Crazy Rage

Notes
Transcript
At times 2020 feels like we are living in an episode of a sitcom. The plotline is ridiculous. The characters are clueless. And the longer it lasts it becomes more laughable.
But 2020 isn’t a sitcom. This is real. And what’s frustrating about it is that as you watch it unfold you realize that masses of people are blind to the ridiculousness of it all. They can’t see the hypocrisy. They ignore the illogical. Allow me to give you some examples from just this past week.
In mid-October China was elected to the Human Rights Council of the UN. A nation with one of the worst human rights records in all of human history now has a seat at the table. If that were not ridiculous enough, on Thursday the UN released a video of the representative from China giving the US 9 recommendations on how we could improve our human rights record. China lecturing the US on human rights is like Ronald McDonald teaching a health class.
Joe Biden has appointed a Doctor to his COVID task force who published an article in the Atlantic about why you shouldn’t want to live past the age of 75. Joe Biden is 77. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want medical professionals giving me advice when they think that I am incapable of a quality life and who think I should want to be dead.
And then we all know the story of how Governor Cuomo of New York moved COVID patients from hospitals and into nursing homes, causing thousands of deaths. We know how he took millions in federal aid and would then criticize the President for his handling of the situation. This week Cuomo released his new book, which is a bestseller right now on Amazon, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid 19 Pandemic. You might as well read a book about how to land a plane that’s written by Al-Qaeda.
And all of this craziness makes us feel powerless. It’s so frustrating because we see it happening, but you feel like you can’t do anything about it.
David experienced this same kind of frustration. David knew and loved the Lord. He had experienced the rich blessings of God upon his life and upon his nation. David knew the goodness of God and what God would do for other nations if their kings would just turn away from empty idols to the one true God.
But as David watched the ridiculousness of the nations, in Psalm 2 he asked a question.
Psalm 2:1 ESV
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
Rage is illogical. It is insane. It is blind to it’s own hypocrisy. And just like you and I shake our heads at the craziness of our times, David questioned the craziness of his. And according to Psalm 2:4, the Lord finds it laughable.
Here is why Revelation 10 and Revelation 11 are significant. At the end of Revelation 11, there is a mention of Psalm 2 in Revelation 11:18. Notice, “the nations raged.” Past tense. These chapters tell the story of how God begins to bring this crazy rage to an end.
These chapters are also important because they serve as an encouragement and an exhortation to the people of God. And we need these Scriptures because the craziness of the world is overwhelming. A world gone crazy drives us crazy because we feel like all we can do is watch the world burn down and that we can’t make a difference.
And in the midst of the craziness, we are to believe and obey the Bible. And we see in Scripture saving solutions. But the world thinks we are ridiculous for believing the Bible. They see it as illogical and rage against it. As they do we are tempted to shy away from it. Don’t!
Not only are we to believe the Bible, but we are to share with the crazy world what it says. We are to be witnesses. But in it’s rage the world wants to mute us, marginalize us and it harshly rejects us. And we get discouraged and we grow silent. But we can’t!
So Revelation 10 and 11 is important for us because of it’s message to God’s people.
We feel at times that our faith is futile as the nations rage against God's Word and our witness but take heart because God is working.

The Word (Revelation 10)

As the nations rage Revelation 10 gives us three truths about God’s Word.

The Word of God has GREAT POWER (REVELATION 10:1-3)

The first truth Revelation 10 conveys is that the Word of God has great power.
We are at a point in the Book of Revelation where you are going to begin to see fantastic creatures. As we move into Revelation 12 you will see a seven-headed dragon. In Revelation 13 you will see some awful beasts. These creatures are God’s revelation of what’s behind this rage of the nations. These beasts reveal the mentality of the rage, the agenda of the rage, and the organization of the rage. It is Satanic. It is intimidating. It is vast. And it is evil.
So it’s encouraging to see an angel in Revelation 10 that dwarfs them all. Some commentators argue that this angel is Jesus or a manifestation of God. I think it is as the text says it is. It is an angel. But the angel does point us to the power of God. It comes down from heaven wrapped in a cloud. The Bible tells us that Jesus will return in the clouds. He has a rainbow over His head. In the opening of Revelation, we saw these brilliant rainbow colors around the throne of God. And remember in Exodus that the presence of God was manifested as a pillar of fire. Here Revelation 10:1 tells us that the legs of this angel are pillars of fire.
He is so large that he has his right foot in the sea and the other foot on land. This isn’t saying that he’s standing on the edge of the beach like you and I would when the water is cold - timid with one foot in and one foot out. The picture is that this angel from God is massive and he is mighty.
And notice that he holds an open scroll in his hand. Angels are messengers. And God has sent a mighty, magnificent one to deliver His mighty, magnificent Word.
And as awful and powerful as evil appears, watch what is about to happen to it as God’s Word is carried out. They can’t stand against it.
Rage against God’s Word is intimidating. Rejection of God’s Word is aggravating. The world can say that God’s Word is untrue, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, unfounded, and filled with errors. But the accusations don’t change the reality. God’s Word is powerful and in the end, it will bring a reckoning to the nation’s rage.
The Word of God created the world and it will be the Word of God that brings the world to judgment. God’s Word is what controls the world, not criticism. God’s Word is lasting, it is saving. Trust God’s powerful Word. Don’t shy away from it.

The Word of God has a Great Plan (Revelation 10:4-7)

Even though we have the Word of God, there are times we still wonder about what God is up to. This is especially true as the nations rage. Why does He allow some things to continue? We wonder when He will bring it to an end.
Something interesting happens as the angel begins to speak. His voice is as mighty as his presence. And the text tells us that when he speaks that the seven thunders sounded.
The Book of Revelation engenders a lot of questions. Personally, my number one question from Revelation is about the 7 thunders. What does it mean? What did they say?
In Revelation, we have a lot of sets of sevens. Most prominent in this sequence is that we have seven seals, seven trumpets, and soon we will see seven bowls. These sequences bring about God’s judgments to the world. And in that sequence, we have added seven thunders. In context, we assume that the seven thunders were probably another set of judgments upon the world.
So here is the mystery. Of all the things in Revelation that Jesus tells John to write down or to prophecy, this is one thing he tells John to not write it down and seal it up. He doesn’t want John to tell anyone what the seven thunders said. So what happened? What did God do?
Our questions are not answered. So instead of speculation, we look to what the text plainly says. So here is what we can take from this moment as we read on. God is working, even though we may not be privy to what he’s doing.
When it comes to the thunders, we do not have answers, but we have this assurance. Look at Revelation 10:6-7; our ignorance of God’s plan does not negate God’s plan and it does not delay God’s ultimate plan.
In following God there seems to be for us a lot of hurry up and wait. For us it is “hurry up.” For God it is “wait.” And that waiting makes us wonder, when. And we feel the tension of this in Revelation. The martyrs want to know when the Lord will avenge their deaths. They want to know when He will make the world right. The apostles asked Jesus “when will these things be.” At the ascension, when Jesus promised to return, the question was “when.” And each time the question is asked, we are told to wait and that the information is not ready to be revealed. The Bible calls this a mystery.
And there is something that happens in all of this waiting while the nations rage. There are a lot of things that seem to be going wrong. We seem overwhelmed. We stay in God’s Word. We trust His plan. We pray, but we also wonder “when?”
Revelation 10 encourages us that God is working and we look forward to the day in which there is no more delay.

The Word of God comes with a great price (Rev. 10:8-11)

When the angel reveals to John that God is about to fulfill His plan, the angel asks John to do something interesting. He tells him to eat the scroll.
And this is not the first time in the Bible that someone was told to eat the Word of God. The prophet Ezekiel was told a couple of times to eat this book. In Jeremiah 15 the prophet was told to eat the Word of God.
Eating the Word of God is important. The angel is about to tell John to go and prophecy. And he can’t do that unless the Word of God is a part of him. He has to ingest it. He has to assimilate it into his life. He has to feed on it.
Our witness in the world is not in our personality. Our witness in the world is in the power of proclaiming and living the Word of God.
After John ate the scroll, he reacted to it.
When he ate it, it was sweet in his mouth. It tasted good. God’s promises are good. To hear that His purpose and plan are still intact is good. To know that by God’s power He will prevail, that is good. We need those welcome reminders. We consume them.
But notice that though it was sweet in his mouth, it soured in his stomach. It made him sick.
I’m sure you’ve eaten something like that. Maybe a very rich cake that tasted so good, but when it got down to your stomach you thought wow, I feel sick. And that taste lasted a few seconds. But that sickness was going to take some time to get over.
When it comes to the Word of God reading it is easy. Believing God’s promises is easy. Doing what the Bible says is hard.
The fallacy of the prosperity gospel is that it gives you only the sweet without the sour. It tells you that God only wants to prosper you, but neglects to share the reality that we are also called to suffer. The prosperity gospel tells your hat if you suffer it is because of a lack of faith. But the truth of God’s Word is that you will suffer because of your faith.
And that’s a hard word. We see it bear out in Revelation. Because even though God is about to fulfill His promises, it will come with great pain. The final assault of Satan and evil is on the horizon. God’s people are going to get attacked and they will suffer. The nations will rage and there will be loss. God’s promises are good, but His plans are not always easy.
As the nations rage, we need to feed on the Word of God. We need the sweetness and encouragement of His promises, but we also don’t need to lose sight of the reality that there is sickness and suffering as well. God’s Word is good, but life is hard.
And this is an important perspective for us as we are called to not only believe the Word of God, but to proclaim it. As the nations rage and reject it, we tend to grow silent. But we can’t. Now we turn our attention to two witnesses that God empowers as the nations rage.

The Witnesses (Rev. 11)

God appoints, empowers, and protects His witnesses (Rev. 11:1-6)

In the first 6 verses of chapter 11, God sets aside both the space of the Temple and two witnesses to protect.
He also protects a time. We see here that even though the nations rage, God is still very much in control. They are constrained. Evil has no authority over what God has set aside for Himself.
This is much like what we saw previously where God put a seal on his saints. They are His. Even though evil rages, God gives His people protection and grace.
We also see that there are two witnesses who are empowered. If you look at the powers they have to protect themselves from attack, you see that they are powers reminiscent of Moses and Elijah. Personally, I think these two may be Enoch and Elijah given that these are the only two men in the OT who never died and the Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die.
So these witnesses are empowered, appointed, and protected. But let’s imagine for a moment that we read of their awesome power, but then the text goes on to tell us that they chose not to use it. We would think that odd wouldn’t we? We would think it to be wasteful and disobedient to refuse to use the power God has given you and to neglect to do that to which God has appointed you.
But isn’t that what we do? God has given us an appointment to be witnesses. He has empowered us through His Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). He has granted us the power of prayer and also the power of His Word. So why do we neglect to use it?
Is it because the nation’s rage? Is it because we are afraid and discouraged? Is it because we are afraid that harm may come to us? What comes next in the text may help us to deal with these natural apprehensions.

God has a purpose for His witnesses (Rev. 11:7-13)

“When they had finished their testimony” teaches us that the task and the time that God had for them has come to an end. Nothing could harm them before this time. But still, the nations raged against them and wouldn't listen. So now God is going to do something astounding with them.
An evil being comes from the pit and kills them. Their bodies lay in the streets for three and a half days to shame them. But as people celebrate their demise and watch them, the breath of life returns to their lungs. There is a resurrection followed by an ascension.
The final witness of the power of the gospel is a death, resurrection, and ascension.
As the pressure builds and the world rejects and rages against our witness we will be tempted to be silenced by suffering. What if I lose my job? What if my faith brings tension into my family? What if I am shamed? And let us not forget that there are people in the world today who have to ask the ultimate question of persecution, what if I die?
And we might.
But notice the perspective of the text. It doesn’t say that the two witnesses preached with power and people listened. But it does say that when they died and were resurrected that people watched.
In Revelation 11:9 the nations gaze at their dead bodies. In Revelation 11:11 great fear came upon all who saw them resurrected. In Revelation 11:12 their enemies watched as they ascended into Heaven.
Our witness is verbal and visual. We proclaim Christ even as the nations rage. Your work may reject it, your family want to silence it, and others want to distance themselves from it. And when God is finished with you telling them He may allow you to suffer because of them. And when you do, they will watch. They will watch how you react and your ultimate witness will be to show them what God does.
Over and over the testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection plays out in the lives of God’s saints. Over and over again what the enemy means for evil, God brings about good. That is a sweet truth but a sickening experience.
Do not get discouraged if no one ever responds and you are ridiculed for your witness. You may even lose a job because of your witness. Take heart that God has a purpose even in our rejection. Through it He may show people a resurrection in your response. Our shame in God’s opportunity to proclaim His power to them.
​

God proclaims His providence through His witnesses (Rev. 11:14-19)

The witnesses were God’s final act of grace on earth. The rejection of this final empowerment and demonstration of the resurrection seals the fate of the lost world. They have finally, completely rejected the gospel.
Their fate is sealed, there are more awful woes to come. An intense season of judgment is about to begin. And like we have seen in several transitional places in the text, there is a pause in which we worship.
And like we have seen in several transitional places in the text now, there is worship.
They give thanks to God and express their trust in Him. Even while the nations rage and reject our witness, we proclaim that our God is powerful, and by His providence, He will bring this rage to an end.
Conclusion:
The longer we linger the more ridiculous the rage of the nations will become. Unfortunately, this is not a sitcom. This is a Biblical reality.
But if we can look through the portals of prophecy in the Book of Revelation and see the power of God’s Word and the faithfulness of two witnesses in one of the most intense times of human history, what’s our excuse? We cannot be silent and we cannot deny God’s Word.
He has given us a time. Let’s take advantage of it.
He has given us His power. Let’s use it.
Even our suffering has a purpose. Let’s trust Him and point people to Jesus!
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more
Copyright 2024 Logos Bible SoftwareFeatures|Pricing|Privacy|Terms of Use|Support