Will you please turn to the last book in the Word of God, the Revelation?
Revelation 1:1-3:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John;
who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.
And then we begin with Revelation 1:9:
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for 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 great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;
and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.
And His head and His hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;
and His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters.
And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength.
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 was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for gathering us together unto Thyself. We have Thy assurance that where two or three are gathered together into Thy name, Thy presence will be there. So, Lord, we do thank Thee for being so gracious as to be present with us.
We are thankful that we are really standing on holy ground. And now, Lord, what hast Thou to say to us? Speak; Thy servants hear. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
As I waited upon the Lord, I felt that it seems as if the Lord wants me to share with you, brothers and sisters, on this matter of a key to Revelation—a key to Revelation.
Revelation is the last book of the Bible. It is the concluding revelation of Jesus Christ. We know that the whole Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ. What is the Bible? It reveals to us Jesus Christ. That is the Word of God.
You remember our Lord Jesus said in John 5:
Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me; and ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.
And again, you remember in Luke 24, after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, how He appeared to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, leaving Jerusalem disappointed and thinking that everything was finished. Our Lord walked with them, and during that walk, our Lord Jesus opened up, from Moses through the prophets and the Psalms, and explained to them how all these words spoke of Him.
These two disciples returned to Jerusalem from Emmaus, and there our Lord Jesus appeared again to the disciples, the apostles. Again, He explained to them from the Old Testament all the things concerning Himself.
So we know that the whole Old Testament—all thirty-nine books—speaks of only one thing: our Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, when you come to the New Testament, the four Gospels give us the life of our Lord Jesus. Acts is the continuation of the speaking and working of our Lord through His mystical Body, the corporate Body, the church. And all the epistles explain to us nothing but our Lord Jesus.
So the whole Bible is a revelation of Jesus Christ, progressively and continuously. Then you find the last book, Revelation. It is the concluding revelation, the summing up of all the revelations of the sixty-five books before, and it gives us the full revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Revelation begins, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass.” So I think it is very clear, because at the very outset He tells us that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
God gives this revelation to His Son, and then His Son shows it to His servants.
The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 1:15 that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him. So we find that it is always the good pleasure of God the Father to reveal, to speak, and to tell us of His Son. This last book is no exception.
We find that this is a book upon which there is a special blessing:
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein.
So this last book of the Bible is a blessed book. Whoever hears it, or reads it, and especially keeps it, is truly blessed.
When you come to the end of this book, in Revelation 22, you find that there is a curse upon whoever tries to add anything to it, and whoever tries to take anything from it. Such a person will be deprived of all the blessings that have been promised. So, dear brothers and sisters, this is really a wonderful concluding book in the Bible.
But unfortunately, to many of God’s people, we find that this is a most difficult book to understand. Some people even suggest that we do not read it at all. That is really out of the will of God, because as far as the will of God is concerned, He reveals His beloved Son in the fullest, complete revelation. He wants us to hear it, He wants us to read it, and more so, He wants us to keep it.
Now, this is a book of prophecy, because it tells us what is going to happen shortly. But we remember, even though it is a book of prophecy, it tells nothing but about our Lord Jesus.
Why is it that today we are so afraid of this last book of the Bible? Why is it that God’s people try to avoid even reading it or studying it? Because we are confused.
This is a book of prophecy, telling us what is coming. When we are bogged down with these prophetic events, we are confused.
Some people tell us that all these prophecies are historical. In other words, they have already been fulfilled in the past history of mankind. Other people say, “No, they are partly historical and partly future.” Then where will you begin, and where will you end?
Other people say, “Well, it is symbolic—all symbolic.” So you have to try to find out the explanation for every event and everything that happens: the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls.
Some people say that you have to take the whole book literally, and yet others say, “No, it can only be explained symbolically.” So, because of all these many differences, brothers and sisters, people are confused.
Now especially, we are living in the end days, and I think most Christians are curious about what is going to happen. But as our curiosity begins to increase, and when we begin to touch it, we find it is impossible.
Why is it so? I think, number one, you remember this book: it is the revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to His Son, and our Lord Jesus showed it to His bond-servant John—all the things that are going to happen.
But you must remember, it is clear even in the first verse: this is to show unto His bond-servants. In other words, if you want to hear it, or read it, or keep it, you have to be a bond-servant of Jesus Christ.
If you are not a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, you will never be able to understand it, because it is not given to you.
You remember when our Lord was on earth? Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people, He began to speak in parables. He changed His way of speaking. Instead of speaking plain words, He began to use parables. Whenever He talked to the people, He used parables.
Why? Because parables are used so that only those who are the Lord’s could understand. To the ordinary people, they just hear a story. But to those who are the Lord’s, they can understand what is in the story.
The same thing is true with this book of Revelation. It is written in signs, in visions, in symbols. But to those who are true bond-servants of Jesus Christ, there should be no problem.
Now, brothers and sisters, the one thing that is important is this: are we bond-servants of Jesus Christ?
Bond-servants, according to the Scripture, are those who love their master and will not go free. They have their ears pierced; their whole life belongs to the master. They live for one thing only: to serve the master all their life.
If we are believers, saved and redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, we all should be bond-slaves to our Lord Jesus. We all should be people who are consecrated, totally given over, constrained by the love of Christ, so that we cannot live for ourselves any longer. We no longer belong to ourselves; we belong to Him.
We willingly, voluntarily, absolutely surrender our life to Him. We live on earth only for one reason: we live to serve Him, to serve His purpose. If this is our attitude, if this is our inward attitude, this whole book should be an open book to us.
But then again, we find it is important to find that key to the book of Revelation. I remember after I was saved—that was almost like ancient history—when I was a young man, newly saved, I was so curious about prophecy.
I spent lots of time trying to study prophecy, getting books on prophecy, and trying even to work out a timetable—how things would happen one after another, and all these things. But the more I studied, the more I read commentaries, the more confused I became. I did not know whom to believe or what to do.
But thank God, one day He showed me that it is very simple. You know, when you get into these prophetic events, you get confused. You do not know how to explain them; you do not know where to put them.
You study the book of Revelation, and the time factor is very difficult. How can you work out a timetable about it, so that this will happen, and after that another thing will happen, and then something else will happen? Oh, brothers and sisters, if we study prophecy like that, we are lost among the trees.
Thank God, this is not what God wants us merely to read, to understand, and even to keep. How do you keep prophetic events? This is a book that we need to keep. How are you going to keep it, because these things are still in the future? You cannot cause them to come. Yet this is about to be, and there is a very special blessing upon it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, one day I woke up and said, “Wow, there is a key to this book of Revelation.” And the key is very simple: Jesus Christ.
Revelation 19:10 clearly tells us:
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
If you go into the letter of prophecy, you get confused. But if you hold on to the spirit of prophecy—what prophecy is aiming at—all these prophecies, all these events, all these future things, are speaking to us of only one thing: the testimony of Jesus. They tell us who Jesus is. That is all.
Now, if you do not see Jesus, and only see prophetic events, you get lost. So the simplest thing is to return to the simplicity that is in Christ.
When you read this last book of the Bible, it is the summing up, the concluding revelation of Jesus Christ. If you see it that way, it really stirs your heart, inspires worship, and draws you to give things to the Lord.
This is what we would like to share together during these few mornings. God willing, we would like to share this morning on the revelation of Jesus Christ in relation to the church. That is Revelation 1 through 3.
In the second session, we will consider together the revelation of Jesus Christ in relation to the world. That will be found from Revelation 4 through 19.
The third session will be the revelation of Jesus Christ in relation to overcomers. That is also found from Revelation 1 through 19.
Finally, we will consider the revelation of Jesus Christ in relation to the millennium and eternity. That will be Revelation 20 through 22.
So hopefully we will cover all twenty-two chapters. But you will find that it is not that complicated. It is very simple. If we are all just occupied with Jesus Christ, that is fine. You know the whole book of Revelation.
The apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos. He was the last of the twelve apostles living, and his last ministry was in Asia Minor. But because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, he was exiled to the island of Patmos.
We are told that he was even ordered to do hard labor. But probably on the Lord’s Day, he had some free time. Probably he was sitting on a rock, looking across the Aegean to Asia Minor, because on a clear day you can see the outline of Asia Minor from the island of Patmos.
Without doubt, he must have been thinking of the churches to which he had ministered before he was exiled. He was concerned about them, because he was a real shepherd.
While he was meditating and thinking about them, suddenly he heard a voice like the voice of a trumpet behind him. So he looked back, and he saw a vision. We call this the Patmos vision.
He saw the vision of seven golden lampstands, with One like unto a Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Now that is the vision.
We know what the seven golden lampstands represent, because in the first chapter, in the last verse, He said:
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.
So these seven golden lampstands stand for the seven churches in Asia Minor. Of course, we know that even in the time of John there were more than seven assemblies in Asia Minor. But the Spirit of God chose, out of all the different local assemblies, seven assemblies in a representative way and in a prophetic way.
Throughout the centuries, in whatever century you may be, you will find all these seven features shown by the seven assemblies. And if you read church history chronologically, you will find that it begins with the situation in Ephesus and goes down to Laodicea. In other words, when we come toward the end of this age, the church is Laodicean in character.
So these churches are chosen prophetically as well as spiritually.
Then you find One like unto a Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
Brothers and sisters, when we read the four Gospels, we know the life of our Lord Jesus while He was on earth. Then, when you come to Acts 1, you find that our Lord Jesus was resurrected, appeared to His disciples, and after forty days was taken up to heaven.
We are more or less familiar with our Lord Jesus and His life on earth because we have the four Gospels with us. But we are not too clear, not too familiar, with the life of our Lord Jesus after He was risen and ascended to heaven.
What happened to Him? What is He doing there? I think, for most believers, we are not very clear.
The Old Testament foretells the coming Messiah; it prepares His way. Then the four Gospels tell us how the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth—His life on earth.
But after that, everything ascended up to heaven. What is going on? What is He doing there?
This is the concluding revelation we find in this last book of the Bible. That is why it is so important, because it sums up, concludes, and fills out the fullness of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Here you find, in that Patmos vision, One like unto a Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. That is after He has ascended to heaven. It tells us what He is doing there in heaven.
While He was on earth, Hebrews 3:1 tells us that He is the Apostle, the Sent One of God, the Anointed of God, who was sent to accomplish a mission. So when our Lord was on earth, He always said, “I was sent.” He was sent on a mission for His Father.
He is the Apostle, and He accomplished a mission impossible.
After He accomplished that mission, He said, “It is finished. It is accomplished.” Then He was buried, risen, and ascended. Now, after He has ascended, what is He doing there?
There is a story—I think it is a real story—of an elderly sister, an elderly lady, who was almost illiterate. She asked to be baptized. Before she was baptized, the elders of the church had to examine her. During the examination, they asked her one question: “What is the Lord Jesus doing in heaven?”
That is a hard question.
So this elderly sister said, “Well, He must be standing in heaven, looking down on earth, trying to find my faults.”
No, of course she did not touch it.
Our Lord Jesus actually ascended up to heaven as an Apostle, and the work was done. But He was not sitting there dozing, just waiting for all the enemies to be subdued because it was finished. No.
He is in heaven working harder than any one of us, because the Bible says that He intercedes for us incessantly, without ceasing. He is still working for us, completing what He has accomplished.
So in heaven, He is our royal High Priest. That is the ministry of our Lord Jesus in heaven. This is the scene that you find in the Patmos vision: there was One like unto a Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is extremely important. You cannot be ignorant of the ministry of our Lord Jesus. It is just as important as His ministry on earth, because His ministry on earth lays the foundation, but His ministry in heaven completes that work which God is after.
Thank God, because our Lord Jesus as Apostle became our Redeemer. He sacrificed for us and saved us. But, dear brothers and sisters, can we live a Christian life after we are saved without knowing His ministry in heaven? Impossible.
That is the reason why there are so many failures and weaknesses among God’s people. We got saved by depending upon the Lord Jesus, but after we are saved, we try to live our Christian life by our own strength. We no longer depend upon Him because we think His work is finished.
No, He is not finished with us yet. It is just the beginning.
He is there as a royal High Priest. He is interceding for us without ceasing. Whoever comes to Him, He can save to the uttermost. If we want to be saved to the uttermost, we have to depend upon our High Priest—the work of our Lord Jesus today in heaven.
Thank God, we have a holy High Priest, a royal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, who has a living ministry to us today.
Oh, dear brother, who will be speaking to us on Hebrews, so I do not want to encroach upon his territory. But, you know, when you read Hebrews, probably you get the idea that our Lord Jesus is our High Priest, able to sympathize with us, intercede for us, and save us to the uttermost.
But probably we neglect what His ministry is to the church today. We think of His ministry as High Priest in an individual background. Thank God, that is true. But I myself find that for a long, long time, I failed to see the ministry of our Lord Jesus in heaven for the church as a whole.
Even in Hebrews 8:1, He tells us that we have a holy High Priest, seated at the throne of the Majesty on high in heaven, a Minister of the true tabernacle.
This shows that our Lord Jesus in heaven ministers not only to individual believers, but He ministers to the church as a whole. This is the scene you find in Revelation 1 through 3: the ministry of our Lord Jesus as the royal High Priest to the churches in this age.
One thing we need to notice: in that Patmos vision John saw seven golden lampstands. Then he saw One like unto a Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
If you can see this vision, the seven golden lampstands serve as a background, and in the foreground you see One like unto a Son of Man.
I think this is very important, because we cannot emphasize the church more than Christ. The church is for Christ, not just Christ for the church. Christ is always in the foreground, but He is always seen with the background of the church. Otherwise, how can the world see Christ if it is not for the church today?
Because the church is the golden lampstand. You know, there are only two pieces of furniture in the tabernacle that are made wholly of gold—only two. The mercy seat is one, and the lampstand is the other. Is that not wonderful?
The mercy seat speaks of Christ, made of gold—nothing but gold. But the lampstand speaks of the church, and the church should be made of gold: no wood, only gold.
Wood represents man; gold represents God’s nature. So you find, what is the church? The church is Christ in corporate expression—nothing but Christ. If you add anything of ourselves into the church, you spoil it; you corrupt it.
A lampstand is only a means to an end; it is not an end. Even today, people put lampstands out as decoration. The lampstands must be crying, I would say, “This is not what I am made for. I am here to uplift the light, that the world may see.”
That is what the church is. The church never speaks of itself; it speaks of Christ. He is the light, and the church is only the lampstand.
But here you find One like unto a Son of Man. Now, who is it? When John saw this Person, he said, “One like unto a Son of Man.”
John knew the Son of Man so well. He even lay upon His breast. Yet he said, “Like unto a Son of Man.” There is some difference there.
He knew Jesus as the Son of Man on earth so intimately. But when he looked at that Man, it was He, and yet He was different—like unto a Son of Man. Why? Because He is in glory.
When He was on earth, He was in His humiliation. But now He is in glory. The same Person—how different! Yet John knew that it was the Lord, the royal High Priest.
He was clothed with a robe going down even to His feet. That is the robe of a priest. It speaks of His full righteousness. He was girded about at the breast with a golden girdle.
You know, when you have a long robe, if you want to work, you have to gird it up so that you can work. You gird it around your waist. But here you find the golden girdle upon His breast. Why? Because the work was done, and now it is a work of love.
His hair was white, like white wool, as snow—full of wisdom. His eyes were as a flame of fire—full of light. They penetrate into our very being.
His feet were like fine brass, as burning in a furnace—full of judgment. You know, brass always speaks of judgment: the brazen altar, full of judgment.
His voice was as the voice of many waters—full of majesty. How majestic is the voice of many waters!
He had in His right hand seven stars—full of responsibility and faithfulness. Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, full of power, penetrating and dividing the soul and the spirit. His countenance was as the sun shining in its strength—full of inner beauty.
Now, that is the tenfold description of the Son of Man. This is our royal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a priest, but he was also a king: king of righteousness and king of peace. This is our High Priest today.
You know what happened when John saw Him? John was not threatened by the seven golden lampstands. But when he saw Him, he fell down as one dead.
It was too much for him. Whenever you see the glory of the Lord, even the glory of the Lord as the royal High Priest, you fall down as dead. All your beauty turns into corruption. How can anyone stand before such glory?
Dear brothers and sisters, when we think of our Lord Jesus as the High Priest, what is your understanding? What is your feeling toward Him?
Probably your feeling toward Him is, “Oh, He is merciful, sympathetic, tender, meek, and lowly,” because that is what you know when He was on earth.
But we never think that when He is in heaven, He is still that meek and lowly Lamb, and yet there is a royal glory in Him that is overwhelming. You cannot treat Him in any way you like. There is that holy fear when you see the glory of the Lord, even as the royal High Priest for you and for the church.
There is a sense of awe, because you do not measure up. He is so holy, and what we consider as our beauty turns into corruption. That is what it is.
The beloved John fell as one dead, not because he could see immediately the failure of his ministry, but because he could even see his own failure. He did not measure up to what the royal High Priest would give. The possibilities are there, but you cannot help but sense failure.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see the glory of the Lord. We need to see Him at the right hand of the Father. We need to see Him as a royal High Priest. That will reduce us, that we may be willing to put ourselves into death.
But thank God, He laid His hand upon John and said, “Fear not. I am the first and the Living One. Behold, I died, but I am living for evermore, and I hold in My hand the keys of death and Hades.”
In other words, brothers and sisters, here you find our Lord Jesus comforting John. True, you have not measured up to the standard. But I have accomplished all things. Now it is all yours. You have not really apprehended all that I have apprehended you for. That is true. But I am going to do it.
You cannot do it, but I can. The church has failed, but I will never fail. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is what it is.
Then He told John to write to the seven churches in Asia. We know that the seven churches in Asia existed toward the end of the first century. Our Lord Jesus committed His testimony to the church.
Now, our Lord Jesus was not heard of only in view of the cross. He told His disciples in Matthew 16:18:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
He said, “I will build My church upon this rock.”
Now, when did He begin to build? He began to build after He ascended to heaven. So that is why we say He laid the foundation for the building of the church on earth, but He really began to build after His resurrection and ascension.
So what is He doing in heaven? He is building His church.
Brothers and sisters, no one can build the church. He is the One who is building it, and He is building it from heaven as the royal High Priest.
What is building the church? What is real building?
The real building is this: first, He reveals Himself in each one of us. Then He keeps reaching us, and He puts all that He is in us together. That is building the church. I hope you understand it.
I used to use a formula, and Brother Sparks was not happy with it. When I first used that formula, I apologized to Brother Sparks. I said, “I just use it temporarily,” because spiritual things cannot be put into a formula.
I said, suppose there are only three Christians on earth, and these three Christians are the greatest. Whom do you think they would be? I would say John, Peter, and Paul.
Now, what is the church? Is the church John plus Peter plus Paul equal to the church? Of course we know it is not.
Is the church the Christ in John plus the Christ in Peter plus the Christ in Paul equal to the church? Yes and no.
It is the Christ in John minus John, plus the Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus the Christ in Paul minus Paul—you have the church, right? Because this is 1 Corinthians 12:12:
So also is the Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, what is building the church? He is building Himself into us, and then building what He is in us together. That is the building of the church. That is why nobody can do that except our Lord Himself.
So He is in heaven building the church. The way He does it is that He commits Himself to the church. He reveals Himself to the church.
Remember, every revelation is a commitment. We want revelation, all right? But remember: revelation is a commitment, and a commitment is a responsibility.
When God reveals His Son in us, He commits His Son to us. That is our testimony. That is how we live. That is how we show the world what we are.
Here you find our Lord in heaven as the royal High Priest, ministering to the true tabernacle not made with hands—that is, the church. So our Lord is ministering today to the church.
That is what He is doing here. He is walking among the seven golden lampstands as the Priest, seeing whether the light is shining. He has committed His revelation, His testimony, Himself to the church, and He is looking for Himself—how much of Himself He can find in the church, and how much that He has revealed has been lost.
How faithful are we to what He has revealed to us? What is our condition of testimony? Is the light burning, or is the light smoking, or is the light fading?
He will use the golden snuffer to snuff off the smoking wick, and He will pour oil into it so that it will again burst into flame and give light. Now that is what the Lord is doing, and that is building the church.
When I think of the situation of the church, I feel hopeless—very depressed. How can the church ever be a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, meet for the Bridegroom? Impossible.
The more I think about it, the more I look around, the more the years pass by, it seems as if it is fading, fading, fading away.
But, dear brothers and sisters, when I read this book of Revelation, chapters 1, 2, and 3, suddenly it dawned upon me: I had forgotten the royal High Priest. I had forgotten His ministry.
I may fail, I do fail, we all fail—but He can never fail.
He is working. He is walking among the seven golden lampstands. He tries to find Himself. He calls us to repent. He uses the golden snuffer, disciplining us. He pours more oil into us.
Because of His ministry, when you come to Revelation 21 and 22, you see that gigantic golden lampstand, the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is a giant golden lampstand.
The light is God. The lampstand is done—glorious.
So, brothers and sisters, I feel hopeful. If we look at ourselves, we give up hope. But look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we lift up our heads and give thanks to God.
May God bless.