Revelation: Part 32

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 him.

All right. Let’s look, starting with verse 14. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Now remember, what was the first woe?

The first woe was the fifth trumpet. The second woe was the sixth trumpet. The third woe is the seventh trumpet. And the seventh trumpet will contain the seven last judgments called the seven golden vial judgments.

And all of that is called the third woe. And when God says woe, it means something beyond belief and horror is about to happen. So the third woe is coming quickly. In verse 15, and the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he will reign forever and ever.”

Now, this is an announcement that is going to have a number of parenthetical chapters between it and its actual implication or instrumentation. But in the logical progress of the book, this is the statement that Jesus is finally going to take the title deed of the earth back that was lost to Satan by Adam when he, as the representative of God, obeyed Satan and therefore turned over the title deed of the earth to him, Jesus won it back when he paid for sin at the cross, but it is only here that he is going to implement the fact that he has won the title deed back. And so it says that the twenty-four elders and all of those who worship said, “we give thanks, o Lord God, the almighty, for you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.” Now, I’m going to bring out something from the Greek that isn’t real clear in the english here.

I’m reading from the new American standard Bible. In the Greek in verse 17, it literally says, “we give thanks, o Lord God, the almighty, who are, who were, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. Now, do you see the difference? The verbs for being there are what?

Plural. Now, this is the first time that in an announcement of taking action it has used the plural, which emphasizes what? This is an action of the triune God that is about to take place. And it uses the plural verbs to show that all three members of the Trinity are going to implement the takeover of planet earth.

Beautiful, isn’t it? Now, he also says, for you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and the wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, time to give their reward to your bond-servants the prophets, and to the saints and to those who fear your name, the small and the great, to destroy those who destroy the earth. Now, I’m just going to comment on some of these paragraphs and phrases one at a time.

First of all, for you have now taken your great power and have begun to reign. You know what this fulfills? It’s something that John hartfield has us recite at the end of every Bible class. The Lord’s prayer.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. This is when it’s going to be fulfilled. Now, I hope that no one will hold this against me, but I have to correct something. I know that the Lord’s prayer is used as liturgy in many, many churches, but it is dispensationally out of place.

Today, we really shouldn’t pray that prayer. Do you know why? What should we pray for? What’s the Church to pray for?

Your Rapture come, your will be done. Because, you see, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, to whom was he speaking? Jews only. It wasn’t until much later in the gospels when they had clearly rejected him that he ever turned to the Gentiles.

Remember? Even when the Gentiles would come to him, he would say, it’s not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the little puppies. And he would not really go and minister to Gentiles because he had come to fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what they were promised was an earthy kingdom over which he would reign.

And so he told them in that context of time, pray like this, not pray this, but pray after this manner. And he said, you know, thy will be done, thy kingdom come. And so after he was rejected, remember in Acts 1, they said, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he says, it’s not for you to know the time and the place which God has put in his own power.

But you, speaking now to the Gentile-dominated Church, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and Judea and to all the world. That was appropriate now. So this is when this prayer that he prayed for Israel will be realized. And I still think it’s a beautiful prayer, and if you want to pray it, that’s great.

No problem. But just know that in the standpoint of God’s outline of history, this is not the age that’s looking for the kingdom to come to the earth. We’re looking for Christ to take us off of the earth to be with him. Do you follow me?

Okay. All right. Now, he says, and the nations were enraged. Anyone remember in the psalms where that was mentioned?

That’s right. Let’s look at it for a moment. Psalms 2. Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising vain things?

The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel against Yahweh, Jehovah, and against his anointed. Who’s that? The Messiah, yeah. “Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens laughs, and the Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury; but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. And I will surey tell the decree of the Lord; he said to me, ‘you are my son, today I have begotten you; ask for me, and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and you shall shatter them like an earthenware.”

And then he says in verse 10, now therefore, o kings, show discernment; take warning, o judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the son, lest he become angry, and you parish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. And how blessed are all who take refuge in him!

It’s like John 3, isn’t it? And this was a thousand years before Jesus was born. And yet, it talks very clearly about God having a son who would be his Messiah, deliver mankind, and who would finally judge the earth. And that’s what Revelation 11 here is talking about.

And it says, again, in chapter 11, something that shows us part of God’s outline of history. It says in verse 18, and the nations were enraged, and your wrath came; and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. Now, this judgment he’s talking about is here. The Church age is right here.

It started after Christ’s crucifixion, after his resurrection. And the Church age, the age of grace, really started on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is Greek for fifty. Fifty days after the crucifixion, which is when the Holy Spirit, for the first time, was sent to the earth to take up permanent residence in every believer.

Now, that had never happened before in history. And it’s the Holy Spirit who made it possible for the Church to exist because he’s the one who takes each believer at the moment of salvation and puts us into union with Christ himself. And we become bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, and a member of his body. And you go through the epistles, and most people miss it because it’s just too plain.

It’s so awesome, it’s hard to take literally, and that’s why most people miss it. What is the Church? It’s the body of Christ. I said this here before, but it was such a moment of understanding that I got.

I was a young believer. I was sitting in a Bible class on a Friday night in houston, Texas, and bob thieme, the pastor, was speaking. And there was a kind of uptight missionary lady that was there. And I’m trying to be as kind as I can.

But Friday night was for the young people. And in those days, I was a young person. I was a little older than most of them because I was twenty-seven. But anyway, she, in the middle of the Bible class, holds up her hand and says, pastor thieme, these young people are desecrating the sanctuary.

And man, I looked at him to see what he would say, because his face turned red. And he said, madam, the sanctuaries are chewing the gum.

That struck home what the Church really is more than anything I ever heard. You see, you are the Church, not a building. The building is where we meet. But each believer is in union with Christ, and you are part of the body of Christ.

And today, every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him or her. And when you discover that and you discover that he is there to respond to every act of faith that you put in him, then depend upon him, he will empower you to do things you couldn’t ordinarily do. And everything you do while he is in control of your life by your faith and consent will be rewarded. Now, you can be out of fellowship with God, still a believer, still going to heaven, and the Holy Spirit not in control of your life.

Okay, that’s what you call a carnal christian. And Lord in heaven, I’m glad that all carnal christians are going to heaven, because there wouldn’t be many there. Carnal christians.

But it doesn’t remove what God promised. Well, that’s part of the age of grace, part of what we’re about. And, you know, the Church began with a miracle, and that was the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the beginning of the Holy Spirit after a short period of transition where the Holy Spirit was first given to the covenant people of the Old Testament, the Israelites.

Then he was given to those who were part Israelites, the samaritans. Then he was given to those that were not Israelites at all, Gentiles. Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10. That was the transition.

After that, whenever someone believed in Christ, they immediately received the Holy Spirit. So that was a miracle. The Church is going to end in another miracle. And that’s when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ, that’s the key word, in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

That’s what we’re looking for. Pray for that. And I think you’re going to be praying for it a lot more fervently before the end of this year. And I really pray it happens soon.

But that’s what we have to look forward to. We started with a miracle, we end with a miracle. And we are actually a great parenthesis in what God predicted in the Old Testament. This was the secret, the mystery, that was not known in the Old Testament.

This age here, God kept secret, because when he sent Jesus the Messiah to present and offer himself to them as the Savior, they wouldn’t have taken him seriously if they already knew there was prophecy back there that said they weren’t going to do it, right? So he kept it a secret. But now, this age of a parenthesis that was unknown back here is about to end, and the age here of Israel, which was never finished, will be finished here in those seven years right after we are snatched out, right there. That’s called the Tribulation.

Now, why do I go into all of that? Because we have to determine here when it says it’s time to judge and reward the prophets and the saints and those who fear God. Of whom does this speak? You see, there’s several judgments, and most people don’t know that.

There’s not going to be one at the ends, just one grand finale. And a lot of people think that that’s the way it is, you know, there’s just going to be one big judgment like the great white throne. Well, as we will see when we get there, pray to God you’re not at the great white throne, because only unbelievers stand there. If you’re at the great white throne, your fate’s already been determined.

But we are going to be caught up to meet Christ in the air, change from mortal to immortal, taken up with him to heaven. And during this seven years, we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, which is talked about in 1 corinthians. And the judgment seat of Christ is one not of condemnation. There, it’s not determined whether you should be there or not.

If you’re there, you’re supposed to be there, believe me, because only believers are going to be there. So what’s the purpose of the judgment seat of Christ? To determine rewards, right. It will determine what rewards you get.

And 1 Corinthians 3 talks about this, chapter 3:10-15, I believe. Anyway, it says that every man’s work shall be tried at the judgment seat of Christ, and to determine what it is. It says, there can be no foundation laid except Jesus Christ himself. In other words, salvation comes by Christ, not by your works.

But it says, every man’s works that he builds on this foundation will be judged. Some will build with gold, silver, and precious stones. Others will build with wood, hay, and stubble. And it says, the judgment will determine as by fire.

And it says, if a man’s works which he has done survives, he will be rewarded. If they’re burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Now, some people are going to smell like smoke.

But thank God you’re there, huh?

And you know, I hope I’m not too smoky.

Because I sure don’t think I deserve anything. But you see, that is a judgment that’s different than the one that is spoken of here because it talks about, it’s time for them to be judged. Now, where does it mention this judgment? Look at Daniel 12.

You’re going to have to do a Bible drill with me tonight, so we might as well find the table of contents in the front, get the page numbers, and look like a scholar. Daniel 12:1. And it’s right after this holocaust of war that we read chapter 12. And it says, now at that time michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people.

Daniel was what kind of a person? He was a Jew, so he’s guarding who? Israel. Remember that when we get to chapter 12.

And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. All right.

That’s talking about the resurrection and the judgment of the Old Testament saints, which will take place at the Second Coming of Christ when he comes to the earth. See, here, he doesn’t come to the earth when the Church is taken out. He catches us up to meet him. Here, he comes to the earth.

And Matthew 25 goes through this, about the separation of the sheeps and the goats and the bad fish from the good fish and so forth. And those that are saved that are the sheep, he tells them to go into his kingdom. It’s a judgment of the Gentiles, Matthew 25. And whether you were a believer or not is determined by whether you helped out his brothers.

Who are they? That’s right. Because only someone who’s truly a believer will help Jews in that time because you’re putting your neck on the line to help them. And by the way, you’re just about doing that now.

Because the muslims are trying to make everything they can happen to make the United States back away from helping Israel. All right. Now, that is then what it’s talking about here when it says it’s time for the dead to be judged back in Revelation 11:18 and so on. And it also says, thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear thy name, the small and the great.

Those who fear thy name, I believe referring to the Gentiles who will believe during this period too. Now, he says, that he is going to detroy those who destroy the earth. You know, I have often said that the tremendous destruction that we see predicted in the prophecies and especially in the book of Revelation, that virtually everything that is predicted there can be done by man’s own inventions. And that’s why I believe we’re going to see a proliferation of nuclear weapons like we’ve never dreamed would take place.

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.

As I prepared for this week’s program, I was again struck by the speed with which events are moving into the scenario the prophets predicted for the end times. I believe we’re there. People on the street are talking about what all of these things mean. Folks that wouldn’t darken the door of a Church or pick up a Bible are now very curious.

This may be our greatest opportunity, maybe even our last opportunity, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ before we’re silenced by political correctness. The message that God has given me is more important now than it’s ever been, for the Church and for the nation.