Sermon Transcript
Auto Generated
Mon, Mar 24, 2024 10AM • 55:53SUMMARY KEYWORDSrevelation, remember, angel, Jesus, throne, god, lamb, church, heaven, read, seals, suffering, rewards, beast, book, earth, trumpet, death, martyred, Babylon
Good morning. Welcome. If you're new here among us, my name is Gene I serve here at C3 church as your pastor. If you're not, you know that last week, we talked about marriage. And we talked about commitment. But did you know in light of a very serious lack of commitment nowadays, it has been proposed that we change the marriage vows to this I, your name or someone's name, take so and so the person that's getting married, right? To be my wedded wife or husband, to having to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, richer, poor sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until something better comes along. Indeed, we compared our commitment to Jesus to a marriage, right? So we were in the book of Revelation, the first three chapters, from the seven letters to the churches, and it brought forward just an obvious question, is the honeymoon over? Well, we're going to continue in Revelation, the rest of it, and it'll bring forward another obvious question.
until death do us part? Did we mean that? Will we be faithful in the face of death? is the big question here. Now, we are looking at the rest of the book of Revelation. And what I'm going to attempt to do today is give you an overview, we are going to look at select scriptures, I'm going to try to do a big bulk of it, but we can't possibly get to all of it. But why am I doing this? Well, if you've been here for a while, you know why we have like that verse of the day problem in modern Christianity, right? So it's like watching a movie a little bit at a time a little bit at a time and maybe never finishing it. But drawing a lot of serious conclusions about something we've never really fully watch, right? So these books of the Bible were meant to just be read, you sit down, you read them all in one shot, and you get the big picture, or, as we've seen in this series, read aloud, literally, it says read this aloud to the churches. So that's kind of what I'm doing here dropping it into our modern context. Right. So we'll probably cover most of it between this and Bible study. So if you're new here, you might not know Bible study follows the message. So that's where we dig a little bit deeper there. Again, I told you guys last week, it is the most misinterpreted and mispronounced book of the Bible because it's not revelations. Revelation. Okay, it's an apocalypse. So if you've heard the name, Calypso, it comes from Calypso in Greek, which is to cover or hide our boat come at sea, to uncover Apocalypse at our translation revelation, but think of it as to read veal revelation, right. So this is not a secret code book, but exactly the opposite. And it would have been a secret or wouldn't have been a secret to the readers that day. So what we are going to do is the right thing, we're going to look at Revelation not through like a new lens, not through a worldly lens, now through a political lens, not through a conspiracy. Whatever it is YouTube lens, right, we're just going to look at it through the lens of the Bible. Imagine that, and sprinkling in some history here to understand the historical context a little bit. And what's going on here, it helps, no big thing to remember, right? Science, they're actually called in Greek, but symbols, let's think of it as symbols. There's a lot of symbolism here. And we have to remember that right? So this is very, very important that I see people and there's nothing wrong with it. But I see people like drawing pictures of the things that are described in Revelation as if they're like real, you know, they're symbols of things. So I'll explain this to you. As we go throughout. Now, we looked at the seven churches, and the book is going to shift while remembering just a little overview here. What we talked about was right, the rewards for what overcoming persecution. That's really like if we got to draw big themes, I'm going to give you kind of like a theme verse to take into the rest of it. So carry this with you into the rest of it, because, again, it's all one book. I'm breaking it into two parts, but it's all one book. So we need to remember this. I will put this up key summary verse revelation 210. Don't be afraid of what you're about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you, you will suffer for 10 days as it was the case in Smyrna. But if you remain fake For even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. So in reading the rest of Revelation, this must be kept in mind. So, get like any other book of the Bible, if you just take bits and pieces from Revelation and you don't read the whole thing and have the whole thing in mind, you will get it wrong, right? So we're going to avoid that mistake. So let's hop right in Revelation for one. This is John. Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven. And the same voice I heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast, the voice said, come up here and I will show you what must happen after this. And instantly I was in the spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone's sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones like Jasper and Carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow 24 throne surrounded him and 24 Elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and a gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the seven fold Spirit of God, in front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling light crystal, in the center, and Around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion. The second was like an ox, a third had a human face. And the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings and their wings were covered all of our lives, inside and out. Day after day and night after night. They keep on saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was the one who is and who is still to come. I don't know if you caught that, but symbolism that you catch it like a lion, right? So like an ox. So keep this in mind is URI. Now, what is important here, and if you've been with us for a long time, we just don't have time for it today. But ideally, what I would do is you'd be here all day, that's what would happen. And what we would do is we would try to read Isaiah, we especially Ezekiel, Jeremiah, we'd read Daniel, right, so I'm going to kind of hop back and see you might have caught a little bit in here from Ezekiel especially so some said, like the eyes. So this just symbolizes God is all knowing he sees everything, right. So it's important to remember, he sees everything. So it's kind of like that meme, right? Like Jesus is watching you as you scroll through stuff you're not supposed to be, right. So that's what you need to think of, in a modern context, I'm doing my best. So now we get this symbolic worship in heaven. So that's what we're seeing here and there's like a song. Now, I want you to remember seven, so there were seven churches. Now there are a lot of sevens and kind of, they're going to go together here, Revelation five one, then I saw a scroll on the right hand of the one who is sitting on the throne. And there was writing on the inside the outside of the scroll that was sealed with seven seals. Seven, I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals on the scroll and open it. But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. Then I began to weep bitterly as John weeping because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the 24 elders said to me stop leaving. Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory, he is worthy to open the scroll and it's seven seals. Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. But he's now standing between the throne and the for living beings among the 24 Elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represents the seven fold Spirit of God that is out sent out into every part of the earth, he stepped forward and took this girl from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll the for living beings, the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a heart, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which were the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song with these words, you are worthy to take this girl and break it seals and open it for you are slaughtered. And your blood has read as ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people in Asia. And you've caused them to become a kingdom of priests for God, and they will reign on earth. Okay, so a couple of things to notice here. Right? So combines the lines, it's a Jesus right? So it's like combining these two images of Jesus, but what is he? What does John see a slaughtered lamb? Okay, now remember that you have to keep all this in mind. Right? So now what you're going to see here is that John hears things, but then when he turns and sees them, so just kind of I don't know if you caught that already, but it'll say if we continue, I'll kind of summarize here. I heard the voices of 1000s and millions of angels around the throne, and other living beings and the elders and they sang in a mighty chorus. Worthy is the Lamb who is slaughtered important, so he hears. So now what's going to happen is, well, this sets the stage right, so John hears the Lammas slaughter He hears He sees important to remember The point here, Jesus's like, Jesus fulfills what said about the Messiah in the Old Testament by what? Dying. Right? So he died he was slaughtered. So it wasn't done as the Jewish people of that day expected. Correct. Like they expected some kind of warrior king. What is he being depicted here as a slaughtered lamb? Right. So for Christians who don't get it today, right? No, right. So this is the point of the book. Jesus was slaughtered. Now, seven cycles of seven. So if we're going backwards, and you know, Revelation, right, so you understand the bowls that come out of the trumpets, the trumpets come out of the seven seals, it's kind of backwards here. We're going to go forward again. So here's the thing. Each of the sevens culminates in a Final Judgment, final ish judgment, right, but it's the same period of time. So this illustration has been given, which is pretty good. It's like those nesting dolls, you know, like, it's, they're like the Russian painted wooden nesting doll think they go inside of one another. So kind of like that, you're going to see three cycles of seven happening, that are retelling the same period of time, that's really important to remember in Revelation. So our first is in Revelation six through eight, it's going to be like the first thing I'm going to summarize a bit. So you've heard of like the four horsemen. So you're going to have the first six seals happening here in chapter six. So you have the white horse with the bow, conquest, the red horse, sword war, the black horse with the rider pair of spirit skills, famine, and the pale green rider with death is his companion right in the grave, they kill a quarter of everything, the grave is his companion. Not revelation six, nine, when the lips of the first four seals when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the Word of God, and for being faithful in their testimony, they shouted Lord and said, Oh, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done for us that a white robe was given to each of them? And they were told the rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters, their fellow servants of Jesus, who were to be martyred? Join them. Okay. So did you catch that? Like the lamb, they're just doing what the lamb did, they are being martyred. So we're catching the theme here and you guys are getting uncomfortable. It's okay. It's going to get a lot worse, right? So.
So remember those white like, white garments, remember that like so some of the rewards were white things like Whitestone like garments. So you starting to see that now like they're given like kind of an early reward here they've been martyred but pay attention to these people. Now six seal, the lamb broke the six seal, the sun became as dark as black claw, the moon became red, his blood and the stars the sky fell to earth like green pigs falling from a tree shaking by strong with the sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all the mountains and islands removed from their places, what happens now, you get this picture of people hiding from this whole thing. It's this terrible thing happening. Then John sees four angels, he sees another angel coming from the east who says, Wait, don't own the land, or the sea, or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on their foreheads. Now, as you've got if you know Ezekiel real well, you notice Ezekiel Nine, and you probably remember, like, the guys and there's guys with the writing case, right? And so all who aren't like mourning over Jerusalem, you know, they, they don't put the seal on them. So the ones with the seal are protected from the slaughter from the judgment. So that's what's happening here. Right? So important. Remember, John, here's those who are marked with the seal of God 144,000 Right. So Judah, right Reuben, Gad, Asher and a family Manasa Simeon, Levi and cigars, Oberlin, Joseph and Benjamin, we'll discuss why Dan's not in their Bible study. So well, 1000 of each Here we go. I told you, I'm going to go quick. So that's what John here here's, then he turns and sees after this, I saw a vast prep to great to come from every nation, tribe and people in language standing in front of the throne. So one thing I'm going to do as I go through evolution, I'm trying to just touch on some like typical, plus some typical bad teachings a lot about teachings on it, but these are the bigger ones. So this whole idea of the only 144,000 are getting in wrong, you stopped reading. So you're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to read why just read you get to verse nine. And then it says, what he sees he hears this army, right? Just say Israel, right? These tribes of Israel except Dan, but he hears that but then he turns and sees like, just crazy numbers too many to count. A multi knows every nation and every tribe. Ah, see, realize, so it's this multitude is what he then sees, right? So salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne of the Lamb. So, again, he's mentioning the lamb against. So this is this multi ethnic army, the warriors who have died before they were martyred. And they're given white robes. So remember that right? So they're following along with what the lamb did. So they're slaughtered here. Revelation 713. Then one of the 24 elders asked me who are these who are clothed and white? Where did they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you were the one who knows. But he said to me, these are the ones who died in the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the land and made them white. That is why they stand in front of God's throne and serve them day and night in the temple. And he sits on the throne will give them shelter, they will never again be hungry or thirsty. They'll never be scorched by the heat of the sun for the lamb on the throne will be their shepherd, he will lead them to springs of life giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes is projecting towards the end here. So did you catch that? They died in the what? Tribulation. So, quick note, Nether false teaching pre trib Rapture. So none of this theology that all these like smart people came up with 1000s of years later, whatever. It didn't exist in the early church. And the early church, they understood full well, that that's how you get the prize. Right? So we're going to see that right. So all this new theology stuff, just it twist things up for us just read the Word of God, that should be enough, which says, Christians go through the Tribulation, right? And we talked about the rapture, and like, no, no, no, no, no, right? So what's sad is in the modern church, even those preaching against the prosperity gospel and all other stuff, and realize most of them in the evangelical church hold to a prosperity gospel of their own.
You got to be careful with that, right? So now chapter eight, we get to the seventh seal. So when the lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about a half hour. Now we get the next set of subs remember these nesting dolls. So we revisit the scene, but now with the trumpet. So I saw the seven angels who stand before God and they were given seven trumpets. So note, the trumpets are coming from the seventh seal. So here we go. The first four trumpets, seven angels seven trumpets, they prepare to blow the first angel blew his trumpet, and hail mixed with fire and blood. And then the second angel blew loses trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. third angel blows his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky burning like a torch, the fourth angel blows his trumpet, 1/3 of the Sun was struck 1/3 of the moon 1/3 of the stars and they became dark, and 1/3 of the day was dark, and also 1/3 of the night. So you might be catching some like Exodus themes here. Alright, that's the fourth shattering revelation nine, when the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that fall into there from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. Locusts, then locusts came, they were told not to harm the grass of the plants of the trees, but only the people who did not have the sealed God on their forehead. So remember that seal, right, the sixth seal and chapter seven again? Seems like I'm moving quick. But now you're getting a bigger picture, I hope right you so you're starting to kind of see, oh, this all goes together, right? So they were told not to kill them, but to torture them for five months, and pain, like the pain of a scorpion staying well what happened to them. In those days, people will seek death, but they won't find it. They will want to die, but death will flee from them. Now, the sixth trumpet brings the second terror and the voice. Instead of the sixth angel, the trumpet released the four angels who are bound to the grant Euphrates river than the four angels who have been prepared for this hour this day, the month and year are turned loose to kill 1/3 Of all the people on earth. If you're looking he here's the size of their army, which was 200 million now integers. How long were you? Here's it. So now, we have here 1/3 of the people are killed by like these three plagues, the fire the smoke, the burning sulfur, and it just mentions those people who didn't die. They didn't repent either. Right. So there's still some people their relation 10 He sees another mighty angel when he shouted the seven thunders answered. When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. I heard a voice from heaven saying keep secret but the seven thunders said do not write them down. Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and lands it's kind of straddling the sea and the land. He said, No, we no more delay when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It'll happen just as he announced his servants the prophets. Then a voice from heaven spoke to me again. Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angels standing on the sea in the land. So he goes to him. Give me this call. Yes, take it and eat it. He said. It will be sweet assigning your mouth will turn sour in your stomach. So you did it now. You remember Ezekiel? Very similar thing. It's a Ezekiel three there. Need to scroll like honey, chapter 11 measuring the temple and then the two witnesses. So, some measurements on the temple kind of reminiscence of Zechariah. If we were going to go there, these two witnesses, there'll be clothing burlap. And we'll prophesied during 1260 days, just kind of remember that number, it's going to come up again. Now it tells us, if you will speculate about who they are. These two prophets are the two olive trees and the Two Lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Do you remember what the lampstands were? Churches? Right? Were you guys remember, there was a test. So the churches there were the church remember the stars, the angels? So if we were remembering the beginning, ah, so what happens? People get to this, they don't read the beginning. They read this part. And they read the beginning two years ago, and they don't get it right. But it just somebody knows what happens in church. Right? Thank you. That's exactly what happened. It tells us who they are. Right? The book has already identified Latin. So now you get these figurative cities to you're going to see Sodom and Egypt. They're figurative, right? So really important, Babylon is Rome, Gods. So when they complete their testimony, the beasts that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and they'll conquer them and kill them. And their bodies will lie in the main street of the great city or Jerusalem. The city that is figuratively it tells us called Sonam and Egypt, but no one will be allowed to bury them. And all the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and get presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets, who had tormented them. But this is us. We get a prefigure the resurrection, like what happened to Jesus, right? He was martyred, he died. But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them. And they stood up, Tara struck all those who were staring at them that a loud voice from Heaven called the two prophets come up here. And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched couple things. Right? So remember the martyrs. So how do we achieve victory? There's a prefigure kind of the resurrection. We're seeing that we achieve victory through what Jesus did. So the lampstands witnesses churches, we get that now. Yes. Okay, hope so. I'm not going back through it. I'm just not going to. Okay, the trumpet brings up third, Revelation 1115. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And there were loud voices shouting in heaven. The world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. The 24 elders sitting on their thrones before him, fell on their faces the ground and worshipped him. So we have more worship in Heavens, it's like a cyclical kind of thing that will keep happening in the worship. Basically, what happens lightning flashes, Thunder crashes and roared, right, and there was an earthquake, and a terrible hailstorm. So this part is ending again, this is God's judgment, like he's doing the judging not us. Right. So now 12 through 14, as a section, symbols, symbols, right. So you have the serpent versus the woman, the woman's a little bit more complex, I'll explain it. But the serpent is much easier. Even if you've never really read the Bible, you probably get it. It's a revelation from he sees a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head. So if you really read the Bible, it's kind of like Song of Solomon, the woman in there like in 610, she was pregnant, she cried out, because we're labor pains, and the agony of giving birth. And I witnessed in heaven, another significant event, I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, seven crowns on it on its head. Now to tell us if we keep reading where this is. Now the woman gives birth to a son, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod, and her child was snatched away from her when a sari snatched away from the dragon, it was caught up to God and His throne. And the woman fled the wilderness where God prepared a place to care for 1260 days. Same as the witnesses remember, that same period of time, then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. So this is telling us it's a spiritual battle. If you recall, Daniel, Daniel 10, same type of thing happens right? So the spirit Prince Michael fighting, so if you read Daniel, you know, right, so the dragon lost the battle. And he and his angels are forced out of having this great dragon, the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world is thrown down to the earth with all his angels now. Go back the woman and a male child and so a lot of people traditional denominations will associate this with Mary. Alright, and if you stopped reading there, okay, it doesn't explicitly say so but I get doesn't name her, but I get it but you need to keep reading Revelation Well, important little thing here. Just before I go on, there's a little and I really should have it on the screen. I didn't. It's my fault. But we get another key verse here. We're going to see this theme again. So basically what happens is there's like worship in heaven over the beast being thrown down to the earth. And Revelation 1210 Right. He accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down there so they're celebrating in heaven. This happened that happened. But it's an interesting verse, verse 11, they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives until death. sketch that it's how do they conquer the blood of the Lamb? Jesus. He did the battling right? By what? Dying, right and they did not live their lives until death. So important thing now, Dragon realizes there's a quick little thing that happens revelations like that right in there. So it's just sandwiched in there, but we kind of get a theme verse. But I was worried it would break it up. And you just got to understand that. So let's go back to the dragon. Remember that when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the women who had given birth to the male child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared and wellness, then she would be cared for and protected from the Dragon for time and times half a time now. And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children.
All who keep God's commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus. What? So better scholars better people looking at this early Christians have all said it when they're looking at it rightly? The woman's the church, so she may start as Israel but Israel so you see 24 Elders, what is that? Right? So you have the 12 tribes of Israel, but then what kind of like supplants them? The 12 apostles? So you see, do so as the steam is happening again here, right? So Israel, so yes, this woman gives birth. Israel sees from that seed, right that line, but it's the church. Why, especially for traditional tenant, some believe that Mary was perpetually a virgin. So how, pray tell, Chris, you have more children? If that's your belief, wrong answer. It's the church. So another really important thing for you if you're learning today, keep reading, keep reading really important. By the way, we were already kind of told this, if you read first Peter 513. He talks about the church, but he calls it a sheet. It's a sheet, and where's it Babylon, so we'll get there. That's aka Rome. But anyway, the point is, Michael, the devil, spiritual battles in Ephesians, six, right are wars not against flesh and blood. It's against the spiritual forces. So this is what's going on here. Now, we have the same conflict here, but two beasts that symbolizes economic, and military power, that's really all it's about. Alright, so interesting, just a quick thing if your Bible or this piece looked like a leopard, but had the feet of a bear and the mouth of the lion, and the dragon gave the beasts his own power and throwing great authority. So if you remember Daniel seven, I believe it's seven. There are like different V's right, so the first one looks like a leopard. The second one is like a bear. The third one's like a lion. There's, there's different animals there. Right? So what this was doing? Well, if you read Daniel, we knew that they were like the superpowers of that day and you see, you have like, back then, you know, Babylon, Greece, Persia, you know, Rome is going to be coming this this combined combination of everything. Wait a minute, Rome was what a combination of everything or like the last power, what did John just do? He put all the powers together. Right? So if you nerding out, Daniels already kind of told us about this, there's an important statement here just happens in the text. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. So these reminders are being dropped in constantly. So don't get stuck on the beasts like, get stuck on your roll here. Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth, he had two horns like those are the Lambert's folk are the voice of the dragon, and require all the earth and its people to worship the first beast. So now we get something where people just read this, right? So Revelation 1316, he required everyone small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to be given a mark on the right hand, or the forehead. I'm going to stop right here, because we should just stop right? And I'll tell you what, these are credit cards. If you have a credit card, get rid of it, or right now. Give it a crack. In fact, let's get it out. We're going to be passing around scissors today. Kenny is probably good for a lot of you anyway. So just my wife, nevermind, so. And no, I'm going to stop. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number. Right presenting his name. Wisdom is needed here for sure. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beasts versus the number of a man his number is 666. You'll notice what I put there are 616. Why? Because some early manuscripts these 616 So get hung up on it. But wait, is this a difference in the Word of God? What are we going to do? Oh no, let's ignore it. Right because it's what we do when things are difficult. This is called Gematria I'm not a math person. I'm not an expert. It's when numerical values are assigned to letters or words when you do that, and people back then would have known this, it spells Nero Caesar, Caesar Nero. When you do 616, Caesar and neuron really close, it's about the same thing. So because we have those two numbers, it's dead obvious that it's Nero. What else makes it obvious we're going to be talking about Babylon, which Peter already told us is, Rome C is really important. Read your bibles is talking about Nero Rome. It's not today, it has nothing to do with your credit card. Those are the tinfoil you can wear them because they're kind of funny looking. But you know, you're going to get made fun of by me. So anyway, what? What's the deal here? Alright, so the hand the forehead was that mean? If you read your Bible, you know, because it's all over the place. Deuteronomy six Shema Yisrael, Adonai, Eloheinu, Adonai. Hard, right? It's the Shema. Do you want to speak Hebrew? And I did have really bad job there, but it's okay. It was for a fact. But what does it tell you to do with these things? It tells them to put them on your forehead, put them on your hand. And then when you read the rest of the New Testament talks about it a lot, why it just symbolizes, remember them and do them. You do with your hands? Remember, with your mind, that's all. That's what this is. And if people read their Bibles, they just go Oh, yeah, just like Deuteronomy, but they don't, because they don't. So anyway, this contrast now with the lamb and the 144,000, is the revelation 14, sees the land. And there were the 144,000. Remember that he heard, who had his name, and his Father's name written on their foreheads, they're protected, right. And the other ones are not they sang a wonderful song or worship here. And then he sees another angel flying through the sky, carrying eternal good news. So he's proclaiming the good news. Then another angel followed him through the sky shouting, Babylon is fallen, Rome, that great city is falling because she's made all the nations of the world drink the wine over passionate idolatry and immorality or adultery. So it's wrong. The 30 Angel follow them thing. Anyone who worships the beast, and his statue accepts the mark on the forehead of the hand, must drink the wine of God's anger. Revelation 14 Well, this means that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus and heard a voice from heaven saying, write this down. Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, as a spirit, they are blessed indeed, for their arrest from their hard work for their deeds will follow them. Are you getting the refrain here? And what keeps coming up? Right, so should we just know and let's speculate about the mark of the beast again? No, that's not the part for us. Just know Do you see what's happening here it's contrasting those who are predicted by God that have this mark, but we're going to have to suffer persecution is going to happen right? So we will suffer we achieve victory like Jesus. So far, there's nothing in here giving us any other roadmap to achieving victory except doing what Jesus did following him. Right. So now remember the martyrs Wouldn't they want? Judgment? So if we remember that this makes a lot of sense, Jesus is going to bring in so what we get now is like some it looks like the parable of the great harvest that Jesus tells right so the Son of man he has a gold crown on a sharp sickle and his hand natural flow here, right? Because one of them okay, I'm going to have to suffer persecution. Great, right? So wait, again, let's talk about the judgment, right? Jesus is going to come back so all the bad guys, right? So now sevens again. Remember seven seals, seven trumpets. Now seven bowls. Exodus plague. Remember them again. They're like a foreshadowing. But John is going to say and you should know this seven last plagues. They're going to bring God's wrath to completion. They're singing the song of lamb. Moses could more worship in heaven again, cyclical here, Revelation 16. So we get the first three plagues. The first angel left the temple poured out his ball on the earth, horrible malignant sores broke out on everyone on the mark of the beast in worship, the statues are under the sores and they throw the dust in there. The second angel point as well in the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse and everything was he died. Oh, like, like Exodus. If I just said revelation, Exodus, sorry, I got a little dyslexia there. The third angel born I was born in the rivers and springs, and they became blood. Again, very reminiscent. Before the angel born. I was born on the sun. It's scorched everybody, the fifth angel poured out of the ball on the throne of the beast. His kingdom was plunged into darkness as his subjects drowned or gnashed their teeth. Remember this? Jesus speaks like that. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl, he saw three evil spirits it looked like frogs remember the frogs and the Exodus plague. And they looked from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. Ah, CDC, things coming from other things same period of time. So they're demonic spirits. And they're gathering like their armies to a place in Armageddon.
Mosquito if you understand this is probably not a future battle. So if you understand the Old Testament, you'll go Oh, yeah, it's like that. And they'll talk about Gog and Magog. Oh yeah, remember that from Ezekiel, right? So you'd start going, Oh, I remember that. That has already happened. Right? So there are these symbolic battles now. Remember Babylon. Rome final judgment in the seventh angel pour out His bones in the air. And a mighty shock came from the throne, the temple saying it's finished, then thunder crash unrolled lightning flash remember that from before, and a great earthquake struck the worst since people were placed on the earth, the great city of Babylon split into three sections in the cities, many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So here, that's seven again, Captain a final judgment now, Chapter 17. And 18. Just going to give you the summary real quick. There's a prostitute drunk with blood. That's wrong. Right? So she's writing on a dragon and it starts blending all these symbols, right? Mosaic, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and here you get the beast, the beast is there, the kings of that time, the prostitute Babylon, and then 18th and for the beginning of 19th, just more and more prays over Babylon’s defeat, again reminiscent of the prophets where you have things like you know, in the vultures will be gathered to eat the corpses language like that. Now, you get the final, final battle. So most of the bulk of revelation there's dealing with, like prophecy from that near Earth time, not now. Now, this is future. Revelation 1911. Then I saw heaven open. White horse was standing there. Its rider was named faithful and true, for he judges fairly and wages are righteous war, his eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowds and name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood. And his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed Him on white horses. From his mouth came his sharp sword to strike down the nation's he will rule them with an iron rod, he will release the fierce wrath of God the Almighty like juice flowing from Orion wine press on his robe as right die was written his title, King of all kings, Lord of all lords. Amen. That is Jesus coming back. Right. So this is what we're waiting for. This is what all our hope is. I'll break it down just a little bit. Know that his robe has dipped in blood before the battle starts. What does that symbolize? Remember the slaughtered lamb? Alright, that's it. So quickly, the two edged sword coming from his mouth. Remember, we talked about that a little bit last week? You see people misquote Hebrews four all the time, the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two edged sword. Just stop there, but you don't know the rest either do but later we'll talk about him. Nothing in creation is hidden from him. Because it's not talking about the Bible. Yes, the Bible is the Word of God. But it's a misquote. It's not about the Bible, that Judgment Sword. You're seeing an action now. That's the sword. Alright, so that word of God there is talking about Jesus, why the surrounding context if he were for his judgment, that's what it's about there. People don't like that word a lot. So they ignore it. So he strikes him down. He's the one who does this. Now we see something interesting, it should go together, we were paying attention, the vindication of the martyrs revelation 21. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit with a heavy chain in his head, he sees the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, Satan, and bound him in chains for 1000 years, the angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut lots of Satan cannot deceive the nations anymore. Until the 1000 years were finished. Afterward, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and people sitting on them. They'd be given authority judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the Word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or statue nor accepted the mark on their foreheads of their hands. That all came to life again, and they reign with Christ for 1000 years now, the 1000s of years is debated a little bit whether it's fear of time, but what's the point here? Again, the Lamb of God does the conquering are we hearing a lot about martyrs? Ah, didn't remember that in Revelation, right? So it's a lot about the martyrs that were given the white robes, these are these people. And so what revelations clearly telling us now is, if you get beheaded for Jesus, you get to experience the first resurrection. Say what? Revelation 25 This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the 1000 years and ended blessing holier those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but there will be preserved Christ will reign with him for 1000 years to receive those rewards in the seven churches becoming combined. So if you get beheaded for Jesus, good for you. Not really popular in the evangelical church, right? Like, that's my message. Like so Okay, a lot of you're not coming back next week, but that's okay. We're going to stay faithful to this Sorry, not sorry, not going to apologize for that. But this is what happens. There are two resurrections. And this is just looking at history, people were like lining up to die in the Coliseum to get beheaded to get killed, because they actually believe this. So anyway, now we have the defeat of Satan in the final battle. And it's going to be explained twice, second time here. But the final judgment, Revelation 2011. And I saw a great white throne and one sitting on earth and the sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books are open, including the book of life, we saw that before. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up, it's dead and deaths in the grave give up their dead, and all were judged according to their deeds than death in the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found record in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. So there's those deeds again. That's weird. We saw that in the first part, right? Well, yes, Ephesians two, we are saved. by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is what we believe here. Right? God Christianity, but continue reading again, we are created anew in Christ for good work. So that faith you were talking about what you do says more about that faith than anything you say. That's the point. getting judged should be no surprise. You've been here for a while. Read this all throughout the series in the New Testament, Romans 14 Second Corinthians five First Peter, it's all over the place, we will be judged first. Sorry, not sorry. So Jesus comes back the point he will vindicate us. Amen. Leaving that in the Lord's hands, and we who are faithful and obedient, will be rewarded. That's the point. So now we see a new creation. This is what we're looking forward to here. Revelation 20 119, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old earth disappeared, and the sea, sorry, old heaven on earth. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of having like a bride beautifully dressed for husband, I heard a loud shot from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people, he will live with them. And they will be as people, God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there'll be no more death or sorrow, or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I'm making everything new. And he said to me write this down for I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said it is finished, and the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, for only thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious, will inherit all these blessings and I will be their God. Remember, this is Jesus talking. Jesus calls himself God in the Bible, and they will be my children, but cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt the murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and all liars. Their fate isn't a fiery lake of burning sulfur, which is the second death. So again, yes, we're saved by grace. But if you've saved don't lie.
You're laughing they're so scary. It says it more than once in Revelations just to let you know, honestly, apparently very important to Jesus. So there we see the new heavens and the new earth. We saw this in Second Peter right. So this earth, all the things in it will be melted away. It is all stained, it is corrupt. Everything here is gone. Along with it. All the sorrow, all the pain, right? Everything that we're suffering here is gone. We'll have new heavenly bodies, this will all be made new and wonderful. And the point of saying that about all these evil people, there'll be no evil people, right? So we have to worry about that anymore. We don't have to suffer anything inwardly outwardly, a quick note the Bride of Christ, Jerusalem writes it. Some people refer to the church as the bride of Christ, and get it because especially because the woman this and that, but here we're told that I mean, he showed me this. I'll show you the bride and lamb right. And so he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, just as a quick note there so it's better that the Church is the Body of Christ through some of the bride but they can be intermixed, no big deal, I'll get over it. So then you see a description and measurement of the Holy City. So like another kind of measuring thing. Again, the reiteration nothing evil will be allowed to enter and it goes through all these bad things. Just those are listed in the Lamb's book of life. Then, the angel in Revelation 21 shows them a river of the water of life. I've learned from the throat front of the lamp, and on each side, a tree of life. We saw the tree of life and those rewards. So the conclusion of the book Jesus says, Look, I'm going Coming soon, blessed are those who obey. So you know the words of prophecy written this book, Revelation 2216, I, Jesus have sent my angel to give this message for the churches on both the source of David and the heir to the throne. I'm the bright morning stars at Morningstar, we talked about last week, the Spirit and the bride say, Come if you want to, here's the st come, anyone who's thirsty, come, let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy written in this book, if anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add that person the plague described in this book. And if anyone removes any other words from this book from his prophecy, God will remove that person share in the tree of life and the holy city that are described in this book, he was faith of the faithful witness all these things is Yes, I'm coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's holy people. That is what revelations all about. So if you read this and understand it now, you know, I get so serious about people depicting the Bible and adding words or taking them away. Do you want to take chances with that? I don't know. Thanks. I'll just stick to this. Thank you very much. And I can turn off the TV when those stupid shows come on. So indeed, indeed, we've discussed the sin of adding to the Word of God and the consequences of it. Right. But despite this warning, most have twisted revelation so much, that they've completely lost its meaning. People have made this book a book to predict when the tribulation might happen. So they can evade it somehow. Despite Jesus's clear warning, what did he say in Matthew 24, Mark 13x. One about these things this time, nobody knows. Not even the Son, only the Father, yet people today, arrogantly come a long way to do but I know. If you know the Word of God, you're like, God, you just stop you saying, you know more than Jesus? Yes, that's what they're saying. Okay, crazy. So here's the thing, they want to dis obediently evade this persecution or suffering for him, when the Bible teaches that that very suffering joins us to him. And guess what? We're rewarded for it. We're rewarded for it. So this is a false short sighted teaching that deprives us of those rewards. Any hard I get it, I really like my K, what do you want to do today? Let's go get beheaded. Sounds great. Because I get it, I get it, I totally get it. But it's more the other way around. Like if you're suffering and that's about to happen to you, Well, I'm first you win that race, right, you get the reward first. And if it is 1000 years, that sounds pretty cool to me. Sitting with Jesus on the throne for 1000 year, walk can be better than that. That's fine. To be a part of that. That's the right thinking if we're being faithful, if we have faith. So a lot of these teachings are completely short sighted and faithless. They lack faith. That's the problem. Revelation, in reality is all about enduring for Jesus, even if it means dying for him. That's the point of the book. Again, just to recap, we'll put them on the screen, but just to remember from the beginning and towards the end all throughout. Alright, so in the second chapter, don't be afraid of what you're about to suffer. But if you remain faithful, even when facing death, high Jesus will give you the crown of life, relation for control and this was a refrain. This means it's hilarious. It says, this means it's literally the meaning of the book, that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently, obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus Christ are the ones who die in the Lord from now on, yes, as the spirit. They're blessed indeed. But they will rest from their hard work for their good deeds, follow them. Revelation is not a crystal ball, or book of fortunes. Revelation is not a book about how we're going to escape tribulation. Revelation is not a call to arms. The book of Revelation is a book of encouragement. For those who are suffering, and dying for Jesus, it's a call to endure and to be like him. If you're a number, for example, in Margate, the only time Jesus says it, right so he predicts his suffering. So he tells the disciples what's going on. happened to him, right? So he's going to crucify, he's going to die. He's going to go through all this suffering. And Peter is being short sighted tries to stop him. What did Jesus say Get behind Me, Satan. You're thinking a man's are the world's plans, not gods. That's not the short sighted plan, Peter can stop what's going on here? Okay, 34, then calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, and for the sake of the good news gospel, you will save it will you benefit, you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message and he's adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man himself will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Jesus has had it clearly. Clearly, you must be willing to die for me. And if you deny me, I will deny you. What does that mean? Even if it means you're dying? That's it. Don't be short sighted. We'll get the rewards there. They're not here. So what does Jesus says a crystal clear with a benefit you to gain the whole world. But then lose your soul. His was understood by his disciples. All early Christians before corrupt teachings. commercialism started coming into play. well understood. Very, very important and important enough, I like it just don't want to kind of wrap up here. I want to be respectful of your time. But if I wasn't, I just had a list of a bazillion verses telling us that we're going to suffer for Jesus, it's just going to happen. There's no bait and switch here. There's just a twist to false teachers. But if you read it in its entirety as we kind of attempted today. That's what you get. But it's the truth. We must embrace the truth. We'll stand firm and the truth. Right, no matter how we feel. No matter what people are telling us, this is what it means. And just hold tightly to that hope that we have in Jesus. For that new heaven and new earth. We're looking no more of this pain. No more crying, none of what we're going through now. true justice and peace everywhere around us. Don't even need the sun. Nothing better than Florida. Yeah. This is traditionally how to break it up. He's getting real serious for a minute. This is traditionally Passion Week, right? So this is when Christians will remember what Jesus did, rightfully so it's great. So, you know, remember, we have like The Last Supper, his betrayal, his Agony in the Garden, and his crucifixion. Right? So you have that suffering, the beaten all these horrible things happening to our Lord? Yes, we celebrate that. Yes, he did. And it just it's got to happen before we get to the resurrection. But Jesus says we're not exempt from that.
That's the lesson. That's what he taught Peter. We're not exempt. We are to be molded in his image. Suffering even if it means death, because we have faith in something better than this life. Amen. So the question is, will you remain faithful in the face of death, we must stay focused on the heavenly plot prize that awaits us and believe in that. So I want to reach back to Romans because it offers us more hope and encouragement and especially more hope and encouragement than any words I could ever offer. This is kind of where I want to close. Romans five one therefore, since we haven't made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith. crisis brought us into this place of undeserved privilege. We now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory, we can rejoice to when we face tribulation. For we know that they help us develop endurance and endurance develop strength of character and character strength is our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. So let me pray for you Lord, thank You for Everyone came in to be faithful to your Word this morning. I just want to encourage all of them no matter where they're at, just like it says the promises in this book. We look forward to that new heaven and the new earth will no more tears no more crying, no more pain. Largest. Just build these people up with encouragement with your love with your mercy, with your grace with your patience, as we joyfully await the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I asked these things
Good morning. Welcome. If you're new here among us, my name is Gene I serve here at C3 church as your pastor. If you're not, you know that last week, we talked about marriage. And we talked about commitment. But did you know in light of a very serious lack of commitment nowadays, it has been proposed that we change the marriage vows to this I, your name or someone's name, take so and so the person that's getting married, right? To be my wedded wife or husband, to having to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, richer, poor sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until something better comes along. Indeed, we compared our commitment to Jesus to a marriage, right? So we were in the book of Revelation, the first three chapters, from the seven letters to the churches, and it brought forward just an obvious question, is the honeymoon over? Well, we're going to continue in Revelation, the rest of it, and it'll bring forward another obvious question.
until death do us part? Did we mean that? Will we be faithful in the face of death? is the big question here. Now, we are looking at the rest of the book of Revelation. And what I'm going to attempt to do today is give you an overview, we are going to look at select scriptures, I'm going to try to do a big bulk of it, but we can't possibly get to all of it. But why am I doing this? Well, if you've been here for a while, you know why we have like that verse of the day problem in modern Christianity, right? So it's like watching a movie a little bit at a time a little bit at a time and maybe never finishing it. But drawing a lot of serious conclusions about something we've never really fully watch, right? So these books of the Bible were meant to just be read, you sit down, you read them all in one shot, and you get the big picture, or, as we've seen in this series, read aloud, literally, it says read this aloud to the churches. So that's kind of what I'm doing here dropping it into our modern context. Right. So we'll probably cover most of it between this and Bible study. So if you're new here, you might not know Bible study follows the message. So that's where we dig a little bit deeper there. Again, I told you guys last week, it is the most misinterpreted and mispronounced book of the Bible because it's not revelations. Revelation. Okay, it's an apocalypse. So if you've heard the name, Calypso, it comes from Calypso in Greek, which is to cover or hide our boat come at sea, to uncover Apocalypse at our translation revelation, but think of it as to read veal revelation, right. So this is not a secret code book, but exactly the opposite. And it would have been a secret or wouldn't have been a secret to the readers that day. So what we are going to do is the right thing, we're going to look at Revelation not through like a new lens, not through a worldly lens, now through a political lens, not through a conspiracy. Whatever it is YouTube lens, right, we're just going to look at it through the lens of the Bible. Imagine that, and sprinkling in some history here to understand the historical context a little bit. And what's going on here, it helps, no big thing to remember, right? Science, they're actually called in Greek, but symbols, let's think of it as symbols. There's a lot of symbolism here. And we have to remember that right? So this is very, very important that I see people and there's nothing wrong with it. But I see people like drawing pictures of the things that are described in Revelation as if they're like real, you know, they're symbols of things. So I'll explain this to you. As we go throughout. Now, we looked at the seven churches, and the book is going to shift while remembering just a little overview here. What we talked about was right, the rewards for what overcoming persecution. That's really like if we got to draw big themes, I'm going to give you kind of like a theme verse to take into the rest of it. So carry this with you into the rest of it, because, again, it's all one book. I'm breaking it into two parts, but it's all one book. So we need to remember this. I will put this up key summary verse revelation 210. Don't be afraid of what you're about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you, you will suffer for 10 days as it was the case in Smyrna. But if you remain fake For even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. So in reading the rest of Revelation, this must be kept in mind. So, get like any other book of the Bible, if you just take bits and pieces from Revelation and you don't read the whole thing and have the whole thing in mind, you will get it wrong, right? So we're going to avoid that mistake. So let's hop right in Revelation for one. This is John. Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven. And the same voice I heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast, the voice said, come up here and I will show you what must happen after this. And instantly I was in the spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone's sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones like Jasper and Carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow 24 throne surrounded him and 24 Elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and a gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the seven fold Spirit of God, in front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling light crystal, in the center, and Around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion. The second was like an ox, a third had a human face. And the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings and their wings were covered all of our lives, inside and out. Day after day and night after night. They keep on saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was the one who is and who is still to come. I don't know if you caught that, but symbolism that you catch it like a lion, right? So like an ox. So keep this in mind is URI. Now, what is important here, and if you've been with us for a long time, we just don't have time for it today. But ideally, what I would do is you'd be here all day, that's what would happen. And what we would do is we would try to read Isaiah, we especially Ezekiel, Jeremiah, we'd read Daniel, right, so I'm going to kind of hop back and see you might have caught a little bit in here from Ezekiel especially so some said, like the eyes. So this just symbolizes God is all knowing he sees everything, right. So it's important to remember, he sees everything. So it's kind of like that meme, right? Like Jesus is watching you as you scroll through stuff you're not supposed to be, right. So that's what you need to think of, in a modern context, I'm doing my best. So now we get this symbolic worship in heaven. So that's what we're seeing here and there's like a song. Now, I want you to remember seven, so there were seven churches. Now there are a lot of sevens and kind of, they're going to go together here, Revelation five one, then I saw a scroll on the right hand of the one who is sitting on the throne. And there was writing on the inside the outside of the scroll that was sealed with seven seals. Seven, I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals on the scroll and open it. But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. Then I began to weep bitterly as John weeping because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the 24 elders said to me stop leaving. Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory, he is worthy to open the scroll and it's seven seals. Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. But he's now standing between the throne and the for living beings among the 24 Elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represents the seven fold Spirit of God that is out sent out into every part of the earth, he stepped forward and took this girl from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll the for living beings, the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a heart, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which were the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song with these words, you are worthy to take this girl and break it seals and open it for you are slaughtered. And your blood has read as ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people in Asia. And you've caused them to become a kingdom of priests for God, and they will reign on earth. Okay, so a couple of things to notice here. Right? So combines the lines, it's a Jesus right? So it's like combining these two images of Jesus, but what is he? What does John see a slaughtered lamb? Okay, now remember that you have to keep all this in mind. Right? So now what you're going to see here is that John hears things, but then when he turns and sees them, so just kind of I don't know if you caught that already, but it'll say if we continue, I'll kind of summarize here. I heard the voices of 1000s and millions of angels around the throne, and other living beings and the elders and they sang in a mighty chorus. Worthy is the Lamb who is slaughtered important, so he hears. So now what's going to happen is, well, this sets the stage right, so John hears the Lammas slaughter He hears He sees important to remember The point here, Jesus's like, Jesus fulfills what said about the Messiah in the Old Testament by what? Dying. Right? So he died he was slaughtered. So it wasn't done as the Jewish people of that day expected. Correct. Like they expected some kind of warrior king. What is he being depicted here as a slaughtered lamb? Right. So for Christians who don't get it today, right? No, right. So this is the point of the book. Jesus was slaughtered. Now, seven cycles of seven. So if we're going backwards, and you know, Revelation, right, so you understand the bowls that come out of the trumpets, the trumpets come out of the seven seals, it's kind of backwards here. We're going to go forward again. So here's the thing. Each of the sevens culminates in a Final Judgment, final ish judgment, right, but it's the same period of time. So this illustration has been given, which is pretty good. It's like those nesting dolls, you know, like, it's, they're like the Russian painted wooden nesting doll think they go inside of one another. So kind of like that, you're going to see three cycles of seven happening, that are retelling the same period of time, that's really important to remember in Revelation. So our first is in Revelation six through eight, it's going to be like the first thing I'm going to summarize a bit. So you've heard of like the four horsemen. So you're going to have the first six seals happening here in chapter six. So you have the white horse with the bow, conquest, the red horse, sword war, the black horse with the rider pair of spirit skills, famine, and the pale green rider with death is his companion right in the grave, they kill a quarter of everything, the grave is his companion. Not revelation six, nine, when the lips of the first four seals when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the Word of God, and for being faithful in their testimony, they shouted Lord and said, Oh, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done for us that a white robe was given to each of them? And they were told the rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters, their fellow servants of Jesus, who were to be martyred? Join them. Okay. So did you catch that? Like the lamb, they're just doing what the lamb did, they are being martyred. So we're catching the theme here and you guys are getting uncomfortable. It's okay. It's going to get a lot worse, right? So.
So remember those white like, white garments, remember that like so some of the rewards were white things like Whitestone like garments. So you starting to see that now like they're given like kind of an early reward here they've been martyred but pay attention to these people. Now six seal, the lamb broke the six seal, the sun became as dark as black claw, the moon became red, his blood and the stars the sky fell to earth like green pigs falling from a tree shaking by strong with the sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all the mountains and islands removed from their places, what happens now, you get this picture of people hiding from this whole thing. It's this terrible thing happening. Then John sees four angels, he sees another angel coming from the east who says, Wait, don't own the land, or the sea, or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on their foreheads. Now, as you've got if you know Ezekiel real well, you notice Ezekiel Nine, and you probably remember, like, the guys and there's guys with the writing case, right? And so all who aren't like mourning over Jerusalem, you know, they, they don't put the seal on them. So the ones with the seal are protected from the slaughter from the judgment. So that's what's happening here. Right? So important. Remember, John, here's those who are marked with the seal of God 144,000 Right. So Judah, right Reuben, Gad, Asher and a family Manasa Simeon, Levi and cigars, Oberlin, Joseph and Benjamin, we'll discuss why Dan's not in their Bible study. So well, 1000 of each Here we go. I told you, I'm going to go quick. So that's what John here here's, then he turns and sees after this, I saw a vast prep to great to come from every nation, tribe and people in language standing in front of the throne. So one thing I'm going to do as I go through evolution, I'm trying to just touch on some like typical, plus some typical bad teachings a lot about teachings on it, but these are the bigger ones. So this whole idea of the only 144,000 are getting in wrong, you stopped reading. So you're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to read why just read you get to verse nine. And then it says, what he sees he hears this army, right? Just say Israel, right? These tribes of Israel except Dan, but he hears that but then he turns and sees like, just crazy numbers too many to count. A multi knows every nation and every tribe. Ah, see, realize, so it's this multitude is what he then sees, right? So salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne of the Lamb. So, again, he's mentioning the lamb against. So this is this multi ethnic army, the warriors who have died before they were martyred. And they're given white robes. So remember that right? So they're following along with what the lamb did. So they're slaughtered here. Revelation 713. Then one of the 24 elders asked me who are these who are clothed and white? Where did they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you were the one who knows. But he said to me, these are the ones who died in the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the land and made them white. That is why they stand in front of God's throne and serve them day and night in the temple. And he sits on the throne will give them shelter, they will never again be hungry or thirsty. They'll never be scorched by the heat of the sun for the lamb on the throne will be their shepherd, he will lead them to springs of life giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes is projecting towards the end here. So did you catch that? They died in the what? Tribulation. So, quick note, Nether false teaching pre trib Rapture. So none of this theology that all these like smart people came up with 1000s of years later, whatever. It didn't exist in the early church. And the early church, they understood full well, that that's how you get the prize. Right? So we're going to see that right. So all this new theology stuff, just it twist things up for us just read the Word of God, that should be enough, which says, Christians go through the Tribulation, right? And we talked about the rapture, and like, no, no, no, no, no, right? So what's sad is in the modern church, even those preaching against the prosperity gospel and all other stuff, and realize most of them in the evangelical church hold to a prosperity gospel of their own.
You got to be careful with that, right? So now chapter eight, we get to the seventh seal. So when the lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about a half hour. Now we get the next set of subs remember these nesting dolls. So we revisit the scene, but now with the trumpet. So I saw the seven angels who stand before God and they were given seven trumpets. So note, the trumpets are coming from the seventh seal. So here we go. The first four trumpets, seven angels seven trumpets, they prepare to blow the first angel blew his trumpet, and hail mixed with fire and blood. And then the second angel blew loses trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. third angel blows his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky burning like a torch, the fourth angel blows his trumpet, 1/3 of the Sun was struck 1/3 of the moon 1/3 of the stars and they became dark, and 1/3 of the day was dark, and also 1/3 of the night. So you might be catching some like Exodus themes here. Alright, that's the fourth shattering revelation nine, when the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that fall into there from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. Locusts, then locusts came, they were told not to harm the grass of the plants of the trees, but only the people who did not have the sealed God on their forehead. So remember that seal, right, the sixth seal and chapter seven again? Seems like I'm moving quick. But now you're getting a bigger picture, I hope right you so you're starting to kind of see, oh, this all goes together, right? So they were told not to kill them, but to torture them for five months, and pain, like the pain of a scorpion staying well what happened to them. In those days, people will seek death, but they won't find it. They will want to die, but death will flee from them. Now, the sixth trumpet brings the second terror and the voice. Instead of the sixth angel, the trumpet released the four angels who are bound to the grant Euphrates river than the four angels who have been prepared for this hour this day, the month and year are turned loose to kill 1/3 Of all the people on earth. If you're looking he here's the size of their army, which was 200 million now integers. How long were you? Here's it. So now, we have here 1/3 of the people are killed by like these three plagues, the fire the smoke, the burning sulfur, and it just mentions those people who didn't die. They didn't repent either. Right. So there's still some people their relation 10 He sees another mighty angel when he shouted the seven thunders answered. When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. I heard a voice from heaven saying keep secret but the seven thunders said do not write them down. Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and lands it's kind of straddling the sea and the land. He said, No, we no more delay when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It'll happen just as he announced his servants the prophets. Then a voice from heaven spoke to me again. Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angels standing on the sea in the land. So he goes to him. Give me this call. Yes, take it and eat it. He said. It will be sweet assigning your mouth will turn sour in your stomach. So you did it now. You remember Ezekiel? Very similar thing. It's a Ezekiel three there. Need to scroll like honey, chapter 11 measuring the temple and then the two witnesses. So, some measurements on the temple kind of reminiscence of Zechariah. If we were going to go there, these two witnesses, there'll be clothing burlap. And we'll prophesied during 1260 days, just kind of remember that number, it's going to come up again. Now it tells us, if you will speculate about who they are. These two prophets are the two olive trees and the Two Lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Do you remember what the lampstands were? Churches? Right? Were you guys remember, there was a test. So the churches there were the church remember the stars, the angels? So if we were remembering the beginning, ah, so what happens? People get to this, they don't read the beginning. They read this part. And they read the beginning two years ago, and they don't get it right. But it just somebody knows what happens in church. Right? Thank you. That's exactly what happened. It tells us who they are. Right? The book has already identified Latin. So now you get these figurative cities to you're going to see Sodom and Egypt. They're figurative, right? So really important, Babylon is Rome, Gods. So when they complete their testimony, the beasts that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and they'll conquer them and kill them. And their bodies will lie in the main street of the great city or Jerusalem. The city that is figuratively it tells us called Sonam and Egypt, but no one will be allowed to bury them. And all the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and get presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets, who had tormented them. But this is us. We get a prefigure the resurrection, like what happened to Jesus, right? He was martyred, he died. But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them. And they stood up, Tara struck all those who were staring at them that a loud voice from Heaven called the two prophets come up here. And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched couple things. Right? So remember the martyrs. So how do we achieve victory? There's a prefigure kind of the resurrection. We're seeing that we achieve victory through what Jesus did. So the lampstands witnesses churches, we get that now. Yes. Okay, hope so. I'm not going back through it. I'm just not going to. Okay, the trumpet brings up third, Revelation 1115. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And there were loud voices shouting in heaven. The world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. The 24 elders sitting on their thrones before him, fell on their faces the ground and worshipped him. So we have more worship in Heavens, it's like a cyclical kind of thing that will keep happening in the worship. Basically, what happens lightning flashes, Thunder crashes and roared, right, and there was an earthquake, and a terrible hailstorm. So this part is ending again, this is God's judgment, like he's doing the judging not us. Right. So now 12 through 14, as a section, symbols, symbols, right. So you have the serpent versus the woman, the woman's a little bit more complex, I'll explain it. But the serpent is much easier. Even if you've never really read the Bible, you probably get it. It's a revelation from he sees a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head. So if you really read the Bible, it's kind of like Song of Solomon, the woman in there like in 610, she was pregnant, she cried out, because we're labor pains, and the agony of giving birth. And I witnessed in heaven, another significant event, I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, seven crowns on it on its head. Now to tell us if we keep reading where this is. Now the woman gives birth to a son, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod, and her child was snatched away from her when a sari snatched away from the dragon, it was caught up to God and His throne. And the woman fled the wilderness where God prepared a place to care for 1260 days. Same as the witnesses remember, that same period of time, then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. So this is telling us it's a spiritual battle. If you recall, Daniel, Daniel 10, same type of thing happens right? So the spirit Prince Michael fighting, so if you read Daniel, you know, right, so the dragon lost the battle. And he and his angels are forced out of having this great dragon, the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world is thrown down to the earth with all his angels now. Go back the woman and a male child and so a lot of people traditional denominations will associate this with Mary. Alright, and if you stopped reading there, okay, it doesn't explicitly say so but I get doesn't name her, but I get it but you need to keep reading Revelation Well, important little thing here. Just before I go on, there's a little and I really should have it on the screen. I didn't. It's my fault. But we get another key verse here. We're going to see this theme again. So basically what happens is there's like worship in heaven over the beast being thrown down to the earth. And Revelation 1210 Right. He accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down there so they're celebrating in heaven. This happened that happened. But it's an interesting verse, verse 11, they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives until death. sketch that it's how do they conquer the blood of the Lamb? Jesus. He did the battling right? By what? Dying, right and they did not live their lives until death. So important thing now, Dragon realizes there's a quick little thing that happens revelations like that right in there. So it's just sandwiched in there, but we kind of get a theme verse. But I was worried it would break it up. And you just got to understand that. So let's go back to the dragon. Remember that when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the women who had given birth to the male child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared and wellness, then she would be cared for and protected from the Dragon for time and times half a time now. And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children.
All who keep God's commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus. What? So better scholars better people looking at this early Christians have all said it when they're looking at it rightly? The woman's the church, so she may start as Israel but Israel so you see 24 Elders, what is that? Right? So you have the 12 tribes of Israel, but then what kind of like supplants them? The 12 apostles? So you see, do so as the steam is happening again here, right? So Israel, so yes, this woman gives birth. Israel sees from that seed, right that line, but it's the church. Why, especially for traditional tenant, some believe that Mary was perpetually a virgin. So how, pray tell, Chris, you have more children? If that's your belief, wrong answer. It's the church. So another really important thing for you if you're learning today, keep reading, keep reading really important. By the way, we were already kind of told this, if you read first Peter 513. He talks about the church, but he calls it a sheet. It's a sheet, and where's it Babylon, so we'll get there. That's aka Rome. But anyway, the point is, Michael, the devil, spiritual battles in Ephesians, six, right are wars not against flesh and blood. It's against the spiritual forces. So this is what's going on here. Now, we have the same conflict here, but two beasts that symbolizes economic, and military power, that's really all it's about. Alright, so interesting, just a quick thing if your Bible or this piece looked like a leopard, but had the feet of a bear and the mouth of the lion, and the dragon gave the beasts his own power and throwing great authority. So if you remember Daniel seven, I believe it's seven. There are like different V's right, so the first one looks like a leopard. The second one is like a bear. The third one's like a lion. There's, there's different animals there. Right? So what this was doing? Well, if you read Daniel, we knew that they were like the superpowers of that day and you see, you have like, back then, you know, Babylon, Greece, Persia, you know, Rome is going to be coming this this combined combination of everything. Wait a minute, Rome was what a combination of everything or like the last power, what did John just do? He put all the powers together. Right? So if you nerding out, Daniels already kind of told us about this, there's an important statement here just happens in the text. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. So these reminders are being dropped in constantly. So don't get stuck on the beasts like, get stuck on your roll here. Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth, he had two horns like those are the Lambert's folk are the voice of the dragon, and require all the earth and its people to worship the first beast. So now we get something where people just read this, right? So Revelation 1316, he required everyone small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to be given a mark on the right hand, or the forehead. I'm going to stop right here, because we should just stop right? And I'll tell you what, these are credit cards. If you have a credit card, get rid of it, or right now. Give it a crack. In fact, let's get it out. We're going to be passing around scissors today. Kenny is probably good for a lot of you anyway. So just my wife, nevermind, so. And no, I'm going to stop. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number. Right presenting his name. Wisdom is needed here for sure. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beasts versus the number of a man his number is 666. You'll notice what I put there are 616. Why? Because some early manuscripts these 616 So get hung up on it. But wait, is this a difference in the Word of God? What are we going to do? Oh no, let's ignore it. Right because it's what we do when things are difficult. This is called Gematria I'm not a math person. I'm not an expert. It's when numerical values are assigned to letters or words when you do that, and people back then would have known this, it spells Nero Caesar, Caesar Nero. When you do 616, Caesar and neuron really close, it's about the same thing. So because we have those two numbers, it's dead obvious that it's Nero. What else makes it obvious we're going to be talking about Babylon, which Peter already told us is, Rome C is really important. Read your bibles is talking about Nero Rome. It's not today, it has nothing to do with your credit card. Those are the tinfoil you can wear them because they're kind of funny looking. But you know, you're going to get made fun of by me. So anyway, what? What's the deal here? Alright, so the hand the forehead was that mean? If you read your Bible, you know, because it's all over the place. Deuteronomy six Shema Yisrael, Adonai, Eloheinu, Adonai. Hard, right? It's the Shema. Do you want to speak Hebrew? And I did have really bad job there, but it's okay. It was for a fact. But what does it tell you to do with these things? It tells them to put them on your forehead, put them on your hand. And then when you read the rest of the New Testament talks about it a lot, why it just symbolizes, remember them and do them. You do with your hands? Remember, with your mind, that's all. That's what this is. And if people read their Bibles, they just go Oh, yeah, just like Deuteronomy, but they don't, because they don't. So anyway, this contrast now with the lamb and the 144,000, is the revelation 14, sees the land. And there were the 144,000. Remember that he heard, who had his name, and his Father's name written on their foreheads, they're protected, right. And the other ones are not they sang a wonderful song or worship here. And then he sees another angel flying through the sky, carrying eternal good news. So he's proclaiming the good news. Then another angel followed him through the sky shouting, Babylon is fallen, Rome, that great city is falling because she's made all the nations of the world drink the wine over passionate idolatry and immorality or adultery. So it's wrong. The 30 Angel follow them thing. Anyone who worships the beast, and his statue accepts the mark on the forehead of the hand, must drink the wine of God's anger. Revelation 14 Well, this means that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus and heard a voice from heaven saying, write this down. Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, as a spirit, they are blessed indeed, for their arrest from their hard work for their deeds will follow them. Are you getting the refrain here? And what keeps coming up? Right, so should we just know and let's speculate about the mark of the beast again? No, that's not the part for us. Just know Do you see what's happening here it's contrasting those who are predicted by God that have this mark, but we're going to have to suffer persecution is going to happen right? So we will suffer we achieve victory like Jesus. So far, there's nothing in here giving us any other roadmap to achieving victory except doing what Jesus did following him. Right. So now remember the martyrs Wouldn't they want? Judgment? So if we remember that this makes a lot of sense, Jesus is going to bring in so what we get now is like some it looks like the parable of the great harvest that Jesus tells right so the Son of man he has a gold crown on a sharp sickle and his hand natural flow here, right? Because one of them okay, I'm going to have to suffer persecution. Great, right? So wait, again, let's talk about the judgment, right? Jesus is going to come back so all the bad guys, right? So now sevens again. Remember seven seals, seven trumpets. Now seven bowls. Exodus plague. Remember them again. They're like a foreshadowing. But John is going to say and you should know this seven last plagues. They're going to bring God's wrath to completion. They're singing the song of lamb. Moses could more worship in heaven again, cyclical here, Revelation 16. So we get the first three plagues. The first angel left the temple poured out his ball on the earth, horrible malignant sores broke out on everyone on the mark of the beast in worship, the statues are under the sores and they throw the dust in there. The second angel point as well in the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse and everything was he died. Oh, like, like Exodus. If I just said revelation, Exodus, sorry, I got a little dyslexia there. The third angel born I was born in the rivers and springs, and they became blood. Again, very reminiscent. Before the angel born. I was born on the sun. It's scorched everybody, the fifth angel poured out of the ball on the throne of the beast. His kingdom was plunged into darkness as his subjects drowned or gnashed their teeth. Remember this? Jesus speaks like that. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl, he saw three evil spirits it looked like frogs remember the frogs and the Exodus plague. And they looked from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. Ah, CDC, things coming from other things same period of time. So they're demonic spirits. And they're gathering like their armies to a place in Armageddon.
Mosquito if you understand this is probably not a future battle. So if you understand the Old Testament, you'll go Oh, yeah, it's like that. And they'll talk about Gog and Magog. Oh yeah, remember that from Ezekiel, right? So you'd start going, Oh, I remember that. That has already happened. Right? So there are these symbolic battles now. Remember Babylon. Rome final judgment in the seventh angel pour out His bones in the air. And a mighty shock came from the throne, the temple saying it's finished, then thunder crash unrolled lightning flash remember that from before, and a great earthquake struck the worst since people were placed on the earth, the great city of Babylon split into three sections in the cities, many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So here, that's seven again, Captain a final judgment now, Chapter 17. And 18. Just going to give you the summary real quick. There's a prostitute drunk with blood. That's wrong. Right? So she's writing on a dragon and it starts blending all these symbols, right? Mosaic, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and here you get the beast, the beast is there, the kings of that time, the prostitute Babylon, and then 18th and for the beginning of 19th, just more and more prays over Babylon’s defeat, again reminiscent of the prophets where you have things like you know, in the vultures will be gathered to eat the corpses language like that. Now, you get the final, final battle. So most of the bulk of revelation there's dealing with, like prophecy from that near Earth time, not now. Now, this is future. Revelation 1911. Then I saw heaven open. White horse was standing there. Its rider was named faithful and true, for he judges fairly and wages are righteous war, his eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowds and name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood. And his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed Him on white horses. From his mouth came his sharp sword to strike down the nation's he will rule them with an iron rod, he will release the fierce wrath of God the Almighty like juice flowing from Orion wine press on his robe as right die was written his title, King of all kings, Lord of all lords. Amen. That is Jesus coming back. Right. So this is what we're waiting for. This is what all our hope is. I'll break it down just a little bit. Know that his robe has dipped in blood before the battle starts. What does that symbolize? Remember the slaughtered lamb? Alright, that's it. So quickly, the two edged sword coming from his mouth. Remember, we talked about that a little bit last week? You see people misquote Hebrews four all the time, the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two edged sword. Just stop there, but you don't know the rest either do but later we'll talk about him. Nothing in creation is hidden from him. Because it's not talking about the Bible. Yes, the Bible is the Word of God. But it's a misquote. It's not about the Bible, that Judgment Sword. You're seeing an action now. That's the sword. Alright, so that word of God there is talking about Jesus, why the surrounding context if he were for his judgment, that's what it's about there. People don't like that word a lot. So they ignore it. So he strikes him down. He's the one who does this. Now we see something interesting, it should go together, we were paying attention, the vindication of the martyrs revelation 21. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit with a heavy chain in his head, he sees the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, Satan, and bound him in chains for 1000 years, the angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut lots of Satan cannot deceive the nations anymore. Until the 1000 years were finished. Afterward, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and people sitting on them. They'd be given authority judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the Word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or statue nor accepted the mark on their foreheads of their hands. That all came to life again, and they reign with Christ for 1000 years now, the 1000s of years is debated a little bit whether it's fear of time, but what's the point here? Again, the Lamb of God does the conquering are we hearing a lot about martyrs? Ah, didn't remember that in Revelation, right? So it's a lot about the martyrs that were given the white robes, these are these people. And so what revelations clearly telling us now is, if you get beheaded for Jesus, you get to experience the first resurrection. Say what? Revelation 25 This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the 1000 years and ended blessing holier those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but there will be preserved Christ will reign with him for 1000 years to receive those rewards in the seven churches becoming combined. So if you get beheaded for Jesus, good for you. Not really popular in the evangelical church, right? Like, that's my message. Like so Okay, a lot of you're not coming back next week, but that's okay. We're going to stay faithful to this Sorry, not sorry, not going to apologize for that. But this is what happens. There are two resurrections. And this is just looking at history, people were like lining up to die in the Coliseum to get beheaded to get killed, because they actually believe this. So anyway, now we have the defeat of Satan in the final battle. And it's going to be explained twice, second time here. But the final judgment, Revelation 2011. And I saw a great white throne and one sitting on earth and the sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books are open, including the book of life, we saw that before. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up, it's dead and deaths in the grave give up their dead, and all were judged according to their deeds than death in the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found record in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. So there's those deeds again. That's weird. We saw that in the first part, right? Well, yes, Ephesians two, we are saved. by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is what we believe here. Right? God Christianity, but continue reading again, we are created anew in Christ for good work. So that faith you were talking about what you do says more about that faith than anything you say. That's the point. getting judged should be no surprise. You've been here for a while. Read this all throughout the series in the New Testament, Romans 14 Second Corinthians five First Peter, it's all over the place, we will be judged first. Sorry, not sorry. So Jesus comes back the point he will vindicate us. Amen. Leaving that in the Lord's hands, and we who are faithful and obedient, will be rewarded. That's the point. So now we see a new creation. This is what we're looking forward to here. Revelation 20 119, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old earth disappeared, and the sea, sorry, old heaven on earth. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of having like a bride beautifully dressed for husband, I heard a loud shot from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people, he will live with them. And they will be as people, God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there'll be no more death or sorrow, or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I'm making everything new. And he said to me write this down for I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said it is finished, and the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, for only thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious, will inherit all these blessings and I will be their God. Remember, this is Jesus talking. Jesus calls himself God in the Bible, and they will be my children, but cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt the murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and all liars. Their fate isn't a fiery lake of burning sulfur, which is the second death. So again, yes, we're saved by grace. But if you've saved don't lie.
You're laughing they're so scary. It says it more than once in Revelations just to let you know, honestly, apparently very important to Jesus. So there we see the new heavens and the new earth. We saw this in Second Peter right. So this earth, all the things in it will be melted away. It is all stained, it is corrupt. Everything here is gone. Along with it. All the sorrow, all the pain, right? Everything that we're suffering here is gone. We'll have new heavenly bodies, this will all be made new and wonderful. And the point of saying that about all these evil people, there'll be no evil people, right? So we have to worry about that anymore. We don't have to suffer anything inwardly outwardly, a quick note the Bride of Christ, Jerusalem writes it. Some people refer to the church as the bride of Christ, and get it because especially because the woman this and that, but here we're told that I mean, he showed me this. I'll show you the bride and lamb right. And so he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, just as a quick note there so it's better that the Church is the Body of Christ through some of the bride but they can be intermixed, no big deal, I'll get over it. So then you see a description and measurement of the Holy City. So like another kind of measuring thing. Again, the reiteration nothing evil will be allowed to enter and it goes through all these bad things. Just those are listed in the Lamb's book of life. Then, the angel in Revelation 21 shows them a river of the water of life. I've learned from the throat front of the lamp, and on each side, a tree of life. We saw the tree of life and those rewards. So the conclusion of the book Jesus says, Look, I'm going Coming soon, blessed are those who obey. So you know the words of prophecy written this book, Revelation 2216, I, Jesus have sent my angel to give this message for the churches on both the source of David and the heir to the throne. I'm the bright morning stars at Morningstar, we talked about last week, the Spirit and the bride say, Come if you want to, here's the st come, anyone who's thirsty, come, let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy written in this book, if anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add that person the plague described in this book. And if anyone removes any other words from this book from his prophecy, God will remove that person share in the tree of life and the holy city that are described in this book, he was faith of the faithful witness all these things is Yes, I'm coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's holy people. That is what revelations all about. So if you read this and understand it now, you know, I get so serious about people depicting the Bible and adding words or taking them away. Do you want to take chances with that? I don't know. Thanks. I'll just stick to this. Thank you very much. And I can turn off the TV when those stupid shows come on. So indeed, indeed, we've discussed the sin of adding to the Word of God and the consequences of it. Right. But despite this warning, most have twisted revelation so much, that they've completely lost its meaning. People have made this book a book to predict when the tribulation might happen. So they can evade it somehow. Despite Jesus's clear warning, what did he say in Matthew 24, Mark 13x. One about these things this time, nobody knows. Not even the Son, only the Father, yet people today, arrogantly come a long way to do but I know. If you know the Word of God, you're like, God, you just stop you saying, you know more than Jesus? Yes, that's what they're saying. Okay, crazy. So here's the thing, they want to dis obediently evade this persecution or suffering for him, when the Bible teaches that that very suffering joins us to him. And guess what? We're rewarded for it. We're rewarded for it. So this is a false short sighted teaching that deprives us of those rewards. Any hard I get it, I really like my K, what do you want to do today? Let's go get beheaded. Sounds great. Because I get it, I get it, I totally get it. But it's more the other way around. Like if you're suffering and that's about to happen to you, Well, I'm first you win that race, right, you get the reward first. And if it is 1000 years, that sounds pretty cool to me. Sitting with Jesus on the throne for 1000 year, walk can be better than that. That's fine. To be a part of that. That's the right thinking if we're being faithful, if we have faith. So a lot of these teachings are completely short sighted and faithless. They lack faith. That's the problem. Revelation, in reality is all about enduring for Jesus, even if it means dying for him. That's the point of the book. Again, just to recap, we'll put them on the screen, but just to remember from the beginning and towards the end all throughout. Alright, so in the second chapter, don't be afraid of what you're about to suffer. But if you remain faithful, even when facing death, high Jesus will give you the crown of life, relation for control and this was a refrain. This means it's hilarious. It says, this means it's literally the meaning of the book, that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently, obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus Christ are the ones who die in the Lord from now on, yes, as the spirit. They're blessed indeed. But they will rest from their hard work for their good deeds, follow them. Revelation is not a crystal ball, or book of fortunes. Revelation is not a book about how we're going to escape tribulation. Revelation is not a call to arms. The book of Revelation is a book of encouragement. For those who are suffering, and dying for Jesus, it's a call to endure and to be like him. If you're a number, for example, in Margate, the only time Jesus says it, right so he predicts his suffering. So he tells the disciples what's going on. happened to him, right? So he's going to crucify, he's going to die. He's going to go through all this suffering. And Peter is being short sighted tries to stop him. What did Jesus say Get behind Me, Satan. You're thinking a man's are the world's plans, not gods. That's not the short sighted plan, Peter can stop what's going on here? Okay, 34, then calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, and for the sake of the good news gospel, you will save it will you benefit, you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message and he's adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man himself will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Jesus has had it clearly. Clearly, you must be willing to die for me. And if you deny me, I will deny you. What does that mean? Even if it means you're dying? That's it. Don't be short sighted. We'll get the rewards there. They're not here. So what does Jesus says a crystal clear with a benefit you to gain the whole world. But then lose your soul. His was understood by his disciples. All early Christians before corrupt teachings. commercialism started coming into play. well understood. Very, very important and important enough, I like it just don't want to kind of wrap up here. I want to be respectful of your time. But if I wasn't, I just had a list of a bazillion verses telling us that we're going to suffer for Jesus, it's just going to happen. There's no bait and switch here. There's just a twist to false teachers. But if you read it in its entirety as we kind of attempted today. That's what you get. But it's the truth. We must embrace the truth. We'll stand firm and the truth. Right, no matter how we feel. No matter what people are telling us, this is what it means. And just hold tightly to that hope that we have in Jesus. For that new heaven and new earth. We're looking no more of this pain. No more crying, none of what we're going through now. true justice and peace everywhere around us. Don't even need the sun. Nothing better than Florida. Yeah. This is traditionally how to break it up. He's getting real serious for a minute. This is traditionally Passion Week, right? So this is when Christians will remember what Jesus did, rightfully so it's great. So, you know, remember, we have like The Last Supper, his betrayal, his Agony in the Garden, and his crucifixion. Right? So you have that suffering, the beaten all these horrible things happening to our Lord? Yes, we celebrate that. Yes, he did. And it just it's got to happen before we get to the resurrection. But Jesus says we're not exempt from that.
That's the lesson. That's what he taught Peter. We're not exempt. We are to be molded in his image. Suffering even if it means death, because we have faith in something better than this life. Amen. So the question is, will you remain faithful in the face of death, we must stay focused on the heavenly plot prize that awaits us and believe in that. So I want to reach back to Romans because it offers us more hope and encouragement and especially more hope and encouragement than any words I could ever offer. This is kind of where I want to close. Romans five one therefore, since we haven't made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith. crisis brought us into this place of undeserved privilege. We now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory, we can rejoice to when we face tribulation. For we know that they help us develop endurance and endurance develop strength of character and character strength is our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. So let me pray for you Lord, thank You for Everyone came in to be faithful to your Word this morning. I just want to encourage all of them no matter where they're at, just like it says the promises in this book. We look forward to that new heaven and the new earth will no more tears no more crying, no more pain. Largest. Just build these people up with encouragement with your love with your mercy, with your grace with your patience, as we joyfully await the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I asked these things