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NASB 1977   The Revelation of Jesus Christ

12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. 14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; 15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things. 20 “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
 
In biblical exposition which is what I am committed to doing, there are times when you run the risk of losing the glory and the power of the whole while you're unpacking all of the pieces.  The glory is in the complete idea, not the individual pieces.

So, this morning, I want to read the complete image several times while we do in fact look at the individual components in some depth.  We don't want to lose sight of the complete whole.

This image that is being described for us is Jesus.  And it's a very different Jesus, post resurrection, ascended back into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, than the Jesus of the gospels who came in the humility and indignity of a man.

But it isn't.  This is important.  Jesus, the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  Heb. 13:8  The verse that the 4 square pentecostal folks always had as a banner above their pulpits.

But this Jesus we see here isn't the Jesus that you can spit on if you're a soldier in Satan's armies.  God sent His Son in humility to endure suffering and indignity, in order to live a sinless life, fully man, and then to give that perfect life substitutionally to me, while He endured the punishment that I was due.

This vision of the glorified risen Son is indeed the same Jesus, but He definitely isn't going to get spit on and crucified.  That season is over.  The season of grace is over on the day the church is removed.  Same Jesus, different rules.

We have 4 authors that show us Jesus, in humility, walking among men, putting up with indignant abuse, patiently completing what His Father assigned for Him to accomplish.

Actually that version of Jesus obediently performing that role for His Father's will is the exception to the rule of Hebrews 13:8.  His humility here as a man to be ignored and spit upon was a blip in eternity for the purpose of redemption.  Jesus who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever is this Jesus in this vision.

Same Jesus both places, but the meek, mild, Jesus has accomplished His Father's work and returned to heaven.  If you saw Jesus this morning, it wouldn't be the humiliated Jesus, it is this one that never changes, that is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  Make that adjustment in your thinking.

We get a tiny glimpse into Jesus forbearance in Matthew 17.  Forbearance is a word that has fallen out of use.  And it's a great word for christians.  From AI (lol)  Forbearance is the act of refraining from enforcing a debt, right, or obligation, or the display of patient self-control and tolerance. 

The Jesus of the 4 gospels is a picture of 24-7 forbearance.  But He gives us a tiny glimpse here in Matt. 17:17  And Jesus answered and said, “O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?”

One other time, on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus pulls back the veil of flesh and 3 of His disciples, the inner group, Peter and James and John see Jesus glorified.  

That's all we get in the 4 gospels.  The Jesus we know best is the Jesus of forbearance in Satan's cosmos that we follow in the gospels.  That's why this book of the revelation of the glorified, triumphant Priest and King, Jesus is so very vital for us to look into.

Yes, we are still enjoying the age of grace while God gathers His elect into the church from all nations.  But just like God closed and sealed shut the door to Noah's ark, that age of grace is going to be closed tight.  At the rapture, the ship of grace is sealed shut, and sails.

We do our best to watch the signs and we believe it could be very very soon.  When that happens, the church, the bride will be enjoying the groom at a marriage feast in heaven for seven years while the earth is subjected to Satanic rule with restraints lifted.  Frightening evil, everywhere.

Then the Jesus the world will see will be this glorified Jesus we see here in chapter 1 of Revelation, and you can read the re-introduction of Jesus to this world, in glory, crushing all rebellers, with fire, in chapter 19.  When forbearance is over, when grace is finished, you land immediately in Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is the Jesus of forbearing grace.  When the door to that ark of safe passage is closed and sealed shut, the Jesus of glorious terror is who you will have to face.  And, oh, BTW, that door is sealed shut for every one who dies without Christ.  Today is the day of salvation.  There may be no tomorrow.

OK, with that introduction I want to visit the vision in it's entirety one more time and then we'll pick up where we left off last week.  Here is Jesus, glorified.  This is the Jesus the world will see very soon;  This is the Jesus of Hebrews 13:8 who is the same yesterday and today, and forever.  Meet the unchanging Jesus;

12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. 14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; 15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. 

Last week we worked through these verses down through vs. 16a.  BTW if you missed previous studies, they can be accessed on line at our web pages, tonopahchurch.org and the menu name for this second time through this book is called Revelation_2026 and it is the current series, so the latest study should come up first.

Vs. 16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

Out of His mouth came a sharp two edged sword.  What is this?

Simple to understand, but, all of the power of the universes, plural, that we can't fully comprehend, even with vast new vision resources like the Hubbel telescope, we gaze into incomprehensible reaches of space.

It will vanish away and new heavens and new earth will come.  Far too vast and deep for our minimal comprehension.  But the source of all things, is the mouth that we see here.

Jesus spoke . . . . . . ...............

Jesus spoke the worlds into existence, exnehilo, out of nothing.  This mouth formed words and what Jesus spoke, came into being, from nothing.  It's the same mouth folks.  

And out of that mouth, a sharp sword.  What is that??  Let me show you another parallel with Hebrews.  Chatper 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The sharp two edged sword that proceeds out of the mouth of Jesus, is the completed book you hold in your hands.  The Word of God.  Jesus is the book.  The book is Jesus.  There is crossover.  This book is alive.  All of it, is from His mouth.  It is God breathed.  It holds within it the power that spoke the worlds into existence.

Let me show you another little glimpse of the power of this mouth.  So many to choose from, but for our purpose this morning, maybe;  John 18:
3 So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.  4 Jesus, knowing all that was coming upon Him, stepped forward and asked them, “Whom are you seeking?”5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.  Jesus said, “I am He.”And Judas His betrayer was standing there with them. 6 When Jesus said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Jesus speaks the Tetragrammaton, I AM (He) and the whole Roman cohort plus the chief priests and officers of the jewish religion, they all go down like dominoes.  Two words and they're down.  Just a little glimpse of restrained power.  

Imagine the sword that comes out of His mouth, when grace is over, when restrained forbearance is complete, when Jesus is unleashed on this world in tetribution of their rebellion and hatred.  Of Him.

One more little idea for you.  I've been thinking about this this week.  Hebrews 4:12 says;  
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, 

Listening to Phil Johnson while I was driving out to Round Mountain to work on a kitchen.  He was saying you can't make a 3 part division of man.  Body, soul, spirit.  I'm not smart enough to agree or disagree, but this verse interests me because while we have a soul, a living person inside the matter, who will live forever, some place.

The Word of God has the power to enter my soul space and quicken my dead spirit, dead because of sin, the Word of God is living and powerful enough to wake my spirit up from the dead, and make it alive, together with Christ.

That's the sense of Hebrews 4:12.  All humans are living souls.  The Word can quicken dead souls to life.  

Josh and Bob were having a spirited discussion about where sheep come from.  Bob says the shepherd makes the sheep.  Presumably by weepy alter calls.  Josh says the sheep make sheep.  This verse says that this book has the power to quicken the dead spirits of men, to life.  This sword from Jesus mouth is the only power in the universe that regenerates dead spirits to life.

In 1970, I was sitting in a room and the preacher was teaching about how to know the will of God, and he was quoting some scriptures about that, and he said; If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.  Ro. 8:9  IOW, if you aren't indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you don't belong to Christ, you're not a christian.

I can't tell you what the preacher said after that.  Suddenly my spirit within my soul came alive.  Accusing me.  Who knew there was a Holy Spirit,  I never heard of the Holy Spirit.  That explains everything.  I thought I was a christian but I'm not.  Obviously.  Never even heard of the Holy Spirit but if you don't have Him, you don't belong to Christ.  No wonder!  I thought myself a christian, but this verse informed me, I wasn't a christian.

That text, that sword, cut between my soul and my dead spirit, and quickened me to life.  Many christians can point to a single text from God's book that turned the lights on, so to speak.   This book we hold in our hands is alive, and within it is the power to quicken dead spirits to life.  

Beloved, you could never find a person with less confidence to get up in front of a group of people and think himself a proficient speaker than the man you've got.  I have zero confidence in my capabilities.  None.  

But I believe if I simply beat on you, weak in, weak out, from this book, explain each text, verse by verse, somewhere, one of them is going to grab you by the scruff of your inner soul-spirit, and shake you to life.  My single confidence is that this book is alive and powerful.  It is the sword of the Spirit and He swings it and cuts whatever He purposes to accomplish with it.

Take that truth away, and all the air drains out of this wind bag.  I'm done without this single truth.  This isn't something I see myself doing.  I struggle at this task.  I have to write out manuscripts and read.  I don't have the gift of blabber.  No confidence, or desire to stand in front of people and talk.  

I'm a natural loaner.  I have little desire to be with people at all.  I'd much rather be in the back yard, by myself, with black grease all over my hands, working on a ridiculous 1939 Ford.  I rely totally on a power disconnected and set apart from me, that is alive, in the words of this book.  

This book is the sword that comes out of the mouth of the glorified Jesus.  It causes life, exnehilo, out of nothing.  It quickens dead spirits to life.  When it wants, where it wants, on Jesus command.  That's where christians come from.

Isaiah 55:
     9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
            So are My ways higher than your ways,
            And My thoughts than your thoughts.

     10“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
            And do not return there without watering the earth,
            And making it bear and sprout,
            And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

     11So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
            It shall not return to Me empty,
            Without accomplishing what I desire,
            And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. 

Thats where christians come from.  And Jesus told Nicodemus, you've got about as much control over those events as we do of making the wind blow when and how and where we want it to blow.  God makes new believers, at His pleasure, by His word.

16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 

That face!  Like the arc of a welder.  So brilliant your eyes would be blinded if you looked at Him for a sustained time.  Such is the visible outward glory of Jesus glorified.  

When I take my first glimpse at Him, in the air, when He calls me either out of my grave, or out of this world, alive, I will have new eyes.  I will have a resurrection body.  John says, then we shall see Him as He is.  1 Jn. 3:2
We know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is. ... 

We'll have glorified bodies with new glorified eyes to see Him in full strength glory, as He is.  We couldn't gaze at Him with these earthly eyes.  With my new eyes, on that day, I will gaze on His beauty . . . forever.  In His glory.  

Paul saw Him on the damascus road, and his eyes never really recovered.  Scales, temporary blindness, and some eye disease that followed him the rest of his life.  We aren't wired to gaze upon this glorified Jesus, but we will be.

On the other hand, for those who hate Him, those who like the story in Luke shout "We will not have this man to rule over us!"  no wonder the world calls for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from this Jesus who returns in fury.

vs. 17a And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.

Now, I usually pick on Kirk about Roman Catholicisim, but this morning I'm going to be an equal opportunity offender and pick on you pentecostals and other folks who think you have the familiarity of a jesus who is your buddy, who is just like you.  Your pal from next door.  Jesus comes in the bathroom while you're shaving and puts His arm around you and you're just two old buddies.  Not this Jesus.  

If He comes to my house I can guarantee you I'm going to be kissing the dirt like John.  This is the normal human reaction to Jesus glorified, Jesus, risen from the dead.  Jesus with face like the sun in it's full strength.  The Jesus of Hebrews 13:8.  The same yesterday, and today, and forever.  

17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 

This isn't next door neighbor Jesus who puts his arm around you while you're shaving.  But it is the Jesus who touches with His glorified hand and says;  Do not be afraid.  Real christians can have no fear.  We do feel His touch on our lives.  We do say, Abba, Father.  Sin causes fear.  Sin forgiven is peace with this glorified Jesus.

If we are IN Christ, if He has regenerated your dead spirit into a living soul that is connected to Him, He is in you, and you are in Him, then there is no reason for fear.

Any person who saw this glorified person that John saw, would tremble and collapse.  The blood that gives your legs power to stand would cease flowing and you would collapse into a puddle, like John did.

Now John did his best to find first century words and ideas that might convey something close to what he saw.  Dazzling white robe.  Golden sash.  Hair like brilliant white wool, like snow perhaps with bright sun reflecting off of it, eyes like flames of fire, voice like many waters, feet like glowing red hot bronze from a furnace, mouth with a sharp sword coming out of it, face like the sun glowing white hot in it's strength.

This is the Jesus that walks among the lampstands which are His churches.  This is the Jesus who holds His ministering stars in His hand.

There used to be a commercial.  This isn't your father's Oldsmobile.  Remember that.  Some of you weren't born yet.  Sadly it didn't save the marque.  But you get the idea.  This is different.  New.  Better.  Changed.

This isn't your next door neighbor just like you Jesus folks.  This is the Jesus who dwells in glory, today.  Jesus IS the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  This is that Jesus.  Glory veiled in humility while He suffered here during His earthly ministry.  Doing His Fathers business.  Purchasing lost souls from every nation on earth.  By His death and resurrection.  Now glorified in majesty we would collapse if we witnessed Him.

But the next time you read that banner, this is who it's talking about.  Don't invent some next door neighbor just like you Jesus that makes you feel comfortable.  This description is Jesus, the same yesterday, today, yes, and forever.

He spoke the worlds into existence.  For His own glory, He allowed Satan to capture this world in Sin.  He is coming to retake this planet.  And the fire from those eyes and the sword of His mouth will eliminate Satan and sin and rebellion and evil.  Those red hot glowing feet will trample all evil.  Under His feet.  Soon.  Be afraid.  Unless perhaps He's in you, and you are in Him.

“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 

I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM, 

The alpha and the omega.  We sometimes write a thought that is all inclusive and we wrap it in parenthesis marks at each end.  Jesus is the parenthesis that holds everything that is, together.  Everything created, is in Him.  There's nothing else anywhere that's outside of those book ends.  Jesus is first.  Jesus is last.  If it IS, it's His.

the living One.  Capital O one.  He is the source of all life.  He is the anointed One that the Old testament said was coming.  

Dead, and now alive forevermore.  His death was real.  I'm not a theologian.  Well, I am, but I'm simple enough and smart enough, (and lazy enough) to not get bogged down in things my brain can't understand.

How can Jesus be the living one who holds every atom together with nuclear glue that keeps them from flying apart, and be dead, and the universes didn't implode.  Don't ask me.  Ask Josh next friday night that he meets.  You'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out the inscrutable.

OK the last part, I do understand;
and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 

Where do new christians come from?  I'm dumb as a bucket of hammers, but I understand what He's saying here.  and I have the keys of death and of Hades.  Flash.  Peter doesn't have those keys.  The pope doesn't have those keys.  Jesus, alone, glorified, holds the keys of death and of Hades

No one comes to life, spiritually, from death, unless this single person who holds these keys does it.  You want to know where new believers, real ones that don't fizzle out in 6 months, come from.  It's in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2:47b  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Those of you who can speak and the wind obeys, go make christians please.  The rest of us will have to pray to this person, who holds the keys to death and hades, who can set souls free from peril, who can quicken dead souls to life, who adds to His church, daily.

If He doesn't make them alive, I'm not interested in having them here.  Tonopah Community Church of the tares.  No thanks.  Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that He'll send you into the harvest to share the good news.  And perhaps some that you share with will be quickened from death to life.  But it won't be you that caused it.

You can be a mouth, a voice, that takes the Word of God, that is the good news.  But this man, who holds these keys, is the single source of new life.

19 “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things. 

Verse 19 is the outline of the entire treatise.  The book or Revelation can be divided into 3 sections.  They're listed for you right here in outline form.

The things you have seen.  That's chapter 1.  The vision of Him with whom we have to do and whom the world has to do.  Everything is about this glorified Jesus, God's annointed One.  Who created all that is.  Who was before anything else ever was.  Who died and came back to life.  Who is Supreme in heaven.  Who will retake this lost sinful evil world from Satan and set up an earthly Kingdom on David's throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years.

In chapter 1 we meet that person.  The same Jesus who came in humility and died on a cross in our places for us.  Now glorified, in heaven.  He IS the things which you have seen.

Next section of this book is us.  The church.  Pinch yourselves, the church is still here.  Chapters 2 and 3 are and the things which are, .

The church was present and in place when John wrote these things, and it is present and in place 1930 years later.  Going strong.  Jesus is still walking amongst His lampstands.  He is still holding His delegated messengers, or angels in His hand.

Right now the church is IT.  God's sovereign will and presence in Satan's cosmos where he rules here on earth is administered through the church.  We are God's witnesses, His arm in this world.

The final section of this book begins at chapter 4 and continues all the way to the end of the book.  and the things which shall take place after these things. 

So you have 3 divisions.  The glorified Son.  The church.  And the things that take place after these things. After what things?  The church, after the church is removed in the rapture, then beginning in chapter 4  we have the things which shall take place after these things. 

We've already laid that foundation.  7 years on Israels prophetic clock remain.  Messiah the prince was cut off.  Killed at year 483 of 490 in Daniel 9.  

That clock was stopped during the whole mystery of the church age.  When the church is removed, just like one of those clocks in a chess game, the handle that starts the time running gets slapped and 7 years of jewish prophetic time will play out on this earth.

The next time you'll see the church after chapter 3, is when we charge out of heaven, with Jesus, when He returns in triumphant judgement on this planet at the end of those 7 remaining years.

So, beginning next week, we're going to dive into chapters 2 and 3 and see if we can find ourselves in all that Jesus says about the churches.

Real quick, verse 20;

20 “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The seven stars are the angels of each of the churches.  This glorified Jesus holds those angels in His right hand.  The greek word angelos in it's purest form means delegates.  Messengers.  If you were chosen to go cast a vote at the eelectoral college of a presidential election, you are an angelos.  A messenger who delivers a message.  A delegate chosen to deliver a message.

The angels or stars in Christ's right hand are the pastors of those seven churches.  The letters are written to be given to the angels, or pastors, who then deliver the news to the churches.  

Can we argue that Jesus still holds church pastors in His right hand and that all churches for all time are lampstands giving light in this dark world.  I would say yes.  

Later we will see Jesus walking among those lampstands.  As long as the church is Jesus connection to this dark world, ruled by Satan, captured in sin, I have to believe this picture of Him moving amongst His churches is unchanged.  And holding the pastors accountable, held in His right hand is also unchanged.  

That's sort of scary.  Anyone else want this job?  That means we need to pay extra attention to those seven letters and align ourselves with the churches that He is pleased with, and not be any of those things that He is angry with, in the churches.  

Pray for your pastor.  Pray for this church.  We are a lampstand in the darkness that is Tonopah Nevada.