianity. What makes Christianity so beautiful and marvelous? We will see in these verses. The Jesus revealed in this vision to John speaks, and yet he does more than speak.
Our text is in the middle of a divine experience and vision. The Apostle John was lifted up into a trance-like state (“in the spirit” Vs.10). He heard a very loud voice speak to him and turned to see who was speaking. The first thing he saw was seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of them was Jesus Christ. John describes how Jesus appeared (1:13-16). Next, John shares his reaction upon turning and seeing all of this. “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead (vs.17).”
His reaction is similar to that of the prophet Daniel, who had a similar vision. From Daniel 10:9–10, 15–16: “As soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.… When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.… “O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.”
Some Christians may find it strange that the Apostle John, who walked and lived with Jesus, the disciple most loved by Jesus and most intimate in friendship with the Lord (see John 13:23; 19:26; 21:7), a mature disciple, long schooled in godliness and commended for his faithfulness under persecution, would fall as dead before the glorified Christ. We find in the Bible two reasons people fall at the feet of Jesus, like John did.
The first is “The Awareness of the Awesomeness of God.” This is also the reaction of Paul, who was Saul, when he was confronted by Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus. Acts 9:3–4 — “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” This reminds us of Isaiah seeing the vision of the glory of God, recorded in Isaiah 6:5.
This is the realization that you are in the presence of the Great and Holy God. He is the Most High God, transcendent in all ways, almighty, and holy, holy, holy (Is.6:3; Rev. 4:8).
The second reason is, “The Awareness of the Awfulness of your sinfulness.” We read of Job crying out, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5–6). As with the prophet Isaiah, when you are mindful of whose presence you are in, you become aware of your unworthiness before Him. In my opinion, many people, Christians and non-Christians, purposefully do not contemplate the condition of their hearts. The more you examine the depths of your heart and what lies within it, the more aware you become of how desperate you are for the mercy of God and the need for a Savior. As Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Oh how sinful man desperately needs Jesus to save him from such a guilty and wretched condition before the holy and perfect God. When a person realizes the enormity of their sinfulness, they fall down in shame, fear,reverence, or all three.
Probably the clearest illustration of this is from Peter, when he realized who was in his presence. Look at the Gospel of Luke 5:8. Notice Simon Peter’s confession.
We should remember Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 of the two men who went to the temple to pray. The second man was the one whom Jesus said was justified and accepted in God’s sight. It was the man who was aware of the awfulness of his sinfulness, like Simon Peter. Because of this awareness, he approached God with humble reverence and a spirit of repentance. The other man approached God with self-pride that boasted how good a person he was, as if he were good enough for God.
Since we want God to hear our prayers and pleas for help, let us approach Him in prayer in reverence, relying on Jesus’ goodness and not our own. God receives the reverent, but he rejects the arrogant. He turns away those who think that in their own goodness, they are good enough before His Holiness. The Gospel says we are sinners who are unacceptable before the holy God. The Gospel says that we need a perfect Savior who will bear our sinfulness and give us his righteousness. The Gospel says that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior. He came and lived sinlessly so he could trade places with us. He took our sinfulness on the cross and gave us, who trust him, the perfect righteousness of his perfect, sinless life. Therefore, we must always be aware that it is by Jesus’ righteousness that we are able to be accepted, heard, and forgiven. Nothing of ourselves!
I would like to add one more thought on John's reaction. Christians and churches that have a flippant, easy-breezy attitude about being in God’s presence show that they do not know God or themselves. If you compared the worship described in Revelation, chapters 4 and 5, with worship services in some churches today, would you say that God is truly being honored and worshiped with humbleness and reverence? Read, Hebrews 12:28.
There’s a famous story from the life of Martin Luther, the great reformer of the Protestant faith in the 1500s, that helps illustrate this holy reverence. After several years of training as a monk, Luther was authorized to celebrate his first mass as a Roman Catholic priest. This, of course, is early in his life before leaving the Roman Catholic Church. Luther stepped to the altar and prepared to speak the Latin words over the bread and wine. At that moment, however, Luther froze solid. He couldn’t speak. He wasn’t moving. He just stood there while the people were waiting.
Years later, he explained: “I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, “With what tongue shall I address such majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod, the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say, ‘I want this, I ask for that’? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin, and I am speaking to the living, eternal, and the true God.” “
Some have questioned Luther’s sanity. But from the biblical perspective, when we consider how grievous a single sin is in the holy presence of God, we understand how appropriate it was for Luther to tremble in God’s presence. With this in mind, R. C. Sproul comments that if Luther really was insane, “our prayer is that God would send to this earth an epidemic of such insanity. (R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God)”
Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, helps us connect these two reasons for holy reverence falling to the ground before God: “The most spiritual and sanctified minds, when they fully perceive the majesty and holiness of God, are so greatly conscious of the great disproportion and separation between themselves and the Lord, that they are humbled and filled with holy awe, and even with dread and alarm.”
With this in mind, perhaps the most important statement about John was not what he did (falling down as though dead) but where he did it: “at [Jesus’] feet” (Rev. 1:17). Instead of turning away from God in terror, he turned to the Lord in reverent humility. In the fear of the Lord and at the feet of Jesus is always the safest, most blessed place in all the world.
The reason why we are safest when trembling before God at Jesus’ feet is found in Christ’s character as a tender Savior. Jesus showed this in two actions. First, John related, “he laid his right hand on me” (Rev. 1:17). This was an act of great symbolic and personal significance. All through the Gospels, when Jesus healed or raised the dead, he usually touched his suffering subject. Whether it was an unclean leper, a dead son, or a shamed sinner, Jesus not only spoke words of power but also placed his holy hand on the person in need. In this way, Jesus showed his compassion and, above all, his personal acceptance.
Being perfectly holy, Jesus can touch the unclean without becoming polluted himself. Being filled with mercy, he is willing to reach out with saving grace in a personal way. If you have come to Jesus as a sinner and received the gift of saving faith, that work of his Holy Spirit was like the touch of his hand: Christ personally laid hold of you in mercy, power, and love. Imagine what it meant to John, completely undone at the vision of Christ’s holy majesty, fallen as one dead before the Lord, to have Jesus reach down with a strong hand of blessing, to touch him and lay hold of him for salvation!
Second, having laid his right hand on John—the hand of strength and favor—Jesus spoke: “Fear not”—do not be afraid. Are these not the words of comfort and acceptance? Here is the picture: You are overcome by the awareness of the awesomeness of God. His holiness; His mighty presence over you; His soul-searching, piercing eyes seeing the depths of your heart; and you know your unworthiness. Then you feel his gentle touch and hear his gentle voice say to you, “Do not be afraid.” Brothers and sisters, grace has come! Mercy is here! Grace has come!
Revelation 1:17-18, “I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,”
What immediately follows Jesus’ comforting hand are words of identification. Jesus identifies himself in several ways. He begins, “I am the First and the Last, …” This is what God had said of himself in Rev.1:8. Now, Jesus uses this about himself, saying, I AM the First and the Last. Let’s not rush through this. This is, after all, Jesus identifying himself—who He is. By Jesus claiming this identification, He is saying, “I am Yahweh of the Old Covenant.” Yes, that is what Jesus is saying.
Isaiah 44:6, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” The “Lord” (our English translation of the Hebrew name, Yahweh) identifies himself as the First and the Last. Also, take note that he also says, “besides me there is no god.” In other words, this is the one, same God—Yahweh! And Yahweh, the king and God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts, repeats this identification in Isaiah 41:4, and again in Isaiah 48:12.
In Revelation 1:17, Jesus is identifying himself as the Yahweh of Israel who spoke through the prophet Isaiah. Now turn to Revelation 22:12. If there is any doubt about Jesus being God, equal to God the Father, this clears it up. Jesus repeats this identification about himself to make sure we get it. Christ Jesus is the Yahweh of the Old Testament and the New. He is not a created being or lesser god. Jesus is claiming the full deity of Yahweh.
These are good scriptures to have ready when you talk to Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons. They believe that Jesus is a lesser god, a created god. But these verses say something different. He is the Yahweh in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. He was not created in Bethlehem one starry night. He always was God, and he came down to be a man like us. He humbled himself by becoming a man so that he could represent us—mankind, and be our substitute on the cross. See Philippians 2:5-8. Read how Jesus identified himself to his enemies in John 8:58.
Jesus gives a second identifier: “I am the Living One”. This is the ultimate identifier of Israel’s God, Yahweh (see Deut. 32:40; cf. Rev 4:9). Jesus is saying, “I am the I AM.”
But Jesus isn’t finished making it clear who he is. There is much more to Jesus. He adds, “I died. Behold, I am alive forever more.” He is saying to John, Look up at me, I am Jesus, the resurrected One. This is an easy one for John. He knew what this alluded to. Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead. John had seen the empty tomb. He had met with the resurrected Jesus many times before Jesus ascended to the heavenly throne.
Then Jesus adds, “I am alive forever and ever”. Jesus is never going to die again. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus eventually died again. This Jesus is alive forever and ever. He rose from the dead and is alive forever.
His final identifying statement: “and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” Jesus makes a powerful statement that Christians should sit up and take heed. This statement should comfort us. Jesus delivers us from the final and most dreadful of our enemies, the fear of death. To possess keys is to control the doors and have authority over who enters and who exits. Jesus holds life and death, and therefore, he holds the eternal destiny of every person. He has the keys, not man or the devil. Jesus is the way to eternal life. There is no other set of keys; there is no other way. To reject Jesus is to reject the one who holds the keys of death and Hades.
Here, then, is how Christians are freed from our greatest fears. Christ by his death has removed the legal curse that requires death, and by his resurrection has broken even the power of death. Christians, therefore, may live courageously before the threat of the grave. Paul Beasley-Murray writes: “He is able to lead his followers out from death into life. For those facing the prospect of martyrdom (2:13), it must have been a great comfort to know that death was not the end. Because of this, they could give themselves to his service, whatever the risks, knowing that their ultimate future was secure.”9 A. W. Pitzer writes: “The Christian need not fear to die! There is one who is his friend, who has overcome death and who holds the keys of the grave and the unseen world, and who says to him: ‘Fear not.’ ”10
One thought on this word, “Hades”. Jesus used this same Greek word, “Hades”, in his story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. It is the place where the wicked and unrighteous go after death, a place of great torment and separation. This is a great subject for study.
In the beginning of this sermon, I said that we would see the beauty and the marvel of Christianity, which is the beauty and marvel of the Gospel, which is Christianity. What is the beauty and marvel of Christianity in these scriptures? The person who falls at the feet of Jesus in humble need of Jesus is the one who is touched by Jesus and hears Him say, “Do not fear.” The beauty and marvel of Christianity is, Jesus lifts up the very one who is least worthy of Him. Those who are the most desperate, who know they are sinners. These are the ones Jesus touches. He touches those who know they are poor in spirit. The beauty and marvel of Christianity is, it is for the messed-up sinner.
Imagine that royalty is coming to your home. You must prepare your home to be worthy of such a special guest. You begin cleaning it, fixing things, some special decorating, mowing and trimming the lawn, and such. There’s a problem. Life. You and your family live in the house you are trying to get clean and worthy. Life keeps making everything unprepared. The more you try to get the house ready and keep it ready, dust and dirt keep showing up; things keep breaking, and you run out of money to fix everything to be worthy. Oh, and that lawn keeps growing; it won’t stay looking just right.
Royalty cannot come until your home is worthy. So you keep trying, keep scrubbing, keep working to be ready. And the more you try, the more obvious you cannot be worthy. All other religions require you to keep trying to be good enough for God. The truth is, you can never be perfect for God’s acceptance. But this is not the message, the good news of Christianity.
The Christian gospel says you cannot be worthy, never be worthy of the Holy God, and that is why He came. He came down in the person of Jesus Christ to make you worthy. He can make you and me worthy. Christianity is for the person who desires God in his/her heart and life and yet knows he can never be good enough for God. So, they fall at the feet of Jesus for mercy and forgiveness and to be made worthy by his death on the cross.
Christianity is not for those who think they can clean their heart well enough. It is Christ coming for the humble sinner who needs a Savior to save them from themselves. This means I do not have to pretend to have it all together. Because I do not. This means I do not have to strive to make my heart and life good enough for God. Because I cannot. Christianity says, Come as you are and Jesus will change you from the inside out and cover you. Hallelujah!!!
9 Paul Beasley-Murray, The Message of the Resurrection: Christ Is Risen!, The Bible Speaks Today
10 A. W. Pitzer, “Why Believers Should Not Fear,” in Southern Presbyterian Pulpit: A Collection of Sermons from the Nineteenth Century
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