I don't know whether to preach on Jonah
or Peter, but I think I'll stick please
to the book of the Bible.
For those of you who are here in
chapter one, but nevertheless, we shall see.
There from someone, he said, you needn't say
that after the nights that are past.
We know what you will do.
Well, that's what my wife tells me all
the time.
It's very difficult to live with people that
know ahead of time what you're going to
do.
Last evening, we were looking down at the
salutation beginning in verse four, which consists of
a trilogy.
The first one is grace be unto you
and peace from him which is and which
was which is to come.
That's the first part of it.
The second part of it is from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness and the
first begotten of the dead and the prince
of the kings of the earth.
And then the middle section of that trilogy
is from the seven spirits which are before
his throne.
And then perhaps you notice that within the
trilogy, there are two trilogies.
The first one we looked at briefly from
him which is and which was and which
is to come.
And then the second one is from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness.
The first point, the second, the first begotten
of the dead, and the third point, the
prince of the kings of the earth.
And then I did what was, I don't
know what you call it, poetical license or
expositional license or whatever.
I jumped down to verse seven, partly at
any rate, but I want to come back
tonight to the rest of verse five and
on through verse six.
So the doxology following that trilogy of the
salutation.
Unto him that loved us, that's the middle
of verse five as you will see, unto
him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and
his father, to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever.
Amen.
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced
him, and all kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him, even so.
Amen.
Another trilogy in verse seven.
Now, going back to the doxology.
Unto him that loved us.
Some of your versions will have the tense
of this participle changed, and you will be
reading unto him that loveth us, or that
loves us.
I think the NIV does that.
Someone informed me recently that there's the new
Irish version.
I thought it was the new international version,
but I was informed otherwise.
You're always learning, you know.
By the way, someone wanted to know what
happened, or what I did for my Jewish
visitor that was intrigued and somewhat confused by
the spakes and the spokes, you recall.
Well, I'm not necessarily an enthusiastic supporter of
the NIV, though I use it for reference
purposes, but I decided that the best way
to solve that problem was to send him
away with the New Testament in the NIV,
which I did, so he got rid of
all his spakes and spokes.
Now, unto him that loved us.
If you wish to leave it as the
Textus Receptus does, then it is perfectly correct.
He did love us.
If you wish to take it with the
Westcott and Hort text, then it's to him
that loveth us, and it is the present
continuous tense.
The first thing that we read about the
Master here in the doxology is that he
loved.
Loves never will love us.
And that's the thing that thrills the heart
of the Christian.
This is what produces the doxology, this is
what brings out our songs of praise and
thanksgiving, especially when we consider his majesty, the
glory of his person.
We were noticing a little bit last night.
This is the one who created all things,
who was the beginning, and who is the
ending.
This is the one out of whom, through
whom, and unto whom is everything.
This is he who loves us.
Jeremiah says in the 31st chapter, God spoke
to Israel and said, I have loved you
with an everlasting love.
How marvelous to know that there is nothing
would change the love of the changeless one.
The Christ who showed constantly that inimitable and
indisputable love of his, is the one who
loves us still.
We've been hearing in the songs from our
brother this evening about the constancy of his
love, the faithfulness of his care, the profundity
of his interest, and how he still always
does and will love us.
There are things at times which cross our
pathway which tend to obscure the reality of
this conviction.
While clouds come and clouds go, and doubts
arise at times within us, nothing changes God's
affections.
Nothing changes the love of the master, for
God is love.
And if there were a million demons set
against us, and if there had been and
could possibly be a million of the covering
cherubim who had fallen, it would never change
who God is.
He could never be anything but who he
is.
God is love.
We know by the emergencies, the exigencies, the
vicissitudes, the problems, the trials, the dangers that
beset the pathway of the master, all the
things that were against him, at times in
his weakness, never could change who he was.
Nothing ever can or ever will change who
he is, for he is the one who
loves us.
And that love, while as I say at
times we doubt it, we don't feel its
warmth, we don't feel its power, because other
things come and affect our appreciation of that
love, that love will be our glorious constant
experience for all the ages to come.
Then with nothing to hinder it, nothing to
bar it, nothing to impede it, the love
of our Lord will flood our hearts forever.
He is the one who loves us.
And then he goes on to say, he
washed us, and your version probably says, if
you have another, he loosed us or he
freed us from our sins in his own
blood.
Well, regardless of which you wish to choose,
both are certainly correct, for he did wash
us.
We have that cleansing brought out, if you
remember, in the first chapter of John's first
epistle.
We have it given to us in twofold
manner, chapter 1 verse 7 and chapter 1
and verse 9.
For he has cleansed us, he has washed
us from the defilement.
Sin is a defiling thing, whether it be
mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, sin defiles.
It leaves its stamp, it's impressed upon us
constantly, because as Paul said, I am carnal,
sold under sin.
We are assailed by it day by day,
and it has a defiling effect upon us.
How sometimes we are startled to discover just
exactly what it means to have sin within
us, for in us is sin.
That defilement, thank God, has been forever satisfied
by the cleansing efficacy of the Savior's blood.
John says, if we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son,
cleanseth us from all sin.
That's verse 7, isn't it, of 1 John
1.
And then he goes on to say in
verse 9, if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins.
For, if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us.
But, if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now, I judge that these two passages in
the first chapter of John are not the
same.
They're not synonymous.
The cleansing isn't the same, because it seems
to me that the first time he says,
we would like you to have fellowship with
us, because our fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And this is the one who says, God
is light.
Now, if we walk in light as he
is in the light, then we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
I don't believe, my brethren, that this is
a conditional conduct that he's talking about.
If I walk in the light, do you
mean today, or do you mean tomorrow?
Or, if something happens to me, some dark
thought crosses my mind, and then I feel
myself suddenly surrounded by darkness.
Now, is that what he's speaking about?
If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Is he talking about living in the light?
May I suggest to you that he's talking
about being in the light.
It is the kingdom of light.
God is light, and this is his kingdom,
and if we are his, we are in
that kingdom of light, and we are retained
and kept in that light because the blood
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us constantly
from all sin, and it is not possible
for us to step out of this light
into the darkness.
God is light, and in him there is
no darkness at all, and he has brought
us into his kingdom.
He has brought us into the light of
his grace, the light of his favor, the
light of reconciliation.
We are in the light because we are
in the light.
We are constantly kept in the light, with
no fear of falling out of the light,
because of the constant efficacy and cleansing power
of the blood of Christ.
That's what keeps us in the light.
But then, when you go down to verse
8, he says, if we say we have
no sin or have not sinned, we deceive
ourselves, but if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins.
Now, I consider that these are two distinct
things.
If we walk in the light, that's the
kingdom to which we belong, and if we
are in that kingdom, we are in the
light, and we have fellowship with God and
his Son, Jesus Christ, and we are kept
in that fellowship and in that light because
of the retaining power of the blood of
Christ.
But in our daily walk and experience, there
are times when we do sin, we fall
into sin, we commit sin, even at times
willfully, and he says, if we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us.
But this isn't cleansing for admittance into the
kingdom of light.
This is the cleansing, the daily need for
cleansing, because we are so often guilty of
sin.
And we confess those sins, and then we
have this fellowship renewed or enjoyed, but we
have not been taken out of the light.
We have not been taken out of the
kingdom, for we are in that kingdom of
light.
We shall always be in that kingdom of
light due to the power, the cleansing power
of the blood of Christ.
But then our joy is affected, isn't it?
And the light is gone from our hearts
and our spirits, and we walk in darkness,
we walk in gloom, and we walk seemingly
separated from the Lord because of sin.
When we confess our sins, and he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So, he says here, to him who loved
us, and he washed us from our sins
in his own blood.
And if you prefer to use the word
freed or loosed us, as some texts read,
then that is equally true, because sin that
only defiles, it enslaves, it binds.
And he has loosed us, isn't that the
theme of Romans chapter 6?
You were the slaves of sin.
And three times over in Romans 6, Paul
speaks about having been freed from sin.
And he says that stirring word, that encouraging
word, that dogmatic statement, sin shall not have
dominion over you, because you have been freed
from its enslaving power.
It cannot hold you, it does not have
the power and the control to hold you,
because we've been made free from it, and
having been freed from sin, we've become the
bond slaves to righteousness.
So, it is equally true if we wish
to read the passage that way.
Not only has he cleansed us, not only
has he loved us, not only has he
cleansed us, but he has freed us, he
has loosed us as well, he has set
us at liberty.
And then he goes on to say, after
that, he has made us.
He didn't wash us and leave us, he
didn't love us and leave us, he didn't
loose us and leave us.
He loved us, he cleansed us, he made
us.
But his work, as he himself says, his
work is complete.
And what has he made us?
Kings and Priests unto God and his Father.
I wish to consider this with you for
a few moments.
He has made us, not only has he
loved us and loves us still, not only
has he cleansed us and continually cleanses us,
not only has he liberated us and constantly
frees us from the entrapment and the power
of sin, but he has made us.
Now, this is determinative, this is definitive, this
is something that is done, it is completed.
He has made us kings and priests.
Why do you say that?
I think my text reads he has made
us a kingdom.
Priests unto God and his Father.
It matters not how you wish to take
it, the thought is the same, and I
think we could prove from the subsequent chapters
of the book of the revelation that you
may read a king and priest unto God
and his Father.
The dual office of the king-priest, as
you know, belongs specifically and initially to the
Lord himself.
Zechariah tells us about these two offices.
He shows us the lampstand, and he shows
us the two olive trees, one on either
side, pouring out the oil into the lamp
so that the light of the testimony might
be well balanced.
And he says, on the one hand you
have Joshua the high priest, and on the
other hand, represented by the olive tree, the
other olive tree you have Zerubbabel, the civil
governor.
And it is required of these two that
the testimony be balanced, and that was Israel's
failure, and that's often our failure too, isn't
it?
Because we sometimes are all one-sided with
priestly service and no government.
So we have Joshua the high priest on
this side, but we've forgotten we have Zerubbabel
the high priest, or rather the governor, on
the other side.
Or it may be we swing this way
and we have one olive tree who is
Zerubbabel the governor, the civil governor, the representative
of governance.
And we either have all government and legislation,
or we have all priestly ministry and service.
But that would not be a balanced light.
The light of testimony in Israel as the
light of an assembly in our day must
be a balanced light.
It must be that which burns evenly, not
priestly ministry without government, and not government without
priestly ministry.
And isn't that often true about ourselves individually?
And you have known people, and I have
known people, and they are very impressive when
they engage in priestly service in the congregation.
The tone of their voice, the attitude of
their person as they conduct some kind of
ministry, public or otherwise, in priestly service.
And yet the man can't control his own
temper when he's home.
He can't control his own spirit.
Or he can't control his own house.
So, it's all the one olive tree without
the other.
Yes, he sounds very impressive and very spiritual
when he engages in that kind of priestly
service, but there is no self-government, which
is one of the aspects, as you remember,
of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians
chapter 5.
So, in order for the testimony of an
individual to be even, to be balanced, he
must have the supply of the light from
both sides.
Now, that's what the Lord is giving to
us here, and you remember that Zechariah is
the one who tells us, too, that the
office of the priest and the office of
the king is only to be fulfilled in
him whose name is the branch.
He's the one who's going to build the
temple of the Lord.
He is the one who's going to bring
peace in, because he is the priestly king.
But here's what affects us tonight.
He has made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father.
Or, if you wish it, he has made
us a kingdom priest, but you cannot do
away with the idea of government and rule
when you mention the word kingdom.
And though you want to say and put
the emphasis on the fact that it's a
priestly kingdom, it is a kingdom, nevertheless.
When we look at the subsequent passages in
the book of the Revelation, we discover that
this is not amiss.
The text was receptive.
When you read, he has made us kings
and priests.
The kingly office represents government, represents authority, it
represents rule.
Let's move over in our memories to chapter
2.
The Lord, you remember, presents himself in keeping
with the description of himself, as we have
at the last part of chapter one, to
the varied churches in keeping with their condition.
His own presentation of himself is directly commensurate
with the internal condition of the church, of
the assembly.
And have you noticed, too, that when the
conditions are poor, when the day is very
dark, when declension has set in and lamentable
is the state of the church, the promise
to the overcomer is also in keeping.
So, you come to the church at Thyatira,
where Jezebel rules.
Remember what the Lord says to him that
overcometh and keepeth my works?
He said, to him will I give authority
over the nations.
Now, he's talking to a member of the
church, the overcomer in the church at Thyatira,
and he says he will give him authority
over the nations.
He shall rule them with a rod of
iron, so that they shall be broken in
pieces, even as I received of my father.
And he's going back to the second Psalm.
I will declare the decree.
Jehovah said unto me, ask me, I'll give
you the nations for your inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of
iron, as a potter's vessel shall they be
broken to shivers.
So was the promise made by the father
in connection with his king, whom he said,
I have set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion.
Why?
Because the kings of the earth and the
rulers took counsel together and said, let us
break his bands of thunder and cast off
his cords from us.
He that sits in heaven shall laugh, the
Lord shall have them in derision.
Yet shall he speak unto them and say,
yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion.
Then he goes on to speak about the
inheritance he's going to give to them.
Now, the Lord says to the overcomer at
Thyatira in chapter two, I will give him
authority over the nation, and he shall rule
them with a rod of iron, even as
I received of my father.
That's kingly rule, my brethren, and that's promised
to the member of the church.
Or when you come to Laodicea, how far
has the church at Laodicea come?
How low has it got?
How desperate is the situation?
The lower they are, the higher is the
promise to the overcomer.
What does he say now?
To him that overcometh will I give to
sit with me in my throne, even as
I also overcame and have sat down with
my father in his throne.
Think of that for a minute.
A man rises out of the dead, passes
through the assembled hosts of heaven, strips them
off from him, as Colossians chapter two tells
us, acclaimed and saluted as he goes to
the right hand of the throne of the
majesty on high, and a man in the
physical body, visible, tangible, palpable body, a man
sits down with the father in his throne
in absolute visible equality with deity.
Yes, he's a man.
Now he sits.
To him that overcometh will I grant him
to sit with me in my throne, not
the father's throne, but the throne of the
son of man, the throne of government, the
throne of universal rule.
I will get to let him sit with
me in my throne, even as I also
overcame and have sat down with my father
in his throne.
He has made us kings and priests.
Move on to chapter four, the four and
twenty elders.
John sees them sitting in the heavens on
twenty-four thrones.
Go to chapter five, and what are they
doing?
They're singing a new song.
What does the song say?
It's unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood.
To him be glory and dominion and power
and might forever and forever.
He has redeemed us out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation, and he
has made us kings and priests.
Again you have the very same thing.
Go over to chapter eleven, when the kingdoms
of this world of seven trumpet sounds and
the kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdom of our God and of his Christ.
What are you going to see over there?
You're going to see the four and twenty
elders sitting on thrones still, when the kingdoms
of the world become the kingdom of our
God and his Christ.
These, to whom he is directing his comment
here, John the apostle, he sees them sitting
on thrones still.
Isn't that marvelous?
The Lord has made us kings and priests.
What do they say?
We shall reign on the earth.
Now, I know what some of you are
going to say to me, Brother Dave, you
didn't change that preposition.
No, I didn't change it, and I'm convinced
I shouldn't change it.
Even though I remember my earlier days hearing
constantly, we are going to reign over the
earth.
And I've had things tell me, you know,
well I know we're coming back with the
Lord, but I certainly know we're not coming
back to this world.
I am done with it.
When I leave it, I'll have nothing more
to do with it.
Well, but the Lord is coming back here.
Yes, but I will not come back.
Oh, just a minute now.
I heard you sing anywhere with Jesus, I
will gladly go.
Didn't you?
Well, he's coming back here, and his feet
are going to stand on the mount of
Olives on the east of Jerusalem.
He's coming back to reign, and ten thousands
of his saints are coming with him, and
we shall reign on the earth.
And if you want to take that expression
and go back into the Gospels and find
the various numbers of times in which that
very same expression is used, on the earth,
you'll find it means on the earth.
Doesn't mean flipping around somewhere, you know, in
the ethereal world.
And you dear folks who don't want to
have anything more to do with this sad
world of tears and sighs, just keep a
little spot in your mind's room to change.
We shall reign on the earth.
So when you come to chapter 11, that's
what you find them doing.
You move over again to chapter 20, and
John chapter 20 in verse 4, John says,
Satan is bound, you remember, in the abyss
for a thousand years.
And as soon as he says that Satan's
bound a thousand years, he says, I saw
thrones, and they sat on them.
And I saw the dead, those who were
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, who received
not the mark of the beast, nor worshiped
his image, and they lived, and they reigned
with Christ, with him, a thousand years.
You have some sitting on thrones, and you
have some who went through the tribulation, and
they were beheaded for their testimony, and they
have lived.
And then he goes on to say this,
Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the first resurrection, on such the second
death hath no power, they shall be priests
unto God and to Christ, and shall reign
forever and ever.
Well, not quite.
They're reigning for a thousand years.
That's chapter 20.
They're going to be kings, and they're going
to be priests, and they're going to be
reigning a thousand years.
Who is going to reign a thousand years?
These who take part in the first resurrection.
Are you excluded?
No, no believer is excluded from that.
We shall be the participants of the first
resurrection, and upon us that second death shall
have no power, but we shall be priests
unto God and to Christ, and we shall
reign with him a thousand years.
And one more passage in chapter 22, the
new Jerusalem, and I know you're going to
take part in the new Jerusalem, and so
do you, because he promised it to the
church of Philadelphia, that he would write upon
them his new name, and the name of
his God, and the name of the city
of his God, which cometh down from God
out of heaven, the new Jerusalem.
And what does he say about the inhabitants
of the new Jerusalem?
They shall reign forever and ever.
So, lifetime is training time for reigning time.
He has made us kings and priests unto
God and to his Father.
Well, how about this priestly service?
We are going to reign, but we're going
to be priests as well.
We are made priests now, as you know.
I need not tell this audience that, because
I'm sure you're aware that God has made
us, each and all of us, priests unto
the Lord.
May I suggest to you that our priestly
service today will be of a different character,
or is of a different character, and our
priestly service will be then of the day
of which I have mentioned, a thousand years,
because if you go through the priesthood or
the life of the priest in the New
Testament, I will not refer back to the
Aaronic or Levitical order, but when you look
at the priests of the New Testament, you
discover that there are, well, there are at
least seven distinct offerings that a New Testament
priest offers to God.
You and I, each of us and all
of us, by faith in Christ, having been
loved and cleansed and loosed, we have been
made priests unto God, and it is our
high calling to act in a priestly capacity.
It doesn't matter our age, it doesn't matter
our sex, it doesn't matter our abilities, talent
has nothing to do with it.
The office of the priest is conferred upon
us all.
We're priests.
He's made us.
No distinction and no discrimination.
He has made us whom he loved and
whom he loosed.
He has made us priests unto God in
his love.
So, that's an interesting subject, and that's a
topic I don't have time for, but when
you go through the New Testament, you will
discover there are, I suggest to you, seven
distinct offerings which the New Testament priest offers
to the Lord.
I know that some of them come to
mind immediately.
We go back to Hebrews 13, and we
read there that, "...by him, therefore, let us
offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,"
which we have done in the aggregate, which
the choir did tonight, which our brother Vetcher
did tonight as well, and this is the
offering, the sacrifice of praise.
We do it as unto him, we do
it through him, and that offering is acceptable
to God, the offering of praise.
That's one of the seven offerings that we
may make as priests, as New Testament priests
unto the Lord.
He has made us priests to offer this,
and then, of course, you have the verse
which follows, "...but to do good and communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is
well pleased."
Another type of the sacrifices that you and
I, as priests to the Lord, are enabled
to offer unto him.
He has made us priests to do this,
to do these good works, which, according to
Ephesians 2 and 10, he has ordained for
us from before the foundation of the world.
Now then, that being so, how about the
other five sacrifices?
You didn't want me to listen, did you?
No, let me suggest one or two.
While it takes a man's whole life in,
it takes a Christian's whole life in, really,
and then you come to Paul in 2
Timothy chapter 4, he says, "...I am now
ready to be offered."
That's a priestly word.
The time of my departure is ahead.
I'm now ready to be sacrificed.
I'm ready to be offered, and so the
whole man now is ready to be a
priestly offering unto God in death.
And in between these two points, you will
discover, as you look through it, some of
these other priestly sacrifices which we are enabled
to offer unto the Lord today.
All right, I wish to look at one
thing more before we close tonight, and that
is, look at verse 7 with me.
"...Behold, he cometh with clouds."
It's an arresting word that introduces an arresting
statement.
Behold.
It's a call, it's a challenge to contemplate
something, to study it carefully, to put all
your attention into it.
Listen, he's coming with clouds.
He's coming with clouds.
I remember just some little time back, I
was going through some of the events of
the last week of our Lord's life, which
is a very interesting study.
I divided it up into three sections, the
persons, the parables, and the prophecies of the
Lord's last week.
And I suppose many, if not all of
you, know that the larger portion of the
Gospels is dedicated to the last week of
the Lord's life.
A third of one of the Gospels, and
a fifth of another Gospel, and a quarter
of another Gospel is dedicated to the last
week of our Lord's life.
And if you look at that last action
-packed week of our Lord's life, you will
see some very interesting things.
But, oh, the battle is hot and thick,
the enemy is doing everything possible to dissuade
him, to deter him, to make him to
deviate.
He's even going to bring the Sadducees to
tell him, there's no resurrection, you've been speaking
of your death.
And he has, ever since he left the
far northern point in Matthew 16, right down
through that eastern route on his last journey
from Galilee to Judea, the Lord is repeatedly
telling them what he's going to do, and
what's going to happen to him.
And he adds detail upon detail, and with
intensity the story grows as he gets closer
to Jerusalem, and closer and under the shadow
of the cross.
But he's been saying now laterally that the
third day he's going to rise again, the
third day he's going to rise again.
And the very last night of his life
he tells them the same thing in the
upper route, but he will rise again.
Along come the Sadducees in that last week,
and they're going to convince him, they believe,
that there's no resurrection.
And they give him this hypocritical, hypothetical case
of the one with seven husbands.
You remember that we have in Luke's Gospel,
chapter 20.
And the Lord knew their malice, he knew
their hypocrisy, and he knew their wickedness.
And each three accounts of the three Gospels,
the synoptic Gospels, use three different words regarding
that trap that they set for him.
But behind it all, do you know what
it was?
What were they concerned about the woman and
the seven husbands?
Nothing at all.
But the high priest was a Sadducee, and
all those around them were Sadducees in these
last days.
But behind it all is the hiss of
the serpent, for he is going to undermine
his confidence in God.
He's going to tell them there's no resurrection.
And our Lord is looking forward to the
cross, he's anticipating it moment by moment, day
by day, as he draws ever near.
And now they're going to do this to
him.
What impressed me was, when all this is
happening, how often the Lord speaks about his
coming again, about the feasts, the marriage suppers,
and how he speaks about the coming glory.
He's going out in weakness, in defeat, he's
going out in meekness, he's going out battered
and bruised, but he talks about his coming.
The Son of Man shall come in the
clouds of heaven, he said, with power and
great glory.
When we come to this chapter, we read,
behold, he's coming.
He's coming with clouds.
You remember, in his lifetime, the generation that
he lived in were always wanting to see
signs and wonders.
Except you see signs and wonders, he said,
you won't believe.
We're living in the days of spectacular things.
Some are true and some are false.
But even in the religious world, we're constantly
hearing about that which is sensational, that which
is spectacular.
And the Lord, he only gives four signs.
There are only four signs concerning the Lord,
concerning himself, in his lifetime.
The first one was given by the angels
to the Judean shepherds.
This shall be the sign unto you, you
shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.
And the last one, the Lord gives the
other sign, but the last one he speaks
about the sign of the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven.
As the lightning flashes from the east to
the west, so shall the coming of the
Son of Man be.
It's the sign of his vindication of his
glory.
It's the sign of his majesty when he's
coming with clouds, as he says.
The sign of his regal and royal power.
And then it says this, every eye shall
see him.
I made a brief comment to you last
evening on this passage.
Every eye shall see him.
Individually, it is true, but it's also true
universally, for every eye shall see him.
It's going to be a marvelous day.
It's going to be a spectacle such as
the world has never seen.
It's going to happen suddenly.
It's going to happen unexpectedly.
He's going to come and in a flash,
every eye will see him.
I often wonder what various activities of the
world will be like when this word is
completed, when it is fulfilled.
He's coming with clouds.
He breaks through the sky.
There have been cosmic disturbances in the heavens.
There have been greater disturbances geologically on earth
than what we are seeing today.
Convulsions nationally, socially and otherwise, and in the
middle of it all, he's coming with clouds
and every eye shall see him.
What are they going to do in the
midst of their great sports events?
What are they going to do in the
midst of their political campaign?
What are they going to do in the
midst of their violent revolution?
What are they going to do when they're
caught in the middle of their sensual pleasure
life?
What are they going to do when suddenly
the king of fear is coming with clouds?
The whole world will be paralyzed exactly where
they're caught, because every eye shall see him.
73,000 people are sitting in a stadium
the other day.
Wasn't it out at Pasadena or wherever the
Super Bowl was?
I think I heard the figure of 73
,000.
I sometimes just tell the story of what
happened to me in North Carolina.
On one occasion when we were up there,
the earthquake took place in Algeria and the
first figures that were thrown out to us
were 25,000 people were drowned in the
Mediterranean.
Then the figures were modified later on, but
about two or three days after that it
happened, I went into Waynesville where the assembly
is, and I went to visit a brother
in his home, and as I walked into
his home, he was sitting in the front
room and the TV was on and there
was a football game going on, and he
said to his daughter, he said, shut the
TV off, Brother Dave's here, we're going to
have a chat.
So I said, what's on?
He said, the football game.
And he said, you know what they're doing?
I said, no, he said, there's 53,000
people in the stadium.
And I looked at him and I said,
I can't believe it.
Two days ago, 25,000 people were suddenly
drowned by an earthquake in the sea, and
today 53,000 people are sitting in the
stadium watching some man there down the field
frantically with a hunk of leather under his
arm, and somebody else is chasing after him
to push his face in the leather all
night if he can.
And these people are sitting in the stands
roaring their lungs out.
And I said to this brother, I can't
believe that.
So soon, you know what he said to
me, and I've never forgotten.
He said, Brother Dave, there's nothing big enough
happening now in the world to hold the
attention of people for more than a few
hours.
Then they forget it.
Well, here's something going to hold their attention.
He's coming with clouds, and every eye shall
see him.
And then he goes on to say, and
they also that pierced him.
Zechariah 12, John 19.
Who pierced him?
A Roman soldier.
But who's charged with it?
The nation of Israel.
Who's going to see him when he comes?
They who pierced him.
Does this tell us anything?
Is this prophetic?
Do we see what is generally called by
students of prophecy the revived Roman empire in
power?
Do we see the ten toes of the
image now springing up?
And do we see something akin to the
very nation that was controlling things when the
soldier thrust the spear in his eye back
in the Holy Land under the rule of
the great Antichrist, the world leader?
And then we see Israel as well.
They also who pierced him.
Israel as the nation.
It says they shall look on me whom
they pierced, and they shall mourn for him
as one mourns for an only son.
And the various families and their wives apart,
there's going to be a great lamentation.
And the close of chapter 12 ends up
with the lamentation.
And chapter 13 opens up, and there's a
fountain going to be opened for the house
of Israel and the house of Judah for
sin and uncleanness.
When they look on him whom they pierced.
He's coming back again, my friend, and he's
coming back immediately.
And then it says all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of him.
He's lord of all.
He's sovereign of earth and heaven.
He's the ruler of the universe.
There's going to be one king over all
the earth, and his name is going to
be the only name, my friend.
Jesus is coming again.
So we pray.
Our father, we rejoice in the fulfillment of
that which we've been reading tonight.
We thank you for his love.
We thank you for his salvation, his cleansing,
his liberty.
We thank you for what he has done.
He has made us kings and priests unto
God and his father.
Help us, O Lord, in anticipation in the
extent of the stewardship of government that thou
hast given to us to be faithful in
this charge and in the occupation of priestly
service to fulfill our calling as well.
And may our hearts, which have been touched
tonight as we've been listening to these songs,
look forward and rejoice and even exult in
the glad anticipation that our Lord is coming
soon.
And we shall be with him to reign
on the earth, to see his majesty, to
share in his power, his kingdom, his authority,
and to live and reign with him forever
and ever.
We give thee thanks, O Lord, in the
Savior's precious name.
Amen.