REVELATION 1:4-20 JESUS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 1:4-20 Jesus The Alpha And Omega

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. Last week as we began the book of Revelation, we did a little bit of an introduction, a little bit of an overview. And I want to kind of recap those things just to bring us up to speed with where we're at here in chapter 1.

Revelation is an unveiling of the future events.

The second point we saw last week was that Revelation was seen by John. That is that he was an eyewitness that God transported him by the Spirit into the future. He showed him right before his eyes the things that are going to take place and he was told to write down and take a log of the things that he saw, the things that were happening before his eyes. Then the third point we looked at was that Revelation is a blessed book.

There's a blessing promised to those who read it, to those who hear it, and to those who keep the things that are written in it. And I encouraged you last week to read through the book of Revelation. I hope you did that because there is a blessing that is promised as we read it, hear it, and keep it. You know, in going through the book of Revelation, there will probably be many things that you do not understand.

But that's okay, because the Bible is a spiritual book. The Bible is not an intellectual book. It's not, you know, just we're making head knowledge here. The Bible is a spiritual book, and as such, we can be edified, we can be ministered to, we can be blessed as we read through it, even when we don't understand everything about it.

And so I would encourage you to persevere, to persist and spend some time studying this book because there is a blessing that God wants to pour out in your life as you read, as you hear, and as you keep the things that are written in it.

Well, fourthly, we looked at the time is near. And we're looking very close as the end times stage is being set. The pieces are in place and we're seeing it begin to take shape so that these events can happen at any moment, at any time, we could begin to see the unfolding of all of the events that we'll be reading about here in the book of Revelation.

We took a quick look at the things which must shortly take place and I want to run through them with you real quick to make sure that you're familiar, to know what to look forward to. The first thing that we'll see as far as the future events are concerned is the rapture of the church and we'll talk more about that in the coming weeks and specifically in chapter 4, the time when Jesus died.

catches us up to meet with Him. Those who are His children, those who have believed in Jesus Christ, they will be raptured or caught up to meet the Lord in the air and then from that point to forever be with the Lord. And so that's something we look forward to.

After that, then this world is going to go through a seven-year tribulation period. Seven years of trouble and turmoil and death and disease and difficulty and catastrophic events like this world has never ever seen before. It is going to be far more intense,

than we can imagine and far more intense than the producers of 2012 could put on the screen, far more intense than what really we could understand or comprehend. The world is just going to be turned upside down during this seven-year tribulation period.

Then after that, the seven years of tribulation ends with the return of Jesus Christ. As He comes and He sets foot on the Mount of Olives and it's split in two. He puts an end to the battle of Armageddon as the armies have gathered together there. And then He establishes His kingdom for a thousand years.

the thousand-year reign of Christ or the millennial kingdom. There He's ruling, He's reigning, He's physically present here on the earth and the earth in that time is renewed and restored and it's going to be an awesome time of forced righteousness. There will be some who do not believe, there will be some who do not want to obey, but there will be a requirement that everyone walks right with God.

Well, at the end of the thousand years, Satan is going to be released. During the thousand years, he's in captivity. And at the end of the thousand years, he's released for a short time. And he leads one final rebellion against God. And he brings the people to Jerusalem to try to defeat Jesus.

But of course, it's Satan who is defeated. That final rebellion is put down and that ushers in the final judgment, the great white throne judgment. For all those who have not believed in Jesus Christ or those who do not have a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, they will stand before God at the great white throne judgment.

And it tells us there that whoever is not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. That is eternal judgment, eternal separation from God. After the great white throne judgment, then...

Revelation chapter 21 goes on to describe a new Jerusalem, a new heavens and a new earth, eternity that awaits us and again more there in store for us than we can imagine or that God could even explain to us. We just have to wait and see all that God has in store for us for the rest of eternity.

And so these are the things which must shortly take place. They must take place. That is that they are going to happen. There's no escaping it. No matter what the world does and what treaties are made, these things are going to take place. But they also must shortly take place.

which means they will happen quickly and also they will happen shortly. Any moment now, these things can begin to happen and can begin to unfold before our eyes. And so we're looking forward to what God is going to do in the future in these end times that we're living in.

Well, as we go through our portion for this morning, we're really focusing on the person of Jesus Christ as John has this incredible vision of Jesus. But let's start out in verse 4 and talk about a few things before we get to the main points. Here in verse 4, John introduces himself. He says, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.

And so John is introducing now this book. He's introducing himself and who this is from. He says, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. He's saying grace and peace from the Heavenly Father.

He's addressing it to the seven churches. Now, the seven churches are something we're going to discuss more in the coming weeks, so I'm not going to deal with that right now. I just encourage you to stay in tune and keep watching.

Come on back next week as we go on into the seven churches. We'll be talking more about that. The number seven is something we see throughout the book of Revelation. It's used 54 times in Revelation. It has special significance representing for us completeness or perfection or wholeness.

just as there's seven days in a week or seven major notes in a scale and so on and so forth. And so the number seven signifies completeness. And so he's writing to these seven churches, which represent to us the whole church or the complete church, even from historically from then until now. And we'll see that in the coming weeks. He's also addressing to these seven churches, which were actual churches in the region of Asia.

Now, when we think of Asia, we think of, you know, the continent. We think of China and Japan and Korea and those places. But really, Asia in John's day under the Roman Empire is what we call Asia Minor today. And it's the area that we know of as Turkey now. It's Western Turkey right above the Mediterranean Sea, right next to the Aegean Sea. That is the area that's known as Asia.

And so he's writing to these specific churches that are right there in modern day Turkey. And he issues them a blessing. He says, grace to you and peace, which is a common blessing, a common greeting for the Christians. We see that in Paul's letters as well. But he says, grace and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. A reference to our Heavenly Father who is eternal. He is eternal.

He was and He is to come. He is everlasting. No beginning, no ending. He has always existed and He will always exist. But He also says, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne. And so He's...

blessing them with grace and peace from the Heavenly Father, but also from the Holy Spirit. Now, there are some who suggest that these seven spirits before his throne are not the Holy Spirit, but specific angels that are sent by God to do his bidding.

But I think there's strong support and it's pretty clear that this is the Holy Spirit that's being referred to. There's also the sevenfold nature of the Holy Spirit as referenced by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2. You can...

Spent some time looking into that and looking at those seven things that are promised the Holy Spirit upon the Messiah that would come and specific things that the Holy Spirit would be working in his life. But also I think a clear indication that this is the Holy Spirit we'll find a little bit later in chapter 4 of Revelation.

In verse 5, it tells us, as it's describing the throne room of God, it says, "...from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices."

And seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And so the seven spirits that we look at here are later described in Revelation. They're pictured by seven lamps of fire that are burning before the throne. And if you go back to Zechariah chapter 4, as Zechariah has this vision for Zerubbabel,

God gives him a vision of a lampstand with seven lamps that are burning upon it. And there's olive trees and there's pipes that feed the lamps so they continually burn. But this lampstand with seven lamps, the angel, Zechariah is getting this vision. The angel says, hey, do you know what you're seeing? Do you know what this means? He says, I don't know what it means. And

And so the angel explains to him in verse 6, he says, And so that lampstand with seven lamps is a representation of the Holy Spirit. And so...

as John greets them with grace and peace from the Father, the Heavenly Father, but also from the seven spirits. It's a reference to the Holy Spirit. And then we see the triune nature of God as we go on into verse 5. He says, "...and from Jesus Christ." And so we see the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son, John is referring to, and blessing them with grace and peace from the Heavenly Father, from the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ.

The triune nature of God, another evidence or appearance that it is indeed reality. Now as we go on from here, John's really focusing on Jesus Christ because that's what this book is about. And that's who he sees here in this vision. He sees Jesus. And so we're going to spend some time focusing on Jesus. And there's 12 characteristics of Jesus that we want to look at here in this portion. We're

We're going to go a little bit quickly. So I encourage you to take notes and spend some time on your own to spend some more time meditating on these things and looking up some of the references that I'll share with you.

But the first characteristic we see about Jesus here in this portion is that He is the faithful witness. We see that as we go on in verse 5. It says, "...and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." He is the faithful witness.

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness of who God is. You remember Philip in the last days as Jesus was heading towards the cross. Philip makes the statement to Jesus. He says, just show us the Father and that will be enough for us.

And Jesus responds to him in John chapter 14 verse 9. He says, have I been with you for so long and yet you've not known me, Philip? He says, he who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Jesus is declaring to Philip, I perfectly and accurately represent the Father to you.

You've been with me for a long time, Philip. It's been three years that we've been together. And so you've gotten to know me. And Philip, as you've known me, then you know the Father. You know what the Father is like. You know who He is.

Jesus is a faithful witness. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 describes him as being the exact representation of God's glory or the express image of his glory. He perfectly and accurately represents who God is. He's also the faithful witness because, of course, everything that he said is true.

Everything that he said, all of his promises, all of his declarations, all of his statements, they're all true. They're accurate. They're in agreement with reality. They are the truth. And so you can trust Jesus.

He accurately represents God to us and his words and his promises are true. So the first characteristic about Jesus we see is that he is the faithful witness. The second thing we find here in verse 5 as well is that he is the firstborn from the dead.

He's the firstborn from the dead. Now, firstborn does not mean that he is a created being, as some would say. But the word firstborn really is a position of preeminence or a position of prominence. It's not about first in line or first created, but it's about a role and a position that Jesus holds, that he has.

He is the most important of those who are resurrected. He is the most important. He has preeminence. He is the first and foremost among them. Now it is also true that he is first in line to rise from the dead, never to die again. And so in that sense he is firstborn as well because everybody who is resurrected before Jesus, if you think about all of the different accounts in the scriptures we have of those who were resurrected before,

Miracles were done by God. Even Lazarus in John chapter 11, he was resurrected by God. He'd been in the tomb for several days, but God brought him back to life. And it was a great miracle. It testified that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah as he declared. But Lazarus...

He had to die again. The poor guy had to die twice. He had to go through that experience. And so his resurrection was not like Jesus' resurrection. Jesus was the first to resurrect, to receive a resurrection body, to never die again.

And being the firstborn from the dead means that there are those who will come after him as well. And that is those who believe in him. That those who believe in Jesus Christ, because he was resurrected, we also will be resurrected in like manner. And that we will resurrect and never die again. His resurrection guarantees the resurrection of his disciples.

And Paul gives that understanding very clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And I would encourage you to spend some time and look at that, how the resurrection of Jesus guarantees that you and I will be resurrected in like manner. Characteristic number three, Jesus is the ruler over the kings, also here in verse 5. He's the ruler over the kings.

Now it may not look like this is true as we look around the world today. It doesn't look like the rulers of this world are in subjection to Jesus Christ. We could look around and say, how could this be? It is true. Jesus is the ruler of the kings. But he is not at this moment forcing people to obey or to worship him. You know what he's doing? Well, we've talked about it before. He is patient. He's waiting patiently.

He's waiting for people to come to repentance. He will come and enforce His authority. He will come in judgment. But He's waiting, giving people an opportunity to get right with Him on their own so that they might have life, that they might not be cut off from Him forever.

In Revelation chapter 19, we'll get there one of these days. In Revelation chapter 19, it has the second coming of Jesus Christ. And it tells us that as he comes, he's riding on a horse and on his robe and on his thigh is a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's who Jesus is. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has all authority. He has all authority.

He reigns on high. We often will say to one another, Jesus is still on the throne. And it really is the truth. And it's something we need to remember. Even as we look around and we see things in our own life that trouble us, that disturb us, or we see things going on in this world and we think, man, where is God? We need to understand that He is on the throne, that He is coming back, and when He comes back,

He will be recognized as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There will be judgment for those who are not right with God. And so He is waiting, giving people opportunity to turn and respond to His offer of forgiveness and grace. Characteristic number four, we find that Jesus is Him who loved us here in verse five. He is Him who loved us.

This is amazing. Because here He is, King of kings and Lord of lords. I mean, He's got the position of prominence, preeminence. He's the most important person in all of eternity. He is the faithful witness. He exactly and accurately represents God. And He loved us. You know, He didn't have to care about us. He didn't have to pay attention to us. But you're His creation. You're special to Him. And He loves you dearly.

Now John says, He's Him who loved us. Now it's past tense. It doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't love you right now. Let me assure you, He does love you right now. But being past tense, John is making reference to what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross. He loved us and His love is demonstrated by what He did for us.

And paying the penalty for our sin upon the cross. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 tells us that. God demonstrates His own love towards us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the demonstration of God's love. Never doubt that God loves you. Don't question that. Don't get freaked out and think, oh, maybe God doesn't love me. When we do that, we're usually looking at the circumstances immediately that are happening in our life.

But if you want the proof of God's love, you need to look back at the cross. And that's the ultimate demonstration. That's where you can look back and you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt, God loves me because He died upon the cross for me. It's the demonstration. Even while we were still sinners, Paul tells us in Romans 5. It's not even that we were being nice to God, like, please God, please die for us, please let us into heaven. No. We were in rebellion against God. We were against Him.

And yet He died for us. That's the ultimate demonstration of love. He took the penalty of our sin at the cross because He loved us. Not only that, but the fifth characteristic we find also in verse 5 is that He washed us from our sins.

He washed us from our sins. He didn't just die upon the cross. He didn't just love us, but He did something about it. He took the penalty. He paid the price and He washed us from our sins. It says, with His own blood. This was something very personal for Jesus. He personally involved Himself and He said, I want you to be forgiven. I want you to be cleansed. And so He gave Himself. He sacrificed Himself.

And we were washed. Before we received this offer of forgiveness, man, our lives were filthy, weren't they? Full of sin and wickedness. Full of things that we're ashamed to talk about, perhaps. But Jesus has washed us from our sins with His blood. We've been washed. We've been cleansed. He's speaking of forgiveness here.

I like the way David Guzik puts it. He says, Jesus cleansed us from the deep stain of sin so that we really are clean before Him. I like the picture that that paints in my head. Have you ever got ketchup on your shirt? Or maybe some other type of, you know, thing that brings a stain. And man, it always happens to your favorite person

shirt or article of clothing, doesn't it? I mean, it's always that you're trying to be careful. When you're careless, you know, not much happens. But when you're trying to be careful, then that's when, you know, the lid's off on the ketchup bottle and you squeeze it. I do stuff like that all the time. And then, you know, so now you have a stain. Now, what are you going to do? Well, you go and you get the shout or, you know, whatever you try to put on there and you put it through the wash cycle and you pull it out. Oh, man, it still has the stain. So,

So you do it again, a second time through. Okay, well, it's faded a little bit. And if it's a favorite shirt, then it's like, it's not that bad. You can hardly see it. I'll still wear it. It doesn't matter that much. There's a hint of the stain there, but I'll continue to wear it. You know...

Jesus washed us, but it's not anything like that. The stains from our sin have been completely removed. There's not like a hint of, oh yeah, yeah, you used to be really bad, man. I can't believe, you know, Jesus lets you in his church. We're washed, completely cleansed. So much so, Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 11. He says, you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Now those, you know, doesn't sound very impressive, but remember what justified means. Justified means that God deals with you, that He relates to you, just as if you had never, ever, ever, ever sinned at all, not even once. God deals with us because of

Our faith in Jesus Christ, because we've received His offer of forgiveness, God deals with us as if never once have we sinned. Now, I know that I've sinned. And not just, you know, those B.C. days, not just those dark years that I shared about, but I sin. I'm a sinner. I fall and I stumble and so do you. Everyone falls short of the glory of God, Romans 6.23 tells us. But because Jesus has paid the price on the cross,

Because by faith we receive His offer of forgiveness. God deals with us as if we had never sinned. That is incredible. That is insane. How could God do that? He is the one who has washed us from our sins. He's forgiven us and He relates to us as if we had never sinned before.

Well, not only that, it gets better. Going on into verse 6, it says, And has made us kings and priests to His God, and Father to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The sixth characteristic we see here is that He has made us kings and priests. Here's what Jesus has done. Now, I think I would have been happy enough, you know, Jesus just...

did what we just talked about. He forgave us, you know. He could have just, you know, cleaned us up, you know, kind of set us on the shelf and say, okay, don't get dirty again and just kind of set us aside, you know, not pay much attention to us but, you know, at least we don't go to hell. I mean, that would have been awesome. But he goes beyond just...

forgiving us and cleansing us and washing away our sin, He then goes on to give us roles and responsibilities and privileges and opportunities to serve Him in His Kingdom. And He makes us a part of His plan. He makes us a part of what He wants to do. That is just amazing what God has done for us, what Jesus does for us. He's made us kings and priests. He gives us authority and responsibility.

And He lets us be a part of His work. You know, priests were a very important part of the Old Testament. They were representing God to the people and the people to God. They got to work closely with the Lord. They got to work around the things of God and enter into the sanctuary of God. And Jesus has paved the way. Those who have received Jesus Christ, we have access to God even today.

Far greater than what the priests had of the Old Testament. You remember in the temple as Jesus was crucified, the veil that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the sanctuary was torn in two, indicating that we have access to God. The way has been opened. God has prepared the way for us to be able to spend time with Him, to have access to His presence. And He's also given us the opportunity to represent Him to the world around us.

We are His witnesses. And so God has made us kings and priests. And that's for right now. But going forward, what He has in store for us when He returns to reign for a thousand years, the Bible says that those who are His church, who are caught up, who are raptured with Him, they'll be coming back to rule and to reign with Him for that thousand years. We'll be kings and priests in that time as well. And then on into eternity, who knows what God has in store for us.

Here's what we do know. Christians have a unique and specific role in God's plan, both right now and in the things to come. That's amazing. God deals with us so graciously, gracefully, with such mercy and love.

The seventh characteristic we find in verse 7 is that He is coming again. Verse 7 says, Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Here in verse 7, we find that He is coming. He's coming with clouds, He says. Now, the whole book of Revelation is really building up to this point. This is the pinnacle of the book, the return of Jesus Christ there in Revelation chapter 19. That's really the whole point. It's all about Jesus and His return.

And so he says, behold, that's look, pay attention, watch. He is coming. We need to be ready. He is coming again. It says that he is coming with clouds. Now, Jesus came once. We talk about Jesus and his first coming. And that first coming is when he came as a man. He was born of a virgin. He was raised by Joseph and Mary. He was anointed by God.

He ministered on the earth for three years. He went to the cross, paid the price for our sin, was buried, resurrected and then ascended to the Father. That was His first coming or the first advent of Jesus Christ. He came as the suffering servant as described by Isaiah in chapter 53. Now He's coming again the second time and He's going to set His foot on the earth once again. But this time, not as a suffering servant,

Not as one who has humbled himself, as we're told in Philippians chapter 2. That's what Jesus did. He humbled himself and came in the form of a bondservant and became obedient to God even to death.

No, this second coming will not be like that. This second coming will be in power with all authority and in judgment. I love the way that Pancho Juarez describes it. He says, you know, in Jesus' first coming we have the background song Silent Night, right? It's just nice and peaceful and serene. And then his second coming, he says, you know, he's got the

King of kings and Lord of lords written on his robe and his thigh, and he's coming down from heaven. And he says he's got P.O.D. playing in the background. Just some hard, heavy metal, just rocking the world, man. That's what Jesus is going to do. It's a good contrast of his first coming to his second coming. Sorry, I didn't try to sing any P.O.D. songs. That's not... But he's coming with clouds.

It tells us in Revelation 19, verse 14, that the armies of heaven, that's you and I, the church, as we're caught up to be with Him, we return with Him. It says we'll be clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and we'll be following Him on white horses. And so here we are in white linen, white horses,

on white horses, coming with Jesus. He's coming with the clouds. You can kind of picture, you know, the scene as Jesus is coming back and there's this multitude of people clothed in white on white horses. There's just these huge clouds that are coming with him. He is coming again. And it says, every eye will see him. This event of Jesus' return is not going to be secret. It's not going to be exclusive. It's going to be something that happens and everyone sees it.

Jesus described it as lightning that flashes from the east to the west.

You know, if you're standing out in a lightning storm, if you've ever seen, you know, a good storm like right in front of you, and, you know, the lightning is just awesome, and it flashes, and boom, the whole sky lights up, and, you know, often, you know, you're counting afterwards, one 1,000, two 1,000, trying to figure out how close it is, right? But when the lightning flashes like that right in front of you, you know, you don't have to look at the person next to you and say, oh, did you see that? Like, you know, it's like, just everybody sees it right there. In the same way, when Jesus returns...

everyone will see it. It'll be obvious. It's going to be a worldwide event. Every eye will see him. He goes on to say, even they who pierced him. And so here we find out it's not just a, you know, a physical thing or people with physical eyes will see his return, but this is a supernatural event. Even those who pierced him, they will see the return of Jesus Christ. It's going to

Shatter the barriers, the physical limitations. Those who have gone before, those who have died already, will see Jesus return. In Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10, Zechariah has a similar promise. He talks about the nation of Israel and how they will look on Him whom they pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for his firstborn. And so it's at this time that the nation of Israel

is going to realize this is the Messiah. They're going to look on the one whom they pierced. Well, John tells us here that all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Here in verse 7.

All the tribes of the earth will mourn. Now at the return of Jesus Christ, remember the armies are gathered together. It's the battle of Armageddon. These armies have been in rebellion against God. Throughout the whole book, we'll be seeing as God gives them opportunity and shares the gospel and how the people say, no, we're going to continue in sin. They've been in rebellion against God and now they're going to mourn because He has returned. They've been fighting against Him. They've been trying to escape His authority.

They've been trying to outrun the consequences for rebelling against God. And here they realize there's no more running. Here he is. He really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And they will mourn because he's coming at this time in judgment. And so the seventh characteristic is that he is coming again. Number eight, we find that he is the Alpha and the Omega. Look at verse eight.

He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Here Jesus describes Himself as the Alpha and the Omega.

The word alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, like we would call the letter A. And so that's alpha. Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, or for us it would be the letter Z. And so he says, I'm the first of the alphabet and I'm the last of the alphabet. I'm the beginning and the end, he goes on to describe. He's saying, it's all about me.

That's what Jesus is saying. It's all about Him. And it really is all about Him. He goes on to describe Himself as who is and who was and who is to come. Again, He's always existed. Jesus, like the Heavenly Father, is eternal. John 1, verse 1 tells us that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's always existed with God since the beginning or in the beginning.

He's always existed up to this point and He will always exist from here on out. He is eternal. He is the Alpha and the Omega. You know, the book of Colossians tells us that everything that exists was created by Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ. And not only that, but everything is held together continually by Jesus.

It's all about Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the one that's in control. He's the beginning and He's the end. You can't outrun Him. You cannot escape Him. He's the beginning and the end. He's always existed. He's the Almighty, all-powerful. Jesus Christ is God. Verse 9.

He says,

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

As John continues on now, he describes a little bit of the events, the circumstances that was going on as he is receiving this vision from God. And he says, hey, I'm your brother and companion in this tribulation that's going on.

During the writing of this book, there's some severe tribulation that's happening, some severe persecution against the church. Under Caesar Nero, there was intense persecution, and the Apostle Peter and Paul were put to death under Caesar Nero. After him was Caesar Domitian.

And there was intense persecution as well under his reign. And it's during his reign that John says, I'm exiled to the island of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so the church is being persecuted. They're being attacked for their faith and for the gospel message. In fact, church history tells us that John was boiled in oil.

And as they attempted to boil him in oil, they were frustrated because it didn't harm him. God protected him in the boiling oil. And so when that didn't work, then they banished him to Patmos where he had to work in mines. It's a place that

you wouldn't want to go. We think of an island and we think, oh, that's great. It sounds nice. Like Cancun or something. Something nice. Something beautiful. It's not. It's not at all. It's not somewhere you'd go on vacation. There's no resorts there. You don't take cruises there. It's a tiny island in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey. It's all rocks.

It's a volcanic island or a volcanic rock island. There's no plants. There's nothing. They had mines there. And so they would send people there because there was nothing. And they would make them work and dig in the rocks and things like that. And so he was there. He was sentenced there.

for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. But of course, you know, God gives him this incredible vision even as he's exiled there. And then after Caesar Domitian dies, then the next Caesar is a little bit more favorable and so John is released and he's able to return to Ephesus.

And so he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Now, that could mean that he was in the Spirit on Sunday. Sometimes we refer to Sunday as the Lord's day. But I think more likely is that what John is saying here is that he was taken by the Spirit to the day of the Lord. This day of the Lord, which is a day that expands. It's not 24 hours, but it refers to the time period of the end time events. And so he was taken by the Spirit on

to the day of the Lord, and he hears behind him a voice as of a loud trumpet. He hears behind, it's really the voice of Jesus we'll discover, and he says, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. Again, he is the beginning and the end. And he tells John, what you see, I want you to write it in a book and send it to the seven churches. And so, again, God is writing these things, or giving these things to John, so that he would write them down and send them to the church.

These are things, here in the book of Revelation, are things that God wants us to know. He wants the church to receive these things. He wants the church to understand these things, to think about and meditate on these things. He wants us to pay attention. That's why He gave John the Revelation.

So he says, write them down and send them, or send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. And then he lists them out to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. So if you want a quick geography lesson, here is what it looked like at that time as far as the boundaries were concerned. The area here of Asia...

is where we're focusing our attention now. It's modern day Turkey. You see the great sea is down in the southern part of it or down below it. The Aegean Sea is just to the left. And then you have all of those seven churches right there in that region. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And so they're literal churches that exist right there. Jesus is writing to them.

and he says, I want them to read about and hear about these things that you're seeing and these things that I'm going to show you. Also, you see Patmos. It's a little bit of an island. It's kind of hard to see, I know, because it's dark, but it's there in the Aegean Sea. And so he's right there. He receives this vision, and Jesus says, I want you to send these things to the churches that they would know these things and that I'm coming quickly.

So Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, we find, is the eighth thing. Characteristic number nine, we find that he is in the midst of the seven lampstands. Look at verse 12. It says, And so John hears this voice behind him like a trumpet.

Say, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. Write down these things. Send it to the churches. And he turns around to see the voice that is speaking to him. And as he turns around, he says, I see seven golden lampstands.

Now we don't have to wonder like what is he seeing here. He tells us in verse 20, Jesus interprets for us what these lampstands are. They are the seven churches that he's just mentioned there in the region of Asia Minor. And so here John turns around and he sees seven lampstands and then right in the midst of it, the Son of Man, that is Jesus Christ, standing in the midst of the lampstands.

John sees Jesus and where is he? He's in the midst of the churches. You know, that's what Jesus promised. He promised he would be in our midst. Right now, as we're gathered together this morning, Jesus is here in our midst. He's here with us. He told us in Matthew chapter 18 verse 20, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.

As we gather together, Jesus is right here with us. We find Jesus in the midst of the churches. You know, the church throughout the New Testament is called the body of Christ. And also it's called the bride of Christ. Jesus is intensely interested in his followers.

We're His body. We're His bride. As we gather together, He is right here with us. And that's why it's so important, as the command is given in the book of Hebrews, that we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Because Jesus is intensely interested. As we gather together, He's in our midst. He's with us. He's in the midst of the seven lampstands. Number ten.

Jesus Christ is glorified. We see that a little bit in verse 13. He's clothed with a garment to the feet, girded with the chest with a golden band. Then in verse 14, His head and hair were like white wool as white as snow and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and His voice as the sound of many waters.

He had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. Here John gets to see Jesus. And John, you know, he had spent a lot of time with Jesus.

But he didn't know him in this form. You know, when John was there in the upper room with Jesus at the Last Supper, it was John who was leaning against Jesus' chest. You know, he was close with him. He knew him. But when he knew Jesus, Jesus was in his humbled state.

In Philippians chapter 2, it describes that for us. Now here he sees Jesus and he's, well, pretty intense. Incredibly different. He is glorified. Jesus Christ is glorified now. He describes him as having hair like wool and white as snow. His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet are like fine brass. In his right hand he has seven stars. Out of his mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

The brightness of the sun, that's like the countenance of Jesus Christ. This is Jesus in his glory. Now Jesus prayed when he was here on the earth as he was heading towards the cross. In John chapter 17, verse 5, he says, Oh Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory I had with you before the world was.

Jesus said, look, I had glory before. I've humbled myself for this season. Glorify me again with that glory that I had before. And what we find here is Jesus in his glory.

In Daniel chapter 7 verses 9 and 10, Daniel has a vision of the ancient of days. As you compare this vision and the description that Daniel gives, you find it's almost identical. It's very similar to what John describes here in Revelation chapter 1. Also in Daniel chapter 10 verses 4 through 7, Jesus, well, we believe it's Jesus, but Daniel has someone else appear to him, someone in glory. And again, the description is

Just like what John records here for us. And so there's Jesus appearing to Daniel in his glory before he comes as a man. And then he becomes a man, being God, became man, walked this earth, dies for our sin, resurrected, ascended to the Father, and now he is glorified again with the glory that he had before the world was.

And so we see Jesus glorified. Verse 17, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. Here is John sees him again. You know, he was real comfortable with Jesus when Jesus walked the earth. But now as he sees Jesus in his glory, he doesn't, you know, lay his head on his chest like in the Last Supper. He falls down before him as dead.

This is what happens when you stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You know, it's a little humorous to me when people boldly and arrogantly say, you know, God's going to have to explain some things when I stand before Him.

You know, you kind of get this visual, you know, there you are before God and you kind of got your hands on your hips and you say, God, that was a tough time in my life and I don't understand it. You got to tell me and you explain to me why I went through those things. I'm listening. I'm waiting. Come on now. Like, that's not how it's going to happen, guys. You're going to stand before God and you're going to fall down as dead because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. When you stand before Him in His glory, there's nothing else you can do but to fall before Him as dead.

to worship Him, to lay down before Him, to fully surrender to Him. That's all you can do. And here we see the glorious thing. Jesus extends His right hand. He lays His hand on Him and He says, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. Don't be afraid, John. John, I've taken care of your sin. I've paid the price. John, you have right relationship with me. Don't be afraid. You and I, as we stand before God, we are going to fall down as dead.

And the reality is, is that if we are His disciples, if we've received His forgiveness that He offers to us through the cross, when we fall down as dead before Him, He'll lay His hand on us and He'll say, do not be afraid. There's no need to fear. I've taken care of everything. I've got you covered. But if you stand before Him and you've not received His offer of forgiveness and the grace that He extends to us through the cross, if you've not believed in Jesus Christ...

You'll still fall down before him as dead. But instead of him saying, do not be afraid, he'll say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. And that's the choice that we have. We get to choose which one he'll say to us. Don't be afraid or depart from me. And we choose by how we receive Jesus Christ right now. If we believe in him and submit to him and surrender to him.

When we stand before Him and fall down as dead, He'll say, don't be afraid. I'm with you. I've got you taken care of. But if we resist, we try to live on our own righteousness, we try to do our own thing, He'll say, depart from me. The choice is ours. We have to choose because Jesus Christ is glorified. He's King of kings and Lord of lords. Characteristic number 11.

Verse 18 says, I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. He lives, he was dead and he's alive forevermore. Jesus is making sure it's very clear. There's no mistake here. This is the same Jesus that John knew previously. This is the same Jesus that fed the 5,000. It's the same Jesus that went to the cross. This is Jesus Christ.

He lives. He was dead, but he's alive forevermore. Again, resurrected to never die again. He lives everlasting. There's no question here. There's no mistaken identity. His identity wasn't stolen. He's not just pretending to be Jesus. This is the same Jesus. He is in glory now. And the twelfth characteristic we find is that he has the keys of Hades and death. He has the keys.

He has authority is what this means. He has the authority of Hades and death. He has full control of death and hell. Absolute control. And that's why, hey, if you're afraid of death, if death is a fearful thing to you, well, you just need to get to know Jesus Christ because He has the keys and He can give you everlasting life. If you don't want to go to hell, well, just get to know Jesus Christ because He has the keys. He's in control. He set the captives free.

He conquered death and he conquered Hades. He has the keys. Finishing up here in verse 19, it says, "...write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this."

We'll talk more about this verse in the coming weeks as well. This is really an outline for us of the book of Revelation. It divides it in three parts. The first part is the things that you have seen, and that's the vision we're talking about here in Revelation chapter 1. Then the second part is the things which are. That's the time of the seven churches. We'll deal with that in chapters 2 and 3 over the next couple of weeks.

And then the third part is the things which will take place. And that's the whole rest of the book because that's primarily what this book is about. The things that are to come and that precede the return of Jesus Christ. So chapters 4 through 22 deal with those end times events and the things that will take place after this.

Then in verse 20 he says, "...the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands." The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.

And so here he describes for us or interprets for us the vision as John saw him there in the midst of the lampstands with seven stars in his hands. He says, well, here's what that means. That was indicating to you that the stars are the angels that are in my hand of the churches and then the lampstands are the churches themselves.

And so it gives us a precedent, really, as we look at the symbolism that we find in the book of Revelation. We understand it's not, you know, up to our own imagination of what it means, but God gives us insight. And so as we look at the rest of the book of Revelation, where there is symbols and signs that are used, we'll be using the word of God to understand that.

the vision that God is giving here to John. And that's why it's important to know the whole of Scripture so that we can better understand the things that are to come. And so 12 characteristics here we see of Jesus Christ. He's incredible. I'm just going to run down them very briefly. Number one, He is the faithful witness. He accurately represents God to us. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the ruler over the kings.

He is the one who loved us. He has washed us from our sins. He has made us kings and priests. He is coming again. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is in the midst of the church or the seven lampstands. He is glorified. He lives. He was dead. He was alive forevermore. And He is the keys of Hades and death. This is who Jesus is.

This is who we worship. This is who we will stand before. This is who we will give an account to one day as we go into eternity. We're going to stand before Jesus one day. You know, for those who believe in Jesus Christ, who have received Him as Savior and Lord, that's a glorious thing. We look forward to the things that are to come.

But today, if you're here, if you're listening to this, and you do not have a right relationship with God, if you've not received the forgiveness that is offered to you by Jesus Christ and the work that He did upon the cross, well then, standing before Jesus is a fearful thing. You need to know that Jesus loves you. And He loves you so much that He died upon the cross for your sin. He took the place of

The penalty that was due to you and to me for our sin. And He paid that price upon the cross for us. He took the penalty. He offers to us a washing to be completely cleansed and forgiven. And He offers to us eternal life. He can do so. He has all authority because He has the keys of Hades and death. And so He offers to us everlasting life by believing in Him, by receiving Him and what He did for us upon the cross.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.