Michigan Camp Meeting 2017

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Plenary

Sabbath School 1

Stephen Bohr

Church - God’s Great Week

The Marriage of the Lamb

Israel’s Guardian Angel

Revelation’s Sanctuary Message

Jesus is Coming Again

John Bradshaw

The Writing on the Wall

Friendly Fire

Occupy

Sabbath School 2

Church - Committed

Soul Winning Hour

Good Enough

Sue Gilmore

How Can You Make a Big Difference in Children’s Lives When You Teach Sabbath School in a Small Church

Father in heaven, we thank you for the awesome privilege of being at this camp meeting.

Oh, Father, what a joy it has been to open your holy word and be comforted by the scriptures.

We have not followed cunningly devised fables.

Our beliefs and our lives are based on the solid foundation of your word.

We ask that as we study about the second coming of Jesus this evening that your Holy Spirit will be with us to guide our thoughts, to open our hearts, and to give us the ability to share what we learn.

We thank you, Father, for being with us, for answering our prayer.

About 6 months before the death of Jesus he had traveled to the northern border of Israel and had actually gone a little beyond the borders into Lebanon to a town called Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi is at the foot of the majestic Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in the Holy Land, snow-capped, where the River Jordan actually originates.

And there in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus gathered his disciples together because he had to share with them a truth that would shake them to the core.

Turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 16 and we will begin reading at verse 13 Matthew 16 and verse 13 Jesus first asks his disciples gathered together what I might call an ice-breaking question a preliminary question if you please and that question is found in verses 13 and the answer by the disciples is in verse 14 Jesus asked who do men say that I the Son of Man am?

Notice the name that Jesus gives himself.

And then comes the answer of the disciples.

So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or 1 of the prophets.

Now that Jesus had asked this preliminary question, this general question, he asks a more pointed and specific question.

And that question in verse 15 says, But who do you say that I am?

And of course Peter, who appeared to be the spokesman for the disciples, who many times put his tongue in fourth gear before he put his brain in first gear, had an answer.

Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Basically Peter was saying you are not only the son of man you are what you are more than the son of man you are the son of the Living God you are the Christ you are the anointed you are the Messiah Now it's interesting to notice the answer that Jesus gave to Peter's confession.

You see, Peter did not even understand what he was saying.

What came out of his mouth was revealed directly to his mind by the Holy Spirit.

He did not understand what he was saying.

He says 1 man must die to save the nation.

Well that was true but it's not the way that he intended it so sometimes the Holy Spirit inspires people to say things that they eat they even they don't understand and so in verse 17 we find these words Jesus answered and said to him blessed are you Simon bar Jonah that means Simon son of Jonah for flesh and blood by the way that means human wisdom mere man flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven in other words Peter these words that you spoke don't come from your mind these words that you spoke come by a direct revelation of my father in heaven he placed this thought in your brain and it came out of your mouth Peter did not understand what he said Let's go to verse 21 we'll come back to some of these verses later on that we're skipping.

Verse 21, now Jesus shares with the disciples a shattering truth.

In verse 21 it says from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day in other words Jesus says I have to go to Jerusalem my face is to Jerusalem and there I'm going to be mistreated, I'm going to be crucified, and I will resurrect the third day.

And of course Peter, when Jesus spoke those words, because Peter was expecting an earthly kingdom, he was expecting Jesus to destroy the hated Romans and place the Jewish nation once more at the apex of civilization.

Verse 22, Then Peter took him aside, you can almost imagine Peter taking him by the sleeve, took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, Far be it from you, Lord this shall not happen to you Peter was saying the Messiah doesn't die the Messiah doesn't suffer the Messiah sits on the throne he subjects all of his enemies any places the Jewish nation at the very top of the world how is it that you say that you must go to Jerusalem and you must suffer and you must die and he kind of didn't even notice that Jesus said be raised the third day notice what Jesus did verse 23 but he turned and said to Peter by the way he wasn't talking only to Peter Peter was the instrument in the hands of Satan it was Satan that was attempting to distract Jesus from going to the cross.

It says there in verse 23, But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God but of the things of men now do you notice the contrast in that verse Jesus has said to Peter flesh and blood human beings did not reveal this to you but My father who is in heaven he revealed this great truth to you But now Jesus says to Peter listen you're of men What you've said shows that you're of men you're not of God, so let me ask you did Peter understand his confession He did not understand his confession of Jesus as the Messiah.

Going forward a little bit more, Jesus made a very perplexing statement to the disciples.

It's found in verses 27 and 28 which was our scripture reading for this evening.

We're going to come back to the verses that are between verse 23 and verse 27 a little bit later on but Jesus makes this perplexing statement they're still there at Caesarea Philippi he states for the Son of Man will come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he will reward each according to his works and then comes this perplexing statement assuredly I say to you there are some standing here among the disciples, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom did all of those men die before the second coming of Jesus yes So what did Jesus mean when he said, assuredly, he said I'm coming in the glory of the Father with the angels to reward human beings and then he says and there are some standing here some among you the disciples who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

You see after Jesus said that he had to go to Jerusalem to suffer and to die and resurrect the third day, Jesus and the disciples began the journey towards Jerusalem.

Ellen White describes that trek of Jesus with the disciples.

For 6 days, Jesus walked ahead like was the custom of the rabbis.

The disciples walked behind with their heads down, filled with anxiety, depressed, with dire forebodings because they were moving towards Jerusalem and Jesus had said, I have to go to Jerusalem and I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna die it's like they never heard that Jesus said be raised the third day they heard only suffer and die and Messiah doesn't die and so for 6 days they're walking behind Jesus on the way to Jerusalem depressed filled with anxiety and dark forebodings because they did not understand what Jesus said.

How is it that Jesus says that he must go to Jerusalem and he must suffer and he must die and yet he also said that there were some there that would not die until they saw Jesus coming in his kingdom.

How do you reconcile those 2 ideas was what the disciples thought.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 17 in verse 1.

It is the only verse in the Gospels that tells you the amount of time that passed between 1 event and the next.

The only time in the Gospels where you have an event says so many days passed and then you have the next event which means that what happened in chapter 16 is connected with what happens in chapter 17 and so in chapter 17 we find in verse 1 now after 6 days Jesus took Peter James and John some How many were there listening to Jesus?

How many did Jesus take to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration?

Jesus had said, some of you will not taste death until you see Jesus coming in his kingdom not all the disciples some of them the sum are Peter James and John and so it says now after 6 days, Jesus took Peter, James and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

It's believed that perhaps this is Mount Tabor, a very tall mountain between Jerusalem and Caesarea Philippi.

You see Jesus knew that his disciples were very heavy-hearted.

He knew that they were perplexed at what Jesus had said about his suffering and his death.

And so he knew that the disciples needed encouragement.

He had seen that they were discouraged, that they were confused, they didn't understand what Jesus had said.

The view of the Messiah that Jesus presented was not the view that they held.

And so Jesus said, I need to encourage these men.

And so, the Father leads Jesus up to the top of this mountain.

Go with me to Matthew 26, keep your place there in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 26 verses 37 and 38 this describes the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is sweating great drops of blood and he's begging his father to if it's possible to take the cup of the wrath of God from his hand because he was going to drink the cup of God's wrath because he was bearing the sins of the whole world who were the ones that were closest to Jesus and could hear and see the agonizing of Jesus these 3 these 3 needed special encouragement when they saw Jesus agonizing in the garden they needed to be encouraged they needed to see the transfiguration to know that after the suffering would come the glory it says there Matthew 26 37 and 38 and he took with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee this is in the garden and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed then he said to them that is to the same 3 my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death stay here and watch with me Jesus knew that these 3 disciples were going to be closest to him they would hear his agonizing they would see him sweating drops of blood and that they needed to remember that after Jesus spoke about suffering and death that Jesus had said that some there would not die until they saw the Son of Man coming in the glory of his father they needed to be encouraged and so Jesus took some the 3 who would see his most profound sufferings, to the top of the mount, which is known as the Mount of Transfiguration.

And verse 2 tells us what happened at the top of the mountain it says and he was transfigured let me ask you what voice is that verb any English buffs here passive voice he did not transfigure himself he was transfigured who transfigured him his father everything Jesus did on earth was in harmony with his father so it says he was transfigured before them that word transfigured is very interesting in the Greek it's the word meta more foe What word do we get in English from metamorphosis?

You know For years I collected butterflies when I was a kid.

I became quite proficient and professional at it.

Not only catching them, but mounting them and classifying them.

You know, I became a full-fledged entomologist.

And I was able to watch the development of a butterfly from beginning to end.

You know, first the butterfly, you know, first of all the mother butterfly lays eggs.

Then those eggs break out and a little worm, little caterpillar comes out, eats from the leaves of the tree where the eggs were laid, grows into a big caterpillar, and then the caterpillar attaches itself to the wall or some other place and weaves a chrysalis or a cocoon around it.

And then after a short while, the cocoon starts shaking violently and the cocoon breaks open.

And lo and behold, not a worm comes out, but a beautiful butterfly.

That's the word that is used here Jesus went through a metamorphosis if you please And notice the description that is given here.

It says there in verse 2, His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light.

You read Revelation chapter 1, Jesus is described in those terms, the glorified Jesus, who is in the heavenly sanctuary after his resurrection so in other words the disciples saw Jesus as he will be seen when he comes in power and glory with all of his angels the sum saw Jesus as he will come in his kingdom with all of his holy angels but the story doesn't end there now the disciples they're watching this they're saying wow he said he was going to suffer and die, and now he's transformed like he's going to look when he comes with all of his holy angels, like he said.

That's 1 encouragement, that after the suffering, after the cross there was going to be the glory, but there's more.

Notice in verse 3 that the father sent 2 individuals to speak with Jesus.

Verse 3 says, and behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

So Moses and Elijah are sent from heaven to talk with Jesus.

I didn't read the verses, but let's read them now.

Speaking about the death of Moses, it says, So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord.

And now notice what it says, And He buried him.

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Plenary

Jesus is Coming Again

Transcript

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