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Week of: May 6, 2007
Series: The Bible and Prophecy
Title: Part 4 ~ The Importance of Biblical Prophecy
Scripture: Revelation 19:9-10; Revelation 1:3
In our local ministerial association, we have 7 ministers who currently attend our meetings. Two are Baptists, one is Methodist, one Catholic, one Assembly, one Full Gospel, and one Episcopal. I asked our group one day if Biblical prophecy was an important aspect of their theology, and everyone said it was. They thought it was very important. Today I want us to consider just how important it really is.
I’ve said before that Jesus spoke of prophecy and the future; therefore what Jesus is concerned about we too should consider. But not only Jesus, the Bible speaks of prophecy. 20 percent of the books of the Bible are considered prophetic, with rather lengthy books like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelations almost entirely prophetic in content. Someone estimated that 27% of the Bible is prophecy of one sort or the other. So if you don’t think that prophecy is an important part of your understanding of your Christian faith, then rip out over a quarter of the pages of your Bible.
In addition, the book of Revelation tells us that anyone who reads, listens, and obeys (or takes to heart) the prophecies of that book, will be blessed. The book of Revelation was written to people who were persecuted because of their faith. I know people who will not study or even read the book of Revelation because they are afraid of it. There is just too much material that they don’t understand; too many things that they don’t know what it means to feel comfortable around it. But the book was not written to scare Christians, the book was written to comfort Christians. Do you know what the word “blessed” means? It means happy. So not all prophecy is meant to scare you, but much of it is meant to bless you life.
Prophecy also gives us a different perspective on history. The story is told of an airplane that was lost in a hurricane-like storm over the ocean. The captain decided to inform the passengers of their situation. He turned on the intercom and said, “I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we’ve lost our guidance system and have no way of knowing where we are or which way we going. The good new is, we’re making great time.” Prophecy is important because it tells us the direction that we are going. Our world had a definite beginning but it is also going to have definite ending. This world will not continue on forever through infinite cycles of history repeating itself. It has a purpose to it, like our lives are supposed to have purpose to them.
Prophecy also tells us that along the way those who have been wronged will be rewarded and those who have wronged others will be punished. The book of Revelation reads: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books…”(Revelation 20:11-12). Biblical Prophecy says history has a definite beginning and an end and it also has a divine judge that will make things right. In other words, Biblical Prophecy is important because it reveals the sovereignty of God over the universe. God is all-knowing, God is everywhere, and God is all-powerful. He is in control. Sure, things don’t always happen the way He wants them to. Sure, things go wrong, sin has its way, and evil looks so bad, suffering is so painful, but God is and always will be ultimately in control. I cannot tell you when and how but Good will win out. Prophecy reaffirms that conviction.
In Revelation 19:9-10 (please read), Perhaps John is saying, “that those who have the spirit of prophecy will give evidence of it by their faithfulness to the testimony of Jesus.” The early church saw much of Jesus and his testimony to God in the Old Testament prophecies. For example, Genesis 3:15 is the coming of the seed of the woman, who will crush the serpent’s head. Exodus 12:1-51 was seen by the early church as a reference to Jesus who was the Passover Lamb (see John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7). Psalm 110 refers to the great High Priest who the writers of the New Testament thought to be Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 spoke of “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” who was again thought to be Jesus. Isaiah also spoke of Jesus as being “a man of sorrows” which was seen to be another reference to Jesus (Isaiah 53:3). Daniel 7:13 refers to the term “son of man” which Jesus Himself was very fond of calling Himself. Studying Biblical prophecy gives one an avenue to study Jesus.
But probably the most pressing reason that Biblical prophecy is important is that you and I wouldn’t have been here without it. Isaiah 42:5-7 says: “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out…I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind…” According to the Prophet Isaiah, God is concerned with the entire world and is at work through Israel to redeem all of humanity. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Had it not been for the writings of this prophet, it is quite possible that we, non-Jews, would not be worshiping the God of Israel. The expectation that the Gentiles would one day enter the Kingdom of God was very important to Paul’s and the early churches mission to reach the Gentiles.
And finally, prophecy is important because it speaks of Jesus’ second coming. Revelation 1:5b-8 (please read) speaks of what the church has expected and looked forward to from the moment that Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection, that is His return. The church has always believed that Jesus would return and rescue the Church. When things get the darkest, people have looked to Jesus and His return, and prophecy gives us that hope. Prophecy is the call to study your Bible, to know what it says, and why it says what it does. It is a call to see the Bible as more than just a book, but as a book inspired by God Himself.
Week of: May 13, 2007
Series: The Bible and Prophecy
Title: Part 5 ~ Redemption and Prophecy ~ The Scarlet Thread of Redemption
Scripture: Genesis 3:1-21
I’ve entitled my sermon “The Scarlet Thread of Redemption.” The word redemption has to do with deliverance, with finding that which was lost, rescuing that which is in deadly peril, paying the price for that which needs ransoming. The Bible is a book of redemption, either in terms of what is happening now or what will happen in the future. We are redeemed from the penalty of sin, from the power of Satan, by God himself, who has supremely done so by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. In doing so we are redeemed to have a new relationship with God, a new freedom from sin, and a new life of love and faith by the forgiveness of our sin, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at our scripture this morning and see how God has always redeemed his children, and how He seeks to redeem His creation by Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
In our scripture this morning, Dumb and Dumber (Eve-Dumb and Adam-Dumber) have just eaten of the forbidden fruit of the Garden. The one thing that they should not do, they did, and in doing so have sinned. The immense knowledge and the heightened sense of importance that they hoped for by eating the forbidden fruit didn’t come (Sin never has a payoff like we wish it would). Instead, it made them realized just how vulnerable and naked they were before each other and before God.
Sin exposes our weaknesses for what they are. Sin shows us who we really are. Sin makes us self-conscious before one another and especially before God. It has a way of showing just how imperfect we really are before God. So Adam and Eve, seeking to conceal their nakedness, which was an expression of their guilt, shame, and sin (read Genesis 3:7-8) tried to cover themselves and hide from God. Guilt was written all over them and they could not, as we cannot, hide our guilt and sin from God. It is always with us. God will ultimately find us.
He finds Dumb and Dumber, punishes them, and then in verse 21 makes clothes for them out of animal skins. In other words, he provides an offering of an innocent animal for their sins. Someone has called this “the beginning of the scarlet thread of redemption” that runs through the whole Bible. Hebrews 9:22 says, “the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” So through the slaughter of an animal, God took clothing of skin and covered the shame, quilt, and nakedness of Adam and Eve, thus becoming the first sacrifice offered by the hand of God.
Another example of God providing a sacrifice is in Genesis 22. This is the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. God says: “Abraham take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” So Abraham does take his son; he takes his son as an act of faith, and does so thinking that “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.” (see Genesis 22:8) And as he was prepared to do the unimaginable, to slay his only son, God spoke and provide a ram to be killed and sacrificed. Even though we cannot begin to understand the difficulty of such a test of faith, it is important to realize that once again God provided the means of redemption. He provided the sacrifice for Abraham to offer.
Isaiah prophecies a more general day of redemption in the future when he wrote these words (53:4-12): “…for he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” It was Jesus who saw himself as fulfillment of those prophecies when He spoke of His death and said: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:31)
And Paul certainly saw Jesus as a fulfillment of those prophecies when he wrote: “you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God provides once more the perfect sacrifice for our sinners, and once again the Scarlet Thread of Redemption runs through the scripture. God is actively acting in history to redeem His creation and Jesus is the greatest expression of that redemption.
Redemption is not only in the present, in the here and now, but it is also something of the future. Jesus has redeemed you not only yesterday, but today and tomorrow. Paul writes to the Corinthians telling them to stand firm in their faith, because no matter what happens, God will ultimately rescue them. He says: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” In other words, don’t despair over the things that can happen to you; instead, remember that God will give us a wonderful victory in Jesus Christ.
Such a chorus of redemption continues throughout the NT. 1 Peter 1 says, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” This is a redemption that comes through the new birth, of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a redemption that starts here on earth, and is kept as a finished piece in heaven waiting on us until it is revealed in the last time.
John prophesies about this state of redemption as he says I saw a “new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
On and on throughout this Book, there are threads of redemption that God has started and finished through various means with the ultimate expression of redemption being what Jesus Christ has done and will continue to do in the lives of His people.
It has been realized and it has been prophesied down through the ages: God loves you and wants to redeem you from sin, the power of Satan, and evil. I know you are good people but there is not a person that does not need what God is offering. It is a matter of life or death, heaven or hell. It is a matter of your choice.
Week of: May 20, 2007
Series: The Bible and Prophecy
Title: Part 6 ~ The Future
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:15-28
Folks have always tried to predict the future. Hal Lindsey, author of The Late, Great Planet Earth (The Late, Great Planet Earth, 1970 book co-authored by Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson, published by Zondervan), tried to predict when Christ would return by saying that date would be November of 1984. Other people, other than religious people, have had their guesses of future events as well.
Popular Mechanics magazine report this in 1949, “Computers in the future may weight no more that 1.5 tons.”
A few years before that, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM, said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Even the savvy Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, made this statement about computers in 1981, “640K ought to be enough for anybody.”
Off the subject of computers, predictions have also been made. “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau” so said Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the US Office of Patents, made this rather dim-witted statement in 1899, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
And, those of us old enough to know who Gary Cooper and Clark Gable were would be interested in hearing Gary Cooper’s prediction about Clark Gable after he (Gary Cooper) turned down the leading role in Gone With The Wind. “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.”
Predicting the future by subject matter can be difficult and very embarrassing. In fact, do you know the criteria for being a prophet in the Old Testament? It is found in Deuteronomy 18: 20-22: “But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” So according to the Bible a true prophet can be observed prophesying in the name of the Lord, and making prophecies that come true.
Yet, some prophecies were made by true prophets that, as far as we know, never came true. For example, King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Egypt but never conquered Egypt as Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 46. Why? Because God’s prophecies, given through the prophet of God, were always meant to be conditional rather than inevitable. Up to a certain point, they were not meant to be fatalistic, but they were meant to be conditional on repentance and doing what was right. Jeremiah 18: 5 reads, “Then the word of the Lord came to me. ‘Oh house of Israel, can I not do with you what the potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, that I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good that I had intended to do good for it.”
I hear a lot of people, preachers included, prophesying that the end is coming, that it is near. I suppose the end is nearer because the Bible doesn’t see history as a never-ending cycle of events, but rather having a definite beginning and a definite ending. So every day we are getting closer to the end. But God has tarried 2000 years. He may come today, or He may tarry another 2000 or more years for all we know. If He waits longer in coming again, why is He doing so?
First, I don’t believe God does anything without a reason. We may not understand His reasoning but, never-the-less, there is a method to God’s plan of action. In Jeremiah 18:11, God says: “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways…” According to the Bible, God plans and devises His own plans for this world we live in. It comes at His beckon and call; it comes in His good time as He puts all the pieces together. One piece of the puzzle that has come together is God’s insistence on redeeming Israel. God is not through with Israel. I don’t know how He is going to use that nation, even Paul didn’t know when and how, he just believed that in the end Israel will be saved.
I believe that 1948 was a very important date in the history of the world. Does anyone know what happened in 1948? That’s right, Israel became a nation. Jews, who were once scattered all around the world, came back to their own land and became a nation. In our scripture this morning Ezekiel prophesies of that event: “this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and brings them back into their own land.” Now this was just the beginning for Israel and they have a long way to go before, I believe, they are where God wants them to be, but it is a start. For one day, they will be what God intended them to be a light unto the nations, because as verse 28 says: “then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel Holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.” I believe they have a way to go before that day.
Second, maybe the most important reason, is that God truly doesn’t want anyone to perish. Christians have always prayed “Come swiftly Lord Jesus.” But God in His infinite love and wisdom doesn’t want to come too soon. He will come like a thief in the night, but remember, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance and to find forgiveness and salvation. The Christian faith is changing the world. If God seems slow, it is only because he wants us all to have every chance we possibly can to be saved.
Folks, there is going to be an end. We know that. But we don’t know when and how. It is real easy to stand at the bottom of a foothill and think that it is a mountain. It is real easy to misunderstand and misinterpret what lies ahead. Only the Lord has uninterrupted vision and sight; we are too ignorant and short-sighted to know what the future will bring. Instead, we should do as Peter tells his readers to do in 2 Peter 3:9-11: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and the speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness… so make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”
What are we to do until he comes? Watch, pray and be as spotless and blameless as we can possibly be.
Week of: May 27, 2007
Series: The Bible and Prophecy
Title: Part 7 ~ Jesus and The Future
Scripture: Luke 21:5-24
This morning I would like for us to look at what Jesus has to say about the future. In our scripture, Jesus and the disciples just witnessed the poor widow who has just given “out of her poverty all that she has to live on.” see Luke 21:1-4 And as they are leaving the temple, some of his disciples begin to remark about how beautiful the temple is with its precious stones and golden gifts that adorn it. see Luke 21:5-6
The Roman historian, Josephus said this about the beauty of the Temple: “The outward face of the Temple wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. The temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, as those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white.”
It was no wonder that the Jews took offense to Jesus when He prophesied that “not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” Luke 21:5-6 However, that is exactly what happened when Roman armies destroyed the city in 70 AD after a long terrible siege that left over 1,100,000 people dead.
The same Josephus gives us a historian view of what Jesus foresaw in the future. Josephus says: “Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying of famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, all swelled with famine, and fell down dead where so ever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty how soon they should die themselves. Nor was there any lamentation made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those who were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence, also, and a kind of deadly night had seized upon the city…And everyone of them died with eyes fixed on the Temple.” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 5. 12. 3) These things happen to fulfill the prophesy that Jesus spoke when He said, “when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies…” see Luke 21:20-24.
Jesus not only prophesied judgment for Jerusalem but also for mankind in general. He tells the parable of the fishing net, saying that the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up to the shore. They separated the good fish from the bad fish, throwing away the bad. Jesus said this was how it was going to be at the end of the age. “The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:47-51 As to when this judgment was to occur, Jesus seemed to believe it would occur after the gospel was preached to the whole world as a testimony to all nations. see Matthew 24:14 He believe that that was going to be soon because He said in the same chapter: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” Yet in the following verse (36) He says “but about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
However, not all of Jesus prophecies were so gloomy. For example, Jesus came preaching and proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near. Matthew 3:2 states, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come.” The Kingdom of heaven is the dominion or the rule of God. There is an apocryphal writing named Psalms of Solomon that reads: “Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David, at the time in which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy servant. And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers…And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness, and he shall judge the tribes of the people that have been sanctified by the Lord his God. And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst, nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness, for he shall know them, that they are all sons of their God.”
(Note: The Psalms of Solomon is not in the Bible, though written in the same time period)
Jesus saw Himself in that light; however, there is no evidence whatsoever that Jesus ever intended to muster the armies of Israel and lead them to war against Rome to achieve that means. Instead, His kingdom of heaven was predicated on the belief that God himself would act directly and decisively to bring about a “peaceable kingdom” to earth. What Jesus saw for the future was what He prayed for in the Lord’s prayer: “Our father which are in heaven, hallow be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ..” Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
A Jewish expectation of the future, that Jesus believed in as well, was the restoration of Israel. How many core disciples did Jesus have? Twelve; why that number? Because at one point in time, there were twelve tribes of Israel, the disciples were Jesus’ way of believing that one day God would restore these lost tribes back and renew all of Israel. To which Jesus said to the disciples, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” According to Jesus, one day all of Israel would be restored and Jerusalem would ultimately be returned to the Jews, after “the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:24
Another understanding of Jesus’ kingdom, and therefore His prophecies, was that of reversal. Do you recall the Beatitudes? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…” Matthew 5: 3-5 In other words, the future is going to be a divine reversal, hence: “Many who are first will be last and the last first.” Mark 10:31 Jesus prophesied that someday everything would be turned on its head.
Jesus also prophesied of cosmic upheaval and His Second coming: “But in those days, following that distress, the sun will be darkened, an d the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” Mark 13:25-27
So Jesus tells His followers to do what? Watch!! Mark 13:35 says, “therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let Him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone. “Watch.”