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Now let me read to you, or you listen while I read some verses from chapter one of this book of the Revelation. The verses begin in verse ten which say, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, what thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches, unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice which spake with me.
And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice as the voice of many waters, and he had in his right hand seven stars. And out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying, fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Write, therefore, the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands.
The seven stars of the angel of the seven churches, and the seven lampstand are the seven churches. With these words, we are introduced to the first major vision of this lovely book of the Revelation. And if we ask what is its main theme, the answer is a simple answer. Here now we are to see the risen Lord Jesus Christ in all his holy purity and power, drawing near to his churches of his believing people.
In part, of course, as always, to comfort their hearts. But as we learn, both from his attire and from the words he speaks, now it is a question of the risen glorious Lord drawing near that he might judge his churches. You see, there is a logic about this book, and there is a logic about the ways of God. The book, in its many movements, is going to talk to us about the time yet future, when the judgments of God shall fall upon this earth. But Peter the Apostle reminds us, in his first letter and chapter four the basic principle upon which the judgment of God works.
Says Peter, for the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begin first at us, what shall the end of them be that obey not the gospel of God? So obviously you and I tonight, if we are a member of one of Christ's churches today, have a prior pressing matter to attend to.
Yes, one day the Lord shall come. Yes, one day the judgments of God will fall upon this earth. But before they fall, the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. For how shall God show his righteousness and judge this world? If first of all, he does not judge his own people. So in these closing moments of our study, we shall not have time to listen to all his statements to his churches, but we shall hear enough, shall we not, to catch the general theme that is occupying our Lord.
For of this we may be sure, that that holy person whom John saw drawing near on the Isle of Patmos in his vision, whom John saw walking in his glorious holiness among the Christian churches of Asia Minor in that early century of the past. That holy Lord walks still among his people. As he draws near to us tonight. Say, my good friend, are you a real and genuine member of one of his churches?
And his eye rests on you. We shall hear him reiterate time and time again, I know you. I know your works. While we have been busy here and there, in the world at our living, in the church at our worship, he has seen. He draws near now to judge his people. Shall we think first of the glory of the judge himself. It is a spectacular and awesome vision that John gives us now of the Lord Jesus, is it not?
And we should remember who it is that saw this vision. When our Lord Jesus was here on earth, we remember at the Last Supper, in that cozy upper room, where the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper and said farewell to his people before he suffered. We are told that John, at the dinner table, lay back his head and nestled it on the breast of our Lord. At that supper, our Holy Lord divested himself of his garments and girt himself with a towel, and taking a basin, filled it with water, and knelt at his disciples' feet and washed them.
But the years have passed. The Lord has suffered, been buried, risen again, and now glorified, he comes to visit John again. Not this time as the meek and lowly Jesus. Why, in the split second that John was able to look upon the glory of the risen Lord, in that split second he saw a glory far exceeding the glory of the noonday sun. Being overwhelmed, he fell at the feet of the Savior.
In those few moments that he was able to contemplate him, John tells us that he saw two things in our Lord. John uses all the symbols drained from the universe and all his materials to convey to us what he saw. He saw in our Lord the evidence of infinite purity. He says, doesn't he, as he records his vision, he said, you see, he was one like unto the Son of Man, girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.
His head and his hair were white as wool, as white as snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet unto burnished brass, as if they had been refined in a furnace. He had upon him a long judicial robe. He was girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. The Greek word that John uses is a tender word, indicating affections and love for his people, feminine in their tenderness. Oh yes, this is still our lovely Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us.
But his holy affections are girt about, not dissipated and uncontrolled, but rather completely controlled, and see the girdle that contains them. It is a girdle of fine gold. You see, my friend, divine love is no mere sentiment. Divine affection, however deep, cannot endure to see us defiled in our sin. He loves us, but has no love for our misdeeds. His affections are girt about with a golden girdle.
His head and his hair were white as wool, as white as snow, we are told. We think of his head. We go from breast to head. We think, therefore, of his wisdom. The wisdom of this world, says James on time, can be devilish. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable. Here incarnate is the divine wisdom, absolutely spotless in its purity.
Here is no compromise with sin. Here are no ambiguous schemes, doubtful in their morality. It is a wisdom, uncompromisingly pure. Says John, his feet were like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. And he might well see those holy feet thus, mightn't he? Because you see, in a sense, they had trod a furnace, hadn't they? Oh, my Christian brother, my Christian sister, here were feet that so recently had try- trod the very fires of the wrath of God when he bore our sin in his body on the tree.
Oh friend, our blessed Lord comes near you now and me, those holy feet that trod the flames of Calvary for our sin's sake, that we might be forgiven, comes now near us. Their feet, his feet glow. They intend to stamp out all impurity from our lives. Dread not the coming of those holy feet. Or isn't it in your heart a desire to be pure and to be like the Savior?
For you, forgiveness of sin is not enough, is it? Glorious as it is. You would be holy and free from sin. Welcome tonight, welcome this week, as the holy feet of the Savior come walking where you are. And says John, as he has enumerated the features that tell us of our Lord's holiness, he was marked also by power. Says he, his voice as the voice of many waters. Booming of Niagara Falls can be heard over wide distances all around the falls.
As John heard the voice of the Son of God, the Son of Man, the judge of his people, he said his voice was like the sound of many waters. Some people unused to the seaside, sleeping in some strange hotel, find it difficult to sleep. The constant booming of the waves disturbs them. What think you it sounded like? When the Holy Son of God drew near, and in a voice like the voice of many waters, he said to Ephesus, his church, you have things among you that I hate.
Oh, for the booming of that voice. God give us the grace to hear it. Friend, this is a wicked world. Not only the world, but Christian churches are in sore need of a greater concept of the holiness of God. We trifle with worldliness. We trifle with sinful ways. We bicker amongst ourselves. We tell untruths. We do unclean things. We think it all right because the world does them.
Oh friend, we need the help and the authority of the Holy Son of Man coming amongst us again this day and declaring with all his divine power and authority, there are things among you that I hate. God open our eyes in realism. Sure, he is meek and lowly, and his yoke is easy to bear. Let us not forget he is the holy and all powerful Son of God. And says John, he had in his right hand seven stars.
You know, earthly emperors, when they wish to impress us with their power, will hold a scepter. Of course, it's only a symbol, but they hold a scepter in their hands to proclaim their kingly power. Ah, go to Russia, and Mr. Gorbachev, to impress you, will bid you stand by his side while on May Day all his mighty cannon and rockets pass by. I invite you now to come and see the man in whose hand are not scepters merely nor rockets.
He holds, says John, seven stars in his hand. For this is the firstborn of all creation. He made the galaxies. He is the firstborn in redemption, and he is the head of the church, and he holds his churches in his hand. Says John also, out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. And that is interesting. Notice, if you will, the verb.
This was a sword that was proceeding, active, no longer sheathed. There were moments, my good Christian friend, when he came to be our savior, and they accused him of being a sinner and invited him to defend himself, nailed him to a cross and said that that was proof that he was a sinner. And he could have cleared himself, couldn't he? By telling the world whose sins they were that nailed him there.
Oh, what should we have said, friend? If then he had opened his mouth and talked of our sins, but like a lamb led to the slaughter, so he opened not his mouth and suffered for our sins and bled and died, and by his grace we have forgiveness. Ah, but now his mouth is opened, no longer silent. The sword proceeds with its sharp double edge. He will carve away at his people's sins that he might deliver them from sinning.
Finally, said John, his countenance was as the sun shining in its strength. Oh, what a vision. We remember him at his own express command, each Lord's Day, as Lord's Day follows Lord's Day. How often do we think of the face that was marred beyond human appearance for our sake? Less, perhaps, do we think of him and his face as it now is.
Or if we thought more of it, should we not sin less? It is as the sun shineth in its strength. Be careful, my brother, my sister, that we do not lapse into irreverence and lightly call him simply Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Pray open our eyes to see a face shining as the noonday sun, almost too bright to contemplate.
Time has come. Judge in his full length robe draws near to judge his people, for judgment must begin at the house of God. You say, how could I ever stand to face his criticism? Ah. Here is a lovely thing. But John tells us that holy apostle tells us that when he saw him, he fell at his feet as one dead, overcome by his majesty.
How will John hear his criticism if the glory of the Savior has overcome him so that he can scarce breathe or hear or speak? He must be made to stand up like a man and listen to the Savior, and so must we. How can I stand and face the criticisms of the Lord? It says John, he laid his right hand upon me, saying, fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore and have the keys of death and of Hades.
What for those keys? I think I hear them rattle now, don't you? But I imagine John heard them as he lay there almost dead and breathing his last under the weight of glory, and heard the jingling of the keys and heard the voice, I have the keys of hell and death, and might have thought that here was come the judge to open the door of ha- death and Hades and send John through them into perdition. Thank God, not so was it. Rise up, John, he said. For I am the first and the last and the living one, and I became dead, and lo, I am alive forevermore.
Oh, wonderful Savior. Call him judge then, if we must, and we must. For the Lord shall judge his people. At first he was our Savior, and the living one became dead. We know all too well why it was, and now he's risen. Proclaim the joyful story. The Lord's on high, and we in him shall live and never more shall die. I am alive again forevermore, delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.
Stand then, says our blessed Lord, then John, right. You have learned the secret of standing in the presence of Christ, in that sense, unafraid, because you know there is no longer any penalty for sin, for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. If you have learned that secret, then you too, with all God's people, can stand before the Savior, dare to hear the voice of his praise and the voice of his criticism.
And what shall he say? I know not what he'll say to you, in your heart or in your assembly. We haven't time to consider all that he said to these ancient churches. Just let me take three of them to sow a seed in your minds as we leave our study and go home to bed. The selection of these churches is not haphazard, as you will see if you consider the following, that in the first church he praised them for their hatred of evil, but he said they had lost their love.
And when it came to the middle church, he praised them for their love, but chided them for their allowing grievous evil in their midst. So do we easily become unbalanced, don't we? One man so hateful of evil, and rightly so, consuming his energies on rooting out evil from the church of God, and God be praised for all such, for the Lord too hates evil. How easily, on the other hand, do we become un- unbalanced and hate evil so much that we are unaware we have lost our first love for the Lord.
Could it be me tonight that he talks to? What about this central matter of my love for the Lord? Oh, what would avail all else if at heart I have grown cold to the Savior. But as I say to the middle church, he says, yes, you are to be commended for your love, the only church I think that is. A warm-hearted people they were, but now unbalanced in the opposite direction, so loving that they let any old evil creep into their church, even Christ dishonoring, fearful heresies against the Son of God.
Oh, listen, Christendom, listen, Christendom. Hear the word of your sovereign Lord, and let it be proclaimed in all the county of Durham in particular. It is not true love to the Lord Jesus, is it, to allow flagrant denials of his virgin birth and of his resurrection and of his personal glory to go uncensured in the church. We need love of the Lord and of his people. We need hatred of anything that derogates from his glory.
The first church hated but didn't love. The middle church loved but didn't hate it. And the last church, it didn't do either. Ha! It was neither hot nor cold, and it imagined that it was doing well. Oh, said they, we're not against these things, you know. We do believe in spiritual things. We're not against them. But then, you see, we're not like some. We don't take them to extremes, you see. Oh, I see. Ah. So you wouldn't call yourself, uh, cold, would you? No, no. On the other hand, when it comes to zeal for the Lord and zeal for his word, you wouldn't call yourself hot either, would you?
Oh no, you say, I'm very balanced. Thank you, says Christ, but if that's all you are, lukewarm, then one day I'll spew you in disgust out of my mouth. Or if there be one insult above all other insults to offer our glorious Savior, whose zeal for our salvation took him to the cross. It is the insult that patronizes him with a little and supposes that that will be enough. Better be cold, friend, frigid cold, than attempt to be half-hearted and lukewarm.
The Lord, therefore, give us grace to heed his comments, to think further about these things, and ask his help that in all these matters, discerning our faults, we may, by his grace, as he summons us to do, overcome to the glory of God. We have his divine promise. Everyone that is genuinely born again overcomes the world. Let me be sure then, there is evidence in my life that I am overcoming the world.
Or should it be that the world is overcoming me and continues to do so, and I grow careless of the fact, then shall I not remember everyone who is truly born of God, taken as a whole, does overcome. It would be a sorry and serious matter if I failed myself to overcome.
