Thank you, Judy. Good morning, congregation. Did you already worship? Hallelujah. What a Savior. Hallelujah. What a Savior. We're going to be talking about that in a few moments, and I'll invite you to turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 19 as we continue our journey through the book of Revelation. we're getting close to the end here, but before we actually read from Revelation, I want to mention to you a couple of things. First of all, we have our Faith Forward campaign, and I wanted to give everyone a quick update, but first a story. As we all know, our brother and Phil Planton went on to be with the Lord not too long ago, but one of the things he was so excited about was our Faith Forward campaign. And so Kathy and the boys had said, hey, if you want to take up any collections, then you can do that and give it to the Faith Forward campaign in honor of Phil Planton. And so Kathy Planton's Sunday school class, the fourth through sixth graders, did that. And those children collected $450 in honor of Phil Planton for Faith Forward. And so, Kathy, from your class, what an amazing gift that is. I'll give you an update. Last count, we had over $370,000 pledged. So we're getting close. So if you want to and haven't had a chance to be a part of that, our pledge cards are at the doors. You can go and fill out a pledge. It'll be a two-year commitment for you. So think about that, pray about it, how you can be a part of it. Secondly, I want to mention to you I have a quick health update. I have a scan this Wednesday. So it's a three-month check-in scan. So just pray for a clean scan, and we'll give all the glory and praise to God, our Heavenly Father. So with that, you've got your Bibles open, Revelation chapter 19. Please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. And I'm going to read the first 10 verses of 19, and then we'll talk about it, and then we'll continue on through chapter 20. After this, I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. And again they shouted, hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. The 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried, amen, hallelujah. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like loud peals of thunder, shouting, Hallelujah! for our Lord God Almighty reigns let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready fine linen bright and clean was given her to wear fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the Saints and then the angel said to me right Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb." And he added, these are the true words of God. And at this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Father, we come to you this morning humbled and yet overjoyed at how great our Savior Jesus Christ is. Hallelujah, what a Savior. As we prepare as His bride for the wedding supper that is in our future, Lord, help us to be faithful and ready, waiting for the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen, amen. You know, as I think about this particular portion of the Scripture, we have been marching our way through Revelation, and we know that we are currently today sitting in the church age, but that at some point in the future, Jesus will come and take His church to be with Him. This promise, of course, we find in John chapter 14, which we'll talk about in just a moment. But Jesus will come in the clouds and he will gather all of his church, those who have already died in Christ first, and then those who are living and remain, they will go to be with him so that we will be with him forever. And so then there will come a time of tribulation, a time like never before, the final seven years of Daniel's 490-year prophecy for the people of Israel and Jerusalem. And therefore, during that seven and a half years, broken up by three and a half years each, we see the series of judgments of God upon the earth. While the church is gathered in heaven with the Lamb of God, we see on the earth that judgment comes in the form of seven seals, seven trumpets, and then, of course, seven bowls. And we see that throughout Revelation, we kind of see what's happening in heaven versus what's happening on earth. And at the end of all of the tribulation period, we now come to this place where the Lord will come again, here in chapter 19. But first, we see that there is a wedding that we are going to have with the Lord Jesus. And then, of course, as it says here on the slide, after the second coming, Jesus Christ will be, he will destroy all the nations with the sword coming out of his mouth, and then he will set up his millennial kingdom, a thousand-year reign on earth, after which the devil will be released for a time to deceive the nations, and then, of course, the great white throne judgment. You know, as I think about that particular path that we are marching down, it's important for us to always remember that hallelujah means praise God. Praise God. And so we see it repeated for us four times In these first 10 verses, in verse 1 we see hallelujah, in verse 3 we see hallelujah, in verse 4 we see amen, hallelujah, and then again in verse 6 we see hallelujah. We see that the bride are the saints, the believers of all the ages. If you are in Christ, if you have trusted Jesus Christ with your life, then you are part of the bride of Christ. That is what the Bible teaches. And the bride is dressed, as it says here, in fine linen. Notice what it says there. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. There in verse 8. And, of course, then it defines what that fine linen represents. It is the righteous acts of the saints. Not that we ourselves are righteous, but everything we do in the name of Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit are righteous acts before him. And then, of course, we see that the marriage supper or the wedding supper is a literal feast in heaven. I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to wrap my mind around how large that table will be. but we will all be gathered around the table to celebrate our marriage to the Lamb of God. I don't know about you, but that just brings me great joy to think about one day sitting at that table with Jesus and all of his loved ones. You know, those who are invited to the wedding supper are blessed. Look at what it says there in verse nine. Then the angel said to me, write, Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. We're blessed when we come before the Lamb of God and we sit at His wedding. Well, you know, what does it mean to be married to Christ. You know, the ancient Jewish ceremony, wedding ceremony, has literally 12 elements to it. And I want to walk through these briefly because it is amazing to me to see how God laid out the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony And now we, as the bride of Christ, can see how he has fulfilled all 12 of those elements. First is the selection of the bride we find in Genesis chapter 24. when Abram and his son Isaac, Abram sent Eleazar, his servant, to go find a bride, to search for a bride. And Jesus Christ came, and one of the first things he said when he came into his earthly ministry was, I have come to seek and to save that which is lost. So there's the selection of the bride. The second is a mohar in Hebrew, which literally means a price. The father of the groom would pay a price for the bride. In the same way, we see that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price, his own life by dying for our sins on the cross. The third is a betrothal, or in the Hebrew, ketubah. A ketubah is a covenant, it is a contract, it is legally binding. It is more binding than our current day engagement period, but typically it is for a year and it is a way in which the two people come together and there is a contract that is presented to the bride. And then, of course, fourth is the consent of the bride. If you read in Genesis chapter 24, verses 57 and 58, Eleazar, the servant of Abram, will ask Rebekah, he will say, do you take this man? And she said, I will. It's the same thing that we do in modern day weddings when we say, I do. I do. I come into covenant relationship with this person. Once the covenant is sealed, then they share a cup of wine. The bridegroom and the bride share a cup of wine. It is called the covenant cup. Interestingly, Jesus, of course, shared this cup with his apostles the night before his crucifixion. And when he shared that cup with them, he said to them, I will not drink again of this cup until I drink it with you in my kingdom. Interestingly, a Jewish ancient ceremony would include not just a cup when they seal the ketubah, but also a cup that they will share at the consummation of the marriage during the chuppah time. And then number six is gifts are given to the bride. In many ways, it was, for example, in Genesis 24, Eliezer gave 10 camels. to Rebecca's father and to her family. She would actually water them not knowing that that is the gift that Isaac would pay for her. But Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14 he says, I'm going away but when I go away I will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. Of course every believer in Christ has spiritual gifts that we are given in order to use for his glory. And so the idea of giving a gift is exactly what Jesus did for us. And then number seven is the immersion or the mikvah. The immersion is a ritualistic cleansing of the bride. It's interesting in Ephesians chapter 5, Paul would say that the bride is to be cleansed, to be made holy and blameless before him. This is a ritual cleansing in order for her to be prepared for when the groom comes back. And then of course we see verse number 8 here, departure of the groom, the groom goes away. And I referenced earlier that John chapter 14, verses one through six, Jesus says, I am going away to do what? To prepare a place for you. And when I go, I will come back to you so that I will take you to be with me so that you will be with me forever. And in the Jewish ceremony, what happens is the groom does leave and he goes and he prepares, he builds a home for his bride. And then, of course, we see that the consecration of the bride during that year that the groom is away building the house for them, that the bride is consecrated. This is how we, the church, are waiting for Jesus Christ. We're waiting for his return. But during that time, we are being sanctified. We are being set apart. We are being consecrated for the bridegroom when he returns. He wants to come back and find us ready for his return, and ready in the sense of our preparedness as well as our watching for him. And then, of course, we see the return of the groom. He comes back. And in the Jewish ceremony, oftentimes it happens at night, like a thief, it says, that he will come back and he will take his bride to their marriage home. and he will steal her out in the middle of the night. And then there will be the wedding, what they call the chuppah. The chuppah is a little tent or a covering over the couple as they exchange their vows once and for all, sealing their marriage. In that chuppah, it is like a tabernacle. It is like a tent It is like the temple itself. We learned a couple of chapters ago that the temple, the tabernacle of God, is in heaven. I can imagine that we would go into the temple with Jesus Christ and we would enter into covenant relationship forever and ever and ever with Him. And then finally, we come to what's referred to here in chapter 19. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. The marriage supper is the final feast. It's a celebration. It's a time when the bride and the groom come together with all of their family and friends, and they celebrate. Of course, receptions today, that's what you do in a modern wedding. But here, we will celebrate with Jesus. Heaven does this not blow your mind how God laid out the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony to reflect and point to the marriage of Jesus Christ and his church Church family If you're part of Jesus Christ's bride, you have this to look forward to. Amen. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Well, then we go to the second coming, and let's pick up there in verse 11 of chapter 19. I saw heaven standing open. And there before me was a white horse. Notice this horse is white, just like the one in chapter six, but the one in chapter six was carrying the Antichrist. It was a counterfeit Christ, but this one is, in fact, carrying Jesus Christ. It says, whose rider is called faithful and true. With justice, he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. The word here for crowns is actually diadema, which is these are crowned jewels within the crown. All of the other crowns referenced in Revelation, the crowns that we will wear, are in the crowns on the heads of the beast and the dragon. They are Stephanos. Stephanos is the Greek word for like a laurel wreath, which you would wear if you won a race in the Greek Olympic Games. But this crown that Jesus is wearing as He is riding on this white horse is a diadema. It is a crown with jewels, with precious jewels in them. And then it says in, let me see, verse 12, You know, June mentioned earlier in reading Zechariah 14, Only we live in a culture where that people want to say there's multiple ways to God No, there's one way to God the Father and to heaven and it's through Jesus Christ It's his name the name above every name as we sang he is dressed in in verse 13, in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. In John chapter 1 he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was with God in the beginning. This Word of God is Jesus Christ. The Greek there is Logos. Logos, that is the full manifestation of God's truth is revealed in Jesus Christ. That is why in John 14 he would say, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me. And then it says in verse 14, the armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses, and dressed in, guess what? Fine linen, white and clean. A lot of commentators will say that these armies are angels, but the way they're dressed hearkens us way back to just a few verses earlier. I believe this is all of us saints. We'll be riding white horses. Now, how many of you have never ridden a horse before? You will be riding a horse in heaven, and you'll be coming to earth with Jesus. But I assume that these horses know where they're going. You don't have to worry. Okay, so you don't really have to be a great rider. Please don't go out and take horseback riding lessons in order to prepare for the Lord's coming. you will be okay. But then it says in verse 15, out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. These are the nations that have gathered at a place we call Armageddon, Har Megiddo, the Mount of Megiddo. He will rule with them with an iron scepter, and he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty, and then verse 16, highlight it in your Bible. On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of lords, king of kings and lord of lords. The choir just sang about the king of kings. And then of course, reading forward verses 17 through the remainder of it, we see here that this is the second coming and the purpose is to judge the nations that have gathered against Jesus Christ and his followers. Now let me just make sure we're clear. The people that have gathered at Megiddo to stand up against Christ are those who refused to repent. Remember in chapter 16, we noted several times where those on the earth, even after the judgments of the bold judgments of God, These people refused to repent and give glory to God. It's as if God has let them have their way. Their hearts became so calloused, so hard, that they themselves blasphemed God's name. It is these people who are remaining on earth when all the next few verses I read occur. I saw an angel standing in the sun, verse 17, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, come gather together for the great supper of God. Let's be clear, this is not the marriage supper of the Lamb, this is the great supper of God. so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slaves, small and great. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army." This, of course, is the gathering of the nations against Christ. And then verse 20, but the beast, that is the Antichrist, who is empowered by the devil himself, by demonic spirits, the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet, who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image, and the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them, that is all of the armies that are gathered there with the Antichrist and the false prophet, were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. I'll pause right there and say a few things. First of all, These armies that are gathered against Christ are gathered at Armageddon. Remember, Armageddon is a place, it is not specifically a battle, even though the battle does take place there. Number two, he returns, Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives. Do you remember in Acts chapter one, when Jesus is ascended in full view of his disciples? And his disciples are looking up in the sky, and an angel comes and stands among them, and he says, this same Jesus who you saw ascend out of sight into the clouds, he will return in the same way when he comes again. And so that's what he does. He comes as June Red in Zechariah. He will have one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, but he will return to the Mount of Olives. He will have this sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and that sharp two-edged sword will strike down the nations. And so we see here that the Great Supper of God is the final conflict, the final battle, and Jesus is victorious. Praise God. Hallelujah. He captures the beast, the Antichrist, which we understand the Antichrist is not just a human being. He is also the demonic influence of Satan, all wrapped up into a king, a person who sets himself as high as he can. He exalts himself before everything, including God. And then, of course, the false prophet points to the Antichrist and causes everyone to worship the Antichrist, and we see that these two are thrown alive into the lake of fire. Meanwhile, the rest of the armies, all the humans that are gathered there to fight against Christ, they are destroyed by the sharp two-edged sword that comes out of Christ's mouth, and they die. And so now the battle has ended. Chapter 19 ends with the vultures of the air coming down and feeding on the flesh of those who have faced the judgment of Christ. And so now the judgment is finalized, and now we enter into what is known as the millennium. The millennium. Look at chapter 20 here, and I'll read just a few of those first verses. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss. and holding in his hand a great chain, he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan. Is there any doubt who this is? You understand how John has done this twice now. In chapter 12, he actually goes out of his way to equate the ancient serpent from Genesis chapter 3, who deceived Eve and Adam, with the devil and with Satan, and then equates him to the dragon of chapter 12, the red dragon that cast a third of the stars to the earth, that of course most scholars would believe the third of the stars are fallen angels. In verse 3 he says, he threw him into the abyss, and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. Now, when I read this passage, and I've read this passage numerous times, but each time I read it, why, Lord, why do we have to go through more temptation, more deception from the devil? Why don't you just throw him into the abyss forever? And we hear up on the screen our four main reasons. It's as if God was saying to the Israelite people, I'm going to show you what a true theocracy looks like. I'm going to show you how I intended to be your God and you to be my people. I will put my son, my sinless son, on the throne after the throne of David and he will reign for a thousand years. There's no reason for us to think that it's any other period of time or that it's just some random number. No, I believe the literal translation here is a thousand years. And you can read a lot about it in the Old Testament prophets as they talk about the millennial reign of Christ. But he has come to regenerate them. If you recall, the new covenant that was given to Jeremiah was also repeated for us in Hebrews chapter eight. And it was a new covenant, no longer written on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of our hearts, that we will be God's people and he will be our God. There is this regeneration of how God wants to rule on this earth. Secondly, there's the regathering. In 1948, when Israel became its own country once again, people started to come back and populate the land. Israelites from all over the world. Well, guess what? They're still coming. They're still coming to Jerusalem, and here is a perfect time in which Jesus, as the Millennial King, He will have all of Israel in His stead. Thirdly, there will be a repossession of the land. Ezekiel tells us about this. And of course, if you continue in Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48, talk more in depth about the Millennial Kingdom. And then finally, there's the reinstitution of the throne of David. In 2 Samuel 7, 14, he is told, David is given the promise by God that your throne will last forever and ever. And of course, we know David died. We know that Solomon died. When Solomon died, the kingdom split. into north and south between Rehoboam and Jeroboam I. And so, therefore, we see that God is going to continue to maintain his promise, and he does so when Christ comes into his millennial kingdom. His kingdom will have no end. And then we talk about the lake of fire. Let me continue reading here. In verse 4, it says, I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. Guess who does that? We are the believers, we are the bride of Christ and we will judge during that time. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus. These are the people who died during the tribulation period because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the Word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." There it is again. Then it says in verse 5, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. These are all those who are dead in their transgressions and sins, who have been consigned to their grave until the judgment that we will read about in a few moments. And then it says this, this is the first resurrection. And then verse six, blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years. And so now we see here that the second death has no power over those who are reigning with Christ during the millennial kingdom. That is all of the saints of all of the ages. We will judge and rule. We will be priests in Christ's kingdom. Get ready to be able to be a priest and a judge during that time in 1 Corinthians 6. Paul tells the believers there in that church, do you not know that we will judge even the angels? Interestingly, this judgment that has been given to us makes us uncomfortable on this side of heaven, but understand, we will rule with Christ in a righteous way because, of course, he is our king, he is our monarch, he is our bridegroom. And so, therefore, we will have part in the first resurrection. Well, let's continue to read here because we see the doom of Satan, verse 7. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison, the abyss, and will go to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. Now, we've talked about Gog and Magog in previous passages. Of course, we read about it in Ezekiel 38 and 39. That's the only other time we see these terms. The word Magog is actually repeated for us in Genesis 10 in the table of nations. But these are the nations that set themselves up and they reject Christ and they set themselves against Him. And of course, they're the ones who will meet Jesus and try to defeat His millennial reign as King. Now, you have to ask the question, why would anyone who is living in relative prosperity, Satan is bound up in the abyss, During the millennial reign, everything seems to be going well, we're living longer, we're having more prosperous and meaningful lives. Why would God allow Satan to come and deceive the nations, and then who among those nations would side with the devil? The answer is very clear, that we have the freedom to choose, and people who are born in the millennial kingdom will not understand any of this. And so they may follow the devil because he is a deceiver, he is the father of lies, and they will come and they will take their stand against him for battle. And then it says there, to gather them for battle, in number they are like the sand on the seashore, verse nine, they marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves, but fire, came down from heaven and devoured them. Fire will destroy once and for all the enemies of God and his people. And it says in verse 10, and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now let me just share with you that the Lake of Fire is known as the second death. It is the death that is past the first death. The first death, of course, is spiritual separation from God. The second death is physical separation from God. And we see here that the Lake of Fire Many people equate it with what our concept of hell is. Let me just share with you as a pastor that the topic or the doctrine of hell is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted parts of scripture. And so you have to be very diligent to understand this. I won't go into great detail about it right now, but I am in the camp that the lake of fire is not hell. The lake of fire is the final destruction of all of those whose names are not written in the book of life. The tormenting will be for the devil and his angels, as it says in Matthew chapter 25. So let's continue on in our final passage here, or the final portion of our passage. And we will see that, in fact, the great white throne judgment occurs. Verses 11 through 15. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. Notice the distinction between the books and the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So we have a couple of things here that we need to unpack. First of all, there are the books that are opened. These are all the deeds. of every single person from the time they were born to the time they died. Do you know all of your deeds are recorded in the heavenly filing system? That these books reveal to God, He knows all your life. He knows everything from the time that you first breathe a breath to the time you breathe your last. He knows your whole life. He knows who you are. He created you in His image. Every single deed that you did, good or bad, was recorded in his books. And everything you do today will be recorded in those books until you your days are over. This is the truth of the scripture. The truth of the scripture is also this. That there's no amount of good that you and I could ever do to come into a right relationship and be reconciled to a holy God. Our judgment is already sealed before we even open the books, before we even stand before the great judge, the one who sits on the throne. The fact is, friends, that all of us will be found guilty if that was the end of the story. But God has always made a way And the way he has made is that he has provided his son to be the bridegroom. He has provided Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He has provided his son to be the reconciliation between himself and us. He is the mediator. He is the one who laid down his life so that it became a perfect sacrifice for a holy God. He is the propitiation, the satisfaction of God's wrath for our sin. And when you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, when you finally say, God, I'm not going to try to make it on my own anymore. I'm going to rely on, trust on, believe in, place my faith in the one that you provided, Jesus Christ. Then guess what? You're no longer in those books, or at least what's in there doesn't matter, because your name then is written in the book of life. Is your name written in the book of life? If it is, you are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. If it is, you are invited to share in His happiness. If it is, you are going to reign with Him in the millennial kingdom. If it is, you will live eternally with Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. Amen. Hallelujah. He made a way for you and me. And if we do that, then the lake of fire no longer will be our final destiny. It will be with the Lord Jesus Christ on earth as in heaven, because heaven will be on earth. We will live on this earth because the earth will be melted. We'll see about this next week. The elements will melt the earth. It will be set on fire, and it will be purged of all evil, and then we will live in glory forever. and ever and ever. Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you have laid out for us the clear options that all of mankind have. Our will be done or your will be done. Father I pray that this morning if there is any person in this room who has not decided firmly and finally to follow Jesus I pray that this morning they will make that decision to trust him. Lord we know that the benefits of trusting your son means eternity with you. Lord, we also pray that if any person in this church wants to come and be a part of this fellowship called Ashley River Baptist Church, Lord, I pray that you will move in their hearts to come forward today so that they can join this local body of believers to do the work that Jesus has commissioned us to do, to go and tell the great news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Father, as we lift up our voices to sing this closing hymn, I pray that you will move on our hearts to respond in faith. In Christ's name we pray, amen and amen. Please stand for the singing of this closing hymn.