Adrian Rogers - Triumph of the Lamb
Would you take your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 1? We're studying today, "The Triumph of the Lamb." And I want us to begin our reading here in just a moment in verse 7. Verse 7 begins this way, three words, "Behold, He cometh." That's what it's all about, the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There was a tourist who was in Northern Italy, up by Lake Como, and he was wandering around. He saw a beautiful castle a home castle called the Villa Asconati, and he pushed the gate open and went in there. Everything was beautiful. There was a gardener there. He was clipping every blade of grass; the flowers were blooming, the shrubbery was magnificent, luxuriously green and so forth. And the man said, "May I come in and look at the gardens?" The gardener said, "Come right in. You're very welcome. I'm glad to have a guest."
So the man looked around, and he said, "Who owns this place?" And he said, "Well," and he named the owner. He said, "Does he live here now?" Said, "Oh, no. He's away." Said, "Does he come often?" He said, "Oh, no." He said, "When's the last time you've seen him?" He said, "Twelve years ago." "Twelve years? This place is empty?" Said, "Yes." He said, "Well who tells you what to do?" Said, "Well, he has an agent in Milan." He said, "Do you ever see him?" He said, "Never. He just sends instructions." He's still clipping and pruning and trimming. And the man said, "Why, you've got everything so beautiful! It looks like you are expecting him tomorrow!" He said, "Today, sir, today. I expect him to come at any time." That's the way we ought to be living. Not as though Jesus Christ were coming sometime in the future; as if Jesus Christ is coming today. Amen? "Behold, He cometh."
We ought to be living as though He died yesterday, rose this morning, coming back this afternoon. At any moment, Jesus Christ is coming again. Look at it. Begin in verse 7 again, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." And then the Lord Jesus begins to speak, "'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,' saith the Lord, 'Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.'"
Now I want to use these verses just in way of introduction before we get into the body of the message. And may I tell you, I would love to have been here when Jesus Christ was here in the flesh walking the green hills of Galilee and the river, of the shores of Jordan and the dusty hills of Judea. I would love to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity here on this earth. I think of times when I would love to have seen the Lord Jesus. I think I would have loved to have seen Him call Lazarus out of that tomb. That would have been something. I would have loved to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ as He attended the wedding of Cana and turned sparkling water into pure wine. I would love to have seen Jesus when He walked on the water. I really would have. I love the water. I love the ocean. I can just see Him. It's in the midst of the storm, I can see the spray on His face and hair, His hair back this way and His robes flowing, and He's planting His footsteps on those waves.
That would have been something to have seen. I would like to have seen Him on the cross. Not that I would have enjoyed it, but I believe I'd have been a better preacher if I could have seen Him on the cross. As a matter of fact, in the Passion Play that our church performs each year, We see the Lord Jesus. Friend, I watch that about once during the productions. And, just the depiction of it, I can't stand to watch it too much. I really can't. I turn my eyes away. I'll turn to a passage of Scripture or something and read it. I don't want to get used to it. I don't want to become oblivious to it. I know that is but a faint depiction, a very poor picture of what really happened when God the mighty maker died for man the creature's sin. May we never forget Calvary. Never forget Calvary!
I would have loved to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ when He tore the bars asunder and came out of that grave. Would you not? To see Him! But I've got something better than all of that, friend. Listen, I will see Him when He comes again! This verse says, and I love it, "Every eye shall see Him." And we'll see Him not as He was, friend. We're going to see Him as He is, with the veil taken away. Even those who crucified Him are going to see Him again. Those who nailed Him to the cross. Look at it, look at it in verse 7, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him," Do you have eyes? You're going to see Him. Saved or lost, you're going to see Him. "Every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth." Everybody, everywhere is going to see the Lord Jesus Christ. "Every eye shall see Him." Those who nailed Him up to the cross.
All of us will see the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will see Him not as He was. We're going to see Him as He is, the glorified Christ. Today, His name is slandered, abused, ignored, looked down upon, used in curse words. By the way, have you ever wondered why it's the name of Jesus that's always used in profanity? You never hear anybody say, "Oh, Buddha!" Even that is a backhanded compliment to our Lord, is it not? Jesus Christ is the issue in today's world. Oh, look at how He is described in verse 8, "'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,' saith the Lord, 'which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.'" Even before we get into the main part of the message, this is too good a verse to slip by.
Notice how Jesus Christ is described in verse 8. He is the Alpha and Omega. You know these are the two book ends of the Greek alphabet; Alpha being the first letter, Omega being the last. If He was speaking to us today, He would say, what? "I am the A and the Z." Jesus Christ is God's alphabet. He is Alpha and Omega. That means He's the first, the last, and all the letters in between. Now, I counted the books in my library the other day. I have thousands in my own personal library. And let me tell you something. All of those books are put together with just 26 letters. Just 26 letters, just arranged different ways. Well, what does that mean? All of the wisdom in those books, all of the thoughts in those books, just 26 letters.
Listen friend, Jesus is Alpha and Omega. When you've said, "Jesus," you've said it all. Ha, ha. He is the accumulated wisdom of Almighty God. He is the beginning! He is the end! He is all the letters in between. He is God's first word. He is God's full word. He is God's final word! When you've said, "Jesus," you've said it all. He is the one who is omniscient. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Friend, you'll never, are you listening to me? You'll never need anything more than Jesus. Don't get the idea, well, "I'm saved now I've got Jesus, now I'm going on." You don't go on, you go deeper. You'll never need more than Jesus. But you can have more of Jesus. You can go deeper into Jesus. You'll never go beyond Jesus. Jesus is all you need. You should seek nothing more and friend, settle for nothing less. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the omniscient one. But He is also the omnipresent one.
Look at what it says, He's, "The beginning and the ending." That is, He's the bookends of all eternity. He was here before anything ever was. "In the beginning was the Word." He is the beginning and He is the ending. He is the one who brought it into existence. He's the one who's going to bring it into consummation. Sometimes people say, "Oh is the world coming to an end? I'm worried." May I tell you this? It will never come to an end until He says so. Until He says so! The One who spoke it into existence is the One who's going to speak it into consummation. Now, not only is He the omniscient one and the omnipresent one, He is the omnipotent one. Look in verse 8. He is called here, "The Almighty!" What does that mean?
Well, friend, He's God. He is God. He's not just the peasant teacher. We don't just tip the hat to Jesus, friend, we bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is very God of very God. You miss that you miss all of Christianity. Don't just talk about; the Galilean peasant, the great teacher, the philosopher. The term that is applied to Him here in verse 8 is the same term that's applied to God the Father in verse 4, "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you and peace from Him which is and which was and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before the throne." Here the obvious implication is, it is coming from God the Father. And now in verse 8, the same appellative, the same description, is given to the Lord Jesus Christ. But what a glorious contrast between His first coming and His Second Coming when He comes again.
I've told you, when He came the first time, He came to take the sinner's place to pay our sin debt. But when He comes again, He's coming to execute judgment upon the unsaved sinner. He came the first time as the lamb. He's coming the second time as the lion. He came the first time to save the lost. He's coming the second time in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When He came the first time, He came as a messenger of love. He's coming again as the righteous Judge, as we're going to see Him. He came the first time in the greatest of all humility. He's coming the second time in incredible power and glory.
First time, He wore a robe of shame and they mocked Him. When He comes again, He's not wearing a crown of thorns and a robe of shame. He's coming to sit upon the throne of His glory and be revealed as Lord. Now that's the way we're going to see Him when He comes again. Do you remember reading in the Bible where Jesus is on what is called the, "Via Dolorosa?" That's Latin for "The way of sorrows." Jesus is bearing His cross. They're laying the lash on Him. They're spitting on Him. His face is so marred that you can't tell whether it's the face of a man or an animal. They've actually pulled the beard from His face. Can you imagine that? They'd beaten Him with clubs. The flesh is hanging from His back like ribbons. He is so weak from loss of blood and shock; He can hardly carry the cross.
Now Jesus was not a weakling. Jesus was the kind of man who could fast forty days and forty nights. Jesus was the one who went into the temple and overturned the money changers' tables and drove them out of the temple with a plaited whip. But here now He stumbles beneath the cross and the women are standing there and they're weeping. They're weeping because a man is suffering like He's suffering. Jesus turns to them. He says, "Don't weep for Me. Weep for yourselves." Then He says this, "This is your hour. My hour has not yet come." Oh, I like that. I like that because I love Him. I'm telling you friend, one of these days His hour is going to come. What a day that will be. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 15, which says this, "Which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords." This is your hour.
Now friend, you may be living high, wide and handsome right now. You can sneer at what I'm saying today. You can take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. Or you can be oblivious even to His sorrows. This is your hour. His day is coming. His day is coming and I can hardly wait. Now let's get the setting for what we're about to say today. Begin to read now in verse 9. And John says, "And 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." Now what is the, "Isle called Patmos?" Well, I've actually visited there. It's rocky, barren chunk of rock out in the Mediterranean, and I've been all the way up to the top of mountain there in Patmos and this is where John was.
What was Patmos? Well, it was the Alcatraz of that day. It was the Devil's Island of that day. That's where they put criminals, felons. That's where they put people that were dangerous and they wanted to punish them and get them away from society. And here's old John, the beloved disciple. He's an old man. He's about ninety years of age. Stooped shoulders. Most likely they have him working there in the rock quarries with a whip over his back. Here's John. Why is he there? Well, he said, "I am your brother in tribulation." Did you ever get the idea that you're not going to suffer if you're a good Christian? Jesus didn't come to get you out of trouble, mister. He came to get in trouble with you. John was a man of God, a beloved person. But notice, he says, "I was in the island of Patmos. I was there. I'm your brother in tribulation."
Now he's not talking about the great tribulation. We're going to be talking about that. There is a time coming the Bible calls, "The great tribulation." But Jesus said in John chapter 16 and verse 33, "These things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation." You shall have it. No ifs, ands and buts about it; if you live for the Lord Jesus Christ. And the closer His coming gets, the more intense the tribulation will come. And when that happens, even church crowds will be weeded out. A lot of Sunday morning bench warmers, think you've done God a wild favor by getting here on Sunday morning.
When real tribulation begins you'll understand who really loves the Lord Jesus and who really does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing, "We'll be true to Him till death," and don't even love Him a dime's worth out of every dollar. No, the time is coming, the time is coming when we'll understand who's who and what is what. John is a brother in tribulation. And now John gets a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. God gives him a glimpse into glory. God gives him a picture, not of the Lord Jesus who was, but the Lord Jesus who is and the Lord Jesus who is to come, the coming Lord. And he tells us ten things about the coming Savior. We're going to talk about them. Now, don't get nervous. Ten points sounds like a lot, but I can preach in a hurry. So, can you listen in a hurry?
Alright, now, we're going to talk about ten things that John saw when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's continue to read, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," verse 10. And by the way, Sunday is the Lord's day and I hope you're in the Spirit today. "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, the first and the last. What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea.'" Verse 12, "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me." Here's John now. He's going about his business on the island of Patmos. He's worshipping the Lord. It's the Lord's day, it's Sunday. He's having a glorious time, and he hears this voice, this voice that sounds like a trumpet. It arrests his attention. He turns around to see it, "And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks."
Actually, candelabra is what it is, like a menorah. "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," or the chest, "with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes, 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, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His countenance, 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 forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.'"
Let me tell you these ten things that John saw about the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, he saw Him as the resurrected Christ, as the resurrected Christ with undiminished humanity. Now notice again in verses 12 and 13, "I turned to see the voice that spake unto me. Being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto," not the Son of God. He is the Son of God. But, "I saw one like unto the Son of Man." Now John has not seen Jesus in the flesh for sixty years. John was there when Jesus ascended up into the glory. Sixty years have passed. John's an old man, ninety years of age. And there He is in His humanity, the ascended Lord has maintained and retained His humanity. You see, the Bible tells us in John 1 verse 14, that, "The Word," the eternal Word, "was made flesh."
First Timothy 3:16 says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." Do you want some encouragement? Friend, Jesus is eternally now a man. No less God than ever. But when Jesus Christ came to this earth and became a man, He did not temporarily become a man. When He decided He was going to save you, He knew in order to save you, He had to share humanity. And He has decided to share it for all eternity. In eternity He is the God-man. When I get to Heaven, and I am going, I'm going to see Jesus, and I will see Him. And when I see Him, I'm going to see a man with nail prints in His hand. For all eternity He is a man. Do you understand that?
When He said, "I'm going to step out of the glory, I'm going to be born as a babe in Bethlehem," He took upon Him humanity. He is now a man. Don't get the idea I'm saying He's not God. He is God of very God, but He is the reigning, He is the resurrected Christ with humanity that is ever His. Listen, He will be and is forever like me. And when I see Him, I will be forever like Him. He's the prototype. That's the first thing John saw. He saw the resurrected Christ with undiminished humanity.
Number two; He is the reigning Christ with unrivaled majesty. Notice in verse 13. The Bible says that, "He is clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the chest, the paps, with a golden girdle." What is this? This is the robe, the regalia of a king and a judge. Oh, the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior. The lamb has become the lion. And you're going to meet Him, as I say, every eye shall see Him. Don't get the idea that you can somehow hide out and escape meeting the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is inevitable. Jesus is unavoidable. Jesus is inescapable. "'As I live,' sayeth the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to Me and every tongue shall confess to God.'"
Every knee is going to bow and we're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ as the judge in all of His majesty. Now, don't get the idea that it is God the Father who judges. It is God the Son who judges. The same one who wants to be your Savior will be your judge. You're going to meet Jesus. You have a date with deity. If you don't meet Him as Savior, you'll meet Him as Judge. But you're going to meet the Lord Jesus. This One who is robed in majesty and glory. Jesus said, "The Father judges no man but has committed all judgment unto the Son." Now, you're not a Christian. You've cursed Jesus behind His back. I wonder if you'll curse Him to His face. You have ignored Him. You've gone past and lived your own life. One of these days you're going to face the Lord Jesus Christ who is the reigning Christ. He's dressed in these robes of royalty.
Now here's the third thing I want you to notice. He is also the righteous Christ with unblemished purity. Now how do we see that? Look in verse 14, "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow." Now what does this speak about? It speaks about His purity. All through the book of the Revelation, whiteness speaks of purity and sinlessness. Even as Isaiah told us in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, "'Come now and let us reason together,' saith the Lord, 'though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.'" Jesus is unsullied, sinless, absolutely pure, absolutely holy, whiter, I say, than the virgin snow.
Now what does that mean? Well friend, listen to me, He is the reigning Christ, He is the righteous Christ. Do you think that God's going to overlook your sin? Do you think God's just going to wink at your sin and say, "Oh well, I'm a loving judge?" God never has. God never will. God never can let sin go unpunished. If a judge allows sin to go unpunished, crime to go unpunished, the judge himself becomes guilty. In a court of law they say when a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. No, you say, well, "I'm just going to go up and plead for mercy."
Well, if you want mercy, you may have it. If you want forgiveness, you may have it. But you're not going to have it when you come to the judgment. "It's appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment." He has unblemished purity. Teenager, if you think you can get to Heaven without being saved, without being born again, you're grossly ignorant of two things. Number one, you don't know how holy He is. And number two; you don't know how sinful you are. There is no way. Oh, people say, "Well, I'm going to live a good life. I'm going to follow the teachings of Jesus and I'll get to Heaven." No you won't. You'll go straight to hell. Salvation does not come by learning lessons from the life of Christ, but by receiving life from the death of Christ. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. He is the righteous Christ with unblemished purity.
Number four, He is the revealing Christ with unhindered scrutiny. Now look if you will in the last part of verse 14, "His eyes as a flame of fire." What does that mean? He sees through you. He sees all. He knows all. Your entire life is laid bare before the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows things that no one else knows about you. He knows every thought. He knows that nickel you stole off your mother's dresser. He knows that impure thing you did overseas. He knows your reading. He knows the sentiment you have toward that neighbor that you hate.
Hebrews 4 verse 13, "Neither is there any creature that has not manifest in His sight, for all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." All things are open. He knows your thoughts this very second. He sees you sitting in this service. One of these days you're going to stand before the One whose eyes are like a flame of fire. I read one time about a newspaper that was criticized for printing bad news. The editor said, "If you don't want it printed, don't let it happen." He knows all about us. He cannot be deceived. He cannot be disputed. He cannot be discredited. Not only does He see all men, He sees through all men. You'll not be able to fool this judge as you stand before Him.
Number five; He is the relentless Christ with untarnished integrity. Look in verse 15, "And His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." His feet are glowing, like brass. What is brass an emblem of? We said the book of the Revelation is full of symbols. What is brass an emblem of? Brass is an emblem of judgment. In the tabernacle all the vessels in the outer court were made of brass. There was a brazen altar on which sin was judged. Brass in the Bible is a symbol of judgment. Feet speak of progress. Here our Lord with burning feet, unstoppable, unrelentless, is going forth to judge. All hell cannot stop Him. He wears the robe of a judge. He is absolutely pure! Hair white like wool. He sees right through you, and He's coming to judge.
Feet as if they burned in a furnace! This is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not the meek and mild Jesus walking the shores of Galilee now. We're going to see John doesn't lay his head on this Jesus' breast. He falls at His feet like a dead man. This is the Lord Jesus Christ in relentless judgment. You know, the Bible talks about this time in, in Acts chapter 17 verse 30 and following. The apostle Paul is preaching and he said, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent," that means you. He's commanded you to repent. "Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained."
God's going to judge the world by an ordained Man. Well, who's that Man? "Whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He raised Him from the dead." The Man that God has ordained to judge is the one with the feet like brass. The one who says, "I was dead and now I'm alive." Now, we're going to celebrate Easter, and I'm glad we will. And we'll have more people than normal. And I'm glad, because I'm going to shoot 'em full of Jesus when they get here. But you know, a lot of people don't care really for Jesus. It's just something to do at Easter. So they'll go out and they'll get on their glad rags. They dress up for Easter; I'm glad they do. I like to see it. A bookstore manager down in Florida told me, said, "We had a girl who came in here and said, 'Do you have a lavender Bible?'" He said, "So why do you want a lavender Bible?" She said, "I'm wearing lavender Easter. I want a Bible to match."
Would to God she wanted to match the Bible. You know people come and they'll get all dressed up. They'll come, it's Easter. They're coming to celebrate. Do you know what they're coming to celebrate? Listen to me carefully; they're coming to celebrate their doom. They're coming to celebrate their judgment. The Bible says, "God is going to judge the world. And He has given assurance unto all men in that He raised Jesus from the dead." That's kind of strange isn't it? For people to come celebrate their doom. Well, why? Well, you can't hold court if the judge is dead. The judge is raised. You can't hold court if the defendant is dead. God is going to raise you too. You can't crawl up in the grave and pull the dirt over your face and hide from God. He is going forth to judge. And so we see Him with the Lord Jesus with this judgment.
Now number six; He is the regal Christ with unchallenged authority. Look in verse 15, "His voice like many waters." You'll stand before Him as an unsaved person and you'll want to talk back. But you won't talk back. You might as well go down to the ocean in the midst of a hurricane and argue with the ocean. You might as well try to argue with ten thousand cascading Niagras as to speak against this one who comes with unchallenged authority. Psalm 29 verse 3, "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth! The Lord is upon many waters." How powerful is the voice of our God. It's the voice that'll raise the dead. John 5 verse 28, "Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice." Jesus called Lazarus out of that tomb. You'll get some idea. When our Lord says, "Come forth," and the heaving ocean will give up the dead in its depths. Country graveyards will look like plowed fields. The dead will rise at His voice. He is the regal Christ with unchallenged authority, unchallenged authority. His voice like many waters.
Number seven, He is the ruling Christ with unequaled majesty. "And He had in His right hand seven stars." And here He is, holding seven stars. We sing it a little different, "He's got the whole wide world in His hand." He's got more than the world, friend, He's got the universe. Seven is the complete number. He's the one who rules and who reigns. I have on my desk a little plaque. I look at it from time to time. Somebody made it and gave it to me. It says, "Adrian, trust Me. I have everything under control. Jesus." I love that. "Adrian, trust Me. I have everything under control." He, friend, is the one who rules and who reigns.
Number eight; He's the revenging Christ with unspoiled victory. Notice the last part of verse 16, "And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." And what's He going to do with that sword? Well, the Bible says, "He's going to smite the nations with that sword." Hebrews 4:12 says, "The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword." Now don't get the idea, some grotesque idea, that when you see Jesus He's going to have a sword in His mouth. This is symbolism. "Out of His mouth there goes a sharp two-edged sword." "The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword." He, with His Word He spoke the world into existence. When He spoke, there was light. The universe sprang. Galaxies came from His fingertips. He spoke and scooped out the oceans and heaped up the mountains and dotted the mountains with flowers.
All of that with His Word. He's the one who brought it all to existence with His Word. His Word's going to consummate it all. John Philips, who's a great Bible teacher, talks about the Lord Jesus Christ coming at the battle of Armageddon. And the antichrist and all of his armies are there. And the Bible says that, "Jesus Christ is going to defeat them with the sword that goes out of His mouth." Now I can see antichrist with all of his planes and tanks and napalm and whatever else he may have. His A-bombs and whatever else gathered there in the plains of Megiddo. And here comes the Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the armies of Heaven, and John says, "There will be two words and it'll be over. Jesus will look and say, 'Drop dead.'" "He will slay them with a sword that goes out of His mouth."
Next; He is the resplendent Christ with undimmed glory. Listen, in verse 16, "And His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength." Can you imagine looking into the very face of the sun? You would be blinded. We'll not be blinded when we see Him. The apostle Paul was blinded when he saw Him. But we'll not be blinded. The only way that I can look into the face of the sun and not be blinded would be to have the same nature as the sun. When we see Him, we'll be like Him. And we'll be able to look upon Him. I could not look upon Him in all of His glory without looking away.
John said, "It was like looking into the face of the sun. His countenance like the noon day sun." The very face of Jesus is going to be all the light of Heaven. We won't need the sun, the moon, or the stars. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 4:6, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We can't see it with our eyes, but we can have it in our heart.
Number ten, and we come to the end. He is the reassuring Christ with undiluted deity. Look if you will in verses 17 and 18, "And when I saw Him," John said, "I fell to His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, 'Fear not; for I am the first and last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I'm alive for evermore, Amen: and have the keys of hell and of death.'" Now if you're a Christian today, if you're saved, this vision of Christ will cause you no fear. It will only cause your reverence and your anticipation. You're going to want to fall at His feet as Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.
I heard John MacArthur, and John is a dear man, a great Bible preacher. I heard him talk about one of these people who have such a familiarity with Jesus. This man was saying, "Oh," he said, "Yes, Jesus and I, we're good friends." He said, "Sometimes when I'm shaving." You know these people get these wild excesses, these crazy stories. He said, "I'm shaving in the morning," and he says, "Jesus comes in the bathroom with me." Man said, "Literally?" "Oh, yes, yes. He comes in His body." And, and he says, "And what does He do?" "Oh," he says, "Well, I'm shaving. Sometimes He just puts His arm around my shoulder while I'm shaving." John says, "Is that right? So what do you do then?" "Well," he said, "I just keep on shaving." John said, "Then that's not Him."
Oh! When you see this Jesus, friend, you won't keep on shaving. You'll fall at His feet as dead. Oh, what a mighty God we have! What a glorious Savior we have. Hallelujah! Behold, He cometh! Are you ready? Bow your heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You can be saved today. Friend, the one who is the lion is today the Lamb. He's the one who stretches out His nail pierced hands and is saying to you, "Come unto Me all that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest." If you're not certain that you're saved, would you like to be saved, would you? Would you like to know that you really do have life? Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life."
Could I lead you in a prayer? We'll call this prayer the sinner's prayer. And you can pray and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can do it right now. Would you pray this prayer? "Dear God, I know that You love me. Thank You for loving me. And I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me and You promised to save me if I would trust You. Jesus, I do trust You. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And now I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Come into my life. Take control of my life and begin today to make me the person You want me to be. And Jesus, give me the courage to make it public. Help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen."