We Have No King But Jesus

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Today we celebrate Palm Sunday; the time that Jesus entered Jerusalem to great messianic celebration, only to be crucified a week later.  So turn with me to Matthew 21:1-9 as we talk about that day.

First, I titled this message, “We Have No King But Jesus,” because people who live in the United States of America have a heritage of seeing Jesus as their king.  Leading up to the Revolutionary War this statement became a rising theme among the colonies.  It is even stated that the response of the Lexington militia to British Major Pitcairn’s command to lay down arms and disperse in the name of King George was, “We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus.”  It is important to understand that, in the minds of our forefathers, this was not a statement of anarchy and rebelliousness.  But rather, it was a stand against a king who ruled with a chaotic tyranny in the name of God.  They knew that Jesus was no tyrant and that any tyrannical ruler who tries to substantiate themselves by pointing to Jesus was both wrong and not a true follower of Jesus.  Thus they set up a system of government that could keep our sinful nature in check and yet also keep the leaders in check.

A Different Kind Of King

Matthew opens up this chapter by giving us the setting of the triumphal entry of Jesus.  He ends by quoting a prophecy from the Old Testament that points Israel to how their king would come to them.  Now in his birth and life, Jesus did not look much like the kings of this world.  Though it is true that Jesus was to be king, he was a very different sort of person.  Thus the prophecy says that he will come lowly and humble.  Most people of great station and position are full of themselves and the power that they have.  Or, they pretend humility for the purposes of manipulating others.  However, in the end they will always prove to be for themselves as they advance and others are left behind, used up.  Yet, Jesus was quite the opposite.  In fact, he spent himself completely and left his disciples behind to be raised up in his place, full of the same Spirit he was, and in order to carry on the work he had started.  Yes, Jesus did great miracles and made amazing statements, but humility was the hallmark of his character.

Part of his lowliness is found in that Jesus was determined to serve Israel and the rest of the world, rather than to rule.  He shows us the real reason for leaders.  They are supposed to serve the people they are over.  Ruling should equal serving.  Yet, in this life that hardly happens.  Even when people start out correctly and with the right purposes, it quickly degenerates into a system of people using their rule in order to serve themselves, not the people.

Truly a Savior King

In this world people often look to leaders to fix the problems and save the nation.  Israel was no different upon this occasion.  Generally this is a mixed bag.  Some are far worse than others, and some are better than others.  Israel had seen a lot of leaders, both political and religious, over the years.  On this day we find the crowds crying out the word, “Hosanna!”  This word is actually a cry for help that could be translated as “Save us!”  They recognized Jesus as the Anointed King (Messiah) promised by God.  So they cry out for Jesus to fix everything.  Now it is easy to cry out for salvation.  But, no one says such things without having expectations of what that might entail.  Jesus was coming to save them, but not to satisfy all their expectations of what that would look like.  In this case the leader truly does know better than the masses what their greatest needs really are.

Thus the question is, “save us from what?”  Their expectations included removing the Romans, oppressive taxes, corrupt leaders on the throne and corrupt leaders within the priests.  Yes, they did need saved, and they were saying the right things.  But they had no clue what Jesus had come to save them from.  In 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 it says, “For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the Living and True God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”  Now Israel understood that the wrath of God was going to be poured out on the nations of the world because of their sin and rejection of him.  However, they did not realize that they too were in danger of that same wrath.  In fact, if Jesus did not come the world would have come to an end in those very same days.  Our sin and our bondage to it had placed us guilty before the God of heaven.  If He truly is righteous then He surely must bring judgment upon us.  Jesus was coming to save them, but he was coming to save them from their sins: the hold they had on them, the path they were dragging them down, and the destruction that waited at the end of it.  God has set a day of Judgment, a judgment upon the whole world.  It will be a time of wrath upon those who have chose wickedness and sin over the top of him and his salvation.

This King Is Coming Again

In Revelation 19:11-16, we see a radically different picture of King Jesus.  In the first century he came from among the people, lowly, and for the purpose of dying on their behalf.  But in the future, he will come from above in great power and for the purpose of removing the wicked leadership of the earth, and taking up the reins of power.

Of course, the wicked leaders will not like that and thus the passage reveals that the kings of the earth will turn their military power upon Christ and his army.  But they will be no match as the wrath of God is poured out upon this earth.

Yet, he does not come to destroy the earth, but to remove the wicked.  Thus Jesus will set up a righteous and true administration.  He will not judge the way that we judge.  On one hand is wants to give mercy and yet on the other he will execute justice.  Can you imagine what it would be like to take our problems, whether as individuals or as nations before one who is omniscient, and most wise?  First of all, he would see through much of the lies that we spread in order to make our case better.  And, second of all his judgments will actually set things right instead of only making them go underground so that they can come back again only worse.

Is Jesus Christ your king today?  He is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords.  Someday soon that will be revealed to the whole world.  Make sure that you are ready for that day by turning in faith to Jesus and allowing him to save you from the wrath that is to come.

Invitation To The Great Supper

The Great Supper audio

Ready For The Second Coming Of Jesus

Today we will be looking at Luke 12:35-48.

Leading up to this portion of Scripture, Jesus has been warning his disciples about the temptation to tie their hearts to the things of this world and miss out on the things of God.  In short they will not be ready for their personal judgment.  Here Jesus connects this to a time of Judgment that is still future; the [Second] Coming of the Son of Man.  As difficult as it was to accept, Jesus clearly taught in many places and times that he was going to leave his disciples behind and they would need to be faithful until he came back.  It was upon this coming back that he would judge the nations and give the authority of the nations unto his followers.  This idea of being ready for his coming is central to all that Jesus taught from the cross to his ascension.

Now it is easy for modern man and even modern theologians to state that Jesus and his disciples were just mistaken.  That is, Jesus taught and they thought that he was coming back in their life time.  First of all, let me point out that Jesus continually referred to a long delay that would tempt his followers to quit looking for his coming.  Also, second of all, if you had to put together important principles for people of the last 2,000 years, how would you go about it?  In other words, did the message, “Be ready for my coming,” have no meaning or affect upon previous generations?  It is clear from history that those believers who expected Christ to come back lived very different lives from those who created theological explanations as to why Jesus wasn’t literally coming back (i.e. they spiritualized the statement and treated it as a metaphor).  Even though we do not know the day nor hour of his coming, we are told even commanded to be ready.  So what does that look like?

Waiting Servants and The Lord’s Instructions

Jesus gives a parable (a true-to-life story that pictures spiritual truth) to help us understand what it means to be ready.  The parable is that of servants waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast.  Now Jesus told several such parables and the emphases and particulars often change.  In some places we are the virgins awaiting the bridegroom to take us to the feast.  In others we are invited to the wedding by the Father of the bride.  Here we are the servants waiting for the master to come back from “the wedding” (we are not told whose and it seems to be irrelevant for the point Jesus is making).  Each of these different parables have their spiritual significance.  In fact in Revelation 19 we are told that a wedding feast for Christ and his bride is thrown right before Christ comes back to judge the nations.  So what is expected of these servants in this parable and how does that relate to us?  Let’s look at the instructions of Jesus.

First, they are to have their waists girded or tied up (like a belt).  In the culture of that day long robe type clothing was what they wore.  If one had work to do they would pull up the robe and tie it around their waist so that it would not slow them down and get in the way.  Thus, this is about being ready to work.  If you showed up on a muddy construction site in dress shoes and slacks, everyone knows you are not going to be any help in the labor that needs done.  So believers today can ready themselves for Christ’s coming by “being dressed for work” and all hindrances tied up or put aside.  This idea of being ready for service for this parable is a present readiness for service at his coming.  Yet Jesus and his apostles also challenged believers to be ready to do the work of the Father for everyday.  Jesus told his parents, “didn’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?”  Also, in 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul tells the young minister Timothy, “Preach the Word!  Be ready in season and out of season….”  What does it mean to be ready in season and out of season?  It is a way of saying be always ready (in this case to proclaim the gospel and teachings of Christ).  Thus the believer has two layers of readiness.  We must tie up any activity of our life that might trip us up and hinder us from serving Christ; particularly sins of the flesh.  Instead of living life as “fully” as we can, the believer restrains themselves and looks to the Spirit of Christ for direction rather than to the Spirit of this Age of consumerism, materialism, and sensualism.  Are you ready for service every day?  Whether or not Jesus comes back today, it makes a huge difference in the life of a disciple if they are ready for service because the Holy Spirit will impact a lost world through such a person.

Next we are told to have our lights burning.  On one hand this part of the parable is about our ability to see.  Without light it is impossible to serve at night.  This is a dark world and yet, Christ has given us the light of Truth.  Like a light to a dark room, the Truth of Christ enables us to understand the “room” of this world and our life.  Yet, the light of God’s Word is not just to help us see so that we can choose what we want to do.  Rather, it helps us to see and it directs us in what we should be doing.  Thus the person who has their lights burning is a disciple that is living by God’s Truth and his instructions.  Now notice, a lamp can be lit or unlit.  God’s Word is light.  But if it is not believed and lived out by a person (the lamp) other humans will never see the light.  Thus a burning lamp requires being filled with oil (the Spirit of Christ), having our wicks trimmed (pruning off sin and its destructive effects), and the continual maintenance of that initial God-given spark of life.  Is your life readied for the return of your master?  Do you have your lamps burning or has the flame gone out?  Another parable (The 10 Virgins) warns us that if we don’t get our lamps working today, we will be caught unaware and unready.  We need to realize that our enemy the devil will seek to distract us from our proper service.  Once he has us distracted he will move quickly to extinguish our lamp.  We need to be the kind of waiting servants that are not just sleeping until the master returns.  Rather we are continually monitoring and preparing our life for his return.

This leads us to the third instruction: we are to be watching for his coming.  The life of a believer needs to be one of expecting the Lord to come at any moment.  This will affect our perspective and our attitude.  Some may be tempted to withdraw from society and retreat into a well-stocked bunker.  However, this would actually be disobedience to the directions of the Holy Spirit.  We are to be busy with His business today and ready for His business of tomorrow.  Those who truly expect the coming of Jesus will be more careful how they live.  But when we doubt his coming or think it will never “really” come (literally), we will tend to walk in the flesh, never really getting around to service and hindered on every hand in making any preparations.  Notice that the passage speaks of Jesus coming in the second or third watch.  The first watch is the easiest to remain vigilant.  It requires less effort to remain alert and often others are still awake.  Similarly, the last watch of the night (4^th watch) is easier as well.  You have gotten good sleep and are merely waking a bit early to be vigilant.  But the 2^nd and 3^rd watch are the hours that are late at night and early in the morning so from 9PM to 3AM.  The main point is that he will come at a time when it is not easy to stay vigilant.  In fact he says that his disciples would not think it would be the time.  “Surely, he won’t come now it’s after midnight.”  We are to be prepared especially in those times when we don’t think he would come.  Thus this is an always expecting him attitude.  This should not make us “no earthly good.” Rather, it should make us all the more busy about our Father’s work so that nothing will be undone when he comes.  The enemy seeks to steal the treasure of God’s truth that has been given too you.  If you do not watch, he will steal the very things that make for your faith.  Guard your heart.

Blessing for Faithful Servants; Punishment for the Unfaithful

Now Jesus speaks to the blessing that belongs to those who faithfully execute his will and heed his warnings.  Jesus says in verse 37 that when the master comes he will gird himself and serve his faithful servants.  There is a certain beauty to this promise.  We gird ourselves to serve him today and he promises to gird himself and serve us when he comes.  That doesn’t mean he hasn’t already served us and is not serving us today.  The very nature of our God is service.  Christ served us by laying his life down at the cross to pay the price for our sins.  Christ is serving us by giving the Holy Spirit to those who believe upon him and intercedes for us daily.  Christ, however, is going to serve believers in that day he returns.  He will put down the scoffers and mockers who have persecuted the faithful and he will give all authority into the hands of his saints.  You might notice that Jesus acted this out on the night of his betrayal.  He makes them to sit at a meal, picks up a towel and washes their feet.  Who are we that he would be mindful of us to serve us in such a way?  That is the eternal mystery.  The God of heaven rejects the proud and great of this world and stoops down to serve the outcasts and the off scouring of the earth.

In verse 41 Peter asks a question because he is confused that it would be possible for one of them to not be ready for their lord.  But instead of answering Peter Jesus plows on in pressing the point.  Jesus points out two adjectives that he is looking for in his disciples: Faithful and Wise.  In this case they really are facets of the same thing.  The wise servant is not one who has figured out many great ways to serve the master.  Rather, he is the one who is faithful to the instructions that the master gave.  The master will make such a servant ruler over all that he has.  This scope of authority and its future expansion is a clear indication that God has rewards and duties for us in the age to come.  If we are faithful with God’s things in this life then in the age to come he will give us things that will be ours to do with what we want.  Yes, the usurpers have taken over the earth and exercise the authority thereof, but Christ will come and remove them.  This will be a day in which his followers are given greater authority.  Thus the blessing is being served by Christ himself and being given greater authority.  Yet, now we turn to the unfaithful.

In verse 45-48 we see those who cease following the instructions because of the delay of Christ’s return.  We can see all around us the evidence for why Christ would warn about such things.  These unfaithful servants don’t quit.  Rather they begin to abuse the other servants and their place or position within the house of Christ.  Next to this is the temptation to eat and drink to drunkenness.  Thus the unfaithful servant uses the master’s things to satisfy the desires of their flesh (i.e. partying with the master’s supplies).  As drunkenness is to drink so gluttony is to food.  This person is no longer prepared for service, a lit lamp, and expectant of Christ’s return.  They have overturned such an agenda and live to please their own flesh.  Their heart is tied to the things of the world at the expense of the things of Christ.

Thus Jesus says that his coming will surprise them.  They will not only think he is coming but they will be “unaware.”  Awareness is crucial in everything that we do in life.  This person is dulled to the very things Christ wants them to be perceptive.  No matter how faithful we are, if we stop being faithful we are in jeopardy.  We don’t say a person ran a good race because they the first quarter of it well.  If they quit and walk off the track they did not run a good race.  I could prepare for and expect Christ’s coming for 50 years.  But if I give up and start living for my flesh, I then put myself in jeopardy.  The “party it up” life desensitizes us to the purposes and times of God.

Yet, being surprised is the easy aspect to this.  They will also be appropriately punished.  In fact the “cut him in two” is a clear statement of execution.  The unfaithful servant will be given the portion of the unbelievers (aka the enemies of the master).  Thus they are clearly eternally lost.  Now, I need to bring this to a close.  It is clear that Jesus points out the perfect judgment that will be exercised.  Those who know better what they should be doing will be held more accountable and receive a worse punishment.  God is a perfect judge and that can give us relief on one hand and cause for concern on the other.  Do I want to be an unfaithful servant who is punished or a faithful servant who is blessed?  Faithfulness to these commands is what will make the difference.  Maranatha!

Be Ready Audio

The Coming Blood Moons II

Today we will finish up this two part series on the blood moons and look at exactly what should we do with this information.   So first let’s just review what is being said.

Bible prophecy refers to the fact that God will use the sun and the moon to signal people on the earth that He is getting ready to bring judgment.  In these descriptions we see evidence that eclipses and or atmospheric disturbances will cause the sun to be dark and the moon to appear blood red.

In looking at the scientific data of when eclipses have happened in the past and will happen in the future, a pattern has emerged.  It is rare for four total lunar eclipses, called tetrads, to happen in a row (54 times in 2,000 years or less than 3 times per century).  But it is even rarer for these “tetrads” to land on the biblical feast days (7 times in 2,000 years or 1 every 300 years).  The last two tetrads that landed on biblical feast days happened within 19 years of each other in 1949 and 1967.  Both these dates happen to be significant events in the life of modern Israel and the next one will begin in April 2014.  Is something significant on the horizon?  Is God signaling believers that He is about to make a change in the status quo?  It sure seems that way.  On top of all this is the fact that there will be a solar eclipse as the religious New Year begins.  Here are the dates:

2014 Apr 14  Passover—Total Lunar Eclipse

2014 Oct 08  Tabernacles—Total Lunar Eclipse

2015 Mar 20  Religious New Year—Solar Eclipse

2015 Apr 04  Passover—Total Lunar Eclipse

2015 Sep 28  Tabernacles—Total Lunar Eclipse

Times of the Gentiles

In Luke 21:24-28, Jesus warned His disciples to be alert and recognize the prophetic times.  He also gives a rough outline of the events leading up to His second coming.  They are: Israel defeated and led captive into all the nations, The Times of the Gentiles, Signs in the heavens and on the earth, The Second coming.  Now it is a no brainer that the first two have happened.  Israel was destroyed along with the temple of the Lord.  They were scattered to the nations as God’s grace turned towards the Gentiles.  This times of the Gentiles will continue until it is fulfilled.   Thus as the times of the Gentiles come to a close, God gives signals in the heavens and on the earth that He is getting ready to come back.  So how will we know when the Times of the Gentiles is over?

In Romans 11:11-12, 25-28 we are told that during this time of the Gentiles Israel as a whole would be blind to salvation and the true messiah.  However, when the full number of Gentiles has been brought in then God will turn back to Israel and draw them to a salvation experience.  Thus, as the times of the Gentiles draws to a close, so the time of Israel’s national salvation is drawing near.  God’s turning back to Israel is not a rejection of the church.  Rather, it is an emphatic exclamation point on God’s heart for the lost.  Israel rejects the messiah and God’s riches are given to the Gentiles.  But even more riches will be given to the Gentiles through the drawing of Israel back to God.  Israel’s salvation will be proof that what God did in sending His Gospels to the Gentiles was indeed righteous.  So a dark time of tribulation detailed in the book of Revelation will come upon the unbelieving world and in this dark time Israel will come to see its sin and turn in repentance to Jesus.  This is spoken of in Zechariah 12:10.  Here the prophet says that Israel will look upon the one whom they pierced and a spirit of grace and repentance will be poured out upon them.  They will mourn  over what they did to Jesus Christ the Firstborn of the Sons of God.

Now in Luke 21:36 Jesus told His disciples to watch and pray that they would be counted worthy to escape this time of Great Tribulation.  The key is not to be so fascinated with blood moons, the nation of Israel, or weather anomalies that we lose sight of the other things we should be doing.  We should be praying for ourselves, for each other as believers, and for the salvation of the lost around us.  We should also be an active witness of the salvation of Jesus to those who are lost.  The blood moons should only add another signal to us from our Lord to be even more confident in our prayers and in our witness.  It should cause us to separate ourselves even more from the temptations and seductions of this age.

So let me encourage you, these dates are not important in and of themselves.  Historically it has been either before, in the middle or after the tetrads that something has happened.  These are not predictions of the rapture or the second coming.  They are simply signals from our Lord to not be asleep spiritually and to be about His business.

Yet, just as the spring Feasts of the Lord prophetically pointed to the first Coming of Christ, so the Fall feasts prophetically point to His second.  The first coming events happened on the very feast days: Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain on Passover.  He was then buried and became our heavenly bread on Unleaved Bread.  He was resurrected along with a select group of saints on the feast of Firstfruits.  And, He poured out the Holy Spirit to enable a global harvest on the feast of Pentecost or Weeks.  Now Christians have debated for years whether the Rapture is actually going to happen on one of these Fall feasts.  I am of the opinion that our Lord wanted us to understand the times without being focused on figuring out what day He will come.  Thus I encourage you, keep your eye on Jesus and the duties that He has given you.  Keep sowing the seed, watering it, and harvesting as the Lord provides.  When it is time to go He will let you know.  Maranatha!

Blood Moons II Audio