Feeling Like You Are In Exile?

This is the edited version of my pre-recorded sermon for August 23. You can listen to the message on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6zA3Lq7WvwA 

As the days grow increasingly confused and dangerous, I am increasingly concerned that we know in whom we have believed, and that we are convinced that Jesus Christ is not only returning for His Bride, but that He truly is Lord, King, and Master of all Creation and all circumstances.

This knowledge must become in our hearts more than academic or philosophical. It must be visceral, a confidence that is birthed once again in our innermost spirit.

So, turning now to the first verses of chapter one: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

John penned this prophetic unveiling while he was exiled to a small island because the governing powers got tired of hearing his message of Jesus Christ. But oh, what God did with John when he was in exile! Do you realize we would not likely have this wonderful and encouraging message from Jesus Christ if John had NOT been exiled?

In fact, we could say the same thing of the book of Ezekiel. He too was in exile when God gave him his visions recorded for us in his Old Testament book. We could also say the same thing of Daniel who was in exile when God gave him the visions now recorded for us in his book.

Do you feel as if you are living in exile? Many of you are separated from your families. You are separated from your church. To degrees you are separated from your friends and neighbors here. You are exiled to this building and you can’t even go shopping like you used to be able.

Do not fear. God is still able to speak TO you and THROUGH you in this our common exile.

Let’s go back to the first few verses again: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John . . .”

When we speak of God and His timing – the word ‘soon’ does not often mean what I think of as ‘soon.’ For me, soon means this week, or certainly before the next thirty days have gone by. But for God – well, soon could be tonight, or it could be – as is obviously the case with Revelation, ‘soon’ could be 2000 years later.

And for us to think the Lord’s return is so soon that it might be tonight, we are in good company. The first apostles were absolutely convinced the Lord Jesus would return in their lifetime. It was not until decades later that realized their calendar was not the same as that of the Lord Jesus.

Which brings us to the first principle point of this message today: STAY ON THE ALERT. Listen to the warning the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples (Matthew 24:42ff): “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will."

In my sermon a few weeks ago, I acknowledged how difficult it is to stay very long on our tiptoes in anticipation for the Lord’s return. But do not forget this: Although Jesus might not return to earth for another thousand years – He could call any of us home TONIGHT. And thus, the imperative to live properly each day.

Are you ready? And how do you KNOW that you are ready? I hope your answer is NOT based on the church you attend, or because you sang in the church choir or taught Bible lessons to children. Instead, I hope you are sure of your salvation only because of your faith in what God Himself has promised to all who put their trust in Jesus as the sacrifice for their own sins – and you are living in obedience to the best of your ability to the revealed will of God.

There is a reason the Lord Jesus chose to say within the first three verses of this book of promise and of warning: Blessed is he who . . . heed[s] the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Holiness. Righteousness. Sanctification. Perseverance. And God’s Judgment. Fierce, and unending judgment for those who willfully reject the mercy and forgiveness of God to their dying breath. Those are the themes which run like a crimson thread throughout the 22 chapters of this book.

So John continues in verse four, and brings us to my next point: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood . . . .”

The first point of my message is: Be on the alert. My second point: Be cleansed. Here is what he writes in verse five: To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood.

To help us make personal application of the magnitude of what Jesus did for us, I remind you of a story Jesus tells in Luke 7:36-47:

“Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

“And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Most of us have no clue how dark and rancid and gangrenous our sins are – those of our past and those of our present. We sin so easily, so casually, so often without hardly a thought about the depth and breadth of our sins that are an absolute stench in God’s nostrils. They’re only venial sins, as some call them; Little sins that hardly make their way to our conscious thought. A word of gossip. A lie. A harsh word. A selfish act. An improper fantasy. Joking that borders on being vulgar.

If a person lives his or her life with merely an intellectual understanding that he or she is a sinner, that person will NEVER be able to grow as deeply in love with Jesus as He would like all of us to grow.

He who is forgiven much, loves much. He who is forgiven little, loves little. Why? Because he has little reason to rejoice in God’s unfathomable mercy and grace.

Back now to the text. John continues: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

Here John is quoting or alluding to the Old Testament prophecies of the second coming of the Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son.” And then Daniel 7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming . . .”

Isn't that a wonderful image? Jesus, coming with the clouds of heaven. And when He comes, every eye will see Him. Remember what the angels said to the apostles as they watched Jesus ascend to heaven? You find in in Acts 1, beginning with verse nine:

[Jesus] was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

I love what John wrote in his first epistle about the Lord’s second coming: “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” (1 John 2:28)

The only reason I can glean from Scripture that would explain why we would shrink from Jesus at His coming would be that we would be consciously living in sin. If we don’t want to shrink away from Him when He returns, then seek from the Holy Spirit the grace and mercy to live a holy life.

As I bring this to a close, John records God the Father saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Which brings me to my third and final point of today’s message. Be Alert. Be cleansed. And be trusting.

God knows the end of the story, the end of history as we know it. There will be no surprises for God at any point in the timeline between today and the day He does away with this present earth and ushers in a new heaven and earth.

And so, He asks me again – Richard, do you trust Me? Will you trust me to lead you every day and into and through every circumstance and situation of your life? Even will you trust Me in your COVID exile?

That’s an important question He asks me. And He asks YOU the same question.

I will not be like Peter and promise I will always and completely trust Him at every twist and turn of my life. I certainly WANT to trust Him that way – but I know the weakness of my flesh all too well. But I can pray that the Holy Spirit mature my faith to that level where I DO trust Him at every twist and turn of my life from now on.

And I am certain that you who want that kind of faith and trust as well for yourself. Won’t you then also ask the Holy Spirit to mature your faith to that level as well.

We continue our series in Revelation next time.