You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching, we may present everyone mature in Christ. Please open your Bibles this morning for our New Testament reading. In Revelation chapter one, we'll be reading verses one through 20. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to a servant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace for him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom priests to his God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom of the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying, fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are on those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, in the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. This is God's word. Let's look to the Lord in a word of prayer this morning, asking his spirit to guide and to shape our hearts according to his word. Father, we come before you this morning. We profess our frailty, our weakness as sinful creatures, and your absolute goodness to us. Lord, as we look into your word, as we examine your eternal truths, Provoke our hearts unto further righteousness, we pray, O Spirit of God. Help us now. In the name of Jesus, we ask this. Amen. Over the last two weeks, we have been looking specifically at our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, we had our eyes wonderfully drawn as we studied, as we worshiped this God-man, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And in so doing, we remembered his passion. We contemplated that once for all time sacrifice. There was a period of time where we sat in silence, thinking of how his body lay in repose in the grave. We celebrated in victory. His victory over death, how he defeated death, being raised up by God to life. We marveled at the joy of the disciples who saw the resurrected Lord, the resurrected glorified Lord. And last week we were reminded of the precious, the certain promises that are proclaimed to us through the ascension of Jesus Christ. We saw how he gloriously re-entered heaven, and he took his rightful place of enthronement, ruling and reigning over all creation. And so before Pastor Barry resumes preaching again in the book of Genesis, all the way at the beginning of our Bibles, we're gonna take one more week here, and we're gonna look at the exalted Christ. We're going to focus on this one that John in his writing this morning calls One Like a Son of Man. Now the proper title really for this book that will be in this morning is The Revelation of Jesus Christ. We see that in verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And this word revelation, which comes from the Greek word apocalypsis, and surely you can hear in there that word apocalypse. And it conveys this sense, this word apocalypse or revelation, it conveys this sense of making something or someone fully known. It's a disclosing of something that was previously hidden, something that was previously kept secret. And so we find that this morning we find that this Apostle John and he's he's writing from a barren island where he's been banished to but we find this Apostle John receives this privilege in his apocalyptic writings to make known to his readers which includes us today to make known Jesus Christ. Now throughout the book of Revelation, John receives visions of things that must soon take place, also seen in verse one. But I think it's more than fitting that what is John's first vision? His first vision is of the Son of Man, of Jesus Christ. And so as we look at this first vision this morning, we're gonna find in this vision, we're gonna find powerful symbolic language. And this is not language that is meant to describe for us exactly what Jesus looks like so that we could paint a picture of him. No, this is language that is meant by Christ for our ears to know who he is. Now Jeremy read for us the first 20 verses of chapter one, and that helps us get a full sense of how this book begins. But we're going to direct our attention to the second half of these verses in verses nine through 20, which has this first vision that was given to the Apostle John. So I've broken it down into number one, we're going to see a prophetic commission as we look at these first three verses, a prophetic commission. Secondly, right from the text, one like a son of man in verses 12 through 16. And actually that is where we're gonna spend the bulk of our time. It's not a proportionately way to outline. So verses 12 through 16 is one like a son of man. And then those final four verses, point three will be alive forevermore. Alive forevermore. But let's go first then to these first three verses here by John, where we see this prophetic commission. We're gonna see this first vision here introduced by John. And so it is in verse nine, which says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, and right off the bat, what do we see? We see that John is identifying himself with the saints of God. He says, I am your brother, your brother in Christ, of course. I'm your brother in Christ, and I'm also your partner, your partner who is sharing in, he said, there's a threefold reality for every true follower of Christ, and those things are going to include difficult tribulation, a promised kingdom, and this endurance, this enduring, persevering faith. And all three of those things we could say are inextricably connected to each other. But he says, I am your partner in all three of those things. And we even can think there that just as Jesus conquered, and we celebrated that, that his conquering over death, but just as Jesus conquered, so too are his people going to conquer. And how are they going to conquer? We are going to conquer through enduring through these trials. We're going to have these trials because we identify ourselves as the followers of Christ, and we are going to also live out this kingdom life that He has called us to. So in doing those things, in enduring those trials, in living that kingdom life, we will conquer as our King who has gone on before us. And John is very intimately acquainted with his audience here. They know him. He knows them. He's well-known to his readers, but he's sending them this letter. And he explains to them that he's, where he is, he says, I'm presently on this barren island of Patmos. This is out in the midst of the Aegean Sea. And we think here that John is probably in his 90s when he's writing this. He's been preserved by God so that he can write down this revelation of Jesus Christ and all the things that are to follow throughout this book. Yes, he had been tried to, his evil opponents had tried to martyr him, but God saw fit that he would preserve John, even in the harsh conditions of where he's in exile, that he would be on this island to receive this revelation. And so in verse 10, then, John then reveals how this first vision began. And he says that he was in the spirit. This is a transportation into the world of prophetic visions by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. So this is a prophetic inspiration that is coming to John. You can see similar language in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 2, Ezekiel 3, and other places in the Old Testament as well. But this is a prophetic inspiration divinely coming to John. And so we're going to see that John is commissioned as a prophet, a spokesman for God. And he says that as he's receiving this revelation, this inspiration from God, he says that it occurs on the Lord's day. What is the Lord's day? Today is the Lord's Day. Today is the Lord's Day. This is what we call the new Sabbath. This is the day that was conquered by Jesus through his resurrection. It's his day, we call it his day of Sabbath rest. And this is actually the clearest verse that we have in the New Testament that makes this plain. And when we derive our calling of it, the Lord's Day, you'll hear that mentioned from the pulpit here quite often, the Lord's Day. This is not referring to what we would also then call the day of the Lord. And John could have made that very plain because that expression is found throughout the New Testament as well, that the day of the Lord that has yet to come. But that's not what John's referring to here. He's referring to the new Sabbath, Sunday. And he says that as he is then receiving this prophetic inspiration from the Holy Spirit on the Lord's day, he says that he hears a loud voice like a trumpet and it's coming from behind him. So it's not in front of him and there's nothing for him to see, but he hears this loud trumpet. And there's a parallel to this. You go back all the way back to Mount Sinai. And as the people of Israel, they're gathered at Mount Sinai. In Exodus chapter 19, verse 18, it says, And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder. And so this is, we see here in this Exodus passage, which is also referenced in Hebrews 12, the voice of God. But we've got this symbolic portrayal of the voice of God. This is a voice of exceeding and incomparable authority. And it's overwhelming to the human ears. In fact, the people of Israel said, we can't take this, Moses. You have to go get this word from God. And so there's a similarity then into this booming noise here that John is hearing. And in verse 11, then John records what he hears from this voice where it says, write what you see in a book. So everything that you see, John, everything that your eyes draw in through this vision, I want you to carefully record down in writing. For this is, as verse one says, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And to write something down then, it shows that there's an authoritative nature to the message. Moses was commanded to write things down. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, all the prophets, they were commanded to write things down. And so John here, he's commanded to write this down and then to send it to the seven churches. To take the scroll that he's going to write down, send it to seven specific local churches. These were real churches that existed in time and place. And it's Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. So the specific names of the churches are given to John. And so we see here in this first point that John is given a prophetic commission, a command. And I think we know who is giving him this command, but we'll just, we'll leave that. And so we'll ask who, who's giving this command to John the apostle. And so That took us very quickly through that first point as I had sort of promised. So we go from this prophetic commission now to these next five verses. One like a son of man. Now if you were to look at the visions that the Old Testament prophets received. there was a pattern, not necessarily every single one, but there was generally a typical pattern, and that would be, number one, there's a vision that is related to the person, so the person receives the vision. Secondly, then, there's a response to the vision. And thirdly, there's generally an explanation or an interpretation of the vision to the person who's receiving it. And we are gonna find that same pattern here with John's vision that he receives. And so in verse 12, we find John turning around. He hears this voice, but he's turning around to see who possesses this authoritative, booming voice that has just given him such a resounding command. He turns around because he's captivated by that authoritative nature of this voice. He's also turning around, I think, because there is a sense of familiarity to this voice. It's like, I know that voice, but I'm not sure I know that voice, and so he's turning around, and when he turns, what does John see? Well, the first thing that he writes that he sees are these seven beautiful golden lampstands. If we were to go back to the Old Testament, again, we would see this lampstand imagery. Now remember, we're talking about symbolic language, but this lampstand imagery is first seen when the tabernacle was designed. In Exodus 25, 31, this command came from God to Moses. He says, you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. Six verses later, it says, you shall make seven lamps for it. So there's this lampstand with seven lamps that are to go upon it. So there sort of is that initial imagery for us, but there's also a parallel to the prophet Zechariah. And in Zechariah 4, the prophet Zechariah, he received a vision. And what does this vision have? A golden lamp stand with seven lamps. And in that vision, it's revealed to Zechariah that these seven lamps are the eyes of the Lord, which range throughout the whole earth. So by looking at these passages together, we can figuratively see that the lampstand as furniture of the temple, that it actually can represent the temple as a whole. And the temple as a whole was supposed to be representative of what we would call a faithful Israel. That's what they were supposed to be, a faithful Israel. How? Well, as you would look at the way that the tabernacle was set up, these lampstands, these seven lampstands, they were to be placed directly in front of the Holy of Holies. And what did the Holy of Holies represent to the people? That was where the presence of God was. This was God's presence, God's power, God's spirit. And so these lampstands being placed in front of them, it was as if they were emanating out, they were radiating out this glory of God, this presence of God. And that's exactly what Israel had been called to do by God, to radiate the glory of God out to the nations, out to the world. And how did they do at that? Not good. In fact, they utterly failed at this calling. And so here, then, in this revelation to John, these seven lampstands are representative, then, of Christ's church. As the lampstand, again, the church symbolizes God's true temple. And it's going to draw its power from what? from his divine presence, from his given Holy Spirit, and the church of Christ is going to radiate out his glory, his grace, in a world that is very evil, a world that is wholly committed in rebellion against God. And there's a great contrast here because where national Israel completely and utterly failed, Christchurch, we could call it true Israel, will not fail. They will not fail. In Matthew chapter five, which we had studied several months ago in the Sermon on the Mount, we see Jesus saying to his kingdom disciples, to his followers, you are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So there's that display of the goodness of God and the life of his people radiating his glory. Now at the very end of this passage, we know that Jesus explains in verse 20 that these seven lampstands are the seven local churches that John is initially sending this book to. These are the same seven churches that Jesus is going to send direct communications to in chapters two and three. And what's he doing in there? He's commending their good works. He's admonishing them. He is also rebuking their sin found within their church. And throughout all of scripture, we see a sense of perfection. We see a sense of completeness with this number seven. And so while we have seven real local churches that this is being sent to representative of these lampstands, they also represent cumulatively Christ's church as a whole. These seven churches are a portrayal of the whole of Christ's universal church. So that's the first thing that John notices, but in verse 13 then, we discover that these lampstands, these seven lampstands, they're not the primary focus. They catch his attention, but they're not the primary focus. In the midst of them, John says he sees one like a son of man, clothed with a robe and with a golden sash around his waist. Now this is the same phrase that is used by Daniel. Not from the part that Ben read, but back in Daniel 7, that Pastor Barry read from last week, in this vision that Daniel was given where we see this amazing picture of the exalted Son of God entering heaven. Daniel 7.13 says, I saw in the night visions And behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. Now the title, Son of Man. is a title that Jesus used for himself many times. In fact, we find that title, almost a favorite title for himself, we find it 81 times in the New Testament. And this was also a title that Jesus used to claim before others his divinity, that he was one with God, that he was God himself. When he was on trial in Mark 14, the high priest asked him in verse 61, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And he said, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And of course they were so incensed that they cried out blasphemy. They knew what he was claiming. This was a divine claim by calling himself the son of man and where he was placing himself. But here John writes that he was like a son of man. What does he quite mean by that? This was, in referring to Jesus, John obviously had spent quite some time with Jesus in his earthly ministry. In the gospel according to John, he refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. But now what John is seeing, what John is experiencing, is now he's seeing Jesus in a different state. He's seeing Jesus, who was never just a man, of course, but he's seeing that now that Jesus, this person in front of him, is no longer a man of sorrows, no longer a man acquainted with griefs, no longer the man who had no place to rest his head at night. And so now, even though there's this sense of recognition by John, I know him. It was almost here though as if Jesus had changed beyond all recognition in this now glorified, this exalted, this brilliant state. And Joel Beakey, he writes, he says, it's John saying here, I see Jesus, but he is so exalted, so magnificent, so glorious that I can scarcely believe my eyes. So this is this central focus of John's eyes. And as we get into the details to follow, we don't want to get lost in the details to see this main attraction here, this focal point of John's vision is that he is seeing the stunningly glorious appearance of the risen, exalted Son of Man, Jesus Christ. but John does describe this apparel, this clothing that this one like a son of man's wearing. And while we can see kingliness and priestliness in what this figure is wearing, the stronger focus here is on Jesus, our great high priest. And so John sees Jesus here standing among the seven lampstands. He's standing among his church. And so with these lampstands representing the church, who is the one who has lit these lampstands? Or we could say who's the one who's given life to these lampstands? It is Jesus. And so now this picture is showing us as he's standing among them that he's tending to these lampstands. He's ensuring that the church's light is going to continue to shine all the more. And there's a parallel to that priestly function back in Leviticus 24, in verses one through four, you'll find that they were to keep the light lit at all times. It was to be kept regularly burning, and it was the high priest's job to take these seven lamps and to regularly arrange them, it says, before the Lord. And that is what Jesus, our great high priest, is doing with his church, with his people. And so you think about our church. Our church, you can think in your mind, has a lampstand. Every church has a lampstand. And if our church's lampstand is to be kept burning regularly, if it's to clearly illuminate out to this region, and beyond the glory of God, then we must allow Jesus, our great high priest, to regularly correct us, to exhort us with his words, through the powerful means of his word. And as you go on into chapters two and three, you'll find out that if you do not do that, He possesses the power to snuff that out. Sure, the building might continue, the people might still be gathering, but if Christ snuffs that out, that is essentially the end of that church. We'll carry then on to verse 14. We continue to see this powerful language here telling us who Jesus is. And so John continues, he says that the hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. And in Daniel 7, 9, this fits perfectly with that description of the Ancient of Days. And so there's this application of these attributes that were given to the Ancient of Days, and the Ancient of Days in this Daniel's revelation, that's the Father, God the Father. But these attributes are being accorded from the Father to the Son. And within there, there's this picture that together, the Father and the Son have eternal life. eternal life that the Son has always enjoyed and experienced with the Father. And we know from our studies of the Trinity, Trinitarian theology, that while the Trinity is one in essence, so the Father, Son, and Spirit are one, they are three distinct persons. And so the Ancient of Days and one like the Son of Man are two distinct persons. But we see this perfect harmony, we see this perfect sharing of the divine attributes in this description of this dazzling white that Jesus divinely possesses. And it's this perfect holiness, this perfect purity that only the living God possesses. And within that whiteness we see this picture, this picture that the Messiah, that Jesus Christ who bore the sins of his people that he wasn't stained or corrupted by that sin. We are. Our sin, it stains us, it corrupts us. We have no power to get that sin stain off of us. But Jesus covers that sin through his perfect righteousness, through his perfect holiness. but as each one of us is then stained by our sin, through the guilt of our sin, it grips our hearts. We cannot remove the penalty that is assigned to sin. And so I would ask you this morning, has God convicted your heart of your sin before him? As a secondary question to that, Have you then repented and turned from that sin? We focused on this a lot as we were early on in Matthew, as Jesus preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But the big focus was, what are you turning to? So yes, we want to turn from our sin, but what are we turning to? We are turning to Jesus Christ. that your mind must see, that your heart must believe that, yes, I've recognized my sin. I'm turning from my sin, but I have seen that there is mercy to be found in Jesus Christ. So that's what we're turning to. We're turning from our sin to Jesus Christ. And so I'd ask you this morning, have you turned to Jesus? Have you turned to the great high priest who is fully able to cleanse you of your sins, to take your sin-stained heart and to wash it white as snow. Well, continuing on then, we see this description, eyes like a flame of fire, feet like burnished bronze. refined in a furnace and there's this voice like the roar of many waters. And so now we're seeing not a reference back to the divine attributes of the ancient of days, now we're seeing language that comes from that other vision that Daniel had that Ben read in chapter 10. In Daniel 10.6 we see that same description. His body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And you can see similar language also in Ezekiel 1.27. But here we see these eyes of fire. And these eyes of fire, they demonstrate to the reader, to the hearer, that the Son of Man has authority as God. He has perfect knowledge over all things. And this is the one, this one like a Son of Man, this is the one who is the righteous judge over all at the final judgment, which we read about in Matthew 25. And just as these seven churches, as you go on in chapters two and three, just as they received these letters from Jesus where it revealed their sins publicly, their sins were revealed, so too then I would assert to you that Jesus knows perfectly the true spiritual condition of our church, of Harvest Fellowship Church as a whole. He knows our true spiritual condition. And beyond that, he knows the true spiritual condition of every single person here this morning. Nothing is hidden from the gaze of Jesus. While these refined bronzed feet There's a sense of moral perfection in here. This magnificence of Christ in his rightful position as God is being shown time and time again. And we also see here a vivid picture that through these bronzed feet that Christ is going to crush his unholy, his immoral enemies. Haters of God will be crushed by this one like a son of man. The roaring voice of the son of man, which is like the sound of a mighty rushing waterfall. It's so predominant that it drowns out all other sounds. And this is the authoritative voice of God. This is the voice of God that is going to pronounce that final verdict at the judgment, at the great judgment. So knowing that King Jesus is going to pronounce such a verdict for each individual, I want to ask you, what verdict is Jesus going to pronounce to you? In Matthew 25, Is he going to pronounce a verdict of eternal life? Is he going to say to you, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world? That's an eternally prepared kingdom. Or instead of hearing these words of eternal life, is he going to give to you a verdict of eternal destruction? where he says, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. One of two verdicts. The final words by John that describe Jesus here in verse 16, we see these seven stars in Jesus's right hand. We see this sharp two-edged sword that's protruding from his mouth. And we see a face so bright it can scarcely even be glanced at by the human eyes. Now certainly the representation of these seven stars is a mystery, as it says in verse 20, but Jesus makes clear in verse 20 where he reveals the mystery of that. He says that these stars are the angels of the seven churches that are listed in verse 11. Now this word here that's used for star, angelos, or angelos for the word angel in verse 20, it can mean a human messenger. But we're hard pressed to prove that it could mean a human messenger because every other instance of this word in the book of Revelation, which shows up 60 times, refers to a heavenly being, a heavenly angel. And furthermore, this word is never used in the New Testament to designate leaders of churches. So I would submit to you that this picture here is of seven heavenly angels And it's declaring to John as he sees these angels, this picture of these seven angels, these seven stars in the right hand of Jesus. There's a picture that Jesus' reign is so encompassing that it is not confined to just the physical realm, but it is also over the spiritual realm. We see that Jesus is in complete control of everything, everything. And he's standing among his people, and he's even holding fast these angels that are representative of these seven churches, or you could even say assigned to these seven churches. And more specifically, because of this very close connection that we find between these seven angels and the seven churches, Christ's church then, which cannot fail and which will not fail, Christ's church has not just an earthly existence, but it also has a heavenly existence as well. But there's more. We've got this sharp two-edged sword. And notice where the sword is. Is the sword in his hand? No, it's coming out of his mouth. There's this imagery of the sword coming out of his mouth. And so it's not this physical sword, but this is the word of Christ. These are words that are so powerfully effective that they can be the greatest news in the world. They can be good news of comfort to those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ, but they can also be words of wrath, words of judgment upon those who continue on in their hatred and rebellion against God. In Isaiah 11, four, we see this expression of how the Lord will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. This is the living, eternal word of God. These are the words of God that we read and proclaim every Lord's Day. These are words of unceasing action that can pierce, it seems, as if right through us, right into our innermost being, and it discloses our most secret thoughts, our most hidden desires that we have within us. And through this word that is sharper than any two-edged sword, it says in Hebrews 4.13 that no creature is hidden from his sight. It says we are all naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. And then this last phrase, this face that shines like the sun. We find this picture of this preeminence. We find this picture of this brilliance, this divine glory of Jesus. And the disciples, one of which was John, three of them got a very sneak preview of this radiant face in Matthew 17, two, at the Mount of Transfiguration, it says he was, referring to Jesus, he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light, just for a moment. But now, it's not just for a moment. It is forever, now it is eternally like this. It is radiating with all the glory, with all the majesty and with all the power of God and so Jesus is worthy of our worship. And so we would conclusively then answer that question from that first section. The commission given to John in verse 11 was a commission that was given to him by none other than the Son of Man, by God himself. And Alan Johnson, he writes, cumulatively, John saw Christ as the divine Son of God in the fullest sense of that term. So this is what he's seen, he's seen the divine Son of God. In our last section then, we go from one like a son of man in verses 12 through 16 to these last four verses, alive forevermore. So as John's eyes draws in all this imagery, Such overwhelming beauty and brightness. It's too much for his eyes to draw in. And so he falls down, he writes, at the feet of the exalted Christ as if he were dead. And we have to remember that John is still presently in his sin-cursed body. And so the radiance of the exalted, perfected Son of God, it's overwhelming to John. It's too much. And to be in the presence of such divine majesty, it just makes it impossible to stand. And so he falls. We actually see the same thing in Daniel at the very end of that passage read this morning in Daniel 10. It left him totally incapacitated. It says, there was no strength left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed and I retained no strength. And he says, as I heard the sound of the words coming from this same son of man, Daniel writes, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground. It's as if he passed out. It was too much. And then like the prophet Isaiah, when Isaiah encounters the glory of God, and he sees this brilliant perfection of God, He sees this breathtaking power and authority of God. So just like Isaiah, how he responded, certainly too, this was going to make John all the more aware of his own sinful corrupted body. How could he look at such glorious perfection and live? But it is in this state of petrified fear that Jesus takes hold of John. He takes hold of John and he gives him words of everlasting comfort. He gives words to all of his followers of everlasting comfort. And he says, fear not. Don't be frightened. Don't be afraid. Don't be terrified, John. Why? Because he said, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died. and behold, am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Well, this title here, the first and the last, this was a title given to the Lord, to Yahweh in Isaiah. In Isaiah 44, six, it says, thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and the last. Besides me, there is no God. G.K. Beal, he says that this phrase here, he said it refers to the complete sovereignty of God over human history from beginning to end. And its use here by the exalted Christ shows that he too, that Jesus too is Lord over history. And so if there was any doubt that he is divine, he said, this shall remove any doubt that Jesus Christ is divine. And so as we see, as we look at this, as we read this, as we understand that Jesus is completely sovereign as the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, How much should that fill our hearts with confidence? As we go forth to witness for Christ, to testify of Christ, the knowledge of this should fill us with the greatest of confidence. Final words by Jesus here. He gives two thoughts. First, he says that he is the living one. He says, I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. He's confirming to John, John knows this, but he's confirming to John that he is both the living God who was and is and is to come. And he's also, he says, I'm also that master that you followed around for three and a half years. I'm one in the same, John. And surely John had seen the resurrected Christ, we know this. But Jesus is emphatically reassuring John, I have conquered death. I have risen from the dead and I am consequently, I am alive forevermore. And it is because he has done that, because he has done those things, the conquering of the grave, the overcoming of death, it is then he alone who possesses the keys of death and hell. What's the inference? That when Christ's people die, that they have nothing to fear. There's nothing to fear in death if you are one of Christ's. Only Jesus can open and shut their grave. He alone possesses that power. And for those who are in Christ, he has promised that he will raise their body on the last day, and he's going to reunite it to their soul, which is already in his presence, but he's gonna reunite their body with their soul, but he's going to in so doing, he's going to bestow on them a wondrously glorified body. And it is then in that state of glory where we have those glorified bodies, where the resurrected saints of God are actually no longer able to sin, that we will be able to look at this exalted Christ. We'll be able to look at him in all of his refulgent splendor, and we will be able to look at him in joy, with all joy, and we will no longer fall to the ground in terror, because all sin has been wiped away. Well, as instructed then by Jesus in verse 19, John would go on and he would record this amazing symbolic picture of Jesus as well as Jesus' words of reassurance to John. This breathtaking view of Jesus, it must be written down. It could not not be written down, but it must be written down. And in so doing, Tom Schreiner, he says that John wants us to see and to feel the glory and splendor and majesty of the Son of God. And so, believer, follower of Christ, perhaps this morning your heart has grown dismayed at the chaos, at the craziness, the evil that we see in our present world. Perhaps it seems to you at times that the evil is triumphing. Maybe that God's promises have failed. And yes, Christ's church, it does indeed face a hostile environment. There are evil forces out there that are threatening the very existence of Christ's church, but in the midst of Christ's church stands the exalted Christ himself. And yes, he is going to rebuke us for our faults, for our sins. He is going to call us to repentance. He is going to warn the unrepentant that there is judgment to come. But the church, as Joel Beakey writes, the church will always shine in the midst of all the darkness of this world, for Christ is ever with her. And so, in the words of Jesus, my brothers and sisters in Christ, fear not. Fear not. If you truly see Jesus, if you truly see Him, you truly see this exalted Son of God, you won't fear anything else. You won't fear death, because Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades. And this King that we serve is the exalted enthroned Lord who is ever with his church. He is reigning over all things and he is certainly protecting his own. Amen and amen. Let's close in prayer. Lord God. What amazing words we have read this morning, the words of Christ himself, the revelation of Jesus Christ as recorded by the Apostle John. I pray, oh Lord, that as we go forth today, this week, that our eyes will truly behold one like a son of man. the divine, exalted Son of God, radiating in all glory, power, righteousness, purity, and holiness. May this overflow our hearts with love, with confidence, with worship, that indeed Christ's church will never fail. Implant these truths upon our hearts today, O Lord. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.