Revelation: Part 31

When anyone anywhere responds to this knowledge by having a desire to know this God, God will move heaven and earth to get the message to them.

The portrait that is painted in many prophecies of the Old Testament of him being the lowly, humble, suffering Messiah who had come to die for sin. But the other one talks about the conquering king Messiah that’s coming back to wreak havoc on the world and to put down all unbelievers and to set Israel up as a kingdom and rulers of the world, as God promised Abraham and his descendents. You following me? Had he continued to read, he could not have said, this has been fulfilled in your ears.

But you see, there are two portraits clearly painted. And, you know, rabbis before Jesus came — in fact, a couple of centuries at least before he came -recognized that there was this tension, that there were certain prophecies about this lowly, humble servant who would be born and who would suffer for our sins. And there were certain parts that talk about him coming as the son of David, the great conquering king. He’s going to conquer the whole world, put it down, establish the believing Israelites as rulers of the world, and set up a kingdom over which he would rule.

So at least two centuries before Jesus was born, some rabbi said, well, there must be two messiahs coming. One will be the son of Joseph, and that was because Joseph was the one rejected by his brothers and he suffered and so forth. And the other one will be the son of David. And so Israelites and Jews, even until this day, cannot figure out this mystery.

And, you see, God kind of set this up so that it would test where a man’s heart is. If you’re just looking for earthly things and if you’re just looking for God blessing you in material things, which Messiah are you going to look for? The conquering king. But if you realize that to meet God, you have to have your sins covered, you have to have your heart changed, you look for the suffering Messiah and you’re opened to hear about it.

You following me? Okay. Now, that’s why even the twelve apostles that Jesus chose were all confused. They asked this problem, and it was a good question in Matthew.

Heading back there now. They said, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And he answered and said — and mark every word I’m reading, I’m reading from the new American standard Bible, but the Greek is even stronger — Jesus said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. Now, the first thing he said is, Elijah is going to come, right?

Then, he says, but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the baptist. You see, God didn’t send Elijah to announce the coming of Jesus and his first coming.

He sent John the baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah. And Jesus said to them on another occasion, he said, and if you will receive it, he is the Elijah that was to come. Do you see the wisdom of God? God knew they would reject him.

So he sent someone in the spirit and power of Elijah, who is just like Elijah, and if they would have received Jesus as Savior, he would have counted him as the fulfillment of that prophecy that I’m going to show you in a minute that’s in Micah 4. But God knew they would reject him. And so Jesus said, Elijah is going to come. You follow?

All right, all right. Now, look with me. The last book of the Old Testament’s just before Matthew, malachi. I should say Malachi 4:4, remember the law of Moses my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in horeb for all Israel.

Notice he mentions Moses in the same context. Behold, I’m going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse. And that’s simply saying that Elijah would come and cause the hearts of these children of Abraham to turn back to their father’s and to all of the covenants and promises God had made so that they could come to know the truth and turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children because they would see that they had believed.

Turn to Luke 9:28, Jesus said, but I say to you truthfully, speaking to his disciples now, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God. And, see, Matthew, the division of the Bible into chapters and verses is not inspired. They said some guy did it while he was writing on horseback, and I think the horse stumbled when he was dividing the chapter in Matthew, because this verse should be included immediately with the next one. In Matthew, it’s in chapter — the last verse of 16, and then the next verse is in the first verse of chapter 17.

There shouldn’t be a chapter break there because they’re inseperably connected. It says, and he just said, some of you will not taste of death until you see the Kingdom of God. And some of the — and some eight days after these sayings, it came about that he took Peter, John, and James and went up to the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, his clothing became white and gleaming.

And behold, two men were talking with him, and they were who? Moses and Elijah. What were they talking about? Let’s see.

Who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure, that he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Now, why are they shown here? He has just told them that there are some that would not taste of death until they saw the Kingdom of God. When you go to the movies, what do they show you about movies that are coming?

That’s what he gave them, a preview of how the Kingdom of God will look when he brings it. They had a preview of coming attractions, because Jesus was transfigured to how he will look when he comes to set up the Kingdom of God. And the Greek is so wonderfully explicit here. It says that light blazed from within him right through his skin and his clothes, and his face became as white and bright as the sun.

His deity showed right through his humanity. And that’s the way he’ll look, because the Kingdom of God is Jesus. And for him to come back, there are many prophecies that say his way has to be declared by some heralds. In other words, before he actually comes to the earth, God said he would send prophets to announce that he was coming.

Here are the two heralds of his coming. That’s what they were talking about. Moses and Elijah. And you know something?

When you stop and think about it, it is so fitting.

You know, I’ve often said that Peter gives me more hope about God using someone as unfit as me, because all through the gospels, all he was did was open his mouth to change feet. I mean, here they were, seeing this awesome sight, and he just couldn’t stop babbling. And he said, let me build a tent for you, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

And he was babbling on, apparently. And finally, it says in verse 33: and it came about, as these were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, master, it’s good for us to be here; let us make

And while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, basically, Peter, shut up.

And God the father spoke, this is my son, my chosen one; listen to him. And keep your mouths shut. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent.

Well, here, that’s a wonderful thing. This was a preview of how all of these things were going to happen. And that’s how they saw it before they died. And I believe that that is a clear identity.

But there’s something else. As you look through the Old Testament, there were the two greatest prophets, Moses and Elijah. Neither one of them finished their ministry, did they? Moses didn’t even get to go into the promised land because he disobeyed God on one of the most important symbols that he gave.

Because the first time the people were without water and they were griping, and there’s a better word for it to translate, they were bitching, and that’s what it means. And God said, okay, go out there and there’s a rock, you stand before that rock and you hit it, and water will come out. That was a picture of Jesus being judged for our sins. Because God said, I will stand before you, and you hit the rock.

To hit the rock, you had to hit the second person that God hit. The second time when they came to another crisis later, they were crying and, you know the word, about no water, and then God said, this time, speak to the rock, and it will pour forth water.

And by this time, you can’t blame him, Moses was so upset with those griping people that he took his rod and he hit it twice and said, hear this, you rebels, must I find water for you again? Well, God said, okay, buddy, you’re going to find water for them? He said, because of this, you’ll not enter the promised land. Because he was trying to develop the symbol that now, we speak to God to draw his blessing.

And so he broke was God was seeking to illustrate. So Moses never got to go into the promised land. He never got to finish that glorious ministry he had. Now, there was another.

Elijah. And he mocked them and he defied them and he said, let’s set up a contest and let’s see whose God is God. Set your sacrifice up, and you pray to your God and we’ll see if he’ll answer with fire. But he says, the God who enters with fire, he is God.

So, you know, they cut themselves and they danced around the thing and did their whoopee and all of that around it. And finally, he said, why don’t you shout a little louder? Maybe your God can’t hear you. And so finally, he said, okay.

Now let me have my shot at it. So he takes and he makes them pour water all around, all over everything, douses the sacrifice, the wood, everything else. And then he called on Yahweh, Jehovah. And he answered with fire.

And he said, okay. Choose who’s God. And they all exclaimed, the Lord is my God. And then he personally took a sword and killed all four hundred, personally, of those false priests.

And as he was returning to the capital city of Samaria, Jezebel sent a message to him and said, I am going to make you like one of my priests by in the morning. And Elijah, that great, bold prophet, fled. He ran from a woman.

Well, sometimes that’s wise.

But anyway, the message is, that Elijah suddenly just lost his faith. He goes down. And he was in such a mess, God had to send ravens to feed him. And, you know, God challenged him.

He said, in a yet small voice, Elijah, why are you here? And me keeps talking about woe is me, I’m the only one that’s following you, and now they’re seeking my life. And he says, listen, I have seven thousand men who have not yet bowed the knee to baal. And for this, he said, you’re going to go appoint three people to take up what you were supposed to do.

And he did. He pointed three people to take his place. One was Elijah. And God took him home.

So he didn’t finish his ministry, either. Now, can you imagine what these two guys are going to do, when they’ve had all of those thousands of years to think about it, to finally be turned loose in Jerusalem? And come with such power that they’re called the anointed ones who stand in the presence of God. What are they going to be talking about?

Well, they’ll be in the first three and a half years, and they’ll be watching this temple being built. And they will be saying, this temple is an abomination to God. You’ve made a deal with the devil to get peace, and you’re not going to have it. And they’re going to be telling you the truth about who is the Messiah.

And they’re going to keep doing this. And, of course, they’re going to say, this person that the world is falling at his feet, he is the Antichrist. And that’s going to cause a ruckus.

In verse 7: and when they had finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. You see, he makes them so upset that the Antichrist, is the one that comes out of the abyss, is going to kill them. Now, he couldn’t do that because God wouldn’t let him. And they come knowing they’re going to become martyrs.

They don’t care. It says, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. So we’re talking about what? Jerusalem.

The fact that he calls them Sodom shows their immorality, and the fact that he calls them Egypt shows their lust for material things. And yet, mystically, it’s that, but it’s where the Lord was put to death. And they are allowed to lie on the streets. It says, and those from the peoples and the tribes and the tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will even send gifts to one another. It’s kind of a satanic Christmas, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. And remember when I started the study, I showed you that seven times, John used that phrase, those who dwell on the earth. And if you trace, take a concordance, trace each time that’s used in the book of revelations, and you’ll find that these are absolutely unbelievers.

So sure, he tormented the unbelievers. And then the strangest thing happened. In verse 11: and after three and a half days the breath of life from God came into them, they stood on their feet; and a great fear fell upon those who were beholding them. And they heard a loud voice coming from heaven saying to them, come up here.

And they went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. Now, you know, there was a guy. I’ve read all kinds of commentaries on the book of Revelation with people with different points of view, right. And I was reading one particularly well-known christian scholar who doesn’t buy the book of Revelation that much.

Says it’s all allegory. I think he wrote this commentary in 1956. He says, this proves that the book of Revelation cannot be taken literally, because how can all the people on the earth be seeing their bodies lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem?

Well, that’s simple today, isn’t it? It’s something I use every week. All we have to have are those little things floating around up there in space transmitting. And satellites are there in space now, so they can do this.

See, the Holy Spirit knew about the satellites coming. Yeah. And the whole world will see them be raised from the dead. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city of Jerusalem fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and, what?

You see, that was something that caused a great number of Israelites to turn right there.

And to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It’s coming, and it’s coming fast. The whole world is fitting into this pattern. There’s a new world coming.

This one is going to be under new management.

Make sure that you know that Jesus Christ lives right here. He died for you, he loves you, he paid for every sin you’ll ever commit, he purchased a pardon for you. And all you have to do is acknowledge that you can never be good enough for God to accept in yourself. You can never be good enough, because he is absolute holiness.

The only way you can get in his forever family is to accept the gift of pardon that he sent his son to purchase for you. So if you don’t know that you have that pardon, in your heart, pray while I close. Father, in Jesus’ name, I thank you for these things that we’re learning. I never get tired of it, Lord.

It’s so beautiful. And I pray that there be not one walk out of this auditorium what coming to personal faith in you. May they just say, thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you have the guts to be a real revolutionary, come forward right now and accept Jesus Christ as your real revolutionary, and he’ll make a revolutionary that will change lives. Thank you so much for standing with me as a watchman on the wall. I pray daily that he will reward your faithfulness and protect and prosper you in these difficult times. Thank you again for being a vital part of my team.