I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord. Who is and who was and who is to come? And there again, right now, the present tense: who is. John inserts, says the Lord. He's saying, Now, this is Christ speaking to us: Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
of the Greek alphabet. And it sums up everything in between. He does not say, I know the alphabet or I use the alphabet of the Greeks. He says, I am the language, I am the word, I am the meaning. Hmm.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 1 as he continues his message: The Faithful Witness.
Well, you cannot blaspheme someone who's not divine. You can slander them. You can criticize them, you can attack them. But that doesn't mean they're divine. But if you do any of those things to God, Now it's blasphemy.
And that's why in the scripture we see Jesus blasphemed. And we see the Holy Spirit blaspheme. Why does that mean something to us? Because it's God saying, The Holy Spirit is equal with the Godhead. And so is the sun.
And we cannot ever lose sight of that. Because then you'll end up siding with someone like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons or some other group. Here we have five descriptive titles for Christ. Jesus, Messiah. He's the Christ.
Now he's open to the Gentile world, but he's the one that's been prophesied of, so that's a very big deal. Faithful witness. You can trust everything Jesus has said. Firstborn from the dead. They're glorified in that sense.
We'll come back to that. Ruler over the kings of the earth. and total control, sovereign. Him who loved us and washed us From our sins in His own blood.
Well, that's a pretty big deal.
So, we do have to be careful because it's easy to preach that God loves sinners and forget that He loves you. Even while you're sharing that with sinners. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.
So, this is the battle for the mind: fought over the identity of Christ. Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew sixteen. Who do you say that I am? Who do people say that I am? And then he isolated them and said, Who do you say that I am?
Because it means everything. It is a battle for the mind, which is a battle for the soul, and Satan wants to lie to you and me any chance he gets. and we cannot honor. All that follows Revelation 1, unless we get the truths out of Revelation 1. What's coming is on this foundation who Christ is.
the firstborn from the dead.
Now people have been resuscitated but they've not been resurrected. receive their glorified bodies. Until Christ, he's the first one. That entered into this world. In a created body under the laws of creation, we call it his humanity.
Then died and rose again and was glorified, and came back to show it.
So there's a difference between being those who are revived or resuscitated, they have to die again. Not Christ. and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
Well, Satan has been granted limited authority over the rulers of the earth, and he exercises this authority by influencing their fallen nature. He's so good at this. That he was able to influence two people who who did not have a fallen nature to fall. Adam and Eve.
So he is a big deal. And when he is locked away for a thousand years, the earth is going to notice it. It's going to be a lot different. But he has no power without permission. And we read the book of Job, those early chapters, and we scratch our head about it, but we have to come to grips with it.
Romans 13, Paul says, there's no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Well, he's talking about human authority, but it. Equally applies, because he says it elsewhere too, to the spiritual realm also. That's why we're going to come across Apollion, one of the demon creatures in the scripture who's locked away and then released during the Great Tribulation period.
Well, why was he locked away? Because God is in control. Not hell. to him who loved us.
Now, when we lose sight of this fact, our faith is negatively impacted. And there will be things in life that are that heavy that will make us question God's love, or at the very least, tempt us to question the love of God. Jesus says that he loves me. I believe him. And I've had some opportunities to not believe him.
But I find it's a better opportunity to overrule the temptations that would lead me from him. And just stick to the Lord. Washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Well, it costs God to forgive us. And I'll quote Acts 20 in a minute, which also says that. Neither Allah nor Muhammad nor Buddha Let's pause on the Buddha one.
Something to do with sports of that guy's name, I'm sure of it. all that booing. But back to this. They're peaceful ones, you know. All of them say they're peaceful, right?
As they're blowing things up. But the Buddhists now are pretty serious in Myanmar. once Burma. Persecuting And molesting The Christians and the Christian women. I thought they were peaceful.
I thought that they wouldn't treat people the way that Buddha wouldn't treat them. But they are.
Well, anyway, none of those Allah, Muhammad, or Buddha. Love the sinner enough to die for them. There's not even mention. of that. It doesn't even come to their mind.
Not only are they incapable, But They did not.
So, would you and I have the presence of mind to tell a Muslim? That his Allah and His Muhammad did not die for them, but wants you to die for them. He didn't die for you. But he insists that you die for him. That's one-sided.
That's a double standard. At least our Savior died for us. and may call upon us to die for him, which we would be eager to do. And that Holy Spirit that we love so much would help us right through it. You ever say, boy, I wonder how I'll do?
Persecution.
Well, if you adhere to the Lord, He's going to do it for you. He'll take care of you through it, is what I mean.
So, Islam, for example, is a religion which Allah expects. your son to die for him. Christianity is a religion. That scent God's Son to die for you. Do they know that?
Will we get a chance to tell them that? What will they do with it? Acts 20, verse 28. Therefore, take heed. to yourselves.
And to the flock of God.
Now he's speaking to pastors in Acts chapter 20. He's at Miletus, which Miletus accidentally is a port city. In that Asian minor world, which is only about 35 miles from Patmos, where John is writing, but he can't get there. He can't even text anybody there. He's isolated.
But that's just a side note. He says, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. to pastor The church of God which he purchased with his blood.
Now here's another point. and this one to the Jewish person perhaps. God did not purchase Israel with his blood. We have nothing in Scripture that says God purchased the nation of Israel with his blood. The church Purchased with the blood, made up of Jew and Gentile, so it's expanded, it's an expanded ministry, it has a greater spiritual reach.
which is the whole problem Paul was facing. We gotta reach these Gentiles. But you can't reach them if you're going to forbid this and forbid that that has nothing to do. with what Christ did on the cross. It had everything to do to get us to this point.
But now we gotta let it go. And he didn't let everything go. He just let those things that just got us there, that the tutor that led to the lesson. Anyway. If God offers salvation in Christ, then there must be an opposite condition.
If he's saying I am willing to save you. there must be a danger. But you know what the problem is with that kind of logic? It's twofold. It's irritating because it's right.
And it's frustrating and saddening because it's not enough. You can lay out logic to an unbeliever. And they nod their heads, I agree. and they walk off an unbeliever. What makes the difference is the power of the Holy Spirit.
to convict them from the inside. to turn the lights on. But they participate in this. They'll either respond or they won't. Does that mean we should?
do away with logical Statements like that, not at all. It just means we cannot rely on logic to save anyone. By itself. And yet, In preaching the gospel, we never move without logic. We never preach illogical things.
Well, We try not to. I've heard some of you have done it. Here's a list of names I took the time to write them down. Verse 6. And has made us kings and priests to his God and Father.
To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Man, you gotta know when that amen pops up like that. There's emo there's inspiration, there's emotion. invested in that.
So in the kingdom In the kingdom age to come. The kingdom age is when Christ. Christ's comes back to earth, the second coming of Christ. He gets rid of the devil for a thousand years or so. And he sets up his government here.
This is the millennial kingdom, not run by millennials. And this is the kingdom age. Can anyone name one thing a millennial can run? No, you can't.
Okay, so come here, okay, all right. No, we love you, millennials. Just not as much as the other people who aren't millennials. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
So you you are loved just as much. All right, coming back to this.
So, in the kingdom age, what's our role? Because we come back with Christ. Male and female. The believers come back when the Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, we are together, we show up with Him. What's our role?
Well, we are going to be the civil and spiritual authorities. When Christ rules from Jerusalem, Corrupt and incompetent politicians will neither make law nor manipulate law. We will be the law.
Now I know some of you go out and you get other commentaries on Revelation and Nothing wrong with that. in and of itself. But almost all of them like to take this verse and say, well, it doesn't mean kings and priests, it means kingdom of priests. See, that's more of that stuff from those newer manuscripts. They're older, but they've found recently, and they bring nothing good, they just bring debate and doubt.
So let me help us all with that. Does this actually mean that we will be civil and spiritual authorities as kings and priests? How are we going to get to the bottom of this?
Well, Revelation 5:10.
So that's what I meant by axiom of scripture is that scripture interprets itself. Revelation 5, verse 10, and have made us kings and priests to our God. And here it comes. In case you didn't believe that part, God is baked into the message. This And we shall reign on earth.
Well, that's the answer. What do you mean?
Well, when Christ comes back. It's going to take him several months to filter out the route he's choosing. He's not going to. rapture down with the evil people, there's going to be judgments. and people will be taken in judgment.
and they will be filtered out. But remaining will be Billions of people. Right now India just passed, not today, but China for the most populated nation in the world. I think Ch China's got like 800 billion. No, they does like one point 4 billion people, and India now has like 1.4 billion and one.
So I'm just saying, there's a lot of people on earth, and a lot of them have never heard the gospel, and they're going to be there in that state when Christ returns. And they compound, there are going to be a lot of dying during the tribulation, too.
However, once Christ returns, The sickness and Satan will be You know, they won't have anywhere near the influence that they have now. People will not be dying at the rate they're dying now. The earth will be populated and it's going to be not crowded, but more people then to that thousand-year reign than there are now. The Bible tells us that continents that are deserts will be blooming. Flowers, there will be the vegetation, there will be more food, will not be a problem.
They'll beat their swords into plowshares. This is what's coming.
Well, who's going to teach everybody about Jesus? Because he's not opted to magically impart it. That's the role of the kings and priests. That's the role of the 144,000 surviving Jews. That's the role of the Jewish kingdom.
in Israel Zachariah says the Gentiles will be wanting to go up to the yearly pilgrimage in Jerusalem, and they will go to a Jew and say, Tell us about. The Messiah, about the Christ, about God.
So this is what I'm saying. is we will have things to do. 2 Timothy chapter 2 gives us the second witness to this verse 12 If we endure, we shall also reign with him. And it's interesting, many of the commentators who want to turn that verse to not mean the kings and priests into the kingdom of priests, when you get to Revelation 5.10, they're very silent. Think well, that's not what it means.
Anyway, I said I wouldn't. Act like I'm smarter than those guys, though in the flesh I know that I am, but in the spirit I know better. And that's what makes me more humble than you. I'm glad you can laugh at that because you have a problem if you go, oh, that's it, I'm out of here. I can't believe he said that.
Well, he didn't say that, he's just goofing around. You could go through an hour session and have no jokes. I could do that. Yeah, that would be miserable for you. Anyway.
To his God and Father, and we covered that in verse 1 in the last session.
Now the word God expresses eternity and self-existence and all the things that go with God.
Well, it doesn't. It just tells us that he is sovereign. The word God does not tell us anything about how He interacts with us. It just says he's the ruler.
So how would we know?
Well, that's where Father comes in. Our God is like a loving Father, because there are many deadbeat fathers, there are many, many of them. in in jails and out. That is not our Father who is in heaven. And the Bible, of course, makes sure we understand that.
Our God is His self-existence, his deity and father expresses his character. And you know, to believe that God can die is to reveal a defective understanding of deity. Your God can die, your God can perish. Because you made them up. It's an imaginary thing.
The true God. He can never die. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. The Glorified incarnation, well, Christ was incarnated, but after he rose, he was glorified again. This is what he said.
This is right before they took him arrested him and led him to the cross. He says, And now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. And so there's a lot more to Christ. Then Jesus. As he lived in this life.
When God said to Moses, I am who I am. He was saying, I am. I'm self-existent, I'm eternal. And you can't handle it all. But I'll give you what you can.
That's Exodus 3:14, incidentally. Verse 7: Now, behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him. And they who pierced him And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him, even so, amen.
So he puts it there again, does he not? That amen. It's a Hebrew word. is not using a Greek word. And it's just tying back into the Old Testament scripture.
And here in verse seven, this is a meaningful reminder to the persecuted Christians. He's coming again. You might meet him before he gets here, though. By you going to Him, that would be death. And well, uh Uh with clouds.
He ascended in a cloud. In Acts chapter 1, we read of that in the ninth verse. He ascended in a cloud to heaven. He will visibly return with clouds, with friends thus The majesty, kingdom authority. I think of that song, you know, Jack Hayford's song.
Your Majesty Kingdom Authority. It's just a beautiful song. This is covered in Matthew 24. Daniel got a glimpse. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man coming with clouds of heaven.
Daniel's prophecies are so amazing. uh that uh any time he speaks he better than E.F. Hutton. Everybody should listen.
Some of you don't know who E.F. Hutton is, and you can Google it. Because when he speaks, everybody listens. about Stocks and stuff. Anyway, coming back.
when he first came, and every eye will see him. There will be no mistake, no missing him. The second coming, the phrase second coming is not in scripture, but the fact is clearly in it, so it's valid to use this phrase. Stark contrast to the first coming. which also isn't worded that way.
He was first made known to shepherds in the field and to the wise men from the East. And that was pretty much it, a few others here and there. When he returns, The planet will know him as God Almighty. At the first coming, he dealt with sin. And at the second coming, he deals with impenitent sinners.
Every, he says, even they who pierced him. The nation of Israel. the people, the Jewish people. And this is just a fact, it's not anti-Semitic. Zechariah 12:10 is a Jewish prophet that said this, and it is picked up in the New Testament and continued.
And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. They will be sorry, but it's not the, oh, you're going to be sorry about this. Like, oh, I can't wait to see you get it. It's going to be mixed. There will be those that will be evil still, and they will be dealt with, they will be sorry, but then there will be others that.
I didn't know. And genuinely smitten. And the Jews, it will be that way with them. We get a glimpse of that in Thomas. You know, I won't believe unless I see him.
And then he sees him, my Lord, my God. And Israel, all Israel will be saved. Romans 11:26. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
And we'll we'll be getting to that. And it's covered in the prophets too.
So There is no refuge. from Christ. Only in Christ. Those cities of refuge in the Old Testament pointed to the Christ. The safe place in Christ.
There was a pastor years ago, he is an author, and overall, I guess, pretty good. I don't want to. take away from him. Peter Marshall was his name. They've done a movie about him.
Anyway, this is what he says. It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail. You can say the Christians are in that sometimes category of. Failing in a cause that will succeed. And we are not to be.
in the other cause That is succeeding, but ultimately will fail. That's the world system. Looks like it's working pretty good. You see the skyscrapers, you see the technology, you see the advances in men. No wonder men become humanists and say, you know, we've got all the answers.
It's going to fail. Like the Tower of Babel.
So he says, even so, amen. Bring it. is what we would say. You know, in the Hebrew, the word believe is connected to the word amen.
So when it says, and Abraham believed God. That is that word a derivative of Verse 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord. Who is and who was and who is to come? And there again, right now, the present tense: who is.
John inserts, says the Lord. He's saying, Now, this is Christ speaking to us: Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. of the Greek alphabet. And it sums up everything in between. He does not say, I know the alphabet or I use the alphabet of the Greeks.
He says, I am the language, I am the word, I am the meaning. So the revelation. The omnipotence of God. He's never surprised. That means he knows it all.
the omnipresence of God, He's never absent. And of course, the omnipotence of God, He's never defeated. This is majesty and authority. Who is and who is. who was and who is to come.
the Almighty. We close with that. The Almighty has the Shaddai and Hebrew He has documented these things and he's distributed to men. Uh Uh This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
