Summary:
When the Lord says to ‘behold’, it’s important for us to pay attention.

1. Behold I stand at the door and knock: Do we allow God to be the head of our lives? Or is He outside knocking at the door of our hearts?
2. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah: Suffering for the Lord is necessary as a Christian. But if we hold on to His nail-pierced hands, we will not fear.
3. Behold, blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments: Have we kept our garments of salvation clean?

We have looked at 3 of the “Behold”s in the book of Revelation so far.

4th “Behold”

Rev 3:20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.’

The Lord Jesus makes this call outside the door. This goes to show that the Laodicean church did not have the Lord in their heart. Don’t believers have God in their hearts? Why then is the Lord not inside their hearts but rather outside? Believers of the Lord originally have the Lord in their hearts. But over time, the Lord has been shifted out of their hearts.

V17 ‘Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—’

“I am rich, I have need of nothing.” In their hearts they have replaced the Lord with material possessions. Men pursue materialistic comforts. Whoever has the most, the best - this is whom everyone looks up to. The believers in the Laodicean church were wealthy. They had nothing lacking in their daily lives. Naturally, they had less need of the Lord and the Lord had been shifted out of their hearts.

V14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God

Why did the Lord tell them that He is the beginning of God’s creation? Because they no longer recognised this. Their hearts had already deemed the created as first priority. Do we recognise that our Lord is the beginning/head? If we clearly recognise that He is the beginning of creation, then we must let the Lord take the first priority. He should be in the prime position of our hearts. If we truly recognise this, then we wouldn’t place anything before Him or in greater importance. We can have things we adore. But if we place the Lord in a lower position for the sake of obtaining what we want, then we have not allowed the Lord to have the prime position in our hearts. We can enjoy things we love. But in the midst of our enjoyment, if we put the Lord aside, then we have not placed the Lord in the prime position.

Col 1:17-18 ‘And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.’

Paul encourages us here that in all things the Lord may have the preeminence. He first explains that the Lord is the head. For the whole creation was created through Him. So, since we are the created, then the Creator should be the one with the preeminence. The Lord is the head of the church. The church is established through the resurrection of the Lord, and hence, believers of the Lord must put the Lord in the preeminent position. We must understand that the creation is something easily done by God. The Lord said, “let there be light”, and there was light. When the Lord said, “let there be living creatures”, there was. So God can speak things into existence.

But to build the church was not easy.

It was not spoken into existence. To establish the church, the Lord needed to come in the flesh, He needed to bleed and die, to resurrect and ascend, to send the Holy Spirit, that He may work with those whom He has chosen, to save those who would believe. The establishment of the church is the most wondrous creation. It is the biggest love of the Lord and the greatest grace God has given to men. God, who is high and mighty, for the sake of salvation of mankind, had to come in the flesh and die. He did not establish the church through works alone but had to suffer.

We say that the new covenant is established through the blood of the Lord. When we think of the new covenant, it is not just about it being new. We must remember that it was established by the blood of the Lord. Then we will realise how precious it is. This is knowledge that concerns the saving of the soul. So this salvation grace really touches us. This love shown through salvation is worthy for us to repay Him using our whole lives. So Paul encourages us that in all things He may have the preeminence. But sadly, some believers are unable to do so. Are we able to do it? Are we able to allow the Lord to have preeminence in all things in our hearts? Let us not be people who just say, “oh Lord” in our hearts but replace the Lord in our hearts. Over time, instead of thinking, ‘would the Lord be pleased with this?’, instead we think, ‘will I be pleased if I do this?’. After recognising that He is the head of all creation, we are all the more touched because He did not receive this preeminence by His authority alone but by his suffering. So let us glorify Him in our hearts and let Him have the prime position in our hearts.

Do we allow the Lord to have this position in our homes? Many families have this sign in their houses that writes, “God is the head of this household”. But is it truly the case? We need the Lord to take care of our families. So, all the more we must allow the Lord to be the head of our household. We must allow the Lord to be the head at our workplaces too. We often do things in the name of the Lord. But do we truly do so? Or do we do things according to our own desires? Sometimes we do things for our own benefits. So Paul rebukes those who use godliness as a means of gain. If we are able to let God be the head in everything we do, then in everything, God will bless us and receive glory.

5th “Behold”

Rev 5:5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

John heard the elders say, “Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah is able to open the scroll”. But instead of seeing the lion, he saw the lamb.

V6-7 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

And the lamb he saw was as though it had been slain. This was to mean that there were signs the lamb had been slain. That’s why he could identify it as being slain. The lamb who had been slain is the victorious lion.

This is the miraculous work of God. Through His death, he was able to overcome the devil and accomplish salvation. The devil thought that by crucifying Jesus, He would not be able to accomplish salvation. Little did he know that the salvation of God would be accomplished by the death on the cross. The hands that were pierced became the hands that saved.

When the Lord resurrected from the dead, we saw that the body He resurrected in was a glorious one. Then why is it that the scars from the nails were still visible? When we are resurrected, if the scars on our bodies can still be seen, then can it still be said that it is glorious? Our resurrected bodies are the same as that of Jesus. The Lord Jesus still had the nail-pierced hands. Those scars were purposely left by the Lord. They were left to testify that He is the lamb that was slain. When the Lord appeared to His disciples, they were scared. They thought they had seen a ghost. So the Lord said to them, “Why do you doubt? Look at my hands.” They saw clearly the scars on his hands. They rejoiced and no longer feared. Because the Lord that had been slain is truly resurrected. So, very importantly, we must look at the nail-pierced hand. Then we too can be joyful. We will not have sorrow and fear. It is not that we don’t have anything to worry about or fear, but that when we see the nail pierced hand, we will no longer be sorrowful and fearful. Because when we look at the nail prints, we will remember that He went through so much suffering for us. What is the suffering we are going through as compared to His? Maybe we have scars that once caused us sadness. But when we see the nail prints on His hand, what are the scars on our hands? Then we will no longer be sorrowful and murmur. We know that the suffering we go through cannot be compared to the suffering the Lord went through.

Php 1:29, 3:10 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Paul reminds us that besides believing in the Lord, we must also suffer for the Lord. We must know the power of His resurrection. Be in fellowship with His sufferings. We know that to accomplish salvation, the Lord had to suffer and His hands pierced. In order to receive that salvation, we must hold on to the hands of the Lord. We would like to hold on to the mighty hands of the Lord. But the Bible tells us to hold on to the nail scarred hands. To remember the sufferings the Lord went through for our sakes and to signify that we too are willing to be in fellowship with His sufferings. That is why we are willing to hold on to the nail pierced hands of the Lord. When we touch the holes in his hands, we also are touched. It will cause us to be willing to suffer for the Lord. There are many Christians who murmur because they are only willing to hold on to the mighty hands of the Lord, but not the nail scarred hands. But if we truly believe in the Lord, when we hold on to His nail pierced hands, then we will be touched and stop murmuring. If we aren’t willing to suffer with Him and hold onto the nail pierced hands, how will we be able to receive glory with the Lord in the future? The Lord had to be nailed on the cross, and only after that did He receive the crown of glory. Even the Lord had to go through the bitter cup. What about us? Will we have special treatment to be spared from the bitter cup? Do we think we are in a more special position than Jesus who is the precious Son of God? Let us meditate on the words of the Bible. If we are unable to carry the cross, we cannot receive the crown of righteousness. Because we will eventually depart from Him. If we are able to bear the cross with the Lord, then we will definitely receive the glory with the Lord.

Let us hold on to the nail scarred hands of the Lord. To hold on to the hands of people is good, but they often cause us to be disappointed. We aren’t able to hold hands at the moment because of the pandemic. When restrictions are loosed, whose hands would we want to hold? Do we feel safe holding on to the hands of someone mighty, someone with authority or with money? When the person is happy, he is willing to hold your hand. But when he is not, he will push it away. When we aren’t happy, we too will flick away someone else’s hands.
But if we hold on to Jesus’s hands we will never be disappointed. He will never flick away our hands. Only we will shake his hands away. He promised that he will not leave us as orphans. We must hold on to his nail scarred hands. Then we will be able to pass through all difficult situations. So let us most importantly hold on to his nail scarred hands and never let go.

6th “Behold”

Rev 16:15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

Behold, blessed is He who watches and keeps His garments. The Lord tells us to be watchful and keep our garments on. Lest we walk naked and they see our shame. These garments are the garments of salvation given by the Lord. Only the garments given by the Lord can cover our sin.

Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

When have we put on these garments? All who have been baptised in Christ have put on Christ. To put on Christ is to put on the garments of salvation. These garments of salvation have covered up the shame of sin. To put on Christ is also to put on the robe of righteousness. This allows us to be justified. Let us keep these garments.

Some Christians don’t realise the preciousness of salvation and have taken off these garments. There are many things our parents have given us that we refuse to let go. Our parents know that this is the most precious thing so bring us up to be baptised at a young age. But some do not realise the preciousness of it when they grow up. They mistake that the house, the car and the monetary inheritance is important. These are things they will never let go and will hold on to. But when death comes they realise that they have done something they regret. Do we realise the preciousness of the garments of salvation? Will we heed the words of the Lord? Or will we treat these garments as rubbish and give to the garbage man?

Not only should we keep these garments, we should keep them clean. The church of Sardis was rebuked by the Lord because their garments were stained. But among them there were some who kept the garments well. They did not follow the rest who allowed themselves to sin and stain the garment. They kept themselves holy.

We have explained that the great city of Babylon is the world today. We see the great evil in this world today. The unclean things of the world. This world is the home of the devil. So all kinds of unclean things and spirits have come to deceive. When these things are put in front of the eyes of people to tempt them to do unclean things. We worry about our children cooped up at home closing the door. We worry that they are watching unclean content on the internet. Today, the internet has brought about a lot of convenience. The internet can be good or bad. It is good because the Holy Spirit, through the internet, can help us preach to the whole world. But at the same time, the unclean spirits can make use of the internet to spread lustful things. We must keep our garments and not allow them to be stained. The end times are indeed deceitful. Not only is there sexual immorality in the world, likewise in the church.

That is why we hear the cry of the Lord. The Lord says to all the churches. Behold, ‘blessed in the one who keeps his garments’. Today, let us take good care of our garments. Don’t let our garments be stained. If the garments are stained, let us quickly wash them. Our Lord knows we will stain our garments. But He gives us a chance to wash our garments. Others may not even know in what areas we have stained our garments, but we surely know ourselves. That’s why we must wash our own garments. We have to acknowledge our sins and repent. We have to ask Him for the help of the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves holy.