Who Can Stand?
The Revelation of Jesus Christ Series • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 50:57
0 ratings
· 11 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
I Have a “God Box” … I made mine small, bright so it would grab my attention, I even labeled it so I would know and remember.
Some of you are judging me right now
Some of you are thinking, “My box is much bigger”
Some of you are wondering, “why so small?”
Some of you are thinking, “I don’t put God in a box!”… maybe so, at least not intentionally.
This morning as we look at our passage and other scriptures I want our minds & hearts to be challenged as to this God we serve…
LAST WEEK...
We looked at how all of us were under God’s wrath as sinners.
This God as a Holy, Righteous God must deal with sin.
Being in God’s wrath He provided a way… Jesus Christ.
We saw the consequence of REJECTING God’s gift, His Grace, His Mercy… as we watched the first six bowls of His wrath poured out!
As we consider the magnitude of this God we serve and worship, I want us to look briefly at The Great I AM…
“I AM”
“I AM”
It would be in Exodus as God is about to free His people Israel from Egypt, that God would introduce Himself to Moses… Exodus 3:13-15
Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.
This name declared that the God who IS (exists… there is a SELF EXISTENCE HERE!), the God who IS God (the living God, the real God), the God upon whose existence all that exists depends!
This forms the covenant name of God YAHWEH
As God introduces Himself to Israel and us He would also introduce Himself to Job… we discover His infinite power in Job 38:1-4 and following more in Job 40:6-11
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
“Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said,
“Now gird up your loins like a man;
I will ask you, and you instruct Me.
“Will you really annul My judgment?
Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
“Or do you have an arm like God,
And can you thunder with a voice like His?
“Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
And clothe yourself with honor and majesty.
“Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
And look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.
After God introduces Himself this way the only response Job can reply with is Job 42:1-6
Then Job answered the Lord and said,
“I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
“Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
‘Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will ask You, and You instruct me.’
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.”
This POWERFUL I AM would not stop there in showing us His POWER & MAGNITUDE… John declares this in his gospel John 1:1-5 & 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The GREAT I AM… Became flesh!
It is in John that The Word, the God who desired to communicate His Love and Power, declares over and over the “I AM” statements… declaring Himself God!
I am the Bread of Life
I am the Light of the World
I am before Abraham
I am the Door
I am the Good Shepherd
I am the Resurrection & Life
I am the Way, Truth, & Life
I am the Vine
Isaiah 44:6 would be where God declares…
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.
In Revelation 1:8 God begins this great book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ with …
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
As we come to the seventh bowl let us not forget… the angel is the messenger, the agent who carries and pours out GOD’S WRATH… this is from God almighty! Let’s begin as we remember the sixth angel in Revelation 16:12-21
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.
And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;
for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
(“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)
And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”
And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.
Gathering The Nations
Gathering The Nations
The Euphrates river is dried up… Armies from the East (most likely) Asia will now have access…
To What??? To Where??? What is west of the River Euphrates?
The Holy Land, Israel… Jerusalem!
Notice in our passage… God clears the way, YET it is The Dragon (satan) and the two beast (anti-christ and false prophet) that call them there
Spirits like frogs… vs 14 defines them as demons (messengers of Satan)
They go out to the WORLD! to bring together and gather the world’s armies and rulers!
Any hesitancy is removed by these demons and their works
Regardless of whether they come to seek global power, overthrow the world dictator, they are drawn there by Satan who knows his time is short and he is preparing!
The Place of Gathering… Armageddon!
The Place of Gathering… Armageddon!
The Jezreel Valley, Meggido, Har-Magedon
A valley 14 miles wide and about 67 long (1000 square miles)
Barak & Deborah fought the Canaanites here and God gave victory
Gideon with his army of 300 would see God give victory over a Midianite army that could not be counted
Elijah would take the prophets of baal down to this valley from Mt Carmel after God’s great victory and kill them all there
King Saul along with Jonathan and later King Josiah would die in battle here
Amir Tsarfati says this of the area:
The city of Megiddo was strategically located between the north-south and east-west crossroads. Egyptian King Thuthmose III (1504–1450 BC) said that the one who conquers Megiddo conquers a thousand cities. Napoleon saw the Jezreel Valley as the most natural location on earth for battles. It was there that he scattered the Ottomans in 1799.
As long as history can remember back, Megiddo and the area around it have been a place for wars and battles.
Archaeologist have unearthed over twenty layers of Megiddo that were crushed and rebuilt
Not far from there is a small town called Nazareth just 10 miles away
The boy Jesus would have seen this valley many times
Gazing on this valley, Christ would know that one day there would be a gathering of the nations, those who blaspheme and reject Him as Sovereign God… as the GREAT I AM… and there it would be that they would suffer the judgment of their rebellion and rejection.
We see this GATHERING and then the narrative takes an abrupt turn and Jesus Christ’s words are interjected verse 15…
There as Israel sees this army coming, as John’s readers see this happening there is an assurance (I AM) is coming!
Verses 17-21 give us a glimpse of what we will look at in detail over the next three chapters… the seventh bowl is poured out!!!
Trampling The Nations
Trampling The Nations
ALL THE WORLD leaders and armies, weapons, powers and capabilities… versus ONE!!! (Doesn't seem fair does it, nor wise)
This “GREAT I AM” we have been looking at is OMNIPOTENT!!! = “ALL-POWERFUL”
The visuals John pens out for us here are spectacular!…
Babylon torn into three parts
A global earthquake
Hail… upon those who blaspheme God Almighty
This omnipotent God fights the natural with the SUPERNATURAL!
Global earthquake, melts mountains & sinks islands
One-hundred pound hail stones… no where to hide
Seeds of confusion, panic, and fear causing armies and man to destroy each other
Or just speaking a WORD… ENOUGH!… “IT IS DONE”! and man ceases to breath.
Jesus Christ is coming… preparing for His reign on earth! Daniel would write in 9:24… “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”
With the pouring of this seventh bowl comes Christ and He is declaring, “It is done!”
How does that “BOX” look now???
How does that “BOX” look now???
Big or small… we need to open the lid
Allow God to be in our hearts and minds as MAJESTIC as He truly is…
Hebrews says “it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God” the Great I AM
Those who do not have a relationship with Him, that is their fate
YET how wonderful for those of us who know Him, have that relationship, to be held in His arms!
Here is the BOTTOM LINE… You and I need to start LIVING in light of who this GREAT I AM is…
Our thoughts need to change
Our actions need to reflect Him
Our life needs to be lived like He is
Our outlook and our plans need to represent this truth
OUR PRAYERS… oh how they need to reflect that it is THE I AM that we speak to
Our fears, concerns, and sorrows… need to be viewed in the stark contrast of this GREAT GOD WE SERVE!
I titled my message today, “Who Can Stand?” … the short answer, NONE. We will ALL one day bow the knee before the king of kings and lord of lords…
I CHOOSE TO BOW NOW!
