All right, if you would please open in the Bible to Revelation chapter one. And yes, we're going back one more time to the first chapter of Revelation. I've said several times that in my opinion, Revelation chapter one is really key to the whole book. And I continue to believe that and in fact, believe it more and more after this week, because digging into this chapter has been a great blessing to me, and I hope it will be a great blessing to you, too, this Trinity Sunday. Please stand. A reading from Revelation 1, beginning at verse 1. This is page 1028 in the Pew Bible. 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 to 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. 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, 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 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. The word of the Lord. Gracious God, we come before you this Trinity Sunday, praying that you would please send the Holy Spirit upon us to open our ears and hearts, that we might behold you in your glory as you're revealed in the pages of the Bible, and particularly here in Revelation 1. May we see you and come to worship you, come to trust you, and to obey you for Jesus's sake. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. On Thursday, I sent out Elm Realm, which is the little app we use at church to stay in communication with each other. I sent out an urgent and highly unusual prayer request. You may have noticed it when you got it. few people mentioned to me that they had read it. It listed four different things based on locations. One was Iran, the war with Israel, which had just begun earlier that day. Then Los Angeles, there were these protests and counter-protests and counter-counter-protests and law enforcement engaging with other people, and it seemed like it was escalating, and I guess it did escalate. Then about Washington, D.C., there was a massive parade in Washington, which you may have heard about, maybe even watched. And there were demonstrations being planned at the same time, and they were going to be in the same city, and people with opposite viewpoints on different things. So there was a high level of anxiety about that. And then I was also struck by the deadly plane crash of India Air Flight 171, a plane load of people flying from India to London Gatwick Airport, which I know pretty well. And I was just struck, my goodness, what a crazy, crazy convergence of amazing, difficult, painful, challenging things all at one time. And then add to that on Friday the 13th, right, political assassinations in Minnesota, a suicide of a dear friend of someone right here at MPC, one friend who had a health emergency, who had to go to the emergency room, all kinds of issues that people in our church even, right here at Metrocrist, in suburban Dallas, Texas, that we're all wrestling with. Vianney just said in his prayers for us, these are crazy times. There's so many issues going on all around us. So I sent out this urgent prayer request to get people at Metro Crest to join me in prayer. And I've been very blessed by the feedback from people who have joined in prayer about these and other issues. And then, in the midst of all this, in this crazy maelstrom of stuff, one good friend messaged me this message, which I am going to read to you. She says, well, I am resting today and trying to combat news fatigue. Simply cannot process the constant war news that challenges every lifetime held conception of justice, morality, ethics, and what is right versus what is wrong. And when I got her message, I just thought, sister, you're not alone. I think a lot of us are feeling that way. We sometimes may even feel overwhelmed by all the things going on in the crazy. world around us. Well, that's the introduction to Trinity Sunday 2025. I don't think it's a coincidence that this Trinity Sunday we have, as we often do, a wide array of different kinds of issues, struggles, challenges, people suffering here in our community and around the world. Seems to be an ongoing reality. And I think that is important to remember. This struggle, this ongoing craziness in the world is not new. It may feel new because of our constant access to information. Maybe I suppose that makes it more intense and relentless, but it's nothing new. As a matter of fact, the book of Revelation was written to people who were suffering. People who were suffering not just the bombardment of headlines, but the bombardment of all kinds of issues, including the kinds of things that we're wrestling with, plus the very real issue of persecution, struggling for their faith. The book of Revelation was not written in a vacuum. It was written in that sort of situation. And the writer makes it very plain. If you look at Revelation chapter one, verse nine, I hope you will have your Bible open as we make our way through this. John, as we have said before, I, John, your brother and partner, in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. Those things go together. Tribulation, endurance, and the kingdom. Those things go together. And I'd like for us to think a little bit about that this morning as we, as we, this Trinity Sunday, look at what we can learn about the Trinity and the difference the Trinity makes in our life this Trinity Sunday, 2025. So let's, let's start with reviewing briefly what Revelation chapter one tells us about the God of the book of Revelation and preparing a, found a whole bunch of helpful materials. I've been working on this sermon actually for a few weeks. And I found a very helpful book by Richard Bauckham called The Theology of the Book of Revelation. If you're really interested in Revelation, I recommend it to you very highly. This is something that Reverend Bauckham said. He says, the theology of Revelation is highly theocentric. This, along with its distinctive doctrine of God, is its greatest contribution to New Testament theology. Our study of it must begin with God and will both constantly and finally return to God. The book of Revelation is packed with insight into the reality of God's life. The book of Revelation is specially focused on this theme. So I'd like to begin by asking the question, who is the God of the book of Revelation? Well, verse four answers the question. 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, our theme verses. And down through verse seven, John continues by highlighting specifically the work of Jesus. Let's look at this introduction to the book of Revelation. This is literally the way the book opens. And I think to Baucom's point, what we will see is it's not an accident, it's not a coincidence that Revelation opens with this focus on God, specifically the triune God. So let's look at what we can learn from Revelation just in these few verses about the triune God. First of all, the author, John, identifies the first person in this list as him who is and who was and who is to come. The greeting in this part of Revelation opens with this reference. If you look, you'll see that some of the words are repeated down in verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Standing behind this reference is an Old Testament, not only an Old Testament passage, but an Old Testament understanding. Let me get you to keep your finger in Revelation 1, but flip, if you will, over to Exodus and find with me Exodus 3.14. You know it well, but I just want you to look at it afresh. Exodus 3.14 on page 46. I'll begin at verse 13. This is a well-known passage. It's Moses who, comes into an encounter with a burning bush, and from the bush come words. Verse 13 begins with Moses speaking to God in this burning bush. If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? Verse 14, God said to Moses, I am who I am. I am who I am. That, God told Moses, is his name. Verse 2 continues, he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. And if you will notice in verse 15, the word Lord, L-O-R-D is spelled in all capitals. and I've noted this before, you may very well know this, but it's worth noting again. Whenever you see the word LORD, like it is here in all caps, what it's actually doing is that's a stand-in word to hold the place for the four Hebrew letters Y-H-W-H. Those are the English equivalents, Y-H-W-H. And the letters Y-H-W-H translate the Hebrew word, who we sometimes call the tetragrammaton, the four letters, which mean I am. It can also be translated I will be. It's a verb taken as a name, and it has to do with a God who is in himself being. He is the God who is and who was. He is the God who is to come. And whenever you see the word Lord, L-O-R-D, all capitals, anywhere in the Old Testament, it's a reminder of this God who is. Now, what's interesting about this is that if you flip back to Revelation 1, John, the author, when he's giving us the name of God who is in communication with them, he doesn't say God the Father. doesn't say any of the words used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe the God we meet through Jesus. He actually goes all the way back to the Old Testament, and that is the name that John uses in this, what is actually a triune statement. And the first name in that triune statement here in Revelation 1 is the God who was and who is and who is to come. He underscores how God has within himself existence. God has within himself the being that God has. It's to himself. It is who he is. And so that's where Revelation begins by letting us know that here is an interaction, a message that is from the God who is, the God of the Old Testament, significantly, and the God who lives outside of our sense of time, a God who lives and dwells in eternity. That's the God with whom we have to do in Revelation. Then, in this triune formula, we read these words. and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. That's at the very end of verse four. If you were here last Sunday, when we were talking about the Holy Spirit, I mentioned this reference to the Holy Spirit. It's an unusual reference. It doesn't call the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit. In fact, in this reference, What the writer does is go back to a relatively obscure passage in the Old Testament. Let me get you to look this one up. If you look at Isaiah chapter 11, verse one. Again, I'd like you to see this in situ, to actually see the reference that John uses to communicate the work of the Spirit. Isaiah chapter 11, verses one and two. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, verse two. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of the Lord. If you count them up, there are seven references. The sevenfold spirit that Isaiah describes in relationship to Isaiah 11, verse one, the root from the stump of Jesse, the messianic savior that Isaiah prophesied and who is seen in Jesus. Well, the spirit, who is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, The teacher spirit is the way that John describes the Holy Spirit, not in the typical words used, but in this distinctive, unique way. He's describing the work of the triune God in these different expressions, revealing insights into the God with whom we're going to deal throughout the book of Revelation. The Holy Spirit, as we encounter him in the book of Revelation, is the full Spirit. Remember, that's what seven means in the book of Revelation. The fullness, the wholeness of the Spirit. The fullness of wisdom, the fullness of understanding. The oldest commentary in existence in the book of Revelation by Saint Victorinus, written in 270 A.D. includes this reference to Isaiah 11, verse two. From the very beginning, commentators noticed this connection. And so as we turn to Revelation 1 on Trinity Sunday, we find a spirit who brings wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and the fear of the Lord. That's the work of the Holy Spirit that John wants to emphasize as he introduces the triune God in his work. And then finally, flipping back to Revelation 1, finally, he says in verse five, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth. There's that precious and very well-known name. Jesus Christ. If, as tradition says, John who wrote the book of Revelation according to tradition, that would have been the man that Jesus, that John actually knew. His name was familiar to him in a way that none of us can really imagine. This was, this was, according to other traditional references and to the book of John itself, this was the beloved disciple who lists Jesus in this way of describing God's existence, a person, Jesus Christ. But he begins by emphasizing aspects of Jesus that are a little surprising. The way he emphasizes, first of all, he goes on to talk about being freed by Jesus's blood and being made kingdom, priests, et cetera. But he begins by saying the faithful witnessed, the witness. Witness in Greek is martyr, martyr. And the martyrs, were those who suffered and Jesus is the faithful witness. He actually witnesses to God at the cost of his own life. And that's the triune God that Revelation is going to introduce us to. He's the faithful witness. He's the firstborn of the dead. This is the resurrected and ascended Christ. Not only is he resurrected and ascended, but he's actually the firstborn of those who have died, those who have been raised to new life and will be raised to new life. And he's the ruler of kings on earth. So John is underscoring for us who this God is that we're going to be dealing with throughout the rest of the book of Revelation. And it will help us very much to have in our own minds, who is this God? Who is this God? We talk about him in church. We can talk about him. We can throw the word around. People in our culture do that regularly. It's become an expletive. But Revelation invites us to reflect on this God who is going to reveal himself in the pages of Revelation as a God who reigns over a world that is confusing, a world that is under judgment, a world that is experiencing hardship, a world that is experiencing suffering. That is the context of the book of Revelation. And John begins by telling us about the God who reigns over all the above. And then after the verses that describe the work of Jesus in verses 5B through 7, look at the refrain in verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Now this is a very interesting, expression because it wraps up what is called the prologue of the book of Revelation. It's the last verse before John turns to describe the vision which will go on to fill the rest of the book. John's going to be revealing, discussing a revealed vision that God has given him of of reality, the curtain that keeps us from seeing the struggles, the conflicts going on in the world, the spiritual realities that lie behind what we see and experience. Before he does that, the last thing John says is, quoting the Lord. This is one of just two places in the book of Revelation where the Lord himself specifically is said to speak. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, there's that word Lord, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. writer who I've mentioned, Richard Baucom, mentions how important this summary statement is. It shows up again in chapter, several times in the rest of this book. We'll see parts of this expression summed up again and used again and again, often interchangeably. At the end of Revelation, Jesus calls himself the Alpha and the Omega. There are several places where Jesus is also said to be who is and who was. So the author of Revelation is underscoring the reality that the God with whom we're dealing in Revelation is the triune God, a God who is within himself a threeness. I've been talking a lot to Will about this because it's been coming up in 1 Corinthians, how the threeness of God is not something we think about a great deal. I think the church doesn't think enough about the Trinity, doesn't think enough about where John begins in his description of God. It's a good thing Revelation is here. It's a good thing Revelation 1 is here to help us to understand that the God with whom we deal is this amazing threeness, a Godhead of relationship. So that is the God of the book of Revelation. He will be shown again and again in relationship. He'll be shown again and again in relationship with us. So let's be very clear as we turn to Revelation 1 one more time, this sermon series to underscore the triune reality of who God is. Now I guess a second question and one I would like for us to answer in our remaining time is the purpose of the book of Revelation. Why is John writing this book? What is the significance of it? And specifically, what is the importance, the significance of introducing God in this way? read several articles this week and a number of them have made similar comments. Ian Paul in his book Reformation says, the most developed Trinitarian theology of any New Testament book is in the book of Revelation. Brandon Smith actually wrote a book called The Trinity in the Book of Revelation. It says, a Trinitarian reading of Revelation brings clarity and coherence to a book full of diverse and disparate language, symbols, and scenes. I very much agree with that. You know, the way most people today read the Book of Revelation is as a series of mind-blowing events, descriptions of things happening. We tend to speed right through Revelation 1. It's just, it's like boilerplate to us. We speed through that to get to the dramatic stuff. All the descriptions of beasts and suffering and warfare and planets and stars and all the amazing language that John, moved by the Spirit, uses to describe what is behind that veil. That's where we go, that's where our culture, that's where much of our church has gone. Not so much at Metrocris, but the church worldwide. We've rushed into thinking of Revelation as a book about that. Well, two results. Number one, it's scared a lot of people away. And number two, it's given too many people an unhealthy obsession. It's like they don't think about anything but these dramatic visions, and they constantly try to figure out what the current event is that's lining up today with something that we read in the book of Revelation. Well, I think these theologians are right in saying that is not the main point. The main point is who is this God Who reigns over all these things? Who is this God with whom we're going to be dealing in these pages that describe all the drama and that lead us to the final dramatic conclusion of the book of Revelation? Now, I will just suggest that the book of Revelation is to accomplish a number of purposes. It's certainly meant to help explain the Trinity. To be clear, it does not explain exhaustively. That is simply beyond us. It is safely within an area of theology called mystery, and that's not a cop-out, that's just a reality. God is beyond us. He is too big for us. So, the Book of Revelation is meant to explain the Trinity, in its interaction within the life of the Trinity and in its interaction with us, but it doesn't do it exhaustively. I read big sections of Augustine's De Trinitate. I can't say I read the whole book. It's a long book, about 16 hours on an audible file. But I have listened to a lot of it and read a lot of it, big sections of it. And most of the books so far that I've been able to read is St. Augustine, who helped with the theology developed at Nicaea, St. Augustine specifically writing about the biblical passages that describe the Trinity. Augustine was a Bible man. And so he, in his book, carefully, methodically goes through the Bible, Old and New Testament, to describe the interactions between the persons of the Trinity. See, the way theologians have arrived at the idea of a Trinity, the word doesn't show up in the Bible. But the reason we've arrived at it, it's sometimes described as the pressure of the text. The Bible itself forces us to recognize the threeness, the community, the life of the Trinity. So there are conversations between the Father and the Son. There are things that the Son says about the Spirit that imply a separateness, a distinctiveness, even though in other places the Spirit is described as the Spirit of the Father or the Spirit of the Son. It's this dramatic interconnectedness. And so Augustine went through methodically, section by section, dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of Bible passages, reflecting, explaining how these Bible passages actually lead us to the Trinity. Never using the word, but over and over again, as in Revelation 1, underscoring the reality. So that's why we celebrate Trinity Sunday. because the Bible introduces us to the triune God. He is the God of the Bible. One of the things I love about the way Augustine dealt with this was very humbly. Augustine was a transparent writer. And if you know him from his book of his autobiography called The Confessions, he does this kind of thing. This is a quote from Augustine. He says, accordingly, dear reader, Whenever you are as certain about something as I am, go forward with me. If you're reading my commentary, if you're thinking about the Trinity, if you are as certain about something as I am, go forward with me. Whenever you stick, equally fast, seek with me. Let's look into the Bible. Let's seek together the truth. Or if I have, whenever you notice that you have gone wrong, come back to me. Or if you notice that I have gone wrong, call me back to you. In this way, let us set out along, and I love this expression, along charity street together. Making for him of whom it is said, seek his face always. Psalm 105 verse four. Augustine quotes that psalm several times throughout the book that he wrote on the Trinity, and including at the very end where he sums up and basically declares of his own work a quest, a magnificent quest, which was, he says, a most successful failure. He recognized his own inability. to fully begin to understand the Trinity. Well, if Augustine didn't figure it out, it's not likely that Bill Lovell's going to. So it's meant to explain, but it's explaining what is basically inexplicable. It's helping us to understand what is. So it teaches, it explains, and Revelation sheds so much life, light, on the life of God and the interrelatedness, and specifically the interrelatedness of the triune God with sinners like us. But there's a purpose for that interaction. First of all, it is to comfort us. The book of Revelation is specifically meant to comfort those who are in the midst of tribulation, who are enduring like the faithful witness Jesus. If you find yourself feeling at times overwhelmed, know the book of Revelation is written for you to explain what is going on in the world around us, to help us to understand that. But more importantly, to understand the God who reigns over it all. We trust him, the God whom we meet in the New Testament, who is revealed in the Old Testament. That God cares about us. He died for us, He gave His blood for us. He made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. The second person of the Trinity revealing the love of God. The love of God the Father, the love of God the Son, the love of God the Holy Spirit. All of God does what God does. And so we're meant to be comforted. And I hope this, will, in a measure, comfort you in this crazy world with so much going on. I will point out one interesting thing that Balkan mentions repeatedly. The first chapter of his book is about what kind of work is the book of Revelation. If you'd asked him before, he'd probably describe it as a A very theological book, one that is written to explain theology. But Bach makes the point, and it's very important, it is a letter. It is a letter. That's why there is a greeting in verses four, five, six, and seven. It's a letter. It has the features of a letter just like Paul's letters do. This is a letter. It's a letter addressed from a sender to recipients. It's a letter written to the churches and through the churches to people like us. So these are meant to be comforting words to individuals. It's not a theological abstraction. It's not simply someone off in an ivory tower thinking up things about the Trinity. No, these truths that John shared have everything to do with comforting people, to bring hope. And secondly, it's meant to motivate us. Because in the midst of our suffering, as we are comforted, we are also strengthened and encouraged and motivated to be about the work that the book of Revelation does. I think we looked last week at where the book of Revelation closes. Just look over to Revelation chapter 22 as we wrap up. Look at what verse 17 says, chapter 22, verse 17. The spirit and the bride say, come, and let the one who hears say, come, and let the one who is thirsty, let the one who desires take the water of life without price. This book, like the entire New Testament, like the entire ministry of Jesus, is a mission letter. This is to motivate the church in the midst of suffering to be bold and faithful in our witness. I think we need to be reminded of that as much as we need to be comforted. We need to be comforted so that we will be bold and faithful witnesses. It's not so that we can curl up and take a nap. It's so that we can get busy, so that we can do the work with confidence. in spite of the suffering, that we can step out into the world as Jesus did, the faithful witness. And again and again, that's what the letter says. If you read the seven letters to the seven churches, each one concludes with something like this. Chapter two, verse seven, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. Doesn't say to the one who takes a nap, to the one who's got it all figured out. No, it's to the one who conquers. And each of the letters includes something like that, to the one who conquers, to the one who goes forth boldly. That's what this book is written to do. It's to motivate us. And I hope it will motivate us as we continue to look through the rest of Revelation. And then finally, This book, this series of letters, this letter, this communication about the triune God is to bring us to worship. That's what mission is all about. I've heard a number, John Piper makes this point, that the point of mission is not an end to itself, it's to bring worshipers to the Lord. Heaven will not be filled with mission. Heaven will be filled with worship. But the church in the meantime is all about inviting, calling, proclaiming, reaching out, showing the love of Jesus in concrete ways to bring us to worship. There's a great quote by Pastor Jared Wilson. He's a Baptist pastor, but some of you will know Jared's book. We did it in adult education just a few weeks ago, a few months ago. Think about it, he writes, a solitary God cannot be love. He may learn to love, he may yearn for love, but he cannot in himself be love since love requires an object. Real love requires relationship. In the doctrine of the Trinity, we finally see how love is part of the fabric of creation. It's essential to the eternal, need-nothing creator. From eternity past, the Father and the Son and the Spirit have been in community, in relationship. They have loved each other. And that loving relationship is bound up in the very nature of God himself. If God were not a Trinity, but merely a solitary divinity, he would neither be loved nor be God. So the Trinity isn't some weird religious aberration that Christians have stupidly clung to. The Trinity is the answer to the deepest longing of the human heart. The Trinity answers history's oldest desire. It even clarifies the question. It makes us go deeper than sentimental notions and ethereal feelings and elusive emotions. It puts us on solid ground with all this love stuff we've been chasing forever. We're all looking for love deep down. We all need it in ways we don't understand or even acknowledge. We search and search. We find glimpses, moments, tastes, and samples of love. We may have genuine experiences of love, and yet nothing quite sets us outside of our own heart, our own hurts, or our own self-interest, our own sins. We need the realest love there is. And that is the God who in Christ has loved us and has freed us to be a kingdom priest. Indeed, to that triune God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Father and the Spirit. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That's why the Trinity matters so much, because it's in the Trinity that we begin to glimpse what Jesus came into the world to show us. Well, I've got good news about my friend who wrote me the note, the message, the email about how overwhelmed she felt. I talked to her later, called to check on her, and she told me, she said, you know what? I've decided I'm going to rest in the Lord. She said, I read a devotion I've read for 20 years and it reminded me about how wonderful it is that in the midst of all the craziness, whatever your craziness may look like, whether it's the headlines or the deeply personal struggles, we can rest in Him and we can go forward boldly in Him.