And if you look at Revelation 10, verse number 7, it says,
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished.
The title for the sermon this morning is The Mystery of God, The Mystery of God.
So it says that the mystery of God should be finished at the voice of the seventh angel,
and the seventh angel of course has not yet sounded his trumpet.
We've seen trumpets 1 to 6 of God's wrath and trumpet 7 is blown in chapter 11.
And so we have chapter 10 that takes place before the blowing of that trumpet.
But let's start there in verse number 1, it says,
And so the fact that John says that he saw another mighty angel tells us a few things about the heavenly realm.
That the angels that are in heaven have different levels of power or might.
He sees a mighty, another mighty angel. Why is he saying another mighty angel?
Because you may recall in Revelation chapter 9, at the blowing of the fifth trumpet,
we had a baton or a polyon come and open up the Bongos pits and let out those locusts from hell.
And so that's a mighty angel, you know, he's got great power.
We also know that that same angel has the power to take the devil and throw him into the Bongos pit for a thousand years.
So that equates to a mighty angel.
The other angels that we saw in the previous chapter were the four angels that were then leading about these horses,
these horsemen and these horses had, remember, the heads of lions, they were breathing out fire.
And so again, those four angels that were being used by God to slay a third of the population also are mighty angels.
And then after we've seen those mighty angels, then John says he saw another mighty angel come down from heaven.
And you know, this angel is described with a rainbow upon his head, a cloud with a cloud,
faces that were the sun, so you know, it's hard to look upon his face, his feet as pillars of fire.
You know that description there that his feet as pillars of fire remind me of quite similar to how John saw Jesus Christ in chapter 1.
You may recall that, I'll just read it to you, it says in Revelation 1.14,
And so we see a very similar thing with the legs, with the feet, this angel has feet as pillars of fire.
And of course, this speaks about the angel turning on its glory.
We know that angels can appear humanoid as it were, but there are times when the glory is shown,
and it's hard to look upon these heavenly hosts, it's hard to look upon God when the glory is turned on.
And so of course, this is a reference to a mighty angel.
And if you can keep your finger there, come with me to Daniel chapter 10.
Another angel that we're very familiar with in the Bible,
probably the most familiar angel with one of the highest positions in the heavenly realm is Michael the Archangel.
Wouldn't you say that's probably, you know, a very common one that we're very familiar with,
because Michael the Archangel is mentioned many times.
The fact that he's the archangel speaks of him having authority over other angel beings.
But I want to show you here in Daniel chapter 10, verse number 13,
Daniel chapter 10, verse number 13, you may recall this story when Daniel is praying,
and then an angel comes to him, but he was being withstood by the prince of Persia.
It says in Daniel 10, 13, Daniel 10, 13,
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days,
but lo Michael, now Michael who knows the archangel says, yeah, but look at this,
but lo Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
So the angel that has been sent to Daniel to answer his prayers has been withstood by the prince of the kingdom of Persia,
and of course that's speaking of the spiritual realm,
but Michael, one of the princes, one of the chief princes had the power to free him from that conflict.
So you can see that angels have different levels of power, and Michael the Archangel is referred to as one of the chief princes,
and so this might very well be, it might very well be that Abaddon or Apollyon is another one of these chief princes,
and so we have a different level of structure in the kingdom of the heavenly realm.
Now, let's go back to Revelation chapter 10, verse number 2, Revelation chapter 10 and verse number 2.
Now this angel, it says in verse number 2, it says,
And he had in his hand a little book open, and set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.
So this angel has one foot in the sea, another foot on dry land,
and I'm going to give you my thoughts around this in a moment, but the fact that he's got a little book in his hand,
that little book in his hand are the words of God, and I'm going to prove that to you a little bit shortly,
that that book in his hands are the words of God, okay.
Now what does this angel say in verse number 3?
And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roared, and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
So this angel says something very loud, and to John's ears, it's like he heard seven thunders.
Now look, yesterday there was a massive storm. I heard quite a thunder.
I sent one of them to you guys on the church chat, but following that one, there was one even louder.
I mean it just shook the house everywhere. It was a super, like you know when lightning strikes just so close to your house.
I'm sure you've all experienced just how loud, how massive that sound is.
Can you imagine like the angel speaks in like seven thunders, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And so that's the power and the might that this angel has, as he's speaking something,
and John you know has the honour of hearing those words.
He also describes it as when a lion roared. I mean I'm not sure, I mean I've heard lions roar,
but I think being the presence of a lion, and hearing a lion roar in your face, I think would be quite a sound as well.
Now it says in verse number four, now when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write.
So John understood, like it's like thunder, but he comprehended the words that the angel spoke. Does that make sense?
To the fact that he goes okay, I guess God wants me to write these words, okay.
But then it says here, and I heard a voice from heaven, so this is not the voice of the angel, I believe this is the voice of God,
okay, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
So it's about to write, okay, okay, yep, those seven thunders, I'm going to write those things, then God from heaven says look, don't write those things.
Now you might ask the question, I've asked the question, I've read through the book of Revelation, then what was the point of this story?
Like what's the point of this angel and this thundering, like why would you write that and not tell us what that's all about?
Like it almost feels like, I guess when you're looking at a very surface entry level, it might seem like well that was kind of a waste of a story.
Look, there's nothing in the Bible that's a waste, I'll tell you that, there's nothing.
There's several lessons that we can learn from this, but before I get to the lessons, can you keep your finger there,
and come to me to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians please, because this is not the only time something like this takes place in the Bible.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 please, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, we also have a story when the Apostle Paul,
I believe he goes to heaven, he speaks of this person in heaven in the third person, and so some people believe that it's not Paul, but I believe that it's strong that it is Paul.
And I'll explain to you why I believe it's Paul, but in verse number 1, 2 Corinthians 12 verse 1, he says,
It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. The word expedient means profitable.
He says look, it is not profitable for me to glory, like it's doubtless, there's no point of me glorying.
It's like the fact that God does great things for us, he gives us great gifts, he's given us salvation.
We really should not glory in our flesh, we're there to glory of Christ.
And then the concern about him glorying is this, he goes, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
So God, you know, in his infinite wisdom, gave the Apostle Paul certain visions, certain revelations, in order for him to write, obviously, most of the New Testament books of the Bible.
And he says look, it's not worth me glorying about that though, okay, because it's not, like if you keep reading through the chapter, which I don't have time to go through the whole chapter right now,
he's concerned about being lifted up in pride, you know, and I've been chosen by God to defend these words,
and so he doesn't want to, he thinks, look, it's not profitable to glory about such things.
And so because of that, he then gives this story in verse number two, and I believe he's speaking in the third person, to not glory in the flesh, okay.
In verse number two, he says, I knew a man in Christ, so this is a man that he saved, above 14 years ago.
Then he says, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such an one caught up to the third heaven.
So again, this man was caught up into the third heaven.
Now, I believe that's Paul, but it's the spiritual man of Paul being caught up.
Like he's not glorying in the flesh, but he does glory in the new man being caught up in heaven.
We'll look at this later on.
He says in verse number three, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth,
how he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
He says, look, he was caught up in the spirits, in the third heaven, and he heard words, but he says, these words, they're unspeakable.
He says, look, it is unlawful, it is not lawful for a man to utter.
So when he's walking the earth, like he's been given all these revelations and visions, there's something that he can add.
There are more words that he's heard from God, but it's not lawful.
Meaning that God told him, look, don't say, don't write the words that you heard in heaven.
Not only is it unlawful to say those words, because God told him not to, it would be against God.
What is sin? Sin is a transgression of the law.
So if God would have told Paul, don't say those words, then by saying those words, he would be transgression of the law.
But even if he attempted to say the words that he heard in heaven, he says they're unspeakable.
Like, I can't even get them out of my mouth.
I mean, it kind of paints the picture of the greatness and the holiness of the spiritual realm in heaven, in the presence of God,
and of course, the nature of man on this earth, that there are words that you can hear and comprehend,
but you can't even get them out of your mouth.
And so what we learn by looking at these two passages that, you know, thank God for the Bible that we do have.
God's given us his canon of scripture, 66 books of the Bible.
But what we see here is that the Bible is not an accident.
It's not like, did God intend to say more or did he intend to say less?
God is very specific about what he wants said, what he wants written and what he doesn't want written.
And so the Bible is not some accident.
Like what we saw in Revelation 10, we can't turn around and say, well, that's redundant.
What's the point of that story? No, no.
Everything is there for a reason.
There is a lesson to be learnt according to God's word.
But here's the other thing that we learn.
There are other words that God wants to say.
There are other things that he wants to teach us and guide us in.
But now is not the time.
That time is in the future.
That time is in the presence of our Lord God.
He has much more to say to us.
Unspeakable words.
Words that cannot be processed or understood on this earth.
God has more to say to us when we get to heaven.
So, considering all these things.
If we understand the Bible as being very specific to what God wants,
then everything in scripture is for our profit.
Everything in scripture is for our benefit.
And we may not be able to grasp it today, why that's our benefit, why that's profitable,
but sometime in your life, as you continue to walk with the Lord and read your Bible,
he's going to reveal more and more truths to you.
And so what this teaches me, brethren, and you guys know that I'm really like this as a pastor,
we need to give attention.
We need to put our focus on the things that are written.
Not on the things that are not written.
There might be other truths that are not written,
but it's not for us to know at this point in time.
And one of the things about going through the book of Revelation,
or going through end times teaching,
is the temptation to start teaching things that God never wrote.
To go down the path of speculation and ideas.
And again, some of these speculation and thoughts and ideas are fine in just an everyday informal conversations.
But behind the pulpit, it doesn't belong there.
Behind the pulpit, we come to hear what is written by God.
We come to hear what is written by God.
Remember that time when Jesus Christ was walking through the field and, you know, they didn't wash their hands,
but they ate from the wheat, you know.
And the Pharisees came and said,
Oh, look, what you've done is unclean, you're meant to wash your hands.
What does Jesus say to those Pharisees?
Have ye not read?
He goes, Pharisees, you'd be doing much better if you just read the Bible
and believed what the Bible said than coming up with your own ideas,
coming up with your own traditions, coming up with your own laws.
And the Pharisees did that, but you know, pastors, Baptist pastors, Christian pastors do the same.
And I don't want to be that kind of pastor.
Like, what's the point of me speculating?
There's a chance it's a lie, and I'll be teaching my people lies.
Or when I do speculate, or I do have some thoughts, I want to make it very clear that those are my thoughts,
and those are not God's words.
Okay, we need to be careful not to mix the wisdom of man and the words of God.
The wisdom of man is inferior.
The wisdom of man is inferior to the foolishness of God, and God has no foolishness.
Let me give you an idea of what I mean by this.
And if you've asked this question, I don't hate you or anything like that, I promise.
But one of the questions that always comes up about the end times,
what if believers take the mark of the beast?
Okay, where?
Where, in God's word, does it say believers will take the mark of the beast?
Where in the Bible does it say believers will be tempted to take the mark of the beast?
Where?
You know why people ask those questions?
Because they've seen too much TV.
They've watched too many movies, end time movies.
They've seen the Left Behind and the, what's the one in the 70s?
There's one in the 70s about some girl who's running away
because the antichrist and his army are hunting her down to give her the mark of the beast,
and she doesn't want it, but they hunt her down, they force her,
they tie her to a hospital chair, and then they give her the mark of the beast.
Thief in the Night, if I got the story right.
I'm sorry if that's, I don't know, it's been a long time since I watched that.
I was a little kid, kind of gave me the fright.
You know, those movies start implementing thoughts into your mind.
Oh man, in the end times, you know, we're going to be running away from the antichrist
because he's trying to give us the mark of the beast.
Rubbish. It's nowhere in the Bible.
Why don't we give attention to the things that the Bible says?
Have ye not read? Not have ye watched, okay?
Have ye not read?
Look, the antichrist has no desire to give us the mark of the beast.
He wants to kill God's people.
Look, we're not going to go hungry. That's God's business.
To take care of our physical needs.
We're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Our desire as God's people is to preach the gospel.
Not to hide from the mark of the beast.
But it's that kind of nonsense that I despise about the end times.
And then, well this is how we're going to escape.
And this is how they're going to implement the mark on believers.
At that point, you're just making up stories and fables, imaginations.
That's what we can learn from this chapter.
There are things that God wants us to know and there are things that He doesn't want us to know.
Look, obviously what we need to know is all sufficient to get us through life.
And if we're that generation to go through great tribulation,
it's all sufficient to get us to go through great tribulation.
One of my pastor friends once said to me,
the reason I don't believe we're going to go through great tribulation
is because God did not give us any instructions of how to go through great tribulation.
Like that period of time.
It's like, what do you mean?
This whole book is instructions.
Like what else do you, like keep going to church,
keep praying, keep reading the Bible, keep winning souls.
What else do you think we're going to be doing?
Or how to avoid death?
We're all going to die even if we don't go through great tribulation.
You can't stop death.
That's just a reality of life.
That's a process that everybody has to go through unless you're blessed enough to make it to the rapture.
So God doesn't need to give us additional instructions.
There are some additional instructions like fleeing persecution.
But the fleeing persecution is not to run away from the mark of the beast.
Fleeing persecution is for the purpose of preaching the gospel to a place that will receive the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ.
You know, ever since I've been going through the book of Revelation,
I'm getting a lot of comments and emails.
People always want to challenge your view on the end times.
I don't know if people know if people mean well or they want to advertise.
Like one guy is trying to promote his YouTube channel.
In the past you've got that wrong.
Come and watch my channel and you'll have all the right answers or something like that.
You know, there's always these challenges.
I had one guy who challenged me about, you know,
the rapture is pre-tribulational and all this great tribulation is for Jews only and all this kind of stuff.
Because the church age is over.
And I asked him, can you just show me one Bible verse that says the church age is over.
When I can show you a verse that the church will be throughout all ages.
And you know his answer? I'll read the answer.
This is what he wrote because I don't want to misquote him.
But this is what he wrote.
He says, you need to learn to understand the Bible, not just quote it.
So quoting the Bible and believing what is quoted is not enough.
You need to understand.
You need to go to me.
You need to go to Bible college.
You need to read C.I. Schofield's notes and you've got to, you know, understand John Nelson Darby
and you need to study dispensationalism.
And yet I've done all that and it's nonsense.
It's rubbish.
It's not built on have ye not read.
It's built on imaginations and fables and the wisdom of man.
Brethren, when you build your doctrines, trust God's word, he quoted it for a reason.
And then you believe what he quoted.
Yes, I believe that, Lord.
Look, other things that I don't fully understand in the Bible, other things in Revelation that I don't fully understand.
Of course.
But I'm going to believe it.
I may not understand it, but I believe what God told us.
And Lord willing, one day he will reveal all that to me.
Or to my brother-in-law here and you guys can share it with me.
You know, how you understand those passages.
But the idea there is you can't just trust what Jesus said in the Bible.
You've got to understand it through the lens of a creation of man.
At that point, brethren, you know, you need to remove yourself from that situation.
And just get back to the reading of God's word.
OK, so if there's anything going to take away from this angel and the seven thunders that were not to be written,
is God is very specific about what he wants written and what he doesn't want written.
And build your faith and trust on what is clearly written and put your faith and belief on that.
OK, please.
If you have ideas and look, it's hard because this, we are like that.
We are pro, like I like stories.
I like reading other stories, books, fiction.
I like stories in general.
But I don't mind fables.
As long as fables are identified as fables, I'm OK with that imaginary world.
But don't add fables to God's word.
Just leave it as it is.
OK, and I'm not going to split and divide and argue about speculation.
No, no, let's make sure we build our doctrines on what the Bible clearly says.
OK, back to Revelation chapter 10, if you haven't, if you've moved away.
Verse number five, he says,
And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever, so he's swearing by God,
who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are,
and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.
So he swears that there will be no more time.
Now what does that mean?
Well notice at the end of verse number six you've got a semicolon.
So the sentence has not finished.
Many times in the King James Bible, if you don't understand what is being referenced
and you see a semicolon, keep reading because what you continue to read
provides the detail of what it means for there to be, in this case, time no longer.
In verse number seven it says,
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,
Let's stop there for a moment.
Has the seventh angel begun to sound yet?
No.
Okay?
Because it says but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound.
So he's not sounded yet, as far as this chronology that we're up to.
It says,
The mystery of God should be finished.
Alright.
So when we see that there should be time no longer, that equates to the mystery of God should be finished.
And he have declared, as he have declared to his servants the prophets.
So this teaching is also found in other writings of the prophets.
Does that make sense?
Okay?
So time no longer means when the mystery of God should be finished.
And as I said, the title of the sermon, this one is the mystery of God.
Okay?
Now we are going to come back to this thought toward the end of the sermon.
So just keep that in mind.
Okay?
Keep those things in mind.
Time no longer, the mystery of God should be finished.
I'll explain this toward the end of the sermon.
Let's continue in verse number seven.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,
Oh, I read that.
I read it.
Sorry.
Verse number eight, verse number eight.
And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again.
So God speaks to John again and said,
Go and take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel,
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
And I went unto the angel and said unto him,
Give me the little book.
And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up,
and it was in my mouth sweet as honey.
And as soon as I had eaten, my belly was bitter.
Now, again, keep this all in mind.
The body of John is on the Isle of Patmos.
He's in the spirits in heaven.
He's receiving all these visions and revelation in the spirits.
So he did not physically eat a book.
He spiritually ate the book.
He spiritually ate this book that the angel had.
And in his spiritual mouth, if you want to call it that,
this he goes, wow, this tastes sweet as honey. Yum!
But then when he got to his belly,
it kind of reminds me of McDonald's.
This is better than McDonald's though.
McDonald's is not as good as honey, but the idea,
like sometimes you get those cravings,
and you kind of want that junk food or KFC, whatever it is, right?
You kind of want it. You go, man, that's going to taste so good.
But then you eat it, and you're like, oh, why did I do that?
Why did I do that?
That's kind of the picture that I get of this book.
I said to you that these words are the words of God.
And keep your finger there.
Come with me to the book of Ezekiel.
I'll just show you why that is.
Come with me to Ezekiel chapter 2 in the Old Testament.
Ezekiel chapter 2.
Because this is not the first time in the Bible
that someone, a prophet, has to eat a book that tastes like honey, okay?
I'll show you Ezekiel chapter 2, verse number 7.
The reason I'm reading through Ezekiel is just to show you
that these are God's words, okay?
These are God's words.
Ezekiel chapter 2, verse number 7.
Now, the beginning of the book of Ezekiel is very similar
to the story of John the Apostle.
In Ezekiel chapter 1, he's caught up again in the Spirit in heaven,
and he's shown the throne of God, and chapter 2 continues.
He's still in the throne of God in the Spirit there.
And then God says these words to Ezekiel in verse number 7.
And thou shall speak my words unto them.
So God is saying to Ezekiel, these are my words.
And this is what you're going to speak to the nation of Judah.
He says, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear,
for they are most rebellious.
But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee,
be not thou rebellious like the rebellious house,
open thy mouth and eat that I give thee.
And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me,
and lo, a roll of a book was therein,
and it spread it before me, and it was written within and without,
and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and woe.
So what's written in this roll?
Lamentations, mourning and woe.
This isn't a positive message that he sees.
That's why to John it was all bitter once he hit the belly.
It's not always good news in God's Word.
There's a lot of judgments.
There's a reality of hell.
There's a reality of God's chastisement on rebellious people.
There's a lot of things in the Bible that doesn't sit well with our flesh.
Doesn't sit well with our belly.
But then if you keep going in chapter 3, Ezekiel 3,
Ezekiel 3 verse 1,
Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest,
eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll.
He caused me.
It's mornings, lamentations, it's woe.
It's like being forced to eat this roll.
So it tastes great in the mouth.
But again the reality, it upsets the belly.
You know, I know that for those that are saved, probably all of you,
you love coming to church because you just want to hear God's Word.
But that part of you is the new man.
That part of you is the spirit.
When you're challenged or your pride gets affected,
or you know a sin that you love is touched upon,
and you get offended and a couple of your pastors said that,
that's your flesh.
That's the bitterness.
Oh man, I didn't want to hear that today.
I didn't want to hear this message today.
But in the new man, you know you love it.
And that's the reality of God's Word.
I love God's Word. I love it.
I think it's so much wisdom, so much knowledge, so much power.
It's like a mirror. When I read this book, all I see is me.
When I see the failings of men and the weakness of men, all I see is me.
Like I'm not the kind of guy that reads this and go,
oh man, that man failed. What a loser.
No, I look at that and go, well, that's me or that could be me
and I better be careful.
It's because I'm made of the same flesh and blood as these people.
I mean, you think you're not.
Thanks God for the new man that we have within us.
Man, without that new man, we'd be all over the place.
But I want to show you that the fact that John 8, this book,
and it was sweet to the mouth and bitter to the belly,
it's a reference to God's Word.
And if you can come with me to another passage, come with me to Psalm 119.
Come with me to Psalm 119.
Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 and verse number 103.
Verse number 103 of Psalm 119.
Look what it says there.
It says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste,
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.
Look, some of you guys made a move from the other side of Australia.
Some of you guys have made recent moves from Asia.
Why?
You say, look, there's a church preaching honey.
There's a church preaching something that is sweet to my soul,
something that is sweet to my spirit.
Even though it might cause bitterness from time to time.
But I love the taste of God's Word in my mouth.
And you say, you know what?
I'm going all the way to the Sunshine Coast to eat some of that honey.
That's reality.
That's why you're here.
I know you did not come for this man.
I've got nothing to offer you.
I'm sorry.
I am nothing, okay?
But God's Word is everything.
God's Word is why I'm here.
God's Word is why I'm preaching behind this pulpit.
God's Word is why I'm pastoring the church.
I'll read to you another passage.
You don't need to turn there.
Psalm 19 verse 10.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yea, than much fine gold,
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Again, a reference to God's Word.
And so God's Word is honey.
It's sweet.
It's delicious.
And, you know, usually during Christmas,
there's a lot of sweets and desserts and things that are nice to the taste.
Well, those things that are nice to the taste,
like my kids, they love.
Someone gave us, you know, chopper chops.
I don't know who it was.
But we had a lot of sweets, cookies,
and we had a gingerbread house given to us.
Like my kids love sweets.
And we know it's not really good for their physical body.
But look, God's Word is sweet,
but it's good for your spiritual body.
It's very good for you.
It's nourishing.
It gives you all the nutrients you need to live a Godly life.
So with that in mind, understanding that, you know,
the Apostle John is eating God's Word,
let's go back to Revelation chapter 10 and verse 11.
Revelation chapter 10, verse 11.
This is why he consumed that book.
He's been given additional words of God.
Because what we saw earlier about the mystery of God,
we're coming to the end of this period.
The mystery of God should be finished.
That there should be time no longer.
We're coming to the end of that seven year period,
or Daniel's 70th week.
And as we're coming toward the end of that period,
the angel, you know, by the instruction of God,
gives these additional words to John to consume.
And then once he's consumed these words,
it says in verse 11,
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again,
before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
God says, John, I'm not through with you.
We are coming to the end of the wrath of God.
We are coming to the end of that seven year period.
Because we've got the seventh trumpet to sound,
which is the last trumpet before Jesus Christ rules and reigns for 1000 years.
Because obviously, once Christ comes,
the world can be completely different that point in time.
But we're coming to the end of the world as we know it.
Okay, before Christ puts his feet on soil.
And so he's given these words once again.
And the reason this is important is because
in chapter 11 is when we get the seventh trumpet blown.
At the end of chapter 11,
the Bible says that the kingdoms of the earth
are become the kingdoms of Christ.
So Christ starts his millennial reign.
At the end of chapter 11.
But then we get to chapter 12.
And we're back to the birth of Christ.
We're back to the retelling of the entire seven years all over again.
Why?
Because God has given John additional words to prophesy again.
He's going to go through that process again.
And the fact that it says before many peoples, nations, tongues and kings
is just the fact that God's Word has been published in every nation.
Every king has read this word.
The King James authorised the translation into English.
Okay, and before many tongues.
Hey, we're preaching God's Word in English.
Hey, Sunday this week there's going to be
the Word of God being preached in every language in this world.
And so John will be used for this task
to do a retelling from the beginning of chapter 12
of those seven years to come once again.
But let's go back to verses 6 and 7.
Let's go back to 6 and 7.
Where we saw that time will be no longer
referring to the mystery of God being finished.
Which also speaks of the beginning of the sand of the trumpet of the seven angels.
So we know that part needs to take place as well.
With the sand of the seventh trumpet.
Now, in order to understand what we're reading here
we need to creep into chapter 11.
Okay, I know this is chapter 10
but to understand we need to creep into a little bit into chapter 11.
So let's go to Revelation 11 and verse number 1.
Revelation 11 verse number 1.
It says,
And there was given me, that's to John,
a reed like unto a rod,
and the angel stood, the angel,
that's the same angel with one foot in the sea
and one foot on the earth,
the same angel that had a little book in his hand,
that gave it to John to eat.
So now it says,
The angel stood saying, Arise,
and measure the temple of God,
and the altar,
and them that worship therein,
will touch upon the temple next week, okay.
But it says here,
But the court which is without the temple leave out,
and measure it not.
Now this is the part that's important.
For it is given unto the Gentiles,
and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months.
Forty two months is what?
Three and a half years.
We know we're coming to the end
but it would be no longer in the sense that
that forty two months is coming to an end.
That second half of the seven years,
three and a half years is coming to an end.
And you need to understand the holy city here
is being trodden under the foot of the Gentiles
for forty two months, okay.
Now what is the holy city?
Look, any references to the holy city in the Bible
is always Jerusalem.
Always, without a shadow of a doubt.
Okay, always.
Old Testament, New Testament,
it's always either earthly Jerusalem
or other passages in the book of Revelation,
also heavenly Jerusalem.
But it's always Jerusalem.
And the fact that this Jerusalem is being trodden
under the foot of the Gentiles
speaks of the fact that this is earthly Jerusalem
at this point in time.
Okay, and I'll prove that further
that that is earthly Jerusalem.
So this time is coming to an end.
This mystery of God is being fulfilled.
Say, what is this mystery?
What is coming to an end?
What is this all about?
Well, come with me to Matthew 24 now.
Come with me to Matthew 24.
I need you to,
I know it's toward the end of the sermon
and maybe a little bit tired, okay,
but I need you to kind of like just
switch another gear please.
Just find turbo in your brain
and just get ready for a bit of a Bible study.
Okay, come with me to Matthew 24.
The reason I'm going to Matthew 24
is for the Olivet Discourse.
We've gone through it a few times, okay.
And the reason I'm going to Matthew 24
is to get you to Luke 21, okay.
But first, Matthew 24 verse number 15.
Now, I can't rehash everything
that we've gone over.
Like if there's anything here
that you feel like I didn't understand that,
it's probably because I've covered that
in previous sermons, okay.
But in Matthew 24, 15,
we have the beginning of sorrows,
then we come to the middle
or the midst of the week.
So the first three and a half years are over.
Then begins Great Tribulation.
And Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 24, 15.
When ye therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation.
I want you to remember that word
desolation for a minute, okay.
It says, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place,
who so readeth, let him understand.
Now, I've proven this before,
you go back to the book of Revelation,
we know that period
that Jesus Christ is speaking about
is in the midst of the week.
So there's another three and a half years to go
or forty and two months, okay.
Now the word desolation, if you don't know,
means completely empty
or completely destroyed, okay.
Desolation is about to take place
in Jerusalem at the beginning of Great Tribulation.
Because if you drop down,
look at verse number 16.
So when this abomination of desolation is set up,
it says in verse number 16,
then let them which be in Judea
flee into the mountains.
Why?
Because you saw in the book of Revelation
that the holy city is trodden
under the foot of Gentiles for forty and two months.
There's going to be,
there's going to be,
as far as Great Tribulation goes,
the greatest persecution,
the greatest destruction,
the greatest desolation
is going to be in Judea
and of course in Jerusalem.
There's going to be Great Tribulation
across the whole world, don't get me wrong.
But the greatest tribulation
is going to be in that point in time, okay.
Now, I want you to read that
to get to Luke 21.
Come with me to Luke 21 please.
Which is a parallel passage to Matthew 24.
It's the same teaching
but it has some additional things
that I want you to see here
in Luke 21 and verse number 20.
Luke 21 and verse number 20 please.
This is the same teaching,
again, additional details, okay.
Luke 21, 20.
The Bible reads,
And when ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies,
then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
There's the word desolation again.
What's nigh?
Complete destruction,
complete emptiness of Jerusalem.
Okay, so when does that take place?
We'll look at verse number 21.
Then let them which are in Judea
lead to the mountains.
You see how it's the same teaching in Matthew 24.
So we know this begins at the midpoint
when the great tribulation begins.
It says,
And let them which are in the midst of it
depart out,
and let not them which are in the countries
enter their into.
God is saying,
get out of there.
Like if you live in Judea during this time,
I mean, who's going to listen
to the instructions of Jesus?
Believers.
Look, there are believers in every nation
and there are going to be believers in Judea
at the time of great tribulation.
From what I understand,
there are believers in Palestine
and from what I understand,
there are believers in Israel,
even in modern day Israel,
modern day Palestine today.
So for those people that are saved
and if they were to go through this period,
God's instruction is get out of there
because desolation is nigh.
Destruction is nigh.
And for those that are from other places,
don't even go there.
Just avoid Jerusalem, Judea completely.
Look at verse number 22.
This is why.
For these be the days of vengeance,
that all things which are written
may be fulfilled.
Remember how it said
the mystery of God being fulfilled?
Well, this begins
for that which is written
that those things will be fulfilled.
And again, we'll touch upon all this in a moment.
I hope I can sort of tie this all up together for you
as we keep going.
Verse number 23.
But woe unto them that are with child
and to them that give suck in those days.
For there shall be great distress in the land
and wrath upon this people.
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword
and shall be led away captive into all nations.
Look at this.
And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Remember it said the mystery of God being fulfilled?
The times of the Gentiles have to be fulfilled.
This mystery has to be fulfilled.
This mystery of God has to be fulfilled.
But you can see here,
we're definitely talking about earthly Jerusalem
being trodden under the foot of the Gentiles,
armies surrounding Jerusalem.
I believe that to be the armies of the Antichrist.
Why would the Antichrist want control in Jerusalem?
Because remember the Antichrist
is in the place of Christ.
He wants to pretend to be Jesus.
And we know that,
and this is prophesied many times in the Old Testament,
when Christ does establish his kingdom,
he's going to be ruling from Zion.
He's going to be ruling from Jerusalem.
And the Antichrist who wants to be in the place of Christ
will do that too.
But he does it with destructive power.
He brings desolation, destruction and emptiness on the city.
And you can see that it's trodden down of the Gentiles.
The timeframe of that is given to us in Revelation,
40 and two months, three and a half years.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Now, we saw also in Revelation 10,
that it's referred to as the mystery of God.
Remember that reference?
The mystery of God.
Come with me to another passage now.
Come with me to Romans 11.
Romans 11 please, verse number 25.
Romans 11, 25.
And you're going to be very familiar
with these verses that we're about to read.
Romans 11, 25.
Paul writes these words.
Look, the reason we're looking at all these other passages,
all right, that Matthew wrote, that Luke wrote,
that Paul wrote, okay?
We can even go back to Daniel if we want.
I just don't have time for that.
But when we looked at Revelation,
this mystery was written by the prophets already.
Like, this is not something that is brand new.
It's something that we can discover, you know,
in the writings of the other preachers, in the other prophets.
And so in Romans 11, 25, it says this.
For I would not, brethren,
that ye should be ignorant of this mystery.
Revelation has it as the mystery of God.
So Paul says, look, I don't want you to be ignorant.
I don't want this mystery to go over your head,
is what Paul is saying, okay?
Lest ye should be wise in your own conceits.
Conceits is kind of like the idea of pride.
You know, we can be wise in our pride.
Like, we can be a preacher and be proud.
Look at my wisdom that I've discovered.
No, no, no.
I don't want that kind of wisdom, okay?
That's why, again, we want out the wisdom
that we can read according to God's Word.
It says here, that blindness in part is happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
Now, a lot of churches that I've gone to,
because of dispensationalism,
not because some are naturally concluded by reading that passage,
will say, will see, Christ rejecting modern day Israel,
they're all going to get saved the moment the last Gentile gets saved.
That's what I mean, the fullness of the Gentiles.
Like, God's like, okay, that's it.
No more Gentiles can be saved.
I'm like, what about the millennium?
Anyway, like, that's what they think, right?
It's like, what's the last Gentile?
Because they call it the Gentile New Testament Church.
I don't know why.
Because the New Testament Church was started by Jews,
as far as I'm aware.
They were all early day Jews
and then the Gentiles started forming their churches.
The very first churches and the very first pastors were all Jews.
Were the disciples, were the apostles of Jesus Christ.
That side of those churches.
But they'll call it the New Testament Gentile Church.
When the last person gets saved, then all Israel, you know, will be saved.
Because it continues in verse number 26.
For so all Israel shall be saved.
As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer
which shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
The reason we know this is a future reference,
though it's true for today as well, okay,
is because the Deliverer is coming out of Zion.
Now when Jesus came to this earth the first time,
he was born in Bethlehem.
He was known as Jesus of Nazareth.
He spent most of his time in Galilee.
Jesus was not known as Jesus from Zion.
Like he wasn't from Jerusalem in that sense of the word, okay.
But as his second coming, he will establish his kingdom in Zion.
He will establish his kingdom in Jerusalem.
And so this is why we also know this is a future reference
where the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
Or when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.
Or when Jerusalem will be trodden under the foot of Gentiles for forty and two months,
bringing great desolation on Jerusalem.
I hope you're starting to understand how these are all connected.
Because when you think about if there's a fullness of the Gentiles,
like if there's a fullness of something, you'd say well that's been fulfilled.
Or if something's been fulfilled, we've reached its fullness.
We've come to a point where now we can say all Israel shall be saved out of Zion.
They shall come out of Zion the Deliverer.
Jesus Christ ruling from Israel.
Now let me put this all together for you in a moment.
Come with me to Luke 22.
Luke 22.
So what is this mystery?
Paul says I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery.
The angel says, hey this is the mystery of God.
It's going to be fulfilled.
Again coming toward the end of the sanding of the seventh trumpet.
We know that Jerusalem has been trodden under the foot of man for forty two months.
We're coming to the end of God pouring out his wrath.
God is done pouring out his wrath.
What's the next thing on the agenda?
The reign of Christ.
Christ reigning from Zion, from Jerusalem for a thousand years.
Is Romans 11 what we covered, is that about modern day Christ rejecting Jews?
Or is it in its fulfillment a reference to Israel in the millennial reign of Christ?
Because they're not the same thing.
And I'll show you in a moment why they're not the same thing.
If you're there in Luke 22 verse 29.
Luke 22 verse 29.
Jesus is speaking to his apostles or his disciples, twelve disciples.
He says in Luke 22 29.
When does Christ begin ruling his kingdom?
That thousand year period after God pours out his wrath.
What's going to happen in that kingdom?
Verse number 30.
In Israel, in Christ's kingdom there's going to be a new set of twelve tribes in Israel.
You say well that's the Christ rejecting Jews.
They see Christ coming on a white horse and they all get saved.
No I'm sorry the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
The way anybody gets saved is not some miracle in the sky.
It's by hearing the words of God and putting their faith and trust on what they heard.
On the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That's the only thing that gets anybody saved.
In fact, in Christ's first coming, he performed miracles and people saw miracles and they still refused to believe on him.
Seeing a miracle in the sky does not guarantee an entire nation that's rejected Christ and most likely have taken the mark of the beast are all of a sudden automatically going to get saved.
I've never heard of such a thing.
Salvation is a personal decision of you placing your faith in the finished work of Christ.
But we know that all Israel shall be saved.
And we know that there's going to be twelve tribes of Israel in the kingdom of Christ.
And those apostles are going to have the honor of being in charge of those twelve tribes.
They're going to rule over those twelve tribes. What an honor.
From like fishermen to like now being the boss of one of those tribes.
That's pretty awesome.
Pretty great reward that apostles are going to get in the millennial reign of Christ.
So how can we apply what we read in Romans 11?
Come with me to another passage.
Come with me to Matthew 19.
This is the answer to everything.
Come with me to Matthew 19.
Matthew 19 please.
Here's the answer to all this stuff.
Matthew 19.
I've already taught in this in the past that there is an Israel of God.
Where there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
Where you are a Jew inwardly by the circumcision of the heart.
And so if you want to take the approach that all Israel shall be saved as in right now that's true.
Because everyone that is of a Jew inwardly of the Israel of God are all saved.
And so there's a reality of that today.
But there is a complete fulfillment of this in the millennium.
Let me give you another example of this.
Just like a parallel example of this.
It's like I am saved today.
100% I'm saved today.
I've put my faith and trust in Jesus.
But doesn't the Bible also say that I'm going to be saved in the future?
Because this body is going to be saved.
This body is going to be regenerated.
This body is going to receive a resurrection.
So there's a truth to that as well.
What about John 3.16?
For whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Is that true today?
Yes.
Is it still true next week?
Yes.
Is it true a year from now?
Of course.
So many times when we read these passages there is a truth today.
There is a fulfillment today.
But there is a greater fulfillment to come especially in light of what we've covered about the millennial reign of Christ.
The mystery of God.
Where time will be no more.
Time as we understand it.
The world as we know it.
Is very different when Christ is on the earth.
And he's got the power over all nations, over all kingdoms.
That's like a completely different system.
A way of living right?
So what are these 12 tribes of Israel in the millennium?
Where all Israel shall be saved.
All Israel shall be saved.
Let's talk about a physical nation right now.
If we look at the modern physical day of Israel right now.
Are they all saved?
No.
What about when Moses at the very birth of the nation.
When they came out of Egypt.
Were they all saved?
No.
Because we know shortly after that the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and his rebellion to hell.
Okay.
Has there ever been a time from a physical nation perspective that all of Israel has been saved?
No.
But there is a reality in the millennial reign of Christ.
That all Israel shall be saved.
And the answer to this is in Matthew 19.
Let's read it carefully.
Matthew 19 27.
Which is a parallel passage to what we read in Luke 22.
But I wanted to show you in Luke 22 that Christ is most definitely speaking of his kingdom.
Okay.
Now in Matthew 19 27.
Then answered Peter and said unto him.
Behold we have forsaken all.
And followed thee.
What shall we have therefore?
He goes Lord we're following you.
We're learning from you.
Like what's the benefit?
What are we going to get out of this Lord?
Verse number 28.
And Jesus said unto them.
Verily I say unto you.
That ye which have followed me.
In the regeneration.
What is this regeneration?
Again we know that when we were saved we had a regeneration in our spirits.
We know that right?
Like I'm regenerated right now in the spirits.
But is my flesh regenerated?
Not yet.
Look what he says.
In the regeneration.
When the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory.
We know this is not heaven.
We know this is his kingdom on the earth.
That's why I read Luke 22 to you before.
Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
So who is this Israel in the millennium?
Twelve tribes.
Who are they?
Those that have followed Jesus in the regeneration.
Those Israelites that have been raptured, that have been resurrected after great tribulation.
They've received their regenerated or resurrected bodies.
These people are saved.
And all of us Gentiles and Jews and whatever you are.
Are going to come back with Christ Jesus and rule for a thousand years.
And every believer from the twelve tribes of Israel that were saved are going to return back.
With Jesus they're going to be divided into twelve tribes once again.
With the apostles of Jesus Christ, the starters of the New Testament church ruling over them, judging over them.
And the entire nation from a physical perspective shall be saved for the very first time from a physical perspective.
When does that take place?
When the fullness of the Gentiles be coming.
At the end of the wrath of God.
That's when the mystery of God is fulfilled.
The mystery of God, all Israel shall be saved.
Even physically.
We know that all Israel are saved spiritually.
I'm not going to deny that truth.
That's a reality of today.
It's a reality of all eternity.
But a reality of a physical nation of twelve tribes being judged by the twelve apostles.
The criteria to meet that is to be regenerated when Christ sits on his kingdom.
So think about that.
In the thousand years, a proper Israel.
Are we going to be part of that Pastor Kevin?
I don't know. Maybe.
I don't know. I'm not going to say what the Bible doesn't say.
But it could be. Because we are the Israel of God.
We are the Jew inwardly, according to the Bible.
It may very well be. But I don't know.
Like it wouldn't surprise me if the kingdom of God is Christ on the earth.
Then he's got his twelve apostles under his authority.
And then maybe the rest of us are answerable to those twelve.
Potentially, I don't know.
I don't know how God's going to break up his political party.
The political realm in the millionaire land of Christ.
Now brethren, the title for the sermon was the mystery of God.
The mystery of God. What is the mystery of God?
That all Israel shall be saved.
Christ rejecting Israel? No.
Anti-Christ following Israel? No.
The saints of old.
There's no difference.
They're going to go into the rapture with the rest of us.
They're going to receive the new resurrected or new regenerated bodies like the rest of us.
And the Israel, once again of the millennium, is one that has trusted Christ as their saviour.
Not one that has rejected Christ.
But still continues to reject Christ today.
The mystery of God. That all Israel shall be saved.
Okay brethren, let's pray.