Pastor Holland discusses the importance of heeding the prophetic voice, specifically focusing on the role of Ellen White in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

<p>Pastor Holland discusses the importance of heeding the prophetic voice, specifically focusing on the role of Ellen White in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Battle Creek Tabernacle SDA Church

To Know and Be Known

Chris Holland

Coming Out of Babylon

The Victory of Deliverance

An Everlasting Promise

His Desire to Dwell With You

God Still Speaks

Remember

The Judgments of God

Nothing to Fear

Until He Comes

Written by the late Dottie Rambo as she was on her way to a revival, and as she was on her way to that spiritual revival, it was sunset and the vibrant colors that went across the skies.

She began writing the lyrics reflecting upon that day that Jesus is going to come and take us home, where we shall behold Him face to face.

I'm looking forward to that day, Which is why the prophet Ezekiel wrote over and over again that we should know that He is Lord, because those who know Him as Lord will be ready to meet Him on that day.

Heavenly Father, as we study Your Word this morning, I pray and ask that You would guide us into all truth.

That You would sanctify us by that truth.

And we know, Lord, that Your Word is truth.

To know the Lord so we are ready for Him when He returns.

To be known by Him so we are ready for Him when He returns.

Ezekiel used that phrase over 60 times in the 48 chapters of the book of Ezekiel, which is why we have spent time studying the book of Ezekiel.

That each of us might know the Lord in an exclusive, loving, reverential experience of understanding and discerning His very personal nearness to each and every 1 of us, and His overwhelming desire and concern to redeem each of us.

And as we look at Ezekiel and the number of times that he uses this phrase, know that I am the Lord, 8 major themes come to surface.

To know Him through the experience of salvation and being delivered from sin.

And today we will explore to know him through prophecy.

This is part 4 in our eight-part series of knowing the Lord.

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to open your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 30.

There in Ezekiel chapter 30, beginning in verse 20, the Lord gave the prophet Ezekiel a message, and it came to pass in the eleventh year in the first month on the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me saying..." Now in verse 21 of Ezekiel 30.

"...Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and see, it has not been bandaged for healing, nor a splint put on it to bind it to make it strong enough to hold a sword.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, surely I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, both the strong 1 and the 1 that was broken, and I will make the sword fall out of his hand.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them from throughout the countries, and I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will put my sword in his hand.

But I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he will groan before Him with the groanings of a mortally wounded man.

Thus, I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down.

When I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt, I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

Then they shall know that I am the Lord." This prophecy is considered the fourth oracle of Ezekiel against Egypt.

You'll remember from history in 605 BC, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked Jerusalem and conquered Jerusalem.

Prior to that attack, in the city called Carcamesh, there, the king of Egypt battled against Nebuchadnezzar, where Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Egyptians.

And now, once again, Ezekiel is prophesying against Babylon.

10 years, almost 10 years, after that first besiegement of Jerusalem where Nebuchadnezzar made Judah essentially a vassal nation, in 597, he once again came to Jerusalem because there were disruptions in Jerusalem.

There was rebellion going on in Jerusalem, and he squashed that rebellion.

That is when Ezekiel was taken captive and taken to Babylon.

Now, 10 years after that, there was another uprising in Jerusalem.

And in 1 of the greatest ironies of the scripture which actually deserves an entire sermon series itself Judah's seeking help in their uprising and their rebellion against Babylon, allies themselves to Egypt, who they had been in bondage to thousands of years previous.

The people of God returning to their bondage, believing that somehow returning to their bondage, they might find freedom.

By the way, the same temptation exists for us today.

Too often, each of us has earthly things in which we place our trust.

We blindly worship those things, and we serve the created thing rather than the creation, and we end up in a further problem than where we first started.

And this prophecy in Ezekiel was a warning to God's people.

And the warning could be simply summarized with 1 question.

Nevertheless, the people of Judah sought help from their former captives, allied themselves to Egypt, and just as this prophecy predicted with absolute accuracy, the Egyptians' arms were broken.

Egypt's strength was broken as God strengthened Babylon as His instrument.

God's people sought help from somewhere and someone else, and this is why the prophecy ends with the words that they would know that I am the Lord.

God's purpose in Prophecy is not that we are smarter than everybody else.

It's not that we have some secret knowledge that no 1 else has that we keep to ourself, but the entire purpose of prophecy is that we would come to know that He is the Lord.

It is a call by God for us to stop seeking answers elsewhere.

God is pleading with all that He has, Know Me.

This is why the prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 46, 9 and 10.

Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things that are not yet done." Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things that are not yet done.

God through prophecy gives guidance and predictions.

All of that is in an attempt to help us to know that He is God, and there is no other.

We could Explore the entirety of the Bible, but just think of 1 of those books that many of us study often, the book of Daniel.

What was the point of all of those prophecies?

In Daniel 2, When Daniel had the answer to the king's question of, what does my dream mean?

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.

The purpose of the prophecy of Daniel 2 was for Nebuchadnezzar to know that God is God alone.

In Daniel 3, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before Nebuchadnezzar, they said this, if this is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us.

It was an attempt for Nebuchadnezzar to encounter the living God.

In Daniel 4, as Nebuchadnezzar has his dream, goes through his seven-year process of God reaching him, says, and at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him." It took 4 chapters in the book of Daniel, which covers decades for God to reach Nebuchadnezzar.

And that should encourage us for this very reason.

And I'm thankful that He didn't give up on me.

And He's not giving up on me, And he's not giving up on me and he's not giving up on you.

In Daniel 5, when Belshazzar is having a party while Cyrus is on his way to conquer him.

Daniel comes before Belshazzar and gives the history of his grandfather.

And as he spoke about Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar, he said that all of this happened till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men.

Belshazzar did not listen to the prophet and the message of God through the prophet.

And because of that, that very night, Belshazzar lost the kingdom, and he lost his life.

And while I am not the judge of Belshazzar, he likely lost his eternal life.

See, not listening to a prophet is serious business.

God speaks through prophecy that we might know him.

And to many preachers and commentators on the book of Revelation, they focus on some of the more nuanced happenings of the book of Revelation, and they lose sight of the 1 predominant concern of the book of Revelation, which is at its conclusion, Revelation 21, verse 1.

Behold, The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people." That is the purpose of the book of Revelation.

Throughout the Scripture, prophecy's 1 true purpose is for people to come to a knowledge of God.

This is why, my friends, there is such great danger in reinterpreting prophecy, especially when we attempt to reinterpret or reapply prophecies where we have no biblical basis for doing so.

When there is no hermeneutical or interpretive reason to reinterpret prophecy.

Some of the most common prophecies that have been reinterpreted today are the prophecies of the 1260 day or year prophecy, the 1290 day or year prophecy, and the 1335 day or year prophecy.

The history of Christianity is littered with failed prophecies because of their misapplication or misinterpretation.

And this is dangerous and misguided because it places the hearer of false prophecy in grave danger.

Because if those prophecies are not fulfilled, then the opposite will happen.

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Series

To Know and Be Known

God Still Speaks

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Preview and Preparation: The Coming Crisis

5. Victory and Deliverance in Jesus

1h 5m

God Still Speaks

1h 11m

The Living One

47m

Pandemic Fatigue

55m

Revelation Made Simple

17. Prophetic Movement at End Time

1h 3m

Why am I a Seventh-Day Adventist?

05 What’s Wrong with Being a Cultural Adventist?

1h

Prophetic Movement at End Time

1h 3m

EGW vs WWW

57m

Last Day Events

Interview With the Beast

1h 2m

Plenary Sessions

The Thing the Devil Hates

50m

Discovering the Prophecies

44m

Back to the Mission

Tears of the Remnant

59m

Sound Doctrine