The Greatest Party of Hell on Earth is Coming!

Imagine turning to BBC or CNN or even Fox News and seeing a group of people dancing around the bodies of two men lying dead in the street. These people are more than overjoyed that these two men are dead. They are throwing things at them and having a great time. Sound far fetched that we could ever see something like this today? I might imagine that it wouldn't surprise us to see this on the news tonight. We see things like this happening all the time all over the world. The reason the people are so happy that these two men are dead is they believe they have silenced their message from God in heaven. I believe that if evil thinks that they can shut Christians up and killing us, they too would start dancing.

We see this spirit of zero tolerance happening during the Tribulation period coming to these two men. I believe we are moving toward that level of volatility where men will go nuts because they hate the things that God loves. They will rise up against them. It exposes man's hatred against the truth.

Revelation 11:9-11 ~ "For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them."

This is quite literally Christmas in hell. There is a great hatred that the world will have for God and God's witnesses. That is true even today. There is a hatred toward the Lord, a hatred towards His message. What surprises me is that this is a future event and the world is still talking about tolerance today. Everybody is told to tolerate every group of people except for one and that is Christians. You can outlaw them, get rid of them, anything to get them out of here because they drive the world crazy. Nothing is going to change in the future, in fact it will only intensify. It's a world of tolerance until it comes to these two men who are teaching the Word of God.

In light of the advances in technology, how does the whole world rejoice over the death of two men in Jerusalem? Satellite TV, CNN, and every one is going to see it and rejoice. They will be sending one another gifts all over the world to celebrate what has happened. Do you think this is too far for us to consider something like this happening in the world today? Have you taken a look at the news lately in the Middle East when something happens they rejoice over? Have you seen dead bodies dragged behind the back of a Jeep? Do they not stomp and burn bodies and rejoice over it while it is being televised? Are you not watching that? Or have you not seen that?

We need to wake up as a church. Here we are today reading a book that is 2000 years old and it seems as if we are turning on the news today and seeing how relevant this is in our culture today. We we see a body of a man being dragged in the streets in the Middle East behind a truck, burned on fire, beaten and hung over a bridge. That would never happen right, while the people who did it are rejoicing and claiming victory over the event? It is happening and it will happen all the more the closer we get to this future event. You don't have to use much of an imagination to see that happening in the world today. The earth dwellers will rejoice over this event!

This will be the biggest party in all of the world on earth and remember that even though it appears that Satan has the victory or the enemies of God, their victory once again is short lived. They will only be rejoicing for 3 1/2 days. The world hates God, even though they will be gathering together all the religions of the world except those that have to do with God. The world views the messengers and their message as evil. They refuse to tolerate others. What do you think these two prophets were prophesying about the return of Elvis? No it was the truth of God's Word. People today are so weak and fragile that they whine and whimper and have a breakdown of the slightest things.

They will allow these men's bodies simply sit in the streets right where they were killed for 3 1/2 days. The burial practices of the Middle East - that day! Our technology today is where this prophecy of the Bible foretells is today. This is a real time, worldwide event that will be seen by everyone, in every language of the world. Isn't it amazing how wonderful and true the Bible is even though this was written about 2000 years ago? The exposing of man's hatred against the truth, is a hatred that cannot be curbed.  Remember back in the year 2000 when people thought the world was going to end and they all celebrated and partied. We are not too far from these types of events being celebrated and heralded. It's a hatred that they can't not see.

While most of the time the Lord isn't seen as a person to put an end to a party, He does after 3 1/2 days. When the breath of God enters these two men and they come back to life, imagine the horror and terror that will come over those that believed they were dead. Millions of people will see this happen.

Revelation 11:11 ~ "But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them."

This great fear that will come upon those that witness and see this event will be the kind that cause mass hysteria, causes panic and immobilize those that see it.

God's final witness to the world will be a powerful testimony of grace and judgment. These two are exclusive. You can not reconcile these two, they are both true and false at the same time. God who is holy and righteous, has to be just. But God is also a God of grace and mercy. The more we learn about God the more we can come to terms with just how we chose to live our lives and how responsible we are. You and I are the only ones responsible for the decisions we make. We can often look back in our life often before we were Christians and realize how stupid some of those decisions are. However, when we became Christians we made less stupid decisions.

As we grow older, often times when faced with making a decision, the one in our minds is often times the one God doesn't want us to take. Since He is such a God in whom knows how it will all play out in the end, who knows the decision we need to make, and how often we get into trouble when we act in our own minds instead of waiting on Him, we should pray for patience to be willing to wait for the time in which God will give us the answer to what we need to do and to be willing not to jump ahead until He does. Now that is wisdom. Sometimes God wants us to find the answer ourselves so we can learn how to do this in our own lives personal through seeking Him. Don't take someone's else opinion on what you should do, even if it is a pastors. If he is worth his weight in salt, he will instruct you to prayer and to seek God's truth in the Bible.

Revelation 11:12-14 ~ "Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that very hour there was 
 a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon."

When it says that the two men ascended or went up to heaven, this was not a quick disappearance. This was a slow process and the same one used when Jesus ascended from the apostles for the last time. So much they as the apostles were watching, their mouths hung open so long, two angels appeared to them to ask what they were doing looking up so long.  In grace, the Lord will not leave anyone behind.  Regarding the justice of God, He will never leave justice undone. This is something we need so much in our world today.

Revelation 11:13-14 ~ "At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon."

This means that a tenth of the city of Jerusalem fell down. What is truly interesting is that in the King James Version is says that 7000 men were killed, it doesn't say how many total number of people at that point were killed only the number of men killed in the earthquake. No one knows the exact number. None of us rejoice in judgment and neither does God. However when something horrific happens, do you not want to see justice done? We all want it so long as it doesn't affect us.

When we make a huge mistake you know what we want most from the judge? Mercy! The problem is that we live in a system now where the whole system is corrupt. If you have money, you will get off. There are older people who should be retiring or not working, that have to return back to work. They worked hard all their lives and invested money and because of white collar crime, their retirements have been stolen from them. There will come a day when God will exercise perfect judgment. The Bible says in Genesis by Abraham, "Shall not the Lord of all the earth, do right?" He knows every motive to every crime.

The final portion of today's study offers a bit of confusion and begs us to answer the question, who are the people who gave glory to God, while the rest were afraid? One scholar might argue it doesn't matter they simply were so afraid, they didn't know what they were doing and gave credit to anyone. But it was short lived. They didn't really know what they were saying. Others will say, if you look at the chronology of the events and this being a parenthetical pause, this event brought about the sealing of the 144,000 saints. No one knows for sure.

Do you have Jesus Christ in your life? No, more matter what you have in your life today, it is nothing compared to what He offers! No money, no possessions, no position or job. Only Jesus can offer you what the world can't. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. We need to make sure our faith in Jesus is real.

Is the Bible Sweet or Bitter to 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 mouth 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 it 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!!!