Christmas Future

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness.

He's the firstborn of the dead. He's the Alpha and Omega. And then notice the last word in verse 8. He is the Almighty.

What a statement. That term only refers to, that's Old Testament. It only refers to God's Old Testament. The Lord God Almighty.

In fact, only one other time in the entire New Testament other than the Book of Revelation is that word ever used. That's who Jesus Christ is. He is the Almighty. The faithful witness. The firstborn of the dead.

The Alpha and Omega. And he's the Almighty, he says. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. And it was extremely successful in England, but he would have had no idea the kind of success that A Christmas Carol has brought. Hollywood has made 23 movies entitled The Christmas Carol. There have been countless other movies, Scrooge and all those kind of movies made since then. Ebenezer Scrooge is essential to every Christmas season for virtually all of us.

The storyline is, as you know, he is visited by three ghosts. Christmas past and Christmas present and then Christmas yet to come or what we would call Christmas future. Today. I want to talk about something that we usually don't. We experience Christmas present.

Right now we are. And we always talk about in church Christmas past. And so there's always some sermon or some message about Bethlehem and about a baby shepherds, angels, wise men.

But we're not going to do that. What I want to talk about is Christmas yet to come. I want to talk about Christmas future. If you think about it, the in his first coming. His glory was veiled. I love what Wesley wrote.

Wesley wrote these words veiled in flesh. The Godhead see hail the incarnate deity. His glory was.

Vail. But in the Christmas future, his humanity is veiled and his glory is for all to see. The first time he came, a star marked his arrival. The next time he comes, the stars will fall from heaven. The first time they gave him gifts.

The next time he comes, he gives gifts to men. The first time there was no room for him at the end. And the next time.

His glory will fill the earth. The first time very few people saw his coming. But the next time every eye will see. The first time he came as a helpless baby. And the next time he comes as the king of kings and the Lord of lords. The first time is marked by his humility. But the next time is marked by his awesome splendor.

The first time we sang away in the manger. But the next time we'll sing the Hallelujah chorus. Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter one and verse 12. And I want you to think about it in light of thinking of a baby at Bethlehem.

And look at the contrast in Christmas future versus Christmas past. Verse 12. And then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned around, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like the son of man.

Clothed in a robe, reaching to the feet, girded across his chest with a golden sash. And his head and his hair were white. Like white wool.

Like snow. And his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it had been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was the sound of many waters. And in his right hand, he held the seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in its strength. Quite a difference in the baby in a manger.

Christmas future. Go with me now to Revelation 12 and verse five. There is war on earth. And in this verse, this is what John writes. And she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. She gave birth to a male child. I don't think this is Mary. I think this is Israel.

The reason is in the next verse it says, then the woman fled into the wilderness, which would have been Israel. That's the only verse that deals with a birth at all. The question is, in Christmas future, what is he like? We know what a baby is like, but what is he like in Christmas future?

And that's what I want to look at. Go with me back now to Revelation chapter one, where we were. And verse five. And it says, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood. The first thing we see in Christmas future is he is called the faithful witness.

He speaks accurately and truthfully. He gives perfect testimony about God. If you want to know something about any subject, just ask Jesus Christ. Just read what Jesus Christ has said. If you want to know about God, listen to the words of Jesus. You want to know about man, listen to the words of Jesus. If you want to know about sin and righteousness and salvation and judgment, heaven and hell.

Listen to the words of Jesus. He is the faithful witness. He said this himself.

He said in John 18, three. For this reason, I was born. I have come into the world to testify to the truth. That's why I came.

He said, That's what I'm doing. Look with me over chapter three for a moment. Chapter three in verse 14. To the angel of the church of Laodicea.

Right. The Amen. The faithful and true witness. The beginning of the creation of God says.

Once again, you see the same idea. He is called the Amen. You hear that often. We say it. You probably say it yourselves when you end a prayer. Amen simply means so be it. He is the so be it of God. He is the Amen of God. God says, Look, when I'm done talking, I say Amen.

I say him. He is the Amen. He is the faithful and true witness. Back in Revelation one, he also says not only is he a faithful and true witness, but the writer of the book of Revelation says he's the firstborn of the dead.

But he wasn't. I mean, go to first kings, there's a resurrection of the dead. You go to second kings, there are two resurrections of the dead. There's a resurrection of the dead in Matthew. There's one in Luke, John 11.

There's a resurrection of the dead. So what's it mean he's the firstborn? The word is prototakis. That's the Greek word. It doesn't mean first in chronological order.

Prototakis means the unique one. The preeminent one. It's a matter of rank, not chronology. He has the highest rank of all those from the dead. And the reason is because he was raised in the dead. We can be raised from the dead.

That's the point that he is saying. He is saying Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. I love what Psalm 89 says. David writes, I shall also make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. That's a matter of rank.

That's what he is saying. He's not only a faithful witness in the firstborn of the dead, but we also see something else. Look down to verse eight of Chapter one. I am the Alpha and the Omega. Twenty four letters in the Greek alphabet.

Why would you say that? I'm A and I'm Z. What he means is and I'm everything in between. There's no word that can't be forged that's not part of me. I am omniscient. I know all things.

That's what he is saying. I am the Alpha. And he says, and not only that, I am the Alpha and I am the Omega. He said, I am the one.

And notice what the next phrase says. He said, I am the one who is and was and who is to come. The uniqueness again of Jesus Christ, unlike anybody else.

John MacArthur writes this. He said he is the one eternal, self-existent, transcendent one, completely uninfluenced, control over space and time, energy and matter, over time and over eternity as well. He is above and beyond.

He is outside and away from all that he has ever made. We are seeing that this child in a manger is something more when he is unveiled. He is the one who always speaks the truth. He is God's heir. He is the ruler over every ruler of the world. He is the source of all truth. Everything that is knowable, he knows. He is eternal above and beyond all that is temporal and physical.

That's who he is. He is the faithful witness. He's the firstborn of the dead. He's the Alpha and Omega. And then notice the last word in verse eight. He is the Almighty.

What a statement. That term only refers to that's Old Testament. It only refers to God in the Old Testament. The Lord God Almighty.

In fact, only one other time in the entire New Testament other than the book of Revelation is that word ever used. That's who Jesus Christ is. He is the Almighty. The faithful witness. The firstborn of the dead.

The Alpha and Omega. And he's the Almighty, he says. Astounding what you see with Jesus Christ. I control life and I control death. That's what Jesus Christ says.

Now look at chapter one, verse 17. John responds to these things. He has seen him. He knows who he is.

And John's response is this. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. You see, it's one thing to see Jesus Christ in a manger. It's another thing to see a guy hanging on a cross and suffering. It's another thing to see Jesus Christ in his glory.

For exactly who he really is. He said, I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he placed his right hand on me and he said, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. He said, I have the keys of death and Hades.

An astounding thing when you think about who he is and what he has accomplished. He says, therefore, write these things which you have seen and the things which are. The things which are to take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand. And the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars of the angels. He said of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. He's not only the faithful witness and the firstborn of the dead and the orphan of Meghan, the almighty. He said, and I've always held the church in my hand. The church is in my hand. I hold the church and I hold its leaders.

The word angel is not talking about a heavenly angel, but an earthly messenger. And he says, I hold them all in the context of my hand. I make the decisions.

He said, I decide. He is always empowering and interceding and purifying and speaking and protecting his church. That's why I told Peter, he said, I will build my church in the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. That's who Jesus Christ is. Now look at Chapter three of the Book of Revelation in verse seven. And to the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, write this. He who is holy, he who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and shuts and no one will open. What a statement. These are religious words.

When we read religious words, so often we just read them and leave them. But he says here he is holy. There's no mistakes. He makes none.

There are no mistakes. Everything he does is absolutely true. He decides he's the son of David, man. He's the son of God, God. He is, in that sense, the God man.

I want you to think about that from a practical point of view. If you wanted to be saved, who would you ask? You see, who would you go to and say, how does a person have eternal life? You see, I think that that's Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one will come to the Father but through me. He's holy. He doesn't lie. It's true.

You see, that's the statement. That's who Jesus Christ is. He says I have the keys of David. I love when he says I open a door and let the people in.

I shut a door and no one comes in. Those are the words of Jesus Christ. He is holy. Notice down in verse 14, it says, to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of creation of God.

Now, again, you might want to say, well, maybe that would be it. He's the first one created. That's what the cults would say, but they don't really understand it. That's the word arche. That doesn't mean he's the first one created. It means he's the source.

You see, in other words, in arche means he's the source. The idea is that Jesus Christ is the source of creation. That's what John 1 says. That's what Colossians 1 says. All things are created by him and for him, and by him all things hold together. The idea is that he's the source of all creation, the beginning of creation, in arche.

But he's not done. Chapter 5, verse 5. And one of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold the lion that is from the tribe of Judah. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

In Genesis 48, Israel was blessing his children. He blesses Judah, and he says the scepter will never depart from you. You will always be there, and Judah is always first in battle. Judah and Benjamin are the fighting tribes.

They're the ones who do the war. And Jesus is called the lion of Judah. This chapter 5 is an amazing thing when you see the context of it. Let me start again in verse 1.

I saw my right hand of him who sat on the throne. He said, a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Normally you only write on one side, and then you roll it up, and then along the edge where the top edge of it is on the roll, you put seals on it.

Usually one, sometimes two, rarely three, and never seven. There are seven, but this isn't written on one side. This is written on both sides.

You may wonder, what in the world is this? Well, in the context when you see it, it's the title deed of the universe. It's owning everything. That's what the seals are. It's a title deed.

That's what this is, and notice what ends up happening. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? Who can do this? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book and look into it. And I began to weep greatly because no one, he said, was found worthy to open the book and to look into it.

And one of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. And he said, and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures, the elders of the Lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are seven spirits, and God sent them out into the earth, and he came and he took the book out of my right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp of golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song.

Worthy are you to take the book and the break its seals. Look down at verse 12. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive the power and the wisdom and the might and the honor. Verse 13. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever.

And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped. What a scene this is. And the scene is because he is able to do what no one else can. That's the point of this whole story. Jesus Christ is able to accomplish what no one can.

No one in heaven, no one on earth. That's what he is saying. That's what Jesus Christ was able to do. He also said, by the way, he's not only of the line of the tribe of Judah, but he also says he's the root of David.

It's amazing. He's the offspring of David. How can it be David's root? That's why David said, my son and my Lord. Jesus Christ is both the one who brought David about, and Jesus Christ is the heir of David.

He's the son of God, and he's the son of man. What a different view of the second Christmas. Move with me now to Revelation 19 and the actual Christmas morning of future Christmas. Verse 11.

And I saw heaven opened. Behold, a white horse, and he was set on what is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and he wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and his head are many diadems, and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Notice there's no donkey.

There's no colt. This is the invincible warrior king. He's on a general's white horse. The diadems, the crowns, the jewels are on his head. He is the word of God. There is no one like him.

It's an astounding thing. He summarizes that section and said it is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I mean, if you think about Jesus Christ, he's the faithful witness. He's the firstborn of the dead. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the Almighty.

He holds the seven stars and the seven lampstands in his hand. He's holy. He's the beginning of creation. He's the Lion of Judah. He's the root of David. He rides a white horse called Faith, and he is faithful and true, and he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's Christmas future.

But I didn't mention something. By far the most important thing that he is. You find it in chapter 5, verse 6 again. And it says, And I saw between the throne the four living creatures, the elders, and there it is for the first time in the book, a lamb standing as if slain, a lamb. The one thing you don't expect to find here, but not only do you find it, 28 times between here and the end of the book, he's the lamb. He's the lamb in every single scenario. In other words, of all the other things that I said about him, none of them would be true if he's not the lamb, because that's the most important thing by a mile.

Notice when they sing in verse 9, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals. Verse 12, Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb who was slain. He says that's what the lamb was able to do. That was what the lamb was able to accomplish. Verse 1 of chapter 6, Then I saw the lamb break one of the seven seals, and as you go on in the book, the lamb breaks each and every one of the seals. Go to chapter 7 in verses 9 and 10.

And after these things, I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all the tribes and peoples and tongues. Standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, the long branches were in his hands. And they cry out with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. The lamb becomes absolutely paramount to everything that is being said here. In chapter 8 verse 1, he breaks the last seal.

The lamb broke the seventh and the final seal. In chapter 12, go with me to chapter 12 verse 10. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before God day and night, and they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb.

That's what ended up happening. Chapter 13 in verse 8, All who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world and the book of life of the lamb who has been slain. Chapter 14 verse 1, And I looked and behold, the lamb was standing on Mount Zion. That's what we see with the lamb. Verse 4, he said, These are the ones who have not been defiled with a woman and have kept themselves. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes, and they have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the lamb.

This never seems to stop. Chapter 15 verse 3, And they sang a song of Moses, the bondservant of God and the song of the lamb. He just keeps saying it. Chapter 19 verse 7, Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

Would that be us? It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, and the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. He said to me, Right, blessed are those who were invited to the marriage supper. He says of the lamb, the great wedding of the lamb, but it's the lamb again. Chapter 21 in verse 9, Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke to me and said to his, Come here, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. Verse 22 of the same chapter, I saw no temple in it. The Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple.

You keep seeing this over and over and over again and the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God's illumines it. And he said, And the lamp is the lamb. It's the lamb again. New heaven, new earth. Chapter 22, Then he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and the lamb.

And in the middle of its street on either side of the river was a tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were the healing of the nations and there was no longer any curse. And the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it and his bondservants will serve him. In the eternal state, new heaven, new earth, over and over and over again, he says, I'm the lamb.

It comes full circle, don't you see it? Mary had a little lamb. That's what happened in Bethlehem. And we're never to forget that.

Not ever. I believe for all eternity, we will always look at him as the lamb. Remember what John the Baptist said, Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. See, that's Christmas future.

That's what's going to happen in the next Christmas. He's the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the elf and omega, the almighty, the one who holds the lampstands, the one who holds the stars. He is holy. He's the beginning of creation. He's the lion of Judah. He's the root of David. He rides a white horse and he's the king of kings and lord of lords. But more importantly than all of those, he is the lamb of God who died for you and for me. That's what we need to think about. That's what Jesus Christ accomplished.

It's an astounding thing. He will always bear the marks of his sacrifice forever because he remains to remind us how much he loves us, that he was willing to die. If you don't have a great Christmas, invite the lamb into your life. Let him be part of it. You see, of all the great things that Jesus Christ is and there are myriads of those, nothing is as important to you and me than the fact that he's the lamb of God. And he died where you and I should have.

The opportunity is yours. You can put your trust and faith in him and have the assurance that you're born again into his family. That's what makes Christmas so special.

That's what makes Christmas future. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ...