Is the Bible Sweet or Bitter For You?

 

It's hard not to look around at the state of the world and see how it is slowly dying. You might think things should be getting better but when you look at the economy, the politics in the world and even in our own cities and communities, you can see that they aren't. We see churches quite literally dying on the vine as they become more concerned with growing their churches in numbers than ensuring that they are standing firm in teaching directly from the Bible. Is it any wonder than, that we see ourselves as a culture growing apathetic in what is happening as if there is nothing we can do as believers in Christ? Yet we have the blessed hope, that God is moving around the world, getting things ready for the final fulfillment of Bible prophecy as we continue our amazing study into the Book of Revelation, the only book in the Bible that offers a blessing to those that read it and hear the words!

Revelation 10:8-11 ~ "Then the voice that I had heard form heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."

Jeremiah 15:16 ~ "Your words were found and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of Hosts."

This should excite you! You are property of the living God. He calls you by name. You belong to Him. He knows you and you know Him. What is your joy? The fact that your name is written down in the books of heaven? That you have forgiveness for your sins?

Psalm 34:8 ~ "Oh taste and see that the LORD is good;"

Yet for some people it isn't. Everytime they open the Word of God, it tastes bitter to them. They don't like it and they don't understand those of us that love to read it. Maybe they just need to read that verse. Maybe you have been brought up in a bitter gospel, which is no gospel. Keeping certain laws or ways of living, jumping through hoops just to become a part of it or be on the staff. No wonder some people run from the Word of God. This is not how God designed it to be. Taste and see for yourself, that God is good!

John 6:35 ~ "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

These verses help us to understand the sweetness that can be found in the Word of God, but remember the messenger also told John about the bitterness as well.

Acts 17:30-31 ~ "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Jesus is coming back to judge.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ~ "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such as task?"

The preaching of the gospel brings bitterness to some but life to others. It's a stinky stench to some but a wonderful aroma to others. People either love the Bible or are scared to death of the Bible.

Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 ~ "But you, son of man, listen to what I sat to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your moth and eat what I give you." Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth."

God's grace is sweet, but His judgment is bitter. The Bible is either sweet to you or it is bitter. God gives His mandate to mankind, the Lord has ordained truth and justice.

Revelation 10:10-11 ~ "I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."

In manners and customs of the Bible, I didn't know this prior to this study, but it is so romantic in regards to how the Jewish people are to God. When a Hebrew baby is born, the first thing the moms do, the believing mothers, they take that baby and put that baby on their breast to nurse. They are dedicated to this. As soon as the baby is born, it is put on the breast to nurse, notice this the position of the head, the ear and the mouth to the mother.  The ear is the closest thing to the mouth of the mother. As soon as the baby begins to draw milk, her mouth speaks into the ear of the baby and says, "The LORD, He is God." So that baby grows up instantly getting warmth of the mother, that baby can hear the heartbeat of mother, the nourishment of mom, and the emotional comfort that brings the baby, and the baby grows up hearing, "The LORD, He is God." Strength comes from Him, nourishment comes from Him, warmth comes from Him, the beating of the heart, life, comes from Him.

This same thing applies with the words being sweet to the mouth, in the Old Testament times, the parents would teach their children the Hebrew alphabet so that they might form words. They would put the alphabet on a slate, and they would write them out on a slate with their mother or father's finger dipped in a flour and honey like substance. They would use that as chalk. When the child began to learn the letters and put words together, and when they learned the word, they were able to take and scrape off the word and eat it. They loved it!

The word is sweet in my mouth but when you ingest the word of God not only is it salvation to those who believe, it's terrible judgment to those who resist. There is pain with that. The same rule that was given to John to take the scroll, to know it, preach it, teach it and share it with others, it applies to us as well. We are either senders or goers right? We all have to get involved. The believer is commanded to get involved, not to sit back and do nothing. The best part is when you step out to do that, fun things happen. The sweetness of God's Word, we have all experienced it. We are nothing alone, but together, we are fulfilling what God told John so long ago. God is doing something even in His own Word to those that receive what the Bible has to say. Let's pray before we close out this message today.

Father, 

We come before You and Lord more than ever in this 21st century at this time, our very existence is not an accident, and reading this message today is not an accident. You are the God of all wisdom and knowledge and You're the God of the moment, and we would ask God that You would serious take inventory to determine whether we be in the faith or not. That the fact that Jesus Christ is our assurance and is 100% true but do we have Him for real. God, search our hearts and cause us to dig deep to discover or uncover anything in our lives that would keep us separated from You, maybe even if it is religion itself or morality or good works that keeps us from knowing You. God, we pray that You would strip away and leave nothing left except that which You delight in, and Lord we even pray that after confirming that assurance, that we would get up from this prayer and become Your faithful ministers on deployments as if were, at our jobs, neighborhoods or homes, our families and to this nation, to the state we might be living in, and God that we would be faithful and more serious than ever before and yet at the same time the joy of the Lord will be our strength. So God thank You for Jesus and in Your name we pray ~ AMEN!!!

What is Hell Really Going To Be Like?

Today we get into some of the symbols we discover in Revelation 9 today. These are manifestations of demonic powers that John is trying to describe while watching in the realm of the Spirit and we need to keep that in mind. During that time, people will not be seeing these freakish monsters walking down the street like in some bad movie. However, invisibly in the spirit realm this portion of scripture tells us that men are going to be tormented on earth by these demons that attack that sting, bite and inflict pain. Men are going to have such pain that it will be unquenchable for five months by virtue of these demonic powers. Remember that they have been given authority not to kill the mortals but to inflict pain upon them. The Bible says it will be like when a scorpion strikes a man, and sometimes you have to flick them off, because that hook-like needle in their tail gets stuck in the skin. You then get a fiery burn from the sting before the poison follows with their chemicals to debilitate a person. This is really going to happen.

You might be able to pick up some modern day translation and people are simply going to say that its all symbolic and so is the pain. John is saying, it is like when a scorpion stings somebody. He is trying to describe a real event using human things we can understand and relate to. Revelation 9 alone has more symbols than in any other chapter in the Bible. Remember John is trying to describe what he says and he is saying to himself, "How do I tell people what I am seeing? What's that like? It's like this!" But the pain and horror of it all is very real.

To truly suffer, is to suffer without God's grace. Remember what is coming to the earth is for those that have rejected Jesus and God's offer of salvation. We don't have to be here when that happens.

Revelation 9:5-6 ~ " They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them."

Ever been stung before? By a bee, a scorpion, spider or even bitten by a poisonous snake? Imagine being stung or bitten repeatedly for five months? Or even for those of you that fear getting a shot at the doctors? Imagine getting a shot around the clock for five months? One of the things about suffering is the hope that in the morning you might feel better. When you suffer all night long and you long for the morning, when you will feel better? Oh Lord bring mercy in the morning. There is hope in the morning! Not here, it lasts every single minute of the day for five months. These people are tormented by this demonic manifestation of things that operate in a swarm like locusts but they sting like scorpions. Whenever you read the word "as" or "like" it means it is not what it is saying, it is symbolizing or trying to explain something worse than what is being depicted. They are worse than locusts and scorpions.

Revelation 9:7-10 ~ "The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months."

The Bible talks about Hell, but have you ever really thought about it. What is means to be sent to hell? This is such a painful and terrible experience. That men and women will succeed at suicide, but will not be able to die. It's horrible to imagine that! Death "can be" a release to the tormented. "Just let me die!" But this is just a precursor to hell itself. It goes by a variety of names if you compile scriptures. If it makes you uncomfortable, there is a reason for it. The nature of hell is (1) never being able to die, (2) forever falling, (3) total darkness, (4) continues burning, (5) treading water in the lake of fire, (6) worm-like things that bite, (7) unquenchable thirst, (8) constant weeping, (9) breaking of teeth, (10) timeless, and (11) alone, absolutely. You will see no one from life. You are forever alive while dying. You will suffer a second death, a physical decay and a spiritual dying.

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army said he was given a vision of hell that forever changed his life. He saw an ocean of flame, and there were men and women doing their best to tread water in a ocean of flame, and their mouths were just above the water as they were trying to breathe, constantly trying to tread water, and neither one of them were trying to rescue the other or hurt the other, for they were not aware of the presence of the other. A lake of fire that puts out no light.

By the way, hell was created long before man was ever created and before Adam and Eve ever sinned. It was created for Satan and his punishment. Not for you. It was created to punish Satan, but for those that reject Jesus. You might argue that that is coercion, but let me ask you this, are you getting younger or older? You are older today than you were yesterday, that is a physical law. You are getting older. Can't change it. Doctor's are working on it. Good luck! You will still die. You might die good looking, but you're going to die. It's a law you can't change.

Matthew 25:41 ~ "Then he will say to those in his left, "Depart from me; you who are cused, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

When hell meets earth, demons will manifest themselves on earth, and no earthly power can save it. Do you remember when Jesus left his disciples alone for the day?

Matthew 17:21 ~ "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

Ephesians 6:11-18 ~ "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the saints."

No earthly power will be effective. No "Voo-Doo Garlic-Flavored Holy Water" will matter. No positive thinking, Tony Roberts, "Let's Make a Deal" act will work. When hell meets the earth, Satan himself will command the events and his anger will be vented on humanity.

Revelation 9:11-12 ~ "They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come." 

These "locusts" are demonic and they have a king.

Proverbs 30:27 ~ "The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks."  

Revelation 9:11 ~ "They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon."

Abaddon and Apollyon mean destroyer of worlds. Satan is Abaddon and he is Apollyon. The destroyer of peoples lives, of peoples and nations. Satan hates you completely. Satan will be the devil that he is.

Revelation 9:12 ~ " The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come." 

No wonder why Jesus said in Matthew 24:21 ~ " For then their will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor shall ever be." Satan has a "no deposit," and "no return" stamped on him. He is terrified of hell. He will be tormented forever there. He cannot be redeemed. He cannot repent of his sin. There's no warranty with angels. When they sin, they are expelled from heaven forever, never to return. But remember Satan is a defeated foe for a Christian. It is past tense by the way.

You have a choice. You can accept Jesus and know life, or you can choose to not accept Jesus or any other form of god and you will have no life. Eternal judgment await Satan and his demons and angels and also those who reject Christ. There is no other way.

Put your faith in Jesus. Trust Him. Receive Him. If you haven't done this today, what are you waiting for?

Jesus says that you have to be born again. Our flesh may attempt to get in the way, but it is a defeated foe. There is freedom in having a relationship in Christ. You might think you are free because you have the choice to do whatever you want, but that isn't freedom. True freedom can only be found when you realize you have the freedom not to do those things anymore. God is the only one who can give you that freedom and power if your life and you can tell when it's Him doing those things in your life. Do you want that kind of freedom? Simply say this prayer"

Jesus come into my heart. Wash my sins away by your precious blood. I confess today that I am a sinner, and I want to be Your child. I want to be made new. I want my life not repaired but renewed. Lord, I want to start my life all over again. I believe what the Bible says, that You died on the cross, and rose again to save me. I give You my life from this time on. You take control. In Jesus Name ~ AMEN!!!