The Great Supper of God – The Apocalyptic Feast of Revelation • When Jesus Returns | Messianic

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

For his throne and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. Love it.

Revelation: A Message of Hope, Not Fear

Revelation is such a misunderstood book of the Bible. It's a book that has been exploited due to its extremely violent images. It's a book that's been weaponized to control the masses because it's easy to portray it as a book about fear, anxiety, and stress concerning the end of days. And I would like to submit to you that that's not at all the purpose of the visions that John had. Revelation was meant to be a theopolitical message of hope and a call to subvert governments, to subvert kingdoms and to subvert empires as citizens of a kingdom that is not of this earth but of heaven. In other words, it was a book meant to give believers encouragement and hope in the face of war, in the face of violence, and in the face of oppression. Revelation is this: Keep your eyes locked on Yeshua and his kingdom and don't be swayed by the lies of the empires. The lies that the kingdoms of the earth try to tell you. The empires of the earth that are under the control and deception of Satan. It's a strong intro. But that's what makes the book of Revelation so amazing.

Apocalyptic Literature and the Real Enemy

Because it's a genre of literature called apocalyptic literature. It's metaphorical. It's symbolic. The images are not literal. At least I hope they aren't—big Godzilla sea monsters coming out of the sea. Metaphor represents the empires of the earth, of the past and the future and the present. Because metaphor and symbolism in apocalyptic literature, which was popular during the first century, it carries a more significant message. And when you come across apocalyptic literature, Daniel has some. Ezekiel starts and ends with apocalyptic visions. Apocalyptic just means the revealing. It's explosive, usually violent revelation with over-the-top imagery.

And in Revelation, it's meant to give you hope. See, empires and kings are the bad guys in the book of Revelation, or the whole Bible, because they will use any means possible to control you for their purposes of grasping power, including, in Revelation, mixing religion and even the faith in Jesus with their imperial propaganda, because that's what Rome did with their imperial cult. That's what the two beasts are in Revelation 13. There's a false prophet who uses religion to cause people to worship the beast of the sea, which is empire. Genius, right? Because if you can convince people that they are fighting on God's side when they give full allegiance to their earthly kingdom or nation or country or empire that is really controlled by Satan, then they will gladly do it, right?

My country's on God's side. All kingdoms do this. All empires do this.

Rome Perfects the Art of Empire

Rome perfected it by deifying Caesar—the position of Caesar—so that the worship of Caesar was seen as the worship of the gods. And you want to worship the gods because if the gods are unhappy with you, well then your life's not going to be great. So now your allegiance to Rome was tied up with the blessing from the gods. Just evil genius. See, what they would do with Rome was pretty cool. They would print the face of Caesar on the coins with slogans about trusting in the gods and venerating the gods around his face. "In God We Trust"—it's propaganda. It is what it is. We do it too. It first appeared here in the U.S. during the Civil War when the Union Army was trying to find a way to encourage the North.

And they decided to put "In God We Trust" on the back of the twocent penny above the shield icon, which, of course, in today's penny, the newest one has the same shield with 13 stripes on it, representing the unified 13 colonies under the federalized government. So it's the shield of protection under the unified federal government with the slogan "In God We Trust" on it. "In God We Trust" by pledging allegiance to the federally unified government. Genius, right? I get a kick out of it. It worked. And it was encouraging amidst the horrible, bloody war. Families were devastated. The country was devastated. It's propaganda, but it brought some hope.

In God We Trust and the Cold War

In the midst of the Cold War in the 50s against the Soviet Union and our fight against the spread of communism that would impact our international interests, it was the U.S. versus the USSR. And to reinforce God being on our side, we expanded the slogan to all of our currency in 1955. And in 1956, just to push us a little bit more, we added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. They weren't there before that. And the government admits the reason they did this was to reinforce and encourage people to stay loyal to the United States versus the Soviet Union, which at times persecuted certain sects of Christianity.

The Pledge of Allegiance that is learned and recited where? Right here, as a part of the daily curriculum in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools nationwide, where children are taught through repetition to pledge all of their loyalty to a government or the nation. Full loyalty, no matter what. Your life. Quite a big commitment for a six-year-old. Yes, I'm critical of some of the things our government does. Why? Because I love my country. But it's because I love my country that I feel the need to examine things and audit things and be critical at times.

Kingdom Over Empire

But Revelation encourages believers to see the reality of God's sovereignty and cut away the lies. See what's actually going on in the world. Cut away the deception. Take the blinders off and live out the kingdom that you truly give your full allegiance to. And that is the kingdom of Yeshua, the kingdom of God, the eternal kingdom that all empires either crumble or yield in submission to, even unto death. You hold that type of loyalty to God's kingdom. And if you hold that loyalty to God's kingdom, even unto death, in Revelation, it says that you are victorious. You are a conqueror. You're a Nike. That's what the word is. Like the shoe, Nike. You're a conqueror.

The Son of Man Coming on Clouds

But look at verse 7. Verse 7 of Revelation. It says, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the people of earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be." John is amazing. So he speaks of Yeshua riding on the clouds of heaven, and that every eye will see him and mourn. Now, this is part of John's greeting he's giving to the seven literal churches that he's writing to in the first century. This part is not part of the vision. The vision hasn't started yet. All the monsters and everything haven't started yet. He's still greeting the churches, and he has this type of doxology that he tosses in there.

This is part of his greeting. And I would submit that this is not simply speaking of Jesus returning to earth. See, John here quotes two Old Testament prophecies. The first one is from Daniel , where the Son of Man —which of course is Yeshua—allows the empires of the earth, these beasts, to kill him in Daniel 7. And he allows them to pour out everything they have onto him. And in doing so, they destroy themselves while trying to destroy him. And then the Son of Man in Daniel 7 is vindicated and he's placed on a cloud chariot. And he's coming on the clouds of heaven up to the throne room of God where his kingdom is inaugurated and he rules and reigns forever.

The phrase "coming on the clouds of heaven" is not about someone coming from heaven to earth. It's about coming from earth to heaven to inaugurate the eternal kingdom of God. It's kind of neat. It represents the Son of Man or Yeshua, his sovereignty and authority as king over creation. That's what the phrase means. Daniel 7 shows us the cloud rider.

The Cloud Rider: Divine Authority Across Cultures

Now the cloud rider thing is pretty cool because in ancient pagan cultures, the God who rode on the clouds was the top God. That was the one who had the most power, the most authority. Israel's neighbors worshiped a storm deity by the name of Baal-Hadad or short Baal—it's the Baal we read in the Bible. His name was Baal Hadad. He was a storm god—lightning, thunder, bringing the rains. And he was called the cloud rider, Baal who rides upon the clouds in Ugaritic mythology. And do you want to see how absolutely savage the early biblical authors were? Yes, you do. I love this. Some people might say no, but you say it like it is, okay?

They stole it. The early biblical authors appropriated imagery that pagan cultures used to celebrate the power of their gods, and they slapped it onto Yahweh. No, your God's not the cloud rider. Our God's the cloud rider. You're like, no, we had it first. So? Yeah. It's amazing. And it's all throughout the Bible. Deuteronomy and Isaiah 19:1 are just two of the five or six examples of this. "There's none like you, God, oh, Yesharun, which is another name for Israel, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies of his majesty, or rides through the clouds." Isaiah 19:1, "an oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will tremble in his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt away." Oh, I love it. Because we know God doesn't literally ride on clouds, right? God the Father is omnipresent. He's everywhere. But the imagery here was used intentionally to make a more impactful claim about how great God is. And I just think the cloud rider motif in the Bible is really cool. But to the ancient world, this was a bold claim that was a threat, right?

The Cloud Rider and Divine Authority

That's super bold of Israel. Your God's not the cloud rider. Our God's the cloud rider. You should be afraid because our God can beat up your God. That's essentially what the language is. Because if someone's riding on the clouds, then they have all power and authority on both heaven and earth. And that's where the Son of Man, Daniel 7 prophecy, emerges from. And we see it in Matthew 26 when Yeshua is being interrogated by the high priest of Israel, the anointed one—Caiaphas. And looking at Caiaphas, who's trying to figure out a way to kill him, Yeshua says, in the language, listen to what he says: From this moment on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.

Not in the future, not at the end of days. From this moment forward, you're going to see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. It's not returning from heaven to earth. You're going to see the Son of Man being vindicated, given all power and authority over creation, and launching God's kingdom. And not only that, you're also going to see the beast of Daniel 7 destroyed.

And in that moment, Caiaphas screamed and rent his clothing because the accusation was that he's the beast, the high priest of Israel. Yeshua didn't mess around.

The Greeting of Revelation

And so John is writing to the seven real churches experiencing persecution under the Roman Empire, as well as future believers. And how does he greet them? He's coming in the clouds of heaven. In other words, Yeshua is king, has defeated the beasts, and holds all power and authority and dominion. It's doxology in his greeting, as if a salute to fellow believers: Shalom, our king is the cloud rider. I love that. The next part of the greeting is, of course, taken from Zechariah. In Zechariah, there's a vision where all these nations are going to attack Jerusalem, his holy city. And he says they're going to consume all people to the left and the right of Jerusalem. But everyone in the city of Jerusalem, he's going to protect them. He's going to destroy all nations that come against his city. And here's what it says: I will pour out a spirit of grace and compassion upon Jerusalem.

The Piercing and Mourning

This is a controversial prophecy. So much so that some Bible translations change what the Hebrew is indicating. They shall look upon me who they pierced. It's Yahweh talking. They ran God through. What? Yeah. God is telling them that the way you've treated me in the past, it's as if someone had run me through with a sword. God is speaking to his people. You killed God, metaphorically. This people, his people, ran God through. And in this moment, they realize it and they mourn. They mourn for how they have treated God. And the mourning is so great—it's repeated. The land's gonna mourn. The clans are mourned.

It's a form of judgment, but not the kind you'd expect. This people ran him through here, metaphorically, but instead of God abandoning them, he comes to save them anyway. And instead of slaughtering them with divine wrath, he sends a spirit of compassion to them so that they will no longer believe the lies of their own selfish pursuits, but they will see clearly his reign, his justice and his mercy and his love. And they respond by mourning how they have been so deceived and deceived themselves and believe that they're doing right even though they're doing evil. Because none of us have ever done that, right?

And the lies come off and they realize it's as if they took a spear and shoved it through the heart of God and they mourn. And he showed up to protect them.

Five hundred years later, John the apostle records the passion of Yeshua, the crucifixion, and how they grabbed a spear and they run it through him to make sure he's dead. And at that moment, it clicks for John. This is Yahweh being run through in Zechariah. And he writes, and another scripture says, they will look upon him whom they have pierced, right? Forgive them for they know not what they do. That's what Yeshua said to the one who pierced him. Why? Why not drop the holy nuke? That's what I would do, but I'm not God. Because they're under the guise of the lies of Satan and thinking that what they are doing is actually right. This is an instance of national security, right? Of course we've got to kill people. But God is a God of mercy, and he has mercy. And he brings to light what is in darkness, and he reveals the truth that is hidden. And they will look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn, bringing them back into communion with God.

The Kingdom and Empires

This is how John, in Revelation, greets his fellow Christians. These two principles: Yeshua is king above all, and his kingdom is a threat to all empires, all nations, and all countries. And our citizenship is in it. Because in God, we trust. And remember what type of king we serve. He's a God of mercy, compassion, and he yearns for the lies of Satan to be destroyed so that those under the deception of Satan unknowingly who commit evil acts will realize them in return and be in communion with God. Right there in that little reference of two prophecies. I know, I'm just beating a dead horse with a bat.

I really want you to walk away understanding that. Then we get to the end of Revelation and we get to the final countdown, the final battle when Yeshua returns in Revelation 19. And it speaks of the kings of the earth, the bad guys, right? Bad guys in Revelation. They're the bad guys throughout the whole Bible. They control the empires that crush, kill, and destroy to get what they want. When Israel became like the nations and built an empire, they failed the mission. That was it. Be a light to the nations. Don't be Egypt. Okay, we're going to become Egypt under King Solomon. And moving forward, they chose to take hold of the fruit of determining good and evil for themselves.

And as a result, they were exiled from the land, from the presence of God, out toward the east into Babylon. That's why the story of Adam and Eve is framed the way it is and written the way it is. It's an echo. There's only one king that rules with absolute power, and it's not Pharaoh. It's not Nebuchadnezzar, and it's not Caesar, and it's not Napoleon, and it's not Bill Clinton, and it's not Donald Trump, it's not Netanyahu. No, his name is Yeshua, the king, Jesus the Christ, Emmanuel, Yahweh, the cloud rider.

The Final Battle

And we come to Revelation 19, the fall of Babylon, which represents all empires. And I'm just going to read through this. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Which is to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written, King of kings, Lord of lords. Yes! Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and with a loud voice he called all of the birds away that fly directly overhead: Come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and the flesh of riders and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.

That's right. That's right. Just kill them all. Smash them like a winepress. That's what it says. That's what it says. Splat them all. And then the beast and the false prophet—also known as the second beast of the land—are thrown into the lake of fire. Remember, these are symbols. These are not individual beings, okay? These are the two beasts of Revelation 13. One represents all empires and the other represents the perversion of religion to get people to worship the beast of the empire. But after they are tossed in the volcano, the lake of fire, it says: Kill them all. That's intense, right? Intense, a little bit.

No one's fazed by this. You guys are—I don't know if this is a good thing or not. Explosive.

The Marriage Supper and Symbolic Numbers

So one thing that's super interesting is in verses 9 and 10, right before this scene happens, there's a call. Basically, there's a call to the saints. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. These are the true words of God. So there's a calling to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And it kind of alludes that this is it, the supper of God. It's great. So you're supposed to, with apocalyptic literature, understand that it's going to be so hyperbolic, so over the top, explosive, violent, but you're also looking for patterns and you're also understanding that things do not appear as they seem in Revelation, okay?

So just like the 144,000. So John hears 144,000—12,000 from each tribe, right? This is the army of God, 144,000. He hears one thing and he turns and he looks around. And there are so many people that he can't count them from every tribe, every nation, every tongue. Every one is part of this kingdom army. So 144,000, it's exactly 144,000. No, it's wrapping the motif of a new humanity, a fulfilled Israel. And when he turns to look, it's not 144,000. You can't count it. And it's everybody of different languages and different colors and different hair types and different hobbies and everyone just from everywhere. It's so awesome.

The Lion and the Lamb

Lion of Judah, chapter 5. John's sitting here and behold, the lion of Judah has roared. Yes, the lion of Judah has conquered. Yes, the big claws and the teeth. This is it. So he hears one thing and he turns and looks and there's no lion. There's a little lamb with his throat cut open, standing in victory because he has defeated the devil. Things are not what they appear. Come feast on the supper of God. Oh, it's so gruesome, man. And to be honest, does this sound like the same Yeshua walking around in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? No, it doesn't. So whenever we see contradicting images of Yeshua in the scriptures, we need to be intentional about what's being said and maybe take another look.

It could be saying exactly what it's saying, or it might be trying to show us something incredibly more significant. And there's a few things that are interesting. So John is referencing and building on the prophecy. John takes so many prophecies and adds addendums to it. Stuff no one could ever get away with. John can get away with it. And so he takes the prophecy of Ezekiel 39 and applies it here and modifies it. But it's about the animals that are going to eat the bodies of the fallen enemies.

The Defeat of the Enemy

When you talk about this imagery of animals eating and birds eating the flesh, it represents the total decimation of the enemy. Such a complete defeat that their bodies are not even left. They are consumed by the birds. It's a shameful defeat. In Jewish culture and in the Jewish worldview, they didn't receive a proper burial. It's just the most utterly shameful, absolute destruction of your foes when you just leave their bodies out and allow them to be torn apart by little pieces of beaks.

Apocalyptic literature. So explosive to make a point that is more significant than just telling you God's going to win. No, the great supper of God is going to be the consumption of their flesh by the birds. In 2007, Pastor Mark Driscoll did an interview with Relevant Magazine, and he said that essentially Jesus is coming back as a cage fighter. He says, in Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down his leg, a sword in his hand, and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is the guy I can worship forever. I cannot worship a hippie diaper halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. Now, this was a long time ago, I don't know if Mark Driscoll still believes this or not, but the point is that's how a lot of people feel. Let's be honest. That's how a lot of people feel because we don't like the idea that God does not play by the rules of the world and the rules of empire. We don't like the idea that as we're praying for our friends, we also need to be praying for them. Yeah, but they don't deserve it. Jesus says, that's what makes it so powerful.

The Secret Weapon

It's a secret weapon. If you can swallow your pride and humble yourself and pick it up, that's hard to do. It's much easier to say that that's just a diaper-wearing hippie type of Jesus and I'm not going to worship a guy I can beat up. That's not how Yeshua operates. That's not who Yeshua is. Because we're talking about the same guy who said, put away your swords. Because if you live by the sword, you're going to die like the people that you kill. He's the same. You're going to end up the same, have no impact on anything. And we love the idea of Jesus acting like we want to act toward our enemies. But Yeshua does not conform to our image. We conform to the image of Yeshua. At least that's what we're called to do. And this idea is inconsistent. We just want to bring our sword with us.

The Robe Dipped in Blood

So what is the significant message that John is trying to relay? Well, a couple things that are interesting. First off, his robe is dipped in blood. Dipped in blood. The word there, the Greek word for dipped in blood, it's the same word that we get baptism from. Full immersion. We always tend to think it's just the bottom six inches. It was just a little trim of blood. Soaked. Super saturated with blood. It's already dipped in blood.

And it's a reference to Isaiah 63, where Yahweh comes back from doing battle with his enemies, and he comes back from crushing his enemies like a winepress. And as you can imagine, when you're crushing grapes very ferociously, is that the word? Ferociously? Yeah. Figurously. That's the word. You can imagine the splatter of the grapes. And Yahweh comes back with his coat splattered with the blood of his enemies that he... It's a badge of honor. That's what it is. A badge of honor because all of your enemy's blood got splattered all over the place, but none of your blood got splattered. But in the book of Revelation, Yeshua is covered in blood before the battle even starts, before he even steps on anyone in the winepress.

That's interesting because the blood he's covered in obviously isn't the blood of his enemies because it hasn't started yet. Whose blood is it? And the book of Revelation already told us in chapter 5. The victory is already won because he's covered in his own blood. This is the mighty warrior king, the ferocious warrior who is victorious. This is how the slaughtered lamb does battle. Not by spilling the blood of his enemies, but by spilling his own blood. The slaughtering lamb does not grow to become a slaughterer. He sheds his own blood out of the love for others.

No Battle Takes Place

And notice a battle doesn't even take place. The symbols of evil and deception and lies of the beast and the false prophet, they're thrown into the lake of fire. And now all that's left are the nations of the world and the kings of the earth and everybody. Everybody who was under their deception. But there's no battle. They just get slayed by the sword of Yeshua. It's not the same image as Mark Driscoll said. He said Yeshua came with a sword in his hand. No, Yeshua is not holding a sword in his hand. The sword is coming out of his mouth. His army behind him, the saints, I guess, us, I don't know. They don't lift a finger.

They don't lift a finger. No one nicks him. No one fights back. He doesn't take a scratch—nothing. The sword comes out of his mouth and he slays everyone effortlessly with the sword. He comes down with the sword out of his mouth and everybody gets sorted. And if you've never thought about that, that's a really gnarly vision because how did that work? Like, what was John, what did he see or the vision? What was the vision of this? I mean, was it just one big sword that was kind of a one swipe, or was it like a sword fight veins in the neck? I don't know, it's just I'm trying to figure this out. It's maybe it shoots out like—I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what the vision is trying to portray here, but it's awesome, it's awesome.

What in the world is going on here? I mean, the sword should be on a side, right?

That's where you keep a sword. But that's not on his side. Instead, the words king of kings and lord of lords are written where his sword should be. The sword is not literal. It's the sword of truth. It's the word of God coming from the one called faithful and true. He's slaying people with the word of God and with the word of truth.

The Great Supper and the New Jerusalem

The great supper of God associated with the marriage supper of the lamb in the same chapter somehow, some way. And we probably do what we do with most of Revelation—it's bizarre. We'll just turn the page and try to get through this. Well, we turn the page, and in chapter 21— wait, chapter 22—we have the new Jerusalem. And I think the reference on the slide is incorrect, but Revelation 22, 24. And here's what happens in the new Jerusalem. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it, and no day... So this is a new Jerusalem that doesn't have a temple because the Lamb and God are the temple.

Sun, moon, and stars don't even matter anymore because the light that comes from this place is so intense. The night never comes, and the gates are always left open. And the city is so big. It covers the geographical area of the Roman Empire. And the kings of the earth and the nations are entering into this city, and they're bringing their splendor into it as if to lay it before Yeshua. Wait a second. I thought the kings of the earth were slaughtered and the vultures ate their flesh. Didn't that just happen? How are they here in the city where nothing shameful or deceitful or evil can be? Only those written in the Lamb's book of life.

Big bird ate them and now they are here. They're here among the saints giving supplication and honor and glory to Yeshua. Yeshua came and he effortlessly tossed the beast and the false prophet into the fire. The deceivers, the satanic powers of influence and lies. They are gone and all that is left are the people, the kings and the nations. And you could say he sent a spirit of compassion among them and he slaughtered the deception that they were under. Because in order for them to end up in the new Jerusalem, they would have had to look upon him who they pierced and mourn. I believe that's what John is trying to illustrate here.

Yeshua is the one that brings truth. Whenever The Bible speaks about the end of days or the end times, it always uses this language of, again, the light, bringing to light what was in the dark, revealing that which was hidden, showing the truth and dispelling the lies.

Revealing Truth

Now, there are broad strokes used in Revelation. Every eye will see, all kings, all nations. We see at the end, though, that there are those who chose to remain outside the city. Not everybody gets in. It depends on whether or not you want to let go of the deception. You want to let go of the lies, the sin, the power, the control. Let go of grasping at power for your own benefit and instead turn and mourn for the one you have pierced that is there to save you. And that's a choice that you have. But this is the entire point of this gruesome battle.

There Is Hope

If there is hope for the kings of the earth, the horrible, the evil, despicable people that did horrible, despicable things. God's number one enemy in the book. If there's hope for them, then that means there's hope for you. There is hope for anyone. There is hope for the person you think that there's no hope for. There is hope for the person that you don't want there to be hope for, which means there's hope for you, right? There is hope because God's not done yet. God's not going to lose. In fact, the battle has already been won. There's hope. That's what the entire book is about. There's hope. You feel like you've gone too far. You've held on to that sin so closely in your life for far too long. You have feasted and gorged on your pride. You have lived a life where you belittle others to lift yourself up. You have embraced a life that is counter to the kingdom of God. And you might feel like there's nothing that can save you. Or maybe I'm just too messed up and this is the way it is. And everyone else has, that's fine.

God Is Here to Save You

If that's you today, I pray in the name of Yeshua that the spirit of compassion would come and fall on you so that the lies and deception that have been pulled over your own eyes that you've chosen to believe will fall to the floor and that you will understand that God is here to save you. God is here to rescue you, that you will see the shepherd running after you. Stop running away into the woods. That's the power of our king. This is the love of God that was displayed on the cross. And the message is that God loves you. And will you take hold of Yeshua?

A New Humanity

Because we're called to be a light to the world. We're called to be a new humanity, right? If Yeshua is Adam 2.0, then the descendants from that Adam are humanity 2.0, right? It's supposed to be us. It's supposed to be us. We're supposed to look different. We're supposed to speak differently. Our ideologies are supposed to be different. We should not look like the rest of the world. And far too many times we minimize that to only being about listening to secular music, cussing too much when you stub your toe or something. No, guys, no. It's an entire heart thing.

Be Subversive to the Game of Empire

When the rest of the world is cheering on the game of empire, it's the new people of God that should be subversive to that. And it's not popular, and it's what got Christians killed because Rome didn't like that. We're not going to play your game. Then we're going to kill you. That means nothing to me because you can't take anything from me. I'm going to be resurrected. But far too many times we find ourselves in positions where we feel like we have to agree with everyone or we have to go with the flow or we have to endorse certain things because of our government or our country, the world, or the culture.

Subversive. Stand against it boldly in a way that irritates evil. And don't be afraid of getting hurt. Man, that's the one right there. In the U.S., we've become so accustomed to church kind of being more along the lines of a YMCA membership. We come and we socialize, and we look at other countries where Christians might be persecuted for their faith or the history of Christians, and we're like, man, go get them. That's martyrs, yeah. But when it comes to us, we're like, oh, no, we don't want to do that. We're scared. We might get hurt. Someone might want to hurt us because of our faith. If you're worried about that, I would really encourage you to reconsider what faith you thought you were getting into.

Because this faith requires you to pick up the cross and to follow Jesus to Calvary. The slaughtered lamb calls his followers to imitate. And that's a tough message. And that means standing before the beast no matter what and saying, I won't move. Knowing that you will be vindicated just like the Son of Man. That is how you conquer as a believer.

You Are Not Too Far

You are not too far. Do not believe the deception and the lies because that's all they are. And the king has come to slay the lies. Will you be able to proclaim that your king is coming with the clouds and that every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the people of the earth will mourn because of him? So shall it be. Amen. This is the king that we serve. And so I invite you as we close to stand with us and we have a time of worship and we have a prayer team that will be here on either side of the room. And if you need prayer today, for any and all reasons, I invite you, take advantage of that. Have someone pray with you. You can spend this time singing, worshiping. You can spend this time meditating on the word. You can spend this time in prayer. But I hope if you walk away today with one thing, it's that you are not too far away from God because he's here to save you.

Prayer and Blessing

Alvino Moccano, our father, our king father, we thank you for this opportunity to jump into your powerful word to learn about the greatest king, Yeshua, and how he saves. That he does not come to slaughter us as much as he comes to slaughter the deception of the devil. That we would see clearly, and after we see clearly, we would have the boldness to reach for our king, to mourn and to give praise, that we would not be content in the place of deception, feasting on the fruit of determining good and evil for ourselves that creates our own empire, makes us a king in our life, that we would yield to your power and your world and enter into new creation for all eternity. We thank you, Father, for your mercy. We thank you for your spirit of compassion.

In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God and the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of the Lord, His glorious kingdom for all eternity. May the Lord also cause you to increase and overflow in love for one another and for all people in order to strengthen your hearts as blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all His Kedoshim. And may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance towards you and give you peace. Shabbat Shalom. Info@foundedintuth.com