Praise ye the Lord, all that
is in me adore Him. All that life and breath come
now in praises before Him. Remember that line, let the amen
sound from his people again. That's scriptural. Amen, amen
means so be it. It means that's the way it is. And that's what his people say
to what he says, everything he says. Amen. So be it. We could go home now, and we
have been blessed by the reading of God's Word. Thank you for
that, Brother Clare. As we read there, blessed is
he that readeth. The Lord told young Timothy and
every preacher, preach the Word, Timothy. Preach the Word. Declare
it. Give the meaning of it. Give
the meaning and may the Lord give an understanding of it.
Now, this book is mistakenly, mistakenly referred to by most
people as Revelations, plural. That's not the title. That's
not what it is. It's the Revelation Singular. And that's on purpose. Though
there are many things revealed in this book, really the one
thing needful is to know this person of whom this is a revelation. This is not just an apocalyptic
book of prophecies, although there are many prophecies in
it, most of which have already been fulfilled. But verse 1 says
this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus
Christ, as is all this book, this whole Bible or Bible or
book. Our Lord Himself said this, He
said, in the volume of the book, It is written of me. He said
to some Pharisees one time who studied the Scriptures diligently,
he said, you search the Scriptures, but they are they which testify
of me. God wrote this book concerning
his Son. This is the revelation also. Notice that. It's not a revelation.
It says, the revelation, meaning there's only one, singular. There
are many books by men that claim to be some sort of revelation,
but they're false. This is the revelation. A revelation is not a discovery. A revelation is something that's
revealed to you. 1 Corinthians 2 clearly tells
us that, that what man knoweth the things of a man, You don't
know what I'm thinking unless I reveal my mind to you. This
is the revelation of God concerning His Son to some. Not a discovery. And the oldest book says, can
man find out God under perfection? No. Not by searching. No, no, no. God must reveal Himself. This is the revelation of what? Not of what. The revelation of
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ that God gave to
him before the world began. This is just foundational truth.
Before the world began, in this scripture, according to this
scripture, there was an eternal counsel held by God the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our God. These three are one. And in a purpose, in a will,
in a mind, in their counsel they held, they decreed all things. Scripture says that they ordered
all things, and they're sure. And all of these things are found in and have their fulfillment
in Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the Alpha, I'm the
Omega. I'm the beginning, I'm the end. He's even called the Amen. He's
the first and last word on anything, on any subject, on life itself. In the beginning, God. Well,
that's Christ. And in the end, it says, Amen.
He said, I'm all of that and everything in between. The revelation
of Jesus Christ. Verse 1, "...to show unto His
servants." These things are hidden from the wise and the prudent.
That's what our Lord said. That's what Jesus Christ said.
He said, one day He was walking along, and since He was always
in close personal communion with His Heavenly Father, always praying
or speaking, communing with Him without ceasing, one with the
Father, in mind, in heart, in everything, walking with Him.
He just uttered, after He talked to some Pharisees that couldn't
understand anything He was saying, and He rejoiced. It says, at
that time He rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O God,
Father, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
prudent and revealed them unto babes. Revealed them. I thank
You. You've hid these things. Like
Isaiah 29 says, the words of the book are words as it had
been sealed, delivered to the learned. And he said, I don't
understand that. The revelation that he reveals to his servants,
to his chosen ones, his servants. And look at verse 1, and Brother
Clare read this with emphasis. He says, which things must shortly
come to pass. They must. They must come to
pass. They must. Our Lord said, Heaven
and earth shall pass, but not one word of mine shall fail.
They must come to pass because He is the truth. He cannot lie.
Everything He says is the absolute truth. Things that must shortly
come to pass. Shortly come to pass. You say,
this was written 2,000 years ago. Why does it say shortly?
Because brethren, and this is what Peter reminded us, don't
be forgetful of this one thing. A day is as 1,000 years. And 1,000 years is a day with
the Lord. Time is of no essence to Him. It's short. And what
is your life but a vapor? Isn't it? Some of you have lived
70, 80, even 90 years. It's gone in a thousand years. Thousands of years have come
and just, boom, gone like that. Shortly. Relative to eternity. Very shortly. And two thousand
years have passed, and this book plainly tells us that these are
the last days. The very last of the last days.
They must shortly come to pass. What then? These things concerning
Jesus Christ. And he said he gave these things
to his angel. We don't know who this angel
was. He's spoken of throughout this
book. We don't know who it was, whether Michael or Gabriel or
one of the prophets. But it says the angel signified
this. He affirmed it. It confirmed it. What God said
through Christ was confirmed through this angel who told it
all to John, and John believed it all. And John went about to
tell it also, as I did. These things are given unto his
servants, preachers, to affirm, to confirm, to signify. Luke wrote in his Gospel, these
are things most surely believed among us. He said, but I'm writing
that thou mightest know the certainty of this thing. The certainty
of it. It must surely come to pass.
Why? Because God said that. Because Christ said that. He
said, everything I say has, is, and will come to pass. And verse
2 says, He bore record John bore record of the Word of God and
of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw.
He bore record of the Word of God and the testimony of Christ
and all things that he saw. What did he see? He saw many
things, didn't he? But look down at verse... What
did he hear? Look down at verse... He says, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice. What did you
hear, John? I heard the voice of the Son
of God. Verse 12, he said, I turned to see the voice that spake unto
me. What did you see, John? I saw
Him. Verse 17, when I saw Him, I fell at His feet. And what
you will hear and what you will see when the Lord reveals the
gospel, the truth to you from His Word through preaching is
Jesus Christ. This is no new message. I'm picking
up where I left off previously because there is no nothing else
but Him. He's all in it all. John summed
it up in his gospel. The same John wrote the Gospel
of John and the epistles, first, second, and third letters to
the churches, and John said this. What did you see, John? What
did you hear? He said, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. We saw Him. John said, that which was from
the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes,
which we've looked upon or gazed upon and marveled at, and our
hands have handled, he said, is the word of life. And that which we've seen and
heard, we declare unto you that you may have fellowship with
us also. And this fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son. He said, blessed, verse 3, blessed
is he that readeth. They that hear the words of this
prophecy. You're reading it with me, aren't
you? The Lord said you're very blessed.
The Lord Jesus Christ said you're very blessed to be reading them.
You know, there are very few people that do. Very few people
that read this. Actually read it. Some say they
have, but they can't quote one verse. Most do not read it. Most think
it's an old book of Jewish fables. Peter said, no, no, no, no, no.
Peter said, no, we haven't followed cunning and devised fables. When
we made known unto you the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Peter said, no, we didn't make
this up. We saw Him. We heard Him. Who,
Peter? God. And he won't believe it either
until he reveals himself to you. How does he do it? Through this.
Right here. Well, that's foolishness, preacher.
That's what the Lord said people would say. They wouldn't hear the Son of
God. They'd bear more record. He said,
Blessed is he that readeth. How blessed we are to read this. So few people do. So few people
believe it. Few people read it, even fewer
people believe it. You know, we have some Bibles
ordered, don't we? We have been waiting on this
Bible to be printed, this quality Bible, and you've been waiting
anxiously. Some of you have asked me over
and over again, when are the Bibles going to be read? We're thrilled
about it. We're excited about it. Get this,
you know, a new quality made copy of God's Word. It's very
dear to us. It's very precious. We esteem
it as a valuable treasure, don't we? We love to read it. We have
to read it. Live upon it. It's like bread,
isn't it? Isn't it? Read it. Love it. Have to have it. It's God's. It's not just a book. It's the voice of God. It's how
God speaks to His people. That's foolishness. God spoke
to you. Read it. So few people read it.
He said, Blessed are they that hear it. Blessed are they that hear it.
Even more blessed to hear it. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Our Lord said this, and though
the world scoffs and mocks, He says, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And He went on to say,
how shall they hear without a preacher? We've given many reasons before
why the Lord chose preaching and preachers to do this, to
declare His Word. I'll not give them now, but just
suffice it to say that that's what God did. That's the way
it is. One thing is it humbles us. God doesn't prove Himself to
proud flesh. No, no, no. Why should He? They
don't believe you. You need to talk to them. I will
reveal myself to whom I will. Oh, blessed. How blessed are
you if you read it. How blessed you are if you hear
it, what you're hearing this morning. Greatly blessed? Greatly blessed. Our Lord said
to Peter and his disciples, He said, blessed are your eyes that
see what they see. Blessed are your ears that hear
what they hear. When Peter made that confession,
Peter said, we believe, no, we're sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He said, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you. My Father revealed it to you. Oh, you're blessed.
Blessed if you hear this. With these ears, our Lord said,
many have ears to hear and they don't hear. Many will hear this
this morning and not hear anything. Perhaps some will be glad when
it's over. Ah, but some hear it. And it's the sweetest note
on seraph song, seraph tongue. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. this book, this Word concerning
Christ, all blessed are they that keep these things. Do you
have anything you keep? Have you kept anything? Is there
anything that you treasure, a prize, something precious to you that
you want to keep and not lose? Do you have anything? Sure we
do. All of us have something, some kind of Something that means something
to us. Well, God says of His Word, of His Christ, of His Son,
that all of God's people lay hold of Christ. He's given them
this gift, this great treasure, and they won't sell it for anything. Oh no, we'll keep this and have
everything else. They wouldn't sell it for anything
or anyone. Wouldn't trade it for anybody.
Him. Keep means to do what He says
also. You really only believe someone
when you do what they say. And those who really believe
Him endeavor to do what He says. Obedient children. He says the
time is at hand, verse 4. Time is at hand. What time? Time. The time of our Lord's return.
The day of the Lord that the Scripture speaks of from start
to finish. The day of the Lord. The Old
Testament. The Old Testament, 37 books,
say one thing. You know that? The Old Testament
says someone is coming. From the time the Lord spoke
to the first man and woman in the garden in chapter 3 of Genesis,
He said, someone is coming to get man out of this, to deliver
them from death and destruction. Someone is coming, Messiah, Savior,
woman's seed. The Old Testament says someone
is coming. They are they which testify of
me, Christ said. The Gospels say He's here. That's what I read to you from
John chapter 1. He's here. And the epistles say he's coming
again. Just as sure as he liveth, he's
coming again. Things that must surely come
to pass. The time is at hand. His return,
verse 4, John, Revelation 1, verse 4, John, to the seven churches
which are in Asia, this is written to the churches, seven, they're
numbered. Churches are assemblies of the
saints, that's what the church is, all the churches, one, the
church has one Lord, one faith. One hope of their calling, one
God, one Father, one Christ, one truth, one way, the church.
There are no denominations in the church. You note, they were
only called by the name where they were located. But they all believed the same
one, the same faith. The churches are the assemblies
of the saints. There are seven of them. That's
by design. Some of you know this. Many of
you know this, that six is the number of man. God created man
on the sixth day. And he's an incomplete creature.
He's an imperfect creature. On the seventh day, God rested.
Throughout the Scripture, seven is used in reference to God as
perfection. Perfection. God is perfect. His way is perfect. His creation
is perfect. When He created everything, He
rested. He stopped. No more work. Christ is that Sabbath thing.
But the seven churches, meaning they are complete in Him. The
churches throughout the epistle says the church at Thessalonica
in God. The church at Philippi in God,
in Christ, meaning complete in Him, perfect in Him. Outside
of Him, you're just a man. Joined to Him, seven, perfect,
complete. Are you with me? The seven churches. He says to them, verse 4, Grace
be unto you and peace to the churches. He said in one place, there is
no peace to the wicked, but grace to his people. Grace to the churches. Grace means gift. Not an offer,
but a gift bestowed. Grace. Scripture says every good
and perfect gift cometh from above. The God of all grace.
Grace be unto you, the churches, the people of God. All things
necessary for life and for godliness comes down from above. A gift. The gift of life. Life's not
an offer, it's a gift. The gift of eternal life. The
gift of a heart to receive His truth. The gift of eyes to see
or understand. The gift of ears to hear it and
love it. The gift of faith to believe. It's not of yourself. You don't
just decide to believe. Christ comes to you through His
Word and you believe. The gift of faith, the gift of
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, where is that?
Found in one Christ. The gift of justification and
sanctification, righteousness. Peace, He said, be unto you.
Peace be unto you. Peace. Peace from Him. Peace from Him. Now He said in
another place, our Lord said, My peace I give unto you. Peace
I leave with you, he said, and my peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth. No, no, no. They promise peace. They try to give the peace. And
you seem to have some peace. And they make their peace accords
and their peace agreements and their peace treaties, but they're
all, he said, in the last day, break them all. Truce breakers. Our Lord said, I don't break
my truces. I don't break my covenants. Peace, our Lord said, the Lord
Jesus Christ said to His disciples, His servants, His church, peace
I leave with you. I made peace, He said, with God
who is angry with the wicked every day, but not with you.
Peace I made for you by the blood of my cross. Peace I leave with
you. Peace I leave with you and my
peace I give unto you. Not as a world, I give you real
peace. Where is that found? Where is real peace found? Not
with man. Not in the wisdom of man. They
don't have any answers. Been groping for answers since
man was created, right? Christ came, the Son of God. We're going to look at it. The
faithful witness came down and said, I am peace. You will not
find peace anywhere but in me. Meaning, peace with God? There's no peace for those who
are rebels against God. Peace with God, peace of mind,
peace of conscience. As long as the conscience is
guilty of the law, you know, within us, our Lord said, I've
taken care of that. Peace of mind, all is well. Our Lord kept telling His disciples,
all is well, when all around them, was wars and rumors of
wars and people that wanted them dead. Right? Nothing but trouble all around.
And my Lord said, Pete, how's that, Lord? I am. I reign. I'm doing all this. Peace by believing that thy God
reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Let the people
tremble, but let God's people have peace. The Lord reigneth. This ought to be a message of
great peace to you and comfort to you. Read on, verse 4. It says, from
Him which is and which was and which is to come. Now, most people
believe He was. They won't deny it. History bears
witness or record that there was a man named Jesus 2,000 years
ago. Most believe that He was. Very
few people believe that He is. Even fewer people believe that
He is to come. As I said, before that, you know,
when the millennium came around, the year 2000, Y2K, you remember,
I really believe the whole world let out a collective sigh of
relief, thinking that perhaps He would come. Not believing
Him, not believing He is, not believing really He would come,
but I really do believe that most people do. Because Peter said so, the Scripture
said so. There would come mockers in the
last day. Mockers saying, where is the promise of His coming?
Everything is continuing just like it. See? That's what they
said. See? The millennium passed and He
didn't come. You think you've got the timetable
correct? Do you think you know the year
and the day He's coming? Our Lord said, no man knoweth
the day of His coming. He does. And a day in his long-suffering,
Peter said to his people, long-suffering, not willing that any of them
should perish, but he's coming. He's coming. He's not slack concerning
his promise. He said, I'm coming. And the world doesn't believe him.
I do. And I look forward to it. Most
people don't want him to come. Don't want Him to come. But we
do, don't we? Oh, my. This book's going to
end with the people of God saying, come quickly, Lord Jesus. To the seven spirits, look at
this, verse 4. To the seven spirits before His throne. What's that?
Well, chapter 5, verse 4. And this whole book is such a
mystery, and I do not pretend to understand it all, but I do
know the summation of it all. I do know the message of it all.
I do know that this book, the sum and substance of this book
is the same as every other book in this Bible. It's Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Verse 6. It says, I, John, beheld,
and lo, in the midst of the throne, chapter 5, verse 6, I beheld,
and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in
the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. You remember John saying, Behold
the Lamb of God, Christ. Having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. There's so much symbolism
in this book, like the parables our Lord gave that men don't
understand that He must reveal them. So much symbolism, like
the description of our Lord in chapter 1. Symbolic. He's a man. He's a man. And He looks like
a man. And all of this is symbolic of
his character, his attributes, his person, his power, his work,
and so forth. But these seven horns and seven
eyes are the seven spirits of God, meaning the perfect… a horn
was a power. A male sheep or lamb grown up
had horns, doesn't it? That's a symbol of his power. of the Lord Jesus Christ's sovereign
power over all things. His eyes, seven eyes. That's
His omniscience. He knows all things. He sees
all things perfectly. Seven spirits, meaning He's omnipresent. He's everywhere at all times.
And you could say that this is, well, it is. This is the Word
of God. The all-seeing, all-knowing,
Word of God, which Paul wrote in Hebrews 4, says the Word of
God is quick and powerful, like a ram horn, sharper than any
two-edged sword, both wounds and heals, kills, makes alive.
It pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, And
the joints in the marrow is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. There's no creature that's not manifest in His sight. All things are naked and open
under the eyes of Him. When it said the Word, that's
Him with whom we have to deal with. So this is what he's speaking
of. Again, it's still speaking of
Christ. Verse 5, And from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness. The faithful witness. What is
a witness? Have any of you ever borne witness
in a court of law? Have you ever served on a jury,
did you? Any of you faced a jury? A witness is one who is called
forth to declare two things, what you've heard and what you've
seen. Okay? Where were you? Were you there? What did you hear and what did
you see? They just don't usually call
forth blind witnesses, do they? No, they don't. Or deaf. No,
no. Hearing of the ear, seeing of
the eye, of things you've heard and seen. Well, our Lord Jesus
Christ is called Thee. Thee. One true, credible, faithful
witness of all things that he heard and saw. What is that? God. He said in John 1, or John
said this, no man hath seen God at any time. But the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him, the faithful witness. He came to tell us of God. Who is God, Lord? I am. He that hath seen me, He said,
hath seen the Father. No, you can't be God. You're
just a man. That's what they said then. That's what they say
now. He's just Jesus. Hadn't revealed
Himself to you yet. Hadn't seen Him yet. Hadn't heard
His voice yet. God's people have. Like Thomas
fell at His feet. My Lord and my God. Like John. We've heard Him. We've seen Him. The Word of Life. God. The faithful
witness. Faithful and true. Credible.
Telling the truth of who God is. Somebody needs to come back
from the grave, though. You know, if somebody came back
from the dead, then we'd believe them, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we?
No. Our Lord said that. He said, though one rose from
the dead, you don't believe him. It's still a revelation. It's
not sight. It's a revelation. It's a gift.
But I tell you this, someone did come back from the grave. Look at verse 19, verse 18. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. You say amen to that? You believe He was and He is?
He is, He liveth, and is to come. I do. Thank God. He's the faithful witness, the
first begotten from the dead. He's the first one to come back
from the dead and tell us what's out there. He told us. Look at the next thing. He said
he's the prince of the kings of the earth. Talk about peace. The prince of peace, he's called.
I was talking about peace. There's no peace. You can't find
any peace around you. men and with whatever, whomever. And our Lord said, my peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you. He's the Prince of
Peace. Prince means the principal one,
the root of the word principal, the chief, the head, the ruler. He's the Prince of the kings
of the earth. Another place says He's the King
of Kings. And Lord of lords. Prince means
he's the son of the king. But he's both the father and
the son. He's the prince and he's the
king. He's the king of kings and Lord of lords. And this revelation
is from him, the king of kings and Lord of lords. And here's
what he said for our peace. By me kings reign. I want you to listen to that
now. There's an election coming up, and everybody in here is
worried about it. Be honest. And there's not one person in
here where everybody in here is ashamed to say who you're
going to vote for. Right? Because we don't have a credible
choice, do we? We just don't. Jesus Christ said,
by me, kings reign. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he
turneth it whithersoever he will. Peace! I'm reigning. Don't worry about it. Vote. Don't
vote. Doesn't matter. It really doesn't. Because there was a divine election
held before the world began. That's the one that means everything. I'm not telling you this. He
is. Peace. I reign. I'm the King of Kings. I'm the Prince of Peace. You
will not find any peace. Look around you. He said there
will be wars and rumors of war. But He said, in your patience,
possess your souls. How's that? We saw it in Psalm
86, didn't we? I lift up my soul to Thee. Lord,
would You save my soul in the midst of all this? The world of chaos. Unto Him,
look at this, to His servants, all people. Here's peace, isn't
it? Unto Him that loved us. And He can't love merely in the
past tense. He said, to His people, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Perfect love casts out
fear. Now, if He loves you, and preachers
all over tell everybody, God loves you, and all these bad
things happen, and they say, well, good's that love. But that
doesn't mean anything. But now, if God truly loves you,
if He loves you, He's for you. Scripture says, whom He loved,
He foreknew. And whom He foreknew, He did
predestinate. Whom He predestinated, He called.
Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.
Whom He loves, He always loves, and it's all good. My children,
children, grandchildren, I love them dearly. I love them as much
as any human being can love another. I really do. And I'm telling
you, my heart, I know my thoughts toward them. I know my thoughts
toward them. Thoughts of peace, thoughts of
love. I would lay down my life right now, wouldn't even have
to stop and think about it. Christ did that for His people. He laid
down His life for them, because He loves them. If you love Him,
it's because He loved you. And if He loves you, He will
always love you. And it's all good. It's all good. What preacher? I just lost my
husband. Did he know the Lord? Yes, he
did. Well, that's good, isn't it? He's with the Lord. Now, do you
know the Lord? I believe I do. Well, good. It's just shortly
going to come to pass. Just shortly. In a moment, the
twinkle of an eye, we'll all be changed and it'll be like,
none of this trouble ever happened. Who said that? Jesus Christ. Believe Him. And believe Him,
there's peace. There's peace. Oh, my. Listen to this verse,
Acts chapter 2, Peter stood up at Pentecost, he said, Let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Messiah, meaning Savior. Messiah, meaning the One coming
to get us out of this mess. Lots of people talk about Messiah.
Lots of people believe in Messiah. Whether it be Buddha or Confucius
or Krishna or whoever it may be, they're all false. Christ
said, I am He. I am God. He said, many false
Christs. Many will come in my name and
say, I'm He. Christ said, I am. unto him that loved us, and will
ever love us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." You
know, that's the strength of this fear of death, is we think
we've got something against us. Not if Christ paid your penalty,
washed us from our sins in his own blood. Old-fashioned bloody
religion, preacher. That's right. That's right. It's the religion of God. The
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What Jesus Christ said He came
to do. He who is wisdom personified. He who no man could stand before
then or now. He said, I have come to die.
I have come to shed my precious blood. I have come to pay the
penalty for the sins of my people. What do you mean? I'm not going
to explain that. I'm just declaring it. It's true. Because He's true. And the miracle of miracle is,
you take somebody like myself, and some of you who fancy themselves
wise, fancy themselves as understanding, have some understanding of things,
and pooh-poohed this religion, and I don't want anything to
do with that. All of a sudden, one day, you hear this old archaic
bloody religion from just a man, and that being my father. I believe this. I love this. This is wisdom beyond
my comprehension. Now, do you that believe Christ,
the wisdom of God and the what? The power of God. Because He
is. Because He's real. Because He's
a person. Well, I can't see Him. He sees
you because He speaks. I've never heard Him. He does
speak. He said, My sheep, He said, My sheep hear My voice. They know Me. Somebody said,
I don't know Him. It might not be one of His sheep. And I tell you this, if you ask Him, if you ask Him, He said, you'll receive. If you ask, He'll give unto you. That's the promise He's given.
Oh, He washed us from our sin. Read on. I've got to close. It
says, verse 6, He's made us kings and priests unto God and His
Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. He made us
kings and priests. Peter said, a royal priesthood.
Well, you don't look too royal, fella. No, I don't. But he said
that, behold, now are you the sons of God. If sons of God,
that makes us princes, doesn't it? Kings reigning with him. As he reigns, we do too. And
priests, meaning we don't absolve anybody of sins, we don't take
confession of sin, we don't make a sacrifice for sin. Christ did
that. We just serve the tabernacle.
We just wash dishes and cut wood, like the general priests of old.
There's one high priest. But he's made us workers, slavers
together with him. To him be glory and dominion.
And verse 7, you're going to like this. He said, Behold, he
cometh with clouds. Why does He say that? He cometh
with clouds. Because when He left this earth
the first time, it says His disciples, quite a few of them, 120 I think,
went out on the hill and watched Him, it says, Gazed and saw a
cloud receive him out of their sight. That's what it said. A cloud received him out of their
sight. In other words, he went up to
glory, the angels received him, and the clouds rolled back. And
I can't see him. A cloud obscures their vision
of him. A cloud. And the angel said,
this same Jesus, said, don't stand there gazing up into heaven,
this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you've seen
him go, with clouds. What's he saying, preacher? What
are you saying? Well, there's only a veil, a
thin veil, people, that separates us from our Lord Jesus Christ. We see through a glass what?
Darkly. Cloudy. Our vision's cloudy. You ever look through a glass?
Sure you have. Through a glass that's foggy or whatever, you
just can't see clearly. You see a little bit. And we see through a cloud darkly
and dimly, but it's just a thin veil. It's soon going to be removed.
It's going to be rent like that first veil in the temple when
Christ was crucified. So one of these days, the Scripture
says, the clouds be rolled back like a scroll. Does it seem to you like a dark
cloud hangs over this planet? Anybody? It does to me, because
there is. Does it? They seem like about
the worst times you can possibly imagine. Does it? A dark cloud
hangs over this planet. Yes, it does. It does. It's the
hand of God. That same cloud and shadow is
a refuge. to God's people. Psalm 91. He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty, under His hand. That hand is
not going to fall on us. We're in it. And, you know, these
dark clouds that seem to hover over this planet. Listen to the
words of this blessed hymn. Blessed are you if you hear this.
Fear not, ye saints. Fresh courage take. The clouds
you so much dread are filled with goodness and shall break
with blessings on your head. Yes, behind every cloud, for
God's people, is not a silver lining, but the sun of righteousness. The Son of Righteousness. Somebody
says, you know, it's a cloudy day. Well, the sun's gone down
and the sun's not out. Oh, no, no. The sun is always
out. The sun is always out. When earth turns from it, the
earth gets in darkness. But the sun's always shining.
The sun remains the same, right? So does the Son of God. He's
reigning and ruling. No man can't see Him. But by
the eye of faith, people, through the clouds and in darkness, He's
reigning. And very shortly, we'll peel
back the cloud. Does that appeal to you? You know, the very last, and
it says in verse 7, every eye shall see Him, every knee shall
bow, He said in another place, they that pierced Him, and all
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, even so, That's
the way it is. Amen. Because He is. And in the
last verse, the very last verse of this book and this Bible,
the very last words of this book read like this, He which testified
these things, that's Jesus Christ, saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. And to His people, He says, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. That's the way it is. Because He is. Alright, John,
if you'll come. Let's sing number 143. Rejoice,
the Lord is King. 143.