Old Testament Christmas

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

All right, let's pray and we will get started Lord Jesus again as we open up your word

00:07

We ask that you would send your spirit open our hearts and our minds So that we may rightly understand what you have revealed in your words that we may believe

00:16

Correctly that we may do what you will all of this to your glory.

00:21

We ask in Jesus name Looking at the demon clock.

00:28

It's moving again. Okay It's moving.

00:36

It's a sign. Yeah, it's a sign. I don't know what it means, but it's a sign Yeah, now if you remember last week, we were working through 2nd

00:46

Samuel chapter 7 I need to note here that today will be the last day that we're going to really look at 2nd

00:53

Samuel because all of this this little excursus that we took from 1st

00:59

Samuel through the opening chapters of 2nd Samuel was looking at what the scriptures reveal we've regarding the doctrine of the kingdom and All of this was predicated by our study as we were working our way through the

01:13

Ten Commandments back in Exodus chapter 20 specifically the fourth commandment

01:19

Remember that fourth commandment? So today let's review where we've been at at least in 2nd

01:26

Samuel 7 If you remember David wanted to build God a house That the Lord's dwelling place was in a movable tent called the tabernacle

01:36

David wanted to build God a permanent facility for his presence to dwell and Initially Nathan the

01:44

Prophet said go for it. And then Nathan the Prophet you actually heard from God and God said no no, no, no, no,

01:50

I want you to go and talk to David and rather than David building me a house

01:56

I God God says I'm going to build David a house and then we get this amazing prophecy regarding Christ So let's review with that prophecy itself and We'll see what it says verse 10 2nd

02:12

Samuel chapter 7 I will appoint a place for my people Israel and Will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more

02:23

Violent men shall afflict them No more as formerly from the time that I appointed judges over my people

02:31

Israel and I will give you rest from all of your enemies Moreover Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will make you a house

02:40

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your own body

02:50

And I will establish his kingdom He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever

02:59

I will be to him a father. He shall be to me a son when he commits iniquity

03:04

I will discipline him with the rod of men with the stripes of the sons of men But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom

03:13

I put away From before you and we noted that last week that when it talks about this prophecy about Jesus that when he commits iniquity

03:21

This is dealing with the biblical doctrine of how imputation works that our sins are imputed to Christ Isaiah 53 says

03:30

God has laid on him the iniquity of us all and as a result of that God is seeing him as the one who has committed the iniquity yet Jesus never sinned and The idea then is is that double imputation which is taught in Scripture very clearly is that we are clothed then in the righteousness of Christ and God sees each and every one of us as having lived perfectly sinless spotless lives

04:00

Isn't that fun? Now, let me give you another text along these lines and then we'll move forward if you would turn with me to Philippians chapter 3

04:09

Philippians chapter 3 this deals with the second part of this doctrine of double imputation and The Apostle Paul here is warning the church at Philippi regarding the

04:22

Judaizers remember the Judaizers They did not believe in salvation by grace through faith alone.

04:28

They believed in salvation by grace plus keeping the Mosaic Covenant commands circumcision kosher laws feast days things like that And so Paul here writes look out for the dogs look out for those

04:41

Evildoers look out for those who mutilate the flesh and so their circumcision is not holy their circumcision is nothing more than a mere mutilation of the flesh for we are the circumcision who worship by the

04:53

Spirit of God and Glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh

04:58

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh Also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh.

05:04

Well, I have more Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a

05:09

Hebrew of the Hebrews as to the law a Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under Torah blameless, but whatever gain

05:20

I had I Counted as a loss for the sake of Christ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing

05:28

Christ Jesus my lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them all of his good works all of his

05:36

Torah keeping as a Pharisee Considers them to be rubbish. We talked about this a few weeks ago in the sermon

05:41

The word for rubbish is actually quite stronger in the Greek And just if you think about it if a dog leaves a present for you on your lawn

05:50

That that present is the rubbish referred to here, right? So he considers all of his

05:57

Torah keeping as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ and be found in him and watch the phrase not having a righteousness of My own that comes from the law

06:12

Now, isn't that interesting? not having a righteousness of my own

06:19

How do you have somebody else's righteousness Right and see that's what's barely being given to us through what

06:27

Christ has done That we when we are brought to penance that faith in Christ We receive a righteousness that is not ours.

06:35

You can think of it as an alien righteousness. It's not ours natively It's given to us by God himself

06:42

So Paul saying that I might be found in Christ not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law

06:49

But that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God That depends on faith that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings

07:04

Becoming like him in his death that by any means possible. I may attain the resurrection from the dead

07:11

Now the fact that we are given a righteousness that is not ours. It is a righteousness from God It is

07:18

Christ's righteousness that is given to us. We are then seen as those who are righteous and We talked about this yesterday in the women's

07:27

Bible study that Christians over and again was it was it 64 67 times something like that in the

07:34

New Testament are referred to as saints the Greek word for saints

07:41

Hagia's or hagi oil. That's the plural literally means the Holy Ones the

07:48

Holy Ones Doesn't say the potentially Holy Ones those who are working on their holiness that's going up and up and up and up No, we are declared to be the

07:59

Holy One So when you hear the phrase Saint or the word Saint that the Greek behind that is Holy One So if you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith

08:13

Are you holy? Yes or no? Yes By the same token that when

08:21

Christ was on the cross suffering for our sins he was

08:27

The sinner you see it. He gets all the sin and dies in our place

08:35

We by faith are given his righteousness. It's a great exchange and it's a good one

08:43

It's really great because now God doesn't see your sin anymore It's a tone for bled for died for he sees you clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

08:52

And this is all good news All right, then coming back to our text. So we see also in this text and we mentioned this last week that this one whom

09:04

God will raise up when he commits iniquity he will he discipline with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of man is a

09:12

Literally a prophecy of Jesus is suffering not on the cross, but is suffering, you know his passion

09:18

While he was suffering while being beaten and flogged But my steadfast love will not depart for him as I took it from Saul whom

09:26

I put away from before you And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for before me forever

09:33

So The kingdom of David is going to be an eternal kingdom forever and ever and ever and ever and ever

09:41

Jesus as king and he will never have to worry about a different King, right?

09:47

Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision

09:52

Nathan spoke to David Then King David went in and sat before Yahweh and he said this is a great response

10:00

Who am I Oh Lord Yahweh Elohim That what and what is my house that you have brought me thus far and yet this was a small thing in your eyes.

10:12

Oh Yahweh Elohim you have spoken also of your servants house for a great while to come and This is instruction for mankind.

10:23

Oh Yahweh Elohim so no David recognizes that this

10:28

That what was spoken by the Prophet Nathan Regarding this one who would sit on his throne forever that this is not just mere prophecy that Is for him and his family, but it's for all of the earth to know this

10:43

Right. Indeed it is and what more can David say to you for you know your servant

10:49

Oh Yahweh Elohim Because of your promise and according to your own heart you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it

10:59

Therefore you are great. Oh Yahweh Elohim For there is none like you and there is no

11:08

God besides you According to all that we have heard with our ears and who is like your people

11:15

Israel The one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you

11:29

Redeemed for yourself from Egypt a nation and its gods and you establish for yourself

11:35

Your people Israel to be your people forever and that's kind of an important thing because remember we as Christians We are grafted in to Israel So this great redemption this great salvation that God has wrought for Israel We're in on it

11:53

We're in on it because we have been grafted in to Israel by grace through faith

11:59

So this is not their history This is our history These are our people

12:06

That's the idea and you establish for yourself your people

12:12

Israel to be your people forever You will Lord became their God and now Oh Yahweh Elohim Confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house and do as you have spoken and Your name will be magnified forever saying the

12:30

Yahweh of hosts Yahweh Sabbath oath It is

12:35

God over Israel and the house of your servant David will be established before you

12:41

For you Oh Yahweh Sabbath oath the Lord of hosts the

12:46

God of Israel have made this revelation to your servant saying I will build you a house Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you and now

12:57

Oh Yahweh Elohim You are God and your words are true and you have promised this good thing to your servant

13:07

Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you for you

13:16

Oh Yahweh Elohim have spoken and With your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever

13:27

Great prophecy, isn't it? Yeah, and this is the kind of prophecy you should almost think of it like this way

13:33

Well, this has everything to do with like Christmas stuff And it does this is a wonderful prophecy of the coming

13:41

Messiah the coming King Who will reign forever and ever and ever and of course, we have wonderful songs written and he shall

13:51

Right, so good stuff now, we're gonna skip chapter 8 because it's a little bit on the dry side

14:00

But it doesn't really relate so much to what we're what we've been focusing on and I'm gonna note

14:05

That we're now really coming to the close of this first Old Testament section that teaches us very clearly what the kingdom is and So as you were if you think back through the stories that we've read in 1st

14:22

Samuel and 2nd Samuel Do you have a better concept in your mind about what the kingdom is?

14:28

What its values are who its king is who he will be and the implications it has regarding us

14:37

All right. Now go back for a minute and think think in your minds. I want you to kind of start to work this out

14:44

Jesus shows up first thing he's preaching is repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand

14:57

First message of Christ pen for the kingdom of heaven is at hand start to think about that for a second

15:03

See if you notice that there's something that's a little bit off in the statement See if you can notice is this concept is a little bit conflicting and then ask yourself this question

15:12

How would a first century Jew living in Judea at the time of Christ and they had heard

15:18

Jesus preaching? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. How would they have heard it?

15:26

Just kind of think about that for a second now as you're thinking. Let's take a look at this last part and Oh Let me see here.

15:36

I want to skip eight. I want to go to nine one of the questions that comes up from time to time our questions regarding God's disposition towards our children

15:52

Kind of an important thing Years ago when I lectured here before I was pastor one of the questions that came up in regards to a discussion on baptism was somebody privately approached me and said that She had had a miscarriage

16:09

And she wanted to know is her baby in heaven right, and So my

16:14

I immediately asked her Were you attending church while you were pregnant? Well, yes, of course.

16:20

I go every Sunday So you heard the gospel? Yes Then I said basically

16:26

God works through means and I know for a fact that God's disposition towards your children

16:32

Is the same as he has towards you scripture clearly teaches this so you can anticipate seeing your child

16:41

Waiting for you when you die when you fall asleep and that brought her great comfort and I'm not speaking out of turn when

16:50

I say this because this next portion of 2nd Samuel kind of the last bit of the kingdom stuff and I'll show you how it fits with the

16:58

New Testament That this last bit is really critical You know for our right understanding of the kingdom and you'll see this then also you'll see this also

17:09

In the Ten Commandments when we get back into Exodus chapter 20 So just to review something here was

17:17

Saul kindly disposed or hostile to David hostile, right however

17:25

Saul's son Jonathan Kindly disposed towards David or hostile

17:32

Yeah, in fact, remember he was the crown prince He was the next in line for the throne of Israel.

17:38

And what did he do? He bent the knee to David and Said the Lord is the one who will make you

17:44

King Right, and so that kind of prefigures that to you know Before Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

17:53

Lord at the glory of God the Father So you think of Jonathan by faith he believes the word of the

17:58

Lord and he bends the knee to David Kind of prefiguring each and every one of us bending the knee also to Christ That's the idea.

18:10

And so watch what happens. You'll see an interesting gospel theme in here, but it also reveals something about God's love even for your children

18:18

David said is there still anyone left at the house of Saul that I may show him Kindness and listen for Jonathan's sake

18:28

Not for Saul's But for the sake of Jonathan for Jonathan's sake

18:38

It's out of love for Jonathan right

18:44

So for Jonathan's sake so I can show him kindness So there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was

18:49

Ziba Loved that name by the way, and they called him to David and King the king said to him

18:55

Are you Ziba? And he said I am your servant and the king said is there not still among the house of Saul?

19:04

That I may show the kindness of God to him. So notice David here is actively looking for somebody in The line of Saul that he may show not his kindness but whose

19:22

God's God's kindness that shows you this is a picture of God's kindness So Ziba said to the king there is still a son of Jonathan He's crippled in his feet and if you remember after Jonathan and Saul were killed that this son

19:39

His name is Mephibosheth. He was five years old and his nurse fled

19:45

Jerusalem in a panic and in her haste to skedaddle She had an accident dropped the child and he becomes a paraplegic

19:56

Terrible accident and the reason for it is she feared that David would kill this fellow But now we see that David had no desire to put him to death

20:05

David is not like earthly kings. And now we see that David desires to show the kindness of God to this fellow

20:14

For the sake of Jonathan, all right so There is a son of Jonathan.

20:22

He's crippled in his feet. The king said to him. Where is he? Ziba said to the king he is in the house of Machir the son of Amiel at Lodabar Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Amael at Lodabar And Mephibosheth Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David and fell on his face and he paid homage

20:50

David said Mephibosheth and he answered behold I am your servant and David said to him do not fear for I will show you

20:59

Kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan and I will restore to you all of the land of Saul your father

21:07

That you shall eat at my table always and he paid homage and said what is your servant?

21:14

That you should show regard for a dead dog such as I now Isn't it interesting that we just heard

21:21

David say almost identical words when God showed kindness to him and said

21:26

Oh, who am I and who is my house that you would do this for me? all right, so you'll notice the humble state of Mephibosheth and David is showing him the kindness of God for Jonathan's sake then the king called

21:41

Ziba Saul's servant said to him all that belong to Saul and to all his house.

21:47

I have given to your master's grandson and you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's

21:56

Grandson may have bread to eat but Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall always eat at my table

22:03

Now Ziba had 15 sons 20 servants Then Ziba said to the king according to all that my lord the king commands his servants

22:11

So will your servant do so Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons

22:18

And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah and all who lived in Ziba's house became

22:25

Mephibosheth's So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem for he ate always at the king's table now

22:31

He was lame in both of his feet Now, let me show you a cross -reference on this which will help us just a smidge go back to Exodus 20 remember this is what kind of launched us into this discussion about the kingdom in the first place and We'll see here

22:49

Exodus 20 verse 4 you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that Is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth

22:58

You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I Yahweh your God am a jealous

23:04

God listen to this Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to Thousands of those who love me and keep my commandment.

23:22

Isn't that interesting? You see scripture reveals

23:29

That God Desires and wills to show the same kindness and love that he has shown to you

23:40

To your children also and your note that like the story we just read

23:48

David desired to do this for the sake of Jonathan And so you can kind of think of it this way you who've been brought to penance and faith in Christ Remember how much

23:56

God loves you? His love for you is Exceedingly beyond what you can think or imagine

24:04

His great love for you. He dies for you on the cross. He washes you clean

24:11

He robes you in his own righteousness and you having been brought to penance and faith

24:18

Humbly bend the knee to him and say oh, who am I that you would show such kindness to me and God?

24:25

Desires for your sake to show this same love and steadfast kindness

24:31

Also to your children so that they can eat at his table forever and ever

24:39

This is God's love for your children, right?

24:48

Now, let's take a look at something in the New Testament real quick Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 it is the day of Pentecost We'll start at verse 36 as Peter is winding down after his sermon the day of Pentecost And he says this let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both

25:21

Lord and Messiah This Jesus whom you crucified Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the

25:31

Apostles brothers What shall we do and Peter said to them? repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and You will receive the gift of the

25:45

Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and For all who are far off everyone whom the

25:55

Lord God calls to himself So you'll note that this promise of the forgiveness of sins the promises that are offered in the waters of baptism of the forgiveness of sins being buried and raised with Christ that these are promises that God is extending to you and To your children and to all who are far off whom the

26:20

Lord God is the one calling to himself His great love for you doesn't stop with you it is for all of your little ones as well very clear

26:33

Yeah, which is why Jesus says do not forbid the little children from coming to me

26:39

He loves them Every bit as he loves you and he desires to show them

26:46

God's kindness as well It's important for us to always remember that important aspect of the kingdom that I think somehow gets lost in the mix in today's rationalistic arguments and thinking

26:58

But don't think for a second that God's love somehow is only for adults or children who've reached a particular age

27:08

That's not true God's love is for all human beings

27:14

Regardless of how small or large they are All right

27:21

So you've had a few minutes to think about it So there's

27:26

Jesus. You're an owl now first century Jews in Judea and you've hearing this new preacher for the first time and This Jesus fellow says to you repent

27:40

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand how long has it been since there has been a

27:48

King in Israel and Israel has had autonomy as a nation. How long has it been?

27:59

hundreds 400 it's been 400 years since Israel has been its own autonomous nation with its own

28:07

King After David died, how did things go with the kingdom? Not good.

28:14

You know, it goes from David to Solomon and there's a step down and you know after he marries all of those women hundreds of wives

28:21

What is he thinking? I mean it goes way down way way way down and then from there

28:27

God tears the kingdom apart the ten northern tribes They rebel against God and they are wiped off the face of the earth

28:34

They are dispersed into the nations They are part of what's called the Diaspora and those

28:40

Jews have lost their identity I mean, who do you know from the tribe of Manasseh or Ephraim today? I Don't know anybody.

28:46

I mean if anyone claims to come from those tribes, that's They're very that's very rare and then

28:54

Judah Benjamin and Levites they go into idolatry God sends his prophets to get them to repent do they repent?

29:02

No, you'll notice in our readings if you've been working through the readings that we offer in the bulletins

29:07

We've been reading the Prophet Jeremiah Jeremiah was his message received.

29:13

Well by the Israelites Like not even close Not even close

29:20

Jeremiah is preaching to a stubborn and obstinate people and he's the last prophet before Israel goes into captivity

29:27

He is the last prophet of the kingdom first prophet of the kingdom is who?

29:34

First prophet is Samuel last prophets Jeremiah he's the last one preaching and It is at that time during the time of the

29:44

Prophet Jeremiah that the last of the kings of Israel Continues in his obstinate sinful idolatry and God says enough is enough 90 % of all the

29:56

Jews are killed when Nebuchadnezzar comes and Conquers Israel destroys

30:03

Jerusalem 10 % survive they end up in captivity in Babylon for 70 years and from that time on Israel is not its own kingdom

30:15

So you grow up Hearing the prophecies and the scuttlebutt and are wondering

30:22

Are you living in the time when the Messiah would show up and you know from the scriptures that the

30:28

Messiah is a king That he is a descendant of David You have a lot of expectation for the

30:35

Messiah But Jesus shows up and he's the fulfillment of that and he does not say

30:40

Repent for the kingdom of David is about to be reestablished It's not what he says repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand

30:57

Who is he saying is king? Yeah, and who is he?

31:08

He's God in human flesh. That's the mystery of this whole thing So remember when Israel rejected

31:14

Samuel from being judge over them and wanted a king God said they were rejecting

31:19

God as being king over them Jesus now shows up and Is saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand

31:29

The reign of God himself as your king is about to take place again

31:37

God is going to be your king and here's the best part about it Your king will be a man and God at the same time

31:46

God and man that's the implications for what's going on here and It's I mean, it's subversive.

31:55

It's glorious. It's just Teeming with like hope like you wouldn't believe

32:03

Now when Jesus after he is crucified and risen from the grave on the third day Just as he's about ready to go to heaven and ascend and sit at the right hand of the father

32:15

What is the question that his disciples ask him like literally on Ascension Day?

32:21

Just as he's minutes away from ascending. Are you now at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

32:30

It's like failing the final on your senior like in your senior year These are the only guys who like failed the final the fourth year of seminary and still got to be pastors

32:41

It's the weirdest thing, right? so they knew the kingdom had everything to do with it and they're thinking he's going to restore the kingdom to Physical Israel, but all authority had been given to Christ in heaven and on earth

33:00

He's the king of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. There is no kingdom on earth

33:06

That has not had his approval Yeah, yeah, see

33:15

Jesus is about to set them free from Rome that's not it's not really the agenda Rome will take care of itself

33:20

It'll fizzle out after a few more hundred years Jesus is gonna set them free from the dominion of darkness his kingdom sets people free from the devil and as Christians then what does it mean for us to say?

33:39

Jesus is Lord Now this

33:44

I didn't say King. I Said Lord because that's his title, right? Nobody says

33:50

Jesus is Lord except for by the Holy Spirit Now we talked about this in the women's Bible study yesterday that think back in that time as Under the authority of under the dominion of the

34:04

Roman Empire Roman soldiers often would carry with them little shrines as they would travel and they would set the shrine up and there would be a little idol of the current

34:18

Emperor of Rome and then there would be a little fire and a little bowl of incense and as your civic responsibility and duty as a

34:28

Roman citizen You were required to take a pinch of incense

34:35

Put it in the fire and Literally say Kaiser Aston Curios Caesar is

34:43

Lord, but we do not say

34:48

Caesar is Lord and Christians couldn't do that this is one of the reasons why Christians were martyred in different periods of time during the first few centuries of Christianity in the

34:59

Roman Empire because Christians confess Yesu Aston Curios Jesus is

35:09

Lord, he's King. He's Sovereign he's running it all you're not

35:22

So repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand So Janet, I'm gonna pick on you for a minute.

35:35

Not good. I'm gonna pick on you Now, I remember the first day we launched into this this whole thing about the kingdom you

35:45

Were struggling with it you weren't getting it Okay months later

35:53

Do you have a little more clarity about the kingdom a little bit?

36:00

It's getting there But you're not you're not at sea without a rudder at this point Right, and so when we sing those

36:09

Christmas carols this year About the king being born in Bethlehem, right?

36:20

Is it this will help right? All right, you're gonna note then that The best way

36:26

I can describe what the scripture teaches regarding the kingdom is it's complicated. It's complicated

36:35

It's complicated, but it is multifaceted and it's deep it's

36:41

Terrifying and comforting it's amazing and at the same time just a little bit elusive

36:49

There's some clarity and mystery behind the whole thing and all that's kind of on purpose because it will not come into sharp focus for us

37:00

Until that day that day that's promised when the angels will gather us

37:07

We will be placed in the clouds and Like think of it as the ultimate

37:13

Palm Sunday And this was the last part of the text that we didn't get to into the sermon that I've held out for this moment first Thessalonians 4

37:25

Let's go back to our epistle text and see how this is impacted by our understanding of the kingdom now

37:38

We don't want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep So that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope

37:45

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep for this we declare to you by a word from the

37:54

Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep for the

38:01

Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command the voice of an archangel the sound of the trumpet of God and The dead in Christ will rise first Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds

38:16

To meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord therefore encourage one another with these words

38:25

When we look at the cross references to that Moment when we are caught up into the clouds the angels take us and we will meet the

38:32

Lord in the air That's literally the real Palm Sunday if you would

38:39

Because what we're going to see is our God Jesus Christ on his war horse heading to planet

38:51

Earth to make war against those who are his enemies and Bring them to an end and then his kingdom

39:02

Will be established forever. He conquers Earth and So remember when

39:08

Jesus came into Jerusalem the first time he came in on a donkey Second time around that Palm Sunday.

39:14

We're all going to be there and Jesus is going to come right through our midst on his way in to Earth to conquer

39:25

First time on a donkey second time war horse see Book of Revelation for more details

39:32

Right, we will never again have a president

39:41

One that we like or one that we dislike ever We will and this is the fun part about it.

39:50

Is that forever and ever our God is also our

39:55

King We Americans are gonna have a lot of getting used to living in a kingdom rather than a republic and quite frankly

40:12

I've had enough of this Republic and boy It's just it's gotten really cranky out there.

40:19

I'm just saying it's really cranky. I feel like saying a Pox on both your houses

40:27

Left right center who cares guys don't get along and all of that then was our study in the kingdom and All of that is predicated on our discussion, which we began months ago on the

40:47

Fourth Commandment Fourth Commandment honor your father and mother

40:54

What does this have to do with the kingdom, okay, what does it have to do with the kingdom honor your father and mother

41:15

It has to do with authority, right? So think of it this way we have a king and That king has established.

41:25

He's our creator as well. He has established a certain order for human society

41:30

Human society doesn't operate in anarchy. What happens when anarchy breaks out in a nation?

41:37

People are murdered in the streets I mean if you want to know what anarchy looks like, you know kind of in a clean sanitized form

41:45

Look at the American West After the Civil War and before the beginning of the 20th century

41:52

All right, at least that's how it's depicted in all of our movies where there where there is no law man

41:58

People are a law unto themselves Look at the movies tombstone, right?

42:04

You have a bunch of desperadoes and evil men gunning people down in the streets.

42:09

It's just an everyday part of life That's the way it's depicted. That's anarchy the opposite of anarchy is

42:19

Established law and order where there is law and order Is there anarchy in the streets and stuff like that?

42:27

There may be but for the most part that's put down pretty quick Right and all of that then that order itself has its foundation then where in your family

42:45

It has its foundation in your family. You think of it this way all of the society is built on the foundation of families fathers mothers children and the authority that goes from Christ to the husband who serves his wife and his children and That's how the order goes.

43:09

Let's take a look at Ephesians 5 real quick Yes, ma 'am Sure. Oh Sure, go ahead.

43:20

Go ahead Yes, but they're with Christ also

43:41

Yes, yes Scriptures use sleep as a euphemism for those who've died in the faith

43:49

Okay, so whereas the seventh -day Adventist, okay, they teach what's called soul sleep and that's not actually what scripture teaches and so what they do is they take the metaphor and they

44:01

Legalize it and push it to a conclusion that it doesn't that scripture doesn't go to for instance

44:07

The Apostle Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord The book of Revelation reveals that the dead departed

44:15

Saints are conscious in the very presence of Christ and are worshiping him and singing to him and so With the seventh -day

44:24

Adventist and there's another group also the Jehovah's Witnesses also teach the same doctrine of soul sleep

44:29

They believe that when you die you there's your They they have a problem with the the soul being separated from the body

44:38

They kind of deny that dichotomy altogether, but scripture is very clear on this and so as a result of it, you know, they they almost have a almost a materialistic way of looking at the human so that to die and then they call it soul sleep and You're not conscious at all

44:57

You're not conscious of anything. You don't go and be with the Lord or anything like that And so you you're just sleeping, you know body and soul in the grave.

45:04

Yeah, that's not what scripture No, you are to be absent with the body

45:11

No, no, no up there you are Okay. No, no, your your body is there's no consciousness at all now exact not my wife has

45:21

Requested that when she dies should be buried in her bathrobe and that we have a sunroof on her coffin and she wants chapstick, too

45:27

I know exactly sure why any of these things, right? You know, but Christina said she's am

45:35

I telling you the truth? Yeah And I keep telling my wife there's no way we're having an open casket with you in a bathrobe

45:42

Yeah, that's just not happening or am I Sunroof anything? so but you know that all of that kind of she's

45:50

She thinks she's gonna be cold and she her lips are gonna be chapped and stuff. It's just weird But that's not how it is at all.

45:56

You're fit. You have no Physicality at death is the tearing apart of body and soul

46:03

So when soul and body are torn apart as Christians our souls are in the presence of the

46:09

Lord and there's consciousness It's consciousness. Absolutely. I would point you to the parable of the rich man

46:15

Lazarus. That is not a parable by the way It's not and people call it that and I know

46:21

I just said the parable because people think of it It's not Jesus isn't telling a parable. He's just telling it how it is

46:30

No, no Mm -hmm. It just Jesus tells a story and the the details of the story

46:38

Most biblical scholars say this is eerily sounding like real a real account Because it exactly is it's just very weird that way

46:47

And so you'll notice that Lazarus is conscience the rich man who died. He's conscious. He's in conscious torment awaiting the final day of judgment

46:56

The Apostle Paul to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord explicit those Explicit words from of his from Philippians So and which says we in some way are absent with the body and then our text today

47:08

You'll note that it says that from an explicit word of the Lord that those who have gone before us

47:15

We will not precede them, but the Lord will bring them back with him when he returns

47:20

So they are in the presence of the Lord and there is consciousness in that so what you've got to understand then is is that Eternity and time and space is a different thing altogether and our souls can operate in an eternal system

47:37

But there's no without physicality. We can't operate in time and space and which is a fascinating thing about The creation as we know it right now is that God has made us in his image

47:50

He's an eternal being but we are made in his image in time and space It's a weird thing when you kind of put it all together.

47:57

And so The people out there we say they're sleeping and you have to put air quotes around it. They're sleeping They look like they're sleeping.

48:03

They're sleeping. You know, they're not doing they're not busy doing it There's no consciousness of their sleeping out there physically, but they're with the

48:10

Lord right now Not with the body

48:29

We don't get this Yeah, let's just say Humanity experiences an upgrade in that physicality

48:38

Whatever and see Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation So if you want to get an idea of what our eternal bodies are going to be like you have to look at him

49:04

That's right That's right you guys will not recognize me I promise you get it is that you

49:18

No, no when you're resurrected you're switched

49:24

Yeah, yeah you you you come out Perfect and in in in humanity 2 .0

49:34

bodies So yeah Yeah Yeah And drop us back down Okay, so it's gonna depend.

50:04

Yes. Yeah We start falling like rain More more like jellybeans on a anyway, it's like we're going.

50:13

Yeah. Whoa And thankfully on our new bodies we can bounce no idea

50:21

Yeah, you're gonna note that's a truncated timeline and you're right it's truncated if you want to get a fuller picture of it

50:28

You have to pick up the bits and pieces about the very last day from the book of Revelation and the interesting thing about those bits and pieces is they're not at one point if You read the book of Revelation linearly you kind of miss the point

50:41

Revelation you can't it's not a story that's told from beginning to end in this sense Instead what the book of Revelation does is it takes the end of the world and it's like a spiral staircase

50:52

So what happens is you start down at the bottom and it spirals up and then when you hit the same point again you what you've done is you've looked at the end of the world from a

51:03

Perspective and then you're gonna go around the track again, and you're gonna look at the whole end of the world from another perspective

51:09

So when you look at like the seal judgments, and I'm not talking about seal like I'm talking about like, you know seals on a letter right when they're broken

51:17

They have each of the seals if that's one picture of the end of the world the end of the world is like the

51:23

God breaking open the seals of judgment and with each seal different things happen on the earth and The world comes to an end at the end of the seal judgments

51:30

But then again it spirals up again It's and it's like now the end of the world is like the angels blowing their trumpets and with each trumpet being blown

51:39

Then certain things happen, you know, like a rider comes out on a pale horse You know, there's one on a red horse and so the idea then is is the book of Revelation gives us different perspectives of the one event and when you piece all of those kind of different pieces together it depends then are you going to take the the

52:00

The Battle of Armageddon as a literal battle or as a figurative battle. That's kind of the question.

52:05

That's before the exegete But the idea then is is that there's a very real sense in which when

52:11

Jesus returns All right, we see we meet him in the clouds on his way in he's on his way in to subdue everybody and literally the

52:23

Old and New Testament described what transpires after that point in very graphic detail a

52:30

Picture of it is shown in the Battle of Armageddon in Scripture in the book of Revelation there are other passages that would talk about God warring against his enemies and Literally littering the earth with their bodies as if they're piles of poop.

52:44

I Mean this that's an Old Testament picture of it And so the idea is is that Jesus himself not us and not the devil is going to bring humanity to an end

52:55

Humanity in this state as sinners from there then with everybody at that point either raised or Killed then comes the general resurrection

53:08

Kind of think of it this way. The general resurrection is the resurrection of everybody Good and evil righteous and unrighteous

53:15

From there comes the separation of the sheep and the goats and then the great white throne judgment

53:20

We're all judged according to what we've done Only after where it's determined whether or not our names are in the book of life if our name is in the book of life

53:30

You have the second book open and you're judged by your works and there's no sin in there

53:35

It's all the good works that you've done. Does that make sense? Whereas the unbeliever his name is even written in the book of life.

53:42

He goes into eternity nameless That's an important feature of this coming back then to you know

53:49

We talked a little bit about the story that Jesus tells about the rich man and Lazarus.

53:55

What's the name of the rich man? rich man We don't know his name what's the name of the poor man

54:03

Lazarus notice in eternity Lazarus has a name Listen we don't know the name of the rich man at all.

54:12

His name was not written in the book of life So having gone into eternity in an impenitent sin

54:20

He is now nameless for all eternity. We'll never know his name He doesn't have a name anymore. If his name is not written the book of life.

54:27

You don't have a name You were just part of the nameless rabble Again, what does

54:33

Jesus say? I never knew you But I'm I'm so -and -so never heard the name the

54:45

Virgins yeah, I never knew you Yeah, so these are these are kind of pictures of all of this and it's not a throwaway detail that the rich man doesn't have a name

54:54

So there is this there in a very real way when it goes down Jesus himself is going to bring humanity to an end

55:02

Everybody's going to be judged first book is the book of life after that, you know the book of their deeds there is no record of the wrongs that we've done because all of that has been nailed to the cross according

55:12

Colossians 2 and then next order of business It is the great wedding feast of the

55:19

Lamb everything launches with a huge blowout party Best wine best food all on God's tab

55:28

Multi -day long affair and think back to what we read in the prophet Isaiah wonderful picture again where it pictures us city it seated at this great wedding feast of the

55:40

Lamb and us Seeing our God and saying that is our

55:45

God. That's our God wonderful picture from Isaiah There The book of deeds of your works

55:56

I have no idea Yeah, I think in my case it might is the square inches of my park bench

56:03

That's about all I've probably earned but you kind of get the idea So and and then after the party you get little glimpses from the prophet

56:12

Isaiah Ezekiel in some other places tiny little glimpses of what the new earth is like and You know, it's described as the lion laying down with the lamb, you know and at that that a little child will be able to literally go walk up to the den of a serpent or a viper, you know, that wouldn't be poisonous in our time and Play with it, you know and without harm and that you know lions themselves will become grass -eating critters

56:42

All right, and I'm I kind of think about this, you know when my kids were young I'm gonna tell on Christina here

56:48

Christina. I think she still has this amazing fascination and love for Tigers All right, I know for a fact

56:56

Just give it a week or two into the new earth. She has a friend. That's a tiger

57:01

And it's gonna be an interesting relationship. I'm just saying, you know, but I mean it we can't yeah and The weirdest part about all of it and now

57:12

I'll kind of leave you on this awkward note Is that they're in in the pictures in Isaiah and other places in the

57:19

Old Testament Some of the prophets say, you know in that time people will say

57:25

I was born here There's pictures of people streaming into Jerusalem and some of them are women who have small children on their hip

57:36

So there's there's there's a picture of some kind of human procreation But we know that marriage is an institution as we have it doesn't exist in the new earth

57:47

Details to follow because the picture is so crazy that when you read it you sit there and go what's that?

57:53

How am I to make sense of it and there's no details given? So the best thing I can say is we have no idea what's coming.

57:59

No clue details to be revealed. Stay tuned Yeah I Know I don't wear in Scripture.

58:22

We told that so we're not authorized to speculate along those lines So the idea here is as a pastor in Christ Church I don't have any revelation from God that allows me to say that People have speculated that that's the case and to which

58:37

I would say that's not an authorized message I do know this that God's Word is clear that on the day of judgment

58:44

There's nobody who's going to say God you were unfair Everybody will confess that God's judgments are right and true and just there will be nobody in hell who doesn't deserve it and Everybody who is in the new earth and has eternal life.

59:02

None of it deserved it. None of them deserved it was all grace Does that make sense?

59:07

So I don't get to speculate about what happens to a person who's in the deepest darkest part of the rainforest

59:14

Africa or of Brazil, right? I can't speculate about that. I do know that his fate or her fate will be just and Scripture is clear then how are they to believe in one whom they've never heard of and How are they to believe unless somebody is sent?

59:31

And so this is why we send missionaries with the gospel Yeah, but there are some stories

59:41

Yes, let me the okay We're gonna go a little bit over so I Consider these to be in the same vein as what happened to the

59:53

Apostle Paul So there's the Apostle Paul. He's out murdering Christians left and right.

59:59

He can't stand Jesus or any of his followers he's gotten letters from the Sanhedrin and the the elders of Israel to go to Damascus to round up any

01:00:10

Christians he finds there he's on his way to Damascus and Jesus literally appears to him and Blinds him and Does is

01:00:22

Paul a Christian at the moment that he's blinded by Jesus? Nope, he's not how many days later.

01:00:30

Does it take before Paul's a Christian? Three pay attention that third day stuff by the way three days

01:00:39

How does Paul become a Christian, huh?

01:00:46

by the Word of Ananias There is a fellow by the name of Ananias who Jesus appears to in a vision and says I want you to go preach

01:00:52

The gospel to that guy and what does that nice? Oh, I've heard about him, you know, and Jesus I'll die.

01:01:00

Don't worry about that. I've chosen him So Ananias goes and he preaches the gospel and he baptizes

01:01:06

Paul now Paul's a Christian Now there are stories that are kind of like this now and I have a there's a close family friend of ours

01:01:14

His name is Uva Simonetto. He is a associated press You know journalist he he was in he was in Vietnam for the

01:01:24

Tet Offensive, you know covering it as an international journalist and He rose recently wrote an article on this very phenomenon and one of the places where this is occurring is in Germany Let me explain

01:01:37

In Germany, there's a very very faithful confessional Lutheran congregation And I think it's in Heidelberg in the name of it is st.

01:01:45

Mary's That's the name of the Lutheran Church and the pastors there are not part of the state church They're part of a small synod of confessional

01:01:53

Lutheran pastors in that area and a few years back And by the way, Uva Simonetto spends some of his you know

01:02:00

Part of every year in Germany and in France and in Europe and stuff like that So he actually interviewed the pastor and everything but a few years back

01:02:10

Muslims who had immigrated into the vicinity Started showing up at his church at st.

01:02:18

Mary's and The Muslims were saying Last night I had a dream in my dream

01:02:25

Jesus not Isa Jesus showed up and told me I had to come here and listen to the message now that sounds a lot like Paul All right.

01:02:39

Paul was not a Christian when he Encountered Christ. He was a Christian only after he heard the gospel And so this particular congregation you can find this online if and I wonder if find the link to it and I even covered it

01:02:51

Yeah, I On my program. I actually covered it a few years back. I talked with Uva And in fact,

01:02:58

I just saw Uva a couple weeks ago when I was in when I was in San Diego, but um so They show up saying

01:03:06

Jesus sent me here. They listen to the message They repent believe baptized are catechized and now they're

01:03:14

Christians The majority of their congregation now is made up of converted Muslims who have this exact same story

01:03:21

And this phenomenon is not limited to just this congregation in Germany There are other places in the world where this phenomenon is happening and one of the common denominators is is that Jesus is actually sending them to people who actually know the gospel and preach it correctly call them to repent and to be forgiven

01:03:41

Very fascinating phenomenon. I put that into the high probability that something right is happening here