Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to challenge you to think through the issue of the book of Revelation and what our Lord means when he calls himself the Alpha and the Omega.

We are going to look at his self-designated title in the opening chapter of the book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, where indeed our Lord reveals what is unfolding even in our day, that is his conquering of the world, his taking of the world for himself as his own possession, and his soon return, as he puts it, for he says that the time is near, doesn't he, in chapter 1. And he was talking about the first century. And he talks about Jesus Christ, whom God gave to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

So we're talking about things that would transpire, some of them at least in the lifetime of that first century church, the church to whom the Apostle John ministered in about AD 64. So we have verses 4 through 8 that we're going to take up today, where Jesus indeed designates himself as the Alpha and the Omega. And we're going to unpack what that means, because it has a very wide application in the life of the church. So let me go ahead and read for you Revelation 1, verses 4 to 8, and then we'll begin to unpack what they mean and the implication for the entire book of Revelation, dear listener. Okay, Revelation 1, verses 4 to 8.

John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen.

I am the Alpha on the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Oh, what majestic words. Indeed, a majestic opening to the book of Revelation, the apocalypse. And we have unpacked for you with a series of weeks preparing you with an introduction to the book of Revelation so that we indeed can understand its context and understand how to unpack it with understanding. Now, I want to unpack for you, first of all, verses four and five.

And I have an outline, if you have a pencil there ready to jot down what that outline might be. But verses five tell us this about the Alpha and the Omega. That is the Trinitarian God of the Bible. Oh, there's great Trinitarian doctrine here packed into these few verses. The Trinitarian God of the Bible, with all of his attributes, lavishes grace and peace upon his beloved, that is, the church.

Yes. Trinitarian God of the Bible lavishes grace and peace upon his beloved, the church. Oh, he loves you. Dear Christian, indeed, you are an incorporated member of the body of Christ, and thus a member of the Universal Church, the worldwide church, expressed in membership in a local church, too, by the way. There's not one without the other, I must submit to you.

As in heaven, so on earth. If you indeed are a member of the living body of Christ, then you will testify to this by becoming a member of a local congregation as well. But verses four and five of Revelation chapter one tell us that the Trinitarian God of the Bible lavishes grace and peace upon his beloved, the church. And let me say as well that every word of this greeting, verses four through eight, which is John is doing, he's greeting the seven churches of Asia, and consequently, he's greeting all of us down through the ages.

Every word of this greeting lays down themes that we will see from beginning to end in Revelation, from beginning to end, that is Alpha and Omega. I'm kind of hinting at what Alpha and Omega mean. Some of you may know what that means already, but not all of its implications. We're going to unpack those today. Every word of this greeting.

So we must pay attention to this greeting and what it means and not just rush on trying to find out who the beast is and what 666 means and when the Great Tribulation starts, all of that stuff, right? First of all, let's note the addressees. Three, four things I want to bring out to you here. First of all, the addressees. They are the seven churches of Asia.

That is to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Some of these names may sound foreign to you, but indeed they were significant in John's day and should be in ours too. And when you plot these cities on a map, as every good Bible atlas does, you might want to pull down your atlas from your shelf if you have one. And sometimes you have a good study Bible. We'll also have maps in the back that kind of plot out these seven cities in Asia.

And when you do, you put them on a map, they lie in order on a road that begins in Ephesus and then they fall in perfect order until one reaches Laodicea and back around to Ephesus again in a nice circle. And so Revelation or Apocalypse is also a circular letter. And also the number seven for John, as we will see throughout the book, the number seven is the number of completion and perfection. And so, as almost every teacher has embraced, these churches represent the whole church through the ages, including us. Therefore, listen up.

And not just for the rapture, Antichrist, and Great Tribulation. No, because there are many other things that the book of Revelation teaches us. We can't just ransack Revelation for a rapture. No. Secondly, we must also note in this greeting that grace and peace are ours.

Grace, very important to understand, grace and peace are ours, that is the church's. This is not a mere pro forma introduction. Grace that is undeserved favor and merit from God, and peace that is true shalom, that is blessing in all of its fullness given by God since we have been reconciled to Him. Grace and peace are lavished upon us. Bask in this for a while, dear listener, dear believer, because Revelation will bear this out.

As the church and her martyrs are given grace to endure suffering and persecution, and then peace enfolded into the everlasting arms of her Savior, Revelation beautifully portrays this for us. Grace and peace, dear listener. And then thirdly, we must also note the source and fountain of this grace and peace. The source and fountain of this grace and peace that we embrace, indeed demonstrating and proving the Trinity as it has been traditionally articulated by the church. The source and fountain of this grace and peace that we're just talking about is the three persons of the Godhead.

The New Testament is now revealing the Trinity in all of its power and glory. And the Apostle John does his part here with some very vivid imagery. Let's note three of these images, first of all, which demonstrate the Trinity for us. First of all, the Father. We're going to talk about the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Son.

First of all, the Father transcends time and space and the limitations of His creation. That's the sense of His solemn declaration, Him who is and who was and who is to come. This is a transcendent statement, dear listener. Past, present, and future are all the same to Him, to the Father. Go to the beginning, the creation of all things, and He is there in all of His presence, power, and glory.

And this is true of every moment of redemptive history tracked in the Old Testament for us. God is there right to this moment documented for us in the New Testament in the book of Revelation. It is true for our moment in redemptive history, too. Him who is and who was and who is to come still is here, present with all His great power and glory, the same as He was at the beginning of creation. He is the same, unchanging God of grace and peace, now as He was then, present in His full presence, power, and glory.

Such will be the case when He concludes all things as well, in the consummation of all things, that is at the end of the book. You cannot outmaneuver or outsmart the Father, no matter how hard you try, though Satan sure does try, doesn't he? And then, B, we also must note the seven spirits who are before His throne. What does this enigmatic statement mean, dear listener? The seven spirits before His throne.

Well, we must note here that the Holy Spirit ministers in His fullness on behalf of the Father and the Son. This is what we mean by the seven spirits ministering before the throne. John does not mean to communicate that the Holy Spirit is a septophrenic. That is a seven personality being. That's not what He means here.

We know there are schizophrenics, but indeed, the Holy Spirit is not a septophrenic, septo meaning seven, but rather, He is present in redemptive history in His fullness and perfection.

Once again, the number seven, although this is an unusual picturesque representation of the Holy Spirit, which is foreshadowed in Zechariah chapter four, and if you wanted to make a note of looking and reading Zechariah chapter four in your own time, you'll see this verified, that John is not using any new imagery or metaphors, although this is a very metaphorical book using images to communicate biblical truth to us, the sevenfold spirit being one of those beautiful, stunning metaphors for us, it is nevertheless very much to the point in Revelation.

The seven spirits of God represent the Holy Spirit in His fullness of life and blessing, as one commentator, a man I respect named Beasley Murray. He says, the seven spirits of God represent the Holy Spirit in His fullness of life and blessing. Such symbolism will have been welcome to John in view of the close association in his theology between the Spirit and the seven churches. The complex origin of the symbol is matched by its complex application in John's vision, but he and his readers were happy to have it sold, unquote. So, from Dr. Beasley Murray, and indeed, he's so right on this.

It has a complex origin and a complex application, but we can handle complexity, can't we, dear listener? It doesn't, just because it's complex doesn't mean it's not understandable, but you have to apply yourself to it, and not just fly through the book of Revelation, turn these pages rather quickly so you can find out who the beast is and what 666 means and when the great tribulation starts, and can we find any evidence for the rapture in Revelation and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No. Let's understand what we mean here by the sevenfold spirit of God. It is indeed a beautiful picture and metaphor of the Holy Spirit.

And then we have, lastly, the Son. We have the idea of the faithful witness. The Son accomplishes in redemptive history the will of his Father. We have the Father, the Holy Spirit, and now the Son. Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth.

Three different understandings, three different things that are said about Jesus Christ. The threefold mission of Jesus on behalf of the Father to be a faithful witness to his Father, and the mission upon which he sent him. Jesus himself tells his listeners, but the testimony, that is the witness he has, a faithful witness, but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John the Baptist. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. Unquote from John chapter five, verse 36.

So Jesus indeed is a faithful witness. His acts, his works that he done on the earth, for example, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. Jesus himself said this theme of bearing witness, that is martyros. You hear the word martyr in there? That word martyr that we now know as one who bears witness to the point of death first had its currency back at this time.

It first initially meant one who merely bore verbal witness, but soon, because Christians gave verbal witness to Christ, their lives went forfeit, didn't they? So martyros began to be identified with martyrs, those who bore witness to the point of death. And this theme of bearing witness, martyros, determines much of the meaning of revelation. Oh, we need to understand these things if we're going to understand the book of revelation. We can't just go lickety split through the book of revelation, plundering those things we want to hear, the things that tickle our ears.

No, if you're going to understand the book of revelation, you must begin and understand piece by piece, block by block, understanding what this book means. Christ is also the prototype of all the rest of us who will be raised from the dead in being the first born from the dead. Oh, what a great expression. Born from the dead. He is our pioneer in these matters.

As Hebrew says, he is our older brother who experiences these things before we do. And Paul recognizes this in likening Jesus' resurrection to being begotten. Oh, the second Psalm says, we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you. Peter, or I'm sorry, Paul preaches this in Acts chapter 13, doesn't he?

You are my son. Today, I have begotten you. He's speaking about Christ there in the resurrection in Psalms 2 already. So the resurrection plays a central role in revelation, doesn't it? And it's only fitting that the firstborn of this mighty feet be glorified in it.

Christ is also called the ruler of the kings of the earth, the ruler of the kings of the earth. Do you hear that, dear listener? Not just in some projected, supposed, literal 1,000-year reign. No, he is ruler of the kings of the earth. Now, it's a major motif in all of scripture, but on sanctified steroids, if we can put it that way here in Revelation.

Though the wrath of the lamb brings cognitive dissonance to the sinner, right? Nevertheless, how can a crucified Savior reign and rule? How can a crucified Savior reign and rule? Dr. Yarbrough Collins, another scholar on the book of Revelation that I respect very much, she puts it this way. She says, the idea that an obscure teacher and wonder worker from Galilee who had been executed as a criminal in the most degrading way known to Roman law is actually the ruler of the kings on earth must have seemed preposterous to the average citizen of the Roman empire, unquote.

Oh, but the Old Testament foresees it. Ask of me, the Psalms say, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Oh, this transpires in Revelation. It happens in the apocalypse.

It is not for a post-rapture people, the book of Revelation. Oh, dear listener, because indeed Christ is the ruler of the kings on earth now, our destiny is dominion on this earth. Our destiny is dominion here and now, not in just some supposed projected literal millennium sometime in the future. No, our destiny is dominion here and now. The sooner we understand it, the sooner we can go about conquering, dear listener.

This brings confidence to us in the face of the seeming total domination of evil and tyranny, right? Oh, the beast will be very intimidating. And the beast is among us now. The beast is trying to intimidate and tyrannize us now, dear listener. And so many of modern contemporary Christians are so busy trying to peek over the ramparts, wondering when the beast is coming that they don't realize he's here already and eating their lunch in the process.

No. Well, dear listener, behold your introduction to the Trinitarian God of the Bible, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. And that order also is speculated because indeed the temple was set up that way. The temple, of course, is also very much in play all through the book of Revelation, isn't it? The temple and the ark and the inner sanctum.

And we go in the order of the inner sanctum as well, from the Holy of Holies, where indeed the Father dwelt, then to the seven-pronged candelabra, the seven lampstands, if you will, which represent the Holy Spirit, and then to the the altar where indeed our Lord, his blood then representively, symbolically slaughtered and bled. So we have then from the inner sanctum to the altar, that order representing indeed the Holy Spirit. That's why rather than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, here in these verses, you have Father, Spirit, and Son, because it is symbolic of the inner sanctum of the temple.

Well, that was just some free additional information for you as to why it was ordered that way. But we do have an introduction then to the Trinitarian God of the Bible in Revelation. It's almost enough to prompt us to break out in a benediction, isn't it? At least for me, in worship. And oh, my goodness, lo and behold, chapter, or verse 6, chapter 1 does precisely that for us.

And we have then our second point of our outline, if you wanted to jot this down. That is, we're unpacking the idea of the Alpha and the Omega. And we have then, in point 2, the loving and liberating Son is worthy of glory and dominion for making us kings and priests to God his Father. And indeed, he says, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

What a great benediction. But it also communicates a great deal of biblical truth for us and helps us then to begin to understand the book of Revelation. And this doxology then, and doxology is a combination of two Greek words, doxos and logos. Doxos means to praise, and logos, of course, mean words. So we have words of praise in the doxology.

And this doxology introduces us to the motif of worship in the book of Revelation, which is lush and ubiquitous throughout Revelation. Revelation is intended to lay a pattern for us in our worship. Oh, a thing stubbornly ignored by the greater contemporary church, isn't it? The worship model, the low church worship model, and by low, I don't mean low in terms of its worship model, but rather it ignores the rich model given to us all through Scripture, especially here in Revelation. The songs and doxologies and the motions of worship, the creatures and costumes, the liturgy and locale, all have pertinence for our worship today.

The worship that is pictured for us all through Revelation is not airy-fairy extraneous fluff to be breezed down through our way to the good stuff like raptures, great tribulations, and 666 beasts. No, we're not here to plunder and ransack Revelation for our own prophetic speculations and titillations. The book of Revelation teaches us much about worship that we are meant to apply, and the early church has done this. We've lost this feeling for worship, which the early church so eagerly embraced.

That early church did not see Revelation as a mysterious code to be broken in the 21st century, but rather the early church, that first century church and subsequent decades and centuries, they saw Revelation then as a blessed, life-saving guide for them here and now. And so it remains for us if we will just wake up from the dispensational delusion that surrounds us that we are here to ransack Revelation for raptures and for red heifers. No, we are not here to do that. We are here to see patiently how the book of Revelation teaches us how to live here and now in this day and age, as it has for every century previous.

And worship is very much a part of the book of Revelation communicated to us too. That early century, that first century indeed embraced the book of Revelation and structured its early worship. I have one of the church fathers' volumes that goes on for hundreds and hundreds of pages giving us prayers and liturgies and orders of worship that are meant indeed to bless the church even as they did early on in the early centuries. And that is what we need to get back to, very much so, in the life of the modern church, because it is our heritage.

We are meant to embrace the worship of the living Trinitarian God of the Bible, and the book of Revelation enriches our worship if we would only open our eyes and begin to apply and use some of the prayers and songs, the new songs that are given to us, the prayers that are given to us, the doxologies that are given to us, and incorporate them into our worship even as the early first century church did, second century, third century, much of the early church used very much of the guide to worship that Revelation provides for us. Oh, we have lost that feeling.

Let's get it back, that life-saving guide for us here and now by taking up and applying the book of Revelation for more than just prophetic futurism. No. It is a practical guidebook for us in so many ways if we will only embrace it and it unfolds for us, the Lord Jesus Christ, beautifully and wonderfully. We can see so much of our Lord Jesus Christ if we open our eyes and begin to see what the Lord offers to us in the apocalypse, the revelation, because it is the revelation not only of Jesus Christ given to us, but the revelation of him personally too as our Lord and Savior.

What a beautiful picture of Christ the book of Revelation gives to us if we will only seize it, use it, and open our eyes to it. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and we meet for holy worship. We're going through, I'm preaching through the book of Revelation even now. Just love to have you join us and maybe gain a perspective on the book of Revelation that you've never had before, but which has lived and been applied and used many, many centuries in the past, drawing upon the rich tradition of interpretation of the book of Revelation, not just the modern revelation, red heifer rapture ruse. No.

Please join us as we preach through the book of Revelation at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Worship, once again, 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard in Idaho Falls, and you can call us for further information at area code 208-523-0196. Once again, that's area code 208-523-0196.