This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day four of Revelation chapter 10. We're looking at
verses five to seven today, getting back to this chapter, these verses. Let me
begin by reading those verses for you.

Revelation 10, verses five to seven. "Then the angel that I had seen standing on
the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, and he swore by him who
lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the
earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it. And he said,
"There will be no more delay.

But in those days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the
mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the
prophets. " So here we see our angel again, the one who has a face like the sun,
the one who has the rainbow over his head, whose legs are like fiery pillars. He
is raising his right hand to heaven and he is swearing before God.

By the way, there's good evidence in history that this is where we get the idea
of raising our right hand to take an oath in a courtroom from what this angel
did right here. Raise your right hand and swear before God. Every time we do
that, it harkens back to this moment when this angel is raising his right hand
and he's swearing before God, and as he swears, he says, "There is no more delay
because the mystery of God, the mystery of God is going to be accomplished.

" Let's start there. Let's start with the mystery of God and then talk about
what he says about no more delay. What is this mystery of God?

If I see the word mystery, I don't know about you, I want to know what's the
solution to the mystery. Some people say it's the rapture, that this is the
moment when the rapture happens, but there's something broader that's going on
here. It's going to be accomplished just as he announced to his servants the
prophets.

It sounds like something that's been announced all the way from the Old
Testament to the New. There's something broader that's going on here. When you
see the phrase the mystery of God, there's something broader about that very
phrase.

It's hard to say precisely what he means here, but you can see broadly what he
means Because this phrase or its equivalent, it is used for a lot of different
areas and aspects of God's plan. The ultimate conversion of the Jews, the fact
that many in the Jewish nation are going to be brought in. In Romans chapter 11,
that is called a mystery.

In Ephesians chapter 3, God's purpose for the church is called a mystery. In
Romans chapter 11, the fact that God's going to bring in the fullness of those
who are not Jews, who are Gentiles, that's called a mystery. In Colossians 1,
the presence of Jesus in the believer is called a mystery of God.

Colossians 4, the gospel, the good news itself is called the mystery of God. You
need to understand what the word mystery means in the New Testament. It's not
something we have to figure out on our own energy.

The idea of a mystery is something that can be understood only by the revelation
of God. I can't figure it out. I'm not supposed to try to figure it out.

It is a mystery of God. And so the only way to know it is for him to reveal it.
And here he is.

He is revealing this mystery. The mystery of God will be accomplished. There is
a sense here that God is about to accomplish the resolution of all things, the
finishing of His plan for the ages.

And if we look at Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians 1 verses 9 and 10 says, "And He
made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which
He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached
their fulfillment. " And what is this mystery? "To bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one head, even Jesus Christ.

" That's it. That's the focus of it. There may be some details here that I don't
quite understand that I'm going to know more about when I get to heaven.

I will fully, fully admit that. But there's no doubt when you hear the mystery
of God is about to be accomplished and you read in Ephesians 1, this is going to
happen when the times will have reached their fulfillment. That's what's
happening here.

And what is this mystery? What has God revealed to us? He reveals to us that
it's all about glory to God.

Everything is going to be brought together under one head, Jesus Christ. Every
knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That's the day that we look forward to. That is not true on the earth today.
Every knee does not bow to Jesus Christ.

Many people ridicule Jesus Christ. Every tongue does not confess Jesus Christ.
Many people confess only their own selfishness and we do evil to one another and
we suffer in this world.

It's not always going to be so. In fact, in these verses, in verse 6, the angel
says, "There will be no more delay. " You have to remember that here's the
Apostle John writing near the end of his life.

And he'd been one of those disciples that had stood and watched Jesus ascend
into heaven. And had heard an angel say, "Just as you saw him ascend into
heaven," in the same way he's going to return. So they had all expected Jesus
Christ to return immediately.

Now many of the disciples, the followers of Jesus Christ, they've died. They've
been martyred. John is the last one left.

He's about to die. He has to be questioning, maybe many in the church are
questioning, "Why the delay? Did we get it wrong?

Is he not going to return? Should we expect Jesus to return? Why the delay?

" I don't understand all the whys in the delay, except to know that it's to
accomplish the plan of God in ways that I don't understand, but I do understand
this. It is a delay. It is a delay for the inevitable, that Jesus Christ is
going to return.

It is a delay for the inevitable. He is going to do away with all evil, and
every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Now as I look at my life, as you look at your life, there are delays all the
time.

I face them, you face them. There is this delay, this big, broad, huge delay as
we wait for Jesus to return, but there's also the delay as you wait for a prayer
to be answered. There's the delay as you wait for a hope to be fulfilled that
you have.

There is the delay as you wait for your own growth, for you to grow like you
desire to grow, for you to get closer to Christ. There's the delay of you
waiting for someone you know to become a believer, to begin to follow Jesus
Christ. Why the delay?

I don't know all the answers to that, but I do know this. In the promise of God,
it is but a delay. We can depend on him to fulfill his promise in our lives.

We can depend on him to be working for his good in the lives of those that we're
praying for. So what do we do when there's a delay? The Bible says that our
attitude in the midst of a delay should be an attitude of anticipation.

Now, I don't know about you, but many times when I face a delay, my attitude is
anything but that. It's an attitude of doubt. It's an attitude of confusion
because I don't know why the delay is there.

The question is this. What am I going to trust? Am I going to trust my
circumstances or am I going to trust God's promise?

My circumstances, this one moment in time, these few years that I live on this
earth, is taking a little longer to happen than I would like. Am I going to let
those be the biggest voice or am I going to let the promise of God, which has
been there from eternity to eternity, which has been kept in every believer,
every saint of every age, am I going to let that be the voice that I listen to?
Yeah, we face delays.

And when we face them, you and I have a chance to say, "Who is it that we trust?
Am I going to trust my circumstances or am I going to trust Christ? " Let's talk
to him together.

Jesus, we don't understand why there are delays, but we do understand that you
are greater than any delay that can happen. We do understand that your plan,
your plan is not always understood by us, but it is always right, it's always
just, and it's always on time. So Lord, when we face a delay, instead of
confusion, let us choose anticipation, the anticipation that you are working,
that even in the delay, you're working to grow us.

And at the end of that delay, Lord, your glory is going to be shown in ways that
we don't yet understand. Lord, in this moment, whatever delay we're personally
facing in our lives, I pray God that we trust that you are going to send
deliverance. We pray this, Jesus, in your name.

Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to finish our look at Revelation chapter 10, and
we're going to look together at the awesome and the personal power of God's
Word.