The Vineyard of the Beloved (Isaiah 5)

As we read through the verses of this week’s passage from Isaiah chapter 5, some of us might have said to ourselves, “Oh no, judgement... again? Why not a sermon on joy, instead? Week after week, I come to this church and all I hear about is God’s judgement; how God is so angry with our sin! How can I bring my friends to hear such a distressing talk? You are just going to make them feel miserable about themselves!”

If that is you, or if you are a new visitor with us today, let me just say that what we are doing here isn’t so strange. Christians gather each week not in order to praise one another for all the great things we have done. Quite the contrary. We acknowledge all the ways in which we have failed to live our lives for God. I’m talking about the Christians here, not the non-Christians. We, as Christian believers, are confessing to God all the ways in which we have ignored him and let him down - all ways in which we have sinned against God - and we dare to approach this holy, righteous God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Isn’t that what Communion is about? The bread and the cup symbolise the once-for-all substitutionary death of Jesus, who took our punishment of death on the cross. Friends, this isn’t therapy. It’s not simply a way to feel better about ourselves. Rather, the bible is calling us to Get Real: To get real with our sins because there is real forgiveness and there is real restoration at the cross. God takes away all that guilt. God puts your sin - yes, even the ones you are so ashamed of - God puts them all on Jesus, and then God clothes you with his righteousness. God covers you with his love.

Believe it or not, today’s passage is actually about God’s love. It is a passage that teaches us how difficult it is - not for us to love God - but for God to love us. I wonder if you’ve ever thought of that? Maybe you think that God ought to love everyone, that’s his job. Maybe you think God must love you; after all, you are so adorable. But isn’t it true that the people who love you most in your life - your mum, your dad, your spouse, your boyfriend or your girlfriend - are ones whom you have hurt the most in your life? The longer that they have loved you, the more occasions there have been when you’ve broken their hearts. Your loved ones are the people you’ve hurt most precisely because they are your loved ones.

It is no different with God. God looks at our lives and he doesn’t just go, “Aha! I saw that sin. Gotcha!” What this passage teaches us is that God looks upon our sin; God looks at the pride and the boastfulness of our sin; and he says, “Woe!” Six times in this passage, God responds to our sin by saying, “Woe!” The essential scene in any Hong Kong drama serial, is where the main character falls on his knees and cries out, “Tinnn ahhh!!” (Meaning: Why God! or Why Heaven!) It is a cry of frustration; a lament of deep sadness and grief. When God says, “Woe!” he isn’t saying, “All of you are going to be fried papadams!” rather, God is grieving over their sin. God is saying, “Why? Why have you done this?”

Verse 8: Woe to you who add house to house...

Verse 11: Woe to those who rise early... to run after their drinks...

Verse 18: Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit...

Verse 20: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil...

Verse 21: Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

Verse 22: Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine

Today’s passage invites us to do something quite extraordinary: The bible is inviting us to take God’s view and to share God’s heart. It is inviting us to love the way God loves; but as a consequence of doing so, to be hurt the way God is hurt - by those whom he loves. Isaiah Chapter 5 teaches us four lessons:

1. How God’s love is spurned

2. How God’s grace is taken for granted

3. How God’s word is challenged; and

4. How God’s judgement is much worse than we think

God’s love, God’s grace, God’ word and finally, God’s judgement. Let’s look at Isaiah Chapter 5.

How God’s love is spurned

Isaiah begins with a love song. He picks up his guitar and begins to sing.

I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

It is a song about a farmer who gets down on his hands and knees and digs up the stones, clears the ground and plants a garden. It is hard, back-breaking work - but the farmer spares no effort or expense. He builds a watchtower and winepress - these were huge structures, one for protection, the other, for production. What he was building was a vineyard; he was growing grapes to make wine. It would have taken at least two years before any sign of a harvest, but when the first vines began to mature, the end of verse 2 tells us, “it yielded only bad fruit.” Literally, stinky grapes.

The story doesn’t end there. Isaiah turns to his friends and asks, “What more could I have done?”

What more could have been done for my vineyard

than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,

why did it only yield bad?

Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be destroyed.

Isaiah 5:4

“Erm, OK,” some of us are thinking, “That’s a bit extreme - tearing the whole place up over a few sour grapes.” That wasn’t what Isaiah’s friends would have said though. To build a vineyard of this scale would have been like pouring your life savings into a business venture only to have it fail completely. But even that doesn’t capture the emotional anguish of Isaiah’s song. This farmer went the extra mile. His vineyard was a labour of love. When we read that the farmer tears down the walls, leaving the plants exposed to the elements and uncared for, some of us might go, “It’s just plants. What’s the big deal?” But try telling the third-year London Met student from China that his degree is just a piece of paper and that “It’s no big deal.” He will say to you, “You are talking about my life.” Or tell the employee who has just been made redundant, “It’s nothing personal.” And they say, “What of the years I’ve given to this company? How can you say, it’s nothing personal?”

But as you’ve probably already guessed, Isaiah’s song isn’t about money or investments or plants. It’s about people. You can understand, can’t you, what it feels like when a person lets you down; when another human being spurns your generosity and love?

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are the garden of his delight.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Isaiah 5:7

We get that Isaiah is talking about people. Some of us are even smart enough to note that God is addressing a specific group of people - the house of Israel and men of Judah - meaning, men and women who have grown up knowing God and worshipping God all their lives. But many of us miss the fruit. We don’t ask, “What is God really looking for in my life?” We don’t ask, “What is the fruit?” or I suspect, we misunderstand what fruitfulness means. It’s not being successful. It’s not trying your best. It’s not even being good and well-behaved.

What is God looking for? In a word, it’s justice. “And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress.” (The Hebrew word qavah means to “expectantly wait for”, not simply to look at. It is the same word used of the grapes back in verses 2 and 4) God was waiting for his people to grow in righteousness and justice, but what this teaches us - and this is vitally important - is that righteousness and justice are a response to God’s love. Why is this important? When Christians live according to God’s ways, it is never to earn his love, but as a response to his love.

Or put it another way, when you have been married for a while, and you know that your husband likes Big Macs, and you make a trip specially to get a Big Mac for him, do you know what you are doing? You are seeking the good of your “Beloved,” as corny as it sounds, that’s what you are doing. You just to please him. That is what the bible means by righteousness and justice. It is acting in such a way as to reflect God’s righteousness in order just to please God, to acknowledge the goodness of his love. (The Hebrew word tzedekah means acting rightly in relationship to another person)

Conversely, sin is a personal rejection of God’s love. The New Testament says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.” (Romans 1:21) One of the reasons why we find it hard to sing hymns praising God for who he is is because there is something in us that just doesn’t want to owe anyone anything. Not our parents. Not our teachers. Not even God. The same passage from Romans says that every person on the planet has a sense of God as creator and sustainer, “people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

But Isaiah is saying something even more significant than that. He is speaking to those of us who have known God’s love personally and intimately. We’ve grown up hearing about him. He has intervened in our lives again and again. Even with all these personal testimonies of God’s goodness, our hearts still turn against God. We spurn his love. Isaiah Chapter 5 isn’t a condemnation of the pagan unbeliever. No, it’s for you who have grown up here in the Chinese Church all these years, but have never given any serious thought to what it means to know this God. Our familiarity with God has bred a contempt for him, such that when we do sin, it’s something personal between us and God. When we do sin, we are displaying our stinky grapes with pride.

How God’s grace is taken for granted

The second lesson we learn from this passage is how God’s grace is taken for granted. Here, Isaiah describes the peculiar condition of the man who is so hungry for success but ends up in solitude.

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field

till no space is left and you live alone in the land.

Isaiah 5:8

Here is a man who is hungry, who is passionate, who is ambitious. Here is a man who concentrates all his efforts in life on feeding his own hunger and appetite yet the irony of the whole thing is this: he is never satisfied. He always needs more.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning

to run after their drinks,

who stay up at night

till they are inflamed with wine.

Isaiah 5:11

Here is a word of application to those beginning their first year at university: Just because you can does not mean you should. Just because you can stay up all night to party; just because you are old enough to drink yourself under the table; just because no one is going to tell you who you should or should not hook up with, does not mean that you should.

Just in case you think I’m picking on those who like to go clubbing on the weekends, let me just say that this applies just as much to the hardworking student. Remember that Isaiah also speaks the ambitious man: The man who adds field to field, house to house is not unlike the student who climbs from degree to degree in the effort of separating himself from the lower classes. As a businessman, you must drive a businessman’s car. As a professor, you must sit with other professors in the dining hall. As a Cambridge student, you might go to a church that has other Cambridge students (and certainly not Anglia Ruskin students). Now I’ve heard every excuse under the sun, including the ones that go, “But I’m trying to reach other undergrads/ businessman/ academics with the gospel.” Yet in the very churches/workplaces/dormitories/housing these individuals are in, they sit alone, by themselves, away from everyone else. The reason? They are simply passing through. The are biding their time till they can graduate onto the next even more exclusive level.

Does that describe you and your life situation? You are always seeking yet never satisfied. You are always clamouring for more yet you are never quite content with what you have. Friends, heed the warning of the prophet Isaiah: God’s judgement on such selfishness is the promise of emptiness. Your mansions will become museums, your businesses will be bankrupt (verses 9 and 10). The very things you have worked so hard for will become worthless. And that’s just for starters.

Isaiah wasn’t speaking figuratively. In fact, things get pretty specific from verse 13 onwards - especially in reference to the exile. Two hundred years later, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem and transported all its officials and noblemen back to Babylon (it’s where we get the account of Daniel).

Therefore my people will go into exile

for lack of understanding;

those of high rank will die of hunger

and the common people will be parched with thirst.

Isaiah 5:13

Eventually, God promises his people in exile, that he would bring them home. But there is none of that here. Here in Isaiah Chapter 5, there is only judgement and it’s there for a reason.

But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,

and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.

Isaiah 5:16

This is saying something very important about God’s judgement and it’s this: God has every right to judge. “The LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice.” Do you know what this is saying? God will be praised for his judgement, not inspite of it. He will be exalted. Why? Because it is the right response, it is the appropriate response - it is the only justifiable response - from a holy and righteous God. If he is God, he must punish sin. If God is a holy God, he must punish sinful men and women.

Now notice the same pair of words - justice and righteousness - as we met earlier on in verse 7. Back there, God was looking for our justice; God was patiently seeking our righteousness. Here in verse 16, we see his. What is this passage saying? When we do not respond to God’s love with the fruit of righteousness and justice, God will respond to our sin with his righteousness and his justice.

How God’s word is challenged

Despite these sober words of warning, there are always those who will question God’s judgement. The way they do that is by challenging his word. “The plan of the Holy One of Israel, let it approach... so we may know it.” They were challenging God to put into action all that he has spoken in his word.

Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,

and wickedness as with cart ropes,

to those who say, “Let God hurry;

let him hasten his work

so we may see it.

The plan of the Holy One of Israel

let it approach, let it come into view,

so we may know it.”

Isaiah 5:18-19

After all, for Isaiah’s friends, all they kept hearing were words, words and more words. Where was this judgement he spoke of? “Let me see it, then I’ll believe.”

Isaiah was an odd fellow by our modern standards. He didn’t go up to his friends and say, “God loves you and has a plan for your life.” Nope, he said, “God hates your sin and will one day punish you for your sin.” If Isaiah turned up in the Chinese Church today, none of us would want to sit next to him, much less, ask him to help out at Sunday School (though I wonder if the kids would love having him as their teacher!) Why? Well, because this guy is just too extreme! He is insensitive and plain disrespectful!

But more than anything, I suspect the one reason why we read these words of Isaiah and get all hot and bothered under the collar is because he keeps talking about one thing over and over again: judgement. And while I do understand how important it is to be clear and loving when talking about God’s judgement here in the church, and when evangelising our friends and family, I want to also caution us from denying God’s judgement altogether. Because, you see, that’s what Isaiah’s friends were doing. They began by denying God’s judgement. And before long, they were denying God’s word altogether.

Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

Isaiah 5:20-21

For a document that was written 2800 years ago, Isaiah describes a way of looking at life that is dominant in today’s thinking: postmodernism. Here were individuals reacting to Isaiah’s claims of judgement by rejecting God’s word altogether as objective truth. Good becomes evil. Evil becomes good. Who is to say which is which? This is all the more surprising, if you remember that Isaiah was talking to God-fearing Jews. They knew God, they knew the bible, yet in their cleverness, they twisted God’s word to suit their own lives and to justify their sinful lifestyles.

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine

and champions at mixing drinks,

who acquit (or justify) the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice to the innocent (or take righteousness from the righteous).

Isaiah 5:22-23

Their motives were far from intellectual. These friends of Isaiah didn’t stumble into some new form of thinking that challenged all previous presuppositions about the bible which then caused their faith to come crashing down into pieces, resulting in their abandoning God and becoming free-thinking atheists. No, the reason was simply sin. They wanted to justify a lifestyle that wouldn’t condemn them. They wanted to do what they wanted to do without feeling guilty or worrying about the consequences. The wanted to to be heroes at drinking wine, champions at mixing drinks - alcohol was their calling. More interestingly, these same individuals justify (masdiqe = make righteous) the guilty and take the righteousness (wesidqat) from the righteous (saddiqim).

We’re back to the theme of righteousness. Previously God looked for our righteousness but found only wickedness. Then God responded with his own righteousness, which meant judgement over our sin. But here, something peculiar happens. The men and women of Isaiah’s day heard the warnings of God’s word and decided to redefine their whole understanding of righteousness altogether. They weren’t content with being innocent. They wanted to be right in doing wrong. They made the guilty righteous and they denied justice to the innocent. More than denying God’s judgement, the people of Jerusalem were distorting God’s word. And the reason for this was not intellectual doubt, it never is. It is sin and the desire to be justified in our sinfulness.

Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw

and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,

so their roots will decay

and their flowers blow away like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty

and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 5:24

The section ends with God raising his hand in judgement against his people with a terrifying picture of death on the streets of Jerusalem (verse 25). You would think that that would be awful enough, but no. The very next verse reads:

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 5:26

There something worse than death, this verse seems to be saying to us. There is something more fundamental to God’s judgement than the horrible end to our physical existence. Which brings us to our final section: How God’s judgement is worse than we think.

How God’s judgement is much worse than we think

He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,

he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Here they come,

swiftly and speedily!

Isaiah 5:26

What follows is a picture of relentless destruction without a trace of mercy at the hands of Jerusalem’s enemies. God calls the armies of the enemy nations to utterly decimate the city. “Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,” meaning, there is no possibility of delay. “Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung,” meaning these are soldiers and executioners, not peacemakers and politicians. “They growl as they seize their prey, and carry it off with no one to rescue.” These invading forces pounce upon they prey hell-bent on destruction, but here is the shocking revelation: they are merely doing God’s will. He whistles for them, and the nations answer his call. They carry out his execution.

There is something more fundamental to God’s final judgement than death and it is this: God removes all traces of his blessing and presence. We see this in the closing words to the prophecy which draw our attention to the state of the land.

And if one looks at the land,

there is only darkness and distress;

even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

Isaiah 5:30

What we see here is the reversal of creation and total removal of God’s blessing upon the land. Even light is replaced with darkness. What this is saying is: God would no longer have anything to do with this place. This land would be utterly forsaken.

Do you know that the New Testament writers, in describing the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, include the curious description of the sky turning dark. Except they didn’t just say that sky turned dark, or that the clouds covered the sunlight. No, what they say is this: “Darkness came over the land.” And do you know what were the immediate words of Jesus right after that description? Do you know what Mark, Matthew and Luke recorded Jesus as saying, immediately following the darkness?

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Friends, Jesus Christ didn’t simply just die on the cross. Death wasn’t enough. Do you know the bible is saying happened to Jesus on the cross? God the Father forsook his son. He removed all traces of his presence, his blessing, his love from the One being he truly loved from all eternity.

That is what it took for God to forgive your sin and my sin. God poured out all of his anger and punishment on Jesus. All that happened to Jesus before was nothing compared to this; whether it was the rejection of the crowds, the mocking of the soldiers, even the nails driven through his hands and feet. There was something which Jesus knew - and I dare say, even feared - worse than abuse, humiliation and even death itself. It was being forsaken by God the Father, but that was precisely what happened on the cross.

The story is told of a group of prisoners gathering for a bible study. (Gives new meaning to the phrase “cell group.”) The question was asked: Who killed Jesus? Some said, “Pilate.” Others said, “The crowd. They killed Jesus.” One man, who had been silent throughout the discussion, kept his head bowed down. “I did,” he answered solemnly. “I killed Jesus.” But friends, looking back at what we learned today, the bible is saying that the real answer is not Pilate, it’s not the crowd, it’s not even our sin - for all the punishment we deserve for our sin. On the cross, God killed Jesus. God condemned his own Son to take the penalty of our death on our behalf.

Why? As a display of his own love for us.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

What does this mean for us? We’ll review the four lessons we learned from this passage - but in reverse order, looking at God’s judgement, God’s word, God’s grace and finally God’s love.

Firstly, God’s judgement. We see it part in these horrible pictures of destruction in Isaiah’s prophecy. But there is a place where we see it even clearer - and that’s the cross. On the cross, Jesus Christ took the full wrath and punishment for sin - which included death, but was more than death. It was complete separation from God, the author of life.

Secondly, God’s word. Part of our aversion to the whole topic of judgement stems from our denial of God’s word. Something like this really shouldn’t surprise you, if you have been reading your bibles.

Thirdly, God’s grace; and the lesson is simply this: Don’t take it for granted. Paul writes to the Corinthians says, “We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1) Paul was talking to Christians who knew the gospel, who had heard the gospel again and again, and he said to them, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” Meaning, don’t waste time. Respond to God’s offer of forgiveness in Jesus. Today.

Finally, God’s love. And the reminder for us as Christians is: nothing can ever separate us from God’s love through Jesus Christ - not even death. He who did not spare his own Son - but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him give us all things. That is a wonderful promise, isn’t it? In Jesus, there is no more condemnation. And because of the cross of Jesus, there nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the fullness of God’s perfect love.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

WDJD (Mark 15)

The question I want us to think about is: Why did Jesus die?

Not “How?” - which is a good question. He died very painfully on a wooden cross. That is how he died.

We are not asking “When did Jesus die?” “When” is also a good question. Jesus died two thousand years ago. And yet, it still affects us today.

We are asking: Why did Jesus die? To help us answer that question, we will hear what the bible says in Mark Chapter 15. Here, the bible gives us three reasons why Jesus died.

1.    His death was planned

2.    His death was a punishment

3.    His death was in our place

It was planned

Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

Mark 15:1 (Good News Translation)

There are a lot of names in just the first sentence. Chief priests, elders, teachers, the Council. All of them were powerful - elders, teachers of the Law. All of them were religious - chief priests and the Council. A lot of people were involved in the plan to kill Jesus.

Whoa! Kill Jesus? Well, they didn’t all take sticks and hit him. That is not what I mean. They planned together so that someone else would kill Jesus. Early in the morning, they all hurried and met together with their friends and said, “How can we get Jesus into trouble? We can’t kill him ourselves? We don’t want to get into trouble.” But they had a plan. “We will send him to the governor - the judge, named Pilate. We will tell the governor that Jesus is a terrorist and that he must be punished according to the law.”

And it looked like the plan was working!

Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “So you say.” The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things, so Pilate questioned him again, “Aren't you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!” Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed.

Mark 15:2-5

They were “accusing Jesus of many things”. They chief priests were saying, “Jesus is a criminal. He is dangerous. We must get rid of him.” But the bible says, “Jesus refused to say a word.” He didn’t defend himself. He didn’t say, “You are telling lies about me,” even though they were. He didn’t say, “I am innocent.” Even though he was.

But Jesus did answer one question. I wonder if you noticed that: the very first question Pilate, the judge asked Jesus in verse number 2. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “So you say.”

You’re right. I am the King. I do have authority and power.

Yet the plan was to convince Pilate, the judge that Jesus was pretending to be king. The plan was to say that he was just another man: Jesus was just a common criminal who deserved to be punished.

It was a punishment

At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favour, he asked them, “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

Mark 15:6-10

Pilate, the judge, was not convinced. I think if you were in his position as the judge, you wouldn’t have been convinced either. Pilate heard all the accusations against Jesus but he did not believe any of them. Yet at the same time, he was amazed. Why didn’t Jesus defend himself?

So Pilate, the judge tried to set Jesus free. But instead of asking the leaders, the chief priests and the religious people who all wanted Jesus to be punished, Pilate thought, “I will ask the people instead.” Maybe the people would support his decision.

Look with me to verse 9. “He asked them, ‘Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?’ He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.”

It was a favour. It was a tradition. Every year during this special holiday called the Passover Festival, Pilate would do a favour for the people by freeing one of the prisoners. It is a bit like X-Factor, except for prison: Ex-convict Factor. Who got the most votes? Who was the most popular? Pilate was being Simon Cowell, sitting behind the desk, looking very good and making all the important decisions. But the final decision was belonged to the people. “Do you want me to let Jesus go?” he asked them.

The final decision surprised Pilate, the judge.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, that Pilate set Barabbas free for them. Pilate spoke again to the crowd, “What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” But what crime has he committed?” Pilate asked. They shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Mark 15:11-14

Jesus didn’t get the vote. He wasn’t popular enough. In fact, everyone voted for the other prisoner, a man named Barabbas. If you can remember, back in verse 7, Barabbas was a criminal. He was in prison for murder. He was dangerous. He was guilty.

“What then do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked the people. “Crucify him!”

“But... but what crime has he committed?” They didn’t care. Most of them probably didn’t know. They were just angry. The chief priests had “stirred up the crowd”, meaning, they go everyone excited. “Don’t let Jesus go. He must be punished.”

Pilate asked them, “What do you want me to do with Jesus?” For the crowd, it wasn’t enough to lock Jesus up in prison. It wasn’t enough to just teach him a lesson. They wanted Pilate to kill Jesus in the most painful and horrible way possible. To be crucified means to have your hands and legs nailed to big wooden structure called a cross, and to be left there hanging until eventually you cannot breathe anymore and you slowly die. It was very, very painful. And yet this crowd of people were shouting at the top of their voices, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” The question is: Why?

The people and the religious leaders were angry. Do you notice how the Pilate, the judge keeps calling Jesus “the king of the Jews”? He never calls Jesus by his name. He asks the crowd, “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” “What do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” What was the very first question Pilate asked Jesus? Are you the king of the Jews?

Yes. “So you say.”

The people didn’t want a king. They didn’t want God to be their king. They didn’t Jesus whom God sent to be their king. And they were so angry that Jesus claimed to be this king that they were willing to kill him.

There is a special name for this king. You might have heard it before. It is the name “Christ”. When the bible talks about Jesus Christ it is saying the Jesus is the King. But the bible also says that Jesus came to die as the King on the cross.

On the cross, he died to take our place.

In our place

Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.

Mark 15:15

Barabbas, the criminal was set free. Jesus, who was innocent, was whipped and handed over to be crucified. This is a substitute. Jesus died in place of another. Jesus was a substitute.

If you play football and you get tired running on the field, the coach will call in substitute, to take your place. Now imagine that one day, you are in the middle of a game and the referee blows a whistle. The coach waves at you and says, “I am replacing you with a subsitute.” And who should walk into the field but David Beckham!

Now I do apologise if you are not a football fan. I’m not one either. But still, I do recognise the name “David Beckham” as one of the most famous and talented football players in the world. He is rich. He is good-looking and athletic. He is married to a pop star. He earns millions of pounds every year. He even has his own perfume (so that you can smell like David Beckham!). Many kids look up to David Beckham as a role model. They want to be as successful, as famous, as good a football player as David Beckham. He is their example.

But there is a big difference: between having David Beckham as your example or role model; and having David Beckham as your substitute. When the referee blows the whistle and David Beckham comes on the field as your substitute, he is playing for you. You sit down and watch the game. David Beckham is running on the pitch, he is scoring the goals, he is taking the penalties.

And when Jesus Christ goes to the cross as our substitute, he is taking our place. Instead of me dying on the cross, he dies for me. Instead of me being punished for my sins, Jesus who is innocent, takes my punishment as my substitute.

The bible says in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous - the good for the bad - to bring you to God.” Jesus died for us - the bad, the unrighteous - so that we would not have to die. So that we could be brought to God.

Why did Jesus die? WDJD?

So the question was: Why did Jesus die? And I said this passage from the bible gives us three answers:

1.    His death was planned

2.    His death was a punishment

3.    His death was in our place (or another word is “substitute”)

Firstly, his death was planned - by the religious leaders. But actually, the bible says it was God’s plan for Jesus to die. Again and again, Jesus told his friends that he had to die. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests  and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” Jesus said this in Mark Chapter 8 verse 31. God planned all along for Jesus to suffer, to die and rise again.

Secondly, his death was a punishment. The people wanted to punish Jesus according to the law. He was criminal. He claimed to be something he wasn’t - the King of the Jews, the Christ. And so, Pilate the judge, punished him to die on the cross.

But again the bible says, Jesus died to take God’s punishment for our sin. We weren’t punishing him. God was punishing Jesus for what we had done to God. We don’t want God in our lives. We don’t want Jesus as our King.

The bible calls that sin. Sin is saying I am God; I am more important that God; I am King. The punishment for sin is death and separation from God. On the cross, Jesus said, “My God, my God why did you abandon me?” He was taking our punishment - our separation from God - on himself.

Finally, Jesus’ death was in our place. Not just Barabbas, the criminal, who deserved to be in in prison but was set free. He died so that I can be set free.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.

1 Peter 3:18

Jesus died according to God’s plan. Jesus died to take our punishment for sin. And Jesus died in our place, to bring us to God.

But if I could just one more reason, it would be this. Jesus died to show us how much God loves us. John Chapter 3, verse 16 says this:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

John 3:16

When you look at Jesus and his death on the cross, I hope you will see God’s plan; you will see your punishment for sin; you will see Jesus taking that punishment for sin on himself and giving you forgiveness and new life.

And I hope you will see how much God loves you.

Eyes of fire (Revelation 1:9-20)

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.

Revelation 1:9

Do you know how sometimes when you have had a crummy day and everything goes wrong? You had a big argument with your best friend. Someone stole your bike. You flunked Maths. Your boss yelled at you. You missed out on the HP Touchpad firesale.

You just feel crummy, don’t you? You close down your Facebook account. You mope all day long and watch “One litre of tears”.

But then you bump into a friend in church and he’s had a crummy day, too! And the strangest thing happens: He moans about how horrible his life is, how awful his situation has been... and you start to feel better! It’s weird (and it sounds a bit wrong, I know)! But strangely enough, seeing someone and meeting a friend who is just as depressed and just as morose as you are lifts your spirits!

Why is that? The bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice; but also to mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). That is, we connect with one another not just when things are all dandy and super and fine. But also when times are tough. We remind each other: You are not alone.

One of the best things you can do for a friend who is going through a tough time in his or her life - is not just to say “Cheer up! Things will get better!” But to let them know that they do not have to go through their pain and suffering alone. As Christians, we too, suffer. As Christians we are willing to share in their suffering.

That is what John is saying in verse 9. “I am your brother and your companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance in Jesus.” He wants to encourage his friends who are going through intense persecution because they believe in Jesus. Do you know anyone like that? Have you ever written an email or a Facebook message to encourage them? To remind them, “I’m your brother; I’m your sister. I am here for you.”

The reason John is in Patmos is because of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus”. Patmos was a prison island, like Alcatraz or Australia. He was exiled - put on a ship and sent far away from his family and friends because he had been preaching the gospel. So when John says, “I understand your suffering”; for John to say, “I am your brother and companion in this suffering” - these aren’t just empty words of comfort. He knows what it means to suffer. He knows what it means to be alone.

Usually we have to remind churches to pray for missionaries. Pray for Judy during her studies in California. Remember our good friends like Joyce, Jimmy, Alan, Molly, Kinki and Kit who have left Cambridge and gone back to Hong Kong where there are greater pressures at work. Or we hear stories about Christians in China who meet in secret, whose pastors have been locked up for years and forced to deny Jesus. So we often say, pray for them, send help to them, take every opportunity to encourage them.

But that’s not the situation here. In fact, it is the exact opposite.

John, who himself has been exiled and imprisoned writes to the churches - some of which are rich and big and successful. He is encouraging them.

I don’t know how much longer some of you are going to be with us here in the Chinese Church. Some of you are leaving next month of uni. Others might go next year. But maybe, just maybe, wherever you go, you could write back and you could encourage us: To remain faithful. To suffer well.

Especially when it is suffering for the sake of Jesus. John wasn’t imprisoned because he took part in the riots in London. It was because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Being a Christian will get you into trouble. Let me just say that right up front: being a Christian will get you into trouble. People are not going to respect you for believing in this book, the bible. People are not going to thank you for telling them about Jesus dying on the cross. And people are not going to like you because you want to live differently from the world - in your workplace, in school, in your marriage - because Jesus says so.

And John isn’t write to the church saying, “Look at how successful I am! Here are ten ways to win your friends to Christ. Here are ten steps to being successful in evangelism.” No, he says I have been telling my friends about Jesus. I have been speaking the gospel. That’s why I am suffering the way I am. And you know what? That is encouraging. Because that has been the experience of Christians for thousands of years. Because of that is the very message of who Jesus is and what he did on the cross - John says, this is “the testimony of Jesus”.

In fact, what John wants us to see is not his suffering; he wants us to see Jesus.

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

Revelation 1:10-11

Revelation is essentially a letter sent out to seven churches in seven cities. These were churches that John planted and pastored. And the names of these churches appear in geographical order, arranged according to their position along the major trade-route running theough the Roman province of Asia, or what is now modern-day Turkey. It would be like writing to the seven colleges in Cambridge - Corpus, Catz, Kings, Caius, Trinity, John’s, Magdalene. If you’ve lived in Cambridge for any length of time, you would know that I have ordered the colleges according to their location along the major street running through the city.

Now, Revelation is not seven letters - it is one letter to seven churches. Seven is symbolic of God. We saw last week that there were seven spirits before the throne of God (Revelation 1:4) - his one Spirit residing in each and every one of his churches. This is a letter written to the whole church of God and we are meant to read all of it, not just the bit we think applies to us. The church in Ephesus wasn’t just to read the bit addressed to them: they were to read what was written to Smyrna, Pergamum and to all the rest. Similarly for us, it would be very tempting to try to identify with one type of church (are we more like Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum?) I am not saying that we won’t find similarities here and there (we should if we call ourselves God’s people). But a big mistake would be to ignore what God says to the whole church, to every church, addressed in this letter.

And it would be a bigger mistake to think this is just what John is writing. Because John hears a voice telling him to write these words. He turns around to find out who it is who speaks these words to the church.

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man”, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash round his chest.

Revelation 1:12-13

These are the first of many symbols we will encounter in the book of Revelation. The big question is: What do they mean? And the answer is: the bible tells us. Look to the end of Chapter 1: “the seven lampstands are the seven churches”.

There is a big difference between vision and video; between symbols and cinema. A popular video on Youtube can have millions of hits and just as many comments and opinions. A Hollywood movie can have all kinds of reviews and ratings on rottentomatoes and IMDB. The visions in Revelation often have one clear meaning and one clear purpose. And always it is the bible making clear what the bible says. We measure God’s word in the light of God’s revealed truth.

The lampstands represent real, actual churches in real, actual cities in the first century. More importantly, among the lampstands, John sees someone “like a son of man”. The Son of Man was Jesus favourite way of referring to himself. If you read the gospels, we find this phrase “son of man” used over 80 times to identify Jesus. The reason it appears here in Revelation is firstly to identify the person speaking to John as Jesus in the New Testament; but secondly to ground these visions in the context of the Old Testament, specifically the book of Daniel where in Chapter 7, Daniel sees the vision of “one like the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven” (we saw that last week in verse 7). It is an Old Testament prophecy that at the end of time when God comes to judge the living and the dead, God will give all his authority, glory and power to this figure, the one who is like the son of man, in other words, Jesus. It is saying that Jesus will return with all God’s authority to judge and to rule.

He is dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet symbolising his kingly authority, or more likely, his priestly role in tending to the lampstands. In Exodus, we learned that one of the duties of the priests in the Tabernacle was to make sure the lights on the lampstand never went out. Every night he had to tend to the oil, making sure it was always filled and trim the wicks. In the same way, Jesus serves as High Priest before God’s presence in tending to and inspecting the seven churches of God represented by the seven golden lampstands.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.

Revelation 1:14

Again this is taken from Daniel Chapter 7, where God, who is described as the Ancient of Days, has clothing as white as snow, and the hair on his head was white like wool (Daniel 7:9). It symbolises old age, yes, but moreover wisdom and stature. You might not think that having white hair is a good thing, or that growing old is something to thank God for. But the in the bible, old age is a symbol of God’s blessing and grace upon your life. Abraham was buried in Genesis 25:8 it says, “a good old age” adding the words, “with white hair” - Abraham was blessed with long life, and his white hair is mentioned as a symbol of that long and blessed life.

But here, it is not Abraham who has white hair, or even God the Ancient of Days whose hair is as white a wool, but Jesus. Again, this is symbolic. It is not a comment on Jesus’ hairstyle. It is saying that Jesus has taken on God’s role in judgement because he has the wisdom and authority to do so. His eyes of blazing fire symbolise how Jesus sees all and knows all. He says in Chapter 2 verses 18 onwards to the church in Thyatira, “These are the words of the Son of God whose eyes are like blazing fire... I know your deeds, your love and your faith, your service and perseverence.” Jesus sees our actions, our thoughts and content of our hearts.

His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Revelation 1:15-16

Some have tried painting a picture of Jesus using these descriptions resulting in an image that makes Jesus out to look like Megatron. You see it in some church stained-glass windows with a double-edged sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth. That is clearly not what we are supposed to do with these images. John is not told to draw a picture on a huge canvas and email it to the church. We are not told to make a computerised animated video using the latest 3D technology from Transformers and upload it to Youtube. John is told in verse 11: Write on a scroll what you see; and again in verse 19: Write it down. What we are meant to do with Revelation is read it, hear it and take it to heart (verse 3).

The reason is because what we are reading and hearing are the words of Jesus Christ. That is what is meant by the sword coming out of his mouth. These are his words.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Whenever we open this book, God speaks. We have no interest in hearing some guy talk about his experience, thoughts and fancy ideas - as smart or as nice as he may be. We want to hear Jesus. These words are his words speaking to us. You might ask God to answer your prayers in all kinds of situations, in all kinds of ways. Do you hear God’s voice in this book? Do you hear the voice of rushing waters, the words that cut right down to dividing soul and spirit. Because if you did - if you really did - you would react the way John does in verse 17.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

Revelation 1:17

The point isn’t that John saw something scary and fearful. It wasn’t the fire in his eyes or the sword in his mouth. The point is that John saw him: he saw Jesus.

My job today is not to make you worship. The song-leader’s job today is not to make you worship. Our job as Sunday School teachers, bible study leaders, preachers and elders and deacons is to show you Jesus; to point to him in his revealed Word: who he really is. I want to do this as clearly and as faithfully as I can as God enables me to do so. Because if you saw Jesus for who he really is: you would worship. You wouldn’t be able to help it. You too, would fall on your knees and worship him as God.

Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Revelation 1:17-18

“Do not fear,” Jesus says to John. But notice that Jesus gives two reasons why John should not fear - one is life the other is death.

First of all, Jesus is alive. He was dead but he now lives forever and ever. Meaning the life he has is resurrection life - life from the dead. He is talking about the cross, which is at the centre of how Jesus has conquered death and sin.

Secondly, Jesus now holds the keys of death and Hades.

Now what do these two reasons have to do with fear? Some people like to wear T-Shirts with the brand “No fear”, and usually what I take that to mean is that they have “No brains”. I get what it’s supposed to mean: You are conquering your fear. It’s fearlessness and courage. But often I see a teenager wearing a T-Shirt that says “No Fear” and he goes off and pulls stupid stunt like parkour-ing off the ledge of the Computing Service building, all in the effort to look cool while foolishly endangering his life.

Some fear is condemned by the bible: fear of man, for example, over the fear of God. Doing stuff just to please your friends, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your colleagues at work; knowing that, that thing you are doing is something God isn’t pleased with. Some do not fear God. Many do not fear God at all.

But here is John dealing with the fear of death and the fear of God. This is a fear we ought to be aware off. When God says, “Do not fear!” God isn’t saying there is no basis for this fear. He is saying that he has overcome the cause of John’s fear - the fear of death and judgement.

Jesus is saying, “I have conquered death, through my death on the cross.” He did this by conquering sin - the cause of death. Our sin and rebellion against God is the reason why death entered the world. God in his holiness, perfection and justice cannot tolerate sin, wickedness and rebellion. But what Jesus did on the cross was take our sin and our judgement for sin upon himself. The sentence has been passed. The payment made in full and in blood. There is therefore no more death; no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But secondly, Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades. Death still exists. Hell still exists. But it is Jesus who holds the keys - all the keys - to death and Hell. He is the Judge.

Paul says to the Athenians:

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

Acts 17:31

True: Jesus has risen to bring everlasting life to those who trust in him. He is the firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1:5). Christians will receive new life that is indestructible and everlasting in the new age of the kingdom.

But Jesus also rose from death as proof that he will return as Judge. He holds the keys to death and Hades.

And the only reason why John should no longer fear, is not because there is no such thing as death and hell and judgement, or that God has done away with hell and judgement; but that Jesus has taken his death and judgement on his behalf as a subsitute. He died so that we would no longer die. He lives that we might have life everlasting. Jesus is both judge and justifier - the one who brings judgement and the one who brings forgiveness.

Write therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.

Revelation 1:19

If you have read the book of Revelation before - or maybe you have heard sermons on it - you may have noticed that Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the seven churches, and after that comes the visions: The throne room, the seven seals, trumpets and bowls. Some says therefore, that verse 19 divides Revelation into two sections: what is now - dealing with the church; and what will take place later: the visions of the end. And that’s quite possible.

The problem is Revelation itself doesn’t provide such a division, or even a marker that says the letters are the present situation, and the rest is the future stuff. Rather, Jesus is telling John to write about the real situation going on in the church and the world - the way Jesus sees things from his perspective. The thing to see in verse 9 is not the now and later - but the fact that Jesus says to John “Write down what you see”. It is picking up from verse 11 where Jesus says again, “Write on a scroll (again the emphasis that it is one letter; one book - not seven) and send it to the seven churches”. In other words, Jesus wants us to be able, as it were to see what John is seeing through these words - his perspective on the world and the church. This is a world that wars against God. This is a world under the judgement of God. This is the church that has been purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

What Revelation does is uncover for us the mystery of God’s plan. Remember: “revelation” means “uncovering” or “unveiling”; the same way you got up this morning and “unveiled” the curtains to let the sunlight in. Revelation should not cause us to be more confused, but more clear about who Jesus is. And Jesus clears up a mystery for us in verse 20, about the seven stars and seven lampstands.

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation 1:20

We will find out more about this in the coming weeks as Chapter 2 addresses the seven angels in the seven angels. Some have speculated whether angels here really are angels in the heavenly angelic being sense. After all, the word “angel” simply means messenger (which is important to note each time we see the word, since it reminds us that the angel is carrying a message from God. It helps us ask the important question of “Why has God sent this angel?” or “What is God saying through this angel”). As such, some have offered the explanation that the angels here in Revelation Chapters 1 to 3 refer not to heavenly beings but earthly pastors: Jesus is addressing the senior pastor of each church.
I think it would be much easier in this case, to take verse 20 at face value. After all, Jesus is clarifying the mystery, not adding to it. The stars in his right hand represent angels, and by that, it means angelic heavenly beings. Later on in Revelation 12, the dragon sweeps one-third of the stars in heaven flinging them to earth - and I take it there to mean that Satan influences angelic beings (the stars) to rebel against God. The fact the each church has a superintendent angel above it may similarly correspond to the angel in Daniel’s vision who does battle with the “prince of Persia”, implying that there is a heavenly dimension to every earthly spiritual albeit regional battle.

We do need to be careful about getting carried away in speculating about such details, but at least in Revelation, I think we can come to this conclusion: that as Christ addresses the physical earthly gathering of God’s people as the church, in the same way he addresses the heavenly and spiritual dimensions of such gatherings. Our struggles are not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities and forces in the heavenly realms. From God’s perspective he has raised up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. There are heavenly dimensions to our earthly gatherings in Christ’s name.

This is why there is some significance, I think, in the situation in which John receives this vision of Jesus. He tells us in verse 10, “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit” and it was on this day - the Lord’s Day - that he saw the risen Jesus Christ. This is the only reference in the whole bible to the “Lord’s Day” as possibly referring to Sunday (and I think it is) as the day in which Christians gather for worship. Remember now, John is exiled. He is no longer physically with the church. He can’t meet up with his brothers and sisters in Christ. But on this day and not another, when he knows all other believers have come together, he is in the Spirit and he hears the voice of Jesus. This is the day Jesus chooses to speak to John and have him write down the vision in a book to be sent to his churches.

Friends, today as we gather on the Lord’s Day to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, let me ask you: Have you heard his voice? Do you see in these words, spoken by Jesus himself, the clarity and vision and power of who he really is? As the judge of all the earth. As the Son of Man walking amongst his lampstands? Whose voice is like the sound of rushing waters. Whose word is a double-edged sword dividing soul and spirit.

Do you see who Jesus really is?

I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!

And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 1:17-18

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb,

My perfect, spotless righteousness,

The great unchangeable I AM,

The King of glory and of grace.

One with Himself, I cannot die,

My soul is purchased by His blood.

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ, my Saviour and my God!