HopeLives365

Narrator: Whatever troubles lie ahead, whatever oppression comes, whatever persecution prevails, we have the assurance that Christ is coming again.

This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, Revelation's Everlasting Christ. Part one. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com.

And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: For 70 years, atheistic communism claimed that Christianity was just wish fulfillment. Communist philosophers alleged that Christianity was a crutch, totally unnecessary in a modern, sophisticated age. It was a myth, only to be believed by ignorant peasants.

Now, the communist intellectuals wanted verifiable evidence that Christianity was more than a sham and made a positive difference in people's lives. Now, there are sometimes in your life where God puts you at the right place, at the right time. So when representatives from the University of Moscow came to me during our Kremlin evangelistic series, and they said, "We would like to do a sociological study on the people coming to your meetings." I was absolutely delighted.

I recognized that Moscow University's sociology department was an objective think tank of largely of unbelievers. Now, if changes in people's lives could be quantified from a sociological perspective, from people coming to our meetings, it would have an impact on Christianity all through the former Soviet Union.

So, Dr. Alexander Gasparishveli was the principal researcher. He was the deputy director of Public Opinion Research for the University of Moscow. He was also a visiting professor at the renowned Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Now, he had a research assistant by the name of Tatiana.

We had one advantage, just one. Tatiana had come to our meetings previously in Pohani University. And she believed that Christianity could produce dramatic changes in people's lives. Now, Dr. Gasparoli was not so sure. He approached the survey believing that there might be some change in people's lives, but certainly Christianity couldn't make that kind of a difference. There would be no remarkable, measurable change.

Now, we met three times before the survey was taken. I sat down with these renowned professors, who were atheists, from Moscow University. And we discussed the survey. We agreed that we needed at least 1,000 survey samples to have a valid survey. We eventually got 1,169. We agreed that the University of Moscow would develop this instrument, this survey, 37 different questions.

Now, here's what Dr. Gasparoli said after the survey was taken. I told him, I said, "Look, we're running here for six weeks. We need at least four weeks for people to begin to see changes." The University of Moscow agreed. But here are his own words. He says, "The results," now, this is an atheist. He says, "The results were astounding. I expected some change, but nothing like what we found."

We now here's what they discovered during the meetings, 92.4% of the people were reading their Bibles. 96% were doing Bible lessons. Now, what impact did the meetings have on the thinking process and lifestyle? Negative emotions like fear, worry, anxiety, and depression were reduced 10 times, tenfold. Positive emotions increased two to three times. According to the University of Moscow, attendees at our meetings were 200% less likely to smoke, 300% less likely to drink alcohol.

65% of the attendees said that they had more positive family relationships as the result of attending the meetings, and 40% said their efficiency at work had improved. Now, when they looked at those statistics, they couldn't believe it. In short, people attending the meetings had a more positive outlook on life. They discovered a clearer sense of purpose, and had a deeper inner peace.

When attendees at our meetings understood that they were created by God, their lives took on completely new meaning. When they understood that Christ could free them from the guilt of the past, they were totally transformed. When they understood that accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would have new power to live lives, they experienced genuine transformation. The hope of the second coming of Christ gave them something to live for.

And as I began to think about those results of that survey again this week, as I began to think about what happened in atheist lives, and communist lives, and people that were totally unbelievers, this thought came to me. If the power of Christ can transform atheists into believers, think of how that same power of Christ might transform nominal believers into dynamic disciples.

Think of the power the gospel has to transform complacency into life-changing faith. Think of how through the strength of the living Christ, we can face the challenges in our life today and be prepared for the climactic changes in the future. The Bible's last book, Revelation, reveals the life-changing power of Christ. It gives us seven beautiful pictures of Christ.

Now, these seven pictures of Christ in the book of Revelation, once you understand them, they're life transformational. The devil hates these seven divine truths that we find in the book of Revelation. And in the 21st century, he has done everything possible to destroy these truths. But once you understand them, once they fill your heart and mind, they are life transformational.

Each of these descriptions of Christ in Revelation give us confidence in the triumph of good over evil. The triumph of right over wrong. The triumph of truth over error. The triumph of the lamb over the dragon, the triumph of the remnant over the beast. See, looking out over our world, our world is a world of political chaos, of economic uncertainty, of social unrest, of moral decay, of international conflict, of catastrophic natural disasters.

And the prophetic picture does not paint a beautiful picture for what's going to happen in society in the future. But here is the incredible good news. Looking at the future through the eyes of Revelation's prophecies, although we know there are troublesome times ahead, these seven descriptions of Christ give us spiritual strength to face the crisis.

Now, if you were the devil, and you knew that the book of Revelation gave you seven amazing pictures of Christ that would take an end time people through the final crisis, what would you do if you were the devil? You'd try to do everything you could to distort these seven pictures of Christ. Let's look at them. Let's go through the book of Revelation and see seven amazing pictures of Jesus. Seven pictures that the devil hates, seven pictures that the devil wants to distort, seven ways which the devil wants to confuse our thinking, and seven divine eternal truths that will take us through the end time.

The first truth we find is found in Revelation chapter 1. In Revelation, Jesus is our eternal Lord, not created. He is our eternal Lord in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1. And we look there at Revelation 1 and verse 8. Jesus is speaking here in Revelation 1:8. He says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Now, notice, Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. And Omega is the last. Is there any letter in the Greek alphabet before the Alpha? Is there anyone before that? Not at all. So, there's nobody before Jesus. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are eternal. That's his point. Omega is the last one.

Now, notice what it says, "who is, who was and who is to come." Now, if you let your eyes drop go back to verse 4. Look at verse 4. "John to the seven churches, which in Asia, grace to you, peace from him who is, was, and is to come, from the seven spirits, who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ."

So, in verse 4, where it speaks about the one who is, was, and is to come, that's speaking about the Father. When you go to verse 8, that's speaking about the Son. So, both the Father and the Son are eternal. That's the very point of Revelation. In John chapter 8 and verse 58, Jesus really shakes up the Jewish aristocrats. He shakes up the uh, Pharisees, because in John 8:58, Jesus declares that he and the Father are one, that he is eternal. John 8, you're looking there at 58.

Jesus said to them, he's saying to the Jewish leadership, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Did you ever read about I am before in the Bible? Where'd you read about that? The book of what? Exodus, right? Where the Father is in the burning bush, and Moses comes to the burning bush, and God says, "The I am has spoken to you." So, what is Jesus saying here?

You know, the Greek language of the New Testament is really interesting. The expression here is Ego A Mei in the Greek language. And it is, "I am the self-existent one. I am the one who never has a beginning, who never had an ending." See, if Christ is not eternal, if at some point in time Christ came forth from the Father, if that is true, then Jesus cannot give us eternal life.

Narrator: You're listening to Hope Lives 365. We'll be right back. And if you like what you're hearing, we invite you to check out our website, hopelives365.com. There you can find many ministry resources, encouraging messages, and even a link to our Hope Lives 365 YouTube ministry. And of course, an opportunity to sow into this valuable ministry. Find out more by going to hopelives365.com. That's hopelives365.com. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Because if at some point Christ comes forth from the Father, that means there was some point that he was not. And if there was some point that he was not, that is longer than he was. Because if you have a point in time where you begin, eternity in the past is longer than that. So, here, if Jesus is not one with the Father, if he's not eternal, then he can't give us eternal life.

See, why couldn't an angel come and die for us? Why couldn't an angel come and die? Because an angel has limited life. An angel is a created being. They don't possess eternal life. You cannot give something you don't have. There's a marvelous statement in the book, Desire of the Ages, page 530. And we find it here, and read it with me from the screen, please.

"In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. He that has the Son has life." 1 John 5:12. This next sentence is a critical sentence. "The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life." So, what is our assurance of eternal life? It is what? That Christ never had a beginning, that Christ never had an ending. Now, what would you do if you were the devil? If you were the devil, you would try to undermine this idea that Christ is eternal. And you would take texts in the Bible and distort them.

Now, let me give you two texts that are presently being distorted. First text, somebody says, "Wait a minute, the Bible says Jesus is the firstborn of all creation." Do you know what that firstborn is in the Bible? When it talks about David being the firstborn, it says David is the firstborn. Was David the firstborn literally? What what what son was David? He was the last, the eighth. See, in the Bible, firstborn is the preeminent one. He is the one that has the privileges and the birth to the birthright. So, firstborn is the one that has the title deed of the Father.

So, Jesus is the preeminent one above every other. It's firstborn in the sense of privilege, not firstborn in the sense of time. Somebody else says, "Well, well, Pastor Mark, what about this term only begotten, only begotten? Doesn't it say that Jesus is only begotten? Doesn't that mean he just kind of begot, he came from the Father?" See, you hear that in some circles today. But to go that direction, you destroy the eternal nature of Christ. And you and that's what the devil wants.

So, look, what about this firstborn? Greek word is monogenes. Now, when we use the word mono, what's how do you define mono? What's that? One. Genes. What what what's another word? Kind, the the the the Genesis kind. So, Jesus is what? One of a kind. There's nobody like him. Is Jesus fully God? Is he? Is he fully man? So, he's, is there anybody else like him in the universe? He is one of a kind.

Now, this point is critically important for an end time people. Look at Hebrews chapter 1:3. Hebrews 1:3. What does it say in Hebrews 1:3? It says, "Christ is the express image of God's person and the brightness of God's glory." But then we go down to Hebrews 1:8. Look at Hebrews 1 and you're looking there at verse 8.

The devil will do everything he can to destroy the idea that Christ is eternal. Hebrews 1:8. Now, the Father is speaking and the Father is speaking to the Son. And he says in Hebrews 1:8, "But to the Son, he, God, says, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever." So, if the Father calls the Son God, do you have confidence in what the Father says? Do you? Sure. So, now, why is this so important?

This point is critically important for an end time people, because the eternal Christ, who is the originator of all life and the very essence of life, can give his people eternal life. He will triumph over the principalities and powers of hell. So, we cherish that in our hearts, Christ is eternal. And in those days when we look at the grave as a dark hole in the ground, in those days when we lie on our bed at night in the darkness and shake and quiver because of death, we think of Jesus. The divine Son of God who is eternal, who burst the bonds of the tomb and triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell. And we say to ourselves, "This eternal Christ can give us eternal life."

We move now to the second of these descriptions of Jesus in the book of Revelation. In Revelation, Jesus is our all-powerful Creator. Revelation chapter 4:11. First, he is our eternal Lord. Second, he is our all-powerful Creator. Revelation chapter 4. We're looking there at verse 11. "You are worthy, oh Lord, Revelation 4:11, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created."

Now, why is God worthy of praise? Why is he worthy of honor? Because he's our divine creator. And the central issue in the great controversy between good and evil is worship. And if you knock out the idea of creation, you knock out the idea of beings that are accountable to their creator. So, what do you think the devil might do? He introduces the hypothesis of evolution in 1844, just at the time. You know, in 1844, Charles Darwin wrote his first draft of the origin of species.

So, what's the devil do? He wants to knock out the idea of creation. Why? Because if you knock out the idea of creation, you knock out the very basis of all worship. But in addition to that, if you knock out creation, you knock out the whole concept of the sign of creation, namely the Sabbath. And if you do that, if we simply evolve and we are merely balls of animated mud, then we have little value, we have little worth.

Look, we were created as unique human beings, a one of a kind creation, fashioned by God with immense value in his sight. Creation speaks of how much God values us. Our value lies in the fact we're uniquely created by God. We were created in the image of God. If the devil can knock out creation, he can then knock out the idea of the distinction between males and females. Look, Genesis chapter 1:27. Genesis 1. If you call into question the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis, if that's what you do, then, in effect, you call into question the entire inspiration of the Bible, and you have no objective reality to live by.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 27. Genesis 1:27. Notice what scripture says. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." Now, notice carefully. The Bible says God created male and God created female. In an age of gender confusion, in an age of a distorted view of what a male is and what a female is, God's word still rings true. You see, we don't choose our gender. God chose it.

We don't choose, "Oh, I want to be a boy, I want to be a girl." Not at all. It's chosen by by biology. God chose that. You see, and we are valuable to God because he created us. He fashioned us in his image. Males reflect God's image in a unique way, and females reflect another aspect of God's image. I love this statement in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 44 and 45. Look, "There is no ground for the supposition that man was evolved by slow degrees of development from the lower forms of animal or vegetable life. He who set the starry worlds on high, and tinted with delicate skill the flowers of the field, who filled the earth and heavens with the wonders of his power, when he came to crown his glorious work, to place one in the midst to stand as ruler of the fair Earth, did not fail to create a being worthy of the hand that gave him life. The genealogy of our race, as given by inspiration, traces back its origin, not to a line of developing germs, mollusk and quadrupeds, but to the great Creator. Though formed from dust, Adam was the son of God. And Eve, formed from a rib of Adam, was the daughter of God."

Here is the incredible good news. You and I are not some genetic accident. We're not some biological anomaly. We were created by God in the image of God. This statement is incredibly encouraging. Created in the image of God. We are sons and daughters of God. Created in his image. The ultimate purpose of our Creator, after sin, is to restore us in the image that God created us in. We are irreplaceable to God.

Just this last weekend, I was preaching in New York at the camp meeting. My wife and I have had a whole host of Adventist camp meetings this summer. First in Minneapolis, and the the the Minnesota camp meeting, then on to Cheesefake camp meeting, then on to Michigan camp meeting, then on to New York. And so I was I I made a statement this last Sabbath that I was preaching in uh in New York that I hadn't had of my notes. We were talking about creation. And I said, "God does not create junk."

At the end of the sermon, this young woman came up to me. Her eyes were moist with tears. Voice quivered a little bit and she said, "Pastor, we need to talk." She said, "When I was a little girl, my mama used to tell me that." She came from a rather quite poor home. And she said, "My mama used to tell me, honey, honey, God doesn't create junk." "I had forgotten about it, pastor. But I needed to hear that again today. I needed to know my value in God's sight."

We need to remind ourselves of that again and again and again. See, if you knock out creation and we evolve, and we're simply animals, and enlarged animals, we have little worth. But if indeed we're created in the image of God, if we are sons and daughters of God, that brings a new sparkle to our eyes. It brings a new joy to our hearts. Because the creator, the one that cast the heavens into the space into space, the one who created sun, moon and stars, that one fashioned us.

So, he says in Isaiah 41:10. See, when the final crisis breaks in this world, in Isaiah 41:10, he's telling us that whatever challenges we face, we need not fear and be filled with anxiety. We need not be confused. Why not? Isaiah 41:10. "Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I'll strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I'll uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Narrator: You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: The one that cast the stars into space, the one that spoke and sun, moon and stars appeared, the one that causes the planets to revolve around the sun. This God says to us, "Don't fear." Verse 10. "Don't be filled with worry and anxiety. Don't be confused. I'm your God. I'll strengthen you. I hold the planets in space, and I can indeed hold you in my hand. In the challenges we face today, and the crises we'll face tomorrow, we need not fear."