The King’s English

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What is the book of Revelation?  Christian psychedelia?  Religio-political prognostication?  End-of-the-world prophecy?

In chapter 1 we see that it’s a letter from John based on visions of Christ.

“I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia.”  (Revelation 1:9-11)

John is in tribulation as he writes – imprisoned on the island of Patmos due to his Christian witness.  Yet tribulation is precisely the point at which we find our deepest fellowship with Jesus.  And here John has a vision of Christ – an “apocalypse”, (meaning revelation).

Appropriately enough, the very first way in which Jesus describes Himself is: “Alpha and Omega.”  The phrase comprises the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and, according to the KJB, it comes four times in Revelation (1:8,11; 21:6; 22:13).  You could update the saying to mean something like “I am the A to Z of reality.”  Let’s think about what it means for Jesus to be Alpha and Omega.

Alpha

At key points the Lord Jesus is described as the “First” or the “Beginning.” (Isaiah 48:12; Proverbs 8:22; Colossians 1:18).  Eternally at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is that primordial Other who is Himself the rationale for everything else other than God.  As the Father’s eternal Counterpart, Jesus becomes, in time, the Alpha, the First, the Beginning, the Way out from God into a whole universe of others.  By the Spirit, the Father’s outgoing life radiates in and through Jesus.  Therefore Jesus defines and shapes all else.  Nothing makes sense without Jesus, “the Alpha.”

Omega

Isaiah could not describe the LORD Jesus as “the first” without calling Him “the last” (Isaiah 48:12).  Colossians could not call Him “the beginning” without saying He is “the Firstborn”, meaning Heir.  (Colossians 1:18).  And Revelation can never call Him “Alpha” without also calling Him “Omega”.

It’s not just that all things come from Christ, they are also destined for Him.  Redemption is not the salvation of creation towards another goal.  It is the bringing of all things back to their true Source and Meaning.  We are made by Christ and headed for Christ.  In this way, God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

What place does Jesus have in your thinking?  It seems to me that there are many ways in which we diminish the Person of Christ.

Perhaps we begin our thinking about God without Jesus, imagining an essentially christless doctrine of God onto which we add a Jesus-gloss.

Perhaps we begin our reading of the Bible without Jesus, imagining an essentially unitarian God in the Old Testament, to which Messiah is later added.

Perhaps we begin our understanding of the world without Jesus, imagining an essentially neutral and non-Christian world, to which Christ is an added extra.

Let’s reclaim the true meaning of repentance (that is, to change ones mind).  I know for myself that I do not think highly enough of Jesus.  Yet if we saw Him correctly we would know that we cannot think highly enough of Jesus.

Therefore let’s determine to repent: to begin and end all our thinking with Jesus: the Alpha and the Omega.

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Earlier this year I was strolling along a Mauritian beach with my wife.  We bought tropical fruit from a roadside vendor, went for a swim and then lay down on a deckchair sipping a cold beer.  I said to Emma “This is the life.”

When have you said that phrase?  “This is the life”?  You might not like hot holidays. Maybe you’d rather go skiing with friends and then sit down by a roaring fire with a big hot chocolate, extra cream.  “This is the life.”

Or you go out and celebrate some success at your favourite restaurant with your favourite people. “This is the life” we say.

It’s funny how rarely we use that saying isn’t it?  We live for awfully long stretches of time without saying “this is the life”.  Apparently most of life isn’t “the life”.  Only very rarely is life the life.  We have to stop doing everything we’ve been doing and fly halfway around the world before our life starts to be the life.

Can that be right?  Is it the case that most of our lives aren’t really “the life”?  That would be a real shame wouldn’t it?

Because 36 hours after I said: “this is the life”, we were locked outside our house in the freezing rain, rummaging through our suitcases and concluding that our house-keys were somewhere on the continent of Australia. Was this “the life”?  “The life” seemed far away at that point.

I think for most of us “the life” seems out of reach.

But the Apostle John wrote a letter (1 John) in which he spoke very differently about “the life.”  For John “the life” is not a time or a place.  “The life” is a person – a person who was there in the beginning.  A person with whom we now have fellowship.  Here are the first few verses of the letter:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)  (1 John 1:1-2)

This is the life.  Not a time or a place.  A person.  This is the life: Jesus.  He was there in the beginning.  There with the Father.  He came in the middle, to live out “the life”.  And John had seen the life.  He had walked the dusty roads of Israel with the life.  And when John saw Jesus he said to Himself “this is the life.”  Jesus is the life.

Therefore John wants to tell the whole world about ‘the life’:

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.  (1 John 1:3-4)

John’s greatest joy is to pass on the life to us.  Therefore we can enjoy the life, not just when we’re sunbathing by the pool or having drinks with friends, but when we’re locked out of the house in the freezing rain, when we lose our jobs and our health and our friends, our family, even our own lives.  We can lose everything in life and still have the life.  Because we have Jesus: the Author of Life, the Word of Life, the Meaning of Life.

What do you normally think of as ‘the life’?

The life we seek is usually self-indulgent.  The life of Jesus is self-giving.  The life we pursue is about sitting back and relaxing.  The life of Jesus is an outgoing life – from the Father to the disciples and out to the world.  Our kind of life is directed towards comfort, ease, distraction, entertainment.  Jesus’ kind of life is so much better – it’s a life of fellowship (with God and His people) and of joy.

“The world”, to use a phrase common in First John, gives a counterfeit vision of ‘the life’.  Perhaps today we need to re-orient ourselves to John’s vision.  As we turn our thoughts to another year, let’s not seek counterfeits. Jesus Himself is the life.  We need not weary ourselves with other visions that cannot satisfy.  We have Jesus, therefore in all of life we have ‘the life’.

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The wise men and the shepherds tend to get mixed up in our recollections of Christmas.  But actually they couldn’t be more different.  The shepherds were poor Jews. The wise men were rich foreigners.  For the shepherds, the birth of Christ was a ‘bolt from the blue’ as they went about their ordinary business.  For the wise men, Christ’s birth was a distant certainty that had directed their course for some time.  For the shepherds, seeing Christ marks a beginning – they rejoice and spread the word.  For the wise men, it marks an end to their long journey.  Yet for both the low born and high born, for those with nothing to give and those with everything, for Jew and Gentile, for the expectant and the surprised, Christ’s birth proves to be the fulfilment of all their hopes.

In Jesus, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, learned and common, meet.  And with the wise men especially, the whole incident proves that Christ is indeed the Desire of all nations.  His birth is not just some parochial event for the tribe of Judah.  It is truly global.  Here is a baby to unite, redeem and rule the world.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.  (Matthew 2:1-2)

The word for ‘wise men’ in the Greek is Magi from which we get ‘Magicians’.  Traditionally they are called ‘three kings’, but Matthew doesn’t tell us their number nor whether they rule (though clearly they are wealthy).  The questions we want answered are: Where have they gotten the idea that a baby could be born King?  How would they know that the King of the Jews demands universal worship?  And what is their view of the created world such that stars preach to them the birth of a universal King?

Well the human race can trace itself back, not only to Adam but also to Noah.  Humanity has a collective memory, not only of the first Adam and Noah, but also a second Adam and Noah – a second humanity, a second One Who Brings Rest. The Jews prophesied that their coming King would rule the nations (Genesis 49:10) and that the stars proclaimed His coming (Numbers 24:17).  Even the nations knew that this Jewish God was Lord of all (Joshua 2:9-11).  And when the Israelites went into exile, the Babylonians, Persians, Medes and Greeks came to hear about this Promised One (Daniel).

It’s no surprise that wise men from the east would be eagerly awaiting this cosmic King.  Jesus came not simply as the Jewish Messiah but as the Desire of all nations and hope of the ages.

Enjoy this Christmas sermon which unpacks the universal claims of the Christmas child.  The Baby in the manger rules the world…

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—  “Old Testament folks were not particularly Messianic in their faith.  And even if they were, it was very confused.”

—  “Expectation for Christ revolved around a conquering Warrior who arrives on a white horse.”

—  “Believers BC wanted the Messiah to come and defeat the nations oppressing them.”

It’s common to hear many views like this about the state of Old Testament faith.  And, no doubt, many Israelites fell into those caricatures.  But they shouldn’t have done.  And faithful Israelites didn’t.  Like Simeon.

What did old Simeon do when he laid eyes on the Christ-child?  He bore witness to true Hebrew belief:

29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.  (Luke 2:29-35)

As Simeon cradles the baby Jesus, he identifies Him as salvation.  To see Jesus – even the “little Lord Jesus” – is to see the salvation of the world.  And notice that Simeon is not at all nationalistic about this.  He does not become excited at the thought of Christ growing up to crush the Romans.  No, Jesus will be a “light to lighten the Gentiles.”  He has not come to overthrow the foreign powers but to save them – to save the world.

If there’s going to be any over-throwing it will be of Israel itself.  There will be a “fall and rising again of many in Israel.”  There will be a death and resurrection.  Through Jesus, the old will be brought to nothing and something new will be raised up.

Simeon sees all this in 8-day-old Jesus.  And now he can die happy.  In Jesus, all that he’s waited for has come to pass.  So Simeon, as a representative Old Testament saint, “departs in peace.”

The law and the prophets have done their job.  They have prepared a people for the coming of Messiah.   We can imagine all the righteous of the Old Testament joining in with Simeon’s song.  The Hebrew saints are accompanying him, jealous of his awesome privilege – to hold the long hoped-for Messiah!

But with the birth of Christ, the time of anticipation ends.  Now there is the establishment of all that was promised.  And Simeon leads the Old Testament chorus line off stage.  The time of fulfilment has arrived and so they depart in peace.

As Jesus would say to those who witnessed His ministry:

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.  (Matthew 13:16-17)

In a sense we have seen more and in a sense we have seen less than them.  We have not held the Christ child in our arms, but we have read of His glorious death on Calvary.  We have not witnessed His miracles personally, but we have been told of His mighty resurrection from the dead.  All that was promised has now been accomplished, and so our attitude is encapsulated beautifully by the Apostle Peter:

Having not seen [Jesus], ye love [Him] … though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.  (1 Peter 1:8-9)