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The Believer’s Hope – Revelation Ending

November 12th, 2018
Before we even get into our text this morning, I want to tackle 2 subjects which will then lead into it.

These grow out of some questions I’ve received, and rightly deserve some attention.

The first is: Is the New Jerusalem merely figurative, or is it a real, material place?

There is no question there will be an astounding difference between life as we know it now and what it will be like when Heaven and Earth are joined together this way – but yes, we must say that the New Jerusalem is not figurative. It is not just a state of being but actual – in the sense of being an actual location. It is the capital city of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

It will be a material place.

Jesus addressed it as a literal place a number of times – see: John 14 for 1.

John 14:2–3 CSB

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

With all of the symbolic language and descriptions we’ve been looking at in this study, it is tempting to spiritualize everything. To make it totally symbolic, not referring to anything concrete.

But this isn’t the case.

Just as we live now on a real, material earth, so we will live in a real, material location called the New Heavens and the New Earth, and more specifically – the New Jerusalem.

The 2nd question – but tied to the first is: What state will Believers be in while dwelling in this New Jerusalem?

We get help understanding this in several places:

1. When Jesus was resurrected, He was in an actual body that the disciples could see, hear and feel. Yet with some new properties. Luke 24:36-43

Luke 24:36–43 CSB

“As they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. “Why are you troubled?” he asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” Having said this, he showed them his hands and feet. But while they still were amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” So they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”

So notice:

a. He was able to just appear where they were.

b. He was NOT a ghost. He said so.

c. He still had the scars from His crucifixion. As different as He was, there was still some kind of connection with the body He was crucified in.

d. They could touch Him.

e. He could eat with them.

2. Added to this, we have Paul’s remarkable discussion about our resurrected state in 1 Cor. 15:35-55.

We can’t unpack that entire passage here, but let me get to just a few of the salient points.

Corinthians 15:35 CSB

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?”

1 Corinthians 15:37 CSB

And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.

a. The way a planted seed has a connection with the fullgrown plant it eventually becomes – so it is with our present bodies and those we’ll possess at the resurrection. They are organically connected, but also radically different.

As radically different as an acorn and a full grown oak tree.

You will still be you, and I will still be me – but radically, wonderfully, magnificently different.

1 Corinthians 15:38–40 CSB

But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.

Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones.

b. The bodies we have now are designed to live in this environment. Just like fish have bodies suited to live in their environment of a water world, birds are uniquely suited to fly through the air, and our bodies are now suited to live on this present planet earth – our bodies then will be designed to live in that new environment. This is God’s normal pattern for doing things.

1 Corinthians 15:42–44 CSB

So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;

sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;

sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

c. Our new state will be Incorruptible, glorious, powerful and spiritual to match our new habitation.

1 Corinthians 15:47–49 CSB

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

d. Our new bodies will be like Jesus’ resurrected body the way our present bodies are fashioned after Adam’s.

1 Corinthians 15:50–53 CSB

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.

e. Our new bodies will be INCORRUPTIBLE – meaning they CAN’T be corrupted in any way. AND, IMMORTAL. Eternal. Everlasting. Cannot die.

Summarizing: Those Believers who have already died before Jesus’ return, along with those living when He returns – will both receive these new, glorified bodies at the same time: When He comes.

And we will live through the Millennium in these new bodies, and then on into eternity.

This is how we will live in this New Jerusalem, from the return of Jesus till the end of the Millennium, and on into eternity.

Those 2 things said, let’s take another run as these 2 chapters to tease out what WILL be there, even as we have looked last time at 13 things we know will NOT be there.

Revelation 21:3 CSB

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

God dwelling with His people.

Now this beloved is nothing other than the most complete definition of what Heaven is – in this New Jerusalem. Nothing can say it more clearly or profoundly.

God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them.

I know I have beat this drum numerous times before, but we simply must pause to consider it once again.

If someone is hoping to go to Heaven some day, but that hope is not supremely rooted in being with, dwelling with, God and Jesus – then Heaven would in fact be Hell. For this is Heaven’s highest, best and sweetest good.

God can give us nothing greater, nothing better, than Himself!

Those who want little or nothing to do with God and Jesus now, certainly would not be delighted to live where God is all in all as 1 Cor. 15:28 says.

Yes, we will also be joined together with all of those who are also Christ’s.

Of course we want to know and love and enjoy eternal life with those of our loved ones especially who have gone on before us if they are in Jesus.

And yes, we look forward to meeting Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah, Rahab, Isaiah, and then Peter, Paul, James and John, Mary and John the Baptizer.

Then add to those, the saints throughout history from ancient days forward: The likes of Polycarp, Athanasius, Augustine, Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, Edwards, Flavel, Carey, Hudson Taylor, Corrie Ten-Boom, Blandina and the millions of previously unknown brothers and sisters in Jesus .

It is all rather staggering isn’t it?

Yes, I want to see my Mom and Dad in their glorified state. Bob Collier, Bill and Beth Rhodes, Chester Gretz, Ivan, Cecil Van Houten and countless others who were dear to me in this life.

And I am ever so grateful God grants – as part of our reward there – to enjoy them IN HIM for eternity.

But to see Jesus! To walk with the One who gave His all that we might be purchased back from sin and ruin. This, is Heaven!

Yes, we’ll see this..

Revelation 21:10–14 CSB

He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

Yes, we’ll see this…this spectacular walled city with 12 angels at its 12 gates (each named for the tribes of Israel) and 12 foundation stones bearing the names of the 12 apostles.

Sky and I had the privilege of touring the Washington National Cathedral this past week. And it is truly magnificent. The 6th largest cathedral in the world we were told.

It took 83 years to build. Jesus has been preparing this place for us for 2,000 years.

It cost $65 million dollars to build, but it still doesn’t have gold streets, jewels as foundation stones or gates made out of single pearls.

It’s “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” tower is 301 feet high. The New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles long, wide AND high.

Helen Keller and President Woodrow Wilson are interred at the Cathedral – but everyone is eternally alive in the New Jerusalem.

In the New Jerusalem – 12 angels stand at its 12 gates (each named for the tribes of Israel) and its 12 foundation stones bear the names of the 12 apostles.

And whatever else this may mean, it surely implies we will grasp then how it is God’s plan from the very beginning was carried all the way through human history and how it all fits together in perfect symmetry.

The Old Covenant and the New Covenant not at odds- but as part of a continuous plan unfolding.

Both connected, but each holding primary importance in its day.

Jonathan Edwards once wrote: “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines do so much differ as stating the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ.”

But now we see it all comprising one grand plan.

Not only that, this City is a cube!

Revelation 21:15–16 CSB

The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

Such a concept is wholly unknown here – people living in some sort of cube like environment. Not just long and wide, but equally high!

In all of Scripture, there is only one other perfect cube mentioned – the Holy of holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple. 1 Kings 6:20

It is another way of demonstrating how we will dwell with Him where He is.

As Ezekiel’s wheels demonstrated that however God moves, He is moving straight ahead, so in the NJ, no matter how a citizen moves, up, down, backward, forward, left or right, they are still in the city with their God.

Man can only build his cities with length and width. No matter how he tries, he is earthbound. Not so God. The failure of Babel could not be more profoundly demonstrated.

And yes, it is a City of incomparable beauty, symmetry and wealth.

Revelation 21:18–21 CSB

The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass. The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

Clearly, some of this is meant to be symbolic, but it is also actual.

For each gate to made out of one pearl, one would also have to imagine oysters gigantic enough to produce such pearls.

This can only be meant to convey to us that the sight is truly unimaginable and beyond our comprehension.

The largest pearl ever found on earth is 2 feet long and a foot wide. It weighs 75 pounds. That’s nothing compared to what we see here.

But the real essence of Heaven – of Heaven and earth joined together in the New Jerusalem is rooted in our first observation –

Revelation 21:3 CSB

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

It is here we need to make one more observation before going on or we might miss what is happening in these closing chapters.

We are all well aware of Ps. 19 and how it reminds us that all of creation is meant to reveal God in various ways to the redeemed mind.

The heavens – the creation – declare the glory of God. The very expanse and order of the universe proclaims the work, the genius and power of His hands.

That is no less true – in fact even more so now that we see something of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

So that is what needs to contol our thinking now. If we are only looking at the magnificence of this City as an object, and not as a more exalted means of seeing and comprehending God in Christ Jesus – we miss it all.

And this, gets teased out in 4 key observations John makes. Taken together, opening to us the magnificent glory of Jesus Christ in very special ways.
1. Revelation 21:22-23
Revelation 21:22–23 CSB

I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

LIGHT

The Lord God and the Lamb are its temple, and its light.

We are instantly reminded of key passages of Scripture that drive this reality home.

1 John 1:5 CSB

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

And 1 Tim 6:15-16 He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power.

John 8:12 – Jesus

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.

And then – so as to magnify what it means that Believers are in perfect union with Him we hear Jesus speak in Matt 5:14

Matthew 5:14 CSB

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.

John 12:46 CSB

I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

And above all:

2 Corinthians 4:6 CSB

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

1. LIGHT!   Catch it! Where is the light of the glory of God to be found? IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST!

LIGHT No darkness. No fear. No mystery. No doubt. Nothing hidden. Nothing to be ashamed of. No sin.

No darkness – even still hidden in our own hearts.

God and His people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb perfectly joined together in eternal, glorious, pure and holy light.

And the redeemed, all sharing this most essential wonder of God’s own being – having been united to Christ by faith!

The light and glory of that City is the wonder of seeing the face of our dear Redeemer – without any hindrance whatever. Imagine!

Rev 21:23-24

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

1. LIGHT

2. THE RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE   22:1-2a

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street.

Besides being essential for life, water imagery is prolific throughout Scripture as typical of so many things.

Of Judgement: The Flood;

Of Salvation: The Flood;

Of Purification: Washed with the Word in Eph. 5; Washed by the Spirit in regeneration: Titus 3:5;

Of Identification with Jesus’ Death in Baptism and His identification with us in His baptism;

Of God’s supply for us under all circumstances: As in The Rock which followed the Israelites through the Wilderness.

Jesus Himself in His satisfying and life giving capacity as He spoke with the Woman at the Well and told her how those who drink from Him, have a well of eternal life.

And Jesus’ powerful declaration in John 7

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me,ak and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

All these images find their final fulfillment as Believers are joined together in the New Jerusalem.

At last, the fullness of the promise of Christ, that all of His would receive the Spirit He and the Father would send. For it is by the Spirit that He joins us to Himself.

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

And so flowing from the Throne – from Jesus – is all that satisfies what the human soul was created to thirst for above everything else as we share in His own Spirit.

And this, not just a drop, a sip, nor a cup or goblet nor even a stream – but a river.

Ever flowing.

Ever satisfying.

Ever cleansing.

Ever refreshing.

Jesus – The very River of Life – the fullness of God’s supply for our deepest thirsts and desires.

1. LIGHT

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE 22:2b

The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,

The Tree of Life. This is what was principally lost in the Fall in the Garden.

And you’ll remember that after the Fall, an angel was stationed outside the Garden to prevent us from getting back in, and partaking of the Tree of Life and thus living forever in our sinful state – leaving us forever sinful.

But as Jesus promised in the 1st of the letters He wrote to the 7 Churches in ch. 2 – to Ephesus: Rev 2:7

Revelation 2:7 CSB

“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Nothing less than eternal life is promised to all who overcome the World in Jesus.

And isn’t the Tree of Life in the Garden then transposed into the Cross itself?

Even in the Garden there was the symbol that something had to die in order for man to live – though there, in the form of fruit, it was not a substitutionary or sacrificial death.

Nevertheless it showed our life must be sustained by another life – not our own.

And now, looking to Jesus’ death in our place, we come to another Tree of Life. Jesus, hung on a tree in the place of sinners, that all who put their trust in Him as their substitute – taking our just due upon Himself, for our sin – are granted everlasting life.

So even in the New Jerusalem, our life is still sustained by none but Jesus alone.

But look at how He is painted for us here.

Different fruit every month of the year. This is like nothing in the natural order.

I think the old divine Robert Hawker said it right when he commented in this passage: “JESUS is the Tree of Life. He is so, to both Churches. Here on earth, and there in heaven; being on either side the river. He bears twelve manner of fruits, that is, all variety. He hath pardon, mercy, peace, grace, love, strength, comfort, deliverance in temptations, recoveries in backslidings, helps in times of need, preparation for ordinances, and blessings in the use of them. And every month, yea, every day, the LORD brings them forth. And even the very leaves of providence shall have a somewhat in them to heal. Oh! thou dear LORD! give me to sit down, day by day, under thee, as the Tree of Life; and ere long, sure I am, I shall sit down, to rise no more, under all thy wide-spreading branches of all fullness, in thy paradise for ever!”

Lastly: Rev 22:3-4 The Throne of God and of the Lamb.

Revelation 22:3–4 CSB

and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

1. LIGHT

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE

4. THE THRONE OF GOD AND THE LAMB

All that went wrong in the Garden, was owing to man wanting to usurp the place of God.

We wanted to sit on the throne of our own lives.

As we have visited and revisited over and over in this study – man makes himself God, and takes the mark of the Beast, when we say:

I will serve myself, above God.

I will worship God as I invent and desire.

I will determine right and wrong for myself.

I will find my happiness and security in what this present life can offer.

And until all challenge to Jesus’ right to rule to reign over us is restored – there can be no Heaven for us.

But in the New Heavens and the New Earth, in the New Jerusalem – Christ rules and reigns with His Father – and their throne, their rule, their government the writer to the Hebrews can sum up this way: Hebrews 1:8-9

Hebrews 1:8–9 CSB

but to the Son:

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, your God,
has anointed you with the oil of joy
beyond your companions.

And as it was revealed in Eph. 1:9-10

He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

Oh to live in His Kingdom – where all is righteousness, justice, peace and all that is good forever more.

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

What will we see and experience there?

1. LIGHT – The unveiled light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2. RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

3. TREE OF LIFE

4. THE THRONE OF GOD AND THE LAMB

Final words:

1.   Rev 22:10 This NEEDS to be preached. All of it!

Revelation 22:10 CSB

Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

Every warning, every prediction, every promise and every revelation contained in this book needs to be proclaimed, and to become part of the fabric of the Believer’s thought process.

The command here is clear: DON’T SEAL UP THE WORDS OF THIS PROPHECY, BECAUSE THE TIME IS NEAR!

As John is not to shut them up but publish them to the Church, we need to remind each other of the reality of this as our reward and it is just before us. It is meant to help us persevere in the darkest and hardest of times.

2. Rev 22:11 Secondly, we note that by the time we reach this point, all is irreversible.

Revelation 22:11 CSB

Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”

Once Christ has returned, it is too late for anything to be altered.

The redeemed will be forever the redeemed, and the lost, forever lost.

So Beloved, we must take heed to what has been revealed to us here – and act upon it while there is still time.

Christian – continue to battle sin and refuse the mark of the Beast, the mindset of the world – serve Christ!

And if you are not a Christian yet today – flee to Jesus now while there is still an opportunity.

Today is still the day of grace. Don’t squander it.

There is forgiveness for all your sin. Cleansing from all your guilt. Restoration to right relationship with God the Father and eternal life to all who come by faith, forsaking their sin and looking to Jesus as their sin bearer to make them right with God.

3. Rev 22:12-14 Jesus is coming! And He emphatically calls our attention to that fact in this text.

Revelation 22:12–14 CSB

“Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

Jesus is coming.

Jesus will judge.

Blessed are those who are His.

Who can possibly unpack all the wonders that await those who are His?

Christian – hold on!

4. Rev 22:17 The time is now to publish and proclaim the Gospel.

Revelation 22:17 CSB

Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

The Spirit is calling.

The Church is calling.

COME!

No one is preventing you. The time is now. Come!

5. Rev 22:18-20 Jesus Himself reiterates how true and in process all of this is.

Revelation 22:18–20 CSB

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

And our only appropriate response is: “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
While I was reading today: Motives

October 26th, 2018

It is the stock and trade of pundits, both in the media and in the general public – to imagine we can divine the motives behind the decisions of those in power.

Incidentally, it doesn’t stop with those in power, we quite readily extend it to others all the time. But that is the subject for another day.

Invariably it is reductionist at best.

We so seldom even know our own motives, let alone those of others.

And when those in power make decisions, the process is often complex, contingent upon many factors we know nothing about, and of course informed by their own thought process, biases, backgrounds, philosophies and emotions.

To simplistically say “this is why they did X” is typically far askew. Sure, our conceptions of their motives may be partially right – but seldom if ever complete.

This is as true in our present political discourse – on both sides of the aisle – as it is in our private lives.

As soon as we have determined we fully know other’s motives in what they do, we then sweepingly condemn or justify everything they do. And that is living in a false reality that can only produce misunderstanding, unwillingness to listen with charity or clarity, hurt and division.

Father, deliver us.
The Beliver’s Hope – Revelation Part 36

October 21st, 2018
AUDIO FOR THIS AND ALL MY SERMONS CAN BE FOUND HERE

The Believer’s Blessed Hope

Reid A Ferguson / General

Revelation Part 36 / Eschatology; Heaven; New Jerusalem / Revelation 21; Revelation 22; Titus 2:11–13

13 Things NOT in the New Heaven and the New Earth

The Christian life is one of loving anticipation of Jesus’ return.

It is one reason why Paul concludes 2 Timothy – his last letter just before his death – by turning Timothy’s attention that event: 2 Tim 4:8

2 Timothy 4:8 CSB / “There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.”

Note the reference to those who have “loved His appearing”. Those who are joyfully looking for that day are those who are rewarded. Those believing in and anticipating His return as the consummation of all our joy and blessedness – will be rewarded.

Those not – will not.

This last phrase of Paul’s is so searching and telling.

I have to wonder, both for myself and for the greater church whether or not we are a people who truly “love His appearing.”

Are we, am I, one who truly longs for His coming?

Is it part and parcel of my regular thought life?

Do I groan with John – “Come quickly Lord Jesus?”

Do I really want that end – to be with Him and to live in His glorious Kingdom? Or do I simply want Him to make my life better now, with some vague desire for an afterlife of nondescript ease?

Does escaping Hell or just escaping my present sorrows eclipse being with Jesus and the Redeemed?

This morning, it is my sincere prayer that the Father, will send The Spirit to stir our souls up together to truly love the appearing of Jesus.

To let it begin to frame our every thought and action and purpose.

To let the anticipation of His return draw us out from all the other things this world constantly calls us to.

To us give us that great – all-encompassing love.

Can we pray that just now? Father! Let us passionately love the reality of being with you, with Jesus, of your Kingdom fully coming and your will being done in this earth even as it is in Heaven.

Let us love His appearing so that it informs our hearts in their deepest recesses. Amen – let it be so!

It is my own conviction that the Church as a whole has lost the emphasis of previous generations of being fixed on the hope of Jesus’ return, and what He has prepared for those who love Him. And of intentionally looking toward His coming as the means to endure the trials of this present life.

There are lots of reasons for that:

Careless teaching about Jesus’ return which has over and over again miscalculated what cannot be known – precisely WHEN He will return; which has had the effect of dampening people’s anticipation through disappointment after disappointment.

Whole denominations of Believers have fallen into this trap and then eventually fallen into a distrustful malaise over the entire topic.

Another thing is how easy it is – especially in the face of constant bombardment from the news – to be saturated with reports of political and racial turmoil, natural disasters globally and nationally, etc.

And then there are our individual and personal concerns.

So while I will break no new ground here today, I do hope by the Spirit’s enablement, to turn your eyes once again to the promise of what is before us in the return of our Lord and Savior.

As I’ve mentioned many times throughout this series, the entire book of the Revelation was intended to buoy the hopes of God’s people in difficult times, and to refocus their hearts and minds so as to truly “love His appearing.”

Those of you who have been with us both in this series, and when I’ve visited this passage in the past will recall that I like to point out a unique feature of John’s in relating the information recorded here.

And I cannot be more pleased to be able to come back to it once more after having done so several times in the past.

John does something in these 2 chapters he has utilized a bit before – but majors on this time.

Because John is receiving a revelation of things truly unimaginable to his readers, he spends a large part of his time describing what is NOT in the New Heavens and the New Earth as opposed to what is.

This is because the wonder of what he beheld is quite simply, incomparable.

I have prefaced this portion with this illustration before, but bear with me one more time.

Years ago on a business trip to New Orleans, I was treated to some interesting street vendor fare.

My boss, a true culinary adventurer said “go ahead and get it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll eat it.”

So, idiot that I am, I ordered “gator on a stick.”

And if you were to ask me what it tasted LIKE – I would be at a total loss to compare it to any other known substance. Animal, vegetable or mineral!

I can tell you what is WAS: Inedibly abhorrent in every sense of the word. It was AWFUL! And my boss did finish it.

But it did not taste LIKE anything else I had ever tasted – or ever hope to taste again.

So here, John is so overwhelmed by this vision, that he notes 13 things that aren’t in the New Heavens and the New Earth in an attempt to give us some sense of the unspeakable glory and wonder God has laid up for those who are in Christ Jesus and love His appearing.

We start right off in Rev 21:1 –

Revelation 21:1 CSB / “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

1 / 21.1 – No more SEA: Some have quipped that the reason John notes the absence of the sea, is because having been in exile on a barren island in the Mediterranean sea at the time, he could think of nothing better than to never see the sea again. It had filled his vision for so long, he wanted relief.

But more than likely there are 2 far more interesting reasons why he notes this reality first.
1. He is relating the fact that the New Heavens and the New Earth are so drastically different from our existence now, that there is a completely new economy even in terms of ecological life.
This is a wholly new existence. One not dependent upon the things we presently count as necessary to life on this planet.
1. More importantly, we have noted several times in our study that in Biblical literature, and especially in previous chapters of this book, the sea often represents that which is turbulent. Things unknown and unstable and unsafe. So it is in Revelation 13:1 John writes:
Revelation 13:1 CSB / “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names.”

The Beast which terrorizes God’s people and tries to conquer the earth, rises out of the sea!

But in the New Heavens and the New Earth, there will be nothing deep and dark anymore; nothing hidden; nothing threatening; nothing unstable, etc.

All is brought into the light and is full of blessedness rather than fear or mystery.

Instead of a sea – there is vss. 2-3: Revelation 21:2–3

Revelation 21:2–3 CSB / “I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.”

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

No more sea. Instead, of a sea, a City. A city coming down out of Heaven

Revelation 21:2–4 CSB / “I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

And note here something most amazing, incomprehensible.

He – who He? Jesus!

Jesus Himself will take upon Himself – as a personal ministry to each and every one of us – to wipe every tear from our eyes!

It is almost too wonderful to even contemplate isn’t it?

He won’t have us do it to one another, nor will He enlist an angel nor even an archangel – He personally will take away both our sorrow and its expression.

Oh what a Savior!

Then what do we read next?

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

2 / 21.4 – No more DEATH: No one and no thing shall ever die again. Imagine this if you can.

In our present state, death is so much a part of our frame of life, that an existence where there is no more death whatever, is truly beyond our comprehension.

John doesn’t say how it is he knows there is no more death except it is part of what the “Loud voice from the throne” announced to him in vs. 2.

In other words, this is a revelation from God Himself to cheer and fill the hearts of His people with wonder at how the death and resurrection of Christ will at last deal with everything sin introduced into the world in the Fall.

And so, not only is there no death – but “He” God, now dwelling with mankind in His unmediated presence – will personally wipe every tear from the eyes of His beloved Children.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

3 / 21.4 – No more GRIEF : Not only no more death, but not even a reason ever again to mourn over ANYTHING!

One wonders just how this can be, when we stop to think that certainly most, if not all of us will have loved ones who will not be there, and will in fact be tormented in an eternal Hell under the just judgment of God.

And I tell you, I do not know. But I know what the text says was revealed to John by the voice from the throne – and that we are being assured in that announcement that there will never again be any reason to grieve or mourn.

None.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

4 / 21.4 – No more CRYING: Think of all the things which produce weeping here (negatively), and each and everyone of them will be gone forever.

Can you even imagine never shedding a sorrowful tear ever again for all eternity?

I cannot. And if it were not revealed to us in God’s Word, we would have no reason to even hope that it might be so. But here it is.

And it is given to His Saints so that we might loosen a bit of the grip we have on this present life which is so distorted and damaged by sin that it lulls into believing this is the way it will always be.

But it will not.

When I stop to think about how many loved ones I’ve lost in my tenure here at ECF – both personally and as part of this Church, it is easy to break into tears over each one and collectively. Rightly so.

But the day will come when not a tear will well up in our eyes ever again. Not only because death has been abolished, but for ANY REASON.

Even more, the word used here carries the idea of crying out! Like the shouting out of “how long oh Lord” when in deep distress and agony.

But never again will that sound be heard within the walls of the New Jerusalem He has been preparing for us all this time.

Revelation 21:4 CSB / “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

5 / 21.4 – No more PAIN: As I look out at this congregation and I think of the personal stories of so many of you, and how you have suffered great injuries over the course of your lives, and others who struggle every day with chronic pain and other conditions – I can only weep for joy today as I have the pleasure to announce to you on the authority of God’s Word that one day – there will be NO PAIN!

Neither by accident, disease, or any other cause,

Neither physical nor mental nor emotional pain of any kind.

Your God and Savior has heard your every moan and groan and creaking joint and He will remove all of it, from the smallest discomfort to the greatest incapacity – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at His return.

And knowing how unbelievable this all is – it is reinforced in the most emphatic way in Revelation 21:5–7

Revelation 21:5–7 CSB / “Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”’”

“Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”

“The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

Revelation 21:8 CSB / “But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

6 / 21.8 – No cowardly, faithless, detestable, murderous, sexually immoral, sorcerous, idolatrous or lying persons: Indeed, all who live this way: given over to bowing to cultural pressure to avoid being identified with Jesus; rejecting Christ and His Gospel of grace; preferring to live in sin instead of fighting against it; hateful and murderous; sexually immoral; using God and religion as means to earthly ends; worshiping whatever they value most in place of Jesus; and contrary to the truth of all things as revealed in the Scriptures – all these will end in the lake of fire and will never enter this place to sully it or victimize its people ever again.

Now to be perfectly honest with you, if this was all this passage had to reveal to us, I would be more than happy to go home one very happy camper.

But the truth is, our God is a God of abundance. He promises and provides for us far beyond anything that we can ask or think.

So, as though all of what we’ve seen so far is not enough, at this point in John’s account, the scene shifts dramatically.

So far, he has been recording what he sees as one standing on the earth and looking up and seeing the New Jerusalem come down out of Heaven.

Now, he is taken up to a high vantage point so that he can look down on the City in all of its splendor.

And watch how he is told the City is also the Bride and the wife of the Lamb.

This mixing together of the metaphors is fantastic.

And it draws upon another scriptural references by both Paul and Peter: Eph 2:18-22

Ephesians 2:18–22 CSB / “For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”

1 Peter 2:4–5 CSB / “As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 21:9–21 CSB / “Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates.

There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used.

The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass.

The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.”

So on top of what we’ve heard, we now get this vision that is quite beyond our senses to grasp.

A city built of gemstones and as high and wide as it is long – perhaps a cube, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 -1500 miles in each direction. Completely unimaginable.

I hope to come back to this portion in our next time together – to unpack more of what WILL be there, but we need to press on in discovering more of what won’t be there for today.

And from here I’ll pick up the pace some.

Revelation 21:22 CSB / “I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

7 / 21.22 – No TEMPLE: All worship will be conducted face to face. We won’t go anywhere to worship, worship will be our state of being.

Why no Temple? Because we will dwell in the all-encompassing presence of God and the Lamb at all times. Our interaction with Him will not be geographical – going here or there – it will be permeation, all absorbed in His loving, infinite presence.

There is no way to describe such an existence, so with John we’ll have to content ourselves with the negative – there will be no temple there. It will not be needed in that mode of existence.

Revelation 21:23 CSB / “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

8 / 21.23 – No SUN or MOON: No such thing as an external source of light in order to know and comprehend. Neither a sun, nor the reflected light of the moon because of the nature of the glorious presence of God and the Lamb.

The idea here isn’t as much astrological as it is the idea that there is nothing hidden, dark or secret.

Here, we know so little of what is real and true. There, all will be opened to us.

Remember John’s words in 1 John 1:5

1 John 1:5 CSB / “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

There is nothing that will ever again leave us in doubt or fear – and especially any suspicion of God or His motives, why He appointed what He did for each of us in our life here and now.

The end of all mystery in the negative sense. Nothing but the endless, revealed, pure and unmixed love of God for His people. A love as great as the love He has for His only begotten Son”

John 17:23 CSB “I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”

How little we can grasp that now.

That He loves the Believer even as He loves Jesus!

Oh if we could only live in this reality now – what doubts and fears it would erase, and what an impetus to serve Him in love and joy it would produce.

That knowledge and sense of His love for us here and now is so tainted at times, and it ebbs and flows in our experience. But not there. Endless perfected love with no shadow of doubt or fear ever again.

No need of sun or moon to perceive by. For His light will flood us.

Revelation 21:25 CSB / “Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.”

9 / 21.25 – No LIMITED ACCESS: Being always before the face of God.

How we long at times for a palpable nearness to God.

Every Believer knows of times when God seems near. So close, so present that that it fills the soul inexplicably. Sometimes in reading the Word, or in worship here together in the music, or just meditating on the goodness and grace of God. But those seasons are oh so brief. They come and they go.

But not then, not there. There we will have all access, all the time.

The symbol of the gates never being closed are a wonderfully picturesque way of saying we’ll never be devoid of the sense and the wonder of His sweet presence ever again.

Revelation 21:25 CSB / “Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.”

10 / 21.25 – No NIGHT: In the ancient world, when night came, the gates of cities were closed for safety’s sake. When a city sleeps is when it is most vulnerable to attack.

But tied with what we just saw that the gates of the New Jerusalem never close – so, there is never any night there. No time of vulnerability where the gates NEED to be closed – for there will be no enemies!

This may also have something to do with how we will experience the wonder and the majesty of God – that is it will be unending and uninterrupted.

Here, our greatest joys and happiness are also punctuated by our need of rest and sleep. But not there.

Unending joy. uninterrupted delight – even for sleep!

No night. No fear. No vulnerability. All is perpetually safe and secure and imperturbable.

What a contrast this is to fate of the lost where in 14:11 we’re told their torment is relentless, day and night.

Part of their doom is the conscious passing of time in their punishment.

Part of the Believer’s eternal joy is that time no longer holds the same ebbs and flows – but is perpetual.

Revelation 21:27 CSB / “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

11 / 21.27 – Nothing UNCLEAN: Perpetual, undefilable purity.

Nothing will even be allowed in which will spoil its beauty, purity or perfection.

The glories of Heaven can never be spoiled by anybody or any thing.

Revelation 21:27 CSB / “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

12 / 21.27 – No one DETESTABLE: No one who in any way is contrary to the holiness and perfection of God in any way.

So with that – never any kind of perversion of the truth and the communication of the Glory of God.

Jesus told us He Himself is the truth, the life and the way. Anything that obscures who and what He is in any way, is detestable and contrary to Him. And nothing of that will be had in the New Jerusalem – ever!

Revelation 22:3 CSB / “and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.”

13 / 22.3 – No more CURSE: No more CURSE – Every last aspect of God’s anger with sin in relation to us is completely and forever banished in totality.

Everything we experience here and now in this present world – every discomfort, grief, pain, loneliness, disease, violence, distress, sorrow, worry, the unknown, fear, doubt, unbelief, besetting sin – committed by us or perpetrated upon us – is, every single bit of it – temporary.

And it will all be swallowed up in the wonder and the glory of the unveiled presence of our Christ and King.

1 Corinthians 2:9–10 CSB / “But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

Even at this, in our sin-broken state, we can only glimpse and comprehend but the smallest smidgen.

John 14:2–3 CSB / “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you.

If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

It has been quipped that if it took God only 6 days to create the heavens and the earth – what must Heaven be like, if He has been preparing it for 2,000 years!

Beloved, we have not yet even begun to comprehend.

But He has promised it.

He has revealed it by His Spirit: Here in His Word, and, by the conviction of His Spirit that it is absolutely true.

And it belongs to everyone who has surrendered their whole being to the Lord Jesus Christ – trusting in Him as their sin-bearer.

AMAZING!

Now I must ask you – are you one of those who will inherit this New Heavens and New Earth?

Do you know Christ as your sin-bearer?

Have you trusted in His atoning sacrifice on your behalf – and bent the knee to Him as your Sovereign and Lord?

If not, none of this glory applies to you. The Bible describes a far different end for you. Just as certain and eternal as this is for His saints.

But it can!

YOU can come to Him today. You can own your sin before Him and ask for His forgiveness, and by faith, receive the gift of eternal life and cleansing for all of your sin and rebellion against His right to rule you spirit, soul and body. You can become part of the Family of God as an adopted son or daughter.

Won’t you call upon Him to save you today?
Who are the REAL Millennials Pt. 2 / Revelation 20:7-15

October 15th, 2018
Revelation 20:7-15

Revelation series part 35

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Last time we noted this chapter divides itself into 3 sections:

1-6 The Millennium

7-10 The Final Vanquishing of Satan

11-15 The Great White Throne Judgment

While today we want to focus on vss. 7-15, we need to remember this is all happening in the context of “The Millennium” and what that means.

The Millennium

The period of time referenced here is called the millennium simply because…

A MILLENNIUM = 1000 years.

And we get that figure from the 6 times it is mentioned in this short passage:

Revelation 20:2 CSB / He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:3 CSB / He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

Revelation 20:4 CSB / Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:5 CSB / The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

This is the first resurrection.

Revelation 20:6 CSB / Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:7 CSB / When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison

And there are 4 chief characteristics of this 1000 years worth noting:
1. Satan bound – so he cannot deceive the nations
2. The Saints reign with Jesus
3. The Lost aren’t resurrected until after it is over
4. At the end, Satan is released for a short time again
It’s also worth noting this millennial concept was not new to Jewish readers.

As you know, there are some Bibles which contain additional books between the Old and New Testaments that we have – called the Apocrypha. In addition to these there are a host of other Jewish writings which are similar – they are referred to as pseudepigrapha.

“Pseudo” because they purport to be written by some OLD Testament saint – but we know historically they were not.

These are Jewish writings from roughly 200 BCE to 100 CE.

They were never considered inspired either by the Jews or by Christians, but John’s Jewish readers would have been familiar with them.

One of those books, the Book of Jubliees – sometimes called the Apocalypse of Moses – was written by a Pharisee around 100-110 BCE. And it also describes this same idea of a future 1000 year reign of the Messiah with Satan bound and a near Heaven on earth.

So this was by no means an entirely new to John or his first readers.

But I want to clear up a few details about this time before we move ahead unpacking the rest of the chapter.

Who are the Millennials?

Last time we asked this question: Who are the REAL millennials; the Biblical millennials? From the text we can see they are comprised of 2 groups:

Those who are Christ’s at His return – living and dead.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 CSB / We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Or, as our text has it: Revelation 20:4 CSB / Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

So the resurrected saints are clearly the 1st group.

But who might the 2nd group be? Who are those who are reigned over during this time?

After all the previous chapters had described the near, if not total destruction of those who HAD received the mark of the beast. So who might these be who populate this era?

Those who are NOT Christ’s but nevertheless survived the rise of Antichrist and the Tribulation.

While the text does not spell it out we might well surmise they are comprised of those who are not Christ’s at His coming, but who nevertheless, for several possible reasons did not accept the mark of the beast either.

One thinks for instance of those in Islam who would have rejected the 4 key antichrist concepts of personal autonomy, culturally defined morality, security and well-being in materialism and self-styled spirituality. Their beliefs run counter to these even though they do not hold to Biblical truth and the Gospel of the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

Orthodox Jews would fall into the same category as would many others who are devout in their religions.

So too would millions in places like sub-Saharan Africa and the expanses of China who would never even be exposed to the antichrist system as we’ve seen it defined in the previous chapters.

Ostensibly, these would enter into this new age whole, and would live under the direct, manifest rule and reign of Jesus and the Saints. A most amazing time for sure.

Now that is only speculation and I would not make a doctrine out of it. But it seems a reasonable possibility to me.

That aside, let’s move on in the text itself to the 2nd section –

7-10 The Final Vanquishing of Satan.

We don’t need to spend a lot of time on this as the salient points are right on the surface. But there are several important things to take note of.
1. Satan will be released.
Revelation 20:7 CSB / When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison
1. Satan will go out to deceive once again.
Revelation 20:8 CSB / and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

The earth has enjoyed an unprecedented time of prosperity, peace and blessing for this 1000 years, but then Satan is allowed to exert influence and deception once again.

Certainly we ask – WHY? But the text gives us no direct reason.

We’ll discuss some possibilities later, but we do not have a full answer. What we DO have is Scripture simply telling us it will be so.

The reference here to Gog and Magog is a highly debated one.

The terms Gog and Magog come mainly from Ezekiel 38-39. Many think Gog is either an individual leader’s name, or possibly title, and so Magog is the people of Gog.

For the Jews, Gog and Magog took on the same concept as Babylon did – i.e. representative of those who oppose and oppress God’s people. Much like we might see a foul nation rise under bad leadership and say “Oh, that’s another Hitler and 3rd Reich.”

But there are no other historical references to, or evidences of, any such Gog and Magog empire like we do for Babylon or Israel’s other enemies. And attempts to link Gog with being a leader over Russia and its allies – to fit modern prophecy buffs – really doesn’t have much footing. The idea that Russia would still be “Russia” 1000 years after Jesus’ return seems highly speculative and unlikely.

Out of all the explanations I’ve read, the one which makes the most sense is that Gog, comes from a Sumerian word gug – meaning darkness. In other words, Satan is being identified (as is common) as the Dark Prince or Prince of Darkness, and Magog simply refers those who follow him in this last deceptive attack on God and God’s people. So it is figurative in a way the Jewish readers would have been able to identify with.

Whether that is correct or not, what we DO know is what the text says: Satan deceived nations and gathered a group from the 4 corners of the earth.
1. To gather them for battle. Rev 20:8
Revelation 20:8 CSB / and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
1. They try to attack the “beloved city”.
Revelation 20:9 CSB / They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

The identification of the “beloved city” has led many to speculate that this is geographical Jerusalem as we know it today. That Jerusalem will be the place of Jesus’ rule with the saints during the 1000 years. And this keeps many prophecy watchers glued to events transpiring in Israel and Jerusalem today.

While this is possible, it also has some serious problems.

First, it would be quite impossible to house all of the resurrected and translated saints together in such a singular geographical city like Jerusalem today. How many millions are we talking about here? Vast numbers for sure. Far more than is feasible.

Second, the language of “encampment” here is taken directly from the Old Testament arrangement of how the Jews in the wilderness were encamped in formation around the Tabernacle. So it would seem something else is being hinted at.

The most reasonable explanation to me is that this in fact the New Jerusalem which will be presented to us in detail in the next 2 chapters. The 1,400 mile cube which is the Heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12:12 and the New Jerusalem of Rev. 3, 20 and 21.

Since the Bible ties the concept of The City together with it also being God’s People this makes sense of 1 Thess 4:16-17

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 CSB / For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

The Greek word here translated “to meet” the Lord in the air is a technical military term.

It is used to describe the people of the city who had been conquered in war. When the conquering King would make his official approach to the city, the people would go out “to meet” and escort him back into the city. It is used in only two other places in the New Testament: Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15. In both cases, people go out to meet someone only to escort them back.

This is the picture of what is commonly called “the rapture”.

If, as Rev. 21:2 notes, the city comes down out of Heaven prepared like a Bride for her husband, and the Bride of Christ is His redeemed – the metaphors all begin to come together quite nicely.

And the idea that the Beloved City being besieged by Satan and his followers is The New Jerusalem changes the picture considerably.
1. There is no war this time. Rev 20:9
Revelation 20:9 CSB / They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

God’s people aren’t engaged in this conflict at all. The reality that all along, Satan has opposed God comes into full view – and God Himself responds without us.

This my friends is Armageddon. The battle that takes place on the plane of Meggido –
which is what Armageddon means.

Once again, such a vast army as pictured here could not be gathered in the geographical plane of Megiddo. It simply isn’t capacious enough. It is symbolic to the Jewish mind who in their history – saw that locale as a common battle ground for conflicting forces from surrounding nations.

This is not some military war on Middle East soil – but the final destruction of all that opposes God.
1. The Devil is finally, absolutely vanquished.
Revelation 20:10 CSB / The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

As the anti-christ system and its spokesman the false prophet were dispatched to the lake of fire in Ch. 19, so now too, Satan himself is consigned there, and as the text says: will be tormented day and night – forever.

Which then brings us to the 3rd section.

11-15 The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11 CSB / Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

Who is the one seated on this throne? Is this the Father or the Son?

In John 5 Jesus said all judgment has been committed to Him. But the majority of the references in the Revelation itself always depict the Father as the one on the throne. Perhaps the answer is both.

The book of Hebrews mentions Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the Father on His throne after His resurrection – 4 times. And Rev. 3:21 says He sits WITH the Father on His throne.

So it is probably best to see it as God judging: Father and Son in unison.

Earth and Heaven fleeing away may make reference to neither angel nor man being able to hide from His judgment. Similar to David’s cry in Psalm 139:7-8

Psalm 139:7–8 CSB / Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

Or, it may have reference to how seeing God in His glory simply makes everything else disappear from view. You cannot look into the sun and see anything else. So here, the brightness of His glory so fills the view that everything else is wholly eclipsed.

However we take it, the spectacle is mind-boggling.

Revelation 20:12 CSB / I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

“Great and small” – Mounce: “The point is that no one is so important as to be immune from judgment, and no one is so unimportant as to make judgment inappropriate”.

Notice the “books”.

We have the “book of life” mentioned, and then other – “books.”

One gets the immediate idea that there are different judgments for those in different books.

The righteous as we shall see, (those in the book of life) are judged that they may receive their rewards.

Those outside of Christ, all others, are judged that they may receive their just punishments.

On what basis?

Revelation 20:13 CSB / Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.

Each according to their “works.”

That the sea and death and Hades gave up their dead, is just a way of saying that everyone who has ever lived and already died, will at last stand before God to give an account for their lives. This has been a theme throughout the Scriptures.

But when we say each one will be judged for the works, more is being said than each one is being judged simply solely on the basis of their “actions.”

For one may do what is technically the right thing – but do it for the entirely wrong motives.

Many a person acts honestly not because they want to delight their Savior, but so they won’t get caught, or violate their conscience, or because it makes them feel good, or simply because it is the law.

This is not acceptable before God as the parable of the Prodigal Son clearly shows.

The elder son could honestly say: “I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders.”

And we immediately see that his devotion and service to his father was not out of love.

So we read in Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17:10 CSB / I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.

This holds true even for our religious service – Isa 29:13

Isaiah 29:13 CSB / The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service— yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

Or Ezekiel 33:31 CSB / So my people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit.

No one will be able to plead on that day – “But I did all the right stuff!”

God’s question will be, “where was your heart in relation to me in all of your purported obedience?”

If genuine love for Christ and His glory does not inform us in our walk, our works are all entirely dead and unacceptable no matter how good, noble, beneficial or devout they seem outwardly.

And then the text ramps things up yet more.

For not only will all mankind be judged, there will be a completely new order established: Life without any reference to sin and death and all that comes of sin.

Revelation 20:14 CSB / Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

In other words, death and the grave both cease to be factors any more. 1 Cor 15:20-28

1 Corinthians 15:20–28 CSB / But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.

For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be abolished is death.

For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.

When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Can we even begin to grasp the wonder of an existence where death isn’t even a remote part of the landscape? Where it will never again even come into mind?

Oh what a great salvation Christ has prepared for us!

And then we get this final clarifying statement to put it all together: Rev 20:15

Revelation 20:15 CSB / And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Here is the great dividing line in all of humanity.

And here is a most powerful reminder of the Gospel and all it imports.

At the end of all things – what matters is whether or not one stands before God, having had Jesus take all the just due for their sins on the cross at Calvary – being listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life – or standing before God and having to give an account for every act, the motive behind every act, every wayward, evil or contrary thought, and their unrepentant state in refusing Christ as their sin-bearer and Lord.

It is why we plead with all people everywhere to come to Christ!

We are all on our way to the judgment seat of the final day. And now is the day of grace. Now is the time to be reconciled to the Father through faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son on the cross.

Now is the time to end your rebellion against His right of ownership and Lordship over your life, and come to Him seeking mercy for having denied Him His rights, in favor of your own lordship over yourself.

Now is the time to acknowledge your sin, to confess you are guilty and deserving of eternal punishment, and asking to be forgiven on the basis of Jesus’ substitutionary death.

For there is no 3rd option. You either stand in Him, or in fallen Adam.

So where are you today? That is THE question!

This verse could not be more succinct or clear: Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life, was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now it is commonly asked: It this literal? I think C.H. Spurgeon’s comment on this is the perfect consideration: “Oh, that lake! Have you ever read the words, “Shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death”? The lake of fire! and souls cast into it! The imagery is dreadful. “Ah,” says one, “that is a metaphor.” Yes, I know it is, and a metaphor is but a shadow of the reality. Then, if the shadow be a lake of fire, what must the reality be? If we can hardly bear to think of a “worm that never dieth,” and a “fire that never shall be quenched,” and of a lake whose seething waves of fire that dash o’er undying and hopeless souls, what must hell be in very deed?”

Well now, what else is important to take away from all of these things before we end?

1. Why the millennium?

What is the point of this 1000 year interregnum and a last loosing of Satan before the New Heavens and New Earth?

This is a reasonable question, but one the Scripture does not answer directly. However, there are some reasonable things to consider when we think about it.

It will prove environment it not the answer to sin. Even if we should have 1000 years without Satan’s temptations, at the drop of a hat, we will turn – if not for the grace of God.

It will prove that Satan is not ultimately to blame for all that has gone wrong – human sinfulness is.

It proves man’s problem is himself, not Satan. No matter how long man may be without the influence of the Devil, and no matter how superlative things may be environmentally, man is still man, and apart from total re-creation, mere renovation no matter how extensive, will not do.

It will give time to vastly increase the number of the redeemed.

There will be vast numbers redeemed during this time – more than those lost previously.

Possibly the fulfillment of uniquely Jewish promises.

To demonstrate the salvation in Christ is not plan B.

The Garden was never the end game – from the beginning, something more was intended.

2. There WILL be ultimate justice

As we saw in the text, both great and small will stand before the throne.

No sin will be so great as to eclipse all others.

No sin is so small as to escape just punishment.

Make no mistake, judgment on that day will not be on a sliding scale. Each individual will be accountable for their own sins, irrespective of their environments.

Yes, others may have impacted the particular sins you’ve been involved in, or perhaps influenced the way those sins were acted out – but each one will stand on their own. There will be no finger pointing. There will be no excuses. No scapegoating. There will only be personal responsibility.

And as God is ontologically incapable of over-punishing sin, so He is ontologically incapable of under-punishing or ignoring sin.

In His holiness and His justness, all must be made right.

3. Satan, death and sin will be eradicated forever

The finality of all this is meant to bring the highest comfort to Believers. Never again will there be any sin, any opposition to God, any war, sickness, pain, sorrow, grief, worry, doubt, fear, or deception – ever again!

Christ will rule and reign in all of His magnificent glory and only what is in perfect harmony with His nature and perfections will be allowed.

Never again will any Believer be tempted to sin.

Never again will we have any interruption in our enjoyment of, and intimacy with, Christ.

Never again will we lose a loved one, fail to live in perfect holiness or live in the sorrow of regret or fear the future.

4. All will be summed up in Christ.

As Jonathan Edwards wrote: “Love desires the love of the beloved. So the saints in glory shall see God’s transcendent love to them; God will make ineffable manifestations of his love to them. They shall see as much love in God towards them as they desire; they neither will nor can crave any more.”

“Herein they shall enjoy God in a more exalted and excellent manner than man would have done if he had never fallen; for doubtless that happiness, that Christ himself partakes of in his Father’s bosom, is transcendently sweet and excellent; and how happy therefore are they who are admitted to partake of that portion of delight with him!”

Believer – Begin to pray for the soon return of Jesus, and live in preparation for it.

Unbeliever – Come to Christ today.

Find the forgiveness for all your sins that He has prepared for in His substitutionary death on Calvary.

Be reconciled to the Father through faith in the Son.

Trust Him today, and be born again.

Let me close with one more quote from Edwards, from the conclusion of one of his own sermons. He preached, and I preach to you now with him: “come to Christ, and accept of salvation in this way.

You are invited to come to Christ, heartily to close with him, and trust in him for salvation: and if you do so, you shall have the benefit of this glorious contrivance.

You shall have the benefit of all; as much as if the whole had been contrived for you alone. God has already contrived every thing that is needful for your salvation; and there is nothing wanting but your consent.

Since God has taken this matter of the redemption of sinners into his own hand, he has made thorough work of it; he has not left it for you to finish. Satisfaction is already made, righteousness is already wrought out: death and hell are already conquered. The Redeemer has already taken possession of glory, and keeps it in his hands to bestow on them who come to him. There were many difficulties in the way, but they are all removed. The Saviour has already triumphed over all, and is at the right hand of God, to give eternal life to his people.

Salvation is already brought to your door; and the Saviour stands, knocks, and calls that you would open to him, that he might bring it in to you. There remains nothing but your consent. All the difficulty now remaining is with your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It must be because you would not come to Christ that you might have life; and because you virtually choose death rather than life, Prov. 8:36. “He that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”—All that is now required of you, is, that your heart should close with Christ as a Saviour.”
Who are the REAL Millennials? Rev. 20 Pt. 1

October 15th, 2018
Revelation 20:1-6

Revelation series part 34

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Who are the Millennials?

The term millennials as we most often hear the word today, was most likely coined by William Strauss and Neil Howe in a 1987 book they co-authored.

Also know as Generation Y or Gen-Y – they meant it to describe the first generation of those who would graduate High School in the year 2000 and a bit beyond.

In 2006, Psychologist Jean Twenge dubbed millennials “Generation Me”. Her book was titled: “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before.”

But long before these terms and ideas were coined, Christians have discussed and debated what is called “The Millennium.” A term taken from this passage in the reference to, The Thousand Years.

For that is what a millennium is – 1000 years.

If you have been a Christian for very long, and especially if – as virtually all of us here – you were raised in our 20th century brand of American Evangelicalism, the idea of the millennium has probably impacted the entire way you understand Scripture.

More pointedly, it may even define how you understand the book of Revelation and the whole range of end times events surrounding Jesus’ 2nd coming.

Other than a handful of references, our clearest understanding of this millennial period comes from this chapter. From these 15 verses.

But where it exactly fits in the scheme of the last days or end times, is a place of great disagreement among believing scholars.

So here we need to do a bit of a very brief historical survey.

Now the view of the millennium with which most of us are probably familiar, is what is called: Dispensational Pre-millennialism. And it has a specific and detailed view of how the last days will play out. Though there are some variations on it in some groups.

The most common form of Dispensational Premillennialism was made popular by books like Hal Lindsey’s “The Late, Great Planet Earth” and the very successful “Left Behind” series.

But this view falls within a spectrum of views on the end times. In reference to the millennium or the 1000 years mentioned in this text, that spectrum looks broadly like this:

There are 4 main views on this question of The Millennium – all 4 of them orthodox; and all 4 of them held to by sound Biblical scholars and Bible teachers.

I personally have no vested interest in which one you may hold to.

For in the final analysis, the BIG, the REAL issue for Christians isn’t our view of the millennium, but the fact that Jesus IS coming back, literally, physically; and that our great hope rests in His return, the resurrection of the dead and His eternal reign in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

As long as we agree on THOSE facts, we can be one.

The order of events leading up to the New Heaven and Earth – including this 1000 years period called the millennium – is interesting, but ultimately not all that important; though arguments over the order of events have at times split both churches and entire denominations. Much to our shame.

As the writer to the Hebrews emphasized: Hebrews 9:27–28 / And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Or better yet – when the Disciples asked the resurrected Jesus if He was about to restore the kingdom to Israel – Jesus replied: Acts 1:7 / He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

This of course begs the question for every Christian: Are you eagerly waiting for Him?

If not, I would argue, you cannot truly live the Christian life; as it is meant to be lived.

It is a most important reality, central to the life of every Christian.

While some in my generation can well be accused of “millennium madness” in trying to nail down every detail of prophecy surrounding Jesus’ return while ignoring growth in the image and character of Christ – so many today can rightly be charged with having very little regard for Jesus’ return, and being woefully unprepared for it; let alone actually yearning for it.

A lack of personal anticipation of Jesus’ return has the exact same effect as does over-preoccupation with the details – we grow lazy and disinterested in making true spiritual progress in our growth in Christ and in preparing to receive Him when He comes.

It becomes more of a far off fantasy than a motivating truth that informs and impacts everyday life.

The Apostle Paul shows how the doctrine of Jesus’ return impacted him when in jail and expecting to be executed for The Faith, in his last letter before his death:

2 Timothy 4:6–8 / For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

In another letter John puts these 2 ideas of looking forward to Jesus’ return as our great hope and living the Christian life like this:

1 John 3:1–5 / See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

In other words, my hope in Jesus’ return, in wanting to be ready for Him and living in concert with who He is and what He came to do (to take away sins) informs my attitude toward and relationship to – sin; and thus life in this present world.

I cannot be looking forward to His coming with all my heart and at the same time living as though sin doesn’t matter.

His goal is to make me entirely pure as He is pure – and so I begin to seek out how, by His Word and the power of His Spirit to live in accordance with that goal

He appeared the 1st time to take away sins, and there is no sin in Him – so I want to cast off sin as I look to welcome Him back.

Can you imagine meeting Him and then saying: “Look, I know you died to pay the price for my sin, to free me from sin’s dominion and to make me holy as you are holy, but to be honest, I just wanted to live my life the way I saw fit, and figured you’d deal with sin once you got here.”

It reminds you of Augustine’s confessions reflecting on himself before his conversion; he admits: “But I wretched, most wretched, in the very commencement of my early youth, had begged chastity of Thee, and said, “Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.” For I feared lest Thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than extinguished.” (Book 8, ch. 7)

Do I HAVE to say that doesn’t fly? No, I didn’t think so.

That said, let’s take a very brief look at these 4 views of the millennium and then look at the passage itself to see 4 key things.

1. Dispensational Premillennialism

The order of events from this view happen like this – a. Jesus’ 1st coming.
1. The church age (Rev. 2-3)
2. Rapture of the Church (secret return of Jesus) which those who hold this view are waiting for now.
3. Then the 7 Year Great Tribulation will come while the Church is gone.
4. Jesus’ 2nd, 2nd coming & 1000 year reign
5. After the 1000 years, Satan is loosed, there is the final battle called Armageddon & Final judgment.
6. New Heavens and New Earth.
Of the 4 we’ll look at today, this is the most recent view.

The idea of a secret rapture of the Church was not taught before the mid- 1860’s.

It was popularized by J. N. Darby and codified in the Scofield Reference Bible – the first ever “study Bible”.

It is the view of some very solid men like Chuck Swindoll, James Montgomery Boice, John MacArthur, Harry Ironside, & many, many others.

It is the view I was raised with.

It has some problems though; as EACH of these views do.

It’s biggest problem to me is the idea of a 2nd coming of Jesus at the so-called “rapture” of the Church which is in fact – secret.

Such a secret appearing is hard to reconcile with: Revelation 1:7 / Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Or: 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 / For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

This sounds like a pretty public and noisy affair to me; not at all secret.

In effect, the view proposes 2, 2nd comings. One invisible, one visible.

This is also sometimes called a “futuristic” view or “Futurism” because essentially, nothing in the book of Revelation from ch. 4 until ch. 20 has anything to do with the Church at all.

It sees all of what we’ve covered in these past months as events still to come, and all transpiring within the 7 years of the Great Tribulation.

I think our current study has demonstrated that the balance of the book is in fact very Church focused and of great value to the Believer in every age.

Revelation 1:3 / Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

The unusual and specific blessing for Christians attached to reading the Revelation would seem to demand that Christians in every age see its importance for them and not assume the bulk of it has nothing to do with them.

In any case, I am not throwing stones at this position.

It is an orthodox view and many of those who I would hold in high regard as the soundest of Biblical scholars take it.

If in fact this is the way the end times unfold – you’ll get no weeping and gnashing of teeth from me.

If in the end, the Church does escape the Tribulation, I will be most happy to be wrong.

But I don’t think so.

2. Postmillennialism

As the “post” indicates, this view essentially holds that the Gospel will have such a global impact over time, that for all intents and purposes the world will be Christianized and THEN Jesus will return.

The millennial period is seen as just that long period of time when Christianity is the predominate world condition before Jesus comes back.

It is a very attractively optimistic view.

And it always enjoys a resurgence when the Church experiences revival or times of ease and growth.

Many of the Puritans and the likes of Jonathan Edwards, John Owen and Charles Hodge held this view.

It underwent a severe decline when WWI, WWII and the Great Depression occurred; but is growing in some circles today.

2 theological camps promote it today: What is called Dominion Theology – which promotes Christians taking over politics, economics, even by force if necessary. This is big in some Charismatic and Pentecostal groups.

In Reformed circles Postmillennialism finds its home in Theonomy or Christian Reconstructionism – which looks to establish Old Testament law as normative for American (and all) society.

Men like Rousas Rushdoony, Gary North and Greg Bahnsen are examples of modern champions of this view.

You don’t have to remember any of this, there won’t be a test.

Its biggest problem seems to be passages like Jesus’ sermon in Matt. 24 and 2 Tim 3:12-13

2 Timothy 3:12–13 / Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Or Jesus’ own lament: Luke 18:8

Luke 18:8 / I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

3. Amillennialism

The 1st view is quite recent (19th century). The 2nd had an earlier introduction – perhaps around 1100 – but didn’t catch on until the 17th century. Amillennialism (poorly named by the way) however can trace its roots all the way back to St. Augustine – circa 400.

The main idea here is that the millennium is simply the entire time between Jesus’ resurrection and His 2nd coming.

So the Church is IN the millennium now.

It posits that Satan has been bound in some way now so that the Gospel has been free to go out into all the earth.

It does have the advantage of being very simple and clean. Jesus came; Jesus died; Jesus rose again; The Church enjoys the spread of the Gospel; a tribulation period comes near the end; Jesus returns and judges the world. Done.

It was the dominant view of the Reformers – and it is the most common view in Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and even Amish circles today.

Its biggest problem to me, is that it cannot reconcile this idea of Satan being bound now, with passages like 1 Pet. 5:8 telling us Satan is a roaring lion still out there seeking people to devour; that he IS -not WAS – the “Prince and the power of the air” Eph 2:2; and that Christians are repeatedly admonished to resist him.

Ephesians 2:2 / in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

In contrast to that, our text today says: Revelation 20:3 / and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

It is hard to imagine Satan being thought of as not being able to deceive the nations today given the growth of false religions like Islam, the proliferation of Christian cults and rise of atheistic secularism. It just doesn’t seem to fit the facts.

4. Historic Premillennialism

This leads us to our 4th, and coincidentally, our oldest view.

This view was the most common from the days of the Apostles until Augustine, whose amillennial view can be traced to being a reaction against abuses of historic premill.

We can read it in Papias (AD 60-130), a companion of Polycarp – both of whom were personal disciples of the Apostle John.

Justin Martyr (circa 120 AD) and Irenaeus (circa 150 AD) held it.

It became the view of Spurgeon, G. E. Ladd, Francis Schaeffer, Gordon Clark, Vern Poythress, etc.

It happens to be the view I take. And it is confessedly messy. It leaves all sorts of unanswered questions.

Questions like, who will be this mass of people ruled over during this time?

Will the resurrected saints in glorified bodies interact with these people during that time? How?

And what is the millennium even for?

I’ll try to touch on some of these later.

In this view, tribulation increases at various times and various places until it perhaps culminates in a final escalation just before Jesus returns.

Then, at Jesus’ return, His 1000 year reign on earth begins.

I think it makes the most sense given the whole of Scripture.

1st, it appears to be the plainest reading of ch. 20.

2nd is the fact that there are several other passages – like Isa. 65 which we had read this morning, that depict an incredibly different existence on earth which has never yet been experienced, but which nonetheless falls short of the entirely new heaves and new earth of chapters 21 & 22.

To use the language of Isaiah 65:20–21 / No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

In the New Heavens and the New Earth we know there will be no more death.

But here, there is the idea of someone dying at 100 or 120 being too young! And, the building of houses and planting food continues as normative.

With the view then that we are still awaiting the 2nd, but not secret return of Jesus – His coming and conquering being what we just studied in ch. 19 – that takes us back to our text and it divides itself up into 3 sections.

1-6 The Millennium

7-10 The Final Vanquishing of Satan

11-15 The Great White Throne Judgment

All we have time for this morning is vss. 1-6, The Millennium itself. And there are just 4 things to note about this 1000 year period after Jesus’ return.

Revelation 20:1–3 / Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

1-3 / Satan Bound. It would not be a stretch to label this portion the humiliation and binding of Satan.

It is of no small importance to see this fallen angel called “the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan” – combining all 4 titles given to him in the Revelation – so unceremoniously dispatched.

This monster who has incited opposition to God from the very beginning; who has tried his all to oppose God Himself; who set himself up as a god of sorts; who delights to have brought misery, savagery and sin of all kinds into the world to afflict mankind as made in God’s image; who labors with all of his might to blind mankind to the Gospel of saving grace in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross; who continues to torment Believers by temptations to sin, to doubt the goodness, faithfulness and holy character of God; who tries to make God suspect and untrustworthy in His love and mercy toward sinners and incites every form of false religion and irreligion among men – bound by a nameless, Joe Average angel and cast into bottomless pit, chained.

There is no great ceremony.

He is summarily dismissed as though a pesky gnat instead of the giant he imagines himself to be, and so many of us have been deluded into fearing.

He thinks himself God’s antithesis. But he doesn’t even rate the cosmic equivalent of a military funeral.

He is brushed off into obscurity.

What a delight it will be for Believers to witness this binding first hand.

We who have been so grieved by our temptations.

We who have hated sin but have lived our lives in a world infused with his God-hating mindset.

We who have loved righteousness because of grace and have endlessly lamented each time we believe one of Satan’s lies and fall into sin – we will see him bound at last!

It is not the least of the Believer’s comforts to know that this turn of events will mark the beginning of our eternal joys.

Yes, as we’ll see later, he will be allowed to have some activity after the 1000 years – but for those sharing in this 1st resurrection – we’ll never face the activity of Satan like we have in this life – again. We’re not in Heaven yet – but oh what a reprieve it will be! The beginning of eternal glory.

And what a blessing to mankind as a whole. 1000 years without his evil influence anywhere to be found in the earth.

The nature of this binding is comprehended in this – he will not be able to deceive the nations during this time.

A marvelous time this will be!

The inhabitants of earth exposed to the bodily presence of Jesus, under His just reign, along with the resurrected saints – and no influence from the Devil whatsoever.

Again, the text says he WILL be released for a little while, but for this extended period of time, his actions will be null and void.

As Robert Mounce notes: “The purpose of the confinement is not to punish him but to prevent him from deceiving the nations.” Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 362.

But even this, is still short of Heaven.

Then what must Heaven be?

4 / 1st Resurrection Re 20:4

Revelation 20:4 / Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Some have thought this resurrection only applies to those who were beheaded for the faith.

But one asks, why only THOSE martyrs? What about those burned alive or drowned or hanged or whatever?

Instead, the text seems to indicate this is all of those who have refused to worship the beast or take its mark – i.e. all those who have remained faithful to Christ – in every generation.

In some way then, all those who have died in Christ, joined with those translated at His return, serve in the administration of Jesus over the earth for this period. Remember Jesus’ parable in Luke 19?

A nobleman goes off into a far country to receive title to a kingdom. Before leaving, he calls 10 of his servants, gives them some money and asks them to employ it in his interests until he returns.

Upon his return, each gives an account of what he’d given them and each is rewarded according to what they had done on His behalf.

By way of it, Jesus was telling His disciples He was going to be gone for a period of time, and that before He left, He would give His servants part of His wealth to use in His interests until He returned.

In the parable, when the nobleman/Christ returns – He gives each one authority over a number of cities proportionate to their efforts on behalf of His Kingdom.

So here, we see that this in some way will be literally fulfilled.

Those who have served Christ in this life – at His coming will serve in His administration over this earth.

What exactly that looks like – we can only guess. But it clearly is a picture of union with Him and sharing in His ruling and reigning over the nations.

Believers will not just waft off into some formless afterlife – we will be actively employed in His Kingdom as His imperial agents.

Once again we are struck with this thought – if this is but the state of the Redeemed in the Millennium, what then will our final state be like in the New Heavens and the New Earth?

No wonder then Paul will write: 1 Corinthians 2:9–10 / But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

Where has the Spirit revealed what we cannot imagine? Right here!

5 / The 2nd Resurrection

Revelation 20:5 / The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

We won’t take time to unpack this further this morning, because we’ll deal with it more in the 3rd section on the Great White Throne Judgment.

Suffice it to say here that the text clearly states there will be a 2nd resurrection after the 1000 years are completed. And that resurrection will have special reference to unbelievers, those who rejected the Gospel and took the mark of the Beast in this life. Those who lived for themselves instead of for Christ Jesus.

Jesus Himself referenced this in John 5:28–29 / Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

What we didn’t know until this revelation was given to us here, is that these 2 resurrections would be 1000 years apart.

And it is a good reminder of why we need the entire Bible to interpret the entire Bible. One verse taken alone is seldom sufficient to get the whole of what is being communicated.

6 / Reigning with Jesus

Revelation 20:6 / Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

With this we close this morning.

3 things to consider for those of you who are Christ’s today.

Those who belong to Jesus by faith in His atoning sacrifice on Calvary – need never fear Hell again. Never!

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the 1st resurrection – the 2nd death, which is as we will see, eternal Hell, has no power, no authority over them.

Eternity is settled.

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

They will be priests of God and of Christ.

God is not interested in establishing some sort of priestly class among Christians. As he first revealed to Israel in Ex. 19:6, His desire is for ALL of His people to be priests.

To John’s Jewish mind, and that of his 1st readers, this would have been most potent. For it was the priests alone in Israel’s history who had access to the Tabernacle, and especially, for the High Priest, to the Holy of Holies – the very presence of God.

But each Believer will have unfettered, unclouded, unveiled access to God and Christ.

No intermediaries are needed in any way.

Beloved, we will be in His revealed presence as His own priests, with absolute access and availability at all times.

Paul says that right now, our experience of God is somewhat dim, as though reflected in the poor mirrors of His day.

But not then.

We will see Him as He is. Changed and transformed to be able to approach the unapproachable light 1 Tim. 6:16 says God is.

We’ll reign with Him.

WITH Him. As Heb. 1:3 says Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father when He was raised from the dead – so will we sit down with Him as though in some inexplicable, mysterious and glorious way, we’ll have the right to sit on His throne with Him.

Beloved, I do not have the slightest idea of how to imagine the wonder of what that means.

But here it is.

And all of this is meant as a comfort to the saints as we suffer now – in whatever ways we suffer – this is just before us. Hold on!

And, it is meant as an inducement to saint and sinner alike to abandon sin in any and all of its forms.

To flee to, cling to, serve and adore Christ.

Unbeliever – today is the day you can find complete deliverance from the 2nd death in turning to Jesus by faith, and trusting His sacrifice in your behalf as fully satisfying the Father for your sins.

Believer – seeing this is our coming reality – oh how we need to fight, put off and do everything we can to separate ourselves from the remnants of indwelling sin, and the allurements of this present world and age.

Christ is coming! Let us prepare for it now.
Jesus and Social Media

October 3rd, 2018

Matthew 5:21–26 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. ²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵ Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Social media is a wonderful thing. What a genuine blessing it is to be able to keep up with family and friends far removed from us geographically. I for one am grateful for it.

As with any good thing, it can be used poorly, even harmfully. And one of the ways social media gets abused and abusive, is when it is used to spew anger, vitriol and scorn. What appear to have become 3 of America’s new favorite pastimes.

In today’s social media and internet climate, scorning others has become a way of life. We walk around perpetually angry with others, flinging insults everywhere we go and denominating everyone a fool who does not agree with us on anything. Sounds a little like our text, doesn’t it?

WARNING! Jesus’ is clear here – that kind of behavior invites censure. Not from others, but from God Himself. The kind of censure that bids us to think twice if we imagine we can verbally scorn others at will, and still come and worship Him acceptably. We can’t.

A warning that this kind of perpetual anger makes us liable to His judgment.

A warning that when we have sinned against others in it, we had better be quick to go and make it right, because we are both on our way to the Judge of all things.

Is there a place for righteous anger? You bet. But how quick we are to baptize our anger in righteousness, when in fact it is little more than an occasion to rip others and vent our spleens. Not upset at true unrighteousness and injustice, but merely in disagreement. An anger that moves from challenging ideas and injustices, to personal attacks and character assassination. Name calling, motive judging (as though we really know what is in men’s hearts), and slander.

Just because we can hide behind a keyboard and a screen name, doesn’t mean our God doesn’t see. And it DOES matter how we respond to those we disagree with, even on vital matters.

What an opportunity this is for Believers to show the World a very different Spirit from the one that influences men outside of Christ.

He has made us lights. Let us expose evil with that light. But at the same time, we had better expose the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ with that same light. Should we decry sin? You bet! But if we only decry it and do not present Christ at the same time, all we do is condemn. And Christ has not given us the ministry of condemnation, but of reconciliation. If we do not offer the solution of Christ, we’ve done nothing but spit on the perishing.
The Rest of the Story – Rev. pt. 33 / Ch. 19:11-20:3

September 24th, 2018
Rev. 19:11-20:3 / The Rest of the Story

Reid A Ferguson

Revelation Part 33 / Eschatology: Last Judgment; Christ reigns for a thousand years; Second Coming / Rev. 19:11–20:3; Isaiah 63:1–6

The 2nd great vision of the Resurrected Christ

Audio for this Sermon can be found HERE

During the 2nd World War, radio broadcaster Paul Harvey – with his unmistakable voice and cadence – began including a segment in his daily newscast called “The Rest of the Story.”

Each installment centered around some culturally familiar event, fact or person. Then, Harvey supplied unknown or surprising information that gave the listener an entirely new perspective on the person or event being discussed.

Example: Al, was utterly useless. He wrote to his sister saying “I’m nothing but a burden on my family, really, it would have been better if I had never been born.”

At 22 he had hit bottom. His parents had become impoverished and couldn’t support him any longer. And he couldn’t get a job anywhere.

He was thrown out of high school at 15. With no diploma, he couldn’t go to college, so he opted to apply at a technical school – but flunked the 1st entrance exam. So he tried to go back to high school. His old school wouldn’t accept him, but another one did. Graduating there, he went back to technical school. But with his record of chronically cutting classes, barely passing his tests and disrespecting his teachers – no one wanted to hire him.

Finally, pushing an old school chum whose Dad had some connections, he got an interview with Fred Haller at the Federal patent office. They needed a guy to take a first look at patent applications to see if they had any merit.

When Fred asked Al what he knew about patents, he answered truthfully – nothing. But for some reason he took a chance on Al. He thought Al was just a failure that needed some self-confidence, and so gave him a probationary job as “technical expert 3rd class.” Al did OK at the job. And the boost helped him a lot.

And thus began the career of one Albert Einstein. And now you know – The Rest of the Story.

Well this portion of Rev. 19 plays a similar revelatory role.

As Ch. 18 records the coming downfall of this present world system and the compromising church with it, together dubbed Babylon in the text – so it also recorded the response of fallen humanity to Babylon’s demise. It mourned.

In contrast to that response, last week, we saw how Heaven erupted in its 3 transcendent hymns of Hallelujah!

But now, we’re about to get the rest of the story.

1- Jesus personally destroys Babylon

In today’s portion, we’ll see that this worldly system doesn’t just collapse due to its own corruption, or merely fade away. Rather, it is personally judged and thrown down by Jesus Christ Himself.

2 – Satan bound for 1000 years

Then we’ll see that even Satan himself is to be dealt with – powerfully. Even if temporarily at first. He will be bound and a period of extraordinary and unprecedented blessing on this earth will be had before Satan’s final disposition.

3 – The glories of the Coming Kingdom

Then in the balance of the book we will begin to catch glimpses of the coming Kingdom of Christ Paul says the Believers are waiting for:

Titus 2:11–13 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Today: A Cosmos Shattering vision of Jesus

You will remember how in Ch. 1 we saw what we termed a soul shattering vision of the risen Christ? Well hang onto your hats – because if that first vision was unbearably fabulous – what we are about to see absolutely defies imagination.

And the 12 aspects of this vision in themselves spell out so much of what we briefly mentioned last week – “Do you want to know the key to unlock all of Scripture and its prophecies? The wonder, the fullness, the majesty, power and fullest revelation of God, His person, nature character and works is all found here – in the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Let me briefly give you the overview, and then we’ll spend our time on this stupendous vision of Jesus.

1st – 11-16 The vision of Jesus.

2nd – Revelation 19:17–18 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

17-18 The angelic call to “the great supper of God.” No interpreter takes this as literal – but rather as symbolic of how utter the devastation is. In the ancient world, one showed the most disdain possible against their enemies by refusing to bury their dead bodies after a war – leaving them to be mere carrion. Food for the animals. That is the picture here. God has no use or compassion for this corrupt world system in any way, shape or form. It has to be completely and utterly destroyed. It is not redeemable. Jesus will not return to re-establish or rescue Western Civilization nor any other.

Revelation 19:19–21 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

19-21 Reminds us that the world, the world system and mindset is utterly opposed to the rule of God in Christ and that they are irreconcilable.

Personal autonomy, self-styled spirituality, materialistic well-being and human constructs of morality are utterly opposed to God and must be eradicated. One is either for God and the rule of Christ or opposed to God and His enemy. There is no neutral stance as James 4:4 tells us.

James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

20:1-3 Reveals to us that Satan himself, the one behind all human opposition to God will be absolutely disarmed for a season.

Revelation 20:1–3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

But! He will be allowed one last assault before his final disposition. That will get unpacked a bit more in the weeks to come.

So let’s go back to vs. 11 and begin to examine the vision of Jesus shown to John in more detail.

Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

As we’ve seen before, one riding on a white horse would have been a familiar picture to the 1st readers in that this was typical of a conquering king in their day. Once the battle had been won, the king would ride into his newly captured territory on a white horse to announce his victory. And here Jesus is shown to be the ultimate conqueror over sin and rebellion and even death itself. But what about this King Jesus?
1. FAITHFUL AND TRUE. I love that the vision begins here. think for a moment how this would have impacted John. He is the last living Apostle.
All of his fellow apostles and many more have been martyred already.

He is an old man, exiled to a desolate island.

The state of the church is not the best as we saw in the chs. 2 & 3. The church is being co-opted by the World in a lot of cases, and persecuted by the World and the government when it won’t compromise.

Jesus hasn’t returned.

What is to become of it all?

And so what is revealed to him 1st at this moment? That the conquering Jesus – what riding on a white horse signifies – is FAITHFUL!

He always, always, ALWAYS fulfills His promises.

He can be trusted to fulfill everything.

He will not, cannot fail to deliver.

He WILL come again. He WILL set the world to rights. He WILL judge sin. He WILL vanquish Satan. He WILL reward His saints. He is faithful!

AND, He is true – trustworthy. He is to be believed, no matter what things may look like.

He is always – true. He cannot lie.
1. IT IS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE HE MAKES WAR. Mankind is forever starting and fighting wars that have at their root human lust for power and acquisition.
Satan’s war on God and God’s people has never been just or rooted in righteousness.

Not so Christ Jesus.

He doesn’t come to conquer all because of His ego, or because this ball of dirt is worth anything in itself. He comes and makes war to bring about righteousness and for nothing but pure and holy motives.

He does not judge capriciously or skewed by any personal biases – but makes war because the evil of this present world and age need to be conquered because it is right.

Because mankind, made in His image needs to be redeemed from the bondage and shame of sin.

Because those the Father has given Him MUST be bought and restored at all costs.

Revelation 19:12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
1. HIS EYES ARE LIKE A FLAME OF FIRE. As in the vision of ch. 1 this is to signify He needs no outside light source to see anything.
He perceives and knows everything with perfect accuracy due to the light He brings to it.

And He always discerns rightly. He cannot be fooled. Nothing can be hidden from Him, even the darkest secrets of the heart.

Proverbs 15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord; how much more the hearts of the children of man!
1. ON HIS HEAD ARE MANY DIADEMS. Many diadems signify the breadth of His Lordship.
Allow me to steal liberally from that famous sermon by S. M. Lockridge given years ago: The Bible says my king, is the King of the Jews; He’s the King of Israel; He’s the King of Righteousness; He’s the King of the Ages; He’s the King of Heaven; He’s the King of Glory; He’s the King of Kings; And He is the Lord of Lords; That’s my King;

And I wonder…do you know Him?

My King, is a sovereign King; No means of measure can define His limitless love;

He’s enduringly strong; He’s entirely sincere; He’s eternally steadfast; He’s immortally graceful; He’s imperially powerful; He’s impartially merciful;

Do you know Him?

He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world;

He’s God’s Son; He’s the sinner’s Savior; He’s the centerpiece of civilization; He’s unparalleled; He’s unprecedented; He is the loftiest idea in literature; He’s the highest personality in philosophy; He’s the fundamental doctrine of True Theology; He’s the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Savior;

I wonder if you know Him today?

He supplies strength for the weak; He available for the tempted and the tried;

He sympathizes and He saves; He strengthens and sustains; He guards and he guides; He heals the sick; He cleansed the lepers; He forgives sinners; He discharges debtors; He delivers the captive; He defends the feeble; He blesses the young; He serves the unfortunate; He regards the aged; He rewards the diligent; He beautifies the meager

I wonder if you know Him?

He’s the key to knowledge; He’s the wellspring of wisdom; He’s the doorway of deliverance; He’s the pathway of peace; He’s the roadway of righteousness; He’s the highway of holiness; He’s the gateway of glory

Do you know Him?

His life is matchless; His goodness is limitless; His mercy is everlasting; His love never changes; His Word is enough; He grace is sufficient; His reign is righteous;

And His yoke is easy ; And His burden is light; I wish I could describe Him to you;

He’s indescribable; He’s incomprehensible; He’s invincible; He’s irresistible; You can’t get Him out of your mind; You can’t get Him off of your hand; You can’t outlive Him; And you can’t live without Him;

The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him; But they found out they couldn’t stop Him;

Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him; Herod couldn’t kill Him; Death couldn’t handle Him; And the grave couldn’t hold Him;

That’s my King!”

On His head are MANY diadems!
1. AND HE HAS A NAME WRITTEN THAT NO ONE KNOWS BUT HE HIMSELF.
He is Infinitely inexhaustible – we will never be able to comprehend Him entirely. There will always be more to discover and know and enjoy.

As Adam Clarke noted: God is “The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind.”

Revelation 19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
1. A ROBE DIPPED IN BLOOD. A direct allusion to the Isa. passage we read earlier where God is pictured as the one who is “mighty to save” coming back from the conquest of delivering His people from the oppression of the World. He has done all it takes to bring salvation to His people.
2. HE IS THE WORD OF GOD. He is the ultimate self-expression and self-disclosure of God Himself.
He does not HAVE the Word of God, He IS the Word of God. He is all that God has to say and reveal to us. In Him is the sum of all reality.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Everything God has to say and everything God IS – is wrapped up in this Jesus.

Revelation 19:14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
1. THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN FOLLOW HIM.
The angelic hosts all serve at His behest and follow Him in His purposes.

And note here – what an army. No armor, and no weapons – just clothed in righteousness.

The whole of the equipping of the heavenly host is summed up in this one thing – they follow Him!

Oh that we would understand that this is the key to every victory over temptation and brokenness and sin – FOLLOW HIM!

Revelation 19:15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
1. HE DOES ALL HE DOES SIMPLY WITH HIS WORD. He needs nothing outside of Himself, but to make the pronouncement of His will brings all to pass – just as when He created the physical universe and all that is in it. He will conquer the nations simply by His word.
2. HE WILL RULE WITH A ROD OF IRON.
And He will come to shepherd all people personally, not to set up some system. The word “rule” here is in fact the word used elsewhere in the NT to signify Shepherd or Pastor.

He will not simply rule – He will shepherd and pastor the nations He conquers.

The glory of the age to come isn’t that we will have some perfected form of human government. It is that He will personally rule and reign as the uncontested Monarch of all nations. A monarch who sees His role as shepherding. Leading, feeding and protecting.

And His rule is likened to a rod or scepter or shepherd’s crook of iron – that is, it is unbreakable.
1. HE WILL TREAD THE WINE-PRESS OF THE FURY OF THE WRATH OF GOD.
Once again referencing Isa. 63, He personally will serve as both judge and executioner over sin and sinners.

He brings the Father’s justice to bear.

He alone.

This is the fulfillment of what we heard in Ch. 6 when those who oppose God finally cry out “Hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne – and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

Sinful humanity will not stand before some cosmic court presided over by their peers – but before the sinless Lamb of God who will then Himself carry out the sentence.

If you are not a Christian today, listen to Jesus’ own words in this regard:

Luke 12:58–59 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Settle with Jesus today – for today is the day of Grace. You can still come to Him.

It is not too late.

Bring your sin – your every sin.

Confess to Him that as God, you owed Him all of your allegiance, love and obedience but that you have been living in rebellion – living your life for yourself.

Come to Him and ask Him for His forgiveness – ask Him to cleanse you from every stain.

Bow to Him as Lord and King and He will not just forgive you, but love you, make you new and grant you the eternal life that union with Him brings.

He died on the Cross that the just wrath of God may be satisfied for you.

Come and put your faith and trust in His atoning work there.

Come and be born again.

Revelation 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
1. Oh how I love this last image. On His thigh, where a soldier’s sword would ordinarily be – especially given the 1st figure of Him riding a white horse to make war – He needs no other weapon, than the unveiled revelation of who He is: The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
The absolute monarch of all things, in Heaven and on earth – in all the universe.

This Beloved is what it means when Paul writes in Phil 2:10 at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.

At the full disclosure, at the full revelation of who Jesus really is – the mere vision of it itself will cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord – to the glory of God the Father.

Imagine it! A scene so magnificent, so powerful that the mere sight of it will transform the entire universe.

So amazing. So transformative. So blessed and all-consumingly wonderful is this vision – this glorious revelation of Jesus – That Jesus Himself considers it the highest gift He can give us as His own dear Bride.

So in John 17 He prays:

John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Oh Christian – no matter what you or I may face today, tomorrow or in the days to come – this is what awaits us. HE, is who awaits us.

And the glory of that day of meeting and final revelation will so satisfy us, so thrill us, so move us, so fill us – that we will know nothing but eternal, everlasting joy and love and glory.

Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Revelation 19:1-10 – 3 Hallelujahs

September 16th, 2018
Revelation 19:1-10 / 3 Hallelujahs

Matthew 25:31–46; 2 Corinthians 7:10–12

Audio for this sermon can be found HERE

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay”

Last week I began by relating how I was deliciously vindicated in front of my 4th grade class over a test I had presumably failed and everyone else passed. It was a moment I obviously (much to my shame) still cherish!

Let me take you back to around that same period for another experience in my oft misspent youth.

Many of you know I have an older brother – Ken. And as older brothers are wont to do, he picked on me, played practical jokes on me etc. – the usual sibling stuff.

Kenny also had a habit in those days, when we took car rides. He liked to have his head out the window.

Once, in a need to get him back over some real or perceived slight, it dawned on me that with his head out the window, pressing the “up” button on the power window might have an interesting effect.

At first, Kenny thought it was kind of funny too. Until his head got stuck. He in his panic couldn’t push the down button and me, in my delight, WOULDN’T push the down button. This too was delicious, and well worth the spanking I received later. I had had my vengeance. And it felt good. Sinful though it was.

The theme of chapter 18 we saw, is the Saint’s right, just and holy VINDICATION for our rejection of Babylon’s worldview and values.

That as Christians we do not seek personal autonomy but the Lordship of Jesus; we refuse to seek our well-being and security in material wealth but rather in the riches of Christ; we take our understanding of true spirituality from the Scriptures instead of inventing our own; and we repudiate the Culture’s morality in favor of Biblical holiness empowered by the Spirit.

Those who have lived as citizens of Christ’s Kingdom to come, will be fully vindicated in that day.

As Hebrews 10:30-31 notes,

Hebrews 10:30–31 ESV

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

In the end – those who call themselves Christians, but by adopting the World’s values are indistinguishable from the World, will be judged WITH the World, with Babylon. Thus the compromising Church is called Babylon as well.

And so as we examined the dirges, the funeral songs sung by the World as it watched Babylon being destroyed – today, we make a most important turn in the book as a whole.

The entire tenor of the book changes here to begin fixing the Believer’s attention, heart and mind on the glories to come in Christ. We move from 2 dirges to 3 hymns. And those 3 in a crescendo that is magnificent.

Hymn 1 – Vengeance

Revelation 19:1-3

Revelation 19:1–3 ESV

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

“After this” simply refers to after witnessing the destruction of Babylon.

John then hears this massive chorus – “the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Hallelujah being a Hebrew word picked up from the Psalms and appearing only here in the whole of the New Testament. Literally it means: Praise Yahweh – the name God gave to the Israelites to know and call Him by. “I am that I am” – the ever existing one.

Praise God! They cry. He is the God who saves – who alone saves. He is the God who is glorious in His saving work. He is the God who is all powerful – for it takes an omnipotent God both to redeem the lost unto salvation in Christ Jesus and to bring an end not just to sinners – but to sin, to sinfulness itself. We’ll come back to that thought for it is essential for understanding God’s vengeance as opposed to fallen man’s notions of revenge. Hallelujah indeed.

But more. His judgments are true – accurate. He neither imputes too little nor too much guilt in His assessments. We, are all too prone to minimize our own sins and magnify other’s – But His judgments are true.

And, they are just. No one is ever under punished, and no one is ever over punished. God is a just God and cannot do otherwise.

So in His truth and justice He has rightly judged the Great Prostitute, that world system called Babylon which seeks to lure men and women into its values and mindset versus pure allegiance to the God who made us – and judged the compromising Church which made serving the World’s values seem reasonable, right and good – compatible with serving Christ. The Church, those Christians, who sought to gain what the World has to give, and its acceptance, by compromising with it in materialism, autonomy, morality and supposed spirituality.

And thus He has avenged on her the blood of His servants.

And let’s pause right here to tease out the nature of God’s vengeance.

Note that it is not a vengeance upon people here, but upon Babylon, the system, the mindset, the worldview. As Mounce notes – Babylon has always been symbolic of opposition to the advance of the kingdom of God.

Now this is vitally important. If God only poured out His judgment upon the people – sinners as sinners – which He does do, but if He only did that – the greater sin problem would remain unsolved.

On our behalf, God judges and destroys the entire construct that lures us away from fidelity to Him. He destroys the entire system that obscures the truth about His nature and character and salvation itself. He crushes that which continually and ubiquitously tempts us with all forms of sin and unbelief. Which makes the World and what it offers seem so inviting, satisfying and worth forsaking Christ for.

In bringing His kingdom to pass He must take us utterly out of an atmosphere which caters to fallen human lusts, and that creates a reality which exchanges the truth of God’s Word for lies the Devil perpetrated on the whole of mankind since the Fall. Of making God suspect, not loving, not to be trusted, of being obtuse, unreasonable and having hidden, nefarious motives so that we must look out for ourselves even against Him.

Let me try to make this clearer by looking at one of the passages we had read for us already 2 Cor. 7:11-12

2 Corinthians 7:11–12 ESV

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

In this passage we get a look at what genuine, New Testament repentance looks like. Unlike the current notions among many that repentance is just feeling bad or saying one is sorry for their sin, notice the components of Biblical repentance.
1. There is an earnestness to deal with sins, not a cavalier or blase attitude. Not a “can we just move on?” – instant fix-it approach.
2. There is eagerness to clear oneself – a sense of being soiled by their sin and needing to be washed of the filth and stain of it.
3. There is indignation at self. As a child of God, this is beneath me and I am ashamed.
4. Fear – disturbed that they can still depart from righteousness so easily rather than an “oh well, nobody’s perfect” attitude.
5. Longing to be free at last from the principle of indwelling sin, not just the immediate action.
6. Zeal to do whatever it takes to make things right.
7. Punishment! In the Greek – our word here for vengeance. The very same word used in the Revelation text. A commitment to take vengeance on my own sinfulness.
You see it moves beyond dealing with a mere action or infraction to wrestling with the inner dynamics of sinfulness itself.

How does one do that? What does that look like? Ephesians 4:25-32 gives a series of examples but let me just cite 1 of them here: Eph. 4:28

Ephesians 4:28 ESV

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Do you see it? One hasn’t repented from the sin of theft when they simply stop stealing. They haven’t repented until their mindset has changed and they not only do not steal, but labor honestly instead – AND become generous to others!

We cannot explore it now, but this dynamic of taking vengeance on our sins is very often the missing key in dealing with besetting sin. We just want done with it. But true repentance wants revenge on it!

God in judging Babylon and avenging His servants does not simply do away with sinners, He deals with sin, with sinfulness itself.

He destroys the very mindset of the World we’ve imbibed AND the inward principle that leads to sin. Heaven will not be Heaven until Believers bear the image of Christ fully, and in His character, love holiness and hate sin as naturally and perfectly as He does.

And so it is, at the contemplation of THIS avenging – Rev. 19:3

Revelation 19:3 ESV

Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

To be perfectly honest, it is of little consequence to me that God should ever repay anyone for any sin they might have committed against me in this life. God forbid! Let me learn to pray always – Father, forgive us, forgive me MY sins, even AS I have forgiven others. Teach me to avenge my un-forgiveness. Revenge on others is grotesque and sinful in light of how He has cleansed my sin in the blood of His own Dear Son Jesus.

No, I want vengeance on how this world lied to me about who I am – a random assemblage of molecular accidents – instead of created in His image.

How it robbed me of knowing true eternal purpose by training my eyes to look to this world and to myself as supreme.

How Satan’s lies led my first parents into thinking God was against them, egocentric and dark in prohibiting the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And how the remaining echo of that that still makes God suspect in my heart at times.

I want vengeance on the World that catered to my fallen lusts to make me live for self instead of Him, and that tried to blind me to the Gospel and the truth of His Word. That encouraged me to sin and destroy my own soul and heart and mind in the process.

I want vengeance on my own indwelling sinfulness, faithlessness, unfaithfulness and impurity – all fostered and catered to by the World.

I want to be avenged of these wrongs! And this hymn tells me it is so.

Hallelujah!

Hymn 2 – Eruption

Rev. 19:4

Revelation 19:4 ESV

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

It is at this point that even the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures we saw back in ch. 4 – indeed, the very throne room of God at this moment convulses, erupts, responds with a resounding – cosmic and heavenly YES!

Amen! they shout – so be it. And we add our Hallelujah – praise to Yahweh.

Rev. 19:5 At which affirmation there comes out of the very midst of the throne itself -perhaps the voice of the Holy Spirit calling all of creation to join in the singing.

Revelation 19:5 ESV

And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

Hymn 3 – Marriage

Rev. 19:6-8 Which then gives way to our 3rd hymn – and with an increased participation in response to the Spirit’s call.

Revelation 19:6–8 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Oh what a scene this is. Loud and massive – like the roar of many waters – the same term used for the voice of the glorified Jesus in 1:15; as though to say that now His voice and the voices of His redeemed are one in some way – and in unison all cry out HALLELUJAH!

Why is God to be so praised now? There are 3 reasons in the text.
1. Because now that Babylon is fallen, Jesus reigns uncontested. He has always reigned since His ascension, but now, all opposition is gone.
2. Because the marriage of the Lamb has come at last. The consummation of all that we as Christians hope and long for, and that Jesus died for – finally reaches its apex: The Believers joined to Christ as His bride in unspeakable and eternally unbreakable intimacy and unity and joy. Hallelujah indeed! A union with Him that we will never grow tired of, perpetually cherish, and enjoy in ever increasing waves of unending pleasure and perfection.
3. Because the Bride’s readiness – OUR readiness if you are in Christ here today – is found in His grant to us of fine linen, bright and pure – which also symbolizes the righteous deeds we’ve done.
Note: While our righteous deeds are symbolized as this fine linen, bright and pure – it is clothing that is “granted” to us. Unearned. Bestowed.

What can that mean? How can both be true? Is it our righteous deeds, or is it something He has given us?

The mixed language may mean that once we reach Heaven, we will realize that all the good things we have done, have been done out of the working of His Spirit within us. In fact I am fairly certain that is at least part of what is meant here.

But if I can take you back to another portion of Scripture we had read this morning – we might get still more insight.

Matt. 25:31-46

Matthew 25:31–46 ESV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matt. 25:37-40 The key is found in 37-40.

Matthew 25:37–40 ESV

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Listen child of God, this is beyond sweet. The simplest and most faltering of actions done by His beloved children, even unknowingly, are received by Him and rewarded by Him, simply because we are His.

It is not their magnitude. It is not their perfection. It is not their number. It is that they are ours – and we are His by virtue of His saving grace .

Beloved, He will not forget your weakest, poorest, most pitiful acts – because you are His. And these paltry offerings of obedience and even unconscious acting out of your renewed nature will be the very fabric whereby you are clothed and made ready to be married to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Astounding!

At the revelation of all of this, at the blessedness of who we are and our being brought at last to dine with our King at our own marriage supper – and, of the angel’s affirmation that this is TRUE – as unbelievable as it seems: John is so overwhelmed, he forgets himself falls down at the angel’s feet to worship him.

Rev. 19:9-10

Revelation 19:9–10 ESV

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The angel helps John regain himself and reminds him that the angels are fellow servants of God, even as John and we all are who hold to the testimony of Jesus – and says: Worship God. Give Him the hallelujah.

And then he says the most astounding thing: Do you want to know the key to unlock all of Scripture and its prophecies? The wonder, the fullness, the majesty, power and fullest revelation of God, His person, nature character and works is all found here – in the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Beloved – let no person, no system, no notion ever have a moment’s purchase in your heart and mind regarding things spiritual, eternal and the sum of truth, if it does not give full glory to Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God, dying His substitutionary, atoning death on the cross, bearing the wrath of God on our behalf, that all who trust in Him alone might be reconciled to the Father, born again, and have eternal life with Him when He comes again to vanquish all sin, and make us His eternal bride.

Hallelujah! For vengeance on Babylon.

Hallelujah! For our being made a fit Bride for the very Son of God.

Hallelujah! For the final fulfillment of all of His promises.

Hallelujah!
Revelation Chapter 18 – The Dirges

September 9th, 2018
Revelation Part 31

Revelation 18:1–24

Genesis 11:1-9

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

It was 4^th grade – Miss Houston’s class. She was a favorite of mine and the one who made me learn to love poetry. But she had just failed me miserably in a test, oddly enough, I had actually studied for. I thought I had looked up the details of the locations on the globe where the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn appear (23.5° north and south of the equator respectively) – but I had them both off. And I was the only one in class who failed this.

I went home in tears. And my Dad got out the encyclopedia to see how it was I had gone so far astray. And lo and behold, my test answers coincided with the encyclopedia’s.

So the next day, encyclopedia in hand, Dad went to my class and argued that either the encyclopedia was wrong, or the material Miss Houston was using was wrong – but in either case, I had done my homework and should not be penalized.

To her credit, Miss Houston checked everything, found it was her teaching materials which were in error, and announced to the entire class that I alone had gotten the test questions right and everyone else, including her, were wrong. VINDICATION!

And it felt so good! Though that would be the last time in my life I would have that delicious experience.

But as we come to this chapter – which I’ve titled “The Dirges” – even though there is great sorrow in it, there is also the glorious theme of vindication for the Believer – and thus it becomes a most encouraging chapter in the midst of much lamentable revelation.

In the previous chapter, John was given a vision of the compromising Church and how it is supported by Satan himself (she is pictured as riding him) and, how she is called “Babylon the Great.”

But previously, we had seen Babylon described more in terms of a world system. As Robert Mounce writes: “Babylon has always been symbolic of opposition to the advance of the kingdom of God.”

So we naturally ask ourselves what is going on here? Is Babylon the world system as seen in opposition to God’s rule and reign, or is it the compromising Church?

And of course the answer is a categorical – yes! It is both. The metaphor gets applied to both because once the Church, once those who profess saving faith in Jesus Christ and claim to be His disciples take on the same values as the World without God – the two become indistinguishable. The Church becomes the World, when the Church adopts the World’s mindset and worldview. No matter, how it thinks of itself or what it calls itself. This is true for the Church at large, and for individual Christians.

When the supposed Christian (or the greater body of Christians – the Church at large) becomes materialistic and seeks safety and well-being in material wealth; when personal autonomy takes precedence over submission to the Kingship of Jesus; when so-called believers capitulate to letting the Culture determine what is moral and immoral; and when worship of and service to God become merely a matter of personal taste, preference and creativity – The Church becomes the World and the World has become the Church.

And thus they will share a common judgment.

So 1 Peter 4:15–17 reminds us: “let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

But with all this talk about Babylon, it might be good to revisit the role this Babylon idea plays in Scripture.

We get our first picture of it in Genesis 11:1-9 in how mankind responded to God in the generation after Noah’s Flood.

Genesis 11:1–4 “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

Here the problem begins.

God had commanded mankind in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” A command reiterated to Noah and his sons in Gen. 9:1.

This is often referred to as the Creation mandate. Mankind had a commission to settle and inhabit the entire earth.

The picture was, start at the Garden, and then expand the Garden to encompass the globe. This would be God’s society.

But as we see here, they did not want to be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Man does not want to yield to the authority of God over our lives – but be self-determining.

So, they established themselves as a society separate from God’s commanded society. They wanted a life apart from God, serving their own ends and by their own means. Their laws, their values, their morality, and security in their wealth and ability.

And they agreed together to build this tower with its top in the heavens.

Secular history tells us such towers from this part of the world – the Mesopotamian plane – were called ziggurats and they were religious in nature. The people decided they would not hang around and build society around the blocked entrance to the Garden awaiting the Messiah who could make a way back into the presence of God for them. They would make their own way to God. They could rise to the heavens themselves.

Additionally, they wanted a name for themselves rather than be identified as God having authority over them. Those obliterated in the Flood had left no memory, no heritage. These, they imagined, would perpetuate their name no matter what God did. They, would be remembered.

The narrative continues: 5-9 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

“Therefore” vs. 9 says, its name – the name of the city was called Babel. The place where confusion reigns.

It is in this same place the Babylonian kingdom would arise with its great city of Babylon. Babylon from then on historically would be the standing symbol of human society establishing itself independent of God and His rule and intents, and the enemy of the people of God.

This is why in the Revelation, Babylon serves as the perfect picture of both this present World system, and, the Compromising Church. This chapter like the last one – focuses on the compromising Church.

So now let’s work through the passage.
- DECLARATION: 1-3 “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
This angel is not identified, but the message is clearly that judgment has come.

Whether Babylon’s becoming a haunt for uncleanness is WHY it is being judged or if that IS the judgment itself, is debated. But in this picture – as we saw last week – God detests the professing Church when it seeks what the World seeks, buying into the World’s system. Even if we kid ourselves that such compromise is a method to reach the World, the truth is we get seduced by what the World can offer, and the World in turn sees a chance to enrich itself at the Church’s expense.

NOTE: When God is abandoned as Lord, something must fill the vacuum.

Why is Babylon fallen in judgment? Because in her abandonment of God in His rightful place, she becomes the haunt for every evil thing.

Unclean spirits, Unclean birds, Unclean beasts. The tripling here probably meant to be a way of making its uncleanness emphatic. You cannot have true morality or moral goodness apart from God. No matter how outwardly moral or organized a society might seem. Once God is no longer given His rightful place, that society will degenerate to its lowest level. It will undo itself.

What does that look like? Romans 1 spells it out: Passion for sexual immorality dominates.

Rom. 1:18–31 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him…and their…hearts were darkened…[T]hey exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves…God gave them up to dishonorable passions. [T]heir women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men…gave up natural relations with women…consumed with passion for one another…God gave them up to a debased mind…They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice…full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Abandoning God for gods – Abandoning holiness for personal pleasure – No mind to put to death the deeds of the flesh as pleasing in the Father’s sight.
- CALL TO GOD’S PEOPLE: 4-5 “Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”
This is a call to the faithful not to participate in Babylon’s value system.

To not align ourselves with what God will judge in utter violence.

How is this done? How do Believers “come out”?

The concept here can’t refer to proximity or gathering into cloisters or separate “Christian” communities. 1 Cor. 5 reminds us we can’t totally disassociate ourselves from unbelievers without exiting the planet.

The idea is that we “come out” by repudiating the things the World values both in word and deed. By decrying a life built on the World’s system, and by LIVING for different goals. According to God’s revealed plans and purposes rather than our own.
- CALL FOR JUDGMENT: 6-8 “Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
Who specifically is issuing this call for judgment isn’t clear. Is it angelic? Is it the Believers who have just been called out? ???

What is clear is that true justice, a full recompense is being called for.

Recompense for what? For seeking material luxury at the cost of spiritual fidelity to Christ. And thinking that can be done with impunity. She sought to glorify herself above revealing God. Echo of Babylon?

Receiving double is a phrase that needs some clarifying. The word “double” in the English doesn’t quite capture either the Hebrew or the Greek. In their contexts in the OT to double means to “produce a duplicate” (“duplicate, twin, matching equivalent”)
- THE DIRGE Part 1: 9-13 “And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.”
Note well their weeping is over the loss of their perceived riches, not for Babylon’s demise itself.

The World has no real use for the Church except as one more way to get what it is always after – possessions, prestige or pleasure. So there is grief over the destruction of the Great Whore, but no weeping and grief over their sins. They only grieve the loss of what they prized so highly. Even witnessing such utter destruction, seeing God judge His Church first, excites no repentance in them – for they have no love of God and His truth. They care only for the loss of this present world and system. They don’t weep for her because they have any true affinity for her, but because of what they lose materially with her passing. Weeping for the spectacle, and for the loss – but no repentance.

And woe to the Church, when the merchants of the World can boast their best customers are the very ones who claim our riches are in Heaven and in Christ.

And just so we don’t miss it, the list of what constitutes wealth to the people of this world is spelled out: Precious metals and stones, fabrics, woods, food, smells, intoxicants, emoluments, possessions, power, even people – human trafficking.
- HEAVENLY INTERJECTION 1: 14 “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!”
On the heels of the Dirge comes this refrain – from where we aren’t told. It is the summary exposition of the emptiness one experiences, after seeking one’s soul’s satisfaction in anything we could possibly gain in this earthly realm. No matter how good it is in and of itself.

All, ALL of what so many, both in and outside the Church have given their entire lives for – will perish in a moment. And what will each one do then?
- The DIRGE Part 2: 15-19 “The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
- HEAVENLY INTERJECTION 2: 20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”
- TOTAL LOSS: 21-24 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”
SUMMARY: In the midst of this sad and sorrowful dirge comes this most amazing word to the true Believer – to the saints, apostles and prophets.

“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”

REJOICE OVER HER!

Rejoice over the judgment of the World and the compromising Church? YES!

Nowhere is the stark contrast between true and false religion, and between the World and the genuine Church to be seen – than in examining what brings us joy, and what brings us sorrow.

Jesus told us this plainly in Luke 7:31–35

The occasion was Jesus questioning people about their response to the preaching of John the Baptist. After asking them to examine themselves about how they responded to John’s ministry Jesus says:

“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Genuine Believers are truly out of step with this World – failing to rejoice in what pleases them, and grieving over God’s concerns more than the World’s.

Jesus’ point was that time will show that John and his message were from God, and so Christ’s too. But the world can’t discern such things. It only knows its own time and purposes, and anyone not in sync with those is misunderstood, and disregarded. I don’t care if I am on the right side of human history – I want to be on the right side of God’s future.

Nothing is so revealing of our spiritual state as asking what things give us the most joy, and what causes us the most grief?

If our supreme happiness and grief are tied to the things of this world; material comforts and security, home, family, career, accomplishments, relationships, status, health possessions, experiences, etc., then we truly are no different than those who do not profess Christ.

If we cannot find a higher more perfect joy in Christ and His redeeming love, and the promises to be fulfilled at His return, and our deepest sorrow in our sinfulness and failure to love and glorify Him as we ought – we have great cause to be alarmed over our spiritual state.

Only those in Christ can rejoice over the things the World mourns over, and grieve over what seems to bring them the most joy.

So again I ask: REJOICE OVER HER?

Rejoice over the judgment of the World and the compromising Church? YES! And this for at least 3 reasons.
- For in this judgment – Christ and the truth of the Gospel are vindicated. The reality of the Gospel message comes home with full force. When Paul preached in Acts 17 (and we still preach) Acts 17:30–31 That “God …commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
God’s Word WILL be vindicated in full.
- For in it, justice has finally been brought to bear in the world. As that great messianic passage in Isaiah 9 says: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
The zeal of the Lord for justice in His kingdom WILL come to pass. Make no mistake. No wicked man, no wicked act of our or any previous generation will go without Christ bring full and final justice to bear.
- In this judgment, the faith of the Believer, the faith that leads us to forsake the values of the World is fully vindicated at last.
As v20 says: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”

As Asaph prayed in Psalm 73:2–17 He was tripped up for a while when he thought about how wicked men seem to fare so well in this life.

They don’t seem to fear death, eat well, and many have fewer troubles than the Christians. This breeds arrogance and pride as it seems the worse they act, the more they prosper. They even scoff at the gospel and blaspheme God. Society embraces them and they think to themselves: “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” He began to think, I’ve been an idiot to serve God, its bought me nothing. They’re doing great and I’m struggling every day. And when I thought how to understand this, I said I just don’t get it. Until. Until, I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

Beloved, we are not fools to –
1. Love God’s holiness more than temporary human pleasure.
2. Find our true riches and security in the splendor of gaining Christ Jesus.
3. Worship and serve God as He reveals in His Word rather than creating our own spirituality.
4. Surrender the whole of our lives and being to Jesus as Lord over personal autonomy –
We will be VINDICATED! And Christ will be all in all.
The Judgment of the Great Prostitute – Revelation Ch. 17

August 27th, 2018
Revelation Part 30

The Judgment of the Great Prostitute

Rev. Ch. 17

Ezekiel 16:1-32

I don’t know how may of you may have seen the movie The 6^th Sense – but if you haven’t and are planning to – let me issue a spoiler alert for next minute or so.

As with most of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies, they contain a surprise ending – a big reveal that once seen, takes you back and makes sense of other things you’ve seen throughout the movie. The reveal completely reframes the entire story.

In the 6^th Sense, a child psychologist works with a young man who is troubled because he thinks he sees dead people. Some of whom talk to him. When the movie plays out, we find out in fact that it is the psychologist who is actually dead. Suddenly almost everything of what you’ve already seen is completely recast.

In a very real way, this is how chapter 17 of The Revelation works. In it, comes “the big reveal.” All of which centers around the new figure who is shown to John by the angel – someone called “the great prostitute” or the great harlot.

It is no surprise then that getting the identity of this harlot (as she is called) correct, takes you back and strings a whole lot of what has come before, together in an entirely new way.

In the process, a number of the metaphors or symbols we’ve seen along the way, get mashed up together and we see how they are often various ways of seeing exactly the same thing from different angles.

So bear with me as first, we try to establish who or what this “great prostitute” is. Then, we’ll read the entire chapter through, wearing this new lens. And we’ll end with some applications.

Once again we are reminded that though the book of Revelation does not quote the Old Testament very much, it nevertheless makes more references or allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament book. You truly cannot make real sense of it apart from a firm grip on the OT. And nowhere is this more true than in this chapter.

The purpose of the chapter is given to us unambiguously in vs. 1: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,”

There is no question regarding what it is we are to be taking away from this vision: The Judgment of the Great Prostitute.

That being the focus, we need to identify her. 3 things to note here.

The phrase that “she is seated upon many waters” is helpful, since that idea is explained in vs. 15 “And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.”

An individual cannot be seated upon peoples, multitudes and nations. That an individual is not meant here seems pretty clear.

This is reinforced by vs. 2 where her “immorality” is with “the kings of the earth.”

This is reinforced yet again by vs. 3 where she is seen “sitting on a scarlet beast.” This description of the Beast having 7 heads and 10 horns was seen to be Satan himself in ch. 12. AND, it is also the antichrist mindset Satan uses to create a human society founded upon principles opposed to the rightful rule and reign of God.

There is no individual personage who we can imagine actually sits astride Satan in some way. This is clearly symbolic – but of who or what?

Of all the theories throughout history on this question, perhaps the prevailing view among the Reformers was the closest one. They were convinced the harlot depicted the Roman Catholic Church. In their eyes, the Church having sunk into selling indulgences, its seeking such vast wealth and political power – all the while abandoning the Gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone, and persecuting those who put their faith in Christ alone – made real sense. It still has a lot to commend it.

I think this is close, but a little too located in their own place and time.

I think the key does rest in the basic description: She is THE great Prostitute. And there can be little question that the prostitution being referred to here is spiritual, not physical.

There are 2 things which denote a harlot.

Rejection (or betrayal) of the sanctity of an exclusive intimate relationship in marriage, for some perceived gain. (Material wealth, security, status, satisfaction of illicit desires etc.)

Which always results in the harlot seeking to be as attractive as possible to the widest audience possible – rather than seeking to be most attractive to a singular love.

This is an image John and his first readers could not help but be drawn back to consider seeing as God’s most poignant way of referring to Israel’s sin against Him, as we just heard read to us from Ezekiel. A picture so graphically portrayed in the book of Hosea.

What appears to me to be the case, is that this pictures a people with professed fidelity to God and Jesus, I’ll say professed Christianity – but who in fact live more by the Worlds’ values and seek the Worlds’ acceptance and approval more than the Christ she claims to be betrothed to.

It is professing Christians & Christianity given over to the spirit of the age. Pursuing personal autonomy and denying that one owes allegiance to Jesus as Lord. Capitulating to the World’s morality so as not to be marginalized or persecuted. Inventing and promoting self-styled religion and spirituality apart from the Word so as to embrace everyone. Above all, seeking its approval from the World and seeking the material prosperity and security that acceptance offers.

We’ll claim to be “Christians” but we’ll seek what the World seeks, love what the World loves, approve what the World approves, and compromise wherever we need to, to be accepted and participate in what the World offers.

The liberal, compromising Church in whatever generation or form at any given time in history. And by whatever denomination or name.

God’s people, playing the whore with the world – to get its benefits.

And can there be a more timely warning to us? Can’t we see this all around us?

In July, I shared with you the account of Trinity Western University in Langley BC and their plight of being denied national accreditation for their law school because they require students and faculty hold to a very specific, Bible-based code of conduct. Each student was required to sign a community covenant which included a pledge not to lie, steal, cheat, curse, get drunk, use pornography—and to abstain from sex outside Biblical marriage. That last point proved too much for the Canadian Supreme Court. They ruled that to require students to abstain from sex outside of marriage discriminates against gay people. And on that basis, Trinity was rejected nationally from being able to add a law degree program.

The Canadian Supreme Court admitted that the University’s religious freedom was violated in this case. But ruled the law societies had the authority to refuse to approve this law school. Simply holding to a Biblical view of marriage was sufficient to keep them from forming a law school.

How did Western University respond to the Court ruling? We found out just this past week.

They have decided that getting the accreditation they were seeking, takes priority over their commitment to the moral covenant. And this very week have said students are no longer required to sign or abide by the covenant.

Believe me, I feel the pinch and the pain of the position Trinity was put in: Yield to the culture on this moral issue – or accept the consequence of not being allowed accreditation for the Law School.

But this IS the position the Church, Christians of all stripes, will be placed in increasingly in the days to come. And the question is, will we choose to consort with the World to get what it offers even if it means lack of fidelity to the God who made us, the Christ who saved us and the Spirit ho indwells us? Will WE play the harlot?

Will we take the temporary material security the World offers over the spiritual blessings of Christ? For we cannot have both.

Will we serve the World or self rather than King Jesus? We cannot serve 2 diametrically opposed masters. (Matt. 6:24)

Will we compromise on holiness to have what our flesh desires over what Christ has purchased for us? For without holiness, no man will see God. (Heb. 12:14)

Will we reshape worship and religion to be acceptable to those who reject the Gospel and the salvation found in Christ alone?

The Scripture paints those who claim to be Christ’s and yet take these steps – as prostitutes. And this spirit, this attitude, is the fountain from which every other abomination flows.

So now, let’s read through the text, stopping only long enough along the way to see how knowing this clarifies and changes the story line.

17:1 “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters”

What about this Prostitute – this compromising Christianity then? She is to be judged along with Satan and the World.

17: 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

What of this woman’s activities? The kings of the earth have consorted with her. She has entered into an illicit relationship with the world powers. Seeking their approval and security above that of the God she professes to love.

And this relationship distorts all truth. It has produced effects something akin to drunkenness.

When the Church compromises this way, she distorts people’s vision and understanding of God and the truth so that they cast off restraint: We contribute to the moral decline of the world around us.

(Rom. 2:21-24)

17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

Make no mistake, the compromising church is supported by a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names. As we saw already, the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns was identified earlier: In ch. 12: this is the description given to Satan, and in ch. 13 to the Antichrist system.

So the metaphors get mixed together to reveal that The Beast is both Satan, AND the antichrist mindset he uses to create a human society founded upon principles opposed to the rightful rule and reign of God. The City of Man as opposed to the City of God. God created this world and mankind to live in right relationship with Himself, and Satan strives to turn that on its head in his hatred of God. And he uses us to do it. Precious mankind made in the image of God.

The picture is the Church allying itself so as to be supported by those/that which blasphemes God.

17:4-6a The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

The woman is dressed as royalty, with wealth. But in her compromise of the Gospel, she actually ends up slaking her thirst on her immoralities – her illicit union with the World and its values.

Her name is Babylon the great – Babylon being the OT pinnacle of a godless society raised up in opposition to God’s people in judgment.

Thus in her compromise she has given birth to all literal prostitution and all the earth’s abominations. For ALL sin from the Garden of Eden forward flows from rebellion against the God who made us for Himself, in order to please ourselves above Him.

As a result, she is even intoxicated by the destruction of the saints. She is so distorted in her pursuit, she actually contributes to the destruction of the faithful. The liberal church turns on those who hold to Biblical authority and truth.

17: 6b-7 When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.

John was astonished – but the angel tells him not to be intimidated by her apparent wealth and status. We’ll come to see why.

17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

The beast that supports her is what we’ve seen before; what was, but right then wasn’t on the scene, but would arise later and then be destroyed. Antichrist kingdoms and movements have come and gone before.

And as we’ve seen before, those who are not truly Christ’s will be taken in by the power, glamour and wealth she appears to have by virtue of her union with Satan.

17:9-11 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

7 heads = 7 mountains – probably indicating pinnacles of power because they are also 7 kings. The antichrist spirit and philosophy always attaches itself to some worldly political system. Some have already come and gone, and some are yet to come.

The woman, the compromising Church always seeks to capitalize on the rise of world and political powers. To cozy up to whoever is most prominent and beneficial at the time.

But the last manifestation of this will have only a short time of power.

17:12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

A great number of kings or world rulers will be allied with the Beast to get their turn at power.

17:13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.

Such world powers will always be in league with Satan’s agenda and in opposing Jesus as King.

17:14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

Each and every one of them will fall apart – even the last, under the just and final conquering war of The Lamb!

17:15 And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

So remember, all of this is about the corrupting influence the compromising Church has upon the entire world. This is why she will be judged along with the Beast.

17:16-17 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

What happens to the Church which compromises with the world in order to get its approval and material wealth? Those 10 kings, when they have no more use for the Woman, will ravage her and throw her aside. Compromise always leads to destruction by the very ones whose favor we court through it. The Church cannot perpetuate itself though compromise.

This is all part of God’s judgment plan.

17:18 And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

When it is all said and done – the compromising Church is itself the very counterfeit city set up in opposition to God’s city of the New Jerusalem where Christ will reign for ever and ever.

The prostitute and those who consort with her, take that which is most representative of union, exclusivity, intimacy and commitment, and turn it into a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market.

When the Church, Christ’s betrothed bride seeks the attention and approval of those other than Him; looks for security and enrichment beyond what He promises to provide; invites into union with it those who are not Christ’s and expends her gifts on others for their ends rather than for His glory – we become the great harlot.

NOW – we can go back and see why the warnings to the 7 Churches in the opening chapters are so important, and how they are the thread which runs through the rest of the book.

The individual Christian and/or The Church at large when compromising with the world.

APPLICATIONS: 17:14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
1. A Word of Warning: Make no mistake – for all the money, all the machinery, all the Satanic influence, all the deception, all the prosperity and military might this world may possess, all will be defeated by the Lamb, the conquering Son of God. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those with Him remain faithful.
No matter how beneficial it might seem in the moment, all compromise with the world will end in those compromising – no matter what their profession of faith – being judged by the Lamb along with Satan and the World.
1. A Reminder of the Gospel: Note how it is that all human sin and satanic power is destroyed – by the death, burial, resurrection and return of the incarnate Son of God.
It is the Lamb of God who alone conquers sin, satan, death and all that is contrary to the glory and goodness of God.

And how counter intuitive this is. Satan is seen as this massive, dreadful beast, scarlet, with 7 heads and 10 horns. On the back of which is all that is wicked and abominable and destructive – brought down by a Lamb. Brought down by the sacrificial and overcoming love of the living God for those who were once His enemies, redeemed by the atoning blood of the spotless Lamb. What a picture!

The Lamb WILL conquer them.
1. An Encouragement to the True Believer: No matter how bad it might look. No matter how compromised the Church at large or some in it may become, those with Jesus are called chosen, and FAITHFUL.
He has saved us through His electing grace, and those He elects He preserves through the gift of faithfulness – to remain true to the very end. What a Savior this Lamb is. What a redeemer. How glorious our Jesus is.