Taste the End
Notes
Transcript
I’ve talked with many of you about the goodness of God and his sovereignty. And we’ve commented how we don’t know how people get through life without a relationship with him, without knowing that God is in control of all the chaos and he is going to bring good out of it.
Life is pretty hopeless without Jesus.
Some people say that its enough that we have faith. As long as we have some sort of faith, we will be okay.
But, that doesn’t cut it. I can have faith that my 6 year old son can change the oil in my car. But, that oil isn’t going to get changed, at least not in a way that the car will work.
When I need my car maintained, I go to the one can do it. The best way, is to go to the one who created it.
Consistently through Scripture, Jesus is introduced as the one who is in charge, who created everything.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Because he created everything, he sustains everything and he is in control.
As we studied in the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzer worshiped other gods and thought that he was okay. But God brought him through a horrible time, and king Nebuchadnezzer wrote:
At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is in control. He was in control at the beginning of time. He has kept this world going, despite our sin. And he will be in control at the end of time, when he comes again.
Because he is in control, we can face the future with joy, even as we see the unsettling events build around us.
That’s what John experiences as he sees another interlude in the end times action.
He has just seen 6 of the 7 trumpets, and God changes his vision to the big picture.
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”
Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
Today, we are going to talk about the end. How the end is imminent, joyfilled, unsettling, and must be proclaimed.
Will you pray with me?
1. The End Is Imminent
1. The End Is Imminent
Let’s talk about the end, shall we. The end of time. We believe that the end is imminent.
John sees an angel and hears things that he cannot write down. Many people get caught up in the seven thunders and what the seven thunders said. The simple explanation is that we weren’t supposed to know and we shouldn’t get bent out of joint about that.
Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven and as he writes:
was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
Somethings are too awesome to write down and share on this earth.
So, moving on from that. John sees an angel:
And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
There will be no delay.
When God decides to act, he acts quickly.
His coming is imminent. Bible teachers use the word imminent a lot. But, what does that mean?
It means that when it happens it will happen quickly. It is nigh at hand.
Have you ever seen one of those cartoons where Bugs Bunny or someone is running along and finds himself teetering on the edge of a cliff. He’s spinning his arms, swaying back and forth. His fall is imminent. We don’t know when the cartoonist is going to have him fall, but it’s going to happen, and when it does, it will be quick.
The world is teetering on the edge. We don’t know when Christ is going to come, when that angel is going to appear and say: There will be no delay!
Until that happens, the world is teetering on the edge, never knowing when it will drop into God’s judgment, the time of the tribulation.
But, when it happens, it will happen quickly.
It’s the same word that is used by Jesus after his resurrection:
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
There will be no delay. It will be quick.
When God’s judgment falls, bringing the end of time, there will not be time for anyone to say: oops, I should change my mind, I should follow Jesus.
The end is imminent.
2. The End Is Joy-filled
2. The End Is Joy-filled
And when the time of no delay comes, when Christ will finally appear to bring his kingdom to earth. What a day that will be!
What a day that will be
When my Jesus I shall see
And I look upon His face
The One who saved my by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day that will be
John is prompted to take a scroll from the hand of the angel.
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Sweet in the mouth.
It seems that this scroll is part of the scroll that Jesus had in Rev 4-6, containing the details of the Great Tribulation and the introduction of his ultimate reign.
John ate it and it was sweet to his taste.
And why wouldn’t it be?
Isn’t it sweet for us to think about Christ’s coming? Him ushering that time of when we live eternally on this earth again, but this earth won’t have anything out of place, there won’t be any decay, there won’t be any sin, there won’t be any sickness, there won’t be any wars, or arguments. We will have an uninterrupted fellowship with God and each other.
Death or the rapture is one thing, when we are whisked away from this world. But, that isn’t our hope. Our hope is in the resurrection when we will live on this earth again.
Isn’t is sweet for us to think about Jesus with us forever. Surrounded by our loved ones. I’ll see Grandma Harriet again. Grandma Ward who died when I was 5. Both my grandfathers. My cousin David who committed suicide. Carissa, one of my best friends in college, who died of hypothermia. I think about Mary Green. Art and Alice Busshardt. Barb Pellatz. Chuck Roberts. So many of my friends here who are waiting.
It will be so sweet.
It’s sweet sometimes to think about God’s justice. That everything that has been done so very wrong and hurtful will be punished. God will bring vengeance on those who have done such evil, such as those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. The holocaust. Those who have wreaked havoc on our brothers and sisters in Asia, the Middle East, Africa.
God will judge the inhabitants of the world and avenge the blood of our brothers and sisters. And that is sweet.
Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!
The End is joy-filled!
3. The End Is Unsettling
3. The End Is Unsettling
But, that’s not the whole emotion that will be experienced. John eats the scroll. He tastes the sweetness, but then when it hits his stomach…
I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Just as the angel had predicted.
While we know all the sweetness of Jesus’ second coming, and we yearn for it. It should unsettle us to the depths of our being, because we know what the end will bring.
Yes, the Great Tribulation is bad, but it is nothing compared to the ultimate judgment of God.
Jonathan Edwards preached an amazing sermon about this: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God:
The Wrath of God is like great Waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, & rise higher and higher, till an Outlet is given, and the longer the Stream is stop’d, the more rapid and mighty is it’s Course, when once it is let loose. 'Tis true, that Judgment against your evil Works has not been executed hitherto; the Floods of God’s Vengeance have been with-held; but your Guilt in the mean Time is constantly increasing, and you are every Day treasuring up more Wrath;the Waters are continually rising an waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the meer Pleasure of God that holds the Waters back that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward; if God should only withdraw his Hand from the Flood-Gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery Floods of the Fierceness and Wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable Fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent Power; and if your Strength were ten thousand Times greater than it is, yea ten thousand Times greater than the Strength of the stoutest, sturdiest, Devil in Hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.
The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome In-sect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire; he is of purer Eyes than to bear to have you in his Sight; you are ten thousand Times so abominable in his Eyes as the most hate-ful venomous Serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn Rebel did his Prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his Hand that holds you from falling into the Fire every Moment:
O Sinner! Consider the fearful Danger you are in: ’Tis a great Furnace of Wrath, a wide and bottomless Pit, full of the Fire of Wrath, that you are held over in the Hand of that God, whose Wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the Damned in Hell: You hang by a slender Thread, with the Flames of divine Wrath flashing about it, and ready every Moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no Interest in any Mediator, and noth-ing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the Flames of Wrath, nothing of your own, noth-ing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one Moment.
When we realize what is in store for so many people when the end comes, we should be unsettled to our very core.
The end is unsettling.
4. The End Must Be Proclaimed
4. The End Must Be Proclaimed
Because of the imminency, because of the joy, because of the unsettlingness of the end, the end must be proclaimed.
The angel tells John, as he is in the middle of the scroll-induced stomachache:
Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
The immediate result is Rev 11 to the end. He prophesies about many people, nations, languages, and kings.
But, there was a reason he was to prophecy, to write down his vision and the words of God. To encourage the church to remain faithful, and to encourage those who are near to the church but not of it to follow Jesus before it is too late.
We have the same charge. We have words of the scroll. We have tasted the sweetness. We are affected by the bitterness. And now we have a charge: the simple charge that has been in place since Jesus stood on the mountain in Galilee:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The very end of the age is coming. It is imminent, and so we should feel the urgency. Will we seize every opportunity to tell?
Today, as we take communion, remember the charge that Jesus gave. And we eat in promise to that.
