REVELATION

INTRODUCTION TO THE SUB-SERIES “THREE”

We come to the first geometrical figure. Two straight lines cannot possibly enclose any space,
or form a plane figure; neither can two plan surfaces form a solid. Three lines are necessary to
form a plan figure; and three dimensions of length, breadth, and height, are necessary to form a
solid.
Hence three is the symbol of the cube--the simplest form of solid figure. As two is the symbol of
the square, or plane contents (x2), so three is the symbol of the cube, or solid contents (x3).
Three, therefore, stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire.
All things that are specially complete are stamped with this number three.

• God's attributes are three: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

• There are three great divisions completing time--past, present, and future.
• Three persons, in grammar, express and include all the relationships of mankind.
• Thought, word, and deed, complete the sum of human capability.
• Three degrees of comparison complete our knowledge of qualities.
• The simplest proposition requires three things to complete it; viz., the subject, the
predicate, and the copula.
• Three propositions are necessary to complete the simplest form of argument--the major
premises, the minor, and the conclusion.
• Three kingdoms embrace our ideas of matter--mineral, vegetable, and animal.
When we turn to the Scriptures, this completion becomes Divine, and marks Divine
completeness or perfection.
• Three is the first of four perfect numbers.
• Three denotes divine perfection;
Hence the number three points us to what is real, essential, perfect, substantial,
complete, and Divine.

• Three is the number associated with the Godhead, for there are "three persons in one
God."
• Three times the Seraphim cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy"--one for each of the three persons in
the Trinity (Isaiah 6:3). The living creatures also in Revelation 4:8.
• Three times is the blessing given in Numbers 6:23, 24:--
o The LORD bless thee and keep thee (the Father);
o The LORD make His face shine upon thee; and be gracious unto thee (the Son);
o The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" (the Holy
Spirit).
As we open this last book of the Bible, we come upon God’s final message to the world and to
the Church in particular. And we find it is a message of completion – of God finishing all that
began when the world was young, and even before, when time had not yet existed. It is a book
of completion. And the first thing we see is the certain promise of the return of our great God
and King, Jesus Christ.

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Is it any wonder that as we open the first chapter of this book we are confronted with a flurry of
this number that represents what is real, substantial, and complete? It’s as if God is telling us
from the start that this is His final world about what He’s going to do to wrap things up in this
world.
So, I ask you today to stand with me in reverence for the sacred text, and prepare your hearts to
see how God is about to move in the world.

Revelation 1:1-7
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Who bare 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 which
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 and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
In these seven verses we see a rapid-fire series of threes that tell us how perfect and complete
God’s plan for the end of days really is. First of all, notice that…
In verse 1 we see that the revelation of Jesus Christ Divine in three ways. It is…
• Divinely Given – “Which God gave unto him…”
• Divinely Sent – “…He sent…”
• Divinely Signified – “…and signified it by his angel…”
In verse 2 we see that John bares record of three things…
• The Divine Voice – It is the "Word of God."
• The Divine Witness It is the “…testimony of Jesus Christ".
• The Divine Vision – It is the record of “…all things that he saw.”

In verse 3 a divine blessing is pronounced on three audiences…

• “…he that readeth”
• “…they that hear the words of this prophecy”
• They who “…keep those things which are written herein.”
In verse 4 we see testimony to God’s eternal nature. He is…
• “Him which is”
• “Which was”
• “And which is to come”
In verse 5 our Lord Jesus’ identity is three-fold. Here we see who Jesus is. He is…
• "the faithful witness"
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 • "the first-begotten from the dead"
• "the Prince of the kings of the earth"
In verse 5 and 6 we see three ways Jesus has touched us. Here we see what He has done…
• He has cared for us because He has… “loved us”
• He has cleansed us by washing “…us from our sins in His own blood”
• He has crowned us by making “…us kings and priests unto God and His Father”
And In verse 7 we read of the three facets of Christ’s return as we see what He is going to do…
• “Behold, he cometh with clouds…”
• “And every eye shall see him, and they which also pierced him…”
• “and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him…”
Listen, you can tell me that this book is the random musings of a bunch of old guys who are
dead and gone, and you can tell me that it ought to be consigned to the dusty heap of literary
wisdom from ages past. And you can argue that it no longer holds relevance to our lives. But the
perfection and the wisdom of this book testify to its divine inspiration and authorship; and
because this is true, we need to stand up and take notice. We need to listen carefully and
decide not only to hear it, but to believe it and to find out what it means for our lives, because
God is on the move, and He’s about to do something in this world that will complete the mystery
of the ages and wrap up life on earth as we know it.

So I ask you this one question before we dig any deeper today… Are you ready for the end? Are
you prepared for it all to come down? Because Jesus is coming back, and that’s no fairy tale or
wishful thinking. He’s coming back soon, and He has a message for us to read, hear, and obey
– a message that will help us understand His plan and prepare for His return.
So, over the next few weeks I want to us to see what this message means for us as we
investigate three things from this text…

• Who Jesus is
• What He has done
• What he is going to do

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 REVELATION
Part 1 in the sub-series “Three”
01/30/11

Who is Jesus?
The single most important thing we all must decide in our lives is what we believe about Jesus
of Nazareth. I know that there are a lot of important decisions we must make, like who we will
date and marry; where we’ll attend college and what sort of career we’ll pursue; who our friends
will be; whether we’ll have children, and so on. But these decisions pale in importance with the
decision we must make about Jesus of Nazaerth.
Here is a man who stepped on the scene of the world in a small, obscure village 5,000 miles
away and 2,000 years ago and yet nothing in this world has ever been the same since.
So, who is this Jesus? You know, as we read the Gospel accounts of His life and ministry, that
is a question that often arises. Even in the beginning, as He’s gathering followers, we see a man
named Phillip going to tell another man of this Jesus, and we read of this exchange in John
1:45-46 – “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in
the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said
unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and
see.”
Nathanael’s question, though couched in different terms, is very much the same question
people have asked for centuries. “Who is this Jesus?” And while Nathanael was cynical, there
were others who asked the same question for different reasons.
The religious rulers of Jesus’ day also called his identity into question. Do you remember that
confrontation in Matthew 21:23? “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and
the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest
thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
Animosity moved these men to question Jesus’ credentials. They weren’t interested in truth.
They simply wanted to destroy His credibility.
But there were others asking, “Who is Jesus?” In fact, when we get to the end of his life and
ministry and move to his suffering and death, we find yet one more man asking this question. In
Mark 15:1-2 we read… “And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation
with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and
delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews?”
Listen, we can ask it in a hundred different ways. We can question with sarcasm or cynicism.
We can ask in sheer disbelief. We can interrogate with animosity and disdain, and or we can
wonder with sheer delight, but the question is the same, “Who are you, Jesus?”
And we could literally spend hours, and maybe even days in the wealth of this Book discovering
the answer to this question because the Bible IS all about Jesus Christ – about who He is, what
He has done, and what He is going to do.
Jesus Himself said in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me.”

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Hold your Bibles up. Raise them higher, now look up… you see that? It’s all about Jesus. That
entire book is His story, and if you want to know who He is, read it.
Now, that makes us feel good, doesn’t it? But we have to move beyond feeling good to learning
and applying this truth to our lives. We have to see what Jesus’ identity means to us. And
though there is a wealth of truth here to discover in this respect, we really must narrow our focus
and the scope of the question, by asking it in the context of our text.
So, what does Revelation chapter 1:1-7 answer when we ask, “Who is Jesus?”
Let me suggest that the answer is found in verse 5… “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.”
Now, remember, we’ve been talking in three’s. It’s the number of completion, and I submit to
you that in this short verse we see a complete picture of Jesus Christ. He is the…

• Faithful Witness
• First begotten of the dead
• Prince of the kings of the earth
So what do each of these descriptions of Christ mean, and what do they mean for us? Well,
first, John calls Him the…
FAITHFUL WITNESS
This phrase in the original Greek is pistos martus. And the language is powerful. The word
pistos, or “faithful” means, “trustworthy”.
Now, in a day when people think nothing of making and breaking promises, this ought to get our
attention. John calls Jesus, “trustworthy.” Can I ask you how many times you’ve placed your
trust in someone only to have that trust shattered?
Your dad promised to take you fishing, and he went to work instead. Your friend promised her
loyalty, but jealousy prompted her to talk behind your back. Your parents promised “til death do
us part”, but that dream was shattered, and you can’t help but blame yourself.
A thousand times in a thousand ways we’ve had our trust broken. And though we’ve been the
victim more times that we can count, we’ve also been the perpetrator. How many times have I
made a promise I didn’t keep/ How many people have I let down? How many times have I had
to lower my head in shame and guilt for the broken promises?
It’s as that song goes…
We all fall, sometimes
We all let ourselves down
Sometimes there’s nothing left but to live with what’s been done and know you’re not the only
one who falls.
We all fail, sometimes
We all let someone down
Sometimes there’s nothing less but to promise to ourselves that next time we won’t be the ones
to fail. (Superchick – We all fall)
Listen, people will disappoint you, and you will disappoint them. We all fall short. All of us,
except this one Man – this man, Jesus. He IS faithful. He IS trustworthy!
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How can we begin to describe the measure of His faithfulness? How can we comprehend
the depth of His trustworthiness?
How could any man do what He did? Honestly, I could give a thousand reasons why Jesus
should have called a legion of angels to his side when he was facing the cross.
Judas, betrayed him with a kiss. Peter denied him. All the disciples left Him completely alone.
He was arrested, falsely tried, and condemned to death. And the very ones He came to save
mocked him, spit upon him, beat him, and plucked out his beard. The ones he loved crucified
Him.
Yet, He was faithful!
And to what? John called Him the pistos martus. The faithful witness. The Greek word ‘martus’
is also translated, martyr.
John called Jesus the “trustworthy martyr”
Often we hear the word, ‘martyr’, and we think of someone dying a senseless death for a cause
not worthy of dying for. But that’s not true of Jesus and what He gave Himself for.
In fact, of all the great things done in this world, there’s never been anything more important to
history or more vital to your life personally than what happened on that cross to that man 2,000
years ago.
The Bible tells us all, very clearly, that we are all sinners and separated from God. We’re born
into it by nature, and we dive into it by choice. Sin is our heritage and evil is our occupation until
the day we die and are lost for eternity without God, our Creator. We are doomed to vanity and
emptiness and we move through life masking the truth any way we can.
But praise God, Jesus stepped into history, willingly went to the cross, and traded His life for
mine. As the Bible says in 1Peter 2:24, (He) …bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Do you know why Jesus died? He died so you could live! But just as He died to give you life, so
He lives so that you might die. Die to your self. Die to your sins. Die to your aimless, vain life
that leads to a cold grave and an empty eternity.
Jesus did all of this for all of us, despite the fact that most people will reject him. If that isn’t
faithfulness, what is?
Listen, you can trust Jesus.

• You can trust Him with your past - You can give Him your sins and He will take them
away, casting them as far as the east is from the west.

• You can trust Him with your present – There is not a thing going on in your life right
now that He doesn’t care about and want to help you with.
o In every triumph He wants to rejoice with you
o In every tragedy He wants to comfort you.
o In every trial He will be true to you.
o In every temptation He will strengthen you.

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This is Jesus – he’s real and He is faithful. And He died so you could live without fear today.

• But you can also trust Him with your future – Millions of dollars are spent every year
by people who worry about the future. They look for the answers in astrology, crystal
balls, psychics, and fortune tellers. But the answers never come. And fear remains.
Listen, we all wonder “What’s going to happen tomorrow?” What will the next week hold,
the next month, or the next year? What will become of me and my family? And what’s
really going to happen when I die?
I don’t have all the answers, but what I can tell you is that you can trust Jesus with your
future. I’ve discovered this from others and I’ve discovered it personally.
When my aunt Monica was dying of cancer she had some moments when she was filled
with fear and she would cry and tell me about her fear. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust
Christ, she did. But death terrified her.
No wonder. Job described death as the King of terrors. There is something about it that
terrifies the heart, and until you face it, don’t dismiss that fear. But my point is this, every
time that fear gripped her heart I would tell her what Jesus had promised and then we
would pray, and you know what, her heart would find peace. She was comforted by the
Holy Spirit and the promise of God’s Word that death would not have the victory and that
Jesus Himself would receive her into heaven.
Listen, I know that the thing we concern ourselves with the most are the “what ifs” – the things
that the future holds. We can let go of the past and move carelessly through the present, but the
dark, unknown things of the future trouble our souls.
Aren’t you glad to know there is omeone bigger than the darkness of the unknown? Someone
more powerful than death. Someone who will be faithful to you when fear threatens to knock you
down and crush your hope?
And isn’t it good to know that this same Person will never leave you nor forsake you – that He
will forever remain faithful, even if everyone else in your life walks away?
Hey, that “someone” is Jesus and He is forever faithful. He is trustworthy!
But the question today is “Are you trusting Him?”
As we face this question and the task of applying God’s truth to our lives, let me draw your
attention back to our text, beginning in verse 3…
“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.”
First, God promises blessings to those who read, hear and obey.
So, God wants us to apply this to our lives, right? He expects that we will read it, hear it, and
that we will see that there is truth in these pages that will change our lives for His glory. So,
what is our response to the message of Jesus’ faithfulness? What are we to do when we see
that He is our faithful sacrifice?
Notice what it says in verse 4… “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto
you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven
Spirits which are before his throne;
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Now, look down in verse 8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
There is something that both John and the Lord Jesus say that calls for a response of trust.

In both verses John calls Jesus the one who “is, and which was, and which is to come.” And in
verse 8, Jesus calls Himself the “Alpha and Omega (the A-Z of the Greek alphabet).
What is the message? Jesus is Lord of past, present, and future.
And I ask you today….
Do you trust Him enough to give Him your past? Will you give Him your sins, mistakes, and
failures? Will you believe His promise to forgive you and to wash away the guilt of all the things
you’ve done that you now regret – all those things that steal your joy and keep you in a prison of
self-doubt?
Do you trust Him enough to give Him the present? What about this very moment? What are
you struggling with? What problems are you dealing with? Will you turn them over to the Faithful
Witness in prayer, allowing Him to carry the burden?

Oh, how Christ wants to shoulder that problem for you! You can trust Him!

And then, there is the future… Oh, yes, He is the God of the future too. And He wants you to
trust Him with that as well. Will you give Him yours?
• Will you commit to seeking Him about your future?
• How about the college you’ll attend?
• The woman or man you’ll marry?
• The career path you’ll take?
• Will you trust Him with your finances? Trust Him enough to give, even when it seems you
can’t?

And how about your death? Will you trust Him with that too?

Jesus is the God of the past, the present, and the future, and He is the FAITHFUL WITNESS.

He’s committed to you – so much so that He gave Himself completely.

What will you give Him in return? He wants your life – all of it.

Will you trust Him today?