SPEAKER_00: Hello, Pastor Tablet Garrett here at First Baptist Church of El Daredo, Europe.
SPEAKER_00: Joined us today in a series called A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus, which is a study in 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout this series, we're going to learn a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who makes disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to run this race as we walk through 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so thankful that you've chosen to join us today, and I hope you are encouraged from God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: Open with me as we begin a new series this morning that will take us through the fall in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: So just turn to the end of your Bible, to the book of Revelation, where we'll be throughout the fall.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to look at really the entirety of chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: But for now I'd like to read the first three verses to us, and then we'll pray together as we begin.
SPEAKER_00: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, would you speak now through your word, speak by your spirit to our hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, there's so much we need to learn and to grow from in this book.
SPEAKER_00: It's such an encouraging book.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, encourage us from your word, even now we ask.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: A great story from former President Ronald Reagan, and one that maybe you've heard him tell it before because he told it every chance he got.
SPEAKER_00: Long before he was president, he would he would call Chicago Cubs baseball games on the radio.
SPEAKER_00: What was interesting, uh, back in the 1930s, he wasn't doing it from Wrigley Field.
SPEAKER_00: He was not in the ballpark.
SPEAKER_00: He was in a radio studio in Des Moines, Iowa.
SPEAKER_00: And he was there in Des Moines, and there was this telegram ticker.
SPEAKER_00: The the wire would just send him a little on the telegram ticker, just a little blurb about what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Like it literally might say, so-and-so uh pops out third baseman.
SPEAKER_00: So-and-so home run right field.
SPEAKER_00: That's all he gets, and then he kind of fills in the blanks for the radio audience.
SPEAKER_00: Well, one day Billy Jurgis was up to bat, and the telegram ticker completely went blank.
SPEAKER_00: The line died.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Ronald Reagan always thinks on his feet, he he didn't want to risk losing his radio audience.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't want to risk saying we're having technical difficulties, and so people turned to the next station on the dial.
SPEAKER_00: So what he began to do is just started making it up.
SPEAKER_00: And he knew this that there is one play in baseball that does not get put on the scorecard, and that's just uh a foul ball.
SPEAKER_00: And so Billy Jergis suddenly had the longest at bat in baseball history, and it was just foul ball after foul ball, and then he started getting creative with it.
SPEAKER_00: At one point said, This one just missed a home run by a foot.
SPEAKER_00: At one point he said, This foul ball went into the stands.
SPEAKER_00: There's currently two little boys fighting over the ball, and he's just building up this story until the ticker comes back on and it says that Billy Jurgis uh popped out on his first pitch.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about that story is this.
SPEAKER_00: I I think it describes how a lot of people think about life.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe a lot of people think about the future.
SPEAKER_00: That is this life or is our future, is all it is just is it just being made up as we go?
SPEAKER_00: That that there is some cosmic figure, we could call it uh your God, or we could say, you know, the the universe does so and so, or the the God or the gods plural.
SPEAKER_00: They're just they're just kind of making it up, or just random blind chance.
SPEAKER_00: It's just as we go, everything's just kind of being made up as we go.
SPEAKER_00: What does the future hold?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: What will it look like?
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: It's all being made up as we go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm convinced so many people in our world believe that, and here's what I think that the book of Revelation tells us that there is not some cosmic being on the throne or maybe in a studio in Des Moines, Iowa, just making it up as he goes.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, there is a God who reigns and has authority over all creation, and every part of the future is planned and is known, and the victory is secure.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we read Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want to know this, to put it simply, we want to know that everything's gonna be alright, that everything's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00: And Revelation is this book that reminds us that our God in heaven is not just making it up as he goes, everything is going to be okay.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read Revelation 1 this morning and see three things.
SPEAKER_00: And the first is this Revelation is meant to be read for encouragement and hope.
SPEAKER_00: This is a book that is meant to be read for encouragement and hope.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 again: the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, that word revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and let me just tell us there that that is a word that does not have an S on the end.
SPEAKER_00: You'll get a lot of people call it revelations.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: It is the singular revelation over the course of this book, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is a revelation?
SPEAKER_00: This apocalypsis, it's an this apocalypse, this book that really is just, here's the term for it, an unveiling.
SPEAKER_00: What was formerly hidden has now been made known.
SPEAKER_00: To unveil.
SPEAKER_00: Think of uh uh a bride coming down the aisle.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe nowadays there's not uh as many of the traditional veils worn, but the bride coming down the aisle and removes the veil and and what was previously hidden, now you see your beautiful bride.
SPEAKER_00: Think of uh outside of an arena when they put a brand new statue up outside of an arena, they have the big uh kind of press conference and unveiling ceremony, and there's that large kind of black sheet draped over it, and at some point in that ceremony they unveil the statue.
SPEAKER_00: What was previously hidden has now been made known.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we have here: the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so from the start, what we need to see is uh God is not in heaven seeking to hide anything from us.
SPEAKER_00: He's not in heaven seeking us to be uninformed or unenlightened about what is ahead or nervous about who gets the ultimate victory.
SPEAKER_00: This is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to know.
SPEAKER_00: And what we say about revelation really is true about the entire Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: To my first graders, that Bible you have in your hands even now, the entire thing is the revelation of God in one sense.
SPEAKER_00: He has unveiled that which he desires us to know.
SPEAKER_00: We can know who he is and his character because he delights for us to know.
SPEAKER_00: He is a communicating God.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: The unveiling, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean it is the revelation that comes from Jesus Christ, of Jesus Christ, as in it comes from him?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it the revelation of Jesus Christ as in the revelation about him?
SPEAKER_00: And to that I would say it's both.
SPEAKER_00: It is the revelation that is from Jesus Christ to us.
SPEAKER_00: It is the revelation that start to finish is all about Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see more on that really all throughout.
SPEAKER_00: But the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place, he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.
SPEAKER_00: So now we see this is the revelation of Jesus Christ concerning the things that will soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we look through Revelation this fall, let me tell you, if you're the kind of person that in your books or your movies or you know, uh any kind of story you see, if you like clear, chronological, straightforward storytelling, there's gonna be some times revelation's difficult for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the revelation of Jesus Christ is gonna take us a few different directions.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly we're going to deal with the future.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you can't look at Revelation without dealing with the future, what must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: We're also gonna see it's a book that deals a lot with the past.
SPEAKER_00: This blows me away that in the 404 verses that exist within Revelation, the 404 verses, 278 of them make allusion to the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: 278 of them, kind of, not a direct quote, but make some type of allusion towards the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: It's a book that loves looking backwards as well of Christian history up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: But certainly, as we'll see, it's a book that deals with the present as well.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: It is written to Christians at this present time when this is written.
SPEAKER_00: And so it deals with past, present, and future.
SPEAKER_00: But then I'm interested in this.
SPEAKER_00: It says uh it's concerning the things that must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: This is written in the first century concerning the things that must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: So, what are our options here?
SPEAKER_00: Option number one is that John was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not just John was wrong, but the Holy Spirit inspiring the word to John was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you, I don't love that option.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you don't either.
SPEAKER_00: Option number two is that God is so mighty and authoritative and sovereign, he might have a little bit different definition of soon than you and I have.
SPEAKER_00: That his pay grade is slightly above ours.
SPEAKER_00: And we can see this.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody in this room, let's say, that's over the age of 30, if I said this statement, Christmas is coming soon, you would quickly agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I both know we're like three weeks away, it's gonna be Labor Day, then we're gonna look up and we're gonna be out at trunk or treat, we're gonna look up again, Thanksgiving lunch is gonna be on the table, and we're just gonna blink an eye and we're gonna be at the Christmas Eve service.
SPEAKER_00: You and I both know the fall semester.
SPEAKER_00: That's just how it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, go up to anybody, let's say, below the age of 12 and say, Christmas is coming soon.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say you're crazy.
SPEAKER_00: It's August.
SPEAKER_00: It's never going to get here.
SPEAKER_00: My list is made, but but but it's never going to arrive.
SPEAKER_00: We have so far to go.
SPEAKER_00: The same term, but we're we're seeing it from different angles.
SPEAKER_00: Can we allow the fact that God might be a little bit uh over our idea of time and soon?
SPEAKER_00: So, in the New Testament letters, when Paul even talks about being in the last days, was he wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: That we can say maybe even now we're in the last days, and yet those last days may have a lot more days than we realize.
SPEAKER_00: Or it could be the case that before this sermon ends, we hear the trumpet sound.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd say, praise God to that.
SPEAKER_00: That'd be a great morning.
SPEAKER_00: But this is on God's timetable, and by the way, that's a really good thing.
SPEAKER_00: And the most important thing is that when it says the things that will happen soon is the idea that we know and understand that yes, we're on God's timetable, but they will happen.
SPEAKER_00: The win is up to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But the fact that they are going to happen, that's set in stone.
SPEAKER_00: These things will take place, and that's encouraging, and that is good news.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the revelation, verse two, the one who uh servant John who bore witness to the word of God, to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophet, prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you, on the authority of God's word, just by opening your Bible and reading these verses in your Bible or on the screen, you are blessed this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean that literally.
SPEAKER_00: Look what John says.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who hears and reads these words.
SPEAKER_00: As this letter was marched around Asia Minor to these seven different churches, those in the rooms were blessed by the hearing of the word.
SPEAKER_00: As we sit here this morning and we read the words, we are all blessed by God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to realize that Revelation is a book that is meant to be read and meant to be read for our encouragement and hope.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm convinced that sometimes we can go to two different extremes with Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Extreme number one is this for the Christian who just doesn't go there.
SPEAKER_00: And the Christian who just says, and by the way, I can't exactly blame you at all times because we're tempted to say it's just it's a strange book.
SPEAKER_00: It starts to make sense at first, but then there's a beast who shows up and a dragon that shows up, and uh Babylon's there, and there's uh a lake of fire and all this stuff, and so we're tempted to just say, uh, I've that's just the book I'm not going to go to.
SPEAKER_00: So one extreme is to say we don't go there at all.
SPEAKER_00: But you and I both know there's the uh the other extreme where some individuals just want to live there.
SPEAKER_00: And and some individuals want to crack the code of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: And they've got revelation and they've got a newspaper and they've got a calculator and they're crunching the numbers and they're looking at world events.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I'm saying there's never a time for that, I'm just saying they want to treat it as if it's this code that they've got to crack.
SPEAKER_00: And they'll they'll they'll tell you, as some people have even calculated, I've I've looked deeply at it, and the Lord is coming back on this day.
SPEAKER_00: And then that day comes and it doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: And then they realize there was one verse we lacked.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the new day.
SPEAKER_00: We're tempted to one of the two extremes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna tell you, neither of those extremes, I believe, is accurate.
SPEAKER_00: I believe what the Christian ought to do is simply read Revelation, study Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that you can be encouraged and you can have hope.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the book exists.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is this I want us to see.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation is written to specific Christians, but written for all Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's written to specific Christians, but written for all Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: John to the seven churches that are in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: John is writing to the seven churches that are in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean he's only writing to seven churches, but these are the seven prominent churches where this letter, oh, this letter will kind of go on tour to the seven churches, and surrounding churches will come in here as well.
SPEAKER_00: So not just to these seven churches, but certainly these prominent churches, John is writing to them.
SPEAKER_00: So it is written to these specific Christians.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pull up uh the first map.
SPEAKER_00: You know I love a map.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so this first map, I just I'm zooming out here just to show you where we're at, the Mediterranean Sea here.
SPEAKER_00: And now zoom in uh on this next map, and what you see, this is modern-day Turkey, and we're gonna start on that little island of Patmos in the bottom left corner, and and you see these stops along the way where this letter is gonna make this tour to these seven churches.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what I want us to realize: that this message is giving to specific people in specific places at a specific time.
SPEAKER_00: And it's important to realize that because what we see is these Christians in the first century deal with specific things.
SPEAKER_00: They are a people who are here in modern-day Turkey, what they call Asia Minor, and they are a church that is being persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: They are a church, and we'll see over these next few weeks a little bit more what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: But they are a church that uh is in a difficult moment in their existence.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, context matters.
SPEAKER_00: If we wrote a letter to the American church, let's say Paul wrote a letter today to the American church, first of all, he'd he'd probably have a good amount to say.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but if he wrote a letter to the American church today, uh in August of 2026, that might look different than if he wrote it in August of 2020.
SPEAKER_00: You know what was going on in August of 2020 and 2020, just a different time.
SPEAKER_00: You know, six years apart, but it's seemingly very different world.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't just have to be years apart.
SPEAKER_00: If you were writing a letter uh to an American church on September the 10th, 2001, compared to September 12th, 2001.
SPEAKER_00: It's just two days apart.
SPEAKER_00: But those are uh completely different worlds.
SPEAKER_00: Context really matters.
SPEAKER_00: Looking and saying what is going on, as we'll do over the next few weeks within these churches, what does the persecution look like, and how does revelation provide hope for this church at this time, it matters.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing it's written to specific Christians, John writing to the seven churches, but is written for all Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're gonna find this to be true.
SPEAKER_00: There are gonna be some ways as we look that the first century is very different from the 21st century.
SPEAKER_00: Very different.
SPEAKER_00: But then what we're gonna find is this there's gonna be a lot of ways where nothing's really changed.
SPEAKER_00: That mankind is mankind, sin is sin, and here's the good news uh Jesus is still Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so it was written to specific Christians, but for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: And then I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep going, starting in verse five.
SPEAKER_00: And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I love about this.
SPEAKER_00: This revelation, this unveiling given by the Holy Spirit to John in the first century, to these first century churches, meant to be read throughout the centuries, so that uh a church in Elderator, Arkansas can read about these words in 2026.
SPEAKER_00: All of this is involved here, and yet what is at the center of everything that is being written, the center is simply this the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That still, what John wants you to know from the Holy Spirit, what the Spirit wants you to know, is that Christ is the one who has died and is living again.
SPEAKER_00: That was good news in the first century, that's good news today.
SPEAKER_00: That the gospel is true and it is at the center of all things.
SPEAKER_00: And so that leads me to the third point, which is this revelation is all about the victory of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation is all about the victory of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then we hear that, and then we ask ourselves, well, why why do we avoid it?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know there's this language that that is so sounding strange sometimes, and the beast and the this and the that.
SPEAKER_00: But when you bring it all down, it's about the victory of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's a book that ought to be read and enjoyed and provide encouragement and hope.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: I, John, the writer there, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, you've got John, this disciple, the apostle of Jesus, the John who wrote the Gospel of John, who wrote the letters 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.
SPEAKER_00: This is the John we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about something.
SPEAKER_00: John is at minimum in his early 80s at this point.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he has to be when you think about the fact that he was a disciple of Jesus, if Jesus' ministry, and it was from around 30 to 33 A.D., and let's say John at least had to be 20 or so.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's got to be at earliest in his early 80s, receiving this and writing this letter.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting what he says.
SPEAKER_00: I was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: What this means and what tradition also speaks to us about is simply the fact that John was not there voluntarily.
SPEAKER_00: He was exiled to the island of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he refused to stop preaching the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because they wanted him to stop talking about Jesus and he just couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Well, let's put him on this island in the middle of the Mediterranean and let's just keep.
SPEAKER_00: Them there.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what they did.
SPEAKER_00: I want to, again, I do love maps, so let's put the uh map number three up, the next map on the list.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that is our picture of these seven churches, and you see on the Mediterranean off the coast of Turkey, this little island.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the next one now.
SPEAKER_00: There it is, the island of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Now, not a very big island.
SPEAKER_00: At its uh greatest width, about five miles wide, at its length, about seven miles long.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna save you from having to do the math because I love this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: How big is that actually?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I looked it up.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you stand right at this church and you go down the hill of Northwest Avenue and you arrive uh, let's say, at the Chick-fil-A, I kind of arrange my life around church and Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's 1.8 miles.
SPEAKER_00: Let's round up to two.
SPEAKER_00: Let's make it easy.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say it's two miles from us to Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: So at its widest, uh you you've got what, one and a half, uh no, no, two and a half trips to Chick-fil-A and back, uh, or to Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: At its longest, you've got about three and a half trips.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a big island.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a big place.
SPEAKER_00: Now, go to the next picture.
SPEAKER_00: This is a picture of the island of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you are saying, I'll sign up for that punishment right now.
SPEAKER_00: This island in the middle of the Mediterranean.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can throw me there this instant.
SPEAKER_00: But in the truest sense, this was not a vacation for John.
SPEAKER_00: This was an exile because of his testimony to the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: He was not living a luxurious life.
SPEAKER_00: He was in his 80s, he was here at Patmos, and he was hearing from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we see?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's his task.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit comes and gives him this word and says, Write what you see.
SPEAKER_00: But now let's see what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Then I turned to see the voice who was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
SPEAKER_00: The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow, his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
SPEAKER_00: In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, what I believe is probably the only response when you turn around and you see this individual, John says, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
SPEAKER_00: From the start in Revelation chapter one, what we've got to realize is we are dealing with someone different here.
SPEAKER_00: We are dealing with someone who is higher, who is more mighty, who has more authority than we are.
SPEAKER_00: From the start, the person we are dealing with is so far above us that when we see him, we just fall down dead because, uh or like we're dead because it's really all we can do.
SPEAKER_00: It's the response we see throughout scripture, Isaiah chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah comes into the presence of God and has this vision of God on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing he says is, Woe is me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a man of unclean lips.
SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_00: We see in Ezekiel chapter 2, verse 1, Ezekiel gets this grand vision of God on the throne in Ezekiel chapter 1, and the first words of chapter 2, verse 1 are simply this: God's saying, Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: That implies something.
SPEAKER_00: That Ezekiel is at this point not on his feet.
SPEAKER_00: He could not be on his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel chapter 10, Daniel gets this vision of God on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: And what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: That he falls on his face in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And back here to Revelation, we see John sees this grand picture of Christ upon the throne, and he falls on his feet, at his feet, as though dead, but then it continues, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I'm John, I'm sitting there, or maybe laying there on the ground saying, Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing I should do in this mo in this moment is fear.
SPEAKER_00: You just told me your eyes are like fire, a two-edged sword comes from your mouth, your voice is like the many waters, but he says this, fear not.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I am the first and the last and the living one.
SPEAKER_00: Here's something interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: This is elevated language here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on the throne says, Why should John not fear?
SPEAKER_00: It's because you're right, John.
SPEAKER_00: I am the one in authority.
SPEAKER_00: I am high and lifted up.
SPEAKER_00: But John, here's the story now.
SPEAKER_00: But you're with me.
SPEAKER_00: You're with me.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And how in the world are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: How can you come into my presence and and and say you are with me and you are able to stand before the throne simply because of this, that I'm the living one.
SPEAKER_00: I died, and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about the fact a moment ago that in Revelation, what is at the heart of it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And not only does he say, I died and I live now forevermore, but he says this I have the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: What a strange term.
SPEAKER_00: I have the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It simply means this.
SPEAKER_00: It's a way of saying I have authority over death itself.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I have in our pocket, if we have keys, that really does, in a very real sense, announce some sort of authority.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it the fact that after this service I can't go hop in your car and drive it home?
SPEAKER_00: I have no authority over your car.
SPEAKER_00: How do I know I have no authority?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have the key to your car.
SPEAKER_00: You do.
SPEAKER_00: Why can't I not uh uh come to your house this afternoon?
SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe eat lunch at your place this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be kind to to invite me.
SPEAKER_00: I yell y'all are great people, but but but I don't have the authority to do that uninvited.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't have the key.
SPEAKER_00: I can't just come in.
SPEAKER_00: Keys really do mean authority.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Jesus is saying here is I have the keys to death in Hades, the place of the dead, I have the keys on it.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Jesus have the keys?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the one that has conquered it.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout history, people have died.
SPEAKER_00: You know that, I know that.
SPEAKER_00: But there is one who has died and has risen again from the grave to glorified life, and that is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And he is the one who now has authority through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, he now holds the keys to death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: And that's good news because he keeps them locked up and keeps them at bay.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you are in Christ, they cannot hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: I think about other keys and authority that he has, and we'll read later on in a few months about the fact that there will be a day when uh Jesus unlocks the gate for Satan to come out of his place where he is bound.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's a terrifying thought, but why does he unlock that and let Satan come out of the place where he's bound?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that he can then be escorted to the lake of fire where he will go to his destruction.
SPEAKER_00: We're dealing with someone who is so high and lifted up, and we will see throughout Revelation that there is no thought throughout this story that anyone else other than Jesus is the main character of this account.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one that is high and lifted up.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one above all.
SPEAKER_00: It's been interesting over the last few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: The uh Homer's Odyssey has been in the pop culture world lately because of a new movie that's come out and uh written close to 3,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you remember a time in middle school or high school where you walked through uh at least a portion of that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a fascinating story.
SPEAKER_00: It narrated, the whole thing narrated uh by uh really this unseen third party, this kind of authoritative, uh omnipresent third party that narrates the story and tells you what's going on, except books nine through twelve.
SPEAKER_00: Books nine through twelve are not narrated by this kind of third-party omniscient individual, which is interesting because books nine through twelve are where we get the famous stories where we're really nervous about if they're gonna make it, the story of the Cyclops, the story of Circe, the story of the siren songs, all there in books nine through twelve.
SPEAKER_00: Again, not narrated by this uh anonymous third-party omniscient narrator.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, who narrates books nine through twelve of the Odyssey?
SPEAKER_00: Odysseus.
SPEAKER_00: And so as I'm sitting there reading, and they're in these perilous moments where you think, can they survive?
SPEAKER_00: Can they make it?
SPEAKER_00: The odds seem stacked.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way they get out of this circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: All I've got to do is step back and say this.
SPEAKER_00: Who's telling the story?
SPEAKER_00: And that reminds me, if Odysseus is the one telling the story, then Odysseus is gonna make it.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask the question of revelation and all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Who's telling the story?
SPEAKER_00: Who's given the account?
SPEAKER_00: Will Jesus be victorious at the end of this book?
SPEAKER_00: Will Jesus make it because the beast seems serious and the dragon seems serious, and Satan seems serious, and the the the odds seem stacked against him.
SPEAKER_00: Will he survive?
SPEAKER_00: Will Jesus make it?
SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus doesn't make it, that certainly means I won't make it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh can we have hope as we read this book?
SPEAKER_00: And I just remind us to ask, who's telling the story?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells the story.
SPEAKER_00: This is his book.
SPEAKER_00: He's narrating it.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to speak this over your life, not just over Revelation, but over your life.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you're in a season or have been through a season, or maybe you know you're coming up on a season that is very difficult.
SPEAKER_00: That you haven't walked this road before, you haven't, you haven't seen these days before, you don't know what's ahead, you don't know what's on the horizon, and you're nervous about things in life.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to encourage you that there is someone who is telling your story and writing your story, that that is speaking over you and guarding your steps every step of the way.
SPEAKER_00: That if you know Jesus Christ and have a relationship with him, his spirit goes before you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean we know everything about the future of our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean we get the full blueprint.
SPEAKER_00: What it does mean is there's a faithful God who leads us into his glorious future.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know that in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just convinced of this church family that Revelation is a book that's meant to be read for encouragement and hope.
SPEAKER_00: It's a book that is written to specific Christians but for every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to remember this morning, it's all about the victory of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about these months ahead as we continue to dive in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to know from week one of our series if you don't know in your own life that this story can be your story, if you don't know that the victorious one Jesus, if you don't know him as your Savior, maybe today's the day you meet him for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: You meet the one who died for your sin, who rose from the grave for your sin, who defeated sin and death, and delights for you to come to know him and spend eternity with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we do what we do here.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want you to know that story.
SPEAKER_00: We want this future to be your future.
SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus wants that for you.
SPEAKER_00: So in just a moment, I'm gonna be down front.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to know Jesus for the first time, I'll be down front.
SPEAKER_00: Would love to talk to you about it.
SPEAKER_00: If you maybe want to join our church, be part of our church family, please come.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about baptism, have a pastor pray over you.
SPEAKER_00: However, you might want to respond this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be down front.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray for us now and then we'll worship together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for the truth of the gospel, for the hope of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you are writing our story, that you are narrating the story of our lives, and we can find confidence and hope in that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a confidence and a hope that the world cannot give.
SPEAKER_00: But only you can.
SPEAKER_00: So if there's one this morning that needs to know that kind of confidence for the first time, would it be the case?
SPEAKER_00: There's some that want to come be a part of this church family.
SPEAKER_00: We would delight in that.
SPEAKER_00: However, someone needs to respond, will they do so now?
SPEAKER_00: In these moments, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand as we worship?
SPEAKER_00: I'll be down front if you'd like to respond.