Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of understanding Jesus through three titles: the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. He explains that these titles are not merely for acknowledgment but are meant to equip believers to respond to the challenges and glory described in Revelation. Bickle encourages the church to pursue a deeper knowledge of God, highlighting the importance of being faithful witnesses in a world increasingly filled with deception. He draws connections between these titles and the covenant God made with David, illustrating how they impact our lives and responsibilities as believers. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to stand for truth and embrace our roles as kings and priests alongside Christ.

Revelation chapter 1. For those that are joining us tonight for the first time, we are working through a challenging series, but it's one that is calculated to change your life. And what I mean by this is there's 30 descriptions in Revelation 1, 2, and 3 of Jesus. And most of them he gives himself. It's Jesus preaching Jesus. You don't get any better than Jesus revealing Jesus. And so these 30 descriptions, and there's more throughout the book of Revelation, they're significant and strategic to prepare the church for the drama, the glory, the crisis described in the book of Revelation. And so if we're going to be prepared for the glory and the crisis described in the book, Jesus is saying, you need to know these things about me. And so we're taking them one by one. And they're challenging because they're concepts that our mind does not readily grab a hold of and go deep on. So it takes some work, but it's worth the effort. I've said this for years. That the subject of God, God himself is the most neglected subject in the kingdom of God is God. It's really true. And the most glorious subject and the most challenging subject is God. He is the Mount Everest of the kingdom, meaning the subject of the knowledge of God is daunting and challenging, but we're going to climb that mountain to comprehend, to understand, which is the same thing as comprehend. I mean, to get a hold of these ideas about God and to go deep in them. But it's not for the faint hearted. It's for those that have a resolve in their spirit to climb that mountain. And it takes a lifetime to climb it, to feed our spirit on the knowledge of God. And I don't think there's any deeper place in the Bible than Revelation 1, 2 and 3, where Jesus reveals Jesus in a very direct way. I've studied these passages for some years and I find them challenging and difficult, but I feel the beckoning of the spirit. Keep coming, keep coming. I feel the spirit beckon me. Keep coming to me and I will unveil the glory of Jesus. Well, tonight we're going to look at three of them. In Revelation 1, verse 5 and 6, it says this, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler from the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and he made us kings and priests to his God and Father. So there's three specific titles that the book of Revelation begins with, describing Jesus. Number one, the faithful witness. And by the way, all three of these titles, they're not just revelations of Jesus so that we can kind of acknowledge them, but it's so it would equip our heart to respond in a specific way related to the drama in the book of Revelation. So the first one is Jesus as the faithful witness. The second one is Jesus as the firstborn from the dead. And the third one is Jesus as the ruler over the kings of the earth. Those are the three. Now these are three titles of the Messiah that we find in Psalm 89. And we're going to get there in just a moment. Psalm 89. The psalmist by the Holy Spirit was describing the Messiah centuries in advance. We don't know when Psalm 89 was written, but we know it's in the Old Testament time, of course. Okay, paragraph B. Now the background to Psalm 89, which we're going to look at briefly in just a moment, and we're just going to look at it for just a moment, but the background to Psalm 89 is the covenant that God made with David. Now this is a very significant historical reality that a lot of believers don't really get their heart around. I mean, just think about this for a minute. God made a covenant with a man, a very specific covenant with a man, King David, and it was a promise to David's family line that would affect the whole world and affect all of our lives. He was actually talking to David about one of his great, great, great, great grandchildren of which we know is Jesus. The seed of David. He would actually be his blood relative and he would rule the earth on the throne of David. And here's the covenant in Psalm, I mean in 2 Samuel 7. Now I'm only giving you a little bit. You got to go back and read the whole thing, but very significant covenant when God visits David. He says in verse 12, David, I'm going to set up your seed or one of your great, great, great grandsons. I'm going to set him up. He's going to come after you, but he's going to come from your own body. Now that's dear to David, but it's, that's not the end of the story. He will be Jewish is the point. Well, there's several points, but that's one of them. He will be Jewish. Now not only will he be Jewish when he's on the earth, but he will be Jewish forever. Did you know that a million years from now, Jesus will still be Jewish? And you will still be whatever you are a million years from now. And I will establish his kingdom. Verse 13, he shall build a house for my name. Now that house that Jesus is going to build is the glory of God covering the earth. That's where the house is going to go. Now, David, nobody really grasped the magnitude of when the father said this great grandchild of yours, he's going to build my house and it is going to be a house. Matter of fact, he's going to create the context and then he will on the earth, then he will call the new Jerusalem to descend from heaven to come down to the earth when the context is right. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Verse 16, now David, your house and your throne are going to be intertwined with your great, great grandson. You're still going to have a portion in it. You're still going to be involved in it forever. Now, this is one of those moments in history that caused the devil to put a bullseye right on the nation of Israel, for real. The devil's rage against the nation of Israel and the mounting anti-Semitism that's happening in these days that we've seen through history is not a neutral subject to the body of Christ. This is a subject much of the church doesn't really have a tuned into yet because they don't understand the root system and the spirit and the covenant and the book of Revelation drama is going to cause the tensions around this anti-Semitism to come to a head in the globe. And at the very front of the, I mean the very forefront of the challenge is that we must be faithful witnesses in the same way that Jesus is a faithful witness. That's where the application of this passage brings us. It's not enough for us to adore Him as a faithful witness. That's wonderful in itself, but the point is that as He was a faithful witness to the truth, to the unpopular truth, to the difficult truth that actually led to His death, so the faithful will also publicly take a stand for the things that are dear and near and dear to Him. That's where this exhortation is going in terms of the Holy Spirit's intention of giving it. Now he says verse 16, your house and your throne will be established forever. So David, there's going to be a Jewish house that's going to affect the whole earth. Your great, great, great grandson, whatever, is going to rule it. He's going to fill the earth with My name and there's going to be hostility against this. Paragraph C, when Mary conceives the child by the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel comes just before that and says to her, the Lord, this baby that's going to be conceived in your womb, He is the son, I mean the 2 Samuel 7 boy. He's the one that God promised David about a thousand years earlier, because David was a thousand years BC and this is just right there at the, you know, zero or whatever you call it. Actually it's about 4 BC when all this is happening. Paragraph D, now we're going to look at Psalm 89 just real brief and my point is just to kind of steer you in that direction for the eager that say, I want to understand the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. I want to understand it more. So you're going to go dig for gold out of Psalm 89 and from 2 Samuel 7. So I'm just giving you a little roadmap on where you can find some treasure, but it will take some work to get it, but it's work that's well worth it. Psalm 89, there's a promise that God made to David. I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth, for I have sworn a covenant by my holiness that David's seed, this, his family line, he's talking about Jesus specifically, he shall endure forever and his throne will shine bright like the sun forever and his throne will be like the moon as a faithful witness forever. In other words, Jesus's throne will be reliable forever. It will never ever lose its luster and its glory, but it will be a source of light to the darkness and then forever when the darkness is banished, it will be the source of light forever. The throne of Jesus, Jesus and his throne are a faithful witness in this age, in the age to come, just like the sun and moon are, they bring light into the darkness. So that's where John the apostle is quoting from Psalm 89 intentionally. Paragraph E, now it's commonly agreed by commentators that John is intentionally tying these three titles to Psalm 89 and the reason we care about that, because if we want to get more information and revelation on these three titles, we're going to go where the Holy Spirit deposited truth and that's in Psalm 89, as well as 2 Samuel 7. What I'm really doing in this teaching is merely advertising where to go dig for gold. Now all three of these titles are interrelated. The faithful witness, the firstborn of the dad and the ruler of the kings of the earth, they all are deeply connected to each other. They're not independent truths. Each one of them affects our understanding of the other two. Number one, under paragraph E, Jesus is the faithful witness. In one sentence, Jesus loves truth. He's a lover of truth. Now this is probably one of the most challenging, not probably, it is one of the most challenging realities in our life to be lovers of truth, because it's one thing to search for truth. We all love that. It's another thing to discover the truth that's exciting and exhilarating. It's another thing to share the truth with a friend who's touched and inspired. All those is, you know, excellent. There's no debate. What's difficult is taking a public stand for the truth. And I don't mean just the general truth, Jesus is the way to salvation. I mean the specifics that the Holy Spirit is focusing on. Because in a dark world, when Jesus stood for truth, the nation turned against Him. They didn't mind that He was a good man. They didn't like the stand He took, because it disrupted the nation. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1, it's talking, it's a passage describing the end times or the generation the Lord returns. And it's talking about in that day the deception is going to run rampant. Now if you read it in context, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it's talking about the deception of the Antichrist and satanic power. But here's the point I want to make. This deception will run rampant, but the point I want to focus on is that many did not receive or were deceived by this deception because they did not receive the love of the truth. The love of the truth, the love of the truth must be pursued and it must be received. The love of the truth. The love of the truth is not something that automatically takes care of itself. The love of the truth is something that we go after. We go after it in a specific intentional way. We go after the love of the truth. Jesus was a lover of truth. We are committing ourselves to not just to search for truth, which is fun, not just to discover it, which is great, not just to share it with a friend, that's great too, but we are going to stand for it in an hour and the decades ahead of us when many in the church, I don't believe it's most, but the numbers will be staggering. It will be millions and millions in the church will fall away from the faith because they will be seduced by the increase of lies. You can already see a clear increase of seduction and deception in the church and compromise laying hold of the church and the church. The message is getting weaker and weaker and more in agreement with the culture. Doesn't take a lot of discernment to see that, but it's going to get far more intense in a couple decades ahead of us. So we're lovers of truth. Number two, Jesus is, so that's what the faithful witness talks about. Number two, the firstborn, this means that Jesus has unique favor with God. That's what the phrase firstborn from the dead, that's what it boils down to. And we, as we understand this truth, it actually makes us tremble before him and it makes us love him. The subject, the firstborn, the firstborn from the dead. He is the man that inherits the glory of God. The, he inherits all the promises God gave David or the glory, the, the, the, the greatest promises God gave David. I'd rather say it that way. As the firstborn, he is the heir to the glory of God as a man. And as the firstborn, he is in the position of the greatest favor and authority that God would ever give a man. The most authority God has ever given a man or ever will, he gives to his son Jesus, who is fully God and fully man. So the point of this, when we understand this truth, it creates a loyalty in our spirit to him. When we understand how favored he is of God, it is actually a revelation. Now we all know that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and we kind of move on. But when we stop and we meditate as to the level of the anointing on this man, it causes our spirit to tremble and it causes us to love him because the favor that he receives, there's none like it. He brings us into the good of it because he loves us. This man actually went into the jaws of death and defeated death and came back and says, I'm going to bring the good of it to your life forever. Now we all know that. But beloved, when that touches my spirit in a fresh way, that, that does, it makes, Jesus is awesome. I mean, now, if we, if we talked about, you know, a great prophet in the land and he died and came back from the dead, people would all want to go meet him. What was it like? What's it like? We're talking about a man with an unction and an authority and a favor on him beyond anything we could really comprehend. That's what John is saying. He not only is a lover of truth, he has the unique favor of God. But the, the good thing about this title we'll see, and we won't really have time to break it all down in real detail, but I give, I'll end up having a little bit more information on the notes than we'll cover. But it's not just that Jesus has this awesome favor that he brings the good of it to our life. Then the third subject or title is that Jesus has a unique authority over men. He's the greatest, the highest king in all of history, and he will be that king forever. Let's go to top of page two. Let's look at Jesus as the faithful witness. Jesus is the faithful witness. In John 18, verse 37, he said, for this cause I've come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Now, sometimes we can read that and we could reduce this to just the truth of how to get our sins forgiven. Jesus bore witness to the truth beyond the subject of how to become born again. His message is bigger than that. And the message that he is releasing through the end-time church is his plan, what he's going to do with the nations and with the church in the nations, and what he feels about the encroaching seduction and deception, he's going to reveal it and he wants us to give witness to it. Paragraph B. Now a witness is a person who speaks from firsthand experience what they know to be true. They've seen it, they've seen it, and they give testimony to it. Now Paul the apostle made a pretty strong statement in Acts chapter 20 when he was leaving the city of Ephesus. He said, I kept nothing back from you that was helpful. I testified to you everything God gave me. And he says, I want you to know I'm innocent of the blood of all men. Verse 27, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore watch, which means pray, and remember for three years I did not cease to warn you. Now when I look at this passage in Acts chapter 20, it seems like a strange statement out of place in the Western church. I look at that and measure my own ministry by this. That if I was to leave a ministry, would my parting words be, I'm innocent of your blood. I did not cease to warn you with tears night and day. That is not very 21st century Western at all. Though Paul obviously spoke the good news, but he spoke an element of truth that is almost entirely foreign to the Western church. Like this, we can't even relate to this kind of statement. It wouldn't even make sense if we heard a preacher on TV say this. We would think he was out of touch. My point is, God's going to raise up men and women and these days they will not shun to declare everything. I mean the whole truth that God gives them. And again we're not talking about just the truth of how to be saved. Although that truth is coming into great controversy. Because more and more the church today is becoming open that there's more than one way of salvation in the name of honor and respect and toleration. And that's a total deception. There's only one way of salvation. There is no other way. And even that truth needs to be boldly spoken in these days in a way that's surprising how controversial that's becoming even in the mainstream church. Paragraph C. Jesus did not hold back the negatives and he did not exaggerate the positives. And this is a high standard. This is a high standard of, of, of, of, uh, for a ministry. I look at this, I would, some of you are being trained to be in a, uh, speaking ministry. Being in a speaking ministry doesn't mean you need a microphone and a big crowd. You may have a ministry where you're teaching the word to five and ten in a, in a small group or you just don't know where, where it's going with all the internet technology of these days. But Jesus did not hold back the negatives and he did not exaggerate the positives. And the, the trend of all of us is to hold back the negatives and exaggerate the positives. Particularly in the midst of the people that we're connected to. I mean, I don't want to say the negatives. I want to, the negatives just cause trouble. They make the guys on the other side of the town and the other side of the nation get real upset and it makes the congregation get real upset. Like let's skip the negatives and only speak the positives and then let's exaggerate the positives so we make them double. I mean, we just double them so everybody feels good about everything every step of the way and mostly they feel good about the preacher. And Jesus said, no, that's not how I did it. When I made the way for you, I was faithful to what God told me and you cannot do it this way either. Most today, well I'll say this. I'm going to read from paragraph C. Jesus spoke without regard to criticism. The criticism he was sure to receive. He spoke without regard. He did not mind. He knew it was coming, but he said it anyway. Now I certainly have not held the line on that. When I look at my ministry, I certainly, I have a number of times, but a number of times I have not. Paul said, I don't shun to speak the whole thing. Well, there's been times where I've shunned. I've drawn back and said, well, maybe this isn't the time. When in doubt, we always claim this isn't the season or the time. Well, decades go by and it's never the time. There's never a good time to make people that you want to win favor with. There's never a good time to make them upset at you. When I look at, again, I measure my preaching by this and my marks aren't as high as I wish they were. But most preaching today only speaks on positive. To please people, to make sure that they don't lose their position, their honor, or their financial opportunities. Jesus never did that. Never. He never exaggerated. He never flattered. I'm going to challenge you. Take that as a way. Whether, again, whether you have a teaching ministry or not, just as a member of the body of Christ, to be a faithful witness. When I look at that truth, it's the, right at the very beginning of the book, it's like, oh Lord, you, you came right at the, you hit us hard with the very first topic. A faithful witness. Roman numeral three. We are to be faithful witnesses. Now, and I have a, put a passage here. We're not going to look at Isaiah 43, but we are called to be faithful witnesses back in the Old Testament. God's people are to be witnesses of the truth. I just want you aware of that passage. You can read it on your own. Isaiah 43 verse 10. In Matthew 24, we all know the passage that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness. To every nation, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached. Now that's exciting, except for what happens easily as we reduce the gospel of the kingdom to the message of forgiveness. He didn't say the message of free forgiveness will be preached to all nations and then the end. Because the gospel of the kingdom is more than the way into the front door. Now, I love the message of free forgiveness, but when every nation hears there's free forgiveness in Jesus, the gospel of the name of the kingdom has not been preached to every nation. Now there's the beginning. That's certainly, we love that. I mean, I, we honor that, but the witness of what's on his heart and what he's doing in his kingdom is bigger than the subject of forgiveness. And especially, it's bigger than the offer of forgiveness without repentance. Because there's a lot of the gospel that goes on today. It's the offer of forgiveness with no repentance, which is no gospel at all. I like to point out to people, I don't mean with glee, but because I, I feel like it's important to, if you come to Jesus and ask Jesus to come into your heart, but you don't repent, Jesus says, no, I'm not coming into your heart. And people cannot be given the confidence that if they pray a prayer, they are saved. If they don't repent, Jesus's answer is, no, I'm not coming in your heart because I will only come on my terms. And though we can't earn it, but we have to open our heart fully to him, to the, to what we know in that hour. We don't know, we don't have that much light the day we get saved, but we have to respond with the light we have. We have to come to him on his terms. Well, I give a few other dimensions of being a faithful witness. You can read those on your own, but it's more than just giving the introduction to the gospel. We have to expose lies. We have to talk about the judgments that are coming. We have to stand against the encroaching darkness that's gaining rapid inroads in the church today. Famous big ministries are opening the door to many lies. We must bear witness against them and tell the truth. We have to do it. And the Lord's looking for people that will say yes, to him as the faithful witness, they will open their heart to him as the faithful witness. And then they will become a faithful witness themselves. Top of page three, Ezekiel there in paragraph A, I give the famous passage in Ezekiel 33. And I'll just summarize it and you can read it later if you want. Talks about the watchman, which is the faithful witness, the forerunner, the preacher. And if the watchman sees trouble coming and he tells the people and the people don't respond to God, the blood is on the heads of those people. But if the watchman hears the message or sees it in the word, but they don't want to bear the reproach of that message. And so they bury the message. The Lord says the blood is on your head for the trouble that comes on them. So you want to be a messenger. Well, I want to be a messenger because that's dear to God's heart and it's important. But being a messenger in this hour of history is going to be very, very costly. Paragraph B, when we give a witness of the truth, and this is the subject I'm spending the most time on, the faithful witness. When we give a witness of the truth, it has to be biblical, obviously. We got to stay in the boundaries of scripture. I'm not talking about having exotic dreams and visions that go outside the boundaries of scripture. It has to be clear. Now, biblical is one thing. We all say yes to that, but clear, not beating around the bush. We have to say what it means and mean what it says. When I, you know, of course, I don't want to pick on any individuals. But when you hear some of the guys on the television, when they're interviewed, they say everything except for the truth in a clear way. It's like they're running for office. Really. It's like they're running for office. They're gaining support. They're gaining supporters. They got the big interview. And they, what's on their mind is winning favor from people instead of speaking the truth. It needs to be clear, straightforward. They need to mean what we say and say what we mean. It needs to be bold, clear, but without apology. It needs to be bold, without the intimidation, because rejection is real. Jesus was killed because of his witness. John the Baptist was killed. Many will die because they are a faithful witness. They will certainly lose a following in their ministry. There are many doors will be closed if you are a faithful witness. Other doors will be open. It can't be about doors opening and shutting because if you measure how many doors open and shut and that's how you determine what you're going to say, you are already out of, you got the wrong spirit. You don't have the spirit of a faithful witness. We have to be bold. But having said that, we have to be tender. We can't speak in bitterness. I know some guys, they'll be bold, but they're angry. They're defensive. There's not a tenderness in their boldness. And we have to be humble. We can't be making a name for ourselves by being the bold guy. It can't be about us. It can't be about, wow, I really gave it to him straight. Boy, that's going to really open some doors. It can't be about that kind of thing. It has to be a witness of the truth for the sake of Jesus and the sake of truth. Paragraph C. So we're done with the faithful witness. Now what we do with all 30 of these descriptions of Jesus is what I gave in the first teaching, is I apply just a little prayer tool. It's the acronym ARK. A-R-K. And every, each one of these 30 descriptions, first thing you do, A, you agree with it. You say it to Jesus. I don't mean agree with it just in your heart. You actually make declarations of agreement to Jesus in a, in an affectionate, tender way. Like very, very simple, but it will change your life if you actually do this. Like you'll get quiet, you'll say something simple like, Jesus, you are a faithful witness. There you have it. It's like really simple. But if you say it, the Spirit will touch your heart. Not every time, but something will happen if you actually say it. Now I'm not going to have you raise your hand, but how many of you have quieted your spirit and with affection and a spirit of Jesus, you are the faithful witness. Thank you. I love you for telling the truth. Again, don't raise your hand. How many of you have actually said that? How many of you have said that a hundred times in the last two years or the last year? This is one of the most powerful descriptions of Jesus. This will, you and the Holy Spirit will get along fine when you start talking to Jesus in the way Jesus revealed himself, the Spirit will start touching you. It's what I mean by get along fine. You'll feel his presence in an ongoing way. So that's A out of Arc. We agree. Affectionate agreement. I just give a simple little sentence for each one. They're very simple, but if you do them, it will actually change your life. R. Ask for revelation. Jesus, reveal yourself. R. Reveal yourself to me as the faithful witness. How many of you have ever asked Jesus, the Holy Spirit I mean, to reveal Jesus as a faithful witness to you? Again, don't answer. My point isn't to figure out who has it, who hasn't. My point's to get you to do a little self-check. Go, you know what, now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever prayed that once. And my point isn't to make you feel bad. My point's to excite you, to give you a roadmap, to say, hey, here's 30 descriptions. Go for it. There's Mount Everest. You got a map. You got the helper, the escort called the Holy Spirit. He will help you now go on that journey, climb that mountain with him. You'll be on that mountain your whole life. And then in the age to come, that mountain will continue. And then a million years from now, you'll still be climbing that meaning, gaining new insight into the glory of the man, Christ Jesus. K. A. R. K., the third letter in the acronym. The book of Revelation said, blessed are the ones that keep the prophecy. Blessed are the ones that apply the prophecy. Well, how do we apply the revelation of Jesus? Well, every one of these 30 descriptions, there is a personal application you can make. Of course, this is a really easy one. We just say simple things in terms of keeping the prophecy, our personal application. Jesus, help me. Holy Spirit, help me. I want to be a faithful witness. I want to stand for the truth. I will. You set your heart. I declare the resolve of my heart. I will stand for the truth. Help me. Show me. Touch me. I'm yours. And when I get discouraged or I feel weak, I give myself to you. So we talk to him. A. R. K. We agree. You are the faithful witness. R. Give me more insight. K. You keep the prophecy. You apply it to your personal life, this aspect of the book of Revelation prophecy. Okay, let's go to Roman numeral five. The second title. And we'll just spend a minute on the, on these other two. Jesus, Jesus as the firstborn, it means he is the preeminent one. He is the preeminent one. He has unique favor with God. Paragraph B. Now, being the firstborn means, it doesn't mean, here's, I'll say this first, and I have this down in a couple of notes later. Being the firstborn, well, let's go and see that's on page four. Let's look at that. Being the firstborn doesn't mean he's the first one born. That's not what it means. Being the firstborn means he's the heir. Because in the Jewish society, the firstborn got the double portion of the inheritance. He got twice as much as everyone else, the firstborn did. So when the Bible says he's the firstborn, it means he gets the double portion of the inheritance. He's the one with unique favor. That's what it means. He's the firstborn. The favor of God is on him. And he's going to use the favor of God to actually bless your life with it. And so we, I break that down a little bit in the notes here. We won't look at it, but I just wanted to point you in that direction. But paragraph C. Let's look at Colossians 1, verse 15 to 18. It says that he is the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created. He is the beginning. He is the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. Now when you read that, you catch the phrase firstborn twice in Colossians 1, verse 15 to 18. He's the firstborn of all creation. He's the firstborn of the dead. And you might read that like some that get into heresy and they think of Jesus being the firstborn. He was the first one created. There are heresies that say Jesus is the top of all men of everyone ever created. He's the best of all of them. That is not, he is the best of all men. But Jesus is uncreated like the Father and the Spirit. There was never a time where Jesus did not exist. He is himself the uncreated God like the Father and the Spirit. He has the fullness of God like the Father does. So when Paul says he's the firstborn over all creation, he doesn't mean he was the first one born. In 4 B.C. he was the first, he wasn't the first one born. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that he is in the position of the double portion inheritance. That's what the firstborn means. So he has more authority than any other man in all of creation. He has the double portion which doesn't just mean twice. It means he's the one who has the leadership over creation. When it says he's the firstborn from the dead, it means he's the first one to be raised from the dead. He is the first one with the resurrected body and he is the position of heir for everyone is to be resurrected. He is at the front of the line. He has the premier authority is what that means for everybody that's raised from the dead. Let's go to paragraph G. So when you apply this, the ark principle, and you can read the other notes just and again my points just to kind of steer you in that direction because you want to drink deep of Jesus as the firstborn is the one with all the power, the one with all the authority, the one with the preeminent position, the one that God's anointing is on, the one that God's favor is on, and the one that's going to bring you into the place of favor with him. That's what it means that he's the firstborn from the dead. So when we say the A, we come into bold agreement, but it's an affectionate agreement. It's not just agreeing in your heart. You're actually declaring it to him, Jesus. You're right before him. You are the firstborn. You are the preeminent one. You are the one. You are the heir of the promises. They are all yours. I rejoice in your preeminence over everything. I love this about you. Father, thank you that you gave Jesus this position. Talk to Jesus and the Father like this. It will touch you. The Spirit again, you'll feel the Spirit's presence not every time, but you'll feel the Spirit's presence when you talk to God on his terms. I mean the Lord hears the groaning of our heart, but there's certain truths that the Holy Spirit has highlighted about Jesus, and when we declare those truths to him, things happen in our heart that are powerful. The R, very simple, it's always the same. Reveal your glory to me as the firstborn. Show me who you are as the firstborn. What does it mean? And you'll be learning about this not just for the next 10, 20, 30 years. Next 10 or 20, 30 million years you'll still be learning what this is about. And you'll be glorying in it. Then K, keep the prophecy or respond to it in a practical way in your personal life. I commit to proclaim that you are the preeminent one. Now that's really great in a church service or a conference center or a prayer room. You get outside of the secure environment of people who are all excited about that. That's a very uncomfortable truth out there. I will proclaim you as the preeminent one. I will declare that you have infinitely more power than the world religions, than Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and all the other isms. There's only one Jesus and there's none like you. You alone are the preeminent one and I take my stand and I am convinced you will triumph over all of them in history. I mean you've already triumphed over them in the resurrection but it will be openly displayed before all of history and we are not intimidated by Islam or not intimidated by any other religion because there's only one that's going to cover the earth. He is the firstborn. He is the absolute victor in history as the favor of God in every capacity. Maybe you'll tell him as the firstborn, I'll obey your leadership. You have the favor of God on you. The glory of God is on you. Well boy he is fully God but as a man he has the fullness of God. I will obey your leadership. You're the boss. I'm the follower. I'm not negotiating with you. I'm honoring who you are. You are the firstborn. That's what we talk to him in those ways. Empower me. Help me. Very simple little prayers. It's not you don't have to have a fancy prayer but here's what I want to challenge you. Again my point isn't to embarrass you but to get you do a little self-check. Have you ever said that to Jesus? Have you ever just settled down the heart of affection and said I love you as the firstborn? Wow I don't really know what it means but wow but I want to know. I am yours because you declared that about yourself so I'm in. I'm giving myself. I don't get it but I'm in and the Holy Spirit will smile. He'll say come on. Come on. Keep coming after it. Come on. Keep coming after it and you'll grow. Roman numeral six. Go to the third title. Jesus is the ruler over the kings of the earth. Now we're quoting again from Psalm 89 verse 27 where he's called the highest of the kings of the earth. Top of page five. Now the book of Revelation the theme of the book of Revelation is that there is a Jewish king who's going to topple, topple, not democratically take over, not by popular vote. He is going to topple every government of the earth in real history. This is real. It's going to happen in real history. When he comes he's going to take over every government and any government that resists him it will be a hostile takeover and he will be the king, the predominant king. He will have authority over all men on the earth in an open way before all the nations to see. That will happen at the second coming of Christ. He has that authority now but he's going to openly display it to where every single believer and unbeliever in heaven and hell everybody will see it happening on the earth in real time and space. One man will be king over every other king. Imagine the implications of this. Paragraph E. The kingdom of God will be openly manifest in every sphere of life. Now we're working for the kingdom of God to be involved in every sphere of life now but we're only having a small breakthrough. We're asking the Lord to double it and double it and double it again. But if I was guessing I would say the kingdom of God has about a one percent impact on the earth right now. It's not a real number but it's not a lot higher than that in terms of all the laws of the earth being righteous or unrighteous in terms of loyalty to Jesus is what I mean because when I think of righteous I mean of loyalty to Jesus and we may have the biggest revival in history and we may have a tenfold increase and get up to ten percent but beloved we're never going to christianize the world till Jesus comes back in the full sense and when he comes back he is going to have massive reversals in a way we can't even imagine. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. He has that position now. It's only a minute away it will be openly manifest but we talk to him this way and our whole paradigm of the future is formed around this thought. Now we're asking King Jesus now to break in all these spheres of society right now and I'm believing God for a tenfold breakthrough but even if it's a tenfold the greatest revival in history it'll go from one percent to ten percent of course I don't really know the numbers the greatest breakthrough of all will be nothing like the breakthrough that's coming when he returns and I have a bunch of verses there you can just read on your own paragraph H the day is coming after his return all the kings of the earth will worship him every single king on the planet will worship him top of page six well the ARK the ARK principle it's prayer tools what it is just a little simple prayer tool prayer principle agreement A agreement you declare you are the ruler of the kings of the earth it's just as simple to say that but again I'm just assuming many people have never actually in a quieted down way in a spirit of an adoration and affection Jesus you are you are the ruler of the kings of the earth right now you are but it will be openly displayed for all to see at that time of your coming and I have a few other little sentences just a little again little jump start sentences you're gonna make your own but they're really simple is my point R reveal yourself to me as the ruler of the kings of the earth show me yourself in this way K I commit to proclaim that you are the king of the earth I'll tell people now I will obey your leadership now I give myself to you now in this way Roman numeral seven well the next statement after in Revelation 1 verse 5 in response to the fact of these three titles then John went on to say John was overwhelmed he said yes he is the faithful witness he is the firstborn from the dead and he is the ruler of the kings of the earth but at the core of everything he's the one who loves us that's one of my favorite titles of Jesus to him who loves us how many of you like that title I mean I like the other ones but I really like to the one that loves Mike Bickle I really like that Jesus that touches me in a real deep way you washed me and not only did you love me and remove the disqualification when it says he washed you that means he removed the disqualifying factors out of the way I mean we like this he removes the disqualifying factors why where's it going verse 6 he's going to make us kings it's not only that he's a king he says I want you to participate with me I'm going to bring you into the glory with me yes I am the king of all the kings but it's not stopping there I'm bringing my people who are disqualified I'm bringing them to a place of qualification by the grace of God I'm going to bring them into the government with me he's not only going to make us kings we're not only going to be a part of the government he's going to make us priests we're going to have access to God we're going to be able to touch God in a very powerful way as priests we touch God we connect with God we experience his presence as kings we govern with him and he says I'm moving the disqualification so you can govern with me now that governing starts now but it's only just a partial fulfillment of what's going to happen in the age to come but it's still real we all have a little sphere of responsibility that we exert his rule and his leadership in and we are faithful to it and it really matters that we do that but when he comes and at the resurrection that sphere of rule will potentially significantly increase in the lives of the faithful but it's not just that he wants us to work with him as kings to rule he wants us to experience God with him we're also priests he goes I'll move the hindrance out of the way where you can experience God with me too when I go before the father we're going together and you will experience and know God and I'm going to see to it that you do so somebody asked well what's your favorite being kings or priests I'm taking both but I want to touch God but I want to rule with him too I want to work with him I want to see the planet change but I want to touch him but I want to work with him I want both we don't have to pick between them amen we're just going to end with that let's go ahead and stand