Special Christmas Message

God Remembers His Holy Covenant with Abraham

Luke 1.68-75

Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus really tells of two miraculous births. The angel is first dispatched to announce the birth of John the Baptist to two old people who had never been able to have children. And then there is the famous announcement of the birth of Jesus to a woman who had never been with a man. When Mary asks the angel how this will happen, the angel reminds her that “nothing is impossible with God.” Angelic visitors announcing a miraculous birth reminds us of another episode in Scripture where an old couple who had never been able to conceive were promised a son. Angels visited Abraham and Sarah and told them that Isaac would be born. Sarah had laughed at the idea of having a child in her old age and the angel asked her “is there anything too hard for the Lord?” God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Isaac was born. Luke wants us to understand that the birth of Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

Luke is connecting the birth of Jesus with the whole history of the people of Israel and God’s promises to them, beginning with Abraham. We cannot begin to understand the Gospel until we see it in this larger context. Jesus did not simply appear on the stage of world history as if out of thin air. Jesus was born to fulfill, or bring to completion, a long history of God’s dealings with the people of Israel, beginning with a crucial promise that God had made to Abraham. If we want to really understand the meaning of Christ’s birth, we must see it in this way. Jesus was born to fulfill Scripture and prophecies which had been given to Abraham and to his descendants, the people of Israel. The Savior of the world would be born in Israel. He would be a descendant of Abraham and of King David. This was what God had promised and what had been written down in holy Scripture. And so, this is how we would be able to recognize the one God had sent to be the Christ: he would fulfill the prophetic Scriptures and all the promises God had made to Abraham and his family.

This means that Jesus is really the theme of the entire Bible. Everything that was written in what Christians call the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus in anticipation of His birth, and everything that was written afterward, in what we call the New Testament, was written to unpack the significance of who Jesus is and what He came to do on this earth. Everything God has promised to do for us is fulfilled and completed in Jesus Christ. This fact was announced by an angelic messenger when Jesus was to be born so we would understand the context and the significance of what was taking place. At Christmas, with all our tradition and sentimentality, we often do not stop to think deeply enough about the true meaning of Christ’s birth. Even Christians, who respect the Scripture as the Word of God, fail to see everything the Bible is communicating about the significance of Jesus’ birth. The Gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is deeply rooted in what God had already promised to Abraham.

The first eleven chapters of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, tells of the creation of the world and the subsequent fall of humanity because of Adam and Eve’s original sin. Everything that follows the expulsion of our parents from Eden is an illustration of the effects of sin on humanity. The section ends with the incident at the tower of Babel where God comes down to confuse the languages of men and scatter them over the earth. In the next chapter of Genesis, we meet Abram. Abram is a descendant of Shem, one of Noah’s three sons. Abram is living with his family in Ur, a city which is known even to secular historians as one of the great cities of the ancient world. The Bible makes it clear that humanity has already forgotten about the one, true God and has begun to worship idols. Abram does not know the true God, but Abram receives a call from God. Without an explanation, God speaks directly to Abram giving him a command and a wonderful promise:

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

This promise of blessing comes on the heels of God’s judgement and curse on all the peoples of the earth at Babel. But God’s revealed purpose is to bless the entire world through Abram. This promise of blessing is repeated to Abram several times during his life, always at key times, such as Abraham’s obedience to God’s command to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. The same promise of blessing is then reaffirmed to Isaac and then to Jacob.

Clearly, this promise to Abraham is setting the stage for everything else that God is going to say and do in the rest of Scripture. This promise of blessing for the world, that will come through Abraham, is the revealed purpose of God and thus becomes the context for the progressive revelation of the rest of the Bible. In other words, the rest of the story of the Bible is about how God will keep this promise that He made to Abraham. When the angel announces the birth of Jesus, it is made clear that the time had come for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham. What we have in this promise and its fulfillment in Christ is the key to the message of the entire Bible, the heart of the Gospel, and the essence of Christian faith. New Testament writers, especially the Apostle Paul, will continue to unpack the significance of this promise to Abraham and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, as well as what this means for the world.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of this revelation. Anyone who really wants to be a student of the Bible and to understand the meaning of the Christian message must understand the significance of the promise God made to Abraham and its fulfillment. Unfortunately, there is tendency, even in Christian circles, to view the Bible as a collection of many teachings on different subject, all of which have equal importance, depending on what our needs happen to be at any moment in time. And while Scripture certainly does speak authoritatively on every subject, we will never gain insight into the whole of Scripture if we approach it piecemeal in this way. Scripture has a single message that runs throughout and forms the foundation for our faith and relationship to God. We must first become familiar with this message or we will inevitably misuse Scripture for our own purposes. The promise of God to Abraham and its fulfillment in Christ is this message that we need to understand.

This word that God gave to Abraham is called a promise, it became the basis for a covenant that God made with Abraham, and it is also something about which God Himself swore an oath to fulfill. This is something that the one, true God has committed Himself to in a radical fashion. God bound Himself to this promise and sealed the deal, so to speak, as a man might sign a legally binding document in a business deal. This consideration should make us pause. Why would God be doing something like this?

We must consider the fact that God owes us nothing in the first place. Other than God’s own desire to do this, there is no other explanation for His choice of Abram. God seems to be doing this just because He wants to, and for no other reason. Abram was not seeking God. But God was seeking Abram. All the impetus was with God. God made a promise He did not have to make, and then, to make things even more interesting, He bound Himself to that promise by making a covenant, a formal agreement, with Abram. Abram did not ask God to do this. And the covenant that God made does not even follow the traditional outline of a covenant. There is nothing for Abram to do on his side of the deal, except to agree to what God is pledging Himself to do for Abram! Under normal circumstances, a covenant has two sides, both of whom must agree to do certain things to keep their end of the bargain. But God did not bargain with Abram at all. God simply made a commitment to Abram. Furthermore, to top it all off, God even swore an oath. We must see the remarkable condescension of God in all of this! God did not have to promise Abram anything, nor did God have to ratify it with a formal covenant. To add one final, seemingly unnecessary thing to this deal, God took it upon Himself to swear an oath to Abraham, that the promise would be fulfilled. Again, Abraham did not insist on God swearing this oath. In fact, it would seem to be an insult to God to insist that He must swear an oath after making a promise. The only reason we would insist on someone swearing an oath is if we felt there was a chance that the individual might not carry through and keep their end of the deal. But God swears an oath that He will keep His promise to Abraham! Is there any chance that God is telling a lie or that God might not be faithful to His promise?

There are two reasons God did these things: first, God wanted to underscore the importance of what He said to Abram. Obviously, this matters to God if He is willing to bind Himself in a covenant and then swear an oath. Secondly, God is helping Abram, and everyone who reads about this promise, to believe what God has said He will do. God is helping us to trust Him and believe His word. The writer of Hebrews gives a profound exposition of this truth:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:13-18).

God’s promise to Abraham has been ratified by a covenant, and confirmed by an oath. There is nothing in heaven or on earth that can stop this promise from being fulfilled! This is a sure thing, and that gives us a reason to trust God and to have hope. This promise is as sure as the rising of the sun each morning.

God’s promise was blessing, not only for Abram and his family, but for all the families of the earth. This blessing would flow out into the world through Abram and his family. To be specific, the blessing would come through Abram’s “seed”, or descendant, the meaning of which will become extremely important. But this promise was made to an old man who had no descendants at all because Sarah, his wife, had never been able to conceive a child. The fulfillment of this promise of blessing would depend initially on Abraham having a child. How would this happen if Abraham and Sarah were barren and past the natural age of child-bearing? Sarah and Abraham decide to help this process by using Hagar to have children for them. The result is Ishmael, who, while technically being the descendant of Abraham, was not the child of promise. God makes it clear that Sarah will have a child and the only way this could have happened was through Divine intervention, since Sarah was barren. The promise was not going to be fulfilled through human effort but by Divine power. And this is more than a passing detail.

God’s blessing cannot be enjoyed through any effort of the flesh, no matter how noble the intentions. Abraham’s blessing is not obtained through our works but only through the work of God in our behalf. In other words, the blessing is enjoyed only by God’s grace. Abraham and Sarah were simply asked to believe or to trust God’s word on the matter. Both Abraham and Sarah had laughed to themselves when they were told by the Divine messengers that they would bear a child in their old age. And so, the child of promise was named Isaac, which means laughter. There is simply no human explanation for the fulfillment of God’s promise and there is nothing we can do to earn the blessing for ourselves. We must trust in the power of God to bring about His promise, as Abraham and Sarah had to do. The blessing would flow to anyone, even those who were not Abraham’s descendants, who would trust God’s promise as Abraham had done.

The rest of the world would come to know the one, true God, and to trust Him, through Abraham and what God had said to him. This is so important in Scripture that God, the one, true God, is called the God of Abraham. We are supposed to think of God in connection to what God promised Abraham. Through this word and the promise made to Abraham we come to know the true God.

Even though God later appeared to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai and made a covenant with them through Moses, this original covenant made with Abraham was never forgotten by God. The covenant made with Abraham and the covenant made through Moses were both part of a single, Divine purpose from which God never deviated. However, we must understand that the promise to Abraham was always God’s original intent. The Law that God gave through Moses must be seen and understood in the light of God’s first revelation to Abraham. We get a crucial perspective on this from the Apostle Paul. Paul wanted to make it clear to the Galatian churches, who were attempting to go back to the Law as a means of justification, that the Law was never the source of God’s blessing. In fact, the Law that was added to God’s original promise to Abraham, until the promise could be fulfilled. Paul makes his profound argument in this way to the Galatian believers:

“This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18).

When God gave the Law through Moses, this did not in any way cancel the promise He had made to Abraham. If the blessing came through Law, then that would have to mean that the promise made to Abraham had become void. But this could not be, or God would be unfaithful. God would fulfill His promise to Abraham, but the Law was not the fulfillment. The Law was not the blessing God had promised. And the Law could not bring the promised blessing of God to the world. In fact, the Law brought a curse because it underscored the sinfulness of the human heart. The Law was put into effect only until the time came for God to fulfill His promise. The Law did exactly what God designed it to do, which was to point out the problem of sin. For the blessing of God to be realized, something would also have to be done about sin and the guilt brought by the Law. But the Law itself could never remove sin and bring the blessing that God had promised to Abraham.

The blessing promised to Abraham would come through his “seed.” The identity of this seed, or descendant, is crucial here. Could this “seed” simply be Abraham’s children, the people of Israel? Collectively, they are the seed of Abraham and they have certainly been a blessing to the world since through them the world can come to know the true God. But God’s promise to Abraham was that he would have many descendants, and that they would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. The blessing would come through a single “seed” not through many descendants, although many descendants were promised to Abraham. The apostle Paul picks up this line of reasoning to the Galatian believers: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). Paul is saying exactly what had previously been revealed and announced at Jesus’ birth: Jesus is Himself the “Seed” of Abraham through whom the promised blessing would come to the world! Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and the source of the Divine blessing for all the families of the earth. Jesus is the true child of promise, born through the miraculous intervention of God into human life. Jesus is the promised blessing and the source of further blessings from God. As the Gospel of John says of Him: “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). The blessing of God flows out to the world through a specific person. If we want the blessing, we must come to know this person. And this is what moved the Gospel writers to show us the facts about who Jesus is. Their accounts do not read like ancient myths, but as actual history and events witnessed by real people. These are not cleverly invented fables designed to start a new man-made religion. This is God visiting His people and keeping promises that He had made previously to Abraham and his family.

Even though the fulfillment of the God’s promise was announced when Jesus was about to be born, we should not think that the birth of Jesus was the single event that fulfilled everything about God’s promise. Rather, the birth of Jesus would begin the fulfillment of the Promise. Remember that we are talking about the incarnation of the Son of God. God had to take on human flesh and be born as a helpless baby to bring about the blessing that God had promised. This would not be any ordinary blessing if it required the Son of God to come in this way. There were blessings that God could send by direct order from His throne without coming to earth as a man. God had blessed Abraham and made him rich. God also promised many blessings to the people of Israel, if they kept His covenant. God is certainly capable of blessing us with material things or with physical strength and vitality. God can bless parents with many children, give increase to our labor, and even victory over our enemies. All these blessings God can give directly from heaven without coming to earth himself as a little baby. But when God really wanted to bless the world, He sent His Son. Therefore, the blessing that God promised to Abraham had to be much more than something earthly or material, such as health or wealth. People today who think of God’s blessing us only in those terms fail to understand the true meaning of God’s blessing and the nature of the Gospel of Christ.

Remember that the Law was not the blessing God promised Abraham, but brought a curse instead of a blessing. The curse of sin and death hung like a dark, black cloud over humanity, shutting off the light and blessing of God. The Law was given to make it clear to us that something had to be done about the problem of sin and guilt if we were to really experience the fullness of God’s blessing. In fact, it would be unrighteous for God to bless us while we were still in our sin. Blessing guilty sinners would be a breach of Divine justice and a compromise of God’s character. The problem of sin was not a simple one. It even presented God with a kind of dilemma. God wants to bless. But, God is righteous and cannot ignore sin, evil, or rebellion. We deserved a curse, not a blessing from God. And so, Jesus came into the world to answer and solve this dilemma. He became a man to take away the curse that man’s sin had brought into the world. In fact, Jesus was made a curse when He went to the Cross. He suffered the death that we all should have died so that God could bless us. That is why Jesus was born. And so, at Christmas we are fond of singing these words:

“No more let sins and sorrows grow

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found

Far as the curse is found

Far as, far as, the curse is found!”

All that remains is for the blessing to be received by us. And for that, Abraham can also instruct us. How did Abraham receive the promise of blessing? He believed God’s word. Abraham became the father of all those who trust God. Abraham was justified by faith. All of Abraham’s children, even those who are Gentiles, are justified, or made righteous before God, in the same way: by faith. Just as Abraham believed the word that God gave to him, we must believe the word of the Gospel of Christ to be justified and made righteous before God. Being justified is more than just being forgiven. We are truly made righteous, given a whole new status with God, and made into His children through the adoption of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The ultimate blessing that God promised to give us was Himself, which is eternal life.

God and the Nations

The End of all Nations

Revelation 11.15

One of my teachers in Bible college was fond of saying that, however you interpret the book of Revelation, you should make it agree with the rest of the Bible. That is good advice! Too many people try to build new and fanciful doctrines on the book of Revelation and then twist the rest of Scripture to fit those ideas. That is the wrong approach to the book of Revelation. We always build our doctrine on what is clear and then we proceed to what might remain unclear. And there are many things in Revelation that, frankly, are not made clear to us.

Having said all that, if there is a doctrinal section in the book of Revelation, it would have to be in chapters 4-5. There we see God on His throne, ruling and reigning. The sovereignty of almighty God is one of the most foundational doctrines of the Bible. And then, in chapter 5, we see a lion who is also a lamb who comes into the heavenly throne room and is given great power and glory in heaven and even begins to share the throne of God. Everything that follows in the book of Revelation is based on this vision. The book of Revelation is the unveiling of Christ’s heavenly reign.

What immediately follows the vision of chapter 5 are three cycles of visions, all that use the number 7: 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls. Each cycle of visions grows in breadth and intensity. The second cycle of 7 is the 7 trumpets. A trumpet call was something used as a signal. In battle, for example, the trumpets would signal attack. A trumpet is used to get the attention and to make an announcement that something is happening. These trumpets in Revelation are an announcement of certain heavenly declarations or decisions, all which impact what happens on the earth because heaven rules the earth. So, when each of the 7 trumpets are sounded, something happens on earth because it has been ordained in heaven from the throne room of God and the Lamb. 

When we come to the 7^th and final trumpet there is this loud declaration from heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 

The fact that this is the 7^th trumpet signals the end or the completion of something. This vision is a glimpse of the end of the world.

How is human history going to end? The world will end with Christ reigning over everything. This is the eternal purpose of God: to exalt His Son over everything and everyone else in heaven and on the earth. We know that Christ has already ascended into heaven and has begun to reign with God on His throne. But this heavenly reign cannot be seen on the earth. When God brings the history of the world to a grand conclusion, the reign of Christ must be revealed. It will be made obvious that Christ reigns and every personality in heaven and on earth will see and acknowledge this primary fact.

What the book of Revelation is getting at is the vindication of God’s purpose, Christ’s name, and the faith of God’s elect. Imagine that for some reason you have an enemy who decided to spread a vicious and untrue rumor about you. The person who was doing this was aiming to destroy your reputation and exalt themselves at your expense. You would be looking for vindication. That is, you would want to make it obvious to everyone that these rumors were untrue so that your good name could be restored. In some sense, this is exactly what has happened to God in the world. The world has refused to acknowledge God and give Him the glory He deserves. When God sent His Son into the world, He was rejected and killed. The world has also mistreated the people of God and persecuted them. There is this notion today that God is too kind and loving to respond to the wickedness of the world. People misinterpret God’s long-suffering, or patience, as passivity on God’s part. But the world is storing up wrath. The wrath of God against the world is like the waters rising behind a dam. Someday the dam will break and the wrath of God will flood the world. God has extended His grace and mercy to the world. Salvation is being preached to the whole world and people have opportunity to repent and to get right with God before that day of wrath comes. But it will come. The seventh trumpet is announcing the end of all the nations of the world.

Christians believe that the true meaning of history is found in the purpose of God. History is not about men and their purposes, which come to nothing. History is about God and the unveiling of His purpose. Someone has correctly said that history is HIS-STORY. In all the old pagan myths, time is pictured as a wheel endlessly and pointlessly spinning around and around. But the Bible gives a radically different view of history. The God who began time will also bring the story to a fitting conclusion. And this is what gives us hope and meaning in the world. God’s hand has been on nations, but for His own purposes, not for their own. 

At the blowing of the seventh trumpet in Revelation we are seeing the end of the nations and their power on the earth. The nations exist by the will of God and He has given them power. There is no earthly power that has not been established by God. The nations had nothing that they did not receive from the hand of God. They were God’s stewards and as such are held accountable. The nations have never been free to do as they please on the earth, but have always been ruled by heaven. But the nations have not been faithful to God. They have rebelled against His will and refused to acknowledge God or give Him the glory He deserves. The nations thought their power came through their own ingenuity and so they became prideful and exalted themselves. There have been times throughout history where God has humbled nations and brought them even to the point of annihilation. Of course, secular histories will not give God the credit for the fall of a nation. Men will point out the political intrigue, mistakes made in war, or economic factors that contribute to the rise or fall of nations. But the Bible makes it clear that God is the great watcher of men and nothing happens without authorization from the throne in heaven. Finally, at the end of history, the One seated on the throne will take back all His power from the nations and they will be no more.

At this point we should remember an episode that took place at the very beginning of human history. This event helps us understand something about all the nations throughout history. At one point, all the peoples of the earth spoke the same language and they came together to build a city with a tower reaching to the heavens. There are some who would applaud such a project from a united humanity. But God was not pleased. This was not God’s plan for human history. This was mankind trying to assert their own will above God’s will. So, God judged them, confused their languages, and scattered them. That was the beginning of the nations and their rebellion against God. It was called Babel because God confused their language so they had to stop building their city. Babel was God’s judgement on man’s desire to rule his own destiny. But the nations have tried, throughout history, to rebuild Babel. And when we come to the last book of the Bible there is this entity called BABYLON THE GREAT, which is the ongoing spirit of Babel: the wicked world, the City of Man in all her vanity and corruption. This wicked, rebellious system that pervades the world of men must fall under the righteous judgement and wrath of God.

            Many who have studied the book of Revelation have seen possible references there to ancient Rome and her eventual judgement and fall. Rome had become the most powerful empire in history but she had also become corrupt. Eventually, Rome came out against the Church and began to persecute believers, sending many to their deaths in horrible forms of torture. Rome is perhaps the primary example of how a nation can rise to power and then become corrupt and fall into ruin. Secular historians have long debated the true reason for the fall of Rome, which was called the eternal city. Edward Gibbon, an 18^th century English historian, wrote about the fall of Rome. Here is what Gibbon called “The five marks of the Roman decaying culture:

Concern with displaying affluence instead of building wealth;

Obsession with sex and perversions of sex;

Art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original;

Widening disparity between very rich and very poor;

Increased demand to live off the state.”

We might say that these characteristics sound familiar. That is because these seeds of corruption are found in every nation. Every nation has within it the seeds of its own destruction. But before we become too self-righteous in our condemnation of Rome or our own nation, we should remember that these seeds of destruction are found buried in our own hearts as well. Sinful nations are just very large groups of sinful people.

And Babylon the Great is a seductress. The world calls to us and woos us every day. And it does not demand that we become entangled in the obvious immorality of the sins of the flesh. The spirit of the world is rebellion and its claim of independence from God. All you really need to do to be worldly is try to rule your own life and have things your own way. That attitude is the essence of what will eventually bring every nation and every individual into judgement. As Christians, we must remember that we are still in the world, though we do not belong to it. But there is a part of us that is still able to be seduced by Babylon’s siren call. And so, every day we must put to death our earthly nature and answer a higher call. We must remember the Scriptural exhortation:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

The Bible shows us that God was merciful and kind to the very nations that had rebelled against Him. God did not destroy the nations but determined to bless them through Abraham’s Seed (Gen. 12.3). The theme of Scripture, and of human history, is God’s gracious plan of salvation and blessing for the world. God’s grace is best seen against the dark backdrop of human sin and failure. God has been long-suffering with the wickedness of the nations in view of His ultimate plan of bringing salvation through Christ. The pages of the Old Testament are constantly whispering about the coming of someone who would be the ruler of all the nations. This ruler would come out of the nation of Israel, but would rule all the Gentile nations as well. His coming would usher in a new era of salvation, peace, righteousness, and eventually, the renewal of the entire created order. Even the idolatrous Gentile nations would come to serve this ruler who would come from the people of Israel. The Jewish people began to look for this Christ/Messiah, the one anointed and chosen by God, to come and set up the Kingdom of God on earth. 

            There are several important prophecies about the coming of this Christ who would be given rule over the nations. Many New Testament writers either directly quote or allude to these prophecies:

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel (Psalm 2:8-9)

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! (Psalm 110:1-2)

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7.13-14)

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2)

Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ. When Christ’s birth was announced by angelic messengers, these prophecies about the reign of Christ were recalled: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). The fact that the Christ would not be just the King of the Jews, but would also be recognized and worshiped by Gentiles from other nations, is seen in the visit of the Magi: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). Jesus was born to be a king who would rule the world.

We live in an Age where many people in the world are free to elect their rulers. Of course, you don’t vote for a King! It should be noted here that the prophecies of the Christ in Psalm 2 and 110 make it clear that God is going to install His King over and against the world’s objections. The world did not vote for Jesus as King, yet God made Him king anyway. The world order has never accepted Jesus as their King and they never will. It is not uncommon to see a nation rise against its own ruler and remove them from power. This is often done with great violence. Sometimes there are bloody civil wars within a nation just to see who will have the power to rule. At other times the ruler of one nation will seek to depose or to subjugate the ruler of another nation. Right now, the world is watching the virtual destruction of the nation of Syria because of an attempt to overthrow the leader of that nation.

When the Son of God came into the world as man the world rose against Him and killed Him. But God raised and exalted Him into heaven where the world can no longer successfully oppose Him.  The world does not willingly submit to Christ’s rule and they are still in rebellion against God and His Christ. This is one of the reasons the world persecuted the Church. They cannot get at Christ because He is in heaven, and so they persecute those who belong to Christ. The world hates us like it hates Christ and His Father. Rebellion against God has always been and will continue to be a defining characteristic of the world and the nations. Even though our own nation was originally founded by people who had a fear of God, our own nation eventually came out in direct opposition to God and His Law. The world works very hard to suppress the knowledge of God so that they can rule themselves without having to submit to God and His Christ. The world has its own agenda and it will not submit to God’s will. And yet the body of Christ has been sent out into a hostile world to proclaim the provocative and subversive message that Jesus is Lord and that everyone should confess that fact.

But the current reign of Christ is from heaven, not on the earth. His reign is not visible to the eyes of flesh. The book of Revelation is a revelation of Christ’s current reign in heaven. John saw Jesus reigning and recorded the vision to undergird our faith. Christ has pierced through that invisible wall between heaven and earth. Heaven is the control-room for the earth and Jesus is there and has been given all power and authority. God has handed the reigns of the Kingdom over to Christ.

Christ is ruling the earth and administering the Kingdom of God from the Throne of God in heaven. And this vision is meant to give hope to believers who are still on the earth. There is nothing that the world can do, in its evil and rebellion against God, to remove Christ from the throne. No matter how bad things might get down here on earth, Christ is reigning in heaven and nothing can change that reality. So, we anchor our hearts in heaven. A member of our own race is ruling in heaven. Jesus is our man in heaven! The book of Hebrews reveals that He has entered heaven not only to rule but to make intercession for the saints who are coming to God through Him. To come to God, we must have a reigning Savior in heaven.

Not only is the world against us, but there is also a kingdom of darkness that is opposing us. Behind this dark kingdom is another Ruler who is the god of this world! We overcome the powers of darkness because our Savior has been exalted far above these principalities and powers. Because Christ has been exalted, there is no Power on earth that can keep us from coming to God through Him.

A famous theologian named Abraham Kuyper once wrote: “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, 'That is mine!'.” There is nothing on earth that does not belong to Christ and there is no place where we can go where Jesus is not Lord. It is our duty now to give Him everything, because it really belongs to Him anyway. There is no part of our lives over which Jesus does not have the right to rule. Anyone who does not submit to Christ is out of touch with ultimate reality. Being a Christian means to acknowledge, or confess, that Jesus is Lord. And this is not an empty creed but a mandate for daily living.

There is really nothing for us to fear, if Jesus is ruling. No matter what happens down here, Jesus is Lord, and that means, ultimately, everything is going to be alright. The English mystic, Julian of Norwich, was right when she wrote: “all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.”

Just as He went into Heaven, Christ will come again from heaven. He will again pierce that veil between heaven and earth, and He will appear. At that time, every eye will see Him as He is and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. And at that time, He will take back the power from the nations that is rightfully His. Later in the book of Revelation, near the end of the book, John sees this vision:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 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. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11-16)

He will come to judge the nations. Christ is already reigning. But this fact must be seen and acknowledged by all. For some, this day will be the greatest horror, a horror that will continue throughout all eternity as they are cast out of His presence forever. But there will be a group of people that no one can number, from out of every nation, who will rejoice to see Him reigning. And nothing will ever take away their joy because they are receiving a Kingdom, the only kingdom, that cannot be shaken.

“Oh, the joy to see Thee reigning,

Thee, my own beloved Lord!

Every tongue Thy name confessing.

Worship, honour, glory, blessing,

Brought to Thee with glad accord!

Thee, my Master and my Friend,

Vindicated and enthroned!

Unto earth's remotest end

Glorified, adored, and owned!" (Frances Havergal)

God and the Nations

“The Great Multitude from out of the Nations”

Revelation 7.9-17

Most people don’t really want to study the book of Revelation. All they want to know is who the Antichrist will be and when the world is going to end. But the book of Revelation defies all such questions. There is probably no book that is more misunderstood and certainly no other book is more misused. But there is no other book in the Bible that gives more encouragement and hope than the book of Revelation.

You can read the book and not be encouraged. Many people are confused, fearful, or just curious. The people who are really encouraged are those who are engaged in the good fight of faith and those who know the Scripture, especially the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Much of the imagery and language comes from books of the Bible that most Church people avoid, until some self-appointed prophecy expert comes to town to show how the late-night news coincides with the Bible. And then all their worst fears, along with every political conspiracy theory, is confirmed and brought to light. We knew it had to be the Russians all along! Funny how all of America’s enemies turn out to be God’s enemies too. Everyone who reads the book of Revelation wants to isolate its meaning to the period of history they are living in, and make a kind of easy, one-to-one comparison. We always tend to think that our period of history is the most important era. But the book of Revelation is not working on that low of a level. There is a much bigger vision here, something that spans all of time and history.

The Bible teaches us that there are two realms: heaven and earth. The book of Revelation starts out on earth. John is a prisoner on the isle of Patmos. He is being persecuted by the world for following Jesus. Jesus appears to John there on Patmos and gives him a message for seven churches. But then John is caught up into the heavenly realm and sees a series of visions, which comprise the rest of the book of Revelation. John sees the Throne of God in heaven, which is the control center for the earth.

Other prophets saw visions of the Throne of God, like Isaiah and Daniel, usually the vision coming at a time of great tribulation for the people of God on the earth. When things are going badly down here, God’s people need to be reminded that heaven rules the earth and that God is still on the throne. Nothing is ever out of control.

But then John sees something new. There is someone else there is heaven, sharing the very Throne of God. At first, He looks like a lion, but then a lamb that has just been slain. This lion who is also a sacrificed lamb is ruling and reigning with God in heaven. He comes and takes from God a scroll sealed with seven seals. No one else has been able to open this seal scroll, but the lamb begins to break the seals, unlocking the mysterious purpose of God.

The seven seals are the first of three cycles of visions in Revelation, all consisting of sevens: seven seals, seven trumpets, and then seven bowls. Each cycle seems to build and to get more intense. We are presented with a series of visions that grow in depth and complexity. It is like a Divine artist is painting a series of pictures and then showing us these portraits in rapid succession, almost like a film strip. John keeps writing, “and then I saw…” until it leaves us breathless and in awe.

This first cycle is the seven seals. John is taken up into the Divine throne room. It is there that John sees the Lamb take the scroll and begin to break the seals. With each broken seal comes a fresh vision. And when we get to the sixth seal, we clearly are seeing a vision about the End. On that final day of wrath, as the earth itself is reeling and shaking, there will be people crying out in terror and trying to hide from the presence of the Lamb. But then there is another vision and John sees another group of people. They are from all the ancient tribes of Israel. Before the earth passes away under the wrath of the Lamb, these people from the tribes of Israel are given a mark that sets them apart as the servants of God. But there is yet another group of people. This group of people has come out from every nation. And they are clearly set apart as well, wearing white robes. Instead of trying to hide, they are praising God and the Lamb.

At this point, one of the heavenly personalities asks John a surprising question: “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come” (Revelation 7:13)? It seems that John and his readers should be able to guess the identity of the first group of people, the group trying to hide from the Lamb. And we all ought to be able to understand who the second group of people is, the ones who come from all the tribes of the ancient people of Israel. But it is the third group of people who seem to need more of an explanation.

Who are these people?

Who is this group of people from out of the nations? Where did they come from? John does not know the answer to the heavenly elder’s question. And that provides an opportunity for a further revelation. Clearly, there is something important about this group and we need to be able to properly identify them. This extended revelation underscores the fact that there is something surprising and unexpected about the presence of this group of people in the vision. It is almost as if they do not belong here in this vision, yet here they are! How did this happen? Do they really belong here? Ought they to be here? Has there been a mistake? Has something gone wrong?

I recently read an article about a group of men who showed up at a Wal-Mart store somewhere. They went back to the kid’s toy section and bought every single children’s bicycle that the store had in stock. You see, they were there to buy those bikes and give them to poor kids who didn’t have bikes. Now that’s surprising, but even more so when you consider the fact that the men who walked into that Wal-Mart that day and bought those bikes for all those poor kids were a part of the infamous biker’s group called the Hell’s Angels! Imagine that you are there at Wal-Mart, you turn around, and you see a group of Hell’s Angels in the toy department! That would be a strange sight. How did they get there? You would probably be asking that question. How did these people get there before the Throne of God? Everyone else on earth is hiding from God, yet, there they are standing before the Throne of God with confidence. What a strange sight! Most people spend their entire lives running away and hiding from God. These people are praising God. Who are they?

To answer the question, we need to go back to chapter 5. John sees the lion who is also a lamb. This double vision of Christ is crucial to our understanding of the Gospel and the book of Revelation. As a lion, He has triumphed. He is sharing the throne of God. Here is where the book of Revelation continues the story of the Gospels. At the end of the Gospels, the resurrected Jesus ascends in to heaven. But that is not the end of the story, it is just the beginning. The book of Revelation shows us the result of a glorified Christ who has ascended into heaven and is reigning, sharing the throne of God. This great multitude from out of the nations are there before the throne of God because the Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed and has ascended into heaven. The heavenly reign of Christ will result in the salvation of people from out of every nation on earth.

This truth is the only thing that makes evangelism or missions effective. That’s why conversion so often defies any human explanation. Did you know that one of the biggest revivals in Europe right now is among the gypsy people? How can you explain the fact that the annual convention of gypsy Christians is one of the largest gatherings of Christians in Europe? Think about the fact that there will be gypsies in heaven! Why should we go and tell anyone about Jesus? How is it possible that people can be turned from darkness to light? It is not because of us. Jesus said to His disciples, “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He then commanded them to go and make disciples from all the nations. The Gospel has power because it is true and there is a living, reigning Lord Jesus in heaven. He is bringing many sons to glory, which is why He has been exalted. This great multitude is before the Throne of God because Jesus is sharing the throne of God. He has brought them to God.

And He has brought them to the throne in pure, spotless garments. The lion who has triumphed is also a sacrificial lamb. He is the cosmic Passover Lamb. Just as God brought His people out of Egypt in the original Passover, Jesus is bringing a great multitude out of the nations in a great, cosmic exodus. They are wearing white like a bride dressed for her husband. At the end of the book of Revelation there are two cities: Babylon, which is a whore, and the New Jerusalem, which is the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. This great multitude has been made ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The surprising thing about this multitude is that these are gentiles. Gentiles have been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! The Jews were always referring to these Gentiles as unclean, defiled, unworthy of the God of Israel. But here is a multitude of Gentiles who have been washed and who are worthy.

It was the lion who is also a lamb that made this vision possible. Jesus was always talking about the Kingdom of God as a feast. Some of the people the King invited would not come. So, invitations were sent out into the highways and byways of the world. And the King’s house was filled with guests. Remember the man without a wedding garment? He was thrown out into the outer darkness. But every one of these in this great multitude have their wedding garments on, and they will never be cast out.

Here the book of Revelation is showing us the ultimate destiny of every human being. We will either be welcomed into the presence of God, or cast out forever. Each person is choosing, each day, one of those two possible destinations.

Where did they come from?

But then the heavenly elder also asks John, “where did they come from?” There is a two-fold answer given. First, they came from out of the nations. These are the very nations that had gone astray and had rejected the knowledge of the Creator God, opting instead to worship the creation and idols made up out of their own imaginations. These are the nations that God scattered at Babel because of their rebellious plans. From out of these same nations come this great multitude before the Throne of God. What John is seeing here is the conclusion of God’s great plan of salvation. It was right after the account of the Tower of Babel that God called Abram out of Ur and gave him a promise that through his seed would come a blessing for all the nations. John in Revelation is seeing the culmination of that blessing and the ultimate, glorious fulfillment of that promise, which is the theme and story of the entire Bible. This vision is here to show us that God’s purpose cannot fail, no matter what it might look like down here in the world. The extended vision of the seven seals show us that the lion who is also a lamb is in complete control and is bringing His people through the world to Glory. There is nothing on earth that can stop the purpose of God from being completed.

There are two Messianic, prophetic Psalms that come to mind when reading this section of Revelation. There is the second Psalm which prophesies that God will install His King, His Christ, on Zion, that is, in heaven:

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’” (Psalm 2:6-8).

The nations have been given to Christ and out of the nations has come this great multitude.

The second Messianic Psalm that helps us understand this section of Revelation is Psalm 110, which is often quoted by the Apostles in the New Testament:

“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours” (Psalm 110:1-3).

He is ruling, even in the midst of His enemies, and so we have this great multitude from out of the nations, all of whom have offered themselves freely to Him and are dressed in holy garments.

The World did not vote in favor of Jesus being installed as king. The World killed Him, but God resurrected and exalted Him. He is reigning now, in spite of the raging and rebellion of the world, and He is bringing His people through a hostile world all the way to the Throne of God. There is no power on earth that can stop this multitude from ending up there before the Throne. But the world will continue to rage against God and His Christ.

That is why the heavenly elder says that this great multitude has come from out of the great tribulation. There are some who teach that this only describes a great number of “end-times” saints who will come out of a specific period of history that they call the Great Tribulation. This has become a popular doctrine in our time. I do not doubt that before the End there will be a time of great tribulation on the earth. But I choose to believe that this great multitude does not describe just one generation of saints, but all the saints who come from out of the nations during the entire period of Christ’s heavenly reign. We must all go through tribulation to enter the kingdom of God. All of God’s people come through a hostile, evil world on their way to glory. He brings us all through great tribulation. And even this tribulation is used by the Lord to perfect the holiness of His people. The tribulation itself is not even comparable to the weight of glory that will be ours when this great multitude is finally assembled. The book of Revelation is written to saints who are in the midst of tribulation. We need this vision so that we will stay in the Race. Following Jesus will be worth it!

“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase. So bravely run the race, till we see Christ!”

We must come through tribulation because this glorifies God and Christ. This multitude come through great tribulation shows the superiority of faith over the world order. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith! There is no other human explanation for this great multitude. The only reason these have come through great tribulation is because the reigning Christ brought them through it all the way to the Throne. Salvation really does belong to God and to the Lamb, and this fact must be demonstrated, beyond any doubt, by bringing the saints through tribulation. When we all stand there before the Throne, there will be no doubts in our minds that Christ brought us through and that we can take no personal credit for our salvation. We are not trusting in our own ability to get us through this great tribulation. We are trusting in an exalted Christ to bring us to God.

At the end of all things we will see the superiority of salvation over any work of the Evil One. There is no vision in Revelation of a great multitude in Hell. Of course, there are going to be those cast into the Lake of Fire. The Bible does not teach that everyone will be saved. But the Bible does teach that grace is greater than sin and I do not personally accept a doctrine that says there will be more people in Hell than in Heaven.

This vision is meant to show us that the end will be glorious, even though the appearances of things in the world, at any given point in time, it might seem like the work of God has stalled. We must see things from the perspective of the end result. We must not give in to doubt and despair. God’s people must always be hopeful. We must not limit the Kingdom of God to our own group and the size of our congregation, as if we are the only ones. We might meet in a small group, as men count small, but we are part of a big thing and a congregation that cannot be numbered! As the writer of Hebrews said,

“you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

Where are they going?

The elder asked John, “who are these?” and “where did they come from?” I think we can also ask, “where are they going?” We have to keep reading the book of Revelation to get the full vision. This great multitude is coming out of the world so that they can enter the new creation. At the end of the book, John sees a new heaven and a new earth. That is the destination of this great multitude from out of the nations.

This present, evil world is going to pass away. But this multitude has been brought out, just like the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt after all the plagues had decimated the land. The people of Israel came out of Egypt so they could enter the Promised Land. The whole point of salvation is to get God’s people into the New Creation. Our salvation is really not complete, but is only in a first-fruit stage. We are literally going to be saved from this world, which is going to melt with fervent heat. And we are going to stand before the Throne of God before He brings us into His New Creation. We are actually made for that New Creation. We have been made new here so that we might fit into that New World. This great multitude has been created to occupy the New Creation that is coming.

We are talking about a real world, not some kind of bodiless, spiritual thing. The saints are going to have new bodies and we will walk in a new world, one that is purged from all sin, evil, suffering, and death. Death will be swallowed up in victory!

The book of Revelation does not record the end, but a new beginning. In one sense, the human race never really did get started because of sin and death that entered the world. Here we see the new humanity, all recreated in the image of Christ, that will occupy a new creation. The whole purpose of this creation is to introduce us to that creation. This world is the front porch of God’s house, the point is to get inside and live there forever. Jesus said, “In my Father house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you.” The whole point of salvation is to be there, in the Father’s house, forever. That is the glorious destiny of this great multitude from out of the nations.

In C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, at the end of the old Narnia, the faithful Narnians are ushered into a new world. And they do not fully understand where they are. And then they slowly realize that they are really in Narnia, the real Narnia, of which the old Narnia was just a shadow:

“It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed and then cried: ‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now.”

And then Lewis goes on to write:

“But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Modern man has a dream to create a new world in which there is no war, poverty, suffering, and pain. There are still those who promise that, by the inevitable progress of the Human Race, we will one day experience this utopian dream. The desire for a perfect world and the ability to enjoy it forever is a central desire of the human heart. Somehow everyone knows that this world can never satisfy the desires of our hearts. But no human progress can bring this new world. Only God can create a new world. The good news is that He has done so and we are invited to become a part of it, even now. We can join this great multitude that is on its way to the New Creation.

Some people wonder if heaven is going to be boring, like one eternal Church service. Or, will it just be a time of eternal leisure, just floating on clouds plucking our harps? These people are small-minded. The thing that will make it heaven for the saints is being with Jesus. Our faith will be sight. And that will be enough to satisfy us forever.

Those who followed the Lamb through this world will follow Him in the next world. Those who served God here will continue to serve Him there, without any of the handicaps we have in this world.

The reward of faith will perfectly fit the desire of the saints. At the end of the book of Revelation John does not see a Temple in the New Jerusalem. That is because the Lamb Himself and the Throne of God will be there. In this world, we are sort of in a state of dress-rehearsal. We are learning to serve and worship Him here, so that we might serve and worship Him more fully there. We are learning to follow Christ here so that we might be able to follow Him perfectly there.