======================================================================== THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST IN BIBLE PROPHECY by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the centrality of Christ in Bible prophecy, highlighting how all prophecies ultimately point to the Lord Jesus Christ. It delves into the importance of recognizing Christ in the midst of judgment, warnings, and end-time events, urging believers to focus on Christ's redemptive work and imminent return rather than getting caught up in fear or speculation about other aspects of prophecy. Duration: 1:07:51 Topics: "Centrality of Christ in Prophecy", "Focus on Redemption and Hope" Scripture References: Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:1, Revelation 5:6, Luke 21:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the centrality of Christ in Bible prophecy, highlighting how all prophecies ultimately point to the Lord Jesus Christ. It delves into the importance of recognizing Christ in the midst of judgment, warnings, and end-time events, urging believers to focus on Christ's redemptive work and imminent return rather than getting caught up in fear or speculation about other aspects of prophecy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please turn with me here this morning, Revelation chapter 19, Revelation chapter 19, I'm going to read from verse 4 to verse 14. And my text this morning is one simple comment or line in verse 10 of Revelation 19. We're on this wonderful series on the centrality of Christ. And here this morning, listen to what my title is, The Centrality of Christ in Bible Prophecy. We've looked at the centrality of Christ in eternity past, in creation, in the Bible, in Israel, in the church, in the Christian life. We've looked at his centrality in all these areas. But I want to draw out this issue of Bible prophecy, not just the Bible, we've done that. But I want to hone in on the whole area of prophecy from God, and to show you how Christ is absolutely central in it. Reading from Revelation 19 in verse 4, And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord our God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in the fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not? I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon a white horse, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. Let's pray together here. Father, we do thank you for the Word of God this morning. I thank you for that revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ contained within this precious book. It is precious to us because it reveals Christ. Every time I open this book, I see the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor, God, I learn more of him and I feast on him. Nor, God, thank you for the spirit of prophecy that imbibes the pages of this book. Nor, God, thank you for the spirit of prophecy that quickens the Word of God and applies it to the heart of men. Thank you for that spirit of prophecy from Genesis to Revelation that is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. It points to him. It proves him. It reveals him. Lord, God, it shows us how real he is. And we ask you, make this so real. Show us the centrality of Christ in Bible prophecy here this morning. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. My text here for this message is taken from Revelation 19 and verse 10. And it's the end of that verse. It says, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. These two things are synonymous. They're the same. When we talk about the testimony of Christ, we are talking about the spirit of prophecy. When we speak about the spirit of prophecy, what you find within it is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this term, testimony, listen to what it means here this morning. It is the Greek word, martria, where we get our word, martyr, from. You and I know what a martyr is. A martyr is someone who stands. They so believe something. I mean, they absolutely so believe in it that when their life is threatened, they'll say, you can take my life, but I'm not giving up what I believe. This is what I believe. I would die for it. I would suffer for it. I would go through any trouble. I don't have a choice about this. I am so convinced. In the church, we talk about a martyr. Even in Afghanistan, there have been missionaries and Christians who have died for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were given an option, renounce Christ and we'll let you go free. No, I'd rather die than have my physical freedom. You see, that is a martyr. What is a martyr? They witness, they testify, they proclaim that this truth is so real that they'll pay the ultimate price for it. This Greek word actually means to give evidence, to give witness, to have a testimony, to have proof, to substantiate, to confirm, to make sure or to bear an actual record. In the light of that, let me say it again. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In other words, the testimony of Jesus is the evidence to prove that He is who He says He is. It is an overwhelming amount of evidence to say He is the Son of God. He did die. He did rise from the dead and He is coming again. This is the testimony of Christ. When we talk about someone's testimony, they say, this is what happened to me. This is my personal experience. I was there. I witnessed this. Jesus changed my life. I am born again. No one can take that away from me. I know He healed my sick body. He done miracles in my life. He's answered my prayers. He has spoken to me. He has changed my heart. You know what that is? That is testimony. That is evidence. I'm going to give you evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ is alive and real. It says here the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In other words, you can never separate these things. In our Bibles, we have the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have infallible evidence. We have proof beyond doubt. I am not of those who say our faith is blind faith. Faith is not blind faith. You know what? If someone tells me to jump over a wall without looking, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to say, I respect you, and I'm very glad for your advice. But if you think I'm going to jump over a wall whenever I haven't looked over a wall, there could be a 20-foot drop. There could be stones. There could be glass. If you think I'm a fool, then I'm going to close my eyes and just jump. But you know what? A Christian isn't like that. A Christian demands evidence. A Christian demands proof. And I'm not talking about physical proof of trying to prove there is a God. I'm not talking about that. But the testimony of Christ carries within it evidence and proof either to your heart or in Scripture to show you that this is true. God does not say you've just got to believe it no matter what. Do you know what He does? He convinces you. He shows you that it's true, and He will give you as much proof as you could possibly need. Notice here it says the testimony of Jesus, this truth about Jesus, this revelation about Jesus, this fact of Christ. Do you know what it is? It is the spirit of prophecy. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a thing called prophecy. In other words, you can't read the Bible without recognizing there is prophecy within it. It says here about the testimony of Christ being the spirit of prophecy. Do you know what it's actually saying here? That this revelation about who Christ is, the person of Christ, that He's real, the Son of God, that He's coming again. Do you know what God has done? He's closed this testimony in the spirit of revelation. What is revelation or what is prophecy? Prophecy is predictions. It is proclamations. It could be facts about details that have not happened yet. The rise of kings, the names of kings, worldwide events. That's what prophecy is. It actually reveals things to come. It shows God's divinity. Do you realize no other religious book in the world has the spirit of prophecy like this book in my hand? No other religious book, no occultic book, no New Age book, not any of the great religions of the world. None of the atheists have it. This is the only book that infallibly has the spirit of prophecy running throughout it. And do you know what the central issue of the spirit of prophecy? When you find the real spirit of prophecy, do you know what you find right at the heart of it? Is the testimony of Christ. If you ever encounter the spirit of prophecy, I promise you what's going to happen. Show me someone who has really encountered the spirit of prophecy. Do you know what they look like? They go, I know He's alive. I know I'm born again. I know Jesus is coming again. How do you know that? By the spirit of prophecy. In other words, the real truth of Christ is closed. It is mantled upon by the spirit of prophecy. When you find the spirit of prophecy, you find Christ there. He is at the center of it. When we come to the Bible, what is prophecy? It is pre-written history. In fact, the entire Bible is made up of biography, the history of nations, the history of the people of Israel, of individual men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. It is a family line. It is the history of the world from Adam down to today. But do you know what? You can never separate history and Genesis from Bible prophecy. What you're going to find is this spirit of prophecy. Everywhere you find a man of God or a woman of God, this spirit of prophecy is there revealing that Jesus is who He says He is. Prophecy has its actual fulfillment in history. Prophecy predicts, it interprets, and it explains God's dealing with men. Prophecy reveals that God is the Lord of history, that Christ is who He says He is. And so when you find the real spirit of prophecy, whether in the Bible or with an Old Testament prophet or a New Testament apostle, do you know what you find? You find a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is revealed. There is overwhelming evidence. Why do you think God has put prophecy in the Bible in such a remarkable way? I believe it's as an infallible evidence that everything this book says about Jesus is true. As we've said many times before, in the Old Testament, you read this phrase, thus saith the Lord, 3,808 times. That is overwhelming. Do you know no other religious book even attempts to do that? The books of the Apocrypha don't once say that because they're not inspired of God. But yet in the Old Testament, constantly, thus saith the Lord, this is going to happen. This nation will fall. This king will rise. These events will happen. You see, the Bible is filled with Bible prophecy, or the spirit of prophecy is so in our Bible that if prophecy is not true, if only one prophecy doesn't come to pass, or it gets contradicted, we've got to throw the Bible out. We've got to throw Christ out. We've got to throw our convictions out. And we better bury the church. That's what we better do, I can assure you. When we begin to look at Bible prophecy, we find that 27% of the Bible, or one quarter of it, is Bible prophecy. Can you imagine one quarter of this book is prophecy? In other words, you can find out if it's true or not. You can find out if the sixth day creation is true or not. You can find out if the history in Genesis is true or not. You can find out if Jonah actually did get swallowed by a whale. You can know if Jesus did rise on the third day. You know how? Because this entire book is filled with so many prophecies that if in any way it is not real prophecy from a real God who knows everything and knows the future, not just several hundred years ahead, but thousands of years ahead, and what is just about to happen in our world. If it gets it wrong, we can throw the Bible out. But also you can find out if the Bible is actually true. Well over 60% of these prophecies, or about two thirds, have already been fulfilled. In other words, we can test it. We can look at it. We can know whether we should trust the other third or the other 30% to 40% of these prophecies. You see, God has so built the spirit of prophecy into this book. I mean, you can't read any book without finding prophecies within it. It is utterly remarkable. If you go to the first five books of the Bible, there are 60 remarkable clear prophecies made. If I test those prophecies, did they come to pass? I can either reject those books or say, this is God. God is speaking within these books. When I come over to the Psalms, I find there's a hundred clear distinct prophecy contained within these songs, and at least one third of them are specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you turn to Psalm 22, it's all about the cross. It is a prophecy that Christ will be pierced. It's a talking about the coming Messiah. In fact, when you go to Psalm 23, you find that Christ is the shepherd. Then you go to Psalm 24, and you find that He's the coming King. And so you see a full picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in this. We find a remarkable spirit of prophecy within the Bible. Isaiah, above all others, gave more prophecies, predictions, accurate details than any other book or man in the Bible. Jeremiah gives at least 80 specific prophecies. So you can know if this is true. You can actually find out, is it true or false? Do you see why we have a Bible saturated with prophecy? I mean, it's so ingrained, you can't separate it. Why is it that God put the spirit of prophecy within the Bible? Why do you think that is? Because the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. If God knows all things, gave us the Bible, and predicts all things through time, do you know what it means? Infallibly, the Lord Jesus Christ is who He says He actually was. It is remarkable. When you come to the Acts and the Epistles in the New Testament, there are 130 clear prophecies, and it's teaching on holiness and prayer and many other things about family. You've got 130 prophecies. Why has God done this? It's to show that it's true. It's to confirm your heart, that you become overwhelmed. If the prophecies are true, then Christ is real, and He is who He says He is. He is God manifest in the flesh. Some of these prophecies in Revelation, there's about 130 in Revelation. Some are extremely clear. Others need explained. But all of them must come to pass. We know that in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament, more than 500 that were specifically about the coming Messiah, where He would be born, what would happen in His life, about His mother that would bear Him. All of these things were given. And in fact, there were 25 remarkable prophecies that were given in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah that were fulfilled concerning Christ and His betrayal, His trial, His death, His burial, all within 24 hours. You've got 25 utterly remarkable prophecies. And all those hundreds of prophecies have to be fulfilled in one man's life, in a very short period of time. And you're talking about nations, legislation, world events. You're talking about the God of history here. You see, prophecy is supernatural. It's not natural. Man cannot predict the future. Some of us do predict things. Some of us guess. Some of us are wise. Some of us have experience. And you can say, well, I think Limerick is going to lose. And most of the time, you'd get maybe 99% right on that one. But do you know what? Man does not have the ability to predict the future. It is only the Spirit of God that can predict the future. Let me give you an example of Islam. And Muhammad gave us what is called Islam today. And after he died, they began putting together all the little sentences and words. And we ended up with the Quran. You know what one man said about the Quran? He didn't say it was the prophecies of Muhammad. He called it the babblings of Muhammad. That's all he could say. But I've tried to find the prophecies in the Quran. You see, I'm fascinated when I know what the Bible has, substantiating it, proving it as evidence. It's overwhelming. No book comes close. What do I find in the Quran? I've searched very hard. I've scanned Google. I've scanned YouTube. I have searched books. I have searched the Quran. It's very hard to find prophecy in the Quran. And yet he is called the prophet. The prophet. You know, when I went to the Quran and started searching the traditions of Islam, I did find some prophecies. But most of them are personal to Muhammad. Let me give you an example of Islamic Bible prophecy. And let's compare it with the Bible. Muhammad had four wives. And he wasn't happy with four wives. So he got a divine revelation to say he can have another wife. And God allows him. There's one of his commanders had a wife that he desired. So God spoke to him and said, you need to divorce your wife. And she needs to marry me because God said. When his wife knew he was going to take, I'm just giving you snippets here. We'll teach you sometime. And when his wife got understandably angry, saying four is enough. And they hear that God has told them to take another wife. Well, they got very angry and very upset over this. You know, they're going, there's going to be less of them going around here. So I've got to plead my corner. Well, all of a sudden, it's all in the Quran. All of a sudden, he gets a divine revelation from God to say, God told me that if you don't accept this and you don't leave me alone, God is going to judge you and you'll die in a horrible way. Well, they all of a sudden sobered up. I don't know why they believed the man. But listen, here's another one. You probably have never heard in the Quran. And I checked it this morning. In the Quran in chapter 69, verse 44 to 46. It says there, Muhammad's speaking. He says, if I die through my aorta being cut or damaged. And if I die by that means, you know that I fiddled and played games with the Quran and I'm not a prophet. It says that in the Quran. If you go to all the traditions and the leaders that were around Muhammad, guess how they say he died. And this is, I looked at it this morning. They actually witnessed and say that his last breath, he said, my aorta, there's something wrong. I've been poisoned. He was killed. And the lady who poisoned him was a Jew who said, if he's a prophet, he's going to know there's poison in it. He'll know that. Well, his last breath was the judgment of God. You know what he's saying? The Quran is right in that verse. If God cuts that off, it proves I'm not a prophet and I play games of the Quran. Do you understand what I'm saying here? I'm only touching on it. Compare that immoral man playing games with people's emotions, saying God's told us to go and attack Mecca. God's told us to kill you. And we compare that with Bible prophecy. I know there's a lot of nice people, a lot of mild and meek people in Islam, but I want to show you that isn't Islam. What I just told you is true Islam. Or what about the JWs, a cult that's began and spread across the world? Well, they said in their own writings, Jesus would return in 1914. They got it wrong. So they change it to 1915. They got it wrong. They change it to 1918. They got it wrong. They change it to 1920. They got it wrong. They change it to 1925. You know, if you're ever going to make a prophecy, make sure you make it well beyond when you think you're going to die, like in 100 years time. If you're going to make a false prophecy, don't make it next year because chances are you're going to get exposed. They also, after he didn't come in 1925, they said, no, we got it wrong. It's 1942. He didn't come. They thought Hitler, they thought after, well, Hitler's losing the war. Let's not say next year. Let's just leave it for a bit. They said 1975. He didn't come. They said 1980. He didn't come. Do you understand what I'm saying? We're talking about the great religions of our world from Islam to the JWs, the Jehovah's Witness, and they try to use prophecy. Do you know what it makes them look like? Like fools. You can say you're deceiving. I'm not going to believe anything you say because what you call prophecy shows that it's a sham and a deception. Do you know what I'm telling you this morning? The Bible that reveals the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. I've got four points for you here if we can just look at it this morning. First of all, Christ in the book of Genesis. I'm going to go to four different areas of the Bible and I want to simply show you, we're just going to dip into it. We're not going very deep, but I'm just going to touch on this, that the centrality of Christ in Bible prophecy from Genesis to Revelation, there are thousands of distinct prophecies. Why has God put it there in the Bible to show you how accurate this Bible is? You know what? If they don't come to pass, throw this book away. It's a deceptive book, but if they're true and they come to pass, you know what it means? You must repent, be born again and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, Christ in the book of Genesis. Do you know when you come to Genesis, there are prophecies contained in the book of Genesis about things that would happen in individuals' lives, in families, in nations, in cities and in the world at large. There are clear predictions from the very beginning of the Bible. You know, if I was writing a Bible, I wouldn't start like that. I'd want to start more and more softly, but in the Bible, it's integral. So every step of the way, every book of the Bible, you can know if it is of God or not. The book of Genesis is not only history. It is not only sound theology. It's not mystical symbolic meanings in the sixties. It is actual theology, doctrine and history. It is not only prophecy, but it is the very beginning of man. The book of Genesis has the spirit of prophecy in it. And when you look at real prophecy, you're gonna see Christ. You'll remember that one year ago in around Easter time and Passover, there was a lot of American prophets. They began to prophesy. Do you remember that? They began to prophesy. Do you know what? Come to Passover 2020, all of them were prophesying and COVID is gonna be dead in the water. Remember Copeland? He began to blow it away. It didn't go very far, did it? And you had all of these prophets saying, I prophesy. I'm in the 50 top American charismatic prophets. They say, I denounce it. I proclaim it's gonna be dead. And they all prophesied. By Passover, they started to give dates. They started to set dates. A preacher I once knew very well, he got pulled in on this and he began to predict and say, by Passover, COVID's gonna be gone. We're gonna be out. I'm telling you, everything's gonna be changed. Where are those prophets today? Well, I told you at the time, they're false prophets. And I said, wait, wait, I'm showing you. I'm gonna tell you this is where it's going. And then after that didn't happen and there was only a tiny relapse. They come and they said, there's gonna come a great revival at Pentecost. You watch a world changing revival. Did it happen? No, it didn't happen. But all these men continue with their ministry. I'm telling you, the Bible contains accurate prophecy. The first prophecy in the Bible is in Genesis 3 and 15. Notice what actually happened here. Man has disobeyed God. Man has sinned against God. Eve took the fruit. She gave it to her husband. Man fell into sin. They realized they're naked. They ran away and hid from God. When God comes looking for them, he always walked with them. In the cool of the evening, where are you? Adam, where are you? You know what? He was hiding. Who said you're naked? Why are you hiding? What's gone wrong? What did you do? Do you see how God deals? You know what? He proclaimed judgment on the serpent for deceiving man and woman. He said, you're gonna go on your belly all the rest of your days. He proclaimed judgment upon the devil himself. He judged woman and said, your pain in childbirth is gonna greatly increase. And that's how it'll be unless you get a church to pray for you like me. And you have the baby before you get in the room. Well, that's miraculous. That's answered prayer. But I tell you, there was a chastening and a discipline from God on the woman and on the man. You know what? When you go out to a garden, you're gonna get thorns. All over my back garden, those willows, they're worse than demons. I curse them in the name of Jesus. Nothing happens to them. They just keep growing up. I need to perfect my faith. If you say unto these willows, be ye cast into the sea, it hasn't worked yet, but I'm gonna keep on at it. Since our entire world came under judgment, under punishment, under the effects and consequence of sin. But right at that very point, I mean at the darkest hour of mankind, you know what? The Lord uttered in verse 15. Listen to what he says. I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. This is the first prophecy that was given in the book of Genesis. And it's the spirit of prophecy here. The spirit of prophecy is operating, making a prediction about events that are gonna go on for the next 6,000 years. They're gonna go on from generation to generation to generation. It's gonna affect every nation in the world. Sin is gonna affect every nation. God's punishment is gonna affect every generation. But here is a promise. It is a promise of a Messiah. It is a promise of a savior. You know what? Within this first prophecy, I find the Lord Jesus Christ. I find a wonderful testimony about the Lord Jesus. What does it say here? I will put enmity between thee, the serpent, and the woman. You know what that enmity is? It is hostility. It is hatred. It is warfare. Here is a serpent has tempted Eve, made her to sin, deceived her, led her into sin. And you know what God says? I'm putting enmity between you, the woman, and the serpent. I mean a warfare is gonna rage between you, the serpent, the devil. We know who the serpent is when we go through the book of Revelation. It says in the last days, we're gonna see that serpent again. It says he is that old serpent, the dragon, the devil. He is Satan. That's who the serpent is. Look at this warfare between the woman and the serpent. He then goes on to say there's two seeds between thy seed and her seed. You know, there's the seed of Satan. There is a seed that comes from Satan. Do you know in the New Testament, Jesus talked about a harvest, weed and tares. And the farmer comes out and goes, where did all these false converts come from? Says the evil one planted them. Listen to me very carefully. Where do false converts, tares come from? Where do goats come from? Where do those that get into the church and deceive false prophets come from? Deceivers, liars, game players, those that act like real Christians and yet they hate righteousness. Do you realize they are the seed of the serpent? They are known by their character, their attitude. They're not sinners who stand against the gospel. They're not atheists saying, I don't believe it. They're people in the church who say, I'm a Christian, I'm born again. And they could even preach to everyone else. Yet they're liars and they're deceivers. That is the seed of the serpent. But notice what it says here. There are two seeds. I'm gonna put this hostility between your seed and the seed of the woman. There are two lines here. When it talks about seed, it's talking about children or a certain seed. And it shall bruise thy head. There is a prophecy here that a child is gonna come out of Eve. A child is gonna be born out of the line of Eve, born physically of human flesh. And that singular seed is going to bruise the head of the serpent. You see in the garden, that serpent arose and bit the woman. It was a deadly bite. It brought sinning. It brought the fall. It brought deception. That was the beginning. But do you know what the prophecy says right after it happens? You know what, Eve? You have sinned, but I'm gonna cover your sin with garments through the shedding of the blood. And do you know what? This seed that is gonna be born of you one day, he is going to bruise the head of the serpent. But do you know what? That same serpent is gonna bruise his heel. His heel is going to be bruised. You say, when did that happen? Hebrews chapter 2, 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also, that is Jesus, himself likewise took part of the same human flesh. And through death, that he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Do you see when the serpent bruised the heel of Jesus, that he bruised the head of the serpent and he destroyed his power? This is a prophecy given in the garden, given at the very point of the fall. I mean, it's dark. Do you see prophecy coming to pass? The serpents judge, the man's judge, the woman's judge. But do you know what? There's a prophecy here. There's a prophecy about a seed. Who is the seed? It's the testimony of Christ. It is a person who is gonna come and smite the enemy. As you begin to read Genesis, you begin to read of this seed. In Genesis 22 and 18, and in thy seed speak in Abraham, all the nations of the earth are gonna be blessed. Look at old Abraham. He's been walking 25 years. You're gonna have a child. Really? And then to his old barren wife. She's not only barren from a young age, but she's so old now, there's no chance of this. What's God prophesying? Abraham, listen to me. Through your seed of your body, through your wife, you're gonna have a seed, a child that's gonna bless all of the earth. This is remarkable prophecies. But you know, these unique prophecies are all about a person. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. This same prophecy was renewed to Isaac in chapter 26. It was renewed to Jacob in chapter 28. And in Genesis 49 verse 10, listen to this prophecy to Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. It says the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And that's not our dog. Until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Shiloh is a name for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It's speaking about the seed. When you look at Genesis, it's talking. There are prophecies, remarkable prophecies. And you know what? All the time they point to the Lord Jesus Christ from the very beginning where you see real prophecy. That's why if you ever hear a prophet prophesy and he doesn't emphasize Christ's death, resurrection, his burial, his ascension to the right hand of the father. If he doesn't preach against sin and doesn't preach repentance and doesn't preach the blood, he's a false prophet. Don't you have anything to do with them? Real prophecy is marked by a revelation of Christ. I assure you, I can tell a church that has the spirit of prophecy. They've got to preach Christ. They will preach the Lord Jesus Christ. We're also told that Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, Jesus in the New Testament said, Abel is a prophet. Nowhere else is that said, but it says he is a prophet of God. And yet he didn't give any prophecies. When we go to Genesis 4, there's no prophecies, no predictions. What we do have is a man who says, I'm going to make a blood sacrifice. I can only have a relationship with God through blood. And his brother Cain rose up and killed him because he hated that he was accepted by faith. What does that mean? In Hebrews 11 verse 4, it says about Abel, being dead, yet he speaketh. Abel is a prophet. His life was prophetic. The events of making a blood sacrifice was all pointing to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Abel's blood is crying out for vengeance against his brother. But the blood of Jesus cries out for mercy. In Genesis, when we look at Noah, Noah was told by God, I'm going to destroy the world. That's prophecy. Judgment is coming. Wrath is coming. I am against sin. I have warned against sin. Noah, for 120 years, became a preacher of righteousness. He preached, walk before God, listen to God, and live right. Do you know what God also said? I want you to build an ark. He gave him the dimensions. And see that ark represented the Lord Jesus Christ. You see where you get true prophecy. Since you have real predictions of judgment, of wrath, of punishment, of a day of reckoning, but that's not the end. Look for the Lord Jesus Christ. There is an hour in which I'm going to flood the entire earth, but there is an ark. There is salvation. There is a door. There's only one way into that ark. Christ is the ark of safety. If you laugh at this ark, you're in real trouble in this hour and generation. Then after that, we read about the life of Abraham, that the Lord, while Abraham was sitting in the door of his tent, three men, it says the Lord appeared unto him, and three men approached him and talked to him. Listen to what the Lord says. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I'm about to do? Do you see how God is tied into his people? Prophecy is an important part of God's people. This church has to be marked by the spirit of prophecy. In other words, we know events. We know what's happening. We know what's just about to take place. We believe the Bible. We know the hour we're living in. It's an hour of judgment, an hour that God is going to deal with sin. There's an hour of wrath coming. There is going to come punishment. But in the midst of that, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what God shared with Abraham? I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. That city is wicked. Their sin has come up before me. The homosexuality, the wickedness, the violence, all of it is ascended. And you know what? I'm coming to destroy it. But before I destroy it, I stopped off at your tent. And I'm going to tell you, do you know why God done that? I want you to plead. I want you to pray for that city. While the two angels went to judge it, that third messenger, who was the Lord Jesus Christ, tarried with Abraham. And they walked together. As Abraham begins to plead, if you find 50, will you spare it? Yes. If you find 40? Yes. If you find 30? Yes. It's a remarkable thing that he began to plead for that city. What am I saying? In the book of Genesis, you see prophecy. I'm going to judge a nation. I'm going to judge a city. I'm going to judge a man. But in the midst of that is the revelation of Christ. Christ is in the midst of those prophecies. You know what? When you find prophecy in the Bible about cities and nations and events, it's not just about that. Look for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is all of that there? Why is God telling you what he's going to do? I'm going to destroy an entire city. I'm going to wipe out an entire people. But do you know what? I'm a God of mercy. I want to save you. I want to reach out to you. You know, if I try to rescue a man when he's swimming and he punches me or he's drowning, he's trying to kill himself in the Shannon, and I'm trying to rescue him and he punches me and he hits me and I'm doing everything I can and he drowns. Are you going to blame me for his death? And yet all across the city people blame God. If there's a God in heaven, don't you know he reaches out his hands all the day to again save a generation? He reaches out in love and mercy and grace and forgiveness. I sent my son to die for you and what do you do? You reject him. Second of all, Christ in the book of Isaiah. There's few books in the Bible that are so filled with the clear revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah was a man filled with the spirit of prophecy. He was a prophet who prophesied about 700 years before Jesus Christ. When you begin to look at the entire book of Isaiah, the first 35 chapters are mostly about judgment. The first 12 chapters are a judgment on Judah about their corruption, exposing their sin and then saying how God is going to punish them. From chapter 13 to 23, it's about God's judgment on all the foreign nations surrounding. In chapter 24 to 27, it's about the last judgment in the last days that has yet to take place. There are three chapters about God's judgment. And so the book carries on like this. Then there's four chapters of history. And listen, it finishes with 27 chapters about the Messiah and the coming kingdom when the Messiah is gonna come to reign upon the earth about blessings, restoration, God's eternal plan, that all the earth is gonna be filled with the glory of the Lord. But notice it's amidst judgment. I'm gonna judge this city. I'm gonna judge this nation. I'm gonna destroy this type of person. I'm gonna punish this type of sin. There are many statements like this. There's facts, figures, accurate prophecies. And as we said, Isaiah is filled with accurate predictions. But please do not forget amidst the spirit of prophecy, we find the Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory. In Isaiah chapter 7, 14, he predicts the birth of the Messiah through a virgin. In chapter 9, he predicts that this one that's gonna be born is gonna be deity embodied and that he'll have an eternal kingdom. In chapter 11, verse 1, it speaks about his humanity, that he's gonna come out of the root or the line of Jesse. It goes on to talk about his righteous reign in chapter 11. It goes further in chapter 52 and 53. It talks about his suffering, his death, and his final victory. When we go through Isaiah 52, listen to what it says about this seed, this one who is God, deity, Emmanuel, God with us, but also born of a woman, born of a virgin. Since there's 700 years before Christ comes, it says in Isaiah 52 and 14, Here was one that was gonna be marred terribly to a place where you could not recognize him. He is the one that is gonna be born of the virgin. He is gonna be Emmanuel, God with us, and yet he's gonna be marred more than any other man. But as he is marred, he is gonna sprinkle many Gentile nations with his blood. When we go to Isaiah 53, we have the clearest prophecy, prediction, and preaching about the cross. Who could have imagined? You know, I've preached from Isaiah 53 more on the streets than any other chapter in the entire Bible. I haven't preached John 3, 16 more on the streets. I've preached from Isaiah 53 more than, I mean, down over the years. It is a remarkable chapter about the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we have a vision in Isaiah 53 of this Messiah taking our sin upon him. It was a prophecy about the cross. Notice the whole spirit of prophecy always brings you to Christ, will always convict you of your sin, will always show you your own heart. That's how you know it's the spirit of prophecy. Some people get fascinated about creatures, about dates, about Babylon. They're fanatical about Bible prophecy, but they never come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, a few months ago, I was getting, I was having so many emails every day. People would send me through Facebook in emails, you've gotta watch this video. Some of them would send me five videos in a day that I just had to watch. Can you imagine at the end of the day, I've got an awful lot of videos to watch, I can assure you. But do you know what I noticed? Out of all of these Christians from Australia and America and England and everywhere else, and they'd send me all of these emails every day, you've gotta watch this. They all claim to be born again. Not one of them talked about the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one of them sent me a scripture saying, I wanna encourage you. Brother Keith, I think you should be praying more. Not one of them said that. Not one of them told me to look to the blood of Jesus. Not one of them took me back to Calvary. Do you understand what I'm saying? The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know Isaiah was a true prophet? Yes, he predicted accurately about God's judgment on cities, but he also preached Christ in all his glory. Isaiah 53 and 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. Punishment, wrath, indignation, suffering, rejection, affliction, it's all on Christ here. He shall see of the travail of his soul. He shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. It's real. Third of all, Christ in the gospels. When we go to the gospels, we have the entire story of Christ's birth, his life, some glimmers of light before he's 30, but his ministry on his earth, his suffering, his death, his resurrection again, his burial for us. You see his entire life. You see the revelation of Jesus Christ, but weaved into each one of those books is prophecy. Do you know why God put prophecy in there? You're gonna know, especially this generation. No generation for 1,900 years have been given the prophecies that you sitting in this room have been given. Do you know what that tells me? No other generation for 1,900 years. You know what that tells me? God wants to reveal the testimony of Christ in this hour in a very unique way. If you see a church and a preacher who is not consumed by the person of Christ in this hour, he doesn't know what hour it is. He doesn't know what hour it is. Why did I preach Bible prophecy in this hour? Because I wanna bring you to Christ. In Matthew 24, Mark 13, in Luke 31, Christ gives us the teaching to warn those who are alive on the earth just before the end comes. In other words, it's the hour you and I live in. I believe it's this hour. He goes through and gives exact details about what is happening. Most of the church do not put together Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. They don't realize that is an apostolic doctrine. Christ taught prophecy. He predicted what's gonna happen. He told us accurately what's about to happen in this very hour. It's amazing teaching. In there, he gives the 10 general signs of what's gonna happen. Then he gets very specific, six exact distinct events that are gonna happen. He begins to teach when, then, and immediately afterwards. Do you realize the person of Christ who's about to die on the cross, he's prophesying. He's prophesying not only to Jerusalem, your temple's gonna be destroyed. Not only that, he's prophesying and saying, you mothers are gonna give birth in the days ahead. You're gonna wish you hadn't had babies for what's gonna happen to the city of Jerusalem. This city is gonna be destroyed. All these bricks of this temple are gonna be destroyed. Why do you think Christ is preaching like this? He's warning an entire generation that they can get ready. And high points of the revelation of Christ are at times where Christ is gonna get revealed greater than any other. Do you know what happens? He gives lots of prophecy. Do you hear what I've just said? At a time where the testimony of Christ is gonna come forth with power, it's gonna be testified that Christ is alive, that he's real. There's gonna be a move of the spirit of God. Do you realize it comes clothed in the spirit of prophecy? That's why I believe right now in this hour, we are about to see something remarkable because we have more prophecies than any generation for 1,900 years, you and I. That tells me that in the midst of these prophecies is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. 32% of prophecies yet to be fulfilled. There are about 580 distinct prophecies that are just about to come to pass all within a short time. When Jesus talked about prophecy, he accepted it literally. He interpreted it that it would actually happen as written. He never tried to explain prophecies away or to spiritualize them. He said, when you see it, come to pass. In other words, those that are alive are gonna see it and know this is it. There was no doubt in his mind or in his teaching that prophecy is gonna happen literally at a certain time in a certain way. Fourth and lastly, Christ in the book of Revelation. Let me finish here. Never separate the testimony of Christ from the spirit of prophecy. Where you get the spirit of prophecy, God only gives prophecies for one reason, not for your satisfaction, but because he wants to reveal Christ. Christ in the book of Revelation, or let me be more explicit, the centrality of Christ, the focus of Christ in the Revelation, the book of Revelation, all the prophecies in Revelation. Do you know who's at the center of it? The Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know why there's visions about Antichrist? Do you realize the judgments on nations about the mark of the beast on the right hand and the forehead? Do you realize how close we are? When you come to the book of Revelation, this is no longer a book that we preach about. It's gonna happen one day. It's gonna happen in 50 years or 100. It's at the door. Within the book of Revelation, you have a clear picture of a political system that arises, a religion that takes over, an economic technical system that's gonna operate with a mark on the right hand and forehead. I believe it's right at the door. And do you know why I believe such accurate prophecy is given? It's because we're to find Christ right at the door of the saints. This is the hour to look up and to find the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people, they study the book of Revelation. They only study the beast coming up with its seven heads and its 10 horns. They know everything about that beast. They know all about the mark of the beast. They know all about what's going on in the book of Revelation. You never hear them talk about the blood. You never hear them preach Christ. You never hear them talk about holiness. It's missing. You know what that tells me? Their spirit of prophecy is not the testimony of Christ. Where you get someone talking about Bible prophecy and there's no Christ, there's something wrong. Either their heart's wrong, their understanding is wrong, their mind is wrong or their faith is wrong. But if you can talk about these things and you do not reveal Christ, there's something wrong. In Revelation chapter one and verse one, the book of Revelation is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That is the title of this book that's filled with prophecy. It's the theme of the book is Jesus. The title of the book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the subject of it. The purpose of the book of Revelation. This is the key to the book of Revelation. You want to understand Revelation. Brother Keith, teach me about the seals and the trumpets and the vials of judgment. I want to be taught this. Do you want me to preach Christ? Do you want me to point you to the Lord? No, I know that. I want to know about the thunders and the lightning and I want to know about the little pink toe. I want to know who that is in Bible prophecy. Do you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, I can preach on a Wednesday night on being brainwashed or having the mark of the beast. And I just went and checked on one of those sites. One week and there's 40,000 brainwashed in just one site on one video. 40,000 in one week. And yet you come to messages on a Sunday morning on the centrality of Christ and all of a sudden very few want to listen to those messages. I'm going to tell you, you don't need to hear about a mark of a beast and you don't really need to hear about being brainwashed. You need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it shows something wrong in the church of this generation. We're caught up in the spectacular but we're not looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not about last days. It's not about the tribulation. It's not about the mark of the beast. It's not about antichrist. If you don't know that at this stage, you haven't heard me preach honestly. If you don't begin to realize the entire book of Revelation, it starts with Christ's message to seven churches and it continues. It's all about me. That's what he's saying. Here. It's me. I'm here. I'm the subject of this book. And yet we cannot see Christ. I have met in the church experts on eschatology, but they know nothing about justification, substitution, atonement, propitiation. They are experts on the mark of the beast. They're crying wolf in this hour on the vaccine, but they know nothing about substitution. If all these people who are alarmed in this hour over what is happening, see if they don't run to Christ, it's a fad. It's a hoax. It's a deception. Oh yes, what they're getting scared about is real. But if they're not proclaiming Christ, what does the word revelation mean? The revelation of Christ. The Greek word revelation is apocalyptus, or where we get the word apocalypse. It doesn't mean disaster. You know in all the movies, Apocalypse Now, you know what it means? Disaster. That's not what the Greek word means. What does the Greek word mean? To disclose, to take the cover off. It means on the person of Christ, there's been a cover upon them. And the revelation of Christ, the last book of this Bible, do you know what it does? It reaches down and it pulls the cover off and goes, Christ. This is Christ. If you read the book of Revelation and you have not been in awe of Christ, you've never read the book of Revelation. If you've not gone on your face and worship, you haven't heard the message of the book of Revelation. Do you realize in the book of Revelation, that out of all the names for Jesus Christ, there are many unique names for Jesus. I mean, the book of Revelation's filled with them, but one name stands out, the Lamb of God. It says there in Revelation, that this one you see in vision, he stood as a lamb. And it means originally meant a little lamb or a young sheep or the Passover lamb. In our Bibles, the Passover lamb in the New Testament is mentioned 32 times. 28 of those 32 times, it's not on Paul's letters, it's in the book of Revelation. 28 times Christ is called the Lamb in the book of Revelation. It is the most popular name for Jesus in Revelation. In chapter five, we read that the elders, when they see the Lamb of God, they begin to weep. They actually look and they said, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David had prevailed to open the book, but the lion is a lamb. Oh yes, he's called the lion, but only once there, but all through the book of Revelation, he is the Lamb of God. Do you know that this prophecy book for the last days, we're at a crisis of world history. We are right at the end. It's about to take place. Men are beginning to, with technology to create that chip. They will tie you into a system and they want to do it in the 2020s since governments want to do that. The World Economic Forum wants to do it. The UN wants to do it. The nations want to do it. The world bankers want to do it. All the experts in technology want to do it. And here you have a church asleep. How can you have Christians who know the Bible asleep in this hour and there's no awakening, no spiritual revival, no seeking after the Lamb of God. You know why? They're blind to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're worried about things that affect their belly. They're worried about their job. They're worried about their house. They're worried about their friends. They're worried about how they look like to others. But who is it who cares about the Lord Jesus Christ on this hour? My message is the centrality of Christ in Bible prophecy. And this has been one of my great delights throughout the years is to study Bible prophecy because it is primarily and centrally not about Cyrus or Alexander or Augustus or Julius Caesar or anyone else. It's not about Antichrist, but it's about the Lord Jesus Christ suffering on Calvary's tree for you and I since we're right at the end. And do you know what Jesus said in Matthew 24? Sorry, in Luke 21. He says, Look up for your redemption, drawth nigh. You know what he said? Look to me, I'm coming again. Don't you realize how close we are to the greatest event in world history? It's not about Antichrist. Jesus is coming. What is the central message of Bible prophecy? Jesus is coming to reign on the earth. He's going to put everything right. He's going to judge sin. He's going to set the righteous free. We are going to reign with them on this earth again since it's only around the corner. And yet we're so blind to it. All of this. Don't be terrified with all that's happening. You're given all these prophecies to say, Oh no, don't look at that. Look up, Jesus is about to come. He's coming for you if you're washed in the blood. If you're born again, he's coming for you. We are going to see him. We are going to see him. And it says in Matthew 24, you know, amidst all those events, tribulation, wrath, judgment, nations, all of these signs. One thing about his people it says, they're preaching the gospel in all of the earth. And you know what they're looking for? It says he's going to come as the lightning of the heaven. Don't go into some little hidey hole and say, here he is. He's not there. That big giant they've made in Ireland, that's not going to fool me. There's not enough there. He's not big enough. He's not great enough. When he comes, he'll come out of that Eastern sky. And just like the lightning flashes, since we are getting ready for the greatest event in 6,000 years. And from Genesis all the way through, it was predicted concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We're at the end. We're at the end. Will you stand with me? Let us just worship just for a few minutes here as we close our time together. Just to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Just to lift our hands, lift our hearts as we close this gathering this morning. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/0E_Zm5d_fzs.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/the-centrality-of-christ-in-bible-prophecy/ ========================================================================