Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Revelation 1:7

found in Revelation 1:7. Please stand for the reading of God’s word. Revelation 1. We’ll read the first seven verses. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

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. John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him who is and which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God in his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Let us sing our prayer for illumination before God.

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We come today to verse 7 in our series of sermons going through the first three chapters of the book of Revelation. This verse is a very important verse. We’ll spend the entire sermon today on this particular verse. It is, however, always good to look at a verse in terms of its context. I do want to read the first few verses and remind us of what we’ve learned so far going through the opening phrases of the book of Revelation.

Verse 7 is quite important because it is the verse that many commentators see as the key verse for the entire book. And secondly, they assign this verse to the second coming, the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, his second coming to earth, the culmination of all history. So it is a very important verse. If that interpretation is right, then the book goes a particular direction. If that interpretation is wrong, it goes a different direction. I believe that interpretation is wrong.

And to demonstrate that, I first want to begin by just reviewing the book and what we’ve read so far and what the general thrust of it has been.

First of all, we said that this is a revelation. This is a making plain. This is not a confusing book. It is a revelation both from the Lord Jesus Christ and it is also a revelation about Jesus Christ. Here in chapter 1, we’ll come shortly to a description of the savior and all his glory. And it is essentially that image that the church is conformed to as well. So it’s about Jesus Christ and it is from him.

Now it is Jesus Christ and let me just say that in a couple of minutes here we’ll see that verse 7 of Revelation 1 is a conflation, a combining together of a passage from Zechariah and a passage from Daniel. And really the best way to remind yourself maybe of verse 7’s meaning and to remind yourself that it brings together two Old Testament citations is that what it tells us is that this person that’s being revealed is Jesus Christ.

He is Christ, the anointed Messiah, King, high priest, etc. And he is also Jesus, savior. We’ll get to that in a couple of minutes, but that’s really kind of a summary of today’s sermon: this is a revelation of Christ Jesus. We shall say, because the first citation is to Daniel. But in any event, we’re told right at the beginning, that’s what the book is about. It’s a making clear of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this revelation is given which God gave unto him, that is to Jesus, is to show unto his servants. So right away we said that the pattern for this book is that we receive it not as intellectual curious people, not as innocent bystanders, but as servants of God. And it may seem obvious, but it’s a very important thing. And I’ve structured my first 10 or so sermons with really the theme of service and us as servants before God.

And today we’re talking about from verse 7 that we’re repentant servants who discern this revelation of who Christ is. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show unto his servants, that’s us, things which must shortly come to pass. This was not about things that would happen in the year 2000 or the year 10,000 or the year 20,000. This was primarily and almost exclusively about things that happened quickly.

This was a revelation of making clear to a particular people who had, you know, like you arms and legs and eyes. They were real people who received this book to tell them what things that were going to happen shortly in their lifetime, in the next few years, these things were going to come to pass. And it was supposed to be clear to them from this book what things would come to pass.

So they might demand that the things which shortly must come to pass. And he said and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. It’s written in symbolic language. It’s written in signs. It’s written in pictures for the most part, this book. Now, there’s obviously things that are literal. John is a literal being who receives this, but primarily this message is given by way of sign. And that doesn’t mean we can interpret it the way it feels good to us. What it means is we’ve got to know the language of scripture and particularly the prophetic language of the Old Testament.

So today’s sermon talking about Zechariah and Daniel is a very good exercise in doing just that. What do the symbols that are portrayed in verse 7 mean? Not what we think they mean. Does it really mean that Jesus will come back to earth in another 5 or 10 years and that cable CNN will cover it so all the people of the earth will see it on their TV sets? Some people think. Well, no, because that’s interpreting the sign according to the way we think.

But we want to interpret the language according to what the scriptures say. And we’ll see that in verse 7.

This is signified by his angel. Remember the angels, the angel messengers here come from the holy spirit. It’s a picture of the holy spirit. So we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes to John. He comes to his servants. He comes to us to bring us things of Christ. That’s the purpose of the Comforter. But here it comes particularly through a created being, an angel. The spirit is still moving through angels in this book because it’s talking about the fullness of the manifestation of Christ’s kingdom in AD 70 when angels and their ruling of the earth will be replaced by the church.

And we’ll see that in today’s verses as well.

Verse two, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament, the New Testament. John bears record to both these things and to all the things that he saw. He’s going to see things, but he’s going to write it in written record. We’re people of the book, not people of the picture things that he writes.

Blessed is he that reads in the context of corporate worship. They that hear the words of this prophecy. Again, the primary context, of course, it’s good to study the book at home, but the primary context here means in the context of the worship service. This is not written to individual Christians in the first sense. It’s written to churches, seven churches specifically. It’s supposed to be read in the context of the church aloud. You’re supposed to hear it.

And then we all have an obligation to keep or guard those things that are written therein, to guard the truth of them and also to keep them in the sense of doing what it tells us to do. For the time is at hand, near. Again, you see it’s all right here in the opening verses that give us the correct framework to interpret this book.

Then we get to the formal introduction of verse four. John to the seven churches which are in Asia, specific churches, real churches between Rome and Jerusalem, the two persecuting forces that would come upon these churches and already had started to manifest themselves to these poor saints who are really being persecuted in a great way. It would become more and more intense as the years went along.

Grace to you. You need grace in the context of sufferings. And when you receive God’s grace and respond to the grace of Christ, then you’re going to be established in peace, order, blessing, the manifestation of God’s presence with us. You move from grace to peace. And children, when you go through trials and tribulations, remember that the first word here is always grace in these epistles when Paul writes over and over again, grace and peace. We want peace. We want to get on our own way. But God says, “No, I’m going to take you through trials and tribulations so you’ll recognize the peace as a result of the grace that I’ve given you through the work of our of your savior on the cross.”

Grace to you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come. I gave a big English lesson last week. I should have just said this is engine language. You know, you read through, we’re reading through promise and deliverance with my boys and with our family. And you read through the naming of the 12 tribes of Israel. And you know, God will now judge with me. So she names that son Dan. God has heard me. So she names that son Simeon. Based on Shamar here, Dan is a word for evaluator, judge. All those names of the 12 tribes of Israel were engine names in our way of thinking, you know, running water or Smoky Mountain or whatever it is. They’re pictures that mean things in terms of the historical giving of those children to the various mothers of them. And that’s how Scripture sees names. Names are kind of, they’re much more important than they are to us. They’re not just supposed to sound good, but they’re supposed to mean something.

And this first thing here referring to the Father is his name. It’s Yahweh, but in a little expanded Greek form. He is, he was, and he is to come. He’s not becoming himself, but he in his personhood will come shortly to these suffering saints to give them deliverance from their persecutors. He’s with you now to give you grace. He was in terms of he’s always been here, but particularly looking at the manifestation of God’s love in Christ, which we’ll look at in just a moment, he died for you in the past. And it’s the promise that he will come shortly to bring about your redemption. Your redemption draws nigh is what our savior told the disciples that when these things would happen, your redemption draws nigh. He is to come.

And then it’s not just from the Father, it’s from the Spirit. Seven spirits before his throne. That’s temple imagery. The throne room of God, the mercy seat and before that the sevenfold lamp, a picture of the sevenfold Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit’s motion in terms of the earth. And think of the seven days of creation, etc. One spirit, this is not you know one spirit and seven spirits. Now it’s one spirit of God, one person, but he has a sevenfold movement, a fullness of movement in the context of history.

And then from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. He is faithful witness. John is to bear faithful testimony. You and I bear faithful testimony that Jesus is Lord and he reigns. And Jesus is the one that we learn this, not just learn it, but who gives us of himself and his redeemed humanity. We become faithful witnesses as well.

The first begotten of the dead. He’s a faithful witness in the present. He’s been the first begotten of the dead for these suffering saints that they might be faithful, knowing that Christ loved them to the end, that he died for them. And he’s the firstborn. He reigns. The firstborn rules. That’s the meaning here. This is God’s first, the Father’s firstborn so to speak. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth, but he is given that rule on the basis of his death on the cross.

He is the ruler. He is the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. And he’s going to manifest that to these people. So he’s saying I am Jesus the faithful witness in the present, be faithful under extreme persecution. Be faithful in witnessing to me and to the truth of the trinity. And I made you, I give you this ability, because I’m the first begotten from the dead. You’ve been resurrected so you can be faithful in the present.

You’ve been saved, children. You’ve been saved, men and women. Be faithful in the present based on that salvation in the past. And then realize that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth. And that’s going to be made manifest. Hold on and do what’s right. Not forever, that God will never manifest redemption for his people in terms of a visible demonstration. He will. Things will change. God comes in history. He’s not waiting till some far distant day to come back and judge the earth. No, he’s present and he comes in particular advents or comings to his people to manifest that he’s king of the kings of the earth.

Unto him that loves us in the present, released us from our sins. That’s a better word there than washed. It really should be released. The King James is wrong there. Probably some of your Bibles have released. Released us from our sins in his own blood. And he has made us kings and priests.

You see, now this action of Jesus, the faithful witness, firstborn of the dead, Prince of the kings of the earth is applied to us. He loves us in the present. OK? He has released us from our sins in the past, and he will make manifest that we’re now the kings and rulers of the earth with him. And that’s what these verses talk about.

He’s made us kings and priests unto God and to his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

See a wonderful picture here of what this book is all about. It’s about holding on to the present, remembering what Christ has done in the past, and taking hold of that through the Spirit that we might be faithful and actually not just wait till the coming of Christ, but actually by our prayers and worship and by our witness bring about the manifestation of the coming of Christ in judgment. In their case in Jerusalem in AD 70. In our case, we don’t know when the particular manifestations of judgment will come. But in the present, we hold on knowing that the future will be brought about by the church and by Christ coming in temporal judgments to make manifest that he is the one that we have witnessed and said, that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That’s what Revelation’s all about really. And then he pictures for them what’s going to happen in history in these next six or seven years to the contemporary recipients of this book.

Let me just mention as well that this release, he has released us from our sins. There are a series of three releasings. We won’t go through the verses. Maybe when we get time in another sermon I will. But if you look at the word release, it’s used seven times. A couple of those times it’s talking about the release of us from our sins. And then there is the releasing or unlatching of the seals on the book by Christ in chapters 6 and 7.

And then finally, the last occurrence of the word release are the words that describe Satan being released for a little while. So there’s this picture of the releasing of God’s people and the releasing to them of the book by which they govern, and then the releasing of Satan and his forces. Not so that they might kill us, but so we might execute judgment upon them. They’re released so that they can be brought close to us.

Satan is cast to earth that we might have the privilege of this mopping up exercise of taking that book that’s been released for us and given to us and using the book of God’s word here, praying for judgments, praying for redemption for his people, and by those means engaging in spiritual warfare through the word and engaging in this mopping up exercise in terms of spiritual warfare.

OK, that’s the context of verse 7. So first of all in your outline you’ll see that I have said that first of all this idea that this book is about some, this verse is the key verse, and as the key verse what it’s telling us is that Jesus will return at the end of time, that it’s talking about a second coming. That’s the view that most people that we’ve probably heard preach have had, and that therefore this book is consigned to the second coming of Christ.

It’s the key verse. That’s the first premise. The second premise is this verse is about the second coming of Christ. And the third premise of that is since it’s the key verse about the second coming, therefore the entire book of Revelation is about the second coming of Christ in its entirety. And so as a result, it’s not very pertinent to us except maybe we can confirm what’s going on. Maybe it’s our time now to see the second coming of Christ. Maybe it isn’t. Well, I think it’s wrong.

And I’ve said why it’s wrong in terms of the quickness of the book. But in terms of this verse, I think the first premise might be said, OK, we can buy that this may be the key verse. But the second premise that it’s about the second coming is all wrong. And the first reason I say that, as your outline says, is that verse 7 appears to be a proof text of verses 4, 5, and 6.

Two particular verses from the Old Testament are cited. Jesus, through John, has told us that Christ loves us, releases us, going to manifest our reign, that you know he is a faithful witness, that he’s the first one from the dead, and going to manifest then in history. And so he’s given us a twofold witness that this revelation of Christ is a revelation of him who is faithful in the present and will manifest in judgment upon the enemies of God’s church his judgments. And then John quotes two texts from the Old Testament to say this is really true.

You know, we’d be talking to each other and we’d say things to each other and we’d say, well, you know, I know this is what truth is. And then we’d quote some scripture to each other. We’d quote the word of God as a proof text for the truth we say to each other. Well, this is the word. But still in this word that John gives to the churches, he gives them two proof texts from the Old Testament. If that’s true, then verse 7 has to be understood on the basis of verses 4, 5, and 6 and what’s gone before.

And those verses are about being steady in the present because Christ is coming quickly to take out Rome and to take out the false church that is persecuting you. I mean, these people were going through trouble. These people, you know, were the target. There were people that had a vow to kill them. And as the church moved toward AD 70, they were being slaughtered. Their throats were being slit. They were being ripped apart by animals. They were being tied inside of animals and ripped apart by dogs ripping at these animals. There was all kinds of terrible things these Christians were going to go through. And the book says be faithful, be a witness, because Christ is going to come and while you may die, Christ will manifest his reign.

So if that’s what verses 4-6 say and verse 7 is a proof text for verses 4-6, and verse 7 can’t be talking about the second coming, it wouldn’t be any source of relief to the people. There’s no source of relief to the people. It’s about a contemporaneous coming. So first of all, I think that view that this is a second coming verse is wrong because this is a proof text.

And secondly, the more important proof of this is that we want to let the scriptures interpret the scriptures. If they’re going to quote from the Old Testament, then we want to look at the Old Testament to see what the reference meant so that the hearers of this word who knew their Old Testaments would know what the references meant. And that’s the meaning they would give to the text. Not some obscure meaning, but the plain meaning of what these verses said in their original context that they’re being quoted out of.

And as I said, this is a conflation. It’s what takes two verses put from different sources, Daniel and Zechariah, and puts them together. That’s what conflation means. You know, in Deuteronomy 1, the government of Israel is said to be the 70 officers and the judges. And they bring those two accounts from Numbers together to picture what kind of government God gave Israel in the wilderness. OK, this is what scriptures do sometimes. And you know it’s obvious that it’s doing it here because he quotes from two separate sources from the Old Testament, puts them together. So both these sources are coming together in verse 7. It’s a conflation.

Well let’s look at them individually. The first one we want to look at is Daniel 7. So turn in your scriptures to Daniel 7. What we read here in verse 7 is first of all behold he cometh with clouds. OK, that is the section of verse 7 that is quoted from Daniel chapter 7. Now this specific verse is that he quotes is verse 13 of Daniel 7:13.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.

Now, that’s the verse he’s citing, the first half of that verse. He sees one coming in clouds. But we want to begin reading Daniel chapter 7 a little before that. I’ve said this before, but it’s very important you understand this principle of scriptural interpretation. When a little slice of the Old Testament is quoted, it’s a way to bring into that New Testament text usually the greater context for that verse as well. It’s a marker back. It’s like humming the chorus of a song and bringing back to memory the entire song, what it’s about.

So these citations we want to look at the full context in Daniel chapter 7 and in Zechariah as well. So let’s look at verses 9 and 10 rather, beginning verse 9.

Daniel 7:9. I don’t know if the translation I have will be the same as yours, but just follow along.

I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took seat. His vesture like white snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was flames of fire. That’s important. Flames of fire is his throne. Its wheels a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and proceeding out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him, and myriads were standing before him. The courts sat and the books were opened.

OK, what’s this have to do with the text of Revelation? Well, if you read chapters 4 and 5, you will see that this throne is set in Revelation chapters 4 and 5. Hold your place in Daniel chapter 7 and turn forward to Revelation 4 and 5. I have two Bibles easy for me to hold my place.

Revelation 4 and 5.

And so I looked and behold a door was open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard were as it was of a trumpet talking with me which said come up here and I will show you the things which must be hereafter. And I was in the spirit. And behold a throne was set in heaven. And one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and 20 seats.

And upon the seats I saw four and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.

This throne is set in heaven. This is what Daniel 7:9 was talking about. Daniel was having a vision of what would happen in the future. And what would happen is that when Christ ascends to the Father, the throne would be set and the faithful witness Jesus would come before the throne.

Remember we said that the witness in a prosecution in a court case in the scriptures is the one who brings forward the testimony and also then is involved in the prosecution of the enemy. So the Lord Jesus the faithful witness isn’t just a martyr. He comes to the throne room of God and then receives the book, the declaration of God’s covenant that contains in it the judgments against the people that were rebels against him and his kingdom.

So what Daniel 7:9 and following is talking about is Revelation 4 and 5. Revelation 4 and 5 is the Son ascending to the right hand of the Father after his 40-day ministry, a post-resurrection on earth. And we have here now in Daniel we have the information: this is the Ancient of Days sat upon the throne. He’s the elder of elders. Where elders in the church, the elders represent the session of God when they meet in session as elders. That’s where the word session comes from—a court session. Elders come from the ancient ones.

Well, this is the elder of elders, the Father here who sits on the throne. And his vesture is described for us. And he’s got white hair as old people have, because he’s old. But he’s not feeble. Of course, he is the elder of elders and the strength of strength. And his throne was flames of fire. You see, God’s throne, the presence of God is fire. And so this throne is the presence of fire.

And then the books were opened. And as you look after Revelation 4 and 5 in those chapters, Christ receives the book. And then in verses 6 and 7, the book is opened. The books of judgment are opened then and the seals are unleashed. So Daniel 7 is talking about the picture in Revelation 4 and 5 and then chapters 6 and 7.

And then in verse 12 in Daniel 7, going back to that portion of your scriptures.

And I kept looking because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast horn was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning of the fire. And as the rest of the beast, the dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.

Now, I don’t want to get into a big dissertation on this. It would take some time. But there’s good reason to believe that this little horn may be referring to the Herod who is contemporaneous with the New Testament church and tried to persecute him. And you remember what happened if you were here when we preached through the book of Acts. Herod was destroyed by God in a very visible fashion because he persecuted the church and then accepted praise as God. And then worms ate him up and he’s destroyed.

And this destruction of this little horn representing Rome in Israel, which was what Herod did, was a picture of the taking away of all opponents to Christ’s kingdom, which would come about in a little while. The idea here is that in 30 AD, our savior ascends, OK, takes his throne. And then in about 44 AD, short time later, Herod is killed. And that’s what Revelation, or Daniel 7 here in verses 11 and 12, may well be referring to. And then the rest of the beasts that revolt against Christ, their dominion is taken away in AD 70 with the culmination of judgment on Jerusalem and Rome as a world power.

So anyway, just to mention that in passing. But that’s really not what we primarily want to talk about. But that is the context then for the quote that John in Revelation uses in verse 7 found in Daniel 7 verse 13.

I kept looking in the night visions and behold at the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming.

Now the Son of Man reference here was Ezekiel who is called the Son of Man over and over. And so “one like unto the Son of Man,” one like unto Ezekiel. This is the great later Ezekiel, the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s being described in Daniel chapter 7 as going to the right hand of the Father and receiving this reign.

We could talk about that, but there are correlations between Ezekiel’s ministry. Ezekiel was baptized when he was 30 in a river like our savior. He pronounced judgments upon the false church and actually executed members of the false church. You remember the story of Ezekiel. And so there is a correlation here to the work of our savior as well. But in any event, let’s continue on.

And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. Thrones are set, Father taking reign, courts set up, books are opened, and Jesus comes up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and tongues might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

You see the correlations in chapters 4 and 5 in this throne being set in Revelation. Jesus, they see there’s no one able to open the book. Jesus then comes to this throne set in Revelation 4 and 5, receives the book from the Father, and begins to open the seals. You see, he’s receiving the kingdom from the Father based upon his being the firstborn from the dead. He’s now resurrected and he’s ascended to the Father.

How does he go to the Father? He goes in clouds, right? The savior ascended in clouds. The book of Acts tells us. And in those clouds, he goes to the Father, meets in this throne room in heaven, and receives, as Daniel says, he receives then an everlasting dominion. To him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom. The book of rule. And our savior begins to then open those seals up and create things happening on the earth in relationship to those seals being opened.

So Daniel is about this reference from Daniel. It’s about the Lord Jesus ascending to the right hand of the Father and then opening the books of rule.

Now slip down in Daniel 7 to verses 17 and 18.

So first, OK, the first thing we’ve said is that if we’re going to believe what the scriptures say about themselves, then this is not a coming in clouds to earth. There are comings in clouds to earth. We’ll talk about that in a couple of minutes. This is a going. The word coming can mean coming or going in the Greek. It just depends on the context. This is Christ in the clouds ascending to the Father.

He’s quoting from Daniel chapter 7. It tells us what’s going on is not the second coming. It’s the coming of Christ to the throne room of the Father upon his ascension to take rule. But it has greater significance than that.

Read verses 17 and 18.

These great beasts which are four are four kings who will rise from the earth. Don’t let that distract your thinking. Please just focus on this. But the holy ones of the highest ones will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even unto the ages of ages.

So the first reference in Daniel 7 is to Christ receiving the kingdom. But then we read that the ones of the highest, the holy ones of the highest ones, will receive the kingdom. The saints will also receive the kingdom in the visions of Daniel and in his prophecies. And then scoot down to verses 25-27 of Daniel 7:

He will speak words against the most high and war and wear down the holy ones of the highest ones—this is what Herod did. I think this may be a reference to Herod. And he will intend to make alterations in appointed times and decrees. And he did that, tried to mess up the liturgical calendar. And they will be given unto his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

For a while, Herod had his way with the church and persecuted them. But the court will sit and his dominion will be taken away, to annihilate and to destroy it to the end. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the holy people of the highest one. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him.

You see, so the contention here is that I’m making is that by quoting Daniel chapter 7, John tells us in what we may well say is at least a key verse, maybe the key verse to understand all the book of Revelation. But what it tells us is not, is that it’s not about the second coming. It tells us it’s about the coming of Christ in his ascension to the Father to receive the kingdom. And more than that, it tells us that the content of this book will also demonstrate the same: of the holy ones also receiving the kingdom.

OK. The ascension of Christ in 30 AD, he receives the kingdom from the Father. Herod is killed in AD 44. AD 70, the full judgments upon the false church come forth. Jerusalem is destroyed. And God’s people then receive a little book, the same book basically. And they reign now with Christ. You see, there’s a transition, a transfer. Again, we talked about this. From angelic governance of the earth to the church governance of the earth.

And we’ll see in later portions of this. We’ll turn to this in a couple of moments. But in the book of Revelation in chapter 10.

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Revelation chapter 10. This is the context of the sixth trumpet. But in any event:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with the cloud. We’ll talk about that cloud in a couple of minutes. And a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. This is Jesus, OK? And he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.

He’s the ruler of the kings of the earth, all of them. He cries with a loud voice as when a lion roars. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write. And they say, don’t write. Seal up those things which the seven thunders thundered and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, the things that are therein, in the earth and the things that are therein, in the sea, and the things that are therein, that time should be time no longer.

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, which he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants, the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me, and said, Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel, which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, take it and eat it, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth as sweet as honey.

And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

He said unto me, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

What that—that’s what is described in Daniel chapter 7 about the saints receiving the kingdom. And it’s a picture here of John receiving Christ comes to the throne room in the clouds to the Father. He receives dominion. He receives the book whereby he’ll rule. And then in the context of the historic events that follow, Christ comes in a cloud to John and gives him the book. And he takes the book and he then begins to prophesy to the nations.

He’s told he must prophesy now. No longer just dictate from the angels, but now he’s going to preach. And the rest of the book, we see more of his involvement in that. So what Revelation is about—this citation from Daniel 7 tells us—is about Christ coming to the hand of the Father. He’s received rule. He’s going to make manifest that rule in the judgments upon Jerusalem leading up to AD 70. And in AD 70, definitively the old creation has passed away.

The church receives the rule and they sit on thrones. Chapter 18, the church, the harlot is destroyed. Babylon is destroyed in Revelation. Chapter 19, the saints are pictured as riding out with Christ on the white horse, the sword coming out of their mouth as it comes from his mouth, preaching the gospel. And chapter 20 says that for a thousand years, for a great length of period, the church reigns with Christ through the preaching of his word.

And that’s what this citation tells us is going to come to pass. This citation is not about the second coming. It’s about in the first sense directly about Christ going to the Father to receive dominion. And then if we read all of Daniel 7 into this then as well, it’s about the church will also receive that book of authority by which they rule. The church is also enthroned.

But in AD 70 it is coming to pass.

OK. Now let’s look briefly. That was a long section. It’s not going to take us long now. Now let’s look at Zechariah 12 very quickly. And this is the last portion of verse 7. These are quotations from Zechariah 12. In Revelation it says, “Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the land will mourn over him.”

OK. In Zechariah 12:10:

I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced. And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

And the passage goes on to say then that this repentant mourning will be had by the house of David, Nathan, Levi, and Shimi. Now, without getting into detail, that’s the king David, that’s the prophet Nathan, that’s the priest Levi, and that’s the worthless ones of Shimi, those who cursed David. Even the worthless ones that are elect in Christ who were worthless before will be made manifest now as the sons of God by bringing brought to a discernment of the Lord Jesus, on whom they pierced.

Zechariah 12 is not about men mourning at the second coming and saying, “Rocks fall on us.” That it will happen. But that’s not what Zechariah 12 is about. Zechariah 12 says, “What happens, this morning is a result of the pouring out on the house of David, God’s people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And later in Zechariah 12, it says, “A fountain shall be opened for sin and iniquity.” That’s talking about the sprinkling rights by which people who repented of their sins were then ceremonially washed and brought into the worship of God.

So the fountain is opened. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out on people. And as a result of that grace of God, they will see, we killed Messiah. My sins is what he was bearing, even as I was throwing the spear in his side. The Roman centurion, remember the centurion. No man suffered like this man suffered. He comes to his senses by observing the death of the savior. And that’s the picture of what all the martyrdom that occurs as the church is slaughtered in great numbers between 64 AD and 70 AD.

The result of that is even those that kill them come to a discernment of the Lord Jesus Christ through observing the martyrdom and the way the Christians die for their faith. You see, so Zechariah 12 is clearly talking not about the mourning of the judgment of those people, the wailing. It’s not about the fearful terrifying mourning. It describes the mourning of repentance. The mourning that comes to the senses that indeed their sins was what Messiah was carrying, even as they pierced him by their sins and their hatred of Messiah.

So Zechariah 12 tells us that if this is one of the key verses of the book of Revelation, verse 7, it’s not first of all about the second coming. It’s about the coming of Christ to the right hand of the Father to receive dominion. And it’s about the church at the end of this period of prophecy and revelation receiving dominion from the right hand of the Father, from the Son actually coming to bring the book to John.

And secondly, it says that the way this will be manifested in history is not primarily by wrath. It is by the manifestation of grace. One of the big transitions from the old covenant to the new covenant is the movement from wrath to grace. Not that God isn’t wrathful. God is wrathful. But what it means is that history moves in terms of at first a few people being saved in the old covenant. And then when Messiah comes and completes his work, now most people will be saved. That’s what the New Testament tells us.

You see, and Revelation verse 1:7 tells us that the primary emphasis is not the second coming in wrath. It is the coming of Christ to the hand of the Father and the church reigning so that men might receive grace through the proclamation of the word of the church. And that the world might be saved. That all the tribes of the earth representatively will come to salvation and discipleship in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So see, quite a different thing than most. What most of us have been trained to think of this verse as. And you know I didn’t show you this by some intricate or difficult way. All I did was to take you back to the two citations that John brings together in verse 7 and tell you this is what they mean from the clear understanding, the clear reading of the book of Daniel, the clear reading of the book of Zechariah.

I know I threw in some other stuff. It’s probably a bit confusing, but Daniel says the Son comes to the Father in the cloud to receive dominion. Zechariah says the people will mourn because they will discern Christ. They will see him not in the sense of physical sight, but the eyes of faith will see. This is Jesus. Do you see what I mean? That’s the way this word is used here. They will see, spiritually discern Christ, and they will mourn tears of repentance because they will recognize that this is the one who died for their sins.

And their sins took the high and holy, the perfect one, the Lord Jesus Christ, and nailed him to the cross. Their hatred, their being enemies of him, their sins are what brought this to pass.

So we can say that this book verse is indeed a key verse, but it tells us something far different than what we’ve been trained to believe.

And then just briefly reading on through the rest of the outline, the amen there at the end of verse 6 appears to be the connecting place for this conflated proof text of verse 7. All I mean by this is that the verse divisions are not inspired. The amen could be at the end of the benediction of who Christ is, at the end of verse 6, but more likely it is the book ends: amen. He’s coming in the clouds. People are going to mourn him, come to faith in him. Even so, amen.

You see, this whole proof text is again telling you, church of Jesus Christ, to be faithful witnesses in all that you do and say this week, in everything that you do. Because indeed the Lord Jesus Christ has taken dominion. And we can look at this side of AD 70, the church has received a kingdom. We reign. And that reign will be made manifest in history. Amen. It is so. It is certain. That’s what amen means, particularly here in the book of Revelation. This is sure. Jesus has released us. Going to be made manifest that we’re kings and priests. It’s sure because the Old Testament said it. It’s now going to come to pass in your sight. You here in AD 65. You’re going to see these things happen. And we can look back and say yes indeed they did happen. This is true. That Jesus came with the clouds. It was the ascension of the savior to receive the law.

We want to bring into this the church does not reign without direction, without a law from God. This is power. We reign. This is the book of the kingdom. This is the book essentially that Christ received from the Father and unsealed it and applied it to his day and age. And this is the book that the Holy Spirit today is unsealing to us by which we shall reign in the context of our lives and of this earth.

We preach this book. And as a result of the preaching of this book, the elect are blessed. And those that reject Christ have temporal judgments and are removed from the earth. This coming will result in the temporal comings of Christ and judgment upon the earth being contemporaneous with the recipients of the revelation.

I’ve given you some verses there, but there are cloud comings described where Jesus, then receiving the reign, comes in the clouds. The clouds are the manifestation of God’s glory. It’s like a portable throne. It’s the throne that’s in heaven all the time. And it comes to earth. It takes up this word and applies it to men and nations and judges them and executes things, freeing some and destroying others.

This period, this period of the full manifestation of Christ’s kingdom, rule and judgment shall be marked by conversion, discipleship of the nations. This book is not about physical force. This book is about the preaching of the word accompanied by acts of temporal judgments but as witnesses to the word.

And we believe that the world will indeed see increasingly over time that this is Christ.