If its not worth doing, then don't do it!
|
If its not worth doing, then don't do it! |
     
|
Christ's Own Church Revelation 11: 3-19
This is one of the more difficult but also more important chapters in the whole book of Revelation. The interlude between the blowing of the sixth and the final seventh trumpet continues. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first two verses of this chapter establish the nature of the true Church. The rest of this chapter shows the witness of the Church and then the eventual triumph of Jesus Christ. We must remember that Christ is our Lord as well as our savior. He has rights of sovereignty which our modern democratic world is apt to forget. In times past Sovereign Kings and Queens chose special units from out of their Armies to be their very own. Thus historic military units as late as the Great War in 1914 had grand and awesome titles:
One ancient British unit claims descent from the remnants of a Roman Legion and is thus nicknamed "Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard". Even Americans were not immune from this temptation. During World War Two, one American Regiment of Armored Cavalry was known as "General Patton's own"! It is in this sense that the true Church is Christ's own Church. And it is to His Church that he gives power to witness to His world. The Church in verses three to thirteen is symbolized by two witnesses. This image is like the scene in the Gospels where Jesus sends out his disciples two by two. These witnesses symbolize the Church bearing testimony through its ministers and missionaries until Christ returns. The symbolic nature of forty-two months, 1,260 days and the time, times and half a time of Chapter 12:14 are all related. I do not think we should take visionary statements and try to construct an end times calendar like many people do. All we need to know is that He is coming, He will not be slow, He will accomplish all of His purpose. These witnesses are not specific people, they are a collective symbol of the church fulfilling the Deuteronomic (17:6; 19:15) necessity for competent legal testimony. Our job as His witnesses is to speak of His grace and glory until He indeed returns. Our prophecy clothed in sackcloth in verse three is a reminder that the call to repentance is to be the fundamental thrust of that preaching. How often does the world deplore the truth of the Gospel. The truth that we proclaim of the Christ who died for our sin is thought to be a throwback to a more primitive caveman mentality from which modern man has finally evolved. But what does John tell us in verses five and six? There is power in the Word, there is power in His blood not only to cleanse us from our sinful nature, but also to change the world in which we live. One lesson we ought to learn from Church History and from the words of Paul to the Corinthians (2Cor 10:4-5) is the fact that the weapons we fight with have divine power to demolish strongholds, arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. The Gospel is not impotent, it will not fail. The ministries of Elijah and Moses are recalled as an example to encourage our confidence. Of course, we have not had much in the way of encouragement nor confidence in most of this century. The course of the Church seems to have been on the downswing. We learn in the following verses that there are to be periods of blessing and periods of defeat. Times when the Gospel is in season and times when it is not. John shows us in verse seven that satanic agencies will attack the church, and the church will appear as dead. We see in these verses that the world will hold a party to celebrate the destruction of the Church. And yet, the very gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ's own Church. In 1897 there was formed in the capital city of the present country of Uganda an evangelical congregation. It grew to a very respectful size. Then Iddi Ammen came to power. His personal goal was to create the world's first country with witchcraft as its official religion. In the process of spreading his views the members of that large evangelical church were practically all tortured and slaughtered. The building was ravaged, windows carted away, walls pock marked with bullet holes. And yet, Iddi Ammen has fallen from power and this spring a crowd gathered to celebrate the restoration of Christ's own congregation in that one particular building. There was standing room only inside and more people stood around the outside looking in through the holes, the empty doors and windows. Their numbers were at least eight deep around the whole perimeter. Again, in the early sixteenth century the papal church was triumphant. Wycliff was silenced, Huss was burned at the stake. The Waldensees were all but exterminated. On May 5, 1514, an orator in a papal session declared amid applause: "There is an end of resistance to papal rule and religion; opposers exist no more". Three and a half years later (forty-two months), a young monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church door at Wittenberg and the slumbering coals of the Reformation burst into flames. God is indeed sovereign, He will build His church. On more than one occasion I have been asked what we as a denomination are going to do with all the men who are flocking to the banner of truth being raised up in our own day? Many are concerned that we do not and will not have opportunities to use all of their skills in such a tiny denomination of only 200,000 believers. In the last year alone at least three additional Reformed campuses have been established to increase the glut of men. The brand new RTS campus in Florida already has two hundred students for this fall! What is going on? Prior to World War Two, Winston Churchill had his own private espionage agents who sent in reports of German mobilization along the Polish border weeks before the official agencies had any hint that trouble was brewing. And it is in this sense that I answer the question of what the PCA is going to do with the growing numbers of Reformed men coming into the ministry. I believe that God is beginning to mobilize not only Reformed men, but other evangelicals as well for His own purposes in our own time. It is time for Christ's slumbering Church to regain the breath of life, it is time for Christ's Church to once again stand on its feet. And I feel that God's Spirit is beginning to move. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, which has barely maintained its membership at 5,000 for most of this century has suddenly reported a two per cent gain for the last year. Three of their ministers attended our Church planting session in Florida. Certainly, we do not know when Christ will return. We do not know when the voice from heaven in verse twelve will summon us home. We do not know when the seventh trumpet shall sound! I am not even certain if persecution or proclamation lies ahead for us in this country. The additional men being called up may be but replacements for possible casualties. One of my commentators, Hendriksen thinks that the organized Church could possibly disappear under oppression. Certainly, he assumes that individual and small groups of Christians will persist in their worship and witness as the house Church has flourished in Communist China. But, whichever it is: persecution or proclamation; by God's grace we have a word or two of witness which we must prepare ourselves to give. Which ever course our American experience will take in the next few years we have the assurance from God's own word here that when the Son of God returns, his own faithful and true witnesses will be called into glory, there to sing the heavenly songs. And this is the eternal message of the book of Revelation. While we are struggling to reflect His greater glory, we have an eternal hope to encourage us in our faithfulness. Every week for our offertory we sing: "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." This fact is celebrated at the end of chapter eleven. There the angels announce the triumph of our Christ. There the four and twenty elders worship and give thanks. And also there in the last paragraph of this vision a symbolic picture shows us that heaven is opened wide for us to see forever and God Himself will have fellowship with us. But, not all are blessed, for them there was lightning, thunder, earthquake and hail. As we close today it is well if we all reflect for a moment as to our final end. Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you have an assurance of spending eternity with Him? If you belong to Him, are you willing to take up the cross, the small and large burdens of doing His work and witness? Are you ready to see Him unfold His sovereign plan for the Church in the years ahead? Years ago when I was in basic training, one of the black sergeants who represented the backbone of the Army, said to us new recruits: "Gentlemen, when you first go into combat - you have no way of knowing who will win or if you will even survive. Your responsibility is to give credit to your battalion, your training, and your upbringing." Then he paused and went on: "For those of you who profess the faith, our behavior and our possible death will prove the validity of our beliefs." Now, those may not be his exact words, after all it has been twenty-four years, but he shared his memory of his baptism of fire in both battle and in Christ. I realized then that I had an additional strength to call upon in case of battle. Our battles today are spiritual in nature. The world does not want to see a revived and witnessing Church! Here in Ohio where almost forty per cent of the population is nominally Christian, it has taken us eight years to grow this far. One of the couples at the Church planting center is off to Washington State where only four per cent of the population is even interested in hearing about the love of Jesus Christ! They do not view that as an obstacle but as an opportunity for service to our God and King. May we here assembled also see our labors as an opportunity to serve Jesus Christ. And let us give credit to our calling and to His name. Amen.
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America) Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213 Rev 11b 05 August 90
|