Campbell Chapel Bob Bradley, Pastor
Jesus Is Alive Forevermore! and has authority over death Sunday Morning, April 8, 2012 Bob Bradley Revelation 1 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 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. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. John is writing. This is the same John that ran with Peter to the sepulcher. This is the same John. This is the same that lean upon Jesus bosom. This is the same one that we can read about throughout the gospels. This is the same John. You find out here that many things have happened over the years since Jesus has died. John got a lot older. He had been preaching and teaching the Word of God. We know that the opposition against Christianity has grown. Many of the apostles have been killed. Some of them have been beheaded. Some of them have been stoned and different things are happening to them. Here is the apostle John. John is a man who loved Jesus Christ. He was a man that Jesus Christ had called to come and follow Him. We know that John forsook everything and followed Jesus Christ. He was fellow that not only did that, but he was a fellow that was called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is a fellow that knew who Jesus Christ was. After Jesus died the church is born and John begins to preach and teach going through all the areas there. There were folks who did not like that. The leaders of the nations that were there did not like that. The Roman leaders did not like John because he was set in his ways. He would not fall down and worship Caesar as God but he was preaching about one that was dead but He was alive now and this man was Jesus Christ.
Do you know what they did with John? They took him out one day and they said This is what we are going to do with you. They really thought they were going to make him suffer. The Bible says they took him over and put him on this isle called Patmos. He was out in the Asian Sea. This island that was out there was just a big barren rock. That is all that is was. It was about 10 miles long and 6 or 7 miles wide. They put John out there thinking that he was just going to die. I am glad of something today. You and I are secure in Jesus Christ today. I know that scares a lot of people to death. However, the enemy cannot kill you and me until our work on earth is done. John, the apostle, was doing all kinds of things thinking they were going to silence him. However, God had a plan. God had a plan for while he was over there. God was going to show him some things that were going to take place. Here he is over on this rock. I don t know how long he had been here. I don t know what all had been going on. I don t know how many people were over there. I do know one thing. There may not have been anyone else over there but the God of heaven was over there with John. The Bible says he was in the spirit on the Lord s Day. The first day of the week, the same day that Jesus arose from the dead, the same day that New Testament church was born. He was born on Sunday; it began on Sunday. The Bible says that John was in the spirit here. Do you know what that means? He was having a good old time just him and the Lord. I don t know whether he had been praying or what he had been doing. He may have been singing Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. I don t know what he had been doing, but he was in the spirit. God was blessing him. God was with him. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Listen. In my mind, he was probably praying and spending some quality time with the God of heaven. The Lord comes down and begins to bless him. John hears behind him a great voice like the sound of the great trumpet. Do you know what is about to happen? God is about to get a message of something that is very important. They used trumpets during that time. They would go through the cities using trumpets letting people know that something was about to happen and take place that was very important. The God of heaven was speaking unto John and letting John know, I am going to tell you something that is very important. I m glad to know today that when Jesus Christ speaks it is always very important. Many times, I may say a lot of things just rambling. You all tell me I do, so no doubt, I do. However, when Jesus Christ speaks, it is very important. The Bible says he hears this great voice behind him, the great voice of a trumpet. Jesus begins to say to him 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
We know the churches here that he is talking about. The first thing that Jesus said, I am alpha and omega. I am the first and the last. When you look at what Jesus is telling John here, we know that the word alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. We know that the word omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Do you know what He was really saying? I am the eternal one. I am the first, and the last. I am the creator. I am everything in between. Do you know what I am glad of today? I am glad the church of Jesus Christ is still yet serving the same God. He has not changed not one bit. He has not lost any of His power. We are still yet serving the One that is eternal, the One that always has been and the One that always will be. He is the same One that we are still yet worshiping today. He is alive in the church of Jesus Christ. He may not be alive in your life, but He is alive in born again believers. He is alive in those who are living in the will of God and who will spend time with Him. He is alive in those who will get alone with God. In the day and time that we live in today, even people who go to church don t want to spend any time with God. The only time they read their bibles and the only time they hear the Word of God read is when they come to church. They never spend any time alone with Almighty God. We need preachers that are like John was. It got him thrown onto the Isle of Patmos because of his preaching. His preaching had power in it. He preached the Word of God. Do you know what we need today? We need pastors and preachers that will stand up, preach and teach the Word of God without fear, without favor. I m afraid today, that the world we are living in has so many today who don t know what the gospel is. Listen. If you are going to preach something, then preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. That gospel will change men s lives. They have gone sports crazy today. Even our church leaders are so much concerned about entertainment. I enjoy doing things. If you come to my house and you know me, then you know I love to do things. I love to swim, ride motorcycles, rail buggies, wrestle with the kids and ruff Deb a little bit. I enjoy doing all those things. However, there is a time in our lives that when say we are saved; there has to be a time in my life that I will sit aside, and get alone with Almighty God. I ll look at His Word. I ll read what is in here. I may not always understand what is here but I will get alone with Almighty God and spend some time with Him. Not only that but also when I read His Word, I ll get on my face and ask Him to help me, bless me, lead me, guide me, and give me the wisdom that I need. Do you know what God does? God will do those things. We need pastors today and preachers who will preach the Word of God. It is not about being entertained. It is not about me telling you something that is going to make you feel good. The gospel will convict you of your sins, show you that you are lost and it will draw you to a place of prayer. You may not come, but the gospel will change your life. Do you know what entertainment will not do? Entertainment will not change your life. Tickling your ear will not change your life. Preaching from a lot of different things that we are seeing people preach from today will not change your life. THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! It will change your life.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Here John is in the spirit of the Lord s Day. He hears behind him this voice sounding like a great trumpet. He turns around and hears what Jesus has to say, I am alpha, omega, the first and the last. When he turns around to see what was going on and he said, I saw seven golden candlesticks. When you look at verse 20, it will tell you that John is seeing Jesus in the midst of the churches. The seven golden candlesticks that John is seeing here are the seven assemblies that Jesus has told him to write this letter unto. The candlesticks, if you go back and look and read in the temple; they were there. They were put there and lit. They illuminated the tabernacle and temple and all the instruments that were there where people could come and worship. It brought light in. The church of Jesus Christ should be something that is bringing light unto a very dark world. We are living in a sinful world today where men are dying on every corner and everywhere you look. In many places and churches they are just as sinful as the world. However, the church of Jesus Christ; we have to be better than that. We have to live a life that this world will see the God of heaven and the light that comes from Him. When we live that way the light that comes from Him will illuminate their lives, show them that they are living in darkness and that they need to get saved. Amen! There are too many playing church and games today with God or they think. God is not in the game playing business. He s not in the game playing business at all. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; He sees the seven golden candlesticks which we know are the seven churches. 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Get that! Do you know where Jesus Christ is at? He is right in the middle of the churches. Listen. If your church where you go if Jesus Christ is not in the middle of it, if He is not the head of it then you need to find a different place to go. Listen. He is the head of the church. Whether we like it or not; if He is in the church today then He is the head of the church. It does not make any difference how that you might think about it. I have seen people before. If you will let me do this or that or you let me run things then everything will be fine. Jesus Christ, John sees Him here in the middle of the church. I m glad today that is where He has to be. I m glad today that when He is in the middle of the church we have security. We will have a blessing. We will be protected. He will take care of us. We can experience His presence. Many times in my life it is because I m cold and indifferent and it is because Jesus is not the center of my life. Get right with God and get where you need to be and you will see things differently. You will not be unhappy. You won t be so contrary. Amen! That is good for all of us. There are many contrary people who go to church. Probably some of the most contrary people I know go to church. Some of the
most miserable I know go to church. However, you don t meet contrary miserable people who are living in the will of God. Do you know that? We were talking before service about a certain individual that has gone through some tough times has went through cancer and surgeries and all kinds of things. However, this individual has never complained a bit. That is the way we should be. When things come our way that we do not understand and we have no control over I don t have any room to gripe. I don t have any right to gripe. I just need to live my life according to the will of God and leave my existence up to Him and leave my future in His hands and I know He will take care of me. Whatever comes or whatever goes. 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. When John turns around and sees Jesus, he sees Him here with a robe that a high priest would wear. It fit over His shoulders and down to the feet. It says here He had this golden breastplate that went around His breasts. If you look at the high priests robes they had the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel on this robe. When I thought about that today, I thought about this. Do you know what Jesus likes to do? He likes to keep us real close to His heart. He had this golden girdle on. He had it around His breast. I m glad that He loves me enough that He keeps me real close. I can t keep myself. If it was not for the God of heaven, I would get myself into a mess and you would too. 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; Do you know what that tells you and me? When John sees Jesus, not only does He have His high priest robe on but when he sees His head and His hair; it is white like wool. Do you know what that denotes? It denotes wisdom. When you go back and look in the book of Daniel. Daniel talks about the God of heaven being the ancient of days. He is talking about wisdom. Jesus Christ is our wisdom. Not only but also it says here that His eyes were as a flame of fire. That tells us that when John saw His eyes, He had eyes that would penetrate. He had eyes that can see through the darkness. You may do things at your house that your wife may not know. You may do things at work that your co-workers may not know anything about. You may do things at home that your husband does not know anything about. However, the One that is in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; He sees what is going on. He knows exactly what you are doing. There will be a day that it all will be brought out into the open. What we need to do today is repent of our sins today and get right with God today and when that time comes, we won t be embarrassed. Amen! If you are living in sin today and tell me that you are a Christian; I hope you get embarrassed. Amen! I hope it is all brought out in the open. Whatever it is that you are doing that is so secret, that you are hiding from somebody; I hope God brings it all out in the open. Amen! It would be a lot better for you to repent of it so God can forgive it and forget about it than it would be for you to have it brought out in the open. Amen! People say that doesn t happen. It does happen! The Bible says
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Brass in the scriptures denotes judgment. Brass and bronze denotes perseverance. It denotes strength. The only power the church has today is in Jesus Christ. The power we have today to exist is in Jesus Christ. It is not our own strength. This building is made out of mortar, bricks, concrete and all that stuff and it may be a sturdy building, but the thing that holds it together the church of Jesus Christ is the power and strength of the God of heaven. There is nothing else. If we did not have His strength, if we did not have His power, if we did not have solid footing to stand on then there would be no hope today. However, we have hope today. 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. I read that today and I thought about this. If you have ever been in a flood, a raging flood I m not talking about just a little creek getting up on the side of your house I m talking about in a raging massive flood where waters are rushing. I ve never been to Niagara Falls. Probably some of you have. I have heard the sounds of it. I think when John heard His voice His voice probably would have been louder than what you could hear at Niagara Falls. There is something about Jesus Christ s voice that has power within it. In the book of Genesis chapter 1, He spoke ten times, I believe it was there; He brought light out of total darkness. He brought calmness out of total chaos. When we get to the New Testament; He spoke and blinded eyes were opened. There is power in His Word. He can raise people from the dead by His Word. There is power in His Word. 16 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. First of all, the seven stars were the seven ministers at these particular different churches. Jesus was not only standing in the middle of the churches, but He had the ministers in His hand. That is an awesome place to be. That is an awesome place to live where you know that you are in the hand of an Almighty God. He is talking about the ministers and pastors here but you can live in a way; you can live your Christian life in a way that you know you are saved and you are secure in the hallow of His hand. You can live like that if you want to. He is not going to make you live like that. However, you can live where you can have peace and security today. We don t have to worry about the devil destroying us. We don t have to worry about that as long as I am in His hand. The Bible says 16 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. The two-edged sword is His Word penetrating. His Word has power. His Word has the ability to change lives. The Word of God will pierce us just like a sword will pierce us; the Word of God can get right down to where we are put together at. Again, His piercing eyes see right down where we are put together at. I might not be able to see on the inside of you, and you cannot see what is on the inside of me.
However, Jesus Christ sees exactly who you are. He knows exactly what you are doing. He knows exactly what you are feeling. His Word is very piercing. 16 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. It was very bright. When John turns to see the voice that was speaking unto him, he sees Him in His high priestly robe. He describes who He is here. He also sees the brightness of the Son of Almighty God. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: Get this. I ve heard preachers do it. I ve heard preachers say it. I ve heard church people say it. I m going to tell God what I expect Him to do. I m going to tell God; you are going to do this or that. If you try that route, if you don t mind, please get a long way away from me. There are some drastic things about to happen in your life and I don t want to be around when you blow up. Alright! Listen. John saw Jesus Christ. He saw who He was. He saw how great He was. He did not start complaining, Jesus why did you allow them to put me on this rock? He fell down on his face before Him. John had a godly respect for who Jesus Christ is. This world has lost their respect for Jesus Christ. Listen. You don t tell God what to do. Please don t try that. I hope that you don t try that. I don t care who you are; God is not your tussie boy. He is not some God sitting up there just waiting for you to give Him instruction and for you to tell Him what to do. That is pride. That is arrogance. If you take that route, you are going to hit flat of your face. You are going to fall flat of your face because pride comes before destruction. Don t take that trip. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He lived some 33 years here on earth. He laid down His life freely on the cross. He died there. He arose from the dead. He lived. He died. He is alive forevermore, never to die again. Jesus Christ is coming back to planet earth, but He is not coming back in a manager. When this earth sees Jesus Christ again, He will be coming with great power and glory. There are not going to crucify Him again. They are not going to spit in His face anymore. He is going to let this world know that He is the God of all eternity. He is going to let them know that He is Jesus Christ. The Bible says every eye shall see Him, even those that pierced Him. The soldier that thrust the spear into His side, all those years ago, at Calvary; he is going to see Him again. Those soldiers that drove the nails in His hands; they are going to see Jesus Christ again. He is not going to be lowly. He is not going
to be acting like a lamb then. He is going to come as a lion. He is going to come with power and great glory. 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus Christ did something that no other individual ever did. Jesus Christ did something that no one else could do. He went into the chamber of death and came out on the other side victorious. He has the keys. Key means authority. Authority over what? death or the dominion of the dead, when you read that in the Greek. It is the place of the departed dead. That is where Jesus has authority over. You and I were doomed and damned. Death had a strangle hold upon humanity. We were all dying. We were on our way to a lake of fire. We were all going to be cast into a lake of fire. However, when Jesus Christ came, suffered, bled and died; He conquered death. He destroyed the power; He took that power away from satan. Satan does not have that power any more. Do you know what He can do for you today? He can rescue you. He can save you. He can forgive you today if you will just ask Him. He has authority over death, hell and the unseen world. The Bible says the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Death is an enemy to you and me; to this flesh. Thank God, we don t have to worry about that anymore. Someone made an analogy that when Jesus died and arose again from the grave was like catching a wasp then pulling the stinger out and letting it go. He can buzz around all he wants to but he can t hurt you any. The enemy may say all kinds of things and try to scare us with death but if we are saved today; it has no sting in it anymore. It has no power anymore. Do you know why? It is because Jesus Christ is alive. He overcame death. If we will surrender our life unto Him and if we are saved today then death has no more dominion over you and me. Today may be the day that Jesus Christ comes and gets us. Today may be the day that Jesus Christ appears in the clouds with a shout and with voice of the arch angel and the trump of God. The dead are going to be raised. We are going to meet them out here in the clouds in the air. We are going to go to heaven. However, if you are not saved today, you don t have that promise. If you are not saved today, it would be my prayer today that you would surrender your life unto Him today because hell is a real place. The lake of fire is a real place. The only way you can escape that is by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.