Quick Note – Revelation 2:5 – Remember Your Past

Revelation 2:4-5 – ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation were seven letters that John was told by Jesus Christ to write to the seven early churches. Each letter was a short note where Christ was reprimanding, reproving, and/or encouraging the church. Each church had a problem(s) that they were struggling with; it could be persecution from enemies, a loss of passion and love for Christ, or false teaching. Whatever the case was, they needed to hear from Jesus, to repent of whatever wrong they had committed, and to renew their relationship and passion for Him.

The first church that was addressed was the church in Ephesus, which had a lot of good things going for it. The Christians there served God through good works, endured persecution and trouble patiently, and even hated false teaching. In anybody’s eyes, the church was doing well. However, one thing that Jesus saw was a problem with the church was that they had lost the love they had for Him at first. They were good at doing the works. They were good at following the rules. However, the passion and love that they had for Christ when they first received Him as Lord and Savior was gone. They were going through the motions well, but the heart was no longer fully there. This is why Jesus told them in vs. 5, remember from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. He wanted them to remember how much they loved Him when they first believed and to return to that love once again.

It can be very easy for those of us who have been Christians for a long time to forget how much we loved Jesus when we first believed. We had the courage to share the Gospel with everyone we knew. We had the passion to read His Word and to spend time with Him in prayer. We had the love for Him and for other disciples of Christ. We longed to be with Him. However, as the years went by, our hearts grew colder. We continued to do the works and to serve Him at church, but our love had waned. We began to go through the motions. So this reprimand is also directed towards us. Remember from where you have fallen. Remember how much you loved Him before. Go back. Repent. Return to His love for you and your love for Him. Renew your passion for Christ today.

Quick Note – Esther 9:1 – God Will Win

Esther 9:1 – Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.

Because Haman the Agagite was angry that Mordecai the Jew did not bow down to him and give him honor, he sought to destroy all the Jewish people.  He then went to the Persian King Ahasuerus and convinced him to allow a law to be written that would give everyone throughout the Persian Empire the opportunity to kill, destroy, and annihilate the Jews on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar (Esther 3).  It was on that day Haman thought he would get his revenge.  However, through God’s grace and the courage of Esther, who pleaded for her people to the king, a new law was instated that allowed the Jewish people to defend themselves from any attack on that day (Esther 8).  So on the day when the Jewish people were supposed to be defeated by their enemies, they conquered them instead.  It was victory snatched from the clutches of defeat. 

This story reminds me of another time in the Bible where victory was found in the depths of despair.  When Jesus was nailed to the cross and killed, the Devil thought that he had won.  He thought that he had defeated God, that salvation for mankind was done for, and that there was no longer any hope.  However, three days after His death, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that He is God and has victory and power over sin and death.  He nailed sin to the cross, paid for our punishment, and gave us eternal life with him.  He even restored the relationship with God that was broken by sin, so that we could now be in good terms with God.  Sin did not win; God did. 

This should bring encouragement to us as Christians, who are currently living in a world where it appears like wickedness is winning.  Satan seems to have his clutches on everything.  What is right is now considered wrong and what is wrong right.  Things that were inappropriate in the past are now widely accepted.  Christians are being treated like they should hide their faith lest they be persecuted.  But amid all this trouble, we can be sure that God will have the victory in the end.  The book of Revelation makes it clear that in the last times, wickedness and sin will look like they are prevailing, but our Lord God will have the victory.  So let us not fall into despair, but let us take joy that in the right time, God will win. 

What Will You be Resurrected To?

Daniel 12:1-3 – “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.  And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.  But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” 

In 2009, a movie called 2012 starring John Cusak was released depicting a world that was falling apart due to environmental disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis caused by shifting magnetic fields in the earth’s core.  This movie made quite a bit at the box office feeding off of our desire to watch disaster films with their realistic effects without having to worry about it ever touching us.  The inspiration of this movie likely came from the theory that the world is supposed to end on December 21, 2012, because the Mayan calendar all of a sudden stops on that date.  Some people believe that the Mayans were trying to prophesy the end of the world.  Do I personally believe in this conspiracy theory?  Nope, because I know that nobody knows the day of Christ’s return, so how could they possibly ever make a prediction like that?  But could they be right?  Maybe.  We’ll just have to wait till the 21^st to see won’t we?  Even if the world doesn’t end on that date, many people have been making these types of predictions for centuries.  For example, in the 1800s, a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller predicted that Christ would return before 1843, creating a national movement that resulted in what is known as the Great Disappointment.  Even just a year ago, a pastor at a church here in California made that prediction causing many of the members in his congregation to go into financial difficulty; in the end, he had to come out and apologize, remembering that Christ said that no one knows the date of His return.  The truth is that when Christ returns and the world will end is irrelevant.  What really matters is whether you are ready for Christ’s return.

In Matthew 24, Jesus describes what the world will look like before He returns – “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”  Many Christians today say that this describes the day and age we live in today meaning that we are nearing His return every day.  I definitely would agree, but I would be careful to remind them that this has been what the world has looked like from Jesus’ time until now.  Christ gave His disciples this description to remind them that they needed to be ready at any time for His return, because He could come at any time.

Our passage today comes from Daniel 12:1-3, which follows up Daniel’s prophecies about the end times in the preceding chapters.  In these verses, we are reminded that in the end, there will be a time of judgment in which all people will appear before the throne of God to be judged, both the living and the dead – “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”  Nobody escapes.  Revelation 20:11-15 describes it in more detail – “¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Everyone will eventually die until the time of Christ’s return, so the question that is presented to you today is “Which group from Daniel 12 will you appear in before the judgment seat of God – the group that is awoken to everlasting life or the group that is awoken to shame and everlasting contempt?”  Is your name found in the book of life or are you going to be thrown into the lake of fire?”

The first group that Daniel presents is the one that is woken up to everlasting life.  This group represents all the people that have placed their trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  These are the people who are experiencing the joys of Christ on this earth already and will be experiencing endless joys when Christ returns with His new heaven and earth, where there will be no more tears, pain, or sorrow.  They will be able to walk the streets of gold, pass through the pearly gates, taste the fruits from the tree of life, and refresh themselves with the river of the water of life (Rev 21-22).  These are the people, whose names are found in the book of life, who will spend eternity worshipping the Lord their God.  For those who have experienced this new life, I need not go into detail any further about the joys already being found here and awaiting them in the future, so instead our focus should be placed on the subgroups in this category:  those who are wise, those who turn many to righteousness, and those who are rescued but do nothing.

Although all people who have placed their faith in Christ will be part of this group that receives everlasting life, Daniel goes further in vs. 3 to describe the glory and honor given to those in this group who go further to become wiser and turn others to righteousness – “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  The first subgroup is those who are wise.  Wisdom is not only knowing what is good and right but also applying that knowledge practically.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so those who desire to be wise must begin at that point.  Are you as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ living in a way and manner that fears the Lord, that respects Him?  Are you living in a manner where you are keeping His commandments and following His way?  Just skim through the book of Proverbs, a book filled with wisdom written by the man who is the wisest person that ever lived, and you will find countless of things to put on your New Year’s checklist to apply to your life to become wise.  I truly recommend that if you want to be a part of this group that will “shine like the brightness of the sky above” you should invest some time in God’s Word, seeking His will, and doing it, for it is through obedience that knowledge that you gained from reading becomes wisdom.  The second subgroup that is spoken of is those who turn others to righteousness.  This is a grand and huge calling that we are once again reminded of in Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”  This group that turns others to righteousness does not just represent those people who are passively trying to enforce good and evil on the world through knowledge of the Bible, but it represents a group of people that are persistently going out and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for no one can be found as righteous before God.  Psalm 143:2 states that “no one living is righteous before you [God].”  That means that nobody on this earth no matter how good they are can be considered righteous before God, for all have sinned.  The only way that anybody can be found righteous before Him is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which only comes when one receives Christ as his Lord and Savior.  We as Christians who desire to become part of this subgroup that will be like “the stars forever and ever,” like the stories forever remembered in the constellations that we see above, must go out and share the Gospel.  We must drive people to not only live righteously but become righteous by bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We need to bring them to the cross where Christ died for our sins.  We need to bring them to the empty tomb, where Christ rose again, proving that we all will have this new resurrection and that we all already have this new life in Christ, one where we are found righteous before God.  Then, we must disciple them to become part of this subgroup as well.  The third and last subgroup is one that is not spoken of by Daniel, which I call the silent majority, which is where I feel a lot of Christians are today.  We are a passive group that have been saved by Christ but are not living it out in our lives.  We preach and teach that Jesus Christ transforms lives, yet we continue to live in our sin.  We are saved from the depths of hell and the lake of fire, but we continue to live enslaved to sin.  This subgroup I feel fails to realize what Christ has truly saved them from.  They recognize that when Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins and saved us, but they forget what from.  Christ did not come to save us from hell.  He did not come to save us from our problems.  He came to save us from sin – from sin’s dominion over our lives, which means that foremost He saved us from sin’s enslavement as well as its penalty.  This subgroup needs to wake up and realize that if it continues to live this way, it is doing nothing but discouraging others from turning to Christ driving others into the next group mentioned by Daniel.

The second group mentioned by Daniel, whom I hope nobody will be in by the end of today, is those who will be raised up to shame and everlasting contempt.  This group is represented by those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s book of life; instead, when Christ returns, and they are brought before the judgment seat, they will only experience shame for they will realize that they had missed their chance, they had missed their opportunity to be saved by His blood, they had missed their chance to experience everlasting life and will be bound to everlasting contempt and mourning in the lake of fire.  I cannot describe the horrors of hell, for I know not what it is like, but I will try to give you a picture.  This lake of fire is a place in which you will hear the screams and agony of countless people worse than the sound of nails on a chalkboard.  It is a place where you will feel like you have burned your pinky on the hot oven over and over throughout your whole body.  It is a place where you will feel eternal separation and loneliness like the time when you fought with your very best friend or lost a loved one.  Here you will continue to live with the regret and guilt knowing that you gave up the free gift that was given to you to escape all of this trouble in the first place, the gift given to you this Christmas.  I wish that I will not see any of you in this group, when Christ returns.

But for those that are still in this group today, you need not be in it for long, for this is the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.  All of us were in this group before, we all deserved to be brought back on the day of judgment to shame and everlasting contempt, but due to God’s wonderful love, grace, and mercy, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  During this season, two thousand years ago, Christ willingly came down from His glory in heaven to be born of a virgin who could not even afford a room in the inn.  The King of kings who deserves all glory and power and honor was instead given swaddling clothes (clothes used to clean animals) as his birth clothes and a manger as His crib.  In that manger, He humbly sacrificed His glory for us.  But we must not stop there and only look at the miracle and graciousness in His birth, but we must remember that from that point forward, He worked His way to what He ultimately came to do, to die on the cross for our sins – to experience the shame and contempt we deserve to feel at the end of time.  On that cross, He willingly sacrificed His life for us.  But the story did not end on that sad note, but He went further and resurrected showing us that for those who will put their trust in Him, death no longer had power over them.  In that garden, He triumphantly brought victory and life to us.  Christ did all of that for us so that when all mankind is brought before His throne on the day of judgment, He would find us in the group that is woken up to everlasting life.  God does not want any of us to perish but for all of us to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9 states it best, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  He has been waiting for you.  He holds up His return for you.  Will you not give your life to Him?

Consider which group you are in today and before this day ends, for those in the latter group, give your life to Him.  For those who were in the former group that will already be waking up to everlasting life, be determined to be found in the subgroups of the wise and those who turn others to righteousness, for how can you live any other type of life if you just consider how much Christ gave to you this Christmas season?  And how can you do anything else but give yourself fully to Christ and to others just as He did this Christmas?