Now we turn in our Bible to Revelation chapter one. The first chapter in the book of the Revelation. May I read from verse one through verse seven. Where John by the Holy Spirit has written these words. 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 John, 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 it, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein. for the time is at hand, meaning that the time is near. John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you in peace from him which is, and which was, which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his 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 love better rendered, properly rendered from the original translation. Unto him that loveth us in the present tense. Unto him that loveth us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And that made us kings, or made us a kingdom, is the proper translation. 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 pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shone wail because of him. Even so. Amen. May God bless the reading of this portion from his precious and holy word, the last book in the Word of God, the revelation of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ that is yet to come. For if you will note your Bible very carefully, perhaps you have as my Bible has it, that over the chapters that we have read and over the chapters of all the New Testament books, you have titles that were given. not by the Spirit of God, but by the translators who put those titles there when translating the Scriptures. Notice in your Bible that you have the title, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, most probably, that is absolutely unscriptural. Tis not the Revelation of St. John. The title of the book is in verse one, and the opening word The revelation of Jesus Christ. May I repeat it again, for we would emphasize it in its proper meaning. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Now this revelation, which contains the whole book, is regarding the purposes of God with that blessed man, Jesus Christ, in the glory of his humanity. to be exalted, to be the judge of all the earth, to bring about the purposes of God to fruition, and ultimately bring in the eternal ages of eternal blessing. And as the man Christ Jesus, God gave to him this revelation. If you please note it, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him. Now may I make a distinction clearly between that which is the revelation and that which you and I who know the Lord called the rapture. The rapture is not the same as the revelation. The rapture is the coming of the Lord for his saints when he comes for his bride, for his church, for those of whom Paul writes in first Thessalonians four, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so on. That is the rapture. This is the revelation, meaning the word means the unveiling, the public unveiling to the world and to the universe, ultimately, of the man Christ Jesus, the blessed Son of God who took upon him our humanity and by the name of the Son of Man has been called Jesus Christ. John writes concerning that coming revelation, may I be reminded with you of something that took place in the writings of John, as he records them in the Gospel, and particularly the last two chapters of that Gospel according to John. You may well know, I trust you do, that one of the great burdens and the joys that was upon the heart of the Apostle John, whenever he wrote, was his appreciation of the person of Christ. He never failed to exalt the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, on the other hand, magnifies the Lord Jesus by the teaching of church truth and all that may pertain unto him. Some of the other writers, such as Peter, James, and together with Jude, and they may speak about the kingdom of our Lord Jesus. But the writings of John, they ever exalt and declare unto us the value of his person, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have in this, in the book of John chapter twenty, one and twenty, twenty, twenty and chapter twenty one, something that John wrote near the end of that book that you find typified at the commencement of this book before all the purposes of God are to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus in its coming day of glory. You may recall that in John chapter twenty, verses nineteen through twenty three, you have the first resurrection day meaning of the church or of the saints when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. The very beautiful picture of the disciples gathered together alone in the upper room and Jesus in their midst, revealing himself in his blessed person and resurrected glory. That is a beautiful picture and type of the church, which you and I who are believers today should be enjoying the person of Christ in our midst, and rejoicing as they did. Then were they glad when the disciples saw the Lord. But in that same chapter following that particular event, we find that Thomas, eight days later, came to the upper room, for he was missing on that first occasion. And when the disciples told Thomas they had seen the Lord, he believed them not. And he said, unless I can see the nail quiz in his hand, and put my fingers in them, and the wound in his side, I'll not believe it until I can see it, and do that. Eight days later, the Lord Jesus came in their midst, and Thomas was there. And the Lord gave him the privilege of beholding his hands and his feet in his sight. And Thomas believed when he saw. Now, beloved, there you have the nation of Israel typified. The nation of Israel will never believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a nation till they see him. Whom they have is. And then in chapter twenty-one of John's Gospel, you've got another type. First, the type of the church in chapter twenty, the type of Israel in relation to Thomas. And in chapter twenty-one, there's a fishing scene, where the disciples who then seven of them fished all night and caught nothing. And when the morning came, Jesus was upon the shore and called to them, saying, Have you caught any fish? Have you caught any meat? And they said, Nothing. He said, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. And they cast the net on the right side of the ship. And the net did not break, though there was a multitude of fishes within that net. a hundred and fifty-degree fish within the net which they brought to the shore now may I suggest to you you've got a millennial scene to be fine when the nations when Israel when restored will go out and bring the nations to the Lord Jesus Christ as you're reading the prophecy of Job In that day when Israel is restored, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And may I say, then you're going to have a worldwide revival and not before. You'll never get it while the church is here. But when Israel is restored, and it may seem a strange thing, but I have read, one writer has declared that when that net caught hundred and fifty-three fish, On that occasion, there were just one hundred and fifty-three nations at that time in the world. But it typifies the millennium, the nations coming into the blessing. Now take them together, for you've got them in the book of the Revelation of the beginning, the church, Israel, the nation. Look at them today. The church, in ruins, morally and spiritually in general. Israel, out of its place. Like Thomas, doubting, unbelieving. Blindness in God has happened to Israel until the church has been consummated, according to Romans chapter eleven. And the nations, they're in a big mess too. And may I give you the suggestion, and please, not only a suggestion, but I'd like to emphasize it. You've got the church in trouble today. You've got Israel in trouble today and facing greater trouble. You've got the nations in trouble and they're facing greater trouble. I don't know what you think of this scene. As I read my Bible, the scene doesn't look very pleasant. The condition of the church at large, the condition of Israel, and the condition of the nations. Now that's what you have at the beginning when you're studying the book of the Revelation. And then when you get to the end of the book, You find the church glorified and married to the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ to be his bride and the object of his affection forever and sharing his glory. You've got Israel restored to their land and nation and the godly remnant elevated under his messianic reign. And you've got the nations and the Lord Jesus being the king of all the nations. King of kings and Lord of... Don't you wish the Lord Jesus was king already over the earth? I sure do. But that's the picture. As John begins this book of the revelation. And the whole book is the revelation of that blessed son of God, as he calls in here, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, that he's going to have dominion. Now let's go down the chapter, please, carefully to where we have read. Beginning at verse one, we go step by step. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass. And his servant signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Can I give you this thought? This whole revelation that God gave to his dear son is because he was his perfect servant when he was on the earth. And he passes it on through the angel to his servant John to write and read on, if you will please, in verse two, who bear record of the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things they know that he saw. Now if you've ever read the book, I wish Christian today would get into this book. You'll find there's a reason as we go on. But please, John writes not only what he heard, what he saw. And if you read the book carefully through, you'll find John saying again and again, I saw, I saw, I saw, I saw. And you'll go to the last chapter, and before he closes the book, He says, these are the things that I saw in the vision that God gave him through the angel, which he has written in this book. And John bears record of it. And then you have the blessing in verse three for those who would take it. Now may I say carefully, there are too many people who shy away from the book of Revelation. They should not. I remember in my early days as a young Christian, so many older Christians told me, it's a sealed book. It's not a sealed book. It's an open book. The prophecy of Daniel was sealed when Daniel finished it. But today, the book is open. And the revelation. And here's the blessing. Blessed is he that read it. They that hear the words of this prophecy. And keep those things which are written therein. And note the next words, For the time is at hand, the time is near. May I say from the depths of my convicted heart, I believe the coming of the Lord is very, very near. And if John wrote it almost nineteen, nineteen hundred years ago, how near him it must be today. Furthermore, When you see what the Word of God teaches regarding the mess the church is in at the end, that the nation of Israel has to go through yet. And the nations of the world are going through and will yet go through. The very picture today upon the horizon should tell every Christian, the Lord is coming. The Lord is near. Now go with me as we read on. You find John. Thus is given commandment to write to the seven churches of Asia. And in this salutation, he writes John to the seven churches which are in Asia. And I would remind you that there were more than seven churches in the Proconsular Asia at that time. But these special seven that are written to in chapters two and three were chosen by the Spirit of God to be the recipients of those particular letters that were written. And John is told, write to the seven churches which are in Asia, with the salutation, grace be unto you, and peace from him. Now please note, it's a different salutation than you can read in any epistle. You will not find an epistle that has a salutation like this one. Usually you find Paul writing, grace and peace be multiplied through Jesus Christ our Lord or so on. The grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Not so here. What you have. You have the name of the Almighty God in his eternal being. In that name the book is written, saying, Peace from him which is the eternal I am, which was and which is to come. One can recognize with solemnity the meaning of such words. This is from the Almighty God. This is from the great I am. As he gives this revelation of his blessed son Jesus Christ as to what is going to take place through him and done by him. And then he writes also from the southern spirit which are before his throne. And you find the word spirit in the capital letter. And I'm sure all of us who know the Lord understand there's only one Holy Spirit. Why the number seven? It's the number of perfection and completeness. The Spirit of God is in full harmony with the purposes of God concerning the Son and the judgments that are to come upon the earth through the intervention of the Son of God. As you read the book through of those judgments. His perfect cooperation and acquiescence to all that is to be done. And so you have God the Father and God the Spirit thus named. But not only that, it's from Jesus Christ. The one who is the faithful witness. Now may I say, there's only been one faithful witness in the world. I don't care what man you look at and read about in the scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ, he himself in his humanity, was the only faithful witness. And you find that name again and again mentioned in the book of the Revelation. Some to the churches as well as later on at the end of the book. From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness? May I pause for a moment? Consider with you, look, who above all others, and who but this one is worthy to have God give him this wonderful revelation of the glory and power that's going to be in his hands? My beloved, may I say lovingly, would to God that every man, woman, boy, and girl knew that they had to do something with Jesus Christ. We'll see why a little later. to some extent. But I tell you there's been one faithful witness in this work, and they drove him out. God hasn't forgotten it. And neither has God forgotten, as you read in Philippians chapter two, when thus he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name. That is the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, of things under the earth in the infernal region, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. May I repeat with emphasis, every man, woman, boy and girl of all ages is going to have to bow the knee to the blessed one whose name is Jesus. And may I remind you in Philippians chapter two, when he wrote that blessed description of praise and exaltation, he only used the name of Jesus. At the name of Jesus. He didn't say the Son of God. He didn't say the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote, Jesus is lonely, humble, name of humiliation, as they wrote it upon the cross. This is Jesus. They never called him the Son of God. They never called him the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews, in mockery. And may I say, if ever he's trying to please, every man, woman's going to meet him, as we shall see. He's the faithful witness. Another thing is Adam and Eve concerning him. The first begotten from among the dead. He heads the whole new creation. The resurrection. in the very resurrection order, the first begotten from among the dead. He went through death to save us, but God raised him from the dead and put him at the head of this new creation of redeemed beings, redeemed men and women who will find him as their savior. Then the first begotten of the dead, he heads the resurrection. Even of the unsaved dead for that matter. He heads the resurrection. And then No, the next name he's given, the prince of the kings of the earth. He's not the king of the earth yet. He's the prince. And one can recognize, as the prince of the kings of the earth, he's the one who someday will take his place on the throne of his father David and be the king over all the earth. But know something very precious. When John speaks of Jesus Christ in this salutation, his heart leaps. But that's the one I love. His heart goes up. And it changes, as it were, the course of the writing. To give an inscription of worship and praise. And I know what he says. Let me read it. Unto him, and again let me read as we corrected it, unto him that love of us. And washed it from our sins in his own blood. And it made us the kingdom. And priests. unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Please know what John does. This is what every believer ought to do. Why, this is the one that loves me. He's the one who loves me now. John says, he loves us. Not that he has loved us, that's true. He loves us. And may I raise the question, as our brother mentioned in his message this morning. When does the Lord ever stop loving his own? Never. Even when they're naughty. He loves his own. And John said, well, he's the one that loves us. And that, you know, that makes the heart lead with affection. And I tell you very frankly, dear brother and sister, if you and I enjoy the Lord's love more than we should or are doing, it'll be a lot better for us. And the heart goes out in affection like he's the one that loves me and will never cease loving me. But he's not only loved me, He's washed my sins away. He's met the need of my conscience. He's by his precious blood. He's purged my conscience from his guilt. My. This is the one that's done so much for me and still loved me. And he's made a kingdom for me. There's a kingdom to come. You read first, second Peter. You read Second Peter, chapter one, and all the way through from that verse, chapter one particularly. Peter mentions we have an everlasting kingdom, and we're told to seek a glory of entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We've got a kingdom coming. That kingdom? Today we don't reign. Someday we'll reign with him. Forever. and forever a kingdom but not only a kingdom he's made us priests take it in let me ask you something do you ever realize when we come at the Lord's Supper to worship we come as priests and we enter well know what he says he's made us priests unto God his father priests unto God His Father. All the joy of knowing, as John gives expression to the joy of realizing what he's done. He loves us still. He cleansed the conscience with his own precious blood. He's got a kingdom coming for us. And he's already made us priests unto God himself. But beloved, beloved fellow believer, do you ever use your priestly office? You don't have to have your collar on backwards. It'll never work. No, if you've been redeemed, you belong to the holy priesthood that Peter writes of in First Peter chapter two. You go into the presence of God. One of the great joys of going into his presence is when we gather at the supper of the Lord to remember him. and in the presence of the Father we worship and adore and extol the glories and the excellencies of his Son who redeemed us with his precious blood. How much he has done for us is doing and is yet to do. Now John carries on. And I want to dwell particularly before closing on the seventh verse as we find him singing at the end of verse six. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And John says, Amen. John can verily say Amen and write it. And this is the one who's worthy of the glory of the kingdom. Oh, the joy of knowing the king is coming. And oh, to realize that John said, Amen. To him be glory, have dominion, forever and ever. My beloved, what a day that will be. Are you looking for him? Are you waiting for him? Are you anticipating him? Now know verse seven, which we need to touch upon in particular. Verse seven is the theme of the whole book of the Revelation. John writing by the Spirit saying, Behold, take notice, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. In these words you've got the theme of the whole book of the Revelation. You may find its divisions in chapter one, verse nineteen, enumerated. As John was told to write what he had seen, then the things which are, and last the things which shall be hereafter. And it divides the whole book, as we well know, chapter one, then chapters two and three, the second division. And from chapter four on you have the whole future before you. But here in this one verse, John writes in condensation the theme of the whole book of the Revelation. First of all, and let me please state again, it's in view of its coming. It's in relation to its coming. The revelation, the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. May I pause again? Well, we'll reach into it then without going any further into that. We'll find out what it will mean when he comes, when he comes in his glory. But first of all, you have the certainty of his coming. Now, John has written the last book in the Bible. There are many other writers preceding him in the New Testament particularly, who write about the second coming of the Lord Jesus. And most of you may be fully aware that you will find three hundred and eighteen references to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in your New Testament alone. Not to his first coming. you'll find his first coming prophesied in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, you'll find three hundred and eighteen times an average of once in every twenty-five verses some reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at his second appearing. And certainly it is an important subject. Very frankly, If I may say it, I believe it in my heart that it's true. There's no more important subject that should be upon the heart and in the mind and the conscience of Christians today. He's coming. Are you ready to meet him? You remember the parable of the twelve, of the ten virgins, who went out to meet the Lord, while the bridegroom carried, they all slumbered and swept. And what a responsibility it is to realize as a believer, am I looking for him to come? For John, he summarizes what all the others have said before him, even he himself in his epistle, concerning the second coming. And John puts them all together and says, Behold, take notice. He cometh. He cometh. Oh, my beloved, may I say, I know not the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of man cometh. But I do know this. He tells you and me, you and I who belong to him, be ye ready. Watch. Be ye ready. Beloved, may I raise the question. Are you ready? I mean in heart. I will say I've been ready since nineteen fourteen in one particular way. I found the Lord as my Savior back then. And I knew I, when he came, when I heard about him coming again, I knew I'd be there. But, is the heart ready? For instance, the Lord Jesus told a parable that some would say, My Lord, delay if he's coming. And they'd get lost in the things of the world. My beloved, no. The Lord says, Watch. Paul writing to the Thessalonians said, ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, our deliverer from the coming wrath. Can I ask you a question? Are you looking for the Lord Jesus to come tonight from heaven? It's a good thing to be doing. He'll surprise you one of these moments when you rise in the morning. Will you be looking for the Lord Jesus to come tomorrow? I wouldn't object. But will you be looking? Will you be waiting? Will you be watching? Will you be anticipating? John says, he's coming. And may I say this, my beloved, before going further, the coming you and I are looking for is not the coming that's in this book. We are looking for him to come for his saints. Because we've got to come back when he comes to the earth. We've got to come back with him. And you're not going to come back with him. And then still he's come. But he's coming. But he's coming. The certainty of it. John emphasizes. The next thing he emphasizes. The manner in which he's coming. He's coming with clouds. He's coming with clouds. Now some of you may remember in Acts chapter one. When the Lord Jesus ascended, it was a cloud that received him out of their sight. In the twenty-fourth of Luke, when they watched him ascend to heaven, it was a cloud that took him out of their sight. That may be so, but may I go further? Look with me in chapter thirteen, if you don't mind, or chapter, in the book of Matthew, please. In chapter twenty-five, Chapter twenty-five in the book of Matthew, which absolutely relates to the book of the Revelation in relation to the coming of the Lord in power and glory. Verse thirty-one only. Chapter twenty-five in verse thirty-one. The words of the Lord Jesus concerning that second coming. Just verse thirty-one. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. There's got to be clouds of angels. Look in chapter twenty-six, please, at verse fifty-four, I believe, before the high priest who challenged the Lord Jesus and gave him the challenge and adjured him to confess whether he was the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter, Shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven? It's coming with clouds. Go with me if you don't mind to chapter nineteen in the book of the Revelation for just a moment, verse eleven. And read just one or two verses where you have the actual description of him coming out of heaven. And in that day coming with many, verse eleven, see? Let me read down through verse fourteen only. I saw heaven open. Behold a white horse. He that sat upon it was called faithful and true. And you don't have to sit down. You don't have to be told who that is. There's only one who can be called faithful and true, the Lord Jesus. And in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns or diadems. and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and look next the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen wide and clean the armies of heaven could just turn back to one book before the revelation of the epistle of Jude what are those armies of heaven Difficil as you. Verse fourteen and verse fourteen particularly. The prophecy of Enoch long ago. Behold. Enoch prophesied of these saints. Behold, the Lord come at what? With ten thousands of his saints. The manner of his coming. The manner of it. My beloved, let me say this. All the glory of heaven is going to be... The glory of the angels in the angelic host, innumerable in number, holy angels. Faith! How many faith? Don't ask me how many. It's impossible to say. Nereids of them. Coming within. The clouds of heaven. My beloved living is that this world doesn't mean it and doesn't even realize what it's taking. the tremendous thing that lies before us in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We go further in our verse number seven. Not only the certainty of his coming, not only the manner of his coming, but not the publicity of it. Every eye shall see him. What? What does he mean? Just what it says. Every eye shall see him. Now when the rapture comes, let it be safe. The world will never know anything when the rapture takes place. They won't know a thing about it. None of them secretly, quietly. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last thump, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and wheat of the living shall be changed all right. and thus caught up together translated to meet the Lord in the air above. Now that the world will never see. In fact, if it happened tonight, somebody would be looking for you tomorrow. What's happened to him? What's happened to him? That'll be the rapture. But when he comes back to the earth, Every eye is going to see him. Every eye is going to see him. Let me enlarge upon him. Finally the governor that sent him to death is going to look him face to face. K.I.F.S.S.E.V.E.V.E.V. That is what I preach. We'll see him face to face. The men that said crucify him. will see him face to face. The soldier that pierced his hands, will see him face to face. The soldier that pierced his hands and feet, as they move him to the ground, they're going to see him face to face, face in judgment. But not only that, physically, when he appears in that coming glory from heaven above, All the living on the world, in the world, they're going to see him. They're going to see him. They're going to see him. You take the man that says there's no God. You take the man that says he don't believe in Christ. You take any reprobate and agnostic and atheist. They're going to see him. The man that says there is no God, he's going to see this one. And everyone is going to see him. My beloved, let me give you this song. The amazing glory that will attend its appearing when it comes down from heaven, as the word apostolate in the Greek text means, it's the unveiling of Jesus Christ. God says to the world, you gave my son a cross. I've given him a crown. You also hear it besides, but I'm going to give him glory. Now he's going to judge you. And every eye will see. Let me repeat it again. When the rapture comes, the world will never see it take place. They won't even know what happens. Well, some may find out. Some. It won't mean much to them because they won't believe much about it. They'll only go on in their simple way as the Word of God teaches. But in that day there'll be public. Every eye shall see. But there's a special company of people that they're going to recognize him. Nobody goes on to say, all and he and they also which cast him. And then you've got Israel. There you come back to the time for Thomas who said, unless I can see the print of the nails in his hand. and thrust my hand into his side, I'll not believe. But you read Zechariah chapter twelve. Get down to verse nine now, up to the end of the chapter. They're going to, Zechariah wrote the word, they shall see him, the godly remnant of that day in Israel, dressed by the enemy. We'll see him, and they shall look upon him whom they have to. a special company of people who will recognize that we didn't believe he was the Christ. We didn't believe he was the Messiah. We rejected him and they'll mourn and repent. With great mourning, the Shun could never be equal. In that coming day when they realized the awful sin of the nation, they perpetrated against their beloved Messiah. They look upon him whom they ask is. And last of all, believe what it ends with, all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Let me say this. The world doesn't want him to come.