"Jews" Tagged Sermons

Preparing Christ’s Second Coming – Part One

We know that the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is primarily the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Throughout the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation, the main theme is always the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Redeemer of mankind.
The Apostle Paul declares that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And he goes on to say that by Him, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah to the Jews, the king of the Jews, the Savior of the world, is the one who created everything that is in heaven and that is on the earth. All things were created through Him and for Him. And the book of Revelation is giving us the details HOW GOD HIMSELF IS PREPARING CHRIST’S SECOND COMING TO THIS EARTH. There is a condition that must be met before Jesus Christ will return to this earth to establish His VISIBLE KINGDOM.
According to Matthew, Jesus began His ministry in chapter 4. You can read this Gospel from chapter four until chapter twelve to find out that Jesus went around Israel proclaiming that He is the promised Messiah. The purpose of all His miracles recorded in those chapters was to authenticated His Messiahship and His message, the Gospel of the kingdom. In other words, all the miracles Jesus did were signs to the nation of Israel to challenge them to make a decision about Him. Everything changed regarding the purpose of His miracles and His message in Matthew, chapter 12, beginning with verse 22.
The people were not willing to come to a decision by themselves. They were looking for the answer from their religious leaders, the Pharisees. When they accept Him, when they authenticate Him, then we will accept Him as well.
Then, in verses 30-37 Jesus pronounced a judgment on the Jewish generation of that day. Why? Because that generation had committed the unpardonable sin: THE BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Listen, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was not an individual sin but a NATIONAL SIN. It was committed by that generation of Israel in Jesus’ day.
In other words, the content of the unpardonable sin was the national rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus while He was physically present, on the grounds that He was demon possessed. THIS SIN WAS UNPARDONABLE, AND JUDGMENT WAS SET. THE REALIZATION OF THIS JUDGMENT CAME IN THE YEAR 70 A.D. The Roman army destroyed Jerusalem, burned down the temple, slaughtered over one million Jews, and dispersed the rest world-wide.
It is interesting that from this point on in the Gospel of Matthew, special emphasis is placed on THIS GENERATION. Why? Because it was this generation that was guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Judgment was unavoidable, because there would be no forgiveness for this sin.
Listen, the book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians who, because of persecution, were contemplating a return to Judaism. The book warned them that they must completely separate themselves from Judaism. If they failed to do so, they would be caught up in the judgment of 70 A.D. and suffer physical death. Only of they separated themselves from Judaism completely would they have the opportunity of escaping the judgment upon that generation. Of course, from Hebrews it is not known what the results were. But it is known from JOSEPHUS AND EUSEBIUS quoting HEGESIPPIUS, a Jewish Christian historian of the second century. These men recorded how the Hebrew Christians, in obedience to the book of Hebrews, separated themselves from Judaism. So when the revolt against Rome began in the year 66 A.D., the entire Jewish Christian community left the country and waited the war out in the town of PELLA, and the east bank of the Jordan River. Although 1,100,000 Jews died in this Jewish revolt against Rome, not one Hebrew Christian was killed. Because they did obey the book of Hebrews, they escaped with their lives, and they were freed of the judgment upon that generation.

The Seven Divine Proclamations

This chapter is a the chain-link that connects the events of the middle of the tribulation, the details we found in Revelation 10-13, and the events of the second half of the tribulation period, the details we will find in chapter 15-16.
The main theme was the COUNTERFEIT TRINITY that is coming unto the world stage with the purpose to usurp God’s authority and to persecute and kill those who refuse to bow down to this NEW WORLD RELIGION. It will be the born-again believers, the true followers of Jesus Christ that will refuse to worship the image of the beast and the antichrist.
Revelation 14:9-12 deals with the people who take the mark of the beast. None of those who do so have a second chance to receive salvation from the Lord. God already gave them the chances they needed. They had the 144,000 Jewish evangelist preaching the gospel during the first half of the Tribulation period and then the angel proclaimed it the everlasting Gospel one more time. This was the last chance.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE OPPORTUNITY OF SALVATION WILL BE AVAILABLE TO ALL AS LONG AS THEY ARE WITHOUT THE MARK OF THE BEAST. Once the mark is taken, signifying the acceptance of the Antichrist AS THE ONE TRUE GOD, they reached the point of no return.

Is Such A Persecution Possible?

It is true that the tribal records were lost when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But that does not mean that God lost the tribal records. Remember, the 144,000 Jews are not selected by Jewish authorities in Jerusalem or elsewhere. They have been selected BY GOD.
These 144,000 are not the church, nor are they Gentiles. These are Jews from each tribe.
They are being sealed for Protection from God when He judges the world.
We always must remember that God is not through with the nation of Israel. Yes, they failed in their mission to be a witness nation in the O.T., this will not be the case during the great tribulation period. These 144,000 Jews will preach the Gospel under the most severe circumstances and will bring in the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever known.
Right now, around the world our brothers and sisters are being persecuted for their faith. In all Muslim countries around the world, persecution is intensifying.
In this country, our Christian liberty is being taken away piece by piece. Before we fully understand what is going on, we will be marginalized, denounced, defamed, and decimated by the professing church.
Persecution will be the tool used by God to sift those who outwardly identify with Jesus. Remember, tares are mingled with the wheat. Jesus is giving us a closer look at this process in Matthew 24:10-13.

Revelation Brings Responsibility

Revelation always brings responsibility. What does it mean to walk blameless before the Lord? It is a call for integrity. Abram is to walk before God and to live in the knowledge that the eyes of God are always upon Him. The word translated blameless simply means to be
“single-hearted, sincere, fully devoted to the Lord.”
This is the secret of blameless walk before God: WORSHIP GOD LIKE ABRAM DID. FALL ON YOUR FACE BEFORE HIM AND YIELD TO HIM IN EVERYTHING. Circumcision was not an option, it was an OBLIGATION. Circumcision is the sign, the mark of a person’s relationship to God. Ishmael represents the fleshly things we do for God and it pains us to give up our cherished dreams. Our responsibility is to give up our Ishmael. Ishmael did not get a new name, because he represents the flesh, and the flesh cannot be changed.