In this sermon, the speaker begins by reading from the book of Revelation chapter 1, emphasizing the importance of understanding the prophecy of Jesus Christ. He highlights the current state of the world, expressing disappointment in the injustices and unreliability of the justice system and promises of men. The speaker criticizes the idea that there are no absolutes, pointing out the contradiction in making an absolute statement about the absence of absolutes. He then transitions to discussing the trilogies in chapter 1 and offers advice to a frustrated young man, reminding him to consider the wisdom and experience of older individuals in authority.

Now, good evening to you all. Let's turn, if you will, please, to the book of the Revelation, chapter 1. And I would like to read with you tonight some of this chapter together. We shall start at verse 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and 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 own 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. But all kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the endings of the Lord which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, whose name in the islet is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voices of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, unto Thyatira, unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girth about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were quite like wool, as quite as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I felt his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and because I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Now, I hadn't actually planned on reading the whole chapter with you, but once you get into it, it's very difficult to stop. I want to pursue with you this evening the subject that we began on this evening, the trilogies in particular of Revelation Chapter 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And by doing so, I shall endeavor not to wander. I'm trying hard, have you noticed? I was thinking what would be a good trick would be to put one of those little chains hooked on the one side, and you could bring it around behind the preacher and hook it on the other side of him, and then he just couldn't go anywhere. That would hold him in, at any rate. And speaking of that, I only once saw some kind of a remedy of that nature that was supplied for people who come to the Lord's Supper on Sunday morning late. Now, I don't suppose that happens here, but in many of the Latin American countries where I am able to frequently visit, we have that difficulty. It's part of their culture never to do today what you can put off to tomorrow, never arrive on time if you can arrive late. So, they nearly always arrive late. Anyone who works in Latin America would tell you that. And on one occasion, I was in the Dominican Republic for a five-day congress, as they call it there, and I went to the oldest assembly in the capital city, Santo Domingo, and when I walked in the door, I was surprised to see on the far side of the wall a thick rope, a rope of almost an inch in thickness, in diameter, and it was hanging on the hook on that side of the wall. And I just caught a glimpse of it as I walked by, and wondered what it was, and then I noticed that most of the folks arrived on time, which is very unusual. But, I soon discovered why they all arrived on time, because when the clock struck the hour, one of the elders who was standing at the back went over and unhooked the rope from that side, and pulled it across, and hooked it on the other side, and anybody who arrived after the hour had to sit behind the rope. They were not allowed to break bread. That's the only time I've ever seen in a Latin American congregation, and I have seen a good number of them, the problem solved by keeping people from arriving late. It didn't actually work a hundred percent, but it did work a hundred percent as far as the separation was concerned. They just were not allowed to cross the line or cross the rope after the time had come. So, I got to thinking this would be a good thing for these wandering creatures up here. You could put a chain like that and hook it on either side of them, and then Brother Stewart wouldn't have the problem with the microphone that he had with me the first time I was here. So, I want to continue this evening with the trilogies. We've been speaking about the trilogies of chapter one. You may find eight, you may find nine, you may find ten, according to the manner in which you separate them. The first one we have right in the early part of the chapter where we read the first paragraph, in fact, and it says in verse two regarding John and his stewardship that we were mentioning, he bore record of the word of God that's the first thing, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, that's the second thing, and of all things that he saw. So, there's a trilogy, three things in one. Then the next one comes in verse three, blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep, another trilogy, reading, hearing, and keeping, those things which are written therein for the time it has had. I was noticing today when I was thinking about this in connection verse two, John bearing record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Now, it has been sometimes suggested that we have here John's writing in the gospel. You remember he starts off something along that strain, the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word became flesh, verse 14, and he dwelt amongst us full of grace and truth. And then the second thing we have here, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and that has been likened to the subject of the epistles of John, when he spoke and speaks to us so clearly regarding the various attributes and presentations of our Lord, he who came to destroy the works of the devil, he who came to take away our sins, he whom the Father sent to be the Saviour of the world, he who is coming again, when we see him we shall be like him, or we shall see him as he is. And so that has been likened to the second of the first trilogy here, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and then of all things that he saw concerning the rest of the content of the book. But I was noticing as well that farther down in the chapter, in verse nine, we have that John was a brother and a companion in tribulation in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Again, we have a trilogy. He was in the islet of Cob, Patmos, on account of the word of God, and on account of the testimony of Jesus Christ. He was a prisoner, as you know. He was exiled. He was sent away to the isle of Patmos as a criminal. The infamous and notorious place where the criminal's blood was shed upon the craggy rocks of Patmos, where they worked in quarries and so on. And John, as an Egypt man, is sitting, and I judge he was sitting on one of these crags of the isle of Patmos, and I think perhaps he was looking towards the west. He was looking towards Rome. You see, he had been exiled because of the testimony of Jesus Christ, on account of his proclamation of the word of God. He had paid a price for this, and the reason why I suggest to you that he was looking west is because Rome had exercised her imperial authority. The prophets were all gone. He only is left. They have sealed their testimony with their blood, and John now is sitting on that lonely island in the Aegean Sea, and he is spending the last of his days, possibly in his early nineties at this time, because of the testimony that he has borne to Jesus Christ. It reminds us a little bit of Paul's expulsion from Thessalonica. You remember he was expelled, and the charge laid against him politically was that he said there was another king, Jesus, and that was political heresy. Thessalonica was a city under not only Roman domination, but it was called a Roman city, and so he was not allowed to say in a city of that kind, it would be political heresy to say that there was another king, and not Caesar, and that is one Jesus. So, John here has borne testimony to our Lord himself in his proclamation of the word of God, and he has paid a price for his testimony. He's been banished, he's been exiled, and he is to die in that lonely, sorrowful place. Well now, from his day until our day, and even included in our day, those who have lived godly in Christ Jesus have suffered persecution, and our brethren and sisters in other lands, as some of you will know and be very conscious of, even today, are paying a price for their testimony and for the word of God, which they prize, which they teach, and which they constantly read. Let me tell you another little story of an incident that happened when we were in Cuba just recently. My younger son and I, we went to Cuba, as I mentioned to you the other night, and just before we left Cuba, a number of years ago, I married a young couple over there, and when we went back, they had had two sons. These two sons now were married, and they met us at the airport when we landed, and they said, you must come at one point in your visit and have dinner with us. So we said we would. Well, we went away down to Pinar del Río, in the western part of the country, and then we came back to the towns of Gabriel and La Salud, and one evening in the meeting, this brother, Daniel, came to me, and he said, you remember what you promised me at the airport? And I said, what was that? He said, you promised that you would have a meal with my wife and me while you were here. So I said, very well, when would it be? And he said, well, we're only a night or two left, so we chose a night. We went over there for supper that night, and his mother and father, whom I had married 30 years before, were there, and also his brother and his wife. And after the meal was over, we're standing outside before we went to the hall for the night meeting, and we're chatting away, and Daniel said to me, I'd like to tell you what happened to me after you folks have gone. Of course, my brother and I were born, and I chose a university career, and I was going through university, and I was three years into my course, my university course, and then I was caught reading my New Testament. At least, I was denounced, I was reported for reading my New Testament. And so the head of the operation where he was, the university, called into his office, and he said, it's been reported to us that you're reading a Bible. And he said, yes, he is reading a Bible. He said, well, where is it? He said it was in his room. He said, well, go and bring it. So, he went and brought his New Testament, and he demanded it, and he confiscated it, and as a result, he was thrown out of the university. His career was ended. His calling was finished. They sent him out into the farms, into the country, a number of miles from his hometown, to raise chickens, from the third year of university, for raising chickens. And it was all because he was found reading his New Testament. So, he said, I must tell you what happened. When I got out raising chickens, he said, my girlfriend, Christina, she started writing me letters. One occasion, she got permission to come and visit me on the weekend, and when she came to visit me, I said to her, Christina, I want you to do something for me. We can't see each other very infrequently, but I want you to do something for me. When you write me a letter, I want you to begin the letter as you have been doing, but after you write that first part, then he said, I want you to write me the first chapter of the Ecclesiastical Romans. And he said, the next letter, I want you to do the same thing, but write me the second chapter of the Ecclesiastical Romans, and in your third letter, I want you to write me the third chapter of the Ecclesiastical Romans, and just continue on doing that. Now, if you get to the end of Romans, and I hope to get more than 16 letters from you, then he said, I want you to start at 1st Corinthians, and I want every letter for you to send me a chapter out of 1st Corinthians. Now, don't forget, when you start these letters, don't just be thinking of the chapter you're going to write. You write me that first paragraph that you always put in there. I want that first paragraph. Don't forget the first paragraph, and in case you don't know what the first paragraph is, I shall just leave that until the time when you're following along, too. Now, he said, you'll be sure you'll promise me to do that, so she said she would. So, he told me the story. He said, every letter I got from Christina, I got a chapter of Romans, and so she finished Romans, and she started in 1st Corinthians, and then she went right through 1st Corinthians, all the first 16 chapters of 1st Corinthians, and then she started in 2nd Corinthians, and I got all of 2nd Corinthians, and I got all of Galatians, and I got all of Ephesians, and I got all of Philippians. And one day, the foreman called me in, and he said, you know, there's some comments going around here that you're a bit tocado a queso. That means, you know, you're kind of hushed in the head, and he said, you must be because, well, because of what? He said, because when everybody else has finished the day's work, and they've gone to bed to sleep, and they're caught, he said, you sit up reading those letters from your girlfriend. He said, you're always reading these letters. You must be off your head, or you're dreadfully in love, whatever it is. He said, why would somebody sit up every night of the week, after they've done a hard day's work, reading their girlfriend's letter? Man, you know what she's going to say. Well, he said, I just like reading your letters over. I like to do that after work is over. He said, what he didn't know was I was studying the Scriptures. And he said, I lost my university career because I was reading my Bible, but I got most or a lot of my New Testament back again in Christina's letters. So, he said, I spent my evening hours reading the Scriptures, and then I spent the daytime when I was working, meditating, and going over what I was able to read of the Scriptures. So, she put the Bible together, a good part of the New Testament together for me. And all of the years went by, he was out there for some time, and then finally he was released. And he came back to his town, and back to Christina, and I'll tell you what he did when he came back, right? No, no, some of you are looking very blank with innocent faces. Well, he married the girl. What did you expect him to do? And she was standing there beside him, and they had a little girl, two years old, when I was there. And he said, this is my, and then Ewen says, this is my scribe, this is the lady. But no, he says, no, I've got a problem. I said, what's your problem? He said, my problem is that I want to teach the Scriptures in the assembly. But you know, we have some older men here in this assembly, and he said, they tell me we don't want the exposition or the teaching of the Scriptures. We want the Gospel. Just preach the Gospel. That's all the world needs, and that's all we need. So, just preach the Gospel. And he says on the beat, I don't have any ambition to preach the Gospel. He said, I've spent long months studying the Scriptures. And he said, I feel, in my heart, I want to teach the Christians the doctrines of the Scriptures. But the older brethren don't want me to do it. Now, what do I do? Well, what was I going to say? You can't tell a young man to rebel against the authority of the oversight, can you? And I said to him, Daniel, there's one thing you must remember. He was terribly frustrated. And by the way, I should tell you that at the conference we were attending that weekend, I heard him speak. And my judgment unquestionably, he is by far the best teacher of the Scriptures in the country, in the various assemblies there. So, I knew how he was feeling, and I knew he was in a very difficult situation. And I said to him, Daniel, just remember that for 30 years, these older men have kept this assembly going. Now, you must take that into consideration. I know how you feel. I know what you want to do. I know what your first love is. And I said, God has prepared you for this, and I'm sure the assembly needs what you can give them. And he did have an opportunity at the conference, as I've said. And I said, God will open the door for you. You just wait till the opportunity comes when the Lord has given you this in these unusual and unexpected circumstances, the knowledge of the Scriptures, as well as the ability to expound the Scriptures, you just wait, and the Lord will provide the opening for you to do that. But, you see, he had paid a price. He lost his university career, but he got a career that he never would have got in university, and that is to be a very able teacher of the Scriptures for the saints there. And, of course, that was a higher calling, really, wasn't it? Now, John has paid a price. He's on the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony concerning Jesus Christ, because of his faithfulness to the Word of God, and he's going to pay a price, finally, with his life. Now, let's look at some of these things that I want to notice with you regarding some of these trilogies. We go down to verse 4. John said, The seven churches were in Asia. Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, which was, and which is to come. Marvelous bit of the ending. Now, we wouldn't have said it that way. I'm sure you and I wouldn't have. We would have said, Peace, grace unto you, and peace from him which was, and which is, and which is to come. But that's not the way he said it. He said, Grace and peace to you from him which is, and who is he which is. You'll notice in the tenses of these expressions he's heard, he always is. There is no time that embraces him. He is the Eternal One. He is the I Am. Exodus chapter 3, the burning bush. Whom shall I send? Whom shall I say has sent me? At most God said, Tell them the I Am sent you. But they won't believe me. Tell them that the I Am that I Am sent you. Not I Am that I was not, not that I am that which I shall not be, but I Am that I am. Ever, always, eternally, the I Am. He lives. The marvelous thing about our Lord, I believe that the verse has been quoted here already this week from Hebrews 13 and 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, forever. As he was, he is. As he is, he shall be. That's why if we walk with the Master through the Gospels, we get to learn him not only as he was, as he is. And when we come into the epistles, we not only learn now who he is and where he is, but we learn what he is and will be when we see him. We'll be in our terms, in our conjecture of time. When we see him, he will be the unchanging one. As I have known him here, I will know him there. As I learn of him here, I will know whom I'm going to meet there. This is the marvelous thing about it, isn't it? Changeless, ageless, the one who always is. That is what provoked the ire, the wrath of the Jewish leaders when our Lord was here. So many times in the Gospel by John, he said, I am. I am. Not I will be the light of the world, not I will be the bread of life, or not that I am the bread of life but will not be the bread of life. He always is what he said when he was here. I am. He still is, my friends, the light of the world. He still is the true God. He still is the Eternal One. And so, John says that he's writing to them from him who is, ever is, and in that sense never was, but always is, and in that sense never will be, because he is. Now, that's difficult for us to understand, isn't it? Because we relate everything to time. We go back in our minds to the creation. We go back to the time when space and matter and time began, and we can't go beyond that, because our minds can't embrace anything beyond that. We can't conceive of anything beyond space, matter, and time, because we are space creatures. We are creatures of matter, we are creatures of time. That's our world. These are our boundaries. But here is one who is outside and beyond all the boundaries of time. He is what he ever was. So, he says, from him who is, and then he goes on to say, and which was, but he ever was what he is. So, I'm to understand, when I consider the revelation of Jesus Christ, I'm to understand one who doesn't know mutation, who doesn't know development, who doesn't become something that he wasn't, because he ever was as he ever is, and then he is the one who is the coming one. One of his titles, particularly in the book of the revelation, is he's the coming one. He's always coming. It is difficult for us to grasp this sometimes. You remember Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as Jude tells us, he looked at the world around him, and he saw the violence and crime and destruction and devastation around him, and he said, the Lord has come with ten thousands of his states. The Lord is come, but he hadn't come, had he? No, and he hasn't come yet, as far as we're concerned, to execute judgment. But Enoch, as Hebrews 11 and 6 says, believes that God is, and he that comes to God must believe that he is. Because Enoch believed that God is, he said he's come. There's no question about it in Enoch's mind. Because the world was in the state it was, and because God is in his character, in his person, in his justice, in his righteousness, then Enoch says he's come with ten thousands of his things, especially his judgments. Now, we say, well, but Enoch was, he was certainly convinced that God is, and because he was convinced that God is, he was convinced there had to be a time of judgment. And I think that's good for us in understanding the world in which we're living in today. David, don't drop your voice and don't mutter. We look around the world in which we're living, and we are at times devastated at all the injustices of the so-called justice system, at all the unreliability of the promises of men, and all that which is supposed to be is not, and the facade behind which so many live, and the lack of reality, and the outbursts of the disintegration of society as we know it, and the crumbling and deterioration of all that which was, we felt, standards ensured. Now, they tell us, of course, there are no absolutes. Did you ever hear a more ridiculous statement than that? It's an absolute statement saying there are no absolutes, but that's what they're telling us. That's what the intelligentsia are telling us, the university profs. They're saying there are no absolutes. Well, that's an absolute statement, isn't it? And, it's absolutely ridiculous to say there are no absolutes. How can you make a statement like that? How can you make an absolute statement saying there are no absolutes? It's astounding modern intelligence and technology. So, here we are. We're living in a world where everything is crumbling around us. There's no point of reference. There are no standards. Relativism has brought us into absolute chaos. There is no morality. Morality is something that must be defined by an objective, authoritative source that demands the right to mandate concerning a man's character and conduct irrespective of social trends. That's what morality is. But, relativism has told us that no one has the right to mandate regarding anyone's character or conduct, and social trends dictate what our conduct shall be. Then, there is no morality. It's merely convenient. It's the individuality of personal convenience. That's all it is. We're living in that kind of world. But, we believe that God is because He is because Jesus Christ is. The Lord has come in thousands of His saints, and such was the confidence and the surety and the conviction of Enoch, believing in the midst of all that turmoil and chaos and disaster, that God is. The Lord rewarded him. He just took him away home to heaven. He was not where God took him. You know, it says, by faith he was translated. I can understand very readily some of the marvelous things that are attributed to the heroes of the faith in chapter 11. By faith, Noah moved his spear-building ark. By faith, Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, Moses endured, as seeing him was invisible, not hearing the wrath of the king. I can understand those things being the product or the result of faith, but tell me something. A man is translated by faith? By faith, Enoch is translated. He should not see death. So, we're waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of Him who is. Unchanged, unchanging, and unchangeable. He is the one who is. He is the one who always was. There never was a time when He wasn't. We're on a talk within the boundaries of time, and He is the one who is coming, and who is constantly coming. So, he says, from Him which is, which was, which is to come. Now, there's a trilogy here. Let me note the three things. First, you have the salutation from Him, from Him which is, which was, which is to come. And then you have the second part of the salutation from the seven spirits which are before His throne, and then you have the third part of the salutation which makes the salutation a trilogy, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten from amongst the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. I would like to notice with you some of these things. Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. We were speaking the other evening about stewardship, the stewardship of testimony, the stewardship of the trust of the word of God which is given into our hands, the stewardship of all that He has bestowed us with, and endowed us with. Here is the faithful witness. Here is the one who in himself knows no equal when it comes to the faithfulness of his witness. This is the one who is also included in the salutation, and John writes from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. John himself has been up to this point, and will be, with the visions that are entrusted to him, a faithful witness. You remember about Paul writing to Timothy, he talks about the good confession which Christ made before Pontius Pilate. Our Lord knew no variation, no wavering, no defecting in the service of his witness. The pathway which the Father had outlined for him, he never deviated from it, he never swerved from it, he never changed his circumstances when he could have. If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made red, forty days and forty nights, nothing to eat and nothing to drink. With a wild beast tempted of the devil for those forty days and forty nights, and now at the close of them he is hungry, his body is reacting to the fasting of forty days and forty nights. If thou be the Son of God, who heard it said at the river Jordan, lift this thy beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He comes to him in the wilderness, in his emaciated state, in his weakness of body. When an angel had to come and minister to him, he says, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made red. He had the power to do it, he could have done it very readily, he needed the red. But, it was the Spirit of God that carried him into the wilderness, and it was his Father that planned that experience for him, and he would not alleviate the situation by his own ability to do so when it was not the Father's time. He was the faithful witness, and all the way through his earthly pathway, he was constantly the faithful witness. I came down from heaven, he said, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. The doctrine that I teach is not my doctrine, but he taught me. Marvelous, isn't it? That's worth pondering, isn't it? He taught me. The Lord is the faithful steward to what his Father taught him. He is the faithful witness in his ministry. He was the faithful witness in his weakness, in his lowliness, his humility, and that last interminable night, and those six trials that he went through, the last night and morning of his life, he was the faithful witness. When there was a time when he could have defended himself, he lifted not his hand. When he stood in the presence of Herod, who longed to see him, because he had tried to stultify his conscience by saying God had raised John the Baptist from the dead, and he was eager to see him, and now he has him, and he's asking things of him, the Lord answers him with a dignity of silence. There's a dignity in silence that's difficult for some of us to learn, isn't it? He was faithful in the presence of the Sanhedrin. Until they put him under oath, he had no defense of his own. We adjure thee by the living God. We put thee under oath by the Christ, and he said, we've said it, and hereafter I say unto you, you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. We're going to come down to that shortly, aren't we? In verse 7, coming with the clouds of heaven. I want to notice with you, when I come to that point, it says every eye shall see him. Let me just suggest something to you right now. Jesus, standing in the presence of the high priest, when the high priest said that thou tellest if thou be the Christ the Messiah, he said, you have said it, and I say unto you, you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. You will see it. Where's the high priest now? Where's the Sanhedrin tonight? Where are they going to be when he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him? Where will they be? Well, you see, that's probably poetic, or metaphorical, or something to say. No? Let me suggest to you that when the Lord told the high priest that night, that agonizing long night of his sorrow, his suffering, when he was finally battered, and bruised, and beaten, and led out to the cross, when he said to the high priest, I say unto you, you will see, I believe, and I can only tell you that I believe it, but I do believe it nevertheless, and I suggest it to you, when God brings him back in majesty and power, and every eye shall see him, he's going to open the gates of Hades, and let them see him come. He will do it. There will not be a living creature anywhere in the universe that doesn't witness the glory, and the majesty, and the power of the one who stood that night, seemingly a helpless prisoner in the hands of his cruel murderers. They'll see him come. Every eye shall see him. He was the faithful witness at all times, and then, what else does it say? He was the first begotten from amongst the dead. The only one that ever stepped into the dynasty of death, and defied the monarch. The only one who never laid down his arms in the presence of this death watch. This one, as Romans chapter 3 and 6 tell us, had rained from Adam to Moses. Death rained, and here someone comes in to this empire, this empire of death, where the monarch sits upon the throne, and every king abdicates to him, and every general lays down his sword, and every politician gives up his post. They've all got to yield to him, to the imperial majesty of death. Someone comes in, steps into his kingdom, and what does he say? He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. And they said, how can you say if someone believes in you they'll never taste of death? That's exactly what he said. They shall never taste of death. Who could say that? The one who became here the first begotten from amongst the dead, the one who wrested the scepter out of the hand of this undeposed monarch for all these centuries, tore his kingdom, burst the shackles of his prison house, and stepped out in the glorious triumph of the resurrection morning, the first begotten from amongst the dead. He was one of them, as we read farther down in chapter one. He became dead, but now he's the first begotten from amongst the dead, and because he is that, my friends, everything as an animal died in Christ, all shall be made alive, and every last one in the grave shall hear his voice and come forth. It's on chapter 5 and verse 28, isn't it? There'll be no place in all the universe of God, this vast ever-expanding universe, there'll be no place where the voice of the majesty of him who was the first begotten from the dead will not be heard. They shall respond, they must come forth, because he deposed the monarch, he destroyed his kingdom, and him who had the power of death was destroyed at the same time, and we who all a lifetime were subject to bondage because of the fear of death, he set us free, gloriously free. He's the first begotten from amongst the dead, and then I must close. I'm over time on this one, but I have a minute on that one. I'm going by that one tonight. He's the prince of the kings of the earth. I like to look at this in various ways, but just let me say to you that the prince, we speak about a prince, he is a prince of a man, don't we? He is a prince of a man. He's the prince of the kings of the earth. He is the most handsome, the most majestic, the mightiest of them all. He is supreme amongst all the potentates of earth, but he is the heir as well. He is the heir of all the kingdoms of the world, and of all the worlds of his kingdom, he's the prince of the king of the earth. So we pray. Our Father, we thank you tonight for him, the vision of whom fills our hearts as we sit together and sing crown him Lord of all. There's a name we love to hear, we love to speak his word. We would rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. We thank you for his beauty. We thank you for his strength. We thank you for his nearness. We rejoice in him. This evening as we close our service and close the activities of the day, we bless thee for the vision, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Amen.