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GALACTIC NEWS FROM THREE ANGELS #4
JUMPING ON THE BED
It’s probably the most famous — or infamous — jumping-on-the-bed
story since Bill Cosby’s childhood confessions from four decades ago.
In recent years there has been gossip galore about visitors to the White
House who, for a generous contribution to the President’s reelection fund,
were given the privilege of sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. But the story
that broke the camel’s back was about a Hollywood actress named Markie
Post, and fellow Clinton supporter Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. Not only
were the two White House guests staying in the Executive Mansion . . .
they were also jumping up and down on the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom.
Well, I’m sure there are many, many told and untold stories about the
silly goings-on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In one of our programs in
December of 1999 lamenting the loss of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in that plane
crash, we shared the story where little three-year-old John-John called
his daddy a “foo-foo head.” And the Chief Executive of our nation looked
at him with mock sternness: “John,” he scolded, “you cannot call the President
of the United States of America a foo-foo head!” And we smile at that
one. But the image of two grown women giddily jumping on the bed where
President Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves and gave this reunited
country the Gettysburg Address, used to rest after a day of binding up
the nation’s wounds . . . well, it did not sit well with many Americans.
Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for the Reagan White House, wrote a
scolding article in the Reader’s Digest, pointing out that these people
had lost all sense of decorum. You simply don’t do that. It doesn’t show
proper respect for the office, for the heritage of greatness that ought
to reside in that grand old house.
Well, this gets back to a King James-sounding expression we studied yesterday.
As we think about the powerful message — the warning message — of these
three angels “flying in the midst of heaven” here in Revelation chapter
14, that first angel begins by saying to the world: “Fear God. Fear God
and give glory to Him.” The point not being that people should shrink
away in terror from God, but that they should have a proper respect for
Him. An awe that is comfortable — if you know God and are in relationship
with Him — but an awe that is still very real, very life-changing.
Born-again Christian Chuck Colson, who used to walk the halls of power
and sit in the inner sanctum, and who probably put his feet up on the
furniture with his boss, Richard Nixon, saw both the hallowed side and
the seamy side. He finally went to jail, partly because he, too, didn’t
fully appreciate the need to respect the gravity of where he was. This
was the White House! This was a place for truth, and for justice, and
for integrity. He does write how, most of the time, visitors who came
into the Oval Office — some of them planning to “tell old Nixon a thing
or two” — generally got very quiet when they realized that this was The
Place. This was where the power and authority were.
Well, what does it mean to “fear” God in the sense that we reverence Him?
First of all, we recognize Him for who He is. And one of the big points
of these “Three Angels’ Messages” is to remind us that God the Father
is our Creator.
“Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea
and the springs of water.”
We’ll return to that concept later in our study, but
friend, this is one reason why we owe God our reverence. He made us! Just
because of that, we would owe Him. Now, God has done so much more for
us than to simply jump-start our existences, but it begins there. We fear
and reverence God because He made this universe by His own spoken word.
He is our Creator, our Designer, our Maker . . . and so we ought not to
“jump on the bed,” especially in His presence.
It’s interesting that one of the world’s greatest kings, a man who himself
commanded respect and power and authority, mirrors almost word for word
the message of these three angels. King Solomon, after years of careless
living, of partying in his own White House with call girls and presidential
interns, pushes it all to the side and comes to his senses. At the very
end of his memoirs, which we know as the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, he
has this to say for our edification:
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of
the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Notice Solomon’s two conclusions as to why we should
respect God. First of all, because He has called His followers to obey.
“Respect God and obey Him,” he says. And you know, as we explore more
closely these three angel messages in Revelation 14, we’re going to find
that same challenge there: to be obedient to God. To show respect by obeying,
by following Him. Just a few chapters over in Revelation is a fantastic
verse describing the people of God in the last generations of time. And
the Bible says very simply:
“They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”
Every time I read those words, I just want to get on
my knees and make this pledge. “Jesus, I’ll go wherever You lead me; I’ll
do whatever You ask me to do. Every day, and every time.” Because that’s
how we show God our respect.
Point number two: these last days are a time for respect because “the
hour of His judgment has come.” I admit that yesterday we talked about
cop cars squealing toward us with the red lights flashing, and how most
of us are likely to run in the other direction. Because, as they used
to say, rather frivolously on Laugh-In, “Here comes the judge!” And friend,
if judgment is a serious matter, by a serious God, at a serious time in
history, then it’s a time to be respectful. It’s not a time for jumping
on beds, or for going our own way.
In our last moments here, we certainly have to ask this question: What
kind of judgment is coming up? That is crucial to our study, certainly,
because we’re told to show respect or biblical “fear” precisely in response
to the fact of judgment coming. “Fear God and give glory to Him because
the hour of His judgment is come.” There are those who propose that only
the wicked will be judged, or perhaps only those who are living carelessly
outside of a relationship with God. Those who are “jumping on the bed,”
so to speak. It’s even suggested that God Himself is somehow on trial
here at the end, that He will be “judged on how He judges.” We’re going
to study all of that in the next few days to come, and actually find that
the Bible clearly teaches four aspects of judgment, involving different
groups, and happening at different times. But King Solomon and these three
angels are united in telling us that there most certainly will be a judgment
scene. And friend, no matter what the details are, when God the Ruler
over heaven and earth is involved in any kind of judgment, it is a grand
and sober time. A time to look up, not look away. A time to take off your
hat, and your shoes, because the ground is holy and God is especially
holy.
I like the plain interpretation to be found in what we call the Clear
Word paraphrase, which is not a Bible, but a marvelous resource for study
and reflection. Listen to how he renders this message by the first angel:
“Then the scene changed, and I saw an angel flying
high in the air, carrying the last message of God’s good news to every
nation, race, tribe, and language. He called out in a loud voice for everyone
to hear, saying, ‘Stand in awe of God” — that’s good, isn’t it? — “and
give glory to Him, because the time has come for Him to clear HIS name
and to judge the world. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the
sea, and the springs of water.”
One point to consider as we close. You know, even Jesus
clearly taught about the judgment — you remember the story of the sheep
and the goats, for instance. So it is a sober thing, a real thing. But
in Matthew chapter 13 He gives us another parable about the judgment:
a story about wheat and tares. Good crops with a whole bunch of weeds
planted in among them, ruining things, choking everything. And the owner
says: “An enemy did this.” “What shall we do?” asks the servant. “This
is terrible.” And the owner says very calmly, still in control: “Leave
it all right there. Let them both be for now. Let them both grow. But
in the end, when it comes time for the harvest, the weeds will be bundled
up and destroyed.”
So it’s serious stuff, isn’t it? Notice, though, that the judgment, the
bundling-up-and-destroying conclusion, happens at the end of time. Friend,
judgment is a last-day experience. That’s why these three angels are a
last-day phenomenon, a spiritual opportunity for now, for you and for
me.
But through it all, good news. Because JESUS SAVES.
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