The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in Revelation chapter one, presenting him as the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. John's vision on the Isle of Patmos depicts Christ in his divine majesty, appearing as the Son of Man clothed in priestly garments, and as the King of Kings. This revelation emphasizes Christ's eternal nature, his victory over death, and his absolute authority, offering comfort and assurance to believers facing trials. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to recognize Christ's presence and purpose in their lives, encouraging them to live in the confidence of his sovereign power and love.
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I wonder if we could turn, please, to the first chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter one. I've nothing new, of course, to say about this chapter, but I always feel it's good to commence a series of gatherings like this by reminding our hearts of some of the wonders of the one that has drawn us together. And as we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm sure that the hearts of every one of us will be exercised, that when later we come to present the gospel to men and women, will be confident, made reconfident of the wonders of the Savior. So Revelation chapter one, if we may please. Now most of us are aware that this book divides itself into those proverbial three parts.
You know, I'm going to shift these, if I may, because I'll knock them over. That's better. Most of us are aware that here's a book that does divide itself into those proverbial three parts. Now the Lord himself, as you know, gave us the division of the book of the Revelation. I didn't give it, no preacher ever gave it. The Lord gave it. The Lord said, John, I want you to write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. Now most of us are aware that in the first chapter, John dared to tell us the things that he saw.
We will read in a moment or two. He turned, seeing the voice that stayed with him. And being turned, he saw. So in the first chapter, we have the things that he saw. And it's well been said that over the first chapter one can write the tremendous expression, the glory of the Lord. For he saw the Lord in his glory. When we come to chapter two and chapter three, it's not the things that he saw, but it's the things that are. For these are the chapters that build the seven letters to the churches, and we behold God's message to a people that are made into his church.
The things that are, and of course it's not the time of his glory, although his glory is seen in every chapter, but it's the time of his grace, this scene of grace, And then as you know, from chapter four, the first verse, way to the end of the book, it's not the things that he's seen or the things that are, it's the things which shall be hereafter. Those great chapters that deal, not just with his glory, although we'll see it, not just with his grace, although it's seen in every verse, but the chapters that deal with his cover, when he shall reign wherewith some, Now this subjective journey is rough.
But in the first chapter that we're going to look at this morning, we're going to consider again, and I trust our hearts will be warmed, we're going to consider again the things that pertain to his glory. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant Job, who bear record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that read us, and would you notice please, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time as it has.
You know, I often say this, and I think all of us would be in agreement with it, that isn't it wonderful that the first blessing, there are seven blessings in the book of the Revelation. There are two for the commencement of the journey. There are two for the course of the journey. But God always had something better on before. There are three for the consummation of the journey. And here's the first blessing for the commencement of the journey. And isn't it wonderful? that God doesn't say blessed is he that reads and understands it. But blessed is he that reads, that hears, and that obeys it for the time as it has.
John, for the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our own sins in his own blood, and have made us kings and priests unto God, and his Father. to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierce him, and all kindreds of the earth shall well because of him.
Even so, amen. I am out of her, and Omeda, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle which is called Pantmouth, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, writes in a book, And send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Pyrrha, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, Clothes with a garment down to the foot, And girt about the patch with a golden berber. His head and his hairs were white like wool, As white as snow. And his eyes were as a flame of fire. And his feet like unto pine grass, As if they burned in a furnace. And his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars.
And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was, As the sun shined up in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell of his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me fear not. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive again forevermore, amen. and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars, are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches.
Now the Lord will add his blessing, I'm sure, to the reading of his own precious work. It is a remarkable fact that while the Bible itself is a very wonderful portrait of Jesus Christ, and while in every book of the Bible we find something of the wonders of our Savior, there is that one book that bears its title, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Okay, not of our authorized version has said at its top, but we claim no inspiration for that. It is not the revelation of St. John the Divine. The book opens with the expression, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And as we think a little more of him this morning, oh, sisters, brethren, I do pray that the Lord, by his spirit, will recapture that we're asked. and send us on this place saying, he's a wonderful failure. I want to share him with others. I wonder if I may ask three very simple questions before we even look at something of the glories of the Lord. Concerning this book, I wonder if I may ask the question, first of all, where was the man who wrote this book? Where was he found? And then they'll ask the second question, Not only where was he found, but when was he found?
And not only when was he found. Oh, let's ask the question and find the answer, why was he found? First of all, where was he found? Now we read together that John was on the Isle of Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I think that's a very wonderful thing, don't you? We won't forget that at this juncture in his life, the Apostle John was well over seventy years of age. He was so poor. There have been little doubts that we can have no right to question tradition when he suggested that he was working there in a chain desk, working in the storefront.
He was not on the Isle of Matmos for a holiday. I do assure you, he was not there for a Labor Day conference. But he was on the island campus for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and he was there working in a salt barry in a prison. He was a man who, because of his position, could not say that I will even have a Lord say of it. Seven days a week he had a labor, and I believe it, over seventy years later. But the remarkable thing for me is this, that the man who found himself for six days of the week on the Isle of Hattmas for the words of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ was the man who despite the fact he still had to work on the Lord's Day, the man who six days a week spent his days for the words of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ was the man who on the seventh day was in the Spirit.
And I feel it's essential for us to remember this, that you and I, as we're going to consider something called the one who is of the Savior, we need to grasp that Jesus Christ is ours, not for one day a week, but hallelujah for seven days a week. And for every day of the month, for every month of the year, One of the tragedies that I'm beginning to find, I suppose, ever since, in which I even found it in my own life, but one of the tragedies I'm beginning to find of my cattle about the world is that there are so many Christians who love to be at meetings. They love to gather in conference.
They love to spend time with those of like mine gathered in a gospel chapel. But they have some idea that we'll go there to meet the Lord. And so there has been amongst young people and growing up amongst those that are older that have been misleading. That, well, you know, we meet the Lord on the Lord's Day. We're being the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And we forget that we don't go to a meeting to meet Jesus. But hallelujah, we take it with us. deep on them to dwell in our hearts, my favorite. And I suppose the finest definition of eternal life that ever been given was given in that epistle to the Ephesians, when the Apostle dared to say that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Well, if that's not eternal life, you can't be one eternal life is. To be filled with all the fullness of God. And I repeat, the man that was on the Isle of Patmos for the word of God, for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Six days a week when the man stood in the spirit of the Lord said, all that you and I must in the coming day, as we seek to gather in those that know not Christ's failure, oh that we might show to them that Jesus Christ is real, not just in the service, but every moment. So we see that first of all, he was found on the aisle platform, and then when he was found, He was found on the Lord's day.
I think that's one. No, no, no. Please, not as some have suggested, in the day of the Lord. But on the Lord's day. This blessed day, heaven's milestones, it seems to me. Heaven's milestones on the journey of life. This glorious day, this day which is, as it were, the very day of rising hopes for its resurrection day, and hallelujah, buried here. This Lord's Day. This day which is the day that's the golden cloth of a week's volume. That we day by day anticipate the moment when we shall gather in remembrance of him on this glorious day.
If it not wonderful that we can anticipate the fact that we can be found as we have been found during the week before Christ, we can be found with Christ of a Lord's Day. And why was he then? Well, you will notice we're told he was there, that he might be given this glorious revelation of Jesus Christ. Write the faith, this revelation of the faith. Oh, but in these coming days, you and I may find such a revelation as we together open the Word of God. Now most of us are aware that in this first chapter, and I do repeat, I've nothing new to say, what I'm saying, all of you have heard and all of you have pondered and all of you have appreciated over the course of years.
I do trust indeed that as we remind ourselves of these things, I trust that our hearts may be made glad. But you will remember that in the first chapter, we find the revelation first of his person. May I repeat that? We have first the revelation of his person. Then we have secondly the revelation of his power, and then the revelation of his purpose. Now God never gives us the revelation of his power, or the revelation of his purpose, until we get to know him. It's when we have the revelation of his person that then we can enter into his power, and then bless God we can see his person.
And here is the revelation of this person. Now we're going, if you would permit me, we're going to take it along step by step. When we come indeed to verse thirteen, we find that he turned to see the voice that spake with him. And being turned, he saw. Now what did he say? Now you will notice that the first thing that's recorded that he saw, he saw seven golden candlesticks. or heaven will expand if you will. Now I want just to pass this comment. I don't want to spend any time on it. I would be most happy to expand it more, if anyone would care to ask about it later.
But I'm feeling that here is one of the most important verses, and at first you will pardon me as an Englishman. But at first that I'm beginning to feel that here in America are your forgettings in the Bible. He stole seven golden candlesticks. Not a seven branch candlestick. This was not the seventh branch candlestick of the Tamadah. There was no unity between one candlestick and another. The only unity was that in the center of the individual candlestick, there stood a cross.
And the purpose of those candlesticks were that they might shine their light upon him. But men and women might not be occupied with an candlestick, if you please. But occupied with the one on whom the light on that land stand that candlestick shall. And would you notice that he is there, that he might trim the whip, that he might provide the oil? But the individual candlestick and reverence listeners, I am amongst the people that I am among. And one of the reasons is this, that with all my heart I believe that the Bible teaches the independence of the local church, that each of them can be found, or linked with other assemblies, because we're linked with Christ.
But each assembly standing on its own, and we're living in a day when they're always talking not only about the unity and the great unity of different denominational bodies, but while there is a unity amongst God's people, a unity that Christ has already made, never let us forget that the elders of this fellowship are responsible for what happens here. Not the elders of an elephant. We are living in a day when much love and much love for brethren have been divided and split, and the testimony of God has been made alive, divine, because they have dared to press the authority of a particular company over all other groups.
And I am amongst the people I am among. Because Christ stood between seven individual acts. Now, if I must pass, I'll try to comment about that. I'll try to spend the whole morning discussing the great principles of local church government. We are told that Jesus told it. I didn't say it. Don't come to me afterwards and say, Mr. Preacher, I'm not sure about your interpretation. I didn't give the interpretation. Jesus gave it. Jesus said, and the seven and the six are the seven churches. I should say, he said. So, just have a little word with him if you disagree, please. Not with me. Okay. But there is it, seven golden candlesticks, and Christ in the flesh.
Now, as he turned, he saw these seven golden candlesticks, and he saw, first of all, one life unto the Son of Man. Now, we are aware that the character that's being brought before us here is Christ, not Jesus. Christ. Now, forgive me, please, but thank you, Matthew. Well, let me just remind you, may I? The things you know, the things you know. And you know, Christ is not his name. Jesus is his name. Christ is title. We think of Peter the fisherman. We think of John the Baptist.
Peter is his name. The fisherman is title. John is his name. The Baptist is title. We think of Jesus, the Christ. Jesus is his name. Christ is his title. And how many times have you taught your Sunday school classes over the years, and for the meaning of the name or the title of Christ? You have reminded your boys and girls, have you not? You've reminded them that Christ, of course, is not an English word. They have not given us a translation, have they? They have given us a transliteration. They have taken a Greek word, and they have given us a transliteration of it. Christ, don't you?
And it's a Greek word that I like. Now if I were a Jew, I would not take the right footer. If I were just a Jew, I would paint the fire. Now it's exactly the same. No difference in the matter at all. Same word, but one is Greek and one is Hebrew. But I'm a Jew. Strange in the medium, I have nothing to do with it, really. But I'm an English priest. I'm sure if I was to say anything by English tongue or your tongue, I would not say Christ, I would not say Messiah, I would say anointed. That's exactly the same. One is Hebrew, one is Greek, one is English, the anointed.
And here we see the one who is the Christ, the anointed. Oh, what wonders this unfolds for us, I mean. You will remember God said there were three people that had to be anointed. How did that be anointed? priests have to be anointed, kings have to be anointed. God said three people have to be anointed, prophets, priests, kings. So when we say that Jesus is the Christ, we say Jesus is the prophet, priest, and king. Now what was the work of the prophet?
You've reminded your Sunday school classes, haven't you, that the work of the prophet was to reveal The work of the priest, you reminded you of what this will come, was nominated or mailed, but the work of the priest was to reconcile. And the work of the king was not to reveal or not to reconcile, but the work of the king was to reign. And we dare say that Jesus is to reveal it, reconcile it, reign it, son of God. And let's look at it again. I turned to see.
And the first thing he saw was one like unto the Son of Man. The prophet. It was at man that Jesus revealed God. That you and I would never have known God unless Jesus had come here in the man. We would have known about him. But we would never have seen him. We would never have entered him to all that he pleased. For Jesus is the one that came to reveal God, and he revealed God of a man. And when John turned to say, isn't it wonderful? Oh, come on, brethren. Wasn't it just what he needed? He was there no doubt in a chamber, working as a salt pond.
Seventy years and more had passed by. If he weren't no higher than us, there was a wick. The cuttings of the crowned. Suddenly he saw one, what did he say? He saw just the one he needed to say. He saw a man. Someone that had borne his griefs and carried his sorrows. Seven hundred years before Christ came, the prophet of Isaiah said, he's borne our griefs and he's carried our sorrows. And John realized this, he saw a man. one who came to reveal God. He saw one of the prophets standing there. And he said, yes, where men have labored, I labored.
Where men have suffered, I suffered. Where men have been despised and rejected, I think despised and rejected. Where men died, for there is the marks of Calvary. Where men died, I died. And I'm glad. Oh, listen, I'm glad when the trials and temptations of life come. Can I just turn my gaze to heaven? To look to me before you say it, reverently, to look under spirit. But when I look at a man, someone who's been here, someone who's part of this way, someone who's born out of this way, and carry on.
And what if not, even when he stands before the Sanhedrin Council and dares to say, which of the prophets did he not persecute? Oh, John, you're passing through trial by something to tell you. There's a man, and he loves, and he's the Christ. And then he saw him not only as the prophet, but he was clothed with a garment down to the foot. He saw him as the priest. No ordinary garment left it, you see, but the bull here is in the high priest's garment. A little of the garment down into the foot.
And he turned and he saw someone who was not only a man, but he had on him a garment down to the foot to preach for the garment. And he said he's here not only to reveal God, but he's here to reconcile these people. He's here to remind me that his love may come loose from it from what he stated in his own love. Oh, bless God for such a savior. Thank God that John could turn, and if he looked at him, he could dare say, here he is, the first begotten from the looks of the dead. Again, not necessary for me to remind you, but it's always good to be reminded of these things. The Jesus Christ was not a priest until he got home to glory.
Blessed be his name, he looked at him and he saw him as the first begotten for the month for death. He saw him there as the great priest with his garments down to the foot. He dared to say here is one who, having nullified, will eventually destroy death and all its power. He saw him as a priest, the one who knew the pangs and pains and power of sin itself. For he'd taken our sin in his own body. And then he looks again, and he sees not only him as the Christ, for he sees him as the man. And he sees him as one with a garment down to the foot.
But he sees him as the king. Go to the back of the past with a golden girdle. Oh, let go. Dear in my country, every now and then, we'll open the newspaper. We will notice that Her Majesty the Queen has had one of these garden parties for. Of criminal function. not that I've ever been invited to one party, but nevertheless that you'll see a picture. And as you look at the picture of all the folks that have gathered to this garden party or to this official function, if you are up in these bits, not that I am, but if you are up in these things, you will be able to point out the different people that are there, and you will point many of them out by the snatch that they wear across their breasts.
You'll look at one of them and say, oh, I said, look at that. There's a knight, he's got the order of the guards. Why, there's another, why, I say, look one order here. There across their breast they wear in the different fashion, the tell of the different positions that they have been exalted to, the different standing they add into the firemen in the courts. I'm glad as I look at Christ, he skirted across the paths with a years. Oh, like we say his men, he's the king. The king of kings and lord of lords. John, you are the out of Patmos.
There's none to understand or care about the man. John, you are the out of Patmos. You're separated from the church. You're separated from friends. The God and the priest. You're not separated from God. I say, John, on the island now, all of wickedness and power grow with the wealthy. But there's a power stronger than the power around. There's a king, my dear and dearer. Look at him. He's got about the past with his daughter. Oh, here's the Christ, brethren and sisters. May I ask, not in a way that Jesus asked it, but may I ask each one of us here, who loved the Savior, We are not right in our attitude to him, however we will go out to a lost world of elders.
When we know him, oh glory to God, we have something and someone to tell us about. But then he looks again. By the way, what time am I supposed to do this? As he looks at him again, he goes further. And it seems to me that he goes into a more detailed description of the Lord. And it is crux of all why his head and his hairs are white, like wool, as white as now. And then he goes on and he dares to say his eyes are of a flame of fire.
He tells us his peak and like pine brass tried in the fire, like unto bronze. He tells us that his voice is like the sand of many waters. He tells us indeed that in his hand of seven stars, out of his mouth a two-edged sword, his countenance of the sun shoneeth in its strength. He goes into a detailed description of the Savior. Now there are, as most of you are aware, but two full-length portraits of Christ in the Bible. Only on two occasions did anyone try to tell us what they saw when they looked at Christ.
In the fifth chapter of the song, the human-likeish woman tells us what she saw. When answering the question, what is thy beloved more than another beloved, she goes into the water of pleasure. She says, my beloved is white and rudding, the standard bearer must enter. In his head, it is most fine gold. He's lost a bushy and black of the river. His hair like wool, white a snail.
It has well been said, but it seems almost in the looking of these birthdays that there's a contradiction. What was in hell? Was it black? Black as a rainbow? Or was it white? What might fall? Now most of us are aware that in the first of Revelation, of course, John is taking up the description of Daniel, gave of Christ in the twelve chapter of his book, when he brings in the forest of the one who is at the end of day. He says, oh, I know that the character of Christ here is the one of actions of day. I know that the whole fault indeed is the thing. But you know, I think we need more than that to explain to us.
I don't know how true this is, Reverend. I've asked, I know many, many times, but I think it was Campbell Morgan, who was plenty, but was not Campbell Morgan, pardon me. It is, there's not a written name with me, but I read it somewhere, but I think it was Campbell Morgan, who once said, that in the first chapter of the Psalm of God, we see Christ with hair as flat. In the first of Revelation, we see Christ with hair as white. And between the song and the revelation, there's Calvary. There's Calvary. I only know this.
During the period of war, for some time I was attached to number four company of commandants. They went over to see us, and if we one of them were killed or captured by ourselves, Three days after DS, I went into that little hospital. See the seven that came back. We had the environment there, wasn't it? Yes. His hair was blacker than anyone might see. He was absolutely jet black. I walked into the hospital, and the nurse said, you'll see them along on the side of the ward, Mr. Ford, and I walked in, and I looked and was just trying to pass on, because I saw a lad who came out.
was whiter than any hair almost I've seen. Twenty-three years of age. And in the snap of the finger that the man panned, his hair had turned from jet-white to white. There it be asked that he manned his wireless. He'd seen his mates, blow the tether in, put to death, and at the fingers of a man. Can his hair turn from black to white? I know not yet that's the answer, whether I know not, I only know it. Between the times when his hair is black and his hair is white, the crisis is across.
I only know that if that's not the answer, the very fact that the word God foretweeted him with hair that's changed to his color. He's supposed to believe that he was a perfect man, as well as perfect man, as well as perfect man. Now look at him, but I must say this to you, that when I think of white hair, and I can only tell you what my heart thinks, when I think of white hair, of course, I think of maturity, don't you? maturely. Is it not true? No, I know I'm speaking, pardon me, I'm speaking to a number of brethren and sisters that have reached that age.
But isn't it a fact that there are some things that are only learned with years? You can go to all the Bible seminaries in the world and you don't learn them there. You can pass through and have degrees from any university you will and you don't learn them there. There are some things that are only learned in the experience of life. I thank God. As I look at Christ, I see absolute maturity there. The maturity of suffering. Did anyone suffer like him? John, you are on the earth. That's not. You're suffering. But John looked at someone who suffered more than you. He understood. The maturity of wisdom.
He was the very wisdom of God. John, you wonder why. You don't understand. After serving Christ and living higher upon his breath. you're hearing quickly, you don't know why. Look, there's someone's wisdom, Dina. The maturity of suffering, the maturity of wisdom, the maturity of purity. I said this the other day, and I must repeat myself, you will forgive me, but when I was speaking at the conference along at Chattanooga, I reminded the saints there that Jesus Christ was the only one who finished where he began.
And the only one that ever began where he finished. Is that true? I hear the word of holy writ, that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But oh, isn't it easy? Isn't it easy to take a child in my hands that's just as boring as that is? Why are you born in sin and shame and iniquity? But isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it easy to take a baby in your hands and say, Bahá'u'lláh? When my grandchildren, when my grandchildren were born, when my grandchildren were born and they were placed in my hands, how easy it would be to look, just draw bread and say, Bahá'u'lláh?
It is not that much, is it, Baha'u'lláh? He shall have a chance. What are they going to say with probably three and a half years to pass away? What are they going to say? What are they going to say? Oh, the fiery darts of the wicked ones have been hurled at. What are they going to say when you've been at target of the devil and demons and men? The world and the flesh and the devil have beaten themselves. What are they going to say then? The holy thing. Oh, what is he saying? He offered himself. His hair is one.
The maturity of his suffering, the maturity of his wisdom, the maturity of his purity. Oh, I say, this is the one John needs. Whether he's the one you need, sisters, he's the one you need, he's the one I need. And then he turned and he saw not only his hair and his head, his maturity, but he looked and he saw his eyes. And we're told that his eyes, by, they were like a flame of fire. And here is his purity. If I see his maturity in his hair, I see his purity in his eyes like a flame of fire, purged in the fire of the Scripture speaks of, of gold dried in the fire.
When I think of this Christ, I remember that with his eyes he perceives, with his eyes he appears through any darkness. I see his eyes there as they penetrate right to the knees of man. His eyes as a flame of fire, all the purity of this Christ. And yet you know there's something else that always thrills me about it. Some years ago now, and it was years ago, I found myself on Christmas time in Toronto. I was trying to get hold of England, but it was during the time to know when it was very difficult to get passages, and I had to sit and wait and wait. I never intended to be in Toronto at Christmas, so I could think of a better place to be in that. Nevertheless, I ran for the rest of us in Toronto at Christmas.
And so I went and went to see my two friends, and you know, one of my two friends with the children. Down to the basement, it was cheaper than the basement. And I looked at the picture of the man, and I came to the tool counter, and I saw something that I thought was really not all I wrote for him. All I see is a memory of mine, but this was the first one I ever thought. The boy then, he would have served next day and that would be twenty years ago, so the boy would have been back five years ago. Well, I thought, well, the boy went for healing, then it was a true diaper. But it was no ordinary true diaper, did I? The handle was a torch. And when you press the screwdriver into the screw, a light shot.
Oh, how many times have I taken a screwdriver and tried to find the screw? You couldn't even see. And then suddenly I found a screwdriver. I could press it and the light would shine just where I needed it. And I bore the lid off with a flame fire. Sometimes I'm like, during a significant dark heaven, doesn't it? We're not quite sure where the roads lead. We're not quite sure about the next step. But it makes wonderful that Christ is with us in our ease of the flame fire.
He looks into the darkness and he can see, and he makes the way he's wearing it. I'm glad that John needed someone like that, and Christ was right there with him. And I'm glad that though I need someone like that, Christ is right here. His eyes were the same to mine. But in his hair I see his maturity, and in his eyes I see his purity. Why, in his teeth I see his stability. Is that why how many times have you met? Maybe I don't know. Maybe you've got a little boat down here at the palm pier, the lake, whatever it is you call it. And, you know, there's a plank that goes away onto the boat.
And if you're a migrant, before you walk the plank, you put your foot on it and try it. Nobody can. I'm glad I've got a kite in the very feet. I see the stability that it is. And all the winds and waves will never, never, never knock him over. He is a rock. And on this rock the church is built. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. His feet, all the stability. And will you notice his feet? We are told that they are like fine brass tried in the fire. They're bronze, brass that's been burned in the fire.
That which is used for warfare. That which is firm and hard. And I'm glad to hear his feet testing everything. And brethren, in our own assemblies, isn't it essential that we allow that Christ shall test things? Test things. I sometimes, you will not misunderstand this, I sometimes get a little tired. A folk coming to me and saying something like this, Miss Forbes, what would you do in England about this? Whatever does it matter, what we'll do in England? Oh, please don't ask me a thing like that, which if you do, I'll tell you off the good of anyone.
Really, Mother. What if it matters? What if it matters? What is the Word of God? What if Christ does that? His piece of tech things? Oh, let's bring our problems to Christ. And if he's bad at the church, do you believe that in the church? If he's the head of the church, isn't it my friend that he works for me? He works for me. As I see his maturity, as I see his purity, as I see his stability. Oh, praise God, he goes further and I see his, I see it, or hear his voice, and I hear his authority.
His voice is the sound of many waters. Isn't that good? I like that. The sound of many waters. Years ago, I found the same time actually as when I was in... No, it wasn't that time, it was the previous time, when I was at a wedding party, but I ran the conference to Catherine. And the good brother said to me, Sally, have you ever seen Niagara Falls? Well, he told me to see Niagara Falls. Now, you all have a job to believe this, but this is true. I've always been met with a fairly good pair of lunch. I want to make people here, mostly I didn't make them here. But I went up and stood by the side of the Niagara Falls, and I turned to my good friend, and I started to see him.
And I shouted at the top of the voice. And all I could see him, not hear him, all I could see him say was, Oh dear. Oh dear. Though I was shouting at the top of the voice, He couldn't hear a word. There was the sand with many waters. But there were all rations of fools. And we're living in a day when there are thousands of voices shouting at us. I'm glad I've got to say here that he has rang them all. I'm glad I've got more. The voice is stronger than the sand with many waters.
Follow it with it and know what Christ has to say. There's authority in his voice. Why? And then I see indeed his hands. And it says, in his hands, in his hands of a star. The very church. And if I see or hear authority in his voice, I see sovereignty in his hands. He holds the church in his hands. You know, we often hear of that little thing sung. He holds the whole world in his hands. Well, I suppose there's a sense in which that is true. but there's a greater sense in which he holds the church in hand. That is, none shall pluck from out of his hand.
Oh, I'm glad of that. I'm glad of that. There's strength in his hand. Bless God for his sovereignty. That he is the Lord of the church. And we'll praise his name. And then he goes farther, and he speaks not only of his right hand, seven stars, but out of his mouth the two-edged sword. You remember the fourth chapter of Hebrews, where it speaks indeed of the word of the Lord, of that which is a sharp, two-edged sword, dividing even to the piercing of thunder of Pharaoh and Saul, and Joseph now. And here we see surely not just his sovereignty, but his accuracy. Now I'm going to say something here.
I don't believe there's a brother or a sister in this service today to tell me where the soul starts and the spirit starts. If I was to ask you the difference between the soul and the spirit, or you would give me that which is normally said, you would say, oh yeah, the body makes us world conscious, the spirit makes us God conscious, the soul makes us self conscious. And that's true, that's absolutely true. You tell me where the spirit starts and the soul starts. forward against the land. And because we find it so difficult, there are these Jehovah's Witnesses, these cryptid devils, and these people go along and deny the Trinity of God, and therefore the Trinity of man.
And they say, no, the country, the fruit of sin, the Spirit of God, the poor people who said that the Word of God is a sharp two-edged sword dividing the summary spirit, soul, and joyous and manner of the body. Oh, the word of God. There's a difference. There's an ecstasy with God. Absolute ecstasy. He sees that we can't give the final definition. He sees the difference. The word of God is about it. And that's what the Hebrews, the great obstacle of these people to deny the tripartite of man.
Oh, there's accuracy here. And if I may come to a close, I see his face and it says charity. Now let it... Love, charity, it's his temperament. It's the firm shining in its strength. There is a lovely story. By the way, you must forgive me for my stories being called a British story. And I don't know any American one, do you see? Well, there it is. But there's a lovely story, hold of the great Henry Johnson. Professor Drummond was walking down Pictish Street in Edinburgh one day. Well, this is the snow on the ground. And in the day of Professor Henry Drummond, you remember, he was a friend of Mr. Moody, and there it goes back on the air coming. In the day of Henry Drummond, there was much horror here in Scotland.
And the very boy was walking down Pictish Street, and he saw how the Lord into a doorway a wee lad selling his newspaper. Paper, sir! Paper, sir! The great divine takeover, and as he came over, he ruffled the wheel out of his hair. He said, I'm glad he did the cold day. The little boy was brought into the great divine place, and he said, yes, sir, but it's a bit warmer since you came. A bit warmer since we came. Brothers, sisters, have you seen a little warmer for the district to rise since you came?
His countenance was as the sun. He took a bit more of his decay, and he shined over his spray. The revelation of his person, the revelation of his power, Oh, the wonder of verses seventeen and eighteen. When Jesus turned and he said that he was the first and the last, that he was the one who was alive forevermore, and he held the keys of heaven and death. But have you noticed what he did say? I feel sometimes I... I feel sometimes I would like to have this written in almost every paragraph.
For every preacher to read it before he preached the gospel. The Lord Jesus had tried to reveal himself to John. Did you remember what he said? Oh, and he! Now John had been with it. Three and a half long years, John had walked with him. John had heard him preach the sermon on the land who was there. John had seen him. He made the blood of the ark and the earth. He was there. John had walked here as he walked on the water. He was there. John had seen the mount of transfiguration. He was there. John had watched him and he sent a leopard to behold. He was there. And Jesus said, I am he.
Oh, what did he say? I am he that sat down. I am he that made the lion on the mountain. I am he that made the body part of the eschocene. No. I am he that made the leopard whole. No. I am he that said the hungry. No. I am He that made you lay to walk now. But when Jesus introduced Himself, He said, I am He who made you dead. And behold, I am alive again forevermore. Oh, this is it. This is it. A friend remembers. If Jesus had never made God near to the sea, never fed that hungry, never once in his life made that leper to the whole, never made the lame to walk, never walked on the water, never performed the weather because he did perform.
If Jesus had never done that, that still could have been a church. We still could have been here washed in the blood of the Lamb, but he'd never gone to the cross. Never been raised from the dead. Never could have been a church. Never could have been salvation. The purposes of God could never have been fulfilled. Oh, it is important that I thank God for his sermons. I thank God for his miracles. I thank God for his manifestations of power. That I thank God to tell her. For the cross. I am he.
Oh, I say the revelation of his power that he holds the keys. Is that lovely? Holds the keys of hell and of death. Now, don't you forget, do you know something? There's not a Christian in the world who could go to hell if they wanted to. Don't you worry about that. There's not a Christian in the world who could go to hell if you wanted to because he holds the keys. And he'll never let you in. Bless God, he holds the keys of hell. Bless God, death as well. No wonder the pharmacist would say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the head of evil, that I will meet.
He holds the key. He goes through it with us. On that way. How many times, as one said, it's like I walked through the valley of the shadows now. The shadow. Look, there are lights here before you. And across the floor here, there are shadows across, because there are lights. You turn the lights back and there'll be no shadow. You only get a shadow when you get a light. It's the valley of the shadow. Oh, hallelujah, the lights there. the light of the world there. Fear no evil for that.
Ah yes, the revelation of his person and the revelation of his power and the revelation of his purpose. As John fell at his feet as dead, and Jesus said, Fear not. Fear not. Friends, this is his purpose. This is the purpose of the book of the Revelation. That seeing and knowing Christ. Though all the trials and problems may surround us. We can hear him say. He's working out his purposes. Believe or not.
Please God. This morning. Please God. Within the coming. Gary. whether it be in the gospel or in the ministry of the world, that we might be Christ. For I've got one purpose in being healed. Only one. I'd rather go away if I don't fulfill the prayer. That I might offer Christ. That I might offer Christ. Oh, that we might form another little fresh and carry them on this place.
Lord, now it says, hear us. The commission you've given is not too long. We can go and preach to them. Very amazing. So we close the prayer. Oh, God and Father, for these few moments spent together around my word, we praise the There are so many things we don't know, but we thank thee that we know someone. We praise thee that when walking in company with him, this book becomes a blessed treasure to us.
We ask thee then that we may go from this place, hearing him say, fear not, and knowing his presence and health. Oh God, give us a hallelujah weekend. Give us to see the Lord Jesus exalted, both by the lip and by the life of each one of us. For we do ask it in his name. Amen.