The twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation. Coming down to the end of the Book but the beginning of the glorious future in heaven with the Lord.

John said,

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (21:1)

Now, it is interesting though the Scriptures are quite clear concerning this earth and the heavens that they will pass away, but yet the Jehovah Witnesses in spite of these many Scriptures declare that the earth is eternal and that they as Jehovah Witnesses are going to dwell on the earth forever. But let me give you a few Scriptures that correspond with this first verse. Psalm 102:25, “Of old you have laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:”

There is the law of thermodynamics and the law of entropy and even the universe is subject to the laws of thermodynamics and entropy. So that the scientist, Sir Herschel Jeans, described the earth as a great clock that had been wound up and is slowly running down. The sun gives off some one million two hundred tons of mass every second, but because of the size of the sun you don’t have to go home and worry that the sun is going to go out for a while. I heard of a lecture that was being given in an astronomy class where the professor said because of the sun’s being reduced at this tremendous rate, in another ten billion years there will not be enough energy from the sun to support life upon the earth. And one half-sleeping student just came to attention and he said, what did you say? And he said, I said in ten billion years the sun will no longer be able to support life upon the earth. And he said, oh, I thought you said ten million.

But as the Psalmist described, the heavens and the earth will wax old like a garment and as a vesture you will change them and they shall be changed. Isaiah 65, “The Lord said, Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her nor the voice of crying.”

The word create here in Hebrew is bara. It is the same word that is used in Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created.” The word is bara. The Hebrew word bara means to bring out of nothing something into existence. Out of nothing God brought into existence the heavens and the earth. Now, God said He was going to create new heavens, again using the word bara. Now, the other word for create or make in the Hebrew is asah, and asah is the assembling of existing materials. And interestingly enough, throughout the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, the word asah is employed for the most part as we read of the recreation of the earth in order that man in his present form might dwell upon it. But in the beginning, God created, bara, and out of nothing brought into existence the heavens and the earth. Now, God promises He’s going to bara, or create out of nothing, a new heaven and a new earth.

Isaiah 66:22, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” Jesus in Mathew 24 said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” In Hebrews 1:10, “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thine hands: (he’s actually quoting from Psalm 102 in a way). They shall perish; but You remain; they shall wax old as does a garment; And as vesture You will fold them up, and they shall be changed: for You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.” Peter describes how it is going to happen in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy manner of living and godliness? As we look for the hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” So these all speak of God bringing into existence a whole new universe, new heaven, new earth.

Now, we know a little bit about atomic structure, and we know a little bit about the atom and how things are made up of atoms and the molecular structure. We’ve come to understand a little bit about protons, electrons, neutrons, and things of that nature; the basic building blocks of the universe. We know that within the atom there are some mysteries that we haven’t been able to fathom yet. The nucleus of an atom, of course, is made up of protons clustered together, and there are electrons that revolve around the nucleus, the protons, but really at a distance so that there is more space than there is solid material. It’s very fascinating to study, but the mystery is, what holds the protons together? According to Colomb’s law of electricity, there is the repelling force of like particles. Protons should push away from each other and they do push away from each other with tremendous force, and yet, how is it that they are clustered in the nucleus of an atom? Man has learned by bombarding the nucleus of an atom with slow moving neutrons he can upset the nucleus of an atom and create a tremendous power source, atomic power. But it’s by upsetting and allowing the protons to respond according to their natural bent of thrusting away from each other, and we see the tremendous power when the atoms are disturbed and the protons push away and we have these atom bombs and we see the power. But it is estimated that it takes greater power to hold them together than is released when the atom is upset. So the mystery is who holds the universe together?

It’s interesting that Paul tells us that Jesus not only created all things, but by Him all things consist, in the Greek is “are held together”. Now, one day the Lord is going to just release His grip and the whole universe is just going to dissolve. That’s all He has to do is just release the grip and the whole thing will dissolve, and God is going to create, bara, new heavens and a new earth. “The first earth and the first heaven passed away, and there is no more sea.” That is interesting, in the new earth there will not be a sea. Presently about four-fifths of the earth’s surface is covered by water. There is more of the surface of the earth covered by water than there is land surface of the earth. And can you imagine if there was no sea even in an earth our size how many people it could accommodate providing you had water sources for, you know, the irrigation and all. There’s a lot of interesting theories and we don’t have time to go into the theories on the various platelets and structures of the earth’s crust and the water that could be under the earth.

But I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (21:2)

God saw the new Jerusalem, the city of God, coming down from God out of heaven. And here he is going to describe for us in a little bit this new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven, the city of God. In Hebrews 11, it tells us of the men of faith in the Old Testament and their accomplishments through faith. As he concludes the first part of the hall of faith with Abraham, he said that they all died in faith not having received the promise. But they claimed that they were just strangers and pilgrims here and they were searching for a city, which hath foundation, whose maker and builder is God. They were looking for this New Jerusalem, looking, that is, by faith towards the New Jerusalem. This earth filled with sin under the control of the powers of darkness. They just said, hey, we’re strangers, we’re pilgrims here. We’re looking for the city of God, the city without foundation, whose maker and builder is God. Now, John is going to describe for us that city that they were looking for, the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven. It has nothing to do with the present city of Jerusalem there in Israel.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, [or the tent of God is with men] and he will dwell with them, (21:3a)

There is an interesting passage in John 1, as he tells us in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God, all things were made by Him, without Him was not anything made that was made. And then went on to say, and the Word was made flesh and He tabernacled among us, or He pitched His tent among us, referring to Jesus Christ coming to the earth, pitching His tent here for a time. The Word was made flesh and He tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So behold, now, the tent or tabernacle of God is with men, He will dwell with them,

They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (21:3b) This is in that glorious age beyond.

Now, right now we are waiting for God to bring to an end, man’s futile attempts at government. It is quite obvious that men are incapable of ruling over other men without being corrupted with their power. It’s evidenced all over our country. Give people a little power over others and they soon begin to abuse that power. We do have probably one of the finest forms of government that man has yet devised, and they sought carefully to sort of divide the power so that there would be a balance of power between the judicial and the legislative branches. But that has been upset and corruption has come in, and we have proved that man cannot rule over his fellow man. Many different forms of government have been tried and all of them end in corruption.

But God is going to send Jesus for the church; we’ll be caught up, to be with the Lord for seven years in heaven. We will then return to the earth with Jesus as He comes to establish God’s kingdom upon the earth, and we will rule and reign with Him over the earth for a thousand years at which time, of course, Satan will be bound an chained in the abusso. At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed for a short season. He will gather together a multitude of people to try to overthrow the kingdom of Jesus Christ, but his attempts will be thwarted. And it is at that point that God is going to just obliterate the present universe, the heavens and the earth. He will create the new heaven a and the new earth, and as Isaiah tells us, the former heaven and earth will not be remembered or brought into mind. So glorious, so wonderful, to see creation unspoiled, untouched by man.

What are some of the most beautiful sites that you have seen here on earth? Sites that have not been yet polluted by man or touched by man. Getting out into nature and seeing nature in its unspoiled form. We marvel at the beauty and the glory of it. There are some things that man hasn’t yet been able to mar, not many but some. But imagine something fresh from God, the master designer and creator, the new heavens and the new earth. And they will last forever. They will never pass away. So God will be there living with the people. He will be their God. Imagine what that will be like, living together in the presence of God in that new kingdom.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (21:4)

All of the things that bring hurt, all of the things that bring pain, all to have things that bring suffering will be gone. It will be absolute joy and bliss as we dwell together with God in His eternal kingdom! Sounds like too good to be true, doesn’t it? It sounds like one of the most beautiful dreams you could possibly imagine, and yet as God declares, these words are true and faithful.

So he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (21:5)

They do sound too good to be true, but God affirms they are true, they are faithful. You can count on it.

And he said unto me, It is done, or it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, [The Alpha and the Omega of the Greek is the first and last letters, or the A to the Z and all in between.] I am the beginning and the end. [the eternal God, the first and the last] I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (21:6)

It reminds us when Jesus was standing on the temple mount during the feast of the tabernacle as John records in chapter seven, and He stood up and cried to the great multitudes, “If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. And he who drinks of the water that I give, as the scriptures saith, out of his innermost being there will gush torrents of living water.” Here again God is offering to those that are thirsty, and He’s talking about the spiritual thirst within man. Man is a three-fold being; body, soul, spirit. The soul being the emotional area of the man. And there are physical thirsts, there are emotional thirsts, and there is a spiritual thirst. We all know about the physical thirst. We’ve all of us been thirsty. As the body needs so much water or so much moisture to survive, God has designed that thirst that when the moisture level in the body gets low you begin to get thirsty. There is emotional thirst. The thirst for love, the thirst for meaning, the thirst for purpose. And so we know the emotional thirst that we have; the thirst for security. But way down deep in man, there is a spiritual thirst. It is the thirst for God. David said, “As the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, oh God, for the living God.” Paul tells us that God has made us subject unto emptiness and that by design of the creator so that we will seek after God. There is a drive within man to worship. You’ve got to worship something. God said, beware that when you go out and you look up at the stars and you are driven to worship them, a warning. Man has a drive to worship, and if you don’t worship God you will worship something.

So here, the promise again to those that are thirsty. God will give the water of life unto them freely. The special promise,

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (21:7)

He that overcometh. Now back in chapters two and three as Jesus addressed the seven churches, He had special promises in each church for those who were the overcomers. Here the promise that He will be our God, we shall be His son. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It doesn’t yet appear what we’re going to be, but we know when He appears we’ll be like Him for we shall see Him as he is. And as many as received Him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believed on His name. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and if we are sons, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs through Jesus Christ. The blessed promises to the overcomers! They will be with God in the new heaven and in the new earth. But in contrast,

The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (21:8)

All will spend eternity in one or the other. In the glorious kingdom of God as is being described and will continue to be described on through chapter twenty-two or in the lake that burneth with fire. That’s the destiny of every one of us here tonight. We will spend eternity in one place or the other, and it all depends upon our relationship with Jesus Christ. He that has the Son has life. He that has not the Son has not life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

There came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials that were filled of the seven last plagues, and he talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife. (21:9)

So now, John is invited to more or less observe the new Jerusalem, the city of God. Now, this is the dwelling place of the bride. I think it’s Dake’s Bible, he tries to say that the city of Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. That’s ridiculous. Nobody is married to a city. But the bride inhabits the city. So it is that which God has prepared for the bride of Christ, the city of God.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and he shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, and having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even unto [and the translators have put jasper] the jasper stone, clear as crystal; (21:10,11)

But the jasper isn’t clear as crystal, so this Greek stone is probably equivalent to the diamond, a brilliant, clear diamond. And this is how it sparkled, this is how it looked as you began to view it or see it. If you’ve every seen Venus in the morning or in the evening because it becomes both the morning and evening star in different times of the year, on a very clear morning just before the sun comes up it sparkles out there like a diamond; or in the evening shortly after the sun goes down, it just sparkles on a clear night. You can just see the sparkle like a diamond, and this is how the city appears as you’re approaching it. But then as he gets close,

It had a wall great and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east there were three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is a as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. (21:12-16)

Twelve thousand furlongs is approximately fifteen hundred miles. Now, the interesting thing is that it seems to be in the form of a cube, foursquare. The length, the breadth, the height all being equal; fifteen hundred miles. Now, you probably won’t live on, you know here is this large mass, fifteen hundred miles, but you probably won’t be living on the surface of it, but within it. And in our new bodies and in the new heavens, it’s possible that there will be no mass to our bodies if we are spirit beings. And if there be no mass, then there is no gravitational pull so that you can live on various levels because there would be no gravitational pull on you. There’s probably a lot of interesting fascinating things that God has in store for us that He hasn’t told us. The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. And the new bodies that we have, we don’t know much about them. We do know that when Jesus rose from the dead, His body was flesh, He didn’t say blood. But He said I’m not a spirit because you can see the flesh. But the interesting thing, it was probably in a different molecular structure because He was able to pass right through the walls in His new body. And so there will be a lot of interesting things that we will be discovering when God shows us more clearly His plans for the future, and He’s waiting for us to get there. And He’s just going to have a lot of surprises for you with the new body and all. But if you had a fifteen hundred mile cube, say that each level was a mile high, can you imagine if everybody had say a square mile to live in how much people you could pack in a cube fifteen hundred miles squared? There will be sufficient room for all of you. As I say, we’ll be in a different makeup, our bodies and all, and probably, here we’re limited on the surface, but there you’ll live probably within the city as it stands.

He measured the wall, it was a hundred and forty four cubits, according to the measure of a man, [about two hundred twelve feet] that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: [again probably, better translated diamond] and the city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; [Now, try to picture the foundation of the city, and it’s going to be a colorful, beautiful thing. Actually, jasper, as I said in the Greek is iaspas and its color is clear. It’s probably the diamond. It is a crystal clear, the reflector of light and of color. Clean and pure, bright as a transparent ice sickle in the sunshine.] the second is the sapphire; [Its color is blue. This stone occurs in Exodus 24:10 as the foundation of God, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness.] and then the chalcedony; [Its color is greenish. It is an agate and is described as a variety of emerald gathered on a mountain of chalcedony] the next stone is the emerald; [green, of course, in its color] then the sardonyx; [which is red], then the sardius; [which is a fiery red] then the chrysolite; [its color is a golden yellow] and beryl; [which is, again, green] the topaz; [which is a greenish yellow] and the chrysoprasus; [which is a gold-green] and then the jacinth; [which is violet] and then the amethyst; [which is a purple]. (21:17-20)

Thus you can get an idea of the beauty of these gems that make up the foundation of the city. You know, isn’t it interesting these are the things that men hold so valuable and so precious here on earth. Gold, diamonds. But those things, which are so precious and valuable here on earth have really no monetary value in heaven. As he tells us the streets are of gold. In other words it’s used as asphalt paving in heaven. I think that when we get to heaven, God is going to manifest to us the fact that He’s not interested in our gold, not interested in our silver, not interested in our diamonds or our precious gems; He’s interested in us. He can make all the gold He needs. He can make all the diamonds He needs ,all of the silver He needs. In fact, all of the silver that does exist was made by God. All the gold that does exist was made by God. All the diamonds that exist were made by God. I believe when we get to heaven, we’re going to have an interesting surprise because I believe that we’ll discover that God has some interesting galaxies in our universe. And I believe that probably the angels will be able to take us on the universal tour. And as we go through universe, as we begin to slow up, the angel will say we are now coming to the diamond galaxy. Every planet and star in this galaxy is a diamond. And we’ll think, oh, man, I thought I was really something when I had that big two-caret thing on my ring, you know. And here you see a whole galaxy of diamonds. And then I think that we’ll take off and we’ll head for the golden galaxy; everything is of gold. And we’ll realize that God treasures you. You see, the Bible says that you are His treasure. He calls you a peculiar treasure, and I would be prone to agree. It’s peculiar that God would treasure me. But we are His treasure. Gold is not His treasure. Silver is not his treasure. Precious gems are not his treasure. That isn’t the value that God counts. You are the thing that God counts. He only made one of you, and value is usually determined by the rarity. And He only made one of you, and He loves you and He values you, and He wants you to be a part of his family. And so He invites us to be a part of the eternal family of God. What a wonderful thing!

The twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: [those are big pearls] and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were, it looked like transparent glass, so pure. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (21:21,22)

Now, in the first heaven where we will go when Jesus comes for the church and He takes us there in the first heaven, prior to the return to the earth in the kingdom, there is a temple. And the earthly tabernacle was a model of the temple that was in heaven. When God instructed Moses in the building of the tabernacle, he instructed him to be careful to make it exactly according to the plan for it was a model of heavenly things. There is a temple in heaven. That is the first one we will be going to. Revelation 7:15, “Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in his temple, and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them.” Revelation 11:19, “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the Ark of the Covenant, and there were lightenings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake and a great hail.” Revelation 14:15, “Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in the sickle and reap for the time is come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Verse 17, chapter 14, “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also had a sharp sickle.” Chapter 15:5 and 6, “And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the covenant in heaven was open, and the seven angels came out of the temple having the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles, and the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no man was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” In chapter 16, “I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways and pour out your vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And is seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is finished.” The judgments of God complete with that last vial of the plagues that were poured out. So in the new heavens, “I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” And so we will be dwelling with Him. He is the temple.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. [Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” There will be no need for sun, no need for a moon at night to reflect the sun. But there will just be that iridescent light from the presence of Jesus there. ] And the nations of them which, are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they, which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (21:23-27)

Nothing will pollute this city. Nothing will be allowed in it of a polluting nature, just purity. Blessed are they which, do hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Now, as I said, in reading these things, they sound unreal, unearthly, and they are definitely unearthly. But that is why God over and over in the last four chapters when He’s giving us a description of heaven affirms to us that these are the true and faithful sayings of God. As we mentioned this morning, so often when God spoke of the future and prophesied things that were going to come, because they seemed so out of the ordinary God often would affirm, these are the true sayings, these are the faithful sayings. I have spoken it! I will do it! He affirms the truth of what has been written.

Now it leaves us in the position of believing or not believing. It sounds remarkable. It sounds tremendous, and I can believe it or not believe it! That is a matter of choice. I choose to believe or I choose not to believe. If you choose to believe then it belongs to you. You will be a partaker in these things. If you choose not to believe, then you will not partake in the these things. For the fearful, the unbelieving will all have their place in the lake that burns with fire.

A lot of people say, well I just have intellectual difficulties with believing. I just can’t believe that. Let me tell you that I don’t believe that your problem is intellectual. I think your problem is spiritual and it is moral. Jesus said to Nicodemus that the Father did not send Him into this world to condemn the world but to save the world. And He said he who believes in Me is not condemned. But he who does not believe in Me is already condemned seeing he has not believed in the only begotten of the Father. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world but men will not come to the light because they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Now you may say intellectual difficulty, but Jesus said no, you’ve got an evil heart and you want to continue in your evil ways. And thus you choose not to believe because you’ve got to live with yours, and it’s hard to live with a guilty conscious. So a lot of people just try to dismiss it and say, well I just have intellectual difficulties. I can’t believe. No, Jesus said it’s not an intellectual difficult. It’s a moral difficulty! You’re evil and you love the evil that you’re doing. And that’s how Jesus sees you.

I chose to believe many years ago, and the longer I have walked with Jesus, the greater my faith has become. I do not have one intellectual difficulty at all in believing. In fact I would have intellectual difficulty in not believing. To try to explain existence apart from God. Now that is an intellectual difficulty. To try to explain the fulfilled prophesies of the scripture presents a tremendous intellectual problem. How could it be that these men twenty five hundred years ago wrote with such clarity things that are happening today? And so I find that there is plenty of evidence to support the position that I chose when I chose to believe. If you choose not to believe, you can offer up your little excuses. Well there were so many hypocrites in the church. Well that’s a great reason not to believe. Surely God will accept that and say well I understand, that’s okay. So many hypocrites. I don’t want to go to heaven with all the hypocrites. Well, don’t worry, they won’t be there. And if you don’t like hypocrites, you better come to a faith or you’re going to be spending eternity with them.

Interesting that God would see necessary when He talks of these things of the future because they are so fabulous, so beyond our abilities to grasp or comprehend that He affirms this is true, this is true, this is true. It’s interesting also that Jesus so often used the words verily, verily, which is sort of twice for emphasis. But really you could translate it truly, truly, or I am telling you the truth. Affirming over and over again the truth of God’s plan for the future for the church, the bride of Jesus Christ. Glorious things are in store for the child of God. How thankful I am that I’m a part of God’s eternal plan to bestow upon me His love and the glory of His kingdom forever. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for the promises that You have given, and we know that You’re not a Man that You should repent nor the Son of Man that You should lie. But what You have spoken You shall indeed make good. Though heaven and earth will pass away, Your Word will stand forever. And Lord, we thank You that we can put our hope, our confidence, our lives, and our future in Your Word. Thank You Lord for Your word. May we walk in its light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Speaking With Authority

And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22)

Jesus was not the first person to teach the Scriptures to a group of disciples. The people in Jesus day had heard other teachers of the Scriptures. What set Jesus apart was that He taught with authority. To many of the scribes, the Scriptures were meaningless, dry collections of theological speculation, but Jesus taught them as the living words of God. John the Baptist claimed that a man could only receive that which had been given to him by God (John 3:27). When the religious leaders searched the Scriptures, they came away empty-handed. When Jesus read the same Scriptures, the Father gave Him a full measure of His wisdom and His authority.

There is a radical difference between practicing religion and sharing a word directly from the Lord. There is a significant difference between worldly reasoning and counsel that comes straight from the living word of God. Is it possible to teach a message from the Bible but not from the Lord? Yes! The scribes and Pharisees did this regularly and left their listeners spiritually destitute. Is it possible to counsel someone with advice that seems appropriate and reasonable and yet is contrary to God’s word? Of course!

Whenever you teach, counsel, or share a word of encouragement, be very careful that the words you share are indeed from the Lord and are not just your own thinking. Otherwise, you could become a false prophet (Deut. 18:20-22). God promises to stand by every word He has ever spoken (Isa. 55:10-11). When you share a word that has come from God, you can do so with utmost confidence!

Old Testament Prediction:

Exodus 12:21-23 “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.  For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.”

New Testament Fulfillment:

1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Application:

It is important in the discussion of the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, to remember that these are not just words on pages, or a computer screen.  The Bible claims to be the eternal word of God, and that the words within have  their origin from outside of time. These word have the power to bring a human being into everlasting life, if the instructions are heeded and believed. When we speak of Jesus being the Passover Lamb that takes away the sins of the world, we must remember that the intent by the Holy Spirit is that Jesus would become your Passover Lamb.

In this 23^rd Old Testament prophecy, Moses calls for the elders of Israel to “Pick a Lamb for themselves…” They had to choose of their own free will, to take the Lamb and then place his blood upon their home in order to be saved. It was not enough to simply know what to do, they had to go out and actually do it themselves to be saved.

In the prophecy of the Passover Lamb, there is a requirement to take action personally. When we get to the New Testament we find that in the fulfillment of Jesus being the Passover Lamb who removes our sin, we must partake of Jesus personally, not casually but with heartfelt forethought.

Salvation is very easy for anyone who sincerely wants to be saved. It is also very difficult, in that salvation does not occur in the life of the casual hearer who has no real desire to know Jesus deeply. There must be a purposeful movement of the heart into a place of honest repentance from sin, and a desire to follow Jesus with all of our heart, before salvation is realized.

God, through Moses, required the people to observe the Passover Lamb personally, and do it “Forever”.

Exodus 12:14 “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

If anyone was to be protected from God’s judgement, they needed to abide in the blood of the Lamb every day of their life, until their life was concluded.

Exodus 12:24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

Jesus said that we must abide in Him until the end, if we truly want to be saved:

Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

The fulfillment of this 23rd Old Testament prophecy is found in 1 Corinthians 5:7:

1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

As those in the Old Testament had to observe the Passover Lamb everyday in their lives, by the confession of sin that allowed them to remain in fellowship with God, so also must we today, daily confess our sins and remain under the Blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, in order to maintain our fellowship with God.

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light (absence of sin) and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness (unconfessed sin) , we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light (daily confession) as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin (unwilling to daily confess sin), we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Just as the children of Israel had to “Choose the Lamb”, today men and women must also “Choose the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. It is by an honest and truthful receiving of Jesus as our Passover Lamb that we have all our sins forgiven and obtain eternal life.

Prophecy 23 is our Old Testament basis for why the Blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us of all our sins, and keep us in continual fellowship with God. It is foolish to try to approach God by any other method or means, since only the Blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, has the power to cleanse us of all our sins and make us perfect and ready for heaven.

Rob Robinson

Let’s turn now in our Bibles now to the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation. John said,

I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (20:1)

We’ve mentioned that this bottomless pit in the Greek is abusso, which literally means shaft. And it would seem from the Scriptures that this is the place where angelic-kind of beings are incarcerated. We read that the beast, the Antichrist, will come out of the abusso, chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation. When Jesus was at Gadera and met by the demon possessed man, the demons begged Jesus that he would not send them to the abusso before their time. It is interesting that Satan will be bound and placed into the abusso, the angels coming down from heaven having the key to the abusso, or the bottomless pit, a great chain in his hand. Back in the 9th chapter of the Book of Revelation, there was another angel, a star it was called, fall from heaven having this key to the abusso. When he opened it, the earth was invaded by demonic hoards that created great havoc upon the earth. Demons were turned loose out of the abusso back in chapter nine.

And so he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the abusso, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (20:2,3)

So now this place of demonic spirits houses Satan. It’s interesting that God has allowed Satan the freedom. Someone has asked if God is going to ultimately bind him and put him in the abusso, why didn’t He do it a long time ago and save us all of the misery and suffering that he has brought upon the earth? And if he is once chained and shut up in the abusso, when why will God allow him to be released again? Interesting is the fact that Satan does serve a divine purpose. God allows him the freedom in order that he might serve God’s divine purpose. It’s so easy for us so say I love You, Lord, with all my heart. Lord, You are first. Lord, I love You more than anyone or anything else. Those words are easy to say. But often times they are said but not with real sincerity. When we avow our love for God, often times God allows us to be put to the test. To the extent of how much we really do love him. Satan is God’s instrument often in testing the love that we have for God.

We see a classic example of that in the story of Job where when the sons of God were presenting themselves to God and Satan came along with them, and God questioned him, where he had been, and he said going to and fro throughout the earth, up and down. God said have you considered my servant Job? He’s a good man. He loves God, hates evil. Satan said yes but You’ve put a hedge around him. You won’t let me get to him. And You have blessed him and prospered him. Anyone would serve You if You prospered them like you have Job. He has no needs, no wants. You have so mightily blessed him. Take away the hedge, let me at him. I can make him curse You. And so God allowed Satan to strip Job of his possessions. God put the restriction on him, leave his life alone. Satan’s philosophy concerning Job that he had developed was that Job was a mercenary; he was only serving God for the profits, for the perks that God gave him. Take away the perks, he won’t serve You. It is true that God gives to His children many wonderful perks. Am I serving Him just for the perks, just for the blessings, just for the benefits, or am I serving Him because I really love Him with all my heart? And God allows it to be put to the test. Job was put to the test. And having been stripped of everything, his family, his wealth, his fortune, Job lay on the ground. He said, I came into the world naked, naked I will go out. The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all of these things, Job did not curse God nor charge God foolishly. But Satan was used as an instrument of God to put Job to the test and often is used as an instrument of God to put us to the test.

Let us say that, I say to my son, “Son, [that was when they were growing up. I can’t say anything to them now. I say sir now], son, I’m going down to purchase a desk. I’ll need help to get it up stairs to get it into my office. I want you to stay here in the yard until I get back because I have a lot to do today, and as soon as I get back I want you to help me put desk up in my office. So don’t leave the yard.” And if I would take then a great chain and go out in the backyard and chain him to the tree and then head for the office supply and get the desk; when I got home, there he is chained in the backyard. I go back and I unchain him and I say, “My I have such a wonderful son. He is so obedient. He stayed in the backyard the whole while I was gone. I’m so proud of that boy.” My neighbor might be saying, you should have heard him screaming and the things he called you while you were gone.

But if on the other hand, I say, “Son, I’m going down to get a desk. I want you to stay in the yard while I’m gone. Don’t leave. I want you here when I get back.” And as I take off, my neighbor is out watering his lawn and I say, “Mr. Jones, would you mind just sort of keeping an eye on my son? I’m sort of curious as what happens when dad’s not around. I told him to stay in the yard, and I’m just curious when I’m not around just what happens.” And so I go down and get the desk, and as I get home I stop by Mr. Jones and say, “Well, how did it go?” He says, “Oh Mr. Smith, you’ve got a fine son! You don’t have to worry about him. He stayed in the yard the whole while you were gone but not only that, that little kid up the street, little Jimmy, he came over and he said come on let’s go over to the school and shoot some baskets. And your son said no I can’t go. I’ve got to stay in the yard. Dad wants me to stay here. He wants me here when he gets back. Oh come on let’s go. You can get back here before your dad does. He’ll never know you’re gone. Come on, let’s go. Your son said no. Dad told me to stay here and I’m going to stay here until he gets back. Ah, come on, you’re just chicken. And your son popped him in the nose. The kid went home with a bloody nose. Mr. Smith, you’ve got a fine son.” And I could then be justly proud that my son obeyed me though the opportunity and the freedom to do otherwise was there.

And so with God. He leaves us free, and he even has little Jimmy, the devil, that comes along and tries to tempt us towards disobedience. And when I remain true to God in spite of the temptations, then, as Paul said, God has created us for the praise of the glory of His grace. That is, He receives pleasure, glory, in my obedience to Him especially in light of the fact that the opportunity to do other wise was there, not only the opportunity, but Satan was there trying to exploit the opportunities. But I’ve remained true, and God says, oh, I’ve got a fine son! And so God said concerning Job. So that is why God has allowed Satan the freedom in order that we might be tested to prove our love and our commitment to the Lord, the genuineness of that love and that commitment. In a moment, we will look at why God allows him freedom again after his being bound for a thousand years in the abusso.

Now in verse four, it is important to note that John is observing not one but two companies. Those who hold to a post tribulation view often use this verse as one of the great proof texts of the post tribulation position because John said,

I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (20:4,5)

So because John saw this company, they don’t make the correct distinction here. They lump it all as one where John is actually talking about two companies that he sees in heaven. Notice, “I saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given unto them.” Who are they? These people on their thrones are the church. Back in chapter three, verse 21, “To him that over cometh I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” Paul writing to the Corinthians said, “No ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more the thing that is pertain to this life?” The psalmist wrote, “Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds, let the high praises of God be in their mouth and the two edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people. To bind their kings with chains, their nobles with fetters of iron, and to execute upon them the judgment written. This honor have all His saints. Praise ye the Lord.” Daniel speaking of the Antichrist said, “I beheld in the same horn the Antichrist made war with the saints, prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints of the most high and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”

Jesus said to His disciples, “Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

So the first group that John observes is the church, the over comers, seated on their thrones judgment is given unto them. But notice, he sees a second group. Notice, he says, “And I saw the soles of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus.” He saw the second group, which were the martyred saints, who had come up out of the great tribulation, had not worshiped the beast or taken his mark.

Back in chapter six, verse nine, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a laud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Chapter seven, verse thirteen, “And one of the elders [When John saw this great multitude in heaven no man can number, singing of salvation through Jesus], the elders said unto Me, Who are these that are arrayed in these white robes? And where do they come from? [And John said], Sir, you know. And he said unto me, These are they, which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”

So there is the second group, those that are martyred during the tribulation period by their refusal to take the mark of the beast or to worship him or his image. So John is actually seeing not one, but two companies, separate companies. The church sits with Jesus on His throne. These martyred saints from the tribulation stand before the throne of God. They are in His holy temple, we are told in chapter seven, worshiping him day and night continually. So John tells that they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Now, that’s both companies. Jesus Christ is going to return to the earth. We will be returning with Him. Paul said, “And when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” He’s returning to the earth to claim the earth as God’s. He redeemed the world through His death upon the cross. He paid the price to redeem the world. He’s coming back to claim that which He purchased on the cross. We will come back with Him and He will reign other the earth for a thousand years, during which time, in the first part of the chapter, Satan will be bound. He will be in the abusso, and we will not have to be dealing with him during this thousand-year reign of Christ.

The earth will be restored to the Edenic glory as it was before the flood, as it was in the Garden of Eden. The earth, the whole earth, will be a paradise. There will probably be an equalizing of the climates. There will be no more hurricanes. There will probably not be any polar icecaps. We do know that under the polar icecaps there were at one time forests under the icecaps. The coal deposits tell us that. We do know that in the frozen Arctic Circle in Siberia, in that icy tundra, they have found the remains of mammoths that were frozen in place. When they were cut open, the digestive I tracts had parts of tropical vegetation. So we know that at one time, the climate of the earth was vastly different than it is today. That there didn’t exist the polar icecaps, but there were tropical animals roaming around the area of the North Pole. Without the polar icecaps, of course, the land surface would be covered more with water. There would be a difference between the present percentage of sea and land. But without the polar icecaps, you would not be getting these tremendous radical changes of climate. There would be much more sun. The earth, of course, presently is tilted at twenty-three and a third degrees, which gives us our seasons.

But perhaps God will readjust because the Bible says the earth is going to wobble like a drunken man and will be moved out of its place. Perhaps the Lord will correct, and we will not be in a twenty three and a third degree angle on our axis in relationship to the sun, but directly perpendicular which would bring not the seasons but an equal kind of daylight and nighttime. And the whole earth could be like Hawaii. So you that have Hawaii scoped out, forget it. It’s mine. But you won’t need to be jealous because the whole earth will be like that. There will be a renewed longevity of life. There will be, of course, greater moisture in the atmosphere because of the evaporation of the oceans with more water and not the storms and so forth. There will be a greater evaporation. More moisture will be carried in the atmosphere, which will give us more filters from the ultra violet rays and all. And the earth will be a beautiful place. The whole earth will be filled with His glory! Righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. We will be living with Christ and reigning with Christ over the earth.

Now, we’ve been reading about the great judgment that is going to come upon the earth. We have been looking at the events. We have seen how the earth’s population has been decimated. And there are scriptures that do indicate that only one out of ten people will survive the great tribulation period. Not very many, one out of ten. But if the earth’s population is presently somewhere around the five billion mark, that would still leave you five hundred million people upon the earth, and that’s a pretty healthy number. When Jesus returns to establish His kingdom, the first order of business will be to gather the nations together for judgment to determine which of those who survive to do great tribulation will be allowed the privilege to continue living into the kingdom age. Now, if a person has taken the mark of the beast, he immediately will be eliminated. He will not be allowed to enter into the kingdom age. If they have been a part of his program, they’ll not be allowed to enter the kingdom age. It is at that time that the Lord will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and to those on His right hand, He’ll say, Come ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared from the foundations of the world. But to those on His left, He’ll say depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity into ever lasting darkness that was prepared for Satan and his angels. Jesus will then begin the thousand-year reign, and we will be reigning with Him as kings and priests, or a kingdom of priests over the earth. We are told that annually we will be going to Jerusalem to meet with Jesus—a great convocation, annually, as the church goes to Jerusalem to meet with the Lord.

Now, let us suppose that there are say two hundred million people that passed the test when Jesus returns and are allowed to live into the kingdom age. There is a passage in Daniel, chapter twelve, where the angel is talking about the end of the Gentile reign and the coming again of the Lord to establish His reign. And Daniel asked the question, how long, oh Lord, to the end of these things? And the Lord said to Daniel, from the time that the abomination which causes desolation is set up, the man of sin comes to Jerusalem causes the daily oblations and sacrifices to cease. It will a thousand two hundred and ninety days to the return of Jesus Christ in glory with His saints to rule over the earth.

Now, lets us say that you are one of those that you’re sort of a skeptic. You don’t believe these things that the Bible says are going to come to pass, except that you have sort of a, well, you know what the Bible says, but you just are not sure. Well, once the church is taken out, you’ll realize it’s true. The sudden disappearance of the church. So you know enough to know what’s going to be coming, the great tribulation. So you get together supplies because you know there’s going to be a famine. You head off to the most remote area that you can find. You try to set yourself up to survive the seven years. You take advantage of the first three and a half years when everybody is hailing this new leader that has arisen to guide the earth. And somehow you’re able to survive that three and a half years of great judgment, all the meteorite showers, all of the fires and everything that’s going to happen, you were able to survive it and you are marking your calendar as you sit there in your cave. And when you hear that the temple in Jerusalem has been desecrated by this man of sin, the sacrifices that were reinstituted had been stopped. You make the mark on the calendar and start counting off the days, one thousand two hundred and ninety days, and you will have made it. You survived.

But then you’ve got to survive the next forty-five days when Jesus gathers the people together for judgment. You may survive the great tribulation, but you may not survive the judgment. But let’s say you do. You were able to survive without getting into the system of the Antichrist, the beast and all, and you did survive and now you stand before the Lord and He says go ahead. You can enter in. Daniel said, blessed is he who comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty fifth day. Which means there will be a forty-five day judgment period, and you’ve made it. You’ll still be in your body.

However, with Jesus here and the radical changes that will take place in nature and in the kingdom of our Lord, sickness will be abolished. Handicaps will be abolished. Isaiah speaks of those glorious days when the lame will be leaping for joy, the blind will be beholding the glory of the Lord. The mute will be shouting for joy. No more sorrow, no more pain, no more suffering. The kingdom of God has come. There will be, as I say, a great number that will survive and will live on into this period.

Isaiah describes it for us a little bit in Isaiah, chapter sixty-five, beginning with verse seventeen. “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. And you will be glad and rejoice forever in that which I’ve created: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be heard no more in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days: for a child will die being a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old will be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. And they shall build, and another will not inhabit it; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” So he talks about this day when, of course, “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and the dust shall be the serpent’s meat. And they shall not hurt nor destroy in My holy mountain, saith the Lord.”

During this thousand years that Jesus is reigning and we are reigning with Him as a kingdom of priests and as David described, probably enforcers of righteousness. We will be the church in our glorified bodies. Those that live through will still be in these natural bodies. And during this period of ideal weather conditions, ideal living conditions, no more sicknesses, no more diseases, no more floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes. You can imagine in a thousand years under those ideal conditions how rapidly the population will develop. There will be no more abortions either. And you can imagine how rapidly under these ideal conditions the population will grow. And so we read that we will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, but the rest of the dead, that is the unsaved, will not rise until the thousand years be fulfilled. “But the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” There will be two general resurrections. If first resurrection began with Jesus Christ. It will end when the last of the martyred saints is brought on into glory. The first resurrection has covered a long period of time. But the rest of the dead, they will not live again until the thousand years are finished.

So blessed and holy is he that has a part in the first resurrection: because upon him the second death will have no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign for a thousand years. But when the thousand years are expired, then Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (20:6,7)

Back in chapter two, Jesus said in verse eleven, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit say to the churches, for he that over comes will not be hurt of the second death.” Revelation 1:6, “He has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” Chapter five, “In heaven we are singing for Thou has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” So this thousand-year reign when we live and reign with Him upon the earth. But at the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed out of the abusso.

And he shall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (20:8,9)

Here to me is an amazing thing, which reveals the heart of man! The Bible tells us that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now our sociologist today try to say there are no bad boys. It’s the environment. And if you can just change the environment, if the person just has the right opportunities, there is that innate spark of good within all of us and all we have to do is fan that spark and everybody will be good.

That’s exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked and who can know it? The depravity of man, the social scientists like to deny that, but the Bible teaches that. When these people have lived on the earth for a thousand years under the ideal environment, the reign of Jesus Christ. During this reign they will be forced to live righteously. They will not have an opportunity to give vent to their evil desires. We’ll be there to see to that. We’ll be there with extra ordinary powers in our glorified bodies. So it will be ruling, it says, with a rod of iron. The reign of Jesus will be an ironclad reign. Righteousness will be something that will be enforced upon all men. And for the thousand years we will see how wonderful it is when people live in righteousness. There will be no prisons. There will be no judicial systems. There will be no police departments, no need for them. As Jesus reigns with an ironclad reign. People living righteously will see the benefits, the blessings, of living in harmony with God.

But when Satan is released again for a short time, it will be a demonstration throughout all of eternity of the desperate wickedness in the hearts of men. The amazing thing is that Satan is able to gather an army so large that it is like the sands of the sea—innumerable. That seems so difficult to comprehend how people who have been living under this ideal reign of Christ will be deceived by Satan to rebel against the reign of Christ. But throughout all of eternity, God’s righteous judgment will be demonstrated. No one can say, well, it was my environment that caused me to be evil, I was deprived. That whole argument will be put down forever because the desperate wickedness of man’s heart will be revealed as they try again to over throw Jesus. Once the demonstration is made, they gather together, then God destroys them with fire from heaven. It’s all over in a moment. There’s no battle. It will be over in a moment. But it shows the desperate wickedness of man’s heart and the absolute righteousness of God’s judgment when He judges wicked men for their rebellion against Him. For the rebellion will still be in their hearts, they’ll not be able to express it during the reign of Christ. But yet, they’ll live under the blessings and the benefits.

That’s the thing that hurts me about the United States. You go back to the founding of this nation, you go back to the founding fathers, you go back to the founding principles; and it was intended to be a nation that would honor God and respect God! A nation that would seek after and follow after God. And because of that, God blessed America. And America became strong. America became prosperous. But just like the nation of Israel, when they became prosperous, they forgot God, they forsook God. And so our nation has forsaken God. And just as the nation of Israel when they forsook God, God turned them over to their enemies. So the time of judgment will come when God will turn the United States over to their enemies. You can’t escape it. Isn’t it interesting, the very thing that made us strong, the very thing that made us great, men are rebelling against? And look how they’re trying to attribute the success and the greatness of America to democracy or to the free enterprise system. And so what are we wanting to send to the world to change the world? Send to them the free enterprise system. Surely that will make everybody good. Send to them the ideals of freedom and democracy. But what freedom? They’re taking away our freedom. More and more they’re taking away your freedom.

I have the most obnoxious Eucalyptus tree in my front yard possible. Every day I have to sweep up a bag of Eucalyptus leaves out of the yard. Every day of the year; that thing sheds all year long. It is a nuisance. I applied to the city of Newport Beach for a permit to remove the Eucalyptus tree because I’m just tired of raking up and sweeping up a bag of leaves every day. The yard always looks trashy. I’ve even taken pictures one hour after I’ve swept to show all the leaves. Two hours, more leaves. But will they allow me to remove that Eucalyptus tree? No. My request was denied. Freedom. Free America. Oh praise God for freedom. What freedom? They’re encroaching every day more and more upon our freedoms. And yet we are wanting to export freedom to the world. It’s crazy, it’s mixed up.

Satan is going to draw the people together in one final rebellion against God and forever God will be justified in the judgment that He has meted out against the ungodly. So we read in verse ten,

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, [Now, last week we saw the beast and the false prophet cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. That was a thousand years earlier than this Scripture. Notice. ] The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, [where the beast and the false prophet are, not where they were destroyed, not where they were annihilated, but where they are after a thousand years! That’s where they are.] and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. (20:10)

You say oh, Chuck, you really don’t believe that, do you? Can’t you sort of explain that away somehow, the idea of forever and ever, is a little difficult to swallow, isn’t it? Let me tell you why I’m not going to mess with it. Over in chapter 22, verse 18, we read, “For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God will add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things, which are written in this book.” You think I’m going to mess with it? You’ve got to be kidding. I’m going to tell it to you straight as it is told to us. I’m not going to try to modify it. I’m going to leave it just as it is.

And I saw the great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (20:11)

There’s going to be a new universe. Peter talks about how this whole thing is going to be dissolved, melt with a fervent meet, the elements dissolving. The earth and the heaven flee away from the presence of the face of Him on the throne.

I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (20:12)

Now, God keeps accurate, precise, and complete records. Everything you’ve ever done or thought has been recorded. It’s an interesting thing, and I don’t know, they theorize that sound goes on. It just continues. Now, we know that sound travels at about 727 miles an hour. But they say that it just continues. That everything that has been said is out there somewhere. And if you could only tune in on it, you could play back your parents, ooing and ahhing over you as they first saw you there in the crib. As light is traveling and seems to go on, they say that sound does the same and there have even been attempts by scientists to try to somehow tune in the sounds. It would be exciting if we could actually tune in and actually here the voice of Jesus talking to the people by the Sea of Galilee. That ought to really sell if you could get a cassette of that. You can be sure God has recorded it all. The book will be open, they will be judged out of the things that is are written in the book.

Now there is this mention of the Book of Life. And throughout the Bible there are several mentions of the Book of Life. It is interesting to me that in the many times that the Book of Life is mentioned, half of the times there is the reference to people being blotted out of the Book of Life. When Moses asked the Lord to forgive the people and if not then to blot his name out of the book, the Lord said to Moses, whosoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.

David, in Psalm 69, speaking for the Messiah, the prayer of the Messiah. The prayer was, Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Jesus, in His message to the church of Sardis in the third chapter, promised that those that overcame would be clothed with white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I’ll confess his name before My Father and before His angels. And then, as we just read in chapter 22, if any man shall take away from the words of the book and of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life. You say, well you mean you actually believe that God takes people’s names out of the Book of Life? Are you trying to get me in trouble? I’m not going to mess with that. I’m not going to take away. I don’t want to add to it. It’s there. The warning is there. Why would the warning be there if there wasn’t a danger, if there wasn’t a possibility? And so they’re judged according to things written in the books, according to their works.

The sea gave up the dead, which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. (20:13,14a)

First of all, the beast and the false prophets became the first to inhabit this place. Later, they were joined by Satan, and now, after the great white throne judgment of God, they will be joined by those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, and it says,

This is the second death. (20:14b)

If you have a part in the first resurrection, you will never face the second death. Death from a scriptural definition is the separation of a man from God, the separation of a man’s consciousness from God. If you live out a consciousness of God, if there is no place for God in your life, there’s no communion, no fellowship with God, no thought of God; then according to the scriptures, you are dead already. You one day will die physically, but you’re already spiritually dead. When you stand before God at this white throne judgment, your name is not found written in the Book of Life, you’ll be cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Now, we read just a little bit ago, “Blessed are they who have a part in the first resurrection over them the second death has no power.” If you are born twice, you’ll die once. Jesus said, “You’ve got to be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I say you’ve got to be born again.” You’ve got to have a second birth, a spiritual birth. Born twice, you’ll die once. Born once, you’ll die twice. You’ll die physically and then you’ll be cast into the lake burning with fire, the second death, that eternal separation from God.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (20:15)

That to me puts at the top of priorities to make sure that my name is in the Book of Life. How does that happen? By my confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior and living my life for Him, surrendered to His Lordship. Now, it isn’t just saying, well, Jesus is Lord. Jesus said, “In that day, many will come saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. Didn’t we prophecy in Your name? cast out devils in Your name? did marvelous works?” And He’ll say, “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and yet you don’t do the things that I command you?” You see, Lord is not His name, it’s His title. He is my Lord, which means I am His servant. I live my life to do His will. And the importance of knowing Jesus as Lord, surrendering your life to Him as Lord, confessing Him as Lord; for if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved. But it has to be a true confession. Your name will be written in the Book of Life.

Now, someone has suggested that because God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, that in the beginning from the foundations of the world, He wrote everybody’s name in the Book of Life. But it’s a question of being blotted out of the Book of Life, which I said the Bible refers to four times over. I don’t know. That’s an interesting concept to consider. Perhaps so. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m thankful my name is written. I know it is. The blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Oh, what a fore taste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my song.

Father, we thank You for redeeming us from our sin, washing and cleansing us, Lord, from the defilement and the pollutions of this world, claiming us as Your children. And Lord, we gladly confess You before men as Lord. And we thank You, Lord, that You’ve promised that one day, You’ll confess us before Your Father as Your sons, Your bride. Lord, we look forward to that day when You present us faultless before the presence of Your glory with exceeding joy. We pray, Father, that tonight Your Holy Spirit will assure our hearts of the truths of these things. And may we not try to diminish or take away nor may we not try to add to these things, but just accept what You have said as truth and believe it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Faith With The Impossible

Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:14)

In Gideon’s mind, victory over the Midianites was an impossibility, and he was absolutely right! The Midianites, along with their allies, overwhelmed the feeble Hebrews. Yet the moment God told Gideon to fight them, victory was no longer an impossibility!

When Jesus commanded His small group of followers to make disciples of all nations, was that possible (Matt. 28:19)? Certainly, if Jesus said it was! When Jesus told His disciples to love their enemies, was He being realistic? Of course, because He was the One who would achieve reconciliation through them (2 Cor. 5:19-20).

Do you treat commands like these as implausible? Do you modify God’s word to find an interpretation that seems reasonable to you? Don’t discount what is possible with God (Phil. 4:13). When God gives an assignment, it is no longer an impossibility, but rather it is an absolute certainty. When God gives you a seemingly impossible task, the only thing preventing it from coming to pass is your disobedience. When God speaks, it can scare you to death! He will lead you to do things that are absolutely impossible in your own strength. But God will grant you victory, step by step, as you obey Him. How do you respond to assignments that seem impossible? Do you write them off as unattainable? Or do you immediately adjust your life to God’s revelation, watching with anticipation to see how He will accomplish His purposes through your obedience? God wants to do the impossible through your life. All He requires is your obedience.

Here we have these interesting Greek words “after these things,” after what things? After the things of God’s judgment upon the earth. After the judgment of the great Babylon commercial system, the system of the Antichrist.

After these things I heard a great voice of many people in heaven, (19:1a)

So we have moved back to the heavenly scene. Now, when John wrote the Book of Revelation, chapter 1:19, he was commanded to write the things which he saw, the things which are and the things which will be after these things. So in chapter one he wrote the vision, that which he saw. Chapter two and three, he wrote of the things of the ministry of the church on the earth. Chapter four begins with the words “after these things.” It was there after the church things that John was taken into heaven and he beheld the heavenly scene in Chapters four and five. Then we came back to the earth. We saw the judgments of God, Chapters six through eighteen as God poured out His judgments, His wrath upon a Christ rejecting, God hating, sinful world. Now, the judgments are complete. So after these things we go back to heaven. We come back to the heavenly scene, and the first thing,

the great voice of many people in heaven saying, Alleluia; (19:1a)

Alleluia is a Hebrew word and it is praise the Lord. Hallel is praise, lu, the, Jah or Yahweh; Praise the Lord. This is the first time the word Alleluia is used in the New Testament. It is used quite frequently throughout the Psalms because, of course, they were in Hebrew. But now this Hebrew word, praise the Lord,

Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: (19:1b)

It’s interesting how that throughout the Book of Revelation as God is worshiped, there are certain characteristics that are recognized and are honored. In the forth chapter as the cherubim are worshiping God, the twenty-four elders respond to that worship saying, Thou art worthy to receive glory, honor, praise. When Jesus takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits upon the throne, the church declares, Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and to loose the seals for He has redeemed us by His blood out of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people and has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign with Him upon the earth. And then as the other heavenly beings join in the praise to Jesus, they declare the worthiness to receive the glory, the honor, the power, the dominions and all that are to be given to Him. So back in the heavenly scene, what are we doing? Praising the Lord still.

Alleluia; because Salvation, glory, honor, power, belong to the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: (19:2a)

It’s interesting to me how throughout the Book of Revelation, which is a book that deals with God’s fierce judgments that he’s going to meet out upon the earth, that all the way through these judgments there is the recognition, the acknowledgement, the declaration of the faithfulness of God’s judgments. “True and righteous are Your judgments.” There are some people who challenge the judgments of God. There is often times an insinuation by the question—the insinuation that God isn’t fair. How could a God of love; why would a God of love? And whenever you get questions like that, there is an undertone of a challenge of the fairness of God. Now, I’ll tell you something, I don’t really put much trust in the judgments of man or in the fairness or in the righteousness of the judgments of man. I’ve read some judgments, and I say, surely justice is blind. I mean I can’t believe some of the judgments that are meted out by man. But I am absolutely certain that what God does is right. Whatever God does is right. And all the way through there is the attesting to the fairness of God, the righteousness of God in His judgments. No one can say that they got a bum rap from God. When God judges us, it will be according to righteousness.

True and righteous are his judgments: because he has judged this whore, [which is the false church, Chapter 17, the judgment of the whore] which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. (19:2)

This false religious system that has suppressed the gospel, that has held people in bondage, that has been as Lenin described, “The opiate of the people bringing them into a blind stupor and causing them to trust in the system rather than in the living God.” And so the declaration of the righteousness of God’s judgment as He judged this great false religious system.

And again they said, Alleluia. (19:3a)

Actually we have four of them here in the19th chapter. Again they said Alleluia. Now you say, but it says Alleluia. In the Greek, there’s a little sort of backwards apostrophe at the beginning of vowels, the “a” and the “e” that give to them a “h” sound. And so it is really pronounced in the Hebrew “Hallelujah.”

And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. [The smoke of the judgment of God upon this great system] And the twenty-four elders [we were introduced to them back in chapter four representing the church] and the four living creatures [the cherubim that are around the throne worshiping God] they fell down and worshiped God who sat upon the throne, saying, So be it; Alleluia. (19:4)

It’s interesting in the worship of God, these twenty-four elders, representative of the church, are always falling down and worshiping God. In the forth chapter as the cherubim are saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God all mighty which is, which was, which is to come, the twenty four elders fell on their faces, casting their golden crowns on the glassy sea, saying, Thou art worthy, oh Lord, to receive the glory and honor.” Again we find them now falling on the ground as they worship God responding to the worship of the people as they say so be it; Alleluia.

And the voice came out of the throne, saying, [Now, here’s encouragement if we needed it. I don’t think we will!] Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. (19:5)

Calling on all to praise God. You know, I think that in the Psalms we are constantly being exhorted to praise, and we are given different things for which we should be praising the Lord. And the different ways by which we should be praising the Lord, praising Him with instruments; praising Him with our voices; praising Him for His mercy endureth forever; praising Him for his goodness; praising Him for so many things and thus again we are here exhorted to praise the Lord, this voice from the throne of God. And ye that fear Him, both small and great, all that fear the Lord are encouraged and enjoined now to praise the Lord.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (19:6)

The time has come. The earth has been languishing under the reign of Satan for almost six thousand years. It was approximately six thousand years ago when Adam forfeited the right and the title to the earth over to Satan, where Satan began his deadly rule over the earth, his destructive rule. And the world has suffered all of the sickness, all of the maladies, all of the suffering that we see in the world you can trace back to Satan’s reign, his ruling other the earth. All of the wars, all of the bloodshed, all of the strife, all of the jealousies, all of these things that make life miserable trace back to the rule of Satan. No wonder they are saying praise the Lord because the Lord God, Omnipotent, reigneth! The time has come when He is going to establish now His kingdom upon the earth. The time has come when He is going to rule over the earth, and thus the rejoicing in heaven because the time has come when the Lord God omnipotent will again reign over all, over the earth.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. (19:7)

Throughout the new testament the figure of a husband and wife is used to depict the relationship of Christ to His church. Paul said to the Corinthians that I have espoused you unto the husband, unto Jesus Christ, and I have a godly jealously over you because my desire is to present you as a chased virgin unto Him. Now, whenever you get into the symbolisms or the analogies of the husband and the wife, there is to be a full and complete and single devotion unto the husband, unto Jesus Christ. Our worship is to be directed to Him. Our love for Him must exceed all other loves. And if there develops in our life a love for something or some experience that exceeds our love for the Lord, we are committing adultery. Because our first love is to be to Him and for Him. And if your first love is directed toward anything else that it constitutes spiritual adultery. And so throughout the New Testament, you notice that the false religious system, the false church, was called the great whore. Why? Because she was entertaining other gods. The gods of power, the gods of wealth. And because she was embracing those gods seeking to exercise power over the earth and exercising and using her wealth, she was worshiping those things and thus comes under judgment because her first love wasn’t for the Lord. “So be glad and rejoice, give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, His wife has made herself ready.” Over and over again as Jesus talked about His second coming, He was telling them that they needed to be watching and they needed to be ready. For in such an hour as you think not, he said, I’m coming. And so His bride, His wife has made herself ready, ready for the marriage.

And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. (19:8)

Paul when he was writing to the Philippians talked about the righteousness that he was seeking to achieve through the law. And he said if any man can boast in himself of his own righteousness, I can more than all of you, because I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I was a Pharisee. I had great zeal for God. And as far as the righteousness, which can come by the law, I was blameless. But those things, which were once important to me, I looked on as positive things, I counted loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Here was Paul on his way to Damascus. We are told that he was breathing out threats of murder, hating these Christians. He was so zealous for the law. And these Christians were worshiping Jesus, and it incensed him! And he was breathing out murders, what he was going to do when he got hold of them. He was commissioned. He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to imprison those in Damascus, the church that was worshiping the Lord there. But on the road to Damascus Paul met Jesus about noonday. There was this bright light that was brighter than the sun and a voice that spoke to him and said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It’s been hard for you to kick against the goads. Paul said, who are You, Lord, that I might serve You? He said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And Jesus began to reveal to Paul the righteousness that He provided through His death. He fulfilled the law completely. God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him. And the Lord began to reveal to Paul the righteousness which is of faith. And Paul began to see the Old Testament in a new light. Looking back at Abraham, he realized that God said that Abraham’s faith was accounted to him for righteousness. And a whole new revelation that I don’t have to work to be righteous; I have to believe. I have to believe in Jesus Christ!

One day they asked Jesus what work must we do in order to do the work of God? And Jesus responded, this is the work of God, just believe on Him whom He has sent. You see God has made righteousness something that is available for all of us. Even a child can believe in Jesus and be accounted righteous. Well, thank God for this new and living way. When Jesus took the cup, He said this is a New Covenant, a covenant whereby you can relate to God, a covenant whereby you can become a child of God. This is a New Covenant. It’s in My blood. It’s shed for the remission of sins. And so God has established through Jesus Christ a new covenant, a way by which I can approach God, a way by which I can come to God. And it is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to me by my faith in Christ. So the bride adorned in the beautiful gown the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Paul said to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law but the righteousness which is of Christ, through faith.

And he saith unto me, [Now, the angel is talking to John here.] Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. (19:9a)

The word blessed means oh, how happy! And I don’t believe that we can even imagine the rapture and the joy that we will experience when we are there in heaven clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ! We hear the invitation to come because the marriage of the Lamb, the bride has made herself ready, clothed in righteousness. And there we stand, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus with exceeding joy. He’s going to present us to the Father.

And Jude writes, Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy! I don’t think that that really does it. Exceeding joy. I think you need to sort of stretch it out. Exceeeeeeeeeeeeeding joy! Far beyond anything you’ve ever experienced here on earth! Far beyond the greatest experience that you’ve ever had of elation and joy will be the joy of that moment when that time has come when we are to be accepted as the bride of Jesus Christ. “Oh, how happy are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And then because it is so absolutely beyond our capacity to imagine, it sounds like a wonderful dream!. The angel affirms to John,

These are the true sayings of God. (19:9b)

You know, throughout the Bible when ever you get to those thing that is are so wonderful and so spectacular, there is often that little affirmation that this is God’s Word and it shall come to pass. It’s interesting in the 36th chapter of Ezekiel as the Lord tells of the sort of rejuvenating of the land of Israel, the agricultural development that will take place in the last days; prophesying to the mountains, you’re going to be covered with trees; to the valleys, you’re going to be filled with grain fields, you’re going to be tilled and sown and the desolate land; the barren mountains will be forest and green and fertile. And having made these prophesies that when the land lay desolate for two thousand years, was stripped of all of the trees because the Turks, when they had control, charged a tax for every tree you had in your yard. So what would you do if you were taxed for every tree in your yard? You’d do what they did. They chopped them down. And so the hills were barren of trees. And yet is prophesying that they’re going to be covered with trees. The desert will blossom like a rose. The barren land will become like the Garden of Eden. And having said these things, it seems so totally improbable. God said, I said it! And I will do it.

Now you go over to Israel today and what do you discover? He did it. If. The forest on the hillsides. Oh, the trees, the fruit trees, the green fields, the agriculture and the fruit and all that comes. They are the forth-largest exporter of fruit of the nations of the world. They rank forth. And yet they are by far smallest of the nations that export fruit. So small; about the size of New Jersey. And yet as God promised in Isaiah, they that come of Jacob will blossom and bud and fill the earth with fruit. God said, I said it, I’ll do it. I like when God brags about what he’s going to do. He did it!

When Daniel interrupted Nebuchadnezzar his dream. He said the dream is certain and the interpretation is true. And as you look at history, you see how that the dream of Nebuchadnezzar has come to pass and the empires that have ruled the world. So when God affirms the truth, it’s just to sort of bolster that much more in your heart—Glorious things! “Oh, how happy are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, don’t do that: I am your fellowservant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (19:10)

Now, God is to be worshiped. Under the law, the Lord said, you shall worship the Lord thy God and Him only. You remember when Satan was tempting Jesus, took Him up to a high mountain, showed Him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and promised to give them to Jesus if Jesus would just bow down and worship him. Jesus responding to Satan said, it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. Only God is to be worshiped.

And yet we read in Mathew 2:11 that when the wise men came to the house where Jesus was, they knelt down and worshiped Him. In Mathew 8:2, we read of the leper that came running to Jesus and knelt and worshiped Him. We read of the ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum, Jairus, who came to Jesus and he fell at Jesus’ feet and he worshiped Him. We read of how that when Jesus walked on the water when He got into the ship, the disciples came and they worshiped Him. You read of how the women who were returning from the empty tomb when Jesus appears to them, they held Him by the feet and they worshiped Him. And then when Jesus appeared to the disciples in Mathew 28:17, we read that they worshiped Him. If you’re only to worship God and Jesus allowed worship of Himself, what does that tell you? Jesus is God. It’s quite obvious. And thus, the fact that He received worship is only proving that He is God.

Do you remember when these four fellows brought their friend on a stretcher to Jesus who was there in Capernaum teaching in a house? Their friend had the palsy. He had become an invalid. The palsy was one of the advanced of stages of syphilis disease. And when they came to the house, they saw that there was such a crowd they couldn’t get their friend through the crowd to Jesus. So being inventive, they climbed up on the roof of the house. They lifted some of the tiles and they let their friend down in front of Jesus with ropes on his stretcher. And Jesus looking at him said, son your sins are forgiven. Now, I’m sure that those guys that had brought their friend and let him down through the roof were saying, no, no, no! We’re not worried about that. We want you to heal him.

The reaction of the Pharisees was a little different. They were upset! They said, that’s blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. I’m sure the fellow thought, whew. For no doubt as the disease progressed and it began more and more to just sap his life, don’t you know that his sin was tormenting his mind. What a fool. Why did I do that? How stupid, you know? Look what I’m going through. The misery, the suffering. Now I’m an invalid all because of my lust, giving into my lust. And he was tormented by his sin. And now doubt the words of Jesus just caused his heart to leap. My sins are forgiven. But to answer the Pharisees, Jesus said to them, what is easier? To say your sins are forgiven or to say rise, take up your cot, and go home? Now what would be easier to say? It would be a lot easier to say your sins are forgiven because no one can see the washing away of the sins. It’s a an inward process that you can’t observe. So you could walk away and say the guy’s loony, going around telling people your sins are forgiven. But if you say to the fellow, rise, take up your bed and walk, you’re putting it on the line. If the guy still lies there, it’s quite obvious there’s not much power in your words. And so Jesus said, that you might know that I have power on earth to forgive sins. He then said to the fellow, take up your bed and walk. Go home. And the guy got up, took his cot, and walked out of the room. What did it show? Jesus didn’t dispute that only God can forgive sins. But He was proving that He was God!

When the rich, young ruler came and knelt at Jesus’ feet and said, good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, keep the commandments. He said which ones? And Jesus gave him the six commandments of the second table of the law. He said, I’ve kept all of these from the time I was a little kid, but I’m still lacking something. Jesus said, if you would be perfect, go and sell everything you have, distribute it to the poor, come and follow Me, you’ll have treasure in heaven. But Jesus asked him a strange question. When he said, good Master, Jesus stopped and He said, why did you call Me good? There’s only one good and that’s God. Why did you call Me good? Now, what is Jesus saying? He’s saying, I’m no good. Or He is saying, I am God. And He’s trying to awaken the fellow’s consciousness to the fact that what he was recognizing in Jesus was divinity. And thus the question, why do you call Me good? He’s trying to awaken the guy’s consciousness that in seeing Jesus there was a quality of life that he was longing for and he was asking, how can I obtain this quality, this age abiding life? All the way through, Jesus affirmed that He and the Father were one. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.

And so here is John ready to worship an angel. The angel says no, no. Not me. Worship God. And then he declares that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” A lot of times people ask me, well, is the United States in prophecy? No. The spirit of prophecy is Jesus. All of prophecy centers around the person of Jesus. All of the Old Testament prophecies centered around the person of Jesus. They were prophesying the Messiah that is to come. Now, the conditions that would be going on around Israel and so forth, because that’s where the Messiah would be. And now the prophesies that we have today are still centered in Jesus, but they’re centered in the second coming of Jesus and the world circumstances as they relate to Jesus and the second coming. “But the spirit of prophecy is Jesus.”

And John said, I saw heaven opened, and behold there was a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns; [or diadems because he is going to be the King of kings and The Lord of lords. So all of the powers and the crowns will be vested in him. ] and he had a name that was written, which no man knew, but he himself. (19:11,12)

This mystery name. Now, we are told in Jeremiah that in that day His name will be called Jehovah-tsidkenu, “The Lord our righteousness.” But there are many names for our Lord. And here is a name, which no man knows but He, Himself.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (19:13)

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. And the same was in the beginning with God and all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. John said in Revelation, Chapter 5 when the angel asked who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals, and no man was found worthy in heaven and earth or under the sea and John began to sob. The elders said, don’t weep John. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the scroll and loose the seals. John said, I turned and I saw Him as a Lamb that had been slain. His robe dipped in blood. His vesture dipped in blood. In Isaiah 63, Isaiah prophesying of our Lord and the period of judgment in righteousness and judgment, He does make war. Isaiah 63, he said, “Who is this that comes from Edom with died garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? And the answer is I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. The question. Why are you red in your apparel, and why are your garments like him who has been treading the wine vat? The answer. I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people, there was none with Me, for I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come. And I looked and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore, Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me and My fury, it upheld Me, and I will tread down the people in Mine anger and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth, and in righteousness, He doth judge and make war.” Isaiah describes Him as He comes to bring His judgment and the final judgment of the earth as He returns. “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory with all the holy angels. Then shall he gather together the nations, and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And to those on His right hand, He’ll say, come ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom that’s been prepared for you from the foundations of the earth. To those on His left, He’ll say, depart from Me ye workers of iniquity into hell that was prepared for Satan and his angels.” And so when He comes, the first order of business will be judgment.

In Daniel 12 where they are talking about the coming again of our Lord to establish the kingdom, the question is asked, how long oh, Lord holy and true, before this will happen? And the Lord tells him that from the time that the abomination that causes desolation is set up. That is, from the time that the Antichrist comes to the rebuilt temple, stands in the temple, declares that he is God and demands to be worshiped as God, stops the daily prays and the sacrifices. From that time, it will be 1,290 days before the Lord returns. And then Daniel adds, blessed is he who comes to the 1,335th day. What does that mean? What’s the 45 days all about? For the first 45 days when Jesus comes back, they will be days of judgment where these who have survived the great tribulation will be brought before Him, and it will be determined at that time which of them will at that time be cast into hell and which of them will be allowed to enter into the kingdom. If you’re still here after the 1,335th day, it means that you made it through. Blessed is he who comes to the 1,335th day. You’ve made it through the period of judgment. You’ll be allowed to enter into the kingdom age to have Lord as He reigns upon the earth. There’s a lot there that we don’t have time to go into tonight, but it’ll just give you a taste and you can read Daniel and find out more.

The armies which were in heaven followed him on white horses, (19:14)

The Bible tells us, behold, He cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon the earth. Paul said, when Christ who our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. Coming back with Jesus as He comes back to establish God’s kingdom on the earth, and we shall live and reign with Him for a thousand years, is our song in Revelation 5.

And out of his mouth there went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath and Almighty God. And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (19:15,16)

So His name is the Word of God, there is a name that nobody knows but Him, and there is also the name on His vesture KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Out of His mouth there goes the sword. We read that the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword. We read that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And God said, let there be light. He spoke light into existence. It’s called the divine fiat. Jesus, the words that go forth from His mouth are like a sharp sword. In other words, there is really no battle. He comes to make war, but all He has to do is speak the words and the enemy is destroyed. And so out of His mouth goes the sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He begins to rule them with a rod of iron. The rule of Christ will be an ironclad rule.

You know, the most efficient form of government is a monarchy. And that’s good if the monarch is good, but it’s hell if the monarch is a tyrant. But Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and believe me, His will be a righteous rule and a righteous reign. It will be forced. Those who don’t want to comply will be dealt with severely. And as I understand it, as we come back to reign with Christ over the earth, we will more or less be the enforcers of righteousness. We will be given authority over territories here on the earth.

Do you remember in the distributing of the talents, when one fellow came back and said, Lord, you gave me five I’ve increased it?. Here’s ten. He said, good job! You’ve been faithful in a few things, now I’ll make you ruler over ten cities. Enter into the joy of the Lord. And so we will be here to assist Christ in His reign. It says the kings of the earth will come once a year to Jerusalem to sit at His feet and learn. So we’ll see you every year in Jerusalem because you will reign as kings and priests here on the earth with the Lord, and we’ll have our annual meeting in Jerusalem where we all go to meet with Jesus and just sit and learn. Because throughout the ages to come, He’s going to be revealing unto us the exceeding richness of His love and mercy towards us in Christ Jesus. So rich, so great! You’ll never learn it in a lifetime. It’s going to take all eternity to reveal the depth of God’s love for you!

So I saw the angel who was standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice [Now, they are spirit beings. They can stand in the sun. We say, oh my! He’d be burned up! The Hebrew children, they stood in the burning, fiery furnace. They were not bothered.], saying to all the fouls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yours together unto the supper of the great God; (19:17)

Jesus is coming and the Antichrist is going to gather together the nations to try to thwart His kingdom. Multitudes, millions, the armies of the world gathered under the Antichrist to thwart the return of Jesus Christ. And so the birds are invited. Come to a feast. He’s going to wipe them all out. Feast on their carcasses.

That you might eat of the flesh of the kings, and the flesh of the captains, and the flesh of the mighty men, and the flesh of the horses, and those that sit on them, the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, [the Antichrist, the son of perdition] and the kings of the earth, and their armies, they were gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [This great battle of Armageddon] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (19:18-20)

Now, there is a place that is called hell, which in the Hebrew is Sheol and in the Greek is Hades. It’s also translated grave, or hell, either translation. It’s the place, that a person who has died has gone, to the grave.

Now, prior to the death of Jesus this place called Hades was in the heart of the earth. Jesus, when He was asked for a sign said no sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Paul writing to the Ephesians, chapter four, said He who has ascended, that is Jesus, ascended into heaven, is the same one who first of all descended into the lower parts of the earth. And when He ascended he led the captives from their captivity and He gave gifts unto men. On the ascension, Jesus gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. To some, of course, the gift of apostleship, to some evangelists, to some prophets, to others pastor-teachers for the perfecting of the saints.

Jesus describes Sheol prior to His visiting there. In the 16th chapter of Luke He speaks of a certain rich man who faired sumptuously every day and of a beggar named Lazarus who was brought daily by his friends. And lying at the gate of the rich man survived off of the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And the poor man died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Moreover, the rich man also died and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeing Lazarus afar off being comforted in Abraham’s bosom said, “Father Abraham, have mercy upon me. Send Lazarus that he might take his finger, dip it in water, an touch my tongue. I’m tormented in this heat. And so the two sections, Abraham said, son remember in your lifetime you had the good things, Lazarus the evil? Now, he is comforted while you’re tormented, but beside this there is this gulf that is fixed between these two places. It’s impossible for those that are here to go over there or for those that are there to come over here.” When you die, that’s the way it’s going to be. You’re not going to be able to cross that gulf after death. But when Jesus died, He went and preached to those souls in prison. And when He rose, He led them from their captivity.

In the prophecies concerning Jesus, Isaiah 61, “He came to open the prison doors to those that were bound to set at liberty those that were captive.” “And so He led the captives from their captivity,” Ephesians 4, as He emptied that section of Hades.

But the unrighteous dead, are still there awaiting the great judgment of God. And in the next chapter we will read at the judgment throne of God death and hell will deliver up the dead which are in them and they stand before God to be judged. And death and hell will be cast into the lake that is burning with fire. This is the second death. And whosoever’s name is not found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be cast into the lake burning with fire.

The lake burning with fire is the description of a place known in the scriptures as Gehenna. Now, Gehenna is a valley just south of Jerusalem known as the valley of Hinnom. And it was really the valley where in the times of apostasy of the nation of Israel in their worship of Baal and Molech, they would build bonfires and they would take their little babies and throw them into the fires for Molech and for Baal. That was called causing your children to pass through the fire. And the Israelites were doing this. It was their method of getting rid of born children. They didn’t have the skills of abortion in those days and so they would wait until the child was born and then they would throw them into the bonfires in their worship of their god of pleasure. Horrible practices. But later and in the time of Christ, the valley of Hinnom became the garbage dump for the city of Jerusalem. And they were constantly burning the garbage. You could always look towards the valley of Hinnom and you could see the smoke rising day or night, the fires of Hinnom burning as they burned the garbage and the refuse that was thrown there into the valley. And thus the name Gehenna, a place of constant burning. It is described as a lake of fire and brimstone.

Now, the first occupants of Gehenna will be the Antichrist and the false prophet. They will be there sort of isolated and alone for a thousand years. Satan, when Jesus returns, will be bound and he will be put in a place called the abusso, the shaft, the bottomless pit. And he will be released , we’ll get that in the next chapter, for a short period from the bottomless pit at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ. And we’ll go into that next week when we get into chapter 20. But the beast and the false prophet are cast alive into this lake that is burning with fire. Later, Satan will be cast in a thousand years later, and it says where the beast and the false prophet are. Not where they were consumed, not where they were destroyed, but where they are. You know, some groups teach the annihilation of the wicked. You won’t find that in the Scripture. You find the Scripture says the smoke of your torment ascends forever and ever—eij tw?n aiw<nwn—from ages to the ages.

So the remnant were slain were the sword of him that sat on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all of the fouls were filled with their flesh. (19:21)

The result of the judgment of Christ when He returns and puts down those opposing forces that have gathered to thwart the establishing of God’s kingdom upon the earth. But He shall overcome them because He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Father, we thank You for these insights into the future. We’re so glad, Lord, we’re on Your side that we have surrendered our lives even now and acknowledged that Jesus is King. He is Lord. King of our lives, we crown Thee now, Thine shall the glory be. And Lord, we see how the world is gathered together against You today. We can see how the Antichrist has already preparing the hearts of man in rebellion against You. The forces of darkness as they are being mustered to try to thwart Your coming kingdom. But Lord, we thank You that Your kingdom shall stand. And Lord, we’re so thankful that You’ve called us to be a part of Your glorious kingdom. Lord help us, as we look at history, we see how many people and how many times the people turn from You. And You warned us of these last days because the iniquity in the earth would abound. The love of many would wax cold. Lord, don’t let our love wax cold. Keep us ever fervent in our pursuit of You and in our love for You. In Jesus name, Father, Amen.

Iron Sharpens Iron

As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. (Proverbs 27:17)

The Christian life is a pilgrimage. At times the road is difficult, and we get lonely. Sometimes we may become discouraged and consider abandoning the journey. It is at such times that God will place a friend alongside us. One of God’s most precious gifts to us is friends who encourage us and lovingly challenge us to keep going.

According to Scripture, a friend is one who challenges you to become all that God intends. Jonathan could have succeeded his father to become the next king of Israel. But he loved his friend David, and he encouraged him to follow God’s will, even though it meant Jonathan would forfeit his own claim to the throne (1 Sam. 19:17).

The mark of biblical friends is that their friendship draws you closer to Christ. They sharpen you and motivate you to do what is right. True friends tell you the truth and even risk hurting your feelings because they love you and have your best interests at heart (Prov. 27:6).

Be careful in your choice of friends! Jesus chose His closest friends wisely. He did not look for perfect friends, but friends whose hearts were set to follow God. It is equally important to examine the kind of friend you are to others. As a friend, it is your duty to put the needs of others first (Prov. 17:17). Strive to find godly friends who will challenge you to become the person God desires. When you have found them, be receptive to the way God uses them to help you become spiritually mature. Strive also to be the kind of friend that helps others become more like Christ.

Let’s turn to the 18th chapter of the Book of Revelation. Last week in the 17th chapter, we looked at God’s judgment upon the religious system, the false religious system, that the Lord called, mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots. And we realized that it wasn’t the literal city of Babylon that was brought into the destruction but Babylon was used as the symbol for the false religious system because Babylon was the birthplace of false religions: Nimrod, Tammuz, Semiramis. The birthplace was in Babylon but the religious system spread throughout the world. So the false religious system was identified with Rome, the city on the seven hills.

Now we come into the judgment of God upon a second evil. False religion has destroyed so many lives. So many people are destroyed by false religion. Lives and people are destroyed by the commercialism, the enslaving of the souls of men in the commercialism of the world. Again, Babylon was the birthplace for commercialism. The first banks and all were established in Babylon and the heart and the seat of commercialism in the early years, and thus, it again is identified as Babylon but only because of the commercial center that Babylon once was. The Babylon of Chapter 18, I believe, will be the city where commercialism is centered in the time of the Antichrist. Just where that will be we do not yet know. It’s interesting how that the flow of money seems to go from one area to another as time passes. The commercial center of the world seems to shift. The balance of commerce, the United States at one time, then, of course, Japan with all of its goods. It’s shifting now to China. They’re becoming a commercial giant. And, of course, with the oil, the Mid-east with all of the money that flowed into the Mid-east through the oil. So the money is sort of in flux and it just flows from one area to another.

It’s interesting how that the commercial interests are able to sort of program our minds to feel that we’ve got to have a certain product. Look how they play with the minds of the children. Can you remember a few years ago when every child had to have a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas and that these ugly little dolls were selling for humongous amounts? People were advertising in the paper “Genuine Cabbage dolls.” And they were charging ten times the price that they paid for them. And then it became, Tickle Me Elmo, and all of the kids had to have the Tickle Me Elmo. Christmas won’t be Christmas unless you get me a Tickle Me Elmo! So the parents were out going through the stores, calling, trying to find Tickle Me Elmo. Toys-R-Us, when they’d get the supply in there would be almost a riot and they’d be gobbled up immediately. There was a shortage, and I’m sure a contrived shortage in order to make the demand even greater. You know, TV, the little kids sit there watching the cartoons but then they know exactly what cereal they want when they go to the store. How they are being sold, their minds are already being programmed by the advertisements that they’ve got to have the certain product. They’ve got to have this certain toy, and they are sold that this product, this toy is going to make them Superman or Mighty Mouse or something. It’s amazing the way our minds can be controlled by the advertisers.

You see, basically there is deep down within man a thirst for God. Jesus spoke about that in John 7:37. He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” He was not talking about a physical thirst. He was not talking even of the emotional thirst, but He was talking about the thirst in the spirit of man for God. And He is saying, if you thirst, come to Me. You need God. Your soul, your spirit is thirsting after God. Come to Me and drink. “For he who drinks the water that I give, out of his innermost being there will gush torrents of living water.” The thirst will be satisfied, plus.

Paul, in Romans, said that God has made man subject unto this emptiness and that by the design of Him who created him. That’s just the way you were created. You can’t help it. But the problem is, you can’t satisfy the spiritual thirst with either a physical or material thing. Nor can you satisfy it with an emotional experience, but that’s the great fallacy of the world today. Men are trying to satisfy the spiritual thirst with material things.

Now, Madison Avenue recognizes this, and so as these advertisers draw up their programs, they play upon that thirst that is within the spirit of man but they make you think that that thirst can be satisfied if you are possessing a certain article, their product. And so they use this basic thirst within man to promote their product making you feel, this is what you need to find contentment and satisfaction. But you remember when Jesus was talking to the woman of Samaria there at the well, and He was asking her for a drink. And she said, “Why do You ask me for a drink? You’re a Jew, I’m a Samaritan. We don’t deal with each other.” He said, “If you knew who it was that was asking you for a drink, and if you knew the gift of God, you’d being asking Him for a drink.” And she said, “No, I wouldn’t ask You for a drink. That well is deep. You don’t have anything to draw with.” And Jesus said, “Oh but if you drink of this water, you’ll thirst again.”

Now, that’s true of every material possession. You know it’s true. Everything that you have purchased up to this moment with the hope and the thought that it’s going to bring you complete satisfaction. If I just have this, I’ll never want anything else again. You know good and well that after you drank of that water, you thirsted again. It may have satisfied for a little while, but then you became conscious of that deep need for God once again. The same is true of emotional experiences. What a lie of Satan as he leads us from one emotional experience to another, and so many people get caught in this trap. They think that it lies with this new person that I’ve just discovered. And how many homes are broken? How many lives are ruined because of the lie of Satan that you can find the fulfillment in some emotional experience? And, of course, the amusement parks, the thrills of the new rides becoming more exotic all the time, but it doesn’t satisfy. For the ninety seconds or so you’re on there and you’re being tossed and turned and spun upside down and everything else and you’re screaming your head off, you may feel, whoa, this is great you know! But then the brakes are on and the thing stops and you have to get off. And where do we go now? And you can’t satisfy that spiritual thirst with an emotional experience. The pleasure-mania that we have in the United States.

Look at The World Federation of Wrestling how they are seeking to even more and more make it an emotional experience. They promote this pleasure-mania; want to see him beat the tar out of that guy, you know. Bang him with the chairs, and what stupid referees they have. They’re never at the right place at the right time. Excitement, yelling, screaming. Emotional experience. But then the fight is over. The game is over. Your team lost. Wait until next year. How many years have we Angel fans been waiting? Next year it’s got to be better. But you might have a great emotional experience. Your team may have won in the last few seconds. I mean, look at the Michigan fans yesterday, wow. It came right down to the wire. And, oh, what rejoicing, but the poor Notre Dame fans, what a long, sad trip home. But so it is, the world. It offers, promises, but it doesn’t fulfill.

You drink of the water, and you’re thirsty again. But in offering you the hope of satisfaction, they’ve got their hand in your back pocket and you’re paying dearly. You’re going into debt, often times hopelessly into debt because of the promise of fulfillment. If you just had this car, this giant screen TV, or whatever they are promising you to bring you full satisfaction. And people go hopelessly in debt. It is an evil system that makes slaves of people. The banks freely offer you credit through the Visa or Master or Discovery cards. They are constantly sending you out the letters that talk about your being pre-approved for the new credit card at a low interest rate to begin with but it always raises. And people become hopelessly in debt. The credit cards are all maxed out, and you’re paying humongous interest but you’re already over your head in debt. You become a slave, and God hates taking advantage of people. The whole commercial system that is designed to put people hopelessly in debt and to make them a slave to the lender, because the Scripture says the borrower is a slave to the lender. God hates that. And those things don’t satisfy. They can’t fill the spiritual thirst in your spirit for God. They can only temporarily disguise, but the thirst is still there. God created that thirst so that you would have to come to Him to find satisfaction. These substitutes are keeping you from coming to God. They prolong your journey, and thus God hates this crass commercialism that has become the substitute in so many peoples’ lives for the genuine article; hoping be the emotion of the night or by the possession of a thing they can find the contentment and satisfaction but they thirst again. So God brings it into judgment in Chapter 18.

After these things I saw another angel [that is not one of the seven final angels with the bowls of God’s wrath that are poured out in Chapter 16] but here is another angel coming down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (18:1)

Angels are interesting and awesome beings. The Bible gives us a little insight into this realm of spirit beings that are called angels, created by God and created in various rankings and orders and some of them very powerful. We know that Lucifer, himself, at one time was an angel of God. He was the anointed cherub and a cherub is one of the high orders of angels. The anointed cherub that covereth, perfect in wisdom, perfect in beauty in all of his ways until the day that iniquity was found in him. (Ezek 28:12-15) And so these awesome created beings called angels. And here is one that comes down evidently an extremely powerful angel having great power and the whole earth is lighted. Now you remember in the pouring out of the bowls, one was the darkness that covered the earth. And now the earth is lightened with his glory.

He cried mightily with is strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird. (18:2)

The unclean birds, hateful birds, in the Scriptures are emissaries of Satan. There’s a rule of scriptural interpretation, and whenever the theologians get hold of things, they put big fancy words on to them. But it is called, this rule of interpretation, expositional constancy. Now what that means is that throughout the scripture, many times, there are things that are likened to something. And wherefore then you find this used in an analogous way, it is always of the same thing. In other words it wouldn’t be of something good at one time and something evil of another. Leprosy is used in the scripture as a type of sin. So when ever you see leprosy used in an analogous way, it is always a type of sin. Birds in the scripture are a type of something that is evil, of Satan’s work. You remember in the parable of the sower that went forth to sow the seed and it fell some by the wayside and the birds came and ate it up. Other of the seed fell among thorns and some among the stone any ground, and then the good soil. As Jesus was explaining that parable, He said, “That which is sown by the wayside is the word of God that fell but immediately Satan came and plucked it up so that it didn’t penetrate into the heart of the person at all.” And so the work of Satan, the birds. When you find birds used in a symbolism, it is always the work of Satan. So here the evil hateful birds, unclean birds inhabiting, now, this system that has been destroyed, that has fallen.

Now back in the 14th chapter, in verse 8, there was an angel that went around declaring Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the great city because she made all of the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. So the announcement of the fall of Babylon comes back in the 14th chapter. What we have here in the 18th chapter is an amplification of what was announced in the 14th chapter. The Book of Revelation does not always run in a consecutive order. It will carry you through a period, and then it will go back and it will give you greater detail of an earlier period that has already transpired. So here the declaration again that “Babylon is fallen, is fallen and become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and the age of every unclean and hateful bird.”

For the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. (18:3)

Now, again where this Babylon is yet to be determined. Whatever becomes the major commercial center once the Antichrist has taken control, that will be the city, that commercial city, that represents the commercialism of the world is the one that is coming in for judgment and for utter destruction that we read here in Revelation. “All of the nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication, the kings, the merchants.”

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (18:4)

It is interesting that throughout the Scriptures the people have been called to come out of this Babylonian system. Isaiah 48:20, “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing, declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob.” Isaiah 52:11, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Jeremiah 58, “Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon, an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in an array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.” Jeremiah 51:6, “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her repayment.

Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all of the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are insane. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.” Zechariah said, “Oh, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven saith the Lord, deliver thyself, oh Zion, that dwell with the daughter of Babylon.” And then in 2 Corinthians Paul said, “Wherefore come out from among them, be ye separate saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing, I will receive you and I will be a father unto you, ye shall be My sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty.” The worldly system, God calls His people out of it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for he that hath the love of the world in his heart has not the love of the Father. So this great commercial system, called Babylon, is to be destroyed. It falls. And we read here of the announcement, sort of a prayer, and we are not told who declares it, but it just says,

Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup, which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, mourning, famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. (18:5-8)

Now, there are commercial interests, there are men who control the banking of the world. They are power brokers, and their whole purpose is to bring you under their control and power. And they use commercialism to do it. They are sinister forces that are there. They are the power brokers. They are the ones who put our political leaders into office. They are the ones who pour the money into the elections, and they are the ones who really are in control. Don’t think that president Clinton is in control. He’s not even in control of his own emotions. But he is a pawn as are all of the world leaders. These men are behind the scenes controlling the issues, and God calls for judgment upon them. Reward her even as she has rewarded you, double according to her works, the cup, which she has filled to the double. Now, that’s from the divine side that we view the destruction of Babylon. She’s getting what she has coming. But from the human side,

The kings of the earth, [that is the leaders like we were mentioning] who have committed fornication and have lived deliciously with her, [these men that they have used, the pawns, that they have set up] shall bewail her, and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. (18:9,10)

Whatever city it is, it could possibly be New York, but whatever city it is, it will be a great city. It will be the center of the commercial interests of the world. Wealthy. But the destruction will come in one hour. Now twice here we are told that they stand afar off for fear of the torment, which to me indicates that the city will probably be destroyed by an atomic bomb. The fear of the radiation causes people not to approach it but to stand back and to marvel that in one hour it was devastated. As I said, twice we’ll find that they are standing afar off because of the fear of the torment.

And the merchants of the earth shall weep [the rulers who have been put in power, they will weep] and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, and of pearls, fine linen, silk, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, the perfumes, the cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. [People merchandising in these things.] The fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, (18:11-14a)

You see, this is what they do, they create in you a lust for these things. And people become controlled and ruled by their lusts, rather than by their minds. God gave you an intellect, the capacity to reason. You were created in the image of God, and God intended that you reason things out. My one granddaughter, when she was a little girl had done something and I was just commenting on how smart she was. You’re so smart to figure that out. And I was just sort of extolling on her wisdom in figuring it out. And she said, grandpa, God gave me a “bwain” and he wants me to use it. And she was so right. God’s given us a brain and He wants us to use it. He wants us to think things through. Come now let’s reason together saith the Lord. Offer your body as a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. But Satan seeks to control you by your lust. That is why people, even smart people, intelligent people, can do such stupid things because they don’t use their minds. They are not controlled by their minds, but they are controlled by their emotions and by their lusts. So the advertisers create within you a lust for fancy jewelry, verse 12, the gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fancy clothes, fine linen, silk. The fancy furniture’s made of the thyine wood and manner of vessels of ivory, precious woods, brass, iron, and marble. The perfumes, you know, it always amazes me when they come out with these statistics, I never remember them, but of how much money is annually spent in the United States on perfume, deodorants and that kind of thing. The gourmet foods, the fancy cars, the horses and chariots, and the chariots were the sports cars of those days.

And the slaves and the souls of men, the merchandising of people. The souls of men. The money that is being made in prostitution, the money that is being made in the selling of children, many times being sold for sexual purposes. A tremendous problem exists in Thailand where the merchants will go in through the back country where the poverty is so great, and they’ll buy the little girls from the families who are nine, ten, eleven years old, and they will bring them into Bangkok for purposes of making money off of them. In Europe they have sex tours, and these men go to Bangkok in order to have sex with these little girls. And the same is true with little boys. And this merchandising even of the souls of men, this whole corrupt system, is coming down and none too soon.

The fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all of the things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. (18:14)

God is going to wipe out this whole system. In the Kingdom Age when Jesus comes to reign, we read in Isaiah, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters. Come, buy without money.” Take it. It’s yours. It’s free. Commercialism will be gone. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. And it will be there for men. Buy without money, it says. That whole commercial system will be gone and there will be that glorious Kingdom of God where there will be an abundance for everyone and no one will be enslaved to debt.

But the merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, [there you have it the second time] and they are weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour [again the quickness of the destruction] so great riches is come to nothing. And every shipmaster, [now, first of all the people that have been put into power, the kings, they will be wailing, then the merchants] but then also it comes down to the shipmasters, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by the sea, they stood afar off, And they cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. [So, the threefold, actually of the kings, of the merchants, of the sailors.] (18:15-19)

Now, that’s the earthly view of the destruction. Weeping, wailing. Why? Because it’s over. All of the tremendous riches that have been amassed through this commercial system, is over. But from the heavenly scene it says,

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be throne down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of the harpers, and musicians, the pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and all that were slain upon the earth. (18:20-24)

It is interesting to me how that the commercial and the advertisers promote so much evil in the world today. How people are being made rich through pornography, the merchandising of pornography. How people are being made rich by these ungodly forces and how that so many of them are being taken over by ungodly people and use the prophets for ungodly purposes. There is a war against God, and the commercial interests are at war against God. Levi-Strauss Company cut off their support to the Boy Scouts of America because the Boy Scouts of America would not allow homosexual leaders. The Bank of America did the same but they sort of backed off because of the tremendous amount of tumult that was created. A lot of people with draw their accounts from the Bank of America, and they saw the folly of it. But Wells Fargo hung on to the position and refused to support any longer the Boy Scouts, because of that homosexual issue. But they’re using the money to fight against the righteous principles that God has established and should be represented in His church and by God’s people.

But, good news, it’s almost over! Next week we enter into Chapter 19 when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and what a radical change is going to take place when God’s kingdom comes! I can hardly wait! If the Lord tarries, we’ll be here next Sunday night, and if he doesn’t, all the better! It will soon be over.

Father, we thank You for the hope that we have of the coming kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ as He comes to reign over the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The judgments fulfilled and now the time of the glorious reign, Lord, we do pray that Your kingdom would come and that the day will soon come when Your will is being done here on earth even as Your will is done in heaven. And Lord, we pray that we might be faithful walking, Lord, in truth, using Lord, the capacities that You have given to us to think things through, rather than just following our lust and being guided by our emotions. Lord, help us to reason things out and to look at the end result of sin in the path of the lust and realize they are death. Bless, Lord we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Servants of Christ

“So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ” (Luke 17:10)

The servant carries out the master’s will. The servant doesn’t tell the master what to do. The servant does not choose which tasks to perform for the master, nor does the servant suggest days or times when it would be convenient to serve the master. The servant’s function is to follow instructions. The master, on the other hand, gives directions. The master does not tell the servant to develop a vision that will guide the master. The master is the one with the vision; the servant’s task is to help fulfill the master’s purposes.

We are the servants; God  is the Master. We tend to try to reverse this! God’s revelation of Himself, His purposes, and His ways depends directly upon our obedience. He may not reveal today His intentions for the next five years, but He will tell us what our next step should be. As we respond to God’s revelation, He will accomplish what He desires, and He will be the One who receives the glory.

Our fulfillment comes from serving our master.

The world will encourage you to strive for positions of authority and power. God wants you to take the role of a servant. As God’s servant you should have no other agenda than to be obedient to whatever He tells you. God does not need you to dream great dreams for your life, your family, your business, or your church. He simply asks for obedience. He has plans that would dwarf yours in comparison (Eph. 3:20).

It is a day that we set aside to remember those who have sacrificed their lives over the years, so that we might be free and safe here in the United States of America.

“Memorial Day” is to help us remember, but the Bible also wants for us to celebrate other “Memorial Days”. Days in which the Lord has shown us His mighty power, His Love, and who He is.

Days in which we might “Remember” who our God is, and that He has the power to also deliver us.

Exodus 12:14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

This was the day that the Lord delivered 2.5 million people from their slavery, into freedom and a land full of blessing. This deliverance came by the shedding of the blood of a Lamb that would free them from their slavery.

That day was “Passover”. When the Angel of death descended upon the homes of Egypt. If He saw the blood of a Lamb on the doorposts of the house, He would “Pass Over” that house and not destroy the first born.

The Egyptians did not believe in the Blood of the Lamb, they put none of His blood on their homes, and they suffered the judgment of that unbelief by the death angel when He took their first born sons, including Pharaoh’s own firstborn son.

It is interesting that the 2.5 million people of Israel were delivered by “The Blood of a Spotless Lamb”. Just as today we can only be saved and cleansed of our sins by Jesus, God’s Spotless Lamb.

There are other kinds of Memorials that the Lord intends that we set up for ourselves in our lives. They remind us when things are not going that well, that the Lord can and will deliver us if we will only trust Him and wait upon Him.

Did you know that there is also a Memorial that the Lord set up in the Heavens, that is intended to remind us how great and powerful our God is:

Psalms 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

There are also those memorials that the Lord has created in the physical world that should remind us that God exists, and that He is the One that holds everything together.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…

And there is a Memorial that the Holy Spirit has left for us in our Bibles, that reminds us that other people just like us in all of their same struggles with sin, that God was faithful and mighty to deliver them throughout their lives.

Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Memorials in the Heavens.

Memorials in the Earth.

Memorials in our own lives.

The first Memorial we will examine are those that the Lord has set up in the heavens that remind us how great our God is:

Today, scientists are only beginning to realize just how incredibly large and complex and perfectly balanced the Universe is. The Universe is so perfectly balanced that if any part were to be changed, it would throw off the balance of billions of stars and planets.

The Galaxy that we live in; the Milky Way, is so perfectly balanced so as to allow Life to exist on the Earth, that if the earth were not located two-thirds of the way out from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, that none of us would be alive.

It has become absolutely clear that an intelligence has Created the Universe, and specifically the Earth, being designed for human habitation.

For many years scientists criticized the Bible  because they said that it claims that the Earth was flat because of the reference in Isaiah of “The Four Corners of the Earth.”

Isaiah 11:12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

Yet the Marines are said to be “In the Four Corners of the Earth”. The winds are said to come from “The Four Corners of the Earth.” This is a common phrase that is used by many to indicate the whole earth or the four extremities of the Earth.

Actually 700 years before Jesus came to the earth, and long before scientists knew that the earth was round, the Prophet Isaiah wrote:

Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers…

Clearly the Holy Spirit is describing the Earth as a Sphere, long before any man knew that it was a sphere.

A Memorial for us, to remember that the Bible is the Word of God.

The Book of Job describes the earth as hanging on Nothing:

Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.

Job is believed to be the oldest of all the old testament scriptures, written during the time of Abraham, about 1,500 years before Jesus came to the earth, or about 3,500 years ago.

Yet here the Holy Spirit accurately and scientifically describes the fact that the Earth as “Hanging on Nothing”.

The ancient pagans believed that the earth was balanced on the back of an Elephant that rested on the back of a Turtle. Other pagan cultures said that Atlas carried the Earth on his back.

The Bible says that the “Earth Rests on Nothing”. We know today that the Earth hangs in space, suspended there by gravity.

Job Described the fact that “He stretches out the North over empty Space”. An amazing recent discovery by Astronomers found that the area to the North of Earth’s Axis towards the Polar star is an almost completely empty space, devoid of any stars or planets.

This is called the “Bootes Void” This is an empty space in the North of more than 300 million light years across.

Our Milky Way Galaxy is 100 million Light years across. A light year is the distance that light travels at a speed of 186 million miles per second, for one year.

The Bootes Void is 300 Million miles across, with hardly a single star. If you could ride on a beam of light traveling at 186 million miles per second and continue at that speed for 300 million years, this is the distance of this great open area in the universe called The Bootes Void. The Bible described this incredible phenomenon, thousands of years before man had the technology to even know it was there.

In every other direction from earth as you look, there are an abundance of stars. But Not in the North.

In Isaiah chapter 14, Lucifer makes the statement that he “Wants to be like God and live where GOD lives in the farthest sides of the NORTH”:

Isaiah 14:13 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…

Is this vast empty space in the Northern part of the universe that astronomer have recently discovered, the place where Heaven is Located? We don’t know, but the Bible describes the places of the North as being the place where God lives. The Bible declared this fact long before Astronomers ever had a telescope powerful enough to find out that there was a vast empty space in the north.

Again, a Memorial in the Heavens to the fact that the Lord lives and inhabits the heavens.

Secondly, there are memorials on the Earth that serve as reminders of the Lord’s existence and His great power.

After decades, scientists have concluded that the Earth and our Solar system are “Anthropic”.

This means that Scientists have discovered that the Earth and the Solar System we live in have striking evidences that the earth was “DESIGNED” BY A SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE TO ALLOW HUMAN LIFE TO EXIST HERE”.

Scientists now say that “There are an astonishing number of scientific variables within a very narrow range, that allows human beings to exist here on the earth.”

If we were just slightly closer or slightly farther from the sun, life would not be possible on earth.

If the earth was 2% farther from the sun, the planet would be too cool for the winds, and cloud cycle that waters the earth, everything would die.

If the earth was 2% closer to the sun, the earth would be too warm for the wind, cloud cycle that waters the earth, everything would die.

If our sun was any closer to any other sun in the universe, there would be no life on earth.

The Earth is 2/3rds water and 1/3rd land.  If the proportions of water to land were different, all lives would die.

Our moon is much larger in relation to the size of the earth than other planets’ moons are.

Because the moon  is larger than many other moons on other planets, it has the right amount of gravitational pull on the earth that maintains a tilt of earth’s axis at 23.5 degrees.

Exactly 23.5 Degrees is what causes the oceans to have movement that cleanses the earth of its impurities through the tidal cycles of the moon that it creates by its pull on the earth.

If the tilt of the earth’s axis was greater than 23.5 degrees, the earth would have massive continental flooding and long periods of darkness.

If the tilt of the earth’s axis were less, the areas around the equator would be too hot for life and the Ice caps would be gigantic.

Our sun is exactly the right size that the earth needs to keep the earth rotating at 1070 miles an hour.

If the earth did not have an exact 1070 mile per hour rotation:

All plant life would burn during the day, and freeze at night.

If eart rotated just 100 miles an hour faster, The winds on the earth would be so high that they would destroy everything.

The distance that the earth is from the Moon is perfect to maintain life.

If we were just 1/5th closer to the moon, the tides would be so strong that they would cover up all of the land twice a day.

If we were farther away from the moon or had no moon, the earth would “Wobble” like Mars does, causing major catastrophic changes in our weather that would kill us all.

Finally, the air that we breathe on the earth has exactly the right mixture of gases:

78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, .92%Argon, .035% Carbon Dioxide, and .035% other gases.

If we had just 6 percent less oxygen (15%), all of us would suffocate.

If we had just 9% more oxygen (25%), spontaneous fires would break out all over the earth because oxygen is so flammable.

If there were even a slightly less amount of carbon dioxide on the earth, every plant would starve to death.

A Mathematician with a lot of time on his hands, computed all the variables in this delicate balance on earth and in our solar system that make life possible. There are literally thousands of these very delicate balances that make life possible, that if even one of them were to be changed slightly, not one of us could live on the earth.

These scientific computations prove that it is beyond Mathematical possibility that all these very delicate balances on the earth that make life possible could have happened by accident. That leaves only one other possibility:  That these finely tuned balances were Created this way by an Intelligence beyond our ability to comprehend.

This tiny planet called earth that is so perfectly balanced and finely tuned, could not have occurred by accident. It was designed this way on purpose, with a purpose, to sustain human life.

These Delicate Balances that we can see in the Earth are our “Memorials” that remind us that because our God DID make everything for us, that He will continue to take care of us and sustain our lives…

Thirdly, there are those Memorials that the Lord has left for us in the past lives of those recorded in the Bible and in our own lives:

Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Every person that has lived on the earth before you, was just like you. Even those people listed in the Bible that are called “Great Men and Women of Faith”, were just sinners like you and I. None of them were any more Spiritual or better equipped than you are.

All of these failed, all of them doubted. They all had problems with patience, their tempers, and their mouths. They all lied just as we have. They all experienced lust as we do. They all had terrible moments of deeply hurtful trials, just as you and I experience.

In the Book of Joshua there is an interesting story of the time when Israel was near the end of their journey through the desert for 40 years. The Lord brought His people to the edge of the Jordan river where they could enter the land God promised them, if they would just trust Him and cross over the river.

Joshua 3:1-17 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel (2.5 Million), and lodged there before they crossed over. And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ” So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.” And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.” So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.  Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

Now crossing a river is not that big of a deal, except that the Holy Spirit says here that this was during “The Harvest Season”.

The Harvest Season happens in the spring time, when the winter snows are melting from Mount Hermon. As a result of this snow runoff,  the Jordan river is at its highest level of the year. Every other time of year the Jordan river is only about 100 feet wide. However, during the spring the Jordan river is over 1 mile across!

Why did the Lord wait till the Harvest season when the Jordan River is at Flood stage to lead his people across the river?  Why did God wait until the time of year when it was the most difficult, instead of a time when the river could be more easily crossed?

Sometimes the Lord takes us by a more difficult path so that He might develop in us, a greater character and stronger trust in Him.

Based on this information, this crossing of the Jordan river was even a greater miracle than the crossing of the Red Sea.

The Red Sea simply parted and folded back on itself. The Jordan River being a Raging river over 5,000 feet across, is suddenly stopped by the Lord. Where did all that water go? We don’t know, but surely this is even a greater miracle than the parting of the Red Sea.

At the parting of the Red sea, all Moses had to do was raise his staff and then THE LORD would part the waters. Here at the Jordan river, the people had to step out into the raging water in order to experience the miracle of the Lord:

Joshua 3: 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

Why didn’t the Lord make it as easy for His people at the crossing of the Jordan river, as He has at the crossing of the Red Sea?

Man always looks for the easiest way, the least line of resistance, Jesus looks for the way that will grow the greatest Character in us. When building your character, the hardest way is often the best way for us.

The Lord is more concerned with your Character than He is with your Comfort.

You may be thinking: “The Lord must be trying to build a lot of Character in me right now because I have been going through a very difficult time lately.”

The Lord will do greater and greater works in our lives as time goes by.  To see these greater works, it will require greater trials, and greater trust than the last time you went through a trial.

This time, the waters did not part UNTIL THE PEOPLE STEPPED INTO THE RAGING RIVER.

Imagine what they were thinking “Okay, last time we just stood still and watched the Lord work, this time we have to step into that raging river. What if we step into the river and get swept away? What if we step into the river and the Lord doesn’t part the waters?”

We call this “Stepping out in faith”

The name of the place where they are “Stepping Out In Faith”, is called “Bethabara”, which means “House of Passage”.

1,400 years later, John The Baptist will baptize Jesus here at this same place that they are crossing. This was the place of passage for Jesus as He began His public ministry at the exact same location that God’s people had to cross before they entered the land.

Today, many of us are going through our own “Houses Of Passage”. It will require more faith this time than we had the last time we were in a trial, because this trial is even more difficult.

In the walk of faith with Jesus, He will constantly be stretching us.

This is where we run into problems because we often do not understand what is happening to us and we don’t like it very much.

“Lord why is this happening?”

“Lord why did you allow this?”

The person of faith, knows that trials happen and that the reason for them is that the Lord is working in our life to stretch our faith. The person of faith understands that the Lord promised that “It will all turn out for good—to those who love the lord and are called according to his purposes”. (Romans 8:28)

The Lord desires that He brings you into a greater place of trust in Him, so He brings you into a greater trial.

Until we are fully committed to Jesus and fully committed to believing that He is working through all the events of our life to make everything turn out for good, we will not be able to experience peace. Once we are fully committed, then anything can happen to us and we will be content to let it happen, and not fight against it, thereby experiencing inner peace.

A growing faith says:  “I accept my circumstances without understanding why.”

No explanation is needed.

I am committed anyway.

Jesus is in control.

I am committed to trust.

Therefore I have peace.

Without this firm commitment:

We will constantly be restless.

We will be searching for answers.

We will want to get out of our situation, change jobs, change marriages or even change the city we live in.

We will be trying to use our intellect to figure everything out.

Are you in  your “Bethabara?”, your house of passage into a deeper faith?

Joshua 4:1-7  And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, “Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ” that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, “What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

Perhaps what you are going through right now will cause you to trust more and complain less. These things that you are struggling through right now are your “Memorial Days”. Places that you will be able to mark in your future where you were tested, but you grew.

Days in which you hurt, but you were helped.

Monuments that you have built that remind you that no matter what happens, the Lord will be faithful and deliver you.

Rob Robinson

It is interesting how something becomes more valuable once you no longer have it. My dear mother went home to be with the Lord on September 30, 2007 suddenly and without warning. I remember sitting at my desk at 6 am while I was preparing my heart to go before the people at my little church for Sunday services, as their pastor.

A phone call came from one of my mother’s many brothers that a blood vessel had burst in her brain and that she died instantly. I sat stunned and numb for about an hour.

At just 70 years old, and in otherwise very good health, I never expected to lose her so soon. I always thought that I would have time to spend with Mom as the day of her departure neared. There would be tears and hugs and many “I love yous” exchanged. I would be able to assure her that heaven was near and the Lord was waiting for her just on the other side of death’s door.

The reality is that there was no warning of impending departure. Mom had simply been admitted to the hospital because she was feeling a little confused. Doctors gave her the okay to go home the next day. I was to go and visit her at her home 2 hours away after I finished the Sunday services.

When I realized that I had missed my final opportunity by tarrying, I was heartbroken and guilt ridden. Oh, if I had but one more chance to be with my dear Mother and tell her how much she meant to me…

Mom and Me

In life, opportunities often present themselves to us but one time. There is no guarantee of a future appointment being set with anyone that we now love and care for. If we have an opportunity this Mother’s day to spend any time at all with our Mom, we had better make every effort to be there.

When our eyes look upon her beautiful face and our ears hear the sweet sounds of her loving and caring voice, we should drink in those precious moments. For there may not be another day next year where our love and devotion can be expressed. We may never again have those precious moments when we can gaze at her preparing the family’s meal with a sweet smile of tenderness and care upon her lips.

Precious and few are the moments of life to be enjoyed. They pass quickly and suddenly and leave us with sadness that we did not linger in them a little longer.

On this day in our walk with Jesus, may we thank Him for the gift of our dear mother’s love? In devotion to our Lord, may we be more devoted to our Mother? A phone call, a drive to her home, a single day when we can let her know just how much she means to us, before there are no more days.

I miss you Mom, more that I can ever express. I long for the days of your embrace and the quiet assurance you gave to me when the whole world was falling in around me. As you gaze into the face of our precious Lord today, tell Him how grateful I am for having had a Mother as wonderful as you. Thank you for always being there with the perfect answer to all of my questions, and for the healing touch of love and tenderness when I was hurting and afraid.

Whatever your relationship is with your mother, it is for certain that if you do not make the effort to tell her how much you love her today, when tomorrow comes and she is gone, you will long for one more opportunity. Honor the Lord by honoring your Mother on this day when the sound of your voice will be the sweetest and most satisfying gift you could ever give her.

Rob Robinson

Let’s turn to Revelation 17. Let me give you a little bit of historic background that will help you to understand the 17th and the 18th chapters of the Book of Revelation as we see the judgment of God upon the false religious system in chapter 17, and we see the judgment of God on commercialism in chapter 18. Both of them are identified with Babylon.

Shortly after the flood when Noah and his family came out of the ark, they first settled in the Babylonian plain. And there the son of Ham, whose name is Cush, had a son by the name of Nimrod who was called a mighty hunter before the Lord. That, before the Lord, is actually against the Lord. He was a rebel against God. And now we are just a very short time after the flood, but this false religious system under Nimrod began there in Babylon. It developed through the years. His mother, Semiramis, was later called the queen of heaven. He was deified and was called Tammuz. And you have your ancient mystery Babylon religion born—the worship of the mother, the queen of heaven, and her son, Tammuz.

Later Semiramis claimed that Tammuz was virgin born and that he was born on December 25th so that they began to worship and serve Tammuz’s birth and celebrate it on the 25th of December. According to this story as he was out hunting wild boar, a wild boar turned on him and gored him. And he lay there dead for three days after which life came back into him and they began to celebrate the resurrection from the dead of this man, Tammuz or Nimrod. It so happened that it took place in the spring and, thus, they began to celebrate a holiday that they called Astarte (also known as Ishtar) in the springtime celebrating the resurrection of Tammuz from the dead. Because an egg is sort of a symbol of perpetuated life, in the celebration they would color eggs. The whole idea behind the Easter, the bunny rabbit and so forth all goes back not to Christian origins but to pagan origins, actually to Babylon.

When Joshua stood before the children of Israel at the end of his life, he challenged them to choose the God that they would serve. He said whether they be the gods that your fathers served on the other side of the Euphrates, or their fathers that worshiped in the Babylonian religion, the mystery religion of Babylon, or whether the gods of the Egyptians in whose land you dwelt, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land your now dwell, choose! But he said as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

One of the things that Babylon exported to the Jews, and some of them continue to carry it on, was this pagan worship from the Babylon’s, the worship of Semiramis, the mother of god, queen of heaven, and her son Tammuz. They followed these pagan practices and brought them in with them into the Holy Land. Joshua is rebuking them for that but telling them they’ve got to choose whom they will serve. When Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon and the people were taken captive back to Babylon, the Jews there during the seventy years of captivity picked up on the commercialism of Babylon because Babylon was the commercial center of the world. And as you well know, they became very adept in commercialism. When they were taken into captivity, they were basically an agrarian society. During their seventy-year sojourn in Babylon, they became a commercial society. So through the years we see the commercialism as it has controlled the world and so many people become slaves to this whole commercial system. In the 18th chapter, God will judge the commercialism that came from Babylon. In chapter 17, God is going to judge the religious system that arose out of Babylon.

Tonight we’re going to be bringing you many interesting facts from history. I really have no intention of bashing the Catholic Church. However, I want to just give you certain basic facts of history that you cannot deny nor can you change if you are a student of history. The history of the church has not been bright. It has been a disaster. And this false church system is going to be brought into judgment here in chapter 17.

So there came one of the seven angels. (17:1a)

Now, in the 16th chapter these seven angels were given bowls of wrath or judgment of God that were to be poured out upon the earth. And we saw the successions of judgments that came as a result of these bowls of God’s wrath poured out upon the earth.

Now, one of those seven angels which had the seven bowls, he talked with me, [John said,] and he said, Come hither; I will shew unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits on many waters: (17:1)

Now, as we get down further in this chapter the many waters is identified to John as the nations and the peoples and the multitudes and the tongues upon which the whore has controlled. Now, in the Bible fornication, whoredom, adultery, are used as symbolisms of false religious systems. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was to be married unto God, and God looked upon the nation of Israel as His bride. But when the nation of Israel began to worship other gods, God said that they were guilty of fornication. They were guilty of adultery. When they reached out to other gods, he referred to that as their whoredom. And thus the whoredom is the introducing or the worship of gods in an unspecified way or other gods that are an attraction to the people. So the great whore, the false worship, who sits upon many nations, peoples, sort of covers the earth.

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, [that would be spiritual fornication] and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. (17:2)

Let me read you out of Halley’s Bible Pocket Handbook in which he gives to us some of the events of the history of the church. He tells us that, “Innocent III who was the pope from 1198 to 1216, the most powerful of all the popes, claimed to be, and this was the first time, the vicar of Christ or the vicar of God, the supreme sovereign over the church and the world. He claimed the right to depose kings and princes and that all things on earth and in heaven and in hell are subject to the Vicar of Christ. He brought the church into supreme control of the state. The kings of Germany, France, and England, and practically all of the monarchs of Europe obeyed his will. He even brought the Byzantine Empire under his control and never in history has any one man exerted more power. He ordered the two crusades. He decreed the transubstantiation. He confirmed Auricular confession. He declared that Peter’s successor can never in any way depart from the Catholic faith. He declared Papal Infallibility. He condemned the Magna Charta. He forbade the reading of the Bible in the common languages. He ordered the extermination of the heretics. He instituted the Inquisitions. He ordered the Massacre of the Albigenses More blood was shed under his direction and that of his immediate successors than any other period in the history of the church except in the Papacy’s effort to crush the reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. One would think that Nero, the beast, had come back to life in the Name of the Lamb.” That’s just historic fact. “The kings of the earth have committed fornication. When the church was ruling over the kings and the inhabitants of the earth made drunk with the blood of the wine of their fornication.”

So the angel carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (17:3)

Now, the seven heads and ten horns are something that we’ve already discussed in our journey through the Bible. Going back to the Book of Daniel, as we were talking this morning, he in his vision saw these ten horns that rose out of the Roman Empire that became the ruling powers in the last days (The Federation of European Nations) and how that out of the ten there came an eleventh horn, the Antichrist, who got control over the revived Roman Empire (The United States of Europe) and his reign in the last days. Daniel tells us, “I considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom the three first horns were plucked up by the roots, and behold this horn had eyes like a man but a mouth speaking blasphemous things. And the ten horns that were in his head and of the other which came up and before whom three fell, even the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows, and the ten horns out of the kingdom are ten kings, [Daniel identifies them] that shall arise and another shall rise after them. And he will be diverse from the first, and he will subdue three kings, and he shall speak great words against the most high. He’ll wear out the saints of the most high, and he’ll think to change the times and the laws, and they will be given into his hand until time times and the dividing of time are three and a half years. And the king shall do according to his will. He will exalt himself, magnify himself above every god and will speak blasphemous things against the God of gods and will prosper till the indignation, [which is the Great Tribulation] is accomplished. For that which is determined shall be done.”

In Revelation 12:3, John said, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven, behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” Turning to the 13th chapter of Revelation, beginning with verse one, John said, “I stood upon the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads, ten horns, and upon his horns, ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet was like the feet of a bear, his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his authority [or throne] and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was heeled and all of the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which give him power, and they worshipped the beast saying who is like unto the beast and who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue for forty-two months, or three and a half years. And he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven.”

So we find that this ten horns, seven heads is identified with the revival of the Roman Empire and identified with the Antichrist that will come out of that federation of nations. Now, the interesting thing is John saw the woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, that is full of the names of blasphemy. And so there will be a tie in between the false church and the Antichrist’s system. Full of the names of blasphemy. The pope’s claim to hold, on the earth the place of God, to have a supreme authority over the human conscience, to have power to forgive sins, to grant indulgences and obedience to them, is necessary for salvation. The scarlet colored beast, or red, the color of the beast and the harlot and the ten dragons in chapter 13. It is the color of the Papacy. The Papal Throne is scarlet. It’s born by twelve men dressed in scarlet. The cardinal’s hats and robes are scarlet. Originally, it was Satan’s color. It became the color of atheistic communism in Russia. They were known as the Reds, and they have the Red Square and the other red symbols in Russia.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, And decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: (17:4)

Let me read you a little bit of the history of some of the popes, again out of Halley’s Bible Pocket Handbook, his section on church history. Adrian II, 865-872; John VIII, 872-882; Marinus, 882-884. With these popes began the Dark Period of the Papacy. The two hundred years between Nicholas I and Gregory VII is called by the historians, “The Midnight of the Dark Ages.” Bribery, corruption, immorality, bloodshed make it just about the blackest chapter in the whole history of the church. Sergius III, A.D. 904-911, was said to have had a mistress, Morozia. She and her mother, Theodora, and her sister filled the Papal chair with their paramours and bastard sons and turned the Papal Palace into a den of robbers called in history, “The Rule of the Harlots,” 904-963. Anastasius III and Lando and John X was brought from Ravenna to Rome and made Pope by Theodora for the more convenient gratification of her passion. He was smothered to death by Morozia, who then in succession raised to the Papacy Leo VI, Stephen VII, and John XI, her own illegitimate son. Another of her sons appointed the four following Popes, Leo VII, Stephen VIII, Martin III, Agapetus II, and John XII. A grandson of Morozia was guilty of almost every crime. He violated the virgins, the widows, high and low. He lived with his father’s mistress, made the Papal Palace a brothel, and was killed while in the act of adultery by the woman’s enraged husband.

Vicars of Christ, representatives of God upon the earth. And so John writing under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit speaks of these things that the church would be guilty of. The woman arrayed in purple and her joining together in the last days in promoting the power and the reign of the Antichrist.

And upon her forehead was the name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (17:5)

When Constantine was supposedly converted and declared that Christianity would be the religion of Rome, he signed the Edict of Toleration, which ended the many years of great persecution by the Roman Government against the church. Thousands, in fact they estimate as many as six million believers were martyred during the first two hundred fifty years of the church’s history as the Roman government sought to wipe out this new sect that they looked upon as a danger to Rome. But when Constantine came into power, he felt that the Lord had given him a vision in one of the crucial battles. He saw the sign of the cross and under it the words in this sign, “Conquer.” So when he won that battle and became the Emperor of Rome, he declared Christianity as the state religion. But Rome was pretty much paganized. The Babylonian influence, the religions of Babylon had heavily influenced the Romans. Many of their practices were borrowed from the Babylonian religion.

One of them was this celebration of December 25th, which was the Babylonian holiday for Tammuz. The Romans celebrated it under the name of Saturnalia, and they had many different customs that accompanied the celebration of Saturnalia. But it was basically a pagan holiday. Now, Constantine recognized the difficulty of taking away traditional holidays from the people. And so it was declared that the 25th of December was the birthday of Jesus. And so we’ll be celebrating the birthday of Jesus on the 25th of December.

The celebration of Astarte (or Ishtar), the goddess of life who evidently brought life to Tammuz when he was dead, that took place in the spring, and so Constantine said we’ll call it Easter, which is very close to Astarte. And we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at this time. And so what they did was sort of adapt the pagan holidays, giving them Christian names and allowing the people to go on with the same pagan customs of drunken parties and all during the Christmas season. So we see today how that it is sort of reverted back to its pagan celebrations. Christmas now is a big time for commercialism. It is a big time for office parties, drunkenness and all of the things that take place under the guise of celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. It’s something that, though they try today Christianize it, it has its pagan roots and it is surely going back to its pagan practices in the world to date.

Under this mystery Babylon religion, the worship of the mother of Tammuz who is known as the Queen of Heaven. In many pictures that they have found from the Babylonian era, pictures that were drawn hundreds of years before Jesus and the birth of Jesus, have the mother and child with the halos above their head, which were representing Semiramis and Tammuz. But these were adapted and the elevation of Mary and the worship of Mary and even being called the Mother of God and worshiped and venerated was stemming from the Babylonian worship of Semiramis. There is a book, a scholarly book, if you are interested in these kinds of things. It’s called the Two Babylon’s. The author’s name is Alexander Hislop, and he goes to great pains to identify and to show the two Babylon’s and the similarities between the ancient Babylonian mystery religion and the worship in the Catholic Church today.

Now, all Catholics are not bad. All Mormons are not bad, and all people who go to Calvary Chapel are not bad. There are many wonderful godly people in the Catholic Church, people who truly love the Lord, people who do not know the background or the depths or some of the practices that have been introduced in and by the church. Even as there are many Mormons who are not really aware of what the Mormon doctrine actually is in many respects. You tell the Mormon that the Christ that they believe in is a brother to Lucifer, and most of them say oh know, we don’t believe that. But yet it’s a part of the Mormon rituals in the temple in this play-acting thing where Elohim, God, is talking about the redemption of the earth and Jesus presents his program and Lucifer, the brother of Jesus presents his. And when the father chooses the redemption program by Jesus, Lucifer gets angry and decides he’s going to destroy the thing. But they make Jesus a created being like Lucifer, a brother to Lucifer. Now, most Mormons don’t even know that and yet it’s a very part of their practice.

So with the Catholic Church, it speaks of the woman who is red with the blood of the saints. The inquisition by the Catholic church especially at the time of the reformation by Martin Luther, it is estimated that there were some nine hundred thousand believers, followers of Jesus Christ, who were killed by the Jesuits in their holy war in their endeavor to stamp out Protestantism. Red with the blood of the saints.

I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I was astonished with great astonishment. And the angel said unto me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. (17:6,7)

Now, the angel is going to explain to John the symbolism. We don’t have to guess at it. The angel is going to declare it to John.

The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall assent out of the bottomless pit, [or abusso] and go into perdition: and that they dwell on the earth will wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (17:8)

When John wrote the Book of Revelation, there were five major emperors who had already passed from the scene. Domatian was the emperor at the time of the writing, and after his death there was one more powerful emperors who arose. But the angel identifies the beast as one of the five who had already died. “The beast that you saw was, he is not, he will ascend out of the abusso, he will go into perdition, or Gehenna. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains, upon which the woman sits [or the seven-hilled city of Rome. I mean he identifies it for us. Through history Rome has been known as the city of seven hills. ] (17:9)

There are some, and I think there’s a lot of credence; I’m surely open to this, that believe that Caesar Nero could very well be the Antichrist. During his reign he was called by the early church, the beast because of his beastly activities. As you study history, at the beginning of his reign, Caesar Nero seemed to be a fairly good ruler. But there came a time in his life where there was a flip, where he almost, you might say, became insane. The interesting there, as you look at history, this dramatic change in Caesar Nero took place just about the time that Paul had his first appearance before Caesar Nero.

You remember when Paul was getting the run around in Caesarea. He appealed to Caesar. And under Roman law, he had that right as a Roman citizen. And so he was sent to Rome that he might take his appeal to Caesar. At Paul’s first appearance before Caesar you know from Paul’s record that he no doubt laid on Caesar Nero a very heavy witness of Jesus Christ. Jesus told the disciples you’re going to be brought before the kings, magistrates, and so forth. Don’t take forethought what you’ll say in that hour. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak. It will turn to you as an opportunity to give a testimony. Paul believed that. And as you look at the Book of Acts when Paul appeared first after all before the Jews there in Jerusalem and he asked the captain permission to speak, Paul gave to them a testimony of his conversion. When he was taken by the Roman government down to Felix, the governor of the area at the time in Caesarea, when Paul gave his defense before Felix, he witnessed to him about his conversion and about judgment and salvation and the judgment to come. And Felix was visibly shaken by the message, so powerful it was, but he rejected it. When Felix was removed and Festus became the Roman governor over that province, the case of Paul was brought up again. And Paul before Festus gave a very strong witness of Jesus Christ.

When Festus had to send Paul to Rome because of Paul’s appeal, he had a problem because he really didn’t have legitimate charges, and he knew that he would be in trouble before the Roman Senate because of the miscarriage of justice. He should have released Paul, but he was holding him as a political pawn. And Festus realized that when Paul got to Rome it would be curtains for him because the Roman’s prided themselves on Roman justice. So when King Agrippa came to visit him, he said to Agrippa, I’ve got a prisoner here that the Jews have some things against and he’s appealed to Caesar. I’ve got to send him, but I really don’t have any real charges. Would you mind listening to his case and help me develop some charges against this guy so that when we send him to Rome we will have charges? When Paul then gave his defense to King Agrippa, you know that Paul thought if I can convert this guy the influence that he has would be tremendous. So Paul started laying such a heavy witness on Agrippa and started to just really press home the point. Festus stood up and he said, Paul you’re crazy. You’ve studied too much. Your much learning has made you mad. And Agrippa said are you try to go convert me to Christianity? And Paul admitted, you bet I am!

Now, don’t you know that when Paul got before Caesar? He thought wow, if I can convert this guy, and he must have laid a witness on Caesar like you can’t believe. Caesar released Paul and gave him his freedom. Paul returned to Ephesus for a while, but it was during this period, and perhaps because of Caesar’s rejection of the message and that it began to weigh so heavily upon him; his own guilt began to weigh so heavily upon him, he mentally flipped. And he began the arresting and the torturing and the murdering of the Christians. He would put Christians on poles in his garden, cover them with wax and light the fires and drive his chariot under the light of the burning Christian naked and screaming. Of course, we know Caesar mainly for his burning of the city of Rome. He fiddled while Rome burned and then sought to blame it upon the Christians in order to institute greater persecutions against the Christians. And because of the horrible things that he did, the early church called him the beast. He was one of the five Roman emperors who had already passed from the scene when John was writing the Book of Revelation.

John tells us that the beast is one of those that had fallen. Again we read that “the beast you saw was; he is not; he will ascend out of the abusso, the bottomless pit; he will go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundations of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is it.”

Now you say, do you believe in reincarnation? No. I believe that Nero became demon possessed and that same demon that possessed Nero has been incarcerated in the abusso, the place of incarceration for evil spirits.

You remember when Jesus met the men in Gadara, and he said who are you? And the man said, Legion because we are many. And they begged Jesus not to send them to the abusso before their time. So Jesus gave them leave and they went into the swine. You remember the story.

I believe that there is a demon spirit that possessed Nero that will come and possess the Antichrist so that he will be similar to Caesar Nero in his butchery, in his cruelty, in his persecution of those who refuse to worship him or to take his mark. Basically, in Rome the reason why Christians were put to death was their refusal to worship the emperor. They had raised the emperors to the position of God, and the refusal to worship the emperor was looked upon as treason, and thus, they were put to death.

So now the angel begins to explain, “and here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains, upon which the woman sits,” the city of Rome.

There are seven kings: five are fallen, one now is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, but he goes into Gehenna. (17:10, 11)

We have here the abusso. We have Gehenna and we have in the scriptures another place of incarcerated spirits and that’s known as Hades in the New Testament, the Greek. In the Hebrew it’s Sheol–three different places.

Hades is identified as in the center of the earth. Jesus said, when they asked him for a sign of his Messiahship, “No sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Paul said, “He who has ascended is the same one who first of all descended into the lower parts of the earth. And when he ascended, he led the captives from their captivity.” And so Hades is identified as a place in the heart of the earth.

The abusso is a bottomless pit, a shaft. Now, it’s an interesting thing, we send rockets out into orbit, little satellites, to orbit around the earth. How do they remain in orbit? By the distance that we send them and the orbit that we put them in, they are constantly falling. The gravitational pull, they are just constantly falling. So they remain in this orbit because of the gravitation causing them to constantly fall. Now, if you were in the center of the earth, the earth as it’s spinning on its axis, you’d be in a place of sort of constant falling, a bottomless pit. Thus the abusso, bottomless pit.

Then there is this third place called here perdition. In the Greek it is Gehenna. Jesus spoke a lot about Gehenna. He identifies it as a place that is in outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It is interesting how that today the scientists are looking for the edge of space. And the interesting thing is that the more powerful telescopes and all that we develop, the further out we find that space expands. Is there a place out there where there’s the end of space? The furthest galaxy, is there a sign that says “the end”? There are no service stations from this point on. Our poor minds. When you try to think of that, your much learning can make you mad. So don’t try to figure that one too long. Just let it go and smile at it. Our finite minds cannot really comprehend the infinite. Space may not be infinite, and the scientists do not believe that it is infinite. They believe that the edge of space is probably somewhere between 15 and 17 million light years.

Now, Jesus said that Gehenna was in outer darkness. Perhaps so far out beyond the furthest galaxy, as far out into whatever that is out there, that there is no light of the galaxies that even reaches there. Now, Jesus said “This is the condemnation. That light has come into the world, but men will not come to the light because they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” And so for a person who doesn’t like the light, what does God do? He accommodates them. He’ll put them out so far, that no light of the galaxies can reach them, and they’ll be in outer darkness. But it won’t be the delight that they’re looking for.

Hades will one day be empty. As we move along in Revelation, we have chapter 20 that we’re coming to. And we’ll find that at that time death and Hades will be delivered up. Hades will deliver up the dead that are in it. They will stand before God to be judged. And they will then be consigned to Gehenna.

Now, in the 19th chapter when Jesus comes back, Satan is taken by the Lord and bound with a great chain and he is cast into the abusso, the place where the beast or the Antichrist comes, out of the abusso. Satan will be cast into the abusso and for the thousand years that Jesus is reigning on the earth, he will be incarcerated in the abusso. When Jesus comes, the beast and the false prophet at that time will be cast into Gehenna. And a thousand years later when Satan is then judged, he will be cast into the Gehenna where the beast and the false prophet are. When men then stand before the great white throne judgment of God, if their names are not written in the Book of Life, they also will be cast into the Gehenna. The end of rebellion against God as they are cast so far out, there is no light, in eternal darkness. So he describes here,

The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eight, and is of the seven, and goes into Gehenna. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, [Kings that were once a part, according to Daniel, of the Roman Empire nations that were once a part of the Roman Empire, or the United States of Europe; or as is commonly called, the European Community.] these kings have received no kingdom as yet; but they receive the power as kings for one hour with the beast. [So they would be the leaders of these nations that have federated together, but they don’t reign as kings but they receive the power as such, and they reign for one hour with the beast.] These have one mind, and they’ll give their power and strength to the beast. [The power of western Europe] and they will make war with the Lamb, [They will be gathered together, as we read, in the plains of Megiddo for that final conflict as they will seek to thwart the coming of God’s Kingdom through Jesus Christ upon the earth. ] They’ll make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall over come them: for he is the Lord of lords, and the King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (17:11-14)

In the 19th chapter, we will read of Jesus returning to establish His kingdom upon the earth. Coming on a white horse and they that will be coming with Him, His church. Paul said when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory! The prophet cried out, “Behold He comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute His judgment upon the earth.” Returning with Jesus to establish God’s kingdom upon the earth, those that return, those that are with Him, have been called. They have been chosen and they are faithful. How grateful I am for the call of God upon my heart! How grateful I am for the fact that God has chosen me to be His disciple, to bring forth fruit!

One day Jesus said to His disciples, John records it in chapter 15, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained that you should be My disciples and that you should bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you should ask the Father in My name, He my give it to you.” Chosen! How wonderful it is to be chosen of God!

You say, well I don’t think that’s fair that God chooses who’s going to spend eternity with Him. Well, was it fair that you chose the gal that you’d spend the rest of your life with? Do you think that’s fair? Should someone have just said, hey, you take her or you take him? No, we had our choice, and we’re thankful for that. Aren’t we? After all, you’re going to spend the rest of your life with him. You’d like to have a choice in that. You don’t want Him to just dump someone on you. You’d like a choice. Now, if you’re going to spend all eternity, I would say that it’s fair that God chooses who He wants to spend eternity with. I have no problem with that. Because He chose me! Why should I have a problem with that?

Well, we have choice. And the interesting thing is that God has given you a choice, who you want to spend eternity with. It’s really your choice. You have the power of self-determination. God has given you that. You can chose to spend eternity with God in the Kingdom of God, or you can choose to rebel against God and find your destiny in Gehenna where Jesus said it was prepared for Satan and his angels. It’s your choice! It’s one of those interesting anomalies that it is your choice, and yet when you choose to follow Jesus, He says you didn’t choose me, I chose you and ordained you that you should be My disciple. You should bring forth fruit. It’s something that we can’t quite understand. You say but how do I know if he chose me or not? Well, it’s very easy to discover. Just choose to follow Jesus. Choose to surrender your life to him and you’ll discover that He chose you. That’s simple enough isn’t it? You say, but what if I don’t want to choose Him? Well then, maybe He didn’t chose you. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that you have the choice. Now, because He is omniscient, He is God, and He knows all things; He knows those that will make that choice. So we’ve been chosen in Him from the foundations of the world. Names written in His Book of Life from the foundations of the world. And if you will just choose to follow Jesus, you will discover the wonderful truth that God chose you. If you choose not to follow Jesus, then one day you’ll come to the horrible realization that you weren’t chosen. But you can’t blame Him because He chose you from the foundations of the world that we should walk before Him in holiness and love.

So those that are with the Lamb who overcomes are called, and chosen, and faithful. The angel said unto me, The waters which you saw, [Now, remember back in verse one, he said I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon the many waters, or is ruling and having an influence around the world.] The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,

Though the church will be used to help establish the beast and his reign, once he is established, he’ll turn against the church. When he first comes into power, he will make a covenant with the nation of Israel. They will begin to acclaim him as the Messiah. But when he reveals his true colors, then they will denounce him and he will seek to destroy the Jews and they will go through one more great persecution. Jesus talk talked about that time warning the Jews to flee to the wilderness. We’re told that God has prepared a place for them where they will be sheltered for three and a half years, that is the final three and a half years of the reign of the Antichrist.

So they’ll hate the whore, and they’ll make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman which thou saw is that great city, [the great city of Rome], which reigns over the kings of the earth. (17:15-18)

So the judgment of God upon the false religious system of the last days. As we move into chapter 18, God will deal with the commercialism, again, that had its birth in Babylon but controls the lives of so many people, holds them in slavery today. The commercialism that we see in the world, the judgment upon it. And then, oh boy, can’t wait, we get to chapter 19 and we go to heaven once again with the church, the glorious marriage of the Lamb to his church! So we’re getting into the exciting portions of the book as we are closing out our journey through the Bible!

Father we look at the passages of Scripture here, and You said that this is the mind that has wisdom, and You began to explain the symbolism of the chapter. And Lord, we pray that You’ll give to us wisdom in understanding these things. Lord, it is our desire to walk before You in all holiness, righteousness, and purity. Lord, we know that in the last days that those that did not have a love for the truth will be given over to a strong delusion that they might believe the lie rather than the truth. But Lord, help us to walk in Your truth. Open up our minds and our understanding to Your plan for the future. And Lord, we do pray again that we will be accounted worthy to escape these things that be taking place upon the earth, and that we might be there with Your church in heaven, around the throne of God worshiping the Lamb forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Praying After the High Points

And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:46)

What do you do after a spiritual victory? Where do you go after reaching a high point in your Christian life? Jesus went to pray. Jesus had just fed a multitude with only five loaves of bread and two fish (Mark 6:34-44). If there were ever a time to relax and bask in the glow of God’s power it should have been then. Instead, Jesus climbed a mountain to pray. When Jesus prayed, the Father clearly revealed His will and His ways to His Son. It eventually dawned on Jesus disciples that Jesus prepared for every major decision and difficult challenge with a time of prayer (Luke 11:1).

As Jesus prayed on the mountain that day, the Father knew His Son was about to face a fierce storm (Mark 6:48). The disciples raced headlong into the tempest unprepared, but Jesus entered the storm after communing with His Father in prayer. The Father had prepared Jesus for what was coming, and Jesus met the crisis with all the power of God.

It is tempting to relax after a spiritual victory, but a crisis could follow at any time. You must stand guard over your high points. It is at these times when you experience God mightily that you should immediately get alone to pray. Then you will not be caught unprepared when trials come. Have you experienced a spiritual victory? Follow your Lord’s example and go immediately to a place of prayer so the Father can prepare you for what is coming.

Let’s turn now to the Book of Revelation chapter fifteen. In the latter part of the fourteenth chapter, John saw in the visions the Battle of Armageddon preparation. As we get into the sixteenth chapter, he’ll be talking about this great Battle of Armageddon. You’ve probably heard the phrase, Battle of Armageddon, and next Sunday night as we get into the sixteenth chapter we’ll be giving you a full view of what the Battle of Armageddon is all about, who the contestants in the battle will be, and how the battle will turn out. But chapter fifteen is sort of a little interlude between the fourteenth chapter, where he begins to talk about the Battle of Armageddon and the sixteenth chapter where he gets into the subject more fully.

The Book of Revelation is not written in a chronological order. And thus it is difficult for our western minds to follow many times the events of the Book of Revelation because when we read a book, it usually is following a chronological order. That is not so in Hebrew literature. For instance in Genesis chapter one, you have God’s account of the seven days of creation. And in chapter two, then it goes back and it fills you in on the creation of man and it gives you a broader perspective. It gives you more details. Often the Bible does that. It lays out the full scene and then it will come back and it will fill in some of the more minute types of details.

The Book of Revelation does that also. It lays out the whole scene and then it comes back and fills in some of the gaps. Probably the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and as we get in next week to the seven bowls of God’s wrath, they probably are running concurrently. If you will compare the seven trumpet judgments with the seven bowls of God’s wrath, you will see that there is a similar order as far as what will be affected when the first trumpet sounds. It is similar to what will be affected when the first bowl of God’s wrath is poured out and it follows together. So they just sort of lay out the whole picture and then come back and fill in the blanks.

Chapter fifteen is just sort of a filling in of some of the blanks. We have moved from the earthly scene. We enter into the heavenly scene once again. Now it is not the church that we see in heaven. But what we see in chapter fifteen are those people who have been saved out of the Great Tribulation.

Back in the opening of the fifth seal, John saw the souls that were under the altar. And they were crying to the Lord. “How long, O Lord, holy and true before You avenge our blood on our adversaries” (Revelation 6:10)? And they were given white robes and were told that they should wait for a short season until their full number was complete.

In chapter seven, their number has been completed and thus we see them now in the heavenly scene. The elder asked John, Who are these? Where did they come from? And John basically said, I don’t know. You tell me. And the elder said, These are they that came out of the Great Tribulation who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. “And they do stand in the holy temple and do worship the Lord day and night continually” (Revelation 7:15).

So the number completed, they enter into the heavenly scene. Now again in the heavenly scene, we see again this multitude that have come up out of the Great Tribulation who have faced the wrath of the antiChrist and many of them saved through martyrdom. By their refusal to take the mark of the beast, their refusal to worship his image, they are put to death. The Bible says in chapter thirteen of Revelation that “they will cause all both small and great to take a mark in their right hand or in their forehead and all of your commerce will be done through the mark. No one will be able to buy or sell except they have the mark. And they have power [it says] to force this upon man. To put to death those that refuse to take the mark.

And so when it speaks of how they have been delivered or how they have victory over the beast, the victory is in the fact that they didn’t submit to the mark. They didn’t submit to the worship of his image and thus were put to death because of their refusal. But that’s how they were delivered and that is where their victory was in their refusal to enter into that system.

We also in chapter seven saw the hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed of God. They were Jews, twelve thousand from each tribe, and they were sealed in order that they might be protected from some of the judgments that are coming upon the earth. They become God’s witnesses to the Jewish people during this period of time. And we see them again in chapter fourteen. We saw them last week and here they are again in chapter fifteen.

So as I say, you’re just getting further details of these groups that you have been introduced to earlier within the book.

I saw another sign in heaven (15:1),

We’re back in the heavenly scene. We’ve been on the earth, we’ve watched the judgments on the earth but now we are returning back to the heavenly scene.

great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up [or the completion of] God’s wrath (15:1).

This will end the tribulation period at the end of the pouring out of these golden bowls that are filled with the wrath of God. Chapter seventeen and chapter eighteen we’ll again be going backwards and filling in the details of God’s destruction of the false religious system called Mystery Babylon.

In chapter eighteen, God’s destruction of the commercialism that grew out of Babylon. In the eighteenth chapter. But chapter sixteen carries you out to the end of God’s wrath in the seven bowls that will be poured out upon the earth. And so he “saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous sign, there were seven angels who had the seven last plagues and in them the completion of God’s wrath that is to be poured out.”

And I saw as it were a sea of glass (15:2)

Back in chapter four when John was taken into the heavenly scene, he saw the throne of God, the cherubim about the throne of God. “The twenty-four lesser thrones upon which sat the twenty-four elders. Before the throne of God, there was the sea of glass and proceeding from the throne of God, the lightnings, the thunders, the voices” (Revelation 4:5). Awesome sight!

And so here we are again at the throne of God, the “sea of glass,”

mingled [here] with fire: and he saw those that had gotten the victory over the beast (15:2),

And as I said, the victory isn’t that the beast was defeated by them but their victory was that they were not defeated by the beast. They did not give in to the commands and to the orders of the beast to worship him and to worship his image and to take his mark. That was their victory, their victory was in their “loving not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11), but dying rather than submitting to his orders, to his kingdom. They “had victory over the beast,”

and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name (15:2),

We got that back in chapter thirteen, the number of his name is the number of a man, six hundred and sixty-six. They refused to take the mark or the number of his name.

and they are standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God (15:2).

So they’re standing before the throne of God. That’s where we find them back in chapter seven. They are in His temple and they do worship Him day and night continually, this great multitude which no man can number who came up out of the great tribulation.

And they are singing the song of Moses the servant of God (15:3),

Back in Exodus chapter fifteen, you have the song of Moses. That spontaneous singing of praises unto God for delivering them from the Egyptians. They had just watched the sea as it had drowned the Egyptian army and they realized that they were now truly free from the bondage that they had experienced there in Egypt. And there is that rejoicing in song for God’s power, for God’s deliverance, for God’s destruction upon their enemies. They are singing the song of Moses.

This, no doubt, is the hundred and forty-four thousand who are there in heaven as of the fourteenth chapter. As they are singing the song of Moses. Actually in Deuteronomy 32, again you will find the song that Moses taught the children of Israel. And the children were to learn this song in Deuteronomy 32. It was one of those songs that was taught to the children from an early age. In the song in Deuteronomy 32, it is interesting because in the song, there are warnings. It’s a song of victory again and deliverance but also it’s a song of warnings. Should they turn their back on God, the things that would transpire, the judgments that would come.

And you know it’s an interesting thing how that folk songs have a way of sort of sticking in your mind and years later, you can still be singing that folk song that you learned as a child. Many times it’s just the melody and you’re not really thinking about what you’re singing. You’re not really thinking about the words. Auld Lang Syne or whatever. It’s the melody that, who is Auld Lang Syne or whoever? You really don’t know but you’re singing. So it’s something that sort of sticks with you. But the whole purpose of the song of Moses that was taught to the children was that in the days to come when they forsook the Lord and forsook the Law and they would go into captivity. They would gather together in the town hall to sing their traditional songs but as they would sing it, there would be the conviction. They would listen to the lyrics. They realize, Wow, we’re in captivity! Yeah, that’s what the song says. If we forsake the Lord and all, and it was to be one of those things that would in the time would really grip their hearts and they’d realize, Wow, we are experiencing God’s judgment because we forsook the Lord! And so that was the purpose of Moses teaching the song to the children of Israel. The song of Moses.

But then there was also,

the song of the Lamb (15:3),

Now the song of the Lamb we find in the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation. And it is sung there by the church. It is at the time when there is the scroll in the right hand of Him who is sitting upon the throne and the angel proclaims with a strong voice, Who is worthy to take the scroll and to loose the seals? It had seven seals. Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals thereof? The scroll is the title deed to the earth. That was forfeited by Adam over to Satan and he has held it, lo, these six thousand years. But now the time has come for the redemption. “Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals? And John said, I began to sob because no one was found worthy in heaven or earth or under the sea to take the scroll or look thereon. One of the elders sidled up to him and said, John, don’t weep. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. He’s going to take the scroll and loose the seals. And John said, I turned and I saw Him as a Lamb that had been slaughtered. The song of the Lamb.

He came forth and He took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. And when He did, the twenty-four elders came with their little golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, the incense. They offered it before God and they began to sing, the church. Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and to loose the seals. For He was slain and He has redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred, tribe, tongue and people and He has made us unto our God kings and priests and we will reign with Him upon the earth. That’s the song of the Lamb. It’s the song of rejoicing in that Jesus paid the price to redeem the world from the power of darkness, from Satan. And the purpose of redeeming the world was to obtain the bride, His church. And thus we sing and we rejoice that He loved us so much that He redeemed this world that He could take us out of it.

Jesus said, The kingdom of God is likened to a man going through a field and discovering a treasure. And who for the joy immediately goes and sells everything he has so that he can buy the field that he might obtain the treasure. Now in parables, the field is the earth, the world. Jesus talked about the sower who went forth to sow the seed and it fell on the various types of soil and as He was explaining that parable, He said, Now the field is the world. So the question is, Who gave everything to purchase the world? And of course, the answer is Jesus. For what purpose? That He might take the treasure. What is the treasure? Fasten your seatbelt. It’s you!

Peter says that we’re God’s peculiar people. And it is peculiar to me that God would treasure you. And even more peculiar that He would treasure me! But oh, how grateful I am that God sees me as His treasure.

Paul when he was praying for the church of Ephesus said that he prayed that God would give to them the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God. That they may know the hope of their calling and what is the riches of His inheritance in the saints. Not really the riches that you have as a child of God. But the value that God puts upon you. If you only knew the value that God puts upon you! He so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son to redeem the world that you might be His. That He might take you out of the world. His treasure. And God treasures you. You’re a special treasure unto God.

The song of the Lamb. The song of redemption. The song of deliverance from the powers of darkness through the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. John sees Him there in heaven and they’re singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, the song of the Lamb,

saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty (15:3);

How great and how marvellous is God’s work of redemption? That God would send His only begotten Son. Great and marvellous, the work of redemption. Redeeming man from sin. Great and marvellous is the work of God in judgment. These people have been on the earth during the great tribulation. They have seen the judgment of God coming upon the earth. They have seen the cataclysmic catastrophes of nature, convulsions of nature and the destruction it has brought to the earth. And they sing, Great and marvellous are Thy works, the works of God in judgment against a Christ-rejecting, God-rebelling earth.

And surely the earth is getting ripe for God’s judgment. It’s all around us. It’s very obvious. The world is ripening up for the judgment of God. The cup is filling and will soon overflow! And God will pour out His judgment upon the earth. They will be there to see it. And thus as they sing, Great and marvellous are Thy works, it is the work of God in judgment as well as the work of God in redemption and in deliverance.

But, greater and marvellous are His works in creation! The marvels of creation. It boggles the mind. We cannot grasp it. It’s beyond us. The vast universe in which we live. A part in this little, tiny corner of the Milky Way galaxy. This little bit of dust that rotates on its axis as it revolves around the sun. Way down here in the corner of the Milky Way galaxy. And when we peer out into space and we realize the vastness of space and we realize the size of many of the stars in our own galaxy, great and marvellous are Thy works! It boggles our minds! We cannot really comprehend it! When we start talking in distances, in light-years, it’s just beyond our ability to really grasp. We can talk about it and we can conceptualize to a point but not really grasp the vastness of space, the vastness of the universe. And yet the Bible says that He “stretched out the heavens like a curtain” (Psalm 104:2).

“When I consider the heavens,” the psalmist said, “the work of Your fingers, the moon, the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of Him” (Psalm 8:3-4) Great and marvellous, Lord, are Your works. You’re mindful of this little speck of dust on this little speck called earth. Way down here in the Milky Way galaxy and yet God thinks about you.

David said, “If I should number the thoughts concerning me, they are more than the sands of the sea” (Psalm 139:18). It’s estimated that there’s probably 1025 power grains of sand. I don’t know who figured that out. But that’s an awful lot of thoughts that God thinks, concerning you. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty. The fact that God thinks of me astounds me! But as we sing, “He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees my falling tear. And He hears me when I call.” Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty!

When you look at the life forms and you consider the designs, the intricacies of the many different forms of life, I find myself fascinated with life and the various life forms. I think if I weren’t a minister, I’d like to be a biologist. I’m so interested in the different life forms.

I watch these little white flies that are on my hibiscus right now. And I don’t love them, I spray them. I’d like to get rid of them. But as I’m spraying them, they start flying off. And I think, What are they thinking? Where are they going? Probably to my other hibiscus. But you wonder just the world that they’re in. These little miniature white flies and their ability to fly. It’s just amazing. Great and marvellous are Thy works. The works of God in creation.

Because they have seen the hand of God in judgment they sing,

just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints (15:3).

To me it is interesting that several times as we are coming through the Book of Revelation here, several times, we’ll get it again next week, but several times in the midst of the most awesome judgments, there will be that declaration of the righteousness of God’s judgments. Next week as we are in the sixteenth chapter and the bowl of God’s judgment is poured out on the fresh water supplies of the earth so that the fresh water supplies will be turned to blood, you’ll not be able to drink. They’ll have no fresh water to drink. And the angel responds, Right on, Lord. They shed the blood of Your people. Now you’ve given them blood to drink. Boy, that’s a fit thing. But all the way through when God’s judgments are coming, there is that acknowledgment that they are righteous judgments. It’s the right thing.

No one can really accuse God of not being fair. You may imagine that God is not fair but that’s because you don’t know the whole story. And when the whole story is known, we will realize the absolute fairness and justice of God. There are a lot of things that the Bible doesn’t tell us. A lot of things we don’t know. And usually it is the things that we don’t know that trouble us and confuse us. But whenever you come up against something you don’t know, fall back on what you do know. And I know that God is love. I know that God is fair. I know that God is righteous in His judgments.

Now I’m not convinced that the justice system that we have on the world is fair. I am prone to agree with that guy who cried, There ain’t no justice. And so many times when you see the edicts of the court, you wonder if the judge got his appointment from a grab bag or something. Now there are good judges and it’s not to paint the whole judicial system with a black brush. There are excellent judges. I have friends who are outstanding judges, whose real heart and they really take their job to heart and they are really concerned that justice is done. But there are always those who are open to pressure and other things, their own self interest at times. That’s not just so of the judicial system, that’s so of the ministry. I mean, goodness sakes, no one’s going to try and say that every minister is really serving God. There are a lot of self serving people in the ministry. Every field has those who sort of spoil the whole scene because of their corruption. And that’s tragic.

But God is fair. God is just. You can be sure of that. So that person who has lived in the jungles of South America or of Borneo, New Guinea, the Congo, that person who has lived and died without ever hearing of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for their sins. When God disposes of their case, you can be sure that it will be absolutely fair. God will be just in judgment. True and righteous are His ways.

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name (15:4)?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The question, “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?” It to me is very sad and tragic that there is no fear of the Lord in their hearts. There are people who are openly opposed to God. People who are openly opposed to the law of God, to the ways of God.

Presently in the California State Legislature they are considering pro-homosexual bills that are absolutely contrary to God. They’re blasphemous to God. And yet it looks like the majority of the Senate has already passed some of these bills and they are now again in Committee before they go to the next level and you think, God, is there no fear of the Lord in their hearts? How could they ever justify these kinds of legislation? In their own minds, in their own hearts, how can they justify these things that are so totally anti-God, anti-Scripture, and you think, My, I can’t conceive an elected body of officials. I can’t conceive of people who would elect officials that would consider and promote such legislation as is being considered right now in Sacramento. Surely we as Christians need to pray.

“Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?”

for You only are holy (15:4):

That’s the whole issue! The holiness of God is what man rebels against. It goes against our nature. Man by nature is a sinner. You’re not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you’re a sinner. There’s the difference. As they used to say, stealing a horse doesn’t make you a horse thief. Stealing a horse only proves that you are a horse thief. No one steals horses except horse thieves. And so the fact that you stole the horse only proves that you’re a horse thief. It didn’t make you one. It only proved you were one. That’s why you stole it.

Sinning doesn’t make you a sinner. Because you are a sinner, we sin. The Bible says we were born in sin. We were “by nature,” Paul said to the Ephesians, “the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:3). By nature. And thus the holiness of God goes against my nature. And God is calling on me to deny myself, to take up the cross, to reckon my old nature dead, crucified with Christ that I might live unto God after the things of the Spirit. But that is contrary to the natural man and the natural desires and there are many who rebel against God because they don’t want to surrender their evil nature. They delight in the things that they are doing and because the Lord condemns them, they turn against God.

They crucified Jesus. Why? Because He went against the grain. They didn’t like it. They didn’t like the things He was teaching. They felt convicted in their hearts for what they were and what they were doing. They didn’t like that feeling.

People don’t want to feel guilty. They want to make laws that would allow them to live the kind of lives they want to live without feeling guilty. And thus, they rebel against God in their hearts and there is no fear of God before their eyes. That is why we have the Book of Revelation telling us of the consequences of this kind of living. The judgments of God that will be brought upon the earth as the result of man’s rebellion against all that is righteous, all that is holy, and all that is pure. “Who will not fear Thee and glorify Thy name? for You only are holy:”

and all nations shall come and worship You (15:4);

Back in the twenty-second Psalm which is a psalm concerning Jesus Christ and it’s actually a psalm that prophesies of His death upon the cross. It’s a psalm that talks about them parting His garments among them, casting lots on His vesture. And in this psalm, verse twenty-nine, beginning with verse twenty-seven, “All of the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. All of the families of the nations will worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations.” This is when Jesus returns and establishes God’s kingdom upon the earth. And “they that are fat upon the earth shall eat and worship and they that go down to the dust,” that is, our loved ones who have already died they shall bow before Him. None can keep alive his own soul” (Psalm 22:29). So the resurrection of the righteous to be with Christ, to worship Him in the glorious Kingdom Age.

Paul tells us in Philippians chapter two that we ought to have the “mind of Christ. Not exalting ourselves, not promoting ourselves” (Philippians 2:5). As I was sharing with the College and Career down at Murietta on Friday night, the Scripture seems to teach things that are sort of reverse. The Scripture teaches that the way up is down. And the way down is up. He that exalteth himself shall be abased. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So the way up is down and the way down is up. And you have many of those things. He who will seek to save his life will lose it. He who will lose his life, Jesus said, for My sake will find it. So the way to find your life is to lose it. The way to lose your life is to try to find it. And so you have these things that are sort of a reversal.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). What was the mind? Who, being in the form of God, and thought it not something to be grasped to be equal with God. Yet He humbled Himself, came in the likeness of man, came in the form of a servant, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). The mind of Christ, humbling Himself, emptying Himself. But because of it, “Wherefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11)! All of the kindreds, all of the families will come, all of the nations and they will worship before Thee.

for Your judgments are made manifest. After this [the scene in heaven, John said] I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened (15:4,5):

There is a temple in heaven or a tabernacle, the temple of the tabernacle. When Moses built the tabernacle, God gave to him the specifications, the measurements, the whole thing. He told him exactly how to make it. And having told him exactly how to make it, then He told him, Now be careful to make it according to what I have said. He was to make it exactly like God told him. And then God gifted some skilled men, gave them skills, to make it, just like God had ordered it to be. And the reason for making it very carefully, we are told in Hebrews, that it is a model of the heavenlies. It’s an earthly model of what heaven is like. If you want to know what heaven is like, then you can look at the tabernacle and it was a model of heaven. And of course, the heart of it, the central feature is the mercy seat and the cherubim that are surrounding the mercy seat.

In the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation, we see the throne of God, the mercy seat before the throne of God and the cherubim surrounding it. And thus, in the holy of holies there was the mercy seat and the cherubim there in the holy of holies surrounding the mercy seat.

The angels, the tabernacle is open in heaven of which the earthly tabernacle was a model.

And the seven angels come out of the temple (15:6),

The symbolism or the idea is that there will be no mercy at this point. They come out of the temple to bring the judgments of God upon the earth. And so these “seven angels come out of the temple,”

having the seven plagues, they are clothed in pure and white linen (15:6),

This was the garment that the priest wore. It was a pure linen, a white linen, that they wore in their daily ministry and in the tabernacle in the temple here on the earth.

and they had on their breasts they had these golden sashes around their chest. And one of the four cherubim (15:6,7).

that are around the throne of God that we were introduced to back in chapter four, one of these four living creatures,

gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls (15:7)

Now the word is bowls, it’s translated vials in King James. You think of a vial, you think of a little dosage thing in a drugstore or something. But these are bowls. They’re full! And in these seven bowls are the plagues.

they are full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever (15:7).

The eternal God.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power (15:8);

You remember when the temple that Solomon had built was dedicated to the Lord, that the glory of the Lord came down and filled the temple and there was smoke and the priests were not able to stand because of the presence, the glory of God there in the temple. Here in heaven the temple, filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power.

and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled (15:8).

You had seven angels blowing seven trumpets. We went through those judgments. This is it! This is the end. This is the culmination of the whole thing, of the judgments and the wrath of God against the sinning earth.

So next week in chapter sixteen we see the consequences that will take place upon the earth when these angels pour out these bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth.

Father, we again are thankful that Your Word is so rich, so full in that in Your Word, You have given us, Lord, a view into the future. To see the things that are going to happen. And Lord, we feel like those who were under the altar saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You bring Your judgment upon this earth that has turned its back against You? How long, Lord, until Your judgments come upon our nation which seems to be determined to rid itself of Your influence and of Your people? Lord, we look at things that are going on and we ask You, Lord, work Your work. Father, we pray that Your Holy Spirit will cause us to be very diligent in spiritual things. That You will work in our lives, Lord, and You’ll help us to be a salt in a world that is quickly rotting. A light in a world that is filled with darkness. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

The pastors are down here in the front again to pray for you. You might have needs. Maybe God has been speaking to your heart. Maybe there are things in your life that have given sort of a beachhead for Satan and he has a stronghold upon you. You’d like to be set free. Jesus is able to deliver you. The song of the Lamb is the song of deliverance. The power of Jesus to set one free. So we encourage you to come down. The pastors are here to pray for your needs tonight. Feel free to come and they’ll be glad to bear your burdens with you and to pray for you and thus fulfill the law of Christ that tells us to love one another and to pray for one another. May the Lord just watch over and keep you in His love. May you be filled with the Spirit. And may God help us to be a light in this dark world in which we live. May God work through us in revealing Himself to a world that so desperately needs to see the truth of God. May you experience His love this week in a special way.

Faithful Wounds

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. (Proverbs 27:6)

Jesus never gave relief to people who were under conviction. When Zaccheus, in remorse for his sin, shared his generous plans for restitution, Jesus did not say, Now Zaccheus, the important thing is that you feel sorry for what you did. Jesus brought no comfort to him as he dealt with his sin (Luke 19:1-10). Neither did Jesus excuse disbelief. We never find Jesus saying, Well, that’s all right. I know I’m asking you to believe a lot, and that’s not easy. On the contrary, Jesus was quick to chastise His disciples when they failed to believe Him. Jesus loved His friends too much to condone or comfort them in their sin.

It is possible to be too gentle with your friends. When a friend is under deep conviction by the Holy Spirit, do you try to give comfort? Don’t ever try to ease the discomfort of someone whom the Holy Spirit is making uncomfortable! Be careful not to communicate to your friends that you find their lack of faith acceptable. You are not acting in true friendship if you condone disobedience or even if you look the other way. Kisses are far more pleasant than wounds, yet they can be even more devastating if they lull your friend into being comfortable with sin.

In our attempt to appease our friends and our reluctance to share a word from God, we can actually cause great harm. If we see our friends in danger and do not warn them, God will hold us accountable for our silence (Ezek. 33:6). Are you a friend of such integrity that you would risk wounding your friends in order to deter them from their sin?

For about a year, I have been aggressively writing my first book that is a result of 36 years of study and teaching Bible prophecy in the United States, Europe and Asia.

“365 Prophecies” is due to be published by Amazon by August 31, 2012, just in time for the Feast of Trumpets in September/October of this year. It is my sincere hope that the final editing of this 1,100 page, in-depth and informative book on the 365 Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled int the New Testament, will be completed ahead of schedule.

If you are a current subscriber to my Amazon Kindle blog, I will provide this 1,100 page e book to you at 80 percent off it’s publication price of $9.98, for just $1.99. I feel that my blog has suffered a deficiency since I have devoted so my time and effort into finishing this important book. Therefore,  I want to reward my faithful readers who have stuck with me during this period of time devoted to completing my new book.

Thank you to all who have continued to support this blog. We have expanded our readership to Europe, and we are seeing an dramatic increase in subscribers around the world.

If you would be interested in receiving any of my Bible Prophecy Downloads for FREE, I will make these available to anyone who asks for them until the end of May, 2012.

Just email me at pastorobrobinson@gmail.com and I will send you a free download of my 24 hour study in the Book of Revelation or any other of my personal MP3 audio studies located a http://www.thewordmp3.com/mp3_audio_bible_studies.html

Rob Robinson

Let’s turn now to the Book of Revelation chapter fifteen. In the latter part of the fourteenth chapter, John saw in the visions the Battle of Armageddon preparation. As we get into the sixteenth chapter, he’ll be talking about this great Battle of Armageddon. You’ve probably heard the phrase, Battle of Armageddon, and next Sunday night as we get into the sixteenth chapter we’ll be giving you a full view of what the Battle of Armageddon is all about, who the contestants in the battle will be, and how the battle will turn out. But chapter fifteen is sort of a little interlude between the fourteenth chapter, where he begins to talk about the Battle of Armageddon and the sixteenth chapter where he gets into the subject more fully.

The Book of Revelation is not written in a chronological order. And thus it is difficult for our western minds to follow many times the events of the Book of Revelation because when we read a book, it usually is following a chronological order. That is not so in Hebrew literature. For instance in Genesis chapter one, you have God’s account of the seven days of creation. And in chapter two, then it goes back and it fills you in on the creation of man and it gives you a broader perspective. It gives you more details. Often the Bible does that. It lays out the full scene and then it will come back and it will fill in some of the more minute types of details.

The Book of Revelation does that also. It lays out the whole scene and then it comes back and fills in some of the gaps. Probably the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and as we get in next week to the seven bowls of God’s wrath, they probably are running concurrently. If you will compare the seven trumpet judgments with the seven bowls of God’s wrath, you will see that there is a similar order as far as what will be affected when the first trumpet sounds. It is similar to what will be affected when the first bowl of God’s wrath is poured out and it follows together. So they just sort of lay out the whole picture and then come back and fill in the blanks.

Chapter fifteen is just sort of a filling in of some of the blanks. We have moved from the earthly scene. We enter into the heavenly scene once again. Now it is not the church that we see in heaven. But what we see in chapter fifteen are those people who have been saved out of the Great Tribulation.

Back in the opening of the fifth seal, John saw the souls that were under the altar. And they were crying to the Lord. “How long, O Lord, holy and true before You avenge our blood on our adversaries” (Revelation 6:10)? And they were given white robes and were told that they should wait for a short season until their full number was complete.

In chapter seven, their number has been completed and thus we see them now in the heavenly scene. The elder asked John, Who are these? Where did they come from? And John basically said, I don’t know. You tell me. And the elder said, These are they that came out of the Great Tribulation who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. “And they do stand in the holy temple and do worship the Lord day and night continually” (Revelation 7:15).

So the number completed, they enter into the heavenly scene. Now again in the heavenly scene, we see again this multitude that have come up out of the Great Tribulation who have faced the wrath of the antiChrist and many of them saved through martyrdom. By their refusal to take the mark of the beast, their refusal to worship his image, they are put to death. The Bible says in chapter thirteen of Revelation that “they will cause all both small and great to take a mark in their right hand or in their forehead and all of your commerce will be done through the mark. No one will be able to buy or sell except they have the mark. And they have power [it says] to force this upon man. To put to death those that refuse to take the mark.

And so when it speaks of how they have been delivered or how they have victory over the beast, the victory is in the fact that they didn’t submit to the mark. They didn’t submit to the worship of his image and thus were put to death because of their refusal. But that’s how they were delivered and that is where their victory was in their refusal to enter into that system.

We also in chapter seven saw the hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed of God. They were Jews, twelve thousand from each tribe, and they were sealed in order that they might be protected from some of the judgments that are coming upon the earth. They become God’s witnesses to the Jewish people during this period of time. And we see them again in chapter fourteen. We saw them last week and here they are again in chapter fifteen.

So as I say, you’re just getting further details of these groups that you have been introduced to earlier within the book.

I saw another sign in heaven (15:1),

We’re back in the heavenly scene. We’ve been on the earth, we’ve watched the judgments on the earth but now we are returning back to the heavenly scene.

great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up [or the completion of] God’s wrath (15:1).

This will end the tribulation period at the end of the pouring out of these golden bowls that are filled with the wrath of God. Chapter seventeen and chapter eighteen we’ll again be going backwards and filling in the details of God’s destruction of the false religious system called Mystery Babylon.

In chapter eighteen, God’s destruction of the commercialism that grew out of Babylon. In the eighteenth chapter. But chapter sixteen carries you out to the end of God’s wrath in the seven bowls that will be poured out upon the earth. And so he “saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous sign, there were seven angels who had the seven last plagues and in them the completion of God’s wrath that is to be poured out.”

And I saw as it were a sea of glass (15:2)

Back in chapter four when John was taken into the heavenly scene, he saw the throne of God, the cherubim about the throne of God. “The twenty-four lesser thrones upon which sat the twenty-four elders. Before the throne of God, there was the sea of glass and proceeding from the throne of God, the lightnings, the thunders, the voices” (Revelation 4:5). Awesome sight!

And so here we are again at the throne of God, the “sea of glass,”

mingled [here] with fire: and he saw those that had gotten the victory over the beast (15:2),

And as I said, the victory isn’t that the beast was defeated by them but their victory was that they were not defeated by the beast. They did not give in to the commands and to the orders of the beast to worship him and to worship his image and to take his mark. That was their victory, their victory was in their “loving not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11), but dying rather than submitting to his orders, to his kingdom. They “had victory over the beast,”

and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name (15:2),

We got that back in chapter thirteen, the number of his name is the number of a man, six hundred and sixty-six. They refused to take the mark or the number of his name.

and they are standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God (15:2).

So they’re standing before the throne of God. That’s where we find them back in chapter seven. They are in His temple and they do worship Him day and night continually, this great multitude which no man can number who came up out of the great tribulation.

And they are singing the song of Moses the servant of God (15:3),

Back in Exodus chapter fifteen, you have the song of Moses. That spontaneous singing of praises unto God for delivering them from the Egyptians. They had just watched the sea as it had drowned the Egyptian army and they realized that they were now truly free from the bondage that they had experienced there in Egypt. And there is that rejoicing in song for God’s power, for God’s deliverance, for God’s destruction upon their enemies. They are singing the song of Moses.

This, no doubt, is the hundred and forty-four thousand who are there in heaven as of the fourteenth chapter. As they are singing the song of Moses. Actually in Deuteronomy 32, again you will find the song that Moses taught the children of Israel. And the children were to learn this song in Deuteronomy 32. It was one of those songs that was taught to the children from an early age. In the song in Deuteronomy 32, it is interesting because in the song, there are warnings. It’s a song of victory again and deliverance but also it’s a song of warnings. Should they turn their back on God, the things that would transpire, the judgments that would come.

And you know it’s an interesting thing how that folk songs have a way of sort of sticking in your mind and years later, you can still be singing that folk song that you learned as a child. Many times it’s just the melody and you’re not really thinking about what you’re singing. You’re not really thinking about the words. Auld Lang Syne or whatever. It’s the melody that, who is Auld Lang Syne or whoever? You really don’t know but you’re singing. So it’s something that sort of sticks with you. But the whole purpose of the song of Moses that was taught to the children was that in the days to come when they forsook the Lord and forsook the Law and they would go into captivity. They would gather together in the town hall to sing their traditional songs but as they would sing it, there would be the conviction. They would listen to the lyrics. They realize, Wow, we’re in captivity! Yeah, that’s what the song says. If we forsake the Lord and all, and it was to be one of those things that would in the time would really grip their hearts and they’d realize, Wow, we are experiencing God’s judgment because we forsook the Lord! And so that was the purpose of Moses teaching the song to the children of Israel. The song of Moses.

But then there was also,

the song of the Lamb (15:3),

Now the song of the Lamb we find in the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation. And it is sung there by the church. It is at the time when there is the scroll in the right hand of Him who is sitting upon the throne and the angel proclaims with a strong voice, Who is worthy to take the scroll and to loose the seals? It had seven seals. Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals thereof? The scroll is the title deed to the earth. That was forfeited by Adam over to Satan and he has held it, lo, these six thousand years. But now the time has come for the redemption. “Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals? And John said, I began to sob because no one was found worthy in heaven or earth or under the sea to take the scroll or look thereon. One of the elders sidled up to him and said, John, don’t weep. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. He’s going to take the scroll and loose the seals. And John said, I turned and I saw Him as a Lamb that had been slaughtered. The song of the Lamb.

He came forth and He took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. And when He did, the twenty-four elders came with their little golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, the incense. They offered it before God and they began to sing, the church. Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and to loose the seals. For He was slain and He has redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred, tribe, tongue and people and He has made us unto our God kings and priests and we will reign with Him upon the earth. That’s the song of the Lamb. It’s the song of rejoicing in that Jesus paid the price to redeem the world from the power of darkness, from Satan. And the purpose of redeeming the world was to obtain the bride, His church. And thus we sing and we rejoice that He loved us so much that He redeemed this world that He could take us out of it.

Jesus said, The kingdom of God is likened to a man going through a field and discovering a treasure. And who for the joy immediately goes and sells everything he has so that he can buy the field that he might obtain the treasure. Now in parables, the field is the earth, the world. Jesus talked about the sower who went forth to sow the seed and it fell on the various types of soil and as He was explaining that parable, He said, Now the field is the world. So the question is, Who gave everything to purchase the world? And of course, the answer is Jesus. For what purpose? That He might take the treasure. What is the treasure? Fasten your seatbelt. It’s you!

Peter says that we’re God’s peculiar people. And it is peculiar to me that God would treasure you. And even more peculiar that He would treasure me! But oh, how grateful I am that God sees me as His treasure.

Paul when he was praying for the church of Ephesus said that he prayed that God would give to them the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God. That they may know the hope of their calling and what is the riches of His inheritance in the saints. Not really the riches that you have as a child of God. But the value that God puts upon you. If you only knew the value that God puts upon you! He so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son to redeem the world that you might be His. That He might take you out of the world. His treasure. And God treasures you. You’re a special treasure unto God.

The song of the Lamb. The song of redemption. The song of deliverance from the powers of darkness through the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. John sees Him there in heaven and they’re singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, the song of the Lamb,

saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty (15:3);

How great and how marvellous is God’s work of redemption? That God would send His only begotten Son. Great and marvellous, the work of redemption. Redeeming man from sin. Great and marvellous is the work of God in judgment. These people have been on the earth during the great tribulation. They have seen the judgment of God coming upon the earth. They have seen the cataclysmic catastrophes of nature, convulsions of nature and the destruction it has brought to the earth. And they sing, Great and marvellous are Thy works, the works of God in judgment against a Christ-rejecting, God-rebelling earth.

And surely the earth is getting ripe for God’s judgment. It’s all around us. It’s very obvious. The world is ripening up for the judgment of God. The cup is filling and will soon overflow! And God will pour out His judgment upon the earth. They will be there to see it. And thus as they sing, Great and marvellous are Thy works, it is the work of God in judgment as well as the work of God in redemption and in deliverance.

But, greater and marvellous are His works in creation! The marvels of creation. It boggles the mind. We cannot grasp it. It’s beyond us. The vast universe in which we live. A part in this little, tiny corner of the Milky Way galaxy. This little bit of dust that rotates on its axis as it revolves around the sun. Way down here in the corner of the Milky Way galaxy. And when we peer out into space and we realize the vastness of space and we realize the size of many of the stars in our own galaxy, great and marvellous are Thy works! It boggles our minds! We cannot really comprehend it! When we start talking in distances, in light-years, it’s just beyond our ability to really grasp. We can talk about it and we can conceptualize to a point but not really grasp the vastness of space, the vastness of the universe. And yet the Bible says that He “stretched out the heavens like a curtain” (Psalm 104:2).

“When I consider the heavens,” the psalmist said, “the work of Your fingers, the moon, the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of Him” (Psalm 8:3-4) Great and marvellous, Lord, are Your works. You’re mindful of this little speck of dust on this little speck called earth. Way down here in the Milky Way galaxy and yet God thinks about you.

David said, “If I should number the thoughts concerning me, they are more than the sands of the sea” (Psalm 139:18). It’s estimated that there’s probably 1025 power grains of sand. I don’t know who figured that out. But that’s an awful lot of thoughts that God thinks, concerning you. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty. The fact that God thinks of me astounds me! But as we sing, “He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees my falling tear. And He hears me when I call.” Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty!

When you look at the life forms and you consider the designs, the intricacies of the many different forms of life, I find myself fascinated with life and the various life forms. I think if I weren’t a minister, I’d like to be a biologist. I’m so interested in the different life forms.

I watch these little white flies that are on my hibiscus right now. And I don’t love them, I spray them. I’d like to get rid of them. But as I’m spraying them, they start flying off. And I think, What are they thinking? Where are they going? Probably to my other hibiscus. But you wonder just the world that they’re in. These little miniature white flies and their ability to fly. It’s just amazing. Great and marvellous are Thy works. The works of God in creation.

Because they have seen the hand of God in judgment they sing,

just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints (15:3).

To me it is interesting that several times as we are coming through the Book of Revelation here, several times, we’ll get it again next week, but several times in the midst of the most awesome judgments, there will be that declaration of the righteousness of God’s judgments. Next week as we are in the sixteenth chapter and the bowl of God’s judgment is poured out on the fresh water supplies of the earth so that the fresh water supplies will be turned to blood, you’ll not be able to drink. They’ll have no fresh water to drink. And the angel responds, Right on, Lord. They shed the blood of Your people. Now you’ve given them blood to drink. Boy, that’s a fit thing. But all the way through when God’s judgments are coming, there is that acknowledgment that they are righteous judgments. It’s the right thing.

No one can really accuse God of not being fair. You may imagine that God is not fair but that’s because you don’t know the whole story. And when the whole story is known, we will realize the absolute fairness and justice of God. There are a lot of things that the Bible doesn’t tell us. A lot of things we don’t know. And usually it is the things that we don’t know that trouble us and confuse us. But whenever you come up against something you don’t know, fall back on what you do know. And I know that God is love. I know that God is fair. I know that God is righteous in His judgments.

Now I’m not convinced that the justice system that we have on the world is fair. I am prone to agree with that guy who cried, There ain’t no justice. And so many times when you see the edicts of the court, you wonder if the judge got his appointment from a grab bag or something. Now there are good judges and it’s not to paint the whole judicial system with a black brush. There are excellent judges. I have friends who are outstanding judges, whose real heart and they really take their job to heart and they are really concerned that justice is done. But there are always those who are open to pressure and other things, their own self interest at times. That’s not just so of the judicial system, that’s so of the ministry. I mean, goodness sakes, no one’s going to try and say that every minister is really serving God. There are a lot of self serving people in the ministry. Every field has those who sort of spoil the whole scene because of their corruption. And that’s tragic.

But God is fair. God is just. You can be sure of that. So that person who has lived in the jungles of South America or of Borneo, New Guinea, the Congo, that person who has lived and died without ever hearing of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for their sins. When God disposes of their case, you can be sure that it will be absolutely fair. God will be just in judgment. True and righteous are His ways.

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name (15:4)?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The question, “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?” It to me is very sad and tragic that there is no fear of the Lord in their hearts. There are people who are openly opposed to God. People who are openly opposed to the law of God, to the ways of God.

Presently in the California State Legislature they are considering pro-homosexual bills that are absolutely contrary to God. They’re blasphemous to God. And yet it looks like the majority of the Senate has already passed some of these bills and they are now again in Committee before they go to the next level and you think, God, is there no fear of the Lord in their hearts? How could they ever justify these kinds of legislation? In their own minds, in their own hearts, how can they justify these things that are so totally anti-God, anti-Scripture, and you think, My, I can’t conceive an elected body of officials. I can’t conceive of people who would elect officials that would consider and promote such legislation as is being considered right now in Sacramento. Surely we as Christians need to pray.

“Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?”

for You only are holy (15:4):

That’s the whole issue! The holiness of God is what man rebels against. It goes against our nature. Man by nature is a sinner. You’re not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you’re a sinner. There’s the difference. As they used to say, stealing a horse doesn’t make you a horse thief. Stealing a horse only proves that you are a horse thief. No one steals horses except horse thieves. And so the fact that you stole the horse only proves that you’re a horse thief. It didn’t make you one. It only proved you were one. That’s why you stole it.

Sinning doesn’t make you a sinner. Because you are a sinner, we sin. The Bible says we were born in sin. We were “by nature,” Paul said to the Ephesians, “the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:3). By nature. And thus the holiness of God goes against my nature. And God is calling on me to deny myself, to take up the cross, to reckon my old nature dead, crucified with Christ that I might live unto God after the things of the Spirit. But that is contrary to the natural man and the natural desires and there are many who rebel against God because they don’t want to surrender their evil nature. They delight in the things that they are doing and because the Lord condemns them, they turn against God.

They crucified Jesus. Why? Because He went against the grain. They didn’t like it. They didn’t like the things He was teaching. They felt convicted in their hearts for what they were and what they were doing. They didn’t like that feeling.

People don’t want to feel guilty. They want to make laws that would allow them to live the kind of lives they want to live without feeling guilty. And thus, they rebel against God in their hearts and there is no fear of God before their eyes. That is why we have the Book of Revelation telling us of the consequences of this kind of living. The judgments of God that will be brought upon the earth as the result of man’s rebellion against all that is righteous, all that is holy, and all that is pure. “Who will not fear Thee and glorify Thy name? for You only are holy:”

and all nations shall come and worship You (15:4);

Back in the twenty-second Psalm which is a psalm concerning Jesus Christ and it’s actually a psalm that prophesies of His death upon the cross. It’s a psalm that talks about them parting His garments among them, casting lots on His vesture. And in this psalm, verse twenty-nine, beginning with verse twenty-seven, “All of the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. All of the families of the nations will worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations.” This is when Jesus returns and establishes God’s kingdom upon the earth. And “they that are fat upon the earth shall eat and worship and they that go down to the dust,” that is, our loved ones who have already died they shall bow before Him. None can keep alive his own soul” (Psalm 22:29). So the resurrection of the righteous to be with Christ, to worship Him in the glorious Kingdom Age.

Paul tells us in Philippians chapter two that we ought to have the “mind of Christ. Not exalting ourselves, not promoting ourselves” (Philippians 2:5). As I was sharing with the College and Career down at Murietta on Friday night, the Scripture seems to teach things that are sort of reverse. The Scripture teaches that the way up is down. And the way down is up. He that exalteth himself shall be abased. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So the way up is down and the way down is up. And you have many of those things. He who will seek to save his life will lose it. He who will lose his life, Jesus said, for My sake will find it. So the way to find your life is to lose it. The way to lose your life is to try to find it. And so you have these things that are sort of a reversal.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). What was the mind? Who, being in the form of God, and thought it not something to be grasped to be equal with God. Yet He humbled Himself, came in the likeness of man, came in the form of a servant, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). The mind of Christ, humbling Himself, emptying Himself. But because of it, “Wherefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11)! All of the kindreds, all of the families will come, all of the nations and they will worship before Thee.

for Your judgments are made manifest. After this [the scene in heaven, John said] I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened (15:4,5):

There is a temple in heaven or a tabernacle, the temple of the tabernacle. When Moses built the tabernacle, God gave to him the specifications, the measurements, the whole thing. He told him exactly how to make it. And having told him exactly how to make it, then He told him, Now be careful to make it according to what I have said. He was to make it exactly like God told him. And then God gifted some skilled men, gave them skills, to make it, just like God had ordered it to be. And the reason for making it very carefully, we are told in Hebrews, that it is a model of the heavenlies. It’s an earthly model of what heaven is like. If you want to know what heaven is like, then you can look at the tabernacle and it was a model of heaven. And of course, the heart of it, the central feature is the mercy seat and the cherubim that are surrounding the mercy seat.

In the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation, we see the throne of God, the mercy seat before the throne of God and the cherubim surrounding it. And thus, in the holy of holies there was the mercy seat and the cherubim there in the holy of holies surrounding the mercy seat.

The angels, the tabernacle is open in heaven of which the earthly tabernacle was a model.

And the seven angels come out of the temple (15:6),

The symbolism or the idea is that there will be no mercy at this point. They come out of the temple to bring the judgments of God upon the earth. And so these “seven angels come out of the temple,”

having the seven plagues, they are clothed in pure and white linen (15:6),

This was the garment that the priest wore. It was a pure linen, a white linen, that they wore in their daily ministry and in the tabernacle in the temple here on the earth.

and they had on their breasts they had these golden sashes around their chest. And one of the four cherubim (15:6,7).

that are around the throne of God that we were introduced to back in chapter four, one of these four living creatures,

gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls (15:7)

Now the word is bowls, it’s translated vials in King James. You think of a vial, you think of a little dosage thing in a drugstore or something. But these are bowls. They’re full! And in these seven bowls are the plagues.

they are full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever (15:7).

The eternal God.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power (15:8);

You remember when the temple that Solomon had built was dedicated to the Lord, that the glory of the Lord came down and filled the temple and there was smoke and the priests were not able to stand because of the presence, the glory of God there in the temple. Here in heaven the temple, filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power.

and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled (15:8).

You had seven angels blowing seven trumpets. We went through those judgments. This is it! This is the end. This is the culmination of the whole thing, of the judgments and the wrath of God against the sinning earth.

So next week in chapter sixteen we see the consequences that will take place upon the earth when these angels pour out these bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth.

Father, we again are thankful that Your Word is so rich, so full in that in Your Word, You have given us, Lord, a view into the future. To see the things that are going to happen. And Lord, we feel like those who were under the altar saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You bring Your judgment upon this earth that has turned its back against You? How long, Lord, until Your judgments come upon our nation which seems to be determined to rid itself of Your influence and of Your people? Lord, we look at things that are going on and we ask You, Lord, work Your work. Father, we pray that Your Holy Spirit will cause us to be very diligent in spiritual things. That You will work in our lives, Lord, and You’ll help us to be a salt in a world that is quickly rotting. A light in a world that is filled with darkness. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

The pastors are down here in the front again to pray for you. You might have needs. Maybe God has been speaking to your heart. Maybe there are things in your life that have given sort of a beachhead for Satan and he has a stronghold upon you. You’d like to be set free. Jesus is able to deliver you. The song of the Lamb is the song of deliverance. The power of Jesus to set one free. So we encourage you to come down. The pastors are here to pray for your needs tonight. Feel free to come and they’ll be glad to bear your burdens with you and to pray for you and thus fulfill the law of Christ that tells us to love one another and to pray for one another. May the Lord just watch over and keep you in His love. May you be filled with the Spirit. And may God help us to be a light in this dark world in which we live. May God work through us in revealing Himself to a world that so desperately needs to see the truth of God. May you experience His love this week in a special way.

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10)

It is easy to see why Moses became frustrated with the Hebrew people. They were so hard-hearted and weak in their faith that Moses lost his patience and became angry with them. Yet every time Moses shifted his focus away from God, it cost him. When he sought to help his people by taking matters into his own hands, he spent the next forty years herding sheep in the wilderness (Exod. 2:11-15). This time his impetuous behavior cost him the opportunity to enter the Promised Land (Num. 20:12). In his frustration at the peoples irreverence, Moses committed the very same sin, blatantly disobeying God’s instructions. How did this happen? Moses allowed his attention to shift to the behavior of others rather than focusing on the activity of God.

This could happen to you as well. God has put people around you who need your ministry to them. You will never be able to properly help them, however, unless your primary focus is on God. If you concentrate on people, their weaknesses, their disobedience, their lack of faith, and their stubbornness will quickly frustrate you. You may, like Moses, commit the very sins you are condemning. If, however, your eyes are fixed on holy God, you will become more like Him; gracious, forgiving, long-suffering, and righteous. When a friend’s behavior disappoints you, go immediately to the Lord. Seek to discern what God is wanting to do in your friend’s life rather than concentrating on your friend’s sin. Then you will have the strength, wisdom, and patience you need to help your friend in the way God desires.