Turning Point - David Jeremiah

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
If the protagonist in your story seems to be losing
the battle, do you skip to the end for assurance
that he wins. You won't need to do that in Revelation.
God does it for you. Today. On turning point, Doctor
David Jeremiah returns to Revelation chapter ten, a pause in
the midst of the tribulation, in which we're assured that

(00:26):
God will conquer evil. Listen now as David concludes his
message the Divine Interlude.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today as
we continue our discussion of the Book of Revelation. Today,
we're in the tenth chapter and this is part two
of the Divine Interlude. In the midst of the darkness,
in the midst of the awful things of the judgment
of that period of time, there is light. There is hope.

(00:53):
There's a divine interlude where something good shows up, where
God opens the door of hope and mercy. It seems unbelievable,
it seems like it doesn't belong there. But that's God
in the midst of the darkest hour. He is the light.
And we'll see more about that in just a moment

(01:13):
as we continue our study here in Revelation, chapter ten. Friends,
we are going to New England and Canada in October
of this year, and we'd like to invite you to
go with us sailing on holl in America's zyder Dam.
We'll be visiting some beautiful ports of call, wonderful, wonderful
beauty along the shore, and in the beautiful ship we'll

(01:35):
be sailing on, we'll have great music and teaching from
the Word of God and wonderful fellowship with God's people.
If you've never been to New England before, especially a
New England and Canada cruise, I hope you'll take a
chance and come with us. You can find out more
about it at David Jeremiah dot org. And now here
is part two of the Divine Interlude.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
This one comes from Heaven, roars and something happens that
is overwhelming. There is a seven gun salute from heaven.
Watch what happens, And he cried with a loud voices
when a lion roars, and when he cried, seven thunders
uttered their voices. Now are you getting the picture. Here's

(02:20):
this mighty one from Heaven in this awesome, awesome stance
and posture, and he cries out and roars as a lion,
and as soon as he's finished, the heavens reverberate with
seven thunders, one right after the other in response to him.
Sounds like something Hollywood would orchestrate. Psalm twenty nine says

(02:41):
the God of Glory thundereth. Job thirty seven to five
says God, thundereth marvelously with his voice. Great things doth
he which cannot be understood, the thundering God. Sometime when
you get an opportunity, read the twenty ninth Psalm and
notice the seven thunders of the voice of the Lord

(03:04):
in that Psalm, which perhaps correspond to what goes on here.
So we have these things which are sevenfold in their message.
We have a messenger coming down from heaven. And now
we have a message from Heaven which is heard, first
of all in a sevenfold thunder. Just stop for a
moment in review the Lord coming down standing on the

(03:27):
earth and on the sea, holding out the Book of
Judgment because he has it under control, and roaring. And
in response to his roar, there is a message that
comes from heaven, and John hears it first of all
the sevenfold thunder. Secondly, he has a message that is
a sealed up message. Notice what happens. The scripture says

(03:47):
that when those thunders were heard, and when the seven
thunders had uttered their voices Verse four. I was about
to write down what I heard, and I had a
voice come to me, says John from heaven, and said
to me, don't write it down. Seal up those things
which the seventh thunders uttered and write them not. Now

(04:09):
that's a strange thing. This is the only place in
the whole book where John is told he's not allowed
to write what he sees. Now you can imagine, with
that being true, what great fun Bible students have had
trying to figure out what the seventh thunders were all about.
As soon as we're told we can't know something, we
want to know it with all of our heart. Deuteronomy

(04:30):
twenty nine, twenty nine says, the secret things belong unto
the Lord. It is the glory of God to hide things.
Now I want to tell you something. This is with
absolute seriousness. I have no idea what the seventh thunders are,
and nobody else does either, because God sealed them up
and nobody's going to know. But let me ask you

(04:51):
a question. With all that we have studied up to
this point and the awesome nature of the judgment. If
there is anything else that is, it's too awful for
us to even hear. What must it be? What must
it be? Like John was told by the Lord, I
can't let you write what you've heard in the seven

(05:12):
thunders from Heaven. You cannot write it. Well, that's the
sealed up message. There is a sevenfold message from heaven
and a sealed up message from Heaven. Now notice in
verses five and six, there's a sworn message from heaven.
And the Angel which I saw stand upon the scene
upon the earth lifted up his hand to Heaven. Now

(05:32):
here's the same gigantic angel Jehovah standing in this posture
with one foot on the sea and one foot on
the land, and he raises his hand up into the stars,
and he swears by him that liveth forever and ever,
who created Heaven and the things that therein are, and
the earth and the things that therein are, and the

(05:55):
sea and the things which are therein, that there should
be time no longer. Now this has really had a
great impact on people trying to figure out what this
is all about, because their argument is, if this is
the Lord Jehovah, Why would he need to swear by anyone,
since there's no one greater than God. Good question, But

(06:17):
did you know that in the Book of Hebrews, in
the sixth chapter, that very thing happens. Turn in your
bibles back to the Book of Hebrews, and let me
just show you something. Hebrews chapter six has in it
an illustration which sounds very much like God swearing by God.
Let's look at the sixth chapter and the thirteenth verse.

(06:40):
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he swear by himself. That's all right,
isn't it Verse seventeen, wherein God, willing more abundantly to
show into the years, have promised the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things

(07:01):
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we
might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge,
to lay hold on the hope that is set before us. Now,
if God can swear by God, then Jehovah can swear
by God. Right, So Jehovah's got his hand up now
and he's swearing. And what is he gonna swear. Notice
what he says, here's his oath. He's saying that there

(07:21):
should be time no longer. If I could translate that,
I would say it this way. The Angel Jehovah, in
this awesome posture, raises his hand and he swears by
the heavens, and he says, this is it. You remember
the prayers of the souls under the altar, saying, how long, Lord,
how long before you come back and avenge those who

(07:43):
have taken such a drastic toll of the faithful? And
what the Lord say? He said, just rest a little while.
When the time is right, I'll tell you well. He
sent his mighty angel down, and he sent him in
such a dramatic fashion to say, in essence, this is it.
When the Bible says that time shall be no longer,
it's not talking about the end of time as we

(08:05):
know it, for even after this particular event takes place,
there's still a thousand years of times in the millennium.
He is not saying time is no longer. He is
saying delay is no longer. There will be no more delay.
The time has come for judgment to be completed. Robinson

(08:27):
has been quoted as saying it this way. This does
not mean that kronas or time Einstein's fourth dimension added
to length, breadth, and height will cease to exist, but
only that there will be no more delay in the
fulfillment of the judgment of God. And you know, one
of the things that people have frustrated themselves about throughout

(08:49):
history is the fact that God continues to delay. Over
in Second Peter chapter three, just turned back there for
just a moment, that argument is very clearly presented Second
Peter Chapter three and verse three. It says, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last day, scoffers walking

(09:12):
after their own lesson, What are they going to be saying? Saying?
Where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from
the beginning of creation. What are they saying? Listen, you
folks keep talking about the Lord's coming and Judgment's coming
and the end of the world is coming. But they've
been saying that for years, ever since the fathers fell asleep,

(09:33):
and nothing's changed. He hasn't come, and he's not going
to come. But when he comes, he's sending his angel down.
He's going to raise his hand up in heaven and say, hey,
this is it. Time will be no more delay has ended.
The judgment will begin. Now what is going to happen

(09:55):
when the judgment begins? Notice in your Bible is what
it says. It says he swear by him that liveth forever,
that time should be no longer. But in the days
of the voice of the Seventh Angel, when he shall
begin to sound, watch carefully, the mystery of God should
be finished. As he hath observed or declared to his servants,

(10:16):
the prophets, what is the mystery of God? Here is
again the picture. I don't want you to lose the
argument of the chapter. This heavenly messenger comes down from Heaven,
clothed in the clouds, crowned with the rainbow face, as
the shining sun feed his burnished brass, and he raises
his hand up toward heaven, and he swears by Heaven
that the time has come, and judgment will begin, and

(10:40):
it will be ended, and there will be no more delay.
And then he swears that the mystery is finished up.
What is the mystery? What mystery is going to be
finished when the judgment is finished? Well, once again there's
a lot of discussion about that among scholars. Some folks
have said, it's the mystery of the church. But in reality,

(11:01):
the mystery of the Church ended between Chapter three and four,
didn't it. As far as the church as we know it,
the Church is in heaven, but the Church on earth
doesn't have to be finished. And you know, there are
many mysteries in the Bible. A mystery in the Bible,
in its technical sense, is simply a truth that has
heretofore not been told. I think I understand what this

(11:21):
mystery is. What is going to be fulfilled when the
trumpet is blown and the seventh Judgment is completed? What's
going to end? Let me tell you what I think
it is. I believe that this mystery are all those
counsels and dealings of God made known by Him through
the Old Testament prophets concerning his ultimate victorious reign and

(11:45):
defeat of evil. What is the mystery that you and
I deal with today? Let me tell you what it is.
Here's the hard thing, and we run into it every
day in our lives, no matter what we do. Does
it not seem strange to you that Satan has been
allowed for six thousand years or so to wrap and
twist his coils around the world to work evil and

(12:06):
spoil and maim the work of God. Doesn't it seem strange?
Isn't that kind of mysterious? If God's in charge, how's
come it looks like Satan's in charge. He is the
God of this world. Satan is the prince of the
power of the air. Is it not a mystery why God,
the God of righteousness and holiness, allows evil to go

(12:26):
on unpunished and his own people to be crushed and
broken under heavy loads. Truly, this is the mystery of God.
It is that he is indifferent to wrong. No, God
is not indifferent to wrong, but he operates on his
own timetable. And what John saw and what John heard
was this. The mighty Angel raised his hand and he said,

(12:50):
time shall be no longer, and the mystery will be finished.
And what is that mystery? The mystery of why evil
seems to triumph. Why all the things we've been reading
about in the Book of Revelation about and allowed to
go on, That mystery is going to end, You know why?
Because God is going to take control and He's going
to turn it upside down and put it the way
it ought to be. And that's hope, that's encouragement, the

(13:13):
old aged argument of why do bad things happen to
good people? Every time you turn around, somebody's trying to
deal with that question. You know what, God's going to
solve that mystery. It's going to be all over, it's
going to be finished, and he's going to once and
for all do away with evil and away with bad
things and establish righteousness and holiness and godliness forever. And

(13:35):
he just wanted his people to get that little picture.
He sent down that little parenthesis, that little interlude, to
show them that he's still in charge. Boy, I need that.
I look around in my world and I wonder about
some things, don't you. Isn't it hard to figure what
goes on in our world today? What seems to be
allowed by the God of the universe. Isn't that mysterious?

(13:59):
One of these days that's going to end. Well, we've
looked at this chapter now, and we've watched the messenger
from Heaven, and we've heard the message from Heaven. And
there's one last thing at the end of the chapter,
and that's the mandate from Heaven. Here's a command given
from Heaven to John. And this is most interesting because
this is the first time in the whole book that
John has been asked to be an actor and play

(14:21):
a part in one of the visions. That's really interesting.
John's been passive up to this point. He's been watching
all this. God's been putting this show on for John.
And all of a sudden, in the midst of the show,
God speaks to John. He said, all right, I want
you to play a part. Now here's what I want
you to do. Let's read it. Verse eight. And the
voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again,

(14:42):
and he said, go and take the little book which
is open in the hand of the angel which standeth
upon the scene upon the earth. And I went unto
the angel and said it to him, give me the
little book. And he said to me, take it and
eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
I took the little book out of the angel's hand
and ate it up, and it was in my mouth

(15:03):
sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. What a weird, weird thing, I mean,
that is really weird, but it's not the first time
it's happened. It happened to Ezekiel almost exactly like that.
Hold your place here and turn back to the Book
of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter two, verse eight. God is speaking

(15:25):
to Ezekiel, and he says this to him, But thou,
son of man, hear what I say unto thee, be
not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth
and eat that I give THEE. And when I look, behold,
a hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll
of a book was therein and he spread it before me,
and it was written within and without, and there was
written there in lamentations and mornings and woe. Moreover, he said,

(15:50):
unto me, son of Man, eat what you find. Eat
this roll, and then go and speak to the house
of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused
me to eat that role. And he said, unto me,
son of man, cause thy belly to eat and fill
thy bowels with this role that I give THEE. Then
did I eat it, And it was in my mouth
as honey for sweetness. And if you read on to
the rest of the chapter, you'll find out that Ezekiel

(16:12):
had the same digestive problems that John's about to have.
It tasted good, but it didn't stay down too well.
Now what is this all about. Listen to me carefully.
What John has been asked to do is go to
this mighty angel and take the book that's in his hand.
What is the book. It is the open Book of Judgment,

(16:32):
which has been poured out upon the earth. It represents
God's revelation concerning the future of this world. And God
said John, you take that and you assimilate it. And
the word eat there has to do not so much
with physically eating it, but taking it and assimilating it
into his own person and understanding it and learn what

(16:56):
it says, and study it and make it a part
of you. And when you first begin to do that,
it will be sweet. But as you allow it to
settle down into your being and you begin to meditate
on it, it will become bitter. And men and women,
I can tell you for a fact that if there
is any chapter that describes what it is like to

(17:16):
preach on the Book of Revelation, this is it. When
you take this book and you assimilate it, and you
know I have spent hundreds of hours studying this book,
and I have found that very thing has happened to me.
I have read the book, and there have been times
when I have been so excited about what I read
here in terms of what God has in store for

(17:37):
this world. But just as I am beginning to enjoy
the sweet taste of honey in my mouth, the realization
of the awful judgment that is going to come down
upon this world begins to settle in. And it's a
kind of bitterness in my spirit. And there are times
when I have come to preach and I've almost been
depressed and discouraged, and I've said, Lord, help me to

(17:59):
know wow, to preach this in some way so that
while it is yet a bitter message, there is the
taste of honey, so that we can understand it. A
man that I greatly appreciate, a man who is a
German commentator. His name is Langey. He wrote this. He said,
apocalyptic things have a wondrous charm to the honeylike sweetness

(18:20):
of the little book in the mouth. That enormous massive
literature testifies which is engaged in the eating of it.
But whosoever has with some degree of understanding appropriated. The
little book is greatly pained within by its prospective images.
He's right, there's a kind of excitement about prophecy. We've lived,

(18:43):
most of us in our lifetime through the whole age
of prophetic conferences, And while they're waning in popularity during
these days, there's still a great interest in excitement about
prophetic truth. And I want to tell you something. Prophecy
is sweet to the taste and bitter to the digestion.
Watch what the man said to John. He said, you

(19:03):
have to do this. Watch the eleventh verse. You have
to do this because you have got to go and
prophesy again, and you've got to preach to many peoples
and nations and tongues and kings. And he's saying, John,
don't do it unless you've assimilated the message into your
own life. What a tremendous principle of preaching and teaching.

(19:25):
We traffic too often in unfelt truth. We stand in
our pulpits and preach passively about the judgment of God
when it ought to bring tears and sorrow to our hearts.
And John is told by the mighty Angel, here's the book.
Take it and eat it. And assimilate it into your life,
and let it be sweet to the taste and bitter

(19:46):
to the digestion. And when you've gone through that process,
then stand up and preach it, because only then will
you be able to preach it with power and authority,
and only then will we be able to understand it.
Men and women, I have to say to you that
there is a rate sweeping crusade across our country to
preach the word of God, leaving out the bitterness and

(20:06):
preaching only the honey. And there's a temptation when you
get with your brothers who are in the ministry and
you hear how they deal with the word of God,
and you find out that people flock to hear how
great things are and how wonderful they are. And while
that is wonderful to hear, it's not the whole truth.
You wonder if perhaps you've missed it. And then you

(20:27):
come to a passage like this, and you understand that
the preaching of the whole counsel of God is the
only validated way to minister, and people who understand, and
people who know, and people who read and people who
care will understand the bitter sweet message of the gospel,
the same gospel that makes it possible for me to

(20:48):
go to heaven put somebody else in hell. The same
Christ who died on the cross to save me from
my sin by his very death, judged every single person
who rejects him to a christless eternity. And the preacher
who will only preach the positive message and not the

(21:10):
whole counsel of God is not only unfaithful to his Lord,
he has violated the context of God's word. We are
to preach the whole counsel of God, the bitter and
the sweet. Here is a lesson for all of us
that while we will never be able to stand in
front of our people and feel as if we have

(21:30):
mastered all the truth we teach, we ought to be
digesting and assimilating that truth in our own lives before
we stand up and preach it to others. Isn't that
the priority here? I had a friend in college and
seminary who helped me with this a great deal. I
may have mentioned this to you before. After having Robinson
talked to us as preacher boys one day, and this
is what he told us. He said, men, you don't

(21:52):
have to be all the way down at the end
of the road of the doctrines and teachings that you proclaim.
But he said, by the grace of God, you better
beyond the road. And that's true when we stand to
preach things which we have never known, when we try
to teach things which aren't true in our own lives,
there is an empty ring about it all, and it

(22:14):
will never be spirit led in spirit empowered. Oh what
a condemnation that is to all of us who preach
the Word of God, that before we preach, we need
to assimilate the truth into our own lives. God has
worked on me a great deal just thinking about that.
The bittersweet message of the Gospel prophecy is like that.

(22:37):
The Word of God is like that. The truth of
the Gospel is like that. It is a savor of
life unto life, and death unto death. For some of you,
it is the reminder of the wonderful sovereign plan of
God for your life. For others, it is the judgment
of God that is about to fall. And I pray

(23:00):
for whoever you are who are Christians, you will take
great courage as you see the picture in your mind's
eye of the great Sovereign of the universe, straddling the
ocean and the land, with the book in his hands,
swearing by the stars and by the God of Heaven
that there will be no more delay. I hope that
will encourage you. That's the picture of how it's going

(23:20):
to be when we get to the end of the book.
God in control, Jesus Christ, the sovereign Lord. But if
you're not a Christian, I hope that that will be
a reminder to you that the one who has prophesied
these judgments is able to carry them out, and he
will do that in his own time, and either you
will believe him now or you will be subject to

(23:43):
the judgment that is to come.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
We want to remind you that in this dark world
in which we live, there is always a divine interlude.
The Lord Jesus is reminding us often in the scripture
that he is not willing that any should perish, no
matter how dark your world may seem. Jesus Christ is
the light of the world, and he offers you hope
if you will trust him as your savior Tomorrow. Here

(24:11):
on turning point, we're going to talk about the two Witnesses,
a familiar theme in biblical prophecy. And a description of
some incredible things that happen in the city of Jerusalem
when these two witnesses are on the earth. You don't
want to miss tomorrow and Thursday as we talk about
this exciting part of what's coming in the future. Hey say, friends,

(24:35):
don't forget to get your copy of this month's resource.
It's a book called The Words of David Jeremiah. It's
a quote book, two hundred and twenty eight pages, beautifully
designed that will bring encouragement to your heart. Yours for
the asking. When you send a gift to Turning Point today,
say tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Today's message came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church
and senior pastor, doctor David Jeremiah. Please share with us
how this ministry is blessing you. You can write us
at Turning Point pobox thirty eight thirty eight, San Diego, California,
nine two one sixty three, visit our website at Davidjeremiah
dot org, Slash Radio, or call eight hundred ninety four

(25:17):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of the
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(25:40):
monthly gift of any amount, visit turningpoint plus dot org
for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow
as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on
Turning Point with Doctor David Jeremiah