Good morning.
Turn with me to Matthew 16. We will read some verses that I know you are very familiar with: Matthew 16:13-19.
But when Jesus was come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He demanded of His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and others again, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He saith unto them, “But ye, who do ye say that I am?”
And Simon Peter answering said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answering said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in the heavens.
And I also say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens: and whatsoever thou mayest bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens.”
And turn with me to Revelation 21, near the end of the Bible. We will look at verses 1-7.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea exists no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice out of the heavens saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God.
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist anymore; neither shall there be grief, nor distress, anymore: for the former things have passed away.”
And He that sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He saith, “Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
And He said unto me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be unto him God.”
Let us pray.
Father, once again, as we come to Your Word, we acknowledge our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit. We say to You, Lord Jesus, just as Peter said, “You alone have the words of eternal life.” You alone have those life-changing words.
We come to You simply by the Holy Spirit and ask You to speak to our hearts today. We pray for messenger and hearer alike, that we would together be under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to hear what the Lord says to His people in this hour.
For we come to You praising You, trusting You, believing that You alone are the One we want to see this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I think some of you were here several weeks ago when we began with this burden on two essential revelations. I do not know—sometimes people’s memories are rather short—but we began just a few weeks ago sharing this burden.
Now, I know there are many things we need to see. But, brothers and sisters, when it comes to the Lord and His people, I think there are two things we must see. If we see those things clearly, if the Lord can open our eyes, if He can shine His broad light into our conscience, and if He can unveil these things, then that will do a lot for our walk as believers and together as the church.
I think some of you remember that the first essential revelation is just in two words: “I am.” Brothers and sisters, above everything else, what we need as the people of God is to see Who He is. That is the beginning point. If we do not see Who He is, we have nothing.
As a matter of fact, our brother read from Hebrews. If you read Hebrews, we who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. This is the first and most essential revelation for the people of God: “I am.”
And the second one, like it, I believe, is contained in two little words. It is those two simple words that may not have had much meaning to you before: “I will.”
We not only need to see Who God is; that is the essential revelation. We need to see what He does: “I am” and “I will.”
If you remember, we took a sort of Old Testament journey—a pretty brief journey. Some of you may not have thought it brief enough—but we looked at Exodus 3, when God first appeared to Moses while His children were in bondage.
The one singular revelation that preceded their deliverance, the one word that God had for Moses, was, “I am that I am.” I think you all know that story, probably one of your favorite Bible stories.
When the Lord appeared to Moses, when His people were in absolute bondage with no way of getting free, He had one revelation for His people. That revelation was, “Tell them, ‘I am that I am.’” We need to see God.
Above everything else, we need to see Who He is. That is our starting point. That is the beginning. That will bring real deliverance to us as His people.
But along with that, He went on to say in Exodus 3:17, “I will bring you out of affliction.” We need to see what He does. “I will bring you out of this affliction.”
He said, “I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt.” He went on to say, “I will do this Myself.” He even said, “I will show favor to this people before the Egyptians.”
Now, I do not think those words are meaningless. I believe these were the two things God said to Moses, “Take to the people.” These are the two revelations that will deliver us.
Who I am—if you see it, it is liberation. But what I am able to do—that is equally liberation. This is what freed the people of God to be a testimony before all the peoples in the world: these two singular revelations.
Then we looked at Jeremiah 31. Not only did we consider the beginning of the people of God as a testimony; we went to the end of the Old Testament and looked at that dark period in the life of the children of Israel.
Jeremiah had the toughest job in the world. No wonder he was called the weeping prophet. He had to bring the people of God the judgment of God, saying, “You are going into captivity, into judgment.”
The way I look at it—and I hope you do not think it too harsh—it looks to me as though the testimony had completely failed. But did God give up? To me, that is the best news. He did not give up.
In Jeremiah 31, He says seven times, “I will.” “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.” He goes on to say, “This covenant will I make.” It is His doing, brothers and sisters. This is the essential revelation.
He went on to say, “I will put My law into their minds, into their inward parts. I will write it upon their hearts.” Seven times—the perfect number, seven times—the Lord says, or at least the Lord says to me, “You may have failed. I will not.”
That is goodness. This is God’s encouragement to these people. It says in the New Testament, though we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. He is the “I Am.”
He went on to say, “I will be their God, and they shall be My people. I will pardon their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” This is the good news. This is God’s encouragement to His people.
In the beginning and in the end, these are the two essential revelations.
My wife told me last week after I spoke that she did not get it, so I hope that is a better clarification, at least, of where the burden came from.
There are two things. Get this: if you do not get anything, if you do not remember anything else, if you draw a complete blank, remember that the two essential revelations we need are to see Who God is. That will liberate us. It will lift us into that heavenly perspective our brother was talking about.
And we need to see what He does: “I will” and “I am.”
Well, today, let us press on. That is the most I can restrain myself from going too long with an introduction.
We need to look today in a second way: to take a New Testament perspective. I know this is very broad—maybe it is too broad for most of you—but I want us again to look at the beginning and the end of the New Testament in the same way, to see whether God’s revelation is different for us in the New Testament period.
What is God’s word for us in the New Testament? We turn to Matthew 16, which we have read.
The Lord Jesus, when He had His disciples together at Caesarea Philippi, asked two questions—actually, one question to two different people.
He said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” That was the first question.
The second question was more direct. It was to the disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Actually, it was the same question, just directed to two different people.
But, brothers and sisters, the single most important question in this lifetime is: Who is the Lord Jesus? That is the single most important question for men, or for those who believe. If we cannot answer this question, if we do not have revelation and understanding as to this question, we have absolutely nothing.
“Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” Does it sound familiar? God has one issue: “Peter, disciples, who do you say I am?”
This is the essential revelation for His church. At that moment, when He had His disciples apart, He posed to them this one question. This is the question we need to answer.
Now, I learned as a parent—I did not learn much as a parent, by the way; I am still learning as a parent—that kids have thousands of questions. They do not get one question out before they ask another question. They do not get the second question out, and they have a third question before you get the answer. Some of you have experienced this phenomenon, I know.
We have many questions, but to the Lord Jesus there was one question: “Who do men say that I am?” This is the essential revelation that the church needs. This is the one question we, as the people of God, need to answer.
Above everything else, we need to see this thing. Now, it is interesting what men said. Men actually gave the Lord high praise. Men are often giving the Lord high praise, but not high enough.
They said, “Some say You are John the Baptist; some say You are Elijah; some say You are Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Pretty high praise. Most of you in this room would be honored if such praise were afforded to you.
But Matthew Henry said an insightful thing: it was not high enough. Discovery that comes from natural understanding as to the Lord Jesus is never high enough. Discovery that comes from education, simply learning, is never high enough.
It may be good. It may hold Him in high regard. But it does not arise to what God has to say about His Son.
So He turns to His disciples and says, “Okay, second question, same question: Who do you say I am?”
Everyone knows this section. We have spoken about it so many times. Then Peter blurted out—he probably could not contain himself, as Peter was wont to do—and he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Now, it is interesting. If you look at this carefully, the Lord Jesus said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” That is the way He put it.
But Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” There is a difference here. Revelation unveils to us what He really is. That is the difference.
If we see with natural eyes, we will only see certain things about Jesus. It may be high praise, but you and I are going to be called upon to answer this one single question. It is the essential question: Who is the Lord Jesus?
The Lord Jesus immediately responded, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee, but My Father Who is in the heavens.”
The Lord Jesus made it very clear. He said, “Peter, this did not come to you in the natural way. This did not come to you through education. This did not come to you through learning. This came to you through revelation that was a gift from heaven.”
That is the secret. What we need is the Father to reveal the Son, and what we need is the Son to reveal the Father.
Jesus said that no one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son is pleased to reveal Him.
What we need, dear friends, above every single issue, is a living revelation of Who the Lord Jesus is.
You might look at the church and say, “The church has many needs,” and we would all agree. We are a needy people. But if you look at the essential need, she needs to see more of her blessed Lord. She needs to have unveiled to her more of what He is really like in nature and character.
If we see the “I Am,” then we will be transformed. I do not know if that is clear, but that is our need.
I love Psalm 36:9. I have often made it my single prayer to God.
For with Thee is the fountain of life:
In Thy light shall we see light.
Do you understand that? Let me explain it with an illustration.
One thing I dislike greatly about growing older is the loss of my eyesight. I do not know about you, if it is giving you any problem. I despise it. I used to have keen eyesight, believe it or not.
But now, with the bifocals and the spectacles—I cannot even say “spectacles”—I find that my eyesight is a terrible cross.
The other day I bought a new printer, a new computer printer. I wasted enough time, enough ink, and enough energy on that old printer. Finally, I had to break down, since it would not push the paper through, and buy a new printer.
They said I needed to turn in the serial number. Of course, I had to find the serial number, and then, even more, I had to see the serial number.
I tried everything. I took the glasses off. I put the glasses on. I pulled the printer closer. I pushed the printer farther away. I looked at the printer. I knew the serial number was there, but I could not see the serial number. It was impossible for me to see.
So I went and got my big Maglite. Any of you guys have a Maglite? I have three Maglites. It is a guy thing; I do not know if the women know what I am talking about.
I had the big one, you know, the one that looks like a yardstick. There are so many D batteries in that, it is unbelievable. I got this great light, and I shone the light on it. I could read the serial number with the light. Amazing.
This is revelation. Not that I could read my serial number, but when He shines His light, we see things we could not see before. We see Him as He is. We see Him in a new light. We see Him in His fullness. We see Him in His glory.
This is what He meant to Peter when He said, “You are blessed.” This is revelation. It comes not from man, but from My Father Who is in heaven.
Praise the Lord, this is the essential revelation. This is the revelation to the church. This is the revelation the church needs.
The second thing I think we see in this story is that we not only see the person of the Lord Jesus more clearly through revelation, but we see the purpose of God as well.
It is interesting to me: the Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Brothers and sisters, that is good news.
Think for a moment—bear with me a moment; I know you have to, so you are out of luck. But think for a moment if He had said, “Okay, Peter, you build the church. I am on the throne; you build the church.”
He did not say that. He did not commit the building of His church to anybody but Himself. What a glorious encouragement that is.
He said, “Peter, there is another thing I need to say to you: I will build My own church.” Is that not good news?
If you have ever been in a place of responsibility, if you have ever felt burdened about the church of the living God, how the Lord needs to give us this one single revelation: “I will build My own church.” It will liberate you.
It will liberate you. I am telling you, there are times I pray and say, “Lord, the government is upon Your shoulder.”
Thank God He did not say to Peter, “Peter, you build My church.” He entrusted it to no man. He will build His church. This is God’s purpose. This is what we need to see.
Above everything else, He is the Builder. You remember the story in Hebrews about Abraham. Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going, looking for a city whose Builder and Maker is God.
Is that not good news? This is God’s encouragement to His people. He is the Builder. He is the One that builds His church.
I know when we look at church history, we wonder. But this is the encouragement. This is the essential revelation: “I will build My church.”
I have spent my life in the building industry—thirty-two years in the building industry. There is one thing I have learned. I have not learned a lot, but I have learned a few things.
In the building industry, the most important thing is who the builder is. You can have the best plan. You can have the best ideas. It is all paper.
You know, we designers think too much of ourselves. We get humbled when we go out to the site, and all the contractors are real quick to remind us: you can do a lot on paper.
What is important is who the builder is. That is the key.
Praise the Lord, the plumb line is in His hand. That was the revelation from Zechariah. I saw Him, and the plumb line was in His hand. Good news. What an encouragement.
Praise the Lord, that is the message to His church: He is the Builder. No one else. He is the Builder.
I praise God that He left it to no man. But even with this, there is great confusion about this passage.
You know, our Catholic friends—I hope I do not offend any Catholics this morning—say this is Peter. They say, “I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
It is amazing to me that they take this stand when Peter himself, when you read his epistle in 1 Peter, did not take that stand. He said, “We are but living stones, built upon the great Cornerstone,” in 1 Peter 2—a habitation for God, a priesthood of believers, we living stones built together.
He said to Peter, “You are not the rock, Peter.” That is good news. He would be shifting sand.
The rock is the revelation of Who He is. But upon that rock, “I will take these living stones—you and me; we are living stones—and He will build His own church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
That is good news. That is encouraging. We think we are the builders; we are the material. He is the Builder. Do you get the point? That is the revelation: “I will build My church.”
There is another thing I think we see in this section. We not only see that He is the Builder, but we see that He is the Protector of His church. He is the Defender of His church.
How often we may have thought that we have to defend the Lord, that we have to come to His defense. What a foolish idea. Can you and I have to come to the Lord’s defense?
He says, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” That is His word to His church. That is His encouragement to His people. That is His revelation to His people.
His purpose is that He will build His church, and upon that is His divine protection: the gates of Hades shall not prevail.
Now, He did not say a demon shall not prevail. It is always interesting to me: the Lord Jesus uses this term, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail.” That is a powerful term.
That means all the authority of hell will not prevail against this thing. All the demonic power, all the principalities and powers, all the world rulers of darkness that the Bible talks about—they shall not prevail.
This is God’s encouragement. Thank God He is the Defender. This ought to be good news to us. It is the Lord Himself that defends His church.
We have not sung this hymn too much lately, but I do not know how many of you know Samuel Stone’s hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation.” I think probably most of you know it.
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
That is the “I Am.” She is His new creation; He will build it. By water and by Word, from heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride. With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.
Now, it is interesting: when Stone wrote this in the 1800s, the Church of England was terribly split. They really did not see Who the “I Am” is. There were men in charge of the church at that time who were men of the flesh. The church was divided.
Somehow, in the middle of that darkness, God gave him living revelation to see the real nature of the church. I believe that is what the Lord needs to do for us.
There were actually seven stanzas. Most of the time we only have four today. But one of the most beautiful stanzas was one that was left out.
The Church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish,
Is with her to the end.
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against both foe and traitor
She ever shall prevail.
That is goodness. Our blessed Lord declares, “The gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” What encouragement that is. That is what we need to see.
Are you one that is given to despair? Then you need living revelation. It will lift you to that heavenly place, and it will make a difference.
I believe this is the Lord’s word to His church: “I am,” and “I will.”
There is another thing you will notice here when you look at this. Not only does this revelation contain these two things, but He goes on to say in Matthew 16:19:
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens: and whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest loose on the earth shall be loosed in the heavens.
Brothers and sisters, this is the revelation of the Lord to His church: “I will give you everything you need, every provision you need, to go through triumphantly. I will give you the keys.”
I will give you the keys. I do not know what you think about keys. Maybe keys are not important to you, but lose your keys and you will see how important they are to you.
You can have the biggest mansion in the world, but with no keys, no entrance. You might have a Lamborghini—I do not think anybody here has a Lamborghini—but if you do not have the keys to that Lamborghini, you will never drive it.
Even my old 1988 Isuzu pickup, that people laugh at me in—I have the keys to it. Do you have the keys?
The Lord says, “I will give you the keys.” That is His encouragement to His people.
Now, I think when you turn to Matthew 18, you discover the same phrase, and then the explanation. He says in verse 18, when the church is spoken about the second time:
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth concerning any matter whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father Who is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Brothers and sisters, I think these keys particularly pertain to prayer. Are we, as the church of the living God, a praying church?
“Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens. Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens. I say to you, where two of you shall agree on earth as touching any matter, it shall be done of My Father Who is in heaven.”
The keys really have to do with prayer. I think it is amazing how little we value the church and how little we value prayer in the corporate sense.
There was once a fellow who thought so little of the church that he said, thinking he was bright, “I have only been to church twice in my life: once to be sprinkled with water, and once to be sprinkled with rice.”
Now, you young people know what that means. You cannot do rice anymore at weddings, right? That is not good for birds. We are worried about birds. God takes care of the birds.
He thought so little of the church: only been twice, sprinkled with water, sprinkled with rice. And a dear saint of God, who knew more, saw more, valued the church, and loved the place of His habitation, said, “Oh no, it will be your third time. You will be sprinkled with dirt.”
Do we value the church? Is the church important to us? The Lord Jesus gave His life for the church. How we need to value it.
When it comes to prayer, how we need to take up this great commission. It seems to me the Lord calls His church to pray.
I know one brother who has told us over and over: you can tell a lot about the health of the church. You would think maybe it would be gospel outreach—and how important that is—or preaching. You would think maybe that was what it was.
But this brother once told me, and I will never forget it, “You can tell by the health of the corporate prayer meeting.”
How we need to pray.
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.
This is the Lord’s heart. May the Lord help us, brothers and sisters.
God’s revelation to His people is “I am.” God’s revelation to His people is “I will.” And His desire and purpose is to join Head and Body together in such union, in such communion, that they will manifest His glory.
The church is not for itself. I do not know the best way to explain it: the church is not for itself; it is for Him.
The only illustration I could think of is the moon and the sun. If the moon were by itself, it would be a lifeless orb. It would be a wasteland.
But the moon radiates the glory of the sun. It is the sun that makes the moon alive. The sun shines in all of its glory and brightness, reflects off the moon, and you see the radiance—not the glory of the moon.
People say, “Look at the moon, the radiance of the moon.” You are not seeing the radiance of the moon. You are seeing the radiance of the sun. That is the difference.
“I am that I am.” Oh, the Lord wants to join us together in such oneness, in such oneness, that we are truly a people who love Him and love His purpose.
This is the essential revelation.
I think you see this throughout the Word of God. I was reading the Gospel of John. I think many of you know that in John’s Gospel this same theme runs throughout the book.
Over and over, seven times—and actually more than seven times, but seven times most people cite—it says, “I am.”
First of all, in John 6, He says, “I am the bread of life.” I am everything you need for life. He says it not once, not twice, but three times in that chapter: “I am the bread of life.”
Then He says an amazing thing three times: “And I will raise him up in the last day.” Brothers and sisters, this is good news. The Lord is to us everything. He is everything.
Complete provision all the way through: the bread of life. “I am.” And in the end, “I will raise him up in the last day.” That is the encouragement to God’s people.
We do not have time. We could spend the whole morning on John’s Gospel. But it says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.” The only light we need comes from the Lord Jesus.
Brother, I like your narrow viewpoint. I think it is right. The only light you need is from the Lord Jesus. “I am the light of the world.” He lightens our way. We do not walk in darkness. He who has the Son has the life.
He goes on to say in John 10:7, “I am the door of the sheep.” Do you know there is only one door? That is an odd thing. We are not able to build a building with only one door; I will tell you that. It is against the law.
But here the Lord Jesus says there is only one door. You can go in that door, you can come out that door, and you can bear fruit. “I am that door.”
He says in John 10, “I am the good shepherd.” Brothers and sisters, praise the Lord that we have a Shepherd to lead us through life.
Can you just imagine for a moment if you were left on your own and told, “Go for it”? That is not the Christian life. We have a Shepherd. That Shepherd cares for us. That Shepherd goes after us when we go astray. That Shepherd rescues us and brings us back to the fold—not to be solitary, but to be with one another.
This is the good news.
It says in John 11, and all of you know this, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is the resurrection. Our brother spoke about resurrection. He is the resurrection. He who has died shall yet live, and He is the life.
It says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” It says in John 15:5, finally, “I am the true vine.” We have a place where we can abide. We have a place where we are connected to the life source.
We have all that we need because we have been put in the Vine. This is God’s essential revelation.
Now turn with me to Revelation 21. Let us spend a few moments there.
This is God’s word to His church. This is God’s revelation to His church. But, brothers and sisters, I think it is important to see God’s revelation at the end. What does He have to say?
When you read those first seven verses and come down to verse 6, He says this: “It is done.” That is good news. It is done. The work is complete. All that I want to accomplish has been accomplished.
It says in verse 1, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea exists no more.”
This is the end of the age. Now, I happen to believe that is not far away, saints. We are near the end of the age.
And God has one word for us. Look at verse 6: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”
Note that word: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus—in the beginning, we looked at the beginning with the church—He is our beginning. The good news is that He is our end.
The Lord never starts something He will not finish.
I have a terrible habit. I do not know—some of you might be as little disciplined as I am. I start a lot of things I do not finish. I have a pile of them. You are welcome to ask my wife.
But the Lord Jesus is not like me, thank God. He never starts something He will not finish.
His living revelation to His people is, “I am the beginning, and I am the end.” You have a beginning, but you can be encouraged by this: you have an end.
The end of all things is at hand. Is that not goodness, brothers and sisters?
That is why I titled this message, “God’s Encouragement to His People: Two Essential Revelations.” To me, this is incredibly encouraging.
“I am the Alpha. I am the Omega. I am your beginning. I am your end.” And look how glorious the end is.
He does not stop there. He says in verse 6, “I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be unto him God.”
Did you notice that same thing? “I will give unto him of the fountain of the water of life freely. I will be unto him God.”
That is the revelation. That is the essential revelation.
In the first six verses, you will notice the repetition of the word shall six times. I do not know—is it just me, or do people not pay attention to these things? These are all underlined in my Bible.
The word shall—what the Lord shall do—appears six times in those first six verses. Is that not marvelous? That is wonderful news.
I remember when I was young, starting in the building industry, one of the things we had to do was write what are called specifications. It is a horrible job. I would rather do almost anything than write specifications. That is why I hired a spec writer.
Specs are tedious. The language is so tedious, the documents are so long, and I wonder if anybody reads them. But they are essential to a project.
One old, wise spec writer told me one time, “Do not ever put will in your specs. Put shall, because shall leaves no wiggle room. You shall. It is an absolute.”
Now, lest I take away from everything I have said, let me say something. The Lord Jesus, His word is “I will,” because He never fails like we do.
But just to top it off—grace upon grace, as our brother spoke about—six times, when the Lord closes the age, He says:
He shall tabernacle with them,
And they shall be His people,
And God Himself shall be with them, their God.
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes;
And death shall not exist anymore;
Neither shall there be grief, nor crying, nor distress, anymore:
For the former things have passed away.
That is God’s revelation. In the beginning and in the end, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament: “I am,” and “I will.”
Lord, we come to You and ask You, Lord, to take what human beings cannot communicate.
We see it with Peter. You said, “Blessed are you, Peter, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.”
Lord, ever grant us this revelation. Lord, we pray that You would shine Your light into our hearts as the people of God.
As Your church, open our eyes, that we would behold You in a different way; that our eyes would be opened and we would say, “I have seen Him.” Yes, I have.
Give us that revelation, that we can stand and declare like Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Lord, grant us to see what You will do. Oh Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for the many times I have been wrapped around the axle, thinking, “What will I do?”
Lord, would You grant me this living revelation to see, “I will”? Oh, I believe it will transform us. Have mercy, Lord.
We pray You would give us these two essential revelations, and that as Your people we would be transformed and be that living testimony of Who God is and what He does.
In Jesus’ precious name, amen.