Revelation 1:1-8- Jesus: King of Kings

Revelation 1:1-8

                                                           Daniel 7:13-14

Jesus: King of Kings

I have entitled this sermon: Jesus: King of Kings, and so I want to start by thinking about Kings and Kingdoms.

Just think of all the “mighty” kingdoms of our present day!

And when I say “mighty”, I mean those kingdoms which are big in population, or big in military power, or big in wealth, or big in the land they own or have conquered…..

If you think of most of those mighty kingdoms of this earth at present, they actually have a “mighty” leader, or shall I say a mighty “dictator”.

They all have leaders who have the power to make decisions for their kingdom.

For example, Donald Trump and America, Xi Jin Ping and China, Vladmir Putin and Russia, Kim Jong Un and North Korea, Anthony Alabanese and Australia (may be not as “mighty” as some of the other kingdoms, but a leader in a kingdom none the less).

Many of these leaders have assumed the title of supreme leader, where their time of reign has no limits.

In North Korea, Kim Jong’s grandfather who ruled before him, actually had the title “eternal president” “The eternal president”

Xi Jin Ping of China could potentially serve as president for life, after they removed presidential term limits in 2018.

Vladimir Putin of Russia, at this point, due to constitutional changes, could rule as president until 2036.

Of course, these dictators are not new.

The kingdom of Rome which was the largest kingdom this earth has ever seen, ran by this same principle.

Rome had leaders who were given supreme power or should I say assumed supreme power.

When the disciple John was writing the book of Revelation from one of the penal colonies of Rome, a small Island of Patmos at the end of the first century, the kingdom of Rome was at the peak of its powers.

Rome, at that time, had already existed for about 600 years when John started to write the words of Revelation, and there were still 400 years of Rome, to go. Rome was a mighty empire that lasted 1,000 years, that is longer than any other mighty empire.

No wonder Rome was known as eternal Rome.

No wonder the rulers of Rome, where considered as gods themselves, divine, immortal, eternal.

1,000 years is a long time!

And so, it was in that context that John wrote these words from the opening book or Revelation.

Look at chapter 1 verses 4-5 with me:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia (that is modern day Turkey):

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

John was making it clear to his readers in the first century, and also to us, this vital truth.

Rome is not the eternal kingdom,

God’s kingdom is the only eternal

Because God’s kingdom, truly does have an eternal king: King Jesus.

This would have been a huge comfort to the seven churches of Asia Minor, which today is Turkey, because they were being persecuted by this seemingly “eternal” empire of Rome. Rome was executing those faithful Christians who refused to bow the knee to Ceasar.

These seven small churches, that John was writing to, were barely surviving in this juga Nort of Rome……and so to be reminded once again that God’s kingdom is eternal and his son- Jesus is eternal, would have hopefully….. given them courage to hold on.

Friends, we need to hear this same message today, don’t we?

Again and again.

We can be tempted to look at the power of the nations around the world, the military might, the wealth, the advanced technology, the AI revolution and we too could be tempted to think that these things which we see with our own eyes, are eternal, these are the things which will keep us and make our lives better, these are the things which we must bow to, and yet as John reminds us here, none of these things last forever.

It is God’s kingdom and God’s king who is eternal.

Just look again at what John wrote in verse 5

Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings on earth.

Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings on earth.

Do you believe that brothers and sisters?

Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

This means that all the kings of this earth are subject to Jesus, all will be judged by Him. All will bow the knee and confess that he is Lord.

And yet, it also means that Jesus is king of kings now.

Which means this:

Whatever the rulers of this earth are doing now, whether good or evil, it is all done under the authority of Jesus. This is why even a wicked king like Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian empire was called a servant of God, even though he persecuted God’s people.  This is why the wicked king, Pharaoh of Egypt was permitted to persecute God’s people, because it was God who hardened his heart.

Pharaoh the Egyptian king, was a servant of God.

Friends, Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth……..and so don’t worry!

Don’t worry!

We may not understand all that goes on this world, in fact evil is not logical, and so it would be worrying if we did understand all the evil, but we must know that God is ruling over this world and he is working out his purposes.

When we read through this book of Revelation, it should not cause us to worry, but to be assured that whatever chaos this world is going through, and whatever more chaos is to come, God is in control, God is sovereign, and he is working out his purposes through his son- Jesus Christ.

Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall but God is eternal.

In verses 4 and 5, John shows us that all three persons of God are ruling his kingdom.

John shows us that it is the eternal trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, one God in three persons, who rules this earth.

God the father is the one who was and is and who is to come

God the Holy Spirit, who is described as the seven spirits is before the throne of God

God the son- Jesus Christ is described in three ways: the faithful witness, the first born among the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

John describes God the father, as the one who was and is and is to come.

This is a direct reference to Exodus 3 when God revealed himself to Moses and said “I AM WHO I AM” or “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE”. Quite clearly God was showing Moses and us that God is not restricted by time or space or our definition, God is eternal.

Not Rome or any Roman ruler, but God.

John describes God the Holy Spirit as seven spirits or the seven-fold spirit.

Now the number seven is significant in the bible, because it represents completeness, or perfection. It was on the seventh day that all of God’s work of creation was completed and it was perfect. The Spirit of God is complete and perfect, He is everywhere and he is all seeing.

John then describes God the Son- Jesus Christ as first of all, the faithful witness.

Jesus- God’s son is the faithful witness.

Jesus is the one the faithful witness who testified about the kingdom of God.

As Jesus was facing his trail before Pontus Pilate, the Roman ruler, he claimed that his kingdom was not an earthly one.

Listen to this from John 18:36-37

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

Jesus was a faithful witness of God’s kingdom, he was a faithful witness that he was in fact the king of God’s kingdom. And Jesus never backed away from that truth, even when he was facing death.

Our word for Martyr, comes from the Greek word for witness. A martyr is one who pays the ultimate price to holding to the truth of a testimony.

Jesus was a faithful witness to the kingdom of God.

He calls us to be faithful witnesses too. As a witness, we are to keep speaking and holding to the truth of the gospel no matter what persecution may come our way.  As a witness, we don’t change or distort the facts, but we hold onto the gospel message which we have been given in God’s word- the bible.

John describes God’s son- Jesus also as the first born among the dead.

This means that when Jesus died and came back to life, he was the first to do so.

Sure Lazaras died and came back to life, but Lazarus then died again. Jesus died, came back to life and stayed alive. And just like we are to follow Jesus as a witness to God’s kingdom, we will also follow Jesus in his resurrection. We can be assured as God’s people, that we too like Jesus will come back to life. Even though we die, yet shall we live.

And finally as we mentioned before, John Decsribes Jesus as the ruler of the kings of the earth. We saw this clearly in Jesus’ trial before Pilate. As Jesus was on trial before the might of the Roman Empire, it was clear that the Roman Empire was actually on trial before Jesus.

Listen to this from John 19:9-11

He (Pilate) entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”¹¹ Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Amazing!

Jesus was facing a horrible execution and yet he refused to answer Pilate’s questions and he made it clear that Pilate wasn’t the one in control, but it was God.

Pilate was saying to Jesus, “don’t you know your life is in my hands” and Jesus said “No it isn’t, my life is in my Father’s hands”

Talk about a faithful witness!

Jesus was the faithful witness, the first born among the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Now unfortunately I haven’t got time today, to go through all these 8 verses in detail and so I just want to finish by looking at the end of verse 5 and verse 6 with you.

Just look at these verses with me:

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I don’t know if you have ever thought about this before but let me just read those words again.

God has made us a kingdom

God has made us priests

Or as the apostle Peter described it in 1 Peter 2:9,

God has made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

That means brothers and sisters, that we are not JUST waiting for Jesus to return and bring in his kingdom, where every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, yes we are……but get this……His kingdom is already here, not in its fullness, but never the less it is here. 

For those who have already bowed to king Jesus, and believe that he has freed us from our sins, we are now his kingdom, we are now his priests. A kingdom represents rule and so where ever people bow to the rule of Jesus, is where God’s kingdom is. Local churches that bow to the rule of Jesus, are the kingdom. Not in its full glory, but still, the kingdom.

Priests represent access to God.

And so for those who have been freed from the wages of sin, which is death, we have been given direct access to God through our great high priest Jesus. And so if we want true freedom, true life, we don’t need to go to the earthly powers, but we can go directly to the king of kings and Lord of Lords. The eternal king- Jesus.

Now, just to be clear, I am not encouraging vigilante behaviour, in Romans 12, Paul tells us to submit to the governing authorities just as Jesus did before Pilate.

Submit as long as they don’t force us to break God’s law, by forcing us to worship other gods.

But what I am encouraging you to do, is to always keep the bigger picture, the bigger truth at the centre of your life.

Jesus is our hope now.

Jesus is our king now.

Jesus is the ruler of all kings of the earth now.

Let us pray.