I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the book
of the Revelation, chapter 1, and we'll read verse 8. The book
of the Revelation, chapter 1, and reading verse 8. I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which
is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. It was a wonderful occasion in
the history of the world when the Apostle John was on this
isle of Patmos and the Lord came to him and gave him this Revelation. And we're thankful for the record
that we have of the truths that were shown to him. We know that
there is much in the book of Revelation which is prophetic,
much which is difficult for us to understand. On the other hand,
there are also those places, especially in the early chapters,
which are very clear and very beneficial to us. And so, as
we think of these words this evening, to realise that God
came and spoke to John, that he might bring these messages
to all the seven churches which existed in Asia. And there were
those various messages which we can read of in chapters 2
and 3, which gives the detail And all those messages were to
be brought to all the churches. They weren't to just have a particular
one written to them. No, they were to also receive
the others. And so, as we think of that,
the reality of it to consider today that we're blessed with
the whole Word of God. And the whole Word of God is
there written for our learning and for our instruction. And
we should not take just a particular favorite part as it were perhaps
a psalm here or a psalm there. I think well that applies to
me and I can leave the rest. We should realize that the Word
of God is the whole counsel of God and all the Word of God applies
to us and we should be diligent really in reading the Word of
God and I know potentially there are those parts which are easier
to read and we perhaps like to read more and more but nevertheless
we should really give diligence to read the whole Word of God
from Genesis to Revelation, and when we've read it through, to
start again, and to read again. Because the more you and I read
the Word of God, the clearer it will become, and the more
familiar it will become. Because one scripture will explain
another scripture, perhaps in a very different part, And so
we need to be instructed to concentrate on reading the whole Word of
God like these letters were to be read into all those churches. Now this man John, we read that
he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. It's the only place where
we read about the Lord's Day and It was, of course, the day
after the Sabbath which they had generally kept in Jewish
terms. And in the New Testament, the
day which was kept as a holy day was indeed the Lord's Day,
which is, as we know it, the first day of the Sunday. And
the Apostle here, we're told he was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day. Well, we should again not pass
over that, and realise how wonderful it is if you and I are found
in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. I think that can be defined such
as we might be found desiring to worship the Lord on the Lord's
Day. We may be found spiritually minded,
I hope it's every day, perhaps in a more particular way on the
Lord's Day, that we desire we may receive spiritual food on
that day that the Lord has set apart for worship. And it will be a great blessing
then if the Lord does come and is mindful of us on the Lord's
days. Well just in passing then to
remember we do come together on the Lord's day and quite clearly
it was the ordained way set apart as The Apostle John was found
here on the Isle of Patmos on the Lord's Day. Now, he was given
wonderful views and he heard the voice of the Lord directly
speaking to him. And we read together in that
8th verse the words, the direct words to John of the Lord Jesus. Now we know of course that the
whole word of God is in one sense the words of the Lord Jesus,
but here in a more particular way, we see that John was here
and he heard these words, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which
is to come, the Almighty. Well, John had previously told
us He says, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace
be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and
which is to come. We have there a definition of
the eternity of Almighty God. That one who is, and which was,
and which is to come. and from the seven spirits which
are before the throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of
the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. Well, it's good, is it not, that
we see here in the beginning of this book of the Revelation
such words as these unto him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen. Now if the Spirit of God
directs us to have a right view of God. And it will be then unto
him, the Lord Jesus Christ, that has done these things for his
people, and to realise that the Lord has done these things for
you and me. As I often mention, real religion
is a personal experience. It's not something which is just
general. It is a meeting between our souls
and our God. It is that personal revelation
of the Lord to our souls as our Saviour. That personal revelation
to know that this God, this Almighty God, is the one who has loved
us. and washed us from our sins in
his own blood. Now, this will not mean anything
to us unless the Spirit of God has awakened us to our spiritual
need. You may say, well, what do you
mean by that, our spiritual need? What I mean is this, when the
Spirit of God comes into our hearts, into our soul, and we
find that we are a new creature, old things are passed away, behold
all things are become new, what the effects of that work will
be, is to direct us to our true condition before a holy God,
and we will not be able to rest We will not be able to settle
down in a life of ease because that Holy Spirit will come and
reveal what we are before a holy God. Now, if the Spirit of God
does that, it will be like this. We shall see God as holy and
pure and righteous and we as the very opposite, unrighteous. impure and sinful and in that
condition there can really be no unity, there can really be
no coming together because there is that great separation and
that separation is our sin. Now then, if that is so and bless
God if the Holy Spirit has touched our hearts to reveal such a truth
unto us. It will then be that prayer will
take on a very different form from just being. It may be a
form of words which we've been familiar with from a small child. Nothing wrong in familiar words.
But there will be a time, a never to be forgotten time perhaps,
when we will pray. to God. And we shall pray for
mercy and we will pray for forgiveness and we will pray that we may
know that God has loved us. So these words then will be important. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. The Lord Jesus Christ will become
a reality. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
just be an historical figure, somebody that we've read about,
somebody that we know about, but now we should come with that
need to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we see the Apostle speaking
in this way, and he says, and from Jesus, who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of
the kings of the earth. We have a view there, a definition
of the Lord Jesus. And we see then, as we read together,
the confirmation of that truth by the Lord Jesus himself when
he said, I am Alpha and Omega. Now I know you in the Sunday
school, children of the Sunday school are going through the
I am's of Jesus. I'm not sure if you've come to
this one yet, whether you will, but it is an important one. I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. You may say,
why does the Word of God tell us about Alpha and Omega? Well, in the Greek alphabet,
Alpha is the very first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega
is the very last. There is nothing before Alpha,
and there's nothing after Omega. And so we have there a picture,
if you like, that you and I can understand that God was at the
beginning. If we can put it that way, we
know that in one sense there was no beginning in eternity,
but there was nothing before the Lord Jesus, nothing before.
He said, I am Alpha. He was there in the beginning
and He will be there forever and Omega, the beginning and
the ending, saith the Lord. See Jesus is here speaking and
here is John here in this situation hearing these great and glorious
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the Lord who ever
was and is and ever will be. And it's good if we have an understanding
of the greatness of God. People today, for the most part,
have a very low opinion of God. They think that they can argue
with God, they think they can dispute with God, and they think
they can omit God from their life when it's convenient to
them, and pick God up when they need something to be provided
for them. and they treat God almost as
disposable. Well, such people have no real
understanding of the greatness and also the power of Almighty
God. Well, we read a little of the
power of Almighty God in the previous verse, in the seventh
verse, with regards to what will happen at the end of time. We
read this, with clouds, and every eye shall
see him. And they also which pierced him,
and all kindreds of the earth, shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." And we should
not forget the truth of God's Word, that this time will come,
and obviously every day is a day nearer to that day when this
great God will return. who will come with the clouds
and we're told every eye shall see him. That's a very startling
statement, isn't it? To think that every eye will
see him. You and I will see the Lord coming
in the clouds. Whether we've died or whether
we're alive on the earth at that time, no one will fail to see
the wonder of the glorious Saviour as a conquering King returning
to the earth, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
him." Well, the Word of God tells us then that everyone, including
those who have pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth, shall
wail because of him. Those who are not amongst those
who have been washed, those who have not had their sins forgiven,
they will wail. They will wail because they will
realise that time is no more and the day of grace, the day
of favour is forever past, never to return. It will be a most
blessed and glorious day for the living Church of God and
it will be a most awful and terrible day for those who are outside
the secret of the Word of God. and who do not know the love
of God in their hearts. And the word of God is very clear.
It means that every one of us here tonight will be in one of
those two conditions. We shall either be amongst those
who are rejoicing to see the Lord coming, or those who are
weighing because of him. And it's a consideration that
we should be diligent to think about. And to the Living Church
of God, those who are blessed, this will not be a subject they
don't want to speak about. It will be a subject which they
enjoy speaking about, because that will be the time when the
Living Church of God will be forever with the Lord, united
together, no more sin, no more trouble, no more tears, no more
crying, but a wonderful and beautiful eternity will be spent with the
Saviour. And so, the Apostle John had
these words given to him to write, and let us not forget the Revelation
was the last book of inspired word given to the Church of God,
and John was an old man when he received this blessing, and
It's now been some 2,000 years, more or less, since this was
written. And these words are as true today
as they were when they were written. The fact is, of course, that
reference to this verse, the Lord coming, it's much, much
nearer than it was 2,000 years ago. And therefore we should
all be concerned that we might be ready when that time shall
come. The Word of God encourages us,
doesn't it, in many places to be ready when that time shall
come. We're often concerned about being
ready for many things in our life, aren't we? We want to be
prepared for them. This is the greatest thing that
you and I can ever need to be prepared for. The time when we
shall leave this earth, either by death or when the Lord returns
in his great glory. And so, the Lord Jesus comes
and tells us I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord." Of course we can go back, can we not, to the
beginning of time. We know we have a record of it
in Genesis. The beginning. And it was the
Lord Jesus who created all things. I know today many people despise
such truth. It doesn't alter the fact that
God's word is true and the Lord God did. create all things. And he was there at the beginning,
and he did create all things. He is the beginning and the ending. The Lord will be there at the
end of time. He's been there all through time. He will be there all through
time. And that's an encouragement,
I'm sure, and I hope it is to us today, to realise that Lord
God is alive forevermore. The Lord Jesus Christ He rose
from the dead and is alive for evermore, which is and which
was and which is to come the Almighty. Now in this chapter
you may have noticed there were those three places where we read
about the Lord being the Alpha and Omega. So it's written there
very clear for us to recognise in the 11th verse we read saying,
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what thou singest,
write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are
in Asia." Now then, having heard these voices, John turned to
see where the voice came from. This was a loud voice. It was
a great voice. We read, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice. as of a trumpet. Well, we know that a trumpet
can be blown very loudly and can be very powerful and very
strong and can be heard a long way away. And that was what the
Apostle heard, this great voice as of a trumpet. And now having
heard this statement, he turns and he sees what it was. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And we might think, well, what
were those seven golden candlesticks? Well, we read in the last verse
of this chapter, we read together, the seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches. So, the Apostle John had a wonderful
view of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of the seven churches. And that is a wonderful picture
for us today, to realise that although those seven churches
of course in Asia no longer exist as such, yet we still believe
that the Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church. And to think
that even tonight, he's in the midst of us here tonight, he's
aware of our attitude as we come together to worship tonight.
He knows what we've been thinking since we've been in chapel tonight.
He knows what we're thinking at this very moment and to understand
that we face such a great almighty God. It is important we have
a view of this great almighty God. As I said just now, He created
all things. He spoke the world into being. He spoke the world into being.
That is the greatness of our God. Dare we, frail as we are,
ever as it were, try and argue and disagree with the Word of
Almighty God. We might not always find God's
Word palatable to us. We may not always want to obey
the truth of God's Word. But if the Spirit of God gives
us some view of how great God is, how almighty He is, as this
verse tells us, He is the Almighty. Nothing can be greater than the
Almighty. There are many mighty people. God is Almighty. He's mightier than everybody
on this earth by a long, long way. And it would be good if
you and I have a right understanding and appreciation of the greatness
of God, that God who can in a moment take our breath, in a moment
stop our heart beating. He holds us in his hand. We cannot keep our natural life
alive. It's only the favour of God toward
us. And so we have this picture here
of the Lord speaking like a great voice as a trumpet, and speaking
to the Apostle John. And John then turned and saw
the Lord Jesus in the midst as of the seven golden candlesticks,
one like unto the Son of God, clothe the garment down to the
foot and go about with the paps with a golden girdle." He goes
on to describe the view he had of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
just think of that picture he had and imagine Here's John in
the Isle of Patmos, turning around and having this view, and seeing
the picture of these candlesticks as the seven churches and the
Son of Man, like unto the Son of Man. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow, pureness, holiness,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire. You can imagine that,
can we not? Very piercing. a flame of fire,
is very piercing. And this one, this Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, these eyes are very
piercing. I wonder if we viewed the Lord
like that and we may have felt the piercing of his eyes into
our innermost being, to realise that those eyes see right inside
us, Nothing is hidden from such piercing
eyes. The Almighty God, and his eyes
were as a flame of fire, and his feet like a fine brass, as
if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of
many waters. Well, I believe if the Spirit
of God comes upon us and speaks to our souls, It may be, as the
voice of many waters, insofar that that voice, that word of
God, may make us tremble. Make us tremble. Sometimes when
we hear very loud thunder, we see people tremble. They're afraid. They don't realise what it is,
in effect, that it emanates from God. They tremble because of
such a noise. And here the Apostle John describes
the voice he hears as the sound of many waters. Well, it would
be good if we know what it is to tremble before God. And you may say, well, what do
you really mean by trembling? Well, I mean this. If the Spirit
of God has shown us our condition, our sinful condition, our terrible
condition before a holy God, We will know that we are not
right with God. We will know that if God came
and took our life, we should pass into hell. And I believe
that will cause us to tremble. Cause us to tremble. I wonder
if you've gone to bed at night and frightened that you might
not wake up in the morning. God may take your life. And that's
really trembling, is it not, before God. And in effect, you're
hearing his voice as the sound of many waters, not in a physical
way, but in a spiritual way. You hear the condemning thunder
of God's word in your hearts. You tremble because you're condemned
under God's word. 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 shining in his strength."
When the Word of God comes, when the Lord speaks to our hearts,
sometimes it's very piercing and it's very cutting. It doesn't
allow us any room for manoeuvre. It doesn't give us any room to
make excuses. of this word of God is like a
two-edged sword. It's very sharp and it's very
powerful. It enters right into our heart
and produces condemnation. You may be hiding under some
particular sin, something which you enjoy doing, something you
don't like to part with, And yet, if God comes, as it were,
with this sharp-toothed sword and pierces into your heart,
you'll know it's the Word of God and you'll know it's the
Lord speaking to you. And what will it make you do?
I believe it will make you cry to God for grace to turn away
from sin. You see, our nature loves sin. Our nature goes after sin. We
enjoy sin naturally. There's no peace in sin. There's no true satisfaction.
There's no true happiness in sin. They're all vanishing away. They may be pleasant as it were
for a small amount of time, but we prove like Solomon proved
so many years ago, all is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit. Now the King Solomon He tried
everything that he could. He had as much money as he wanted.
He was a very clever man to find pleasure in this world, and he
could not find it. And he tells us all is vanity
of vanity and vexation of spirit. And therefore, whatever sin you
and I may be holding tight to, how foolish we are, because there
is no true happiness. in the vanities of this life. In fact, they turn us farther
away from God. And it would be a great blessing
if the Lord comes to us as it were, and from his mouth goes
the Word of God, which is sharp, a two-inch sword, and really
has an effect upon us. Well, I hope there may be some
who understand the effect of this two-edged sword piercing
into our hearts and directing us to a sinful situation which
we try to hide and we found that God knows all about it. He comes
out and we're standing before God and all we can do is to plead.
He will help us and strengthen us to turn away from such sinful
things. And so we read, and his countenance
was as the sun shining in his strength. Now we have a little
view of that, don't we? When we think of the Apostle
Paul and his life. The Apostle Paul in his testimony,
he tells us there was a light that shone round about him. He
tells us above the brightness of the midday sun, above the
brightness of the midday sun. Here we have a similar statement
really. His countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. That means the most powerful
element of the sun shining at the height of the midday sun
and that was like the countenance of this almighty God that the
Apostle viewed. So we should realise that the
light shines so powerfully, it's a pure light and that light shines
again right into our heart and reveals the secrets which are
there. We may have secrets in our heart. They may be there a long time.
They may have gone down deep into the recesses of our heart. Well, when God's light shines,
when his face shines into our heart, nothing is hidden. Everything is revealed. you will not be able to hide
and there may be sins which you committed years ago which you
may have forgotten about God hasn't forgotten about and it
may be His face shines into our hearts and we see there sins
which need to be repented of and sins which we need to pray
for forgiveness about so that we then realize bright as the
shining is, the blessing is, and it is a blessing, that the
Spirit of God brings us into that position so we realise then
how we need the love of this Saviour and how we need then
to be washed from our sins in His own blood. That's the only
way that we shall be cleansed. What a blessing then, if it's
God who always was and is and always will be The great God
condescends to deal with us in this way, to reveal to us our
sins, our innermost sins, and to direct us to the way of escape,
to direct us to the way of cleansing. And it's not in ourselves, it's
in a precious Lord Jesus Christ. So we have really, you know,
this picture in this first chapter of John, As it were, he sets
the scene of the greatness of God and the need that we have
of his favour and his mercy. Because what did it do to John,
this view? What did it do? Do you think
he was standing there and proud to be there? No, he was very
different. We're told, and when I saw him,
I fell at his feet as dead. He fell down before Almighty
God. When again in our lives, I wonder
whether we've fallen down before God, fallen on our knees and
prayed for mercy. On the ground, as it were, we
can't get low enough. We've had to cry from our heart
for mercy. You see, it's when we've seen
something of the greatness of God the justice of God, and now
we're looking for the mercy of God. So, we might understand
what John was like here, because John was a sinner like you and
me. He wasn't an apostle, but he
was a man of like passions as we are. And so, we read, he fell
down at his feet as dead. Do you think he was left there? Do you think you'll be left there?
If you fall down before God under condemnation, under the greatness
of his power? No, what did he do? The Lord
laid his right hand upon him saying unto me, fear not, I am
the first and the last. I am the Alpha and Omega. Fear not. There are many fear
nots. in the Word of God, especially
in the prophecy of Isaiah. There are many fear nots. And
that will be a wonderful blessing for you and me if we find we've
fallen down before God and God comes to us and touches us as
it were with his right hand and says, fear not, fear not. We deserve to fear, we deserve
to be cast out. Why does the Lord say that? because
he's loved us with everlasting love. And we are able to observe
his work in our hearts, his work in our life, that work of conviction,
that work of condemnation, and that work of encouragement to
fear not. It would be a wonderful word,
you know, fear not, and we have feared. We have feared we should
be lost forever, We have feared our sins will cast us out forevermore. There's no hope. Fear not. Who is speaking it? The one who
said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. This
is the God. What a difference this will make
to our life. What a blessing it will be if
the work of the Holy Spirit comes upon us in this way and directs
us to the glory of the Saviour, His love and His mercy. I am
the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was there
and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. Have the keys of hell and
death. Yes, we have a God who controls
everything and He controls your life and my life in every small
detail and it's a wonderful favour to know The Lord is dealing with
us, you and me, in love to our soul. Love to our soul. He's not leaving us to wander
in this wilderness and to then fall into hell at last. No, he's
watching over us. And as he came to the Apostle
John and said, yes, I am here that liveth and was dead, and
behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. the keys of hell and of
death. And the Apostle was then commanded
to write the things which he'd seen and the things which he
would see after and those things that would be recorded. We can
bless God tonight that we have these things recorded for our
encouragement. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord which is and which was and which
is to come, the Almighty. when the Apostle Paul wrote the
epistle to the Hebrews, he spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ and
he said, I am the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever. We read in Malachi, I am the
Lord, I change not Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
It's because we have a wonderful God who does not change. It's
a mercy for us tonight to think of the truth of those things
and to realise, yes, this is the God that we come before,
this is the God that we stand before, this is the great God.
You know the prophet Isaiah, he brings to us in his prophecy,
statements with regard to the greatness of God, who is the
first and the last. In the 41st chapter we read,
Who hath wrought and done it? Calling the generations from
the beginning, I the Lord. You see, it's God that works
in our hearts. Blessing it is. Who hath wrought and done it?
According to generations from the beginning, I the Lord, the
first, and with the last, I am He. It's a very positive statement,
isn't it? It's very good to read positive
statements in the Word of God. And then in the 44th chapter,
we read the 6th verse. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last and beside me there is no God and who as
I shall call and shall declare it and set it in order for me
since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are
coming and shall come let them show unto them fear ye not neither
be afraid have not I told thee from that time, and have declared
it, ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God, I know, not any." Well, the wonderful favour
and blessing of Almighty God and those great truths which
he sets before us in this one last reference in Isaiah the
48th chapter, we read in 12th verse, Harken unto me, O Jacob,
Now, how important it is that you and I hearken unto the Lord. You know, we have a wonderful
privilege of having the Word of God to be able to read the
great truths it contains, the truths that we consider tonight.
It's wonderful to have such truths, but this is the Word. Hearken
unto me. Let us not turn a deaf ear to
the Word of God. May we hearken unto me, O Jacob,
and Israel my called." You see that the Lord is addressing those
who he has called. Remember what the Apostle Paul
said, when he was called by the grace of God. And my friends,
all of God's people are called by his grace. They are merited
favour. They receive a call and they
hear it. Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and
Israel my called. I am he. I am. the first, I also
am the last." So, if you think of this tonight, you realise
that yes, we stand, we sit, we lie, whatever the condition is,
before an almighty God, an almighty God. Let us never have small
views of this God. He is almighty. And may we each
be found worshipping Him, bowing down before Him, acknowledging
who He is, confessing what we are, pleading for mercy, pleading
for blessing, and realize the great truth of this verse, I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, The Almighty. Amen.