In this sermon, John is back on the Isle of Patience after the revelations have ended. He emphasizes the importance of staying faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings that come from it. He discusses the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation and how the Lord reveals Himself to each church according to their specific needs. The sermon also touches on the blessing of being with Christ, either through death or waiting for deliverance, and the importance of watching for His return.

So, we open our Bibles to Revelation, Chapter 1. Our thoughts have been on the book of Revelation quite a bit of late. Those of you who were at the Lyman Conference on Lord's Day afternoon heard a little message on the I Ams of Revelation, the seven I Ams of Revelation. This afternoon is a help of the Lord, and if he doesn't help us, we will not be helped. I'd like to speak on the seven Beatitudes of the book of Revelation. There are seven Beatitudes in the book of Revelation, seven special blessings. I don't know whether I have the authority to call them Beatitudes, because we're used to using the word Beatitude in connection with the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, but the Greek word is exactly the same. The blessing, the grammatical construction of the sentence, is exactly the same. I'm going to take my authority from Matthew that these are indeed true Beatitudes, and there are just seven of them in the book of Revelation. Seven is God's number. We were pressed for time over Lyman, and there are so many things that one would like to say that he doesn't get said, and that was one of the things that I didn't get said. Seven is God's number. It's the number of perfection. He completed the creation in seven days. Number seven is very much in evidence, as well as the number three in the book of Revelation. There are seven notes in the octave. Someone says, I thought there were eight. No, there are only seven. The eighth note is the beginning of the new octave. If you go over and count off on the piano, four octaves, you will have not 32 keys, you'll have 29. Really, that 29th key is the beginning of the new octave. With that perfect octave, we can make music. And with God's perfection, our hearts are filled with music. Now, in the book of Revelation, we are given a seven-fold revelation of the Lord Jesus as the great I Am. Seven times, the I Am is mentioned in the book of Revelation. And in those seven times, you and I have exactly what we need when we consider the judgment of that book. Now, there's a perfect blessing for us in the attitudes of the book of Revelation. It's a strange book. God in it does His strange work, the work of judgment, and our minds are conditioned in the very first chapters and notice on to prepare us for what takes place in the book of Revelation. Let me say this about the book of Revelation. It's the one book in the Bible that we are given a promise that if we will read it and listen to its message, that we will be blessed. That's the first attitude of the book of Revelation. Shall we read a few verses? The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. Then he sent and signified it, or if you want to break that word up, signified it, by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all the things that he saw. Blessed he that readeth. It is in italics. We'll just leave it out. Blessed 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 on 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 end the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The holy comet with clouds, and every eye shall see him, they also which pierced him, and all entrance of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. I am alpha and omega. This is the first I am of the book of revelation. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord which is, which was, and which is to come, the almighty. This is the only I am of the book of revelation in which the word almighty is mentioned in connection with it. He is the great I am, and what a comfort it is to know as we open the pages of this book of the strange work of God, the book of judgment, that everything is in his blessed hand. And shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Everything is in the hands of the one who is the mighty I am, who in the garden of Gethsemane, when they approached him to apprehend him and take him to planet earth, they asked him if he was Jesus, and asked him. He just used those words, I am, and they fell backwards to the ground, just as children line up dominoes and touch the first one to see them all tumble over. He just used his name of power, the name of eternity, the one who lives in the eternal present, the one to whom the past is not forgotten, and to whom the future is perfectly known. The one who lives in the eternal present, the great I am. What it is a comfort to condition our minds for what follows in the book of revelation in these first few verses. The first number of three is in connection with the trinity. Now, I'm not going to review what we spoke at the time, and time is too precious, but we have the trinity in verses four and five. We have the trinity, the threefold office of our Lord Jesus in verse five, the faithful witness of the prophet, the firstborn, first begotten of the dead, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, the prince of the kings of the earth. We have his priesthood and his kingship, and he is brought before us in his threefold office, prophet, priest, and king. In two, three, the trinity, and then the threefold office of our Lord Jesus. But, I like to think of the the attitudes of revelation. Shall we notice them? The first one was in verse three, as we read it, 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. I'll tell you one black thing that will come to us as we read the book of Revelation. It will put us on the tiptoe of expectancy. The time is at hand. It's such a blessing to read the book of Revelation because it's the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the Lord Jesus Christ and his glory in the book of Revelation as nowhere else. We may not see it directly, although we certainly see it directly in chapter one, as John on the Isle of Patmos gets a vision of that wonderful person who displays himself as the one whose hair is as white as snow, and whose eyes are like flames of fire, the prophet, who reaches to the innermost regions of the soul that speaks to the soul, a faithful witness. We see something of the glories of our Lord Jesus brought before us directly, but in the rest of the book of Revelation we learn more or less indirectly of the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. We learn something of his glory by seeing the actions of others in his presence. We observe the attitude of the seraphim. We observe the attitude of the 420 elders. We observe the judgments that are brought to pass upon those who refuse to acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ, and who chose the mark of the beast and went into his camp rather than believing the testimony of the preachers of the gospel of the king. We see the strong men of the calling for the mountains and for the hills to fall on them, to hide them from the face of him that sits on the throne, the Lamb of God. I'll say this about the book of Revelation. You're impressed with the fact that everyone, before that book is finished, is going to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Those who will not accept him, and those who will not bow their knee to him in grace, are going to bow their knee nevertheless. They find out who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Well, now I'd like to think that this book starts with a beatitude. It's not all judgments. There's blessings in the book of Revelation. Real blessings for those who have accepted the Lord Jesus and bowed the knee to him in grace. And this is the personal blessing. Blessed is he that read it. They that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein. The thought is literally, keep an eye on those things which are written therein. Keep an eye on them, watching carefully. That's the first beatitude. So, we turn to Revelation chapter 14. I'm not sure that we'll be able to cover them all this afternoon. Revelation chapter 14, verse 13. I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, it saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Chapter 16, verse 15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Chapter 19, verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. He saith unto me, Write, Blessed, supremely blessed, they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Chapter 20. I'm going to read this verse without reading the context. Perhaps we'll get time to touch on the verse. Verse 6. Blessed and holy, he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, that they should be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him for thousands of years. Revelation 22, verse 7. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Verse 14. Blessed they that do his command, that they may have rights of the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Now, it's quite possible that in the primary application of some of these verses they don't apply to you and to me. Let's remember that we learn much of what we learn from the book of Revelation indirectly. For instance, the letters to the seven churches are addressed to churches before the letter N, where the admonition is given to the individual. Remember that. We have to learn indirectly because of the Lord's rebuke to those churches that we learn. And the Lord says, in each and every case, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit hath unto the churches. Primary application is to those churches collectively. The application may be taken individually for our own folks. What can happen at Ephesus can happen in your life and mine. We can depart from our first loves. What can happen to Laodicea, just to go quickly from the first church to the last? Materialism. And that is what characterizes the seventh church, Laodicea. Materialism. They said, I am rich and increased with goods. They have need of nothing. By their standard, they were well off. The Lord said to that church, knowest not that our wretched and miserable poor blind and naked. What can be true of the church can be true of an individual. Here again, the admonition, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit hath unto the church. So, in the book of Revelation, though you and I may not be the ones directly addressed, these seven Beatitudes come with power and encouragement from you and from me in these last closing days of this dispensation. In the first Beatitude, we have the blessing of Revelation, the unveiling of Christ. How can we consider a book that unveils our Lord Jesus and shows, whether directly or indirectly, his glory? How can we consider him and not be blessed? The second Beatitude is the blessing of going to be with Christ and deliverance. The third blessing, blessing of watching for Christ. Righteousness will result. The fourth Beatitude, the blessing of feasting with Christ. The fifth Beatitude, the blessing of reigning with Christ. The sixth Beatitude, the blessing of faithfulness to Christ. The seventh Beatitude, the blessing of life in Christ. Eternal life. The first Beatitude we've already considered, in part, is the book of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the book in which everything is set right. In the book of Jude, we have everything out of its place. We have all teachers in the church out of their place. We have the devil out of his place. We have the saints out of their place. In the book of Jude, everything is out of its place. In Revelation, everything is put back into its place, and Christ is exalted, and he is given a central place, and every knee bows to him. Oh, how blessed to consider our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophet. And keep an eye, if you please, on those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Oh, surely you and I, when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ, especially as he's revealed in the first chapter in his revelations of the churches, our hearts are struck once again with his grace. Before we ever are introduced to the judgments of this book, we're told unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Isn't that a wonderful blessing to know that this one who's going to exercise the judgment of Revelation is the one who washed us from our sins in his own precious blood. The best analogy I can think of is that of a mother washing her little child from defilement, that that little child might be clean and sweet, and God has washed you and me from the defilement of sin, that we might be perfect in his presence. Oh, to know that my sins are washed away. Do we all know that here this afternoon? Do we all have the assurance that the one who is presented to us in the book of Revelation shed his precious blood, and not only shed that precious blood to take away our sins, but was the aggressor in washing us as individuals. He was the aggressor in searching us out. The Lord Jesus Christ was the shepherd that went after the sheep. We oftentimes use the expression such-and-such and so-and-so found the Savior. I know what that expression means, and I'm not a person to quite fall with an expression, but what would be much, much more appropriate to say would be that the Lord found him. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save. That which was lost. The Lord Jesus Christ not only shed his precious blood, but he washed us from our sins in his own blood. That tempers our thoughts as we go into the book of Revelation, and we see his grace, his unspeakable grace, as he deals with the seven churches. He, in talking to those seven churches, has a word of rebuke for all except for Myrna, but he always listens to their commendable teachers first. Wouldn't it be nice for you and for me if, when we were to criticize another Christian, and our own minds were worse than that of somebody else, wouldn't it be a good practice for you and me to lift up all their good teachers first, and then perhaps mention that which is wrong last? Do you know, I think that perhaps if we would follow that practice, the practice of our blessed Lord in the book of Revelation, that perhaps we might not get around to the criticism. We might forget all about that part. We see him dealing gently with them. We see him, in each and every case, revealing himself to the seven churches, or revealing himself to that church in the very thing which they needed. We can't deal with those seven churches and the letters to them, but at the very beginning of each message to each church, the Lord gives us a revelation of himself that exactly fits the need of that church at that moment. You know, it's wonderful to find in the Lord all our needs. It's wonderful to find in the Lord exactly what we need, and he is the one who can impress upon us our need, and then impress upon us he is the one who meets that need. But, let's think a little while about the blessing of going to be with Christ in chapter 14. Chapter 14 may have some going to be with Christ by means of death. Chapter 16 may have some waiting for him and deliverance from death. Verse 13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Right, blessed the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, said the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. We think of death as being a scourge. Death is not that. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I could not help being impressed by the songs that were sung at the beginning of this sermon. My heart was touched when I thought of the fact that the one who led those songs, the Lord doesn't come, will not be with us forever. But, thank God in the book of Revelation, one of the I am's is the I am of resurrection. I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Thus I misquote it. I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. He wrested them from the devil when he slew death by dying, and took the devil's keys away from him, and those keys now are hanging at the girdle of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ the victor, and he is the one who has the power of death, the I am. He is the one that takes that saint home. He is the one that gathers them to the fold. He is the one whose life is in his hands. That's not good construction or copy. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Now, I know the connection of this. There's terrible persecution. In the 13th chapter, we see the two beasts. The beast that rises out of the sea, and the beast that rises out of the earth. We see the fact that the stamp or the mark of the beast is put in the foreheads, and if they won't accept that mark, they'll not even be able to eat. They'll neither be able to buy nor to sell. Terrible persecutions are coming on to the church of God. The blessedness of the dead here are those that escape those persecutions by means of death. All have a desire and a desire to be with Christ, which is far, far better. Believe me, beloved in the Lord, we have a few things to escape, too. I'm glad I'm not going to live in this world forever, aren't you? With this body, you and I have some deliverances to be accomplished, and they may not be accomplished through the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, either. But, they're going to be accomplished, and they're not going to be accomplished in an atmosphere of defeat. They're going to be accomplished in an atmosphere of victory by the grace I am, who has the keys of death and hell hanging from his girdle. I'm thankful that things are ending. Certainly, there's a blessedness waiting for those who are ushered into the presence of our Lord Jesus when he says, come up higher, and he promotes them from this sphere of trial and sorrow to his immediate presence. What a day. What a day that's going to be. I remember on one occasion of talking to Mr. C. W. Ross at the Lyman Conference about 25 years ago. It wouldn't be that long ago. It was about 25 years ago, and I came to him as a very young man at that time, and I said, Mr. Ross, I said, how does it seem to you? I wanted his reaction. I said, how does it seem to you to know that even if the Lord doesn't come, that in a matter of a few short years at best, you'll be in his presence? And, I'll never forget the expression on his face. His face simply lifted up with ecstasy, and he clasped his hands like a little child. He says, perfectly delights, perfectly delights. He says, sometimes I think I'm there right now. It was just a matter of stepping across the veil of time and sin at the end of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are they, blessed the dead which die in the Lord, and henceforth. Yes, I know it has a particular and specific meaning here in application, but you and I have some deliverances that are going to come to this day. And, believe me, they're going to be deliverance. Then, some will not all die. 16 and 15, blessed he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Yes, supremely blessed he that watcheth. You know, the Lord has given the tribulation faith, same blessed hope that he's given us. That is of his coming again. As a matter of fact, we take a good deal of light proportions in the Gospels, and apply them to the rapture of the church when they are not properly applied to the rapture of the church. They are properly applied to the deliverance of the remnant. They're going to look for that one to come and reign, the one who died on the cross, that their robes might be washed white in the blood of the Lamb. They're looking for him. Blessed he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Why keeping his garments? We must look elsewhere in the Scriptures for the symbols that we find in the book of Revelation. The Scriptures are its own interpreter, or the Scripture is its own interpreter. They're one, and we look elsewhere in the Scripture for the interpretation of the symbols that we find. Blessed he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Now, the matter of keeping our garments is a matter of keeping our personal righteousness. The garments in the Scripture bring before us righteousness. He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. And, looking again for our Lord Jesus Christ, even by tribulation saints, even by the remnant, and tribulation saints, Gentiles as well, will have a practical effect in life. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is a subject which we love to hear about, and which is referred to oftentimes as a devotional subject, and some would even go so far as to say that it's not a practical subject. Not a practical subject. The coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, when the Scripture says, he that hath this hope in him purifies himself. You know, you and I would live differently if we really realized that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon. We'd be very, very much different in our lives. Or, that we might realize that he is coming soon. That we might observe the principle here, blessed he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest we walk naked and they see his shame. Or, I'll tell you, my beloved in the Lord, the fact that we're looking for our Lord Jesus Christ will have a very practical effect in our lives, and sometimes I wonder how we can say that we're looking for him at all, and living our lives as if this world was everything. I'll leave those thoughts with you. Now, Revelation 19 and verse 9. Blessing of feasting with Christ. Verse 9, blessed they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. You know, it's wonderful to be invited to a wedding. Invitations to a wedding necessarily are limited. I never saw a bride who was satisfied that she had invited all that she wanted to to her wedding. To see her give her hand in marriage to that man. But you know, there is a limit, isn't there? And sometimes I'm left on the wrong side of that limit, but I know she'd like to have me there anyway, and I don't get fussed about it at all. But it is wonderful to be invited to a wedding. But you know, there's one thing that's better. These people are blessed who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know, there's one thing better than that, that being bride. The bride at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and I am a part of that bride. Oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be when the Lord will claim the object of his heart's delight, and shall lavish upon her personally his attention and his love that he cannot do now. As the circumstances now will not not permit him to do what he's going to, and his great heart is not going to do. I ask you to think a little bit on the blessing of being at the marriage supper of the Lamb. God has always given his people a feast. In the old testament they had a feast. You and I have a feast. We observed it this morning as we gathered around that richly spread table, only bread and only wine, yet the faith of Solomon's time, as the heavenly and divine, we give these thanks. Would you ever see a table spread at such cost? Would you ever see a table filled like that one is filled? Well, here is a feast, feasting with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm glad that I'm going to be there. Are you going to be there at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Has the Lord Jesus Christ won your heart? You know, the analogy of a groom winning his bride is followed up in the Lord seeking out you and me. He wins us and he asks us oftentimes, will you be mine? Have you given him an answer? Ah, the blessed aggressor in that wing of our soul. Passing on quickly to 20 and 6, we're just going to mention it. Blessed and holy, he that hath part in the first resurrection. I don't think it's the joys of resurrection that are before us particularly, because he's talking earlier in the chapter about those that have been beheaded for their witness of Jesus in this world. It's not so much the resurrection that's before us, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God, and the Christ-man shall reign with him a thousand years. The blessedness of reigning with Christ. You know, I, my heart is genuinely pained when I pick up the daily newspaper. At the sorrow, and the sin, and the tragedy that you cannot escape when you pick up your daily newspaper. I am going to be glad to see the day when the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David, and rules this world in righteousness. What a blessed time it is going to be to reign with him. In Revelation chapter 22, 7, the old icon quickly blesses he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. The blessedness of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't realize it now. We don't always realize the blessedness of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ, but when he comes, and it's mentioned in connection with his coming, we're going to realize that it's paid to serve Jesus. As that old song goes, it pays to serve Jesus in every way. It pays for the blessings of just serving him. John is back on the Isle of Patmos. At this time, the revelations have all ended. He says, uh, in verse 8, Thy John saw these things and heard them. When I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Certainly there is a blessing for you and me in keeping faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe me, when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, the blessed Bhima, see the blessed Bhima? I wonder if I'm correct in saying that, where there's a blessed one that sits on the Bhima. When we see that, when we see our lives reviewed before him, when we see the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ, I wish we could, we could see it. We don't see it. We don't live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. But after we've seen him, we're going to wish desperately that we would have served that blessed one better. And beloved in the Lord, now, right now, is the only time you can do anything about it. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. The last one, 14, verse 14, blessed they that do his commandments. Now, the marginal reading is, blessed they that wash their robes. I don't see how the authorized translators could have gotten this far off in their translation, but they did. I checked it with Darby, but I must say Darby is accurate. It doesn't need fancy judgment on a man like that. I placed implicit faith in Darby's translation, and I believe that a Scofield Bible took it straight from Darby to pardon me for saying it. Blessed they that wash their robes, that they might have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Blessing of life in Christ, eternal life. The last, the attitude of the Bible. You know, that's the best thing that ever happened to you and me. Forgive me, Mr. Charles, if I refer again to Mr. Ross. Mr. John Walden had the privilege of visiting Mr. Ross in his final illness. It was the time when John Moneypenny was over here from England. And he went over and he visited Mr. Ross in his room. Mr. Moneypenny came in. John Walden said, here is where I have a spiritual feast. He's worthy of the Lord. And he just prepared himself for the feast. And so, he listened for a little while, and they exchanged greetings, and they told of their recent movements and goodness of God to them. And finally, Mr. Ross said, or maybe it was Mr. Moneypenny, one of them said to the other, well, Charlie will say, Mr. Moneypenny is the speaker, or, well, John indicates Mr. Ross being the speaker, it's a grand thing to be saved. Yes, it is, John. Yes, it is, Charlie. That was it. The best thing that ever happened to you and me, the war struggle, is blessed is the person that washes his robes, that has a right to the tree of life, and feasts on Christ forever and ever. Thank God for the Beatitudes of Revelation. Thank God for the Savior that's glorified there. Thank God for the blessed hope that these things will soon be realized by you and by me.