His Perfect Love

Narrator: Today on His Perfect Love, Jesus remains our focus as the unveiling of Revelation continues.

Matt VanderVen: What if God would have stopped at the book of Jude and that would have been the closed canon, and you and I didn't have the book of Revelation today? What if we didn't have this unveiling, the truth that John was given through direct inspiration from Jesus Christ? We don't have to answer that question because we do.

He's given us everything we need to see who he is. He is the glorified conquering king. We don't see him like some, you know, denomination, they still put Jesus on a cross, a crucifix as though he's still there and suffering and torment. He's not. He's a risen, glorified king who's ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you and I moment by moment.

Matt VanderVen: Glad you've joined us today as we pick up where we left off in Revelation here on His Perfect Love. We're traveling through the book at a slow pace so we can glean as much as possible from it. We'll cover just two verses with you today, and that's chapter 1, verses 9 and 10. If you need to leave us early, remember you can access our programs online at hisperfectlove.org. Here's Pastor Matt Vanderven with a message first delivered at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Matt VanderVen: Revelation, again, chapter 1. We've been making our way through this wonderful book. Again, remember it's the Apocalypsis. That means the unveiling of Jesus Christ. As we read here this morning and we look at these things, I've just been really, it's been pressing on my heart to think about that.

The time when John wrote this, again, he was 80 years old, roughly in that age, this is around 80-95. He's on an island that's basically a penal colony. I think about all the oppression, the suffering, and the difficulty. And that's part of the unveiling too, is that Jesus Christ can work through any circumstance that we find ourselves in.

That's a wonderful testimony, it's a wonderful truth, but we sometimes I think, maybe I or others can forget that Jesus Christ is still saving. We just last week we had somebody get saved here, it's wonderful, and we watch and pray for that. I know all of heaven celebrates that, but I couldn't help thinking, and I shared this with first service, I hadn't planned to share this story, but it was something that really touched my heart.

Again, I was just thinking about this and I thought I'd share it with you this morning before we begin. If you remember we left off in verse 8 where it says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

We read those words this morning. Again, we're blessed to be able to come to this building, to be able to gather as a body of Christ, and really what a time to be alive. But I can't help but thinking several years ago, many, many years ago, and there was a man who was going through, and he was traveling, and as he was making his way around, he was a preacher, he's a pastor. He happened to come to one of the Jehovah's Witness halls.

He thought to himself, "You know what, I have a little bit of time on my hands before my next visit. I think I'm going to wander in there and see what really they believe and some of the things that they're discussing or talking about." So he went in the building and literally halfway through his kind of tour or visit, he began to feel just heavy. So much heaviness of heart.

He began to almost weep because of, not, you know, it's not the same Jesus, it's not Jesus of Nazareth. So he was just really broken down by this and he began to just, like I said, weep, and he was cut to the heart. On his way out he was walking by and he saw this person sitting at the desk. So he walked up to the person that was sitting at the desk and he said, "You know, how are you doing today?" That person said, "Great."

He said, "Great." He said, "I have one thing to share with you today, and I don't know how you're going to receive this, and please don't take this the wrong way." But he looked at him and he says, "I," speaking of Jesus Christ, "I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," says the Lord, "who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

As he said that, he was so convicted by heart that he actually found himself without even realizing it, beginning to tap on the desk in front of that individual that was sitting there. To the point of where it started to make a noise, kind of a point of reference and almost the gentleman kind of taken back by that, "You know, this is his desk and somebody's kind of tapping his desk that way."

He said, "Thank you for your time." He said, "I just want you to know who Jesus is. He's the Son of God." He proceeded to walk out of there and he got in his car, and he was driving, and that night that man went home and he'd begun to fall asleep.

He didn't know if it was a vision or a dream, he didn't know how to describe it, but all of a sudden in the midst of his sleeping, he was woken up. What he heard in his head, in his inner ear, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," says the Lord, "who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

He says, "I was woken up and I was so startled by that. I couldn't let that go." He says, "I started thinking about that. I opened my Bible to the book of Revelation, and honestly, we really don't read the book that much, I don't know much about it. As I started reading in chapter 1, I couldn't help but getting to verse 8 and realizing this is speaking of Jesus Christ."

"And that he's the beginning and the end and everything in between. And that he is Lord, and that he is the Son of God, the Son of God." As he reads, he's going to see that's one of the titles that God actually uses for himself, the Son of Man, the Son of God. He knew it was a Messianic title.

That night that man through his weeping fell on his knees and he began to cry out to God and said, "Lord, I don't know what I was following, whether I was following a church, a religion, a man, I don't know what it was, but it wasn't you. And now I want to follow you, Jesus. And the rest of my life and the rest of my days that I have on this earth, I want to be a God worshiper, a worshiper of Jesus Christ, not a cult, not a religion, not a man, but of the one true God. If you'll have me, I want to be yours."

Then he just began to cry so much, and he heard the voice of the Lord in his inner ear, said, "I've always been calling you. You're my beloved. I am yours and you are mine." The man obviously gave his life to Jesus Christ with heartfelt intensity. About 20 years later, this pastor's still traveling, he was coming, and he was actually doing a Q&A. One of the things we do on Sunday nights, I heard Pastor Bill talk about our Sunday nights.

Sometimes during corporate prayer, maybe once a month or once a quarter, I'll stand up in front and say, "Is there any questions, things that we've been covering or going through?" Kind of like a Q&A. "And you can ask anything you want on the whole Bible. Let's do this." We just have a beautiful time going through the word, and then we go right into prayer.

Well, this man kind of did something similar. He would travel, and as he was a guest pastor at a different place, he would speak. One of the things at the end of his sermons or teachings is he would open it up to Q&A. Now, he was smart, right? Pastors, we know a little bit about talking, yeah. So we're a little smart about these things, so he doesn't give anybody a mic, because he knows how that's going to go.

So instead he says, "If you have a question, just please raise your hand, speak up, I'll repeat the question in mic so everybody that in attendance can hear." Nobody's had a problem with that. Everybody said, "Okay." Well, one night, like I said, 20 years later, here he is at this church. He's not even thinking anything of it other than it was a Q&A. Didn't recollect seeing anybody he thought he knew.

This man stands up and says, "I have a question, maybe a statement." He says, "Do you remember me?" The pastor turns and looks at him and says, "Honestly, I don't. I don't, I don't really know who you are. Forgive me if I should remember you, but I don't." He looks at him. He said, "You came in to the hall. I was a Jehovah's Witness. I was following a God that I, I didn't, I thought I knew, but it wasn't the real God, not the Jesus of Nazareth, some other God."

"He said, "That day you came up to my desk and passionately you kind of pounded on my desk and you said, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,' says the Lord, 'who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'" He goes, "Hang on," because he thought there was going to be a problem, like he was going to turn around and say, "You," you know. And he said, "No, please, Pastor, just give me a moment."

The pastor humbled himself. He said, "Of course." He said, "That night I went home and I had a dream. And I heard the Lord in my inner ear. And I started reading the book of Revelation." He said, "I have learned who Jesus Christ really is through his unveiling." This pastor's literally like a deer in the headlights, unveiling, using terms like Apocalypsis.

"How did this man who didn't once know Jesus now knows Jesus and knows him intimately?" He said, "That night I gave my life to Jesus Christ." At one time, if you remember, that pastor 20 years earlier was weeping because he walked into this building or a building, and he saw all this false apostasy and false doctrine.

That night he walked into a building with this man and he was weeping once again, but that was because all of heaven was celebrating the salvation of another soul. That's exactly what Jesus Christ wanted us to understand with this unveiling in the book of Revelation.

What if God would have stopped at the book of Jude? That would have been the closed canon. You and I didn't have the book of Revelation today. What if we didn't have this unveiling, the truth that John was given through direct inspiration from Jesus Christ? We don't have to answer that question because we do.

He's given us everything we need to see who he is. He is the glorified conquering king. We don't see him like some, you know, denomination, they still put Jesus on a cross, a crucifix as though he's still there and suffering and torment. He's not. He's a risen, glorified king who's ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you and I moment by moment.

He wants us to know a little bit more about him. The one that we call Jesus, the one that we call our love, the one that we call the suffering servant, the one that we call the redeemer of our souls. That's what he means when he says, "I'm the Alpha, I'm the beginning, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. I'm the Omega. I'm the end, the beginning and the end," says the Lord, "who is."

He's not dead. He's not sitting in some tomb. The tomb is empty. Who is. He began with who is. Not who was. He says, "Who is, I want you to know he is alive, he's doing well, and he's seated," or standing, "in the throne room of God." Then he says, "Who was and, lest you miss this, who is to come."

He wants us to understand something about him. He's not this man walking again with just, you know, these holes in his hands, just cowering in some capacity. No, he's the God-man and the glorified conquering king. When we read the description from verses 12 and on, we are going to see one of the only depictions of Jesus Christ as the glorified king in your New Testament that you and I have.

When you and I read this, there won't be anyone that doesn't have a hair standing up on the back of his neck, or the chicken skin as I like to call it. Because when you see who he is and how he is coming, now we won't be here when he comes, right? We'll be raptured out, harpazo, we understand that. But he's coming in judgment. He didn't want it to be a surprise.

He wanted everyone to have that opportunity. Just like that man that day, when someone came up and said, "I need you to know who he is. He's the Alpha and the Omega." He's everything in between. That's the Jesus that you and I say we believe in and serve. He is the glorified conquering king.

"I, John," verse 9, "both your brother and your companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that was, that is called Patmos. For the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 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 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.'"

"Then I turned to see the voice that 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 down to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and his hair was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and 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 his right hand on me saying to me, 'Do not be afraid.'" It's interesting that he had to tell that to John, a disciple, the apostle who knew him so well.

The one who leaned on his bosom, who was comforted so often by Jesus. When he sees him as the glorified king, there's a fear that comes over him, a healthy reverence because he sees this Jesus, not the way he saw him in human form when he walked this earth as the incarnated God, but again as the glorified king.

"Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Write these things which you have seen." He gives us the outline. "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." We'll talk a little bit more about that as we get there.

So I look at verse 9. I'd ask you to look with me, please. "I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on this island called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."

So the first thing we see again, he says, "I, John," referring back to the human author inspired by the Holy Spirit. Again, giving us confirmation that John was chosen by Jesus Christ to record this very precious unveiling. The next thing we read is he says, "I am your brother and companion."

Now, brother is something we use often today. "Hey brother, sister, how are you doing?" We understand that. Certainly fitting, it makes sense. But companion, in the way it's being used in the Greek here, _sukoinonos_, is the Greek word. It really means more than just what we would think in the English of a companion.

I think of a companion as somebody that might be a friend or a buddy or somebody that's keeping company with me. That's not what he's saying here actually. The word more fitting is a partaker. Why do I say this? Because in a moment we're going to ask, "What is John saying he's partaking of?" He's identifying with the born-again believers in Christ by brother, the family of God. You and I can do that this morning. But are we all partakers here?

Literally, this means to be a participant and not a spectator. Some of you played sports. I love sports, I like to compete. You know, it's a wonderful time to get on the athletic field, whatever field that is, for me it was a hockey rink. I loved getting on the ice and doing the very best I could do and giving it my all.

One of the things that I enjoyed, though, was actually being the participant. It was often very difficult for me to go and be a spectator. I didn't realize how difficult it was until sometimes years later my wife or my children would say that I was a defenseman, so my job was to check and to hit, and some of you understand that position. So I was the last before you would get to the keeper, the goalie, right? So I was a defenseman, so that's what I did.

So often when the game was going on, I didn't even realize I would do it, my leg would kick or my arm would move. But I had no recollection or even understanding I was doing that. I would be watching and Lisa would be sitting next to me or one of the kids would be next to me and they might even have their hand on me. I didn't know why, I thought it was just because they were being compassionate.

I had no idea it was because I was going to do this in a minute. When I saw somebody skate into the boards. Some of you know what a 50-50 puck is. You don't lose the 50-50 puck. You go to the boards, you get this puck, right? That means you go in with everything you got, not looking behind you, knowing full well that if you're not careful, somebody can hit you from behind, you can become paralyzed.

But if you're worried about that, you're not going to get to the puck first. You're not going to finish that race. You see, I understand athletics. I understand that. Many of you understand athletics. What he's saying here is _sukoinonos_, you, he, John, is not just a spectator. He's not a Christian. At this point, couldn't he have been a retired Christian? I mean, after all, isn't there such a thing? Not biblically.

You know, he's 80 years old. Sometimes we use the term, "I paid my dues." Ever heard somebody say that? I've heard people say that, "I paid my dues." I don't know what dues they're paying, into what membership. I didn't get invited to the club. But at the end of the day, one thing I know, is I love how John associates himself as a partaker, as a fellow participant, not as a spectator.

John is communicating that he's not only a brother in the truest sense of the word, part of the family of God, but that he also shares in what? In the _thlipsis_. That's what he's saying here. Look at verse 9. "I, John, both your brother, kai," that means and, in conjunction, "companion," that's our _sukoinonos_, right? _Sukoinonos_.

He tells us, "And companion," right? "In the what?" What is he the companion in? What is he the participant in? The tribulation. Now, this word, _thlipsis_, it's sometimes I think we maybe underestimate the word. We think, well, we fight affliction or oppression or persecution and different things like that. You and I experience that today.

Oh, no, no, no, no. This word is the word we use for pressing. Let me allow me to give you a visual of this. So I just want you to think back to Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was gathered. If you remember, he brought Peter and some of the apostles with him and they were to be praying.

But Jesus went off alone and he got on his knees and he began to pray out to the God, "Lord, if this cup would pass," fitting as we're talking about communion. He was talking about a different cup, the cup of wrath. It was because he took that cup that we can take this cup. But he turned and he was pressed down. Gethsemane was known for being the olive press.

So, allow me to help you understand what that means. So in those days of ancient, think of a stick coming out. Then you have almost like a triangular or conical shape round wheel that would have had rope around it. On the bottom of that there would be this stone that would be about this thick, okay? And it was round, this big, good diameter.

What would happen is you would turn the top with the rope that was wrapped around, it would cause it to get tighter and it would turn and that stone would begin to go down. Now, underneath that large diameter stone I was talking about, there was another stone. And that was also pretty thick and it was wider. But it had a slope to it.

So when you would do this, one of the reasons they had to capture this, you and I know there is such a thing as olive oil from pressed olives. But then there's also another kind that you may pay a little bit more and it has a what we call a better quality, and many of you know what is EVOO, extra virgin olive oil. Interesting term for it, isn't it?

Well, it goes back to the days of ritual when the Old Testament and the ceremonial practices and the things were in order, God's law, Moses's law, where they would take the freshest and the most virgin that, what they would call the first press. And they would take that first press of oil that would come out, and that would be dedicated unto the Lord because God is only worthy of our very best.

We don't give him the leftovers. And so that would be brought to him. But to do that, you had to turn around and take the olives that were already there, and you had to continue to go more and more. As a matter of fact, they would say three to four times more around that you would twist this thing to the point of where it almost felt like it was stone on stone.

But in so doing, you would get the finer and less impurities out of the olive oil. You would get a finer kind of olive oil that we know as extra virgin olive oil. But some even argue that our EVOO is paled in comparison to what you would get from this stone because of our modern technology doesn't do as well of a job as what the Jewish people did when they did this.

It's no coincidence that that's where Jesus was. When he was on his knees, it was the, it was the picture for us of the pressing down on him because he knew he was about to go to the cross, Calvary, the crucifixion. So he knew what was coming and it was a pressing down upon his soul and spirit, wasn't it? Because he was going to pay for the sins of past, present, future for you and I. And that was a pressing.

That's the idea here, the _thlipsis_. That's what he's talking about here. This word, tribulation, right? Pressing together, a pressure. It's used 45 times. Eight unique forms. It literally is such a pressure pressing that exceeds that of oppression, affliction, anguish, and distress.

John is communicating that he also shares in this _thlipsis_, in this distress and experienced pressure by the things that are burdening his spirit as well, just like he would describe how it burdened Jesus's spirit. It's used five times in Revelation. Revelation in chapter 1:9 where we are, in chapter 2:9, verse 10, in chapter 2:22, and chapter 7:14.

Narrator: 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 onepleace.com and most of the major podcast platforms. The Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Mobile App is another great way to listen to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit hisperfectlove.org. 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. Pastor Matt loves to hear from his listeners. Even just a quick hello, telling him where you hear the program and how you're blessed by it means a lot. Email us there at the website, hisperfectlove.org. And whether you live in or around Mechanicsburg PA or will be visiting the area soon, we'd love to have you join us for a service at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service too, Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. You'll find us at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg PA. Go to CCHarrisburg.org for more information. 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.

Narrator: His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.