02.03. LECTURE No. 3 -- Rev_1:4-8
LECTURE No. 3 -- Revelation 1:4-8
Study of the Salutation Continued - The Source of All Grace and Peace - Jesus Revealed in the Divine Titles Given to Him in This Salutation - An Important Prophetic Announcement
In making a study of this last book of the Bible we should always remember that the entire book is a Revelation of Jesus Christ in His relation to things in heaven and to things upon the earth.
Thus far we have considered the-
(1) Subject and the contents of the Book, (2) Also the manner in which the Book was given, (3) And the value and importance of the truth given in this Book of Prophecy.
In our last message we began a study of the remarkable SALUTATION given to the seven churches, as recorded in Revelation 1:4-8. This passage, we discovered, was in fact a synopsis of the entire book.
From this REMARKABLE SALUTATION to the seven churches, we have learned that all grace and peace, which was invoked upon them, was to come from GOD THE FATHER, and from the SEVEN SPIRITS before His Throne, and from the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Thus, we discovered the source of ALL GRACE upon ALL MEN and upon ALL CHURCHES throughout all time! We find that all grace comes from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Since we did not in any wise conclude our study of this passage in our last lesson, we shall reread it, to refresh our minds concerning what was said, and to provide us with new material for our present discourse. In Revelation 1:4-8 it says:
“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, which was, and which is to come; and from the Seven Spirits which are before His Throne;
“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the earth unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood,
“And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen.
“Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Our lesson today begins, with the three titles given to Jesus Christ in the 5th verse, where He is called: “THE FAITHFUL WITNESS, and the FIRST BEGOTTEN of the dead, and the PRINCE OF THE KINGS of the earth.”
Need For Witnesses
Indeed, my friends, here is something which immediately compels our attention, and is surely worthy of our prayerful consideration.
In a world of sin and wicked unbelief God has always needed witnesses, who would testify to the truth of God, as it is in Christ! There has always been a need for witnesses who would LET THEIR LIGHTS SHINE out into a world of spiritual darkness. God has always needed witnesses who would SPEAK THE TRUTH OF GOD without fear or favor, even though the voices of all (who refuse to hear and believe) be against them.
And just such a witness, my friends, was the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was born, the ANGELS OF HEAVEN GAVE WITNESS to His birth, and sang of His Saviourhood and Kingship When Jesus was baptized of John, in the River Jordan, the voice of God in heaven WAS HEARD WITNESSING to the fact of His deity and Sonship.
When Jesus died upon the cross, the veil in the Temple was rent in twain, and the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, and the earth did quake, and thus did both HEAVEN and EARTH GIVE WITNESS to the fact that He who died upon the cross was the Son of God. And the Roman Centurion also WITNESSED A GOOD CONFESSION, saying: “Surely this was the Son of God.”
Jesus A Witness
But it is very interesting to note here that Jesus Himself is called: “The Faithful Witness.” And even so He was, for all during His earthly life JESUS GAVE WITNESS TO THE TRUTH OF GOD! He gave WITNESS TO HIS OWN DEITY AND SONSHIP. He gave witness also to His death and resurrection!
The Prophet Isaiah prophesied of Christ as a Faithful Witness, when he said in Isaiah 55:4, “Behold, I have given Him FOR A WITNESS to the people, a leader and commander to the people.”
Jesus Himself testified in John 18:37 before Pilate, saying: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should BEAR WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH.”
But why is He called the Faithful Witness? No doubt because He was faithful unto God, even unto death, (even the death of the cross!) Jesus witnessed to the truth of God when the wicked men of His day and time refused to believe it.
- He witnessed to the truth while others mocked and BLASPHEMED GOD!
- He witnessed also to the work of the Holy Spirit.
- He witnessed to the truth, while men PERSECUTED HIM, and laughed Him to scorn.
- He witnessed to the truth of God before the High Priests and the elders of His people, and before Herod, and before Pilate, the Roman Governor, who delivered Him to the people to be crucified.
And even upon the cross, He gave witness to the truth of God in the words which He spoke, and by the way in which He died!
Therefore, we may truthfully say that He justly deserves, and may rightfully wear the title which is given Him in Revelation 1:5, where He is called, “THE FAITHFUL WITNESS.” Truly, He witnessed to the truth of God, and sealed His testimony with His own precious Blood. The First Begotten In this same passage, in Revelation 1:5, He is also called: “THE FIRST BEGOTTEN OF THE DEAD.”
That, my friends, was a chief honor indeed! Death had come as a penalty for sin. And for Jesus to become THE FIRST BEGOTTEN OF THE DEAD, testified to the fact of His purity, and His power over death, as the Son of God. Being the first begotten from the dead, gave unto Jesus the right to be FIRST IN ALL THINGS which pertain to the headship, and leadership of the whole human race.
HIS RESURRECTION from the dead, therefore, is the very foundation of His FUTURE KINGSHIP, which is also suggested in this same passage.
Being the first begotten of the dead, He has the right to be King, and to rule over all other men, and to call other men to positions of royal and priestly authority. A Prince Is it any wonder, therefore, that He is called also “THE PRINCE OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH?”
Indeed, in Psalms 89:27 God said: “I will make Him my first born, higher than the Kings of the earth.”
What an enlarged vision of the risen and glorified Christ is presented to us in this threefold title given Him here! Indeed, Jesus is the-
“FAITHFUL WITNESS”
“THE FIRST BEGOTTEN OF THE DEAD” and “THE PRINCE OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH.”
But that is not all! For in this same verse, John speaks of Him as the one “Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
The great Apostle here speaks of Jesus in terms of LOVE and REDEMPTION, and he points out that Christ’s love has been put to our account through His own death upon the cross, and has been made effective, in bringing about our own deliverance, and exaltation to places of HONOR and SERVICE in the present and future purposes!
The Love of Christ
Now let us consider the LOVE of CHRIST for just a moment.
Truly, He loved us TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO when He gave Himself for us upon the cross. “Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend.”
But that, my friends, was not the kind of love which Jesus had when He died upon the cross! No! No! A thousand times no! His death upon the cross was not the case of a man dying for His friends, but the case of a man dying to save and redeem his enemies! This fact is confirmed in Romans 5:7-8, where it says:
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were YET SINNERS Christ died for us.” Not All Past
But, my friends, let us not think for one moment that God’s love for us is all in the past. Let us not think that God’s love for men was all spent when He had given Jesus to die for them upon the cross. For such was not the case. God’s love is eternal and unchanging, and He loves men TODAY as much as He ever loved them in the past!
If Jesus manifested His love toward His enemies when He died upon the cross, (what) we ask, must be His love for His friends? His friends, of course, are those who believe and obey Him, and keep His commandments. What must His love be for them?
His enemies were lost, and depraved and undone, and full of unbelief, and had no claim whatever to divine grace or mercy. Yet He loved them and gave Himself FOR THEM!
What then must be His love for those of us who have believed upon Him, and who love Him with all our hearts, and Who serve Him through sacrifice and suffering here in this present world?
Who, my friends, could measure the LOVE of CHRIST for the redeemed of the whole earth? Who could comprehend it? Surely His love encompasses us like a shoreless sea, and it will lift us from the LOWEST DEPTHS OF SIN to the HIGHEST PLACES OF GLORY.
Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Ephesus was that they might: “be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length, and depth, and height; and to know the LOVE of CHRIST, which passeth knowledge.”
Also in Romans 8:35-39 he said:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
“As it is written, For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US,
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from THE LOVE OF GOD, which IS IN CHRIST JESUS our Lord.”
Washed From Our Sins Not only is it revealed in Revelation 1:5 that Christ loved us, but it also declares that He “WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD.”
Indeed, my friends, this is the very foundation stone of all Christian teaching. It declares the fact of redemption by blood. God has ordained that without the shedding of blood, is no remission, as stated in Hebrews 9:22. This is a divine requirement. It is the established principle of redemption. Therefore, Jesus shed His own blood upon the cross, in keeping with the divine law and requirement, in order that He might: “Wash us from our sins in His own blood.”
My friends, since Jesus shed His blood for us upon the cross nearly two thousand years ago, all we need to do is to believe and appropriate unto ourselves THE MERIT of that past absolution of all our sins, and we will be saved.
Is this hard to believe? Well, what saith the Scriptures? In John 3:17-18 it says: “God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
In Romans 8:1, the Apostle Paul spoke, saying: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”
Also in Ephesians 1:7, Paul referred to Christ saying: “In whom we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Therefore, my friends, let us, by faith, LOOK BACK, across the centuries, and REMEMBER THE CROSS upon which that precious, atoning blood was shed. LET US WEIGH in our minds the merit and virtue of that expiation of our sins. If we can, LET US FATHOM the depths of its love an? power to cleanse our hearts from sin’s deepest stains! If we will do this, I am sure we shall have cause to give thanks, and we will rejoice in the CLEANSING BLOOD of the Lord Jesus Christ, which gives us access to God, and to a throne of grace.
Kings and Priests
Now, in Revelation 1:6, it says He “hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen.”
This, my friends, is a striking statement for it reminds us of the fact that Christ has not only redeemed us by His own blood, but that WE WHO ARE REDEEMED have been called unto the service of God, and to places of AUTHORITY and POWER, and ROYAL SERVICE in the future purposes of God.
How glorious indeed that our redemption implies not only the forgiveness of sins, but it also promises UNTO US WHO BELIEVE and serve Christ, great reward and positions of increased responsibility. Let men despise and condemn OUR WORK and SERVICE FOR CHRIST as they may, we have the assurance that there is a FUTURE EMPIRE connected with our lowly discipleship here. Our patience, and prayers and service here upon earth will be rewarded with positions of royalty and dominion in the Kingdom which is to come.
Let us not forget that the disciples of Jesus, who were tax gatherers, and fishermen, (by listening to Jesus and by following Him,) became HEIRS TO APOSTOLIC THRONES; for Jesus promised that they should sit upon, twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses, by faith, rose from the humble position of a Shepherd over Jethro’s flocks to be the PRINCE OF ISRAEL. By faith, DANIEL also arose from the lion’s den of condemnation, to the honor and authority of the empire, and to the still higher position of being a Prophet of God. LUTHER, the father of the Protestant Reformation, rose from his prison cell to where he could dictate to Kings, and became the Monk, whose convictions and teachings shook the world.
Therefore, let us consider what is implied in the words of the Apostle John, when he said in Revelation 1:6, He “hath made us Kings and Priests unto God.” Will not God also make us, who have been faithful over a few things, ruler over many things? Indeed, to Christ’s affections for us He has added honor, and to our salvation He has added official dignities, which we now little dream of and cannot fully realize.
Behold He Cometh!
Now let us consider the PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT recorded in Revelation 1:7, where it says: “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth, shall wail because of Him, even so, Amen.”
Let us remind you that the Apostle John, who wrote these striking and impressive words, was present with the other disciples on Mt. Olivet when Jesus ascended into heaven. He heard the two men, which were dressed in white apparel, say: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
And how, (we ask,) was Jesus taken into heaven? Acts 1:9, says: “He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”
Also in Matthew 24:30, Jesus testified of His own return, saying: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all of the tribes of earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN with power and great glory.”
And John says, “Behold, He cometh with clouds.”
Here the fact of Christ’s second coming is POSITIVELY and PROPHETICALLY declared. This statement does not take into account the reasoning of wicked unbelief on this subject. It simply declares that Christ is coming, and tells HOW HE WILL COME, and leaves no room for argument or controversy.
Hopeless Unbelief
We are fully aware of the fact that many people do not want to believe in the glorious fact of Christ’s return! But it is nevertheless clearly taught in the Word of God. It has been prophesied by all the Prophets, and was promised by Christ Himself, and has been confirmed by the testimony of Angels, proclaimed by all the Apostles, and was believed by all the early Christians.
A professed Christian faith, which does not accept and believe the doctrine of Christ’s return, and which does not look forward to those events and purposes for which He MUST RETURN, is at best only a fragmentary faith, and is without hope, or promise of salvation for those who are devoted to it.
Therefore, let men murmur at this glorious doctrine which is taught in the Word of God, let them dispute it, let them despise it, and mock at it, and put it aside and hate it, if they wish! It is nevertheless a fundamental doctrine of the Bible, and is one which all of the godless unbelief of SO-CALLED CHRISTIANS cannot change.
After all has been said and done the fact remains: “Behold, He cometh with clouds!”
He Is Coming
Yes, my friends, He is coming, and all men everywhere might just as well prepare themselves to meet Him. Why? Because it says in the very same verse that “every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him.”
This, my friends, is a sobering thought. It does not necessarily imply that all shall see Him at the same time. But it does mean that somewhere, at some time, in some stage of His judicial administrations, every man who has ever lived will look upon Him.
We know that the wicked dead, as well as the righteous dead, are to be resurrected. Therefore, not only the good, but the wicked shall look upon Him and see Him as He is. When some men see Jesus they will shout: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
And others when they see Him shall cry to “The mountains and the rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?”
Imagine, my friends if you can, the remorse of those who pierced Him, when they look upon Him as He is. Does not this statement refer to the prophecy of Zechariah 12:10, where it says that “they who pierced Him shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one is in bitterness for his first born”?
Is it any wonder, therefore, that WORLDLINGS and HALF CHRISTIANS, do not have any love for this great doctrine of Christ’s return? How true it is that the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST will put a sudden end to their sinful pleasures, and change their self confidence into consternation, and plunge them into horror and despair! But Revelation 1:7 says, concerning these things, “Even so, Amen.”
Conclusion And now let us close our lesson by quoting Revelation 1:8, where Jesus said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
~ end of lecture 3 ~