See It All Revealed in Just One Chapter - Part 11

Welcome back to our study into the Book of Revelation and we are hoping to finish Chapter 1, today. I know it has taken a bit of a long time, 10 study sessions in fact just to deal with everything John sees in the opening Chapter of Revelation, but if you have truly studied your Bible you know that you can't truly understand what is happening in the Book of Revelation until you have read the Bible in its entirety and thus the reason many people don't understand what they reading when the open this marvelous book and see the mysteries behind what we are reading.

Brass comes into play in our final study into Chapter 1, and it has a real significance that can be found all the way back in the Old Testament. When dealing with the instruments and objects used in the Temple that Moses created, we find brazen objects, or objects made from brass, like the brass or brazen altars and lavers, brass speaks to the judgments of God as well as brass in military terms speaks of action, So when we see Jesus Christ coming back for the second time, not for the Rapture, but in returning to the earth, He is coming in judgment on the earth and its inhabitants. When Jesus came to the earth the first time, He brought healing and salvation. Even the verse He quoted from Isaiah when reading the scrolls in the temple, He stopped at a pause, or a comma. Why? Because the very next part of that Scripture speaks of God's judgment and that is exactly where we find this Jesus now in the Book of Revelation, ready to dispense judgment or picking up right where He left off the last time He was on the earth.

He is going to be bringing judgment, wrath and His purging power to the earth before He establishes His coming Kingdom here.

He is the Jesus who's for us, having suffered the wrath, that we find in verse 15, of Revelation Chapter 1, ~ "His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters."

Jesus has suffered the wrath of His Father in our place, for the payment of sin. It is the very nickname we give to the military whenever referring to them, we call them the "brass." The leadership of the military is known as the brass. It is the military that brings judgment in the way of action on the nation it is invading. What Jesus do you relate to today? The Jesus that comes in judgment to the world, that kind of brazen Jesus or the Jesus that suffered the wrath of God in payment for our sins so that we might have salvation through Him? Are you fearful and afraid of Him and His coming because you don't know Him and He is coming in judgment or are you saying thank God for that brass, that nature of Jesus dying in our place for the salvation that can only be found in what He did, the judgment that I was supposed to receive instead?

When Moses had the serpent staff, what did he make it out of? That's right brass! He held it up for the people to look upon it for the salvation of their sickness they were receiving because of their sinful hearts and actions. The serpent, the original origin of sin, on a pole, judged, Satan was judged regarding the cross. Jesus paid for our sins when He was lifted up, as He stood in our place as it were on the cross as God heaped upon Him all the sins of the world. Notice how his feet are the ones like bronze glowing in a furnace. This is the same Jesus who before used to have his feet washed, they now no longer have to worry about getting dirty, they are now no longer subject the anger of men.

Zechariah 12:10 ~ "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." (NIV). 

He is the one who is for us, having first called us by name. (Verse 15 and 16).

"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."

Jesus' mouth has two different aspects, the sound of it and the sword of it. If you have ever been around a massive storm surge with pounding waves, or the sound of a mighty waterfall, you can not only hear the roar of the water, but you can feel its power as well. It is something to be awed by and respected. It puts fear into you. It's symbolism. Moving water is the symbol of living water. The sound of the water, has a tendency to calm you down. Sometimes when Jesus speaks to us, that it is soothing, calming peace, and at other times, it can put fear into you as well. I am so glad it is that same Jesus that calls me by name.

John 10:27 ~ "My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me." 

John 10:3-4 ~ "The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they  know his voice. "

And the sharp-two edged sword is the Word of God.

Revelation 19:15 ~"Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations."He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty."

But in His glory in His revelation, He sounds like a roaring sea or a cascading waterfall.

Hebrews 4:12 ~ "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Who is Jesus today? He is the Jesus who comforts us.

Revelation 1:17-18 ~ "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 live for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

He is the Jesus who comforts us with authority.

"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." Revelation 1:17. 

There are six very different things to grasp here.

1. "He laid his right hand on me."

You want God's right hand on Your life. You want to be seated at His right hand. The Bible tells us that it is God's right hand of strength don't ever be on God's left side. On the right side, God says He will argue for you, to enter into His kingdom. Apparently God must be right-handed. Don't argue. Get on his right side. This the hand of favor and of blessing. If an agreement was to be struck, it came through the right hand. If acceptance was given, it came through the right hand. If an association was to be enjoyed, it came through the right hand. Because of "His right hand."

In Matthew 25:34 ~ "Then the King will say to those on his right, "come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

Matthew 25:41 ~ "Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."  

Psalm 18:35 ~ "You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great."

2. "He said to me, "Do not be afraid." 

Imagine for a moment if you, right now, could hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to you. "Stop worrying or stop being afraid." The natural question is why should I stop worrying. Here comes the reason why we shouldn't be afraid or worry.

3. "I am the First and the Last"

I am the totality of God's revealed Word to man. I am the consummation from Genesis to Revelation and Beyond. I am the Word from the First and the Last. Christian, next time you are afraid, remind yourself of this, you can grab hold of God's promises, because He is the First and the Last.

This title is reserved exclusively for God alone!

He is the Jesus who comforts us with all power. (verse 18).

"I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am live for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." ~ Revelation 1:18. 

Jesus Christ Is the Almighty God. I would invite you today to know this Jesus today, the one who lives forevermore. To have your sins forgiven, to give Him your life!

4. "I am he who lives and was dead." 

"I am He who lives, " That is alive and never to die again. That is good news. Put your faith in Him who lives forever and you will never be disappointed again.

"and was dead, and behold, " that is "my body suffered to the extreme, look at it!"

5. "I am alive forevermore."

That is I will be alive throughout the eons upon eons of ages. Epochs without end.

Christian, how long will you live in heaven?  Alive throughout the eons upon eons of ages, epochs without end.

Christian, how long will you be secure in heaven? Saved throughout the eons upon eons of ages, epochs without end. As long as Jesus lives. FOREVER!

Hebrews 7:25 ~ "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." 

He is the Jesus who comforts us - with all rule. 

6.  "I hold the keys of death and Hades."

Satan's been evicted friends. All he can do now is panic. Panic, by blinding people to the truth. Panic, by keeping you busy instead of serving. Panic, by stealing you away from worship. Panic, by having you be lazy toward church things. So why would you ever want to be on the defeated team?

Jesus has the Supreme Rule. He is saying I have the keys, you enjoy the kingdom.

Who is Jesus Christ today. He is the Jesus who comforts this way. (verse 19-20)

"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." ~ Revelation 1:19-20

Jesus Christ himself gives us the outline of the entire book. It's so important he says, "Write it down!" It's what we tell people to do when something is important and we don't want them to forget.

He is the Jesus who wants us to know that He knows. He even gives us the outline! He must like three point sermons. If you focus on Revelation by Jesus' outline, you'll never go wrong with Bible prophecy.

Write these things. (1) which you have seen. (Chapter 1).
(2) the things which are, (Chapters 2-3)
and the things that will take place later. (Chapters 4-22).

He is the Jesus who wants us to know that He will teach us. (verse 20).

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 (protecting angels or faithful pastors) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." Jesus calls his pastors, messengers, same word for angels. His messenger to that church! That pastor by God has been installed as that messenger to that church. The book is now open! We just concluded Chapter one and you know what has been revealed in just that one chapter?

He will teach us about Himself. So what do we know so far?

He is Jesus.

He is the Christ.

He is the faithful witness.

He is the first begotten of the dead.

He is the prince of the Kings of the earth. 

He is the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

He is the One who comes with the clouds.

He is the One who was pierced for us.

He is the Alpha and the Omega.

He is the Beginning and the End.

He is the First and the Last.

He is the Lord.

He is the Almighty.

He is the Son of Man.

He is He that lives and was dead and is alive forevermore!

THIS IS WHO JESUS CHRIST IS! This has all been revealed in just one chapter in the Book of Revelation! He is our Savior and our Redeemer.

Jesus Revealed - Part 6

Jesus Christ Revealed Part 2

Today we continue our study on the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ and His revelation from a heavenly perspective found in chapter one of Revelation. If we look at our own lives, who do you look up to? A role model, family member, someone you want to become more like. For most believers, that should be Jesus over anyone else. He is our preeminent focus in life.

Proverbs 30:4 ~ "Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!" (NIV).

It's Jesus, and we all need to know Him like that, intimately! We must know Him like that. Going back to Revelation 1:5, "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," (NIV).

We learned in our last study all about the faithfulness of God and Jesus being the witness of that faithfulness through His persistent and perfect obedience to God's will.

Looking at the specifics of what "firstborn from the dead" means, is that Jesus was the first one created before all others and died to be resurrected to never die again. He is the first one to die, be resurrected and will never die again. That is the very reason for Jesus being glorified or begotten meaning He will never see the grave again. People might ask you what proof do you have of this?

The answer is simple, an empty tomb in Jerusalem. The entire Roman empire was present, Jesus's disciples were witnesses of His resurrection again. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus died once and for all, never to die again. He is forever and forever faithful.

Romans 8:29 ~ "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (NIV). 

The third thing we pick up in verse 5 is the dominion of Jesus. "ruler of the kings of the earth." (NIV). 

This means the Supreme One, the one who presides over the governments of the world. He is coming back and He will set up his rule and reign of a 1000 years or millennium on earth.

1 Timothy 6:14-15 ~ "to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time - God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, " (NIV).

We learn about King Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon (modern day Iraq) who later instructs the entire people in the land to worship the God of Daniel, that he made a mistake on whom the people should worship. Imagine that today, of the leader of Iraq said, "Wait, I made a mistake, we shouldn't be worshiping Allah but Yahweh. He is the one true God." Well that is just what had happened in Daniel's day.

The other point to understand in Revelation 1:5 is the love of Jesus for us. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood." (NIV). 

Love is just words until it is put to the test. It's not what we here as Christians are, but what we do. It's not just saying we love someone, it's helping them when they are in need. They can then say, they have been loved. To say that someone loved us, means they did it when it counts. It's not just words. In the Greek, the word loves, is translated to "loved" not meaning that God didn't love us at one time, and now He doesn't. It simply means there was a significant event that shows us how much Jesus loved us, and that was when he went to the cross and died for us. Through His death, through the shedding of His blood, to make atonement and to restore a right relationship with us and the Father, through what He did.

When we often hear that Jesus loves us, we might brush it off as no big deal. I mean even some of our family members tell us they love us, but has any of them ever loved you so much that they died for you, in your place? Right when it counted the most in our life. When Jesus died on the cross, He had You in mind, everything you have gone through and will go through, He died for all of our sins. He didn't just talk about it, He did it. Don't let the death of Jesus on the cross become impersonal.

We are ungodly people. Every single one of us. We were all born into sin, the very day we were born. We don't even know we are sinning until we are told, through the law, or through someone telling us from right to wrong. No one had to be taught how to lie, we just knew how to do it. You might be prone to say that no one loves you in this world, because God quite clearly does.

The final point to take away from verse five is the forgiveness of God, "and has freed us from our sins by his blood." (NIV). 

Note the words "has freed us from our sins by his blood." There is no greater promise than this in our entire life. If you add any more to that, you insult the power and grace of God. It's not about being faithful in his commands, because if we break one of them, we break them all. The only way we can get to heaven, is through the forgiveness of our sins by Jesus' blood. It's not about what we do outside of asking Jesus into our life and accepting what He did in that moment. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world.

When you think about the two men on the cross on either side of Jesus, one went to heaven, the other went to hell and Jesus was what separated the two. Don't ever let anyone convince you that God sends people to hell. They make that personal choice on their own to either accept Jesus or to reject him. There is eternal consequences in both.

The final consideration is Jesus' reward, picking up in verse 6, "and has made us to be a kingdom of and priests to serve his God and Father" (NIV). 

Once again it is in the past tense, "he has made us a kingdom and priests" meaning we are in a kingdom of kings and priests, we will rule and reign with Him. We will be learning a lot of great things, we don't know how it will work but that is to come as God works out all the details. Now in regards to "priests" if we look at Revelation 5:9-10 ~ ", And they sang a new song" "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth." (NIV).

The part of the priests is a mind blower. When it talks about priests, it means our witness to the world and people around us. We have the opportunity to take the peace, love and grace of God, wherever you go. Just like the priests carried the ARK wherever they went, it was taken by the feet of the priests, the judgment, the power, the glory, the mercy, but those who took the presence of God, the ARK into the world. How will people know the love of God outside of the church or the Bible? It is through the witness we have on the way we impact the people we come into contact with us. We are the witness, to carry with us, forgiveness, compassion, love, gratefulness, and thankful to those who need to see Jesus in our own lives.

They will only see Jesus, by us taking it to them, through how we live our lives. Can people watch us in our daily lives and see if we are different from those in the world? Is our life that black and white for God? Can people see our spiritual growth in our life or are we simply just being religious people? We want to make sure it's not about us, our doing, and instead let it be the glory of the Holy Spirit working in us.

Then John gives the ultimate acknowledgment of Jesus in his life, when we see " to him be the glory and power for ever and ever! Amen." John is super excited to know just who Jesus is through His revelation, John is simply exploding with praise for who He is.

Tomorrow we will continue on in our study of Revelation picking up in Chapter 1, verse 7 when we learn about the second coming of Jesus Christ! You won't want to miss this one.