Let me turn this morning to Revelation chapter one. Verse twenty seven. Sorry, verse seven. Revelation one, verse seven. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. and they also which pierce him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail the part of him. Even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle 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 heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest write in the book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, verse twelve. Can I turn to see the voice that spake unto me? And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the path with a golden girt. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And his feet like unto fine dance, as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice was the sound of many walks. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. And his countenance was, as the sun sun was in his strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet of death. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Write those things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. 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, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Now the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a thrilling book that always brings blessing to those who read it. There are difficult portions because if only as they're fulfilled, well perhaps they become very clear to us. But the great thing is to look for Christ in this book. He's everywhere and to step into the future and see the future of Jesus. The Christ, the Son of God, is always thrilling to our heart. We've got in our home down in Jamaica an old scrapbook with all the family's pictures. At any time I can grab this old black book and turn over its pages and I can say, well, look, that's my father and mother and that's my wife's father and mother. And I can even go back to all Victorian days and see my word how they dressed in those days. They've gone to the extremes today in minis, but in those days it was all round the ankles, bustling skirts with great big frills and lace and bonnets. I tell you, sometimes I look at those good old day pictures and wonder how they lived in such place. Well, anyhow, I love turning the pages of this old book at times, and there are pictures there of children, little children, and later on. young people and then married and then out in life with their own children and you can see the developments of life. Now I wonder if you've noticed this, that John here in this chapter gives us the only picture that I know of of the risen glorified man Christ Jesus. Now John the beloved apostle was one of three. They seem to be picked out from the other disciples for the very intimate things like watching the Lord raising the dead, the Mount of Transfiguration, the depths of our Lord's sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane. And John has now lived on and he's seen James die with a sword. Peter obviously has died, maybe in Rome, I don't know where. And this old man is still alive. Beloved John, he must have been in his nineties. And he was in the church at Ephesus, and he loved that church, and he was greatly loved there, the old stories of how John was carried into the church at Ephesus on his couch in his old age. And he used to look up his hand as he looked into the face of Christians and say, Love is of God, love one another, and he would just beam the love of Christ to others. But John in this chapter is in the Isle of Patmos. I remember flying over those islands. He came in a plane over Greece and we were making over toward Italy and looking down you could see those islands off the coast in the Asian Sea. And I tell you quite frankly, as I looked down, I thought to myself, John had no easy time there. No electric lights in those days. No air-conditioners, if it was very hot, no warming of the home. No prison, the rocky home of John, a prison, put their exiles out of the sea. And he found away from all his loved ones, those that were dear to him, and the days are passing, and it comes to the first day of the week. I want you to look at that verse then. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Now, I'm well aware of the fact, and I have a deep respect for those who believe this, that many believe that it's speaking of the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, the day of His triumph. and that he in the Spirit was moving into the Day of Christ, the Day of the Lord, the future, and he's going to give us a picture of it. That's fine. But there's strong evidence that the word Lord's Day is the Lordly Day. And just like the Lord's supper, the Lordly supper, the supper that belongs to the Lord, so it's speaking of the day that belongs to the Lord. And the first day of the week was a treasured day amongst God's early disciples. They believed, they honestly believed, that it was the day that brought the resurrection. Christ is with it. and they gathered together on the first day of the week the Lord's day to break the bread, as we have done this morning, around this spread cake and made treasures. Now here's a man who's far away from his loved home church and the first day of the week has come and he wakes, maybe he wakes, I should hardly think to a chain but to possibly cold or extreme heat in rugged surroundings on this island. You can almost imagine the situation. And he finds himself in the spirit. In other words, under the gracious control of the Holy Spirit. Now don't think that this is anything special about the Lord today. No, no. Here is a man who Monday, right through Friday and Saturday, was walking in the spirit. Somehow the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, possessed that precious old life. Somehow it produced the joy of the Lord, the peace of the Lord, the love of the Lord is flowing in this life. And as he wakes in the Spirit on the Lord's day, which way do you think the eyes of his faith look? I'm going to come right down to nineteen seventy at Park of the Palms. When you woke this morning, many of you, not all of you, but many of you, found yourself wending your way across Park Nine here. And you gathered round this table, and on the table I noticed the word in remembrance of me, this too. And on the table there was bread and wine with simple emberons and after Thanksgiving and Remembrance we broke the bread and drank of the wine and proclaimed the Lord's death. Tell each other. Now which eye, which way were your eyes turning? Now what was I suggesting that you turned your eyes back on? Yes. Very interesting that backward. Backward Look, we, drawn to Calvary, musing as we sing. And here is a dear old man, thinking of the loved ones of Ephesus, thinking of the assembly of Christians in that big city where he was so loved and treasured as an old saint of God. He says, well, I'm alone here, but I can still remember. I can still turn myself back to Calvary. I can still follow the whole scenes of that dreadful night when they had led him out to the cross and he's looking backward, backward, backward. When all of a sudden he says, I've heard behind me a voice. And it's a distinctive thing, it's a curve. Stating backward like this and he hears a voice behind me. It's terrible. and he turns to face the risen Lord. Turning to the back, look to Calvary, he's looking in the face of the risen Lord. I saw him, he says, the one who was speaking and revealing himself. He said, I am Alpha and Omega, the first to last. I've got a task for you. Though twelve I turned to see the voice that stayed with me and being turned I saw the seven golden lampstands, and walking midst the lampstands is this risen Son of God. The Lamb of God who still bears the mark, the powdery of accomplished redemption in his hands and feet inside. The risen glorified man, I speak with reverence. The man has gone into space. America has put some splendid men on the moon. They've actually stepped on that little cinder pile that guides our nights, reflects the sunshine toward us. An amazing thing for a man to walk, put steps on the moon. But God took his son who had died out of death. And after forty days he took him back to the glory. right up through the aerial heavens, right up through the starry heavens, far beyond our milky way, somewhere right there on the sides of the north, and he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, the risen Christ. John looked at his head, and he begins to look at this night. Now, you just look at this description. It's just a photograph. It's the most wonderful photograph, and as far as I know, the only photograph of the risen Lord in detail. He said, I turned to see verse twelve, the voice that spake with me. I saw the seven lampstands. I saw in the midst the son of man, closed with a garment down to the foot and gulped about the breast with a golden girt. In other words, he saw his body covered with this wonderful robe and the robe is bound to his heart around the breast with a golden girdle. Now John had been looking back, back to the cross and as he looked back to the cross he had seen, he had actually seen it with his eyes. That one who had no big wardrobe of clothing as he moved up and down the country working his miracles and preaching his gospel. He had seen him taken and led like a lamb to the slaughter, and he had seen John in the crowd somewhere, had seen it. He had seen the Lord Jesus crisp naked. They had taken that one-piece garment off his body, and because they couldn't split it up, they'd gambled it away amongst the soldiers. And he said, I saw, my Lord, in all the shame of it, whipped, bruised, beaten, nailed to the cross. He said, as I turned from the cross, back to the brookly groaned at Calvary. As he turned, he sees the risen Christ. He begins to describe his garment, clothes with a garment down to the foot, girt about the breasts with a golden girly. Somehow it reminds us of the high priest, the high priest in the old economy. You can see him laying aside his glorious garments. You can see him clad in spotted white. You can see him going through the holy place and on the day of atonement into the presence of God. Well, we have a high priest. We have an advocate. We have a living, glorified man who bears the marks of Calvary, the finished work. He's on the throne. And the vision of Christ as the high priest advocate. All sufficient Christ to minister to your need. Oh, I tell you, I'm sorry to have to say this to you. I think we come to the throne of grace so often, not as a moment-by-moment habit in our life, but largely in the extremities of life. Oh, I must go and get grace and strength and we turn to the throne of grace. Instead of dwelling there in the realm of the Spirit, occupied with the risen Lord, in touch with Him, finding the flow of His life, His grace, his wisdom, his strength, his all-sufficiency by the Holy Spirit in our hearts alive. Then he goes on to describe this wonderful person, he says. Verse fourteen, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. Oh, if that Sunday morning, that Lord's Day morning, that first day of the week, that lordly day he had been looking back, he had seen that head so full of bruises. That head that men had actually said he's only worth thirty pieces of silver, and they paid the price off to Judas to come and kiss that head and reveal him. That head... At thirty-three years of age, in all probability still the hair dark, and matted with blood and perspiration and sweat. And John had been looking back to the cross and remembering the Son of God going to win his redemption on that cross. And now he turned to see him, and he said, His head, His hair! What about you? Why should snow be the ancient of days? Sometimes when Christ is pictured in the Bible, it's hair, black as a raven, eternal youth. Sometimes it's white like snow. If Daniel saw it, one who is the everlasting one, the eternal one, all wisdom wrapped up in that glorious person. When he finishes the verse, here he says, I looked into his eyes, and his eyes, verse fourteen, were as a flame of fire. Looking back at the cross, I haven't any doubt that John stood there possibly, with the weeping Mary by his side, waiting the entrustment, thy son. Thy mother, take care of her from the cross. And as he gazed out, he sees those eyes, those lovely eyes that he had learned to look into and trust. John saw them bloodshot with weeping. facing the awful curvy of Calvary. And now he said, I turned from the back of the look to the cross, into the face of the risen Christ. Eyes! As a flame of fire! All seeing eyes. Yes, you can't turn the light out, say I'm alone. You can't shut the door and say, Well, no one will see me. If you know the Lord Jesus, you know that that one who said, In all my risen power, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, so that we can boldly say the Lord is my helper. He is the friend and guide and companion to every Christian. And it's pure neglect, neglect of faith that allows us to go through the days thinking I'm watching my own path. He's watching over me. He's helping. He's killing you. It's all seeing eyes. Watch the books you read, the television shows you look at. It's all seeing eyes. Watch every action. Know every word. The Lord is at hand. He's always handy. He never leaves you. Never forsakes you. Just look into his eyes like a flame of fire. In the next verse he says, I looked at his feet, his feet were like unto a fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. You know, John had watched those feet treading the highways. He had seen those feet weary of sight as well. Yes, he knew that those feet of the Lord Jesus at last tinned with that great big cape to the cross, where, as it were, perhaps, All the weight of the body falling upon those feet, as that great state pierced those feet on cowlice. Yes, I know those blessed feet that trod the pathways down here. He looks into his face, and he looks down at those feet, and he says, Feet. Yes, Feet. Like unto fine brass, barrenest brass. In the fire. Those feet never grow tired now. Those feet move over the hills of glory now. Those feet are righteous in all their ways, the head of a new race, going to lift and bring many sons to glory. I tell you the triumph of Christ when he says to his father, father, you sent me forth into the world. You knew the reason why I was coming, because there were men and women in the world you were going to give me out of that world, and your eternal plan was to change them into my likeness. And I will be the head of a new race, and I will bring many sons to glory, and the future of every child that God is, to be like him and with him and walk with him in the great future. God is so absolutely charmed with Jesus Christ in manhood that he allows him to retain his manhood glorified. And he's going to fill up heaven with millions more like him. And if you're a Christian you'll be one conformed to the image of God's son and changed into his likeness. May I slip in a little word for some of my folks who feel so tired and perhaps the old legs are giving out. And the ankle bones are not as active as they used to be. Very, very soon, and we shall look at it this week. You are going to be skipping the hills of glory in the likeness of your glorious Lord. He's never felt the slightest ache or pain in those lovely feet of his. The one who was really excited well as he walked the glory land. You're going to share this future with him. This is the wonder of being a Christian. The wonder of it all. Then he comes to his voice in verse fifteen. He said his voice was as the sound of many waters. No one can speak like the Lord Jesus. It's a lovely phrase. You know, waters make sounds, you see. Circle of the tap. It's the lacking of the waves on the lakeside. The great big crash of the ocean rollers on the beach. It's the thunder of Niagara Falls. No one can speak like the Lord Jesus. It can be a still small voice. It can be a voice of strength. It is your Lord. John, for three years, walked and talked with him. And this is that voice preaching to the multitudes, that voice raising the dead, that voice keeping comfort to the heart. He said, yes, I turned and his voice was of the sound of many mortals. It turns to his right hand, his hand. The hands of his look back on, on the cross, pinned to the cross with pearl nails. And he said, I looked and I saw his hand. He was holding them. He was actually holding the stars. And we are told the stars were the elders. I'm sorry, the angels of the church. People are puzzled after who these people are, but I can say to you, my dear friend, if you're a servant of the Lord, You're an angel of the church. You're held in his hand. The angels of the church is the angel of a ministering spirit sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation. And I'll tell you, you look around any of the churches today and you will see the angels of the churches very quickly. If you've got any eyes, spiritual eyes, you'll spot them at once. Those that minister to the people of God. I don't sing in the word of God altogether, but they're ministers amongst God's people, true deacons and overseers and under-bishops. They're serving the Lord in this way. Each one is held in his hands. Many believe that dear John saw from the seven churches seven kicked out men who came across the old waves and they landed on the rocky islands and they came to him, came to comfort him, came to bring gifts to him, sustenance to him. And it was at this time the great revelation was given and he was told to write and send to those seven churches the messages. Each church a different message. because each church is different in its personality and makeup. Then comes the revelation of Jesus Christ in those unfolding, glorious chapters. And copies of these went back in the hands of these men to the seven churches. And each one held his own letter to his own church. And to the angel, the ministering servant of God at the church of Ephesus, carry back this great revelation. and read to them the special letter to the church. Lord John, beloved John, sees the right hand holding the seven stars. You must let it there, my brother. Sometimes you feel like giving up your ministry and sometimes you feel, oh, it's all over. I can't do much more. Rest up. Believe that that hand that holds you can hold you to do his service and minister in his name. Then the next thing is his mouth. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. No one can speak the word of the Lord. Thus set the Lord like Jesus. And the one who again and again administered as he looked backward over those precious years, the one who cried out from the cross his last message, is still the one who is ministering the word of God. And as we shall see in Revelation, the judgments of God. Then he said his countenance was as the sun shining in its strength. If he looked backward to the cross, he saw the matted, blood-stained face, marred more than any man, brutally treated by men, terribly blabbed in hospital. But as he looked into that face, he felt it shone about the blackness of the midday sun. This is your Lord. And all he could do was to fall at his feet as dead. And the loving hand said, Fear not, I am the first and the last, the one that liveth and was dead. I am alive forevermore. I've got the keys. And so he's got the keys for you and me. Every one of us, I want to say to you, if you're not a Christian, If you've never come to Jesus Christ, you are doing the silliest, the foolish, most foolish thing I ever think a man could dream of doing. You are actually keeping out of your life someone who's loved you as nobody else has loved you. You're actually avoiding the claims of one who is the eternal Son of God, who died for you, who wants to possess that life and make it useful to the glory of God now. If you are not saved, I'm going to ask you as I bow in prayer, close this meeting, just where you sit. Look into his face with a great big thank you. And say, Lord Jesus, I've cast by your cross, and I've taken no heed. I've known about it, but I've done nothing about it. But I will fall by Jesus' death and say, thank you for telling me. Kneel to that risen Christ and know him as my very own. Show me that. Amen. Lord Jesus, we have already this morning many of us been thanking thee for going to the cross of shame to meet our need, to win our salvation. If the testimonies were given one after another, there are men and women who in this audience bowed before they would look back over the year, the long year, and they would say, Oh, happy day when I came just as I am to the Savior. Lord, thou art never failed us since. We've failed thee, we've grieved thee, we've let thee down, we've disappointed thee, and yet in thy patient love thou hast borne with us and art still leading us on. And we ask thee that each one of us may consecrate our lives of flesh to thee. O risen Lord, let us look into thy face and bowing before thee. Let thy hand afresh in claiming power take us. and make us and Jesus. For some soul bowed before thee who just now would like to say a great big thank you. Why not, Lord? Why not, Lord Jesus, in this quiet moment? Thank you, Lord Jesus, for going to the cross to meet my need, for dying to win my salvation. Into this heart and life I ask you to come to be my Savior. Now may there be a quiet hush as we listen to the music and quietly separate. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, our Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, abide with us all. Amen.