Why Symbols?
What
image comes to your mind when you think of Jesus? One of the most popular
images of Jesus would be a good shepherd
who is holding lamb. But in the Book of Revelation the image of Jesus is a
little bit different. In fact, revelation is full of symbolism – unfamiliar imagery,
symbols, and numbers. Why so many
confusing symbolic languages? There are at least two possible answers. The
first answer is that John had to use
symbolic language because it was almost impossible to describe what he saw, the
heavenly vision, in limited human language.
More importantly, the second answer
is that John’s use of symbols is very
similar to Jesus’ use of parables. Then why did Jesus use parables? In
Matthew 13:13-14 Jesus said to his disciples, “I speak to them [crowd] in
parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not
hear, nor do they understand. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being
fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand …’”
By speaking in parables, Jesus did wake
up his believing listeners, but for unbelievers parables made no sense. So
when they heard it, their hearts became even more hardened. In the same way, John’s powerful and shocking images and
symbols open the eyes of true believers, but they leave hardened
unbelievers in deeper darkness. We hear this conclusion from Jesus: “He who has
an ear, let him hear” (Rev 2:7, etc.) My prayer is that the Sprit will give us
humble, listening, receptive hearts, so that we may understand the symbolism in
Revelation and awaken our hearts!
The Imagery of Jesus
In verse 13 John sees “one like a
son of man.” Who is this man? Actually, Daniel saw a very similar vision. In
Daniel 7:13-14 he said, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the
clouds of heaven there came one like a
son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him
[God].” Here one like a son of man refers to Jesus as a great ruler. In today’s passage John describes the
imagery of Jesus in this way:
“The hairs of his head were white, like
white wool, like snow.
His eyes were like a flame of fire,
his feet were like
burnished bronze, refined in a furnace,
and his voice was like the roar of many
waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars,
from his mouth came a sharp
two-edged sword,
and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
(1:14-16 ESV)
Here we need to remember that the imagery John uses is symbolic rather
than pictorial or literal. For instance, if we literally visualize Jesus
with a sword sticking out of his mouth, it would be a horrible picture of a
weird man. But it symbolizes that the words that Jesus speaks are as sharp and
piercing as a two-edged sword. So here Jesus’ appearance that John wanted to
describe as a whole picture is the
glorified Christ, the exalted Christ – the Christ with dominion and glory
and power and authority over all the nations forever. That’s the point. In
verse 17 Jesus himself said to John, “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.” Again we see the glorified Christ.
Jesus among the Churches
Then, in verse 12 John sees this
vision: “I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one
like a son of man…” Now we know that one like a son of man is Jesus. But what are the seven lampstands? John
clarifies what they are in verse 20: “… and the seven lampstands are the seven
churches.” We learned from last week that the seven churches represent the
whole church. If we put together all this, the point is this: Jesus is among the churches. The
glorified Christ is among the churches. He is not distant from the churches. He
is in the middle of them. He moves among his lampstands, trimming the wicks and
carving wax, keeping the light burning. Our church (Houlton and Hodgdon UMCs)
is one of his lampstands. Jesus is here among us this morning. The One who died
and is alive forever with everlasting dominion whose kingdom cannot be
destroyed is in the middle of us today. We need to see this glorified Christ among
us today and set our hearts on his kingdom.
Abiding in Christ
In today’s scripture the Christ’s
churches are symbolized as the lampstands. In other words, we as a church are called to be light-bearers in the darkness of the
world. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world… let your light shine
before others!” (Matt 5:14, 16) But we need to remember that our light, the
church’s light is a reflected
light just like moonlight. Its’s not a self-luminous light. Just
as the moon needs the sun to shine, we need Christ, the true light of the world
(Jn 8:12). We must abide in Christ first in
order to light our community, our world.
Then, what does it mean to abide in Christ? How do we abide in Christ? Probably
the best image of abiding is the vine and
branches metaphor. In John 15 Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the
branches” (5). In this context abiding is connecting
– connecting to Jesus, the source of life. Abiding is receiving – receiving the “sap” (water, minerals, and nutrients) from
Jesus. Abiding is remaining. It is to
stay connected, keep on trusting, keep on believing, keep on depending on
Jesus. In a word, abiding is connecting,
receiving, remaining. So are you abiding in Christ? Are you connected to
Jesus? Are you receiving the source of life from Jesus? Are you remaining in
Jesus and staying united with Jesus?
Abiding in Christ is possible only
by God’s grace and by the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot make it happen
with our own efforts. But that doesn’t mean that it’s ok for us to do nothing.
Although abiding in Christ is all by grace, we need to do our part. We need to
respond to God’s grace: “Yes Lord, I need your grace!” It’s called “means of
grace.” As we read the Bible, study
it, mediate on it, memorize it, we abide in Christ. As we set aside time to pray, we abide in Christ. As we come to
worship, sing hymns, receive the
communion, have fellowship with other
fellow believers, we abide in Christ. By doing this, like a sailor we raise
our sails. We cannot manufacture the wind, but we do all we can do to catch the
wind. And God sends a gentle, powerful wind of the Spirit, that we may
experience union with Christ.
Abiding in the Church
To
abide in Christ also means to abide in the church. Some people say I like
Jesus, but I don’t like the church. But it’s like saying, “I like your head,
but I don’t like your body.” That doesn’t make sense. Christ and the church are
inseparable. Jesus identifies himself with his church. On the way to Damascus
Saul met Jesus who came as a light from heaven. Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me?” If fact, by
that time Saul had never met Jesus in person. He was just persecuting his
followers, his church. But Jesus was clearly identifying himself with the
persecuted church.
To abide in Christ also means to
abide in the church. It is true that Jesus died for each of us. But it is also
true to say that Jesus died for his
church. In Ephesians 6 Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself
up for her…” (25) Just as husband and wife are one flesh, Christ and the
church are one body. If we love Christ, we must love the church – his body, his
bride. Few months ago I shared my epiphany experience while attending the
conference in Georgia. At that time the word given to me was “abide.” I thought
I always did abide in Christ. I thought if I had a good one-on-one relationship
with Jesus, that would be sufficient. But God gently taught me this lesson: “To
abide in Christ also means to abide in the church.” In that respect, I was not
abiding; I was enduring.
Then I saw Jesus. He chose to
abide – abide in a particular place and in particular people. He loved his
people, his church to the end. In Revelation 2 and 3 we see that five out of
seven churches need serious correction. Jesus rebukes them and calls for their
repentance. But he still loves his churches. He is still standing in the middle
of them. He moves among his lampstands (churches), trimming the wicks
and carving wax, keeping the light burning. When we see the flaws in the church,
we are easily disappointed and frustrated. When we face messy stuff in the
church, we tend to stay away from it, or even give up. But, we
are called to abide in the church. Then, how
do we abide in the church? The same spiritual principle applies: connecting, receiving, remaining.
Abiding in the church is connecting to
the life of the church. Abiding in the church is receiving the “sap” from the church. Abiding in the church is remaining. It is to stay put, be
present, and love the church to the end. St. Augustine said, “Let us
love the Lord our God; let us love His Church. Let us love Him as our Father
and her as our mother.” To abide in
Christ also means to abide in the church.
See the Glorified Christ
It is hard to imagine what John saw
in today’s passage, the vision of the glorified Christ. But when we abide in
Christ, to be more precise, when we abide in Christ’s church – connecting to
the church, receiving from the church, remaining in the church – we will see
the glorified Christ, who is standing among us, the church. We will see his
face shine like the sun in all its brilliance (16b). And we too will shine out
for all to see, so that everyone will glorify our heavenly Father. Amen.
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