“Revelation’s First Beautiful Beatitude”
Revelation 1:3

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost—August 7, 2022

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This morning we are beginning a sermon series on “Revelation’s Seven Beautiful Beatitudes,” as listed on the back of the bulletin.  “Beatitude” is the Latin word for “blessing.” We use the word beatitude especially to describe pronouncements of blessing which our Lord bestows upon us in Scripture, usually beginning with the words, “Blessed are . . .” 

The new hymn we sang before the sermon beautifully summarizes the most famous and familiar beatitudes in the Bible, from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

In addition to these most familiar biblical beatitudes, there is another set of beatitudes, found in the book of Revelation. We begin our sermon series on “Revelation’s Seven Beautiful Beatitudes” with “Revelation’s First Beautiful Beatitude” from today’s Epistle Reading:  “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

One reason the book of Revelation is placed last in the Bible is because tradition says it was the last book of the Bible to be written.  About 60 years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, in about 95 A.D., John was the last surviving of Christ’s original twelve Apostles.  It was a terrible time for the early Christians. 

 Jesus had said in his first set of beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness . . .  Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”  Some 60 years later, those words were being fulfilled in the lives of the early Christians.  They were being persecuted, insulted, and having all kinds of evil falsely spoken against them because of their faith in Christ.

This opposition and persecution that the early Christians faced came from three sources.  They were first of all being persecuted by the Roman government.  It began in 64 A.D., with the great fire that destroyed much of Rome.  Like Hurricane Katrina or the gulf oil spill, the government badly bungled the response to this disaster, and the mad Emperor Nero needed a scapegoat to take the blame.  So, the ancient Roman historian Tacitus tells us that Nero accused the Christians of starting the fire.  Tacitus writes:

“To get rid of the blame, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a . . . group called Christians. . .  Christ, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the death penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate . . . in Judea . . .  an immense multitude of Christians was convicted . . . of firing the city. . .  Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or they were nailed to crosses, or they were doomed to the flames and burnt.”

The persecution of the early Christians by the Roman Empire continued on and off for several hundred years, sometimes more savage, like under the mad Emperor Nero, and sometimes less severe, under more enlightened Emperors.  Being a Christian remained illegal until Emperor Constantine himself became a Christian in 313 A.D. and declared Christianity a legal religion.  In one of the great reversals of history, eventually Christianity became the official religion of the very Empire that had once crucified Christ himself and persecuted his followers so savagely.

But, in 95 A.D., when John as the last surviving Apostle wrote the book of Revelation, the Christians he was writing to were in the midst of a particularly terrible time of persecution.  That is what John talking about when he writes in today’s Epistle Reading, “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”  As the last remaining Apostle, John had been exiled by the Romans to the remote, desolate island of Patmos, which is where he received from the Lord the visions he recorded in the book of Revelation.

In addition to official persecution from the Roman government, the second source of persecution which the early Christians faced was from the hostile culture around them, as the Apostle Peter wrote: “Beloved, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. . .  For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.  They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. . .  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed. . . if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

In addition to being persecuted, insulted, and having all kinds of evil falsely spoken against them by the Roman government, and the hostile culture around them, there was a third source of opposition and persecution which the early Christians also faced.  It was opposition from within, from those who claimed to be followers of Christ, yet rejected the teachings of Christ and his Word.

Jesus had warned, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. . . For false Christs and false prophets will appear . . . and deceive many people.”  In 2nd Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes them as, “false apostles . . . masquerading as apostles of Christ,” and he says that he is, “in danger from false brothers.”

The Apostle Peter warned, “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them . . . Many will follow their shameful ways.”  And the next chapter of Revelation describes them as, “wicked men . . . liars . . . who claim to be apostles, but are not.”

It was bad enough for the early Christians to be persecuted, insulted, and have all kinds of evil falsely spoken against them by the Roman government and unbelieving, pagan culture.  Even worse was to be treated that way by those who claimed to be Christians, but were really false brothers.

In our country at this point we are not yet faced with actual persecution on account of our faith.  But, even in our modern world, we have brothers and sisters in Christ in many countries around the globe who are being put to death every day simply because they claim Christ as their Savior and Lord.  It is conservatively estimated that in 2021 there were over 5,000 Christian martyrs in the world; that’s about 14 put to death every day because of their faith in Christ.

The most dramatic recent martyrdom was carried out by Muslim terrorists in 2015, against 21 incredibly brave Egyptian Christian young men, who were all beheaded because of their faith.  These young men, in their late teens and early 20’s,  could have saved their lives, even at the last moment, by renouncing Christ and their Christian faith.  The terrorists posted on the Internet a sickening video of this barbaric atrocity, as the kneeling men were given one last chance to forsake their Lord and Savior.

But, what they didn’t realize is that they left the audio on, and it recorded something amazing.  With sharp swords literally poised on their necks, one by one instead of renouncing Christ, the last words from these faithful martyrs’ mouths were beautiful prayers to Jesus, and at the moment of death they cried out, “Lord Jesus Christ!”

Although we do not face that kind of actual persecution on account of our faith, in our country and other Christian nations, there is a subtle but growing hostility toward Christ and the true teachings of his Word.

A nurse in England with 30 years experience was demoted to a desk job by their National Health Service because she wore a small cross she had received as a Confirmation gift and worn every day since her Confirmation in 1971.  However, non-Christians working for the National Health Service are allowed to wear expressions of their faith.

In Dearborn, Michigan, which now has a majority Muslim population, four Christians were arrested simply for handing out copies of the Gospel of John.  It is surreal to watch the video of them being arrested.  You think it can’t happen in America, but it did.

Closer to home, you may have seen in the news last week that a prominent African-American church on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence was vandalized with hateful graffiti—something that actually happened once to our own church a century ago.

As in ancient times, this hostility toward the faith is sadly coming not only from the government, and the hostile culture around us, but also from within, from those who claim to be followers of Christ, yet reject the teachings of Christ and his Word.  For, there are many shocking examples of once-solid major denominations that are now taking appalling actions that contradict the clear teachings of Scripture.

Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy:  “There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. . .  For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth.”

In “Revelation’s First Beautiful Beatitude,” John was writing to the early Christians to help them cope with terrible times they were facing in their day, and his advice to them will help us face the terrible times that we are living through today: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

This beatitude tells us the two sources we have as Christians of comfort and strength in terrible times like they faced then and we face now.  First of all, God’s Word and promises: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy.”  That refers not only to the book of Revelation itself, but coming as it does in the final book of the Bible that is a reference to all of Scripture.  “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it.” 

There’s a story about a young man going to college whose father gives him a Bible, with the advice that if ever he is in need he should look in it.  The young man takes the Bible to college, but for two years he never opens it up.  Then one day the Bible accidentally falls to the floor, and five crisp $100 bills flutter out of its pages.  Because he never said anything about this treasure the young man’s father knew he hadn’t found the money.  And he knew that for two whole years his son hadn’t opened his Bible even once.

That little story is really a parable about you, and your heavenly Father.  For, in the pages of Scripture he has placed rich, spiritual treasures, waiting there for you.  “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it.”  In personal Bible reading, in devotions with Portals of Prayer, in Bible Class and Sunday School, in weekly worship here in God’s house, read, hear, and take to heart God’s Word.  There is an ancient prayer that puts it this way: “Blessed Lord, since you have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.”

The other source of comfort and strength we have as Christians in terrible times like these is the promise and hope of our Lord’s return at the last day, when all things will be put right again.  As Peter says, “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”  “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” 

Remember all the hype a decade ago when according to the so-called “Mayan Apocalypse” the world was supposed end on December 21, 2012?  It was portrayed as something horrible, and surveys back then showed that a lot of people believed it and lived in great fear as the date approached.  Of course Jesus says in today’s Gospel Reading, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do NOT expect him.”

The end of the world could happen at any time, even before I finish this sentence!  For, all the signs given in Scripture are fulfilled.  “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

For Christians, the Second Coming of Christ and the end of all things at the Last Day is not something to be feared, but looked forward to with anticipation.  Jesus put it this way:  “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Jesus does not want you to cower in fear at the thought of his Second Coming, but to rejoice in hope.  The early Christians actually coined a word for this: “Maranatha,” which means, “O Lord, Come!”  In the earliest recorded Christian liturgy, dating from about 150 A.D., the congregation would cry out “Maranatha,” “O Lord, Come!” expressing their longing and desire FOR Christ’s second coming.

Paul says in Philippians, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we EAGERLY await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  And in 1st Corinthians, “You EAGERLY wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.”

Today’s Epistle Reading beautifully explains WHY you look upon Christ’s Second Coming not with fear but with confidence and hope and joy: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” 

You need not fear Christ’s Second Coming, because you have God’s assurance that his Son is your Savior.  He loves you and has freed you from your sins by his blood. He makes you worthy of eternal life in heaven.

In “Revelation’s First Beautiful Beatitude,” John was writing to the early Christians to help them cope with terrible times they were facing in their day, and his advice to them will help us face the terrible times that we are living through today.  This beatitude tells us the two sources we have as Christians of comfort and strength in terrible times like they faced then and we face now: God’s Word and promises, and the anticipation of our Lord’s return at the last day, when all things will be put right again. “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”