A Tale of Two Cities

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Jesus Unveiled

A Tale of Two Cities

(Revelation 17:1-18)

 

INTRODUCTION

“For a thousand years, the Christian thinker with the greatest influence was Augustine of Hippo. ​​ His longest book, The City of God, interpreted history as the story of two cities, the struggle between those who depend on God and those who rely on themselves. ​​ He traced the earthly city’s origin to the city built by Cain (Gen. 4:17).

 

Genesis gives much less attention to Cain’s city than to Babel, the first city after the flood of Noah. ​​ Settling on a plain in ‘Shinar’ (Babylonia), the builders reasoned, ‘Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’ (Gen. 11:4).

 

The ruins of countless other ancient cities confirm parallels with Babel:

  • Intense human cooperative labor (‘build ourselves a city’)

  • Humanly devised religion (‘tower that reaches to the heavens’)

  • Desire to achieve greatness (‘make a name for ourselves’)

  • Resolve to do things ‘my way’ instead of by God’s will (‘not be scattered’)

 

In the case of Babel, God directly intervened, but he has not stopped humans from applying these same principles to their other cities and civilizations. ​​ Babel was the model. ​​ Consider a roll call of six great ancient cities and their civilizations:

  • Memphis of the Egyptian Kingdom

  • Nineveh of the Assyrian Empire

  • Babylon of the New Babylonian Empire

  • Persepolis of the Persian Empire

  • Antioch of the Seleucid Empire (Hellenistic power after Alexander the Great)

  • Rome of the Roman Republic and Empire

 

Each was the Babel of its own day. ​​ Each rose as an expression of engineering ingenuity, supported by military might and political scheming. ​​ Each was a commercial, religious, and cultural center. ​​ Each proudly opposed God and the people of God. ​​ Roll them all together, and they become the perfect forerunner for one future final great city and civilization opposed to God – ‘Babylon the Great,’ mistress of the world. ​​ As with the world’s first great city Babel, so with the last Babel: ​​ God will judge her directly and dramatically.”

 

[Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 303]

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Video games

        • My best friend in high school, Jake, and I both worked at Chick-fil-A and we both loved playing tennis and video games

        • Jake had an original Nintendo, if I remember correctly

          • We didn’t play it much because the only game I remember playing on it was a tennis game

          • We enjoyed playing real tennis more than playing it on a video game system

        • We would go to the arcade quite often to play Galaga

          • I can’t tell you how many quarters we spent playing

          • The longer we played it the less quarters we spent, because we had learned the patterns of the game & didn’t die as often

          • I remember one day being at the arcade at the Galleria Mall in Hoover, AL

          • Jake was on fire that day and eventually got the top score

          • I was so impressed, but I also wanted to play – his one turn lasted quite awhile

        • Jake and I were completely drawn in to this game

          • We were giving our time, talents, and resources to Galaga and the arcade by default

          • I can say, with certainty, that Galaga was more important to me, at that time in my life, than my relationship with Jesus

          • I was always thinking about when I could go to the arcade and play Galaga

          • There was an arcade on the lower level of the mall where I worked at Chick-fil-A, so you can imagine the draw

    • Continual battle

        • Through college and in to my adult life, video games have continued to be something that I can get drawn into very easily

        • I like to finish things, so I will continue to play a game until I’m able to complete it 100%

          • I have done that with two games on my PS3

          • First was the video game based on the animated movie UP

          • I think the second one was Infamous

        • I spend much less time today, playing video games than I did several years ago

          • Levi has wanted me to get a PS4, so I can play video games with him, like I did with Wade and Seth

          • Wade wants me to get a gaming PC, so I can play video games with him

          • I’m content without those two items

        • Today, I spend much more of my time, talents, and resources in building the kingdom of God instead of completing video games

 

  • WE

    • Being drawn in by the pleasures of our culture

        • Probably for the rest of us, video games aren’t even a temptation

        • There are other pleasures of our culture that perhaps take our time, talents, and resources

          • Not necessarily bad, except that they can take our time, talents, resources, and focus away from God

            • Hunting, fishing, camping, and/or boating

            • Shopping, Watching movies

            • Traveling, Work, Sports

            • Eating out (food in general)

            • Etc. (we can all think of that one thing in our lives that we enjoy doing and may take to an extreme)

          • Others that are addictive and destructive in nature

            • Pornography

            • Alcohol and drug addiction

            • Sexual addiction

            • Hoarding, Christmas Season, Etc.

        • We need to recognize when those items have taken the place of God in our lives

    • Refocusing our time, talents, and resources

        • When we see that something has taken the place of God, we have to take the steps necessary to refocus

        • We may have to take a break from doing those things in order to reconnect with the One who created us, loves us, and desires our time, talents, and resources

 

John has one of the seven bowl-angels come to him and take him to the desert to see the next part of this end-time vision. ​​ The next section of this vision will focus on two cities. ​​ We’ll unpack the two cities over the next several chapters. ​​ What John wants us to understand from chapter 17 is that . . .

 

BIG IDEA – Giving ourselves to anything but God could cost us eternal life.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 17:1-18)

    • The vision (vv. 1-6)

        • Before we begin the vision I want us to go to verse 18, because it will help us understand the rest of the vision

          • The angel tells John that the woman in the vision, who is the great prostitute, is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth

          • For John, and his readers in the 1st Century, they identified the great city as Rome, but that certainly isn’t the case for us today or for the millions of people since the 1st Century

          • Mounce expresses it well, “Yet Babylon the Great, source of universal harlotry and abomination (v. 5), is more than first-century Rome. ​​ Every great center of power that has prostituted its wealth and influence restores to life the spirit of ancient Babylon.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 321]

          • So, the great prostitute that John sees is a world system/kingdom that has turned its back on God and given its time, talents, and resources to pursuing the pleasures of evil

        • An angel comes to John

          • We’re told that the angel is one of the ones who had the seven bowls, so there is a connection between this part of the vision and what we saw in chapters 15 & 16

          • The angel tells John that he will show him the punishment of the great prostitute

            • He explains that this great prostitute is the one who sits on many waters (this will be explained when the angel interprets the vision)

            • This great prostitute was very successful at her trade, because the kings of the earth were drawn in by her beauty, wealth, and advances, and the inhabitants of the earth were caught up with what she had to offer them, which is described as the wine of her adulteries

            • The leaders and the common people were all attracted to her and gave themselves to her

            • They are in danger!

          • At this point, the angel takes John to the desert to give him a more detailed description of this vision

        • The angel carries him into the desert

          • We see that John is not carried away physically to the desert (he is still on the island of Patmos), but rather in the Spirit, he is in a desert

          • Two characters are introduced at this point

            • A woman and a scarlet beast – both are described here

            • The woman

              • This is the same woman that the angel identifies as the great prostitute in v. 1

              • She is now not only sitting on many waters, but also on top of a scarlet beast (we’ll talk about this beast in a moment)

              • The woman’s outfit

                • She is dressed in purple and scarlet

                  • The dye for these two pieces of cloth were very expensive to extract, therefore only the wealthy could afford to where purple and scarlet garments

                  • Purple was considered the color of royalty, while scarlet was considered the color of wealth

                • She is glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls

                  • If we remember that the woman represents Rome or another city that will rise up in the end times then we can see a contrast between this city bent on opposing God and embracing evil and the new Jerusalem

                  • “Her gold, precious stones, and pearls (17:4) further contribute to this picture of wealth (18:12, 16), but also help underpin the impending contrast with the city of God, which was built of gold, had streets of gold and gates of pearls, and had precious stones on its foundation (21:18-21).” ​​ [Keener, The NIV Application Commentary, Revelation, 406-407]

                • PRINCIPLE – The political and religious wealth of this world is enticing.

                  • It is always tempting to embrace the newest religious beliefs or partner with the fasting growing church movements or denominations

                  • It’s also tempting to embrace the trending political, economic, technological, and social movements

                  • We all want to be both physically and spiritually wealthy, but it can come with a cost if we don’t choose wisely

                  • Keener helps us to have an eternal perspective on wealth, “The true and ultimate wealth comes not from trade with Babylon, not from buying and selling with the beast (13:17; cf. Ps. 73:6), but from relinquishing worldly wealth for the promises of Jesus (3:17-18).” ​​ [Keener, 407]

                  • Revelation 3:17-18, You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ ​​ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ​​ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

                  • It brings us back to Augustine’s premise: what city are we going to choose to live in? (God’s or the world’s?)

                  • 1 John 2:16-18, For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. ​​ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. ​​ Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. ​​ This is how we know it is the last hour.

                  • Giving ourselves to anything but God could cost us eternal life.

                  • Is there anything in your life that shows you’re living in the city of this world?

                  • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Ask the Lord to direct me to anything in my life that I’m giving myself to ahead of Him, and then ask Him to give me the strength to sacrifice it.

                • She has a title written on her forehead

                  • This certainly corresponds to the mark of the beast found in Rev. 13:16

                  • But it could also refer to custom of the Roman prostitutes in the 1st Century to write their names on a headband that they wore

                  • Some believe that the word “Mystery” is part of the name written on her forehead, but others believe it is descriptive of a name with hidden meaning

                  • Babylon the Great (this is the “great system of godlessness that leads people away from the worship of God and to their own destruction [Mounce, 311])

                  • The Mother of Prostitutes (to be the “mother of” something means that they are characterized by that thing, but also that they have reproduced that character in others [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 613]; Babylon, then Rome in John’s time, and perhaps any major city in our time, and definitely some future kingdom, will be the source of idolatry and evil)

                  • The Mother of the Abominations of the Earth (again whatever city will be the “great prostitute,” during the end, will be the source that influences the entire earth to adopt all kinds of evil and abominations)

              • What the woman is holding in her hand

                • The woman represents the religious side of the end times, while the beast represents the political side

                • She is holding a golden cup in her hand

                • We’re told that it is filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries

                • The contents of this cup are obviously what has intoxicated the inhabitants of the earth, as we saw in v. 2 and she made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries as we saw in Rev. 14:8

                • The religious practices that this end times city will encourage everyone to participate in will involve moral corruption and things that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, would consider unclean or sacrilegious

                • Isaiah 5:20, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

                • “The idols of heart and life are filled to the brim as she shares them with a senseless humanity that falls into a drunken stupor, no longer able to see real truth, beauty, and goodness found only in God and His salvation through the Lamb.” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: ​​ Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 263]

              • The condition of the woman

                • She is drunk with the blood of the saints

                • It will not be enough to simply set up a godless form of religion, but the woman (religious system of this future city) will also persecute and kill those who are followers of Jesus Christ

                • Those who are martyred during this time are sealed in Christ through the willing sacrifice of their own lives

              • We know who the woman is, what she is wearing, and what she has in her hand, but she is also riding on a scarlet beast

            • Scarlet beast

              • We are given a brief description of the scarlet beast

              • He has blasphemous names covering his entire body

              • He has seven heads and ten horns

              • What we see in the remainder of chapter 17 is the angels interpretation of the beast from this vision of the woman and the beast

              • It is here that we understand the seven heads and ten horns

              • We don’t see the punishment of the “great prostitute” that the angel promised to show John until chapter 18

        • As John looks upon the image of the woman and the beast, he is astonished – he perhaps saw something in the character of the woman that was unexpected [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 321]

    • Interpretation of the vision (vv. 7-18)

        • The angel asks why John is astonished and then tells him that he will explain the mystery of the woman and the beast she rides on

        • Wisdom to understand the return of the beast (vv. 8-9a)

          • Some scholars put the beginning of v. 9 with the previous statement about the return of the beast, while others put it with the interpretation of the seven heads – both require a mind with wisdom

          • Twice in v. 8 we see the same statement – the beast once was, now is not, and will come again

            • This is an attempt by evil to mimic and mock God and Jesus Christ

            • Revelation 1:4, John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: ​​ Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come . . . (this is referring to God)

            • Revelation 1:18, I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! ​​ And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (this is referring to Jesus, also found in Rev. 2:8)

            • This same idea of the beast coming, dying, and being resurrected was mentioned in Rev. 13:3, One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. ​​ The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

            • We see again that the inhabitants of the earth, who have not repented of their sins, will find the resurrection of the beast to be astonishing

            • In the middle of these two statements we find the principle – the golden nugget of truth

            • PRINCIPLE – Evil tries to imitate God, but will be destroyed.

              • This is an incredible promise that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, can hold on to

              • We may see evil “winning” in our culture

              • Evil will twist the truth, just a little bit, so that it appears to be godly and righteous

              • Evil will use imitation of the real to try to deceive humanity

              • But the truth remains that evil will be destroyed!

              • We’ll see expanded in v. 14

          • The angel moves from explaining the imitation of the beast to his actual features, beginning with the seven heads

        • Seven heads explained (vv. 9b-11)

          • The seven heads represent two things

            • Seven hills that the woman sits on

              • For John’s readers, the interpretation of the seven heads being seven hills would have immediately brought to mind Rome

              • Ancient Latin authors all referred to Rome as urbs septicollis meaning “seven-hilled city”

              • “Rome began as a network of seven hill settlements on the left bank of the Tiber . . .” ​​ [Mounce, 315]

              • Christians in the 1st Century viewed Rome as the godless, immoral, idolatrous city that it was

              • The angel also interprets the seven heads as seven kings

            • Seven kings

              • Here is where the interpretation for us, today, becomes much more difficult

              • There are two primary beliefs concerning what the angel meant by seven kings as we try to understand it today

                • Kings/Emperors

                  • Those who hold to this belief try to create a list of six Emperors that would include the Emperor during John’s time

                  • The only problem is that there is not agreement on who the Emperor was during John’s writing (Nero, Vespasian, or Domitian)

                  • There is also debate over whether Julius Caesar or Augustus was the first true Emperor

                  • There is also more than six Emperors between Julius Caesar and Trajan (14 to be exact)

                  • Some scholars lump three of them together because all three reigned in a one year period

                  • This is not a very strong solution to the interpretation of the seven heads being seven kings

                  • In their favor is the fact that the Greek word used for “king” is everywhere in the New Testament translated as “king” and not “kingdom”

                  • With that in mind the second solution is not very strong either, but is definitely fascinating

                • Kingdoms

                  • If the “great prostitute” represents a city, it would not be inconceivable that the seven kings could represent seven kingdoms

                  • These kingdoms would all share the same characteristics of being the powerhouses of their time that opposed God’s people

                  • Scholars have compiled a list of the five fallen kings/kingdoms found in Scripture that would have those characteristics

                  • Egypt (Memphis) during the days of Israelite slavery (Exod. 1)

                  • Assyria (Nineveh) during the days of the prophets Hosea and Isaiah (2 Kings 15)

                  • Babylon (Babylon) during the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (2 Kings 25)

                  • Persia (Persepolis) during the days of Esther the queen (the book of Esther)

                  • The Seleucid Empire (Antioch) was successor to part of Alexander the Great’s realm (Daniel 8:23-25; 11:21-35)

                  • Rome would be the sixth kingdom during John’s time (1st Century)

                  • There’ll be a seventh kingdom that will rise in the future that will share the same characteristics as the first six, but will only be around for a short period of time, because the beast will begin to reign as the eighth king

                  • “MacArthur says, ‘The Antichrist’s kingdom is said to be both the seventh and the eighth kingdoms because of his supposed demise and resurrection. ​​ He is the seventh before and the eighth after his ‘resurrection’’ (Study Bible, 2016).” ​​ [Akin, 266]

              • There is a third option that I particularly favor

                • The number seven is symbolic of completion and the power of the Roman Empire historically

                • “In Revelation the seven kings represent the entire period of Roman domination regardless of the exact number of emperors. ​​ The important point is that the end is drawing near.” ​​ [Mounce, 317]

                • Osborne agrees with Mounce that the numbering was not a reference to specific emperors, but rather pointing to the fact that the Roman tyranny would soon end and the eschaton would be ushered in [Osborne, 620]

                • The number seven throughout Revelation has been symbolic of completion, so it would make sense that it once again represents completion as it pertains to a world-wide system of godlessness, immorality, and idolatry

          • The angel moves on from the seven heads to the ten horns

        • Ten horns explained (vv. 12-14)

          • The ten horns refer to ten kings and their kingdoms that have not come on the international scene yet

            • Daniel 7:7-24 is the only other place in Scripture where a ten-horned beast is mentioned (this is perhaps the background for this beast here)

            • Osborne reminds us that in Rev. 7:1 the four angels at the four corners of the earth have been holding back the four winds of destruction and he also reminds us that in Rev. 16:12 the Euphrates is dried up, perhaps by the four winds, allowing the “kings of the east” to easily join the beast for a final battle against God [Osborne, 621]

            • They and the beast are given authority by Satan, but it is short-lived (one hour)

            • Their reign doesn’t need to be long, because they only have one purpose – to give their power and authority to the beast so he can make war against the Lamb

          • PRINCIPLE – Evil is fighting a losing battle.

            • The Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings

              • This is not the first time that Jesus has overcome Satan and his followers

              • He won the victory over sin and death when He died on the cross, was buried, and came alive again

                • This is the hope we have as followers of Jesus Christ

                • God fulfilled His plan to redeem us from our sin by sending Jesus from heaven to earth to take our punishment for sin

                • We’re all born sinners, separated from God, deserving eternal separation from Him

                • But because of His infinite love for us, He sent Jesus to take our place – He became for us, even though He had never sinned, so that God would see us as righteous before Him

                • It is a free gift from God that we have to take for ourselves

                • Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                • We can be on the winning side of this final battle by receiving God’s gift of eternal life through believing in Jesus Christ by faith

                • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Receive God’s gift of eternal life by believing in Jesus by faith.

              • Jesus not only overcame sin and death through His perfect sacrifice, but He will also overcome evil in the final battle

            • The Lamb is Jesus Christ and He is not coming alone

              • He is bringing with Him those whom He has called, chosen, and are faithful

              • This is Jesus’ army as mentioned in Rev. 19:14

              • God is the One who calls and chooses His own, our response to Him is to be faithful

          • The angel now explains the reference to the woman sitting on the waters

        • Waters explained (v. 15)

          • The waters represent all people, which is evident in the four-fold description of peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages

          • No one is exempt from the influence and control of the woman

          • Osborne explains, “To ‘sit upon’ a nation is to conquer and control it.” ​​ [Osborne, 609]

          • Finally we see the destruction of the woman after she has served her purpose

        • The destruction of the woman (vv. 16-17)

          • Evil is only concerned about itself and no one else

            • Therefore, evil often turns on itself

            • When the immoral, idolatrous religious structure, represented by the woman, has served its purpose in convincing the inhabitants of the earth to worship and follow Satan, then the beast and the ten kings will hate her and destroy her

            • They will bring her to ruin and strip her naked – this final great city, which once was dressed like royalty, will be completely stripped, exposed, and humiliated

            • To have her flesh eaten reminds us of Jezebel after she fell from the window and was completely devoured by dogs

            • The destruction of this once great city will be complete when it is burned with fire

            • “God has built into the universe a law of sowing and reaping that cannot be violated.” ​​ [Easley, 314]

            • Galatians 6:7-8, Do not be deceived: ​​ God cannot be mocked. ​​ A man reaps what he sows. ​​ The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.

            • Giving ourselves to anything but God could cost us eternal life.

          • PRINCIPLE – God is sovereign!

            • The ten kings were not offering their power and authority to the beast of their own accord

            • Evil is jealous and controlling – not naturally inclined to offer up what power and authority they have to someone else

            • They were willing to do this, because of God’s sovereignty – He put it into their hearts the willingness to do this, so that His purpose could be accomplished

            • We have in the Bible God’s promises concerning salvation for those who repent and final destruction for those who do not

 

CONCLUSION

“My friend C. J. Mahaney has well said, ‘Today, the greatest challenge facing [evangelical, Bible-believing] American [Christians] is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world’ (‘Is This Verse,’ 22). ​​ The Christian apologist C. S. Lewis would add, ‘We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who goes on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. ​​ We are too easily pleased. (Weight of Glory, 25-26). ​​ Babylon offers mud pies in the slum. ​​ The new Jerusalem ruled by the King of kings and the Lord of lords offers a glorious holiday at a crystal sea that will last forever. ​​ Do not be too easily pleased. ​​ Do not be seduced by a world that can never deliver what is truly lasting and ultimately satisfying.” ​​ [Akin, 269]

13

 

/by

Name That Tune!

, ,

Jesus Unveiled

Name That Tune!

(Revelation 15:1-8)

 

INTRODUCTION

“Some years ago my wife and I went to see Shakespeare's Hamlet. Near the end of the play there is a climactic fight scene—guys swordplay all over the stage. Well, that night, right in the middle of all that action, Hamlet suddenly shouted, ‘Stop! Stop!’ All the actors stopped and looked puzzled. Then Hamlet stepped to the edge of the stage and said, ‘Someone's been hurt. Is there a doctor in the house?’

 

Apparently, during the fight, his knife had flown from his hand into the audience and struck a woman above her eye. The play stopped for a while till they could attend to her and ensure she was all right. Then Hamlet said, ‘Places,’ and the actors all resumed their frozen mid-fight poses till he said ‘Action,’ and they finished the scene and the play.

 

When we read biblical prophecy, we come across passages where God, the great healer, is given time to attend to lost souls. The action described is put on hold for a time while God carries out the work of redemption. But soon, God will say, ‘Action!’ and this scene will resume and the end-time drama will come to a crashing end.”

 

(Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois, “Hamlet” Production Resembles Prophetic Events)

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2003/september/14592.html].

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Singing in the choir at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference

        • My brother and I worked at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference on Long Beach Island, NJ for three summers when we were teenagers

        • At that time, all staff participated in the choir

        • We would have practices every day, if I remember correctly, and then we would go out to local churches in NJ and Eastern PA on Sunday evenings to perform

        • We also had cassette tapes recorded for each year that we were there and they were sold at the concerts we did

        • Singing in the choir was one of the highlights of the summer for me

        • There was one song I enjoyed most, that I remembered hearing the choir sing, when I was a young boy going to Harvey Cedars for vacation with my family

        • I was excited when we sang that same song while I was on staff

          • It is called “Moses” by Ken Medema [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6JQ3EXNBhw]

          • It talks about Moses going to Egypt to set the Israelites free

        • Singing connected us to each other and to the audience at the churches where we sang

        • We were worshiping the Lord together

    • Singing when I’m happy

        • I don’t know about you, but when I’m down and feeling sorry for myself I don’t normally sing – I normally grumble – I don’t even sing a song of lament like the Psalmist did

        • Now the flip side is true – when I’m feeling good and everything is going great, I love to sing

        • Oklahoma, the musical has a song that sums up how I feel most of the time – “Oh, what a beautiful mornin’, Oh, what a beautiful day, I’ve got a beautiful feelin’, Everything’s going my way.”

 

  • WE

    • Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh

        • How many of us can relate to Eeyore’s statement? – “If it is a good morning, which I doubt.”

        • He is the quintessential pessimist – the cup is half empty and it has a hole in it

    • Struggles

        • We all experience struggles and hardship in our lives

        • It’s easy for us to sing a song of lament during those tough times

        • Too often we forget to sing the songs of deliverance, praise, and thanksgiving, when God delivers us from those struggles and difficulties

        • We should be quick to change our tune when God does the miraculous for us

 

We see in this passage a continuation of the grain harvest scene from Revelation 14:14-16. ​​ The believers who have been victorious through the social, religious, and economic hardships, enacted by the beast, are singing a song of deliverance to God. ​​ John wants us to understand that . . .

 

BIG IDEA – When God delivers us, we should change our tune.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 15:1-8)

    • Structure

        • Chapter 15 has three parts to it

          • Each is identified in the Greek by the phrase kai eidon, which means “And I saw”

          • This phrase is found at the beginning of vv. 1 (I saw), 2 (And I saw), and 5 (I looked)

        • It also has an ABA chiastic structure

          • We see the introduction of the seven angels in v. 1 before we learn of the song of the saints and then more details are given about the seven angels in vv. 5-8

          • In v. 1 the angels have the seven last plagues with them, which represents the completion of God’s wrath

          • And in v. 8 we will see that no one can enter the temple in heaven until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed (again this is referencing the completion of God’s wrath)

          • The song of the saints is sandwiched between these two matching references

    • Sign (v. 1)

        • John sees another great and marvelous sign

          • Two signs have already appeared in heaven and we see them both in chapter 12

          • The first is found in Rev. 12:1 which was a woman clothed with the sun (this sign was identified as a great and wondrous sign)

          • The second is found in Rev. 12:3 and was an enormous red dragon (this one was just identified as another sign)

        • This great and marvelous sign is seven angels with the seven last plagues

          • “Signs point beyond themselves and disclose the theological meaning of history. ​​ That there are seven angels having seven plagues speaks of the certainty and completeness of divine wrath against all unrighteousness. ​​ They are great and marvelous in their awe-inspiring effect on all of nature, the human race, and the kingdom of Antichrist.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 284]

          • The New International Version (NIV) adds the word “last” a second time for effect, but this is not in the original Greek

            • The New Living Translation (NLT) translates it without the second “last”

            • Revelation 15:1b, Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.

          • The form of the Greek verb for “completed” means that God’s wrath has reached it goal [Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 270] or has been brought to a conclusion [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 299]

        • John immediately sees another scene in heaven ​​ 

    • Song (vv. 2-4)

        • Sea of glass mixed with fire

          • We were introduced to something like a sea of glass in Revelation 4:6 that was before the throne of God

          • It is probably safe to say that this is the same “sea of glass” and that those who are victorious are standing before the throne of God

          • The “sea of glass” is now mixed with fire

            • We saw before that the sea of glass was a metaphor for the majesty of God

            • Fire is normally symbolic of God’s judgment, so this sea of glass mixed with fire is simply telling us that something has changed or is about to happen

            • Easley helps us to understand this imagery from a natural point of view, “Whenever an ocean’s appearance shifts, a change in the weather is at hand. ​​ The change from the appearance of clear glass to that shot through with fire signals stormy weather ahead. ​​ In view of the awesome and terrible atmospheric conditions about to come to earth (16:18, 20, 21), no wonder the heavenly sea is fiery.” ​​ [Easley, 271]

            • Have you ever been on the water when a weather front starts to come in? (then you understand the change from calm water to rough water)

          • While change is coming, the focus is less on that and more on those who are standing around this “sea of glass” mixed with fire

        • Victors standing by the sea

          • These are the individuals who have suffered through the tribulation period and probably experienced martyrdom, because they did not give in the pressures of the beast

          • They were victorious over three things

            • The beast (political, reject Christ, follow the Antichrist)

            • His image (religious, reject Christ, worship the image of the beast at the demand of the False Prophet)

            • Number of his name (economic, reject Christ, take the mark of the beast, so they could buy and sell)

          • Two important notes

            • Promised inheritance for those who are victorious

              • The Greek word translate “victorious” here in Rev. 15:2 is the same Greek word translated “overcome” at the end of each of the letters to the seven churches

              • It’s from there that we see what the victorious saints will inherit [Mounce, 285; Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 563]

                • Tree of life (Rev. 2:7)

                • Deliverance/protection from the second death (Rev. 2:11)

                • Hidden manna (Rev. 2:17)

                • Authority over the nations (Rev. 2:26)

                • White garments (Rev. 3:5)

                • The honor of becoming a pillar in the temple of God (Rev. 3:12)

                • The honor/privilege of sitting with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21)

            • Similarities between the Exodus from Egypt

              • God had provided deliverance for the Israelites when they were being pursued by the Egyptian army

              • They thought they were doomed when they were stuck between the Egyptians and the Red Sea

              • Then God did the miraculous and parted the Red Sea allowing them to cross over on dry ground

              • When the Egyptians entered the sea bed, God caused the waters to return to their place and completely destroy the Egyptian army

              • As the Israelites stood by the Red Sea, safe and secure, they sang a song of deliverance

              • They were no longer lamenting their misfortune of being trapped

              • They had changed their tune

              • When God delivers us, we should change our tune

            • John not only sees the victorious saints standing by the “sea of glass,” he also notices that they are holding something

          • They were holding harps given to them by God

            • We saw in Rev. 5:8 that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders had harps

            • Hand-held harps were common, and part of the worship in the temple

            • The victors were accompanying themselves as they worshiped God

          • They were singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb

            • The song of Moses is recorded in Exodus 15:1-18 (read that passage)

            • There is debate about whether or not there are two songs being referred to here or just one song

              • If it is referring to two separate songs, both are songs of deliverance

              • The song of Moses is a reminder of how God brought the Israelites out of bondage to the Egyptians

              • The song of the Lamb is a reminder of how God brought humanity out of the bondage to sin

              • They’re not in opposition to each other, but focus on the same theme (God’s mighty acts in saving His people, both OT and NT)

              • Osborne only sees one song in view and therefore translates it, “the song of Moses, that is, the song about the Lamb.” ​​ [Osborne, 564]

                • If we remember the final plague that caused Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, then we understand the connection between the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb

                • The Israelites had to sacrifice a perfect lamb and spread the blood of that sacrifice on the doorposts of their homes

                • This identifying factor protected them from the death of their firstborn son

                • Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

                • He was the perfect sacrifice, once-for-all, to take away humanities sin and not just to cover it up

            • What we see then in Revelation 15:3b-4 is the song that they are singing

              • It is important to note that the victors are not singing about their triumph over the beast, rather they are singing “about the sovereignty, glory, justice, and righteousness of their Almighty God and King.” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: ​​ Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 253]

              • The first two lines are a great example of Hebrew parallelism (the second line repeats the idea of the first line, but with different words)

                • The first part is celebrating God’s works

                • The second part celebrates God’s ways

                • The Lord God, who is Almighty, is also King of the ages

              • Next we see a rhetorical question

                • Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? (Rev. 15:4)

                • We see the same kind of question in the song of Moses, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? ​​ Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” ​​ (Exodus 15:11)

                • The obvious answer to the question is “no one!”

              • Finally, we see three reasons for bringing glory to the Lord God Almighty, who is King of the ages

                • The Lord alone is holy

                  • The Greek word used for “holy” means “perfect moral purity”

                  • The Lord is the only One who has perfect moral purity – there are no others

                • All nations will worship before you

                  • This means that no one will be exempt from worshiping the Lord

                  • We will either do it voluntarily as His children or in recognition of who He is at the final judgment

                  • Philippians 2:9-11, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

                • Your righteous acts have been revealed

          • The victors are standing by the “sea of glass” and worshiping the Lord for who He is and what He has done

            • PRINCIPLE – Our worship of God should focus on thanking Him for who He is and what He has done.

            • When was the last time God delivered you?

              • It’s easy to sing a song of lament/sadness/anger to God when we are struggling physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially

              • It’s also easy to forget to worship Him for what He has done after He has delivered you

              • Did you change your tune after He delivered you?

              • When God delivers us, we should change our tune

              • Did you remember to thank Him for what He did?

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Thank the Lord, through worship, for how He delivered me from a recent situation or circumstance that was difficult.

            • When was the last time you thanked God for extending His grace and mercy to you in salvation?

              • We see who God is through His gift of salvation for every person

                • He is loving (Jn. 3:16a; Jer. 31:3)

                • He is all-powerful, because He raised Jesus from the dead (1 Cor. 15:4)

                • He is full of grace (Eph. 2:8-9)

                • He is merciful (not getting what we do deserve)

                • The list could go on and on

              • We also see what God did to deal with our sin

                • He made a way for us to have our sins completely removed

                • He sent Jesus to die on a cross to take our punishment for sin

                • He allowed Jesus to come alive again, so that one day we can be resurrected with Him

                • He is preparing a place in heaven for those who have believed in Jesus Christ and received eternal life

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Worship the Lord for who He is and what He has done, so that I could have eternal life.

            • When was the last time you just worshiped God for who He is?

              • Perhaps everything’s been going great in your life

              • You haven’t been struggling physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially

              • In those times, we can and should worship God for who He is

              • Adoration is simply acknowledging God’s many attributes (Triune, Love, Truth, Sovereign, Holy, Just, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Eternal, Infinite, Immutable, Wisdom, Majestic, Good, Faithful, Merciful, etc.)

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Worship the Lord through adoration (acknowledging His many attributes).

        • John sees one final thing in heaven, which brings us back to the seven angels he saw in verse 1

    • Saucers (vv. 5-8)

        • The temple was opened

          • John describes the temple as the tabernacle of the Testimony

            • This description takes us back to the wilderness with the Israelites

            • “The word for temple is naos rather than hieron. ​​ The former references the sacred things particularly, whereas the latter word covers the entire temple complex.” ​​ [Patterson, 302]

            • So what is opened to John’s view is the holy of holies, which housed the ark of covenant that contained both copies of the Ten Commandments

            • The Ten Commandments were also referred to as the Testimony

            • Since God, the author of the Testimony, is in the heavenly temple, it can rightly be called the tabernacle of the Testimony

          • The seven angels with the seven plagues come out of the temple

            • Perhaps John wrote verse 1 after seeing the whole scene played out, or while John’s focus is drawn to the victors singing by the “sea of glass” the seven angels enter the temple

            • Either way, the seven angels are now coming out of the temple after being in the presence of God

            • John’s description of their clothing simply lets us know that they are functioning in a priestly role with purity

            • They are going to pour out the contents of God’s wrath on the inhabitants of the earth in a just way

          • One of the four living creatures gives each of the seven angels a golden bowl

            • Each bowl is filled with the wrath of God, which will be characterized by the plagues that each of the seven angels already have in their hands

            • The bowl was not a deep soup bowl like we would think about today, but rather a swallow bowl used for cooking liquids

            • Osborne states that “these could be the golden saucers found on the table of showbread and used for sacred libations to God (Exod. 25:29; 27:3; 38:3) as were the censers in Rev. 5:8. ​​ By using these bowls, two points would be made: ​​ (1) the outpouring of judgment is a sacred offering to God, vindicating his name and bringing him glory; and (2) they come in response to the prayers of the saints (5:8, cf. 8:3-5).” ​​ [Osborne, 570]

          • The actual plagues and the pouring out of God’s wrath will be covered in Rev. 16, next week

        • The temple was filled with God’s glory

          • Once the seven angels came out of the temple, we see that God’s glory fills the temple in the form of smoke

          • God’s power is also described as smoke here

          • No one was able to enter the temple at this point

            • This is not unusual – it is seen in other parts of Scripture also

            • Exodus 40:34-35, Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ​​ Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

            • 1 Kings 8:10-11, When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. ​​ And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

            • I like how Keener expresses it, “the glory exceeded human ability to withstand.” ​​ [Keener, The NIV Application Commentary, Revelation, 387]

            • This reminds us of Moses face after he had been in the presence of the Lord in the Tent of Meeting – his face shown so brightly that the Israelites asked him to cover his face until the shekinah glory would fade

          • My prayer, for us, is that we would experience the glory of God in this place – that His glory would come down and that we would radiate His glory on our faces to those in our community

 

  • YOU

    • Have you changed your tune after God has delivered you?

    • Have you thanked God for His salvation?

    • Have you simply worshiped the Lord through acknowledging His many attributes?

 

  • WE

    • There is power in corporate worship

    • We are connected to each other as we worship the Lord for who He is and what He has done for us

        • He has allowed us to witness His increase through five salvations and four baptisms so far this year

        • We have experienced His supernatural provision for faith promise giving to the GROW capital campaign in the amount of $25,810, which allowed us to pay off the roof debt of $19,000

        • We have helped our community through benevolence and other ways

 

CONCLUSION

“We live in a music-driven era. ​​ My son must have the car radio cranked up full blast to his favorite radio station the instant the ignition is turned on. ​​ Wherever we turn, commercial jingles reach out for our pocketbooks. ​​ All of us have had the experience of not being able to get a silly pop tune out of our head; thus is the power of music. ​​ If advertisers know the power of melody and harmony, how much more important is music and singing when put into the worship of God?

 

What, you may ask, is the possible connection between my life today, the experiences of ancient Israelite multitudes singing beside the Red Sea, and the future singing of those beside the crystal sea in heaven after Christ’s return? ​​ The common thread is the desire to acknowledge the character and deeds of God Almighty through singing.

 

Far from being a pie-in-the-sky, floating-on-clouds, playing-harps=after-we-die chapter, this passage can encourage us to be people of worship and singing today. ​​ When we look back on ancient Israel and ahead to the victorious saints in heaven, we realize that we have the privilege of standing in the unbroken line of people who worship God with their music and singing.

 

God expressed his ineffable holiness through overwhelming smoke at the wilderness tabernacle. ​​ Just as surely we, too, may get a fresh glimpse of his holiness by visualizing the overwhelming smoke in the heavenly tabernacle that John saw in this chapter.”

 

[Easley, 275]

11

 

/by

The Tale of Two Sickles

, ,

Jesus Unveiled

The Tale of Two Sickles

(Revelation 14:14-20)

 

INTRODUCTION

Miroslav Volf, a Christian theologian from Croatia, used to reject the concept of God's wrath. He thought that the idea of an angry God was barbaric, completely unworthy of a God of love. But then his country experienced a brutal war. People committed terrible atrocities against their neighbors and countrymen. The following reflections, from Volf's book Free of Charge, reveal his new understanding of the necessity of God's wrath:

 

My last resistance to the idea of God's wrath was a casualty of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and over 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, my people shelled day in and day out, some of them brutalized beyond imagination, and I could not imagine God not being angry.

 

Or think of Rwanda in the last decade of the past century, where 800,000 people were hacked to death in one hundred days! How did God react to the carnage? By doting on the perpetrators in a grandfatherly fashion? By refusing to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirming the perpetrators' basic goodness? Wasn't God fiercely angry with them?

 

Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God's wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn't wrathful at the sight of the world's evil. God isn't wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love.

 

Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge (Zondervan, 2006), pp. 138-139

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2011/march/5032811.html]

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Harvesting growing up

        • When we lived in Greencastle, we had a fairly large garden

        • I remember snapping a lot of green beans, husking a lot of corn, and shelling a lot of peas

        • I only remember doing this one time, but we helped my Grandmother pick corn on her property

          • She had a special tool that I think was a twine knife (show picture)

          • It helped to cut the corn off the stock

          • I remember thinking it was pretty cool to have this special harvesting tool

        • I also remember my mother spending endless hours cutting corn off the cobb so she could freeze it

          • Judy will tell you that she doesn’t have to ask me twice about cutting corn off the cobb

          • I can’t explain why it brings me such joy to cut corn off the cobb, but it does

          • I do it the same way my mother used to do it (cutting towards my body)

        • We not only froze vegetables, we also canned fruit

    • Picking cherries

        • When we lived in Shippensburg my brother, cousin, and I picked cherries one summer for the local orchard

        • We lived in a development outside of Shippensburg that was surrounded by orchards

        • We walked through the orchard or rode our bikes to the place where the cherry trees were

        • We got paid by the bucket, so we worked hard and fast

 

  • WE

    • Adams County

        • Adams County is known for its orchards

        • We have the apple blossom festival and the apple harvest festival

        • Most everyone works or has worked for one of fruit growers or fruit manufacturing plants at some time in their life

        • (If you have worked or are currently working for the fruit growing or packaging industry, please stand)

    • Personal gardens

        • How many of you have a personal garden?

        • You understand what it takes to make a garden grow and then to harvest the produce from it

        • Harvesting isn’t the final step for most of us, because there is freezing and canning that come after that

 

We’ll see today in this passage (Rev. 14:14-20) that two separate harvests are being talked about, a grain harvest and a grape harvest. ​​ These two harvests are very different, but they both have God’s judgment in view. ​​ John wants us to understand that . . .

 

BIG IDEA – God’s judgment will be complete.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 14:14-20)

    • The Grain Harvest (vv. 14-16)

        • Son of man sitting on a cloud with a sickle (v. 14)

          • John continues to look at the eschatological scene unfolding

          • He sees a white cloud in front of him

            • The cloud is significant

              • The background for the significance of the cloud is found in Daniel’s vision

              • Daniel 7:13-14, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. ​​ He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ​​ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. ​​ His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

              • The Psalmist also highlights the significance of clouds as it pertains to the presence of God/Jesus

              • Psalm 104:3, He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

              • Throughout Scripture we see God’s presence associated with clouds

                • His presence with the Israelites, as they wandered through the wilderness, was in the form of a cloud during the day

                • At Mount Sinai, God’s presence was indicated by a cloud that covered the top of the mountain

                • When the Tent of Meeting was established and later when the Tabernacle was built, the people knew that God was with them because a cloud covered both of those places of worship

                • When the cloud lifted, they knew it was time to move to the next location

              • We also see Christ’s return associated with clouds

                • Revelation 1:7, Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. ​​ So shall it be! ​​ Amen.

                • Mark 13:26, “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

                • Mark 14:61b-62, Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” ​​ “I am,” said Jesus, “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

                • Acts 1:9-11, After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. ​​ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ​​ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? ​​ This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

              • The cloud is definitely representative of God’s presence, but the color of the cloud is also important

            • The color of the cloud is significant also (white)

              • This verse is the only time in Revelation that a cloud has a color associated with it

              • Osborne explains clearly the importance of the color white, “Throughout the Apocalypse, the color ‘white’ signifies purity (as in the ‘white robe’ of 6:11; 7:9, 13), wisdom (the ‘white hair’ of the ‘one like a son of man’ in 1:14), glory (the ‘white throne’ of 4:4), and victory (the ‘white horse’ on which Christ and the heavenly army come in 19:11, 14; the ‘white garments’ they wear in 19:14).” ​​ [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 550]

              • So, we see that the color white represents purity, wisdom, glory, and victory

            • All of those attributes are true of the person seated on the white cloud

          • There is a person seated on the cloud that looks like a son of man

            • Most scholars agree that the one “like a son of man” is talking about Jesus

              • This was Jesus’ favorite title for Himself throughout the Bible

              • We saw Him use this title with the high priest in Mark 14:62

            • John identifies two items that obviously caught his attention as he saw Jesus sitting on this white cloud

              • Golden crown

                • This is the victor’s crown (stephanos) and not the royal crown (diadema)

                • Jesus will eventually wear multiple royal crowns as we’ll see in Rev. 19:12

                • This is again reflecting the fact that Jesus won the victory when he died on the cross to take our punishment for sin

                • He has the right to judge as the sovereign Lord

              • Sharp sickle

                • Jesus is holding a sharp sickle in His hand

                • This simply means He’s ready to judge

          • As John is watching the scene unfold, he sees another angel come from the temple

        • Angel’s announcement (v. 15)

          • The temple is the heavenly temple where God’s presence is

          • He has a message for Jesus as Jesus sits on the white cloud

            • Some commentators see this angel as giving a command to the one sitting on the white cloud, and say that it could not represent Jesus, because Jesus would never be commanded to do anything by an angel

            • Yet, this angel has come from the presence of God and is acting as the messenger of God – he is simply relaying a command from God to Jesus

            • Jesus taught about remaining watchful, because no one knows the day or hour when God will send Jesus back to earth for the second time

            • Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

            • Jesus then goes on to explain what it will be like when He is told come back to earth a second time

            • John is seeing the future when God tells Jesus, through an angel, that it’s time to go

          • The angel gives Jesus the message from God

            • “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

            • This is the hope of every follower of Jesus Christ

            • In the same way that the Israelites longed for the Messiah to come, we as followers of Jesus Christ, long for His second coming

            • We are hopeful that it will happen in our generation, just like the Israelites hoped that the Messiah would come in their generation

            • While we still don’t know the day or the hour we wait with patient anticipation

          • PRINCIPLE – God’s timing is perfect!

            • Whether we are still alive, when Jesus returns, or have passed away, we can know with confidence that God’s timing is perfect

            • He is all-knowing, so He knows when the best time for Jesus to return will be

            • His timing was perfect in sending Jesus the first time

              • Galatians 4:4, But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

              • Romans 5:6, 8, You see, at just the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly . . . But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: ​​ While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

          • We see Jesus’ obedience to God’s command in verse 16

        • Harvesting of grain (v. 16)

          • Is this harvest God’s judgment of the ungodly or the righteous?

            • Scholars are split on this matter

            • Of the nine commentators used in preparation for this message it is almost split down the middle

            • Half of them believe it is God’s judgment on the ungodly

              • They reference the fact that we see the judgment of the ungodly right before and right after this section of Scripture

              • Therefore, these two harvest scenes represent the judgement of the ungodly

              • There is also a line of thinking that throughout Scripture the same scene is repeated as a way of drawing attention to the scene as a whole (the first time the scene is presented is more general and the second time it is presented in more detail)

              • They use Joel 3:12-13 as evidence for this belief

              • Joel 3:12-13, “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. ​​ Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. ​​ Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow – so great is their wickedness!”

            • The other half believe it is God’s judgment on the righteous

              • We will all stand before God in judgment

              • Here we see Jesus coming to gather/harvest His followers

              • In the New Testament we see the imagery of harvesting representing people becoming a part of God’s kingdom (Matt. 9:37-38; Mark 4:29; Luke 10:2; John 4:35-38) ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 278]

              • “Bauckham (1993b: ​​ 291-96) states that the harvest imagery likely goes back to 14:4 and picks up the idea of the 144,000 as ‘firstfruits’ of the great harvest to come.” ​​ [Osborne, 552]

              • It’s interesting to note that this harvesting scene does not have any kind of separating of the ungodly from the righteous by way of threshing, winnowing, or throwing branches into a fire [Osborne, 552]

              • We’ll see in the grape harvest scene that there is a final destruction of those who are harvested

            • I’ve found that when the commentaries don’t agree we have to be cautious

              • It is perhaps something God doesn’t intend for us to fully understand this side of heaven

              • I lean towards the interpretation that this first harvest is the harvest of believers

              • But here’s the principle that I believe we can all embrace and what God really wants for us to understand

            • PRINCIPLE – God will judge the people of the earth.

              • This will include both believers and unbelievers

              • Read Matthew 13:24-30

              • Read Matthew 13:36-43

              • Both are harvested, the grain (believers) are stored up in the Lord’s barn and the weeds (unbelievers) are burned up in the fiery furnace of hell

          • The harvesting of the grain is complete when Jesus swings His sickle over the earth

          • God’s judgment will be complete

        • John continues to watch as some other angels appear

    • The Grape Harvest (vv. 17-20)

        • Side note

          • Easley brings out a fascinating contrast between literal grain and grape harvests that may be helpful with the two harvests of people on the earth

          • “In the world of the first century, the grape harvest, otherwise called the ‘vintage,’ was as distinct from the grain harvest as, say, Easter is from Thanksgiving. ​​ They occurred at two different times of year. ​​ The grain harvest was done by mid-June. ​​ Grapes were gathered in September and October.” ​​ [Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 255]

          • John’s vision of these two harvest scenes seems to represent two separate groups being judged as we have identified already

          • The reference to two separate times of year in the literal harvest cycle probably does not play a part in the two harvest scenes here – perhaps the two harvest scenes happen one after the other (we are not given enough information in this passage to make a definitive decision)

        • Angel with a sickle (v. 17)

          • In John’s vision, another angel comes out of the temple in heaven with a sharp sickle in his hands

          • This angel will come directly from the presence of God

          • His role will be to harvest the grapes as God’s representative with God’s authority

        • Another angel’s announcement (v. 18)

          • Still another angel arrives on the scene, but this angel is one that we have probably seen before

          • This angel comes from the altar where he is in charge of the fire

            • Revelation 8:3-5, Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. ​​ He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. ​​ The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. ​​ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

            • It’s interesting to see how all of Revelation is fitting together

            • There is certainly an element of God’s answer to the question of the saints under the altar as found in Revelation 6:10, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

            • So the angel, who is offering up the prayers of the saints under the altar together with incense, is now on the scene with a command for the angel who came out of the temple with a sickle

          • His command, in a loud voice, is for the angel with the sickle to harvest the grapes because they are ripe – it’s time!

          • This takes us back to the same principle shared in the first harvest scene – God’s timing is perfect

        • Harvesting of grapes (v. 19)

          • The angel with the sickle is obedient to God’s command as announced by the angel in charge of the fire at the altar

          • He swings his sickle on the earth and gathers its grapes

          • He deposits them in the great winepress of God’s wrath

            • This is all a part of God requiring the inhabitants of the earth to drink the wine of His fury as we saw in Revelation 14:10

            • A winepress in the 1st Century consisted of two vats/troughs, an upper and lower, made of stone or wood

            • The upper vat/trough is where the harvested grapes were placed

            • The lower vat/trough is where the juice was collected by way of a duct that connected the two vats/troughs

            • There were people who trampled the grapes under their feet in the upper vat/trough

            • Crushing the grapes was a vital part of extracting the juice

            • “Treading grapes in a winepress was a familiar figure of divine wrath and judgment.” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: ​​ Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 247]

              • God is the One who does this in Isaiah, Lamentations, and Joel (Old Testament)

                • Isaiah 63:3-4, “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. ​​ I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood splattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ​​ For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come.

                • Lamentations 1:15, “The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. ​​ In his winepress the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah.

                • Joel 3:13, Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. ​​ Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow – so great is their wickedness!”

              • Jesus is pictured as the One who will administer divine wrath in Revelation 19:15, Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ​​ “He will rule with an iron scepter.” ​​ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

          • The imagery of crushing unbelievers in God’s winepress helps us to understand the seriousness of His wrath, not tempered with His usual grace and mercy

        • Fate of grapes that are harvested (v. 20)

          • Two important images are related here as it pertains to unbelievers and their fate during the eschaton (end of times)

            • God’s winepress is outside the city

              • This only makes sense, because the vineyards were outside the city, so they built the winepresses close to the vineyards

              • In this judgment scene there is more to it than just geographical convenience

              • “To be executed ‘outside the gate’ is to be cut off from the covenant people. ​​ In Heb. 13:12 Jesus sacrificed himself by bearing our sins ‘outside the gate,’ while here the nations are judged ‘outside’ the holy city. ​​ This emphasis occurs also in Rev. 22:14-15, where the faithful ‘go through the gates in the city’ while sinners must remain ‘outside.’ ​​ Also, in 3:12 the ‘overcomers’ will ‘never go outside’ the ‘temple of God’ again, anticipating the final holy city of 21:9-27. ​​ Thus, the judgment of unbelievers ‘outside the city’ emphasizes their absolute rejection by God and is in contrast with the blessed state of the faithful.” ​​ [Osborne, 555]

              • In our humanness we struggle to comprehend God’s wrath apart from His grace and mercy, and yet we have to understand that this is exactly how the inhabitants of the earth have treated God from generation to generation – they have rejected Him and pushed Him outside of the “city of their lives”

              • So they are only experiencing the results of what they have done all their lives – this is what they have chosen

            • What comes out of the winepress is not grape juice, but rather blood

              • The final judgment of God for unbelievers is both a physical and spiritual death

              • Here we see the gruesome result of millions of people who have chosen to reject God’s loving gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ

                • What is pictured here is blood flowing or splattering as high as about four feet (the height of a horse’s bridle)

                • It is flowing for 184 miles (1,600 stadia, the approximate length of Palestine from the Syrian border in the north to the Egyptian border in the south)

                • This is not a literal river of blood that is four feet deep and 184 miles long, but rather hyperbole

                • It is communicating the death of a massive number of people at the same time

                • It is also foreshadowing the battle of Armageddon

            • It is another reminder of the principle that God will judge the people of the earth

          • God’s judgment will be complete

            • The two harvest scenes both mention the earth

            • The harvest of the earth is ripe (Rev. 14:15)

            • Grapes from the earth’s vine (Rev. 14:18)

            • Take a moment and underline the word “earth” in this section of scripture (we see it used 5 times in the NIV)

            • God’s judgment of believers and unbelievers will not miss anyone – everyone will be included in one of these two harvests

 

  • YOU

    • Are you part of the grain harvest?

        • Those who will be a part of the grain harvest are the ones who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ

        • Most of us would put ourselves in this category, which is great!

        • I want to encourage you to not make this just an individual thing

        • Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:18-20 to make it an everybody thing (Pursue, Grow, and Multiply Disciples)

        • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Identify individuals who need to hear the Gospel and then pray for an opportunity to share my testimony with them.

        • They may be family members, fellow students, friends, neighbors, or coworkers

    • Are you part of the grape harvest?

        • You will be part of the grape harvest if you die in a state of rebellion against God or Jesus returns while you are in rebellion against God

        • It means that you never desired to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but rather decided to live life by your own standards

        • You never admitted to God that you are sinner, that you believed that Jesus died on the cross to take your punishment for sin, and that you wanted to be a part of God’s family

        • You can change from being part of the grape harvest to the grain harvest

          • Admit that you are a sinner (we all are, some have admitted it to God and others haven’t)

          • Believe that Jesus came to earth the first time to take your punishment for sin (He did this by willingly sacrificing Himself on the cross, being buried, and coming alive again in three days)

          • Choose to be a child of God

            • John 1:12-13, Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

            • It’s a choice only you can make individually

          • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Receive Jesus into my life and believe in His name, so I can be a child of God.

 

  • WE

    •  

 

CONCLUSION

“The faithful Baptist preacher of London, Charles Spurgeon, understood the gravity of what it means to stand either with Jesus or against Jesus. ​​ He understood, as many do not, what was at stake. ​​ Bringing his own sermon from this chapter to a conclusion, he pled with conviction and passion in words I simply cannot ignore. ​​ I urge you to heed his warning and his counsel lest you are thrown into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

I beseech you, do not risk that doom for yourselves. ​​ Escape for your lives; look not behind you but fly to the only refuge which God has provided. ​​ Whoever will entrust his soul to Jesus Christ shall be eternally saved. ​​ Look unto him who wore the thorn-crown, and repose your soul’s entire confidence in Him, and then, in that last great day, you shall see Him seated on the white cloud, wearing the golden crown, and you shall be gathered. . . . But if you reject Him, do not think it wrong that you should be cast with the grapes into the winepress of the wrath of God, and be trodden with the rest of ‘the clusters of the vine of the earth.’ ​​ I beg you to take Christ as your Saviour, this very hour lest this night you should die unsaved. ​​ Lay hold of Jesus, lest you never hear another gospel invitation or warning. ​​ If I have seemed to speak terribly, God knoweth that I have done it out of love to your souls; and, believe me, that I do not speak as strongly as the truth might well permit me to do, for there is something far more terrible about the doom of the lost than language can ever express or thought conceive. ​​ God save all of you from ever suffering that doom, for Jesus Christ’s sake! ​​ Amen. ​​ (“Harvest”).” ​​ [Akin, 249]

12

 

/by

The Just Judge

, ,

Jesus Unveiled

The Just Judge

(Revelation 14:6-13)

 

INTRODUCTION

Our culture today does not like to talk about the justice of God. ​​ They would rather talk about the love and mercy of God. ​​ They want to make them mutually exclusive, but they both are attributes of God and cannot be separated. ​​ They are both equally part of who God is.

 

Evangelists use the illustration of the person you are closest to (father, mother, spouse, etc.), being brutally attacked and killed. ​​ The person who killed your parent or spouse stands before a judge. ​​ He tells the judge that he has done a lot of good, until he killed the person. ​​ The judge agrees with the defendant and releases him. ​​ Would you consider the judge to be a good or bad judge? ​​ We would all agree that the judge would not be a good judge. ​​ God, however, is a good judge. ​​ He will rule justly with everyone, not based on how good they have been in their life, but based on whether or not they have turned from their rebellion against Him and accepted Jesus as their Savior from sin. ​​ He will judge them based on whether or not they have revered, glorified, and worshiped Him as the Creator of the world.

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Works for salvation

        • I know that I can easily fall into a works mentality about my salvation

        • I can become legalistic about my faith and the disciplines associated with it

        • I work hard to do what’s right and expect others to do the same things I do, to prove that they are saved

        • But, that’s not what Scripture teaches

    • Works because of salvation

        • When my attitude is right and my focus is on Jesus, then I work hard as a result of my salvation

        • I practice the various disciplines out of love for God instead of obligation

        • I don’t judge others if they aren’t doing the same things I’m doing with the same amount of enthusiasm or commitment

        • I work as unto the Lord, because He is the One I’m working for

 

  • WE

    • Writing a paper in school

        • We can write a school paper one of two ways

        • We can either do it how we think is best, or we can follow the rubric given to us by the teacher

        • If we do it the way we think is best and not how the teacher requires it to be done, then we’ll get a bad grade

        • We can argue with the teacher, but there was a standard that was expected from the beginning and was clearly communicated in the rubric

        • The paper may be very good (done the we way we think was best), but it doesn’t meet the standard

        • That is the same with salvation through faith in Jesus Christ

          • We may think that we have the best way to get to heaven and so we live our lives according to what we think is best

          • Yet, God has given us a standard and a way to spend eternity with Him in heaven

          • If we continue down the road of doing it the way we think is best, the result will be eternal separation from God

          • We have to follow His standard and way of salvation

    • Standards at work

        • There are standards that we have to follow at work in order to be successful

        • Just imagine for a moment that everyone did their job according to what they thought was best

          • What if everyone on the assembly line decided to go the speed that was best for them

          • There may be one guy who is really fast and constantly pushes product down the line

          • The next person in line decides that going a slower pace is what is best for him

          • We can already see what the results will be

          • It would be total chaos, because no one would be following a standard

        • The standard pace is set for the entire line and everyone has to comply with that pace

 

John sees three angels flying in midair, each one following the one before it. ​​ They each have a message for those on earth. ​​ All three messages are communicating the same thing . . .

 

BIG IDEA – God will be just in His treatment of all people.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 14:6-13)

    • Final chance (vv. 6-7)

        • Another angel

          • The last time John saw an angel was in Revelation 11:15 (the seventh angel that sounded his trumpet)

          • There is no real significance to this angel being identified as another angel

          • This was perhaps another angel that John had not yet seen before

        • Flying in midair

          • This angel is flying in midair, which simply means that everyone will be able to see him

          • In verse 7 we read that he will speak with a loud voice, meaning that everyone will hear him

          • No one will be able to claim that they did not see or hear the message that this angel is bringing – no one will have an excuse

          • The message he’s bringing is for everyone on earth, which is communicated by the phrase, to every nation, tribe, language, and people

          • So, what is the message?

        • Eternal gospel

          • John writes that it is the eternal gospel

            • The angel is not sharing the Gospel that we are familiar with, as found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures . . . He was buried and came alive again, according to the Scripture)

            • Keener expresses correctly that there are two sides to the Gospel [Keener, The NIV Application Commentary, Revelation, 372]

              • God restoring His people (Isa. 40:9; 41:27; 52:7; 61:1)

              • God is announcing judgment on the enemies of His people (Nah. 1:15)

            • Paul expresses these two sides in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. ​​ For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ​​ To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. ​​ And who is equal to such a task?

          • What we see in verse 7 is the eternal gospel

            • It is God’s judgment on those who have chosen not to repent and turn to Him

            • The angel gives three imperative commands to all the people of the earth

              • Fear God

                • This is not to be afraid of God

                • Because God is sovereign we should revere Him

                • It is recognizing His sovereign power in our lives

                • That’s what the people of the earth should be doing instead of revering the beast

              • Give God glory

                • His is the good and just Judge

                • As such, we should pay Him respect and honor

                • The people of the earth would have to honor Him instead of the dragon

              • Worship God the Creator

                • The people of the earth will worship the image of the beast, because the false prophet will perform miraculous signs and wonders

                • Yet, God is the only One worthy of our worship, because He created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water (in essence what John is saying here is, He created everything)

            • “God has therefore revealed Himself both in Scripture (special revelation) and in nature (general revelation).” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: ​​ Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 243]

              • We see this general revelation in Romans 1:18-20

              • Romans 1:18-20, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ​​ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

            • The reason for the three commands is that the hour of God’s judgment has come

              • Next week we will see the harvest of the earth

              • Then in chapter 15 we will learn about the seven angels with seven plagues

              • In chapter 16 we see the seven bowls of God’s wrath

              • It’s all coming to an end

            • And yet we see an incredible principle here

          • PRINCIPLE – God provides opportunities for people to repent until the very end.

            • We can rejoice in this fact as followers of Jesus Christ, as we pray for and share the Gospel with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers (it’s not too late for them)

            • This is also incredible news for those who have, and continue, to reject God’s plan of salvation

              • It’s not too late for you!

              • You haven’t done too many bad things

                • Remember what we’ve learned about the inhabitants of the earth throughout the book of Revelation to this point

                • The second seal unleashed the red horse and its rider who was given power to take peace from the earth and make men slay each other

                • There are multiple references to followers of Jesus Christ who are martyred throughout the tribulation period at the hands of the inhabitants of the earth

                • They are given to idolatry and sexual immorality and probably much more

              • Those individuals are in view here, and God is offering them one final chance to repent and show their allegiance to Him through revering Him, giving Him glory as the good Judge, and worshiping Him as Creator

              • The same is true for you today

                • You have not done too many bad things that God will not accept you

                • That’s a lie from Satan to keep you from being set free from the bondage of sin

                • All humanity is born with a desire to go their own way and to reject God as their Lord and Savior (Rom. 3:23)

                • Because God is holy and just, He has to punish our sin (Rom. 6:23)

                • Notice that He doesn’t just tell us what the punishment is, but He also tells us how to deal with our sin problem

                • Romans 3:25-26, God presented him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. ​​ He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

                • Justification has been defined as “just as if I’ve never sinned.”

                • Ephesians 2:8-9, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

                • Today is the day of salvation – don’t wait any longer

                • You don’t have to clean up to come to God, because He is the One who will do the cleaning

                • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Accept God’s free gift of salvation and eternal life by believing in Jesus by faith.

        • The first angel has shared his message with the people of the earth and now John sees a second angel following behind him

    • Destruction and Judgment (vv. 8-11)

        • The second angel’s message is one of destruction (v. 8)

          • Fallen! ​​ Fallen!

            • The form of the verb in the Greek is pretty fascinating (aorist active indicative)

            • It is not repeated by chance, but rather the repetition brings attention to the importance of the announcement

            • “The aorist indicative in this case may be what is known as a futuristic or proleptic aorist, which views an action, while future, as so certain that one can speak of it as complete.” ​​ [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 291]

            • There is no doubt that this will take place – Babylon the Great will fall

            • PRINCIPLE – God will defeat, once and for all, the idolatrous and adulterous systems of this world.

            • What does Babylon represent in this text?

          • Babylon the Great

            • First, let’s look back to what Babylon represented in its day

              • Ancient Babylon was located in Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq

              • It was the seat of political, commercial, and religious life for the world at that time

              • At its pinnacle it was “known for its decadence, gross immorality, and idolatry.” ​​ [Akin, 244]

              • King Nebuchadnezzar was the epitome of the attitude and arrogance of the Babylonia Empire

              • Daniel 4:30, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?

              • God’s punishment of Nebuchadnezzar was immediate (he was stripped of his royal authority and sent to live with wild animals)

            • In the first century, the Jews saw Rome as a modern Babylon, because it too had a system that opposed God in all areas of life (politically, economically, and religiously)

            • “It is a symbol of the spirit of godlessness that in every age lures people away from the worship of the Creator.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 271]

              • It is evident in our culture today

              • There is a push to remove prayer and the Bible from every public arena

              • The Biblical account of how God created the world has been under attack for years (society would rather settle for the theory of evolution instead of the facts about creation)

              • Our culture wants to live by moral relativism (what’s right for me is right for me and what’s right for you is right for you) instead of moral absolutes, until something heinous happens that pricks the moral conscience that God has placed in every human being (that’s when they say, “that’s wrong!”)

            • Understanding that Babylon represents a system of godlessness, helps with the final phrase in verse 8

          • Drinking the wine of her adulteries

            • Drinking represents participation in and/or agreement with something

            • In this text it is participation in and agreement with the lifestyle of godlessness

            • That is what the people of the earth will be doing – they will be participating in the political, economic, and religious systems that the antichrist will establish

            • That whole system will be in opposition to God, yet people will be drawn to it and willingly participate in it

          • We’ll spend more time on Babylon the Great in chapter 17, but for now John sees a third angel following behind the second one

        • The third angel’s message is pronouncing judgment on those who have rejected God and have chosen to follow the beast (vv. 9-11)

          • The angel identifies who he is pronouncing judgment on (v. 9)

            • It is the people of the earth who have done two things

            • They have worshiped the beast and his image

            • They have received the beast’s mark on their forehead or hand

          • Another wine to drink (v. 10a)

            • We see here a contrast of two wines

            • The second angel was acknowledging that the people of the earth had enjoyed drinking deeply of the wine of the beast’s adulteries (they will enjoy this cup of wine)

            • But, they will also be required to drink the wine of God’s fury

              • Throughout Scripture we see God’s cup as representing His judgment temporarily on His people and against the wicked nations [Keener, 374]

              • This wine will be poured out in full strength

                • The literal translation of this phrase from the Greek is “mixed unmixed into the cup.”

                • To understand the mixed portion of this text we have to look at Psalm 75:8, In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.

                  • So, the mixed part is the addition of spices

                  • Perhaps the spices, added to the wine, made the flavor stronger

                • The unmixed portion of the literal translation is much easier to understand and apply

                  • It was a common practice in the ancient world to dilute wine with water

                  • The proportions were at least one-to-one, but could be as much as two to three parts water to wine

                  • The only time that wine was consumed undiluted was if the person wanted to get drunk – they wanted the full strength of the wine coursing through their veins

                • For God to require the people of the earth to drink the wine of His fury at full strength, means that He will not temper His fury with the usual grace and mercy He is known for

                • The final judgment has come

            • What we see next is what God’s fury will look like on those who have worshiped the beast and taken his mark

          • Results of drinking the wine of God’s fury (vv. 10b-11a)

            • Tormented with burning sulfur

              • What the angel communicates here is the reality of hell – a place of constant, ongoing, neverending torment

              • Hell is for real!

              • Easley explains what the torment may be like, “When sulfur burns, it produces sulfur dioxide, a gas that burns eyes and lungs.” ​​ [Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 251]

              • Imagine having your eyes and lungs burning all the time

              • God used burning sulfur to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24-25)

              • Jesus spoke about hell as a place of fire that never ends and cannot be extinguished

                • Matthew 18:8, If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. ​​ It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

                • Mark 9:43, If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. ​​ It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

                • Matthew 25:41, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

              • Their torment with burning sulphur will be in the presence of God’s angels and Jesus Christ

                • It seems as though they will understand, at this point, who the God, they rejected, is

                • Jesus taught about a rich man who had a beggar named Lazarus that sat at the gate of his house (Luke 16:19-31)

                  • Both men die

                  • Lazarus was taken to heaven, but the rich man was taken to hell, where he was tormented

                  • When he saw Lazarus with Abraham, he asked if Lazarus could dip his finger in some water and put it on his tongue to cool it

                  • A great chasm divided them and prevented Lazarus from helping the rich man

                  • He was aware of heaven and those living there and that he had rejected God

              • This is not a short term tormenting that is taking place, but it will never stop, which is expressed in the idea of the smoke of their torment rising for ever and ever

              • There is one more result of drinking the wine of God’s fury

            • No rest day or night (v. 11b)

              • They will not find rest day or night

              • It doesn’t take many sleepless nights for us to understand this idea

                • Mothers and sometimes fathers understand this when there is a newborn baby in the house (there can be multiple sleepless nights until the baby gets into a routine)

                • Pet owners also understand this, especially when they are training a new puppy (again there can be sleepless nights until the puppy gets into a routine)

              • Imagine for a moment what it would be like to never get rest again – that will be the eternal status of those who worship the beast and his image and receive the mark of his name

        • PRINCIPLE – God will punish those who refuse to repent and turn to Him.

          • Sometimes that’s hard for us to understand when we see ungodly people getting ahead

          • Remember, they are embracing the world system completely

          • We’re not the only ones who are wondering when God is going to judge the ungodly

          • The saints under the altar in Rev. 6:9-11 were asking the Lord when He was going to judge the inhabitants of the earth

          • It is going to happen, but we have to be patient

        • That’s the encouragement the third angel is giving the believers

    • Encouragement for believers (vv. 12-13)

        • It requires the saints to be patient

          • Those who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus will have to be patient as they endure persecution by the godless people on the earth

          • They will have to wait for God’s just judgment

          • The same is true for us today

            • We have to have an eternal perspective, while living in the present culture

            • We may not understand God’s timing, but we can trust that it’s perfect

            • He will judge the ungodly

          • He will also judge the godly

          • God will be just in His treatment of all people.

          • We see the justice of God for His people in the final verse this morning – verse 13

        • Eternal rest

          • John hears a voice from heaven telling him to write down what is being said

            • While it is not stated directly, most scholars believe this is the voice of God, because the Spirit agrees with Him

            • The message is clear – those who die in the Lord will be blessed

              • From now on, would be from the time of John’s writing until the final consummation

              • That includes everyone who has remained faithful to Jesus, but has already passed away

              • It will include those who are martyred during the end times

              • The blessing comes in the fact that they are now with the Lord and no longer suffering persecution and hardship on earth

            • This is the second of seven beatitudes in Revelation

          • Contrast with the ungodly

            • While the unbelievers torment will include no rest, the saints will experience eternal rest

            • Labor is talking about “diligent and difficult work.” ​​ [Patterson, 294]

            • That’s what will be required of the saints as they patiently endure persecution – they will have to work diligently through the difficulties

        • God will recognize that these believers were faithful, obedient, and patiently endured

          • That is there reward – their deeds will follow them

          • “There deeds follow them in the sense that there can be no separation between what a person is and what that person does.” ​​ [Mounce, 277]

        • PRINCIPLE – God promises to recognize and give rest to His people who endure and are obedient and faithful.

          • This is an incredible promise that we can claim today

            • It requires us to patiently endure persecution and hardship

            • It requires us to be obedient to God’s commandments

            • It requires us to remain faithful to Jesus Christ

          • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ By God’s grace, patiently endure, be obedient to His commandments, and remain faithful to Jesus Christ.

 

  • YOU

    •  

 

  • WE

    •  

 

CONCLUSION

In his most recent book What Good Is God?, Philip Yancey writes:

 

This is a true story from Afghanistan that took place in the early 1970s, before the Russian occupation or the Taliban regime. At the time, the government allowed a small Christian church to service internationals who worked there, though no Afghans could attend.

 

A friend of mine named Len organized a musical team of young people to tour countries in the Middle East. With some trepidation, he also accepted an invitation to extend the trip to Afghanistan for a concert in downtown Kabul. Len made the teenagers write out exactly what they would say, subject to his approval. "This is a strict Muslim government," he warned them. "If you say the wrong thing, you could end up in prison and at the same time jeopardize every Christian who lives in this country. Memorize these words and don't dare stray from them when you perform." The teenagers listened wide-eyed as he described the ominous consequence of a slight misstep ….

 

The night of the official concert in Kabul, almost a thousand Afghans filled the hall and spilled outside the open doors to listen. All went well until one teenager on the team put down his guitar and started improvising: "I'd like to tell you about my best friend, a man named Jesus, and the difference he has made in my life." From the side of the stage, Len motioned wildly for him to stop, drawing his finger across his neck. Ignoring him, the teenager proceeded to give a detailed account of how God had transformed his life.

 

"I was practically beside myself," Len told me. "I knew the consequences, and I sat with my head in my hands waiting for the sword to drop. Instead, the most amazing thing happened. The Minister of Cultural Affairs for Afghanistan stood and walked to the stage to respond.

 

"'We have seen many American young people come through this country,' he said. 'Most of them come for drugs, and most look like hippies. We have not seen nor heard from young people like you. God's love is a message my country needs. How thrilled I am to hear you! You are a prototype for the youth of Afghanistan to follow in the future. I would like to invite you to expand your tour so that you visit every college and faculty and also give this same message on Kabul Radio. I will make it happen.'"

 

Len was dumbfounded. That night he gathered the musical group together. "Did you hear what the man said? We're changing our tickets, of course, to lengthen our visit. And he wants you to give this same message— you'd better not change a word!"

 

Over the next few days, the musical team held other performances. After each event Afghan young people crowded around with questions. Tell me more about this Jesus—we know of him through the Qur'an. You speak of a personal relationship with God. Can you describe it? How does your faith change you? Some asked to pray with the teenagers. Nothing like it had ever happened in Afghanistan.

 

On the last day, after a triumphant tour, the teenagers met J. Christy Wilson, a revered figure in Afghanistan. Born of missionary parents in Iran, he … [had] spent 22 years in Afghanistan, serving as principal of a government high school and teaching English to the Crown Prince and Afghan diplomats. He also led the Community Christian Church and founded the School for the Blind in Kabul.

 

Wilson drove the teenagers to an unusual tourist site, the only cemetery in Afghanistan where "infidels" could be buried. He walked to the first, ancient gravestone, pitted with age. "This man worked here 30 years and translated the Bible into the Afghan language," he said. "Not a single convert. And in this grave next to him lies the man who replaced him, along with his children who died here. He toiled for 25 years, and baptized the first Afghan Christian." As they strolled among the gravestones, he recounted the stories of early missionaries and their fates.

 

At the end of the row he stopped, turned, and looked the teenagers straight in the eye. "For 30 years, one man moved rocks. That's all he did, move rocks. Then came his replacement, who did nothing but dig furrows. There came another who planted seeds, and another who watered. And now you kids—you kids—are bringing in the harvest."

 

"It was one of the great moments of my life," Len recalls. "I watched their faces as it suddenly dawned on these exuberant American teenagers that the amazing spiritual awakening they had witnessed was but the last step in a long line of faithful service stretching back over many decades."

 

From What Good Is God?: In Search of a Faith that Matters. By Philip Yancey, pp. 219-222. Reprinted by permission of FaithWords, a division of Hachette Book Group, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2011/january/5012411.html]

13

 

/by

The Great Deceiver

,

Jesus Unveiled

The Great Deceiver

(Revelation 13:11-18)

 

INTRODUCTION

“In an article title ‘U.N. Faithful Eye Global Religion,’ James Harder writes,

 

The secretary-general of the United Nation’s Millennium Peace summit thinks that all religions apples fall from the same tree and are equally delicious. ​​ At a recent international meeting, he told 1,000 delegates that religions need to accept the validity of all religions or else it will be difficult to attain world peace. ​​ Recently, the notion has emerged that the pathway to peace necessitates the unification of religions. ​​ The Universal Religion Initiative (URI) recently convened with 300 people present representing 39 religions and signed a charter, which officially launched the movement. ​​ The goal is that there will come a day in which “religious people will no longer insist on a single truth.” ​​ Episcopal Bishop Swing, a leader in the movement, goes even further: ​​ “There will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each [religion] will be honored but an agreed upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing, condemning, murdering, or dominating. ​​ These will not be tolerated in the United Religions Zone.” ​​ (22-33).”

 

I am not suggesting that the United Nations is in league with the antichrist, but I am saying that the impulse to unify the world in a single religion is already alive and well in our day. ​​ We must be on guard and realize that the true gospel necessarily makes exclusive claims about God, Christ, salvation, and eternity, and to minimize those claims is neither loving nor wise.” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 233].

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Counterfeit money

        • I worked in the banking industry, as a teller, right after I graduated from college

        • When I went through my training, they didn’t teach us how to identify a counterfeit bill

        • Instead they taught us all of the attributes of real bills

        • They told us what to look for in a real $20, $50, and $100 so that when we were presented with one of them, we could very quickly look for those attributes to determine if the bill was genuine or not

    • Technology has changed how we determine whether a bill is genuine or counterfeit

        • I remember using a special marker, while working at Walmart, that you would run over a bill to determine if was genuine or not

        • The mark would turn dark when the bill was genuine and be invisible if the bill was fake

        • Now they have special scanners (I don’t know how those work, but I recently had a Lowe’s cashier put the bill I gave her in the scanner, fortunately it came back as genuine, otherwise I would have had to talk with my bank)

 

  • WE

    • How many of us have been burned by buying something that was an imitation and not the original?

        • Why do we do that?

        • It’s to save money, right?

        • We want the benefit of the item, but we don’t want to pay the high price for the original item

    • Charging cables

        • There have been news articles about charging cables

        • One local television station did a report on cheap versus more expensive charging cables

        • They are not all created equal, although that’s what the manufacturers want us to believe

        • Sometimes it’s better to spend the extra money to get the original so we can protect our electronic devices

 

John sees a second beast coming out of the earth and he describes what it looks like and what its purpose is. ​​ It has come to point people to the Antichrist and it will use deception, fear, and economic pressure to accomplish that task. ​​ John wants us to understand that...

 

BIG IDEA – Knowing the original protects us from being deceived by the fake.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 13:11-18)

    • Beast Described (v. 11)

        • The second beast came up out of the earth

        • Looks can be deceiving

          • I always get a kick out of the images that are used on books or to advertise upcoming conferences or special appearances

            • They use an image from a long time ago

            • Then, when they come out on stage, you wonder if you’re at the wrong conference or event

            • Or perhaps you think you went into the wrong room for the break out session

            • I’m not sure why they use an older picture for a new book or for advertising for conferences or special appearances

            • I hope to grow old gracefully, but I haven’t written any books and no one is asking me to speak at any conferences, so I think I can accomplish this goal

          • Social media

            • Social media allows us to create the image we want people to see

            • We may not be trying to give a false idea of who we are

            • Most people give the impression that everything in their life is wonderful, fun, and great

            • There are those who use social media as a way to prey on the innocent, so they have definitely created a false idea of who they are, online

            • That’s what we see here with the description of the second beast

          • False prophet

            • Most scholars identify this second beast as the false prophet

            • This title for the second beast is not given in this series of verse, but he is identified this way in other parts of Revelation

            • Revelation 16:13, Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

            • Revelation 19:20a, But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.

            • Revelation 20:10, And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.

          • Two horns like a lamb

            • The appearance of the first beast (Antichrist) could be described as grotesque with seven heads and ten horns with one of the heads having a scar from a “fatal” wound

            • But here, the second beast is described as having two horns like a lamb

            • This is Satan’s attempt to imitate Christ as the Lamb of God

            • Satan is using deception and imitation here – he wants the inhabitants of the earth to see this second beast as someone who is gentle and harmless

            • “The image of the horns (Rev. 13:11) suggests that the false prophet has authority, but the absence of a crown indicates that his authority is not political.” ​​ [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament, Volume 2, 606]

            • Jesus warned us about this kind of deception

            • Matthew 7:15-16a, "Watch out for false prophets. ​​ They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ​​ By their fruit you will recognize them.”

            • While Jesus was speaking of other false prophets, His warning applies to this great deceiver, because while he may look like a lamb when he opens his mouth it is a different story

          • Spoke like a dragon

            • “This is not the roar of an intimidating dragon but the beguiling, deceitful, and deceptive speech of the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the garden (Mounce, Revelation, 256).” ​​ [Akin, 232]

            • 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come, until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ​​ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

            • The warning for us is clear – don’t be deceived by someone who appears to be gentle and harmless, yet speaks deceitfully and deceptively

          • Knowing the original protects us from being deceived by the fake.

        • We know what this beast looks like, but what is his work, what is his purpose in the end times?

    • Work of the Beast (v. 12)

        • We see that he exercised all of the authority of the first beast on his behalf

          • Basically, he has the same authority as the first beast

          • He also has the power, dominion, and great authority of the dragon – it has been passed down to him from the first beast

          • He is exercising (doing/using) this authority in the presence of the first beast – the first beast has commissioned him to act on his behalf

          • He is a witness for the first beast – singing his praises and pointing others to him

        • He made the inhabitants of the earth worship the first beast

          • The first beast is identified by the fatal wound that had been healed

          • The same Greek word is used here for “make” as was used for “exercised” (poieō)

          • It means “to make” or “to do”

          • Most Bible translations use the English word “makes” or “causes”

          • The NLT translates it as “requires”

          • The CSB translates it as “compels”

          • Those two translations bring more force to what the false prophet is doing in exercising his delegated authority

          • He is making (requiring) everyone to worship the beast

        • While there appears to be some coercion here, we also see that the false prophet uses great and miraculous signs to deceive the inhabitants of the earth

    • Deception of the Beast (vv. 13-15)

        • Performed great and miraculous signs

          • PRINCIPLE – Evil can use the appearance of miracles to deceive people.

          • “Not everything that appears to be a miracle is a miracle. ​​ And not everything that is a miracle is a miracle from God.” ​​ [Akin, 233]

            • When Moses was sent back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out, the magicians in Pharaoh’s court were able to duplicate the first three plagues by their magic arts

            • They were able to turn their staffs into snakes (Ex. 7:11-12); turn the water to blood (Ex. 7:22); and make frogs cover the land (Ex. 8:7)

            • Beginning with the plague of gnats, the magicians were no longer able to duplicate this through their magic arts

            • Exodus 8:18-19, But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. ​​ And the gnats were on men and animals. ​​ The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” ​​ But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

          • We don’t know all of the great and miraculous signs the false prophet will perform, but he obviously will do multiple ones, because the word “signs” is in the plural

          • We are given one example of what he did

            • He will cause fire to come down from heaven to earth

              • Most of the time in Scripture when fire came down from heaven or from the presence of the Lord it was an act of God’s judgment

              • Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24)

              • When Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fired before the Lord, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them (Lev. 10:1-2)

              • The Israelites were complaining about their hardships where the Lord could hear them, He sent from Himself and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp (Num. 11:1)

              • Perhaps the most well-known Biblical example of fired coming down from heaven is when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. ​​ They were unable to get Baal to consume their sacrifice, but God consumed all of Elijah’s sacrifice (1 Kings 18:38)

              • We’re not told if this fire from heaven consumed anything or anyone

            • He did this in full view of the people

              • The great and miraculous signs of a true prophet are always pointing to God or Jesus

              • False prophets will use their “power” to elevate themselves in the eyes of the people

              • The false prophet here is pointing people to the Antichrist, so he is performing his miraculous signs in full view of everyone

          • These great and miraculous signs were done for one reason, and one reason only, to deceive the inhabitants of the earth

            • We have to know the original, so we’re not deceived by the fake

            • How can we know the original?

            • God has provided his Holy Word for us to study and mine the nuggets of truth from

            • His Word is true and trustworthy

            • We have to take the time to study it, memorize it, and hide it in our hearts

            • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Commit to studying the original (God’s Word), so I can tell when something is fake.

              • There are multiple opportunities for you to study the original

              • We have Sunday school classes every Sunday morning at 9:00 am

              • There are multiple small groups that are meeting or will begin meeting soon

                • Dean and Nancy Tate’s home in Idaville begins this evening (Oct. 14)

                • Doris Hoffman’s home in York Springs continuing to meet this evening (Oct. 14)

                • Shape UP small group continuing to meet at the church (Oct. 24)

              • The Men’s Bible Study will be starting on Oct. 16

        • Deception through the signs

          • All of this is happening under the control of God

          • “God ‘gives’ the false prophet his power to ‘delude’ the nations with counterfeit miracles (13:14; 19:20). ​​ In Rom. 1:24, 26 we are told that due to their absolute depravity, ‘God gave [the Gentiles] over to their shameful lusts.’ ​​ This is the same principle . . . Since the earth-dwellers have rejected God’s offer of salvation and refused to repent (9:20-21), God is ‘giving them over’ to the very ‘deception’ they have already preferred.” ​​ [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 514]

          • This deception is pretty convincing, because the second beast is able to tell the people to set up an image of the first beast and they obey

          • “Blinded by unbelief and sin, the world will easily fall prey to the second Beast’s deceptive message and methods. ​​ Intellectually attracted to him, emotionally drawn by his appealing style and convinced by his amazing signs, they will voluntarily submit and obey [and worship]. ​​ (Insights, 184).” ​​ [Swindoll cited by Akin, 234]

        • Ordered the people to set up an image of the beast

          • The people will do just as he says, because they have been completed deceived

          • They believe that the Antichrist and the false prophet are genuine and real instead of counterfeit and fake

          • The image will be in honor of the first beast

            • The fatal wound is mentioned again

            • We see a little more detail about how the first beast sustained this wound

            • It came by the sword

            • This wound, and the healing of it, is particularly significant in the deception of the people of the earth, which is why it is mentioned as often as it is

          • The false prophet is then given power to give breath to the image so it could speak

            • We are not told exactly how this image would be animated and able to speak

            • In ancient times there were individuals who used pulleys and machines combined with ventriloquism to make it appear as those images could move and speak

            • There is also a spiritual realm, inhabited by demons (and angels), who perhaps possess the image and cause it to come to life

            • The purpose behind animating the image of the Antichrist is so it could speak and give directions concerning those who refused to worship it

          • PRINCIPLE – Evil will use the threat of death to force some people to reject God and worship the Antichrist.

            • The great division of the human race is in view here

            • People will not be able to straddle the fence at this point

            • They will either worship the Antichrist or be killed

              • “Half-hearted Christians do not surrender their lives for a cause in which they do not really believe.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 258-59]

              • Worshiping the fake Christ (Antichrist) will result in eternal separation from God

              • Knowing the original protects us from being deceived by the fake.

              • We will have to be willing to surrender our lives in order to faithfully follow Jesus Christ

            • In our current day and age

              • Most of us are not having our lives threatens because we are Christians

              • We don’t fear death, but we do fear other lesser threats

              • We don’t want to be alienated because of our faith

                • We don’t let our friends at school know we are a Christian, because we may be made fun of

                • We don’t let our family, neighbors, or coworkers know we are follower of Christ, because we might be ridiculed or persecuted

                • Kerry Livgren, former band member of Kansas, tells the story of his conversion, which was private. ​​ One of the other band members asked him what was different about him. ​​ He said that he never told the other band members that he had accepted Christ, but his speech and actions (or what he wasn’t saying and doing) spoke volumes. ​​ The band member that asked him what was different told him that he was a Christian too. ​​ Kerry’s response was, “I didn’t know.” ​​ That band member’s life did not show a transformed life, while Kerry’s did.

              • If we aren’t able to stand up for our faith when death isn’t a threat, then how will we be able to do it when death is a threat?

              • We have to determine now, whether we are all in, or simply just playing church or “trying out” Christianity

                • People should be able to tell from our speech and actions, whether or not we are a Christian

                • They should also hear it from our mouths – we should be sharing our testimony

                • Where are you at today? ​​ (Is your relationship with Christ nominal or on fire? ​​ Are you willing to sacrifice your job, friends, family, reputation, etc. in order to follow Jesus whole-heartedly? ​​ Are you all in or simply following half-heartedly?)

                • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Commit to follow Jesus with my whole heart, even if it costs me everything.

                  • Making that commitment today means that some things will have to change

                  • There will be things you will have to sacrifice in order to be all in

                  • It means spending time studying God’s Word, praying, serving, sacrificing, seeking, sharing your faith, and much more

                  • Your entire life will be directed by focusing on what God is calling you to do instead of what the world thinks you should do

                  • It may mean changing careers to serve in ministry

                  • God may call you to be a missionary overseas

                  • It’s no longer good enough for us to remain in the “holy huddle”

                  • We have to be crashing the gates of hell and spreading light into the darkness

            • While we don’t have the threat of death hovering over our heads right now, when the eschaton unfolds, the people of the earth will have a choice to make concerning worshiping the Antichrist

        • That will not be the only choice they will have to make, which we see in the final three verses of this section

    • Mark of the Beast (vv. 16-18)

        • The same Greek word is used once more (poieō) which can mean to make or do

          • Most translations have it as “caused”

          • The NIV uses “forced”

          • The NLT uses “required”

          • Again both of those are stronger that simply saying “to make”

        • It includes everyone

          • The three couplets (small and great; rich and poor; free and slave) are a literary way of saying everyone

          • No one is exempt from being told that they need to receive the mark of the beast

        • Location of the mark

          • They can get it on their right

          • They can also get it on their forehead

          • This is another imitation of what God and Christ have done

          • Revelation 22:4, They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

        • What is the mark?

          • We don’t know what the mark will be

          • There has been speculation that it could a tattoo that is visible

          • Others believe it will be a chip embedded under the skin perhaps (we see that technology happening right now)

          • What we do know is that the mark is the number of the name of the beast

            • It takes wisdom to understand the number of the name of the beast

            • John tells us that it is man’s number

            • He also tells us that the number is 666

            • Is there a way to take the number 666 and put a name to it?

              • There is an ancient practice called gematria that takes letters of the alphabet and assigns numbers to them

              • The first nine letters were the numbers one to nine

              • The next nine signified the tens to the nineties, and so on

              • Scholars have tried for centuries to make sense of the number 666

              • They have done all kinds of calisthenics with letters and numbers to try to figure it out

              • Nothing definitive has ever been agreed upon

              • I’m sure this is by God’s design

              • My favorite speculative interpretation is that 666 represented Ronald Wilson Reagan, because there are six letters in his first, middle, and last name

              • Others believe it is more symbolic than representing something less than perfection

                • God’s number of perfection is 7

                • The 666 represents the continual failure of Satan to defeat God’s people [Mounce, 262]

              • “The solution most commonly accepted today is that 666 is the numerical equivalent of Nero Caesar.” ​​ [Mounce, 262]

            • I believe that John’s associates would understand and be able to wisely determine who he was talking about

            • I also believe that when the time comes for us to understand the name that is associated with man’s number, that God will give us wisdom to discern it

            • Until that time, it is beyond our understanding

          • We also know for sure that the mark will be a sign of ownership by Satan and loyalty to him

            • God sealed the 144,000 as we saw in Rev. 7:2-4

            • We also see in history that the Jews would put the shema in little boxes that they tied around their left arm and across their forehead

            • These phylacteries had Deuteronomy 6:4-8 written on them

            • Read Deuteronomy 6:4-8

            • What we see here is another attempt by Satan to imitate what God has already done

        • Purpose of the mark

          • We have already seen that the mark shows ownership and loyalty to Satan

          • It will also be used to put economic pressure on people to conform to the “one-world” religion

          • PRINCIPLE – Evil will use economic pressure to force people to choose a side.

            • This gentle and harmless false prophet will not seem so gentle and harmless once he is given the power and authority to institute this one-world religion

            • There will not be any tolerance for those who don’t conform with the worship, ownership, and loyalty to the Antichrist

            • As mentioned earlier, every person on earth will have to choose a side

            • There will no longer be any neutral ground to stand on

            • Some people will think it’s harmless to worship the image of the beast, and they may do it without really being devoted to the beast

            • But, when the rubber meets the road it will be all or nothing

              • The economic pressures will be too much

              • Imagine having to watch your children go hungry

              • Think what it would it will be like to not be able to get medical attention

              • Without the mark you won’t be able to get electricity or fuel oil

              • The necessities of life will not be available to you without the mark

        • All of this will require that we know the original so we can protect ourselves from the fake.

 

  • YOU

    • How can we avoid deceit?

    • Patterson gives us six essentials ​​ [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 283]

        • Focus on Christ and his incarnation, atonement, and teaching

        • Always determine the doctrinal positions of “miracle workers.” ​​ If they are in violation of Scripture at any point, reject them

        • Be especially alert to “signs and wonders” that hinge on or involve the exchange of money or goods (2 Kgs 5:1-27; Acts 3:6)

        • Remember that regeneration, conversion to Christ, or the new birth is always the greatest miracle and the sure manifestation of the power of God

        • When uncertain, always seek discernment from the biblical text and from the guidance of the Holy Spirit

        • Remember that the Scriptures teach that deceit and false miracles will increase as the world moves toward the eschaton

 

  • WE

    • As the local body of Christ in the greater Idaville area, we have to make sure that we are following God’s Word

    • Then we have to share with and teach others His Word

CONCLUSION

Kerry Livgren, former band member of Kansas, wrote the song Mask Of The Great Deceiver after becoming a Christian. ​​ Here are the lyrics to that song:

 

Well he’s the prince of the world his work is never complete

And though he promises all you’ll lie a slave at his feet

Don’t you know the world is his dominion?

Can’t you see that you’re bound in his chains?

The time is short so take your strength in what remains

 

He will fill up your ears and he’ll dazzle your eyes

But don’t believe what he’s saying ‘cause he’s the father of lies

In your heart don’t you know that he’ll betray you?

In the end he will drag you away

Till all the world is crying for the judgement day

 

And he’s fallen how he’s fallen

From the height of the morning star

Though his light’s still shining brightly

It’s the mask of the great deceiver

The great deceiver

Though the truth has walked among us

And the words that he spoke will remain

There’s a heartbreaking blindness upon us

All our efforts to be free are in vain

Without the gift of love

We’re lost without the love

 

Well he never will rest until his evil is done

And he don’t want you to know your freedom’s already won

Don’t you know the world is his dominion?

Can’t you see he keeps it in chains?

Time is short so take your strength in what remains

 

He’s fallen oh he’s fallen

From the height of the morning star

Though his light’s still shining brightly

It’s the mask of the great deceiver

The mask of the great deceiver

He’s going to make you a believer

He’ll tell you lies

He’ll betray your eyes

The great deceiver

15

 

/by

The Great Imitator

, , ,

Jesus Unveiled

The Great Imitator

(Revelation 13:1-10)

 

INTRODUCTION

Most of us are familiar with the saying, “Imitation is the highest/best form of flattery,” but that is only part of the quote from Oscar Wilde. ​​ Here is the full quote:

 

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” ​​ [Oscar Wilde].

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Baseball

        • I played baseball growing up

        • I started in the outfield and made my way to third base and shortstop before settling in at first base

        • I loved playing first base, because I was involved in almost every play

        • My favorite Major League Baseball, first baseman was Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles

          • I wanted to be like him and play like him

          • He was nicknamed “Steady Eddie”

          • I was a pretty consistent player and good hitter

          • I was right handed like him

          • I tried to switch hit like him, but was a much better right handed hitter

        • I wanted to imitate him and Cal Ripken Jr.

    • Sermon development

        • I have always looked up to my Father, both as a Father and as a Pastor

        • Part of my preaching style definitely comes from him

        • The preparation of a sermon is a combination (hybrid) of at least four influences in my life

          • Preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible came through reading multiple books by Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel movement

          • The basic outline of ME, WE, GOD, YOU, WE came from reading Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley

          • The big idea came as a result of taking a preaching class in seminary and reading Haddon W. Robinson’s book Biblical Preaching, The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

          • Finally, the identification of principles found in each passage was a result of the teachings of Dr. David A. Dorsey, deceased OT Professor at Evangelical Seminary

        • I am imitating what each of those individuals has taught me about preparing and delivering God’s Word

 

  • WE

    • Who do you look up to?

        • Is it a teacher, parent, mentor, celebrity, athlete, etc.?

        • Do you imitate what they say and do? ​​ Why or why not?

    • Who have you or are you imitating right now?

        • Perhaps it is or was a teacher in high school or a professor in college

        • Maybe it’s a professional athlete

        • It could be a parent, grandparent, or mentor

        • Depending on what field you’re working in, it could be someone that is recognized as a leader or innovator in that field

We’ll see today that Satan and his beast (Antichrist) will imitate God and Jesus in an effort to draw people away from God. ​​ They will say and do some of the same things that God and Jesus did. ​​ This is all a part of Satan making war against the offspring of the woman. ​​ What should our response be as followers of Jesus Christ? ​​ John wants us to understand that...

 

BIG IDEA – When Satan attacks, we are called to faithfully endure.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 13:1-10)

    • Making war against the offspring of the woman

        • Last week we saw that the dragon was unsuccessful at overtaking the woman (Israel), so he turned his attention to her offspring (believers both Jews and Gentiles)

        • He is making war against them

        • What we’ll see today and next week, is specifically how he is making war against the woman’s offspring

          • The water beast (Antichrist) – political evil

          • The earth beast (False Prophet) – religious evil

        • The dragon is making war through the two main structures within the culture

        • Let’s look, then, to how he makes war through the political structure

    • Beast Revealed (vv. 1-4)

        • Anticipation of the dragon (v. 1a)

          • The dragon is standing on the edge of the sea

            • While it is not stated here, the dragon is probably standing there with anticipation

            • As we noted last week, this dragon (Satan) is persistent

            • He is not discouraged or dissuaded by continual defeat by God

            • The failures he has experienced have only made him more and more angry and more and more determined to make war against God’s people

          • John sees the beast coming up out of the sea

            • There was great fear concerning the sea

            • Throughout the ancient world the sea was associated with evil

            • The imagery here only lends credibility to those fears and beliefs

          • John describes for us, then, what he sees as this beast rises from the sea

        • Appearance of the beast (vv. 1b-2a)

          • The beast described by John reminds us of the four beasts that Daniel saw in his vision

            • These four beasts came up out of the sea

            • Read Daniel 7:3-8

            • “In Daniel’s vision, he watched the emergence from the sea of a lion-like beast (Babylonia), a bear (Medo-Persia), and a leopard (Graeco-Macedonian); and this is followed by a fourth beast altogether different from those that went before.” ​​ [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 274]

            • These were the political powers of the ancient world with one political empire yet to be revealed in the future

            • We see a lot of similarities between the four beasts described by Daniel and the one beast described by John

            • In Revelation 17 we will see a fuller explanation of what each part of the this beast represents, so we’ll save address the beast’s appearance in more detail when we get there

          • Ten horns

            • Horns always represent power and strength in Scripture

            • So this beast will obviously have some kind of political power during the second half of the tribulation

          • Seven heads

            • As with the enormous red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 12:3)

            • The multiple heads represented wisdom for the dragon, so they also represent wisdom here for the beast

            • “In addition to his ten horns, the beast is described by John as having seven heads. ​​ As will be seen in Revelation 17 . . . , those seven heads represent seven successive world empires: ​​ Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Antichrist’s final world kingdom.” ​​ [MacArthur cited by Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 222]

          • Ten crowns

            • These crowns are the diadema, or royal crowns

            • This speaks of kingdoms, authority, and political influence

          • Blasphemous name on head

            • Each of the seven heads had a blasphemous name written on it

            • John’s readers would have connected the blasphemous names with “the titles of divinity attributed to the Roman emperor (‘lord,’ ‘savior,’ ‘son of god,’ ‘our lord and god’).” ​​ [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 491]

            • In the Roman world, the giving of titles of divinity was reserved for the emperors after their death (except for Domitian who demanded it, while he was still alive)

            • The Greeks didn’t wait for their rulers to die before they gave them titles of divinity

            • “During his lifetime Augustus had allowed his eastern subjects to pay him divine honors, and at his death the Romans proclaimed him divus (one like the gods). ​​ On his coins Nero was referred to as Savior of the World. ​​ The Roman senate regularly declared its deceased emperors divine. ​​ Domitian was addressed as Dominus et Deus noster; Our Lord and God.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 245-46]

            • The beast (Antichrist) is attempting to usurp Jesus’ power, authority, and divinity

              • He is imitating the original in an effort to receive the worship, only due to Jesus

              • Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, not this beast from the sea

            • John finally describes what the body of this beast looks like with descriptive words that his readers would have understood

          • Body of the beast

            • Resembled a leopard – “represented the Greek empire under Alexander the Great. ​​ It speaks of the swiftness of its destructive power.” ​​ [Akin, 222]

            • Feet like a bear – “represented Medo-Persia and symbolized its great strength and devouring power.” ​​ [Akin, 222]

            • Mouth like a lion – represented Babylon, “with its majesty, power, and fierceness.” ​​ [Akin, 222]

          • We see this beast from the sea that represents incredible political power and influence, but where did he get this power and authority from?

        • Power and authority of the beast (v. 2b)

          • His power, influence, and authority was given to him by the dragon (Satan)

          • These are the three most important attributes that the dragon can give to the beast

          • The power would be important in accomplishing what seems like miracles as we’ll see in v. 3 and in performing mighty deeds that would influence the inhabitants of the earth

          • The idea of the throne is that beast will rule over the earth

            • He will be the sovereign over the earth just as the dragon had been

            • 2 Corinthians 4:4, The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

          • Finally, the dragon gives the beast great authority so he will be able to rule over all the inhabitants of the earth

        • Worship of the dragon and beast (vv. 3-4)

          • One of the heads of the beast looked like it had sustained a wound that it should not have recovered from, but it had been healed

            • This is part of the deception of the dragon and the beast

            • It appeared as though they had the power to miraculously heal a fatal wound

            • The wording is significant here, because it never says that the wound “was” fatal

              • NIV – seemed to have a fatal wound

              • NLT – seemed wounded beyond recovery

              • NASB – as if it had been slain

            • Revelation 13:14 helps to clarify that the wound was not actually fatal

            • Revelation 13:14, Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. ​​ He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

            • The dragon and the beast use the deception of a “fatal wound” and the “miraculous” healing, to draw people into following and worshiping them

          • Their deception worked

            • The whole world marveled at the miracle they had seen and gave their allegiance to the beast

            • The “sacrificial” giving of authority to the beast simply drew the inhabitants of the earth into a deeper devotion to the dragon (Satan)

            • Their worship of the beast included two questions

              • Who is like the beast?

              • Who can make war against him?

        • Imitating the original

          • PRINCIPLE – Satan will imitate God in order to draw people to himself.

          • The beast imitating Christ

            • The horns of the beast are a parody of the “seven horns” of the Lamb

              • While the dragon is the king of the evil empire, he has given the beast his power

              • Revelation 5:6, Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. ​​ He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

              • Jesus is the One who has ultimate power through God the Father

            • The beast has ten crowns on the ten horns

              • Jesus is identified as the rider of the white horse in Revelation 19

              • Revelation 19:12a, His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.

              • Jesus is the true ruler of the universe, including the earth – He is divine royalty

            • There is a blasphemous name on each of the seven heads of the beast

              • Again, in describing Jesus in Revelation 19, we see that there is a name written on Jesus

              • It is not a blasphemous name that tries to imitate or mimic God, because Jesus is God

              • Revelation 19:12b, 16, He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself . . . On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: ​​ KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. ​​ 

            • The beast had what appeared to be a fatal wound that had healed

              • This is Satan trying to imitate Jesus’ death and God’s miraculous resurrection of Him

              • This so called miracle got the attention of the inhabitants of the earth

              • It’s interesting that the genuine miracle of Christ’s resurrection was scorned by so many, but the fake healing of the Antichrist is embrace by the whole world

              • The deception of Satan is complete and thorough

          • The dragon imitating God

            • The dragon gives his power, throne, and authority to the beast

              • God did this with Jesus

              • Philippians 2:9-11, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

              • Matthew 28:18, Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

            • Worship of the beast

              • The inhabitants of the earth worship the beast (Antichrist) like they should have worshiped God

              • They ask two questions in their worship

                • Who is like the beast?

                • Who can make war against him?

              • Genuine worship should be directed to God – there is no one like our God

                • Exodus 15:11, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? ​​ Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

                • Psalm 89:6-8, For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? ​​ Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? ​​ In the counsel of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. ​​ O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? ​​ You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

              • We already know the answer to the second question

                • God can and will wage war against the beast and will be victorious

                • We saw that in Revelation 12:7-8, the dragon and his angels fought against Michael and his angels

                • They lost and were hurled down out of heaven

                • We also see in Revelation 18:1 that an angel from heaven was given great authority and announced that Babylon the Great had fallen

          • We need to make sure that we are imitating the original

            • Paul challenged the Corinthian believers to imitate Christ

            • 1 Corinthians 11:1, And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ (NLT)

            • 1 Peter 2:21, To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (NIV)

            • Read Philippians 2:3-8

            • John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. ​​ As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

            • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Imitate Jesus Christ in my speech, actions, and attitudes.

        • While the beast seems to have great power and authority, it is limited and controlled by God

    • Beast Controlled (vv. 5-8)

        • PRINCIPLE – God has ultimate authority and allows certain things to happen according to His plan and purpose.

        • We see in these four verses the divine passive once again

          • The Greek word is translated as “was given”

          • Every time it is used in Revelation is it representing the fact that divine control in involved over all things

          • Here divine control is over the beast and what he is allowed to do

        • God allows the beast to do three things

          • Blaspheme and slander (v. 5-6)

            • Blaspheme means to revile or defame someone in speech, to harm their reputation

              • This seems counter intuitive for God to give the Antichrist permission to harm his reputation

              • This reminds me of what our modern culture calls a “roasting”

                • It normally happens when someone is being honored, but instead the other guests say things about them to defame them and make them look bad

                • I’m not certain how this is supposed to honor an individual, but it is something that is commonplace in our culture today

              • The Antichrist is given permission by God to “roast” God

            • The Antichrist is given permission to do two things with his words

              • Defame God

                • Paul wrote about this to the Thessalonian believers

                • 2 Thessalonians 2:4, He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming to be God.

                • Daniel 7:8, “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. ​​ This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.”

                • Daniel 7:25, He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. ​​ The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

                • Daniel 11:36, The king will do as he pleases. ​​ He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. ​​ He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.

              • Slander God’s name, His dwelling place, and those who live in heaven

                • The Antichrist will make false statements about God’s name

                • He will do the same concerning God’s dwelling place

                • Finally, he will also make false statements about the saints living in heaven

            • All of this is only for short period of time – 42 months (3.5 years)

            • The second thing he is given permission to do is to make war against the saints and conquer them

          • Conquer the saints (v. 7a)

            • We see here that Satan will use the Antichrist to accomplish what he is going to do with the offspring of the woman (Rev. 12:17)

            • This is all under God’s sovereign control

            • We’ll see in v. 10 that the conquering of the saints will include imprisonment and death

            • Osborne explains a significant paradox in Revelation, “as the dragon and the beast conquer the saints, they are conquered by the saints.” ​​ [Osborne, 501]

            • This is not the end for the saints, in fact, it is just the beginning of eternal life for them

            • When Satan attacks, we are called to faithfully endure.

            • The third and final thing that God allows the beast to do is have authority over the inhabitants of the earth

          • Authority over the earth dwellers (vv. 7b-8)

            • The use of the phrase “every tribe, people, language and nation,” simply means everyone on earth

              • There is one important distinction about who the beast has authority over

              • He has authority over all the people on the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb – all unbelievers

              • Jesus predicted that this would happen when He was teaching on the Mount of Olives

              • Matthew 24:24, For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.

            • The result of the beast having authority over all the unbelievers on earth is that they will worship him

              • This isn’t hard to believe, because they will be astonished by the “miracle” of the supposed fatal wound inflicted on the beast that is “healed”

              • They are also impressed by the generosity of the dragon in giving the beast his power, throne, and authority

            • PRINCIPLE – God had His redemptive plan set down from the beginning of time.

              • From the creation of the world has been hotly debated in this verse

              • Does that phrase modify the writing of names in the book of life or the slaying of the Lamb?

              • The word order, in Greek, favors the modification of the slaying of the Lamb

                • So Jesus’ death on the cross was planned from the very beginning

                • 1 Peter 1:18-21, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ​​ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ​​ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

                • We can be thankful to God for fulfilling His plan of redemption that was planned out from the beginning

              • The idea of believers being predestined before the beginning of time is not without Biblical backing

                • That seems to be the clear understanding of Revelation 17:8

                • Paul also taught this in Ephesians 1:4-5

        • So the beast has arrived on the scene and is given power and authority from Satan and is allowed to do several things under God’s control

        • As this section of Revelation comes to a close we see a familiar phrase that was used in the letters to the seven churches

          • He who has an ear, let him hear

          • Now the remainder of the phrase is omitted here, what the Spirit says to the churches

          • This is not addressing the churches at this point, but rather the saints/believers

    • Saints Endure (vv. 9-10)

        • The fate of followers of Jesus (vv. 9-10a)

          • Some believers will be imprisoned during the second half of the tribulation

          • Other believers will be killed with sword (martyred)

          • We see this same exhortation in Jeremiah 15:2, And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: ​​ “‘Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’

          • Jesus also taught his disciples what they would have to go through to be His follower, which applies all the way through the end of time

          • Matthew 24:9, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.”

          • We know persecution, imprisonment, and death are guaranteed for followers of Jesus Christ, so what are we called to do when it comes?

        • What believers are called to (v. 10b)

          • When Satan attacks, we are called to faithfully endure.

          • We must patiently endure and be faithful while we’re imprisoned

          • We must patiently endure and remain faithful even to the point of death

          • For us today, we may not experience imprisonment or death, but we may experience persecution and ridicule by those who don’t believe in God

            • Some people have been hardened towards God, because of life circumstances

            • Perhaps God didn’t answer their prayer the way they wanted Him to, so they have turned their back on God

            • Others simply don’t want to submit to the Lordship of Christ in their life – they want to be their own boss

            • Some individuals make the statement that they have “tried” Christianity and it didn’t work for them

            • Tragically, some have been physically and emotionally abused by those claiming to be Christians

          • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Endure patiently and remain faithful when my family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers ridicule and persecute me.

  • YOU

    •  

 

  • WE

    •  

 

CONCLUSION

“It is, and it will be, costly to follow Christ in this world, but don’t compromise! ​​ Even it if means you’re being slain, hold fast to your faith. ​​ Even if it means you lose your job and all your money, hold fast to your faith. ​​ Even if it means ridicule and oppression and isolation or imprisonment or death, follow the Lamb! ​​ And one day you will stand with him, you will sing with him, and you will be satisfied completely in him (“Fighting,” 2012) ​​ [David Platt cited by Akin, 226].

13

 

/by

The Persistent Dragon

,

Jesus Unveiled

The Persistent Dragon

(Revelation 12:13-17)

 

INTRODUCTION

“The story has a semi-biblical tone: A man and woman together in a garden come across a serpent. The serpent awakens them to their own mortality and their lives are changed forever. ​​ But that's where the similarities end, because in this story, the man grabbed a shovel to decapitate the snake—a 4-foot-long Western diamondback rattlesnake—after it spooked his wife. And when he went to pick up the severed head, it sank its fangs into his flesh and released a near deadly dose of venom.

 

About two miles into the drive to the hospital her husband began having seizures, lost his vision and, unknown to them, began bleeding internally. So she met up with an ambulance and then a helicopter, which flew the 40-year-old to the hospital as his organs were already shutting down.

 

“A severed viper head certainly can deliver a dangerous bite, as can the unsecured head of a recently ‘killed’ snake,” Harry Greene, a biology professor at Cornell University, told NPR. ​​ Greene suspects he was injected with a powerful dose of venom. Living snakes typically strike quickly and rear back from whatever threat they perceive, but because the one in this instance was dead, it most likely latched on until someone forcibly removed it.”

 

Vanessa Romo, "Man Kills Snake; Snake Tries To Kill Him Back," NPR (6-7-18); submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky.

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2018/august/man-kills-snake-snake-tries-to-kill-him-back.html]

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Asking Judy out on a date for the first time

        • Some of you know how Judy and I met, but for those of you who don’t here is how it happened

        • I saw Judy sitting across the room in our History of Civilization class

        • She was sitting by a another girl I knew from Bible Quiz Team in PA

        • I asked this girl if she knew whether Judy was dating anyone (she found out that Judy was not seeing anyone)

        • One day after class I caught up with Judy, introduced myself and then asked her if she was interested in going to the movie that was being shown at the Student Union Building that evening

        • Her response was that she needed to study (her focus was in the right place, only 3 weeks in to our Freshman year)

        • I was persistent, because Judy has these incredible freckles, a beautiful smile, and a quiet personality – I found out later that she was also fully committed to the Lord

        • Since she had to study that evening, I asked her if she would like to go to the movie that was playing at the local cinema in downtown Huntington, IN

        • It was then that she realized that I was asking her out on a date

        • She agreed to go to the movie with me and the rest is history – 27 years of marriage, nearly 30 years of knowing each other, and three sons later

    • Our children are persistent

        • I know this doesn’t happen with anyone else’s children, but our children have pestered us in the past when they really wanted something

        • They can be very persistent in presenting their case for “needing” something

        • Again, I know this hasn’t happened to anyone else, but I’ve had to tell them not to bring it up again, because they’ve mentioned multiple times in a day for several days

 

  • WE

    • Being persistent

        • I want everyone to take a moment to think about a time when you’ve been persistent

        • How did it turn out? ​​ (positive or negative?)

    • Areas where we can be persistent

        • How many of you have experienced the persistence of a telemarketer? ​​ [share the story of the recent telemarketer]

        • It’s well known today that within the medical community, we have to be our own advocate, especially when something is wrong and the doctors don’t know what’s happening

        • Relationships

        • Finding a job

        • School (college may be more challenging than high school)

        • Saving for the future

 

We’ll see in these five verses today that Satan never gives up. ​​ He has lost the war, but continues to battle. ​​ He has lost his head, but is still harmful. ​​ He may be defeated in one area, but that doesn’t stop him. ​​ Instead he comes at God’s people from a different angel or attacks a different group. ​​ Throughout his persistent attacks, God protects His people. ​​ That’s what John wants us to understand today, that...

 

BIG IDEA – Evil is persistent, but God protects His people.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 12:13-17)

    • Failures of the Dragon

        • The enormous red dragon fails to devour the male child (Jesus) born by the woman (Rev. 12:4-6)

        • The dragon in defeated in a heavenly battle against Michael and his angels (Rev. 12:7-8)

        • These failures don’t stop the dragon from continuing to pursue God’s people

        • What we see in Rev. 12:13-17 is an expansion of Rev. 12:6, The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

    • Pursuing the Woman (v. 13)

        • As we saw last week, Satan is a loser

          • He and his angels fought against Michael and his angels

          • He lost and was hurled down to earth

          • Satan recognizes that he has lost and is now on earth

          • He lost the war in heaven, so now he is waging war on earth

          • He begins the war on earth by pursuing the woman, which is representative of Israel and the church

          • Akin cites Mounce concerning who the woman represents, “It is out of faithful Israel that the Messiah will come [ultimately embodied in a particular woman named Mary]. ​​ It should cause no trouble that within the same chapter the woman comes to signify the church (v. 17). ​​ The people of God are one throughout redemptive history. ​​ The early church did not view itself as discontinuous with faithful Israel. ​​ (Revelation, 232) ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 216]

        • He pursued the woman

          • Osborne cites Swete about the meaning of the Greek word for “pursued.”

          • “There is a double meaning in this verb, as the dragon both ‘pursued’ and ‘persecuted’ her (so Swete 1911: ​​ 157.” ​​ [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 482]

            • We will see this played out in verse 15

            • There we see the persecution described as water coming from the serpents mouth

          • We will see an exodus motif throughout these five verses, which will remind us of the Israelites and all they went through as they fled Egypt

            • Here we see the dragon pursuing the woman, which reminds us of Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites

            • She is fleeing into the desert, just as the Israelites had done

            • Exodus 14:8, The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

          • The people of God, who are still on earth during this period of the tribulation, will be pursued and persecuted by Satan

        • Although they will be pursued and persecuted by Satan, they will be protected by God

    • Protecting the Woman (vv. 14-16)

        • PRINCIPLE – God provides protection for His people.

          • We’ll see this principle played out in vv. 14 and 16

          • God will not allow Satan to overtake His people

        • God provides the woman with two wings of a great eagle

          • Exodus typology seen again

            • The people of God are not given two literal wings of an eagle to fly away to the desert

            • It is a picture of God’s providential protection and care of His people [Akin, 216]

            • The imagery of wings in Scripture points to God’s protective care

              • This was true when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt

              • Exodus 19:4, ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.’

              • God protected the Israelites as they fled Egypt and brought them to Mt. Sinai where He met with them

              • Deuteronomy 32:10-12, In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. ​​ He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up hits nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. ​​ The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.

              • This promise of protection and care isn’t just for the Israelites, but it’s for everyone who puts their hope in Jesus Christ

              • Isaiah 40:29-31, He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ​​ Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. ​​ They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

            • God promises to protect and care for us as we experience the persistence of evil in our lives.

          • Purpose of the two wings

            • It is to protect the people of God until they reach the place He has prepared for them in the desert

            • The desert is a place of spiritual protection [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 241]

            • We see throughout the Old Testament that individuals fled into the desert where God protected and provided for them [Osborne, 464]

              • David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. ​​ When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. ​​ All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. ​​ About four hundred men were with him. ​​ (1 Samuel 22:1-2)

              • Read 1 Kings 19:3-9 (Elijah)

              • Hosea 2:14, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. (This speaks of God restoring Israel and He does it in the desert)

            • Jesus spent time in the wilderness alone, so He could communicate with God (Mark 1:35; Matt. 14:13; Luke 4:42; 5:16)

          • While in the desert, God also provides for their needs

            • God will provide nourishment for His people

              • If we continue with the comparisons to the Exodus in the Old Testament, we know that God provided nourishment, supernaturally, for the Israelites in the form of manna

              • While it’s not stated here, how God will provide nourishment for His people, we know that He has the power to do it supernaturally

              • PRINCIPLE – God sustains His people through difficult times.

                • Perhaps you’ve experience this in your own life

                • When you’ve experienced emotional or mental difficulties, God sustained you through His Word or another person that He sent your way

                • Maybe you were going through a difficult financial time and God provided in a supernatural way at just the right time

                • Those of us who have gone through spiritual battles and have come out the other side, know what it’s like to be sustained by God through the battle

              • In this end times scenario we see that God’s protection will be complete, but limited

            • God’s protection will be complete for a limited time

              • The serpent will not be able to reach this remnant

              • They will be protected and nourished for three and a half years (a specific period of time, if not a literal 3.5 years)

                • Here the three and a half years is identified as time, times and half a time

                • In verse 6 it was explained in days – 1,260 days

                • Osborne sees this as “a direct allusion to Dan. 7:25 and 12:7 . . . when the saints will be ‘handed over’ to the little horn, who will ‘oppress’ them (7:25). ​​ This is the flip side of that emphasis: ​​ they will be oppressed through physical persecution but will be nourished spiritually by God.” ​​ [Osborne, 482-83]

                • They will be protected from the serpent’s deceptions and lies for a period of time

          • Satan is persistent in his pursuit of God’s people – he isn’t giving in – he’s trying to turn the world against this Jewish remnant

        • The serpent’s persecution

          • We see that the serpent’s persecution is compared to water that is spewed from his mouth like a river

          • Verbal instead of physical

            • Some believe the reference to water or a flood represents an army that will try to overtake God’s people (this certainly could be the case and there are Biblical references to the earth swallowing people)

            • Others believe it represents words, especially since it is coming from the mouth of the serpent

              • “Satan, who can no longer accuse the saints to God, accuses them to the world instead.” ​​ [Keener, The NIV Application Commentary, Revelation, 323]

              • Satan is trying to drown God’s people with lies and deceit

              • There is a good possibility that what we are seeing here is another round of anti-Semitism

              • Jews have, long been persecuted and spoken of poorly, especially in the Middle East

              • Those who partner with her are also ridiculed and persecuted

            • It definitely represents some kind of evil or tribulation that God’s people will be confronted with

              • Psalm 18:4, The cords of death entangled me; the torrents (floods) of destruction overwhelmed me.

              • The Psalmist also uses the idea of water and floods to depict evil or tribulation in Psalm 32:6 and 69:2

              • Isaiah 43:2, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

            • The reference to the water coming from the mouth of the serpent, strengthens the idea that what is being spoken of here relates to words and speech

            • PRINCIPLE – Satan will use lies and deceit to try to overtake God’s people.

              • We see this in our culture all the time

                • It’s the old adage, “He said, she said.”

                • I’m convinced that in certain situations and scenarios, we will never know the truth

                • That’s heart breaking

                • We stretch the truth for our own purposes, to accomplish what we believe is right

              • Maybe we have experienced this in our own lives?

              • Anytime something false is said about us to multiple people, it is nearly impossible to correct it because no one really knows how far the lie has gone

              • In our humanness, we are reluctant to go back to those we told the false information to and make it right

              • But, that’s what we should do

              • We should make every effort to return to each person that we spoke to and correct the false information we spread

              • The next step is to encourage them to do the same thing

              • While it will probably never reach every person who heard, at least an effort was made to make it right

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Make right, with as many people as possible, something that I falsely communicated about someone or something.

          • Whether it’s words (lies and deceit) or people physically assaulting God’s people, we know that God will protect them

        • God’s protection

          • We see that something miraculous takes place to protect God’s people

          • The earth opens its mouth and swallows the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth

            • Most scholars agree that this is a particularly difficult concept to interpret

            • If the water that the serpent spews from his mouth is referring to an army or people, then certainly there are Biblical references of the earth opening up and swallowing those who were being deceitful or propagating evil against God’s people

              • Osborne cites Dochhorn who believes that what we see here is another reference to the Exodus ​​ [Osborne, 484]

              • While the Israelites were wandering in the desert, there was a group that began to rebel against Moses (Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On along with 250 Israelite men)

              • Numbers 16:30-32, “But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens it mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.” ​​ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

              • We see this same episode recounted in Deut. 11:6

              • In the Song of Moses, found in Exodus 15 we see him describing the defeat of the Egyptians with similar word pictures

              • Exodus 15:12, You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them.

              • “Throughout the OT, this image speaks both of divine judgment and God protecting his people from those who would lead them astray (the sons of Korah) or destroy them (the Egyptians).” ​​ [Osborne, 484]

            • If the water from the serpent’s mouth represents lies, slander, and deceit, then God in His sovereign power protects His people from these lies and slander

              • Perhaps He’ll cause the lies and slander to fall on deaf ears or for the lies and slander to be so outrageous that no one will believe them

              • However He chooses to do it, is up to Him

              • The overarching theme is God’s protection of His people

          • Evil is persistent, but God protects His people.

            • We can have confidence, when we experience the persistence of evil in our own lives, that God will protect us

            • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Claim God’s promise to protect me, as His child, when evil persistently pursues me.

        • Satan realizes that he is defeated once again – he is unable to overpower and drown God’s people with lies and deceit, so he turns his attention to the woman’s offspring

    • Pursuing the Offspring (v. 17)

        • We see that the dragon (Satan) is enraged at the woman

          • What we see here is an intense, passionate anger

          • Just imagine if we were trying to stop something from moving forward, because we hate the person who started it

          • But ever angel and approach we use, to try to stop the movement, ends in failure

          • We would have an intense, passionate anger at the person or group that continues to move forward successfully

          • I’m reminded of the Apostles persecution by the Pharisees and religious leaders

          • They were doing God’s will and following His direction in sharing the Gospel in Jerusalem, but the Pharisees and religious leaders didn’t see it that way (they thought they were right)

          • Read Acts 5:29-39

            • We can try to fight against God, but we will lose, every time

            • Instead, we could join God in what He is doing and experience His blessing

          • Satan didn’t let go of his anger, but rather used it to make war against the woman’s offspring

        • He goes to make war against her offspring

          • Satan is persistent, he isn’t giving up

          • Offspring

            • There are two primary views about who is represented by the offspring

            • Those who hold to the belief that the woman represents Israel, say that her offspring are all other followers of Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile

            • Others believe that the woman represents the church universal, both Jews and Gentiles collectively, as a whole, so her offspring represent individuals within that group

            • While the identification of the woman’s offspring is not spelled out directly in this passage, there is one thing we know for sure – they are followers of Jesus Christ, Christians!

          • The second half of verse 17 makes this clear

            • They obey God’s commandments

              • We demonstrate to the world that we are true followers of Jesus Christ by what we do [Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 215]

              • 1 John 5:3-4, This is love for God: ​​ to obey his commands. ​​ And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. ​​ This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

              • 1 Corinthians 7:19, Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. ​​ Keeping God’s commands is what counts.

              • So, we have to ask ourselves, “Are we obeying God’s commandments?”

              • The woman’s offspring weren’t only obeying God’s commandments, but they were also holding to the testimony of Jesus

            • They hold to the testimony of Jesus

              • We also demonstrate a true commitment to Jesus Christ by what we have [Easley, 215]

              • We believe and share the same testimony as Jesus Christ did

              • 1 John 5:10-12, Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. ​​ Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ​​ And this is the testimony: ​​ God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ​​ He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

              • How do we have the Son, so we can have life?

                • Recognize our sin

                  • Romans 3:10-12, As it is written: ​​ “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. ​​ All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

                  • Romans 3:23 and 6:23

                • Repent of our sin (It is more than just being sorry about our sin, but actively turning away from it, determining in our hearts and minds not to return to it)

                • Accept God’s plan to deal with our sin

                  • 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

                  • Jesus took our punishment for sin when He died on the cross

                  • God accepted Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, on the cross, by allowing Him to come alive again in three days

                  • God’s plan of salvation comes only through Jesus Christ – He is the way, the truth, and the life

                  • No one comes to the Father except through Jesus

                  • 1 John 5:13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

                  • Eternal life is the kind of life we need here on earth to obey God and it is the kind of life we need to spend eternity with God in heaven some day

              • Are you holding to the testimony of Jesus?

              • Have you believed in the name of Jesus and received eternal life?

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Believe in the name of Jesus and what He did to take my punishment for sin, so I can have eternal life.

 

  • YOU

    • Evil is persistent, but God protects His people

        • You can claim that promise for yourself today

        • No matter how evil is tempting you, you can trust in God’s protective power over the situation and circumstances

    • You have to recognize that Satan will use lies and deceit to try to overtake you

        • He’ll allow you to believe that you are right or justified in spreading something false about a situation or a person

        • Satan wins when you give in to his persistent temptations to share something juicy about someone or something

        • God can still win in that situation when you repent and return to those whom you have shared false information with and make it right

        • God is glorified when you humbly confess your wrong doings and seek forgiveness and reconciliation

    • You demonstrate to the world that you are truly a Christian when they see you obeying God’s commandments and holding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

 

  • WE

    • As the body of believers here at Idaville Church we have the responsibility to demonstrate to those in the greater Idaville area what true Christianity looks like

    • We have to claim God’s promise to protect us even while evil persistently pursues us

    • We show our community what a relationship with Jesus is truly like when we love one another and are united in the Pursuing, Growing, and Multiplying Disciples for Him

CONCLUSION

Charles Wesley beautifully expresses all that we have talked about in Revelation 12 in one of his hymn, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

 

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of ev’ry nation, joy of ev’ry longing heart.

 

Born Thy people to deliver, born a child, and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne.

12

 

/by

You Belong Here!

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Back To Church

You Belong Here!

(Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:10)

 

INTRODUCTION

“In his latest book, John Ortberg writes about our need to meaningfully connect with others:

 

In 2015, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley announced they would be part of a $100 million dollar project for space travel to see if there's intelligent life in the universe. The plan was to send tiny nanocrafts—like spaceship butterflies—traveling at one-fifth the speed of light to Alpha Centauri. Stephen Hawking expressed the purpose poignantly: "It is important to know if we are alone in the dark."

 

The folks at Berkeley are not the only ones who want to know. We're all constantly sending out tiny little probes, emotional nanocrafts, to find out whether we're alone in the dark. They travel at high speeds, and it's easy to miss them. They can be small: "Did you see the game last night?" They can be poignant: "I don't think I'll ever call my dad again." They can be deep: "I'm not sure my wife loves me anymore." They can be urgent: "I have no one else to talk to; can I speak to you confidentially?"

 

These emotional nanocrafts are what researcher John Gottman calls "bids" for emotional connection." We start issuing these bids before we can talk. A baby's cry is a bid to connect. As we grow older, these bids—or invitations—for intimacy take other forms. "A bid can be a question, a gesture, a look, a touch—any single expression that says, 'I want to feel connected to you.'" Intimacy of every kind is either built up or eroded, based on how well we handle the subtle little nanocrafts of relational life.”

 

Adapted from John Ortberg, I’d like You More If You Were More Like Me (Tyndale Momentum, 2017), pages 67-68.

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2018/january/are-we-alone-in-dark.html]

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Holding hands

        • Most of you know that Judy started teaching 1st Grade again this year

        • With her teaching, we have seen less and less of each other

        • Keep in mind that before she was just across the parking lot and I would be able to see her whenever I wanted to, throughout the day, but mostly at lunch time and in the evening

        • The last time we served at the Upper Adams Food Pantry, August 27, 2018, Pastor Marc and I finished preparing the food that Judy and the youth had worked on the night before

        • We traveled together to the food pantry, because Judy and Levi came directly from school to the food pantry

        • I walked into the kitchen after Judy had arrived and reached out to hold her hand

        • I just wanted to connect with her

        • Someone asked me if something was wrong and I told them, “I haven’t seen Judy for a while and just wanted to connect with her.”

    • Family Life Weekend to Remember

        • Judy and I attend the Family Life Weekend to Remember event in Hershey, PA every February

        • It is our way of making sure our marriage is “tuned up”

        • The one thing I really appreciate about the teaching over that weekend is that every couple is moving in one of two ways – either towards isolation or oneness.

        • They give every couple the opportunity to move towards oneness in multiple ways (activities to do after each session and a date night on Saturday night)

 

  • WE

    • Not really connecting

        • There is a misconception in our current technological age that we are connecting with more people, because of social media

        • Unfortunately, those connections are not always healthy and some of them are even “real”

        • We are looking for connection through “likes,” “follows,” “shares,” “comments,” “subscribers,” etc.

    • Wanting to connect

        • This shows us that people want to be connected

        • They want to be liked

        • They want to know that people value their ideas, thoughts, and opinions

        • They want to be loved and to be a part of a community

 

In Acts 2:42-47 the church is Jerusalem is formed right after Peter shares the Gospel on what we now call the Day of Pentecost. ​​ There were 3,000 people who became Christians that day. ​​ What was it going to take for the existing Christians and this newly formed church to be healthy? ​​ Luke outlines that for us. ​​ He wants us understand that...

 

BIG IDEA – Our actions toward one another shows our community that this is a place to belong.

 

A healthy church is one that is W.E.L.L. (Worshipping, Evangelistic, Loving, and Learning). ​​ [I have to let you know that Pastor Marc came up with this acronym. ​​ He is very gifted at doing that!].

 

We are going to look at all four of those attributes today, but we’ll be looking at them in the order they appear in the text.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:10)

    • John Stott’s commentary, The Bible Speaks Today, The Message of Acts, beautifully outlines these six verses – I’ve used his headers for the four points this morning [Stott, 82-86]

    • PRINCIPLE – Healthy churches pay careful attention to teaching, fellowship, prayer, and witness. ​​ [Gangel, Holman New Testament Commentary, Acts, 33]

    • Learning Church (Acts 2:42a, 43)

        • The first thing that these new believers did was devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching

          • The Greek word for “devoted” means “to be firm, persevere, remain faithful to a person or task. ​​ In regard to prayer, the idea is constant diligence, effort that never lets up, confident waiting for results.” ​​ [Rogers & Rogers, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament, 233]

          • The construction of the participle is such that it stresses a continual, ongoing action

          • The NASB has this construction in its translation, They were continually devoting themselves to . . .

          • The devotion these new believers had was to all four things listed there (teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer)

        • First Century

          • The apostles were probably teaching the following things:

            • The person and work of Jesus Christ (Son of God, perfect/without sin, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension)

            • The way of salvation (by grace, through faith in Jesus)

            • How Jesus was concealed in the Old Testament, but had fulfilled what the prophets had said

            • The importance of a Christian witness

            • Matthew 28:19-20, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. ​​ And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

              • These are the marching orders of every Christian given to the disciples when Jesus returned to heaven

              • Here at Idaville Church we summarize these two verses into a three-phrase tag line

              • Pursue Disciples, Grow Disciples, Multiply Disciples

            • The teaching of the apostles would have included obedience to everyone of Jesus’ commands

            • The apostles’ teaching was authenticated by the many wonders and miraculous signs they were able to do

              • This was God’s way of letting the listeners, who sat under the apostles’ teaching, know that they were genuinely commissioned by Him

              • The power to do many wonders and miraculous signs came from God

              • The same is true today of anyone who has the gift of healing – it only comes from God

          • This is certainly how the 1st Century Christians would have understood the teaching of the apostles, but what does it look like for us, today?

        • Today

          • The teaching of the apostles is now confirmed for us through the canon of Holy Scripture – the Bible

          • The New Testament, specifically, has the teaching of the apostles for us

          • What was concealed in the Old Testament is now revealed in the New Testament – the early church was experiencing the New Testament firsthand

          • God continues to preserve His Word throughout history

          • Opportunities to devote ourselves to the teaching of God’s Word

            • Worship Service (children’s church during the message)

            • Sunday school (we have classes for all age groups)

            • Discipleship Groups (we have groups forming right now that you can join, just see our Welcome Center attendant this morning and ask about Discipleship/Small Groups)

            • Wednesday evening (children, youth, and adults)

            • Sunday evening (youth)

        • “Let me say here that openness to being fed by the Word is key evidence that one is truly regenerated. ​​ Many people come to Christ to have a felt need met because they hear that the God of the Christians is a prayer-answering God. ​​ In their eagerness to be blessed by this God, they go through the motions of ‘making a decision.’” ​​ [Fernando, The NIV Application Commentary, Acts, 132]

          • This has been my experience with new believers that I’ve had the privilege of discipling

          • They are hungry for God’s Word and are looking for more and more opportunities to study God’s Word

          • I’ve experienced that hunger in a new believer within the past week

        • Making disciples is so much more than just a one-time conversion experience – it is a continual, ongoing process of growing together

        • The new believers in Jerusalem weren’t just devoted to the apostles’ teaching, they were also devoted to loving one another

    • Loving Church (Acts 2:42b, 44-45; Romans 12:10)

        • They were devoted to fellowship

          • The Greek word is koinonia and means fellowship, sharing in common, communion, close relationship

            • This Greek word would also be used for the mutual give an take of a marriage relationship [Bock, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Acts, 150]

              • The love shared between a husband and wife is perhaps the closest relationship we can have here on earth

              • If the marriage is functioning as it should, moving toward oneness instead of isolation, then both people will be loving and looking out for each other

              • They will sacrifice whatever they need to for the relationship

            • This kind of mutual give and take should be evident within the Christian community also

              • The believers, here in Jerusalem, were fulfilling Jesus’ words to His disciples prior to His crucifixion

              • John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: ​​ Love one another. ​​ As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ​​ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

              • Romans 12:10, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. ​​ Honor one another above yourselves.

          • Stott expresses that it is both sharing in together and sharing out together [Stott, 82-83]

            • Sharing in

              • 1 John 1:3, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. ​​ And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

              • 2 Corinthians 13:14, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

            • Sharing out

              • “In secular Greek the word was used for the sharing of possessions.” [Fernando, 120]

              • 2 Corinthians 9:13, Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with (koinonia) them and with everyone else.

          • Interesting note – the Greek word koinōnikos means “generous”

          • We see in vv. 44-45 what being devoted to the fellowship looked like

        • Sharing of possessions

          • They were together

            • The idea expressed here is one of unity

            • Philippians 2:1-4, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ​​ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ​​ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

            • Acts 4:32, All believers were one in heart and mind. ​​ No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.

          • Everything in common

            • The Greek word for “common,” in v. 44, is another form of koinonia, it is koina

              • Jesus and His apostles shared a common purse (Judas was in charge of it)

              • This same concept was practiced by at least one Jewish party that was more rigorous in their belief system [Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Acts, 74]

            • Luke explains in v. 45 what this looked like for the early church

              • Selling their possessions

                • Possessions is probably referring to their real estate or land holdings

                • The idea expressed through the imperfect tense of the verbs “selling” and “gave” is two-fold

                  • First, it meant that this was continual, ongoing practice of selling possession and goods and not a one-time “initiation fee” into Christianity

                  • It also meant it was voluntary and based on need (the apostles weren’t stock piling funds)

                  • When Peter confronts Ananias and Sapphira about selling some property, but only giving a portion of it to the Lord, he says, Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? ​​ And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? ​​ What made you think of doing such a thing? ​​ You have not lied to men but to God (Acts 5:4)

              • Selling their goods

                • Goods is probably referring to their valuables

                • This would include anything other than real estate or land

              • Giving to anyone as they had a need

                • When a need arose among any of the believers it was probably brought up to the whole community

                • Different individuals, led by God, would sell possessions or goods and bring the money to the apostles so they could distribute it to those in need

                • As a church, we do a great job of taking care of those within our church community

                • We also do a great job of taking care of those in our community

                • There have been some repeat individuals who have come by the church, looking for financial help, and my response to them is that the greatest help they will ever receive is to join with a body of believers

                • We see that Biblical precedence here

          • “This pooling of property could be maintained voluntarily only when their sense of spiritual unity was exceptionally active.” ​​ [Bruce, 74]

          • PRINCIPLE – God is pleased when His people help each other when they are in need.

            • As a body of believers, we can only help with needs that we are aware of

            • That means the need has to be expressed

              • We have a benevolence committee that includes me, Laurin Fleming as chairperson of the board, Bev Fleming as chairperson of the spiritual care commission, and Donna Kerrigan as treasurer

              • If you have a need, please let one of us know

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Let the benevolence committee know that I have a need. ​​ (we will contact you for more details about your need)

            • The other side of this principle is giving to help meet that need

              • We can sometimes get so caught up in our own world that we are blind to those around us

              • We can very easily overlook someone who is obviously in need

              • We can also think that we can’t afford to help someone in need

              • I want to challenge you today to consider how and what God may be calling you to sacrifice, so you can help meet the needs of others

              • It may be property or personal possessions that you can sell in order to help

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Ask the Lord to show me if there is anything He wants me to sacrifice so I can help those in need.

        • We have seen that a healthy church is a learning and loving church, but it is also a worshipping church

    • Worshipping Church (Acts 2:42c, 46-47a)

        • Their fellowship wasn’t limited to just caring for their fellow believers, but also in worshipping corporately

        • The third thing that the new believers were devoted to was to the breaking of bread

          • Most scholars agree that this is referring to the Lord’s Supper (communion) that took place during the larger agape feasts that were part of the early church

          • In the second half of v. 46 we see that they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts

            • They were doing this every day, going from house to house, sharing a meal together, and remembering the Lord’s suffering until He comes (communion)

            • They were enjoying each other’s company, which speaks volumes about the unity they were experiencing

            • This is not to say that this early church did not have its faults (disagreement between the Grecian and Hebraic Jews over the treatment of their widows, Rom. 6:1-6)

            • I’m not trying to gloss over the difficulties they had in an attempt to guilt us into acting a certain way

            • I just want to encourage us to think about whether or not we could improve in the area of having meals together (hospitality)

            • I remember the years when my Mother would make extra food for Sunday lunch with the expectation that we would invite a family over for a meal – it was intentional and purposeful

            • We could come prepared each Sunday to invite a new family out to lunch, so they know that they belong here

          • They weren’t just sharing meals and communion together, they were also praying together

        • The fourth thing the believers were devoted to was prayer

          • This wasn’t just private prayer, although I’m sure they were practicing that too

          • This was corporate prayer times they had every day

            • They were meeting in the temple courts, probably under Solomon’s Colonnade and praying for the Jews who didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah and for their fellow Gentiles who perhaps didn’t believe in God at all

            • They were probably spending time in prayer before and after the meals they shared together from house to house

          • This is an encouragement for us to spend time in prayer informally when we get together to share a meal

          • It is also an encouragement for us to spend time formally in corporate prayer

            • We see this in our Sunday school classes

            • We have a Wednesday evening worship, praise, and prayer time for adults

            • We have a prayer warrior ministry that has started again during the worship service

            • We have a group that meets at the prayer rail on Sunday mornings at 8:45 am to pray for the morning services

          • PRINCIPLE – God is honored when His people worship Him through agape meals, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer.

            • When we honor through these acts of worship, then those in our community who do not have a relationship with Jesus will see a difference

            • We will enjoy the favor of all the people

            • This only comes through the power of God when we focus on Him and His people instead of ourselves – when we strive for unity and love within the body of Christ

        • There is one more aspect of a healthy church, one that is W.E.L.L. and that is evangelism

    • Evangelistic Church (Acts 2:47b)

        • John Stott explains that we can learn three vital lessons about local church evangelism from these early believers [Stott, 86-87]

          • First, the Lord (Jesus) is the one who added to their number

            • He obviously used the teaching of the apostles to share the truths of God with unbelievers

              • Gospel

                • Sin problem (Rom. 3:23, 6:23)

                • God’s solution (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:3b-4)

                • Our response (Rom. 10:9-10)

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead to take my punishment for sin.

            • He also used the koinonia fellowship through the body of believers to encourage and strengthen those who were seeking the truth

            • 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ​​ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

            • Those early believers and unbelievers had found a place to belong

          • Second, what Jesus did was two things together: ​​ he added to their number . . . those who were being saved

            • There weren’t nominal Christians in the church who weren’t transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ

            • There weren’t people who simply believed in God, but didn’t have a relationship with Jesus

            • He also didn’t save them to a solitary Christian life

            • They were added to the community of believers

            • Hebrews 10:24-25, And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ​​ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

          • Finally, the Lord added people daily

            • The verb “added” is in the imperfect tense meaning “kept adding” – a continual process

            • PRINCIPLE – God promises to add believers to His church when His people focus on worshipping, evangelizing, loving, and learning together.

              • A W.E.L.L. church is a healthy church

              • “What happens to believers who worship, work, and witness for their Lord? ​​ The Lord grows the church. ​​ Let’s not miss the order – first godly relationships with each other, then growth.” ​​ [Gangel, 32]

        • While the Lord did the adding, we have a responsibility to plant and water

 

  • WE/YOU

    • Our actions toward one another shows our community that this is a place to belong

        • To be a healthy church we have to focus on being W.E.L.L. (worshipping, evangelizing, loving, and learning together)

        • We have to teach new believers to obey every command that Jesus gave His disciples

        • We have to love one another by sharing in and sharing out

        • We have to find joy in worshipping together as a unified body of believers

        • We have to be committed to Pursuing, Growing, and Multiplying Disciples

    • What part do you need to play in helping our church to be W.E.L.L.?

 

CONCLUSION

“When we have forgotten the past, the community helps us re-learn our own story. The case of ‘Benjamin Kyle’ is instructive. In the early morning of August 31, 2004, employees of a Burger King in Richmond Hill, GA found a man unconscious next to a dumpster. He was naked, sunburnt, and had bites from red ants. His skull had three depressions, apparently from blunt force trauma. He also had amnesia and was unable to remember his own name, much less how he came to be found beaten behind a Burger King. The employees called 911, and he was taken to a hospital in Savannah; but without identity papers or memory, they listed him only as ‘Burger King Doe.’

 

For more than ten years he was unable to remember his name and thus was unable to get a Social Security card. He could not obtain a job nor collect any kind of benefits from the government. He named himself ‘Benjamin Kyle,’ sensing that his first name might have been Benjamin, and he sought a community that knew him previously to help him piece together his identity. You see, without a community, this man had no access to his story. Finally, with the help of investigative reporters and genetic testing, ‘Benjamin Kyle’ learned his real name and likely family of origin. As he started to identify with his community again he said, ‘Looking at all these names, all these people, kind of gives me a sense of belonging,’ he said. ‘I have a history. I'm not just some stranger that materialized out of thin air.’

 

Jeffrey Arthurs, Boston, Massachusetts; source: ​​ Kent Justice, “Man with no name finally knows real identity,” News4Jax.com (9-15-16)

 

[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2016/december/7120516.html]

11

 

/by

The Hangry Dragon

,

Jesus Unveiled

The Hangry Dragon

(Revelation 12:1-6)

 

INTRODUCTION

VIDEO – “Super Bowl 2015: ​​ Snickers Ad” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UO2A2p-19A].

 

How many of you are familiar with the term “hangry?” ​​ It means to be bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Hangry

        • When we lived in Shippensburg, PA and my father pastored Prince Street UB Church, my Mom would always pack me a snack to eat on the car ride home

        • I would actually get sick in my stomach without that snack, because I was so hungry

        • That hunger and stomach ache would make me irritable

        • Now we didn’t have the term “hangry” back then, but that’s exactly what I was

    • Protection from being hangry

        • My Mom knew that to protect herself and the rest of the family, from me being bad-tempered and irritable on Sunday mornings, was to pack a snack for me to eat

        • It wasn’t a full course meal, just some animal crackers, or other kinds of crackers that would take the edge off my hunger

        • It allowed me to remain pleasant on the car ride home until we could have lunch together

        • She knew that the snack would also protect me

 

  • WE

    • Hangry

        • I’m certain I’m the only one who has ever experienced being hangry

        • I can’t imagine that anyone else would act bad-tempered or irritable because of hunger

        • Perhaps we all know someone who deals with being hangry (let’s keep their names to ourselves, this morning)

    • Protecting others

        • Perhaps those of us who have hangry people in our lives should start packing snacks, especially when we’re going to miss a meal or be late in eating a meal

        • This will protect those around us from experiencing the bad-temper or irritability of those who are hungry

        • Maybe a Snickers will do the trick

 

We’ll see today that Satan, described as a hungry dragon, is waiting, ravenously, to devour the child that a pregnant woman is preparing to give birth to. ​​ When that child is snatched away the dragon will pursue the woman, but she is protected by God. ​​ John wants us to understand that...

 

BIG IDEA – God protects His people and Jesus so they can fulfill His plan.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 12:1-6)

    • Introduction to Scene 4 (Rev. 11:19)

        • Last week I mentioned that Rev. 11:19 could be the conclusion of Scene 3, but it could also be the introduction of Scene 4

        • There are some repeated items throughout Revelation that seem to mark the beginning of various scenes

        • Wilcock does an excellent job of outlining those repeated items [Wilcock, The Bible Speaks Today, The Message of Revelation, 114]

          • 1:1 – Introduction

          • 1:12 – John turns to see who is speaking to him: ​​ Scene 1

          • 4:1 – In heaven a door is opened and a voice says ‘Come’: ​​ John is taken to a vantage point from which he can see the whole heavenly sphere: ​​ thunder and lightning (v. 5): ​​ Scene 2

          • 8:2 – The angels with the trumpets appear: ​​ thunder and lightning (v. 5): ​​ Scene 3

          • 11:19 – In heaven the temple is opened; thunder and lightning: ​​ Scene 4

          • 15:5 – In heaven the temple of the tent of witness is opened: ​​ Scene 5

          • 17:1 – An angel says ‘Come’: ​​ John is taken into a wilderness: ​​ Scene 6

          • 19:11 – Heaven itself is opened: ​​ Scene 7

          • 21:9 – An angel says ‘Come’: ​​ John is taken to a mountain top: ​​ Scene 8

          • 22:20 – Epilogue

        • This in Wilcock’s understanding of the Rev. 11:19 as the introduction to Scene 4

        • As mentioned last week, it certainly could be the conclusion of the previous scene, but there seems to be a break between Rev. 11:18 and 11:19

    • The Woman (vv. 1-2, 6)

        • If Rev. 11:19 is the introduction to Scene 4, it is an incredible introduction before two signs appear in the heavens

          • Seeing God’s temple opened with the ark of his covenant visible would be awe inspiring

          • The flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and earthquake and a great hailstorm would get my attention and cause me to look heavenward

          • That’s when I would see the great and wondrous sign

          • “This is the first of seven signs that appear in the remainder of the Revelation (see 12:3; 13:13, 14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20).” ​​ [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 210]

        • There is a woman whose appearance is majestic (v. 1)

          • Clothed with the sun

            • Yahweh is described as being clothed in light

            • Psalm 104:1-3a, Praise the Lord, O my soul. ​​ O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. ​​ He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

            • Light represents God’s majesty

            • The woman clothed with the sun speaks of her majesty

            • We’ll understand who the woman is in just a moment, but remember that she is clothed in majesty

          • Moon under her feet

            • In the Old Testament the moon was representative of beauty (Song 6:10) and glory (Isa. 24:23; 30:26)

              • Song of Songs 6:10, Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? (this is spoken by the friends of the Lover and the Beloved)

              • Isaiah 24:23, The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously.

              • Isaiah 30:26, The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

            • The position of the moon being under her feet would represent dominion or reigning over a kingdom

              • Jesus (Luke 20:43) and Paul (Acts 2:35) both reference Psalm 110:1 and apply this not to David, who wrote the Psalm, but rather to Jesus as the One who will reign and have dominion over the entire world

              • Psalm 110:1, The Lord says to my Lord: ​​ “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

            • As we identify who the woman is, we will understand the dominion she will have

          • Crown of twelve stars on her head

            • This represents victory

            • The Greek word is stephanos and is the crown or wreath that was given to those who were victorious in the games

            • This crown was made of twelve stars

            • This description of the crown is significant when we look at the background for this woman

          • Background for her appearance

            • Most scholars agree that the background for the imagery of the woman comes from Joseph’s dream found in Genesis 37:1-11

            • Read Genesis 37:1-11

            • We see all three elements here – the sun, the moon, and the stars

              • The sun represented Joseph’s father, Jacob

              • The moon represented Joseph’s mother, Rachel

              • The stars represented the tribes of Israel

            • We know that Jesus came from Jacob’s line

          • From this description of the woman, it should be clear who the woman represents

        • Who is this woman?

          • The woman represents the people of God – the Israelites

          • She also represents all redeemed people, whether Jews or Gentiles

          • Revelation 12:17, Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

        • Application

          • PRINCIPLE – God sees His people as majestic and victorious through His power.

            • I think this principle is overlooked and marginalized in our culture today

            • We are majestic in God’s eyes

              • We don’t really believe that God sees us as majestic, beautiful, and victorious

              • There are many who have a defeatists mentality and live their lives with that belief

              • They don’t consider themselves worthy, beautiful, or of value (Satan likes to remind us of our sin)

              • Some, go so far as to consider themselves just a placeholder in this world – of no significance

              • God considers every human being of importance and value, because He created everyone

                • On the sixth day God created human beings, both male and female

                • He gave them dominion over every living creature, whether on land, sea, or air

                • Then this is what He said at the end of the sixth day of creation

                • Genesis 1:31, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. ​​ And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.

                • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Recognize that God sees me as His beautiful creation even when I don’t see myself that way.

            • We are victorious in God’s eyes

              • While God looks at every human being as a very good creation, He says this about those who are followers of Jesus

                • 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

                • God sees us as without sin, through the blood of Jesus Christ

                • We are born with a sin problem (Rom. 3:23)

                • There is a consequence for our sin – separation from God (Rom. 6:23a)

                • But God provides a free gift for everyone who confesses their sin to Him and believes in Jesus as their Savior (Rom. 6:23b)

                • John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ​​ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ​​ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

                • Through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ we are victorious in God’s eyes

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Receive God’s gift of eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ as my Savior.

          • This majestic, victorious woman who has dominion on earth is also pregnant

        • She is pregnant (v. 2)

          • The time for her delivery has arrived

          • She is crying out in pain, which obviously draws the attention of the dragon

          • We will unwrap who the dragon is in just a moment, but I want us to skip down to verse 6 where the woman is spoken about again

          • She has already given birth to her child, who is immediately snatched up to God and his throne

        • She is protected (v. 6)

          • A heavenly battle ensues and the dragon is hurled from heaven where he then pursues the woman (Rev. 12:13)

          • God protects the woman from the serpent’s reach by sending her into the desert

            • This is reminiscent of the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt

            • At every turn, when they grumbled against Moses, Aaron, and God, God would provide just what they needed (water from the rock, bread in the form of manna, meat in the form of quail)

            • When they rejected God’s plan to enter the Promised Land the first time they arrived, God sent them into the wilderness to wander for 40 years

            • During that time He provided for them and protected them until it was time to enter the Promised Land

            • Their sandals and clothing did not wear out (Deut. 29:5)

            • God took care of them supernaturally

          • God has prepared a place for the woman where she will be taken care of for three and a half years (1,260 days)

            • Jesus talked about the people of God fleeing when the end times come

            • Matthew 24:15-16, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

            • Read Isaiah 16:1-4

            • “As your margin might say, ‘Sela’ means ‘Rock’ or ‘Petra.’ ​​ Petra is truly an amazing city. ​​ Located in Moab, or present-day Jordan, this city carved of stone has stood for centuries, preserved largely because the sole entrance is a passageway only twelve feet wide.” ​​ [Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, New Testament, 1730]

            • [Show pictures of Petra]

            • Perhaps Petra is the place that is referred to here, but we are not told in Revelation – only that it will be in the desert

          • God protects His people so they can fulfill His plan.

            • The same is true of us today

            • God will protect us so we can fulfill His plan

            • Our mission statement tagline is Pursue Disciples, Grow Disciples, Multiply Disciples (that is the Great Commission in three statements)

            • That’s what we are called to do

            • I’m thinking about the Back to Church Sunday next week

              • We’ve provided engagers for everyone to use in inviting family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to come back to church

              • While we may be fearful about inviting people, we can rest assured that God will protect us so we can fulfill His plan, the Great Commission

            • We’re also focusing on discipleship here at Idaville Church

              • We’ve been encouraging our board members to begin a discipleship relationship with one other person or couple

              • We’re encouraging everyone in the congregation to either be in a discipleship group or working with someone else in a discipleship capacity

              • We’re providing more small group opportunities where individuals can be discipled

              • God will protect us so we can fulfill His plan

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Be in a discipleship relationship either individually or in a group (Pastor Marc Webb will be in contact with you to get that started).

        • We have determined then that the woman represents all redeemed human beings who are majestic and victorious in God’s eyes, and protected by Him so they can fulfill His plan

        • This leads us to the second character in this new scene

    • The Dragon (vv. 3-4)

        • A second sign in heaven appears

        • An enormous red dragon (v. 3)

          • Color red

            • It symbolizes Satan’s character and desire – he wants to shed bled, to murder people

            • John 8:44, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. ​​ He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. ​​ When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

          • Who is the dragon?

            • John explains who the dragon is in v. 9, The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

            • The use of the word serpent takes us back to the Garden of Eden where Satan deceived Adam and Eve

            • It was at that time that God promised to send a Savior to redeem humanity from sin

            • This dragon isn’t only enormous and red, but has multiple heads and horns

          • Seven heads

            • The number seven is a symbol of completeness

            • “Most likely, the meaning of the ‘seven heads’ is the dragon’s pretension to sovereignty over the earth.” ​​ [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 460]

            • Satan believes that he has complete sovereignty over the earth, but it will only be short lived

            • His sovereignty will only be over his own followers and not all of humanity

          • Ten horns

            • “Horns” in the Bible refer primarily to strength or power

            • Daniel described a very powerful beast from his vision that had ten horns

            • Daniel 7:7, “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast – terrifying and frightening and very powerful. ​​ It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. ​​ It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

          • Seven crowns

            • The Greek word for “crowns” here is diadēma which is the royal crown instead of the victors crown (stephanos) that the woman is wearing

            • This again points to Satan’s pretension to rule and reign

            • He is given royal titles throughout Scripture

              • Prince of the world (John 12:31; 14:30; and 16:11)

              • Ruler of the kingdoms of the air (Eph. 2:2)

              • God of this world (2 Cor. 4:4)

            • Satan is continually trying to imitate God and Jesus

              • This is perhaps his most powerful tool in deceiving humanity

              • He wants everyone to believe that He is god

              • He wants them to worship him instead of the true and living God

          • This enormous red dragon with seven heads and crowns to match and ten horns is fighting a heavenly battle

        • Battle in the heavens (v. 4a)

          • This battle is described in more detail in Revelation 12:7-12, so we will not spend much time unpacking it here

          • What is described here is Satan’s rebellion against God

          • Satan convinced a third of God’s angels to join him in his rebellion

          • God’s punishment for this rebellious group was to cast them out of heaven

          • We see this fall in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6

        • Waiting for the woman to give birth (v. 4b)

          • Since Satan’s rebellion was unsuccessful in heaven, he will try anything to circumvent God’s authority and plan

          • We see here that he is waiting for the woman to give birth

            • I envision this dragon with drool dripping from his mouth – He is hangry

            • I also think about our dog Fester when I get his leash ready – he starts prancing around and lifting his front paws off the ground (there is anticipation and excitement)

            • That’s Satan demeanor as he waits for the woman to give birth – he is excited, angry, and anticipating ruining God’s plan of redemption

          • He has tried to do that all along

            • God’s declaration is what Satan has been fighting against from the very beginning, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen. 3:15)

            • Satan has tried throughout history to stop this child from coming

              • Akin outlines it for us [Akin, 211]

              • “He moved Cain to kill Abel (1 John 3:12)”

              • “He moved Pharaoh to kill Hebrew baby boys (Exodus 1-2)”

              • “He moved wicked Athaliah to destroy all the royal heirs of the house of Judah (2 Chron. 22:10)”

              • “He moved Haman to plot genocide against the Jews (Esther)”

              • “He moved Herod to kill Jesus (Matt. 2)”

            • All of his efforts have failed

        • We see that Jesus was protected so He could fulfill God’s plan

    • The Son (v. 5)

        • The woman gave birth to a son

          • We know that this male child is referring to Jesus

          • Jesus came from the line of Jacob/Israel, which is what the woman represented (the whole Israelite family)

          • “The birth of Christ on that day in Bethlehem inaugurated the death of this ancient serpent, just as it had been promised in Genesis 3. ​​ The birth of Christ declared the death of the ancient serpent; the death of Christ defanged the adversary. (“Fighting,” 2012).” ​​ [David Platt cited by Akin, 212]

        • His purpose is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter

          • This was spoken of by David in Psalm 2

          • Psalm 2:7-9, I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: ​​ He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. ​​ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ​​ You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

          • The idea behind ruling here is shepherding

          • “As a shepherd defends his flock against the wild beasts of prey, so Christ will strike the nations that oppress and persecute his church.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 234]

        • God protected Jesus

          • We see the birth and ascension of Jesus in v. 5

            • There seems to be a lot of Jesus’ life and ministry missing

            • What about His death, burial, and resurrection?

            • Aren’t they important?

            • They are, but when mentioning the first and last item in a list it encompasses everything in between

            • In Revelation 5 we have an incredible explanation of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection

          • The baby boy is snatched up to God and his throne

            • “Snatched” is a strong verb meaning to “take suddenly and vehemently.” ​​ [Osborne, 463]

            • Satan’s plan to stop God’s plan is foiled when God protects Jesus by taking Him back to heaven

            • From Jesus’ position in heaven, at God’s right hand, He will be able to fulfill God’s plan completely

            • God protected Jesus so He could fulfill God’s plan.

 

  • YOU

    • God sees you as beautiful and majestic

        • Don’t let the world tell you differently

        • He has created you in His image and He loves you very much

    • God also sees you as victorious through the blood of Jesus Christ

        • You and I have no righteousness of our own

        • Our righteousness comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ, who sacrificially gave His own life on the cross for you and me

        • We are victorious over sin and death, because of Jesus Christ

    • God protects you so you can fulfill His plan

        • It is the Great Commission

        • Pursue Disciples, Grow Disciples, Multiply Disciples

 

  • WE

    • It’s our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ to tell the world that God sees them as beautiful and majestic – His creation!

    • We must also tell them that God can see them as victorious when they confess their sins and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation

    • We can have confidence that God will protect us as we fulfill His plan

CONCLUSION

Satan is always out to get us. ​​ Peter describes him like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). ​​ Peter’s advice is to stand firm in the faith, because there are other believers who are suffering just like we are (2 Peter 5:9). ​​ Standing firm in the faith and doing God’s will affords us God’s protection from being devoured.

13

 

/by

Taking Back the Reign(s)

,

Jesus Unveiled

Taking Back the Reign(s)

(Revelation 11:15-19)

 

INTRODUCTION

VIDEO – “Stock Footage – Stage Coach Out of Control video clip.” ​​ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT33fQm58ko].

 

BODY

  • ME

    • Motorcycle test

        • Seth and I took the motorcycle course in Gettysburg so we could get our motorcycle license

        • It was two days in the classroom and three days on the course

        • The last day is when we took our road test on the course

          • It had been raining and the blacktop was wet

          • Part of the test was to accelerate into to second gear and then downshift and brake at the same time, so you could stop within a certain distance

          • We were not supposed to brake early, but only start to brake after the front wheel past the two cones

          • This one had me the most nervous

          • We got one practice run through this element and I starting braking before the cones

          • When it was time to do it for the test, I waited to brake until my front wheel past the cones, but then the wheels locked up and I started to slide

          • I had to put my feet down so the motorcycle wouldn’t tip over (that would have been an automatic fail)

          • I also went past the last stopping line on the pavement

          • I thought for sure that I had failed, but they waved me on to the next element

          • I past, by the way

        • I felt like I was losing control and had to reign in the motorcycle

    • Boys in the car

        • Judy remembers coming outside when we lived in Missouri and finding the car rolling backwards down the driveway

        • One of the boys had gotten in the front seat and knocked the stick shift into neutral, causing it to roll backwards

        • Praise the Lord she was able to get in the car and reign it in

 

  • WE

    • Vehicles

        • Perhaps all of us can remember a time when we lost control of a vehicle (some of us don’t want to think about it, because we never told our parents)

        • Teaching our children to drive can make it feel like things are out of control

        • But there are other situations when things can get out of control

    • Other areas where we feel like things can get out of control

        • Work – what seems like a small thing at work can very quickly spiral out of control if people don’t address it immediately (rumors about layoffs or buyouts, etc.)

        • Relationships – if we don’t communicate with others correctly and clearly (boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, parent, child, neighbor, coworker, etc.) things can get out of hand and feelings can get hurt. ​​ In a dating relationship emotions and passions can get pretty intense and we find ourselves having to reign them in, so we don’t cross the line

        • Finances – it’s easy, sometimes, to throw caution to the wind and just buy that item that’s a want or buy something simply because we think we deserve it. ​​ Others may struggle with spending, because they are trying to keep up with their friends or neighbors

        • Entertainment – sometimes it’s difficult to reign in the amount of time we spend participating in entertainment (sports, video games, other kinds of games, outdoor activities, etc.)

 

In Revelation 11:15-19, we will see that the seventh angel sounds his trumpet and instead of some judgment coming down from heaven, we see a worship service break out in heaven. ​​ John wants us to understand from this worship service that...

BIG IDEA – We can have confidence that God will reign for ever and ever.

 

He may have allowed Satan to reign on the earth for a period of time – under His watchful eye, of course – but at the end of the age, He will take back the reign of the earth and judge the dead.

 

Let’s pray

 

  • GOD (Revelation 11:15-19)

    • Announcement (v. 15)

        • The seventh angel sounds his trumpet

          • The unexpected happens again like it did with the opening of the seventh seal

          • What we saw with the first six seals was judgment

          • The same is true with the first six trumpets – judgment!

          • When the seventh seal was opened there was silence in heaven for half an hour (Rev. 8:1) – what happened to the judgment?

          • When the seventh trumpet is sounded we don’t see more judgment, but rather rejoicing and a hymn of praise

          • There is a change in perspective once again from an earthly scene to a heavenly scene (we saw last week the two witnesses who were prophesying in Jerusalem)

        • Loud voices

          • We have been introduced to loud voices ten times in Revelation including this occurrence (1:10; 5:2, 12; 6:10; 7:2, 10; 8:13; 10:3; 11:12)

          • We will see the use of loud voices nine more times throughout the rest of the book (12:10; 14:7, 15, 18; 16:1, 17; 19:1, 17; 21:3)

          • In some of the earlier passages we talked about the fact that the loud voice represented clarity – those who heard what came from the loud voice will understand what is being said

          • This is true here as well

          • There is a heavenly choir that’s filling the air with their praise!

          • Osborne believes this heavenly choir is singing during the eschaton when Christ returns [Osborne, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 440]

          • Revelation 19:11-12, I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. ​​ With justice he judges and makes war. ​​ His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. ​​ He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.

        • God is taking back full control

          • “First, in a sense there has never been a time when all the cosmos, including the kingdoms of this world, have not belonged to the Lord. ​​ But there is also a sense in which, under the overarching rule of divine providence, satanic forces have been allowed to exercise limited sovereignty in the world.” ​​ [Patterson, The New American Commentary, Revelation, 252]

          • Kingdom of the world

            • There has been a rejection of God as the king of this world since the beginning, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God – they rejected Him as their king

            • God’s chosen people, the Israelites, rejected Him as their king in favor of an earthly king

            • 1 Samuel 8:6-9, But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ​​ And the Lord told him: ​​ “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ​​ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ​​ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”

            • The Jews in the 1st Century rejected Jesus as the Messiah and had Him killed

            • People of every generation continue to reject the Lord as king of their lives

              • They want to be their own boss

              • They don’t want anyone else telling them what to do

              • This is the human condition of sin!

            • Regardless of whether we recognize God and Jesus’ rule, their kingdom will one day overcome the kingdoms of this world

          • Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ

            • Aorist tense [Osborne]

              • In the original Greek we see a string of verbs that are in the aorist tense in vv. 15, 16, ​​ and 19

                • V. 15 – “there were” and “has become”

                • V. 16 – “fell” and “worshiped”

                • V. 19 – “was opened,” “was seen,” and “there came”

              • The aorist tense gives us the idea of a completed action

              • “. . . it is an event so certain that it is spoken of as if it has already taken place.” ​​ [Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, New Testament, 1728]

              • We can have confidence that God will reign for ever and ever.

              • This is particularly important because John is seeing and writing about future events as though they have been completed

              • That is certainly how God sees His reign over the earth, especially after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection

                • The war has been won!

                • Jesus is victorious!

                • Everything is set for Jesus’ return

                • “Of course, Christ does not claim His royal rights until He returns; but the victory has already been won. ​​ Satan offered Him the world’s kingdoms, but He refused the offer (Matt. 4:8-9). ​​ Instead, He died on the cross, arose, and returned victoriously to heaven; and there the Father gave Him His inheritance (Ps. 2:4-9).” ​​ [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament, Volume 2, 600]

              • This isn’t brand new information

            • This was predicted by the prophets of old

              • Daniel 2:44, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. ​​ It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”

              • Zechariah 14:9, The Lord will be king over the whole earth. ​​ On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

              • Read Psalm 2:1-12

            • This completed action of Jesus reigning will not be temporary, but eternal

          • He will reign for ever and ever

            • The Greek here can be translated literally as “unto the ages of the ages.”

            • In the Hebrew tradition this depicts something that never ceases [Patterson, 252]

            • Daniel 7:13-14, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. ​​ He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ​​ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. ​​ His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

          • We can have confidence that God will reign for ever and ever.

        • As the loud voices of heaven make this proclamation about the eternal reign of Jesus, we see the 24 elders enter the vision again

    • Hymn (vv. 16-18)

        • The twenty-four elders first appeared in Rev. 4:4 when John sees the throne room of God

          • They worshiped God in Rev. 4:10-11 as the One who created and sustains all things [Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 206]

          • They worshiped Jesus in Rev. 5:8-14 who brought redemption through His blood poured out on the cross [Akin, 206]

          • Just as they did in chapter 4, the twenty-four elders leave their thrones and fall face down before the Lord

        • They are worshipping Him again in vv. 17-18

          • Their worship is focused on God’s eternal reign after ending the world

          • Give thanks for who God is

            • The title of Lord God Almighty has already been given to God by the living creatures in Rev. 4:8

            • We know that God is supreme over everything, which is what almighty is referring to here

            • Part of the three-fold designation for God is missing

              • We normally see God as the one “who was, and is, and is to come”

              • The order is changed here and the third designation is omitted

              • God is the One who is (present)

              • God is the One who was (past)

              • In John’s vision the end has arrived, the eschaton is here!

              • There is no need to mention that He is the One to come, because God’s eternal reign has begun!

              • PRINCIPLE – God is eternal!

            • Great power

              • God’s great power here is not talking about His omnipotence as general attribute of God

              • Rather, it refers back to what we saw in Daniel 2:44, Zechariah 14:9, and Psalm 2:1-12

              • God will crush all the kingdoms of the earth and will establish Jesus as the only true king and ruler of the world

            • When Jesus begins to rule some people are not going to be happy

          • God’s judgment of the dead

            • We see that the nations were angry

              • The Greek word for angry is the same root word that is translated as God’s wrath in the second half of the sentence (it is a play on words in the Greek)

              • The nations were expressing their anger (wrath) towards God by rebelling against Him

              • “In the end the anger of the nations is not directed merely against one another but is a deep-seated hostility to all the truths and virtues of God and against him personally.” ​​ [Patterson, 254]

              • God’s righteous wrath has come

                • This is not God getting upset really quickly and flying off the handle at the unrighteous inhabitants of earth

                • Rather, it’s a settled frame of mind that God has towards those who have continued to reject His offer of redemption through Jesus Christ

                • It is the consequences of their sin and rebellion

            • Jesus will judge everyone (righteous and unrighteous)

              • Judging the dead

                • This can be taken two ways

                  • The dead could be referring to the unrighteous (inhabitants of the earth)

                  • It could also be referring to everyone who has already died, both the righteous and unrighteous

                  • Daniel 12:2, Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: ​​ some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

                  • Daniel views it as everyone who has died prior to Jesus’ return will be resurrected and then “judged” (those who are righteous will be rewarded after being judged and those who are unrighteous will be destroyed after being judged)

                • The way it’s been translated in English makes it sound like there are three distinct times that are appointed by God

                  • Time for judging the dead

                  • Time for rewarding the righteous

                  • Time for destroying the unrighteous

                  • I’m still trying to determine if the judging of the dead encompasses the rewarding of the righteous and destroying of the unrighteous, or whether they are three separate events

                • We see next those who are rewarded

              • Reward

                • There is debate concerning how many groups are being identified here

                  • Some believe there are five groups (servants/slaves; prophets; saints; those who fear Your name; small and great)

                  • Others believe there are only two groups (prophets; saints) with the other terms describing those two groups in more detail

                  • I believe were looking at two groups who are both servants of God that revere (fear) Him

                  • The reference to both small and great was a commonly used phrase to indicate everyone

                • We aren’t told directly what their reward is, but the most obvious one, as Christians, would certainly be eternal life – being in the presence of God for ever and ever

              • Destruction

                • The word destroy is used twice here and is a word play in the Greek

                • The Greek word can mean “to destroy completely” and “to corrupt morally”

                • “God’s judgment on those who have led the earth into moral depravity is that they will be condemned to eternal destruction.” ​​ [Easley, Holman New Testament Commentary, Revelation, 198]

                • Romans 2:5, But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

                • They will receive in like kind what they have been giving out – destruction

        • This ends the hymn of the twenty-four elders, but there is one last thing in this chapter

    • Cosmic Events (v. 19)

        • Most commentators include v. 19 as the conclusion of the hymn from the twenty-four elders, but there is also evidence that it could also be the transitional verse that introduces the events coming in chapters 12-14

        • So, we will talk about how it concludes the hymn this week, but also begin with this verse next week

        • God’s presence with us

          • Opening of the temple in heaven

            • It is not a temple like we find on earth, but rather the sanctuary of God in heaven

            • God and Jesus are the temple in heaven, so it’s not a physical building like it was on earth

          • Ark of his covenant

            • The ark was “the symbol of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his covenant promises.” ​​ [Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, 228]

            • It was also a symbol of God’s continual presence with His people

              • The ark was used in battle as an encouragement and reminder that God was with them

              • 1 Samuel 4:5, When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.

              • When it was captured by the Philistines, they put in the temple of Dagon and found out that the living God was more powerful than the idol Dagon

              • They people of Ashdod also realized how powerful God was when they were inflicted with tumors, because God’s had was heavy on them

              • The city of Gad also experienced the wrath of God when the ark was sent there

              • The people in Ekron refused to have the ark brought to their city

              • It was eventually returned to Israel

            • ​​ PRINCIPLE – God promises His presence with His people for all eternity.

              • What an incredible promise for us

              • One day we will be with God in the new heaven and the new earth

              • Revelation 21:3, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. ​​ They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

              • My Next Step Today Is To: ​​ Claim God’s promise that He will always be present with me.

                • In whatever area of life you may feel like things are out of control, God is present with you

                • Whether it is work, relationships, finances, or entertainment, God is there

        • God’s wrath on the unrighteous

          • Some believe the flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm are forms of punishment for the unrighteous

          • Those same things can also represent the sovereignty of God over the eschaton (end times)

 

  • YOU

    • God keeps His promises, so we can claim His promise that He will always be with us

    • We can also have confidence that He will reign for ever and ever

        • God has allowed Satan to reign on the earth for a short period of time

        • As we saw today, God will take back the reign of this world and His kingdom will be eternal

 

  • WE

    • This is an incredible truth that we need to share with the world

    • That is our commission as followers of Jesus Christ

 

CONCLUSION

VIDEO – “Royal Choral Society: ​​ ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah.” ​​ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c].

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