Address—P.L. Johnson
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Read in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter one and we'll read the 1St 11 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 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, forever 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.
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.
I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.
Saying I'm alpha and Omega, the 1St and the last and what thou seest writing a book.
And send it under the seven churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus, and under Smyrna.
And under Pergamos, and under Thyatira, And under Sardis, and under Philadelphia, and under Laodicea.
It isn't my purpose to.
Take up the Book of Revelation and speak of it in a prophetic way.
What I really had before me is to.
Speak about John and the way he presents himself here.
In this first chapter, especially in verses 9 and 10, which we will.
Take up the Lord willing in detail where we see the way in which John presents himself, in the circumstances in which he is found and the position he occupies.
And the condition.
Of soul, if you want to use that expression in which he is found here in this first chapter of the Book of Revelation. But before we take that up, I'd like to just in a general way, make some remarks in regard to these verses that we read that might be of help to those who are.
Concerned about reading the Book of Revelation? And we really all ought to be, because notice what it says in verse 3.
Blessed is he that readeth. There is a blessing pronounced upon the reading of the Book of Revelation.
We know, of course, that it's probably one of the most neglected books.
And but a blessing is pronounced.
And not only that. And they that hear the words of this prophecy.
And keep those things which are written therein.
Well, I'd like to make this remark in connection with the Book of Revelation, while it is primarily a prophetic book.
That brings before us events that are future in the in the largest part of the book. We know of course that the 1St 3 chapters.
Are not future chapter one, of course, being the vision that John had of the Lord, Chapters two and three giving us the history, the moral history of the church from Ephesus through Laodicea, but after that it's chiefly prophetic.
But you know the very title of this book. Now I'm talking about the true title, not the title that we have in our King James translation, but the true title of this book gives us the the theme and the subject of the Book of Revelation.
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And the title I believe is found in verse one, the way it begins the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, the object of the Spirit of God in the Book of Revelation is not merely to tell us of coming events.
So that we would be knowledgeable of prophecy.
Many times the Book of Revelation is taken up entirely in this way. We know there are those who even use it in a sensational way. I have seen announcements.
In front of so-called church buildings, if you want to use that expression announcing.
Some subject like this What will be the end of Russia?
Come in here.
And many times there are those who like to take up the prophetic events of the Book of Revelation and and.
Create an interest for people to come in about current affairs and things like that. Turn over to the 19th chapter. I want to connect a verse there with what we just read, the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, that's the object of the Spirit of God in the Book of Revelation. It's to to make him known.
In the 19th chapter.
And verse 10.
John, Speaking of himself, says I fell at his feet. That is the feet of the Angel.
To worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
That's really the key to the Book of Revelation.
In the Book of Revelation, the Spirit of God is spoken of as the Spirit of prophecy. That is, He is revealing prophetic things.
It is a prophetic book, it's true, but the object of the Spirit of God in revealing these prophecies, the object is to exalt Jesus, the testimony of prophecy.
As we read here, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and really it's an expression that could be reversed. That is, the two things are equivalent. The Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
So that the object of the Spirit of God is to make known the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if one reads the Book of Revelation.
And they come away from the reading or the studying of the Book of Revelation only with a knowledge of coming events.
They have really missed the mind of God in regard to the Book of Revelation. The object is to show.
That that one who was rejected here says the testimony of Jesus.
Not the testimony of Jesus Christ. It brings before us the one who was here in humiliation, here in loneliness, and rejected Jesus of Nazareth that despised and rejected man. The Spirit of God would would emphasize that that man is the one who is going to be in the place of power.
And honor and glory, not only as he is now in heaven.
And known to be there by faith on the part of believers, but to be universally declared as Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and to be publicly acclaimed, every knee bowing in every tongue confessing to Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was rejected, the one of whom they said away with this man.
You see, that man was the one they didn't want, and that's the man that's going to take.
Charge of everything in this world, he's going to have a great world Kingdom. And so the Book of Revelation really has that as an object.
So back in chapter one, the title to the book really ought to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ because that's what it reveals. And it's really a little unfortunate that the King James translators put Revelation of Saint John the Divine. Now I know they had in mind, I'm sure they, they, they put that title there.
Because John was the writer of the book. Which is true. John is the writer of the book.
But the subject of the title really is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto His servants.
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And we read that he said, and signified it by his Angel unto his servant John. So John is the writer.
But John is not presented here as Saint John the Divine.
I suppose that title is given because.
The thought was to give him the dignity of an apostle.
Which in a sense is all right. I mean in the fact that we would give to John the dignity of an apostle because he was an apostle.
And as an apostle, he had a position that really was.
Above the other believers, all of the apostles, they had a special place.
There was a position and place that the apostles occupied.
Given to them by the Lord, of course, directly commissioned by the Lord Jesus himself.
Now not all of our own commissioned by the Lord on earth. Paul was commissioned by the Lord from heaven, but every one of the apostles were, you might say, personally and directly commissioned by the Lord Jesus to be in a place of authority as his representatives here in this world to establish his testimony in Christianity. So they had a unique place.
And John was one of the apostles.
But you know John does not write the Book of Revelation as an apostle.
You'll notice in verse one it says that he sent and signified at the end of the verse.
By his Angel unto his servant John.
In other words, he doesn't say that he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his.
Unto the Apostle John, but to his servant. He doesn't take the place in the Book of Revelation as an apostle.
Now he was, but he doesn't present himself as an apostle. He presents himself first of all as a servant, as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I mentioned this because I want to take up John in this first chapter.
As a model for you and me today.
A model that we might emulate, that we might seek to imitate.
John in the way that he presents himself, and you can see that if he had presented himself as an apostle, why he wouldn't be a model for you and me.
But we're not apostles, and we can't be apostles. And there is no one today who is an apostle. In fact, there have never been apostles since those apostles commissioned by the Lord passed away and left this scene. There's never been an apostle since there have been servants of the Lord that the Lord has used, but there's never been an apostle.
I'm not saying that there haven't been those who have claimed to be apostles, but there has been no legitimate.
Commissioned apostles, since those who were commissioned by the Lord left the scene. So if John had presented himself as an apostle.
Why, we would have to say when he speaks of himself here and when he presents himself in certain circumstances and in a certain position, we'd have to say, well, that may apply to John as an apostle, but it has no real bearing upon us as believers on the Lord today.
But now notice in verse nine, in the ninth verse, John.
Presents himself as a brother.
I, John, who also am your brother.
He's writing to the Saints, and he presents himself as your brother. Why? He comes right down, you might say, with within our reach. He comes right down on our level.
Not as an apostle, but as a brother and as a brother we can say, well, that's true of me. And I'm sure we understand now we're not restricting the thought of a brother to the males, that is those who are literally brothers. But there is a sense in which the brother, the expression brethren, would include the sisters. You know in Hebrews too, when the.
When it is said that the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren.
Why he's not excluding the sisters? No, he means all of the Lords people. So in that sense, when John says you're a brother, we don't want to limit this in our thoughts to the what we speak of as the brothers, the males.
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He's bringing himself down within the range of everyone of us who are brethren of the Lord and brethren one of another, as the Lord says to his disciples that that year all brethren, they have only one master and year all brethren. And we're we're exhorted in Scripture to love the brotherhood.
Well, again, that would include the sisters, would it not? And we're to love as brethren.
Another exhortation that would include the sisters. So what I'm saying now?
We want to keep in mind includes all of the Lord's people when he speaks of being a brother. Well, this would.
This would indicate, I believe, that John is a.
Presenting himself in a way in which he can be a model for believers who are living in this world.
In the days of the ruin and failure of the church, when everything that is official.
Has passed away. You know what I mean by that? There was, in the beginning, in the early days of the church, as I've already said, there were.
There were officially appointed apostles, those who were directly commissioned by the Lord to be apostles, and they had authority. You remember what Paul says to the Corinthians on one occasion, says, am I not an apostle? Have not authority. You see, he was an apostle.
And also in the early days.
In the Church of God, there were those who were officially designated and selected as elders.
While I'm making statements, but maybe we ought to read some scriptures. Turn back to Acts 14.
Where we have.
That mentioned the 14th chapter of Acts.
This is an account of Paul and Barnabas.
After they had gone out in preaching the gospel.
And.
Souls had been saved and gathered, and on their return back through the cities where they preached the gospel on their return to Antioch.
Why we read.
In verse.
What we might read.
Verse 23 and when they had ordained them.
And I'm going to have to put a little word in here that belongs there because the word them.
I don't want to get into English grammar, but it's, it is what we would call an English grammar, the indirect object that is you, you do something for someone, and that's what it is here. When they had ordained for them, that is for who? For the Saints, those Saints in these various cities. You see, they returned again in verse 21. In the middle of the verse, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium.
And Antioch confirming the souls of the disciples and comforting them.
They had gone through those cities initially and preached the gospel.
And souls were saved, and those souls who were saved, of course, came together and assembled.
Because God's thought is that his people should assemble. Not only that, they should be saved.
And on their way to the glory and blessed with blessings, but that they should assemble and and function as members of the body. Well, they were doing that when they were saved. Now then Paul and Barnabas returns to these cities on their way back to to the church at Antioch from which they had been recommended by the grace of God. And as they come back they verse 23 they ordained.
For them that is, for the Saints elders.
In every church or assembly. But you'll notice who did the ordaining here. It was Paul and Barnabas. In other words, those those Saints in the gatherings at Lister and Iconium and Antioch, they didn't choose for themselves elders. These elders were chosen and designated by the apostles.
Now we might turn to the book of Titus, the Epistle to Titus.
Where we have another.
Occasion of.
Are pointing at what the word ordained really means, or designating elders. And here we see that while Titus is to do this, he does it at the express command and charge of Paul.
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Verse five of chapter one.
For this cause left four and creep that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordained or appoint elders in every city. Well, it's because you see, he says in every city.
Far there was the assembly or church in that in each city where there were believers, they constituted the assembly of the church in the city. And now Titus is commissioned by Paul to ordain or appoint elders. Now these men were officially designated as elders and they had an official place, you might say.
I know we're living in a day and this has been true for.
Really. Many hundreds of years.
We're living in a day in which we have neither apostles or elders.
We have neither apostles or elders in an official sense that his elders officially, we do not have anyone who can take the stand that he has been officially appointed as an elder and take that place. The turn to the 20th chapter of Acts.
Or in the in the 20th chapter of Acts, we see that while we do not have anything official.
There is still a sense in which there could be those who.
What should I say function?
Are to do the work of an elder or an overseer in the 20th chapter of Acts.
We read in verse 17 that from my elitist he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. That's Paul.
Now he says in verse 28, and I might mention that before verse 28 he tells them.
That.
In verse 25, that they wouldn't see his face anymore. He was, he would be no longer with them. In other words, Paul is speaking to these elders in view of his departure, in view of the absence of himself and all Apostolic authority.
So he says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. And I notice that expression over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. And I don't want to get all involved on this, on this point. That is, I don't want to get too much away with the subject I really had before me. But I will say in passing that in Scripture, elders and overseers.
Bishops, as we find an expression in the King James.
All refer to the same person.
In other words, will you have the expression elders? We've already read that in Titus as well as Acts 14, and perhaps that would have a reference to the maturity that was involved. And they're being chosen as elders now. Here they're called overseers. That would have reference to the work that they did.
Now I know in the King James Version in Timothy, it says if any man desires the office of a Bishop. You remember that verse. I'm sure most of us have come across that verse in First Timothy chapter 3 if any man desire the office of a Bishop.
And that's too bad, isn't it such a translation? Because there's no such thing really in scripture as the office of a Bishop. Literally, it should be translated if any man desires oversight.
He desires a good work.
And that's what Paul is talking about here to these elders. They were overseers who were doing the work of oversight. Now, today we do not have any official elders designated and appointed as such because we have no appointing authority. We have no no one to Commission elders, the apostles.
Only had that had such an authority, but we can have overseers.
Raised up by the Holy Spirit to do the work of oversight. We should have. There should be.
In every gathering, those who have an exercise to overtake oversight that that's that's not any any thought of ruling, but it means that they take their place as a brother. And I really believe that's what John is seeking to do in the Book of Revelation. He's taking the place of a brother, but he's doing the work of oversight because he's going to write something to these.
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Assemblies, and he's going to present to them.
What is the mind of Christ in regard to their state in each one of these assemblies? So he's really kindly doing the work of an overseer without any such official title. But in this 20th chapter of Acts, the apostle is looking forward to the to a a day.
When there would be no longer any apostles and any official authority.
Because he goes on to say in verse 29 I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock also of your own self, shall mineralize, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Well, it doesn't sound like it isn't, Doesn't sound very encouraging, does it, for the apostle to speak in this way. And you would think then that if this is going to be the case, if there's going to be grievous wolves enter in and there's going to be men arising speaking perverse things, well, we certainly would need some disciples, or rather apostles who had authority, and we certainly ought to have some official elders who could.
Convene together.
And make authoritative decisions if such a condition is going to come in. But the apostle does not make any provision for a succession of apostles. He doesn't make any provision for one to succeed him as an apostle. He doesn't say to them, well, now we're going to appoint apostles to take our place, so you'll have authority. He doesn't say to them.
We we want you to appoint elders in your place so that you can perpetuate.
The office of an elder. But what does he say in verse 32? And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. As if to say that in this day of ruin and failure, when these conditions come in, there will be nothing official.
There will be no official power to deal with the evil.
Settle questions that might arise among the Saints of God. But you have God and the word of His grace. Well, now that brings me back to Revelation 1, to the thought of the brother.
And how would we connect it up with the thought of the brother in this way?
John in writing now.
He is, as it were, acknowledging.
That there is no official authority.
Because he doesn't write in an official way, though he himself personally had that authority.
He's writing just as a brother and while apostles have passed away, while official elders have passed away.
Well, we can say that we still have the brethren.
Your brother, and this indicates, to my mind at least, that it's the spirit in which the Saints seek to walk together in a day of ruin and favor as brethren, he says.
I, who also am your brother.
Indicating that he is.
A model for us here that he wants us to realize that we walk together as brethren. Now that doesn't mean, of course, that that maybe one brother has more power or more influence than another. But if one has influence and power among his brethren, it is not because of any official place that he has. There is no such thing as an official place if one would have any power and influence among his brethren.
It would be because of his walk, It would be because of the moral qualities of the brother. It would be because his brethren would recognize that this is a brother who is walking with the Lord and he understands the mind of God and he's seeking to carry out the mind of God. And really, this is the way things are settled among the Lord's people today. Should be. It's not by taking any official place.
Or someone.
Feeling that he has a particular place because of some circumstances or if you want to use the expression, even by having seniority, it might be that a brother might be in a meeting for many years, but he doesn't really have power and influence with his brethren because he hasn't really gone on well. So we we can't speak of any official place.
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You know, I thought sometimes that that perhaps we would think it would be a lot easier if we had.
Some official authority. And I am convinced that the reason Christendom and all of the systems of men have developed as they have is because they have felt the need of some organization, some official authority, so that when something arises that constitutes a difficulty, why, they can refer this matter to those who are.
Leaders or who are in charge and who are in official place of authority.
And it's a little bit easier, isn't it? It would be a little bit easier if you had something like that and.
There, there. We know that this is what is going on in the systems of men, but we can't, we can't function that way. If we're going to function according to the mind of God, we function as it were, as brethren. And so John doesn't take an official place, but I think there's another thought too in in connection with his Speaking of himself as a brother.
You'll notice he doesn't just say he's a brother, he said. I also am your brother.
As if to say to them, I want you to know that I'm standing with you and I'm supporting you. We have a verse, I think it's in Proverbs 14 that goes something like this, that.
A friend, or there is a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for the day of adversity. I may not have quoted that exactly right, but the last part of that verse I know goes like this. A brother is born for the day of adversity.
Well, that indicates to my mind that a brother is one who supports you, your brother.
We know that this is a.
This is in a human way very common. One who has a brother, he has one who to stand with him and to support him and in the in the family of God here John says I am your brother. Well, I'm sure that this was meant to encourage those to whom he's writing I am your brother. I am set to support you and to go on with you in the truth because he says not only your brother, but he goes on to speak of himself.
As a fellow companion, it should read.
In the tribulation and Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you'll notice that I changed a little of the reading there, but that's the correct reading. The word thee should precede tribulation.
And it has the force of linking together three things, tribulation, Kingdom and patience are endurance of Jesus Christ, Tribulation Kingdom, endurance.
Well, what is John trying to bring before us? I think John is Speaking of the circumstances in which not only he as a model brother. Because keep in mind now that John is, is presenting himself here as a, as a model brother for us. And he's Speaking of the circumstances in which he is found along with all of his brethren.
In this day of ruin and failure.
And what is involved in such a day? Tribulation and endurance?
In connection with the Kingdom, because the Kingdom here is associated with tribulation and endurance.
Turn to the 12Th chapter.
Where we have a celebration in heaven when Satan is cast out of heaven.
And we have the Kingdom mentioned in verse 10. But here it's the Kingdom in a different way. It's the Kingdom as it will be when the the Lord Jesus returns and sets up what we speak of is his millennial or 1000 year reign. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.
Now notice the expressions that are associated with the Kingdom. Here the Kingdom is spoken of, but we have salvation or deliverance and strength and power, because here it's the Kingdom set up in public glory and power at the return of the Lord Jesus.
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But we know that isn't true today.
We know that the Kingdom in power and glory has not yet come, the Kingdom in that aspect, but there is a present aspect of the Kingdom.
There is a present aspect. For instance, we have in Colossians one that we've been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of his love. And we read in Romans 14 that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That is, the Kingdom today is not one that is set up in power and glory where righteousness.
Covers the earth as waters cover the.
See. But it's a time when the Kingdom is moral and spiritual.
But you and I are in that Kingdom as those who have been born of God, and as those who have, as I said, been translated in the Kingdom of the Son of his love, You might say the Kingdom today that is associated with the Lord Jesus.
And he has a Kingdom. It's not of this world, it's true, but he has a Kingdom and those who are associated with it are involved in tribulation.
And why are they involved in tribulation? Because while those who are.
Subject to God in the Kingdom of God.
And seek to carry out the principles of the Kingdom today Because we do, we should. The Kingdom of God is righteousness. It's not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And the the primary principle of the Kingdom, even when it's set up in power and glory, is found in Isaiah 2, when it says that the lofty looks of man shall be brought low.
And the Lord alone exalted in that day. Well, now this is the this is the manner in which those who are in the Kingdom of God today seek to live. You and I seek to.
Honor the Lord Jesus.
The Lord alone being exalted, and we seek to be subject to Him and to follow His will.
And to carry out the principles of the Kingdom of righteousness.
Well, when we do that, what happens? It brings us into collision with the world round about. And why is that? Because the world is operating on different principles. The world is operating on the principles of exalting man.
And lifting manner. And the world operates on the principle of unrighteousness.
And the, the believer, you see, is it has to go through this world and he's in contact with this world. And so we find that there is tribulation involved because he belongs to the Lord and he's seeking to follow the Lord. He's seeking to follow the principles that are found in the word of God for the people of God. And this, as I say, brings him into collision with the world. And so there's tribulation.
Well, John says. I'm your fellow companion, I'm your brother to support you.
And I'm a fellow companion with you in that. And so this is what we should take up to with our brethren, that we are fellow companions with those who are seeking to walk according to the principles of the Kingdom of God. And endurance means that with all of the opposition, there is a need for for being. Endure hardness, as Paul says to Timothy, endure hardness as a good soldier.
Jesus Christ. Well, back in that first chapter, again, the circumstances that we find in connection with John is that there's tribulation and patience or endurance. But notice in the middle of that ninth verse the position that he occupied. He says he was in the aisle. That is called Patmos.
Well, perhaps.
Some of us who have looked at the maps in the back of the Bible.
I know a little bit as to where this island, this little Isle of Patmos is located.
If you look at a map sometime where the picture the journeys of the apostle Paul in his gospel preaching, most of them will give.
A section of the.
That Roman province of Asia, which is the modern state of Turkey today, and there's a little island just off the mainland called Patmos, not far from the city of Ephesus.
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Which was, as I say, at this time, the Aroman Province of Asia. And in our modern geography, it would be just off the mainland of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. It's just a little island.
And when John was there, it was a vacant island. I mean, there was #1 inhabiting that island.
John was on that island and what was he there for? Oregon. Why was he there? He wasn't out there just as a retreat, you might say. He gives us the reason he is in the aisle. That is called Patmos for the Word of God, our own account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. John was banished to that island. He was exiled. He had been serving the Lord.
In the Roman province of Asia.
He had been serving the Lord in the very area of these seven churches, to which he addresses the letters that we have in chapters 2 and three. And on account of his faithfulness to the Word of God, he had adhered to the Word of God. He was faithful to the Word of God.
And he was faithful to the testimony of Jesus. He wouldn't compromise the truth. And so he was banished. He was exiled.
You see at this time.
Declension and departure had already set in. In this area Paul wrote to Timothy his second epistle. In chapter one he said all those that are in Asia.
Are turned away from me now. It doesn't mean they gave up Christ. It doesn't mean that they gave up Christianity, that they became apostates. But he says they've turned away from me. They were no longer going on in the truth that Paul had brought them. They were no longer walking in the light that God had given them through the ministry of the apostle Paul.
I have no doubt but what they preferred an easier path than.
Of what they would find in following the truth as brought out in the ministry of the Apostle Paul like demons.
You see, Dimas, Paul had to say of him, Dimas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present world, he wanted a little easier pathway. But John would not compromise the truth. He was in a position of reproach.
To be banished to that island was a matter of reproach.
Those who were over on the mainland would feel that John had been exiled as a as one who was not wanted. That's a matter of reproach. And not only that, but think of how restricted he was on that island.
He was in a place of reproach and restriction.
What I thought here that John would be a be a model for you and me today, for we find that if we follow the word of God, if we're going to maintain the word of God in the testimony of Jesus, we're going to find ourselves in a position, I'm speaking now ecclesiastically, if you want to use that expression. We find ourselves in a position of reproach and somewhat of restriction too.
Not only reproach, but restriction.
It isn't that one would choose this. I'm sure that John if he had his choice, if John had his choice, he would have preferred to remain on the mainland of Asia there with all of the liberty to preach and to move about and to serve the Lord in in in in the greatest liberty, but.
He had no choice because his faithfulness put him in that position. Well, I've often thought in regard to those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that there is a reproach connected with it. There is a reproach connected with it.
And if we if it's the word of God that puts us in that place, we can bear the reproach. If it isn't the word of God that puts us there, we'll.
We'll find the reproach perhaps too much, but also there is a certain restriction.
In being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. And you say, well, how is that? And why is that? Because we find that in Christendom.
There's so many things connected with the service of God that is unscriptural that a believer who wants to follow the word of God and be faithful to the testimony of Jesus, he finds he can have no part with it and he has to stand apart from it. And in standing apart from it and having no part with it, it restricts him somewhat or how we would love to be able to.
00:45:11
Join with the Lord's people everywhere in the work and service of the Lord.
But we find if we're going to be faithful to the word, we can't do it.
Because what happens this method or this way or this association which is unscriptural and Christ is honoring?
Is brought in and connected with the work and service of God. And to be faithful to the Word of God one has to say.
I cannot join with that and go on with that, and so it necessarily results in a certain amount of restriction.
And I have no doubt, and I don't believe I'm exaggerating saying this, that if we compromise the truth.
And took up with the methods the human methods that are used in the systems to.
Gather an audience and a crowd and so forth that we could have a far greater audiences for our meetings and for our gospels than we have.
But in order to be faithful to the Word of God, we have to reject those things that are not according to the Word of God.
And that puts us, like John, in a restricted position, and perhaps reproach too.
You know, there is a little bit of reproach even in coming into the meeting rooms of those who would be gathered to the Lord's name and going on according to the truth of God. Sometimes people feel more comfortable in going into a large gathering, and especially where perhaps there is.
A organ and all sorts of music and there's there's a special singers and they're they're very good artists and speakers. They're far more comfortable in certain in those circumstances.
Than they would be coming into a little meeting room where the numbers are few. Well, we have to accept these restrictions if we're going to be faithful to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus and accept them.
And serve the Lord in them. And that's what John is, a model for us here, I believe.
In the aisle that is called Patmos. I'm, I'm, I'm emphasizing he didn't choose that, you know, he didn't choose to be there. But if that's where the word of God put him, put him it, he accepted it. He accepted it. And if it's the word of God and testimony of Jesus that puts us where we are, we can accept the reproach and the restrictions and go on with the Lord because you'll notice.
In verse 10.
We see that not only was he in a position that was according to the word of God.
And faithful to the testimony of Jesus. But he was in a right condition. There He was in the Spirit.
Now we know that.
As we read correctly here in verse 10 that the Spirit has a capital S for it's referring to the person of the Holy Spirit, God of the Spirit.
We know that every believer has the spirit.
As Ephesians 113 tells us after we.
Believed the truth, the gospel of your salvation. It says you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
And we're exhorted to not grieve the Holy Spirit, whereby we're sealed under the day of redemption. So every believer is sealed with the Spirit. He has the Spirit dwelling within him. But John says I was in the Spirit. Now that speaks of a condition that means he was in, in this condition of being in the Spirit.
It's a spiritual condition. It means that the IT was the power of the Spirit of God that governed him in his thoughts and in his actions and everything there on that day as he speaks of it as the Lord's day. I was in the Spirit. Well, you know, it's one thing to be, if you want to use the expression in a right position.
And I do believe there's such a thing as being in the right place. John was in the right place here.
Because it was the place that the word of God and the testimony of Jesus put him. But it's one thing to be in the right place, but it's another to be in the right condition. And so John is a model here, shows us that we should be exercised as to the spiritual condition in which we're found in being in the right place. I was in the Spirit. And it would bring before us the fact that we too should be those who are in the Spirit, not only having the Spirit indwelling us, but.
We would be governed by the Spirit rather than the flesh.
Well, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
00:50:04
He mentions this particular day, the Lord's day, and it's the only time in Scripture that we have this expression. This is not the day of the Lord. You know that we have an expression like that, the day of the Lord.
The day of the Lord is future. It's the day when the Lord appears.
From heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But this is the Lord's Day he speaks of here. It's the first day of the week.
It's called the Lord's Day here because I think John is indicating to us.
That he recognized that day as being the day that is associated with the Lord Himself in a public way. You see, there are seven days in the week.
And God, as it were, allows the six days.
That man can, as it were, used for himself, for his own. But there is one day of the 7th that the Lord attaches his name to, and that's the Lord's day. That's the first day of the week. It's what's said on the calendar, Sunday, the first day of the week.
Lord's Day, and what it indicates, I think, is that John recognized the rights of the Lord and that that day, I think is the indicative of that. The Lord's Day means that when we, when we respect that day, when we acknowledge on that day that this is the Lord's Day, we're owning his right and his title as Lord, it's the Lord's Day.
Now there's a day coming when when you might say in a public way.
Everything is going to be identified with him as Lord. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. They're all going to own his rights, the whole world.
But in this day in which we live, we know that the world does not.
Accept and own the rights and title of Jesus as Lord. And it seems to me that as believers, John would say as a model brother, we would acknowledge that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day.
By owning it in a public way so that we do not do on the Lord's Day.
What we would do in the six days during the week in which we are occupied with the ordinary affairs of life, the Lord's day, the first day of the week, is a special day that indicates that that we acknowledge the rights and title of the Lord. And I believe this should be a real testimony that those who do not know the Lord might see in the Lord's people.
That there is a day that they own now. Not enough in a way, like the Seven Day Adventists on Saturday.
You know, they have a special day that they own, but they connect that with the thought of their salvation. And it's an entirely illegal thing, but it's the privilege of the believer to own on the Lord's Day that this is a day that the Lord has put his name to. He's attached his name to that as being the Lord's Day. And we would recognize it as John does. When that day came around, that first day of the week, he recognized it as the Lord's Day.
And he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
Well, John, as I say, as a model, he's a brother, he's a servant, He's not an apostle nor an elder. So he's not in that sense elevated above us, but he's presented here as one whom we too are. We are to emulate. We are to follow him, to imitate him. We're in similar circumstances of tribulation that requires endurance in connection with the Kingdom of God.
And we would want to be in the right place according to the word of God in the testimony of Jesus.
We would be exercised as to our condition there too, and own the rights and title of the Lord on the Lord's day.