My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer. (Psalms 45:1) I stumble toward this Sunday with sincere trepidation... I have just entered into a week by week sermon series on the book of Revelation and the topic I am going to preach on, in my humble opinion, is the most important and significant message of the whole book. No, scratch that, it has become the passion of my life! Our goal this week is not to chop through the thorns and thistles of dispensational vs.reformed arguments in reference to apocalyptic literature. We are not going to delve into the identities of the 10 horned beast, Anti-Christ or try to explain what the number 666 means. And yes... the discussion of the rapture has to wait; that comes in two weeks, unless of course the actual rapture comes before that. (My fingers are crossed...is a Christian pastor even allowed to do that?) What could even compare to all those other fascinating and intriguing end time matters, you ask? There is really only one topic of significance that rises above the rest: Gazing Upon & Appreciating the Beauty of Jesus the King! So for the next three blog posts, to prepare us for this Sunday's message, I want us to consider the wonder of Christ. We don't do this often enough - - and if we were honest, for many of us, we rarely do this at all. I think I know why? Have you ever really meditated on 2 Corinthians 4:4? This verse may be one of the most important keys to understanding why people are so indifferent towards God. Here is what it says: The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the glory of the gospel in the face of Christ, who is the image of God. Lets break this down a little: Who is the god of this age? None other than Satan himself. And as 1 John 5:19 and Ephesians 2:2 says, he controls this world and rules over the hearts of the disobedient, those who have not embraced the gospel. Believe it or not, he even has significant sway over the minds of most believers as well. His objective? To blind people to the beauty of Jesus. To cause them to be bored with the gospel. To have them "yawn" when the person of God is mentioned or discussed.
In simple language, he has the whole world under his spell. In the Lord of the Rings, King Theoden is put under the spell of Worm-tongue. As a result, he was no longer the noble king he once was; his soul became poisoned and bitter, a broken shell of a man. When he saw Aragorn and Gandolf, they no longer where seen as the friends he once knew, but they became his foes. The spell caused him to despise those he once esteemed. In Beauty and the Beast, an evil spell turned the prince into a hideous beast. Instead of a dignified man, he rampaged around his castle as a raging monster. Satan has done this same thing to all of us, and I believe no one is immune to his horrible black spell. God and Jesus are not feared, reverenced or even respected in our world. Their names have become curse words more than tokens of blessing. And Mr. Christian, you have been effected too! You must admit that you are regularly bored with Jesus. Do you pray? Are you daily walking close to him? You can answer this by thinking on the things that captivate you. I know faithful church attenders who are living their lives more for another installment of "Downtown Abbey" or the NFL draft than spending time with Jesus. The Preterist's perspective (people who see the majority of Revelation as already fulfilled) teach that Satan is now currently bound, his power for the most part has been taken away when Jesus died on the cross. But look around, examine your own heart; his lies and deceptions concerning the glory of Jesus are still powerful and persuasive. He has most of us fooled, bored and indifferent when it comes to the person of Jesus. Do you concur with the writer of Psalm 45:1 whenever you think of Jesus - - is your heart stirred by the noble thought of him? Do you live your life as verse 10-11 implores us: "Listen, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father's house. The King is enthralled by your beauty, honor him, for he is your Lord." His spell is strong, and if it has you yawning at the mention of his name...SNAP OUT OF IT!
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