The Living Christ Holds The Keys

Transcript

GR 1504
10-19-08
The Living Christ Holds the Keys
Revelation 1:17-20
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Revelation together so turn there in your Bibles if you would, Revelation 1. The Word of God keeps us focused and on track as God's people and when we begin to lose our focus on the Word of God we begin to become confused. A number of years ago I received a letter for a church on the East coast, back in the area where we used to live. And in the context of this letter, the letter is about some staff members who are going to be going on for further training for ministry. I thought it was interesting how things were put. They are going to be trained in ministry so they can plant a church whose sole mission is to make unchurched, unsaved people feel comfortable in the presence of God and have them grow into ministry. Now I wonder, have they ever read Revelation 1? The manifestation of the resurrected, glorified Christ. How would you ever make an unbeliever comfortable in the presence of the living God? It is overwhelming for John the Apostle, the one who shared such an intimate relationship with Christ. He'll fall over as a dead man as a result of being in the presence of the resurrected Christ. Now we think we can train men to establish churches that will make unbelievers comfortable in the presence of God? We've lost all concept of the majesty and the holiness, the righteousness, the justice of God. Unbelievers will never be comfortable in His presence, and when they stand to be judged, Jesus in the parable He told of the wedding garments, they were speechless. We delight to have an unbeliever come to hear the Word of God, but the Word of God will make them uncomfortable unless the grace of God is at work with His Word in their life.

The book of Revelation begins its visions with a vision of the resurrected, glorified Christ. He has been restored to the glory which was His before the world was. You remember in His high priestly prayer in John 17:5, Jesus prayed to the Father and said, restore to Me the glory I had with you before the world was. And now we see something of that awesome glory, the same glory that Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6 where the seraphim gathered before the throne and cried out holy, holy, holy. And then John in John 12 said that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ when he had that vision. And here John now has a vision of the glory of Christ.

The description of Him given in verses 13-16 reveal different aspects of His person. Let me just review those with you in summary fashion. First we saw His robe and the golden sash around His chest. That pictured Him as a priestly judge, if you will. Those are the garments of a priest, the garments of a judge, the garments of one with authority, the One adorned with the dignity and splendor of heaven. Secondly, His hair was white like snow. He's the eternal God, the One who has existed from eternity. We saw that connection back with Daniel 7. Third, His eyes are like a flame of fire. Knowledge and judgment are portrayed here. The churches are under His searching, penetrating gaze. He knows all, He judges all. And here we're talking about Him in the context of His churches, not the unregenerate world that will be shown to be in terror of His judgments as we move on into the book of Revelation. Fourth, His feet were like glowing bronze. That speaks of purity in judgment. Sin will be judged, even sin among God's people. Five of the seven churches will experience the withering condemnation of Christ as He evaluates their actions and service for Him. Fifth, His voice is like many waters. The awesome thunder roaring, His voice. He has complete authority, He demands complete attention. This is not a two-way conversation we're having, this is the awesome God speaking in an overwhelming way. Sixth, in His right hand seven stars. We'll talk further about that in a moment. He has complete authority over them and they are under His protection. Seventh, out of His mouth was a sharp sword. His Word will be the standard and means of judgment. All will be judged by His Word. He said when He walked this earth, the words that I have spoken will judge you. This comes out of His mouth like a sword, awesome that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. And even the churches are subject to that discerning judgment. Eighth and last, His face was like the sun. Overwhelming glory and splendor belong to Him. This is the glory of our Savior, the One who walked this earth has been resurrected to the glory that was His before the creation. He's the One who is the Word. He was with God and He was God and all the glory that belongs to God was His. Now He's been resurrected in glory.

And here as He stands in the midst of His churches and John is before Him, this is the awesome revelation of Christ. We noted, this is a serious matter, we're not playing church. Christ is taking the functioning of our church very seriously and we'd better, too. We see as this unfolds through chapters 2-3, there preparing the churches down through history to this very day and the functioning of our local church for what God expects of us, for what Christ, the Head of the church, will do in evaluating us.

We come to verse 17 after this vision of the resurrected Christ and we read, when I saw Him I fell at His feet like a dead man. The impact on John is overwhelming. Now this is the John who reclined on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper in John 13, the beloved disciple. He's not just running up, throwing his arm around Him as we noted and saying, it's so good to see you after 65 years. That's a long time since Christ has been crucified and raised and ascended to glory. And now John is privileged to see Him again and the impact is overwhelming. I fell at His feet as a dead man. That happens on other occasions as well, and we'll see some of this impact as we move along. Ezekiel experienced it in the opening chapters of his prophecy as the revelation of the glory of Christ enthroned is given to Ezekiel, at the end of chapter 1 particularly. And he is overwhelmed. Awesome. When Daniel experienced it there was no strength left in him. When John experiences it he falls at His feet like a dead man.

And He placed His right hand on me saying, do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. Don't be afraid. I am the eternal God. I mean, what a comfort. Remember Isaiah, when he confronted the glory of Christ in Isaiah 6 and the seraphim crying out holy, holy, holy, he said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of an unclean people. I've seen the living God. He realizes his unworthiness, realizes he could be consumed. Now Jesus says to John, don't be afraid. You'll note here, He doesn't say, don't be afraid, John. It's Me. Remember the good times we had? Remember the ministry we did together? No, don't be afraid, I am the first and the last. This is a title used of God in the book of Isaiah to stress the fact that God alone is God, there is none other. And He is able to preserve and protect and keep His people. They have nothing to fear.

Turn back to Isaiah 41. Note how the chapter begins, coastlands, listen to Me in silence. Better that we listen to God than we do all the talking. Prayer is a wonderful privilege, I wouldn't diminish that in any way, but most important is that I hear from God, that I listen to Him. Look down in verse 4, who has performed and accomplished it? Calling forth the generations from the beginning. I the Lord am the first and with the last I am He. Look over in chapter 44. And we're not reading the context, but if you write these down and read the context of each of these passages you'll find out it's in the context of encouraging His people in their trials and difficulties, He is their God, He will preserve them and keep them. They have nothing to fear. Look at verse 6, thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts. I am the first, I am the last. There is no God besides Me. You see what Christ is declaring in Revelation 1—He is the eternal God. It is His deity here, it is the God who comforted Israel who now comforts John. I am the eternal God. When He says that He is saying, beside Me there is no God. I'm the first and the last. None before Him, none after Him. The first and the last.

One more passage in Isaiah, chapter 48. Talking about Israel again. Chapter 48 begins, hear this, oh house of Jacob, who are named Israel and so on. And all He has done. You come down to verse 11, for My own sake, for My own sake I will act. For how can My name be profaned and My glory I will not give to another. Talking in the context again, Israel's rebellion. The judgment of God, but He doesn't destroy them completely. Why? For My own sake, for My own sake I will act. God has placed His honor at stake here. He has promised to keep and preserve and ultimately save Israel. Verse 12, listen to Me, oh Jacob, even Israel whom I called. I am He, I am the first, I am the last also. Surely My hand founded the earth, My right hand spread out the heavens. When I called to them, they stand together. Assemble all of you and listen. Now He has to tell them, listen, pay attention. You'll note His promise here, first and the last. What does that mean? I created the earth, I founded it, I spread out the heavens. You see they were nothing until He brought creation into existence.

So when you come back to Revelation 1 and Jesus reaches out with His right hand, places it on John and says, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. John, the Jewish disciple, could appreciate fully the comfort of the living God is being brought to him. He has nothing to fear, even in the presence of the glory of God Himself. Don't be afraid. Like Isaiah experienced and his vision.

Over in Revelation 22:13, Jesus is speaking. He said in verse 12, behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with Me to render to every man according to what He has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. However you want to say it. All saying the same thing, I am the only God, I am the sovereign One, I am coming again. That is the blessed hope and the goal of My redemption brought about for My people.

Back in Revelation 1. He goes on to describe Himself. Verse 18, and the living One. This is a common way of referring to God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We're not going to take the time to go through and you could make a whole list. Let me just give you a few passages and if you want you can trace them down, then, from this in your Old Testament. Joshua 3:10, God is the living One, the living God. Psalm 42:2, He is the living God. Psalm 84:2, that emphasis on He is the living God. So He is the first and the last and the living One. And that stresses both the fact that God is life, He is the living One and all life comes from Him. And so you have that picked up in John 1:4, speaking of Christ. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. So a living God, the source of life. John 5:26, Christ is speaking. And in verse 23 we are told that it is the Father's intention that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. That's why we see these names used of God the Father, they are used of God the Son. Two distinct persons, but there is only one God. You come down to verse 26, for just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself. And so life is found in Christ. That is the plan of the eternal God.

Now the amazing thing, as you come back to Revelation, is this living one says, and I was dead. Remarkable. Acts 3:15, Peter preaching there, he told the Jewish leaders, you crucified the Prince or author of life. I mean, how great is your guilt. You crucified the Prince or author of life, the One in whom all life is found, the living One. Remarkable that you could have the Son of God say, I was dead and behold I am alive forever more. Behold, and that's the attention-grabbing word, as though you wouldn't have John's full attention? I was dead, behold, I am alive forevermore. Because for you and me the most significant event is that God stepped from the throne of glory which had been His for eternity, took to Himself humanity and died so that He might be the Savior of sinful human beings. Behold, I am alive forevermore. I was dead, and I am alive. The work of redemption is done. Romans 6 tells us He was raised, never to die again. There was one act that provided salvation permanently, finally, nothing else need be done or will be done in a hundred billion trillion years, endless eternity. That did it. You and I could receive the free gift by God's grace of life because Christ died. And was raised from the dead. I am alive forevermore. I was dead, the past; I am alive, present tense. Now He is really the living One, He will never die again.

Back in Acts 5:30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the One whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's the message of these early apostles—the plan of God in redemption and in raising His Son. Hebrews 7:25, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him. Why? Because He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is our high priest, He is at the right hand of the Father. His presence there guarantees our security.

What does he say? I have the keys, back in Revelation 1:18, of death and of hades. You'll note this comes to John. John, don't be afraid. But this doesn't get reduced down to the “good buddy” level, the super casual level. This is the resurrected Son of God speaking. I was dead, behold I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and of hades. Keys represent authority, the authority, the power. He can lock, He can unlock. It's in His hands. He has authority over these areas—over death, over hades. The Old Testament uses the expression, coming to the gates of death, Psalm 9:13, Psalm 107:18. The gates of hades. Sheol and hades, the Greek translation used in Isaiah 38:10, used in Matthew 16:18, the gates of hades.

Turn over to Revelation 6 where death and hades are used together again. Christ has the keys of death and of hades. And in Revelation 6 where we begin the seal judgments, we will be in the 70th week of Daniel when we come to Revelation 6. And you read in verse 8, I looked and behold an ashen horse and he who sat on it had the name, Death. And hades was following with him, and authority was given to him over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with pestilence, wild beasts of the earth. A quarter of the earth, that's a lot of people going to die under this one judgment, the ashen horse. You'll note, the horse had the name Death and hades is following afterward. Hades is the place where the wicked go after death. For the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For the unbeliever to be absent from the body is to be present in hades.

Turn over to Revelation 20:13, we are here at the last judgment of scripture, the Great White Throne judgment where all unregenerate people from all ages are gathered for final sentencing. And we read in verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them. So again you see death and hades joined together. All those who had died, their spirits are in hades, their bodies are resurrected, their spirits are joined to those bodies. It's a resurrection of the wicked. They were judged, everyone of them according to their deed and death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. All the dead appearing at this judgment, all those who have been in hades, everyone at the Great White Throne is going to hell. We'll talk about why they are judged out of the book of their works when we get here. It's not for their salvation because no one at the Great White Throne is going to be saved. Everyone here is going to hell. So you see t hose who die, they go to hades.

Go to Luke 16. Hell is the final holding place for the wicked for all eternity. When unregenerate people die now they go to hades. What's the difference between hell and hades? Not much. It's like someone who is in jail awaiting sentencing to prison. What's the difference? Well it's the duration, it's the same kind of punishment. You're confined in a cell in a place, you're waiting there for your appearance in court where you will be sentenced to prison. What will be the difference? That's where they put you for long term. Don't push the analogy, it's just a picture. Look in Luke 16. Here you have Christ's account of a rich man and a man named Lazarus who was desperately poor. The rich man, verse 19, lived well, had much. The poor man, his body was covered with sores, he had nothing. He fed off the crumbs. Verse 22, now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich many also died and was buried. There is death, physical body buried. Where is he? In hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment. He saw Abraham far away and Lazarus and he cried out and said, father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue. I am in agony in this flame. We talk about the fires of hell. We'll talk more about that as we move on into Revelation. You see it's the same kind of suffering in hades. That's what hades is, that's where the wicked go. The righteous are carried to the glory of God's presence. So at death no on ceases to exist—the righteous go to glory, the wicked go to hades. At the Great White Throne everyone in hades will be called out of hades, their body will be resurrected, they'll move back in, they'll stand before Christ in bodies not subject to death. Can't call them glorified bodies because they are not prepared for glory, but they are resurrected bodies that will exist for eternity, bearing the awful suffering of hell. And as we have noted on other occasions, the rich man lifted up his eyes being in torment in agony in this flame. That's been almost 2000 years. He's not even begun his journey. There will come a time in the future when he'll be called out of hades and be sentenced to an eternity in hell. And the suffering goes on and on and on. I can't believe God would do that. Well there are a lot of things I can't grasp, eternal suffering I cannot grasp. Nor can I grasp eternal glory. But the same God who promised one promised the other and I know He is true to His word. That's why His salvation is such an important matter. We are saved from the judgment of hades and ultimately hell by the salvation God provided.

Christ is the One who rules over it, the devil doesn't rule over hell, the devil doesn't rule in hades. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, as we'll see as we move along in the book of Revelation. The devil and his angels will be suffering the torments of hell along with all their followers.

Come back to Revelation 1. So Christ has authority over death, He has authority over hades. Verse 19, and you pick up the instruction here that was given in verse 11. Verse 11, John heard behind him this loud voice saying, write in a book what you have seen and send it to the seven churches. John turned to see the voice, and then you have that vision of the resurrected Christ down through verse 16. Then the account we've just looked at of John falling as a dead man and Christ speaking to him. Now we pick up again with what that voice was saying before John turned and the vision of the resurrected Christ is unfolded. Verse 19, therefore write the things which you have seen and the things which are and things which will take place after these things. So the One who has sovereign authority now is speaking. Remember in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, behold all authority has been given to Me. Then He gives them their instructions. So here He demonstrates His authority as the One who has keys of death and hades. Now He speaks and gives the instruction again, write. Here it's unfolded more fully and really the threefold division here is the division of the book of Revelation. We'll break the book of Revelation down even in more detail as we get further along. But here you have the overall breakdown of the book.

The things which you have seen. This is chapter 1, particularly the vision contained in the verses of the resurrected and glorified Christ, the vision that begins in verse 10 with hearing the loud voice behind him and continuing down through verse 18. That's what he has seen. So we usually put together chapter 1 because the rest of that was introduction down through verse 9, preparing for this first vision of the book.

Then you write the things which are. That will be the substance of chapters 2-3, the message to the churches. And in the message to those seven churches of John's day you have messages that will have impact for all local churches down until the removal of the church at the Rapture. Just as you have in Second Timothy, a letter written under the inspiration of the Spirit to Timothy. But it was written for our benefit. So even though immediately directed to Timothy, the Spirit had it written for the benefit of us as part of the Word of God. So we'll see that when we get to the churches. That's the things which are, present circumstances and situations.

Then the things which will take place after these things. That will begin in chapter 4 and will go through the rest of the book of Revelation, through chapter 22. That's future things, things that will unfold after the Rapture of the church, which we'll talk about more in particular after we finish chapters 2-3, although we'll be touching on it with some of the promises to the churches, as we'll see as we move through those seven churches.

So that's the basic overview. The bulk of Revelation is dealing with what will take place after these things. But you'll note, he is to write these things, verse 11, that you see and send it to the seven churches. Now he's reminded in verse 19 to write these things which you see. So even though the bulk of the book beginning with chapter 4 and going through chapter 22 is dealing with events after the church is removed from the earth, this is something Christ intends for us as His church to know and to live in light of. It is truth we will be responsible for. Some will say, that's going to be after we're gone and in glory so it doesn't concern me a lot. It must concern us greatly because here is Christ's last word to the churches and He reminds us He will be judging. And He promises blessings for those who read and hear the words of this prophecy and do them, as we saw in chapter 1 verse 3. Important material for us. Exciting, God wants us to know what He is going to do in the future. And that knowledge is to shape the way we live. It's very practical.

Look at verse 20, as for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand. A mystery is something that would not be known apart from divine revelation. It's not something that is now confusing, it is something now that has been made known, that has been clarified. So the mystery. And in verse 16, in the right hand of the resurrected Christ, He held seven stars. Now John, I want to tell you what the seven stars are, what they stand for. And the seven golden lampstands. Because remember, He is standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, and I want you to be clear on what they are. I'm revealing what these things are because that moves us into the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So simple, clear connection. The seven stars in my right hand represent the seven angels of the seven churches. Each church has an angel.

Now there is quite a bit of discussion, and I don't know whether I can walk you through it all, and I don't know how much of it you'll be interested in. That doesn't matter, here we go quickly. There are two views. What are the angels? Are they literal spirit being angels, the angels of heaven or are they literal earthly, physical men who are the messengers? For you see the Greek word aggelos is used to refer to the angels of heaven, they are the messengers of God. But it's also used in the Bible of human beings, men, who serve as messengers among men. So the question comes, are these aggelos, angels, men, just physical human beings who were entrusted with the message to be carried to the churches, or are they angelic beings.

Let me give you the reasons why some people consider them to be spirit beings, heavenly beings. I'll list these and we won't look up all the scriptures, I can give them to you for your own future study but we don't have time to go through all the scriptures. 1. First reason why some people take them to be heavenly angels. The word angel is used 67 times in the book of Revelation and it always is used of heavenly angels, in other words, spirit being angels. That would support it meaning those kinds of angels here, spirit angels, whether fallen or unfallen. Here they would obviously be unfallen. 2. Stars in scripture are used to represent angels. So the symbol of the stars to represent the angels, that's used of angels in the Old Testament. Job 38:7, at the creation the morning stars, referring to the angels, rejoiced together. In Isaiah 14:12, there you have the representation of Satan, the anointed cherub that covers the throne of God. He is represented as a star in that context. 3. Stars are used to represent angels elsewhere in the book of Revelation. Chapter 12 verse 4, verse 9. So there is a connection there. We'll see some of that when we get there, too. 4. We know from Daniel 12:1 that the nation Israel has a particular angel, Michael, who is responsible for their oversight. And in Daniel 12 Michael the archangel who acts on behalf of Israel stands in the midst of the tribulation and the 70th week of Daniel for their defense. So that connection of an angel, heavenly angel there serving on behalf of Israel. Might cause us to think, an angel would be entrusted with the responsibility of individual churches, each church has an angel. 5. This point connects to that, angels are seen with oversight and responsibility of other nations, Daniel 10:13,20,21. We talk about the prince, referring to a fallen angel, who is responsible for Persia and Michael comes and helps Gabriel in a battle there. And in that scene in Daniel you have different angels being responsible for different nations. 6. Angels are seen in close connection with the churches and their ministries. We don't have time to go to all the verses. 1 Corinthians 11:10, in Ephesians 3:10 we see angels looking into the salvation provided for the church. So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Well the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies are angelic beings. They learn of redemption by seeing it carried out in the church, because there has never been any redemption carried out in the heavenly realm for angels. Because remember Hebrews 2, Christ did not become an angel. So when angels sinned they were forever, permanently consigned to hell, no opportunity of redemption from their sin. But they are beholding the wonders of God's grace and redemption as they observe the church. So here you see angels connected with what is going on in the church. I Timothy 5:21 would be another verse on that. 7. Angels do carry on ministry in connection with believers. In Hebrews 1:13-14, angels are ministering spirits and they serve for our benefit, who are the heirs of salvation. Matthew 18:10, Acts 12:15, 1 Corinthians 4:9, other verses related to that.

All right, that would all support the fact that these would be what we think of as the angels in the spirit world, whether they are heavenly angels or fallen angels, that realm of angels. Some reasons why these might be considered human messengers on a human level. 1. The word angel is used of human beings in scripture. It's usually not translated angel, but it's the same Greek word, aggelos, they usually translate it messenger. So as you go to these passages you say, I don't see the word angel, but the word messenger in your English Bible will be the same Greek word that we have translated other places angel. Since it's a human being they've translated it as a messenger, which is what the word means. So it's used of human beings in scripture, Matthew 11:10, Luke 7:24, Luke 9:52, James 2:25. There may be others, but I've listed those where the Greek word aggelos, angel, is used of human beings who are serving as messengers. The messengers from John the Baptist came and asked Christ, are you the Messiah or should we look for another? Those are just human messengers. John the Baptist says to ask Christ a question. 2. It seems strange that Christ would address angels through John. In other words we saw earlier in Revelation1 that Christ communicated His revelation primarily through an angel who communicated it to John. So you'd have Christ giving a message to an angel to give it to John to give to an angel to give it to the church. Why would you have John giving a message to a heavenly angel? That would seem like an unusual order of events. Since we've already been told in Revelation 1 that Christ will communicate this revelation primarily through his angel to John. That would be strange then that John would communicate it to a heavenly angel who would then be responsible to take it to the church. That's a reason to say it's a human messenger. 3. These messengers seem inseparably bound up in the churches. And we won't look through, we'll see this as we go. But it seems that they are given this message and it is addressed to them and through them to the church and they are part of the message, which would involve its commendation and its condemnation. But there would be no condemnation to be given to heavenly angels if there is a guardian angel for our church. Even our failures wouldn't be placed in his responsibility. 4. The messages are given directly to the churches. So when we get to the letters to the churches, chapter 2 begins, to the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the one with seven stars says this. And it's right to the churches. If it's a spirit being what is the process now of giving it to the church. It seems like it's a direct process.

Let me say, after we've gone through all this, whichever view is correct, it doesn't change the messages given. So that's the same. There may be differences here, but in the substance and the content of the messages given, nothing changes. From my personal perspective as I work through it, it seems that in all probability for me, they are human messengers. I appreciate the weight of the arguments on them being heavenly messengers, primarily the fact that all the other uses outside of chapters 2-3 would be to heavenly beings. But what sways me is I can find no other pattern and no reason why Christ would communicate through an angel to John who would communicate through an angel to the churches. Seems the purpose of bringing it to John is to get it to the churches. So it seems to me these aggelos to John were probably representatives who came to Patmos to confer with John, messengers from the churches perhaps sent to John in his exile on Patmos to see how he was doing. That was allowed. The Romans preferred exile to imprisonment. They saw imprisonment as something to be limited to those who were going to execution. Other than that they preferred things like banishment, exile and so on. And so here John could receive these messengers. The intention of Christ is with these messengers you send back letters which will be the content of the book of Revelation with specific addressed to each of the individual churches. So that would be the way I tend, but if you go the other way I can appreciate the arguments there. The content of the messages won't change and the significance for us.

The lampstands are golden. That indicates they are precious here. They represent the churches, we've talked about them. The lampstands were where the light is held. They are of gold. I mean, these are the churches which He purchased for Himself with His own blood. He didn't purchase us because we are of great value, but because now we belong to Him, purchased by Him, we are of value to Him, precious to Him. Important to get in order. He didn't die for us because He saw we were of value, the value we have is because He died for us. We now belong to Him, we are precious to Him. So that's why the church must be pure. These are local churches now, don't transfer this, we're talking about the universal church. I understand there is a place for the universal church and the scripture deals with that. But He's addressing the local churches like our local church, represented with a lampstand of gold. And now to be examined by the Lord of the church and His verdicts will be rendered. We are to live in light of this and awesome event and one that we ought to conduct ourselves in light of as His people as we minister together.

Let's pray. Thank You, Lord, for this revelation, an awesome revelation, the resurrected, glorified Christ. Lord, to know that some day we will see Him, we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Now John sees Him as He is and His glory and splendor. But it was overwhelming to him in his humble physical state. But some day we will be privileged to experience the glory that He has provided for us in bodies of glory and behold the wonder and splendor of the One who is our Savior. And we, too, will bow and worship Him. May we grasp the significance of the truths of the revelation of this book. May its truth, even as we've considered it to this point, have an impact on our behavior, our conduct, on our lifestyle, even in the days of the week before us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.