Sermon by Pastor Dale Wolcott
April 14, 2001
(Scripture passages from New King James Version except as noted)
[Note: a baptism preceded the sermon.]
We've celebrated the resurrection this morning, amen? In the flyer advertising our service today, I promised you that today's sermon, "Life in the Cosmic Courtroom," would be a "heartstopping, breathtaking Easter sequel." A bit of a tall order, but the Bible is going to deliver, so hang onto your seats!
Our monthly series that began last fall was titled "From Eden to Eden: The Saga of Salvation History." We began at Edengate and came finally last month to the central story: "The Day God Went to Hell for You," and concluded with the Resurrection. Jesus is alive! He went to the grave for me, and He came back!
Now in the last three parts of the saga (beginning today), we're transitioning from history to prophecy, past to future -- and today we will indeed discover a heartstopping, breathtaking Bible prophecy that pinpoints our time in history as the End Time of history!
Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, talks about the Easter-sequel story recorded in Acts chapter 1, where Jesus' feet lift off the soil of the Mt. of Olives and He disappears into a cloud, and eleven lonely men are left gazing up into heaven: "So many times . . . I have felt like one of those disciples, peering intently at a blank blue sky. I look for some sign of Jesus, some visual clue. . . . Why, I ask . . . , did He have to leave? . . . I have concluded . . . that the Ascension represents my greatest struggle of faith -- not whether it happened, but why. It challenges me more than the problem of pain, more than the difficulty of harmonizing science and the Bible, more than belief in the Resurrection and other miracles." [pages 227-229, quoted in R. Gane, "Temple & Sacrifice," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 10:357]
Yancey is saying, "If Jesus really finished His work by dying on the cross, why is this wretched world still going on and on and on? And when will it ever end? And what in the name of heaven is Jesus doing up there all this time?"
Please open to Psalm 26 (KJV). This is the heartcry of the human race all through this six-thousand-year saga -- a cry for justice to be done, a cry for God to get on with His great final Judgment Day. Let's read together verses 1-8:
"Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord, that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth."
Did you notice the beginning and end of this passage? It begins, "Judge me, O Lord." And it ends, "I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells."
Where is God's house? Where does His glory dwell? The Bible says that when Jesus went back to heaven, He entered the heavenly sanctuary -- the celestial command center in this great Controversy between Jesus and Satan -- and went to work there for us.
Way back in the time of Moses, God gave His people a model of the heavenly sanctuary. In the courtyard was the altar of sacrifice where lambs were offered daily, and especially at Passover -- pointing forward to Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice on Calvary on the very Day of Passover, which the world remembered yesterday as Good Friday. That was at the beginning of the Jewish ritual year, and the Passover action took place mainly in the courtyard, symbolizing this world, where Jesus died for us.
But in the inner room of the sanctuary itself was the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant. This represented God's throne in heaven -- God's judgment seat. And at the end of the Jewish ritual year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest and most solemn day of the year, the High Priest would go into that Most Holy Place and stand in front of the mercy seat. That was the only time of the year He was allowed to go in there. And he would cleanse the sanctuary of the record of sins that had piled up, so to speak, throughout the year as people confessed their sins and were forgiven day after day. The ritual he and the whole congregation carried out that day was an acted-out prophecy of the final work of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary at the end of time, a Judgment work that will finally cleanse the whole universe from the curse of sin and put an end to the Great Controversy.
Now for the breathtaking, heartstopping news: The Bible makes very clear that this Final Judgment work of Jesus has already begun. Through the eyes of scripture, in the next few minutes we are going to gaze up into heaven where Jesus went to, and we're not going to just see a blank blue sky, we're going to see what Philip Yancey (and most other Christians, sad to say) haven't seen yet -- that Jesus has already begun the first or pre-Advent phase of His final judgment work. We are living in the Time of the End! Jesus is coming back very soon!
If that isn't heartstopping, breathtaking news, you probably need to see your cardiologist and make sure yours is still functioning. This is the Present Truth which we as Seventh-day Adventist people have to share with the whole world, Christian and non-Christian alike. We're going to go to Daniel, then to Revelation, and then end in Matthew. Ready?
Go to Daniel chapter 7. God's people are in captivity; some are being thrown into fiery furnaces; one of them ends up in a lion's den. In Daniel 7:25 an angel breaks the news to Daniel that this kind of thing is going to go on for a long time yet. (Remember, Daniel lived around 500 years before Jesus died on the cross.) At the end of verse 25, the angel talks about a period of over 1,000 years of persecution against the saints of the Most High. (We won't take time this morning to do the math, but this 1260-year prophecy is mentioned seven times in Daniel and Revelation.) And then in verse 26 the angel says, "But the court shall be seated." A Judgment Day is coming when God is going to set everything right!
Go back now to verses 9 & 10; we've been reading from the angel's explanation of the vision at the end of the chapter; now let's look at the vision itself. "I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated [KJV 'the judgment was set'], and the books were opened."
Now note verse 13, "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man." Who is that? "Son of Man" was Jesus' name for Himself, and this is where He got it from. Let's go on: "Behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven!" Where is He coming to? We expect it to be His Second coming to earth. But it's not: "He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him."
This great prophetic outline concludes with a Judgment scene in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary! Now note verse 22 --- what's the result of the judgment? "...until the Ancient of Days came; and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom."
No wonder the psalmist cries, "Judge me, O Lord"!
Now let's go very briefly to Daniel chapter 8, then to Revelation. Dan. 8 is a parallel vision to chapter 7 -- it has beasts representing successive world empires as chapter 7 did; it has a little horn, like the one in chapter 7, which oppresses God's people and even causes trouble in the heavenly sanctuary itself -- note verses 10 and 11, "And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down." This refers to the same 1260 year period, sometimes called the Dark Ages, when Jesus' High Priestly ministry for us in the heavenly sanctuary was almost completely lost sight of in a maze of earthly, human rituals, and penance, and manmade religion.
This goes on for a long, long time -- so long that Daniel hears a voice asking in verse 13, How long is this going to go on? And in verse 14, an angel answers: "Unto 2,300 days [years], then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Again we're not going to do the math, but there's a firm beginning date for this prophecy, given in chapter 9, and the ending date comes out to 1844 A.D.
Somebody may say, Well, that was talking about an ancient historical event when Judas Maccabaeus had to cleanse the Jerusalem temple from its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. But take a look at the end of verse 17: an angel says to Daniel, "The vision refers to the time of the end."
Folks, God hasn't told us exactly when Jesus is going to come back to this earth, but He has told us, right here in Daniel, when the time of the end would begin. In 1844 A.D., Jesus would begin the final phase of His grand saga of salvation history by opening the books of heaven and making final preparations for His return to this earth.
Now to Revelation; let's begin in chapter 6. Revelation 6 describes seven seals being opened one after another -- a depiction of on-going trouble and persecution and hardship just like the trouble caused by the little horn in Daniel 7 and 8. Finally when the fifth seal is opened John hears the same words Daniel heard in Daniel 8 -- "How long?" Note Revelation 6:10, "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
Do you see a pattern here? The psalmist cries out, "Lord, please get on with the Judgment." In Daniel the angels cry out, "How long till the judgment?" And in Revelation the very blood of the martyrs cries out from the ground, "How long till the judgment?"
Now turn to Revelation 14 which is the "Second Coming" chapter of Revelation (along with chapter 19). Note verse 14, "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man" -- just like Daniel saw -- "having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." But this time the Son of Man is coming out of the heavenly sanctuary to the earth; note verse 16: "So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped."
Now look back to verse 6. In verses 6-12 you have three angels with three final, urgent messages that need to go to "every nation, tribe, tongue & people" just before Jesus returns. At the beginning of verse 6 it says this angel has the "everlasting gospel."
That word "gospel" occurs 76 times in the New Testament. The Greek word is an ordinary word that simply meant "good news;" but in the New Testament, every time it's used, without fail, it is talking specifically about the Good News of salvation through Jesus. So here's the final proclamation of the gospel -- the last call for repentance and salvation, God's last invitation to people to put our trust in the Lamb who already went to Hell for you that Good Friday 2000 years ago. Seventh-day Adventists have been proclaiming this last-day, everlasting gospel ever since right after 1844 and it has never made more sense or been more urgent than it is here at the turn of a third millennium. Folks, we are going to spend most of this millennium in heaven!
Now, what does this last-day gospel message say? Read the first part of verse 7, "saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come.'" The court is already in session. Don't put it off, brother, sister, young person.
This is very good news, but it is very serious good news!
Now let’s turn to Matthew 22 -- this is where we're going to stay for the duration this morning.
A young British soldier named Eric Skelding was stationed in France near the beginning of World War II. When the Germans invaded France, the British had to get out, and the story of the Dunkirk evacuation is one the classic chapters in military history. Of course not everybody got out alive, and back in the cities and towns of Great Britain, every mother with a boy at the front dreaded the thought of a telegraph messenger at her front door, because so often those telegrams brought news of a serviceman missing or killed in action.
But Eric made it back to British soil safe & sound, and the first thing he thought to do was to send his mom a telegram saying he was okay. So the next morning there was a knock at Mrs. Skelding's door, and there stood a telegraph boy with a telegram in his outstretched arm. But Eric's mother was spared the fright of wondering what was inside, because in large letters across the front of the envelope, some kind person at the post office had written, "Good News."
For us, living in this judgment hour can be a frightening thing. Some people would rather not think about the fact that we are living our lives in a "cosmic courtroom," so to speak.
Yet the Bible doesn't hesitate to give us the facts. History is soon to end; some people will be saved forever and some will be lost forever. Young people, you may not have a long lifetime in which you can put off deciding what you're going to do about Jesus and heaven and eternity.
When the reality of these end-time Bible prophecies really sinks in, it can be heartstopping, breathtaking, even scary! What is God going to say when my name comes up in the heavenly judgment? Is there any hope at all that I can be good enough to pass the scrutiny of that Ancient of Days who has spread out before Him the unedited record of all the stupid and sinful things I've ever done?
Folks, on the very front of this prophetic envelope, God has written "Good News." In Matthew 22 we get a glimpse of how it can be Good News to be living our lives in God's cosmic courtroom, his endtime Judgment Hour. Let's begin at verse 2 and the first part of verse 3, "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding."
Jesus says, the end of the world is like a wedding -- that's definitely good news, right? As the parable goes on, Jesus tells how the original guests didn't care about the wedding invitation. Verse 5 says, "They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business." Incredible! But that of course was the response of the Jewish people as a whole when Jesus came and announced that He was the Savior. It's still the response of the majority of the human race.
So how does the King respond? Note, starting at verse 8, "Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy." Why weren't they worthy? Only because they were not interested. That is good news.
"Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’" Anybody can come! That's good news too!
"So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." And so the gospel invitation has gone out globally, and millions of people have said "Yes" to Jesus! More good news.
Now this next part may not sound like such good news but let's think about it. In verse 11 it says the king came in to see the guests -- there's a judgment, an examination, an investigation. The Bible says plainly, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father" (Mathew 7:21). When we get to heaven, God will have seen to it that nobody slips in under false pretenses. That's good news, isn't it? That's what the pre-Advent judgment is about. Those 10,000 times 10,000 angels that are looking on right now in heaven as the books are open and, perhaps, your name or mine is at this very moment coming in review before the King, are concerned that these prospective new neighbors of theirs are not going to re-infect heaven with the deadly virus of sin. They don't want a repeat of Lucifer's rebellion sometime in the future. God is determined that isn't going to happen, and if you and I are going to be there, we don't want it to happen either, do we?
So the good news is, everybody who gets to heaven is going to be holy, and happy to be holy, and in total harmony with God's love and law and will, forever and ever and ever.
Now, what does it take to pass the test in God's cosmic courtroom? Notice verse 11 and 12, "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless."
Whether you get to heaven or not doesn't depend on how bad or good you have been. Everybody is invited. That's the grace of God! Don't worry about your past! What matters -- the only thing that matters -- is the wedding garment. The wedding garment is a gift from the King. And what does it mean in real terms? It's obviously a symbol; the Bible calls it a "robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61:10), goodness, obedience, holiness. None of us have righteousness of our own. But God promises that He will give us Christ's righteousness, and it will become our own! The test in the pre-Advent, investigative judgment which is going on in heaven right now, is: Has this person made a daily choice to trust Jesus' goodness, to put on Jesus -- invite Him into your heart, your life -- every morning? If you make that daily choice, that simple daily choice, every morning when you wake up, then you can trust that Jesus is going to finish what He's started in your life, and you have nothing to fear in the judgment! That is serious good news!
Last fall Nancy and I were visiting our son and family down in Georgia. Our grandson Joshie, not quite 3, was watching his daddy spray-paint the house. Every so often, Daddy would stop, take off the paint reservoir which he wore on his back like a backpack, refill it, and hoist it back onto his back.
"Let me do it, Daddy." Joshie wanted to wear that backpack the worst way.
"It's too heavy, son."
"I can do it, I can do it." So daddy held up the backpack and let Joshie slip his arms through the straps. But Joshie could tell that daddy was holding the weight of the backpack and he said, "I can do it, I can do it." So daddy lowered his hands, and the backpack went right down with his hands until Joshie was crumpled on the grass.
"I can do it, I can do it," Joshie kept saying. But he couldn't -- not unless Daddy carried the weight.
Sometimes the idea of a robe of righteousness seems like a heavy, heavy thing, doesn't it! Sometimes when we're young we think we can do it. As years pass we discover we can't; we're tempted to say, I might as well just walk out of this banquet hall; I'm never going to pass the Judgment test anyway. But Jesus says, No, don't give up. Just put on the robe, and I'll carry the weight. That is good news!
This morning I've got to invite you to make a decision. I’m inviting the newest members of our church family, who were baptized this morning, to come join me here at the altar, and Mary Anne to come and get ready to sing for us.
My invitation is very simple: Do you want Jesus' robe in the judgment? Will you choose today to put it on?
Mary Anne is going to sing a wonderful song called "Thief of Always." Part of the chorus says:
You've got to live every moment as though it was your last,
Before the thief of always steals tomorrow from your grasp,
Before the chance to know His love has somehow passed you by,
Let your heart reach out right here, right now, for the Lord to touch your life.
And while she's singing I want to ask you to respond in one of two ways: #1: If you are willing to choose this morning to accept Jesus' robe of righteousness, and if you plan to keep putting it on every morning until the Judgment is over and Jesus comes, please stand with us while Mary Anne sings; #2: If you would like to prepare for baptism sometime soon, please come forward and join us at the front while Mary Anne is singing.