Revelation - Revelation 1:1-8
Revelation 1:1-8 · Vern Peterman · Jan 11, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 02
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492612125772

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I'd like to go through a few slides up front and then we'll turn ourselves to the handout. This is included in last week's materials towards the middle part of it. We're going to be referring back again and again to this slide because it kind of keeps us in the sequence and gives us an orientation. How are we doing as we proceed through the book, right? We're going to be stepping into the first chapter here. this morning in the first half of Chapter 1. And this is a map that you have also included in today's handout.

And it shows the seven churches. And all those churches are on a primary Roman mail and military transport route. And then the Isle of Patmos that you see off in the lower left-hand corner. is the island from which John wrote this letter, this book, the last one of the New Testament.

Here is a picture taken from a cave. According to tradition, that's St. John's Cave tradition. So it's one of those could be, you know, I would say maybe even probably because it doesn't appear to be other alternatives. But anyway, really interesting. There's the island. It's not a big one.

And except for the houses, that would have been John's view. Here's a timeline looking from the time Christ was ascended. And then Jerusalem defeated about 70 AD. Revelation written about 96 AD. There are some who would contest that. I think the evidence falls pretty squarely in favor of the 96 AD date.

The sequence, as you'll also see in today's handout, goes from God, and I take that to be God the Father, Jesus Christ, to an angel, to John the Apostle. Here are some unique similarities between John and Revelation. I don't think currently you have that in any of the handouts, but we'll include it in the appendix to come here. For example, John calls Christ the Word in both John and Revelation, and the Lamb. John's the only author who calls Christ the Lamb, but he does so in both the Gospels and in the book of Revelation. We could go down the list, all the way to the water of life would be another one. You have this chart in your handout, so we'll go over that shortly. And here are the four views of Revelation. The Futurist view is what we'll be presenting here.

The other views all require allegorical interpretation, imposing an allegory upon the text. We presented here last week the history of each of the main modes or means of interpretation, and we'll be taking this literal view here. George Castillo asked a question last week, aren't we being a bit presumptuous And moving ahead with this literal view, we could take the entire study time going over the literal approach to scripture versus the allegorized approach. But instead, we laid out our assumptions last week to give you this justification, admittedly briefly, and we'll take the time to move ahead with that set of approaches and interpretations there. One of the things we talked about last week is that Revelation presents symbols not as they appear, but as for what they mean. Here is an example. This is what we'll see, not today, but next week, literally configured.

So you have Christ shown with the seven stars in one hand and hair white as wool and lamps around him, etc. That's what it looks like, and we'll be taking a look at what does that mean as we step into that next week. Here's the big picture that we're working with. It fits in with our futurist and literal approach, and that is we look back on Christ's death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, and we now live in what's known as the Church Age. That little green arrow It says, you are here, we are awaiting the time when the Lord takes us home and there will be a seven year tribulation period followed by the millennium.

And also, now here comes the question for you. We have everything planned out for the next year. It's all laid out. The only thing to be worked out is whether Kurt or I will be the teacher. But question, how many people are interested in keeping a cumulative binder with this stuff in it? We got any some hands here?

What we'll do is we'll bring, next week, binders with slipcovers and an index for those who are interested in keeping hold of that. So that when you're done, you'll have an index of it, all the passages, all the pages. We will have, in addition to the main handout, some appendix items. So we'll have kind of a separator page and you can put the appendix items in sequence. And the appendix items, I think, will be real helpful. For example, we'll include a six-page handout on why the 96 AD date. What's the evidence for that? So just as a for instance.

All right, so we'll produce a number of binders in order to accommodate those who'd like to collect these. We're also going to be posting these up on the church website for those who maybe missed a week and want to get hold of that. listen to it, print it out, you can do that. So we'll try to keep that current and up-to-date so that you can do that if you'd like to take out that option.

All right, with that we're going to go here into the first chapter and the first passage verses 1 through 8 and so take hold of today's handout and let's step our way through it. Any comments, questions, exasperations before we get rolling on this? I'd either answer all your questions or you're entirely baffled. Revelation 1, 1 through 8, it starts off like this.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And he sent and communicated by his angel to his bondservant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

So this book here says it's a revelation of and from Christ. It's intended to be revealing, and in spite of what many have thought, it is not intended to be and remain mysterious. It's a revelation, not a, you know, here's a weird book, what do you think of it? It's intended to be a revelation, a revealing of what is true. The sequence that you see there from God to Christ to an angel to John is the sequence that's spelled out there.

Each of these givings is an entrusting. It's not just sort of, here's something, you know, do what you like with it. But it's an entrusting of the revelation. What's the difference between just giving somebody something and entrusting? What's the difference between the two? When you expect it back. When you expect it back.

Okay. Yeah. Alright. Other thoughts? There's an expectation. That's very good. As it's being given in entrusting, there's an expectation. Can we give any more definition? What's the expectation? There's an expectation that goes along with this entrusting that has to do with you're going to be doing something with it.

And maybe it's keeping something safely. In this case, it's a matter of passing it along and handing it along faithfully, right? Yeah, like the Word. These truths that you have heard from me among many witnesses, and trust these faithful men who will turn to each other also, there's this entrusting that's going on that, you're right, does have this expectation that goes with it. The expectation doesn't just keep this a secret. This is not confidential memoranda. This phrase here, the things which must soon take place, must, doesn't say these are sort of an idea, concept, best guess, possibility, but there's a certainty, isn't there? There's a certainty in what's being laid out here.

Similar phrases are going to show up later in this chapter in 119, a few chapters down the road, 4.1, and then the last chapter, 6 in chapter 22. Then the next thing we need to look at is this word taxe. I'm not going to be throwing a lot of Greek at you, but this is one. It's a brief word and it has some connections with our own language. I'm going to make a couple of them here.

We use a word in typically medical language that's connected to this, tachycardia. Anybody heard that word tachycardia? It has to do with a rapid heartbeat. Rapid heartbeat meaning the idea that there's a really quick sequence of heartbeats. There's another word that we use, tachometer. The one you may be more familiar with. A lot of people these days, it's funny, you'll even see a tachometer on cars with automatic transmissions. I think ours has that. So here's this tachometer. The tachometer then is keeping track of the RPMs of the engine. How fast is this engine turning around is our use of it. The idea that this word carries across in English, is not just got to look down at my watch or look at the calendar and it takes place soon. What it really says is more than that.

It says that once these things start, rapid succession. Once these things begin, bang, bang, bang, bang, one thing and the next. We're going to see as we go through this chart that there are a whole bunch of things that take place. One of the things he's talking about, that once all this starts to unfold, It'll be like bang, bang, bang. One thing and then the next. Rapid succession is one of them. The other point that comes across with this word is imminence. It could happen at any time. Any time. Let's ask this question.

Could it have happened at any time during Paul's lifetime? Yes? No? Yeah, I'm just saying during Paul's lifetime, could it have happened at any time? Sure. Yeah, could happen, right? Could have happened at any time. So, it was imminent then, it remains imminent now. Some might be puzzled with that and say, well wait a minute, isn't that about 19 centuries between us and Paul? Yes, but it still could happen at any time. Still imminent.

And that's one reason why Paul could look forward and say, the Lord will come at any time. I hope it's today. And we can sit here this morning and I can tell you the Lord can come at any time. I hope it's today. It may seem strange, but I hope we don't get to finish this Bible study. It may come at any time. And who knows? George may go home a different way than the Lord taking just him home.

As we go through this, verse 2 says, "...who testified to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, even to all they saw." Okay, who's the who? Who's the who in verse 2? Who's the last one to receive this? John, right? So it's saying, John testified to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, even to all that John saw. That's what this is saying.

It's basically, verse 2 is a completion of the sentence that begins in verse 1. So John is concerned here, as we find that he always is when we read his writings. These are real, actual events and beings that he saw. If you read 1 John, the first four verses, he talks about the things that are seen and heard and touched. John is emphatic that this is real stuff. He uses the words testified and testimony. in the Greek, in the King James rather, bear record, testimony. This is based on the root word John uses several times, and he uses it not only in this chapter, but on into chapter 20. Testify, testimony, what is this telling us? What kind of viewpoint is John writing from here?

Pardon? First hand, yes, that's right. Good, what else? He is writing as if this were a legal certification. I, John, do testify that these things are true. As a matter of fact, looking at the legal certifications of the time for legal documents, this compares very nicely in terms of the words that are chosen and the way it's written. John writes as if this is true stuff. This is for real. and he is giving legally valid testimony. Testimony that's going to hold up in court. Testimony that will hold up under cross-examination.

That's the kind of testimony he's giving. He talks about the Word of God. These are being rather the words of God, and being God's own message and communication. He says, even to all that he saw, this is consistent with what John wrote in the Epistle of John, having seen here appears three times in that passage. And then John writes here in the book of Revelation, I saw 38 times in the book of Revelation.

I saw. I saw. I saw. He is more than once a chapter laying out this is most definitely what I saw. I'm not just passing on hearsay. I'm not just telling you this is something that I kind of think might have happened, you know, somebody Somebody who I trust said this. No, I saw this, I saw that. I was taken to see this, I was taken to see that. I saw, I saw, I saw. He's testifying and supporting what he's saying as testimony. It's first-hand, first-person testimony. Not hearsay. Not, I heard this from a reliable gossip. I saw this. That's what he's telling us. Let's take a look at the next page here. Verse 3.

Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and hear the things which are written in it, for the time is near." This is interesting, this word blessed, and it's funny, people read through Revelation and they think of all these horrors, and yes, we will see some. But the word blessed shows up repeatedly. As a matter of fact, seven times. Isn't that interesting? That number seven is something we're going to see showing up throughout the book. But this word blessed shows up seven times.

Something else, this is the only book of the Bible that just starts off with a statement, blessed is the person who reads and hears. Isn't that something? Blessed is the one who reads and hears. There's a blessing promise that goes along with reading and hearing this book.

Something else about it, he who reads is in the singular in the Greek and it comes across that way in the English, the hearing is multiple, it's plural. Why would there be a difference between the reading and hearing? Reading being singular and hearing being multiple, plural. Why the difference there? Yeah, read aloud to groups of people. As these, let's kind of look at the scenario. You've got the bottom of the page there, this map.

As this was taken to each of the seven churches, here this book arrives and you imagine copying 22 chapters by hand, not that they knew that they were chapters. But 22 chapters by hand, that was a bit of a job. But as each church got a copy of this, imagine, here's the leaders of the church reading this in front of the people.

Imagine how this struck the people who were listening when they heard it for the first time. They must have been awestruck in the extreme. What's amazing is the next chapters, two and three, is directed right at the churches. Imagine those churches. Hey, you believers in Ephesus, I've got a message for you.

It's from Jesus Christ. The one who created the world? That one. The one that died for you and rose again? Yeah, that one. He's got something to tell you. Listen up. Can you imagine that? That's got to grab their attention. Got to grab their attention. In verse 4, John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. John focuses on the seven churches in Asia.

They're not located in Asia as we know it now, but rather in Asia on the map that you see in the lower part of the page. It's in what is now western Turkey. And none of those churches exist now. Turkey was basically taken over by the Muslims in 7th century and militarily. And so none of these churches exist.

But they were connected by these Roman roads. The Romans built, by the end of their empire, over 50,000 miles of roads all by hand. Enough to go around the globe twice. A lot of this network of roads was right in this area. Not most of it, but a lot of it. They had quite a network of roads between these various cities. So as this book hit land, they would go to each of these cities along the Roman Road there.

John was, according to extra-biblical writings, writings outside of Scripture, among these seven churches, particularly stationed at Ephesus, but also familiar with and going to these seven churches. So these were not churches he was unfamiliar with, but rather churches that he was indeed familiar with, and they knew him as well. These people were on his heart and mind, even though he was on the prison island of Patmos. So here is the instrument, God's instrument, to give a message to each one of these seven churches, some of them warnings.

They're addressed directly in chapters 2 and 3. We're going to be getting into those in just a couple of weeks here. Let's look at page 3 here. Grace to you in peace, that's actually something that you hear similarly in other letters of the New Testament. This is a mixed greeting. Grace would typically be the Gentiles or Greek greeting in the culture of the day.

And the Christians adapted and expanded the meaning of the word grace. They didn't just keep it as it was used in the culture. Grace meant, in the culture, to do a favor without expectation of return for a relative or a friend. Grace was expanded in the Christian use of the word. Grace was expanded to go beyond just a relative or friend. While we were yet enemies, what?

Christ died for us. And repeatedly, Scripture says, He loved and He gave. He loved and He gave. He loved and He gave. You can go to Galatians 2 and Ephesians 5 for a couple of those instances. He loved and he gave grace. He gave beyond what you would do just for relatives and friends.

The next word is peace and that was the Greek word Irenae. We have the woman's name Irene taken from that. The Hebrew word is Shalom. You've no doubt heard of it. We have the capital city, Jerusalem, habitation of peace, Yerushalom. And peace is the product of knowing and appropriating God's grace. Isn't that interesting? You put the two together here. The peace is there because of the grace.

The words for him who was, excuse me, who is and who was and who is to come are significant in the book of Revelation. It's repeated a few times, but real interesting here, it is actually an expansion of the meaning of the name of God in the Old Testament, Yahweh. Other interesting thing here is we're going to see this spoken of in reference to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as we step our way through this book and also as we look at the other New Testament passages that comes up. It occurs several times in Revelation with some variations in it and we'll take a look at those variations when we get there.

Now, some have taken the phrase here, and from the seven spirits who are before the throne, to be a reference to the angels of the churches, thinking that angels are taking the message. But John never refers to angels as spirits, so I would suggest to you that it has a different meaning. Additionally, two of the four verses referring to the seven spirits are after the messages to the seven churches. So it seems like there's implied there a different significance than just the messengers to the seven churches.

It seems better to see this as a reference to the seven-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit, which shows up in Isaiah chapter 11 as we studied some months back now. You have a slide there on the middle of page three. The sevenfold Spirit of Revelation, which is spelled out here in verse four, but continues on in the next several chapters. is the expression through the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, as shown in other verses in Isaiah as well.

Isaiah 42.1 and 61.1 and the first half of verse 2 is what Christ read in the synagogue in Nazareth. This sevenfold spirit in Revelation in these passages is shown in this illustration of the menorah. So I think the illustration is helpful in seeing what's being represented here. Now, verse 5 and 6.

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and Father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. This faithful witness has both prophetic and legal meaning. It's the opposite of a false witness, right? False witness is what scriptures would caution against, of course. And then Christ is the faithful witness. The Lord himself. Yes, George? That's a good question. He brings that up.

As we go through Revelation, one of the points we made last week, and we'll be bringing it up from time to time, is that about 70% of the book of Revelation is from the Old Testament. And even the symbolism that he uses, rather than being Greek, is Jewish. Here's one of the things that would have happened in the area of Ephesus and that region in general. A significant number of Jews, I would say a significant minority is probably the best way to put it.

About two and a half centuries prior, the Greek ruler of that portion of Alexander's old empire had actually given Jews a tax break if they'll move into this area. He wanted to get them relocated up into that area, so he gave them like a tax-free for 10 years kind of deal. If you'll move up to here, will give you a deal. And so something on the order of 2,000 Jewish families of varying sizes, obviously, took advantage of that deal and moved up into this area. And over the time they've reproduced and grown and that sort of thing. So a minority, but a significant minority.

So one of the things that John appears to rely on, in addition to his own teaching, which had taken place prior to this, is that there would be someone to explain a lot of these Jewish background items, and I think this is one of them. There is a great deal Jewish about this book. including, as we'll see in here, references to the Messiah, David. There'll be again and again and again reference to Old Testament pictures. A lot of what John does, even if it comes across in Greek language, like Alpha and Omega, is really based on Old Testament and Jewish and Hebrew language. What's that? The sevenfold spirit?

You will see it again here in the book of Revelation. I am not aware of any. It's basically in Isaiah 11 and then some other not direct but related references there in 42.1 and 61.1 and then here in Revelation more than once. John's going to use these same words, faithful witness, either together or singularly throughout the book of Revelation. Let's take a look at page four there on the handout. John writes, firstborn of the dead.

Here the words are identical to what Paul wrote in Colossians 1.18. Interesting. It's this prototokos, this firstborn. Christ was the first to come alive from death permanently. Why do I make that distinction permanently? Here's Lazarus as a prime example. Within the week before Christ was crucified, he raises Lazarus from the dead. But how is that different from Christ being raised from the dead, which would happen roughly a week later?

Oh yeah, can you imagine going through that? Oh no, I'm dying again. This has got to be rough. Yeah, this dying again thing is tough. Christ is the first one to be resurrected permanently to a new kind of life, not back to this life like Lazarus was, right? I'm trying to make sure I understand clearly what you mean. Oh, okay. You're talking like Elijah or Enoch or one of those, yeah.

This is apparently a body like ours will be, is his body, okay? And the new embodiment is something that is yet to take place for Old Testament saints. So it's a different kind In fact, scripture in the New Testament uses the word heteros, different kind of body. Christ is a unique body. He is out from among the dead ones. It's interesting the way it's put there. Here are the dead ones and he is raised out from among them permanently. Christ will come and raise us up first at the rapture, then who are alive from the dead ones.

John next writes, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. King James there has for ruler prince. These words literally means the one who rules the kings of the earth. While God was and is and will be sovereign over all, Christ's bodily reign as ruler over all the kings of the earth is yet the future. Revelation keeps looking ahead at this time and claims it is a present reality as if to claim certainty, the certainty of it. This phrase is going to be reiterated again, chapter 15, king of all the nations.

Now here's a distinction to be made. Christ was King, singular, of the Jews, and King of the Nations, or as the end of Revelation puts it, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is King, singular, of the Jews. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentiles, non-Jews. So that's a pattern that we're going to see here. Jesus' present ministry with us is Him who loves us. Now, it's interesting, the Greek text there has this implication, to Him who is constantly loving us.

Isn't that something? By the way, you ever hear somebody say the words, don't take this personally? Take this personally, okay? Take this personally. It's intended that we understand Him who is constantly loving us. right now continuing to love us. And that's one thing. It's great to look at the cross and say He loved and He gave and that is awesome. That is awesome. But isn't it also awesome to know that that same Lord with that same love is constantly loving us now. Right now. Whatever you're going through, He is constantly loving you. Non-stop. Always. Forever. This is really good stuff.

This is one of the ways that the book is a blessing. He told you it's a blessing. It's a blessing to ponder and recognize this is not just the Lord who loved us at a particular point in history and demonstrated it with his life, but he is one who is constantly loving us right now. That's a part of the blessing. Right now, whatever we're going through with whatever appears to be uncertain, in the next steps in our lives, constantly loving us.

Christ's past ministry came with the result that he released us from our sins by his blood. That he released us, that he freed us, means that we were not free before. We were not free until he did the releasing. We've been made free by his blood, by what he's done. He is the one who does the freeing, not somebody else.

There is no backup plan. There is no plan B. This is God's plan A and there is no plan B. It's accomplished by His blood. John also wrote, He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to our God and Father. He was writing in the time when the Temple of Jerusalem was no more. There were no active Jewish priests. About this passage, one translator has written it as, He created us to be a royal reign of priests to God, even the Father.

And this is the same message that Peter carries in 1 Peter 2.9.

But you, speaking to believers, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now, we've got something real important that comes here in this last paragraph on page four. Now, something very important for us to take note of.

All those who by believe in Christ the Savior for salvation are priests, everyone. Are you a believer here this morning? You're a priest. You just signed up. You're a priest. What is a priest? How is a priest different, for example, from a prophet? A priest intercedes for the people. A priest intercedes for the people and the general summary of a priest is a priest represents people to God. A prophet represents God to the people.

So, each one of you here this morning, every believer has the position of being a priest. You stand before the Lord for everyone else. That's what you signed up for, whether you do it or not. That's what you signed up for. You represent God before all the people. Let's take a look here at page five. John writes, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. The reign of Christ is not going to be a flash in the pan. It's not, okay, that was cool, but what's next? It's not that kind of a deal.

People have copied and taken from the Roman Empire ever since the last century. We have the title Caesar as the source for the German title Kaiser, the Russian title Tsar. Many have borrowed from Rome's symbol, the eagle, and even our own country has. Many nations have sought to establish empires, some after Rome's image. I want to do Rome again.

Even the Pope uses a title taken from the Emperor Constantine, Pontifex Maximus. That's not his own, by the way. You heard the Pope called the Pontiff. That's just basically short for that Latin title. But Rome failed. And these, many of those above have already faded, or will fade from the scene.

Only the reign of Christ will be forever and ever. Only. The words in the English Bibles, forever and ever, are from the Greek text which literally says, into the eternity of the eternities. into the eternity of the eternities. Endless ages upon end. Without end rather. This word Amen, this means so be it or let it be.

That's how he finishes it up. Verses 7 and 8. Let's take a look here. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him, all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen. This verse speaks of Christ's future ministry.

He quotes from Zechariah 12.10, which by the way is also quoted in the Gospel of John. Behold is written here for the first of 25 times. And that's something when you see this word behold, because you're going to see it more than two dozen times here.

It is, to use our modern vernacular, stop and take a mental picture of this. Don't let this go by as some passing blur. Stop and take a mental picture of this. That's what he's saying. It refers to something that grabbed him and he wants you to get grabbed as well. Something that grabs your attention.

You know, during the course of our lives, sometimes I know Nancy will bring up some event and I think, boy, that's amazing, she remembers that. I don't have the foggiest recollection of it. And yet certain things will stick in my mind, okay? And I think that's one of the things John is asking for here. He's saying, of all things, let this stay in your mind. Let this get stuck in your consciousness so that it gets drawn to your mind as, oh, this is pivotal, this is key.

Coming with the clouds is a reference to Christ coming with a great multitude of the heavenly hosts. Revelation 19.14, in the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.

It's possible that this mass of white horses and white linen and all that will look like clouds, but it could even refer to literal clouds, as in Acts 1.9 there. Regardless, he will be coming with the clouds in his origin, for the coming will be heavenly, from the heavenlies. John writes in the last half of the verse, every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.

From this we know it won't be a secret takeover. There will be no secret coup. It will not be visible to some select few. That's one of the reasons why Christ has a warning in Matthew. You know, if somebody says, you know, he's over here or he's over there, don't believe him. No. This is going to be something nobody's going to have to, you know, hey, psst, did you hear? But rather, you will see it, definitely. This will be worldwide known and visible.

Now, Christ was pierced by Roman soldiers at the demand of the Jews. Both Jews and Gentiles had responsibility in His death on the cross. The entire earth, every tribe, will see Him and mourn over His coming. There will be many reasons for great distress, ranging from loss of power, wasted lives, end of the tribulation, and other reasons for deep mourning. Dramatic moments, ones not to be missed or overlooked.

Let's take a look at verse 8 here on page 6. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. Now, I am, simple words, right, may escape our attention. Let's not let it do that. It is a particular pair of Greek words that back that up called ego, eimi. I go, Amy. And it's used here more than once in the Book of Revelation. It's also used in the Gospel of John and several other places. It's also used in the Greek Old Testament. Let's step our way through the rest of the page here.

The Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The Jewish rabbis used to say that God was the Aleph and the Toph, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And in English we say something similar. If we want to say the whole thing, we say from A to Z, don't we? So the idea has been carried across in several languages. John is just expressing it in the Greek language in which the New Testament is written.

It says that God is over everything. There is nothing outside of sovereignty. He's not just over the first thing and the last thing, is he? This means the first and the last and everything in between. That's the kind of use that that is. He is not subject to the limitations of time. He's over it all. He is over it all. John uses a pair of words in this verse drawn from Isaiah in the Old Testament passages and even from the Gospel of John. This is the Ego Emi that we brought out. The key points to be brought out from this and other similar verses in Revelation that's supported by the slides are, one, that Christ is deity.

What did Christ say when he was talking to the Jews that blew their circuits? He said, before Abraham was born, I am. Ego, Emi. This just blew their circuits because he used those particular words. If you go to the Greek Old Testament, Exodus chapter 3, I think it's about verse 14 there. Who does God say that he is? I am that I am. You look in the Greek Old Testament, Ego, Emi. Those are the words that Christ used. And then said before Abraham was born, I am. He dwells in the eternal present. This is a claim to deity.

Revelation, as we see in the slides below there, take a look at the first one, speaks repeatedly of, I am the beginning and the end. I am the first and the last. I am the Alpha and the Omega. It says here that this is Alpha and Omega, and who is it referring to? What is verse 8 referring to? Who? Ultimately it is, but what does the last part of verse 8 say? And what does the middle of it say?

The Lord God and the Almighty. You will see, I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and was and who is to come, and it will be Christ saying that. Here it's actually in reference to a general statement about God Himself. Christ also will say those same words. What does that tell you about who Christ is?

He's deity, right? He's deity. Important point. And that's also why Christ could repeatedly say, Ego eimi, I am. Imagine these Jews saying, wait a minute, isn't this guy about a 30-year-old carpenter from a little podunk town in northern Israel called Nazareth? Isn't that all he is? He comes out and uses these words before Abraham was born.

I am. Ego Emi. In Isaiah 43, 25, I, even I, which is repeated twice, Ego Emi, Ego Emi, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins. Let's look at the next one. It's the slide on the bottom part on the left.

Isaiah 44, 6. Thus says the Lord God, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God beside me. Isaiah 44, 6 is a very good verse to remember when you have two pairs, or you have two people, a pair of people come to your front door knocking. Whether there's Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, here's why. I am the first and I am the last.

Who's saying that here in Isaiah? God, right? Those same words are used in Revelation by Christ. That's a Jehovah's Witnesses no-no. Because it says Christ is God. The other thing is the Mormons believe that they can become God, right? What does the last part of Isaiah 44, 6 say? I am the first and I am the last and there is no God beside me. There isn't another. You are not going to become God, no matter how much work you do for the Mormon Church.

This is a great verse to present to the pair that comes knocking at your door. The Gospel of John, the last slide there, Christ says basically in seven different ways, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth and the life, and I am the true vine. Those seven, interesting, John uses seven again, those seven are statements where Christ uses in each case a go, a me, I, God, and the bread of life. I, God, am the light of the world. I, God, am the gate, etc. Or here's one, I, God, am the good shepherd, like Psalm 23. So Christ claims deity again and again, unreservedly, even to the point where they're ready to pick up rocks, and sometimes do. He claims deity openly, boldly, unmistakably.

Okay, we've marched quickly through these. Thoughts, comments, questions? Would you like to pick up rocks and throw them at me? What do you got here? We move through these quickly. These are the eight introductory verses. As I look at it, to me it is very striking as I read through these. John is introducing, basically the first eight verses are a legal certification. I am telling you I have seen these things. And I'm going to repeat it by continuing to use words of legal testimony. I'm going to continue to say, I saw, I saw, I saw.

Why? Because this is very real and it's very true. It is explicitly God's revelation to us. The one that comes with the promise of blessing. Neat stuff. Wonderful stuff. You're okay so far? Can we just blast it out of their pews or anything? Okay. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at this. You are indeed the one who is constantly loving us. And what's amazing is you loved us before you made this world. You loved us before you created the first man. And you are loving us right now and you will love us when this present earth is gone. And we thank you for that love. We thank you for the promise of blessing. And that we can hold on to it now, no matter what's taking place. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.