Come and See the Finished Work

The true meaning of the word "apocalypse" or "revelation" is "unveiling". This message emphasizes how Jesus came to unveil God's love, kingdom, and our identity in Christ. Discover how Jesus' life and teachings invite us to see beyond the surface and embrace our divine origin and destiny.

Chapters:
00:00 The True Meaning of Apocalypse
02:33 Invitation to See and Understand
05:16 Understanding Our Origin and Destination
07:43 The Connection with the Father
10:16 The Revelation of Our Identity
12:49 The Transformation Through Revelation
15:17 The Nature of Sin and Missing the Mark
17:37 The Role of Jesus in Our Understanding
20:12 The Importance of Truth in Freedom
22:11 Living in the Reality of Love
25:08 The Power of Knowing Who We Are
26:58 The Unveiling of Our True Identity
29:01 The Mirror of Christ
30:13 Closing Thoughts and Prayer

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know the Bible, you know, the when you think of the book of the book of Revelation and the Greek word is apocalypse, right? And in the the church world we have so twisted that word to mean something totally different than what it means. The Greek word apocalypse or apocalypto or whatever. Thank you for helping me. I love it. It's one of those things like this is really bothering me. Should I should I fix it? And if it's bothering me, it's bothering everybody else. And apparently it was. But the word apocalypse or apocalypto or however it's it said, uh, how many know that it doesn't mean some cataclysmic ending of the world? How many know what it means? Revelation. Unveiling. Revealing. It's the book of revealing, the book of unveiling. And so often in that book, you'll see the the guides, the messengers, the angels saying, Come and see. Come and see. Come and see. We see in the Old Testament a scripture referring to people and said, seeing they could not perceive, and hearing they could not understand. And Jesus comes. And he says, If you want to see the Father, remember they said, Show us the Father. We want to see. It'll suffice us. We'll be satisfied if we can see the Father. And Jesus says, if you want to see the Father, look at me. Come and see. Come, he says. If you're thirsty, come. If you're hungry, come. If you're heavy burdened, if you're heavy-ladened, come. And you'll find rest for your souls. Come. Come and partake. Come and drink, he says in Revelation. Come and see. Come. Come. So what we see today is an invitation with Jesus to behold something beautiful, something life-giving, something essential, something that's a part of every one of us that maybe we haven't seen before, but we are. And that that something is God, it's the kingdom of God, it's the kingdom of heaven, it's it's the Father, it's our it's it's it's our source of of life, it's our very place of origin, for we've come from Him. And I want to go into John chapter 8 and read a few verses here and look at something that Jesus said and get a picture here because I I I want I submit to you that when we're looking at Jesus, Jesus is is himself. He's so many things, but one of the things he is that I want to highlight today is he is an invitation to us to come and see things that have not been seen before, but things that are pertaining to life. In John chapter 8, verse 14, um it says, Jesus answered and said to them, Well, even if they had accused him of bearing witness of himself and saying your prophecy's not true. And he says, Well, if if even if I do bear witness of myself, my witness is true, because I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I came from and where I'm going. So he's talking to people and and and and they really know. They're like most humans of the day, and we could even apply that to our day, is is you know, most humans, we're we're we're consumed in our day-to-day thing. We're we're we're we're surviving or trying to thrive, or or we're you know, we're dealing with our temporal problems in this time and trying to enjoy some things, and we're we're living in this life, and it seems like it's an effort for for people to become aware of things that are spiritual. In fact, some people it just seems so they seem so disconnected from it that they're they don't even seem to be interested. It's like, yeah, that's just like it's not for me. And and that's a case of people not knowing something, not seeing something, not perceiving something. And Jesus says, he says, but I can bear witness of myself. Now the the idea was that a person could should not bear witness of himself. A person shouldn't step forward and say, I am this, I'm a prophet, I'm that. He said, let others bear witness of you. And the reason is because people can be deranged and people can be proud, and people can say anything about themselves, and it may or may not be true. But Jesus says, but but if I say something about me, it would be true because I know something. I see something. There again, remember, he would say things like, I'm just do it, I do what I see my father do. I say what I hear my father say, so he's living in connection, right? And he says, and I know, I'm aware of where I came from and where I'm going. Now, where have you come from? Where's your origin? Where's your source? Did you let me let me give you a hint. It's God. You came from him, right? You came from God. Whatever that means, he brought you forth. However, he did it, that's where it was. Where are you going? To God. Who are you with now? With God. And maybe you don't know that. Maybe some don't know that, but it doesn't change the fact. But Jesus was one was one that saw, that knew. He says, I know. And this is why we see him living and operating differently, uh, maybe because he he knew where he was he came from and he knew where he was going. He was seeing this thing. It's almost like I've heard somebody describe it, I've heard this description a couple of times. It's almost like, let's say I'm God, and I have this easel and board, and I'm going to create people. So I draw a man and a woman and a world around them. And so there it is. And here's these people. Uh but they're on that board. And if you could take those people, but still, but if you could take those people and sort of like pull them off of that and let them see all of this and go behind the easel and that whole thing, that's kind of like man beholding the kingdom of God, that he is a part of, that he is connected to, connected with, it's a part of this whole thing, but it's not seeing the whole thing. Somebody said, kind of like a fly, you know, flying in a library. You know, what does a fly care about? It cares about finding food and staying safe, not getting smashed. But he's in this library, and in this library is all these books and all this wisdom and all this depth that's there. But the fly can be right in the middle of that and totally be unaware of what this whole thing's all about. Doesn't even care, maybe. But there's so much more that we get a glimpse of or we hear about when Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven. It's like this, the kingdom of heaven is like that. Your father in heaven, your kingdom of heaven. Telling about a kingdom. Then, and then and then the kingdom's not just some geographic place on a planet somewhere, and then he says things like, and the kingdom is within you. Now, how connected is that? How does this even work? But it's a reality that Jesus is talking about here, and he says, and he and he's indicating that he knows about this, he's aware of this, he's in connection with this, and so he's this is why he's so not confined in the same way that most people were acting. I know where I came from and I know where I'm going. You know there's great rest in that? And I don't claim to know the mysteries of the universe or be anything knowing what Jesus might have might have been connected to in his human life, but but I'm I'm like maybe most of you that have I've I've certainly had some taste of it, I've certainly had some glimpse of it, I've certainly had some insight into something that has brought more rest to my soul. Anyone relate to that? That you've you've got a revelation of something, you've perceived something that that has brought more peace, that is uh bringing a greater sense of love for love for you, and then also love from you, an empathy, uh more understanding, and so we are having this knowing of knowing the reality that's bigger than just our day-to-day humanity, where we we think the struggles seem they feel so eternal sometimes. And Jesus would talk about finding rest. Then there in verse 15, he says, Now you judge according to the flesh, I judge no one, and yet if I do judge, my judgment is true because I'm not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. Another point here. You're not alone. I'm not alone, but I am with the Father. You are with the Father, the Father is with you, you are with the Father. You're never alone, that you're very safe, you're very loved, you're very cared for. Holy Spirit, help us to see something that goes beyond my pitiful words here today. That you are loved, you are cared for, you are with the Father. The Father is with you. One of the greatest things I want people to know is that we are safe. You are safe. You are cared for, you are loved. Sometimes we get so focused on things that it's, you know, people struggle with that because, like, well, if I'm loved, how come this happened and all that? But we but we're often looking at this little spot that we're so focused on that it looks like it's eternity when there's a whole world of love going on all around us. Then Jesus says in verse 17, It's also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself. And the Father who sent me bears witness of me. The same Father that bears witness of Jesus does bear witness of you. Do you believe that?

unknown 10:57

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Does he bear witness of you? Does he does he tell you? Does he reveal to you? Does he know who you really are? How many of you have have a sense or a knowledge or maybe even a real awareness that that what I thought I was is not who I really was? I can say that. I found out I was much more loved than I once thought I was. And I really believe, I just know a little bit of all of this. But I do have a sense that I'm that I'm that I'm very, very loved, and that has changed everything for me. It's been very beneficial. I also have a sense that I'm much more lovable. I also have a sense that I'm much more than some little guy on a planet struggling to try to try to make a living or stay alive or whatever. I get a sense that there's so much more. I I feel like the Father loves me, and if he loves me, he loves you, so he bears witness of you too. And often, if I if I try to get critical of you, what will happen to me is the Father will bear witness of you to me. Because he knows you. I like what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. He says, now we might we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall know as we are known. And I take that to mean that, you know, what the way I it seems to be working in me is I seem to know myself more as God has always known me. Like David said, I am wonderfully and fearfully and tremendously made. And so I present to you that Jesus is our witness of the Father, right? But if we behold this Son of Man, he also bears witness of you, of who you are. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, the father said. What does he say to this? This is my beloved child also. I'll say beloved son, because that's the biblical language we're used to. I can, ladies, you can be a son if I can be a bride, right? So I want you, I want us to look at at Jesus as the witness of who we are as children of God. And the Bible says, for as he is, so are we now in this world. That's big. That takes revelation. For as he is, so are we. So we can look at Jesus this morning, and it's like looking in a mirror, as 2 Corinthians 3 says, and it's like beholding a glass, a mirror, and we're transformed because of what we're seeing in this mirror, because of looking at Jesus. And when we look at Jesus, Jesus is one that came from someplace and was going someplace while he was in the earth, and where he came from was God. Where he was going was God, and where he was at at that moment was with God. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, He's the beginning and the end, was in the beginning, always will be, and we were, the Bible says in Ephesians 1, that we were, that we were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world. We were in in that, in one and the same. The children of the Most High God, wandering around, not knowing who they are. Isn't identity a big thing? Isn't that a big thing that we're that we're we're we're we're we're gulping up and we learn and we're like we're finding out and we get we get excited by by finding out more about who we really are? And you know, Colossians chapter 1 says that that um if you be risen with Christ, then set your attention on things that are above or things that are heavenly, not on the things of the earth. And when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then we also are revealed with him. In other words, when you see him, I like to say when you see who he is, we see who we is. Beloved, 1 John chapter 3, now are we the children of God. Though it doth not yet appear what we shall be like. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him because we'll see him as he is. And what what's happening as you get revelation? Maybe a lot of us started out in religion, maybe we came into this in more religion than some of us wish we did we more religion than we wish we had, but we but we're gaining revelation and we're finding out, you know what, this whole thing wasn't about just morality. This thing wasn't about just right and wrong, good versus evil here. Wasn't about that tree. This was about reality, this was about love, this was about sonship, this was about, we we throw that word relationship around, but we're talking about we're talking about the kind of relationship that's oneness with the Father. And man, oneness with the Father is absolute safety and care. And so God the Father gives us a picture, gives his only begotten Son. And yes, he does many things, but one thing I highlight today, one thing that he does also, is he gives us a picture of who we are. He shows us Jesus is the perfect picture of the finished work. Son of God. Saying things like, the father loves the son. Whatsoever the son has, the father does, because the father loves the son. The father and son. We see a finished work in him, the Alpha, the Omega. It's like, you know, um. I heard, then I looked it up. That you could, if you could, you extract the DNA of a caterpillar and take it to a scientist and let him look at it look at it, he will look at it and he will say, Oh, that's a butterfly. Because it is a butterfly DNA. It's still the same DNA sequence. Whether it's a caterpillar or a butterfly, it's the same person, if you will. And it doesn't change. Certain things get highlighted in the changing, but it's all something that's always been there. There is no caterpillar pillar DNA, and then it becomes butterfly DNA. It's always butterfly DNA. In fact, there's a there is a picture there in that because you look at the caterpillar, what's the caterpillar doing? The caterpillar is more about survival. What's it do? It just eats. And it it eats and it consumes, and it actually can be destructive. But that same being in the transformation, being transformed, a word the Bible uses uses, as a butterfly, it's more about reproduction. And and it's actually beneficial, isn't it? Because it pollinates flowers and things, and so it's it's operating in a different way. But it's the same thing, it's the same being, if you will. And always had that same DNA. But when we look at when those of us that know even a little bit about it, when we look at a caterpillar, we know that that's a butterfly, but it's in that that type of form. And when we look at the butterfly, we know that it's also a caterpillar, but it's the finished work. And the Bible says that we behold, like looking in a mirror. And when we look in the, I love this. When we look in the mirror, it's like beholding the glory of God. Oh, that's that religion will get you too scared to even say that. To look in the mirror and behold God's glory? Who are you? How safe are you? How much of a son of God are you, really? A child of God? Who are we really? Are we these people that are just like nobody likes me and I can't do anything right, and this world's against me, and I'm just it seemed like I take two steps forward and three steps back, and I just, oh and and and are we these people that just keep trying to get through trials and and is it or is it so much bigger than that, and is it more than that? And a lot of it I can't explain. I've got questions, I've got a questioning mind. I've got all kinds of questions, and I got some theories, but a lot of it I don't know, like just like you. But there's such a safety, there's such a goodness, and even being a part of something that's too big for me to know everything about. I love being a child of God. And that revelation is why we have some testimonies. We have stories of yeah, I used to be afraid, I used to be this, and now this happened, and now it's much better. I used to be ashamed. You know, I tell my old I tell my stories a lot. Shame was a big part of it. But the revelation, these revelations deal with that, and transformation does take place. And I'm not become from going from a bad being to a good being. I was always his child. But I couldn't perceive. I didn't, I didn't hear, I didn't know certain things. And I'm starting to hear, I'm starting to know, and I'm starting to perceive. And all that I hear and see and perceive, it continues to bring to bring wonderful changes, and what I'm being changed to is that which I've always been been been been made for the whole time. I've always been loved, I've always been his child. I've always been fearfully and wonderfully made. I've always belonged, even when I felt like I didn't. I've always been connected when I felt so separate. Not only did I feel separate from God, I felt separate from humans. I remember being in school as a kid just thinking like I am so different from everybody in the world. Which there's kind of some truth in some of that. But my but the the the lie was, and they're all the same. And they're all the normal. And they're all the right. And they're all the good. And then there's me and carrying that shame. Carried it into my adulthood. And what begins to change that? Unveiling. Truth. Just truth that makes you free. Revelation. It really brings freedom. Freedom from the shame. The fear. That kind of love, perfect love, drives out fear. In fact, Jesus said in verse 32 of this same verse, this wonderful, powerful statement, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So then the question is, what is the truth? Well, the truth is you've got to be baptized this way and not that way. I had somebody tell me that he believed. He said they taught that in their church, and the truth was Acts 2.38. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. It's a big verse in some circles there. I mean, they build so much around it. In fact, they'll condemn you around it. Acts 2.38 says, and they were baptized in Jesus' name. You think, what's so bad about that? Well, what name were you baptized in? Father, Son, Holy Ghost? Well, then you're wrong. You need to get baptized again. You're not even in. You're not even a part of this. It wasn't until I found out that that truth made me free. And so, you know, we play around in these all these religious things and all this moralism and all the religion and all what's right and what's wrong, and we get into the Bible and we try to find which rules are we supposed to follow, which ones are important, what's the right theology? Because isn't that what God's going to ask us? That, you know, when we all stand before Him, He's going to say, Did you figure out the right theology or not? Were you a part of the right church? Somebody. It's stand before God. They stand before God and God says, tells the dog, you know, that his life, and the dog realizes he's done these bad things, and the dog is so sorry and so pitiful, and so the dog says, I'm really, really sorry, and God says, Well, that's that's that that that's fine. Go ahead and enter on in since you repent. And the cat stands forward, comes forward, and God says, Well, cat, look at this. What do you have to say for yourself? And the cat says, I believe you're in my chair. That's a confidence before God. You won't believe. I just thought of a scripture says that we're seated with him in heavenly places. Amen. You'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Well, John chapter 1 said, but he said, you know what? No, no man had perceived God. King James says, had seen God at any time, but the Son has declared him. You'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. And so we love this message of God's grace and his love and his goodness because Jesus is all about that. Your father loves you, he's a good father. Your father cares, your father will hear, your father will give, your father. It's his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. But in all that imperception, and all we know there's been lies, we know there's been things that we didn't, we misunderstood, things that we believed that were just not true, and thank God for revelation. Thank God that there is a spirit of truth that that helps us to get past all the spirit of deception, if you will. And there is a word for that, and it's translated in the Bible as sin. And it's the word hamartia, hamartia, or something like that. And and it looks like this because you know you've looked it up or you've heard it. It means it literally does mean to miss the mark. It also means to not partake in an inheritance. Um, it literally was used in Greek language commonly, if somebody uh, you know, said that you were in Hamartia, uh, it could be because you had the voice of an opera singer, but you were spending all your time digging a ditch to make a living. And they would say that you are hamartia or you have missed your calling or missed your mark. You're living a life that you weren't meant to live, a life that's not really you. That's what it literally means. And when it says Al have sinned or Al have hamartiah and come short of the glory of God, we can look at that again. It's like this target here. They've all missed the bullseye, they've all missed the mark, literally. And so we live these human lives, oblivious to so much, oblivious to love, and and religion is responsible for a lot of that, we have to admit. Um and and oblivious to life, oblivious to love, oblivious to goodness, where religion didn't become something about a loving father, religion became something about us trying to please and appease this. Can we look at the target again that we just looked at? This God, because I want us to see that all have come short, and every everybody and everything, even whether it was Moses or anything, did not really hit the bullseye. Even Moses, with his wonder being a wonderful man, if you will, and having this powerful ministry was still not a ministry of life. The Bible says it was a ministry of death, it was the ministry of condemnation. And so Jesus comes along many, many years later, and the Bible says, no man has seen God, no man has hit the mark. Who is God? Well, he's this, well, he's that, well, he's this, well, he's that. And he says, no, they all have martyria. They all came short of the glory of God. Nobody has done the father justice. Nobody has perceived him, therefore nobody has described him to us, nobody has really declared him to us, nobody has demonstrated, nobody has made God clear and plain to us. They all have come short of the glory of God. But the Son who's in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. Now, Isaiah 49, verse 2 says this God has made me a polished shaft. In his quiver, he has hidden me. Since we're using targets and arrows, I use this verse here. So this is this is talking about the Messiah that would become. This is Jesus. So he's going to be an arrow, and he's going to hit the mark. Now, all those that missed the mark, what we have done is hemartia literally in plain language would mean to live a lie. To live a lie. Have you ever felt ashamed of who you were? That's living a lie. Afraid. Afraid of not pleasing or appeasing God, afraid of death, afraid of living under this thing that's a lie. Isaiah, the book of Isaiah says, you know what? What he's going to do in this day, talking about new covenant days, and we know he says, he says, I am going to overflow your refuge of lies. I'm going to wash away that refuge of lies that you're buried under. He says, and your agreement with death will be annulled, and your covenant with Sheol shall not stand. And that's the lies. So God made Jesus a polished shaft. We're going to do something here. And here's this other word. There is an opposite word. There is a Greek word that means the exact opposite of miss the mark. And it literally means hit the mark. Hamartia means miss the mark. Toncano means to hit the mark. And this is the word tucano here, to hit the mark. Hebrews 7.25 says that Jesus ever lived, this is standard version, King James Version, ever lives to make intercession for you. That word intercession is toccano. He ever lives to hit the mark for you. He ever lives to show you who God really is when all have come short of his glory. He ever lives to declare the Father. He ever lives to reveal the Father. To this day, we look at Jesus and we're beholding the glory of the Father. Jesus hits the mark for us. That's why, if you're ever confused about the scriptures and some of it looks un-Jesus-like, go with that. Because Jesus hits the mark. Because there's other writings in here. That can be beneficial in a lot of ways, but if you want to know who God is, you can't go to especially a lot of the Old Testament stuff to figure out who God is. If you want to see who God is, one thing we can do is look at Him who hit the mark. And not only does He hit the mark about you, He hit the mark about everything. What's heaven like? What's the kingdom of heaven? What is it all about? Well, Jesus hits the mark on that too. What about me? Who am I? Jesus hits the mark on that. Judy and I will have these times when we'll just be we'll just have quiet time. We call it meditating. If that's a scary word to you, you can call it listening. But we'll ask God a question. And the question I ask most often, personally, is I say, Father, who am I? And then I say nothing else, then we get quiet for a while. I mean quite a while. We just get quiet. And then we'll just let the Lord show us things. Oh, it's beautiful. And every time it's closer to the mark, it's more of that. You can't just listen and let the Spirit of God show you. You'll feel love, you'll feel rest, you'll feel peace, and you'll realize this is reality. I'm in Him and He's in me. And there is no separation. For I am persuaded that neither height nor depth nor principality, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, any other creature. Not even death itself could separate me from this love of God that I find in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Because he also hits the mark on you. Who are you in Christ? Boom. Him in you, you in him, one with him, one in him, one with him, with the Son of God. Who are you today? Who am I? You and I are God's beloved child. And anything that speaks contrary to that is a falsehood. And now, see, when you can see things like this, you don't have to play the mind games of like, oh, that's a lie. I gotta not think that. I'm not supposed to think that. Nope, I'm not gonna this goes beyond that. This goes into awareness that, okay, yeah, I'm having these thoughts. But deep down I know the truth. And that truth is what makes me free. And the thoughts are just thoughts. And the fears are just fears and the shame that comes through and goes, and all these feelings and all that, they're just they're they're there. And they're real feelings and real thoughts. But they're not you. Because if you want to see who you are, then look in the mirror. Just look in the mirror. And I think we got a good picture of this. We read about one time out on the sea of Galilee. We had disciples out in a boat. Jesus sent them out because he was spending time praying, and then pretty soon they see somebody walking on the water. And they thought he was a spirit. Because a physical body can't do that. It's got to be a ghost. Not a real physical human. It was Jesus, a real human. He said, It's me. Is it really the is it really you? If it is, bid me to come out. Tell me to come out under the water, and I will, Peter says. Now, here's what the mirror says. Here's what Jesus says. The as he is, so are you, says. He looks at you, Peter, and he says, I will. I do will this. He said, if you will, come on. Walk with me. And we see a picture of Jesus, and we see Peter. And what's Peter looking at? The mirror, Jesus. As he is, so am I. But as long as he looked at the target and pressed toward the mark. As long as he looked at the target. What was he doing? He was doing what Peter could do. In him. Well, it's almost like Jesus is showing us something in the story. He says, I'm inviting you to behold. When the veil is removed. I'll finish with this verse, 2 Corinthians 3. I've quoted it two or three times already. Verse 18, but we all with an unveiled face behold as in a mirror. And we see the glory of the Lord. And we're transformed into that same image from glory to glory by the Spirit who's the revealer of truth. We know in that passage it also says, when the veil is removed, when the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is removed, and we behold that glory. Thank God for the Spirit of truth who unveils the glory. And that's what's happening to you. And it's wonderful and it's beautiful and it makes me excited for you and for me. Because that's what's happening. And we're looking at him. When we see who he is, we see who we is, and we're beholding when we look at Jesus the finished work. And when the caterpillar looks at the butterfly, he says, That's who I am. Jesus ever lives to hit the mark for you and show you who you are in the Father's house. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall know as we are known. Daddy knows you. Daddy's showing you. Revealing to us who we are. And what I really would like to drive home is that the spirit of revelation invites us to behold the finished work and let it do what he does. Because in him we are complete. In him. And something less than that is a deception. For in him is where we live and move and have our being. And Jesus says, Let me show you who you are. Would you all stand up? Thank you for your time this morning. And I want to pray again. It's the spirit of Paul, I mean the prayer of Paul that he prayed in Ephesians, is that I pray that the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, that we may know the hope of our calling, who we are. The exceeding riches of his glory that's within us. And the greatness of that power that abides within us, that same power, same power that he worked in Christ. And seated him above every name that is named, whose body we are. Father, I thank you for your blessing. I thank you for what you're doing in the house. I thank you for revelation. I thank you for the peace that people are finding. I thank you for the joy. I thank you for the oneness that people are finding in you. I thank you for the kingdom of heaven is being perceived. And I give you praise for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Can y'all say amen? Be blessed today. Have a wonderful day.