Revelation 1:11ff

the ability to come, to open your word, and to understand it. Lord, it's amazing that you would reveal yourself to us.

So, bless us this morning, Lord. May our thoughts be towards you, and may we grow with the grace and knowledge of that one who loved us and gave himself for us.

Amen. Revelation chapter 1.

I got asked a question about when I said, hey,

I think the red letter edition has wrongly made the letters red in verse 8.

That's God speaking, meaning God the Father. Someone asked me, you know, did

I have anything other than me just disagreeing that it was done wrong? And I said, yes.

So, if anybody else is asking that question before I start, turn your Bible over to Revelation 21.

And look at verse 22. It says, And I saw no temple in it, and here it is, for the

Lord God the Almighty, and listen to the distinction that's made, and the

Lamb are its temple. So, you see, even the book of Revelation has made a distinction between the

Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. Who's the Lamb? Jesus. Okay, so that's why

I believe that there's, obviously the red letters aren't inspired in the sense that that's how it was written.

I think it's a, it doesn't help interpreting that passage by making those red.

Because that's not Jesus speaking. That's God the Father the Almighty speaking. If anybody else had that question.

If you didn't, let that fleet from your memory. I'm going to pick up in verse 9 and read to the end of the chapter.

And then walk through the text. We'll pick up in verse 10 where we left off.

But I'm going to start in verse 9. It says, I, John, your brother and fellow partaker, in the tribulation of the kingdom and the perseverance which are in Jesus, I was on the isle of Patmos because 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 the sound of a trumpet saying, write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.

And in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like the Son of Man. He was clothed in a robe reaching to his feet, girded across his chest with a golden sash.

His head and his hair were like wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.

His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in the furnace.

And his voice was like the sound of many waters. And in his hand he held seven stars. And out of his mouth came a sharp two -edged sword.

And his face was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him,

I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he placed his right hand on me saying,

Do not be afraid, for I am the first and the last, the living one, the one I was dead.

And behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and Hades. Therefore, write these things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which are about to take place after these things.

As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in your right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

So last week we left off at the end of verse nine and we're going to pick up in verse ten obviously this

John is still on the Isle of Patmos he is receiving this revelation that was given to God, given to Jesus.

He says, He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And he heard a voice behind him that was loud or a loud voice.

So this is one of the actually it's the only time we see the

Lord's day spoken of here. It said he was in the Spirit. Does this mean he was in a trance?

What does this mean? Does this mean he was zoned out? Actually I think there is a translation, it's a paraphrase that says in a trance.

Nobody has that in their translation here, do they? No? Okay. What it says is everybody's

Spirit, is it capitalized? It is? What does it mean to be in the

Spirit? Be indwelled.

Be a believer. Okay, we could say if someone is walking in the Spirit they will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

Does that mean that you can walk in the Spirit? Not walk in the Spirit. Does that mean the Spirit is residing within you? Which does it mean?

The Spirit is residing within you. Sure. It means further than that that you're actually at one with the

Spirit. You're not internally battling. Correct. You're not hindering the Spirit.

So it said he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. I take this to be he was in a mind ready to worship.

Why? Because of the Lord's Day. Now, church fathers and I think probably

Keith at some point in our church history we're doing over the next few weeks in the academy will develop the idea of what the

Lord's Day was. We understand the Lord's Day as being what? The first day of the week.

First day of the week and why? Because that's the day that the

Lord resurrected. That's why. Because they gathered when did

Jesus appear resurrected? It was on the first day of the week.

It was on the first day of the week. He appeared in the garden to the Marys. He saw

Peter, James, John. Then later that day what did he do? Remember he walked through the wall and he said to them it is me.

It is I. I am the resurrected one and he even, I think I brought this up last week, he even told those that were in that inner room, he said

I want you to reach out. I want you to touch me. I want you to touch the scars on my hands and my feet and I want you to feel me because I am flesh and bone.

That does add more merit to what Thomas said later when they said hey dude you missed it.

He was here. And what did he say? Until I'm able to do the same thing you guys did

I won't believe it. So all he was wanting to do was have the same experience that they had.

So that was on the first day of the week. Jesus resurrected on the first day of the week or what we would call the eighth day.

You have seven days and the first day of the week would be the eighth day. Remember they circumcised men children of Israel, boys on what?

Didn't say on the first day of the week. It says the eighth day. Which would be the first day of the week. The other way. Then when did

Jesus appear to them again after his first day of resurrection?

First day of the week. Eight days later. He appeared to them again. That's when Thomas was there. Anybody remember what day it was when

Pentecost happened? It was the day of the Lord. That's right. So that's how we understand that day of the

Lord is the Lord's day. That's how we should understand when it says the Lord's day this is the first day of the week.

Now why was he in the spirit on the Lord's day? I'm going to make an inference. Meaning I'm going to draw a conclusion based on internal and external evidence that's not explicit.

That's what an inference is. I believe him being alone wanting to be with his fellow believers in worship.

He was unable to do that. So what was he doing? He had his mind prepared to be in worship on the

Lord's day as Jesus had commanded him and then boom! Here's what happens.

Now you might disagree with me. That's fine. It says he was in the spirit on the

Lord's day and he heard behind him a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.

I don't think that Jesus was behind him and it sounded like a shafar was blowing in his ear.

Okay? I had a friend of mine that actually I went to Israel with him. He is a band director in Orange Park and he was a trumpet blower guy and I was like that is annoying.

He had that little thing that buzzed and it was like what are you prepared to be? The trumpet on that day?

So I don't think that Jesus was that annoying sound of a trumpet that you don't want to hear.

I think this is actually making a point that when Jesus spoke it was loud it was audible and it was powerful.

It was powerful. And it will even talk about the power of it here in just a minute. And that voice said to him he wasn't playing the tune like a trumpet saying this.

His voice was loud meaning like that trumpet and he said this. Here's the commission of the book.

Write a book or scroll. Does anybody say scroll? King James or ESV?

Say scroll. NASV. Mine is NAS. What is yours? Is it 20 or 95?

I think it's 20. Okay. That's why it's wrong. I'm just kidding. Write a book or scroll what you will see and send it to the seven churches.

It will be to Ephesus to Smyrna, to Pergamum or Pergamus depending on what translation you have to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

Why these seven churches? Do you remember in the introduction why these seven churches?

The postal route. It was most likely a postal route. I'm going to put it over here. So if this is

Patmos and this is not an actual just making it.

You would have come straight over here and you would have had Ephesus. And then you would have had

Smyrna. And then you go over a little ways and you would have had Pergamum, Thyatira.

Then you would have had Sardis. What's that?

Sardis. Yep, Sardis. And then you would have come down to Philadelphia. Philadelphia.

And then you would have ended up back down here at Laodicea. Are you saying that that's the actual route?

That's the actual route. That's the actual mail route that would have been I should have blown this up because obviously they're staggered a little bit.

But it's actually, if y 'all want to come up here and look at this afterwards, you'll see how it goes. It's an actual mail route that goes circular, meaning although it's in a horseshoe shape, that's how it would have ended up.

So it would have come here and this is how it would have went. This is how those letters would have gone. That's how it would have went.

That was the postal service for the Roman Empire.

That would have been that route. So, like I've said before, I believe there were seven copies that came, whoever that courier was, when he came across from the

Isle of Patmos, he hit Ephesus, he had seven copies of the seven letters to the seven churches.

Yes, sir. Okay. So not one letter to each church?

It would have delivered all seven letters? That's my conclusion. He doesn't say, hey, write one letter to seven churches.

He says, write seven letters to seven churches. So I believe in I think

I said this. It needed to be done quickly.

Now, me and Burt would agree that there was probably men here, here, and here, because these are local churches that would have been able to have guys to do it very quickly.

Understand, they didn't have copy and paste. And if they're handling the word of God, it would have taken some time.

And if we under based, because I have an early date, that time is short. So if John sends seven copies ready to be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, quickly.

Done. You're not going to take the 22 chapters of Revelation and copy them in a day.

I doubt it. Maybe, unless they had men that were going to do one section. Yes, sir. The ESV says, write what you see in a book.

Does yours say something different? The word, the book or scroll, the reason being is codices is actually what it's called.

They didn't come about until towards the end. I know why they have book, I understand, but it can be scroll.

Books were actually not, codices is what we have, was not really like this.

I think what I'm asking is... Was it a book or was it a scroll?

Or was it a letter? Is it a letter? It's letters, but letters didn't come in books, they came in scrolls.

Like, when Paul says, he's talking to Timothy, he wants his cloak, and he says, send me the parchments.

That's how I would have understood individual pieces of paper, leaflets, that were on pap, rod, vellum.

That wouldn't have been vellum back then, I don't think. It would have been on papyrus. Yeah, not vellum.

I guess that's where I'm confused then, because I always thought, and I can be corrected.

I can too. I always thought that, like, chapter 2 verse 1 through 6 is the letter to the church in Ephesus, and that that letter was ...

Okay, but hang on. They're getting this whole thing. They're getting this whole thing.

They're not getting... Hey, they didn't just send, hey, because when he gets here, he says, I want... send these letters to the churches.

This is going to be a circular book that when it gets to Ephesus, Ephesus is going to know what's going on here.

Then, when it gets from Smyrna, they're going to go to Pergamum, they're going to know what's going... what admonition that took place from here to here.

Okay? So they're going to know what's going on within the church. I do believe that these seven churches are representative, although real, represent the atmosphere of the church as a whole in Asia Minor.

And when we get to Ephesus, we'll talk why I get... because we know a lot about the church of Ephesus.

A lot. I mean, we know from the time it was planted until we have this, and we know that that church is not really there today.

Okay? But we know when it was planted, Paul's second missionary journey in 52, probably.

I can't remember. I think that's kind of where me and Andy, when he did it at the academy, kind of around there. And then we know everything that took place from there.

We have letters going. I didn't want to get into a discussion last week about it, but when

Gary said, well, John would have been the leader there, he could have been basically the pastor there.

It would have sent him as exiled to basically so that the church would fizzle out, maybe.

I don't think that John was the pastor of the church, based on the writings that we already have.

Based on the time that we have, the writings that we have, when Paul was executed, he wrote a letter between 65 and 66 to Timothy.

Where was Timothy the pastor at? Ephesus. Ephesus. My dating is correct.

It was written in 67. There's a very good possibility that when that letter came across from here, Timothy was still there.

When we get there, we can talk about Timothy's role in the church and all of that, because we're drawing conclusions based on what we know from the letters to Timothy, based on what's written here.

It's a circular writing. They didn't get just this little snippet. They got all of this.

And when we get to the end of chapter three, after we talk about the churches, I know if y 'all are thinking anything like me, well then what was the relevance of those seven letters hearing about the coming destruction of Jerusalem?

That's what I would think. Right? That's what I would think. So, these seven churches, real seven churches, real seven issues, well five with issues, two with none.

Two with none. And admonitions. Then he says in verse 12, then

I turn to see the voice. Is that not an odd way of saying it?

I don't know about y 'all, but when I turn, I'm not looking for a voice, I'm looking for the one that came out of. He says,

I turn to see the voice that was speaking with me. I believe that is intentionally said that way, for a reminder of what he has told him, write down what you see.

This is apocalyptic revelation. Can you see voices? With apocalyptic revelation you can, just like in Daniel, when he heard the bear say, come and eat.

You remember that? Bears can talk in apocalyptic literature in Daniel, so you can see this voice.

And when he turned to see that the voice that was speaking, and having turned,

I saw seven golden lampstands. In the middle of the lampstands,

I saw one like the Son of Man. So, he turned and he saw a lampstand.

Where do we see the lampstand in the Old Testament? And what is the lampstand? Yes, yes, but let's say this would have been either the curtain or the gates that would have come in.

You'd have had to raise an altar. You'd have come through. You would have had, right here you would have had labor.

Then you would have had showbread. You would have had seven.

And you would have had altar of incense. And here you would have had... The first thing that John sees when he turns is the lampstand.

I don't think that's insignificant. I think it's important. As that priest would have come through here.

Remember the top of the tabernacle? Forget the temple for a second. The tabernacle, because even in the book of Hebrews, it never really addresses the temple.

It addresses this part. This part here, you may remember what the top of it was made out of?

Seal skin. That's right. This part here was covered with seal skin and then tarp.

How dark would that have been in there? What was the only thing that was glowing in there?

The lampstand. The lampstand. And why? Dude, you'd have walked into...

If you would have been a priest, not the high priest, because he's the only one that would have went in here, but if you take

Samuel or any of the other guys that tended this and this, if you would have walked through that, what would the first thing your eyes would have been drawn to?

The light. The light. You walk into a dark room, if you're not looking for the light switch, you're looking for the light.

So when he walks in, the first thing he turns, what's the first thing John sees?

He sees the glow of the lampstand. So he didn't have an iPhone? Probably not!

So, he sees the lampstand and the menorah had seven bowls.

Interesting. The menorah would have had seven bowls that had wicks that glowed.

This ain't saying seven bowls. This is saying seven lampstands.

Seven lampstands. There's a passage that's in Good morning.

There's a passage in I think it's in Zechariah I can't remember.

Chapter 4 maybe? You can go back and look. Chapter 4 or chapter 7. I think it's chapter 4. And it talks about, you know, in his vision, him seeing the seven bowls that were glowing representative of the

Holy Spirit that would come. That's in that same idea of the lampstand being the brightness that would represent the

Holy Spirit and its brightness was also in the vision of Zechariah.

You can go back and read that. I think it's in chapter 4. And he says in the middle of that lampstand

I saw the one like the Son of Man. Now, if there was anybody that was acquainted with Jesus Christ I don't think there would have been anybody more acquainted at this point with Jesus Christ than John.

I've said it time and time again. He's Jesus' favorite. He was the one that reclined at Jesus on his bosom that night that he was betrayed.

He was one of those who asked, which one will it be? And then what did he say? He would have been one of those that would have said, is it

I that will betray you? He is also the one that saw Jesus, his humanity unveiled on the

Mount of Transfiguration and his face glowed with brightness.

He also at this point had already seen the resurrected glorified God. Matter of fact, you know when you see him on the day he resurrected he was so fast he outran

Fat Peter. He outran the Fat Fisherman to the tomb so he could go in and see.

And then he saw him eight days later and then on top of that, what else did he see?

The Bible says for forty days. And then he saw him in Galilee and then he saw him just outside Jerusalem when he ascended.

So if anybody is acquainted with the Son of Man, it would be John. Why use the terminology

Son of Man? Anybody have any ideas? This is heavy on the

Old Testament. Who used the Son of Man? Daniel.

Ezekiel as well. Ezekiel did as well but in this case when you're talking about this is heavy on Daniel chapter 7 because his description of Daniel in chapter 7 and in chapter 10 are right here.

So the Son of Man under Daniel's representation of the

Son of Man, that just meant, hey, this was a real guy. This was a real person that had flesh and bone.

The idea did not develop into a messianic figure until the intertestamental time.

So in the intertestamental time, the Son of Man then began to be understood by the Jewish people, hey, the

Son of Man is going to be the Messiah. That's why when Jesus, many times when He came in, most of the

Gospels, it's the Son of Man He speaks of Himself. It's in John that He speaks of Himself as the

Son of God. But all the other Gospels, He speaks of Himself as the Son of Man. And as He's talking to those men, whether it be the

Jewish people or the Jewish leaders, what did He say? They would say the Son of Man and what did they want to do?

They wanted to pick up stones to kill Him. Why? Because they knew that He was claiming to be the

Messiah and to be deity. So here it is. He says, I saw one like the

Son of Man. He was clothed in a robe, reaching to the feet, girded across his chest with a golden sash.

And here's the some of the same description that was in Daniel chapter 10 when

Daniel got the revelation of his last vision. His head and his hair were like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like the flame of fire.

His feet were like burnished bronze when it had been glown in the furnace and His voice was like that of many waters.

Once again, His voice had power. So Him being clothed with a robe to His feet, what did the priest wear?

What did the priest wear? That's right. They wore robe. What did they wear? They wore girded about sash.

So we're seeing Christ in this vision to John in His priestly duty, standing in where the light is, in the midst of where God is dwelling.

He says here, He was girded across His chest with a golden sash. Now, why is it across the chest and not around His waist like the vision in Daniel?

Don't know. I heard one guy one time say, hey, when the guy's doing his priestly duties, he puts it around his waist.

Then when he's done, he kind of flips it over and wears it as a sash. I begin to investigate.

I was like, okay, that sounds maybe okay. You know what?

Zero evidence of that. Zero. I mean, I guess if you're a commentator, you can just make whatever up and people are supposed to believe you.

So why is it across His head this way? No idea. But it's the same type of golden sash that a priest would have worn doing his duties, and we see

Christ still as an intercessory priest in the midst of these golden lampstands. And His head was like,

His hair was like that of white wool. What did white wool represent hair? A hoary head what?

What's that? Wisdom. Wisdom. Yes. Where did we see hair like wool and white like snow?

In Daniel. We saw that. That was representative of God, the Ancient of Days being that of absolute wisdom.

Now what do we see? We see the Son of Man with the same identity. His eyes like a flame of fire.

Why would He have eyes like a flame of fire? He can see right through you.

You ever seen somebody have some of that gaze? They get mad at you and they kind of give you that eye?

Well, Jesus has got those eyes. He can peer right into the heart of your soul, into your emotions, into your spiritual being, and He sees all things.

Those eyes, and they can purify your absolute motive, your heart.

Hey, think about the things that we say and do. We often think that we do things in pure motive.

Right? You know how self -deceived we are? On that day, when our things are tested with that fire, we're going to find out that those things that we did in pure motive may not have been pure at all.

Jesus, with His eyes, He can look right directly into your soul and see whether those motives are pure or impure, your actions.

Are they doing for the glory of Him? Are you just doing them out of duty? Or are you doing them for yourself? And then

He says here, His feet were like burnished bronze when it is to be made to glow in the furnace.

Well, what would be the significance of having burnished bronze feet?

Anybody? Burnished bronze feet, buddy,

He can trample on the feet of His enemy. He can trample, stomp them down.

You're going to see later in this book, you're going to see the lamb. They're scared of the lamb. They're crying out for all of the rocks and the mountains to fall on them because they're scared of the lamb.

And when you get to the end of the book, it says, throw them into the wine press of the wrath of God and let the

Lamb of God trample them down and crush them as grapes are crushed in the wine press.

I think it's in Isaiah 61. It talks about that messianic figure.

I think it's in Isaiah 61. The messianic figure, as He is trampling down on His enemies, crushing them, splattering the blood of His enemies all over His robe, stomping them.

That's what hardened bronze boots will do. As a matter of fact, when you get to the depiction of Christ, which is my favorite depiction of Him, so much,

I had some ungodly stuff tattooed on me in my younger days. I had it covered up with a depiction of Revelation 19 on my arm.

So if you're listening by a live stream, don't call me a second commandment bilayer because I don't care.

I did it to cover up some ungodly things on me. I took the guy of the

Bible and I said, hey man, Revelation 19 draw me a picture, buddy. He drew it. And it's almost to the teeth.

Eyes like flame of fire, hair like wool, a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, boots like bronze.

His robe was that of being trampled down with blood splattered all over it.

It says here He had voice like many waters. Once again, why would His voice be like the sound of many waters?

Power. Me and Bert were talking a few weeks ago after the floods and everything that took place up there in the

Carolinas. A number of years ago, me and Sybil and the boys and her mom went up to Asheville and we wanted to go do the rapids.

So we did and they were boring. They were supposed to be very scary and we had more fun riding down the lazy river at Adventure Landing.

So I asked the guys like, hey man, we want something that's going to scare us to death.

And he said, well why don't you get to me? Just call me in the morning. I was like, maybe we might need a redneck translator to this guy.

So I called him. He said, meet me at Pigeon Forge. So we go up to Pigeon Forge where there's a dam.

Obviously there was nothing coming down and I was like, hey, so when he says, just wait.

They're going to open up that dam and when they open up that dam, it's just going to be awesome.

They opened up that dam a mile or so up and when he opened it up, you could hear that water coming.

I was like, what is that? He said, that's the water coming. The roar and the rush and it sounded like 15 freight trains coming.

And when it came by, we were standing by the side, when it came by, it blew your,

I mean it's down below, it blew your clothes to see the amount of force with that. Well then we got in and we rode it and we were about scared to death.

Luke about flew out. The guy had to go -go -gadget arm and had to grab you before you flew out. So the force of water, just the sound of sheer force of water rushing, that was the sound of the son of man.

And this says here he had a sharp two -edged sword and his face was shining like that, the sun in its strength.

What's represented? Alright, let's ask this. Did John actually see a two -edged sword flying out of Jesus' mouth?

Was Jesus walking around with a sword? No. What's it mean?

What's that? Okay, but what does the word of God do? It cuts you.

It can either, and it can be used in judgment, just like in Revelation 19 you're going to see that sword that comes out of his mouth.

He speaks the word and it's represented of all the nations of the world gathered against God's people.

He speaks the word. Fingers never laid. He speaks the word and it is over.

That voice that comes out, that sword that comes out of his mouth is that of judgment. He speaks it and it's over.

Yes, the word of God is sharper than any two -edged sword. Able to divide even the soul, the spirit, the bone, and the marrow.

I don't know about y 'all, but I can't make a distinction between the soul and the spirit. Can you? I'm so intertwined in our being that we can't even pull it apart.

Well, the word of God says He can take that sword with His mouth and He can dissect that and remove it apart and lay it open to see the thoughts and intents of a person's heart and mind.

It says then, His face was like that of the sun shining in its strength. Once again,

John was very acquainted with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Is this not one of the exact quotes that came when he was up on the

Mount of Transfiguration? What did he see when he saw Jesus? And His humanity was revealed.

Was unveiled. What did he see? His face glowing. Glowing in His deity.

And in a natural response for anybody that comes into contact with the resurrected, glorified

God -man, here it is. He says, I saw Him and I fell at His feet like a dead man.

That is the correct response to someone who has come in contact with God Almighty.

This nonsense of men saying they've seen Jesus. Some preacher here in town said he had a vision of Him.

I just let the Lord suffer. And all kinds of nonsense. But you come in contact with Jesus Christ.

You will hit the floor. You will hit the floor. And He said

He placed His right hand on me saying, Do not be afraid for I am the first and the last. The living one.

The one who is dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.

What's the significance of the right hand? Sorry Andy. Sorry Bert.

What's the significance of the right hand? Sorry Luke. It's the hand of power.

Matter of fact, if I remember correctly, we'll read this morning in Isaiah 41 where it says,

God will uphold you with the power of His right hand. Hey, you know, when Daniel saw this the

Son of God in His pre -incarnate form and He fell in chapter 10 on the ground like a dead man.

What did the pre -incarnate Christ reach down and do? In chapter 10 of Daniel. Remember? He reached down.

He said when He touched Him, He upheld Him and picked Him up because He fell like a dead man in fear. Same thing here.

What happens? He reaches down with His right hand and He picks Him up and He says the same thing

He said to Daniel and at every other time that people come in contact with Christ is don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid. Maybe Andy preached two weeks in a row.

I think it was. I could be wrong. He might remember, but I thought he said it was 356 times the

Bible says do not be afraid. 360. Yep. Yep. 360.

360. I guess we have a tendency to come in contact with God and His holiness.

We have a tendency to be afraid. Well here, He's saying don't be afraid and He tells

Him why. He doesn't just give Him a command. I like that about this New Testament. It gives us a command and then tells us why to carry it out.

It's the imperative the imperative and the indicative. The imperative is the command.

The indicative is saying why. He says don't be afraid. Why? Because I am the first and the last.

I am the living one and I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.

That is something to be thankful for. The very one that speaking to John and He was struck like a dead man.

He says you don't have to be afraid. I was the one who was dead and I'm alive.

Not only am I alive now. Remember there were several resurrections of people but what did they wind up doing later?

They died again. What happens here? Jesus doesn't die again. He's forevermore the one who is alive and then

He says this for I have the keys of death and Hades. I know some translations.

I think the New King James and King James probably have it as hell. Hell is not the most accurate indication of this and here's the reason why.

Hell What is hell?

Place of punishment. I agree with you.

What's Hades? Yes. Under Greek mythology, yes.

This was the place where all the dead went. What would be the name of that?

If we were going to go from an Old Testament, what would that name be? What was the grave called in the

Old Testament? Shield. So to say that He has the keys of death and hell is not as accurate as saying that Jesus has the keys to death and Hades.

Is anybody getting released from hell? Huh? No. Matter of fact,

Jesus even said when He said on Peter's confession in Matthew chapter 16 He says

Peter, upon your rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not. That's actually what it is.

The gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Meaning death will not overcome

God's church. Death will not be able to stop the growth of God's kingdom.

Hell is a place of punishment, not a place where all of the underworld or all of the dead go.

Got a question? I can see it spinning. Like when you get that little thing and you wait for it to load?

What's up? No, I was just thinking I'm not saying, well let me just say this separate, total separation or eternal separation from God to me is a form of hell.

You know what I mean? Yeah, well hell is a place of punishment but under the Old Testament did not believe, didn't the

Old Testament saints go to Hades? Yes, they did. They did go to Hades.

Why? Because Hades was the place that was the shield. Shield. Now we can get into the longer discussion, we don't have time to do it today, but even when

I talk through 2 Samuel chapter 12 when David's under his judgment by God, he killed his son that Bathsheba had.

Remember, Nathan comes to him and he said because of that your son will die and he said this, he says I can go to him.

He says, I have mourned. He's dead. Because they said, hey you did all these things now, why aren't you?

He's dead and he goes, look he's gone to the place of the dead. I cannot go he cannot come to me.

But what did David say? He says I can go to him meaning shield. Now we can talk about implications of that and application.

Was he talking about I can go to him in heaven and all that? That's not the immediate context. That's an application of that text.

He's saying, look, when he was here I could go to him. Now he is gone.

He can't, the child, can't come back to me. But I can go to the grave.

Shield. Think about Psalm 22 The Messianic that when it talks about he would not leave his

Messiah his Holy One, where? Did Jesus go to hell? When Jesus died, did he go to hell?

No. Jesus never went to hell. Did he experience torment and punishment on the cross?

Yes, but he took his last breath into my hands I commit my spirit and prayed and then he died.

Where did he go? He was in paradise. He did not go to hell. Did he go to shield?

Yes. Jesus went to shield. He went to the grave. But he didn't stay there.

He didn't stay there. That was the promise and the vindication of God's servant in Psalm 22, that he was going to raise him from shield.

In the book of Job, Job talks about the unseen. Yeah, the shield, grave.

Now, I'm going to have to stop here. We'll pick up in 19 and finish the chapter next week.

We only got like a minute, two minutes. You have in I think it's 2

Peter 2 verses 4 and 6. I think pretty sure. You have the place of confinement for evil angels per se.

It talks about those who did not keep their abode. They have been now held in chains to a place of punishment.

It says hell, but the word that you use there is the word Tartarus. And that word is a place held for punishment and was understood by the

Greek speaking people of the place of punishment. Even the Greek people had a distinction between Hades and Tartarus, the place of punishment.

You understand? Understand? No? Okay. Go ahead. The very beginning of 16 in his right hand he held seven stars.

You didn't cover that. I ain't got. I'm going to get. Oh, you did it on purpose. Yes, because he tells us what they are as we get to verse 20.

I think it's verse 20. Is that right? He says, okay, and I'm going to handle that because that's a little bit more complicated than what you think.

Okay? It's not as easily handled. Thank you for understanding.

I was paying attention. Trust me. If you remember when I read through it the first time in here,

I says, hey, I wish as we went through Revelation when it says the golden lampstands are the churches, or the seven stars are the angels, and the seven lampstands are the churches,

I wish that at times that the rest of the book of Revelation was that clear, and everybody was like, that ain't nearly as clear as you think, so I will confuse you next week about it, because it ain't as clear.

We talked about that the second or third week. I don't think you were here. The church of Jerusalem maybe would have gotten that.

The reason being, the church of Jerusalem at this point was actually probably very insignificant in the sense of, they would have saw the surrounding armies coming.

There would have already been the division. 66, the wars would have broke out. As they made their way towards Jerusalem, what did the

Christians do? They left. Had God already made the judgment on that city? It was over. Yeah.

And that will get to, when we get to the end of chapter 3, I'll make the significance of why one probably didn't go to Jerusalem for sure, and the significance of these churches hearing about a destruction of another place of worship.

You'll close this prayer? Oh yeah, absolutely. Heavenly Master, Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this time of study,

Lord. We just ask that in everything that we do, that your will will be done, Lord, and that we will seek your will in everything that we do.

Thank you for the obvious study of Brother Michael, and just continue to bless him. Bless us to hear and understand these things, and Lord, just pray for our

Brother Keith as he brings thy word this morning, Lord. Bless each and every one of us. Forgive us for our sins, and may we fall short.