50.s. Wilderness – 14.y. ““Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings”

 

Deu 10:17-22  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

 Joshua 22:22     “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows;

 1 Chronicles 16:25-26    For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

 Psalms 136:2   Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

 Daniel 2:47     The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries

 Revelation 17:14    They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

 Revelation 19:16     On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

 Nehemiah 1:5    And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

 Psalms 99:3    Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

 2 Chronicles 19:7    Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”

When God requires us to show justice, compassion, and reverence, it is because these virtues answer to aspects in God’s own character. The obedience God calls us to is always set in the context of what He did for us. Our service and obedience unto the LORD is based on what He has done for us and is to be the grateful response to His goodness. If there is a lack in obedience and reverence, there is almost always a lack of appreciation for what the LORD has done. Any wisdom, beauty, or skill we show is not to our praise. (Guzik)

We are here taught our duty to God in our principles and our practices. We must fear the Lord our God. We must love him, and delight in communion with him. We must walk in the ways in which he has appointed us to walk. We must serve him with all our heart and soul. What we do in his service we must do cheerfully, and with good will. We must keep his commandments. There is true honour and pleasure in obedience. We must give honour to God; and to him we must cleave, as one we love and delight in, trust in, and from whom we have great expectations. We are here taught our duty to our neighbour. God’s common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. And those who have themselves been in distress, and have found mercy with God, should be ready to show kindness to those who are in the like distress. We are here taught our duty to ourselves. Circumcise your hearts. Cast away all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving God. (Henry)

8.k. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty

Revelation 19:11  Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Faithful and true, the Word of God, and King of kings and Lord of lords, all describe Jesus Christ at His return to earth.  Heaven opens and Christ is seen bringing armies of heaven.  The battle that is about to take place will cast judgment on nations, (all of those who rejected God).   They will experience the fury of the wrath of God.  We know and experience God’s grace, mercy, and love.  It is hard for us to understand the fury of His wrath.  We can read stories of some of His judgments on nations and individuals but nothing like this has happened before.  Wars, famine, disease, earthquakes, hail stones, fire, drought, etc….. all lead up to the fury of God’s wrath but are in no way to be considered other than judgments on man and nations with witnesses present and proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ.  Now these witnesses are gone.  All that remains are those who reject and deny and blaspheme God.  They did not repent and will now see His fury.  All the times they have rejected Christ will flash before their eyes and in a moment they will realize He is Lord of lords and King of kings.  They have all said in their heart that they will not acknowledge Him or bow to Him and will suffer eternity in hell because of this.  In the end they will kneel and bow before Him.  The sad thing is that all of these people have intentionally chosen to reject Him.  They have chosen confusion, unrest, fear, hate, and war in hopes it will satisfy their soul some way.  They have rejected peace, love, grace, mercy, joy, happiness, and rest in Jesus Christ in exchange for what the world has to offer.  They chose to believe a lie and will suffer eternity for the choice they have made in this life, this side of eternity.  There is still time to repent and come to Jesus Christ.  There is still time to repent and be forgiven.  There is still time today.  Do not wait until it is too late.

8.d. This calls for a mind with wisdom:

Revelation 17:6   When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”  And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Oh my, this is a bit of a mystery, isn’t it?  Five of the seven Kings have fallen, one is, and another is to come.  The beast appears to have been destroyed by the Antichrist, and the are ten kings yet to come into the perfect plans of God.  They come into their power for a short time and they come to make war against Jesus.  A war they cannot win but they have the delusion of being able too.  In these short verses, we see the beginning and the end of the tribulation period through the lens of seeing the doom of those who lead both the political and religious activities throughout the world.  We know the power of Jesus Christ and wonder how they could ever think such thoughts.  However, we don’t have to go back very far into our lives to understand we too were like this lost and without hope until the grace, mercy, and love of God pierced our hearts.  We were called and chosen as all mankind is.  I find it hard to explain why one heart and mind are open to receive the grace of God and others are not.  We do well to remember to live in a manner that honors, glorifies, follows, obeys, and trusts Jesus Christ.  Our Christian walk is not a walk to be taken lightly for we are a child of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  Find time each day to set aside time to grow in His Word, pray, and actively be a light in the world pointing to Jesus Christ.