Let's meet together in God's Word in the Book of Revelation
chapter 15. Revelation chapter 15, What you
and I have before us today is the shortest chapter in the
entire Book of Revelation, but don't mistake its brevity for
insignificance. Last time we were together in
this book, we examine the closing verses of Revelation
chapter 14, and in it we discovered that God has given us
a preview of the final judgments that He will unleash upon
mankind. Namely, they were a prelude to
the seven bowls of God's wrath, the final series of His justice
against an evil world before the return of the Son of God.
Now, as we come to chapter 15, we arrive at their introduction.
In other words, the trailer for these judgments has ended, and
the opening scene now begins. But when you read this chapter
carefully, you'll notice that John is doing something much
more profound than setting the stage for the culmination of
God's manifest justice. There seems to be a weaving of
other things taking place, a profound picture that he is
putting together. And it's my prayer that we will
seek to capture it in our time together this afternoon.
And the best way to start is by just reading the entire chapter.
It's very short as you know, So let's start here in verse one of
Revelation 15. Then I saw another sign in
heaven, great and amazing, 7 angels with 7 plagues, which are
the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire,
and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the
number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass, with
harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and
amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name for You alone.
Our holy all nations will come and worship you for your for
your righteous acts have been revealed.
After this I looked and the sanctuary of the Tent of Witness
in Heaven was opened. And out of the sanctuary came
the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright
linen with golden sashes around their chest.
And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven
angels 7 golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives
forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled
with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.
And no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven
plagues of the seven angels were finished.
Lord, we ask that You would do a work in our hearts as You did to
Your servant Titus. We read in Your word that Paul
confessed gladly that You put it into the heart of Titus to have
the same earnest care for the Corinthians that he had.
And Lord, we see a promise in that truth that You can take our
hearts and put in it what You desire.
So Lord, as your church, we extend our hearts to you.
We say, put in these hearts your love, a love for you, a love for
the Word, a love for the church, a love for the lost, a love for
that which is holy. And use this message to
accomplish that. We ask these things in Jesus
name, Amen. A lot of imagery here is
familiar to us, isn't it? We've seen echoes of this
throughout the Book of Revelation, and yet there is
something very unique, one element in what we just saw that
stands out, a reference to Moses that seems a little strange.
Moses doesn't appear before this, and Moses doesn't show up
after this in the Book of Revelation.
But John is not only making reference to the man Moses, he
tells us specifically here in verse three that they sang the
song of Moses. So it's less about him bringing
our attention to the person and more about us remembering an
event. We know exactly where the song
of Moses was sung, and we'll get to that in a moment.
But this clear reference is absolutely essential to
unlocking other allusions in this prophetic passage.
When you see this, you understand that there are other
details around it, that when you put it together, it forms a
grand and familiar picture. And that's what I want us to
see. Keep the song of Moses in the
back of your mind, and let's look over very quickly the
verses that we just read. Look at verse one again and I
think that as we read this, light bulbs are going to go off
verse one. Then I saw another sign in
heaven, great and amazing, 7 angels with seven what plagues.
Verse 2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled
with fire, and also those who had conquered the beast and its
image and a number of its name standing beside the sea.
The ESC writes beside because the Greek word EPI is very
elastic. It can mean beside, before, on.
So some of your translations say they were standing on the sea,
but the ESB renders it beside. Standing beside the sea of glass
with harps of God in their hands.
Look at verse 3 and they sing the song of Moses, the CERN of
God, and the song of the Lamb sang.
Let's go over to verse 5. After this I looked and the
sanctuary of the Tent of Witness in heaven was opened.
Other transitions say the Temple of the Tabernacle of the
Testimony. This is a clear picture and
reference to the Tabernacle, verse 6.
And out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven
plagues, clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around
their chest. In other words, they're dressed
like priests. Finally, verse 8.
And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God
and from his power. No one could enter the sanctuary
until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
So think about this with me. Plagues, deliverance from a
global tyrant, singing victoriously by a sea Moses and
more specifically the song of Moses, a lamb, the tent of
witness, priestly looking servants of God, and finally the
sanctuary filled with the smoke of God's glory.
It couldn't be more obvious. What John is doing here in this
vision is clearly making an allusion to the Exodus story and
the journey into the wilderness. But for what purpose?
Well, by borrowing these details, John is obviously
bringing to mind this pivotal moment in redemptive history.
But more than that, he's also describing a new Exodus to come.
That's what's happening here. It says, oh, the age.
The apostle is saying you are very aware of God's redemptive
power, namely what he did for Israel, bringing them out of
Egypt. But I'm here to tell you by the
authority and this inspiration of the Holy Spirit that there is
another exodus to come. And what I want to speak to you
about is just that, the new exodus.
Have you ever thought about it? It's promised, it's illustrated,
it's presented to us right here in this chapter.
And the way we're going to seek to understand this new Exodus is
by coming to this text, looking at the major characteristics and
then comparing it with the Exodus of old, paralleling some
truths and and contrasting some realities.
For what reason? So that in the end, we would
come to the conclusion that what is to come, this great act of
deliverance, is far more significant, far more powerful,
and far more glorious than what Israel experienced in Egypt.
I want you and I today, by the grace of God, to consider 3
facets of this new exodus, of this exodus that is promised for
the future. They're very simple to remember.
Again, there's going to be similarities, but we're also
going to see how this exodus is greater #1 John wants us to see
the wrath of God and connection to this act of deliverance.
That's what he immediately perceives in the opening of this
chapter. What he sees in this new vision
is 7 angels who come and emerge with 7 plagues that will
complete God's wrath on the earth.
Notice they are the last. This is another clue that the
Book of Revelation is chronological.
Some people believe it's cyclical, that it's repetitive,
that it's just showing different angles of the same scene.
But this is an indication that no, there's a progression taking
place in Revelation. We've already covered the sealed
judgments, we've seen the trumpet judgments, and now these
bowls of God's wrath. They're the final acts of God's
judgment. But notice this.
The same way that God's judgment was the means of bringing total
and complete deliverance to Israel, so will be for the
church at the end of the age. Jesus Christ took God's wrath
upon himself on the cross, yes, and he secured our redemption.
But there's still more judgment to come, namely upon the wicked
to make way for our total redemption for the new age, the
new world, the new Kingdom to come.
And that's what John is indicating here.
You and I, we know that the way God accomplished this
deliverance for Israel was by unleashing 10 plagues.
But more than that, the final blow against Pharaoh and his
tyrannical regime was what? Being buried beneath the Red
Sea. And that's what seems to be
indicated here, the message being illustrated when John sees
not just the last plagues, but also a scene of a sea of glass
mingled with fire. Did you see that?
Verse 2? And I saw what appeared to be a
sea of glass mingled with fire. The last time we saw the sea of
glass was back in chapter 4, but there was no mention of it being
mixed with fire. It was like crystal.
It was calm. It's a reflection of God's
purity, His Holiness, His righteousness, his, his
consistency. But then now the sea of glass
before his throne reappears, but this time it's being illuminated
by flames. It's being stirred, so to speak,
by fire. That doesn't mean that there's
going to be a literal splitting of the Red Sea in the
Tribulation period. What it does show, however, is
that this glass like mass mixed with fire before God's throne
conveys that God is about to bring the fatal and total defeat
of the evil systems of the world, just like the Red Sea did
in the past. John is deep.
Clearly, he's being led by the Holy Spirit.
However, there is a difference between what we see here in this
experience of a future exodus for the Church, for the redeemed
in Christ, and what Israel knew. There is a clear order of
events. When you go back to Exodus, what
do you find? The plagues being poured out
upon Egypt, and then the Red Sea.
And then after the Red Sea, what on the other side of the shore,
The people of God looking upon their enemies, drowning in the
in the water and rejoicing. They were singing then, but now
we come here and what do we discover?
We have mention of plagues. We have even this connection
with the idea of a sea, and they're singing.
But when are they singing? Well, keep in mind the plagues
are being introduced in this chapter, in chapter 16.
They're going to be triggered. They're actually going to be
released. They haven't been released yet,
and yet the redeemed in heaven are singing.
They're singing before it happens.
Why? Because they know that the
outcome is guaranteed. This is a declaration of faith.
This is a demonstration of absolute trust.
There's a contrast here. The redeemed in the Old
Testament erupt and praise after God achieved his promise, which
is wonderful. But the righteous here who are
in heaven, namely they choose to praise God and glorify Him
before anything plays out on the earth.
This is obviously a look into a future end times event, but the
worship of these Saints instructs us about our worship.
You and I cannot afford to reserve our praise only when God
does something for what He has accomplished in the past.
He's worthy of that. We must continually acknowledge
Him for the good that He has allowed us to experience and
enjoy. Yes, but broaden your worship,
my brother and sister. You and I have permission and we
are invited. More than that, we are commanded
to praise God for what He will do, what He what He promised
that would happen. Not just what He has performed,
but what He has promised will take place.
And the reason why we can sing about those things with absolute
fervor and zeal and rock solid confidence is because He said it
would happen. Because He said it, He will do
it. And so the explosiveness of our
worship, yes, rightly so, should be in response to what the Lord
has done, but also what He will do.
And this is what we find here. These Saints are not
experiencing yet, but they are still glorifying God.
Now Speaking of singing, we come to the second feature of this
new exodus that is so important. We looked at the wrath of God,
but when? Now we have to look at the song,
the songs that they are singing in verse three and four, and
they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of
the Lamb. Now there is a harmless debate
about this singing taking place here, and here's the discussion.
Is this speaking about two songs or one harmless?
Your salvation doesn't count on it, thank God.
So is this 2 titles for the same song?
Others will say and argue, no, no, these are two separate tunes
blended together like a medley. And then there are a minority
who say no. This is clearly indicating that
there are two separate songs being sung here.
If you and if you take the text at face value, it seems to be
just that. There's the song of Moses and
then the song of the Lamb. If it was one song, you would
think that it would say something like and they sing the
song of Moses, the servant of God and the lamb.
But that's not what happens. You have two songs here being
mentioned. Now, why is that distinction
important? I think one reason why it's
important is because when we look at the song of Moses, we
are aware that this is the people of God rehearsing God's
past faithfulness. This is something that we find
in Exodus 15. And so they are looking back and
they are even echoing what the Saints of old were rejoicing
about. But the song of the Lamb appears
to be a new song. And John gives us a glimpse into
some of the lyrics of this new song.
And before we look at these lyrics, consider what this means
for us on this side of the cross.
This is so glorious. We as followers of Christ have
more to sing about than those who went before us.
The prophets of all. They had insight into the
future. There is.
There is obvious clues in even the Psalms about Messiah and
what He will do and what He will accomplish on behalf of the
world. But in reality, the redeemed of
old sang about a shadow. You and I get to sing about the
fulfillment. We have the complete picture.
We have our eyes opened because the New Covenant grants us
clarity, more revelation, more testimonies, and as a result, it
should stimulate and encourage greater worship.
We have more to sing about. It's not just the song of Moses
that's been there from nearly the beginning.
We also have the song of the Lamb.
This is one of the advantages that we have as followers of
Christ today. I want you to turn to a verse
that is so important for us and being able to answer why we are
more blessed in the new covenant.
It's in Second Timothy one verse 10.
This will confirm the argument that I'm trying to make here.
Listen to what Paul says about one of the treasures of being in
Christ, what Christ was able to offer us in Second Timothy 110
in describing the power and the privilege of the gospel.
Notice what he mentions Paul says, and which now has been
manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. We know that when Jesus came, He
destroyed death, but he did more than just destroy death.
It says here that He brought life, that is eternal life, life
now, and immortality to light through the gospel.
In other words, when Jesus Christ entered into the scene
and did what he did and taught what he taught, he turned the
light on. In the Old Testament they could
see, but it was almost like entering into a room with a very
faint light. And so you can make out the
shapes and and you can touch and see.
Maybe this is what this object is.
But when Christ comes into this whole picture of redemptive
history, he flicks on the light and we can see everything.
And we know what we need to know by God's grace concerning
immortality, everlasting life, what's what's going to happen
after death and about life now. So the Old Testament, they had
their songs, but we have more, They had their insights, but we
have greater. And this is what I find here,
that there is a principle that reminds us of our great treasure
in Christ, not just the song of Moses, but the song of the Lamb.
Now let me add something that I know I don't need to convince
you of. I'm aware who I'm preaching to,
but it's good to be reminded about it anyway.
The fact that these Saints who are in heaven, we're going to
discover that they're, they're the Saints who were martyred
during the Tribulation period. The fact that they're singing
the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb teaches us that the
Old Testament and the New Testament are consistent, that
they're in harmony. The old does not contradict the
new and vice versa. The new completes the old.
And this is this is illustrated here because I'm afraid that
there are many people who are under the illusion that there is
disagreement or even different versions of God or that because
we're New Testament believers, this really gets me going.
So I'm that because we are not followers in Christ and we are
enjoying the new covenant and Christ inaugurated this New
Testament, we don't need to really look into the Old
Testament that there's not much benefit for us there.
We're in the last book of the Bible.
And guess what they're doing? They're singing the song of
Moses. I jure you.
And again, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but just in
case there's one who's listening to this and has been convinced
that we can disconnect ourselves from the Hebrew Scriptures.
No, no, no, no, no. God bids us to explore and
examine and relish in what came before, especially because we
have the complete picture now in Christ.
We have the flashlight to look at everything that's found in
what came before and see it for what it really is.
Why would you miss out on that? I'm telling you, there's a
growing trend within the evangelical circles of
dismissing the Old Testament, of ignoring the Hebrew Scriptures,
and that's creating a lot of problems theologically.
I'm going to take my cue from the Saints found here in the
Book of Revelation. They didn't just sing the song
of the Lamb. In fact, you Can't Sing the song
of the Lamb unless you know the prior songs, the Lamb.
Where does that come from? Well, if you know the song of
Moses, it'll make more sense. So here's the application.
Read your Old Testament, enjoy it.
Enjoy it enough where you can sing about the truths you find
in it, and that'll always point you to Christ.
So they sing. Now we'll look at some of the
lyrics here. We can't look at every detail.
I want to just mention one thing and it's how the words you and
you are repeated over and over again.
Again, we can spend a whole message just on the lyrics here,
but consider this. Your deeds, your ways glorify
your name. You alone are holy.
Worship you for your righteous acts. 6 times in the stanza.
God and God alone is the object of this choir's adoration and
affection. You, you, you're, you're, you.
And that becomes even more meaningful when you remember who
it is singing these truths. Go back to verse 2, it says
here. And I saw what appeared to be a
sea of glass, mingled fire, and also those who had conquered the
beast and its image and the number of its names standing
beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands,
Those who had conquered the beast.
And what way do they conquer the beast?
These are Christians during the regime of the Antichrist, and
they clearly refused to bow the knee to him, and because of that
they lost their lives. These are those who have shown
great strength and resilience, those who have shown absolute
and total devotion to Christ, those who overcame unspeakable
difficulties in the world because of their love for the
Lord Jesus to the point where they had to lose their heads in
order to prove it. You might say these are super
Christians, right? You might say these are very
impressive believers who have displayed such incredible
faithfulness to the cause of Christ.
And indeed, these are Saints that we can applaud.
But I love what I find here, that these victorious,
triumphant believers, when it comes to worship, give all the
glory to God. You, your, it's all about you.
Again, we're learning about how to worship.
We're learning what worship is in the Book of Revelation.
Do you, do you notice how much there is about worship in this
book? True worship is being able to
acknowledge that no matter what I do for Christ, no matter what
I accomplish in his name means nothing.
My boss is in the Lord alone. Anything that happens in me,
anything that happens through me, should cause me to recognize
that God is the source of it. And if it wasn't for him, then I
wouldn't be able to do any of this anyway.
And so these Saints here who did great feats, who accomplished
great things for Christ in the darkest hour of human history,
were able to still give God all the glory.
Because that's what true worship looks like.
The song of this new exodus, but finally the tent for the third
and final time. In this particular vision, John
tells us that his attention is turned to something, and it's
found in verse 5. After this, I looked in the
sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened.
So this sanctuary of the tent, this is speaking about another
translation of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle that is in
heaven. And what what John highlights is
that this tent opens and as it opens, something's going to come
out of it. Now, the reason why this tent is
highlighted, it's because the Holy Spirit uses that through
John to keep the theme of the Exodus alive, to keep our minds
still connected to that motif. And I trust that we're all aware
that the Tabernacle is a very obvious symbol in the Old
Testament, that after the people escaped Egypt and went into the
wilderness, God called them to build a dwelling place for his
presence with his people on the earth.
The Tabernacle was God's temporary home on this planet.
So that's what we have in mind. This tent speaks about God's
presence, it speaks about His, the hosting of his glory, which
then causes us to interpret that what's about to transpire and
emerge from this Tabernacle means it's coming directly from
God. What John is about to see next
because of this tent means that this is issuing from the
undefiled, pure, glorious presence of the Lord.
And what is John? See next, 7 angels with 7
plagues. That will be the punctuation
mark of God's judgement upon humanity.
And there's no confusion here. They're not operating with their
own authority. They're not doing this
independently. These angels were dispatched
from the presence of God. That disturbs some people.
And in case that might agitate you, this truth is further
confirmed in that this is not only something coming from God
the Father, this is also something that Jesus Christ
affirms. How do we know that?
It's very subtle, but it's profound at the same time.
Did you notice how they were dressed?
Bright linen garments? But more than that, John tells
us that they had golden sashes around their chests.
Does that remind you of anything?
The last time we saw anybody wearing a golden sash was back
in Revelation chapter 1, Revelation One.
Look at this in verse 13. This is John's experience of the
glorified Christ, and this detail shows up about Him here.
Revelation 113 And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a
Son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash
around his chest. What is happening here?
Many chapters later now we see angels with a golden sash around
their chest. And here's the point that's
being made. These angels who are reporting
for duty are resembling and reflecting the nature of Jesus
Christ. They are about to do something
that is in complete alignment with the will and desire of
Christ himself, and that irks people because they have
developed a theology about the person of Jesus Christ that
completely disassociates him from any judgement against
sinners. Now these angels who are walking
towards the bulls are actually reflecting Jesus, representing
Jesus, and showing that what they're about to do is what
Christ wants to do. God's judgement is real.
And not only is it real, nothing and no one can change that
reality. And that becomes even more
obvious when we see what happens next with this Tabernacle.
Look at verse 8. And the sanctuary was filled
with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.
And no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven
plagues of the seven angels were finished.
So these 7 angels come towards the bowls.
One of the four living creatures gives them the actual
instruments symbolically, and they're going to pour them out
in the coming chapters. We'll look at that next week.
But notice what John sees. He sees a cloud, the tangible
presence of God filling this heavenly Tabernacle.
And my question is, why do I need to know about it?
Is this just cinematic drama? Is this just to add more color
to the scene? Is this just to make us realize
the seriousness of the moment? In part, yes.
But again, we're looking at the new Exodus.
Again, we're looking at the Holy Spirit making connections and
references for us to understand the deeper message here.
And you know your Old Testament well enough, I'm sure, to
understand that we've seen a similar manifestation in the
past, that the earthly counterpart to this heavenly
Tabernacle also once hosted the manifest presence of God's
glorious cloud. Do you remember in Exodus
chapter 40? Let me read this to you don't
have to turn there, but listen to what happens in Exodus 40,
verse 35. And Moses was not able to enter
the tent of meeting because the clouds settled on it, and the
glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.
This actually happens not with the Tabernacle, but with the
temple when Solomon builds it in Jerusalem.
Listen to this in First Kings 8 verse 10, First Kings 8, verse
10. And when the priest came out of
the holy place, a cloud filled the House of the Lord, so that
the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud,
for the glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord.
So both times in the past when the earthly counterparts hosted
God's cloud, the same thing occurred.
The leadership, namely the priest, could not enter in and
do what they were supposed to do.
What's 1 of the main duties of a priest?
To intercede and stand in the gap on behalf of a sinful
people. So keeping that pattern in mind,
now what do we have? We come to the New Testament, We
see the true Tabernacle, the heavenly one that the earthly
ones copied from, and a cloud fills it.
Same thing. So then we must assume that the
same outcome is here. What do I mean by that?
In the same way that the priest could not enter in to do what
they were supposed to do, the fact that a cloud comes to this
temple in heaven suggests that God will not allow intercession
to take place. In other words, as he is
prepared to pour out these bowls of judgement, he will not accept
any prayers, he will not accept any intercession, he will not
receive any cry to stop his hand.
The Tabernacle be closed for service until every drop of
those bowls is poured out. So this is an illustrative way
for the Holy Spirit to describe one of the most frightening
components of the period of the bold judgments.
God will not hear any prayers during that time.
It will be too late. He gave way too many chances.
And so He will do what He is going to do, and it will be
unstoppable and it will be irreversible.
You know, this brings to mind Jeremiah's language when he
wrote in that short book called Lamentations, of what happened
when God allowed Babylon to be the instrument of his judgement
against his own. Listen to these words from
Lamentations 3, verse 44. Ready for this?
Jeremiah writes. You have wrapped yourself with a
cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
There are times when God has done that.
We're a nation where people have since so grievously, so
consistently, so rebelliously that he wraps himself in a
cloud, so to speak, and not one single prayer can penetrate it.
It will fail. And what we find here in this
vision is it has reached that point at the end of time.
So it doesn't matter how strong the nation's cry out, it doesn't
matter how much they plead, it doesn't matter how long they
fast. In fact, as we're about to
discover with these judgments, they're going to be in such
rapid succession, there'll be virtually no time to be able to
pray anyway. We've come to a very important
turning point in our understanding of Bible prophecy.
This is the end of the end. But here's how I want to end
this message today. The status of the Tabernacle in
heaven is a hopeful one. This afternoon.
It's a hopeful one. There is no cloud wrapping
around it where no prayer can pass through.
You know, it's amazing when you read the book of Hebrews.
Oh, I love Hebrews. When are we going to go through
Hebrews? It's too deep.
Need a little bit more time. The more you study, the more you
realize that the author is showcasing how Christ is more
brilliant, more awesome than virtually everything.
And we're familiar with the comparison of Jesus being our
great high priest and the Levitical priest, and how the
different components of the Levitical priesthood is inferior
to Christ. But I was reminded through this
when I went to Hebrews last night, late last night, looking
at the Tabernacle, there's a heavenly one.
It's the one that actually God called Moses to look at, to
imitate when he built this physical one on earth.
But in Hebrews 8, verse one and two, we're actually told that
Christ does what He does as our high priest in heaven in the
true Tabernacle. And why is he teaching that at
that point in his book? Because he wants to tell the
Jewish Christians who want to so badly go back to the ironic way
of worship and atonement that Jesus Christ is not only a
greater high priest, He does his priestly work in a more superior
place. You want to go back to the
temple? Do you realize that the temple
is just a copy of a greater and a heavenly?
1 Jesus, our great High Priest in the New Covenant, is there on
our behalf, and not only is He there, he's doing something
there. Here's what he's doing right
now. Hebrews 7, verse 25.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost of those who
draw near to God through him. Since He always lives to make
intercession for them, He always lives to make intercession for
them. That's now.
There's a time coming that there will be no intercession.
It will only be judgement. Nobody can do anything about it.
But between now and then there is One who is willing to take
anybody who humbly comes before him by faith, and he will enter
into this heavenly Tabernacle, so to speak, and bring that
request on your behalf, and it will be answered.
Listen, there is an open door in this heavenly Tabernacle for
mercy and for our needs to go in.
But in Revelation 15, it will be open for judgment to come out.
Don't wait. Now is the time to understand
that I have an open heaven above me, that there is something
greater than what Moses built. And I can connect to that
reality by faith and say, oh, this Jesus who rose from the
dead, He didn't stop ministering.
He stopped ministering on the earth, but in heaven.
Now he's willing to actually represent me before God the
Father. And he remains the single
greatest unending high priest. He will never be replaced.
He will never die. He doesn't borrow from heavenly
lambs and ox and bulls. He brings His eternal blood
every single time. And so this is a prophecy of
doom in Revelation 15. But let me end it on a note of
great hope and joy today. If you don't know Jesus Christ
and you cry out to Him, He will hear it.
He will hear I'm talking about the real Jesus of Nazareth.
He will hear you. I say this often that apart from
salvation itself, one of the greatest thrills and ecstasies
that you can know in this life on this side of eternity is when
God answers prayers. I'm talking about real prayers,
not like, was that God or was that coincidence?
No, no, no, no, prayers like that was God.
And one of the strongest ways you can know God answering your
cry is when you cry out for salvation.
You'll know when you're saved. You will know.
You know how you'll know because you won't recognize yourself.
Not perfect, but new direction, not instantaneously glorious,
but set on the path of sanctification.
And the only way that is possible now is because we're in
the age of grace and that heavenly Tabernacle is still
open. And this priest is willing to
take your request and bring him to God and make it real in your
life. Let's thank him for these
truths. Father, we thank you from the
bottom of our hearts that though we can rejoice with the song of
Moses, of what you've done for Israel and Egypt, we can look
forward to a new exodus where you will destroy the Antichrist,
his system, all the oppressors of the people of God for all
time in a single moment, and we will enter into the Promised
Land. We thank You that we have more
songs to sing on this side of the cross.
We thank You that even now there's a greater Tabernacle in
our favor, one in heaven that we have access to.
And so, Lord, if one here doesn't know what this means, we
pray that you would open their eyes to experience the reality
of the great work of our great High Priest.
Lord, for us who are here and know you and enjoy you and love
you, may everything that we heard in this message only stir
us to see the majesty and the brilliance of Your word.
We are amazed and we stand amazed before you.
We ask these things in the name of the great High Priest, one
who will never be replaced, one who has infinite mercy
available. Jesus, Amen.
Let's stand church, let's rejoice Christ and our
deliverance that is to come at the end of the age.