The tension keeps building and building and building in Revelation. We have come through the vision of Christ, the 7s! message to the Churches, a powerful worship service, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 visions and 7 bowls as John rightly described ‘hell on earth’
We will look at the following events over the next two chapters.
The wedding supper of the Lamb
The visible return of Christ
The battle of Armageddon
The millennial reign of Christ
The great white throne judgement
Keep singing Hallelujah! v1-8
A single word keep repeating again and again...Hallelujah which means praise the Lord. We are experiencing a great relief. Remember Revelation 4 and 5....and here we are again, praising God again. This one word puts all of human history into perspective. My life is to bring glory and praise to God. He is worthy of all my worship!
The praise to God is for His salvation, His power that He reveals in my life and His glory.
We praise Him for His true and righteous judgements. They are just
Babylon is the world system of ultimate selfishness.
We praise Him because He is in control. We may not feel in control but that doesn’t change anything about God. He is always on His throne. He reigns now and forever.
The wedding supper of the Lamb v9-11
Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. He is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. We are presented to Jesus.
The bride is prepared. She makes herself ready. Now, let’s face it men, we really don’t have the whole picture of what goes into preparing for a wedding. It is our job to show up!
I have been reading recently about the wedding of Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood and I know that this is a fact. The whole event was ‘pretty in pink’. Even their dog was placed in a pink tuxedo much to Fisher’s surprise!
Ephesians 5:25-27
This wedding is going to happen because Christ loves the Church. He is passionate to bring the fullness of His love into our life and He makes us complete. Colossians 2:10
The bride prepares herself for eternity.
The bride is honoured
Think about that moment when the doors open at a wedding and the bride enters. We all stand in honor of a beautiful bride. As a pastor, often my eyes will also quickly go to the groom to see in his eyes the incredible emotion that he feels as his bride enters.
For Mike Fisher, he honoured his wife with a diamond studded tiera...all 40 of them! Jesus lavishes His love on us and gave us His very life and for Him, it was a crown on thorns that He wore for us.
With Jesus it will be the same way with the audience of the whole of heaven.
The fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints...(don’t you love brackets which basically leave no guessing whatsoever. Imagine if the whole book of Revelation was done that way) About the acts - we could never do these righteous acts on our own. The more we choose to live in God’s power, the dress of the bride becomes more brighter. The more we choose to love people through difficult times, loving the unloveable. Every time we choose to reach out because of the promptings and whispers of God into our life.
Worship ONLY God v10
We don’t worship creation, we worship the creator. We don’t worship any other person, any other emotion, worship any other action, We are called to worship the Lord.
Worth SHIP – to give worth. God is of ultimate worth. The challenge to us is there something else in my life that I am giving worship? What is the priority of my life, the purpose of my life? Is there something else this is controlling my life right now. Are you worshipping the approval of others? Is there something negative in your past or a self-glorifying experience that we are holding onto?
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy - The Spirit of prophecy is to testify about Jesus. Any true prophecy will point to Jesus, it all comes back to Him.
The Visible Return of Jesus Christ v11-16
This is what we have been waiting for! It is time for Christ’s great victory and glory. Why will this happen? It is time for God to set the world in order.
Matthew 24:30
The picture of the white horse was very significant in his day. When a war took place and Rome ended up top there would be a glorious victory parade as a great procession would begin with the spoils of the war followed by the General who would come on a white horse followed by all those in his army.
His name is faithful and true. Everything He says I can count on. All who have said ‘it’s a lie, this whole Christianity thing is a joke” will bow their knee to Christ.
On His head are many crowns! He wears all the crowns. He has the ultimate leadership and is in authority.
He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood speaks of the cross. It is what brought us into relationship with God.
He is the Word of God. John 1:1 That is His title. He is God’s Word to us, God’s message to us.
Who are the armies of heaven that follow Christ? It is His followers, believers in Jesus. So men, while you may have been squirming a bit about the picture of being the bride and all that lovely stuff, we are also part of His army. Both pictures are there for us to focus on.
A sharp sword – He is coming as a judge to all those who haven’t put their trust in Him.
The Battle of Armageddon v17-21
This battle is a picture of total destruction and devastation. It isn’t a pretty sight and there will be no one to bury those who will be defeated.For those of us who are having a difficult time with the pictures of war...again we need to remember the torture that many of our fellow believers have faced at the hands of the wicked. We need to remember the martyrs. They were covered in tar and lit for the beginning of their games of sport, they were thrown into the coliseums to be ripped apart by lions, they are being tortured to death and their families are made to watch...
There is no real battle when Jesus Christ decides that it is going to be done. It is swift, it is powerful and it is complete.
We all battle evil and the effects of Satan in our world and we need to have no doubt that evil will never win the day. The enemy and his ruthless ways will come to an end. Sometimes we doubt when we are being tossed around like a ragdoll but take the courage of Paul as he spoke of his trials.2 Corinthians 4:7-11
Deliver us from evil for thine is the power and the glory forever and forever amen!
It is crucial for us to understand what is happening at the end in order to know how we are to understand our life as it continues to unfold before us now.
The Millennial Reign of Christ 20v1-7
This is the only place that we see this millennial
There are 3 views:
· Premillennial – Jesus will come and then there will be a millennium. The 2nd coming of Christ will happen and it will establish Christ’s earthly kingdom. It will be a literal 1000 year reign of Christ. It’s location will be on earth and it will fulfill all the OT and NT prophecies that speak to the reign of Christ. It’s government will be the literal presence of Jesus Christ. However there is a lot of debate of how that all play into all the other literal prophecies and goes very deep into 3 time lines of its own because of dividing Christ’s return into two events and then when it takes place whether that is before during or after the Great Tribulation.
· Postmillennial view – this view holds to the fact that the kingdom of God is being extended by the saving work of the gospel and the work of the HS. It also believes that this world will continue to become more and more Christian and the world is getting better and better to become more like the reign of Christ through the church. It is not an exact amount of time, but the focus is on the transformation of our present world and it will eventually be Christianized. This view is the least held among the three we are unpacking.
· Ammillennial view – It is not a literal 1000 years. There will be a general resurrection of both unbelievers to judgment and believers to reward and final consummation with God in heaven. There is a parallel development of God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom since. The millennium is symbolic of Jesus’ work from the time of His resurrection to the time of His second coming. It answers question of resurrected saints in a not yet redeemed world; however it’s weakness is to see a lot of prophecy in a symbolic way.
Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8 are the only other places that we see 1000 years being spoken of in a symbolic way. It reveals to us the timing of God in heaven compared to our sense of timing here on earth.
Then there is the pan millennial view...it will all pan out in the end. This view is for those of you who maybe can’t land in one of these views altogether.
The key is not for us to argue our viewpoints and not to lose our sense of compassion for our fellow believers who don’t necessarily see things unfolding our way.
The pre and post millennial view causes me to believe that the reign of Christ will come in the future and the ammillennial view believes that we are living in the reign of Christ right now.
The abyss and hades are places where Satan and those enemies of God go to await a final judgment. The lake of fire and hell are places of final judgement.
The Great White Throne 20v11-15
The second death speaks to one’s final spiritual death. The great white throne judgment is reserved for those who have chosen to reject God and the salvation that comes through His Son Jesus Christ.
John 5:25-29
The Takeaway
May the hope of your reign with Christ give you a new hallelujah and the call to share His life giving presence with others.
It will be a battle for the heart and souls of men. We face an invisible enemy and at stake is where people will spend their eternity.
Questions For Discussion
1. What is ‘fine linen’ in your life?
2. Write your own victory song to Jesus and begin with Hallelujah!
3. How do we battle for the heart and soul of others? *We need to first enter into their story.
4. What does entering someone’s story look like to you?
5. Where does sharing ‘His story’ start with you?
(My thanks to Tom Holladay for his insights that helped frame this message.)
No comments:
Post a Comment