Glorious Hope | The Identity of the Risen Jesus

The book of revelation is the pulling back of the curtain so that we can see what the future of God's people will be. This revelation is our glorious hope as we look to Jesus in these days of tribulation and know for sure he is coming back to take us home.

In chapter 2 we are introduced to the seven churches spoken of in chapter 1. In this episode we look at the next two churches: Pergamum and Thyatira. The Christians in these two cities faced the pressure to conform to the society around them and the worship of false gods. This worship included eating food offered to idols and sexual immorality. John presents to these churches the identity of Jesus as the judge of their sin if they do not repent.

The image of Jesus given to us is one of a doubled-edged sword coming from his mouth, telling us that it will be his words of judgement that will condemn. He is also shown to us as the one with eyes like a flame of fire. Jesus is perfectly holy and his gaze cannot fall on sin. We are also given the description that his feet are burnished bronze, meaning he will cruse underfoot the sin that deserves punishment.

The challenge for us is to be aware of the sin that is in our lives that so easily pulls us away from worship of God. This passage gives us hope that if we repent we will be forgiven by the only one who took the punishment our sins deserved: Jesus. We are to know his true identity and run to him for our salvation.

Glorious Hope is a podcast teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. You can find out more at http://www.annalongpc.org/sermons.

Get your copy of the ESV Scripture Journal (Revelation) wherever you get your Christian books to help your own study in this series.

An audio podcast of this series is available at http://www.annalongpc.org/podcasts.