Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: What's Jesus doing today? Well, that's our subject this time on Thru the Bible with our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host, and I'm so glad that you've joined us for this study in what Dr. McGee called one of the most thrilling sections in the Word of God.

So, as you board the Bible Bus and grab your seat, let's pray and let's get started. Heavenly Father, would you strengthen our faith as we study together and then help us to see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? It's in his name we pray. Amen. Here's our study of Revelation chapter one on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we saw, beginning with verse nine, the great vision that was given John on the Isle of Patmos. And this first vision was a vision of the glorified Christ, the post-incarnate Christ in a glorified body judging his church. In other words, we see the great High Priest in the Holy of Holies.

Now, John began, you remember, by saying that this vision was given to him on the Isle of Patmos. Domitian, one of the most brutal of the Roman emperors, had exiled him here to this island. This was the place where the Roman government sent prisoners, and John was put out there.

Now, this vision was given to him there. And let me read to you verses 10 and 11, because we need to see this tremendous vision that was given to him. And if you'll follow in your text, I'm going to read from my own book on Revelation and my own translation. And again, I would remind you, as I will constantly, I do not recommend it, but I did attempt to get at the original and what John is saying.

"I was," or "I found myself in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And I heard behind me a great sound, as of a war trumpet, saying, 'What you're seeing, write promptly in a book and send promptly to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.'"

Now, the Holy Spirit is here performing his office work. And that's the reason I prayed today that he might take the things of Christ and show them unto us. Because that's exactly you'll recall what the Lord Jesus said that the Spirit of God would do when he came. He would take the things of Christ and he would show those unto us.

He put it in language like this in John 16:13: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."

Now we are getting this vision of the glorified Christ here. It's just needless for me to say that I feel totally incompetent in a place like this, and only the Spirit of God can make it real to us. But I do it with boldness for this reason: you remember the writer in Hebrews said in Hebrews 3:1, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest, Jesus Christ." So we are considering him in his office today as the great High Priest.

John was in the Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit was moving upon John, and he's giving him now a panoramic picture. This is Cinerama; it's sight and sound. It's an appeal to both the eye gate and the ear gate. Here we're told that there was a sound like a great trumpet.

Who was it? He says in verse 12 and 13: "And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like a Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle."

Now, that is the picture that we are given here. In other words, he said, "I heard a sound like a trumpet. I heard a voice that was like a trumpet, a war trumpet." Now, when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven for his church, with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, his voice will be like an archangel, and his voice will be like a trumpet, because it's identified here as just that. He's not going to need any archangel to help him raise the dead of those in his church.

And so here we have that explained to us in a very wonderful way. The seven churches here, and I'm not going to develop these different churches, I will when we get to chapters two and three because each one of the churches will be brought before us. To me, this is one of the most thrilling sections in the Word of God.

Now, the thing that is thrilling here is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a vision of one like the Son of Man. He's clothed with a garment down to the foot, girt about the breast, his breast with a golden girdle. The seven golden lampstands here remind us of the Tabernacle. And instead of it being one lampstand with seven branches, what you have here is seven separate lampstands.

Now, since these lampstands represent seven separate churches, and that will be explained a little later, the function of all is the same. That is, you're light in the world. The Lord Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world, but when I leave, you be the light in the world." And his church is to be the light in the world.

Now here is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our great High Priest. And what is he doing? Well, here we find him in the midst of the lampstands. And what is he doing there? First of all, let me say the garments are those of the High Priest. You could check Exodus 28:2 and 4, and all of the garments there.

It all represents the inherent righteousness of Christ. In him is no sin, and he knew no sin. And that girdle, Josephus states that the priests were girded about the breast and the ordinary custom was to be girded about the loins, but the emphasis here is not on service but on strength. It speaks of his judgment in truth.

Now we are asked to consider our great High Priest as he stands in the midst of the churches, and he's judging what? The churches. He's judging believers, that the light might continue to shine. And I want us to look at that now for just a few moments, because personally, I think this is a very important section.

And there is a book that I've wanted to write, and I haven't got around to it, and I may never get around to it. But the book I'd like to write, I have a title for it: it would be "The Contemporary Christ". And I hear today so many foolish things that are being said about what Jesus is doing today.

The scripture doesn't leave us in the dark regarding what he's doing today. And actually, it mentions three very definite ministries. First of all, there is the intercession of Christ. Now he's our great High Priest, and he's standing at the golden altar in heaven today, for he ever lives to make intercession for us. And we love that; that's wonderful.

And then we have the intervention of Christ. Not only the intercession but the intervention of Christ because he steps outside of the holy place to the laver where he washes the feet of those that are his own. And he washes who? Well, those that will bring their feet, their hands, their eyes to him and confess their sins.

If we confess our sins, that is Christians—Christians have sins, and you'd better confess them if you're going to have fellowship with him—if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So he's girded today with the towel and the basin, and he intervenes in our behalf.

Not only that, John goes on to say in his first epistle, "My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not." He's made an arrangement and he's made every provision that you sin not. But I don't know about you, I haven't reached that state yet, and frankly, I've never met anybody I thought that had. But he says, "But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father." And he's our advocate, that is, he's on our side defending us when an accuser, because Satan is the accuser of the brethren, accuses us.

Now there is another ministry, and it's not very popular, and it's the one mentioned here. And I think that's one reason that this section of Revelation is so little known is because you have here the inspection of Christ. You see, what Christ is doing today is clearly outlined in scripture. He ascended to heaven, he sat down at the right hand of God, but he didn't start twiddling his thumbs.

When it says he sat down, it means he finished the redemption down here, and he died down here to save us. But he lives up yonder to keep us saved. And I think he's been busier trying to keep us saved than he was when he was here on this earth. You have the intercession of Christ, you have the intervention of Christ, and now you have the inspection of Christ.

And that's what we're going to look at here. Where is he now? Why, we see him walking in the midst of the lampstands. That's the picture that's given to us. Now, I won't turn to this, but back in the book of Exodus, we have the golden lampstand given to us there. It was the most beautiful article of furniture that was in the Tabernacle, and it has such a lovely meaning.

It was made of solid gold, and there was made from it, beside the main stem, three branches on each side. It was all in the shape of an almond blossom at the top, and it was opened up and you put the lamps in there. Now the lamps represent the Holy Spirit, but the golden lampstand itself represents Christ, the glorified Christ, Christ in his deity.

Now, the Holy Spirit, you see, Christ sent him into the world. And the golden lampstand holds up the lamps, but the lamps in turn reveal the beauty and the glory of the lampstand. Now, that's the picture you have here. The Holy Spirit, I trust even now, will make Christ in all of his glory, and all of his wonder and beauty, make him real to you, and that you may see yourself in the light of his presence, and that he inspects you. And that's not a very popular thing today; we don't like to be inspected, you know.

But here we have him walking in the midst of the lampstands. Now, the High Priest performed these duties: he had the sole oversight of the lampstand. Now, the other priests, they had charge of other things, but the great High Priest, he took care of the lampstand. And he's the one that lighted the lights. He's the one that poured in oil. He is the one that trimmed the wicks. He is the one that if one of the lamps began to smoke and not give a good clear light, he had a snuffer and he'd just snuff it out.

Well, the Lord Jesus is walking in the midst of the lampstands today and in the midst of his church and individual believer. And he does several things: he trims the wick. You have that in John 15 where he prunes the branches that they might get fruit. And that's one of the reasons he lets you and me go through certain trials down here: he wants some fruit off of our branch, you see.

And then he does something else: he does that to get a bright light. He's the one that pours in the Holy Spirit. I get so tired today of hearing people say the Holy Ghost this, the Holy Ghost that. My friend, Jesus Christ is head of the church. He's the one who sent the Holy Spirit into the world. He said he would. And he said when he came, he'd do certain things, and he's not just doing any old thing you want him to do; he's doing what the Lord Jesus sent him into the world to do.

He is the head of the church, and so the Holy Spirit is in the world, and the Lord Jesus wants to get fruit, he wants light from you, friend. And he's the one that pours in the Holy Spirit, and if there's any light that's coming from this program, the Holy Spirit will have to do it because I want to tell you something, there's no light in Vernon McGee. I found that out a long time ago.

And then he does something else, and this makes me shiver: he sometimes uses a snuffer. If a light just won't give light and keeps just smoking a place up, why, the Lord Jesus just reaches in and snuffs it. And that's what John meant when he said there's a sin unto death. And you can be set aside today. Oh my, the number of people that have been set aside that I have known in my ministry. Preachers, yes, and elders and deacons and Sunday school teachers. And he just put them aside. Why? Because he wants light, and he's walking in the midst of the lampstands today.

Now, friends, let me just move on here because this is so important. Verse 14: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters."

Now his hair was white as snow; that speaks of his eternity. He's the Ancient of Days, and that speaks of his dignity. And his eyes were like a flame of fire; it speaks of his penetrating insight and eyewitness of the total life of the church. He knows all about you, and he knows all about me. Remember, he even sat over the treasury and watched how the people gave. And last Sunday, he watched you when you put that offering in the offering plate. You didn't think anybody knew about that, but he knew about it.

And you remember his eyes met those of Simon Peter after he denied him, and Simon Peter went out and wept. Oh, if you could only see the eyes of your Savior today, my friend; he's looking at you. And his feet were like unto burnished brass. Now do you notice that? His feet like burnished brass. And that's judgment, you see. Brass, that brazen altar outside speaks of his work down here on earth when he died on the cross and he bore your judgment and my judgment for sin, and he's judging those that are his own.

Now we are told his voice as the sound of many waters, and that's the voice of authority, the voice that called the universe into existence, the voice that will raise his own from the grave someday. And all these figures add to the picture of Christ as our High Priest. Friends, consider our great High Priest. And the Spirit of God here will help you to see him, oh, to see him in all of his beauty and to see him in all of his glory. How wonderful he is. How glorious he is.

Now will you notice verse 16: "And he had in his right hand seven stars." That means he controls the universe. "Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." And one man said to me, "Do you think a literal sword goes out of his mouth?" Of course not. What is the sword? Well, the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And when he speaks the word, friends, you'd better sit up and take note, because he means business.

He had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. You can't even look at the sun; you can't look at it. My friend, do you think you'll be able to look at the Creator of the sun, the one today who's the glorified Christ? How wonderful he is.

Now, verses 17 and 18: "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.'" Now John's the one that had an easy familiarity with Christ when he was here on this earth. You remember how he reclined on his bosom in the upper room? You remember he could rebuke him? Oh, this man John, he was very close to the Lord Jesus.

But when he saw the glorified Christ yonder on the Isle of Patmos, he didn't go up to him and pat him on the back. He didn't go up to him and shake hands. He didn't go up to him and begin a conversation. He fell at his feet as dead. And my friend, if Jesus Christ as he is right now at God's right hand, if he would come to you and to me right now and we'd see him in all of his glory and all of his beauty, you and I are not going to be familiar with him at all. We're not going to get up and pat him on the back. We're not going to talk in a familiar way to him. We are going to fall down before him as dead and worship and praise him.

That's who he is. John says, "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. I'm he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and death.'" Now we're going to look at that next time from here on.

But I want to go back and just pick up one or two things that we need to see here that are very important. General Nathan Twining was in command of the US 20th Air Force in the Far East at the end of World War II. He was the man who gave the command to drop the first atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He became later the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. And he dropped another atom bomb on December the 10th in 1959, and it had just about as great repercussion as the literal bomb did.

He told the French in particular and other Europeans in general that they were not carrying their share of the defense of NATO, and that they were falling down on the defense of Europe, and that NATO was coming unglued. And do you know the repercussions of that are still reverberating throughout Europe today, what that man said.

Although the general was accurate in his charges, the reactions were bitter, and there were countercharges made and denials and excuses were offered. And when President Eisenhower at that time went to Europe, he received the coolest reception he'd ever had. Why? The human heart resents criticism. Human nature rebels against judgment being passed on us.

We like to be handed a parcel of little rules and regulations, and that's the reason all of these little courses are so popular today, because Christians want to be legalistic whether they know it or not. They don't want to live by grace; give them a few little rules that they can go by. And we have as a result a group of Band-Aid believers today. They just put this little Band-Aid on, and they think that that's all they need to heal a broken leg or something.

Why? Because this old nature that you and I have, it'll purr like a pussycat when flattered, but it will bristle like a porcupine when failure to do a job is recorded. And that's the reason that the present position of Christ and his contemporary work as one who inspects us is largely ignored by the church. He occupies the position as judge of the church and members, and he does not flatter. He does not ignore what he sees. He doesn't shut his eyes to sin and that which is wrong. His constant charge and command to his church is, as we're going to see, repent, change.

Or I'll come to you and I'll remove your lampstand. And the church has smarted and squirmed under this indictment down through the ages and still does. It's a natural resentment that's in the hearts of lukewarm believers. And the Laodicean church has paid scant attention to what he has to say today. As someone has said, there's a man in the glory, but the church has lost sight of him. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: To go beyond what Dr. McGee calls Band-Aid believing and know more about the man in glory, download Dr. McGee's free digital booklet, "Living the Christian Life God's Way," in our app or at TTB.org. It's just one of the many resources that you'll find today to deepen your personal study of the Bible. So while you're at TTB.org, check out our entire library or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if you're looking for something specific.

Now, our study in Revelation is off to a great start, don't you think? And if you'd like to listen to this message again, or any of these messages in Revelation, they're available anytime in our app or online. Our address again is TTB.org. And if you have a story to share about how God's using the study of his Word in your life, you know we'd love to hear from you. Just send us a note through our app, email us at biblebus@ttb.org, or mail your note to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. You can also call and leave a voicemail anytime at 1-800-65-BIBLE. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here as the Bible Bus rolls along next time.

Well, ride the Bible Bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from his Word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at Thru the Bible.