Revelation 17:14
14 These
(NKJV)
will make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb will
overcome them, for He is Lord of
lords and King of kings; and those
who are with Him are called,
chosen, and faithful.”
Revelation 17:14
Have
you ever been to a t-ball game
before?
Every
game is a big time game with
World Series implications
The
stands are usually filled with
parents, grandparents and others
close to the players
Inning
by inning, the score of the
game surges back and forth
Just
about everyone who bats gets a
hit, because the kids aren’t that good
at fielding just yet
Normally, the
team that has the last at
bat wins the game
The
coach of the visiting team is
never really confident with a lead
The
coach of the home team is never
really discouraged at being down
When
the last team gets up to bat,
they just hit the ball, score their
quota of runs, and win the game
Perhaps
you see a parallel between
this and God
No
matter what the situation in life
may be, God always has the last at
bat
He’s
never worried or troubled
about the outcome of the game (Ps.
2:1-4)
Isaiah
speaks of some people who
felt down and “out of the game”
Looking
at the scoreboard, they felt
hopeless about their plight
Isaiah
56:3 – The “foreigner”, or
Gentile, was not a citizen of Israel
and was an outcast
The
foreigner looked at his life
situation with despair
He
knew who the true God was; his
idols were lifeless and useless, but
he still was not a part of God’s
chosen people
He
felt excluded, isolated, and a
second class citizen
The
eunuch felt the same way as well
The
eunuch’s physical condition kept
them from enjoying a wife and
children
They
were also prohibited from
worshipping with the family of God
in the temple or tabernacle
Isaiah
showed the plan of God and
said that things weren’t always going
to be that way
Christ
would come and open the
door so that anyone would be
accepted, could worship and draw
near to God
Listen
to these words of hope from
Isaiah 56:4-7…
There
are times when any one of us
might have felt like we were in a bad
late inning deficit
It
could have been based on any
number of things
It
could be due to our…
• Family background
• Disabilities
• Poor health
• Sin
• Someone else’s sin
• Events beyond our control
Those
with flawed backgrounds
might feel like there is no hope for
them
Many
of us may feel that way
knowing that we were all sinners
It’s
the 9th inning, and there’s no
chance for us to win…we just see a
mark in the loss column coming
What
we often forget is that the Lord
has the last at bat
We
forget what God can do with
“damaged goods”
We
need a remembrance of the
power God and His word both have
to change lives and eternal courses
We
see examples of those who
seemed to be low on runs in the 9th
Rahab
the harlot probably didn’t
have a good self-image
She
knew exactly who she was, what
she had done and how she had lived
Her
city was marked for destruction
When
the opportunity came, she
placed her faith in God and found
deliverance and a new life among
His people
She
became a part of the royal
lineage that birthed David, Solomon,
Hezekiah, Josiah, and Jesus and is in
the “Hall of Fame” (Heb. 11)
Gideon, a
timid amateur general,
found himself with 300 unsoldierlike famers facing an invading army
so vast it couldn’t be numbered (Jud.
6-8)
According
to the scoreboard, things
didn’t look good for Gideon and his
small army of men
When
the smoke cleared the next
day, Gideon and his men were
victorious
The
Midianites had not counted on
God stepping up to the plate
The
final scored reflected the Lord’s
hand in the game
Elisha’s
servant Gehazi awoke one
morning to see the hills around the
city crawling with enemy troops
He
ran back to his master and cried,
“Alas, my master! What shall we
do?”
Look
at Elisha’s answer in II Kings
6:16-17…
Yes, the
enemy was intimidating, but
they would not have the last word
As
a snapshot, things looked bleak
However, we
know that life is not a
snapshot, but rather a motion picture
When
the credits roll at the end of
time, we will see who was in control
Perhaps
we need to do what Elisha
prayed God would do for
Gehazi…open our eyes
We need to remember the power of
God
Psalm 37:34-36
David knew what being in a tight
situation was like
Vs. 39-40
David
is telling us not to allow
ourselves to be fooled by what the
situation may look like
We need not get discouraged based
upon appearances
When God gets His turn, everything
changes