The Book of Revelation: Part 2 - Pastor Nathaniel Haney - May 6, 2020

good evening CLC thank you for joining us in your homes tonight one of these days we're going to be right back here altogether and it's gonna be a wonderful time and the Holy Ghost but we know we're gonna feel the presence of the Lord right here and you're gonna feel the presence of the Lord in your home and we're gonna invite the presence to be felt here and we're gonna invite that omnipresent God to be felt in your home right now let's go together as a family as a body of Christ and invite his presence to be felt tonight Lord we asked your spirit to be felt right now in this sanctuary and that your spirit go through these cameras go through the internet and connect to the individuals who are watching right now whether it be on their phone or their laptop or their tablet or their screen lord we asked right now that your Holy Ghost that is omnipresent your spirit that is everywhere at all times let your anointing flow through this sanctuary that touch every musician every singer let Joe talk to pastor Haney as he ministers the word prepare our hearts and our minds for what you have in store for the body of Christ tonight we submit our mind our spirit and our time to you Jesus we love you and worship you and honor you and glorify your name right now we worship You Jesus you are the one and only true Living God and tonight we glorify you and worship you and honor you in song and in word that sure will be done tonight in Jesus name we pray in Jesus name we pray let's worship the Lord as we invite the praising the calm let's worship together in your home [Music] praise the Lord Church [Music] where do I go when there's nobody else to turn to when there's no foundation stable I go to I know he's stable [Music] I go to the [Music] when I need a shelter when I need a breath I go through the wrong where do you go when there's nobody else to turn to who do you talk to when nobody wants to listen there's no foundation stable I go to the rough I know he's able [Music] [Music] when I need a shelter when I need a where do I go I know [Music] and said okay go to [Music] the builders rejected [Music] [Music] I go to the rock oh I go to the rock like go to the rock I go to the rock I you can go to the right you can go to the rock you can go to the rod you can go to the rough [Music] you can go to you can go when the earth all around me is sinking I go through the come on how's your day for that rock praise offer worship offer up Thanksgiving to him right now hallelujah Jesus thank you that you're a firm foundation the Lord is my light in salvation whom shall I fear who shall I be afraid the Lord is salvation whom shall I fear who shall I be afraid I will I will weigh [Music] singers together Lords my life like beer afraid [Music] like me [Music] [Music] and I will trust [Music] in this I will see the goodness of the singing together [Music] I will trust in you [Music] come I see singing again see I will remain [Music] [Music] situation simply said I hope [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] see the goodness of dawn sing that right we're back [Music] see [Music] I will remain [Music] see [Music] can you praise him right now hallelujah Jesus right whereas wherever you find yourself [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's an antibody Oh sink God Almighty [Music] he's the Prince of Peace in the mystical story every single trouble began to vanish [Music] [Applause] every hardest man [Music] of the king [Music] [Applause] can we sing it again right whereas [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] troubles vanish troubles man [Music] [Applause] [Music] for sure [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the cleric tonight to hover he's the princess [Music] [Music] [Applause] robbery back the workshop [Music] what a wonderful presence of Jehovah that we feel in this room and we know that you're feeling it with us this evening and as we go before the Lord in prayer if you have a prayer need the numbers right there on the screen two zero nine nine five seven four zero two seven we want you to call theirs ministry available right now to answer the phone to talk to you we want to know what your need is want to pray with you right on the phone and throughout the service if you're not able to get a hold of somebody right away continue to call back and we'll be there throughout the service to pray with you and we're gonna continue to pray for a president Trump like Vince a vice president a CDC and this entire team we're gonna pray that righteousness will prevail in our community in our country we're gonna pray that the backsliders will come home and that the new Souls will be brought to the Lord we're going to pray that the healing power of the Lord will be upon those infected by coronavirus and those that are affected by so many other the Lord is our healer in our refuge and strength so let's go before the Lord right now as the body of Christ Jesus we go before you right now we come against sickness in Jesus name your word says that by your stripes we are healed we rebuke this virus in Jesus name we rebuke cancer in Jesus name we ask that you touch the members of this church that has been inflicted by some ailment right now in Jesus name what we heard a testimony this Sunday as somebody was watching this service they stopped they prayed and they were healed as we were praying right now in this service and we know it can happen right now again in Jesus name we pray and we have to toe touch our president let your touch vice president pence that your anointing will be upon them that they will be saved by your spirit that they will receive your spirit and then they will have godly wisdom Jesus from you touch the CDC in the ton and the entire team Lord the coronavirus team we asked right now that you'll give them wisdom that you touch the governor of this state that you touch our elected officials that your righteousness will prevail in this community in Stockton California in the San Joaquin Valley in this state and in this country we give it to you right now Jesus let your spirit be poured out upon all flesh in these final days Jesus we know that we are in the end time and we trust and believe in you Jesus right now we are waiting for your return but as we are here right now we are believing in faith we speak to the north we speak to the south we speak to the east and the West that they must return the souls that were once yours and those that were never yours then right now that they will feel a calling whether it be this stream or whether it be somebody else Jesus that they'll feel a calling to come to you and Jesus right now we ask them to touch their soul in Jesus name we pray and right now as we spray every house in our community and every home that's right there we asked her to touch the mayor that you'll touch the mayor of this city and that you touch the individuals in our homes that are to the north the East the south and the West to every home of this community and Jesus we asked right now that your spirit be poured out we thank you Jesus for hearing our prayer and we thank you Lord for the miracles that's happened and the miracles that are still to come we give you glory or not the Lord hears our prayers and the Lord is answering our prayers as you know this coming Sunday is Mother's Day and in case you forgot it's Mother's Day on Sunday make sure you talk to your mom tell her you love her and of course we know we're not going to be able to be together in this building as a church body but sister Haney has something special planned for Sunday and so we're gonna play a short video that explains what's going to happen on Sunday hello CLC family as you are all aware this Sunday is Mother's Day it is the day of the year that we honor all of our precious CLC mothers and even though we are in the midst of this pandemic we are hosting a Mother's Day Drive Thru it's gonna take place right here this Sunday the 99 facility 2 o'clock p.m. we're gonna be there to greet you we're gonna give you a rose and give you a Mother's Day blessing love you and we'll see you then last week we started a study in the Book of Revelations which we're going to return to in just a few moments but I'd like to give you an opportunity right now to give your offering to the Lord this Wednesday night during the kovat 19 virus God has been so good to us providing for us I can't think of anyone that's been put on the streets or any saint that has gone without food or any of the necessities that we need to sustain life I think that in itself is worthy of worship and offering is a great way to tell God how grateful we are for His many blessings that he has bestowed upon us the greatest of all blessings God has given us is His grace and His mercy and it doesn't cost anything I say like John I pray like John yes he did in the third epistle of John he said it like this beloved I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers thank you for your faithfulness and may God be with you this Wednesday night [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise the Lord and good evening tonight brothers and sisters we are getting ready to go back into our study of the book of Revelation last week was a foundational period and we kind of went through the introduction to this book there's so much that you can study in any part of the Bible but a revelation especially has so many different aspects and because of its nature of being symbolic and using many figurative phrases and idioms and whatnot it has a lot of different thoughts about how it should be interpreted and actually there's about four different schools of thought and then among those there's diversity too so it takes a lot of time however my perspective is that the book of Revelation was written for us to read as John admonished just through the words of Christ to read it to listen to it and then to obey it or to do it and if it was something that was mystical or something that was already fulfilled and no longer had you ceased to us as a church then these would be Commandments that would be useless to us and so on I believe that it's a book that is in progress has a still has much future and when it can be taken literally it should be taken natural less it is just off obviously a symbol or a figure that is being used and even then that should be looked at define what the literal meaning is and that's the best way to read your Bible is to try and find what God is speaking to us something that helped me a long time ago is that I realized that God created languages for the purpose of communication and he would not create something with a divine purpose first words that he used the first languages that he used were creative words they communicated to communicated the will of God to whatever it was that was in his mind and brought forth and God said let there be and there was it was that simple and then they took on another tone of communicating for relationship and then those relationship the communicative one did one could understand and so when you understand language in this setting it helps you to graphs the fact that when you read your Bible it was written in languages of the day of the people that serve God for instance Hebrew which today for most people in the world it's a hard language it's a hard language if you haven't been raised learning Hebrew but at the time when God spoke to the prophets and the prophets spoke to the people they spoke in a common language called Hebrew Greek today is is a hard language to a lot of people in fact there's the term that says all Greek to me it means there's absolutely no way I can understand it but at the time of the New Testament the audiences spoke Greek it wasn't like they had to go through a second language to hear God but the majority of the people understood Greek heard Greek and it was made for communication and then today of course in the America that we live in we have a national language of English so we have translated the Greek and the Hebrew and pieces of Aramaic into English it's not meant to be coded it's not meant to be extremely secretive it's not meant to be hidden but the language was designed by God so the believer could read this book and hear what God's saying to them and have understanding and the places where one does not have understanding or is not able to grasp it is say it is where the spirit can give revelation or where one can get some good study tools maybe a book on the back grounds or cultures or archeology or maybe even a general book on maybe what a word might mean and kind of give you help you work through something but really what helps you the most is to keep reading the Bible over and over and over and over again in a spirit of prayer a spirit of desire a spirit of expectation and if you do if you'll do these things you will get a good understanding of the Word of God and if you'll pray for wisdom that understanding will go to a new level so today we're in revelation a book that that is made to be read and made to be understood and we're going to talk about it so last week we talked about the author of revelation we talked about kind of the purpose of revelation and then we took time to go through the first few verses and we had there's some areas in there as oneness people that we need to discuss we need to be open about and one of those was how God gave to Jesus a revelation to give demand so the 3-tier we have here looking as if the son is is subordinate to the father in a sense of two gods one being lesser than the other not understanding always that the sonship is subordinate in the sense that it is not deity but that is a humanity and so we took time to discuss that but tonight we want to pick up in this and I won't go through the first three verses again but I would like to just begin with verse four and we'll start there and just kind of begin to talk about this and break it down on our way to other chapters so the first verse we want to read just as a recap is John to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before the throne there's three things we want to make mention of there's first the location of these churches was in Asia today when we think of Asia we think of Far East but this particular time the world was smaller in its and in in the countries and in the spread of man and so what they called Asia was really a zoo minor which included Turkey maybe Iran and the far part of Syria and India and that would kind of be Asia today we go much further than that we had countries like Mongolia and China and the Philippines and Japan and Singapore and Malaysian and that's more of the Far East so that's what we're referring to and these churches were in Asia that means they were in modern-day Turkey which it to us is more the Middle East or at least in the general area of there and so it says that then next it says it says from him speaking of Jesus which is so it talks about his present Ness which was that's his eternity and which is to come and that is his promise that he will always be there and so his his life is in the eternal realm it's not in the capsule of time like humans that begin and end but his has no ending and has no beginning and exists fully in and out of time both and so that's what that's referring to there the seven spirits which are before the throne would actually want to talk about that I think I'd rather wait to chapter five before we talk about that but there are several different thoughts on what that means obviously no reliable theologian would take the concept that God has different spirits but more of a representative aspect of that but we'll discuss that a little further and so then so that's the aspect of that the other part that I left out that I want to bring back is the name John Paul went to Ephesus which was in Asia Minor in 52 AD so in 52 ad Paul's in his second missionary journey he goes to Ephesus and he spins we don't know exactly how long but it's a little while there starts a church and then in his third missionary journey he comes back by Ephesus and he spends three years there and then he's gone and then five years later he writes the book he writes to them and he wants them to understand there's things that need to be dealt with and he goes through that and but so then after that Paul comes off the scene and we find where Paul is executed somewhere about 67 68 AD John before Paul's execution is reputed to have the dates vary a little bit but it looks like it's about 62 to 63 ad moves to Ephesus now it doesn't become the pastor of the church or he doesn't take over Paul's works immediately with Paul's still alive but what he does do is he begins as an apostle to use that as his base to minister out so he has this long relationship with all of these churches that are in Asia Minor and he works from that angle and then of course he lived there from 60 to 63 D unto the time that he was arrested and he was imprisoned and and sentenced to hard labor on the Isle of Patmos and that was about 96 97 and then he lived to be over the 100 mark there of the century and so entering into the second century so that kind of gives you an ideal of John and his longevity compared to the founder of Ephesus and then somewhere in that time after Paul was killed he became known as the Bishop of that and then these daughter works were started they started many daughter daughter works under John or satellite works whatever you want to call him and John was responsible through Ephesus for that and so John had tremendous authority and respect and because all the other apostles were dead and they had this clear understanding of the twelve original apostles over others that were called into ministry with some type of Apostleship but those twelve had something special Paul would be in the twelfth not the one that they drew lots for it the day of Pentecost but Paul took that place God chose him those twelve had something special that others did not and so John was able to step in there without any problems from the original converts and leadership that had this concept so when he writes revelation he's writing as someone that is highly respected and someone that is very Authority and he has the love of a pastor you can see that flow through there he has the heartbeat of these people so verse five says and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and I'm glad he's faithful and it says who is the begotten of the Dead now this phrase begotten of the Dead the first begotten of the Dead is extremely important the first there has to do with the order not so much as sometimes we as we would think and use first in several different ways but in this particular way it has to do with the order as one two three in other words this is first and so he's first begotten of the Dead and so someone says what's the importance of the begotten of the Dead this is where we begin John begins to weave into this book the concept of the resurrection now these people have been taught this they know the letters in fact first Corinthians which has chapter 15 in it which will turn there in a minute was actually written why Paul was ministering in efficently Ephesus and and I don't know if he completed it there but many feel that that's where it was finished and then sent to the Corinthians from that place so they were familiar with these terms these passages these concepts as theological teachings that were there so when he says the first begotten of the Dead what it is referring to is that Jesus Christ was the very first person that was a human being that was raised from the dead in krupp table now there had been others that had been raised from the there was the woman in in the days of Elijah that had the son that died and was raised from the dead there was a shooter might woman her child was raised from the dead there were was in the time of Christ there was the little girl there was the little boy and then of course Lazarus and in these people there was the man that had died in battle his was thrown into the bones of Elijah and there were probably some others that we don't have record of where the supernatural power raised him from the dead however the difference between all of those being raised from the dead they would die again they only were raised to life to live a little longer in this life but they were not raised to life in this life to live eternally when Jesus was raised from the dead he was raised so that he would never die again and so that's why he's the first the begotten of the Dead meaning that he was the very first order of people that were going to be raised eternally that would never again taste death and so that's extremely important in John's letter to them John's writing to them which is still applicable and and as part of the writings and the letters that Christ is written to us and the present day also by reading this because the Bible is for the entire church and it lets us know that Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of the dead and so let's go to a 1st Corinthians 15 and just get a thought on this verse 16 of first Corinthians 15 says force for if the dead raised not then is not Christ raised and if Christ be not raised your faith is in vain you are yet in your sins so it's extremely important to these people and to us today that we understand Christ did raise from the dead it does not matter what the skeptic says doesn't matter what to the unbeliever says doesn't matter what the liberal Christian says that tries to make Christ some kind of good feeling or good spirit versus a reality the Bible teaches that he literally raised from the dead if he did not raise from the dead obviously what we teach what we believe what we are is a farce the Holy Ghost is no more than emotions we're still lost in sin the law is still in effect and there is no salvation outside of the blood of bulls and goats and faith and sacrifice and Christ is a myth that no longer can help or heal or deliver anybody obviously that's nonsense Christ is raised from the dead and that was the argument that Paul was making to a generation that was close to the time when Christ had been raised from the dead and so that's very important then the Bible talks about in verse 26 it says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death for he hath put all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is expected which did put all things under his feet and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the son also himself be subjected unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all what that means is there will be an end to sonship in the sense that there is a sonship that is subordinate to the Father and in this role of being saved through the sonship this role of what Christ did at Calvary that will come to an end when God so sees fit and then God will be all in all what that means is that God will mediate through the image of God which is Christ as he did in the Old Testament but we will know him as the one that saved us so that is a very deep study but that's just kind of the nutshell the little that I'm giving you there today okay now let's move on and let's talk about let's talk about the raising of the dead connected to these situations verse 25 says but some men will say how are the dead raised up and what body do they have thou fool that which thou so us is not quickened except it died and that was now so is that showed so it's not the body that shall be but bear grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain but God giveth it a body as it pleased him and to every seed his own body so he talks about something dying something raising and someone says well how can they be raised they're thinking of what body decane not understanding the miraculous power of God that's able to make the mortal put on immortality and so that's the the argument or the answer to an argument or skepticism that is there now we go to verse 46 it says howbeit that not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and after that which is spiritual the first man is of the earthly and the second man is the Lord from heaven and as the Earth such are they that earth land as of the heavenly such they that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of the heavenly now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit corruption inherit incorruption behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump but the Trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on in corruption and the mortal must put on immortality the essence of this passage is very simple that Christ is the firstfruits and he died for us what our firstfruits and the farming community firstfruits have always and still remain that first group of grain or fruit or something that has been growing that ripens before the rest of the crop does we live in a farming community here in the San Joaquin Valley and we're getting ready to come into cherry season and what you will see is that you'll drive by and you will see row after row of cherry trees and there'll be green cherries on there but around the edges or maybe in the middle of the orchard you'll see a tree or two that has some very red cherries what happens is those became a ripe before the rest of the crop did and so Christ is the firstfruits and him being the firstfruits what happens there as the cherry becomes ripe and becomes red it is a sign to the farmer that the rest of the crop that is green will eventually become red like the first fruits or those that were able to mature and to ripen first and so Christ being the first begotten of the Dead is our first fruits and as he went the way of the grave came out of the grave ascended on high with a glorified body that can never be touched with death now it is that the church has that same promise and he was the witness and so to us on earth and to God in heaven his plan has been successful and as Christ was raised from the dead in Crupp table we that follow at that rapture are going to become ripe with immortality and live forever with God and so that's what John is writing here in Revelation and so it's a very powerful statement that he makes you the first begotten of the Dead we talked about the priests and kings that's our time here on earth together and then of course we'll have millennial aspect to that but let's go to verse 8 now because that's actually where we kind of got stopped last week now verse 8 starts and says I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the LORD which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty so we talked about the beginning of this where it said the revelation of Jesus Christ apocalypsis yaesu Chris - and this is the title of the book and it's how the Greeks manuscript starts out and then we move over here to verse 8 and it says I am Alpha and Omega Omega and so these are the Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet it's a it's a violence like RA and Omega is the last letter we have a Z they have an O long o sound and so this is the first in the last so everything in between and that's what he's saying there but it's not just that even though that's a designation of God but it's the I am that is important to us the I am here is ego and me and when you combine these two words together it forms the I am but it's more than just I am what it really is it is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew that comes out of Exodus chapter 3 verse 14 where Moses says who shall I say sent me and the Lord said unto Moses tell them that I am that I am hath sent II and so that of course is yay that's the I am in the Hebrew when we come to the Greek and we translate the Hebrew into the Greek the wording that we use is ego and me and so that is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew I am and so here he uses the term I am he associates himself with the exodus burning bush experience that God that is eternal and of course the Alpha and the Omega solidify that message that we have going on there let's look at John chapter 7 and there's a verse of scripture there that is prevalent excuse me John chapter 8 and Jesus is going to talk to them about who he is and we'll go to verse 57 and then I'll kind of give a little background for it but John chapter 8 verse 57 it says then said the Jews unto Him thou art not yet fifty years old and has thou seen Abraham and so either having a discourse and he's talking about Abraham as if he knew him he saw him and of course he did because they didn't understand who he was and then verse 58 Jesus responds says verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am ago in me I am the Jews who understood what he said they knew the burning bush they knew the I am was the title the name of God and when he used these words the Bible says that they took up stones to cast at him there was something very very that angered them extremely because he used this concept when we go to the book of Acts and I'd like to take you there Acts chapter 9 and let's read verse 5 Acts chapter 9 and effect we'll go back and we'll read verse 4 it says and he fell to the earth and hear the voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me so Saul is on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians and to bring them into prison and to punish them because he believes that Jesus is an impostor and these Christians are leading people astray leading them away from Judaism and he's very angry about that and so he says this is not going to happen he goes to the high priest he gets permission they have a certain amount of G of demographic authority that's been given in them by Rome especially well for upstarts of things that could lead to insurrection and so he's within his rights at least he feels he is and he's arresting Christians and it's it's beginning to bring great persecution and he's on this road and the Bible says that the light shined down and the Lord spoke to him the voice said Paul why are you persecuting me now Paul is doing this for Yahweh the God of Israel and he says in verse 5 he said who art thou Lord curious is the Greek word for Lord they do not have the same setting that we have in Hebrew where we use Lord to place over the Hebrew text or Adonai for Lord in the Old Testament so in the New Testament they judges have curious and that's just one way that Lord applies to context is how you tell if it's speaking of the Lord of Heaven or someone that's like a master or a supervisor a boss man and so when him being a righteous Jew he's doing a work for God and a voice from heaven speaks to him obviously he's not using Lord in the sense of there being a human that's trying to stop him he realizes this divine intervention he's been the brakes have been put on and this voice that he is up there he says Saul why are you persecuting me and he says to him is it's Lord who are you III I'm not sure that I'm grasping what's going on here I'm doing this for Yahweh and yet you're intervening like Yahweh and this is what he said I am Jesus now the word I am there in the Greek is also this special phrase that is used for the deity that is connected to Exodus 3 and 14 the I am that I am its echo in me and so he says I am Jesus now when he said that to Paul and Paul tells us later he says he says that he spoke to me in the Hebrew tongue so when Jesus is talking to him he's not using the Greek or the Aramaic here he's using the Hebrew tongue and he speaks this to him and he says I am a he now when he says that to him Paul immediately understands that the god of his father's a God of the Old Testament is the god that he's actually persecuting because he doesn't just say I am but he says I am Jesus I want you understand Paul the burning bush voice the burning bush I am that Moses saw was me in my pre Bethlehem form now I'm here above you and in my resurrected form and I'm telling you why are you persecuting me and so the point in all this is that when we go to the book of Revelation and we read these sometimes you could mean someone might get the sense when he says I'm Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end that we are just trying to show the deity of Jesus but not taking away from his place and the Godhead I've heard this many times people will and I've read this many times by theologians and sometimes what I call street fighters which are people that are not extremely educated but they have an ideal and they write they write something like this that this is not denying a Trinity of the first in the last or the Alpha Omega but what this is doing is this is telling us that Jesus was truly God and not just man so people don't mistake him as being less that's not at all what the Greek is saying the Hebrew is Satan the the Seiya and the book of Revelation is saying the Bible is clear that here the Greek is identifying Christ as the burning bush experience which is the Yahweh of creation if we were to go back and go into Genesis chapter 2 verse 4 it talks about Yahweh created the heavens and earth that word Yahweh there is the exact same word as I am now in the English they sound like worlds apart but in the Greek they're actually the same the difference being very simple Yahweh is in the third-person singular and I am is in the first person singular but the exact same word so one is that he says I am the other is we say that he is and so this is this is the difference between this it's not a difference in name it's not a difference in persons but it is a difference in who's the speaker is in this and so rather it's yah where I am so when we get to the New Testament and it says this of Jesus it's appropriate that it says he's the Alpha and the Omega he is the one that is the Yahweh he is the one that is that I am he is the Christ that was buried was resurrected ascended on high and is now glorified at the right hand of God he's all of this wrapped up in one and John is making clear he says we don't want to get into the seven churches this is what Jesus saying this is kind of the essence we're not going to get into the tribulation we're not going to talk about the Antichrist we're not going to deal with all the judgments we're not going to deal with the second coming and all that till you get one thing straight I am God I'm above every other power in the world and everything you're going to read about is to show you my supremacy over it and my control on this earth and so he spends a great deal of time in the first chapter given John a revelation that John has already had a revelation in fact first John chapter 1 verse one he says I have handled Jesus I have touched Jesus I know who Jesus is and here Jesus is giving him a revelation to a new level that he never had prior to this and he begins to write in it and explain who is as I am and so here we have the Lord going to great links to tell the readers of 2020 that Jesus is not just one member in a Godhead but that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily according to Colossians 2:9 and that means that when you see Godhead in heaven when you die and you go there or when you're raptured and you stand there you will not see three Thrones you will not see three peoples or three persons but you will see one throne and the one that sits on that throne which the book of Revelation makes clear over and over and over will be Jesus Christ in his resurrected form he will mimic that which is the Ancient of Days because that's who he is he will mimic that which created the heavens and earth because that's who he is he will mimic the Lamb that was slain for sinners dead because that's who he is he will mimic the one that is the Lion of the tribe of Judah the fierce warrior that comes and delivers because he's the man o'war that goes out and fights for his people he will mimic the king of kings because that's who he is he has all of these aspects rolled up in his person but until you understand who he is as God manifest in the flesh it's almost impossible to really understand the greatness of the writing of the revelation and so here we have this where he says I am alpha and I am Omega the beginning in the end say of the Lord now notice which is and which was and which is to come basically what he said in verse 4 the past the present and the future verse 9 says John I John also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ so he tells us the reason I am in restraint I am arrested the reason I am put in this island as a prison and sentenced to this work that I'm told to do is because I have preached the Word of God I have given testimony of Jesus Christ and this was very comforting to the people because great persecution was arising and to have an elder statesman who was an apostle that was not afraid to be arrested and to be punished unfairly and judged unjustly for believing in Jesus and wasn't bitter wasn't a victim you know a lot of people whenever they do something and it doesn't turn out the way that it should immediately the victim mentality gets in there and they they get a chip on their shoulder they get a an attitude of self-pity and a spirit of discouragement John had none of those things the Bible says that I was in the spirit in the Lord's Day and I heard behind me the great voice as of a trumpet now the New Testament tells us that the Lord's Day went from Saturday to Sunday where they begin to bring in their tithe and offering there's debates on what day it is it's really not important if it's Saturday Sunday over it was Wednesday or if it was Tuesday what's important is that in John's mind this was a special day and where I should have been down like other prisoners and I should have been complaining and hurting like others instead I had a vision from heaven I had a visitation of God and I like this part about the Bible because it tells me that it does not matter what we go through in life no matter how horrendous and how horrible it may be how unfair or how unjust it may be and believe me if you live life long enough you possibly are going to come into situations that you are right and they are wrong and yet you still get in trouble and they go scot free you do the things you should and they do the things they shouldn't they get blessed or they honored or whatever and you get demoted it does happen in life and John has this attitude that you know what it really doesn't matter what is going on around me I'm not going to sit down and cry and complain and be a bad sport and and blame God God why'd you allow this I've been faithful to church I've been paying my ties I've never committed adultery I haven't gossiped and I haven't done this and I haven't done that and I've done this that you asked me and the preacher preached this and I did this and my whole world fell apart and they get that way and then they feel like now they are at a place where they have an excuse to blame God or to walk away from God or to somehow be in the right to have that kind of moley grub attitude and everybody that is human will face that why in the road more than once many many times over and over I've done it you've done it and you will continue to do it I will continue to do it but we have the we have the gift of choice we have the gift of making a decision I can stand there and no matter what happens around me I can make a decision if I am going to let it affect me adversely and destroy my faith or I'm going to let it affect me in such a way that I'm going to say okay all hell's breaking loose this looks to me like a great time to have a good prayer meeting this looks like a great time to get in the word and see if I can find something from God this looks like a great time to go to the altar and have a worship season session this looks like a great time to just tell God no matter what's going on around me I still believe and y'all still trust in you and this was the John that wrote the revelation he said yes I was in there for the testimony I shouldn't have been punished for that I didn't tell him to rebel against Caesar I didn't tell him not to pay their taxes I didn't tell him to be bad citizens I didn't tell him to cheat on their wife's and cheat on their husbands and I didn't tell him to kill their kids and and and I mean he could go down the list but instead he just simply said I'm here because I said that God's Word is true and that Jesus Christ is Lord and I'm not ashamed of it and in that setting God said you don't get a vision and we learned something here that if your attitudes right if your attitudes right if you keep your focus if you keep it all together in your heart in your mind and you don't run your mouth off and start blaming and find and fault if you keep it right God is not ignorant blind dumb or deaf that he cannot see the choice you've made and obviously he saw something here and he said I'm gonna give this man a revelation like he's never had of me I'm gonna Burt take him his body might be on the Isle but his spirit is coming up to heaven I got some things to show this man that knows how to respond in adversity and so what you need to learn this and I want to tell you this anybody can live for God if they want to I know that's not a popular message because our nation has become so victimized and everybody has a right to be a victim that's the mentality of the American people any more go to the courts ooh somebody makes some free money blame somebody for the reason and way that I turned out but I want to tell you that God don't God don't he don't pay no attention to that you have that kind of attitude he just writes wipes you awful writes you off you don't want nothing to do with you because you will be a rotten no-good Christian and God's not gonna invest time in you if that's the spirit you have he doesn't get into that and I've seen God just turned his back on people walk away from today get it all together in that area why is it because you're not going to get anything from God coming in and complaining in in Milley mouth and in blaming and it when you come to God you've got to walk in and stand up and gird your loins like a man and say god it's me that's standing in the need of prayer today I'm at the altar and I come here to talk to you and when you take responsibility and when you stand up no matter what's going on and you don't keep start pointing fingers but you say God well I need some help through this I need some wisdom that gets God's attention I always remembered that sister Freeman would teach when she was alive she used to teach you can't grieve and you can't believe and brother Cole would teach you can't repent and you can't get the Holy Ghost at the same time or praise at the same time and so there there's some truths that these elders learned and you can't walk around all the time on the on the downside expecting the upside but sometimes you've got to walk around in faith and we're ship in praise and and John tells us that so that that's a little message right here in the middle of this verse 11 says I am Alpha and Omega now we just read that but now we move a little further he says I'm the first and I'm the last now normally when you discuss the Trinity normally when you discuss the triune God from a theological perspective you put Christ as the second person in the Godhead and you put the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost as the last person and you put the father as the first person so you have the triune God which is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit the Father is is is the the hierarchy even though that's not stated because they're co-equal Co eternal but yet he's the hierarchy because he's the father and he has that role and then you have the Holy Ghost which is the help meant on this end and then in the son in the middle you have the son and why he was never created he's called the son kind of an odd way to explain something that's eternal how can you be a son when you have been eternal but that's a another issue here and so you have this however when we get to the Bible it doesn't work with modern theology of who God is when we talk of a triune God it doesn't flow together it doesn't use the same terminology if I could say this to theologians if you would drop all the nonsense that you have used through the years that have compound to your life and just let the Bible put the words in your mouth your picture of Christ would change a little bit from what you believe about him today and you wouldn't have to stand up and declare hey I've been wrong all these years that's not what's being said here it'd be saying I understand Christ better than I've ever understood him and begin a journey just let the Bible explain to you instead of some theologian somewhere that may have a good heart or may not maybe has motive behind what he teaches but anyway the bottom line is is that the scripture doesn't fit the triune pattern here but what the scripture fits is it says that Jesus Christ is the Alpha the Omega the place of the Father the place the Holy Ghost the first the place of the father and the last the place of the Holy Ghost and it again he starts out I am and it uses that ago me and so we know that Jesus here is referring to the God of the Old Testament and so Jesus in this passage is the god of both Testaments let's go to the Book of Isaiah and let's read a few verses that are connected to some of these because Book of Isaiah 41 I think would be a good verse to look at in 41 Isaiah 41 verse 4 and notice what it says here who is wrought and done it calling the generations from the beginning it's a question in the English Bible here it says I the Lord now the word Lord they're very important I told you that in the Hebrew it would be either Adonai or it would be the name of Yahweh or what we call the Tetragrammaton which is the yo'd --have of hey and and and the way we know if it's referring to the name of God the Creator the Father the mighty God the OSHA die is depending on the way the translators wrote Lord and so here in here here in this verse if you look at it the word Lord has the capital letters of Ord now if it uses Adonai which is usually refers to a human aspect or it can refer to God in a in a polite way but not but most of the time it will refer to some human Overlord or master or husband etc etc so here we look and it doesn't have the the O and they are on the D in small caps but it gives them full caps so its L o rd in capital letters that always means in English translations they started this hundreds of years ago and they still followed even today in English major English translation Bible still follows it means that under that English is a Greek it is a Hebrew text and the Hebrew will mean that it's the name of God the Covenant name of God representing the God of the Old Testament so this is important to us it says I the Lord or I a Yahweh the first and the last I am he so Isaiah tells us that Yahweh is claiming to be the first and the last Jesus in the New Testament in the writings of John through a divine revelation is telling us that he is the first and the last now there's only two possibilities here one of them is wrong or they're both the same person both the same God now the first one doesn't even it doesn't even get consideration to people that are Christians because we just don't believe that either one and we're wrong we know that they can't it can't be wrong the word of God is true so the other option is that is simple and in in biblical is that Jesus is Lord of both Testaments and it is he that is speaking here in fact let me give you another verse of scripture that will help you understand exactly who Jesus is if we go to chapter 40 verse 4 a 1 it says Comfort eat comfort you might people say the Lord verse 2 speak he comfortably to Jerusalem trying to her that her warfare is a well fare excuse me is or fare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double of all her sins now verse 3 the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a path way for our God that verse is the exact quotation but from a the LX source in the New Testament where it talks about John the Baptist comin who cries and says prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight his paths now if you read that passage in the New Testament it says it like this it says that Jesus is the one that he's preaching about it makes it very clear that Jesus is the Lord yet it uses the Old Testament scripture here and into this Old Testament scripture here where it says make path we again we have the Lord in capital letters so what's happening here it says prepare ye the way of the Lord or prepare you the way of Yahweh when John comes on the scene he begins to preach prepare you the way of the Lord but when the Lord shows up he's Jesus and he says behold the lamb of God which taketh ascends the world and so we understand that Jesus is the Lamb of God let's go to chapter 44 of Isaiah these are good verses to look at when we're talking about this isaiah 44:6 it says thus saith the lord the king of israel so obviously there's not gonna be any question here who what god were talking about the king of israel and his redeemer so he's the one made covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob because he's a Redeemer of Israel which is a name for Jacob to the nation the Lord of Hosts we have again the capital letters so it's Yahweh of hosts then he says I am the first and I am the last and then he makes this statement he says beside me there is no god beside me you can't find a God now this is 700 years before Christ and almost 80 years before John writes Revelation so let's say almost 800 years later Jesus comes and talks to John and says John I'm the first and I'm the last I'm Alpha and Omega I'm beginning and on the end and John knows this Bible because he's an apostle he's a student he reads the Bible and the Bible tells him his Bible is Hebrew Bible it has and now many of the Greek manuscripts that he has because of the writings that have been going on in his lifetime he knows that there's only one there can't be another God beside this Old Testament God and Jesus tells him hey I'm the first and I'm the last and John knows if there was a discrepancy here between persons or doctrine or fiala gee John would have either corrected it when he wrote it or he would have asked a question out to the speaker and said Jesus how can this be you see this is what the disciples did in John 14 when they didn't really have the full revelation of Jesus Christ and he was getting ready to go away and Philip says to him and says Lord we want to know who the father is would you show us the father you've talked a lot about the father and we understand the father to be the God of Israel and you've talked a lot and Jesus looked at him and said Philip I've been with you for a long time now three and a half years night and day we've eaten together we've slept out on the hills together we fished together we've taught together we've traveled together and you still don't know who I am there's a lot of Christians like that they can't seem to get rid of the separation between the humanity and the deity they place the humanity as a second God rather than it's the flesh of God and it makes a huge difference when it comes to their interpretation but at this time John who was one of those disciples who heard Philip asked that question and heard Jesus say when you've seen me you've seen the father he doesn't have the same question that they had when Jesus was getting ready to be crucified and leave this world he knows now who Jesus is and so he says it clearly when it's being given he just writes it down certainly that's who you are though I am on the first and on the last and there is no other god beside you I understand and he's fixing to get a revelation as you move into chapter four and five when you see one throne not two not three or any amount of other Thrones but simply one throne and the one that sits on there is the one that is now talking to him in Revelation saying I am the first and the last and so this comes together when we understand the point is is that this we could just cross over this and say oh that's old stuff for oneness people and that's old stuff that no one really wants to hear about that they just want to get in there and talk about some plague and about lightning and about you being scared to death and taking a mark and having your head roll but I beg to differ with you if Jesus spent time trying to tell us who he is we would be fools to try and jump to things that aren't near as important as the identity of Jesus - trying to cut let some little sensational movement here on earth for a few moments I'm not really interested in that you can find a lot of people that will do that they're more current event teachers I'm an end time prophecy I'm an eschatology teacher I'm a Bible teacher there's in time current event teachers all over you can find them but I want to know what thus saith the Lord that's to me what is in Porton and thank God for you that are watching that are not members of my church I'd like to tell you about my church there are people that love the word - yes they enjoy hearing about prophecy and then times and understanding how it works but they also love to get into the word and and study who Jesus is because they love God they love this Jesus that saved them and made them kings and priests and loved us so much that He gave His life and gave his blood that we might be saved amen let me take you to one more Isaiah 58 excuse me 48 I'll take you to that last one and then we're going to go back and start tying this down here Isaiah 48 of verse 12 and it says it like this hearken unto me o Jacob that's the name of the nation of Israel at times and Israel my called I am he I am the first I also am the last and so I think we have given ample scripture for sincere studies of Christ my study in last week's lesson looking at the mediator role of the humanity of God and then his ascension into deity as the Holy Spirit becomes the Spirit of Christ together make their abode the father and son in our hearts I think my study in that and studying this one should have a good view of who Jesus is and that is the setting if this is the God that is able to create heaven and earth this is the God that created humanity this is the God that was able to figure out how to the dead of sin in the court of heaven against the laws that said we must die and find a way to substitute and vicariously through him have victory now that's a that's an incredible God and we are privileged and blessed to be able to serve Him and so today I thank God for that I thank God that I know who Jesus yes I thank God that I'm able to walk with him and talk with him and and and I'm not confused and when I pray to him I don't have to worry about praying to Jesus and then thinking well I better pray to the Father a little bit I better pray to the Holy Spirit or I I just whatever is flowing that's God and I just talked to him and he meets me on that level he meets you on that level praise God let's read a few more verses here because I'm gonna close out chapter 1 we're going to start in chapter 2 next week and go through a few of these churches which will be a significant for us I'm looking forward to that but let's let's go back and let's talk in verse 17 it says and when I saw him I fell at his feet his dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the first and I am the last now he's just seen him as the Ancient of Days or at least an equivalent to what Daniel had seen yet in Daniel chapter 7 he sees the Ancient of Days we have this in Revelation here so when the Lord shows him and is glorified he's not just showing him in his resurrected state but he's showing him in him to be his glory and power as much as possible to a human being that yet is not in the glorified position so the glory would destroy him if is too great so he gives him this theophany manifest form of himself personification and it looks much like Daniels Ancient of Days and his vision that scared John that was more than the Jesus that he saw is the human that he walked with who's he leaned his head on his breast he he talked to him and everything but now he sees him quite different as this disjoint powerful and there's this fear and and you know often times when people see in the supernatural whether it's angels or whether it's a vision or dreams sometimes there is a certain amount of fear that comes with it there's there's nothing wrong with that as long as that fear is a reverence fear and that's the kind of fear it was it's not the kind of fear that fights faith but it's a kind of fear that one respects and honors God and that's the kind of fear that John is having here he's like this this power is so great it could just wipe me out it could just destroy me and it's all focused and the greatness and the might and the glory of God in the person Christ Jesus who has revealed himself as this an extremely powerful Ancient of Days figure that he's read about heard about for years and so he has that kind of a fear there are some people that are not very fearful I've known some people that have walked in the supernatural and they're not fearful I often like to give a Bible example I think one that is important when we're giving examples I think Joshua Joshua he must have been quite a man there was an angel that appeared to actually was an angel was the Lord in a theophany form appears to him and and and and Joshua pulls his sword out and says tell me whose side you're on he's ready to go to battle with God and he says I'm the captain of the Lord so oh that changes things puts his sword down and gets down and worships him he was just a rare breed not everybody's gonna be like that most people are gonna be I'm scared this is a stranger someone I don't know Joshua looks at God he doesn't know who he is but he understands and I don't have any friends on this side where I'm at and so this must be an enemy we're gonna go after it that is a fighter and I mean a fighter of Fighters he's very very different but that is not most of us most of us we see an angel or we have some dream that we don't understand we're troubled by it Joshua on the other hand he wasn't like that it really doesn't matter at the end result watch one you are what matters is that you have faith in God when you get through and whatever God's trying to do in that supernatural movement and moment envision and dream or visitation your life you have given him the faith and the reverence and the respect and the worship that he might be able to bring his will to pass in your life and do those things which he has said so it's important when we understand this verse 18 says I am he that liveth and was dead there is no question to who we are talking about here we're talking about Jesus and behold I am Alive for evermore amen and have the keys of hell and death now this is extremely powerful we're going to close on this he said I have the keys of hell and death what is hell and what is death now he'll to some people is a personification to other people it is a mystical place to other people it is a concept of place that's not good that we kind of push people off to at times and then to some people it's a literal place and then among those school of thought it is it's not only a literal place but there's so many diverse concepts of Hell but the Bible teaches that hell is a place that is a prison for the souls of men and of spirits if I will tells us in the Old Testament that hell was not prepared for human beings it was prepared for Satan and his angels however as man began to follow Satan hell enlarged its borders if it grew it became bigger so it could take those people that wanted to live for Satan because when they died they were not going to go to heaven in other words if you live for God you serve God you don't want to do all this you're trying to get away from evil and unrighteousness and the feelthe and the perversion that's in this world it's not going to be right for you to show up to heaven and all that is meet you there too and you have to go through an eternity with that God says no no no this is your changing room like a drama you figure out where you want to go you make the decision I'm not going to make that decision for you what I'm going to do is I'm going to go down and die I'm gonna shed my blood and I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit and I'm gonna give you freedom and I'm gonna give you the power to walk this life and give you hope and eternity you're gonna make the decision if you want that or if you reject that if you want that nothing can stop you from living for God and living with me and eternity if you don't want that your other choice is to live for the flesh follow after the devil and wherever he goes in his scent that's where you'll go that's the only decisions there are there's no purgatory there's no state of suspended animation out there there's no soul sleep and none of that stuff it's heaven or it's hell and so hell is a place where souls of men go that are tormented where demons evil spirits go that are tormented and and that was what we consider hell however prior to Calvary Hale had two aspects three aspects really but we won't get in the third tonight we'll just talk about the second aspect it was like a gulf where he was to take a V here or a U and make a u here on one side let's say this site was a mountain and then he had a you with the valley and then you had a mountain on this side on this side was the place where the Evil Dead went the sinful dead the wicked dead the unrepentant death the fearful dead the doubt Downers and on this side the righteous went when Jesus died they could not go to heaven they had to go to hell or what we call paradise but it was still the same cavity in the earth where the souls of men went one went into a place of darkness and torment one went into a place of serenity but yet was in bondage it did not realize their faith through the sacrifices and the coming Messiah they had to wait to Messiah King that's why when the Lazarus died the rich man was taken to hell and he said I'm tormented in this flame the the Lazarus dies and he's taken to paradise and the rich man looks over and he says I see him over there could you have him get a little water on his finger and come over here and dip it and the Lord said there's a gulf between her there's a canyon a valley between you and him he can't cross over to put a little water on your tongue yeah they can see so they was down the earth so Christ got the keys of hell and what that means is that when he was crucified and buried and he paid the that he was able to take the authority or he was able to take the right to do what he wanted what the souls were in hell and those that died in fate he went down he opened the prison door and he led captivity captive as how the King James says it it basically means he let those that were enslaved and in prison or bound to the earth II not in not in the tormented place but their spirits were confined here he opened the door and said follow me I'm gonna lead you up to where I'm going on high and you're gonna stay there bodyless but in your spirits until the resurrection takes place so they went up there and then the Bible says he has the key to death now he can prove that before he was crucified he had the keys to death he raised the dead Lazarus read aise dead I mean four days depending on how you do the calculate and he raises him from the dead he raises the little girl he raises the boys Iris's daughter but this is different than just raising somebody from the dead he has the power or authority over death to render it helpless so it never again can take the life but it's not just the physical life it's the eternal life that death can take because death is the separation from God just as the body and natural death separates from the spirit spiritual death is when the soul and spirit of man is separated from God eternally when he took authority over that never again could a man that was righteous washed in the blood and faith in Christ be separated from him even now when you die there's no going down to the earth if you're a righteous man waiting for the rapture your body goes to the earth but your spirit immediately goes why because death doesn't have a hold of you and the ultimate blow against death which is the last enemy will be when the Lord puts down death at the end of the millennium and begins the eternal day of God in which we all live so the point here is that he tells him he says look at the two things that humans fear the place they go in the torment and the unknown and the power of death rather for spiritual or physically I have authority over them and they can do nothing against me or my word I'm in total charge now if you can be in charge of the two most powerful enemies in the world that means everything is weaker and lesser underneath those enemies how great a man are you and Jesus said the greatest enemies of a human soul the greatest enemies of anything that could ever live ever have lived I have conquered them therefore not only am i the conqueror of them but I am the Conqueror of the world that's why he's the king of kings Jesus Christ is awesome there's nobody like the Lord Jesus Christ he is wonderful counselor he's the Prince of Peace the mighty God the everlasting father he is the wondrous one of all and you will never meet anybody like Jesus Christ praise the Lord praise the Lord hallelujah well that concludes our study tonight in Revelation we will pick up next week but I want you to know when you read revelation when you walk through life when you go through situations remember this Jesus Christ is not some beautiful crucifix silver gold hanging on the wall with his arms outspread or some beautiful picture that has a nice little painting of him but he's a living God a consuming fire and he holds all power in his hand and you can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you god bless you tonight that's how word of Prayer in closing tonight Lord Jesus I love you so much and worship you counted a great honor a great privilege to be able to study your word and to have a revelation of who you are I always wanted to know you as a child I always wanted to know who you were wanted to be close to God and I'm so blessed as a as an adult now that you've come down to me and you've opened my eyes I know I got a lot more to learn a lot more to understand but thank you so much for not hiding yourself from me or making no one to me thank you for the revelation to this people that are watching this church that I pastor thank you for the hope thank you for the tomorrow that you've given us and God by chance there's someone that's listen to this that may be struggling or even a little offended because I spoke against or spoke of the Trinity God if they're sincere I pray that you'll meet with them and help them bring them God to revelation to what we have and even beyond us God that people might know you that they might know you that they might know you I want to thank you Jesus for your love and compassion for us as human beings and I ask your blessing upon Christian Life Center this week and those that are listening to the sound of my voice as we study this word let the blessings flow in Jesus name Amen god bless you tonight leave me alone and I will fire lead me Lord and I will go you have called me and I will answer leave me alone and I will go made me long ah we [Music] be me Oh [Music] go you have called me and I will answer leave me alone and I will go baby [Music] me we go you have called me and I will answer lead me Lord and I maybe [Music] well Oh we you have called me [Music] yes leave me and I will but how can you see [Music] I [Music] will I will go you have me I will answer [Music]

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Length: 109min 25sec (6565 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020