So we read in Revelation chapter 1 and begin at 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 and made us a kingdom, priest 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 tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. When I'm looking at this passage, at first glance, I thought, well, there's about six or eight messages in this passage, in these five verses. But I've determined that because it does fit together, I want us to look at it as one piece. Do you remember that how the book of Revelation begins? It is the revelation. of Jesus Christ. It is the unfolding, perhaps in ways that are unique in the whole Bible, to the honor and the glory and the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is an unveiling But there's a purpose behind that and a purpose for us as well as to the original audience. And that is the times that they were living in, the times that still, that we ourselves live in, are often difficult. There are often days of suffering. And so to keep our eyes fixed upon this one who is high and holy and lifted up that Isaiah no doubt saw on that day is refreshing for us and encouraging for us and for God's people. And I think that really is the theme of the book of Revelation. It's not so much just the second coming, that's a part of it. But it is a book that is given to encourage God's people, to comfort God's people, and to show God's people the things that are to come. The things he says there in verse 1 that must soon take place. And what we're looking at tonight is the what we might say is the greeting, the salutation. In some sense, it is very much like other greetings in the New Testament letters, but it goes far beyond others as well. It turns to a particular look, a particular praise to Jesus Christ and the promise of his coming, he who is Alpha and Omega. So it begins, I want to look at this beginning. It says in verse four, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. And these churches are named for us in the first chapter. And then beginning in chapter two, what was written to each of the seven churches is made known to us. So these are particular churches. I mean, they're just not made up out of the head of John. We don't know why he chose these particular churches. If you looked on a map, and some of these cities are no longer there, but if you had a map to show you these cities, and these places where these churches were, it would be roughly a sort of uneven circle that you could actually make. And so some have thought that John actually knew these churches, knew something about them, obviously about how they're doing, whether they're doing well or even poorly, a couple of them are. And so we might wonder why did he choose them? He may have known them. But what was true of these churches that we can say categorically is that they were suffering. They were feeling the onslaught, really, of Roman persecution. We believe that John's letter here to these churches was written in the 90s, and that was during the reign of Domitian, who was, he was a horrible man. And he was the one who took very seriously Caesar is Lord, and if you could not say in your heart of hearts, Caesar is Lord, and would not confess Caesar is Lord, you could be put to death. And that happened often throughout the Roman world. It was more heated in some places than others, but it was an ongoing situation. So John, the Lord, through the Apostle John, is writing to these churches and really telling them what the reality of life is in their present circumstances to encourage them, to comfort them in what they are going through. But it's also true that the seven churches, the number seven is going to have a great deal of significance in the book of Revelation. It is the number that's associated with completeness, fullness. In just a few moments, we'll see that it's the seven spirits, who's obviously talking about the Holy Spirit, who is one. It's the number of completion. The number seven is used 54 times in the book of Revelation, 54 times. So it's obvious that there is some symbolic meaning, some symbolic understanding of that number seven. In fact, as we look through, we'll see that there are seven seals, seven trumpets, seven angels, seven bowls when John begins to speak about these visions that he sees. So obviously, the number seven, in fact, As I've read through Revelation and sought to sort of break it down into sections, guess how many there are? Seven. And so it's quite evident that the seven churches are meant to represent the church of God in general. And not only in the age in which John is writing but the church universal down through the years. And what John is going to say, what has been revealed to him, is that this is what it's going to be like for the church of Jesus Christ until Jesus Christ comes again. I think that's really the theme and the message of the book of Revelation. Now, the second thing we see, though, is this greeting. And again, it is a common greeting and whenever you're reading in the New Testament letters you might have a tendency to sort of read over sometimes these greeting. He says grace to you and peace, grace and peace. It's very common kind of salutation. We need to pause there for just a moment though and say how important that salutation, that greeting is for these churches that were struggling. He's reminding them of God's great gift to them, which is the gift of grace. It is grace, God's grace to them that has even caused them to be a part of God's people, that's given them his unmerited favor, the smile of God that is upon them. And think about them, their characteristic day-to-day living, would bring them often under peril and trouble that would come to them. And to remember and to be reminded of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, the unmerited favor of God. God's smile upon you. Do you know that? Do we know that this evening that God is smiling upon you? He is smiling upon this gathering that we have today. His grace covers us in everything that we do. We're not a Christian at all apart from the grace of God. It is the grace of God that has come to us that has brought us. That's the means whereby we are here even tonight. But grace also has an end in sight. And that is, again, for us, It is peace with God. It is the grace of God that brings us into a peaceful relationship with God. And that brings peace of soul, peace of heart to our minds. And if grace is the means, we could say that peace is the end. It's the goal, really, of the gospel is to bring fallen sinners separated from God by their sin to bring them into a peaceful relationship with God the Father. It's the peace of God that rests upon God's people. We were reading this morning, actually Wednesday night, we read together Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, and there's a picture there, really, of grace and peace. the turmoil and the hardship that the psalmist was going through there in Psalm 42. And he speaks of the salvation of his face, and that's literally what it says in the Hebrew there in verse five, the salvation of his face. And then the other verses that speak of the salvation of my face. And that's grace and peace. It's the grace of God in Jesus Christ. We come into contact with him. We are united to him. We're joined to him. And what is the effect then upon us? We have peace with God and we can have peace with one another. There's this different life that he's brought us into by the grace of God. Now, where does this greeting come from? Who is it that is greeting us tonight? Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. It's speaking of the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the unchanging character of God in the midst of changing and for them terrible days, the unchangeable God of the covenant, the great I Am of Exodus chapter 3 and verse 14, the one that is referred to in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 as the God who is and the only God who is, the God of Psalm 90 that says before the mountains were brought forth or anything was, I am, I am the everlasting one, the God at the end of Malachi, the end of the Old Testament there, the God who does not change, who does not change like shifting shadows. He's the God who is and who was and who is to come. Here's this church receiving this letter. They've been undergoing persecution. They don't know what the day will bring forth. They don't know what tomorrow will bring. You know, we, I think, sometimes living where we live, it's hard for us to identify with suffering Christians. But folks, they're suffering Christians today. There are some that will get up tomorrow morning and will not know whether the day will end, how it will end with them. Will they be alive? It's happening all over the world. We're in a kind of, I don't know, sometimes I think we're in a bit of a fairyland. The grace of God that has come to us in this country to be able to gather together like this. But it's not that way in many places around the world. But think, if you're in that situation, And you hear of this God who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, the one who is actually in control of all things. What a comfort that would bring to them. Hopefully, it's a comfort to us as well and the things that plague us and that cause us a consternation. So it's from him, God the Father, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. I think he's speaking there of the Holy Spirit who is one, but the idea of seven spirits I think speaks to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And think about all of the different ways that the Spirit of God ministers to his people. There's a fulsomeness about the work of the Spirit, multifaceted. Just a few. It is the Spirit that applies the grace of God into our lives. We would know nothing of grace. We would know nothing of God, nothing of the glory of Jesus Christ apart from the Spirit's work. It is the Spirit who applies the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, applies it to our hearts. It is the spirit of God that enables us to see something of ourselves, to be convicted of sin. We can go for years and years and years that many of us have gone through with really having no notion that there's something wrong with me. Perhaps there's some today, tonight, some of you children that are gonna kind of think, well, I'm doing okay, I'm pretty good. I'm better than the other one. and the Spirit of God that applies that conviction of sin that causes us to look away from ourselves and to look upon the one who was pierced. That's the work of the Spirit. Any growth in grace that you and I have from day to day when something strikes us, a verse or a truth or something that causes us to stir in our hearts, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom, understanding, counsel, having a sense of the fear of the Lord, the greatness of who God is, and the smallness of myself, and humility. Where does that come from? It's the work of the Spirit. There's this fullness that I think is being referred to here, the seven spirits who are before his throne. And notice they are before his throne. They are not on the throne, though God is one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But I think the language here is that they're in the service of God. They're going to be sent out, the Spirit sent from the very throne room of God. And so when you and I have this experience of the grace of God, it is because the Spirit has been sent to us. from the very throne of God. We could go on and on. And then, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on the earth. And we might wonder why this particular order. It would seem, and usually, when we're thinking about God, and we're thinking about the Trinity, We think father, son, and Holy Spirit. But the order is a little different. Why is that? Well, I think it is probably that John is referring to, again, the book of Revolution is going to take us back in many ways to the Old Testament. There are many things that we're going to see in the book of revolution that we could say, oh, that was what Daniel was talking about, or that was what Ezekiel was talking about. And in this section, what I think is going on here is that how the tabernacle and the temple really was ordered. If you think about it, what was first? In this case, he's last, but it's first is the altar of God. you would come to the altar, the burnt offering, the place of sacrifice, and then go into the holy place where the lamp stands, where the menorah, and to be always kept lit. And that's really a picture of the Holy Spirit. And then into the holy of holies, where the cherubim over the ark and the place of God Almighty. And I think that pattern of the holy of holies and the holy place and then the burnt offering, the place of access. And John is gonna really focus here on Jesus Christ as the access, in some sense, into the very throne room of God. What does he say about him? He describes him really in three ways. He says, from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings of the earth. The Lord Jesus is the great faithful witness, the one, the bearer of truth. And the idea of a witness, remember, it's kind of a courtroom setting. Jesus Christ came onto the scene of history and before all men and gave a faithful witness of who God was and faithful witness to the truth. And he was faithful to the end. That word witness, you might remember, is the word martyreo. It's where we get our word martyr. And he was a faithful witness to the end. He was faithful unto death. And this is significant, I think, because one of the themes of Revelation, one of the reasons for the giving of this revelation was a call to the people to be faithful and to not give in, to compromise. Remember in the letters, There are going to be some hard things that are said to some of these churches that were not being faithful, that were compromised. And John will speak to that and we'll call them to account. It is called upon to the church of Jesus Christ to be faithful and to be faithful to the end. Some of these folks who are receiving these letters in these churches would face terrible persecution, suffering, and even death for naming the name of Jesus Christ. And he's calling them to the faithful witness. Remember Jesus Christ. He was faithful to the end. And you must be faithful too. You must be faithful to and to the end. So he's the faithful witness. And then the glorious thing, he's the firstborn of the dead. That death, his death, his faithful witness to the end was not the end for him because he was raised from the dead. He was the only begotten son who won a great victory over death. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that he's the first fruits of those who have died. And again, think of the comfort and the encouragement that would come to a Christian who's brought before the council and called upon, do you testify that Jesus Christ is Lord or is Caesar Lord? And there were many, there were many professing Christians who gave into that. and would not would not call but to call. No, not Caesar. Jesus Christ is Lord. Take him out and execute him. That was what was going to be facing them. So this this truth that he's the first born of the dead, then if you die in Christ, you shall be raised. He's the first fruits of those who are raised from the dead. And then He's the ruler of kings on the earth. It speaks of his exaltation to glory and his heavenly session, so to speak, where he's the king. We don't see that. in all the machinations of the world and the rulers of the world, that they bow before King Jesus. And ultimately, they will bow before King Jesus. He is the exalted sovereign over all earthly affairs. And again, one of the dominant themes of the book of Revelation will be that, to see the glory of Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. There is a sense here, As John is describing Jesus Christ, this is his redemptive history. This is his life, wasn't it? He was the faithful witness, and he bore that witness even unto death. But death wasn't the end. God raised him from the dead, seated him upon the throne of heaven, and now he's the ruler of the kings of the earth. So all of redemptive history, we might say, is in just these few words from Jesus Christ. And that leads, it seems to me, the apostle under the authority of the Holy Spirit to break out in praise and adoration and glorying in Jesus Christ. Isn't that, he's described who he is and now John can't help but say, this is the one who loves us and who has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. He kind of breaks away from the greeting to this doxology, this praise of the Lord Jesus. He breaks out in praise for what he's done and what he continues to do. And there are three things that he says. One, he says, him who loves us. Notice it's not in the past tense. It's not he loved us and then brought us into the kingdom and then, well, he's far distant now. You're on your own, so to speak. No, no, John says this is the one who loves us, who daily takes us up. His love has been demonstrated for us in that while we were yet sinners, he died for us. It is a present, ongoing reality. He's the good shepherd. who makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, as Psalm 23 tells us. And that he's freed us. It's actually a very accurate translation there. Some of the versions say he's washed us, but the word is actually loosed as you If there are shackles and you loose those shackles, you're taking those shackles off. What the Lord has done for us is he has loosed us. He's freed us from our sins by his blood. It is the cross of Jesus Christ that is our release point. The redemption of the slave block of sin. And you remember, this is one of the ongoing themes of the Christian life, is that the work of Jesus Christ has freed us up, has brought us out of a slavery and out of an imprisonment, as it were, to sin, and he's loosed those chains. He's released us. He's redeemed us, in a sense, off the slave block. If you keep your finger here, And turn over to Romans chapter 6, it begins a kind of ongoing theme there in Romans of what the Lord has done to free us. And verse 22. encouraging the people. He says, but now that you have been set free from sin, that's that word, you've been loosed from it. You've been released from sin and have become slaves of God. You're now linked to him. You're, so to speak, in captivity to the Lord himself. He said, and have become slaves of God. The fruit you get leads to sanctification and it's end eternal life. In the very next verse, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And then again, over in chapter eight and begin at verse one, there's therefore now no condemnation. You're no longer on that slave block. You're no longer. A heading for the judgment of God. No, no. Freed. No condemnation. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. And Paul's argument there, he makes it again and again and again, is an argument to holiness because the Lord has set you free from your sins. He's broken those shackles. And you remember 1 Peter chapter 2 where he speaks about what the Lord has done to free us and the call then is to live as those who are free. Live like you're a free man, no longer shackled to sin. So him who loves us, he's freed us from our sins by his blood and he's made us to be a kingdom of priests. Not kings. Some of the versions say he's made us kings, but he's not. He's made us a kingdom, and it's a kingdom of priests. One of the main subjects of Jesus' teaching when he was upon the earth was the kingdom of God. That the kingdom of God is one that you are brought into by the new birth. You're born, reborn into the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom not of this world. unlike earthly kingdoms, even the best of which are marred by sin and self-promotion." He says, this is a kingdom that has come to you, a kingdom that is within you, as the Lord says. And it's a kingdom, he says, of priests. Notice the language here. He's made us a kingdom. He's taken us from a situation And he's made us into something else. He's brought us out of this, freed us, and made us different people. He's made us a kingdom. Priests to his God and Father. What do priests do? Well, they serve. They intercede on behalf of others. They offer sacrifices. They sacrifice their time and their energy. They serve the Lord. And Jesus loves us, in some sense, by changing us into what we were not before, to give us a priestly heart, a servant's heart, humility, love, totally committed to him and to his glory. Peter describes this using Old Testament language, that is, we've become a royal priesthood. Why? To proclaim the excellencies of him who has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We have a job to do, don't we? We're called as a kingdom together, as the kingdom of priests. And one of the things, just as a bit of a side note, John is writing here to the seven churches. He's not writing to individuals. He's writing to churches. That's an important point for us to think about, that the New Testament really knows very little about this individual Christianity. What it knows is church, is the gatherings of God's people, the bringing together, so to speak, of God's people. Now, obviously, we're saved, each of us, individually. We have our individual lives, our individual Christian lives, but the word of God comes And it comes here in Revelation, it comes here in the Pauline letters, it comes to churches. The church in Galatia, the church in Ephesus, the church in Thessalonica, it comes to the church. The New Testament would tell us that where it's at for a Christian is in the church. And he's saying here, this one who loves us, he's freed us from our sins and he's made us to be a kingdom, a kingdom of priests. So you're rubbing shoulders when you come on Sunday and Wednesday night and whenever the people of God gather together as Heritage Church, you're rubbing shoulders with other priests. offering sacrifices and doing what priests do, interceding for one another, serving one another for the glory of the kingdom of God. And then finally, John again encourages these folks, behold, check this out. He is coming with the clouds. and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. The language there is very Old Testament, isn't it? Daniel chapter seven, remember that picture of the one who is coming before, and he comes with the clouds. It's a picture of authority and sovereignty, one who is above us, who is coming down to us. And the coming for us will be glorious. We will all see him. Every eye will see him, but it will not necessarily be glorious for all. Picking up, I think, on the language of Zechariah chapter 12, those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. This is judgment. And I think that John is sort of, yeah, they're going to get theirs, but when God's name is defamed and the glory of Jesus Christ is defamed. A true Christian is going to want him vindicated. We want the Lord to be vindicated and that's what's going to happen when he comes and he comes in the clouds is that every eye will see him and some will wail on account of him. That's a word that really speaks of despair, wailing as with the loss of a child. It's that kind of wailing. And notice how John responds to that. Even so, amen. Even so, amen. The ending there kind of combines the Greek even so with the Hebrew amen. And it's like the apostle is saying this is awesome. Wonderful, great, encouraging news. Can't wait. Can't wait. Even so, amen. And then the last word there, I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I think that's the voice of Christ, actually. There's some debate about this because it began with God the Father who is and who was and who is to come. But in chapter 22 in Revelation, the voice there that speaks and repeats this alpha and omega is Jesus Christ. He is true God, the third person of the Trinity. He's the one who says that I and the Father are one. And in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But how encouraging, Jesus Christ, the ruler of kings of the earth, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, El Shaddai, the one who rules over all. What an encouragement that this greeting even is to these churches that are receiving it. Hopefully it is for us as well, the lives that we live. What can we take from this? Well, Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. What it means is that he's the Lord. He's the Lord of all history. History is not this sort of random sequence of events, even the sort of micro-history of our own lives. It's not just sort of things that happen, but Jesus Christ is the Lord of it all. History is his story, whether it's grand macro history or whether it's the micro histories of our own little individual lives. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the end. There was nothing before, nothing that comes after. He is it. And this has to be a bit of an encouragement even to the Apostle John. He's on the island of Patmos for the testimony of the Lord. He's been put there because he's a Christian. He's, we think, probably enduring hard labor, perhaps chained to a guard most of the day, and it was not easy for him. And the encouragement that comes to him, that says to him, listen, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. You are immortal until your work is done. Understand, the book of Revelation is going to be completed, John. Tomorrow is another day. You're going to live. And in the midst of this book, all through is a call to faithful living and not compromise with the powers that be in the world. To see him high and holy and lifted up, Alpha and Omega. Now these letters are going to say some hard things. The letters are going to sort of pierce into our own sense of who we are and who we are even as a church. And it's meant to be that way, that he's going to point out, okay, you're doing well here, but hey, this needs to be shored up here, or perhaps you have a testimony of being alive, but you're really dead. He speaks the truth, comes right to us, right where we are. But overall, it's this message of, I'm with you, I'm with you, so go ahead and repent, deal with those things that you need to deal with, because you're mine, you belong to me. Living for God. is the safest place in the world to be. Why? Because he's the Alpha. He's the Omega. The beginning and the end. This glorious view of God and the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit, the glory of Jesus Christ, the sovereignty of God over all things in the midst of earthly chaos. Seems to me that's what the book of Revelation is about, beginning here with this greeting that is so fulsome of the glory of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. May the Lord give us all today grace and peace from our Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And we thank you for the truth of it, that you were and are the faithful witness. And what you speak to us today, we can count on it. We can take it to the bank. And we pray, oh, Lord, that as we get up in the morning and face whatever it is that comes tomorrow, that we understand our Lord is on the throne. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. the beginning and the end, who was and is and is to come, the Almighty. And the Spirit of God is at work, even in my little life, in a fulsome way, granting wisdom and understanding and counsel, all of the things that you promise to give to your people. Oh Lord, help us, we pray, to have this sight of you and live according to what we see. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.