Is this not amazing? If you keep the words of this Book of Revelation like a treasure in your heart, you may know that the angels are with you, to help you and to assist you in the difficult times this book speaks about. They will stand with you during the trials and tribulations, the ‘plagues’ and the ‘great tribulation’. This is not only true as far as keeping/ heeding this last book of the Bible is concerned, but also for keeping the whole of the Bible, all the Words of God. Whoever holds fast to this book will be protected. Jesus will keep us from the hour of testing that will come upon the whole world, Revelation 3:10. Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:15 “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect-them/keep-them from the evil one.” Whoever holds on to Him and His Words is like someone who is drowning but holds on to a piece of wreckage or, even better, a life-buoy that is thrown to him. By doing that he is protected, kept and saved. God sends His angels out so that we will not strike our foot against a stone, Psalm 91:12. To whom does this apply? Those who say to God: “my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” They are told: “If you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, and no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands (carry you over the ‘river of death’ as well), so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. I will be with him in trouble (we do pass through trouble); I will deliver him and honour him.1
Look at how the Lord sent His angels to rescue Lot and his family from Sodom.2 The celestial messengers urged them: “Get up! When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.”3 The word ‘angel’ also means ‘messenger’, so the prophets are ‘angels’ and the true pastors of the Churches are ‘angels’ too.4 The help these ‘angels’ are able to give, include speaking prophetically, and warning the Church and preparing the ‘saints’ for the things that will come to planet earth, to prepare them for the fierce opposition, scorn and persecution of the end-times. There will be martyrs during this period, Hebrews 11:32-40; Revelation 6:9-11; 7:13-17. This is the kind of persecution that so many brothers and sisters are already experiencing in the world today.
These ‘angels’ are the true ‘shepherd-dogs’ who do not hush the Church to sleep by making consoling and soothing assurances: “Just wait, when things become really bad we shall certainly be taken out of it. We shall be ‘raptured’. We shall definitely not experience persecution!” They are not among the false prophets who say: “Peace, peace, no danger!” when in fact, “Peace, peace, but there is no peace.”5
How great is the responsibility of these false prophets! They will be held accountable for misleading the flock.6 How great is the responsibility of preachers and theological professors and teachers who deny the reliability and the authority of the Word of God. Ministers of the gospel must speak with great modesty, and point out that it is not they themselves who have absolute authority but that the Word of God alone has this authority and is absolutely trustworthy. The Word of God can burn in you like a fire, however, and whoever He calls to preach, may not mince their words but clearly speak their minds. Whether you like it or not, you are compelled to preach. Paul agonized, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”7 Jeremiah bemoaned, “Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent.”8 It is like carrying a burden on your heart. A preacher sometimes compares his preaching to ‘giving birth to a baby’. The message grows within him and the moment arrives when it has to come out. Then he is “acquitted” of it. He has ‘delivered’ the baby! Every pastor, preacher, priest and prophet though should reject every mark of honour, as did Peter9 and Barnabas and Paul.10 Jesus says in Matthew 6:1 and 5b: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven…Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” You were ‘paid’ by the praise of other people.
• There is a great difference between studying theology and preaching a sermon. Theological work is like any other form of rational, scientific and scholarly work, formulating ‘scientific theories’ on the basis of as many facts as possible. In this case ‘theological theory’ (dogmas) are formulated and ‘revealed truths’ are put into some kind of rational and logical order. It is a kind of brain-gymnastics. But ‘preaching’ is the application and the explanation of the Word of God with reference to the current situation of the Church and the world, not with eloquence but with the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. It is powerful and sometimes prophetic.
• A true sermon is not a lecture or a teaching. Paul proclaimed, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.11
• The crowds were amazed at Jesus’ teaching as He taught as one who had authority, Matthew 7:28-29.
Bible References:
1.Psalm 91:2, 9b–12, 15; Romans 8:35-39 2.Genesis 19 3.Genesis 19:15–16 NIV 4.Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18 and 3:1, 7, 14 5.Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11; Ezekiel 13:10 6.Ezekiel 33:1–20, 24 7.1 Corinthians 9:16–17 NIV 8.Jeremiah 4:19 NIV 9.Acts 10:25–26 10.Acts 14:8–18 11.1 Corinthians 2:1-5
