His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: We're living in a dark and lost world, but Pastor Matt says it's an opportunity to shine the light of Jesus Christ. You'll see a darkness like you've never seen, that even unbelievers are going to be wondering like, boy, things just don't seem right. There's nothing fair or equitable or just anymore. You know, judges can be corrupted. People can be corrupted, right?

We've corrupted the family. We, we murder babies. We've corrupted God's institution of marriage. You know, the Supreme Court's come in and said, we can do all these things that are an abomination and corruption to God's holy standard. And all this darkness just keeps piling on, dark after dark. And Jesus says, I have an antidote. It's the church. This is his perfect love.

Guest (Male): Hey, glad you joined us for His Perfect Love, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg, West Shore. Pastor Matt VanderVen is in the early stages of a new study in Revelation. You've probably noticed things have gone from bad to worse in a hurry in this world, and it could be easy for us to grow discouraged. But the Lord in His word told us this would happen, and He's called the church to bring His light to dark places.

Let's find our place in Chapter 1 as we turn things over to Pastor Matt. This is his perfect love.

Matt VanderVen: We've come as far, uh, really as verse 10. We covered a little bit of that last week. Uh, again, Am I and Numa, if you remember in the Greek, we were looking through it, it was in the spirit. He says, I am in the spirit or I was in the spirit.

So what I thought is I'll read from verse 10 on through the rest of this chapter, and then we'll go back and go line by line, really getting right before the description of uh, Jesus as he reveals himself to John. And as we go through this this morning, one of the things I want to ask you is please try to let your mind go back to what it was like living in the times of ancient John, again on this island of Patmos, 80 years old, 60 years since he's seen Jesus.

We're going to read that he sees him, and he says one like the Son of Man, because Jesus looks different. He's in all His glory. So to John, he knows it's Jesus out of familiarity, but he's also like, but something's different. Something's changed with you. Have you ever seen someone that you see regularly and then maybe you don't see them for a while, and then all of a sudden you see them again, you're like, wow, I know it's you, but you look way different, right? Well, yeah, he's the glorified conquering King. And that's exactly who he's unveiling himself to John, not just the suffering servant, uh, and, and sort of that meekness of brokenness, the way he came the first time.

So John is trying to cope with that the best he can. And so that leads me to just thinking about that. I mean, living in a time like this, knowing that Christians were giving their lives every day for Jesus Christ, many of them being murdered. And I know that seems, you know, a far cry, uh, for many of us today. And then as I mentioned, to think in this country that we, I know there's violence, but to think that we had to have a president or a former president stand up at a lectern and be able to share his ideas of how he'd like to change a country, whether you agree with him or not, a difference of opinion or not, that's not what it's about.

It's about being able to discuss our differences and talk through them. Does everybody realize what has happened that that was an assassination on a president? We have not seen such, I, I don't even know how to call it, terrible, despicable, disgusting things since Ronald Reagan was the last time that we saw something like that in a political narrative within this country.

What that tells me about the culture, what that tells me about the things that are happening, is that people are at a boiling point. Things are burning hotter than ever. People are boiling over, emotions are going, so much so that people are aren't willing to just have a regular casual discourse. Everybody's in such a hurry, they're burned out, they're overwhelmed. They're going too fast, they're doing too many things.

And, and all of a sudden, the price is being paid. People are, are experiencing mental illness at all kinds of escalation points and heights. I mean, depression at an all-time high, anxiety at an all-time high. And lest we think we're the only people to experience something like this, 2000 years ago, John, living on this earth, was experiencing a time where a government, an emperor, stood in, Domitian, and said, murder the Christians if they don't do things our way.

It wasn't a discourse of, hey, let's just talk about this, Domitian. We'll honor these laws and do these things, but we certainly can't worship you as a God, Domitian. No, there was no room for discourse. If you didn't agree, you were going to pay for it, and it was going to cost you your life. Around the world, we have different martyrs, witnesses, as we know the term, paying for their lives every day.

Fox's Books of Martyrs. We read about that, but we don't need to go that far. You can go over to the Middle East, Iran. You can look over in China. People in underground churches paying for it with their dear lives, that if they have a Bible, just carrying a Bible. If you're in Russia and you don't have a state-owned Bible, or they think that you're evangelizing, right now, you could be put in prison.

The things that we're seeing, the times that we're living, what we may think is so disconnected. There's so much commonality between what was happening then and now. Friends, it's happening again. And it's just as Jesus prophesied that as we got into these last days, things would grow worse. What do I mean? He said in Matthew 24, there would be an intensity and frequency of these events.

Isn't that what we're seeing? I mean, can we go a week without seeing a natural disaster on the news? And I'm not just talking about any kind of natural disaster, but I'm talking people dying. And we have all this modern technology. I mean, we have, we could put a man on the moon. And I understand some of you are going, wait a minute, that's suspect. I'm not going to get into that with you.

We could put a man on the moon, and yet we can't figure out a way to protect the most vulnerable, the most innocent. Let's look at the scriptures, because unless there's a change in this country, unless there is a revival or an outpouring of the Spirit of God in this country, it's going to start happening more intense, more quicker, and no one here will be able to escape it.

There will be no escape. You can't come out of the world. There's no country, there's no state, there's no mountain top that you can hide and forge in. I know we like to believe that. You can buy all the MREs you want until somebody's bigger and stronger and takes your MREs. I'm not saying let's not be smart. I'm not saying let's not prepare for the rainy day, okay?

Let's not be fools or ignorant. But Jesus didn't tell us in this time to grow weary or afraid. He said the world's going to be running this way, and we're to be running that way. We're the folks that are supposed to be running into the house when it's on fire, because we have the good news to put the fire out and to get people out alive, spiritually speaking.

And I don't know if you're seeing the same thing I'm seeing within the church, and I mean the body of Christ as a whole, that there's something that's happened, that there's a loss of appetite, a lethargy, almost like a, a comfortability that's set in, or a contentment in such a way that people aren't willing to turn their whole lives upside down to be a part of the work of Christ.

It's like comfort and and all these things and materialism has crept in, even because we're all at alive at such amazing time that even the poorest person in our country has more wealth than in most third-world countries and most parcels of America. There's a lot of work to be done in this city and it's going to be happening fast.

We are to be the beacon of light. This is the revelation and the unveiling. We ought to treat it just the way Jesus intended us to. It's coming from His lips to our hearts. So please look at me in verse 10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. You can see them up there on the screen. Then I turned to see the voice that, uh, spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment.

Notice it said like. It's not a simile, but it's the best John can do to describe this in human terms. Clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. We're not sure if that's sort of like a chest, uh, plate, more than like what you would think, like maybe a vest, kind of a thing that would come across.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass and refined in a furnace, and a voice, his voice, as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid down his right hand on me, saying, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I live forevermore. So John, who knew him really well. Last time he saw him, leaned his head on his bosom, saw him crucified, saw him resurrected, and then saw him ascend.

60 years goes by, he sees him again. Whatever, however Jesus appeared to John, it was enough to humble John, no matter how familiar he was with him, to the point where he actually began to fear. The glory of God is that powerful that even the most familiar friend is going to bow that knee. Even an enemy will bow that knee. Amen.

He said, that's the truth, so be it. And I have the keys of Hades and of death, of eternity and of death. Write these things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this, the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.

So, John brings us to this point. He's told to, to write down exactly what he's seeing and what he's hearing from Jesus. And we read in verse 12 and 13, it says, then I turned to see this voice. He's hearing the voice, but he's, boy, that voice sounds familiar. Just like you and I, if somebody calls out your name, you recognize their voice, the natural instincts to turn and look at that person.

He turns to see that, and he says, I'm turned to see who's speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. So the first thing he sees is what we would understand kind of as like a menorah, like a lampstand, something that would hold light. We'd understand oil would go in that at the time John is writing this, and in which that oil would be lit on fire and it would cause the light to burn.

We know that that light is truly the Holy Spirit, which causes Jesus to burn in us. And so he says, the seven lampstands, right? And he says, they're golden. He tells us a little bit something about that. Very important. Underline that in your Bibles. And in the midst, he describes Jesus now, not as though the lampstand's over here and Jesus is somewhere else.

Jesus is in the midst of these seven lampstands, because he says, I see one like the Son of Man. He's like the Jesus I knew, but he is different. And he's going to describe the differences, clothed with garment down to his feet and girded about his chest with a golden band. Now, some of your translations that you might have here, if you're using a King James this morning, refers to this as seven golden candlesticks.

New King James reverts, which is also the Texas Receptus, which is the King James and New King James manuscripts in the Greek are based on, refers to this as seven golden lampstands, for us New King James. And Jesus spoke to John in the vision and explained that these seven candlesticks, or golden lampstands, the mystery, he says, of the seven stars that you saw in your right hand, and the seven golden lampstands is this.

The seven stars, I'm reading from verse 20 in chapter one, are the angels or Anglos, messengers, of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So he describes when he turns and he hears the one, and he's trying to see who's talking to me. He looks over, and with his voice, he sees this lampstand, seven of them.

And as he sees these seven, he sees that they're gold. And as he looks upon them, he starts to understand here what are these representing? And he says, in the midst of them, so the Son of Man is in the midst of the seven. I don't know how he was holding them. I don't know if he has them Levitating. I can't answer those questions. But in some way, he had these that all were able to see, and yet Jesus is in the midst, the very middle of these churches.

And that's what he's trying to give us an understanding in human terms of what John is seeing, that these are actual churches and that they existed at the time of John, as you can see on the screen behind me. Now, these churches were located in seven cities. Western Asia, if you want to be specific, we know it as Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

In Revelation chapter two and three, as we'll read in probably a year from now. Um, no, I'm kidding. In a few weeks, we'll get to chapter two. Uh, maybe. Jesus Christ addresses a letter to each of these churches. These are each separate letters that would have gone out. We have the collection of all seven in our canon here, but each one would have been a separate letter that would have gone uniquely to those individual churches.

And the letter would include words of commendation, things you did well, criticism, correction, and also consolation, the strengthening, what you need to do different. Now, this, this part of Revelation comprises of what we just read in verse 19, which gives us an outline to the book, the only book I'm aware of in all of your Bible that actually includes its own outline.

This book, Revelation, gives us an outline, and in the outline where we're at right now, when we get in, especially into chapter two and three, will be the section of what is now. You and I have talked about it already. It's called the Church Age, the age of dispensation. And that's what we're reading as we're in chapter one, and we'll really read that all the way as we go through chapter two and three.

And why do I say now? Because what does seven represent again? Fullness or completeness. So not only is he talking about seven unique churches, and they're golden, by the way, we'll talk about why he called them gold. He could have said they were brass. He could have said they were silver. Why are they gold? It's important to how he wants us to understand of what Jesus Christ thinks of his church, his bride.

But we're living in the Church Age, and that's what he's pointing us to, because seven is completion. And we know that the fullness, so not only is it those seven unique churches in Western Asia, but it's also the church all up, or all in, if I can say it that way. And we're still here. The church is still here. So we know we're in the Church Age, right?

So, as we've already discussed, these seven lampstands carry meaning beyond just sort of these Asiatic churches in John's day. And because the number seven is significant, I just don't want us to skip over that and not realize that he's talking to the church universal. As a matter of fact, what was the first name for the first non-denominational church as you and I know it today?

It wasn't called Roman Catholic. In the Greek, it was called Catholicos. What does the Greek word Catholicos mean? But universal. Catholicos. It was the first universal church. They understood this concept. The early church fathers understood this concept. It's only in the seminaries and cemeteries, as I like to call them, that they now try to explain these things away to confuse their readers.

No, Jesus is talking to you and I as well today through these seven churches. Now, there are also scholars, as I said, that, that will take things even further, a misapplication or misinterpretation. There are scholars that have, in my opinion, gone farther than I'm comfortable going in regards to these seven candlesticks, but I want to make you aware of it.

So from an apologetic perspective, if you hear these things, I want you to understand, I want you to have been prayed up and think about these things. The candlesticks were representative of every church in every age. There are those that will teach that. Others see them as predictive. Sort of, uh, the different church stages. You had seven churches. Maybe there were seven stages in which the church will go through before Christ's coming again.

And they would suggest that the first church, the church of Ephesus that we'll see in chapter two, was symbolic of the apostolic church, in other words. The church at the time the apostles were alive, John being the oldest and last. And then obviously Laodicea, being the last church, symbolic of the present day postmodern church, which means we're all living in Laodicea.

While there may be some Laodicean churches out there, I'd like to believe this is the church of Philadelphia. Church of brotherly love. A church that, while it may not be large in number, it's not a mega church. It is faithful with the few. It is a remnant church, as there are many remnant churches. So I disagree with that teaching.

Now, let's move on to the fact that the lampstand was made with gold. Again, I told you we'd come back to that. I want you to think about in the time of John, the time of the ancient. This was the most precious and most valuable of all metals at that time. You know, we think of platinum today might sell more than what gold would sell for today from mineralogy or mineral perspective, or stone, you know, or or whatever you want to call valuable metals, metallurgy, I should say, not mineralogy, forgive me, metallurgy.

But in this sense, at that time, John is trying to help us understand what he's seeing, and that golden lampstand, Jesus Christ is unveiling and showing him, is symbolizing the preciousness of the church of God as his most valued possession. Because after all, he hears the sound, he turns, and the very first thing he sees, before he even says the Son of Man, what's the first thing he says?

Eyes turn and I see golden lampstands. That's what he looks. He hears the voice, he turns and he sees these. That's all intentional. God could have corrected it if John, he wanted John to write this in a different order. He didn't. Now, I also believe that the golden, the gold of the lampstands is also symbolic of purity and holiness.

That the church is called to be an example of God's holiness to the world. We read about that when we were in Peter, that was First Peter chapter 1 verse 15 and 16. Importantly, the candlesticks are designed to bring light to dark places, aren't they? Why else would you use a candle or a candlestick? If you think about it in the day John's writing, they didn't have electricity.

So when they wanted to read their Bible, what did they do? They lit a candle if it was in the evening. They rose early in the morning before the sun rise, what did they do if they wanted to go out and take care of the cattle, the farms, the animals? They took candles with them. Before they were going to settle down in the house, what did they do? They would extinguish the light from the candles and they would sleep, knowing morning would come and that God would bring new light.

It's very important this imagery that he wants us to see, and he says that the churches are to be the candlesticks, and those in the churches are to be the light. And that's why Ephesians 4 is so powerful because he equips his priests and his ministers here to go out and be light to a dark and lost world. It makes all the sense in the world in the unveiling in the imagery he's getting us here.

He could have stopped at the book of Jude and said, I'm good. But he says, no, I have more for you, and I really need to understand. I really want you to understand how this ties into the last day events, because you're going to see Isaiah 5 fulfilled before your very eyes. It was prophetic. They'll be calling evil good and good evil. You'll see a darkness like you've never seen, that even unbelievers are going to be wondering like, boy, things just don't seem right.

There's nothing fair or equitable or just anymore. You know, judges can be corrupted. People can be corrupted, right? We've corrupted the family. We, we murder babies. We've corrupted God's institution of marriage. You know, the Supreme Court's come in and said, we can do all these things that are an abomination and corruption to God's holy standard.

And all this darkness just keeps piling on, dark after dark. And Jesus says, I have an antidote. It's the church. It's my vessels. I am the light of the world, he said. And Jesus reflects that light. You want to know a picture of this? When we see the New Jerusalem, it's amazing. There's no sun, S U N, there's the S O N.

And if you look at the walls of the city, when we get there, this is not coincidence. They're in such a material that the light refracts off of the center of Jesus because of the glory, and that is what is used to light the whole kingdom of God, because you don't need a star or a planet or anything like that to bring light or moon or.

No, all those things are gone. There's no hypothermia. No, it's powered by the S O N. And we receive a glorified body that's a totally different S O N driven system, not a blood propulsion system that we use a heart and veins and arteries. Much of that's going to change in the glorified body, matter and the existence of matter, and the physics and the property of the physics of this earth.

With my current condition in an unglorified body, I cannot walk through walls. The laws of physics are very well appointed for a reason. I don't have to wake up and worry, is gravity going to fail me and all of a sudden I start floating away? None of you woke up last night at 3:00, panicking, saying, Lord, please when I wake up, let there be gravity.

We take it for granted because it's a law of physics. We understand these things, a law of matter. The church was designed for a purpose, and it was to bring light to dark places. This is his perfect love.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. You can hear the study from Revelation again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. That's hisperfectlove.org. We've expanded our podcast too. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms. Are you looking for a Christian school that offers a quality education and a nurturing environment for your children?

If so, you might be interested in Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Calvary Chapel Christian Academy is a non-denominational Christian school that serves students from kindergarten to 12th grade. The Academy's mission is to provide a Christ-centered education that equips students to love God, love others, and serve the world.

The Academy offers a rigorous academic curriculum, a variety of extracurricular activities, and a caring and supportive staff. The Academy is located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. For more information, please visit our website at ccharrisburg.org/academy. We're thankful for the listeners that come alongside of us with their prayers and financial support.

If you're interested in supporting this radio ministry, there's a place to do that at hisperfectlove.org. Together, we can reach people with the love and truth of God in these last days. Well, that'll do it for today, but come back next time when Pastor Matt will again study the book of Revelation with us here on His Perfect Love. This is his perfect love.

Guest (Male): His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Let the word go out, the perfect love of Christ to shine. Our lives will shine. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Every heart is in his hands. We'll never stop reaching out. This is his perfect love. The word will go out. This is what real love looks like. True and in grace. This is his perfect love.