Revelation 7 -2010.10.30

THEREFORE…

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” — Rev. 7:13-15

In a certain place the Lord Jesus told the story of two debtors, in which He asked an interesting question.

“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged [Luke 7:41-43].”

Meditating upon the seventh chapter of Revelation from which our text for today has been chosen, this passage came to mind. Our “nugget” relates to “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” standing before the throne of God and of the Lamb of God, “clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (v.9), who are engaged in an unending service of praise to God.

A hasty reading of the passage might leave one thinking these are “the redeemed of all ages,” won to Christ through the missionary efforts of the church fulfilling the “great Commission.” In fact, that is not the case. The church has been sluggish in its pursuit of its God-given task, slipshod and half hearted in its testimony before the watching world and miserly in its service and worship before God.

These, in fact, are “tribulation saints,” converted to Christ after the rapture of the church. They were not privileged to escape the tribulation, as we so earnestly hope to be, but were brought through it. In and through their suffering they were truly sanctified—”washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now they are solaced in His presence and “serve [God] day and night in His temple.” Theirs is not a weekend ministry, it is continual and unwearied. His praise is their supreme motive and highest joy. They understand the magnitude of their deliverance and are moved to everlasting gratitude, not in word only.

When I reflect on this, I am ashamed at the superficiality of my worship and service for Christ. In terms of physical suffering, their deliverance is far greater than mine. Perhaps that is the reason why they seem to “love Him more.” But in terms of spiritual reality our deliverance is the same. In a great passage the Psalmist caught the significance and prayed, “Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy Name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [Ps. 86:11-13, italics mine].”

Because we are comfortable in this world, surrounded by creature comforts and having access to ‘all its pleasures,’ our minds and our hearts are distracted from the true business of the redeemed, the cause of Christ suffers and the Commission remains unfulfilled.

Recently I happened on a reporter interviewing one of the world’s wealthiest women about her philanthropy. In the course of the interview he remarked on the fact that she was simply attired and not “wearing jewelry and cosmetics.” She replied, “I am not really interesting in things; I am interested in people.” The thought crossed my mind, with tears, that should be the testimony of every true believer—but it isn’t.

Though we have suffered little, we have been forgiven much. Oh that we might love Him more!

Take the world, but give me Jesus, All its joys are but a name;

But His love abideth ever, Through eternal years the same.

(chorus)

Oh, the height and depth of mercy! Oh, the length and breadth of love!

Oh, the fullness of redemption, Pledge of endless life above!

—Fanny Crosby

Saved by His matchless grace,

"Pastor" Frasier

Revelation 6 - 2010.10.23

NO PLACE TO HIDE?

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” — Rev. 6:15-17

The Revelation anticipates “the wrath to come” (see I Thess. 1:10) and the initiation of that wrath, in its earth history at the end of the age is introduced in this sixth chapter of the book under the opening of the sixth seal. It is the infliction of God’s temporal judgments on a rebellious planet bringing “…great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [Matt. 24:21-22].” All of earth’s natural disasters (except the flood of Noah) pale to insignificance by comparison. Three awesome things are to be noted here.

First, there will be no exception. Neither power, prestige, prosperity or position will insulate men from the coming judgment, nor will any “class” distinction. The world that rejects the Savior will be leveled in the day of His fierce anger. In a striking parallel passage, written prophetically long before our “nugget,” He declared:

“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. (Isa. 13:9-13)

Second, is the surprising evidence that the damned will recognize at once the source of the judgment that befalls them. “Him that sitteth on the throne…the wrath of the Lamb.” Is it not amazing that those who have had no recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God,” will instinctively recognize Him in that awful hour? Men may ignore Him, deny Him, “dismiss” Him, but they cannot effectively exclude Him from their final hour.

And that leads to the third sobering thought implied in this short passage. There will be no place to hide. In the day of His wrath, being buried by an earthquake will be deemed better than facing His judgment, and the dens and the rocks of the mountains will be as transparent as window glass and provide less security! None will be able to stand before Him.

The lesson is obvious: the time to hide is now, and the place to hide from the wrath of the Lamb is in the shelter of the blessed “Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world [John 1:29].”

How well did the poet put it:

Oh, safe to the Rock that is higher than I,

My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly,

So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine would I be,

Thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee.

Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,

Thou blest Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee.

—W.O.Cushing

“Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”

For eternal welfare,

"Pastor" Frasier

Revelation 5 - 2010.10.16

WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” — Rev. 5:9-10

Our selected text for last week celebrates the glory of God the Father as creator and ruler of all. This verse, for this week, celebrates the glory of the Son of God as Redeemer. “Thou art worthy” is the identical cry to both, and surely hints at the co-equality of the Father and the Son. The Son shares the glory of the Father as creator, because of His cooperation in creation: “All things were made by Him: and without Him was not anything made that was made [Jn. 1:3].” The Father shares the glory of the Son in redemption, because “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world [I Jn. 4:14].”

John, author of the gospel, the epistle and this book of the Revelation, transported in spirit to heaven to behold these things, “wept much” (tears in heaven!) “because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon (v.3).” Finally, the Lion-Lamb, the God-man emerges as the only One qualified to open the book and initiate the advancement of the final stages of God’s redemptive enterprise. How well spoke the Savior when He said, “without Me ye can do nothing [Jn. 15:5].” (Pastors and churches, take note!) He has no peers.

What qualifies Him is His work as redeemer, and though there is so much else here worthy of consideration, we must focus on this, without which man would have no future and no hope and scorning of which leaves men no alternative but to experience the wrath of God and eternal punishment. Let us consider then:

The price of redemption. “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us by Thy blood…” We are so familiar with it that I fear its magnitude eludes us. The only One in the entire universe below or heaven above who is identified as “worthy,” other than God the Father, “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” by an incredible process and at an incomprehensible price, to effect our salvation. Nothing more fully measures the devastation of sin; sin we so often take so lightly, and the world has nearly purged from its vocabulary. And nothing more fully measures the love of God that we also incline to take for granted, who have been “washed from our sins in His own blood [Rev. 1:5].”

Then there is the power of redemption: “Thou…hast redeemed us to God.” We who were once “dead in trespasses and sins,” and “having no hope, and without God in the world” are “made near by the blood of Christ.” Sin left us on the precipice of the lowest hell; He has lifted us to the highest heights to stand before and enjoy the fellowship of our glorious Creator, unafraid and unashamed. And this with not a finger raised on our part to merit it! “Jesus paid it all!”

Again, there is reference to the province of redemption: “Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.” No prejudice on His part excludes anyone from all the benefits of this glorious deliverance. Those who are excluded are those who exclude themselves by spurning God’s love and grace, discrediting His word, preferring “the pleasures of sin for a moment” to the glory that follows the reproach of Christ.

Finally there is a hint of the prospect of redemption for those who become followers of the Lamb. By His grace alone we are now “kings and priests” in our relation to God, combining in one the two greatest offices which were forever separate in the old economy. As kings we will be involved in His administrative work, and as priests take the lead in His worship in the ages to come. What Adam lost has been restored, and we shall reign with Him on a redeemed earth through the millennium to come, in a world free from sin, sickness, suffering, sorrow—and death.

With all this, the representatives in glory, the twenty four elders and the four mystical beasts in an ecstasy of praise “sung a new song,” a song never heard and never equalled here on earth; a song of praise to “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!!” It should set our hearts singing His praises now!

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Revelation 4 -2010.10.9

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

“And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” — Rev. 4:10,11

The book of Revelation is readily recognized as prophetic in nature, but it is remarkable how much there is in it of practical and devotional worth. It is from that perspective, primarily, that these “nuggets” are chosen and explored. This somewhat extended passage is a good example.

The challenge is often issued to the believer, “Where did God come from?” It springs from a kind of innate sense of cause and effect, but its real intent is to throw us off guard as an unanswerable query betraying our intellectual deficiency. Before we go on, observe that the current “scientific” explanation of the origin of everything is “the big bang theory,” or a “primordial sea of scum.” Deftly set aside is the fact that these alternatives to God as the origin of existence leave their proponents with the same intellectual challenge: Where did the “bang” or the “sea of scum” come from?

There is no escaping the conclusion that somewhere there is an uncaused First Cause. If we are ever to know what that First Cause is, it must be either forever left a mystery or be revealed to us by the Cause Itself. It cannot be by investigation, because whenever we put our finger on what we perceive as the point of origin the relentless question arises again, “Where did It come from!” So, the Christian need never be embarrassed that he cannot explain where God came from. His detractors posit their origin to an irrational, mindless, impersonal source. That is unreasonable. The believer traces his to a personal intelligent Being. That at least makes our ‘being’ significant and gives reason validity.

The question of divine origin is answered in the word of God as here. God did not come from anywhere; He is eternal. He “was and, and is, and is to come,” and “lives for ever and forever [v. 8-9].” Uncreated, He is intelligent, personal, and powerful beyond compare.

The second affirmation in our text for today is that this God is the source of everything that can be defined as “created.” “Thou hast created all things.” Given what we can confirm about man, the world and the universe (“the heavens and the earth”), that makes Him one awesome Being! DNA is His invention, as are the stars, the planets and the vast reaches of space that appear to contain it all.

There is a third phrase of great significance in this passage: “…and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” The NIV renders it, “…and by Your will they were created and have their being.” In other words, God is sovereign in creation. That is true as respects origin, maintenance and destiny.

So this remarkable “nugget” sets before us in sublime simplicity three great theological truths: God is; and He is eternal, creator and sovereign.

That is the practical part. Interwoven is the devotional. In this chapter we are transported from earth to heaven (cf. v.1-2) and given, in language suited to our understanding, a glimpse of God’s dwelling place. There we are introduced to “twenty four elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold,” and “four living creatures” of extraordinary nature before His throne. The function of the living creatures is to worship, day and night crying “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,” and rendering “glory, honor and thanks” to the eternal God. The twenty four elders prostrate themselves before Him in adoration and worship, giving praise to God and “cast their crowns before Him.” From elsewhere in scripture we know that the crowns are indicative of reward for faithful service. This action evidences on their part the recognition that every commendable thing a believer is and does traces its origin to God Himself, and the glory belongs to Him. That is worship.

The creature is dependent upon the Creator for everything. If that is true, now is a time for rehearsing our worship!

For His glory, ‘for He alone is worthy,’

"Pastor" Frasier

Revelation 3 - 2010.10.02

YOU MAKE ME SICK!

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” —Rev. 3:15-16

Anyone familiar with the “seven churches” of Revelation should find no surprise in the “change and decay” apparent in the church and churches of today. What is important for our purpose here is to realize that the character of the church is formed by those who are its members. As one reads these brief, but telling letters we ought to ask ourselves, do any of these charges apply to me, personally?

Our text for today is taken from the letter to the church of the Laodiceans, and it is in many ways the most pathetic of the seven. It is also quite likely the most representative of contemporary Christianity in the developed world. Of the seven, it is the only one for which the Savior has no word of commendation.

Our passage can not be fully appreciated without its context, and the reader is encouraged to review it to get the whole picture. It is a church that nauseates the Savior, and those believes who are characterized by it must do the same. The lessons to be learned are easily discovered.

First, “I know…” Whatever we may appear to be to others, or, for that matter, to ourselves, the Lord knows our real condition. Of the Savior it is written, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do [Heb. 4:13].” Moreover Jesus Himself said in another place, “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart [I Sam. 16:7b].”

Whether the church or the individual, the Lord knows not only what we appear to be, but what we really are, and HUe will deal with us accordingly. Impressive in its manifest material prosperity, the Laodicean church did not impress her Head. All her measurements were made in the horizontal; His were made in the vertical. She said, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing (v.17).” He said, “You are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” That pathetic condition He attributes to the fact that they were “neither cold nor hot [but] lukewarm.” The lesson is obvious lukewarm Christians may be materially impressive and self assured, but they are spiritually bankrupt.

So distressing is this condition to the heart of God that the Savior says, “I would” that you were either frozen or on fire. Consider it well in this day of “cultural Christianity.” The Head of the church would prefer a church—or a believer—stone cold rather than “lukewarm!” Those who are “cold” make no impression on the watching world. Those who are lukewarm leave a false impression, implying that faith in Christ is “no big deal.” The fire may be stirred a bit in our luxurious facility on a Sunday, but it is allowed to die down between weekends. “Don’t be a fanatic.” At least not about the things of God.

Should the condition continue, His devastating word is, “I will spew thee out of My mouth.” The literal rendering of the Greek word is “vomit.” It ‘s root is the word from which our English word “emetic” rises. Lukewarm Christianity nauseates the Son of God! “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” is literally saying to this church, “You make Me sick!” His response to nominal Christianity in the life of the individual will be no different.

What is striking in the context is to note where the Savior finds Himself in relation to the lukewarm church. Pleading with them to repent, He declares, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” Christ is on the outside, trying to gain admittance. The church bears His name, but does not host His presence. Yet there is hope. “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, an d will suip with him, and he with Me (v.20).” The church may not be revived, but the responding believer can be. After all, revival comes one soul at a time.

Assess your church. The assess your relationship to Christ. Are you “lukewarm” in your devotion to and service for Christ? Are you part of the problem? Are you willing to be part of the solution? Open the door and let Him in!

‘What shall I give Thee, Master? Thou hast giv'n all for me;

Not just a part or half of my heart, I will give all to Thee. ‘

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier