Life Study of Revelation message 2

Message Title: THE REVELATION OF CHRIST - UNIQUE AND ULTIMATE

Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and He made it known by signs, sending it by His angel to His slave John, 

the book of Revelation is the unveiling of Christ Himself. Christ is the center, the focus, and the predominant figure of the whole book of Revelation. 

Although the whole Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, show us many aspects of Christ, in picture, in type, or in plain word. but in the book of Revelation, it presents us a different Christ, the unique and particular aspects of Christ. 

1. Christ in ascension.

a. the Lion-Lamb

Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.

Revelation 5:6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

in verse 5, Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and in verse 6, John the Lamb standing. is Christ the Lion, or is Christ the Lamb? actually, Christ is both, the Lion-Lamb. as the Lion, Christ is the victorious One, who has overcome, has defeated God's enemy, Satan. as the Lamb, Christ has accomplished redemption and solved the problem of sin and sins. 

b. the worthy One

Christ is the worthy Lamb of God. no one else is qualified to open the scroll with seven seals. but Christ is the only One worthy to open the scroll and look into it, because He has overcome.  we can never praise the Lord enough for His worthiness. I personally really like this hymn, hymn 180.

"Lord, Thou art worthy: Lord, Thou art worthy;
Lord, Thou art worthy, and worthy alone!
Blest in Thy presence, we worship before Thee,
Own Thou art worthy, and worthy alone! "

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/180

2. Christ in His administration 

a. among the churches

in chapter 1, John saw the Son of Man walking in the midst of the golden lampstands. this reveals to us Christ is now executing administration among the churches. He is our great High Priest, taking care of all the churches, caring for the churches in love, trimming away negative germs, so that the churches will shining brighter and brighter as the testimony of Jesus. 

b. in the heavens

Revelation 5: 7 And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits upon the throne. 

verse 7 shows us that Christ has taken the scroll from God's hand, which shows that Christ has been commissioned by God to carry out the universal administration. He is now sitting on the third heaven, but He is busy in carrying out God's economy, which is the scroll. in the four gospels, it mentions that the Father does not judge anyone, because the Father has given all judgement to the Son, which also proves that Christ has been appointed by God for the universal administration, to fulfill God's economy. 

3. Christ in His coming back

a. as the thief

concerning the Lord's coming back, there are two aspects of His coming back, as revealed in the Bible. the first aspect is His secret coming to His overcoming believers as a thief coming to steal treasures. 

Revelation 3:3b If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall by no means know at what hour I will come upon you. 

Revelation 16:15 (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments that he may not walk naked and they see his shame.) 

that is why the Lord tells us to be watchful. we need to watch, because we do not know when the Lord is coming to steal us. if we do not watch and make us ready for His coming, we are not worthy or precious enough for Him to come to steal us as a thief. 

b. on the cloud

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the land will mourn over Him. Yes, amen. 

Revelation 14:14 And I saw, and behold, there was a white cloud, and on the cloud One like the Son of Man sitting, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 

near the end of great tribulation, Christ will come on a cloud openly, publicly to all the earth. 

4. Christ in His judgement

a. on all the world

Christ will judge all the world by the sixth seal, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. in these judgement, there will be supernatural calamities, much more intense than any earthquakes that we have ever, etc.

b. on the great Babylon: recorded in chapters 17 and 18

c. on Antichrist, the false prophet, Satan and the followers: recorded in chapters 19 and 20

d. on the dead

at the end of great tribulation, before the millennium, Christ will judge all the dead, from the Hades, the sea. do not think death is the final escape of the judgement. if we do not deal with the things we should deal while we are alive, when the Lord comes back, He will get us from the Hades, and still judge us. we cannot run away from His judgement, so we better take grace from the Lord, and deal with the things that He wants us to deal with in this age. 

5. Christ in His possession of the earth

After He finishes His judgement on the world, He will come back to take full possession of the earth. this is what He is doing now, recovering the earth back to God, through the church His body, by spreading His testimony throughout the whole inhabited earth. 

6. Christ in His reigning in the kingdom 

After Christ takes possession of the earth, He will reign over the earth as the King in the kingdom, ruling over the nations with His overcoming believers.

7. Christ in His centrality and universality in eternity

God's will is that His Christ will be everything, the center, the focus, the all in all. This will be the scene in eternity future. so we better start to practice this from now, take Christ as our center, our focus, and our everything.