Turn with me in your Bibles to
Revelation chapter 1. We're going to take our time
and work our way through here. It's important if you're going
to understand all these great mysteries that He declares to
us later on in Revelation, it's very important that you have
a good understanding of what our Lord, who He is, why He came,
what He did, and where He's at right now. We need an understanding
of His person and of His work. And so John lays that out under
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and we're kind of going through
here and taking our time and looking at these things as John
states them. Now last week in verse 5, where
John told us some things about our Savior, he tells us that
He is the faithful witness. Not a witness, the witness. Before every angel or man was
created, Christ was there. You know, we're often told that
he was the creator of the world. We're told that often in the
scriptures, but you don't really think about him being the creator
of the angels, but he was. Before every angel or man stood
before God, Christ was there. He was there. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He alone can testify of those
things which are decreed of God because he was there. I can tell
you what God says about his decrees, but Christ was there when he
decreed them. I can't tell you like he can.
He was there. John the Baptist said this. This
is over in John chapter 3 and verses 31 and 32. He said, He
that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth,
talking about himself, is earthy, and he speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from heaven is above all, and what he hath seen
and heard, that he testifieth. And no man receiveth his testimony. No man, John said, hath seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Well,
what are you saying, Preacher? I'm saying that Jesus of Nazareth
is God come into the flesh. And as God, He was in the beginning
with God. And as our sovereign mediator,
God trusted all things into His hand, and as those things were
trusted to Him, He created all things. And these things were
created according to the redemptive purpose of God. Creation is not
just something set out here on a sea of expectation, hoping
that it will do this or do that and waiting for it to evolve.
It was created. according to the redemptive purpose
of God. And that's why, that's how it's
ordered, that's how things run throughout the ages, and that's
why it's being preserved. So Christ is the faithful witness. He's the first begotten from
the dead, he's the first to come forth without sin, to come forth
pure and holy, and he's the first to rise from the dead and ascend
into glory. He is the Prince, he tells us
in verse 5, of the kings of the earth. He is the appointer of
the kings. He sets them up. He sets them
down. He is the appointer of kings.
He preserves one king and takes one king away. He is the Prince
of the kings of the earth. He is the ruler of the kings.
And this One who is both God and man, it says, loved us. Oh, my soul. He loved us. I don't even love myself, but
he loved me. I don't care how old a believer
gets, he'll never get over that. Never get over that. He'll ask
himself a thousand times, how could he love me? How could he
love me? He loved us. And then he goes
on and says, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. His blood was shed for our sins. Paul said in Ephesians 1, 7,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. We're told to feed the church
of God which He hath purchased with His own blood, Acts 20,
28. And again in Romans 5, 9, being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
Him. The scriptures go on to tell
us we're made nigh by the blood of His cross. We have peace through
the blood of His cross. And without the shedding of blood
is no remission of sin. And I tell you this, a believer
makes much of the blood of Christ. I know it's his death that the
blood testifies of. But believers understand that,
and they make much of the blood of Christ. Nothing but the blood. That's what the hymn writer wrote.
And then in 1 John 1, 7, he tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. How? How? Think about it. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin by satisfying God's holy justice. That's how it cleanses you. It
takes away your sin. The only way you can get rid
of sin is to satisfy the God who cursed you for it. You're
going to have to satisfy His justice. That's the only way
sin can be put away is to be paid for and to be paid for and
for. And Paul pointed this out over
in Romans 3, verses 24 through 25. He said that's how God set
forth His Son in all the Old Testament types. You go through
there and look at them. The faith of those Old Testament
believers was based on how God set forth His Son in them lambs
and goats and heifers. And he said, we're justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. This is what
enables God. God is merciful. But because
of sin, he must have this determining factor to show his mercy. That's what propitiation is. We have redemption that's in
Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, now
listen, through faith in His blood. Through faith in His blood
to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins, both
then and now. And the believer hears the Gospel
of Christ, he understands that his only hope of salvation is
in the substitutionary death of Christ. He understands that.
And the faith given to him of God enables him to have confidence
that that death was sufficient to put away his sins. That's
what faith is. You're not going to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ until God convinces you that his death
is sufficient, that his life is sufficient, that he is sufficient
to save yourself. That's what it is. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. Now, this is how guilt is purged
from our conscience and how the love of God is perceived. In this, in this, not in something
else, in this. It was manifested, the love of
God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into
the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be a propitiation for our sins. So He loved us, and He
washed us from our sins in His own blood. Now, let's move on
now and look at Revelations 1-6. Revelations 1-6. And this Christ
who loved us and washed us from our sins hath made us kings and
priests unto God and His Father. Kings and priests. Don't think
of yourself as a king, do you? But you will if you think about
your union with Christ. He's made us kings. and priests
unto our God. Believers are one with Christ
by divine union. When He appeared on this earth,
we appeared in Him. When He served God and obeyed
His law in every jot and tittle, we obeyed that law in Him. When He suffered and died for
our sins, we died with Him. with Him. And when He ascended
into glory, God raised us up with Him and seated us with Him
at the right hand of God. Accepted. Accepted. And if we're children of God,
then we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's how
we're kings. And that's how we're priests.
Paul wrote the Corinthians and he said, all things are yours. I'm going to tell you something,
only a king could you say that about. All things are yours. If you're
in Christ, go in there then, all things are yours. Whether Paul, who was Paul? He was a minister. Who did he
minister to? He ministered to the children
of God. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all are yours. They're yours. And ye are Christ,
and Christ is God. You're kings. You're kings. Gil said this, we're kings born
into the kingdom of grace. We're born kings. Every now and
then over in England, somebody's born. And they're born royalty. They're born kings or born queens.
We're born into the kingdom of grace as a king. We've got power
by faith over sin, Satan, and the world, and all of our enemies.
Did you know that? In Christ, we reign. You don't think about that very
often, do you? We reign in Him. That's why our faith rests in
Him and glorifies Him and hopes in Him, because in Him we reign. Somebody asked Brother Mayhem
one time. He hadn't seen him since he went
to seminary with him down in Tennessee. The fellow said, Henry,
are you still saved? Henry said, I don't know. He
said, is God still sitting on the throne? Is Christ still enthroned at
the right hand of God? If He is, I'm still saved because
He's my salvation. And we live like kings. We're
attended with ministers. God provides ministers. Did you know that you have angels
standing in the presence of God? If you're a believer here this
morning, your angels do stand before God looking up at Him
and awaiting His orders for you. Huh? God hath made His angels,
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall
be heirs of salvation. The angels, which are much higher
than we are in the creative order, are ministers to us, because
in Christ we're kings. You think about it. And we dress like kings. We wear
the royal robes of Christ's righteousness. And we're priests, he says, just
like that old priesthood that busied themselves ministering
to God's elect, accomplishing every day the service of God.
That's what we do. That's what we do. That's the
only reason we're here. There's no other reason for you to be
here. You're as righteous as you're ever going to get in Christ.
You're as holy as you're ever going to get in Christ. You're
as accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ as you're ever going to
be. So why are we still here? Because He's made us priests. That's why. We're priests. We're
a holy priesthood. Isn't that what Peter said? Holy
priesthood. God's given us this privilege
and we minister to God's elect. And for all that He's done for
us and the privileges that He's given to us, we all say with
John, to Him be glory. Huh? To Him be glory, now listen,
and dominion forever and ever. Ain't you glad He reigns? All
my soul. I tell you, I look at this country,
and I look at society today, and maybe I'm just looking with
better eyes than I used to look, but it sure looks to me like
the whole thing going down the toilet. And I tell you, I'm glad
every time I look at it, every time I hear something on the
news, I just thank God for Him who sits on the throne. Ain't
you glad He reigns? in glory. Everything a believer
knows, everything a believer has or hopes to have is freely
given to him by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is
all. But my friend, there's a day
coming when things as they are now are going to come to an end. God's saints shall all be risen
to stand with Him, and He shall judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom He hath ordained. Look here in Revelation 1, verse
7. 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. So be it. Now, let me give you
four or five things here. Let's just break this verse down
a little bit. He cometh. That's the first thing
He said. Behold, stand still and wonder. Stand still in amazement and
think about this. He cometh. he cometh, the God-man
mediator, him in whose hands God entrusted all things, that
one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, that one
who created all things by the word of His power, that one who
orders all things and for whom all things were made, that one
through whom all things have a present continuance and preservation
in this world. That One who above came and by
Himself purged our sins and ascended back into glory to reconcile
us, to intercede for us, and to order
all things for our good in His glory. Behold, He cometh. Fussing around and drawing charts
about when. I'm not so interested about when
as I am who. He's coming. That's what John
said. That's what made his heart rise
up in worship. He's coming. Behold, he cometh. And let the
scalpers dance about in some disillusioned dream of his non-existence,
John says here in the word of God, he cometh. You believe that? When's he coming? He may come
right now. He could come at any time. He cometh, not another ambassador
as the many who have been sent throughout these final days,
but he himself cometh. Secondly, he said, he cometh
with clouds. What on earth does that mean?
Well, over in Acts chapter 1, the Apostle Luke gives us an
account of the Lord's ascension into glory. You might want to
turn over there and look at this. He says in Acts chapter 1 and
verse 9, And when he had spoken these things to that handful
of disciples, there's just a handful, says it, there are four of them,
When he'd spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken
up and a cloud received him out of sight. Think about that. Here's this
man, he's standing there talking to them just like I'm talking
to you. And then he quit talking. And he rose up. Gravity didn't
mean a thing. He rose up in the air. And a
cloud received him. He went right up inside that
cloud, I suppose, or upon that cloud, and then ascended out
of the sight. What a demonstration of His power
and glory. He ascends and is carried up
to glory on a cloud. And then there was two men. I
believe they were angels. But there was two men who stood
beside them in white apparel, and they said, you men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? They were dumbfounded by what
they saw. This one that they knew who ate
with them and walked with them and taught them ascended up into
glory. And they just stood there with
their mouths open looking up into heaven. And here's these
two angels in the form of men, and they begin to talk to him.
And they said, you men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up for you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you
seen Him go. What did you see? Well, I saw
the Lord of glory received up in a cloud. That's exactly how
He's coming back. Now listen to this. He cometh
with clouds. But now a cloud, singular, took
Him up into glory. But when He comes back, He's
coming on clouds because He's coming in all the glory of His
Father's house. All the glory of His Father's
house and with the holy angels, it says. He's coming. And then
thirdly, every eye shall see Him. You know, I'm not going
to attempt to explain this. We're living in a day of explanation. Everybody wants to explain anything.
You know, there's fights and divisions going on right now
over regeneration. Can you explain regeneration?
I ain't got a clue. I just know the few things that
God tells us about. That's the only thing I know
about it. I'm not even going to attempt to tell you I don't know. It's an act of
God. It's a divine work. I don't know
what else to say about it. I can't perform it. You can't
perform it. Only God can do it. That's why
we pray for the Holy Spirit to attend our services. I can't
do the work, but he can. And after he's done it, I can
explain it. And that's pretty much what the Lord told Nicodemus.
He said, the wind blows where it listeth. And then it leaves, and you can't
tell when or where it come from. You can't tell anything about
it. You just know the wind was there, and you only know that
by the effect of it. That's all I know about it. Men
want to explain how the scripture says Christ was made sin, and
they want to explain that. I can't explain that. I just
know it's so. It's what he testified. I take
him at his word. That's what it says. Men want
to divide and do all of these things. And here it says, every
eye shall see him. Well, there are going to be some
on the other side of the planet when he comes. How are they going
to see him? Every eye is going to see him. We can't explain these things,
and we make ourselves fools when we try. Every eye. Those with eyes to
see Him, and perceive Him, and love Him, and glory in His coming.
And those who have despised Him, ignored Him, and live for themselves. And some will thank God and praise
God, and others will cry for the rocks and the mountains to
hide them from the face of Him with whom they have to do. Every
eye is going to see Him. They're not going to see Him
in His humility. They've seen that for the last
time. They're going to see Him in His glory. They're not going
to see Him as an infant. They've seen Him as an infant
for the last time. He's coming back as the King
of glory. Only a small handful saw Him
ascend into glory, but every eye is going to see Him when
He returns. And then fourthly, and they also which pierced Him,
they're going to see Him too. Those who pierced Him with the
nails in His hands and His feet. That man who pierced Him with
the spear. They that pierced His precious
brow with that crown of thorns. And all those who have professed
faith in Him and cast Him aside, attempting to crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. All those
that pierced Him. are going to see Him. They're
going to see Him. And they're going to see Him
coming in glory, not dead as they suspected He was, but alive
and reigning over all things. And then fifthly, all the kindreds
of the earth are going to wail. You know what that word means?
It means to violently weep. I think it was at my, when my
mother was in the hospital. And she was, we thought she was
dying. She had some bad heart trouble,
and the doctors called us all in, and we didn't expect her
to live. And we were waiting out in the
waiting room, and some doctors came out who just had pulled
the little operating mask down off from their face, and they
went over to a little 13-year-old girl, and her father was in there. They'd been in a car wreck, and
her father was in there. And he didn't make it. And he
was the only one she had in the world. And she began to weep violently,
just shaking all over, turned white in the face. You could
see the veins in her arms. She wept. That's what it means
to wail. All the kindreds of the earth
are going to wail because of him. Why will they wail? Because his
presence reveals that all their works and expectations were for
nothing. All for nothing. Because all
their stations and attainments and success is suddenly meaningless. Why shall they wail? Because
all that they hoped in is suddenly exposed as nothing more than
a soap bubble. Why shall they wail? Because
everything they were successful in and were successful at hiding
themselves from men, hiding themselves from men is
suddenly exposed by God. All their treasures are turned
into sand. You know, he tells us later on
in Revelation, he starts talking about streets of gold and gates
of pearl. You know what gates and streets
are made of? The most common material. And in glory, that's
all gold and silver and pearls are worth. It's just common things. All their treasures were turned
into sand, all their beauty turned into ashes, and all of their
strength into weakness. Why shall they wail? Because
all their wisdom is exposed as ignorance. They'll violently
weep, for now they know they have nothing to give in exchange
for their souls. What will you do? What will you
do in that day? If you're called to stand before
him in that day and you don't have faith in Christ and you
don't have that redeeming blood, you don't have that intercessor
to plead your case before God, what will you give in exchange
for your soul? Nothing, because you don't have
anything. And that's why they'll wail.
They'll wail. Now listen to how John addresses
this. This is serious, solemn business. Now how does John, how will he
react to that? Some of these ones who stand
there wailing are going to be his children. Some might be his
wife, might be his cousins, might be his uncles, might be his father. And John is under the inspiration
of the Spirit looking ahead unto this judgment. And he's telling
us what it is. They're going to wail before
God. How will he react to such a thing? Will he curse God? Not a believer. Now, don't you
listen to what John says. Even so, so be it. God's people are on God's side
in the condemnation of sin. And they know that the God of
glory cannot do wrong. If He condemns even those who
are closest to us, we know that He was just in His condemnation. And here John sees this world
and his own included in it. He says, even so, amen. No one shall or ever could wipe
away the tears of our eyes. And if believers have tears in
that day, and I have no reason to expect that they won't because
it says God Himself shall wipe away their tears, this will be
what their tears are over. But God Himself, they're going
to say, Amen. Amen. He's just and right in his condemnation. He can't do wrong. His judgments
are true. They're true. And God himself
will wipe away their tears. They wail because of him. Even
so, let it be.