Letters to the Churches Part 7

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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March 29, 2022

Sunday school lesson working through the book of Revelation

Letters to the Churches Part 8

00:00: Okay, we are going to continue our study of the book of Revelation and in studying the book of Revelation We're also trying to you know
00:10: Undo a lot of confusion that is out there now real quick before we got before we get into that I did want to use this occasion to mention that our epistle text today
00:22: There there is a off misquoted Portion of Philippians in our epistle text today
00:30: And the the text is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
00:39: It's so bad how how horribly this particular text gets misquoted that There's a meme running around the internet that says
00:51: I can do all things through a verse taken out of context Which I think is not an inappropriate way of talking about it but So when it talks about I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
01:03: There is a context to this and I always like to remind people that That you know, it's context context context when it comes to these things real quick and let me find this
01:16: Put this down Okay, four to thirteen. All right, there it is. I can do all things through him who strengthens me
01:23: So, you know to kind of give an idea of what the awkwardness looks like So you get two
01:30: Super Bowl teams? They're gonna go head -to -head and in the week before the American Super Bowl You you have a bunch of trash -talking going on and and you can see how the the athletes are
01:42: Motivating themselves to have their a -game come Super Bowl Sunday and and so As as is often the case, you know on American sports teams
01:54: You have some guys who are Christians who are outspoken about these things These are the guys that if they're past the ball and they cross the end zone and make a touchdown
02:04: Rather than spike the ball They take a knee and they point up to heaven to let everybody know that God gets the glory
02:10: So when it comes time then for the trash -talking one guy who's a
02:15: Christian on one team will say We're going to defeat the other team because Christ it's through him
02:22: I can you know He's the one who strengthens me so that I can do all things through him and then what ends up happening is is that they cut they cut to the next team the other team and they've got a
02:32: Christian on his team and he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and we're going to slaughter the other team
02:39: So now you have to ask the question Which team is Jesus going to allow to slaughter the other team because of Philippians 413?
02:50: Bruce you look like you're in pain I Know the plans
03:04: I have for you says the Lord plans for good, you know
03:13: Bruce is still in therapy for those of you online. We're in and apparently I've triggered him and this is going to cost him three more sessions, so But You get the idea so Here's the issue.
03:27: It's it's an out -of -context verse This verse is not saying that you're going to have the ability to defeat your other
03:35: You know to defeat the the slay the dragons in your life overcome adversity adversities in a particular sense
03:42: And that this is a promise that you're gonna be have health and wealth and prosperity and stuff like that so this is a sloganized verse and So just by way of going back through our epistle text,
03:54: I think which is going to be helpful It says rejoice in the Lord always and you're gonna note that after Paul Has given us the gospel has absolutely decimated the idea that self -righteousness attains salvation for us and and just Obliterates it even calling his own self -righteousness as a
04:17: Jew and a Pharisee Skubalon which is a joyfully awful word in the
04:24: In the Greek which basically means a fresh lawn turd that I mean, that's what skubalon is
04:29: He says it is works under the Mosaic Covenant. What's that? You know it because you cannot be saved by your your righteousness.
04:37: And so after doing all of this then Paul then Pointing to the fact that the reason why
04:42: Christians do what they do is because they are what they are Then it gives these admonitions to us as Christians And so technically some of this is going to fall under what we call third use of the law
04:54: And if you don't know what I mean by third use when we talk about God's law There are three valid uses for God's law
05:00: And the first use is the one that is talked about in relation to what we call civil righteousness
05:06: So civil righteousness works along the lines of the government has been given
05:12: God's law For the purpose of punishing evil doers And so the law curbs evil and it is the it's the government that in in curbing evil
05:23: Exercises the sword of God and exercises his wrath So first uses is the use for the purpose of punishing evildoers and cut curbing evil and this is a good thing if you don't believe me that this is a good thing ask the store owners in Wisconsin who had their
05:39: Their their their businesses burned down, you know All the places that lost property and other things like that the the
05:46: Walmart stores that were cleaned out during you know, the the reign of lawlessness that happened during the summer here in the
05:53: United States lawlessness is a terrible thing and And we cannot operate under lawlessness.
05:59: In fact, it creates all kinds of anxiety and causes society to break down so first use of the law is a good thing second use is the primary use when we talk about the theological uses and This is the use that says that the law convicts us of our sin so second use of the law is and you're going to note that there's a phrase that those in the
06:23: Reformation portion of The spectrum of the church within Protestant Reformation and you know
06:31: And the Reformation as a whole what they will say is they have a saying in its Lex Semper accusa
06:36: And that is that the law always accuses now, that's not the only thing the law does So the second use of the law shows you that you're a sinner for the purpose of convicting you of your sin and thereby convicting you of your sin shows you your need for Christ so that you
06:52: Know you without that you don't have you don't have an understanding of what the gospel is at all because the gospel is the good
06:59: News that Christ died for our sins and until that is really pushed to the point where you sit there and go
07:04: Oh good grief. I'm an ungodly sinner. I need to be forgiven You're not ready to hear the gospel
07:11: And so the second use of the law does that now a little bit of a note when I preach the law
07:16: I do not have a dial Okay, so I can switch between second and what's called the third use so so when somebody expresses
07:28: Says something that a pastor has to preach third use of the law. I My response is always my job is to preach a text and if the and and to preach the law that's in it
07:40: How a Christian hears its first second use or third use that's gonna be all up to the
07:46: Holy Spirit as far as I'm concerned That's not my job and you'll note We never end the sermons off with these are three easy things that you can do this week to obey
07:54: God better That's just not gonna work that's gonna that's gonna foster self -righteousness
07:59: So the second use of the law is the convicting use and then the third use of the law Which is only for Christians the third use of the law shows us what a good work is and as Christians then you'll note that we there are portions of the epistles where we are admonished and encouraged and Maybe even provoked and pushed and nudged by the
08:25: Apostle Paul or the writer of the epistles on to good works Why is this necessary because you still have an old sinful
08:32: Adam your your sinful Adam didn't want to get up this morning Your sinful Adam wanted to sleep in your sinful
08:38: Adam didn't want to drive to church or log in or do all this other stuff Your sinful Adam wanted to get on Netflix after sleeping until 11 and binge watch whatever the latest hit series is
08:50: Bruce says amen. All right, right But see the thing is so as a result of that we are in constant conflict as Christians Yeah, and with our old
09:03: Adam So who we are in Christ a new person that we are in Christ has come forth Christ has brought it forth
09:08: But you still have your old sinful nature, which just makes the Christian life So anyway, so when we get into a section like this
09:18: You're gonna note that This is the stuff that really really encourages the new man that we are in Christ and your old your old sinful
09:28: Adam is gonna hate this stuff. So that's part of the conflict, but we don't avoid it as a result No, we always preach it and teach it.
09:35: So Paul after giving us the just great gospel Says rejoice in the
09:40: Lord always I will say again rejoice Let your reasonableness be known to everybody man.
09:48: I wish more more church people would pay attention to that Because I have you ever noticed that sometimes church people can be the most unreasonable on the planet
09:57: You know just it's the weirdest thing. You remember Dana Carvey's church lady Could it be
10:04: Satan, you know? Yeah, I Might be saying that yes.
10:16: So yes, we do not bring glory to God by screaming at people And holding up signs saying
10:21: God hates you okay, you know I I remember years ago actually interviewed one of the ladies one of the major ladies from Yes, Shirley Phelps Roper from that particular
10:36: Baptist Church Yeah, and and I was doing long gospel with her and she hung up on me so Yeah, she got super mad when
10:48: I pointed out that she was a sinner anyway Anyway, so let your reasonableness be known to everyone the
10:57: Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything But in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God So, you know anxiety is a is basically meditated doubt
11:10: That's really what it is Anxiety is a form of meditating doubt and not believing that God will meet your needs and And and so anxiety oftentimes is running through your head the worst case scenario
11:23: So I lost my job. That means I'm gonna be eating Alpo You know next week and living it, you know living out on the streets because God's not going to meet my need and worried about these things
11:35: That anxiety is again a form of meditation and it's meditating on doubt and denial that God is
11:41: Going to keep his promises to give you your daily bread so it therefore what are we called to do by everything by prayer and supplication and I have to I have to emphasize this again due to the fact that there's all these people running around the landscape nowadays
11:58: Decreeing and declaring things in the name of Jesus, which makes no sense
12:05: So, you know, so you have a need and so let's say you've lost your job and rather than humbly asking
12:12: Christ Christ I've lost my job You say in your word that you'll meet our needs and you teach us to pray for our daily bread
12:20: So, please Lord give us this day our daily bread rather than do that. They stand up on a soapbox and Start pointing their fingers and saying
12:29: I I Command the spirit of poverty to depart from my house and all this nonsense
12:37: What's the spirit of poverty? Where'd you find that thing in the scripture, you know? And and so what they're what they're doing is trying to Basically engage in what
12:48: I would consider witchcraft, you know steal God's power and act on his behalf by decreeing and declaring
12:54: But as Christians again, we are called to pray and a supplication is
13:02: Just a humble asking of God For what you need?
13:09: All right. So with everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your watch this
13:15: Requests be made known to God request
13:22: No decreeing no decreeing declaring no commanding All right. So which is humble.
13:29: So which when at the end of it you pray something like this Well, not my will be done, but your will be Lord if it's your will
13:36: Then you can do these things Humbly making your requests known to God and then the peace of God which surpasses all understanding
13:43: Which comes through the gospel by the way will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Finally, whatever is true
13:50: What are you focusing in on what are you thinking about whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure Whatever is lovely.
13:59: Whatever is commendable if there's any Excellence if there's anything worthy of praise think about these things
14:05: So, you know that the the mind of a Christian meditates on truth on beauty on Excellence things that are worthy of praise this is one of the reasons why doing fighting for the faith can be a total drudgery for me is because sampling all of that heresy is just It's the exact opposite of truth.
14:31: It's these are lies. It's the exact opposite of excellence. It's it's Everything it's just there's nothing pure about it
14:38: And so the the impact that it has on me at times can be quite devastatingly negative
14:44: So for me the joy is on a Sunday morning preaching the word Teaching from the scriptures.
14:51: Yeah, this is my joy my catechism classes on Thursday That's a big deal for me, you know to be able to sit down with these different groups and open up the
15:01: Word of God That's where that because this is pure. This is true. This is lovely This is commendable.
15:07: God's Word is the heresy not so much. So you'll note that all right And then you'll note then so what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me
15:17: Practice these things and so, you know Paul holds himself up as a mature apostle as a mature
15:22: Christian and and says I'm modeling these things for you and In in the men's
15:29: Bible study on Saturday noted that this is a common thing that that Paul says The things
15:34: I do model these things and he said there well, we can't see the Apostle Paul. He's written it down All right, you don't have to guess but of course everybody knows that the
15:43: Apostle Paul hates women. So why even study him, you know? Sorry Yeah, all right
15:56: Yeah, Elizabeth Beasley says I think you're right it seems kind of arrogant to decree and declare as if you were
16:02: God and and Funny enough the the whole decreeing and declaring thing comes out of what's called the word of faith heresy
16:07: Which teaches you that you are a little God that that's and so the reason why you do you do these things is because you?
16:15: Are a little God Ken Copeland was famous for saying these words Jesus said
16:20: I am I just smile at the Father and say I am to that he said that that's a quote
16:28: Yeah, that's it. That's a direct quote. I mean that's utter satanic blasphemy. All right
16:47: Yeah Yeah, it in it rather than actually dealing with real demonic forces they're inventing demonic forces, you're right
17:10: That's right. Look at I slayed the carbohydrate demon. I Embrace the angel of keto.
17:19: Yeah Yeah, yeah Elizabeth says
17:25: God resists the proud and receives the humble the lie of the wrong tree yeah, that then that's the point the the lie of the serpent in the in You know was that you will be like God knowing good and evil.
17:35: It's it's horrifying when you consider the implications All right. All right now now to the context here because verse 13 will be the end of this paragraph
17:45: And so Paul then begins a new thought but it's still building off of what he said
17:50: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me
17:55: So, you know Paul now steers into a little bit more of a personal note You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity not that I'm speaking of being in need and so they had concern for him for some reason that is not exactly stated and Paul says that I'm not speaking of being in need and here's the reason why for I have learned in whatever
18:17: Situation I am I am to be content now this is one of the missing doctrines of Christianity today because It's almost as if they as if so much of evangelicalism in the charismatic movement have eliminated the commandments regarding coveting coveting
18:38: You'll note when you read the Ten Commandments the the the commandments against coveting. You should not covet your
18:44: Neighbor's house his ox his wife or anything that your neighbor owns
18:50: Coveting is a sin that occurs inside of your heart. All right, so You'll note that one of the major sins that is occurring today is coveting
19:01: All right. I am I am coveting the fact that Certain people have it easier in our country that they have better paying jobs that they have
19:11: They have a bazillion dollars and can and own multiple companies and create electric cars and rockets that land themselves and I I I covet that power and that wealth and that that That influence
19:26: I want to be an Instagram influencer. I want to be a successful youtuber
19:31: I want to be I want I want I want I want to be just like and what are you doing? You're coveting and And the church comes along and says oh those desires that's that's your
19:43: God -given purpose and so God's going to empower you and you're going to learn how to decree and declare so that you can achieve your dream destiny and What they've done is they've tried they've taken away the sin of coveting and turned
19:58: Created a theology that promised that God God's job is to basically fulfill all your covetous desires
20:23: Josh yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Expand my territory.
20:38: Yeah. Yeah, so you'll note that The coveting then is is now considered a virtue and it's ingrained in us as a result of all of the advertising that were
20:51: Bombarded with day in and day out on television on the internet, you know, and I just remember as a kid
20:58: You know, I remember as a kid seeing, you know, the the commercials for GI Joe with the kung -fu grip, you know
21:05: The the the evil Knievel, you know stunt You know stunt man with the motorcycle that winds up and and and stretch
21:15: Armstrong you know and and and the six million dollar man with the bionic chips in the and you know all this kind of stuff and Of course, you know at Christmas time
21:24: They're just bombarding you with all of these commercials and the only thing you can think about is
21:29: What it would be like to own that particular toy and you get it and it keeps your attention for about four minutes
21:39: You know, I remember when my kids were young you know, sometimes we you know, we would buy them, you know, what we would consider to be an elaborate or you know, an expensive
21:48: Christmas gift and Within a short amount of time they were playing with the box You know, yeah, so, you know
22:01: But you get the idea. So what does Paul say then whatever situation I am in I I'm content and he says
22:10: I know how to be brought low. So have you been brought low? Yeah, can you be content if you've been brought low?
22:17: sure All right, and I know how to abound, you know, can you be content if you're abounding that seems a little easier
22:25: But you're gonna note You're gonna note that It might it might seem like it's easier but you know famously
22:35: I forget was it, you know, one of the major Tycoons of the late 1900s early 20th century like J.
22:43: Paul Getty or something like that. They asked him, you know How much money is enough, you know, because he had this, you know, just a little bit more
22:51: He said just a little bit more and so even those, you know, many people who have a lot that's not that's not enough
22:58: They're not even content with that. All right, and then he says in every circumstance I've learned the secret of facing plenty
23:07: Wait a second what facing plenty can be a challenge, of course Okay, as well as hunger abundance and Need I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
23:19: So you'll note that this is not about Conquering the New England Patriots in the
23:25: Super Bowl, which although that is a godly thing That's not what this text is about Yeah Yeah, I'm still an embittered
23:36: Indianapolis Colts fan, you know deflation gate was just a terrible thing. Yeah, I'm still in therapy myself.
23:43: Anyway Dwayne says hmm We do
23:51: Englanders agree wholeheartedly You Know So it's not about that It's about Christ giving you the strength so that you can face plenty and hunger
24:04: So that through the working of the Holy Spirit you can be content with what God has given you in every circumstance
24:11: That's the point. So now that you know that you can do all things to a verse out of context
24:17: Putting it back into its context, you know what this is talking about And so when people misuse that You can politely and lovingly say to them.
24:25: I don't think that verse means which means what you think it means, you know Yes. Oh, yeah
24:44: Hypothetically speaking Of course not
24:53: Yeah Yeah, so yeah, that's exactly right there's comfort because then if you lose your job or if your company shuts down because of kovat or or you know the economy takes a turn or Maybe there was just some disruptive technology that takes away
25:15: Your labor position and everything goes to the robots, right? You can say
25:21: I can do all things to him who strengthens me and learn to be content even in those circumstances even if it requires downsizing your your life and and curtailing your expenses but you're going to note then that even abundance is considered a temptation and so Abundance is one of these things that can be a temptation where that will become your idol and you'll never be satisfied
25:45: Or content with the abundance that God has given you so it works in both directions
25:50: So, all right all of that being said I thought we would do a little mini study on that before we got back into the book of Revelation last week
26:01: It was a self -inflicted wound Bruce In Revelation 4 last week, we talked about the rapture and I thought it was hilarious that my computer overheated it no for real it overheated and Went off Right while I was debunking the rapture and I had to come back online and say
26:24: I didn't get raptured and people all Yeah Yeah, so and by the way, if we're talking about the rapture and the and we lose internet connection again we have 50 mile an hour winds out here at Kongsvinger today and and so we have we have a
26:47: Internet antenna on top of our roof. That's the site that's basically shaped like a plate.
26:53: So it becomes a sail On days like this. So if if you we lose the internet note that That wasn't the rapture again
27:06: Yeah, and by the way, I've survived the end of the world what is it 17 times now Yeah, I did.
27:12: I just want you all to know that I I think I have a record. I have the record I've survived the end of the world 17 times so kind of a long story but everybody every time somebody out there makes a prediction for when the end of the world is going to happen or the rapture is going to happen and it doesn't or You know or that there's gonna be major destruction because of the
27:31: Shemitah or nonsense like this or the four blood moons I always chalk that up as in the wind category of how
27:38: I've survived the end of the world again So when it comes to you know post apocalyptic Eschatological scenarios,
27:44: I'm your guy so, you know Said tongue -in -cheek. All right revelation chapter 4
27:52: I said last week that the when you ask people where in the Bible does it teach the rapture?
27:58: revelation 4 1 is where a lot of people go and the and these are the words come up here and they claim that that's the rapture and And That's not the rapture.
28:13: So putting it back in context Paul John says this after this I looked and behold there was a door standing open in heaven and The first voice which
28:23: I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said come up here and I will show you what must take Place after this so note that when somebody says come up here is the rapture
28:30: They're they're leaving out the rest of the sentence, which shows that it's not some kind of command for the church to come up There but just for John Right, right and you can hear
28:48: Aladdin I will show you the world anyway Bruce I see that hand and I'm shaking
29:05: Yeah, yeah, you'll note that the narrative is in the past tense that's After this, yeah, so we've all been left behind, you know
29:14: Yeah, these are these are all heiress. These are all heiress past tense These are all heiress past tense verbs.
29:21: All right, so you'll know it's in the court. It's in the context of a narrative It's this is not a passage teaching about the rapture
29:28: So then John says that once I was in the spirit behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald now a little bit of a note
29:46: This is an important little feature here One of the things I like to point out to people is that that Covenants have signs in the in the
29:57: Old Testament When you would cut a covenant with somebody there would be a sign that would invoke the promises or the
30:06: Requirements of that covenant. So let me see if I can find this really quick.
30:11: I think I'm going to Genesis 9. I Could be wrong All right.
30:20: Yep. No, I'm not wrong. All right The brain is still somewhat functional. All right So God said to Noah and to his sons with him behold
30:27: I established my covenant with you and your offspring after you and with every living creature
30:33: That is with you the birds and the livestock and every beast of the earth With you as many as came out of the ark it is for every beast of the earth
30:43: So no God is the one establishing the covenant and then this is if you want to be technical the name of this covenant is the noatic covenant and that's it's that's its official name as scholars refer to it and and it follows a particular pattern and this pattern is
31:01: Consistent throughout both the Old and the New Testament because you'll note that the New Covenant also has signs
31:09: But the idea then here is is that the signs invoke the promises? So God's establishing.
31:15: The covenant is a unilateral unilateral covenant and every human being and All the living creatures on earth including the livestock the birds and all the creepy crawly things
31:26: I wish God hadn't made a covenant with spiders. That's you know, or at least Yeah, I wish he had excluded them, but he didn't but anyway, you'll note that he he includes everything
31:37: So we are all the beneficiaries of this particular covenant And he says I established my covenant with you that never again
31:46: Shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and never again.
31:51: Shall there be a flood to destroy the earth? So this is talking about a global flood.
31:57: And so God's promise. I'm not going to destroy the earth this way Good news is is that next time it's fire.
32:04: So I Was being somewhat facetious but you get the idea so God has established this covenant
32:17: So there there will never be a global flood again. And yes, the flood was global God said this is the sign.
32:25: So watch the sign of the covenant. I make between me and You and every living creature that is with you and for all future generations
32:34: I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth so note when
32:43: God Sees the rainbow when you see the rainbow I always like to you know remind people that when my kids were younger
32:49: We'd be driving down the highway during a rainstorm or something like that and one of my kids would cry out in joy
32:55: Look there's a rainbow and they would always be really excited Rainbows are not something that you can be indifferent to.
33:03: Okay. Yeah, there's a rainbow Okay. No, they would get really excited. There's a rainbow and then of course
33:11: Inevitably one of the kids would say that's God's promise that he's not gonna flood the whole earth again
33:16: And so you see the rainbow and your kids show that you've been that they've been listening to the
33:21: Bible that you've been teaching them And they know for a fact that the rainbow is the proof It's the it's the reminder that God promised never to flood the whole earth again
33:29: Now that doesn't mean he didn't promise to flood the Red River Valley of the north You know in May every year, but that's a different story altogether, too
33:38: But you get the idea here. So the rainbow is the sign of the covenant, but watch this
33:44: This is the important bit. So when I bring clouds over the earth, the bow is seen in the clouds. I Will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh
33:57: So the important one when it comes to seeing the signs of the noadic covenant or the sign of the noadic covenant is
34:03: God God sees the rainbow and goes. All right, I'm never gonna destroy them again So we go immediately into the throne room of heaven in Revelation chapter 4 and what do we see in the throne room?
34:16: Rainbow isn't that interesting? All right now by the way
34:23: If I were to ask you the question off the top of the off the top of your head What are the signs of the new covenant?
34:35: Which ones? Baptism is not the sign of the new covenant.
34:44: It's the Lord's Supper Right. So it think so think of it this way.
34:50: We are we are we are the recipients of the promises of the new covenant and there are signs of the new covenant and And when
34:59: God sees those signs, it's an important thing. So consider consider the words that Jesus says
35:04: Regarding the Lord's Supper and this is what we call the verba When we have the
35:10: Lord's Supper the pastor will say these words which come out of Scripture on the night that Jesus was betrayed
35:15: He took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat
35:21: This is my body which is given for you this do and remembrance of me no
35:27: Remembrance Remembrance is covenantal talk So in fact in the
35:33: Greek, it's do this into the remembrance of me is the way it goes Alright, so remembrance is covenantal talk then the next part in the same way
35:42: Also, he took the cup after supper and when he had given thanks He gave it to them saying drink of it all of you.
35:48: This cup is the New Testament New Covenant in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins
35:56: This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So the signs of the new covenant are
36:04: We see the bread and wine but the signs in the new covenant are the body and blood of Christ and so every time we have the
36:12: Lord's Supper, it's a covenantal meal and And we remember
36:18: Christ's suffering and the promises of the new covenant and the promises of the new covenant are what that God will
36:25: Forgive you of all of your sins cleanse you of all unrighteousness and give you an eternal life and an
36:32: Eternal inheritance as a gift and adopt you so all the promises of the new covenant are there so every time we have the
36:39: Lord's Supper the signs of the covenant are there and We remember the promises but more importantly
36:46: God remembers and he sees the signs of the covenant and In seeing the signs of the covenant. He remembers to forgive us
36:53: He remembers to not bring us into judgment and so this is this is why that particular meal or one of the reasons why that particular meal is so important and and has such significance because God is remembering to forgive us in the same way
37:11: God when he sees the rainbow He's remembering never to again bring destruction on the end, you know to the end of the earth, you know for all of the earth
37:18: You get the idea Okay, so a little bit of a digression there, but a necessary one
37:25: So we see that around the throne there was a rainbow it had the appearance of an emerald around the throne were 24 thrones
37:32: I think just a simple way to understand the 24 thrones is how many tribes of Israel were there?
37:41: Twelve how many Apostles of Christ are there? Twelve you see you see kind of how that works, right?
37:50: So, you know the Old and the New Testament saints are all present Represented by these elders.
37:57: So there were 24 thrones seated on the thrones or 24 elders clothed in white garments
38:02: These are your garments of salvation that we talked about in the sermon today with golden crowns on their head
38:08: From the throne came flashes of lightning rumblings Peals of thunder before the throne were burning seven torches of fire
38:17: Which are the seven spirits of God and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal
38:24: All right quick quick idea here You'll note that over and again in the early portions of the book of Revelation the number associated with God is what?
38:35: Seven All right This helps us because you'll note that you know
38:41: You have seven torches seven spirits of God seven lampstands seven seven seven
38:47: When we get to the mark of the beast, it's what six six six It's the mark of a man it's it's it's like at the unholy trinity it's not perfect It's imperfect you get the point.
39:02: That's one of the major Significances of the mark of the beast So before God and then you're gonna note before the throne there were
39:10: There was as it were a sea of glass like crystal Now why is that important?
39:19: All right, go back to your Old Testament to Genesis chapter 1 in Genesis chapter 1 you hear these words in the beginning
39:32: God created the heavens and the earth The earth was without form and void
39:39: Darkness was over the face of the to home and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters
39:46: You see this is this picture of the tohu vabohu this chaos if you would and you'll note later in the book of Revelation That when the dragon conjures up his his mega weapons to fight against the
40:01: Saints With the mega weapons being the beast and the false prophet He conjures them up out of the chaos of the sea
40:10: All right so chaos is this picture of the opposite of what
40:16: God has done God takes chaos and Turns it into order and at the end of Genesis 1 where we start off with without form without Void the tohu vabohu the chaos of the waters and everything kind of tumultuous and the
40:32: Spirit of God Brooding hovering over the face of the waters now in the book of Revelation. We see rather than the chaos.
40:39: It's calm glassy sea and So again, it shows that God is the one who brings order the one who brings peace
40:51: Where there was chaos and disorder that that's kind of the idea Let me go back here now.
40:58: Let's see here So and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind The first living creature like a lion the second living creature like an ox third living creature with the face of a man the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight and you're going to note this particular
41:19: Description invokes particular portions of the prophets Daniel being one of them
41:25: Ezekiel and even parts of Isaiah seemed to come to be invoked with this type of vision and the four living creatures
41:32: Each of them was six wings are full of eyes all around within and day and night
41:38: They never ceased to cry out saying holy holy
41:45: Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come hmm, holy holy
41:58: Holy why three holies Trinity, right?
42:04: This is this is a this is a Thinly veiled reference to the Trinity same kind of idea then take a look at Isaiah Chapter 6 in Isaiah chapter 6.
42:15: We have a very famous passage In the year that King Uzziah died
42:21: I saw the Lord I don't know I sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and The train of his robe filled the temple and above him stood the seraphim
42:29: Each had six wings with two he covered his face with two He covered his feet with two he flew and one called to another and said kadosh kadosh kadosh
42:42: Yahweh sabbah oath Yeah, so the whole earth is full of his so you see this holy holy holy again a reference to God the
42:54: Father He's holy God the Son. He's holy the Holy Spirit. He's holy
43:00: There's only one God though. And so you'll see that there's a uniformity then between the worship that that John sees taking place in heaven and What Isaiah?
43:14: himself experienced and saw in the temple and Then whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne
43:23: Who lives forever and ever the twenty -four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and they worship him
43:31: Who lives forever they cast their crowns before the throne? Saying worthy.
43:37: Are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power? For you created all things and by your will they existed and they were created
43:46: And is it interesting that even these words right here are oftentimes a part of our worship in one degree or another
43:53: Pieces of it taken and woven into the liturgy. All right And so here we get it of this beautiful picture of the worship
44:00: That's in the throne room of God and get to get and we get some of the details there as well and then in Revelation chapter 5 now the scene is going to turn a little bit and What's gonna happen here?
44:17: There's there's only I've got to see if I can find a way to explain this. Hang on a second here
44:22: I'm gonna I'm gonna make a whiteboard. I'm gonna I'm gonna share a whiteboard.
44:28: Let's see if this works okay drawing with a With a trackpad is not the easiest
44:34: But the idea here is this is that so many people misunderstand the book of Revelation when they
44:44: Try to take it and they interpret the book linearly
44:50: So, you know here you've got We'll go with rev 5. I'll just call it r5 because again,
44:56: I'm writing with a trackpad all the way to the end of the book are 21, right and Basically, they see it as a narrative where you you go from this thing to this thing
45:10: So you have the opening of the seven seals then you have the blowing of the trumpets you have these these different Judgments that are taking place and they think it's all supposed to go just linear like this and then this happens and then this happens
45:26: And then this happens and then this happens. Yes, Bruce That they they fail miserably because they do this linearly
45:39: So if you've ever read how Lindsay's late great planet Earth, I mean it is a case study in in a linear flat interpretation of the book of Revelation You know, so when the locusts come out from the earth
45:53: He thinks we're dealing with helicopters during the six -day war, you know,
46:00: Bruce you look flummoxed Blink blink man blink
46:11: Yeah, you start with scripture now I'm gonna show you this Okay Now I'm gonna show you this and I'm gonna give you a better way to understand the book of Revelation What the book of Revelation does is it gives us a picture of the end times and The end times are going to be defined as from the time of Christ's Ascension Till the time of his return on the last day.
46:38: And so this is a picture of what the church goes through during that time
46:44: Also known as the tribulation We're in it already and as a result of it
46:50: One of the things you'll note happens in the book of Revelation is that the world ends multiple times
46:58: The world ends multiple times which tells you something So this is going to be just poor artwork, but work with me here
47:08: This is a representation poorly made of a spiral staircase okay, and So we'll call this the revelation nato
47:19: Anyway, you know the rev nato. There we go And what happens is is that we're looking at an event
47:27: And so let's say the event here is the end of the world So again, I'm doing a trackpad here, which is just horrible the end of The world the
47:39: EO the EOW right the end of the world So this is the event that we're looking at and what happens in the book of Revelation is
47:48: You look at it from one level down here So you're looking at it you and this is one view of it and then when the world ends you circle around and then you take another view of it from a different vantage point and So the idea here is you're looking at basically the time the time of tribulation from Christ's Ascension to his return and Everything and and then and you're looking at this whole picture again, which the basic theme of the book of Revelation Is this?
48:21: patient Endurance. What does Christ say the one who endures to the end?
48:28: will be saved and So over and over you hear these words this calls for patience
48:36: Endurance if you know what to expect What's going on?
48:42: This is basically the big game plan of the error that we find ourselves in you will have
48:48: Been given to you by Christ The right faith and mindset so that you can have patient endurance in a time of tribulation and trouble
48:56: Which is what we are currently in and have been in for almost two millennia So when the world ends again the second time you circle up and then you look again different picture
49:07: Different metaphors, but it's all a different view of the same thing And let me demonstrate it to you so that you can you can see that.
49:14: I'm not totally crazy only mostly crazy Hang on a second here right
49:23: Yeah, I've never denied being crazy. Okay. Hang on in Revelation 6
49:29: In the book of Revelation 6 we have the opening of these seals which we're going to hear about in just a minute in chapter 5
49:36: All right, and I want you to notice this that when we get to the sixth seal
49:42: Revelation 6 12 When he opened the sixth seal I looked and behold there was a great earthquake
49:48: The Sun became black as sackcloth the full moon became like blood When does that happen?
49:58: Right before the return of Christ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree
50:05: Sheds its winter fruits when shaken by a gale the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and The powerful and everyone slave and free hidden themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains
50:24: Calling on the mountains and the rocks fallen us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from The wrath of the
50:30: Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who could stand What day is that describing?
50:38: Last day so you're gonna know the world ends in Revelation 6
50:48: That's the end of the world Yeah So I we just send our study right here.
50:55: It's all over I mean, we only we got like a chapter left and we're done Okay, you get the idea the point is is that you misread revelation when you when you
51:07: String all of these pictures together as if this is some kind of sequential order of things that are going to take place
51:14: During the seven years of tribulation, which again these are symbolic numbers Anyway, so that being the case if the world ends in Revelation 6 and it does
51:25: Then what's the rest of the book about? It's okay
51:32: So this is a picture of the tribute of the times that we're in and you're gonna see when we get to Revelation 6
51:38: We're gonna use as kind of a foil for this Matthew 24 And when you read
51:44: Revelation 6 and Matthew 24 together you sit there and you go. Oh Oh They they were talking about the exact same things
51:56: So here's the setup for it and we'll do the setup this week and the next week Lord willing We will get into Revelation 6 as well as Matthew 24 and look at the correlation between the two
52:07: So Revelation 5 then I saw on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written
52:13: Within and on the back sealed with seven seals I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals
52:24: Not me Not you No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to Weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
52:37: And so here comes comfort Okay, so notice he's he's lamenting he's weeping. No one's able. No one's worthy to open the scroll.
52:44: This is a tragedy This is horrible. Oh, don't don't don't weep weep no more behold the line of the tribe of Judah the root of David He's conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals
52:55: And so you'll know the fact that Christ conquered then is the thing that brings comfort to John in The midst of his lament that nobody is worthy all but wait
53:05: Jesus is And so you'll note there's even a little bit of a theme of the comfort that comes from the gospel right here
53:13: And so between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns
53:23: Seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. What's the number of God again?
53:30: Seven and so he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and when he had taken
53:36: The scroll the four living creatures the 24 elders They fell down before the lamb each holding a harp and a goal and golden bowls full of incense
53:46: Which are the prayers of the Saints? Ah Now there's a great little cross -reference because in the
53:51: Psalms What does it say let my prayers rise before you as incense the lifting up of my hands as the evening?
53:58: Sacrifice we've even put it even to a to a chant a song Let my prayers rise before you as incense the lifting up of my hands as the evening
54:13: Sacrifice and then it go right into the Magnificat, right? Yeah, so Here we have this beautiful picture.
54:21: So your prayers consider the implications of this your prayers are gathered up and they are put into golden bowls and Full of incense and that incense comes up before God as a pleasing aroma
54:40: He takes in your prayers and answers them. So you'll note then prayers are a precious thing
54:46: They are even portrayed in very precious terms here So and then they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals?
54:57: For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God So here you got a picture of the atonement talking in terms of ransoming, you know to pay
55:09: You know pay what is necessary to set somebody free so you ransom people for God from every tribe and Language and people and nation.
55:20: Oh, look at that. There's no room for racism in the kingdom of God Yeah No room for it at all.
55:29: And you've made them a kingdom and priests to our God now notice
55:34: It doesn't say he made us Kings We are a kingdom and priests to our
55:41: God and they shall reign on the earth and Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice
55:58: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth
56:05: Wisdom And might now a little bit of a note here Have you noticed the singular obsession and focus of all of the worship of heaven?
56:16: Jesus, right? Yeah All right.
56:22: I would just do a little comparative work compare these songs of heaven and their focus to The focus of the songs that are passing themselves off as worship music today
56:37: Me Lord, I lift my name on high Lord I'd love to sing my praises.
56:45: Yeah, that's that's it Yeah, I I Exalt me
56:53: Yeah, okay yeah, I know it's a little bit of a parody but you get the idea but so much of What passes for worship music today if you listen carefully, they're not worshiping
57:05: God, they're not focused on Christ They're they're they're praising themselves And that's the weird creepy thing about modern worship music
57:15: Whereas the worship of heaven is singularly focused and obsessed with Christ so then
57:22: I heard every living creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them
57:28: Saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might
57:36: Forever and ever and the four living creatures said amen and the four elders fell down and they worshipped so here you get this picture of the worship of heaven and the worthiness of the
57:48: Lamb and that's what we'll leave off for this week and next week again Lord willing we'll get into Revelation 6 and Consider the picture that it paints for us of Of the breaking open of these seals and how you can see all of these things happening today already
58:06: It have been for 2 ,000 years. So peace to your brothers and sisters. Let me double -check to make sure I didn't miss any questions before we wrap up Oh Good.