John 1:1-4
What Was Heard, Seen, and Touched
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--
2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness,
and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested to us--
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,
that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

1 John 2:24-29
Let Truth Abide in You
24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the
Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you,
and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing
teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie,
and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The Children of God
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone
who practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 3:1-3 & 16 & 23-24
The Command to Love
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been
revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

​His Life For Us
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

His Commandment
23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of
His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.
And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.​

Robby Gallaty - Adam Shows Up at Jesus’ Tomb (Most People Miss This)
April 13, 2026

Chapter 1: The "Gardener" Mystery: Unlocking the Resurrection

The morning Jesus rose from the dead, Mary Magdalene looked him right in the face and thought he was the gardener. Most people read that and move on. Don't do that. Because the one word gardener is the key to unlocking the entire resurrection account. And nobody talks about it. But here's what makes this personal. At some point in your life, maybe right now, you felt like you've been hiding from God or maybe hiding from the people you love. Maybe even hiding from yourself. That feeling is older than you think. It goes all the way back to the first pages of the Bible. 

Chapter 2: The First Garden: Adam's Real Job in Eden

Before we get into why Mary mistook Jesus for a gardener at the tomb, we have to go all the way back to the first garden in the Bible. Genesis chapter 2 say this. "The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east. And there he placed the man he had formed. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. See, what God's doing is God creates a garden and he places man in the middle of it and he gives him a job. Now, most people skip over this, but what was Adam's job in the garden? Well, he was a gardener. Genesis 2:15 tells us that God placed Adam in the garden to work it and to keep it. 

Chapter 3: The Serpent's Question: Why We Choose Our Own Way

The serpent then shows up and his first question to Adam and Eve is the same question, and he whispers into your ear and my ear today, did God really say? You see, if Satan can get us to question God's word, then we'll serve ourselves instead of God. And that's exactly what happened. Adam and Eve didn't want to be with God. They wanted to be God. They didn't want to live by the word of God. They wanted to have the last word in everything. And the ripple effects of that are the devolution of humanity after that. Cain kills Abel. Noah's generation rejects God. The people ascending the Tower of Babel follow suit. When you get to the book of Judges, you know what it says. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. You see, the reason you and I should listen to God's word over our own ideas, beliefs, or feelings is because God made us. And therefore, he knows what's best for you and for me. 

Chapter 4: The Setup: Man, Woman, and a Garden

So, here's the setup. Don't miss this. A man, Adam, fails in a garden. A woman named Eve is deceived. The curse enters the world. Hold all of those elements together. A man, a woman in a garden because that scene is about to replay in a very different way. 

Chapter 5: The Scene Replayed: A Sunday Morning Outside Jerusalem

Those three elements at the scene of the first crime are going to show up thousands of years in the
future on a Sunday morning outside of Jerusalem. Same three elements, completely different outcome. Let's go to John 20:14-16. "Woman, Jesus said to her, "Why are you crying? Who is it that you're seeking?" Supposing Jesus was the gardener. She replied, "Sir, if you've carried away Jesus, tell me where you've put him and I will take him away." Jesus says, "Mary." And it's at that moment she recognizes who he is. And she says, "Rabbi," which means teacher, "Can you figure out what's going on here?" Mary turns around and sees Jesus standing there. But she doesn't know it's him. He asks her, "What are you looking for? Who are you looking for?" And she thinks he's the gardener. Has that ever puzzled anyone? a gardener. Really? 

Chapter 6: The Second Adam: Why Jesus is the Master Gardener

Well, let's go back to Genesis. What was Adam's first job in Eden? He was a gardener. Now, look at the scene again. We have a woman in a garden, the scene of the first crime. Only this time, it's not Adam and Eve. It's Jesus, the second Adam, and Mary. In the first garden, the man Adam failed the woman and brought the curse into the world. In this garden, the man Jesus finds the woman and breaks the curse. Jesus, in a sense, is the master gardener, removing all the weeds of sin and death from the soil of our hearts. Mary's mistake actually wasn't a mistake at all. It was the Bible telling you and me exactly who Jesus is. He's the one who came to redo what Adam got wrong. 

Chapter 7: Reversing the Curse: Overcoming Every Temptation

But here's the thing. Only someone who overcame every temptation that Adam failed at could actually reverse the curse. And that is what Jesus came to do. The only one who could repair the curse of the fall is the one who overcame temptation. Jesus did what Adam never could. He died in our place for our sin. 

Every one of us today because of that has to make a choice. And the choice is are you going to choose life or death? God's word or the world, the Savior or the serpent? God has set before us today life and prosperity or death and adversity. Which will you choose? 

Thorns by Petra

Such a cruel deception – false security
Nothing I can't handle – thinking I was free
Promises of fortune, dreams of earthly gain
Never satisfying – driving me insane

In my mind consumption, filled with earthy cares
No room to consider - heavenly affairs
Over time, seduction – nothing I can see
Coming to my senses, I'm no longer free

Suddenly I'm surrounded
By the lies that have confounded

Thorns – Got to break away
Thorns – Over my head
Thorns – Choking the life away
Thorns – Just like He said

Where I seek my treasure, there my heart will be
Will it last a lifetime, or eternity?
Chasing empty visions, blinded by desire
Thirsting for the pleasure found in something higher

Got to begin to break free
From the chains that bind me

Thorns – Got to break away
Thorns – Over my head
Thorns – Choking the life away
Thorns – Just like He said

In the garden of my heart, I find the weeds have grown
Tangled up in false desire, I can't do this alone
With His strength, I'll rise again, leaving thorns behind
Walking in His freedom, peace within my mind

Thorns – Got to break away
Thorns – Over my head
Thorns – Choking the life away
Thorns – Just like He said

Mark 4:7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

Psalm 40
New King James Version

Faith Persevering in Trial
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth--
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”

9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.

​1 Peter 5:7
casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

​Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good (encouraging) word makes it glad.

​Psalm 38:18
For I do confess my guilt and iniquity; I am filled with anxiety because of my sin.

​Psalm 42:5
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? 
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him,
​for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.

Psalm 62:5
For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him,
​For my hope is from Him.

​Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.

​Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Propitiation: A Demonstration of God’s Righteous Wrath (Appeased!)
The Gospel in
4 words: Jesus took my place
3 words: Him for me
2 words: Substitutionary atonement (The word propitiation carries the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him.)(With atonement, it's a covering of the sin, so it's making up for the sin, whereas the propitiation also includes this deflection, or turning away, of God's anger.)
1 word: Grace

Listen: https://uploads.sgcapex.org/audio/2025-02-16-Brad-Hodges-Propitiation-A-Demonstration-of-Gods-Righteous-Wrath.mp3

Watch: https://youtu.be/v_1TbqJubIY

Introduction

​21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26
​
Let’s pray together-
Father, I am aware that this passage that is before us this morning is a glorious, mountain-top view of your character and of what you have done to save sinners like us from your holy wrath. And yet there is a risk that I, and others in the room, might be tempted to treat it as ordinary. These are words and ideas that perhaps we’ve heard many times before. I ask that your Spirit would not let that happen. Please stir us up. Give us tender hearts to receive your word. Fill us with a Spirit of thankfulness and confidence because of what you have done. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Over the last four weeks we’ve been slowly working our way through this paragraph in Romans 3 that some people have called the most important paragraph ever written. These six verses describe the beating heart of the gospel more clearly and profoundly than any words ever written. Our focus this morning is on the end of the paragraph, verses 25 and 26. Someone once referred to these verses, and this doctrine that they describe, as “the acropolis of the Christian faith.” If verses 21-24 describe the “what” of our salvation - the righteousness of God given as a gift - then these last two verses deal with the “how” and even the “why.” Here we are at the very root of the matter. How can man be made right with God?

As we’ve seen these last few weeks, there is no single word or idea that can fully express what happened with the death and resurrection of Jesus, so the Bible describes the various features of the gospel using different word pictures. We have several of them here in this paragraph. Last week we thought about justification and redemption. This week we’ll consider a third word picture, that of propitiation.

 If you sometimes feel like we’re throwing words around like justification, redemption, propitiation, and they all seem to mean almost the same thing, there’s a reason that you feel that way. They don’t all mean the same thing, but they’re all circling around the same thing. They’re describing different aspects of the same thing. It’s as if you had a perfectly-cut, thousand carat diamond, and you held it up in the light. As you turn it in your hand, the different facets of the diamond reflect the light differently, and each facet of the diamond is beautiful and significant in its own way. But it’s all the same diamond. The Bible does a similar thing with the gospel. How does the Bible describe our salvation? Is it justification, redemption, propitiation, reconciliation, sanctification? It’s all of these things. Each is a different facet of the diamond. It’s worth doing the work to understand what each of these words mean, because they are all describing something true and wonderful. But rest assured, you can experience them all without knowing exactly what to call them.

Today we’re going to turn the diamond a little bit and consider this other facet of the gospel called propitiation. We’ve seen throughout our Romans series that before the news can be better than you think, it has first got to be worse. Before you can taste the sweetness of God’s mercy, you must first understand the bitterness of his righteous judgement. Perhaps nowhere are those two pillars of truth more tightly joined together into a single structure than they are in this word, “propitiation.” 

Propitiation deals specifically with the issue of the righteousness of God, and his righteous wrath against sin. In verses 23 and 24, Paul proclaimed that glorious and, as we’ve seen, really scandalous truth that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Remember that justification is an image taken from the courtroom. It captures the fact that God, the judge, declares unrighteous sinners to be righteous, not on the basis of anything that they have done, but as a gift. The very righteousness of God is given to us as a gift. The righteousness of God has been the theme of the book of Romans so far. His righteousness has been revealed in the law and in his wrath against unrighteousness. “But now,” Paul says, “his righteousness has been manifested apart from the law” as it has been given to us as a gift. That’s glorious, but it raises a massively important question. Daniel described the problem last week. The question is, “How can this be so?” How can both of those things be true at the same time? How can God give righteousness as a gift, and still be righteous? Daniel cited for us, Proverbs 17:15, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” So there’s a problem. Paul spent the last two and a half chapters describing in excruciating detail how the wrath of God is poured out against the unrighteousness of men, and that none of us - no not one - is righteous. So how on earth can it be that God simply declares us to be righteous, when in fact we are not? What happened to his wrath? What happened to his righteousness? It raises the possibility that God might not, himself, be righteous. It’s an enormous problem that demands an answer. Once again, the fundamental question that the gospel answers is this: How can God be righteous when he declares unrighteous sinners to be righteous? How can he be just in justifying the unjust? Daniel outlined part of Paul’s answer last week, when he described the removal of our sins, and the giving, or imputing, of righteousness to us. But there is still this issue of the wrath of God against sin. There has to be some accounting for it if you’re going to say that righteousness is simply given to us as a gift.

Paul’s answer to that problem is given in this wonderful word, “propitiation.” “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.” The word “propitiate” means “to appease or pacify someone’s anger.” The doctrine of propitiation says simply this; that apart from the gospel, God is angry with us because of our sin. But that rather than punishing us as we deserved, God poured out his righteous anger on his own Son, Jesus, in our place, and satisfied his wrath against sin. Put simply, Jesus suffered the wrath of God in our place. That’s the doctrine of propitiation. It is a precious truth.

I. The Wrath of God

We have to do a bit of groundwork here at the start. This won’t be new to you, but it’s important. When you hear those words, that “Jesus suffered the wrath of God in our place,” some questions should come to mind. The first one might be this: Is that really what God is like? Is God really so angry that he requires a blood sacrifice to appease him? That feels like something that you’d say about one of the pagan gods like Baal or Molech. Is that what the God of the Bible is like?

We’ve seen this in the first two chapters of Romans, but we need to hear it again for these verses to make sense. All of mankind shares a fundamental problem. What is it? If your answer is “sin,” then you only get partial credit. Our most fundamental problem is this: Romans 1:18 - “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Mankind’s big problem is the wrath of God against our sin. God is righteous. We are unrighteous, and the wrath of God is poured out from heaven against the unrighteousness of men. That’s an enormous problem. All other problems pale in comparison. In order for the doctrine of propitiation to make sense, and more than make sense - to be precious to you - you’ve got to have a solid grasp on the reality of God’s wrath against sin. It’s one of the foundational pillars of truth in this world. It’s one of the foundation stones that we discussed a year ago when we studied the book of Genesis. Remember the lesson of the flood. God saw that the earth was corrupt, and he told Noah “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” And so he did. “He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth.” Sin is the cause of our problem. But it wasn’t sin that killed every living thing on earth except for Noah and those with him in the ark. It was God. It was the wrath of God being poured out on the world. The flood was the great demonstration of the God’s wrath against sin that set the pattern for the rest of human history, and his wrath is a recurring theme throughout the rest of scripture.

You can just follow the history of God’s people, Israel, and see how many times the Bible describes God acting in wrath against their unrighteousness. Moses said that God’s wrath “burned hot” at Mt. Sinai when the Israelites built the golden calf. It was in his wrath that he caused the earth to open up and swallow the Korahites after their rebellion in the wilderness, and then in his wrath he sent a plague on the people when they grumbled about it. King Josiah said that God’s wrath burned against Israel in the days of the unfaithful kings, and it was his wrath that destroyed Jerusalem and cast Israel into exile in Babylon. The prophet Nahum gave a terrifying tribute to God’s wrath.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Some might foolishly say, “That was the God of the Old Testament. Jesus came and showed us what God is really like. He’s a God of love and forgiveness.” That’s true. He did, and he is. But what did Jesus have to say about the wrath of God against sin?

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Some of the most terrifying things ever said about God’s wrath, especially about his wrath poured out eternally in hell, came straight from the mouth of Jesus. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that the God of the New Testament is somehow different in character, or more tolerating of sin, than the God of the Old Testament. He is the same God, and he is a God of wrath.

We have to say, of course, that God’s wrath is not like ours, nor is it like the pagan gods. God’s wrath is never impulsive. God doesn’t fly off the handle or lose control. He’s also not unpredictable, or inconsistent. It surely isn’t possible to define God’s wrath, but we can say some things about it. Someone described it as God’s “strong and settled opposition to all that is evil, arising out of his own nature.” That’s pretty good. We might also say that God’s wrath is his righteousness acting against unrighteousness. It is his righteousness in action. We could also say that it’s his righteousness on display. That idea will be helpful for us in these verses that we’re considering today. God’s wrath is his righteousness on display. The point is that it is in God’s nature to be opposed to sin. The apostle John tells us that “He is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” And if God always acts according to his nature - and he does - then that means that he always responds to sin with revulsion and righteous anger. That’s a frightening thought, for sinners such as you and I.

J.I. Packer said this: “Here, then, is every man in his natural state, without the gospel; the final controlling reality in his life, whether he is aware of it or not, is the active anger of God.” “The final controlling reality in his life … is the active anger of God.”

The Forbearance of God

That’s the backdrop for these verses in Romans three. In Paul’s mind, if the wrath of God is his settled opposition to sin, arising out of his very nature, then the shocking thing is not that God would judge our sins. The really scandalous thing - the thing that requires an explanation - is how God could ever overlook a sin. “God is perfectly just,” you say. The prophet Habakkuk says that “He cannot even look upon sin.” Then the obvious question is, “why are we still here?” In the flood, God wiped out all of humanity as a punishment for sin, and that’s exactly what his justice demanded. The question is, why hasn’t he done it again?

As Paul considered God’s character and human history, he wasn’t surprised by how wrathful the God of the Old Testament was. On the contrary, he was shocked at his patience and forbearance. That’s what Paul is suggesting in our passage at the end of verse twenty five when he says, “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” What’s this about? Paul is looking back at the history of the world and saying that God seems to be open to a criticism. The problem is not that God had punished sins. That’s not surprising. The problem is that God would appear to be unrighteous if he were ever to overlook a sin. And he clearly has overlooked a countless number of sins. The Old Testament is full of examples of God’s wrath against sin, but it is just as full of examples of his patience and forgiveness. If it’s true that God’s righteousness always acts against unrighteousness, then how can it also be true that God forgives sins? Perhaps Paul is thinking back to someone like King David. Remember the story, how David stayed at home on his couch while his men went off to battle, then when he saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, he took her for himself. Then to cover it up, he had her husband killed. David was a flagrant law-breaker. He was an unrighteous man. And yet, the prophet Nathan said to him, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” How can that be, Paul? I thought the punishment for sin was death.

The entire history of Israel is an example of God’s wrath, yes, but also his inexplicable patience and forbearance. Remember Nehemiah’s prayer:

But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness.

We read that and we say, “Thank you, God, for your great mercies.” But in Paul’s mind, it presents this problem. It appears that God, the righteous judge of all the earth, has been letting men off the hook. Because we’re Christians who have experienced forgiveness, we have an instinct to expect forgiveness. But the standard for any judge is justice - perfect justice. We have a category for this. Imagine yourself as Uriah’s father, or Bathsheba’s. What would you think about the fact that the Lord put away David’s sin? “Wait a minute, that’s not right.” You might pray as Abraham prayed, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?” What do we think about a judge who lets the guilty off the hook without any punishment? It isn’t right. He’s a corrupt judge. Paul is saying that God appears to be open to this charge. You see the problem. If God is perfectly righteous, then he always does what is right. So God cannot simply overlook man’s sin - any sin - and at the same time be perfectly righteous.

Maybe you’re thinking, “God didn’t overlook the sins of Old Testament saints. What about all of the sacrifices that he required? The Israelites were constantly sacrificing animals to God as payment for their sins.” Again, you’re partly right. The old testament sacrifices had everything to do with sin, but remember what the Bible tells us about the sacrifices. They never truly did away with sins in any permanent way. Hebrews 10 says,

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Do you get what he’s saying? The blood of bulls and goats didn’t really take away sins. You’re going to be right back here again next year, doing the same thing. The bulls and goats didn’t truly satisfy God’s wrath against sin. God commanded Israel to make those sacrifices, and when they obeyed, he accepted their offering and overlooked their sins. But that’s just what God was doing - he was overlooking their sins. He was being patient with them. Justice hadn’t been served. So, come back to Romans, and God is apparently still open to the charge of being unrighteous. The question is still unanswered. If God is perfectly righteous, and always responds to sin with the appropriate amount of righteous revulsion and anger, then how could he overlook the sins of his people for thousands of years with nothing more than some dead goats to show for it? And how can he now simply declare unrighteous people to be righteous?

II. A Demonstration of God’s Righteousness
​
The problem was that God appeared to be unrighteous. So what was necessary was a public demonstration of his righteousness. God’s glory is at stake. Is he righteous or is he not? One possible demonstration would have been another flood, or something like it. God could have just killed us all, and that would have solved the problem. That would have been perfectly just, and it would have demonstrated his righteousness. But the gospel that Paul preached and that we believe is this, that God determined to demonstrate his righteousness in another way. He put forward his own Son, Jesus, as a propitiation - as a wrath-appeasing, righteousness demonstrating, sacrifice, in our place.

There is a risk, maybe, when we describe propitiation as the satisfying of God’s wrath, that we think about it as something that happens entirely behind the curtain, within the godhead. God’s righteousness demanded a certain sacrifice, Jesus offered himself as that sacrifice, and now God is satisfied. That’s true enough. But this is a good reminder that the gospel isn’t primarily a math problem. It isn’t primarily about some behind-the-scenes accounting of debits and credits. The gospel is a many-faceted thing, so I’m not saying that there is none of that going on. But this passage reminds us that sin is first and foremost a personal and public offense against God. It is a public attack on his glory. So what was required to set things right was a public vindication of his glory. God’s righteousness was being called into question, and so a public demonstration of his righteousness was called for. That’s exactly what the cross was. The cross was, perhaps more than anything else, a public demonstration of the righteousness of God.

Paul draws our attention to that fact in a couple of ways. First subtly, then explicitly. First, he says, “whom God put forward.” To “put forward” in this context means “to show” or “to set forth publicly.” God publicly set forth his Son as a propitiation - as a demonstration of his wrath.

Then he makes the point explicitly at the end of the verse. “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time.” We’ve already talked about the problem that Paul is alluding to. The fact that God had simply passed over former sins calls his righteousness into question. But something has now happened that settles the issue once and for all. That phrase “at the present time” has the same feeling as the “but now” in verse 21. Something has changed. They had arrived at the hinge point in history. Things appeared to be one way, but now the truth has been revealed. Paul had a similar message for the men of Athens in the Areopagus. He told them, in Acts 17, that “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” There was a question that hung in the air, unanswered for thousands of years. But now, at the present time, the question has been answered. God’s righteousness has been vindicated. What kind of demonstration would it take to vindicate God’s righteousness? The goats could not do it. Behold, his Son upon the cross.

Next, don’t overlook the crucial fact that it was God himself who put forward the propitiating sacrifice. “Whom God put forward as a propitiation.” That’s the staggering fact that makes the gospel completely unique. If one of the pagan gods was offended, it was up to the offender to offer the propitiating sacrifice. The gods were angry and it was up to you to make it right. In reality, God is angry, but there is nothing you can do to make it right. You have nothing to offer to God, and no public display that you can make, that will satisfy the requirements of perfect righteousness. But, glory to God, he has done what was required. God, himself, in his love, put forward the sacrifice to satisfy his own wrath. John Stott put it this way in his book, The Cross of Christ:

So then, God himself is at the heart of our answer to all three questions about the divine propitiation. It is God himself who in holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiating, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation of our sins. Thus God took his own loving initiative to appease his own righteous anger by bearing it his own self in his own Son when he took our place and died for us.

One other thing about this little phrase, “whom God put forward.” It also helps us to avoid the mistake of thinking that God the Father is the angry one who needs to be propitiated, and that Jesus lovingly stepped in on our behalf and assuaged the Father’s anger. That’s wrong on two front. First of all, the Bible is clear that Jesus, the Son, is the one who will judge the living and the dead. It’s his wrath, especially, that we should fear. And secondly, by distinguishing between God and Jesus in this verse when he says “Christ Jesus, whom God put forward,” Paul seems to be suggesting that it was God the Father who took the initiative in putting forward his Son on the cross as a demonstration of God’s righteousness. That idea is confirmed by what Jesus said in John six, that “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” We should always work hard to think rightly about God. This is an area where modern cultural tropes about angry, overbearing fathers might sneak in and distort our thoughts about God. Let’s avoid that. All of God is full of wrath against sin, and all of God is active in everything that God does, but the Bible describes the Father as the initiative-taker in the matter of our salvation.

To summarize this point, God wrath is his righteousness on display. His righteousness was called into question by the fact that he had formerly overlooked sins, and so a public display of his righteousness was called for. The cross of Christ was the ultimate, indisputable display of God’s righteous wrath for all the world to see.

III. A Propitiation, By his Blood

Let’s continue now and look at this word, propitiation, a little more closely. “Whom God put forward as a propitiation.” We’ve already talked about it, but once again, propitiation means that God poured out his righteous anger on his Son, in our place, and satisfied his own wrath against sin.

There’s something else that you should know about the word that adds an additional layer of meaning to it. Remember how once per year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest brought two goats before the Lord. One of them was killed, and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, inside the holy of holies. The mercy seat was the golden cover on the arc of the covenant. That blood sacrifice was meant to atone for the sins of the people. Atonement and propitiation are closely related ideas. To atone just means to “make things right.” When some wrong has been committed, to atone for that wrong means to do something to set things right again. So the blood that was sprinkled on the mercy seat atoned for the sins of the people. Hebrews tells us that the blood of goats didn’t atone for sins in any permanent way, but God accepted their sacrifice and overlooked their sins.

Well this word, “propitiation,” in Greek, is exactly the word for “mercy-seat,” the place where the blood was sprinkled. It’s the same word. The verse essentially read, “whom God put forward as a mercy-seat by his blood.” So, for Greek-speakers, the connection between Jesus’ death and the old covenant sacrifices would be immediately obvious in the word, “propitiation.” It’s right there on the surface.

Lest there be any doubt that what Paul is talking about is the death of Jesus on the cross, he adds this phrase “by his blood.” “Whom God put forward as a propitiation, by his blood.” There are folks who are squeamish about this doctrine, who will try to say that it was the life and obedience of Jesus that God found to be acceptable. Paul will have nothing of it. It’s true that the life and obedience of Jesus are counted as being ours. But that’s not what this verse is saying. It was the shedding of Jesus blood that made atonement for our sin. Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” That was exactly the lesson of the old covenant sacrifices. It was to teach God’s people that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

There’s another phrase that we sometimes use to bring all of these ideas together. We sometimes speak of “substitutionary atonement.” We’re piling up words again to get a picture of what’s going on. If you turn the diamond just slightly, the facet right next to the one called “propitiation” is this one that we’ll call “substitutionary atonement.” They’re almost the same thing.

That was another lesson that God’s people learned under the old covenant. Blood was required in order to atone for sin, but God always provided a substitute. Remember the story of Abraham and Isaac. God provided a lamb, caught in the thicket, which Abraham sacrificed in Isaac’s place. That’s the lesson of the entire sacrificial system. On the Day of Atonement, the priest put his hands on the goat and confessed the sins of the people, symbolically placing their sins on the goat. Then one goat was killed and the other was sent away into the wilderness. The goat provided a substitutionary atonement for the people.

What Paul is saying, of course, by connecting the death of Jesus to the mercy seat is that the blood of Jesus accomplishes what the blood of bulls and goats only foreshadowed. Remember what Hebrews 10 said, “the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.” Only the blood of Jesus can atone for our sins. His blood atones for our sins, and it atones for the sins of Moses and Aaron and David and all of God’s old covenant people who believed the promise of God. This is something that Christians often get mixed up about. Remember this. The old covenant saints are saved from God’s wrath exactly the same way that we are. The author of Hebrews, again, says that Christ “entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Then a few verses later, “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” Did you get that? A death has occurred (that’s the death of Jesus) that redeems them (those who are called) from transgressions committed under the first covenant (that the old covenant).” Again, the goats couldn’t do it. It’s the blood of Jesus that redeems those who sinned, even under the old covenant. Those sacrifices of bulls and goats were an act of obedience that pointed forward to the one whose death could truly take away sins. That’s really important. The question is, who does the atoning? Is it man or God? If the blood of bulls and goats could truly atone for sins, then man can atone for himself and Christ’s death wasn’t necessary. But no, it is God who provides the atonement that satisfies his own wrath, and he did it by the blood of his Son, Jesus.

Over and over in scripture, it’s the blood of Jesus that is given as the thing that accomplishes each of the different facets our salvation. That diamond of our salvation that Paul is holding up in the light, is blood red, all the way through. In Romans 5 Paul says that, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” In Ephesians 1 we are redeemed by his blood. In Colossians 1 we are reconciled to God by his blood. By his blood we are brought near in Ephesians 2. By his blood we were set free in Revelation 1. And by his blood we are purified in Hebrews 9.

We sing about the blood of Christ. We drink the blood of Christ every Lord’s supper. His blood is everything to us. His blood means life for us, instead of death. Christians have been accused for centuries of being too obsessed with the death and blood of Jesus. It’s grotesque, they say. So be it. His blood is our life. It isn’t cute or pretty. It’s even offensive. But it is our life.

IV. To be Received by Faith

The next important question is, “who is the propitiation made for?” Did the death of Jesus propitiate God’s wrath everywhere and for everyone? Did it remove the wrath of God as an operating force in the world? Apparently not. Paul calls it “a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” So Apparently this substitutionary atonement isn’t universal. It’s something that must be received by faith. That means that there are still some who remain under the wrath of God. For those who have not received the gift by faith, it remains true that “The final controlling reality in [their] life … is the active anger of God.” That’s why we preach the gospel to the lost. I think that sometimes - I know this is true for me - we become lazy in our evangelism because we forget, or even start to doubt, how deathly serious it is to be under the active anger of God. This isn’t the only motivation for evangelism, but if we believe what the Bible teaches about the wrath of God against sin, it should be like a fire under our feet, pushing us on to more and more boldness in proclaiming the gospel to the lost.

The gospel that we preach is a gospel of faith in Jesus Christ. Paul mentions two facets of the gospel in these verses and says that they are both received by faith. He says that this propitiation is received by faith. Then at the end of verse twenty six he says that God is both “just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

We’ve seen already that the grounds of our salvation - our justification and the propitiation of God’s wrath - is nothing but the blood of Jesus. The means, however, by which this salvation become ours, is faith. There are two points to remember. The first is that faith is only a means. It isn’t our faith that pacifies the wrath of God. Faith doesn’t contribute to the propitiation of God’s wrath, just as, if someone gives you the priceless diamond, you don’t add anything to its value by receiving it. John Stott said that “The value of faith is not to be found in itself, but entirely and exclusively in its object, namely Jesus Christ and him crucified.” It was the death of Jesus that demonstrated and satisfied the righteous wrath of God against sin. Faith simply rests in his finished work.

But while faith is only a means, it is the only means. Faith is the only means by which these gifts become ours. To receive this gift of salvation, you and I must give up any hope of ever doing anything that could put God in our debt. The only thing that God owes us is wrath, and there is no work that we could ever do to turn it away.

The heart of this paragraph that we’ve marinated in for the last month is that salvation is entirely a gift. The priceless diamond can only be received. It cannot be earned. It’s all a gift. Agan, when one of the pagan gods was angry, it was up to the offender to offer up sacrifices and hope that the gods would be appeased. Aren’t you glad that isn’t what God is like. How could you ever know if what you had done was enough. What a relief to know that there’s nothing that you and I can do to satisfy the perfect, righteous wrath of God. All that we can do, and all that he commands us to do, is receive what he has done. Faith simply says, “I know what my sins deserve. But I also know what God has done to save me from his own righteous anger. I trust myself entirely to his grace.”

That He Might Be Just and the Justifier

Paul then concludes this great paragraph with a precious insight into the mind and character of God. Why did God do it this way? A demonstration of his righteousness was required. Ok, but why like this? Why did he choose to put himself in our place? There were other ways that he could have demonstrated his righteousness. He had done it before. Why this way, now? Paul’s answer is so simple and so profound. These few words tell us more about what God is like than almost any other words in scripture. He did it this way “so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Why this way? What more can we say than that this is what God is like. God is righteous and wrathful, and he is also love. He is severe, and he is also kind. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish [should not perish … in his wrath], but have eternal life.” Why did he do it this way? Because he loved us. Before the foundation of the world, he loved us. Before there was anything in us that was worth loving, he loved us. It was God’s love for us that put forward his own Son to satisfy his own wrath against sin. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The cross of Christ is God’s great mouth-stopping demonstration of his character for the world to see. What is God like? He is righteous, and he is love.

Conclusion

We started with the question, how can God be righteous while declaring unrighteous people to be righteous. How can he be just and the justifier of sinners? The cross is God’s answer. Because God has publicly demonstrated his righteous anger against sin by killing his Son on the cross, in our place, he remains perfectly righteous when he forgives us for our sins, gives us a gift of righteousness, and declares us to be righteous in his sight.

In a minute we’re going to sing, “We stand forgiven at the cross.” What this passage and this doctrine tell us is that our sins are forgiven in Christ, but they are not merely overlooked, the way that God overlooked the sins of the old covenant saints for so long. They are paid for. Because of his great love for us - his great and undeserved love - God placed our sins on his own Son, and then he poured out his righteous anger on him, nailing him to a cross. And Jesus drank that cup of God’s wrath, down to the dregs. None of us can know or imagine what the Son of God suffered on our behalf, so that God might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in him. This is the gospel of propitiation. Having been justified in his sight, we have also been saved from his wrath. This is the confidence that we have in Jesus. The cross doesn’t only make it possible for God to forgive your sins. If you have faith in Jesus, it guarantees it. Without the cross, it would be unjust, and therefore impossible, for God to forgive us. But because of the cross - this is shocking, but it’s true - it would be unjust, and therefore impossible, for God to punish us. God’s righteousness has been demonstrated. The demands of justice have been met. There are no longer any grounds for punishment. “God, the just, is satisfied.” What a glorious gospel!
​
Stand with me as we pray.
​
Father, what can we say but “thank you.” Thank you for the gospel. You are perfect in your righteousness. You are worthy to have your righteousness worshipped and declared by every mouth under heaven. And yet we have sinned and fallen short of your righteous standard. We know what we deserve. But Father we rest, and rejoice, in what you have done. We rejoice in the gift of righteousness that you have given to us. We rejoice in the demonstration of righteous wrath that you put forward in your Son, in our place. Thank you for the blood of Jesus. Spirit, please inscribe this word on our hearts as we go. Amen.​

Trinity

Isaiah 61
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me (Son/Messiah)
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Genesis 1
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; 

Genesis 3:15
15 And I (The Father) will put enmity
Between you (The Dragon) and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed; (Son/Messiah)
He shall bruise your head, (Son/Messiah)
And you shall bruise His heel.”

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Matthew 3
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 28
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Hebrews 1
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 

1 John 5
6 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Stryper - Trinity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD8phVb34Dc
There are realms beyond our sight
An essence pure and bright
Father, Spirit, Son unite
Earth's eternal light
Power far beyond our grasp
In our faith we long to clasp
Unity and love, the bond
Will our hearts respond?
Holy, Trinity. A force to be, a mystery
Father, source of all that's known
Opening Your throne
Son, The Word in flesh and bone
Redeeming love is shown
In perfect harmony they stand
Holiness, the great I AM
Eternal, infinite your ways
Is worthy of all praise
Holy, Trinity. A force to be, a mystery
Your divinity
Is far beyond compare
In awe we'll always stand
Your mercy we declare
There will come a day
When we will comprehend
Every price was paid
So we can all transcend
Holy, Trinity. A force to be, a mystery

2 Corinthians 13
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (Son), and the love of God (The Father), and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

​
Unholy Trinity (Dragon, Ant-Christ,
and False Prophet)

Ezekiel 28
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth
in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

The Fall of Lucifer - Isaiah 14
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.

Satan Thrown Out of Heaven - Revelation 12
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The Beast from the Sea - Revelation 13
13 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

The Beast from the Earth -Revelation 13
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.


Father of Lies - John 8
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Stryper - Fallen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBdoO1FUdng
You were filled with pride,
because you were so beautiful
Your wisdom was corrupted
for the sake of your splendor
You were cast down to the ground,
exposed before the kings
Deceiver of the world,
you know you'll always be the great pretender
Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen
You used to be so blameless
from the day you came to be
Unrighteousness, it reared it's evil face inside of you
You were once anointed,
when you walked the music played
Like lighting from the sky,
you were forever thrown from heaven too, yeah
Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen
The end is calling, calling, fallen

Redemption in Christ - Ephesians 1
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, …
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Psalm 121 New King James Version
God the Help of Those Who Seek Him
A Song of Ascents.

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills--
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Isaiah 45:18
18 For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

Revelation 1
Introduction and Benediction
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Greeting the Seven Churches
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”