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The congregation, the first song
that we have sung this evening, we sang about the ascension. Of Christ, and of course, it
was pictured for us already in the Old Testament, as we see
the the arc of the covenant traveling up that road into the glorious
city of God, the city had given them. To the very place where
he would dwell among his people. Because this arc wasn't it, children,
the the very symbol, the very picture that Jehovah God was
among them, he he dwelt in their presence. And so the bringing
again of this arc was the the picture of God accompanying again
this this arc in an outward way into the city, into the center,
into the heart of where his people dwell. But what a precious and
glorious truth and greater reality of which David was prophesying
when he, by faith, could see in perhaps some glimmering and
the Spirit inspiring him to write this glorious truth, the Spirit
also seeing what is to take place in days to come in which we remember
our Lord himself, not the type, not the picture, but the reality. ascending up into glory, met
at the gates of heaven with the singing forth of angels and saints
who have died in Christ with shouts of acclamation and joy. And what it is also when this
King of glory enters into the heart of a sinner hearts that
have been closed, the gates of their heart shut tight against
the Christ. But when through the Word, by
that mysterious working of the Spirit we have seen last week,
the gates go open and the King of Glory enters in. This is what this Christ is still
doing today. Christ did not appear unto the
world after his resurrection. He appeared unto his children,
unto his people to instruct them. He appeared to his apostles to
teach them. He is setting forth his promises.
Go to Jerusalem. That's where I will meet with
you. That's where I will send the promise of the father. So as we consider ascension.
It often has little significance. in the eyes of the world. It
knows something about Good Friday. It knows something about Easter.
Well, maybe Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. But about the ascension
and about Pentecost, there is little understanding, little
knowledge. And what a blessing it is, then, that tonight we
can come here to hear what the Spirit has to say to us regarding
these very things. Let's turn to Acts 1, and I'll
read again verses 9 to 11. And when he had spoken these
things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. Our theme is the glorious ascension
message brought by the angels. That's particularly in verse
11. But want to consider in the first
place the occasion in which in which this message, this glorious
message was brought. Second, we want to look at the
contents of what the angels were saying. And third, to look specifically
at the promise that they gave to the disciples. So the glorious
ascension message, the occasion. I want to take you along as we
travel tonight to this mountain side where the disciples have
gathered together and Jesus with them. They'd come together according
to his promise. And now he is meeting with them.
Paul says in another place that he has gathered there with above
500 brethren at once, and he is continuing even to these last
moments to teach them. He has now been on and off with
them for for 40 days. And Jesus now leads his disciples
out of as far as Bethany, a blessed place where the disciples had
spent much time with their Lord. It's where he had raised his
friend Lazarus from the dead is only about one kilometer from
Jerusalem. And there he is now standing
with his disciples. And he begins, no doubt, to lift
up his hands, as he perhaps did many times to bless them. And he is then lifted off of
the ground and taken up higher and higher. And this is now how
Luke begins this book of acts. And we must think of this book
so much of the acts of the apostles, as sometimes it's titled for
us. It's not written that way. It's
a title given by men. It would rather should be called
the acts of the ascended sovereign king. That's what Luke is doing
for us. He is talking about the ascended
king who is now ascended to his seat on his throne. And what
follows in the book of Acts is simply a carrying out of this
kingly rule, though he's not seen everything that happens
in the book of Acts is by the direction, by the governing of
this very king. And these two books, then, of
Luke form, as it were, a twin. In the first book, the Gospel
of Luke, he is describing Christ's work upon earth, all of His miracles,
all of His dealings with people and carrying out of the plan
of salvation, suffering, dying, and now risen from the dead. This is the one who is prophesied,
who is spoken of in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
Him, is now seated in glory. That's the book of Acts. He begins
to uncover that view as the Holy Spirit is sent forth of the sovereign
king to dwell in the hearts of his church, that they would walk
in obedience to him, to his command. Bring my word, bring the message
to the ends of the world. I think there's four things as
we look at these events that we can look at and learn something. The first is that this is on
a mountain. Mountains in the Scripture have
great importance and significance. Children, where did Abraham walk
with Isaac? Up to the top of the mountain. Where did Moses go to receive
the law and to commune with the Lord? The top of the mountain,
Sinai. Where does the transfiguration
take place? Up the mountain. And now Christ,
having dwelt With his disciples, often near the Sea of Galilee
in a low place, he's humbled himself. He now takes them again
to a mountainside, Bethany. That's where he will ascend into
heaven. The second thing we notice is
Jesus is blessing them. It's a symbolic token also arising
out of the Old Testament where the high priest, having gone
into the holy place, has offered sacrifice once a year and he
comes out and he holds up his hands and he blesses the people. He comes forth from the presence
of God to bring blessing to the covenant people who are gathered
at the door of the tabernacle or the temple. And this is a
reminder, then, of the sovereign king, the great high priest who
has ascended into heaven and he's continually blessing his
people. Moses, you remember. He's holding
up his hands and when he held them up, the Israelites gained
the victory in the battle, but his hands grew weary. And Aaron
and Ur came alongside and propped up his arms so the blessing of
the Lord could continue. Our Lord who has ascended doesn't
need anyone to prop up his hands. He is continually, ever blessing
his church. And if we are members of Christ,
if we know Him by saving faith, This ought to be a conscious
reality for us, something that gives us hope and encouragement
day by day. And as we are given occasion,
as the children of Israel often were commanded of God, remember
the mighty acts of my salvation. The Lord, in essence, is saying,
do the Passover. Remember me. So when we gather
on nights like tonight, We're remembering the mighty acts of
our sovereign king. And thirdly. We read in this
passage and this event that is taking place, there is there
is a cloud that comes and takes Jesus away out of their sight. And in the Old Testament, we
are told about a cloud also, which was a symbolic indication
also of the presence of God. This cloud, remember, in the
wilderness was leading them. It was guiding them. It would
stand still. It would move. It would shine
in the night. It would give them light. Now, this cloud again
appears. Glory cloud. What we are told
by the angel is In like manner, this glory cloud will appear
again one day and every eye shall see it, as we will see in our
third point. But there's not only the importance
of the mountain, not only the importance of Christ lifting
up his hands to bless, not only do we see the glory cloud, but
we are told there is two men who are standing there with The
apostles. Angels are often spoken of in
relation to the work of Christ, they are there when he is born,
when he's born, singing glory to God in the highest peace on
earth, goodwill toward men. The angels are there in the wilderness
as Jesus is tempted to strengthen him after his temptation. The
angels are there, remember, in in Gethsemane, as Jesus is crawled
in the ground. There's a worm and a no man.
The angels come and strengthen him. The angels were there after
he had arose from the dead. They appeared in the tomb and
outside of the tomb. And now, once again, we are confronted
with these ministering spirits that communicate the message
of the living God. So that's the picture that Luke
is painting for us that is taking place in this event of ascension. There is Jesus holding up His
hands. He's lifting off the ground. And their eyes behold Him. And
they're standing there, gazing up into heaven. And even the
cloud, having taken Jesus away, they're still standing there
in wonder and amazement and longing after Christ. But here's the lesson. The angels and sometimes maybe
we've had this understanding of what happened, the angels
also are kind of standing there lifted up and and kind of taking
the place of Jesus, and then we see the angels. That's who's
speaking to the apostles. It's not what it says. While they look steadfastly to
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them. These
angels, it seems, must have come and stood by them as these apostles
and perhaps the five hundred are gazing up. And then they
begin to speak. They begin to in a way suddenly
admonish them. Why? Ye men of Galilee, why are
you standing here gazing up into heaven? Remember what the angel
said when the women came to the tomb? Why? Why are you here? He's not here. He's risen. You're
seeking the living among the dead? The angel's question must have
brought them back to To many of the things that Jesus would
have spoken before. What did Jesus just said to them,
don't linger here, go to Jerusalem there, I will meet you. No, they
stood lingering, their eyes were lifted up, they were fixated
on this cloud that probably now had dissipated again and they're
still gazing up and still looking for something that they aren't
going to see. They're staring at this spot.
They're longing that Jesus perhaps could come back and set up this
kingdom. When is He going to return? Will
He part the clouds again and now the whole world will see
Him at this moment? Is that what they're waiting
for? It reminds me of the story that
Spurgeon told. He said there was a woman whose
son was immigrating to another country, a distant colony. It
came the day when he was to leave As perhaps some of the elderly
among us would have experienced when you left fatherland, you
never perhaps thought to go back or not very much at all. And
came the day when the son was to leave and. Mother had given
her farewells to her son and given parting embraces and many
tears were shed, the train whistle blew and train is chugging out
of the train station. Just after the train had left
the platform, Mother almost uncontrollably just breaks forth out of the
people and runs to the platform as if to run after the train,
but it's gone. It's almost this picture that
we have of these apostles just kind of hoping and wishing and
longing they could just take Jesus back. But it was fruitless for them. He had already showed them in
these past 40 days that he wanted them to live by faith, to live
trusting his word, to be settled upon his promise that he's faithful. He would come again in his father's time. He was going
away to prepare for them a place so that he could take them to
himself. But until then, they were to obey his word. So the
message of these angels bring the apostles back, as it were,
to reality. You men of Galilee. The angels don't say you favored
ones who are the only ones in the whole world to see the Lord
descend into heaven. So privileged and blessed above
so many others. Now, the angel says, you men
of Galilee. Not exactly a lifting up. You know the saying of Nathanael.
Can any good thing come out of Galilee? Out of Nazareth? And so the people said concerning
Christ, shall Christ come out of Galilee? That despised, set
apart place? Could that yield such blessing?
And yet these disciples, having gathered here, they're gazing
up to heaven. The angels must loudly rebuke
them. You men of Galilee, why do you
continue gazing up to heaven? You remember the words that he
has just spoken to you, go to Jerusalem, obey what he has said. Is a reminder to these apostles,
disciples, they had nothing upon which they could depend upon
in themselves, but the promise that he had given them. These
men who were standing there, 500 brethren at once. knew what it was to be called
out of Galilee, a despised place, a despised people, to become
followers of this glorious, ascended King. The angels remind them,
you men of Galilee, listen to your King. Maybe we think God's kingdom
isn't advancing as fast and as quickly as we would like it to.
Maybe in our own personal relation with Christ and salvation, we
miss communion. We wonder when will it return,
when will that liveliness return again? And maybe as. Our hearts
become impatient. We become less expectant. We
become more lazy in studying His Word, more conformed to the
world. You men of Galilee, why are you
looking for something perhaps He's not promised? Why are your
eyes fixed upon things that you will not find a solution? Go
in obedience to what He has commanded you to do. And that's our second
thought. What is the content, then, of
what the angels have said to these men? The angels say, you
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come
again. Think about what that meant.
Think of those three short words, this same Jesus. It's not as if Jesus is leaving
them and never thinking about them again. No, he is going to
come again. He's not going to forget them.
He is now going to intercede for them. He's now going to send
his spirit to them. And we might even say in light
of this, the rest of what we learn from the New Testament,
the head has gone to heaven. But what does he leave on earth?
His body, the 500 brethren at once, his church even till this
day. Can the head be in heaven? And
he doesn't feed and minister and rule over and govern his
body, the church. Isn't that what our Catechism
says? Christ has respects his human nature is no more on earth,
but respect to his Godhead, his majesty, his grace and spirit. He is at no time. It's not a passing millisecond. But he is absent from us. And we can say, therefore, And
ask ourselves the question, have we learned, have we understood,
have we experienced that comfort in believing that truth? There
is not a moment, this ascended king, it's not with his people,
it's not with his church. And it's not a physical presence,
but it is a spiritual presence by the Spirit. So it is through
the Spirit that we receive the engrafted Word with meekness.
It is through the Spirit that we eat His body and drink His
blood. We receive the forgiveness of
sins. This same Jesus, the angel says,
you won't be losing your dearest friend, your elder brother. No, he is rather going to heaven
to intercede for you. Christ said it's expedient, it's
necessary, it's important for me to go to heaven. That you
might receive the promise of the Father, the Spirit, that
you may even be brought into closer communion and union with
me. And to think somehow then that
the New Testament church is in greater poverty than the saints
of old is a distortion and misunderstanding of what he has promised he was
going to do. The disciples now had a promise.
Go to Jerusalem, you will receive the promise. Of the father. And what do we find them doing?
Well, if you read a few more verses in in this chapter, you
will say they return to Jerusalem. They go to an upper room and
they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. And
that's where they stayed until the promise came. We have. The scriptures, the
promise, God will abide with his church, he will be with his
people. In times of distress, in times
of spiritual darkness. Are we led back to the word of
his promise? The word which he gives, and
with prayer and supplication, will not let him go unless he
bless us. As I say, what comfort in these
words for the church of God, for these 500 brethren, this
same Jesus. They had seen Him as He walked
on earth. They beheld His compassion. They
saw His tears. They saw His heart, as it were,
opened to their sight. They saw Him as the woman coming
behind in all embarrassment, as it were, yet needing Him to
touch His garment. And Him turning and saying, Who
touched me? Woman, your sins be forgiven
you. This same Jesus. And it means, too, for us, as
we read the Gospel's account of Christ, our hearts are to
be attuned to who he was. And if you had tasted something
in your own life as well by experience of His compassion, of His mercy,
of His kindness, of His grace, you, the sinner, having gone
astray and yet having been convinced of the Spirit and drawn back
to Christ, have laid hold on Him and found peace, found forgiveness. How can not these words stir
our heart? This same Jesus, the one who
now sits enthroned in glory, in glorified flesh, is the same
one who walked and dwelt among you. It means for us that we who are
so prone to stumble and to falter, or to look to Him for all the
power that we need, who said, all power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. This same Jesus. They use His personal name. They
didn't say this same Christ, this same sovereign King. But His very personal name that
He was given of His mother at the command of the Lord, Savior.
this same Jesus. This very act that heaven, which
was closed to sinful men, this same Jesus now enters in with
the train of glory, His people, His purchased possession in His
loins, going up to glory, awaiting the day that He will gather them
all in when He comes again. That's what we, by faith, ought
to see in this night of remembrance of this great event. That His Church, His body, that
remains here on earth, remains often in persecution, suffering,
temptation, trials. He is preserving, he is keeping,
he is upholding, but he doesn't forget them. He is interceding
for them from heaven by his spirit. He's guiding and leading and
drawing and transforming and changing and setting them as
beautiful stones in this glorious temple in which he is building
is going to come again to take to himself habitation. For our God. Paul says, Ephesians 2 verse
6, hath raised us up together with Him. Those who are quickened
together with Christ by grace, he says, are made to sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Paul is saying it is as it were
already now. It's awaiting a final day of
fullness, of perfection. But the reality is, it is finished. It is done. We are raised with
Him. We are quickened together with
Him. We sit in heavenly places with Him. But dear friends, Church of God,
we can't live in the Comfort of that truth. Except by faith,
we believe. He is there. Even for us. Men. Women. Galilee. The conclusion of the writer
to the Hebrews, let us come boldly to the throne of grace and mercy
there to find help in time of need. Why? Because this same
Jesus sits there. The same Jesus, children, who
took little children, babes and infants on his lap and blessed
them, is the same Jesus who is now in glory in heaven. And can Christ work? Fail? Cannot. And therefore, by faith,
if we, by the eye of faith, may believe that Jesus is our praying
and interceding High Priest, what great joy, what great expectation
ought to fill our hearts. Then will we not Labor on in
perseverance, in obedience to what He has called us to be and
to do. That's what happened to the Thessalonians.
Just the opposite. There were the Thessalonians.
They had heard of this glorious ascended Christ. He had gone
to heaven. He's coming again to take you.
And He's coming any time. They didn't obey His word. Bring
my word to the ends of the earth. Paul writes them a letter, rebukes
them. Don't be soon shaken in your
minds or troubled, he says, as if the day of Christ were at
hand, but rather. Paul says. When the wicked one is revealed
and he sets up his kingdom or attempts to on the earth, then
our Lord. going to return from heaven in
all his glory. And this wicked one, the Antichrist,
will be destroyed in the brightness of his coming. That brings us
to the third thing the angels say. The one who has ascended
is in like manner going to come. Before we consider our third
thought, let us just briefly Think about what we have considered
so far. Are we like. The apostles and
these 500 brethren. In some way, perhaps looking
back. To experiences we may have had
to to precious times of communion with the Lord. We're looking
backward. looking to grasp those things
again as if we could pull them to us and find somehow comfort
from them. And we're neglecting the very
words that Jesus spoken to us to obey. And when we think of
the apostles as a gathered together now, Prayer and supplication
in the upper room and waiting for the promise. We see them
sent forth into this world with great boldness. How come? Yes, they were blessed by the
spirit going before them. They were looking to this ascended
King. They believed He was in Heaven,
sitting there interceding for them, blessing them, pouring
out His Spirit. That's why Paul and Silas in
prison in the middle of this dungeon waiting to die could
sing praises to God. Because the King is on the throne. Is that how we live? If we confess the name of Christ,
to believe in Him, is that reflected in our lives? Or do we somehow still need to
be rebuked? You men of Galilee, why are you
looking up? Why stand you gazing to heaven?
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
Then consider the parables that Jesus told of the householder
who went away for a journey and he gave to his servants talons
to use. And he's given that to us. He's
gone away to heaven. But He's coming again. And what
comfort it is for those who believe this Word, who hold and cling
to Him. What a comfort for the children
of God. Their King is in heaven. He's
returning again to take them home. But what a terror this Word is
to the unbelieving and the ungodly. to the believer it is a comfort.
This same Jesus, the One whom your heart goes out to in love,
the One whom you bow before in adoration, the One who has loved
you first, the One who has come to say, I come to do thy will,
O God. This same Jesus is seated at
the right hand of His Father and He intercedes for a poor
and afflicted church. This Jesus is coming again. And this Jesus, his judgment
is not after our judgment. His judgment will not be according
to our opinions, our thinking, but his word. Nothing has escaped
the eye, the attention, the ear of this sovereign king. Everything in his kingdom, It's
not a particle of dust in his castle of this earth that escapes
his notice. That means every living soul,
every person who is in this kingdom, in this world is noticed by the
king. And if you have heard his voice,
if you heard his word, And you've been convicted in your heart
that he's speaking to you, he's calling you as the sovereign
king. Though that means for us, you
come to realize you can't come into his presence. You're not
worthy to come into the throne room of this glorious king. Yet,
he will draw you as he uncovers you. He will bring you to himself,
to this same Jesus who is come to say, come unto me, you who
are laboring and heavy laden. I, the great King, can give you
rest, because I have come into this kingdom and I have given
my life for sin. And will not also the elect,
the church of God, who cry out unto Him mightily, daily, day
and night? Doesn't he hear it? He most certainly
does. He will come. He will avenge
His elect who cry unto Him day and night. What a blessed day
it will be for them when all those false accusers within and
without, and even those like Satan has done, pointed to their
stained garments, spotted. He will say, price for him, for
her, for that boy, for that girl. What a blessing this king is,
the sovereign. Who not only sends his spirit
But His people are made willing in the day of His power. So being
convinced by the Spirit, they will meet this King. He draws
them with this wonderful, glorious grace and mercy to bow in adoration
and surrender and worship. They're made willing in the day
of His power. Yet so often there are people
who wander about the world in their spiritual journey Looking
for things Christ hasn't promised to somehow give them comfort,
to give them life. He says, you have my word. You
have my word of promise. You know, if a man comes to us
and he says, you have my word for it. We might wonder. How good is the word? And even
if I told you there's a man who you can trust, I mean, In everything,
he's never told a single lie. Everything he's ever said, he's
completed it. He's done it. Not once has he
never fulfilled what he said he would do. That's the picture of who Jesus
is. Who as a man would wonder if
this is the Lord of glory. The disciples were sent forth
of this Same Jesus. Sending them forth, he says,
to be witnesses to what? Him, his glory, his power, his
spirit. Even as my father has sent me,
Jesus said to them, so now I am sending you. Just as I have come
into this world and I have spoken forth what the Father has told
me. Now, you who are learning from me, go forth into the world
and tell them what I have told you. That's what he's told us. And I will be with you, he said,
till the end of the age. The disciples, even us to this
day, who have heard the voice of the King through the Word,
have believed His Word by His Spirit, are sent out by this
King and we are empowered by His Spirit so that we might bear
witness. That the world, through Him,
might believe. But if we're not growing up in
the Lord Jesus Christ, How will we learn the things
the disciples learned by experience to be the witnesses he called
them to be? He said, occupy till I come. That's not taking the word we
have received and burying it, hiding it in the ground, a talent. It's to use it for one purpose,
for his glory. to multiply by His grace what
He's given us. And so this day is approaching.
The day of Christ's return upon this glory cloud. And therefore,
the Scriptures tell us, admonish one another so much more as you
see the day approaching to be faithful unto death. Faithful
to what? To Him. To His Word. We're not told when He's coming. But we're told he's coming. It's
not a question of if. But when? Can you imagine the disciples
as they're standing there on that hillside gazing up? The angels say to them, ye men
of Galilee, why are you looking up? This same Jesus is coming
again. Can you imagine the disciples thinking, Two thousand years
later, the whole earth spread with people and all the stuff
we have today in technology and all the things we have today,
they wouldn't even dream of. Could you imagine them thinking
that? I don't think so. They didn't need to. All they
needed to think of is what He had said to them. Go to Jerusalem. There, I will meet you there. I will give you what you need
to send you forward. What is it about this second
coming of Christ that we need to consider? This is part of
having been sent forth to bring this message, this same Jesus
is coming again. The same Jesus, though he was
born in Bethlehem, a weak infant child. He's going to return in glorious,
almighty power. Whereas his coming was seen by
his mother and the animals and Joseph and a few shepherds. His
coming, then there's not an eye, it's not going to see. Every soul that ever existed
shall see him. Revelation 1.7, Behold, he cometh
with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced
him and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. You see, he was John, the beloved
apostle, who rested on this same Jesus breast at supper. When he sees the glory, something
of it is shown to him on that isle of Patmos. What happens? He falls down as it were dead
at his feet. And I saw heaven opened in a
white horse. He that sat on him was faithful
and true and in righteousness does he judge and make war. His
eyes are a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.
And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And
he's clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is the
Word of God. He comes forth out of the gates
of heaven with glorious victory written all over. He's coming
to consummate everything. And to take his people, his bride,
to himself. The first time he came, a meek,
mild lamb, ready to be slaughtered. The second time he comes, children,
he's coming with a roar. The lion, the tribe of Judah,
to tear to pieces his enemy. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword. With it, He will smite the nations.
He will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the wide press
of His fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And on His vesture,
on His thigh, name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our
God has exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that
at the name of Jesus, your knee should bow. That's one reason we read this
message and we remember these things. Why? It's that while
we're alive, while we hear the Gospel tidings, we may come and
worship, we may come and confess, be made willing in the day of
His power before those words will be wrenched from our mouth
in compulsion. And this Christ, this same Jesus,
is accomplishing his work even today. Jesus is going to come and he's
going to require of everyone stewardship. Everything we've
been given. He's going to give unto man according
to everyone what they have done. And the call of his ascension
tonight is this. What are you doing, you men of
Galilee? With the word of promise, the word of command that he's
given to us. Church of God, he says, all power
is given to me. I send you for. To go forth into
the world. Baptizing, teaching, making disciples
of all nations. Church of God, are you living?
As the disciples lived out this truth, dependence on the ascended
Christ. Look at Acts. It's full of suffering. It's full of persecution. But
there's a steady line. He's preserving his church. He's
going before her. They're standing steadfast. There's
ups and downs. But he's leading them. He's guiding
them. Are we depending on him as they
Do we believe he is the Lord of glory who sits in throughout? And for the unbeliever with us,
what a frightful day, friend. It's going to be for you. When you have heard the father
say this is my beloved son, listen to him. The same Jesus. Who you now refuse
to hear, your eyes shall see. We read in Revelation 14, here
is the patience of the saints ready to keep the commands of
God and the faith of Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven say
to me, Right, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit. that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. And
I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud sat
one like the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and
in his hand a sharp sickle. Another angel came out of the
temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud,
Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time has come for thee
to reap. The harvest of the earth is ripe.
He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle to the earth and
the earth was reaped. Another angel came out of heaven,
the temple having a sharp sickle, and another angel came from the
altar, which had fire. And cried with a loud voice to
him that had the sharp sickle, said thrust in the sharp sickle,
gather the cluster of the vine of the earth for grapes are fully
ripe. The angel thrust in his sickle
to the earth gathered the vine, cast it into the great winepress
of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden
without the city. Blood came out of the winepress,
even to the horse's bridles. A space of 1,600 furlongs. Are you going to be one of those
grapes on this vine that is fed from the vine Himself, connected
by covenant to this God, despising your birthrights. You men of Burgessville, you
women and children, what are you gazing at? The same Jesus
whom you read, whom you have heard. He's coming again. Are you ready to meet him? Amen.
Christ's Ascension
| Sermon ID | 6109720387 |
| Duration | 51:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 1:1-11 |
| Language | English |
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