Verse number 10. These truths must first have a first-century application; they have to apply from then to now.

He says, “Blessed is the man who hears.” The first century people had to be able to draw a blessing from this. If we turn it into just a prediction of future events, the first-century people could not have done it. It is also meant to be lived. You’re not supposed to just know all these mysteries and boast about how well you know them; you’re supposed to live the book.

Blessed is the man who keeps the things written. And “keeps,” in scripture language, always means living out what it says. These last two points have implications for our cultural moment.

I want to read this paragraph from William Hendrickson’s book. I mentioned this on Wednesday, so it’ll be redundant for some of you. William Hendrickson’s book, More Than Conquerors, which is a commentary on the book of Revelation. Listen to what he says:

He says, “On my desk lies a recently published commentary on the book of Revelation.” This book views the book of Revelation as a kind of history written beforehand. It discovers in this last book of the Bible abundant and detailed references to Napoleon, the war in the Balkans, the great European War of 1914 through 1918, the German ex-Emperor Wilhelm, Hitler, Mussolini, and so on. But these explanations and others like them must at once be dismissed.

What possible good would the suffering and severely persecuted Christians of John’s day have derived from specific and detailed predictions concerning European conditions 2,000 years later? He says it’s just crazy that anybody would predict that. And here’s what’s significant about the book that William Hendrickson is quoting: William Hendrickson says, “A recently published commentary,” and he made those comments in 1940.

Eighty-six years ago, people are doing exactly what they’re doing now. They’re looking at world events, comparing it to the book of Revelation, and saying, “We figured out what’s going on,” and they’re wrong then, and they’re wrong now.

The Facebook biosphere, if you want a cybersphere, is full of predictions and prognostications related to the war in Iran, and it’s a misuse of the Bible. That’s not what it’s meant to do. It’s not a crystal ball to predict the future. It is a roadmap for Christian living in times where we are being afflicted and resisted.

The backdrop of the book, children, is to faithfully endure affliction and tribulation. Listen again to verse 9: “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are on Jesus.” If Act 3 of our study is applying the truth, then enduring affliction patiently.

This is a challenge for American Christians because we have it so good; we really haven’t got a clue. I was in Walmart last week and saw a man who used to come to our church years ago. He was in a car accident some time back. He’s mostly paralyzed; he’s in a wheelchair. He can walk, but he can get up and walk occasionally. Most of the time, he’s in a wheelchair.

He asked me how I’m doing? Well, I’ve got a pretty good life. And I told him: “I hesitate to tell you how good my life is because of your situation.” He said, “Oh, no, don’t do that; don’t do that. My life is good.”

And I use this illustration to try to put what most of us here have no clue about suffering.

About 2.5 seconds in any kind of suffering, we want it fixed now. And we come to the scriptures as though it’s a magic pill that’s going to fix it. The reality is you endure affliction patiently. This is the backdrop of the scriptures; this is what he’s saying again and again.

How do you know that, Pastor? This phrase “patient endurance” in verse number 9 appears five more times in Revelation. Typically, it is a word of commendation. Look at this from Revelation 2:2:

“I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance.”

Revelation 2:19:

“I know your works, your love, faith, and service, and patient endurance.”

Your latter works exceed the first. Chapter 3:10 rather. Because you kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world.

The backdrop of Revelation is enduring affliction patiently. And if we don’t draw that out, we’ve missed something in this whole consideration.

Notice now; we will come back to these because there are obviously other implications when we study the churches themselves. But it does illustrate something I must pause and bring to your attention: patient endurance. The kingdom and suffering. “I am your partner in the tribulation and the kingdom.”

Not the tribulation or the kingdom.

Now, I know you’re weary of this. Many of you think I shouldn’t talk this way. I shouldn’t say these things. There’s a wing of the Christian church who says you’re not supposed to have any problems. You’re not supposed to be sick. You’re not supposed to have any financial difficulties. Everything’s supposed to be good in your life.

Why? Because you’re king’s kids, the kingdom. But John says the kingdom and suffering. Not the kingdom or suffering. The kingdom and suffering. They go hand in hand.

This is the backdrop; this is what we must understand. The backdrop is faithful endurance in adversities arising from our Christian confession.

All of us have problems, and all of us will always have problems. Some problems are just part of life. A broken world. Broken people in a broken world. And just things don’t go the way you hope they would.

This isn’t the same as adversities rising from your faith in Christ for taking a stand. For setting aside your time, money, talent, and resources for the kingdom. There are two different things here, and this is very important. The backdrop is adversities arising from our Christian confession.

As we come to this picture, I’m sure you can agree with me beginning at verse number 12. This is really weird. This person. I couldn’t find a… I do have one slide directly that shows a little bit of this. But I can’t show you that until I get over to that part of the message.

But this is a weird picture, and it’s important for us to recognize. Last week we talked about the resurrection with an emphasis upon the actual bodily resurrection of Jesus. The people saw the real, tangible, touchable Jesus. It was not a spirit; it was not a ghost; it was not an illusion. It was a real person come back from the dead.

But what John sees here is a vision. It isn’t meant to be taken literally. It’s got application for day-to-day life. But Christ doesn’t look like this. After the resurrection, He has a glorified human body. But it is a human body. After His resurrection, in the resurrection accounts, we have examples of Him being unrecognized by Mary and the two guys on the Emmaus Road.

We have examples of Him appearing and disappearing apparently at will. Which is where some people think He’s a spirit now. But His glorified body doesn’t have the limitations that our bodies do. So there is mystery to His resurrection body, but never anything this weird: flaming eyes, bronze feet, and a sword coming out of His mouth.

All of us know these are symbols. These are not meant to be taken literally. Joel Beeky says that John offers us a word picture here, not an artist’s impression. John wants to tell us who Jesus is, not what He looks like. The vision is not meant to be understood literally. We are meant to understand this vision scripturally and spiritually so that we may know who and what our Lord Jesus Christ is.

Please help me connect the dots. The backdrop is suffering; the primary focus of the book is Christ revealed. So we need to look for how Christ sustains us in our sufferings. This is a bridge we must make.

How is this conveyed? I’m going to draw three themes from these verses to help us with that.

Number one, Christ is our great high priest. Again, that’s an artist’s rendition. But you can see Him standing in the midst of the seven lampstands. There’s a sword coming out of His mouth; there are stars in His hands. It’s a vision. But one of the things we can draw from this is that He is our great high priest.

This is important. Right away, we are faced with disagreement because some people disagree over the robe. What does the robe represent if anything? Well, there are two views. One view is it’s the robe of a dignitary. In that culture, in that day, a person of importance wore a robe that went all the way down to the floor.

And this was a sign of dignitaries. Grant Osborne and Leon Morris both hold to that viewpoint. Then there is the robe of the high priest, represented by Greg Beal, Matthew Henry, Joel Beeky, and H.L. Ellison.

The robe represents the high priesthood of Christ. Now I would say two things: First, it doesn’t need to be an either-or; it can be a both-and because our high priest is a person of honor and dignity. You don’t have to split hairs over this. He is both of these things. But the second thing then is I think it’s about His role as the high priest.

And I want to show you this: In the Old Testament tabernacle, there was one seven-branch lampstand that had to be tended daily to keep it burning. Okay? Leviticus 24. Listen:

“Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a lamp may be kept burning regularly or continually.” Aaron.

Very important. “Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord.” Now who was Aaron? Aaron was the high priest. And the high priest was tending the lamps.

In the symbolism of Revelation here, Christ, the high priest, is in the midst of the lamps, tending them to grant that they will burn brightly. The world would like to snuff out the life of Christ, but Jesus is standing by to keep that from happening. Amen.

We see this in Hebrews chapter 4:

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14 and 16: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Now we’ll come back to that verse at the end, but for right now let’s ask the question: If the backdrop of Revelation is enduring affliction, what need do we have? When we talk about this verse and say we go to get help, we find help in time of need. But wait a minute; we need something now. We need strength in enduring adversity.

And our high priest is working to do that. He is working to make sure of it. And what is the mark of our faithfulness in adversity? Our lamps burning brightly.

Listen to Matthew chapter 5: “All of you know this passage.” You are the light of the world. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, a lampstand. The same Greek word as in Revelation 7 lampstands. The light is there to be shown to the world.

But the world doesn’t want the light; they want to put it out. And what is Christ doing? He’s standing in the midst of the lampstands keeping the fire bright. Okay, here comes commercial time: If you want Jesus, He’s in the church. He’s in the church. He’s amidst the lampstands.

He is in the middle of the lampstands. You want to find Jesus? We need to be in the house of God. He goes on to say, “In the same way let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

In other words, what Christ is doing in Revelation is he’s trimming the lamps. In the letter to the churches, Jesus is trimming the lamps; he’s correcting. He’s encouraging.

And the purpose of it all is so we burn brightly in the moment of affliction. Listen to Joe Beeky: “If you all don’t understand baby talk that’s amen, Pastor Preach.”

Christ has kindled these lights and placed them on lampstands, and He continues to tend the lamps, trimming their wicks, and refueling them with the oil of the Spirit so they continue to burn brightly.

What John sees is the exalted and heavenly Christ in relationship to His church on earth, caring for her and upholding her that her light continues to shine in the darkness of this world.

Christ is our great high priest, ensuring faithfulness. We’re under affliction; what is the goal of the affliction? To snuff out the light. And what is Jesus doing? Trimming the lamps to keep them burning brightly.

I can’t begin to sing because you all know what happens. I try to sing, and I forget the words that I’m trying to sing. But somewhere in the history of the Christian church, there’s something about the “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.”

Give me oil in my lamp today. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. Keep me burning till the light of day.

I just lost the whole congregation with that.

The second thing we see Christ in this picture is Christ. I’m sorry; one of these days, I’m going to learn how to use the technology; probably not. He’s Almighty God. He is Almighty God.

Now notice this again: This is meant to ensure faithfulness. Now, I know this is tricky; there are two things I wish I could explain better. Two biblical doctrines I really wish I could explain better.

The first one is the necessity of eternal damnation. I know that’s not a pleasant thought, but if there is no justice in the next life, there can be no justice because all kinds of people suffer injustice in this life and have no recourse. People go to prison who are innocent; they spend their whole lives in a cage and don’t have any recourse.

Where is justice? Other people have killed and never been caught. I was thinking this morning I might be wrong about this, but years ago there was a lesbian killed up on the Skyline Drive. If you’ll remember, they found her body, and as far as I know, they never found out who killed her.

That person might have died happily in their bed. Where’s justice for that person? If there is no justice in the next life then there can be no justice in this life.

But the second thing I wish I could convey and don’t know how to do it; it’s difficult to connect the dots, but granted God is in control. And if He isn’t, it’s pointless for you to pray. If He says whatever you ask implies not that He will do anything you want but that He can do anything.

And that means He’s in control and sovereign. Now as it relates to these people they’re being persecuted. They need to know God is in control.

Despite the circumstances of their life and of their world, they must know that He is in control. And thus the term Almighty God. See this in the text, verse 4, verse 8:

“I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Can’t stay there, Pastor; verse 17: “Fear not; I am the first and I am the last.”

“I am the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. You don’t need to fear dying,” He says, “because I have conquered death and put your trust in Me.” And then verse 14:

“Verse 14 says, ‘The hairs of His head were white like white wool, like snow.’ Now where does that come from? Old Testament.

“The division of Daniel, chapter 7, verse 9: As I kept watching, thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took His seat. A metaphor, a phrase, a reference to God.

“He took His seat; His clothing was white like snow; and the hair of His head like whitest wool.”

In this passage later in the chapter, Daniel sees the Son of Man come to the Ancient of Days and is given authority over all men. Here John is clearly equating Jesus with God the Father, God Almighty.

This is the picture, and where it gives encouragement is that He’s in control of our lives of our world. I know; I know it doesn’t seem like it sometimes.

Let me give you another example: This image portraying God Almighty. Listen:

“It says there, His voice verse 15, ‘His voice was like the roar of many waters.’ Twice in the book of Ezekiel, we read this: ‘Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east and the sound of His coming was like the sound of many waters. And the earth shone with His glory.'”

William Hendrickson says that this is not only biblically accurate but it is geographically important because Patmos was a rocky island, and the waves of the Mediterranean Sea were crashing against those rocks all the time.

The roar of the waves. In that kind of language, the roar of the waves is the symbol of God’s coming. But it’s God who is coming. He is Almighty God.

It is so important. And then we come to the third image that we can draw from this very cryptic vision: The righteous judge.

The righteous judge. We must never forget the connotations of Christ judging Christians for their works.

When you become a Christian, you’re on the hook. Not for the sins you committed in the past but for the life you live as a believer. And we cannot get away with that. In fact, the whole purpose of Him writing to the seven churches is what? Correction.

He says in the church to Ephesus, “As many as I love,” He says, “I rebuke.” Therefore, repent; turn away from the sins you’ve embraced and come back to where you know you should be with God. This is what God does in His church. He speaks to us.

But there’s an equal and perhaps a greater thrust in Revelation of God’s judgment on the world for the persecution of His people.

God will defend His people, children. It may not be in this life, but He will defend His people. May I quickly flip over to this passage? Again indeed, God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 6: “And to grant relief to you who are afflicted with as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Christ. He’s the righteous judge. He’s coming to judge the world and correct the church.

Then we see this: With eyes of fire. You know, he doesn’t just look at you; it’s the eye that meant to recognize represent the purity. And then also His feet or rather the two-edged sword. Two-edged sword.

Grant Osborne says “At one level, blazing eyes picture the divine insight that penetrates to the core of the human situation.” Let me read that again because all of us need to remind you:

“At one level, blazing eyes pictures the divine insight that penetrates to the core of the human situation.” Now children, you can hide from the pastor. You can hide from your husband or your wife. You can hide from your children; you can hide from your co-workers.

But we cannot hide from God. He sees everything. In fact, there’s a passage in Hebrews I always forget these things when I’m putting the message together but there’s a passage in Hebrews that says “Everything is naked before the one with whom we are accountable.”

He sees it all. The psalmist says: Where can I go to escape your presence? If I go to the darkness, the darkness is like daytime to you.

We cannot hide from God. This is the judge. He’s doing this. I always want to point this out when we get there. Just don’t give them next week’s message today, Pastor.

Grant Osborne says “At one level, blazing eyes picture the divine insight that penetrates to the core of the human situation. But at a deeper level, it continues the image of the judge who knows and acts against his enemies.”

God is the divine warrior who knows the deep depravity of the nations and is going to war against them.

Listen to Philip Hughes: “The sword which is the Lord’s word has two edges so it never fails to cut.” Woe to us when we only want one side of the sword, the thing that cuts good and no cut of correction. He says “If it does not cut with the edge of salvation, it cuts with the edge of condemnation.”

The Word of redemption to all who believe is at the same time the word of destruction to all who refuse to believe.

Finally, William Hendrickson says: Notice that the Son of Man is here pictured as clothed with power and majesty and with awe and terror so majestic that John falls down like a dead man. He goes on: Those eyes flashing fire. Eyes that read every heart and penetrate every corner. Those feet glowing in order to trample down the wicked.

That loud reverberating voice like the mighty breakers booming against the rocky shore of Patmos. The sharp, long, heavy great sword with two biting edges. That entire appearance is the sun shining in full strength too intense for human eyes to stare at. The entire picture as a whole is symbolic of Christ the Holy One coming to purge His churches and to punish those who are persecuting His elect.

This is what we can draw from this image of Christ, and it doesn’t have to be a bunch of wild stuff; it’s very practical; it’s very real.

Now let me pause, and we’ll close. What is the truth applied? And I will try to do this today: Hebrews chapter 7 verse 24 and 25:

“He holds His priesthood permanently because He continues forever.” Consequently, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Please pause a moment, uttermost. We tend to take that and say to the uttermost parts of the world. And it can refer to that but really it’s better translated completely.

Any problem you have, He can solve that sin problem. We always want you to make a difference between the sin problem and problems in general because sometimes He doesn’t want to solve the problem in general because you keep creating the problem.

If He fixed it today, you’d be back in the same mess tomorrow; you’d just keep doing stupid stuff. And He’s not responsible to keep you from doing stupid stuff but He will change all the aspects of your sin.

And He does this consequently: He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him. Now let us go back then to Hebrews 4, which we looked at earlier:

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God.” Let us draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Now get it children please. The high priest whom we have said is standing in the midst of the lampstands in the midst of the church interceding, correcting. It’s applying what we need. And what we need is grace in suffering.

Can I remind you that the book of Hebrews was written to strengthen suffering Christians? It’s appropriate then that these passages come from that book isn’t it? Now let me give you something:

Since the purpose of His intercession is to supply mercy and grace to a suffering church, we need not hesitate to come to Him. Too many times, we’re trying to do it in our own strength.

We try to fix it; we try to make it right. I promise you there’s not a person on the planet better for nagging their way through life than yours truly. And sometimes you just can’t do it that way. You’ve got to go to God, and you’ve got to admit: “I can’t do it. I need your help.”

And this is the case with the suffering church. We can only compromise so far to get the world to leave us alone sooner or later we have to stand for Christ.

We need not hesitate to come to Him. Now I want you to think a moment about Adam. The first thing Adam did when he sinned was hide from God. Why did he do that? Because he had no advocate; he had no one to plead his case. He had no one to stand in the gap.

His only options were somebody to intercede, which he did not have or banishment. The same options apply today.

If we will not come to Christ then the only other answer is out of the garden but because our high priest stands in the midst of the church offering correction and making intercession He said Pastor can I be gone too far? He wouldn’t try to correct you if you were beyond correction. Amen?

Because His correction is an act of His love. He’s standing in the midst of the church symbolized by the lampstands offering correction and making intercession.

And because of that, we can come confidently to the throne of grace. We will not be sent out of the garden as Adam was but we will be received into His arms. Amen?

Father God thank You for this day for these words.