One of the most important things
about the book of Revelation, as we've already seen, is to
know and understand that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That this is about the person,
the glorious person in the finished work of Christ. Because the theme
of this book has to do with comforting the church, the true church of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the last days, assuring us that no
matter what we go through from persecution from the world, the
attacks of Satan, the struggles with the flesh, no matter what
we go through in this world, that our victory is assured.
And it's assured because of God's grace in Christ. That's why we
know Satan's going to attack. We read about that in the book
of Revelation. We're going to get into a big
part of that. It's where you read about Satan,
who's called the great dragon. We read about the beast. We read
about the false prophet, Antichrist, all of that. Even though the
term Antichrist isn't in Revelation, the spirit of Antichrist is certainly
there because the spirit of Antichrist will prevail amongst false brethren
and false preachers in the last days. And understand now, the
last days refers to the time that we're living in now. The
book of Revelation is not just about things that'll happen just
prior to the second coming. It's talking about things that
happened from the time of his first coming to the time of his
second coming. And so John starts off in his
letter here, and that's what this is. It's an epistle written
to seven churches. We'll see more of that next time. But he says, look at verse four,
he says, John, that's the apostle John, remember, he says, to the
seven churches which are in Asia, that's Asia Minor. The churches
that were in Asia Minor, they'd be churches like Galatia, churches
like Ephesus. We'll see later on, he names
them over here in verse 11. Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos,
Thyatira, Philadelphia, Laodicea, those are the names of these
local assemblies. that had been founded on the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. These were not
Satan's tares, in other words. You know the parable of the wheat
and the tares? The wheat, that's the believers,
the churches that Christ sows with the seed of the gospel in
the power of the Holy Spirit. The tares are Satan's false churches. And these are not tares. And we'll see some sad things
about them because while the church exists here on this earth,
there'll be a mixture of true believers and false professors. There's gonna be that. And we'll
see some sad things when we get there in Revelation 2 and Revelation
3. But this is John writing to the
seven churches. Now that number seven, I mentioned
last week how that number seven is so prominent in Revelation.
And what that's talking, number seven is a number that symbolizes
and expresses the completeness and the perfection and the fullness
of God's work. That's why when you talk about
the seventh day Sabbath, things like that, that was a type. of
the finished work of Christ. Work seven days and then that
means the work's done and the seven day, that's when the work
is finished and you rest. Our Sabbath is we rest in Christ. He is our Sabbath. You can read
about that in Hebrews chapter four and in other places. But
that's so prominent because seven is the completeness, the fullness,
the perfection of God's work. That's what that means. We rest
in Christ because in Christ we're complete. We have a complete
righteousness in Christ. We have complete forgiveness
in Christ. We have complete assurance in
Christ. You see that? So John to the
seven churches which are in Asia, he says, grace be unto you and
peace from him. Now grace and peace, you know
what? Grace is God's way of salvation, peace is the result. God sent
Christ to be the peacemaker. He made peace by the blood of
his cross. He established reconciliation
between God and his people based on his righteousness that he
obtained and attained by his obedience unto death. And therefore,
we are at peace with God. And he says, grace be on you
and peace. And listen to how he identifies Christ. He says,
from him, which is and which was and which is to come. And
some say, well, that refers specifically to God the Father. It does. It
refers to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the triune
Godhead who is eternal. He is, he was, he is to come. He's the great I am. And that's
one of the great statements in scripture that tells us that
Jesus Christ himself is God. And so he is eternal, he's the
great I am. He's the one who never changes. That's what that means too, the
immutability of God. These are so glaringly glorious
for God who is high above us. And he says, look at verse four,
from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Now the
seven spirits, is a figurative way of describing God the Holy
Spirit in the completeness, the fullness of His work, His revelation. He drives us to Christ, and we
know that from Old Testament scriptures, and I've got marked
in your lessons, Zechariah chapter four, for example, that speaks
of the Spirit before the throne, the Holy Spirit before the throne.
What that is is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity,
performing His complete, perfect work of revealing Christ to His
people. and he's before the throne of
God. The Holy Spirit comes forth from the Father and the Son to
apply spiritual life from Christ, Christ who is our life. And it's
just another way of showing how the work of the Spirit in us
in the new birth is the fruit and result of what Christ did
for us in his redemptive work on the cross as our high priest,
our surety, and our substitute. Now he says, in verse five, he
says, and from Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness, the
first begotten from the dead, the prince of the kings of the
earth. That's how he identifies Jesus Christ. Jesus, you know,
the name Jesus, what does it mean? It means salvation. God,
our Savior. Some people say Jehovah, our
Savior, but if you want to get taken, it would be Yahweh, our
Savior. God, our Savior. His name shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Christ being the anointed one. Before the foundation of the
world, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was set up and appointed
to be the Savior and the surety of his people. Three things required
for him to do that. Number one, he had to be appointed
of God. Number two, he had to be able
to do what was required. And what was required? He had
to bring forth everlasting righteousness. God must be just when he justifies. God must be both a righteous
judge as well as a merciful, loving, heavenly father. He has
to be both a just God and a savior. So he appointed his son, who
is able to do that, and number three, had to be willing to do
so. And Christ was willing to do so. He had two motivations,
the glory of his father and the love of his people. Remember
in John chapter 17, in his high priestly prayer, he said, I have
glorified thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the
world was. He said, I have finished the
work which you gave me to do. His purpose for the love of his
father and the glory of his father and for the love of his people
John 13 1 he loved his own his own people his God's elect To
the end the end there meaning the finishing of the work So
that Christ Romans 10 4 is the end the finishing of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth Now, how do you
know it means all that? Well, look, the first thing he
says about Jesus Christ, he's the faithful witness. Now, we
normally think of a witness as being one who testifies, and
certainly Jesus Christ testified of the glory of God in the salvation
of sinners by himself. He's the word of God. He's the
embodiment of the word of God. The preached word is concerning
Christ. We preach Christ crucified. The written word, the Bible,
God's word, is concerning Christ. He told the Pharisees, he says,
you search the scriptures, in them you think you have eternal
life, there they which testify of me. So he's the embodiment,
he's the incarnate word. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. But this word for witness is
the same word in the New Testament Greek that's usually used for
a martyr. A martyr. And you know what a
martyr is. A martyr is somebody who dies
for their cause. Now, I've heard preachers say
this, and I've said it, too. They say, well, Christ was no
martyr. Well, yes, he was, really. Now,
he wasn't just simply a martyr. Now, let me explain what I mean
by that. He was a martyr in the sense that he died for his cause. But what was his cause? I'll
never forget, and this is, Randy, you and I were talking about
this the other day about how things happened in Providence
that caused you to search the scriptures, to examine your own
beliefs, and I had that too. One of the things that really
bothered me, I'll never forget, I'm probably dating myself here,
but that's okay, during the Vietnam War. And we would hear things
on the newscast every evening about the war. That's one of
the things that was a little different about the Vietnam War
than the prior wars. We had it in our living rooms
every night, the reports and the killings and all of that.
And I remember one night, they had a report of some Buddhist
monks in, I think it was Thailand. who were protesting the Vietnam
War. And you know how they protested it? They poured gasoline on themselves
and set themselves on fire. That's how they did it. And I
thought, my goodness, those fellas, would you question their sincerity?
Why, no. Their zeal. And I got to thinking,
I said, well, how can people be that dedicated to what I saw
then was a lost cause? And so there are martyrs who
die for a lost cause, a dead cause, a cause that really means
nothing. But what did Jesus Christ die
for? Well, I just said it before,
the glory of his father in the salvation of his people. He died
to save us from our sins. Now, was he successful in doing
that? Well, you bet he was. If he wasn't, he'd be no better
off than those Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire, who
were sincere and dedicated to their cause. And some people
say, well, did he die in vain? Well, unless you believe, that's
a false cause. That's a dead cause. If Christ
died conditionally for you or me or anybody else, And what
does that tell us? It tells us that he didn't really
have to die at all because we could save ourselves. So yes,
he was a martyr. Now, he was no mere martyr in
the sense that he only died for what he believed, but what he
believed was true. He died as a substitute. He died
for his people. He said, my, he said, the good
shepherd gives his life for the sheep. He died for his people.
He died as a surety. Our sins, our sin debt was imputed,
charged to him. And he paid that debt in full.
So as the faithful witness, the perfect witness, he's our sin
bearer, he's our substitute, he's our surety, he is the Lord,
our righteousness. The gospel is the witness, the
revelation of the righteousness of God. Who is the righteousness
of God? Jesus Christ and him crucified. And his death is the assurance
and security of the entire salvation of all his people. How do you
know that? Well, look at the second thing
in verse five. He's the faithful witness, but he's also the first
begotten of the dead. Now that speaks of his resurrection.
Why does it say first begotten? Well, it's because he was the
first one that was resurrected from the dead. You say, wait
a minute now. There have been others raised
from the dead, like Lazarus, John chapter 11. Well, technically
speaking now, Lazarus was raised from the dead, but he wasn't
resurrected unto glory like Jesus Christ. Lazarus died again. And do you remember in Matthew
chapter 27 when Christ died and gave up the ghost on the cross?
There were several visible physical signs that God enacted on earth
as a testimony to the greatness of the person and work of Christ.
One of the signs was the veil in the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom. Another sign is that the sun
darkened, you know, the atmospheric conditions changed. Another sign
you remember is recorded in Matthew 27 is that many who had died
in the Lord were raised from the dead. Now they weren't resurrected
under glory. No believer has been resurrected
in glorification yet. When we die, our spirits go to
be with the Lord. But our spirit, those who are
dead, who are gone to be with the Lord, they'll return with
his second coming and be reunited with their glorified bodies.
And so no believer's been glorified yet, that's future. But they
were raised from the dead just like Lazarus was. only to die
again. Jesus Christ is the first begotten
from the dead because he was raised to die no more. He was raised as a representative
of his people. He was raised because righteousness
had been established based upon which God justifies us. Remember,
because of our justification, he was raised from the dead.
So we were justified in him by his righteousness And we know
that his work was successful because he's the first begotten
from the dead. He'll never die again. And when
we're, this body will die, but when we're raised unto glory,
we'll never die again. He conquered death and hell.
So he's our great high priest. And so this, but it means, what
I'm trying to get you to understand is it means more than simply
he's the first one resurrected. It means he has the preeminence
as the Lord of glory who, among whom all will be resurrected
by him in the last day. And then it says in verse five,
it says, he's the prince of the kings of the earth. That's another
way, you remember in what is I think 1 Timothy chapter six,
he's called the king of kings, the potentate, the blessed potentate. You know what that means? That
means the most powerful one, the most powerful person in the
universe. And so he's the king of kings.
And that's really significant. He's exalted. Christ is the King
of kings and Lord of lords. He rules and reigns over all
earthly kings. Now that's important to the people
in these churches to whom John is writing. Because at this present
time, they were under the foot of one of the worst kings that
had ever been put on earth, the Roman emperor, Caesar, who persecuted
believers who hated, who was a maniac, and what John is assuring
him there by inspiration of the Holy Spirit is that Christ is
even king over that evil king. He's in control. And this thing's
gonna come out good for the people of God. This thing's gonna come
out glorious for the people of God. The battle's really won,
it's just the process we're going through is not pleasant. The
cure has already been set down and administered to the people
of God. We're just going through the process of all this that
we have to go through here on this earth until that day when
the king comes back for his people. And so he starts in the last
part of verse five with a doxology. Now you know what a doxology
is. You know, we sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise him all creatures here
below. Praise him all ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. That's the doxology. It's an
expression of praise. And so what's happening here,
and remember I told you that Revelation consists of seven
visions given to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. And
he's getting ready to launch into the very first vision. And
before he does, he gives a doxology. He gives an expression of praise.
Look at it at the last part of verse five. Unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. There's the
ground of salvation right there. The person and work of Christ. He who loved us, amazing love,
amazing grace. We don't deserve it. We haven't
earned it. but God gives it freely and unconditionally
through Christ. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation. That's the satisfaction for our
sins. So unto him that loved us. How
do I know God loved me? How can I be sure of that? What
do I have an interest in and a love for him? As the Lord my
righteousness. Look at it. Unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. That word washed
there, a lot of times when you see the word washed or it means
purged, it literally means cleansed, but here it means loosed or freed. He freed us from our sins. How'd
he do that? Look back at Romans chapter six.
I've got scriptures, references marked in your lesson. So you
can do that in your own study. And I don't turn to a lot of
them when I'm teaching here because we don't have a lot of time,
but they're written there. But I want you to look at this one.
How are we freed from our sin? Loose, that's what it means.
Now we are purged. The Bible says Christ purged
us, cleansed us from our sins with his own blood. You can think
about Hebrews chapter one, he by himself purged our sins and
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Think about
Hebrews 10, 14, by one offering he hath perfected, finished.
We're cleansed, washed from our sins. What can wash away our
sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And what that means is the figurative way of saying that the guilt
of sin is totally removed. We're not liable. to condemnation. We're totally exonerated. And
so, in essence, the word washed is not a bad word to translate
for this word in Revelation 1.5. It means we're freed, we're loosed.
Well, look at Romans 6 and verse 7. It says, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now, the word freed there means
what? It means justified. That's a legal transaction. That's
when God, based upon our sin imputed to Christ, and he put
away our sins, and his righteousness is imputed to us. We're freed. We cannot be charged with sin. Sin cannot be laid to our account.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that does. and he's at the right hand of the Father making intercession
for us. That means the intercessory work
of Christ speaks of the continual eternal application of the merit
of His righteousness to us continually. That's why we cannot ever be
lost again. But now look across the page
to verse 17 of Romans 6. We're loosed, okay? We're loose from the penalty.
We're loose from the debt, okay? But look at verse 17. But God
bethank that you were the servants of sin, that's slave to sin,
that's an unregenerate unbeliever, but you've obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you, or literally which
you were delivered to. That's the new heart that's given
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Verse 18, being then made
free from sin. The word free there means liberated
or loosed. You became the servants of righteousness.
Now how was I liberated? In that sense, I'm liberated
from the deception of sin that kept me in unbelief. Now I was
blind, now I see. You understand what I'm saying?
Now I see myself as the Bible states it. I'm a sinner. And
I cannot save myself. I cannot deliver myself. I cannot
make myself clean. I cannot make myself righteous.
The only way I can be loosed is to look to Christ and to see
him. Liberate. That's the work of
the Holy Spirit in us. Go back to Revelation 1 now.
And how is that? In his own blood. That's the
application of the blood of Christ to my conscience. Hebrews 10,
you can study that on your own, talks about the heart cleansed,
the conscience cleansed. That means the guilt and the
defilement that keeps me in bondage is removed by the blood of Christ. And so look at verse 6 of Revelation
1. This continues the doxology.
He says, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father. Now that would better be translated
this way, that he hath established us a kingdom of priests. Now some people say, well that
means we're made kings and we're made priests both. In a sense,
we can say we're kings, not in the sense that Christ is king,
because he's the head of the church. He has the prince. He's
the king of kings. And in that sense, if we're kings
in that sense, then he is the king of kings. So he's the preeminent,
he's in control, he's the sovereign, we're not. But we in him have
his authority, like ambassadors. When I speak to you the gospel,
I'm not speaking to you my opinion or my word, I'm speaking to you
the word of the king as his ambassador. But in any event, the best translation
of this would be he hath established us as a kingdom of priest, and
that's what we are. If we're saved by the grace of
God, we're priest unto God. That means we have free access
into the holiest of all by the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And then he says in verse six, to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Now let me just go over
verses seven and eight quickly. He says, behold, he cometh with
the clouds. That's speaking of his second
coming. Every eye shall see him. Huh? Now look at it. Is it gonna
be some kind of a secret rapture? No. Every eye is gonna see. He said, even they also who pierced
him. Now I believe that's talking specifically about those who
were instrumental in his death. You know, you can think about
and read Acts chapter four, you know, the kings of the earth
and the Jews and the Gentiles and all that. But it's talking
about anyone who is found at that time without Christ, who
would, in their lifetime, because of unbelief, cry, crucify him
again. And so he said, all eyes are
going to see him. He said, all kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of him. Now he's talking about those
who are unbelievers there. He's talking about those who
are unregenerate, unredeemed, unjustified, because they are
those who are of the earth. That's an expression that means,
it's kind of like saying earth dwellers. They're worldlings. They're tied to the world. The
world is their home and their go. You see, a believer, a sinner
saved by grace, this world is not our home. Our citizenship
is in heaven. Philippians chapter three. We're
citizens of a heavenly kingdom, a heavenly Jerusalem. We're in
the world, but we're not of the world. Remember Christ said,
marvel not if the world hates you. If it hated me before, it'll
hate you too. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. So what he's talking about there
is when Christ comes, they're all gonna see him. And those
who are found without Christ, who do not have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice, they'll wail
because of him. He'll be a terror to them. But
look at verse eight. He says, I am Alpha and Omega.
That's the beginning and the ending. That's the first and
the last letter of the Greek alphabet. He's the beginning,
the ending, he's everything in between. The beginning and the
ending say to the Lord, which is and which was, which is to
come. The Almighty, he repeats that. So this is the person who
established the work of salvation for his people, who obtained
and ensures the victory, and who gives this revelation to
John. Okay.