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May 30, 2024 - Jim Bakker Show
56:01
Jim Bakker Sermon 3: Completing the Foundation
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Start With Revelation 00:13:56
I want you to open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1 as we begin part 3 of our adventure in the book of Revelation.
This is probably the most exciting adventure I have ever taken because every time we open this book, I learn new things.
I hope you remember and you're taking notes.
I've got several things I need you to write down tonight.
Revelation means to take the cover off.
Say that with me.
To take the cover off, to unveil, to uncover, and to disclose.
This is an unveiling of secrets.
I know most of you love secrets, don't you?
Don't you like to know something that is a secret to find out, you know, hidden treasure?
This is hidden treasure.
And this was written by John, and he was 90 years old in the Isle of Patmos.
Revelation chapter 1, verse 1, we're just going to read down to where we are studying.
The revelation, the uncovering of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, which God gave unto him to show unto us, his servants, things which must shortly, and that's important.
Remember, we learned what that means.
That means in a brief space of time.
It doesn't mean it was going to happen quickly or soon.
It meant that when it does happen, it will come to pass and it will come into being in a short period of time.
So when the book of Revelation starts unveiling and starts happening, it's going to happen quickly.
And that's why we have to be aware.
God has spoken to my heart that a lot of church people are not going to be ready when these things start to happen.
Because we have been lulled into complacency, believing that somehow we're going to escape everything, that nothing bad will ever happen to us.
And I'm telling you, bad things have happened to good people from the beginning of time.
And things happen.
And I believe that God wants us to be aware of these things.
He's our friend.
And he says, I tell you everything.
So these are the things that will, when they start happening, they'll happen within a space or period, within a special period of time, and it's going to happen quickly.
But it's not going to happen, you know, come to pass shortly as that is wrong interpretation in the King James.
So things which will happen quickly when they begin to happen.
And he sent and signified it like a signet ring by his angel, his messenger, unto his servant John.
Remember that word angel means messenger.
We'll talk about that again in just a moment.
He goes on to say here in the book of Revelation, who bear record of the word, the Logos, the spoken word of God, and of the testimony, the evidence given of Jesus Christ and of all the things that he saw.
Remember, that's the key word, see and hear in this book of Revelation.
John saw this great vision, 2,000 years in the future.
Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.
And that means the time when due season comes, it will happen.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.
Okay, verse 5.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead.
Remember, Jesus is the first of resurrection.
He is the forerunner.
He raised himself from the dead.
And he will raise us from the dead if we die before the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 6, and he hath made us kings, royalty, to reign and priest unto God, and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
Then verse 7.
Behold, he cometh with clouds.
He comes amidst clouds.
He's coming in the clouds.
You know, a lot of pictures have Jesus sitting sort of like on the edge of a cloud.
I don't believe that's the way it's going to happen at all.
And we're going to study more and more and more about the clouds.
Remember, if you're keeping your list of things that have to do with God, clouds must be on your list.
Remember that?
Because we've studied that already.
But we looked in Daniel and we said we saw the ancient of days and they brought him near before clouds of heaven.
We read about in Matthew 24 that the Son of Man coming in the clouds with an S.
And throughout the Bible, even the pillar of the cloud was God's sign to the children of Israel.
And so clouds are very important.
And you say, why are we going to learn these things?
Because we want to find out where the rapture takes place, where Jesus comes back.
And if you'll start writing these things down, when we get there, you're going to realize who the Bible is talking about.
You're going to realize it.
And I'm going to share a few more of these points with you.
But to clouds, very, very, very important.
And he is brighter than the sun.
In verse 7, it says, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every means all eyes shall see him.
And they also which pierced him.
One of the reasons I believe every eye is going to see him, the Bible says he's brighter than the sun.
And the whole earth is going to be covered with cloud.
I believe this with all my heart, and I'll show you why.
And I'm going to show you a video one of these days that you'll get the picture really clearly.
And so if the earth is covered in dark clouds and the coming of the Lord and he comes in the clouds and he bursts through and Jesus is brighter than the sun, every eye is going to see him.
He's brighter than the sun.
His light goes around the world.
The sun's light doesn't go around the world.
But Jesus, light of Jesus, is brighter than the sun, and it goes around the world.
So behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
So even the dead are going to see him.
And all kindreds, races of the earth shall wail.
They'll have, it means grief.
We studied this the other day, but they'll beat their chest.
They're going to, the word is chop, actually in the Greek, chop, beat on their breast as they see him because they don't know him.
They haven't accepted him because of him.
Even so, amen.
So remember that key.
He cometh with the clouds.
All right, now we're going to start with verse 8.
Are we there?
Revelation chapter 1, verse 8.
I am Alpha and Omega.
Alpha, remember, is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
So he's the first letter and the last.
He's the first and the last.
Now, I hate to tell you this, but the next phrase, the beginning and the ending, is not in the original Bible.
It's not in the original text.
It was just added by King James' interpreters so you could read it better.
It doesn't mean anything.
It doesn't take away anything.
It really doesn't add anything because we've already said that.
He's the Alpha and Omega.
He's the beginning and the end.
And so, you know, those translators just thought, well, some of us would be sort of dumb and not know what that, you know, what Alpha and Omega meant.
So they just wrote it out, the beginning and the end.
And the only reason I tell you that is I'm trying to have integrity in what I teach you.
I'm not going to, you know, a lot of teachers want to cover over.
They just don't think if somebody is something, they defend the King James Bible as if it was the original scrolls found in the caves or something that the prophets and the men of old had written on.
No, the King James is a very, very new in history translation of the Bible.
And so we must study.
And that's why I spend hours and hours and hours studying the Greek and the Hebrew so we can know what the Word of God says.
There's no contradictions in the word.
There's nothing wrong with the word.
There's no errors in it.
You can find some errors in the King James, but as you study the original Greek, there's no errors.
There's no errors in the Bible.
It all dovetails.
All the numbers, all the writing.
It's just unbelievable.
The more I study the Bible, the more I am in love with it and the more I know it is the word of the living God.
So he says, I am Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord.
This is Jesus, saith Jesus, which is, meaning being, being now, and which was.
Jesus was.
Everything that's been made was made with Jesus.
He was, he is, and he is to come.
He is our coming king.
He is coming.
Everything points to that fact.
And you need to know the word of God because we're going to weave Matthew 24.
We're going to start in there soon.
And we're going to weave this great discourse in Matthew 24, how it weaves throughout and shows us all these things that are going to happen.
And most of them already happened.
Just a few left to go, really.
There's a few little things that are going to happen, but we are right there right now.
I don't know if when I get into the four horsemen, the apocalypse, I'm going to show you an amazing prediction of how the Bible predicts what we're going through right now.
News on
the internet in the last 24 hours.
They are so mystified.
There are so many diseases that are coming from animals.
There is horrible.
Ebola comes from monkeys.
HIV, they believe it came from monkeys, the animals.
The book of Revelation predicts that a big percent of the earth's population will be killed with animals.
I couldn't figure out when I studied it in the prison.
There's, you know, man, if we had elephants march on us, we could go get guns and shoot them.
Lions and tigers.
There's no way lions and tigers could kill millions and millions and millions of people.
I couldn't figure this out.
And then as I study each word, that's why I study every single word.
And when I began to study the four horsemen, the apocalypse, and I believe they're writing right now, I found out that one of the words that we have interpreted something else is interpreted disease of the animals.
And I'll unveil that to you as we get to it in a few days, in a few weeks of teaching.
But now, let's go on.
So Jesus is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is being, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
That means all-ruling, absolute, and universal sovereign.
That's our God.
There's only one God.
His Son is Jesus Christ.
They are one.
There is a Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
So here's verse 9.
I, John, who also am your brother.
John is addressing this book to the seven churches, the number of perfection, the number of completion.
So I, John, who also am your brother, he's in the family of God, in the seven churches of Asia.
Enduring Tribulation 00:04:16
He's writing to them.
So he's saying, I'm a part of the family.
I'm your brother.
And I am your companion in tribulation.
They were having tribulation back then.
Why do you listen to people who tell you you don't have to have a headache?
It's not true, people.
I'm sorry.
If every person in this room today, every single person, if I were to say, have you had any bad things happen to you?
You would have to say yes.
And if I ask every one of you, are you going through something right now?
You would all have to probably say, yes, there's something in my life that's not quite the way I want it to be.
And there's people here with tribulation.
There's people here with real heartbreak.
Somebody once said, remember, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
And John looked at his fellow companions there in the seven churches.
And he said, we are companions in tribulation.
And that word tribulation means pressure.
We are in pressure together.
We have gone through a lot of pressures.
Does anybody know what pressure means?
Has anybody ever had any pressure?
Like the old movies with the villain, you've got to pay the rent.
You know that old saying?
But there's pressures to pay taxes, to pay rent, to pay this, to do this, make this happen, and that happen.
And it says, we are companions in tribulation, in trouble, in affliction, and in the kingdom or the reign and the patience of Jesus Christ.
Isn't that interesting?
That means endurance, the hopefulness.
Cheerful, actually, patience and cheerfulness of through this tribulation, we're to be cheerful.
We're to have patience.
We're to be hopeful, it says here in the Greek.
In the patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle, the island that is called Patmos.
Well, that word Patmus is interesting.
That means my killing.
I have a feeling John's flesh was being killed in the Isle of Patmos.
But Patmus, remember, is that rocky, barren island that John was put on, 10 miles long, 6 miles wide.
And there he was, his killing, his killing of his flesh.
But when the flesh dies, and Jesus said we're to crucify our flesh, we are to pick up our cross every day.
And John, or Paul actually said, we're to die daily.
You know, and when we die, we have revelation.
Jesus lives more fully when we give up our fleshly desires and our tantrums and our wants and all this stuff.
Amen.
I know it's hot in here, but just stay with me.
Hell's a lot hotter.
So, he was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So, remember, we studied it earlier.
John is in the isle of Patmos.
He's in a penal colony.
He's there in prison.
And he's there because he refused to say Caesar is Lord.
You know what got him in prison?
He went around saying, Jesus Christ is Lord, and there is no other.
That's what old John said.
90-year-old John.
You know what they call us old boys?
I don't say it, but you know, they're probably saying, That old John, he won't keep his mouth shut.
God's Comfort 00:09:35
Well, we're going to shut him up.
We're going to put him in prison.
It didn't shut his mouth.
And he ends up writing from the inspiration of heaven.
He ends up writing down from Jesus Christ himself the book of Revelation for the last day.
The final word in God's word.
We are companions in tribulation.
2 Corinthians 1:3.
Go over there.
This word fascinates me.
2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3, it says, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, of pity, and the God of all comfort.
Amen.
Isn't that good?
Wow.
I'm telling you, no one can be all comfort but God.
He is our God of all comfort.
And that means consoling, consolation, to have solace.
He's the God.
Now, there's two words here, and I want you to catch the difference in them because this scripture is one of Lori and I's favorite.
But it means after studying it again, believe me, I study all the time, and I learn stuff every single day when I study.
Every single time, new revelation comes.
But here we have this word comfort here means, and there's two comforts here: there's comforteth and comfort.
And these are absolutely two separate words.
So this word comfort here means solace, consolation, comfort.
And it goes on, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.
And that is a different word, meaning he calls us near.
Isn't that good?
That comfort means to call near.
God comforts us, but then he calls us near.
He says, peace be still.
Then he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden.
I want to hug you.
I want to draw you near to myself.
I mean, when my wife got home from Boston, I just wanted to hug her more and more.
You know, I miss her, but she holds me close.
You know, because she's very paranoid about me leaving.
She don't want any, every man in her life, she said, walked away until she found me.
Or I found her.
And so she holds on for dear life.
She doesn't want to let go of me.
And that's a comfort.
But that's what God says.
He does to us, for us.
He comforts us with words, but then he says, I want to draw you near.
I'll shout by myself.
I don't care.
So let's go on.
Verse 4.
Who comforts us, who calls us near in all, say all, our tribulation, our pressure, our trouble, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort, solace, wherein we ourselves are comforted of God.
That means called near God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound, it actually means super abounds, excels in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
So these sufferings, these hardships, these pains, he said, we are comforted by God when we go through them.
And we are to be comforted.
And God hugs us.
He gives us words of comfort and he holds us.
He draws us near.
And he said, because you've been through hell, I want you to hold other people.
I want you to comfort other people by word and by deed.
Is that good?
It's good to me.
I'll tell you, you know, my book, wherever it is, here it is.
My book has been, this is tribulation for me.
There's a lot of my tribulation in this book.
But you know what?
Because of what I've been through and the comfort God gave me in prison, I've written about it in this book.
This book has changed lives.
I got another letter today.
I mean, a letter that I mean beyond comprehension.
This person told me that this book has literally revolutionized their life.
I had a man unsaved.
Lori read the letter the other day.
We got it on the email here at the restaurant.
He said, I got your book for a joke.
He said, I'm a lawyer.
And my brother gave me a book because we used to watch your show and laugh.
He says, I've read your whole book.
He said, I'm an agnostic.
But he said, I couldn't put your book down.
And by the time he ended his letter, he said, I'm almost persuaded.
He said, your book has changed my life.
Why?
Because this is my comfort.
This is the story of how God comforted me in my tribulation.
And now, because of my book, I'm reaching out to comfort other people.
It's the same thing with Lori's book here.
More than I could ever ask.
She was a beaten woman.
She was a drug addict.
She went through abortion.
All the hell on earth this woman's been through.
But this book is now comforting people.
This book, more women, tell me, this book has revolutionized their whole life.
Why?
Because where we've been comforted by God, we now comfort other people.
So we, as Jamie Charles says, we used to say, you know, you can make it, you know, by faith.
Now we can say you can make it by experience, by comfort, by the fact we've been comforted.
Now we can comfort others.
That's what God wants you to do.
Some of you, have anybody here ever been on drugs?
That would confess it?
That's all right.
You don't have to.
I mean, you know, but you're here, so you probably are off drugs now.
Well, you're supposed to go and tell other people, I made it.
I'm off.
Well, now you can do it.
That's what this scripture is all about.
Oh, I mean, Lori's told me stories about her drug days.
She doesn't talk a lot about it, but I got to pull it out once in a while and just say, tell me what it was like.
And she'd say, boy, we would be out of money.
We would spend all of our money on drugs.
And then the pain of coming off to withdraw, she said we were going crazy and we would tear the sofa apart.
We were sniffing anything we could get our nostrils into.
I mean, we were trying to get one little piece of any piece of drug we could because our bodies were crying out.
Now that's a good time, isn't it?
That's the good life, isn't it?
No, it's not.
But see, that's the witness.
That's why Armando coming from the 18th Street gang, he's back there right now, you know, preaching a funeral of his cousin.
I'm telling you, in the gangs, you either are killed or you go to prison.
The only thing that'll save your life is prison because they don't live long.
So he'll go back there and he'll be able to say, there is a better way.
Come on, let me pull you out of hell.
And that's what the scripture is talking about.
I'm getting too excited about this.
I have to hurry.
So let me just read this little part in 2 Corinthians.
You ought to mark this if you haven't marked in your Bible.
This is the most important scripture you could ever use to tell people what you've gone through can be used for good.
Your pain will bring gain.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and pity, the God of all.
Say, oh, I love that.
All comfort.
That means solace, consolation, consoling, who comforts us, draws us near in all, write those down in the sight, draws near under that comfort.
In verse 4, that comfort means calls near.
Calls near.
And the other one, the comfort in verse 3 there, that means solace or consoling comfort.
Okay, you got that down?
In all, all, there's that word, all our tribulation or pressure or trouble, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.
That comfort them is called near again over there.
By the comfort, by the comfort wherein that solace again, to consult, I mean to console, wherewith we ourselves are comforted, called near again.
In the Spirit of God 00:15:09
For as the suffering of Christ abounds in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
Amen and amen.
So here we are.
We have comfort them which are in any trouble.
Companion in tribulation.
This is what John's telling the churches.
He is going to comfort them, and they are companions in tribulation.
Paul was worshiping in the Spirit.
Let's go on.
Revelation, back to chapter 1, verse 10.
I was in the Spirit.
He was in the Holy Spirit.
He was in the Holy Ghost.
He was just worshiping.
He was in the Spirit of God.
This is the Holy Spirit of God.
This is the Spirit of God.
He was in the Spirit of the Lord, in the Spirit on the Lord's, that's Jehovah, Jesus, day.
Now, some believe that's Sunday.
Most scholars believe that it was Sunday, which they called the Lord's Day, not Saturday.
The Lord's Day.
Or others believe that it is the day of the Lord, the last days, the day of the Lord, the last days.
So it could be either way, that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, which means that he was in the Spirit and saw these days, which we're in now, the last days, or he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, on Sunday.
It doesn't make any difference because we got so much scripture to teach us what in the world's going on.
He's having an unbelievable vision.
He's being translated forward.
He's going forward in time.
He's seeing, which I believe is about 2,000 years in advance.
He saw today.
Here's this guy in this rocky old island seeing today, seeing atomic bombs probably go off, seeing all the things, the automobiles and all the things that are happening right now.
That's what John was seeing, and he had to write it down.
So he writes this down.
So I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a great, a big, an awesome.
This is a huge voice, the sound, an address to him, words as of a trumpet.
Go over to 1 Thessalonians 4.16.
You've got to understand some things.
This trumpet is going to help us understand when Jesus comes back.
How many know the Bible says he comes at the final trumpet?
Does anybody know that?
When is the final trumpet?
It's the end.
It's the final trumpet.
But I'm telling you, I have to rewrite the Bible to teach you that you will not go through any tribulation.
You know, the Bible says in the last days you're going to follow teachers having itching ears.
And we have itching ears today.
We want to hear things that tickle us.
We want to hear things that make us feel good.
We want to go to church and hear how good we are instead of how evil we are.
We want to go and hear about how we're going to get some more stuff.
How we can get a new car.
How we can get all these things.
We follow teachers having itching ears.
We don't want to hear the word of the Lord.
I'm amazed anybody's here to hear the book of Revelation on a weeknight in a restaurant.
I don't know what you're doing here.
Most of the people are out having a good time.
I'll tell you what.
I've seen vision of the last days.
And I have gone through the valley of the shadow of death.
I've lived in this Bible.
And I've lived in a vision that God has given me of the last days.
And I want to tell you something.
This is the only thing that's going to console us is the word of God.
And if you know this book, the things that happen will not shock you.
And you'll just smile.
You'll just keep rocking, Grandma, in your rocking chair and knitting and having the time of your life.
And you're just going to rock there and knit.
How you ever do it?
And you're going to say, The King is coming.
Hallelujah.
The King is coming.
Hallelujah.
I will not be afraid.
I'll not be afraid by the terror by night.
Hallelujah.
The king is coming, and he told me all about it.
And she'll run up and down the lanes and the streets and say, Don't be afraid.
Fear not.
Fear not.
We are to be the peacemakers in a troubled time.
Here we are.
1 Thessalonians 4:16.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from the heaven, from the sky.
It's actually sky as well as heaven.
With a shout.
And this shout is a cry of incitement.
A cry of incitement, it means in the Greek.
This is a shout, a cry of exciting cry.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from the heavens, from the sky, with a shout of excitement, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.
And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
This trump of God, this is the same word that we just read in Revelation 1:10.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.
The voice of the Lord is declared to be as the sound of a trumpet.
And this is such an important phrase to remember as we go along.
And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
All right, back to verse 12, Revelations 1:12.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me.
Isn't that lovely?
That is a good phrase of King James English.
I turned to see the voice that spake with me.
And actually, what John was saying, I turned to see who was talking.
Just a little more poetic the way Old English sounds.
But John just turned to see who was talking with him.
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
Say seven.
Seven is an important number.
I hope you know that.
Seven is the number of perfection.
Seven is the number of completion.
Seven is in the Bible 463 times.
Seven is a number of God.
Seven is a number of completion.
This is why the seven churches signify completion.
This book signifies the end of things.
Genesis is the beginning.
Revelation is the end.
We are at the end.
You know, I want to be either at the beginning or the end, but the Bible says the last shall be first, so that's not so bad after all.
But we're in the most exciting time in history, probably.
I saw seven golden candlesticks.
Now, these seven candlesticks represent the seven churches.
And you know, this is a good way to me to show you, and it's such a simple way to show you some of the things we're going to learn in the days to come.
The Bible is interpreted by itself.
If you want to know what the Bible means, read the Bible.
It will unveil to you as you read it.
Other parts of it will come and reveal another part.
And that's why it's a mystery.
And you must study and read the Bible to have it interpreted by the Holy Spirit unto you.
Go to Revelation 1.20.
I'll just show you that.
Go to Revelation 1.20.
Would you do that?
See, I mean, you could just debate and debate and debate and say, boy, I wonder what these seven candlesticks mean.
I wonder what these seven golden candlesticks.
Well, you know, in the Old Testament, they had the golden candlesticks, and this must be the holies of holies.
And oh, I wonder what this, you know, we preachers, we can just really build it up and, you know, and just go.
You don't tell me I got 20 minutes left.
I have more fun doing this than eating.
Okay, there, quickly, I have to go ahead.
The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
Now, remember, angels means messenger.
It means pastor, messenger.
And we've said that over and over again.
Remember, we took you over to where John the Baptist was called a messenger.
And in the Greek, it is this same word that is translated angel.
The word angel here means messenger or pastor.
I believe the seven stars, the angels of the seven churches, are the pastors, the leaders of these seven churches.
And the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven churches.
You don't have to go dream up something.
You don't have to figure out all these weird ideas of what is it.
You just read the Bible a little bit further down the line and you'll see, there it is.
It explains it right there.
And this is what we're going to find out.
We're going to go all the way back to the Old Testament to find revelation of what this book is all about.
So I've got to hurry because I wanted to get to the end of this chapter right now on this lesson three.
So where am I?
Verse 12.
We read that.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, lampstand, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about, that means sort of belted about the paps or the chest with a golden girdle.
This is the priestly robe and the breastplate of the high priest with the names there engraved on it.
This is a look at the high priest, the priest who is Jesus Christ.
So here we have in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, Jesus.
Daniel 7, 13.
Quickly, go over there.
Daniel 7, 13, it says, I saw in the night vision, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.
There we are in Daniel 7, 13.
Back in the Old Testament, we're hearing of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, who will come in the clouds of heaven.
Very important.
And he came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
So here, back in the Old Testament, we hear one like the Son of Man, and here we have one like unto the Son of Man in the book of Revelation.
We have Jesus in the Old Testament.
He was there in the fiery furnace.
He was the fourth man.
Jesus was there in the beginning at creation.
Jesus walked this earth.
Jesus, I believe, was the pillar of fire and the cloud by night, or the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
That's our Jesus.
So this is Jesus Christ.
Verse 14.
His head, and that word his is so interesting in the Greek because it's the Holy Spirit.
It means Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
His head and his hairs were white like wool.
Not just some old man.
He had hoary head, you know, that gray hair.
And it was a crown of glory.
As white as snow.
And his eyes were as a flame of fire, a blaze of fire.
Let's go back to Daniel 7 again.
Look at Daniel 7:9.
I should have told you to hold that for a minute.
Daniel 7, 9.
This is so awesome.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.
His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels are burning fire.
Oh, I know you want to know what his wheels are.
I'm not going to tell you today.
It's too long.
We got to go back to other parts of the Old Testament.
Oh, the wheel in the middle of the wheel.
I'm telling you, there is the spirits of God move around.
Oh, if you only could catch the vision, you wouldn't be afraid ever.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.
Thousands, thousands ministered unto him.
You know, that's millions.
You know, a thousand, thousands is a million.
This is with S's on it.
This is means millions ministered unto him.
And 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him.
The judgment was set, and the books were open.
I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which with the horn spake, I beheld even until the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
Quickly, go to Daniel 10, 6.
We're almost ready to close.
His body also was like the burrow, and his face as the appearance of lightning.
Uh-oh.
There's another little key here, that word lightning.
And his eyes as lamps of fire.
And his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass.
And the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
You're still over, you got your finger in Revelation.
Go now to our next verse in Revelation 1:15.
Here's what the next verse says.
It's describing Jesus Christ, God the Son, and his feet.
Ezekiel's Vision Described 00:07:56
Verse 15 of Revelation, and his feet like unto fine brass.
We just read there in Daniel, the feet of God like brass, as if they were burned or glowing in a furnace.
His voice as the sound of many, which means much, large amount of water.
His voice is the sound of mighty water.
Over in Ezekiel, verse 7 of chapter 1 of Ezekiel, it says here, and their feet were straight feet, and the sole of the feet was like the sole of a cast foot, and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.
Ezekiel 43, 2.
I'll just read it for you.
Let me go to Ezekiel 1.24 first.
Just read this little part.
It says, like the voice of great waters as the voice of the Almighty.
God's voice is the sound of a roar of an ocean.
The mighty roar of a sea.
And it says this over and over again.
Here we're reading it in Ezekiel.
We just read it in the book of Revelation in the New Testament.
The sound of many waters.
The voice of great waters is the voice of Almighty God.
Ezekiel 43, verse 2.
And behold, the glory of God of Israel came from the west, the way of the east, and his voice was like a noise of many waters.
And the earth shined with his glory.
So you can put that in your notes of the things of God.
He has a voice of the sound of many waters.
From the New Testament to the old.
There's such a harmony of the Bible.
Revelation 1:16, we move along.
And he had in his right hand seven stars.
Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.
I don't have to even tell you that, do I?
What is the two-edged sword?
The word of God.
Out of his mouth went the word of God.
And his continence, the sight of him, his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, in his force, in actually miraculous power of the sun.
So the seven stars are the pastors, the leaders, the messengers of the seven churches.
And then we're learning so much about what is the sign of God.
Now, if you remember these, you're going to know in the book of Revelation when Jesus comes back.
How many like to know when he's coming back?
You know, at least to know, you don't know the day or the hour, but the Bible tells us he's not going to come unaware for the saints.
He's not going to come as a thief in the night.
That's just for the unsaved.
So we want to know.
I need to know.
I want to know.
And we're going to find out by knowing what you have to know by study.
If you don't study, you don't know.
Amen?
Okay.
So where are we?
Revelation 1.16.
In his countenance, God's countenance, Jesus' countenance, as the sun.
In fact, the word of God tells us that he is brighter than the sun.
The two-edged sword is described in Hebrews 4, 12.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
That's the word of God.
The words of God are proceeding out of his mouth.
So we got to know who God is and find out when we read these things.
And then it's important to keep in mind his countenance as the sun shineth.
Back to Revelation 1:17.
And when I saw him, there's that word saw again.
I fell at his feet as dead.
As I fell at his feet, John was overpowered by the sight of Jesus.
He had seen Jesus.
He had walked with Jesus.
But he's so overpowered now in this vision as the king of kings in all of his glory, as the coming king.
He literally falls out.
He's overpowered.
He falls dead at the feet of Jesus.
And as he laid, or as Christ places, has laid his hand, right hand, means placed his right hand upon me, saying unto me, oh, this is the word for us tonight.
Fear not.
Fear not.
I'm almost done.
Hold on.
I'm almost done.
He said, fear not.
I am the first and the last.
This is the title of God.
The creation and the finish.
Jesus is the creation and he is the completion, the first and the last.
Fear not.
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.
I'm going to give you about five or four or five things right now in closing of why we're not to fear.
What God says here.
First of all, he said, fear not because I am God.
That's why you don't have to be afraid.
If you're your own God, you ought to be afraid.
If money's your God, you ought to be afraid.
Because money can melt like a snowball in hell.
The stock markets can crash and all the wealth.
I mean, a few months ago, trillions and trillions of dollars were lost in the stock markets.
Why do we put our faith in things?
But if you're going to be not afraid, number one, fear not.
We're going to write that down in our little list as we get ready to close here.
Can we go to Ezekiel?
Do we have time?
I want you to see something.
Ezekiel 1:28.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness around about.
And this is about God, the throne of God.
If you want to get a little ahead of us, just write, a sign of God is rainbow.
Rainbow.
Oh, it's going to be exciting.
You make this list out, and you're going to find Jesus.
You're going to find Jesus and you're going to find him where most people aren't telling you where he is.
As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so is the appearance of the brightness around about.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
And when I saw it, here's Ezekiel.
I fell upon my face.
And I heard a voice of one that spake.
Here is in Ezekiel, he falls on his face because he has a vision of Almighty God and his throne.
Here we have John falling at the feet of Jesus because of the overwhelming.
Look what Daniel happened.
Daniel 8:17.
Daniel 8:17.
So he came near where I stood.
When he came, I was afraid and fell upon my face.
But he said unto me, understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Daniel falls upon his face in the vision of God.
We have an almighty God.
We can't even look at him in our old bodies, our mortal bodies.
But I'll tell you what, when we see him, we are going to know him, and it is going to be the greatest hour.
I Am He 00:05:58
He is the first and the last.
Isaiah 41, 4.
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generation from the beginning?
I the Lord, the first and with the last, I am he.
Isaiah 44, 6.
Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.
And beside me, there is no God.
Isaiah 48, 12, hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my call.
I am he.
I am the first.
I also am the last.
Jesus Christ is the same from Genesis to Revelation.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Revelation 1.18.
We're about to close this thing out right now for today.
I am he that liveth and was dead.
Who is that?
That's Jesus.
I am he that was alive and died.
And behold, I am alive forevermore.
This is Jesus.
Amen, it says.
And have the keys of hell.
And that word hell isn't really the right word.
It's Hades and it's grave.
But Jesus has the keys of the grave.
When he died and rose again, he set captivity free.
He set captivity captive.
And I'm telling you, this is Jesus Christ, the only one who has the power over the grave, who has the power over Hades.
It says, write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter.
Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be after.
Many people think those are the three divisions of the book of Revelation.
Many scholars believe that, that the things which have been seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.
That word hereafter is nine times in the book of Revelation.
The mystery of seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels, the messengers, the pastors of the seven churches.
Do you realize these seven churches he writes to are within 60 miles radius of each other?
Asia Minor, they call it, Turkey, today.
And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
So here we have the fear not.
The next one, number two, why should we fear not?
Here's what he says.
I am Jesus.
I am Jesus.
I am he that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I am alive forevermore.
So number three, the reason to fear not, he will be with you forever.
Are you writing those down?
This is good news from the word.
So you fear not.
Number one, we've learned, he said, you don't fear because I am God.
The second one, you don't fear because I am Jesus.
The third one, he says, I will be with you forever.
Forever.
Forever.
And then number four, fear not.
I have conquered the grave.
I have conquered hell.
I have conquered death.
This is our Jesus.
And I'll tell you, as we march through Revelation, you're going to find him.
You're going to see him.
We're going to have such an adventure.
We're going to find out when the tribulation is going to be, who's going to go through it, when the rapture takes place.
We're going to find out when the final trumpet sounds.
We're going to find out where Jesus is.
We're going to find out who that old harlot of Revelation is.
And I'm telling you, we're in for a roller coaster ride.
I want you to be with us at each lesson.
I want you to get each lesson.
So if you don't have the first two, be sure to study, to show yourself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Let's pray together.
Father, we just pray in the name of Jesus right now.
God, I pray that each person in this room will be ready to meet Jesus Christ.
Lord, that right now, if there's one in this room or watching or listening that knows you not, that they'll say, Jesus Christ, Son of God, come into my heart.
Forgive me of my sins.
Cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Ask him into your heart.
Ask him into your life.
I'll tell you what, if I didn't know Jesus, I would be so afraid today.
If I didn't know Jesus, I wouldn't even want to go to sleep tonight.
I have already walked a valley walk.
And one thing I've learned in my valley walk, that Jesus Christ never walks away.
Jesus says, I will never, never, never leave you.
I will never, never, never forsake you.
You say, Jim, why do you teach us then that we might go through some tribulation?
Because he's going to be with you through it.
He's going to be with you.
He will never leave you.
He will never forsake you.
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