Quite a large number of you were not with us this morning. What, then, was foundational to what the Lord has given me for this conference? I will do my best, without wearying those who were present, to help you all into the message.
We are occupied with The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word can be changed and retain the same meaning: the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
I think it is impossible to take up this book, which has that as its title, and begin to read without, very early in our reading, becoming aware that a tremendous piece of business is on hand. The impression very quickly begins to take hold of us: we are in the settling of some big issue. We are faced with some tremendous and momentous decision.
Now, a long-outstanding question is going to be answered. A long-standing issue is going to be settled. The time has come when what has been a matter of controversy and conflict for a very long time is going to be brought to a head and settled.
Surely that is what ought to be the impression as we begin to read. Anybody who can take up this book and begin at the first chapter, dealing in the first words, and just read it as something printed, without becoming aware that there is something tremendous involved and in view, has missed the whole meaning and value of the book.
That is just what the book is all about. It is the settling of this controversy which has gone on through the ages; the answering of the question; the concluding of the whole matter; and writing, forever and ever, “Finished” to one phase.
And that matter, that issue, that controversy, that question, is just this: Who is going to govern this universe throughout the ages of the ages? Who is going to govern?
That has been a matter of contention through thousands of years, from the creation. All history has centred around that matter, that question. Now, says this book, we are going to settle it once and for all.
When you have really got hold of that, you have got the key to the book and to everything that is in it. It will interpret all that is in this book—much, as we said this morning, that is difficult to understand in itself, almost bewildering in its detail and in the manner and form of its presentation.
But as you go on, saying, “Now, what does that mean?” well, in some way that relates to this ultimate and consummate issue: government of this universe as God intended when He created it.
The issue is this:
Now is come the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.
The climax of history.
Well now, that helps you right into where we were this morning, with a great deal of detail. We proceed from that, and with that we are going to look into the part of the first chapter which we read earlier, and right into this very matter that we have mentioned.
Notice: it begins with the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That is grand. That is fine.
All that is coming subsequently—the warfare and the welter, kingdoms and nations, all the manifold movements—comes back to this: the revelation of Jesus Christ. That stands over it all and is the answer to it all: the unveiling of Jesus Christ, how He stands related to everything in this universe.
It is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the same word that Paul used in his prayer in the letter to the Ephesians:
That He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
A spirit of revelation—unveiling—in the knowledge of Jesus Christ: that is what it is. This unveiling, or revelation, is here said to have been something that God gave to His Son.
It needs a good deal, perhaps, of imagination to grasp the significance of these statements. But here, in the language of men, it is said that God let His Son see His place in relation to all the consummating movements and activities of the ages—where He stands as the ages are brought to their culmination and consummation.
Father God gives to His Son His place in it all, which He showed or gave to His Son. Then it goes on: “to show unto His bond-servants.” That is general, not particular—not just to apostles, not to some special people, but to His bond-servants.
You and I come into that category: the bond-servants, or bondslaves, of Jesus Christ. This unveiling is given by God to the Son, through an angel, to John, for us.
Think of that. Any true servant of God ought to be acquainted with all that appertains to the purpose of God in Christ Jesus.
“And He sent and signified it by His angel unto His bond-servant John.” Notice the title John gives to himself. He does not say, “John, the apostle of Jesus Christ.” He calls himself the bond-servant.
Then, in Revelation 1:9, he says, “I John, your brother.” John always speaks on the family basis and level. He brings himself into very close relationship with those to whom he writes, as a member of the family. He brings them right in—not on official ground, but on the ground of life.
We are in this with John. That is what John is saying. We are in this with him on the very basis of family life: “I John, your brother.”
“I was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” And, being there, “I am your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus.”
Be patient as we work on through these details: in the isle Patmos, for the testimony of Jesus; partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus.
Now the question at once arises, and this gets us very near to the heart of the whole matter: Why was John in Patmos? Because, he says, “for the testimony of Jesus.” But that is not very enlightening. The question is a bigger one.
Why was John in Patmos, and, being in Patmos, in the tribulation that is in Jesus?
The answer to that question is in this whole book. It takes the whole book, really, to answer that question. May I say here, by way of parenthesis, that the answer may account for the tremendous battle that has raged over this book.
You may or may not know that a very great battle raged over the admission of this book into the canon of Scripture—whether it should be bound up in the divine library, whether it should be included in the Bible. A real big battle raged over that, but at last there was a battle which won for its inclusion.
I take that as having some significance. But then, what a battle over the book since it has been in! I pointed out this morning the many diverse schools of interpretation, the controversy that has raged over this book through the centuries, and the confusion that has been brought about by the way in which the book has been handled.
All the divisions that have sprung up—and there is no end to them. Only about a year or so, perhaps eighteen months ago, a new division sprang up in America over this very book: a high split on its interpretation, with people at one another’s throats over a quite minor point of interpretation.
But there it is. What does it mean? I say there is an explanation to all that. It is not just happenstance. The answer to our question, I think, may be the explanation of that long-drawn-out controversy around this book.
The answer, then, to why John was in Patmos is, in the first place, found in that which obtained in the world at that time in the form of emperor worship.
Some of you will know that the Roman Caesars claimed to be divine, and therefore they claimed human worship. Somebody has said that they posed as gods and did the work of the devil. That is significant.
Julius Caesar was worshipped. Octavius was called Augustus, “the reverend one.” Caligula demanded that his image should be put up in the holy of holies in the temple in Jerusalem. He was killed before he was able to do it. That carries some significance.
And this emperor, under whom we believe John was exiled to Patmos—Domitian—was actually called “Our Lord and God.”
They usurped the place of God. They claimed the worship of men. They took to themselves what belonged to God.
So the issue is clear-cut. There is no mistaking it. It is Caesar or Christ.
For the apostolic proclamation everywhere was unmistakable:
Jesus Christ is Lord.
That is the testimony of Jesus for which John was sent to Patmos. The issue is clear-cut—quite clear-cut.
The very significant thing is that the Jews were treated comparatively leniently. They did suffer under Rome, but they suffered nothing like the sufferings of the Christians. I say that is significant.
They had crucified the Lord of glory. Therefore, the devil was not so much concerned about them. But these people—these people who would have no compromise on this matter, the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ as God, as the Son of God—there could be no reconciling of Caesar and Christ, Christ and Caesar. That is the issue.
And, dear friends, when John says, “in the tribulation in Jesus,” the implication is that the tribulation, or the suffering, is always proportionate to the place that you give the Lord Jesus.
If you give Him a second or a third place, well, you will have a comparatively easy time. Put Him where God has put Him. Make Him Lord of all, over everything, and you are in for tribulation.
You are in for tribulation. So it was with John.
All this surely is gathered up into the very title: “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
Say that in the face of the Caesars: “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” You are in for it. You are in for it.
Realize what all the Caesars set themselves by—their divine prerogative. “The ruler of the kings of the earth”: Jesus, Jesus Christ.
You and I, dear friends, never realize the implication of that title. You know that Christ is only the Greek for the Hebrew Messiah.
The whole conception, both of the Hebrew Messiah and the Greek Christ, was His kingship: the Anointed, the Priest, the King. And that anointing meant nothing less than absolute rulership—supremacy.
Speak that name—Jesus the Anointed, Jesus the Messiah—and at once it is a full challenge to that whole empire of the Caesars.
No wonder the apostle says that no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. They knew it. You wonder what that means, because you can all call Jesus Christ glibly, easily—say, “Jesus Christ.”
Go into that realm. Live in that day. It would be the most terrifying thing publicly to say, “Jesus of Nazareth is the Anointed of God, to be the ruler of the kings of the earth.” You need the Holy Spirit to make you bold enough to say that.
And, dear friends, that is not so remote in the past. There are many, many today who are afraid so to speak of Him, and speak for their lives.
You go into fanatical Mohammedan countries and proclaim Jesus the Christ, the Son of God—you do it with your life in your hand. You need the Holy Spirit for that boldness.
Well, you see, here we are right at the heart of this thing: Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness.
That word “witness,” as you probably know, is the same word as “martyr.” The faithful martyr. All right, John is in good company.
Jesus Christ, the faithful martyr, the faithful and true witness. It cost Him His life to stand for His kingdom.
It cost Him His life at the hands of every devil-inspired instrument that knew the issue—knew the issue. The issue of that Man was nothing less than the dominion of this world, and the devil knew it.
So He would say:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
They murdered the Prince of life on this one matter: His place in the eternal counsels of God as Lord, as King.
“Firstborn from the dead”—we shall have something more to say about that shortly. “The ruler of the kings of the earth.”
These titles just set out the stages of His progress to the throne:
Ruler of the kings of the earth. Satan knew Him. Satan’s agents and emissaries betrayed their knowledge of Him when the demons said:
I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.
Satan knew Him and knew His divine destiny. So he took Him up into a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of this world and the glory thereof, and said, “All this will I give Thee, if Thou wilt worship me.”
Now here we are back on this thing: worship. “Worship me.” Where worship is to be given, you see, here are the Caesars again: “Worship me.”
Jesus refused that dominion at the hand of Satan and took it by the cross. Here this book sees Him in possession of it: the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Do you have any question about that by reason of the seeming power of world rulers in our time, and world systems? Read the book of Acts again, and you will see in that book the ruler of the kings of the earth wielding His power—Herod learned something of that, and others.
We know now that this wonderful book, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, has been fulfilled in a very large degree. The very empire that denied Him His place and lordship had itself to be destroyed.
Every trace of its kingship has gone to dust.
Daniel has a very real place here, has he not? You remember his vision, and the fourth kingdom undoubtedly was the Roman Empire.
In the days when that kingdom had been reached—Babylon onward, in the days when the Roman Empire had come into being—the vision goes on. I think we have lost a good deal of the real point of that vision.
The God of heaven produces a kingdom. “I saw,” said Daniel, “a stone cut without hands.” Oh, I would like to dwell upon that for half an hour: a stone cut without hands.
It smote the image, and the image, by that smiting, crumbled to dust. But the stone itself rolled on—let it roll—gathering momentum, gathering volume, until it filled the whole earth.
Here we are in that. This empire, which set itself up against the Lord and His Christ, was smitten by that stone cut without hands, and it has crumbled to dust. There is no doubt about it; it has literally been fulfilled.
But the stone, the stone of this other kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, has gone on gathering momentum and gathering volume as it has gone on, reaching into all the nations.
Well, perhaps that does not tell you very much. It is so commonplace; you know it. Here we are: the ruler of the kings of the earth. He came to that position through the suffering of death.
For the time being, as I have said, I am leaving out that section which gives us the revelation of Jesus Christ in person. We may come to that again. Here let us note that we are now introduced to two things. Firstly, His victory; secondly, His character, which we shall reserve for another time.
Just a few minutes on this: His victory.
I am the first and the last,
and the Living One;
and I became dead,
and behold, I am alive for evermore,
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
That is His victory.
“I am the first and the last.” That is victory in a statement by itself. It is important to recognize the particular significance of the use of that title in relation to this book.
Here we are at the end and the consummation of everything. Now we have come to the culmination of all things, and He declares, “I was the beginning of all things.”
Go back to Paul’s letter to the Colossians for that:
For in Him were all things created,
in the heavens and upon the earth,
things visible and things invisible.
He is before all things.
“I am the first.” As I was at the beginning, as I was the beginning, “I am the last. I am the end.” The end corresponds to the beginning. There is no other. It is no other than Himself: “I am the first and the last.”
That is a tremendous statement. “I am simply gathering up all things into My hands. All things in the end are with Me. Everything has got to answer to Me at the end.”
In all things He has the pre-eminence.
“I am the Living One. I became dead.” Now, I want to say a word about that way of expressing it in a minute, but let us stop again.
“I am the Living One. I became dead. I am alive unto the ages of the ages.” There was a reason why the Lord Jesus said that.
You know, Nero, under whom the Apostle Paul suffered and was executed, was regarded as perhaps the most vicious of all the Caesars up to his time. But there was one who exceeded him. That was the one under whom John suffered—this Caesar, Domitian.
Do you know what was said about him? This was said to be Nero come back from the dead. He was called Nero redivivus—Nero revived, raised from the dead, back again to carry on his nefarious work.
John is suffering under the one who is said to have died and risen again. Jesus takes hold of that: “I am the Living One. I became dead. I am alive, not for a human tenure, but unto the ages of the ages.”
So we can accumulate all this data material on this one great issue: the absolute supremacy of the Lord Jesus.
“I am the Living One. I became dead.” Note that that is really the correct translation. He did not say, “I was killed. I was murdered. I was slain. I was put to death.”
He had already, in His lifetime, said:
No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.
This commandment received I from My Father.
As we think of all those movements toward the cross, we can so clearly see through men and their counsels and decisions, and we can see that the thing is in His hands. He is dictating how it should be and when it shall be.
They are saying, “Not this,” and He is saying, “Yes, this.” “Not on the Passover,” and He says, “Yes, on the Passover.” He is dictating His own death—its time and its manner are in His hands.
Not, “They took away My life.” “I laid it down of Mine own accord. I became dead.” I became it.
Why? There is another great question arising at once. Why did He Himself deliberately, of His own accord, by His own decision, go into death?
Well, the letter to the Hebrews throws a lot of light upon it, does it not?
That through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
He tasted death on behalf of every man. That is why He became dead.
But here it is in this beautiful statement:
Unto Him that loveth us,
and loosed us from our sins by His blood;
and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father.
That is why He became dead. This mighty “us” is mighty: “unto Him that loveth us.”
Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it. He loved us. He loosed us. He might redeem us from all iniquity. He made us a kingdom and priests unto His God and Father.
That is why He became dead—of His own choice, for us: for you, for me, for His church. What a mighty “us” that is.
That is the answer: Christ’s love; Christ loosing us from death.
“I am alive.” He became dead; He is alive to deliver us from death. Death is the sum total of all human sin. Death is the sum of all Satan’s power. Death is the sum of Satan’s kingdom.
He plunged into the imperial gulfs of darkness down; He brought His trophy up at length; foiled the usurper’s crown.
That is why He became dead—to do that. That is the answer.
“And I have the keys of death and of Hades.” A key is authority; we know that.
Authority over death and Hades. Jesus has said:
Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
“I have the keys of Hades.” What is that? “All their lifetime in bondage through fear of death.” Bondage through fear of death—that is the prison of Hades.
He has plundered Hades. He has broken its gates and bars. He has snatched the keys from the usurper and wears them at His own girdle. His church is delivered from that bondage of fear.
“The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
These are all tremendous matters. But, you see, you have got to place the cross over this whole book. The cross stands over everything in this book, because it is the book of the lordship of Jesus Christ everywhere.
Therefore, it is the book of the Lamb in the throne. The cross is the explanation of everything.
Well, I trust you catch a vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ in this, which comprehends all that follows and all that with which you and I have to do, dear friends.
I said this morning that this is the book which, in its very introduction, tells us that a blessing is attached to it.
What blessing do you want, and do I want? What is the greatest blessing that could come to our hearts? It would be to realize the glorious, triumphant issue of this long, long-drawn-out battle in which we are—to know how it is going to end, and to realize that it is going to end in glory.
In glory. It is going to end with us with Christ in the throne.
To realize it—not just to be informed. It does not have enough weight with us merely to be told about it. But, oh, if it could come by revelation to us, as it came to John in Patmos, in tribulation, in patience!
Suffering because of this same issue: we have made Jesus Lord. We have put Him in His place. We have no other lord. All things for us are subject to Him.
And that brings, whether persecution or not, spiritual conflict. It brings tribulation into the life. It touches us everywhere—in our families, in our homes, in our businesses, and everywhere.
This thing is touching us. If only we would let go something, make some compromise, let down a little, and not be so absolute for Christ, we would have an easier time. It is possible. You can—for the time being. But you cast away your crown.
That is it. But to realize that in the tribulation and the patience, the suffering and the conflict, the pressure—the issue is absolute: Jesus is coming out on top, and we are coming out with Him.
If that could really come into our hearts, it is the greatest blessing that could come to us. It would explain so much. It really would explain so much.
All the problems and enigmas of our lives, all those things which come of our relationship to this One whom God has destined heir of the universe—that provokes quite a lot.
I say this is the blessing of this book. I know that—not just to understand all its mysteries and symbols, but to know that He is Lord, and that nothing can alter that.
Lord, give us that blessing in our hearts.