"Through the Curtain" Sermon: Hebrews 10:19-25 (video) (youtube.com)
Saturday, March 30, 2024
"Through the Curtain" Sermon: Hebrews 10:19-25 (manuscript)
“Through
the Curtain”
[Hebrews
10:19-25]
April
19, 2019, Second Reformed Church
March
29, 2024 YouTube Second Reformed Chruch
Comedians have pointed out that some of our “Christianese” is not
readily understandable by unbelievers.
For example, if we say, “Have you been washed in the blood?” many people
will be confused about what we mean.
Similarly, we may be confused when the author of Hebrews tells us that
we have been saved through the curtain.
In
chapter ten of the letter to the Hebrews, the author explains that the
sacrificial system has ended because the blood sacrifice of Jesus is once and
perfect and fulfills the whole system.
So no additional sacrifice ever has to be made again. Jesus died a perfect death once, and it was
complete and satisfies everything God requires, so no additional animals should
be sacrificed, and Jesus does not need to be sacrificed again. Therefore, we are saved through the curtain.
Let’s understand this:
First, the curtain symbolized separation from God due to sin.
When
Israel was in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, God
instructed Moses to build a mobile worship building called the Tabernacle. God gave detailed instructions about the size
and materials the Tabernacle was to be built with.
In
the innermost part of the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies. This part of the Tabernacle was the place
where God descended, and it was off limits to everyone, except the high priest
once a year, when he offered up sacrifice on behalf of all of Israel for their
sins on Yom Kippur.
The
Holy of Holies was separated from the next section of the Tabernacle by a
curtain that was fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide. And we read:
“And
you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined
linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall
hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on
four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring
the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate
for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the
ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place” (Exodus 26:31-34, ESV).
This
is the imagery that the author of Hebrews is using in our text – due to our sin
– in the Tabernacle – God instructed that there be a curtain separating God
from humans, because God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. And we understand this spiritually, in the
sacrificial system with its high priest and the other priests through whom
everyone had to go to bring their offerings and sacrifices to God. No one had direct access to God due to sin –
and the curtain symbolized the sin that separates sinners from God.
Second, Jesus’ crucifixion and death tore the curtain open.
Matthew records:
“Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli,
lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And
some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, ‘This man is calling Elijah.’ And one
of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on
a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see
whether Elijah will come to save him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud
voice and yielded up his spirit.
“And
behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the
earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the
tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw
the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly
this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:45-54, ESV).
As
Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies in the
Temple was torn open – from top to bottom – it was torn open from fifteen feet
in the air down. The Holy of Holies was
now open and exposed and anyone whose sins were forgiven could approach God
directly.
Why?
Because, through Jesus’ life, suffering, and death, He credits all those
who will ever believe in Him with His holy life and takes on Himself the debt
for all of our sin – the Wrath of God – and He pays that debt, so all we who
believe are seen as holy, righteous and sinless through Jesus.
It
is through the One Final Sacrifice of Jesus – and the tearing open of His flesh
– that the spiritual curtain that kept us from coming before God and living has
been torn open through His blood.
The
author of Hebrews writes:
“Therefore, brothers,
since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the
new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through
his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,”
Jesus has credited us
with a perfect keeping of God’s Law and He has paid the debt for all of our
sins – (these things we receive through faith) – so now – through His blood –
through His flesh – through His One and Final Sacrifice – as both High Priest and
Sacrifice – we are welcome to enter the holy place – to come into the house of
God and boldly ask of Him as the children of their Father.
Because of Jesus’ life,
suffering, and death, you – if you are a believer in the historical Jesus and
what He did – you are able to come before God and ask Him for your daily needs
and He will give them to you. You can
come before His very presence without fear and worship Him and thank Him and
glorify Him. Because that curtain has
been torn apart – Jesus’ flesh was torn open – for each one who will believe.
Knowing and understand
this, what shall we do?
The author of Hebrews
tells us three things that we ought to do in response to this:
First, let us draw near
to God with full assurance that we are forgiven.
“let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
As we come before God in
worship and in prayer, let us not doubt that Jesus’ work is enough to save
us. Let us not doubt that He has saved
us, as we are assured through our belief in Him and His work in our hearts and
through the confession of that belief with our mouths.
Let us not worry that we
are not good enough to come before the Almighty God, because we’re not! But Jesus is, and He has washed us with His
blood and made us right with God through His work. We have been bought with a price – Who is
Jesus – and we are now His, co-heirs with Him of the Kingdom and the adopted
children of God.
Do you believe that Jesus
is God the Son in the flesh, and He lived and died to make you right with
God? Do you love Jesus? If so, be assured that you are right with
God, you are saved, you can draw near to His Father and our Father and He will
receive you with open arms – just as He does Jesus.
Second, let us hold fast
to our confession.
“Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
The Apostle’s Creed is a
brief summary of the faith – and it contains what we must believe to be
saved. And as we learn more and more
through the reading and preaching of the Word, our confession – the truth that
we known about God and salvation through His Son – grows.
We know Jesus is God the
Only Savior. We know that He has gone to
prepare the Kingdom for us. We know that
He is coming back and will bring us into that Kingdom. That’s our hope – our sure hope – what we
know will happen, though it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t waver!
Turn away for those who teach anything contrary to the clear teaching of
the Scripture – especially about Jesus and His being God the One Savior. Rebuke the devil and he will flee.
And understand that we
are bold in our confession and in our coming before God, our Father, not
because we understand everything or have everything figured out. No, we are bold and sure and confess our
faith without wavering because Jesus is faithful. He is the Good Shepherd Who lay down His life
for His sheep – and He will never – He can never – desert us or fail us. He chose us to be His and we are His forever
– safe in His hands.
And third, let us stir up
love and good works, especially as we worship together.
“And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you
see the Day drawing near.”
One of the things we are
always to be about is increasing love of God and love of neighbor in our
brothers and sisters. It should be a
goal of ours to help our brothers and sisters in Christ love God and neighbor
better. We are to be teaching and
discipling people and praying for their growth in faith and obedience. Let us share with one another the ways in
which we are loving God and neighbor and the ways in which we need help in
loving God and neighbor.
Another thing we are to
do is to encourage one another to do good works – especially in the
church. God has gifted us in many and
varied ways.
Peter writes:
“The end of all things is
at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your
prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a
multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each
has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's
varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves,
as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.” (I Peter 4:7-11, ESV).
Then we are told not to
neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some.
Do you know what that
means? It means some Christians think
public worship – gathering together whenever we gather for worship – is
optional. Now, there are emergencies. We do get sick from time to time. Some people must work a job that keeps them
from normal worship. But it is not
normally right to skip worship because you have a busy life or want to do
something else. Understand, this is
between you and God.
It is when we gather
together in worship Paul says, that we are “[equipped] for the work of
ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be
children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole
body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when
each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up
in love” (Ephesians 4:12b-16, ESV).
When we gather together
as the church – as God commands – we are equipped and strengthened and matured.
More on that another
time.
Sin makes us unable to be
right with God. The curtain separating
the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle and Temple was a constant
reminder that God is holy and we are not.
But the curtain was torn open as Jesus’ body was savaged and He was
crucified – as He screamed out in the horror of being separated from His
Father. This He did to make us right
with God – so we could pass through the curtain into the throne room of God.
And now we can enter
boldly with full assurance of our salvation, confess the truths of the faith
without wavering – for God is with us, and we gather together as the people of
God to stir up our love – to obey God through faith, to encourage each other to
do the good works God has set before us.
And as we worship together and stir each other up and encourage one
another as the Church – God matures us and makes us ready to be His people
every day.
We live in a time when
even Christians do these things less and less.
But the author of Hebrews tells us to do these things more and more,
because Jesus is returning – the Day of Judgment is near – even more near than
it was two thousand years ago.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, on this
Good Friday, we remember the physical torment Your Son went through to make us
right with You. We thank You for this
great and final sacrifice, and ask that You would send the Holy Spirit in fuller
measure, that our hearts and minds would be sharply pricked, and we would obey
You in all that You have commanded, because the Day is near. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
"The Lord's Supper" Sermon: I Corinthians 11:23-26 (manuscript)
“The
Lord’s Supper”
[1
Corinthians 11:23-26]
April
18, 2019, Second Reformed Church
March
28, 2024, YouTube, Second Reformed Church
We
turn to a familiar passage this Maundy Thursday – the institution of the Lord’s
Supper – words that we hear every Sunday in this church. Let’s consider for a few moments what the
Lord’s Supper is.
First,
the Lord’s Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal.
We
read in the Gospel of Mark:
“And
on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
his disciples said to him, ‘Where will you have us go and prepare for you to
eat the Passover?’ And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into
the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and
wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, “The Teacher says, Where is
my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” And he will
show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.’ And the
disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them,
and they prepared the Passover” (Mark 14:12-16, ESV).
It was that Thursday night before
Easter – the day before the crucifixion – that Jesus and His disciples gather
in the upper room to celebrate the Passover with Him. It was the first day of Unleavened Bread –
the first day of the Passover – in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt when
Israel prepared bread quickly for her escape – without leaven to make it rise –
that they gathered together – after Jesus gives the disciples instructions not
unlike the instructions that He gave them prior to the Triumphal Entry.
Then Jesus turns to the elements of
the Passover – the lamb, the cup of wine, and the matzo. Jesus does not say anything about the lamb at
this point, but the bread He calls His body and the cup He calls the new
covenant in His blood. And so, Jesus
tells them that, as they celebrate in the future, they do so seeing the
elements of remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt as the elements of
their deliverance by Jesus in the new covenant.
Whereas they understood the bread and the cup as looking back to the
time when they had to move quickly in the escape won by God from the Egyptians,
now they would receive the bread and the cup remembering that the body and
blood of Jesus join us together in the new covenant and delivers us in another
way.
Second, the Passover represents the
reality of our move from darkness into light.
Moses
spoke to Israel about the Passover:
“You
shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And
when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you
shall keep this service. And when your
children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is
the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the
people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’
And the people bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 12:24-27, ESV).
Notice, God instructs Israel
through Moses that this will be an eternal rite – an eternal sacrament – for
all of Israel. And that when the
children – who did not suffer in Egypt or go through the wilderness, but were
born in the Promised Land, ask what the sacrament means – forever and ever –
Israel shall answer, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed
over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians
but spared our houses.”
The Lord did not just pass over the
houses of those who left Egypt, or the parents of the children born in the
Promised Land, but of everyone of Israel for whom the deliverance is given.
How are we to understand this
deliverance applied to those over three thousand years ago and as a member of
the Israel of God today?
Paul writes, “And so, from the day
we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled
with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious
might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He
has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom
of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
(Colossians 1:9-14, ESV).
In a parallel way to God delivering
Israel from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land – which is received by all
true Israel, so God has delivered all those who will ever believe in Jesus from
slavery to sin in the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Beloved Son,
in Whom we are redeemed to God and forgiven for all of our sins by God.
Third, Jesus is the Passover Lamb.
In the history of the Exodus, we
read:
“Then
Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go and select lambs
for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a
bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the
lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you
shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass
through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and
on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to enter your houses to strike you’” (Exodus 12:21-23, ESV).
Paul
tells us, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really
are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I
Corinthians 5:7, ESV).
Using
the Passover imagery of unleavened bread and the Passover lamb, Paul tells us
that Jesus is, Himself, the Passover Lamb, Who was slaughtered to saved us and
deliver us from our slavery to sin, and from being condemned to eternal
suffering, even as His blood covers us, as the lamb’s blood covered the lintels
and doorposts of Israel in Egypt.
The
author of Hebrews also explains, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in
festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in
heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made
perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24,
ESV).
So, Jesus takes the place
of the Passover Lamb in being sacrificed for us and it is through the sprinkled
blood – now not just over the door, but over us – that we are cleansed and
delivered.
And
we quickly consider the question, then, if we are eating the bread and drinking
the cup, are we eating and drinking Jesus?
A number of traditions say “yes” based on Jesus saying, “This is my
body.”
Here’s
the problem – and the reason we answer “no” – Jesus has a completely human
body. In order for Jesus’ body to be
literally eaten for two thousand years, His body could not be that of a real
human being, His body would have to be superhuman or divinized, which would
mean we do not have a human representative before God on our behalf. And we must have a real human being
representing us before God, because only a real human being can take the place
of a real human being as Jesus did for us in keeping the Law and paying our
debt for sin.
What,
then, do we understand about the Lord’s Supper?
Paul
explains to the Corinthians, “For I received from the Lord what I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took
bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body,
which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took
the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat
this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”
Paul
tells us that as we receive the Lord’s Supper, three things occur:
We
remember. We remember that God sent His
Son to become a human to live a perfect life under the Law of God and then die
taking on the sins of everyone who will ever believe in Him. We remember that something historical
happened. And it is that historical
event, concerning a historical Person, through Whom we receive salvation.
We
commune. We commune with Jesus
spiritually as those who have become members of the new covenant through
Jesus. He lived for us and lives in us
and sends (with God the Father) God the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us
and change us, transforming us into to Image of Jesus that we will perfectly
bear when we are glorified and received into the Kingdom.
Therefore,
we hope. We hope as we receive the
elements – proclaiming the Gospel – this historical thing that God the Son did,
Incarnate in the person of Jesus, through Whom we now live and hope for the
coming Kingdom – the banishment of sin and death and the devil, and the
reconciliation of the Creation and each one who ever believes, that we will
assuredly enter a Kingdom far greater than the Garden of Eden because sin is
excluded. We will walk with God in the
world and have joy inexpressible.
And
so, the Lord’s Supper is not an “add-on” to the worship service, but the
fulfillment of the Passover, a visual representation of the Gospel – our moving
from slavery in the kingdom of sin to the Kingdom of God’s Beloved Son, and the
understanding of Jesus as our Passover Lamb.
Let
us remember, and commune, and have hope with all assurance through this
sacrament that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, help us to receive the elements of the Lord’s Supper. Keep us from considering it a snack or an
“add-on” to worship. Help us to see the
importance of its place by the Word and in our worship. Grant us fuller assurance of salvation as we
receive the bread and the cup. For it is
in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
"Has to Be" Sermon: Luke 19:28-40 (manuscript)
“Has
to Be”
[Luke
19:28-40]
April
14, 2019 Second Reformed Church
March
24, 2024 YouTube
Jesus was thirty years old when He
left His father’s carpentry shop and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by
His cousin, John. From there, He spent
three years teaching people all around His homeland – explaining what God has
truly said, and when John the Baptist asked if Jesus is the promised Savior,
Jesus said, “And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and
heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to
them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me’” (Luke 7:22-23, ESV).
Just before this, we read, “And
[Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom,
he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.’
“’And he rolled up the scroll and
gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “’“Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”’” (Luke 4: 16-21, ESV).
If Jesus is God the Savior, then it
has to be true that Jesus fulfills all of the prophecies about the promised
Savior. If Jesus does not fulfill all of
the prophesies or does something against one of the prophecies, then He cannot
be the Savior.
The first text is from Isaiah 29
and 35. The second text is from Isaiah
61. Jesus tells the crowd and John’s
disciples, “I have fulfilled this prophecy – this text – which has to be
fulfilled by the Savior; Yes, I am the Savior.”
Three
years later, we have this morning’s text, and we see:
First,
Jesus has to ride into Jerusalem on a colt.
“And
when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he
drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent
two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village in front of you, where on
entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it
and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you shall say
this: “The Lord has need of it.”’” So those who were sent went away and found
it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said
to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ And they said, ‘The Lord has need of
it.’ And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they
set Jesus on it.”
Why?
Jesus
walked here there and everywhere, around and around Israel, and now that He’s a
mile and a half outside of Jerusalem, He says, “No further. I want to ride a colt for the rest of the
trip. Go into town and take one and just
say ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Why?
Because
it has to be.
Zechariah
prophecies, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation
is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”
(Zechariah 9:9, ESV).
It
is prophesied that the Savior will come into Jerusalem in this way. The Savior will ride a colt into Jerusalem as
a sign that this is the Savior God sent.
And so, just as He was born in a borrowed bed, He rode into Jerusalem on
a borrowed colt. And the biblically
literate world in which He lived knew He was telling them – in this act – that
He is God the Savior.
Some
of the people understood what Jesus was doing and cried out.
Second, Jesus has to be praised as
God and King.
“And
as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing
near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his
disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty
works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”
Many
in the crowd cry out, and what they cry out is not accidental. They understand Jesus’ fulfillment of the
prophecy of Zechariah, and thy respond by quoting prophecy.
Psalm
118 ends:
“Save
us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the
LORD.
“The
LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal
sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
“You
are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh
give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures
forever!” (Psalm 118:25-29, ESV).
“Hosanna,”
as we read in the other gospels, means, “Save us, we pray.”
Knowing that what they
say is from this Psalm, and this Psalm is directed towards God and God Alone,
we can conclude that these people recognized – on some level, anyway, that
Jesus is God the Savior. It is unlikely
that they understood the fullness of what this means – even the apostles didn’t
understand until after the resurrection.
Third,
Jesus has to receive the crowd’s praise.
“And
some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your
disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones
would cry out.’”
Some
of Pharisees aren’t upset because what the crowd was saying is untrue – some of
them don’t care whether it is true or not.
The issue for them is that Jesus’ popularity with the people is taking
power and authority away from them because the people are looking to Jesus for
His interpretation – His teaching on the Law and the Prophets, and they are
questioning what the Pharisees are teaching.
Others
of the Pharisees are upset because they don’t believe it is true – which is why
the word “rebuke” is used. These people
were calling Jesus God, and that is blasphemy (if it isn’t true), so they
called on Jesus to rebuke them – to deny that He is God.
But
Jesus tells them it has to be – they know that He is God and Savior, so they
have to call out and praise Him and ask for His salvation. Even so, if they were silenced – the stones
on the ground would cry out.
What?
Jesus
wasn’t saying that the actual rocks would cry out praising Him and identifying
Him as God the Savior, is He?
Maybe
He meant that the most stubborn of His disciples would refuse to stop praising
Him. Maybe He meant that the lowest of
the low would not listen to any authority, but would continue to cry out what
they had heard.
Or,
maybe Jesus meant the rocks would cry out…
The
Psalmist tells us it is the right duty of all creation, not just humans, to
praise God for Who He is.
“Praise
the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
“Praise
him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!
“Praise him, sun and moon, praise
him, all you shining stars!
“Praise
him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
“Let
them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.
“And
he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass
away.
“Praise the LORD from the earth, you
great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, “snow and mist, stormy wind
fulfilling his word!
“Mountains and all hills, fruit trees
and all cedars!
“Beasts
and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds!
“Kings
of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
“Young
men and maidens together, old men and children!
“Let them praise the name of the
LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is “above earth and heaven.
“He
has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people
of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 148:1-14, ESV).
All
of Creation praises the Lord. All of
Creation glorifies God. All of Creation
shows God to be Who He is and He will be praised for Who He is and what He has
done. The Creation recognizes Jesus for
Who He is. So, He has to be praised.
When
Jesus was crucified, the sun went dark, the earth quaked, rocks split, and many
of the dead saints were raised and came into the city – why do we doubt that
the stones on the road to Jerusalem would not cry out that this is Jesus, God
in the flesh, the promised Savior?
In
order for Jesus to be our Savior, everything that is prophesied about Him had
to come to pass. It has to be.
If
we believe the Bible is the Word of God, it has to be.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God. You have given us Your Word and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, and
we ask that we would read Your Word and hear Your Word and receive Your Word as
the Holy Spirit helps us – that we would respond rightly, with joy, in
obedience, and to Your Glory. In Jesus’
Name, Amen.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
"Prayers and Trumpets" Sermon: Revelation 8:1-13 (manuscript)
Prayers
and Trumpets
Revelation
8:1-13
March
17. 2024 YouTube
In chapter seven of the book of Revelation, there is a rest
or an interlude, between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals. During this pause, we saw that the Church
from the Garden through the Great Tribulation is at war with evil, and, as the followers
of Jesus, we suffer tribulation, suffering, of various kinds and degrees until
Jesus returns. The Church is the Church
militant – fighting against the evil in the world until Jesus returns. When He does return, His Wrath is against the
wicked, and He makes the Church, the Church Triumphant – the Church Victorious
– through the Work of Jesus – glorified and brought into the restored Creation.
Remember this is a book of hope and comfort. Despite the truth that there will be
suffering for believers on the earth now, we will be delivered into the Kingdom
of Jesus where there will never be suffering again.
We open chapter eight in silence.
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence
in heaven for about half an hour.”
Silence is normally associated with judgement.
We saw what the Church is now – fighting against evil in
the world, and we saw what the Church will be in the restored Creation –
glorified in the Kingdom with Jesus. We will soon see the judgement of God on
the wicked of the earth. Not the final
judgement, but the judgement that comes as the Church fights against evil in
the Name of Jesus.
And we notice that the seventh seal of the scroll is the
first trumpet. And, Lord willing, we
will see that the seventh trumpet is the first woe. There is an overlapping of
what is being said in these images.
But first, John sees what happens when the saints pray –
when believers – the Church – prays.
“Then
I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to
them.”
We
have seen that the number seven signifies perfection and completion. What does it mean here? Perhaps seven angels
and seven trumpets.
Who
are the seven angels? We don’t know for
sure, but there is a distinction here between these angels and the other
angels. These may be archangels. Only
two archangels are named in the Bible:
Michael and Gabriel.
Trumpets
are most often understood to signify the call to war against the wicked.
“And
another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was
given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden
altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the
saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”
We
will remember we are told in Revelation 5, “And when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of
the saints” (Revelation 5:8, ESV).
Another
angel, not one of the seven, is given a censer – a device to burn incense – we
may be familiar with the censor used in the Roman Catholic Church in which
incense is burned. And the smoke of the burning incense is or symbolizes the
prayers of the people. The prayers of
the people have a pleasant smell and God receives them – symbolically – through
His nose.
Quickly,
we should ask ourselves, what does prayer do?
Why does God care if we pray?
Does prayer inform God of something He doesn’t know? No, if God is Sovereign, our prayer do not
inform God of anything, nor do they cause God to do anything. So, what is the
point of praying?
We
pray so we will become more alike with the Mind and Will of God. And somehow, God
uses our prayers to carry out His Eternal decrees. Prayer is the means by which God accomplishes
His Purpose on earth. The incense of our prayers is pleasing to God as we pray
what God wants for us and the world.
Do
you pray? Do you thank God for Who He is and what He has done for you? Do you
pray that you would be kept from sin and empowered to do all that God requires
of you? Do you pray for those you love and for those you hate? Consider what
prayer is for, and please God.
As
another angel comes before God and burns the incense, which is the prayers of
the saints, God receives those prayers as a sweet smell and God brings them to
pass as He has willed. If we pray
righteously, God will be delighted in our prayer and answer what we have prayed
– which is according to His Will.
This
other angel is either Christ or a representative of Christ who is given the
right to burn the incense before God. However, we require intercession between
our prayer and God – especially when we don’t know how or what to pray.
If
we want to pray and we know we should pray, but we don’t have the right words
to pray, the Holy Spirit will assist us and make our payers clear and
acceptable to God. Paul writes, “Likewise
the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because
the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans
8:26-27, ESV).
Let
us notice that the angel does not act until the saints pray. The angel waits for the prayers of the saints
before he presents the incense – which are the prayers of the saints – to God. And that may sound obvious – the angel
doesn‘t present our prays to God until we pray.
But it does show that God uses our prayers to accomplish His Will. Not that God cannot act without our praying,
but God chooses to act and accomplish His Will as we pray for what He wants.
When
we pray for the overthrow of the wicked, God will overthrow the wicked
according to the plan He has forever planned.
And so, we read:
This
is the warning of the Wrath of God against the wicked. It is the warning that God is a Holy God and
will not tolerate sin in His Presence.
It must be done away with. It
cannot stand.
The
imagery John is seeing is what was seen in the history of the people of
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. When
they arrived at Mount Sinai for Moses to receive the Ten Commandments, we read:
“On
the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightnings and a thick cloud
on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the
camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and
they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped
in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up
like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the
sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him
in thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And
the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up” (Exodus
19:16-20, ESV).
As
“the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it
on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning,
and an earthquake.”
The angel took the censer that gave forth the aroma of the
prayers of the saints and cast down fire from the altar of incense causing a
reaction like that on Mount Sinai when God came down upon it to tell the wicked
that God is coming with power and wrath against the wicked. The Church of God will be brought into the
Glory of God, but the wicked will suffer at the Hand of God. The prayers of the saints will turn the world
upside down, and God will hear them as they ask for what He desires, and He
will bring it to pass.
It has begun and will continue until the lats day. As we read, “And when they could not find
them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities,
shouting, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of
Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus’” (Acts 17:6-7, ESV).
“Now
the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.”
“The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail
and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third
of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all
green grass was burned up.”
This parallels the seventh plague brought down upon the
Egyptians.
“Then
Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and
hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail upon the land of
Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail,
very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it
became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all
the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of
the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where
the people of Israel were, was there no hail” (Exodus 9:23-26, ESV).
“The
second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning
with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A
third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were
destroyed.”
Of
the first plague, we read:
“Moses
and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight
of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and
all the water in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and
the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile.
There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt (Exodus 7:20-21, ESV).”
“The
third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a
torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The
name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many
people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.”
The
name, “Wormwood,” is interpreted as “bitter,” and here it is of such a
bitterness that it is poisonous.
Jeremiah gives God’s threat of this: “Therefore thus says the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and
give them poisonous water to drink” (Jeremiah 9:15, ESV).
It
can also be associated with the first plague of Egypt when the Nile was poisoned
with dead fish and blood.
“The
fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third
of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be
darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a
third of the night.”
Of
the ninth plague we read:
“Then
the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be
darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.’ So Moses stretched out
his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt
three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place
for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived”
(Exodus 10:21-23, ESV).
Just as Israel who lived in Goshen in Egypt were spared
from the plagues that God brought upon Egypt, God allows us – along with the
wicked – to hear the warnings of the trumpets, but God allows us to go on
through His patience and the Work of His Son – the Gospel. Our great prayer is for the coming of the
Kingdom – that we – through the Holy Spirit – will be victorious over the world
and its evil – and we will according to the promise of God.
“Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud
voice as it flew directly overhead, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the
earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to
blow!’”
The word “eagle” can be translated “vulture.” He flew
directly overhead – viewing those who die as the trumpets are blown. They become carrion – food for the eagle.
We will remember that emphasis is shown through repetition
– three times being the greatest emphasis.
So, the woes about to befall the wicked are the worst that can be imagined.
Remember this is a book of comfort and hope for the
Christians suffering persecution at the time John was writing and throughout
all time and space until Jesus returns.
What we see is that God hears our prayer and causes us to become more
like Him in heart and mind and will through them. God works through our prayers to carry out
His Will for us and against the wicked – those who never believe in Jesus
savingly.
As Christians suffered and suffer at the hands of the wicked,
God tells John and us, that the Church will be delivered into Glory, and the
wicked will suffer a horrible judgment beyond comprehension.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, comfort us that You will deliver us in these
days as You delivered Israel from Egypt and through the Sinai. Strengthen the
hope You assure us of – that You are bringing all of Your people into the
fulness of the Kingdom – though we will suffer for Christ’s sake to one degree
or another. Help us to pray that we
would be more like You. Help us not to
fear but to be in awe of the horror You will bring against the wicked. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
"Militant and Triumphant" Sermon: Revelation 7:1-17 (manuscript)
“Militant
and Triumphant”
Revelation
7:1-17
March
10, 2024 YouTube
Between Jesus opening the sixth and seventh seal, we have the
interlude of chapter seven of the book of Revelation in which we are given a
picture of the Church militant (during the tribulation) and the Church
triumphant (in the Kingdom.)
We begin with the description of the Church militant –
during the tribulation.
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners
of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow
on earth or sea or against any tree.
The number four symbolizes order, stability, and the perfection of Creation. We see there
are four Gospels, four angels (here), the four corners of the earth, the four
winds of the earth – the perfect completion – the entirety of the earth, the entirety
of the wind, the perfect perfection and knowledge of the Gospels – the Good
News of Jesus Christ.
The
four angels are keeping the wind from blowing on the earth. They are holding
back the full Judgment of God. It is not
time for the full Wrath of God to descend upon those who never believe savingly
in Jesus. They are told to wait. Don’t do anything until God says to.
“Then
I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the
living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been
given power to harm earth and sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or
the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’
This
other angel is Jesus. He is the
Sovereign Who has the seal of the living God on Him, Who has Sovereign
Authority over all of the angels. The four angels are told to wait until all of
the servants of God have been sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads.
What
is the seal of God?
Jesus
tells John that the number of the sealed, who, apparently, will escape God’s Wrath
is 144,000. What about those who believe
savingly in Jesus after the 144,000 believe? The Jehovah’s Witnesses take this
number literally and find other places than the Kingdom to store all of those
who believe after the first 144,000.
What
is John told?
“And
I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons
of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.”
The first thing to notice is that the tribes listed are not
the twelve tribes of Israel. A few of
them have been changed out with the names of relatives of the original persons who
made up the actual twelve tribes of Israel.
There are reasons for why this is, but we will not get into that this
morning.
Instead, let us think about the numbers 144,000 and 12,000.
We will remember in chapter four we saw John records there
being twenty-four thrones around the throne of God, and we determined that the
twenty-four thrones are symbolic of the twelve sons of Abraham – the twelve
tribes of Israel – plus the twenty
apostles. Twelve plus twelve equals twenty-four.
If we multiplied the two twelves instead, we get 144.
There is one more step here to understand: this section is
about the Church militant – the Church fighting against the wicked during the
tribulation. What we need to know is –
at that time – a military unit consisted of 1,000 men.
144 times 1,000 equals 144,000.
Take a moment and let that sink in.
The people of John’s day would understand this. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, and any who take
this number literally, are wrong. Taking
the number 144,000 literally just makes no sense. That would be to say there
are only 144,000 people saved by the work of Jesus. No, they would have
understood that Jesus was confirming what Paul wrote:
“But
it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended
from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they
are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This
means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but
the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:6-8, ESV).
The
believers of national Israel and the believers of the New Testament make up the
Israel of God. This is the fulness of God’s covenant people. The 144,000 are symbolic of all the true
believers who will fight during the tribulation for the truth of the Gospel –
those who have been sealed by God. And, as Paul writes to Timothy, “Indeed, all
who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil
people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”
(II Timothy 3:12-13, ESV).
What
does it mean to be sealed?
Hear
what Paul tells the Ephesians:
“And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption” (Ephesians 4:30, ESV).
Believers
are sealed on the head by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – not a physical
seal, but a spiritual seal given by – and of – the Holy Spirit. As Ezekiel records:
“Now
the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested
to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who
had the writing case at his waist. And the LORD said to him, ‘Pass through the
city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh
and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” (Ezekiel 9:3.4 ESV).
In biblical symbolism, it is the place of authority and
power. Believers are symbolically sealed
on the head with and of the Holy Spirit so we can understand the Word of God
and so we have the authority and power to carry it out.
All those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit have security
of not losing the salvation God has given us.
We have the identification of being Christians because we suffer for
Jesus. We have the authority We have the
confirmation that we will receive our inheritance.
Peter
writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to
his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s
power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time” (I Peter 1:3-5, ESV).
The Church militant is every believer throughout time and
space who fights against the wicked during the tribulation and to its great end. All of these believers will witness salvation
only in Jesus, against the wicked who never believe. And every believer will suffer persecution.
All we who been sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit
will fight and be persecuted to one degree of another. Yet, we have the sure
promise of victory in Jesus because He Alone is salvation.
Now, John sees the Church Triumphant.
“After
this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from
every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their
hands,
It
is not 144,000 that John sees now, but a great multitude that no one can number
standing before the throne and the Lamb.
And, as we came to understand, the 144,000 are more than national
Israel, but all those who believe in Jesus for salvation from the beginning
until Jesus brings the Kingdom in all its fullness and brings in the Church triumphant.
This
is the promise given to Abraham:
“And
the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, ‘By
myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not
withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely
multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the
seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your
offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have
obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:15-18, ESV).
The
Church militant becomes the Church triumphant through Jesus by the Holy Spirit
from every nation, people, tribe, and language.
There will be people of every type throughout time and space in the
Church triumphant – in the Kingdom of God.
There is no type of person in all of time and space that will not be present
in the Church triumphant.
And
they are wearing white robes – they have been purified by God. And they wave palm branches – the symbol of
victory.
“and
crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels were standing around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their
faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
They
cry out that salvation is the work and the gift of God and the Lamb. Not even
our bearing witness during the war from the beginning of the tribulation to its
great end merits anything. Just as God
brought Israel through the wilderness, God has brough all of His people through
the wilderness – through the entire journey of His people – into the Kingdom,
where God has made the Church triumphant. He has brought us into His Glory
which is living in the presence of Jesus.
And
what is the only thing that makes sense to do when you are in the presence of
God and the Lamb? The angels fall on their faces, the elders fall on their
faces, the four living creatures fall on their faces, and you and I fall on our
faces, because all of Creation – including all believers – are overwhelmed with
being in the presences of the Almighty God.
And
we all cry out the praise of His Attributes, affirming, Amen and Amen – it is
now and forever will be. “’Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
“Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are
these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?’ I said to him, ‘Sir,
you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb.’”
Does this sound familiar?
The fifth seal:
“When
he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out
with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will
judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth’ Then they were each
given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their
fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as
they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9-11, ESV).
What are we told in addition to what was revealed in the
fifth seal?
The white robes are washed by the believers in the Blood of
the Lamb. Although salvation is wholly
of Jesus Alone, until we are received into the Church victorious – the Kingdom
– we have sins to confess that can only be forgiven through the Blood of the
Lamb.
“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them
with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun
shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the
throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living
water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
These words are similar to a reading later in the book of
Revelation that is often read at a funeral. This is how things will be in the
Kingdom in all its fullness. This is Heaven on earth. This is the Church victorious bought and
sealed by the Lamb and the Holy Spirit.
What ought we take from the vision of the Church militant
and the Church triumphant?
From the promise of God to Eve after the first sin to the
last day and the return of Christ, the Church will be as war with evil and the wickedness
of the world. As soldiers and witnesses to the salvation spoken and sealed in
us by the Holy Spirit, we are to proclaim the Gospel of salvation in Jesus
Alone, no matter what happens to us.
As we look forward with the hope we are sealed and destined
for the Kingdom, we ought to find ourselves excited, looking forward to the day
when all will be restored, washed in the Blood of the Lamb.
Now there is persecution with the knowledge that we are
forever sealed for Jesus’ sake.
After the tribulation is over – from now until then – we
look forward with ecstatic excitement to the triumph of the Church, being
brought into the fullness of the Kingdom, and the Glory of God forever.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, keep us from despairing and being frightened
as we go through these militant days – as we proclaim the truth of the Gospel
to the Glory of God and in line with the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation.
Keep us set upon the work of the Triune God Who brings us into triumph and is
worthy of all glory. In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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