Burn on the Altar — G.W. North

We have, during these evenings, been considering the great truth of the altar and the fire. I said that I would continue tonight in that theme, God willing, and, well, God is willing, so that's what we're going to do.

Praise the name of the Lord. So far we have been tracing our truth mostly in the Old Testament, but tonight I want to come with you into the New Testament, and I understand we needn't leave the building till 10 .30, and it's just nearly ten past eight, so we can rarely have our Saturday night out, and we can come into the Word together and let us open our hearts to let God speak to us.

Having an High Priest and an Altar

You know, in the Hebrews letter, there are many things that the writer tells us we have. I would advise you at some time to take up a pencil and paper and start at chapter one and go right through the epistle and put down the things that the writer says we have, and then come out of all positional truths, if that's the sort of background you've been brought up in, and look at experimental truths, and say, well, have I got these?

We have is for the church. Churches are made up of individuals like you and me, and it's glorious to know that we have these things. Look with me, for instance, into this Hebrews letter, and in the eighth chapter, we find these great things.

Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum, we have. Amen. That's the way to sum it all up, isn't it? He's not saying, now I have outlined a sort of a series of things. He's not saying that.

I'm not just acquainting you with truth. We have. That's right. What a glorious truth this is. We have such an high priest, bless him. We have an high priest, hallelujah. It's wonderful to have a high priest.

Turn to chapter thirteen. We have, in verse ten, an altar. We have an high priest. We have an altar. Glory be to the name of the Lord. You know, the wonder of Jesus Christ, his great genius, his tremendous power, was this.

That he turned the cross into an altar. So, we know what the altar is, Jesus, so far as we know, we are not told anyway, that he never did go to an earthly altar. I think one of the great things that made people hate the Lord Jesus Christ is that he didn't find it necessary to take sacrifices to an altar.

Never had to go and get atonement, make atonement for sin through a lamb or an ox or whatever it be that, praise God, other people trailed along to the altar and Jesus never went. And this is undoubtedly one of the reasons why we are told in John chapter seven that his brethren didn't believe in him, didn't trust him.

They, right there in their home, there was this glorious one who never found it necessary to go to a human altar. What a marvelous thing it was. You know, at the very time when he was designated the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, he was in Jordan where everybody else had been and confessed their sins and he confessed none, hallelujah.

He went into Jordan to fulfill all righteousness, not to get into it. And what a tremendous truth it was then, beloved. Well now he, this great lamb, Jesus Christ, bless him, he died and in dying he turned that scaffold, that cross, that place where he dealt with sin and took it away and where he bore sins, the great accumulation of sins and where he was punished for sins as though he was the sinner.

He, where he shed the redeeming blood, where he cried his last great cries of victory, he turned that cross, having used the cross for the glory of God to deal with sin and the devil's man and deal with devil himself and all evil spirits and everything else.

He turned that cross into an altar. He had an altar. And so when you read that great verse in Hebrews 13, you don't start looking round for an altar, you have an altar only if you have a cross and crosses are not worn on chains round your neck or on a pin in your lapel.

They're neither made of gold or silver, large or small, or wood or anything, blessed be the name of the Lord. The cross that you and I have is the glorious cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. And only if men and women have the cross in their life, let me emphasize this, only, only, only if they have the cross, do they have the altar.

Hallelujah, let's get that very clear. We have an altar. Not only is there a high priest, beloved, that had the altar, you will know this, not only did the high priest of old go to the altar, so did all the other priests.

They had the same altar as the high priest, didn't have two different altars, just the one same altar. No different cross for you or for me, all the nonsense that's talked about bearing a cross and, you know, I once heard a man, way back in the last war, I don't know whether some of you can remember that, I can remember the 1418 war too, I can't remember the one before that, nothing to do with the wars, but I can just remember the 1418 war, I can remember that all right.

But I can remember during the last war, I was then a young man, fairly young, way back there in Kent, and I remember sitting in a chapel there and a gentleman had come down from a neighboring village and he started to preach, and because some of you people don't know anything about this, but we used to have coupons for clothes and coupons for petrol and coupons for this and bread units for that and I don't know what, and he sort of talked about all these rather difficult things and he said, you know, all these things they had up to make our cross, and I said, I couldn't help it, liar, I was a man purporting to be preaching the gospel, I think I must have had a fairly sort of fighting streak in me then when I was pretty young.

The whole glorious truth, beloved, is that the cross that we have is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the altar that we have is that glorious cross. Now once we understand this, we have come then to the place of fire.

Pentecost and the Fire of God

And you will understand, those of us that were together last evening, and we were thinking about Acts chapter 2, when the sound of the mighty rushing wind heralded the coming of the burning fire, it was because those people were on the altar, amen, and they were first seen as a people consuming in the fire of God, hallelujah.

Christ's Heavenly Priesthood and Self-Offering

I don't know whether you've ever considered this, for instance, in that 8th chapter of the book of Hebrews, we read this, that the Lord Jesus is a minister of the sanctuary, verse 2, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man.

For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. If he were on earth, he should not be a priest, and so on. And what a wonderful thing it is, beloved, that the Lord Jesus Christ is a high priest now.

He is engaged in a great priestly ministry in the heavens, and he has to offer something to God, this great Melchizedek, of whom you read, this great high priest, in his glorious manhood, taken up in the heaven, hallelujah, he's this glorious man, this wondrous Jesus, amen, it's so wonderful, he has to be offering gifts and sacrifices to God.

What is he offering? What are these gifts? What are these sacrifices? May I go further, because God is not interested in the what's, that is, if you speak about animals and birds, you can refer to those in the Newt agenda, what it is, what's he offering, a lamb, what's he offering, a goat, what's he offering, a pigeon, what's he offering, an ox, what's he offering, a meal offering, and so on, if you're thinking in terms of Old Testament offerings, it's who is he offering to God.

When he offered, when those priests of old, they only offered the what's, the it's, they never offered the who's, that is, the animals were all dead, any kind of life in them that they had was extinct, before ever they got on to the altar, praise the name of the Lord.

But now, he is offering unto God, who is he offering, blessed be the name of the Lord. This is one of the great things, beloved, that you and I need to get deep into our hearts, he offered himself unto God, once for all, as that great redeeming sacrifice, that once blessed life laid down, that great sin offering, everything you want, he offered himself at once, so whatever in the world is he offering up.

Well, I want to tell you, his intention is that you should come and be offered to God, that your life should be a life on the altar, that you should not just bring things to the altar, but that you should be handed over so completely to the Lord Jesus Christ that he puts you on that altar and keeps you there.

If you offer God money and not yourself, you're insulting him and he doesn't want it, keep it in your pocket. If you offer him your car, you offer him your home, you offer him anything and you're not on the altar yourself, you're insulting him, better keep it.

Some people will offer God anything so long as he'll leave them alone, doesn't interfere with them. They'll offer, promise him this, promise him a thousand things, he never receives them, he doesn't believe.

God's a great unbeliever, did you know that? He doesn't believe millions and millions of people, he doesn't believe them. Sounds bad to hear a preacher say that, doesn't it? You've got to be very careful, and I have, to know whether he believes you and whether he believes me.

Oh, if you've got this, that and the other, he won't want it, thank you, if he can't have you. Amen. Joshua had it right when he said, as for me and my house. That's right. That's the way God has revealed it in the great scriptures of truth.

And so the Lord, he wants to get hold of your life in his great priestly power, and offer it to God from his own wonderful hand. Now, that's by way of introduction. When we turn into the book of the revelation, please, it's not the book of the revelations plural, it's the book of the revelations singular.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Priestly Kingdom

That's very important for you and I to understand. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to him. And in that wonderful first chapter and second chapter, moving on, of course, through the book, when John hears the great call of God, he is in the island that's called Patmos, as you know, in verse nine of chapter one.

He's there in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Glory be to God. I'm ever so glad that Jesus is patient. Think of it, beloved, if he would be impatient. If he hadn't been prepared to wait two thousand years for you, and twenty-five years since you've been born, and another five years since you say you've been baptized in the Spirit.

If he hadn't been prepared to wait and be patient, where would we all be? What would have happened to us? Oh, glory be to the name of the Lord, that he's a king and he's a king of patience, and it's one of his crowning glories.

Hallelujah. And John is there in this same kingdom and in this same patience. And you will remember in verse five it says that this message is from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, and the him that loved us and washed us.

That's the great word, loose, that's it. When God really washes you, you get loose from them. They're not binding you anymore, these sins. Hallelujah. You're loose from them. If you were a time waster, a life waster, a daydreamer, a curser, a swearer, a fornicator, a cheater, a murderer, whatever you've been, if you've been washed by Jesus, you're loose from the sins.

Is that right? How many of you would stand up and say, I'm loose from them, they don't hold me anymore, they've gone. Praise God. Loose from our sins. Because you see, in verse one, oh I can tell I'm in a mood to keep preaching for all night.

In verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him, to show unto his slaves, note that, his slaves, things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his slave John.

It came from Jesus the slave. And it was for the slaves. And he signified it through his slave. And alright, and in verse six, having been loose from our sins, that's the slavery in which we used to live.

Slaves to the devil. He's made us kings and priests, or a kingdom of priests, unto God and his Father. Hallelujah. John is there, beloved, on the Isle of Patmos, and he's there to receive this great gift revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. You know the rest of it. He hears the voice like the trumpet. Verse twelve, he turns to see the voice that spoke with him. And being turned, he says, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like unto the sun man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the peps with a golden girdle.

His head and his hairs were white, like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like a defined 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 went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. Amen. What a glorious, wonderful revelation is this.

Now you will see that John saw this great high priest. He's there to do the high priest's work, which you will know was to trim the lamps. In the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, it was the high priest's job ministry alone.

None of the other priests, they couldn't trim the lamps. The high priest had to do that. And so he has a revelation of the great high priest. Hallelujah. Through whose blood and sacrifice we have been made into a kingdom of priests.

That we are in the priestly kingdom of God. Praise the name of the Lord. You will know that the priestly kingdom of old time was a different kingdom from everybody else's. It was like the difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God in ancient Israel.

You will know and remember that when they went into the promised land and Moses had them all lined up on the Moabitish side of Jordan, ready to cross into the promised land. He told them, and you can read this for yourself in the book of Deuteronomy.

I won't tell you what chapter. Read the book right through. You'll find it. And it says that there, when they got there, their days were going to be as the days of heaven upon earth. The kingdom of heaven was at hand for them.

They only had to follow Joshua and Jesus, if you like. Of course you know their interchangeable names Joshua and Jesus, through Jordan, that is through death and resurrection, into the kingdom of heaven.

Hallelujah. That's what it was going to be like in there. But in the promised land, there was the priestly kingdom, into which nobody else could enter. That was entirely the kingdom of God. Amen. You say, well God was over there.

That's right. Of course he was. This will help you to understand the difference between kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God in scripture. These people only functioned in the tabernacle. They lived in the tabernacle.

They lived in the house of God. The atmosphere of God. The sacrifices of God. The altar of God. The labor of God. The lampstand of God. The golden altar of God. The table of God. That's where they lived.

Kingdom of God. At the center of the kingdom of heaven. There. That's great. That's why you read in your New Testament that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11.

So in they went. They took the kingdom by force. That's right. But, if you are going to have the kingdom of God, they'd all have to have been born again out of their own tribe and families into Aaron's family.

You only get that by birth. That's what he said. Only the born again ones enter the kingdom of God. John 3. Except you're born from above, he said, you won't see, you can't enter the kingdom of God. But the violent can take the kingdom of heaven by force.

Understand that and you'll understand a lot. Amen. And may God teach us the great truths. And he says, as he looks into the vision, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ there. Like the son of man. It's the high priest.

He's come to tend to the people. He's come to tend to the seven golden candlesticks. The seven golden candlesticks are churches. Hallelujah. And he has come to order them. The priests themselves, that's you and I, can't do this.

He's concerned. It's his job. And this is what he's showing John. Do you remember that John was great on this truth? In the gospel, you can read time and time again. Right at the beginning. In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. In him was life. And so on. And the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness. And the darkness comprehendeth it not.

Hallelujah. He's on the great truth of the life of God in the world. Through sons of men. There it is. Jesus became the son of man. And now in his great resurrection, he's come down to see that the light is shining.

That's his work. And that's what he's concerned about. And this is where John's seated then. Right in the midst of this. I can almost hear his famous first words again. I must be about my father's business.

Hallelujah. And there he is. He's down there. Amongst the churches. The light of the world. The only hope of the world. I wonder if I might say then what hope has the world got? Hallelujah. He sees this great one.

Bless him. It's like unto the son of man. That's what it's like. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, you're a manager. We're all the children of men. He's right down here in the churches are made up of the sons of men.

That's what they're made up of. And he's concerned to see that through us, beloved, the light shines out into this world. And so he comes. What a glorious thing it is. And you know this great description.

You must have read it many times. I hope that there have been those hours when you've meditated upon it and let the Lord speak its great glory into your heart from the crown of his head down to his feet.

And we're going to look in verse 15. And we're going to look at the Lord. And his feet, they were like unto fine brass, as if they burn, burn in a furnace. Now had you been with us the last two evenings, you would have known the significance of that word burn.

The Altar as Israel's Furnace

And you will also know this, that the altar that was built for the Lord was at the entrance of the tabernacle and the temple was made of brass. You will also know that the altar was the furnace of Israel.

That's where the furnace burned. Israel had one furnace. It was on the altar. Glory be to the name of the Lord. It was fed by the fat. It was fed by the beasts. It was fed by the blood. It was fed by the carcasses.

It was fanned by the wind that blew. It was the furnace, the central furnace of Israel, the fire of Israel. And they saw him. John saw him. He's on the furnace. He's on the altar. He's rising up as it were from the altar.

Why there's such a fire burning in him? Then out of his eyes let the flames of it. He's on fire, head to foot. He's on fire. Glory, glory, glory. Standing in the midst of the church, burning, burning under God.

Sacrificed, still sacrificed. Given, still given. That's Jesus. God help us to see the glory of this wondrous son of man. This beloved is honored man above all. That God himself should come down and be called man's son.

Son of man. Hallelujah. And we look at him now. Oh, you see, turned Calvary, turned the cross into an altar. Beloved. Oh, hallelujah. You and I read about him in many instances, under many figures. You and I read about him we're taught all sorts of things about him.

But as the spirit of God ever taught you this, that the Lord Jesus is on the altar still. Or do you think he stepped off the altar onto a throne? And now he's sitting on the throne according to Hebrews 1.

You say, yes, that's what it says. But have you ever thought that they're nothing other than the same? What did you think? That's what we shall discover, my beloved brothers and sisters. When we get to heaven, we shall discover that the throne and the cross and the altar, they're all the same.

All the same. Hallelujah. But you say, surely his pain, his sufferings, they're all the same. Why? He's not hanging on a cross, but he's still on the altar. He turned the cross into the altar. That's what I'm talking about.

No pain in living on the altar. The person that lives on the altar is past pain. The person that lives in the fire, ask the three Hebrew lads that lived in Daniel's day. When that king looked into the fire that was heated seven times hotter than the normal furnace, he saw that the three young men were alive, and the force was like unto the Son of Man.

They weren't in pain, they weren't in tortures, they weren't being burned, because they'd always lived on the altar. That's why. Hallelujah. Jesus on the altar. Jesus burning. His face flaming like the sun.

His eyes flames of fire. His feet burning like fine brass as though they burned in a furnace. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Now look, he's in the midst of this place tonight. He's here. Because, beloved, the central offering of the church is unto God.

That must be Jesus. This glorious Christ of God. Amen and amen. You will know that the high priest went into the tabernacle or temple later, as it was, at the time of the evening sacrifice. That's when he went in to trim the lamps.

Whilst the evening sacrifice was ascending, whilst the lamb was being offered, whilst the flames were consuming the lamb, the high priest was ordering the lamps. They go together. They go together. They go together.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now know that he sent his first letter to the Ephesians. And also, if you know anything about the Ephesian letter, and I hope you do, you will find that again and again, in the Ephesian letter, I'm talking about Paul's letter to the Ephesians, of course.

How many of you have read it? You've all read Paul's letter to the Ephesians. All right. Read it again. And this time, take a pencil. Oh, if you don't mark your Bible, which I never do, but you may be one of those people who put underlines and tramlines and I don't know what all over your Bible.

But take a pencil and take a paper and put down all the verses that speak of in love, in love, in love. This great church had the ministry of love. They were people in love. They were told, for instance, right at the beginning by Paul, that they should, they have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, according as they had been chosen in heaven.

That they should be holy and without blame before God the Father in love. That was the state that God willed people to live in love. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now when God speaks about living in love, he's not just using sentimental terms, beloved.

He hasn't been reading paperback novels. He hasn't been watching television. When he speaks about love, he has his eye on a spot outside the city walls, which though men have never been able definitely to find, his eye still sees it, the place of the altar.

When he speaks about love, beloved, he's speaking of how Jesus was holy and without blame before him, of course, all his life. But he was thinking at that time when in love, he offered himself without spot to God.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That his love should carry him beyond the hatreds of men and beyond the devices of Satan and beyond sin that he bore on that cross, beyond the service that he rendered under God to bear away the sin of the world, to stay there in one great consuming flame of the eternal love that burned in his being and consumed him under God.

You will know, every one of you will know, if I ask you again, if you put up your hand, if you've read John's Gospel, I'm sure you have, you will find you come down to the end of the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel that Jesus as he rises could leave that upper room where they had broken bread and taken wine together and they sang their hymn and he began to move out on his way to be taken in the garden of Gethsemane.

He said, Arise, let us go hence that the world may know that I love the Father. Let's go. Hallelujah. Now that's why he went to Calvary. Not for you, first of all. Keep that clear. He went there for the Father in sheer love.

It was a love offering to God as the Son of Man. I who had nothing to offer, nothing to commend me, nothing upon which I could lay hands upon soiled, marred, twisted, bent, broken, dirty, filthy, nothing in me that God ever wanted or could want or could be associated with him.

And he came, blessing Jesus in my name and for my sake he went there as the Son of Man. What, this man? Could ever I have brought forth such a one that I should give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

David says it's not possible. And the prophets of old. But here comes the Son of Man, never the sin of my soul. God's gift to me in uttermost love. And comes and goes to the altar as the chief priest, for that's the great term.

The great priest, the high priest, we say, the chief priest. That is, going there for me as my leader, my chief, my great highest one. Offered himself. Nothing else was good enough. He didn't say, Oh, Father, I have gold and frankincense and myrrh.

It was given to me as a child. I offer it to thee. I don't want it. I've had enough of that. Nobody's redeemed with corruptible things as gold and silver. Nothing. We're moving in a new realm altogether.

God grant us understanding why we have light to light us. This small flickering candle before it's gone forever. Hallelujah. We say that the Son of God loved me, gave himself for me. And God can say the Son of Man loved me and gave himself to me.

A text like Hebrews 2, 9, 10. We've seen it. But we see Jesus made a little lover of the angels for the suffering of men, crowned with glory and honor. That he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

For it became him for whom are all things and under whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory. That's right. He was the great leader, the great high priest. To bring many sons into the glory of death which lay within the veil.

Now that's what it was all about. Every man in love to bring us under the glory of this great love. And I needn't remind you, they're dead. He stands in the midst of the churches to speak. That received messages of love.

That were told that they were just members of the same body. The body that was on the altar. We get body truth in our minds. All we can think of is miracles and carries martyr. And I don't know what. People going around keep laying hands on somebody.

You're a member of the body that was on the altar. Yes. So he talks to them. Here he is. And he tells them everything. And you know the great verse. But let's read it together. I suppose it's none is able to say it or make it tell like the words of scripture.

And here we are told. In verse 4 of chapter 2. I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Repent therefore. Remember therefore whence thou art fallen. And repent. Do the first words.

Well, I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy canvas, take out of his place. Except I repent. Well, this was Jesus' first love. His first love was to his father. Come on, he says. I want the world to know that I love the Father.

And he went through. And he turned the cross into an altar. Amen. And he's standing on the altar. And he says, you've got to come to your first love. And where is your first love? He's on the altar. You've got to get up onto that altar.

Unless he doesn't believe you love him. Not the kind of love that they call love in heaven. We talk about it. We sing about it. We dream about it. We fantasize it. We eulogize it. We dearly worship it.

Love divorced from reality. We like the sound of it. Love, real love. I want people to know what the love of God for God is. That I love the Father. And it's the love of God for God that God is talking about.

This is the sacred treasure that couldn't be given unto men except the Son of God break and burn himself upon the cross. This is the love that the blessed Holy Ghost came to shed abroad in our hearts.

Not one drop. Not one transient sight. Not one flickering gleam of light that filleth the heart with this same glorious love. That for him and for his sake we come to love with the love of God generously and graciously given unto us.

This that we could not have. That no one knows about until they have it. Speak to a blind man about the daylight. A person that never has had any sight. And talk to them of trees. And talk to them of birds.

And talk to them of blue skies or grey. There they can hear the words. They can believe about it. But they don't know. Here is the tragedy. Beware, beware lest you come and sit in churches and fellowships or whatever it is.

And you hear and you know and you understand somewhat. And yet you know deep inside your heart you haven't got that love. Come to handle words, a brain to grasp ideas. To love there. To shed abroad in your heart.

To love God. Come on, sis, this first love. Up on to the altar. Up on to the altar. Now you will know if you're familiar with John's gospel. That by the time you got down to the end of chapter three, the blessed writer there, he's talking about the bride.

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, sis. He says, here's the bridegroom's voice. He just stares there. He's rejoicing with the bridegroom and the bride together. And you will also know that this great book of the revelation is the book that reveals the bride.

You see her in the last two chapters. There she is. There she is. This great revelation of Jesus Christ. Oh God, make it a revelation deep down in your bowels tonight that it'll burn and burn and burn there.

That you'll see and understand truth. And know that it's above a corporation of your mind by your eyes with words in scripture. But it is the yielding of your soul. The giving up of everything. Everybody from this hope and dearest dreams.

And names and things that men can give unto you. Let's get up on that altar and burn in this great first love. Amen. Glory be to the name of the Lord. On the altar there. Let's have a look at your feet.

Burning like brass. If you're on the altar of the love of God. Most of all, this whiteness, this purity from which Jesus Christ came forth. Gotta get there. This is the altar light. Now you will know because it's been prayed out.

That is if you've been coming for this last. I know some of you haven't. But those of you that have been here have heard it prayed out. That the Israelites of old were not allowed to offer to God anything.

Scripture as a Figure of the Altar

No wasn't. It had to be without spot. It had to be without wrinkle. It had to be without lint. You will know beloved. And you can find it with me if you like in the Hebrews letter. You will know this great truth in Hebrews chapter 4.

Where we are told this in verse 12. That the word of God is living. It's quick. It's powerful. It's not slow at all. It's not dead. It's quick. It's powerful. It's sharper than any threaded sword. Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and the marrow.

And is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him. As who we have to do seeing then that we have this great high priest that is passed into the heavens.

Hallelujah. What's it all about? This is the great high priest. John sees him with the same sword. Two edged sword coming out of his mouth. There it is. The word of God coming out of his mouth. And you know what it's doing don't you?