Revelation 1&2
![Today is the Perfect Day – Now is the Best Time!
Future Events, Part 6 – Revelation 1&2: Christ speaks to Churches
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© March 6, 2011
www.pastorkennedy.com
(On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online.)
“Blessed is the one
who reads the words of this prophecy,
and blessed are those
who hear it and take to heart
what is written in it, because the time is near.”
Revelation 1:3
Do you think any grandfather or grandmother has ever told their grandchildren that life is short? How short is life to a person in his or her 80’s?
How ridiculous is the statement, “life is short,” to a child six or eight years old…a teen 15 years old…an adult 29 or 39 years old? It gets less ridiculous the older we get, doesn’t it?
How do you think God looks on the length of a man or woman’s life? Do you think God is accurate when from His perspective, He makes statements like, “The time is near!”
Hear what Moses, the Man of God said about the shortness of life!
Psalm 90:1–10
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— 6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. 10 The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Hold Out 8 Fingers
If each of the fingers on our hands represented a decade and we held up eight fingers for the length of a full life (as represented by Psalm 90:10), and if we subtracted the decades of life that we have lived, how many fingers would we have left?
Potentially, how short is our life?
Make Up Your Mind Today that You will Listen to God
If there was ever a time to listen to God’s Voice, I believe now, today, could be a very good time. In fact, now, right now, might be the perfect time to make things right with God. And, if we hear His Voice, we should not harden our hearts to His conviction!
Don’t drown out God’s Voice by getting in your car and going home just to engulf your mind in entertainment, activity or business. If you hear His Voice, do not harden your heart to His convicting Spirit. Instead, respond positively to His Voice – don’t try to cover it up.
Cry out to God to hear your prayer. Confess your sins to God. Ask Jesus Christ to cleanse your sin through the blood He shed on the cross. Kneel, in your heart, before God’s Throne and ask Jesus Christ to take care of broken relationships with Him. Listen for God’s Voice in His Word. Ask His Holy Spirit to guide you in what you should do. Hear the Voice of God through this Book of Revelation!
We have begun a study on Future Events…on Prophecy. Isn’t it interesting that this “book of Mystery…Revelation” is written to be sent to Churches and begins with a serious challenge to Churches?
Revelation 1:9-20
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
It is a Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John….
This message is God-given. It was given so Christ can reveal to those who serve Him what must soon take place.
Christ sent His angel to reveal this message to His servant John.
Those who read it, hear it, and take it to heart, are blessed…because the time is near. (Revelation 1:1-3)
This message Reveals who Jesus Christ is:
o He is God the Son
Revelation 1:4-5
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
o He is the Savior and Redeemer
Revelation 1:5-6
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
o He is the Coming King
Revelation 1:7
Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was,
and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
Jesus speaks to the churches then and now. Since we are “in church” today, we can make a pretty good assumption that Christ could be speaking to us today through these same Passages in Revelation.
Shouldn’t we listen to the One:
Who is The First and The Last
Who is the Living One…
One who was Dead but now
Is Alive For Ever and Ever?
Who holds the Keys of Death and Hades?
Christ begins Revelation chapter 2 with a church located in one of the most influential cities of that day – Ephesus.
The Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)
God knew who they were and what they had done:
o They were hard workers
o They persevered through painful things.
o They did not tolerate wicked people.
o They tested deceitful people and found them false.
o They had persevered and endured through hardship for Christ’s name and had not grown weary.
o Christ had one thing against them.
They had forsaken their first love.
o They were called to repentance – to be the people who loved God as they did when they first became Christ’s followers.
o If they do not repent, God would remove them from where they had been established.
o They were commended on hating deceptive spiritual people, because God hates them too.
o Christ’s promise to them if they heard what His Spirit said to them:
For those who overcome, they are given the right to eat from the Tree of Life, in the Paradise of God.
Modern Church
Do we work hard in the Church?
Are we legalists when it comes to good and bad and are we intolerable of anything that goes against our “principles”?
Do we persevere through hardships without becoming weary?
Do we “look good” on the outside, having done all the right things for the folks who are looking on, but have we lost our first love for Christ on the inside?
What will happen to us if we continue to “serve” without the depth of love for God that we need to have to authenticate our labor for the Lord?
What do we need, to affirm the genuineness of our service for God?
The Church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)
o God knew their afflictions and poverty – they were poor in this world but they were rich in God’s Eyes!
o God knew how they had been slandered.
o They were told not to be afraid of what they were about to suffer.
o Christ promises those who are faithful, even to the point of death, that they will have a crown of life.
o Those who overcome will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Modern Church
Do we feel our lack of “means” makes us unable to do as much for the Lord as we see others doing?
Has what we have done been made to seem “less than excellent” by some…even to the point of our being slandered?
Do we sense that we may have to go through even heavier trials in the future?
What encouragement do we need from the Lord to keep going?
o In faithfulness – even to the point of death, we realize that death is only the beginning of eternity! Christ will give us the Crown of Life.
o We will never have to worry about the “second death”.
The Church in Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17)
o Where they live is a center of spiritual oppression. They are located where Satan has his throne.
Even though they are living in such a spiritually dark place, they have remained true to Christ’s name.
They have not renounced their faith in Christ, even when those in their Church were put to death for their faith.
o Christ has some things against them:
There are folks in the congregation involved in immorality.
Some folks are holding to false teaching and they know it.
[The false “Nicolaitan” teaching spoken of in this passage may have been a form of “Antinomianism”: that when one experienced God’s Grace, he or she could enjoy sinning as much as they wanted to, since “grace would abound” (Rom. 6:1-2). This is not the effectual meaning of grace. Such license provokes the discipline of God, if one is a Child of God (Heb. 12:3-11).]
o This Church is called to repentance, if not, Christ Himself will war against them, with His Powerful Word!
o To those who overcome and conquer in such a spiritually dark place:
Christ will satisfy them with His eternal spiritual bread (see John 6:48-50).
Christ will give them a unique and special identity, known only to Him (see Rev. 3:12; 14:3,4 – a song known only to certain ones; 19:12 – Christ has a Name known only to Him; Is. 62:2; 65:15).
Modern Church
If you are now living in a very dark spiritual place;
If you are being confronted with “secret” spiritual teaching which even involves immorality;
You know it is not Biblical or right!
Repent from sin, if you have participated in it!
Look for Spiritual Nourishment from Christ in His Word…
Look for your identity to be in Christ Alone –
To be hidden by Him who knows you by your secret name!
The Church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29)
o Christ knew their deeds, their love and faith, service and perseverance; that they were doing more than they did at first.
o Unfortunately, they tolerate a false prophetess who misleads those who follow her into immorality and partaking with food sacrificed to idols. She claimed to have “deep secrets” but they were from Satan. She had been given time to repent but she was unwilling.
o Christ will repay her according to her deeds.
o Do not hold to her teachings, only hold on to what you have until Christ comes.
o Those who overcome and do the will of God to the end, will be given authority over the nations…just as Christ will rule with a rod of iron with authority from God, His Father, so they will have His authority.
o Christ will also give them the “morning star”.
Revelation 22:16
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
2 Peter 1:19
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Modern Church
Do we “tolerate” sin in the church?
Do we “tolerate” teaching in the Church that we know to be carnal, deceptive and even outright wrong?
Conclusion
Have we heard God’s Voice in our hearts? If we have, shouldn’t we respond to His promptings?
God knows who each of us are
• Have we Lost our Love for God?
• Are we Enduring Severe Trial?
• Do we live in a Spiritually Dark Environment?
• Are there those in our lives who want to teach “secret” Spiritual Truth?
The following are verses that encourage us to respond to the Lord’s promptings, if His Spirit has moved our hearts:
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:7
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:6
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:13](Future_Events,_Pt_6,_Rev._1%262_files/shapeimage_2.png)
