THE WORLD TO COME (CONTINUED)
Heb. 2:5
Morning Meditation 5/20/2013
"For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak."
The theme for this study is a further description of the new Jerusalem and the Maker of it. We will look at verses 6-8. Revelation 21:6-8 says, "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
THE DECLARATION OF THE GLORIFIED CHRIST
This is the voice of the One sitting upon the throne (vs 5). He said to John, "It is done." These words translate "ginomai" and means, "to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being." It is a perfect active indicative verb. The perfect tense means that it was completed in the past from the standpoint of when He said it. The active voice means Jesus did it. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you." But what was done in the past and was there in the present was unrevealed until this point. Here we have the declaration of its presence and it's TIME. Believers have waited through the ages for this moment. That moment has arrived in our text.
The one speaking identifies Himself this way: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." We read about the beginning in Genesis one and other places in Scripture. We read about the end here. Jesus is the Beginning and the End.
Let's notice some Scriptures that confirm this:
1. Paul said in Romans 11:36, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." The words "of Him" speak of Christ as the source.. The word "through Him" speak of the power, the right, the authority and the One through whom all God's plans are being worked out. The words "to Him" mean that we come back to the starting point. Jesus is Creator and all will come before Him. They have their origin in Him and what they do with Him determines their destiny; Philippians 2:9-11, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." One will either bow his knee here in this life and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father or he will bow the knee at the Great White throne Judgment when it is too late for salvation. The day of grace will have been passed. Now the irresistible judgment of God will force man to acknowledge the truth. One has a choice to reject Jesus but he does not have a choice about this event and his eternal destiny which results from his rejection of Christ. You can say no to Jesus but you can't say no to the judgment.
2. John begins His gospel with the Alpha: John 1:1-4, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
One of our Lord's names is the Word. John Phillips says, "The Greek used by John is the word logos. It was a word familiar to Greek philosophers and a word adopted for his own purposes by the Jewish philosopher Philo. To the Greeks, the word had reference to the abstract conception that lies behind everything concrete--to the ideal, to what we would perhaps call wisdom."
"But John did not get his views of Jesus from Greek philosophy or from the speculations of Philo. John borrowed the Greek word but he used it in a new sense, in a more Hebrew sense. The Hebrews left the Greeks far behind when it came to the eternal verities lying behind the world of time and sense. The Hebrew would argue from the thought to the thinker, from 'wisdom' to God. The Greeks did not go that far. Thus, when John calls Jesus 'the Word,' the logos, he is referring to him as the thinker, the omniscient genius behind the created universe."
3. Paul confirms this in Colossians 1:14-19, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;" The Father made the choice that all fulness dwell in Christ. So all there is to know about God and His eternal purpose is to be found in Christ. He is the beginning and the end.
4. There is no question about John presenting Jesus as God in these verses. The Word is a means of communication. When our vocabularies are the same, you can say something to me and I will understand what you mean. I immediately have a mental picture of what you mean. The Jews understood more about God than any other race of people. God had revealed Himself to Israel on Mount Sinai and in the tabernacle of worship that abode with them for forty years in the wilderness. When John said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," the Jews understood what He meant.
John 8:58-59, "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." When Jesus told the Jews who He was and is they picked up stones to stone Him because to them this was blasphemy. And if Jesus had not been telling the truth, it would have been blasphemy.
Let's drop down to John 1:14 where we are told in no uncertain words, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth." This is God incarnate in the flesh.
5. It is hard to imagine the Creator as a man. But it is a fact. Jesus is before all things and by Him all things exist. We are told why Jesus is called the Word in John 1:18, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The word "declared" translates "exegeomai" and means, "to draw out in narrative, unfold a teaching." We get our word exegesis from this Greek word. Jesus is the exegesis of God. This is confirmed in Hebrews 1:3, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person . . ." Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Alpha and Omega.
6. Herbert Lockyer says, "As Omega, He is also our End, with His glory as our goal. 'Man's chief end is to glorify him, and to enjoy Him forever.' Everything in life finds its answer in Him who is 'the first and the last.'" Then he quotes C. R. Rolls in the beautiful poem:
God's perfect Alphabet art Thou,
Of truth, the kernel and the crown;
Eternal Word to whom we bow,
The Lord of glory and renown,
The First and Last, oh wondrous sight!
The First and Last of love and light.
The Alpha and Omega true,
Inclusive this of all between,
Sum total of the Old and New,
Of things invisible and seen.
The First and Last, oh precious thought,
The First and Last who sought and taught.
THE OFFER OF THE GLORIFIED CHRIST
Revelation 21:6, "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."
Jesus says, "I will give." Salvation is a free gift. Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eternal life is a gift of God but it is exclusively through Christ.
Salvation has always been a gift. Isaiah 55:1 says, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." You will notice the offer of free salvation is illustrated with drinking of water to the thirsty. One must want to be God's child. There must be a craving for God. Salvation cannot be forced upon man. No one is saved by accident. There must be an understanding of God's Word and the response of FAITH. Faith is a non meritorious capacity God has given every man (Rom. 12:3). Romans 3:24-28, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
The text that God used to draw Spurgeon to Christ was Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
The "look" here is the look of faith. Numbers 21:8-9 says, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." We know from John 3:14 that this was a type of Christ's crucifixion. When we look to the uplifted Christ on the cross by faith we pass from death to life. The water of life is free.
THE PROMISE OF THE GLORIFIED CHRIST
Revelation 21:7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."
The overcomer is defined in 1 John 5:4, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." It is the new birth that makes the overcomer. It is faith that is the condition to being born again. 1 John 5:1, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."
If it were left up to our personal holiness (living a sinless life) to be an overcomer, none of us would make it. Paul gives the Scriptural reason in Romans 8:2-3, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
The words "shall inherit" translates "kleronomeo" and means, "to receive the portion assigned to one, receive an allotted portion, receive as one's own or as a possession." Peter speaks of this in 1 Peter 1:3-5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Peter says we have an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." This is the hope of the believer. What is the definition of "hope" as it is used in Scripture? It is the joyful anticipation of a reality. It is not a weak word. It is a truth that has been promised and it is backed up by the immutability and faithfulness of God.
Peter removes all doubt on our part when he says, "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Not only is our inheritance reserved but we are kept by the power of God. The inheritance and the inheritor is as sure to come together in eternity as the immutability and faithfulness of God. God has made a promise to the believer and He will keep His promise.
THE ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE BELIEVER TO THE GLORIFIED CHRIST
He says, "and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." The unbeliever has no fear of God we are told in Romans 3:18, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." The unbeliever has every reason to fear God. We are told in Psalms 7:11-13, "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors." The bow is already bent and the arrow aimed. God has prepared for the unsaved the instruments of death. None of us know how we will die but God does. But when God says He is angry with the wicked every day as usual there is always a message of grace in statements like this. This text says, "If he turn not." This is repentance. Repentance is extended to the whole human race. Jesus said in John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." This is the opportunity to escape the arrow and to avoid the instruments of death. This is grace and an opportunity.
THE COLD HARD FACTS STATED BY THE GLORIFIED CHRIST
Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
Carefully read the list. The word "fearful" is in the same list as whoremongers and idolaters. Some do not accept Christ because they are afraid of what men will say. When I surrendered to preach I was in charge of a department at Westinghouse. I had several girls working for me. Their comment was, "He won't last thirty days." That was years ago. I had to learn to live with these kinds of remarks and not let them stop me. I knew God had called me and His callings are his enablements. Many are fearful of rejection by their peers. It is a genuine concern. But believe me, it is better to be rejected by one's peers than to be rejected by the Lord in the judgment.
There are a multitude whose eternal destiny will be the lake of fire forever and ever. They will not be allowed into heaven. This is in contrast to those who will have eternal fellowship with the Lord and be His sons and daughters.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts. Let's be challenged to reach as many of these poor lost souls as we can. There are those who are thirsty and will drink from our cup if we offer them a drink.
In Christ
Bro. White
