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Guest (Male): Happy New Year from all of us at Simple Faith. Are you living in fear as we begin the year 2026? It's easy to fall into fear, but Pastor Bill Henry reminds us that living in fear is the same thing as saying you don't trust God.

Bill Henry: The world wants us to be afraid. And by the way, I'm not stupid enough or prideful enough to say there aren't things to be fearful of today. If you read through the signs that we're looking for in the last days, there's not one of them except for Israel becoming a nation again that I'm doing jumping jacks about. Pestilences, earthquakes, famines—yeah, woohoo! No. But again, we don't need to be afraid of those things. Life isn't going how you want. Terrible things are happening. We can be worried, but don't be afraid.

Guest (Male): Some people say he was a great teacher, a good man, a wise philosopher. Many still see him as the tiny baby in the manger. But the Bible says something else altogether about Jesus of Nazareth. Today on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, we continue in our study of the book of Revelation, taking a look today at the real Jesus as found in the latter half of Revelation chapter one. Picking up now with our study, here's Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill Henry: What's happening here in the book of Revelation, there's a lot of judgment to be taking place. Now notice, it says his voice as the sound of many waters. Put in your mind, anybody here like to go to the beach? Raise your hand if you like to go to the beach. Love the beach. And what my wife calls the beach up here, the coast, and then down in Southern California, Huntington Beach, Newport, that's the beach. And I agree with her, but we're a little prejudiced, I guess.

But what we love about the local beaches up here is that when you go, there's just this continuous crashing of the waves. And you go, and that's what this is sounding like. His voice is like the sound of many waters. And think about when you hear these crashing waves, there's this roar on the beach. There's this power that is there, but it also brings a peace to the soul, doesn't it? It's just amazing what it does. So think of that. That's what his voice sounds like now.

He had in his hand, his right hand, seven stars. Now we talked about this a moment ago. In the Bible, a person's right hand represents power and authority. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. And since we see that these are the messengers, as we see in verse 20, we're told these are messengers. The word messengers there can mean basically the leaders or elders of the churches that he has them in his right hand.

And what a beautiful picture that is, that even God has those pastors, those leaders, those elders within every church in his right hand and in his all-powerful hand. And so basically the commentator said they believe this was simply a symbol of power that Jesus has control over all his church. That the gates of hell will never prevail, Jesus said, against his church.

And so even today, we need to remember that he is our God, that we are his sheep. He is our shepherd. And even the pastors, they're simply under-shepherds because this is his church. Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, it's not my church or Pastor Jay's church. This is a church of Jesus Christ, just like all the other churches around the world.

Now notice, it says from his mouth came forth a sharp two-edged sword. Now I don't believe this is a literal sword coming forth from his mouth, but I think it represents the all-powerful word of God. Why do I believe this? Turn to Hebrews chapter four, please. Hebrews chapter four, verses 12 and 13.

"For the word of God is living and powerful," notice, "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

So it's interesting here at the last part of Hebrews chapter four, verses 12 and 13. Notice verse 13. It almost takes it to where the word of God is also used in judgment, and it will be. If you go on to read in the book of Revelation towards the end, we're going to see where God, the sword of the mouth of God, the word of God that comes out will slay millions upon millions, as much as the sands of the sea.

And so in verse 13 in Hebrews 4, it says, "there is no creature hidden from his sight." Now think about the picture we have here in Revelation again, that his eyes are like flames of fire. There's no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him, and notice, to him whom we must give an account. So there's even here back in Hebrews when it's talking about the word of God, also just an allusion to there's going to be a judgment as well.

Now look back in our text. It says, "and his face was like the sun shining in full power at midday." Now maybe that's why we have a sunny day today because the Lord knew we're going to be talking about this, and we couldn't plan this. But the way it's talking about here, where it says "in the full power of midday," in the Greek, it's really just talking like if you went out in the middle of the day, the brightest part of the day, and you just looked up right into the sun. That's what it was like looking at Jesus.

You see, Jesus is the light of the world, not just morally but literally as well. And in the new heavens and the new earth, there's not going to be a sun anymore. Jesus, God himself, is going to be the light. And so that's what we see here. Now what's interesting, as Jesus is shining, his face like the midday sun, full power, it reminds us of in Exodus chapter 34 with Moses.

If you remember how he went to be with the Lord and said, "Lord, show me your glory." "Moses, if I showed you, you're going to be dust. I'll tell you what, I'll pass before you. I'll put my hand over you, I'll cover you, go behind this rock, and I'll just pass before you." And even in just that, when Moses came down and said, "Hey everybody, what's up?" the people of Israel were like, "Dude, we can't hardly look on you. You're so bright. Your face, you're so shining."

And so basically what this is showing is Jesus Christ is the light. And again, like the noonday sun. You and I are basically more like the moons, if you will. We don't generate the light, we just reflect the light. And I love that picture. And again, go back to what we are, the seven lampstands, that the church, notice it's the light. It's talking about the light. You and I, the church of Jesus Christ, are the light of the world now.

Jesus said that. You are the light. Go shine your light before men and do your works in such a manner that when people see your good works, they give glory to your Father in heaven. You're the salt of the earth. He didn't say "if you want to be." He didn't say "if you're feeling up to it today." He said you are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth.

So we have this very interesting depiction of Jesus. Again, revelation of Jesus, and we need to remember this. But do you ever notice something, as one commentator pointed out, that all throughout the scriptures we never have an exact description of Jesus? He stood this tall and wore this kind of garment and his eyes were this color and his hair was this long and this kind of beard. We're not told all of those things.

Now artists throughout the centuries have filled these in and made up their own versions of Jesus, and like I said, most of the time it's the surfer-dude Jesus, at least here in the West, if you want to call it that. And I was raised in a church where we had pictures of Jesus all over the house, and I had a picture of Jesus in my wallet. That's why I don't like pictures of Jesus anymore because they're all just somebody's idea what they think he would look like. And we do know, it's interesting, the Bible does tell us that he was uncomely, that he was not pleasant to look upon.

So he wasn't the kind of guy that you'd look on and go, "Whoa, there goes this guy, Brad Pitt." No, no, he was uncomely. It's like, "Oh, that guy? What? He's Jesus? He's the Messiah?" Now as we come into verse 17, we need to remember something that's very important. The Apostle John was with Jesus for some three and a half years of his ministry. John called himself the one whom Jesus loved.

He rested his head on the chest of Jesus at what we call the Last Supper. He was very familiar with the grace of God. He was very familiar with the power of Jesus Christ. He was very familiar with the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Yet when John beheld Jesus, not as the Lamb of God come in the flesh but as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, let's look at verse 17 to his reaction. Ready?

"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead." That's what happened when John sees Jesus in this form. He falls at his feet as though dead. Why? Because this is who Jesus truly is now. Not the babe in the manger, not the surfer-dude Jesus, not the Jesus on the crucifix or the cross. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Almighty.

Well, Pastor Bill, you seem to be saying that a lot. I am, because all praise and glory to him. We need to remember how big he is. And that's okay. When we understand and see how big God is, for me, it's okay that I'm little. It's okay that I'm not the center of the universe. It's okay that I'm not the main part of his plan. Lord, I just want to be a gatekeeper in your house, Lord. I'll be happy. I'll serve you. Do you need your shoes waxed there? I'm right all over it, Lord, because you're so good. You're so great. You're so powerful.

But notice again what happens when John sees him. "I fell at his feet as though dead." You know, there's been so many different movies and books and *One Minute in Heaven* or all these different things. It's like, "Oh, when I saw Jesus I went, I died for an hour and I saw my Uncle Joe and my Aunt Mary and we played baseball and it was just so wonderful and all these things." Paul, when he describes his going to the third heaven, he says, "Look, I would describe what I saw, but it's unlawful for me to even utter such things."

And even John as he sees, same thing happened to Daniel, by the way. An angel of the Lord appeared and it could have been a Christophany, Jesus appeared, but he was sick for days after the appearance. One of the guys, by the way, one of the kids, they did a whole movie and book, sold millions of books, I think. He came out years later and said he made the whole thing up. It was all sold in Christian bookstores and movies, like I said.

Look, guys and gals, I don't need somebody to die and come back and say, "Oh, heaven's real." I'm like, "Oh, man, my faith is great. That's real." No, we have that right here. Hello! This is the word of God. This is more—this is accurate. This makes sense. In other words, I'm going to take this and judge every other thing by it. Somebody comes back and says, "Well, I saw Jesus." Well, was it this Jesus? Because if it's not this Jesus, I don't think you saw Jesus.

Because we don't have a thing where Jesus is going to appear now and he's just like in his robe and "Peace be with you. God bless you," the Pope-thing, whatever it is. I used to have it down when I was Catholic. Oh, there we go, like that. Look, when we see Jesus, man, we're going to fall down at his feet as though dead too. If you don't think so, then you're an idiot. Seriously.

We're not going to stand up and go, "Yo, Jesus, what's up, dude? How you doing? Good to see you. I want to see my family first, then I'll come and see you because I really miss—" No, dude, it's going to be like "Boom!" as though dead. It's going to be so awesome. And that's the vibe that God wants us to have this morning. As we're reading from verses one through 16 and we read about him who is the Alpha and the Omega, God wants us to fall at his feet, remembering who he is, remembering this is the book of Revelation.

He wants us to see who he is. But check this out, I love this. Look at verse 17 as it continues. So here's John, the beloved apostle, he falls at his feet as though dead. Jesus laid his right hand on me saying to me, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and death."

Jesus doesn't just sit there and go, "That's right, buddy. You stay down there." He's like, "Dude, John, come here. It's all right, John. It's still me." He laid his hand, "Do not be afraid." How many times did he tell his apostles, "Do not be afraid," his disciples, "Do not be afraid"? Hey, John, do not be afraid. You know, guys and gals, are you afraid today? Are you living in fear today?

Worry consumes you, worried about everything that there is to worry about. If you are, can I encourage you to hear the words of Jesus this morning, and putting his right hand just on you as well saying, "Hey, do not be afraid." Well, I'm afraid of COVID. I just read yesterday there's a new strain out again. Can you believe it? It's a strain ABCDQRXDVW1393 Mary Poppins, whatever. But some people are, they're living in fear of COVID even still.

I see people driving down the streets alone in their car wearing a mask. Not kidding. People out exercising wearing their mask. You want to wear a mask, I don't care. I'm fine with that. But how about you be wise? You're driving alone in your car. You're living in fear. And by the way, that's what the world wants. They want us to be afraid. And by the way, I'm not stupid enough or prideful enough to say there aren't things to be fearful of today.

If you read through the signs that we're looking for in the last days, there's not one of them except for Israel becoming a nation again that I'm doing jumping jacks about. Pestilences, earthquakes, famines—yeah, woohoo! No. But again, we don't need to be afraid of those things. Life isn't going how you want. Terrible things are happening. We can be worried, but don't be afraid.

And why shouldn't we be afraid? Well, look at what he goes on to say. "I'm the first and the last. I'm he who lives and was dead." Hey John, remember who I am. I am the first and the last. Don't be afraid. I am he who lives. Remember, I was dead on the cross. I've risen from the dead. This is who I am. I'm your savior. I'm your God.

And this is how powerful I am, dude. I was—I'm the first and the last. I live, I was dead, behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I got the keys to Hades and death. And guess what, John? You don't have to worry about that anymore. So why would John fear? Why would John be afraid? What's he afraid of? Because Jesus Christ paid the debt for his sin. He's not headed to hell in Hades.

Jesus Christ has the keys of Hades and death. And if you here today, if you've repented of your sins, believed on Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life, if you've been born again, there's no need to be afraid. "Well, what if I get COVID and I die?" Oh, God bless you. I'm envious, because I'll be right behind you. Might be 30, 40 years. It might be a couple days. It might be when the rapture comes. We're all going there. What part of that don't we understand?

Now again, I'm not going to go jump off a building. That's sin. Not going to go around licking doorknobs like I've said before. That's just stupid. But why would we live in fear? "Well, wars and rumors of wars." Yeah, there could be more wars. There could be a third world war before Jesus comes. Anybody looking forward to that? You'd be stupid to. But we don't need to fear.

"What if persecution keeps getting worse?" Don't be afraid because guess what? "I'm the first and the last. I'm he who lives and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Hades and death." What God is trying to do here, guys and gals, is put himself in a perspective in your life and in my life, in my mind and in your mind, of who he really is. He's no longer still crucified. He is alive. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Alpha, the Omega. He is all-powerful.

And when we realize that and live like that, we'll be living different lives, because this is glorious because you're his. If you've been born again, you are his. Now look, if you haven't been born again, maybe you're just religious here today or watching online, and you don't have this peace. You don't have this security. You'd rather look to the things of the world.

You'd rather look to psychologists. You'd rather look to television or to movies or books instead of the book. Well, let me tell you something. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Forget about the junk of the world. Put your trust fully in Jesus Christ, because we are reading today who he really is, and he is above all these things.

Now look at verse 19. Now here we see basically the key to the book of Revelation. I love this. We don't have to sit there and "How do we figure out the Bible codes? What's unlocking the Bible codes to the book of Revelation?" We don't need to because Jesus himself tells us the whole breakdown of the book of Revelation. Ready?

Verse 19, "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this." So and that's how the whole book of Revelation is broken down in those three ways. Notice number one, write down those things which you have seen. And these are the things that John is seeing right now in the book of Revelation chapter one. Write down that you're seeing the Alpha and the Omega. You're seeing my eyes and my feet as bronze and all—write down these things which you have seen here in chapter one.

And then it goes on to say then write the things which are. And he's talking about chapters two and three, those things that are currently happening within the church, within the churches, and Jesus is going to address those things. And then lastly, so those are the things which you've seen, those things which are, and then lastly, the things which will take place after this.

And these are the things that will take place from chapter four on. These are the things that will be the prophecies of the book of Revelation. Now it's interesting to note where it says "which will take place after this." Where it says "after this" in the Greek, it's *meta tauta*, after this or after these things. Turn with me please to Revelation chapter four, and we'll see how this ties in.

Revelation chapter four. Notice what it says it starts out there. "After these things" or "after this," guess what that says in the Greek? *Meta tauta*. So after these things, so again, Jesus has broken it down for us. After these things I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, "Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this," again, *meta tauta*.

So again, we see, I love how Jesus breaks down the book for us. So again, the book of Revelation isn't as hard to understand as you might think, as others have said. Come back to our text, if you will, verse 20. And we've kind of talked about most of this. It says "the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands." So Jesus is going to tell them what those meant.

"The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches." Now let's talk about that for just a moment as we're getting ready to close. Now the seven stars, most commentators believe, and I agree with, are referring to the pastor or the bishop or the elders that are over a church, or elder. It's interesting because it's addressed to singular here. The word angel in the Greek is *angeloi*, and it literally means messenger.

Usually it refers to a divine messenger. One Greek scholar said this, it means angel, messenger, or by implication, pastor. So thus in this instance, I believe it would be better translated, the seven stars are the pastors of the seven churches. And so as we read through the letters, it'll make more sense. Oh yeah, Jesus is talking to each leader of the church there. And notice it goes on to say, "and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches." Again, the church being the light of the world, we are the light. Jesus is the main light. We're like the moons reflecting him.

Guest (Male): I hope you were blessed by today's message from Pastor Bill Henry. This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. And today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill's new series in the book of Revelation. If you'd like to hear today's message again or share it with a friend, it's available at our website to either watch or listen or download in MP3 format. We have a large number of Pastor Bill's messages archived, and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That's simplefaith.org.

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Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have three services every Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:45, and 11:30, and a great time of study in God's word every Wednesday evening at 7:00. For more information and directions, go to simplefaith.org and also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks so much for joining us today. Be sure to join us next time as our series in Revelation continues here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel.