Amen. What a blessed morning indeed it
is. I'm going to ask you to go ahead
and turn in your Bibles to the first chapter of the of the Book
of Revelation. We're going to start today at
verse 7. Thank our sister Karen for that.
Very gracious welcome to everybody.
I too, welcome everyone that's here today.
Let's just pray and get into the Word of God this morning.
Amen. Father, we do thank you for this
day. Every day is a wonderful day,
Lord, because you have made it. You created it, Lord, and though
every day may not look the same, every day might not be the same.
We come with different challenges.
It comes with different afflictions, and sometimes it
comes with highs and lows. It can come with mountaintop
experiences and sometimes valley experiences, Lord, But you are
good all the time. You are faithful all the time.
And we thank you, Lord, for the things that you provide for us.
We thank you for this house, Lord, that you've given us to be
able to worship together. And we thank you for the body of
believers who fill this house, Lord.
We thank you even as the song says, Lord.
We just thank you, Lord, for your son Jesus Christ.
Where will we be without your Son Jesus Christ?
Lord and Father, this morning we ask for Your anointing to be
upon each and every one of us. As we come to hear Your word,
Your truth. As we come to hear you speak to
us, Lord, we gather to hear from you.
So I pray that you would use these lips, Lord, that you would
stand in this body. Think with this old mind.
Help me, O God today, strengthen me today in Jesus name I pray,
Amen. So as we were in, we're going to
continue in the book of Revelations.
We're going to be starting picking up here in verse 7.
And before we do that, you know, one of the things that John does
in this section of the introduction of the Book of
Revelation is that he gives us a very strong dose of Jesus
Christ, a strong dose. So already it's one of my
favorites. Thank you so much for the song,
sisters, because that was so apropos.
I couldn't keep my eyes dry back there singing that song.
And now let the weak say I'm strong and let the poor say I am
rich, not because of anything we did, but because of what he has
done for us. Amen.
So we remember that as we go through the rest of this, this
book and, and, and, and just as a review, we I'm just going to
read again what he says to us, what John says to us back here
in the 1st chapter of Revelation when he talks about Jesus
Christ. And he starts that right there,
verse 5. He says in Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, the first born from the dead, the ruler over
the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to
his God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen.
And then in the very next verse he says, Behold, he is coming
with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced
him. All the tribes of the earth will
mourn because of him. Even so, a man or so let it so
or so be it or let it be so. Before we go into this and begin
to pick this out, I just want to mention how John throughout the
scriptures have talked about Jesus Christ and his deity.
But there's some things that actually leads up to this
particular verse, if we can kind of connect some dots.
For example, John was there with Jesus when Jesus was talking to
them about leaving them about dying.
And then he would, he would come back again and, and, and he
said, I'm coming back to get you, but I, I am going to be, I
am going to be crucified. I'm going to, I'm going to be
killed by the hands of men and, and, and then he sees that their
hearts are beginning to to fail them as a result of that.
So he says, let not your heart be troubled.
And he's saying the same thing to us, you know, as we as our
hearts begin to sorrow sometimes because of the the things that
we deal with and the things that we have to go through as we're
waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to come back.
He says to us, Let not your heart be troubled.
If you believe in God, believe also in me.
For in my Father's house there are many mansions.
If there were not so I would have told you.
But I'm going to go, and I'm going to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, so that
where I am, you may be also, and where I go, you know, and the
way, you know. Thank God for Thomas who stepped
up and said, Jesus, we don't know where you're going.
How can we know? The way gave Jesus that
opportunity to say to him, just like he says to us, I am the
way, I am the truth. I am the life.
Please don't let no one tell you that there's other ways to
Jesus. There is not.
He is the way, He is the truth and he is the life.
And then he even goes a step further.
He says no one just in case someone wants to doubt that.
He says no one can come to the Father except by me.
So now, so after that, Jesus does one other thing and I want
to share it with you as he begins to talk to them about
once again, the fact that he's going to be he's going to be
leaving them and he's going to be going back to, to his
glorified to be with his father, to be glorified with his father.
But there's going to be an end before he comes back.
There's going to be a, a end of times.
And they asked him, they said, what are the signs of the end of
times? And we want to talk about that a
little bit, except, you know, what did what happens before
Jesus comes back? And I want to read for you in in
in the the book of Matthew, verse 24, starting in verse
three. He says this now, as he said on
the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately
saying, tell us when will these things be?
And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
the age? And Jesus answered and said to
them, take heed that no one deceives you.
We need to remember that. Take heed that no one deceives
you. Don't let someone come and tell
you that it's going to come on this day or it's going to come
on that day. They don't know, they don't
know. Don't let nobody deceive you,
for many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and will
deceive many. And you will hear of wars and
rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled,
for all these things must come to pass.
But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation,
Kingdom against Kingdom, and there will be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in various places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you.
And we got to know the difference between the
tribulation that we will receive from men and the great
tribulation. There's a difference between
those two. And he says they will deliver
you up in to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated
by nations for all nations for my name's sake.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, will
hate one another. The many false prophets will
rise up and deceive 1 deceive many, and because lawlessness
will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
He that doesn't turn back to perdition, he that doesn't give
up on waiting for the Lord, He who does not allow himself to be
sidetracked by false doctrines and be deceived by men and begin
to believe in other philosophies and things of that nature.
He who does not do that, but believes until the end and
endures until the end, will be saved.
And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the
world as a witness to all the nations.
And then the end will come. So as we look at that, he he
gives us a preview there of what will happen before his coming.
So he says, John says here in verse 7, he says here he says,
behold that in other words, you know, take note.
I'm about to say something really important that you need
to hear. Listen up, He says he is coming
with clouds. He is coming with clouds, and
every eye will see him, Yes, and even they who pierced him.
So if we look at this, we see here that this is first of all,
we should take note that he's not talking about the rapture
here. This is not the Rapture.
He's not talking about him coming down through the clouds
and then receiving us up. That's not what he's talking
about because he says every eye will see him in the Rapture.
The Rapture is a private event. Only those who believe in Jesus
Christ, only those who are the church, will know when the
rapture comes. Those who are not being raptured
won't see the rapture. They will be able to notice that
things have changed. People won't be here anymore,
but they're not going to see Jesus coming.
And for the rapture, so that's a private event, only the church
will see that. And we want to be caught up to
be together with him in the rapture.
And we you read about that back in First Thessalonians 413
through 18 and tells us all about the the event of the
rapture. But this is referring to the
second coming when Jesus returns with the church to bring
judgment to set up his Kingdom. He's talking about the second
coming here, him coming. And he says that when he comes,
he's going to come with clouds. So we read about the signs of
his coming, the things that are going to be happening in the in,
in society, the hate that be going on, the love that will
grow cold and the the tribulation people being in
tribulation, people being hated because of the name of Jesus
Christ. Yes, those are some of the
signs. Even some of the cosmic things
that may happen, the wars that may happen and the rumors of the
wars, those are some of the signs.
But that's not the end. And he says here that before he
comes back, there's going to be a sign.
There going to be a sign of that coming back.
And he says, behold, they come with clouds.
And notice there's a preposition here that I want you to pay
attention to when he says with clouds, because there's other
places where he talks about coming on the clouds, OK.
For example, if you were to look at, if you didn't look back at
Acts, this book like at the back of the book of Acts in the book
of Acts, he says this in chapter 1, chapter one, verse 9, verse
one, I'm sorry, first verse 9, I'm sorry.
Chapter one, verse 9, he says this.
Now when he has spoken these words.
Now this is Jesus with his disciples when after he had
arisen from the resurrection and after he has spoken with them,
he was about to be ascended. He's about to ascend up into
heaven. And he spoke some things to
them, told him to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit before
they go out and witness to him, which is a good, which is a
really good piece of advice because we too need to be filled
with the Holy Spirit before we go out and witness so that we
have the strength to do that. But then he says here in verse
9, he says, now he has spoken these things.
While they watched, he was taken up, a cloud received him out of
their sight. And while they look steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, 2 men stood by them in
white apparel, 2 angels who said, Who also said, Men of
Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will also
come in like manner as you saw him go.
So as he said, how, how did he go?
He went up until he was received up from them by a cloud.
He was received, a cloud received them.
So we so when he talks about he will be coming with clouds.
That's a little bit different than coming on the cloud.
Now he's going to be coming literally on the clouds as well.
Look at what it says over in Matthew chapter 24, Matthew
chapter 24, Matthew 24, verse 30, it says this.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son
of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.
He left with the clouds. He's going to be coming on the
clouds. So that's the literal aspect of
him coming back on the clouds. But there's also a symbol or
symbolic mention or reference to him coming back on the clouds.
And that means he's going to be coming back with the clouds.
As it says here, He's going to be coming with clouds.
And if you look at what it says over in Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel
Chapter 7 verse 13 says this. I was watching in the night
visions and behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the
clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient of Days and they
brought him near before him. So he's coming with the clouds.
So that's a little bit different.
Now He's coming with, he's going to be coming on physical clouds
when they see him, when you see him coming down, he'll be on
physical clouds, but he's also coming with clouds.
And that clouds is actually a multitude of people.
Look at what it says over in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
one. Hebrews chapter 12 verse one.
It refers to the clouds as being a cloud of witnesses, which is
which are the the believer, those who are believing those
faithful people, they were talking about this cloud of
witness. This is therefore we also, since
we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every wait and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let
us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
So there's a a, a, a coming with clouds coming with a multitude
of believers. This reference is also made
about coming with the clouds over in First Thessalonians or
coming with the Saints and 1st Thessalonians.
What it says so that so that he may establish your hearts
blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of
our Lord Jesus with what with all his Saints.
So we are going to be coming back with him and this is what
this verse is referring to his second coming.
We the believers, the Saints and those who are dead in Christ
will be coming back with him and that's going to be a blessed day
and they see even those who pierced him.
OK, every eye is going to see him.
Like we said it's not going to be a private event when he comes
back. He says every eye will see him.
Every eye. That means it's going to be very
public and he's not going to be like it says over in Matthew
2426. It's not going to be like, well,
you know the way I'll go over there in the desert because I
think he's seen him come over in the desert or, or, or go over
there in the inner room. I think, you know, somebody saw
him in the inner room or something like that.
No, it's not going to be that way.
He's not working at Sheets. You know, he's not some guy
that's working at Sheets. That's, you know, that was able
to convince a whole bunch of people to believe in him and
follow him around. You know, it's not going to be
some guy walking. No, working in Walmart, That's
not going to be it. You're going to see him coming.
Every eye will see him coming. It's not going to be some
obscure thing. So he says that when he that
when he comes, every eye will see him and even those who
pierced him. Now, that's kind of
specifically, you know, talking about the Jews, OK, who, who
pierced him, who rejected him, and they pierced him.
Now, that's not to say that we as Gentiles didn't have a part
in him being pierced, because we did.
We had a part in that. Our sin is what took Him to the
cross. Our sin is what held him on the
cross. So it's not just the Jews, but
it was the Jews who pierced them.
And that's what he's referring to here when he says here that
every, you know, they, even those who pierced him, there's
over in Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10 where the God says, and
I will pour on the House of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication.
Then they will look on him who they pierced.
Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and
grieve for him as one grieves for his first born.
And that day there shall be a multitude, verse 11, a multitude
of great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadid
Rahman in the plain of Megiddo. So those who pierced him are
going to be mourning. And then also all, every tribe
of the earth, all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of
him. So there's going to be a
multitude of people who will see him coming.
And it'll be like the, the, the, the, the tribes of the earth
will get a chance to see him and they will mourn.
They will mourn because they'll get a chance to see this one
that they rejected, this one that they doubted is the one
they're going to see his hands pierced his, his pierced hands.
They're going to see the sides, his pierced side, and they're
going to mourn. You're going to more it's going
to be a sad day in that time with those who are still
remaining after the time of the the seven day tribulation, 7
year tribulation, by the way. So then he says in verse 8, he
says I am I am alpha and the Omega.
I am the beginning and the end says the Lord who is, who was
and who is to come the Almighty. Now in some versions this is not
written and read, in others it is so it's Jesus speaking here.
Now there are some who think this is not Jesus speaking, but
when he says I am the Alpha in the Omega, the beginning and the
end says the Lord who is, who was and who is to come thee
Almighty. This is Jesus Christ speaking
in, in some of your versions, it's probably going to be read
now. Now we know that it does refer
to the to the to, to God the Father in the Old Testament,
they've used it many times. That's him being the alpha Omega
in the 1st and the last. But this is Jesus speaking and
this is Jesus basically saying look I am God, I am God.
And he says this throughout Revelations when he talks about
being the alpha and the Omega, the 1st and the last.
This is not the only place that he says this referring to
himself. In fact, just a little bit
further down, we want to see it again.
Then in verse 9, he says I John, both your brother and your
companion in the tribulation and Kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ. I John, your your your brother.
He didn't say I John, your apostle.
He didn't say I John your elder. He identified with them because
see, they could he could have lifted himself up because he's
the one that's getting his vision.
He could have lifted himself up. They could have wanted to lift
him up because of the vision that he was receiving that he
was somebody special or somebody different or or he was a heavy
hitter because hey, you know, I'm getting this vision directly
from from Jesus Christ. But no, he said, I am your
companion. I'm your brother and your
companion. I am with you in this
tribulation. I mean, John was going through a
lot of persecution himself at this particular time.
And the fact that he wrote this and where he wrote it from was
another indication of the persecution that he was going
through. He was on the island of Patmos,
which we're going to talk about in a second.
So he was exiled there because he was being persecuted by
Domitian. So he says, but I'm with you in
the tribulation. I'm with you in Kingdom.
Not only am I Co heirs together with you, not only am I Co heirs
together with you with the the inheritance that we have in the
Kingdom of heaven, but also here I am AI am a a brother with you.
I'm a companion with you as we live the Kingdom life right
here, as we live the Kingdom life.
And that's exactly what we, the church, should be doing.
We should be thinking about, always thinking about that,
living the Kingdom life. That's what makes us different
or should make us stand out from the world so that the world
would be able to see this Kingdom life and want a part of
it. When someone asks you something
about where you go to church, what do you believe?
You know how come you don't speak like this or how come you
don't like this? That's because they notice your
Kingdom living. They notice your Kingdom living.
They won't have to ask you that. If they saw everything that you
did was just like the world, they wouldn't have to ask you
that. But they asked you these things.
They asked you to pray for them. Someone who may not ever say
much to you any other time, but when they need something, they
come to you and say, brother, would you pay for me?
Sister, would you pray for me? This happened to my family or
this happened to me or this happened to my my family member.
They're saying that because they have seen the Kingdom living in
your life and that draws them and gives opportunity to be able
to share the Christ. So yes, I'm, I'm a Co I'm a, I'm
a brother with you in the companion with you in the
Kingdom, but also in patience. The patience in our suffering,
the patience in our persecution, the patience in waiting for
Jesus Christ to come back. We are all doing this together.
None of us are doing this on an island by ourselves.
That's why we need the church. That's why we need the church.
I need you guys to help me, you know, because there's sometimes
that you may get weary, get tired or, or, or, or sometimes,
you know, you just don't feel as patient today as you did last
week. Challenges in your life will
start to, you know, make you question your patience.
And we'll take your patience and we'll test your patience.
But he says be patient as we're waiting for him to come because
just like you said in verse 7, behold, he is coming, He's
coming back. So we wait and we help each
other to wait during this time. And then he says here he said
was on, he said, I John, you know both your brother and
companion in the tribulation and Kingdom and patience of Christ,
Jesus Christ was on the island of Patmos for the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
There it is. That tells you right there that
John was there because of the fact that he was testifying of
Jesus Christ and was sharing, witnessing to the word of God,
to the word of God that brought on the persecution in his life.
And that's why he was on the island of Patmos.
Now, the island of Patmos is just basically an island of a
big rock and marvel. I mean, it was like hardly
nothing there. It's about 10:10 to 13 miles
long or so, not very wide. But they, the Roman government
really sent people there because they were people who were
opposition either to their government or people who were
religious, you know, had a religion that was different from
worshipping Caesar. So if you challenge that, then
you would get, you know, you would get dealt with.
And for way to John was dealt with being one of the only
living apostles at this particular time and probably had
the loudest voice for Christ at this time.
They felt like they needed to get rid of him and they wanted
to deter him from preaching the gospel.
So they sent him to the island of Patmos.
So why he was there, think about it, while he was there on the
island of Patmos is where Jesus came to him.
He said I was in the Spirit. I was in the spirit on the
Lord's Day. Now some people might say that
the Lord's Day, that was Sunday. Some people say it wasn't
necessarily Sunday, It was just a day that Jesus manifested
himself and begin to share these things with John.
Whatever you may believe about it is fine.
This is no, this is no, it's not going to have any eternal
consequences if you believe it was Sunday or if you believe it
was just a day that the Lord manifested himself.
But he says, I was there on that day and I heard behind me a loud
voice as of a trumpet, you know, and, and, and, and when you
think about the Old Testament, the trumpets that when they
blasted, it got everybody's attention.
Everybody knew that there was something that they needed to
pay attention to. So I heard this loud voice.
So when, when, when he heard Jesus speak, it was so loud and
with so much authority. It was like a trumpet blast
gathering the men of war together the way they did in the
Old Testament. So it was something that you
needed to pay attention to and and and so he says here that
once he heard that blast and verse 11 says I am the alpha.
Did we go again? I am the alpha V Omega the
first, the last and what you see right in the book and send to
which are in Asia. I am the and I want you again.
The preposition, the word the. It doesn't say I am alpha and
Omega. I am last, first and last, he
said. I am V That means there's only
one. I'm the only one.
I am V first. There's no other.
I am the last. There's no coming after me.
I am the first. There's none preceding me and I
am the last. There's none coming after.
There's none proceeding me. I'm it.
I'm eternity. So Jesus says this and again
when you get people who question rather Jesus ever says that he
is God and you hear people sometimes they question, well I
never heard Jesus never said he was God.
Jesus never said take him to this verse, this verse.
He says it very clearly. I am alpha, any Omega, the 1st
and the last. Can't get that confused.
He's saying I'm God here. They all knew that that's what
he was saying. All the Jews that read this
letter knew that that's what he was saying because in the Old
Testament that's the way God pronounced himself.
He identified himself as that. And then he goes on here and he
says, send these, send this letter to Smyrna and to to
Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos. These are the seven churches
that are in Asia, to Pergamos, Theatara and Sardis,
Philadelphia, Laodicea. We're going to get into those a
little further down the road. We'll get into each one of those
churches. Then I turn, John said.
Then I turn to see the voice that spoke with me, and having
turned, I saw 7 golden stands, lampstands, and in the midst of
the seven lampstands 1 like the Son of Man, clothed with a
garment down to the feet, and girded about the chest with a
golden band. His head and his hair were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace.
And his voice was the sound of many waters.
How powerful was that? Can you imagine John, first of
all, being 90 something years old, He's on this island where
he's doing hard labor and he gets this vision.
Jesus comes to him. And he comes to him in a way
that I'm sure really not only surprised him, but I'm sure it
startled him. I'm sure it even scared him to a
degree, the way that Jesus came to him.
But he had to be thinking at some point, You know, once
again, the Lord is using me. The Lord is using me again.
I'm in persecution. I'm being treated about as harsh
as you could possibly be treated.
I don't even feel useful anymore for the Kingdom, but yet the
Lord has come to me and he's using me.
Maybe some of you guys out there maybe thinking, I know sometimes
it hits me. Sometimes the Lord still, you
know, Lord, you still want to use me.
You still want to use me. Sometimes when we get a certain
age, we think that maybe the Lord doesn't use me anymore,
uses the young people, doesn't use me.
The Lord uses all of his servants.
He uses all of his servants. There's no servant that gets too
old. You don't retire.
I never read anything in the Bible where he had a retirement
plan, anything. If anybody does, please let me
know. But I've never seen anything in
the Bible where the Lord has a retirement plan.
He uses us as long as we're living.
As long as we're living, he can use us.
Doesn't matter what we've done. He said, Lord, he can't use me
because I've done this, can't use me because I've done that.
He's a God that forgives. He's the guy that offers grace
and mercy. So you have this image.
Now John has this image and he says, I, I saw the seven lamp
stands. And in the midst of the seven
lamp stands, there was one who look, there was one like the Son
of Man. And it goes on to describe what
the Son of Man look like. He said is he, he was clothed in
a white garment down to the feet.
That's usually symbolic of the priest, the priest in the
satchel that was across his chest.
It's a pro. It's symbolic of the priest, of
the righteous priest. Well, he is the high priest.
So we see the High John is looking at the high priest here.
It's majestic. He's looking at the majestic
high priest and he's and, and, and it says here that his head
was white. It was like snow.
It was like, it was like war and it was white.
We're not talking about just Gray here.
We're talking white Bible talks about in in in in proverbs about
the the Horry head or the Gray head being a symbolic of wisdom.
Well, Jesus is definitely all knowing.
He's omniscient. He's all wise.
Not only is this about his wisdom, but it's also about the
fact that he is pure. The white represents the purity
of Jesus Christ. I was looking out of my window
the other day and, and, and, and I have a in our backyard because
not much has been going through there.
The snow is just packed and it's pure white.
It's pure white, at least on that end that where my dog goes,
not so much. But this area that I was looking
at was pure white. And I was just looking at how
the sun was glistening off of that sun.
I can barely look at it. I could barely look at it.
So I imagine if John is is seeing Jesus Christ in all his
glory, seeing him in full glory and he's seeing his hair that's
white. And this is also another reason
why I don't particularly care for images, visual images of
Jesus Christ, these pictures of images of Jesus Christ, because
I've never seen anything in the Bible where it describes the,
the true features of Jesus Christ other than him and, and,
and descriptions like this. And it's only like maybe two
places in the whole Bible where he even gives a description of
Jesus. And in none of those
descriptions, you can't tell like personally what he looks
like. We know more about what he is on
the inside and who he is, his character, his integrity, his,
his glory. We know more about that.
And, and this is a reminiscent of that, you know, his head is
white like pure. So he has that purity.
But it also says his eyes are like a, a flame of fire.
They're not brown, they're not blue.
They are like a fleece said they were like a flame of fire, a
flame of fire. So these are like eyes that were
like that, that just didn't look at the surface, but these are
eyes that penetrated into the soul.
We can see into the spirit. It doesn't.
Nothing can be hidden from these eyes.
Everything is manifested in his sight.
There's nothing that he can't see and, and, and he judges in
his eyes, but he can see and he can judge righteously.
Even as it says over in Psalms 19, it says that the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous all together.
He's the only one that truly always judges righteously the
only one. And he said his feet were like
fine brass and refined in a like, like they refined in a
furnace. His feet like fine brass.
That brass that, that, that, that durability, the durability
of brass, the, the, the stability of brass.
And not only that, but brass is also something that's trod in
the furnace. And we know that Jesus when he
walked in the earth, he was tried and yet he was still
without sin, tried. And, and just almost like that,
the verse right over in Psalms that says that he is tried in a
furnace of the earth. And it says that he is purified
7 times. And yet we know that Jesus was
tried on the earth, but yet he was still without sin.
He was still the righteous. And then says that his voice,
his voice was like the sound of many waters.
I don't know if I'm sure most people have been up to Niagara
Falls before. We used to go up to Niagara
Falls and we would be on the, the, the American side.
We would go over to the, the Canna, the Canadian side.
And we would see the falls from that position and over in the
Canadian side and get a little bit closer to the falls and,
and, and it's a little, and it's really loud.
It's really loud. Now I have never actually got in
the boat to go behind the falls and, and whatnot, but just being
around other waterfalls, you can just hear when you got the
multitude and the volume of water that goes down and, and
how it goes down and it hits, you know, and, and it's just
loud. It's loud.
And I said that this is how Jesus's voice was like the sound
of many waters. So not just like one Niagara
Falls, but many Niagara Falls, you know, and hearing that that
sound, that's how that voice sounded.
So of course it would unnerve John to some degree in the
Bible. It says here that in the verse
16, he says that he had in his right hand seven stars.
If we want to come back to that over in verse 20, but said he
had his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth when a a
sharp 2 edged sword and his countenance was like the sun
shining in its strength, the sun shining in its strength.
Who can look at the sun when it's not being hindered by no
clouds or nothing in front of it, just the pure sun.
Hardly anybody can look at it, and it's almost like when they
were up on the Mount of Transfiguration, when they
looked in Jesus's face and they saw the brightness of his face
when he saw him in his true glory.
Purity, once again, righteousness, holiness is pure.
The Bible says that God is light and in Him is no darkness at
all, no darkness. So when you have brightness and
light that has no darkness at all, it's light.
It's really, really bright. And this is the face of Jesus
shining so bright, you know he's out of his mouth was a was a
sword. And that's how that's his
weapon. That's his weapon.
His weapon is the word, the word of God that by itself is going
to slay his enemy, the word of God.
We want to come against our enemies.
Just use the word of God. There's nothing that makes the
enemy flee faster than the word of God.
So he has his two edged sword coming out of his mouth.
He doesn't carry his sword in his teeth.
This is the word that comes out of his mouth and it literally
slays his enemies. Verse 17 says in and when he saw
it, he fell at his feet as dead, fell his feet as dead.
And this is basically this is the response that one gets when
he comes into the presence of a mighty God.
It takes our strength, it takes our vigor from us.
We're weak in his presence. When we really get into the
presence of God, we can only, we can't do anything but just
falling down and worship him. Worship him.
You know how we hear people. And maybe I'm sure I've said it
myself a few times. Yeah.
You know, I'm going to ask God about that when I get to heaven.
You know, when I see Jesus, I'm going to ask him about this.
I'm asking about that. No, I'm not like the Jesus would
fall down like a dead man, just like John.
Just like John fall on my face, I'm not going to have no
strength to want to ask him anything.
He's not like he's a man that I can sit down and negotiate with.
It's glory, it's perfection, it's true holiness.
And to be in the presence of that, it takes your strength.
It takes your strength. So I can see him being concerned
and being afraid, and he must have been afraid.
Now we're talking about John who lived with Jesus, walked with
Jesus for three, 3 1/2 years. He knew Jesus, but yet when he
saw him in the fullness of his glory, there was something
different and he knew it. He said this.
This isn't the same guy we be eating fish with.
He looks different because he's seeing Him in the fullness of
His glory, just as we will one day we will see Him as he is.
And Jesus had to say to him, do not be afraid, brother, don't be
afraid, don't be afraid. Those are the four words that
I'm sure John loves to hear. He said it to him.
And so many other times when Jesus was walking on the sea and
they saw him, they thought it was a ghost.
He had to say, do not be afraid. So they saw him several times in
those situations where they had, he had to speak and say don't be
afraid. Don't be afraid.
And he says that to us because there's times that we may want
to be afraid, but he says to us, do not be afraid.
And, and, and, and, and, and he actually touched him.
He laid his right hand on him. He didn't have to.
He could have just commanded him to stand up, but he didn't.
He showed him compassion and and attention.
He laid his hand on him. Thank God for his touch.
He says I am the 1st and the last.
I am he who loves. I am he who who lives in and was
dead and behold am alive forever more.
Bless the Lord. You know.
So he's saying here I have strength, I have power over
death. And he proved that because he
got up out of the grave. So he does have power over
death. He told he, he, he told Ponty,
he said you don't have any power over me that God didn't give
you. I don't get, you know, you don't
take my life. I lay it down.
I lay it down and I'll pick it up again.
And he showed that he could do it because he rose up out of the
grave. And what A and what a, what,
what good news that is for us that he's the first, He's the
first to rise from the dead. He's the first born of the dead.
We come after him, we will rise after him.
And then in verse 19, I'm sorry, he also says here at the bottom
of that verse 18, Amen. I have the keys of death, of
hades, and of death. The devil doesn't have the keys.
He doesn't have authority in hell.
Jesus does. He has authority over hell and
you know, he, he, he, I know he thinks he does, but he doesn't.
Jesus has the keys of Hades, which is the abode of the death
and death. It's Jesus that will judge the
wicked and they'll be cast death.
Hades who are those who are dead in the earth, those who are dead
under the earth, those who are dead in the seas, He will cast
them into the lake of fire one day.
Verse 19 says write these things which you have seen and the
things which are the things which will take and the things
which will take place after this.
And there is the whole outline for the Book of Revelation right
there, right there, OK. It's about the things that are
the things you've seen. It's about the things that are
and the things that will take place after this.
And then verse 20 says the mystery and we're going to
finish up period of praise and worship team can come the
mystery of the seven stars, which you have seen in my right
hand in the 7 golden lamp stands.
He gives the he gives now the answer to some of those things.
Now there's some things that are in revelations that are symbolic
and some of those things, you know, there's different schools
of thought on how those things are interpreted.
But then there's things that the word of God will clearly tell us
what those meanings are. And this is one of those, one of
those things here, what are what is the true meaning of the seven
stars and the true meaning of the golden lampstands for the
meaning of the seven stars, what you have in your hand.
And he noticed there in his right hand, we believe that
those are the pastors of the churches because the seven
lampstands are the churches. So it's the seven.
So it's the seven stars, which are the the seven pastors of the
of the seven lampstands or the seven churches.
And he says they're in his right hand, which means that they're
being protected by the Lord. What a blessing that is to have
an elder or a pastor or just the people, the messengers of God
being protected by the Lord. What a blessing that is.
And we go out and speak on his behalf and we witness we're in
his hands, we're protected. But this is referring to the
seven pastors of those churches, the messengers of those
churches, and then the seven lampstands, which are what you
see, they are the seven churches.
And the lampstand is like the menorah, is like the menorah
that was in the Temple or first of all in the Tabernacle and
then later in the Temple. The menorah that those
lampstands, it was all of gold and it was the light that it
provided for the Tabernacle and then eventually for the Temple.
It was the light, just as Jesus Christ is the light of the
world. Jesus says I am the light of the
world. He believes in me, doesn't walk
in darkness, but she'll have the light of life.
He's the light of the world. And now he tells us over in
Matthew, he says you are the light of the world.
Let your light so shine so that men will see your good works and
glorify God who is in heaven. We are the light of the world,
so when we leave here, it's about being a light wherever we
are and letting that light shine so that others will have hope.
When our light shines, others have hope.
When there's a ship lost in sea, when he finally sees the
lighthouse and sees the light at the lighthouse, he has hope.
He has hope. I can remember sometimes being
on some very, very desolate roads, driving in some of the
back places. I've met a gentleman over here
who said that he lived in South Dakota for while we are Caden,
there you go. He said he lived in South Dakota
for a while, and I really wanted to talk to him a little bit more
about South Dakota. But there's some areas of South
Dakota that are just really, really desolate and dark.
And then all of a sudden you see a light off in the far distance
and you can tell I'm finally coming upon a town and you have
hope. And that's exactly the way it is
for us to where the church, we are the light that gives hope to
the world. So let our light shine.
And John eases us, and as he gets into the prophecies and the
church, first, he's going to get into the churches.
Next time we start in chapter 2, he's going to get into the seven
churches. Then after that, we'll get into
the prophecies, those things that are happening after this,
Amen. But he eases us into this, and
I'm so glad he does. He gives us a big dose of Jesus
Christ, Amen. Let's pray, Father, we thank you
for your word. We thank you for your goodness.
We thank you for all that you show us and teach us, Lord, how
you give us the way. How you show us the way, Lord
demonstrated even with your life.
And then as if that wasn't enough, Lord, you came and you
did the ultimate as you came, and you died for us, Lord, for
our sins. You shed your blood, Lord, and
you cleansed us of our sins, and you did it in your own blood, as
your scripture says. You washed us, You cleansed us,
You purified us. And I pray, Lord, that someone
tonight may have heard something that will cause them to want to
have that relationship with you, want to give their lives to you,
want to trust you for their salvation, Lord, that they don't
want to have to wonder if whether or not they have
salvation, but they can know that they have salvation, Lord,
if they have their, if they have the Son.
So I pray that someone will turn from their and repent from their
sins, Lord, just as we all need to repent every day, those who
are believers and those who are not.
And I pray, Lord, that someone will give their hearts to you,
Lord, and trust you for their salvation.
Let us be lights, Lord. If we haven't been lights, Lord,
up to this point, I pray that you will cause us to be lights,
cause us to desire, Lord, to let our lights shine in our
communities. Let our lights shine in our
homes. Let our lights shine in our in
our jobs, in our schools as young people.
Let our lights shine. Let people see that we are
different because we are of the Kingdom of God.
But we thank you for the sacrifice, Lord, that it took
for you to bring that gospel to us, to the to the world.
Lord, we thank you for that. So the night in which Jesus was
betrayed, he took the bread in his hand and, and it says that
after he gave thanks, he broke it and he said, take, eat, this
is my body which is broken for you.
Eat this in remembrance of me. Then he also took the cup and he
said this cup is a new covenant in my blood which was shed for
the forgiveness of sins for many.
And that blood that was shed 2000 years ago is still
cleansing people from sins even today is still cleanses.
It's just as efficacious now as it was 2000 years ago.
Thank you Lord, drink this as often as you drink it.
And remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and
drink this cup. Do show the Lord's death until
he comes. Amen.
The Lord bless you.
The altar is open if anybody would like to come up.
Someone like to give their hearts to Christ this morning,
please come up and do so. Lord bless you.