A Close Encounter with Christ

a sermon preached at The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain (November 30, 2025)

Rev. Darrell R. Hamilton II

Dec 01, 2025

Revelation 1:9–19

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A Close Encounter with Christ

I am going to be a little vulnerable today and share something that I have never publicly talked about. For some this might resonate deeply. Others might find what I am going to share a little hokey. Some of you may hear what I’m about to share and immediately start diagnosing me. And honestly? That’s fine. I’m not here to prove anything.

For years, I have kept the truth of this experience treasured in my heart. But I feel compelled to share today about a close encounter I had with Christ.

Share Rev. Darrell R. Hamilton II

It was my last semester of graduate school, and I was finishing up my internship in Washington D.C. I was fearful about what I was going to do after graduate school. At this time, I was strongly against any prospect of becoming a pastor because I feared that being a pastor would limit me. But, if you asked me what I wanted to do in life, all I could imagine was being a mix of something political, pastoral, and prophetic.

Feeling all of this fear, I had one of the most vivid experiences I can remember. For two nights in a row, while sleeping, it felt like I got swept out of my body and taken to a place well beyond Washington D.C.

And on a grassy hill, with a glazy white sky – not a typical clear bright sky, but well lit, and sitting on a black bench, I remember encountering three people.

One person was my deceased younger brother who I have always carried with me like a guardian angel. His name is Kaemon and he died when I was eight years old. After he died, my mother told me a story about a man she worked with who suggested that maybe God had called Kaemon home so he could be tasked with being my guardian angel. This story has always resonated with me and I have treasured in my heart ever since.

The second person was Dr. King with whom I got to have a really detailed conversation. It was a lifelong dream to sit and talk with him, who I have always felt a deep affinity with, but whose writings and sermons I never really got to engage until I went to seminary. Seminary, for me, really was an experience of encountering him for the first time.

And each night, for these two nights, I asked him everything I could think to ask him, even though I don’t remember any of the things he answered.

But what I do remember was on the second night I expressed to Dr. King my fear for the future. I wanted to be important and leave a lasting legacy. How I wanted to be just like him.

And the words he said were like a salve to a longtime wound, and he looked me in the eye and he said: “don’t try to be like me. Just be yourself.”

And then — just as gently as I had been swept up — I felt myself placed back into my bed as if I had spent the night in a place beyond the one I knew.

I woke up with a gentle stream of tears falling down my face feeling immense gratitude. No longer fearful about the future, but hopeful and at peace.

For two nights, I experienced what I want to call a close encounter with Christ. Not because I saw a man with blazing eyes and burnished skin. But because I encountered a Truth that I know I could not produce from within myself.

John’s Revelation

And I believe this is part of what John experienced in our text this morning. On the island of Patmos, John has and describes with vivid and visual detail a close encounter with Christ; a close encounter with Truth.

John’s revelation is not simply casting a picture of the future. But John’s Revelation is a vision—an unveiling. A pulling back the veil on this world to expose the unjust powers presently at work and reveal God’s plan to establish a more perfect kingdom.

Elaine Pagels says Revelation is best understood as anti-Roman wartime literature that draws its “imagery from Israel’s prophetic traditions—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.” Its ultimate message is to proclaim the Kingdom of God over and against the Roman Empire.1

So, John’s vision sets the scene for what is and what is to come as the world awaits its own close encounter with Christ and heaven prepares for His return.

This is important for us today because, like us, John belonged to a generation of people waiting for Christ’s return—believing it would be imminent, that not one generation would pass before the Son of Man returned in His glory. But by the time we find John is on the island of Patmos, one whole generation had already passed away.2

Peter had been crucified by the Romans. Paul had been imprisoned, beaten, and executed. James, the brother of Jesus, had been stoned to death in Jerusalem. The Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed and Jews scattered across the Roman Empire.

There had been wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, and strange portents in the sky. All signs meant to suggest the imminent return of Jesus – but Jesus had not yet returned.

And day by day, year by year, Rome had grown more powerful.

Worship of Roman gods had grown more prominent.
The majesty and power of Roman emperors had grown more pronounced.
And skepticism and disbelief were beginning to creep in within the churches.

Christians were beginning to fall away and succumb to the cultural beliefs around them.

And so, John, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, is isolated on the island of Patmos and writes his Revelation to say to the churches, “Do not be fooled by what you see. Jesus is still God’s appointed future King.”

Don’t be fooled by what you see. Don’t be fooled by what you hear. Don’t be fooled by what looks like power. God is still on the throne and presides over the powers of the world.

John writes his revelation to say to the churches:

Don’t be fooled or disheartened by what they are doing in the White House.
Don’t be fooled or tempted to fall away because of the headlines and what you see on social media.
Don’t be fooled by the bevy of executive orders.

These are the death rattles of a dying regime.

White Supremacy is on its last leg.
Capitalism is on shaky ground.
Empire is exhausting itself.

And soon—very soon— we will see the powers of the world passing away.

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

John writes his revelation to say: “do not grow weary in well doing, for in due season, you shall reap if you do not lose heart (Gal. 6:9)” because the promises of God are already coming to pass.

John’s Close Encounter

And alone on the island of Patmos John has a close encounter – in the flesh – with the one about whom he has been testifying.

The One who is and was and is to come.
The One who holds the seven stars in his hand and stands among the seven lampstands.
The One who is first and the last, Alpha and Omega.
The One who was dead and came to life.
The One whose words are as sharp as a two-edged sword.
The Holy One.
The True One.
The One who has the key of David.
The One who opens doors no one can shut, and Who closes doors no one can open.

John has a close encounter with Christ.

And this made me want to ponder the question: What might we do if we were to come face to face with the thing for which we have been testifying?

How would we respond if grace came walking toward us?
If mercy stepped into the room?
If truth showed up at our doorstep?
If hope and peace and joy and power met us face to face?

Might we prostrate ourselves and fall at the feet of God like John?
Might we cover our eyes and shield ourselves from God’s splendor?
Might we run or freeze in the presence of the truth?
Would we cover our ears from the sound of God’s voice?

The Presence of God is LOUD

Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, in one of his sermons, talked about how people would often come and ask why preachers get so loud. And I like Gardener Taylor’s response.3

He said the church was birthed in noise!

That while the disciples were gathered with one accord and in one place, suddenly there came a sound from heaven.4
Not a whisper.
Not a breeze.
But the sound of a rushing, mighty wind.

A tornado.
A whirlwind.
A cyclone
filling the whole house where the disciples were sitting.

And on the day when the church was born — like it was at the Creation —
the Church was born with the sound of a loud noise.

And I wonder what many of us might think if we were in church on that Pentecost morning.

What would we do if the Spirit came upon us in such a way today?
What would we do if in this sanctuary the Spirit of God fell as it once did?
With the sound of a loud noise!

What would we do — how might we respond — if we were to have a close encounter with the Word of God?

The same Word that said:
“Let there be light,” and it was light.

The same Word that said:
“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters Seas.

The same Word that said:
“Let the earth bring forth vegetation,” and vegetation sprung up.

The same Word that told the sun and moon to take their places among the heavens, filled the seas with its creatures, the skies with its birds, and the earth with every living thing.

The same Word that said:
“Let Us make humankind in Our image, according to Our likeness…”

What would we do — how might we respond — if we were to have a close encounter with God?

And I know sometimes—even here—we get uncomfortable with loudness.
We get uncomfortable with the loudness of the music.
Or the loudness of my preaching.

We prefer things calm, orderly, and measured.

But Scripture reminds us that when God moves, when God speaks, when God shows up—
it can be loud,
it can be overwhelming,
it can shake the room and shake us.

When God began to create—it was LOUD.
When the Word of God speaks—it is LOUD.
When the Spirit of God falls—it is LOUD.

Sometimes God comes to us in ways that are not quiet, not tame, not easily controlled.

And I know sometimes I preach loud (and Kaylani reminds me of this often!)
But I tell her that I preach loud not to startle, not to overwhelm, not to perform—
but because we are reaching for the sound of a God who moves with force and power.

A God who speaks worlds into existence.
A God who breaks chains and shakes foundations.
A God who is surrounded by a whole host of heavenly angels, and when they sing “holy, holy, holy,” the entire foundation of heaven is moved into holy worship.

And when we find ourselves in the presence of an eternal God—

it can be overwhelming.
it can be deafening.
it can be booming.
it can make us afraid.
it can rock our body.
it can disturb our soul.

It can move us into new ways of being because nothing can stay the same after a close encounter with Christ.

A Close Encounter with the Truth

John has a close encounter with Christ.
And in Christ’s presence, John says he falls at Christ’s feet as though dead.

But the same Word that can knock a man down as though dead
is the same Word that picks him back up with new life.

And when Jesus picks John up, He says, Do not be afraid — because one of the things, I think, that impedes our ability to have a close encounter with Christ is fear

Fear that something will be demanded from us.
Fear of being swept up into something that feels beyond our ability to control.
Fear of being changed and transformed by coming face to face with the Truth.

And I believe — despite elements of this country who wish to claim us a Christian nation —
this country is not a Christian nation, and never was, and never will be
because it fears having to come face to face with the truth.

It fears coming face to face with its evil.
It fears coming face to face with its injustice.
It fears coming face to face with the harm it has inflicted around the world.

And that is why so many forces in this nation are working so hard to obscure the truth.

Why the press has been barred from reporting on certain parts of government.
Why leaders work to roll back equity and inclusion initiatives.
Why contributions of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and queer people are erased from websites and schoolbooks.
Why the President attacks journalists for challenging the narrative coming out of the White House.

This nation is not — nor will it ever be — a Christian nation
because it has an aversion to the Truth.

And any nation — or any person — who has an aversion to the Truth
will fear a close encounter with Christ.

Because a close encounter with Christ
means a close encounter with the Truth,
and coming face to face with Truth
forces transformation.

Testimonies of Transformation

In her book Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, Barbara Brown Taylor talks about this fear of God and describes it through a time she spent worshipping with Indigenous Americans.5

Through what she calls “divine dangerousness,” she says, “divine dangerousness went out of fashion a long time ago.”

In the contemporary imagination “God has become a great friend who would like to get to know us all better, if we can find the time. And if we cannot, then God loves us anyway.”

However, she says, “this is not true for the Native Americans I know whose divine meetings have included glimpses of the God who is as far above them on the food chain as an eagle is to a mouse.”

Speaking about these encounters, “they do not speak like mice whose bones have been picked clean. They speak like mice who have been lifted high into the heavens, carried aloft by something greater than themselves — where they have seen themselves, the world, and the lives they lead with a terrible new clarity.”

“Set down again, they cannot look at anything the same way they once did,
which means they cannot live the same way either.
Because their fear has proved to be the means of transformation,
they do not want to get over it.
Their time aloft has brought them as close to an eagle as most of them will ever get,
which makes their terror appropriate.
Their fear of the Lord and the Lord’s love of them
are two windows on the same reality.”

James Cone, during his lecture on Dr. Martin Luther King, quotes King saying6:

“Before I was a civil rights leader I answered a call
which left the spirit of the Lord upon me
which anointed me to preach the gospel.
I decided then that I was going to tell the truth as God revealed it to me.
No matter how many people disagreed with me
I decided I was going to tell the truth.”

What was revealed to him, Dr. King said at another time, that he had a close encounter with Christ during the troughs of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.7

Unable to sleep, King said,

“I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. ‘I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid . . . I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’”
“But at that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.” Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me the inner calm to face it.”

What Barbara Brown Taylor and Martin King describe is a close encounter with Christ!

You cannot have a close encounter with God and come away unchanged.

You cannot have a close encounter with Christ and not come away with a new perspective.

And you cannot have a close encounter with the Truth and not speak the Truth.

We have no choice but to speak the Truth when we come face to face with the Truth!

And that is what John does in his Revelation.
Christ tells him to write what he sees—
what is,
and what is to take place after this.

To tell the truth as God has revealed it.

No matter how many people disagreed
No matter how many people try to disregard it.
No matter how many people try to dismiss it.

Because a close encounter with Christ brings transformation.
And a person cannot be the same after they have come face to face with our God.

Just ask the woman who suffered twelve years with the issue of blood —
after a close encounter with Christ, her body was made well.

Just ask Paul on the Damascus Road —
once a persecutor of the Church, he became the chief apostle spreading the gospel throughout the world.

Ask Simon-Peter —
after a close encounter with Christ, he became the Rock on whom Christ would build the Church.

Ask Thomas —
who, after denying the resurrection, saw Jesus face to face and could do nothing else but proclaim,
“My Lord and my God.”

Ask the demoniac restored in the region of the Gerasenes.
Ask the five thousand who were fed with five loaves and two fish.
Ask the Roman centurion who, watching Jesus die, confessed,
“Surely this man was the Son of God.”
Ask the multitude of women who, after encountering Christ, gave all they had to support His ministry.

You cannot have a close encounter with Christ and come out unchanged.
You cannot have a close encounter with Christ and not have something to tell.

My Close Encounter

Earlier I told you that a few years back, I had a close encounter with Christ.
Over the course of two nights, I had an encounter with three people.

One was my brother Kaemon.
Another was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
But the third person I had encountered was Jesus.

He was not clothed with a long robe and golden sash across his chest.
I did not see his hair white as wool or his eyes like a blazing fire.
I did not see his feet burnished bronze or hear his voice like the sound of many waters.
I did not see golden lampstands or stars in his right hand.

But when I saw Him, I heard Him say that his name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

When I saw Him —
I saw One like the Son of Man who was full of compassion and grace.

When I saw Him —
I knew He had orchestrated the whole encounter.

He had swept me up and away from my bed in D.C. and carried me to a place beyond anything I could have imagined.
He carried me to a life I did not expect.
He carried me to a place I had never before seen.

He swept me away to a place where I would encounter transformation.
He swept me away to a place far and away from the troubles of the world so I would have a close encounter with Christ.

Advent is a time where we await our long and expected encounter with Christ —
a close encounter that brings hope.
A close encounter that brings peace.
A close encounter that brings joy.
A close encounter that brings transformation.

And the word of God and the testimony of Jesus is that:

Christ is still coming.
Christ is still revealing.
Christ is still sweeping people up.
Christ is still breaking through the darkness.
Christ is still carrying us to truth,

You just have to open your heart.
You just have to make room in the inn of your life —
and you just might have a close encounter with Christ.

And if you do…
you cannot meet Christ and remain the same.

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