COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

"Angels" Tagged Sermons

O LORD, PLEASE OPEN HIS EYES

Question of the week:
What difference does this truth make in your life, having your eyes now opened to the reality of this intense spiritual battle between God Almighty and the fallen angels, and how does this truth affect your behavior since you now know that your loyalty to God is being watched every day by both sides of the spiritual war?
Quote by Michael Heiser
“Many people think of the New Testament as a recounting of the life of Jesus and the apostles sprinkled with a collection of letters sent by Paul to churches with odd names. While we follow these men and their lives and read the correspondence, the New Testament is so much more.
The New Testament makes the rebirth of a struggle thousands of years in the making. The people of God have been isolated and under foreign rule. The divine presence of the days of Moses, David, Solomon, and the prophets is nothing but memory. When angels visit Mary and Zechariah to announce the impending births of Jesus and John, centuries of divine silence are broken. Thirty years later, JUDEA WILL EXPLODE. THE UNSEEN SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IS EVEN MORE VOLATILE.
Every chapter of the New Testament provides a glimpse into this conflict. The cosmic geography of the Old Testament is evident in the New. Where Jesus goes and what he says and does when he gets there is framed BY CONFRONTATION WITH UNSEEN POWERS. The conflict pursues him unto death – as God has planned and Jesus provoked. THE KINGDOM OF GOD ESTABLISHES A PERMANENT BEACHHEAD AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS AND THE DOOR OF THE EMPTY TOMB.
The rest of the New Testament draws heavily on Old Testament motifs. Jesus is gone but present, just as Yahweh was in heaven invisible yet on earth in human form. The seed of Abraham, scattered to the winds in exile, turn out to function like spiritual cell groups secretly planted in every nation under the dominion of the hostile gods. The kingdom spreads slowly but relentlessly, one new believer at a time. EVERY CHURCH IS A NEW POCKED OF RESISTANCE, EVERY BAPTISM ANOTHER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE MOST HIGH, EVERY CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER A DENIAL OF FELLOWSHIP WITH LESSER MASTERS AND A PROCLAMATION OF THE SUCCESS OF YAHWEH’S MYSTERIOUS PLAN.
The lines are drawn. The stakes are high. The enemy desperate. The fullness of the Gentiles will come, all Israel will be saved, and the Deliverer will come from the heavenly Zion.
IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME. Dr. Michael Heiser

The Final Judgments

The judgments of God on this entire earth are wrapped up in 7 seals, followed by 7 trumpets and finally followed by 7 bowls. If you carefully read those passages you can find out that the 7th seal contains the 7 trumpets and the 7th trumpet contains the 7 bowls. This simply means that there is a very specific sequence to these judgments. First the seals; then the trumpets and finally the bowls. The seals are being broken by THE LAMB. The seven seals are opened by the Lord Himself, the 7 trumpets are blown by angelic beings, and the seven bowls are being poured upon the earth by seven angelic beings as well. In other words, the Lord uses His angelic beings to execute judgments upon this earth. We will find out later why this is so important.
Four very important purposes that will be fulfilled during the final judgments upon this earth.
1. The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 11:15; John 16:7-11)
2. The nations and its rulers will find out who truly OWNS THE NATIONS AND TO WHOM THIS EARTH REALLY BELONGS. (Revelation 11:18a; Psalm 2)
3. All the dead people will be judged. That is all the spiritually dead people, those who have rejected the offer of salvation. (Revelation 11:18b; Daniel 7:9-10)
4. All the Servants, Prophets and Saints and those who fear God’s name will receive their promised rewards. (Revelation 11:18c; Revelation 22:12)
God’s judgments will always reveal the human heart; FULL OF REBELLION AGAINST THE CREATOR HIMSELF. This all started in the Garden of Eden long ago when our parents believed the lie that they could through knowledge of good and evil become God themselves. That was Satan’s promise to them. The human being has been in rebellion against God ever since. God’s very own and special creation claimed Godhood. When God Himself eventually brings that rebellion to judgment, every human being will find out that rebellion has its price.
These bowl judgments will crush man’s rebellion and remove the rebellious from this earth. The final completion of this purpose will be accomplished when Jesus Christ returns with His armies to this earth.
Who is the recipient of this first bowl judgment? All those who had received the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. We can find out from another text found in this book that a very small fraction of the world population will actually resist the beast and will refuse to take his mark.
Good news, the only ones who do not have to worry about this judgment are the ones who found refuge in the lord Jesus Christ. They have refused to take the mark of the beast and have refused to worship him.
Jesus has taken the judgments for their rebellion against God upon himself, came to this earth, lived on this earth a perfect, sinless life, was falsely accused, rejected, condemned and eventually crucified in our place. And the proof of his work on our behalf came 3 days after his crucifixion. 3 days after his burial, he rose again, because death could not hold him, there was no legal claim against him and those who trust in him. Hallelujah.

God’s Glory — Part 1

Looking at this scene, John as a born Jew and a personal follower of Jesus Christ understands what the Glory of God is. He has heard plenty about the Shechinah Glory appearing during the age of the Biblical Patriarchs and he certainly understood what importance God’s glory has played during the history of the Jewish people. If we want to define God’s Glory, we could say that the Shechinah Glory is the VISIBLE MANIFESTION OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD ALMIGHTY.
Because the Hebrew word Shechinah, which comes from the Root SHACHAN, literally means DWELLING.
The GREEK translation of the HEBREW word SHECHINAH is SKEINEI, which means TABERNACLE.
In the Old Testament most of these visible manifestations took the form of LIGHT, FIRE, OR CLOUD, or sometimes a combination of all of them.
After the glory of moses’ face faded, god manifested his glory through the tabernacle. Notice, that the tabernacle itself had no external beauty. It was covered with weather beaten animal skins. It was God who used the unattractiveness of the tabernacle to reveal and manifest His glory to Israel. The Israelites eventually started to believe that the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant where the source of their blessings. They forgot about the Shechinah Glory, that God dwellt among them.

Release The Four Angels

Remember, when this trumpet judgment occurs, the time for mercy will have passed; that’s the reason John sees the altar of mercy that has now turned into the altar of judgment. In other words, the complete rejection of God’s offer of salvation will now bring forth the final judgment of sin.People always say, the God of the Bible will never judge anyone. He is loving and merciful, forgiving forever. They forget, that the time of love and mercy will run its course, not because God wants it that way, but because MAN WANTS IT THAT WAY.
This is a picture of those who watched Jesus walking this earth, doing good, performing miracles, feeding thousands by multiplying bread and fish, healing the sick, raising the dead, YET AT THE END THEY ALL CRIED WITH ONE VOICE, CRUCIFY HIM. They have chosen to harden their hearts when they heard the Good news, when the Prophets of Old warned them they laughed, because they have chosen to worship DEMONS. But until that day, we are to proclaim the truth that the same God who will judge this world one day, is the same God that still extends mercy and grace to all humanity so that we might snatch them out of the fire.