Revelation chapter 1 and I want
to make one comment about verse 9 and then go on into verse 10
of this first chapter of the book of Revelation Revelation
chapter 1 and I want to just share this in verse 9 with regard
to the to the exile that John was put in on the isle of Patmos.
Now that passage, verse 9, I, John, who also am your brother
and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the
word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. This verse of
scripture just fits so clearly and so closely with the verse
of scripture that we've been looking at over in the book of
Romans. So would you turn there with me, Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, we see
that the Holy Spirit shared this message with Paul. And as we
go through here, we have been encouraged as Paul was encouraged,
no doubt with these words, the book of Romans chapter 8 and
verse 17. And if children then heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may all be also glorified together. Now, John
doesn't have to suffer on the Isle of Patmos to fulfill that
verse of scripture. You don't have to suffer indignation. from anyone to fulfill that verse
of scripture. That verse of scripture and John
are fulfilled with this verse of scripture, Galatians 2.20,
I am crucified with Christ. Now that's what that verse of
scripture means, the most important part. Now, true, there are times
that God's people will suffer. And we don't have to look around
very far in our world to find out that God's people do suffer.
But the main thing that we want to share with this is John didn't
have to suffer the Isle of Patmos to fulfill that verse of scripture.
He was found in Christ, and that's where he truly suffered. I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. So that's our true suffering
is in Christ. We could suffer till the world's
end and not have that and we'll not have heaven. We could go
through all kinds of indignation and hatred could be against us
and not have that suffering and face judgment before God. So
I want to be found there. Now, if he is pleased to send
me suffering in this present world, that's his business. But
I want to be found in Him on the cross. I want to be found
in Him in His burial. I want to be found in Him when
He came out of that tomb. And I want to be found in Him
as He sits at the right hand of the Father. That's the suffering
I want to be. is in him. Everything he endured
while he was on this earth, he did it as our substitute. And
that's where I want to be found. Now, as I said, if he be pleased
to send us some suffering because of the faith, that's his business. And it may happen, and it may
have already happened. But this is the most valuable
suffering that we'll ever have, and that is to be in Christ when
He endured all on our behalf. And that's the most important.
Now, going back over to the book of Revelation chapter one, I'd
like to spend some time here on verse 10. I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of
a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last. And what thou seest, write in
a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia,
unto Ephesus, and unto Samaria, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira,
and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one lichen of the Son of Man clothed with a garment
down to the foot. girt about the paps with a golden
girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white
as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet
likened to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and
his voice was the sound of many waters, and he had in his right
hand seven stars, and out of his mouth was a sharp two-edged
sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first
and the last. Now, if you noticed with me through
that passage of reading, there is a lot of investigation we
get to do about our Savior, the Lord Jesus, in those few short
verses of scripture. But as we look at verse 10 here,
we find that the Apostle Paul has been abandoned, has been
exiled to the Isle of Patmos, and Wally is there. Now, I can't
help but think As I go over this, I can't help but think that when
he was originally exiled, he had a little bit of difficulty
with that. And in this verse of scripture, we find that I
was, and that could have been translated a little better, I
became. I became. Now, by nature we was,
but by the spirit of God we become. by nature. I can't help but think
that there was just a little bit of difficulty in him facing
the prospects that lie ahead. Now, as he is there and as he
became in the Spirit on the Lord's day, it's a sign to us that the
Lord was gracious to him and he was caused to understand why
he was there. Now that's a blessing if we're
ever caused to understand why something is as it is. Now the
Lord can just leave us. saying, I am sovereign, I am
God. All things work together for
the good of them that love God to those who are the called according
to his purpose. But John was able to see a little bit of why
he was there. And that was to receive this
letter, this book that would be given for the comfort and
rejoicing of the church from the time it was given until this
very hour. So he got to see a little bit
of why the Lord blessed him being there. Now turn with me, if you
would, over to the book of Matthew, chapter 28. Now we've read this
passage of scripture in the past, but I want to, again, this is
one of those passages that shares with us where true comfort is
found, and John is understanding where his true comfort is. It
is, God doeth all things well. It is, as he thought, so shall
it come to pass. Now we have no idea in this world
why Kim had this aneurysm. But he does. We don't know why we're sick.
We don't know why we have back aches. We don't know why. But
he does. We don't know why things happen,
but he does. Now notice here in the book of
Matthew chapter 28, a great verse of scripture here
is in verse 18, but let's back up just a little bit. Verse 18
says, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Well,
what made, what caused him, what produced, what was the thing
that produced those words out of his mouth? The two verses
prior to that. Now notice with me, then the
11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mount where Jesus had
appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped
him, but some doubted. Now things have just been turned
upside down for them. Read the account of the two on
the road to Emmaus. We supposed, we thought, and
they were right in their thoughts, but they've been caught off guard. They doubted. My goodness, that's
a natural human issue. What was it that brought them
out of this cave of doubt? What was it that brought them
out of this position that they have? What was it that gave them
comfort? What was it that's gonna comfort
John and his position? What is it that comforts God's
people, whether we're persecuted or not? What is it that truly
comforts God's people every day? He shares that in verse 18. Jesus
came and spake unto them saying, I'm king. Isn't that enough? All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. What he's saying there
is I'm sovereign. I'm king. I thought it and it
came to pass. So whatever issue we have, these
words that the Lord spoke to us through Matthew, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. Well, the believer says,
I don't want anybody to have any other power. All power is
in his hands. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. That is the greatest comfort
that God could ever share with the church is to cause us to
understand and to know that he has all power and all authority
and whatsoever comes to pass, he's in charge of it. So as John
is exiled to Patmos, it is a blessing to know and for us to know and
for him to know all powers given unto me in heaven and earth.
I'm not waiting for any power. I'm not going to get any more
power all powers given unto me in heaven and earth the glory
that he had with the father before the world was was the power that
he had in Creation the power that he had over all the worlds
the power that he had over all Demons the power that he had
over all ills and sicknesses and the power that he had over
death all powers given unto me in heaven and in earth and Then
he goes on with the Great Commission, but can you just see them? Oh
my, that's the most comforting words I've heard since I heard
an empty tomb. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth, that God is in control. The Lord Jesus is
doing exactly as he planned, and he wasn't taken off course
by any Roman soldier or by any religious leader. It was exactly
as planned. And so it is with John on the
Isle of Patmos. I was, I became. It's not a natural
thing to become in the spirit. The spirit is like the wind.
The wind bloweth where it listeth. And now hear the sound thereof
and cannot tell where it came from or where it's going. Where it came from or where it's
going, so is everyone that's born of the spirit. So this blessing
of God's Spirit upon us and giving us that birth and then causing
us to become in the Spirit, moving us to that direction. Turn with
me, if you would, back to the Psalm, Psalm 119. I want to read
three verses out of the 119th Psalm that share with us this
comfort that we have in the Lord Jesus and this comfort that we
have in his word and comfort knowing that he does all things
well. and he's in charge, and he's king, and all power and
all authority is given unto him, and John could be at rest, even
though he may, and I'm just surmising, it doesn't tell us, but I believe
he was a human being, and I believe he had issues and problems with
what was happening, but when he finally, the Lord finally
comforted him, he could be back in fellowship, back in the spirit.
Lord, thank you for sharing that with me. Let me know one more
time that this is all falling out for your glory. It's all
falling out on your purpose. Now here in the Psalms, Psalm
119, verse 50. You turn with me to Psalm 119,
verse 50. We read these words. This is my comfort in my affliction. For thy word hath quickened me.
God's word to us gave us life. This is my comfort. This is my
comfort. We're comforted with the comfort. Wherewith he hath comforted us
with, I've comforted you. And then in that same Psalm,
turn with me to verse 89, Psalm 119, verse 89, the Lord says,
forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
Isn't that comforting? Your word's settled. You have
a purpose laid out. It's not gonna be altered and
moved by time or by events or people or even by me or by John. It will not be altered. Forever
is thy word settled in heaven. In this world, it's settled.
As it tells us there, Psalm 119 verse 89 forever O Lord thy word
is settled in heaven and then if you turn to verse 114 of that
same chapter Thou art my hiding place and
my shield. Now we sing a couple of songs
that have that point of view. Hiding place, thou art my hiding
place and my shield. I hope in thy word. So as John
is caused to understand a little bit of why he is on the Isle
of Patmos, the spirit overflows him, floods him, comforts him. He is not here by mistake, but
he is here by divine appointment. And when it's all said and done,
I can't help but think, oh Lord, I've seen heaven's glory. I've seen things that Paul couldn't
write about. Paul was caught up to the third
heaven. And came back, he says, I don't know whether it's in
the spirit or out of the spirit, whether that's dead or alive. But I saw things
I couldn't, it was unlawful for me to write about, and John gets
to write about it. In heaven's glory. Now, in that,
we find, he says, I became, I was, I became in the spirit. Oh my goodness. as a Spirit of
God flooding in. Now the Spirit provides so much
for us. We're absolutely dependent upon
the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God and not
a man that leads us into all truth. No man may show us, but
it's the Spirit of God that convinces us. Now I'm convinced that a
man may show us the truth. And if we truly know the Lord,
we'll not argue about it. We'll say, I'll go home and read
it maybe, or I'll go home and study it. But the outcome is
going to be, I agree with the word of God. Now, if you're going
to argue with the word of God on any issue, you better take
your argument with God, because that's who you're arguing with.
But God's people are not going to argue with the word of God.
They may say, I need to study that a little more, or I've never
heard that before, but they'll never say, I don't believe it.
Never. It's God's word. And our soul
has been created. Our life has been created by
the Lord. Now it tells us there that John, I was, or I became
in the spirit, going back to the book of Revelation on the
Lord's day. Well, we know why the term Lord's
Day is mentioned in scripture. It was the first day of the week.
It was the day the Lord came out of the tomb. And yet we never
find anywhere in scripture that there is a command like there
was under the Jewish economy. The Ten Commandments, one of
them says about the Sabbath day. And there's a penalty of death
if you don't keep it. Now, far be it from the spirit
to ever lead anybody to say this is a command. Because in the
economy of Christianity, those words, the law of God is placed
on our heart. We're drawn to it, we're not
forced to it. Now, it's not a law like they
faced in the Old Testament. It is a delight of the church
to worship God, and it's a delight of the church to remember the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But is it a command? If it were necessary, we could
meet on Monday. Now, I know it'd be against tradition,
but that's the only thing it would be against. We meet on
the first day of the week as a remembrance of the resurrection,
but if everybody had jobs on Sunday, we could meet on Monday
and do the same thing. Now, I'm not advocating anybody
getting a job on Sunday, but you know, we just don't know
how providence will work. But if it worked that way, we
could do the same thing on Monday and still worship the Lord. Every day is the Lord's Day.
We just get to get together on the first day of the week and
commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Mark, chapter 16. Mark,
chapter 16. And we read here that the reason
that the early Christians began to worship on the first day of
the week is, whoa, do you remember what happened on that first day
of the week? Do you remember what happened
on that special first day of the week? We thought we'd lost
our king. We thought we'd lost the Lord.
We thought everything was gonna crumble up and fade away. We
trusted, we believed that this was the Messiah, and they crucified
him and put him in a tomb, and we got namali grubs over that.
When you see your king slain, but when it was shared with them
that this is the sovereign king, Becoming a... full and complete
substitute for all his people. Those people rejoiced in the
Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection when
they saw the picture put together. And they would say, you know,
we've been doing it on Saturday for all this time, but we're
not under the law for righteousness sake. Let's just go down there
and have a good time celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. There was no compelling, no law
has ever been written. And I find it difficult to say,
it's the Lord's Day Sabbath. I don't want the Sabbath. I want to worship the resurrected
Christ. Now under the old economy, God
had those people celebrate the creation. He rested on the seventh
day. But when we get to the book of
Hebrews, it shares with us about that day of rest, that rest.
There's a rest of the people of God in Christ. He is our rest. We're not celebrating the resurrection
of this world. We're celebrating Him coming
out of the tomb and being able to say, I have a new creation
in Christ Jesus. I've been created clean in Him.
So as we read here in the book of Mark chapter 16 and verse
9, the word of the Lord says, Mark 16, verse nine, not Matthew. Mark 16, verse nine. Now when Jesus was
risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to
Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. So we
get this information. He'd already shared that he must
be buried, that he would raise again the third day. And this
third day is very early, the first day of the week. Now, keeping
this in mind, let's turn to the book of John, chapter 20. John,
chapter 20. And the disciples begin to meet
on this day. And the apostle Paul shares when
you come together on the first day of the week. But notice over
here, book of John, chapter 20, and verse 19. As we think about
this, every day is the Lord's day. We meet at a celebration. We don't meet out of compulsion,
but celebration. Would you rather do that? Now,
I hear this from Nancy, and I put up with it for those 19 years,
dealing with kids who don't want to go to school. They don't realize, well, this
is a sidetrack, this is a rabbit trail. They don't realize how
necessary it is, but they don't want to be in school. Now, have
you ever felt that way about church? I don't want to be there. I have too. Now, on this side
of belief, on this side of regeneration, on this side of Christ, it is
a delight. And it's not out of compulsion.
It's out of delight. And that's what God wants. He
wants us to meet out of delight, out of celebration, and not out
of have to. Now, I understand our children. When they're growing up, we may
compel them to go with us. But once they reach a certain
age, if they come, we say hallelujah. And if they don't, we understand,
don't we? We'd love them to come. We want
them to be here. We want them to hear the gospel.
But if they don't come, we say, I'm going anyway. I'm celebrating. I'm celebrating the resurrection.
And if they come, we just celebrate them more. We celebrate them
being with us, and we just celebrate the resurrection. But there's
nothing we can humanly do to make them come. And when we do,
we're doing a drastic dishonor. All right, now, notice here in
John chapter 20 in verse 19. John chapter 20 in verse 19 says,
and then the same day at evening about being the first day of
the week when the doors were shut, when the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst
and said unto them, peace be unto you. the same day at evening
being the first day of the week. Now the Lord appeared unto his
small body of believers, and we always point our finger at
Thomas, because he wasn't there. I'm sorry folks, but that was
by divine appointment. That was by, something came up, and he wasn't there. The problem is there. Now, let's notice in that same
chapter, in verse 26, we find, and after eight days, again,
on the first day of the week, his disciples were within and
Thomas was with them. Now, they're all celebrating,
and Thomas had a whole bunch to celebrate. How did he answer
the Lord? My Lord and my God. Now, that's
celebrating. He's celebrating the resurrection.
He's celebrating his Savior out of the tomb. And we can poke
fun all we want to, but that's a good confession. My Lord and
my God, that's what he said to the resurrected Savior when he
saw him the first time. That's a good confession. Now
the Lord did say, blessed are you because you saw, but blessed
are those who never see and yet believe. But Thomas made a good
confession. when the Lord came to him. First
day of the week, eight days later. If you count them on your fingers,
you'll find that out. And then over in the book of
Acts chapter 20, we read these words about the celebration that
was going on. They were celebrating. Now the
Jews were meeting on the Sabbath, and you notice if we follow the
Apostle Paul through his ministry and mission journeys, there were
times he found out it wasn't worthwhile to meet on the first
day of the week. Because the Jews were in the
synagogue on the Sabbath, that's when he went and preached. But
when churches were started, when people were saved and assemblies
were put together, they started celebrating the first day of
the week because they too rejoiced in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. It was not going back to the Sabbath, it was celebrating
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all my
hope and this is all my salvation. Jesus Christ could have come
down to this earth and did exactly what he did in his personal ministry.
He could have been crucified and could have been buried, but
if he had never come out of that tomb on the first day of the
week, all that work would have been wasted. It took his resurrection. And when those disciples understood
what it was when he came out of the tomb, his father was satisfied
with the sacrifice and he would be welcomed in glory. They too
celebrated his resurrection and his ascension back to the father.
They too understood that they were buried with him and they
came out of the tomb with him. And then in his ascension, they
sat down with him in glory. And this is something to celebrate,
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and at the same time, my resurrection,
our resurrection in the Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate his
resurrection. Acts chapter 20 and verse 7,
we read these words. It says there, Acts 20 verse
7, upon the first day of the week when the disciples were
come together to break bread, Paul preached to them, ready
to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until late
in the afternoon. Midnight. Long time. He had something to say and he
said it. Now he wasn't going to be there very much longer. Now, we're not going to do that
to you tonight. We're not going to stay until midnight. But notice
when they met. They met on the first day of
the week in celebration. And that's why we do. But you
know what? If it were necessary, Tuesday we could still celebrate.
Wednesday we could still celebrate. Whatever day we choose to meet
on, We could celebrate. All we would have to do is break
our old tradition, and that would be difficult, but we could worship
the Lord Jesus Christ the same, and he would not be offended.
He wants us to worship every day of the week, but we get together
and fellowship twice, three times a week, and I haven't found many
people say, I don't like it. I like celebrating. I like celebrating
the resurrection. I like celebrating the victorious
Lord. I like celebrating all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. I like celebrating
that. I like knowing it and then celebrating
it. Now the Apostle John says, I
was or I became in the spirit on the Lord's day. And he's celebrating. No law, but spiritual enticement
caused him to worship the Lord on the Lord's Day. Now, there's
only one other place in the New Testament where that word Lord's
is used, apostrophe S, and it happens to be connected with
supper in the book of First Corinthians, Lord's Supper. The only other
place it's used. It's a possessive word. It's the Lord's Day and it's
the Lord's Supper. Now I might say this. We don't
inspect people. It's the Lord's Supper. Okay. It's the Lord's Supper. He invites
his people to the Lord's Supper. We don't inspect people. Now,
going back to the book of Revelation, chapter one, I was in the spirit
on the Lord's day and notice this. I heard. I heard. Now we're going to look at what
he heard and what he saw. But I heard seven times in this
book, it says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
said to the churches. He that hath an ear. Now there's
two places in scripture that are interesting to me. There
was a voice spoken, but the people confessed. Well, let's just go
over there. John chapter 12. John chapter
12. Now, this is just so common. This is so common. John chapter
12, we read here what is so common. It is very special when people
hear. It is so common when people don't. It is uncommon when people hear. It is common when people don't. You guess what I'm saying? The
natural man does not hear the things of God. Now they may hear
the same thing we hear, but this is what happened in John chapter
12, verse 27. Notice with me here, it is so
uncommon that someone heard something and so common that people didn't
hear anything. And it's such an example here
found in John chapter 12 and verse 27. Now is my soul troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Now notice verse 28 there. Then came there a voice from
heaven. saying I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. Now notice verse 29. And the
people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. It is so uncommon to hear a voice
from heaven. It is so special It is so special
that the voice from heaven could be heard. It is so common to
hear thunder. Indistinguishable, indistinguished
words. Some said there an angel spake
to him. But the majority thought it thundered
that day, and we're able to hear in on the message. God the Father
spoke to his son in clear words that could be understood by a
hearing ear. And John over there, he says,
I heard. It is uncommon to hear the Lord
God Almighty. It is so common not to hear him. It is so common to hear the same
message and go away saying, I don't know anything about that. It
is so uncommon to say, I heard God. I heard the Spirit. I heard the
word. It takes a hearing ear, created
hearing ear, to hear the word of the Lord. It must be God working
in us to hear the word of the Lord. Now another place, turn
with me if you would over to the book of Acts chapter 22,
the Apostle Paul is sharing about what happened to him on the road
to Damascus, and in so doing he shares with us here what other
people heard that same day as he was on the road to Damascus.
Now God is very pointed when it comes to his great salvation. He is not broadcasting. He is
not flock shooting. He's picking out one by one by
one by one. And here again, in the book of
Acts, we find that as the apostle Paul was sharing, I heard something
on the road to Damascus. God spoke to me. I knew who it
was. Lord, what will you have me to
do? Who are you, Lord? He asked those questions, and
it was given to his heart. The answers were given to his
heart. Life-changing. Life-giving words were given
to him, but notice as he reflects on that to those his friends
that are with him. These are all his buds. They're
all Pharisees. They've come out of the same
egg that he's come out of. They're made of the same pulp
he's made of, and they're going with the same intent that he's
going with. They're not along for any other
reason but to please Saul. Now notice what he says here
in Acts chapter 22 verse six. And it came to pass that as I
made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me
and I fell into the ground and heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me." How serious. Paul saw, heard
it. It struck him right here. He
heard the voice from heaven, but he confesses that those,
his friends that were with him, didn't hear a thing. God didn't quicken him. God didn't
move in him. God didn't give him an ear. So
one time, oh, they went home, says, you know, there was not
a cloud in the sky, and I heard a thunder. Didn't rain a bit,
but I heard a thunder. And over here, I don't know,
I saw a bright light with that guy we was walking along with,
old Saul, and he keeps talking about, but there was nothing.
Nothing went on, didn't hear a thing. He keeps talking about
he heard something, but he's daft. There was no sound. Well, praise the Lord, John said,
I was in the Isle of Patmos, and I became in the Spirit on
the Lord's Day. And what's it say? And heard,
I heard. The whole book's given to him.
Just look at that. The whole book of Revelation
is given to him. He heard something. God spoke
to him in a powerful way, and he's still speaking, and he's
still creating hearts. He's still creating ears to hear. Hearing the word of God, what
great pleasure it is for God's people, but it is so understood
when people walk away and say, I didn't hear a thing. We can
just simply say, I understand. I know what you're talking about.
I've been there, but thanks be unto God, now I can hear something.
Oh, if we were born, and we are, if we're born deaf, and through
some miracle of surgery, we're given the ability to hear, now
that's gonna be a miracle. We're born deaf to spiritual
things. And by the grace of God, when
he creates in us life, we're able to hear a still small voice. We're able to hear the Lord.
We're able to hear. And that's what John gets to
do. I heard behind me a great voice. It's interesting to me that that
voice appeared behind him. Wasn't out in front of him. There
are several things that I've thought about, about this verse.
Most of the time, what we expect doesn't happen in front of us. The prophet said, turn me and
I shall be turned. And I think that the Holy Spirit
is just sharing with us in this passage of scripture that going
along in life, even on the Isle of Patmos and being in the spirit,
we still need to be turned to see the Lord of glory. Every
day, the world is here and the Lord is there. And he turns us
every day to face him and to love him. He shares with us twice
in the Old Testament about this turning, in Jeremiah and in Lamentations,
to be turned. God turns us. Thank God he turns
us. He said, I heard a voice behind
me, a great voice behind me. Now, great events deserve great
announcements, and that's what we're gonna have here. It was
so interesting when I was looking this up that this word great
voice is the same words we find twice from the cross when Jesus
said with a loud voice, exactly the same words. He announced
great announcements with a great voice. He said with a loud voice. I
commend my spirit. And with a loud voice, he said,
it's finished. With a loud voice. And then one
of the capstones, great announcements. Great events deserve great announcements. And one day, he's standing in
front of a tomb. And he said, with a loud voice,
with a great voice, Lazarus, come forth. Great event. Deserved great announcements.
And that's what we find here, a great event is taking place
and a great announcement, great loud voice as a trumpet, a voice
of a trumpet. Now, one of the translations
said that's a war trumpet, war trumpet. And we're gonna look
in, our time is up, but we'll look at this again. There's a
passage of scripture says, if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, how will people know what to do? Now we don't know what
it is to be, our lives to be run by a trumpet. People in the
military have a little more idea, but years ago, and not that many
years ago in the United States, the cavalry, the whole cavalry
was run on a trumpet. Charge, retreat, how fast the
horse was to go, everything was dependent upon the trumpeteer.
And we are too. with the voice of the Archangel
and Trump of God. Now we'll spend some time here,
but I want to spend a little more time on that great voice.
He stood in front of a tomb and with a great loud voice made
an announcement. The Lord God Almighty spoke. Lazarus, come forth. Our time is up