Mike Bickle emphasizes the beauty of God as revealed in the face of Jesus, particularly through the book of Revelation, which is designed to unveil Christ's glory and majesty. He highlights 24 distinct aspects of Jesus' beauty found in Revelation 1, including His titles, His voice, and His compassionate nature as the High Priest. Bickle encourages believers to engage deeply with these descriptions, fostering a personal relationship with Jesus by acknowledging His attributes and seeking revelation. The sermon underscores the importance of understanding Jesus not just as a figure of authority but as one who intimately understands human suffering and offers redemption. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a response of faith and obedience to the truths revealed in Scripture.

Session five. I ask everybody to grab a seat real quick. Session five. It's a little bit thin. Just a little bit. Just a little thin. Oh, once she says once, I get going, I'll be fine. Father, we come before you and we ask you, Holy Spirit, escort us again. Take us further. Let us see things we've never seen before about this glorious man who's fully God and fully man. And we ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, session five, we're the beauty of God in the face of Jesus. And a verse that I've always loved is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. Paul's talking about God who gives the light of the knowledge of the glory or the beauty. You can use those words often interchangeably when you're talking about God. That God gives the light of the knowledge of His beauty, but He does it in the face of Jesus, in the person of Jesus. But in Jesus' words, His character, but even in His physical person, in the resurrection, there's the glory of God that's released in Him. So let's look at paragraph B. The book of Revelation is one of the most dynamic places to discover the beauty of Jesus. Anywhere in the Bible, the book of Revelation. Because the book of Revelation is specifically designed to reveal Jesus. Well, the whole Bible does, but no other book of the Bible of 66 books says the purpose of the book is to reveal Jesus directly. Now, we know every book does that, of course. But here in Revelation chapter 1, the book is called The Revelation of Jesus. The very title of the book is The Unveiling of the Man Christ Jesus. It reveals the beauty of His leadership and His heart and His end time plan. And that generation when He transitions the earth to the age to come. Can you fathom how important and dramatic it is for a man to transition the entire planet to the age to come? I mean, that is so intense. And this book of Revelation is His plan to do that. And He lays it out. But the book of Revelation is a book about the events and His end time to purify the church, to bring in the harvest, to replace all the evil governments of the earth, to drive Satan off the planet. But the first purpose of the book is to reveal the man behind the plan, not the plan. A lot of people read Revelation because they want to know the plan. I read Revelation, I just set my heart, and I did this for a couple of years. We had a Friday night prayer meeting I've gone to for years. And I would always on Friday night, I just did it for fun, I don't know how many years, many years, I would just read the whole book of Revelation. And I wasn't into the end times at all. People would say, ooh, what do you think the sixth seal is? And I would say, I don't care. I'm not even reading it for that. I'm reading it to discover more about the man. It was just the revelation of Jesus. And then some years later, I got more interested in the plan that was in the book of Revelation as well. But I was always most interested in the man behind the plan. And so the book of Revelation is so dynamic in revealing Jesus in that way. Let's look at Roman Numeral 2. Jesus is revealed, His beauty is revealed as the Son of Man. His majesty and His beauty. Now this is one of the grandest descriptions of Jesus in the Bible, Revelation chapter 1. It's parallel to what we just looked at, Revelation chapter 4, being the clearest description of the throne, the royal court scene. There's no passage like Revelation 4, what we just looked at, that gives that kind of detail. And there's no other passage in the Bible. Revelation 1 and Revelation 19, they're kind of like right there together. You've got to put them together. They give more, you know, phrase by phrase, new insight into the glory of Jesus. In paragraph A, we're just going to look at Revelation 1 a little bit. And there's more, obviously, about Jesus' beauty than this chapter. But I just want you to get familiar with the phrases in this chapter. Because this chapter, you can kind of read the phrases and kind of go, hmm, okay, and just kind of move on. But get really familiar with this. I determined years ago I was going to know what every one of these phrases meant so that when I worshiped and talked to him, I would have some meaning. I would have something to go on when I was talking to him about these different facets of his beauty. So don't be content just to kind of broad stroke this passage and just kind of run by it real quick. Say, no, I'm going to know what this means. Now, it's paragraph A, the revealing of his majesty or his beauty as the Son of Man. And here in chapter 1, it reveals 24 different aspects of his glory, 24. Now, some of you that have been around this ministry for a while, I always talk about the 30 descriptions of Jesus. I've used that phrase a lot over the years. And that's in Revelation 1, 2, and 3. You put all three chapters together, there's 30 distinct descriptions that I highlight. But there's 24 of them just in chapter 1 alone. It's just that there's six more if you read chapter 2 and 3 and you bring them all together. And so for those of you that have heard the 30 descriptions, you're going, oh, well, you downgraded it to 24. No, I'm just only looking at one of the chapters instead of chapter 1 to 3. Okay, back to the handout here. Okay, so the title, the Son of Man, was first spoken by Daniel the prophet. He was the first one to ever use that phrase. And it was referring to the Messiah who would rule all the nations of the earth. And the phrase, the Son of Man, emphasized Jesus' deity and His humanity together. And so we're going to find the title, Son of Man, in verse 13. We'll get there in a moment. But let's read the whole passage slowly. Just read it slow. Every detail is significant. Again, this is like chapter 4, the one we just looked at. It's a treasure hunt par excellence. I mean, if you only had Revelation 1 and Revelation 4, you'd have enough to stay busy for a long, long, long time in discovering the beauty of Jesus. Well, it starts in verse 10. He said, I heard behind me, this is John, there's a voice behind me. It's a very loud voice. It's a voice like a trumpet. I mean, it's like full and authoritative and very loud. And the voice says, I am the Alpha, the Omega, the first and the last. And then John turns around and says, who is this? Who, with this full, authoritative, incredibly loud voice, who claims to be the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Verse 12, he turns and he saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of those lampstands was this man who was walking in the midst of them. And he was one like the Son of Man. Now John knows he's looking at his friend Jesus. He's looking at the one that he loves. But Jesus is revealing a dimension of His glory that I assume John has never seen this dimension of His glory before. He was clothed with a garment down to the feet. He was girded about the chest with a golden band. That's clearly an association to being a priest, a high priest. Verse 14, his hair and his head were white like wool, like white as snow. Well, if Daniel chapter 7 was the first one to talk about the Son of Man, Daniel chapter 7, that very passage, the Father's hair is white. So Jesus has hair like the Father's. He has the same eternal characteristics and qualities and wisdom and purity that His Father has. That's what's going on here. And John gets it. That you have, you look like your Father in these ways. And the white hair and the head has met His eternal nature along with His purity and His wisdom. Then John kept looking and eyes like fire, burning fire. That's that Sardius-like color emanating out of the being of God. That's coming out of Jesus' eyes, flaming fire. His feet were like fine brass, like it was glowing as burning in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of many waters. A moment ago in verse 10, His voice was like a trumpet. Here it's like sound of many waters. Those are very distinctly different descriptions. Verse 16, He had in His right hand seven stars. And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His face or His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. It had such brightness and such radiance about His face. But He could still see His eyes like fire in the midst of the radiant countenance like the sun. And when John looked at Him, though undoubtedly John knew it was His friend Jesus, John could have said something like, I've never ever seen you in your glory like this. He felt like a dead man before His friend. And Jesus knelt down and touched Him and said, John, don't be afraid. It's me. It's me. I mean, Jesus had appeared to John in the resurrection, but Jesus didn't unveil the full glory of the resurrection. He was veiled when He met the apostles in the upper room. I mean, when He walked through the wall and ate fish with them, He was veiling who He is. This is the real Jesus. This is who He really is in His fullness, although His fullness is more than this. Now, the more clearly, I love this verse 17, He felt like a dead man. That's a good thing, meaning He's captured. He's awestruck. He's undone in the positive sense. And the challenge I feel from the Spirit is the more clearly we see verses 10 to 16, the more we will feel what John felt in verse 17. The more we're awestruck in verse 17. So I'm looking at verse 10 to 16 and I go, those are the hints. That's the pathway to being awestruck like John was in verse 17. So I look at those little hints, these little phrases, and I go, Holy Spirit, we've got a big Bible and You know everything. Teach me more from these hints about the beauty of this man. Well, let's start in Romans 3. He starts off, Alpha and Omega. Now this sometimes can be a phrase we just kind of go over real quick and kind of not think much about it. But when Jesus says, I'm the Alpha and Omega, what He's saying is, I'm God. I'm fully, I have deity. Because when He says in a moment, I'm the first and the last, He's saying, I'm man, I have humanity. So the first one is a reference to His deity. The second one is a reference to His humanity. Now the Greek alphabet starts with Alpha and the last letter is Omega. So what He's saying is, I'm the A to Z. I'm the A to Z of everything. I'm the A to Z. I have complete authority. I have complete knowledge. I have complete control. I am the A to Z of everything. He knows every situation in your life. He has power over it. He can redeem it. There's nothing bigger than the Alpha and Omega. He says, nothing is beyond that. He knows every issue in the church. He knows every issue in the nations. And He knows every issue that will ever happen in the future. There's nothing can sneak up on Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Now here's an interesting paragraph B. He's the first and the last. Now when He says the first and the last, He's not saying the same thing as the Alpha and the Omega. At a quick glance, it kind of looks like maybe He's just repeating Himself. This one is a reference to His humanity. Alpha and Omega is a reference to His deity. And the reason I'm taking a minute on this, because this is the first thing Jesus says when He speaks like a trumpet. But here's the important part about this. Paragraph B. The title first and last is the most repeated title of Jesus in the book of Revelation. So this isn't one of the one. This is not a title you want to just rush by real quick. He used this title to describe His glory and His beauty more than any other one title. So that alerts me and I go, okay, okay. I don't really get it, but I'm going to get it. I'm going to make sure I get this one. He's making two different statements. When He says I'm the first and the last, Colossians chapter 1 puts both statements together in one verse. Paul says it in Colossians 1. He's the firstborn of all creation. Now being the firstborn is not a chronological statement. It doesn't mean there's ten kids in the family. He's the first one born. That's not what it means. Firstborn meant the position of prominence as the heir. So the firstborn could be used as a chronological thing, but that's not what it's talking about here. It's using as a position of preeminence and authority. I'm the firstborn over all creation. I'm the heir of everything is what He's saying. I am as a man, as a man, the preeminent one. Now it's one thing for God to have all authority over creation. That's obvious. But Jesus is given authority over all creation in His humanity as a Jewish man. The Father is not saying, My son, eternally God, you've been with me. Take control of the earth. He's saying, no, you're already over the earth as God, together with the Father and the Spirit. But we want the earth to be in the hands of a human. And as a man, I am giving it to you. So that's what He means when He says He's the firstborn of all creation. He's the only man that has total authority over the rest of the created order. That's a giant statement. But He's not just first in prominence and authority. He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the first human to ever conquer death. He's the first. But in order to conquer death, He had to die. In order to die, He had to go through the horrible process of anticipating the death, the process of the death itself, the torture and the pain, then the death. He had to go through it all to be the first one to have victory over it. So He's saying as the firstborn from the dead, He's saying to everyone who suffers, I know everything. I had to think about it before it happened. I had to go through the brutal trial where they were beating on me and everybody was screaming and lying and mocking. I was humiliated. I went through all of that. Then I died. I get it all. I didn't skip any steps. I completely am connected with that, what He's relating to the human race. Okay, top of page 2. So as the first and the last, this title, again, paragraph C, is used most in the book of Revelation. So therefore, we need to pay attention to it. But He always uses it in context as physical suffering and persecution and martyrdom. And the reason He uses first and the last in context of martyrdom because He's saying I'm the guy that knew I was going to die, thought about it a lot, didn't like the prospect of it. I endured it and it was horrible. Then I stepped into death. Then I broke the power of death. I get it all. I'm the first and the last. So He identifies that title with the human journey through all the stages of death, the anticipation, the process, death itself and victory over it. I have full authority and knowledge over every step of the process, the very beginning to the end. I mean, He knows the martyrs when they're risking their lives. He knows that feeling before they're even caught and in trouble with the authorities. He knows that feeling that people are like, He goes, Hey, I live there. I knew they were going to get me. He knows what it means to be trapped. He knows what it means to be tied and handcuffed. He knows what it means to be questioned in a trial with liars coming against Him. He goes, I get all of that. I have the first and the last in authority and in experience and in compassion with my people. So that term is always in the book of Revelation related to His human journey in suffering, whereas Alpha and Omega is His deity. And so He starts off with saying, John, I'm fully God, but I'm fully man with every knowledge and experience of what you suffer or what anybody suffers. I've been through it all, so I'm really on your team with sympathy when you're going through it. And I'm going to reward you beyond what you can imagine because I know what you're doing. So that's what He's declaring to John by this title. Okay, paragraph D. His eyes are like fire. His eyes are like fire. His eyes of fire speak of His burning desire first, His love, but His eyes of fire also speak of His perfect knowledge, that His eyes like fire can penetrate metal. Fire can penetrate many things. He goes, you can put up a barrier, but my eyes will see right through it. So I have desire and I have perfect knowledge. So those are the two things that He's making a statement here. His eyes are burning. His eyes are like fire and burning because His heart is burning. He feels love for us, therefore He imparts love to us. He sees everything about our life. Look at number 3 under D. Fire involves both light and heat. So as the man with eyes of fire, He enlightens us to see, and then He tenderizes so we feel differently. So we see differently and we feel differently because He lets us into His perspective and He has perfect perspective on everything. Paragraph E. His eyes of fire see everything about our life. It says in Hebrews 4, There's no creature hidden from His sight. All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him. He sees everything. He sees the enemy approaching you. He sees the small obedience that you engage in that nobody else appreciates. He sees your willing spirit to obey when you struggle. He sees your pain and the effort. He sees the setbacks. He sees your disappointment. He says, I see everything. I don't just see your sin. I see your longing, your struggle, your journey. I have eyes like fire. Nothing can stand in my way that I cannot penetrate with my vision and that I cannot feel with my heart because my eyes of fire are expressing my heart of fire. Paragraph F. The beauty of Jesus is related to His voice. He has a voice like a trumpet, says in verse 10, and a voice like the sound of many waters. It's a little bit different ideas there. So, Jesus has a voice. And again, these are facets of His beauty. These are facets that make Him outstanding among the human race that nobody has these qualities. These are admirable qualities that when we actually recognize these, pay attention to them, kind of dial down and like really lock into them, we admire Him for these and we thank Him with affection and gratitude for them and we ask to be more like Him and so we see His beauty in these when we really focus on them. And it's not just a list of descriptions. These are real facets of real beauty that He's like this. Well, His voice being like a trumpet, in Numbers chapter 10, God told the children of Israel to make trumpets and trumpets had two big purposes, even more than these two, but two main purposes, to gather the people to the temple. When they blew the trumpet, everybody gathered to the sanctuary for worship. When He blew the trumpet, when the leaders blew the trumpet, it was a warning that the enemy was approaching. It was a warning of trouble. And the prophets used the term blowing the trumpet warning of judgment because often the judgment meant an enemy that was encroaching, typically a military crisis. So Jesus' voice, like a trumpet, it gathers, it warns, and His voice even announces His return because it's the voice of the trumpet that announces the coming of the Lord, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. But it's the sound of many waters. It's like you've heard the sound of the ocean when it's roaring. Now, we've had hurricanes, and we can't imagine the horrific sound of a hurricane. If there's 200-mile-an-hour winds, let's go up a notch, the sound would be unbearable. And what He's, like the roaring of the ocean, Jesus cannot be ignored. When He speaks, His voice will trump over everything, will triumph over every single voice. It can't be ignored. It can't be shouted over. You can't shout Him down. I mean, think of the sound of a hurricane coming, and He says, My voice is like the roar of that. I can't be ignored. I can't be triumphed over. I can't be silenced in any way. My voice is like that. The top of page 3, His hair. His hair is like white, like wool. And again, we go back to the original vision of Daniel chapter 7, where Daniel saw the first time, he saw the Son of Man prophecy right here in Daniel 7. The Son of Man was before the Father, right here in Daniel 7. So Daniel 7 verse 9 is just a couple verses before the Son of Man was in verse 13 and 14 of Daniel 7. So the throne scene is there, and the Father is revealed. His hair is white as snow. I mean, His garments are white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool, which is white as well. And this speaks of His eternal existence, the fact that He has no beginning and no end. It speaks of His total purity, and it speaks of His profound wisdom, unprecedented wisdom. But the point here is that Jesus is showing John, I have the same purity, the same eternal nature, and the same unprecedented wisdom as my Father has. I am God. I am like Him. I express Him, but I am equally God. I'm as much God as He is. But I'm fully man, and that's the beauty. That white hair is, again, a decoration of His association with the Father in the ways that I just described. Paragraph H, the next facet of His beauty in this passage is His garments. And there's three things that are highlighted here. He has garments. He's clothed in a priest's robe. He's standing in the midst of the seven lampstands because the high priest would stand in the midst of the lampstand. And He girded about His chest with a golden band. That's how the high priest would do it. And so, paragraph I, Jesus is declaring Himself as the high priest of Israel. He goes, I'm not just eternal like my Father. I'm not just all-knowing with eyes of fire and eyes of love. I am a sympathetic high priest. I am the high priest that cares about your weakness, that understands your weakness. In Hebrews chapter 4, the high priest, Jesus the high priest, it says that He's sympathetic. He understands all of our human weakness. That's the declaration that He's making to John here. And when He reveals Himself as the one clothed in a garment, girded about the chest, He's really saying, with anybody familiar with the Old Testament or with Jewish culture, He's saying, I'm that high priest. He's declaring the certainty of our salvation, and He's declaring His sympathy towards us in the journey as we're connecting to Him and growing in the Lord. Our salvation is sure, because He's the high priest, and the journey is before one who is sympathetic towards us. And again, His beauty is magnified in these characteristics, because nobody with this much power and this much knowledge, I mean, He knows everything, has this much tenderness. Typically, the more people know, the less tender they are. But He has eyes like fire, but He functions as a high priest that's tender. And so it's that beauty of the combination of these incredible, unique qualities that come together in combination in His life. He walks in the midst. It says in verse 13, He's in the midst of the seven lampstands. Now, the seven lampstands, it makes it really clear in verse 20. We didn't look at that part yet. It says that, well, paragraph K, I have it there, that the seven lampstands are, they speak of the churches. So what He's saying is, Jesus is saying, I'm not just remotely far away, ruling in heaven far away. I'm in the midst of the church. I'm up close and personal. When He says I'm walking in the midst, He means I'm not far away in heaven, disconnected, but by the Holy Spirit, I'm fully aware and in the midst of what my people are doing. This gives us the assurance of His deep involvement. Beloved, He's in our midst here. He knows the struggles we're going through as individuals, as a city, as a nation. He knows what the redeemed are going through. He's aware of our needs. He's aware of our frailty. He's aware of our pressures. He's in the midst with us. That's what He's saying. And again, there's no other king with such power and majesty that would bother to be in the midst of their people. Kings are never in the midst of their people. They're always far away being pampered, but He says, no, I'm fully involved. Paragraph K. He's holding the seven stars. He goes on to make it clear that the seven stars are the seven angels. And the word angel is simply the Greek word the messengers. So it says the seven messengers of the church. So the commentators, they debate, are these seven angels or are these seven human, like what somebody would call the senior pastor of that church in that city? The senior authority, probably be the main apostolic voice or leader of that city. And I think they're human messengers because John is told to write the message and give it to the messengers. So I don't think John is writing a message from Jesus, then looking for angels to give it to them. I think John gives this message to the messengers, the senior authority in the apostolic team that would be involved in the church of Ephesus, which Timothy would have been the head guy back in the early church. Of course, this is after Timothy's death that this takes place. But here's the real point I'm making. I spent too much time on that, but here's the real point I'm making. Jesus holds these messengers in His hands. He holds and helps the leaders that He calls and commissions. He says, what I entrusted to you, what I commissioned you to do is above your ability. What I've called you to do, you can't do except I hold you and I help you. That's the statement that He's making. I love to pray this verse before the Lord. I love to say, Lord, I'm one of your leaders and you hold your leaders and you help your leaders. I'm not leading the ministry you've entrusted to me on my own. I have confidence and I'm positive. You're going to help. You're going to inspire ideas. You're going to motivate people. You're going to open and shut doors. You're going to do so much that's beyond my ability, my personality, my wisdom, my strength. You're going to hold me in the midst of it. This is one of my favorite parts. Of course, I like the eyes of fire. I like Him walking in our midst. I like the high priest who's nice. I like the hair that's white with pure eternal wisdom and perfect. I like that He knows suffering. He's the first and the last. I like those two. Okay, anyway, but I really like this one. Paragraph L. Now, this is going to get a little like, so this is one you need to go, ooh, gotcha. Jesus' mouth is like, Jesus' mouth like a sword is. Revelation 1 verse 16, Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. This speaks of His zeal, now there's two things, to intervene against the church. That's what He says in Revelation 2 verse 16. He's going to use the sword against the church when the church refuses to repent. This isn't against weakness. This is against refusal. And He uses it against those who oppress the church in two different ways, but He uses it. Look at Revelation 2 verse 16. He says, I will use the sword of my mouth. I will fight against them. The them is the saints at Pergamos, in the city of Pergamos. It's believers. And He says they were embracing the teaching of Balaam that said it was okay to be involved in immorality. And Jesus said, I'm really against this. But the leaders at the church of Pergamos, a section of them said, well, you know, there's ways this works and it's not so what they think it is. And Jesus said, I'm really against this. And part of the church was standing with Jesus. Part of them was not. Jesus said, I'm going to fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Talking about believers. That's a big statement. Because today we're in a culture where much of the church is buying the rhetoric of the secular society about immorality and the view of immorality in the society and in the church is getting closer and closer to the same. And the Lord is not going to allow that to go unchallenged. He's going to intervene, not because He's mad and because He's mean, because He cares. He goes, if I don't free you from this and you take this into your life, it will get deeper and deeper than you take it with you to the judgment seat of Christ or you take it with you into eternity. No, no, I love you. I'm coming after you because you don't understand how perilous this is and the fact that everyone's doing it doesn't make it okay with heaven. And He tells them this. He goes, tell them, I will fight them with the sword of my mouth. I will come after them. You read the whole passage. It's pretty intense. Read Revelation chapter 2, verse 12 to 17. Paragraph M. Where to use the word like a sword to resist temptation. Jesus did. Do you remember Matthew 4? In the wilderness, Satan came to Jesus and Jesus said to tempt Jesus. And Jesus said, it is written. And then Satan tempted Him a second time and Jesus said, it's written. Satan came the third time. He said, it's written. He resisted Satan every time by the sword of the word, by speaking the word. He didn't kind of negotiate with Satan. He just declared the word to Satan and said, be gone. But what Jesus is saying here is if we don't use the word against temptation, the Lord says, I'll use it against your sinful agendas. I will use it because I care that much about you. Because you don't know the progressive darkness that will settle into your life. If you begin the path and don't get off of it, the path gets darker. Some people think they can dabble with immorality. You know, for a couple of years and then they're kind of be done with it. But it gets into your being and it has tentacles and it has a staying power and Jesus knows it far more than the people do. And He goes, I want you free from it. And there is freedom from it but we have to be intentional about it. It's not a small thing. So if we seek to obey the word, the sword of His mouth liberates us because we use it against temptation. If we disobey the word, the sword of His mouth will trouble us. The sword strikes the heart of the immoral believer and it strikes in the church and it strikes the life of the wicked leader in the nations. Because the sword has got two different angles, I mean two different approaches, I mean administrations in the book of Revelation. But this is something the church doesn't think much about but Jesus has never changed. And so it's real. And so as the social narrative intensifies and is accepted more and more in the church, we're going to see more and more of the Lord's zeal in this way because He's, again, not because He's mad and because He's mean but because He cares so much. Paragraph end. Now He's saying something similar to the sword of His mouth. This is His feet are like brass. But it's like brass that's been heated up in the furnace. It's glowing. It's glowing metal. It's like because it's been in the furnace for a long time. Have you ever seen metal burning? That's what His feet are like. Now this time He's not talking to the church at Pergamos and saying my mouth is like a sword. He's talking to the church at Thyatira. He's saying my feet is like brass. But He's talking about the same issue, immorality. In Pergamos it was the teaching of Balaam that said immorality was okay. In the church at Thyatira it was Jezebel saying immorality was okay. And Jesus said tell them that I'm coming with feet of brass into the church. And so what He means by that is that Jesus steps into, I have it written here, He steps in to alter the circumstance and the life of His people. And sometimes He steps on the circumstances. He goes I'm coming with feet of brass to change the circumstance. And as a redemptive judgment, which we call a discipline of the Lord, what He does when He intervenes with His redemptive zeal as feet of brass into immorality or idolatry, but I don't want to spend too much time on this because I want to bring this to an end. What He does is He cuts off sinful opportunities. He frustrates circumstances to make it really hard to persist. You know the guys dabbling with immorality or more, and this breaks and that stops and this doesn't work and somebody's over here. The guy's going everything is not working. The Lord says I'm stepping into your circumstances with feet of brass. I'm altering things to make it hard for you to go in that path because I love you so much. My beauty is that I'm not leaving you to your own. You know somebody says oh man, you know the discipline of the Lord, I'm not really into that. The trouble is when we're not disciplined anymore. When the Lord says I'm not disciplining you no more, that's Romans 1. He turns people over to themselves. That is disaster. When He says okay, I'm done disciplining you. That is the worst statement that a person can hear in this age when the Lord says I've let you be yourself then. I've turned you over to who you are. I'm not going to intervene anymore. So we want His disciplines. I mean that's because He cares enough to change us now before we get deeper in it and before we take it with us to the age to come, that lifestyle without repenting of it. Okay, paragraph O. His face is like a countenance. It's shining like the sun. I mean His face is so beautiful. Look at Revelation 21. The whole new Jerusalem is lit up and illuminated by the face of Jesus. I mean now that's power. Okay, let's take just one minute on this. Romans 4. How do you apply these 24 descriptions of Jesus, of His beauty in chapter 1 or the 30 if you're going to do chapter 1 to 3? Because really chapter 1 to 3 is one unit. You don't really want to separate Revelation 1, 2 and 3 apart. It's one unit together. And most of the things that He described Himself in chapter 1, He applied it to the churches in chapter 2 and 3. And we just looked at a few of those examples. Here's a little acronym I use. It's a little three-letter acronym, ARC. And I like the word ARC because Jesus' name is like an arc of safety and Jesus' name is like an arc of His presence and the pressures that are mounting up in the days today and in the days to come. And I use the acronym. I always like to get an acronym because then I can just remember it really easy and go through it. A means agreement. R means ask for revelation. And K means keep the prophecy. And what I mean by that is in Revelation chapter 22, well actually several times in the book of Revelation, Jesus promised a blessing. He said if you keep the prophecy, in other words if you respond to my revelation of myself in this book, if you respond in faith and obedience, that's called keeping the prophecy. Responding to me in faith and obedience. He goes if you'll do that, you'll be blessed. And so I'm using that word, I mean the letter K. Keep the prophecy to me. Respond in faith and obedience because that's what it means here. So let me bring this together just real quick here. So paragraph C. A, the first letter of ARC. We make agreement. So when I read one of these 24 descriptions of Jesus, first thing I do is I agree. I pause and I make a declaration of agreement to Jesus of who He is. Like for instance, I say something like, you are the faithful witness. You are the king of the nations. You are the high priest. You have feet like brass. You have eyes like fire. I make a statement of agreement. I acknowledge it before Him. Then paragraph D. I ask the Lord for revelation. I say your eyes are like fire. Lord, reveal that more to me. Thank you that your eyes are like fire. I love that your eyes are like fire, but I want you to reveal it more to me. So R, I ask for revelation. And then K, I make a simple response of resolve to either believe or obey that truth. And I have just a few simple little examples there. But in each one of these 24 descriptions, I will, when I say them back to the Lord, you are the first and the last. I will acknowledge it and say you're the one that died. You went through all the processes of death. You and only you understand it all. You are that. That's A. Then R, revelation. A-R-K. R is the next one for revelation. I say Lord, show me who you are more. Give me more insight into who you are as the first and the last. Then K, I want to keep the prophecy. I want to respond to that. I say I don't want to cower under persecution. Lord, I set my heart to be faithful to you even under pressure. It's a very simple little acronym. And I use that acronym on every one of those descriptions. And it gives me some way to talk with him about them. Because I don't want to just read these descriptions. This magnificent display of his beauty. This canvas of his beauty. This painting of who he is. And just say, okay, I've underlined that in my Bible. I sang it in a worship song. I'm moving on. No, I want this to be a part of my dialogue with him. I want to worship him. I want to go deep on this. And not just kind of like a fast kind of run by. Rapid fire beauty of Jesus. I really want to do this. And so that's why I want to give you that little tool of how to respond to this in a personal way. Well, amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord.