We will talk about the winner of a fight or an argument by saying, “he had the last laugh.” God says that He will have the last laugh. Not just him, but his son Jesus, the “One” who is enthroned in heaven. The. one sent to earth to proclaim joy. At Christmas, God came to earth to announce and introduce people to his joy. But at the end of time, God will have the last laugh.
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
Objection: Now as I read that, many of us got very uncomfortable. We were okay with God laughing, but now he rebukes, has anger, and has wrath. If you have a Mr Potato Head God, you’re God is missing parts like, “anger, wrath, and ability to terrify.” In fact, you may think that -that- kind of God is inappropriate or not real. And you may think that an angry God, a terrifying God is the antithesis to a God of love.
I remember watching the movie, The Patriot years ago. Mel Gibson’s character is a father and war veteran. He does not want to fight a revolution. He doesn’t want to go to war. His kids wonder if he is a coward. There is a scene where the British Red coats come in and take his house and come after his kids. His kids watch their loving kindhearted father transform. He grabs weapons, He goes after the evil doers. His kids are stunned watching dad’s ferociously protective love as he attacks and destroys these evil doers. The look on the kids face is stunning. They never knew how powerful their father was. They never knew how far He’d go to love them and protect them. In his wrath, they saw his love. In his love, they saw that evil doers were terrified of Him. In this moment, they were overwhelmed that this terrifyingly loving and protectively anger father was on their side.
Why is God angry in this section of the Bible? Same reason: These people have tried to manipulate, control, and offer a false hope to the world. They have been unjust, unfair, evil, and tried to make “self” the top of the mountain.
“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
God says, I have installed MY king on the top of the mountain. And when you climb the mountain, you will find something that truly satisfies. A joy that lasts. Lasting laughter. When God sees people replace His joy with a false joy, an inadequate hope, he gets angry. Why? Someone is lying. Something is telling you and I that what will make us happy is….. Money, Status, Appearance, Pleasure, Comfort, etc.
God is mad because these are lies. You spend your whole life climbing the mountain of self and think it will make you happy. Bring you lasting laughter. Fulfill your wishes. And you get to the top. You make it to the Zenith of your journey and discover that “It” didn’t satisfy. “It” didn’t cover your guilt and shame.
Do you remember the song “We Are The World” from the 1980s? “We are the people…” We are the ones who make a brighter day so let’s start giving…” That message is not only different from the Bible’s teaching on Christmas, it’s the polar opposite. In 1985 at the Live Aid Concert, with all the famous people singing this… Bob Dylan was up there looking very uncomfortable… Afterwards, there was a press conference and he explained why he was so uncomfortable. He said, “I felt uncomfortable singing that song because human kind cannot save itself.” Our society, religion, and philosophies try to put someone on top of the mountain to “save you.” But education won’t cut it. Being nice won’t cut it. Being Greedy won’t cut it. Being selfish won’t cut it. Good and Bad things BOTH can’t help human beings Save themselves.
So we learned that God laughs, God laughs best, and God laughs last… How can you and I have the last laugh?
How to Have The Last Laugh
7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.”
Lasting joy and lasting laughter comes from knowing that Your maker offers to adopt you back into His family even after you “ran off”. Jesus died on a cross to make a way to pay for all the ways we’ve tried to Conspire against God, and replace God with our Mr Potato Head replacements. If you will admit to God, “I’ve tried to replace you… I’ve tried to outmaneuver you… Instead I want to embrace you. I want to know that I am your child. That the mountain I am climbing is about making You my Zenith. I will spend my life not at the mountain of self, making myself famous, fulfilling all my wishes. But spend my life resting on the mountain of God, making His anointed famous, and fulfilling His wishes. Jesus makes this offer “TODAY.” Will you take him up on his offer today?
You know you are the son of a father who is both passionate, compassionate, and tender as well as incredibly powerful, a warrior. You can have the same feelings those children had in patriot. I have a dad who loves me, and he is a warrior who will defend me. The reason this laughter and joy lasts is because it’s the one thing that matters and the one thing that can never be taken away. The joy of knowing my all powerful, loving Father loves me and adopts me is something that overshadows the economy. The next upgrade. The next tragedy. I could lose everything, but I will never lose the one thing that matters. This is real joy. If you are a Christ-follower, here’s how you have lasting laughter.
You know…
- Cancer will not have the last laugh… God offers you a new body… you have hope.
- Injustice will not have the last laugh… God will judge evil doers who think they got away with it, therefore I can forgive and let God be judge.
- My savings won’t have the last laugh…whether the economy is up or down, God will reward me for my generosity to others.
- My circumstances won’t have the last laugh…God can bring joy even out of troubles, therefore I persevere.
- God will have the last laugh…and I enter into His joy as His child seeing Him as the ultimate prize.
For a free first session of Godonomics, visit: http://www.godonomics.com/watch-session-1
Story:
Once Sammy the Squirrel was scampering from tree to tree near the roof of the Great Forest. He heard crying beneath him, and he climbed down to have a look. He did not like what he saw. Six crows had made a circle around Charlie the Chipmunk. They walked back and forth, making their awful crow sounds and taking turns pecking at Charlie’s side. They weren’t trying to kill Charlie (crows usually let other animals do that for them), they were just trying to make him miserable. They were doing a very good job of it. Sammy saw what those crows were doing, and he knew right away that it was unfair and mean. Sammy grew angry, very angry. His ears turned red. His eyes burned like fire. And his legs launched him into action. Sammy went after that circle of crows like no squirrel you have ever seen before. He jumped on them, swatted at them, and hissed at them until they gave up and flew off. It took Charlie’s heart a long time to slow down; it had been beating so fast with fear. It took Sammy’s heart just as long to slow down, it had been beating so fast with anger. Sammy’s anger was a good thing. It saved Charlie the Chipmunk. At the same time, Sammy’s anger was a dangerous thing -– but only for those nasty crows. Three cheers for Sammy!
http://www.travistheterrorclark.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:righteous-anger&catid=35:about-the-sponsors Bryce James Worthington, 11 years old, was diagnosed with brain cancer, on August 31, 2008. For two days he had a headache and vomiting – normal flu symptoms. Suddenly he had a loss of movement in his left arm, we rushed him to the emergency room. The first thing Bryce said after he found out about his tumor was “This wasn’t suppose to happen to me.” On Sept. 1st at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan a cancerous tumor the size of a cue ball was removed from his right frontal lobe. Three weeks later it was discovered that his brain tumor had grown back to the size of a golf ball and Bryce under went a second brain surgery where the tumor was removed for a second time. Bryce had 6 titanium plates and 36 screws now holding his skull together and an incision the stretched from ear to ear with 52 staples in his head. Yet his spirits remained high beyond imagination.
The tumor, called atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT), is a rare aggressive cancer that arises either in the cerebellum or cerebral cortex and often spreads through the central nervous system. It sometimes would metastasize to the kidneys or the bones. The St. Jude team showed that, while children with ATRT under 3 years of age have a dismal prognosis, children older than 3 can be cured by upfront treatment with radiation followed by chemotherapy. On Oct. 7 Bryce began his full brain and spine radiation.
Bryce’s protocol was 6 weeks of radiation (30 treatments) in all (4 weeks full brain and spine and two weeks of focal radiation where the tumors were….6 weeks rest..and then 4 months of high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant/recovery.
Bryce made it through the radiation with hair loss and nausea. But he made it. There were no signs of his brain tumor having grown. While we were home for his six week rest before he was to start his chemo, Bryce developed a cough. December 19, 2008, we took him to the doctor and they did a chest xray of his lungs to discover that Bryce’s cancer had infiltrated his lungs with 15 tumors in all lobes of his lungs. We heard the most dreaded words that a parent can hear, “There is nothing more we can do.” Bryce’s type of cancer does not usually spread to the lungs and they said that it took on an “unusual presentation.”
We brought Bryce home from the hospital and watched as he fought for every single breath until God took him home. Bryce died in our arms at home in bed with us telling him how much we love him and how proud we are of him and asking Bryce to ask God to heal him and send him back to us.
As for our Righteous Anger, I was never angry at God (my husband was for a short while). We did pray for a miracle every day that Bryce would be cured from his cancer but found Bryce must have fulfilled his purpose in his short 11 years on Earth. Having said that, we are very angry at cancer, and want to help St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital find a cure by making donations for research.
Thank you for telling Bryce’s story.
7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
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