The Rescue of God's People by the Revelation of Jesus Christ

February 11, 2001 am
MF Blume



 
Exodus 3:1-4  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.  Revelation 1:10-13  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 


Moses was given the Law of the Old Testament after being called of God to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage.

God gave him that calling when He appeared to Moses in a burning bush.

The New Testament is the greater Covenant if you want to compare the Old and New Covenants to one another. And when we read the book of Revelation, we find an amazing parallel to the manner in which God gave the Old Covenant to Moses. Jesus said He was sent to open blind eyes and release captives.

And John sees Jesus in a burning bush or tree just as Moses saw God in a burning bush.

God called to Moses from the burning bush.
Revelation 1:10-13  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
The reason I say that John saw a burning tree or bush is because the candlestick that John saw when He turned towards the voice that called to Him was the candlestick that Jews were familiar with from the Tabernacle and Temple of Old Testament days.
Exodus 25:31-33  And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick.
It was fashioned in the shape of an almond tree.

So John and Moses both saw God in the midst of a burning tree and bush.

  • And God called to both of them from that spectacle.
  • This pattern is important.
  • God was showing rescue through His power from bondage.

    The branches are the churches that are connected to Christ.

    Revelation 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
    Israel was in the midst of persecution in Egypt. It is fascinating that after the Old Testament was finished, God did not speak to Israel for 400 years, until Jesus came. By John’s day, the church was in heavy persecution. In fact, The Church becomes the True Jerusalem, and Jerusalem turns into Egypt in God’s eyes.
    Revelation 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
    In fact, the Babylon the Great of Revelation 17 and 18 is referring to that great city of Rev. 11:8, Jerusalem.
    Revelation 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

    Revelation 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

    You know that Jerusalem was where Jesus was crucified. John is given words to give to the seven persecuted churches in Revelation chapters 2 through 3. We have shown this before in times past, but please note an example of this.

    It is easiest seen showing the second church.

    The second church is faced with the problem of having to face death and martyrdom.

    Revelation 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
    Jesus describes Himself to this particular church as the one who conquered death.
    Revelation 2:8  And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
    The picture is clear! And so it is with all the letters to each of the churches.

    As Israel was in the bondage of Egypt, God was with them to deliver them.

    How did Israel escape bondage in Egypt? You have to get into Jesus if you are not already saved, because getting into Him is what is portrayed as being connected to Him.

    How do you get into Him?

    Romans 6:3-4   Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

    John 15:1-6  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

    It sounds a lot like the vision John saw in Revelation 1 of Jesus in the branches of the churches.

    I do not want to be cast away and withered up to be burned.

    John was shown that the persecution that all the churches were experiencing was like bondage in Egypt. The reason that Jerusalem is so much compared to Egypt in Revelation is because the parallel of the Church’s persecution to Jerusalem was so similar to Israel’s trouble in Egypt.

    John was shown that Christ is the vine and the churches are the branches in chapter 1.

    Before the woman is given wings of an eagle in Rev 12:14, she overcame by the blood of the lamb.
    Revelation 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
    She got inside the Lamb, by walking in a doorway surrounded by lambs’ blood. As we read Moses’ story in Exodus and continue to compare it with the Revelation of Jesus, you continue to find remarkable parallels. Time passes, Moses delivers Israel from Egypt and we find them approach a mountain.
    Exodus 19:1-6  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
    Notice the following:
    Revelation 12:13-16  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
    Just like Pharaoh, the serpent chased the woman and tried to devour her, but God gave eagles wings to the woman. Revelation 12 is reminding the Church of what God did when He saved them from sin by His blood. We need to be reminded while we are in persecution or trouble, that we are in Christ and that we can overcome anything because of that. God brought Israel to Mount Sinai where Moses went up into the Mountain and received the Ten Commandments. They came to Mount Horeb, the Great Rock, and we are come to Christ, the Chief Cornerstone.

    We read a comparison, just as we are doing in this sermon, with this event and the New Testament as we read Hebrews.
     

    Exodus 19:18-20  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 
     
     
     

     

    Hebrews 12:18-24  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

    And whereas God only spoke from a mountain on the earth back in Moses’ day, we read ...

    Hebrews 12:25-27  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
    God is going to shake apart everything that does not accept Christ, as He shook Egypt apart and Gave Law to Israel.

    This is so much better than Moses’ Old Testament that God is speaking to us from Heaven and says He will shake Heaven and Earth!

    You see, Moses went up into a mountain on the earth and saw wonders.
     
     
     

    Exodus 24:12-13  And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.  Revelation 4:1-2  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 

    When John was called to go up after he saw the burning tree, and the Church was taken out of bondage of sin, John did not go into a mountain, but he went further!

    Moses first saw something that would be modeled by the ark of the covenant with its mercy seat of Gold.
     
     

    Exodus 25:10  And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.  Revelation 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 
    Exodus 25:23  Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood:

    (Moses saw the table and John saw the chairs!)

    Revelation 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 
    Exodus 25:31-32  And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:  Revelation 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 
    Exodus 26:1  Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. 

    Exodus 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 

    Revelation 4:6-7  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 
    (The cherubims had these faces in Ezekiel 1:10; 10:1,14)

    And the sea was as uncrossable as the veil and curtains.

    Moses and John saw the same thing.

    And then Moses was given the tables of stone.
    Exodus 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. 

    And look what they appeared as:

    Exodus 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 

    Revelation 5:1  And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 

    Revelation 5:6-7  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne

    And look what that taking of the book meant:

    Revelation 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
    All of this was told to John while the churches were in tribulation, and while he himself was banished on an island of slave labour.
    Look to whom he wrote:
    Revelation 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
    He is telling these churches in his day that he is in persecution as they were. Church, be encouraged, for you are in Christ!
    SERMONS