Seven Golden Lampstands - Part 9

Last week we looked at the rapture of the church in correlation to the reference in Revelation Chapter 1 and the reason for John's exile on the island of Patmos. Remember that the word "Revelation" means the unveiling, the knowing, the revealing. Today we will take a look at Jesus as He is now in heaven in all His glory and power. Picking back up where we left off in the Book of Revelation, let's look at Chapter 1:12-20.

"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone 'like a son of man,' dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." (NIV). 

Remember as we look at this portion of scripture it has been some 50 years since John had seen Jesus face to face. John knew Jesus in a personal way. It was John, who laid his head on the chest of Jesus, he refers to himself in the Bible as "the one who Jesus loves." Meaning he had a very close and personal relationship with Jesus. He was the only apostle that stood at the foot of the cross while Jesus died and was the one Jesus instructed to care for His mother.  Now however, John sees Jesus in a completely different way.

He sees Jesus revealed in all of His glory and grandeur. Remember the last time we see John, we see him in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and it's a great place to be, in the Spirit of the Lord. John was being transported into the spirit realm, and he sees Jesus Christ, no longer the humble Galilean who preached on the shores of the sea, but the enthroned Son of God in power and worshiped by all in heaven. This is just one of many visits John will take into the spiritual realm. For when the Bible says "in the Spirit" he is announcing he was taken to a place of the time or eternity where all is now before God and he sees the events that are taking place in the earthly realm. It's like John takes a journey in a time capsule so to speak. He is transported from one place to another where time has no limits. He sees things that in his time, have never been seen before, except through visions given by God through His prophets.

John says he is "In the Spirit" in Revelation 1:10 and he also says it in Revelation 4:2 ~ "At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it." 

In Revelation 17:3 ~ "Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered in blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns."

In Revelation 21:10 ~ "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God."

As you remember before that John heard behind him a loud voice like a trumpet, which we have learned is not a talking trumpet, but the voice of God announcing His intentions to John. Interestingly in the Bible, trumpets were primarily but not exclusively used as an announcement, to call people to worship, to war or for celebration. Isn't it interesting that according to the Bible, God will call His people home to heaven with a blast of a trumpet at the moment of the rapture?

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ~ "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we are are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly no precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage each other with these words." (NIV). 

Notice that God appears in the atmosphere, not to earth and there will be a sound of a trumpet blast and the Bible says that those who have died in Christ will be resurrected first and then those of us that are alive, shall be caught up to meet them in the air, and we will be gathered together with a trumpet blast to be with the Lord and we shall always be with the Lord.

Now John is hearing the voice of a trumpet, which is the voice and calling of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see what John sees, the appearance of Jesus Christ, in all of His glory and power, we will never see Him quite the same ever again. When we get a glimpse of who the real Jesus Christ is, it won't matter what people say about you or do to you. It doesn't matter what kind of slander they create or what kind of story they might tell, because when Jesus Christ is enthroned in your life, you can stand firm in the things of this world, because you know where your strength is found.

Hebrews 13:6 ~ "So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (NIV). 

When you see Jesus enthroned in all His glory and power, it is hard to imagine bowing down to any other person in this world no matter how great they were or think they are today. John was given the greatest revelation to all mankind. So who is Jesus Christ today? There are four key points.

1. He is the Jesus - who is with us (verses 12-13).

"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone 'like a son of man,' dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ~ Revelation 1:12-13 (NIV). 

He is always with us in the light. "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands," so what John sees at this point is the voice of one speaking is the one in the midst of these seven golden lampstands. The seven golden lampstands are no doubt examples of light. There are two interpretations of what the seven golden lampstands represent according to scholars. The first is that as Jesus is standing, there are seven individual lampstands surrounding Him, and He is standing in the middle of them. Yet in the Old Testament in both the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem, there is a menorah. It has a single root and rising up from that root are seven branches total. It is the same seven lampstand menorah, is also forever illuminated in heaven. The ones created on earth, were in exact detail of the one that is in heaven forever. You can either see this a seven individual lampstands with Jesus standing in the middle representing the seven churches or it is understood that it is the seven lampstand menorah which represents the single root of Jesus with the seven lampstands branching off of it, representing the completeness of God, the completeness of the churches with Jesus walking in the midst of them.

It is a symbol of God's dwelling, because He dwells in this glorious light, the menorah or these lampstands were a symbol of light, and they are a picture of the church illuminating against the dark background of a sinful world. It is the very same reason whenever you go to buy a diamond in a jewelry store that it is placed against a dark black or blue background to intensify or project the aspects of the diamonds ability to illuminate light, so it is with the church. The darker the days get, the more evil and cynical, barbaric and lawless the world gets, and the more the church or a people hang on to Jesus, the more it will shine. That is the point. Our homes, our lives, our churches and communities will not compromise. It will stand for righteousness and holiness and if God brings back a revival it will be a return to the holiness in the lives of Christians! Where the world no longer has a grip like it has on so many people today.

1 John 1:5-7 ~ "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies us from all sin." 

John 8:12 ~ "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life." (NIV).

Which means we can not be living in sin, a rebellious life against God, Christian or not, by the way, and living a life asking God to bless and hear our prayers. The Bible says, he will not listen to our prayers and he will not lead and guide us because we are walking in sin. Walking after self, walking after our own agenda.

So the seven lampstands represent the seven local churches of Asia Minor, but because there are seven of them, the also represent the Christian church in totality of the New Testament age.

Matthew 5:14-16 ~ "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (NIV). 

We as a church, have a responsibility to be that light that Jesus is talking about here. You can take any light or flame and move it away and eventually it will burn out. It is out of fellowship with the light and it will be reduced to just an ember. When we get distant from Christ or distant from fellowship, and thus the reason it is imperative that you attend church that teaches the Word of God for fellowship, and strength for one reason alone, because God has told you in the Bible to do it.

Why? For this one reason, that together, we may burn brighter, it is through fellowship that we can see the power and glory of God at work, in our personal lives, in our churches and communities. We need to spend more time fellowshipping with one another. Stop saying the church is too big and you don't know anyone. Put on your goggles, go the edge and simply dive in. Find out who is there. Why do you think churches are growing and getting bigger, for your comfort? No to affect the world more!! Larger church, larger resources, larger vision.

Tomorrow we will continue our study into the remainder of the verses in this section. Thanks for stopping by today and if you are blessed by this study, please share it with others. It is amazing to see how God will use this to change lives simply by sharing it on your social media pages.

Jesus Christ Revealed - Revelation Bible Study Part 5

I don't think there isn't one Christian who would pass up a blessing if they knew the could get one simply by doing something. To know that simply reading the book of Revelation, God promises a blessing to those who read it and hear it, because after reading the book of Revelation, you can't deny what is going to happen in the world later, what is currently happening and how just by accepting the invitation to know Jesus Christ and to turn your life over to Him, to follow Him, you will be spared from the wrath of God to come upon the entire world. There will be no safe place to run when that time comes. So without further adeiu, let us jump right into our study into the Book of Revelation.

We know that chapter 1, into the Book of Revelation is all about the unveiling of Jesus Christ, thus the reason for the title, Revelation which simply means revealing, and in this case it is all about Jesus Christ. There are only two places where God promises blessings, the first in the book of Revelation for those who read and hear its words and for those followers of Jesus that give from the heart financially God promises to bless those funds and make them multiply. Let us not confuse that with every dollar you give to God, He's going to turn around and give you $10. That is not giving with the right motives in mind, that is giving with the expectation of getting monetary blessings in return. God has quite a few ways He can do that, one is blessing you with more money, but often times it is through other ways.

Today we will pick up our study back in Revelation 1:4-11 but will be focusing on primarily verses 5 and 6. But let us take the entire message into context first and it helps to refresh where we were at in our study.

Revelation 1:4-11~ " John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Look,he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea." (NIV). 

The entire intent in this chapter is that through John's letter, the intent of God, the Father is revealing the deity, the reality and the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ. Far too often we tend to view the Bible wrongly due to our Western influence. We perceive the Son, to be someone quite less than the Father, because that is our culture. It's our fault and unlike that in anywhere in the world. When you want to talk to someone, you want to speak with someone in charge, you want to talk to the Father. That is our culture, or society. But if you go to the Middle East or the Far East, and the son, has equal rights to that of his father. The father will often defer to the son, to help to raise him up in the eyes of those around him. But God doesn't need to do that because Jesus has all the authority of God the Father, He doesn't have less authority than God but equal. When you go to someone in the East and ask to speak to someone in authority, you are given the opportunity to speak to the father or son, because each has equal authority.

So when we see God, the Father, revealing His Son, Jesus Christ, He is revealing Jesus' grandeur, this is not the Jesus Christ, walking on the shores of Galilee, not now, this is the glorified Christ, the Christ, post crucifixion. Post resurrection. This is Jesus Christ, enthroned in Heaven. In fact, this is Jesus Christ, post accession. You will remember in the New Testament, when the disciples watched Jesus ascend into Heaven with all the glory surrounded Him, and the angels said the to disciples, this same Jesus you see ascend into Heaven, will be the same Jesus that will return in like manner. He ascended to the throne, in His own seat. When the disciples see Him, he hasn't ascended into the throne room like we see Him in Revelation, He appeared to them as looking similar in ways to the same Jesus they remembered, but this is not how Jesus appears now in the throne room when John sees Him in all His glory.

We see Him described later in the first chapter of Revelation 1, where His eyes blaze like fire and His face is brilliant white, like the sun in its full strength. His beard and hair are white like snow. Spectacular. This is Jesus Christ!!!

From God's view point we see a few things, when we look back at verse 4:  John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,"

We see four things. (1) God's accounting. We see him using the number seven in regards to the seven churches in Asia which signify his totality of His churches. The number seven being the number of completion, in the Bible and we know there are more than seven churches, but the ones that collectively representing the churches of that day in proximity to the area of geography. We see how often the number 7 is used throughout the Bible but specifically in the book of Revelation. It is God's completeness. God is including all the churches even the ones today, but we will cover that one later in our study.

(2) God's Geography: We look at the references to the churches in Asia, not the Asia we know today, but Asia Minor, from history or modern day Turkey. We know that there were significantly more churches than the seven listed here in the chapter 1 including the major church in Rome that Paul wrote to in 90 A.D. There was the church at Colossee and Hyeropolis, very famous churches in that day. They are not referred to here because Jesus is referring to the churches collectively. He is specifically writing to the seven churches mentioned here which we will study in more detail later. We will see that those churches existed at that time, but also there is a bit of those churches existing in our hearts and we don't want to deal with those right now. We will see about churches alive today that have strayed, that our persecuted (we see this even today, in fact the greatest atrocity of the world is taking place in the Sudan, where if you are not a Muslim, you are dying at the tune to the last six years of 2 million people dying for not being a Muslim). If you are an athiest, you die. If you are a Christian, you die. If you are a Jew, you die. In Sudan. Killed at the hands of Muslim extremists in the area of the Sudan. 2 million people plus. Colin Powell said it is the greatest extermination of people in modern times, and it has fallen on deaf ears of the U.N. because they have their own agenda. You can read up on that one later in regards to how this is affecting the European Union and what is taking place in the Sudan. Jesus is going to talk about churches in Revelation who are carnal and have walked away from His witness.

(3) God's Nature: "from him who is, and who was, and who is to come." - Revelation 1:4
He is the one that extends to us His grace, His unmerited favor, that He would single YOU out and make YOU the object of His affection. Is that incredible? God says, "I LOVE YOU!"

(4) God's Position: The Bible says that there are seven spirits before His throne. We saw yesterday how those are seven specific angels designated to the work of God.

So today, we begin in verse 5 with our second point, from Jesus' point of view. "from Jesus Christ," Verse 4 is predominately from the Father's view point, and now in verse 5, from Jesus Christ. It gives us titles of who Jesus is. (1) He is the faithful witness, meaning this, that Jesus Christ is forever faithful. He will NEVER be unfaithful.  This is important to us because when Jesus says, I am the Resurrection and the Life, and no man comes to the Father, but through me, you want to be sure. When Jesus says that when a man dies, believing in Him, he shall live. You want to know that as a fact. What are you afraid of? Question Him? He's not afraid. Find out for yourself. We have the promises of the Bible in Him and that He is the faithful witness, which in the Greek, is "martus" which is where we get our word, martyr. He is the one, that is presenting a faithful witness even to death, which we all know that Jesus died for our sins, but what else? Jesus Christ, died on the cross for us, but also for the Father, as a witness, not that God needed Jesus to die. But the prophets foretold that Jesus would come. That Jesus Christ, would be offered up on the cross. So when Jesus Christ died for us, He died for our sins. When He died on the cross, He died for the Father's testimony, throughout history. God the Father, said His Son would come. What did Jesus do? He came! What else did He do? He died on the cross. The faithfulness of God.

Jesus Christ has come to set us free. When He says what He says, and when He does, what He does, it is to liberate us. When we look at Jesus, we learn about the faithfulness of the Father.

John 14: 8-9 ~"Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you for such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' (NIV). 

What Jesus was saying is that this is the way the Father acts, this is what the Father says, this is how the Father is. When you hear me speak, I speak the things of the Father. When I turn and do, I do the things of the Father. So why is this important? Because Jesus Christ, without error, is 100% faithful to the will of the Father. If you want to know what God, the Father is like, if you want to know what the Holy Spirit is like, look to Jesus Christ, and you will see what they are like in their totality.

John 4:21-24, "Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet, a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth." (NIV). 

That was Jesus' witness. He talked to us about worship.

In John 10:9 ~ "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." (NIV). 

What does this mean? Jesus is saying, "I am the door! If you come on in, you will be saved. and you'll be able to go in and out and find comfort, or pasture." In the towns of Israel, Bethlehem or Jerusalem, there are these areas for shepherds that are holding pens with a gate just big enough for a man to lay down in the entrance. They are scattered throughout the pastures so that when the sheep are in for the night, the shepherd can lay down in the entrance way to guard and watch over the sheep. They are safe. He guards and protects his sheep. The only way they can get out is over him and with him laying down, they can't get out. That is the same picture Jesus is presenting here. Once you give your life to Him, He becomes your shepherd and watches over you day and night. No one can snatch you out of his hand without His knowledge and He isn't going to let that happen. Not on His watch which is eternal and 24/7. You can't question your salvation because Jesus is faithful. If He says YOU will be saved through Him, You can trust in that promise, no matter how you feel, because our feelings are not faithful.

You're either in the family of God or your not. You have either given your heart to Jesus or you haven't. Are you born again? Then you are in the sheep-fold. Maybe in life, no one has been faithful to you. Maybe He is trying to tell you that this morning. He's telling you, "I will be faithful to you." He is the only one.

Maybe you have been hurt by someone, perhaps even a pastor or friend, but the only person who is faithful and perfect is Jesus. Man or your friends will disappoint you and won't be faithful, because we are looking at the wrong things. We don't follow people, we follow Jesus. God never asked us to look at people but to Him. Perhaps the best advice for Christians, is to keep your eyes, 6 feet and above.