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!!!

How Do You Know What You Are Investing In Now, Will Have Eternal Effects?

 

Welcome back to our ongoing study into the Book of Revelation, after a long break and I pray that today you find comfort and encouragement in this study as a believer of Jesus Christ, for the sole purpose that what we are reading is not what the believer will face but those in a Christ-rejecting world during the 7-year Tribulation Period when the believers have been raptured from the earth and are now in heaven as this judgment of God begins to unfold upon the earth.

Daniel 9 is considered the holy of holies in reference to Bible prophecy and most people don't understand it because they find it confusing but it shouldn't be. You can't possibly understand the Book of Revelation without understanding Daniel 9 or any Bible prophecy for that matter concerning End Times events. I will begin by translating the language into what it says in plain English if I can as it is referred to in your Bible as weeks, but I will translate it for you in years.

Daniel 9:24 ~ Seventy 'sevens' (490 years) are decreed for your people (the Jews) and your holy city (Jerusalem) (483 years have passed, 7 years remain in reference to the Book of Revelation) to finish transgression (the life of Christ, Jesus came to save us), to put an end to sin (the death of Christ), to atone for wickedness (the resurrection of Christ), to bring in every lasting righteousness (the offering of Christ), to seal up vision and prophecy (waiting for this to happen) and to anoint the most holy. (eternity future) "

This dovetails into exactly what we have been studying up to this point when the mystery of God would be finished. We are now approaching the end of the Book of Revelation, and the latter portion of the last 3 1/2 years of the 7-year Tribulation Period. In this chapter, time wise, we are not far from the rule and reign of Christ, in a chronological form we see in the Book of Revelation, from this chapter on to the end of the Book, it will cover a very brief period of time.

So what is the great mystery of God that we are waiting to be finished, the great rule and reign of Jesus Christ in the Millennium, when He comes back during the Second Coming. Jesus does not come to rule and reign via the Rapture. A lot of people confuse the Rapture and the Second Coming. They are diametrically opposed to one another. One is an appearance, the other is a physical coming. The one has no warnings while the other has over 300 warnings. One is to the believer only and apparently the world has no knowledge of it. The other one states that all the world will mourn and weep at His coming. The other one presupposes no prophetic fulfillment to predate it or to introduce it while the Second Coming has tremendous amounts of things that predate it. Isn't it interesting that the church looks to the coming of Christ? Those in the Tribulation Period however, dread and look forward to the coming of the Antichrist.

We are instructed as a church to be alive and to live for Christ. To be alert for His imminent return. The Tribulation Saints are told that they must die for their faith. One will be at least 7 years away from the other event.

Genesis 6:3 ~ "Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

We live in a time zone. Don't forget that. God is saying that there will come a day when His dealing with us is done. Our time will cease. This was signified in Noah's day by the closing of the door. The Bible says, that after Noah entered the ark, God closed the door. Time expired.

Revelation 11:15 ~ "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."

Daniel 7:21 ~ "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom."

Time will expire and the mystery of God will be fulfilled. You may be an atheist, an agnostic, an evolutionist, or in a cult of some sort and you need to understand that time is ticking, you can look around at this world and see what is happening, things are getting worse. As a believer we can look forward to a day when we will be with Christ. We've read the Book, we know what's coming. Remember Paul the apostle, when Jesus showed him a glimpse of heaven, he couldn't even speak about it. It was simply beyond what he could put into words. Yet you can go to any bookstore and find all kinds of books of what heaven will be like. Paul saw it and he said it is so awesome, I can't begin to explain it. Is that your assurance today? Do you have that hope today? You can, and it's a comforting thing. It is where I am going.

You shouldn't believe in a church or a specific pastor, or even a group of people. Some people might argue that they need a person in leadership that dresses up in a robe and a hat, not that I am putting anyone down because I am not, but they feel they need this resemblance in order to strengthen their faith. What? We don't want to encourage people to fall into a weakened state of their faith to be in awe of some person's robe or attire. It causes us to put forth an image that would cause someone to lean towards some earthly thing that can't do anything for you. This is very important! We want to make sure that our faith is securely founded upon Him. When God takes a break, when He pauses in His act of grace, He gives His mandate to mankind.

Revelation 10:8-11 ~ "Then the voice that I had heard from 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."

The Lord is giving His love and His righteousness, His righteous love. Throughout the Book of Revelation, John has been asked to speak it, write it, tell it to others what he has seen. Remember that John is an old man who had been left on the island of Patmos to die. God had another plan. He will be rescued and he will be taken to Ephesus. He will be the only apostle to die of natural causes by the way. He may have been an old man, but he still preached. Was he not the author of the gospel of John in the Bible? Did he not write 1, 2 and 3rd John? Did he not write the Book of Revelation? Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Bible without error! John is an author of several books of the Bible.

What you and I do as Christians, apparently will last forever! So when people ask you how your investments are doing, you can honestly answer them, they are quite effective! Make an investment today by telling people about Jesus! What we do to help further the kingdom of God will make eternal investments in the furthering of the gospel of Jesus to the world.

What is happening here is that the angel is telling John to know it, take it in, digest it, understand it. For you will experience that my Word is pleasant and wonderful to taste, because I love, save, forgive and redeem. But John the more you eat of my Word and know it more, you will see that when it is rejected and ignored, it brings terrible judgment and horrific destruction to mankind. It will make you so glad and joyous, because of My grace and mercy, and at times you will be filled with such sadness over evil and because of man's rebellion.

As a Christian, I can see where the world is going and I know what is coming. As a Christian, I am glad about a lot of things, heaven and my assurance that I will be going there when I die or when I am raptured. I am sad about the evil in the world today and how far people are going in their rebellion against God.

As a mother, I am glad that my daughters know the Lord and will be going to heaven. I am commanded to bring them up in the ways of the Lord as I am instructed, but sad to know that world they are living in and will be will only get worse in the days and years ahead.

I am glad that God is working things out by the readers who stop by here and encouraged in their faith, to pick up where they have stopped and have come back to Him after a time of being away and are growing again. I am sad when I see others I know that have lost their faith in Him because of circumstances that they feel He has fallen short of investing in their own marriages, spouses and children. They are spending tremendous efforts of time and money to buy things they want in life. They have divorced themselves from their families. Their children don't know the Lord. This is sad and an indictment on us.

What shall it profit you to gain the whole world but lose your soul?

It breaks my heart to see people giving up on God. They give up on God and His will in their life, in pursuit of more money. It's a house of cards, it's all going to come down. Talk to someone who is dying and your alignment will line up real quick. If God has blessed you, turn it around and crank it up for God. He will never be indebted to you. There are rich people, who die rich and are super rich in heaven because they have invested in God's kingdom! There are poor people, who die poor and are poor in heaven because they have invested little in God's kingdom. This doesn't have anything to do with how much you have, it has everything to do with what you do with what you have! A poor person could invest what they do have time, effort, it could be a dollar, but it is spent wisely and they are rich in heaven.

It could be a rich believer invests very little with God and it winds up that they are very very poor in heaven. It's all about making eternal investments in heaven. The greatest investment is the one in God's economy that has eternal dividends that have blessings right now. What are you investing in? God's not impressed by the millionaires status, but by the offering that comes from our heart instead.

What Is The Difference Between a Sinner and a Transgressor?

 

We have been studying the Book of Revelation and come to another pause in the chronology of the story of God's judgment as it is being poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world. God does this to infuse hope into us at this point because had He not, we might forget that God is merciful, He is loving and He is kind despite the wrath being unleashed. He reminds us that the victory has already been decided by the time we get to Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:14, in what is known as a parenthetical pause or insert. A pause button or interlude in the midst of what has been happening and from this point in our study, we know that God has issued a promise that there will be no more delay in dispensing forth His judgment upon the earth.

If you were to read the Book of Revelation from the beginning to this point in our study, you might find yourself a bit mixed up without understand what is happening and why it is happening through a parenthetical insert at this point. It would make sense to understand that confusion as I did when I read through Revelation the first time, without really studying the context and content of what is happening. Now it begins to make sense a bit more and I hope it is for you as well.

Anytime in Bible doctrine, before God sends judgment, He has always sent messengers or an announcement before it happens. He always gives people an opportunity to repent before it happens. I believe that God is sending that message to all of us today, especially in America to turn back to Him and repent of its evil, the church for its laziness, nationwide America is asleep spiritually, and we need to wake up before its too late. We see Christianity under attack like never before, from marriage, to sexual orientation, to privacy issues, in every facet of our lives. It is fine for other religions to stand for what they believe but no where is there more intolerance than when it comes from a Christian perspective. Don't think it will stop there. It will come to your door. Down south, the ACLU recently won a battle to prevent public baptisms from taking place in a city park, and even now in California the debate is on for the issue of privacy in public restrooms, showers and locker rooms to keep boys on their side and girls on their side, despite what gender they might identify with. I can't even imagine how this would even be an issue, but it is. The fight is far from being over. We, as a body of believers, need to stand up, wake up and get to work. Our very rights and freedoms are on the line and I believe this is God's chance for believers to stand up for what this country was founded on.

We know as we remember at the beginning of this chapter that there is a debate among scholars on who this mighty angel is in the first verse. Some commentaries would argue that it is Jesus, while still others believe it to be Michael, the archangel. We are missing the point however, the message or the origin of the message comes from heaven. This messenger is of divine origin. Who it is is irrelevant, it is the origin of the message that is important.

We know based on the description found in Revelation 10 about the appearance of this mighty angel that this is where so many scholars believe that it is Jesus. His face like the sun, his legs like fiery pillars, robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head. No one knows the answer for sure. When God desires to speak to man, He speaks from above. We saw that through the prophets and the fathers of the faith before us. We saw it when Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit came down and the Father spoke from above. We know that when Jesus was born, the angels descended from heaven and that they spoke.

Not only does the angel have a divine description, he also has a divine duty. Before he speaks his message, we have to note his posture. He puts one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, holds his hand up to heaven and swears an oath unto God. We know that only God can keep His oaths, man is not able. We need God's help to remember our promises we make to Him. We need to be dependent on The Promise Keeper. When God promises something, He will always keep His Word. When God swears an oath, you know that He will keep it. The angel is standing in a position of great authority.

We learn that what John sees and hears at this point in Revelation, he is commanded not to write down or speak of. We will not know what this means, what he heard. Despite the many commentaries written about what they think it might be, the only ones who will know for certain what it is, are those living on the earth during the final years of the Tribulation Period. It's not for us to know. We know that this messenger swears on oath on a divine promise from verses 5-8 in Revelation.

Revelation 10:5-7 ~ "Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

God never changes. Despite what is written in the Bible, we can rely on the things we read and rest in the assurance that God won't change. He remains consistent.

Hebrews 6:17-18 ~ "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged."

Isn't it wonderful the know what our hope is anchored to? What hope does the world have and to what is it anchored to? People might place their hopes in the stock market, that it will continue to rise, but we all know it won't stay that way. People might hope that despite all their planning that they will stay healthy, but we know at some point, despite all their efforts, they will die one day. Know this that one day all the things of the earth will end eventually.

As a Christian, we don't have to hope as the world does. Our hope is sustained in two unchangeable things, that God the Father and God the Son, swore an oath to save me. That will NOT be broken. Even though I am a sinner, I still have hope in eternity. Jesus Christ paid the price. I couldn't afford the ticket. I get to go, because He said so. Don't take that as arrogant, because it is not about what we can do to get us there, it is all about what Jesus did. I can't save myself, Jesus did that for me. This is why I can be assured that won't hope it will be alright in the end, I know it will be alright in the end. My hope is guaranteed on the basis of the cross, the resurrection, the fact that He ascended back up into heaven, that the Holy Spirit arrived on the day of Pentecost to assure us that Christ arrived in heaven, remember He said when He got there, He would send us the promise of the Father. If you're a Christian, we know that the Holy Spirit lives inside our heart.

If Christ comes back to day to rapture the church or I die today, I know I am going to heaven. I have that 100% assurance by my faith in Jesus. Now let us understand the "mystery of God."

Colossians 2:1-2 ~ " I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,"

It's that Jesus Christ, alone, saves us.

Ephesians 2:5-9 ~ "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

Notice it doesn't say sin? It says transgressions. If sin is bad, transgressions is worse if you could place a meter on it. Sin in the Greek, means to miss the mark. It's an archery term taken from the Olympics. When he pulled out his arrow and missed the target, he was called a sinner. Back then, no one got offended and went back home. He simply didn't hit the target, he missed the mark. Now when we think we are doing things our way, living life to the best of our own expectations, doing what we think God wants, it is the Holy Spirit who calls out to us, "Sinner!" We might say we will pray more, attend church more, live up to the 10 Commandments better, but each time, the Holy Spirit calls out to us, "Sinner!"

For a transgressor, it is like this, God draws a line in the sand, God hands us His Bible and tells us for example, not to have sex before marriage. It will mess you up both spiritually and physically. We see the line in the sand, we know that it was placed there by God for our own benefit because He knows what is best for us, and we take our own will into consideration and cross the line, willfully knowing what you are doing is wrong, but you do it anyway. It's not that you missed the mark, you saw the line, knowing what it meant, and basically said, "I don't care," and walk over it anyway. Your will not God's. That is transgression.

Jesus died for us even when we were transgressors, 2000 years ago. For both sinners and transgressors alike. The Old Testament called transgressions "sins of the High Hands," or to boldly sin against God. You know what you are doing is wrong. It's our sin nature and we are rebels without God's control in our lives. We love to admit that we are sinners, but I wonder how many of us would admit that we are transgressors. We demand our own way and that is the problem with the world today. 

What Does a World Look Like Without God In It?

 

When you look around at the world, especially in the coming end times, and all you see is chaos and confusion, it is hard to look at it all and wonder is Jesus really in control? We don't even have to be in the Tribulation Period for people to wonder, "Where is Jesus in what I am going through? Be it relationship issues, health issues or anything else we find ourselves struggling through just to make it to the end of the day. You have to remember that God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. That is He is all knowing, all present and all powerful. Even though when it looks to us that things are going crazy, God is there.

When we look at today's study into the Book of Revelation, we can see that God is still in control but this is what happens when man tries to do things without God. This is a world out of control because God has been rejected and put on the back burner. This is man being at the helm and saying we are going to do this without God. Now man is reaping what he has been sowing.  God is always in control. When we tell God we don't need Him in our life anymore, is it any wonder when He stands back and lets things happen in hopes that you might learn something from it? However, He is still very much in control of what is happening, despite how you might feel about it and Him!

God's timing is always perfect even though at times it doesn't feel like it. When you pray for someone to be healed and they aren't. When you pray for the perfect someone and they choose someone else. When you pray for a job so you don't lose everything and God doesn't come through. Sure it's easy to be angry at God during those times. He is the Lord and you are not. He created all things and you didn't. God is in control of all of our days. He is perfect in all that He does. He doesn't consult with us when He does something. He knows exactly what is right at the right time. We may FEEL like God has somehow taken a break and He isn't with us, but He is. We just need to make sure that our emotions do not dictate to us our theology.

As we continue this morning with our in depth look into Revelation 10, remember this is a parenthetical insert to put a break in the story line of what has been happening up to this point in order to infuse hope into this bleak situation. To remind us as it were, that God is still in control! This is a future vision. John is being given this ability to see into the future, a break in the events to remind us who the truly victor is in this situation as we have a mighty angel standing on the land with one foot and the sea with another, in a victory stance. It translates absolute dominion.

Revelation 10:3 ~ "and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke."

Proverbs 19:12 ~ "The king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion,"

Joel 3:16 ~ "The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; and the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge or his people, and stronghold for the people of Israel."

Jeremiah 25:30 ~ "Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: "The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth."

Revelation 5:4-5 ~ "I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

 This vision John is having might just be Jesus as He stands triumphant over dominion over the world and reminding us that He is in control. The revelation of God to man is simply overwhelming. Many scholars agree that Psalm 29 makes the connection of seven descriptions of when God roars. When God roars it's powerful, mighty, merciful, and that the earth shakes. It even makes a reference that when God roars the deer give birth.

Job 37:1-5 ~ "At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding."

Psalm 29:3 ~ "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters."

When God takes a break, He prepares to fulfill His word to mankind with a sealed message.

Revelation 10:4 ~ "And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."

We won't know what was said, even though John has clearly heard it. John is allowed to write everything down he sees except for this.

Deuteronomy 29:29 ~ "The secret things belong to the LORD, our God."

There are some that will study this all day and night but the point is, you will never know. God didn't want us to know. This means that God knows more than what He has told us. That's really an affront to us because we want to figure it all out. We want to know all the answers. God says, "Too bad, I'm not going to tell you." Whenever something happens in your life and mine that we don't understand, you want to spare yourself some grief, stop trying to figure it out. Press the default button. You know what the default button takes you in life, because default takes you to the nature of God. His nature is merciful, gracious and kind. Keep going on, this too shall pass. Keep moving forward despite how you feel and remember what you know about the nature of God. He is kind, loving, gracious, merciful, and is good to us, when we can't figure things out.

All we know is that this context demands that it has something to do with the great Tribulation Period to come. That it is administered by Jesus Christ, and that is prepares the way for the final trumpet blast to come. What's withheld, cannot be good for a Christ-rejecting world.

Matthew 24:21-22 ~ "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."

He prepares to fulfill His word with a sworn promise. He has done so with His sealed message.

Revelation 10:5-6 ~ "Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it and said, "There will be no more delay!"

This proves however that this angel is not Jesus because he swears an oath to God in heaven. Don't move so quickly. It states in Genesis and in Hebrews that when God could not swear an oath by none greater, He swore by Himself.

Is anyone struggling with legalism in your Christian experience? If you struggle with performance, He doesn't love you any more or less than if you prayed today or not. God doesn't love you more because you gave a $100, or less because you gave a $1. It has nothing to do with anything. It is the wrong equation here. God loves you. Jesus died on the cross for you. When God really wants to make an everlasting deal, He never leaves it open to humans. Case in point, Abraham! God tells Abraham to make an offering. Put the offering on top of the altar. Sacrifice it to Me! I will make with you a covenant that is everlasting. Read Genesis. What is the covenant that is everlasting? That the just shall live by faith. That justification comes by faith, not by works, not by performance,.

You might argue that Abraham offered up the offering. God told him to do it, Abraham put it on there and now Abraham is waiting. He is waiting on God, keeping the birds off the offering and God sends upon him a deep sleep. He is now out, sleeping. At the moment of the contract, while Abraham is sleeping, and because God could not swear by anyone, He swore by Himself in agreement. He fulfilled the covenant with Abraham. He passed between the offerings for an everlasting agreement. I love it! What did we have to do with it? We were sleeping in our sins when God made the deal.

Fast forward 2000 years, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. What part did we play in it? Only this, we put Him on the cross. My sin put Jesus on the cross. Your sin put Jesus on the cross. 2000 years ago, He went to the cross with me and you on His mind. With us on His heart. Not condemning, Not angry with us. Not shaking His fist at us. The Bible says, it was for the joy set before Him endured the cross and despising its shame. He went there for you and I, He died there for you and I, and He made a deal with the Father, that if He fulfilled the law and offered up His sinless life upon the cross, the deal would be this: That all those who put their trust and faith in Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life. God the Father said, "That's a deal!" They shook or swore to one another an oath, a binding agreement regarding your salvation.

Regarding our salvation it is not laid up in any earthly temple, synagogue, mosque or church, It is laid up in heaven before the throne of God pastored by Jesus Christ, Himself, where neither moth, nor rust nor thief can break in and steal. That is why as Christians, we have our treasure stored up in heaven. Because our salvation can not be taken from us, because Jesus not only purchased it, He has empowered it, and guaranteed it by dying on the cross, being resurrected from the dead, and ascending back into heaven and ministering to us on our behalf, as our Great High Priest. That is a wonderful oath by which God has sworn by Himself. God has sworn this promise.

Now He promises that there is no longer a delay. What is this a connection to? It takes us back to Revelation 6 when the souls that were under the altar, those that had died during the Tribulation, and they were waiting on God, asking Him how much longer would it be before the rest of our brothers and sisters die for their faith? The announcement came to them to wait a little longer. Hold on until the believers who die during the Tribulation period for their faith can join you.

God is now saying, It is done! No more delay. Let's get this show on the road. Let's end it. It's over. Those that have died during the Tribulation period have died. It's now time to put an end to the seven-year Tribulation Period after Revelation 11:4.

2 Peter 3:3-4 ~ "First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

2 Peter 3:7-9 ~ "By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

God prepares to fulfill His word to mankind with a solemn oath.

Revelation 10:7 ~ "But in the last days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

Tomorrow we will discover what the mystery of God is as this closes our study for today. I'll give you a little hint. Are you right now a Christian? One of the facets about the mystery of God is that God would come to earth and save sinners. You might not think that is such a big deal, but when you realize how holy God is, it's a big deal. When you realize that you and I have no access to heaven, outside of Jesus Christ, it's a big deal. When we realize that as the Bible says, that we were born into sin, that we have to be delivered out of it. We are all S.I.N.+  We all sin! We look at the rules and think those are good rules. Who can argue that we are to love the Lord God with all our soul, mind, heart and strength. Is that not a good rule? Is that not reasonable? Even the evolutionist would say, if they believed in God, that sounds reasonable.

What about this one? You shall not murder. You know that is a really good rule. Even the atheist would have to agree that it is good not to murder anyone. We'd all agree this is a good rule! Most of us would say we have done really good with that one, the first one, maybe not so much, but this one, yeah, they can handle that one. You begin to look at the 10 commandments and think you've done pretty good for the most part. The problem is that you can't pick and choose parts of it.

Think of it this way. Imagine climbing up a chain of links, you're almost there and then just at that last moment the final link breaks and you fall. You might think that isn't fair, after all you climbed all those hours and passed all those other links, but let me as you this, how many links does it have to take for you to fall? Just one! The Bible says, we have ALL broken the law of God. The whole human race stands before God in need of saving. You can't give money to get saved. You can't do things to get saved. You have to trust in Jesus Christ, who saves YOU! Jesus said, all those who comes to Me, I will not turn away. The Bible says if you come to Him with your sin, He issues you His righteousness. It's FREE! Not by any works of our own that we might boast of, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

There are those who put their trust or confessions on world things or through an earthly priesthood or in some earthly sanctuary. It could be money, fruit, meat or a confession. It's not about that. Isn't it interesting to consider that the entire time Jesus was here on earth, He never once went into the Temple? If it would have been such a big deal, Jesus would have gone in there. He always stayed in the perimeter of it, and it wasn't until His last week, that He went to the steps of the Temple but He never went in. If doing religion saves your life, then why didn't Jesus do religion and show us how to do it. He abandoned that action, because if He went in, He would have been able to go into the Holy of Holies, but He avoided it. Why? Because that building was desolate of true worship. Corinthians tells us that the true temple of God is no longer built with human hands but as believers, our bodies become the temple of the living God. Isn't it awesome that when the temple fell down to the ground during the 5th Roman Legion in 70 A.D., that your salvation didn't go down with it? It has nothing to do with our salvation!

Does God Still Use Angels Today?

 

Most people when taking in the books of the Bible might rate the Book of Revelation as the most confusing followed up by probably the Book of Isaiah. However if you dig a bit deeper you will find that the Book of Isaiah is much like a mini-Bible within itself. The first half deals with the judgment of God's wrath against the nations of Judah and Israel and the later part with God's grace and mercy for His people. There are 66 chapters within the Book of Isaiah, much like there is 66 books within the Bible. Like any good Bible study, you need to understand the context of what is happening, and thus the reason for all of us to own a really good study Bible. They will break up the paragraphs and break up the chapters and they really help you. It is a worthy investment and they are not cheap. Think of it this way, 10 visits to Starbucks, can buy you a world class Bible! It will really help you go through all the books of the Bible in a whole different way!

Today's study will touch on the fact of whether God is still using angels today. We know that is very true as the Book of Matthew and Hebrews tells us that angels are His ministering spirits that He has sent forth, the Bible says, to minister to the heirs of salvation. We might make light of the fact about guardian angels in light of movies like It's A Wonderful Life and Clarence the angel who helps George Baily. Yet the Bible tells us that as believers in Christ, we have a least one angel that has been dispatched to our care. The second point is that Jesus tells us according to the Scripture how we treat children for example, for their faces (the children's) are represented before heaven, by their angels. Peter reminds us how we treat strangers that come into our life, because unknowingly you could be ministering to an angel. That is so sobering. Imagine how many of us have met homeless people who could have been angels testing our benevolence or in a hospital?

According to the Book of Revelation, it is only going to increase and the angelic mission is clearly defined from the Bible. It's a though the veil between the physical realm and spiritual realm is pulled back and they impact one another like never before. So why then do some scholars confuse the mighty angel we see in Revelation 10 with that of Jesus Christ. It might be because the word here for angel is not the same as an angelic being with wings, it means a messenger sent from heaven to make an announcement. It is not necessarily an angel like Michael or Gabriel. Whoever he is, he is one dispatched from heaven, with an announcement to be given to earth. That is all we know about him at this moment.

We also know that the word for angel means a created being from heaven with wings but also from the Old Testament, we have the word theophany or a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ before Bethlehem's manger. Christ appeared before Abraham and Joshua for example, and He was announced as the Angel of the Lord. In Revelation, in the opening chapters 2 and 3 it says, "to the angel at the church of Philadelphia..." We know that angel is none other than the pastor of the church of Philadelphia back then in the time of Christ. So the word has a broad application. So who is this? Let's keep studying.

We know that the message is by divine delivery no matter who it is. When we see the word "another mighty angel" is means another angel of a different kind. So he is somewhat of a great order other than your run of the mill angel. Not that any angel if we saw it today would be run of the mill. If we were able to see one, we might just pass out. When Daniel saw an angel he got sick to his stomach and had to lay in bed for many days. Lets just explain it this way, if we have another angel of a different kind providing a message by divine delivery, let's just call this one the L.A. Times. That is a messenger of a different order. But if someone comes to your door wearing a Federal Express uniform, that is still a message coming to you from a different order or from a different dispatch.

This angel is a different from the L.A. Times and the Federal Express as it is from the run of the mill angel. I think you understand this now. Notice his origin. He comes out of heaven. When God desires to provide a message to mankind, His origins are always from heaven. Always. God speaks to Abraham!

Genesis 22:11 ~ "But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham! 'Here I am', he replied."

God speaks to Moses from heaven. 

Exodus 3:2-5 ~ "There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

What made that ground holy? The person that was in the burning bush which was the LORD. His title was the angel of the LORD. What is the title of the angel of the LORD in the Old Testament? It is none other than the LORD Almighty, Jesus Christ. A pre-incarnate appearance before Bethlehem. When God spoke to the prophets what did He say?

Hebrews 1:1-2 ~ "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through who he made the universe."

When God spoke to the apostles, what did He say?

Matthew 17:5 ~ "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

 When God speaks to mankind, He speaks from above.

Luke 3:21-22 ~ "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

God's messengers deliver a message from heaven. When God speaks, it comes from above. When God sends His messengers to mankind, it is also a messenger of divine description. This is what causes scholars to think that this messenger is someone other than just another angel.

Revelation 10:1 ~ "Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars."

This is truly an awesome description of this divine messenger. "Clothed with a cloud," that connects us immediately with whoever this person is, he is in great association with the Lord, himself. When God spoke to Moses, Mt Sinai was covered with a cloud. Not only that but when God watched over and protected the children of Israel in the wilderness, He manifested Himself as a cloud by day. On the Mount of Transfiguration, when they saw Jesus transfigured, what descended from heaven and covered them all? A cloud of glory. At Jesus' ascension when He went back up into heaven, what received Him into heaven? A cloud. At the Rapture of the church, what is going to happen when Christ comes? We are going to be caught up into the Lord's presence in the cloud. At the Second Coming, how it that going to look? The Bible says that Christ will come with the church and His angels with Him in the Second Coming in a cloud. The Lord is always in association with clouds.

Matthew 26:64 ~ "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ~ "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Daniel 7:13 ~ "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence."

Matthew 24:30 ~ "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory."

Then it says that he has a rainbow around his head. When we get to heaven we will be given eyes to see spiritual things. God is revealing this for John to see right now. God promises to never judge the world again without mercy as we see in Genesis.

Genesis 9:13-14 ~ "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow appears in the clouds,"

Revelation 4:2-3 ~ "At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald encircled the throne."

The cloud in association with the Lord, and the rainbow in association with the Lord. We see the connection. We can also understand why there would be some confusion between this being a run of the mill angel or the Lord, Himself. "His face was like the sun,"

Revelation 1:13-16 ~ "and among the lampstands was someone 'like a son of man,' dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his moth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

We remember the seven lampstands is the manifestation of God's presence among His people from the first being in the tabernacle and then here in Revelation where we find that Jesus walks among them being His church.

Matthew 17:2 ~ "There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light."

We remember before in Revelation 1:15 that "His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace," He sends His messengers to mankind, a message for divine duty.

Revelation 10:2-3 ~ "He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke."

What is with the little book or scroll? This is a bit technical. You shouldn't be so focused on the placement of his feet or even the little scroll or book, is that it is open. Did you catch that? You might want to circle that in your Bible. The word implies that the book in heaven, this angel who has this book is not open. It is a book that is secret, that is held by God, it is a book that when it is opened has things in it that we are not allowed to know. God won't answer these questions we have about the book even though the Bible has all the answers. No matter what footnotes you might have in your Bible, no one knows about the little book. Nobody. Someone once said that only Seventh Day Adventists know what the book says, but they are not allowed to tell anybody what it says. Don't believe it. Read the Bible. It says that no one knows what is in the book.

Now we come to a bit of history. Whenever a general conquered another empire in a battle, they would take the general of the empire they defeated and lay him down and stand on his neck and declare victory. John would have understood this term that he is seeing an angel stand on the sea and on the land, what is he declaring? Absolute victory and John would have known this. He is announcing absolute victory of the rule and reign of the dominion by God. Even Jews who know their history who read this would understand what this means.

God gives us this break because as we have been marching through our study into Revelation, it has been pretty heavy. It might have even scared some people to unlike my Facebook page or unfriend me because they don't like what the Bible has to say about these events of the end times. He gives us a break in the story at this point to infuse hope, grace and mercy into those that are reading this. That is the very reason why some churches don't teach on the Book of Revelation, it isn't exactly a church growth builder but remember it is the only book of the Bible that offers a blessing to those that read and hear its words. This portion of the Bible is all about hope because our God is a God of hope, grace and mercy.

For those of you reading this today, that might feel hopeless, let me pray for you.

Father,

Whoever this person is that is reading this today, and they feel like they are at the end of their rope. Maybe it's their marriage, their kids, the sacrifice of their jobs, or another issue that only You know that they are dealing with. We pray that you would bring healing to their situation, healing to their relationships, health to their body, and God, peace and comfort to their soul. God, we are trusting right now that You will take this and You will touch the person who is reading this right now, who is crying out to You right now, saying "Dear God please intervene in my life, please help me now." And Lord, I have no doubt that You will speak to them, because that is the kind of God You are! In Jesus Name, AMEN!!!

A Pause Before the Final Judgement Is Unleashed

 

What we are about to see in today's study is the culmination of God's wrath on earth as He has announced through all the prophets. We are going to slow this chapter down a bit and I hope it will bless you as it has me in taking time to be sure that we are getting out of this chapter all that God has revealed in it. What God has written, He has written for a reason. Never apologize for the Word of God.

As we get into studying Chapters 10 all the way through Chapter 11:14, we have encountered another parenthetical pause in the Book of Revelation. If you remember from when it happened before, a parenthetical pause is simply a break in the flow of events, like pushing pause on your DVR so you can gain some much needed insight before continuing on to help you understand what is going to be happening next as we continue on in our study. God now turns to John to give him some key data before continuing on in the vision He has been showing him of end time events. We have paused in the midst of the trumpet blasts waiting on number seven which will be the culmination of the Great Tribulation Period. This is introducing us to the closing days of the Tribulation Period.

God has taken a break not because He needs it or because He gets tired. God is waiting or taking a break to give others a chance at redemption. Imagine if God came back for His church 5 years ago, would you have been with us or would you have been left behind? What about 10 year ago? 25 years ago? God has a plan in delaying the coming judgment at this point. He is giving others a chance at redemption before Jesus returns. God knows the timing and when He will bring it all to a close.

If people were to interview you about your testimony, what would it be? Would it be grand on a scale like most believe their initial salvation experience should be or was it simply a quiet not so much impactful event, meaning you didn't really feel anything at that moment? Some of you simply grew up in a Christian home your whole life and suddenly one day it just clicked for you. God reaches us all in various ways and through different experiences. The one thing we can all agree on is there are times when we read the Bible that it cuts it right to our heart. Where God begins to extract bad thoughts, sins in our life or places we need to change in our life at that moment. Then there are other times when we read God's Word and it's a cutting that heals us. It brings healing, and joy and excitement.

Chapter 10 is that scene where it brings bitterness and also a sweetness at the same time. You might ask yourself how can that be?

Hebrews 4:12-13 ~ "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to diving soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Psalm 107:19-20 ~ "Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave."

Revelation 10:1-11 ~ "Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the seal and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." Then the voice that I had heard from 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."

Tremendous words but what does it all mean? Do you want to understand the Book of Revelation? You could attend seminary for a year and you might not get to this point, so I am going to save you a lot of time right now. What do you need to do to understand the Book of Revelation? Read the Old Testament. The Book of Revelation assumes that by the time the audience gets to this point in the Bible, that this people have already read the Old Testament. You'll never understand the Book of Revelation without reading the Old Testament. You can go from Genesis to Malachi, skip the New Testament and go directly to the Book of Revelation and it will dovetail beautiful into the Old Testament. To the Jewish mind, the Book of Revelation is very very reminiscent of the Old Testament. God intended it that way.

So when we read things about the angel standing on the land and on the sea, the book being opened, John eating the scroll, what does all that mean anyway? It won't until you read the Book of Ezekiel and come across the part where God told Ezekiel to read the book and eat it. Ezekiel said it tasted good but it turned my stomach sour. We need to understand what sweet and sour means and why! It will apply to the coming days.

We as Christians have this to boast about. That our God is merciful, loving and kind. The Bible says He is not willing that any shall perish but that all should come to eternal life. We are going to be studying in future posts all about the love of God, the advent of the Antichrist and his agenda and it will move you. You will be shocked to find out about the bitterness of God's Word and in this respect that is forthcoming the Bible says to those that are dwelling in this world. The Bible says that the world we be deceived by a conglomeration of many religions, a mating together of religions, a decrease or death in Christianity during that period of time. A decrease in God's people in the earth. They will die for their faith. Their will die for their faith by beheading. We might have not understood that meaning years ago when we lived in a civilized world and to think it would not be possible to imagine a time where people would adopt killing their opponent or enemies by beheading.

If you google beheading in your search engine and hit return, you would be surprised by the exponential number of religious persecution in the world and that culminates in one act. Guess what it is? Beheadings! It is the greatest way of religious persecution in the world today. Throughout areas of Africa, the South Pacific, the Middle East, and now the FBI is taking a look at the number of beheadings that are taking place in America and they are looking at the connection between religious belief and beheadings.

The Bible says that when the Antichrist comes on the scene, his implementation of global persecution against the Christian or Tribulation believer will be beheading. Don't believe me, check it out yourself. We live in a very strange age my friend. Just know this. The Bible is never wrong and it will never be wrong. What it says, it will happen. Know this. Our God is a God of peace. Our God is a God of love. Our God is a God of grace. In this chapter, He pauses to bring us hope. He pauses to speak a message.

1 John 3:16 ~ "This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 

John 3:15-17 ~ "That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved that world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

This is important. The God of the Bible wants you to have eternal life. When God takes a break, He sends His messengers to mankind. God is so faithful, whenever He takes a break from judgment He sends His messengers to mankind. He will always make an announcement. A message by divine delivery.

Revelation 10:1 ~ ""Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars."

You can pick up all kinds of commentaries and books, and the audience, the classroom and the teacher are divided on who this "another mighty angel" is. We don't know who he is. The speculation is that some say he is a mighty angel and that is all that he is. We know that throughout scripture that there are descriptions of mighty angels, powerful angels, ranking of angels in power, ranking of orders of angels which we have studied before. Other scholars have said, that this "mighty angel" could in fact be Jesus Christ, Himself. Most of those scholars who have stated this are quite liberal ones and in fact some cults have said this is Jesus as well.

It is not Jesus not it is a type or rank of angel that we have seen in our more recent studies. Even though the description sounds like it could apply to Jesus, it is not Him. It's a different angel but one of a different ranking. We do know from Scripture that God's angels do have various rankings. There are various levels from arch angels, angels, seraphim, cherubim, and others. Michael, Gabriel and even Lucifer are of the highest orders of angels. This is just another mighty angel, an angel that is different from what we have seen so far, higher in ranking, and as we look further into our study, he has a very serious mission to carry out.

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!!!

What Are You Investing In?

Welcome back to our ongoing study into the Book of Revelation, after a long break and I pray that today you find comfort and encouragement in this study as a believer of Jesus Christ, for the sole purpose that what we are reading is not what the believer will face but those in a Christ-rejecting world during the 7-year Tribulation Period when the believers have been raptured from the earth and are now in heaven as this judgment of God begins to unfold upon the earth.

Daniel 9 is considered the holy of holies in reference to Bible prophecy and most people don't understand it because they find it confusing but it shouldn't be. You can't possibly understand the Book of Revelation without understanding Daniel 9 or any Bible prophecy for that matter concerning End Times events. I will begin by translating the language into what it says in plain English if I can as it is referred to in your Bible as weeks, but I will translate it for you in years.

Daniel 9:24 ~ Seventy 'sevens' (490 years) are decreed for your people (the Jews) and your holy city (Jerusalem) (483 years have passed, 7 years remain in reference to the Book of Revelation) to finish transgression (the life of Christ, Jesus came to save us), to put an end to sin (the death of Christ), to atone for wickedness (the resurrection of Christ), to bring in every lasting righteousness (the offering of Christ), to seal up vision and prophecy (waiting for this to happen) and to anoint the most holy. (eternity future) "

This dovetails into exactly what we have been studying up to this point when the mystery of God would be finished. We are now approaching the end of the Book of Revelation, and the latter portion of the last 3 1/2 years of the 7-year Tribulation Period. In this chapter, time wise, we are not far from the rule and reign of Christ, in a chronological form we see in the Book of Revelation, from this chapter on to the end of the Book, it will cover a very brief period of time.

So what is the great mystery of God that we are waiting to be finished, the great rule and reign of Jesus Christ in the Millennium, when He comes back during the Second Coming. Jesus does not come to rule and reign via the Rapture. A lot of people confuse the Rapture and the Second Coming. They are diametrically opposed to one another. One is an appearance, the other is a physical coming. The one has no warnings while the other has over 300 warnings. One is to the believer only and apparently the world has no knowledge of it. The other one states that all the world will mourn and weep at His coming. The other one presupposes no prophetic fulfillment to predate it or to introduce it while the Second Coming has tremendous amounts of things that predate it. Isn't it interesting that the church looks to the coming of Christ? Those in the Tribulation Period however, dread and look forward to the coming of the Antichrist.

We are instructed as a church to be alive and to live for Christ. To be alert for His imminent return. The Tribulation Saints are told that they must die for their faith. One will be at least 7 years away from the other event.

Genesis 6:3 ~ "Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

We live in a time zone. Don't forget that. God is saying that there will come a day when His dealing with us is done. Our time will cease. This was signified in Noah's day by the closing of the door. The Bible says, that after Noah entered the ark, God closed the door. Time expired.

Revelation 11:15 ~ "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."

Daniel 7:21 ~ "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom."

Time will expire and the mystery of God will be fulfilled. You may be an atheist, an agnostic, an evolutionist, or in a cult of some sort and you need to understand that time is ticking, you can look around at this world and see what is happening, things are getting worse. As a believer we can look forward to a day when we will be with Christ. We've read the Book, we know what's coming. Remember Paul the apostle, when Jesus showed him a glimpse of heaven, he couldn't even speak about it. It was simply beyond what he could put into words. Yet you can go to any bookstore and find all kinds of books of what heaven will be like. Paul saw it and he said it is so awesome, I can't begin to explain it. Is that your assurance today? Do you have that hope today? You can, and it's a comforting thing. It is where I am going.

You shouldn't believe in a church or a specific pastor, or even a group of people. Some people might argue that they need a person in leadership that dresses up in a robe and a hat, not that I am putting anyone down because I am not, but they feel they need this resemblance in order to strengthen their faith. What? We don't want to encourage people to fall into a weakened state of their faith to be in awe of some person's robe or attire. It causes us to put forth an image that would cause someone to lean towards some earthly thing that can't do anything for you. This is very important! We want to make sure that our faith is securely founded upon Him. When God takes a break, when He pauses in His act of grace, He gives His mandate to mankind.

Revelation 10:8-11 ~ "Then the voice that I had heard from 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."

The Lord is giving His love and His righteousness, His righteous love. Throughout the Book of Revelation, John has been asked to speak it, write it, tell it to others what he has seen. Remember that John is an old man who had been left on the island of Patmos to die. God had another plan. He will be rescued and he will be taken to Ephesus. He will be the only apostle to die of natural causes by the way. He may have been an old man, but he still preached. Was he not the author of the gospel of John in the Bible? Did he not write 1, 2 and 3rd John? Did he not write the Book of Revelation? Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Bible without error! John is an author of several books of the Bible.

What you and I do as Christians, apparently will last forever! So when people ask you how your investments are doing, you can honestly answer them, they are quite effective! Make an investment today by telling people about Jesus! What we do to help further the kingdom of God will make eternal investments in the furthering of the gospel of Jesus to the world.

What is happening here is that the angel is telling John to know it, take it in, digest it, understand it. For you will experience that my Word is pleasant and wonderful to taste, because I love, save, forgive and redeem. But John the more you eat of my Word and know it more, you will see that when it is rejected and ignored, it brings terrible judgment and horrific destruction to mankind. It will make you so glad and joyous, because of My grace and mercy, and at times you will be filled with such sadness over evil and because of man's rebellion.

As a Christian, I can see where the world is going and I know what is coming. As a Christian, I am glad about a lot of things, heaven and my assurance that I will be going there when I die or when I am raptured. I am sad about the evil in the world today and how far people are going in their rebellion against God.

As a mother, I am glad that my daughters know the Lord and will be going to heaven. I am commanded to bring them up in the ways of the Lord as I am instructed, but sad to know that world they are living in and will be will only get worse in the days and years ahead.

I am glad that God is working things out by the readers who stop by here and encouraged in their faith, to pick up where they have stopped and have come back to Him after a time of being away and are growing again. I am sad when I see others I know that have lost their faith in Him because of circumstances that they feel He has fallen short of investing in their own marriages, spouses and children. They are spending tremendous efforts of time and money to buy things they want in life. They have divorced themselves from their families. Their children don't know the Lord. This is sad and an indictment on us.

What shall it profit you to gain the whole world but lose your soul?

It breaks my heart to see people giving up on God. They give up on God and His will in their life, in pursuit of more money. It's a house of cards, it's all going to come down. Talk to someone who is dying and your alignment will line up real quick. If God has blessed you, turn it around and crank it up for God. He will never be indebted to you. There are rich people, who die rich and are super rich in heaven because they have invested in God's kingdom! There are poor people, who die poor and are poor in heaven because they have invested little in God's kingdom. This doesn't have anything to do with how much you have, it has everything to do with what you do with what you have! A poor person could invest what they do have time, effort, it could be a dollar, but it is spent wisely and they are rich in heaven.

It could be a rich believer invests very little with God and it winds up that they are very very poor in heaven. It's all about making eternal investments in heaven. The greatest investment is the one in God's economy that has eternal dividends that have blessings right now. What are you investing in? God's not impressed by the millionaires status, but by the offering that comes from our heart instead.

Are You a Sinner or a Transgressor?

We have been studying the Book of Revelation and come to another pause in the chronology of the story of God's judgment as it is being poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world. God does this to infuse hope into us at this point because had He not, we might forget that God is merciful, He is loving and He is kind despite the wrath being unleashed. He reminds us that the victory has already been decided by the time we get to Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:14, in what is known as a parenthetical pause or insert. A pause button or interlude in the midst of what has been happening and from this point in our study, we know that God has issued a promise that there will be no more delay in dispensing forth His judgment upon the earth.

If you were to read the Book of Revelation from the beginning to this point in our study, you might find yourself a bit mixed up without understand what is happening and why it is happening through a parenthetical insert at this point. It would make sense to understand that confusion as I did when I read through Revelation the first time, without really studying the context and content of what is happening. Now it begins to make sense a bit more and I hope it is for you as well.

Anytime in Bible doctrine, before God sends judgment, He has always sent messengers or an announcement before it happens. He always gives people an opportunity to repent before it happens. I believe that God is sending that message to all of us today, especially in America to turn back to Him and repent of its evil, the church for its laziness, nationwide America is asleep spiritually, and we need to wake up before its too late. We see Christianity under attack like never before, from marriage, to sexual orientation, to privacy issues, in every facet of our lives. It is fine for other religions to stand for what they believe but no where is there more intolerance than when it comes from a Christian perspective. Don't think it will stop there. It will come to your door. Down south, the ACLU recently won a battle to prevent public baptisms from taking place in a city park, and even now in California the debate is on for the issue of privacy in public restrooms, showers and locker rooms to keep boys on their side and girls on their side, despite what gender they might identify with. I can't even imagine how this would even be an issue, but it is. The fight is far from being over. We, as a body of believers, need to stand up, wake up and get to work. Our very rights and freedoms are on the line and I believe this is God's chance for believers to stand up for what this country was founded on.

We know as we remember at the beginning of this chapter that there is a debate among scholars on who this mighty angel is in the first verse. Some commentaries would argue that it is Jesus, while still others believe it to be Michael, the archangel. We are missing the point however, the message or the origin of the message comes from heaven. This messenger is of divine origin. Who it is is irrelevant, it is the origin of the message that is important.

We know based on the description found in Revelation 10 about the appearance of this mighty angel that this is where so many scholars believe that it is Jesus. His face like the sun, his legs like fiery pillars, robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head. No one knows the answer for sure. When God desires to speak to man, He speaks from above. We saw that through the prophets and the fathers of the faith before us. We saw it when Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit came down and the Father spoke from above. We know that when Jesus was born, the angels descended from heaven and that they spoke.

Not only does the angel have a divine description, he also has a divine duty. Before he speaks his message, we have to note his posture. He puts one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, holds his hand up to heaven and swears an oath unto God. We know that only God can keep His oaths, man is not able. We need God's help to remember our promises we make to Him. We need to be dependent on The Promise Keeper. When God promises something, He will always keep His Word. When God swears an oath, you know that He will keep it. The angel is standing in a position of great authority.

We learn that what John sees and hears at this point in Revelation, he is commanded not to write down or speak of. We will not know what this means, what he heard. Despite the many commentaries written about what they think it might be, the only ones who will know for certain what it is, are those living on the earth during the final years of the Tribulation Period. It's not for us to know. We know that this messenger swears on oath on a divine promise from verses 5-8 in Revelation.

Revelation 10:5-7 ~ "Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

God never changes. Despite what is written in the Bible, we can rely on the things we read and rest in the assurance that God won't change. He remains consistent.

Hebrews 6:17-18 ~ "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged."

Isn't it wonderful the know what our hope is anchored to? What hope does the world have and to what is it anchored to? People might place their hopes in the stock market, that it will continue to rise, but we all know it won't stay that way. People might hope that despite all their planning that they will stay healthy, but we know at some point, despite all their efforts, they will die one day. Know this that one day all the things of the earth will end eventually.

As a Christian, we don't have to hope as the world does. Our hope is sustained in two unchangeable things, that God the Father and God the Son, swore an oath to save me. That will NOT be broken. Even though I am a sinner, I still have hope in eternity. Jesus Christ paid the price. I couldn't afford the ticket. I get to go, because He said so. Don't take that as arrogant, because it is not about what we can do to get us there, it is all about what Jesus did. I can't save myself, Jesus did that for me. This is why I can be assured that won't hope it will be alright in the end, I know it will be alright in the end. My hope is guaranteed on the basis of the cross, the resurrection, the fact that He ascended back up into heaven, that the Holy Spirit arrived on the day of Pentecost to assure us that Christ arrived in heaven, remember He said when He got there, He would send us the promise of the Father. If you're a Christian, we know that the Holy Spirit lives inside our heart.

If Christ comes back to day to rapture the church or I die today, I know I am going to heaven. I have that 100% assurance by my faith in Jesus. Now let us understand the "mystery of God."

Colossians 2:1-2 ~ " I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,"

It's that Jesus Christ, alone, saves us.

Ephesians 2:5-9 ~ "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

Notice it doesn't say sin? It says transgressions. If sin is bad, transgressions is worse if you could place a meter on it. Sin in the Greek, means to miss the mark. It's an archery term taken from the Olympics. When he pulled out his arrow and missed the target, he was called a sinner. Back then, no one got offended and went back home. He simply didn't hit the target, he missed the mark. Now when we think we are doing things our way, living life to the best of our own expectations, doing what we think God wants, it is the Holy Spirit who calls out to us, "Sinner!" We might say we will pray more, attend church more, live up to the 10 Commandments better, but each time, the Holy Spirit calls out to us, "Sinner!"

For a transgressor, it is like this, God draws a line in the sand, God hands us His Bible and tells us for example, not to have sex before marriage. It will mess you up both spiritually and physically. We see the line in the sand, we know that it was placed there by God for our own benefit because He knows what is best for us, and we take our own will into consideration and cross the line, willfully knowing what you are doing is wrong, but you do it anyway. It's not that you missed the mark, you saw the line, knowing what it meant, and basically said, "I don't care," and walk over it anyway. Your will not God's. That is transgression.

Jesus died for us even when we were transgressors, 2000 years ago. For both sinners and transgressors alike. The Old Testament called transgressions "sins of the High Hands," or to boldly sin against God. You know what you are doing is wrong. It's our sin nature and we are rebels without God's control in our lives. We love to admit that we are sinners, but I wonder how many of us would admit that we are transgressors. We demand our own way and that is the problem with the world today.