Let us turn again to the Word
of God and particularly this morning to the words that we
read in the first chapter of the book of the Revelation in
verse 16. In the Revelation, in chapter
1 and especially verse 16, where we read, 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. 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. This is part of the vision that
John the Apostle has here. As he sees this one among these
seven candlesticks, he describes him as one like unto the Son
of Man. And he gives us various different descriptions of this
remarkable vision that he has here. And of course, I'm sure
all of us to some extent are familiar with the Book of the
Revelation. It's a remarkable book, really,
from beginning to end, isn't it? And as it closes the Bible,
it really completes the whole message of the Bible, doesn't
it? It means that the Bible takes us right through from the first
work of creation until the completion of all things. And really, I
wonder if there are any more glorious chapters than those
last two chapters of this book we read, chapter 22. And John
sees there some Glorious things concerning heaven, doesn't he?
And concerning the situation of the glorified church there
in heaven. No night there, no candle, no
light of the sun, but the Lord God giveth them light, he says,
and they shall reign forever and ever. The glory of that closing
chapter is really far superior to the glory of Genesis chapter
1. The work of creation is a glorious
work, isn't it? And it's wonderful to see how
God speaks all things into being by the word of his power in Genesis
chapter 1. But that glory there is far beneath
the glory that we see at the end of this book. And it's a
book that's full of encouragement, isn't it? And it would have been
of great encouragement to the early church in the days that
John first wrote of these things. In those days the church was
a persecuted church. And we know from history how
cruel those persecutions were. John himself here has been exiled,
hasn't he, to the Isle of Patmos because of his adherence to the
Word of God and the way that he speaks of Jesus Christ. He's
been isolated from no doubt many of the people that he loved.
And that was true of many in those early days. There were
those who were exiled, those even who were put to death. because
of their faith. And so these things that John
writes off here are an encouragement to the church in that situation. And that encouragement really
begins almost at the very beginning of this book, doesn't it? Look
at how John speaks in verse 5 of this chapter. He says that this
word that he's coming with is not so much his own word, but
it's the word that's come from Jesus Christ, that one who they
worshipped. the faithful witness, the first
begotten of the dead, a risen saviour, one who is set as the
king of kings, the prince of the kings of the earth. He speaks
of his person, that he is a risen saviour, his great power, the
prince of the kings of the earth. He reminds them of his work,
that he has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own
blood and made them kings and priests unto God and his Father.
Almost at the very beginning of the book he reminds them of
the one that they served, the one that they were following,
the one that they were worshipping. He says to them in effect, don't
be discouraged because this one is now set in heaven itself and
he will come back. In verse 7 he says, he's coming
again 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, says John, Amen, so
be it. An encouraging word for the early
church. And he speaks of Christ throughout
this chapter, doesn't he? And perhaps you noticed as we
read it How many times we have that little expression, Alpha
and Omega. We have it in verse 8, I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which
was, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. And again in verse 11, when John
is in the Spirit on the Lord's day, he hears this great voice,
And the voice says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last. And again in verse 17, we have
similar words. He says, this one that John sees
in his vision, fear not, I am the first and the last. Really,
this chapter is one of the main proofs that we have of the divinity
of Jesus Christ, that he is God. And these, this chapter and The
whole of this book really is a big problem for the Jehovah's
Witnesses and for those who deny that Jesus is God. Because the
evidence is very clear, isn't it? I am Alfred Omega in verse
8. The beginning and the ending.
The one which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.
Well, that cannot be anything, anyone other than the Almighty
God, can it? He is the Almighty, the only
one who is Almighty. But then we have the same expression
in verse 11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. The first
and the last is the same person as the Alpha and the Omega. And
then what are we told in verse 18? Now, verse 17, I am the first
and the last, it's the same person speaking, but what does he say
of himself? I am he that liveth and was dead. I am he that liveth and was dead.
Well, there's only one person who could say that. It's Christ
speaking, isn't it? It's Jesus speaking. He is the
first and the last. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
He is the beginning and the ending, that one who is and was and is
to come, the Almighty. And even more striking at the
end, isn't it? In chapter 22. Verse 13, the same expression is used,
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last. Who is it speaking? Well, it's in verse 16, isn't
it? I, Jesus. I, Jesus, am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
And the Jehovah's Witnesses and many others, they go to great
lengths to explain these things away. When they come to chapter 1,
they say, well, it's God speaking in verse 8, and it's God speaking
in verse 11. But then when they come to verse
17, they say, well, that is Jesus speaking, and He is the first
and the last, but not in the same way. They say it's the first
and the last in a different sense. They say He was the first to
be raised from the dead, the last to be raised from the dead.
That's how they understand the verse 17, they're in chapter
1. And then when they come to chapter
22 and they read of, again, the Alpha and the Omega, the first
and the last, well, there they just say, well, it's not quite
clear who's speaking. And they say, well, it's a confusing chapter,
that 22nd chapter. And so they have to introduce
all sorts of strange ideas and quotations and separations between
the verses. They say, well, it's God speaking
in verse 13 and then Jesus in verse 16. But really it's very clear, isn't
it? When we come to these verses and these chapters, that Jesus
is God himself. And yet whilst He is God Himself,
John also describes Him as the Son of Man in verse 13. The Son of Man, one like unto
the Son of Man, he says, and he describes Him in many different
ways. And it's interesting when we
read through those verses in this first chapter to compare
them to the vision that Daniel had in his day and you'll see
many different similarities there. Daniel also describes Jesus as
the son of man in the vision that he had. He also speaks of
his head and his hair being like wool as white as snow. He speaks
of his eyes being like a flame of fire and his feet being like
brass. What John is seeing here is the same person as Daniel
saw all those years before. And then we come to this verse
16, and there's three things. in this 16th verse, aren't there?
The verse very clearly divides itself up into those three separate
descriptions. First of all, we have a description
of something that Jesus is carrying in his right hand. He had in
his right hand seven stars. And then secondly, we have a
description of this sharp two-edged sword that is coming out of the
mouth of Christ. And then thirdly, we have a description
of his countenance, his face, his appearance. And John says,
his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. And
of course, when we read about these things, it's good to remember
that this is a book of signs. All the things in this book are
not meant to be understood literally. We're not to think of Christ
as literally having a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
But it's a symbol. It's a sign of something. Very
clear from the opening verse, isn't it? When John introduces this book
and this revelation that Jesus Christ sent to him, he says he
sent and signified, sent and signified it, or signified it,
or put it into signs by the hand of his angel unto his servant
John. His right hand, seven stars,
out of his mouth, a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance as
the sun shining in his strength. Well, I want to look at these
three things together this morning. First of all, what do we understand
by this expression, the right hand? Why does it say his right
hand? Well, of course, it's true today
and I'm sure it was just as true then. Most people are right-handed,
aren't they? Naturally, most of us, when we
want to do something, we instinctively, without thinking, We go for our
right hand rather than our left. When someone passes you something
to carry, if you observe yourself, you'll see that if you're right-handed,
your instinct is to take it in your right hand and not in your
left hand. So when we read of the right hand, we're to think
of two things, really. First of all, power. Our right
hand, if we're right-handed, is the hand that we use when
we want to do something that's difficult. When we want to carry
something heavy, we use our right hand if we're right-handed, not
our left. It's a word that reminds us of Christ's power. In his
right hand are seven stars. But it also reminds us of care,
doesn't it? When you want to do something
very delicate, something that requires a great deal of detail
and care, again, if you're right-handed, you use your right hand. And
so when we read of Jesus and these seven stars being in his
right hand, it speaks to us of the fact that these seven stars
are precious to him. They're something important,
something he's taking care of. We know that Jesus himself is
seated at God's right hand, and you have that expression many
times when you read through the New Testament especially. You
remember that account that we have of the stoning of Stephen. He was one of the first martyrs.
And you remember how he speaks to the Jews and he gives that
long defense of the faith and speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the just one. And he says, ye have been the
betrayers and the murderers of him. and they're so angry and
cut to the heart by his words that they take him out of the
city and begin to stone him. But we have that wonderful account
there at the end of Acts chapter 7 where he is full of the Holy
Ghost and he looks up into heaven and he says, Behold, I see the
heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand
of God. Again, it's a similar expression.
Jesus at the right hand of God, what does it teach? It teaches
us that Jesus is special to God, that he's in a place of privilege,
that he's in a place of power. Even today we use the expression,
don't we, we speak of someone as my right hand man, someone
who's a great help to us, someone who's important to us. Well,
as Jesus is at the right hand of God in that place of privilege
and power, so these seven stars that we have spoken of here,
they are in Jesus' right hand. He cares for them by His power.
He holds them with care and attention. And we know what they represent,
these seven stars, because we're told in verse 20, aren't we? When Jesus begins to unfold this
vision to John, He speaks of the mystery of the seven stars,
which thou sawest in my right hand. And He tells John what
they represent. The seven stars, He says, are
the angels of the seven churches. the angels of the seven churches. The seven candlesticks that John
sees in verse 12, they represent the seven churches of Asia that
this message was historically, initially written to. But each
of those churches has a star, it has an angel. And when we
read of the angels of the churches, we're not to think of angels
in the usual sense of the word. Really, the word carries with
it the idea of a messenger, a messenger of the church. And in fact, William Tyndale,
when he translated these chapters, if you read his translation,
you wouldn't have the word angel, you would have the word messenger.
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right
hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the messengers
of the seven churches and so all through chapters two and
three and four as we have those messages to the seven churches
and each time it begins with unto the angel of the church
of so and so. Again we would have in William
Tyndale's translation unto the messenger of the church at Ephesus
or unto the messenger of the church in Smyrna. In other words,
these stars represent the ministers or the pastors of these separate
churches. The ministers or the pastors
that were leading and shepherding these churches in these various
places. Well, what does it teach us immediately,
straight away? These ministers and pastors,
they are a gift from Christ. They're a gift from Christ. They
come straight from his right hand, as it were. Something of
great importance. Something that is very precious
to Christ. And that's consistent, isn't
it, with the message that Jeremiah comes with? That promise that
he makes towards the beginning of the book of Jeremiah? What
does he promise? to his people and to the church
today, he says, I will give you pastors according to mine heart.
I will give you them. They are a gift from God, pastors
are. I will give you pastors according
to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. I will give. A pastor is a shepherd,
if you like, to shepherd the sheep. And they come from the
right hand of Christ. And again, in the epistle to
the Ephesians, When Paul speaks of the various gifts that Christ
gives to his church today, one of those gifts is pastors, isn't
it? He gave some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. It's a great privilege to have
a pastor. Some of you have probably had a pastor for a long time,
but I can think of times in my own life when I've been a member
or attending a church where we've not had a pastor. I had a pastor
for the first 16 or 17 years of my life at the chapel where
I grew up. And sorry to say that I didn't
really listen much to what he said. And one of my memories
of his death is just feeling like I'd lost something of great
importance and of looking back and thinking, if only I paid
more attention to what he had said. But for many years after
that, I never really had a pastor. And the churches that I went
to, we had visiting ministers and we had preachers that came,
different preachers week by week, but we never really had a permanent
pastor. And if you've always had a pastor,
perhaps you think it's just normal and it's easy to take these things
for granted. But the message here is that
we're not to take this gift for granted. It comes from the right
hand of God, the right hand of the Lord Jesus. It's a great
gift, a great blessing. In his right hand are seven stars,
the messengers, the pastors of these seven churches. I'm sure
we pray for our own pastor. It's right that we do that. Right
so that we do that. Someone once said that a church
without a pastor is like a flock of sheep without a shepherd.
And those sheep are in a vulnerable place, aren't they, if there's
no shepherd? In his right hand are seven stars.
Well, as I said, what a comfort it must have been to the early
church. No doubt the pastors of the churches
were vulnerable to persecution more than the rest of the people,
weren't they? Those who were in leadership roles in the churches,
They would be particularly open to persecution by the Roman government
and by other governments. Well, says Jesus to the early
church, I'm holding them in my right hand. I'm going to protect
them. I'm going to hold them carefully. I'm going to use my power on
their behalf. They're in my right hand. In
my right hand, what a comfort it must have been to the persecuted
church in these days to know that their pastors were in the
right hand of Christ. He had in his hand seven stars. And then secondly, we have something
that is spoken of as coming out of his mouth. Out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword. Well, again, it's something symbolic,
isn't it? Not to be literally understood,
This is John's vision. It's setting before him reality. It's something that is a sign.
Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. What is this
sword? Well, it's the Word of God, isn't it? The Word of God,
it must be. When Paul writes to the Ephesians
and he speaks of the armour that they are to take up and to put
on, What does he say about the sword of the spirit? He says
that they are to take the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. The sword of the spirit, which
is the word of God. Out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword. It reminds us that Christ is
one who speaks. He's not one who is silent. And
he still speaks in his word to his church today. The Ephesians
heard his voice, though Christ never went to Ephesus. But they
were those who heard him. And what does it teach us about
his word? Well, it speaks of power, doesn't it? A sword. A
sword is a powerful, a powerful weapon, especially this one that's
described as a, not just a sword, but a sharp, two-edged sword.
It reminds us of the power of Christ. What does Christ do with this
power? Well, it's a power that is used to defend his church,
isn't it? To defend his church from enemies
and from dangers. And we see that very clearly
in the second chapter. In verse 12 of chapter 2, we
have a message that is sent to the church in Pergamos, to the
messenger, to the angel, to the pastor of the church in Pergamos. And that message begins again
by speaking of this sword, doesn't it? These things saith he which
hath the sharp sword with two edges. And Pergamos was a faithful
church. They were in a place of great
power, of great danger. I know thy works and where thou
dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And there were those
who were being martyred there. It speaks of this one Antipas,
who was the faithful martyr there. It was slain among you, says
Christ, where Satan dwelleth. It was a place where the power
of Satan was strong, and the church would have been therefore
persecuted. But whilst they were a faithful
church, there were those among them who were doctrinally in
error. And two are spoken of, aren't
they, two errors? There are those who hold the doctrine of Balaam,
and those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And Jesus
says of these things, which thing I hate, And so he says to them,
you need to deal with this, you need to get rid of this false
doctrine. And in verse 16 he says, repent, get this sorted
out, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth. And it's noticeable, isn't it?
He doesn't say, I'm going to fight against you with the sword of
my mouth. This sword is not used to persecute
his own church. But he says, I will fight against
them, these false teachers, these false brethren who had come into
the church. He says to them, well, you need
to sort this out, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will
fight against them with the sword of my mouth. It's a powerful
thing and it's deployed in the defence of the church. We have
it also spoken of in chapter 19 of this book, where John has
another vision and it's another vision of Jesus again. I saw
heaven opened, he says in chapter 19 verse 50, and behold a white
horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true,
and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes
were as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns. clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word
of God. It's Jesus, again, that John
sees. And again, out of his mouth,
he sees a sharp sword and it says, with it he should smite
the nations and rule them with a rod of iron. And he is set there as one who
is a defender of his people, the King of kings and the Lord
of lords, one who is there with great power to defend his church
against those who are coming against them. A sharp sword. A sharp sword is the same sword
that is spoken of in the epistle to the Hebrews, isn't it? In
chapter 4, verse 12. And we're told there that the
Word of God is quick. That means it's sharp and living. and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the defied, dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart."
The Word of God, says Paul, is such a powerful Word. It comes
right into a man and it cuts. Dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it comes close. a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart, the Word of God, it comes to us and it
sets ourselves before us as we really are, doesn't it? It doesn't
beat around the bush, it doesn't try and comfort us with lies,
but it comes as a true word and sometimes it's cutting, isn't
it? When we come to the Word of God and it reveals to us something
of our hypocrisy and of how we so often go wrong, well, it's
a cutting word. And some have said that the word
two-edged here that we have in this verse, it perhaps is a reference
to the law and the gospel. This word has two edges. It has
the law, as it were, to come as a convicting word and to cut
people down and to make them see themselves as sinners. And
then the gospel is also a powerful thing, isn't it? The gospel is almost sometimes,
well, it's more powerful than the law. A greater word, a two-edged sword. Well, again, out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword. What a comforting thought for
these people in the early church who were being persecuted. Well,
John says to them, don't be dismayed because there is this one who
is living, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of
the dead, the prince of the kings of the earth, and he has a sharp
two-edged sword to defend the church and to protect the church. Out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, but then thirdly, and this is what I wanted to
come to particularly, the final description that we have here
in verse 16. We have a description of the
face of this one that John sees, his countenance, his appearance. And what does he say about the
face, the appearance of this one? Well, it's a wonderful description,
isn't it? His countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. We all know what John means when
he uses that expression. At this time of year, sometimes
you might go out and you look up at the sun and perhaps it's
a bit of a cloudy day and the sun looks a little bit watery,
doesn't it? And we might say, well, there's
not much power in the sun today. And we can feel the light of
it and see the light of it, but there doesn't seem to be much
heat in it. Well, it's not like that with this one, says John.
His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. It's
like midday in the height of summer, when you go outside and
everything is dazzling bright and you can't look at the sun,
can you? There's something so powerful
about it. His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Why does John say that his countenance
was like the sun shining in his strength? Well, the first thing
that we associate with the sun is light, isn't it? That's what
the sun is, really. It's a great light. And it's
described in that language in the account of creation back
in Genesis chapter 1. We don't have the word sun there,
but we read of these two great lights that God made. The greater
light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.
He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament
of the heaven, in the sky, to give light upon the earth. To
give light. The sun is a great source of
light, isn't it? Well, says John, Jesus is like
that. He comes as a light into the world. And as He comes as a light into
the world, well, what is it that light does? It shows us things,
doesn't it? Light is a thing that reveals
other things. If we were in a dark room, there
would still be objects all around us, but we wouldn't be able to
see them. But if the sun was to shine into that room, well,
all those things would become visible. John speaks of the light at the
beginning of his gospel, doesn't he? He speaks of Christ as the
light, and he says the light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not, or the darkness didn't overcome
it. Well, light is like that, isn't it? There's something so
powerful about it. If you go into a dark room or
somewhere where it's pitch black, into a cave or into an abandoned
mine, and it might be pitch black, but if you strike a match or
light a candle or turn on your torch, what happens? Well, instantly
the darkness is driven away, isn't it? It's overcome by the
light. It never happens that you turn on your torch and it
doesn't work because there's too much darkness around. The
darkness doesn't overcome the light. His countenance was as
the sun shineth in his strength. Christ is one who comes to show
certain things, to reveal to us certain things. It's a question, isn't it? When
we think of Christ, is he that great revealer to us? Is he showing
us what we are and what we need? And have we received that message?
His countenance was as the sun, shineth in his strength, a great
light. But the sun is also the source
of life, isn't it? They tell us that there would
be no life on earth if it wasn't for the sun. All life, naturally
speaking, comes from the sun, ultimately. That's what they
say. Well, says John, when he speaks of the coming of Christ,
he says, in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
As the sun is the source of natural life, even so this Christ is
the source of all spiritual life. No life apart from Him, no life
outside Him. He Himself said, didn't He, I
am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the
Father but by Me. His countenance was as the sun,
shineth in His strength. Tremendous life in Christ. Again, you can think of the account
of the apostle when he comes to Damascus on that journey where
he's coming to persecute the church. And again, it's symbolic,
isn't it, that when he comes near to Damascus, what happens?
Here is a light that shines about him from heaven and he hears
the voice of Christ. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And his life was never the same
again, was it? When Saul arose from the earth, he didn't just
dust himself off and say, well, that was very interesting. I
wonder what all that was about. But his life was completely transformed. And when his sight is restored,
what does he begin to do? Straightway, he preached Christ
in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. That one who
came to Damascus to try and stamp out the name of Christ and to
destroy the followers of Christ, now he is a preacher of Christ.
And it says, Saul increased them all in strength and confounded
the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. His life was transformed. When that light shone upon him,
he was never the same again. His countenance was as the sun,
shineth in his strength. Here is light, here is life.
What else do we associate with the sun? Well, it's the source
of tremendous power, isn't it? Have you ever thought about the
tremendous amount of power there must be in the sun? When you
go out on a summer's day and you turn your face up towards
the sun and you feel the heat of it, it's almost unbearable
sometimes, isn't it? And it can burn you. When you
think of the tiny, tiny percentage of the sun's light that is falling
upon you. It's not much of the sun's light
that falls upon the earth, really. And it's not much of the sun's
light that falls upon us individually, but even that small amount of
light, that small amount of power, it can be an unbearable thing. Scientists tell us that the sun
produces, in one second, as much power as the earth uses in a
whole year. In one second, the sun produces
as much power as the earth uses in a whole year. The sun shining
in his strength, it speaks of Christ's power, doesn't it? His
tremendous power. And it must have been a comfort
again to these early believers to have been reminded of the
power of Christ. They would have been familiar
perhaps with the words that Christ spoke to his disciples just before
his ascension. And he spoke to them there of
his great power, didn't he? All power. is given unto me in
heaven and in earth, no power anywhere else." His countenance
was as the sun shining in his strength and he still has power
today. He still has power today. He has power to do for you and
I what we cannot do for ourselves, to change us as he changed Paul. His countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. And then another thing that we
associate with the sun, well, it's permanent, isn't it? I don't
mean the sun is going to shine forever. But whilst it shines,
there's such a permanence about it, isn't there? We sang about
it in that second hymn just a minute ago. What does the hymn writer
say in the last verse of that hymn? He says, it's no precarious
light that shines on Zion's hill. It is God-essential light itself
and therefore cannot fail. There's something about the sun
that is enduring, isn't there? How many thousands of times the
sun has set and then risen again? There's something permanent about
it. Well, says the hymn writer, it's like that with God. It's
like that with Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. Whatever be my frame, however
I feel, says the hymn writer, my son, no change can know. Though I am dark, He still remains
my light and glory too. We know that's true, don't we?
When the sun goes down, it doesn't mean the sun's gone out. When
the sun goes behind a cloud, it doesn't mean the sun's gone
out. It's permanent. His countenance was as the sun
shineth in His strength. No greater power than the power
of Christ. no greater power than His power.
And again we're going to sing about it again in our closing
hymn in a moment. What does the hymn writer say
at the end of that hymn? Power and love in Christ combine,
and able, willing Saviour too. Is He a sun? On thee He'll shine. Is He thy God? He'll bring thee
through. because all power is committed
unto him. His countenance was as the sun,
shineth in his strength. And of course, what else can
we say about the sun? Well, as far as we're concerned,
living here upon the earth, there's only one of them. We know that
there are other stars and they tell us that some of those stars
are bigger than the sun and more powerful than the sun. Well,
that may be true, but for us as we live here upon the earth,
It's a practical truth, isn't it, that there's only one Son?
There is only one Son. What does it remind us of? Well,
it reminds us of the truth that there is only one Christ, that
there is only one Jesus. The apostles emphasized this,
didn't they, in their preaching? When they preached to the council, And they're accused of stirring
up the people and of causing trouble. What does Peter say
to the council there in the early chapters of the Book of Acts?
Well, he reminds them of that great truth, doesn't he? That
there is none other name. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Just as there's only one
Son, There is only one Christ and only one way of salvation. Only one way, as the hymn writer
says in Hymn 949, there's not a name beneath the skies, nor
is there one in heaven above, but that of Jesus can suffice
the sinner's burden to remove. Not two ways for the burden of
sin to be lifted. Not two ways for the guilt of
sin to be removed, but one way. No other son, no other name, 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
look at the effect that it has upon John. Though he knew this
Christ, and he was a follower of Christ, and he had heard his
voice and spent time with him, he was the beloved disciple,
wasn't he? But even he, when he sees Christ as he really is,
with seven stars in his right hand and with a sharp sword proceeding
out of his mouth, shining as the sun shines in his strength.
When I saw him, he says, I fell at his feet as dead." There's
no flippancy, no casual approach to Christ here, is there? And he laid his right hand upon
me saying unto me, fear not, again it's the right hand, a
hand of power, a hand of care, the hand of love. 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.
Don't be concerned, John, he says, I'm the same Jesus. And
behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. All power is committed unto him." Well, may God give us an understanding
of these things, that we might worship this Christ as John worshipped
Him. Know him as John knew him. See
him as the sun, the only source of light and life and power,
that one who is permanent, the same yesterday, today and forever. And may that sun shine upon us.
His countenance was as the sun, shineth in his strength. And
may God bless his word to us. Amen.