 Okay. The recording is on and welcome everyone to our lecture on BC 308, Revelation and Daniel. Thank you for joining the class today. Let's take a moment to pray and then we will get started. May I ask somebody to please lead us in prayer and then we will start. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you under the name of Jesus. I thank you for this day. Thank you for the class we are about to have. And God, I thank you for being a God who speaks and who reveals things to Jesus. And as Pastor Asha teaches the truth, God, God, I pray that Jesus will help us to open our mind and heart and listen to it and to be fully convinced in the truth and to prepare ourselves for the greater calling and purpose that we have placed in our life, Jesus. Be with us, hold the spirit you teach us. We declare complete strength over Pastor Asha. We thank you that you are healing him through the process, Jesus. And God, I pray for all my classmates. Bless them all in the name of Jesus. Be with us throughout the session. Help us to have a good wife connection as well. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right. So we had just started our study on Revelation. We had gone through Revelation chapter one and then we had some questions. So I will start by answering the questions that Jeff had put in the Google classroom based on Revelation chapter one. We will answer these questions first and then we will move forward. And of course, if there are any other questions, please feel free to ask. So Revelation chapter one, the question is from verse four. Maybe I'll just copy paste what Jeffino has shared in the chat so others can see it. The questions and it's of course, it's on the, oh wait a minute, it's being cut. Okay, I can't paste the whole thing. Anyway, let me just share my screen then. All right. I'm just sharing the question that's from the class from Google classroom. So you can see the questions. Everyone can see the questions here. Yes, you can see but it's too small. It's too small. Okay. Let me just increase this then. It's too small. I have to increase the size. Hopefully it looks a little better now and I can make it a little bigger. All right. It's better. And now it's clear. All right. So these are the questions from the Google class from the sharing. It will quickly go through it and then we will continue. So first one is on chapter four, who are before his throne is that literal in heaven are there literally seven thrones for the spirit. So this is chapter four and he says there are seven spirits who are before his throne. So what we know is the throne of God. Now that's a little throne. So God is seated on the throne, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. But people have visions of heaven. They see heaven. They see the Father seated on the throne. They see the eternal Word or the Son of God seated on the throne at his right hand or standing before the throne and so on. So that aspect is literal because we're seeing it in many places throughout scripture. But in verse four, what it says, the seven spirits who are before his throne. That's where we said that seven spirits, we have to take it as prophetic words, meaning seven, meaning perfection, completeness. Spirit, there's only one Holy Spirit. So it's talking about the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God before the throne, but he is seven, meaning he's complete. He's perfect. So the throne is literal and the language to describe the perfection of the Holy Spirit, the seven spirits. So that's what we read in verse four. So one Holy Spirit, but he's completely perfect. Next question. That was the first question now. Next verse six. It says, and it's made as kings and priests to his God and Father, meaning can you give more explanation on this phrase? Kings and priests to his God and Father. So things and priests. Now that's a very interesting phrase in both the Old and New Testament. There are certain phrases or certain pictures that God uses about his people. For example, in the Old Testament, God says, you know, that in the Old Testament, we have the understanding of priests, but of course only selected people for priests. In the New Testament, all of God's people are priests. But even under the Old Testament, God told his people, you know, you are a nation of priests. That means they're there to serve, they're there to worship God. The same thing carries over in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God often refers to his people as his bride, God being the bridegroom. The same thing is in the New Testament. God refers to his people as his bride, Jesus Christ, the bridegroom. So there are these parallel pictures in the Old and the New. And these are pictures of words that God is using to describe certain characteristics of his people. So here, very specifically, the Lord Jesus, John is speaking and telling us that the Lord Jesus has made us were six kings and priests to God his Father. So you'll also see in some places, it's as a kingdom of priests. So there is this king aspect and there's a priest aspect. A king aspect or a kingdom aspect represents dominion, authority, the rulership of God being expressed through his people. The priest aspect expresses us here to serve God, worship Him, pray, intercede. So as kings and priests, we are involved in two roles or two purposes. To administer his kingdom, to be a part of carrying out the kingdom purposes of God, the rule of God. And as priests, we're here to represent people before God. We're here to serve God through worship and prayer and spending time in His presence. So both these aspects are highlighted, kings and priests, kingdom priesthood. And that's what it means. And we see this in other places in the New Testament for Spirit chapter 2. It is a royal priesthood, kingship priesthood. Then next question of Versaite. So Jesus is saying in Versaite, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. It says the Lord who was and is and is to come. So the end, the one who said this verse, how are we saying it's Jesus who is speaking? So the terms Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who was who is to come. We see both God the Father and the Lord Jesus using this even in the Old Testament. God says I'm the beginning and the end. So the reason we are saying it's the Lord Jesus is because the same thing is repeated in verse 11. In verse 11, when he says I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, what you see, you write in this book. So we just keep in mind that the same person is continuing to speak. And in verse 11, he's saying the same thing. And it is very clear that the one who is speaking is the son of man. Verse 11, 12, 13. So therefore we can infer that the person who was speaking in verse 8 is the same person. So that's how we can say it's the Lord Jesus speaking. But the title Alpha, Omega, beginning and end is used both by God the Father and God the Son. And then there's another question. What is the third heaven? Does that mean there are first and second heaven as well? So the answer is yes. In the New Testament you find the term third heaven to refer to the place where God dwells. So which obviously implies there's a first heaven and the second heaven as we understand it. So the word heaven or heavens is used many times in the Bible. But depending on the context, we should understand which heaven is being referred to. So there is a first heaven, which we generally call the atmospheric heaven. That is the heavens that are surrounding the earth. We call it the physical heaven or the celestial heaven. And the psalmist would say, when I look at the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, what is man? That you're mindful of him. So that's the first heaven. It's the atmospheric heaven. If you want to use the word the universe in which we dwell. That's the first heaven. There is a second heaven, which is the spiritual side to the heavenlies. So the first heaven is a physical heaven. The second heaven is a parallel spiritual heaven. It's the realm in which we have, for instance, principalities and powers, demonic powers operating the second heaven. So sometimes we picture it like layered. First layer around the earth is the physical heaven, the atmospheric heaven. Then another layer around it is the second heaven. Now it doesn't necessarily have to be like that. And it's not like that. It's just a picture, the second heaven. But actually, the second heaven actually touches the earth, meaning it's the spiritual realm that encompasses the world in which demon powers operate. Spirits of wickedness, darkness operate. But angels also operate. God sends his angels to operate. So it's a parallel world. That's the second heaven. The third heaven is beyond the first and the second heaven. So if you want to picture it, we would put it outside, you know, beyond the second heaven. But the third heaven literally is the realm in which God lives. It is very far and it is also very near. So what do you mean? It's very far because it's beyond what we can understand. It's not a place like we can shoot a rocket or a spacecraft to and go and visit or something. It's so far, but it's very near because there is no distance in the realm of the spirit. So the Lord is here. He's in heaven, but He's also here. Heaven is a throne. The earth is a footstool. So He's like, He's never away from the earth. So it's far in the sense that, you know, it's not something we just step into and out. But it's also very near. That's the third on the realm in which God lives. Okay. So I hope I answered those questions. Any follow-up? Is it clear? Sure. It's clear. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions from Revelation chapter one? Okay. So now we are going to step into Revelation chapter, let me just pick up in the end of chapter two, sorry, end of chapter one, and then we will move into chapter two. So in Revelation end of chapter one, we see Jesus, and we said, you know, the last class, the week before last, that He is walking among the candlesticks, and each of these candlesticks are representing one of the seven churches. So again, candlestick, very interesting because it's an Old Testament picture in the Tabernacle. And that picture of the Old Testament is being carried over into the New Testament, and it is being used to represent the local church. Very interesting. In the Old Testament, what we said was in the holy place, which is from the outer court, you come into the holy place. In the holy place, there is a candlestick, which gives light because there is no other source of light in the holy place. It gives light. And that is where the priest would, he had two things to do. He had to change the bread, the special bread, it's called the show bread. He had to change that, replace that. He had also to the altar of incense, the incense that is burnt up. He had to keep the fire going. And it was a candlestick that gave light in the holy place for the priest to be able to do these two things, which symbolizes for us the word of God and prayer and worship. So revelation being given so that God's word, prayer and worship can happen in the holy place. So that candlestick is now used as a picture of the church. And it says here that in verse 20 says that the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamsters, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands, which you saw are the seven churches, Revelation 1 verse 20. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So lampstands, each lampstand representing one of the church in the presence of the Lord. And the seven stars, each star representing the angel of each of those churches. And we also had mentioned the word angel in the Greek simply means messenger. And depending on the context, we would say, is it an angelic messenger? Is it a demon, Satan's messenger? Or is it a human messenger, a preacher, the Gospel, or a human person? So we said that these seven stars had to represent the leader of each of the local churches, whom the Lord Jesus is having in his hand. It means two things. Of course it means protection. He's protecting the leader of each of the church. But it also means accountability. It means the Lord Jesus is holding the leader of each of the local church accountable. He's holding them accountable, holding them in his hand. So it's a very serious thing. Many times we say, I want to be a pastor. I want to lead the local church. Very nice. Of course it's a calling, but we must understand the seriousness of it. He is holding us in his hand. He's protecting us, thank God. But he's holding us accountable. And he is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. And he's walking verse 13. He's in the midst of the seven lampstands. He's in the midst of his local church. He's examining, he's seeing what's happening. So with that picture, of course we see Jesus having described himself as the resurrected one. The one was conquered. Death at hell was 18. He has the keys of hate and death. And he has authority. He's conquered it. And he has complete authority. He has complete dominion over hades and death. And this Lord is now speaking to each of these seven churches. Now the question we have to ask is today, of course he spoke to only seven churches. At that time, when revelation was being given to John, there were many hundreds of churches all across that region. So it's not that there were only seven churches. There were hundreds of churches planted. The apostles had gone. The disciples had gone all across Asia Minor. They had even started traveling to other places, planted many churches. So obviously there were hundreds of churches. But here we have a record of the Lord's message to the seven churches. It is very interesting, as we will get into chapter 2 and 3, that to each of the seven churches, it begins by saying, it begins by the Lord Jesus addressing the church. But it ends by saying, let him who has ears to hear. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. It's very interesting. So for each of the seven churches, you see this pattern. The Lord begins to speak and he introduces himself in a very specific way to each church. And each message ends by saying, this is what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Interesting. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who takes what Jesus is saying and speaks to us. Jesus mentioned that in John chapter 16, verses 13, 14, 15. He said, I will send the Spirit of truth. When he's come, he will lead you into all truth. He will show you things to come. He will take what I am saying and he will speak it to you. So today, the Holy Spirit is speaking to each of us. What the Lord is saying. Now, we understand it as true for every believer. But in this context, as leader of a local church, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you what the Lord Jesus is saying about the church, about the local church. Where are you? What is happening? What is good? What is not good? Where do you need to repent? Where do you need to make correction? The assessment of the Lord concerning that local church. The Holy Spirit is speaking to the leader of that church. Every church. The other interesting thing is the plural. He says, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. The Holy Spirit is speaking to the leader of every church and to the congregation through the leader. He is speaking to every church. Each one has to listen. Sometimes we fail to listen. We fail to go before God and say, Lord, what are you saying? Where are we as a church? Are we walking right before you? Are we doing the things you want us to do? Oh God, where do you want to connect us? Where are we missing things? So if we go and ask the Holy Spirit, he's going to speak. He's going to tell us. And I just want to present that to us, those of us who maybe are in leadership today. Or maybe you will be in leadership someday soon. When God gives you responsibility in your church, in your congregation, or over a community of people. However God gives you. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you and me. What the Lord is saying to each of us, to each community. And we have to listen. So let's read portion by portion from Revelation chapter 2 and 3. And this is very, very, very interesting, very powerful. To look at what he has to say to each church. And for us to take some lessons from it and begin to apply it in our own lives, in our own ministries. So let's, somebody could read Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 please. Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7. To the angel of the church of Ephesus, write these things. These things say, he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lifestyles. I know your works, your labor, your patience and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not. And have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works. Or else, I'll come to you quickly and remove your lamestan from its place, unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let me, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I'll give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Amen. There's a lot here that we can look at. Revelation chapter two was one to seven, the first of the seven churches. The Lord is addressing the church in Ephesus to the angel. So we said angel, messenger, human person in this context. Because spiritual angels are not pastoring the church or leading the church. It's a human person who's leading the church to the messenger of the church. That is the spiritual leader there, give a message. So the Lord is speaking to the leaders. People are in authority or responsibility. This is what I want to say to you. And through the church in Ephesus, the Lord identifies himself like this. As the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand. And as the one who's walking in the midst of the seven golden lamestans. So in other words, he's saying, if you just touch the leader, I want you to know this. I'm the one. I've got every leader in my hands, which we explained earlier. It's a symbol of protection, but it's also a symbol of accountability. And I'm also walking in the midst of the star. That means I am observing. I am paying attention to everything that's happening in the local church. It's not like, you know, I'm just letting all these churches go on. No, no, this is the one who's speaking. The Lord is the one. He's holding every leader accountable. And he's observing what's happening in every local church. So that's the one who's speaking. Revelation two was one. So what does the Lord have to say in the church of Ephesus? Now, keep in mind, what is this church in Ephesus? It was founded or let's say it was established by the Apostle Paul. Who was the one who established the church in Ephesus? Paul, Acts 19 in his third missionary journey. The Apostle Paul had come to Ephesus. He spent three years, maybe even a little more than three years in Ephesus. There were great signs and wonders and many people turned to the Lord. And while Paul was at Ephesus during those three years, he trained many young people. Their names are listed in Acts chapter 20, the first four verses. You read at least about 12 different young men, maybe more whom he trained. While he was in Ephesus and these people would have gone and planted more churches in Asia. So we're talking about a church, a local church that could say the Apostle Paul was the one who started this community. So it's not a, you know, I mean, I'm speaking in human terms. It's not a, you know, we don't know how the judge said it. No, the great Apostle Paul was the one who came, who preached here, who established this church. And then we also know that, you know, after Paul was in prison in Rome, around AD 64 or AD 66, when he was released, he came, the Apostle Paul came, and he appointed Timothy to be the leader of the church in Ephesus. So the church in Ephesus could also say not only did the Apostle Paul was the person who started the church, but excuse me, but Timothy, somebody trained by the Apostle Paul, somebody whom Paul said is my beloved son, he was our next pastor, our next bishop. So this was not an ordinary church. This was a wonderful, you know, they had wonderful leadership. So from AD, around 66 approximately, we don't know the date for sure, but estimated from AD 66 to now it is AD 96, 30 years later. Timothy has been, Timothy has been, was the next pastor. Now we don't know in AD 96 who exactly was the leader of the church in Ephesus, whether it was Timothy or somebody else. The transition would have happened and somebody else may be in leadership. We don't know for sure. The name is not given, but what I wanted to point out is, as a local church, Ephesus has had a history of true, true wonderful leaders, maybe now they have transitioned there in a third generation of leadership at this point. But, you know, it's not an ordinary congregation. So that's the church the Lord is speaking to. And what's he telling them? He says, Pashto, I know your works, I know what you're doing, your ministry. I know your labor, that means you're working very hard. I know your endurance, that means you're, you have a lot of patience and you're tough. You don't give up easily. And you're also very discern, you know, you are also a church that holds on to the truth. So you cannot bear those who are evil. So it's a very righteous church. It's a very diligent church, very fervent church, very righteous church. Very discerning. You've tested those who say they're apostles. You found them liars. You know, if anything is needed in today's church, the modern day church, it is this, the discernment. Sometimes the discernment is so lacking in our modern day church. You know, I feel so bad when I see some of the things happening. But this Ephesian church was very discerning. So somebody could say, I'm an apostle. I'm a prophet, whatever. But these people are very discerning. It's just, you tested those who say they're apostles and you found them liars. Meaning you just don't, you're not very gullible. You don't just believe anything. You don't fall for anything. You are. This is a very discerning church. Right? So they are, they're very fervent. They're very diligent in their work. They are very enduring, very strong. They hold on to righteousness. They are very discerning. And verse three, they are untiring. They persevere. They live without tiring. So if you look at the Ephesian church today, verses two and three, you know, by our understanding, this is a very good church, very good church, local church. Very healthy because they are serving. They are righteous. They are discerning. They are persevering. They are untiring. I'm very, very good church. Very good local church. I mean, it has like, people probably give 100 on 100. This is a very good church. But the Lord is looking for something. And he finds something lacking. And that's the touching part. Then such a good church, such a good church. You know, we would recommend, oh, this is the best church in the city. Maybe, I don't know. Oh, this is a wonderful church. But God, the Lord is finding something lacking. What is it? And it's not a small thing. It's a very serious thing. That's verse four. It says, nevertheless, I mean, you know, all these things are good things. But there is something against you. There's something. You have left your first love. You have left your first love. Only God can see that. Only the Lord can see it. Because when people look at the church, they say, wow, this church really loved Jesus. I mean, look at all that they're doing. They're working hard. They have a fervent for his name. They are holding on to the truth. They are discerning. They are enduring. They are untiring. Oh, they really love Jesus. But something is wrong. It's only the Lord can see. What is it? It's not that they don't have the love for the Lord. But so notice, he didn't say you have left or you have stopped loving. But you've left your first love. That means you've departed from that place of keeping him first. So if you ask the leader of the church or you ask the congregation, do you love Jesus? Yes, we love Jesus. So it's not that they have stopped loving the Lord. They still love the Lord. True. But what has happened? The love for the Lord comes down the line. Maybe I don't know, third or fourth or fifth or something like that. You have left your first love. That means my love for God for the Lord is not fast. It's not that I don't have love for God. The church has love for God. They still love the Lord. Just that they don't love him first. Maybe second, maybe third, maybe fifth, I don't know. The inference we can make is that maybe all these good things that they were doing, the works, the ministry, the holding on to the truth and discerning of false apostles and the untiring work for God, maybe those things became more important. And then number five, number six, I love the Lord. Do you still love the Lord? Yes, yes, we love the Lord. But he's not the first love. And that is what the Lord found. So has something against you. There's a problem. Now, is this a serious problem? It's a very serious problem in the eyes of the Lord. How serious it is? Is it? Because he says, verse five, Remember from where you have fallen, that means when I leave my first love, there is no chance for me to go up. When I leave my first love for God, the only trajectory is down. Remember from where you have fallen means you've gone down. You were here. You're a very good church. You're doing all the busy, busy things, but gone down. So spiritually, you're actually on a downward trajectory. But like I said earlier, you know, when people come and see the church, that's a very good church. Look at all that's happening. Look at all the, you know, all these good things. Very good church. But spiritually, the church is actually going down. So the Lord, it's a very serious thing. That's why the Lord is alerting them. Remember from where you have fallen, what is the solution? He says, verse five, repent and do the first works. The word repent literally means to have a change in my thinking. Many times we hear the definition of the word repent as, you know, to make a hundred and 180 or 360 degree turn. You know, you're going one way. You go the other. You start going the other way. That's true. That's repentance. But what causes that kind of a change? It's not changing. It would change your thinking. That means I have to pause and say, hey, the Lord has to be my first love. All these things are good. All these ministry is good. But the Lord has to be my first love. That has to change. That is repentance. I have to change my thinking and accept that and say, yeah, that is true. And that's the way I want to live by keeping the Lord as my first love. Repent and do the first works. So it's not enough to say it in my mind and say, yeah, Lord, you're number one in my life. The way the Lord is going to see that he is number one in my life is when I do the first works. What are the first works? It's the works that express my first love. I mean, it's the things that I do towards the Lord. And what I would do as a Lord being my first love, which really, if you put it in simple terms, it means you seek God first. You love him first. You worship him. You spend time with him. You spend time in his word. These are simple things. But these are the first works, expressing our first love. Because this church was good. It was doing everything else. It was not tolerating evil. It was very discerning, all very good church, but the first works. And this was so serious because he says in verse five, if you don't make a change, if you don't make a change, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place. That's verse five. Very serious. If you don't do the first works, I'll remove your lampstand from its place. You have to think about that. What does it mean for the Lord to remove the lampstand from his presence? So the church is going on on the earth. The church on the earth is represented by a lampstand in the presence of the Lord. And he's speaking to the church in Ephesians, which is on the earth, saying you need to repent. You need to do your first works. And if you don't, if you don't change, I'll remove your lampstand from its place. I mean, there's going to be no, this church on earth is going to have no representation, no connection to the very presence of the Lord who is the head of the church. Which means the activity of the church can go on here on earth. It will keep running, of course. It will keep running on the earth. But its lampstand is not before the presence of the Lord. It has no representation and has no connection whatsoever in the presence of the Lord. That is very serious. It's very serious. Okay? I know our time is almost up. We haven't finished this, so we will review this again next week. I see there's a question in the chat. John says, So the local church can serve people at different spiritual levels. How should we understand this as a general word of correction? Even now, for example, we intentionally keep time at prayer, worship more God's word even during the week to focus on spending more time with God, to love God more, not everyone tends. So how do we address this? Not everyone is interested to. Yeah, I think one is at a personal level. At a personal level. So remember that this first works is not something we, not only the corporate, but also the personal. So we encourage people to maintain your first love. That means your first thing to do, even before you come and be involved in ministry and church and all of that, is to do your first works, which is, hey, you take time to seek God. You take time to pray. You take time to keep God as the first love in your life. So basically every individual, we encourage them to keep God as the first love in your life. Love the Lord, your God with all your heart. So that's the first thing. Personally that everyone from the leader on to everyone in the congregation, put the Lord God first in your life. And then we invite the church to focus on that through simple things. Of course, practically things will be varying because of, you know, from place to place, city to city, but whatever is practical to get people focused, keep the focus of the people on the Lord, on his word, on loving him, worshiping him. And then what we do coming out from that place, of keeping him as our first love. So even if you're meeting once a week, that's fine. It's okay. But as long as in that gathering, our focus is on him, loving him first. So we will pick up on this more next week. I haven't finished, but these are good questions. These are good questions, practical questions we have to ask. How do we apply what the Lord spoke in Ephesians, through the church in Ephesians? How do we apply that in our lives? We will continue this discussion next week. Okay. All right. So I would request somebody to please close on the prayer. I'm sorry. I'm doing only one class today. I will be fully better next year, next week, and we will pick up speed and we will cover revelation. Okay. So could somebody lead us in prayer and we will dismiss. That's great. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you under the name of Jesus. I thank you for the state. Thank you for the class that we had, and God help us to get back to our first love, the ways that you first always hold on to, into the place of love. We stand in all of you, Jesus. And God, I pray that Jesus, even we, as we are the keeping asset to be the ministers of God, will keep all these things in our mind. And as we are in your hands, God will be accountable in everything that we do, Jesus. And God, once again, I declare complete healing and strength over our structures. And we thank you for everything that you're doing and it's like, and we thank you for the class that we have. We give you all the glory and honor and Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you everyone. We'll connect again next week. Have a good rest of the day. See you soon. God bless you. Bye.