Friday, June 10, 2016

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. 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. 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. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  - Revelation 20:11-15

Maybe I have an overly sensitive conscience, but I feel nervous around police and judges. Once, when I was called as a character witness for a friend, I was shocked at how anxious I felt just walking into the courtroom. My heart was racing. If I tremble before a human judge even though I’m innocent, what would it be like to stand before The Judge of all the earth?

The images of the end of the age are awesome, with horrible judgments poured out on the earth, and a vision of the Lord on His throne so terrible that the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place for them (Rev. 20:11). People will be so terrified, they will prefer to hide in caves and ask the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. “For the day of His wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev.6:14-17).

We don’t usually associate wrath with a lamb. Lambs are docile, sweet and helpless. But this Lamb, who “as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isa.53:7) was also “Christ, our Passover lamb, slain for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). The Lamb of God came to earth the first time to handle the sin problem. Now He is coming to Judge the earth.

In Matt. 25:31-46, Jesus tells a parable about the Sheep and the Goats. It is set at the Last Judgment. Jesus is on the throne. We know this because the One on the throne refers to His Father. Also, we know that all judgment has been committed to the Son (John 5:22, Rom. 2:16).

The images in the last few chapters of Revelation are sobering. Read Revelation 20:11-15 again. You see the awesomeness of the One on the Great White Throne, the reanimation of the dead from the sea and the graves, all standing now before the Judge. Books will be opened, and people will be judged “from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds” (Rev. 20:12).

The most important book seems to be the Book of Life. “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).

The good news isn’t good news unless we first hear the bad news. How can we have assurance of our salvation and confidence that we can stand before the throne of this Awesome One without fear? The answer definitely doesn’t rest in us. I can’t “keep” myself in the faith, any more than I got myself into it. Salvation is God’s work from start to finish. He is the “Author and Finisher of our faith.”  He chose me, so He keeps me (Rom. 8:29). They are links of the salvation chain; we are secure because of Christ.

The theological term for this is “justification”. Perhaps you’ve heard that it means God looks on you “just-as-if-you-had-never-sinned”. While it might be a helpful way to remember, I think it’s a weak definition. Justification is actually a legal term. Since we’re dealing with the Supreme Court of the Universe, it’s helpful to speak legal-ease. Justification, as it is used in the Bible, primarily means to be declared righteous, to be declared “right” before God.

When we believe in Jesus Christ, repenting of our sin and resting in the finished work of Christ as our Substitute, God declares us “NOT GUILTY”. We are free!

As the Judge of the earth, He has the right to do that: to let a guilty person go free. But as a holy and just God, He could not do that without going contrary to His nature, which He cannot do. “He cannot deny Himself.”

Justification by faith alone is a beautiful, life-changing, uplifting, soul-assuring truth. Never tire of praising God for justifying you!  Because you are justified, you will not be condemned on that awful day.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ…” (Rom.8:1).

Prayer– “Lord, how awesome You are. You are our Creator and our Savior. You are our Judge and our Redeemer. The truth of a future judgment would be terrifying, if we weren’t for the security we find in You, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Years ago, when one of our sons was only about 3 years old, he suddenly developed a new wrinkle in his behavior repertoire. Where he had typically been a very compliant child, he began to explore the limits of his autonomy and independence. 

We would say, “Time to turn off the T.V.,” and instead of saying, as he usually did, “O.K.” - he would respond, “I don’t want to turn off the T.V.!” 

We’d say, “Eat your potatoes,” and he would say, “I don’t want to eat my potatoes!” 

We’d say, “It’s not time for a cookie,” and he’s say, “But I want one!” 

We were somewhat surprised that the battle of wills came so quickly, but we responded by reintroducing our little son to the fundamental concept of the “Sovereignty of Mom and Dad.” As hard as it was for him to accept, the simple truth was that at that point in his life, his Mom and I made the rules. 

Biblical prophecy is best understood, perhaps, not as a blueprint for the future of human civilization, but as a reminder of the sovereignty of God. 

In the book of Daniel, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar became proud and exulted in his own greatness. So God first spoke to him through a dream that contained a prophetic warning of what would take place if he continued to exalt himself. But Nebuchadnezzar ignored the dream (Daniel 4) and the word of God. God then humbled him by causing him to become insane for a time. After Nebuchadnezzar repented, and after God had restored him to his right mind, the king responded with a clear testimony to God’s sovereignty. 

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 
This is king Nebuchadnezzar’s way of saying, “O.K. God, I get it now! You are God and I am not!”

Nebuchadnezzar had discovered, just as a 5 year old discovers, and just as you and I must discover sooner or later, that God is sovereign.

He alone is the owner of the universe; landlord of planet earth. He makes the rules! From the law of gravity, to the laws of thermodynamics, to the biological laws of life and death, to the moral laws of right and wrong; God makes the rules because he possesses all power and authority. God has authority not only over the entire universe, which he created, but over human history as well. God has authority over nations and rulers as well as over my small, seemingly insignificant life.

Now, to say God is sovereign does not mean God is like a great puppeteer in the sky! He does not control us in that manner for he has given us the gift of free will. While we will never be able to completely fathom the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human free will, the Bible does seem to indicate that human beings can choose to love, serve and obey him; or choose to spit in his face. In his sovereignty God has even chosen to allow Satan limited authority to prowl the earth (Job 1; 1 Peter 5). But we must know, and this is the role of the prophet, that when we choose to disregard his authority; to disregard his word; to disobey him by exalting ourselves – we will sooner or later be confronted by the truth that we are not God! There will be a reckoning, a final accounting of good and evil, and every human being who has ever lived will stand before God for judgment.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books…If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”Revelation 20:12-15 (selected)

The “book of life”, of course, is an image that refers to salvation through Jesus Christ. The “lake of fire” is an image that points to judgment of sin and separation from God. Biblical prophecy tells us that every person who ever lived is headed to one of those two eternal destinations. God is sovereign and he will make that final determination based on what we have done with Jesus.

Have you asked Jesus to write your name in the book of life?

Pastor Brian Coffey

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  

– Revelation 20:11-15

John writes that in his vision, he saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. What is this great white throne? It is great in status, power and authority; white in purity and holiness; and a throne in kingly sovereignty.

Next John tells us that earth and heaven flee from this throne, but there was found no place for them. There is absolutely no hiding from this throne. No one can escape the judgment that it represents. Neither heaven, nor earth, nor anything in between can hide from this judgment.

Many Bible scholars believe that Christians will never appear before this great white throne. If we do not, it will not be because we can hide from it - no one can. The idea is that we are spared from this awesome throne of judgment because our sins are already judged in Jesus at the cross. We don't escape God's judgment; but it is satisfied in Jesus. However, the Bible also indicates that Christians will have to stand before another throne - the judgment seat of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  Some Bible scholars see the great white throne and the judgment seat of Christ as essentially the same thing, but only experienced differently depending on whether or not you are a believer in Christ. 

Whatever the case, one thing is clear, we will all face a judgment! We will all have to give an account of our lives to God. Some of us will do that in humble worship of the God to whom we have already surrendered ourselves, and others will stand trembling with nothing but their works to defend them. The first group will be ushered into the presence of God, not based on their works, but based on the fact that their name is written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Standing before God: This is not a trial, trying to determine what the facts are. The facts are in; here is the sentencing of someone already condemned. Their standing posture means that they are now about to be sentenced. There is no hidden evidence that will get them acquitted and there is no appeal process, because there is no higher court to appeal to. Because this is not a trial, but a sentencing, there is nothing for these who stand before the throne to say. It is a terrible thing to have to stand before God and be judged solely on the merit of your works!

At the judgment seat of Christ, what we have done will be judged. Our motives for what we have done will be judged. Paul presents essentially the same idea in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, where he speaks of a coming assessment of each one's work before the Lord. In that passage, he makes it clear that what we have done, and our motive for doing it, will be tested by fire, and the purifying fire of God will burn up everything that was not of Him. We won't be punished for what was not done rightly unto the Lord, it will simply be burned up, and it will be as if we never did those things. We will simply be rewarded for what remains. Sadly, some will get to heaven thinking they have done great things for God, and will find out at the judgment seat of Christ that they really did little or nothing for Him at all. I don’t know about you, but when I stand before my Savior, I want to hear him say that my life has contributed to His Kingdom, I want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Don’t you? 


Jeff Frazier

Monday, June 6, 2016

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.   - Revelation 20-1:4

Over 100 years ago, Victor Hugo, the French novelist and author of Les Miserables, wrote these words:

In the twentieth century war will be dead. The scaffold will be dead. Hatred will be dead. Frontier boundaries will be dead. Dogmas will be dead. But man will live. He will possess something higher than all these: a great country, the whole earth, a great hope, the whole of heaven.

Here we are in the 21^st century and we have to say, "How mistaken Hugo was!" Or was he?  Those words reflect the hope that has been burning in men's hearts for centuries - the dream that there would someday, somehow, come a golden age upon the earth, a time when peace would spread throughout the whole world, a utopia, where men would live in unbroken peace and abounding prosperity.  This has been the promise of every politician since governments began, but they have never been able to bring it to pass.  It is a hope that is yet unrealized.

Three times in this passage from Revelation 20 we see the phrase "a thousand years." It actually occurs six times throughout the whole chapter.  The word "millennium" comes from the Latin mille annum, which means "a thousand years."  This is the passage that teaches about a millennium of peace yet to come upon the earth. This passage is one of the great battlefields of Scripture.  There are various competing views about what the millennium actually is and when it will occur.

Some take this passage literally and believe that there is coming a thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth in the future.  Some believe that the millennium does not refer to a literal thousand years, but to the expanding reign of Christ and His Kingdom upon the earth throughout history.  Still others believe that the thousand-year reign of Christ is a heavenly reality and not an actual earthly reign.

This passage also talks about the binding of Satan.  Here again, sincere Christians who love the Lord disagree over the meaning of what it means and when it happens.  Some say the binding of Satan took place at the cross when Jesus overcame Satan, and he has been bound ever since throughout the history of the church.  Others, while agreeing that Jesus overcame the powers of Hell on the Cross, believe that this actually refers to a future event where Satan will be totally restricted from tempting or deceiving anyone.  I recall reading one theologian who held this view who said that if Satan is bound today it must be with a very long chain! 

When we look at the world around us, it is sometimes hard for us to see where the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is taking hold.  Regardless of the differences in our interpretive positions about when and how it will happen, all Christians can agree that the only hope we have for an end to war, poverty, corruption, oppression, etc. is the reign of Jesus Christ our King! 

Jeff Frazier

Friday, June 3, 2016

When my children were much younger, they used to enjoy it when my wife or I would read stories to them before bed. We read all kinds of wonderful stories; “The Wind in the Willows”, “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Indian in the Cupboard”, “The Legend of King Arthur”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Hobbit”, and of course “The Chronicles of Narnia”. As my children began to learn to read, I would ask them to read a sentence or two from each page as we went along. Whenever we would reach the end of the last chapter, my youngest son would always look for those two little words that signify the end of a story – “The End”. I don’t know why, but he always wanted to be the one to read those words. If the book we were reading did not actually have them printed at the end of the last chapter, he would say them anyway. I think it was just his way of stating that the story is over.

When we come to the book of Revelation, in a sense, it is God’s way of telling us the story is over. Yet, in another sense, it is also God’s way of telling us that “The End” is really not an end at all, but a new beginning into a great and glorious story that will go on for all eternity. Revelation tells us how the story of this world and this life will eventually come to an end, and how that ending will open the door to a new beginning of life with Christ. This is why we must read Revelation (The End) through the lens of Genesis (The Beginning). Revelation is the culmination of what God started way back in the Genesis. It is the story of God making good on all of his promises and redeeming all that He created.

Genesis	Revelation
Creation	Recreation
Satan’s Rebellion	Satan’s Defeat & Judgment
Darkness & Night	No more Darkness or Night
The Curse Pronounced	The Curse Removed
Shame & Hiding From God	We Will See Him Face to Face
Death Enters	No more Death or Dying
Marriage of First Adam	Marriage of Last Adam (Christ)
Man’s City – Babylon	God’s City – New Jerusalem
First Judgment	Final Judgment

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  – Genesis 1:1, 31, 2:1-3

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  - Revelation 21:1-4

We may argue and speculate about the middle of the story, but we can all at least agree that in the beginning, God created it…and in the end, God redeems it! 

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Revelation 15:1-4

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire - and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. Andy sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 

           "Great and marvelous are your deeds, 

             Lord God Almighty. 

             Just and true are your ways, 

             King of the nations. 

             Who will not fear you, Lord, 

             and bring glory to your name? 

             For you alone are holy. 

             All nations will come 

             and worship before you, 

             for your righteous acts have been revealed." 

A few years ago, I was asked to perform an outdoor wedding ceremony at the Morton Arboretum.  As I was leaving the Arboretum after the rehearsal, I passed by a large maze garden. On the outside of the garden wall was a 15 ft. raised observation platform. There was a man standing on that platform calling down to his young son somewhere inside of the maze. I could not see the little boy, but I could hear him, and I could hear the emotion in his voice. It was obvious that he was lost and his father was trying to guide him out of the maze and back to himself. The father could see exactly where the boy needed to go in order to find his way out, but all the little boy could see were large green hedges everywhere. The young boy needed to trust his father’s voice and obey what his father told him to do.  He needed to trust that his father saw more than he did.  

This story is a powerful image of what we need from God! We must trust that He sees far more than we do. It is easy for us to feel lost in the maze of life, it is easy for us to lose our way or make a wrong turn. We must listen to what God tells us and obey the commands He gives us, if we want to end up in the right place.  

In the passage above from Revelation 5, it refers to "the song of Moses" - those verses include phrases and references to Old Testament passages from Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Jeremiah. For example: Psalm 98:2 says, "The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations", which we can see reference to in Revelation 5:4. The God of Moses and his time, and the God of the prophecies contained in the Old Testament is the same God described in the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation. Because we can see his faithfulness to Moses, Abraham and the people of the Old Testament, and his fulfillment of prophecies in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can rest in the faith and hope that he sees more than we see. We are finite creatures with limited understanding, and He is the infinite and eternal God who knows and sees all. God reminds us of something we all desperately need, an eternal perspective. 

When we see how God has worked down through the ages in accordance with what He told His people in advance, it encourages us to remain faithful in our obedience to Him, knowing that the remaining unfulfilled prophecies will surely yet be fulfilled. The many prophecies in Scripture are not given for us to speculate about the future, but to help us be faithful in the present!

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Revelation 21:1-23 (selected)

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband…"

"And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and he showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God…"

"The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."

In 1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. When he returned to earth he earned points with the atheist communist regime by saying, “I looked around, but I didn’t see God out there.”

To which Ruth Graham (Billy Graham’s wife) reportedly responded, “If he’d stepped outside that spaceship without his space suit he would have seen God very quickly!”

Where is heaven? Is it in the sky? Is it somewhere in outer space?

We tend to think of Heaven as “up there somewhere” – and there are plenty of scripture texts to support this assumption.

Psalm 53 says, “God looks down from Heaven on the sons of men…”

In Acts 1 we read, “He was taken up before their very eyes…”

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul states, “The Lord himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command…”

So it does sound like Heaven is “up there” somewhere.

But read again the words of Revelation 21:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband…

Notice that the Bible seems to refer to two Heavens; or at least to one heaven in two different ways!

First, God’s word seems to tell us that Heaven is “up there”; that heaven exists right now where God dwells in the fullness of his power and presence. Scholar and theologian Randy Alcorn, along with many others, refers to this as the “Present Heaven”.

This is where we, as believers in Christ, go when we die. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). This is why Jesus could promise the dying thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Then also notice that the Bible seems to say that this heaven that is “up there” will “come down”

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away … I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…

What does this mean?

Scripture uses a number of images –

The New Heaven

The New Earth

The Holy City

The New Jerusalem

- to refer to what God is going to do AFTER Jesus returns; after Christians receive their resurrection bodies; AFTER the final judgment.

This is what can be called the “eternal Heaven”, and is what we usually mean when we say the word “Heaven”.

While we cannot say with certainty where Heaven will be or how Heaven will come down, we can begin to imagine what the New Heaven and New Earth will be like. The Bible is telling us that Heaven is real; more real that the chair you are sitting in at this moment; more real that the relationship you have with the person who knows you best in this world.

The Bible is teaching us that Heaven is a place; a city with walls and gates and streets and buildings. Heaven is a country with rivers and mountains and trees and magnificent creatures.

The Bible is teaching us that Heaven is the resurrection, redemption and restoration of all things!

In Revelation 21:5 Jesus says, “I am making all things new.”

Randy Alcorn summarizes Biblical teaching on Heaven like this:

“What God made us to desire, and therefore what we do desire if we admit it, is exactly what he promises to those who follow Jesus Christ: a resurrected life in a resurrected body, with a resurrected Christ on a resurrected Earth.”

Doesn’t that sound good?!

Pastor Brian Coffey