Quite a large number of you were not
with us this morning.
The word then was foundational to what the
Lord has given me for this conference.
I will do my best without wearying those
who are present with a repetition to help
you all into the message.
We are occupied with the revelation of Jesus
Christ.
Or the word can be changed and
retain the same meaning, the unveiling of Jesus
Christ.
I think it is impossible to take up
this book which has that as its title
and begin to read without very early
in our reading becoming aware that a tremendous
piece of business is on hand.
The impression that very quickly begins to
take hold of us is we are in
the settling of some big issue.
We are faced with some tremendous and
momentous decision.
Everything here says now a
long outstanding question is going to be answered.
A long standing issue is going to be
settled.
Time has come when what has been
a matter of controversy and conflict for a
very long time is going to be headed
up and settled.
Surely that is what ought to be the
impression as we begin to read.
Anybody who can take up this book and
begin at the first chapter and even in
the first words and just read it as
something printed without becoming aware that there is
something tremendous involved and in view surely has
missed the whole meaning and value.
Of the book.
And that is just what the book is
all about.
It is the settling of this controversy which
has gone on through the ages.
This answering of the question.
This concluding of the whole matter.
And writing forever and ever finished to one
face.
And that matter, that issue, that controversy, that
question is just who is going to govern
this universe throughout the ages of the ages.
Who is going to govern?
That has been a matter of contention through
thousands of years from the creation.
All history has circled round that matter, that
question.
Now says this book we are going to
settle it once and for all.
And when you have really got hold of
that you have got the key to the
book.
And to everything that is in it.
It will interpret all that is in this
book.
Much as we said this morning that is
difficult to understand in itself.
Almost bewildering in its detail and the manner
and form of its presentation.
But as you go on you say now
what does that mean?
Well in some way that relates to this
ultimate and consummate issue.
Government of this universe as God intended when
he created it.
The issue is now is come the kingdom
of our God and of his Christ.
The climax of history.
Well now that helps you right into where
we were this morning with a great deal
of detail.
And we proceed from that and with that.
We are going to look into the part
of the first chapter we read earlier.
And work right to this very matter we
have mentioned.
Notice begins with the revelation of Jesus Christ.
That's grand, that's fine.
All that is coming subsequently.
The warfare and the welter of kingdoms and
nations.
All the manifold movements comes back to this.
All right.
The revelation of Jesus Christ that stands over
it all is the answer of it all.
The unveiling of Jesus Christ.
How he stands related to everything in this
universe.
It is a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Same word here as Paul used in his
prayer in the letter to the Ephesians.
He would grant unto you a spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.
Spirit of revelation.
Unveiling in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That's what it is.
And this unveiling of revelation is here said
to have been something that God gave to
his son.
Needs a good deal of perhaps imagination.
Quite thought to grasp the significance of these
statements.
But here in the language of men it
is said that God let his son see
his place in relation to all the consummatory
movements and activities of the ages.
Where he stands as the ages are brought
to their culmination and their consummation.
Father God gives to his son to see
his place in it all.
Which he showed or gave to his son.
And then it goes on to show to
his bondservants.
That is general, not particular.
Not just to apostles.
Not to some special people.
Just to his bondservants.
You and I come into that category.
The bondservants or bondslaves of Jesus Christ.
This unveiling is given by God to the
son through an angel to John for us.
Point is that any true servant of God
ought to be acquainted with all that appertains
to the purpose of God in Christ Jesus.
And he sent and signified it to his
bondservant John.
Notice the title John gives to himself.
He does not say John the apostle of
Jesus Christ.
He calls himself the bondservant and then in
verse 9 he says I John your brother.
John always speaks on the family basis and
level.
Brings himself into very close relationship with those
to whom he writes as a member of
the family.
Brings them right in.
Not on official ground.
But on the ground of life.
We are in this with John.
That is what John is saying.
We are in this with him on the
very basis of family life.
I John your brother.
Brother.
In the isle, it is called Patmos.
For the testimony of Jesus he says.
For the testimony of Jesus.
And being there I am your brother and
partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom
and patience in Jesus.
Be patient as we work on through these
details.
In the isle.
Patmos.
For the testimony of Jesus.
Partaker with you in the tribulation, kingdom and
patience in Jesus.
Now the question at once arises.
This gets us very near to the heart
of the whole matter.
Why was John in Patmos?
Because he says for the testimony of Jesus.
That is not very enlightening.
The question is a bigger one than that.
Why was John in Patmos and being in
Patmos in the tribulation that is in Jesus?
And the answer to that question is in
this whole book.
It takes the whole book really to answer
that question.
And may I say here by way of
parenthesis.
Incidentally the answer may account for the tremendous
battle that has raged over this book.
You know or you may not know the
very great battle raged over the admission of
this book into the canon of the scriptures.
Oh what a battle.
To have it bound up in the divine
library.
To allow it to be included in the
bible.
Real big battle raged over that.
But at last the battle was won for
its inclusion.
I take that as having some significance.
But then what a battle over the book
since it's been in.
Pointed out this morning the many diverse schools
of interpretation.
The controversy that has raged over this book
through the centuries.
The confusion that has been brought about by
the way in which the book has been
handled.
All the divisions that have sprung up.
And there is no end to them.
Only about a year or so.
A year or 18 months ago a new
division sprang up in America over this very
book.
A fresh split on its interpretation.
And they are fighting there at one another's
throats.
About this quite minor point of interpretation.
But there it is.
What does it mean?
I say that there is an explanation to
all that.
It is not just.
The answer to our question I think may
be the explanation of that long drawn out
controversy around this book.
The answer then to why was John in
Patmos is in the first place found in
that which obtained in the world at that
time in the form of emperor worship.
Some of you will know that the Roman
Caesars claimed to be divine.
And therefore they claimed human worship.
Somebody has said they posed as gods and
did the work of the devil.
That's significant.
Julius Caesar was worshipped.
Octavius was called Augustus, reverend.
Caligula demanded that his image should be put
up in the Holy of Holies in the
temple in Jerusalem.
He was killed before he was able to
do it.
That carries some significance.
And this emperor under whom we believe John
was exiled to Patmos, the Mishian, was called,
actually called, our Lord and God.
They usurped the place of God.
They claimed the worship of man.
They took to themselves deity.
So, the issue is clear.
There is no mistaking it.
It is Caesar or Christ.
For the apostolic proclamation everywhere was, without any
mistaking it, Jesus Christ is Lord.
That's the testimony of Jesus for which John
was sent to Patmos.
The issue is clear cut.
Quite clear cut.
It's a very significant thing that the Jews
were dealt with comparatively leniently with the Christians.
They did suffer under Rome, but they suffered
nothing like the sufferings of the Christians.
I say that's significant.
They had crucified the Lord of Glory.
Therefore the devil is not so much concerned
about them, but these people.
These people who will have no compromise on
this matter, the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ
as God, as the Son of God.
There can be no reconciling of Caesar and
Christ.
Christ and Caesar.
That's the issue.
And dear friends, when John says, in the
tribulation in Christ.
The implication is that the tribulation or the
suffering is always proportionate to the place that
you give the Lord Jesus.
If you give him a second or a
third place, well you'll have a comparatively easy
time.
Put him where God has put him.
Make him Lord of all and of everything.
And you're in for tribulation.
In for tribulation.
So it was with John.
All this surely is gathered up into the
very title.
Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of
the dead, the ruler of the kings of
the earth.
Say that in the face of the Caesars.
The ruler of the kings of the earth.
You're in for it.
When you realize what store the Caesars set
by their divine prerogative.
The ruler of the kings of the earth,
Jesus.
Jesus Christ.
You and I, dear friends, never realize the
implication of that title.
You know that Christ is only the Greek
for the Hebrew Messiah.
The whole conception, birth of the Hebrew and
the Greek Messiah and Christ was his kingship.
Anointed, anointed.
Christos, the anointed of God.
And that anointed meant nothing less than absolute
rulership, supremacy.
To speak that name, Jesus, the anointed, Jesus,
the Messiah, is at once to throw a
trowel at that whole empire of the Caesars.
No wonder the apostles said that no man
can call Jesus Christ but by the Holy
Ghost.
They knew it.
You've wondered what that means because you can
all call Jesus Christ.
Flibbly easily say Jesus Christ.
But go into that realm.
Live in that day.
And it would be the most terrifying thing
to publicly say Jesus of Nazareth is the
anointed of God to be the ruler of
the kings of the earth.
You need the Holy Ghost to make you
bold enough to say that.
And dear friends, that is not so remote
in the past.
There are many, many today who are afraid,
so to speak, of him.
And afraid for their lives.
You go into fanatical Mohammedan countries and proclaim
Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.
You do it with your life in your
hand.
You need the Holy Ghost for that boldness.
Well, you see, here we are right at
the heart of this thing.
Jesus Christ.
The faithful and true witness.
That word witness, as you probably know, is
the same word as martyr.
Martyr.
The faithful martyr.
All right, John's in good company.
Jesus Christ, the faithful martyr.
The faithful and true witness.
It cost him his life to stand for
his kingdom.
It cost him his life at the hands
of every devil-inspired instrument that knew the
issue.
Knew the issue.
The issue of that man was nothing less
than the dominion of this world.
And the devil knew it.
So he would say, you're of your father,
the devil.
He was a murderer from the beginning.
They murdered the Prince of Life.
On this one matter, his place in the
eternal counsels of God.
As Lord, as King.
Firstborn from the dead.
I have something more to say about that
shortly.
The ruler of the kings of the earth.
Well, these titles just set forth the stages
of his progress to the throne.
Faithful martyr.
That was the way of the cross.
Firstborn from the dead.
The way of the divine vindication.
Ruler of the kings of the earth.
That is the glorious end of the cross
and the resurrection.
Ruler.
Ruler of the kings of the earth.
Satan.
Who knew him?
Satan's agents and fires betrayed their knowledge of
him when they, the demons, said, I know
thee whom thou art, the Holy One of
God.
Satan knew him and knew his divine destiny.
And so he took him up into a
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of this world and the glory thereof.
And said, all this will I give thee
if thou wilt.
Now here we are.
Back on this thing.
Worship me.
Worship.
Where worship is to be.
You see, here's the Caesars again.
Worship me.
Jesus refused that dominion at the hand of
Satan and took it by the cross.
And here, this book sees him in possession
of it.
The ruler of the kings of the earth.
If you have any question about that by
reason of the seeming power of world rulers
in our time, power of world systems, how
they do afflict the church and the saints.
Read the book of the Acts again and
you will see in that book the ruler
of the kings of the earth wielding his
power.
A herald learned something of that and others.
We know now, we know now that this
wonderful book of the revelation of Jesus Christ
has been fulfilled in a very large degree
the very empire that denied him his place
and lordship and set itself to destroy every
trace of his kingship has gone to dust.
Daniel has a very, very real place here,
hasn't he?
You remember then the vision and the fourth
kingdom of iron, which undoubtedly was the Roman
Empire.
And in the days when that kingdom has
been reached from Babylon onward, in the days
when the Roman Empire has come into being,
the vision goes on.
And I think we've lost a good deal
of the real point of that vision.
The God of heaven, the God of heaven
produces a kingdom.
I saw, I saw in the vision a
stone cut without hands.
Hold, I would like to dwell upon that
for half an hour.
A stone cut without hands and it smoked
the image.
And the image, by that smiting, crumbled to
dust.
The stone itself rolled on as it rolled,
gathering momentum.
It gathered volume until it filled the whole
earth.
Well, we're in the, in that, we're in
that.
This empire which set itself up against the
Lord and his Christ was smitten by that
stone cut without hands.
And it has crumbled to dust, there's no
doubt about it, it's literally fulfilled.
But the stone, the stone of this other
kingdom of our Lord and his Christ has
gone on gathering momentum and gathering volume as
it has gone on, reaching into all the
nations.
Well, that perhaps doesn't stir you very much,
it's so commonplace you know it.
But here we are.
The ruler of the kings, Advia, he came
to that position through the suffering of death.
For the time being, as I have said,
I'm leaving out that section which gives us
the revelation of Jesus Christ in person.
We'll come to that again perhaps.
Here let us note that we are now
introduced at this point to two things.
Firstly, his victory, his victory.
And that can be summed up in two
or three verses.
I am the first and the last, the
living one.
I became dead.
Behold I am alive forevermore and have the
keys of death and of Hades.
That's his victory.
The other is his character, which we shall
reserve for another time.
Just a few minutes on this, his victory.
I am the first and the last.
That's victory in a statement by itself.
And it's important to recognize the significance, the
particular significance of the use of that title
in relation to this book.
Here we are at the end, at the
consummation of everything.
Now we have come to the culmination of
all things.
And he declares, I was the beginning of
all things.
Go back to Paul's letter to the Galatians,
aren't we?
For that, in him, through him, unto him,
were all things created.
Go back to Paul's letter to the Galatians,
aren't we?
For that, in him, through him, unto him,
were all things created.
Things in heaven, things in earth.
He is before all things.
I am the first.
As I was at the beginning and as
I was the beginning of all things, I
am the last.
I am the end.
The end corresponds to the beginning.
It's no other.
It's no other than himself.
I am the first and the last.
That's a tremendous statement.
I am simply gathering up all things into
my hands.
All things in the end are with me.
Everything has got to answer to me at
the end.
In all things, he has the preeminence.
I am the living one.
I became dead.
Now, I want to say a word about
that way of expressing in a minute, but
let's stop again.
I am the living one.
I became dead.
I am alive unto the ages of the
ages.
There was a reason why the Lord Jesus
said that.
You know, Nero, under whom the apostle Paul
suffered and was executed, was regarded as perhaps
the most ferocious of all the Caesars up
to his time.
But there was one who exceeded him, and
that was the one under whom John suffered.
This Caesar, the Mincian.
Do you know what was said about him?
This Caesar was said to be Nero, come
back from the dead.
He was called Nero, Nero survived.
Raised from the dead, back again, to carry
on his nefarious work.
John is suffering under the one who is
said to have died and risen again.
Jesus takes hold of that.
Rides hold of it.
Says, I am the living one.
I became dead.
I am alive, not for a human tenure,
but unto the ages of the ages.
So we can accumulate all this data, material,
on this one great issue.
The absolute supremacy of the Lord Jesus.
I am the living one.
I became dead.
Note, that's really the correct translation.
And he did not say, I was killed.
I was murdered.
I was slain.
I was put to death.
He had already in his lifetime said, no
man taketh it from me.
I lay it down of myself, mine own
self.
This, this authority have I received from my
father.
Today, as we think of all those movements
toward the cross, we can so clearly see
through men.
And their counsels and decisions, and we can
see that the thing is in his hands.
He is dictating how it shall be and
when it shall be.
They are saying, not this, and he is
saying, yes, this.
Not on the Passover.
He says, yes, on the Passover.
He is dictating his own death, its time,
and its manner.
It's in his hands.
Not they took away my life.
I laid it down, mine own course.
I became dead.
Why?
There's another great question.
Arise it at once.
Why did he himself deliberately of his own
accord, by his own decision, go into death?
Well, the letter to the Hebrews throws a
lot of light upon it, doesn't it?
That through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the
devil.
And might deliver all those who all their
lifetime were in bondage through fear of death.
He tasted death in the behalf of every
man.
That's why he became dead.
But here it is.
Here it is.
In this beautiful statement here, unto him that
loveth us, and loosed us from our sins
in his blood, and made us a kingdom
and priests unto his God and Father.
That's why he became dead.
This mighty us.
Who loveth us.
Christ loved the church and gave himself up
for it.
Who loveth us.
Who loosed us.
He might redeem us from all iniquity.
Who made us kingdom and priests unto his
God and Father.
That's why he became dead of his own
choice.
For us.
For you.
For me.
For his church.
For the mighty us.
There it is.
That's the answer.
Christ loved.
Christ loosed.
From death and alive.
Became dead and alive.
To deliver us from death.
Death is the sum total of all human
sin.
Death is the sum of all Satan's power.
Death is the sum of Satan's kingdom.
He plunged in his imperial strength.
To gulfs of darkness down.
He brought his trophy up at length.
The foiled usurper's crown.
That's why he became dead.
To do that.
That's the answer.
And.
I have the keys of death.
And of Hades.
Of course keys are authority.
We know that.
Authority over death and of Hades.
Jesus has said.
Upon this rock I will build my church.
The gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it.
I have the keys of Hades.
What is that?
For all their lifetime.
In bondage through fear of death.
Bondage through fear of Hades.
He has plundered Hades.
He has broken its gates and its bars.
He has snatched the keys from the usurper.
And wears them at his own girdle.
And his church is delivered from that bondage
of fear.
The gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it.
This is all tremendous.
But you see.
You've got to place the cross over this
whole book.
The cross stands over everything in this book.
Because it's the book of the lordship of
Jesus Christ in every realm.
And therefore it is the book of the
Lamb in the throne.
In the throne.
The cross is the explanation of everything.
Well.
I trust you catch a vision.
The revelation of Jesus Christ.
In this which comprehends all that follows.
And all that with which you and I
have to do, dear friends.
I said this morning.
This is the book which is introduced or
in its very introduction.
Tells us that there's a blessing attached to
it.
What blessing do you want and do I
want?
What is the greatest blessing that can come
to our hearts?
It would be to realize the glorious triumphant
issue of this long, long drawn out battle
in which we are.
How it's going to end and to realize
it's going to end in glory.
In glory.
It's going to end with us.
With Christ in the throne.
To realize it.
Not just to be informed.
It doesn't have enough weight with us to
be told about it.
But oh, if it could come as a
revelation to us as it came to John.
Impatience.
Intimidation.
Impatience.
Suffering.
Because of this same issue we have made
Jesus Lord.
We have put him in his place.
We have no other Lord.
All things for us are subject to him.
He is over all.
And that brings, whether word persecution or not,
it brings spiritual conflict.
It brings tribulation into the life.
It touches us everywhere.
In our families and our homes and our
businesses.
And everywhere this thing is touching us.
If only, if only we would let go
of something.
Make some compromise.
Let down our standards.
Not be so utter.
For Christ we have an easier time.
It is possible.
You can.
You can for the time being.
But you cast away your crown.
That is it.
But to realize that in the tribulation and
the patience.
The suffering and the conflict.
The pressure.
The issue.
The issue is absolutely certain.
Jesus is coming out on top.
And we are coming out with him.
If that could really come into our hearts.
The greatest blessing that could come to us.
It would explain so much.
It really would explain so much.
All the problems and enigmas of our lives.
All those things which come because of our
relationship to this one.
Which God's destined heir of the universe.
That provokes quite a lot.
I say this is the blessing of this
book.
To know that.
Not just to understand all its mysteries and
symbols but to know that.
That he is Lord.
And that nothing can alter that.
And Lord give us that blessing in our
hearts.