Revelation chapter 20, and I'd
like to spend a little time on verses 4, 5, and 6. And the bulk
of it, I want to spend on verse 4. The scriptures read, verse
one, and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key
of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And we mentioned
last week that could be no one else but the Lord himself. He
is the only one that has that power to take the control of
this created being that God gave some power to. This is not power
that he has assumed. This is power that's been given
to him. And it tells us he laid hold
on the dragon, and I've mentioned in my study, I was given one
of Dean's dolls, and I often think of the Lord Jesus when
it comes to every enemy, and with particular regard to Satan,
he is a rag doll in the hands of Almighty God. He shares with
us that he has absolute power over him, and Satan has no power
against the will and purpose of God. And it tells us here
that he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And that word is found
only one other place in the New Testament, and that's in the
book of 1 Peter, when it says, a day with the Lord is a thousand
years. and a thousand years is a day. Now that's an indefinite
number. Even though a definite number
is used, it's much like the number 144,000. That's a representative
number for all the people that God will ever save and that he
will have in his presence throughout eternity. He just said, let's
call it 144,000. And that represents all my church.
Well here, all the time that the Lord Jesus
Christ reigns is called a thousand years. We are not going to look
at that word in this book and say it's literal when everything
else is spiritual. We're not going to just pick
out one or two points and say, well, this has to be literal.
It is spiritual and let's look at the spiritual application
of it. Bound in a thousand years and in God's purpose, This being
that he created for his purpose and to do his purpose has been
bound. And the scripture shared with
us that he has taken hold of this great enemy and he has slain
him on the cross. Now we're going to take his word
for it or we're going to take our own thoughts about it. And
we're just impressed to take his word for it. If he said he
did it, trust him. He did it. And what we see around
us is not what Satan is doing, but the desperate wickedness
of the human heart. That's what we're seeing. We're
not seeing Satan's impression upon people. We're not seeing
anything that Satan is forcing people to do. We're not seeing
a conflict between God and Satan. We're not looking at them as
equal. They're not. One's created, one's almighty
everlasting. One was the very special creation
of God, and he has used him for his purpose, and there seems
to be a short season in the future that he will use him again, but
for all intents and purposes, that created being is bound by
the sovereign grace of Almighty God, and he does not have a lip
to speak with. Now what we see, and I'll repeat
this over and over, we're seeing the desperate wickedness of men's
heart all around us, and that's what we expressed. And by the
grace of God alone, do we have that restrained? It's God's restraining
power. Just as he did that here, he
does it to his elect. He restrains them after he gives
them the new birth. He restrains them. Though we're
not what we want to be, we're not what we used to be. and we're
not what we're going to be. But we are now restrained and
thank God for it. Or we'd do what we see everybody
else doing if it wasn't for the restraining hand of God upon
us. We just are thankful for every way that he is involved
in our lives and in our hearts. It is he and he alone that has
control of his church, of his body. We practice that every
day. Nobody has control of our body. Our head does. And we do what
it says to do. And we may make up our mind to
do it, but the head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is in charge of
his body and it follows him just like he said it would. My sheep
are my voice and they follow me. Will not be left behind,
will not be dragging in the rearward, but they will be doing what he
has called on them to do. And then he says, he cast them
into a bottomless pit. God's sovereign grace, his sovereignty,
overwhelming, all-mightiness, all-powerfulness has taken control
of this, and particularly it's demonstrated at the cross. Paul
was used to write, and we're going to run into this, if the
princes of this world had known, They would not have crucified
the Lord of Glory if they knew the outcome. They would not. Now that's speaking about human
beings, but it's also speaking about evil spirits. Had they
known, that's what God said about it, but he didn't let them know
what they were doing, so they did what was according to his
eternal plan, and it turned out just right. The son of man goeth
as we determined, but woe unto him by whom he is betrayed. Cast
him into a bottomless pit, shut him up. Two ways. Shut him up. And shut him up. Put him in a pit. Put him in
his restraining change, his change of sovereignty. That he should
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years or until that
part of his reign is over. And then he, and after that,
he'll be loose for a little season. Now in verse four, and I saw
thrones and them that sat on them, and judgment was given
unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for
the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had
not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received
his mark, upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead
lived not again until the thousand years were finished, and this
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years. Now, this is a, in verse four,
this is a spiritual beheading. This is not literal. We know
history tells us that there were a lot of God's people went through
this kind of death. It has been practiced in the
past, and if it's practiced in the future, it may be. But this is not speaking about
a physical death. This is not speaking about a
physical beheading. This is another term, like so
many terms that we find in the Bible, that speak of the act
of God when it comes to saving his people. In some places, it's
called the new birth. In other places, it's called
a new heart. In other places, it's called a quickening. And
we want to look at a few verses of scripture that share this.
And we find over in the Old Testament in particular, I was amazed in
the book of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, the number of
times the word head is used, in particular when the high priest
and the priest confessed sin they put their hands on the head
of that animal and then they slew it and they went through
and picked out some parts for the priest and they put the head
and the skin and all this stuff on the altar and it was consumed
by the power of God with fire from heaven. This is a picture,
a symbol of what is absolutely essential if we ever see God. He must deal with our old head
Adam. We fall under him. We're related
to him. We're dealing with him. We're
dealing with his fall and our sin. We are sinners by nature. Adam, in Adam, all died. He is the federal head of everyone
that has ever been born. He is the federal head. And this
head must have something happen to it. Now we find in scripture,
Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. He's telling him,
there must be something happen to you spiritually because where
you are now will not get you to heaven. You must have something,
God must do something for you. And he called it, you must be
born again. Over here in the book of Revelation
chapter 20 verse four, the same thought is brought out, you must
be beheaded. You must come under God's almighty
severing act, and you must have the head of Christ grafted in. the spiritual beheading that
Christ is responsible for and will be performed on all that
God the Father chose in eternity past. This is figurative language
and is synonymous with many other terms that are found in the Old
Testament and the New. Have you thought about, I'll
give you a new heart? What does that take? Well, I'm
going to open you up. I'm going to take out and I'm
going to put in. Now if we think about it, that
is almost as, I hate to use the word gruesome, a thought as we
find here, if we think about it. But if we leave it spiritual,
it is an act of God that takes care of a huge problem that we
had in Adam, and the cure is the act of God in our heart,
raising us from the spiritual dead. All right? Nobody likes
to be called dead, especially those who are. We just shun from that. We don't
like it. It's offensive. When the word
of God calls all the children of Adam dead, it grates on us. But in regeneration, we learn
that what God said about us being dead is an actual fact and we
are in desperate need of a resurrection. Now we see it after the fact.
We'll never see it before the fact. That is why regeneration
or the new birth or a new heart or illumination or conversion
is absolutely essential. It must come first and then we'll
have repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
These two things, essential as they are, are the fruits of what
God does. They're the fruits of being beheaded.
They're the fruits of a new heart. They're the fruits of a new birth.
They're the fruits of an illumination. They're the fruits of being raised
from the dead. They're the fruits of being translated
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. They are what happens when God does this work. This is how
we know that God has done a work. If we have repentance towards
God, and as I mentioned Sunday, repentance towards God never
brings up repentance of sin. That's not, that's too little.
Repentance of sin is too little. Repentance toward God is what's
necessary. He has been the offended party,
and he's the one that gives us repentance, and that's what we
read over in the book of 1 Thessalonians. We've been turned from worshiping
demigods to serve the living God, and that's what repentance
is. Not one time do we find sin in
there. Now, we will know that we're sinners. He'll let us know
that. But this is not what we do when
we repent. And faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ is not having some gibberish toward him, but trusting him
with our eternal life. Trusting him with all that we
are. Trusting him as the only Savior. That's what Faith is, and it's
a gift of God too. The Bible with one voice declares
that man by the fall lost all the very thought of divine nature. Now we didn't have any in Adam.
Adam wasn't divine, but we lost every apprehension, every thought
of God in his divine nature. We turned up dead. God was someone
that could be manipulated. What did Adam do when he sinned? Now, the thing that really interests
me, and I've mentioned this from time to time, he never once told
God, I'm sorry. Never once. I don't find any
record of it. He never confessed that he was
at wrong. Now, he may have with his children.
We don't know. It's not recorded. But with God,
he never said it. But God took the initiative. and then covered him with the
skins of animals like God does with us when he gives us his
righteousness, God takes the initiative. We wouldn't take
a wit of initiative towards God, but he takes the initiative toward
us. It is then and only then when
we are raised from the dead and have a new life in Christ Jesus
that we have any initiative towards God. We'll even look at him and
we'll even have an interest in him. It's when he raises us from
the dead and we're made like unto him. That's when we have
an interest in God. There's a huge change takes place. It's not in order to get something,
it is because we've gotten something. We're not trying to gain righteousness,
we've been given it. This, the recovery can only be
affected by the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit. Turn with
me and we've read some of these verses over and over. The pages
should be getting thin. Ephesians chapter 2, would you
turn there with me? Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1
through 5. And we've said this, you can't
get here without getting through Chapter 1. We just don't have
time to read that tonight. Read it on your own and then
come up here to Chapter 2. And the Apostle Paul was led
by the Holy Spirit to make a real statement about what we are and
what we need. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. What do we need? We need to be
quickened. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of the world." Now, if we read this
and we say, you know, that's really good for my brother, he
really needs to hear this. Or if we say, that's really good
for my father, he really needs to hear this. If it doesn't hit
us, it hasn't hit us yet. If we can't fit in, wherein in
time past, you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince and power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
manner of life in times past, our conversation in time past,
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. If we can't fit in there, we haven't met it yet.
The Holy Spirit will let us know that we are a sinner. And when
he does, a sinner is a sacred thing for the Holy Spirit hath
made him thus. We will not admit to this. This
is always for someone else until he causes us to be raised from
the dead and then it's ours. And you know what? We will agree
with God. You're right. And more too. You're right, God. We agree. The desires of the flesh and
the mind were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved. Now this
carries the impact. This quickening carries the impact
of being beheaded. This quickening carries the impact
of having open heart surgery. This quickening has the same
impact as being born again. This is another term that is
used as we find there in the book of Revelation chapter 20
and verse 4 about all those saints that had been beheaded. This
is the same impact and this is the same impact God wants to
have on us. This is what was necessary and
this is what I did for you. when I saved you by my grace.
The impact is serious. I've quickened you. What's that
mean? I've raised you from the dead. Now, can you imagine the
impact that Lazarus had on Mary and Martha when he came out of
that tomb? And the rest of the people, in
fact, the Pharisees got together and says, you know, we can't
handle this. We need to kill him. That's the impact. The impact, can you imagine that
someone is beheaded and is yet alive? That they have had their
head taken off and yet are alive in Christ? That's the impact. That's how much it is. That's
why it is so impossible for us to ever do this on our own. Not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy has saved us. The impact. It's impossible. We cannot. raise again after
we've been beheaded, but God can. We cannot be raised again
after we have open heart surgery, but God can. We cannot be taken
out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom
of life, but God can. He is able to do that, and that's
what he does, and it's common with him, impossible for us. It is called, as we found here,
It is called a quickening. Over in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
17, we've read this many times, but let's turn there again. 2
Corinthians 5 and verse 17, and this verse of scripture shares
with us that there is such a transition, such a translation. There was
absolutely nothing, and I cannot imagine that. I've never been
where there's nothing. But there was absolutely nothing,
and God created the heavens and the earth from nothing. Now that's
the impact. That's only God can do that.
That is serious impact. Impact on His creation. Impact
with His creation. Now it wasn't necessary that
He do this, but He did this by His grace. He created the heavens
and the earth and all the things that are therein. Now look at
this, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, Therefore if any man
be in Christ, He is a new creature or a new creation. It has the
same impact as when God created the heavens and the earth. There
was nothing. It was deadness beyond compare
and I created life. God said, I create life. a new creation in Christ Jesus. This is not something that we
do alone. This is something that is done
to us. We can't even get help with this. It's no wonder they
cannot create life in a test tube when it comes to physical
life. God will not allow it. And He will not allow this life,
this spiritual life, to be created by signing your name, going forward,
holding your hand up, making some simple little confession
of faith. Or as I mentioned several years ago when I brought that
series on just how people are saved, you can get on the internet
and find the simple little prayer to pray. You know, they've already
got it created for you and all you have to do is read it. This
is not salvation. This is man trying to help God
be successful. And this is the worst blasphemy
that there possibly could be is attributing to man what only
God will do. we find that is a new creation.
It is a severing of the head. It's a new creation. It is a
quickening. In the book of Ezekiel, we find
taking away the heart of stone. Well, we know that that real
stoneness right here, we got mines of like concrete, thoroughly
mixed and firmly set. And unless God gets involved,
we'll go to our grave with that mind that's opposed to God with
saying God's name on our lips. In Hebrews, turn with me to Hebrews
chapter eight. This is, how did Christ put away
the law? He had to die. That's the only
way he could put away the law. He kept it perfectly. He went
to the cross and paid for all the breaking that we did, plus
a lot of other things, and put away the law. Now notice here
in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10, how in the world can anybody
do this if only Christ could do it with the law? Hebrews chapter
8 verse 10, for this is the covenant that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws in
their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to
them a God and they will be to me a people. What is he going
to do? He is going to put the law in
our hearts. We couldn't keep it. He's the
only one that could. But by his resurrecting power,
he is going to put his law, his words in our heart. And it's
there. And how do we know it's there?
When the word of God is read. And I'm not saying, John 3, 16's
in the Bible. But if that's the only verse
that stirs our heart, If Ephesians chapter one doesn't stir our
heart, if Romans chapter eight and verse 28 doesn't stir our
heart, if John chapter six, John chapter 10, John chapter 14,
John chapter 17 don't stir our heart, then we don't have his
law written on our heart. The law, the word of God declares
to our heart that he is a sovereign God in absolute rule of all his
people and will raise them from the dead at the appointed time
and they shall be with him in glory for eternity. That's his
power. If we don't see it in scripture,
if we're blind to that, then we've just never ever seen the
power of Almighty God. It is written on our heart. Our
heart will agree with the Word of God. When it's read, our heart
will agree with the Word of God. And I've said this, we may not
understand it, but we'll walk away saying, I believe that.
I don't understand it, but God said it, and I believe it. Now
whether we believe it or not, that's not the issue. God said
it. But all his saints will say,
I believe that word. It's a hard saying. The world
will walk away from it. The saints will say, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Where are we gonna go? You're
the one that raised us. You're the one that gave us a
new heart. You're the one that took the stony heart and gave
us a heart of flesh. You're the one that put me down
on the chopping block and severed my head of Adam and engrafted
the head of Christ. Where can I go? And it's only
then, after we have been given the head of Christ, when we've
been put into the church of the living God, when we have been
made to be the assembly of the saints, that we will have a head
that loves the Lord Jesus, and it affects the rest of us. Now,
salvation never did anything for our body yet. It's coming. It's coming. Promise is there.
Got the down payment. The promise is there. But it
will. The gospel of Jesus Christ will
restrain us. The nature's still there, but
it will restrain us. This is called a conversion or
turning to God. This is called a begatting. I'm
amazed, still amazed. All these years, I think of back
on Nancy giving birth to those children, I'm still amazed. The
birth. And yet we find we have been
begotten by God. It's an impact. It impacts us. It's not some small, little,
insignificant, easily forgotten thing. It is something that God
gives to us that is earth shattering. It is life-giving. It's resurrected
glorying. It is a heart transplant like
none other. It is a severing from the old
and the giving of the new. The problem is described. Turn
with me to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 13. Leviticus has a whole lot to
say about the head. But this just kind of explained
it. And Isaiah does, too. You remember
over there, from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head? And not very good description. And by nature, we'll say, if
we read that or we read it, you know, I wish my brother would
read this. I wish my sister would read this.
I wish my father and mother had read this. That's just what they
need. Boy, I wish my children would
read this. That's what they need. And if
we've ever been born again, we understand what it's really written
about. It's written to us. We'll read that in a moment.
Leviticus. Leviticus 13. Leviticus 13, 42. Now this has
to do with leprosy. And there's a lot of description
in the Bible about leprosy. This has to do with leprosy.
And a statement is made about the head. Now this leprosy has
to do with the head. Leviticus chapter 13, verse 42. The scripture says this. If there
be in the bald head or bald forehead a white, reddish sore, It is
a leprosy sprung up in his bald head or his bald forehead. Then
the priest shall look upon it and behold, if the rising of
the sore be white, reddish in his bald head or in his bald
forehead as the leprosy appears in the skin of the flesh, he
is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall
pronounce him utterly unclean. His plague is in his head. I thought it could have been
on his head, but the scripture left us, it's in his head. The leprosy is in his head. Well, that's a pretty good description
of what the real problem is. Sin is in the head, where the
mind is. Sin is in the, we call it the
heart. The heart is deceitful. It's
not this, it's this. It's the seed of the emotion.
It's the mind of the natural man. It is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. Now, Leviticus again, chapter
13, verse 44. He is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him
utterly unclean. His plague is in his head. And
the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be red,
his head bare, and he shall put on a covering upon his upper
lip and shall cry, unclean, unclean. Now this is the words of every
descendant of Adam. Unclean, unclean. If we were
honest, we'd go through our life and every breath we'd say unclean,
unclean. The leprosy is in the head. Now, turn with me to the book
of Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter one. We need a
new head. We're in desperate need of a
head. Our head is dead. The seat of... It's dead. Dead and trespasses in sin. The
mind is deceitful above all things. That part of us, the seat of
emotion, Now, here in the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verses
5 and 6, Isaiah is pointing out a problem. And again, I'll say,
there were very few Jews that would say, well, he's sure right
about this. Most of the Jews would say, this
is for Brother Levi. This is for my friend over there,
my neighbor. He keeps throwing the trash over
the fence, and he needs this verse of scripture. Well, it
says here, verse 5 of chapter 1, why should you be stricken
anymore? Ye will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick. The whole heart faint. From the
sole of the foot, even under the head, there is no soundness
in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
This is the issue. The main issue is the head. It
affected the rest. That's why we can't do any works
that serve God. That's why we can't go anywhere
that would serve God. We can't do anything that would
serve God. It has affected the rest of us. The hands, the feet,
everything has been affected by the fall. In fact, we read
over there in the book of Revelation that the number of man is 666. Don't blame that on the devil.
That's not the devil's number. That's our number. The number
of man is six, and he's just telling us body, mind, and spirit
have fallen under the curse. We're dead in every capacity.
There's not one part of Adam that wasn't touched, and we all,
as descendants of Adam, have all died in Adam, and we all
have the number 666 on us. This is not some secret mystery. If we just get away from thinking
that the book of Revelation is the book that talks about doomsday,
it's the book that glorifies Christ, it is the revelation
of Jesus Christ, and nothing will be more of a revelation
than to understand what he has done for fallen saints. He raised the 666ers out of the
dung heap and gave them a new head in Christ. Now, the problem
is described. It is the head. It is the head. From the top of the head to the
bottom of the feet. There is a leprosy in the head. The hands had to go on the head
of every sacrifice. I was reading there about those
turtle doves. If you were poor, you brought a turtle dove. You
know what happened to them? You run the head off. That was what
was required. The head had to be taken off.
The head of the animals was taken off. The head of the birds were
taken off. And over in the book of Revelation
chapter 20 verse 4, the head of his saints must be taken off.
And we must have the head which is Christ. And he tells us several
times that he is the head. He's the head. Now that's why
we love him. He's the head. He's given us
a new head. We love him because he first
loved us. What's the best way? I'll just grab my head in yours
and then you can love me. That's the best way. That's the
only way. That's God's way. He did it that way. He gives
us a, takes out our old stony heart and gives us a heart of
flesh. What is that heart? A heart to love him. This is
what is required. This is what is necessary. And
just having a, well, I made a profession of faith. It didn't even, well, it just
got me wet. I went down in the baptismal
pond and got wet. Came back out, same as I went
in. No change. Then I heard the gospel. And
oh, I told some people today, if it hadn't been for pride,
I'd have never went back to here the second time. I stuck. I had to go back. I couldn't
keep face. I wouldn't have went back on
my own for a second. All right. Ephesians. Let's go
over to Ephesians for just a moment. Ephesians 1. What has God done? He's done
everything. The answer is Christ as our head.
We must. These have had their heads taken
off. And this is not a bloody, this
is a spiritual thing. This is what God does. He takes
off the old head, Adam, and he grafts in his head, Christ. Ephesians
chapter one, verse 22. And hath put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. He has made him to be the head
of the church. If you're in the church, you're
gonna have a head. His head. I'm not talking about joining
the church. I'm talking about when He makes
us His son and daughter. Boy, we can go through life without
ever joining the church. But we need Christ, and we need
to be in His body. And we need Him as our head.
All right? Chapter 4, verse 15. We think
about those that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus. And
the thing that I notice about it is they worship not the beast,
neither his image, neither had received his mark, and they lived
and reigned with Christ. Now that's a pretty good description
of believers. Believers will not, they will
not worship the beast, they will not worship his image, they will
not receive his mark. Now there's, There's the mark
of Cain. That's just natural man's mark.
It's everywhere. But there is a mark that God
has put on every one of his children. It's his mark. All right, Ephesians
4, verse 15, the scripture says, and speaking the truth in love
may grow unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
He's the head. Those people are still alive
and they got their heads off. Those people in Revelation chapter
20 verse 4, they're still alive. They're reigning with Christ.
And yet they've been beheaded. Thank God. They said, there's
a part of me that I didn't need. I don't need that old Adamic
head. I need the head of Christ. That's
death. This is life. That's leading
me to the grave and worse. This is leading me to glory.
Chapter 5 and verse 23 of this same book. Chapter 5 and verse
23. For the husband is the head of
the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is
the savior of the body. He's the head and he's the one
that puts life in us. That's how we can lose that Adamic
head and be given the head of Christ and have life. We can
be called the beheaded sons and daughters of God and have life
and life more abundantly. And then it tells us, oh, I've
got to go over here. Genesis 24. Remember that guy
that went after a wife for Abraham's son? Boy, he's quite a guy. He's quite a guy. Abraham said,
don't you let my son marry any of these girls. And that's what
Christ says about his church. My church will not marry these
girls. My church will marry me. And the Bible is full of that.
The Song of Solomon, woo, full and running over of that. But
notice over here, this guy that went after a wife for Abraham's
son Isaac, Genesis 24. And he does hear what every one
of God's people do once they have this new heart, once they
have this new life, once Christ has become their head. Notice
this, Genesis 24, after this woman said, you betcha I'll go
marry Isaac, and she'd never met him. Yep, I'll do it. He came over
miles away, came over and says, I'd like to take you home to
marry my master's son. She said, yep, I'll do it. Now look what he did. This is
so indicative of what God's people do with the sovereign grace of
God. Genesis 24, verse 26, and the
man bowed down his head and worshiped
the Lord. What a statement. This new head
that we've been given, this new head which is Christ, when it
comes to God's salvation, when it comes to God's way, God's
purpose, God's word, God's truth, God, God, Bow down the head and
worship him. There is no room for saying,
yeah, but. There's no room for saying, well,
you've gone too far now. There's no room for saying, I
don't believe that. If that's our response, then
we've just never been beheaded. Our response after God has worked
his work is, we'll bow down our head and worship. That's what he did. Now these
that worshipped, I mentioned, and we'll look at this next time,
they worshipped not the beast. They worshipped God. They didn't
worship his image either. They worshipped God. They didn't
receive the mark, they worshiped God, and they lived and reigned
with Christ forever. Now, one, two, three verses,
that's Revelation chapter one, verse four, five, and six, and
with this we'll close. As we think about these, we're
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus. This is really, it's the
Lord's testimony to us. It's the Lord's testimony to
His grace. These were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus. It
wasn't how great a testimony they were, it's how great a testimony
He is. Revelation chapter one, verse
four, John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Revelation
one, four, grace be unto you and peace from Him which is and
which was and which is to come. and from the seven spirits which
are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
of God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever, amen. Same group that we're reading
about over in Revelation chapter 20 in verse 4 They reign they
lived and reigned with him. Who is it those who have been
washed in his blood? Those are the ones that live
and reign with him and he says it's like me taking you and taking
off your head that you had an Adam and I become the head That's how great it is. It's a living Christ. It takes us light years away
from what religion has prescribed. It's light years. No, it's just not accepting Jesus.
I'm going to take your head off. I'm going to lay Adam aside.
He's dead. and I'm going to give you Christ,
and He'll be your head.