A Vision of the Risen Lord

INTRODUCTION

We are familiar with the usual images of Jesus. He is tall, trim, masculine, and masculine, with countenance that combines, holiness, sincerity, compassion, and wisdom with just a trace of humor and innocence. We picture the long hair, the beard, the long flowing robe and - well let’s face it, distinctly Italian features! Did Jesus look like the pictures we show our children in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School? Probably not, but what difference does that make. I do not believe people followed Him because of His physical appearance, but at the same time I believe He was physically strong, healthy - and that He looked like a Jewish carpenter. He had calluses on his hands, muscles in his shoulders and arms. I believe He had intelligent eyes, a radiant smile, and a warm personality. However, anything we might say about His physical appearance would be conjecture on our part. We know as much about His physical appearance as the Father wants to know!

I find it interesting that people will announce that they have seen a picture of Jesus, or Mary that appeared on a screen, in the clouds, or on a wall. I want to know how they know the image they have seen, or profess to have seen, is really Jesus or Mary. If some one from a different religion had seen the same image what would they say about it?

A few years ago someone circulated a sheet of paper with some kind of maze on it and we were asked to stare at it for ten seconds and then close our eyes for five or ten seconds. I tried it, and guess what! I saw Jesus. Well, I saw an image that resembled the traditional Jesus we see in various paintings and in our children’s Sunday School pictures.

Now, let me stress again my conviction that you and I know as much about the physical appearance of Jesus as God want us to know. I am not the least concerned about that. There is something better. In our text today we see a picture of the risen Lord. Maybe it would be better to say that we read the vision John saw. John knew the human Jesus as few people ever knew Him. After all, he was "the beloved disciple."

The image John saw of the risen Lord transcended anything he had ever experienced. The vision God gave John on the Isle of Patmos was more glorious than He could ever describe. As we look at these verses, I would like for you to remember what happens at the end of the Revelation. Jesus promised to come quickly, and John said, "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!" When we finish the Book of Revelation, I trust that you will pray, "Yes, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"

I. JOHN IS COMMANDED TO WRITE DOWN WHAT HE SAW, 1:9-11.

1) "I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus" (VS. 9). John, his brother James, and Simon Peter made up the inner circle of apostles. These are the three who witnessed the Transfiguration. The first people to read, or hear the Revelation read, were the saints at Ephesus, where John had served for a number of years. They has read the Gospel According to John and they were aware of a clarification he made in closing the Gospel which he had been inspired to write about ten years before he received the Revelation.

The risen Lord appeared to His disciples and addressed Peter specifically, telling him what manner of death he would face. Peter’s response probably contributes to the image we have of the Big Fisherman.

"So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them. [That disciple] was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, "Lord, who is the one that’s going to betray You?"

"When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord—what about him?"

"If I want him to remain until I come,’ Jesus answered, ‘what is that to you? As for you, follow Me."

"So this report spread to the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:20-23).

Jesus had just said to Peter, "...I assure you: When you were young, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.’ He said this to signify by what kind of death he would glorify God..." (John 21:18-19).

As soon as Peter heard this, he looked over and saw John and asked, "But what about him?" Jesus answered, but people misunderstood the answer. John straightens it out here. Jesus had not said that John would be alive when He returned for His bride, the church. What He said, was "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?" God is sovereign and John is His faithful slave (or servant). If Jesus knew what was going to happen to Simon Peter, don’t you think He knew what was going to happen to John? He knew that John would be inspired to write the Gospel account that bears his name, three epistles, and then he would receive this revelation of the risen Lord, and his ultimate plan for His church.

The first people to read the Revelation would be the saints in Ephesus, and these people knew John better than anyone else in the world. He identifies himself to them as, "your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus." They would appreciate far better than you and I why John identifies himself as their "brother and partner in tribulation." Paul risked his life to found this church and to proclaim the Gospel in Ephesus. The churches addressed here all knew the tribulation to which he referred. They were partners, not only in kingdom ministry, but also in persecution. Both John and faithful members of the seven churches addressed had persevered for Jesus Christ in the face of persecution. Some of the churches were more faithful than others.

John "was on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus." John had been spared early martyrdom, I believe, to receive this revelation from the Lord he loved with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength so that he could write it down. They not only knew persecution and tribulation, they knew that John had been exiled because they could not stop him from preaching and teaching the people any other way.

Tradition tells us that John was boiled in oil sometime after writing this revelation down. Has it ever occurred to you that he may well have received his death sentence after the Roman authorities discovered that the innocent, if seemingly ridiculous scroll they delivered to the church at Ephesus for John was far more than they realized at the time. Maybe the saints in these churches began teaching others the significance of the Revelation. If they checked the Revelation before delivering it, it must have seemed something like a modern science fiction book to them. Is it possible that when they discovered what John had sent to the churches, they sentenced him to death? Some day the Lord may reveal that to us - or John himself may tell us about it.

2) "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea" (vv. 10-11). John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. He did not say he was having a spiritual experience in the modern sense of the word. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit. We should pray that all of God’s children would be in the Spirit every Lord’s Day. John was not dreaming, nor was he having some kind of out of body experience. He was in worship on the Lord’s Day when he heard "a loud voice." Please note the many times in the Revelation, when John heard a loud voice. Here it is "a loud voice like a trumpet." In another place he heard a voice that was like cascading waters. The voice he heard was loud and clear - in other words, John reassures us that the voice he heard was not the figment of his imagination. The voice, not only here but also in other places, is clear, loud, and distinct.

Most everyone at some time or another has thought he heard a noise, or even a voice, when he could not find the source of the noise. When I was growing up on a Mississippi Delta farm, my mother would call me at 4:15 every morning. I dressed quickly in work clothes and headed to the barn - in rain, sleet, and snow, or fair weather. I do not remember this happening to me in the spring of fall, but on some of those mornings when the temperature dipped into the teens, or even into single digits, there were time when I was not too sure of the voice I thought I had heard. One reason was that there was no heat in the bedroom and I had the cover over my heard. I would find myself suddenly awake, wondering if Mother had called. I definitely did not want to step out onto the cold floor before she called, so I would listen to the sounds from the kitchen. If I heard her open the oven and close it, I knew she had already called my name. If she called a second time, there was no denying it. The voice was loud and clear!

When God speaks it is important to know He is calling. It is also important that we know how to determine whether or not it is God who is speaking to us. If I had been mistaken my mother’s call, I looked for signals which would indicate whether or not she had called. When God speaks to our heart, we must be sure we are hearing from the Lord. If we are not sure, we need to be very careful about looking for signs and/or extra-biblical sources to determine whether or not we are hearing from God. Some people, by the way, are very free with the claim, "God told me" to do thus and so. John did not have to look to other sources to tell him God was speaking to him. That was important to John, it was important to those first readers in Asia Minor, and it is important for us to know that this message is from our heavenly Father.

The voice instructed John, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea." In my youth it seemed that it was enough for most people to say that the Bible is the Word of God, or that it was divinely inspired. In time there were discussions about verbal inspiration. After that, it seemed wise to add that the Scripture is infallible. Later, because some were saying they believed the Bible was infallible, but through their preaching, teaching, or writing caused us to question whether or not they were sincere. When a stronger term seemed to be needed uphold the highest view of Scripture, we began saying that they Bible in inerrant. Let me say right here in the first chapter of this series from the Revelation that I believe the Bible is inspired, it is infallible, it is inerrant, and when a stronger term is found I am ready to embrace it.

For me, it is just this simple: if God could not produce an inerrant Bible, why do we call Him God; and He could have done it but would not do it, what kind of God is He? The Bible is the perfect Word of the perfect God - and that includes this book of mystery, symbols, and imagery.

John was instructed to write what he saw on a scroll. He would then send this message to the seven churches listed here. It would be delivered by the Roman postal system to the church at Ephesus, where it would be read and a copy made before the original was sent on to the next church. After it was copied by all seven churches, there is no doubt that it was sent on to other churches until most churches had a copy of it. The number seven is the perfect number, or the number for completion. The number is significant. To some they represent the church in successive dispensations. To others, it means that there is a message in one or more of these letters that will have a special application in any local church, any place, any time. We will have more to say about that as we move into chapters two and three.

Let me stop here long enough to remind you of the promise made in 1:3. Those who read this book, or hear it read, will be blessed. We are not making an exhaustive study of Revelation in this series. We are going to skim the surface, looking for the blessing.

II. JOHN IS BLESSED WITH A VISION OF THE RISEN LORD, 1:12-18.

1) "I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest" (1:12-13). John turned to see the source of the loud voice he had heard, and when he turned he saw the first of the visions that make up the Revelation. He tells us that he saw seven gold lampstands, which will be told are the seven churches He has mentioned in the instructions given in verses 10-11. Apparently there were seven different lampstands, rather than one lampstands with seven lamps on it.

John continues, "Among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest." John saw someone standing in among the seven gold lampstands whose appearance was like the Son of Man. Son of Man is a familiar title for Jesus. In Daniel 7:13, the Son of Man refers to Jesus:

I kept looking in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven

One like a Son of Man was coming,

And He came up to the Ancient of Days

And was presented before Him

Dan. 7:13, NASB .

Here is a question for you: if the One John saw in this scene had looked identical to Jesus as He appeared when He was on earth, would John not have known Him? If anyone one on earth would have known him, John would have. Does this mean that the Son of Man here has taken on some slightly different form or appearance form that which John knew so well in his youth when he followed Him for three years? John had aged, Jesus had not! It may well have been that John was sure about the identity, but that in this scene His presence among the seven gold lampstands, combined with the robe and sash gave him a difference appearance?

The One like the Son of Man was dressed in a long robe. A long robe denoted high rank in ancient times, but here the emphasis may well be upon His role as priest. Remember that in Jesus the roles of prophet, priest, and king are brought together - and only in Jesus. The robe and golden sash seem to be emblems of his priesthood (cf. Exod. 28:2, 4, 31). The New Commentary on the Whole Bible offers the following comment on the robe and the sash:

"Aaron’s robe and breastplate were "for glory and beauty" and combined the insignia of royalty and priesthood. Christ has exercised his priesthood since the time of his ascension and therefore wears its emblems. As Aaron wore his insignia when he came out from the sanctuary to bless the people (Lev. 16:4, 23, 24), so when Christ shall come again, he shall appear in the similar attire of beauty and glory. The ordinary girding for priests was around the loins; but Josephus (Antiquities, 3.7.2) expressly tells us that the Levitical priests were girded higher, around the chest; this was appropriate to calm, majestic movement. The girdle braced the body together and symbolized collected powers. The high priest’s girdle was only interwoven with gold, but Christ’s is all of gold" [NCWB].

2) "His head and hair were white like wool—white as snow, His eyes like a fiery flame" (vs. 14).

John describes the One who was standing among the seven golden lampstands - and now we understand why John has said, this One was like the Son of Man. His head and hair were white like wool - not just His hair, but also His head. If you were an artist and tried to portray this on canvas you would be missing the point. White is the color of righteousness. White hair and white head probably underscores both His holiness and His glory. We use the expression, "pure as the driven snow." The Son of Man is purer than the driven snow. Catch a bucket full of snow and let it melt and what do you see. Right! There is trash in it. There always will be. But the emphasis here is not the purity of snow - His head and hair were as white as snow.

His eyes were like a fiery flame. This speaks of his omniscience in judgment. His eyes pierce the depth of every heart and every mind, even to the thoughts of each individual. In today’s language we might say that His eyes are like laser beams, penetrating the very hearts and minds of each person.

3) "His feet like fine bronze fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters" (vs. 15). Compare this to Daniel 10:6: "His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult."

Again, if we are to understand the meaning here, we must not spend out time trying to paint the picture, either on canvas or in our minds. The emphasis here is on judgment. His eyes penetrate each heart. When John says "His feet are like fine bronze fired in a furnace," the emphasis is upon the fact that He has the power to judge according to what His eyes see. There are a lot of things I can see that are obviously wrong, but I have no power to do anything about it.

Let me try to illustrate this. President Bush has appointed Harriet Miers, subject to senate approval, to the Supreme Court (October, 2005). Many conservatives who have been preparing for a fight over the appointment of Supreme Court justices since they felt betrayed by a couple of earlier appointments, are livid. Even many conservatives who have supported the president are asking how could he appoint someone who does not have a paper trail. It seems they are asking, "How can he do that to us? What really jumps out at us is the fact that conservative does not translate to Christian. They is becoming more obvious every day, as Ann Coulter, Charles Krauthammer, and many other conservatives blast the president. Some of them remind me of a snake that has been injured and it turns and strikes itself, injecting venom which, though highly toxic to you and me, does not harm the serpent.

Nothing has underscored the difference between the country club conservatives and Christian conservatives that the reaction to a statement President Bush made concerning Harriet Miers. He explained that she is an evangelical Christian. Liberals were sitting back smiling as conservatives seemed to be imploding. Dr. James Dobson has investigated Harriet Miers and states that she is well qualified and that she is an evangelical Christian. Texas supreme court justices tell us she is highly qualified, courageous, and a person of high moral character. Her pastor stresses that she is a committed Christian. Many leading conservative, however, claim that the president really made a blunder when he announced that she is a Christian. Some heap ridicule on the president - "we have given him a free pass, but no more." In other words, if he is fool enough to state that one factor in the appointment is the fact that she is a Christian, they are ready to fight him. And the liberals loved it. Harriet Miers withdrew her name for consideration.

Now, consider the contrast between the attitude of conservative leaders today and that of most of the founders of our country. Add to that the battle over the passive display of the Ten Commandments, even when they are displayed as a part of a much larger exhibit. America today is at war with God - not just religion, but Jesus Christ. There is nothing new about that. The Scripture teaches that the world hates Jesus Christ, and worldly Americans hate Him just as worldly Russians, or North Koreans.

O would like for us to contrast the response to President Bush’s announcement that Harriet Miers is a Christian with statements from our Founders. Listen to these excerpts from a newsletter I received some time ago ( I think it may have been in the Founders Journal):

"As you walk up the steps to the Capitol Building which houses the Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view - it is Moses and the Ten Commandments!

"As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door. As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments! There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.

"James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

"Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

"Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

"Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.

"Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law....an oligarchy....the rule of few over many.

"The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."

"How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional?

America, and Americans, are under the eyes of the Son of Man, who sees all, knows all, and knows what to do about what He sees. His eyes penetrate each heart, and His feet will come down with crushing force on a sinful, rebellious people.

Please let me stress one point here. It is not a popular theme today, but it is the truth and the urgency of the message is highlighted by the description of the Son of Man, especially the statement that "His feet like fine bronze fired in a furnace. This is a very timely message at a time when preachers are going out into the world and asking lost people what they want when they come to church. If they learn that people want to throw out the organ and hymnals and bring in a rock band they give them what they want. If they hear that the people are offended by sermons on sins and its consequences they will preach on joy, love, and peace. Sadly, in many cases the first to compromise are some of the conservative pastors who have spent years fighting the battle for the Bible. If people are offended by hymns or sermons about the blood, they will never sing NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD. One choir, or so I was told, had scheduled a tour, and they received a call from a staff member from a large California church requesting a list of the songs they would be singing. He reportedly said,

"We don’t want anything about the blood or anything else that will offend these people out here."

How can we consider pleasing the world, which hates God, by dumbing down our preaching, bleaching out our hymns, and throwing out our hymnals? There have always been radical, fundamentalist preachers who preached nothing but gloom and doom, but that is not I am talking about here. I am talking about preachers who have lost the intestinal fortitude to stand up and preach the complete Gospel. Whether sophisticated people, or shallow worldly people for that matter, want to hear anything about the judgment of God or not, it is Scriptural and we are called to preach the Word of God. You cannot do that without warning people about sin and judgment. It upset Felix when his prisoner Paul talked about judgment.

Can you imagine what Jesus would say if we told him we only wanted to hear sermons about love, joy, and peace? I had a deacon to tell me that one time! Could you imagine what Paul, John, or Peter would have say if we tried to tell them not to preach on judgment?

Here is a test I think every preacher and ever Bible teachers needs to take. Do you remember when Jesus asked the Pharisees what they went out to see when they went out to hear John the Baptist? He asked if they went to see a reed shaking in the wind. God forbid that I should ever be a reed shaking in the wind! I have stressed many times that God did not call me to entertain His sheep, He did not call me to traumatize His sheep, and He did not call me to psychoanalyze His sheep. He called me to feed His sheep. In order to do that I must warn you that His eyes are like lasers, and His feet are like fine burnished bronze. He sees - and He judges according to His perfect knowledge.

4) "In His right hand He had seven stars; from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was shining like the sun at midday" (vs. 16). We do not have to guess what this means. Jesus tells us Himself in verse 20 and I will save that for the moment. First, there is the sharp two-edged sword coming from His mouth. Of course we know the Sword of the Lord is the Word of God. How did the world come into existence? God said, "Let there be," and it was so. How did Israel receive the Covenant and the Law? God said, "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not..." How did man learn about God’s provision for our salvation? Jesus preached. Jesus taught. How will the Lamb of God judge the world? Well, we don’t have to speculate on that one. We are told very clearly what will happen:

"Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself. He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. From His mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it He might strike the nations. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty" (Rev 19:11-15).

We live in the age of psychology. We have specialists who are trying to help us get over all our fears. Be sure you do not get over the fear of God! This is not an unhealthy fear, born of doubt and insecurity, but a fear of the known, a reverential awe of Almighty God and the Son of Man. What will motivate us to fall on our face before Him in holy fear? Try this: "His face was shining like the sun at midday." This speaks of a glory we will never fully comprehend until we are perfected.

5) "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me, and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades" (vv. 17-18).

John’s response to this revelation of the Son of God was a reverential fear: "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man." I cannot imagine John’s response, but I am not surprised at what the Son of Man did: "He laid His right hand on me, and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades."

How often we hear of people talk of visions and revelations from Jesus Christ in familiar terms, some even humorously. I had to change channels one evening when a televangelist began entertaining is "audience" with a tale about his visit to heaven. He was entertaining and the people were laughing - maybe it was holy laughter! In the Bible when there is an encounter with God or one of His angels, do you remember what happened. First, they fell on their face before Him, and then they were told to fear not.

Jesus tells John something John had no doubt heard Him say while He was on earth: " I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades." We have already seen that He is the Alpha and Omega - which translates into "I am the First and the Last." He is also the Living One, the one was dead (the Crucifixion), and is alive forever (the Resurrection). Jesus said, "I hold the keys of death and Hades" - He holds the keys of death and the realm of the dead. If you have a personal relationship with Him, fear not. If you do not know Him, I would suggest that you have reason to fear.

III. JOHN IS INSTRUCTED TO WRITE WHAT HE SEES, 1:19-20.

1) "Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this" (vs. 19). John had already been told to take a scroll and write what he saw. What he had seen was the vision of the Glorified Christ (1:13-18). Now is to write what is, and what he is about to see. A. T. Robertson

explains that the Greek construction blends

"in a single view the future. In a rough outline this part begins in 4:1 and goes to end of chapter 22, though the future appears also in chapters 2 and 3 and the present occurs in 4 to 22 and the elements in the vision of Christ (Rev 1:13-18) reappear repeatedly."

2) "The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches" (vs. 20). Jesus now explains verse 16 to John - and through him to us. The seven stars John had seen in His right hand are the angels of the churches. Does that mean every church has an angel? The word translated angel means messenger. Jesus holds in His hand the pastors of the seven churches - and He holds in his right hand every genuinely called out pastor today.

The seven lampstands are the seven churches. Remember at the beginning of this revelation, Jesus is standing among the seven lampstands, which means that He is standing among the churches. Jesus is vitally interested in your church, in every church, both then and now.

 

CONCLUSION. Bobby was a young boy in Greenville, Mississippi. He was riding his bike down a street at night when he happened to look up at the moon. It had a reddish tint to it, which reminded Bobby of some sermon he had heard. All he could remember was that the preacher had said the moon would turn to blood and it had something to do with the end of the world. Bobby panicked when he saw it. He couldn’t take his eyes off it - than is until he hit the telephone pole. For a second he thought his world had come to and end.

There is a lot of confusion about Revelation and about end-time events. Let me assure, it was not God’s purpose in giving us the Revelation to simply scare the daylights out of us. Many of the initial readers were encouraged when they read it. Others were confronted with their sins and commanded to repent. God’s purpose in Revelation never contradicts anything Jesus taught when He was on earth. It never conflicts with anything the Holy Spirit inspired the New Testament writers to record.

It never violates the nature and character of God. It never supersedes God’s plan for the ages.

What it does is provide valuable information that brings together the past, the present, and the future - or in His words, "what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this." If you have been born again by the grace of God, you will be blessed as you read this book. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, this book will motivate you to trust Him. I don’t know how anyone could read this book and look at his Creator and say, "I don’t want you;" "I don’t need you;" or "I don’t have time for you."

As I walked away from a grave, I left a grieving family for whom I could offer no comfort. They were lost. Their loved one was lost. When I got into my car I looked up and the funeral director had stopped to speak. I said, "I don’t know how anyone could go through something like this without calling on the Lord to save them, do you?"

He said, "I don’t know. I am not a Christian."

I said, "What? How could you sit and listen to the message and stand by the grave with this family without calling on the Lord and asking Him to save you?" He offered no answer. Let me ask you today, "How can you look at this Scripture without calling on Jesus Christ right now and asking Him to forgive your sin and give your everlasting life?" Let me urge you to repent of your sin and trust Jesus to give you eternal life right now.