Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Jesus being the 'First and the Last' in Revelation, highlighting that this title encapsulates both His divine sovereignty and His human experience. He explains that understanding these titles equips believers to endure hardships and remain steadfast in their faith. Bickle stresses that Jesus' humanity allows Him to empathize with our struggles, and His resurrection assures us of eternal rewards for our faithfulness. The sermon calls for a deeper revelation of Jesus to transform our lives and align our hearts with His eternal purpose.

Turn to Revelation chapter 1. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask you for impartation. We ask you for living understanding. Holy Spirit, I ask you to mark the hearts. Inspire our understanding of the glory of Christ Jesus. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Well tonight we're going to look at Jesus and his title or his name as the first and the last. This is very significant because this is the name that Jesus used the most in the book of Revelation. He spoke this name concerning himself more than any other name, and that's a very significant point. Let's give a quick review. Paragraph A. In Revelation 1 to 3, John sees a vision, and in this vision he communicates it, and he highlights 30 distinct descriptions about Jesus. 30 distinct descriptions or titles about him. And he highlights 18 eternal rewards. Now each one of these descriptions and each one of these rewards, they communicate something very specific about Jesus to us. Now here's the important point, is that each one of these and all of them together are necessary to equip the church. If we don't understand these 30 descriptions and these 18 rewards, we are not as equipped as we can be in terms of our revelation of Jesus. Now the Holy Spirit knows the most powerful influence on the church is the revelation of Jesus himself. And so he gives us this insight so that we would overcome, compromise, endure persecution, but not only that, that we would be equipped to engage and participate with Jesus in ministry in a deep way. So somebody says, I want to overcome compromise, temptation. I want to endure hardship more effectively and not give up and give in. I want to be more equipped to partner with Jesus right now in this age. I say good, I know one of the key ways to get equipped. These 30 descriptions of Jesus, these 18 eternal rewards. Paragraph B, Revelation 1 verse 10 and 11. John has the shock of his life. He's on the island of Patmos. Most guessed that he's about 90 years old. He's on the island of Patmos in the Mediterranean Sea because of, he's in prison. It's a prison island because he preached the gospel. And I assume he's in prayer and suddenly he hears a voice behind him. The voice is like a trumpet, verse 10. It's loud. It's alerting. This voice, which we'll find out in a moment, is Jesus himself, but he comes up behind John. Now the voice like a trumpet means, be alerted, John. Don't dismiss what I'm going to say to you, John. Make it a priority. And the voice, which we know is Jesus, he only says one sentence. Whatever this sentence is, beloved, don't minimize it. Don't ignore it. Don't set it aside. It's of the highest priority to Jesus. He spoke it in the alarming attention-getting mode of a trumpet. Here's what he said. John, I am the Alpha and Omega. We looked at that at the last session. What that means, a little bit of what it means, that speaks of Jesus and his deity, who he is as God. John says three things. I am the first and the last. The emphasis, we'll see in a moment, is on Jesus and his humanity. And then he gives the third point. What you see, what I communicate to you, I want you to write it, and I want you to pass the word to everyone. So here's the message. I'm the Alpha and the Omega. That relates to his deity. I'm the first and the last. That relates to his humanity. Make sure everybody catches this message. Now I think that one of the most neglected messages in the church is that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, first and the last. Jesus intended that it would be one of the primary messages. So we ask the Holy Spirit, what does it mean that he's the Alpha and Omega? What does it mean that he's the first and the last? Because we want to make it known to everyone. In the church, I don't mean just unbelievers. He was to make it known to the churches. So this twofold message, Alpha and Omega, first and last, this is a message from the Spirit to the churches. So all of you, you love Jesus, and you want to impact people for Jesus. So determine you're going to go on the journey. I'm going to understand and encounter what these two titles mean. I mean Alpha and Omega, I put together as a what's actually two distinct ones. So these four titles. I want to know what they mean. I want to feel the power of it. I want to be anointed to impart understanding, living understanding of this truth. Now Jesus spoke this title that I am the first and the last four times in the book of Revelation. No other title did he speak four times. Why did he emphasize it the most? Because I believe it is one of the most needed truths. Now particularly in context to the suffering that's described in the book of Revelation related to the end times. But it's not limited to that generation the Lord returns. It was spoken to the church 2,000 years ago, and it has been helpful to any that would go on the journey to understand this dimension of Jesus. It would equip them all all the generations, but here's the point. It is a most necessary truth to be able to stay steady in love even in the midst of persecution. Now Jesus emphasized the need to communicate this truth three times. You can look at the notes. Three times he said to John, John write this down and every time it was related to the revelation of him as first and last. Write it down John. Write it down. Tell the others in the body of Christ. So as a shepherd of the body of Christ, I take note of this and I say I want to tell others. I want to get in sync with what the Spirit's saying about Jesus. But I found that it was a challenging idea. I didn't know so much about it. So I began a journey. Holy Spirit teach me about this. Let me feel the power of it, so I can share it with others that they would feel the power of it. Paragraph C. Jesus as first and last. It emphasizes his sovereignty and his preeminence as a man and his ultimate victory over death. But the key phrase is as a man. We know who Jesus is as God. But the most mysterious truth is who he is as a man. He's fully God and fully man forever. He will be fully God and fully man. We are more comfortable with his deity. But who he is in his humanity, I mean with with a real body like ours and who he is in the mystery of his humanity, in the glory of it, is the most remarkable truth. Now these truths of his sovereignty and his preeminence and his total victory over death, they are deeply connected to the truth of the resurrection, which is connected in Scripture to the truth of eternal rewards. I think the subject of the resurrection is one of the most neglected subjects of the body of Christ. Yeah, we mentioned it at funerals, and we mentioned it, you know, occasionally to get a shout in a sermon for like 10 or 20 seconds. We'll mention it, you know, to get a glory. Yeah. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about mentioning it. I'm talking about Jesus as a man, as the forerunner of a man that connected with the realm of the resurrection and lived in light of it, in the certainty of it, that is what we need to take hold of. And in the Western world, it's a strange thought to have our heart anchored, thinking much about the age to come. Now the problem with thinking about the age to come, that if we don't think rightly about heaven, we won't think about heaven. I'm gonna say that again. If we don't think rightly about heaven, we won't think often about it. When people think of heaven, they typically think of a place far away, maybe floating on a white cloud, playing a harp, and they're excited, sort of. But the idea of being on a white cloud for billions of years, kind of, I don't really relate to that, but I got good news for you. Heaven is coming down to the earth, and the heaven that's in the Bible is described as the union of the natural realm of the earth and the spiritual supernatural realm of the heavenly, right here on the earth, with no devil, and with no sin or darkness at all. That's what heaven is about. You will have a physical body like you have now. You will eat, you will learn, you will have friends, you will have a ministry, and you will have all of the capacities of the realm of the resurrection with your physical material body. When you greet one another, you won't have omniscience, meaning you won't know everything about them. You will only know what you learn about them in talking to them. It's like when we get a resurrected body, it's not like you get a computer chip, and now you have all knowledge. You don't. You only know what you learn through the ages, and you'll teach it to others, and it will be exciting to learn new truths, new people, new experiences. And when you greet one another, you'll hug each other, because you'll have a physical body. You won't like pass through each other like, whoa, let's try that again. Whoa, that's not gonna happen. Jesus said in Luke 24, he said, look at it with his resurrected body. He goes, look and see. Do I not have flesh and bones? Don't I have flesh and bones? It was supernatural flesh, but he had bones. He has an elbow forever, and so will you. And when you hug each other, you'll, boom, you won't pass through each other, and you'll be on the earth. The New Jerusalem is the city is coming down to the earth, and the premise of the New Testament, Jesus taught on it more than the Apostles, but the Apostles taught on it, is that we would live in this life, this short 70-year life, thinking much, and with the view of the life to come on the earth in the natural and the supernatural realm joined together. Now if this heaven is only a kind of an ethereal supernatural realm, that is not physical, you won't think much about heaven. You'll be glad it exists, but you won't think about it, and therefore you won't make decisions now in light of it. But we're supposed to, and that's what Jesus says, the first and the last, that's one of the primary emphases of this revelation we'll see in a few moments. He's the ultimate and the final result. The works that you've done in your life will find their full answer and their full manifestation and their full result in the age to come. When he rewards us. Now, think about it. When you love the most generous man, Jesus, again, fully God, fully man, when you love and obey the most generous and the wealthiest man and the most tender loving man, and you move his heart, imagine how he's going to respond and what he's going to give you back. He's wealthy. He has a lot of gold and everything else. He's generous. He's moved by love, and he has no lack of supply to express the way he feels about the way we loved him in this life. That's called eternal rewards. We have a 70-year internship on the earth, and then when the Lord returns, we have a thousand-year assignment on the earth in the Millennial Kingdom. So what we do for 70 years determines our function and role for a thousand years. We're all saved, free by grace, but we will all have different assignments in the age to come, and we will all experience a different measure of the glory of God in the age to come, and it will be related to the way we loved him now. Jesus taught on that often. Jesus taught on eternal rewards more than any other teacher in the Bible, because he knew most about them. I've taught on eternal rewards for 30 years, and I always run into people who imagine they don't care about them, and I point out that Jesus taught on them more than anybody. I said, are you thinking maybe Jesus kind of stumbled, and he gave us a false motivation because, well, he kind of lost his way as a teacher? I don't think so. I think he taught on them most because he understood them the most, and he knew how much we would value these expressions of him showing us the way he feels about the way we loved him. Well, what we do in our internship, 70 years on the earth, really will affect what we do in our next ministry assignment on the earth. Many believers, that doesn't connect with them at all, and that's a huge problem. I believe that's one of the reasons why Jesus so emphasized this teaching of him as the first and the last. Paragraph D. Let's read one of the four times when he uses this title. Verse 17, Revelation 1. John said, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, and he said, John, don't, don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. Now, he gives this title. I'm the first and the last. John doesn't know this title, I am assuming. Now, it's used in the book of Isaiah about God three times. I have the verses on the handout. So, it is an old testament truth, but as far as we know, Jesus has never spoken this title to John in all the years that John has known him. I'm the first and the last. Then, he connects it to his human experience. He goes, John, let me explain what I mean. As the first and the last, I am he who lives. Now, that's a big statement, because I was dead. I've experienced everything a human being would experience, and I walked through it by the power of God. And I'm alive forevermore. So, he takes the title, and he identifies it with his human experience, the negative, but the answer of God to the negative, he's raised from the dead and lives forever. So, the, it's not only the negative, but it's God's answer to the negative. He says, and how I ended up as a man, with the keys, the authority over hell and death. I have full authority over hell and death as a man. Beloved, this is the greatest breakthrough in human history, that a man broke the power of death, and he told the rest of the human race that would trust in him for salvation and relationship, come and follow me. I broke through. It's the greatest breakthrough in human history. You know, I remember hearing the report, you know, when man walked on the moon, they said the greatest breakthrough. No. There's a greater breakthrough. A human being with a physical body broke the bonds of death, was given keys over it, and told the rest of the human race, come follow me. I've made a way. The breakthrough is final. It will never ever be lost. It's for anybody who wants it, but only on God's terms. Verse 19, Jesus says it again to John. John, write, write what you see. When every time he says first and last, or the three times of the four, when he says first and last, he goes, write it. Don't let this truth escape. Notice, make it a priority. So as believers, you're setting your heart tonight, by the grace of God, you're going to make this truth a priority in your own life and in your discipling of other people. Jesus used this truth to encourage others not to be afraid of persecution. When he said, I am the first and the last, he's the last answer to our life work. He's going to tell us how he feels about the way we loved him. Our love is weak. Our love is fragile. Our love is not very strong at all, but our love moves him because it's real. The small movements of our heart, because that's the only way our heart moves. We reach to love him. We set our heart to love him. We come up short. We set our heart again. That moves him, and he remembers it forever. And again, eternal rewards are, they are Jesus expressing the way he feels about the way we loved him. The biblical view of death is rooted in the revelation of eternity. But not just that we go to a place, but we have a full life in ministry with a physical body in that place forever. Now, we don't have a physical body between now and the second coming. When a believer dies, our disembodied spirit goes to a holding pattern up in heaven. It's only a holding pattern because when Jesus returns, we get a physical body and the new Jerusalem comes down to the earth. That's the permanent. And then after a thousand years, there's a new heaven and a new earth, and then it's even more established and more permanent and ultimate. The two realms of the heavenly and the natural join together. Paragraph F. Every one of us will have a difference in our rewards. Again, salvation is free. We all have equal, we are equally loved by the Father and the Son, and we are given full entrance into the city as a free gift. Our entrance into the city is free. Our place in the city is related to the way we responded to His grace in this age. I want to say it again. Our entrance into the city is free based on the work of Jesus on the cross. Our place in the city, our function in the city is based on our response to the grace of God, which is called our works. We don't get saved by them, but we get rewarded according to them. And the good news is it's our works are all very small. 99.999% of all the works you do your whole life are mostly unnoticed. Maybe one or two people will notice, and they're small, and they seem like a waste of time. But the Lord says, I've taken note of every single one of them. Look what it says here. 1 Corinthians 15. There's one glory of the sun. There's another glory of the stars. Now, there's billions of stars. And as one star differs from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead. Beloved, billions of stars. Not one star is like the other in an exact way. Not one. Not one believer will have the same measure of glory as another believer. We will all have a different measure of our experience of the glory of God in the age to come. But it's not related to how big our ministry was. It was how big our heart response was to Jesus in this age. I think we are going to be shocked that some of the most famous leaders of the body of Christ, and some of the most unknown people in their generation, they're going to have exactly the opposite place in the age to come. Here's what Paul said, 2 Corinthians 4. He said our light affliction, is working for us. Now, he's talking about the affliction. He's not talking about if you get sick, you get a greater reward. That's not what he's talking about. It's talking about that for righteousness sake we obey. We press against what the enemy says, and against the flesh, and it's difficult because our flesh wants to back up, and we have conflict for taking a stand and staying steady, even though maybe only one or two people are even aware of it. It creates affliction because of our commitment to love Him and obey Him. Paul said, do you know that this affliction that nobody else is even paying attention to, it's working for you. An exceeding, eternal weight of glory. He pays so well for works that are so small, but they matter to Him, and He remembers them forever. He said, verse 18, Paul said, therefore because there's this exceeding weight of glory that is increasing, the more you stay steady. He's not talking about the glory that everyone has the moment they're born again in our entrance to heaven. He says, the affliction is working, more is given to your account, so to speak. Something is increasing as you stay, as you stay steady. He goes, now here's the key, verse 18. It's where you lock in your attention. He goes, don't look at the human realm. You will be seduced by it. And I don't mean just seduced into sin. You will be seduced into thinking bigger is always better. And you'll get discouraged, because 99% of all the ministries in history are really, really small, and that's the will of God. I want to say that again. 99.99% of all the ministries in history are really small, and that's the will of God. That's what Jesus said, Matthew 25, verse 21. I don't have that on the notes. He said, well done, good and faithful servant, for you were faithful in really small things, and I'm gonna give you much now. But we get seduced. Again, there's only a fraction of 1% that influence a thousand people. I mean, it's a fraction of 1%. So, we get seduced that if we're not doing that, we're wasting our time. Paul said, don't look at the human, at the human way of things. Don't be seduced by the measuring standards of the natural realm, and by what men are excited about. Get locked into what God says, and the what's true about the realm of the Spirit, and be faithful, and there's an increasing weight of glory that's happening in your life, and you'll see it when you stand before Him. Top of page 2. Okay, we're gonna, I'll just give a few minutes on this. Again, we won't read it all. Jesus is the first. What does it mean, He's the first? Now again, it's talking about His humanity. The Alpha Omega is talking about His deity. He is the first cause. He's the source of all blessing. What He did as a human high priest, as a human taking our place, and as a human that was exalted, and then He takes His place of exaltation, and shares the fruit of it with other humans. As a man who paid the debt, and as a man that was exalted, and as a man who loves humans, and He wants them as His eternal companion, His bride forever. He is the first cause, or the source of blessing in our life. Now that's, we say, okay, that's easy. Well, I don't think that's so easy. Most of us find it most natural to look to people as the source of blessing in our life. And when people are happy, we're excited. Things must be well. When the people give us opportunities, or finance, or promotion, everything's well. The Lord says they are not the source. They honestly are not the source. I may use them, but I am the source, not them. Now this is one of the great characteristics of David's life, King David. He looked to God as his source. That was, you know, I can identify three or four things about David's life that make, that stand out so remarkable about him. I mean, he had many good qualities. One of them was his confidence in God's mercy when he failed. Nobody was more confident than David when he failed and repented. Now, you have to repent. Because if you, if you have confidence in the love of God, and you haven't repented, that's called presumption. But David had such confidence. I mean, he was, he would repent. He would sin, repent, and stand before God like he was God's favorite, and he really meant it. One other thing about David, he looked to God as his source. He had King Saul attacking him, and 3,000 soldiers in Saul's army hunted him down for seven or eight years. David said, you're my source. I'm not going to do evil. To solve this problem, I'm looking to another as my source. I'm not looking to Saul. I'm looking to another. It's remarkable. Here's the point. Jesus said, I'm the source. I gave it to you originally. Therefore, I can return it to you a thousandfold anytime I want. I gave you the ministry. I gave you the favor. I gave you the finance. I gave you the open door, if you lose it because of obedience. Or if you even lose it in the attack of the enemy. Or even if you lose it because there's a changing season in God, and there was no disobedience and no attack. Just it's a different season. It's called pruning. Jesus taught on pruning. That's not the devil. When God prunes us, that's not the devil. He says this, I'm your source. I'm first. I am the well of blessing. I can give it all back to you anytime and know this, in the age to come, you will have it back a thousandfold. I was the one that thought of blessing you. You didn't think of it. I thought of you before you ever thought. I am the first. Lock in to me. Lock in to me. When you had no thought, I had plans for you about your life. When you were just a boy or a girl, I had plans for you. And if you lose it because of obedience, a certain blessing or increase, or a changing season, or the attack of the enemy, he says, I can give it all back in this age, according to my wisdom, but in fullness of the age to come. Lock into this. I am the first. He has the final word. He has the last word on what you possess and what you lose. He has the final word on what you lose permanently. The devil doesn't have a final word on what you lose permanently. Men don't have that final word. He does. Beloved, when we lock into this, simple as it sounds, it changes the whole atmosphere of our interior life. We daydream differently. We plan the future differently. We respond to our enemies differently. We look at promotion differently. Promotion, even with the favor of God, doesn't seduce us. We get it. We can stay faithful in love while even having favor from God. Because many people, after a season of favor with God and increase, they lose their connect with Him. But if we have the right understanding, He is the source. He is the wellspring. He originated the idea. He paid the price for it. He sought us. He was the first one that came after you. The guy says, well, I sought God, and I found Him. And the Lord says, well, not exactly. You were not thinking about me. I trapped you in a corner. I ambushed you. I took away all your options, and you said, I want you. And now you think you sought me and found me. I'm the first reason you were saved. You didn't have any interest in me for a long time. And I stirred you, and I stirred you, and I blessed you, and I cornered you in. I am the first cause of why you even have a destiny. So, when the enemy attacks it, or a changing season, or in persecution, you don't have to worry, because the one that thought of you originally is still thinking of you. And he's a man. He understands everything that humans go through. He's God with skin on. He understands it, not from a distance, because of his brilliant insight, because he felt the pain of it in his human experience. So he has sympathy. He understands the plight. He remembers it well, and he's so moved by our love, even our small love, in the midst of the struggle. Paragraph C. He has the first place of authority. He has preeminence as a man. There is a man that will be over all the nations. Now, he's over all the nations right now, at the right hand of the Father. But what I mean, there's a man that, when he returns, all the nations will give their full allegiance to him. A human man, a Jewish man, with a physical flesh body of flesh and bones, is what he said. Again, it's supernatural flesh. There's no decay in it. There's no sickness in it. We will have that same flesh and bones. But he will be honored by all the nations of the earth, openly, for everyone to see forever. He has preeminence. He has the first place. Here's the point. When we align our heart with that reality, when we get who he is, the inevitability of his supremacy, we don't resist it now, trying to get away with compromise. We see the inevitability of who he is, and the glory and the worthiness of his supremacy, and we give ourself to it now. He's the first. The first commandment becomes first, in the pursuit of our heart, because we know who he is. He's worthy, and his place is inevitable. Nobody can move him from that place. Why would we want to spend decades in compromise, then stand before him and regret the compromise, as though one day he might not be in that role? And our compromise might somehow make sense later. It will never make sense later. Never. He's first, forever, as a man. When I connect with that, my spirit becomes vibrant. Vibrant. Not that he is a blessing on the side, and I throw him a kiss every now and then, you know, just, thank you, Jesus, on my way. No, he is first. When that locks into my heart, a new world opens up to us, when that becomes reality. He is first. Paragraph D. He's first to receive a resurrected body. The first human. Well, he's the only man with a resurrected body right now. Lazarus was raised from the dead, but he only had a natural body, and he died again. And his body's in the ground now. That young man that Jesus raised from the dead, his body decayed in the ground 2,000 years ago. His spirit man is with Jesus. Jesus is the only human with a full operational physical body, with flesh and bones, right now at the right hand of the Father. He's called the first born-from-the-dead. The first man to have a resurrected body. And he's the guarantee that everyone connected to him will have a resurrected body like he has. And he's not just the first one to break through and to get the body. He is also the captain. He is the first place of authority over the realm of the resurrected. The vast company. I'm guessing several billion people, when it's the great harvest comes in, of these, you know, estimated several billion people with resurrected bodies. He will be the first among the realm of the resurrection forever. Paragraph, Romans number 3. Well, he's the last. He's not just the first. He's the ultimate purpose. He's the highest goal. He's the reason for our life. The reason for our life only makes sense in a growing relationship with him. I tell you, I would take growing in a relationship with him and loss of many big opportunities to have my heart get bigger and even other things get smaller. I'll take a bigger heart. He's the reason. You'll have that forever. And you can have favor in circumstances and a big heart. You can have both. But history tells us, most people in favor, they lose the connect at the heart level after a number of years with blessed circumstances. It doesn't have to be that way. I've determined I want both. Full favor and the biggest heart possible. But if ever there's a cross, I want the bigger heart. If there's a an intersection and a decision. I don't want so much opportunity and blessing. I can't cultivate my heart with him. I don't say this like a hotshot, but I turn down many, many opportunities in ministry. Many, many for one reason. I can't maintain my heart connect at the way I demand to if I take every opportunity. I can't do it. And I will take a bigger heart and smaller ministry any day, any day. But having said that great statement, I've messed up and done it the other way a number of times. And I blew it. But then the spirit whispers. I go, oh, I did not know it. I didn't get it. Then I realigned my heart. Paragraph B. He's the last, the highest purpose of our life. All other agendas for real. I don't mean preacher rhetoric. For real. Must be secondary. For real. And if they are secondary, you'll have a vibrant spirit. What happens is we have the language of Jesus being first, but other things are first, and our spirit is perpetually dull. We're still saved, but we live with a dull spirit. I don't want to live with a dull spirit. I want to live with a spirit that feels the presence of God, that's connected, that's increasing a greater weight of glory by my small little unseemly decisions day in and day out. Paragraph C. Jesus is the last word on everything. He declares the end from the beginning. He says, I can tell you where everything's going in the nations and in your individual life. I can tell with clarity where you're going. And I tell you this, my counsel, my plan for you will stand if you say yes to it. I won't make you say yes. He will bring his purpose to completion. I don't care how many souls attack David. Now remember, for those that are new in the Lord, Saul was the angry, jealous king of Israel. David was the young, anointed king. And the jealous king was attacking him. Beloved, Saul can't take out David. Saul can't do it. David ran for seven years from Saul, hiding, but Saul couldn't win. The only person that could defeat David is David. The only person that could cancel out the will of God in your life is you. The devil can't do it. Mean people can't do it. Leaders who ignore you can't do it. I have people say, I'm in the marketplace. Nobody in the upper offices gets how good I am. Or in the church world, nobody knows how anointed I am. All the leaders are missing it. I go, there is no Saul. There is no blind leader that can mess up the will of God for your life. I promise you. Paragraph D. He's the last word of judgment. And I mean the evaluation, when I say judgment, of your life. The pastor is not the last word. Brother, you're awesome. The pastor might say, and he might just be, have a man-pleasing spirit, because you're walking in the flesh to serve his purposes. You're awesome. The Lord says, don't believe that. You're not awesome. I love you. You're living filled with compromise. Well, the man of God said I was amazing. He's lying to you. He's seducing you with his flattery. Well, let's go the other way. The man of God says, you're a rebel. The Lord says, no, you're not. You're obeying me. Nobody has the last word but one man. Regardless what it costs you. Stay loyal to that man. He is the last. Roman number five. Well now, Jesus brings up this term again. The application of it. Revelation chapter 2, verse 8 to 11. He's writing to the persecuted church at Smyrna. And he calls himself the first and the last. And he breaks it down again and connects it to human suffering, just like he did in chapter 1, 17 and 18. So when Jesus said it and described it in chapter 1, 18 and 2, verse 8, he both occasions, when he described the implications of being the first and last, he connected it to human suffering. With the confidence that there would be a resurrection and an eternal war that would far exceed the loss of human suffering related to our obedience. He told the church at Smyrna, verse 8, I am the first and the last. He says that same thing again that he said back in chapter 1. He said, I was dead. I had the ultimate experience of human cruelty. I get human cruelty. They beat me. They did horrible things, but not just physical. Beloved, before the cruelty of his torment related to the cross, he was rejected, ridiculed by his disciples and they fled. Rejected by his disciples in their fear. The leadership of the nation rejected him. His own family did not believe him. I mean, it's the most remarkable story of this brilliant man that was rejected on every single point. He had a couple ladies that stayed true to the end. Praise God for the ladies. There's always that one gal that will not be turned to the right or left. I'm serious. One guy says, well, women aren't supposed to be in ministry. I said, without women in ministry, church history would have stopped somewhere back there. I don't, what are you talking about? Well, I know the sovereignty of God it wouldn't have. I go, they've kept the thing going for 2,000 years. Okay, I'm off the subject. But I'm serious about that. He says this, verse 9. I know your works. I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. He goes, I know your works. I know you work hard because when I was a man with a human, with a fleshly body, I worked hard. I get your works. I get it. Nobody else understands what you're doing in the labor. He goes, I get your works. I get it. I worked my whole life hard and mostly nobody appreciated it. He goes, I understand your tribulation. Why? I went through it. I was rejected by my family, my friends, my nation. The synagogue from Nazareth, they were gonna throw him over a cliff, the one he grew up in. He goes, your poverty. He goes, I grew up in a, he's talking about physical poverty. He goes, I grew up in a poor family. I understand. I get what you're looking at. But he said, I understand those things. I take note of them all. Your faithfulness, even in the midst of this resistance. Your hard work, the pressures against you, and even the lack that you face. And the financial, the lack of resource. Yes, I believe we should believe God for fullness. Whatever God gives me, I always believe Him to double it in every arena. And if He does it, I just keep believing Him for it. Double everything, and when you double it, double it again. And if it doesn't work, I'm staying steady. Keep doubling it. I'm gonna love you and keep asking you to double it. Meaning I'm not in a, woe is me, get down on the dirt and grovel mentality. I'm gonna go for everything, but I want to stay steady when the seasons don't work out the way that I think they should. He says, but here's the point, verse 10. Here's the shocker. Some of you, my beloved Smyrna, my church, Church of Smyrna. Some of you are going to suffer in the days ahead, and you don't know it, but I know it. Your works are going to be hurt. The thing you're working for is going to be interrupted by the devil. I get it. Some of you, you'll go to prison for me. Others of you, you'll be killed, because you're going to be tested, be faithful to death. Some will die, some will go to prison, some will just have trouble. He goes, I will give you the crown of life. I won't promise you the breakthrough on every area. Now, the preachers will promise you breakthrough on everything. Jesus does not promise us, in this age, breakthrough on everything. I think it's good to give the vision a breakthrough, but we have to put it in context that we want a bigger heart first. I want the breakthrough on everything, and I teach you on breakthrough, but we don't want to seduce people with a version of Christianity that's mostly earthbound in this age, just so they get a few more friends, a little bit more money, and a little bigger ministry. You get all that, you die, then what? Again, I want those things, but I want something way more than that. I want the crown of life, and the crown of life is not talking about, that's not synonymous with being born again. This is in addition to the free gift of salvation. Let's look at paragraph 2. No, I already said all that. Let's look at page 4. Beloved, something bigger is going on in your life. There's a man that has the last word on the works of your life. The little weak works that nobody pays attention to, they move him. I mean, the weak work, you obey him with your attitude, and nobody sees it. That's a work. You serve in the most unnoticed way, in the smallest little area, because you love him, not to get applause from him. He sees that it moves him. Something bigger is going on. And we can overcome fear, at the end of paragraph C, by this revelation of him as first and last. When we understand he has the last word, and the last word is in the age to come, that's when the last word is manifest. But I want to be anchored to that last word. The last word of my value will be fully manifest then. He has the last word on it now, and I could feel a little the power of it, but I won't see the fullness of who I am to him till then. The last word of the value of my works, of my obedience, the last word on my desire to walk in humility, because I love him, that people may or may not see. The last word is down the road, and it's in his mouth, and it's in his heart, and I want to live with that hope anchored in my spirit. I want to live for another age. I want to make as much impact to the kingdom here, but never lose sight. This is my 70-year internship. I have a thousand-year ministry coming after my 70-year internship on the earth. I don't want to lose my larger ministry because of my internship. And beloved, we're all interns right now. Billy Graham filled up many stadiums. I have news for you. He's still an intern. He is. When Billy Graham crosses over, he will enter into a whole new dimension of his ministry on the earth, because heaven's coming down. I'm talking about earthly ministry. He's an intern right now. Whatever God has ordained for us, it will come to pass in this age. Again, the seasons can trick us. Don't lock in to exactly what the breakthrough looks like in this age. Go for fullness, but don't be offended when it looks different. Never give up. Press in. Don't make fullness in this age your ultimate goal of life. Make a big heart and fullness in the age to come even your bigger priority. I don't have to pick between the two. I'm going for both, but I do them in the right order by the grace of God. Again, I lose my way plenty of times. That's what repentance is all about in the blood of Jesus. Beloved, he has the last answer. Here in paragraph E, I'll say this, most believers see other people as the first and last in their life. Most believers, I know I've been a pastor for 35 years. Most believers, I mean they love God, they see leaders as their source first. In the marketplace, the government, the church, the home, the neighborhood, the sports arena, they see leaders as their first, their source. And they see leaders as the last. When the leader shakes his head and says, no, they go, I might as well quit. I go, no, they aren't the first and last. I promise you, they aren't. Whether they're flattering you or whether they're accusing you, they don't have the final word. Well, some focus on Jesus as the first. He's the source. But beloved, there's more. They don't know him as the last. The one that has the final word in the age to come about the quality of the way we lived and what our true success is. He has the last word. Oh, what a blessing to know him as first and last. Not just as first, not as the source of blessing only, but as the final vindication forever that comes from his mouth. I want to know him as the last. Roman numeral six. Well, we're out of time, so I'm just gonna give this to you real fast. I have it written out there. Revelation 1 5, a couple verses before, Jesus called himself the first and the last in verse 11, so a few verses earlier. John describes Jesus, and this is one of the most significant descriptions, which we're going to take a whole session on on Friday night to look at this, where John describes the glory of Jesus in one of the most concise and precise ways. You can look at it on your own, but I'll just read through it, make a couple comments. First in verse 5, he talks about the preeminence of Jesus. He says he's the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. That's his preeminence. He's the first and last in all truth. He's the first and last in the realm of the resurrection, and he will be the first and last in authority as the ruler over all the kings of the earth. He is the first and last in all three of those arenas. You might not caught the three arenas, but I wrote them down there. His preeminence. Then he tells us how he feels about us, because I think, why would a man so great, I mean, how would you feel about someone like me, so weak, so powerless? You're so preeminent. I mean, you're the first in truth. You're the first in the resurrection. You're the first in eternal world government. How would, why would, how would someone like you feel about someone like me? John says, well, I'm glad you asked. He loved you and washed you to such a degree. I mean, how far does love go? He made you kings and priests. He washed you so thoroughly because of his love. He set you on a throne as a king, and he brought you near to God like he is as a priest. That's how far love will go. Well, what do we do? With this kind of love, how do we respond to one like that? He says it in the end of verse 6. We give glory to the Father. We magnify the Father, because of all the extravagance given to us, we lock in to magnify His Father, number one. And number two, our goal is to throw our life into this ultimate truth of the Father's dominion on the earth. John said the Father wants dominion on the earth. The Father doesn't want dominion on the earth just like it is now. His throne is in heaven. He wants to bring His throne down to the earth. He wants His dominion on the earth in the natural realm with His throne, His tabernacle among men, Revelation 21 verse 3. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, He brings His throne to the earth. He will be seen openly in the natural realm, and His dominion will be exercised through, in and through, the people who voluntarily love them because they're so grateful for what Jesus did. We live, but the Father's great desire to have open dominion over every sphere of life on the earth, we want to be a part of that. We throw ourself into it even now knowing in the days to come that we'll be openly seen. Well, you can read that on your own. Paragraph D. In every one of these 30 descriptions, I have the acronym ARC. How we apply it. First, we agree with it. We just make simple declarations. Thank you. You are the first and the last. Don't raise your hand. But how many of you, don't raise your hand, have said to Jesus in the last year, or your whole life, thank you that you are the first and the last? If you talk to Him about it, the Spirit will touch you on that subject. So I like to agree with it. Thank you. Thank you. You are the first and the last. Then R. Holy Spirit reveal this to me. I have need of teaching. Teach me about Him. Then K. Jesus said, everyone that keeps the prophecy, every, talking about the whole book of Revelation, if you respond to it, I commit myself to live under your leadership as the first and the last. I mean the real simple response. But beloved, if you actually say these things, not once, it's part of your life. So these 30 descriptions, I like to say them to Him. Some of them, I don't even understand hardly what they mean. I just say them anyway. Because they're in the Word. And then I say, Holy Spirit show them to me. And whatever little understanding I have, K. I say, I want to keep this element of the prophecy. I want to respond to it. I like to say, thank you. Your eyes are like fire. Thank you. You hold the stars in your hand. Like, what does that mean? Well, we're gonna look at it Friday nights. Stay plugged in. Amen, let's stand. Have the worship team come. Just by nature, we don't connect with Him as first and last. It's not in our natural mindset. We work at it. We fill our heart with the Word. We speak it to Him. We realign our heart over and over and over. And we ask the Spirit to teach us. I want to pray for, specifically, for those that are at the stand conference right now. We have such a little space up here. Here's what I would like to pray for. I would like to pray for anyone that's in leadership at any level. If you're over five people. It's a home group. It's the children's church. I tell you, children's church is as significant as big church. It is. Maybe you're leading a youth group. Out in the community. Ten people, three people. I don't care. If you're in leadership, you would like prayer. Come and stand on these lines. And here's what we're gonna pray. You're to realign your heart with the revelation of Jesus's first and the last. But more than that, you're committing... Jesus, remember, He said it three times. Write this. John, write this. Make this known. You're committing to make it known to other people. But I can't tell you what doesn't warm me. I can't warm your heart, even by the grace of God, with that which does not warm my heart. So I want my heart warmed by this, is what you're saying. And then the grace of God, the Lord will use you to warm others. So let's just come before the Lord for a few moments. You're saying, it's gonna lead you. You're gonna pray your own prayer. Just quietly, in your own words. You're saying, Lord, I want to know you as the first and the last. I really do. I don't think of you very often that way, but I know it's true. I love it. Show me who you are as the first and the last. Take me on a journey to all 30 of these descriptions in Revelation 1 to 3. I want to know you this way. I ask you to give me an anointing. To write it, to make it known to others. To make it known. To twos and threes. I want to make it known to tens and twenties. I want to make it known. Anoint me to make this known. Now, Holy Spirit, I ask you. I ask you for the grace of God. I ask you for the spirit of glory to come and rest on your servants even now. Holy Spirit, mark us with the revelation of Jesus as the first and the last. More, Lord. Not like others that are in the room, that are in any kind of leadership at all. Again, over two people. I want you to come and pray for these that are standing up here, if you will. Just take a few minutes. Just pray for two or three of them. Take a couple moments. I want to know you as the first and the last. Lord, release your glory right now. Holy Spirit, I ask you, release your glory now. Mark everyone in this room that's saying yes to you. Release your power. Release your fire. Release your fire right now. Jesus, we love you. We want to see you. We love you. Lord, release the wind of your spirit. Jesus, you are exalted in the name. Release your glory now, Lord. We ask you. For you all will be insulted In that day, I'll be seen as I am And my heart will say Your heart is for the undone