Turn back with me where Brother
John read to Revelation chapter 1. I want to look for just a
little while this morning at the vision that John saw on the
Isle of Patmos. We're going to pick up there
in verse 9 where he stopped his reading and go down through verse
12 down through verse 17 is basically what we want to look at. John was exiled to the Isle of
Patmos for preaching the gospel. In his day, the hatred of the
gospel, that they would actually, the religious folks would take
men and kill them for preaching the gospel, or even mentioning
his name. Well, they crucified our Lord.
And John was one of those who preached the gospel. And for
whatever reason, history has got several different reasons
that they didn't kill him, that they took him out to this island
and they put him there, right out in the middle of the sea.
Someone said that this was not a holiday inn. It was an island
inhabited, and John was there. And on this island, by the will
of God, by the providence of God, and by the purpose of God,
he revealed unto John what we have written here this morning.
Look at verse 10. Revelation chapter 1, verse 10.
John said, I was in the Spirit of the Lord today and heard behind
me a voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last. And what thou seest, John, what
I'm going to reveal to you, I want you to write it down in a book
a book of remembrance, a book that would be sent to the seven
churches in Asia, and send it unto the seven churches which
are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Samaria, unto Pergias, and Tyria,
and Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Now what that is
referring to, this number seven here, is a representation of
all of God's people all over the world. If you read through
the Scriptures, when you see the number 7, or the letter number
7, it means completion. God finished His work in 6 days
and on the 7th day He rested. That was one, as we call it,
one complete week. So when we see this number 7
here, He's talking about every child of God, wherever they are,
right now. Send this letter to them and
have it read in the churches. have it preached in the churches,
and have them to understand what John saw. This vision of Christ
is as He is right now. Right now. Right now. We'll get to that in just a little
bit. John had seen the Lord before. He had walked with Him. He had
talked with Him here on the earth. Some say this is the Lord's brother
Some say that's John the Baptist, some say that's some other John.
But whoever it is, it's John. It's John. And John had seen
the Lord. He had walked with Him and he
had talked with Him. He had seen Him with a natural
eye. The Scriptures tell us that he
had handled Him with his own hands. He had touched Him. But
now, he's in the Spirit. And he sees Him in the Spirit. John saw the Lord as He lived
a life of obedience here on this earth. He walked with Him and
talked with Him. He saw Him in His agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane when His sweat became as great drops of
blood. John saw Him. John saw Him. And John saw Him
at His death, crucified there on Mount Calvary. And John saw
the glorious transfiguration as He ascended up into heaven.
Why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which
you have seen taken away, shall so come again in like manner
as you seen Him go." But now John is seeing our Lord as He
is right now. When John was writing this then,
whenever this was read to the seven churches in Asia, and even
right now today. vision means. John saw the Lord
as He is in the present. We read in 1 John 1, verses 1-3,
that which was from the beginning, this is what John said, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled. That which we have
seen, we declare unto you, that you may also have fellowship
with us, And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with the
Son, Jesus Christ. John had been taught by the Spirit
of God, as every one of God's people are. God deals with us
by His Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. We hear the gospel,
and by the grace of God, through the Spirit of God, we believe
the gospel. Without this Spirit and without
this grace, we would be as other men are right now, as we were
for years. But God chose to save a people
and to reveal unto them that gospel and give them faith to
believe it. What a miracle! What a miracle
that is! To bring dead sinners to life,
to cause them to look to Christ by faith, and to see Him and
to lay hold of Him and say, He is mine and I am His. Now, as you come before God in
the spirit of worship, God gives him a blessed vision. Oh, what
a blessing this is when we can truly and rightly understand
it by the grace of God. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, what
great love the Lord had for His people. This vision that God
gave John is not to be given for curious eyes, for speculators. Oh, we want to look into this
and see what all this means. It tells us plainly what it means
here. As we go down through this, it tells us exactly what He's
talking about. But this is not for those who
Try to tell the future? You say, well, you can read through
the book of Revelation, you can tell that this is going to happen,
and this is going to happen, and something else is going to
happen, and they try to put dates and times, and God is not constrained
by these things. He deals in eternity. When is
this going to come about? It's coming about right now.
Right now. When is this, on through the
book of Revelation, when is this great whore going to be judged?
She's being judged right now. False religion is being judged
right now. Yes, there will be a final victory
over that. When, I don't know. But when
he's coming and receiving his people unto himself, I don't
know, but he will. He will. So why is this vision
so important that John saw so many years ago? Many years ago. Some say 2,000 years. Some say
more than that. I don't know how long ago it
was, but it was a long time ago. Why is this vision so important? Because it symbolizes the representation
of Christ and His Church. Christ and His Church. Let's
see if we can make good on this. When John saw this vision, or
he saw this vision, he heard this voice, John immediately
recognized the one that spoke to him. He said, this is the
Son of God. This is the Son of God. His Lord
and His Savior. He was different. John saw Him
in the flesh here on the earth, but now He's in the Spirit. He's
in the Spirit. He has a glorified body. A body
that is set apart. But still, He had the same identical
person. This same Jesus. There was no
thorns about His brow. Oh, no. But John knew that brow
when he looked upon it. There was no nails in his hands,
but John knew those hands, those loving, tender hands when he
looked upon them. And John knew his voice. Oh,
this voice. No man spake like this man. No
man ever spake like this man. Again, this vision is a representation
of Christ right now, today. Today, what Christ was when he
was up on the earth is of most importance, of vital importance.
It's vitally important that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. It's
vitally important that he died in the flesh. It's vitally important
that he rose in the flesh. All these things are vitally
important to the gospel because it is the foundation and the
substance of the gospel. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's vitally important. But, oh, what's important now?
What's important to us today? I need rest. I need assurance. I need comfort today. For me
to look back some 2,000 years ago and say, yeah, He did this.
He did this. But now, what is it today? What's
He doing for me right now? Too often, men and women get
wrapped up in this thing of, what's Christ going to look like
in glory? I have no idea. And neither does any other man.
Only God, and God the Son, and God the Father, and God the Holy
Spirit knows these things. We see through a glass dimly. Even the natural things that
we have in this book, we see through a glass dimly or darkly.
What's he going to look like in the future? I don't know.
I need to know what he's looking up like, where he's at, and what
he's doing now, right now, as we struggle with pain and sorrow,
trials of this life and this world. We need to know what Christ
is doing now. He's ruling and reigning, guiding
and directing all things according to his own purpose, according
to his own glory, according to his own decrees that he gave
before the foundation of the world. Oh, where's he at right
now? Where's he at? I know he's at
the right hand of God interceding for me. I know that. The scripture
tells me that. But oh, does that do me any good? I need his presence now. I need
his presence here with me to lead me and guide me and direct
me. One writer said, we need help
now. We need help now, right now. This vision that God gave
to John declares what Christ is to His church right now. Right now. John saw the Lord
Jesus Christ in the midst. Underline that word. M-I-S-T. In the midst of the church. In
the midst of it. This should cause every heart
to rejoice. Oh, He's with me. He's with me. Brother Kelly, sitting here,
if we could have eyes, who was Elijah, told Elijah, he said,
there's too many out here, there's more with them than there are
with us. And the old prophet prayed and opened his eyes. Opened
the eyes that he may see. If we could see with spiritual
eyes, we would see him sitting right there beside you. Right
beside you. Because He's in you. He's in you. This is what, this
thing of personal, oh, won't you let Jesus, your personal
Savior. Foolishness. He is our personal Savior. If
He is a Savior, He's personal to us. We need Him. We need His presence. We need
His strength. We need His comfort. So these things are not to be
taken literally, as John saw what he's representing here.
They do not represent the physical appearance of Jesus Christ. He
don't have seven heads. These are symbolic things. These
are symbolic things. So look here in verse 12. For that God would give us eyes
to see and to understand. John said, and I turned to see
the voice that spoke with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. This voice that spoke to John
is the Son of God, and as John turned, he saw seven golden candlesticks. Now if you read on down through
there in verse 20, it tells you what these seven golden candlesticks
are. They are the church's. They're the churches of God.
Not just seven, that's a number, but the whole number of God's
churches, wherever they are in this world today. And Christ
is in the midst of them. Right in the midst of them. These candlesticks represent
the seven churches of Asia Minor, which represents all the churches
of God, as we said before, as set forth in verse 20. These
candlesticks no doubt point to and represent the candlesticks
of the Old Testament prophets. They had these candlesticks in
the tabernacle, in the sanctuaries. We read in Exodus chapter 25
and verse 37, And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof,
and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light
over against it. What is the purpose of God's
church in this world today? What is the purpose? To show
forth the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's our purpose. That's our
purpose in this world. I know we live here, we do this,
we do that, we do other things. But the purpose that God has
given to His church, the light, that candlestick, the light,
is to show forth the glory of God. And we only see this in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah said in Zechariah chapter
4 and verse 1, And the angel that talked with me came again
and waked me up, and waked that which was out of a deep sleep,
and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked,
and behold, a candlestick, all of gold, with a mole upon the
top of it, and with seven lamps thereof, and the seven pipes
and the seven lamps which are on the top thereof." See, John
just didn't see this. All down through the Scriptures
we're referring to it. When the Old Testament prophets
went in to trim the lamps in the sanctuary, those lamps give
light in that sanctuary. What did it show? It showed the
mercy seat, It showed the showbread. It showed a table of incense. It showed all these things. Without
that light, they would never be seen. Well, so it is in the
Gospel. Without the light that God gives
to His people, we will never see anything. We will sit in
darkness all the days of our life, and we will die in darkness
and perish in darkness. But God sends forth the light,
the knowledge, the understanding, The grace He gives to us to see,
and oh, we don't see much. We don't see much, but thank
God we do see. The Church of Christ may be compared
to a candlestick, because it holds forth the light of the
Gospel in a dark world. This candlestick or the Church
does not produce light now, don't get this wrong. We don't have
light in ourselves. We don't produce this light.
This light is given unto us. You set a candle down here. That
candle does nothing by itself until the top of it is lit, until
the Spirit of God comes and lights upon it. And so it is with you
and I. We could have a house full of
people here, and without the Spirit of God dwelling within
us, we would be the same as all other false religions. But this
light that He gives unto us, this knowledge, this understanding,
this spirit to increase and to teach us, causes us by the grace
of God to see. We see. And we see more every
day, every day. We grow. We grow in this grace
and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 13. of the seven candlesticks, one
likened unto the Son of God, John recognized who it was. And
then he tells us that he closed with a raiment down to his foot,
and girded about with pats, with a golden girdle." Now again,
I don't claim to know all that is taught here. I know very little
about the Gospel. But I know this. If we read Revelation
1, verse 1, the revelation that God gave unto him, the revelation
of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants,
things must shortly come to pass. Whatever this book is about,
it concerns Christ. It concerns Christ. John saw
the Lord Jesus Christ standing in the midst of the churches,
right in among them. What a comfort. We're not here
alone. What was the old prophet said? I'm alone here, he said. They've
digged down your altars and they've killed your prophets and I alone
have left. Oh no. He opened his eyes and
he said, I have 10,000 that has never bowed a knee to Baal. Reserved. Reserved. And God has a people
throughout this world, wherever they may be. I don't know where
they're at. I've met some of them from other countries. I've met some of them in other
states. God has a people, the scripture
says, out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. And He will
have them. If Jesus Christ died for them,
He will have them. He will gather them. He will
bring them unto Himself. This is the reason that the world
is still in existence today. This is the reason. There's some
sheep, somewhere, that has not yet come into the fold. And when
this last sheep, wherever it is, wherever they may be, when
this last sheep comes to Christ, there'll be no reason for this
world to continue. And He will bring it to an end. But our Lord says He's in the
midst. He's in the very midst of His
people. He tells us in Matthew chapter
18 and verse 20, For where two or three are gathered together
in My name, I will be in the midst of them. In the midst of
them. Our Lord walks in the midst of
us. Our Lord abides with us. Christ rules in our lives. as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, right in the midst of all the calamities and all of
the chaos that we call it, that is going on in this world, Christ
is ruling all things according to His own purpose, whether we
see it or not. Oh, give us grace to see these
things. Give us grace not to be upset
when this happens or when the stock market falls or when this
one is put into office, or that one is taken out of office, give
us grace to not be overly concerned. We read in Ephesians 1, verse
22, that He has put all things under His feet. And He's given
Him to be head over all things in the church. He's in control. He's in control. Our Lord provides for His people
whatever we need. Nowhere in Scripture do we find
that He'll give us what we want. Sometimes He gave us, in the
Old Testament Scripture, He gave the people what they wanted.
They wanted kings, He gave them to them. They wanted food, He
gave them. quail. They wanted bread. He
gave them manna. And just a little while. It didn't
take them long. We don't like this. We loathe
this light bread. We don't want this man to reign
over us. So be careful, or let us be careful, as a child of
God, to make our wants known unto Him. But He will supply
our needs. according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus our Lord. My Lord and King is also the
high priest. Just as the sons of Aaron dealt
in the tabernacle trimmed the lamp, so Christ trims the candle
and the candlestick, causing the light of the gospel to burn
brighter and clearer in the churches. He may take one away. He may
take one away from us. trimming, trimming, trimming,
so that the light points only to Him, that the light may show
forth a greater and a brighter light concerning Him. Our Lord's
in the midst of the seven churches, of the seven candlesticks, clothed
with a garment down to His foot, girded about with pats, with
a golden girdle. Aaron, the Old Testament prophet,
the Old Testament priest, Pictured Christ, he was a picture of Christ.
Robed in a robe as Aaron wore, a holy garment. But now, our
Lord and Savior wears his own robe. Aaron wore the robe of
God. Now, our Lord wears his own robe,
a robe of perfect righteousness. A perfect righteousness from
the head to the foot, covered in perfect righteousness. And
He's in the midst of His people with His perfect righteousness.
And He gives unto His people this perfect righteousness. And
we stand before God robed from head to toe. Not one spot, not
one blemish, not one wrinkle found in us when we have this
robe of righteousness upon us. It covers every member of His
spiritual body. Every one of us is clothed Righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ's girdle as a King.
This girdle is a girdle of faithfulness. Faithfulness. A girdle of righteousness. His righteous faithfulness. He's
faithful because He's righteous. He's righteous because He's faithful.
We cannot separate these two. They intertwine so... So consistent with one another. Oh, that we may see and understand
that He dwells in us. In us. Turn with me. I don't do this very often, but
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Let me read you two
verses. This is our relationship with
God. What a relationship we have with
God. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. This is how God sees us. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. What? Don't you know this? Know you not that your body is
a temple of the Holy Ghost? which is in you, which you have of God, and you're
not your own, for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. As we stand here this morning,
or sit here this morning, the Holy Spirit of God dwells in
us. To the point that we're not our
own. We're His. We're His. Instruments to use
as He is pleased. He goes on here in verse 14.
John saw the Lord. His head and His hair were white
like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were a flame of
fire. If we see this literally, literally,
and it'll go on down through here, and out of his mouth came
this sword. If we see this literally, it would be something to frighten
us. But these are spiritual things. These are spiritual things that
he's talking about here. John in his vision is looking
at the whole body of Christ. What was it the Song of Solomon
said in chapter 5 and verse 11? His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. But now, now, He's seeing Him
right now. This was when He dwelt here in
His strength and in His power and in His majesty. But now,
He's seeing Him right now. His hair has turned gray because
of His wisdom, because of His knowledge, because of His understanding. It's turned gray. In this, the
church, He stands here with His hair
white as snow and His eyes as a flaming fire. His eyes, His
flaming fire, means that He sees everything. Everything that happens,
He sees in. His eyes are so burning that
it burns through the walls of self-righteousness and sees us
as we are. It burns through this thing of
sin and He sees us untainted with sin. Whoever sees Him, they see His
beauty, they see His glory, they see His power, they see His majesty. They may not see everything about
Him, and they cannot explain these things, but we do see these
things. We read in Daniel chapter 7 and
verse 9, I beheld till the thorns were cast down, and the ancients
of days did sit, whose garments was white as snow, and the hair
on his head was pure wool. His throne was likened to a fiery
flame, and his wheels as a burning fire. His eyes were as a flame
of fire. This speaks of his all-seeing,
omniscient, all-knowing, all things our Savior sees and deals
with according to His own purpose and grace. And all these eyes, it warms
us. This flame of fire, it warms
us. It revives us, and it refreshes
us, knowing that He knows that we are but clay. He seeth us,
and He knows that there's nothing in us, there's nothing about
us of any good, but yet He sent His affection upon us, and He
loved us with an everlasting love. And He went about working
all things in creation, all things in the world and the world to
come, or working for my good and for His glory. This is His
all-seeing eyes. He sees these things that He
may work these things out for our good and for His great glory. Look at verse 15. And His feet
was like fine brass, as if they had been burned in a furnace.
and His voice as the sound of many waters. These feet of brass
represent His power, His support, His strength. He has the power
to support His people. He has the power to strengthen
His people, and He has the power to protect His people from whatever
comes our way. Isaiah 43 and verse 2, it says,
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burnt, neither shall the flames kindle
upon thee." Why? Do I have this power to walk
on fire as you see men do on different advertisements of religion? No. Why is this? Why do these things not consume
us? Why do we not drown in the rivers of troubles and sorrows
and trials? For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel. I am with thee. I sustain thee. I uphold thee. I comfort thee. I keep thee from falling." And
his voice as of many waters. This voice is the gospel of God's
free grace preached by the servants in his world. It sounds across
the water. The gospel has went out in our
day This age of electronics, this age of communication, it
has went farther in the last probably 20 years than it ever
did before. By these things that God has
given men the wisdom and the understanding to produce. I started to say to create, but
they didn't create them. They only used what God gave
them to make these things out of. And God gave them the wisdom
to do it. But this gospel has went forth
throughout all the world. When sounded out, when preaching
of the power of the Spirit of God, it's a factual, irresistible
power of God, sent forth to all the people throughout all the
ages and all days. Isaiah said, so shall my word
be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto
me void, but it will accomplish that which I sent it to do. When
the gospel is preached, When the power of God comes and delivers
the message, this gospel goes forth as it is out of God's mouth. And it will accomplish. It will
accomplish. I don't know what it's going
to accomplish today or next week or the week after that, but I
know this. Whatever God had decreed before the foundation of the
world to come to pass, it will come to pass. It will accomplish
that I have pleaded. and it shall prosper in the things
whereinto I send it. For our gospel, Paul said, came
not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Verse 16, 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."
These stars, again, verse 20 says that these are the ministers
of the gospel. These are the preachers of the
gospel of these seven churches in Asia. God's appointed pastors,
God's appointed evangelists, God's appointed preachers, wherever
they are. These gospel preachers are compared
to stars. One writer said, because God
has placed them where He wanted them to be, as guiding lights,
as guiding lights, to point sinners to Christ, the way of truth and
the life, directing their steps in the way of salvation, and
giving direction to His people through the world by the preaching
of the Gospel. Paul said in Hebrews 13, verse
7, he said, Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. If
they point you to Christ, you follow them. If they point and
say, Behold the Lamb of God, you behold the Lamb of God. He had in his right hand seven
stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. This
sword, no doubt, is the Word of God. What comes forth out
of the mouth of Christ except honor and praise and glory to
God? It can only be the Word of God. For the Word of God is
quick and powerful, Paul said in Hebrews 4 and verse 12, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
thunder of soul and spirit, and is the discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. This sword is a weapon, both
of offense With it, Christ conquers His
enemies. He conquers His enemies. Every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord
to the glory of God the Father. They will. When? I don't know,
but they will. They will. And with this same sword, oh,
with this same sword, He cuts away. He cuts away the self-righteousness
that we have. He cuts these things away, our
self-dependence, our self-sustaining power. He cuts these things away
and leaves us standing there naked, helpless, hopeless, before
Him. And then, oh, then, He comes
and robes us in His perfect righteousness. He comes and puts upon us A ring
saying, You're mine. You're mine. I have loved Thee
from all ages. And with tender, loving kindness,
I have drawn You unto myself. And You're mine. You're mine. John had seen these things before.
Matthew wrote of it in Matthew chapter 17 and verse 1. He said,
After six days, Jesus taketh Peter and John, his brother,
and bringeth him up into a high mountain, and was transfigured
before him, and his face did shine as the sun." His face shined
as the sun. And his raiment was white as
the light. John is only rehearsing these things that he saw in the
natural eye. Now he's experiencing them with the spiritual eye.
Now he's beginning to understand. He's beginning to see what all
these things are. This speaks of the purity. the
deity, the majesty, the glory of the Son of Righteousness.
Oh, that we may see Him. In the spiritual realm, Brother
Henry said this years ago, Christ is the S-U-N, the S-U-N,
the source, the sustain, the strength of all spiritual life.
I read this somewhere this week, I'm not sure who wrote it. They
said this, and it's a good illustration to end with. If we go out on a day, a bright
sunlit day, and we stand there and look directly into that sun,
the writer said you will have sunburnt eyes, S-U-N, burnt eyes. So it is with his people. When
we behold the glory of Christ, we see the sun, S-O-N. And as
we look into this S-U-N, when we look there for just a little
while, our eyes are so consumed with that sun, that when we turn
and look this way, we still see that sun. We still see that spot,
that sun. So it is with Christ. When we
behold Him, as our only hope, our only satisfaction, our only
plea before God. When we turn this way, we still
see Him. We still see Him. When I fall
in sin, I still see Him. I still see Him. The old writer
said we have S-O-N burnt eyes now. Before we had the S-U-N
burnt eyes. Once we see Him, we have the
S-O-N burned eyes. Wherever we see, wherever we
look, wherever we look in this world, we see Him. I don't know
what's going on in this pandemic or whatever they want to call
it, but we see Him. He's in control. He brought these
things about and He will see it through. Now look in verse 17, here's the
result. of any sinner seeing Christ. And when I saw Him, I fell at
His feet as dead. Oh, but He didn't leave me there.
He didn't leave me there. He laid His right hand upon me,
saying unto me, Fear not. Fear not. I am the first and
the last. By faith, we see. We see Christ in His glory. We see Him as He is right now
in the midst of the churches. He's right here with me. He said,
I'll never leave thee. I'll never forsake thee. I'll
go with thee always, even unto the end. So what's that mean? It means He will not leave us,
He will not forsake us, He will go with us always. I hope this
is helpful to you. Thank you for allowing me to
be here. Thank you, Pastor. I pray that we'll meet again
before too long.