A Relationship And A Destiny - Conclusion

 

Our passage this morning tells us that God has brought us into not a religion but a relationship.  We are no longer debtors to the old way of life, the way of life without God in Christ…and that old way of life has only one end result…death.  Our passage tells us:

               “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship.  When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

               Now that word that’s translated “sonship” in our pew Bibles is better translated “adoption” and that term would have a particular meaning to the first century Christians reading this letter from Paul.  And the phrase “fellow heirs with Christ” would have more precisely meant “joint heirs with Christ.”

               In the ancient world, particularly in the Roman world, adoption meant much more than it does today.  Today we think of adoption as simply bringing someone into a family by making them a son or daughter.  But in the Roman world adoption was a form of what we call Estate Planning.   Adoption was the means used to ensure the perpetuation of one’s family name and it was used to ensure who would receive the primary inheritance from the family patriarch.  A father’s inheritance was not split evenly between surviving children, the bulk of the inheritance went to either the firstborn son or it went to a son who was adopted with this special purpose in mind…that purpose being the perpetuation of the family name and the reception of the inheritance.  The adopted person was called into a relationship with a destiny.

               There are many instances of fathers adopting sons in the ancient world, usually as adult males, males that they trusted, in order to pass the family name and wealth on to them.  The bulk of the estate went to the adopted son…other siblings would never share equally…they would usually receive only token amounts.

               But Paul by the Holy Spirit tells us that we are not only adopted, we have not only received the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of relationship, of Father – daughter and Father – son relationship…BUT…we are fellow heirs with Christ…or more literally…we are joint heirs with Christ.  Christ is, of course, the firstborn Son, and the first century Christian would expect Him to receive the bulk of the inheritance…BUT…God says, “I’ve made you a joint heir with my firstborn Son Jesus Christ.”  God says, “I’ve predestined you to share equally with my firstborn in all the treasures of a relationship with Me and in all the treasures of heaven.”

               Does that sound like a maintenance mentality?  Does that sound like a billionaire father who requires his children to eat out of restaurant garbage bags?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to lose the game of life?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to be afraid?  Afraid of failure?  Afraid of winning?  Afraid of growing?  Afraid of relationship with Him and with each other?

               We haven’t received the spirit of slavery, or the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but we’ve received the Spirit of relationship, the Spirit of Father – daughter relationship, the Spirit of Father – son relationship - and we cry out, Daddy! Father!

               The word “religion” has the ancient idea behind it of “binding oneself to God.”  The idea was (and is) that you get back to God and bind yourself to Him by binding yourself to rules and regulations that are supposed to make you righteous and acceptable to God.  The irony is that the reason God gave us the law of Moses in what we call the Old Testament is to prove to us that we couldn’t bind ourselves to Him by what we do or don’t do – in other words – God gave us religion to prove to us that religion doesn’t work but that relationship is what He is all about.

               Galatians 4:1 – 7, page 178 in our pew Bibles:

               “I mean the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.  So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe.  But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son than an heir.”

               Are we living like sons and daughters of the living God or like slaves living in fear?  Are we on the playing field of life just trying to “get by,” trying not to lose, trying not to win?  Jesus says to us in John 15 that the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit – are we doing our best not to bear fruit because we are afraid of something?  Afraid of the unknown?  Afraid of what people will say?  Afraid we’ll break the negative images we have of ourselves, afraid we’ll break the negative images others have of us, afraid of the unfamiliar?

               Our passage says:

               “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God…the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now…”

               God has a destiny of liberty for you to live in – for you to live in every day of your life.

               What are you afraid of this morning?  Do you have a fear of failure?  Do you have a fear of winning…of accomplishing goals in your life?   God your Father has called you to liberty, to freedom, to spread your wings and fly.  God has called you to a relationship and a destiny.

               Are you fulfilling that destiny?  Are we as a church fulfilling our collective destiny?  Are we just surviving…or are we thriving in Jesus Christ?

A Relationship And A Destiny - Part 2

 

And so…for me…my first prolonged exposure to the church was a rigid system of dos and don’ts.  The church had a culture that based acceptance and righteousness on performance, performing for God and performing for the church.  Since a young person with a beard was out of character with that particular church culture, Mattie asked me to give her a call.  What did that have to do with Jesus?  What did that have to do with a relationship and a destiny?

               I’m looking forward to reading Yancey’s book because I can truly say that I survived the church – as the word is commonly understood – and came to know Jesus. Which is why I love to say that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about a religion but a relationship.

               Now during the past 2 – 3 weeks we’ve been looking at some areas of Biblical prophecy, we’ve looked at a few patterns of history and of prophecy and we’ve spent some time in Revelation chapters 13 and 14.  All too often when Christians look at history, contemporary events, or Biblical prophecy, they look through negative lenses, defeatist lenses.  They live life with a defeatist attitude, or at best, with what I call a maintenance attitude.  In other words, they just try to keep things no worse than they already are.

               Yesterday I was watching a college football game, the University of Florida was playing Louisiana State University and the game was being played at Louisiana State.  Now I love to watch the Florida Gators because their coach, Steve Spurrier, has a wide-open offense and when he steps onto the field he is there to win.  LSU has a fine football team, but as the first half ended the score was Florida 27 – LSU 9.  The LSU coach was being interviewed at halftime and his comment was, “We’ve got to change our attitude.  We can’t win this game unless we change our attitude.”

               The LSU team was not displaying an aggressive attitude on the football field.  They were capable of better play, but better play was only going to come from better attitude.  If they thought they were going to lose then they were going to lose, the Florida Gators were going to have them for lunch.  And in fact they had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner - the final score was 44 – 15 and it would have been worse had not the starting quarterback for Florida sat out the 4^th quarter.

               God has got better things for His people than losing the game of life.  God has got better things for us as a church than a maintenance mentality.  He has better things for you than a maintenance mentality.  He has better things for you than a defeatist mentality.  A person who isn’t going forwards is going backwards, a church that isn’t going forwards is going backwards. 

God doesn’t go backwards, there is no imagery in the Bible that indicates that God goes backwards or that a relationship with Jesus Christ has a reverse gear to it.  God hasn’t called His people to live life in reverse or in neutral, but to have the gearshift engaged and the wheels going forward.  God has called us individually and collectively into a relationship and a destiny.

               God is not interested in what it takes to just “get by.”  God doesn’t just “get by.”  God doesn’t want us to just “get by.”  Do you want your children to just “get by” in school?  Do you want your adult children to just “get by” on their jobs?  What kind of parent has the attitude, “I hope my little Johnny fails at that project,” or “I hope my Susie never gets a job promotion,” or “I hope my son Ted forgets his lines in the school play”?  What kind of parent is like that?  Yet, we seem to think that God is like that…that He just wants us to “get by” in life, to just make it by the skin of our teeth.

               We think God is like a billionaire that requires his children to eat out of restaurant garbage cans in city alleys.  We think God wants us walking around life being proverbial bag men and women, scrounging for whatever we need to just “get by” on a daily basis.  We pat ourselves and each other on the back if we can make the same church budget this year as we did last year.  We pat ourselves on the back if we don’t lose anything in life, we don’t even think about winning anything.  God however…when He called us into a relationship with Jesus Christ…also called us to a destiny in that relationship.

               A football team that goes on the field with the goal not of winning, but of simply not losing, will lose just about every time…in fact…they might as well not show up…because if they have lost the game in their hearts and minds they have lost the game on the field.

               There are people who are afraid of losing…and there are people who are afraid of winning.  There are those who are afraid of success, afraid of accomplishing their goals, afraid of accomplishing God’s purpose for their lives.  And those people make sure that at some point in the football game of life that they throw an interception or fumble the ball – to ensure that they won’t win.  For every person who doesn’t do something because of the fear of failure there’s a person who doesn’t do something because of the fear of success.

to be continued...

A Relationship And A Destiny - Part 1

 

A relationship and a destiny

This was the fourth Sunday after 9/11. I didn’t want our people living in fear, or in worldly reaction to the events around us, I wanted us living as the daughters and sons of the Living God, I wanted us fulfilling our destiny in Jesus Christ.

 

October 7, 2001, A Relationship and a Destiny; Romans 8:12 – 30.

Robert Withers, Becket, MA

 

              Let me tell you about a book I haven’t read yet.  A friend recommended it last week and I’m going to purchase it this week and read it as soon as it arrives.  It’s by a fine author, Phillip Yancey. I’ve never read anything by Yancey that I didn’t like and I’m looking forward to this new release of his.  My friend, Mike Daily, a pastor in Virginia, told Vickie and me that this is an outstanding book.  Now remember, that Michael is a pastor, and this is important, because what do you think Yancey is talking about surviving?  He’s talking about surviving the church and coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The title of the book is “Soul Survivor – How My Faith Survived the Church,” that’s s-o-u-l, not s-o-l-e.

               Yancey shares his experience as a young believer in a church that said all the right things on Sunday, used the right language, sang the right songs, probably dressed a certain way, probably shook hands a certain way, but when they went out the doors of the building on Sunday their semblance of Christianity, if it can be called that, came to an end.  One of the thrusts of Yancey’s book is that in spite of the church – using the word “church” as many people commonly understand it – that in spite of the church, Phillip Yancey came to know Jesus Christ…Yancey is a soul s-o-u-l survivor.  He moved from a religion to a relationship with a destiny.

               I can relate to Yancey’s experience.  I recall as a teenager who wanted to learn about Jesus, going to meet a pastor of the denomination in which I was baptized and leaving my meeting with him thoroughly disillusioned.  He didn’t talk to me about Jesus at all.  He talked to me about the ceremonies of the church and gave me a church handbook explaining all the symbols and liturgy of the denomination…but it didn’t tell me about Jesus, it didn’t tell me about a relationship and a destiny.

I recall two and one – half years ago, visiting my Dad after a major stroke, my heart breaking for my Dad, heavy for my Dad, weighed down by concern that my Dad was going to leave this life without knowing Jesus Christ, weighed down by concern that my Dad was going into eternity without God in Christ.  I stopped at a church to find someone who would care for my Dad spiritually, and as the pastor of this church and I went into a private room…with tears running down my face…the pastor looked at me and began talking about church polity, church government, comparing his denomination’s way of governing with the congregational system.  And I thought to myself, "I can’t believe I’m hearing this.  I can’t believe he’s talking to me about church government issues with my heart breaking and with my Dad critically ill.”  What did church government have to do with Jesus?  What did it have to do with my Dad knowing Jesus?  What did it have to do with my Dad having a relationship and a destiny?

               I recall being on a youth retreat as a 16-year-old and people asking me what I thought about issues of dress and hair styles.  What did issues of dress and hairstyles have to do with Jesus?

               I remember returning to the church where I first heard a clear Gospel presentation.  I had been gone from the town for a few months and during that time I grew my first beard.  There was an older couple in that church that had been kind to me when I first began attending there, I had great affection for them, it was good to be cared for by an older couple.  As I left the church building that Sunday the woman, Mattie, asked me to call them on Monday.  I thought, “Great, maybe they want to get together.  I’d love to see them since I’ve been gone for a few months.”  When I called on Monday I heard Mattie say the words, “Robert, why don’t you shave and get rid of that beard?”  What did having a beard have to do with Jesus?  What did having a beard have to do with a relationship and a destiny?

               Much of my early life had had a fair degree of uncertainty in it, that doesn’t make me any different from many of us here this morning, many of us have known uncertainty in our lives, including our lives as children.  Some of us have moved times without number, some of us have never known whether a parent was coming home a particular night, and if so, in what condition that parent would be in when he or she arrived.  Many of us experienced peer rejection as a child, adolescent or young adult.  Many of us couldn’t seem to measure up to someone’s expectations, whether a parent’s, a peer group’s, a teacher’s, a coach’s, or even our own expectations.

               I’m no different than many of us here this morning.  In my case because I wanted to be loved and included in a family group I wanted to learn about the church and to learn what the church wanted from me.  I wanted to fit in.

to be continued...

Image Is Everything - Conclusion

 

            What does this construction look like?  Consider the following quotations:

 

“We deplore efforts to… seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.

 

“The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes. Science and economic change have disrupted the old beliefs. Religions the world over are under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by a vastly increased knowledge and experience. In every field of human activity, the vital movement is now in the direction of candid and explicit humanism.

 

“Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.

 

“It follows that there will be no uniquely religious emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the supernatural.

 

“Man will learn to face the crises of life in terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability. Reasonable and manly attitudes will be fostered by education and supported by custom. We assume that humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.”

 

The above quotations are from the Humanist Manifesto, written in the 1930’s and signed and endorsed by many religious, political, philosophical, scientific and educational leaders.  In fact, one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto was John Dewey of Columbia University, whose educational beliefs permeate our public education system and of our universities.

 

          Who is at the center of the above quotations?  Man is.  We are the center of it all.  To those who scoff at the book of Genesis, can’t you read the writing on the wall?  Don’t you see that the above quotations from the Humanist Manifesto are exactly the line of thought presented by the serpent to Eve?  The idea that there can be true self-knowledge without God is not a product of the Enlightenment, it is not a product of what we might call “modern thinking,” it is a product of the dragon.

 

          Whose image do we worship?

 

          A true Lamb and a false lamb.  An image of God and an image of man.  A Lamb to be followed and a beast to be followed.

 

          If the patterns of our minds and hearts were placed on the overhead for us to see, what image would appear?  The image of man or the image of God?  The mark of the beast or the name of the Lamb and our Father God?  The worship of Jesus Christ or the worship of ourselves?

 

          We are called not to a religion but a relationship, a relationship with Jesus Christ that results in the restoration of the image of God within us.  Paul writes:

 

>RO 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

 The word that we translate “transformed” in this verse is the word we use for what happens when a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, it is the word “metamorphous.”  When we follow the Lamb wherever He goes, when we are obedient to Jesus Christ, when we enter into a relationship with Him and live where He lives on Mt. Zion, we experience the restoration of the image of God within us and the patterns and images of this world begin to fall away in our hearts and minds and they are replaced by the image of God in Christ.

 

          As our minds are renewed we are metamorphosed, transformed, into the image of God, we are lifted out of the deep well with the slippery sides of self-absorption into a relationship where the name of the Lamb and of His Father are written on our minds.  Now in the Scriptures names speak to us of natures, and so the nature of God in Christ is restored to our hearts and minds. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

 

          2 Cor. 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 

          And he further writes to the Ephesians:

 

          EPH 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 

          What would our archeological study conclude?  That image worship and sacrifice ceased with modern man?  Or that modern man has simply internalized his image worship and his sacrifices?  That modern man still offers his fellow citizens, offers himself and offers his children on the altar of the god of self-exaltation, self-gratification, self-fulfillment and self-worship?  Would it conclude that man has taken the number 666 and written it on his mind, his heart, his religion, his education, his science, his philosophy, his economy, his government?

 

          But of course, the more important question, the most important question for us is, “Whose image do we bear?  The image of self or the image of God?” “Whose nature lives within us?  The nature of fractured and rebellious man or the nature of the Lamb?” “Who do we worship?  Do we worship self, and by extension the dragon and beast?  Or do we worship our Creator God and the Lamb who has borne our sins, given His life for us and who has conquered death?”

 

          Yes, image is everything.  Who have you given your life to?  Whose image do you bear?

 

          Whose image is transforming you this morning?   

                   

 

Image Is Everything - Part 2

 

    Now let me make a couple of interpretive comments before we get to the heart of the matter.  There are many approaches to the book of Revelation and to specific passages within Revelation, since this is not a classroom, I’m not going to take the time to talk about different approaches, but I do want to make some points.

 

           Mt. Zion in 14:1 speaks to us of where God dwells.  These 144,000 are living their lives where God is.  They aren’t putting off their obedience and fellowship with God until some pie – in – the – sky futuristic experience, but they are living with God in the present, in the eternal present.  That is an experience in Jesus Christ that we all can know.  That is one of many differences between having a religion and a relationship.

 

           The number 144,000 is a symbolic number that speaks to us of completeness.  That is, the Lamb is going to have a complete number of people follow Him and His work on earth won’t be finished until He is finished gathering His firstfruits.  In verse 4 we see this group called firstfruits. James 1:18 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”  God’s people are spoken of as firstfruits in the Scriptures.

 

           The idea that this group hasn’t defiled itself with women isn’t talking about sexuality.  In fact, this group is made up of men and women, girls and boys.  Instead this image speaks to us of the fact that this group has remained faithful to the Lamb.  In the book of Revelation, the image of women is used to portray unfaithfulness to God and promiscuity with the dragon and the beast on the one hand, and on the other hand we have the woman who is the Bride of Christ, pure and spotless and faithful, with which the book of Revelation culminates.  The book of Revelation is an equal opportunity employer and there are many images of men in the book that are evil.

  

          We’ve got a contrast in chapters 13 and 14, a contrast between the beast and his followers and the Lamb and His followers; a contrast between the false lamb and the true Lamb; a contrast between the mark of the beast and the name of the Lamb. 

  

It is important to remind ourselves that chapter and verse divisions did not exist when the Old and New Testaments were written, they were added much later for ease of reference, and while chapters and verses can be useful they can also be harmful and this is a case in point.  If we simply stop reading at the end of chapter 13, we miss the author’s intent to see the contrast found in chapter 14.

 

          Two images.  The image of God and the image of the beast.  Two strains in the flow of history, in the flow of philosophy, in the flow of education, in religion, in science, in government…in all of life.  The image of God and the image of the beast.

  

          God makes us in His image.  The serpent, the enemy of God, the dragon comes alongside us and asks, “Did God really say these things?”  The serpent would have us believe that we can be greater than we are.  He would have us believe that we can attain to a greater image.  He offers us the intoxication of an independent autonomous life without God, in fact he seduces us with the idea that we can be like God.

  

          We are made in God’s image, and in that respect we bear His likeness, but we think we can do better and so we go our own way…and the image that we once bore we fractured…and in our descent from that image we have become like the man fallen into what seems like a bottomless well with smooth slimy sides, trying constantly to pull ourselves up only to slip further down.

  

          How many times in the past few weeks have I been asked if we’re living in the book of Revelation, if we’re living in the tribulation period?  How many times am I asked about the number 666?

  

          Last week I suggested we not look outside for the beast but inside, inside our hearts, inside our minds, inside these temples.  Yes, the flow of history will see the beast and work of the dragon personified in some form, but if I don’t recognize what’s going on inside of me, I’ll never recognize what occurs outside of me.

  

          Now the number 7 in Revelation often represents perfection or completeness.  It is associated with the perfection that we find only in God.  The number 6 is a less than perfect number, a number that falls short of perfection.  Man was created on the 6^th day.  When a number or word is repeated in the Bible it is done so for emphasis and to convey the fullness of an idea.  For example, heavenly beings in the Scriptures cry out to God, “Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty.”  The repeated word “holy” is showing that God is perfect in holiness or full of holiness.

  

          We have the number 666, meaning that the self-exaltation of man in his rebellion and imperfection has reached a crescendo.  Man’s worship of himself, a worship empowered by the dragon and the beast reaches a point where it can go no farther, man finally constructs his ultimate tower of Babel.

to be continued...

 

Image Is Everything - Part 1

 

Image is everything

This was preached the third Sunday after 9/11. Can you see that the previous message was a setup for this message? Can you see the linkage of the two messages?

 

 

September 30, 2001; Revelation 13:11 – 14:5.

Robert Withers, Becket, MA

 

          A few years ago, tennis star Andre Aggasi was in a television commercial for Nikon Cameras.  The commercial portrayed Agassi as the slick successful unconventional tennis pro that he is with the punch line spoken by Agassi “image is everything.”  Of course that was a double entendre in that “image is everything” was tied into Agassi’s public persona as a tennis player, which supposedly is translated into success on the tennis court, and of course, the issue when buying a camera is the quality of image that the product will produce.  So the phrase “image is everything” carried two meanings with it.

  

          There is a catalog company that also has retail outlets by the name of The Sharper Image.  It’s a place where you can purchase items for the person who has everything, like a $50 gold-plated toothpick.  The idea is that if you want to enhance your image all you need do is purchase something that is unique and different, something the average person wouldn’t own, and that owning and flaunting unusual items will give you a “sharper image” in the eyes of your peers.

  

          Few products seen on television are presented in terms of functionality but rather in terms of image.  About the only products that deal straight up with functionality are those miracle cleaning products that will take grape juice, mustard, and Kool Aid out of your carpet within 30 seconds, but wait, if you order within the next 10 minutes you’ll get a second order free and a special video on raising iguanas.

 

           Few, if any, automobile advertisements are based on the functionality of cars but rather the images they portray.  We have images of power, images of comfort, images of elegance, images of durability, images of cowboys, images of race car drivers, images of social and financial success, and of course, images of sexuality.  Somehow automobiles have been transformed from the basic Model T to personal statements that convey something about the owner. 

 

          Imagine that we are a team of archeologists from another planet.  We are sent here to research the role of images on earth.  We begin our research with ancient cultures.  We view the Babylonian, the Egyptian, the Aztec, the Mayan, and the Inca, to name but a few.  We uncover representations of gods in the form of statues, woodcarvings, mosaics, and monuments.  Since many of these representations are in population centers we conclude that they were a focal point of ancient life.  As we dig deeper, we discover that sacrifice played a part in ancient mankind’s relationship with these representations, these images.  Some of these sacrifices were of crops, some were of animals and others were of humans; of men, women and children.

  

          No doubt these sacrifices were meant to appease the ancient gods.  No doubt as we progress in our study of earth things will get better.  No doubt – we think - as civilization develops, mankind will move beyond the worship of images.

 

           Our passage this morning speaks of two images, two imprints.  The first is the image of the beast.  We touched on this last week.  We have two beasts and a dragon in chapter 13, and the second beast, which appears as a lamb, in other words it has the image of a lamb, causes men to make an image of the first beast, the antichrist.  Notice that the second beast, the false prophet, causes men to make this image.  We saw earlier in chapter 13 verse 4 that the world worships the beast.

  

          Then in chapter 14 we see another group, a group that is not a part of the common flow of humanity, a group that does not worship the beast.  This group does not carry the mark of the beast on or within themselves, but on the contrary have the name of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and the name of His Father written on their foreheads – in their minds. As opposed to worshipping the beast, this group follows the Lamb wherever He goes.

to be continued...

 

Where's The Image? Conclusion

 

If you’ve read Daniel and Revelation, you’ll see that one pattern is the consolidation of power.  Mankind’s quest is to consolidate power.  This is at least as old as the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis.  A time will come when this quest for power will be consummated, and this consummation will be energized by the dragon, Satan.  That’s a pretty basic pattern.  The thing is, even though the antichrist is characterized as a beast in this chapter, he won’t look like a beast to the world, in fact he’ll look like a savior, a person who has the solution to what ails us.

However, if we spend our time looking for an individual to place the tag “antichrist” upon the chances are that we’ll miss him, because the antichrist is more than an individual, it is a way of life, a way of looking at the world, a way of thinking.  And, assuming that the antichrist is one day personified in a person (which may or may not be the case), those who have already lived their lives immersed in a certain way of thinking will not likely recognize him as other than a savior, a wonderful human being.

 

“1JN 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

 

   I think we can say that the spirit of antichrist was manifested in Cain when he murdered his brother Able and that it’s been with us ever since.  So the first place to look for it is in here, within us, then we can worry about it elsewhere.  That won’t sell books because we don’t like self-examination, but it is something that our spiritual forebearers recognized.

 

You might say that in Revelation 13 we have an unholy trinity, a counterpart to the Holy Trinity; the dragon, the antichrist and the false prophet. 

 

There is a beast in every generation, a false prophet in every generation, an image in every generation, and the number 666 in every generation.  You’ll probably need to give that some thought, but that’s all right. That won’t sell books either, but that’s a Biblical pattern.  However, a generation will come in which this unholy trinity is ultimately personified in one manifestation or in many.  That is, a generation will come in which the power and deception of the dragon finds its ultimate expression in humanity and in a representative (or representatives) of humanity who is opposed to God.

 

The great news is that God has a plan for His people, a plan for His people to be the light of the world, a plan for His people to come into the fullness of their inheritance in Jesus Christ, a plan for His people to bear the image of God no matter how dark the darkness may be.  You see, the encroachment of the powers of evil does not mean that the people of God retreat and hide in holes, but rather that they become the bearers of the Good News of Jesus to a world that so desperately needs to hear and see Him living in and through His people.

 

This is why it is imperative that we live as Christ in this generation.  It is imperative that we bring the light and life of Christ to others, because without us they aren’t going see Jesus.

 

I once had a conversation with someone who does not live in the area, the person has no connection whatsoever with this church.  The person worked in a hospice program at the time, she is a believer in Jesus Christ, and she said to me, “Well, I don’t tell people about Jesus because that’s against policy.”  My friends, if we don’t tell dying people about Jesus then who are we going to tell?

 

We are living in mental and spiritual prisons. We are locked up in our thinking and are living in mental processes that are frankly absurd.  Do we really think on the day when we stand before our Lord Jesus that we can say, “Well Lord, I would have told my coworkers about you but it was against policy”?  Do we seriously think that God Almighty is going to accept those words?

 

How many Christians perished in the World Trade Center alongside fellow workers with whom they had never shared the wonderful news of Jesus Christ?  This is not a game; this is eternal reality.  And all the pluralistic songs and prayer services and sweet cotton candy accolades and singing “God Bless America” will not change the fact that men and women went into eternity on September 11, 2001 not knowing light and life in Jesus Christ.

 

  I do not say this to minimize the tragedy, the human suffering, the incomprehensible loss…I grieve for all of those affected…I grieve for our nation.

 

But I say this to give us a wakeup call to consider the prison our minds are in and to ask us whether we ourselves have bought into a civil religion…are we worshipping the Emperor, have we become members of the Imperial Cult, when we make no distinction between Jesus Christ and other gods?

 

People who are worried about some physical image of a beast being set up somewhere in the Middle East or wherever ought to forget about looking outward and ask God to give them an inner reality check, because the image of the beast to be concerned about is not out there, it is in here, in my heart, in my mind, in my soul…because I’ll never be what God would have me to be if that beast has a safe harbor inside of me…and if he does…then whatever occurs outside of me is really a non-issue because I’ve already internalized the image within me.

 

Well, God has got better things for us, in fact He’s got the very best for us, and we’ll continue this next week.

 

In the meantime, what images are living within our hearts and minds and souls?

Where's The Image? Part 2

 

“DA 9:1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom-- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”

 

          Seventy years before this passage was written the kingdom of Judah along with its capital city, Jerusalem, had been conquered by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.  As was the military and political custom of that time, many of the people of the kingdom of Judah were removed from the land and relocated elsewhere. This was in accordance with the prophecies of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah also prophesied that after 70 years the people of Judah would be allowed to return to their land.

 

          In Daniel chapter 9 Daniel tells us that a time came when he understood it was time for Jeremiah’s prophecy to be fulfilled.

 

          Now the question for us is, “How did Daniel respond to this understanding?”  What did he do and what didn’t he do?  And let’s remember, this is a man who has had unusual encounters with God, a man who has been given dreams and visions about the future, the flow of history, right up to the consummation of history.  So how did this man respond?

 

          He didn’t produce a chart with every detail of how the people of Judah were going to return to their land.  He didn’t make a public proclamation of his newfound knowledge.  He didn’t write a series of books. He didn’t hold conventions on prophecy. He didn’t make himself the center of attention. He didn’t seek to financially profit from his understanding.

 

In fact, the only thing we know that he did was what?  He prayed.  He engaged in intercessory prayer for his people, confessing their sins, and while we aren’t going to read this entire chapter, toward the end of the chapter, as a result of his humble praying which was focused on God and others, Daniel received even more understanding about God’s purposes in the flow of history.

 

          Had Daniel been presumptuous, with a “know it all” attitude, I seriously doubt he would have received anything else from God.

 

          If Daniel’s attitude and response was one of humility and prayer, then I think we ought to take our presumptuous charts off the wall and follow his example.

 

 

          What are the prophetic patterns we see in Scripture?  There are many, many patterns, some are hopeful and upbeat and some are on the downside of history.  God has a purpose and His purpose will not be defeated, it will not be stopped, it will not be delayed.  Next week we’ll look at the upside of His purpose, we’ll look at His plan for you, His destiny for you, because He has things for us and a destiny for us that most of us have never even thought about, never even heard about.  Most of His people on this earth are living on spiritual welfare when God has given them the riches of His glory.

 

          Back to Revelation chapter 13.  We’ve got a beast, a dragon, another beast who looks like a lamb but which is a false prophet, we’ve got an image of the beast and we’ve also got the number 666, a number which has generated much speculation for the past 2,000 years.

 

          We’re going to take a quick look at this chapter and if you haven’t read the entire book of Revelation you’ll need to do so in order to put this chapter in its context.  The characters in this chapter are seen elsewhere in Revelation, and the dragon and the first beast are seen throughout Scripture. Look for the patterns, always look for the patterns and images and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them.

 

What are the patterns represented in this chapter?  Now to some of you this is old stuff and so you’ll just have to be patient, and you can be like Daniel and pray while we go through this.

 

Verses 1 & 2.  The heads, the horns, and the crowns are images that represent heads of state, governments and power.  If you’ve read the book of Daniel you’ll know that animal images such as the leopard, the bear and the lion represent characteristics of governments and rulers.

The dragon represents Satan, this is interpreted for us in Revelation 12:9 and elsewhere.

 

We see in verse 2 that the dragon gives the beast his authority and power.  In other words, the beast is energized and motivated by Satan.

 

People worship the beast and in verses 6 – 10 we see that the beast is opposed to God and that he makes war on the saints.

 

In verse 11 we see another beast who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon and it is his job to cause the world to worship the first beast.

 

This second beast, we’ll call him the False Prophet, for this is his designation elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, causes mankind to make an image of the first beast, who we’ll call the Antichrist, and he gives life to this image; if people don’t worship this image they are killed.  If you’ve read Daniel this will remind you of the image Nebuchadnezzar made and of Daniel’s three friends refusing to worship that image and the fiery furnace they were placed in.

 

Then in verse 16 we see the mark of the beast and in verse 17 we see that if you don’t have the mark you can’t engage in commerce and then in verse 18 we have the number 666.

 

Now we know that there were times in the Roman Empire in which people were required to offer sacrifice to the Emperor.  The Emperor was considered a god, and to demonstrate your loyalty to the Emperor you appeared before an official and offered a sacrifice or incense, affirming that you indeed worshiped the Emperor.

 

Without this affirmation you could not engage in commerce, you could not buy or sell.  So while there indeed may be a future and more comprehensive fulfillment of this element concerning buying and selling in Revelation 13, we do have historical examples of it.

 

(We can find many examples of this throughout history – it takes many forms. If you do not conform to the system you are in, the system can be unmerciful and shut you out, making economic survival difficult or impossible.)

 

Christians were not so much persecuted by the Roman Empire because they worshipped Jesus.  Let me repeat that, Christians were not so much persecuted by the Roman Empire because they worshipped Jesus.  They were persecuted because they worshipped Jesus only.

 

Roman society was both and syncretistic and polytheistic.  You could worship 80 or 800 gods and have no problems, as long as you also worshipped the Emperor.  But Christians worshipped Jesus ONLY.  My dear dear friends, we can worship Jesus all we want, as long as we don’t consider Him to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and people will leave us alone. This is, in fact, why they do indeed generally leave us alone – because we worship the gods of the world alongside Jesus.

 

What are the patterns?

to be continued...