160214 God Knows the Plans

Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Obviously, this passage of Scripture speaks from God, through Jeremiah, to the people of Israel held in exile. There are people who would say that we have no right to claim this for ourselves because it is for exiled Israel. I beg to differ! Paul wrote to the Romans “Christ became a servant to the circumcised (Jews) to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. (Romans 15:8-9) Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

When God says he has plans for Israel, through Jeremiah, they should not be surprised. In the same way we should not be surprised that God has plans for us and for this church. God’s plans are always focused on bringing glory to himself and not to people. God’s plan for exiled Israel would lead them to the place in their history where they would call upon him, seek him and find him. Everything was designed to cause them to seek him with all their heart. God wanted them to understand what this was all about and how much he desired to heal their land and their nation. There was a significance in the time that would pass…

Seventy years — their significance. God had warned Israel that they would turn away from him in rebellion. When this would happen God had warned them very specifically. We find the warning in Leviticus 26:33-35. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. ³⁴ “Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.

When God set up the nation Israel one of the rules they were to follow was good farming techniques. Part of that plan was to allow their fields, every seven years, to rest, or lie fallow, just as God had rested on the seventh day. For more than 400 years Israel had not been faithful to God in allowing for the Sabbath year. Therefore, God sent them into exile for 70 years because of their rebellion thus allowing the land to enjoy its Sabbaths. We need to remember that…

God knows what’s going on. None of what Israel was going through was a surprise to God. Let’s look at Isaiah 46:8-10. “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, ⁹ remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰ declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”

Isaiah lived and ministered about 100 years before Jeremiah. God had clearly pointed out the danger facing Israel. He knew what would happen. He knew they would be carried away. He also knew that this was his purpose and plan. After Isaiah’s warnings, Jeremiah could pick up the theme and show that God’s plan involved more than their captivity. Even in the midst of their exile Israel could rest in the fact that God had plans for them. The plans he had were not to do more harm but instead were…

Isaiah 46

Plans for welfare. Just as God had a plan for Israel he has a plan for us today. Paul wrote about it in Ephesians 3:20-21. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We need to remember that God is capable of doing everything that we ask. Even all that we can think is known by God and is empowered by him. He has a plan for us that will bring glory and honor to him.

We think that our plans are really wonderful but they are not anywhere near the plans that God has for us. The power of the Holy Spirit has come to rest upon the church and the individual members of it. That power is sufficient to bring glory to God throughout all of history and beyond. God had, for them and for us, a plan…

To give a future. The apostle Paul brings forward a quote from Isaiah found in       1 Corinthians 2:9. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

Nothing we have seen or heard can come close to what God has prepared for those who love him. In fact, not just what we have seen or heard but what we can imagine doesn’t even come close to what God has prepared. We must never, ever, doubt that God intends everything to work together for our good. In a way God’s plan for captive Israel applies to the 21^st century church. The church today is often in captivity to the social pressures around us. We need to be like King Jehoshaphat when he was faced with overwhelming enemies. He saw that he was not powerful enough to face his enemies, he was faced by three powerful armies, and so he turned to God in prayer. His prayer was simple, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chronicles 20:10) When we face our enemies we need not spend too much time looking at them. We need to fix our eyes on God! Our God wants to give us a future and…

To give a hope. Again we will turn to one of the writings of Paul for a New Testament example. Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Paul was physically suffering and carrying the emotional burden of the churches. God had revealed to him that there was a mystery that had been hidden for generations and was now ready to be revealed. Christ gives us a hope for the future that he has promised us.

Biblical hope is not like our usual use of the word. I could say, “I hope it doesn’t rain.” Meaning I don’t know whether it will or not but I do have a desire that it not rain. If Christ in us is our hope of glory then it is a secured promise. We must simply be patient, waiting on God to deliver, what he has promised us. We are able to rejoice in hope while being patient in tribulation. God himself will fill us with joy while we hope for the future. We are not defensless because…

God’s people may call upon him. Let’s go back to the Old Testament and read the promise found in Deuteronomy 4:7. For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

Moses is recounting for the people of Israel their progress to date. He reminds them of the many things they have seen so far. Then he asked them the question we see before us. Whenever we get discouraged or depressed we need to ask some questions.

Let’s see if I can give one of them a modern paraphrase. What great group of people has a god as near to them as our God is to us so that we can call upon him? Or, perhaps we can draw some encouragement from the experience of Cicilla Martin who was, along with her husband, in Elmira, New York, more than 100 years ago. She observed a couple, a Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle, who were both crippled and yet at the same time lived a very happy Christian life.

Dr. Martin, Civilla’s husband, asked the Doolittle’s one day what the secret of their bright hopefulness was. Mrs. Doolittle replied, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.”

From that encounter came the powerful song that begins this way.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Who has a God that is like our God found in the Christian faith? None, none at all! All the gods of the world are blind and deaf and immobile. We have a God we can call upon with confidence that he will hear from heaven and heal our problem. God will do for us just as he promised to do for exiled Israel. We find in Scripture that…

God will restore and gather. A prophet told King Asa that God is looking for people to support. We find it recorded in 2 Chronicles 16:9a.  For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Please don’t draw from this the idea that God has to search about for people to help. What this says to me is God is always looking over the whole earth at same time. This is not something we can do however it is easily done by God. Whenever a person’s heart is truly wholeheartedly God’s then he will always provide for them. The proverb tells us, (Proverbs 15:3) “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Not only is God watching he is prepared to restore as well.

We don’t know exactly when Joel wrote but he gave a very powerful promise to those who would return to him with all their heart. Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.

During times of rebellion God sends upon his people all kinds of disasters. He does this to get their attention! Since Israel was primarily an agricultural country in the days of Joel, when their heart was not truly turned to him, God destroyed their crops.

The promise is that when the people of Israel would turn their hearts to him he would not just clean up the mess that had been left from their rebellion. He would do far better than that! God promised that he would restore what was destroyed by the locusts.

We can also be confident that God will restore to us what has fallen away if we will come to him with our whole heart. Over the past two years the Stamford Baptist Church has not flourished! We have seen families move away from the area and some, still in the area, drop out of church. In the best case scenario those who have dropped out are attending somewhere else. In the worst-case they’re not going anywhere.

We serve a God who is capable of meeting all of our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. In fact, we learn from the Bible that God is constantly seeking people whose hearts are his so that he can show himself strong for them. God has plans for this church that go beyond where we are at today. We will see the baptistery being used as people come to faith in Christ and we will see others move into the area and into this church to give it the strength that only comes from God. The important thing is that we never forget that God will meet our needs.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

160207 The Scroll Is Opened

Revelation 8:1-5 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. ³ And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, ⁴ and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

As John stands in the throne room of heaven he is almost overwhelmed by the information he is given. He has seen the throne of God himself! Around the throne he has seen 24 thrones each occupied by an elder. Along with them he sees seven torches that represent the seven spirits of God. And in front of the throne a sea of glass. Along with all of that, he sees four living creatures. They were angels with six wings. All day and night they worship God! And then he adds to that a scroll held by God and sealed by seven seals. And the Lion of the tribe of Judah, having conquered, has the right to open the seals.

We need to remember that the scroll cannot be read until all seven seals are broken. As the Lamb opens them we see…

The first six seals. Going back to Revelation 6:1ff. Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer…

The first four seals reveal a horse with a rider each one having a special purpose. The first horse was a white horse capable of bringing victory — perhaps giving victory to the church as Rome falls to Christianity.

The second horse is bright red and its rider is permitted to take peace from the earth. And chaos slowly spread across the world. The third seal reveals want and famine following behind the slaughter already seen.

The fourth rider is Death! And the horror continued! The fifth seal revealed the souls of those who had given their lives for their faith. Those souls are kept under the altar in heaven. The sixth seal caused the spreading of fear across the earth.

The earth filled with fear. Let’s read on Revelation 6:12-17. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, ¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. ¹⁴ The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Hosea the prophet had seen the coming day of the Lord and had predicted that men would hide in the caves and call on the mountains to cover them. The coming day of the Lord will reveal the wrath of God against the ungodly of mankind. If someone were to stop at this point in the book of Revelation he, or she, would be very discouraged and might also be filled with fear.

Immediately, the scene begins to reveal the coming victory. First there was…

The completion of saved Israel. Let’s look at Revelation 7:1-8. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ² Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, ³ saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” ⁴ And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: ⁵ 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, ⁶ 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, ⁷ 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, ⁸ 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

I do not believe this vision represents a specific number of people of Israel. The people who received the letter would have known that this list is not correct. The tribe of Dan is left out altogether, Levi is included, Joseph is named and so is his son, Manasseh. Twelve thousand would be a representative number and twelve times twelve thousand gives us the number of 144,000.

Paul had reminded the Romans that God was not finished with Israel in chapters 9 through 11 of his letter. There Paul tells us of his concern for Israel. His concern was so deep that he stated that he would be willing to be cut off from Christ if it could somehow bring Israel to salvation. Paul shows us that the nation of Israel was temporarily set aside in order that the Gentiles (that’s us) might be included in the body of Christ. Paul continually holds up the hope that Israel might be saved. That’s a whole other message.

But here, in the book of Revelation, is the hopeful promise that a perfect number of Israelites will be saved. In fact, Paul himself was an Israelite and he was reminded by God of the time when Elijah had come to believe that he was the last follower of Jehovah. At that time God said to him, “I have kept for myself 7000 men who have known about the need to Baal.” (Romans 11:4) Therefore, Paul could be encouraged to know that God always will have Israelites who are true to him. Israel was cut off until…

The fullness of the Gentiles. Let’s look back at Matthew 24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

When John saw that great multitude of people from every nation, from every tribe and people and every language he saw the product of the completion of Christian missions that Jesus had talked about. I want to encourage you to think about the fact that the multitude standing before the throne of God will consist of more people than can be counted.

Folks, this is good news! Just as destruction and death sweeps over the whole world, even so, the gospel of the kingdom is being preached so that the uncounted multitude can be brought to faith before the end. Right now there are more than 7 billion people on the face of the earth. Of that number, 2.3 billion are Christians, or at least belong to groups that are identified as “Christian”. Actually only 748 million are evangelical Christians. 3 billion people still live among the unreached people groups of the world. And more than 1 ½ billion of them are completely unevangelized.

There is still a great work to be done in making sure that the gospel is preached throughout the whole world. Then, and only then, will the end come.

So the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals offer us an encouraging scene. That scene shows us a perfect number of Israelites sealed for the Lord and a multitude of billions and billions of Gentiles standing before the throne.

And then the seventh seal. Let’s read on Revelation 8:1. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Is hard to imagine silence in heaven! There is, in the heart and minds of all the creatures around the throne, a desire to worship God but with the opening of the scroll there is an awestruck silence.

And then an angel came to the altar with a golden incense burner and as the incense rose before the throne it was mixed with the prayers of the saints. Remember, those prayers include the question, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” It’s wonderful to know that the seemingly unanswered prayers throughout the ages are still being raised before the throne of God. At the appropriate time, the prayers of the saints will be raised in incense and fire will be gathered from the altar and thrown upon the earth. All those who to have taken a stand against God will ultimately face his wrath and vengeance.

Along with the incense and the fire there were…

Seven angels standing before God. Who were these angels? One of them is likely mentioned in Luke 1:19. Zachariah the priest had entered the temple. It was just a normal day of worship for him. Then suddenly an angel appeared to tell him that his prayers for a son was going to be answered soon. Remember how Zachariah hesitated because of his age and that of his wife? And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

We are only given the names of a few angels, Michael and Gabriel are mentioned among the uncounted number of angels all of whom must surely have a name. And so when John saw the seven angels standing before the throne he understood that they had an important significance.

Trumpets were given to them. Now, trumpets are very important in the Bible. In the very beginning of the Exodus from Egypt silver trumpets were made and used to announce the time to leave and the time to stop as well as to give an alarm.

Trumpets were blown when Jericho had been encompassed by the nation of Israel and its walls came tumbling down.

John saw trumpets being given to the angels. They were…

Seven trumpets announcing the end. Let’s read on Revelation 8:6ff. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The first angel blew his trumpet and hail and fire mixed with blood spread over the earth. The second angel blew his trumpet and a great flaming mountain crashed into the sea. The third angel blew his trumpet and the great star named Wormwood came down and poisoned the sea. The fourth angel blew his trumpet and one third of all the lights of the heavens were darkened. The fifth trumpet announced the coming of an angel with a key to the bottomless pit. That key released creatures like locusts that spread out on the earth. And all of those people who had not been sealed by God would be tormented by them. John describes this as the first woe. Then the sixth trumpet was blown and angels were released to bring death to one third of the earth. These angels released three plagues on the earth. Even with all this destruction mankind did not repent.

Suddenly there was an interruption in the sounding of the trumpets. A mighty angel came down and placed his feet on the sea and the land and he called out with a loud voice. When he called out seven thunders sounded. John was instructed not to write what the thunders revealed.

That angel then gave John a scroll and told him to eat it. It tasted sweet like honey in his mouth but was bitter in his stomach. Then he was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Revelation 10:11) Then John was given a rod to measure the heavenly temple. He saw two witnesses who would have divine authority for 3 ½ years. Then he saw a beast who would kill them. Their dead bodies lay in Jerusalem for 3 ½ days. In the midst of the rejoicing of the people of the earth over the death of these witnesses God gave them life and they were taken up to heaven. A great earthquake followed and John called it “the second woe”.

While John was contemplating all this the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And instead of silence in heaven there were loud voices praising God and proclaiming…

The kingdom of our Lord. Let’s look ahead to Revelation 11:15. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

At this point, the readers of this book from the first century forward are encouraged to know that though there is great tribulation and trouble the result will be as Jesus promised. Jesus told his disciples that in the world they would have tribulation but they could take heart in the fact that he had overcome the world. (John 16:33) Now as John observes the rollout of the ages he is assured — and wants his readers to be assured — that the kingdom of the world will come to an end and will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ! The promise now comes “he shall reign forever and ever.” We need to rejoice in the fact, that though we see so much trouble in the world, we have read the end of the book and we know that WE WIN!

Those 24 elders who sit on the thrones before God then worship him with thanksgiving. They can praise God that he has brought it all to an end and has finally begun his reign and now will bring about judgment. Then…

The temple in heaven opened for John. Let’s read on Revelation 11:19. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

For the first time man can look on the Ark of the covenant in heaven. This raises a question. Is this Ark, which is very likely, the original pattern used by Moses? Or, is it the actual Ark that was made in the wilderness? The Ark of the covenant has never been found on earth. It may have been transported by God into heaven before the Temple was destroyed by the 10^th Legion of the Roman army. Why not?

When I was in Jerusalem (1987) I met a Rabbi who assured me that the Ark, the original one, was in a chamber beneath the Temple Mount. He did not explain why he knew that but it certainly was firmly believed to be the truth. There was a locked gate leading to a tunnel beneath the Temple Mount. Of course, he didn’t have the key and we didn’t go in.

This brings us through the first half of the book of Revelation. Beyond this the visions of John expands to include a woman confronted by a Dragon, the final defeat of Satan, two beasts that lead to a final battle on earth. Seven plagues that sweep the earth followed by the wrath of God. All of this seems to be happening in a random fashion at more or less the same time. At least that seems to be the way John saw it. My greatest concern is that each of you know that you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.