Well the same faith that we have in this one God who rules heaven and earth, the church in Revelation 15 was worshiping with, Revelation 15 1 through 8. I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, in them the fury of God is completed. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who prevailed over the beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name, standing on the glassy sea, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. But who could not fear you, O LORD, and glorify your name? Because you alone are holy, because all the nations will come and do obeisance before you, because your righteous judgments have been manifested. After these things I looked, and the sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out from the sanctuary came the seven angels, the ones having the seven plagues, They were clothed in pure, bright linen and were girded around the chest with golden belts. Then one of the four living beings gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the fury of God, the one who lives forever and ever. The sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God, from His power, and no one was able to go into the sanctuary until the seven angels' plagues were complete. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. It is our desire to have our lives conform to Your Word rather than seeking to have Your will conform to our will. And so we pray that You would open the eyes of our understanding, that You would guide and direct our thoughts, and that You would continue to receive our worship as we respond to this Your Word. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Revelation chapter 15 is the introduction to the fifth section of seven sections in the book of Revelation, each of which is subdivided into its own seven sections. And it is beautifully structured into a chiasm of an A, B, C, D, E, D, C, B, A kind of a format. If you look in your outlines, you'll see a diagram of that. It's a very simplified one. I've given you a much more complex one in the future, in the past. and I've highlighted the judgment sections in yellow and hopefully that diagram will help you to make a little bit of sense out of what I'm going to be saying as I try to show you how this fits into the overall structure of the book. You'll notice that the C and D sections in the first half parallel the C and D sections in the second half. They're not identical, but they are thematically parallel. And we are now in the second D section, the part of the book that goes backwards in time. So if you look at the dates at the right of that diagram, you'll see, you'll notice that the seals, that's the first C, go from AD 30 to 66. The trumpets, or the first D, pick up where the seals left off, and they go from 66 to 70. And the central part of the chiasm, that's the E section, goes from 80, 70 to 136 when the nation of Israel ceased to exist as a nation in the area of Palestine. And the seven condemnations, well, the dates then for the bulls go backwards from AD 136 to 66, that's the second D section. And then the seven condemnations go further backwards, reaching to AD 30, even though there's two explicitly mentioned forward jumps to AD 70 again, because that's where the major turning point in this book. occurs. And so it gives you just a general idea of the dates, how those dates fit into the chiasm and eventually I'll get a much more detailed dating chart up on the web. Now one of the questions that might come up is if these are parallel is it just a repeat of what we have said before and we're going to see no absolutely it is not. They are not identical. They're not even exactly referring to the same event. So what makes this different from the first D that it parallels, the trumpet judgments? And there are actually a number of things. I'll just mention three. First, there's a reversal in terms of time. Second, where the judgments of the trumpets speak of one third destruction of certain things. These bowls speak of a 100% destruction of the same things, at least on the first bowls that we will look at. And there are a few other differences that show that this is not a pure repeat of the first half of the book. But the main difference is that this section highlights Christ's office of priest. where the seals of chapter 6 and following introduce Christ's prophetic judgments. And you see the theme of prophecy all through that section, including the ending of prophecy. And where the trumpet section introduced us to Christ's kingly judgments, and you see the emphasis of His kingship in that section. Chapters 15 and 16 introduce us to Christ's priestly judgments. And the priestly and the kingly sections are parallel, there are two Ds there, because Christ is the king priest after the order of Melchizedek, and we're gonna be seeing that the prophecies from Psalm 2, that Melchizedek prophetic passage, are very central to both of these D sections. There are a lot of other cool stuff that goes into the structure of the book that I hope to write on at some point, but it would just get too bogged down in a sermon. We won't get into that, but the book is just beautifully, beautifully structured. But I do want to at least show in a cursory fashion that this section shows Christ bringing judgments as a priest. The temple priestly imagery is seen all through this section. For example, Christ is pictured as a sacrificial lamb in verse three. And as a king priest, according to the order of Melchizedek in the remaining verses, verse five points to the temple. the ark of the covenant, the law inside that ark. Verse six has the angels coming out of the temple clothed in pure white linen, which elsewhere in the book is priestly linen. It's the same kind of clothing that Jesus wore as high priest. Verse seven introduces us to the seven golden temple bowls. Now there's one more piece of housekeeping. Let me just remind you of what the purpose for each of the introductory sections, because each of the seven sections has an introductory statement. And those introductory statements were designed to give us huge confidence that Jesus is up to the task. of advancing his kingdom. He's got everything that he needs. For example, in the first C section, that introduction of chapters four and five show the sufficiency of Christ as prophet, the sufficiency of his law word that he gave, and the sufficiency of that law word to judge the nations. And Christ used the whole Bible in that section, the Old Testament, the New Testament, in those covenant lawsuits. So all nations are still subject to God's law, they're still judged by that law. And likewise, in the introduction to the kingly section, we see the church confidently petitioning their king to destroy his enemies. That's chapter eight, verses one through six, and that showcases the faith, the hope, the love that the church has. And then in this introduction, we see the same confidence that this priest king, according to the order of Melchizedek, is going to fulfill Psalm 2. He's going to destroy his enemies with that rod of iron while converting other nations. So it's designed to stir up our faith, our confidence, our worship, our hope in our high priest. Fear is utterly unworthy of a Christian. If the church of the first four centuries could overcome all of their enemies and establish, and we'll see that they did, establish Christianity as the absolute foundation for society, we can do it once again. And so let's finish up this chapter beginning at verse five. Verse five begins with the phrase, after these things. And we shouldn't just hurriedly go over that phrase there. It indicates that verses one through four are what got the ball rolling. They were producing something in the heavenlies. They're producing the bowl judgments of chapter 16. There is a relationship between what the church does and what the angels do. Now in chapter 16, we're going to be seeing that the bowls spell the total defeat of the worst enemy that the church has ever faced or ever will face. And so if the preceding things of verses one through four are the prelude to total victory, we ought to ask, okay, well, what are those preconditions to victory? If we can have those same preconditions today, maybe we can have the same kind of victory. And so let me give you a brief review of verses one through four. Verse one says, and I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, in them the fury of God is completed. And I won't cover every point that we went over, drew from that verse. But that verse shows God cares about the evil that is in this world. In fact, He's far more furious about the lawlessness, for example, of America than we are. We saw second, that the angels were on our side. We saw third, that the word last indicates that the enemies of God, their days are numbered. Their dominance is limited. Humanism will crumble. Verse two says, and I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who prevailed over the beast and over his image and over the number of his name standing on the glassy sea having harps of God. Now this verse shows an incredible worship service that reminds us of more encouraging things. that God is on his throne. Second, that we are more than conquerors, no matter how bad things may appear. Third, while the beast may take our life, he cannot take away our destiny. We've got a destiny in heaven that makes all of the sacrifices on earth totally worthwhile. We see the unity of the church, the love of the church, the joy that they experience in his presence. And so that's the kinds of things that made this worship service so transformational. verses three through four. They sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who could not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? because you alone are holy, because all the nations will come and do obeisance before you, because your righteous judgments have been manifested. So we looked at the kind of new covenant worship that gets past the ceiling, actually reaches the throne of God. Not all worship has the kind of power that this worship service has, and I won't cover all of those points, but worship has a power that only faith can appreciate and appropriate. Faith makes God, in worship, makes God big in our eyes and makes the problems of this world appear as molehills in comparison. So worship not only starts with faith, it elevates our faith. And it enables us to come into total agreement with God's promises that might otherwise seem totally insane, such as the promise affirmed by the persecuted church of small numbers in verse four, where they're saying confidently, because all the nations will come and worship before you. Obeisance, you know, that's just a fancy word, but it's worship. They'll come and worship before you. Now it sure didn't look like all nations were gonna worship at the time that they were singing this, because they were a tiny persecuted minority But you see, faith is driven more by what God has promised will occur than it is by what the newspaper reports is happening. It's God that drives history, not the newspapers. So our God is up to the task of fulfilling the promises of eschatology. And so those first four verses are stirring up the church to have a similar faith, hope, and love in every generation. And when we have that, there is nothing that could not be achieved. It is the presence of those kinds of things in the church that is the prelude to the kind of victory that the church had in the first four centuries. But all of those things were present where? They were present in a worship service. A little old worship service. They were present in the church gathered, which many people despise, but it was in the church gathered. It was the worship itself which seems to have led these angels to be going and doing the angelic warfare that the verses in chapter 16 are gonna highlight. So if you look at this world, If you look at worship with physical eyes, it may seem like it's not a very powerful thing. But faith looks at worship and it sees it shaking the earth. It changes things in our lives. It changes things in the world. Now for purposes of introducing these seven bold judgments, let me illustrate the power that worship has with an incident from King Jehoshaphat's life. I'm gonna read 2 Chronicles 20. Verses 20 through 24, now Jehoshaphat was facing an enormous army, so big that it looked like Israel was going to be annihilated. And he went before the Lord and the prophets assured them, trust in the Lord. And even though it seemed to a person's carnalized to be hopeless, I want you to listen to what faithful Jehoshaphat did. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Now when they began to sing and to praise, and I want you to note that phrase, when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and there were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. No one had escaped." Well, we're going to be seeing that there was a similar thing that happened with the church in AD 132 to 136, and we'll look at those details next week. But Israel Pagan Israel devastated Hadrian's Roman army so thoroughly that he had to conscript boys to fight in the army. It was a massive judgment against Rome. And Hadrian so decimated Israel's army that it ceased to exist as a nation until just, what, this last century. The threat of both Rome and Israel to the church's existence was eliminated for that generation. So in my mind, that's the significance of those words. After these things, it hints that the victory flowed from the worship of a people who had a God given faith, hope, and love. Verse five goes on. After these things, I looked in the sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was open. Now what's the significance of heaven opening up? Well, Heaven opened up at Pentecost, and the church grew like crazy. Heaven opened up at the martyrdom of Stephen, and the church grew like crazy. Heaven opened up at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and through Paul, the church grew like crazy. See, the opening of the temple in heaven is symbolic of the advancement of Christ's redemptive kingdom. Now look at each part of that phrase. The sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. The sanctuary is a word for the inner part of the temple, the holy of holies. This is not the outer temple, this is the naos is the Greek word. This is the inner holy of holies. The outer temple was God's Jehovah's throne room, not throne room, palace, and the sanctuary, or the Naas, was his throne room. And so these angels are once again being sent directly from God's throne room. He is the one who was sending them forth. But because this relates to Christ's priesthood, he puts it in the language of the Mosaic tent, the Mosaic tabernacle, to again establish all of the imagery of priesthood. Now the phrase tabernacle of the testimony can either refer to the whole tabernacle building, and I've got five verses that use that phrase, or could refer to, quote, arc of the testimony, where the law was housed, where the two cherubim were over that. It could be used of either one. The word ark can refer to the whole tabernacle using the figure of speech of a part for a whole. Now dictionaries are actually a little bit frustrated. I've looked through, oh, about a dozen dictionaries of Hebrew and they say they don't really know what the etymology of that word for ark is. There is a number of suggestions, but there is strong evidence that the phrase the Ark of the Testimony is equivalent to this phrase, Tabernacle of the Testimony. But whether you agree with that or not, whether you see it as referring to the whole tabernacle or just to the Ark that housed or tabernacled the Law, either way doesn't matter because it's the Law of God that is being emphasized here. And commentaries are totally agreed that the word testimony refers to the two tables of the Law that Moses put into the Ark of the Covenant, put into the tabernacle. Well, this is hugely significant for the debate on theonomy in the modern church. The way this is worded, it makes it crystal clear that God's throne continues to administer the law of Moses exactly as written, exactly as it was stored in the Ark of the Covenant as the standard for Christ's kingdom. So the two tables of the law were inside the Ark. The whole Old Testament was stored on the side of the Ark. And that law was God's testimony or witness to Israel. So here's the point. The law of God continues to be the standard by which God is going to judge America, by which he is going to judge other nations. If you're going to judge us by that law, well, we ought to bring America back to that law. We ought not to be embarrassed by the law of God. That would be the implication of that phrase. And it really makes sense because where there is no law, there is no kingdom. Kingdom and law always go hand in hand. Where there is no law, there's no sin. Where there is no law, there's no judgment. Where there is no law, there is no need for Christ to even be our priest. And so the law of God continues to be present, and I think that phrase beautifully encapsulates the rule of our priest king. Verse six continues, and out from the sanctuary came the seven angels. Now these are seven more angels who no doubt lead their own angelic armies in battle against the enemies of Christ. And the point is that his throne is not just a throne of grace, it is also a throne of judgment to those who reject his grace. You know, he offers his grace to the world, they trample upon it, then all that's left is His wrath. And angels are many times His instruments of judgment. Now interestingly, Israel is here once again being symbolically treated as if it is Egypt. He's already explicitly called Jerusalem, Egypt, and Sodom in chapter 11, verse 8. And so there's no way you can call the Jerusalem of today the holy city. It's not a holy city. It's Sodom and Egypt as long as it remains outside of Jesus Christ. So it's called Egypt in chapter 11, but here that same concept is hinted at since it receives six of the plagues that God brought against Egypt. And even the use of the word plague would have reminded people, hmm, I wonder if there's some connection with the plagues of Egypt. Just look at the parallels. The first bowl produces sores or boils just like the sixth plague of Egypt did. The second and third bowls turn water to blood just like Egypt's first plague turned water to blood. The sixth bull is connected to demonic frogs sending armies from the Euphrates just like the second plague of Egypt had an invasion of frogs from the Nile River. Seventh bull has hail just as the seventh plague of Egypt had hail. And so Israel is likened to Egypt even in the way that it is judged until it repents It has no favor, only judgment. And later in the book, God calls true believing Jews to leave the synagogue system. It's their own exodus out of spiritual Egypt. Now, these angels wear priestly garments, which shows that they share in Christ's priestly ministry and judgments. It describes them not only as coming out of the Holy of Holies, but it says they were clothed in pure, bright linen, were girded around the chest with golden belts. Now that's identical to the clothing that Jesus wears as our high priest in chapter 1, verse 13. So again, it's reinforcing this priestly imagery. Verse 7, then one of the four living beings gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the fury of God, the one who lives forever and ever." Now the word for bowl, phiale, refers to bowls used to hold the temple incense as well as the blood from the sacrifices. Alan Johnson in his commentary says, it was a ritual bowl used for collecting the blood of sacrifices, Exodus 27 verse 3, Golden bowls seem to be always associated with the temple and he gives all of the scriptures there Now in chapter 5 verse 8 the phial a bowls held incense and that shows the priestly prayers But here they hold blood and fire and judgment and we often think of christ's office of priest as only relating to mercy, you know, we call it a mercy seat, right and that were coming before, but that's a big mistake. Hebrews, which emphasizes the priesthood of Christ, says that when people reject His mercy and His grace, all that is left is wrath and indignation. And if you want to Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. I'll give an illustration of this. This is a fabulous passage that shows the boldness with which we can approach the throne of God. Now I want you to consider that boldness because we're coming to the same mercy seat the same throne of grace that these angels are flying from and bringing devastating judgments. And when you consider the enormity of those judgments, and yet we're approaching that same throne with boldness, it really shows the incredible privilege that we have in God's grace. So Hebrews 10, beginning at verse 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching." Which day? It was the day of judgment against Israel that he had predicted. But the next verses show what happens if we spurn that grace. Verses 26 through 31. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries, and that's literally which is about to devour the adversaries. It's the Greek word mellow, so it's something that's gonna happen very soon. Anyone who was rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So that was prophesying what was about to happen to Israel. And he says, look, if you, under pressure and persecution from the Jews, leave Christianity and go to Israel, all you're facing is judgment. You can't do that. And so again, it's a rebuke to the modern antinomian church which tends to deny Christ's wrath and his judgment. The book of Revelation shows how all three offices of Christ can show mercy or they can show judgment, either one. Now finally, verse eight says, the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one was able to go into the sanctuary until the seven angels' plagues were completed. You can recognize probably that was the exact thing that happened under Moses when he dedicated the tabernacle. That the Spirit of God came down into the tabernacle and filled it so full the priests couldn't stand to be in there, they had to leave. Exactly the same thing happened at the dedication of the temple under Moses. And here it points to the fact no one can bring their own priestly intercession on behalf of Israel or Rome. Now there is controversy with this verse and I want to deal with it. If no one could enter the holy place from the time that John saw this vision until the last bold judgment was experienced, then it seems to contradict historicism, full preterism, partial preterism, premillennialism, dispensationalism, postmillennialism. I mean, basically any view that sees Revelation as dealing with history. It's equally, it's a problem really for everybody. And it's equally a problem if you take this as an absolute exclusion from the Holy of Holies, even in the time sequence between the fulfillments of bowls one through seven, because the book of Revelation elsewhere shows that all through that period of the time sequence, and certainly from the time of John till the last bowl is given, there's angels coming in and out of that Holy of Holies all the time. And not only are they flying in and out, but the saints have access boldly to come before that throne of grace. Here are two alternative explanations that I've seen presented. I've only, my little over, I think it's 101 commentaries, I've only got a couple that take this as literal, that from the time that he saw this vision until the time that the last bowl was poured out, that nobody could access that throne. I just don't think it flies. It contradicts other passages. Here's two alternatives. First, you could say that this fleeing from the temple was something that only occupied a few minutes from the time that John saw the first bowl being poured out in his vision until the time that the last bowl was poured out in his vision, okay? And that seems to be the way Pickering takes it in this translation here because he translates it as completed rather than as fulfilled, and I think that's a possibility. when God's wrath is raised, even those who are holy back away in respect. But the vast majority of omnil, postmil, premil, dispensational, historicist, preterist, idealist commentaries are agreed with me on this next point. They take it to mean that no one can come before God's throne in order to intercede so as to avert the disasters that God has now determined. And that fits the theme of the whole section, which is Christ's priestly judgments. The priesthood had both intercession and cursing as part of its function. So in effect, this verse is saying, hey, it was too late for mercy for these nations. There will be no mercy. You could treat it sort of like the unpardonable sin for nations. Nations can go too far, never be reclaimed. Here's how Albert Barnes words it. The meaning here seems to be that no one would be permitted to enter to make intercession, to turn away his wrath, to divert him from his purpose. That is, the purpose of punishment had been formed and would certainly be executed. The agents or instrumentalities in this fearful work had been now sent forth and they would by no means be recalled. The mercy seat in this respect was inaccessible. And I think that interpretation is correct. Now, it could be a combination of the first two theories. They're really not mutually exclusive, but I think it at least has to mean this symbolically. This is the view taken by Mounts, Beale, Yeats, Crodle, Moses Stewart, David S. Clark, Jay Adams, many, many others. Now, the point is that a nation can get so bad Continue and persist in its repellion for so long that it goes past the point of no return So it's a very serious warning a nation can go past the point of no return. We can't just You know have a who cares attitude about a downward drift within a nation so here here's what happens no matter who prays for that nation from that point on a their prayers are not going to get anywhere because Christ is not going to join his prayers together with their prayers. And if Christ does not link his prayers with our prayers, ours will not get past the ceiling. Now, is there any confirmation that this interpretation is correct? When I'm interpreting the book of Revelation, I'm looking for every clue that I can get. And sometimes even the structure and the parallels from the Old Testament can help. But if you take a look sometime at that huge chart of the whole book, in the very right-hand column you will see the chapters from Ezekiel that parallel the chapters in Revelation. Well, Ezekiel chapter 14 parallels this. And there, God told Ezekiel that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were to intercede on behalf of the nation, the judgment would not be averted. They would only save their own lives. He said, it doesn't matter who intercedes, judgment is fixed. It's going to happen. There cannot be any averting of it. And so it's an avid confirmation for this interpretation. Once those bowls began to be poured, it was useless to ask for mercy for those nations. Their hour of repentance had passed. They'd committed the unpardonable sin. It didn't mean that individuals couldn't be saved. but there could be no more patience with the nations. So where the bowls of blood that were poured out by the altar could speak of Christ's atonement, averting God's wrath, those same bowls only brought a curse and were filled with God's wrath for those who trampled on the atonement. By the way, Chilton is wrong in his commentary when he says that these bowls are chalices. that they are communion cups. That's a totally different word than for communion cup. These are big basins is what the word for bowl here means. And it refers specifically and exclusively. I don't think there's any exceptions. Always the golden bowl are the golden blood basins that were poured out in the temple as part of the atonement. So this is equivalent to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 1.13 where he says, bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. Or as Hebrews 10.26 words it, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. So here's the question. Was that principle enforced upon Israel and upon Rome? And I believe, yes, absolutely it was. By 8068, the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Rome, represented by the first six heads of the sea beast, were completely obliterated, did not exist, wiped out. By 8096, the Flavian dynasty of Rome, represented by the seventh head, Vespasian, and his two sons, Titus and Domitian, were completely destroyed. And we'll see that Israel as a nation ceased to exist after 8136, the time foreshadowed by the first bull. So verse eight is really a sobering verse. And by the way, this explains why bulls 2 through 3 turn 100% of the lakes and streams into blood in AD 136, whereas trumpets 2 and 3 in chapter 8 only polluted one-third of the sea and streams with blood. They only killed one-third of the sea creatures. They are not referring to the same events. A lot of times recapitulationists, as well as preterists, say this is just a total repeat. There's so many differences between them. It cannot be. total repeat. In 8066 you have one-third impact, 80136 it's a total impact. And there's just too many commentaries just slide over details like that. Now we'll look in detail at God's destruction of both the beast from the sea and the beast from the land next week. But once 8066 hit and John saw those bowls poured out, no amount of intercession could avert the judgments that God had guaranteed upon both Israel and Rome. It was as good as done. Now there's one more implication, and it's a very encouraging positive one. And it's based on the word until. If the vast majority of commentators are correct in saying that no priestly prayers could avert the judgments decreed in this book until the seven angels' plagues were completed, it also implies that such priestly prayers on behalf of these enemies would be possible after that point. I think the word until clearly points to that conclusion. Now if that's true, then you would expect phenomenal success of the gospel from AD 136 and after. Indeed we would expect that the exact geographic region that previously was occupied by Israel would become Christian and that's exactly what happened. There was a progressive Christianization of both the land of Israel and the Empire of Rome over the next 175 years that was so successful that the empire felt compelled to issue an edict of toleration for Christians in 8311 because they had become a majority. It was like, man, maybe we better not persecute these people anymore. They're the majority. By the time of Constantine, they were the vast majority throughout the empire. But the process began to rapidly accelerate in the second century and beyond. Cities, tribes, and kingdoms began to be possessed by Christians, and cities, tribes, and kingdoms began to be converted. By the early 200s, Tertullian told one pagan, quote, I think that's cool. By the early 200s A.D., he said that Christians were filling the palace, the senate, the forum, the army, the cities. They were filling everything. Christians were taking over the empire for the Lord Jesus Christ. Malta got converted along with several cities. Ethiopia became Christian, then Armenia. Schaff in his history says, quote, in less than 300 years from the death of Saint John, the whole population of the Roman Empire, which then represented the civilized world, was nominally Christianized. Doesn't mean every person in it was a Christian, but they declared themselves to be Christians. Okay, so this is what happens when a church has faith. And why would these Christians have faith for such an incredible advance of the Gospels? Because they believe that A.D. 70 spelled the reversal that would shake the earth. No wonder the saints in verse 4 could worship God with a faith that says, all the nations will come and worship before you. They couldn't see it with their eyes. but they believed it because God had decreed it. This chapter introduces the judgments of chapter 16 by showing they're not scary in one sense that the church is gonna be obliterated. No, he's calling those judgments in chapter 16 redemptive judgments. They're priestly judgments. They're part of the means of Christ growing his church so effectively that even the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it. This chapter is an expression of incredible faith in the midst of bad times. And I hope it's an encouragement for you to have your vision of what is possible, not be driven by the newspaper or by the CNN or whoever it is that you watch. I just encourage you to turn off those news things. They're so discouraging. Have your vision of what is possible driven by what God has promised. He's the only one that is never without error, that is always without lies. So the Christian realizes that God's decrees in heaven dictate the events on earth. When he blows trumpets in heaven, or has his angels blow trumpets in heaven, then it doesn't matter what things look like on earth, things are going to change. Okay, when he pours out bowls in heaven, it doesn't matter what things look like on earth, things are going to change. The form of this world is passing away. Why? Because God has decreed it to be so. As Hebrews 12 verse 27 words it, God has decreed the shaking of heaven and earth and the replacing of the things that can be shaken with what cannot be shaken. So it doesn't matter that we cannot see it in the newspaper yet, it is as good as done. And he ends that amazing chapter by encouraging the Jewish Christians to trust our God of judgment and grace, saying this, therefore, since we are, present tense, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. And we can say exactly the same thing today. When you worship that kind of a God, it changes you. You no longer have a fear of the raging of socialists and homosexuals and abortionists and the ACLU and other God haters. We need to stay focused on serving God with fear and praying your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of Christ will eventually replace the kingdoms of man. To God be the glory, amen. Father, we thank you for your word and the encouragement that it gives to us to keep on keeping on. to not be allowing our faith to be dictated by what we see in the newspaper, what we see in current events, but to always have our faith dictated by your word, your promises, and believing those promises that the church would wake up once again and begin to do what the church of the first four centuries did, and take over this world for King Jesus, and have your laws applied in every area of life. We believe, Father, your promises that Christ will build his church so that even the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We believe that if the increase of Christ's kingdom and of peace, there will be no end. And so, Father, help us to be a people of faith, of hope, and of love so that we can be foot soldiers used by you for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.