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Amen. Well, uh, this is week three in our series called The Unveiling, where we are going into the apocalypse, the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Um, and I'm gonna jump right into our text because last week I was trying to get all the way through verse eight, but I had to end at verse six because there's so much good stuff. So we're gonna be making up a little bit of ground this morning and getting through the end of the chapter by the grace of God. But if you ever miss their teachings, you can go back and catch them on our podcast or on our YouTube. But we're just gonna jump right in uh to the text, uh, Revelation chapter 1, verse 7. We left off here last week, and it says this it says, 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 and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. So that that that phrase in verse 7, behold, he is coming. We talked about this a few weeks ago, but notice that that is in the present tense. It doesn't say Jesus will come, it doesn't say he is going to come one day. It says, Behold, he is coming currently and presently, at this moment. Jesus is not passively sitting by on his throne doing nothing, he is actively coming. He is on his way to restore earth and reunite heaven to earth. He is coming and he is coming quickly. And it's interesting that at Jesus' first coming, uh, as you know, at the incarnation, hardly anybody even took notice of his birth. There was a couple shepherds and a couple magi who showed up, and that's only because an angel appeared to them and said, Hey, the Messiah is born, the Christ is born, and a few people went to see him. But notice the contrast at his second coming, it says that every eye will see him. And this was prophesied uh in Daniel chapter 7, also in Zechariah chapter 10, that when he comes, he's gonna come on the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him will look upon him. But notice that at Jesus' second coming, everybody will acknowledge the reality of who he is. We are gonna c he is gonna come, and every eye will see uh the finished work of who he is and what he's accomplished. And again, this is being written, this letter is being written to seven churches that that John is writing to, and to these churches who were under heavy persecution in the first century from the Roman Empire, this fact that Jesus was coming would have absolutely given these suffering believers assurance and courage and hope to know that even in the midst of opposition and oppression, that there was coming a day where all things that had been unjust, all wrongs that were done against them, were gonna be made right at the coming of Jesus. Now, notice as well, he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega. This is a very basic way to symbolize the eternal existence of God. Um, we covered this in the past couple of weeks, but that he is he is the eternal creator, he is the final judge. And ultimately, at the end of verse 8, the title he says, I am the Almighty, the Almighty. And that word Almighty in the Greek language, Storm, because you're in Dr. Rick Boya's revelation class. Can you give us the Greek for the word almighty? Ponto Krator. Yes, sir. Hey, I'm gonna tell Rick, bro. You're gonna get a B minus now. Sorry, brother. Vince got it in the first service. There's a couple people up in here taking Rick's revelation class. Ponto Krator. Am I right, Storm? Thank you, brother. Ponto Krator means all powerful. It means he, the Almighty, he holds everything in his hands. It means the one whom none can resist. So who is Jesus? He is the one whom none can resist. Amen. And that term almighty, ponto crator, is used ten times in the New Testament. Nine out of those ten times are in the revelation. And so last week we saw that God is the king of kings, he rules supreme over all the kings of the earth. But now we get an even deeper revelation. He is not only the king of kings, he is the almighty, meaning he rules over the entire cosmos. The entire universe, the entire cosmos. He is the almighty ruler over all of it. And so what's so amazing about this is what we know is that at the very center of the universe and the cosmos itself is a person. The center of the universe, and at the center of the cosmos is not a thing, is not cells, is not matter, it is a person, the Almighty, the Pantocrator, the ruler of the cosmos, which means everything we see in creation is actually an expression of the mind of God. All the laws of physics are actually just an expression of the mind of God. Everything about the fabric and detail of the individual person that you are, that is an expression of the mind of God. He is at the center of all of it. He is the Almighty, He is the ruler over all the cosmos. And so, again, the only question that we have to ask then is again, because again, revelation is we're getting pictures of ultimate reality. It's an unveiling, we're getting a window into what's really happening. Reality is this Jesus is at the center of the universe. The only question is, is that your reality? Is Jesus at the center of your universe? Is Jesus at the center of your life? Is Jesus at the center of your heart? And if he's not, it's because simply you haven't had a revelation of Jesus Christ like we're seeing right here. Ultimate reality is he is, but have you acknowledged that? Do you recognize that? Have you surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ the Almighty? And my prayer for you this morning is if you haven't invited Jesus to be the center of your life, the center of your universe, that you would come into alignment today with ultimate reality. He is whether you know it or not. And there is going to be a day where he comes and every eye will see, he is the Almighty. Every tongue will confess, he is the Almighty. The prayer is that you would do that now, though, in the present, and not wait till his final coming. Amen? Amen. So he is the Alpha, the Omega, He is the Almighty. The passage continues in verse 9. John says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom of the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. So again, John here is, as we've talked about, he's on an island. The Caesar and ruler of that day said, if you don't declare Caesar as Lord, you would be executed. But John was not executed because that would have made Christianity spread even more and made him into like a martyr figure. So they exile him to the island of Patmos. And on the island of Patmos, he has this vision, a vision that the Holy Spirit says to him, I want you to send this out. I want you to write it down. I want you to record what you're about to see, and I want you to send this out to the seven churches who are being persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. And here's the vision that he sees. And by the way, uh chap uh verse 12, all the way through the end of chapter one, are the first of seven visions that John has of Jesus in the book of Revelation. So we are now gonna see it and jump into the very first vision that John has on the island of Patmos. And so I want you to see it starting in verse 12. Here's the vision he sees that he's told to write and record. He says this Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So here we see the first breakthrough, the first unveiling, the first revelation, apocalypse of Jesus. Again, the first of seven. And in this vision, John is standing there, and the first thing we notice is it says in verse 12, he says, I turned to see the voice. He heard a voice, and he says, I turned to see the voice. And that's a very interesting phrase because typically, if you hear a voice, you you would say, I'm I'm turning because I heard the voice, but he says, I turn to see the voice. Now that's interesting because a voice typically isn't something that you see. But this is a different voice that John is hearing here than a normal voice. He hears the voice of God, he hears the voice of the Son of Man, and when he hears the voice, he isn't content just to hear. He says, I want to turn and see who this is. And so John turns to see the voice, and when he turns to see the voice, he actually sees a person. He sees the person of the Son of Man standing in the midst of the seven lampstands. Now, here's what's amazing about this he turned to see the voice, but he saw a person. And the person he saw was a person who he had seen before. When John sees this person, this is a per the same person that he he saw on the beach after his resurrection who made a bread and fish for him. This is the same person that he has seen in the past, heal the lepers and heal the blind and heal the lame. This is the same person on whose breast he leaned during the Last Supper in the upper room. He sees that same person, but now that person is so different. He looks different, he appears different. The vision is different, but it is the same person. But this morning, what I want to just challenge you and is simply this. If you hear the voice, if you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, if you hear the voice of God, the goal and the intent of that is that you would turn and see Christ face to face. When you hear his voice speaking to you, beckoning you, like in Packy's story, many moments where Jesus was speaking. If you don't turn to see the voice, you will not have a complete revelation of who Jesus Christ is. How often do we hear the voice and we and we don't turn to see him? How often do we hear the voice and say, Yeah, but I have too much going on, or I'm too busy, or there's just too much on my schedule. I can't make time to actually come face to face with the person behind the voice. We hear the voice and are content to just move on with our lives. What God wants for you when he speaks to you, when you hear the voice, is that you would turn and see him. Turn and face him, face to face, because that's what Jesus wants for you is intimacy. He wants a close relationship. And so so often we we hear the voice, but we never actually turn to see the face. And John says, I heard the voice and I turned to see. And when he turned to see, he has a revelation of Jesus Christ. And so today, I believe for many of you is a day where you are gonna move from hearing the voice to actually seeing the face. Today is gonna be an apocalypse, a revelation. Jesus has already been speaking to you. There's people in this room, Jesus has been speaking to you for days, for weeks, for months, and you've just let the speaking be hearing, and now he's saying, Turn and see. I want you to see me. I want to show you another side of me. I want you to see a deeper, more full revelation of who I am. And so today I want to challenge you. Turn and see the Son of Man. Turn and see the King of Kings. Turn and see the Lord of glory. Do not harden your hearts. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts and be content only to hear. Let us be a people like John, who when we hear the voice, we turn that we might see the Son of Man. Amen. Amen. So in John's first vision, he hears a voice and he turns. He turns to see the Son of Man. But notice in the vision, when he turns to see, the first thing he sees, even before the Son of Man, verse 12 says, Turning, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like the Son of Man. So the first thing he sees is seven golden lampstands. And you're like, okay, what is that? Well, luckily we don't have to make up what that is because verse 20 tells us very clearly the seven golden lampstands are the seven churches. So John sees the seven churches to whom he's writing this letter, and they are portrayed as seven golden lampstands. And then the thing that's so amazing about this is notice where Jesus is in the vision in relation to the lampstands. Jesus, in relation to the lampstands, verse 13, the Son of Man, was in the midst of the lampstands. Jesus is not above the churches looking down on them. Jesus is not on the outside looking in. Jesus Christ is right there in the midst of these seven churches. And this is why, by the way, in chapters two and three, which we're gonna get into next week, these specific things that Jesus is saying to the seven churches. This is why over and over, when you get to chapters two and three, where the seven churches are addressed, Jesus continues to say, I know. He says, I know your works. How does he know? Well, because he's in the midst of his churches. He says, I know your suffering, I know your tribulation. Well, how does he know? Not because he's on the throne and he sees it, because he's there in the midst of it. He knows the suffering and the tribulation they're going through. He says, I know where you dwell. How does he know? Because he's there dwelling in the midst. So that the place where Jesus is is in the midst of the churches. Now, most of us, this is important for us to get because most of us think that, well, yeah, theologically, here's what happened: Jesus died, he was crucified, he was buried, he rose from the grave, and then he ascended to the throne, and that is absolutely true. But most of us, we think of Jesus as right now seated on the throne, removed and distant from the church, and we say, but there's a day where he's coming and he will come back for his church, and he will come back for his bride. But currently and presently, even right now, the place where Jesus is, although he is on the throne in one realm, he is in the midst of the church. He's in the midst of the lampstands. Those people who have placed their faith in Jesus, Jesus is present in the gathering of his bride even today. Isn't that amazing? It's it's it's absolutely a beautiful revelation. And so, ultimate reality is this. Here's the revelation. Here's giving us a picture, a window into reality. Ultimate reality is this Jesus is not absent, Jesus is not distant, Jesus is not disengaged, he is present and active in his church, both past, present, and future and to the end of time. And and this is why, by the way, you why you hear in a lot of people's stories that the place that they met Jesus was in the church. How many of y'all, the the place where you met Jesus was when you walked into a church building and Jesus showed up and Jesus met you and your life was changed after walking into a church? Why is that? Because Jesus is present in the church. Shout out to my guy Brian, right here, dude. Brian Lee, you some of y'all heard his story. Brian was our neighbor. He lived two houses down and we got this new sound system. We were bumping the music early mornings and waking him up, and he'll tell you the story himself. He came to find the pastor, aka me, to cuss me out. Because he's like, Y'all be waking me up. And he came in here and he sat in the back, and guess what happened? He had a vision of Jesus and his life was changed. And now Brian's one of our youth leaders, and now Brian's discipling people. Why? Because he came into the church angry, but he had a vision of Jesus because Jesus is in the midst of the lampstands. He's present in his church. Now, again, that's not to say that a person can't encounter Jesus elsewhere. We just heard in Packy's story. He's in Europe in a hostel and he has a vision of Jesus. So again, Jesus can encounter us and meet us anywhere, but he is always in the midst of his church. You can always know that when you walk into the church, when you are a part of a gospel centered church that is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus is present in the midst of his church. Isn't that amazing? Today, if you're here and you're like, man, I if your spirit and if your heart is, man, I came here to see Jesus, you will not leave disappointed if your heart is open and if your eyes are open to see that Jesus is here and present and he wants you to know that. Now, what's really amazing about this in the first century context that Jesus was present in the midst of the churches. When you look at the culture and the context of what this meant, it's actually mind-blowing because in the first century, churches specifically were very characteristically poor. They were downtrodden, they were persecuted. There was nothing glamorous in the first century about being a part of a church or a community of faith. Things have changed a little bit in our day and age. Like there's some churches that have like a lot of clout and a lot of power and a lot of influence in our culture today. And that wasn't the that wasn't the case in the first century. Like being a part of church wasn't like a cool thing, like, yeah, I go to the church and it's so cool, then we're like, oh. It's like, no, it was like, whoa, y'all are like the marginalized, y'all are on the fringes, y'all are persecuted, y'all are broken. And so this is the environment where the Son of Man chooses to show the splendor of his glory. Jesus does not show his splendor to those who are splendid. Notice he shows his splendor among those who are common and flawed and broken and downtrodden, just like he did when he was born in a manger. Like the fact that Jesus was willing to be in the midst of the churches shows that Jesus, at the end of the day, Jesus is not ashamed to be associated with the broken. Jesus' holiness is not compromised by our lack of wholeness. Jesus wants to be in the midst of people who are broken and vulnerable and weak. And again, this is so beautiful because it's so counter-cultural. Like in our culture today, most people try to associate with people of status. Like if you know somebody who has status or a big following or is famous or whatever, it's like you want to try and take advantage of that. You're like, oh yeah, I know this person. Oh yeah, and it's like it's like we feel better about ourselves when we are connected to people of status, whatever that means. But Jesus here is showing that he doesn't care about status whatsoever. Jesus doesn't care about your status. Jesus doesn't care who you're connected to. That doesn't make you better in any way. Jesus is in the midst of a people who is vulnerable and broken and we and weak, and he is not ashamed to be identified with you. Some of us are ashamed to be around people who are broken. People who culture might say is dirty or like, oh, I don't know, I don't know if I want to have them in my house. I don't know if I want to associate with them. And Jesus says, those are the people I want to associate with. Those are the people who I'm around and surrounding myself with. Because those are the people who need the gospel the most. And so today, I just want to ask you the question was simply this is this what you believe about how Jesus sees you? Do you believe that when Jesus looks at your brokenness, he says, That's where I want to be? Do you believe that when Jesus sees your shame or the things you might be hiding, or the things that make you feel dirty, that Jesus says, That's where I want to be? Jesus is not looking for a people who has it all put together. Jesus is looking for broken people who say, I just need you. I need a fresh touch of your love, I need a fresh touch of your grace. And this is ultimate reality. This is where Jesus is. He's in the midst of a broken people, which is good news for me, and hopefully that's good news for you as well. Amen. So he sees these seven lampstands, which are the seven churches, and verse 13, one like the son of man who is in the midst of them. Now, again, in the intro, I talked about this. Almost there's nothing new in the revelation that is unique to the revelation. All of it is direct quotations and pointing back to the Old Testament. So this phrase Son of Man is actually a direct quotation from Daniel chapter 7, where Daniel has a vision of the Son of Man. And I just want to read two verses of it to you so you can see what was happening there. Uh, Daniel 7, 13 and 14 says this. Daniel says, And I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall never be destroyed. So this title, Son of Man, that John is seeing in the Revelation, goes all the way back to Daniel chapter two, and very long story short, the Son of Man refers to the central figure in history, the one to whom all kingdoms of this world are given, the one to whom every human who has ever walked the face of the earth owes allegiance. Eugene Peterson said it this way The Son of Man was the one who would reclaim all the splendor of Adam, and in the process reclaim all his descendants. To their glorious original identities in the image of God. Wow, that's amazing. He's the second Adam, the one to whom all of us belong. And so as John sees this vision of the Son of Man, what's really interesting is notice the first thing that he notices about the Son of Man is how he was dressed. Isn't that interesting? He has this vision of the Son of Man. First thing he says is, yeah, he had this long robe and a golden sash and then his hair and then his eyes, and we're gonna get into those details. But it's interesting that the first thing he notices is the way that he was dressed. And that's interesting because the reality is, more often than not in our culture, a person's clothing is the first thing that we notice in interactions, right? Like how often have you met a person and you're like, yeah, I don't know why they had this jacket that was weird or these pants that were too baggy or too skinny or whatever, right? And this had this happened to me this week firsthand. Some of you might be aware of this. I shared a little bit of it on our social media, but this week, some of y'all know, maybe you don't know the backstory, but sometimes I preach in like this vest that I found at Goodwill for $5, by the way. I was walking through Goodwill, there's this triple XL vest on the edge, five bucks, girl math. I would have lost money if I didn't buy it. So I bought it. And sometimes I'm preaching it because I like it. And we put out a reel this week, and this is the second time this happened where we put out a reel of me on our social media preaching this vest. And this is the second time that it just blew up. If you're on X, this thing just went viral, and all of a sudden, people started making all these memes of the pastor preaching in the thing that was way too big. And it started with this. It started with Mike Winger, who called me up on X, and he said, Hey Grok, can you make a still shot of this video, but make the pulpit, microphones, and guitar bigger and keep him the same size? And then here's what Grok whipped up. So that's me. I'm trying to find a hat like that now. I was like, that thing's sick. And then this snowballed, and then everybody, like hundreds of thousands of people, started putting their memes up of kind of their best interpretation. I don't even know who found Albert is, but that dude looks kind of good. And then that's the non-Sred Tober guy right there. So, yeah, not not really the best. And then this is my favorite accent. I think that's not even me. Like it kind of looks like me, but it's not me. But again, where do I get a hat like that? You know what I'm saying? So all that's to say, clothing, there's something about it, right? Like the the clothing seems to be one of those first things that we notice about a person. And the reason for that is because clothing actually, more often than not, speaks to a deeper reality of who we are. Clothing actually speaks to a part of our identity. It's the way we identify people, which is why, like if I showed you uh without a person's head, like what a police officer is wearing, you'd see the uniform when you go, Oh, that's a police officer. Like there's a reason when the doctor walks in the room that all doctors are wearing the same thing. You can look at the clothing and go, oh, that's a doctor. I can trust them. There's a reason why on the wedding day, almost every girl has like the same color dress because a white dress on the wedding is like, oh, this person is becoming a bride. This is the bride. Our attention is here on the bride. And so clothing speaks to something deeper in us. And so the son of man, when when John takes note of his clothing, that is not an insignificant detail because the clothing of the Son of Man is revealing deeper parts of his identity. It is revealing parts of who he is. And every description in this vision, which are just recording the parts of his physical appearance, all of these again are hyperlinks back to the Old Testament. And we're not gonna have time to hyperlink back to the Old Testament and every single one. So I'll just give you a big snapshot picture up front, which is this the big idea of all the clothing and the fire in his eyes and the robes and his hair and all this, the big idea is this Jesus is Lord of all. That is what is being communicated through all the details of his clothing. Jesus is Lord of all. So let me unpack it a little bit. Again, we can't go through every single minute detail, but let's just start looking. Look at what does John notice? He says in verse 13, I saw one like the Son of Man. First off, he says, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. Whoa, long robe. I don't know if it was triple XL, but he's definitely got a long robe. So it's biblical, y'all just saying. So he's got the long robe and the golden sash. What is this? Well, again, hyperlink. Write it down if you want to read it later. Exodus chapter 28, the long robe and the golden sash was the attire of a priest. In the Old Testament, this was what a priest wore. And so the glorified son of man, John is saying, is he he's the high priest. That he is in priestly attire, and the priest was the mediator. He was the mediator between God and man. And in order to be an accurate mediator, you have to be able to understand both parties. And Jesus was the only perfect mediator between God and man to bridge that cosmic gap between God and humans. He was the only one who could do it perfectly because Jesus, in the incarnation, took on human flesh. He was fully man and yet he was fully God. That is what we call in theology the hypostatic union. 100% man, 100% God. So he is the perfect mediator. He can mediate on our behalf as a human because he was a human. And he can forgive our sins as God because he was God. So God, in the in the God man, the Son of Man Jesus Christ, he is the perfect and final high priest. He is the Son of Man, He is the Son of God, He is our priest, wearing the robe and the golden sash. And notice the detail, by the way, in verse 13, where the sash is. The golden sash, it says, was around his chest in verse 13. Now that is an interesting detail because when a priest wore a sash around their waist, that meant that they were girded up and preparing for the work that was ahead of them. But when a priest would wear the sash around their chest, it would symbolize the fact that the work is now finished. So the Son of Man in the priestly robe with the golden sash is wearing it around his chest. He's saying, The work is finished. That's why you don't need another priest. That's why I'm not your priest. Jesus is the one final high priest, and all mediation happens through him. The sash is on the chest, the work is done. Nobody is mediating or doing any work apart from what Jesus has already accomplished. That is the golden sash around his chest. John is saying he was the final, it was the lamb, he was the final priest who offered the final sacrifice once for all. And now he stands girded with the golden sash, resting in his accomplished work. Any of y'all grateful that the work is accomplished? It's finished. There's no priestly work you have to do, or I have to do, there's no sacrifice that we have to make. There's no confession anyone else to do on our behalf. It's done, finished. Sash around the chest. Amen. Amen. So he's got the sash around his chest. Verse 14 says he's got white hair. Usually, if you got white hair, you don't want to tell people that, right? There's something in our culture where it's like, whoa, I'm getting white hair. My wife sometimes says, Zav, you're getting a lot of white hairs popping in. And I was like, hey, that's cool. You know, that means I'm getting old. That's kind of cool. And in fact, the proverb says that the white hair is a crown of glory. So all the white hairs up in here, crown of glory up on that head. Shout out. Right here, Eric Campbell, crown of glory, right in the front. Thank you, brother. Love it, right? But what did what is white symbolically all through the Old Testament? Just to just briefly share, white is always a symbol of purity. Isaiah said, Though your sins were as scarlet, they will be white as snow. The psalmist said, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. So white always was a symbol of purity in the Old Testament. And so when it says that his hair was white, it is showing that this Son of Man is completely pure. There are no impurities in him from the head all the way down, he is completely pure. But then notice what comes directly after the white hairs, is it says in verse 14, his eyes were like a flame of fire, which means Jesus is not only the pure one with the white hair, eyes like flame of fire means he is also the purifier. He is the one who purifies us. Because symbolically, the Old Testament and New Testament, that's always what fire does. Fire purifies. Fire burns away and destroys the impurities, it transforms, and only what is left is what is clean. So he is the pure one, and he is the purifier. He is the one who purifies us, his church, who purifies the seven lampstands. And again, the eyes of the Lord, this is so cool. The fact that they're fire, it means that they're not only able to look at us, but he's actually able to look through us. He is able to see into us because that's what fire does. And for some people, they're like, man, that's kind of scary. That's kind of terrifying that that Jesus doesn't just see me, He sees through me, He sees into me, and that might scare you because you're like, man, if someone sees through my masks, if someone sees through sees through the facades that I'm putting on, if someone sees through my brokenness, I don't want them to see what's in here. But the fact that he has eyes of fire, which are meant to purify, means this the fact that he's able to see through whatever masks and facades we put on and see what's really happening. When the fire of his eyes sees through us and into us, guess what happens? All that is impure, all that is not of Christ, all that is not holy is burned away in the light of his presence. Eyes of fire is not meant to scare us, it is meant to give us hope that whatever is impure in my life and all the areas I fall short, Jesus is gonna see through it and he's gonna burn it all away. Praise be to God for that. And the the invitation for us is say, God, do that right now in my life. Let the eyes of fire penetrate right now, let the eyes of fire see through me right now, let the eyes of fire right now purify anything in my heart that is not of Christ. And there will come a day when this will happen in full, when Christ will not only look at each of us, but he will look into each of us, and the light of his presence will purify us once and for all. So he's got eyes of fire, he's the purifier. Then it says in verse 15, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in the furnace. Again, I don't have time to unpack all of this in detail, but the very long story short here is that readers in the first century, these seven churches, they would have been familiar with a very uh a very similar vision also from the book of Daniel and Daniel chapter 2. And long story short, write it down. You can read later if you want. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a vision. And in this vision, all the kingdoms of the world were represented by this giant statue who had a head of gold and who had a torso of silver and had a belly and thighs made of bronze, and he had legs made of iron. But in that vision, the feet of this God, this world figure, this idol, the feet were made of mixture. The feet were made of both iron and clay, and that mixture could not hold the weight of those kingdoms. And in Daniel's vision, Daniel chapter two, a rock comes and falls and crushes and completely destroys this giant figure who had the head of gold because the feet were not able to stand the test. And so, in contrast, long story short, John's vision is very similar to the one in Daniel chapter two. But notice here he says the Son of Man has feet of burnished bronze. There is no mixture in the feet. In fact, his feet are strong and steady and tested by fire. And so the big idea of what he's communicating here is that all the kingdoms of man and all kingdoms of the world built on their own strength are built on shaky feet. They are there is mixture and they will ultimately one day fall and they will ultimately one day crumble. But anybody who builds the kingdom of their life on God's kingdom rests on feet that are firmly established that will endure forever because they've already been tested by fire. And so that's the question for me and you is what kingdom are we building? Am I building my own kingdom? I'm building the kingdom of God with mixture and bringing in my own, or am I saying, God, I'm trusting on your kingdom. I'm building on brass, I'm building on bronze, I'm building on that which has already been tested and went through the fire. So he's got he's got feet of bronze, and then I love this in verse 15, just a short notice, he says, His voice was like the roar of many waters. I wish I could do a whole sermon just on that, but long story short, the roar of many waters means his voice drowns out all of their voices. When he speaks, all other voices, your voice, the voices of culture, the voices we've been consuming and entertainment, and so everything influencing you. When you hear him speak, you know this is the voice I need to listen to. Today, may the voice that is the sound of many waters speak. May you hear his voice, may all other voices and all voices of culture, and all voices of the enemy and all voices of our own, may they be shut out as we say, God, let me hear your voice. Rush over me and cleanse me like a fountain of living water. Oh, to hear the voice above all others. And then in verse 16 it says, In his right hand he held seven stars. Um, and we're told in verse 20 that the seven stars are are uh representation of the seven angels of the seven churches. But culturally, this is the coolest part, culturally, in this time to say that in his right in his hand are seven stars, there's a lot more going on here. Because in the first century mind, the seven stars would have clearly been a reference to the seven known planets of the ancient world. And in the first century, the movements of these planets influenced and permeated culture, and most religions were built around and had some form of uh astrology tied to them with the movements of the planets and these seven stars in the first century. There was, in fact, a very famous Greek goddess at that time named Hakate, who was often depicted with the seven stars adorned on her forehead or around her body. And people would worship this goddess because they believed that she had celestial authority over all the planets, over all of the cosmos. Likewise, the Caesars and rulers and emperors uh in the first few centuries often used celestial imagery around their thrones, the seven stars and the seven planets, to communicate the divine authority that they had. Caesars would say, I have cosmic dominion, I'm ruling over all the cosmos and over all the world. And so, again, the the shifting of planets was believed to determine reality, it was believed to determine destiny. And so both public and private life in the first century, by most people, was often controlled by these seven planets or these seven stars. And so what we see here, verse 16, is in his right hand, he's holding the seven stars, which means what? It means plot twist, Caesar has no authority, Jesus has all authority. It means Hakate does not hold the stars, Jesus does. It means the planets and the stars do not dictate your future, and your horoscope does not dictate your future. It means Jesus does, He's holding the cosmos, He's holding the seven stars, He's holding all the planets of the known world that time in his hands. This is ultimate reality. The only thing that dictates your destiny is Jesus because all the stars and all the cosmos and all the planets are in his hands. We think it's in our hands. We try to take them into our hands, and Jesus says, They're in mine already. He is in control, the Lord, the Son of Man, Lord of the cosmos, the entire universe is held together by him. Paul writes in Colossians 1:17, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Wow. If for one moment Jesus just went like this and let go, everything in the known universe would fall apart. He is holding the cosmos together in his very hand. And yet, at the exact same time, with his other hand, notice what he does. Verse 17, John says, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. John's having this vision, and all he can do is fall down dead. He says, I was I was as dead, which is what will happen when any person has this type of revelation of the reality of who Jesus is, you just fall on your face. You have a vision of Jesus, that's all you can do. Get me as low as I can. He falls on his face. And then the same hand that holds these seven stars, that holds the entire cosmos, John says, He reached out and he touched me. How mind-blowing is that. The one who is holding the very cosmos together in his hand, with that same hand, he says, you know what? That hand is not distant from you. That hand is not far removed from you. That hand reaches out and touches John in his lowest moment. Some of you are here today, and you might have this concept of God that he's kind of out there, out there in the cosmos, and I don't really know what he does. And you came here this morning because what you really need, if you're honest with yourself, is you need a fresh touch from God. And the good news for you this morning is that we serve a God who holds the entire cosmos in one hand, and yet he also reaches out and is able to touch us with his hand. Because Jesus stretched out his hands when he gave his life. God is now able to reach into human history at any moment, even to this moment, and say, I know you need a fresh touch, and that's why I gave my son. So that I could touch your life, and so that you can know my hand is upon you. And yes, I'm holding the whole universe together, and yes, I'm holding all things together, and in me and through me and by me, all things exist throughout all history. But God is not too busy for you. He's not ashamed to be identified with you and your brokenness. He is willing and ready to reach out and touch you, just as he did with John. So for anybody this morning who's in need of a fresh touch of Jesus, I'm just here to say his hand is extended. He's offering it. Whatever part of your life, whatever broken parts of your soul, whatever masks you've been wearing, he's able to reach through all of that and touch you. And if you've never allowed Christ to reach through, if you've never trusted his finished work on the cross, today's baptism Sunday, in just a moment, there's gonna be an invitation. If you'd like to be baptized, if you're right now seeing Jesus for who he is, wow, he's the Lord of the cosmos. I want to make him Lord of my life. We want to invite any and every one of you who's never given your life to Christ in just a moment to come over here and to be baptized. Baptism is simply you're saying, God, I am trusting that your work on the cross, that as you were buried, I'm ready to be buried with you. I'm ready to leave every all my past behind. I'm burying it in the grave. And as we pull you up out of the water, you're saying, I trust Christ that you rose from the dead and you ascended and you're in control of all things, and I'm giving you control of my life. I'm giving it back to you. I'm trusting what is ultimate reality, that you are present and you are in control of all things. So if you'd like to be baptized, there's an invitation to do that today as well. And for the rest of us, as we close with this one final song, I just want to invite you, just as we're singing, just say, Lord, what parts of my heart are you reaching into and trying to touch? What things in me are your eyes seeing through that are being purified? What is it, Holy Spirit, that you're speaking where you're calling me not just to listen, but to actually turn and respond and see your face in Jesus' name? Amen. Amen. Lord, thank you for today. Thank you for this moment. Thank you for your word and for this vision you gave to the Apostle John. A vision of the Son of Man, a Son of Man who's not only in control of all things and holding all things together, but the Son of Man who is present in the midst of the lampstands, present in the midst of his churches. And Jesus, we thank you that right now in this moment you are here, you are present, you are working. We thank you that even right now in this moment, God, there is fresh revelation. There is an apocalypse, there's an unveiling where people, some here for the first time, are seeing you for who you truly are. And God, I pray for anybody here, even right now, who's hearing your voice. You've been speaking, you've been calling them, you've called their name, and yet they've only heard, they haven't responded. I pray even today there'd be a response. We would turn to see the voice. We would see the face of God. We would see the face of the Son of Man, the living one who came and gave his life for us because he wants a relationship with us. And so, God, today we simply respond. For each of us, that response is going to be different, God. Whoever you're trying to touch today, God, that they would feel your touch. Whoever needs a fresh vision of you, that they would see you for who you are. Whoever needs to know, God, your eyes have already purified us, and you're our priest, and we trust your finished work, God. We've been cleansed and robed in your righteousness. God, do whatever it is you're wanting to do in each one of our lives in this place. We give you all the praise, all glory, and all adoration in Jesus' name. Everyone said, Amen.