Let's go back to Revelation chapter
1. Revelation chapter 1. We'll pick up where we left off
Sunday evening. Our subject is understanding
the book of Revelation. The subject matter of the book
of Revelation is the same as it is for all of the scriptures. The Lord Jesus and His saving
work upon the cross. He saved us from all of our enemies. The subject is the Lord Jesus,
His work of salvation. For you see, this book is devoted
to our Redeemer. The Book of the Word of God is
devoted to setting forth His glorious person, His work, and
His exaltation as the one who was triumphant over all of His
enemies. God has ordained that the Lord
Jesus Christ have all the preeminence in creation and in providence. and in salvation. We need to
know this if we don't know already all of the covenant promises
of God and all of the spiritual blessings of God that He gives
to sinful men are in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no blessings
for anybody outside of Christ. Outside of the Lord Jesus, all
that God promises is death and judgment and wrath. All of the love of God, all of
the mercy of God, all of the grace of God is in Christ Jesus. and there is no everlasting mercy,
there is no saving grace to any sinner outside of the Savior. All of the revelation of God,
all of the knowledge of God is in Christ Jesus. You cannot know
God apart from Christ Jesus. You just cannot. The Savior said, this is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. We know God in Christ Jesus. Remember the Savior said in that
very precious passage in Matthew chapter 11, and most people remember
Follow this one. And remember when the Savior
said, Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest. But before He said that, He said
this, All things are delivered unto Me of My Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son and He to Whomsoever He will reveal Him. Christ has to reveal the Father. You remember that our Lord Jesus
in John chapter 14 He's speaking to his disciples as he did just
before his going to the Garden of Gethsemane, praying that high
priestly prayer, and then dying for us the next day. He said
to his disciples some very comforting words in John chapter 14, but
Philip then said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it will
suffice us. It will satisfy us if we could
just see the Father. The Savior said, Philip, have
I been with you so long? Don't you understand? He who
has seen me has seen the Father. is in the Son. The Son is in
the Father. There is no knowing of God apart
from the Lord Jesus. Our Lord having robed His deity
in human flesh, He came to fulfill the work ordained for Him to
do. the work He volunteered to do,
the work He was delighted to do, and it was this work to save
His people from their sins. He's not a wannabe Savior. He
doesn't hope to save people. He's already saved His people
from their sins by His substitutionary death. When the Savior died,
he did something for God. For he had to do something for
God. Before He could do anything for
us, He had to satisfy God's justice. He had to satisfy God's law. God's law demanded death for
sin. So our Savior died on the cross
for our sins. And by His death, He not only
satisfied all of the requirements of God, but He met all of our
needs. He removed our sins and He brought
in everlasting righteousness. Our God was satisfied with His
death. God's not satisfied with the
death of the sinner who perishes in his sin. For God said that
He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That means there's
no satisfaction. Whenever God sends a soul to
hell, it isn't so that sinner can pay for his sins, for he
can never pay for even one sin. That's why hell is forever. It
is unending. We read in the book of Proverbs,
there are three things that are never satisfied, yet four things
never say it is enough. the grave, the barren womb, the
earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that saith
not, it is enough. The fire will never say, it is
enough. But when the Savior died in the
room instead of his people, the justice of God said, it's enough. It's enough. And the Savior said,
it is finished. By our Lord's one sacrifice for
sin, He overwhelmed all of our enemies. He took care of sin. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Scripture says in 1 John chapter
3 and verse 5, and you know that He was manifested to take away
our sins and in Him is no sin. The Savior conquered sin. Secondly,
He conquered death. Indeed, sin was our enemy and
death is our enemy. by his resurrection. He said
to be the first fruits of them that sleep. Since he arose, though we die,
we shall arise. Our brother Joe Bryson, according
to God's appointment, according to that which God had ordained
before the world began, Our brother went out to meet the Lord last
evening. When he died, angels of mercy
took him home to glory. It's a happy day for the child
of God to go home to be with Christ Jesus. The sadness is
for us. The sadness is for his family. The sadness is for his children. The sadness is for his mother. The sadness is for us. For we're going to miss him.
He's a vital part of our congregation. He just read the scripture to
us and led us to the throne of grace last Sunday evening. He often spoke in my absence. I notified the congregation up
in Almond, Michigan, because they loved him. He and Brother
Trabant and Brother Eisen filled in while they were looking for
a pastor. And they are all so saddened.
For we are the losers. We lost him. But he had nothing
to lose and everything to gain. Everything to gain. And our Savior
has already conquered death for Brother Joe and for all of the
people of God. In fact, we're reminded in 1
Thessalonians chapter 4 concerning those that fall asleep in Jesus,
the Apostle said, Sorrow not as others who have no hope. It's not wrong to weep. It's
not wrong to have a broken heart. God made us with emotions. God
made us with feelings. When someone who is dear to us,
a son, a father, a fellow laborer in the gospel, when that one
is removed from our presence, our hearts are broken, but only
broken for us who are left behind. He had everything to gain and
nothing to lose. And everything for him now is
absolute perfect bliss. And I must say, I do envy him. I envy all of those who are at
the throne of Christ Jesus. Because now they know in person,
in reality, what they knew by faith and by the revelation of
the Spirit of God to their hearts. They knew, Brother Joe knew on
earth, Christ is all. Now He sees him face to face. Who is His all in all? And He is there having no more
tears, no more heart trouble, no more sin trouble. Won't that
be wonderful? Two things we long to see. We long to experience as the
people of God. Number one, we long to see the
Savior face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face to see
and know. Secondly, we long to be done
with sin. Our Savior conquered our sin
and He has conquered death. He said to Martha, our Lord got
to Bethany Martha said, Lord, if you'd been
here, my brother wouldn't have died. He said, this is for the will
of God. And he said to Martha, your brother will live again.
She said, I know he'll live in the resurrection. And the Savior
said this to her. Martha, I am the resurrection
and the life. You see, the resurrection and
the life of the people of God, it isn't something, it's somebody. Somebody. He's our life. What did He say to the disciples
there in John chapter 14 before Philip asked Him about seeing
the Father? Well, he had said, I go away.
He said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a
place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. Whether I go, ye know,
and the way ye know. And then Brother Thomas, he said,
Lord, We don't know where you're going and we don't know the way. Our Lord said to him, verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the way. You see all the rest of the preachers,
the preachers of the gospel, here's what we say, He's the
way. We show you the way. But only
the Savior can say, I am the way. And He said, I am the truth. What do we do? We tell you the
truth. But our Savior says, I am the
truth. And He said, I am the life. No
man cometh unto the Father but by Me. Our Lord has conquered
death. for all of His people. Good look
back in Hebrews, the second chapter. Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 14. Hebrews chapter
2. Speaking of our Lord Jesus, for
as much then as the children are partakers, of flesh and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death He might destroy them that had the power of death, that
is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not
on Him the nature of angels. That word took means laid hold
of. He didn't lay hold of the nature
of angels, but He laid hold of. With all of His being, He laid
hold of forever on Him the seed of Abraham. He conquered death. To you who are the people of
God, To you, whose only hope of glory is Christ Jesus, I say
to you, don't be fearful of death. There is nothing about death
for us to fear. I mean absolutely nothing. There's
nothing about death to fear. Because since the Savior lives,
we shall live also. And the moment we breathed our
last, when Brother Joe collapsed upon the track at the local high
school, and he breathed his last, his soul never lost consciousness,
and he just had an easy passage, just like that, in glory. That's what the people of God
do. We just go home to be with the Lord. We go home to be with
our Father. We go home to be with our elder
brother. We go home to be with all the
departed saints. Don't be afraid to die. Don't
be afraid of death. Because death is one of the enemies
our Lord Jesus has conquered. He's conquered sin, He's conquered
death, and He's conquered Satan. It is interesting that in the
book of the Revelation, Satan is often referred to as the dragon. Now I said to you Sunday evening,
There are many things in the book of Revelation that are signified,
sign language. When you think of a dragon, Satan
being a dragon, don't imagine a dragon such as you would see
in folklore, or a dragon that you might see on the television. The idea is he's fierce. He's deadly. He's ruthless. He breathes out his fiery threatenings. He's the dragon. The dragon who
goes about seeking whom he may devour. But, he's been defeated. He's been conquered. The seed
of the woman, Genesis chapter 3, In verse 15, the seed of the
woman has bruised his head. He's destroyed him. He's destroyed
his absolute power, or the power that he did have. He didn't have
absolute power, but the power that he did have, which was usurped
power. Our power has been destroyed
by our Lord Jesus who took Him captive and He holds Him captive
at His will. And this is what the book of
the Revelation is about. The mighty conqueror. The mighty
victor. He has conquered every enemy
of His people. and for always. So the theme
of the book of the Revelation is the victory of Christ Jesus
and His people, His church, His bride, His elect, His redeemed
ones, the victory of Christ and His bride, over the devil, over
the dragon, and all of His followers. Now throughout the book of the
Revelation, if you go back to chapter 1, Throughout the book of the Revelation,
our Savior is set forth in glorious detail. I would say that chapter
one is like a microcosm of all of the rest of the book. The
very first chapter is like a miniature book of the Revelation. It's
the whole book kind of minimized. Then from the second chapter,
through the 22nd chapter, that subject is enlarged. But if you
have an understanding of Revelation chapter 1, this mighty victor,
if you have an understanding of this, you go a long ways toward
understanding all of the book. In chapter 1, he's seen as the
prophet. Look at verse 5 of chapter 1. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness. the faithful witness, that is,
the faithful prophet. He is the prophet. Moses wrote
about this prophet in Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15. What does this prophet do? He
witnesses the very truth of God to the Lord's elect, to the Lord's
people. He is the very truth of God. He tells us the truth. He's a faithful witness. He tells
us of the Father. For you see, He's God's spokesman. We read in the book of John,
and also in the book of 1 John, He's the Word. He's God told
out. He is God's faithful prophet,
and He witnesses to us. He doesn't witness to everybody.
He doesn't reveal the truth to everybody, but He does reveal
the truth to His friends, to His redeemed ones. He is the
prophet. Secondly, He's the priest. Again in verse 5, and from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the
dead. If he's the first begotten of
the dead, that means he must have died. He offered to God
the sacrifice that the Lord demanded for the salvation of his people. After all, the blood of bulls
and goats could never save us. But this man, once in the end
of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Being the first begotten of the
dead announces this, God accepted what our great high priest did.
That's what his resurrection announces. God is pleased. God is satisfied. God says, it's
enough! It's enough! The sins of all
of the elect are now buried in the depths of the deepest sea.
God says, I've forgotten them all. I've put them behind my
back. I've separated the sins of my
elect as far as the east is from the west. He is the priest. He is the priest who was raised
again because of our justification. Notice a little further the last
statement of verse 5. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. Oh, what a mighty priest! What
a mighty priest He is! He is the prophet who teaches
us. He is the faithful witness. He
witnesses the very truth of God to our hearts. He makes us know
the truth. He makes us to know Him who is
the truth. And He is the priest first begotten
from the dead. Whoever lives to make intercession
for us because he bought us with his blood, saved us by his sacrifice
on the cross. Thirdly, not only is he the prophet
and the priest, but he's the king. Notice the statement following
the first begotten of the dead in verse 5, and the prince of
the kings of the earth. Take all of the kings of the
earth, all of the kings who have ever lived, all of the kings
who will ever live, all of the prime ministers, all of the presidents,
all of the dictators, Our Lord Jesus, He's the Prince of all
of them. He has the authority of all of
them. And He has the heart of every
ruler in His hand. He turneth them as He turns the
rivers of water. Whithersoever He will, He is
the King. He's King by virtue of His successful
work of redemption. I'll give you this. And Sunday
morning, we're going to continue this theme. But in understanding
the book, we want to remember there are seven visions. I've
already shared this with you. Seven divisions, we will call
them, in the book of the Revelation. each of them covers the entire
gospel age. What is the gospel age? From
our Lord's first advent to his second advent. Here in this first
vision, where our Lord Jesus is in the midst of the churches,
he's in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I want you
to notice this. In three verses, the Spirit of
God leads John to go from the first advent all the way to the
second advent. In other words, He covers at
least 2,000 years in three verses. Let me show you. Look at verse
5 again. And from Jesus Christ Who is
the faithful witness? He's the prophet. The first begotten
of the dead? He's the priest. And the prince
of the kings of the earth? He's the king. Unto him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. and have
made us kings and priests unto God His Father. To Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. John has dealt with his
first coming, with his first advent. Now look at verse 7. He goes all the way to the end. He says, Behold! Be astounded! Be shocked! Be amazed! This one, John says, that I've
just described, this one who's the prophet, who is the priest,
who is the king. Behold, he cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him,
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, amen. It says, every eye shall see
Him. Nothing secretive about His second
coming. There are those who say of His
second coming, it will be very secretive. And that a lot of
people won't even know that He has come. Well, this verse of
Scripture takes us in a different direction from the opinions of
men. For it says, every eye shall
see Him. Now someone says, but didn't
the Lord say, behold, I come as a thief in the night? Yes,
He did say that. That is, His coming is unexpected. Unexpected. Certainly unexpected by the world. Sadly, for some of His people,
due to coldness of heart, which we sometimes get, unexpected
even to some of God's people. Those of us who are the Lord's
children, let me give this to you. How should we view the anticipation
of the Lord's coming? I like to use this kind of expression
I think we ought to be up on the tiptoes of faith. Saying,
even so come, Lord Jesus. He said He's coming. He has given
us His Word. He said, behold, I come quickly. And we say, even so come, Lord
Jesus. Oh, He's coming back. And as
soon as the last of His elect have been gathered into the fold
of salvation. That's when the end of time,
as we know it, shall come. And then we shall be changed.
Those that have fallen asleep in Jesus, they'll rise first,
they'll be changed, and then those who remain, maybe it's
this generation, maybe not. It doesn't matter We shall all
be changed. Well, I guess that'll take a
long time. It'll be in a moment. A twinkling of an eye. We'll all be changed. Oh, blessed
Savior, come tonight. Take us home to be with you.
To enjoy you forever. To sing your praises. And to
forevermore be done with every effect of sin. Well, let's sing a closing song.
Number 514. Number 514.