Let's go to the book of Revelation
again this morning, Revelation. And I'm going to eventually get
to chapter 8 in just a couple of minutes, but I actually want
to read a verse or two here out of the first chapter at least
to begin with, Revelation 1, and then we'll go to the 8th
chapter here in just a few minutes. The name of the book is The Revelation
of Jesus Christ, The Unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ, The
Revealing, The Uncovering of the Blessed Savior. has been
led to write this book by the Spirit of God to make this glorious
Redeemer more known to His people. We know that all of the Bible
is a book about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you've heard for
many years that the Old Testament says someone's coming. The four
gospel records tell us someone has arrived. He has come. He's
done the work that was prophesied in the Old Testament. He's actually
redeemed his people. That's the record of the four
Gospels and then from the book of Acts to the end of the book
of Revelation we find that that one who has come into the world
has gone back to heaven. He rules and he reigns over all
things and one of these days he's coming again. And so all
of the book of God, all of the scriptures about the Lord Jesus
And John in this book is uncovering even more of what the Savior
is doing during this error. We already know what he did in
old eternity for us. He was the surety of the new
covenant. One who accepted responsibility
for all of the elect that were given to him by God the Father. He is that great shepherd of
the sheep, the good shepherd of the sheep, the chief shepherd
of the sheep. We know what he's already accomplished. He came into the world and he
gave his life a ransom for many. He has redeemed his people unto
God. He has brought in for us an everlasting
righteousness that God approves of, and in the Lord Jesus and
in His sacrifice for sin, we're accepted. We know that. That's what He's already accomplished. Having done the work that God
gave Him to do, He, having died for our sins according to the
scriptures and being buried and raised again the third day, 40
days later, He went back to heaven. Now his work as our Redeemer
is finished. His work as that one who reconciled
us to God is over. He has died one death and by
that death he made reconciliation for all the sins of all of his
people. Now having gone back to glory
his work of redemption finished, he now has another work that
he does. It is the work as our intercessor. It is the work of our advocate. And not only is he our advocate
and our intercessor, but he is the one who rules the world.
And in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, John is showing
us In these 22 chapters, he shows us in seven visions that this one who gave himself
for us, he reigns over all things and he reigns all the way to
the end. And in the end, we will be with
the Lord Jesus in everlasting glory and happiness. The book
is made up of seven visions. We've already covered two of
them, studied two of them. We're getting into the third
one, and we've been getting into the third one for the last three
or four Sundays, and we will continue with that again here
in just a little bit. And I've got probably two more
messages that I want to bring out of the eighth chapter as
we get more fully into the trumpet judgments. The first section,
the first vision that John receives is chapters 1, 2, and 3. Chapters 1, 2, and 3. And I've
stated this, that in this vision, that which we want to remember,
what we want to kind of take away from it, is that the Lord
Jesus is with his people. He's in the presence of his people.
He is, he's set forth as the Son of God and the Son of Man
who has been glorified. This is the way John sees him.
Now, when our Lord Jesus was on this earth, John saw him during
the days of his public ministry, saw him virtually every day.
And he spent much, much, many, many hours with the Savior, many
waking hours, listening to his teaching, watching his miracles,
observing his parables, listening to all of his preaching. and
indeed the instructions that our Lord Jesus gave to His Apostles
who would then go out and preach the Gospel when the Lord Jesus
went back to glory because the Gospel had to be spread and it
would be spread by these 11 men, the 12th Apostle being the Apostle
Paul himself. And so our Lord Jesus spent much
time with these men, and John saw Him virtually every day of
his public ministry. He knew Him to be the Son of
Man. But in this very first vision, he sees the Son of Man, he recognizes
Him, and yet he's different. He's not the lowly Son of Man
anymore. He's the glorious Son of Man. He's the exalted Son of Man.
And so John sees Him that way in the first vision. This exalted
Son of Man, he sees Him with His people. With His people.
And that's what we want to take away from chapters 1, 2, and
3 in the very first vision. And I'll give you a verse on
this if you would. in Revelation chapter 1 and verse
13, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, these are the churches,
the seven, and I won't get to it today, I don't think, but
we'll stress the number seven, which is very significant, very
symbolic throughout the book of Revelation, in fact, throughout
the Word of God, because it's used over 600 and 600 passages
of Scripture, And most of the time it isn't merely a mathematical
term or word, it isn't merely a number, but it's significant
of something. It is very symbolic of that which
comes to completion, that which is perfect, that which is in
its fullness. And so John sees these seven
golden candlesticks, and that's the church of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's the figures, seven
individual churches of Asia Minor, but there were other churches
in Asia Minor, and we know that from studying and reading church
history. These just happen to be the seven
that Our Lord Jesus, He draws them out, as it were, and these
signify, they in their own way portray all of the people of
God, all of the church of God, seven being the perfect number.
Here's the complete body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so John
sees in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like the Son
of Man. He recognizes But he's different. He's different
and this time he has a garment on down to the foot, clothed
with a garment down to his foot, gird about the pats with a golden
girdle. He says, his head, his hairs
were white like wool, white as snow. His eyes were as a flame
of fire. They weren't like that when he
was on this earth. And of course this is symbolic
language. It isn't that John saw him and
fire is darting out of his eyes. Here's what the vision represents
to John and what it's supposed to represent to us. as he continues
to talk about his feet being like fine brass as if they burned
in a furnace. This is what we're to understand
by this. He is the magnificent, exalted, glorified son of man. He's no longer in his state of
humility. He's no longer in his state of
condescension. He's no longer Jesus of Nazareth
who had no place to lay his head. who was despised and rejected,
John sees him as the glorified Son of Man. He's finished his
work of redemption. He's gone back to glory. The
Father has said, sit here at my right hand till I make all
of your enemies your footstool. And John sees him not as the
wounded, bruised, bleeding Savior, but as that one who was triumphant
over all of the enemies of his people, over Satan, death, Even
our sinfulness and over hell itself, John sees Him as the
exalted King of kings and Lord of lords, and he sees Him still
as being the Son of Man. Bone of our bone. Flesh of our
flesh. Where is He? He's with His people. He's with His people. That's
the teaching of the first vision, chapters 1, 2, and 3. And of
course, he goes through, he writes, the Lord Jesus sends a letter
to each of the seven churches of Asia Minor. And these are
typical of, as I said, all of the people of God, all of God's
church of all of the ages. And then we come to the second
vision, and the second vision goes from chapters 4, 5, 6, and
7. That which we know and that which
we have learned from the second vision is this, this one who
is the son of man, who's been exalted, he's also the Lamb of
God who was slaughtered. He was slaughtered for his people.
And on the basis of fully accomplishing redemption, of doing that great
work of reconciliation which the Father gave him, he's been
exalted and asked the Lamb of God. And John shows him as the
Lamb of God over and over again in the book of Revelation. And
so often he says, he's the Lamb slain. He's the Lamb slain. He's the Lamb who's been killed.
He's been slaughtered for his people. But he didn't stay dead. He arose again because of our
justification, because He justified us by His blood. And so now John
sees Him not only as that Son of Man who's been exalted and
glorified, who is always with His people, but now he sees Him
in another light. He sees Him in another way, in
another figure. He's the Lamb of God who has
been slain. And He is the exalted One. He's
the One, you remember we have studied and you know this well,
God the Father had in His right hand a book sealed with seven
seals. There's the seven again. This
book sealed with seven seals, written within and without, on
the back side. That's God's eternal purpose,
especially His purpose during this gospel age, during this
age between the Lord's first appearing and His second appearing,
His first advent and His second advent, all during this age.
Everything that's going to happen, all of those things are in this
book that is sealed with seven seals. And nobody was found worthy
to even take the book and open the book, much less execute that
which is in the book, except the Lamb of God. The Lamb of
God. And so John sees him. Notice
here in chapter 5 and verses 8 and 9. And when he had taken
the book, here's the Lamb of God. And in chapter 5, John is
presenting to us, here's the Lamb of God as He's been smitten. Because you see, the basis for
His reign as the exalted Son of Man is His accomplishment
of redemption. That's the basis of it. God has
exalted Him. Why has God exalted Him? Because
God gave Him a mission. God sent Him on a mission. God
gave Him a mandate. What was the mandate? Save my
people from their sins. It's an ungodly people. They've
got to be saved. Save them from their sinfulness.
Save them from their slavery. Bring them to Me. Bring them
to Me. Wash them in Your blood. Robe
them. Make them acceptable to Me through
Your own righteousness. And our Lord Jesus has already
accomplished that work and now He's being exalted. John sees
him take this book out of the hand of God, and now we read
here in verse 8, and when he had taken the book and the four
beasts and the four and twenty elders, chapter 5 verse 8 now,
they fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them, what
are they? Hearts, golden vials full of
odors, which are the prayers of the saints. Keep that in mind. They had sung a new song, What
was the new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open all the seals thereof? For Thou hast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation." In other words, He not only rules over
His people, but He rules over the world. over all things. And even now, as I speak these
words, our Lord Jesus, this glorified Son of Man that John saw back
in chapter 1, who is in the midst of His people, even now the Lamb
of God who has been slaughtered for us, He rules and He reigns
over all things for the good of His church. Read the last
part of Ephesians chapter 1. That's exactly what the Apostle
Paul says. He's been raised again. He's
been given all authority that he should be the head of all
things to the church. To the church. He rules all things
for us. He governs the world for us.
No wonder all things work together for good to them that love God
and who are the called according to His purpose. The One who redeemed
us, the One who reconciled us, the One who saved us is making
sure that everything works together for our good because He rules
and He sovereignly reigns over everything. This is the meaning. This is the message then. of
the second vision. It's what we want to take away
from this. He's executing the will and the
purpose of God. As it says in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, He must reign till all of His enemies are put under His
feet. Then that brings us to the third vision. The third vision
is chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11. Chapter 8. Here in chapter 8
He is presented to us as The angel who stands at the altar. That's the title of the message.
He's the angel who stands at the altar. Now, why do you say
he's the angel? He's the messenger of God. Well,
he isn't a created angel. No, he isn't a created angel.
The word angel means messenger. Messenger. Back in chapter 1,
John, when he sees the glorified Son of Man, he sees the seven
golden candlesticks. He also sees in the right hand
of the exalted Son of Man seven stars. Seven stars. That word stars could be translated
angels. It could be translated messengers. Our Lord Jesus is said to be
the bright and morning star, the bright and morning star. He is said to be the messenger
or the angel of the covenant. And here our Lord Jesus stands
at the altar. Now to be sure, there are other
angels. These angels are created angels
who serve the purpose and do the bidding of this angel who
is the angel of the covenant. Let me read for you beginning
in chapter 8 in verse 1, And when he had opened the seventh
seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
I saw the seven angels, well that word just keeps on cropping
up in the book of Revelation, seven. Seven angels which stood
before God, to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel. Another messenger. This is one
unlike those seven. This is the angel of God. This
is the angel, we said last week, who spoke to Moses out of the
bush that burned but wasn't consumed. This is the angel of God who
identified himself as being, I am that I am. This is the Son of God. And another
angel came and he stood at the altar. He stood at the altar. Our Lord Jesus, having accomplished
the mission that God gave Him, went back to heaven. And you
know what the Scripture says? He sat down. Hold your place
there. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. He sat down. Hebrews chapter 10 and look with
me at verse number 11. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
11. The writer of the book of Hebrews
is showing that the Lord Jesus Christ is better. He's better
than the prophets. He's better than the angels.
His covenant New covenant of grace is better than the old
covenant. His priesthood is better than Aaron's priesthood. His
sacrifice was better than the sacrifices offered in the Old
Testament. Because as it says back up in
verse 5, if I may read that to you, in Hebrews 10 and verse
4, excuse me, Hebrews 10 and 4, for it's not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Our Lord
Jesus, He offered Himself a sacrifice to God, the sacrifice that actually
did put away sins. So His sacrifice is better than
all the Old Testament offerings put together, because they couldn't
remove any sin. But, go down to verse 11, Here
it says, every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. They all typified putting away
of sins. They all prefigured the putting
away of sins. But all of them together, they
couldn't put away sins. Rivers of blood, rivers of blood
flowed from Jewish altars, from the brazen altar. Thousands upon
thousands and tens of thousands of animals died on the altars. But all of them together never
removed any guilt. They never removed any sinfulness. Verse 12. This man. This man. Remember, John says he's the
man who's now been glorified. He's the man who's now been exalted. This man. Oh, what a man! But
a real man. This man is the God-man. But
this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
what did he do? What happened? He sat down. He
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. And I know that you've
heard this many times in the tabernacle. There wasn't anywhere
for a priest to sit down. There was no respite for him. There was no place, well, I need
to take a break in here, I need to sit down, or I have finished
what I need to do, I'll sit down. No, there is no chair in there.
There's no chair, there's an altar of incense, there's a lamp
stand, there's a table of showbread. That's all there were. Three
pieces of furniture in there. Wasn't anywhere for him to sit
down. Thus indicating to us the work of the priest was never
ever finished. It was never done. So he had
to offer sacrifices throughout the day. Throughout the weeks,
throughout the months, throughout the years, hundreds of centuries
went by when all these priests worked. They labored in the tabernacle
first and in the temple later. But their work was never ever
finished. But this man, this man, the God-man,
He offered to God the sacrifice that satisfied justice, removed
our sins. He sat down. He sat down at the
right hand of God. And it says in verse 13, from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool
for, or here's the reason. You want to know why he sat down?
For this reason, because by one offering, the word for means
because, for this purpose. Here's the reason He sat down.
Here's the reason the Father said, sit here till I make you
in Him as your footstool. For by one offering, He had perfected
forever. Them that were sanctified. What
does that word mean? Those that were set apart. When
were they set apart? In old eternity. Set apart for
salvation. Set apart for redemption. Set
apart for God Himself. Set apart as His children. Set
apart as His sheep. Set apart as His elect. These
are God's ones. God's little ones. And by His death He perfected
us forever. And when the Spirit of God comes
to us in regeneration and we're born again by the Word of God,
the incorruptible Word of God that liveth and abideth forever,
we come to know and learn what God had purposed from old eternity. That Christ Jesus had died for
us and that He's already put away our sin. We learn that He's
already finished the work. We learn about a work that's
already been done. You see, He doesn't redeem us.
when He saves us. Redemption is a one-time thing.
Regeneration, conversion, that's when we find out about it. That's
when we come to trust Him. That's when we come to realize
that no one could save us but Christ alone, and the only way
He could save us was by substitutionary death. And so, our Lord Jesus
sat down. He sat down, now get this, as
our Redeemer, as far as His work of redemption, I think this is figurative language. Our Lord Jesus, He's not seated
because He's tired, and I don't even know whether He's literally
sitting down or not. That's not what we're to get
involved in. The sitting speaks to us of a
work that's finished. But as we get over here in Revelation
8, we see Him standing. He's standing. Which is it? Is He sitting or is He standing?
He's sitting as our Redeemer. The work is done. Mission has
been accomplished. He labors no more. But as our Mediator and as our
Antecessor, He stands. He stands. Because what John
sees here is this angel standing at the altar. He's standing at
the altar of incense. Notice in verse 3 he has a golden
censer. There was given unto him much
incense. The golden censer was only used
on the day of atonement. And this incense that he should
offer with it, the prayers of all the saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. Here's the picture. The Son of
God, our exalted Savior, the Son of Man who's been glorified.
The Lamb of God who's been slaughtered. Now we see him as the angel of
God, the messenger of God, intercessor for his people, the advocate
for his people. He stands at the altar, and He
takes our prayers, He takes our worship, and He presents them
to the Father. Nobody, nobody dare tamper with
the prayers of God's people. Nobody dare handle the prayers
of God's people, which are a holy thing to God, except one who
is worthy, the Son of Man who's been exalted. the Lamb of God
who has been slaughtered. And here He is. He's at the altar
of incense and He presents our prayers to God. And as such,
He stands. He stands. Go over to the book
of Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. This is the one
who always cares about His people. This is the one who speaks to
God on behalf of His people. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen has
brought this tremendous message for which he received the hatred
of the people. Acts chapter 7 verse 54, we don't
have the time to go through the sermon, but in verse 54 of Acts
7, when they heard these things, they heard Stephen's sermon. They were cut to the heart. They
gnashed on him. They gnashed on him like a pack
of hungry wolves. They gnashed on him with their
teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God. Now he's pictured as sitting
on the right hand of God as Stephen's Redeemer, Stephen's Savior, Stephen's
Reconciler, but he's seen as standing as Stephen's advocate,
as Stephen's intercessor, as Stephen's great high priest.
You see, our Lord Jesus stands to do the work of the only mediator
between God and man. He is the man, Christ Jesus. Go back to Revelation chapter
8. Now, as the angel who's standing at the altar, he's seen two times
in this third vision. I would remind you that this
last book of the Bible was occasioned by the severe opposition and
persecution of the Lord's people by heathen powers. We've already
read that the Lord's people have prayed to the Father and said,
how long, how long, oh God, is this going to go on? How long
will you allow these abusers of your people, these persecutors
of your children, how long will you permit them to go on and
on? And the Lord gives them an answer.
He says, till the rest of the elect are gathered in. That's
how long this will last. Well, those prayers that they
prayed that are recorded back in chapter 6 and verse 10, that
prayer, what happened to that prayer? Was it forgotten? Did God discard it? Let me tell
you something. Every prayer that you pray to
the Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ is always received. It goes to the altar. And there
you have, standing at the altar, your representative, your great
high priest, your antecessor, your advocate. He's there by
the merits of his death. by the merits of his sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary. He takes your prayers and he
presents them to the Father. Now listen to me, children of
God, every prayer you've ever prayed, God has always received
it through Christ. You may not, if your prayer included
petitions, requests, you may or you may not have recognized
or realized the answers to your petitions. The answer may have
been yes. The answer may have been no.
The answer may have been something else. The answer may not have
come yet. As parents and grandparents,
we pray for the salvation of our children. We pray for their
conversion. We pray for their safety. A number
of things that the people of God pray for, and you know, you
pray yourself, because all of God's people are praying people.
But we don't see, we don't We don't see but just a little portion
of our prayers answered. Isn't that right? But that doesn't
mean the Father doesn't receive them and it doesn't mean we should
cease to pray. The Scripture says men ought
always to pray and not to faint. Not to faint. Be always in prayer. And don't think for a moment,
children of God, that your prayers will ever fall on deaf ears,
that your Father will not receive them. He does receive them. He receives them for Christ's
sake. You see, you have an intercessor. I have an intercessor. We have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
we pour out our prayers. Hear the saints of God in chapter
6. They say, Lord, how long? How long? They're praying. You can hear the tears and the
grief in their prayer. It goes to the altar. Does the Lord receive that prayer? Yes, because as we shall see
in this opening of the seventh seal and through these first
six trumpets, these are judgments. What did they ask God for? Judgment
upon those who hate God's people. Judgment upon those who despise
the Gospel. Lord, if you're not going to
save them, judge them! If you're not going to make them
right, Lord, damn them. They torment your people. They
hate the cause of God and truth. How long, Lord, will you permit
them to go on with their fists in your face, rebelling and rejecting
and despising with their immorality and their ungodliness? Oh, God,
how long? He says, till all the elect are
gathered in. But don't think for a moment
that prayer has been forgotten. Because you see, it goes to the
angel standing at the altar. He has presented that prayer
to the Father. He is the advocate. He is the
intercessor of his people. And he presents it to God. Now this angel is seen as the
intercessor in this vision. But he's also seen another way.
Look at chapter 10. He is seen as the sovereign ruler. The sovereign ruler. And this
is most encouraging to the people of God. Because that one who
is our advocate. Now, understand this about the
advocacy of Christ Jesus. Understand this about his intercessory
work. He's not begging the Father to
show us mercy. An intercessor is one who appears
on the behalf of one before another. He appears on our behalf before
God. But he doesn't appear before
God to beg God to show us mercy. No, the Lord Jesus came into
this world to save us because God is merciful. Because God
does love. It isn't a begging or a pleading
for mercy. But what is the basis of his
advocacy? His own death upon the cross. I had you turn to Revelation
10. Hold that place and hold that thought. And go to... Well, I did have a verse of Scripture
I wanted you to go to, and now I'm kind of forgetting what I
wanted you to go to. Well, maybe you'll come back
to me later. The devil took that thought from me, perhaps, or
the Lord just didn't want me to say it. But anyway, he's our
advocate. He's the one who stands between
us and God. Go to chapter 10, because I'm
going to run out of time anyway, so I'll get to this. And that
other, believe me, I'll think of it, but it won't be today.
Do you find that to be true? I can give you the answer, but
it'll probably be tonight I'll wake up at 2 o'clock and say,
I know that now. But anyway, I promise you I'll
get back to it. At least I think I will. But
look here at chapter 10. Okay, so he sees this angel of
the Lord. He sees Him standing as our advocate,
as our intercessor. But He also sees Him standing
as the sovereign ruler. Look at chapter 10 verse 1, And
I saw another mighty angel, here He is again, come down from heaven. How do you know it's Him? He's
clothed with a cloud. He has a rainbow upon His head.
Remember back in Revelation chapter 4, rainbow around the throne
of God? His face as it were the sun, His feet as pillars of fire. Go back to chapter 1 of Revelation.
We know it's the Lord Jesus Christ. He had in His hand a little book
opened. What is the little book? It's
the same book we looked at back in chapter 5. The book sealed
with seven seals. And now it's opened. He has opened
this book. You say, why is it called a little
book? Because it's in a big hand. It's
in the hand of the Son of God. It's in the hand of the Lord
of glory. He had in His hand a little book open and watch
how great He is. Now John shows us that this angel
of the covenant, our intercessor, the angel standing at the altar,
John shows us how great He is, how glorious He is, how mighty
He is. He sets His right foot upon the
sea. and His left foot upon the earth.
He's big. He's big. He's glorious. And He speaks with a loud voice.
He cries out. That's when a lion roareth. Back
in chapter 5, He said to be the lion of the tribe of Judah. When
He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. what he's
got in his hand, that little book, that's him executing the
purpose of God throughout this gospel age. And when the seven
thunders... Every time you're in the book
of Revelation, you see seven, you're all circling. When the
seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write,
and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, seal up those
things. which the seven thunders uttereth,
and writhe them not. And the angel which I saw stand
upon the sea, there he is standing. He's sitting as our Redeemer,
but he's standing as the intercessor, and he's standing as the ruler,
as the king. standing upon the sea and upon
the earth, lifted up His hand to heaven. He sware by Him that
liveth forever and ever, even God His Father, who created heaven
and the earth and the things that are therein and the earth
and the things that are therein and the sea and the things which
are therein, that there should be time no longer. He's bringing
time to an end. Nobody can do that but God. But
in those days, the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when
you shall begin to sound, the seventh angel plays the seventh
trumpet. The seventh trumpet is the last
trumpet. When the last trump shall sound,
and the roll shall be called, and the saints meet the Savior
in the air. When the pilgrims and strangers
at last reach their home, we'll be there. Praise the Lord, we'll
all be there. That's the last trumpet. That's
the end of everything. He says, when he shall begin
to sound, the mystery of God should be finished. Everything
will be fulfilled then. As he hath declared to his servants
and the prophets. And the voice which I heard from
heaven spake unto me again and said, Go and take the little
book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon
the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel and
I said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said, Take
it and eat it. And remember, that's the purpose
of God. Take it and eat it up. He said it'll be bitter in your
belly, but in your mouth it'll be sweet as honey. Let me tell
you something about the purpose of God. When we think about God's eternal
purpose, that's sweet. That is sweet. to know that our
God rules everything. It's sweeter than honey to us
that our Savior, our Mediator, our Intercessor, He rules over
all things. That's sweet! But I'll tell you,
when in His rule difficult things happen to us, that's bitter. There's some bitter things in
that book for us. They won't work out bitterly,
but when we're going through with them, it's bitter. It's
better. This is the angel of the Lord. This is the one who represents
us. This is our Savior. So, here
He stands. And we'll get more fully to that
passage in chapter 10 in the coming weeks. But as we go back
to chapter 8, and I close this message out, this angel standing at the altar,
He was our great high priest. And He is our advocate. I just thought of the passage
I want to go to. I did come up with it on time.
Look at Hebrews chapter 9. Some of you younger folks, You
know, you kind of laugh when you say, well, he forgot that
and then it comes to you. You'll know one of these days.
They'll know, won't they? They'll know. You'll try to come
up with something and it's right there on the tip of my tongue
or I just had it in my brain and then it just vanished like
that. You'll find out one of these days. But Hebrews chapter 9. In Hebrews
chapter 9, We see our Lord Jesus appearing for us three times.
Three times. First, in verse 26, and I'm going
to give this to you in kind of chronological order, the first
time He appeared was to put away our sins. Chapter 9, verse 26,
but then must He have offered Then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself." That was his first appearance. And oh, good news. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Verse 27, and as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, here's the,
not the first, here's our Lord's first appearance was His death.
Here's His last appearance. So Christ, verse 28, was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him
shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation. That's His third appearance. And I'm surely interested in
both of those appearances, but I'm also interested in an appearance
that He makes for us right now. And that is set forth in verse
24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God. For us. Why does He appear in
the presence of God? It's for us. For us. As John says in 1 John chapter
2, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's His qualification to appear
for us. And so children of God, don't
be discouraged. And by all means, give yourself
to prayer. Give yourself to prayer. And
remember this, the angel standing at the altar receives every prayer
that you pray. Every single prayer that you
pray. And even those prayers that you cannot put into words,
but you just kind of grieve in your heart. And every child of
God here knows there are times when you don't even know what
to pray. And maybe you're just broken
up, you're disturbed, you're bothered by something. And you just can't even express
it. Spirit of God, you're an assessor
then. Romans chapter 8. Spirit of God, you're an assessor.
All of your prayers go up to God through that Son of Man who's
been glorified, through the Lamb of God who's been exalted, Through
the angel standing at the altar with the golden censer, the incense
that he's burning, that's the value of his sacrifice. Because
those coals that burn the incense come right off the brazen altar,
come right from Calvary. And God the Father smells the
sweet fragrance, the savor of the death of his sons, of his
son's death, and the Son of God holds our prayers up to the Father,
and the Father receives every single one of them. Therefore,
I admonish you to do what the Apostle Paul said, pray without
ceasing, and always know that the Father receives through the
merits of the Son of God.