Participants: Jack McIntosh
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000015
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00:29 Hello, I'm Jack McIntosh, from Weimar Institute,
00:33 Weimar, California. 00:35 And today, we're going to look at a very interesting 00:38 verse of scripture in the Book of Revelation. 00:40 It's probably a verse of scripture that many of you 00:43 are familiar with and we're going to look 00:45 at some of the ramifications and the implications 00:49 of this verse, as it relates to the Lord's coming 00:53 and as it relates to our translation 00:55 into the kingdom of God. 00:58 The Chapter of course is Revelation 14, 01:01 very familiar verses in six and seven. 01:05 It reads like this, "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, 01:11 he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live 01:14 on the earth to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 01:18 He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give Him glory, 01:24 for the hour of His judgment has come. 01:26 Worship Him, who made the heavens, 01:28 the earth, the seas, and the springs of water.'" 01:32 The reason, one of the reasons, 01:33 that this is such an interesting verse of scripture 01:37 is because when you look at the Book of Revelation, 01:40 if you've ever looked at the word gospel, 01:44 you will notice that the term gospel is used only one time 01:50 in all of the Book of Revelation. 01:52 And this reference to the gospel is not just 01:57 a casual reference as we see in many other parts of scripture. 02:01 It is referred to as the eternal gospel 02:04 or the everlasting gospel, so there's something about 02:07 this version of the gospel that is going to last forever. 02:10 That's the first thing that we see in verse 6. 02:14 The second thing that we notice about this is that 02:17 it is proclaimed to every nation, 02:20 every kindred, tongue, and people and this version 02:22 it says every tribe, every language, and people. 02:27 What that means of course is that 02:28 it is a universal message and it goes to all the world. 02:33 The third thing that we notice about this is that 02:36 the angle says in a loud voice, 02:38 "Fear God, give Him glory 02:40 because the hour of His judgment has come." 02:43 If you look at the language carefully, 02:45 you'll see that this is not a declaration, but a command. 02:49 Now that's very interesting because in most of scripture 02:52 when you see the gospel mention, 02:54 it's not usually called the everlasting gospel, 02:57 but when you do see it mention, 02:59 it's usually in terms of a declaration about 03:02 the Lamb of God who has given his sacrifice for us, 03:06 who has paid the price for our sins. 03:09 But in this case we see that the gospel is, 03:12 is presented in terms of a command. 03:15 And the command is a very specific command. 03:18 It begins with a phrase, "Fear God." 03:23 If you've ever done a study on what it means to fear God, 03:27 you'll find some very, very interesting things. 03:30 If we go over to the Book of Exodus 03:33 for instance in Chapter 20, that's the famous Chapter 03:39 that presents the Ten Commandments. 03:42 We find that in verse 20 of Exodus 20 03:44 and it's very easy to remember because it's 20:20. 03:48 Good vision, if you will. 03:50 You'll notice that Moses says to the people, 03:55 "Do not be afraid, God has come to test you." 03:59 Now of course, the scene here is at the Mountain Sinai 04:06 when they're receiving the law of God 04:10 and there is a lot of fire and smoke and things going on 04:13 and trumpets blowing and the people are afraid, 04:15 they're trembling with fear, 04:17 as you see in verse 18 of Exodus 20. 04:21 And Moses says to them, "Do not be afraid, 04:25 God has come to test you so that the fear of God 04:30 will be with you to keep you from sinning." 04:34 So when the angel in Revelation 14 04:37 in verse 6, verse 7 says, "Fear God". 04:41 There is a very specific reason 04:45 for commanding us to fear God. 04:49 The command is designed to keep us from sinning. 04:53 And if you look throughout scripture you will also see 04:55 that the fear of God is always, 04:58 almost always connected with the commandments of God. 05:03 If we go over to for instance Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 05:10 and if we look at Ecclesiastes 12, 05:13 we see a very interesting juxtaposition 05:18 of the term "Fear God" noticed in verse 13, 05:23 of chapter 12, it says, 05:26 "Now all has been heard, 05:27 here is the conclusion of the matter, 05:30 Fear God and keep His commandments, 05:33 for this is the whole duty of man. 05:36 For God will bring every deed into judgment, 05:39 including every hidden thing, 05:41 whether it is good or evil." 05:43 So we see that the fear of God is supposed to 05:45 keep us from sinning and we see that the fear of God 05:49 is supposed to help us, empower us 05:52 to keep His commandments. 05:54 So, the term "Fear God" there is 05:56 a very, very significant term 05:59 and as I said before is almost always connected 06:04 with the idea of keeping God's commandments 06:09 and being obedient to Him. 06:10 You know, the Apostle John says, 06:12 something very interesting. 06:15 He says, "He that does the will of God abides forever." 06:20 The will of God, is of course expressed 06:23 in His commandments and so it is entirely appropriate 06:27 that we should have the fear of God 06:29 connected with the keeping of His commandments. 06:32 Now, the second part of the message, 06:35 the first part, pardon me says, 06:38 "Fear God," the second part says, 06:40 "Give Him Glory," and that expression 06:44 is also pregnant with meaning. 06:47 If we study and look for the references 06:50 that refer to glorifying God, 06:53 we see some very interesting things emerging, 06:57 one of which is found in Exodus, Chapter 33, 07:03 and if we go there for a second, 07:06 we find-- we pick it up with Moses 07:09 making a very specific request from God. 07:14 Now Moses had a very intimate relationship 07:17 with God, spoke to God, face to face, 07:20 it says in other places as a man speaks to 07:22 his friend you can find that in Exodus 33, in fact verse 11, 07:26 the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, 07:29 as a man speaks with his friend, 07:33 so God is our friend and Moses had 07:35 a very special friendship with God. 07:38 Moses made a very special request of his special friend. 07:42 In verse 18 of Chapter 33 of Exodus, 07:47 Moses says to his friend God, 07:50 "Now show me your glory, and the Lord said, 07:55 I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, 07:58 and I will proclaim my name, 08:00 the Lord in your presence." 08:02 Now if you notice, when Moses makes 08:04 the request the Lord doesn't talk about light, 08:08 as most people would expect him to talk about. 08:10 He begins to talk about his character, 08:13 you notice, I will cause my goodness 08:16 to pass in front of you. 08:17 And then of course, over in Chapter 34, 08:21 the next chapter, God actually causes 08:24 His glory to pass in front of Moses 08:27 and notice what appears to Moses. 08:30 It isn't light per se, what is it? 08:33 Well, it says, verse 5 of Chapter 34, 08:36 "Then the Lord came down in the cloud 08:38 and stood there with him and proclaimed his name," 08:42 notice his name of course is a designation for his character. 08:47 "And he passed in front of Moses 08:49 proclaiming the Lord, the compassionate, 08:52 the gracious God, slow to anger, 08:55 abounding in love," you see, 08:56 so far we're talking only about character attributes. 09:00 So the glory of God has something 09:02 to do with his character, 09:05 "abounding in love and faithfulness, 09:08 maintaining love to thousands, 09:11 and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin." 09:14 So here we see clearly that giving glory to God 09:18 has something to do with reflecting the character 09:22 of God and that of course is a very significant statement 09:26 for us, as we go back to the verse 09:29 that we're considering here verse 7 of Revelation 14. 09:34 "Fear God and give him glory." 09:36 Now these two requests or commands 09:38 I should say not necessarily request the commands, 09:41 these two commands are given for a reason. 09:45 The next word says, "Because the hour 09:48 of his judgment has come." 09:50 So somehow by being obedient 09:53 to those two commands to Fear God 09:55 and to give Him glory those two things 09:58 are connected to the judgment. 10:00 The reason that we fear God and give Him glory 10:03 is because the hour of his judgment has come. 10:06 Well, you may ask yourself then, 10:08 how is the fear of God and giving Him 10:11 glory connected with the judgment? 10:14 Well, you, you-- the obvious thing here 10:18 of course is that the judgment is presented 10:21 in terms of the everlasting gospel. 10:24 We all know that gospel means good news. 10:26 And here is a very curious thing 10:29 because the term judgment is used 10:33 in terms of the good news. 10:36 Most people of course don't think 10:39 of the judgment as good news, 10:40 in fact in presenting this particular study 10:45 at one to one group recently, 10:48 I asked the question, 10:49 how do we think of the judgment? 10:53 Good news or bad news? 10:54 And the response was we usually think 10:55 of the judgment as bad news. 10:58 However, the Bible clearly shows us 11:02 that the judgment is not necessarily bad news. 11:06 It is bad news for the wicked. 11:08 But I want to show you something 11:10 from the Book of Daniel that clearly indicates 11:14 that the judgment is in fact not bad news 11:18 but good news for the people of God. 11:21 Notice, Daniel 7, pardon me, and verse 21. 11:27 Daniel is talking about a great persecuting power 11:31 that is persecuting the Saints of God. 11:34 "As I watched, this horn was waging war 11:36 against the saints and defeating them," 11:40 verse 22 says, "Until the ancient of days 11:44 came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints 11:51 of the most high, and the time came 11:53 when they possessed the kingdom." 11:56 Now obviously, what that is saying, 11:59 is that this particular judgment that God pronounces, 12:03 this judgment that is pronounced 12:05 in favor of the saints allows them 12:08 to possess the kingdom. 12:10 In other words, this judgment actually puts 12:13 the people of God, beyond the reach of Satan forever. 12:18 Well, that's good news isn't it? 12:20 Of course it is and that's why the term judgment 12:23 appears in the context 12:26 of the everlasting good news or the everlasting gospel. 12:29 The judgment is good news for us and we should, 12:34 we should recognize it as such. 12:37 In 1 John, the Book of 1 John, 12:41 just before Revelation, 1 John 4, 12:44 John who was one of the disciples 12:46 that was closest to the Lord Jesus Christ 12:49 makes an interesting declaration in Chapter 4, 12:53 of verse--I'm sorry, Chapter 4 and verse 16. 13:00 He says the following, "God is love 13:05 whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. 13:13 In this way, love is made complete 13:17 among us, so that we will have confidence 13:20 on the Day of Judgment 13:21 because in this world we are like him." 13:23 What is the character trait that prepares us 13:29 to have confidence in the Day of Judgment? 13:31 The answer is the love of God transferred to human hearts. 13:36 Remember that the context of this statement 13:38 about being ready and prepared 13:40 and having confidence in the judgment 13:44 is in fact the love of God, 13:46 transferred to human hearts. 13:50 The Apostle Peter of course, 13:52 picks up on this theme of this whole idea of love 13:58 being transferred to us and in second Peter Chapter 1, 14:05 he talks about the divine power 14:07 that has been given so that we've everything 14:10 we need verse 3, for life and godliness 14:12 through our knowledge of him who was called us 14:14 by his own glory and goodness. 14:16 Now he says "Through these he has given us 14:19 his very great and precious promises noticed 14:22 that through them you may participate 14:25 or the King James says, partake 14:29 of the divine nature and escape the corruption 14:32 in the world caused by evil desires." 14:35 So we see then that this idea 14:41 that we're to participate in the divine nature 14:44 that the love of God is 14:45 to possess our hearts and minds, 14:47 we see that this is 14:48 really what prepares us for the judgment. 14:54 And John, of course says that when we have 14:56 this confidence in the judgment 14:59 the confidence comes from the fact notice, 15:02 because in this world we are like him. 15:06 Now he just said a couple of minutes 15:09 before that, that God is love. 15:11 But he's really talking about is the fact 15:13 that the people of God have the character of love. 15:17 And so when we see in the context 15:21 of Revelation 14:7, the commands to Fear God 15:25 and to Give Him Glory, we see that 15:29 we not only are obedient to the commandments of God 15:33 because we have the fear of God in our hearts, 15:36 but we also give Him glory by reflecting his character. 15:40 And by keeping his commandments 15:42 and reflecting his character of love, 15:44 we are prepared for the judgment 15:48 and the judgment of course is good news for the saints. 15:51 The Book of Psalms also picks up this idea 15:54 about the judgment being good news for the people of God 15:59 and it's found in no other place 16:02 than right in the very beginning of the Book of Psalms 16:05 that is Psalms, Chapter 1. 16:07 And I can remember when I first discovered this principle 16:11 that the judgment is indeed good news for the people of God, 16:15 I can remember that I was really quite taken by it 16:19 and really desired to study it more. 16:22 You remember that in Psalms, Chapter 1, 16:25 David pronounces a blessing on people 16:28 that for instance don't walk in the council of the wicked 16:33 or stand in the way of sinners. 16:35 In verse 2, he says, 16:36 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord." 16:41 Now remember what Jesus said 16:42 about the law of God, somebody asked him a question once, 16:45 you know, they said, "Now, rabbi, tell us, 16:49 what's the most important commandment in the scriptures?" 16:54 And the Lord said, "You shall love the Lord 16:56 your God with all your heart, mind and soul." 17:00 And the second commandment is like it 17:01 you shall love your neighbor as yourself, 17:03 and then he said all the law 17:06 and the prophets hang on these two commandments. 17:12 So the ultimate essence if you will of the law of God 17:17 is to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. 17:20 That is in fact what righteousness is. 17:23 Righteousness in fact is love. 17:26 To be righteous is to have that law of love 17:29 in our hearts and minds and we'll see that in a minute. 17:32 Now let's go back to Psalms, Chapter 1, 17:34 notice what he says, 17:36 "His delight is in the law of the Lord, 17:39 and in his law he meditates day and night." 17:42 Now this person, who is righteous, 17:45 who meditates in the law of the Lord 17:48 further down in verse 5, he says the following, 17:52 "Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 17:57 nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous." 18:02 In other words, there is a judgment for the righteous 18:06 and there is a judgment for the wicked. 18:09 The judgment for the righteous is one that vindicates 18:12 the character of God that demonstrates 18:14 the character of God and in fact shows 18:18 that it is possible for people in human form to live 18:23 the same life that Jesus did by having the law of the Lord 18:27 written in his heart and mind. 18:28 And by the way, that is the definition of righteousness. 18:32 If we go over to, pardon me, to Isaiah, 18:37 and we look at Chapter 51, 18:42 we see a very interesting definition of righteousness 18:46 there in Chapter 51. 18:49 Notice what it says, "Hear me," 18:53 and the King James says, "Hearken unto me, 18:55 you who know righteousness," 18:57 verse 7, "the people in whose heart is my law." 19:03 You see that the definition of the righteous 19:06 are the people in whose heart is the law of God. 19:09 That's why when Jesus 19:12 at the last supper lifted the cup, 19:16 he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 19:20 And of course we know from the Book of Jeremiah 31, 19:28 this is the first place that the term new covenant 19:30 appears we know that God made a promise. 19:33 He said I will put my law in their minds 19:36 and write it in their hearts. 19:37 Jesus lifted the cup and the cup represented of course 19:41 the putting of the covenant into effect. 19:45 The ratification of the covenant as the book 19:49 "Desire of Ages" says. 19:50 In other words, by spilling his blood, 19:53 the covenant, the promise, 19:55 was put into effect that he would put his law, 19:57 his character of love, the law of love of course 20:00 is the ultimate law, He would put that law 20:03 in our minds and he would write it in our hearts. 20:06 When we have that law in our minds, 20:09 in other words on the front burner 20:11 and when we have that law written in our hearts, 20:15 the fruit of love springs spontaneously 20:18 from within and that is the essence of righteousness 20:22 and it is the essence of the plan of redemption 20:24 because the plan of redemption involves 20:27 a transfer of character from God to human beings, 20:31 the character of God being one of pure love. 20:35 And when we love God supremely 20:36 and our neighbor as ourselves, guess what? 20:40 We're fitted for heaven. 20:41 God doesn't have to do anything more to us 20:43 because we have His character, we're ready. 20:45 That's why John says, in 1 John 4, 20:48 he says, if you have the character of God, 20:52 you have no fear in the judgment. 20:53 If you've the love of the God in your heart, 20:56 you don't have to fear anything in the judgment 20:59 and that indeed is good news. 21:02 My favorite author puts it this way in the book, 21:06 "Christ's Object Lessons," 21:07 she says, "Character determines destiny." 21:13 Isn't that beautiful? Character determines destiny. 21:17 And it really does determine our destiny. 21:20 In fact, just to prove what I'm talking about. 21:23 Let's go over to Matthew 25, because in Matthew 25, 21:28 we find a very interesting declaration of how it is 21:33 that people will be accounted righteous or wicked. 21:38 And here in Matthew 25, it begins with verse 31. 21:44 Jesus told several parables to indicate 21:48 how things were going to rap up over time. 21:53 And at the end of the world I should say, not over time. 21:56 And this last parable that he told concerning the sheep 22:03 and the goats is a very, very interesting one 22:06 because what it does is it presents the judgment. 22:09 It shows us the criteria that God is going to use 22:13 to in fact make a judgment about 22:16 who spends eternity with him. 22:19 And here's what it says, 22:22 "When the son of man comes in his glory, 22:25 and all the angels with him, 22:27 he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 22:31 All the nations will be gathered before him" verse 32 " 22:34 and he will separate the people one from another." 22:40 Well, that indicates the work of judgment, 22:42 the final separation between the righteous 22:46 and the wicked doesn't it. 22:48 And notice the criteria that he will use to separate 22:52 the righteous from the wicked. 22:55 "He will separate the people from another, 22:57 one from another as a shepherd 22:59 separates the sheep from the goats. 23:03 He will put the sheep on his right 23:04 and the goats on his left," 23:07 all right sheep representing the righteous, 23:09 "Then the king will say to those on his right. 23:12 Come, you who are blessed of my father, 23:15 take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you 23:19 since the creation of the world. 23:23 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, 23:30 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, 23:33 I was a stranger and you invited me in. 23:39 I needed clothes and you clothed me, 23:42 I was sick and you looked after me, 23:47 I was in prison and you came to visit me. 23:52 Then the righteous will answer, 23:54 Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty 23:58 and give you something to drink? 23:59 When did we see you a stranger 24:00 and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? 24:04 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? 24:07 The king replies, I tell you the truth, 24:11 whatever you did for one of the least of these 24:14 my brothers you did it for me." 24:19 And so, we see that this business of reflecting 24:25 the character of God, the compassion of God, 24:29 the love of God, the kindness, the mercy, 24:33 all these things are in fact the criteria for the judgment 24:39 and it is really the transfer of the character of God 24:42 from God himself to us. 24:44 This partaking of the divine nature that Peter talks about 24:49 that really is the bottom line in the judgment, isn't it? 24:52 It's really what will decide our destiny, 24:56 that's why the author of the book 24:59 Christ's Object Lessons says, 25:01 character--character determines destiny. 25:05 So as we go back to Revelation 14, 25:08 we see again that the judgment then, 25:11 the preparation for the judgment is the fear of God 25:13 and giving him glory. 25:15 Now it also says that we should worship him 25:17 who made the heavens, the earth, the seas, 25:19 and the springs of waters, 25:20 well, that's a very interesting thing. 25:22 You see, there are lots of people 25:24 that are worshipping God today, 25:26 but not everybody is worshipping God as the creator 25:31 and if you look at Exodus 20, 25:33 the reason for giving us the commandment to worship God, 25:38 there in Exodus 20, we find that it really talks about God 25:41 as the creator, it gives the reason 25:44 for paying attention to the Sabbath commandment. 25:48 It mentions the fact that God created the heavens 25:52 and the earth and rested on the seventh day, 25:55 so this declaration, this command to worship him 26:00 who made the heavens, the earth, the seas, 26:02 and the fountains of waters is really something 26:05 that goes right back to the law of God, 26:08 the character of God, and the transfer of 26:10 that character to us as human beings. 26:13 So, in conclusion as we look at Revelation 14 again, 26:18 and as we see the three parts of the eternal gospel 26:23 the preparation for the judgment that is, 26:26 to fear God and give him glory. 26:29 We remember then that this involves 26:32 the transfer of character to human beings. 26:35 The love of God is to be in the heart 26:38 according to the new covenant commandment. 26:40 And that these two things the fear of God 26:45 and the glory of God prepare us 26:48 in fact to be declared eternally righteous 26:52 and eternally beyond the reach of Satan forever. 26:55 Worshipping him as the one who made the heavens, 26:59 the earth, the seas, and the fountains of waters 27:03 is also a part of the eternal gospel. 27:06 Some people of course would say 27:07 that worship really has nothing to do with the gospel. 27:11 But apparently, in this declaration of the gospel 27:14 and it is the very last declaration of the gospel, 27:18 we find that worship is very, very important, 27:21 in fact in Revelation rather in Isaiah 66, 27:25 it talks about the fact that one of the things 27:27 that human beings will do when the earth is new 27:30 it says all flesh will come to worship before me, 27:36 so worship is going to be a very, very important part 27:39 of what we--a very important action of what 27:42 we do when the earth is made new. 27:46 And that's why I believe it is included 27:49 in what we now recognize as the last declaration 27:53 of the eternal gospel to prepare us 27:56 for the judgment and for God's kingdom. |
Revised 2014-12-17