With the blowing of the seventh trumpet we come to the end…again. Once again we stress that you cannot read Revelation in a time line fashion. It is more of a tapestry that you will see various pictures and scenes drawn out in an elaborate arrangement that you have to take in both individually and as a whole to see how all the chapters play into one another. You will see this again as we reach chapter 12 and begin to read about a spiritual warfare in the heaven that takes place between The Woman and The Dragon which has  a timetable that stretches from an unknown beginning, we could say before Genesis one and  extends past the Millennium with the judgment of the dead.  If I was making a tapestry, I would make this portion the border and Christ the center because all the events center around The Lamb. That is one reason we are going to digress about tonight and talk about Israel and The Gospel. Before we entered the Throne Room of God we took a week off to talk about examining our hearts and preparing them for heaven. It wasn’t planned but as we are entering the second half of revelation and stand in the middle of the book, I have felt led to do a similar diversion and talk a little bit about Israel, Christ, The Gospel, The Church, Grace vs. The Law, Faith vs, Works because all of this stands central to understanding the book of Revelation and it really kickstarts us off for preparing our hearts to understand chapter Twelve next week by Centering our hearts in the greatness of the Gospel.

Now, last week we saw God give authority to his two witnesses and they prophesied for 1,260 days or 3.5 years. We saw a worldwide uproar regarding these two witnesses and the distress they caused the earth dwellers by reminding them of God’s ultimate power and authority through their testimony and through their ability to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desired as well as to shut up the sky so that no rain would fall during the days they prophesied and through their ability to turn the waters into blood. They came in the spirit of Moses and Elijah in that they exhibited all the characteristics of the Old Testament Prophets. The Israelites would have to immediately recognize the actions of these two men as being eerily similar to those of Moses and Elijah, even though they would probably initially disagree with their Gospel message concerning Jesus Christ since they reject him as Messiah and are still waiting for their Messiah to appear and set up his kingdom. We have to remember that it is to the Israelites that this message is being primarily delivered to since the gospel is turning away from the Gentiles and back to the Jews during this time period and they are being saved. So God is speaking their language and in symbols they would personally understand the meaning of so that they would repent of their own sins and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and as Messiah.

These two men, witnesses representing Moses and Elijah are special. These two men appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ and the disciples attempted to set up altars for all three of them but they were scared out of their wits by the voice of God that thundered from heaven stating.  “This is my Son, hear him.” Someone greater than the law and the prophets stood among them and demanded to be heard above all. Jesus Christ. In times past God spoke to us through the Law and the Prophets but now he speaks to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus supersedes the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah. You cannot put them on the same level. In a figurative way we see that Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets and it’s possible that these two witnesses in a similar fashion come in the spirit of Moses and Elijah who the Israelites still listen to as the Law and the Prophets still have ultimate authority in their nationality because they refuse to listen to and rejected Jesus Christ, The Rulers/Kings and The Priests..

 We saw that these two men are to be invincible, divinely protected and are able to breathe fire from their mouth and consume their enemies. Although this certainly could be literal, this language is probably symbolic for the power given to the words of their mouth to consume and destroy their enemies much like the symbolic language found in Revelation 19:15 describing Jesus which says:

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”

There is not a literal sword protruding from the mouth of Jesus but there might as well be because the power of his word will slay them immediately as shown in Revelation 19:21:

“And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.”

So we see the words of these two men’s mouths have the power and the authority to burn people.  “ If anyone would harm them, this is how they are doomed to be killed.”  If it is not literal, it just as well may be because the end result is the same. They will show all the onlookers and all the watchers a preview of their final destination for anyone who would stand against God.  Once again the Israelites will be reminded of the story of Elijah where twice he tells the armies of Ahaziah in 2 Kings chapter one:

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.”

Elijah does this twice before the final third captain with his fifty pleads with Elijah not to kill him and his fifty but to instead return with him to King Ahaziah and the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with him then. All of this will be infinitely significant to the Israelites people as they relive their own history.  It will take such events of great magnitude to wake Israel out of their deep slumber these past two thousand years.

Romans 11 tells us that it is important for us to understand what is called, “The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation” which is the fact that they are currently in a deep sleep or a slumber, under a partial hardening until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  It is in these last days that we will begin seeing Israel wake up from their stupor.

²⁸ As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. ³² For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

In Romans 11 Paul states that as far as the gospel is concerned, Israel is our enemy in regards to the gospel, the Jews themselves persecuted the early Christians. They were and still are against Christ. But when it comes to election, they are dearly loved and a people chosen by God. That is important for us to understand that Israel is special to God. So special that anyone who curses Israel will be cursed themselves and anyone who blesses Israel will be blessed. Israel has never been perfect, they have often been disobedient, but they are a special peculiar people to God, a treasured position not because of anything they ever did, but simply because God loved their forefathers and God blesses those who love him. Deuteronomy 7:9 is key, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

                 He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, – Psa. 105:8

When Moses asked to see God’s glory in Exodus, God responded,

““I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Exodus 33:19)

  God shows mercy, love and compassion to whomever he wills. It’s never been based on works or nationality. That is always so difficult for us to swallow no matter how long you have been a Christian. We default to this mentality. That God loves the obedient and hates the disobedient. God does show favor to those who seek his favor and seek to obey his will, there is no denying that. And we are all sinners and disobedient to varying degrees so we can appreciate God’s grace, amen. So do seek to obey God and you will be blessed. But like the Great Father that he is, he still shows mercy and compassion even to the disobedient according to his own will and purposes. Our disobedience breaks his heart. He takes no pleasure in punishing the wicked. His will is that all would come to repentance.

 The thing with obedience to God is that it is a matter of the heart and we have the sin nature to deal with.  Most Orthodox Jews of today deny the sin nature. They believe we have the ability to choose to be good or bad. The problem with this ideology is that God in his righteousness requires perfection and no one can be perfect. We have all sinned and fallen short of the grace of God. No one is perfect. No not one.  Without a deep understanding that we are sinful to the core and every inclination of our heart is evil all the time, we become prideful. We can do all the outward works, tithing, church, missions, ministries, remembering the poor, bible reading, prayer, memorizing the first five books of the torah, praying three times a day, fasting twice a week…we can do all of this perfectly, legalistically, we can do all the outward obedience God calls us to do and be “good” people in society only for the purpose of exalting ourselves. That is what is at the heart of it. We do good deeds to be seen by man. We do good deeds because we don’t want to look bad. We do good deeds to feel good about ourselves. We do good deeds for all the wrong reasons because the only right reason we are to do any of these good deeds is not for us but for the glory of God. God never comes to mind in many of the social humanism attempts to save the world and there are a lot of good ones out there. He is never considered. He is not worshipped.  Then on the other side we can do all good deeds in the name of God and do all the right things but God sees our hearts and it is for our own glory and not his. You can see this by how often you have to let someone know what you did, by publishing it on Facebook. Try doing good in secret and suffering in secret and see how much your flesh twists and wrestles against you through reasoning that you should share what you did.

 The Pharisees, the Jewish leaders were great at good deeds but they were dead towards God. They could not see how dirty their hearts were all the time. The outside of the cup was clean but the inside was filthy and that is the heart of the gospel. It changes us from the inside out. God’s grace changes us from the inside out and we begin to grow in humility and love. The closer we come to God and the longer we stand in his light, the more we see how dirty we are, not how good we are. We grow downward in deep humility and in continual repentance for sins, mourning over our condition, not gloating.  When is the last time you grieved deeply over your sin? When was the last time you were broken hearted because you brought shame to God’s holy name? We never become good Christians. Never. There is no such thing as a good Christian. There is no one good but one, God. The rest of us are dependent on grace, not only God’s but one another’s. I need your grace. You need my grace. We are to be continually exercising grace towards one another as God exercises his own grace towards us. This is what it means to be growing in grace and growing in love and humility.

 Our election is based on grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9) Israel’s election as God’s children was based on their identity, their natural heritage from the patriarchs. They boasted of their paternity.

 Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worshipand the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (Romans 9:4-5)

  They are the children of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, men of faith who were dearly loved by God. God’s love is still extended towards their descendants as promised.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, (Deuteronomy 7:9)

 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, – Deuteronomy 4:37

 It wasn’t because of anything the Israelites had done that God had delivered them from Egypt, or sustained them all these years, but because God loved their forefathers and had made a promise to them that he grew them into a great nation and maintained them and delivered them from all their enemies and will continue to maintain them.

 Israel was under God’s grace even while under the law but never knew it. They never saw it they associated God’s acceptance with their keeping of the law and with works. But every time they committed adultery, every time they failed, every time they were disobedient, God would show them grace. They are much like us as we become Christians and then start doing the disciplines that we know God would have us to do and that would please him and then we begin to think that is our behavior and works that causes God to love us and to accept us. We are adopted children. God may be displeased with us at times, but his love never fails. As God’s children we too are under his grace when we are obedient or disobedient. I would say be obedient and you will be blessed and will see more of God’s favor just like you saw more of your parents favor, but you will always be their child’s. We may often wonder how a child of God can act this way. Well, I don’t know… but sometimes they do. Sometimes God’s children act horribly out of character and out of God’s character but they still belong to God. God knows those who are his. But try hard not to make it hard for people to figure out who you belong to. Whose family you come from.

 In regards to the Jews, Mark Twain wondered:

             “All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dreamstuff and passed away; the Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Nations rise to great power and then they become weak and begin to crumble and fall and another nation rises to take its place. They are much like the ocean waves that come and go and only peak for short times as determined by God.  Unlike other nations, Israel sinks down for a time but is promised it will come up again and she does.

 There is no explanation for Israel’s continued existence except for God maintaining her.  In her continued existence despite her disobedience and disbelief we see God’s great faithfulness and patience displayed.

 The Gentiles were once children of disobedience but have now been shown the mercy of God. Now the Jews are in the same position the Gentiles were. Children of disobedience. They were always children of disobedience although loved by God. But through Christ that they too will receive the message of mercy and grace.

           For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. – Romans 11:32

 In his great love and wisdom, it was God’s purpose to commit first the Gentiles then the Jews over to disobedience so that his mercy might come and be shown to all mankind by faith. So that we may receive God’s grace which guarantees we will receive the promise given to Abraham since our righteousness does not depend on our efforts, keeping the law or our nationality but on our faith in Christ alone and his character and ability. Just as Romans 4:16 states:

 Therefore, the promise come by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith for Abraham. He is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

 Three reasons Paul gives for why the promise must come by faith:

(1) So that it may be by grace

(2) So that it may be guaranteed

(3) So that it is available to everyone

 If righteousness depended on our keeping the law, if it depended on our own efforts to please God, our salvation could not be guaranteed because it would depend on our faithfulness to God which because of our sinful nature is impossible. We had no hope of ever being faithful to God consistently.  Despite their heritage, neither did the Jew. Despite all the instructions and laws that were given to them, they could not remain faithful to God either. That is why they had the animal sacrifices to temporarily atone for their sins.

“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins….. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”  (Hebrews 10:4, 11)

 The sacrifice system was more for the Jews then for God. It was to show them their own utterly hopeless sinful nature, that no matter how hard they tried they could never keep the law perfectly and even despite their own personal sacrifices for sins, sacrifices had to made regularly for the whole nation because of their sinful nature. It  was also to show them the great, high cost of sin that another creature, one as innocent and perfect that could be found,  had to lose its life in substitution each time they sinned, for each person individually whither their sin was intentional an unintentional or a more general scheduled sacrifice that had to be continually offered. Can you imagine this system? This massive bloodshed that seemingly had no end.  Aren’t you glad we have Jesus Christ who:

 “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. (Hebrews 10 12-14, 18)

 Praise the Lord! By one sacrifice Jesus has made perfect forever those who are being made holy and where sins have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.  Thanks to Jesus, we are saved by grace through faith. Grace because he died for sinners, all sinners “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” We did not do anything to deserve the very Son of God stepping down to die in our place, suffering the wrath of God in our place. None of us did anything to deserve that. We never even imaged such an idea. Neither did Satan as we will see in the next chapter.  He never saw it coming or he would not have killed Christ.  Instead of victory it turned out to be his demise.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  (1 Cor. 2:7-9)

If we did not see this great act of love coming from God, we cannot possibly imagine for it has never entered into our hearts the things that God has prepared for those who love him.  Just when we thought we seen it all, God is still telling us we have seen nothing yet.

 The last point I wanted to make in regards to grace and faith is this. The great importance of  faith. God puts a lot of importance on faith.

                                   Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)

 We know that it is by faith we are saved. Faith in a future promise just like Abraham and soon the Israel will know this to. But I wanted to emphasis why faith is so important. Why faith? I read something from the Online Bible College that explained this well that has stayed with me over the years that I thought I would share with you.

 The Lord has placed tremendous importance on faith, and for good reason. When he created man, he gave him dominion over the whole earth and everything in it to enjoy. Out of this abundance, Adam and Eve were told there was only one tree they were not allowed to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

 They had been given dominion over everything, but that one tree represented God’s dominion over them  (Genesis 1:26-30; 2:8-17; 3:1-19).

 The moment they ate of the fruit of that tree, they stepped out of God-dependence into independence. The Law cannot restore this lost virtue to man, because it still expresses self-dependence and self-reliance. The whole point of the Law is that you must do something in order to receive something from God.

 It is only faith that restores this virtue of God-dependence to man again. The very essence of faith is total dependence on God in the midst of all opposing circumstances. If by just obeying the rules of the Law we could obtain the Promise, this valuable attribute of faith would be inoperative.

 Another valuable aspect of faith is that it has to do with relationship. You can obey all the rules laid down by someone without even knowing him personally and certainly without necessarily loving him. But to have faith in him, to put your whole life into his hands, there has to be not just a personal knowledge of that person, but a real love for him. In the same way, relationship with God (the core of God’s plan for man) is not necessary to the Law, but is the essential attribute of faith.

 Faith is important because it causes us to be dependent on God and it is so relational. There are a lot of false beliefs about faith today. People have faith in themselves. Faith in their hopes. Faith in faith, but they do not have faith in God because faith in God always is attached to God like an anchor. It is believing his word no matter what you see going on around you and waiting on him to do what he says he is going to do. Salvation takes faith but so does every breath of the Christian life. Faith in God always leads to obedience to God and it leads to waiting on God. Let me ask you, what are you currently waiting on God for? Faith and waiting are tied together

 I hope with this understanding that when we come to the end of chapter of eleven and enter into the Cosmic Victory Celebration of the Lamb you will be able to celebrate and fall on your face and worship even more deeply because of a deeper appreciation for the truth of the gospel and grace.