Reading from the majority text, which is recorded for you on page 16 of your bulletins. By the way, if you just kind of merge the New King James and the ESV Bibles together, you pretty much have the majority text. We've had it all along, but there are only a couple of versions that are really recorded. But the vast majority of the Greek manuscripts have this text here. I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Christ Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and on account of the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard a voice behind me, loud as a trumpet, saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word and I pray that as I give exposition of it, that your spirit would anoint my preaching and enable me to faithfully communicate and that this word would be quickened to all of our hearts that we might come away from this sermon strengthened and renewed in our zeal and our desire to pursue hard after you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. When I read the biography of St. Patrick of Ireland I could understand why Protestants claim him, and they should claim him. He was a Protestant long before the Protestant Reformation. He had a faith that trusted in Christ alone, by grace alone, and definitely to the glory of God alone. And that Christ-centered theology, which was principle number two that we looked at several months ago, was coupled with a very Christ-centered Christian practice. Day by day, his life was sold out to Jesus. I'm going to read you the words from one of the hymns that he wrote that you have probably sung. I think we've sung it here a couple of times. Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, King of my heart, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, never depart. Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me, shield and strife. Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising, light of my heart. Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, King of my heart. Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, never depart. principle of interpretation that I see in these first verses is actually a complement to principle number two. In verse one, we saw that this is a book about Jesus. It's a very, very Christ-centered focus. And Christ is the heart of what this book is all about. We totally misinterpret the book if we fail to see that. But in verse 9 we see that it's not enough to be focused on Christ intellectually as we read through this book. That's very important to interpretation, but this book over and over again calls us to be experiencing the reality of that, to be living by the power of our union with Christ. Who knows Christ the best? The one who's read a lot of books about Christ? Or the one who knows his theology about Christ, but he's experiencing a relationship with Christ? Who knows about Christ's kingdom the best? The one who's got all the theoretical stuff down pat in his mind? Or the one who is living out the kingdom principles on a day-to-day basis? Now obviously it's not either or, it's both and. But look at verse 9. Verse 9 says, I, John, your brother and companion in, and now comes three examples of what he was a companion in, literally actually the Greek is a sharer together with them in, the word is koinonia, in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Christ Jesus. Now we already looked at the words tribulation, kingdom, and endurance, and I'm going to be focusing this morning on the last phrase that modifies all three. in Christ Jesus. Now the New King James translates that as of, but it is the Greek word in. It's the Greek word in in the majority text. It's in Christ Jesus. So the only way they could share with John in these three things was if they were experiencing them in Christ Jesus. So when you take in terms of just giving an overview of everything we've read there, If you take the phrase, cherish together with, what the new King James has as companions, together with the phrase, in Christ Jesus, it means that when we're united to Christ, we are in Him, He is in us, and to use the words of Paul, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, Galatians 2, verse 20, and that union in turn unites us to fellow believers. That is koinonia. OK, the word for sharing or companion. So when we're in Christ, we are necessarily companions or sharers together with other saints. So that's kind of an overview of the phrases all fit together. And I'm going to focus on that phrase in Christ Jesus, even though it's a tiny little phrase. In verses 12 and following, Christ's union with the church is emphasized very, very powerfully. Vincent says, being in Christ involves fellowship with Christ at all points. In other words, if we're truly to benefit from our union with Christ, we need to be experiencing that union in all of the areas of life that St. Patrick's hymn talked about. G. Campbell Morgan points out that being in Christ means Christ is also in us, and there is a mutual sharing of our lives and an empowering of our Christianity that impacts everything, even impacts our emotions. He said, it is Christ in me that fills me with compassion. The measure in which my Lord lives in me, masters my life, dominates me." So there are emotions in this book that Christ alone could produce within us. You get to chapter 6 and you will see an intense compassion that the saints have for the persecuted church Much like what Romans 9 talks about Paul having, where he wished he could even become a curse in order to save them. An intense compassion that motivates them to prayer. And yet, there is also other emotions. Chapter 9 shows rejoicing at God's judgment. Something that the modern church knows nothing about because I think they take their cues more from the precious moments, Jesus, than they do from the Jesus of Revelation, who is anything but a wimp, is incredibly majestic warrior. Anyway, this theme of practical union with Christ works its way through this entire book. Personal life must flow from Christ. Church life of chapters two through three must flow from Christ. Kingdom life, spiritual warfare, enduring hardship must all flow from Christ. Without Him, we cannot do anything that will be of lasting value. Even the new heavens and the new earth that the book ends with must flow from Christ. And actually, that was one of the things that was so wrong about the liberal social gospel of the late 1800s. They thought They liked a lot of the fruit of Christianity. They just didn't like the way that Christ was producing it. They didn't even believe in miracles and things like that. So they wanted to develop the fruit. They wanted perfection on earth, but they rejected the law of the covenant and the grace of the covenant and the goals of the covenant. They had a false gospel. And so Christians very rightly rejected the social gospel of the liberals because it wasn't Christ-centered at all. But what happened is they had a pendulum swing to the other degree. It's not enough to reject the social gospel and then go into a holy huddle and live in your ghetto. If Jesus Christ is penetrating culture, those who are in Christ are penetrating culture. It can't be otherwise. And if we're not penetrating culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ, how can we in an experiential level be claiming we are in Christ Jesus? If Christ is putting all things under his feet, then those who are truly united to Jesus must reflect his heart by joining with him in what he is doing and bringing all things under his feet. And that automatically means that if you're living out this in Christness, you will experience tribulation and the need to endure as well as experiencing the kingdom. Now, I'm not going to take the time to develop this phrase fully in this book, because we'll get to it as we preach through those passages. But I want to give you just a few examples. The letter to the Church of Ephesus in chapter 2 reminds us that having good Christ-centered doctrine is not enough. They had excellent doctrine. He praises them for their sound theology and that they resisted bad theology, but he says that they had lost their first love because they were neglecting their relationship with Christ. So this is one of the implications of our union Now with Jesus, the letter to Sardis reminds us that some individuals can fake their Christian walk, doing all of their Christian duties in their own strength rather than in the strength that flows from our union with Jesus. The letter to Laodicea reminds us that our fellowship with Christ can be so weak that Jesus isn't even inside the church. He's outside the church knocking on the door. Here is this entire presbytery of churches. Laodicea had a whole bunch of churches. They're mega churches. And they think they've got it made. And Jesus says, no, you're an utter failure. Why? Because their riches were not from Christ. Their preaching was not from Christ. Their church growth was not from Christ. Their spiritual clothing was not from Christ. But even there, He offers the reality of His presence to anyone who has listening ears. He is spelling out what this principle means in practical terms. What does it mean to be living in Christ Jesus? And actually the imagery that He uses with each one of those churches is remarkable, remarkable imagery of this union, this fellowship, this intimacy that we can have with Jesus. For example, Christ is the tree of life in chapter 2, verse 7. And He allows us to eat from the tree of life. I mean, you can't get closer to something than to eat it, right? This is the kind of union with Christ that He calls us to. The hidden manna in chapter 2, verse 17 is Jesus Christ. Now, the hidden manna, in terms of the image itself, was the manna that was hidden in the Ark of the Covenant, and that was placed under the mercy seat, which was in the Holy of Holies. Even the high priest could not eat of that manna, and yet he says, those who are overcomers have the privilege of eating of that manna. That's the kind of closeness and fellowship we can have with Christ to sustain us in our day-to-day living. He is the morning star of verse 28 to guide us. He is the temple of which we are the pillars. And that's a marvelous image. In chapter 3, verse 20, he promises, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. That's staggering when you think about it. You look at the description of his throne, out of which fire is emanating, this river of fire. And the glory of that makes people wonder, would they be destroyed if they even approached the throne? We're not just groveling before the throne of Christ. We are, as Paul worded it, seated together with Christ in the heavenly places, and that means if we by faith step into our position, our union with Christ, we can pray with a new authority. We can take dominion of the earth with a newfound authority that flows from Christ's throne. This is the practical living out of this phrase. that the book talks about. But how many times do we fail to act as those who are seated with Christ? I don't always act that way. This is something that we need to be pressing ourselves towards. Lord, give me the faith to act as one who sits on the throne with Christ. You see, it's not every believer who lives out their theology of union with Christ. If we are not what this book calls overcomers, and that word occurs over and over again, to those who overcome. Not every believer is an overcomer. To those who overcome, they're fully living out their union with Jesus. If they're not doing that, automatically, what is happening is we are living by a power that originates, at best, from our relationship to Adam, and or, at worst, that is being moved by Satan and demons. In this book, that's one of the things that he says is empowering the world. It's Satan. It spells out in vivid detail what Paul's warning to Christians to no longer live according to the power of the world and the prince of the power of the air. So it's contrasting two kinds of unions and two kinds of powers. Two kinds of union, two kinds of power. So what is the power of the world? Poythress's commentary beautifully shows a fake koinonia, what the New King James translates as companionship or fellowship. So a fake koinonia that the world has, and a fake trinity that oversees the world. You see, when the world rejects the authority of God, automatically they're going to substitute another authority. Almost always it ends up being the state. But there could be other authorities too. Science, there could be any number of authorities that we substitute. And if you reject the empowering of the Holy Spirit in your life, automatically you're going to be looking for an empowering from some other place. And so Poitras shows how the world embraces a counterfeit trinity, Satan, the beast, and the false prophet, and the central idol that Satan, the beast, and the false prophet worship and cause other people to worship is the messianic state. That's been true down through history. If Jesus is not your Messiah, the central idol of a society will tend to be your Messiah. In ancient Rome it was the state, and in modern America it is clearly the state. I think Bojidar Marinov is absolutely right when he says the central idol of America is statism. I think when future generations look back upon our generation, they're going to see Christianity and most Christians as living for the most part in the state, not in Christ Jesus. There's always going to be some koinonia that's happening, some empowering that's happening, but are we getting it from Christ or are we substituting from some other realm? Just as another example, the Jews in chapter 2 verse 9 and chapter 3 verse 9 claim to have fellowship with God Because of faithfulness to what? To their tradition, the traditions of the fathers. But they do not have his life in them at all. Virtually every chapter of this book either focuses on the fulfillment we can have in any circumstance when we're united to Christ, or it spells out the opposite. the needless misery that we experience when we are not united to Jesus. Now, it may sometimes seem like exactly the opposite. In fact, when you look at the martyrdoms, the persecution that happens in chapters 6 and 7 and chapter 12, it may look as if the church is defeated and the church is experiencing misery, and yet you strangely see joy there. But you see, that joy comes supernaturally. It's not coming from circumstances. When we are filled with the Spirit and Jesus is united to us, we can have joy even in the midst of tribulation. Paul said that he wanted to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. He did not want to face suffering apart from fellowship or koinonia with Christ. So Rodney mentioned last week that not even death can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The people who are being killed are said in those chapters to overcome Satan, to overcome the beast, and they are part of the church triumphant in heaven. So whether in life, whether in death, we can be triumphing if we're living out this koinonia. So just look up sometime the word overcomers in this book and I think you're going to see these overcomers, they're accessing a power, they're accessing something many Christians lack. It comes from union with Christ. So where principle number two shows us that we must interpret the teachings of the book in a Christ-centered way. Principle 32 shows that we must experience the teachings of this book in a Christ-centered way. And I pray that as I go through the book, section by section, I will be faithful to this key to understanding. Now that would actually be a great place to end the sermon, but I want to quickly finish off verses 9 through 11 so that we can start flying through the book next week, Lord willing. The next phrase in verse 9 says, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and on account of the testimony of Jesus Christ. John says that he was in prison in Patmos for two reasons, for a total commitment to the Old Testament, that's the Word of God, and for a total commitment to the testimony of Jesus. That got him in trouble. And both of those things will get you into trouble today. God's Old Testament law is not very popular today, and Christ's covenant lawsuit is no more popular. Christ's woe, woe to you Pharisees, hypocrites, and all of the woe passages in the Gospels are not politically correct, even within the Church of Jesus Christ in America today. It's just not nice. It's not nice. Well, people don't want to be reminded that they are in rebellion to God's word. And so this phrase reiterates what we saw under principle number 13. And I should point out that if you are truly Christ-centered in your experience, then you too will value the law of God and the testimony of Jesus, even when those things get you into trouble. These 33 points hang together. To throw out God's law and to be nicer than Jesus automatically proves you are not consistently living out your union with Christ. If you're united with Christ, His priorities are going to be your priorities. You're going to hate what He hates. You're going to love what He loves. You're going to value what He values. Well, let's move on to the next point. I want you to notice, and this is on the very tail end of the two-sided sheet that I've handed out there, You can see these last points there. And this is supporting evidence for principle number 12. I want you to notice John was put in prison in Patmos, Rome's equivalent to a high security prison. And to me, this demonstrates that this book is not just about the persecution of the Jews, It's also from the Gentiles and specifically from Roman Gentiles. And this is a needed corrective to a lot of books out there. To me, it would seem extremely strange to mention his persecution from Rome under these introductory verses and then neglect to mention anything about Roman persecution through the rest of the book. That'd be very, very strange and odd. And yet most futurists show absolutely no relationship between John's suffering in Patmos and the themes of the rest of the chapters. And I think that ought to clue you in right there, that there's something goofy going on about their interpretations. Futurists see future pagans involved in the later chapters, but not Romans. Now, on the other extreme, you've got hyperpreterists who see the whole book as dealing with nothing but Israel. And boy, they got some strange interpretations in order to focus it in on Israel. The correct balance is to see that this book will deal with first century Rome, that's verse 9, first century Israel, verse 7, and the other kings of the earth, verse 5. So the word Patmos is not a new principle, but it is supporting evidence for principle number 12 and moving on to verse 10. John says I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. A Chilton points out that the Greek of the phrase for being in the Spirit. or in the spirit, is a technical expression for prophetic inspiration where the spirit took over a prophet's faculty, supernaturally caught that prophet up into the heavenly council where he hears revelation from God. For example, Matthew 22 verse 43 describes David's inspired writing of scripture as being David in the spirit, in the spirit. And this phrase is repeated in Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 shows that being in the Spirit means having inspired revelation. Chapter 17 verse 3, John uses language very much like Ezekiel where he is caught up and transported somewhere in the Spirit to a distant land. He does the same in chapter 21 verse 10 where he says, and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain. So his body is still in Patmos, but the Spirit of God moved him to see and to write things that on his own there is no way that he'd be able to write. Why do I mention this? Well, some of you have been picking up commentaries and looking at them, and I just want you to realize Not all commentators are even Christians. Believe it or not, there's a lot of pagans out there who love studying the Bible and writing commentaries on the Bible. And there's a lot that call themselves Christians but are liberals. They don't believe in the inspiration of the Scripture. John's writing If you only look at it from the human perspective, which some of these commentaries, you'd get the impression this revelation originated from John. But in the spirit is the opposite of being in yourself. For example, after Peter had received revelation in the spirit, Acts 12 verse 11 says literally, when Peter had come in himself. Now the New King James translates it when he had come to himself. OK, well, he wasn't unconscious. You know, he didn't come to himself, but he came in himself, which means he was no longer at that point inspired. There is a big difference between being in the Spirit and in yourself. And because of the low view of inspiration that so many people have, I think it's worth rereading two scriptures that show that nothing in this book originated in John's will, even though God used John's vocabulary and personality and his personal experience in the writing. In other words, this reinforces principle number three. Let me remind you of 2 Peter 1, verse 21. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They spoke, but the revelation did not originate in their will. They were moved by the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 says much the same. For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. Now, that's all I'm going to say about this reiteration of principle three, and we'll move on. Premillennialists and the futurist brand of amillennialism both frequently try to say that the rest of the first phrase in verse 10 is describing something that that John was seeing 2,000 years later, almost like time travel. OK, they say that God is in a sense, put him in a time machine and moved him to the end of our age. And he writes down what he sees at the end of our age. Now, let me read the verse and explain why I even need to comment on this. Verse 10 says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard a voice behind me loud as a trumpet. Now, futurists usually slide over the numerous references to first century fulfillment, but they'll spend a couple pages trying to prove that this can't possibly be a reference to Sunday. This has to be a reference to John by vision being projected forward 2,000 years. And the clever way they do it, is that they say that the Lord's Day is equivalent to the Old Testament phrase, the day of the Lord. Makes sense on the surface, right? And the day of the Lord almost always refers to a day of judgment. After spending a page trying to prove that this can't be a reference to Sunday, John Wolvard concludes, the New Testament term is therefore the equivalent to the Old Testament expression, the day of the Lord. On the basis of the evidence, the interpretation is therefore preferred that John was projected forward to the future day of the Lord. So his view is, if the entire vision takes place, future to us even, if the entire vision takes place up there, then it can't possibly be talking about anything that's in the past. Roy Gingrich says something very similar. He says, John in a vision was carried in his spirit hundreds of years into the future, over into the Lord's day, that is the day of the Lord, a day or a period of time which begins immediately after the rapture of the church and continues until the creation of the new heaven and the new earth in chapter 21 verse 1 and a day which begins with a time of wrath. Now that may seem bizarre to you but it's a very common interpretation. How do we deal with it? Well let's first of all assume for the sake of the argument that they're right, that the Lord's day is equivalent to the day of the Lord. What does that prove? Well, it just proves that the visions that he had, if they're right, on this day of the Lord are what occurs in a few days in 66 through 70 A.D. After all, got to interpret in terms of immediate context. And verse one says these things he's writing about are things that must shortly take place. And verse three says that they are things that are near And verse 19 says there are things that are about to take place melee. So the question comes, well, can that phrase the day of the Lord in the Old Testament? Can that refer to judgments of nations, or does it always have to refer to the second coming to the end of time? Well, the fact of the matter is. that of the numerous times that the phrase the day of the Lord occurs in the Old Testament, the vast majority of them have nothing whatsoever to do with the second coming on any interpretation. They refer to a judgment of a nation. For example, the judgment of Egypt in 605 BC was called the day of the Lord in Jeremiah 46 verse 10. That was judgment on Egypt. Likewise, Ezekiel 13 speaks of the imminent destruction of Israel in Ezekiel's day as the day of the Lord. Likewise, Ezekiel 30 verse 3 speaks of the near judgment of Egypt as the day of the Lord. When it says the day of the Lord is near, the sword shall come upon Egypt. Likewise, Isaiah 13 describes the destruction of Babylon by the Medes. By the way, the Medes no longer exist. So you can't put that off into the future. So the destruction of Babylon by the Medes as the day of the Lord and says, wail for the day of the Lord is at hand. So the phrase, the day of the Lord can refer to any historical judgment of a nation. So even if we were to take this the way that futurists sometimes take it as being transported forward and he's now in the spirit on the day of judgment, what does he see? Well, he's going to see what happens in 66 through 70 AD. That was called the day of the Lord. Now, I don't believe that's the true interpretation, but if you're going to take it that way, with the references in the immediate context of nearness, soonness, and about-to-ness, it's got to refer to a day of the Lord in 66 through 70 AD. Now, there are several reasons why this could not be a reference to God's Day of Judgment. I'm just going to give you one. The esteemed commentator J.K. Beale gives the reason why most commentators take the same position that I do. He says, however, kuriakos, that's translated as lords, however, kuriakos is never used of the day of the Lord in the Septuagint, New Testament, or early fathers. In other words, there's not a single example in any of the ancient literature of this phrase being used to describe a day of God's judgment. But there are scores of documents from the first century on that use this exact phrase to refer to the first day of the week, the Sunday. You see, the word for Lord's is not a preposition plus a noun. It's not of the Lord. It's an adjective meaning set aside to the Lord or wholly devoted to the Lord. Let me just give you an example of how this is used. The same word kuriakos, which is translated as Lord's, is used with the Lord's Supper. OK, of all of the suppers that are out there, there is one supper that is set aside. That's not a human supper. This is a supper that is characterized as belonging to the Lord. First Corinthians chapter 11 verse 20. That shows you how the word is used. So when Kuriakos is used in connection with the day, it has to refer to a specific day that is set aside or sanctified to the Lord. And thus this is a clear reference to the Christian Sabbath. And by the way, most commentators, even if they are not Sabbatarian, take this as a reference to Sunday. And they feel forced to do that because of the scores and scores of documents from the first century on that refer to the first day of the week as the Lord's Day. It was common language. In fact, the Didache, which was written, probably many people believe it was written before Jerusalem was destroyed, but for sure while the Apostle John was still alive, the Didache uses exactly this term to refer to the first day of the week, and everybody agrees with that. Everybody agrees, oh yeah, the Didache uses this term to refer to Sunday. It's wrong, but they do refer to that. And I say no, they were right, this is the only way that Lord's Day is used in ancient So here's a go-to passage to prove that there is still a day of the week set apart to God and claimed by God as being His exclusive domain. As Jesus said, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew 12, verse 8. It's His day. It's not our day. It's His day. And we should all cherish the Christian Sabbath as being a gift from God's hand. And we should all try to set apart the entire day, all 24 hours as being his day. Well, connect this point with the first point that we started with. Can we really claim to be living in Christ Jesus and hate his day? No way, Jose, you cannot do that. We need, if we are wanting to live in Christ, we need to say, Lord, let Your life be shining through me more and more. Give me a passion for Your day. Help me to love Your Sabbath. Help me to make this a special day. You see, this is God's date day with His church. And the way you treat His date day reflects on how you treat Him. So some of us are living in Christ in certain areas of our lives. But we're not living in Christ on the Sabbath. It's clear. There is a day that He says is His day. It's not yours. Now I'll just make a few comments on the last phrase of verse 10 and all of verse 11. It says, on the Lord's Day and I heard a voice behind me loud as a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus to Smyrna to Bergamas to Thyatira to Sardis to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Now, since this is just supporting evidence for the three principles we've already looked at, I'm not going to spend much time commenting on it. But have you ever had somebody sneak up behind you and blow a trumpet behind your head. I have, man, it made me jump out of my skin, almost. And I think it got his attention because he whirls around to see who is talking. And there's other places where he is frightened, so frightened he falls on the ground. So God wasn't really, you know, gentle with John and all of his experiences. But he hears this loud voice. He turns around to see what is going on and who is speaking. And verse 12 says, that he gets that vision that we're going to be looking at next week. But the trumpet and the call to write everything down in a book puts the book of Revelation in exactly the same category as the Old Testament prophets. Beal points out that the voice like a trumpet would have instantly reminded the Jewish readers of the only other time that occurs in the Old Testament. That's where Moses is on the Mount Sinai, and he hears this voice like a trumpet, exactly the same language in the Septuagint here, and then he receives the law. Now the Jews cherish the Pentateuch. Should we cherish the book of Revelation any less? I mean, it really sets it on a high, high plane. And the command to write down the revelation ties John in with the Old Testament prophets as well. But Beale makes one more point that I think makes a beautiful introduction to the covenant lawsuit that's about to happen. He says, the reader steeped in the Old Testament would perhaps discern that all such commissions in the prophets were commands to write testaments of judgments against Israel. So the Septuagint of Isaiah 30 verse 8 Jeremiah 37 to and he actually has a long list of scriptures here and he continues he says therefore at this early point in the book there is already a hint that one of its major concerns will be judgment judgment as we shall see of the world and of those in the church who compromise with the world e.g. chapters 2 through 3. And because I already dealt with those themes in previous sermons, I don't think I need to deal with them today. But I do want to close out the service this morning thanking God for having given us these 33 principles, thanking Him for helping us to understand His Word. While it is true that Revelation is a tough book and there's many, many different interpretations that are out there, by taking these 33 principles seriously, we are light years ahead of most futurist commentaries. Now I don't want to give you the illusion I've got every jot and tittle of this book completely figured out, but understanding these principles I think should give us confidence to study and to apply the book of Revelation. And so pray that God would give me wisdom as I seek to unpack the book in the next few months. And hopefully from here on in, we'll fly a little bit faster, but let's let's go to the Lord right now. Father God, I thank you for the gift of these first 11 verses. Thank you for unveiling the book for us. Since you have commanded us to understand and obey this book, we pray for illumination and the grace needed to joyfully obey. May we not only have a Christ-centered understanding of the book, but may we press so closely into Christ that we would have a Christ-centered and Christ-empowered living out of the book as well. Bless this, your church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.