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Let Revelation 1:12-16 give you a better picture of who Jesus is and see Him as the King in all His glory
Bible References Go Here Revelation 1:12-16 John 1:14 1 Timothy 2:5 2 Chronicles 13:5 1 Peter 3:12 Luke 22:61 Jeremiah 52 Exodus 38:30 Hebrews 8:5 Numbers 21: 4-9 Revelation 14:2 Revelation 19:6 Matthew 7:39 John 8:11 Hebrews 1:3 Romans 1:20 Ephesians 1:6 Hebrews 4:12 Judges 3:16 Ezekiel 21:3 Revelation 19:11-15 John 12:48 1 Kings 19:12 Matthew 17:1-2 Numbers 6:24-26 Daniel 7
as we’ve been discussing and we talked about this a little bit on wednesday as we introduced the book of revelation the bible is a book about Jesus Christ he is the main character and main theme of the word of God and it’s it’s uh you know for us we tend to go to the bible looking for answers to our problems and really what we ought to do is go to the bible to look what our problems actually are and we do that by discovering who the book is really about it’s not about us it’s not about say with me it’s not about us or turn to the person next to you and tell them with your it’s not about you right the word of God is about Jesus Christ the word of God is the word of God and Jesus was in john chapter one the word of God made flesh see the story is the story of God and Christ and the plan of redemption but the main character of the bible is not man the main character of the bible is Jesus Christ and so when we look at the bible as a whole the 66 books of the bible we see some divisions with regards to Christ we see the old testament as the preparation for his coming we see the prophecies and predictions and shadows and foreshadows and the types and and the anti-types and we see all that about Christ we see that in the garden we see it in the temple we see it in the ark we see it then the rock that moses struck when the water came out we see him in the prophets we see him in the judges it’s the preparation for his coming then we see matthew mark luke and john that’s the realization of his coming so the old testament is the preparation the gospels are the realization the book of acts is the propagation that’s when the story began to be told and spread and the holy spirit began to work in the early church and the gospel was propagated the story of Jesus propagated then we have the epistles written by paul and james and and and timothy and we we’re not uh and jude and we see these guys these writers of the word and they are making the explanation of Jesus Christ so they explain what he did and they explain the connection between the preparation and the realization and the propagation they explain the connection between the types and who Christ is they explain the the abolishment of the law for the jews through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the introduction of the gospel to the gentiles all an explanation in the epistles and then we see in the final book the consummation of Jesus Christ it’s all about Jesus Christ so when we look at the book of revelation we don’t want to go to the book of revelation looking for topics we don’t want to go looking for current events and and things we’ll find them there but the main thing that we want to see in the book of revelation is Jesus Christ his character his nature and i’ll be honest with you we’ve never seen him like this he is different in the sense not a different because he’s the same yesterday today and forever but we see him differently than we ever have before he’s described differently he even does some different things in the book of revelation in first timothy 2 verse 5 we see that the mediator was one and it was the man Jesus Christ and we see his mediation his ministry as a prophet and uh and it’s really quite beautiful he is now at the right hand of God and what’s he doing he’s interceding for us in the present right when he was on the earth he mediated and his message was a one of mediation one of reconciliation with God and now in our present time he’s interceding so as a prophet on the earth he is interceding for us in heaven he’s going to return as king and so we have the three ministries of Christ the prophet priest and king but i want you to look with me uh this morning in the book of revelation in chapter one on wednesday night we’re going to be going into chapter 2 and 3 and talk about the letters to the churches but periodically on sunday i’m going to pull out something that we what we looked at briefly and expand on it on sundays and give some and give some practical insight so revelation chapter one starting in verse 12 we’re going to see and i turned to see the voice that spoke to me john says having turned i saw seven golden lamp stands and in the midst of the seven lampstands one son of man with a garment down to the feet girded about the chest with a golden band now there’s a description of him personally that begins in chapter 14 that is absolutely astonishing it starts by saying his head and his hair were white like wool and white as snow and his eyes like a flame of fire his feet were like fine brass as refined in a furnace and his voice the sound of many waters he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength there are seven aspects of the person of Jesus Christ that i want to discuss for a few minutes this morning beginning with the very first his head in chapter 12:00:00 AM verse 14 his head now in proverbs chapter 20 verse 29 the white head is a sign of wisdom and purity and the whiteness of Jesus Christ here is not talking about just white hair so many people picture him in heaven the ancient of days as some weak old man sitting on a throne he’s got a cane you know he’s kind of there that is not the picture that john is presenting here nor is that picture of the old man on a throne one that we want to propagate the white here is talking about his purity not a description of his age how can God who is eternal age hello if God is eternal he has no age he doesn’t age Jesus 30 35 years old as a man aged right but there is no age God has no age Christ has no age in heaven and when he ascended and is operating as a high priest most of the the priests were middle-aged men but the bottom line here is that this is not a reference to his age so when we see this whiteness of Christ what we want to be seeing here and what i want to be thinking about is the absolute purity and glory and the manifestation of his power that we see john trying to describe it moves from the head to his eyes his eyes now his eyes have a little more his eyes have a description also his eyes like a flame of fire like a flame of fire this piercing purity and holiness a purification that comes from fire in second chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 the word of God says that the eyes of the lord go to and fro around the earth he is all seeing and all knowing the eyes of the lord go to and fro across the earth turn to first peter chapter 3 with me for a moment first peter chapter 3 verse 12 for the eyes of the lord are on the righteous the eyes of the lord around the righteous what’s that mean that means his care and concern and view and and observation are on the righteous they’re on the righteous but there’s something about the eyes of Jesus Christ you know when you look in a person’s eyes many have said this the eyes are a window to the soul often you can see and discern pain in a person’s eyes you can see sorrow in a person’s eyes you know you can see gladness in a person’s eyes you can often see tiredness in a person’s eyes what do we see in the eyes of Jesus Christ we see fire and purity we see energy and strength but there’s one case that was kind of interesting to me and this made me think of this in luke chapter 22 luke chapter 22. as predicted the rooster has crowed and peter has denied Christ three times and luke in in the in this passage in luke 22 verse 61 it says the lord turned and looked at peter peter remembered the word of the lord how he had said to him before the rooster crows you’ll deny me three times and peter went out and wept bitterly and i was thinking about the look what kind of a look did Jesus give to peter in that moment i don’t think it was a look of disgust because Jesus wasn’t surprised he predicted it i think it was a piercing look of the reality of our sinfulness peter came face to face with something he could not bear to see himself what peter saw what he looked at Jesus Christ must have been the piercing fire of the reality of truth and the truth was that as much as peter wanted to be strong as much as peter wanted to be bold as much as peter wanted to be the man he was not and in that moment that look from Jesus Christ exposed all of that with one look peter went out and wept bitterly when the world sees the eyes of God and every knee bows and every tongue confesses they’re going to see that look people will see the look of God they’ll see the eyes of Jesus Christ one day often times uh i when i pray i i think of his face and i i picture what his eyes might look like the eyes say a lot for those of you who ever gotta get a look from your wife you know what the eyes can do you know the eyes of a person [Laughter] you know the eyes of a person can be quite a thing to hear these uh these beautiful piercing holy eyes john looks at them and describes him here his eyes couldn’t he couldn’t couldn’t believe what he saw his eye he was stunned and as we mentioned on wednesday this is the disciple who was very close to Christ very intimate with Christ he described himself as the one Jesus loved and he’s making this description then it moves to his feet his feet were burnished or polished brass refined like it had been through the fire there’s no impurity in the feet of Christ here nothing impure about him ever and i was thinking about bronze and it brought me to jeremiah chapter 58 the description of the sacking of the temple uh by nebuchadnezzar jeremiah 58 yeah 58 where am i going 58. i did it again guys when the temple was sacked they took all kinds of bronze items from the temple and when they did so these bronze pillars chapter 52. i know it was the last chapter i don’t know why i wrote 58 down but that’s what i got in my notes chapter 52 zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in jerusalem his mother’s name was hamato a hamital the daughter of jeremiah of libna he did evil in the sight of the lord this is not a good king according to all that jehoiakim had done because of the anger of the lord this happened in jerusalem and judah until finally cast them out of his presence zedekiah rebelled against the king of babylon in the ninth year of the reign the tenth month the tenth day nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon and his army came against jerusalem and encamped it and they sieged it with a wall around it and it kind of goes on here and it begins to describe the things that were taken verse 17 bronze pillars that were in the house of the lord and the karts of the bronze sea that’s the brazen laver which were in the house of the lord the chaldeans broken pieces and carried the bronze to babylon they took away the pots and shovels and trimmers the bowls and spoons all the bronze utensils which were the priests which the priests ministered the basins the fire pans the bowls the pots the lamb stands the spoons and cups whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver the captain of the guard took away the two pillars 1c 12 bronze bulls which were under it and the carts which king solomon made for the house of the lord the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure there was an abundance of bronze at the temple bronze the capital of bronze was on our verse 12:00:00 AM the height of one capital was five cubits it’s just all this bronze and i you say what’s with all the bronze in the temple well when exodus instructions were given to moses chapter 38 verse 30 God told moses this is going to be a type or a copy of the one in heaven this tabernacle and all the inside articles in the holy of holies those were covered with gold once you got inside the holy of holies there was no bronze in there the holy of holies had the ark which was made out of wood but it was covered with gold and they had handles that ran through it and those were made of wood and they were covered with gold and all the rings were made of gold everything inside the holy of holies was gold but everything outside was bronze the the altar that the sacrifice was made outside the holy holy bronze the brazen laver where all the water was kept bronze the pillars outside the temple bronze everything outside was bronze everything inside gold in hebrews chapter 8 verse 5 all these things serve as a copy or a shadow both of what the temple looks like in heaven but also about Jesus Christ what he’s like in his bronze we see humanity that was outside the gold deity kingship holiness glory so inside was one thing outside was another to look at and what we saw and see here is bronze and outside where the temple and the lava were what would happen on those two bronze articles the sacrifice was made and blood was shed and collected in a bronze bucket and then cleansing was made from the bronze sea or the bronze labor atonement and cleansing judgment rendered outside judgment bronze that’s what i think in numbers 21 moses didn’t raise up a gold serpent God told them to raise up a bronze serpent judgment so here the feet of Jesus Christ are about to move to judgment it’s an amazing thing to think about polished highly polished bronze feet of Christ and the feet that are moving towards judgment in this scene the next thing we see in this passage is his voice it’s described as the sound of many waters how many have ever been niagara falls it’s quite a loud thing when you get close isn’t it it’s quite something this is mentioned a couple times the description of his voice like water a few times revelation 14 2 repeats it and it says here in revelation 14 2 i heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like a voice of thunder i heard the sound of harpists playing their harps 19 verse 6 revelation and i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude the sound of many waters psalm 29 psalm 29 verse 3 the voice of the lord is over the waters the God of glory thunders the lord is over many waters there’s a relationship of God speaking the sound of many waters and i i was thinking about the volume of many waters like if you’re standing by a waterfall the amount of volume of water that comes over a waterfall in a matter of just a couple of moments is immense even like a small waterfall somewhere thousands and thousands of gallons of water going over waterfall at the same time so it’s not just about the volume in terms of how loud but the volume in terms of quantity and amount and the authority that that water comes over a waterfall with absolutely incredible matthew chapter 7 verse 29 it describes Jesus when he spoke as one having authority he didn’t it wasn’t about that he was yelling it was about his words had authority even when he spoke calmly he must be born again those words have such authority to them he speaks with such authority here is john describing Jesus and he’s saying the glory from his of his head his head alone the magnificence the power and fierceness of his eyes his feet i’ve never seen his feet like this says john john saw Christ’s feet of course he did in three years all the streets they walked on the dirt all over his feet sandals i mean when you walked around your feet were filthy that’s why when you went into a house customary greeting was to wash your feet for you you came in someone’s house wash your feet we come in each other’s house now we might want to take off our shoes can you imagine if every time someone came over your house you had to help them wash their feet but the world’s a dirty place isn’t it that’s why the foot washing was so important but there’s also a cleansing power to his words the voice of many waters john chapter 8 this woman caught in adultery about to be stoned by these legalistic pharisees who trapped her and tricked her probably paid the guy who you don’t hear anything about he disappears and there she stands and Jesus with her and he says these cleansing words to her neither do i condemn you go and sin no more those words to that woman were not just an acquittal where she could run off and do what she was doing again the words that came out of his mouth had a cleansing power to her when Jesus spoke there was power and authority and when he said go and sin no more along with those words came an ability for that woman to live that life just like you and i when we hide the word of God in our heart it’s not that we’re learning rules to live by and we’re going to try our best to meet those rules there’s an authority and an ability that comes along with the word of God isn’t there there’s a strengthening that comes through the word of God many many times i’ve been at a place in my life where i’ve been ready to give up i’ve been ready to quit i’ve been ready to just cash it in and then the word of God would come in my pastor’s preaching or the word of God would come from my wife or the word of God would come from a dear friend who would speak truth into my life and it wasn’t just to say try to go do this there was a an ability and a strength that came from knowing God is for you who can be against you you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you he is strengthening us with his words the voice of many waters is a cleansing purifying ability giving life rendering supply these many waters point to not just authority not just cleansing but i think also the range of topics that come out of his mouth many waters God is speaking to us about prayer God speaks to us about love God speaks to us about sacrifice God speaks to us about discipline God speaks to us about caring God speaks to us about evangelism God speaks to us about conflict God speaks to us about speaking God speaks to us about anger God speaks to us about peace all the topics from the range of things everything from war to business to money to marriage the range of topics many waters with great authority and great cleansing he speaks now john gives the visual of that and says audibly it was overwhelming like being at the foot of niagara falls almost deafening the voice of many waters then we see his right hand now this is probably one of the most beautiful things i i’ve never seen i never saw this until last night i never thought this until last night and i’ve mentioned here the place of the right hand is a place of honor Jesus ascended into heaven in hebrews chapter one verse three he’s where at the right hand of God that’s the place of honor that’s a place of well done that’s a place of you belong in a special place of honor Jesus is at his right hand but the but the stars this is just incredible let me go to romans i want to read it read it again so i get it right in his right hand seven stars seven stars chapter 1 verse 20 describes the seven stars as the messengers of the church and i saw this and i thought how beautiful this is that Christ is at the right hand of God and we are in his right hand in a place of honor that just blew me away last night i i don’t know maybe it has a different effect on you but for me it floored me not only have i been accepted and when we think about ephesians 1 6 being accepted in the beloved sometimes we look at that and say well God is tolerating my presence and his life and i’ve been accepted seated above in heavenly places in Christ Jesus means that not only am i accepted and in a position that’s perfect and and irretrievable irrevocable but i’m now in a place of honor undeserved irrevocable honor is that something people live their whole life wanting to find that kind of acceptance and honor you want to be recognized and loved and appreciated there’s nothing like this i’m in the right hand of God i’m in the right hand of Jesus Christ i’m seated in heavenly places with him accepted and honored amazing menzo was talking about why people do certain things and we he mentioned one thing and i know what he’s talking about there some people do things so they can get or give me an award you know they want to get some kind of an award so they serve an organization and then they figure out a way to get on multiple boards and then they figure out a way to it’s just pathetic but that speaks to the root emotion the root nature of a person to lust after people’s recognition but getting recognition is different than honor and getting recognition passes but the honor we’re going to receive and have received in Christ will never pass i’ve been given the permanent honor of being called his child i’ve been given the permanent honor of being his son it’s an irrevocable eternal honor and that’s not something that passes then it moves to something we’ve heard before maybe seen before out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword no surprise there that’s the word of God right hebrews 4 verse 12 but i was thinking about the two edges of the sword by the way this isn’t some big long you know three musketeers sword these things were talked about they were you know frankly the the one like ehud made he had made a sword in uh judges chapter three and e-hud who was a judge remember the guy he killed big big uh he was a big guy and he stabbed him and sand came out i mean it was just the guy was just huge huge and it says that the sword he hud made had two sides two edges to it was a sword and to it were two edges i think it’s judges three verse 16. what is this about two edges on the sword had a somebody sent me a text and uh they said something about the sword that was kind of frightening to them like God’s coming after them with a sword she didn’t say it like that but i understood what she meant but you know something sharp about this long uh can do some damage in the right hand but it can also be used like a scalpel i mean sometimes God it’s not a sword he uses on me but a scalpel right he’s doing his little surgery and he’s like the book of hebrews describes it it’s separating for me and dividing things in my life and kind of setting apart listen this is why you’re doing this and why you’re thinking this let me expose your motives kind of like the eyes you know but it’s the word the word of God comes and it’s sharp it cuts through what it needs to get through imagine if the word of God was like a hammer described like a hammer thump thump thump no it it it gets through where it needs to go and does what it needs to do so the drawn sword in ezekiel chapter 21 verse 3 is a declaration of war so in this instance where we see this sword coming out of his mouth this is something i mean he’s prepared for war we know where he’s going very shortly we’re going to see when Jesus appears in the end of book of revelation 19 11-15 that sword is out and he devours his enemies with these words but it shouldn’t surprise us because john chapter 12 several years earlier about 60 years earlier john wrote or john hurd excuse me john 12 28 boy i’m really messing up my references the word of God will be the judge and the sole judge the only judge and so here the word of God judges mankind it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart the word of God is a judge in john 12. you got the right verse 12 48 i’m 28. this what happens when i’m on my reading glasses on i’m making my notes he who rejects me does not receive my words he that has that which judges them the word that i have spoken will judge him in the last day the word of God is the judge but you know the the two edges could also kind of point to this first kings 1912 when elijah’s running from jezebel God kind of quiets him down and he hears what’s referred to as the still small voice right sometimes God’s voice is still and small he whispers to us in our pain but he shouts to us in our pleasure here’s what that means when that’s been said that’s not a bible verse that’s just something that’s very revealing when we’re in pain when our heart is broken God has our attention he whispers to us but when we’re doing really great and we have all this pleasure in our life sometimes God’s got to do some yelling sometimes God’s got to do some shouting so he whispers to us in our pain but shouts to us in our pleasure maybe that’s what the two edge sword is sometimes it’s gentle sometimes it’s sweet kind and soft other times it’s a bit of a sharp rebuke but it’s never out of the hand of God the same hand that gives those gentle words to us with that sword would thrust into a place of necessity correction needed as well now my mother used a wooden spoon when she made her sauce and that sauce was something she started with a wooden spoon and it was the same woods but my mother had another use for the wooden spoon it was a two-edged wooden spoon the same love that she used to stir that sauce she took that spoon and wrapped it against my posterior on many occasions the same spoon same love different side she probably used the rounded back side on the back side and she stirred the sauce with the concave side right is concave be the right word or yeah whatever you get the point right so the two-edged spoon kind of like a twitch all right finally is countenance this countenance it’s described here shining like the sun and its strength matthew 17 verse 2. start in verse 1 verse chapter 17 after six days Jesus took peter james and john let him on a high mountain by themselves just the three of them and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light and behold moses and elijah appeared to them talking with him here in the book of revelation we see the same description of Jesus his countenance his face shining like the sun isn’t interesting that in heaven there’ll be no need for the sun or moon as the the light of God shining off the face of Jesus will light the whole place up pretty powerful but he’s with two people he’s with moses and he’s with elijah and they’re transfigured too you know what i love about this i love that you know moses was never allowed into the promised land remember he he couldn’t go in in deuteronomy he wrote the letter to the joshua for deuteronomy but he was never allowed to go here moses is there he’s in God is such a promise keeper moses had never seen Jesus physically no one before bethlehem saw Jesus physically as a man which is why i don’t believe melchizedek was Jesus but anyway to say that Jesus face shone like the sun this incredible bright countenance is shining glorious manifestation of power and purity and light light is such a beautiful thing and we need light today don’t we the little dark places of our life the darkness surrounding us in the world the countenance of Christ is needed more than ever it needs to be seen through believers let’s look at the book of numbers for a moment and chapter 6. chapter 6 24-26 this is the uh aaronic blessing the lord gave to moses over aaron and said the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you see for us we have nothing to be afraid of with the glory of God with the picture we see of Jesus here shouldn’t strike fear in our hearts but great joy the plan of redemption is going to culminate in the book of revelation and that time coming God’s name and holiness validated everything he said absolutely validated every eye will see him at one point every knee will bow every tongue will confess what a joyful time that will be for you and i what an amazing thing and the lord’s face shining on us is a beautiful faith it speaks of his grace and the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace for us the result of seeing his countenance is grace and peace those enemies of God when they see his countenance will be something quite different but john as we close after seeing this description writing it down does something you wouldn’t expect he says when i saw him i fell at his feet as dead but he laid his hand on me and he said don’t be afraid don’t be afraid someone uh someone communicated to my dear wife and said i’ve read the book of revelation once and it gave me nightmares and the pastor had me over the house or the assistant pastor something like that had me over and we watched a horror movie you know it’s like what what is this group of people you were with i don’t know but here you know when we read the book of revelation it’s about Jesus it’s about getting to know him and john who knew him better than all is so surprised at what he sees he’s so shocked he’s in awe now he knew Jesus was special he knew Jesus was amazing he saw Jesus raise people from the dead he saw Jesus feed the thousands he saw Jesus heal people the blind saw the deaf could hear again john was eyewitness to all those things and yet here he is he describes Jesus like this and says whoa boom down he goes he fell at his feet as though dead total adoration total worship and the first reaction is a natural one oh boy yikes but here he laid his right hand on me see that every word of God is so important what hand did he lay on him the right hand what does that mean again honor acceptance approval he puts his right hand on him and says you don’t get the fire of judgment the brass feet of the bronze feet of judgment you you get the right hand of honor john you’re not going to get the wrath you’re getting the honor don’t be afraid so many times Jesus said that to his disciples don’t be afraid don’t be afraid don’t be afraid father we want to thank you for this picture of who you are who Jesus is so powerful so purifying so glorious and great and grand indescribable as the ancient of days in daniel chapter 7 we see him he’s in full authority and in full control as he always has been but now we see him as king in all of his glory and we bow before you today lord humbled that you have honored us bless our day lord here God we ask you to minister each one of our hearts and help us to continue to follow you strengthen us with your word bless us with your spirit in Jesus Christ’s name amen