#endtimes #revelations
Yesterday I talked about the reference to olive oil and wine not being harmed in the midst of the weighing of costs in Revelation 6:6. The only ones not ultimately harmed, not left weeping with be shielded because the Holy Spirit has changed them and taken up house inside of them to keep them holy and acceptable to God.
Joh 3:5-8 "Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
I also said there were two things I heard last week that I have been contemplating and that I would consider the second thing today. What it is concerns different interpretive meanings about the book of Revelation. It was said last Sunday; "some people think the judgments of Revelation refer to AD 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem others think these judgments are yet future." Then the pastor said; "I personally believe these are future, they are events yet to come."
The thing that grieves me to the heart in the church is disagreement, no I mean fighting over insignificant points of interpretation. James gives us pause for our little quarrels.
Jas 4:1-3 "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
Yet there are different interpretations among very knowledgeable and well known Christian scholars. I don't think this is a point to separate over though. To exclude others from fellowship even, as sometimes happens. "If your not a pre-tribulation, mid-tribulational, post tribulational and pre- millenial your not welcome in our fellowship."
When we get to the point where we are saying I follow John MacArthur, I follow R. C. Sproul, I follow Hank Hannegraff or I follow Tim LaHaye; this kind of quarreling stinks of the same problem in Corinth in the first century.
1Co 3:1-9 "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."
So what of the controversy is this something that refers to AD 70 or is it in the future yet to happen? It is not "either or", it is "both and". You cannot take the visions and warnings of the "nearness" and "closeness" of Revelation and not acknowledge that the Holy Spirit speaking through John was saying something very soon is to take place (in the first century) and you must realize that final judgment of this world, satan and his followers has not been executed. Jesus is coming back at a yet future date to bring final judgment.
Rev 22:10-15 "And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."
Rev 22:17 "The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price."
Rev 22:20,21 "He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen."
Don't be caught without the safety of the olive oil and the wine, they will not be harmed. When the measuring comes they will not be left wanting by Absolute Love.
Yesterday I talked about the reference to olive oil and wine not being harmed in the midst of the weighing of costs in Revelation 6:6. The only ones not ultimately harmed, not left weeping with be shielded because the Holy Spirit has changed them and taken up house inside of them to keep them holy and acceptable to God.
Joh 3:5-8 "Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
I also said there were two things I heard last week that I have been contemplating and that I would consider the second thing today. What it is concerns different interpretive meanings about the book of Revelation. It was said last Sunday; "some people think the judgments of Revelation refer to AD 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem others think these judgments are yet future." Then the pastor said; "I personally believe these are future, they are events yet to come."
The thing that grieves me to the heart in the church is disagreement, no I mean fighting over insignificant points of interpretation. James gives us pause for our little quarrels.
Jas 4:1-3 "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
Yet there are different interpretations among very knowledgeable and well known Christian scholars. I don't think this is a point to separate over though. To exclude others from fellowship even, as sometimes happens. "If your not a pre-tribulation, mid-tribulational, post tribulational and pre- millenial your not welcome in our fellowship."
When we get to the point where we are saying I follow John MacArthur, I follow R. C. Sproul, I follow Hank Hannegraff or I follow Tim LaHaye; this kind of quarreling stinks of the same problem in Corinth in the first century.
1Co 3:1-9 "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."
So what of the controversy is this something that refers to AD 70 or is it in the future yet to happen? It is not "either or", it is "both and". You cannot take the visions and warnings of the "nearness" and "closeness" of Revelation and not acknowledge that the Holy Spirit speaking through John was saying something very soon is to take place (in the first century) and you must realize that final judgment of this world, satan and his followers has not been executed. Jesus is coming back at a yet future date to bring final judgment.
Rev 22:10-15 "And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."
Rev 22:17 "The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price."
Rev 22:20,21 "He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen."
Don't be caught without the safety of the olive oil and the wine, they will not be harmed. When the measuring comes they will not be left wanting by Absolute Love.
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