FBC Morning Light – December 9, 2022

Well, good Friday morning to you, and we come to the end of another workweek, and just not too many weekends left in this year, are there? I hope you're looking forward to this coming weekend and the opportunity to gather with God's people and worship Him on the Lord's Day.

Well, you know, when you think about biblical prophecy, there's a lot of that prophetic declarations that is somewhat enigmatic, at least until it comes to fulfillment. For example, so much about the prophecy in the Old Testament regarding Christ, for example, the Lord Jesus, it was there, but it wasn't understood, it wasn't recognized, it wasn't seen as such.

Remember on a couple of different occasions, Jesus had to explain to His disciples to take them from beginning at Moses and show from the entire Old Testament Scriptures how they all pointed to Him. And I mean, if He hadn't explained that, they just wouldn't have gotten it.

Like I said, prophetic Scripture is often somewhat enigmatic, at least until it comes to pass, perhaps. But clearly, God doesn't choose to reveal everything that is to take place, and He doesn't choose to reveal it in a way that we're going to fully get it beforehand.

If you don't believe that, just read some of the different commentaries and interpretations on some Old Testament or New Testament prophetic passages, such as, for example, the book of Revelation, and all of the details of the visions that John sees.

There is a wide variety of opinions about what some of those things mean, what they stand for, what they are, and so forth. This is by divine design. God didn't give us the book of Revelation and then clearly give us a commentary that explains what every little detail means.

He intends for us to get the overall message, but He doesn't necessarily intend for us to understand every little detail or to have every little detail clearly ironed out. Now, I do agree that there are some who think they have all the details worked out and they're pretty confident in their position, but yet then they find somebody who's a believer in Christ and loves the Lord, is faithful to Him, and done just as much study and just as knowledgeable in the original languages, etc., etc., etc., who disagrees with Him.

The point is that the Lord does not choose to clearly reveal everything. This is brought out very starkly in Revelation 10, with a revelation that John gets, but he doesn't tell us about it. Let me show you.

He hears these voices, these seven thunders, so in verse 3 he says, this one cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars, and when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Seven thunders? What are those?

Well, anyway, it says, when the seven thunders uttered their voices, John says, I was about to write, he was about to record for us what those seven thunders actually said. But I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.

Well, why not? How come? John heard it, John understood to some degree enough to be able to write down what he heard, but the voice from heaven said, seal it up, don't record it. I don't want that to be broadly known.

Here's some of the secret things that belong to the Lord, and the secret things that belong to the Lord, hey, they belong to the Lord, and we need to trust him with them. I think that some of the secret things that belong to the Lord are the clear understanding of all these details.

For example, I just read, what are these seven thunders? Thunder doesn't have a voice. You're outside in the middle of a thunderstorm in the summertime, and you're seeing the lightning, and then all of a sudden the thunder rolls.

You hear the thunder, but you can't write down what it says. What are these seven thunders? I'm sure if you go to some commentaries, there are some people who have different opinions about what the seven thunders are, and probably also have some opinions about what the seven thunders said, even though it's clearly supposed to be sealed.

My point is that God hasn't given us clarity on all of the details, and he hasn't done so purposefully, as even this verse indicates. Seal up what the thunders have said. What are we to do? I like what one preacher says.

He says, the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. Where to get the plain things? Where to get the main things of the Scripture? The enigmatic details are not for us to speculate over, and to argue about, and to fight and fuss over.

We can have opinions about these things, for sure, but we can get so enamored with the details, the enigmatic details, that we miss the main thing, the main thing that God wants us to know. Again, let me remind you that the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As you read this book, ask yourself, what does this teach me about Christ? What does this tell me about Christ? There's some main stuff in Revelation 10 that we need to get, and not concern ourselves, and get frustrated over, and spend sleepless nights over the things that aren't so plain, the enigmatic details.

Let that be an encouragement to you. God knows the story. God knows what's happening. God has the end from the beginning all laid out. Let's trust him in it. Our Father and our God, we do thank you. We thank you for your Word.

We thank you even for those aspects of your Word that we don't fully understand, and we don't see clearly what you have given to us. I pray that in our inability to see clearly, we would trust you for the overall scope of things, and the plan that you have, even in the incorporation of those enigmatic details.

May we be faithful to trust, even when we can't fully comprehend. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, have a good rest of your day, and a wonderful weekend. I trust you can join us in God's house on the Lord's Day.

If you're in the area, we'd be glad for you to be there. Have a good day.