11-21-21 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka November 21, 2021

4th Sunday of End Time Christ the King Sunday Rejoice! Christ the King Is Coming!

Revelation 1:4b-8

1) His Saving Reign Is Timeless and Almighty 2) His Coming Has Christians Rejoicing They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and I generally find that to be true. Say you were to describe this moment of what’s happening in church.

How many words would you use to describe me in the pulpit and you all listening, what everyone is wearing, the architecture and atmosphere of our worship space, and everything else? It would take a lot of words, easily up to a thousand to cover every detail. Or think back to traveling before the days of Wi-Fi and smartphones.

How many words would you devour in guidebooks and directions before leaving?

When you can’t see what you’re talking about, you often have to use many words instead. And when it comes to our verses this morning from Revelation chapter 1, that’s a bit of what we have going on with Jesus’ second coming. On the Last Day, we will see Jesus the King of kings and Lord of lords he is when he shows his power and glory as Christ the King. While our initial reaction may be shrink back, there is no need. As the Christ, Jesus is our Promised Savior who takes our sins away. As our King, Jesus rules over everything for our eternal best.

As such, we can look forward to the Last Day and rejoice! For it is Christ our King who is coming.

1) His Saving Reign Is Timeless and Almighty Our verses this morning tell us what we’ll see happening on the Last Day. But they also teach us some truths that are in effect now. One of those truths is how Jesus’ reign as Christ the King is timeless. We get that from the words “the one who is, who was, and who is coming.” (Revelation 1:4,8 EHV) From this very peculiar Greek grammar, we learn that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, he will never change or pull the rug out from under us. Jesus also calls himself “the Alpha and the Omega.” (Revelation 1:8 EHV) With these first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Jesus teaches us that he is the First and the Last – the one who has and will always exist. It’s from these timeless aspects we learn that Christ the King’s saving reign is and will be forever.

Jesus’ reign is also almighty. Revelation again tells us how by describing Jesus’ second coming as “coming with the clouds.” (Revelation 1:7 EHV) Clouds 1

Pastor Tim Patoka November 21, 2021

4th Sunday of End Time Christ the King Sunday

were often used in biblical imagery to signal God’s power and presence. Think of the thunderous clouds that hung over Mt. Sinai or the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness. Revelation also tells us that Jesus is “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5 EHV) that speaks to his incomparable power.

Even in our technological age where our world’s leaders can peer into the depths of outer space or blanket the world with radiation, they have nothing on Jesus.

A timeless and almighty reign that is focused on saving us from our sins. Is that how you would describe Jesus’ saving reign as Christ the King? Perhaps you doubt it because you wonder about the power Jesus has as our King. We see God’s mighty acts of old and the lack of them today and ask, “Where is God today?” We suffer through the struggles we endure in life and ask, “Were my troubles too much for him?” Perhaps we doubt the salvation that Jesus brings to us as the Christ. We commit and repent of the same sins over and over and wonder, “Is there a limit to Jesus’ forgiveness?” We see the devastation certain sins have wrecked and that can’t be covered over or made up for. So we ask, “Will Jesus forgive me for something I can’t even forgive myself for?”

As we consider the reign Jesus has as Christ our King, we do well to remember what kind of king he is. Because if we don’t, we can be mistaken like Pontius Pilate was in our Gospel reading. Jesus is not a king in the traditional sense of someone whose reign is found physically on Earth. Rather, his reign is found spiritually in Christians’ believing hearts and physically in heaven above. As his reign is found in unexpected places, so he uses his almighty power in unexpected ways – to save us from our sins, not to flex his muscles.

But that doesn’t mean that Jesus’ power as our King is a thing of the past.

Who’s to say that he isn’t guiding the world’s events according to his will? Who’s to say he isn’t using our current struggles to strengthen us in faith and keep us trusting in him alone? When you look through the Bible’s history and the development of the Christian Church, you cannot help but see God’s unseen and powerful hand behind the scenes. Just because Jesus hasn’t spelled out how is still ruling as our King doesn’t mean he isn’t. It’s more so we don’t see what is truly doing.

However, we have another reason to know that Jesus’ timeless and almighty reign is happening now. And that comes to us through the ways made clear to us in Revelation’s words about Jesus “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood 6and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father.” (Revelation 2

Pastor Tim Patoka November 21, 2021

4th Sunday of End Time Christ the King Sunday

1:5-6 EHV) In loving us, we see how Jesus has loved us since time began throughout all eternity. And because it’s an agape love, it’s a one-directional love from God towards us that’s entirely for our benefit.

In freeing us from our sins, we see Jesus do what God alone can do. As the Christ, he went to the cross and offered up his perfect life in sacrifice for our sins.

That sacrifice has since been accepted by God, our sins are paid for in full, so that there’s nothing left for you and me to do except to believe and receive. When we do, we are then freed from our sins and the guilt that comes with them. Remember those many sins that you keep committing and repenting of? Remember those sins that you struggle to forgive yourself of? You are freed from them by the blood of the Christ who tells you with the power of the King of kings that you are holy in his sight and counted among his saints.

In making us a kingdom and priests, Jesus uses his almighty power to add on to our position description as Christians. We rule with Jesus in ways that will become clear on the Last Day. We have direct access to God and can go to him with anything on our minds at any time with the confidence that he will listen and respond for our eternal best welfare. And this is all true now because of Jesus’ current reign as Christ our King.

2) His Coming Has Christians Rejoicing In these last days before the Last Day, we Christians know that Jesus is already reigning in his timeless and almighty way. But when the Last Day comes, everyone will know it regardless of their faith. And it is this future coming of our King that has us rejoicing. We hear how Revelation describes Jesus’ second coming when it says, “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him.” (Revelation 1:7 EHV) We have Jesus coming with the clouds, that imagery used for God’s power and presence, and every eye will see him. No one is going to miss the memo or sleep through Jesus’ second coming. Not even those who have already passed away. Rather, they will all be raised to life, including those Romans soldiers who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear to see if he was truly dead on the cross.

Jesus’ second coming will also bring widespread mourning from the nations.

Those who don’t have faith will finally realize who Jesus is and the error of their 3

Pastor Tim Patoka November 21, 2021

4th Sunday of End Time Christ the King Sunday

ways. But there will sadly be no more time to come to faith or second chances.

Those who have lived their earthly lives apart from the Christ will continue so for all eternity in the depths of hell below.

However, for Christians, there will be no mourning on the Last Day. Instead, there will be rejoicing when Christ our King comes. That’s due in part because of who Jesus is. He is the Christ who has freed his children from their sins by the blood he shed on the cross. He is the King who has already included them in his saving reign and counts them as his own.

There will also be rejoicing because of what Jesus will do as “the firstborn from the dead.” (Revelation 1:5 EHV) In the culture of this time, the firstborn played a significant role in setting the pattern for all who would follow. As the firstborn from the dead, Jesus sets the pattern for all who pass away with saving faith – die, rise to life, live in heaven with body and soul, and never die again. And so Christians rejoice at Christ the King’s coming because they will follow the pattern Jesus already set by rising to life, living in heaven with body and soul, and never dying again.

We don’t know when the Last Day will come. But when it does and every eye sees Christ the King coming with clouds and power, do you want to be among those mourning or rejoicing? If you want to be rejoicing, then take today to prepare yourself for the Last Day. Look to Jesus as the Christ who freed you from your sins by the blood he shed on the cross. Look to Jesus as the King who chiefly uses his almighty power to save you from your sins and assure you of it. And then join your brothers and sisters in Christ who keep their faith in Jesus, patiently wait for the Last Day, and make good use of the time remaining to bring others to faith so that they too may rejoice with you when Christ our King finally comes. Amen.

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