Participants: Ty Gibson
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000084
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 The Final Revolution with Ty Gibson. 00:22 Well it's Sabbath morning, and we truly are happy 00:26 to be together on this Sabbath. 00:29 And we're so happy that those of you that are joining us 00:32 by radio and by television are also able to be with us here 00:37 on this beautiful bright sunny cold Sabbath day. 00:43 But it's warm inside. 00:46 And we always feel the warmth of the Lord as we come together 00:50 to worship in His name on His day. 00:55 So this day is absolutely no exception. 00:59 We're going to have some music in a few minutes here. 01:02 Celestine Berry and her husband Michael 01:05 are going to be bringing us the song, It's My Desire. 01:11 But I've also asked Shelley Quinn if she would 01:14 come and lead us to the throne of grace 01:18 before Ty Gibson speaks this morning, his part four 01:23 of The Final Revolution. 01:26 Shelley. 01:28 Good morning and happy Sabbath. 01:31 Boy, this has been a brilliant Holy Spirit inspired series. 01:34 Has it not? 01:36 Amen, let's pray. 01:38 Heavenly Father, we thank You for who You are 01:43 and all You are. 01:45 We thank You for Your grace and the gifts of 01:49 our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Holy Spirit, and Your Word. 01:52 And oh Father, we thank You for the Sabbath day, 01:55 this temple in time that reminds us that 02:00 You are not only the Creator, but the One who recreates us 02:03 in Your image, and that You are the One who sanctifies us. 02:07 Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that Your anointing 02:11 will just shine through Ty today. 02:15 We pray in the name of Jesus that You'll give us ears to hear 02:19 what Your Holy Spirit has to say. 02:21 And we thank You, Lord, for all You are to us. 02:26 In Jesus' name, amen. 02:54 It's my desire 03:01 to live like Jesus. 03:07 It's my desire 03:14 to be just like Him. 03:18 Oh yes. 03:21 Though often I've failed 03:27 and brought Him much shame, 03:35 it's my desire 03:40 to live like Him. 03:48 It's my desire 03:54 to help someone today, 04:00 someone who may have failed 04:06 to see the way. 04:13 I too was once so lost, 04:19 but I found my way to God. 04:27 It's my desire 04:32 to live for Him. 04:40 If you could see where Jesus brought me from 04:47 to where I am today, 04:53 then you would know the reason why I love Him so. 05:05 You can take the world, its wealth and riches; 05:13 and I don't need earth's power. 05:18 It's my desire 05:23 to live like Him. 05:31 If you could see where Jesus brought me from 05:37 to where I am today, 05:43 then you would know the reason why I love Him so. 05:55 You can take the world, its wealth and riches; 06:03 and I don't need earth's power. 06:08 It's my desire, 06:13 it's my desire, 06:20 it's my desire 06:29 to live just for Him. 06:49 Celestine, thank you so much. 06:51 Wow, what a blessing. Huh? 06:53 As I was standing back there listening, I was thinking, 06:56 I really would be willing to max out my credit card, 07:02 15% interest even, and pay monthly payments 07:06 until the second advent if I could sing like that. 07:09 Wow, what a gift. What a blessing. 07:12 Not exactly like that. 07:14 A male version of that level of vocal skill. 07:18 I think God is praised and glorified in song 07:23 in a way that often times we don't think about. 07:28 I'm impressed all the time by the fact that God is a 07:33 beautiful perfect fusion of mind and heart. 07:38 He's not merely a distant monarch on a throne 07:42 pointing His finger and issuing orders. 07:45 God feels things. 07:48 And He feels very deeply for all of us. 07:51 And so I can imagine in my mind that the Lord Himself 07:56 is elated and overjoyed when He hears one of His children 08:01 vocalizing their love in the form of song. 08:06 What a beautiful thing. Thank you so much. 08:08 Well I am one of these guys who loves book titles. 08:12 Anybody else out there? 08:14 I can literally go to a book store and spend an hour or two 08:19 just examining book covers, looking at the titles, 08:23 and derive pleasure from it. 08:26 One or two hours just saying, "Hey, what are people thinking 08:30 and how are they trying to convey their ideas?" 08:32 And there are some book titles that have stood out to me 08:35 over the year, over this last year, that have been 08:39 really important to me. 08:41 And some of them I don't even know what the book is about, 08:44 but the title communicated to me. 08:45 My all time favorite book title is a title 08:50 by Joshua Heschel, Abraham Joshua Heschel. 08:54 And listen to the title of this book, 08:56 God In Search Of Man. 09:01 Now it seems very simple, but it turns our entire 09:05 theological paradigm on its head. 09:08 Because we think more in terms of human beings 09:13 searching for God, trying to find God. 09:16 But this author has conveyed the idea that in reality 09:21 the only reason I hunger for God, the only reason I 09:24 search for God, the only reason, to use Paul's language 09:27 in Acts 17, the only reason I feel after God 09:30 is because He's feeling after me. 09:32 He's searching after me. 09:34 He's the initiator of the relationship. 09:37 He's pursuing me. 09:39 When I read that book title... 09:41 And that's one of the books that I said, "That's so brilliant, 09:45 I'm going to read the whole book." 09:46 And I did and I was blessed page by page. 09:49 What a remarkable insight into the fact that God is the pursuer 09:53 of human beings. 09:55 But as I read that book title for the first time, 09:58 I immediately thought of Psalm 23. 10:01 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." 10:03 And then it goes on and then it comes to the conclusion. 10:05 And then what does it say? 10:06 "Surely, goodness and mercy shall..." 10:08 Do you know? 10:10 "...follow me all the days of my life." 10:11 The Hebrew word there is, chase or pursue. 10:16 God is literally after you and me. 10:19 He is chasing us. 10:21 He's not playing hard to get. 10:23 He's not the one that's aloof. 10:26 He's not the one that's emotionally distant 10:28 or intellectually disengaged. 10:30 We are. 10:32 And He is continually trying to cultivate 10:34 interest in our hearts. 10:36 So, God in search of man. 10:38 He's the one searching of us. 10:41 And then there's another book title that I really like. 10:44 And it's a book title that is on one of my books. 10:49 I'm sorry for this. 10:51 But this book title has given people some problems. 10:54 This book title is, A God Named Desire. 10:57 It's a title that I thought was pretty simple and benign. 11:01 I didn't think there was any problem with it. 11:03 But I've literally had people send me emails and talk to me 11:07 in public places and say, "That's a strange book title, 11:11 A God Named Desire." 11:13 And it struck me as odd. 11:15 I've said, "Have you heard of the book, The Desire Of Ages?" 11:18 "Oh yeah." 11:19 I said, "Well, it's based on the same text." 11:22 It's a prophecy in Haggai chapter 2 verse 7 11:26 in which Jesus Himself, the Messiah, is called, 11:29 "the desire of all nations," and of all hearts and of all people 11:35 in all times. 11:36 Jesus is our desire as He seeks to stimulate desire 11:40 in our hearts toward Him. 11:42 But here's the thing. 11:43 Not only is it that Jesus is delighted when we desire Him, 11:51 but the point of that book title is that He desires us. 11:56 He wants us. 11:57 In John 17, Jesus said to the Father, "I desire, Father, 12:02 that those whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am." 12:08 Jesus' heart is continually pulsating with want, 12:14 with desire, with longing, with yearning for you. 12:17 He would very much like to spend all of eternity building, 12:23 cultivating, deepening a personal relationship with you. 12:28 That staggers my mind. 12:30 That is beautiful in the extreme. 12:32 But that's not even the subject this morning. 12:34 Then I came to another book title that was completely 12:38 different than any I'd ever seen before 12:41 and it struck me as very odd. 12:43 I haven't read this book. 12:45 I just read the title, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day." 12:51 Has anybody seen this book? 12:52 "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" 12:54 I stood there looking at the title of this book 12:57 and I thought, "In a pit with a lion on a snowy day?" 12:59 And I thought two things. 13:00 Number one, I thought, "Huh, that sounds familiar. 13:04 I think that's in the Bible somewhere." 13:06 I wasn't sure. 13:08 But I thought, "I think I've read that." 13:10 The second thing I was wondering immediately 13:12 when I saw that title, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day," 13:16 I was thinking, how in the wide world does somebody 13:18 come to be in a pit with a lion on a snowy day? 13:22 And as I was driving home, I thought, 13:24 logically the only way any human being 13:28 would end up in that predicament... 13:30 And you would agree, that's a predicament, right? 13:32 In a pit with a lion, that's bad enough. 13:35 And then it starts to snow? 13:37 This is a predicament. 13:39 How does a person come to be in that situation? 13:43 And as I was driving home, I thought to myself, 13:46 "Huh, the only way somebody could possibly end up in a 13:51 pit with a lion on a snowy day is by accident. 13:53 Would you agree with that deduction? 13:56 You wouldn't deliberately put yourself 14:00 in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, would you? 14:04 No, you end up in that predicament accidentally. 14:08 I think we would all agree that's the 14:10 rational deduction, right? 14:13 So I'm driving home and I'm thinking, "I wonder 14:14 where that is in the Bible." 14:17 And so I begin searching. 14:19 And sure enough, it's there. 14:21 Turn in your Bible to 1 Chronicles chapter 11. 14:25 And here we find this specific term and this predicament 14:35 right in the Bible. 14:37 First of all for a little bit of background, 14:40 chapter 11 verse 10, we're dealing here with David 14:44 and his mighty men. 14:47 You know that David was a mighty warrior. 14:50 Right? 14:52 This is his great fame in the Bible. 14:56 He was a man of war. 14:59 But David was a unique kind of man. 15:02 He was a man of war. 15:04 This is the kind of guy who as, I think a teenager, 15:07 or at least a young man, went to the front lines of battle, 15:12 challenged the giant Goliath, picked up the sword, 15:17 took on the armor of King Saul and found it not to his liking, 15:22 threw it all off and said, "I'm going to go with a sling." 15:27 And he takes down Goliath and then takes up the sword of 15:33 King Saul, lops off the head of the giant, grabs it by the hair, 15:37 blood dripping everywhere, throws the head of Goliath 15:42 at the feet of King Saul, this is David, 15:45 and then goes out into the field to strum his harp 15:49 and to write love songs to the Lord. 15:52 This is David. 15:53 This is a dude's dude, this is a man's man. 15:58 Brothers, would you agree? 15:59 The Goliath episode is very persuasive. 16:03 David is a dude. 16:06 He's a man. 16:07 He is the epitome of masculinity and strength. 16:10 He's a warrior throughout his entire career. 16:16 But then David is a man with heart. 16:20 He writes things like, "As the deer pants for the water brook, 16:24 so pants my soul for Thee, oh God, for the living God." 16:28 Right? 16:30 "One thing have I desire of the Lord, and that will I see. 16:34 That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the 16:36 days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 16:39 and to ask questions in His temple." 16:42 Right? This is David. 16:43 This is a guy who is living at the intersection 16:47 between heart and mind. 16:49 This is a guy who thinks, and this is a guy who feels. 16:55 And this is a guy who received probably this highest compliment 16:59 that God Almighty could pay to anybody when He said, 17:01 "David? He's a man after My own heart. 17:05 I like the way David thinks and feels. 17:08 He's My kind of guy. 17:11 A man after My own heart," the Lord says. 17:13 Now David had mighty men, according to 1 Chronicles 17:17 chapter 11 and verse 10. 17:19 He had mighty men. 17:20 He was himself a mighty warrior. 17:22 And then he had, what we might call, an inner circle 17:26 of valiant warriors who were standouts among his army. 17:32 They did many great exploits, mighty and heroic deeds, 17:38 Scripture says. 17:39 And that's what caused them to come to David's notice. 17:42 And he drew them close into the inner circle. 17:46 This is David and his mighty men. 17:50 Now one of these mighty men is described, 17:52 and the deeds he performed, in verses 22 and 23. 17:57 Chapter 11 of 1 Chronicles verses 22 and 23. 18:01 "Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, was the son of a valiant man 18:09 from Kabzeel..." 18:11 Now notice this. 18:12 This is Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a 18:17 valiant man from Kabzeel. 18:21 The language itself sounds very mighty to begin with. 18:25 This is Benaiah from Kabzeel. 18:30 This isn't Ty from Eugene. 18:33 This isn't Billy Bob from Thompsonville. 18:36 This is Benaiah from Kabzeel, okay? 18:41 So you've got to feel that. 18:43 And it says here that he did, verse 22, he did many... 18:48 What? 18:49 ...deeds. 18:51 And then it says, "He had killed two lion-like 18:56 warriors or heroes of Moab." 18:59 So we're going to delineate the kinds of things he did. 19:02 "He also," notice this, "went down and killed a lion 19:09 in the midst of a pit on a snowy day." 19:14 Now my version says, "He had gone down," 19:17 he went down. 19:18 Another version says, "He chased a lion into a 19:22 pit on a snowy day." 19:24 So get the image in your head. 19:26 This guy is amazing. 19:29 He's walking along and he sees a lion. 19:33 What would you do if you saw a lion? 19:36 You would run, wouldn't you? 19:38 Which way? 19:39 Opposite direction. 19:41 Lion? I'm going that way. 19:43 Right? 19:44 Benaiah is this kind of guy. 19:46 Please understand the psychology going on here. 19:51 This guy sees a lion and his immediate impulse is... 19:55 ...chase the lion. 19:57 So he sprints after the lion, chases the lion into a pit, 20:04 jumps down into the pit that the lion is now in. 20:08 Boom, he lands. 20:10 He looks across the pit at the lion. 20:13 And it begins to snow. 20:16 And Benaiah is the kind of guy who, when the going gets tough, 20:22 he gets tougher. 20:24 "Snow? Bring it on." 20:27 This is Benaiah from Kabzeel. 20:30 And he kills the lion in the pit on a snowy day. 20:36 This is amazing to me. 20:38 What is going on in his mind? 20:41 He is obviously, listen carefully now, 20:45 aware of his skills. 20:48 He knows what he's capable of. 20:52 Would you agree? 20:53 He's not afraid. 20:55 He chases a lion into a pit on a snowy day 20:59 and kills that lion. 21:00 Verse 23 says that he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, 21:05 five cubits tall. 21:06 One version says, seven and a half feet tall. 21:11 How did he kill this Egyptian, 21:13 this seven and a half feet tall Egyptian? 21:17 With a spear the size of a weaver's beam. 21:21 I don't know what a weaver's beam is or how big 21:24 a weaver's beam is. 21:26 I'm going to have to Google that. 21:28 But this is some implement for weaving in ancient times. 21:33 And the implication is that it's rather large. 21:36 Where did he get this implement? 21:40 What does the Scripture say? 21:43 He wrested the spear out of the Egyptian's hand 21:46 and then killed him with his own spear. 21:50 This is Benaiah from Kabzeel. 21:54 Just so you know. Alright? 21:57 And he is one of David's mighty men. 22:03 Now all of these things are written as examples 22:09 for those upon whom the end of the world has come. 22:17 Turn now in your Bible to a prophecy about another 22:23 group of mighty warriors, to Zechariah. 22:26 Go to the minor prophet Zechariah and chapter 10. 22:33 This is astounding, because what's happening here 22:37 in Scripture is that we have a story in the Old Testament 22:47 that an Old Testament prophet is drawing upon 22:51 in order to make an end time application. 22:54 So go in Zechariah chapter 12. 22:58 Did I say chapter 10? 23:00 No I didn't. Yes I did? 23:01 Okay, chapter 12. 23:04 Notice the language here. 23:06 Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10. 23:10 "And I will pour on the house of..." Who? 23:15 "...David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem 23:20 the Spirit of grace and supplication; 23:27 then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. 23:35 Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his firstborn." 23:44 This is astounding. 23:45 Here, David's house is brought to view. 23:49 And David's house is going to receive an outpouring 23:53 of God's Spirit. 23:55 This is eschatological, this is end time. 23:58 This is something that God has in His agenda slotted 24:02 for the time in which we live. 24:05 Now let your eyes go right up to verse 8. 24:10 "In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants 24:14 of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them 24:20 will be like..." Who in that day? 24:23 Like David. 24:24 "The one who is feeble among them in that day 24:27 shall be like David, and the house of David 24:30 shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them." 24:38 Isn't this amazing? 24:40 What is the prophet doing here? 24:42 He's bringing language to bear upon something 24:45 that's going to happen at the end of time. 24:47 And he wants us to understand a scale of strength, 24:51 if you will. 24:53 And he says, "Listen, remember David?" 24:56 And what's the image that comes to mind when anybody 24:59 who's biblically aware thinks of David? 25:02 David is a mighty warrior. 25:03 "Remember David?" the prophet is essentially saying. 25:07 "Well in that day, the feeble and weak among God's people 25:13 will be as mighty as David. 25:15 And David and his house? 25:18 His inner circle of mighty men? 25:22 They'll be like God in strength; 25:25 like the Angel of the Lord, angelic in their might 25:29 in the things that they do at the end of time." 25:32 So it's as if, just to make it very clear, you were to say, 25:39 "A little boy is as strong as a full grown man." 25:43 I have two grandsons, Mason and Austin. 25:47 And they are just incredible. 25:50 And one morning very early, as I just kind of crawled out of bed, 25:57 hadn't slept as much as I wanted to, came out 26:00 into the living room, and there they were with 26:03 nothing on but their underwear. 26:07 And they had them cinched up with little toys 26:09 tied into their undies. 26:13 And they were full of energy. 26:16 And I'm just wiping my eyes, rubbing my eyes. 26:19 I come out and I look at these two little guys. 26:21 At this time they were only four and six. 26:25 And I come out of my bedroom and the older one, Mason, says, 26:29 "Papa, want to wrestle?" 26:34 And I say in my mind, "You little pip squeaks. 26:37 Of course I want to wrestle. 26:39 You're nothing for me. 26:42 Bring it on." 26:43 And I drop to my knees. 26:45 And just as I come to my knees, the little fat one runs 26:52 break neck speed at me, toys flying out of his underwear. 26:58 And just as he comes, he drops his chubby head 27:02 and drives it into my stomach, wraps his arms around my waist, 27:08 as the older one comes around from behind, 27:12 brings me into a choke hold, and they drop me to the ground. 27:18 The whole thing was choreographed. 27:22 My daughter was standing in the kitchen 27:25 watching the whole affair, which was bad enough. 27:27 I was hoping my wife wasn't watching. 27:31 And I said, "What are you feeding these guys?" 27:35 And she said, "Just soy milk and Big Franks." 27:40 So these are just little guys. 27:42 The prophet is saying here that the feeble and the weak 27:47 among God's people at the end of time are going to be 27:49 as mighty as David... 27:53 ...on a scale of strength. 27:55 He wants us to understand that weakness, 27:59 weakness, at that time will be might. 28:05 There's going to be some kind of source of strength 28:10 and empowerment that will be flooded upon 28:15 God's people at the end of time. 28:19 And the strong among God's people, whoever they might be, 28:24 the mighty will be like God. 28:27 Now the prophet is using what we call hyperbole here. 28:31 He's exaggerating for effect. 28:32 God is omnipotent. 28:34 Obviously God's people, none of them, will be truly 28:38 exactly as mighty as God. 28:40 But here's the point. 28:41 He's saying that the deeds they perform at the end of time 28:46 will be such mighty deeds that they will be comparable 28:52 to the actions of God in history. 28:56 Jesus Himself said at one point in His ministry, 29:01 you will recall, when people were observing the mighty 29:05 things that He was doing, He said, "Well, could I just 29:09 point out that greater works than these you will do." 29:15 Not perhaps greater in quality... 29:17 Well I'll remove, I'll edit out the word "perhaps." 29:21 Jesus was at the pinnacle of strength 29:25 as our Savior, no doubt. 29:27 So take the word "perhaps" out. 29:30 We won't do mightier deeds than Jesus in quality, 29:36 but in scale and breadth encompassing the whole earth. 29:41 I mean, think about it. 29:42 The 3000 baptized in a day, and the many others who were 29:46 baptized in the book of Acts, in the apostolic church, 29:50 they were reaping the benefits of the ministry of Jesus. 29:56 And they had wide spread converts to the point where, 30:01 the book of Acts says, they turned the world upside down. 30:05 "Greater works than these you will do. 30:07 You're going to take what I have given you; 30:11 the victory, the triumph that I will achieve for you 30:16 at Calvary and through the resurrection, 30:19 and you will then take that victory global. 30:24 You'll take it to the whole world. 30:26 Everybody on the planet will encounter the victory 30:33 of My shed blood and the magnificent revelation 30:37 of God's love for every human soul. 30:40 The whole world will encounter it through the deeds that 30:43 you perform here after." 30:46 And then we fast forward. 30:47 We come to the end of time. 30:49 And when we come to the end of the world's history, 30:54 Zechariah says there's going to be something remarkable 30:58 that's going to occur. 31:01 David and his mighty men are going to arise again 31:06 on the scene of earth's history. 31:09 And that will be a remarkable display of strength 31:16 advancing the kingdom of God. 31:19 What then... 31:20 And here's the crucial point. 31:23 What then is the source of this strength? 31:28 What is the precise quality of this empowerment? 31:33 Where does it derive from? 31:36 Well we already read it in verse 10. 31:40 Again, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the 31:46 inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of..." 31:50 What, everybody? 31:51 "...grace and supplication; 31:56 then they will look on Me whom they have pierced." 32:02 We're at Calvary now. 32:05 We're on our knees before the cross of Christ 32:08 in this prophecy. 32:10 And we are looking up at the most magnificent display 32:16 of self-sacrificing love ever to occur in all 32:18 of universal history. 32:21 We're looking in to the eyes of God 32:26 giving His life for love of you and me. 32:33 And according to this prophecy, when we look in that direction; 32:38 theologically, to formulate our entire doctrinal message 32:46 centered on the cross; emotionally, to feed on 32:51 the love of God that was put on display there. 32:54 Or to use the words of Paul in Romans chapter 5, 32:58 where he says that God "demonstrated His love, 33:03 in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 33:07 So intellectually, doctrinally, as we center ourselves 33:13 at Calvary. 33:14 Emotionally, as we center ourselves, feeding upon 33:18 the love of God displayed for us at Calvary. 33:23 Behaviorally, habitually, in our acts of service, 33:28 to live toward all our fellow human beings. 33:34 Relationally, husband to wife, wife to husband, 33:37 parents to children, Nana to Papa, 33:43 everybody, aunties, uncles, every home, every church, 33:51 every community reaching out, out, out, 33:55 with one singular motive driving us. 34:00 The love of God manifested at Calvary in Christ. 34:05 That display, according to this eschatological prophecy... 34:11 And I think we often miss it. 34:13 But this is end time prophecy. 34:16 And here in this end time prophecy, the cross of Calvary 34:21 is exalted as central to the focus of the people of God. 34:26 And not just central. 34:28 It is in fact what makes them mighty. 34:31 It is in fact what gives them strength. 34:34 David was a military man. 34:38 He wielded an actual sword. 34:42 He was a man of war. 34:44 Interestingly enough, when it came time to build the temple, 34:48 God said, "David, I know you want to build the temple 34:52 for the worship of God, but listen. 34:57 It can't be a man with blood on his hands. 35:00 It can't be a man of war." 35:01 There is a sense you get in Scripture that while God is 35:04 navigating the human situation, and He is in some ways 35:10 accommodating our fallen predicament, 35:13 and therefore He is involved in directing and guiding His people 35:21 even when they are not acting and living in perfect accordance 35:26 with His ultimate will, His first will, His best will. 35:30 God is not a man of war. 35:32 If the fall of mankind had never occurred, imagine, 35:37 if the fall of mankind had never occurred, 35:41 there would never have ever been a war. 35:46 Blood would have never been shed on planet earth. 35:48 There would have never even been a thought or a feeling 35:52 of prejudice or hatred. 35:56 This is evidence that God, for who God is in Himself, 36:01 is decidedly anti-violence, anti-war, anti-bloodshed. 36:06 God is a God who says in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 9 36:12 that, "'The day is coming when they shall not hurt 36:16 nor destroy in all My holy mountain,' says the Lord. 36:20 'For the earth shall be filled with the 36:22 knowledge of the Lord.'" 36:24 God Himself, in Himself, apart from this awful hand of misery 36:31 we've dealt to Him, God in Himself is decidedly 36:36 anti-war, and only lives for peace. 36:43 He was navigating terrible situations 36:47 in Old Testament times doing what needed to be done 36:52 in order to preserve the human race and to preserve a line 36:56 through which Messiah could come 37:00 and be the Savior of the world who would not take up 37:04 a literal sword. 37:06 But would conquer the kingdom of darkness 37:09 by the sheer power of love, and love alone. 37:14 When Jesus came to this world, the Scripture says that He 37:19 came to destroy the works of the devil. 37:22 And He pulled it off. 37:25 Not by violence. 37:28 Jesus wasn't a man of war. 37:30 But Jesus conquered the principalities and 37:33 powers of darkness by a consistent steady 37:38 unbroken display of self-giving love for the human race. 37:45 Coming all the way to Calvary where the zenith display 37:51 of God's love was revealed. 37:54 And when Jesus died on the cross, it was in that act 38:01 that the kingdom of darkness was, in principle, vanquished 38:07 and conquered. 38:09 We then, post Calvary, are called upon to take 38:15 the substance of that love and to infuse it into everything 38:23 that we live and teach and preach as a people 38:30 and to bring to the world the victory of Calvary. 38:35 This prophecy is foretelling David and his mighty men 38:42 stepping on the scene of earth's history again, symbolically. 38:45 Not literally David, not literally his mighty men. 38:48 They are history. They are example. 38:51 The type is now meeting antitype in this prophecy. 38:56 And the prophet says, "The day is coming..." 38:59 "The day is coming," he says, "when the feeble among 39:03 God's people will be as mighty as David. 39:08 And the house of David will be as mighty as God, 39:12 as mighty as the Angel of the Lord. 39:15 And I will pour upon the house of David 39:19 the Spirit of grace and supplication. 39:23 And as the outpouring of God's Spirit comes upon 39:28 God's people at the end of time, they will look upon Me," 39:34 the prophecy says, "whom they have pierced." 39:39 What's happening now? 39:41 An extremely personal look at Calvary. 39:48 "They will look upon Me whom they have pierced." 39:51 Have you looked, have I looked, at Calvary as more than 39:56 merely a historic act? 40:00 As more than merely a doctrine? 40:04 As more than a theology or a teaching? 40:07 Have I found myself before the cross of Calvary 40:11 with the deep realization that He was pierced on my account? 40:17 In fact, my sin itself, in principle, 40:24 pierced Him. 40:25 In what sense did my sin pierce Him? 40:29 I wasn't there 2000 years ago. 40:31 It was those other people. 40:32 But in principle, sin itself in total, is the cause 40:40 of the sacrifice of Christ. 40:44 Sin in total, of which I am a partaker. 40:49 It wasn't the spear that was driven into His side 40:53 that took His life. 40:54 It wasn't the crown of thorns that was pressed upon His brow 40:58 that took His life. 40:59 Do we understand this? 41:01 It wasn't the nails driven through His hands. 41:04 Jesus, according to the gospel account, died prematurely. 41:08 Sabbath was coming. 41:10 And the religious leaders, they said to the Roman soldiers, 41:13 "You need to go break His legs 41:16 so He'll die before sundown. 41:19 I mean, if you're going to kill God, you want to make sure 41:22 you're keeping the Sabbath holy, right? 41:24 This ought to communicate very strongly to us 41:27 that it is possible to be deluded while imagining 41:32 that we are serving God. 41:33 In fact, I'm convinced that religion is the most popular 41:39 place in the world to hide from God. 41:43 Because it's very easy to persuade ourselves that 41:50 our zeal, and our particular bent of character, and our 41:55 particular interests are sanctified by giving it 42:00 a religious veneer. 42:03 So go break His legs. Why break His legs? 42:05 Because, the fact is that crucifixion was intended 42:09 to be a protracted long drawn out agonizing affair. 42:16 You were suppose to hang upon that cross for days 42:19 and just keep on suffering. 42:21 And the suffering was inflicted by the terrible engineering 42:28 of this method of torture. 42:33 The victim would hang. 42:35 Every tendon of his body wrenching downward 42:39 with his own body weight. 42:41 And the only way to stay alive was to yield to the impulse, 42:47 the instinct, to impose pain by lifting up again 42:52 on your hands to impose greater agony 42:56 to take another gasp of air, only to wrench down again. 43:01 And so you would stay alive by continuing to 43:07 suffer this horrible agony. 43:10 And it was suppose to go on for days. 43:13 "Go break His legs." 43:15 Why? Why break His legs? 43:17 So that He can't lift up anymore to breathe. 43:22 They wanted Him to die quickly. 43:23 And the Roman soldiers came to the cross, 43:25 and He was already dead. 43:30 Imagine the Roman soldiers coming to the cross, 43:33 ready to break the Savior's legs, only to refrain. 43:37 A prophecy actually had said that not one bone of His body 43:40 would be broken. 43:43 They come to break His legs and say, "Uh, this is strange. 43:49 We haven't seen this before. 43:52 He's already dead." 43:54 But why? 43:56 Jesus didn't die of physical causes. 43:59 Jesus didn't die because of what they did to His body. 44:03 Jesus died because of what we did to His heart. 44:08 Jesus died because of the weight of the guilt and shame, 44:14 the deep and dark psychological and emotional 44:17 horror that is inherent in all human transgression. 44:23 Jesus, according to the gospel account 44:25 in Matthew 26, actually began to die in Gethsemane. 44:32 He began to die before any physical torture 44:35 was inflicted upon Him. 44:38 As He went into Gethsemane with His disciples, 44:43 He said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful 44:47 to the point of death." 44:49 Jesus said to them, "I'm dying right here, right now, 44:53 in the Garden of Gethsemane before I even reach the cross." 44:59 And He said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful 45:02 to the point of death." 45:04 And the word "soul" that we have translated into the English 45:09 is the Greek word "psyche." 45:13 Jesus says to the disciples, "I'm dying at the 45:17 psychological level of My being." 45:21 Something is going on in His heart, in His mind, 45:24 in His thinking process, in His emotional process. 45:28 Something is going on in His psyche. 45:31 And He says, "That's where I'm dying." 45:34 Jesus staggers away from them, falls to the ground, 45:38 falls to the ground, and begins to pray. 45:40 This was no formal religious event. 45:44 He didn't say, "I think I shall pray," and get on His knees 45:48 and fold His hands. 45:49 No, Jesus staggers into the garden, He falls to the ground. 45:55 Desire Of Ages fills in a little bit of interesting language 45:59 for us and says that He began to clutch the cold ground 46:04 as if to prevent Himself from being drawn 46:07 farther away from the Father. 46:10 Jesus begins to feel the separation that sin makes 46:16 between God and man. 46:19 There is this massive chasm that is developing. 46:23 Now remember who He is, where He came from, 46:27 and what He has enjoyed to this point in His life. 46:31 According to John chapter 1, He was in the bosom of the Father. 46:37 He was in intimate fellowship with the Father 46:39 for all eternity past. 46:42 And it was out of that intimate friendship that He 46:45 came to our world incarnate in human flesh. 46:48 Jesus then proceeded through life to enjoy 46:52 fellowship with the Father. 46:54 To hear the Father's approving voice on occasions. 46:56 "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," 47:00 was spoken over Him at His baptism. 47:03 And then again at the transfiguration, the Father 47:07 Himself spoke in the hearing of Peter, James, and John, 47:10 "This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him." 47:14 God was actually, on that occasion, interrupting 47:16 Peter who was blabbing on and on and on. 47:18 And God basically said, "Peter, stop talking. 47:21 On this occasion, listen to Him. 47:23 He's the one you need to be listening to." 47:26 He had heard the approving voice. 47:29 He had enjoyed divine fellowship. 47:31 And suddenly, He finds Himself in a situation in which 47:37 your sin and mine, the weight of the shame 47:43 that is inherent in human transgression begins to 47:48 come upon His conscience, His psyche, and He now stands, 47:54 according to Isaiah 53, He is numbered with the transgressors. 48:00 That's astounding language. 48:04 Numbered with the transgressors? 48:08 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He who knew no sin 48:14 became sin for us that we may become the 48:18 righteousness of God in Him." 48:19 Became sin for us. 48:22 Jesus Himself, when He was contemplating 48:26 what would be involved in this horrible ordeal 48:29 that He was voluntarily subjecting Himself to, 48:32 speaking of it Himself in that private conversation 48:36 with Nicodemus, He said, "Nicodemus, 48:39 let Me tell you what's about to happen. 48:42 Do you remember the account, Nicodemus, 48:45 where Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole 48:48 in the wilderness? 48:50 You remember, Nicodemus? 48:53 And the people were healed by looking. 48:57 Well, Nicodemus, that is what's going to happen to Me." 49:00 Jesus identified Himself with the serpent, 49:03 the biblical symbol for evil itself. 49:09 Jesus entered into full solidarity with the fallen 49:14 human situation. 49:17 He bore the weight of the sin of the whole world upon, 49:23 not His shoulders, but upon His conscience, upon His psyche, 49:28 upon His heart and mind. 49:29 When Jesus goes into Gethsemane, He is taking into Himself... 49:34 We could even use the language, the metaphor; 49:36 He's drinking into Himself. 49:38 He says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup 49:41 pass from Me. 49:43 Nevertheless, I'll drink it if that's the 49:44 only way to save them." 49:46 So Jesus portrays what He's going through 49:51 as drinking a cup. 49:52 There is something in the cup. 49:54 It has content. 49:56 It's shame, it's guilt. 49:58 It's self-loathing. 50:00 It's precisely what you and I have felt on occasion 50:04 when you knew, when I knew, that I had failed miserably. 50:09 That I had violated the integrity of some relationship. 50:13 That I had brought pain and suffering to others 50:15 because of what I had done. 50:17 And finally my conscience, with acuity and accuracy, 50:22 wakes up to the reality of what I've done. 50:26 And I look in the mirror and I hate myself for what I've done. 50:30 Certainly, you've been there. 50:33 And those feelings of self loathing because of the 50:37 low and despicable degrading things that we've done; 50:42 our lying tongues, our gossip, our whispering behind 50:48 people's backs, our lusts, our greed, all of it. 50:58 He's drinking it. He's taking it in. 51:01 He's owning it. 51:03 Why? 51:05 For one simple and profound reason. 51:07 He literally loves you and me more than His own existence. 51:11 He would rather die forever than to give you up. 51:17 And He takes it all into His own heart and mind, 51:20 into His conscience, and He bears it there in Gethsemane. 51:26 And the gospel of Luke says that at that point 51:30 Jesus began to bleed. 51:35 Yes, He did bleed in Gethsemane. 51:37 No physical torture was inflicted upon Him as of yet. 51:40 And yet He's bleeding great drops of blood 51:46 coming out of His pores because of the internal agony 51:51 that He is undergoing. 51:53 Jesus is being traumatized by our sin. 51:58 He is... 52:00 To use the most crass possible language, and it doesn't even 52:03 approximate what He was going through. 52:05 He is stressed out to the max. 52:09 He is bearing in His own heart and mind the collective whole 52:13 of all human transgression. 52:15 And He feels it as if it is His own. 52:18 That is the nature of love. 52:20 Love, by its nature, feels what others feel. 52:28 The more I love you, the more I'm going to 52:31 suffer if you suffer. 52:33 We're suffering, we're the guilty parties. 52:36 But the genius of divine love is that it draws close, 52:41 it enters into solidarity. 52:43 He feels what we feel. 52:45 Jesus is bearing your sin and mine. 52:49 And that, my friends, is how you and I were there at Calvary. 52:56 When the prophecy says, "they," they who? 53:00 They of the eschatological generation. 53:03 Those of the translation generation. 53:05 Those at the end of time. 53:09 "...shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." 53:14 And they will mourn for Him. 53:16 Something incredibly vital and important is occurring here 53:21 in the spiritual experience of God's people at the end of time. 53:25 They are shifting their sympathies from themselves 53:29 to the Lord of glory. 53:32 "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced 53:34 and mourn for Me." 53:37 In other words, we will begin to feel a deeper level of 53:43 repentance for the pain that sin has brought upon the Savior. 53:49 It won't so much be about "my salvation" at this point. 53:55 Yes, yes, from God's perspective... 53:58 This is how love works. 54:00 From God's perspective, it's all about me. 54:04 He is devoted to me, He wants to save me. 54:09 But from my perspective in my fallen condition, 54:14 at first when I begin my journey with the Lord, 54:17 it's all about me. 54:19 I'm guilty, I'm filled with shame. 54:21 I need salvation. I lack peace. 54:23 My whole life is spinning out of control. 54:25 I reach out to the Lord with self-serving, self-preserving 54:30 motives at first. 54:31 "Save me, save me, Lord." 54:36 But here's the thing. 54:38 The moment He saves you and me, He goes about the deep 54:42 inner task of shifting our motive from being 54:49 focused inward to being focused outward. 54:52 He immediately goes about the task of liberating us 54:56 from self-centeredness and installing, downloading, 55:01 His love into our psychological hard drive 55:06 in the place of all that self-centeredness. 55:09 And so we begin, as we look upon Him whom we have pierced, 55:14 we begin to mourn for Him. 55:17 "Oh God, what have we done to You? 55:18 What pain we've brought to You by our sin. 55:23 God please, by Your grace, empower us to bring glory and 55:29 honor to Your name. 55:32 Not merely so I can be saved, but so that the pain of this 55:37 horrible great controversy can be finally resolved 55:41 and lifted from Your heart. 55:45 And You can receive your children into Your fellowship 55:49 and experience the joy that was set before You 55:52 as You hung upon the cross." 55:55 "Look upon Him whom we have pierced and mourn for Him, 56:00 as one mourns for his only son, his firstborn Son." 56:06 There will be a people at the end of time who do mighty deeds. 56:12 There will be a people, according to Daniel chapter 11, 56:16 who do great exploits at the end of time. 56:21 They will achieve remarkable things in the advancement 56:26 of God's kingdom. 56:29 And the power and the strength that they will know 56:34 in this final movement, in the final revolution 56:37 that overtakes the human race, when that angel comes down 56:42 from heaven with great authority and power 56:46 and the whole earth is lightened with his glory, 56:49 when that final loud cry, latter rain, movement 56:53 really begins to occur, you'll know it, I'll know it. 56:58 Because Jesus Christ and Him crucified will be the center, 57:03 the substance, of the total message that those people 57:09 take to the world. 57:10 And it will break people's hearts and they will be drawn 57:14 back to Him by virtue of the love and grace 57:19 that was displayed in Christ at the cross. 57:23 Father in heaven, we want to be among those mighty men and women 57:33 of the end time. |
Revised 2014-12-17