We've spent a bit of time on
the first three chapters of this book, and I just have to be reminded
of what this book is about. And we find that. Put your finger
right there in Revelation chapter 4 verse 1, but back up to the
first verse of this book, and you will find the reason for
this book. You will find the reason and
the outline and the purpose of this book, the revelation of
Jesus Christ. That's what this book is about.
It is the revealing of Jesus Christ. And that word revelation,
we get a word so often misused in our culture, and that's the
word apocalypse. And I didn't ask for a show of
hands when we first started this, but most people view the apocalypse
as some great serious end times tragedy. And there have been
movies made about it and all that. Well, the word apocalypse
means, we find it translated in the book of Luke, a light
to lighten the Gentiles. That's an apocalypse. It's an
enlightenment. It's not necessarily, and most
of the time never, is it, found in the sphere of doom. Because when the Lord sent me
his apocalypse, it was an enlightenment to see the glory of God in Christ
Jesus, to see him as the Messiah, as the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. to go from a little God that
you use like a rabbit foot to a serious God that sits high
and lifted up on his throne. That takes the new birth, that
takes regeneration to do that. So it was an enlightenment, it
was a revelation. That's what the Lord said to
Peter when he asked Peter, who do you say that I am? Peter responded,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus said,
Flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father
which is in heaven. So it's an enlightenment. It's
having the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that is, that's everything. That is everything. Just to have
a little rabbit foot God is nothing, but to have Christ is everything.
Now, this book, we've gone through three chapters here, and we've
noticed that John was given a vision, and he shared seven letters with
seven churches there in Asia. I found out that there are other
churches in Asia, but God did not choose to send them a letter
in this group of letters. But in here, he shared himself.
We find out how he revealed himself to those seven churches, and
when he did it to those seven, he's doing it to us in completion.
When he shared the blessings of overcoming to those seven
churches, he did it to us in completion. We're able to put
them all together. We're able to say, this is a
grand characteristic and attribute of my savior Jesus Christ. It's
to all people in all times that he did that for. Now, here in
the book of Revelation chapter 4, we have John given another
vision. And he is going to share with
us in this, as the Holy Spirit directs him, he is going to share
with us what we have seen in chapters 1, 2, and 3. We're going to see the glory
of God found in Christ Jesus. From this point forward, we find
that the Lord is called Lamb more times in these chapters
and all the rest of the New Testament put together. He is the Lamb
of God and he shares with us his great victory over sin, death,
hell, and the grave. Every time we have great fear
about what might be happening on the earth, we have the Lord
taking care of it. This enemy rises up. he takes
care of. That enemy rises up and most
people fear the enemy. We just are glorying in the victor. It doesn't matter how big the
enemy is if the victor is bigger. And that's what we find the Lord
Jesus just continuously overcoming every enemy of the church here
in these next 19 chapters that we're going to look at. Now it
says here in chapter 4 verse 1, after this I looked and behold
a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard
was as it were a trumpet talking with me which said come hither
and I'll show thee things which must be. Now I prefer this translation
to this, verse 2, hereafter Immediately I was in the Spirit. Now I'm
going to tell you why I feel that in just a moment. I think
they made an error where the verses should have been changed.
Well, I'll just say right now, 300, almost 400 times in the
New Testament is that very word that we find here for hereafter
is translated with. Four times it's translated hereafter. And one of the times is found,
and we're gonna read that in a bit, but it says, they shall
call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. That word with is the same word
that's translated hereafter. Now, I think some people that
had some previous prior conceived ideas about what lie in the future
did a misnomer right here with the translating of that word.
Because that puts us in a position, oh, now we're going to be dealing
with things that are in the future. Well, you get to the 12th chapter
and we have the birth of Christ. Now that's 2,000 years ago. So
there's some things that we know in this book from this point
on that have already been taking place. So we're not gonna get
in a dither over hereafter. All right, hereafter, and immediately
I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven. Now
this is the one we're looking for, the one set on the throne.
And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. I am unable,
as I read this, I am unable to express all the glory that was
around that throne. It was interesting to me to find
out that the Eskimos have, what, 40 words for snow? I mean, they
spend most of their life in it, so they have all kinds of descriptive
words about snow. Well, it's interesting to go
through the scriptures and find out how many ways the word glory
is used. His glory, the Father's glory,
this type. So there's words added to glory
so that we can get a concept of what's going on here. We're
in the presence of God sitting on his throne, and it is a glorious
adventure. And it's an exciting time, and
it's to come in with honor and respect, for we're going to see
this glory of God is demonstrated in His Son, Jesus Christ, for
He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're going to see the
glory of God just running out. when we step into his presence.
And it does that in this chapter. Now there's been a lot of discussion
about those 4 and 20 elders. To me, it's just a symbol of
the completed church. Old New Testament put together,
12 tribes of Israel which represented the church in the Old Testament,
apostles representing the church in the New Testament, married
together in one body as we've been instructed there in the
Book of John. One flock, one body, the Bride
of Christ, they're represented there. It tells us that they
have crowns on their head, but the first thing they do with
them, is cast him down to Him. We have nothing to do with our
salvation. He has everything to do with
it. We honor and glorify Him. So that's what they're going
to do. It says there, and they had their heads crowns of gold,
and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunders and voices.
And there were seven lamps and fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there
was a sea of glass likened to crystal. And in the midst of
the throne and round about the throne were four, and once again,
we need to restate that, four living creatures. I was in Weimar
the other day and we're approaching Halloween and if you want to
see beasts, that's what you see. Now, when we think of beasts,
we don't think of living creatures. We don't think of things that
should be in the presence of God. This should have been translated,
at least in our vernacular, should have been translated for living
creatures and their whole responsibility. is to praise God living creature like a calf and
the third living creature had a face of a man and the fourth
living creature had like a flying eagle and the four living creatures
had each of them six wings about him and they were full of eyes
within and they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy
lord god almighty which was and is and is to come now i might
say this right here It is interesting to me to notice that these living
creatures have a description that we find with regard to the
four gospels. Matthew, when we look at Matthew,
we find that the predominant account in the book of Matthew
is about a king. When we get to Mark, the predominant
information we receive from Mark is he's a servant. no birth. He just starts out his ministry
and it's short and to the point and quick. He's a servant and
in the book of Luke we find him predominantly displayed as the
son of man and in the book of John he is a flying eagle. He is a son of God. Now, in every
one of them, they cross-reference, of course. They cross-state,
of course. They mention his kingship in John and his servanthood in
Matthew. But the predominant accounts
that we find seem to have that. Now, the Gospels have eyes coming
and going, and the Gospels do not cease speaking. You know,
you leave a word of the Gospel. We may make someone mad by just
saying, you know, you ought to do different. But you leave the
Gospel, and that word just stays. It's an aura about them. They
can't leave it. God puts his word out and puts
it in our heart. God's people can't escape it.
God's chosen ones cannot be removed from it. It is eyes in the front
and eyes in the back, and it cannot be removed from our mind.
In fact, God's word is like a hammer breaking the rock to pieces.
It continues to work on people. That's the only thing that will.
Our feeble efforts will usually harm, but God will always produce
life unto life, or as Paul said, death unto death. There on the
day of Pentecost, we find there were those, what shall we do?
And they were pointed to Christ. Another day, they got angry and
mad and maddened hops and left. The word came to them. over past
them, and it was a savor of death unto death to them. And so his
word is just continuous. My, you wake up in the night
seasons. Even in the night seasons, his word is fresh, delightful,
it's refreshing. And to God's people, I know when
I went and heard the gospel for the first time, heard the gospel.
Now, as all of you know, most of you know, I went through the
pretense of pastoring for 15 years and didn't know Christ.
But when I heard the gospel, man, it penetrated. It went where
no man had ever been. It went down deep. It is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing
where no man can divide. And that's what we find the Word
of God does. They cry, holy, holy, holy. My goodness, the
gospels declare the holiness of God in every page. That's why Jesus Christ must
come and give his life for ransom for many. Because of his holiness,
we could not enter into his presence until we were made holy in Christ
Jesus, that he gave us his holiness. We'd not have our own. Our holiness
is so, it stinks. There is none of our own. It's
a pretense. It's a falsehood. And then it
goes on to tell us here in verse... Verse nine, and when these living
creatures give glory and honor and thanks to them that sat on
the throne, who liveth forever and ever, and the four and 20
elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship
him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are and were created. Now that's the
apocalypse. It's so good. It just causes
God's people's hearts to sing when they see the glory of God
as it's displayed here in heaven. Now let's back up here a little
bit. I just went through there very quickly, and I would like
to spend a little time here in a couple of verses. Would you
turn with me back to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 12?
It is interesting to find out that the apostle Paul, in his
own ministry, was permitted to go into heaven, to the third
heaven. But when he had a desire to share
what he saw, he's given a thorn in the flesh, lest he be proud
of what he saw. Now turn here with me, 2 Corinthians
chapter 12, beginning with verse 1. The Holy Spirit led the apostle
Paul to say this, and he says, now I don't know whether I was
in the body or out of the body, There was a man, I'm convinced
from what he says, he's making reference to the Holy Spirit,
allowed him to make reference to himself. And very likely it
was when he was stoned by stones outside of that city and left
for dead. Now, but the Lord brought him back. It could have been
during that time. I've read that, but it says here,
second Corinthians chapter 12, Verse one, it is not expedient
for me to doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about
14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether
out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such a one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knowing. How
that he was caught up into paradise, now notice this, and heard unspeakable
words which are not lawful for a man to utter. Now that's what
Paul was told. We get to the book of Revelation,
we get to see everything Paul got to see and he couldn't talk
about it. John could. John wrote the book of Revelation
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and shared everything that Paul
saw. Of such a one will I glory, yet
of myself I will not glory, but in my affirmatives. For though
I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say
the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man
should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that
he heareth of me, unless I should be exalted above measure through
the abundance of the revelations." Now the Apostle Paul was given
a lot of revelations of Jesus Christ. Unless I be exalted,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I besought the Lord three times thrice, that it might
depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The Apostle Paul
was permitted to see some things here that he could not, it was
not at that time lawful to write about. We get to the fourth chapter
of the book of Revelation, we get to the third chapter of the
book of Revelation, we get to the second chapter, the first
chapter, and all the chapters five through 22, We're going
to get to see what the Apostle Paul got to see, and at that
time, it was not lawful for him to write about. In fact, he was
given a thorn in the flesh to prevent him from even bragging
about it. Now, we get to brag about it. We get to eulogize
the Lord, speak highly of him as we step into his presence
here in the book of Revelation. When we come to the book of Revelation,
I am almost like what we find in 1 Kings, would you turn there
with me, 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10, there was
a queen, a queen of the south that came up. She had heard about
Solomon. Now it is such a beautiful picture
here, such a beautiful picture as this Queen of the South came
up. She had heard about Solomon, but she ventured to go see him
herself. Now notice what she had to say.
First Kings, and this is just a reflection as we go through
the book of Revelation. We're going to see some things,
and praise God, He's going to allow us to see some things about
His Savior, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to
step above what most people think about apocalypse, war, doom,
and gloom, and look at the apocalypse as Christ being revealed to our
hearts and to our minds and delighted to boast in Christ our Savior. That's our apocalypse. It is
our revealing of Christ. Now here, as we go through there,
we're not going to see half. We're not going to see half.
There's some things there. We're just going to be able to
say, now, I don't know exactly what this means, but I do know
what it doesn't mean. If it doesn't bring honor to
Christ, then it doesn't mean that. If it means God failed
in some way, well, it doesn't mean that. So we just want to
leave some things alone, but we're going to spend some time
on some things that we can see and know about. Now, notice what
this Queen of the South, 1 Kings 10, verse 1, it came to pass
when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the
Lord and the king's house and all of Solomon's desire which
he was pleased to do, the Lord appeared, Excuse me, I'm in the
wrong chapter. That's a good place. Chapter
10, verse 1, and when the Queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard
questions. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train with camels that bear spices and much gold
and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him and all that was in her heart. Now, do
you think Solomon had any gold? Yeah, he had a lot of gold. Do
you think he had any spices? Yeah, he had a lot of spices.
What's this telling us? Even though our Lord has all
the glory in heaven and earth, he still loves his people to
brag on him. He still loves us to address
him as Lord God Almighty. He still loves us to call him
our savior. Even though we cannot detract
from his glory and we cannot add to his glory, he still delights
in us saying, he is my shield, my sword, my staff, and my defender. He loves his people, singing
praise. What did these four and 20 elders
do? Sang a song. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain. Now that did not add one iota
to his glory, and if they hadn't sang it, it wouldn't have detracted
one iota, but it was good for them to do it. And it's good
for God's people to do it. to sing praises to God. Now,
here she is. She brought all this stuff in,
probably didn't add a hundredth or a millionth to what he already
had, but she did what she could, and that's what God's people
do today. We just do what we can when we praise him. The half
has not been told. We don't understand a scintilla
of the glory of God, but what we do know, let's brag about. All right, here it says, when
the queen, verse four, of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom
in the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and
the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers,
and their apparel, and his cupbearers, every one of these things could
be reviewed as some spiritual application with regard to the
Christians, to the church. Oh, the food is delightful. It's the bread of heaven. The
cup, oh, it's the water of life. Everybody is at ease because
Christ has finished the work. Oh, you can just look and look
and look. The apparel got the robe of righteousness on. Verse
six, and she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard
in my own land of thy action, of thy wisdom. How be it? I believe
not the words. Isn't that the truth? My people
come to us with the news about Christ and we say, well, they
told me and I'm sure it's the truth, but I don't believe it.
I don't believe it. She said, I don't believe it.
They came, it was the truth, but I don't believe it. And my,
until I came and my eyes have seen it and behold a half. was not told me. Thy wisdom and
prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy
men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before
thee, and bear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighteth in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel,
because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he thee
king to do judgment and justice, And she gave the king 120 talents
of gold and spices, very great store, precious stones. There
came no more such abundance of spices as these which the Queen
of Sheba gave King Solomon. And she said, the half hasn't
been told. What I heard over there as queen,
it wasn't half of what I've seen. And as we go through the book
of Revelation, we're not going to see half. The half has not
been told. My goodness. To have the eyes
to see that, we'd have to be there. We will be, but we get
to enjoy what we get to see here. Now, the Lord Jesus appeared
here. Going back to the book of Revelation,
Revelation chapter 4, we find here this great sight. Now, as
we mentioned last week, it would have been most gracious for the
Lord to give us just chapters 1, 2, and 3. That would have
been like the book of John. 3 John, 2 John, just three chapters
about God's glory, his revelation of Jesus Christ, and his messages
to those seven churches. That would have been delightful.
But look what else he has given us. He has given us all the rest
of these chapters, from chapter 4 to chapter 22, 19 chapters
more about the revelation of Jesus Christ, his great work
of grace, and his great victory over all his and the church's
enemies. And we're set right now. to see
his greatness in glory as John writes about it. Whatever takes
place on earth, and we're going to find out, is first designed
and settled in heaven. Whatever takes place on earth
was first designed in heaven. What are we saying? At the covenant
of grace before the foundation of the world, every purpose of
God was decreed. It was settled. Every purpose
of God, whatever takes place on earth is first designed and
settled in heaven. We know nothing of any events
past, present or future, but what God is pleased to reveal
us. Now, if we know some events that took place in the past,
it's by the revelation of God. We're talking about things in
this book and things going on and things in the future. It
is because of the revelation that God gives to us about his
son. The sight that we're going to behold would impress us so
much that we would actually be convinced that whatever befalls
the church or the world, it will be by the absolute will of him
who rules in heaven and upon the earth. I'd like to say I'm
convinced every second of every day that he is absolutely doing
what he is going to be doing. But you know there are times
I have to just depend upon him to hold me up. There are times
I just have to depend on him seeing me through. I falter,
but he never does. I fail, but he's never. I am human, he is divine. I am earthly, he's heavenly.
And I'm so thankful that when he carries us along, he's not
looking in the sand for our footsteps because he carries us all the
way. Now you may be carrying your
child, and before you know it, it's bending over backwards.
But you still hang on and God does that for every one of his
children. He keeps them under his divine
sway and control. And as we look through here,
we're gonna be delighted to see that it is he that rules in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
none can stay his hand. He's gonna go up against our
arch enemy, death. Most people, it's the devil.
No, the greatest enemy we find in scripture is death. And he's
going to go up against our greatest enemy. He did and he's going
to demonstrate it time and time again in this book from chapter
4 to chapter 22 He's going to go up against our greatest enemy
death and then the sub enemies Sin death hell the grave all
those beasts and all that wicked stuff He's going to come up against
every one of them and without sweat on his brow He's going
to beat them And the cheering section is going to be, Thou
art worthy to receive glory and honor and praise. And we get
to be in the cheering section while the battle's going on.
The only way we'll ever overcome sin is by the blood of the Lamb.
It's not by resolution. It's not by trying to change
our mind. It's by the blood of the Lamb. That's the only way
we'll ever see sin overcome is by the blood of the Lamb. We
know nothing of the events except through the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And as we look here, turn with me if you would to
the book of Matthew chapter 16. We're gonna see the glory of
God demonstrated in this book from here on. It's been demonstrated,
but we just wanna make a statement here about the glory of our God. Matthew 16, verse 29. I'd like
to read a few verses and the center part of the verse, uh-oh,
27. Matthew 16, 27. At the center of each of these
references that we're gonna make is the word glory. And I want
us to notice how God adds to that word to share with us that
there's more about this than we can ever think about, the
glory of God. All right, Matthew chapter 16,
verse 27, for the son of man shall come in the glory of his
father. That's bigger than just the word
glory. We could capitalize that glory. The glory of his father
with his angels. And then he shall reward every
man according to his works. And chapter 19 and verse 28 of
the book of Matthew. As we look at his glory sitting
on that, that throne, that emerald rainbow, that stone around him,
a sea of glass, everything represents the glory of God, the glory of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus, his purpose of grace. Let's look
here, Matthew chapter 19, verse 28, the scriptures share this. And Jesus said unto them, verily
I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of, now here it
is, his glory. Now that's bigger than just glory.
It's His glory, the Lord's glory. What'd He say? One time He said,
Lord, restore, Father, restore unto me the glory that I had
with you before the world was. That's His glory. Turn with me,
if you would, to chapter 24 and verse 30. Chapter 24 and verse
30. And we're gonna see this multiplied. We just, the half. The half has not been seen. We're
going to see as we go through the last last chapters here of
the book of Revelation, that the glory multiplies. And I'm
not sure all the word exponentially means, but it gets big. It's
just not added to, it's added to or multiplied. I was told
one time, if I got this job, that my pay was going to start
at a penny, but it would double every day and never cease to
double. Now, I should have took that job, shouldn't I? It's several millions of dollars
in a very short time. And that's the way it is with
the glory of God. it multiplies exponentially when
we are permitted to glimpse it. It's like, as it says on the
Mount of Transfiguration, his clothes were whiter than any
fuller could ever get. All right, Matthew 24 in verse
30. Notice this glory and when and
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall
see the sun coming in the clouds of heaven with power and notice
this glory and great glory. Not just glory, great glory.
Not just glory, His glory. Not just glory, His Father's
glory. Let's look at a couple more in
Luke 2, verse 9. Luke 2, verse 9, we read this. This is the way that this glory
is going to be demonstrated throughout the book of Revelation. It gets
bigger and bigger. We see him grander and grander. He is going to come up to seven
seals on a book, and they're going to be so easy to undone.
We've been working at it with jackhammers. We had dynamite
set off under him, and he, by his own purpose of grace, lifts
those seals and shares what's under each one of them with no
effort. He is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. All right, Luke chapter two,
verse nine. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came unto them, and the glory of the Lord. Now I like that.
This is not just glory, this is the glory of the Lord shown
round about them. And they were sore afraid, the
glory of the Lord. I wonder what that looked like.
My son was down in Florida one time when they sent up the shuttle.
And he said he's two or three miles away and it was pitch dark
until they ignited it and you could have read a book. It was
like the sun coming out of that booster rocket. Boy, when he
ignites his glory, it's as bright as the noonday sun. It's the
Lord's glory. It's his father's glory. It's
great glory. And then, in Acts chapter 7 verse
2. I just love this one because
this is how he appeared unto Abraham, Abram down Ur of the
Chaldees. Our brother Stephen had this
to say about a history lesson and every bit of his history
lesson pointed to Jesus Christ the Messiah. He brought them
a history lesson. They knew all about that but
they didn't know about Jesus is the center and core and heart
of this whole message. Acts chapter 7 and verse 2. And he said, men and brethren
and fathers hearken, listen to me. The God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before
he went into Koran. Now that's what is necessary.
The God of glory appears. Oh, how pitiful it is. And I
was in that trap. How pitiful it is how God is
represented to most people when they're talked into a profession
of faith. The people are in charge and
God is just there consenting to it. When in actuality, he
is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one that
grants to us salvation. He's the one that planned it
and laid it out and decreed it in eternity past. He's the one
that set his son aside as a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. We sang a song, we're nothing more than worms coming
to God. Worms coming to God. What glory
it is. the God of glory appeared unto
him. So as we look here, we find. The God of glory is going to
appear unto us here in the chapters four through the remainder of
this book. Now my time is about up, but I want us to go back
over to Revelation four, and we're gonna spend some more time
here. But this verse here, verse four, and the last word is hereafter. And I mentioned that that word
is found translated hereafter four times in the New Testament.
Almost 400 times it's translated with. In fact, it's translated
that in this very verse. Twice this word is used. One
time it's the last word, but if you'll back up with me just
a little bit, it says, I heard was, as it were, a trumpet talking,
and the word with is the same word that's translated down here,
hereafter. Trumpet talking with me, which
said, come hither, and I'll show thee things that must be. hereafter. Now turn with me if you would
back to the book of Matthew chapter 1. This is a good place to have
this with. Now we have some very famous
people who spent a lot of time doing a lot of work with words
out of the Bible and their great assistance to us, their great
help. But the sad thing is, if that
person is slanted and does not believe in God's sovereignty,
he's not gonna bring those words out like he should. And if he
is slanted and has a view of end times from a premillennial,
God-failing viewpoint, he's not gonna translate words like he
should when it comes to eschatology. Now notice here, Matthew chapter
one, this word is found right in here, Matthew chapter one,
verse 23. It says, behold, a virgin shall
be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call
his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. And that word with is the same
word we found translated hereafter. Now I don't know if it would
work very well, God hereafter us. But God with us, God with us? Now I'm convinced that most,
much, a lot of what we're going to read about has already happened. The victory's already won. at the cross, and he said that. He said the victory is already
won at the cross. Why is he going to have to refight
it? Why does he have to go into battle against Satan again when
he's already put into death at the cross? Why is he going to
have to get into battle against sin again when he's already put
it under him? Why? He's already won the victory
over every one of his enemies at the cross, and he demonstrated
that victory so grandly when he came forth from the tomb early
the first day of the week, and he demonstrated further when
he sat down at the right hand of the Father. Now, that's victory. That's victory. He took the enemy's
head and held it up. There's no wiggle left. He killed
it. Now, we're gonna see him in battle
a lot. He's already won the victory. And we just get to observe it.
We've got our 10 power binoculars on the field, and we're watching
him overcome every enemy of the church as he does it. And it's already done. And the
church on the other side says, worthy is the lamb that was slain. He was bloody, I wasn't. He was
weary, I wasn't. He died, I didn't. We came out
victorious in his victory. And now we can sing the songs
of glory. His glory, His Father's glory.
Glory is of the only begotten of the Father. We're gonna come
out hearing the God of glory speak to us. So we're going to
jump into this, the last 19 chapters, looking at it from that viewpoint,
the victory's won, the battle's over, Christ is sitting on His
throne, and He's just gonna share with us, this is how I did it.
This is what I did. And all through it, all his saints
continuously bow down before him. We're going to learn more
about election in here, because there's going to be those that
will worship the beast. And that beast, I just think,
what do men naturally worship? Religion. Religion. People say, well, that's the
devil. Well, I see a whole lot more people all tied up in religion
than worshiping the devil. Religion is the hardest thing.
God, oh, it's hard. God has to just empty us out
of self. He's got to turn us upside down
and shake all our pockets out. He's got to just turn us inside
out. But when he does, we're stuck on him.