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Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190017A
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00:01 Why are we so comfortable with evil and sin
00:06 when it hurts us so much? 00:31 Well, we've been studying this wonderful Book of Revelation 00:34 because it reveals to us the incomparable Jesus. 00:40 He has no comparison in the whole universe. 00:44 And we've been to some pretty serious subjects 00:47 and I can't give all of that. 00:48 I hope you'll be able to get the whole series 00:49 to get the context. 00:51 But today, we want to talk about 00:54 The Song of Moses and the Lamb. 00:57 But before I go to Revelation, I want to go to 1 Corinthians. 01:01 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, Paul tells us something, 01:04 gives us a marvelous insight 01:07 into what happened to ancient Israel 01:09 with the Song of Moses and the Lamb 01:12 will make more sense here. 01:14 Okay, Chapter 10, looking at this, 01:15 "Moreover, brethren," the Apostle Paul is saying, 01:18 "I do not want you to be unaware," 01:20 he says, "I want you to be understanding something 01:22 that all of our fathers were under the cloud," 01:26 that's the cloud that led them, the cloud of fire by night, 01:30 the cloud that shaded them in the daytime, 01:33 "were under the cloud, all passed through the sea," 01:36 we'll talk about that, 01:38 "all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 01:42 and ate the same spiritual food," the manna, 01:47 "and all drink from that spiritual drink. 01:49 For they drink of that spiritual Rock 01:51 that followed them, 01:53 and that Rock is Christ." 01:57 So Jesus Himself was actually leading, 02:01 leading the children of Israel. 02:05 Now He wasn't in human flesh, 02:06 He'd not come as a baby in Bethlehem, 02:08 but it was Christ. 02:10 It was His ministry on earth. 02:11 And while they couldn't actually see Him, 02:14 Moses saw Him, His back, he couldn't see His face, 02:19 not in that sinful condition and live. 02:21 But this is Jesus that is leading Israel. 02:26 And Paul makes that very clear. 02:28 So now going back to the Book of Revelation, 02:32 we don't have time in this series 02:33 to get deep into the seven trumpets. 02:36 I'll talk a little bit about them today 02:38 and a little bit about them next time. 02:40 But I want to give a little bit of some context here. 02:43 But I want to go to Chapter 15 in the Book of Revelation, 02:47 and it's going to talk to us 02:50 about this very fascinating picture. 02:53 In Chapter 14, you have the three angels' messages 02:56 that get people ready for two reapings, 02:59 the reaping of the righteous 03:02 and the reaping of the wicked 03:03 that get thrown into the winepress 03:06 of the justice of God. 03:08 And then Chapter 15 opens up this way, it says, 03:13 "And I saw something like the sea of glass 03:16 mingled with fire, 03:18 and those who had gotten victory," 03:20 now listen carefully, 03:21 "over the beast, over his image, 03:24 over his mark, and over the number of his name." 03:28 This again, there's going to be a whole host of saved. 03:31 But this is particularly talking 03:33 once again about those people 03:34 that go through this great tribulation, 03:37 that number 144,000, 03:39 that I think personally symbolic 03:41 of a great innumerable that cannot be numbered, 03:45 multitude that will be saved in the end of time. 03:47 I've said it before, say it again. 03:49 The Gospel of the Lord Jesus 03:50 is not going to end in a whimper, 03:52 it's going to end in a mighty victory, 03:55 a wonderful victory. 03:57 And so their picture there after this great reaping, 04:01 their picture, 04:02 "They're standing on the sea of glass, 04:04 and they have the harps of God, and they sing," the Bible says, 04:09 "The Song of Moses and the Lamb." 04:12 That's an interesting combination. 04:14 So it's a flashback to the Old Testament 04:17 as well it's a flash forward to the New Testament. 04:20 But I want to make something really clear, 04:22 when they sing The Song of Moses and the Lamb, 04:25 they're not singing it, this side of heaven. 04:28 This is the song they sing, 04:31 after Jesus has redeemed them from the earth, 04:33 after He's redeemed them from the power, 04:36 the mark of the beast, 04:37 and the Babylon and all of those terrors, 04:40 in the great time of trouble, 04:42 this is after Jesus has delivered them. 04:47 This song is sung in heaven, on the sea of glass. 04:52 Now I'd like to be part of that crowd. 04:54 Wouldn't you like to be part of that crowd 04:56 singing the Song of Moses and the Lamb? 04:59 Well, in order to understand this better 05:00 we need to understand the Song of Moses, 05:03 and then we'll come back to the Song of the Lamb, 05:06 because it's a double song, 05:07 Song of Moses and the Lamb put together. 05:12 So I want to go back to the story of the Exodus. 05:15 Now most people know the story of the Exodus. 05:17 But I want to recap some of the great highlights 05:20 of that story 05:22 and then we want to focus 05:23 on that crossing of the Red Sea. 05:26 You know, Israel was God's firstborn 05:29 and He told Pharaoh right from the get go, 05:32 "This is my firstborn, and you better let them go." 05:36 And God was merciful. 05:37 I mean, those 10 plagues building up to that last plague 05:41 was God was doing everything on His side 05:44 to get Pharaoh's attention to overcome his stubbornness. 05:47 You know, stubbornness is not a nice thing. 05:50 Stubbornness can get you in a lot of trouble 05:52 if you're stubborn against the Word of God, 05:54 and you ought to be stubborn against sin, 05:56 unfortunately, it seems like it works the other way. 05:59 People embrace sin and are stubborn against God. 06:03 But you shouldn't be stubborn with the Lord 06:05 because He loves you. 06:06 He's got your best interest in mind. 06:08 And God is trying to get Pharaoh's attention. 06:10 But Pharaoh was one of the most stubborn men, 06:13 I think on the face of the earth. 06:15 In fact, if we understand ancient history correctly, 06:19 he actually was not maybe supposed to be on that throne, 06:22 kind of got on that throne 06:23 through some unique circumstances. 06:26 The Apostle Paul kind of hints at that in the sense 06:28 that he says that God basically raised him up, 06:31 not because God predestined him to be what he was, 06:37 but because God knew his heart, 06:39 and God knew that when he reached out to him, 06:42 he would only be met with stubbornness, 06:44 stubbornness like Lucifer. 06:47 And so those 10 terrible plagues 06:49 finally ended up taking the lives 06:51 of the firstborn of Egypt. 06:52 Because God said, 06:53 "I'm not going to let you kill my firstborn. 06:55 I'm not gonna let you enslave them any longer. 06:57 You're going to let them go 06:59 and if it takes me taking away your firstborn 07:01 that's what's going to happen." 07:03 And that's what did happen. 07:05 And now Israel is free. 07:06 They're moving towards Palestine, 07:09 right up the coast. 07:11 And then something very interesting happens. 07:15 They actually turn back, 07:19 kind of, if I remember correctly, south. 07:22 Now I'm going to just say this as little side note, 07:24 but the Mount Sinai 07:25 that most people think about today, 07:27 that's not the real Mount Sinai. 07:28 The real Mount Sinai is actually in Saudi Arabia, 07:31 and I don't have time to go in that. 07:33 And the Gulf of Aquila is where they actually really crossed. 07:36 There's a great, huge sandy part there. 07:39 But anyway, they're being led by the cloud, 07:41 and they're being led by Jesus, and He leads them through that, 07:45 and it's a wilderness, that wilderness, 07:49 and they finally come to the Red Sea, 07:52 that extension there. 07:54 And they're standing there on the Red Sea 07:58 and they can't go north and they can't go south, 08:01 say as it were, and they can't cross the sea. 08:03 And then Pharaoh, he gets back in Egypt 08:07 and his stubbornness comes back. 08:08 And it's hard to believe. 08:11 You know, people can make excuses for everything. 08:13 They're making excuses. 08:14 Well, all this was just, you know, just natural habit, 08:17 this sound like the evolutionists today. 08:18 All this is just natural stuff, you know, that just happens so. 08:22 Yeah, right. 08:23 Selectively, all the firstborn destroyed. 08:27 Selectively, is it calls on natural causes? 08:30 I don't think so. 08:33 So he decides, he's going to go after them, 08:35 decides he's not gonna let them go, 08:37 after what all he's been through. 08:38 He's angry now. 08:40 He wants vengeance. 08:41 He takes what's left of his army, 08:43 takes the army of the Egyptians 08:45 and he heads out and suddenly Israel sees him coming. 08:51 And they are petrified. 08:52 You can hear their cry, in Exodus 14:11-12. 08:57 And then they said to Moses, they're afraid. 09:02 There they are trapped. 09:05 "They said to Moses, 09:06 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, 09:10 have you taken us to die in this wilderness?'" 09:14 It would have been better, they said, 09:15 if we could have just served the Egyptians 09:17 and died in Egypt. 09:18 You know, it's amazing how quickly people forget. 09:21 They forgot the awfulness of slavery. 09:24 They forgot what it was to be beaten by the taskmasters, 09:27 to have no time for their families, 09:29 to see their little boys 09:31 thrown to the crocodiles in the Nile River. 09:34 They'd forgotten all the horrors, 09:37 and they had forgotten God's great mighty power. 09:40 You know, we need to remember God's power, 09:43 we need to be thankful and give Him glory 09:45 for all the goodness He's done in our lives. 09:48 And then we wouldn't be so quick 09:51 to make statements like this. 09:54 But Moses responds, 09:56 and he says to them, "Do not be afraid." 09:58 Sounds like Jesus, doesn't? 09:59 All through the New Testament you hear Jesus say, 10:01 "Don't be afraid." 10:02 Sometimes we talk about the things 10:04 are going to happen in the end of time, 10:06 and, but we need to be telling people, 10:08 "Don't be afraid." 10:09 Want to talk about the close of probation, I say, 10:11 "Don't be afraid. 10:12 Jesus is still going to be in your heart. 10:15 He still got you covered." 10:18 No, you're not going to sin during that time, 10:20 because Jesus is going to seal you. 10:22 You're just not going to do it, by His grace, and by His power. 10:26 It's all by His grace and power. 10:27 The Heavenly Father who loves you and sent His Son, 10:29 He's still on the throne. 10:31 And the Holy Spirit, who's transformed us 10:34 is still with us and helping us. 10:38 So we shouldn't be afraid. 10:39 So Moses says in the midst of this crisis, 10:41 "Don't be afraid. 10:43 Don't be afraid." 10:44 And then he goes on to say this, 10:48 he says, "Stand still." 10:50 Sometimes we have to wait on the Lord. 10:53 "Stand still 10:54 and see the salvation of the Lord, 10:56 what He will accomplish for you today, 10:59 for the Egyptians that you see today." 11:03 Now, the Egyptians had long knives, 11:06 and what they were going to ready to do 11:08 to Israel was not nice. 11:09 In fact, that's an understatement. 11:11 They were going to cut those men to pieces. 11:13 They were going to enslave their women and their children. 11:17 It was going to be a very horrible, 11:20 unbelievable scene. 11:22 These guys were evil, like the Nazis, they were evil. 11:31 "For the Egyptians, you see today, 11:33 you shall see them again no more forever." 11:38 And that is an implied promise that someday sin and evil 11:41 are going to be thrown away. 11:44 The lake of fire, 11:45 we'll talk about the lake of fire at some point, 11:46 it swallows up death and the grave. 11:50 And that's a good thing. 11:52 He says, "The Lord will fight for you." 11:54 You just don't think about Jesus being a fighter, 11:57 but Jesus is not only gracious, He not only forgives our sins, 12:01 He not only comforts our hearts, 12:02 He not only gives us the beatitudes, 12:04 but Jesus is a great warrior. 12:07 And here, Moses is saying, this Jesus, 12:11 this incredible Jesus, He is going to fight for you. 12:15 The Book of Revelation pictures Jesus 12:17 as a great warrior who overcomes 12:20 and overthrows Babylon, 12:21 so to send you the picture here to the Book of Revelation. 12:25 And so we have this fascinating moment 12:30 that I've got to describe for you. 12:32 So Moses... 12:33 God tells Moses to stretch out your rod. 12:36 It must have been in the evening 12:41 with that happened. 12:43 Now to keep Pharaoh's army from destroying Israel, 12:47 that cloud, that Jesus is in, 12:52 the wonderful or the incredible Jesus, 12:55 the wonderful Jesus, He's in that cloud. 12:57 And He moves between that cloud, 13:02 between Pharaoh and between Israel. 13:07 And when Israel woke up the next morning, as it were, 13:10 they saw before them the Red Sea wide open, 13:16 wall of water on each side, it's not a narrow. 13:18 The wind had blown all night, dried out the land, 13:21 and they went forward across that Red Sea. 13:26 And while they were going across there, 13:28 I can just imagine 13:30 what was going through their head. 13:31 I think they must have been awestruck. 13:32 At the same time, that cloud of darkness 13:35 is holding back Pharaoh. 13:37 Now, that's a huge crowd to move through. 13:39 So it takes all day 13:41 and just about all the next night 13:44 to get them through that Red Sea, 13:47 but in the morning Moses is told, 13:51 "Look, stretch out your rod." |
Revised 2019-08-27