Okay, so Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1 So we're going to go through Revelation chapter 1 And we're going to be from verse 9 through to verse 20 this morning through the rest of the chapter Which is a long which is actually a long Way to go for what's in here, but we'll see how we go I I don't know if it seems contradictory to you to say that we conquer through suffering. We conquer victory through suffering. That sounds like a paradox, doesn't it? It sounds like even a contradiction. How can you conquer through suffering? It's normally the conqueror that makes others suffer. When we have a look at who Jesus is and what he has done when we see that our King died on a cross. Now the world sees, and we see this in 1 Corinthians, don't we? The world sees weakness and folly in that, but we say, you don't know our King. You don't know who our King really is. You don't get the victory of our King greater than any other King. Revelation 1 9-11. I'll read it out. I'll do some of the readings this morning and we are going to have a couple of good table discussions today. Revelation 1 9-11. I, John, your brother and partner, In the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus and to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Okay, first thing that we see. is John is now speaking. I, John, you see that? John is now speaking. This is John, and it's very personal. He's your brother. He's your fellow partaker. He's your partner. And he is identified with us, but also we are identified with him in being together with Christ Jesus. And so that we are together in Christ Jesus. And so this is very personal. And it's incredible, but this is not a very personal letter like you would normally receive. You read the rest of those verses in chapter one and it's like, oh, wow. And so, Look at what we are a partner in. I, John, your brother, and partner. Partner in, look, tribulation, verse 9, we're in tribulation, partner in the kingdom, and in patient endurance. And it's all in Jesus. Partner in tribulation, the kingdom, patient endurance, all in Jesus. Now, as you look at this, I think we are seeing, just look back to verse five and six in Revelation here this morning. Okay, look back in verse five and six here this morning. And it's similar to what Jesus says. It's from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on the earth and Joe dealt with that last week, didn't he? This sort of ruler, there's a ruler of kings, all kings on the earth. So John is showing that we are brothers and sisters, partakers with Him with John in Jesus. And our partnership seems to be similar to what we see in who Jesus is in verse 5, right? There's similarities there in that, isn't there? Faithful witness, partner in tripulation, witness. Even the word for witness is associated sometimes with Mars. And so the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth. And Jesus is faithful witness, firstborn of the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth. And we are partners in tribulation, the kingdom and patient endurance. And so there's similarities. We also rule in this kingdom with Christ, but our rule with Christ in this kingdom, look at it, it's in tribulation. I mean, Joe touched on that again last week. This is gonna be a theme. It's gonna be one of the themes that we're gonna see that We have rule, and yet there is tribulation. We have rule through tribulation and patient endurance. So we get no sense in here that Christians don't go through tribulation, that Christians don't go through hard times and difficulties. There's no sense in any times that we're going to see this. We have tribulation. In this world, Jesus even said, in this world, in this world, you will have tribulation. And so here's what I want to do. I want to have our first table discussion this morning. Here's an example of this. There are many that we could use in the book of Revelation, but let's just look at one example. Let's go to Revelation chapter 2 and verse 9 and 10. Now, as you look at these verses, you're going to want to be tempted. You're going to be tempted to Maybe think a lot more about what it's talking about with the Jews and the synagogue of Satan. Let's deal with that when we come to this passage, whoever's dealing with this passage, particularly later. I just want you to see a main point in here. So just answer this simple question. In fact, a couple of simple questions here. In your table, read out Revelation 2, 9 and 10. And then I want you to answer. How can we possibly rule through tribulation or suffering and patient endurance? How is that possible? How can that happen? And when you see something in these verses, ask also, how can that help us with suffering and tribulation? Things like being slandered and persecuted in our lives right now, okay? So have a look at that, Revelation 2, 9 and 10. Off you go. Yeah, the crown of life awaits us. I mean, that's really the key to those verses, right? Just having a look at what's in the end there. How about this table right here? Noah's table. Are you the spokesman this morning? Did y'all make a good parallel in 1 Peter 5, verse 9? What was it? 9 and 10. 9 and 10. Do you want to explain that? There's purpose and we are not alone. We see that here don't we? Yeah. Be faithful under death and I will give you the crown of life. There's a faithfulness and we're not doing this. We're not doing this alone I know your tribulation and your property. I know it Christ is there with us. He knows it. There's nothing that has happening to us that he doesn't know So that's good. Yeah. So you see a difference in value systems. So the Jews have a different value system than the Christians do. And they said, in my value system, you're poor, you're this. And the reason that they're persecuting so much is because they don't want to look at the reality that's in themselves. Because they subconsciously know what they need to do, but they don't want to face it. And if I get you to admit that you're wrong, So the world sees things a completely different way. And yeah, I think poverty is often seen as weakness. You're supposed to be rich, but you are rich. I think that's what you're saying. Yeah, anything else that... Anybody wants to contribute there yet? Okay. John himself is faithful in persecution. We see it. He's writing his testimony of Jesus while being exiled for his testimony in Jesus. Isn't he? And that was a particular punishment of the emperor of the day, Domitian, exile, cruel exile. So we partner with John, we, even us, We partner with John when we persevere and suffer in Christ in the testimony of him, of Jesus. Look at verse 10 and 11. Let's keep moving here. Verse 10 and 11. So John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamum, to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Okay, so, we've already talked about the seven churches, number seven, Joe talked about it more last week, this wonderful number that shows completion. John is writing to seven churches, but he's writing to the whole church. And he's writing to us. And so, before that though, he says, and he's got to write down what you see in a book. We'll come back to that because it also shows up in verse 19. But John says these words that, if you and I came and said it to each other, we might kind of look at each other strangely. I was in the spirit, and on the Lord's day, I heard a voice like a trumpet. So I want to suggest to you that this gives us a couple of reasons to really pay attention to John. You might want to turn to the book of Ezekiel. We'll have a look at a couple of these because we do see this. We do see this and John is here now writing this letter. that is about and given to him from the Lord Jesus. These are reasons that we should pay attention to this. This is not just some crazy guy having a dream on a beach, right? This is the apostle who is coming to us with prophetic authority. This is like prophetic authority. And I wanna show it to you because we do see this. This is the way that the Lord has communicated to his people through prophets. And so where it says John was in the spirit, Ezekiel chapter two, Ezekiel chapter two, sorry, I didn't give you the chapter before. But we see this type of thing. In fact, what happens in Revelation is a lot like the sort of thing that happens to and through Ezekiel. It's not just Ezekiel, but we particularly see it in Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 1 and 2 someone with the big loud voice Alex big loud voice Okay, then flip over to chapter 3 verse 12 and Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake. Blessed be the glory of the Lord from its place. This is not unlike, you see this throughout Ezekiel. Ezekiel gets his series of visions and then goes and does certain things. And so, you know, in the spirit. And so John was in a position where he was being communicated to by God, shown things, heard things. And these are things that he needs to relate. And this is kind of prophetic. We see this type of thing in the prophetic literature, and so that's a reason to pay attention. This is not some crazy thing that's happened to John. God has communicated this way at times in important situations. He doesn't communicate this way all the time, right? And we have his fully completed Word. So that's how we have this in the truth of his word. But this is a way that God has communicated to his people. And so this kind of puts John's writing here in the same type of authority as a prophetic vision of God to people that we see even in the prophets. So we should pay attention. We should pay attention. Also, look at this verse, everybody go to Exodus, Exodus chapter 19. In Exodus chapter 19, John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Now, that's generally understood to be Resurrection Day, the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. That's when the church meets on Resurrection Day. And so, he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. So Exodus chapter 19, Joe, verse 16 to 19. 16, on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. Hear that? The trumpet, very loud trumpet blast. And then as the sound of the trumpet gets louder and louder, and look at what those two statements are kind of surrounding, the mountain trembling and smoke, and this is where God is going to give the law to his people. And this is just like hugely important. the voice of a loud trumpet. Isaiah 58 1, cry aloud, do not hold back, lift your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. When you hear like a trumpet or a trumpet in the Old Testament like that, you hear this is important, this is vitally important, pay attention. So you have a prophet Speaking in a way, you have John speaking away like a prophet and receiving vision and testimony from God to give to his people and backing with a trumpet, a loud voice like a trumpet. Pay attention. This just all says pay attention. Okay? It's a big deal. And write what you see in a book. It's like Ezekiel writes out a series of visions, John is gonna write out a series of visions. And this is now what John does through revelation. He writes out the series, each vision he has, and you'll see that. And then I saw, and then I heard, and then I saw, and then I heard. And what is happening here is the same thing that is happening with prophets in the Old Testament. This is not a sequence of time, this is a sequence of visions. that he's getting and that he's going to then write out these things. And it seems that John writes this out as he sees it and hears it or straight after. Look at verse 19 in Revelation chapter one. So we've already said, we've already heard, it's said to John, write these things out. And then in verse 19 again, we see it again. Write therefore the things that you have seen. John, I've shown you this. We're gonna talk about what he sees. I've shown you this, write that down, write that down. And those that are to take place after this, those visions that you are going to see, those statements that you are going to hear, you're gonna write those down as well. Flip over to Revelation 10, verse four, just see this again. Revelation 10, verse four. You see John doing this, actually, actually doing this, obeying this command, even within the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 10, verse four. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write. Look, he's obeying the Lord, isn't he? Doing what the Lord said. Writing down what he was told to write after he sees something, after he hears something. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, okay, where am I? seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down. So in that case, he said, don't write that down. But John is doing, we see the obedience of John there doing what the Lord has asked him to do, has told him to do, write these things. As you see these things, as you hear these things, write these things. Okay, so that is It's just wonderful to see that because we're getting direct testimony from somebody who is getting direct vision, hearing direct statements from the Lord and immediately writing it down and then sending it to the churches and we have it today. So under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John writes what he sees and hears. and it gets sent. And this stuff that he sees, that he writes down, that he's seen and heard, it's for the edification of the church. Now, God's given John visions. And we're about to think about this vision in the time that we've got left, and there's nowhere near enough time to do this properly, but we're going to do it. Just think about this, because we're about to get some really incredible visions, right? This vision of Jesus that is like beyond description really, but it's described. And it's a glimpse of something greater that we need to know. Glimpses of something that we really can't understand, but there's a way of knowing the wonder in pictures and symbols that are given. And I'm so thankful for those pictures of symbols that are given here in this book because, you know, just think of the wonder of Christ. Just think of the wonder of his victory. Just think of the battle in the spiritual realm. Just think of all of those things. You and I can't see it, but we get a glimpse through this beautiful language and word that are here to at least sense and grab wonder. We get to do that and it's for our edification. And so we kind of say, who are we in the grand scheme of things? Well, we think we're powerless, right? When we see how magnificent these descriptions are, all through the book of Revelation, we ask, who am I in the grand scheme of this world, in the grand scheme of kingdoms and armies and natural disasters, and who am I in the grand scheme of these things in this world? How do I grab onto something greater? We get this incredible language and these incredible visions that help us. It makes us ask something greater. Who is Jesus in the grand scheme of things? That's where we're going to go. That's where we get to get what we get to ask. This is not just language. I don't understand this language. It says, hey, what do you get here to show who is Jesus in the grand scheme of things? Would we ask this question if it was not for this genre of literature that is being given to us in this book? I don't know if we would, but we're going to ask that question. So he writes the seven churches and he gives that. And we get this vision of the son of man. Everybody look at Revelation chapter one. Let me just read 12, verse 12 to 20. Then I turned. to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest, the hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun, shining in full strength." Let's just stop there. I want to do something quickly. Wherever Wherever we get something that alludes to something in the Old Testament, this is one of the first statements we made when we started coming to Revelation, right? It's not just one small passage in the Old Testament. It's not just one book that we need to be able to look at Revelation. We've got to look at wherever it's pointing us in the Old Testament. Well, this one is pointing us to Zechariah. Go to Zechariah chapter four with me. Just have a quick look at this. Let's talk about lampstands for a moment. I can only overview this today. I did not set enough time to go through all of these verses. I fully understand that, but we've got to, we've got to, that is, that is a constant thing. It's going to be a constant thing. Zachariah is written post-exile. Israel, the exiles coming back, rebuilding the temple. We went through Ezra and Nehemiah in Sunday school over a year ago. We have these people returned and returning, but you know what, it's not coming back to something amazing. even when they come back, even though there is some repentance in Israel coming back, there's not the moral change that is really expected. There's not an amazing change as much as we would want to see in the people, and there's great opposition. We just see this difficulty for God's people in this time, and they want to build a temple, and they're told to build a temple, and the temple is very, very important, isn't it? It's God's dwelling presence with his people. That's who these people are. They're the people of God. And so chapter four is the importance of the temple of God's presence with his people. That's really what's concentrated on in chapter four, and the temple is often Even looking at the temple in Israel, the temple is often even a representation of the people of God, because that's who we are. The people of God are people who are the people where God is dwelling in their presence, right? It's even a representation of the people. And so God, it's God in the midst of his people. Now, with all of this opposition against them in building the temple, They need to understand, you know, how can we possibly do this and be the people of God in this place? And all sorts of other stuff going on. Look at verses one to nine of Zechariah four. And look at the similarity here with Revelation chapter one that we just looked at. The angel who talked with me came again and woke me. like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, what do you see? I said, I see and behold a lampstand all of gold with a bowl on top of it and seven lamps on it with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl, one on the other on its left. And I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, do you know what these are? I said, no, my Lord. Then he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Sarobobol, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forward the topstone amid shouts of grace, grace to it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hand shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you." Now, I mean, we're not going through this passage this morning. I just want you to see there's one big thing, right? He sees this lamp stand. He wants to know what this is. They're building the temple with opposition all around them. And then the word comes, hey, Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Who's with them in the midst of them? Who's with them? It's God, isn't it? Spirit of God is with them in the midst of them. So don't rely on power. Don't rely on your own things. Is God in the midst of you? What do we have in Revelation 1? in the lampstands? What do we have? Don't we have the same thing? What is the new covenant temple? What's the new covenant temple of God? Is it a building? Yeah. It's the church. Christ himself is the temple, he fulfilled the temple, and we are in him, and in Christ, we are the temple of God, the church. This is what we see in Revelation 1, the picture we see, this is, we're seeing the fulfillment of God's people here, aren't we? Fulfillment of the temple, and what is happening? We see God in the midst of his people. With that, is that not a glorious truth for you? to know that even today you can take these same words from Zachariah and know, not by my, not by spirit, not my power, sorry, but by my spirit, says the Lord. We can trust in God no matter what is happening to us, no matter the opposition that is around us. It's the same message. So the presence of God with his people, and who's the one that's in the midst of the lampstands in Revelation 1? Who's the one that's described? Is it not Jesus? It's Jesus, isn't it? Christ with his church. So we go to this description of Jesus. And this is where I want to have one last table discussion. During this week go and read Revelation Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 10. Okay, particularly Daniel chapter 10 Just look at the same words same wording that is that is there that is in the same type of descriptions as we see here in Revelation 1 it's just glorious and and we just get this sense, you know white hair is eternality and and and the strength of the feet and God's power. And it's feet that can never be dislodged, a voice that comes with great power, a word that pierces with power, the radiance of his face, right? We get all this here. So here's the table discussion. Look at verse 13 and 13 to 15. And here's the question for your table as we kind of come to partly a finish this morning. What is terrifying about this description of Jesus and what is comforting about this description of Jesus? What is terrifying about this description of Jesus and what is comforting about this description of Jesus? Hear this, and I heard a good question being asked, and it was a good question. And I think we should consider this. We get to read. Here's what we get to do. We get to read this and say, John wrote this, and this is great, and this is for our comfort as we read this and we are edified by this. All right, now I want you to imagine being John, seeing it. Just seeing this. Whatever this vision, however, he's actually seen it. He's described it here on paper. We can imagine maybe, but imagine seeing it. Imagine Ezekiel seeing a similar vision. Imagine Isaiah seeing a similar vision. And what do they do? Lay down flat as though dead. Saying, Lord, who am I? I'm a sinner. I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm from a people of unclean lips. See what it does to us? It is terrifying to see. But this is who died for us. This is who rose from the dead and saved us and brought us into his kingdom. And so even the apostle John needs to be told the next verses, fear not. I saw him, I fell at his feet though dead, but he laid his right hand on me saying, fear not. Fear not, that's verse 17. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades right there for these things that you have seen. Your king, who is this king, tells you, and he has to tell you, we need to be told this. Do not fear. Do not fear. Your king tells you not to fear him. Your king is the eternal one. Your king is the, if you're in faith in Christ Jesus today, your king is the eternal one. He's the first and the last. Your king is the resurrected one who died in your place. That's what he's saying to John. He's on your side because you are on his side. That's glorious. Your King controls death and hell. Your King gives you eternal life. your king, imagine now, right? Because we're thinking about how can one find victory and conquering through suffering? Because that's how my king found victory. He didn't find victory, he gained that victory for us, right? It was certain victory, all the way from eternity. But he got that for us, through suffering, through death, and we join him. And no matter what happens to us, this is our king. And we're in his kingdom. And so it doesn't matter who the president is. It doesn't matter what philosophies come into this world. It doesn't matter what's happening in our culture. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. This is our king. This is our king. That's what we get told. Isn't that glorious? It really is, isn't it? And then he reveals the mystery. He says, this is the mystery. What he's saying, this is the revelation of it. The seven stars that you saw in my right hand, the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, representatives of the seven churches and seven lampstands of the seven churches. And Jesus is in the midst of us and he is our King. That's glorious. So is it terrifying? All of it. Is it comforting? All of it. But we've got to ask ourselves, whose kingdom are we in? The kingdom of the world or the kingdom of Christ? So on that, let's pray. Gerry, why don't you finish us in prayer?