The Beginning of Forever!

Can you rest? I mean really rest. Stop what you are doing. Stop thinking about what you will be doing next and simply rest. Cease all activity? If you're like me, that almost seems like an impossibility because we live in a very busy and fast paced world. Technology hasn't made things easier, it has made them more busy. We can't even turn that off.

So what does it mean, when the Bible says to "rest in God?" It simply means to give up on trying to do things yourself and instead trust in Him. We can have that peace in knowing that God has it all figured out despite how we may feel about anything, because our feelings can lie to us. Don't believe me? Think about the last time you worried about anything. More than likely you took all those "What if's..." and filled in all the proverbial blanks of what could happen. Looking back however, you realize how silly most of those were because they were so far from happening, even though they could have. Yet it drove us mad during that time. Our enemy is so great at working that into our lives in any situation, even when everything is going great, he'll toss a few worry arrows in just to stir things up.

As believers in Christ, however one day all that will come to an end. Be it the day you die and step into the very presence of God with your final breath on earth, or when we are raptured and wind up in heaven with God. That will be the very beginning of forever, when we see all this world and its sin nature and evil end once and for all. Won't that be great?

We need to set our hearts upon the presence of God because of what He shall reveal to us.

Revelation 22:4 ~ "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads."

Remember how badly Moses begged God just to see His face? You can read about it in the opening chapters of Exodus. But God knew that for that to happen Moses would die. So God takes Moses, stuffs him into a crack in the rocks, covers his eyes and passes by him, all Moses saw was the after glow, where God was. He was so glorified by that sight that his face glowed even to the people of Israel when he returned that he had to cover his face, to avoid scaring them. Can you imagine how Moses would feel today if he had a Bible and read this verse today? This is the very heart of man, to see God's face. Moses would have longed for that day.

No one has ever seen God in totality.

1 Corinthians 13:12 ~ "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." 

John 1:18 ~ "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

1 Timothy 6:15-16 ~ "which He will manifest in His own time, He who is blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, who mo man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power, Amen."

1 John 4:12 ~ " No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us."

Hebrews 12:29 ~ "For our God is a consuming fire."

Matthew 5:8 ~ "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

When will we be able to see God face to face? In Revelation 22:4, when eternity begins for all of us!

The issue with the name on the foreheads is quite the honor when you consider it. What does this mean to have God's name on our forehead?

Revelation 3:12 ~ "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name."

Throughout history, tattoos have been a sign out ownership. Even Hitler understood that. Pharaoh and the Babylonians understood the meaning, because to do so was the identity of your god. This was a fantastic even in history and it will be for our future as well.

After the great earthquake of 17 A.D., the Roman Emperor Vespasian ordered the city of Philadelphia to be free from Roman taxation and so for five years it could regain its footing in the empire's economy. The city was so grateful for its tax exempt status, it declared its new name to be Neo-Caesarea ro New Caesar City. In gratitude, the citizens of Philadelphia tattooed "Neocaesarea on their bodies. It was the name, the announcement of ownership.

Isaiah 49:16a ~ "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands."

Until we get to heaven, we need to rest in the finished work of Christ, because Jesus Christ will never fail us.

Revelation 22:6a ~ "Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true."

Revelation 3:14 ~ "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, "These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God."

Hebrews 1:1-3 ~ "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."

John 5:30-32 ~ "I can of Myself do nothing,. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true."

Hebrews 4:9-11 ~ "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did fro His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience."

God said it, that settles it. Meditate on what He has told you until He returns. We need to rest in the finished work of Christ, because Jesus Christ will complete things.

Revelation 22:6b ~ "And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servents the things which must shortly take place."

"Shortly" is a compound Greek word en-tachos. It means in haste or in short order, not the word for soon, but the word that means, "once they begin, it will not be long." That is precisely what will happen once the Tribulation period begins, it will move forward without any delay until it is finished.

Jesus Christ will come again.

Revelation 22:7 ~ "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

Notice with me what God thinks about the Bible. So then Christian, rest in Christ, because He will never fail you. He is faithful and true. This here is Jesus' exhortation to every church age believers since the day of Pentecost...always be waiting for me.

To not be waiting is to be spiritually unfaithful. How should the doctrine of imminence affect us today? Why should the doctrine of immanency matter to us today? Who does the doctrine of immanency apply to today? The Bible is very clear it its warning to not add or remove from what God has written in it.

Revelation 1:3 ~ "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keeps those things which are written in it; for the time is near."

Matthew 5:17-18 ~ "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 

2 Peter 1:19-21 ~ " And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. "

Isaiah 46:9-10 ~ "Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure."

Revelation 22:18-19 ~ "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book." 

Deuteronomy 4:2 ~ "You shall not add to the word which I command you, not take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."

Proverbs 30:5-6 ~ "Every world of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar."

Galatians 1:8-9 ~ "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."

This final verse was written more than 2000 years ago. Just this one verse alone predates the Muslim cult and the Mormon cult and thus renders them helpless and useless.

In the Muslim cult, the angel Gabriel is said to have given Mohammed another gospel from heaven in the year 600-700 A.D.

In the Mormon cult, that angel Moroni is said to have given Joseph Smith, another gospel, The Book of Mormon in 1823.

We are all responsible for the choices we make, so what are you doing to keep the prophecy of this book? If you are....

You would be busy for God, giving to God, serving God, Honoring God, in the Word of God, building the kingdom of God, caring for the things of God, and obedient to the will of God.

That is what you are blessed or happy because you keep the words of the prophecy of this book!

Are We Cursed?

 image courtesy of gpbnews.org

Are we cursed?

The Bible says that everything is this life is under the curse of sin. Our thinking, our living, our eating, our breathing, the world, the animal life, the universe, this earth, everything is under the curse of sin and it's all messed up. Looking around at the things in this life, it is easy to see that. With the recent shootings in Orlando, people are still trying to make sense of it all. It's simple, we are under the curse of sin. It doesn't mean God's not involved or that it happened because we are living in a cursed world, and God is simply letting things run its course, but we can forget that we now live in a sinful world filled now with the curse that began in the Garden of Eden when disobedience to God caused sin to enter a perfect place and into perfects hearts of His created beings. That means that people now have a choice, to follow God or to follow their own sin-filled hearts and the outcome of those choices is played out right before our very eyes.

It's not about gun control or terrorism, it's a matter of the heart. It is either filled with the things of God or the things with what man wants instead. In both situations in Orlando, the choices of the shooter is clear, they did what they wanted and what they felt was right in their own eyes, however wrong that may be. This is the outcome of living in a sinful world, but it will not always be the case. We need to place the blame in these situations where it needs to be and that is on Satan, not God. God merely lets things play out as He allows, and the fallout is what we experienced this weekend. Let's see how our study today, in the book of Revelation 22 will see what God has to say in these things.

There will be a time when we will no longer live under this curse of sin, and that is called heaven. As we believed in Jesus, repented of our sins, and now follow Him to the best of our ability, we moved from the curse of sin, which was lifted when we became born again in our spirits, and moved from judgment to eternal life. It's removed. It doesn't mean we won't get sick, have cancer, face unprecedented loss in some fashion, or dying in a shooting, because the world is still living under the curse of sin. Our spirit has been redeemed, our minds still need to be renewed, by the Word of God, but our physical body is still under the curse of sin. The last final stage of our removing the curse of sin, will be when as believers our body will be resurrected. It is a true benefit of going to heaven!

Jesus died for our sins on the cross, as an atonement, but He didn't stay dead. He rose again to guarantee our eternal life through Him. He was the perfect sacrifice. We don't need to do anything to better ourselves before Jesus

John 7:37-38 ~ "On that last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

Is this the same water that came out of the side of Jesus when the soldier pierced His side with a spear in which blood and water flowed? Living water?

From Jesus Christ, our eternal temple, forgiveness and His benefits flow continually. Our ability to live the Christian life is of God, and it's Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-9 ~ "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself."

God has provided more than what is needed - sufficiency.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 ~ "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

We need to fix our eyes on eternal life and the prerequisite of God by Christ.

Revelation 22:2 ~ "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Prerequisite, means the performance of something that is required for the next step to take place in order to fulfill a purpose.

Psalm 46:4 ~ "There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High."

This verse references the verse in Revelation 22. Fixing our eyes on eternal life because, God performed, by Jesus Christ, our redemption. The cross for us became the tree of Life!

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ~ "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away' behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

The prerequisite of God by Christ, but what does that mean to me? It means that I was so without God and so unable to save myself and so lost and so in need of being found and so in need of being rescued, that Jesus had to die for me, if I were to be saved from eternal destruction!

We all still struggle with our past, even though we are saved and bound for heaven. We try and pray for our meals but get too excited by the food around us and the presence of others, we forget. We try and dedicate time to read our Bibles, but other things get in the way and we don't. We try and spend time with God each day, but we struggle to find the time. We try and focus on our prayers but our thoughts get out of control and we are lost in our prayers. We try and stay awake to read our Bibles, pray and spend time with God at the end of the night, but we get tired and fall asleep instead. Isn't that the truth of what all believers in Christ struggle with? The old residual is still present in our world, even though we are saved.

We have all heard the words, "Be still and know that I am God." But do you ever wonder what that means? Especially in light of all the turmoil that is escalating everywhere we look today? It means Yada, the word for know. It means to discover. It means whenever we are facing difficulties in our own lives or in the world where we struggle to come up with all the why's, God is asking us to discover Him. See Him in whatever we are experiencing, whatever it is, God will speak to You in that moment.

We've all had those times where we could have done better in listening to God, handling things better but we blow it. God is really great at saying, "Well you could have done better, and I believe you can get through this, let's try again later." and sure enough that same test will come around again. We have to learn to not panic and fail and trust in our own answers, but be still and discover what is it God is trying to say?

We need to set our hearts upon the presence of God because of where He is in reality.

Revelation 22:3 ~ "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him."

Much of what is found being lost in the Book of Genesis is recovered in the Book of Revelation. What was lost is now found. What has been denied is now accessible. What died is now made alive!

"No more curse" the undoing of the will of Satan. From death to life; Satan has a death wish for your life.

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Eve! Live a little will ya, and be your own girl. Do your own thing!"

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Job! Blame God for all that is wrong in your life."

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Elisha, kill yourself because you're all alone."

Listen, its been Satan, through the flesh who says, "There's no hope for you, God won't forgive you. If God is a God of love, why do all these bad things happen?"

There will be no more curse one day. There is the curse of sin and that is death! There is a curse of the law and that is condemnation. This "no more curse," is the curse against creation! The cursed creation is gone and there is a new creation.

Where will you be in eternity? The choice is up to you but you have to choose before you die, otherwise your choice has already been made.