Hang in. One minute. I have to move; I’ve got that light coming in.
Well, brothers and sisters, be warned: anytime my brother shares on three chapters of Revelation in one sitting, you know you’re in for it. So, I’m glad that we’re just having coffee and donuts afterwards. You won’t be so anxious to eat.
Let’s have a word of prayer as we begin.
Lord, we are grateful to Thee that You have shared with us the living Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, and that You’ve given us this written word, that You make living to us in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Lord, we would just ask today that You would anoint. Lord, we have come to realize that we do not have the mental capacity to see and understand. Lord, it takes that anointing of the Holy Spirit both to speak and to hear.
And, Lord, we ask for Your Holy Spirit to be active in our midst this morning, Lord, that we may see—that indeed we might get a glimpse of our Lord Jesus this morning, and His eternal purpose. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Well, I’ve been sharing on the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus gives to the apostle John a revelation of Himself. The Lord is the One who was, who is, and who is to come.
The Lord begins to share with John as He opens up more of a revelation of who He is. What is the mystery of the ages to come? And today we’re going to look into that.
Now, as our brother John began hearing from the Lord, he had known the Lord Jesus as his Savior, as his friend, as his companion. Here, in this opening salvo in Revelation 1, he sees the Lord for the first time as the risen King of kings.
The Lord reveals to him, “John, you need to see something”—something that we all need to see: this risen Lord Jesus Christ. Not the One that just went to the cross on our behalf, but the risen King, the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
Brothers and sisters, it tells us that we need more than just a Savior. We need a King. We need Him as King.
Then we see that this King is walking among the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. He’s walking. He’s concerned about His church. His church is really His companion. We need to see that.
And He’s very concerned about His companion, that she come up and fulfill her ministry and be able to walk with Him through the mystery of the ages to come.
Then our Lord takes John up from the earth, and He shows him the throne. It’s very important that, brothers and sisters, we have these first revelations personally in our life. Unless you see what’s at the beginning in these first five chapters, the remaining things that we see in the book of Revelation are just events—future events.
We don’t really see the Lord in them. We don’t see His purpose in them if we don’t really get a glimpse of this King upon the throne.
Well, He takes John, and he sees the throne. John sees that the throne is in control. The throne controls everything. Regardless of what John will see in the future that the Lord shows him, he knows from the beginning that the Lord is in control.
Today, brothers and sisters, as darkness begins to envelop this world—the whole world in this darkness—we need to see that the throne is in control.
Then, brothers and sisters, this glorious sight that John sees in Revelation 5 is the Lamb upon the throne. This One who was John’s Savior, who was John’s companion, the closest One to John—he sees that He is the Lamb upon the throne.
The Lamb did die. The Lamb was crucified on our behalf. But now it is the Lamb who is sitting upon the throne, and all things are under His control.
We see something that God wants us to see: the Lamb has the deed book of the world in His hands. All that God has created, all that God has done, this deed book is in the hands of the Lamb. He is the One who will bring everything back under the authority of God.
He has this book, and it is sealed up. But God wants us to see the seals opened. We see these seals beginning to be opened in Revelation 5.
We have the first four seals—well, I mean, they are opened in Revelation 6. I got it wrong.
In Revelation 5, we see Him beginning to open the seven seals. In Revelation 6, we see the first four seals: the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
We see the deceptive one, the deceiver. We see that there will be persecution. There will be famine. There will be pestilence, wars, and rumors of wars on this earth.
Brothers and sisters, we’ve been experiencing these for over two thousand years now, ever since the early church. The seals are beginning to be opened to bring about the consummation of the age.
Then, in the fifth seal, we see the martyrs. It says that the church is built on the blood of the martyrs. Brothers and sisters, these are ones who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all of their mind, heart, and soul.
They have given their very lives for the testimony of Jesus, and we shared on those martyrs. Brothers and sisters, there will be more martyrs ahead. In fact, in the book of Revelation, it says many will be beheaded for the sake of Jesus Christ in the upcoming end of this age.
Then, in Revelation 7, we get to the sixth seal. We saw 144,000 Jews being set aside by God. These are not Christian Jews. These are Jews—real ones—who dedicate their life and heart to God.
He is preparing them for the great tribulation that lies ahead. We also see the overcomers in Revelation 7.
Now, when we get to Revelation 8—I hope you have read these chapters—we see that the last seal is being opened: the seventh seal. At the beginning, we see that these overcomers that we saw before are praying.
Then the seven trumpets begin to sound. In Revelation 8 and 9, we see great catastrophic events occurring.
In Revelation 10, we see a strong angel coming in the cloud. This strong angel, as you read it—with the rainbow on His head and His legs and feet as pillars of fire—we know that this strong angel is the Lord Jesus Christ coming to carry out the work of God.
He is in the clouds, but He puts His feet, one on the sea and the other upon the earth, laying claim to it. He is now going to possess it.
And soon He will break the cloud and come as lightning, and then the mystery will be completed.
In Revelation 11, we see the completion of John’s first revelation. John was given this revelation, and we see the completion of it actually in Revelation 11.
When you come to Revelation 11, it says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. He takes us right to the end, right to His eternal purpose in Revelation 11.
But we know, as we’ll read shortly, that John was given a second revelation. We see these revelations in Revelation 12 through 22—the second revelation.
What we will find out is that there are more details to what is happening, because in Revelation 11 we are really taken right to the end, when the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
So now let us look at some Scriptures.
Let’s first turn to Ephesians 1:10.
In the dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in Him.
In the fullness of times, it is God’s intention that all things be summed up in Jesus Christ. That is what we see in Revelation 11:15: the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
Now let’s look at Colossians 1:18.
And He is the head of the body, the church:
Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
That in all things He might have the preeminence.
That in all things He might have preeminence.
Hebrews 1:2.
Hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son,
Whom He appointed heir of all things.
Christ is to be heir of all things. All things are to be summed up in Christ, brothers and sisters. He is heir of all things, and He is preeminent in all things. We see this fulfilled in Revelation 11:15.
Now, for the sake of those who probably didn’t get to read those three chapters, we’re going to have to read some Scriptures. So now let’s go to Revelation 8, and I’ll try to tie all this together.
And when He opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth: and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
And I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.
Trumpets five, six, and seven are woes.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God.
By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths.
For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt.
And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk:
And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
They repented not.
And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire;
And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left upon the earth.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets.
And He saith unto me, Thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
And I will give unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
The two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, will be on this earth for three and a half years.
And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever.
That’s quite a bit. I’m already exhausted.
Anyway, I do hope that the Lord will really show us Himself in what He is after this morning.
In Revelation 8, we have come to the seventh seal. It is the last seal to be opened, and that seal contains seven trumpets that have to blow. These seven trumpets are announcements.
At the sounding of the last trump, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. It is finished. God has done His work: God’s eternal purpose.
Now, there are more details given in Revelation 12 through 22, but essentially we have gotten to the end, because He is now King of kings and Lord of lords and will reign forever. Brothers and sisters, this is God’s eternal purpose.
This is what God is after for His Son.
The first four trumpets bring this about:
That is the first four trumpets.
The fifth trumpet is the beginning of three woes: the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets.
This call was for a purpose. In the fifth trumpet, a star falls from the heavens—not the heaven of heavens, but the heavens around this earth. A star falls and is cast to the earth. He goes to the pit, the bottomless pit, and releases demons.
This is Satan. In the fifth trumpet of the seventh seal, Satan is released upon this earth. There is great tribulation.
In fact, there is a seven-year tribulation period, but the last three and a half years are called the great tribulation. This is the beginning of those last three and a half years. It is when Satan is cast out of the heavens around this earth to this earth. He is actually on it.
He joins his power to—or takes control directly of—the antichrist and the beast that are here already.
The seventh trumpet mentions in Revelation 11:18, “And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come.”
“And the time of the dead, that they should be judged.” That speaks of the great white throne judgment. So it takes us right to the end: the seventh trumpet.
Now, what are these trumpets announcing?
They’re not announcing the gospel—other than if you consider the judgment of God a part of His gospel, which I do. I’ll tell you why later.
He is announcing the judgment of God. Not the glad tidings, but the judgment of God.
Hebrews 10:31 says:
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Brothers and sisters, you can be very, very thankful today that you have been redeemed through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
It is a fearful thing, it says. I don’t think the world realizes that. The world thinks they’re in control. The world thinks they are God. But it says it will be a fearful thing to fall into His hands.
We see His judgment falling upon this earth in those first four seals, and then the fifth one.
Judgment is necessary in God’s plan. Judgment is God’s last resource to obtain His eternal purpose, to accomplish His will.
Judgment brings everything to a conclusion. After judgment, there is no more.
Judgment separates the good from the evil. Judgment destroys all opposition to God. Judgment is the execution of the wrath of God.
Judgment is the last call to repentance. When you begin to see the judgment of God, it is the last call to repentance.
Now, brothers and sisters, I have to say, this is just my personal thought here: I believe that we have come to that point in history in the United States of America, which was, I believe, raised up to be a testimony to God on this earth.
It has failed in its testimony. In recent years, I cannot help but feel that we have seen the hand of God being lifted back because we’re forcing God out of this nation.
He is a most gentle Person, frankly, and He will not abide where He is not wanted. I believe that His hand is being lifted, and judgment begins.
Brothers and sisters, I believe what we see going on in America today—in the economy, in the weather, and in the political situation—is God’s last call for this nation to repent. I do believe that. But that is God’s mercy.
Brothers and sisters, what love and grace do not achieve, judgment will. What is not achieved under His love and grace that He pours out—if it is not responded to—judgment will finally achieve His will.
Darby, in John 3:36:
He that believes on the Son has life eternal;
He that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
The wrath of God abides on him. Let me read that again:
He that believes on the Son has life eternal;
But he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
If you read that Scripture in the King James, it uses the word “believe.” It says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.”
Darby’s translation is critical, I think, to really see, because it is a correct interpretation of the Greek. That second “believes not,” Darby interprets as “is not subject to the Son.”
In other words, we’re not called to believe in an object. We’re not called to believe in Jesus Christ as we might believe in Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or some other person in history. That’s not the belief.
This is a belief where you meet the Person and you say, “Lord.” You subject yourself to that Person. You are subject to that Person.
That is what believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is. It doesn’t mean, “Yes, I believe that Jesus was here. Yeah, I believe He was a Savior.” Is He your Savior?
If you have had that encounter with Him where your life is subject to Him—if your life is not subject to Him—I would have to say, I would be very concerned about my relationship to God and His Son.
But the real point I’m trying to make is that for the unbeliever, the wrath of God abides on him.
Now, brothers and sisters, all mankind is born under the wrath of God. Why? Because there is a flaw in man. He has failed. He failed in obedience through Adam, and all of his descendants, which includes us, inherited that sinful nature unacceptable to God.
It says His wrath is upon us, but why hasn’t He executed His wrath on us? He, right from the beginning, could have done away with Adam and Eve, and so that’s the end.
It’s because of His great love for mankind.
Brothers and sisters, John 3:16 says:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
That whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
It is God’s love why He has not yet executed His wrath. It is His last resource.
Brothers and sisters, when Christ went to the cross as your substitute and my substitute, He went there as a sinner. In fact, it says He became sin on the cross. God’s wrath fell upon His Son in full measure.
All of His wrath fell upon His Son in full measure on your behalf and on my behalf. That is the seriousness of the cross of Calvary. That is what we have been delivered from: the wrath of God.
Brothers and sisters, we are now His sons. His wrath no longer abides on us because we repented, because we came to Him and believed on Him and are subject to Him. We are no longer under the wrath of God.
Why hasn’t God executed His wrath on mankind? Because He is longsuffering. He wants all men to repent. He wants all men to be subject to His Son.
Brothers and sisters, it is so sad. As we read these chapters, it says they refuse to repent. They refuse to repent.
They refuse God’s love and grace and mercy. Why? Because they do not want to be subject to Christ. Men do not want to be subject to anything or anyone.
They will resist that to their own jeopardy.
Look at Revelation 9:20. I read it before, but I want to read it again, perhaps.
And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood.
Go to the next verse:
And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Brothers and sisters, these men understood from these judgments that it was God, but they would not repent. I’ll tell you, the reason is because they did not want to be subject to God and His Christ—His Son.
Brothers and sisters, the root of that is the nature of man. God’s wrath will fall upon that: all who are not subject to His Son, all who refuse to repent.
Now, I said that what love and grace do not achieve, judgment will. That’s true, but in a sense, not entirely accurate.
The Word is very clear: God’s love does not fail, does it? Yet we see many who do not respond to God’s love and mercy. They won’t repent. Has God’s love failed? No.
What has failed is man’s response. That’s who fails.
Brothers and sisters, actually judgment, I feel like, is a part of God’s love. It is His last call to repentance.
I know in our lives personally, sometimes God has to get very strong with us. I call it when He decides finally just to hit us upside the head with a two-by-four. He does that sometimes.
I really think that is God’s love. It is His call to repentance, to be subject to Him.
God is longsuffering, brothers and sisters. As I’ve already read, they refuse to repent.
It is interesting—Revelation 11:3:
And I will give unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Even during the great tribulation, God will send two powerful witnesses, Moses and Elijah. They will be there mainly to strengthen the Jews that are upon this earth and prepare them for Christ.
But all will hear them. All will see their acts.
In the end, it says, when they finish their testimony, God allows Satan to overcome them, and they lie in the street for three days.
It says in Revelation 11:10:
And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and make merry; and they shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.
Brothers and sisters, the prophets were not tormenting them. They were trying to bring men to repentance, trying to strengthen the Jews.
Men do not want to be subject. They do not want to repent. They actually rejoice in the deaths of these two witnesses before God, but they refuse to repent.
Brothers and sisters, God waits and waits and waits and waits, desiring that men might repent.
In judgment, God will finally realize His eternal purpose.
God’s eternal purpose is what is on God’s heart concerning His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians, which we have been reading, we know it is His eternal purpose. “Eternal” speaks more than just time. It speaks of character and nature. It is the very nature of God.
This is His eternal purpose. It is a purpose purposed out of God, not out of man. It is His eternal purpose. All of God’s actions, all of His desires, are toward this eternal purpose being accomplished.
That is why you and I were created, brothers and sisters. That is why you were born: toward God’s eternal purpose.
Today, a lot of young people, I don’t think, realize or understand why they were born. They were not born just to live for themselves. They were born to be a part of God’s eternal purpose.
Brothers and sisters, there is no greater purpose on this earth. That is why you were created. That is why God redeemed you. That is why He has given you a spiritual birth. That is why you have the Holy Spirit within to encourage and strengthen you.
Brothers and sisters, that is why you are a member of the body of Jesus Christ. That is why, brothers and sisters, you are here: God’s great eternal purpose.
Even God’s judgments are toward His eternal purpose. That is why, brothers and sisters, our life is not centered in ourselves or in man. Our life is centered in God and His eternal purpose.
We often have our own purposes, and we find that they are counter to God’s purpose. Brothers and sisters, it is a time to repent and come in line with God’s purpose.
Now, what is this eternal purpose? Ephesians 3:11.
According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I want you to see it right in the Word. There is an eternal purpose. Everything is being done by God in accordance with His eternal purpose, which He has purposed in Jesus Christ.
God’s eternal purpose is centered in His Son. It is all about His Son.
Making known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him.
The mystery of His will. Brothers and sisters, that is what we have been studying in the book of Ephesians lately.
This eternal purpose, brothers and sisters—when the Lord was on earth, He kind of hinted at it. He did not really lay it out clearly, but He did hint at it.
When Peter confessed to Jesus that Jesus was the Son of the living God—the sent One, the anointed One, the Son of the living God—the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Peter, you didn’t learn this from men. God Himself revealed this to you. It is a revelation, a divine revelation.”
“And, Peter, I’m going to give you more divine revelation. That revelation is, ‘I am building My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.’”
That is the first mention of the church in the Word of God. It is mentioned one other time a few chapters later.
Brothers and sisters, God gives us, so to speak, initial revelation to Peter. At Pentecost, the church is born. It was not an organized group of 120 Christians. It was born with 120 Christians in the beginning.
Brothers and sisters, the Word says that more revelation came. Peter, I think, at some point says, “I really see what God was saying when He says, ‘I will build My church,’” because listen to his words:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
Not a physical building, not just a group of Christians, but living stones built together as a spiritual house—a home for God, a place where He can dwell among men and feel comfortable, desired, wanted.
And listen: one house.
It is a holy priesthood. All believers are in the priesthood, but all believers do not really serve the priesthood that well, or at all.
But we are called to be holy priests before Him, serving Him as one man together: the house of God, the holy priesthood.
Paul, on the Damascus road, had a similar revelation. It is interesting: when the Lord Jesus met our brother Paul on the Damascus road, he was Saul. He was casting Christians into prison.
He was actually there, and he had probably gotten the papers so that Stephen could be stoned to death.
The Lord met him, and I love Paul’s first word. He says:
Who art Thou, Lord?
He did not say just, “Who are You?” He said, “Who are You, Lord?” If there was ever a man that believed, it was Paul. He immediately became subject to this One he met personally on the Damascus road—the Lord of his life.
The Lord said to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”
Now, Paul probably could have thought, “No, Lord, I didn’t persecute You. I did persecute Your followers.” But the Lord was saying, “Paul, you persecute My followers; you persecute My body; you are persecuting Me.”
You are His body, the living body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “If you persecute the body, you are persecuting Me.”
The church.
Later, we know that Paul was lifted to the third heaven. He could not immediately share; the Lord told him not to. But at some point, we believe, out of that revelation, Paul began to share.
We see it in Ephesians 1:20-23:
Far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
So what is God’s eternal purpose, brothers and sisters? There are three aspects to God’s eternal purpose. They are really all one. I want you to know this—kind of like the Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is really one purpose, but there are three aspects to it.
First of all, I need to move along. He is to sum up all things in Christ. We have read that out of Ephesians: in the fullness of time, God will sum up all things in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, that is very similar to when the Lord said all of the Law and the Prophets are summed up in this:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
In other words, everything could be summed up in that. So everything is going to be summed up in Christ, that there might be a full expression of Christ.
We will see that full expression realized in the Bride in Revelation 22. But, brothers and sisters, the church becomes a real key to God’s purpose being fulfilled, because He needs a vessel that can show forth the fullness of Jesus Christ.
That is the purpose of the church: that we might show forth the fullness of His character and who He is. That is why we are called to take up our cross and follow Him. It is the work of our life.
Brothers and sisters, we need to take up our cross in the Lord Jesus, allow that work to transform us, transform our character into His character, and obey the anointing that is within. That will lead you into this transformed life, transformed into His image.
That His eternal purpose might be fulfilled.
But there is more than that. Not only do you need to be transformed, but I need to be transformed. All in the body of Christ need to go through this transformation, that we might be built together, that His image might be complete and fully expressed.
Now, the best example I have of what I am trying to get at—that full expression of Christ—is when I was a kid. A lot of times, we would get these 500-piece puzzles, the interlocking kind, right? We would put them together.
It was a marvelous time. I mean, we would sit around as a family looking for all these pieces, and every piece is unique, isn’t it? No one piece is alike.
But that one piece can only fit in one place in that puzzle.
Now, when you finally get all the pieces together, interlocked together where they belong, what we see is an image. When you are just looking at the individual pieces, you see various colors and things, and it all might have varying light on them.
Individually, when you just look at the individual piece, it does not have much significance. But when it is all interlocked together, you see the image that the creator of that puzzle wanted to show you.
The full image is in that puzzle. That is the way it is in the body of Christ. The Lord is working on every piece, getting it just right to have that certain unique expression of Jesus Christ, to be connected with your brother and sister.
In the fullness of time, brothers and sisters, all that will be seen when they look at the body of Christ is Christ. They will say, “That is Christ.”
Amen. I’ll say amen anyway.
The full expression, the achievement: transformed, interlocking, brothers and sisters.
Just a quick aside: I think that is why this conference is so important. We are in the last days, but we do need a clear voice in these last days. We need a trumpet, brothers and sisters, that we not lose the vision of God’s eternal purpose—the purpose of life.
The reason why we were brought into existence, individually and corporately, brothers and sisters. Sometimes that vision dims in all of the troubles of life and in the darkness of this world.
That is why it is so important to keep the vision before God’s people.
But let me go on. The first aspect is to sum up all in Christ, that there be this full expression. The second aspect is from Colossians 1:18:
And He is the head of the body, the church:
Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
That in all things He might have the preeminence.
Preeminence. Not only is there to be a full expression of Christ; Christ is to have preeminence in all things.
In other words, all things must be brought into subjection to Jesus Christ or be eliminated. All things in subjection to Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, once again the church is a key in this process of everything being subject to Him. We are called as a church to cooperate in His will.
Brothers and sisters, the circumstances of life, the opposition that you experience as a Christian, the world itself and its pressures, the principalities and powers, even our nation, need to be brought and made subject to our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does the church do? The church is to declare His lordship.
Brothers and sisters, we have talked before about binding and loosing: binding up the things that are not of God, that are opposed to God, in our lives personally, in this nation, and in this world; and loosing the will of God on this earth.
We have a part in that because God has called us to be His companion in this work.
We have a perfect example in the seventh seal. Go to Revelation 8:2-5:
And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
This One has a censer full of incense. I cannot help but believe this is our Lord Jesus Christ. It says there was given Him much incense, that He would offer it with the prayers of all the saints before the throne.
All the saints. His prayers mixed with our prayers.
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
Brothers and sisters, after this prayer, the seven trumpets are sounded and the judgments begin. But God waits for the prayers of the saints, the prayers of His church.
The church’s prayers can mix with Christ’s prayers when they come in line with His prayer. Let me say it another way: if a church is really subject to its Head, really subject to Christ, really seeking God’s will, they will discover it and be able to pray God’s will.
Then Christ can mix His prayers with ours, and it comes before the Father. He executes. The trumpet sounds, and there is execution of His judgment.
God waits for the church to pray.
Was this prayer effective? I just mentioned that the trumpet began to blow, but is the prayer itself effective? Well, the right answer is always yes.
Because in Revelation 10, the strong angel comes. He is in the cloud, but He puts His left foot in the sea and His right foot on the earth. It might be vice versa—I don’t remember—but Christ is taking possession at this point.
It is preceded by the prayers of the saints, of His church. So, brothers and sisters, the church has a lot to do with God’s eternal purpose being fulfilled: that Christ might have the preeminence in all things, that all things might be subject to Christ.
The third aspect: Hebrews 1:2.
Whom He appointed heir of all things.
Christ is to inherit all things. The third aspect of God’s eternal purpose is that Christ is to inherit all things.
Brothers and sisters, He inherits the church. In the book of Revelation, we see His Bride in the end.
He inherits the nation of Israel. They are restored. The nation of Israel is restored not only as a political nation, but as His own. It says all Israel will be saved.
Israel will be the nation of the prophets on earth during the millennial kingdom. They will be the ones sharing Jesus Christ with this whole world. They will be His.
That will be the age in which the wolf and the lamb can lie down together, and the lion will eat straw: the kingdom age.
He will have Israel, and all of His promises to Israel will be fulfilled.
But, brothers and sisters, there is a third thing that He inherits: He inherits the nations.
In Psalm 2:8 and 9, God says to His Son:
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
If you read further in the other chapters in Revelation, you will find toward the end the battle of Armageddon. All the nations—or most of the nations—will gather around Jerusalem to destroy it.
The Lord will come, put His feet on the Mount of Olives. Some of the people of the nation of Israel will escape, but the Lord will finally speak a word and they will be destroyed.
But it is very interesting: once again, the church is involved. In Revelation 19:14, it says:
And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
Brothers and sisters, these are the overcomers of the church. They have been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. They understand what it is to be subject to Him, in submission to Him.
Therefore, they are able to pray and stand and bring all things into submission. What are they doing? They are standing for God’s will to be done and His judgment to come upon the nations, and it does.
Brothers and sisters, these nations will be mostly destroyed. But in the very end, God will once again gather the nations, which we do not fully understand, but He will.
There will be the judgment of the nations. He will put some nations as goat nations, and some as sheep nations. The goat nations are those that opposed Israel, that opposed Christians, and were enemies, so to speak.
But the sheep nations are those that kind of stood behind Israel, stood with the Christians. They will be separated.
The sheep nations will go into the kingdom age as an earthly people. Brothers and sisters, we are Christians. We will be with Him, reigning and ruling as overcomers, reigning and ruling with Him over the earth. But these will be people actually here: the sheep nations.
He will inherit the nations, brothers and sisters. Full inheritance.
At the end, not only the church and Israel, but the nations as well—all things will be subject to Him. He will be preeminent in all things.
In the end, there will be the final, full manifestation of Christ that we will see, brothers and sisters, through His church.
In Revelation 11:15, it says:
The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever.
God will achieve His eternal purpose.
Now let me close.
It is God’s heart, brothers and sisters, for His Son. His Son is the center of everything.
God has an eternal purpose: that all things be summed up in His Son, all things to express the character and nature of Christ Himself. This will be accomplished in the Bride.
Now let me ask you a very personal question. I hope you’ll take it to heart.
Is this your heart? Does this occupy your heart in any way—that Christ will be able to be fully manifested?
If it is, it begins with you. It begins with me: to present ourselves to Him a living sacrifice, that you might be transformed into His image.
And that, brothers and sisters, you be interlocked with brothers and sisters as the body of Jesus Christ.
In the end, it will be His Bride. Brothers and sisters, this is our calling. This is why we were born. Is this the purpose of your life?
It is your divine destiny. Is this divine destiny being accomplished now in your life?
It is God’s eternal purpose that Christ will have preeminence in all things, all things subject to Him. Once again, it begins with you and me.
Are you subject to Jesus Christ?
Are you willing to repent when repentance is needed? Are you subject to Him in all things?
If you are, then you can join together with those you are interlocked with and really pray and bring all things into subjection to Him.
Probably our real weakness in prayer is the lack of our subjection to Him. How can we subject other things if we are not subject?
It is God’s eternal purpose that Christ inherit all things. This will be realized in the kingdom: the church, the nation of Israel, and the nations.
But are we standing like we saw those overcomers in Revelation 8? Are we really standing with God for His eternal will to be accomplished?
Are we praying that all things come into subjection to Him? Praying that we will indeed take up the cross and follow Him, that there might be that transformed life manifested?
Brothers and sisters, the church needs to stand, that He might inherit all things. It is done in His house of prayer.
I hope it challenges our hearts, that at least we can live the rest of our lives moving towards God’s eternal purpose, regardless of your age.
I know you young people have a lot before you, but I hope you will remember that God did not bring you to birth for just yourselves. He brought you to birth for Himself, and that His purpose might be achieved.
That is true of all of us. If we have not been in His purpose, now is the hour. He can restore the years that the cankerworm has eaten, and the locust.
Lord, we come to You today. Oh, Lord, how grateful we are.
I think most in this room are no longer under Thy wrath, but, Lord, we are Thy sons. As sons, we want to be about Your business, that Your eternal purpose might be accomplished.
That full manifestation of Christ, the preeminence of Christ, that Christ might inherit all things.
Lord, don’t let us get away from what You are really after. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.