Among The Lampstands Part 2

Take your Bibles this morning and turn first of all to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. Begin reading in verse 9. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousand served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I looked then, because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking, and as I looked, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Now, if you would, turn over to Daniel chapter 10. Daniel chapter 10, let's begin reading in verse 2. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for the full three weeks.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, that is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen with a belt of fine gold from Uphos around his waist. His body was like beryl his face like the appearance of lightning his eyes like flaming torches his arm and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me.

My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling upon my hands and knees. And he said to me, O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.

When he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. days, for the vision is for days yet to come.

Let's pray. Our Father, again, we thank you for your word which speaks to us. I pray today, Lord, that it would be used by you to penetrate hearts, that we might understand something of the Lord Jesus. Father, all over the world, people are celebrating the reign of Christ, some sincerely, some just merely out of tradition. Father, we are here before you to confess that we want to learn more of Him.

So Lord God, help us now to hear, to listen, for this is Your Word. It is intended to be addressed to Your people. It is intended to be from You. Help us to listen then, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem triumphant as a king The crowds went mad with delight for the promised king and deliverer had come And Jesus made no protest against it. He accepted all their adulation. In fact, he purposely chose the way he came into Jerusalem to show that he was indeed the king that they had been waiting for. and yet within a week the same crowds went mad with fury and demanded his blood he had disappointed them if you read in the gospel of john as they talked to him about being king he said well the son of man must be lifted up and they understood that to mean that he was to die and they said, that's not how we understood the king, John chapter 12, that's not how we understood what this king was going to be.

And they turned against him, and by the end of the week, in their fury, demanded his blood. Some king. And he was crucified. But yet he rose triumphant and turned their accusations against them, proved them false, and won the victory over sin and death. And according to the apostles, took his place as the ruler at the right hand of his Father in heaven.

But does he really reign? Does he really rule? Where is the evidence of it all? Where's the evidence of his reign and rule? Well, this morning we want to pick up where we left off last week in that very unusual thing that happens here but once in maybe a decade. where I don't finish a sermon. So we want to pick up where we left off last week.

In that terrifying vision that John had, we see here Jesus exercising sovereignty and ruling in might. As we've noted before, the book of Revelation takes us beyond the surface, beyond what we can see and unveils the reality. Again, let me remind you that what we see going on around us is not the deepest reality. The reality is what we're going to find in this book.

And as we noted this takes us beyond the surface beyond what we can see and it unveils the reality what actually is happening And so I ask you to follow along again as I read our text Revelation chapter 1 verses 9 through 20. Here is the reality. Here is really what's happening. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of 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 loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.

And his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, the things that you see, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand And in the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Thus far, we have seen in this vision what the church is. This is what we saw last week in this text. It is a body of people incorporated in Jesus and its patient endurance of tribulation and it rules like Jesus did.

We rule with Christ. That rule is veiled. It is not evident to all. It doesn't look like we're these great victorious people. But our rule is veiled like Jesus' rule was veiled. It is hidden, even though it's hidden.

It is evident in things like this. We obey Christ, not the forces of evil in this world. In the light of the forces of evil, we do things like this. We forgive one another. We love our enemies. We endure tribulation and do not turn away from our loyalty to Jesus and his commands.

In that way, we rule. We are not ruled by the world. We rule in this world as we act differently. we saw last week that the church is the spirit empowered witness in the world symbolized by the lamps we are the light of god's presence in a dark world energized by the spirit and then lastly we saw last week it is the church that receives this revelation it is intended for us who live in the latter days as daniel said or as the as i believe the um vision of jesus that he had daniel chapter 10 and the vision of jesus he had in daniel 7 all right um those were given daniel said for your people in the latter times and what we're finding in revelation is the future is now We are here.

We're there in the latter times. And now it's all being opened to us in this book. And so we are the ones who have received this revelation. Now let's go on in our text, shall we? Let's figure out or let's find out again now what God has said. We've seen so far what the church is.

Now learn what the Lord Jesus is like. Learn what the Lord Jesus is like. And in the text that we have before us, you have gathered up into the person of Christ two visions from Daniel. Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 10, which I just read. And as I read those two, and then you heard this text, the light should have gone off. You should have said, we just read about that in Daniel.

Exactly. That's exactly right. All right? So Jesus if you will takes up within himself these two previous visions Okay Those that were intended for the latter days now he appears again in the same form if you will that we saw in Daniel. He's come. I mean, this is who it is.

This is what Daniel was seeing. He is, first of all, you note, he is the son of man. When John turned to see the voice that was speaking to him, what did he see? In the midst of some lampstands, he saw one like what? A son of man. That is a key phrase in the New Testament.

The son of man does not mean a son of a human being. It means this powerful end-time ruler predicted in Daniel 7. This end-time ruler who God gives, the Ancient of Days, gives all power and dominion and authority to be exercised in the last days. He is a son of man. But notice, as John turns to look to see who is speaking, he sees a priest. When John turns around to see who's said these words, he sees a man dressed as a priest.

Now you noticed as well that is described, that's a description of him in Daniel 10. This robe with the golden sash around him. But it's dressed as a priest. This is the dress of a priest. This is that powerful latter-day figure known as the Son of Man. But when Daniel turns and sees the Son of Man, he appears like a priest, tending to the lamps of the holy place.

John sees him like the Old Testament priest, trimming the lamps. As he turns around to see this voice, imagine this now, get the vision in your head. He turns around to see who's speaking, and as he turns around, he sees a figure dressed as a priest, tending to these lamps, like a priest in the Old Testament would, cutting the wicks, pouring in the oil, removing the old oil, refilling the lamps with fresh oil, relighting the ones that had gone out, doing the things that an Old Testament priest would have done in the holy place.

So he turns around, he sees this priest tending to these lamps. But then the priest looks up from his work and he terrifies John to death. Why? Why is that so Well look at the description His eyes are like a flame of fire Now again what we find here is the recasting of what we saw in Daniel chapter 10 His eyes in Daniel 10, his eyes are like flaming torches.

Here, his eyes are like a flame of fire. Those eyes can see everything. Nothing escapes his notice. Jesus' constant presence with the churches means that he always knows their spiritual condition, resulting in either blessing or judgment. Turn ahead, for example, to chapter 2, verse 18. Chapter 2, verse 18.

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and those feet are like burnished bronze. All right? By the way, can I just give you a heads up? When you start reading chapters 2 and 3, you're going to notice that John takes bits of that vision from chapter 1 and applies it to Jesus among the churches.

Here he applies the idea of the feet and the eyes to the church in Thyatira. Now look at verse 23. Verse 22, Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

This one with the flaming eyes has eyes that are constantly aware of what is happening in the church. As he tends those lampstands, which represent the church, his eyes are flaming eyes. They know exactly what's going on in every church. His feet look like white hot brass, glowing as it comes out of the furnace. This suggests his moral purity, that those among whom he walks must also be holy.

And so He walks among those with these, if you will, holy feet and they too must be holy. Notice as well that His voice thunders It like the roar of many waters I can remember years and years ago it just seems like yesterday but it's well over 30 years ago now, when Becca and I were in college, we were in a singing group, and every year about this time during spring break, we would go on tour and have concerts in a number of churches. And this one year, we were up in Canada, singing in churches in Canada and in New England, and we went one day to Niagara Falls.

And this was before we were married, and I was kind of liking her. And I said, hey, let's go under the falls. And so we went to this, I can't remember how we got there, but there's a cave under Niagara Falls that you can go into. And I can still see the pictures of it. It looked like a couple of penguins standing there in these raincoats. But I remember that being in those falls, right underneath Niagara Falls you couldn't hear a thing the noise was so incredible you couldn't talk to one another that's what he describes as the voice of this one who's walking among the lampstands if you heard a voice like that I think you'd sit up and take notice, don't you? if I had the voice of many waters like Niagara Falls here you probably wouldn't be able to handle it and so he's saying this one has this voice you don't ignore the voice of this one who works among the lampstands.

Then he says he holds these seven stars in his right hand. Now we know those seven stars are the seven angels. We'll talk about that later, but at least it says this, that he is sovereign. He has the right to rule. He has the right to dispose of those angels any way that he sees fit. The fact that they are in his right hand says that he has the right to rule.

This speaks of his sovereignty. And then it goes on to say that there's this great, sharp, broad sword that proceeds from his mouth. This is the power to rule. The power to execute justice. It's built on the vision, not built on the vision, but built on the prophecy from Isaiah chapter 11. Turn back there.

Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah 11, verse 1. from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear.

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall, note, strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins. Here, this rod, this sword that's built on this, this sword that proceeds from his mouth, this speaks of his justice and judgment.

And we have to understand that he will execute justice, he will see judgment done on the nations. You see this in chapter 19, verse 15. Turn over to Revelation 19, verse 15. Here it says, And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

So, this speaks of his justice that he will use to judge the nations. But note, not just the nations. not just the nations again look at chapter 2 chapter 2 verse 14 as he speaks to Pergamum but I have a few things against you you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food, sacrifice to idols and practice sexual immorality so also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans therefore repent if not I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. So that sword will be used in congregations when he sees fit.

He will use that sword of his mouth to execute justice. It says that his face shines like the sun at noon. In other words, are you starting to get a picture of this figure that he sees? Can you see why he almost drops dead? Have you ever tried to stare at the sun at noon Not only are his feet glowing not only does he have this incredible voice but his face shines like the sun at noon His face shines like...

What does that represent? Well, it seems to echo what's said actually in the book of Judges, in a poem. Okay? Remember Deborah and Barak? At the end of this poem, So, as it talks about these mighty warriors, it says in verse 31, so may all your enemies perish, O Lord, but your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might. All right?

Like the sun. It's describing a victorious warrior. Jesus is like this triumphant warrior. All right? So all these things. This is Jesus now.

This is talking about the ruler. All right? Now, again, this is symbolic. Jesus does not look like this. All right? This is not what Jesus looks like.

This is a vision of Jesus to tell us what he is like, that he is sovereign. But you've noticed that I've skipped one of the descriptions. I skipped one of the first descriptions. Go back, if you will, then, and note this carefully. Now, I'm going to look at verse 13. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest, verse 14, the hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.

Who is that? What is that describing? That comes from Daniel chapter 7. Look back at it again. All right? Daniel chapter 7.

Note this carefully. Daniel chapter 7. What did we see in verse 13 of Daniel 7? I saw in the night visions, and behold, the clouds of heaven, there came one like a, what? Son of man, there's our phrase, and he came to whom? To the Ancient of Days and was presented before him So the Ancient of Days is God who gives the Son of Man all His authority But let look back at the Ancient of Days Verse 9, As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat.

His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. Now, don't miss it. in this revelation from John, Jesus is clearly identified as the Ancient of Days. You say, wait a minute. He calls Him the Son of Man. And when I look at Daniel, it's the Son of Man who comes before the Ancient of Days and receives all His power and dominion from the Ancient of Days.

And yet, what you're saying is He's the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days. Exactly. Don't miss it. That is exactly what John is saying. This terrifying priest among the lampstands, this Jesus, who is the morally pure, sovereign judge and triumphant warrior, is also God. My friends, when they come knocking on your door, take them to the book of Revelation.

It is clear here. He's not only the Son of Man who receives his dominion from the Ancient of Days, he is the Ancient of Days as well. Jesus is God. That's what he's saying. Make no mistake about it. This is a claim that Jesus is not just the Son of Man, but he's also the Ancient of Days.

And you cannot get a greater claim to deity than this. well of course as John is worshipping as he hears this voice telling him to write as he turns and he sees this priest and all of a sudden the priest looks up at him what does he do? he faints dead away like he's dead he just drops by the way did you notice in Daniel 10 what happened to Daniel when he saw the vision he dropped two and what happened to daniel did you note a hand reaches down and touches him and brings him up at least brings him up to his hands and his knees here the same personage reaches down and touches John revives him and then starts to speak to him When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Now, hear this figure.

Jesus himself revives John and speaks about his own identity. He calls himself the first and the last. He calls himself the first and the last. Straight out of the Old Testament, folks. Straight out of the Old Testament. Isaiah, chapter 41, verse 4.

Isaiah 41, verse 4. Speaking of the judgment of the nations, we read this. Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning, I the Lord, Lord, there, God's covenant name, I, Yahuwah, the true and the living God, right? Yahuwah, I, Yahuwah, the first, and with the last, I am He. Listen to Isaiah 44, verse 6. Thus says the Lord.

Thus says Yahuwah, the true God of the Old Testament, the covenant God of Israel. Thus says Yahuwah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Yahuwah of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God. Isaiah 48, verse 12 Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I called. I am He. I am the first, and I am the last.

What is this saying? Here is this revelation of Jesus taking upon Himself the name that God called Himself. Folks, what is he saying? He is God. There's no escaping that conclusion. I am the first.

He reaches down. He touches John. He says, fear not. Why not? I am the first and the last. This Jesus is claiming to be the first and the last.

He is God. Go to the book of Revelation when they come knocking on your door. You can't escape it. You cannot escape it. It's as plain as the nose on our faces. Noses on our faces.

All right? Jesus, I am the first and I am the last. He claims to be the living God. Here's another claim to deity. It says something about his nature. He is the Lord of history.

He is in control of its inception and conclusion. He is the force in all of history. He is causing it to fulfill its purpose. You know, when I was in college, I was a history major, no surprise to you. And when you get to the upper levels of studying history, you start talking about the philosophy of history, where people, historians are asking questions like, well, what is history?

Some of you are thinking, well, what is history? It's just a bunch of dead people who've done things and we just look at it now. But the question goes beyond that. What is history? The Greeks had a cyclical view of history. History just kept repeating itself.

It was the same thing over and over and over again. But as Christians, what do we learn? There is a beginning of history and there will be an end of history. And because Jesus is the first and the last, he controls all of history. And because Jesus is the first and the last, he is the driving, listen, he is the driving force of history. History is not just a collection of random events.

It is instead the fulfillment of a sovereign, fulfillment of the plan of a sovereign God. I am the first and the last, and that is Jesus. John and his readers should not fear because Christ's sovereignty will guard them for whatever's going to come. And we're going to find out what comes our way in the rest of this book. What we experience is going to be told us in the book of Revelation.

They need to know now that the Lord of the church, the one who rules and reigns in the church, is the first and the last, who will keep them from despair in the midst of all that happens, and we'll keep them from compromise with the world's view of things. Last Sunday our Congress voted in a health care reform Now I not here to tell you where I stand on that I have my own opinions on that but this is not the place for that But I do know that many are in horrible fear that because the government now is going to start stepping into that area, that it will start stepping into other areas, and we will lose much of our freedom. That may be, it may not be. whatever the case is, we have no reason to fear.

We have no reason to fear. Because the one who rules and reigns in the church is the first and the last. This is no surprise to him. And he is the one who sovereignly rules and will keep us from compromising our loyalty to him. You see, friends, listen to me. And we can have strong opinions about the political arena.

And I do. But you know what? I've learned something. We can lose all our freedoms and the kingdom of Christ will go on. We don't even need the Constitution of the United States to guarantee that Jesus will build his church. Right?

Because he is the first and the last. He's sovereign over all, including history, because he rules over even the forces of life and death, and he lives forevermore. As the first and the last, he is the Alpha and the Omega. as the first and the last. He is the Ancient of Days. As the first and the last, Jesus is the One who is and who was and who is to come.

And He says through the resurrection, He holds the keys to death and Hades. Jesus even reigns over the realm that once held Him prisoner. But He conquered it. he has the keys he determines life and death you know at the end of World War two well before World War two for centuries Jap Japan Emperor claimed to be divine He claimed to be divine Emperor Hirohito, at the beginning of World War II, everyone thought he was a god.

All right? He had a claim to deity. And the Allied forces, with great blood, sweat, and tears, conquered Japan. And one of the first things that MacArthur did, MacArthur, who essentially ruled Japan after the war, told the emperor, the first thing you're going to do is you're going to go before your people and you're going to tell them you are a mortal, that you are not a god.

We're going to eliminate that right now out of your culture. That's what you're going to do. You know what the emperor did? He went before the people and he said, I am not a god. just by fiat, eliminated something from their national religion. Okay? You see what I'm saying?

You conquer him, you have the power over him, you tell him what to do. Jesus has conquered death. He has ultimate power. He has the keys to death and Hades, the ultimate power of all the world. He has the keys to it. He rules it.

So here in this vision, you see who the Lord is. You know who he is? The Lord. Jesus is called Lord for a very good reason. He's sovereign. He rules.

Now, the last thing I want us to see is to learn is learn what the Lord Jesus does. Learn what the Lord Jesus does. First, Jesus tends the lampstands. That is, what's the figure saying? Jesus is tending the lampstands. Jesus tends to His church taking care of the lampstands by commending, correcting, exhorting, warning these churches.

Jesus is among the lampstands He takes care of His churches And please note he is the one who makes sure that every single congregation continues in its function of bearing light in this world We have a tendency, and rightfully so, because I believe, for example, the book of Ephesians makes it clear that Jesus is the king of the universal church. And we have a tendency to think that way. But here, in this vision of Jesus, I want you to notice that it's not the universal church that Jesus tends to, and he does tend to it.

But here the picture is that Jesus tends to every single congregation that is his. Every congregation in all the world has the presence of Jesus. And He is the one who is trimming the wicks and putting in new oil and as we're going to see, taking out of the lampstand if He chooses those who don't serve Him well. He is the one who makes sure that each one fulfills its purpose.

He is present in His Word. He is present today in His Word. And He moves us by that Word to make decisions. When the elders meet and they have to talk what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? What's the course that we have to take as a church as we look into the word of God on the surface?

It looks like elders making decisions. The reality is Jesus is at work. When suppose hardship comes our way into the life of this church it is Jesus bringing discipline to his congregation here in LaRue to make sure we stay on track to bring us around to where he wants us to be. It is Jesus with every single congregation of his people in all the world.

Jesus is there tending to it. It is Jesus not just Andy Green behind the tutoring program that we've got going on here. Alright? Some of you are going, oh man, I'm really glad to hear that. you know struck by that as I as I meditated on this passage it's Jesus with every congregation and on the surface it looks like okay how about we do this how about we have a tutoring program Great, let's recruit.

Recruitment's going on. People are showing up here every Tuesday and Thursday. Kids, Andy and Sharon go and they walk the kids over here. Kids are divided up with all their tutors and the teachers are saying, wow, this is really good. And I think, you know what, that's Jesus at work. That's what this vision is telling us.

It's look to the reality. We see the surface things, But the reality is, Jesus is working with this lampstand. That's the reality. That's what he wants us to see. Here's another reality that comes through. Jesus is the judge of the church, walking in moral purity, ready to unleash the sword of judgment when it's necessary.

And that includes this congregation. If we should become unfaithful to him in our doctrine, if we should become unfaithful to him in our practice, if we should become disloyal to the Lord of this church, he can unleash his sword here as well, in this place, in this church. He is the triumphant warrior who will fight for this congregation here. He will fight for us.

The surface looks like we may be, in certain situations, writing letters, or we may be going out and confronting issues that we see, but it's really Jesus who triumphs. That's the reality. He is the sovereign Lord. Yes, He is the sovereign God of this church. Of this church. Not just the sovereign God of all churches.

He is the sovereign God at rule in this congregation He is the Almighty who rules in this congregation and he rules for this congregation Looking out, I see John. John and Bonnie sitting there. It reminds me. Jesus was at work in Grace Chapel in West Liberty through all the trials and the horrific things that they went through and all the hardship that happened and now they've got a new pastor who's coming in today, I think.

And all of this on the surface, on the surface looks like, oh man, this person's doing this, this person says that, this team comes in, these guys do that. It's Jesus at work in his church, trimming the wicks, pouring in the oil, shaking it up a little bit. The flame's not quite, you know. All of those things. That's what this vision is telling us. That's what Jesus does.

That's what Jesus does. You remember the magic eye craze that hit the newspapers and novelty things in the 90s? These things drove me nuts because I could never do it. You know, you remember you'd get this magazine page or this newspaper thing, and it was just this, like, a busy pattern. And someone would say, look at it. And you'd do this number, you'd pull it out, you'd pull it in, you'd do this.

No, no, no. Concentrate on that one spot. And you'd do it, and all of a sudden, you'd see a 3D picture. Right? You remember that? I do.

I never saw the 3D pictures. Just drove me nuts. No, I can't see it! People would say no no just look at that spot Just concentrate on that spot Look beyond the surface of what you see and then you would see it come up That is exactly what this vision is all about This vision in Revelation chapter 1, it's saying to you, look beyond the surface and see the reality.

What we see happening in our congregation, to our congregation, around our congregation, at the level of mere observation, is not the reality. That is not the reality. We need to look beyond the ministries, look beyond the plans, look beyond the people, and see the reality. and Jesus unveils for you the true reality. You see, this congregation is part of the hidden rule of God, ruling in a way that no one else can see.

You are in Christ conquering the powers of evil as you refuse to be locked into bitterness and you forgive one another. You are in Christ conquering evil as you refuse to hate your enemy and go out there and love him. You are in Christ conquering evil in this world as you endure patiently, not getting your revenge, enduring patiently the tribulation that is yours.

And because you are in Christ, you rule as you endure those tribulations and resist the temptations of this age Look beyond the surface See the one who tends the churches who walks among the lampstands moving us to fulfill the purpose of bringing God's light into a dark world. See the one who walks with sovereignty and power and purity and judgment and deity. Learn the reality of what's happening.

Father, Father, you are abundantly gracious in unveiling the reality, in driving us beyond the surface to see how you are at work. Father, we pray that you would encourage your people with these words. that this vision, this vision given to John centuries ago would show to us the reality of who we are and the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ at work. Would you grant that, I pray?

We thank you that Jesus is the sovereign God of the church who reigns and rules through his people. Encourage us, Father, then, to do that. We thank you for our Lord Jesus, the one who tends the lampstands, the one who warns us, encourages us, rebukes us, saves us. Thank you in his name. Amen.