"The Beginning of God's Punishment on the Impenitent" Sermon: Revelation 9:1-21 (video) - YouTube
Habakkuk's Watchtower
This is the blog of Rev. Dr. Peter A. Butler, Jr. It contains his sermons and other musings.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
"The Beginning of God's Punishment On the Impenitent" Sermon: Revelation 9:1-21 (manuscript)
“The
Beginning of God’s Punishment on the Impenitent”
Revelation
9:1-21
April
14, 2024 YouTube
As we open the book of Revelation, again, let us remember,
Revelation was written to be a book of comfort and hope to the Christians
suffering under the persecution of Rome.
And the hope and comfort that it gives is for all Christians throughout
time and space as we have been promised by Jesus that we will be persecuted –
we will suffer varying degrees of persecution.
We
mentioned the overlapping of the seals, the trumpets, and the woes. We saw the seventh seal open the first
trumpet, and after the fourth trumpet blasts, three woes are associated with
them: the fifth trumpet is the first
woe, the sixth trumpet is the second woe, and the seventh trumpet is the third
woe. At the end of the fourth trumpet –
the end of chapter eight, we read:
“Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud
voice as it flew directly overhead, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the
earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to
blow!’” (Revelation: ESV).
As we look at chapter nine – the fifth and sixth trumpet
and first and second woe, again, remember that this is a book of comfort and
hope. Don’t hear the images and
panic. Notice that verses four, twenty,
and twenty-one say that the woes are against those who never receive the mark
of God on their heads – the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit Who is received
through salvation in Jesus Alone. True believers will know what is happening –
and see it – but the woes are against those who never repent and believe
savingly in Jesus.
As we look at the fifth trumpet which is the first woe, let
us understand that the devil, Satan, Lucifer, and all the damned angels – the
demons – are not able or authorized to do anything except what God commands or
allows. The demonic forces are impotent except when God commands them or allows
them to act.
Paul explains, using the imagery of the Roman centurion
armor, how to fight against the demonic forces, when God commands them or
allows them to engage us – true believers – those with the mark of God on their
foreheads. Paul writes:
“For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:12-13, ESV).
Again,
this wrestling is only to the extent that God commands and allows. We will remember that Satan had to come to
God to get permission to take things away from Job and to tempt him to
sin. Satan does not have the authority
or ability to do what he wants on his own – God limits what he does. As we read:
“And
the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against
him do not stretch out your hand.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the
LORD” (Job 1:12, ESV).
With
this in mind, we turn to our text:
“And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star
fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the
bottomless pit.”
A “star” fell from heaven to earth. We saw in chapter one of Revelation that a
star refers to a minister or an angel. Here, it refers to a specific angel. The pronoun that is used in the text for him indicates
a being – not a force.
And we are told who this is:
“How
you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to
the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will
ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will
sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But
you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15,
ESV).
And Jude tells us that those who followed Lucifer – who
sought to be greater than God – and was punished by being thrown to earth – the
demons are under restraint – except as God commands or permits.
“And
the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left
their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness
until the judgment of the great day—" (Jude 6, ESV).
God
gave Satan the key to the bottomless pit (for a specific time and purpose).
“He
opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the
smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke
from the shaft.”
In
opening the bottomless pit, all of the demons are released. And we are given a terrifying picture of them
– but remember, if you have the mark of God on your forehead, you will not be
harmed.
“Then
from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the
power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the
earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the
seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five
months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a
scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and
will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.”
The
demons are like locusts with the power of scorpions. God says they are not to harm the Creation or
the people with the mark of God on their head – only those who do not have the
mark of God on their head. They are
allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them.
Why
five months? Because the average
lifespan of a locust is five months – they would have known that then.
Those
being tortured will want to die, but they will not be allowed to die. They will suffer horrific pain, but God will
not allow them to die.
“In
appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads
were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their
hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had
breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like
the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and
stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in
their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His
name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.”
The
bottomless pit is the place where the demons and those who die without the mark
of God on their foreheads stay until the resurrection to the last day and the
final judgment. It is a horrific place
and the place before eternal condemnation in Hell.
We
see that even the demons don’t want to be in the bottomless pit due to the
suffering that is experienced there:
“When
Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had
demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house
but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him
and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the
Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.’
For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For
many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains
and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the
desert.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Legion,’ for
many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart
into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and
they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the
demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the
steep bank into the lake and drowned” (Luke 8:27-33, ESV).
These demons are described as a cross between soldiers and
chariots and locusts and scorpions. They
are hideous and terrifying. The king
over them, the fallen star, the angel of the bottomless pit is called “Abaddon”
and “Apollyon.” Both names mean
“Destroyer.”
The “woes” are due to the unforgiven sin of those who have
never believed. And their sin has
granted them to be found – at God’s instruction and with His permission – under
the torture of the Deastroyer.
“The
first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.”
“Then
the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release
the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’”
The
altar in the Temple had four golden horns on it – one on each corner of the
altar. If someone was being sought after
for a true or false crime, that person could grab one of the horns of the altar
and be granted asylum.
Here,
the horns that are for the giving of asylum have a voice from them calling out
for the end of asylum for any who do not bear the mark of God on their forehead.
And the voice tells the sixth angel with the second woe to “release the four
angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” We have seen that the number
four can refer to completion, the whole, all that is – of course, it can also
refer to the number four.
The
four angels are, of course, demons. The Euphrates River is the boundary of
Israel against the Arab nations. The
four angels have been restrained up to this point to keep them from letting
loose military conflicts against Israel that will affect the whole world.
The
reason we think that four demons refer to more than four demons is this:
“So
the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and
the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted
troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.”
The
four demons had been prepared for “the hour, the day, the month, and the year,
[to be] released to kill a third of mankind." These demons, according to
the Sovereign Will and purpose of God, carry out our Sovereign God’s divine
judgements against one third of those who do not have the mark of God on their
foreheads. God prepared these demons to go forth in military conflicts when and
according to the Will of God and to the extent that God allows them. The evil demons would have killed everyone,
including all those who have the mark of God on their forehead if God did not
put restrictions on how many of those who did not have the mark of God on their
heads they could kill. They can do
nothing except what God commands and permits.
The
four demons are (or command) troops of two hundred million horsemen. Which
represents the monstrous ugliness of war.
There is no place on earth where a two hundred million horse army could
stand. Rather, it represents the incredible evil of war.
We
will remember that the tension and evil in the Middle East is the product of
the sin of Abraham. He had his first
son, Ishmael, outside of the covenant of God, but God did not forget him. God said, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you;
behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.
He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation”
(Genesis 17:20, ESV). And later we see
that the twelve princes of Ishmael become the Arab nations that surround Israel,
and Jacob – whose name God changes to Israel – is the father of those who
become the twelve tribes of Israel.
“And
this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore
breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of
the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of
their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire
and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is
in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with
heads, and by means of them they wound.”
We
remember the horsemen, do we not?
The
first horse, commanded by Jesus and leading the other three horses according to
His Will. The second horse – who is
given the power to take peace from the earth so the people of the earth will
kill each other. The third horse – who
upsets the world, and all that God has given – causing inflation in the prices
of all things on earth. And the fourth
horse – with Death and Hades – to whom are given authority to kill with the
sword in war, to kill with famine, and pestilence, and by the wild beasts of
the earth. (Revelation 6:1-9).
After
experiencing the greatest horrors of war, the attack of demons, and massive
death on earth, we read:
“The
rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the
works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver
and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they
repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their
thefts.”
Those
who lived through the greatest horrors seen on earth as of that time were
unimpressed. They did not repent. They continued to worship demons and
idols. They continue to commit murder
and take part in witchcraft, and sexual acts that God has forbidden, and in
theft. All these things that God brought
down upon them didn’t faze them. They remained impenitent and, on the way, to
be cast into the bottomless pit – and eventually the lake of fire.
Nothing
will cause the wicked to repent and believe except for God’s intervention.
For
all those who have the mark of God on our forehead, for we who have believed
savingly in Jesus and have received the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit,
there continues to be good news and comfort for us. We belong to Jesus, and He is bringing us
into Paradise to be with Him forever.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You for causing us to believe savingly in Jesus, for indwelling
us with God the Holy Spirit, and giving us the mark of God on our
foreheads. Thank You for the vision of
the first two woes and the horrifying truth that some will never believe, even
once they experience God’s divine judgment. Help us to be thankful and cause us
to pray for all those who do not believe that we would tell them Who Jesus is
and what He has done, and that You would be pleased to send the Holy Spirit to
bring many to faith and repentance. For
it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Monday, April 01, 2024
"He Must Rise" Sermon: John 20:1-18 (manuscript)
“He
Must Rise”
[John
20:1-18]
April
21, 2019, Second Reformed Church
March
31, 2024 YouTube Second Reformed Church
Jesus had been savagely tormented,
flogged, crucified, forsaken by God the Father, and died that first Good
Friday. Most of the men went into
hiding, but John, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea and the women took Jesus’
body and lay it in the garden tomb that Joseph had purchased for himself. They left Jesus there – partially embalmed –
and a stone was rolled across the door and numerous Roman centurions were set
to guard the tomb to make sure nobody stole the body. The Sabbath – Saturday – was upon them, and
the Jews had to observe the Sabbath.
Diane raised the interesting
question of what the disciples did during the hours from Friday evening through
Sunday morning. Did they observe the
Passover as God had instructed? Did they
go about the Sabbath as they were commanded?
All we know is that they were afraid and in hiding for fear of the Jews
and the Romans coming after Jesus’ disciples.
Knowing this and hearing our text
this morning, we see:
First, Jesus’ disciples did not
understand that He must rise.
John gives us an
abbreviated account of the women going early the morning of the first day of
the week to finish the embalming of Jesus.
In fact, John only mentions Mary Magdalene. She comes to the tomb and finds the stone
rolled away – and – implied as it is – the centurions are not there. And as Mary looks into the tomb, she sees
that Jesus is not there and her understanding is that someone must have stolen
the body – she certainly didn’t think that Jesus had physically risen from the
dead.
If
we consider that theory now, it seems utterly unlikely that someone could have
stolen Jesus’ body from the tomb with the heavy stone in the way, the Roman
seal on the tomb, and the numerous centurions guarding the tomb.
So
Mary runs to where the men are hiding and tells Peter and John, and Peter and
John run to the tomb, and they go into the tomb and see the grave clothes lying
in the tomb, but the body of Jesus is missing.
And they see and believe the testimony of Mary – someone has stolen
Jesus’ body.
And
our text tells us, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he
must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.”
Why
must Jesus rise?
Two
reasons: Jesus must rise for the
Scripture to be authoritative. And Jesus
must rise to be the Savior.
Jesus
must rise for the Scripture to be authoritative.
There
are many Scriptures that say that the Savior must physically rise from the
dead. Some examples: Paul mentions three of them from the Psalms,
and another is found in Isaiah 53:
“Brothers, sons of the family of
Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of
this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they
did not recognize [Jesus] nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which
are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found
in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And
when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from
the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many
days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that
what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by
raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son, today I have
begotten you.’
“And as for the fact that he raised
him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure
blessings of David.’
“Therefore he says also in another
psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One
see corruption.’
“For David, after he had served the
purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers
and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be
known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything
from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:26-39, ESV).
Paul explains that these three
verses from the Psalms show that Jesus – the Savior – must physically rise from
the dead – and those who killed Him fulfilled the very prophesies that are read
every day in the Temple, but they didn’t understand them – those who were
supposedly the teachers of Israel, did not understand what they were supposed
to teach – the Word of God.
Isaiah familiarly prophesies:
“By oppression and
judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he
was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my
people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to
crush him; he has put him to grief; then his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:8-10, ESV).
Isaiah prophesies that Jesus – the
Savior – will be taken away, killed, buried in a rich man’s grave, although He
didn’t sin. Yet, this was God’s will for
Him to be our Substitute – a perfect offering before God. And God will allow Him to see His offspring –
those who follow Him, after death, His life will be prolonged – He will
physically rise from the dead.
And we might think, “Ok, these
Scriptures say that the Savior will physically rise from the dead, but why does
John say He ‘must’ rise from the dead?”
The answer is in understanding what
the Scripture is. We call the Bible –
the Scripture – the Word of God. If the
Scripture is the Word of God – even though we affirm that the Bible was written
in history by a number of people in their own writing styles and according to
their own abilities – if the Scripture is the Word of God, then it is
infallible and inerrant – everything it says must be true – in its context –
and every prophecy given by God and through His prophets must come to pass, because
God can’t make a mistake – God can’t be wrong.
If the Scripture is the Word of
God, it is authoritative and is to be understood as coming from God, by human
authors superintended over by God the Holy Spirit so there would be no errors.
If Jesus – the Savior – did not
physically rise from the dead, then the Bible is not the Word of God – we have
no reason to believe any of it – and we should just go home.
Jesus
must rise for the Scripture to be authoritative.
And
Jesus must rise to be the Savior.
The
Savior will take upon Himself all of our sin and pay the debt for it – securing
that we will be free from sin and death and evil in the Kingdom. If Jesus does not physically rise from the
dead, He has not conquered death, and He is not the Savior.
So,
Jesus must rise to be the Savior.
The
Good News is that Jesus did physically rise from the dead. He is the Savior. The Word of God is God’s Word. Or salvation is secure in Jesus. And so we celebrate.
The
second thing we see in our text is Jesus’ disciples wanted Him to stay.
Mary returns to the tomb
after Peter and John leave, and she looks in and she seems two angels, but she
is so fixated on finding Jesus, that seeing angels doesn’t faze her, she just
wants to know if they moved Him or know where He is.
Mary
hears something and turns to find Jesus, standing in the Garden outside of the
tomb. However, her eyes are not yet
open. She doesn’t recognize that this is
Jesus, physically risen from the dead, until He says her name, “Mary.”
“Jesus
said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which
means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ Mary Magdalene went and
announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’—and that he had said these
things to her.”
Have
you ever lost something meaningful to you and then found it sometime
later? Have you ever lost touch with a
friend you deeply cared about and then reconnected? Have you ever had a family member seriously
injured or deathly ill and then have them recover? The way you feel in those situations begin to
approximate what Mary and the other disciples felt when they realized that
Jesus is physically alive. They had seen
Him die. They had buried Him. Yet, here He is alive – in the flesh!
The
other Gospels tell us that Mary and the other women fall down before Him and
grab His ankles and feet. And Jesus
invites Thomas to touch Him to see that He has truly, physically risen from the
dead. And Jesus eats fish with the
disciples during the forty days after the resurrection. Jesus is physically alive – He is risen!
Once
they believed that, their reaction is to hold on to Jesus and not let Him go –
to not let Him be seen by anyone who might hurt Him again – to cover over the
windows and put bubble wrap all over the Upper Room and lock Jesus in so they
will never lose Him again.
Jesus
knew that would be their reaction, and that is why He immediately told Mary not
to cling to Him. Jesus told Mary not to
covet His physical presence with her – He could not stay on earth – He had to
return to the Father and sit on His throne and reign sovereignly over all of
creation and prepare the Kingdom for all who will ever believe in Him.
We
understand not wanting to let someone go.
The disciples had been with Jesus for three years and watched Him die –
they didn’t want to let go – they didn’t want to lose Him again. But He had to assume His rightful place in
Heaven at the right hand of the Father as our Mediator.
When
Jesus did leave after forty days, the disciples couldn’t keep from staring up
into the sky. Luke tells us:
“And
while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in
white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as
you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:10-11, ESV).
And
that’s our hope, isn’t it? We rejoice
that Jesus physically rose from the dead – proving the authority of the
Scripture and that He is our victorious Savior.
Yet, our hope is that He is returning – with the Kingdom – to glorify us
and bring us in with Him forever.
We
hope with great assurance and in great comfort as we hear John’s vision:
“Then I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and
the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with
man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will
be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away’” (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV).
As
we prepare to receive the Lord’s Supper, let us receive the ancient Memorial
Acclamation:
“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will
come again.
“Dying
you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in
glory.
“When
we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until
you come in glory.
“Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you
have set us free. You are the Saviour of the world”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Acclamation).
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we rejoice and celebrate and give thanks to You for sending Your Son to be
a human being, to live, and suffer, and die, and rise again that we would
receive salvation. May our hearts
rejoice and our lives be changed that all would be to You and to Your
Glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
"Through the Curtain" Sermon: Hebrews 10:19-25 (manuscript)
“Through
the Curtain”
[Hebrews
10:19-25]
April
19, 2019, Second Reformed Church
March
29, 2024 YouTube Second Reformed Chruch
Comedians have pointed out that some of our “Christianese” is not
readily understandable by unbelievers.
For example, if we say, “Have you been washed in the blood?” many people
will be confused about what we mean.
Similarly, we may be confused when the author of Hebrews tells us that
we have been saved through the curtain.
In
chapter ten of the letter to the Hebrews, the author explains that the
sacrificial system has ended because the blood sacrifice of Jesus is once and
perfect and fulfills the whole system.
So no additional sacrifice ever has to be made again. Jesus died a perfect death once, and it was
complete and satisfies everything God requires, so no additional animals should
be sacrificed, and Jesus does not need to be sacrificed again. Therefore, we are saved through the curtain.
Let’s understand this:
First, the curtain symbolized separation from God due to sin.
When
Israel was in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, God
instructed Moses to build a mobile worship building called the Tabernacle. God gave detailed instructions about the size
and materials the Tabernacle was to be built with.
In
the innermost part of the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies. This part of the Tabernacle was the place
where God descended, and it was off limits to everyone, except the high priest
once a year, when he offered up sacrifice on behalf of all of Israel for their
sins on Yom Kippur.
The
Holy of Holies was separated from the next section of the Tabernacle by a
curtain that was fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide. And we read:
“And
you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined
linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall
hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on
four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring
the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate
for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the
ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place” (Exodus 26:31-34, ESV).
This
is the imagery that the author of Hebrews is using in our text – due to our sin
– in the Tabernacle – God instructed that there be a curtain separating God
from humans, because God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. And we understand this spiritually, in the
sacrificial system with its high priest and the other priests through whom
everyone had to go to bring their offerings and sacrifices to God. No one had direct access to God due to sin –
and the curtain symbolized the sin that separates sinners from God.
Second, Jesus’ crucifixion and death tore the curtain open.
Matthew records:
“Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli,
lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And
some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, ‘This man is calling Elijah.’ And one
of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on
a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see
whether Elijah will come to save him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud
voice and yielded up his spirit.
“And
behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the
earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the
tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw
the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly
this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:45-54, ESV).
As
Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies in the
Temple was torn open – from top to bottom – it was torn open from fifteen feet
in the air down. The Holy of Holies was
now open and exposed and anyone whose sins were forgiven could approach God
directly.
Why?
Because, through Jesus’ life, suffering, and death, He credits all those
who will ever believe in Him with His holy life and takes on Himself the debt
for all of our sin – the Wrath of God – and He pays that debt, so all we who
believe are seen as holy, righteous and sinless through Jesus.
It
is through the One Final Sacrifice of Jesus – and the tearing open of His flesh
– that the spiritual curtain that kept us from coming before God and living has
been torn open through His blood.
The
author of Hebrews writes:
“Therefore, brothers,
since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the
new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through
his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,”
Jesus has credited us
with a perfect keeping of God’s Law and He has paid the debt for all of our
sins – (these things we receive through faith) – so now – through His blood –
through His flesh – through His One and Final Sacrifice – as both High Priest and
Sacrifice – we are welcome to enter the holy place – to come into the house of
God and boldly ask of Him as the children of their Father.
Because of Jesus’ life,
suffering, and death, you – if you are a believer in the historical Jesus and
what He did – you are able to come before God and ask Him for your daily needs
and He will give them to you. You can
come before His very presence without fear and worship Him and thank Him and
glorify Him. Because that curtain has
been torn apart – Jesus’ flesh was torn open – for each one who will believe.
Knowing and understand
this, what shall we do?
The author of Hebrews
tells us three things that we ought to do in response to this:
First, let us draw near
to God with full assurance that we are forgiven.
“let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
As we come before God in
worship and in prayer, let us not doubt that Jesus’ work is enough to save
us. Let us not doubt that He has saved
us, as we are assured through our belief in Him and His work in our hearts and
through the confession of that belief with our mouths.
Let us not worry that we
are not good enough to come before the Almighty God, because we’re not! But Jesus is, and He has washed us with His
blood and made us right with God through His work. We have been bought with a price – Who is
Jesus – and we are now His, co-heirs with Him of the Kingdom and the adopted
children of God.
Do you believe that Jesus
is God the Son in the flesh, and He lived and died to make you right with
God? Do you love Jesus? If so, be assured that you are right with
God, you are saved, you can draw near to His Father and our Father and He will
receive you with open arms – just as He does Jesus.
Second, let us hold fast
to our confession.
“Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
The Apostle’s Creed is a
brief summary of the faith – and it contains what we must believe to be
saved. And as we learn more and more
through the reading and preaching of the Word, our confession – the truth that
we known about God and salvation through His Son – grows.
We know Jesus is God the
Only Savior. We know that He has gone to
prepare the Kingdom for us. We know that
He is coming back and will bring us into that Kingdom. That’s our hope – our sure hope – what we
know will happen, though it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t waver!
Turn away for those who teach anything contrary to the clear teaching of
the Scripture – especially about Jesus and His being God the One Savior. Rebuke the devil and he will flee.
And understand that we
are bold in our confession and in our coming before God, our Father, not
because we understand everything or have everything figured out. No, we are bold and sure and confess our
faith without wavering because Jesus is faithful. He is the Good Shepherd Who lay down His life
for His sheep – and He will never – He can never – desert us or fail us. He chose us to be His and we are His forever
– safe in His hands.
And third, let us stir up
love and good works, especially as we worship together.
“And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you
see the Day drawing near.”
One of the things we are
always to be about is increasing love of God and love of neighbor in our
brothers and sisters. It should be a
goal of ours to help our brothers and sisters in Christ love God and neighbor
better. We are to be teaching and
discipling people and praying for their growth in faith and obedience. Let us share with one another the ways in
which we are loving God and neighbor and the ways in which we need help in
loving God and neighbor.
Another thing we are to
do is to encourage one another to do good works – especially in the
church. God has gifted us in many and
varied ways.
Peter writes:
“The end of all things is
at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your
prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a
multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each
has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's
varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves,
as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.” (I Peter 4:7-11, ESV).
Then we are told not to
neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some.
Do you know what that
means? It means some Christians think
public worship – gathering together whenever we gather for worship – is
optional. Now, there are emergencies. We do get sick from time to time. Some people must work a job that keeps them
from normal worship. But it is not
normally right to skip worship because you have a busy life or want to do
something else. Understand, this is
between you and God.
It is when we gather
together in worship Paul says, that we are “[equipped] for the work of
ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be
children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole
body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when
each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up
in love” (Ephesians 4:12b-16, ESV).
When we gather together
as the church – as God commands – we are equipped and strengthened and matured.
More on that another
time.
Sin makes us unable to be
right with God. The curtain separating
the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle and Temple was a constant
reminder that God is holy and we are not.
But the curtain was torn open as Jesus’ body was savaged and He was
crucified – as He screamed out in the horror of being separated from His
Father. This He did to make us right
with God – so we could pass through the curtain into the throne room of God.
And now we can enter
boldly with full assurance of our salvation, confess the truths of the faith
without wavering – for God is with us, and we gather together as the people of
God to stir up our love – to obey God through faith, to encourage each other to
do the good works God has set before us.
And as we worship together and stir each other up and encourage one
another as the Church – God matures us and makes us ready to be His people
every day.
We live in a time when
even Christians do these things less and less.
But the author of Hebrews tells us to do these things more and more,
because Jesus is returning – the Day of Judgment is near – even more near than
it was two thousand years ago.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, on this
Good Friday, we remember the physical torment Your Son went through to make us
right with You. We thank You for this
great and final sacrifice, and ask that You would send the Holy Spirit in fuller
measure, that our hearts and minds would be sharply pricked, and we would obey
You in all that You have commanded, because the Day is near. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
"The Lord's Supper" Sermon: I Corinthians 11:23-26 (manuscript)
“The
Lord’s Supper”
[1
Corinthians 11:23-26]
April
18, 2019, Second Reformed Church
March
28, 2024, YouTube, Second Reformed Church
We
turn to a familiar passage this Maundy Thursday – the institution of the Lord’s
Supper – words that we hear every Sunday in this church. Let’s consider for a few moments what the
Lord’s Supper is.
First,
the Lord’s Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal.
We
read in the Gospel of Mark:
“And
on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
his disciples said to him, ‘Where will you have us go and prepare for you to
eat the Passover?’ And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into
the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and
wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, “The Teacher says, Where is
my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” And he will
show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.’ And the
disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them,
and they prepared the Passover” (Mark 14:12-16, ESV).
It was that Thursday night before
Easter – the day before the crucifixion – that Jesus and His disciples gather
in the upper room to celebrate the Passover with Him. It was the first day of Unleavened Bread –
the first day of the Passover – in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt when
Israel prepared bread quickly for her escape – without leaven to make it rise –
that they gathered together – after Jesus gives the disciples instructions not
unlike the instructions that He gave them prior to the Triumphal Entry.
Then Jesus turns to the elements of
the Passover – the lamb, the cup of wine, and the matzo. Jesus does not say anything about the lamb at
this point, but the bread He calls His body and the cup He calls the new
covenant in His blood. And so, Jesus
tells them that, as they celebrate in the future, they do so seeing the
elements of remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt as the elements of
their deliverance by Jesus in the new covenant.
Whereas they understood the bread and the cup as looking back to the
time when they had to move quickly in the escape won by God from the Egyptians,
now they would receive the bread and the cup remembering that the body and
blood of Jesus join us together in the new covenant and delivers us in another
way.
Second, the Passover represents the
reality of our move from darkness into light.
Moses
spoke to Israel about the Passover:
“You
shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And
when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you
shall keep this service. And when your
children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is
the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the
people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’
And the people bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 12:24-27, ESV).
Notice, God instructs Israel
through Moses that this will be an eternal rite – an eternal sacrament – for
all of Israel. And that when the
children – who did not suffer in Egypt or go through the wilderness, but were
born in the Promised Land, ask what the sacrament means – forever and ever –
Israel shall answer, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed
over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians
but spared our houses.”
The Lord did not just pass over the
houses of those who left Egypt, or the parents of the children born in the
Promised Land, but of everyone of Israel for whom the deliverance is given.
How are we to understand this
deliverance applied to those over three thousand years ago and as a member of
the Israel of God today?
Paul writes, “And so, from the day
we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled
with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious
might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He
has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom
of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
(Colossians 1:9-14, ESV).
In a parallel way to God delivering
Israel from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land – which is received by all
true Israel, so God has delivered all those who will ever believe in Jesus from
slavery to sin in the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Beloved Son,
in Whom we are redeemed to God and forgiven for all of our sins by God.
Third, Jesus is the Passover Lamb.
In the history of the Exodus, we
read:
“Then
Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go and select lambs
for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a
bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the
lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you
shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass
through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and
on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to enter your houses to strike you’” (Exodus 12:21-23, ESV).
Paul
tells us, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really
are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I
Corinthians 5:7, ESV).
Using
the Passover imagery of unleavened bread and the Passover lamb, Paul tells us
that Jesus is, Himself, the Passover Lamb, Who was slaughtered to saved us and
deliver us from our slavery to sin, and from being condemned to eternal
suffering, even as His blood covers us, as the lamb’s blood covered the lintels
and doorposts of Israel in Egypt.
The
author of Hebrews also explains, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in
festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in
heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made
perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24,
ESV).
So, Jesus takes the place
of the Passover Lamb in being sacrificed for us and it is through the sprinkled
blood – now not just over the door, but over us – that we are cleansed and
delivered.
And
we quickly consider the question, then, if we are eating the bread and drinking
the cup, are we eating and drinking Jesus?
A number of traditions say “yes” based on Jesus saying, “This is my
body.”
Here’s
the problem – and the reason we answer “no” – Jesus has a completely human
body. In order for Jesus’ body to be
literally eaten for two thousand years, His body could not be that of a real
human being, His body would have to be superhuman or divinized, which would
mean we do not have a human representative before God on our behalf. And we must have a real human being
representing us before God, because only a real human being can take the place
of a real human being as Jesus did for us in keeping the Law and paying our
debt for sin.
What,
then, do we understand about the Lord’s Supper?
Paul
explains to the Corinthians, “For I received from the Lord what I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took
bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body,
which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took
the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat
this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”
Paul
tells us that as we receive the Lord’s Supper, three things occur:
We
remember. We remember that God sent His
Son to become a human to live a perfect life under the Law of God and then die
taking on the sins of everyone who will ever believe in Him. We remember that something historical
happened. And it is that historical
event, concerning a historical Person, through Whom we receive salvation.
We
commune. We commune with Jesus
spiritually as those who have become members of the new covenant through
Jesus. He lived for us and lives in us
and sends (with God the Father) God the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us
and change us, transforming us into to Image of Jesus that we will perfectly
bear when we are glorified and received into the Kingdom.
Therefore,
we hope. We hope as we receive the
elements – proclaiming the Gospel – this historical thing that God the Son did,
Incarnate in the person of Jesus, through Whom we now live and hope for the
coming Kingdom – the banishment of sin and death and the devil, and the
reconciliation of the Creation and each one who ever believes, that we will
assuredly enter a Kingdom far greater than the Garden of Eden because sin is
excluded. We will walk with God in the
world and have joy inexpressible.
And
so, the Lord’s Supper is not an “add-on” to the worship service, but the
fulfillment of the Passover, a visual representation of the Gospel – our moving
from slavery in the kingdom of sin to the Kingdom of God’s Beloved Son, and the
understanding of Jesus as our Passover Lamb.
Let
us remember, and commune, and have hope with all assurance through this
sacrament that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, help us to receive the elements of the Lord’s Supper. Keep us from considering it a snack or an
“add-on” to worship. Help us to see the
importance of its place by the Word and in our worship. Grant us fuller assurance of salvation as we
receive the bread and the cup. For it is
in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
"Has to Be" Sermon: Luke 19:28-40 (manuscript)
“Has
to Be”
[Luke
19:28-40]
April
14, 2019 Second Reformed Church
March
24, 2024 YouTube
Jesus was thirty years old when He
left His father’s carpentry shop and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by
His cousin, John. From there, He spent
three years teaching people all around His homeland – explaining what God has
truly said, and when John the Baptist asked if Jesus is the promised Savior,
Jesus said, “And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and
heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to
them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me’” (Luke 7:22-23, ESV).
Just before this, we read, “And
[Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom,
he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.’
“’And he rolled up the scroll and
gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “’“Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”’” (Luke 4: 16-21, ESV).
If Jesus is God the Savior, then it
has to be true that Jesus fulfills all of the prophecies about the promised
Savior. If Jesus does not fulfill all of
the prophesies or does something against one of the prophecies, then He cannot
be the Savior.
The first text is from Isaiah 29
and 35. The second text is from Isaiah
61. Jesus tells the crowd and John’s
disciples, “I have fulfilled this prophecy – this text – which has to be
fulfilled by the Savior; Yes, I am the Savior.”
Three
years later, we have this morning’s text, and we see:
First,
Jesus has to ride into Jerusalem on a colt.
“And
when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he
drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent
two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village in front of you, where on
entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it
and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you shall say
this: “The Lord has need of it.”’” So those who were sent went away and found
it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said
to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ And they said, ‘The Lord has need of
it.’ And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they
set Jesus on it.”
Why?
Jesus
walked here there and everywhere, around and around Israel, and now that He’s a
mile and a half outside of Jerusalem, He says, “No further. I want to ride a colt for the rest of the
trip. Go into town and take one and just
say ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Why?
Because
it has to be.
Zechariah
prophecies, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation
is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”
(Zechariah 9:9, ESV).
It
is prophesied that the Savior will come into Jerusalem in this way. The Savior will ride a colt into Jerusalem as
a sign that this is the Savior God sent.
And so, just as He was born in a borrowed bed, He rode into Jerusalem on
a borrowed colt. And the biblically
literate world in which He lived knew He was telling them – in this act – that
He is God the Savior.
Some
of the people understood what Jesus was doing and cried out.
Second, Jesus has to be praised as
God and King.
“And
as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing
near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his
disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty
works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”
Many
in the crowd cry out, and what they cry out is not accidental. They understand Jesus’ fulfillment of the
prophecy of Zechariah, and thy respond by quoting prophecy.
Psalm
118 ends:
“Save
us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the
LORD.
“The
LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal
sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
“You
are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh
give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures
forever!” (Psalm 118:25-29, ESV).
“Hosanna,”
as we read in the other gospels, means, “Save us, we pray.”
Knowing that what they
say is from this Psalm, and this Psalm is directed towards God and God Alone,
we can conclude that these people recognized – on some level, anyway, that
Jesus is God the Savior. It is unlikely
that they understood the fullness of what this means – even the apostles didn’t
understand until after the resurrection.
Third,
Jesus has to receive the crowd’s praise.
“And
some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your
disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones
would cry out.’”
Some
of Pharisees aren’t upset because what the crowd was saying is untrue – some of
them don’t care whether it is true or not.
The issue for them is that Jesus’ popularity with the people is taking
power and authority away from them because the people are looking to Jesus for
His interpretation – His teaching on the Law and the Prophets, and they are
questioning what the Pharisees are teaching.
Others
of the Pharisees are upset because they don’t believe it is true – which is why
the word “rebuke” is used. These people
were calling Jesus God, and that is blasphemy (if it isn’t true), so they
called on Jesus to rebuke them – to deny that He is God.
But
Jesus tells them it has to be – they know that He is God and Savior, so they
have to call out and praise Him and ask for His salvation. Even so, if they were silenced – the stones
on the ground would cry out.
What?
Jesus
wasn’t saying that the actual rocks would cry out praising Him and identifying
Him as God the Savior, is He?
Maybe
He meant that the most stubborn of His disciples would refuse to stop praising
Him. Maybe He meant that the lowest of
the low would not listen to any authority, but would continue to cry out what
they had heard.
Or,
maybe Jesus meant the rocks would cry out…
The
Psalmist tells us it is the right duty of all creation, not just humans, to
praise God for Who He is.
“Praise
the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
“Praise
him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!
“Praise him, sun and moon, praise
him, all you shining stars!
“Praise
him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
“Let
them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.
“And
he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass
away.
“Praise the LORD from the earth, you
great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, “snow and mist, stormy wind
fulfilling his word!
“Mountains and all hills, fruit trees
and all cedars!
“Beasts
and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds!
“Kings
of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
“Young
men and maidens together, old men and children!
“Let them praise the name of the
LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is “above earth and heaven.
“He
has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people
of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 148:1-14, ESV).
All
of Creation praises the Lord. All of
Creation glorifies God. All of Creation
shows God to be Who He is and He will be praised for Who He is and what He has
done. The Creation recognizes Jesus for
Who He is. So, He has to be praised.
When
Jesus was crucified, the sun went dark, the earth quaked, rocks split, and many
of the dead saints were raised and came into the city – why do we doubt that
the stones on the road to Jerusalem would not cry out that this is Jesus, God
in the flesh, the promised Savior?
In
order for Jesus to be our Savior, everything that is prophesied about Him had
to come to pass. It has to be.
If
we believe the Bible is the Word of God, it has to be.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God. You have given us Your Word and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, and
we ask that we would read Your Word and hear Your Word and receive Your Word as
the Holy Spirit helps us – that we would respond rightly, with joy, in
obedience, and to Your Glory. In Jesus’
Name, Amen.