Did y’all hear me? I was just telling everybody how great the Lord’s love is.
Lord, we are so blessed because You have chosen to bless us with Yourself. You have chosen to love us, take care of us, encourage us, and keep us. Lord, You have special designs for each one of us, to really prepare us for Your kingdom to come.
So, Lord, we come this morning. We pray that, as we share Your Word and hear Your Word, our eyes will be opened to see You. Lord Jesus, help us forget about everything else and be able just to see Jesus this morning as we share in Your Word together.
I pray for the anointing of the Lord to be upon me, Lord, that I can give forth this burden adequately. Lord Jesus, may Your Spirit quicken and anoint each one so that we can also hear what You are saying. Lord, our ears seem to be plugged up until You open them. It seems as if we are always blind until You open our eyes. So, Lord, do that this morning. We trust You, and we depend on Your mercy and Your grace. Amen.
Well, the time is at hand. The time for the conference is next weekend, and the time is at hand. These young people who have just graduated from high school—the time is at hand. Your life is about to change.
As I have been considering the conference that lies before us, the Lord seemed to impress some thoughts upon my heart: the time is at hand. So this morning, there are some Scriptures I need to read that will help us with some background, and then I will give you the Scripture that the Lord gave me to speak from this morning.
Let us begin with Job 42:5-6, 10, 12. This had been preceded in Job 38 by the Lord appearing to Job out of a whirlwind.
And the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel
By words without knowledge?
This is Job’s response:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth Thee:
Wherefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.
And the Lord turned the captivity of Job.
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.
The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning.
Now go to Isaiah 6, beginning with Isaiah 6:1.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up;
And His train filled the temple.
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Then Isaiah 6:5-8:
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
Which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he touched my mouth with it, and said,
Lo, this hath touched thy lips;
And thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
Then I said, Here am I; send me.
Turn to Ezekiel 1:1.
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month,
As I was among the captives by the river Chebar,
That the heavens were opened,
And I saw visions of God.
Ezekiel 1:4:
And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north,
A great cloud, with a fire infolding itself,
And a brightness round about it,
And out of the midst thereof as it were glowing metal,
Out of the midst of the fire.
Also, out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. In Ezekiel 1:16, the appearance of the wheels and their work was as a wheel within a wheel.
Then Ezekiel 3:14-15:
So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away;
And I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit;
And the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Chebar;
And I sat where they sat,
And remained there astonished among them seven days.
Acts 9:3, speaking of Paul’s vision on the Damascus road:
And as he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus:
And suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven:
And he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?
And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Then Acts 9:9:
And he was three days without sight,
And did neither eat nor drink.
And Acts 9:15, speaking of Ananias:
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way:
For he is a chosen vessel unto Me,
To bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings.
Revelation 1:1:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
Which God gave Him to show unto His servants.
The end of Revelation 1:3 says, “For the time is at hand.” Revelation 1:7 says:
Behold, He cometh with the clouds;
And every eye shall see Him.
Then Revelation 1:17-19:
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not;
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.
Write therefore the things which thou sawest.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to show to His bondmen—for the time is at hand. The time is at hand.
I wonder this morning, brothers and sisters, what any of us would do. I would challenge you to think about this: What would you do if the Lord came to you, looked at you, and said, “The time is at hand”?
The time is at hand. And we know from the Scriptures we read this morning that the time at hand of which He is speaking is not the conference, but His soon return.
What would you do? Would it in any way alter your life? Would you reconsider your priorities at all? Would you humble yourself before the Lord? Would you ask for forgiveness? Would there be repentance in your heart because you know you are not ready, but the time is at hand?
Would you begin praying? Would you be in His Word so that you could understand more about Him before He returns? Would you go about changing the priorities of your life so that you would be prepared? The Lord has told you personally, “The time is at hand.”
What would you be concerned about? Would you still be as concerned about the many little issues in your life—all very legitimate things that we have to deal with? Would that still be your main concern, or would the Lord and His purpose now become your concern?
I want to say very emphatically, brothers and sisters—and may the Lord open our ears and eyes this morning—I want to tell you: the time is at hand. The Lord is telling you, “The time is at hand,” and we need to be prepared.
When we reflect on this—that the Lord is telling us the time is at hand—we may begin to think, “Well, He said this two thousand years ago. Many generations have passed. Does this really apply to me?”
But one thing that really impressed me was this: when the Lord says something, it is real. When the Lord says something, it cannot be challenged; it has to be true.
So when the Lord says the time is at hand, we cannot look at circumstances and situations and say, “Well, maybe the time is not at hand. After all, it has been two thousand years.” All I can tell you is that the Lord is the One who has said, “The time is at hand.”
And when that impacts you personally, it alters your life, because you have to rethink what your priorities are. The time is at hand.
Brothers and sisters, if the time was at hand two thousand years ago, how much more—how much closer—it must be today.
In Luke 21, it speaks of the time of the Gentiles. I think it is in Matthew that the Lord refers to the fig tree. In that parable, they asked the Lord, “When is the time going to be, Lord?” And He said, “Look at the fig tree. When it begins to bud, you know summer is near.”
Brothers and sisters, the fig tree is representative of the nation of Israel. Today, the nation of Israel is a sign to the nations. They are God’s sign to the nations that God is still in control and that God is coming.
The Lord, many years ago through His prophets, told Israel that they would fail, that they would turn from God, and that He would scatter them among the nations. They would be despised among the nations. We all know that has been true, particularly in World War II, when Hitler tried to exterminate the whole nation of Israel.
In fact, it became a nation no more, or seemingly so. But, brothers and sisters, the fig tree budded in 1947, when Israel was officially recognized as a nation. The fig tree budded in 1947. That is almost sixty years ago.
Watch the fig tree, He says. Then, in Luke 21, speaking once again of His return, they asked Him for the signs of the time when He would come back.
The Lord said that right before He came back, Jerusalem would be trodden underfoot during the time of the Gentiles. When that time ends, then He will be coming back.
Well, Jerusalem came under full control of the nation of Israel in 1967, almost forty years ago.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know how many more days of grace we will have. But I am impressed with the fact that when the Lord says the time is at hand, we need to receive that. We need to move through our lives, operate our lives, and live in the light of the fact that the time is at hand and our Lord will be back soon.
In Matthew 24, He said that the evil servant will say, “The Lord delays,” and he will go about doing destructive things.
I thought about that. The real issue, the problem that servant had, was that somehow in his mind and heart he had taken on this thought that the Lord was delaying. That very position of heart and mind put him on a dangerous track.
The Lord says the evil servant will say, “The Lord is delaying.” Well, brothers and sisters, I doubt anyone in this room has gone around saying the Lord is delaying. You may have; I do not know.
But can I say this because I can say it about myself? Have we been living our lives as if the Lord were delaying? It is the heart. It is not so much what we say with our mouths; it is our heart.
Life itself wants us somehow to believe that we have much time ahead. The enemy wants us to believe that the Lord is delaying. But the Lord’s Word to us is, “Look, the time is at hand. Live in the light of the fact that the time is at hand.”
If you live in the light of the fact that the time is at hand, your life will become centered upon the Lord and His purpose. You will live your life in the order He expects and anticipates. Otherwise, you will live your life as if He is delaying.
I have been very impressed with this matter: the time is at hand, and we need to be prepared. I believe, brothers and sisters, that at the conference, the Lord really does want to reveal Himself to us—to each one of us who comes.
What is on my heart is that we be prepared for that, because the time is at hand. We need to be prepared for His return, and we need to be prepared spiritually for the coming week.
Many of us who will be serving there will be busy—very busy. But, brothers and sisters, that should not keep us in any way from receiving from the Lord Jesus, because many of the Old Testament prophets were called when they were working and busy about things, not just while they were sitting around reflecting on the Lord.
I remember one of them was out plowing the field when the Lord spoke to him. So what is needed?
I was very impressed with the connection in Revelation 1, where it says, “The revelation of Jesus Christ,” which He gave to John to give to the bondmen, and then it says, “For the time is at hand.”
Brothers and sisters, I really do believe we live in an age where, because the time is at hand, it is absolutely essential that we have a revelation.
I believe the Lord, when He got to this point in history, was saying, “My people need a revelation because of what lies ahead. In order for them to be prepared for what lies ahead and My soon return, they need revelation. They need this revelation, and I want You to give it to My bondmen.”
What is revelation? Job said, as we read this morning, “I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now I have seen Thee.”
We know the story of Job, do we not, brothers and sisters? He was stripped of everything: family, friends, wealth. He had been greatly blessed. It says he was a righteous man, and he stood before the Lord.
The Lord was the One who challenged the adversary with Job. He said, “Have you seen Job? He is a righteous man. He does not deny My name.”
Job was stripped of everything. Of course, Job was like we are, brothers and sisters. Often, when we go through deep trials of life, we do not understand. Much of what happens to us seems contrary to the nature of the Lord and to the ways He has dealt with us in the past.
All of a sudden, something totally contrary comes into our lives, and it is very difficult to understand. We see thirty-seven chapters of Job becoming emotionally exhausted in wrestling with what was wrong in his situation.
I have always found it interesting that Job was so faithful, even in the midst of the trial. We hear words like:
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
What a testimony.
He knew the Lord. He prayed daily before the Lord and for his family. He was a righteous man. He loved God, and he wanted to be right with God.
But the Lord finally appeared to Job after his total mental and emotional exhaustion. The Lord appeared to Job in a whirlwind. I have always thought it had to be in a whirlwind because Job’s whole life was in a whirlwind. He could not see anything, and the Lord had to do something very dramatic to get Job’s attention.
The Lord got Job’s attention and began to speak to him. At the end, when we come to Job 42, Job just falls down.
He looks at the Lord and says, “I have heard of Thee before, Lord. My relationship to Thee in the past was just as if I had heard about Thee. But now I have seen Thee.”
Job no longer asked the Lord why. There were no more questions, because he had seen the Lord. It says the Lord turned Job’s captivity, and he was blessed in his latter end far more than in the beginning.
So what is revelation, brothers and sisters? It is more than a mental apprehension of the Lord. It is more than believing in the Lord, because Job did.
Revelation is seeing the Lord Himself. I do not know how else to put it: seeing the whole Lord, not just a piece, not just something about the Lord, but seeing the Lord Himself. That is revelation.
It is the opening of our spiritual eyes, the eyes of our heart, to see the Lord in all His majesty—to see the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You have seen the Lamb, but have you seen the King? Have you seen the Lord of lords, as Job did?
Brothers and sisters, when revelation comes, it becomes your life. It becomes your vocation. It alters you. It changes you.
Job’s response was, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” He was undone. Think about this: such a righteous man that the enemy himself could not find anything wrong with Job. But when he saw the Lord, he said, “I repent in dust and ashes.”
He was undone. But thank God, the Lord appeared to Job, and it changed him. Revelation—we need revelation, brothers and sisters.
Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. His glory filled the temple. He had this revelation, and it came from God.
Revelation, as I said, is not mental apprehension. Remember Peter? When Peter received the revelation of the Christ, the Lord asked, “Who am I?” Peter said:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah:
For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
But My Father Who is in heaven.
That is what revelation is. That is what we need, brothers and sisters: spiritual revelation.
Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. What did Isaiah say? He said, “Woe is me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King.”
Once again, think about it. For six chapters, Isaiah had been preaching to the people of God, warning them of impending judgment and warning them that their lives were not right with God. He told them they needed to get right with God because His judgment was coming. He preached the truth for six chapters.
Then he sees the Lord. He sees the King, and his ministry changes, brothers and sisters. He sees the Lord and says, “I am a man of unclean lips.”
Had he not been sharing the Lord’s Word for six chapters? Of course he had. But when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he realized that he was no better than the ones to whom he was speaking.
The Lord undid him. The Lord showed him who he was, but he also saw the King. It undid our brother Isaiah.
His ministry changed after that. We see the compassion of the Lord in his ministry. He not only spoke of judgment, but of restoration. He had compassion because he saw that he was in the same condition as the people.
He repented before the Lord, and the Lord said, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah said, “Send me.” Had not Isaiah been sent before? Was he out there on his own preaching? No.
But the Lord had something to share with His people. Because of Isaiah’s spiritual condition, something had to be done in his life to bring him in line with what God really wanted him to share. He had to have this revelation of the King.
When he did, the Lord said, “Whom shall I send?” Vocation comes out of revelation.
Ezekiel was a young man. When the Lord appeared to him, it was as a storm, a fiery storm enveloping itself in fire, like burning brass. It goes on for a number of chapters describing this revelation of the Lord.
It says that the work was as a wheel within a wheel. I am just going to say this in passing, but that is the Lord Jesus and His church. He had a full revelation of the King and His work.
What happened to Ezekiel? The Spirit got hold of Ezekiel and took him to another place. He said, “I sat where they sat.” Brothers and sisters, that means he related to the people he was with.
“I sat where they sat.” They were captives; I am a captive. The Lord looked at Ezekiel and said, “You will be My watchman.” Once again, vocation came out of the revelation that was seen.
Paul, on the Damascus road—Stephen has shared on that recently. We remember how Paul was blinded when he saw the Lord on the Damascus road for three days.
The Lord finally spoke to Ananias and said, “You need to go and touch Paul’s eyes and open them, for he is an elect vessel, and he will bear My name before the Gentiles.”
This so impressed Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, that for a period of three years he went off by himself. He returned to Damascus during that period.
You see the impact it had on this man, this Pharisee of Pharisees. I understand that they practically had the Old Testament memorized. He knew the Word of God—or at least he thought he knew the Word of God.
But when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, when revelation was given to him, and he was blinded for three days, it took him another three years to understand what the Word of God was saying in the light of the revelation he had been given.
In other words, let me say it another way: if you want to understand what is in this Book, you need a revelation of the King. Brothers and sisters, we are flesh and blood. We need revelation.
Paul’s life is defined by this statement:
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Think about that. The heavenly vision is more than a doctrine. It is more than just letters and words in the Bible. The heavenly vision is a Person.
“I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” In other words, brothers and sisters, this vision he received was something he had to obey. It caused him to know that all he did and all he said had to come in line with the heavenly vision he had seen.
If it did not line up with the heavenly vision, then it was not part of his life. Thank God Paul was able to say that he was not disobedient to what he had seen.
Then John, in Revelation 1:17. The apostle John was a dear, dear brother. He was in his old age, on the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus.
In other words, he had been sharing in the churches, and finally the government had taken him and put him on that prison isle. He was looking out over the ocean, and in the distance he could see the land from which he had been exiled and the churches about which he was thinking.
He wondered, “What will happen? Who will take care of the churches?” He was the last of the apostles still alive. What would happen?
The Lord gave him His answer by giving him revelation to share. What the churches needed was revelation of the King, and He shared that with John.
Today, we have the revelation that was shared with our brother John. Brothers and sisters, we need to see as John did.
John was a precious brother. He wrote the Gospel of John. He was the one who saw who Christ was. He saw who this Jesus really was. He saw that He was the Son of God and the Son of Man. He saw that He was truly God, and he shares that with us in his Gospel.
He had revelation of Christ as the Lamb. He had revelation of Christ as the Son of Man and the Son of God. I do not know if there were many, even among the apostles, who were closer to the Lord than John was.
Remember, he was the one who leaned on the Lord’s breast. He was there. He was a fisherman, a hardened fisherman; yet we find this man leaning on the Lord’s breast because he loved the Lord and wanted to be with the Lord.
He had known the Lord as his Friend. He had known the Lord as his provision. He had known the Lord all his life as the One who had taken care of him and met all his needs.
He loved the Lord so much that he was imprisoned because of his testimony of the Lord Jesus in his life. But in Revelation, when he received this revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, it struck him down to the ground.
One who was so familiar with the Lord, who loved the Lord so much, was stricken as one dead. The Spirit had to actually pick him up.
I think it is clear, if you read Revelation 1 as we have this morning, that it is God’s desire that all God’s bondmen have revelation.
Brothers and sisters, you might say today, “Well, I do not merit revelation.” No one merits revelation, just as no one merits salvation.
Would you say that Saul merited revelation? He had been persecuting the church. You could not say that he merited revelation, yet revelation came to Paul. It is by grace, brothers and sisters. It is simply the grace of God if you receive revelation.
But there seems to be a condition. As I read what we have read this morning, and as I read Revelation, there seems to be a condition: all of these men, including Saul, were looking for the Lord.
It says, “To My bondmen.” What is a bondman? Max shared on this last week. A bondman is one who is free, yet gives up all his rights, all his self-desires, and all his self-interest, and says, “I only have one interest, and whatever the Lord’s interest is, that is my interest.”
That is a bondman. A bondman does not serve out of duty, but out of love. He will not leave the Master because he loves Him so much.
Brothers and sisters, the condition for revelation, to me, seems to be the heart: a right heart condition before the Lord.
You know, we cannot know our own hearts. I think there are some here today who would say, “I know my heart is too evil. My heart is not right with the Lord.” Of course, we can go back to the Lord. He honors that.
But there may be some who say, “Yes, I feel okay about myself. I feel right with the Lord.” I have heard people say that before.
Job was right with the Lord. Look at Job. What happened? He said, “I abhor myself.” We have to see what we are in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is true.
But I thought about this, and I go back to Saul, Paul. I said, “Lord, I know he did not merit it. It does not seem as if he had a heart for You, because he was persecuting Your people.”
But he did have a heart for God. It says he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, and he followed the law totally. In other words, he was doing all that he could. He thought he was working for God. He was deceived and misled.
You know what I think? This is just what I think, so take it that way. But I believe the Lord looked into the heart of Saul and said, “His heart is ready for revelation.”
His heart was ready. I think of all these others we have read this morning—Job, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and many others. The Lord looked on the heart and said, “Their hearts are ready to receive revelation.”
Now, brothers and sisters, that is what I think is so critical before next week: our hearts. Is our heart ready for revelation? You do not know. You really do not know.
Obviously, there are some of us who have things with which we are dealing before the Lord, and we know we need to get right—and we should. But the Lord knows.
You know what we can do? We can pray. I think we can really pray, “Lord, I need revelation. The time is at hand. You have told me that, and I need revelation.”
“But You have also shown me that my heart needs to be right to receive revelation. Only You know what that is, Lord. Please, in this next week, get me ready. Get our hearts ready—not only my heart, but the hearts of everyone who is coming.”
I really think we need to cry out that our hearts would be made ready.
Let me just end with this, brothers and sisters: the time is at hand. I hope you hear that this morning. I hope that somehow the Lord has been able to open your eyes and your ears so that you really realize the time is at hand.
We should not be those who operate our lives from the standpoint, “Hey, the Lord is delaying, so I need to get about this other business I have to take care of. The Lord is delaying. I will get back to the Lord’s business later, but I have my business to take care of now.”
Sure, we have business to take care of. But the time is at hand.
You have had revelation of the Lamb. I think most people in this room who know the Lord Jesus Christ and have received Him into their hearts as their Lord and Savior know that He is the Lamb.
You have received revelation of the Lamb. You have known the Lord’s provision in your life. Whether you received it or not is a different story, but you have known the Lord’s provision. You know the Lord has taken care of you, protected you, and provided for you.
You love the Lord. Yes, you may have sinned and you may have problems, but you love the Lord.
But have you seen Him?
I always think how dear John was, so close to the Lord. But when he saw the Lord in this way, how it dealt with our brother John. What a marvelous revelation.
A lot of people think Revelation is a very scary book. But what it is, is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to read it from that perspective.
But, brothers and sisters, you need more than merely thinking, “Okay, I am going to read Revelation. I know it is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.” May we ask the Lord, “Give me that revelation.” Then, when I read this, it will make sense.
Have you had this revelation? This week, may the Lord give us grace that, realizing the time is at hand, we will pray that our hearts be made ready for revelation, because it is absolutely necessary to God’s church.
Not only me, not only you, not only the church in Richmond, but all over the world, the Lord’s people need revelation, for the time is at hand. May we be ones willing to stand in the gap in prevailing prayer until the Lord answers that.
Paul prayed for the Ephesian church. His prayer was that the Lord might give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. I find it interesting that this is the only church for which he records praying in that way.
I believe Paul was able to pray for them in that way because the Lord had revealed to Paul that their hearts were ready to receive revelation.
You know what the main issue in that church was? First love. We know the Lord, in Revelation, challenges them over that issue: in the beginning, they had first love, and He was able to reveal Himself to them.
So, brothers and sisters, this is not an impossible prayer request. The Lord will answer. May the Lord grace us. The time is at hand.
Lord, we come to You today. What is on my heart, Lord, is that You could really make it real to us that the time is at hand; that this is not a thought for the future, but it is now.
Lord Jesus, would You really work on our hearts? Get them in a condition in which we can receive revelation, Lord. That is what we need.
Lord, do this not for our sake, but for Your own sake, because You are the Lord of lords and King of kings, and Your bondmen need to see You that way.
So, Lord, we come today. I pray, Lord, that this conference will be marked by revelation. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.