for his people. Think of that
scripture in John 12, having loved his own which were in the
world, he loved them to the end. It is an endless love and we're
thankful that he loved us though we're so unlovely. Out of love He gave Himself to
pay the ransom that we owed to divine justice. Oh, what love. Great song. Revelation this morning. Revelation chapter 10. Here's my subject. This is our
Savior. Revelation chapter number 10,
and we'll read the first two verses. Our subject will be,
this is our Savior. Revelation 10 verse 1, John said,
and I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. He says of this angel, it was
clothed with a cloud. And then he says, there was something
on his head. It was a rainbow. His feet, or his face rather,
was as it were the sun. Then his feet as pillars of fire. And then John noticed that he
had in his hand a little book, open. And he set his right foot upon
the sea and left foot on the earth. This is our Savior. The book that we're studying
is said to be the revelation of Jesus Christ. It isn't the
revelation of John. It's the revelation of John's
beloved Savior. It's the revelation of the Lord
of glory. It is the unveiling. It is the
making known of Jesus Christ. And John makes him known to us
in the book of the Revelation. That is, he sets forth our Lord
Jesus in His magnificence. He starts off in the very first
chapter telling us that the Savior is the one who redeemed us by
His blood. He washed us from all of our
sins and therefore He has been exalted to the highest heaven.
Here's what John is doing throughout the book. He's revealing to us
the Lord Jesus. He's uncovering Him to us. He's making Him known. Making
Him known. And as the words are said before
us, indeed, the Savior is set forth in all of these 22 chapters
of the book of the Revelation. But this is being made known
to our minds. As someone reads it to us, it's
being made known to our ears, and yet only God can make Him
known to the heart. I think of what was said in Galatians
chapter 1 by the Apostle Paul. He said, when it pleased God,
that One who separated me from my mother's womb and called me
by His grace to reveal, to reveal His Son in me. It is my responsibility this
morning and every time we gather together to uncover, to make
known to you the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, But there's only one who can
make him known to your soul. There's only one who can take
the scales off your eyes so that you'll see his glory. There's
only one who can illuminate the mind and the understanding so
that you can perceive the things of God in Christ Jesus. There
must be a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the heart. To the heart. I'm not talking
about making a decision. I'm talking about the necessity
of a revelation. I'm not talking about you raising
your hand or answering yes to a few questions that I might
put to you. I'm speaking about that which
is absolutely required. God the Spirit making known the
Lord Jesus to your heart. I'm speaking to some of you today. You have observed others of us
who obviously rejoice in Christ Jesus. We tell you we believe
Him and we love Him. We've seen His glory. We understand
the necessity of His death, that God might be just, the justifier
of those who believe in Jesus. You've listened to the Gospel
from this very pulpit. You've heard us speak of the
magnificence of God, the greatness of God. the glories of God, the
attributes of God, God's faithfulness, God's righteousness, God's justice,
God's grace. You've heard set forth from this
very pulpit our awful dilemma, our utter depravity, our awful
sinfulness, that we are alienated from God, We're cut off because
of our awful sinfulness. You've heard from this pulpit
of our total depravity that every faculty of man has been affected
by the fall. We're spiritually dead, blind,
deaf, lame. We have leprosy, leprosy of the
soul. And then you've heard set forth
the glories of the Lord Jesus and His substitutionary death,
His sacrifice upon the cross, His blood shedding, how He made
atonement for all of the sins of all of God's people. You've
heard these things. But thus far, That's as far as
the Word of God has gotten. It's just in your ears. That's
our responsibility to put the Word of God in your ears. But
it is the work of the Spirit of God to put the Word of God
in the heart. And oh, how we beseech our God
that He would do a work of grace in the hearts of all of those
who hear His Word today. Oh, my dear friend, we're a perishing
people. We're a dying people. We're living
on the very edge of everlasting death or everlasting life, one
or the other. And there we are. And it's only
the mercy of God that keeps us alive, keeps us breathing. keeps us in existence and all
that this God who preserves us would reveal to us the beauties
and the glories of Christ Jesus. There must be a revelation of
this Savior to our hearts. That's what's needed. Not your
decision, not you doing something for God, but God doing something
for you. This salvation. It's not you
or me working with God, or working in association with God. Doing something for God so that
He will do something for us. That's not it at all. That's
the salvation. That's a false salvation. That's
a false gospel. The world says do for God and
then God will do for you. You labor for God and then God
will work for you. But that's not the gospel. The
gospel is the finished work of Christ Jesus. And the good news
is that God does that for us, which we cannot do for ourselves. That's the glory of God's gospel,
the glory of His grace. This is the glory of revelation. And the book of God, the book
of the revelation of Jesus Christ, in all of its 22 chapters, it
sets forth the beauties and the wonders and the majesty of King
Jesus. And there it is in the written
Word. And now you hear it as the proclaimed
Word. But only the Spirit of God can
make it to be the effectual Word to your heart. And that's what
we ask God to do. John begins by revealing, uncovering
the Lord Jesus among His people. He said, I saw Him in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks. I'll tell you why I like to be
among God's people. One of several reasons, but this
is the biggest reason why I love to be with God's people. We enjoyed
being with God's people over there in the islands for the
last two weeks. I'll tell you why I enjoy being
with God's people. Because wherever God's people
are, that's where the Lord is. That's where the Lord is. Listen,
I want to be where God's at, don't you? I know the Scripture says God's
in the heavens. Indeed, He is. God's in His Word. Yes, He is. And God is also wherever
His people meet. Wherever His people gather together,
it may be just two or three, but if He gathers them together,
He said, I'll be in the midst of them. I want to be where God
is. I want to be where Christ Jesus
is set forth. I want to be where the Lord of
glory is uncovered, where He is discovered, where He is set
forth in all of His glories and all of His beauties. That is,
as much as we can declare it, we can't see all of His glories,
nor can we describe all of His beauties, but we do our best
to set Him forth. That's where we want to be. And
John is led of the Spirit of God. Here he is on the mount
or in the island of Patmos. And he sees the magnificence
of Jesus Christ. He sees Him in His glory. And
he sees Him among God's people. Oh, children of God, be much
encouraged this morning. The Lord is with us. The Lord
is with us. I know there's much in the world
to be dismayed about. There's much to disturb the heart. There's much sickness. There's
much illness. There's much evil in the world,
but be of good cheer. Our Savior has overcome the world,
and He is always with His people. He said, I will never leave you. nor forsake you, that you may
with boldness say, the Lord is my helper. I'm not going to be afraid of
anybody or anything. And John begins this epistle. He begins this letter, a letter
written to seven churches who were undergoing awful persecution. He begins by reminding them The
Lord is with you. And I'll tell you where else
He is. He's not only among the people
of God as we gather together, but He's with us every day individually. What's that song? No, Never Alone. Never alone. Not God's people.
Never alone. When one of our dear men passed
away over a year ago, someone said, isn't it sad that he died
alone? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. God's people don't die alone. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why not, David? For thou art
with me. Thou art with me on my sickbed. Thou art with me on my deathbed. Thou art with me when I breathe
my last breath. Thou art with me to take me home
to be with you forever, where I'll always be in your presence.
Thou art with me. This is great consolation to
the people of God, and I'm preaching this morning to some widows.
I'm preaching to some people who live by yourself. People
who, as far as the world is concerned, and maybe as far as you're concerned,
oft times you feel oh so lonely. Oh so lonely. Be much encouraged. The Lord is with you. The Lord
is with you. You see, John, in this book,
he's uncovering the Lord Jesus. And he says, listen, I'm revealing
Him to you and I'm saying this to you. He's always among the
people of God. And this is the Lamb of God who
was slaughtered. who was slaughtered for us. He
was slain, is what John says. I saw Him, the Lamb of God, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, who was slain, who shed His blood,
who redeemed us unto God by His blood out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. We're His people. We're the redeemed
of the Lord. The Lord has He bought us. He
paid our debt to divine justice. That's what John says. Be much
encouraged. What John is doing, he's revealing
the Savior. He's uncovering the Savior. He's
with His people always and He's with us as our Redeemer. We can't perish. He paid our
sin debt. We'll never be put back in the
slave market of sin because we've been redeemed out of the slave
market of sin. And we belong to Him. And even
in this world where the Lord is sending forth His angels with
the trumpet judgments and all of the hardships that go on throughout
the world and the people of God also suffer many things as do
the ungodly. Yet John, he writes to encourage
us to reveal to us that Christ Jesus is always with us. And
as he gets here to the 10th chapter that's before us, he's going
to reveal to us the Savior as He is now for us. He's going
to reveal Him to us. He's going to set Him forth as
the angel of God. The angel of God. You notice
in verse 1, I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven.
He's a mighty angel. Note then, that in chapter number
10, the scene shifts from heaven back to earth. Who is this mighty angel? Well,
He's not a created angel, but rather He is the Lord Jesus,
our Savior. What does the word angel mean?
It means messenger, one who is sent
by God, one who is commissioned by the Lord for a specific ministry
and service. Back in chapters 1-3, we saw
that the Lord's preachers are set forth as angels because they're
sent of God with the message of the gospel, the message of
grace. And it's not unusual also for
our Lord Jesus to be manifest as an angel from heaven. Do you
remember over toward the end of the book of Acts when there
was the apostle Paul and he's on his way to Rome, on his way
to Rome, and he gets on a ship and an awful storm came up called
Heraclodon, Heraclodon. Everybody was fearful for their
life. They're tossing everything out of the ship. They're just
absolutely certain that there's going to be a great loss of life. But here's what the apostles
said to them. I exhort you to be of good cheer,
for there shall be no loss of man's life among you, but of
the ship, for there stood by me this night the angel of God."
Now listen, the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve. The angel of God, he stood by
me this night, whose I am and whom I serve, and he said, there
will be no loss of life. No loss of life. Well, the Apostle
Paul, he didn't belong to a created angel, and he didn't render service
to a created angel. He served the Lord Jesus, as
he said so often in his epistles. He would write, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ. This mighty angel is the Lord
Jesus. He's the angel of the Lord who
appeared to Abraham. You read in Genesis, Abraham,
it is said, the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out
of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I
am. And he said, this is in Genesis 22, "...lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that
thou, fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine only
Son from me." This is the angel of the Lord. It's the same angel
of the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The same
angel that said, I am, that I am hath sent you. Psalm 34 and verse
7, the angel of the Lord. He's the one who encamps round
about them that fears Him and delivers them. This must be a
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you see, even in the
next chapter of Revelation, Revelation chapter 11, look at chapter 11
and verse 3. Here's the same angel. And the same angel said, and
I will give power, Revelation 11 verse 3, and I will give power
unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two
hundred, threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. What are witnesses? Those who report or declare the
record of God, who declare the gospel of God. No mere angel
ever sent forth witnesses. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples
there in Acts chapter 1, I send you forth, go forth into all
the world and preach the gospel. Be witnesses of Me. Be witnesses
of Me. And He gives to these men in
chapter 11, He gives to them the authority and the power to
set forth the gospel of His grace. These men are not witnesses of
a created angel, they're witnesses of the Lord Jesus. In Acts chapter
10, Peter said to Cornelius, to whom give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. Nobody else has the authority
to send forth witnesses into the world to testify of himself
but the Lord only. So the Lord says in Isaiah chapter
43, 10 through 12, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. The Lord sends forth His witnesses.
This is the angel of the covenant. This is the Lord Jesus Himself. This is our Master. This is our
Savior. John says, I saw Him, a mighty
angel. I saw Him come down from heaven. This is the angel of the covenant,
the angel, the messenger of God sent forth into this world. to
be the Redeemer of His people. In Isaiah 63 and verse 9, He's
called the angel of God's presence by whom we're saved. Thank God
He ministers to us. Thank God He sent someone to
save us. Thank God He sent one equal to
himself to obey the law of God and then to die in our room instead
in place as our Savior, as our substitute, as our sacrifice,
as our sin-bearer. And then John begins to describe
it. And I'll give you seven specific
things that he says about this angel. This is our Savior. Make no mistake about it. This
is our Savior. Number one, I saw another mighty
angel. Number one, He's mighty. He's mighty. Did He not say,
all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth? Go ye therefore
and preach the gospel. In Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6, Isaiah says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. The mighty God. He's got to be mighty if He's
going to save us. He's got to be mighty if He's
going to render to God the perfect service that God requires. He's got to be mighty if He's
going to be our Redeemer and our Savior. He's got to be mighty
if He's going to bear in His own body all the sins of all
the people, of all the ages that God gave to Him in the covenant
of grace. He's got to be mighty. He's got
to be mighty to endure the wrath of God and drink the cup of damnation
down to its last bitter dregs. He's got to be mighty to save
us. And He is mighty. There is no
weakness in Him. There is no lack of ability in
Him. He has all power over all flesh
to give everlasting life to everybody God gave him. John chapter 17
says that. In Genesis 17 and verse 1, when
Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared unto Abram and
said unto him, I am the Almighty God. I am the almighty God. That's the kind of Savior we
need. We need one who is almighty, not mostly mighty or he's got
a lot of power. I need somebody that's got all
power, all power in heaven, all power on earth, all power under
the earth, all power to do his will and execute his will in
saving the people of his choice. That's the Savior we need, the
mighty God. He's mighty. He's mighty. Our Lord Jesus is the mighty
God, the mighty Savior, the mighty Mediator, and the mighty King. He's able to protect and defend
and preserve the people that God gave Him. If you remember some of our previous
studies in Revelation, back in chapter 9, we saw described some
terrible woes that must come upon the earth. The locusts that
came up out of the smoke, false prophets, go forth into the world. We've studied about wars and
rumors of wars. In the midst of all of this,
will we be safe? Are we going to be preserved?
Or will we perish? You see, Revelation chapter 10
is almost like an interlude before the seventh trumpet sound. The
Lord says to us in Revelation chapter 10, it's as though He
says to us, don't be disturbed by all the things going around
you, people of God. All the troubles and all the
trumpet warnings that are being sounded out. It's almost like
the Lord says, let not your heart be troubled. For God's cause
of grace is safe. The people of God are preserved. I know there's much tribulation,
turmoil, all of these things going on throughout the world
and will go on throughout this age until there shall be time
no more. But the Lord now reassures us. Chapter 10 is almost like sort
of a parenthesis, an interruption. that God's people would be encouraged. Yes, there's a lot of difficulty
and trouble and turmoil out there, but don't you be disturbed. Don't be disturbed by what's
going on around you. Always keep the eye of faith
firmly fixed on your King, the mighty, mighty angel of God who
has come down for us. First of all, He is mighty. Secondly,
He comes down. He's the angel of the Lord who
came down. He came down when He became incarnate. He came down. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He came down. He came
down. He came down to raise us up.
That's why He came down. He came down to lift up poor
beggars from the dunghill, to lift us up, to sit among the
very provinces of His people. He came down to save, He came
down to redeem, He came down to put away our sins, He came
down to crush the head of the enemy, He came down, He came
down to seek and to save that which was lost and He shall come
down again. He who went back to heaven shall
come down again and receive us unto Himself that where He is,
there we may be also. He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again for you. I will come down
for you. He comes down for us in death
to take us one by one. And He will come down in His
second coming to gather us all together and we shall be caught
up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. But I think
this also speaks of another coming down. He comes down work all
things after the counsel of His own will. He comes down to rule
over all things. As you observe all that's going
on, remember this, our Savior has come down to govern the world. He governs everything. This One
who is mighty, this is His providential reign. He's come down to save and protect
and defend His people. He's come down to work all things
together for good to them that love God, to them who are on
the call according to His purpose. And even when the trumpets of
judgment are sounding all around us, warning the wicked of a final
future judgment, still He comforts His people. And He says to us,
as He comes down to minister to us individually and as to
a group of believers, He comes to us and He says to each of
His preachers, say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with
you. It shall be well with you. Yes, He's upon His throne in
glory, governing all things. That's true. But by His Spirit,
He is with us. He's come down. He's come down. And even if, like the three Hebrew
children, we find ourselves in the furnace, in a fiery furnace
of affliction, and some of you feel like you've been in there,
maybe somebody feels like they're in there now. If you'll take
a little nearer look, closer look, You'll find you're not
in there by yourself. He's with you. Nebuchadnezzar
said, didn't I throw three men in there? Yes, sir, you did.
Yes, sir, you did. I see a fourth one. I see a fourth
one in that furnace. Looks like the son of man to
me. Looks like the Son of Man. And you, in your difficulties,
you may feel like it's nobody here but me. No! You need to
take another look with the eye of faith and see that the Lord
is with you. Thirdly, he's clothed with a
cloud. Clothed with a cloud. Psalm 97, 2, clouds and darkness
surround about Him. Righteousness and judgment are
the habitation of His throne. Daniel 7, 13, I saw in the night
visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came down with
the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days.
They brought Him before Him. Matthew 24, verse 30, Then shall
appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all
the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He's coming in the clouds. He's
in the clouds. When you look at clouds, what
do you think of? Well, something is hidden. The sun, or at night, the moon. You can't see the light. And
there's a mystery about the darkness. And our Lord Jesus, here He says,
He's clothed with a cloud. There's a mystery about Him.
There's a mystery about His work. There's a mystery about His providence. There's a mystery about His dealings. There's a mystery about His workings.
And we can't understand the mysteries. We can't unravel the mysteries
except to say, this is the Lord. Let Him do what He will. He works in the clouds. And His
ways are far above our ways, and His thoughts are far above
our thoughts. And they're so mysterious to
us, and oft times so unknown to us. He's in the clouds. In the clouds. Clothed with a
cloud. And number four, a rainbow was
on His head. Yes, the ways of our God are
mysterious and they're often misunderstood. But there ever
remains on the head of our Savior the rainbow, which is the emblem
of the covenant of grace. Our last day in Hawaii. Just
we were getting ready, they were getting ready to take us to the
airport. And we looked out back, and as we were staying with some
people, some dear saints of God, we looked out back of the house.
There was the most gorgeous rainbow. In fact, someone got a picture
of it. And those of you on Facebook,
I'm not much on Facebook, but Nancy posted this. It's a gorgeous
rainbow. The two of us in the background,
this gorgeous rainbow. You love the rainbow because? It's a token of the covenant. God's words, not mine. When Noah
and his family came out of the ark, God put a bow in the sky. God made a covenant with Noah.
He made a covenant with him. Typical of that covenant that
God made with His Son on the behalf of all of His people.
God made a covenant with Noah on the behalf of all who would
live after Him. It was as though God said to
Noah, you're the representative of everybody, and Noah stood
in picture and type as our Lord Jesus, He's the representative
of all of His people, all of the elect of God. And God said,
I'll never again destroy the earth by water. As a token of
that, I put my bow, my bow in the sky. My bow. And I tell you, that covenant
that God made with Noah is a picture of that covenant that God made
with Christ Jesus on the behalf of all of his people. And God
said, I'll never destroy my people. I'll never punish my people for
their sin. I'll punish my son who's their
substitute in their stead. And whenever you see a rainbow,
rejoice! Rejoice! Oh, there are two things
necessary for a rainbow, or three things really. Clouds, rain,
sunshine. And all kind of mixed together.
Clouds, the mystery of God. The sun, the brightness of God's
glory is Christ Jesus. The rain, the storm of God's
judgment came upon Him and mercy drops fall on us. And all of
them together, they come together and they blend and miraculously,
rainbows are formed. And John says, John says, there's
a rainbow on His head. The same thing is said of God.
Back in Revelation chapter 4, there's a rainbow encircled the
throne of God. The rainbow. The rainbow says,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And then
fifthly, his face was as the sun. His face was as it were the sun. Our brother Ron read to us that
passage in Luke of our Lord's transfiguration. He is the son
of righteousness. He revealed to His disciples,
He gave them a glimpse of His inner glory, of His deity, the
brightness of His glory, the effulgence of the very glory
of God. Hebrews chapter 1 says that.
Who is Jesus of Nazareth? He's the very glory of God. That's who He is. And the glory
of God shines brightly in His face. He's the Lord our righteousness. He's the light of the world. His face was as the sun and He
gives light to His people. The light of knowledge and the
light of His own presence. And we feel the warmth of that
light. And I say to you who are the
people of God, bask in the warmth of the Lord our righteous is
the warmth of the one who is the Son, the Son of God. The S-O-N and the S-U-N. Bask in His warmth. Enjoy Him. Praise Him. He's the light of the world.
And then number six, His feet were as pillars of fire. His feet were as pillars of fire. And in the second verse, His
right foot standing upon the sea, and His left foot standing
on the earth. You know what that conveys to
me? Someone who is very big. Someone who is always with His
people. That's His presence. This is His omnipresence. He's everywhere. He's with the
Saints of God. We've got Saints of God, I know,
watching in Canada today. We've got Saints of God. I received
a phone call not too long ago from a lady in Arizona. I heard from somebody in New
Mexico. I've been talking to some people
in California. And, of course, the Saints of
God in Hawaii. Wherever you are, the Lord Jesus is there. He plants
one foot on the sea and another foot on the land and He says,
this is my world. That's our God. This is our Savior. He's not weak little Jesus who
needs you to do something for Him. His feet are as pillars
of fire. Glory. Our God is a consuming fire,
and there He is, and He stands upon the sea, and He stands upon
the land, and we say, this is our Savior right here. Oh, be
much encouraged, children of God. And one last thing, He has
in His hand a little book, a little book. What is this little book? It's
a book of God's decrees. It's that book He took out of
the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne back in chapter
5. Oh, why is it said to be a little
book after all if all the counsel of God is in this book? If everything God has ordained
to do is in this book, how can it be said to be a little book?
Because it's in a big hand. That's why. It's in the hand
of our Redeemer. It's in the hands of Him who
stretched out His hands to be crucified for us. And as a result
of his successful work of redemption, he rose from the dead, having
paid our sin debt. He went back to glory. and all
authority has been given to Him. He's the one who took the book
out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne and He's
loosing the seals thereof. That book is in His hand. It's
a little book in the magnificent, great, almighty hand of our Savior. This is our Savior. This is the
only one who can save. This is the only One who can
redeem. This is our God. This is our
Redeemer. This is our Friend. This is our
Shepherd. Here He is. Here He is. Let's sing a song.