O Lord, who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises?
O Lord, as we come to Thee this morning, it is the desire of our hearts that we could see the One John saw, the One he recorded and reported to us, and has given us this revelation of: the King of glory. May we too get a glimpse. May we see You in reality, in Your glory: Son of God, Son of Man, the One at the right hand of the Father, bringing everything, consolidating and moving everything toward Your designed purpose.
O Lord, how we want to see this One this morning. We pray, Lord, that You would lift the veils from our hearts, the scales from our eyes, and the wax from our ears. Lord, we desire none other than that we might see Jesus this morning. That is our heart’s desire.
Lord, grant us—though we are not worthy—grant this vision, Lord, to fill our hearts. For in this day and in this hour, how we need to see Thee afresh and anew. We ask, Lord, for Your mercies upon us.
Lord, I pray that in no way would You allow me to misrepresent You this morning. I do pray Your blood over every word and every thought, over all of our hearts this morning, that we may not be deceived or misled in anything. Lord, we just want to see You. That is what delivers our souls. That is what brings in reality. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, we have been sharing out of this book of Revelation—the Apocalypse, the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that our brother John had this vision, and it was not that John was merely writing and sharing based on what he had seen and heard, but what the Lord had spoken directly to him. He was like one recording the exact words of God as He spoke.
It is a unique, special blessing and revelation, and one which I believe is key to our future life in the Lord Jesus, key to really seeing the coming King. We have been talking about being ready for His return, for that blessed hope when we will meet Him face to face.
Brothers and sisters, I think the Lord gave this revelation to John so that the people might be ready to meet Him face to face. When we see Him, we will not meet a stranger, but One with whom we have at least some familiarity. Brothers and sisters, are we ready? Are we really prepared to meet this One?
We know Him as the Lamb of God, and He is the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb on the throne. But He is also the King in glory, this Man in glory whom we need to know and be ready to meet.
As the Lord is trying to prepare us for His return, I believe it is His desire to give us a fresh revelation of Himself—for every brother and sister here. A fresh revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, because all God-movements, great movements, seem to have been preceded by a fresh revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that He will do that in our midst and among God’s people in this last hour.
It indeed is the Apocalypse, the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. Last week, we shared on this One, this Man in glory, the One clothed in the robe of righteousness.
This righteousness is so glorious that when our brother John encountered the Lord in all His righteousness, he fell as dead. He was like a man undone before such a righteous One. The glory of this One is that He has given you this golden robe of righteousness.
You have been robed in Christ when you accept Jesus Christ: this glorious robe, brothers and sisters, this robe that will never be taken off. It is golden. It is the nature of God Himself. It is glorious because, brothers and sisters, it cannot be stained. It cannot be marred in any way.
This shirt I happen to have on—I kind of like it, not because of its looks, but it never wrinkles. My wife loves it as well, by the way. It just does not wrinkle. Last week, I spilled chocolate on one of them that is white. I went in and just washed it right off. It is amazing.
But this golden robe is much greater than that. This is a righteousness from God. It allows you to approach God. Oh, what a privilege we have. This verse that we shared on this morning tells us that our sins have been taken away and will not be remembered anymore. That is because this righteous One has dealt with them. What He deals with is done, and we can rest in that.
I pray that the freshness of that can really capture our hearts once again, as it did when we first accepted our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is this Man in glory. He came, brothers and sisters; He triumphed as a Man on this earth. He humbled Himself as a servant, and He came down and overcame death. Death could not hold Him.
But it was not Him as God using His godly power. It was Him relying totally upon the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit in His life. In other words, He had to live as we do: depending on the Father, looking for the Holy Spirit to be the strength and the power in our lives.
He is the Son of Man and Son of God. What glory He is, robed in that righteousness.
He is also the Head of the church, as we saw, brothers and sisters. I think it is a common kind of thing today that people say, “Yeah, we are the body; He is the Head.” Brothers and sisters, oh, if God would only open our eyes to see what that truly means.
We are united to Him in such a way that it is just like your body here on earth connected to your head. It is that close. It is that intimate. The whole body you have is to express what is in your head and to be an expression of who you are. That is what your body is for. That is what we have been called to.
But it is not an idea. It is not a theory. It is not a principle. It is living reality. It is organic: the organic body of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege we have—Him as Head of the body.
We see Him as the High Priest as well, ministering among the church, the measuring line in His hands and saying, “This is something that needs to be dealt with. This is fine. This is okay.” He is measuring. He is among His church, among the seven churches, as the High Priest ministering to the seven churches.
Now, I think that is about where we got to last time. This morning, we would like to continue. Let me read some out of this. This is King James Version, by the way.
Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him.
Revelation 1:9-11
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega.
Revelation 1:12-18
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;
And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters.
And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went 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 dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 1:20
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 which thou sawest are the seven churches.
So this morning we have come to the golden girdle, the golden girdle about His breast. Brothers and sisters, in the Old Testament, when the priests went in, they had this golden—or woven—sash around their waist, and it was to provide strength. It was a picture of strength in service, in serving as a ministering priest.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, it says here, had this not about His waist, but around His breast. It speaks, of course, of love: loving service, service in love, strength that comes out of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus said that He humbled Himself in Philippians, and He came down as a bondservant. He did not come to take out that scepter and deal with people. He said He came as a bondservant, serving us—quite different from the way we see one in authority and power on this earth.
We think that those in authority are just there giving orders. But here we see the Lord is different. He is a bondservant. Amazing, brothers and sisters. He is your bondservant. He has cleaned you up as your servant. He washes your feet. What a bondservant. What a King. What a King. Love in service; power in affection. We see that in this golden girdle.
Our Lord Jesus, the King, serves in love and in the strength of that love. It is an active ministry now of our Lord Jesus. When He looks at His church, He expects the same. He expects us to be active in ministry, serving not out of duty, but out of love—serving with a loving heart, serving in the strength of His love.
Not spectators. Not just attending meetings, but serving—always coming, always gathering in His heart, with a heart to serve. That is what the Lord is looking for. The motive is love, not duty. Now, I am a strong believer in duty, but thank the Lord that the motive here is love.
What kind of love do we serve with? Is it just our natural compassions, or is it the love of the Lord? Let me be a little more direct. The love of the Lord is totally selfless.
He had no reason other than love to come on this earth and live as a Man and to die on your and my behalf. That is the only motive He had. The love of the Father was in His heart, and He came and served in that love. A serving heart took Him to the cross. Love took Him to the cross.
Now, brothers and sisters, in service in God’s house and to God’s people, we go to the cross. It is out from there that we are able to serve—serve in love. The golden girdle.
When we see Him this way, it should stimulate our hearts to say, “Lord, I need to serve You and Your people in this way, out of the strength of Your love.” Oh, may the Lord give us this vision. I think it really does affect us.
Next, it says that His head and His hair were white as snow. I think it is obvious this speaks of wisdom. Our Lord is full of wisdom—full of wisdom—and He expects His church to be full of wisdom.
Brothers and sisters, that wisdom comes from experience. You cannot gain wisdom just through knowledge. Wisdom requires experience. What am I saying here? In His church, the Lord is requiring wisdom.
It comes from experiencing Him. Sometimes that takes us into deep waters, that we might truly experience our Lord. Brothers and sisters, He often has to take us into deaths that we might experience His life and His resurrection. As a matter of fact, it seems to be the Lord’s way: first Calvary, then the throne; first Calvary, then the resurrection and the ascension and the throne.
Brothers and sisters, that is God’s way: experience, experiencing the Lord, having dealings with the Lord. “Lord, what do You mean by this?” We go through so much of our lives, and we can often chalk it up to circumstance. But we should be before the Lord in all the little things in life and say, “Lord, are You saying something to me, or is there something You are dealing with? What is going on?”
It almost should be more like a daily experience, because the Lord every day awakens us that we might experience Him. That is His purpose for awakening you.
My mind goes back to the way we think in the world. I remember a man I used to work with. He said, “You know why I work every day, Jerry?” I said, “No, I do not.” He said, “Because I have a house payment, a car payment, and I have to take care of my children. I have all these things. I have to work.”
We can get wrapped up in these things, brothers and sisters. The cares of life can just smother it out. But if we can keep this vision in our hearts—this One, this Lord of glory, this white wisdom, this great wisdom, this white hair—He wants us to encounter that wisdom. It takes experience. It takes dealings.
The Word of God says we have been crucified in Christ. We have been buried and resurrected. That is a doctrine we know about, a principle we understand, but how much of it is active and real in our everyday lives?
The more we experience Christ, the more dealings we have, brothers and sisters, we gain something. We gain wisdom because we have gained Christ. That is it. That is the way you gain wisdom. It is not so much through head knowledge. It is through experience—experiencing Him. Then you gain wisdom.
I used to pray for wisdom. I would say, “Okay, Lord, I need wisdom in this matter, this issue.” He was gracious; sometimes it would come that way. But the Lord awakened me to see that He is my wisdom.
In asking for wisdom, what I really needed to ask was, “Lord, You need to be my wisdom in this. I need You to be my wisdom.” When we say, “Lord, You give me wisdom,” it can just make us feel like we are good, like we are better. That is not true. We never, frankly, become wise. It is Him in us—His wisdom. He is our wisdom.
Brothers and sisters, we have often said that grace is a Person. Well, so is wisdom. Wisdom is a Person. The only wisdom you have is when you accept Him. I think this is so glorious. We often think it is the really intelligent ones who have wisdom, which is just not true. The simplest in Christ can have great wisdom.
We are thankful for that, because wisdom is a Person whom we appropriate through faith.
I have run into some who think they are pretty wise, even in church, in the Christian realm. They have had experience with the Lord and feel they are so wise, but somehow they seem to be rigid and hard.
Brothers and sisters, there is the wisdom that is from above: James 3:17.
Often, when we are looking to the Lord for wisdom, we get so in turmoil. Our souls get stirred up because it may be a very serious matter we are dealing with. What is it? How do we recognize this wisdom that is from above?
James 3:17 tells us that it is first pure. Wisdom from above is pure. Pure. You know what that means? No self in it. Wisdom from above is not, “What might I gain out of this situation?” The self is taken out of the picture. “What will the Lord gain?”
It is peaceable. Sometimes we hear something that is supposed to be wisdom, and it just does not settle in our hearts, does it? But when God’s wisdom comes, you say, “Ah, that is it. It is the Lord.” It gives you that peace within.
It is gentle. It is not harsh and demanding. It is yielding, not forceful, not insistent. It is full of mercy, full of understanding, and full of good fruits. Those good fruits are Christ.
It is unwavering. In other words, you receive it and say, “This is the Lord. This is it.” You become unwavering because you know it is from the Lord. It is not something that you have grasped at, but something that has gotten hold of you as you are before the Lord.
It is sincere, not presumptuous, without hypocrisy. This is the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, how much wisdom do we have? It comes from experiencing the Lord. But thank God, here is this King, this Man in glory, full of wisdom. That is what He wants us to be, and it is what He wants for His church.
It says His eyes were as a flame of fire. Well, that is discernment. That one is fairly easy to figure out: discerning, very discerning.
You can never forget when Peter denied our Lord. The Word records how He just looked at Peter. It devastated Peter, that one look from those flaming eyes. He could see right through Peter, and Peter knew it. He had been exposed.
That is what those flaming eyes do. They discern and expose. You say, “Oh, that was me. Lord, forgive me.” Those discerning eyes, brothers and sisters—that is what the Lord is looking for also in His church and in His people: discernment.
Those flaming eyes are like a burning light. They expose what is not of the Lord, but they illuminate what is of Him. You say, “Yes, that is it. That is the Lord.” Or you say, “No, there is something there. I cannot put my finger on it. It sounds okay, but there is something wrong.” That is that discerning spirit, the illumination.
Once again, I have run into those who think they are very discerning, that they have the gift of discernment. But the other thing I have noticed is that along with that is a critical spirit. They are just critical.
The Lord has not given us discernment to become critics. We have critics all over the place. You see them all over TV, particularly in these political days. You have critics to review movies, critics to review food—you have critics all over the place. People are very proud of being a critic because they look at themselves as being experts. That is self, brothers and sisters.
Spiritual discernment is not for tearing down, but for building up. It may discern something wrong, as our Lord does among the seven churches, but the Lord does not just criticize them.
He is there to build them up, to restore them, to bring them back to Himself and His full purpose. Brothers and sisters, I think if we have real spiritual discernment, we will get on our knees and say, “Lord, there is something here, and I need to pray about it. Lord, give me something to help restore, to help bring this back to Your heart and to what You want.”
That is what spiritual discernment does. It is not condemning. Spiritual discernment is for restoring and building up. That is the kind of discernment—the flaming eyes—that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we come next to His feet, which are like fine brass, burning in a furnace. If anybody has ever seen brass being fired, what color does it turn when it gets hot? Orange—bright orange. Then it turns white. At its hottest, it actually turns white.
You come in and try to touch that burning brass, and it consumes everything it touches. That is what we see here: divine judgment. There is judgment. God is judging among His seven churches.
What the eyes discern, those judging feet of brass consume and trample upon—whatever is not of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord expects there to be divine judgment in His church.
But divine judgment, brothers and sisters, comes out of love. It is to clean up. It is to do away with all that is contrary to Christ. That is what the burning brass feet do. All that is not of Him is done away with.
I have struggled with that, because when we think of love, we do not often think of judgment, do we? But we know that there is both in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His house.
Let me put it this way: true love, real love, seeks purity. Real love is seeking for purity. When something is impure, love is trying to remove those impurities, as Christ is here in this scene with the seven churches. But it is love, brothers and sisters, even in judgment.
Think about the flood. You can say, “How can the flood be love?” Brothers and sisters, you need to understand: it says in the Word of God that men had become so evil and so rejecting of God—much as we seem to see today.
Men rejecting God. I saw it in one of the conventions: they do not want God, do not want to talk about God, will not allow Him to be spoken of. We are seeing that in the United States today.
Men did not have any thoughts of God. It says the Lord grieved that He had made man, and He brought a flood. He took out everything that was not of Him. In that flood, He purified the earth.
But there was mercy, because He found the family of Noah upon whom He had mercy. From that family, all the families of the earth that we know today come from that lineage. It was mercy and love that He did not destroy everything. It was grace, brothers and sisters, upon Noah. But it was judgment.
I think of the judgment seat of Christ. When we come before that judgment seat, we are Christians; we do not have to worry about eternal death. But we do want to be with Him during that millennial reign.
At that point, the Lord looks at the wheat, which we are, and says, “Okay, this wheat is ready. It is right, ready for harvesting. It will go with Me into the millennial kingdom. This wheat is not ready. It is not dry enough yet. It will go through a thousand years of drying.”
Brothers and sisters, both acts are acts of love. He could say, “It is not ready. I do not want anything to do with it ever again.” But He does not do that. He has mercy upon us, and He says it needs a little more drying out. He gives it a thousand years to dry. Mercy in judgment.
Then we have the great white throne. Brothers and sisters, that will be the final purifying, the final separating of everything that is not of God from the things that are. It is for purity, for purifying.
This great love in judgment: discerning eyes and brass feet. There have to be both.
Then it says next that we have the voice of many waters. His voice was like many waters, full of spiritual authority. When our Lord Jesus was here, He spoke, and it says He did not speak like the scribes and Pharisees, but He spoke as One having authority.
I think, brothers and sisters, there is something in us that recognizes authority. Now, we may rebel against it, but we do recognize it. Here, in our Lord Jesus, He is full of authority—spiritual authority.
Where does that spiritual authority come from? His life. Brothers and sisters, spiritual authority comes from life. In a sense, we all have spiritual authority in accordance with the reality of the life of Christ in us. That is spiritual authority.
The Lord is looking for His church to be full of spiritual authority, so that we express spiritual authority out of the life of the Lord Jesus in us. That comes through experiencing the Lord. That is where the authority is.
Just a word of warning: we have seen this happen, and it is a great danger, particularly among those who seem to be more advanced in the Lord. They begin to think that they have the authority, that they are the authority. That never happens. The Lord is always the authority.
It is the life of the Lord in you where there is authority. As long as we are following the Lord, obeying the Lord, trusting the Lord, there is spiritual authority in our lives. But when we fail, when we fall away, we lose that spiritual authority.
We never actually possessed it in ourselves, as if we had become authority. It is always His authority, and the Lord is looking for that in His church. Self always thinks it is the authority. That is why people take positions today in the church and all of a sudden think they have become something.
In the early church, they could do that because they were so fresh in Christ. It was just Christ. There was no self, and they just said, “Lord.” Of course, we know Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be something. We see what happened to them. The Lord immediately dealt with that.
This matter of spiritual authority—the voice like many waters—speaks, and it is done. Spiritual authority.
In His right hand, it says, there are seven stars, which are the seven messengers of the churches. There has been a lot of discussion about these messengers—who they are. It speaks of them as angels in King James. Some feel they are leaders in the church. Some feel they were the twelve apostles—or eleven of the apostles. There are many interpretations.
But this is the way I see how it applies to us, very simply. These messengers were responsible ones—very responsible. They were in the Lord’s hands, and they were concerned about what the Lord was concerned about. They were concerned about the Lord’s interests, not their own interests.
They wanted to see the church built up as the Lord would have it. That was their concern. So we find them in the Lord’s hands, having the strength of the Lord.
Now, brothers and sisters, we all should be responsible in the house of God. We all should be in the Lord’s hands, allowing Him to use us in whatever way He would and how He chooses, for the building up of the church and to serve as He pleases us to serve.
That is the One, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One with the seven stars in His hands. He is looking for those who are concerned, those who care, those who are living for Him and are responsible before Him and in His house.
In the Lord’s hands—I think that is the marvelous part. In the Lord’s hands.
Next, it speaks of the One with a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. Once again, we know that the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul and spirit, even to the marrow of the bone.
The Word of God, brothers and sisters—the Word of God dividing, the Word of God convicting, the Word of God restoring. It is the Word of God, when He speaks, that matters.
There are two words in the Bible—in Greek. One is logos and the other is rhema. Rhema is when what is spoken, or what is in this Word, becomes real to you. When it becomes living to you, that is rhema: the spoken word.
That is what convicts. That is what divides. That is what says, “This is of the Lord, and this is not.” The Word of God convicts. It changes.
But today, brothers and sisters, do we have a desire for the Word of God? Do we look into it and say, “Lord, speak to me”? When we read the Bible, we really should not approach it just to gain knowledge.
I think that is probably the downfall of many seminaries. They are trying to dissect all these things and deal with them in their minds, and they need rhema. They need a word from the Lord. That is what we are looking for when we read our Bibles. We are looking to meet the Lord there. “Lord, show me something more of Yourself. Speak to me, Lord.”
Otherwise, you just gain knowledge, and knowledge puffs up. Our knowledge, in the end, will condemn us because it has not been mixed with faith. It comes from rhema. The sharp two-edged sword divides flesh from spirit.
It says His countenance was as the sun that shines in its power. I am looking at a lot of countenances out here. Some are sleepy. Some are smiling.
I thought about this and said, “You know, I have run into some saints in my life—when you look at them, they glow.” The life of Christ is so strong that they just glow. Countenance.
The Lord is so glorious. His life is so glorious. His countenance is as the sun shining. When our Lord was on the Mount of Transfiguration, it says He started to be transformed into this bright light. The life that was within was beginning to shine forth, and it was like a brilliant white light.
That is what met Paul on the Damascus road: the glorious Lord Jesus Christ shining in His glory. The life within was glorious, and it shone out—that white light.
I am reminded of a cover—oh, whose book was it? I believe it may have been Sparks; I am not sure. But on the cover, you see a prism, and there is this white light shining into the prism. Then you see all these bands of color.
What is that, brothers and sisters? You recognize it. Come on—we see it after a rainstorm. It is a rainbow. That is exactly what we see.
We see the light of the sun, which you cannot look at too long, can you? It will burn your eyes. But you can see the rainbow. Do you know what the rainbow is? When the sun shines through the crystals of water, it breaks it into an array of colors.
In other words, that white light is broken down into something visible, something that you can see, and it is beautiful. That is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the church is called to be that prism through which that white light shines and is broken down into many, many beautiful colors that we can all see.
I am sorry—The Lord Jesus Christ by Stephen Kong. That is the one. Thank you. But you see the prism there. That is the picture.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The white light shining through the prism of the church, and we can see. It is what the Lord is looking for: that His countenance might be revealed, shining in its power, brilliantly, from the life within. The Lord is expecting that in His church and in our lives.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need this vision. We have shared a lot of different thoughts and aspects, but what really counts is this: have you seen this One in glory? Have you seen this Man in glory? Are you ready to meet this One? Are you ready?
The more I have considered this vision, the more it has dealt with me personally. This vision should humble us. When we see the glory of the risen Lord, the Man in glory, it should, like John, bring us to our knees.
When we really see, we see how far short we are—how far short His church is of this glory. Brothers and sisters, when you really see this Man in glory, you say, “Lord, it is impossible. You will never be able to come to Revelation 21, where we see this glorious church.”
It is called the glorious church. What a transformation will have to take place.
But I believe if we truly humble ourselves before the Lord and ask the Lord to show Himself to us, we, like John, will feel the touch of His hand upon our shoulder, lifting us up as He did John.
John could not stand. He was a man without any breath; it was so breathtaking. But he heard the Lord saying, “John, stand up.” He lifts up John. This is what He says to John, and what He says to you and me:
Fear not. I am the first and the last. I am the beginning of your life, and I am the end of your life. I purchased you with My blood. You are Mine. I will never let you go. I have chosen you. You have not chosen Me. I have called you, and I have called you with a purpose. I intend that that purpose be fulfilled in your life.
I have revealed Myself to you. There is no other way that you can go on. That is why I am revealing Myself to you. I am revealing Myself that you might be transformed, as you look upon Me, transformed into My glory, into My image.
I want you to serve alongside Me. I want you to serve and be My helpmate alongside Me in eternity. You need to be an active part of My bride, and I am transforming you into that, that you might serve with Me.
The work I have begun in you, I will finish. I am the living One. I became dead; behold, I am living unto the ages of ages. If you will but enter into the death of the cross, I will raise you up. I will give you resurrection life to live.
I have the keys of hell and death. I am your victory in every circumstance of your life. All forms of death I have overcome. Any death you encounter, I can overcome. And you can, because I am in you.
Self, the world, Satan—everything is against you and against My work in you. But I have the keys of hell and death. Death cannot prevail. Hell cannot prevail. I am the conquering One. You will prevail.
Brothers and sisters, I think it is essential that we see this vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the one hand, it does show us how short we are, and we need to recognize that. But on the other hand, we see what we will become. It is amazing. It is amazing.
Brothers and sisters, it was on my heart in sharing these messages that we would be awakened to the Lord’s return, that we would be ones prepared for His return, that we would be the ones saying, “Come, Lord Jesus.” That is the call of the bride: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
I actually ended up writing a little letter. The only letters I can remember personally writing were back when I was in college. My wife and I were high school sweethearts. I knew her five years before we got married.
That was the only time I ever wrote letters. I went to VPI, and I remember I could not wait to get back to Richmond to see her. I think it was the other way around as well.
Every other weekend I would come. I just could not wait more than two weeks. I would come even if I had a test on Monday. I would not recommend that to anybody, but I did. That was what was in my heart.
But on the off week, I would write a letter, and so would she. Those letters, of course, meant a lot. Today we have email, and there is something that is not quite the same. There is something about a personal letter, handwritten.
Something about that person’s character is in there, much more so than just words on a computer. As I ended this and was before the Lord, this just came to my heart, and I will share it with you.
How anxious I am to see You.
I am making preparations for the wedding feast.
The golden robe that You have given me—it is beautiful, exquisite, extraordinary. It is glorious.
And now I am preparing the embroidered linen garment to enhance and complement the glory of the golden robe.
Make Your return soon, Lord.
The passion in my heart for You consumes me.
I must see You face to face.
That picture You sent me, I keep it close to my heart. You know the one that You gave through my brother John—the one in which You are in the midst of the seven candlesticks.
I look and behold Your glory. Your glory as the risen King, as a Man in glory, Son of Man and Son of God. I see You full of righteousness, full of love, full of wisdom, full of discernment and judgment, authority, power. And You speak living words to me.
I am awestruck by Your glory. It takes my breath away. I look upon it, and I have to say, “I am not worthy of such a One. I do not understand how You could love me, but You do.”
I feel Your everlasting love drawing me. It has captured my soul. I am overwhelmed with Your love. I must see You face to face. Do not delay. Come, Lord Jesus.
Lord, we just come to You today, the glorious One. Oh, Lord Jesus, touch our hearts. Lord, lift these veils. Lord, draw us back to Yourself. We have been busy about so many things, Lord, so distracted.
Lord, we thank You for this special picture that You have so willingly shared with us of Your glory in heaven. Lord, we thank You that You were willing to share this with us.
We know it is Your heart that we might be ready, Lord, or You would not have given it to us. We know it is Your heart that we might have something to hold on to in these troubled days.
Lord Jesus, we thank You. We love You. Lord, today we are so grateful for this book, this unveiling of Yourself. Lord Jesus, make it precious in our hearts until You come. Lord Jesus, come. Amen.