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JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
Part XXXVI: God's Encouragement To Keep Holding To Scripture
(Isaiah 63:1-6 with Revelation 19:6-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

If we note what occurs in our world and even in Christian circles, we can be tempted to become discouraged from holding so firmly as we do to the literal-grammatical-historical use of Scripture:

(1) One of our Church members recently reported that a radio Bible teacher of the renowned Radio Bible Class ministry has found RBC is finding more and more Christian radio stations want "lively Christian music" to replace RBC's Bible teaching ministries.

(2) I learned this week that Dwight L. Moody's Moody Bible Institute in Chicago has closed its Bible book store. Apparently due to a cutback in financial support, the school no longer can fund this ministry, so it is trimming back in this ministry. Accordingly, some alumni of the Moody Bible Institute, concerned about a spiritual drift in our times have tried to start a Bible School in Wyoming.

I have heard reports of similar financial cuts at the seminary level in Christian circles as well, not to mention how independent faith missions are having to slice their budgets due to a drop in support.

(3) John Geiger worked for two years as a liaison to The Russian Ministry of Education for Dr. Bruce Wilkinson's Ministries. However, Geiger himself now is deeply concerned about Wilkinson's bestseller, The Prayer of Jabez. In an article titled, "A Discerning Look At The Prayer of Jabez," John summed up his concerns, writing: "Dr. Wilkinson is prompting the Christian community to do more with this passage of Scripture [1 Chronicles 4:9-10] than was intended by the author . . . What will happen is a subtle loss of how to read, interpret, and apply the Scriptures . . .The Scriptures become more of a mystery versus a knowable communication from the living God to human beings." Geiger critiques the work, (a) countering Wilkinson's implication the contents of Jabez' prayer apply to the Church era, (b) claiming Wilkinson makes experience and not Scripture's words the basis of key parts of his outlook (c) and that the logic of the work is seriously flawed in important places (www.the-hill.org, June 19, 2001).



Is there an ENCOURAGEMENT to hold FIRMLY to Scripture today when evidences abound of a drift away from it in so many ways and in a wide variety of circles?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Mentally, I KNOW I should focus on holding to Scripture, but so MUCH I see around me at least FUDGES if not is OPPOSED to heeding it. Is there a REASON to KEEP holding to the BIBLE?"
  1. The RISEN Jesus told His disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
  2. As these men were edified by Christ's teaching of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV , s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
  3. The Isaiah 63:1-6 prophecy in light of its Revelation 19:6-21 fulfillment provides CHRISTIANS in PARTICULAR great ENCOURAGEMENT to KEEP HOLDING firmly to SCRIPTURE:
    1. In Isaiah 63:1-6, God is seen in potent Hebrew imagery coming in the end times as a treader of a winepress to avenge wrongs done to Him:
      1. In Isaiah 63:1-2, God prophetically arrives like a man treading a winepress whose garments are stained with the juice of the press.
      2. This imagery pictures God's act of taking vengeance on His enemies as He tramples them in His great wrath, Isaiah 63:3-6.
    2. Well, the fulfillment of that event is the Second Coming of Christ in Revelation 19:11, 15b-16 (in light of Rev. 17:14 and John 1:29):
      1. Revelation 19:11, 15b reveals the One on the white horse in the context treads the winepress of God's wrath foretold in Isaiah 63.
      2. This One on the white horse in Revelation 19:11 is also King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Revelation 19:16.
      3. Well, Revelation 17:14 reveals this King of Kings and Lord of Lords is the Lamb of God, and that Lamb of God is identified by John in his Gospel at John 1:29 to be Jesus Christ!
      4. Thus, the Isaiah 63:1-6 picture of God coming with great wrath to tread God's winepress filled with God's enemies predicts the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to judge His enemies!
    3. Of great importance for Christians, this Second Coming and its the start of Christ's Messianic reign celebrates Christ's spiritual union with the true CHURCH, Revelation 19:6-9, 17, 21b:
      1. As the Church is the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:31-32), the "Wife of the Lamb" in Revelation 19:7 is the glorified Church that has by then been united with Christ at the Pre-tribulation rapture, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18!
      2. So, in accord with Ancient Near Eastern customs, the wedding supper that comes AFTER the marital union will occur at this Second Coming event (cf. Bib. Know. Com., N.T., p. 975 on the timing of the wedding supper after the wedding itself).
      3. Since the birds are called to this wedding supper to feast in Revelation 19:17, and they feast on the carcasses of the slain enemies of Christ at His Second Coming in Revelation 19:21b, Christ's Second Coming and its subsequent start of Christ's Messianic reign celebrates Christ's spiritual union with the true CHURCH that had occurred at the Pre-tribulation rapture!
    4. Well, as Christ personifies God's Word in His Second Coming, exposing the power, authority and importance of Scripture, that Coming encourages us to keep HOLDING firmly to SCRIPTURE:
      1. In Revelation 19:11 and 13, Jesus Christ is respectively given two titles: the (1) "Faithful and True" and (2) "The Word of God."
      2. Well, outside of Revelation, only in Jeremiah 42:5 is God the "True and Faithful" Witness, and this title is used there to hold accountable those who resisted Jeremiah who upheld God's Word!
      3. Then, Jesus is the "Word" of God in John 1:1-18, the One Who graciously came from the Father to reveal the Father to men who had not received His written Word, cf. Isaiah 8:20-9:2!
      4. Hence, Revelation 19:6-21 is God's ENCOURAGEMENT to us CHRISTIANS to keep heeding and ministering GOD'S WORD in the midst of discouragements or opposition to the contrary!
        1. Revelation 1:1,3 tells us the book aims to bless God's servants.
        2. Well, Revelation 19:6-21 tells us that at Christ's Second Coming, God will vindicate those who proclaim His Word and are persecuted for it, but that He will punish those who resist it!
        3. Thus, the passage motivates Christians to hold to God's Word, encouraging them that their efforts to do so are very important!
Application: (1) We must OBEY God's Word re: faith in Christ, and TRUST in Him for eternal life to escape the wrath of God, John 3:35-36. (2) Then, let us NOT be DISCOURAGED for facing discouragements or resistance in HEEDING or MINISTERING that Word; rather, may we RECALL a HUGE accounting will come for HOW we RESPOND and APPLY Scripture! Accordingly, may we UPHOLD it FIRMLY!

Lesson: In VIEW of the GREAT CONTRASTS between the DESTINIES people will EXPERIENCE at Christ's Second Coming ACCORDING to HOW they RESPONDED to SCRIPTURE, we should NOW READ, HEED and PROCLAIM it with MAXIMUM MOTIVATION!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 One of our members last Sunday reported on a challenge faced by another Church he recently visited. It's former pastor was apparently a good Bible teacher, but resigned from his pulpit because he felt he had no more insight from the Word to give to the people.

The new pastor, though generally sound, does little teaching.

The leaders of the Church could wish they had the former pastor back, and the former pastor is willing to return, but ethically and morally no one, of course, wants to "fire" the newer pastor.

What is astonishing to consider is the fact that the former pastor ever felt he had no more insight from God's Word to give! We read in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God is "alive and powerful," so how could one run dry in giving the Word if he handles it properly?

Consider the testimonies of two faithful ministers of the Word:

(1) After over forty years of teaching Bible at the Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon, the late Dr. John G. Mitchell was recorded in November 1977 as saying: "A student said to me the other day, It must be nice to have preached and taught all these years, Dr. Mitchell, because now you don't have to study any more.'

I told him, Man, I never stop studying.' I never get to the end of it. I never get through! A person has to guard his time with the Lord and with His Word. A great many of God's servants are too busy with programs and with details that someone else could do. Their main objective (as Peter could say in Acts 6) should be to give themselves to the ministry of the Word of God . . . We receive according to our capacity, and our capacity grows as we lay hold of the truth." (John G. Mitchell as told to Dick Bohrer, "The Vanishing Art of Expository Preaching," Moody Monthly, Nov. 1977, p. 42)

(2) Then, after fifty years of teaching the Bible, Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible Exposition at the Dallas Theological Seminary, in an alumni circular, Dallas Connection, Winter, 2000, p. 1, said: "Each time I teach it [the course on the Life of Christ] I discover things I hadn't seen before, so it's always exciting to go through it again. I think I enjoy that so much because it focuses on the person and work of Christ . . ."

May we remain FERVENT in holding to God's Word as have Dr. John G. Mitchell and Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost! We will be richly rewarded in eternity as will they for doing so !