Join me, if you would, in your
Bible to the last book, the last chapter of the last book, and
the last two verses of the last chapter of the last book of the
Bible. On Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007,
we began this study, and it looks like tonight will be the night
when we complete it. And someone is going to ask,
where are we going next? And I can honestly say, I don't
know. We may double up on the book
of Isaiah. I don't know. There's a few other places in
the Bible to study. We started August 22, 2007. four years and three months. I'd like to finish our study
where we began. Before we look at these last
two verses, in order for us to finish this book, we need to
finish where we started. And if you keep your finger right
there, turn with me to the first verse of this book, Revelation
chapter 1 verse 1. I read somewhere the other day
about this book. or with regard to a passage of
scripture in this book that so often is interpreted by modernists
that this is atomic bombs and this is B-52 bombers and all
that stuff. And the person made a comment
that was so logical. How would this comfort people
in 1000 AD? And I said, as his conclusion
was, it wouldn't. Why do we have to interpret it
in our time when it was written to comfort people from the time
this was written till today. So those verses that people want
to interpret that way are faulty, and they usually want to interpret
it that Jesus Christ is working towards reigning, and that's
a fallacy. He is reigning. He has always
reigned. He has never given up his reign.
He is a king of kings and he ever reigneth. Now in Revelation chapter one
and verse one it says, I hope this was our premise as we went
through this book. We intended for it to be. We
wanted this verse to be our outline We wanted everything else to
fit under this verse. That's the way it was intended.
This is, as it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ. We wanted to
fit everything under that premise, that statement, I should say.
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, when we started this book,
we noticed that this word revelation, which is the word apocalypso,
which is today is used as the apocalypse, that word is generally
interpreted as a very tough time, war. the nuclear apocalypse,
and all of those things. But when we looked at the definition
of that word, we found out that that is not what it meant in
its original form, and God never left us any other impression
than it meant that today. In fact, that particular word
revelation is mentioned one place that is very interesting, and
that's in the book of Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, and this is
during A man's thoughts, he had been promised he would not see
death until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he comes into the
temple one day and there is a babe in the arms of his mother and
he lifts that babe up. We know who it is. He knows who
it is. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has been virgin born. He is the one that has been set
aside from eternity to be the substitute for his people. And
this man comes in, picks up this baby and has these comments with
regard to it. And in the midst of these comments
is this word apocalypse. And it doesn't mean there's going
to be a war. It doesn't mean that there's going to be trouble.
It means it's light. It's enlightenment. That's what
the word means. The revelation of Jesus Christ. It means to lay bare or make
naked or to disclose of truth, instruction, manifestation, appearance,
disclosure. That's what this word means.
This is the disclosure of Jesus Christ. This is the opening up
of Jesus Christ. This is the teaching about Jesus
Christ. And as we go through that book,
we find he has revealed in so many aspects the Lamb of God. My goodness, what a wonderful
comment. That's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He is described as the Lamb. Well, let's look here in
Luke chapter 2 for just a moment, beginning with verse 25. It says,
Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the
same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel. Now, there's only one way a person becomes just and
devout. That is, he is born again. He
didn't get there by self-righteousness or righteous acts. He got there
because of the new birth, waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ." Now, notice that word, Lord's. It is possessive,
an apostrophe S. It is the Lord's Christ, the
Lord's Messiah. And he came by the spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, he took him up in his
arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word. For my eyes have seen
thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people, a light to lighten. That word lighten is the same
word we find in Revelation 1.1, the word revelation, a light
to lighten. The Gentiles were in a dark place.
God sent his light to lighten them. He sent his Christ to lighten
them. He is the message. The gospel
message was the light to lighten them, and the gospel message
is Jesus Christ, a light to lighten the Gentiles. Now, you can't
find in any way that that word means there trouble or war or
a nuclear holocaust. You can only find in that verse,
like in Revelation chapter one and verse one, that this is God
opening up his son to his people. Now that's a joy. That's what
God does for his people. A light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled
at those things which were spoken of him. So Simeon had been promised
this, and he makes this statement about the Lord Jesus, He is a
light to lighten. Now, this word is again used,
and it's used several times in the New Testament, but in Galatians
chapter one and verse 12, it uses this word in a different
way. And the apostle Paul is sharing what God did for him.
God will reveal his son to his people. It's a revelation. It
is not knowing Christ, and by the revelation that God gives,
he allows us to know him. He is a stranger, and he introduces
us to him. He is someone we could not recognize,
and by his grace, we recognize him as the Lord. Galatians chapter
1, the Apostle Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia. He's
doing this by inspiration. He is sharing with them, the
way you're headed is an error. Let's pull back to the Lord Jesus
Christ. You are following a gospel that
is not the gospel. It is another gospel. But here
in Galatians chapter 1, let's begin reading with verse 11.
It says, but I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached to me was not after men. It was not after man. This is not man's gospel. Man's
gospel is, I'll be saved by my works. The Pharisees came following
Paul, it appears, and then came to Jerusalem and said, you cannot
be saved unless you follow the law. That's man's gospel. The gospel that Saul of Tarsus
was affected by, was not after man. He had spent his life in
the gospel after man. This is the gospel not after
man. And he goes on to tell us here,
for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it. but by revelation of Jesus Christ,
and that's the same word that we find in Revelation 1.1, the
revelation of Jesus Christ. That's how he was taught the
gospel. Now, a preacher, Stephen, and
Paul is going to share with us that he was there consenting
to the death of Stephen, but Stephen preached a message. Stephen
preached the gospel, and it was the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ that God used on steven a preacher preached it that's
true but a preacher can't reveal it preacher can declare it you
can declare the gospel to your friends but you can't reveal
it it is that's the ministry of the holy spirit and that makes
all the difference in the world when god reveals his son when
god reveals the gospel his son to people so this word is the
same word Secondly, when we tried to keep the book of Revelation
under this heading, Revelation chapter 19 and verse 10. Would
you turn there with me? Revelation chapter 19. We tried
to keep our study between these. Well, I shouldn't even say between
these because they're in a straight line. You can't keep them between
these fences because this is a fence. It's a single, well,
the Lord termed it this way, a narrow path. There's no borders. It's a narrow path. You don't
have any wiggle room on this. It is a narrow path. It's Christ
and Christ alone, or it is the broad way that leadeth to destruction.
Revelation chapter 19, verse 10, this is recorded chapter
19, and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto
me, see thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant and thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God. For the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now, this just shares with us
what's mentioned throughout the scriptures and particularly in
the book of Acts chapter 10, would you turn there with me,
Acts chapter 10. As we look at this, it's the revelation of
Jesus Christ, and also, Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In
Acts chapter 10, if you wanna know what the Old Testament's
about, here it is, summed up. Acts chapter 10, verse 43. And
we try to keep the book of Revelation in this line. The revelation
of Jesus Christ, Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. He is the
fulfillment of the prophets. He is the declaration of the
prophets and preachers. And that's what we have in this
book. It's not about scary things. That's what people have turned
it into. I've had people tell me here
in the Dalles, I cannot read the book of Revelation. And I
say, why? He said, it's so scary. Well, the only reason that you
would think it was scary is someone tried to make it scary for you.
If you see it as Jesus Christ and in his glory, it is not something
to be feared. Now, we may not read it every
day, but it is not scary. It is Jesus Christ to the glory
of God the Father, our Savior, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, Acts chapter 10, and there in verse 43, we have these words.
to him gave all the prophets witness. Now that's what that
word means or that phrase means. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. Every bit of the Old Testament
was the declaration. To him gave all the prophets
witness. You wanna know what Exodus is
about? That person, Moses, was used to write about Christ. Now,
he did it through symbols, he did it through shadows, he did
it through pictures, he did it through the activity that those
Jews were requested to go through. The sacrifice of those lambs,
the sacrifice of those oxen, the sacrifice of those goats.
It was telling those people, there needs to be a substitute,
but it's not by the blood of bulls and goats, because we're
going to have to do this tomorrow. That's one beautiful thing, well,
among many beautiful things about the sacrifice of the Lord, the
substitution of the Lord, is he did it once for all time. He sat down. There, the work
was never finished, but they spoke of Christ. The ark spoke
of Christ. The door in the ark spoke of
Christ. The boards in the ark, the tabernacle. The very subject matter of Genesis
1, 2, and 3 speaks of Christ. So it's our benefit to look at
it and it's for our glory to see him. That's our business
is seeing Christ in the Old Testament and as the Holy Spirit reveals
it. So the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The
spirit of prophecy is a general testimony concerning Jesus for
he is the scope and design of the whole scriptures. to him
gave all the prophets witness now take Jesus his grace and
Spirit and message out of the Bible and you have what was left
when that King took his penknife You have nothing left. It's no
wonder people don't use it in the pulpits. They have nothing
in it it's no wonder that they read one verse and depart there
from and They have no reason. It's not valuable, it's not important. There's no Christ. Preachers
in schools are teaching, in Bible schools are teaching their students,
you can't find Christ in the Old Testament. Well, when that's
being taught, that's what they believe and that's what the students
are gonna believe. But once the Lord reveals Himself to His people,
you find out that's a rich goldmine, and we shouldn't even have a
marker between the Old and the New Testament. I had people tell
me when I was in Bible school there was 400 silent years. Boy,
400 silent years between the Old and the New Testament. What
are we going to say about the time between the writing of Revelation
and today? Is that silent years? I think
not. God saved his people all the
way through there, just like he did from Malachi to Matthew. He wasn't silent ears. He just,
he chose not to have anything written, but he's still working
out his purpose of grace in the hearts of his people. And that's
the only reason we have the gospel today. People will say the gospel
died out. We had to reestablish it. That's
not true. Jesus Christ himself said, upon
this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not
prevail against it. Now I'm not going to say that
the gospel was in every place all the time, but I'll say it
was in some place because it got to us. All right, now in
this letter, the seven churches, it was a letter to seven churches,
and they're listed, and we just happen to be the beneficiary
of it. The Lord is declared the Lamb, the King, the Conqueror,
the Tree, the Light, the Temple, the River of Life, one who has
chained Satan. He's the spirit of prophecy.
He's one in the midst of the candlesticks. And he said, let
me tell you what the candlesticks are. They're the seven churches. He's in the midst of the candlesticks.
I believe firmly that where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. That's what he
said. Thank God that we can have three or four or five, but two
or three are gathered together in my name. There am I in the
midst of them. So this book continues to testify
of the glory of the Lord. He has mentioned in such enduring
terms to the church. He is my lamb and he's my light. He is my river. clear as crystal. He is my temple. He is everything. In fact, I was listening to a preacher
back there, went to visit Mike Walker, who is a pastor up in Northern North Carolina. North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. He said he had visited with a
preacher that went to visit Henry Mahan one time and he was going
to help him out. This is a real young preacher
and he went there And he was going to help Brother Mahan out.
And he just, he sat down in Brother Mahan's office and he's just
a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Brother Henry is just
as quiet. Just let him go on and on and on and on and on and
on and on. And finally, Brother Henry said,
would you look at Colossians 3? Would you turn there with
me? Because this sums up the book
of Revelation. And I hope this is, Yes, Colossians 3 11 This guy's
Finished running off at the mouth and he's about ready to leave
and brother Henry says would you look up one verse with me? and he
told him Colossians 3 11 and the guy started reading with
Three verse one. He says no. No, no, no. No, would
you read? Colossians 3 11 And particularly these words,
but Christ is all. And the guy told his friend up
in North Wilkesboro, I went home and was taken down several notches. I found out I didn't know anything.
And this one man, by saying three words, that Christ is all. Start there, you can't go wrong.
Forget everything else. Start there, you can't go wrong.
Christ is all. He's all our light. He's all
our water. He's all our bread. He's all
our hope. He is all our lamb. He's all
our substitute, Christ is all. All right, now let's look at
the last two verses here of this wonderful book, this wonderful
chapter. And these are comments, they're
closing comments to this book. Chapter 22, verse 20, he which
testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. It was the Lord through his spirit
of inspiration that gave John this letter to be sent as comfort
to seven churches in tremendous persecution. Now we read those
parts to the seven churches and we find that the Lord corrected,
or he had some words of correction. But we must agree that if the
master would come to us, as he does through his word, with words
of correction, that means he really is interested and loves
his people. And he wants them taken from
here to Christ is all. We don't look at him beaten on
those churches. We look at the light lightening
them. We see the grace of God gracious
to them. And he does that for his people
through all ages. He has been a light to give them
light and to bring them out of a dark place. He has been grace
to teach them graciousness and bring them out of a dark place.
So here we have that as the Lord sent to these seven churches,
he sent to them comfort and he testified to them of this comfort. I am the comfort. What do we
read over in the book of Isaiah 9? He is the comforter. He is
the one that comforts. And that's the ministry that
he instructed the church to have. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. And he does that by saying, the
warfare is over. All your sins are forgiven. Brother
Rupert and I were in his study, and I says, Brother Rupert, does
God punish his people for sin? And Rupert sat there and looked
at me and he says, absolutely not. That's what I agree with. He does not punish his people
for sin. Jesus Christ was punished for
our sin. Now he will test us and he will
try us. There's no question about it,
but it is not out of punishment. It is out of love and graciousness
that he does that. We are brought to him, closer
to him through those experiences, and nobody likes it until we're
over it. That's the way it is. Nobody
likes it until we're over it. God is gracious. He's done that
to Job. He did that. Miriam, she had
leprosy, had to stay out of camp for how long? She was not being
punished for her sin, she was being instructed. Punishment
for sin fell on Jesus Christ. All right, now this word testify,
testifies. The base word of that is the
word we have for martyr. In fact, it's a transliteration.
The Greek word is martyr. It means a witness, and we have
used it. And Paul, well, Paul used the
word testimony or martyr, but we have turned it into anybody
that gives their life for Christ. We call him a martyr. Well, the
word really means one who testifies, one who gives testimony of. Would
you turn with me to the book of Acts? Jesus Christ was never
a martyr in the sense of modern martyrs. He was not a martyr
for our sin. He was the sacrifice for our
sin. Now, there have been people that
have been martyred, but the word means witness. Stephen was a
witness, and he was such a witness that he would not give up his
witness. He would rather die than to go
against the witness that was in him. In the book of Acts chapter
22, the Apostle Paul uses that word, and it's been translated
here in our Bibles to this, Acts chapter 22, and he's making a
confession. He's making a confession here.
He's sharing with us what happened, how the Lord used this in his
life. Stephen was a witness. Jesus
Christ is a witness in this book. Acts chapter 22 verse 20, and
when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was
standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment
of them that slew him. when your martyr Stephen was
slain." Now, Stephen gave a testimony, and he gave a good testimony.
And he was not going to go back on his testimony. And therefore,
they slew him. And Saul of Tarsus consented
to it. Now, he didn't actually take
up the stone, but he sure sent his dogs after him. They're the
ones that did it. He said, I am the boss. Put your clothes here, and I'll
watch them. And that's what happened there. And the same word is used
in Acts chapter 1. Would you turn there with me?
Acts chapter 1. The Lord Jesus is the witness. And by it, he
makes witnesses. We have nothing to witness to
if we don't have him. We have nothing to say if we
don't have him. There's nothing we can say about the Bible unless
we have him. You cannot share what you don't
have. And here, the disciples had something
because he had witnessed to them. He is the only one that can bring
the witness of God to our hearts. He's the only one that can reveal
himself to us. We cannot, we can preach about it, we can talk
about it, but he's the only one that can eventually cause us
to say, I know what you're talking about. You've revealed it. Acts
chapter one, and there in verse 22, the scriptures share, beginning
with the baptism, now someone's gonna have to take Judas' place,
and this is the requirement, beginning from the baptism of
John until that same day, What does that mean, baptism of John?
It means they witnessed Jesus' baptism. They heard the voice
from heaven. They saw this dove come down
and testify. Doesn't mean that there was some
speciality about this baptism. It's who's being baptized. That's
important. And what he was declaring his
resurrection and his own baptism, but he also, the person that
was going to be a witness was going to have to see him after
he was raised from the dead. It goes on to tell us that beginning
with from the baptism of John until the same day that he was
taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness. with
us of his resurrection. He witnessed it in picture and
he witnessed it in reality. That was a witness. And this
is what Jesus Christ, Christ witnessed and said, surely I
come quickly. He asserts the speediness of
his coming. Jesus Christ said, I come quickly.
Now, comparatively speaking, it says a day with the Lord is
a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. He's not messing
with time, we are. I was reading the other day,
when did we start wearing these? You know when we started wearing
these? When the railroads came. Before that. La, la, la, la,
la, la. We were all on Indian time. We
could care less. Sun's overhead, okay, let's have
lunch. Sun went down, let's have supper. Sun came up, let's have
breakfast. But it wasn't until the railroads
we started wearing these and we had to keep. Now, I just said
that to say this, God is not kept by that. He could care less
about the railroads except how he moved people to hear the gospel. That's the reason the railroads
got there. It's not because we needed the trade, it's some way
God, everything, everything is for the glory of God and for
the good of his church. The railroad was too, carried
preachers. and carry people who were going to be his found sheep. All right? He asserts the speediness
of his coming by what he said, and he expresses the certainty
of it. There were people in churches
in the times of John that said, oh, it's been a long time, he's
not coming. And John wrote and says, don't
fall into that trap. He is coming. Paul wrote about
it. People were saying, you know,
it's been 20 years now and he hasn't come. Almost the same
thing that Eve had when she had her son. This is it. 40 years,
50 years, 100 years, 1,000 years, 2,000 years. But Jesus said,
behold, I come quickly. There is only one thing that
prevents the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ right now. And that's
what he's saying. Nothing is preventing it, except
I have not got all my children in. Can you imagine a father
or a mother not going and claiming all their children? That's what
he's about. It tells us that he will lose
none, and he's going to keep that promise. I shall lose none
of them, and he says the long-suffering of the Lord means salvation.
I'm going to detain until they're all brought in. And that's his
promise. There will be no empty seats
in glory. There will not be an extra one,
but there will be no empty ones. He will have them all full. They
all have their names on them, on the chairs. I'm using that
figuratively. But he is waiting until the last
one. He knows the day and he knows
the hour that that last one will hear the gospel and his Holy
Spirit will convert them. But until that day, It may be
today and it may be in a thousand years. We do not know. But it
will be for his glory. The last one will be saved. Behold,
I come quickly. Be assured of it and be knowledgeable
that he asserts his speediness in getting it done. He never
mentions anything that has to happen except that one thing.
The sheep have to be saved. That's it. No buildings, nothing. Then he uses the word amen. In
a lot of the Bible, that word amen is translated verily. There in the book of Revelation
chapter 20 and verse, or 22 and verse 20, surely I come quickly,
amen. At the beginning of a discourse,
we find surely or truly or of a truth, and that's what we find,
the Lord Jesus using that word. And at the end, we find the word
amen used So it is, or so be it, or may it be fulfilled. John
said, amen. So be it. I agree with it. And I find God's people agree
when he says, I come quickly. And his people say, amen. Amen. So be it. When it's time. I like what Donnie
Bell says. And when I left back there yesterday,
I says, when it's time. We'll meet again when it's time,
so be it. And then in verse 21, this is a benediction. This is
giving a blessing. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. One of the commentators said,
this would have been much better if it said, be with all the saints. He never tried to include anybody
but the saints, and that's what this book is about, and that's
what this Bible is about. It was written to saints. That
will help us understand many of what is called difficult passages. If we just remember that it was
written to saints, it was not written to the goats, it was
not written to those on the left-hand side, it was written to those
on the right-hand side, it was written to his saints, it was
written to lost sheep, And yet it is written to saints, the
final benediction or giving a blessing. Now in the book of Numbers chapter
six, you probably heard this benediction. Moses said this,
I'd like to go over there. Numbers chapter six, verse 22. Here's a benediction, a blessing. And most and the Lord verse 22
of Numbers chapter 6 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying
speak unto Aaron and to his son saying on this wise he shall
bless the children of Israel saying unto them. The Lord bless
thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. And then finally, 2 Corinthians
chapter 13, a benediction, final blessing. Blessed are those who
read this book. Blessed are those who see Christ
in this book. A final benediction, a final
blessing is given. And here's another one, 2 Corinthians
chapter 13. Verse 14, and the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen. The grace of the Lord. the love
of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. Amen. So be it. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with all you saints.