Well, I am eager to be with you in the Word of Christ. If you would please take your Bibles and turn to the book that's called The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Revelation chapter 1. And this morning is going to be the start of our new series on my favorite subject, and it may be the Bible's favorite subject, and that is the glory of Christ. If your heart wants to see Christ glorified, if your heart wants to see Christ exalted and lifted up, then I pray this series is going to lift up your hearts. If you love to see Christ uplifted, you'll be uplifted, I trust, because it's in Revelation that He's lifted up and exalted and His glory is revealed as much or more than anywhere else in Scripture. And so look with me at the Word of Christ in Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we pray that You would bless us, that You would reveal Christ to us, that You would give ears to hear, what your spirit says to the churches, that you would help us to see Christ glorified and magnified, and it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Well, a couple weeks ago we looked at the last beatitude and the first message of Jesus in the New Testament, and today we come to the last of the New Testament and how it begins with a beatitude. A beatitude is a blessed statement or a blessing pronounced by our Lord. This is the final message, the final revelation from Jesus and it begins with a beatitude or a blessed statement. There is no other blessing in the Bible given quite in this way like there is here for speaking and keeping what is contained here in the book of Revelation. No other book begins with a blessing like this for reading and heeding it. And so this is my new favorite book of the Bible. Bern Poitras is a professor. He's related to my brother-in-law, I actually haven't met him. I appreciate, though, what he's written on this subject. He says, one time as I was teaching Revelation, I noticed many children in the congregation, and he told them, I want you children to read Revelation. If you're too young to read it for yourself, have your parents read it to you. He says, you too can understand it. In fact, you may understand it better than your parents. A boy about 12 years old came up to me afterwards. I know exactly what you mean, he said. A short time ago, I read Revelation, and I felt that I understood it. Praise the Lord, he said. The 12-year-old boy went on. I read it kind of like a fantasy, except I knew that it was true. I thought precisely. And he said that story he began to use when he taught Revelation in seminary class. And one student came up afterwards and said to me, you know that 12-year-old boy you mentioned? I know exactly what he meant. I remember reading Revelation when I was 12 years old and understanding it. And he says, I feel like I've been understanding it less and less ever since. A group of seminary students were playing basketball in a gym, and they noticed a janitor in a corner reading a book. And so they went up to him, and they asked him, what are you reading? And he says, I'm reading the book of Revelation. And so they thought, well, we can help this poor soul out. They said, these smart seminarians, do you understand what you are reading? He said, yes. And they were a little surprised. And they asked him, well, what does it mean? And he looked kind of surprised that they didn't know. And so he decided to educate them. He says, it means Jesus is going to win. And he writes, Verne Poythress writes on that, don't miss that point. It is a picture book. Revelation is a very picturesque book. It's not a puzzle book, he says. Don't try and puzzle it out and don't become so preoccupied with isolated details. Become engrossed in the story, he says. Praise the Lord. Cheer for the saints. Detest the beast. Long for the final victory. He says if you make it into a puzzle book or focus on what's obscure instead of what's clear, you'll miss the blessing promised in verse 3 and you'll say, I'm confused. It's so complicated. I'm lost. It's a puzzle and only some expert teacher somewhere can make sense of it or I give up. or others, instead of giving up, want to become that expert teacher themselves, and they develop an unhealthy interest in some cases. They search for some complicated new scheme of their own that no one has found before in church history, and they try and solve the puzzle with that, and he says they end up tickling their fancy and missing the real point. He says, in contrast, people uninfluenced by super-duper teachers tend to do better. And he writes that the purpose of this book isn't to tickle our fancies, it's to strengthen our hearts. And so it's sad that many people avoid this book, because it doesn't say in verse 3, blessed is the one who keeps away from the book his whole life. It says, blessed is the one who keeps what he hears in this book. In other words, he listens to it and he lives in light of it. Verse 3 doesn't say, blessed is he who avoids revelation. It says, blessed is he who applies. This book can also point out, it doesn't say, blessed is he who has everything all figured out, he thinks, in his mind. It says, blessed is he who And there's also a blessing, a unique blessing on the one who reads it, and even the one who reads it out loud. And so as I read verses 4 through 9, I pray that God would add His promised blessing to the reading and the heeding of His Word. Verse 4, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you. and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood." This is what we were just saying earlier. We believe in the blood that frees us. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him. Even those who pierced Him and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, Amen. That means let it be. This is true. 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 partner in the tribulation in 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. This John is the Apostle John. He's writing in exile for his faith on this island called Patmos. It was kind of an Alcatraz sort of place for someone you wanted to get away in exile from others. He'd been a trouble to the empire in his teaching of Christianity. He was the one who had survived of all the other original followers of Jesus, at least of the original disciples and apostles. He's still alive. He's been ministering in Ephesus and different places. Most scholars think he wrote this around 90 A.D. or maybe even the mid 90s A.D. during the reign of Emperor Domitian. And he's writing this, this revelation is for God's servants living at the end of the first century. It's not for just a special elite group. This book is not for super smart people. In fact, the purpose in verse one wasn't to hide It says he made known the things that must soon take place, and some of the things in the book of Revelation did soon take place. If you keep reading in chapters 2 and 3, there's persecution that was going to increase even more than it had already been, and the original churches there were going to experience that very soon and shortly after this. And there's other parts of the book that clearly refer to events of the first century, like chapter 12, and scholars aren't all agreed on when some of the other chapters take place, but all Christians agree that chapters 21 and 22 are still future. So John has shown near events and he's also shown still future events that take place in the future. In fact, verse 7 in our text here speaks of the imminent return of the Lord. He's coming soon. This letter was first intended to be read publicly to seven churches around Asia Minor, around Southeast Europe today, and some of them in the area of modern Turkey, as verse four says. But this also applies to all churches until Jesus returns. But we need to remember first who it was written to. And it was written to normal, everyday Christians who were, some of them already in difficulty, some of them were going to be in great difficulty very soon. It wasn't written for seminary students. It wasn't written for scholars. It wasn't written for systematic theologians today, primarily or originally, although certainly all people can study this. But as Sinclair Ferguson says, this wasn't intended to be a spiritual Sudoku book. that we just kind of sit in our comfort chair and figure out this, it's not, we can think about us in our 21st century, but we need to think about the 1st century churches who received this in great discomfort and great suffering. This book is not written in a secret code that no Christian throughout history could ever make sense of until the 1970s, 80s, or 90s when someone cracked the code. This is a book that is steeped in Old Testament language. and images from Jewish literature, and so we need to understand their background and their setting and not just jump to ours. One scholar has said that 70% of the book of Revelation is directly tied to passages from the Old Testament. So we need to understand the theme, we need to understand the genre, what this book is about, or more specifically, who it's about, is the most important question. If you look at verse 1, I want you to notice it isn't the revelation of John. Some of your Bibles might have a heading or a title that wasn't part of the original text. This is not the revelation of John. This is the revelation of Jesus. Some of the King James Bibles said the revelation of Saint John the Divine. I don't think John would have ever wanted that title. He certainly didn't write it. But the better manuscript titles have the revelation to John. This is a revelation about Jesus Christ. It's the revealing of Jesus Christ in all of His glory. It's the unveiling of who Christ is. And we see that throughout the New Testament, but it becomes even clearer and in a greater way than anywhere else here in this book. The first word in verse 1 is apocalypsis in the Greek. You might recognize the word apocalypse that is used today. and it became a technical term later in history. This book actually differs from some of the Jewish apocalyptic writings in several ways. All of the different writers would recognize that. But John does use apocalyptic style symbols. Apocalypse in the time of the New Testament meant an unveiling. It meant an uncovering. And verse 3 also calls this book a prophecy. So it's a revealing book. It's revealing Christ and it's also a book that prophesies future events. Harry Ironside said, quote, this book is the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is its one great theme. If you would learn to appreciate Christ more, read this book frequently and prayerfully. And he says the title is not in the plural. Sometimes people talk about the revelations. But there is no book called Revelations. This is the revelation. It is one single continuous manifestation and revelation of Jesus Christ. My study Bible says when this word apocalypse is used to refer to a person, it means that that person becomes clearly visible. This is where Christ becomes even more visible than before. The Gospels unveiled Christ. They showed us some of his character in his humiliation, but the book of Revelation glorifies Christ in his exaltation. Revelation reveals Him in blazing glory later in this chapter. And then over His church is the Lord of the church in chapters 2 through 3. And then His second coming and all the events coming up to that, as He takes back the earth from the usurper Satan, and He establishes and restores things as they were intended originally to be, but even better the second time, and as He lights up the eternal state at the end of the book. This is the revelation of the glory of Jesus Christ. And verse 7 says, Every eye will see Him in His coming glory. Every eye will see Him. But until then, it says in verse 6, that we are made to be priests to His God and Father. We are those who in the meanwhile are to mediate and represent and reflect His glory to others. We're priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory. So this section in this book is all about Christ receiving glory. And if you're taking notes today, we're gonna see three ways Christ reveals His glory in this text. We're gonna see it in who He is, and in what he's done, and then what he will do. In who he is, in what he's done, and what he will do. And if you were with us in the Sunday school hour, it was said very succinctly this way, the difference between the gospel and all other belief systems is the difference between do, what you must do to get to heaven, and what's the other one? done, what Christ has done for us. And that really is on display here in this passage as well. And the outline there of present, past, and future in that order comes from verse four. Look at it. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. And this is also how the Lord speaks of himself in verse eight. He refers to himself as the one who is and who was and who is to come. Who is, that's number one, who He is in the present, and who was, that's number two, what He's done in the past, from creation to salvation, and then who is to come, that's number three, what He will do in the future, like verse seven says. Or as we sing, living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. And then one day He's coming. O glorious day. My prayer is that by the end of this today, we will experience what we will sing at the end of this service, that we would be lost in wonder, love, and praise. Let's consider first how Christ reveals his glory in who he is. He is the I am in this passage. He is the one who is eternally. Verse 5 says, Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. That's the first thing it reveals about him. And in this context, he is the faithful witness helping John to be a faithful witness. In verse 9, John is suffering. He's on Patmos. He's suffering for his faith. And he receives this revelation to help him be faithful. And because of who Jesus is, John's readers could also be faithful witnesses through the difficulties that were about to come upon them. And the application just a few verses later with the same word is that we are called to be faithful as well. Revelation 2 verse 10 calls us to be faithful. And we can all think of people in our lives who have been faithful because Jesus is faithful. In the past years of this church, you could think of Dale Cundall and his faithful witness. We were looking a few weeks back at Priscilla and Aquila Talking about people who weren't up front but were faithful witnesses in their lives. And I've heard names from before my time like Lou and Rosellen and Bob and Jean who I've gotten to know. Or on Thursday nights for over 20 years we might think of Jim and Shirley and Glenn and Linda and faithful witnesses too many to name. We've been blessed with married couples that we've celebrated their anniversaries over 50 years. There are some who have been married over 60 years in this room. And I was thinking, what would, and when we bring those things up, not to glorify them, but to glorify the one who has been faithful in their life, because I think if you'd ask each of those people, how were they able to be faithful and true to their spouse or these other areas of ministry all those years, they would say it was through Christ. It was through the faithful one who enabled them to be faithful all those years. He is the faithful witness who enables us to be faithful witnesses and I am so grateful at this church and I think we're uniquely blessed at our church here to have a great cloud of witnesses who are still alive, who are surrounding us and helping us fix our eyes on Jesus, as Hebrews says. Because Hebrews goes through all of these faithful ones before us and then it says we are to be fixing our eyes on Jesus because he is the author and the perfecter of faith. He is the one who enables faithfulness. But as we see others who've been enabled to be faithful, that should motivate us to say, may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. May all who come behind us find us faithful. I hope that is your prayer. And here's the one we're to look to. He's right here in verse 5. He is the faithful witness. And in fact, this word actually became a technical term later for those who were faithful to death as martyrs. The Greek word is martur. It doesn't just refer to people who die for their faith, but it became so used in that way that we use it even today to speak of those who are faithful to death. In chapter 2, verse 13, the new King James translates it as faithful martyr. And so Jesus was a faithful martyr. He was faithful to to death. And verse 5 also adds, though they didn't stay dead, he is the firstborn from the dead. And that's a little different than how we speak. It had a meaning for them. The firstborn here isn't talking about beginning or birth. It's talking about his resurrection from the dead. And it's also a family term. It's a term for the preeminence, the one of the rightful inheritance and the blessed one. Colossians uses this term, the firstborn of the dead, so that in everything Christ might have the supremacy or that Christ might have the preeminence. But it's also a family term and it implies that there are other children to follow Him. So as He went first, there are other children to follow Him. In fact, one translation has, the first to rise from the dead here. One paraphrase says it this way, the first to conquer death. And the application of this term and how it's used in the immediate context here for the first century martyrs was that all who die in Him, this was a guarantee to them that they would also rise from the dead as well. Later in chapter 6, the martyrs are crying out, how long? And then we see the vindication later of the martyrs in chapter 20 here. But all of us who die as believers in Christ, This also reminds us that he is the first among many brethren to rise from the dead. He has the preeminent place, as Colossians says. And that ties in with the next phrase in verse 5. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the sovereign one. He is the king of kings. He's the ruler of the earth over those who think they are rulers on earth. In Bible times, kings had slaves. Jesus has kings as His slaves. They are all under His dominion and authority. And John actually uses the word for slaves in verse 1 and in the end of the last verse in the section, verse 8, calls Him the Almighty, another term for His supremacy and His sovereignty overall. And the end of verse 6 says of Jesus, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And so this is loaded with God's sovereignty manifested in His Son. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Christ is glorified in who He is in His sovereign dominion forever and ever. He is the faithful witness. He is the first to conquer death as He rose victorious from the grave. And He is the fully sovereign ruler of earthly kings. And so the application here in light of the context of verse 9 is that we can trust this Lord Jesus. We can trust King Jesus no matter what earthly authorities may do to us in the future. John, for all he knew, is awaiting his execution that he's revealed this picture of Christ and reminded that Christ is actually the one who is ruling all things. He is the one that Proverbs 21 says is the Lord. The heart of a king is like channels of water in the eyes of the Lord. I did this last Sunday night, but maybe it's good to see again. The heart of a king is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He can turn it this way. He can turn it that way. do whatever He wants with it. That's the heart of a king in the hand of the Lord. So that's who He is. But secondly, I want you to notice Christ reveals His glory in what He's done. To Him, verse 5 says, to Him who loves us, middle of the verse, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory. Jesus reveals His glory and His eternal love in shedding blood that freed us from our sins. Some of the translations have washed us, but the best reading is it's freed us. It doesn't just forgive us, it actually frees us from our sin. It frees us from sin's penalty at salvation. and the power of sin at salvation. When we are saved, the penalty of sin, it frees us from that. The power of sin, it frees us, and that's a progressive thing. It's continually, through our life, freeing us more from the power of sin, and one day it will free us from the very presence of sin. That's in Revelation 21. But what's unique about verse 5 here is that what Jesus did in his blood on the cross is spoken of in the past tense, it has freed us, but the verb for his love is in the present tense, to him who loves us. And there's verses we can think of about how God loved us, God so loved us. John 3, 16. There's a few verses that talk about how Jesus loved me. In Galatians 2, Paul says, the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. But this is the only one I can find that's structured this way. And it speaks of what he's done in the past, but that he loves us in the present in this personal way. And all those other passages, of course, imply that. But this one really focuses on that truth. John, in his gospel, calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. Such an intimate and special thing. But here, in writing his gospel to all believers, he says all of us are ones who Jesus loves. And this is a uniquely intimate expression here. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the book of Revelation tells me so. Or living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away. And verse 6 says, He made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory. And so the application is right there. We are to glorify Him. We're to give Him glory, praise, and honor for making us a kingdom and priests to the Father. What does that mean that we're made a kingdom? We hear of other verses that we are put in the kingdom, we're transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Son. We are actually made a kingdom, not just in it, but we are the kingdom. This is the kingdom Jesus said that is within you. This is the kingdom of salvation. Every believer is made into this kingdom when he or she submits to King Jesus. So the question is, have you submitted to King Jesus? Jesus, are you in His kingdom now, or are you in the domain of darkness now? If you have submitted yourself to King Jesus, trusted in Him as your Savior, then you are in His kingdom. But if you have not, then you need to enter this kingdom. And there are people all around you who are in that kingdom who would love to explain that to you. I would love to afterwards. My brother who will be up here up front would love to talk to you afterwards, but nothing is more important than to know if you are in this kingdom. If you are, as Jesus says, we've been made a kingdom. And we've been made priests, it says. And the idea there is every believer now in this new covenant has direct access to God's presence. We can come before his throne of grace boldly to pray and to offer up sacrifices of thanksgiving. He's the once for all sacrifice, but we still, Hebrews says, have a sacrifice we're to give. We're to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. We're to offer our praise as sacrifices of thanksgiving, Hebrews 13 says. So the application here as we read this verse is just right there in the verse, to Him be glory, praise and honor to Jesus. As we think of these things, we're to give Jesus glory as He reveals His glory in who He is and what He's done. And then thirdly, in what He will do. In what He will do. Verse 7 says, Behold, He is coming. with the clouds, and every eye will see Him. One day He is coming, a glorious day." This is no secret coming here. This is a second coming in glory that every eye sees. And the clouds here are probably not normal rain clouds. This is the glory clouds that we read about in the Old Testament. Tears are going to rain down on that day. It says there will be weeping and wailing as Jesus returns. There will be mourning of Christ's judgment. And the same word is only used in Revelation chapter 18 verse 9 for the mourning of judgment. And so most think that that's what this is talking about. As they see Jesus come, those who have not submitted to Him as their King, there's going to be weeping and wailing. There could also be tears of joy. could also be repentance associated with this, but it seems that the way the word is often used is there's going to be a lot of mourning and weeping and wailing, and people are going to be cast into a place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Same word. And the Lord who's coming is the Lord God, verse 8. He is the Almighty. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. As the I Am, He has no beginning, He has no end, and He is dependent on no one. Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. God just says, I am what I am. All the rest of us have to say, by the grace of God, I am what I am. God says, I am what I am. And here he adds in, he is and he was. He's speaking of his eternal existence. Like we sing in the hymn, holy, holy, holy. was and is, and I'm not sure I got the word right, which were and are and evermore shall be. To be the alpha speaks of the leader, the one who is first, the one who is dominant. Even in our language today, we speak of the alpha male or the alpha team leader. Just multiply that a million times when we speak of Jesus as the alpha. and the omega. When you put those two together, those are the first and last letters of their alphabet. And so, he's saying from A to Z and everything in between, he is the complete and final and full revelation of who God is. In him, the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. And John's even going to see him bodily later in this chapter. He is God. He is in all. He is through all. He is controlling all. That's the idea of this language. And this is how the book begins and ends in Revelation 22, 13. Jesus says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is God's complete and final revelation from the beginning to the end of the book and our chief end is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Jesus is the end. He is the goal. He is the point. Not just of the whole book, the whole Bible, and he's the point of the whole universe. ESV Study Bible says, Jesus is the beginning of all history as the creator, and he is also the goal for whom all things are made. All history is moving towards glorifying him. So how do we apply these glorious truths? Well, again, this ties in with what we're going to sing here at the end of our service. Take away our bent to sinning. Alpha and omega be. End of faith as it's beginning. Set our hearts at liberty. That's like verse five. Free us from sin now. Come almighty to deliver. Till in heaven we take our place. Till we cast our crowns before thee. Lost in wonder, love, and praise. And so I said that was my goal and my hope, and so before we come to the end of this message, I want to show you, and by God's grace, hopefully He will Himself, the Spirit Himself will reveal to us how Jesus is the beginning and the end of the whole Bible, and how the end of the Bible is the completion of the beginning of the Bible. From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, Christ's glory is the bookends. A lot of people have noticed at the very end of Revelation, the very beginning of the Bible, there's many parallels there, but every chapter of Revelation actually has direct, clear parallels to many chapters in Genesis. So this year, as you know, I finished preaching through the book of Genesis, and Revelation really is the fitting follow-up sequel to the book of Genesis. If you have one of these books without the other, you don't have the complete picture and it won't make sense. But we can see it chapter by chapter. Just look at chapter 2, verse 7 for an example. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. which is in the paradise of God. That's a restoration of Genesis 2. Genesis 2 talks about there's the tree of life in this paradise called Eden. Paradise lost, as we also heard in Sunday school, is paradise regained. That's kind of the big picture here. Access to the tree of life through the salvation that we have in Christ, access to the tree of life is granted again. In Revelation 3.14, the end of the verse describes Jesus as the beginning of God's creation. That's a clear reference to Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created. The New American Standard has a footnote on this verse. It says it means Jesus is the origin or the source of creation. And Revelation 3, 17-18 also uses many of the key terms from Genesis 3 to talk about man's nakedness and shame that God must cover. That image is still continued there. Look at chapter 4, verse 11. The worship of the Lord that's also rooted in Genesis. Worthy are you, they say, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things. And by your will, they existed and were created. John 1 and Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 say Jesus was the one who created all things. Of course, the whole trinity was involved there. But this is why it's important we recognize who created all things. Nothing has evolved, nothing has come into existence by purely naturalistic processes apart from Christ. The reason why this is important, it's about Christ and it's about his glory as the creator of all things and that he is worthy of glorious worship because of his creation. In chapter five, verse four, John weeps because there's no one worthy to open the scroll. And in Revelation 5, verse 5, one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, that means look, arrest your attention on this. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. What's that from? Genesis. It was on the screen earlier at our Sunday school. Judah's prophecy, Genesis 49. I didn't know what those slides were going to be, by the way, Brother Mike. But the promise of Genesis is fulfilled in revelation in Christ, the Lion of Judah. In chapter 6, verse 4, there's an angel with a sword. Anyone know where we first see an angel sent to earth with a sword? Genesis. Anyone know what chapter? Chapter 3, absolutely right. Chapter 3, after man's sin, because of man's sin, an angel comes and is sent with this sword. In Revelation 6, verse 10, we see the Lord hear His slain believers crying out about their blood. The righteous ones who are crying out to Him, even beyond the grave, their blood is crying out to Him. That's an echo of Genesis 4. Verse 10, where the Lord hears the blood of righteous Abel, a slain believer, cry out to him. The first martyr, the first one, that's how Jesus spoke of Abel, is the first martyr from the blood of Abel that was spilt all the way to the prophets who were martyred. Abel was living for God. He was righteous. Hebrews 11 also speaks of that as well. In the beginning, God created the sun to shine by day and the moon by night, and the stars and the sky also on day four of creation, but towards the end of history. Revelation 6, 12 through 14. And again, the language here is powerful language to describe some things the earth has not seen. It says the sun will become dark, the moon and the stars of the sky will fall to earth. And in verse 14, the sky itself will roll back like a scroll. Earlier in scripture, it talks about how God spread out the heavens, but here it talks about how they're gonna get rolled back up together. And again, that's powerful and there's some figurative language there, but the idea there is that there's gonna be some form of a re-creation, some have called it, or a renewing of the universe before he's done with this universe. In chapter seven, verses five through eight, there's a list of 12 tribes. Where's that from? Genesis is where we're introduced to those 12 sons and those 12 tribes. And what we see in chapter seven, especially verse nine, is really rooted, well, all of it, but there's a real connection to the promises to Jacob's sons and to the nations. Several times for Jacob and his descendants, it talks about every nation on the earth was gonna be blessed through them and through their descendant, ultimately through Christ. And I think Revelation 7 verse 9 sees a fulfillment of that in this massive multitude saved in this time it calls tribulation to worship Christ around the throne. And in Revelation 8 verse 7, there's a judgment on the earth. And it starts with the trees or the grass. And then in verse 7, it's a judgment on the sea creatures. And then in verse 11, it's a judgment on man. Those are in the same order as creation in Genesis 1. There seems to be an intentionality in the judgment that God is bringing on His creation. In Revelation 9, verse 1, there's a star that falls from heaven to earth. Like Satan's fall sometime before Genesis 3-1, and we have to put other pieces of scripture together to see that, but we see the serpent come into the garden. He's come down from the presence of heaven. He's now the tempter. He's now the deceiver. Back in Genesis 4, Cain receives a mark. Remember, there's a mark placed on his forehead to protect him from harm. And here in this chapter in Revelation, There is also this mark, and again it may be a spiritual thing, not so much a visible thing, but there is a seal, there is a mark that's placed on the forehead to mark out those in the demonic realm that these ones belong to the Lord, these ones cannot be harmed. In Revelation 10, verse 1, John sees a cloud in the sky and he sees a rainbow. Can we think of anywhere else in the Bible where there is a cloud in the sky and a rainbow in some significance? Genesis, right after the story of what? The flood, the story of Noah. It's God's covenant grace promised to Noah. Again, a very clear reference back to the beginning of the Bible. In Revelation 10 verse 6, an angel, quote, swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it. We see here the truth of what happened in Genesis 1 is so reliable that even angels swear by it. And again, it's in the same order, the heaven, the earth, and the seas, and all that's in them. Now in chapter 11, and I'm just hitting some of these, I'm not hitting all of them. In chapter 11, verse 8, it speaks spiritually or mystically, your Bible might say symbolically, of Sodom. Where is Sodom from in the Bible, in the Old Testament? It's in Genesis. It gets wiped out in Genesis. So it's not a city anymore, but it's wiped out there in Genesis. Judgment came on Sodom. But it symbolizes God's future judgment as well. In the same way that his judgment came upon Sodom, his judgment is going to come in the future. And just as the angels told Lot and his family to flee to the hills, we need to flee to Christ. Look to what Christ did on the hill of Calvary for us before that day of judgment comes. Because it is coming. And it could be soon. Well, Revelation 12 verse 1, there's a woman clothed with sun and moon and twelve stars on her head. And again, obviously this is symbolic, but where does that symbolism come from? Any guesses? Genesis there's a vision Joseph had in Genesis a vision also a figurative vision of a Sun and the moon and moon was representing the the mother of the tribes of Israel and the stars were representing the the brothers the tribes of Israel this chapter talks about there's this serpent of old, this dragon or this serpent of old, which is language right out of Genesis. And this serpent is making war at the end of the chapter with the offspring of the woman in verse 17. This serpent, dragon, is making war with the offspring of the woman or the seed of the woman. That's language directly from Genesis 3.15. There was a prophecy made that there would be a seed born of a woman. And the serpent and his seed would be at enmity and there would be a war between these two and their offspring. But one day that seed of the woman was going to crush, to bruise fatally the head of the serpent. And this is what this is speaking of here. In Revelation 13, 14 though, Before the final defeat, there is this devil who is empowering this beast who seems to make another in his own image. And I don't know exactly what all this means, but there does seem to be an intentional trying to, at least in the language here, counterfeiting God made man in his own image. gave breath to the man made in his own image. In Revelation 13, verse 15, there seems to be an attempt to counterfeit this, to bring someone in his own image and to even try and breathe life, if he even has the power to do that. But here's something very clear, chapter 14, verse 1. John sees a lamb. He sees a lamb standing on Mount Zion. Mount Zion was another name for Jerusalem. Any guesses where that imagery comes from? A lamb associated with Mount Zion? Well, it comes from Genesis. Anyone know the chapter? It's where Abraham goes to a mount. It had a different name in those days. It was later called Zion and the mountain ranges there. Jewish tradition said that very mount he went to was Mount Zion. And while he was at that mount, remember Isaac asked his father a question. Father, you know, I see the sacrifice, or I see the, rather I see the wood and I see the materials for the sacrifice. Where is, where's the lamb, dad? Abraham said to his son, the Lord will provide for himself a lamb, my son. And you know what's interesting about that story, and we looked at this when we were studying Genesis, God provided a substitute that day, but he didn't provide a lamb that day, did he? He provided a ram. That's an adult male sheep. Totally different term. He provided a substitute, but it was a ram. And Abraham said, and the tradition says, Genesis says, that from that day forward, they understood that wasn't the fulfillment of it because they had this saying, on the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. They were looking future for the provision of that promise from Abraham. On the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. There is going to be a lamb that's going to be provided one day on this mount, this mount of Zion. And here we see it right here in Revelation 14. Here is on the Mount of Lion it being provided the Lamb who is standing there at this very Mount. I just love how the Bible connects these things together. And I love how Revelation 15 verse 4 talks about how all the nations will worship together. That's a fulfillment of a promise that began to be unfolded several times in Genesis for all the nations to be blessed spiritually and as Abraham went to those different nations in light of those promises he began to worship publicly as a witness to the nations there in Haran and from Ur and then down into the land of Canaan and to Egypt and he wasn't a real good witness in Egypt but his descendants were to be a witness his later descendants were through Joseph a greater witness and through Moses a greater witness in the land of Egypt but all of the nations of the earth including nations that that they didn't know about in the time of the New Testament or that we're far away on other continents. All the nations of the earth have always been in the scope of those Genesis promises and they will all worship together. But before the final glorious future, there's more in chapter 16 of Judgment. The end of the verse says, Every living thing died that was in the sea. Every living thing died. that was in the sea. This is where God first created living things in the sea in Genesis 1, but now He undoes it. In Revelation 16 verse 8, the sun, the sun that God created to give warmth and life to this planet, it's now going to be scorching people with its heat. The original purpose of these things are now, they're being used in the very judgment on those who denied the truth of their creator and worship and serve created things. They are now the wrath of God. Paul said it is being revealed now in Romans 1. It's gonna be revealed in a greater way in the future. In Revelation 16, verse 10, the kingdom is in darkness. This is undoing the very beginning of Genesis 1. Let there be light. In reverse order in this chapter, From the later days of creation, and then like day five, and then back to day four, and then back to day one in reverse order. Chapter 17. And you can't read these sections with joy as they speak of God's judgment. There's a name that John sees in this chapter, Babylon the Great. Verses 12 through 13 describe nations being united of one mind together. Babylon is seen in this vision, it's actually called a great city. And verse 18, is there anything in Genesis that relates to this? In Genesis 11, there's a place called, it's the Hebrew equivalent of this Greek word, Babylon, Babel, Babylon, same word in the Hebrew. Babel was where this first great city was, where all the nations, in rebellion to what God had told them to do, they all gather together, they're all united in one mind to build in opposition to God's command in Genesis 9, which was for them to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth with His glory. They say, no, we're going to make for ourselves a name. They were not honoring the name of the King of Heaven. They were wanting to make themselves a name with their King. And symbolically again, before the end, man will try to unite in opposition to God, Revelation 17 says. And Revelation 18 verse 5, the wording of the New King James brings this out. It says, Babylon's sins have reached to heaven. That's a New Testament equivalent of that Old Testament phrase. If they were wanting to build Babel, Babylon, the original one, to reach up to heaven. In other words, to worship, maybe to worship the gods, there's traditions about what that exactly was, but in essence, they were wanting to take the place of God and to disobey what God had called them to do and to do their own kingdom of man. In chapter 18, verse 22, again, we see a reversal of some of the things earlier. Revelation 18, 22 said, the sound of harpists and musicians of flute players and trumpeters will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. Anyone wanna guess where those terms are first used? The book of Genesis chapter four, verses 21 through 22 speaks of the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And also the first instructor of every craftsman. Same terms. It seems that God's common grace. Music is part of his common grace. Unbelievers enjoy music. Unbelievers enjoy the work of craftsmen, but God's gonna begin to pull back even his common grace in judgment, if I'm understanding that rightly. Revelation 19. This is where it starts to get better. This is the only way it can get better. Revelation 19 verse 8 is the marriage of Christ to a bride made ready. And again, that's language rooted in the first marriage of the first Adam to a bride who had been made ready for him by God. In Genesis 2, Ephesians quotes from Genesis 2. and says that this is a profound mystery. In other words, in the Old Testament times, they didn't fully understand this, but now it's been revealed that this has always been ultimately pointing us to Christ and His church. Marital love is to point us to the greatest love of the coming bridegroom for his bride, his church. So that's great news if you're a part of the church. But the unsaved at the end of this chapter meet judgment in fire and brimstone. One of the few other places those terms are used in scripture is in Genesis 19, fire and brimstone coming down. In Revelation 20, Satan is crushed, the saved reign with Christ. I think this is a fulfillment not only of Genesis 3.15, but Genesis 1.28. God originally told Adam to rule and to reign over this earth. And of course, Adam sinned. But here in Revelation 20, we hear of redeemed man reigning. Revelation 21 verse 1, that I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And this is why some theologians speak of a recreation or a renewing. Whatever way you understand that, it's restored better than what it was before. In Genesis 3, sin brought pain, death, tears, to the first world, but in this new world, there's not gonna be a potential for that anymore. Verse four says that the Lord himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. I know we've had a number of people in pain this very week. Aren't you looking forward to the day when there will be no pain anymore? No more crying. Some of you have been going through difficult things. There's going to be no more tears ever. And there's not a potential of things getting messed up again like they were the first time in the first perfect world. This is going to be an eternally perfect world. In fact, the revelation of Christ's glory is going to be revealed here. Look at verse 6. And He said to me, it is done. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To say it is done is to say this is the fulfillment. We see in Genesis a picture of how God intended things to be, and of course God was sovereign and aware of man's sin and all these different things, but he always had this plan, and this plan is finally done in the eternal state, from beginning to end. From Genesis to Revelation, from creation to the new creation, this is Christ's plan. And Christ is central to the plan and sovereign over the plan from first to last. And in fact, the revelation of Christ's glory is going to make some things unnecessary from the original perfect world. The revelation of Christ's glory in verse 23 is going to make the sun and the moon of that first creation, Genesis 1-16, they're going to be unneeded. In Revelation 22, verse 1, there's this river that flows out from God's presence. It's like Genesis 2.10, a river flowing out from the presence of the Lord, but it's even better this time. If you notice, verse 3 mentions in the middle of the new earth, it has by the river the tree of life, and it's going to always be bearing, and I think it's an eternal reminder of God's grace and of God's plan, not that we would actually need to eat fruit to live forever because we've already been glorified bodies, but it's an eternal reminder of His grace and this plan. Genesis 2-9 said there was a tree of life and it was in the middle of Eden. But there was also another tree that made sin possible. That tree will no longer be there. It'll just be the tree of life. And this time there will be no curse, it says in verse 3. No curse anymore. Like there was in Genesis 3. It's just amazing to me how the book of Revelation so perfectly complements and completes the book of Genesis. Jesus says here in the last chapter, verse 13, I am the Alpha and the Omega. the first and the last, the beginning and the end. So the book ends the way the book begins in Revelation 1 verse 8. Christ and his glory is revealed from first to last, from Genesis to Revelation. I don't know if that excites you like it does me, but it's just so exciting for me to see this theme that I knew something about before, but just how big it is throughout the Bible and how Revelation is the completion of that story. I think the glory of Christ is the theme of the book. And I want us to see in the next few weeks the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ to his suffering servant John. The glory of Christ to his churches, chapters 2 through 3. The glory of Christ and his heavenly worship in chapters 4 through 5. The glory of Christ through tribulation and preservation, chapter six through seven, the glory of Christ in his judgments. How is Christ glorified in his judgments? In the middle of the book, the glory of Christ over his enemies, the glory of Christ and his wrath and mercy, and the glory of Christ and his coming and kingdom, and the glory of Christ eternally. If you think I have everything figured out in this book, you're going to be disappointed. or if you think you have everything figured out, you're gonna be disappointed when I'm not so sure with some of the things you have figured out. But if you wanna see Christ glorified in these major sections, not unpacking all the details, the fullness of which I don't understand, but focusing on how Christ is glorified through all of these things, I trust that you'll be lifted up if you wanna see Him lifted up. And I trust we'll trust Him more for the glorious truth we've seen throughout Revelation, who He is, what he's done, and what he will do. If we keep the revelation of Jesus Christ, like the first verse says, central, I think we will know more of that blessing of verse three, being blessed by hearing and living in light of it. He is the big picture. He is the theme. He is the point. The alpha, the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and so I want to I want to close with a summary of Christ in all of scripture. This isn't original to me. I adapted some of this to show that the Bible shows His glory from every book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. From beginning to end, all of it is about Christ. Christ said on that road to Emmaus, all the scriptures were about me. And I want to show you some of that, some of the aspects of Christ's character and Christ's glory, how they're revealed progressively in all 66 books. So in Genesis, we see Jesus revealed as the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. He's promised there in Genesis. In Exodus, we see Him pictured or prefigured as the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus, we see Him prefigured through the high priest. In the book of Numbers, we see Him present in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And in Deuteronomy, He is the greater prophet like unto Moses, still to come. In Joshua, He is the captain of our salvation. In Judges, He is our greater judge. Even when everyone is doing what's right in their own eyes, He is still the judge. In Ruth, He is the kinsman redeemer. If you take the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, put them together, He is the greater king that Israel needed, and that even Israel's greatest kings needed. In Ezra, he's pictured as the faithful scribe, the one who preserves the Scriptures for us. And in Nehemiah, he is there helping his people rebuild walls. In the book of Esther, we can think of Mordecai, who the Lord is like a humble one, exalted to save his people. In the book of Job, we can think of him who Job spoke of, I know my Redeemer lives. Jesus is that Redeemer that Job knew lived. In the book of Psalms, the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. Jesus is that good shepherd. In Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, He is our wisdom as we fear the Lord. That's what Corinthians says, He is our wisdom. In the Song of Solomon, His banner over me is love. In Isaiah, He's the Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah, He's the balm of Gilead. In Lamentations, He is the weeping prophet. In Ezekiel, he is the glory of God in his temple. And in Daniel, he is the fourth man in the midst of the fiery furnace. In Hosea, his love is seen in the faithful husband to an unfaithful wife. In Joel, he is the one who would pour out his spirit. In Amos, He is our burden bearer. In Obadiah, He is mighty to save. In Jonah, He sends His message of repentance to enemy Gentile nations to save them. In Micah, He is the messenger with beautiful feet. In Nahum, He is the avenger of God's elect. In Habakkuk, He is the Watchman. In Zephaniah, He is the Savior. In Haggai, He is the Restorer of what is lost. And in Zechariah, He is the Fountain of Grace and He is also the coming King who will be riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. In Malachi, He is the Son of Righteousness who would rise with healing in His wings. In Matthew, He is the King of the Jews. In Mark, He's the servant and a ransom for many. In Luke, He is the Son of Man. And in John, He is the Son of God that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. Do you believe in Him? In the book of Corinthians, or in the book of Acts, He's the shining light that appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. In the book of Romans, He is our justification. In 1 Corinthians, he is our resurrection. In 2 Corinthians, he is our sin bearer, the one who became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. In Galatians, he redeems us from the law. In Ephesians, he is our unsearchable riches. In Philippians, he supplies our every need. And in Colossians, he's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You want me to keep going? In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, He is our soon-coming King. In Timothy, He is the mediator between God and man. In Titus, He is our blessed hope. In Philemon, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And in Hebrews, He is the perfect sacrifice once for all. In James, He is the Lord, the glorious Lord Jesus. who heals the sick. In Peter, he is the chief shepherd. In John, he is the assurance of eternal life for true children of God. And in Jude, he is the Lord coming with 10,000 saints. And in the book of Revelation, He is the faithful witness. He is the ruler of kings. He is the one who loved us and who freed us from our sins by His blood. He is the Almighty. He is the one who is holding the seven stars, walking in the midst of seven lampstands. He is the Lion of Judah. He is the worthy Lamb who was slain to receive honor and power and glory and blessing. He is the male child who was born who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. He is the one seated on a cloud like a son of man with a golden crown. He is the one with the rainbow and the radiance of the glory of God about him. John, when he sees him, falls on his face as if a dead man. He is the Lord God, the omnipotent who reigns. He is the rider on a white horse named Faithful and True. He's also called by the name the Word of God, but he also has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. On His robe and on His thigh, it says this, King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the root and descendant of David. He is the bright morning star. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. This is our Lord. Do you know Him? Do you know Him? May we come to know Him more. Blessed is He who hears and lives in light of His glory. Amen. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we say, I trust with John at the end of Revelation, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, and the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all of us, we pray. In his name, amen.