All right. Let's pray again.
Thank You, Lord, for such a truth. Thank You, Father, that there
is nothing that can take us away from You, nothing that can snatch
us out of the hand of Jesus, nothing that can separate us
from Your love. We praise You for that. In Jesus'
name. Amen. All right. Revelation. If my notes come
up here, if not, we're just gonna be winging it. Let's try this. Turn it off, turn it back on.
Revelation chapter 10, I know that's where we are, so at least
we'll start there. Here it is. It's been a couple of weeks,
so let's review. As a matter of fact, last week,
Brother Jesse did Romans 10. And the week before that, I did
Romans 4. And then the week before that,
we were in Revelation chapter 9. And so we'll just review for
a little bit. The book of Revelation has a
structural consistency, and just to remind us what we're seeing
here, there is, as we saw between the 6th and 7th seals in chapter
7, there was an interlude there. Now, between the 6th and 7th
trumpets, we will also see an interlude. And this 7th trumpet
that sounds over at verse 15 of chapter 11 is sort of Consisting of two visions the
vision of the angel with the little scroll and then the two
witnesses that start in chapter 11 And so just so you know what
we're up to we remember we need to remember that this is not
chronological This is not this will happen. Then this will happen
and then this will happen but What we do see is when we see
what we have continued to see the seven sevens and the seventh
of any of this stuff happen Is what what does that mean the
seventh? Huh? Completion. It means completion.
That things are completed. They're done. The seventh is
the day of rest. The seventh is the day that God
was finished with His work. Seven times seventy is a complete
forgiveness. You know, when you think of seven,
it is a number of perfection, a number of completion. That's
what we learn in Scripture. And this recapitulation, the
structure of Revelation is we see this parallel repeated over
and over and over again or recapitulated in progression. And what we're
doing is covering the same ground. If you remember, you know, chapter
6 and then 7 and 8 and then 9 and 10 and then now 11, we're covering
the same image, we're covering the same picture. The first thing
that we saw is that we're peering through for the seals we're looking
at this picture of history from the earth looking into heaven
and then from the trumpets we're in heaven looking down to earth
and so this is the same event the same aspect of history the
same thing that's happening even in the present day and that's
where we that's when we come to this interlude of chapter
10 and remember these chapter numbers were not originally here
So they're there for our reference point because I'd hate to have
to say turn to that part in Exodus where such-and-such begat or
where so-and-so left or where this happened and we're like,
oh, where's that? So page numbers and chapters and verses make
sense. However, they are not there to delineate thought. They're
not there to separate thought and idea and subject. They just
don't do that. So this interlude in chapter
10 prepares us for a picture of the Day of Judgment as we'll
see over in chapter 11 verse 15 where that seventh trumpet
is blown. And when that seventh trumpet
is blown, look over there at chapter 11, verse 15 real quick.
It says, the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud
voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and
ever. And so when we see the judgment
of God and we see the last days, we see that it is the completed
work of God as we'll see in this picture. And we've seen some
mighty imagery. We've seen some pictures of some
locusts with some heads and some faces and some lines and some
stingers and scorpions and all sorts of stuff. And what that
is supposed to, just as a reminder since it's been a couple of weeks,
what that's supposed to help us understand is that the calamity
that God sends upon the natural world and consequence of the
fall is fierce. It's a type of judgment. However,
even though we may suffer under the consequences of sin as the
sealed, we will never suffer fully under the judgment of God
because we're protected. Why? Because we're filled with
the Holy Spirit. We are His. So, in this little interlude
It gives us another picture, and let's read that. Let's read
the whole chapter 10 real quick, and then I can just sort of talk
and it won't be as choppy as it could be. Chapter 10, Then
I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in
a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like
the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. He had a little
scroll open in His hand, and He set His right foot on the
sea and His left foot on the land, and called out with a loud
voice, like a roaring lion. When He called out, the seven
thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had
sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven
saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not
write it down. And the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea
and on the land, raised his right hand to heaven, and swore by
him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and was in
it, and the earth that was in it, and what is in it, and the
sea and what was in it, that there be no more delay, that
in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh
angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced
to his servants, the prophets. Then the voice I had heard from
heaven spoke to me again, saying, Go take the scroll that is open
in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on
the land. So I went to the angel and told him to give me the scroll.
And he said to me, Take and eat it. It will make your stomach
bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I
took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and I ate it.
It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach
was made bitter. And I was told..." Oops. And I was told, here we go, you
must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages
and kings. Is that what your Bible says?
Okay, just making sure. This little interlude before
we get to this final trumpet is supposed to give us some understanding. There's a lot of pictures here
that we probably don't recognize right off the top of our heads.
And the reason that is, is because we are not very versed in the
Old Testament. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We're not
as versed in the Old Testament and the writing of Jewish literature
as the people who received this letter were. Because remember,
the Bible of this original recipients was the Old Testament. It was
not this letter. They didn't understand that the
letters they were getting from these apostles were indeed scripture.
They were just looking for the encouragement, for that pastoral
letter. They didn't understand John's
apocalypse, his revealing things as something divine. They just
understood it as encouragement come from the one who was sent
by Christ, the apostle. And so in this, there are a lot
of allusion, not illusion. Illusion is a trick. We say one
thing but show you another, and what we show you is not even
real. And allusion is that which looks back upon. So if I allude
to what happened yesterday, that means I talk about it or I refer
to it in what I'm talking about today. The allusions of the Old
Testament in this particular chapter, chapter 10, are seen
in the books of Daniel and Ezekiel. But that doesn't mean that they're
relative in the context of this is talking about Ezekiel or talking
about Daniel, but there is an allusion there. Just like John's
gospel alludes to the Old Testament more than any other New Testament
book. So I thought Hebrews, no. The writer of Hebrews and the
letter to the Hebrews is not as Jewish as John. John's writing
is highly Semitic. It is completely Jewish. It centers
itself on all of the Old Testament images and pictures and prophecies. And the writing of John's gospel
actually gives all the ministry in the life of Jesus in the context
of the festivals and feasts of Israel. And so when a Hebrew
person reads the Gospel of John and reads Revelation, it comes
alive for them because they understand it. That's one of the principles
that we need to make sure we always keep forefront of our
mind and thoughts and practice is that when we're interpreting
Scripture, we must interpret Scripture in light of Scripture.
Remember when we talked about scriptural synergy back in the
other building? and that night that I was trying
to give y'all like nine different literary devices at one time
and it was just like somebody held up a number like they were
trying to buy something. You know, I was just going so fast
but it's not important but it is important. If the Bible, it
is important in the sense we need to read it in context, we
need to read it in light of other scripture and we need to understand
that the people who received this they weren't looking at
this letter going, oh that's what it meant in Ezekiel, oh
that's what it meant in Daniel. They just understood the pictures
of it. Like John's Gospel starts how?
In the beginning. I mean we're not even Old Testament
guys and we know what that's referring to. What is it? Genesis
1. In the beginning? God. Well, that's an allusion
to Genesis 1, but John's gospel has nothing to do with the creation
account. You see what I'm saying? So, but it is reminiscent in
the sense that he's writing to a Jewish audience and they recognize
the authority. What is it about Genesis 1 that
is so amazing and so important to an Old Testament person? It
is the revelation of God and how He created the world and
why He created the world. And more importantly, the very
beginning of Genesis is by name, the beginnings, the birth of
things. So it's the birth of God's creation. It's the birth of man's redemption. even though it is also the Genesis
of man's fall. Because in Genesis chapter 3
where the fall happens, we see God in Genesis 1 bringing life
and creation and we see then the great picture of that creation
and the beauty of it and the purpose of it in the creation
of man and woman which is magnified in Genesis chapter 2. That's
not two creation accounts. This is what God did. He created
all these things in the sixth day. He created man in the seventh
day. He rested. Now, in relationship to how God created man, this
is what we need to know. And then in chapter 3, man falls
into sin and the wages of sin is death. But God promised in
that very moment, a Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the seed of the
woman who would crush the head of the serpent. So when we read
John's Gospel, if we were really brought up in the context of
waiting for that One who was from the beginning to come and
rescue us from our fall and from our sin, when John says, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was
with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, son
and daughter, we break dancing. We're excited. We're excited.
The same type of idea would come into play in the Apocalypse,
in this book of Revelation, is that the Hebrew people, the Jewish
people understood about enduring under persecution, did they not?
I mean, tell me a time when Israel was not being sought after. Tell
me a time when Israel was not in slavery or about to be in
slavery. Tell me a time, when was the
year of Jubilee in the history of Israel? I don't know. I don't
know that they necessarily had a season. I mean, because you
look at Samuel, you look at Saul, you look at David, you look at
the judges. It was always in turmoil. It was always something
happening. There was never a time of just
absolute prosperity and peace and quiet. There was always something
happening. So the prophets who came to Israel and to Judah throughout
their lifetimes and they wrote the Word of God down, They understood
that the prophets would always come, as we'll see in a minute,
with a message from God and that message of God, hopefully, as
we saw in Luke's gospel in chapter 2 when Jesus does his first preaching.
Remember the first time Jesus ever preaches in Luke chapter
2? He takes the scroll, they hand Him the scroll, and He opens
the scroll to the prophet Isaiah. And He talks about the year of
Jubilee, and the presence of the Lord, and the redemption,
and all of that thing. And the Bible says, the Gospel writer
says, oh how they loved Him, how seasoned with grace, and
how pleasant were His words, how sweet were His words. And
you'll see the imagery here. And then all of a sudden Jesus
says, well it ain't for you. Just like God shut up the heavens
and nearly killed everybody through drought and shut up the wombs
of the widows and they couldn't have any children, so has He
shut the Word of God away from you. And what happens? It says
they took up stones or they purposed to kill Him. They purposed to
kill Him. And He vanished from among them.
He walked through them unscathed. So, as an Israelite or as a Jewish
person would read John's writing, he would always be reminded of
these things. These pictures that we see here are not to be
unfolded as this means this and this means this. That's why they're
similes. It's like. And people who knew Ezekiel,
and people who knew Daniel's writing, man, they understood
what the prophet of the Lord was trying to teach them in that
day. And they saw the imagery in the pictures that reminded
them of the prosperity that came only through the grace of God.
And it's not prosperity in life, but it's prosperity and endurance
under persecution of life, and it's actually eternal life. And
even though the Jews could not recognize Jesus according to
John 1, Jesus did save some Jews. Matter of fact, He saved many
Jews. Peter wrote to only Jews. John wrote to only Jews. The
letter to Hebrew, which Paul wrote, was to only Jews. And
so, I mean, we see a Jewish Galatia was written to Jews and Gentiles
living together as the church. So, I mean, there were Israelites
and non-Israelites all over the first century who were born of
Christ, who were born of God. But yet, the Bible says that
Israel rejected Jesus Christ because Israel as a nation was
supposed to reject Jesus Christ. That was the purpose and the
decree of God to begin with. God's favor is not in their blood,
remember? Not in their will and not in
their determination, but in the birthing of them by the what?
Father. Who does that where? Through the Spirit, John 1 and
John 3. If we look at these pictures and we ask ourselves, well, what
is this alluding to? Well, not necessarily anything specifically
or explicitly, but if we look at the pictures here, in chapter
5, we see a strong angel. Now in chapter 10 we see a strong
angel. So even the writing of John is alluding to itself. And
then all of a sudden we see then the loud voice. What do we see?
A strong angel. Who is this angel? What is he
supposed to be? We'll look at that in a second.
We see the loud voice. What does it say the voice is
like? Lions. Then we see clothed in clouds. Now does that ring
a bell with the Old Testament? In Daniel chapter 7 it talks
about the Son of Man coming in the clouds to bring the righteousness
of God. And so all of a sudden now we
see, oh my gosh, there's a strong angel. He's got a rainbow and
he's covered in clouds. I mean, is that really? I mean,
is this something? My Little Pony? Is that what
John's seeing? Or is he alluding and using the
imagery that he understands and the pictures that God has given
him so that the people who read this letter would understand
immediately who it was that John was looking at and by what authority? Because remember, what is this
seventh angel doing? He's proclaiming something. He's
bringing something into fruition. The other angels, who are being
commanded by the one who what? Sits on the throne. The other
angels are sounding trumpets. And remember what we talked about
three weeks ago about the trumpets? The trumpets are the battle cries.
It's the beginning of something. Something has started. Something
is in play. And what's in play? Famine, war,
disease, earthquake, catastrophe, hurricanes, or hurricanes, depending
on where you come from. And all these things, murder,
strife, envy, All of it. It's in play today. God is sending
these things. Friends, if you never understood
the sovereignty of God, this type of picture ought to show
you the sovereignty of God, that Jesus Christ is the commander
of the angels of hell, and they're not in hell yet. They've been
sent to the earth in the spiritual sense. They've been sent to the
earth. Jesus Christ is the commander of the devil and the fallen angels.
And Jesus Christ is the commander of the angels of glory. Jesus
Christ is the commander of the seraphim and the cherubim. And
He is the commander of them all. And everything they do is in
direct lockstep to everything He sent them to do. So that every
calamity that comes upon the earth, how can we say that God
is supreme and sovereign, but yet He is not the author of sin?
Because He sent Satan into the garden to produce sin in the
heart of man. So who authored sin? Satan. Who decreed it? God Almighty.
That's who decreed it. But God, in no way, did He make
sin and put it in man. Man freely rebelled against God
through the temptation of the devil, which was the decree of
the Lord. And we're like, why? Because His ways are higher than
our ways and the whole purpose of creating is so that He would
be a Redeemer of a people so that in all of eternity and throughout
all of eternity that He would have a people who would receive
the greatest joy in seeing Him for who He is and behold His
majesty and behold His glory and worship Him to the praise
of His glorious grace in their salvation. and that there is
no boast in them except that Christ in His mercy and God in
His high kind affection snatched them out of darkness and brought
them into the wonderful light of His Son. And we like to say,
but what about the fairness thing? Don't question perfect fair.
You know what Dr. Wilson's face said that time
at the conference? Fair does not question perfect. Deuteronomy
29, 29 says, there are ways that are known to the Lord God alone.
That's a paraphrase. And they're not for us to know.
We don't know why God did what He did except that He's worthy
and do all praise and glory and honor and wealth and majesty.
And that we as His people who have been given a new heart,
a new mind, and an eyes to see are not drone robots that go
around just worshiping out of a programming. But we really
do hold Christ as our highest treasure and the affection of
every fiber of our existence. And that is a miracle of God
who has given us a new life, a new creation, made us something
new in Jesus Christ. And so God created the world
and everything in it in order that He might be praised for
His glory through the redeeming of a people for Himself that
He made. That's it. And so in this same picture now,
this seventh angel is doing something. We saw other angels blowing trumpets.
We saw another angel. What was he doing? He was receiving
the prayers of the saints and the incense under the altar and
carrying them out in the smoke and swirling them around. The
smoke of the incense and the prayers of the saints went to
the ears of God. It shows us, remember what I
taught you about what that's supposed to... and depict that there is
work involved in the intercession of prayer and that heaven is
full right now of God listening to the prayers of His people
and that God's messengers. Now we know God can hear all
things, but quit looking at God as a man sitting behind a desk
doing a job. Think about God as He is. Unknowable,
unseeable, unfathomable. He is ineffable. He cannot be
seen. God cannot be seen. He is Spirit,
but Jesus Christ has made Him known. So in this, we need to
realize that this angel now, all of a sudden, seems a little
bit different. Because in the book of Daniel, chapter 7, the
Son of Man comes on the clouds. Now, all of a sudden, this great,
strong angel, I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,
wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head, and his face was
like the sun, and his legs like pillar of fire. Now, a lot of
commentators believe that it's Jesus Christ. like a theophany
like we see in the Old Testament. The point is it doesn't matter
because a messenger of God is as if God had done it himself,
is it not? It's often like I had a conversation
with a brother years and years ago who would not listen to another
elder sitting at the table with me. And the other elder from
memory was quoting scripture to this brother in the Lord.
And he was quoting scripture and quoting scripture. And every
time the brother would open his mouth, the elder brother would
quote scripture and say, but the Lord says this, but the Lord
says that, but the Lord said this. And this brother, with
all the humility he could try to pull out of his own flesh,
looked at this guy and says, you don't even know me that well.
Who are you to tell me this? And I hung my head and I said,
oh, brother. I said, let me say a couple of things. I said, how
many times have you called me about this pastor that you read
or this pastor that you saw on the news or TV or this pastor
that you listened to on the internet? How many times have you told
me the word of God had come alive to you based on something you
read or heard that was not from anybody who even still lived
in this life, much less knew you? I said, if a cat comes up
and barks out the word of God, you obey it. Because the word
of the living God is the authority, not me. You don't have authority. I don't have authority. This
has authority. God has authority. So, the theological
debate on whether this is God, I mean, whether this is Jesus
Christ or what, it doesn't matter. He comes in the authority of
Christ. And He's doing. What the point is, is we see
that the Son of Man was coming in clouds. This is a picture.
So whether it's Jesus or not, which I happen to think that
it doesn't really matter, because we see this angel and we also
see the one who is seated. But does it matter? Quit trying
to figure out, oh, who is this and what is it and when is it
coming? That's not the point. It wasn't written for that purpose.
The purpose it was written for is that now this is an authoritative
thing that's about to take place. this loud voice like lions, this
strong angel with a rainbow over his head coming to the clouds.
In Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 26 through 28, we see this same
imagery of the glory of God as described as a rainbow. as the
prism of light and different colors. And so here we see the
strong angel coming in the cloud like the Son of Man was depicted
in Daniel. And with the glory of God in
appearance like it was depicted in the prophet Ezekiel. And in
Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 and verse 13 of chapter 1 and verse
15, 16, 17, somewhere down in there, there's also an allusion
there about being like the sun and pillars of fire. This appears,
even based on what we see in the book of Revelation, as if
it is Christ. And here's why we believe that.
Even if it's not Christ, it doesn't matter because this messenger
comes in the authority of Christ and we see how. He's a strong
angel, a mighty angel, another angel that's mighty coming down
from heaven, wrapped in a cloud with this glory of God around
his head. His face was like the sun, his
legs like pillar of fire, and he had a scroll. But what about
his feet? In chapter 5, the angel had a
scroll, or Jesus had a scroll, or God on the throne had a scroll. And this scroll had the judgments
of wrath and the judgments of redemption in it. And remember
John wept, because he said, Who is there worthy to take and open
the scroll and exercise the authority of giving the decrees of that
which is written within it? Who is there? And the angel of
the Lord said, Do not weep, for there is one, and here he is.
He's the Lamb. And I looked, and I saw the one that was like
a lamb that had been slain. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy, worthy,
worthy. Holy, holy, holy. You see this
coming together now? Does it just give you chills
in your soul to see the picture that these suffering Christians
all of a sudden started to see unfold in their spiritual minds?
Where there is a mighty God who has set everything that they're
experiencing in motion before the world began, and He is sovereign
over it, and He's supreme over it, and all the aspects of everything
that they've ever experienced is in the presence of God under
His command and it is for their good and for their joy and that
God is victorious over all of it. In these things we see this
voice of this One and His feet and His Word and these pictures
that come. Listen to these pictures. He
stands with one foot on the land and with one foot on the sea.
This afternoon at our homeschool association, there was a big
mud puddle that looked like a footprint. And as we were leaving, I said,
hey guys, look at the mud puddle. And I was thinking the kids were
gonna like get in it and all the parents were gonna be really
upset, but they were like, a giant has stepped up here. And I remember
being a kid and I remember always considering myself a giant after
the roads were plowed. Jim, you probably did this as
a kid. Playing in the dirt after the harvest was over and they
harrowed the fields. And it's like little mountains,
little valleys, little streams. And you're this big giant. You
could destroy it all. You could pick up this mountain
and smash this mountain. And then when Star Wars came
out with little figures and G.I. Joe came out with them, you'd
add them to the scene. And buddy, you were God Almighty
in comparison to those little old men. And my first G.I. Joe's were these little plastic
guys whose feet were stuck together with little cutouts. You know
what I'm talking about? And they had the one guy like
this. I don't know what he... You know that guy? What's he
doing? I don't know what that is. I think he's stabbing somebody
with a bat. Anyway, and they turn it into
like a cane, I guess, later because it's sort of graphic. But man,
they fit perfect in the scenery of sovereignty when I was the
giant ruling the world. And if I needed a higher mountain,
I'd move the dirt right with my hands. I don't do that kind
of stuff anymore. But here is this angel with authority over
all things. He's standing upon the earth
with all authority. He rules the sea and he rules
the land. He stands upon it. This picture
of having something under your feet in Ephesians chapter 1 verse
10, it teaches that Jesus is the one who will put all things
under his feet. That God will put all things
under the feet of Christ. It is a sign of victory and a
sign of supreme rule. And here's this image of Jesus
Christ, of this angel of Christ, that has the authority of God,
and now this person, or this being, who is about to say some
things to John, has all authority over heaven, all authority over
earth, all authority over the water, and the land, and everything,
and he speaks. He speaks, but his voice is like
that of a lion. Have you ever heard a lion roar
in presence? I mean, really, it will shudder
your body. It will scare you. It is a horrifying
thing. I don't ever want to be near
a lion. But one time at a zoo in Orlando
in 1990, a lion roared not 12 feet from me. I had to go compose
myself. I'm not kidding. It shocked me
to the core of my soul. It was a most horrifying, most
graphic experience of power and threat that I have ever sat under.
You ever seen a dog growl and bark and be really awful? A dog
sounds like a chihuahua with helium in its lungs compared
to the roar of a lion. And something about lions too,
if you don't know this, they don't just roar. They don't just
roar for the fun of it. When a lion roars, a lion is
already committed to the pounce. When a lion roars, it is a shock
factor. It's like going, hey, wake up!
Just like that. Like if you're in a crowd and
you say, hey! Everybody stops and looks. When a lion roars,
its prey stands in fear and it kills it. I mean, it's just,
it's an amazing beast. The voice of this angel is like
that of a lion. And when it roars, Nothing can
hide from it. We've already seen that picture,
haven't we? We've already seen that picture over in chapter
6 and 7 and 8, where people would beg to die, where people would
beg to be hidden from the wrath of God and it cannot. Here is
this angel with the voice of a lion, roaring. When a lion
is roaring, it is already moving, it is already running, it is
already in the attack. It is already charged and has
made known its intent to kill. and it subdues its prey and nothing
can stop it. This word that is spoken by this
mighty angel is an incredible word. Now the crazy thing is
that he's got a scroll in his hands and before he gives the
scroll to John, he speaks a word about it. He speaks another word
and this word is like this lion. What was John experiencing that
moment? You have to bear with me, but
I'm a poet at heart. Very sensitive. I imagine what
John experienced this moment was in stark contrast to what
he experienced at the cross of Jesus. Think about it for a second. Think about it for a second.
Here is this lion, here is Jesus, roaring. The last time he saw
Jesus, Jesus was dying. Well, not really. Ascending.
But that time at the cross, I'm giving this comparison. That
which we know, that which we have touched, that which we have
seen with our eyes and touched with our hands concerning the
eternal life which was manifest to us and now we make known to
you, this eternal life, this Lamb of God is now the Lion of
Judah. This Lamb that has died and been
raised to life has now the king. This shudder that John experienced,
the only explanation that his writing could explain is it said
that it was like thunder. Seven thunders. Seven thunders. I've never experienced
personal weather, wind. I've been in tornadoes before,
they're over quickly. But the pressing consistency
of the 40 mile an hour winds that we experienced with Matthew
has messed me up. It really has. I didn't know
it until last night. Because when the storm came up,
I found myself afraid. because every bit of the feeling,
all of the tension that I dealt with for those eight hours, nine
hours, waiting for the dawn to come. Talk about morning has
broken. I sang that song when I... It all came back. When that thunderstorm
hit last night, I'm like, wow, what has that done to me? Imagine
the roaring of the wind of the judgment of God. Just think about it for a minute.
Think about what it must be like to be defined as thunder. What
thunder must be like? It's nothing compared to the
judgment of God. God is now speaking something
and He says it is as seven thunders. What has He told John? We don't
know. Because He forbid him to write
it down. But it wasn't pleasantries. It didn't say, like a harp of
David. It didn't say, like the breeze of the seashore. It said,
like a roaring lion and thunder. I believe it was horrid. I believe
John was shown what was to come in a small picture. This is speculation.
It's not speculation that it was a hard thing, but it is speculation
that maybe John was given a glimpse of judgment. What it was like for Christ to
hang on that cross. But whatever it was, just think
about that. But whatever it was, we see it
in seven thunders. Why seven? It's finished. It's complete. It's done. It's
over. The fullness of all that God
has done is there. John is forbidden to write it
down. Well, where does that fall in
our Scripture? I've already mentioned it. Deuteronomy
29, 29, for the hidden things belong to God and to God alone.
The other part of that verse is, but the things that are given
to you belong to you and your children and your children's
children, generation after generation after generation. We do not know what Jesus has
revealed to John, but we do know that whatever He said has been
said before the last. Whatever He said and whatever
He exposed and whatever He revealed is before the Day of Judgment.
So whatever is taking place, if it was that, whatever needed
to be said, whatever needed to be revealed is certain. before the day of the Lord. Chapter
10, verse 5. It changes gears just a little
bit because now the emphasis is off this angel and now is
put on the scroll and then John, the messenger. So the angel,
who I saw standing on the sea and on the land, raised his right
hand to heaven. You say, oh my goodness, what's
this? Well, God makes oaths. The Holy Spirit is an oath. It's
a sealing. He is a person, but you see what
I mean? We see that symbolically. God has made an oath and sealed
it. God made an oath to Abraham and sealed it. God made an oath
with Adam and Eve and sealed it. God makes oaths. It's not
like we do. I swear to tell the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. But do you know
back in the day if we swore an oath to God we would fear death
if we broke it? Nobody believes that anymore.
It's like in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, slain in the Spirit.
You laughed about that Sunday, didn't you? I don't know who
it was. I mean, they took an oath and they lied
to the Spirit of God and then killed them. Just like many during
the days of Paul and in the first century who in Corinth took the
table of the Lord in an unworthy manner. And then what happened?
God killed them right there. This oath, what is the point
of it? It's just to show us that there's a promise being made
that cannot be revoked. That's the point. He raised his
right hand to heaven swearing an oath, a certain promise, and
he swore by Him who lives forever and ever. And this is where some
people go, this can't be Jesus. Jesus is going to swear by Himself.
Why not? His testimony is true. Didn't the Jews hate him and
didn't call him blasphemous and threatened to arrest him because
he actually swore by his own testimony? He said, how is it
that you can testify to yourself? Because he's truth. He's God. So here it is, God has made a
certain promise of himself in all that he is, who created heaven
and what is in it, and earth and what is in it, and the sea
is what is in it, where he's standing upon authoritatively.
that there would be no more delays. So what's the promise? The promise
is it's all over, John. It's finished. It's finished. And there's nothing left to be.
There's nothing left. The seventh trumpet is about
to blow. And when that takes place, all is done. Everything
is finished. It's seventh. It's done. The
seven thunders that I've shown you shows you the revelation
of the mystery that's been given to you and been given to all
who believe in Christ. It is finished. Judgment has
come and righteousness has been vindicated. That's what this
means. And then verse 7, it keeps on.
Now we can go through a lot of Paul's writings, and I hope that
you thought about Paul's writings when you heard the mystery of God.
What is the mystery of God? The mystery of God hidden. for years and from all generations.
Now what? Revealed is who? Jesus Christ. What is the point of the mystery
of God is Jesus Christ. He is the Savior who came to
seek and save the lost. So the mystery of God is the
salvation of His elect through the person of Jesus Christ by
grace. That's it. It's not hidden from
us. He's not saying it's a new mystery.
It is the mystery of God come to completion. This mystery of
redemption is going to be complete. It is still a mystery to unbelievers
and even us as believers who have understanding of the good
news of Jesus. It is still a mystery to some
degree in that we don't know all the answers of how God saves. And we don't know all the wisdom
of God and why He chose. I just like to say God doesn't
choose to do anything. He just does that which is perfect.
Which He has decreed. I know that's a play on words. The submission of Christ Is the
day, when the day of the Lord, His mystery is revealed, He will
have His own and they will be like Him and we will see Him
face to face? These things are in motion. These
things are on the way. And the day of Jesus is the only
thing left. The day of judgment is the only
thing left. And we do not shirk back at the
arriving of Jesus, as John would say, but what? We go bold before
the throne of grace, as the writer of Hebrew would say, and we continue
to look joyfully for the coming of our Lord Jesus because it
is our final hope. It is the culmination of our
redemption. Redemption is not just salvation
from sin. Redemption is not just endurance
in the midst of this life. Redemption is not just knowing
we have a better and abiding place after we die. Redemption
is finished and completed when we are brought back to life and
we sit with Christ and His vindicated righteousness forever celebrating
His worth and His glory and His beauty and His honor. That's
what it is. That's the mystery finished.
and nothing is left. The end. Jesus wins. That's the point. Verse 8, Then the voice that
I heard from heaven spoke to me again saying, go take the
scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who's standing on
the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and told
him to give me the scroll and he said, take it and eat it.
It will make your stomach bitter and your mouth will be sweet
as honey. And I took it and I ate it and my mouth was sweet and
my stomach was made bitter. Now let's look at this and then
it'll be all we can do today. What's the point of this? Oh,
I've heard all sorts of stuff. And God in His infinite grace,
y'all, I just wanna say, God in His infinite grace has been
able to allow me to forget so many things that was wrong. After
God took my mind from me and put me in a place where my depression
took all sense of reality, it did. It was a bad, dark place.
I'm no longer cognitively astute. It comes and goes. Scatterbrain
is what they call it. But the beautiful thing is that
I can look at the Word of God without bigotry. I can look at
the Word of God now without remembering all the academic endeavors that
I poured into it through all those years prior. But I'm going
oh, yeah, that's that and that's that this is that I can look
at the Word of God now and read it and see it and it's just it's
a beautiful thing even if I don't understand it I can get the essence
of reading something like this And I've learned to stop reading
a study Bible. I've learned to stop reading a Bible with footnotes
I've learned to start reading a Bible even at home when I read
I read a Bible that even need numbers in it And it's a beautiful thing because
I don't look at this and think about all those things that I
was taught. What is the bittersweet scroll? What is that? Oh, is
that this? Or is this that person? Is that the word of the Antichrist?
I mean, no. What else in Scripture has taught
us about eating a scroll and our mouths being sweet and our
stomachs made bitter? I'm glad you asked. It is the Word of
the Lord. That's what this is. It's the Scripture. It's this
right here. It's the promises of God. It's the revelation of
God to man. And who is John to take it? He's already taken it. In Psalm 119, verse 103, it says,
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to
my mouth. Is the Word of God sweet? Absolutely. And friends, let me tell you,
you hear me say this and I will never stop saying this. I will
never back down on asking the Lord to keep in remembrance the
times when I hated His Word as a pastor. You know why I hated
His Word? Because it wasn't sweet. Because sometimes when we eat
the Word of God, it's bitter. And as a shepherd, as an under-shepherd,
the Word is often bitter. There's no place in playing,
there's no place in the history of this world where playing oratory
is right. What you mean by that? There's
a lot of the things I can get paid, and I'm saying that, and
I said, to be a motivational speaker before. I could sell
pills and fans and dog leashes. I get me like Billy Bob doohickey
on the, you know. Anybody that can speak well can
do something. And I'll never forget taking
one of my first homiletics class, that's a preaching class. And
being told, you use your hands too much, you close your eyes
too much, you move too much, because I used to move a lot.
I used to walk like this, and I tried my earpiece again and
it still made whale noises, so I'm going to have to send it
back to the company, I guess. You don't use enough stories.
You don't use enough jokes. You don't do this. You don't
give this. You don't do that." And I'm like, I don't care about
that. Are you a little aggressive? Well, people are going to hell. And Christians are robbed of
their joy every day. Is that something we can fake?
Can we fake that like it doesn't bother us in our soul? Can we
stand up here and look out upon 90 souls and say, oh, you know,
this is just such a pleasant day, let me just be pleasant.
And the Spirit of God give you understanding that the look on
that face is not a look of, man, that pizza from last night is
causing my stomach to turn. My life is in hell right now.
We can see that. I can see that. You can't wear
I mean, how many else, how many else, how many body else just
here can tell when something's wrong with somebody? Yeah. Especially
faces you look at all the time. I look at your faces all the
time. I look at your face more than you do. If you stare two
hours a week at your face in the mirror, get something else
to do. What's the point? The point is
the Word of God is often bitter to me. It's often bitter to me. Because when I see the sweetness
of it and then I see the implications that I'm about to teach, first
in my own life it can become bitter because I know, I know
that as I step ahead of you by half a second, that God has to
do a work in me as He also has to do a work in you. And that's also bitter knowing
that sometimes the sweetness of what I'm about to teach is
not going to fall on ears that can hear and that hurts my stomach. It hurts my stomach. The word
for hypocrite in the Greek, the English translation is actor. And when we can stand rigid and
simply read something in God's word and nobody's face comes
to our mind, nobody's lives are swirling into our consciousness,
We're not praying under our breath while by the Spirit's power we're
preaching out. Something is gravely disconnected
with life and with God. The Word of God is bitter. One of the worst things that
ever happened to our world is seminaries. Worst. Here I am trying to start
one. And I can promise you this, men
who learn, who don't have a heart for those
he teaches should never teach. And if that ever happens to me,
I pray God would kill me on the spot. The Word of God is bitter,
because if it is not received, it brings judgment. And sometimes
even when it is received, like Isaiah 6, what did Isaiah feel? Hey, Isaiah, look at this garbage
of a people. Oh, woe is me, that's Isaiah.
I'm a man of unclean lips amongst a people. He didn't say, look
at them, I see them. Well, I tell you, he goes, oh
my God, I'm in there. That's me. What am I gonna do? Send somebody, please, so that
we don't all die. And that's bitter. That's not...
I'll tell you what, I am condemned. Look at my heart. I'm just an
idolater. I mean, you can't... Let's go have some tea. You don't
eat when God deals with you. You don't have to prepare to
fast. God calls you to fast when it's time to fast. Because you
don't want to eat. It's like just walking down the
street going, I want a root canal and going into a dental office.
No! You plan that thing and push it off for years. Where did my
teeth go? Isaiah 6. Oh, woe is me! I'm a man of unclean lips amongst
a people of unclean lips. Touch my lips, purify them, make
me whole. Oh, who shall I send? Isaiah. Send me. Let me go. Why did he
want to preach to them? Because God had said he was going
to destroy them. God had said He was going to
bring judgment upon them and bring recompense of His righteousness
upon their head. And Isaiah said, Oh, please,
God, I love them. Please don't bring this on them.
And God says, fine, go preach, but I will not let my message
be heard. Go preach. But I will close their
ears, I will blind their eyes, I will dumb their heads, I will
not let them hear, I will not let them see, lest they repent,
and I save them from their sins. And Jesus Christ, the righteous,
said those same things in the presence of the Pharisees in
John chapter 12, when He said, The words of Isaiah have been
fulfilled in your hearing this day, when He said, You will see
but not perceive, you will hear but not understand, I will not
let you be saved. That's bitter. That's bitter. It's easy when you're in the
church growth movement. It's easy when you're in the
feel-good and the necessity movement. It's easy when you take the Bible
and you turn it into a leadership garbage can and you sell it out
like it's some kind of fun club. It's easy. Well, gentlemen, you
know, you just need to love your wife and smile. Smiling goes
a long way by because God loves a cheerful. It doesn't work if I say the
rest of the sentence. A cheerful. And women, just smile back. Let's go home. Oh, you want to
get saved? There's a bag up here. Come get it. Or check an A on
the card. Or, wait a minute, magic words.
Abracadabra. Close your eyes. Repeat after
me. Now you're saved. Stand up if you said it. Did
you mean it? Did you mean it? Did you mean it? All right. You're saved.
You're saved. You're saved. Come on now. Johnny, Johnny, Johnny.
You know you want to. Yeah! He's saved. Give him a
hand, y'all. Be proud of Johnny. He got saved. It's easy to act. That, because you really believe
that that's what affects it. It don't matter what you say
up here, what you say about this. If you can just get people to follow
the motions that you've been taught to follow, sign on the dotted
line, do the right thing, then they're okay. When God's Word
shows you the bitterness of judgment and that not everybody's going
to hear it, let me tell you something, you labor in prayer so deeply
that you pray that God would put you in hell so that other
people could get saved. I'm not kidding. That is not
fun. That is not fun. And it looks
like anger sometimes. But you know what? Get over it.
Get over it. If you were on fire, hey man,
when you get a minute, I'd love to talk to you. What's going
on? We'll talk. Just a minute. Just
a minute. Hold on a minute. Hey, can you get us something
to drink? I'd love to... Hey, can you... You're on fire, dude. What? You're consumed. No, if
you're on fire, hey, you're on fire! Oh my God, he's on fire!
Look, he's on fire! Who, who? It's more important that people
hear the Word of God than if they were burning. It's bitter. Ezekiel 2, But you, son of man,
hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious
house. Open your mouth and eat what
I give you. And when I looked, behold, a
hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of the book
was in it, and he spread it open before me, and it had writing
on the front and on the back, and there were words on it of
lamentation, and mourning, and woe. And he said to me, O son
of man, eat whatever you find here, eat this scroll, and go.
speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he
gave me the scroll. And he said to me, Son of man,
feed your belly with the scroll that I give you, and fill your
stomach with it. Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth, and it
was sweet as honey. And he said to me, Son of man, go to the
house of Israel, speak with my words to them. For you are not
sent to a people of foreign speech and hard language, but to those
of Israel, not to many peoples of foreign speech, whose words
you cannot understand. Surely if I send you To such
they will listen to you, but the house of Israel will not
be willing to hear you, for they will not be willing to listen
to me, because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead
and a stubborn heart. Behold, I have made your face
as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads,
like Emery harder than Flint. I have made your forehead. Fear
them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are rebellious
house. Moreover, he said to me, Son of man, all my words that
I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with
your ears, and go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to
them, saying to them, Thus says the Lord, whether they hear or
refuse to hear. And I was told you must again
prophesy about many peoples, and nations, and languages, and
kings." That's verse 11 of chapter 10. What is God doing to John? He said, go preach. Go preach. Your apostolic role is not over.
I've finished the work already and there's a day coming when
I will sound that final trumpet and there will be victory. But
until that day, oh dear God, John, with my words in your mouth
that are sweet, go preach. But with my words in your stomach,
see the bitterness of them. The fruit of the Word of God
is sweet. Because through the Word of God
preached to the mouth of mere men, God brings alive those who
are dead in darkness. But the fruit of the Word of
God is often bitter. Because even when the sweetness
of grace comes out of our mouths to the lives of others, they
hear it and they go, I hate it, and they spit it back to the
ground. And that's bitter. God brings life to men, that's
sweet. Men refuse the life of God, that's bitter. In John 3,
this is clearly displayed. Clearly displayed. For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. But all who do not believe on
the Son are condemned already." Folks, that's sweet and bitter
in the same breath. That's sweet and bitter in the same breath.
My prayer is that the Word of God would truly be sweet and
bitter in you. It's bitter when it breaks us. It's sweet. is
sweet when it comes and encourages us, and then bitter knowing that
other people are not going to receive it. Friends, that's what
the Scripture is teaching us here. John, your apostolic authority
is not over. It will continue until I return.
What? How is John's apostolic authority
going to continue until Jesus... Where is John? It's right here. John's writing is right here. John's... Letter is right here. His authority is right here. And John came by the authority
of Christ. Remember what I said when I started?
The authority of God's Word is the authority. God is the authority
through His Word. Daily they devoted themselves
to the what? Prayer. Breaking of bread. The fellowship. And there's one that starts with
it, but I didn't say it. And to the apostles' teaching. Friends,
life is in the words of Christ. And here in this sense, John's
book is showing us that there is hope still. There's still
hope. Friends, we can see people come
to faith and be sealed by Christ. We can see the hardest, hardest
person be broken. We can see the most self-righteous
individual Be humbled. And when the Word of God is so
bitter in me that I feel like I must produce the change, that
is an encouragement to me. That God's Word will do it. No
matter how I present it. no matter what mood I'm in, no
matter how prepared or unprepared it may be. God will bring to
life through His Word and it will not be wasted. It will not
return void. It will do that which it was
intended to do. My prayer for all of you tonight
is that God would give you peace in the midst of suffering, endurance
in the midst of doubt, and He would give you life in the midst
of unbelief. Because only Jesus Christ is
your life. Nothing else. And there's surely
nothing more. Let's pray. Lord, if it had not been for
Your grace, we would refuse You. We would be just like the rest
of humanity and remained in our death, remained in our condemnation,
remained in our blindness, Thank You, Father, for Your incredible
mercy, for Your deep, rich kindness, for Your ineffable grace, for Your glorious and majestic
goodness. Fill us with all Your fullness
this moment. Empower us to go home and not
waste away the evening, but to invite ourselves into the Word
that You've prepared for us. That it would be bittersweet
in each of us, as it would be bittersweet in the lives of those
around us. Reminding us of what could be, but revealing to us
of what now is. That Jesus is our propitiation,
our sanctification, our wisdom, our righteousness, our life,
and our God. In His name we pray, Amen.