I. We Learn What God Is Like
He Is Complete. Note the description of God as "him who is and who was and who is to come," then see it echoed in verse 8. There is here a sense of completeness, of fullness. No matter what our need, God is sufficient.
He is Sovereign, the description of Christ in verse 5 as "the ruler of kings on earth" emphasizes His sovereignty in history. Unlike the temporal rulers of earthly kingdoms, His rule is complete and eternal.
There is great assurance in knowing that God is in control of history. No matter how desperate human events may seem, we can find peace in the knowledge that God reigns over it all.
He Is Almighty. Though this word is only used one other place in the New Testament, John uses it nine times to describe God's power and greatness. For him, God was great beyond description.
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Imagine our world hurtling through space as it circles our sun, along with the other planets that compose our solar system. Then imagine millions of other solar systems, larger than ours, also propelled through space, making up galaxies of unimaginable size. And then try to grasp that the same God whom we serve is the creator and sustainer of it all. What a powerful, almighty God we serve!
That's why it's so amazing that God would take a personal interest in you and me. Yet through John's Revelation...
II. We Learn What God Does For Us
He Gives Grace and Peace. Grace is undeserved favor that God extends to us through Christ. We don't deserve salvation, we can't do anything to earn it, yet He gives it freely out of His infinite love.
Grace produces peace -- not an absence of struggle, but an assurance of God's presence in struggle. Peace is that quality that allows us to weather the storms because we sense God's hand upon our lives.
He Abides With Us. The number "seven" has great meaning for John. In this book he will talk about a variety of sevens -- candlesticks, stars, lamps, seals, horns, eyes, thunders, angels, plagues, vials. For John the number seven represented completeness.
So in writing to seven churches there is a sense in which John is writing to the entire church of which these seven were symbols. And in talking of the seven spirits, it is likely he refers to the Holy Spirit as it is manifested with each of the seven churches. Thus we see the presence of the Spirit of God working alongside the people of God -- helping, supporting, sustaining, interceding.
He Frees Us With His Blood. The earliest and best Greek manuscripts indicate that, in verse 5, John refers to Christ freeing or loosing (rather than "washing") us from our sins by His blood. Because Christ gave His life for us, we can be set free from the bondage of sin and death.
August Heckscher once said, "In one sense freedom is always in crisis." That is true in the spiritual realm as well: the fact that we have been freed from sin presents us with the opportunity for choice. The challenge of this hour is to decide to live for the One who gave His life for you and me.