Revelation chapter 1. This truly
is the revelation of Jesus Christ, as we see through this chapter,
the number of ways that he has described to his people. It is just an abundance of statements
made with regard to his person and his ministry and his offices. And here in the first chapter
of the book of Revelation, and I want to begin reading with
verse four and read down through verse eight and spend a little
time on verse five then. The revelation of Jesus Christ,
this truly is the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is his,
the person and work and ministry of Christ revealed to us. Let
us know about him and what he does. Verse four, John to the
seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from
him which is, which was, and which is to come. and from the
seven spirits which are before his throne. And we mentioned
last week that this grace always comes before peace. And that's
God's unmerited favor that he had a mind towards in the covenant
of grace before the foundation of the world. It is a long enduring
grace that changes not. His grace or His feelings towards
us, His unmerited favor towards us does not rise and fall with
time. It is always a constant, 100%. And then as a result of that,
we have peace. We have peace with Him. And then
it says here, from Him which is, and we said a few things
last week about I am, His isness, his ever presentness, he is never
outdated. It's kind of interesting, go
down to the post office right now and you can buy a book of
stamps that says forever on it. It doesn't matter who's going
to have them around in a year, but you can use these if the
price of stamps go to $5, they're forever stamps. Well, the Lord
Jesus has forever been the I am, ever present. Every generation
has had him that way. From the very beginning, in the
garden, he was the I am, and he's the I am today. He's ever
present with his people. Now, things may grow old, but
God does not. The Lord Jesus does not. He does
not get old. And here it also says, which
was, there's a was about him that we just can't imagine. Goes
beyond the ability for us to imagine. The God before the world
began. in his glory. I've shared this,
but there was a preacher in Texas that was out on vacation, and
he was traveling. And it was Sunday, and he decided
he was going to stop, and here's a church with people all outside. The building is filled. There
are people hanging in the windows. There's cars parked around it
and buggies. Turned out it was a black church. He says, I've got to stop here.
And he got there just in time for that preacher to say, where
was the Lord before he created the heavens and the earth? Where
was the Lord before he made man? Where was he before he created
all the critters? In his glory. And that just sums it up. He
was in his glory. He as always was. And he shall
ever be. And then it tells us this one,
the Lord Jesus, we have a promise from him. He shared that with
his disciples on the mountain of departing. He says, as you
seen him go, so shall he return. So we have a promise from the
Lord. And as we, uh, observe or participate in the Lord's
supper, this we are, we're asked to do until he comes again. It's just a way of remembrance
of his great promise to us. And then it tells us here, the
seven spirits, and we went over there to the book of Isaiah and
read a verse of scripture that shares with us the greatness
of the Spirit of God and fills every capacity that we need.
He's the one that presents us to Christ. He's the one that
draws us to Christ. He's the one that reveals Christ
to us. He counsels and comforts us. He's the one that walks beside
us. He's the one that reveals all truth to us. It's the Holy
Spirit's activity. Now, verse 5, and from Jesus,
who is 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 unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him. And this great host that
pierced him, they shall see him as he is, face to face. The world,
it tells us what they shall do. And all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. Those who pierced him,
those who know him as Savior, those who have been regenerated,
those he had the names of graven on the palms of his hand, those
he had them on his breastplate, on his chest, those that pierced
him are in love with him. who's revealed himself to him
in such a gracious way. All right, we wanna spend a little
bit of time here in verse five tonight, and in some ways it's
a review, because these words have been brought out so many
times in the scriptures, but they're just so great, so glorious,
as we get a view of the Lord Jesus. Now, we're just approaching
that place here in this verse of scripture, where we get to
see him as John saw him, and when John saw him, he fell at
his feet and dead. Now, God's people stand in awe
as we read these verses of scripture. They stand in awe. This is the
savior of his people. Now it tells us here, Jesus Christ,
verse five, from Jesus Christ. And we've seen that in the scriptures
many times, but it always, always touches our hearts when we read
about our Savior, Jesus Christ. We're touched by even the name
of Jesus Christ. And the reason that we're touched
is his naming Savior. And when he was promised, when
he was already in the womb of Mary, Joseph was told, you shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. What a dramatic way of introduction
to Joseph, who has thoughts of putting this woman away. But
you shall call his name Jesus. In the Old Testament, it would
have been Joshua. In the New Testament, it is Jesus. And he's
a savior of his people. He has every intention of saving
every one of them, and not one of them shall be lost. Not one
will be left out. Not one will be unfound. They
shall all be present at the great marriage supper of the Lamb.
They shall all have their name tags. I used to go to a lot of
meetings when I was in the teaching profession, and you'd go there,
and there'd be people that districts paid their money for, and the
name tags would be left over. They didn't show up. Maybe they
went, but they didn't go to the meeting. I don't know. Lot of
name tags. And then once in a while, there'd
be one they'd have to create a name, and it would always be
handwritten with some magic marker. It was always good to have one
that was already typed out, and you could wear it, you know?
But that's not the way it's gonna be with God. No tags are gonna
be left, and He's not gonna have to create new tags for people
who showed up. He knows all His sheep. Now, it tells us there that there's
also that word that's attached to that, and that is Christ,
which means Messiah or anointed one. And truly, this is the statement
about his eternality. Jesus is the man that was given. Christ is the God that came. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of John chapter one and verse 14. And we read these
words about the Lord Jesus, the word, became flesh. I just can't figure that out.
John chapter 1 and there in verse 14 we read these words about
the Lord Jesus that the word became flesh. John had already
spent some time on the subject of the word. There's no question
about who that is and there's no question about how long he's
been the word. Here in John chapter 1 verse
14, the scripture says, and the word was made flesh. Now notice
this next phrase, and dwelt among us. He just didn't come down
for a visit. Now he did come down for a visit
when he visited with Abraham. He did come down for a visit
when he visited with Moses. And he did come down for a visit
when he visited with Adam. He came down for a visit. But
in his appointed time, he came down for a duration, for a period
of time. He just didn't come down to visit,
he came down to tabernacle among us. That's what it means in the
original, he tabernacled among us. He took upon himself flesh,
the God, the very God took upon himself flesh and he tabernacled
among us for a season. He was kept, captured by the
flesh. He was a perfect child and a
perfect man. He's the God-man, but he was
captured by flesh. We don't see him doing some of
the things that the Old Testament shares that he did. He's captured,
and he's captured for a season that he might become the ransom
price for his slaves that were sold into slavery of sin. The
ransom price was his flesh. The ransom price was his blood. The ransom price is his life. So he was captured for a period
of time in this flesh for the payment of a ransom price. The
letter went out. The ransom note. All yours have
been captured by sin. They fell into sin and Adam.
And if you want them back, You're going to have to pay the ransom
price. And the ransom price is the death of the God-man. That's the ransom price. You're
going to have to pay that. Well, the Lord Jesus, we read
about him. He was so willing to pay the
ransom price. He is so willing to be our Savior. He was not forced into it. There
wasn't a vote that took place in heaven and Christ lost. He volunteered. It was in the
covenant of grace that he'd give up his life, a ransom for many.
So he came willingly down to this earth. He came to be born
of a virgin, take upon himself flesh. And here it says, the
word became flesh and dwelt among us, there in verse 14, and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
This is the precious Son of God came down to tabernacle among
men, And then it says he's full of grace and truth. This is the
only man that ever walked the face of the earth that those
two words could be said about. He's full of grace and truth
by his very nature. We have to be given grace and
we have to be given the truth, but he came down and he was full
of grace and truth. That's how he came. He had all
the greatness of God and he was filled with his unmerited favor
to dispense to Matthew, a taker of custom money, taxes. and John and Peter, just lowly
fishermen, sinners. Just go down to the wharfs along
the coast of Oregon and find out what kind of people most
of them are. That's the kind of people the
Lord God Almighty showed his grace and showed his truth to,
the truth of God to these fishermen, these outcasts. and Matthew,
a tax collector, an outcast, and those women that came to
him, outcasts, this is who he came for. And then if you would
look with me to the book of Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 as it shares
here this information about the Lord. I just love this verse
of scripture. It explains so much and yet is
so deep that it's beyond explanation. But in Matthew chapter 1 verses
21, 22, and 23, we read those words about the Lord Jesus. He'd
call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is. Now I read the words, but the
miracle of God's grace, God with us. Emmanuel. We never have the Lord Jesus
called Emmanuel by anybody in scriptures. This is the record. that his name is Emmanuel. But
when we use the word Jesus Christ, we're saying God with us. We
have God come in human flesh to lay down his life, a ransom
for many. We're saying the same thing.
So Emmanuel, so Jesus Christ, God with us, the word became
flesh. He fixed his tent of flesh. He lived a while among us. And
then going back over there to the book of Revelation, it shares
three things very rapidly in this verse of scripture that
we want to spend just a little bit of time with tonight. These
qualities about the Lord Jesus, these qualities about Jesus Christ,
the God-man, Emmanuel, Jesus, you shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The qualities
about this one, the Lord. that we're gonna see more of
as this book, as we read it. This is the revelation of this
one. This is what he has revealed to his people. Now, to many,
it's just good words. To the church, this is so precious. Notice with me here. Verse five,
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. The faithful
witness. If you want someone testifying
for you, you want a faithful witness. If you want a mediator,
you want a faithful witness, someone who will tell the truth.
And we find this out about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a witness. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah
55, if you would. Isaiah 55, we read here about
the Lord being a witness and a faithful witness, and his witness
is true. Now, he may speak to our heart
and say, as he did many, He told the woman at the well he was
a faithful witness to her. He didn't beat around the bush. He got right to the heart of
the problem. You've been married seven times
and the man you're living with is not your husband. Now, to the
psychiatrist and the psychologist, oh, we want to be careful in
this area. We don't want to upset this lady. We want an opportunity
to talk to her. Jesus Christ dealt with her.
He just cut to the chase and says, this is the way it is.
And we find the Lord dealing with his people always the same
manner, so honestly. He's a faithful witness. You
know what he says? With all honesty, you're a child
of Adam, you're a sinner by practice, and you're a sinner by nature,
and you're a sinner by choice. And when he says that to us,
if we don't know it, we raise our hackles. And after we know
him, we say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I know that it just
it grates on me every day I'm a sinner. Yes. He's so honest
with us Sometimes we don't like honesty, but the Lord's always
honest with us. He never never never gets Goes around this way
to get to it. He's honest. He's straightforward
notice here in the book of Isaiah chapter 55 He's a witness He's
a faithful witness. Isaiah 55 verse one, we read
these, these words about the Lord and about him being a faithful
witness, always honest. He's going to be honest here
in the word of God. He's going to be honest with the seven churches
of Asia. Can you imagine him writing a letter today to a church
and says, I'd rather you are hot or cold, but this lukewarmness,
I just can't stand. That's what he said. Honest,
just honest. He just, you generation of snakes. Now, we just couldn't say that,
but he did. Honest, honest. He was honest
with the churches. He was honest with their problems
there, as we're going to read. All right, Isaiah 55, verse one. I'll get there. Ho, everyone that thirsteth.
Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy,
eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. That means you're not going to
bargain or trade for this. We're not bargaining with the
Lord. We're not going to trade. Wherefore,
do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which is satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, hear, and your soul shall live. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. now notice
this in verse four behold i have given him for a witness to the
people a leader and commander to the people behold thou shall
call a nation that thou knowest not and nations that knew not
thee shall run unto thee because of the lord thy god and for the
holy one of israel for he hath glorified thee now notice verse
four behold i have given unto given him for a witness to the
people a leader and a commander to the people he's the honest
one he's the one that is a faithful witness He will tell the truth. He will not back up. He will
not budge on this matter. And we find him when he talks
about the covenant, it mentions there the everlasting covenant,
even the sure mercies of David. He's a witness of the covenant
of grace. He's a constant and abiding witness
about the covenant of grace, that it is in effect, and it
was made in the council halls of eternity. And in that covenant
of grace, the Father chose a people out of all the peoples of the
world that would come. And the Son said, I'll lay down
my life for all those, and the Holy Spirit said, I'll go find
them. and I'll regenerate him." That's in the covenant of grace,
and he's a faithful witness to the covenant of grace, and he's
a witness of God's way of salvation. Only way. He termed it narrow
way. That's what he turned. He's a
faithful witness when it comes to salvation. It's God's salvation. He gave the message to Jonah
in the great fish's belly, salvation's of the Lord. He's a faithful
witness on this issue. He didn't send out a paper and
ask for people to say, what would you like in a church? What would
you like in a Savior? He just said, this is the way
it is, and my people shall bow. My people shall lend their ear. My people shall hear. This is
the way it is. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's only
one way. And he's a faithful witness about
that. He's a true witness. Turn over there, would you, to
the book of Revelation. I just want to read that verse
of scripture when he's speaking to a church, and he's a faithful
witness to them. He's a faithful witness about
them being lukewarm. Now, I don't understand all I
know about that, but I hope by the time we get there we have
a little more light about what it means. Revelation chapter
3, we read these words, Revelation 3 verse 15, the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking to a church, not a church age. but a church. I was thinking
this afternoon about these seven churches of Asia. Probably a
Bible-believing church could say they've gone through all
seven of these in one week. I mean, it's just things that
happen in our life that remind us we need a Savior, things that
happen every day. There's times, Lord, I'm sorry,
but I did forget my first love, but he hasn't forgotten me. Lord,
I am cold. I mean, I am lukewarm. But you're
not. You're a faithful witness to
me. But notice this. His faithful witness is brought
out here. Revelation 3, verse 15, the scriptures
share this. I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold or hot. I would that thou work cold or
hot, one way or the other. If you can leave, leave. That's
what he's saying. That's what he told 5,000 at
one time. He preached the gospel, and he said, this is the hard
saying. There's the door. If you can leave, do it. And
they left. All they were interested in was
bread, just blessings from heaven. They were not interested in the
Christ of God, this man of God that was walking among them.
All right, going over there to the first chapter again, there's
a second statement made in this passage. verse of scripture about
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ.
And here we find that Jesus is Savior and Christ is the Messiah
and combined it's the mediator, the God-man. There's one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And his ministry
to us is to be a faithful witness. And then secondly, we find, and
the first begotten of the dead, there were other people raised.
In the Old Testament, before Jesus was ever raised, but they
were all raised by the power of God. Not one was by the power
of a prophet or the power of a priest. They were raised by
the power of Jesus Christ. In the covenant of grace before
the world began, it was purposed to demonstrate the resurrection
ability of God. We find him doing that three
times in his own personal ministry. He raised someone. One was quite
young, one was young, and one was no doubt older. But they
were all dead. Demonstration, it doesn't matter
where we are in life. Without Christ, we're dead. And there's no qualities of dead.
We don't find that the Bible or even English talks about dead
and deader and the deadest. They're all dead, one quality. We're all dead in Adam. were
made alive in Christ. He is the first begotten of the
dead. The relationship of his power
and his office is demonstrated here. Turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. the power that went into raising
Jesus Christ from the dead. The power is mentioned here in
the book of Ephesians, chapter one, and it talks about his resurrection. He is the first begotten from
the dead. He's the one that was determined
before the world began to be the resurrection In his resurrection
he could share. I'm the resurrection in the life
and he's gonna share that with with Lazarus's sister. I Am the
resurrection in the life in him is our resurrection now The resurrection of Jesus Christ
took up I don't let's just say all power Nobody Could have raised him
out of that tomb It took all power. He has all power. It took all power. It took God's
power to raise his son. Now notice here in Ephesians
chapter one and verse 19, it says, and what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to usward, exceeding greatness of his power
to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Now the same power that it took
to raise Jesus Christ from the dead is the power that God must
exude on us to raise us from the spiritual dead and to raise
us to in the end time. Same power. It is exceeding power. We don't have that power. It's
not within us. We couldn't walk up to the tomb of Lazarus and
say what Jesus said and get the job done. We don't have that
power. We are caught, now, there's people
in the Old Testament, prophets, they said the words and people
were raised from the dead, but it was by the power of Jesus
Christ that they were raised. And when people were healed in
the New Testament times after the Lord Jesus went back to glory,
they were raised by the power of Christ. And it took exceeding
power to raise him. He is the first begotten from
the dead. He is a picture. of what power
it took, exceeding power, and it's that power that takes us
to be saved. It's not just a deadly little
prayer. It's the exceeding power of God
that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is what's required to
raise us to newness of life, to quicken us. It's not just
a small thing. It's all power of God. is required to do that. It is
him that has to raise us and put away our sin. It's exceedingly
sinful. And there in Ephesians chapter
1 verse 20, it says, which he wrought in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and set him in his own right hand in heavenly
places far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world but that
which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which
is his body, the fullest of him that filleth all in all." This
power of the Lord Jesus that was demonstrated in his own resurrection,
it took the power of the Father, It took the power of the Holy
Spirit, and it took the power of the Son. I lay down my life
that I might take it up, but God the Father was involved,
and all power that He and the Holy Spirit, this was no novel
thing. This was no sleight of hand tricks.
It took the creative power of Almighty God to raise His Son
from the dead, and that is the same exact amount of power it
takes to raise us from the spiritual dead and Then when he comes again
to raise us so that we'll be like him have our bodies brought
out of wherever Power takes the power of God to do that. We it's
no small feat it's the great act of a sovereign God and over
his people here and to come. He'll take the same power. Now,
going back over there in the book of Revelation chapter one,
there's the third thing that we'd like to look at. He is the
faithful witness. He's the first begotten from
the dead. And look at this one. He is the
prince of the kings of the earth. And he's the prince of the kings
of the earth. He's the king of all the kings. He is the ruler of all the kings. He is the king supreme and all
other rulers are subject to him, not one. can rule without him. He is their lifeblood of ruling.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew chapter 28.
As he is the prince of the kings of the earth, he just allows
us to view him as absolute king of kings and lord of lords, absolute
sovereign. There's no one that speaks ill
of him in his presence. Now, we may speak ill, but no
ruler is going to usurp authority over God. Nobody, in fact it
says, not an angel in heaven nor an inhabitant of the earth
can say, what doest thou? Why are you doing that? And make
a move. I'm so thankful that this is
here because this really takes care of our prayer. He is the Prince of the Kings
of the Earth. The King of Kings that's immutable,
changes not. I change not. He's not swayed
by political opinion. He changes not. Now notice here
with me in Matthew chapter 28. We've read this in the past,
but this is such a glorious verse of scripture. Matthew 28, verse
18, as he mentions this about himself, after his resurrection,
He had this before, it's restored in a sense here. And in Matthew
chapter 28, we read here in verse 18, these words about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, Jesus came and spake
unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. I lack nothing. I have the cattle
on a thousand hills. I have the gold in every mine.
I have all people in my hand. There's a song I used to sing
as a kid. I didn't realize the truth of it, but he has the whole
world in his hands. It's kind of a sporty little
tune, but he has the whole world in his hands. He has little bitty
babies in his hands. He has you and me in his hands.
He has everything, absolute control over all things. It is his creation
and he does as he pleases with his creation. He is a prince
of the kings of the earth. No one moves without his permission. Last night I read an article
about the civil war between the Clintons and Al Gore when he
was vice president. And in there it said that Bill
didn't make a decision without first of all going to his wife.
Everything. He had to go ask her, had to
ask her. And Gore was supposed to be the most, he was announced
to be the most powerful vice president that had ever been.
And he ended up, he couldn't even have a visit with the president.
That's not the way it is with the Lord. He is absolute king. Absolute king. Nobody puts him
off. Nobody says, oh, at another time. At another time. Bring this up
at another time. Nobody puts him off. He is irresistible. When he calls, it is an irresistible
call. The king says, come, we go forward. When he comes, we come to him. We are called by a kingly call,
and it is irresistible. And he sends out strings, chords
of love, and draws us to himself. It's irresistible because he
is the king of the princes of the earth. He's king in salvation. He's king over all things. Even
the sparrows depend upon him. The lions in the jungle depend
upon him. That's what the scriptures say.
And we depend upon him whether we know it or not. He is king. He is prince of all kings of
the earth. Now, turn with me, if you would,
to 1 Timothy. First Timothy chapter one, verse
17. He is the king of the prince
of the earth, prince of the kings. He is the ruler. He's absolute
monarch. He's monarch when it comes to
political power and he's monarch when it comes to spiritual power.
He's over the every kingdom. He's over the mineral kingdom.
He's over the plant kingdom. He's over the animal kingdom.
He's over the human kingdom. He's over the angel kingdom.
Nothing is without his knowledge. And every decision is made by
the Lord of glory as to what will fall out. He is king over
all things. He knows where the gold is, and
he knows where the oil is. Why do the Arabs have all the
oil? Because God determined it that way. And why did Alaska
have all the gold? Because God determined it that
way. He's the one that determined where every natural resource
would rest and who would be quote unquote, the owners. Everything. First Timothy chapter
one, verse 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and
ever. So be it. That's our words. That's God's words, but that's
our words too. Oh, Lord, yes. Be it like that. He's the king
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. And in that
same book, chapter six and verse 15, we read these words about
his kingship. He is the king of kings. He is the absolute monarch over
every kingdom, every principality and power. If God before us,
who then can be against us? That's just, he's over everything.
in in uh first timothy chapter 6 and verse 15 the scriptures
share this which is in times he shall show who is the blessed
and only potentate the king of kings and lord of lords and twice
that same term is mentioned over in the book of revelation that
he is the king of kings and lord of lords he is the prince of
the kings of the earth he's the ruler of the kings of the earth
so in that verse of scripture he shares with us that he's the
faithful witness i'm king of kings faithful witness i'm king
of kings he's faithful witness he says i'm the first begotten
of the dead i am the resurrection and the life And it doesn't matter
which age, doesn't matter when, the same power that it took to
raise the Lord Jesus out of that tomb is the power that it takes
to raise us out of our spiritual death. And the same power that
will be demonstrated when he raises all his saints at that
last day. His power will be demonstrated. I mean, it's power that will
be demonstrated to raise all those. power to raise one soul
from spiritual death. They have no ears to hear. They have no eyes to see. They
have no mind to consider. They have no thought towards
God. They have no feet to go to him. They have no hands to
serve. They're dead. And he quickens the whole spiritual
being. And they're on their knees bowing
before him because he is the first begotten from the dead.
I've demonstrated my power here. The power to create heavens and
earth. Now we think that's power. But
the power that it took God to raise God from the dead is the
power that it takes to raise you and I. That's power. That just puts it out of our
league. Little puny, infinitesimal ladyfinger powers all we got.
I remember Nancy's brother's got some ladyfingers and they're
little bitty firecrackers. I couldn't do this because I
knew it hurt. But they held him in the tips
of the, right there. And he'd light them and hold
them in a flower. See what happened, just little lady, that's the
power we have, just a little bark. But the power of God to
shape the very foundation of this earth. The power of God
to create rain. It's a miracle that we have a
rain cycle. All that water runs down the
river, goes out in the ocean, evaporates up into the clouds,
comes back over the land, and drops it again. The same water
that we're drinking today has been recycled 10,000 times. What a miracle. And what power
is the water of the word that God uses. It isn't change. God doesn't change the water
for us. It's been brought again, brought again. And when it comes
to the word, it's the same gospel story that God uses today that
he used 6,000 years ago. My faithful son, my first begotten
of the dead, my faithful witness, my prince of the rulers of this
world is the savior of his people. And in that same verse, it shares
this, and with this we'll close. He says there in the latter part
of verse five, we'll look at this at a later date, unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. My goodness, the revelation of
Jesus Christ. that just connected phrases,
statements about the glory of our Savior, the glory of the
Lord, this God-man, Emmanuel. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. This one, all of this is about. This one man, this one from heaven
that took upon himself and tabernacled among us, took upon himself flesh,
all of this is about. Every statement, every phrase,
every word, every statement of power and authority is all about
him. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. He is the faithful witness. He is the first begotten of the
dead and he is the prince of the kings of the earth and this
is just three out of several hundred we'll run into in this
book about the Lord Jesus Christ. Statements about him. There is
no one like him. All the law and the prophets
and the Psalms hang on him.