Cutting Room Floor: Why did Jesus reference angels in His talk with Nathanael?

This goes with the sermon “Making Him Known”, but didn’t make the final cut.

Jesus told Nathanael: And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (1:51). Like Jacob (Israel), Nathanael would eventually come to the same conclusion: “Surely the Lord was in this place, and I did not know it." But why THIS reference? How do angels play into Jesus’ ministry? The reality was that angels WERE there, in so many key moments!

Regarding Jesus’ birth, how was it announced? By angels!

After Jesus’ temptation, who ministered to Him? Angels!

At Jesus’ tomb, who was there? Angels again!

And when Jesus ascended back to the Father in Heaven, who was there to remind the disciples that He would come again? If you guessed an angel, you are a winner!

This helps make sense of why Jesus used that reference with Nathanael, the guileless Israelite!

Cutting room floor: In the beginning...

This was part of the first sermon (He Has Made Himself Known) that didn’t make it to the final cut that I thought was pretty interesting.

John’s gospel starts with “In the beginning” – does that sound familiar? That's how the Bible begins with Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created. The first thing He created was light. And the story begins with a man named Adam, the first human being.

John's Gospel starts in the beginning, also talks about creation, and talks about Jesus Christ, who the Bible calls the true light and the second Adam (Romans 5). The first Adam brought sin and death into the world, the second brought salvation and life. 

So John, in telling us how Jesus revealed Himself, draws many parallel truths from Genesis. One more reason that I personally believe that Genesis is literal history!

Mystery Babylon is NYC? More food for thought...

In the sermon on Revelation 17 (audio link here), we discussed the location of “Mystery Babylon”. While we can’t say for certain, I gave some “food for thought” that many of the signs actually point to New York City as being the place depicted by the prostitute. Child sacrifice (late-term abortion), sexual immorality, the seat of the United Nations, and the giant statue patterned after Ishtar are some of the signs that point to NYC. Here are a couple more things to consider:

1) In Revelation 18, we saw the world-wide “funeral” as men wept over Babylon, knowing that their source of income was now a ghost town. Which city today, if wiped off the map, would be most devastating to the world? Which city would cause so much economic calamity with its demise? I believe there is only one, and that city could be even more important to the world economy in the last days.

2) This is almost surreal, but worship of Baal is becoming more public again! That sounds sooooooo Old Testament, for sure, but did you know there have been two “arches of Baal” built in the last few years… in the USA? One is in Washington DC, and the other is in NYC! Google “Arch of Baal” - even snopes verifies it, for what it’s worth. Not coincidentally, Baal worship is linked with child sacrifice. It is chilling, but the events of Revelation are bearing down on us!

pastor jeff

-am I crazy or “woke”?

Revelation 11: Who are / will be the 2 Witnesses?

Who are the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11? We don’t know emphatically who these two are, but some have suggested these are Moses & Elijah. Why?

1 - Their miracles are very familiar! The same types of miracles associated with Moses / Elijah.

2 - They appeared at the Transfiguration, the preview of the 2nd Coming (Matt. 17:3).

3 - They left the earth in unusual ways - Elijah in a chariot of fire (2Kings 2:11-12) and God supernaturally buried Moses in a secret place (Deut. 34:5-6, Jude 9)

BUT… Some say it's Elijah and ENOCH.

Elijah: in Malachi 4:5-6, the last words of OT, God said, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes...

Wait, wasn't John the Baptist the return of Elijah? Not exactly...he came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17), but Jesus said Elijah WILL COME (Matthew 17:11). John the Baptist was ONE fulfillment of that prophecy, but Jesus clearly stated ALSO that Elijah will come. 

What about Enoch? Why him? Like Elijah, he also did not die (Hebrews 11:5).

During the 1st 2000 years of history, Adam to Abraham – God dealt with the world as a whole.

During the 2nd 2000 years, Abraham to Christ – God dealt with Israel as the focal point.

-Enoch was taken to heaven during the middle of the 1st 2000 years.

-Elijah was taken to heaven during the middle of the 2nd 2000 years.

It's certainly interesting to think about, but whoever these 2 are, the message in Revelation is clear. These 2 will be key players in the Tribulation. Supernatural power. Killed by the beast. Their deaths celebrated by the world. God has the last laugh as they are resurrected and raptured. Then God puts his exclamation point on it by shaking Jerusalem, destroying a 10th of the city and killing 7,000 people – resulting in people “giving glory to God”, which I believe means they got saved as a result of all this. 

What do you think? Comment below!

pastor jeff

-no charge for the bonus material