It's good to be here today. Like I heard a fellow say, when you get old as I am, it's good to be anywhere. We're here in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him. And I stand in awe every time that I read this book. and have it read to me. I have it on my phone, a program, and it will read the scripture. And it's quite a blessing to just listen to this being read. And each time that it is read, I'm struck with how little that we know about the secret things of Almighty God. We cannot know them. We're not meant to know them, but we are meant to be confronted with them so that we might stand in awe.

As the scripture says, be in awe and sin not before God because that's the purpose of the Lord humbling us before him is that we might be drawn ever to him and that we might be made to see ourselves for what we are because I believe that as a man sees himself in the light of the glory of God, he cannot help but be humbled before the Lord. And so we're looking, we've been in kind of creeping along here. I don't want to get ahead of the horse on this because I confess that I'm an ignorant and unlearned man. And whenever we come to such a compendium, that's a big word, just means a lot of stuff. When we come to a compendium of knowledge, as is said before in this book, we're unbelieving more so. You know, we think that we kind of sometimes get something of a handle on what all of the books in the Bible are getting at. you know, through studying them, I have a pretty good understanding of how the scriptures unfold, of the history and the doctrines of the gospel. But all of that kind of disappears when you come to this book.

Now what I mean by that is not that all of that is not the same word as this, but this is a word that is kind of set apart because it is a glorious representation of the glory of Jesus Christ as the triumphant redeemer of his people. And while that's in the first 65 books of the Bible, that same thing is taught. There's really not anything that's taught in the book of the Revelation that is not taught in the other 65 books. But everything that's in the 65 books of the Bible up to this point is in this book. Because this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, if we want to say in a nutshell. But it's a nutshell that is set forth in such glorious language to take our breath away. And ought it not to be that way? I mean, because we'll see even in these things we're gonna look at here today, as John begins his message to the churches as it was given to him. And he says,

I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega. the first and the last. And what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Samaria, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps, or the breast, with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and death.

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Now he is Of course, it explains exactly what he saw there. This was given to him. The Lord gave to him exactly what it was that he saw. So we back up and we see the one that is speaking to him in this great voice that he heard, a great voice behind him as of a trumpet. And he said, I'm the first and the last. Now that's exactly what the Lord told Moses when he met him in the burning bush, was it not? He didn't say it in so many words as that. He didn't say it exactly like that, but he said the same thing. Moses said, who can I tell, the children of Israel, that has sent me. And the Lord said, I am that I am. You go and tell him I am sent you. And that's exactly what he's saying here when he says, I'm the first and the last. He's the alpha and the omega. There's nothing before him. There's nothing after him. All things are in him. And without him, the scripture says, was not anything made that was made. So anything that has to do with us, or anything we see, or anything we've ever known, or whatever, is all found in Jesus Christ. What a glorious thing. There's none like him.

He said, He said with his own words, for I am God, and there is none like me. I am God, and there's none that can stay my hand or say unto me, what doest thou? I am God, and I will do all my pleasure in the earth.

Whose earth is it? It's his. I mean he made everything we can see the Lord made belongs to him. He never gave it to anybody. It's mine. Now he did indeed give man in the creation the dominion over it. That's what he said. We're created in God's image in that way.

A lot of times people make a lot more out of being made in the image of God, I believe, than what the scripture means by that. You know, you often hear people say, oh, well, there's a God-shaped blank in every man. I don't know exactly what they're supposed to mean by that, but generally what they mean is there's a little bit of God in each man. You know, he has that little godly spark in him. Well, there's no godly spark in any man. We're creatures of the dust. The Lord made us out of the dust, but he gave us a great privilege in that he made us the crowning jewel, if you want to speak, of his creation in that it is man that he chose to redeem.

What a glorious thing. He didn't choose to redeem the angels. You know, there were angels that he created that sinned and were cast out. He didn't redeem a one of them. And the angels are a higher form of creation than what the scripture says and we are. I mean, you know, they have more wisdom and knowledge and light, but it's to men. that he had given the privilege to be the redeemed sons of God. He didn't give the angels that right, but he gave it to men. What a glorious thing.

But he is the alpha, the omega, and he told John, whatever you see, write in a book, which he has none, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. unto Ephesus, Smyrna, I'm not gonna read them all, but there they are.

Now, when we read about these seven churches, you often hear men talk about, this is kind of a common interpretation, that these churches each represent a certain age of the church. Well, I don't believe that's true. I believe the seven churches, seven, the number seven appears, I believe, 54 times in this book. And the number seven in the Bible is a number of completion. The Lord made the earth in seven days. And so it is that the number seven has to do with a complete work. And I believe these seven churches are like a representation of the church at large, that is the whole church. Because everything that you see in each one of these churches can be found among all churches. These are not specific things. The Lord's not commending this church over here in this particular location as though they are extra special while this one is not. Or these have done more to earn His favor than that. He's just showing that among His people, He works in various ways.

And he would demonstrate both his righteousness and his work among his people in bringing us to walk in righteousness. And he would also demonstrate how far from that we are. So much so that he even says, I'm standing at the door knocking. He says, I'm standing at the door knocking, and if a man hears my voice, and opens the door, I'll come in with him. Very much of what Brother Tim was speaking about this morning.

The Lord did not bring us out of darkness and into the light as an end in itself. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He called us unto or walk with him. The children of God are not just saved from hell. Now, when I was growing up, that was the primary thing that preaching was always about, was that you need to get saved so you don't go to hell. Well, I don't want to put it separately. I mean, who would want to go to hell? And so, in some ways, salvation was cheapened. because it just became just a activity that a man did to get something that the Lord was offering, and he got his ticket punched, and he no longer was going to hell. Now he could go on and do whatever he wanted to do because he was in. He was saved, brother. And even today, you know, people talk about, oh, I got saved. Well, what do they mean by that? No. Now, I don't think it's necessarily wrong, because when a man first comes to know the Lord, he recognizes, I've been saved. But that's not the place, that's not the end, that's the beginning. You know, the Lord is working in his people. And if they belong to him, if they're his sheep, he said this, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.

Now does that mean they never do anything wrong? No, all we have to do is look at Peter. I mean, and I don't want to pick on Peter because Peter's just an example of all of us. But Peter egregiously sinned against the Lord. So much so that by all rights, he should have been cast away. The Lord said, if you deny me before me and I'll deny you before my father. But you see, God's greater than our heart. And if he set his love upon us, just like he said to Peter, Peter, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Oh, what a glorious Savior He is. But He's called us from the beginning to the end. Just as He is the first and the last, He is the first of our salvation. Had He not chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world, we could never have known Him. What a glorious privilege it is to know the Lord, and to come to the Lord, to seek the Lord, to call upon the Lord. That's not something that's a maybe-so. It's not something that the Lord has just put out here and said, now, I hope all y'all will listen to this. No, He's calling His people. He knows His people from the beginning, and He's calling them. And in his own time, he'll call them out of the darkness and into the light. And they'll rejoice in him. Not momentarily, but they can't escape it. And he won't let them escape. He will never, that song that you like, it says, you know, we, the Lord will never leave us, nor will he let us quite leave him.

Sometimes it might seem in doubt, It seemed in doubt with Peter. Peter figured it was in doubt. He went out and wept. He knew he had messed up. He knew that he had perhaps, if it was possible, that he'd just be cast away. But the Lord prayed for him that his faith fail not. And the Lord ever lives to make intercession for us. if we belong dead. He's our great high priest before the throne of God. And when the scripture says he makes intercession for us, it doesn't mean that he does it with words. Now a lot of times, you know, you see pictures and a picture and it'll show this man down on his knees praying to the one sitting up here on the throne. And he's up in heaven, you know, and he's up there with him, but he's praying. And that's the picture some people have of what the Lord's intercession. the Lord Jesus Christ intercession for his people. He's not praying for us in heaven. His intercession for us is by the very fact that he is present in heavens as the redeemer of sinners. That's our intercessor. That's that one who stands. He is our righteousness. And I believe it was John Wesley, or not John Wesley, Charles Wesley, had written in one of his hymns, five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary. They poor effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me. See, that which pleads for us before the throne of God's justice is the blood of Christ. He is our intercessor.

And so he says, I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. Now we think of that word candlesticks, we think of a candle as being like a wax deal that you light with a match or whatever. That's not exactly what the scripture's speaking about because if you go over into the Old Testament when the Lord gave Moses the instructions on what to put in the tabernacle, one of the things that was on the table in the Holy of Holies, inside the tabernacle, was a, this very thing, a seven, a candlestick that is a lamp, that had seven individual lamps on it. Now think about that. And the word, the Hebrew word is menorah. And you've heard that word before among the Jews, that's a pretty common word. When they have the Passover, they always have the menorah. What is it? It's got seven oil lamps on it. Now I don't know if that's the way it is in modern, among the modern Jews, but that's what the original menorah was, was a candelabra, if you want to speak of it, that it had seven lamps on it, oil lamps, and each one was lit. It was, you know, it makes us mindful of those wise and foolish virgins. There's always oil in the lamp that he's speaking about here, even when it does not appear. These lamps are always burning. Now, they're not always burning brightly. Some of them are going out, but the Lord is the one who sustains them, because he's the oil in the lamp. What a glorious thing.

So I saw seven golden candlesticks, or lampstands, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, lampstands, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps, or the breast, with a golden girdle, one likened to the Son of Man. Who is that? We know who that is. He's the son of man. The son of man is the son of God. He's the son of God, he's the son of man.

He's the same one that Nebuchadnezzar saw in the fiery furnace when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He said, didn't we throw three men into that furnace? And he said, behold, I see four men walking in there. And he said, one of them is likened to the Son of God. Now Nebuchadnezzar, for whatever you think of him, the Lord blessed Nebuchadnezzar. Now whether or not Nebuchadnezzar was one of his children or not, I don't know. I kind of believe that he was. But Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked man. But the Lord showed him the Son of God walking in that furnace, and then later on in his own furnace.

When the Lord brought him out of his own furnace after he had ate grass like an ox for seven years, or some people say seven months, it was a period of time, it was longer than you or I would, I wouldn't want to eat grass for seven hours. let alone for whatever period of time it was, but he ate grass in a field like an ox. And he says, at the end of my days, he said, the most high appeared to me. And he taught me that the most high rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and there's none that can stay his hand. or saying to him, what doest thou? And this is the same one Nebuchadnezzar saw. This is the same one who came to and met Abraham when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings. And he brought bread and wine to Abraham.

So as you see, the Lord's always been the sustainer of his people. Clothed with a garment down to the foot, he was covered. What's he covered with? He's covered in righteousness. He's covered in a white robe that's spotless. And no man can say anything about him. No man can take anything from him.

I remember a fella that I knew, Wesley Forbes, he was telling one time about that he had a radio program. He was a preacher from down in the Virgin Islands, and he had a radio program, and a fella had heard his radio program and came to him, or he met him one day, and the fella found out you know, that he had the radio, he said, yeah, I've heard that. And he said, you know, he says, I curse God. And Forbes said, you do? He says, how do you do that? And he said, the old guy just let out a big string of stuff, and he said, well, are you gonna curse God? And the guy, you know, come out with some more, and he said, well, when are you gonna curse God? He said, because to curse something, you have to have more power than the one that you're putting the curse on. You can't curse God.

Now, you can use his name in vain, as people do. No doubt about that, but you can't bring a curse upon God. You can't question the thing God does. Paul plainly says that in the ninth chapter of the book of Romans. Who are thou, man, that replyest against God? I mean, can the thing formed say anything to him that formed it? What can we say? Nothing. You know, people get all up in arms about, when we talk about different things, about God being the creator of all things. He said he was. He says, I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. It doesn't make any difference how you define those words or whatever you do. Know this, that there's nothing that exists that exists outside of the realm of God's purpose and creation. He is the first and the last.

The son of man clothed with a garment down to his foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle. What a sight. Can you imagine that? I mean, just the literal sight of it. I mean, just pausing for a moment, not even considering the spiritual glory of it, but just the vision of it. clothed with a garment down to the foot, girt about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. And his feet, like in fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Now this was actually not the first time that John had a glimpse of him in this fashion. You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, that there was a brightness, they said, that the light showed him that he couldn't even look on it. It was brighter than fuller soap, which is the thing they use like we would consider bleach to bleach something white. He said it was whiter than that. He shined and they were overwhelmed by it.

So this was not the first time that he'd ever seen this, but this was the first time he ever saw it like this. and it's unfettered. See, the Lord, when He shows Himself to men, He doesn't always show himself to men in the fullness of his glory. In fact, we never do. The scripture says that when we see him, after we have moved from this present mortal realm, and we're clothed with immortality, then we shall what? See him as he is. We haven't seen him as he is yet. And so while John had seen him in a greater measure perhaps than anyone else had seen him in a glorious way, this was something that was even greater. unfolding of who he is than then.

His feet likened to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And you know, there are other scriptures that speak of him in the same way. Daniel had a very similar experience as John and what John saw. And you remember what Daniel said. When he saw the Lord, he said, my comeliness, my beauty was turning me to corruption. He said, anything that I ever thought was beautiful about me or anything around me, he said, it just became as dumb. And he says, I was in a deep sleep before him. And had the Lord not reached out his hand and brought him up. Perhaps he would have perished.

I mean, can a man come? No man has seen God at any time. The Lord said, no man can see me and live. That's what he told Moses when he hid himself. Moses said, Lord, let me see thy glory. And he said, Moses, you can't see my glory. But he said, I'll tell you what, he says, I'm gonna hide you over here in the cliff to the rock. And when I pass by and I'm almost out of sight, he said, and I won't let you see my backside because no man can see me and live. And so this is a glorious thing here. And his feet, like in fine brass, they burned in the furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

"Many waters. I've never been to Niagara Falls. Some of y'all probably have. Anybody ever been to Niagara Falls? John has been to Niagara Falls. And you've been to, Charlotte's been to Niagara Falls, well good. Now I have heard this, I don't know that it's true, because I've never been there. But that you can hear the falls long before you can see, you get to the place where you see the falls. the voice of many waters, the roaring of the waters. I have been around waterfalls and stuff where I can say that if the little small waterfall was magnified to the extent that that would be, I can imagine that that would be the case.

Well, he says that the voice of the Lord was a voice of many waters. It was a roaring sound. It was a sound that covered the earth. And is that not a picture of the gospel? I mean that the voice of the Lord goes out into all the earth. He sent the gospel into all the earth. He didn't say go over here and go over there. He said to the uttermost parts of the earth. Why? Did he do it because he was hoping he'd get somebody? That's how these pathetic preachers that preach this stuff, some of this stuff, say. You know, he did that because he's just hoping to save everybody and he doesn't know if he's gonna save anybody. And he's just trying, so he's just sending out the gospel. Oh, won't somebody please help the Lord out?

No, he sent the gospel into all the world in order to call all of his sheep. because he has sheep scattered throughout the expanses of the hills and valleys of the world, and he will have them to hear his voice. It's the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars. It goes on to tell us what all this is. And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. He said right here what the stars are. He says, the mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven churches.

Now, later on, as we go on into this, he defines those seven stars, the angels of the churches, that is the messengers of the churches. Now, if we're to understand that these churches and the composite of the seven churches make up the church in general, then we understand that those seven messengers are, in general, those sent with the gospel to declare his word in its completion to those seven churches. That is, not specifically seven men.

Now, people get too hung up, I think, sometimes on the details. Can't see the forest for the trees. If you get hung up on the detail, sometimes you can't see the whole picture. But the Lord has those whom he sends. And the gates of hell can't prevail against them. It doesn't matter, they may kill one here or there, but it can't stop it. See, you cannot stop the gospel. There's nothing that men can do that will stop the gospel. They may burn all the Bibles. It's possible, I guess, that they could burn all the Bibles, but they can't destroy the Word of God. Because the Word of God is not bound in the Bible. It's in the Bible, but it's not bound in the Bible. It's bound in the hearts of God's people.

So he says the seven stars are the angels or the messengers. See, when you see the word angels in the scriptures, not always talking about an angelic being, a heavenly being. It says that we are to entertain strangers. That is, we're to be hospitable people. because thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Now what does he mean by that? Is he talking about some mystical occurrence? I don't think so. I think he's saying you need to be hospitable to those that come in the name of the Lord because the Lord may be sending you a messenger. How often have we met people that we didn't know? that had a message for us. They didn't necessarily know they had a message for us, but we knew they did. You know, the person that's bringing the message doesn't always know who he's talking to. But the person listening always knows when the message is for him. Isn't that a glorious thing? Because you see, that's how the Lord calls his sheep. I don't know who the sheep are. but the Lord does, and he's calling unto himself.

And so that's the, he had in his right hand seven stars. Now the right hand of God, that's a place of power, isn't it? I mean, when we read about Jesus Christ seated on the right hand of the Father, A lot of people would picture that as here you got this big throne and God the Father sitting on that throne. And then over here on his right hand is Jesus Christ sitting on a smaller throne. Well, that's not the picture. Jesus Christ is the right hand of God. He's the power of God. He's the manifestation of God. And so there's not three thrones in heaven. There's one throne. And this one whom John has been given the privilege to see is the one that sits on that throne. And he has the power of God, because he is the power of God. And he says he has these stars in his hand. That is, he's the one that gives them power.

There's not a preacher alive that has a bit of power. You know, some of these preachers make me sick when I see them on the TV and whatnot doing all their theatrics and they raising their hand up like they gonna do this and do that. And they got this power. I remember who was the old guy, I can't call his name right now. He'd do like that and people would just fall out. I don't know. Anything about how that occurs. I have my ideas about how it occurs. But I know one thing. Men don't have any power at all. Except that which God is pleased to give them. And when God gives a man power, there's nothing that can stand against that. And it's not something he can glory in. Because the Lord said, I will not share my glory with another. And there's no boasting in the preaching of the gospel. There's no boasting in a man talking about his power to do this or to do that. But it's all in the hands of the Lord.

And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. Now we know what the sharp two-edged sword is, that's the word of God. But I believe in this particular context in which he's speaking about this one, because this is one whom John is seeing is not this one who was meek and mild, who came As a lamb before his shearers is dumb, so openeth not his mouth. That's not who he's seeing here.

Now he did indeed come in that like fashion, humbled himself, became obedient to the death of the cross. That's not how John's seeing him because he's not the one who is obedient to the death of the cross when John sees him here. He's that one who has triumphed. He's triumphant, and he's that one who has, the scripture says here, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. It's the sword of judgment.

Now one recurring theme that you'll see throughout the book of the Revelation is that of judgment. Don't ever, Don't ever fall prey to those that say, oh, you know, that judgment of God, it's been kind of paved over, you know. The Lord now, he's, you know, in the Old Testament, God was a God of wrath, and now in the New Testament, now we see he's a God of kindness and mercy and all that.

His justice has never changed. And his wrath is kindled. in an even greater fashion than it was at the beginning, as we think of it in men's terms, because he sent his only begotten son into the world, and men crucified him. Men tortured him. Men hated him. And there's nothing left for this world outside of Christ except judgment. And that's exactly what we see throughout the book of the Revelation over and over again until the culmination of that judgment as it says that Satan and Everyone who is not written in the Lamb's book of life are cast into the lake of fire along with death and hell.

That's the final judgment. People talk about the final judgment. That's it. There's no judgment after that. That's it.

And this one whom John sees, He has this sharp two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Do you know what the difference between the soul and the spirit is? I've heard men attempt to define that. I don't believe it's that best possible to define the difference between a man's soul and a man's spirit. The Word of God can. And it's so sharp that it, cuts in such a fashion as it can do that. And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. You know, we can't even, you can't begin to look at the sun. I mean, if you look at the sun, I forget that it doesn't take but a few seconds of staring directly into the sun and you will be completely blind. And that's why you have to use those goggles and things to look at an eclipse. Seems like it's dark, but it really isn't. The sun's rays are still coming, and you'll be blinded if you look at it. And he said this was his countenance was as that.

And then here is what happened, and this always happens when a man is brought face to face with the Lord. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. Fell at his feet as dead. I mean, that was the end. He figured that was it. I mean, he says, I have seen the Lord and I'm gonna be like, was it Zacharias said, you know, we've seen the Lord, Lord, we gonna die. I mean, what are we gonna do now? That's where he was, and a rightful place. And that's what the judgment of God is to men. They're gonna fall at his feet as dead. That is the second death, as he casts them away.

And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not. See, the Lord didn't give him this vision to cause him to fear. Now, it's impossible that a man can come into the presence of God and not be fearful. If you think you can just traipse up to the Lord and put your arm around him, you're a fool. Fear is a work of the Spirit of God in the sons of God. And when we're brought face to face with them, we're speechless. There's nothing left, we can't say anything. How are you gonna argue with God?

When the Lord convinces you of sin in your life, you're gonna say, well, wait, Lord, I'm not quite that bad. No. See, when the Lord reveals sin in us, and when he shows us what we are by nature, we're speechless. We don't have anything to say. There's nothing we can say. Lord, you're right. The only thing we can hope for is that his mercy is extended to us.

And that's the place John was. See, John was the one who walked with the Lord. Day after day, he leaned on the Lord's bosom at the Last Supper. He saw all the things. He was there when the Lord was ascended back to heaven. But when he sees him as he is, he fell down dead before the Lord. He didn't have anything to say. He didn't have any ideas. He didn't have any recommendations. He didn't have any excuses. He was just there before God.

I don't know that he even, he never even thought about worshiping, did he? You know? People say, oh, well, we gonna come in presence of the Lord, we gonna worship him. I don't think so. I think we're just gonna, yeah, we're gonna worship him, but we're not gonna worship him like we think. We're gonna worship him as John did.

But the glorious thing is, now he could have left John right there. And you know what? That'd be a glorious place to be. To be in the presence of the Lord just as a dead man before the Lord. I mean, just think about it. Being one of God's children dead before His face is a far more blessed condition than being alive and having no knowledge of Him. I mean, you know, what is it for a man to live his life and have no knowledge of the Redeemer, of sinners? Oh.

And so he said, he fell at his feet as dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and death. So you see, the Lord didn't bring John down there to cause him to tremble. Oh, he couldn't help but tremble. But the Lord brought John to that place that he might comfort him. And he said, fear not.

There's a passage of scripture over in Habakkuk. We even sing the song sometimes that comes from this passage of scripture. It's Habakkuk 3. Let me get over here. If I can find Habakkuk, I know it's over here. Here we go. Now in the third chapter of Habakkuk, he says this.

Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember. Mercy.

God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah. His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of His hand and there was the hiding of His power. Before him went the pestilence, and the burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations, and everlasting mountains were scattered. The perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy words say law. Thou didst cleave the earth, with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by, and the deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows they went at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation with thine anointed. Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops."

But now listen to this. See, the Lord brought him down to humility, but he also, he said to him, fear not. Just like he said to John. because he brought to him this blessing, that he understood, although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind's feet. He will make me to walk upon mine high places.

What a glorious word the Lord says to his children, as he said to John. dead before him, he said, don't fear. Because he says, I am the God of all gods. I am he who has triumphed over death. He said, death and hell belong to me. He said, they're mine. He said, I was dead, but I'm alive, and I'm alive forevermore. And so you see, dear brethren, that's our place of rejoicing today. That's, you know, though the fig tree shall not blossom, and neither shall the fruit be in the vines, though the labor of the olive shall fail, and the tree's field shall yield no meat. the Lord will provide for his people. And that's our place of great comfort.

And so all of this book as we come, after having seen this as John saw it, all of these things, and there's a lot of things in this book that will cause us to tremble as we read them, as we read of the pouring out of God's wrath and the judgments upon this earth. And we recognize that we, by nature, are a part of this same world that hated him, that crucified him. And yet, he says, let him that is a thirst come. The spirit and the bride say come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. That's the message to God's people. May we be able to receive it with thanksgiving today.