The Apocalypse

hey let's pray you guys what do you think about that pray in church that's a normal thing to do right um hey would you guys join me in the lord's prayer and if you don't know it you don't have it memorized you are more than welcome to mumble and act like you do okay let's pray our father who is in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen okay we are going to go ham this morning it's going to be fun i have entitled this message the apocalypse so depending on what you think that word is you might be a little frightened but i would like to especially look at the apostle paul and look at some of the original greek biblical usage of where we get the term apocalypse and kind of dive into what that is all about um so to begin with the apostle paul and we'll look at some judaism stuff as well and some worldview stuff that paul and jesus were raised in uh and kind of the apocalyptic world that they uh grew up in so uh the apostle paul to begin with i love the apostle paul when i first started reading my bible i i loved reading his letters i just love the apostle paul and i really have a hard time sometimes in our modern culture when people just dismiss paul as like oh that was just paul i'm like this dude changed the entire western civilization for the better a lot of our like human rights and social justice and stuff like that that's rooted in the apostle paul like he started all that stuff as an immediate implication of the gospel uh so paul is incredibly monumental figure not just in early church history but human history he's probably the most prominent influential and controversial figure in history martin luther says that paul was the wisest man after christ john chrysostom an early church father he said if you put the whole world on one side of the scale you will see that the soul of this man paul outweighs it an early sorry a new testament study says this about paul it says apart from jesus no other person other than paul was more formative for recasting the jewish worldview around messianic hopes and establishing kingdom-centered christian communities in the west apart from maybe peter no person other than paul was more influential in founding churches across the roman empire communities that were distinguished by their devotion to jesus and committed to a radically counter-cultural way of life apart from maybe irenaeus he's a second century early church father a bishop no person other than paul was more formidable when it came to defending the gospel against accommodation and adulteration by dissident groups so paul is incredibly influential 13 of the 27 new testament letters are penned by paul hebrews is debated and the guy named luke who wrote luke acts which most scholars would say luke acts is a singular narrative that luke gospel of luke is the prequel to acts and acts as the sequel to luke uh you got to read them together and and so luke he was a physician a historian uh and he was a close associate with the apostle paul and some people would even go so far as to say he was paul's personal physician you know so paul likely had incredible influence on that narrative of luke acts and the theology behind it paul was he was thoroughly committed to his jewish identity his jewish beliefs and his jewish way of life he was educated at the feet of gamaliel who was a leading rabbi of that day and a prominent authority in the sanhedrin the guys who killed jesus uh he was as he was zealous he he calls himself zealous for israel's ancestral customs um as so much so that that was why he persecuted the early church because he and the rest of judaism perceived the early followers of jesus as being disloyal to israel's way of life paul was even authorized by temple authorities to do this to stamp out this deviant renewal movement claiming that the crucified nazarene was the messiah and risen from the dead and it's as paul is on his way to persecute the early church on the road to damascus this is uh recalled by paul a few times in acts each time there's a few different details that he brings in but specifically the first one is acts chapter 9 and in acts chapter 9 paul encounters the crucified and risen lord and jesus says to paul saul saul why are you persecuting me and it's interesting to side note that that as paul's persecuting jesus's people jesus asks him why are you persecuting me because when you persecute jesus people you persecute jesus because he's one with his people and so paul he describes this in galatians 1 this encounter with jesus as the revelation or the apocalypse of jesus the messiah he says this is how he received the gospel that he preaches this is how he received his commission uh it's interesting to note in in acts chapter 9 oftentimes even sometimes the headlines of some bibles say the conversion of paul or saul but nowhere in acts 9 does it say anything about conversion and sometimes we think that paul jumped from judaism bucket into christianity bucket but really what happens in acts 9 it says paul saw a light he heard a voice and everything changed he was a radically different person after this encounter a lot of the description in the narrative talks about his sight his eyes he became blind but then the scales fell off his eyes and it was a different guy and there was much that continued it was still paul but he was a new paul the old had passed away the new had come and he realized what he had been called to do for his life and it's important to note he never abandoned his jewishness instead he discovered the key he discovered the fulfillment and destiny of the entire narrative of israel in jesus and he was forced to rethink his whole worldview his beliefs and recalibrate them at the deepest level possible underneath the transfiguring light of god's disclosure of himself in and through jesus this was a significant event for paul it was a transformative event for paul and it was this event that that changed him and impacted many through it at this event afterwards he also realized that he was set apart from birth as god's chosen instrument called to be he says multiple times the apostle to the gentiles to the nations and in this role that he was called he saw himself as fulfilling the role of israel in continuity with jesus to be a light to the nations this was god's original purpose for israel in calling abraham one out of many to bless abraham so that through abraham the blessing the one could go to the many and that god's revelation of his wisdom and his character could go from this family of abraham who would become the nation of israel into the world in all nations and paul sees himself fulfilling this role of a prophet of an apostle of jesus what's significant about paul and and what's significant about this revelation he has is that the whole theological center i mean we we could say that the theological center of the witness of jesus that's enshrined in the new testament is dependent upon paul and his theology and in the expansion much of the expansion of the early church relied upon paul as well he was he got the crap kicked out of him everywhere he would go uh he was incredibly controversial and he was also incredibly influential and the things that he did in his day much of the fruit didn't get seen until centuries later and now we're here and we have all his letters in the new testament but in his day he was beat up he was shipwrecked he was in the eyes of the world he didn't look like the guy and i was just reading the other night in second corinthians he describes his credentials because the corinthians had the list of worldly credentials of power prestige and charisma and all this stuff when paul says here's my credentials he brags about all the wrong stuff he brags about how he has shared in the sufferings of jesus but what's significant about paul in his theological influence of the new testament and his influence in the expansion of the early church is this was a man who never walked with jesus in his historical mystery ministry like peter james and john uh paul did not experience and see those healings that jesus did and most likely was not a part of jesus's earthly ministry paul knew jesus he received the gospel and he was commissioned entirely through revelation his apocalypse now just to pause real quick sometimes we get pumped up and go sweet i'm going to go into the woods by myself and have revelation of god and and like apart from everybody else and it's like that's how cults start right you know so it's like it paul didn't like have this revelation and go off on his own and do his own thing he came in and submitted to the apostles and checked in with them to confirm his gospel and it's funny when he talks about it because he's like i don't really care what they think but i just wanted to confirm that what i was saying was legit um so so paul his influence is incredibly important because it's dependent on his revelation the center of his thinking his transformation his message his life and his influence is sourced in and derived from his personal encounter with the risen jesus the apocalypse or revelation unveiling of his person and work and its immediate implications not just for israel but for the nations and all creation okay so biblical apoc apocalypse um let's talk about this for a sec come on join me here we go uh we'll look at a couple greek words so the word revelation is the greek word apocalypses uh the the verb from revelation to reveal is apocalypto revelation or apocalypses appears 18 times in the new testament and 13 times in pauline writings to reveal or apocalypto appears 26 times in the new testament and 13 times in paul okay so this is where the english word apocalypse comes from now pause unfortunately that english word carries uh some distorted meaning that's absent from the original greek biblical usage when you hear the word apocalypse or apocalyptic you're probably thinking many of us would think destruction of the universe end of the world right and here's why oxford definition oxford dictionary supplies this definition which is pretty unhelpful but this is what we got number one apocalypse is the complete final destruction of the world as described in the book of revelation or number two an apocalypse is the event evolving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale so the biblical greek usage is very different from oxford dictionaries and we have to we have to know we got to let the biblical greek interpret what what this meaning is rather than oxford dictionaries though they do a great job at other stuff so apocalypse does not mean end of the world in scripture it it doesn't mean destruction of the universe like not at all um it's a compound word that word to reveal or apocalypto is a compound word when you mush two together apo which means from or away and kalupto which means to cover or to hide or to conceal so when you bring that together to reveal or apocalypto it means to uncover to unveil or to disclose or cause something to be fully known or brought to light this is the biblical meaning of the word apocalypse it is the it's the manifesting of a transcendent reality previously unknown hidden or secret which also implies the removal of anything that conceals or hinders its full knowledge okay so if you've ever been out to eat and if you're like me you kind of sometimes you'll stick with the same thing that you get to eat at certain places because it's your go-to you're confident you don't want to you don't want to ruin it by getting something new you've never experienced before and and not liking it right but every once in a while there will be a time where a friend or a family member or someone will say oh you gotta have this on the menu of whatever it is and you you go out on a limb and for the first time you experience something and you go wow that was really good and then you transition from that becomes now your go-to you guys ever had that experience uh that's an apocalypse something that was always real always true and always there for you and your experience it became unveiled or disclosed to you through personal encounter with it uh you know so so that is kind of like what apocalypse is apocalypse in scripture can refer to various things it can refer to the interpretation of visions it can refer to the disclosure of transcendent secrets or mysteries that's a common theme in apocalyptic literature is a mystery that was mystery in scripture means something that was unknown and has become known something that was hidden that has now been brought to the light that's mystery or it can refer to the things relating to the last day or the final judgment being unveiled but it's especially the word apocalypse is especially concerned with the unfolding revelation of god's own being through his saving acts and personal encounters with man tf torrance says this the biblical concept of revelation or unveiling begins with the old testament idiom of revelation as a two-fold act it is the uncovering of god but it's also the uncovering of the ear of man in the new testament it is manifestation the unveiling of god but it is also the taking away of the veil from our darkness and blindness real and full revelation is an act of god that is met by an act of man but the act of man meeting it is one which is inspired and created by the act of god's self-unveiling so revelation is god making himself known as he really is to us and in us but also the lifting of our previous blindness to apprehend and experience him as he is that's revelation and throughout the hebrew scriptures yahweh he is the god of israel and he's continually revealed throughout the hebrew scriptures as the one true living god over against the false and and dead gods of the pagan religions that were israel's neighbors yahweh is declared to be the creator and sustainer of the cosmos the lord of history and he's continually revealed as the god who is compassionate gracious slow to anger abounding and loyal love and faithfulness he's revealed as the holy one of israel this is the the unfolding unveiling of god in the hebrew scriptures and as you read the hebrew scriptures it's like a book without its final chapter it's searching for fulfillment it's searching for a goal and a conclusion and with the apostle paul and the rest of the apostles he takes up that narrative and the concepts and the ideas and he draws it onto and around jesus as the climactic goal the source and the center and the content of that unveiling and so paul believes not just that a secret has been disclosed or that you know some information has been made known but he believes that in jesus he encountered the world's true and rightful lord who's already reigning he believed that jesus was the eternal son of god israel's messiah who shared the throne of yahweh he believed that jesus was the self-revelation of the innermost being of the one true god the creator the sustainer and the redeemer of the cosmos for the apostle paul who was very very monotheistic hebrew jewish guy who prayed the shema every day hear o israel the lord our god is one there is one god he put jesus into the category of the being of god and for paul jesus is the final the decisive and unique revealing and saving act of god in history so the unveiling or the apocalypse of jesus for paul is the unveiling of god and the salvation of man in him okay so we're going to talk for a brief moment about jewish apocalyptic okay this is like we're nerding out here um so for the past like 20 30 years or so there's been a ton of biblical scholarship on this concept of jewish apocalyptic and i'm i'm coming along with kind of catching up and learning a lot of this but there's been a lot of really great studies that have gotten into uh the inter-testamental period between the old and new testament uh more so to get get a grips on the jewish worldview and how they understood the scriptures and and how they understood their narrative uh that they were living in um and so there's been a lot of study on apocalypt apocalypse or apocalyptic in jewish literature and there's different views and there's you know there's a lot it's kind of a slippery term okay so it's just kind of a a big topic that's being discussed uh as of now in the last 20 years or so but to kind of get the synopsis of it is we have to know that for to understand paul to understand jesus we got to enter into the hebrew worldview uh and in the belief the main line and by the way none nobody would say that that judaism was like a single they they all agreed like there was different groups and camps of within judaism that disagreed on some various issues but they had some mainline beliefs that they all held to and the mainline belief and hope of first century judaism during the time of jesus and paul was this that the creator and covenant god would demonstrate his faithfulness to israel fulfilling his promises in rescuing her from exile forgiving her sins and renewing the covenant that was the world in which jesus was born into and paul was inhabiting they they believed that the reason that they were in exile in babylon under the oppression of babylon was because of their sin idolatry and injustice those are the two main things the prophets critique about israel idolatry they failed to love god they failed to worship god above all other gods and uh injustice they failed to love their neighbor right and so these are the two main things and and that ends them up in exile that's the theology behind the old testament narrative is because we've failed to fulfill the covenant and witness to the nations of who god is what he's like we ended up in exile and it was their sin that got him there and so they needed to be redeemed from exile rescued from exile and then in that also there was a renewing of the covenant the old covenant didn't work not because the god who gave it was bad or the the covenant itself was bad but because israel had jacked up hearts and they needed heart surgery so they needed a new covenant in which the torah was not outside but inside the the law was would be in their hearts and the spirit would enable them to and empower them to fulfill the covenant so they looked forward to this day but much of israel's history was it was subject to the oppression and regime of pagan empires egypt babylon assyria during the time of jesus and paul rome so no faithful jew during these times of being oppressed as the one true people of god there's no way they could believe that they would suffer forever under this oppression where it seemed as if caesar was king that rome was in charge because their theology says there's one true god he's yahweh he's the creator of the cosmos he's the king of israel but also the world and so any other kingdom or king that sets itself up against yahweh is a rivalry to his kingdom so they believed that there would be a day when god's kingship would be made known and when they were under the oppression of babylon and these different empires they perceived that as the present age or the present evil age called in hebrew the ha olam they perceived themselves to be under the bondage and oppression and in the present evil age but they looked forward to the age to come which was in hebrew the olam hazah when yahweh would intervene to vindicate them deliver them from oppression and bring judgment upon their oppressors launching a new world order in which the justice and the wisdom and shalom peace of yahweh would be established throughout the whole world and evil idolatry and injustice would be removed this is the world view of apocalyptic literature for the jews uh the present evil age the age to come that's a picture of exodus that story of exodus that's like a paradigm or a picture that gets played throughout all of scripture paul loves that picture because under the oppression of egypt they are in the present evil age they are waiting and believing and longing for the age to come when god's yahweh's sovereign power will deliver them and will deal with evil and injustice and make things right they longed for that day and so apocalyptic literature became a huge deal it was a genre of literature so you know you got genres of music hip-hop country you know so on apocalyptic was a genre of scripture or of literature an apocalypse from a jewish perspective was the divine disclosure of a state of affairs not ordinarily made known to humans so something that was not known through an apocalypse was made known uh it was a strong critique of of the pagan powers and it was also a way in which israel understood her present circumstances in light of god's promises and as a source for a different world and a different future in which yahweh would bring about by his sovereign power it was their earthly circumstances through apocalypse was seen in a heavenly perspective apocalyptic literature was like resistance literature that's how the jews would fight the power they would apocalyptically write down things that would give them hope and inspire anticipation for the day in which they would be liberated from their captivity here's a very common definition of apocalyptic literature in used in various uh different resources it says this apocalyptic may be defined as a genre of revelatory literature within a narrative framework so a story right in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation eschatology study of the last times okay uh and spatial insofar as it envisions it envisages another supernatural world okay so you got this going on in apocalypse you have horizontally time the present evil age and the age to come you have vertically going on the heavenly realm and the earthly realm uh in terms of of time the apocalypse is what happens when the age to come breaks into the present evil age and discloses a new reality it's also what happens when the heavenly breaks into the earthly disclosing a new reality from heaven's perspective and so the apocalypse is what happens at the intersection of horizontal time and vertical space and apocalyptic writings are very concerned with beginning and end realm above run below and drawing out the correspondence between these dimensions and it was a way in which they invested their real-time experience with theological significance here's a good quotation by one of the leading scholars in this area of apocalyptic literature in the jewish worldview he says this within the first century mainline jewish writings covering a wide range of styles genres political persuasions and theological perspectives there is virtually no evidence that the jews were expecting the end of the space-time universe there is abundant evidence that they knew a good metaphor when they saw one and used cosmic imagery to bring out the full theological significance of cataclysmic socio-political events there is almost nothing to suggest that they followed the stoics into the belief that the world itself would come to an end there's almost everything to suggest that they did not now this is important to know that the jews had this world view of they were not looking forward to the destruction of space time they were looking forward to being delivered from the present evil age by god's power in which the the romans or the babylonians or whoever it was would be removed from power and they would be placed underneath god's lordship that was their anticipation so apocalyptic also isn't just a metaphor like the metaphors for jews he goes on in this quote to say they have teeth they speak to real cataclysmic upheaval events in history in real life experience so this apocalypse this apocalyptic literature is a way to give their experience significance and hope and and belief in in reality and what they look forward to okay so a couple key texts one these two you've probably heard one of them comes from daniel 7 another one from isaiah 13. uh both of these are quoted by jesus multiple times but the one in daniel 7 that gets quoted a lot in the gospels and and is used often to refer to the second coming of christ listen to to what this text says in daniel 7 it's in this vision that daniel has of these four different beasts and then there's one who is vindicated from suffering and this one is the one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven to the ancient of days and he's given an everlasting kingdom so the oppressors no jew would think that these beasts in this vision were actual beasts they would think that these beasts are probably empires are symbolic of evil and and injustice and and this one vindicated as a leader a representative in they also as the jewish people share in this representatives victory uh later on in daniel 7 it talks about how the saints of the most high will also share in this dominion but what's interesting to note is this says the son of man is coming on clouds of heaven not to earth but from earth to heaven so this speaks of an ascension not second coming this is incredibly significant and in the gospels i think what this is pointing to is that when jesus dies and raises he ascends on the clouds to heaven to enter his enthronement as lord of the world another one in isaiah 13 it says that the sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heaven will be shaken jesus quotes this in what's known as the little apocalypse in matthew 24 mark 13 and i think it's luke 21. uh it's a really difficult passage but this gets quoted by jesus and what's interesting is that this verse in isaiah 13 it's apocalyptic language talking about the sun being dark and moon not giving its light it's talking about cosmic imagery it's talking about something's going to happen that's going to shake the cosmos and in the context of isaiah 13 and the very beginning in the end this is a prophecy against babylon and babylon in in the hebrew scriptures was a a picture of human autonomy independence from god babylon became a picture of everything that is opposed and alienated from god and what happens when humans build civilizations with disregard for god that's what happens with babylon and the result is evil idolatry and injustice and so babylon's not a good picture what's interesting about jesus when he comes most of the jews perceived him as a prophet but he was announcing a prophetic warning to israel and a lot of the hebrew prophets he was quoting were prophets like this and they were critiques of other nations but jesus turns this critique back on israel jerusalem and specifically the temple and its religious leadership what he's saying is that jerusalem israel in the temple has become babylon they have become the oppressors and babylon's going to be coming down soon and so this is the apocalyptic language that jesus uses to invest the history that they were experiencing with theological significance okay that's a lot uh there's a lot there um there's yeah anyway so there's some really tough passages there too so is a lot i get it let's move on to paul paul's apocalypse the new testament it reuses this jewish apocalyptic language to describe the events of jesus death his resurrection and the sending of the spirit what the new testament is trying to say is that a cataclysmic event that only cosmic imagery can symbolize happened in the death and resurrection of jesus and the ripple effects go out through all of history paul was without a doubt immersed in this hebrew prophetic apocalyptic literature that deeply shaped the jewish beliefs and hope and through his own personal apocalypse when he encountered jesus he had come to believe that the jewish hope was fulfilled in the crucified risen messiah that in his birth in his life in his death in his resurrection and exaltation the intervention of yahweh had already taken place and that the inbreaking power of god's heavenly kingdom had come the the age to come had broken into and invaded and re-oriented the present evil age and this created a new state of affairs in which the new covenant was established in the body and blood of jesus forgiveness of sins not only for israel but for all creation all the nations was announced and enacted evil was dealt with decisively and the bondage to the dark powers were broken so according to paul this jewish anticipation and hope and this rescue had already taken place in jesus it was presently being worked out in the spirit in the faith community and awaiting final consummation so that's two key words is inauguration and consummation jesus inaugurates the last days he launches the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and we await we anticipate and the spirit guarantees the final consummation when he will come again and make all things new galatians 1 paul says this he says grace and peace to you from god our father and jesus the messiah our lord who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of god our father to whom be glory to the ages of ages so he's saying that this rescue takes place when jesus gives himself for our sins to rescue us out of the present evil age and according to paul's theology too the oppressor wasn't rome the oppressor wasn't the fact that they were being oppressed and not in power the real oppressor was the dominion of darkness and the father of lies and that is what jesus came to rescue us from sin and death colossians 1 he says for he the father rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins that phrase is also in ephesians 1 the redemption in him and the forgiveness of sins that's very jewish that's saying in jesus our redemption has been accomplished in jesus exile's over in jesus forgiveness of sins has gone out in jesus new covenants here in jesus and in the spirit the last days have been inaugurated and the apostles were convinced that the resurrection of jesus from the dead was the beginning of the renewal of all creation and when paul encountered jesus through apocalypse he got new eyes the veil was lifted from his blindness and ignorance and he saw what was real what was good what was beautiful what was right what was true and jesus was the point of reference galatians 1 paul goes on to describe his encounter and he says for i would have you know brethren that the gospel which was preached by me was not according to man for i neither received it from man nor was i taught it but i received it through an apocalypse a revelation an unveiling of jesus the messiah for you have heard of my former manner of life in judaism how i used to persecute the church of god beyond measure and tried to destroy it i was advancing in judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions but when god who had set me apart from my mother's womb he's echoing hebrew prophets called me through his grace he was pleased to apocalypse his son in me so that i might preach him among the gentiles so god doesn't just reveal himself to paul it's an internal unveiling uh in in acts it says that there was a light that's shown around paul but in second corinthians i think paul may have been describing his experience and then the experience of everyone is that the god who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus the messiah this apocalypse for paul wasn't just a disclosure of information it brought about radical transformation he became a new person something changed in him at the deepest level which was working itself out throughout the rest of his life there was a form of his his way of living in judaism that radically ended in his new life as the apostle of jesus to the nations began he was a persecutor of the way but now became a preacher of the way and the same faith he went on to proclaim sorry the same faith that he once tried to destroy he now becomes a leading advocate for the guy is a testimony he he goes from a man who is prone to violence and using scripture to justify it he goes on to share in the messiah's sufferings and he preaches a crucified messiah which is foolishness and he views that as that is the true revolution that is the coming power of god's kingdom he used to preach and teach a love of torah but now through apocalypse he teaches a torah of love and he says love fulfills torah because he had been changed he encountered jesus the pharisee of tarsus he became an ambassador of god's love truth forgiveness and reconciliation and it was the apocalypse that changed everything for paul band you can come on up so not only does paul receive uh he he not only does he receive the gospel through an apocalypse through an unveiling or a revelation but the gospel itself is an apocalypse there's oftentimes apocalyptic language that's used for the gospel that he proclaims and the faith it creates listen to romans 16. and romans 16 echoes some things that paul says in the intro to romans 1 through chapter 1 1-4 which he defines what the gospel is he echoes some of this in romans 16 and he says this now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus the messiah according to the apocalypse of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now made manifest and made known through the prophetic writings according to the command of the eternal god to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith so paul's saying through an apocalypse the gospel or the good news of god's act to start creation over again of god's act to rescue and to renew he says this was cocooned in the old testament in the prophetic writings and the narrative of the hebrew scriptures it was cocooned but in the coming of jesus god in the flesh the messiah the lord emmanuel god with us in the coming of jesus that cocoon began to hatch and the eternal purpose of god was made known and the secret was disclosed and the mystery was out and open for all to see this act of god in jesus this is displayed really cool in the road emmaus this is a sweet story where jesus comes along to these guys after jesus has been risen like he just defeated sin satan and death and he's risen and he comes these two guys on the road and they're kind of moping because they're like man we thought he was the guy we thought he was going to be the guy and it's interesting because jesus comes to them he starts talking with them and it says that their eyes were kept from recognizing him and then they go man we hoped he was going to be the one to redeem israel which is interesting because in the end of luke echoes the beginning of luke because multiple times in the beginning of luke's gospel it talks about how the the jews were awaiting the redemption of israel they were awaiting the consolation the comfort of israel and they're like man we thought he was going to be the guy what they didn't know is israel was redeemed and that it's through the opening of the scriptures and the breaking of bread that their eyes were opened and they saw jesus and then he peaced out he just left and then they said did not our hearts burn within us as he opened the scriptures and we broke bread and it's like they got it they saw romans chapter 1 says this that the gospel that paul is not ashamed of it's the power of god what's the gospel it's the news of the crucified man it's the news of the crucified messiah the crucified god and paul says this is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes for in it the gospel the righteousness of god is apocalypsed the righteousness of god is god's in the rightness and it's how god he he puts people in the right through the death and resurrection of jesus through the gospel how god's in the rightness his his upright character puts people in the right and puts his broken creation back into joint this is the righteousness of god there's a new testament study that says this about the death and resurrection of jesus in the gospel it says the death and resurrection of jesus the messiah forms the initial disclosure of god's righteousness the major apocalyptic event that burst upon an unsuspecting world and in uncomprehending israel and now the apocalypse happens again every time the message about jesus is announced as god's righteousness is unveiled before another audience and when someone announces that the crucified jesus has been raised is israel's messiah is the world's true lord that message itself functions to pull aside the curtain and to reveal to the watching world that there is a creator god he is the god of israel and that he has done what he has always promised in the covenant with israel rescuing the whole creation from chaos and death and the gospel discloses that god has rendered his verdict again against evil on jesus cross and he has enacted his rescue of creation in jesus resurrection this is where it's cool the four dimensions of apocalypse heaven earth age to come present evil age they come together in the figure of the cross heaven and earth the age to come and the present evil age they converge in the cross specifically in the one who is on the cross because he is the alpha and the omega he's the beginning and the end he's the first and the last the eschaton and so the crucifixion of jesus is the crucifixion of history the crucifixion of jesus through the eyes opened by apocalypse is not a sham it's not uh something to be ashamed of it is the power of god that will renew all creation and it's the cross that through the natural eye it appears to be a defeat the cross it appears to be foolishness it appears as weakness [Music] but through an apocalypse the cross is the victory the cross is god's wisdom the cross is god's power and in the gospels it says that when jesus was dying on the cross darkness came over the land the sun's light failed there was an earthquake cataclysmic events and the veil of the temple was torn and the holy of holies was laid bare for all to see and it's the apocalypse of the man on the cross that we see that the slain lamb is the lion we see that the suffering servant is the conquering king and he had to be lifted up so that he could show the prince of the power of the air who's in charge and it's the cross that god enters his enthronement the cross is what happens when god intervenes in history the cross is how god deals with evil the cross is how god deals with injustice it's the cross and it's the apocalypse of the cross that we see he tramples down death by his death it's the apocalypse of the cross that we see the true nature and character of god as sacrificial self-giving love i love the early church father athanasius he was a boss he says that the cross is not foolishness to us the cross is of all things to be most honored because our resurrection is stored up in it that's awesome that the cross is the worst thing that has happened in human history the cross is a picture of suffering and defeat and shame but that was the place where god undoes our shame god cancels our guilt and he breaks sins power over us it's because god hung on the cross that we have hope and this symbol of the cross that used to be a symbol of oppressed oppression and powerful empires gets transfigured into a symbol of hope of life of love and light of the triune god that has invaded our world of darkness and brokenness and he's victorious we're going to take communion and communion is us remembering the death of jesus it's us remembering his body that was broken his blood that was shed and the apostle paul in corinthians he says as often as you take this communion in the present you proclaim the lord's death in the past and you are awaiting his coming again in the future so in the cup and the bread and the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup past present and future come together with an encounter with the risen lord who is the crucified one and he reigns over history so that no matter your ordinary life and no matter the the cataclysmic upheaval that's happening in the world the lamb reigns and that's what this apocalypse is about is the unveiling of god and what he did on the cross and so as paul says in ephesians 1 may the god of our lord jesus the messiah the father of glory give us the spirit of wisdom and apocalypse revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of our hearts enlightened that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in the messiah when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenlies far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and above every name that is named not only in the present age but also in the age to come he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things so in the drinking of the cup in the in the in the taking of the bread remember the death of jesus and may you have an apocalypse the unveiling of god to you and in you and throughout your whole week may you have an apocalypse of god in jesus amen

Channel: Zootown Church

Views: 49

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: vKZKOFz0upo

Length: 48min 24sec (2904 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021