ResponsiveReiding

The Doctrine of Assurance Part 1

January 14th, 2019
Am I “SAVED?”

As I mentioned before we closed our study of the book of Revelation, I wanted to take an opportunity to address some topics that you all wished to be addressed.

One that seemed especially pressing from several of you was the doctrine of the assurance of salvation.

How can I KNOW, that I am saved? How can I be sure I am one of Christ’s and belong to Him?

How can I be sure my sins are forgiven and that I am fully accepted by God.

The question is a right and good one.

It is the single most important question someone can ask.

In fact, those who never ask this question concern me far more than those who who might anguish over it.

When Paul can write to those in Corinth: 2 Corinthians 13:5a / “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”

It behooves us all at times to go back and reassure our hearts Biblically. I might even say we are commanded to do so.

And if you’ve NEVER questioned your salvation – I would say you especially need to hear this series along with those who are struggling in it.

In fact, answering this question is one of the 5 reasons why the Apostle John says he wrote this letter.

Let me give you a word about my approach to this.

Over the years I have read numerous books, essays and articles on this topic – and the one thing I am really concerned about is not just tossing out pat answers.

For those who are the main target for this series – which I’ll explain in a minute – lack of an assurance of one’s salvation can be a crushing and paralyzing experience.

Many sound believers throughout the centuries have suffered under the darkness and weight of seasons filled with doubts about their spiritual state before God.

One notable case would be that of the hymn-writer and close companion in ministry to John Newton – William Cowper.

You would think that someone who could pen such hymns as:

“There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains”

Would have no issues here.

Or listen to these wonderful lyrics of his:

Or: 1 GOD moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

2 Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up his bright designs,

And works his sov’reign will.

3 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

4 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for his grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

5 His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding ev’ry hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flow’r.

6 Blind unbelief is sure to err,*

And scan his work in vain;

God is his own interpreter,

And he will make it plain.

A man so confident and wise and able to encourage others in hymns like these, nevertheless suffered so horribly in seasons of doubt, he attempted suicide 4 or 5 times and was institutionalized more than once.

To those of you who may be suffering, I really do not want either to be trite, nor over-burdensome.

But this is not shallow subject to be tossed off easily.

My plan is to lay out a fairly complete introduction this week, along with John’s 1st tool for helping us gain the assurance that belongs to every Believer – and take a few more weeks to tease out the other 7.

All of which are rooted in one concept: Relationship. 8 relationships to be exact. This, I hope, will be exceedingly clear as we move on.

I want to be thorough enough to be of genuine help, without at the same time making the issue more complicated than it already is – or making it too obtuse.

All of the tools or means by which assurance is Biblically grounded, are found in the 8 relationships John bids us to consider in this short letter.

You’ll see what I mean pretty quickly. That said, this is where we’re going today.
1. Two Complications
2. John’s Introduction
3. Fellowship
4. Relationship #1
I. We need to note that the question of assurance is complicated on 2 major fronts.

First, because of the different people who may or may not be asking this question.

4 Come immediately to mind.

We get them from the reasons John explicitly says he wrote this letter.

a. Those who do not yet know Christ savingly.

John states it in 1:3 / “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

If you do not know Jesus as your sin-bearer – or as John says it here: If you are not in “fellowship with us” with other genuine Believers; and in “fellowship” with God and His Son Jesus Christ – then of course you cannot have any sense of a secure salvation.

I’ll explain that word “fellowship” more as we go, it is vitally important to understand.

But the bottom line is, we cannot be assured of something we do not possess.

No one can be nor SHOULD BE assured of a salvation they do not have.

And no one has salvation who rejects the Bible, the Gospel, or denies the fundamentals of Biblical teaching.

b. Maybe you are one of those who profess to be Christ’s but in truth you are in an apathetic and compromised state.

John says he is writing to you too. 1 John 2:1a – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

There are those who know the Gospel and claim to be Christ’s but who are not challenging sins in their lives and living in willful neglect of holy things and what the Bible teaches.

These MIGHT? be saved, but they have no right to an assurance of it.

Christ did not save us to leave us in our sins – but to save us from them.

And if we live at cross purposes with the core reason for His incarnation, life, death, burial and resurrection – how can we imagine we have true “fellowship” with Him?

We can’t. And if this is you, you have no right to believe you are saved. And, no right to an assurance of salvation.

The Holy Spirit through John has written to you. And as the writer to the Hebrews addressing professing Believers says: Hebrews 2:3 / “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard”

Genuine salvation must be attended to. It cannot be “neglected.”

c. Those who are deceived At least 2 groups fall into this category:

Those who THINK they are Christ’s and already imagine an assurance of salvation simply because they walked an aisle one time, said a prayer, were raised in a Christian home, or just feel it to be so.

Those who make mere pledges or one-time decisions which do not go on to produce the fruit that attends genuine salvation are self-deceived. John 15:2a–6 / “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

This will bring us back to consider the importance of that word “fellowship” – which explains what it means to “abide” in Christ. We WILL come back to this in detail.

Another dangerous deception is seen in those who are NOT Christ’s but assure themselves they will have salvation anyway.

Sky and I spent New Year’s Eve with a gal and her family that Sky led to Christ years ago.

As we talked she recalled vividly how back then Sky had asked her if she were to die that day, would she go to Heaven? She replied – “of course!”

And Sky asked the all-important follow up: “Why? Why do you think that?”

And as this gal took a few moments to be honest with herself, she admitted she didn’t really have a reason to believe it. She just did.

It was this the Holy Spirit used to show her her need and what eventually brought her to faith in Christ.

Many think this, either because they simply choose to believe it, or because they’ve bought into a false religion or belief system.

They have an invented – or trust in – an invented doctrine of salvation, apart from the need for and trust in the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus on the cross.

They assert their salvation in the face of passages like Acts 4:12 / “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

d. Those who ARE Christ’s but for various reasons struggle with full assurance

These folks genuinely ARE Christ’s and take great pains to serve and seek Him, but for some reason struggle with a full assurance regarding their salvation.

John expressly writes to you as well: 1 John 5:13 / “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

These are my primary audience, though what we will cover applies to all those we’ve mentioned above.

Perhaps this is you.

You are a Believer as best you know, but at times you really wrestle with whether or not that is true – whether or not you really DO have eternal life – NOW.

I pray what we cover in these next few weeks begins to take hold in your heart and bring you great relief.

I am convinced you do not have to remain in any doubt.

So this is the first part of what makes this topic a bit complex.

The second complication is the tendency to make assurance a matter of pure subjectivity.

Usefully, John will open up for us both Objective and Subjective means of grasping the reality of our state.

Objective and Subjective proofs

On the subjective side, there is the problem of basing our assurance either upon feelings, or on performance.

Do I “FEEL” saved?

Do I “DO” enough of the right things?

Do I reject enough of the wrong things?

But as I said, John provides 2 kinds of proof for salvation.

OBJECTIVE PROOFS – “What does the Word say?” Or better yet, what does God say? AND –

SUBJECTIVE PROOFS – Things which can be detected by observation.

We need OBJECTIVE proofs to keep us from depending solely upon feelings and speculation.

As we all know feelings wax and wane, come and go.

They are indicators of what I think, but not necessarily of what is true.

At the same time we need SUBJECTIVE proofs to keep us from denying what the Bible says are the things which accompany genuine spiritual life.

What right does someone have to believe they are saved based upon what the Bible says a saved person is and does?

What are the things Scripture tells us can be relied upon for drawing that conclusion?

How can I be sure?

So it is John tells us his 5th reason in writing this letter, and why he preaches the Gospel in the first place: 1 John 1:4 / “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

John finds a marvelous joy in 4 things: Bringing people into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ; disabusing them of deceptions about true salvation; helping Believers overcome sin and helping Believers find a sound and solid assurance of their salvation.

So he writes how this impacts his joy.

II. John’s Introduction

That takes us right back to the beginning of this letter then: 1 John 1:1–3 / “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Making John’s introduction part of our introduction, we need to take note of some vital information here:
1. The “proclamation” or preaching of John and the Apostles was about “eternal life”. (2)
2. The eternal life they preached was not some abstract idea or substance or anything of the sort – but is in fact a person – Jesus Christ.
3. Who this eternal life is, is identified by referring to:
“what we heard” (1);

“seen with our eyes” (1);

“touched with our hands” (1);

is called “the word of life” (1);

“was made manifest” (2);

“was with the Father” (2);

In other words, this is clearly Jesus Christ. The words take you back to the opening of John’s Gospel: John 1:1–2 / “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

And John 1:14 / “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

That the aim, the goal of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the Apostles was this: 1 John 1:3 / “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

III. Fellowship

The Apostles’ mission in preaching the Gospel was so that people might have fellowship with them. Which fellowship also includes fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Which brings us to a very critical point – something upon which the whole of this letter hangs:

What does “fellowship” mean?

To our modern ear, and maybe because of how the Church has misused the term over the years, we tend to think of fellowship mostly as a social thing.

For us, to have fellowship is to sit down and have a meal together and easy conversation. It is the life of friends.

And while that element is part of what John is referring to here, it is by no means the core of what the Bible is after in using that word.

We can see the problem immediately when we look at John’s words here again: 1 John 1:3 / “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

The social idea of fellowship works when we think of one another. But how does it fit when we think of having fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ?

That is another story altogether. Especially when we consider that John says here that entering into this fellowship is directly tied to the proclamation of God manifest in the flesh in Jesus Christ.

So what in the world is he saying?

koinonia/fellowship – As the Bible uses the word koinonia, or “fellowship” as it is most often translated – it’s referring to a close relationship that involves sharing and participating in things together. Having common property and life in the way you do when you are married to someone – when you have not just an emotional bond, but one that even spills over into being a legal one as well.

A committed relationship of mutual care and concern and goals.

Acts 2:42 uses the word to describe how the early Church drew together, especially in the face of opposition. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Notice the term here isn’t that they devoted themselves to “fellowship”, but to THE fellowship.

The band of Believers knit together by the apostles’ teaching, prayer and the practice of communion or the Lord’s Supper – were denominated: “The Fellowship.”

In 2 Corinthians Paul uses the word to describe what Christians CANNOT have with idolators or false religion. 2 Cor. 6:14 / “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

We’re not on the same page with all religions – with their goals, worldview and practices.

In Galatians Paul uses the word to describe how he and Barnabas were accepted by the leadership of the Church in Jerusalem as true partners with the apostles in the ministry of the Gospel and not competitors or peddlers of a false Gospel.

Galatians 2:9 / “and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

And here we really start to get to the key idea.

Let me give you one more reference which I think really captures what we need to grasp here: Philippians 1:3–5 / “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

The word that brings the Bible’s idea of fellowship into focus and becomes so useful for us in this is –

PARTNERSHIP

What does it mean to be in fellowship with God’s people, and with God the Father and Jesus the Son?

It is to be in a close personal relationship, in which we share the most vital things in common, and are bound together in partnership with God in His plans and purposes in the world and in our lives.

It is this partnership relationship that John is after.

This is the heart of true fellowship with God and His people.

The Gospel brings people into partnership with God.

And it is here that we begin to unpack the 8 relationships John will appeal to in helping Believers come to a solid sense of the assurance of their salvation.

And so the first relationship upon which this fellowship is based is addressed by asking ourselves –

IV. Relationship #1

#1 What is my relationship to the Word of God?

John begins his letter appealing to the witness of the Apostles to the incarnation of Jesus Christ – and that salvation, or “life” as he puts here, is wrapped up in believing the truth about Jesus.

1 John 1:1–3 / “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Whether we are talking about salvation in general, or someone’s personal assurance that they are saved – we must begin here.

What is our relationship to God’s revelation in His Word?

Look at what God Himself says in this regard: Isaiah 66:2b / “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

For if we do not have some authority, an infallible authority above our own feelings or observations to make our salvation concrete, we are forever left to passing thoughts, variable feelings, randomly interpreted events or the opinions of others.

So I must ask myself first, “do I believe the Gospel?” Have I believed the Word of God in its proclamation of who Jesus is, and how He brings salvation? Do I tremble at His word?

And we are by no means the first to be drawn back to this crucial starting point.

This was the question for the Ethiopian eunuch in the book of Acts.

Do you remember his situation?

This man who was a court official of Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopian nation – had come to Jerusalem to worship.

Since the account takes place right after Pentecost, he was probably there for the whole festival beginning with Passover and stretching for the entire 7 weeks.

Luke says that while he was returning home, he was reading the book of Isaiah: Acts 8:32–33 / “Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

Led by the Spirit, Philip approaches the man hearing him read Isaiah aloud and engages him.

And so the Eunuch asks Philip – who in the world is the prophet referring to here? Himself, or someone else? Acts 8:35 / “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”

In that moment, this man’s relationship to the Word of God took a radical turn.

He knew the Bible was something special. He was reading it hoping to understand it.

But until he came to see that its great subject matter is the revelation of Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross – it had no saving power.

Once Christ is revealed in it, and Jesus is embraced as the Savior by faith – salvation comes!

We have a similar account with Peter and Cornelius in Caesarea.

This man Cornelius is described in a wonderful way: Acts 10:2 / “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.”

But he wasn’t saved! He could have no assurance of his salvation even though he was such a devout and good man.

When Peter recounts this whole event to the Elders in Jerusalem later he says of Cornelius: Acts 11:13–14 / “And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.”

And what message did Peter bring to him? Acts 10:39–43 / “And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Look at that last sentence: Along with Peter’s own eye witness, he showed Cornelius that the Old Testament Jewish Scriptures also bear witness that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name.

This then is the very first question everyone must answer: What is my relationship to the Word of God?

Do I believe it?

Do I accept it as God’s Word?

Do I tremble at it so that it has final authority in my life?

And as is typical of John’s style, he will come back to this point over and over in this letter.

1 John 2:3–5 / “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:”

Do you see how assurance is tied to keeping God’s commandments and Word?

And let me unpack that word “keeping” here, because it has been a stumbling block to many.

If by “keeping” God’s Word one imagines flawlessly obeying and performing it in every detail you will forever be in doubt.

Of course, to obey is part of the idea, but it is more completely understood in terms of cherishing, revering, guarding, protecting and honoring.

Paul uses it in 1 Cor. 7 for how a young man would keep his intended bride pure because he treasures her and does not take her virtue lightly. He wants to protect her.

No one can keep God’s Word or commandments so as to be in any way acceptable before God – the Scripture itself tells us that in Romans 3 and the book of Galatians most pointedly.

No, the question is – do I treat and handle God’s Word for what it is – God’s Word?

Is it precious to me because in it my God is addressing me? Revealing Himself to me.

What is my relationship to it? Do I believe all it teaches and hold that as the final answer in my life?

For unless I trust God’s assessment of what constitutes salvation and my assurance of it, I will never find stability.

John comes back to this again in 2:7-8 1 John 2:7–8 / “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

What I am writing to you, John says, is the same Word of God, but now brought to its fulfillment in Jesus.

That being the case – 1 John 2:24 / “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.”

We stay grounded IF we stay in the Gospel we have heard.

1 John 3:11–12 / “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

And this Word, this message authoritatively calls us into a way of walking in life with others who are His. Something we’ll unpack later.

1 John 3:21–24 / “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

Treasuring, cherishing and honoring His Word gives us confidence before Him – even as we see how it draws us to trust in Christ, and love those who are His. It lets us live KNOWING, truly knowing, not guessing, He abides in us.

The Word alone can give us the infallible proofs we need to settle our hearts and minds.

And so John can go on to assert: 1 John 4:6 / “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

Do you hear that? Whoever does not listen to the witness of the Apostles and the Word, is not from God!

And if you will not accept the Bible’s verdict on your salvation but continue to look for something else, you are in danger of rejecting God’s Word and you are in serious trouble.

But if we DO listen, if we DO cherish and revere God’s Word: 1 John 5:2–5 / “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

The one who keeps – knows, treasures, protects and cherishes God’s Word, who finds the Word delightful and not burdensome – this one finds the faith that overcomes the World and its deceptions.

This one KNOWS he or she is a child of God. For we love His Word because it is – His Word to us. And we love Him.

If you are one struggling with whether or not you are truly saved – this is the starting point.

Let me be really clear here: If God’s Word is not precious to you, you have very good reason to doubt you stand in right relationship to Him.

Who loves someone but disregards them in making themselves fully known to them?

But if you DO treasure God’s Word, if you seek to know it and know Him in it, even if parts are difficult to sort out and even troubling, even if you have difficulty reading it – you have good reason to believe God is at work in your heart.

And when this relationship to His Word is coupled with the other things His Word will have to say on the subject, you are on the way to finding a true and settled assurance in Him.

What is my relationship to the Word of God?

If I cherish it, tremble at, and am willing to submit to ITS assessment of me, and IT tells me I am saved – then I can have the utmost and absolute assurance that I am.

And if I have no love for it, no desire to know it and Christ in it – I have real reason to doubt that I am a true Christian.

And now is the time to seek God to give you that revelation of Himself in the Word – and by His Spirit to birth that love and reverence for it, and to know the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ that permeates it.

Many a professed Christian has little or no regard for God’s Word, interest in it, love for it or desire to know it.

By this they demonstrate they are indeed just “professed” Christians.

And many are true Christians who for various reasons struggle to read, study and understand God’s Word, who nonetheless desire to know it, look to it, accept its revelations about Jesus, live by it and receive it as it really is – God’s Word.

These have a most reasonable indication they belong to God in Christ. Here is where assurance begins.

Now is a good time to begin to examine your own heart on this crucial question.

Lets’ pray.
12 Days of Christmas? – Psalm 103

December 23rd, 2018
12 Days of Christmas?

Psalm 103

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Recently I read an article on what the author called the most annoying song ever written.

He was referring to the song we hear over and over this time of the year, the very strange – 12 Days of Christmas.

No one is quite certain when this song was first introduced. There are traces of it back to the 8th century.

In its present form, we get the words from a children’s book published in 1780 titled “Mirth Without Mischief.”

The Tune came to us in 1909.

What in the world the 18th century writer was after in such an odd arrangement of gifts – the enduring thought is that of bounty and good coming to someone they love in celebrating Christmas.

Everyone who is even the least aware of the Biblical Christmas story automatically connects the idea of gift giving at this time, with the gift of God in giving His Son as the Savior of the World.

For the last 2 Sundays, and then especially in last week’s program, we’ve visited these precious and powerful truths again and again.

It’s in keeping with this theme for our last Sunday together before Christmas to visit the true bounty of what God gives us in Christ Jesus just one more time.

In doing so this morning, I’d like to turn our attention to a passage of Scripture that lends itself so very keenly to this 12-gift idea.

The 103rd Psalm is a roster of 12 blessings the Believer receives in Christ which ought to make us consider how very, very rich we truly are in Jesus.

A few years ago, some wag sat down to calculate the actual dollar amount associated with the 12 Days of Christmas in the song.

It came up somewhere around $40K.

Beloved, that’s nothing.

Less than nothing compared to what we’re about to unwrap in this most precious Psalm this morning.

The opening 2 verses set the stage for us.

Psalm 103:1–2 ESV “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits”

It’s easy for us to be so wrapped up in the cares, as well as the hustle and bustle of the season to let the benefits that God lavishes upon us take a back seat, both in our hearts and in minds.

I’ve mentioned countless times to you what is referred to as the noetic effects of the Fall. Those lingering defects in the human soul that continue to plague even the Believer after coming to Christ.

And chief among them to me is that of FORGETFULNESS – especially of Biblical and spiritual truth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer notes it as the singular problem we face when we are being tempted. He writes that in those moments we are not filled with hatred of God, but forgetfulness of Him.

We forget that the World presents lies and illusions designed to divert us away from Christ and salvation.

We forget we have an enemy who seeks the destruction of our souls with unalloyed bitterness and viciousness.

We forget that Believers were crucified with Christ and are not debtors to live after the desires of the flesh any more.

Most of all we forget how truly blessed we are – and so we’re drawn away after what purports to be better, higher or quicker blessings in the moment.

So it is in God’s good grace we have this opening exhortation in vss. 1-2.
1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his book “Spiritual Depression, its Causes and Cures” – remarks that Christians often do not talk to ourselves enough.
We don’t take ourselves in hand when we are tempted to despair in life, or to indulge in self-pity or to covet what others have that seems so much better than what we do.

But that is precisely what David is doing in these opening lines.

He’s talking to himself. In the best possible way.

“Soul” he says – “bless the Lord. Whatever else is going on in this moment, stop and bless the Lord.”

And apparently, knowing how halfheartedly one can exhort themselves in weak moments, he ratchets it up: “ALL that is within me – bless His holy name.”

Don’t just go through the motions, do what it takes to throw off the reluctance to join in praising God wholeheartedly – and praise Him from the depths within!

Perhaps that’s you this morning.

We all know the statistics: Around holidays like these we can get overwhelmed with all that’s going on, and the loss of loved ones, the weight of certain ongoing situations and heartaches can seem greatly magnified.

Loneliness hits its highest point in the year.

A deep sadness can set in, in the midst of all the lights and celebration and hurry.

Maybe this morning, this is just what you need.

To step back and talk to yourself a bit.

To be your own Psalmist.

To remind yourself that God is still on His throne.

That God is still good. Infinitely so.

That God loves you in Christ as His very own child. If indeed you are in Christ.

That the glories of Heaven are not that far off for all who savingly trust Him.

And that He has blessed you astoundingly – as Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”

Psalm 103:1–2 ESV “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits”

So let’s do a little comparing shall we?

What say we look at this little ditty of a song which has been sung for centuries, and do a little one-for-one comparison.

Just what does the World offer us that is so alluring?

And how does it compare with the blessings those in Christ possess even now – before our final inheritance?

1 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity (3a)

A Partridge in a pear tree tree VS Forgives all your Iniquity

Well now, this is grand isn’t it?

Certainly one should desire with all their hearts a partridge in a pear tree! Isn’t that just what you’ve always wanted?

Me neither. And what does it even mean?

And really, what is that when compared to what Christ offers in forgiving all our iniquity?

The foolishness of it isn’t hard to detect, is it?

In fact, it truly is foolishness.

Those who know birds just a bit, know that partridges are ground birds. They don’t live in trees.

Yes, they are a game bird and can be quite tasty, I suppose even served with pears.

But the rhyme exposes the folly of this world.

For the World can only offer illusions, with a little temporary treat attached.

The picture of a partridge in a pear tree is a picture of something that is a fantasy. Nonsense.

OK, maybe a bird to eat, and at that, then you are hungry again.

But in fact, it is an illusion, since there is no such thing as a partridge in a pear tree. You can’t actually have it.

Sin always advertises what in the end it can’t deliver.

But Jesus! The one who was named Jesus because He would save His people from their sins – now He can deliver!

For both as God, and as the one who died for our sins, He has the authority, the right and the ability not just to forgive our individual acts of disobedience, but as the text says – who forgives (continuously) ALL of our iniquities – even our remaining inner bent toward sin AND the guilt of it!

So the choice is laid out before us: We can have the tasty but temporary illusions the World offers, or the perpetual joy of knowing all of our deepest sinfulness is forgiven that we might have all the wonders of God in Christ forever.

Scratch one off.

2 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…who heals all your diseases

2 Turtle Doves VS Heals all your Diseases

The turtle dove has long been a symbol of love and fidelity.

Turtle doves mate for life and have come to represent the embodiment of having found true, enduring, life-time love.

And this does strike at the heart of the human soul doesn’t it?

How we long for, search out and try to find that one enduring love for our lifetime.

A hope the world seeks after with ever increasing fury.

As we sit here today, 40 million people in America alone are using online dating services in an attempt to find that deep and lasting connection with another human being.

After all, as God pronounced even in the Garden, it is not good for man to be alone.

But sin has ruined all of this. Look at the divorce rates all around us.

What we all hope for in this regard, the World has no power to guarantee.

Sin has struck a blow at the very heart of what it means to be human and to love one another.

How vivid a contrast there is here.

The word for diseases here is used only 5 times in the entire Bible.

And it’s always used in relation to the judgment of God upon sin and the ill-effects that judgment brings.

So when this passage reminds us, when David, who was no stranger to how sin destroyed virtually every one of his relationships makes this statement, it comes from the depths of his own soul: “Bless the Lord, O my soul” – for one of the benefits that accrues to those in Christ is that He heals all our diseases.

God in the redeeming love and grace of Jesus Christ promises to remove from us even the judgments upon sin we so rightly deserve.

He delivers us from our own fall and its consequences.

He restores us to Himself and to others in Him, in unbreakable, eternal bonds of love.

Bless the Lord!

3 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…who redeems your life from the pit

3 French Hens VS Redeems your Life from the Pit

What the World offers can only be increased quantity and temporary delicacies.

And so our song ramps up the fare. 3 French hens. Delicious dining for more than one meal. Sumptuous. This is true.

But as is always true with such things, they are lost and consumed in the enjoyment of them.

This is the way it is with all the pleasures the World can offer.

It can only give – no matter how delicious – what can last for only the shortest amount of time.

In my previous employment, because it was in the Food Service industry, I got to dine in some of the finest restaurants in the world.

And when each of those meals was done, some costing several hundreds of dollars, they were gone.

Over.

The delight I had in them in the moment, could not be preserved.

Tomorrow would be another meal, and so on and so on and so on.

But what does the Believer find in Christ?

Not just the promise of this life, but of that to come.

Christ redeems our lives from the pit – the grave.

From death itself.

In Him, the temporary gives way to the eternal.

Death is NOT the end for the Believer.

We know full well with Paul that to be absent from this body is to bring us directly into the presence of our Lord and God and King.

3 delicious meals of the finest delicacy versus being delivered from the wages of sin which is death.

Not much of a choice is it?

4 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy (4b)

4 Calling Birds VS Crowned with Steadfast Love and Mercy

The earliest version of this silly song didn’t read 4 “calling” birds, but rather, 4 “colly” birds – black birds. Crows.

Back when this was composed, it was considered quite the practical joke, for chefs to bake a high domed pie crust in two separate pieces, top and bottom.

Then, they would put blackbirds – living blackbirds inside, seal the top and serve the dish.

When the crust was broken open, the blackbirds would fly out to the great surprise and delight of the guests.

We don’t know for certain if this was behind the imagery of the song, but it surely fits.

For when it’s all said and done, this World under the influence of Satan can only taut us with cruel jokes.

The enemy of our souls seeks to tease and torment us with false promises of all kinds.

Sex outside of marriage will satisfy.

Drugs and alcohol will make everything more bearable.

Position, possessions, power and pleasure are worth all our time, money and effort.

Compromise with God’s Word will finally bring full satisfaction to some deep, inner longing.

And with the promise of all this satisfaction, comes nothing but the cruel joke that it is all a lie.

Have them all, and you’re still empty.

But what of Christ?

He crowns us with steadfast love and mercy.

He plays no cruel joke.

He loves without end.

He remains steadfast and true when the empty promises of this life give way to the disappointments they all are.

He doesn’t bring us harm but that which is as opposite to harm as possible; being merciful to us even in our sins and failures.

5 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (5)

5 Golden Rings VS Satisfaction with good so that your Youth is Renewed

There’s a debate about this lyric. Whether it refers to 5 metal rings of gold, or to the rings of gold around the neck of certain pheasants.

Let’s just go with the traditional thought that in fact 5 costly, gold rings are what’s meant.

That being the case, the thought here is that the World trades on offering people wealth.

Our entire American system seems built upon the possibility of everyone acquiring, growing and maintaining wealth.

This, in the face of God’s Word which warns so clearly: Proverbs 23:4 ESV “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.”

Why? The next verse says it powerfully: Proverbs 23:5 ESV “When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.”

Little in life is sadder than to see someone who has spent all their youth and energy on chasing and amassing wealth, only to realize that in the end, life itself has passed them by.

They learn the sting all too late of Jesus’ warning “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

In truth we’ll all die as penniless as we came into this world. We carry no gold with us when we leave. Nothing.

What a contrast this is then. 5 golden rings versus the promise of God that: Isaiah 40:31 ESV “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

The reality that in Christ – is the promise of the resurrection – a day of renewed life and strength and vigor that shall never wane.

Keep your 5 golden rings thank you – I think eternal life in strength and eternal vigor is just a tad more valuable.

6 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed (6)

6 Geese a-Laying VS Righteousness and Justice for the Oppressed

To our modern ear, 6 geese that lay eggs might draw barely more than a “meh” from most of us.

But when this little ditty was 1st penned – probably in the 8th century or so, till the time it was published in it’s present form in the 18th century – geese were a pretty important animal to have around.

Domesticated for nearly 3000 years, geese were so valuable it was illegal to eat them in England at various periods.

The surprise is, geese would be thought of in terms of safety or security and not as much for food.

As odd as it may seem to you and me, geese have been used as guard animals for centuries.

Let me quote from one source on it: “Geese are still used as guard animals in many parts of the world today. Unable to be bribed with treats and exceptionally loud, geese have keener eyesight and hearing than humans and will not miss potential strangers intruding. They are currently used throughout China’s Xinjiang province to guard police stations, and in West Germany, geese were on guard duty at U.S. military bases.” In the 80’s!

The symbol is fairly evident. One who had a flock of lively geese is one who thought they could live in relative security and safety. Their family and goods were being watched over.

People want security.

A society where justice and righteousness deal with injustice even if they themselves may not be quite as upright as they might imagine.

So far so good. But as Psalm 127 reminds us: Psalm 127:1 ESV “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

We can buy our guns, set our house and car alarms, fund our armies, purchase cyber-security ware and hedge all bets with insurances of all kinds – but only those in Christ know true security.

A security that extends far beyond material things.

For our security remains intact even if everything in this material world disappears tomorrow.

We serve a God who works righteousness – and justice for all who are oppressed.

He will bring final justice in His day for His people.

And as for oppression, there’s an oppression that is far more wicked and destructive than any exercised by any totalitarian regime or despot – and Jesus was sent in specific regard to it: Acts 10:38 ESV “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

Blinded by the Devil from the Gospel so as to keep men from being reconciled to God.

Bound in sin and shame, serving the lusts of the flesh without even knowing what slaves to it they are.

Bound by the fear of death. In unforgiveness, bitterness and slaves to the values of this fallen world.

Christ has come to bring justice and vengeance upon all sin, and to let the oppressed go free in Him.

Keep your squawking geese! They can’t protect a thing.

7 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who made known His ways to Moses & His acts to the people of Israel (7)

7 Swans a-Swimming VS Revelation of God’s Acts & Ways

I will have to admit to you all that I am a person who has been terribly neglectful of appreciating the aesthetic beauty that God blesses us with every day in the creation all around us.

Some of you here are so good at pointing it out to me at times, or capturing it in photographs or in your artistry.

In fact, there are those who give their whole lives up to perusing, crafting and owning such beauty.

And there IS true beauty in this world. Beauty we are meant to drink in, appreciate and delight in. God made it that way.

But there are beauties above the present aesthetic, the tactile, olfactory and auditory.

Yes, we enjoy sights, tastes, touches, sensations, sound and smells that are each truly, exquisitely beautiful.

Such is the picture of 7 swans swimming, isn’t it? Graceful. Elegant. Serene. Calming. Sweet.

Oh but there are beauties higher yet that can easily escape our attention, that our Psalmist points out here.

It is one thing to know how pleasing and delightful to the senses such scenes are – but quite another to know the heart and the mind of the one who creates such beauty and places it before us to bless us.

So David says: With all God has done, He made His ways known to Moses. He revealed His plans and purposes and reasons to Him – and by proxy in His Word to all of us.

I love great architecture. And I especially love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

But I would rather know the man than merely His buildings. To really know the genius and how his mind worked creatively.

How privileged are Believers then to not only see the handiwork of God, but to KNOW Him. To know His ways – what motivates Him, delights Him, stirs Him. To draw out His thoughts and His heart.

This He has given to us in His Word that we might KNOW Him, not just know about Him.

To encounter beauty on a scale we can’t even begin to imagine yet.

For what beauty must be bound up in the One who made beauty itself a thing for us?

Would you know Him?

Know Him as He is revealed in Christ in the pages of the Scriptures, where we find His ways and His acts laid out for us search out over and over to that we might see more and dazzling sights.

7 Swans swimming is a beautiful sight. But the sight of the one who made those swans is transcendentally higher.

8 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (8)

8 Maids a-Milking VS The Lord Merciful, Gracious, Slow to Anger & Abounding in Steadfast Love

Indeed, someone with 8 maids a milking is someone who has a vast and prosperous estate.

But tell me, what is such an estate to knowing God – that God who must judge sin, and whom you and I have sinned against over and over again?

To know Him in His mercy, in the fact that He does not just act out of grace, but IS gracious.

This One whom we offend by our fallenness every hour of every day is slow to anger, and abounding toward us in steadfast, never wavering love.

Even when He does rebuke us in our folly, He does not remain angry with us. He never freezes us out.

Keep your cows and keep your maids – Give me a God who is like this! This is worth everything.

9 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities (10)

9 Ladies Dancing VS Not being Dealt with According to our Sins, nor Repaid According to our Iniquities

And oh, how the World loves to give us entertainment.

It is our entertainers who command the highest incomes.

Entertainers who get the royal treatment. Whose voices get to be heard on any and all topics as though they know better than the rest of us.

We live in a world of endless entertainment. 24 hours a day.

And it’s a great diversion.

It was in 1985 that Neil Postman’s powerful book hit the shelves. “Amusing ourselves to Death” was the title. “Public Discourse in the Age of Show” the sub-title.

We crave amusement and entertainment like no generation before us. All the while being drawn away from the serious concerns of life and eternity.

We think so little on subjects like sin, death, meaning, purpose, values, the human condition and especially the need for and substance of the Gospel.

But if you want to muse rather than a-muse yourself. If you want to think deeply to the point of having your soul moved and your innermost being transformed and lifted into the heavenlies – think on this for a bit: That God has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid according to our Iniquities.

Indeed, for those in Christ, He deals with us according to Christ’s righteousness and repays us according to His perfect obedience.

As high as the heavens are above the earth – that’s how great His steadfast love is to those who fear Him.

And as far as the east is from the west – that’s how far He has removed our transgressions from us.

Entertain that for a while – and see what it does for your heart and mind.

10 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who as a father shows compassion to his children, shows compassion to those who fear Him (13)

10 Lords a-Leaping VS Divine Compassion and Understanding

Oh how some persue prestige and power over others.

The picture here is poignant. Having 10 Lords – men of standing and power themselves – leaping at your whims and wishes. Dancing to your tune. Marching to your drum.

And many is the man and woman today who seeks that power in politics and industry and wherever else they may find it. In the home. Some, even in the Church.

But there is something far more heady than having other people at your beck and call.

The wonder, the joy the blessedness of knowing that the God of the universe is our Father, and that He knows full well how weak and frail and faulty we are.

He remembers our frame.

He knows that in ourselves we are just dust.

He remembers that our lifespan is barely a blip on the timeline of eternity.

And He is full of compassion toward us.

Oh what a sweet and glorious Father He is to the redeemed.

11 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… whose steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children (17)

11 Pipers Piping VS Steadfast, Divine, Eternal Love that overflows to our Children & Grandchildren

Music is a wonderful thing. I love it.

I love all different genres of it. Jazz, Pop, Metal, Classical, Rock, Folk – I’m trying with Country – Big Band. Gospel. Hymns and anthems. I’m not big on marches I’ll admit.

But people can be so charmed by music as to be lost in it as well.

Here is a great gift from God. But woe to us if we fail to strain after a music the likes of which the World can’t produce if all the prodigies of all the ages were assembled.

Music like that which we never heard – the book of Job tells us rang out from the angels at creation.

We’ve just finished our study in the Book of Revelation and one aspect I never got to go back and explore was something I noticed in that study – that there are 11 or 12 hymns in that book. And I want to hear them some day with that choir of angels and of the Redeemed in the heavenlies.

Throughout the Psalms and everywhere else we are exhorted to sing to God in joy and gladness and to lift up our hearts in song.

And surely the World can offer up some grand musicianship.

But there is a music which transcends all.

Its theme is the Steadfast, Divine, Eternal Love of the Lord that overflows to the Children & Grandchildren of those who keep His covenant.

And we only sing part of it. No, here is a music of which all of the music of earth and even of the angels pales in comparison: It is a divine duet. It starts with us and then…Zephaniah 3:14–17 ESV “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

11 Pipers? OK, if you want.

But I want to hear God sing – to hear what it sounds like when He rejoices over His redeemed ones with gladness – and exults over us with loud singing!

12 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits… who has established His throne in the heavens, and whose kingdom rules over all (19)

12 Drummers Drumming VS The Lordship of the Eternal, Magnificent God who Loves me, over Everything

12 drummers drumming is a great picture of someone being honored in a parade. Pomp and circumstance.

And how we love to be celebrated don’t we?

We love to be recognized for achievements and talents and, just because. The human ego loves being stroked.

But there is a gift that so outstrips our being recognized and lauded and honored by anyone for anything – It is to have my Father, My Savior, My Lord and God and King and the One who gave His life for me, finally ensconced in Heaven as He should be – ruling and reigning over all in righteousness, holiness and power.

When He is at last fully revealed in all of His glory – that will be the greatest gift He can give us. And so Jesus prayed: John 17:24 ESV “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

The 12 Days of Christmas was meant to be sung by children as what they used to call a forfeit game.

If you could remember all 12 while singing through the song, you got a reward. And if you stumbled along the way, you forfeited the prize.

Oh that we would practice as much to retain the 12 gifts, the divine benefits of Christmas in Psalm 103.

How remembering His benefits would inoculate us against the soul disease of self-pity.

How it would prevent covetousness.

It would remind us over and over of how loved we are.

And it would remind us of how good our God is, and how much He delights to shower blessings on His people.

The World can only give us counterfeits, copies and lies.

But God has given us Himself in Christ Jesus, and the salvation He wrought by dying in our place on Calvary.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…

Merry Christmas!
A 12 Day Christmas Treat

December 21st, 2018

Traditionally, the 12 Days of Christmas or “Twelvetide” spans the time from Christmas Day (Dec. 25) to January 5. It is a time of remembering the incarnation and extending that remembrance so it does not just run by too quickly.

This year, for my birthday in October, my Daughter gave me a book (my favorite gift always) by Sinclair Ferguson. So my favorite gift from one of my favorite authors. A win-win!

And that book is: “Love Came Down at Christmas” – “Daily Readings for Advent.” 12 Daily readings for the season.

And these are really tasty treats for the soul.

Fattening in the best possible way.

It’s not too late to get yours or to give to someone else as a gift.

Each reading is short but rich, rich, rich.

Enjoy!

And Merry Christmas!
You Will Call His Name – Part 2

December 17th, 2018

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Last time we began to unpack the 7 different labels, titles or designations given to the Christ-child in this short portion of Scripture.

All of these are foundational to how we are to understand both the person and work of Jesus. And they would have been just as formative for Jesus’ parents and those around Him – as well as for Himself.

Just as going back to the account of Creation informs us as human beings about what it means to BE human – so the revelation of God here informs Jesus from His earliest days.

Because of Genesis we know that human beings are not cosmic accidents. That we are a special creation of God. That we were made in His image, rational, self-aware, holy, morally responsible, and made to be God’s vice-regents over Creation.

So it is from His childhood on, it would have been Mary and Joseph’s responsibility to educate Jesus on the very facts we are investigating here.

We heard last week from Ben Zwickl about the New City Catechism the Sunday School is undertaking. What is the purpose of such a thing?

A catechism is simply a method of learning, by questions and answers. And so this one begins with:

Question 1 – What is our only hope in life and death?

“That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.”

The idea is to build into our young ones from the earliest ages a sense of who and what they are in God’s universe.

Now imagine being tasked to do that with Incarnate Son of God. Where would you even start?

No doubt, most of us here at one time or another asked our parents why they named us what they did.

Was it in honor of some other family member? Simply because they liked the sound of it? Because it was trendy? Because the origin of the name meant something in terms of what they hoped would be your character? Was it after someone they admired? Does it have ethnic importance? It is a reasonable and common question to ask.

When I asked my Dad why he named me Reid, he said it was because he read it in a comic book and liked it. So much for more noble purposes. My middle name however was for someone my Dad really admired – a boss of his at Kodak who took my Dad under his wing.

But when Jesus would get to the age when He might ask why He was named Jesus when (as was the custom then) He had no immediate family by the same name – it would probably have been Joseph who sat down and said…”Son, I’ve got some things to tell you.”

Can you imagine that discussion? “Let me tell you about your Mom’s relatives, Elizabeth and Zechariah. About your cousin John and his own amazing birth.”

“Now let me tell you about how an angel spoke to me and told me that I was to give you the name Jesus. And not only did he tell me what your name would be, he told my why that particular name: “Because you were going to save your people from their sins.”

“This is exactly what he said: Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21 ESV

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

What I would give to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

But Joseph would have to go on – “and there’s more Son.”

You need to know that: Matthew 1:22–23 ESV  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

“And…as if those things are not enough Son, shortly after you were born – we were visited by some dignitaries from the East.”

“They brought gifts for you, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And they told us that when they were looking for you, they went to King Herod to ask about you.”

“And what they asked was”: Matthew 2:2 ESV  saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

My imagination pictures something like this going forward: “Now obviously this is a lot to digest, and we’ll have to think long and hard about it all – but while were on this subject, I may just as well go ahead and open up the entire thing.”

So for Jesus and Joseph and Mary – life would be more than just complex. How would you begin to take all of this in? What would you do with it?

As for them, we can only guess. The bigger question – the one we need to wrestle with is – what do WE do with all of this information?

He came to REDEEM us

RECONCILE us

REIGN over us

How do WE respond to the Scripture’s revelation that Jesus is Jesus because He was sent to Redeem us from our sins, Reconcile us to the Father, and Reign over us as our God?

If those were the only things we needed to wrestle with, that would be enough. But the text before us goes on to put 4 more things before us to consider as central to Christmas – to the incarnation.

So we come to the 4th designation given to us in this passage. And it comes from a very unlikely source – Herod the king.

Matthew 2:1–4 ESV  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

Jesus

Immanuel

King of the Jews

The Christ

When I was younger, it used to be sort of a joke to imagine that some people thought “Christ” was Jesus’ last name.

The older I got, the more I realized that the way He is addressed in our English Bibles as “Jesus Christ” lends itself to that idea for those not familiar with Scripture and especially what the term “Christ” means.

So if this was or is you – don’t feel bad. You are far from alone.

In the ESV which I am preaching from – “Jesus Christ” appears 139 times. It is just the way we are used to seeing it.

But if you read carefully, you’ll notice that nearly 90 times, the order is reversed: “Christ Jesus.” You wouldn’t do that with a proper name, only with a name and a title.

When referring to Abraham Lincoln you would never say “Lincoln President.” But you would say President Lincoln or Mr. Lincoln The President.

So it is in the original – if you were a Greek speaker, you would say Jesus THE Christ or Christ Jesus, but not simply “Jesus Christ” like we do. The THE would be implied by the grammar.

A clue to understanding this is to look closely at the text, and then see how that is brought out in other passages.

Note Herod’s words again: Matthew 2:3–4 ESV  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

Do you see the definite article? Herod asked where THE Christ was to be born. Not just Christ, as though it was His name, but THE Christ – as it is – a title.

So later in Matt. 11:2 John heard about the deeds of THE Christ.

Matthew 11:2 ESV  Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples

In Matt. 16:16 when Jesus asks who people think He is, Peter says:

Matthew 16:16 ESV  Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

To which Jesus responds Matthew 16:20 ESV  Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

About 50 times in the NT the definite article is used so that we get the message. Christ – was Jesus’ title, He was Jesus THE Christ.

But what does that mean? Well for us it takes a bit of digging. But in Jesus’ day, it was common knowledge.

Christ = Anointed

In the Old Testament times, when any person or thing was especially set apart for service to God, it was anointed with oil. Oil was poured and/or rubbed on in it some way. The Greek word for this anointing was “chrio” and we get our word Christ from it.

When God appointed a King, the King was anointed with oil to signify he had been set apart for this work by God, and was given special gifts and graces to carry out the work.

The same was true for Priests when they were installed in office. Exodus and Leviticus demonstrate this over and over.

And there was a 3rd kind of person who was anointed this way besides kings and priests – prophets. When prophets were set apart to deliver God’s Word to God’s people, they were anointed to that office.

And so by Jesus’ time the word came to be associated especially with the Jewish Messiah who was to come and be God’s anointed leader. Their King.

We’ve already seen that designation for Him last time but now we get the full picture. For in Jesus as The Christ, the Messiah, yes, He comes as God’s King for His people, but He is also our great Prophet!

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV  Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the prophet to end all prophets – for He is the very Word of God Himself.

And not only that – He is also our Great High Priest Heb. 4:14

Hebrews 4:14 ESV  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

The Christ! Our King. Our Great High Priest. Our Prophet.

What a role He was anointed to take on.

To speak for God – to us – as God.

To be God’s anointed King over us.

And to be the fulfillment of all that the OT priests and priesthood foreshadowed by offering up Himself, the spotless Lamb of God on our behalf.

Jesus

Immanuel

King

Christ

Shepherd

Shepherd.

We go back to our text to see how His person and work are fleshed out even more for us in this exchange between King Herod, the Wise Men and the Jewish scholars Herod calls upon.

Matthew 2:3–6 ESV  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

And oh, what a sweet and wonderful designation this is indeed.

Shepherd

This shepherd concept which is replete throughout the Old Testament, gets taken up by Jesus Himself in the Gospels.

And it makes His relationship to us all the more tender and powerful.

The author of Hebrews will call Jesus the Great Shepherd of the sheep by the eternal covenant.

Peter will refer to our salvation as returning to shepherd and overseer of our souls.

And He goes on to note how it is that when the chief shepherd appears, we will receive the unfading crown of glory.

But it is in the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah about the coming Messiah where we get such lovely intimations of what His shepherding is all about.

Ezekiel 34:12 ESV

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Ezekiel 34:15 ESV

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 34:23 ESV

And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Isaiah 40:10–11 ESV

Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

What a picture of Jesus! Seeking us out. Gentle. Caring for us. Providing for us. Protecting us. Feeding us. Carrying us. Delivering us safely home.

This Jesus King who is Immanuel, God with us, is God’s Christ – His anointed one to watch over and care for those upon whom the Father has set His eternal love – as a loving shepherd over His flock.

Oh how little we consider Him in all of these offices.

How little we understand the nature of His care for us and provision for us because we are so unaware of what He was sent, set aside and equipped to do on our behalf.

How much about Him is revealed to us in the Christmas story.

And how much of that is lost when we do not understand the true nature of Christmas as placed before us in these few lines of Scripture.

But we are not done yet.

Jesus

Immanuel

King

Christ

Shepherd

My Son

Let’s let the text bring us up to the next designation.

After Herod had consulted with the scribes and priests about where the Christ, the Messiah would be born – we read…Matthew 2:7–15 ESV  Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

“Out of Egypt I called my son.”

While we cannot tease this idea out with near the depth we need to, nevertheless we have a most wonderful demonstration here of how it is Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy, and how it is we need to read those things in light of His coming.

If you were to stand in a dark tunnel, with a light shining in your eyes from the other end, you wouldn’t be able to make out a lot of detail about where you are at the moment.

If you were to walk toward that light, you would see lots of stuff as you progressed.

But once you reached that light, and then turned around to see the whole tunnel illuminated from your new position – everything would light up and you would see it all in detail you never did before.

This is the way it is with the Bible and progressive revelation.

The OT saints were looking toward the day of the Messiah – as Jesus says Abraham did in John 8 where He says “Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” Abraham was looking forward. But he couldn’t make out all the detail. It is why Peter remarks that the Old Testament prophets who prophesied about the the grace that was to be brought to us, searched and inquired carefully trying to figure out who and when the Spirit was talking about when He revealed that the Christ must suffer. They had light – but they were looking into it, not like we can today from this side of the Cross.

We can look back at Scripture and see how Jesus was being typed and shadowed everywhere in it – just like Matthew does here in citing Hosea 11:1.

Hosea 11:1 is a passage specifically about the nation of Israel being brought out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised land.

So how does it fit here? Matthew says, now that passage is “fulfilled.” It was an historical event back then, that foreshadowed something about the Christ that was yet to come.

Jesus Himself will make the connection for us in His own preaching.

Throughout the OT Israel was referred to a “vine.” God’s vine. God’s planting.

Hosea 10:1 is a good example:

Hosea 10:1 ESV  Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

the more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

But then Jesus says something startling in this regard in John 15:1–6 ESV  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Yes, Israel was God’s vine, His planting. But Israel was only a type – a shadow of the real thing.

Jesus is the TRUE vine.

People do not need to be related to Israel for salvation, they need to be in Christ – in the TRUE vine – what Israel was pointing to all along.

And so in this passage, Matthew starts to unpack that for us by showing how it is that Israel’s deliverance from Egypt as divine and miraculous and amazing as it was – was a means to set the stage for the coming of the Messiah – and in due time, it was God’s Son, Jesus the Christ who would be called out of Egypt.

It would be the Son who fulfills all of the Old Testament prophecies and promises and pictures.

In the Christmas story – here in this short Christmas account – the key to unlocking all of Scripture is delivered to us as a gift of inestimable value.

How do we read our Old Testament, all of those rules and regulations and historical accounts and the details about the Tabernacle, the Temple, the Priest’s garments and the sacrifices and rituals?

We read them in the light of the Son of God who has come and fulfilled them all.

God has been true to His promises, and in them has also planted picture after picture of the person and work of Jesus.

Amazing!

And still we have one more to go.

Jesus

Immanuel

King

Christ

Shepherd

Son

As the narrative continues, we are met with one last designation. And of all of them, this seems the most obscure, and the most overlooked.

Let’s read: Matthew 2:16–23 ESV  Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

There is little question that of the 5 Old Testament references Matthew appeals to in this entire passage – this one is the most controversial.

Why? Because the previous 4 were direct quotes:

Isa. 7 was about the virgin conceiving and calling His name Immanuel.

Micah 5 was about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem.

Hosea 11 was about His being called out of Egypt.

And then Jeremiah’s prophecy about the Rachel weeping for her children at Herod’s execution all the boys under 2 in the region around Bethlehem.

But when we come to this one, we have the simple problem that there is no specific passage in the Old Testament that says the Messiah will be called a Nazarene: One who hails from the town of Nazareth.

What are we to do with this?

There are 3 answers that are most commonly given, but I believe one does the best job of putting it together for us.

And a vital clue to that answer is found in the wording Matthew uses here.

Note that he does not refer to a specific prophet or prophecy – but rather says “what was spoken by the prophets.”

Matthew 2:23 ESV And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Do you remember the account in John 1 where Philip found his brother Nathaniel and said: “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”?

Well Nathaniel’s reply was less than enthusiastic.

In fact he chided Philip: John 1:46 ESV Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Now why would he say something like that?

In short, if we thought Bethlehem was Podunk, Nazareth was even less on the radar.

Nazareth is such a backwater, it is never even mentioned in the Old Testament, the Apocrypha or any of the documents from the period between the Testaments.

It is as unremarkable a place as one can imagine.

In other words, to say someone was Nazarene was to say they truly were a nobody from nowhere.

If Galilee was considered a slum district by those in Jerusalem, and its inhabitants looked down on – which was true for most of the Disciples; Nazareth would be the place the Galileans would look down on.

The lowest of the low.

So what of Matthew’s appeal to “the prophets?”

More than likely he was using Nazarene as a figure of speech his first readers would have recognized as summing up any number of prophetic references to the Messiah being a nobody from nowhere. So we read in Isaiah…

Isaiah 53:2–3 ESV For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

In other words, there is no text that says He would be a Nazarene, but there were a number of texts which would mark Him out as without standing and humble.

A man with no human esteem. A nobody from nowhere.

such a one in Jesus’ day would be called – a Nazarene, even if they didn’t come from that city.

And such is our Savior. He hailed from there, AND He wore the label.

Casting off all of the riches and glories of Heaven.

Setting aside the angelic adoration which surrounded Him night and day for eternity past.

Not counting His own deity as something to be waved in front of other’s noses He became a Nazarene: Philippians 2:6-8

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

2 Corinthians 8:9

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

For our sake – He would be called a Nazarene. He would number Himself with the least of all humanity.

Oh, the glory of Christmas!

Jesus

Immanuel

King

Christ

Shepherd

Son

Nazarene

Nothing so fully unfolds the true wonder of Christmas, of the Incarnation as does the way our Savior is portrayed in these 31 short verses.

You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

And, He shall be called Immanuel, for He is God with us.

This Jesus, Immanuel, has come to be our glorious King.

He is anointed by God to fulfill all of His offices. All of His duties.

He will shepherd His own with the greatest of tenderness, care and compassion. Divine lovingkindness.

For He is not just God’s emissary, He is God’s only begotten Son.

Come to those of us who are the very least of all mankind – suffering all humility – taking our sins upon Himself, that He might raise us up together with Himself in eternal glory.

This beloved, is the Christmas story.

Oh come, Let us adore Him.
You Will call His name…Pt. 1

December 10th, 2018
AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

One can read the Christmas account over and over, and marvel every time at how much is packed into these opening chapters in the life of Jesus.

The miraculous visitation of an angel to the aged Zechariah as he served at the Temple – finding out that he and his wife Elizabeth would soon give birth to a son. A revelation he was not at all ready to believe until he was struck by the angel and rendered unable to speak for the next 9 months. Unable to speak until their son, the baby, who would become John the Baptizer was born.

The birth of this baby, as miraculous as it was, was soon to be eclipsed as a teen-aged Mary visiting her older relative Elizabeth announced her own miraculous conception. A conception far more miraculous than even Elizabeth’s.

Elizabeth and Zechariah had been married many years and tried unsuccessfully to have a child. Mary however was not married. She had not been intimate with a man – even her fiancée Joseph. But here she was – pregnant.

She too had been visited by an angel telling her of this miraculous birth. And her very arrival at the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth had sent Elizabeth into a spontaneous song of praise regarding the child Mary was carrying.

Luke 1:42–45 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

This sparked a most wonderful song in Mary – often called “the magnificat” – Latin for the opening line “my soul magnifies The Lord.”

Mary stays with Elizabeth and Zechariah until John is born – and then returns home – only to be quickly ferried off to Bethlehem – the hometown of Joseph’s family because of a government tax registration.

And there, in that sleepy little village, under very spare circumstances Mary gives birth to her firstborn son.

This too is attended by unusual events as they are visited by a group of shepherds saying they had been visited by angels and told about this birth. So they had come to see him.

Then later, dignitaries from the far East arrive saying they had been following a divinely appointed star of sorts to bring them right to where Mary, Joseph and the baby were. And they both worshiped the child, and brought tribute to him of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

All in all – this account is amazing at every turn.

But I’d like to turn our attention both this week and next to something that just this year stood out to me anew in the Biblical account.

It is how this child is so fully and powerfully identified for us in 7 labels applied to Him in the short passage we had read for us this morning.

Just how wonderfully the Biblical text leaves us with no doubt who this really is. And in the process, give us pause once again to consider the wonder, the miracle, the stunning reality of the incarnation – and what it means for humankind.

Now the first of these names is given to us also in a most unusual way – another angelic visitation. But this one, to Joseph – the child’s earthly father.

The account is as follows: Matthew 1:18-21

Matthew 1:18–21 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

While it is right and fitting that much is made of Mary and her being chosen to carry the baby, the truth is this man Joseph is somewhat of an unsung hero.

One does wonder about the character of the man who God would choose to be the father figure to this child. We know so little about him.

In the genealogy immediately preceding these verses, we see that he stands in the royal lineage of David the King. But pretty remotely and obscurely.

He is not a wealthy man, just a humble carpenter from a pretty backwoods town.

True, King David had hailed from here as well, but it really was quite an obscure village, just a few miles distant from Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. Podunk.

But here Joseph was, in a pretty tough spot. He loved Mary, and was engaged to her. But she was pregnant, and he knew he wasn’t the father. Does he believe her story about an angel visiting her and telling her she’ll conceive a baby by the power of the Holy Spirit – apart from the normal means?

No.

His first inclination is to separate himself from the whole debacle. He’s a “just man”. Upright. He’s not up for the way this is going to be viewed by everyone else – including himself. And at the same time he really does love Mary.

The only way he can think to bring some sort of resolution is to divorce her quietly – rather than raise a ruckus where he might have had her tried and punished for adultery. To just step away. Go on without her. He didn’t want to shame her any more than what was going to happen anyway. But he couldn’t marry her either. So the text says this is what he “resolved” to do. It was decided.

That is, until he too receives a divine visitation – in a dream. And it must have been quite the experience, because as we know, he goes on to marry Mary, suffer the reproach and shame – especially in that culture and in that day – where everyone would just assume he had taken advantage of her before marriage. And he agrees to raise the child as his own.

The angel told him 3 things:
1. Don’t be afraid to marry her. Yes it will be hard, but don’t let fear stop you.
2. Mary has NOT been unfaithful or promiscuous. She is in fact pregnant by a supernatural act of God by the Holy Spirit’s working.
3. She’ll give birth a boy, and you – you Joseph, are to name him Jesus – Joshua. And not because you have an ancestor by that name- but because of the boy’s mission.
“He will save His people from their sins.”

What was he supposed to do with all of that?

Just what he did. He married his sweetheart, endured the stigma of her inexplicable pregnancy, and for at least a few years more – since we know Jesus had 4 named brothers and at least 2 sisters – raised Jesus as his son.

And so, as directed, he named him – Jesus.

Jesus

Jesus. This is the first of the 7 names we read in this portion, and we cannot help but pause and feel the weight of it.

Jesus, also sometimes spelled Joshua – is a name that means just what the angel said this Jesus would do – it means “savior” or “Jehovah saves.”

And nothing is more central to the person and the work of Jesus in coming into the world than this reality – the reason WHY Jesus came, WHY God became incarnate – is so that He might save His people from their sins. Redeem us from our lost condition back to God.

The first thing we need to see then is that the purpose of the incarnation and the life of Jesus is not open to question. Redemption is at the heart of all the incarnation is about.

It’s become popular over time for people to assign their own speculations to why Jesus came.

It was popular a few years ago to look at the incarnation in terms of Jesus simply being the best example of humanity in love and self-sacrifice.

Now there is no question He was that. But it is also true that merely being an example does nothing to deal with other people’s sins. And that is what we read here – He came to save His people from their sins. He came to redeem us.

This example model fails in at least 2 ways.

1. It may make us see what we ought to be – but it has no power to enable us to be that way ourselves.

A mere example provides no power.

A person having suffered a severe spinal injury, rendering them a quadriplegic, is not helped to walk again by watching videos of master gymnasts performing their feats. Such examples are powerless to meet the need. It can’t touch the source of their weakness.

So it is that we who are dead in our trespasses and sin as the Bible describes us, are not made suddenly alive to righteousness simply by seeing someone else live in perfect righteousness.

2. A mere example can’t erase guilt.

The best and highest example of what a human looks like living in perfect righteousness, does nothing to deal with MY, or YOUR, personal guilt before God.

Someone in prison for crimes they’ve committed has not the slightest mitigation of their guilt by watching others obey the law. They’ve already been tried, convicted and are serving a sentence. How does someone else’s guiltless-ness, impact MY guilt?

It doesn’t. It can’t. That’s the point.

No, the idea that Jesus came to be an example of love and mercy and righteousness to fallen mankind may create a longing in us to be that way – it may evoke awe and admiration – but it doesn’t contribute even the smallest thing in helping us become that way.

Another purpose often suggested as to why Jesus came is that Jesus came to be a great teacher.

And that is true as far as it goes.

But just as you can teach a blind man all day, everyday about the properties of the visual spectrum – and never enable him to see by virtue of all he comes to know – so here.

If Jesus’ merely taught us a way of salvation, or even lived it perfectly Himself, WE are still unable to do it.

Remember Jesus’ own words in this regard: Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and the Pharisees were the very epitome of religious people in Jesus’ day. And, they were the most religious in the one and only religion God ever established: Judaism.

But Jesus tells us that the righteousness we need to be acceptable to God must be better, higher, more pure than the most pious, godly, religious men of His own day.

Remember what even the Apostle Paul said about himself before he was converted and was still a Pharisee?

Philippians 3:4–6 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

How can that be? How can we be more righteous than one who scrupulously and zealously followed the Law of God? What hope then is there for any of us?

Which is precisely the point of what Joseph was directed to name the Christ-child:

You will call Him Jesus – for HE will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus didn’t come to show us the way of salvation, nor to teach the way of salvation – He came to actually save us! To redeem us. To reclaim those who were lost that we might be restored to the Father.

No matter what Jesus may have taught, without His substitutionary death at Calvary, we could not be saved. There is no method or doctrine that saves apart from His actual work.

The root of a false and damning Christianity-so-called is that if we follow the Christian philosophy or system – that will save us. But it won’t. It can’t.

He, must save us. He, must redeem us, we cannot redeem ourselves. And this becomes the foundation of everything Christmas is truly about.

It is HE who must save. Not merely make a way – but do what it takes to actually save us from our being sinners, and from the guilt of the sins we already bear.

No wonder then we hear the words of the Apostle Paul echo all of this in Philippians 3:8-9

Philippians 3:8–9 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

The righteousness we need, is one imputed to us, granted to us by grace through faith in this Jesus and what He did to save His people from their sins.

Which then leads us to the 2nd name applied to Him in this portion – and the one that opens up to us how it is He can do this – how He can save us, redeem us the way He does.

Immanuel

Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

And now we begin to get insight into this Jesus that makes it clear how such a salvation is possible.

Once in a conversation with His disciples, Jesus was telling them that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Of course His point wasn’t that having money or wealth is inherently evil. The problem is that people, especially in Jesus’ context, took wealth as a sign that God was pleased with them and was blessing them because He was pleased with them. So they began to trust in that wealth accordingly.

They confused God’s covenantal promise to bless them materially if they remained faithful to Him, as salvation itself.

An fatal error many make even today in Christianity – confusing outward prosperity with spiritual blessing or standing.

So when Jesus debunked that idea, their immediate retort was if a rich man who is obviously so blessed by God – can’t enter Heaven – who can?

Matthew 19:25–26 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The answer? God must save. Wealth cannot save. Outward blessing does not save. Man cannot save himself.

With man – salvation is impossible. It is only with God that all things – especially salvation – is possible.

So what does it take for Jesus to save His people from their sin and bring them into the Kingdom of Heaven?

It requires that He must be GOD!

He must be Immanuel

Such is the nature of our lost condition, that salvation requires one who can do the impossible.

One who can truly serve as our representative since He is one of us – human.

But One who can also, somehow, remove our guilt.

One who can pay the price for our sins.

One who can stand in our place and reconcile us to God the Father – reunite us to Him. One who can make us acceptable to Him when we are so lost and undone in our rebellion and self-government: So defiled by our self-will and love of this world and its sin.

How can fallen man be made right with God when the justice and holiness of God requires that our sin be dealt with and the penalty of our sin fully paid?

Only through the substitutionary death of a sacrifice the Father was willing to receive in place of our own payment.

And make no mistake – our payment was death. Eternal death and separation from God.

As Romans 6:23 so succinctly tells us –

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

God Himself must rescue us from His own justice and holiness -without violating His own justice and holiness.

The impossible conundrum solved only by the incarnation.

This can be met only in the wonder of the God/Man coming to stand in our place. Only one who is both God and man could be the perfect mediator between us.

As Paul puts it in 1 Timothy 2:5-6

1 Timothy 2:5–6 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Able to extend forgiveness to all on behalf of God – with all of God’s own sole authority to do so; and at the same time able to satisfy the justice of God on behalf of man.

Willing to take on our guilt and shame – that we might become the inheritors of the eternal life that belongs to Him alone.

THIS – beloved is Christmas. It is the reconciling work of Jesus. Taking rebellious sinners and reconciling us to the God we have so grievously sinned against and become the enemies of.

2 Corinthians 5:18–20 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

And this is the true Gospel of Christmas – “we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

His name shall be called Immanuel – which translated means: God with us. Oh that we would put our faith in Him – rest the whole weight of our eternity upon His finished work on Calvary.

Not God afar off and unwilling to touch us in our defilement and sin – but God WITH us. Walking and talking and interacting with us as man – and yet divine and able to take our sin upon Himself, while having His righteousness put on our account.

Immanuel.

Which then leads us to our 3rd consideration this morning. A 3rd designation for Immanuel who will save His people from their sins: Matthew 2:1-2

Matthew 2:1–2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

King of the Jews

Yes, He came to save us, to redeem us from the guilt and the penalty of our sins.

Yes, He came to reunite to the Father all who will believe Him and put their trust in His atoning, saving work on the cross as both God and man, God with us. To reconcile sinners to our Holy God.

But He also came as a King, to reign over His people.

To think of Christianity as some imagine it, Jesus came to save us from our sins alright, but that is the end of it. Salvation is – as has been often quipped by others – some sort of cosmic fire insurance and little else.

As though Jesus saves us and that is all we have to with Him other than see Him when He returns – if that. But that is to ignore the fact that He also came specifically as a King, and to rule over a certain people.

And certainly, that People is initially identified as the Jews – God’s covenant people. That unique nation He has set apart as His own, to whom He promised the Messiah.

For the most part, His people rejected Him however. John 1:11 says it plainly.

John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But yet God was faithful. Some DID believe. John 1:12-13

John 1:12–13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And not only that, but Eph. 2 goes on to tell us that God took the Believing Jews, AND the Believing Gentiles, and from them combined fashioned one new man – the People of Christ.

So that in that amazing action, through faith in Jesus, even we gentiles become inheritors of the blessings of Abraham – inheritors of the same justification by faith He enjoyed. Heirs of all the promises made to Him as father of the Jewish nation.

Galatians 3:29 spells it out –

Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Through faith in Jesus, we Gentiles become subjects of the Messiah/King who was promised to the Jews!

And that’s just it – we get Their King as our own, and we get to be God’s people with them!

The great promise to Israel is that of the coming Messiah/King to rule them in righteousness.

Micah 5:2 is representative of dozes of verses to that effect.

Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

So this idea that disconnects Jesus’ saving work from His place as our Lord is foreign to the Scriptures.

The concept that one can have Jesus as their Savior but refuse to serve Him or honor Him as King and Lord of their lives is like saying Sky married me so that she might be rescued from a life of singleness, but doesn’t want my name, to live with me or take on any of the mutual responsibilities of married life together. Beloved, that is not a marriage. And a supposed saving relationship with Jesus that wants no part or parcel with His rightful place as Lord of our lives is no salvation at all. He came to reign. To be King of the Jews.

Jesus tells a remarkable parable about Himself. It begins: Luke 19:12

Luke 19:12 He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

He then goes on to say how this nobleman called some servants together and gave them some of His assets to manage until He returned.

Then Jesus makes a most interesting observation: Luke 19:14

Luke 19:14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

Do you see the problem? These citizens He was to rule over, did not love Him – they hated Him. And how is that hatred defined? “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

Nothing else. They simply did not want him to have any authority over them.

Let him be who is is. Let him go off to that far country and receive any honors or position or whatever he might have title to – but the bottom line is – we reject the notion that he should have any authority over us.

Jesus’ continues the parable by telling them how the nobleman settles accounts with his servants when he returns. How he will reward those who managed his assets well, and punish those who neglected to do so.

And the final line of the parable is stunning: Luke 19:27

Luke 19:27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’ ”

The message is unmistakable: Those who want the redemption Jesus dies to accomplish, and want to enjoy the reconciliation to a right relationship to the Father through His redeeming work – must also take Him as their Lord – to reign over their lives – or they remain His enemies.

The people in the parable were content to live in the nobleman’s kingdom, as long as they could have their own lives and as long as they did not owe Him allegiance as their king. As long as they did not have any requirement to serve Him. As long as He left them alone. Such, will not inherit the kingdom any more than those who professed to serve Him and still didn’t – like the one with one mina.

In a sermon on John 12, Robert Murray McCheyne preached: “The poor Greeks said: “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Jesus here tells them that a mere sight of him will not do: “If any man serve me, let him follow me.” Many people are willing to be saved from hell; but they are not willing to give themselves up to Christ to be his servants and followers; but every one who is under the teaching of the Spirit, gives himself up to be the Lord’s. So Matthew. The Lord said: “Follow me; and he arose and left all, and followed Jesus.” One who is truly taught of God feels indwelling sin a greater burden than the fear of hell: “In me, that is in my flesh, there is no good thing.” “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Therefore, that soul is willing to be Christ’s servant for ever—willing to have his ear bored to the door of Christ’s house.

This will discover hypocrites. Are you willing to be Christ’s servant, to follow him in hard duties, to be brought under the rules of the Gospel? If not, you are a hypocrite. Count the cost of coming to Christ.”

That is quite sobering isn’t it?

Christ has come to Redeem.

Christ has come to Reconcile.

And Christ has come to Reign.

And so it is we sing that glorious hymn of Isaac Watts – Joy to the World.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King.
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.

2      Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3      No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

4      He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, and wonders of His love.

Christmas is Jesus coming into the world:

To REDEEM

To RECONCILE

To REIGN

Joy comes only when we are delivered from our guilt and shame.

Joy comes only when we have been restored to a right relationship to the God who made us for Himself.

Joy comes only:

When WE no longer reign – for how miserably we mess up our lives when we try for control.

When sin no longer reigns and keeps us captive to rebellion against God, defilement from holiness and slaves to unrighteousness.

When Christ in His limitless love, perfect righteousness, and infinite grace pours out more than we could ever hope or imagine for ourselves in our sinful desires and in this world.

And so the question for all of us today is 3-fold as well.

Beloved, have you been redeemed from your guilt and sin by trusting in the atoning, substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross?

Have you placed all of your faith in His saving work instead of trusting in any goodness, good works, or even religion of your own?

Has He saved – you?

Have you been reconciled to the Father through His work? Have you now entered into that sweet, loving and gracious relationship to God the Father – accepted as His own dear child because of Christ’s work on your behalf?

Have you bowed the knee to Jesus as your sovereign, your Lord and your King – to give your life to serving Him in loving response to His saving grace and His rightful place of authority over you?

Oh, do not wait. This is Christmas. This is why Christmas IS Christmas – the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus.

And Christian – what a time to rejoice! What a time to reflect on who Jesus really is and what He has done on your behalf.

Paul reminded us in Eph. 1 how in Him – that is in Christ, we have redemption through His blood – the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the RICHES of His grace – His free gift.

And he goes on to say that God the Father has blessed Believers with “every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.”

How blessed, how rich we are, and with that, how gloriously we are prized and delighted in by the Father.

People, this is Christmas. Nothing else, and nothing less.

Let this joy fill your hearts, and ring out into all the world today.
Revelation Wrap-up: The Book in 16 Pictures

November 26th, 2018
Putting it all together?

As I mentioned last time, it has been requested that in closing this series, we take a step back and catch the big picture. Putting the book all together.

And as my graphic here illustrates – Revelation is most often approached as a puzzle book.

But as D. A. Carson has noted, The Revelation is not a puzzle book where we try to put all the pieces together as much as it is a picture book.

And as we ponder the various pictures presented, we come away with a big picture of God and Jesus Christ and the end toward which human history is headed.

So my approach this morning is 3-fold.
1. To give you a very stark TIMELINE – or better yet, a mere order of events as I understand the book to present them.
2. To look at the book in 16 pictures or snapshots.
3. To draw some big thoughts as take-aways.
A – Order of Events

A while back we looked at 4 orthodox views of how the events of the book of Revelation shake out. The one that I settled on is most often referred to as the “Historical Premillennial” or classical view.

Historical Premillennial

Historical because it is the oldest view we can find in the Church. We can see it in the writings of those who were personally acquainted with the Apostle John.

Premillennial because it posits the idea that Jesus’ 2nd coming, the resurrection of dead Believers and the translation of living Believers begins a literal 1000 year period where Jesus reigns on this earth with His redeemed ones – you and me if you are Christ’s today.

It runs like this: From the time of Jesus’ ascension until His return – the Church experiences an age of tribulation along with the advance of the Gospel. These 2 run parallel.

So Jesus warned the Disciples: John 16:33

John 16:33 ESV I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

This outlook then informed the Apostle’s preaching. We see that in: Acts 14:21-22

Acts 14:21–22 ESV When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

‌And then the Apostle Paul summarizes this quite succinctly in 2 Timothy 3:10-13

2 Timothy 3:10–13 ESV You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

There is little doubt this tribulation will increase right up until a time of great apostasy or falling away of many professed Christians and the revealing of the “man of sin” – the Antichrist and/or False Prophet of 2 Thessalonians.

That is the order of events as I understand it. That said, let’s go on to our 2nd section –

‌B – 16 Pictures
1. Ch. 1: The 1st picture we get is that of The Resurrected, glorified Christ in His 4-fold glory as:
Revelation 1:17–18

Revelation 1:17–18 ESV When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

As the first and the last, everything begins and ends with Christ. All of God’s purposes and actions are rooted in Him.

And He is the Living One – the ever living one – playing off of God’s revelation of Himself in the Old Testament as Yaweh: The One who always was, is and will be. “I am that I am.”

This same Jesus the Christ is also the One who was crucified for sins. He was indeed dead – but rose from the dead and is alive forever more. He has defeated death.

And, He is the One who rules in the most absolute way: He holds the keys – He personally has authority over – death and the grave. He holds the ultimate power over human existence.

What a marvelous picture this is. And how it’s meant to give the Believer the highest comfort and hope as the revelation of God’s judgements and what attends them is unfolded in the following chapters.

If this Jesus is your Lord and King, you not only have nothing to fear in what you are enduring now, or what is coming – but you have nothing but the highest expectations for the fulfilling of all of God’s glorious promises to you.

This is the first and the controlling picture for the rest of the book.
1. Chs. 2-4: Render a picture of the Church in the World and, Christ’s ministry in and to it.
Jesus is seen as standing in the midst of His Churches. And the letters to the 7 Churches show the Church to us in all of its states and conditions with Christ IN Her; calling, admonishing, encouraging and warning.

He never abandons her even at her worst.

He is ever and always present with her, observing her, calling to her, correcting her, warning her, encouraging her.

He has never, He will –never leave her alone or leave her to her own devices.

He is our ever-present Savior and Lord and deliverer.

He remains the Great Shepherd of His People.
1. Chs. 5-11: give us an overview of Redemptive history culminating in judgment.
This is represented by Jesus being found as the only one worthy to open a scroll sealed with 7 seals. A scroll which proves to be the revelation of God’s plan for bringing final justice to all humanity, His Kingdom to its fullness, the destruction of all evil, and the final reward of Believers.

In opening the seals, Jesus is seen as the one who not only reveals, but also enacts or carries out God’s eternal plans.

And in the 7 trumpets which sound during this time, God’s warnings of what is to come are sounded over and over and in increasing detail.

It is meant to be both a picture of the preaching and teaching of God’s Word by the Church as well as the testimony of how we live according to that Gospel, and it is a means of making sense of the groanings of this physical earth and geo-political upheavals

Neither the Believer nor the Un-Believer is left without clear and repeated understanding – if we will just hear it.
1. Ch. 12:1-6: Shows us how Satan, Israel, Jesus and the Church are all interrelated.
That these aren’t separate unrelated entities which just happen to intersect, but are all together understood as part of the unfolding of one grand plan.

The track of human history is not an endless series of random events and forces.

God is at work bringing all to His desired conclusion.

Satan is at work in opposition to God’s purpose and plan.

And Israel and the Church are central to all God is doing.
1. Ch. 12:7-17: Reveals to us that Satan will surely fall, has already been dealt his death blow on the Cross, and shows how his rage and persecution of Israel & the Church stems from his realizing the inevitability of his coming final defeat.
It is a pictorial representation of what is summed up in verse 12. Rev. 12:12

Revelation 12:12 ESV Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
1. Ch. 13:1-18: Depicts the fact that the age between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension and His return will contain a succession of Satanically influenced totalitarian regimes and philosophies, hostile to the Church.
This is done by referring back to visions in the book of Daniel where various world powers are pictured as beasts with varying characteristics.

I.e. Hostile governments, hostile movements and hostile personages will rise and fall over and over until Jesus returns.
1. Ch. 14:1-13: Gives Believers a much needed and encouraging advance glimpse of the glory of the Redeemed, the progression of the Gospel and the announcement of still coming judgement on wickedness in spite of the power and success of these successive regimes.
Over and over the end of religion and faith in Christ has been announced and attempted. But it always fails, and always will.

Evil cannot ultimately prevail since Christ is already on His throne.
1. Ch. 14:14-20: Goes on to reiterate that in all of this, Christ still reigns and judgement WILL come in due time.
Jesus is seen with His crown on His head and as the one who reaps 2 harvests: He gathers His elect to Himself to bring them into their eternal bliss, and, He gathers up the unredeemed to be cast into the winepress of the wrath of God.
1. Ch. 15-16: As the opened seals revealed earlier, and the trumpets went on to announce in loud detail, now, God’s last 7 plagues are shown in how they are the pouring out of God’s wrath culminating in final judgement.
God’s judgement is perfect and full as seen in the use of the number 7 which often represents fullness or completion in Scripture.

Both the terrors of God’s holy judgement and the unwillingness of men to repent in the face of them is graphically displayed.

We see that when people are determined not to believe or serve God, no amount of external evidence no matter how profound is sufficient to change their minds. Such is the fallen nature of man until God in His sovereign grace intervenes.

Note too how no sin, however great or small will be overlooked.

There will be perfect and full retribution for all sin – for all that falls short of the glory, perfection and holiness of God.

Let no one fool themselves into imagining they stand in some imaginary neutral place. One is either reconciled to God in Jesus, or they are the enemy of God. There is no 3rd position.
1. Chs. 17-18: Here, we are given a closer look at the wicked system which holds the world in its sway – and of its coming judgment.
The world’s mindset is shown both to be consumed with the temporal and material over the spiritual and eternal in Christ, and, to be appalled at the total collapse of this present world system.

Mankind’s dream of immortality and prosperity is brought to its final end. Human hubris is brought to nothing.

Mankind’s universal mindset of the relentless pursuit of power, pleasure and possessions must ultimately come to a tragic end.

And that it is our rebellion against God’s just rule which brings about our demise, nothing else.

Many a person has predicted the end of mankind over the ages. Some have thought it will come in the form of great wars, others in natural disasters, a cosmic cataclysm by meteors, our own ecological mishandling of the Earth’s resources, some strains of super disease, etc. But in the final analysis, it will be the direct hand of God in judgement.

It isn’t what man can do that needs to be feared – but what God WILL do in His justice.

It is the rejection both of God’s right to rule us and His plan of redemption in the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross to restore us to right relationship to God – that spells the end.
1. Ch. 19:1-10: Here we are given a snapshot of the reality of the end of this world system and the rejoicing in Heaven that engenders.
1. Ch. 19:11-22: Which rejoicing is rooted in seeing Christ Himself as the conqueror over all wickedness.
Revelation 19:11–16 ESV Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
1. Ch. 20:1-6: With the close of that age in the judgment of this present world system, we are at last given a vision of The Millennium.
We come to see there will be a time of unparalleled prosperity and peace with Satan bound and unable to influence mankind in any way until it is over.

A picture of Christ’s people holding sway over the earth with Jesus physically present as our King.

The resurrection of the redeemed is shown as we are raised up to rule and reign with Him during this 1000 years.
1. Ch. 20:7-15: This portion depicts Satan’s final attempt to seize power, and then the resurrection of the damned for judgement.
This occurs at the end of the 1000 years and is but a short time.

Though Satan attempts his last hurrah to gather humanity to rebel against God, God Himself intervenes and there is no war per se – but a final Divine disposing of Satan and the lost. Never to rise and oppose God or plague mankind again.
1. Ch. 21:1-8: At last, we are introduced to The New Heaven and the New Earth. God with man and man with God in unspeakable intimacy.
All things made new. An existence of unspeakable and unimaginable wonder and bliss – where Christ is at last, all in all.

No more sea. No more pain. No more sorrow. No more tears or discomfort of any kind. No more sin. Nothing but light, and the glories of God in Christ. Nothing but eternal waves of unspeakable joy and pleasure as the redeemed are granted to search out the limitless riches of God in Christ for eternity.
1. Chs. 21:9 -22:5: And the final picture is this – The New Jerusalem – The Bride of Christ.
Pictures of our eternal bliss.

Christ and His Church, the Bride He purchased with His own blood, locked in an eternal, unbreakable love embrace of perfect union.

Oneness and satisfaction and joy and pleasure beyond anything our present minds are capable of imagining.

And it is just around the corner for each and every one who has put their faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, receiving His righteousness imputed to us by faith.

Not because we deserve it, but because God is just that good. Glory!

It all culminates in this: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

C – Take aways

Well now – what are we take away from all of this? What are the main things God has intended for us to carry away in His gracious revelation of all of this to us?

Let me just suggest the ones that come most immediately to my own mind.
1. GOD HAS A PLAN: God has a plan for the ages.
Human history is not some sort of unguided missile hurtling through the ages and subject only to randomness and chance. Meaningless.

God has had a plan from the beginning and that plan is both centered in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work, and carried out by Him.

God is not caught in an eternal game of cosmic catch-up where God has a plan, man or Satan messes it up, and God goes to plan. B.- over and over again. No.

As Ephesians 3:8-11 tells us:

Ephesians 3:8–11 ESV To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

As inscrutable as this is to us, God’s plan from the beginning was to join Himself together to a humanity redeemed by the blood of His Son, and to bring those redeemed into the most glorious, loving intimacy with Himself possible. As near to being His own beloved offspring as He can in His infinite greatness.

And for those so redeemed, to lavish endlessly in the fathomless depths of His love.
1. GOD IS TRULY GOD: Nothing in all of life is outside of His purview and control.
Not the Enemy. Not the World. Not religious movements.

Not seasons of trial or tribulation for the Church, for individuals, nations, etc.

He truly is Lord of all.

No kingdom rises or falls apart from Him.

No person rises to power or is overthrown without His hand.

No event transpires without His knowledge and His purposes guiding it.

No one of His children experiences or suffers anything without His redeeming it.

He is not God in name only, but in His active administration of His universe.

Global and geo-political forces are within the hand of God as much as our individual souls are.

Even pagan history is as much under the hand of our great Great God as the Church’s history is.

We see this so graphically in Daniel 4:25

Daniel 4:25 ESV that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

Now that is as true today as it was then. And it is as true of Israel today, as it is of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, The UK, Canada, Mexico, the US, China, North Korea and India.

He sets up and tears down leaders and nations both in blessing and in judgement as best fits His eternal plans and purposes.

And we as Believers are meant to take massive comfort in that. Our God reigns, in reality.
1. A GLORIOUS END: There is a glorious end to come for those who are Christ’s.
This new Heaven and New Earth. This promised New Jerusalem where every care and woe of this present life is absent forever, and where every bliss beyond our wildest imaginations is ours eternally.

Bear with me one more time while I repeat what I have cited so many times before from that wonderful sermon of Sam Storms – I make no apology for reminding both you and myself of it today:

What WON’T be there: “Nothing which shall offend the most delicate eye”

Abrasive, irritating, agitating or hurtful, harmful, hateful, upsetting or unkind.

Nothing sad, bad or mad, harsh, impatient, ungrateful or unworthy

Weak or sick or broken or foolish

Deformed, degenerate, depraved, or disgusting

Polluted, pathetic, poor or putrid

Dark, dismal, dismaying or degrading

Nothing blameworthy, blemished, blasphemous or blighted

Faulty, faithless, frail or fading

Grotesque or grievous – Hideous or insidious

Illicit, illegal, lascivious or lustful

Marred or mutilated, misaligned or misinformed

Nasty or naughty, offensive or odious

Rancid or rude, soiled or spoiled – Tawdry or tainted, tasteless or tempting

Vile or vicious, wasteful or wanton – None of it!

What WILL we see there?

Everywhere we turn our eyes, there is nothing but…

Glory and grandeur and beauty and brightness

Purity and perfection and splendor and satisfaction

Sweetness and salvation and majesty

Only and all that is adorable and affectionate and beautiful and bright

Brilliant and bountiful and delightful and delicious, delectable and dazzling

Elegant and exciting and fascinating and fruitful

Only what is glorious and grand and gracious and good

Happy and holy and healthy and whole

Joyful and jubilant and lovely and luscious

Majestic and marvelous, opulent and overwhelming

Radiant and resplendent, splendid and sublime

Sweet and savory, tender and tasteful

Euphoric and unified – And all of this for Hell deserving sinners like you and me.

And why? Because we’ll looking at the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. JUDGEMENT IS COMING: There is judgment to come for all who are not Christ’s.
No one is to make the mistake of thinking that because God is infinitely loving and merciful and gracious, that He is not also just and holy and cannot ignore sin.

God will judge sin.

He will judge sinners.

And any and all who reject His offer of salvation and the forgiveness of sins through faith in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross will be brought into account. And they will suffer the hopeless torments of a Christ-less eternity.

No sinner will escape. No sin, no crime, no evil will go unaddressed.
1. HISTORY WILL EBB AND FLOW: There will be ebbs and flows in Church and Human history.
At times and in some places the Church and the Gospel will make great advances.

At other times and in other places the Church will be intensely persecuted and seem to be retreating or nearly extinguished.

This is the nature of the intervening years before Jesus’ return, and so we ought not to be either surprised, nor dismayed by it.

At times the Church will be doctrinally sound, but spiritually numb.

At others it may be outwardly prosperous while spiritually useless.

It may be small but effective, compromising and about to be disciplined, virtually unrecognizable as Christ’s or stalwart and fearless in the face of violent persecution.

And there will be seasons where the Church’s influence will greatly bless society and others where society will try to wipe out our influence altogether.

But Christ remains on His throne and His purposes will stand. Nothing can thwart Him.
1. HISTORY IS COMPLEX: That there is great complexity in how all of these things will shake out. So we are not to be dismayed if we cannot sort out the details.
We are a people endlessly preoccupied with trying to assign final realities to present ones.

If the Church is sick, then it must end up dead.

If the wicked are in power, the end must be here now.

If the righteous are in power, we must be ushering the Kingdom now.

If the Church is thriving, then we’ll be taking over soon.

If so-and-so wins an election – we’re all saved.

If so-and-so loses an election – all is lost.

If this one isn’t saved yet, they never will be.

If things don’t change for the better by next week, they never will.

If I can’t make sense if my present situation, then it is all meaningless and hopeless.

On and on.

But in this book we are shown over and over that full reality seldom if ever rests in only what we are experiencing at any particular place or time. And we are to trust the God who is over all, above our conclusions based upon our present conditions and imaginations.
1. SEEK CHRIST: Seek Christ and His Kingdom – and let Him sort out the rest.
Our business is to be about His business. And it is Jesus Himself who instructed us best here as He told us our priorities while living in this present age irrespective of anything else: Matt. 6:33 – Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Matthew 6:33 ESV But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“These things” here simply referring to the necessities of life.

Our times, the times of the nations are in His hands. These are things high above my pay grade. And above yours too.

He has revealed to us His plans and purposes and what He is bringing about in them.

And He has called us to the light burden and the easy yoke of seeking Him rather than trying to right or run the world.

A picture of which we can see in Colossians 3:1-17

Colossians 3:1–17 ESV If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
1. SEEK CHRIST
What a great and good God we serve. And you who are Christ’s today – there is not only reason not to despair over either personal or global events, there is every reason to live in joy, confidence and a sure hope.

And if you are not Christ’s today let me remind you once again that a full and free salvation is held out before you today.

Christ has died. There is a full atonement for sin already made in His blood.

Once again you are called with His voice to come and receive full forgiveness for all your sins, and the gift of His Spirit.

Today is the day of reconciliation.

Turn from your sin, your rebellion against His right to rule you, from your self-government and your self-reliance to the fullness of His great and free salvation.

He will cleanse you, and make you His own child. And all that Christ has purchased will be as fully yours as if you were a naturally born child of God.

You’ve seen in no uncertain terms both the judgment reserved for all those who reject Christ as Lord, and the unspeakable glory of all those who are His by faith.

Don’t let this moment pass you by in securing that future for yourself. Be reconciled to God through the blood of His dear Son – be born again. Believe the word of the Cross and become and new creature in Christ today.

Confess your sin, forsake your sin, and run to Jesus, trusting Him as your sin-bearer, and receive the reward due Him, even as He received the punishment due you at Calvary.
The Believer’s Hope – Revelation Ending

November 12th, 2018
Before we even get into our text this morning, I want to tackle 2 subjects which will then lead into it.

These grow out of some questions I’ve received, and rightly deserve some attention.

The first is: Is the New Jerusalem merely figurative, or is it a real, material place?

There is no question there will be an astounding difference between life as we know it now and what it will be like when Heaven and Earth are joined together this way – but yes, we must say that the New Jerusalem is not figurative. It is not just a state of being but actual – in the sense of being an actual location. It is the capital city of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

It will be a material place.

Jesus addressed it as a literal place a number of times – see: John 14 for 1.

John 14:2–3 CSB

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

With all of the symbolic language and descriptions we’ve been looking at in this study, it is tempting to spiritualize everything. To make it totally symbolic, not referring to anything concrete.

But this isn’t the case.

Just as we live now on a real, material earth, so we will live in a real, material location called the New Heavens and the New Earth, and more specifically – the New Jerusalem.

The 2nd question – but tied to the first is: What state will Believers be in while dwelling in this New Jerusalem?

We get help understanding this in several places:

1. When Jesus was resurrected, He was in an actual body that the disciples could see, hear and feel. Yet with some new properties. Luke 24:36-43

Luke 24:36–43 CSB

“As they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. “Why are you troubled?” he asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” Having said this, he showed them his hands and feet. But while they still were amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” So they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”

So notice:

a. He was able to just appear where they were.

b. He was NOT a ghost. He said so.

c. He still had the scars from His crucifixion. As different as He was, there was still some kind of connection with the body He was crucified in.

d. They could touch Him.

e. He could eat with them.

2. Added to this, we have Paul’s remarkable discussion about our resurrected state in 1 Cor. 15:35-55.

We can’t unpack that entire passage here, but let me get to just a few of the salient points.

Corinthians 15:35 CSB

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?”

1 Corinthians 15:37 CSB

And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.

a. The way a planted seed has a connection with the fullgrown plant it eventually becomes – so it is with our present bodies and those we’ll possess at the resurrection. They are organically connected, but also radically different.

As radically different as an acorn and a full grown oak tree.

You will still be you, and I will still be me – but radically, wonderfully, magnificently different.

1 Corinthians 15:38–40 CSB

But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.

Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones.

b. The bodies we have now are designed to live in this environment. Just like fish have bodies suited to live in their environment of a water world, birds are uniquely suited to fly through the air, and our bodies are now suited to live on this present planet earth – our bodies then will be designed to live in that new environment. This is God’s normal pattern for doing things.

1 Corinthians 15:42–44 CSB

So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;

sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;

sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

c. Our new state will be Incorruptible, glorious, powerful and spiritual to match our new habitation.

1 Corinthians 15:47–49 CSB

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

d. Our new bodies will be like Jesus’ resurrected body the way our present bodies are fashioned after Adam’s.

1 Corinthians 15:50–53 CSB

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.

e. Our new bodies will be INCORRUPTIBLE – meaning they CAN’T be corrupted in any way. AND, IMMORTAL. Eternal. Everlasting. Cannot die.

Summarizing: Those Believers who have already died before Jesus’ return, along with those living when He returns – will both receive these new, glorified bodies at the same time: When He comes.

And we will live through the Millennium in these new bodies, and then on into eternity.

This is how we will live in this New Jerusalem, from the return of Jesus till the end of the Millennium, and on into eternity.

Those 2 things said, let’s take another run as these 2 chapters to tease out what WILL be there, even as we have looked last time at 13 things we know will NOT be there.

Revelation 21:3 CSB

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

God dwelling with His people.

Now this beloved is nothing other than the most complete definition of what Heaven is – in this New Jerusalem. Nothing can say it more clearly or profoundly.

God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them.

I know I have beat this drum numerous times before, but we simply must pause to consider it once again.

If someone is hoping to go to Heaven some day, but that hope is not supremely rooted in being with, dwelling with, God and Jesus – then Heaven would in fact be Hell. For this is Heaven’s highest, best and sweetest good.

God can give us nothing greater, nothing better, than Himself!

Those who want little or nothing to do with God and Jesus now, certainly would not be delighted to live where God is all in all as 1 Cor. 15:28 says.

Yes, we will also be joined together with all of those who are also Christ’s.

Of course we want to know and love and enjoy eternal life with those of our loved ones especially who have gone on before us if they are in Jesus.

And yes, we look forward to meeting Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah, Rahab, Isaiah, and then Peter, Paul, James and John, Mary and John the Baptizer.

Then add to those, the saints throughout history from ancient days forward: The likes of Polycarp, Athanasius, Augustine, Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, Edwards, Flavel, Carey, Hudson Taylor, Corrie Ten-Boom, Blandina and the millions of previously unknown brothers and sisters in Jesus .

It is all rather staggering isn’t it?

Yes, I want to see my Mom and Dad in their glorified state. Bob Collier, Bill and Beth Rhodes, Chester Gretz, Ivan, Cecil Van Houten and countless others who were dear to me in this life.

And I am ever so grateful God grants – as part of our reward there – to enjoy them IN HIM for eternity.

But to see Jesus! To walk with the One who gave His all that we might be purchased back from sin and ruin. This, is Heaven!

Yes, we’ll see this..

Revelation 21:10–14 CSB

He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

Yes, we’ll see this…this spectacular walled city with 12 angels at its 12 gates (each named for the tribes of Israel) and 12 foundation stones bearing the names of the 12 apostles.

Sky and I had the privilege of touring the Washington National Cathedral this past week. And it is truly magnificent. The 6th largest cathedral in the world we were told.

It took 83 years to build. Jesus has been preparing this place for us for 2,000 years.

It cost $65 million dollars to build, but it still doesn’t have gold streets, jewels as foundation stones or gates made out of single pearls.

It’s “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” tower is 301 feet high. The New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles long, wide AND high.

Helen Keller and President Woodrow Wilson are interred at the Cathedral – but everyone is eternally alive in the New Jerusalem.

In the New Jerusalem – 12 angels stand at its 12 gates (each named for the tribes of Israel) and its 12 foundation stones bear the names of the 12 apostles.

And whatever else this may mean, it surely implies we will grasp then how it is God’s plan from the very beginning was carried all the way through human history and how it all fits together in perfect symmetry.

The Old Covenant and the New Covenant not at odds- but as part of a continuous plan unfolding.

Both connected, but each holding primary importance in its day.

Jonathan Edwards once wrote: “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines do so much differ as stating the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ.”

But now we see it all comprising one grand plan.

Not only that, this City is a cube!

Revelation 21:15–16 CSB

The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

Such a concept is wholly unknown here – people living in some sort of cube like environment. Not just long and wide, but equally high!

In all of Scripture, there is only one other perfect cube mentioned – the Holy of holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple. 1 Kings 6:20

It is another way of demonstrating how we will dwell with Him where He is.

As Ezekiel’s wheels demonstrated that however God moves, He is moving straight ahead, so in the NJ, no matter how a citizen moves, up, down, backward, forward, left or right, they are still in the city with their God.

Man can only build his cities with length and width. No matter how he tries, he is earthbound. Not so God. The failure of Babel could not be more profoundly demonstrated.

And yes, it is a City of incomparable beauty, symmetry and wealth.

Revelation 21:18–21 CSB

The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass. The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

Clearly, some of this is meant to be symbolic, but it is also actual.

For each gate to made out of one pearl, one would also have to imagine oysters gigantic enough to produce such pearls.

This can only be meant to convey to us that the sight is truly unimaginable and beyond our comprehension.

The largest pearl ever found on earth is 2 feet long and a foot wide. It weighs 75 pounds. That’s nothing compared to what we see here.

But the real essence of Heaven – of Heaven and earth joined together in the New Jerusalem is rooted in our first observation –

Revelation 21:3 CSB

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

It is here we need to make one more observation before going on or we might miss what is happening in these closing chapters.

We are all well aware of Ps. 19 and how it reminds us that all of creation is meant to reveal God in various ways to the redeemed mind.

The heavens – the creation – declare the glory of God. The very expanse and order of the universe proclaims the work, the genius and power of His hands.

That is no less true – in fact even more so now that we see something of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

So that is what needs to contol our thinking now. If we are only looking at the magnificence of this City as an object, and not as a more exalted means of seeing and comprehending God in Christ Jesus – we miss it all.

And this, gets teased out in 4 key observations John makes. Taken together, opening to us the magnificent glory of Jesus Christ in very special ways.
1. Revelation 21:22-23
Revelation 21:22–23 CSB

I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

LIGHT

The Lord God and the Lamb are its temple, and its light.

We are instantly reminded of key passages of Scripture that drive this reality home.

1 John 1:5 CSB

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

And 1 Tim 6:15-16 He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power.

John 8:12 – Jesus

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.

And then – so as to magnify what it means that Believers are in perfect union with Him we hear Jesus speak in Matt 5:14

Matthew 5:14 CSB

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.

John 12:46 CSB

I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

And above all:

2 Corinthians 4:6 CSB

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

1. LIGHT!   Catch it! Where is the light of the glory of God to be found? IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST!

LIGHT No darkness. No fear. No mystery. No doubt. Nothing hidden. Nothing to be ashamed of. No sin.

No darkness – even still hidden in our own hearts.

God and His people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb perfectly joined together in eternal, glorious, pure and holy light.

And the redeemed, all sharing this most essential wonder of God’s own being – having been united to Christ by faith!

The light and glory of that City is the wonder of seeing the face of our dear Redeemer – without any hindrance whatever. Imagine!

Rev 21:23-24

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

1. LIGHT

2. THE RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE   22:1-2a

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street.

Besides being essential for life, water imagery is prolific throughout Scripture as typical of so many things.

Of Judgement: The Flood;

Of Salvation: The Flood;

Of Purification: Washed with the Word in Eph. 5; Washed by the Spirit in regeneration: Titus 3:5;

Of Identification with Jesus’ Death in Baptism and His identification with us in His baptism;

Of God’s supply for us under all circumstances: As in The Rock which followed the Israelites through the Wilderness.

Jesus Himself in His satisfying and life giving capacity as He spoke with the Woman at the Well and told her how those who drink from Him, have a well of eternal life.

And Jesus’ powerful declaration in John 7

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me,ak and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

All these images find their final fulfillment as Believers are joined together in the New Jerusalem.

At last, the fullness of the promise of Christ, that all of His would receive the Spirit He and the Father would send. For it is by the Spirit that He joins us to Himself.

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

And so flowing from the Throne – from Jesus – is all that satisfies what the human soul was created to thirst for above everything else as we share in His own Spirit.

And this, not just a drop, a sip, nor a cup or goblet nor even a stream – but a river.

Ever flowing.

Ever satisfying.

Ever cleansing.

Ever refreshing.

Jesus – The very River of Life – the fullness of God’s supply for our deepest thirsts and desires.

1. LIGHT

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE 22:2b

The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,

The Tree of Life. This is what was principally lost in the Fall in the Garden.

And you’ll remember that after the Fall, an angel was stationed outside the Garden to prevent us from getting back in, and partaking of the Tree of Life and thus living forever in our sinful state – leaving us forever sinful.

But as Jesus promised in the 1st of the letters He wrote to the 7 Churches in ch. 2 – to Ephesus: Rev 2:7

Revelation 2:7 CSB

“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Nothing less than eternal life is promised to all who overcome the World in Jesus.

And isn’t the Tree of Life in the Garden then transposed into the Cross itself?

Even in the Garden there was the symbol that something had to die in order for man to live – though there, in the form of fruit, it was not a substitutionary or sacrificial death.

Nevertheless it showed our life must be sustained by another life – not our own.

And now, looking to Jesus’ death in our place, we come to another Tree of Life. Jesus, hung on a tree in the place of sinners, that all who put their trust in Him as their substitute – taking our just due upon Himself, for our sin – are granted everlasting life.

So even in the New Jerusalem, our life is still sustained by none but Jesus alone.

But look at how He is painted for us here.

Different fruit every month of the year. This is like nothing in the natural order.

I think the old divine Robert Hawker said it right when he commented in this passage: “JESUS is the Tree of Life. He is so, to both Churches. Here on earth, and there in heaven; being on either side the river. He bears twelve manner of fruits, that is, all variety. He hath pardon, mercy, peace, grace, love, strength, comfort, deliverance in temptations, recoveries in backslidings, helps in times of need, preparation for ordinances, and blessings in the use of them. And every month, yea, every day, the LORD brings them forth. And even the very leaves of providence shall have a somewhat in them to heal. Oh! thou dear LORD! give me to sit down, day by day, under thee, as the Tree of Life; and ere long, sure I am, I shall sit down, to rise no more, under all thy wide-spreading branches of all fullness, in thy paradise for ever!”

Lastly: Rev 22:3-4 The Throne of God and of the Lamb.

Revelation 22:3–4 CSB

and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

1. LIGHT

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE

4. THE THRONE OF GOD AND THE LAMB

All that went wrong in the Garden, was owing to man wanting to usurp the place of God.

We wanted to sit on the throne of our own lives.

As we have visited and revisited over and over in this study – man makes himself God, and takes the mark of the Beast, when we say:

I will serve myself, above God.

I will worship God as I invent and desire.

I will determine right and wrong for myself.

I will find my happiness and security in what this present life can offer.

And until all challenge to Jesus’ right to rule to reign over us is restored – there can be no Heaven for us.

But in the New Heavens and the New Earth, in the New Jerusalem – Christ rules and reigns with His Father – and their throne, their rule, their government the writer to the Hebrews can sum up this way: Hebrews 1:8-9

Hebrews 1:8–9 CSB

but to the Son:

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, your God,
has anointed you with the oil of joy
beyond your companions.

And as it was revealed in Eph. 1:9-10

He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

Oh to live in His Kingdom – where all is righteousness, justice, peace and all that is good forever more.

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

What will we see and experience there?

1. LIGHT – The unveiled light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE

4. THE THRONE OF GOD AND THE LAMB

Final words:

1.   Rev 22:10 This NEEDS to be preached. All of it!

Revelation 22:10 CSB

Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

Every warning, every prediction, every promise and every revelation contained in this book needs to be proclaimed, and to become part of the fabric of the Believer’s thought process.

The command here is clear: DON’T SEAL UP THE WORDS OF THIS PROPHECY, BECAUSE THE TIME IS NEAR!

As John is not to shut them up but publish them to the Church, we need to remind each other of the reality of this as our reward and it is just before us. It is meant to help us persevere in the darkest and hardest of times.

2. Rev 22:11 Secondly, we note that by the time we reach this point, all is irreversible.

Revelation 22:11 CSB

Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”

Once Christ has returned, it is too late for anything to be altered.

The redeemed will be forever the redeemed, and the lost, forever lost.

So Beloved, we must take heed to what has been revealed to us here – and act upon it while there is still time.

Christian – continue to battle sin and refuse the mark of the Beast, the mindset of the world – serve Christ!

And if you are not a Christian yet today – flee to Jesus now while there is still an opportunity.

Today is still the day of grace. Don’t squander it.

There is forgiveness for all your sin. Cleansing from all your guilt. Restoration to right relationship with God the Father and eternal life to all who come by faith, forsaking their sin and looking to Jesus as their sin bearer to make them right with God.

3. Rev 22:12-14 Jesus is coming! And He emphatically calls our attention to that fact in this text.

Revelation 22:12–14 CSB

“Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

Jesus is coming.

Jesus will judge.

Blessed are those who are His.

Who can possibly unpack all the wonders that await those who are His?

Christian – hold on!

4. Rev 22:17 The time is now to publish and proclaim the Gospel.

Revelation 22:17 CSB

Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

The Spirit is calling.

The Church is calling.

COME!

No one is preventing you. The time is now. Come!

5. Rev 22:18-20 Jesus Himself reiterates how true and in process all of this is.

Revelation 22:18–20 CSB

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

And our only appropriate response is: “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
While I was reading today: Motives

October 26th, 2018

It is the stock and trade of pundits, both in the media and in the general public – to imagine we can divine the motives behind the decisions of those in power.

Incidentally, it doesn’t stop with those in power, we quite readily extend it to others all the time. But that is the subject for another day.

Invariably it is reductionist at best.

We so seldom even know our own motives, let alone those of others.

And when those in power make decisions, the process is often complex, contingent upon many factors we know nothing about, and of course informed by their own thought process, biases, backgrounds, philosophies and emotions.

To simplistically say “this is why they did X” is typically far askew. Sure, our conceptions of their motives may be partially right – but seldom if ever complete.

This is as true in our present political discourse – on both sides of the aisle – as it is in our private lives.

As soon as we have determined we fully know other’s motives in what they do, we then sweepingly condemn or justify everything they do. And that is living in a false reality that can only produce misunderstanding, unwillingness to listen with charity or clarity, hurt and division.

Father, deliver us.
The Beliver’s Hope – Revelation Part 36

October 21st, 2018
AUDIO FOR THIS AND ALL MY SERMONS CAN BE FOUND HERE

The Believer’s Blessed Hope

Reid A Ferguson / General

Revelation Part 36 / Eschatology; Heaven; New Jerusalem / Revelation 21; Revelation 22; Titus 2:11–13

13 Things NOT in the New Heaven and the New Earth

The Christian life is one of loving anticipation of Jesus’ return.

It is one reason why Paul concludes 2 Timothy – his last letter just before his death – by turning Timothy’s attention that event: 2 Tim 4:8

2 Timothy 4:8 CSB / “There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.”

Note the reference to those who have “loved His appearing”. Those who are joyfully looking for that day are those who are rewarded. Those believing in and anticipating His return as the consummation of all our joy and blessedness – will be rewarded.

Those not – will not.

This last phrase of Paul’s is so searching and telling.

I have to wonder, both for myself and for the greater church whether or not we are a people who truly “love His appearing.”

Are we, am I, one who truly longs for His coming?

Is it part and parcel of my regular thought life?

Do I groan with John – “Come quickly Lord Jesus?”

Do I really want that end – to be with Him and to live in His glorious Kingdom? Or do I simply want Him to make my life better now, with some vague desire for an afterlife of nondescript ease?

Does escaping Hell or just escaping my present sorrows eclipse being with Jesus and the Redeemed?

This morning, it is my sincere prayer that the Father, will send The Spirit to stir our souls up together to truly love the appearing of Jesus.

To let it begin to frame our every thought and action and purpose.

To let the anticipation of His return draw us out from all the other things this world constantly calls us to.

To us give us that great – all-encompassing love.

Can we pray that just now? Father! Let us passionately love the reality of being with you, with Jesus, of your Kingdom fully coming and your will being done in this earth even as it is in Heaven.

Let us love His appearing so that it informs our hearts in their deepest recesses. Amen – let it be so!

It is my own conviction that the Church as a whole has lost the emphasis of previous generations of being fixed on the hope of Jesus’ return, and what He has prepared for those who love Him. And of intentionally looking toward His coming as the means to endure the trials of this present life.

There are lots of reasons for that:

Careless teaching about Jesus’ return which has over and over again miscalculated what cannot be known – precisely WHEN He will return; which has had the effect of dampening people’s anticipation through disappointment after disappointment.

Whole denominations of Believers have fallen into this trap and then eventually fallen into a distrustful malaise over the entire topic.

Another thing is how easy it is – especially in the face of constant bombardment from the news – to be saturated with reports of political and racial turmoil, natural disasters globally and nationally, etc.

And then there are our individual and personal concerns.

So while I will break no new ground here today, I do hope by the Spirit’s enablement, to turn your eyes once again to the promise of what is before us in the return of our Lord and Savior.

As I’ve mentioned many times throughout this series, the entire book of the Revelation was intended to buoy the hopes of God’s people in difficult times, and to refocus their hearts and minds so as to truly “love His appearing.”

Those of you who have been with us both in this series, and when I’ve visited this passage in the past will recall that I like to point out a unique feature of John’s in relating the information recorded here.

And I cannot be more pleased to be able to come back to it once more after having done so several times in the past.

John does something in these 2 chapters he has utilized a bit before – but majors on this time.

Because John is receiving a revelation of things truly unimaginable to his readers, he spends a large part of his time describing what is NOT in the New Heavens and the New Earth as opposed to what is.

This is because the wonder of what he beheld is quite simply, incomparable.

I have prefaced this portion with this illustration before, but bear with me one more time.

Years ago on a business trip to New Orleans, I was treated to some interesting street vendor fare.

My boss, a true culinary adventurer said “go ahead and get it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll eat it.”

So, idiot that I am, I ordered “gator on a stick.”

And if you were to ask me what it tasted LIKE – I would be at a total loss to compare it to any other known substance. Animal, vegetable or mineral!

I can tell you what is WAS: Inedibly abhorrent in every sense of the word. It was AWFUL! And my boss did finish it.

But it did not taste LIKE anything else I had ever tasted – or ever hope to taste again.

So here, John is so overwhelmed by this vision, that he notes 13 things that aren’t in the New Heavens and the New Earth in an attempt to give us some sense of the unspeakable glory and wonder God has laid up for those who are in Christ Jesus and love His appearing.

We start right off in Rev 21:1 –

Revelation 21:1 CSB / “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

1 / 21.1 – No more SEA: Some have quipped that the reason John notes the absence of the sea, is because having been in exile on a barren island in the Mediterranean sea at the time, he could think of nothing better than to never see the sea again. It had filled his vision for so long, he wanted relief.

But more than likely there are 2 far more interesting reasons why he notes this reality first.
1. He is relating the fact that the New Heavens and the New Earth are so drastically different from our existence now, that there is a completely new economy even in terms of ecological life.
This is a wholly new existence. One not dependent upon the things we presently count as necessary to life on this planet.
1. More importantly, we have noted several times in our study that in Biblical literature, and especially in previous chapters of this book, the sea often represents that which is turbulent. Things unknown and unstable and unsafe. So it is in Revelation 13:1 John writes:
Revelation 13:1 CSB / “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names.”

The Beast which terrorizes God’s people and tries to conquer the earth, rises out of the sea!

But in the New Heavens and the New Earth, there will be nothing deep and dark anymore; nothing hidden; nothing threatening; nothing unstable, etc.

All is brought into the light and is full of blessedness rather than fear or mystery.

Instead of a sea – there is vss. 2-3: Revelation 21:2–3

Revelation 21:2–3 CSB / “I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.”

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

No more sea. Instead, of a sea, a City. A city coming down out of Heaven

Revelation 21:2–4 CSB / “I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

And note here something most amazing, incomprehensible.

He – who He? Jesus!

Jesus Himself will take upon Himself – as a personal ministry to each and every one of us – to wipe every tear from our eyes!

It is almost too wonderful to even contemplate isn’t it?

He won’t have us do it to one another, nor will He enlist an angel nor even an archangel – He personally will take away both our sorrow and its expression.

Oh what a Savior!

Then what do we read next?

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

2 / 21.4 – No more DEATH: No one and no thing shall ever die again. Imagine this if you can.

In our present state, death is so much a part of our frame of life, that an existence where there is no more death whatever, is truly beyond our comprehension.

John doesn’t say how it is he knows there is no more death except it is part of what the “Loud voice from the throne” announced to him in vs. 2.

In other words, this is a revelation from God Himself to cheer and fill the hearts of His people with wonder at how the death and resurrection of Christ will at last deal with everything sin introduced into the world in the Fall.

And so, not only is there no death – but “He” God, now dwelling with mankind in His unmediated presence – will personally wipe every tear from the eyes of His beloved Children.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

3 / 21.4 – No more GRIEF : Not only no more death, but not even a reason ever again to mourn over ANYTHING!

One wonders just how this can be, when we stop to think that certainly most, if not all of us will have loved ones who will not be there, and will in fact be tormented in an eternal Hell under the just judgment of God.

And I tell you, I do not know. But I know what the text says was revealed to John by the voice from the throne – and that we are being assured in that announcement that there will never again be any reason to grieve or mourn.

None.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

4 / 21.4 – No more CRYING: Think of all the things which produce weeping here (negatively), and each and everyone of them will be gone forever.

Can you even imagine never shedding a sorrowful tear ever again for all eternity?

I cannot. And if it were not revealed to us in God’s Word, we would have no reason to even hope that it might be so. But here it is.

And it is given to His Saints so that we might loosen a bit of the grip we have on this present life which is so distorted and damaged by sin that it lulls into believing this is the way it will always be.

But it will not.

When I stop to think about how many loved ones I’ve lost in my tenure here at ECF – both personally and as part of this Church, it is easy to break into tears over each one and collectively. Rightly so.

But the day will come when not a tear will well up in our eyes ever again. Not only because death has been abolished, but for ANY REASON.

Even more, the word used here carries the idea of crying out! Like the shouting out of “how long oh Lord” when in deep distress and agony.

But never again will that sound be heard within the walls of the New Jerusalem He has been preparing for us all this time.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

5 / 21.4 – No more PAIN: As I look out at this congregation and I think of the personal stories of so many of you, and how you have suffered great injuries over the course of your lives, and others who struggle every day with chronic pain and other conditions – I can only weep for joy today as I have the pleasure to announce to you on the authority of God’s Word that one day – there will be NO PAIN!

Neither by accident, disease, or any other cause,

Neither physical nor mental nor emotional pain of any kind.

Your God and Savior has heard your every moan and groan and creaking joint and He will remove all of it, from the smallest discomfort to the greatest incapacity – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at His return.

And knowing how unbelievable this all is – it is reinforced in the most emphatic way in Revelation 21:5–7

Revelation 21:5–7 CSB / “Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”’”

“Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”

“The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

Revelation 21:8 CSB / “But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

6 / 21.8 – No cowardly, faithless, detestable, murderous, sexually immoral, sorcerous, idolatrous or lying persons: Indeed, all who live this way: given over to bowing to cultural pressure to avoid being identified with Jesus; rejecting Christ and His Gospel of grace; preferring to live in sin instead of fighting against it; hateful and murderous; sexually immoral; using God and religion as means to earthly ends; worshiping whatever they value most in place of Jesus; and contrary to the truth of all things as revealed in the Scriptures – all these will end in the lake of fire and will never enter this place to sully it or victimize its people ever again.

Now to be perfectly honest with you, if this was all this passage had to reveal to us, I would be more than happy to go home one very happy camper.

But the truth is, our God is a God of abundance. He promises and provides for us far beyond anything that we can ask or think.

So, as though all of what we’ve seen so far is not enough, at this point in John’s account, the scene shifts dramatically.

So far, he has been recording what he sees as one standing on the earth and looking up and seeing the New Jerusalem come down out of Heaven.

Now, he is taken up to a high vantage point so that he can look down on the City in all of its splendor.

And watch how he is told the City is also the Bride and the wife of the Lamb.

This mixing together of the metaphors is fantastic.

And it draws upon another scriptural references by both Paul and Peter: Eph 2:18-22

Ephesians 2:18–22 CSB / “For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”

1 Peter 2:4–5 CSB / “As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 21:9–21 CSB / “Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates.

There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used.

The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass.

The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.”

So on top of what we’ve heard, we now get this vision that is quite beyond our senses to grasp.

A city built of gemstones and as high and wide as it is long – perhaps a cube, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 -1500 miles in each direction. Completely unimaginable.

I hope to come back to this portion in our next time together – to unpack more of what WILL be there, but we need to press on in discovering more of what won’t be there for today.

And from here I’ll pick up the pace some.

Revelation 21:22 CSB / “I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

7 / 21.22 – No TEMPLE: All worship will be conducted face to face. We won’t go anywhere to worship, worship will be our state of being.

Why no Temple? Because we will dwell in the all-encompassing presence of God and the Lamb at all times. Our interaction with Him will not be geographical – going here or there – it will be permeation, all absorbed in His loving, infinite presence.

There is no way to describe such an existence, so with John we’ll have to content ourselves with the negative – there will be no temple there. It will not be needed in that mode of existence.

Revelation 21:23 CSB / “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

8 / 21.23 – No SUN or MOON: No such thing as an external source of light in order to know and comprehend. Neither a sun, nor the reflected light of the moon because of the nature of the glorious presence of God and the Lamb.

The idea here isn’t as much astrological as it is the idea that there is nothing hidden, dark or secret.

Here, we know so little of what is real and true. There, all will be opened to us.

Remember John’s words in 1 John 1:5

1 John 1:5 CSB / “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

There is nothing that will ever again leave us in doubt or fear – and especially any suspicion of God or His motives, why He appointed what He did for each of us in our life here and now.

The end of all mystery in the negative sense. Nothing but the endless, revealed, pure and unmixed love of God for His people. A love as great as the love He has for His only begotten Son”

John 17:23 CSB “I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”

How little we can grasp that now.

That He loves the Believer even as He loves Jesus!

Oh if we could only live in this reality now – what doubts and fears it would erase, and what an impetus to serve Him in love and joy it would produce.

That knowledge and sense of His love for us here and now is so tainted at times, and it ebbs and flows in our experience. But not there. Endless perfected love with no shadow of doubt or fear ever again.

No need of sun or moon to perceive by. For His light will flood us.

Revelation 21:25 CSB / “Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.”

9 / 21.25 – No LIMITED ACCESS: Being always before the face of God.

How we long at times for a palpable nearness to God.

Every Believer knows of times when God seems near. So close, so present that that it fills the soul inexplicably. Sometimes in reading the Word, or in worship here together in the music, or just meditating on the goodness and grace of God. But those seasons are oh so brief. They come and they go.

But not then, not there. There we will have all access, all the time.

The symbol of the gates never being closed are a wonderfully picturesque way of saying we’ll never be devoid of the sense and the wonder of His sweet presence ever again.

Revelation 21:25 CSB / “Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.”

10 / 21.25 – No NIGHT: In the ancient world, when night came, the gates of cities were closed for safety’s sake. When a city sleeps is when it is most vulnerable to attack.

But tied with what we just saw that the gates of the New Jerusalem never close – so, there is never any night there. No time of vulnerability where the gates NEED to be closed – for there will be no enemies!

This may also have something to do with how we will experience the wonder and the majesty of God – that is it will be unending and uninterrupted.

Here, our greatest joys and happiness are also punctuated by our need of rest and sleep. But not there.

Unending joy. uninterrupted delight – even for sleep!

No night. No fear. No vulnerability. All is perpetually safe and secure and imperturbable.

What a contrast this is to fate of the lost where in 14:11 we’re told their torment is relentless, day and night.

Part of their doom is the conscious passing of time in their punishment.

Part of the Believer’s eternal joy is that time no longer holds the same ebbs and flows – but is perpetual.

Revelation 21:27 CSB / “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

11 / 21.27 – Nothing UNCLEAN: Perpetual, undefilable purity.

Nothing will even be allowed in which will spoil its beauty, purity or perfection.

The glories of Heaven can never be spoiled by anybody or any thing.

Revelation 21:27 CSB / “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

12 / 21.27 – No one DETESTABLE: No one who in any way is contrary to the holiness and perfection of God in any way.

So with that – never any kind of perversion of the truth and the communication of the Glory of God.

Jesus told us He Himself is the truth, the life and the way. Anything that obscures who and what He is in any way, is detestable and contrary to Him. And nothing of that will be had in the New Jerusalem – ever!

Revelation 22:3 CSB / “and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.”

13 / 22.3 – No more CURSE: No more CURSE – Every last aspect of God’s anger with sin in relation to us is completely and forever banished in totality.

Everything we experience here and now in this present world – every discomfort, grief, pain, loneliness, disease, violence, distress, sorrow, worry, the unknown, fear, doubt, unbelief, besetting sin – committed by us or perpetrated upon us – is, every single bit of it – temporary.

And it will all be swallowed up in the wonder and the glory of the unveiled presence of our Christ and King.

1 Corinthians 2:9–10 CSB / “But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

Even at this, in our sin-broken state, we can only glimpse and comprehend but the smallest smidgen.

John 14:2–3 CSB / “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you.

If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

It has been quipped that if it took God only 6 days to create the heavens and the earth – what must Heaven be like, if He has been preparing it for 2,000 years!

Beloved, we have not yet even begun to comprehend.

But He has promised it.

He has revealed it by His Spirit: Here in His Word, and, by the conviction of His Spirit that it is absolutely true.

And it belongs to everyone who has surrendered their whole being to the Lord Jesus Christ – trusting in Him as their sin-bearer.

AMAZING!

Now I must ask you – are you one of those who will inherit this New Heavens and New Earth?

Do you know Christ as your sin-bearer?

Have you trusted in His atoning sacrifice on your behalf – and bent the knee to Him as your Sovereign and Lord?

If not, none of this glory applies to you. The Bible describes a far different end for you. Just as certain and eternal as this is for His saints.

But it can!

YOU can come to Him today. You can own your sin before Him and ask for His forgiveness, and by faith, receive the gift of eternal life and cleansing for all of your sin and rebellion against His right to rule you spirit, soul and body. You can become part of the Family of God as an adopted son or daughter.

Won’t you call upon Him to save you today?
Who are the REAL Millennials Pt. 2 / Revelation 20:7-15

October 15th, 2018
Revelation 20:7-15

Revelation series part 35

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Last time we noted this chapter divides itself into 3 sections:

1-6 The Millennium

7-10 The Final Vanquishing of Satan

11-15 The Great White Throne Judgment

While today we want to focus on vss. 7-15, we need to remember this is all happening in the context of “The Millennium” and what that means.

The Millennium

The period of time referenced here is called the millennium simply because…

A MILLENNIUM = 1000 years.

And we get that figure from the 6 times it is mentioned in this short passage:

Revelation 20:2 CSB / He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:3 CSB / He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

Revelation 20:4 CSB / Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:5 CSB / The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

This is the first resurrection.

Revelation 20:6 CSB / Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:7 CSB / When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison

And there are 4 chief characteristics of this 1000 years worth noting:
1. Satan bound – so he cannot deceive the nations
2. The Saints reign with Jesus
3. The Lost aren’t resurrected until after it is over
4. At the end, Satan is released for a short time again
It’s also worth noting this millennial concept was not new to Jewish readers.

As you know, there are some Bibles which contain additional books between the Old and New Testaments that we have – called the Apocrypha. In addition to these there are a host of other Jewish writings which are similar – they are referred to as pseudepigrapha.

“Pseudo” because they purport to be written by some OLD Testament saint – but we know historically they were not.

These are Jewish writings from roughly 200 BCE to 100 CE.

They were never considered inspired either by the Jews or by Christians, but John’s Jewish readers would have been familiar with them.

One of those books, the Book of Jubliees – sometimes called the Apocalypse of Moses – was written by a Pharisee around 100-110 BCE. And it also describes this same idea of a future 1000 year reign of the Messiah with Satan bound and a near Heaven on earth.

So this was by no means an entirely new to John or his first readers.

But I want to clear up a few details about this time before we move ahead unpacking the rest of the chapter.

Who are the Millennials?

Last time we asked this question: Who are the REAL millennials; the Biblical millennials? From the text we can see they are comprised of 2 groups:

Those who are Christ’s at His return – living and dead.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 CSB / We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Or, as our text has it: Revelation 20:4 CSB / Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

So the resurrected saints are clearly the 1st group.

But who might the 2nd group be? Who are those who are reigned over during this time?

After all the previous chapters had described the near, if not total destruction of those who HAD received the mark of the beast. So who might these be who populate this era?

Those who are NOT Christ’s but nevertheless survived the rise of Antichrist and the Tribulation.

While the text does not spell it out we might well surmise they are comprised of those who are not Christ’s at His coming, but who nevertheless, for several possible reasons did not accept the mark of the beast either.

One thinks for instance of those in Islam who would have rejected the 4 key antichrist concepts of personal autonomy, culturally defined morality, security and well-being in materialism and self-styled spirituality. Their beliefs run counter to these even though they do not hold to Biblical truth and the Gospel of the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

Orthodox Jews would fall into the same category as would many others who are devout in their religions.

So too would millions in places like sub-Saharan Africa and the expanses of China who would never even be exposed to the antichrist system as we’ve seen it defined in the previous chapters.

Ostensibly, these would enter into this new age whole, and would live under the direct, manifest rule and reign of Jesus and the Saints. A most amazing time for sure.

Now that is only speculation and I would not make a doctrine out of it. But it seems a reasonable possibility to me.

That aside, let’s move on in the text itself to the 2nd section –

7-10 The Final Vanquishing of Satan.

We don’t need to spend a lot of time on this as the salient points are right on the surface. But there are several important things to take note of.
1. Satan will be released.
Revelation 20:7 CSB / When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison
1. Satan will go out to deceive once again.
Revelation 20:8 CSB / and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

The earth has enjoyed an unprecedented time of prosperity, peace and blessing for this 1000 years, but then Satan is allowed to exert influence and deception once again.

Certainly we ask – WHY? But the text gives us no direct reason.

We’ll discuss some possibilities later, but we do not have a full answer. What we DO have is Scripture simply telling us it will be so.

The reference here to Gog and Magog is a highly debated one.

The terms Gog and Magog come mainly from Ezekiel 38-39. Many think Gog is either an individual leader’s name, or possibly title, and so Magog is the people of Gog.

For the Jews, Gog and Magog took on the same concept as Babylon did – i.e. representative of those who oppose and oppress God’s people. Much like we might see a foul nation rise under bad leadership and say “Oh, that’s another Hitler and 3rd Reich.”

But there are no other historical references to, or evidences of, any such Gog and Magog empire like we do for Babylon or Israel’s other enemies. And attempts to link Gog with being a leader over Russia and its allies – to fit modern prophecy buffs – really doesn’t have much footing. The idea that Russia would still be “Russia” 1000 years after Jesus’ return seems highly speculative and unlikely.

Out of all the explanations I’ve read, the one which makes the most sense is that Gog, comes from a Sumerian word gug – meaning darkness. In other words, Satan is being identified (as is common) as the Dark Prince or Prince of Darkness, and Magog simply refers those who follow him in this last deceptive attack on God and God’s people. So it is figurative in a way the Jewish readers would have been able to identify with.

Whether that is correct or not, what we DO know is what the text says: Satan deceived nations and gathered a group from the 4 corners of the earth.
1. To gather them for battle. Rev 20:8
Revelation 20:8 CSB / and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
1. They try to attack the “beloved city”.
Revelation 20:9 CSB / They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

The identification of the “beloved city” has led many to speculate that this is geographical Jerusalem as we know it today. That Jerusalem will be the place of Jesus’ rule with the saints during the 1000 years. And this keeps many prophecy watchers glued to events transpiring in Israel and Jerusalem today.

While this is possible, it also has some serious problems.

First, it would be quite impossible to house all of the resurrected and translated saints together in such a singular geographical city like Jerusalem today. How many millions are we talking about here? Vast numbers for sure. Far more than is feasible.

Second, the language of “encampment” here is taken directly from the Old Testament arrangement of how the Jews in the wilderness were encamped in formation around the Tabernacle. So it would seem something else is being hinted at.

The most reasonable explanation to me is that this in fact the New Jerusalem which will be presented to us in detail in the next 2 chapters. The 1,400 mile cube which is the Heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12:12 and the New Jerusalem of Rev. 3, 20 and 21.

Since the Bible ties the concept of The City together with it also being God’s People this makes sense of 1 Thess 4:16-17

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 CSB / For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

The Greek word here translated “to meet” the Lord in the air is a technical military term.

It is used to describe the people of the city who had been conquered in war. When the conquering King would make his official approach to the city, the people would go out “to meet” and escort him back into the city. It is used in only two other places in the New Testament: Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15. In both cases, people go out to meet someone only to escort them back.

This is the picture of what is commonly called “the rapture”.

If, as Rev. 21:2 notes, the city comes down out of Heaven prepared like a Bride for her husband, and the Bride of Christ is His redeemed – the metaphors all begin to come together quite nicely.

And the idea that the Beloved City being besieged by Satan and his followers is The New Jerusalem changes the picture considerably.
1. There is no war this time. Rev 20:9
Revelation 20:9 CSB / They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

God’s people aren’t engaged in this conflict at all. The reality that all along, Satan has opposed God comes into full view – and God Himself responds without us.

This my friends is Armageddon. The battle that takes place on the plane of Meggido –
which is what Armageddon means.

Once again, such a vast army as pictured here could not be gathered in the geographical plane of Megiddo. It simply isn’t capacious enough. It is symbolic to the Jewish mind who in their history – saw that locale as a common battle ground for conflicting forces from surrounding nations.

This is not some military war on Middle East soil – but the final destruction of all that opposes God.
1. The Devil is finally, absolutely vanquished.
Revelation 20:10 CSB / The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

As the anti-christ system and its spokesman the false prophet were dispatched to the lake of fire in Ch. 19, so now too, Satan himself is consigned there, and as the text says: will be tormented day and night – forever.

Which then brings us to the 3rd section.

11-15 The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11 CSB / Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

Who is the one seated on this throne? Is this the Father or the Son?

In John 5 Jesus said all judgment has been committed to Him. But the majority of the references in the Revelation itself always depict the Father as the one on the throne. Perhaps the answer is both.

The book of Hebrews mentions Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the Father on His throne after His resurrection – 4 times. And Rev. 3:21 says He sits WITH the Father on His throne.

So it is probably best to see it as God judging: Father and Son in unison.

Earth and Heaven fleeing away may make reference to neither angel nor man being able to hide from His judgment. Similar to David’s cry in Psalm 139:7-8

Psalm 139:7–8 CSB / Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

Or, it may have reference to how seeing God in His glory simply makes everything else disappear from view. You cannot look into the sun and see anything else. So here, the brightness of His glory so fills the view that everything else is wholly eclipsed.

However we take it, the spectacle is mind-boggling.

Revelation 20:12 CSB / I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

“Great and small” – Mounce: “The point is that no one is so important as to be immune from judgment, and no one is so unimportant as to make judgment inappropriate”.

Notice the “books”.

We have the “book of life” mentioned, and then other – “books.”

One gets the immediate idea that there are different judgments for those in different books.

The righteous as we shall see, (those in the book of life) are judged that they may receive their rewards.

Those outside of Christ, all others, are judged that they may receive their just punishments.

On what basis?

Revelation 20:13 CSB / Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.

Each according to their “works.”

That the sea and death and Hades gave up their dead, is just a way of saying that everyone who has ever lived and already died, will at last stand before God to give an account for their lives. This has been a theme throughout the Scriptures.

But when we say each one will be judged for the works, more is being said than each one is being judged simply solely on the basis of their “actions.”

For one may do what is technically the right thing – but do it for the entirely wrong motives.

Many a person acts honestly not because they want to delight their Savior, but so they won’t get caught, or violate their conscience, or because it makes them feel good, or simply because it is the law.

This is not acceptable before God as the parable of the Prodigal Son clearly shows.

The elder son could honestly say: “I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders.”

And we immediately see that his devotion and service to his father was not out of love.

So we read in Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17:10 CSB / I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.

This holds true even for our religious service – Isa 29:13

Isaiah 29:13 CSB / The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service— yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

Or Ezekiel 33:31 CSB / So my people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit.

No one will be able to plead on that day – “But I did all the right stuff!”

God’s question will be, “where was your heart in relation to me in all of your purported obedience?”

If genuine love for Christ and His glory does not inform us in our walk, our works are all entirely dead and unacceptable no matter how good, noble, beneficial or devout they seem outwardly.

And then the text ramps things up yet more.

For not only will all mankind be judged, there will be a completely new order established: Life without any reference to sin and death and all that comes of sin.

Revelation 20:14 CSB / Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

In other words, death and the grave both cease to be factors any more. 1 Cor 15:20-28

1 Corinthians 15:20–28 CSB / But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.

For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be abolished is death.

For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.

When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Can we even begin to grasp the wonder of an existence where death isn’t even a remote part of the landscape? Where it will never again even come into mind?

Oh what a great salvation Christ has prepared for us!

And then we get this final clarifying statement to put it all together: Rev 20:15

Revelation 20:15 CSB / And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Here is the great dividing line in all of humanity.

And here is a most powerful reminder of the Gospel and all it imports.

At the end of all things – what matters is whether or not one stands before God, having had Jesus take all the just due for their sins on the cross at Calvary – being listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life – or standing before God and having to give an account for every act, the motive behind every act, every wayward, evil or contrary thought, and their unrepentant state in refusing Christ as their sin-bearer and Lord.

It is why we plead with all people everywhere to come to Christ!

We are all on our way to the judgment seat of the final day. And now is the day of grace. Now is the time to be reconciled to the Father through faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son on the cross.

Now is the time to end your rebellion against His right of ownership and Lordship over your life, and come to Him seeking mercy for having denied Him His rights, in favor of your own lordship over yourself.

Now is the time to acknowledge your sin, to confess you are guilty and deserving of eternal punishment, and asking to be forgiven on the basis of Jesus’ substitutionary death.

For there is no 3rd option. You either stand in Him, or in fallen Adam.

So where are you today? That is THE question!

This verse could not be more succinct or clear: Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life, was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now it is commonly asked: It this literal? I think C.H. Spurgeon’s comment on this is the perfect consideration: “Oh, that lake! Have you ever read the words, “Shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death”? The lake of fire! and souls cast into it! The imagery is dreadful. “Ah,” says one, “that is a metaphor.” Yes, I know it is, and a metaphor is but a shadow of the reality. Then, if the shadow be a lake of fire, what must the reality be? If we can hardly bear to think of a “worm that never dieth,” and a “fire that never shall be quenched,” and of a lake whose seething waves of fire that dash o’er undying and hopeless souls, what must hell be in very deed?”

Well now, what else is important to take away from all of these things before we end?

1. Why the millennium?

What is the point of this 1000 year interregnum and a last loosing of Satan before the New Heavens and New Earth?

This is a reasonable question, but one the Scripture does not answer directly. However, there are some reasonable things to consider when we think about it.

It will prove environment it not the answer to sin. Even if we should have 1000 years without Satan’s temptations, at the drop of a hat, we will turn – if not for the grace of God.

It will prove that Satan is not ultimately to blame for all that has gone wrong – human sinfulness is.

It proves man’s problem is himself, not Satan. No matter how long man may be without the influence of the Devil, and no matter how superlative things may be environmentally, man is still man, and apart from total re-creation, mere renovation no matter how extensive, will not do.

It will give time to vastly increase the number of the redeemed.

There will be vast numbers redeemed during this time – more than those lost previously.

Possibly the fulfillment of uniquely Jewish promises.

To demonstrate the salvation in Christ is not plan B.

The Garden was never the end game – from the beginning, something more was intended.

2. There WILL be ultimate justice

As we saw in the text, both great and small will stand before the throne.

No sin will be so great as to eclipse all others.

No sin is so small as to escape just punishment.

Make no mistake, judgment on that day will not be on a sliding scale. Each individual will be accountable for their own sins, irrespective of their environments.

Yes, others may have impacted the particular sins you’ve been involved in, or perhaps influenced the way those sins were acted out – but each one will stand on their own. There will be no finger pointing. There will be no excuses. No scapegoating. There will only be personal responsibility.

And as God is ontologically incapable of over-punishing sin, so He is ontologically incapable of under-punishing or ignoring sin.

In His holiness and His justness, all must be made right.

3. Satan, death and sin will be eradicated forever

The finality of all this is meant to bring the highest comfort to Believers. Never again will there be any sin, any opposition to God, any war, sickness, pain, sorrow, grief, worry, doubt, fear, or deception – ever again!

Christ will rule and reign in all of His magnificent glory and only what is in perfect harmony with His nature and perfections will be allowed.

Never again will any Believer be tempted to sin.

Never again will we have any interruption in our enjoyment of, and intimacy with, Christ.

Never again will we lose a loved one, fail to live in perfect holiness or live in the sorrow of regret or fear the future.

4. All will be summed up in Christ.

As Jonathan Edwards wrote: “Love desires the love of the beloved. So the saints in glory shall see God’s transcendent love to them; God will make ineffable manifestations of his love to them. They shall see as much love in God towards them as they desire; they neither will nor can crave any more.”

“Herein they shall enjoy God in a more exalted and excellent manner than man would have done if he had never fallen; for doubtless that happiness, that Christ himself partakes of in his Father’s bosom, is transcendently sweet and excellent; and how happy therefore are they who are admitted to partake of that portion of delight with him!”

Believer – Begin to pray for the soon return of Jesus, and live in preparation for it.

Unbeliever – Come to Christ today.

Find the forgiveness for all your sins that He has prepared for in His substitutionary death on Calvary.

Be reconciled to the Father through faith in the Son.

Trust Him today, and be born again.

Let me close with one more quote from Edwards, from the conclusion of one of his own sermons. He preached, and I preach to you now with him: “come to Christ, and accept of salvation in this way.

You are invited to come to Christ, heartily to close with him, and trust in him for salvation: and if you do so, you shall have the benefit of this glorious contrivance.

You shall have the benefit of all; as much as if the whole had been contrived for you alone. God has already contrived every thing that is needful for your salvation; and there is nothing wanting but your consent.

Since God has taken this matter of the redemption of sinners into his own hand, he has made thorough work of it; he has not left it for you to finish. Satisfaction is already made, righteousness is already wrought out: death and hell are already conquered. The Redeemer has already taken possession of glory, and keeps it in his hands to bestow on them who come to him. There were many difficulties in the way, but they are all removed. The Saviour has already triumphed over all, and is at the right hand of God, to give eternal life to his people.

Salvation is already brought to your door; and the Saviour stands, knocks, and calls that you would open to him, that he might bring it in to you. There remains nothing but your consent. All the difficulty now remaining is with your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It must be because you would not come to Christ that you might have life; and because you virtually choose death rather than life, Prov. 8:36. “He that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”—All that is now required of you, is, that your heart should close with Christ as a Saviour.”