So we're in Revelation chapter 19. I'm going to read it, and it's a long chapter, and we're going to deal with the whole chapter today, so we need to get right to it. After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice and a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our Lord. to our God, because His judgments are true and righteous. For He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her." And the second time they said, hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who sits on the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all you his bondservants, you who fear him, the small and the great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are true words of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems, and he has a name written upon him, which no one knows except himself. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, To all the birds which fly in midheaven, come, assemble for the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of the mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat upon the horse, and against his army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. May the Lord bless his word. So we pick up, again, here in Revelation 19, the chronology of the book. What follows is simply the working out of the seventh bowl judgment that was at the very end of chapter 16. In chapter 17 and 18, if you remember, it was simply a detailed explanation of the presence, the work, and the destruction of Babylon, that it both spanned time across the centuries and also focused on the end time in the time of the Great Tribulation where it becomes the center place or centerpiece of the function and activity of Satan and Antichrist and the false prophet. If you remember there, what I call the unholy trinity. And it just shows how all of this is being brought to an end, how it's being destroyed, and that the kingdom of Satan is now being replaced, and this is important, that it's being replaced by the kingdom of our Lord. The next two chapters that we're going to be going through, the one we're in and next chapter, are two of the most controversial chapters in all of Revelation. So anyone who does exegesis for work, their livelihood, and exegesis is simply dealing with the text, drawing out from the text what is there, addressing it, interpreting it properly and in a correct manner, those people There's a lot of disagreement on this, and I want you to know that. I want you to know that I know that. This is not something that I just recently discovered. And the problem with that is that too often very harsh statements or unhelpful statements are made, and there ends up becoming a division among the brothers and sisters in the churches. I am guilty of that, and I'll give you a brief story of that. I had a friend of mine, a brother in Christ, members of the same church in Houston, and he began to shift. As he began to understand the Calvinist doctrines that are commonly known as the Tulip, the five points of Calvinism, he also then began to read a lot of Reformed writings. And as he did that, his position on how the end times are going to happen began to shift as well. And I remember sitting down with another friend who's now an elder back in Virginia, and this guy and I were very concerned with our brother, Tom. And I, being who I am, a cocky, harsh, brash type of person, especially back then, I said to him something to this effect. I said, Tom is a false teacher. And he's like, well, you think so? I said, well, let's just ask ourselves some questions, okay? He's like, all right. I said, do you believe that the Bible teaches that the earthly reign of Jesus will be true and it will extend for a thousand years? And he said, yeah. I said, me too, because that's what it says. I said, and do you believe And is he teaching something else? And we both agreed, yes, he is. And if premillennial reign of Jesus Christ is true, then what does that make his doctrine be? Well, that would be false. And I said, is he teaching that? He is. So he's a false teacher. And we both just shook our heads and walked away. To this day, I'm ashamed of that conversation. The height of arrogance in that, the height of attitude, that mistreatment of a man who had never done me anything but good, and yet, in my youthful arrogance, I just, with the wave of the hand, sent him away. I don't want to be that way and I don't want any of you to be that way. I want you to hold to what I'm teaching because I believe it's true. But if you don't believe it, I don't want to be your enemy and I don't want you to be my enemy. I want us to still be able to be brothers and sisters working together for the kingdom. So understand that people can take this passage and they can get people so tied up in knots and create such a tension that bad things occur and that ought never to happen. I don't have any plans to go in depth into the controversies. If I were to do that, this chapter would be preached in three sermons. But we don't have the time, and I don't think that it would be helpful. This is where the ask the mats come in. If you've got questions that you'd like to understand better how I approach the passage, ask the question, and I will be glad to give you an answer. So take advantage of that. Remember again that there are certain things related to the end times that every Christian must agree on, and I am totally content to work alongside you, with you, if you hold to these, because you're then holding to an orthodox understanding of end times. The first is that Jesus is going to bodily return. You cannot claim the name of a Christian but reject his physical return. He will return. Second, we will all be bodily resurrected. The Bible is blatantly clear about that. Third, there will be a final judgment of all humanity. And lastly, there is a literal heaven and hell. Those four things are not open for debate or discussion within Christendom. This is orthodox, basic, end times doctrine. And what happens in chapter 19 is three of the four of those events occur. So you're going to be confronted with those at this time. Now, you can see my outline. I actually meant to delete some of this. I had written it out earlier and then changed my mind, but I forgot to update. So I apologize for some of the bad editing. But you can see my outline. And we're going to go right into that outline. I'm not going to bother to read it, because we're going to be doing it right now. The outline is broken into four aspects of this chapter, and the very first one is this hallelujah chorus, and that's in verses one through six. So we're gonna first of all understand this idea of why is there all of this hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah in this chapter. The word itself, hallelujah, is a wonderful word, and it's a simple transliteration from the Greek and Hebrew. It means praise Yahweh. That J-A-H at the end, that's where the Yahweh is found. So what you're literally saying when you say hallelujah, you are actually saying praise Yahweh or praise the Lord, understanding Lord to be Yahweh. Now this is important for you to understand because it's invoking the personal name of God. It's not praise God. It's not any of that kind of things. It's the actual name of God that he has given us yahweh And what that means then is it can't be used properly by like a muslim Because he does not believe in the yahweh of the scripture. He could never say hallelujah And you would never say hallelujah in real in relationship to allah their god because he is not yahweh You are actually invoking the personal name of god himself as revealed in the bible and you are praising Him. Very, very specific. So it's not a generic praise that any old God-fearer of any kind of religion could use. The only person who can use this is a follower of the one God, Yahweh. They are all in response, you'll notice, to the angels' call. Back in verse 20 of chapter 18, the angels call for heaven to rejoice. Back in verse 20, it says, So this is the response now in chapter 19, and it's a strong, vibrant, exciting response. It's also worth knowing that the four songs in verses one through five are looking backward to the judgment of Babylon, and then the song in verses six through eight is future-looking toward the marriage of the Lamb. So you have four looking backwards at the destruction, and the last one is looking forward. Now when you think about the word hallelujah, what is it that you often think? I'm not asking you to shout out an answer, but what is the situations where you would maybe use the word hallelujah or praise the Lord out loud or in your mind? Normally, it's going to be because something fun or pleasant or beneficial happens to us. You know, it's hard for a mother or father who has their daughter or son come to them and say that him and his wife are expecting. You just get excited and you say, praise the Lord. You're thankful and you're so thankful because you know that in and through all of that is the work of God. It's good and it's wonderful when you hear that cancer is no longer found in your body and you're cancer free after dealing with that nasty, evil enemy. in so many horrible ways that you spontaneously will say, praise the Lord, hallelujah, it's done, oh, good. And those are normal, and they're right. It's not wrong. But what's interesting is it's not the way the Bible uses the word. The Bible uses hallelujah in a technical manner, and it's most often used in connection with God punishing the wicked. And that's how it's being used primarily here. When was the last time perhaps you contemplated the horror of hell, of the vastness of the eternity of God's judgment against those who are rejecters of Jesus Christ, and you said, hallelujah. Especially when you realize that it's attached to maybe your family or friends, and that they are in a state of rejecting and mocking it and turning away from it or treating it lightly as if it matters not. The idea that, hey, you know what, I got things I want to do, but I'll come around to it when I'm ready. And you realize what a precarious situation that is. I think that we need to understand that when we talk about hell, when we talk about God's judgment, it's not something…not only is it not something we should be shamed about, ashamed or embarrassed or reluctant to say boldly, but that we should actually praise God for it because that's the model given to us in the Scripture. And so I think you should work through this in your own mind. And so the community groups, as you discuss this, that's one of my questions is, why do we tend to say praise the Lord when we consider good things, but not when we contemplate things like hell or judgment or wrath? I just want you to think about it. It's not a guilt party I'm trying to do. I'm trying to just get you to think through what is it that your mind is focused on that limits your use of hallelujah only to what is beneficial to you rather than how the Bible actually uses it, and that is that we are praising Yahweh because he will punish the wicked. In verse two, We see the first of the two symbolic women in this chapter. Now, we've been looking at one of them for a couple of chapters, and that's Babylon, the harlot. And it's very, very wonderful picture that's being given here in verse two. Note the basis of the joy in verse two. where it says, "...because His judgments are true and righteous, for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her." And so, the joy and the rejoicing is that God has finally judged this enemy. This enemy that has worked her woe across the centuries in the lives of countless millions and millions, billions really, of people, of the destruction wrought, of the fact that at the core of all persecution against God's people is this person, this being, this power, and God is judged and He's avenged the blood of the saints. This is why, again, I tell you that you and I are able, if we will obey, that we are able to obey the Command to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you to give good things to them rather than evil. We're forbidden to do those things. We're forbidden to do evil upon our enemies. How and why? Well, the only way that you can do it is if you believe the promise of God and that you will hold it dear. And that is that I will take vengeance on your enemies. Everyone who has ever done you wrong unless they have later repented and come to Christ and you are now reconciled because of your joint relationship in Jesus Christ. Unless they have done that, all who have done you evil, all who have done you wrong, against you as a Christian, God has not forgotten. God will bring judgment. And his vengeance shall be far better than anything that you could come up with on your own. And so he said, because I will repay, you go and show kindness to them. You're free to do that. You're able to do that. just like God continues to do His kindness to all of His enemies. Any of you here today who are not a Christian and that you have rejected the call to come and kneel before Him and to follow Him and trust in Him alone for any salvation, He still gives you good things. He still blesses you. He still provides for you. You have joys, you have triumphs and pleasures of all sorts. Why? Because God is that way. But He will at one point finally say it is done and the vengeance will occur. This is something that we should anticipate. How many of you do that? How many of you anticipate God bringing His vengeance on His enemies and your enemies? You know, one of the few things that will suck joy and purpose from a person is to be mistreated and thinking that there will never be a way out. or an improvement. If you don't believe in the vengeance of God, if you don't even believe in God, if there is no God, that you're a product simply of evolution, you are the most to be pitied because there is no hope. Whatever is happening to you, you may escape from it or you may not. But I can tell you that there are a countless number of humans right now in this world who are enslaved. There are countless young girls in Thailand who are being not only kidnapped, but then shipped all around the world into even their own nation for the exact purpose of being slaves, and at the beck and call and use of very vile human beings. And that is their life. That's it. There is no something better later on. There is no, well, once this gets thing, maybe I'll get promoted out. There's no promotion. There's simply, you're there for the perverse pleasure of others, and once you are used up and you will be used up quickly, you are discarded, likely killed, and you're left, if you're left alive, scarred and covered in the fullness of what disease can bring upon you. Where's the hope? If you don't believe in God, then there is no hope. There is no way to persevere in that. But if you know of God and you know of His righteousness as a Christian, you can be in that exact same situation and still have hope. Because God says, I will make it right. I see it, and in my time, when it's the proper time, I will take it and I will deal with it. The promise of hell and the promise of judgment is not something ever, beloved, to be ashamed of. It is for you to look forward to because in it, God will judge his enemies. Take note of the basis of this vengeance. It says that his judgments are true and righteous, and that's really the cause for the praise. The phrase, his judgments are true and righteous, explain how his judgments are made. The point is that when God judges, there is no partiality, there's no pity, there's no personal agenda. Even more important, there's not a bit of falsehood in it. God's judgment is always going to be in accord to the facts. Nobody will be able to argue even a little bit with them that there was something wrong, because it will be perfect and true in every way. And they are just in how they are implemented. He's not like a man. in our society who is moved back and forth by various means or easily bribed to make a different decision. God is totally impartial in that way. He is not impressed by any of us, and His judgments will be always true and righteous. And in that, we can praise Him. That tells me that depending on where you are right now, this should be a point of fear or a point of joy. It's a point where we run to the gospel all the more, knowing that bound up in the gospel is the full forgiveness of sin, the fullness of Christ's righteousness upon us. And so we find our rescue and our joy and our refuge in the gospel. And we also should take fear because we know that God is not impressed by our arguments. If you're not a Christian, you should be terrified. This is how the Apostle Peter says it. Listen what he writes about God's judgments. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, please note that. What will become of the godless man and the sinner? The sinner is the one who's openly in rebellion and living out evil in any way they can. The godless man is the one who just doesn't care about God. They might be a very nice person, upright person, pleasant, generous, and everything else. They just don't care about God. And he captures them both. They both. What will become of those people? And so he says, therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. Everything I just said, Peter just said. you're in the midst of suffering, that's okay. It's not fun, it's not pleasant, it never was designed, but God in His sovereignty has chosen you to go through that season of suffering or persecution. And He says the answer to it is not to fight back or to despair, it is to entrust your soul to God. He will judge and He will resolve that righteously. And he says, if you think it's scary as a Christian to think about being judged by God, because he will judge every Christian, he says, how much more frightening must it be for those who have nothing because they're not in Jesus Christ? Now in verses 3 through 10 then, he gives this glimpse of a, basically it's a heavenly worship service. And again, we're seeing the joyous expression of praise. The word, hallelujah. And why? The why is that God has fully judged this system and this great place of great wickedness. And what you're seeing here is really an antiphonal worship service. And all antiphonal means is that one side is calling out the judgment of God, and then the other side is responding and affirming it with an outspoken word of amen, which means let it be, or so be it, or it is done. And then the praise, hallelujah. So God has judged, one side does, and the other side then shouts back, amen, hallelujah. And it's just a wonderful way where both sides are affirming what God has done and is doing. In verse five, that call to praise, that brings that call to praise, but notice why they're called to give praise in verses six and seven. So in five, the voice says, give praise to our God, all you bond servants, you who fear him, the small and the great. So he's like, everyone who calls himself a follower of Jesus Christ, you give praise. Why? In verse six, It says, that the Lord reigns. I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and the sound of many waters, and the sounds of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah! Why? For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. So the first reason is that he is reigning. It's not a general statement about God's reigning. God always reigns. He is the king. But this is speaking of the fact that now God has judged Babylon and that God is now establishing the kingdom of his son, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And because of that, all of heaven and earth who are believers are called to give praise. In verse 7 then, it's because not only does the Lord reign, but because He reigns, now the marriage is about to take place, and the bride has made herself ready. So verse 5 is a call to praise. Verse 6 and 7 are the reasons for this praise. And the question then is, who is the bride? Who is this bride that's referenced? And there's different views taken on it. Some will say it's Israel. Others will say it's all people across time from beginning to end who have their faith in God. And others, and this is my view, is that speaking of the church, the Bible in the New Testament speaks of the church, God's people after the day of Pentecost, that body of believers, that is called the Bride of Christ. Now I want you to notice some details. In verse 7 it talks about the marriage of the Lamb. This can only be Jesus Christ because the Bible speaks only of it with Jesus being the recipient of this marriage supper. But also notice in verse 7 that it talks about Christ's bride being ready. Notice how the church prepares for this day. Notice that in no way are we called to just be passive. It says that His bride has made herself ready. This is seen in so many different ways. Verse 8 says, though, it's done through her righteous deeds. But it's also connected to, in verse 8, that it was given to her So God is giving to her to clothe herself in fine linen. And what is this fine linen? It's her righteous deeds. So there is this evidence here of God is the one that's giving her these righteous deeds, and she is the one putting them on, meaning she is the one performing them. And it speaks to the nature of holiness, of a sanctification for the Christian, that process of growing more Christ-like, that it is work that God has called us to. It is the good deeds that God expects his Christians and his children to do and perform. And as we do that, we are doing it because the Spirit of God is empowering us to do it. And so it's a cooperative effort. So in that sense, we're able to say that the bride has made herself ready. But in Ephesians 5, we see that Jesus Christ is going to present for himself a bride without stain or wrinkle. So in that sense, Christ is at work in his church preparing her for this day where the church is wed to him. And on the other side of it, we are cooperating in that work as we obey and we grow in our holiness. 1 John, the writer here is John, and he says in his epistle in chapter 3, Beloved, we are children of God, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, so notice how it's connected, it's when Christ appears that we'll be like Him. Why? Because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has his hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He, Jesus, is pure. So there is a reality that at His coming we will be changed and we will be like our Lord and we will be able to be with Him in fullness for all eternity. And because of that, because of that anticipation, we are in the process even now of putting those things off. If you are not in the process of putting those things off, I would say if you're a Christian, the reason you're not busy growing in holiness is that you're not yet grasping that the great event that you are waiting for is His return, the coming of Christ. You are too busy being invested in an age that is dying. You're too busy building your treasure on earth where it will be destroyed. Though all of this is done in an individual manner, nowhere would it ever be described as an individual process. Each one of you are responsible for this, but it is a corporate work. That's why we gather together in the church to worship together. That's why we pray for one another. That's why we get together in community groups. We are not called to do this alone. We are to provoke each other, one another, stimulating one another toward love and good deeds. And then as the writer of Hebrews says, all the more as we see the day, the day of Christ's return coming. In light of that, we need to be busy helping each other. Then in verse 10, we see John's response. He's overwhelmed. He's hearing words that he has been waiting for. Everything he has been witnessing up to now has been primarily horrible. Even though there's hope in all of it, he has just witnessed the slaughter of countless people who love the Lord. He himself is suffering on the island of Patmos. And all of this has been difficult, though he has been faithful to write it all down. But now the announcement is made. Now what he has been longing for, the return of his Lord, is finally there. Remember, he was there when Jesus was alive. He was there when he died. He was there when he rose again. He was there asking them questions. Is it time? Is it time when Jesus says, don't we worry about what time it is? You guys go and wait for the spirit. And then he saw Jesus ascend into heaven. But he also has told faithfully his people that he is coming again and that we are to look for it. And now he's seeing that. The message is given, and it's given with such certainty that John becomes overwhelmed and he just wants to worship. And he falls down before this angel, and that's what he tries. But the angel has nothing to do with that. No matter how well-intentioned, it is always wrong, and the angel immediately corrects it. In fact, not only does he correct it, he forbids it. Why? Because the messenger is just that. He's just an angel. Doesn't matter how great he is, how filled with glory of God he is, how awesome he is, he is still but a servant. And that's the whole point of this section. Worship God. Worship God. Because God has done this. It's God's message. It's God doing this. So the mind and the emotions should always direct themselves back to God. Right now, we are living, beloved, in all of the seductive lies of Babylon. And I've asked you over and over again in your small groups to try to identify how these lies are being manifested in your life. And I want you to think about it. In your education, and in your work, and in your leisure time, in your spending habits, in your marriage, in your child rearing, in every way, if you think that this is not a war, you're already in great trouble. If you are not constantly growing in your awareness that Satan seeks to destroy you because you are a testimony of the grace of God, he wants to destroy your family because that is the basic building block of a society. So he's going to attack your family. If you don't believe that and you don't get it, then you're walking around with your head in the sand. And so we have to realize that this is what's happening. Worship God because the answer to these lies that are constantly being whispered into your ear will not be heard if you're not worshiping God. The greater your vision of God, the better you will be at seeing the lies. It's not gonna be found in rituals or obedience or theology or experiences. None of those are wrong in themselves. But that's not where ultimately ends. Sound theology is only sound because it ultimately rightly explains and reveals God. If you stop and you can argue every little argument about some point of theology, but the person does not walk away with a greater vision of God, then you failed. It doesn't matter what your experience is. It doesn't matter anything. It's got to always come back to being given over to worshiping God. This is not saying that these don't matter. They just have to move us that way. So what are we doing when we gather on a Sunday? I've said this so many different ways over the years. We gather in rebellion. That's why we do it. We gather in rebellion against the lies of the world. We reassert, because we most of the time forget, by the time Sunday gets here, we forget. And we are reminded and we are able to reassert with one voice together that God alone is worthy of our time. God alone is worthy of our money. God alone is worthy of our praise. And we sit and we sing songs in rebellion. We pray in rebellion. We hear the word in rebellion. We drink coffee out in the lobby talking to each other in rebellion to everything that this world has been shoving at us all week long. We know it's a lie and on Sunday we gather to be reminded that. And so we corporately and individually choose to worship God and the other things every day or other things everyday meaning. As we are commanded, whatever we do, whether we eat or we drink, we what? Do it to the glory of God. And yet, how often do we not? How often are we not cognizant of the fact that this is a gift? This is a gift. I enjoyed my meal and I thank God for it. And notice, finally, the difference between this angel and the beast, the Antichrist. Remember that the Antichrist asserts himself so that the whole world will worship him, and he wants it. He wants all of the false lies that he is to be admired and loved and adored, and they all go to worship him. But here is and he's not worthy of it because he's not god and now you've got the angel who is this holy angel this awesome angel incredible vision of power And the first thing he does when somebody tries to offer him worship is like no No, I will not tolerate that I cannot He understands rightly his place from there we have the coming of jesus christ and verses 11 through 16. So having tried to worship the angel, now John is given a whole new vision, and I think it's interesting. He tries to worship somebody other than Christ, and then the next vision that he is given is Christ. Christ shows up, and he's like, oh, yeah. I bet you once he sees the vision of Christ, there was no more temptation to worship the angel. I'm just guaranteeing you. Christ is on the scene, and all of a sudden, this mighty, huge, powerful, awesome angel becomes nothing. Because the Lord is here. And I'm like, that's got to be a cool vision. So he's given the vision of whom he is to worship. The image is not a meek and mild one. It's one of a man of war. It gets into the whole idea of how the Bible portrays, especially in the Old Testament, of God as the warrior king. And I dealt with all of that early on in my sermons on Ephesians, so you can go in and listen to the first about five sermons where I really break that down and the idea of how the Bible portrays them in this light. But here's one great passage out of Zechariah. Then the Lord, and this is speaking of this very moment in time, all right? Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. And in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. Now, many people look at this and say, well, I don't think that's going to actually happen. I do, because it says so, and it's not even doing anything here in a symbolic manner. But it is all in light of Christ's coming, and He is preparing to fight for His enemies. And you can read the rest of that passage in Zechariah. It's a fascinating passage of what's going to take place. So what's happening here is the climax of what the New Testament points to as every believer's hope. In Matthew 13, it speaks of the return of Christ to judge all wickedness and to cast all who are sinners into hell. In Romans 2, it reminds us that those who refuse to turn from sin to faith are simply storing up the wrath of God to be revealed on that day, and that day now is here in John's vision. And it goes all the way back to Revelation 1.7, where it says, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so, amen. That He is coming. He is coming. He's the faithful and true, it says. Faithful means He keeps His promises. They're not something He'll fail to accomplish. He promises he's gonna come again. He promises that he will save his people from their sin. He promises to make all things new, and here he is. He's here. And everything else doesn't matter, because he's here. To be true, not just faithful, but true, speaks to the fact that truth is bound up in him. It's not something outside of him, but within him. And as judge, he will do everything in accordance to that truth. and that no one can make a case that they were treated wrongly because it is true and you will know it's true. Note what he has come to do though, it's not subtle. He has come to judge and he has come to wage war. Just think about the contrast that you're seeing because when he came before he was a baby, right? He came born in poverty. He took on the appearance of a bondservant. He came gentle and meek and mild. He allowed his enemies to take him and beat him and torture him and mock him and humiliate him and ultimately kill him. All of that he did. On the cross, he looks down upon the multitudes and says, Father, forgive them, for they don't even know what they're doing. Why? I'll tell you why. Because the spirit of Babylon has just stirred these people up to do the wickedness. But now it's done, and he's not coming back gentle and mild anymore. He's coming back as what he is. He is the Lord Almighty. He holds the universe in every way, holds it together. He is the mighty one. He is the holy one, and he has come to take care of business. and it is an ugly, ugly thing. Parents, make certain when you teach your children about Jesus that you're giving them the real Jesus. Don't give them some fake Jesus that uses product in his hair, and combs out his beard, and has bluebirds sitting on his shoulder. You make certain that you show them that he came meek, but he is coming back as an avenging God, and that they need to trust in him. This return is described in verses 11 through 16. It's got a lot of symbolic imagery that are really quite simple to explain though. The white horse is likely to symbolize purity and victory. It's contrasted against his first return when he sat on a small donkey and he entered into Jerusalem and everyone's saying hallelujah, hallelujah. He's come, he's come, and then they're crucifying him. Now he's coming on this mighty war horse He has eyes that are flaming, which picture that power of gaze, of his gaze. It's the idea that nothing is missed. Nothing deceives him. It anticipates the coming judgment. These are not gentle eyes. These are the flaming eyes of one who is mad, with a holy anger, and he's looking at his enemies, and he's just gazing across it, and it's a frightening image. the many diadems or crowns, it doesn't even say how many, speaks to the idea that he's the king of kings. Remember the other, his enemies, the beast, had X number, you know, 10 crowns or seven horns. They had a certain number. That doesn't even bother, just many, and it speaks to the fact that now the true king has come, and he is the king over all kings. He is the Lord over all the lords, and that's the emphasis that's being given. He also has this thing that everyone likes to pick on. He has a name that no one knows but him. Now some try to make, this is weird, but some people try to make the name his church, that it's the church that is the name. But it's mind boggling as you try to make sense of how they got there, and it doesn't make sense. But what is important to understand is that when you have a person's name, you have control. You have a control over them to a degree. This is how the Old Testament works and uses the name. And so that you don't always give your full name. To have one's name that's not known is simply, again, a different way of Him asserting Himself as being the Sovereign One. They hear, we know Him as Jesus, He is the Son, He is the Word of God. We have all of these different titles and terms, Emmanuel, that we know belong to Him. But, on His coming, there is still a name that we do not know. And everyone wants to say, well, what is it? What's the answer? We don't know. Well, I got a question. There's no question. No, you don't get to ask a question. You don't know. Well, I still have a question. No, you don't. There is no question. He just simply says, I have a name. You don't know it. No one does. Will we know it? Maybe. If he chooses, we won't care. In verse 13, we see this robe that's covered with blood, that's dipped in blood. It's really the idea that it's just covered in blood. And the question is whose? Some people will say, well, this is the blood from the cross, speaking of His taking our sins. But that's not even in view in this chapter. It's the blood of the saints who have suffered for his name, and he's coming as a memorial. But again, it doesn't speak to it in that way. The last one is probably the correct one. It's the blood of his enemies. Notice what it says in verse 15 a little bit further down. that he's going to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. Well, where does that come in? Well, that's out of Isaiah in chapter 63. Listen, he says, Why is your apparel red? And again, he's looking to this day. And your garments, like the one who treads in the winepress. I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there were no man with me. I also trod them in my anger. and trampled them in my wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. And I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold. So my own harm brought salvation to me, and my wrath upheld me. And I trod down the peoples of my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. And it poured out their lifeblood on the earth. Such a graphic picture of him just crushing his enemies. And he does it all by himself. This is his time. It's his time to gather his enemies and to destroy them. And no one will stand. He's also described in this passage as the Word of God, which just simply connects him all the way back to the beginning, or how John said it in John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Here is the Word of God. But it also speaks to the fact that as the Word of God, he is executing God's judgments. He is executing the Father's purposes. Wherever you see God work or act in the Bible, especially where He speaks, it is the second person of the Trinity at work. And now, it is time to execute the judgment of God. And who is the one executing it? The Word of God. Now, He has these armies with Him, and the question is, who? For time, I'm not going to take you to any of the passages, but you can look at these passages at your community group or on your own. Some will see him as angels because consistently the Bible talks about his angelic armies coming with him on that day of judgment. Others think it's believers because, again, the believers are going to be there present with him and changed at his coming. And so they'll be revealed with him. And so they think it's the believer. I really argue that the answer is actually both. The revealing of Jesus Christ at this point is simply a stunning and awe-inspiring event where he comes out and arrayed behind him is his holy angel and his church, now raised and changed and covered in their clean linens. It's a stunning picture. He has come to judge and to establish this kingdom. His holy angels who had to sit quietly by while they watched him beaten and spit on. He says, with a word, I could bring down legions of angels and they would rescue me. And you know in heaven, the angels were saying, do it, do it, do it. On that day of his humiliation, all they wanted to do was to come to their Lord and just wreak havoc. But he didn't. He died because he was there to die, to be your sin bearer. But now he's not coming to bear sin. Now he's coming to judge it. And they are with him. They are coming with their angry God, who is righteously angry. With that comes then the battle of Armageddon. In verses 17 to 21, Christ has come. He's arrayed with his angels and the people of God. And there's this call for the birds to come and feast. He's inviting them to a supper. It's kind of a nasty imagery when you think about it. And again, that's why I say we ought not to shy away from describing to our children exactly who he is, because this is not wrong. It just is not pleasant. This is connected back in Matthew 24 where it talks about this event, where it says, as certain as the coming and going of lightning from the east to the west, so is the reality of vultures coming on this day of slaughter to devour the corpses. And if you're good with your imagination, just kind of let that one capture you as you think about what is happening here. Remember, the beast had got those 10 men who were 10 kings, and that their purpose was to then fight against the Lord. And that's what's happening here, is Jesus has come, he's got his angels and his people, and so his armies, and they're arrayed there with him, and now the beast is coming out with his 10 kings and these massive numbers of armies, because it's their last ditch effort, this is it. Everything that they had has been destroyed, and if they have any other chances, right now, we gotta kill him, we gotta take him down. We did it once, let's do it a second time, and let's do it right this time. And so you have this incredible view of this army. The beast is mentioned first because he's likely in the lead. Behind him are the kings, then the armies, and their purpose is very clear. It's war. It's war. Their economy is destroyed. Their power is destroyed. This is the last chance. But what happens in this, I find it hilarious, is how anticlimactic it is. It's not like the Lord of the Rings, is it? It's not like this huge, frightening army of orcs and balrogs and whatever else, and you're like, my goodness, and then eventually they all come clashing together and heads are getting chopped off and stuff's happening like that, right? That's the kind of battle you're expecting for the Battle of Armageddon. No, no, you're fighting Jesus now. There's no fair fight. He never fights fair. So they're all there. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies. Next verse, verse 20, and the beast was seized. Wait, how? I like information. No, he was just taken. But he has a whole army. Yeah, I know. Well, how do you seize him? Well, when you're Jesus, you just seize him. It's pretty easy. Did you really think there was gonna be a fight? Well, yeah. No, no, you're never gonna fight God. You just can't win that one. but only the deceptive mind is gonna think that. It's almost embarrassing. If you didn't hate the beast so much, you'd almost feel bad for him. You know, you're like, yeah, I mean, it's like, this dude didn't even have a chance. He and the false prophet are seized, and they're thrown alive, it says, into the lake of fire. This is where we see the comparison of that incredible strength of Antichrist as described in the earlier chapters. He had incredible power, but now he is shown in contrast to the sovereign power of God. It's a different world. It's just a different world. You can look at the world's strongest man and just be in awe of him. We had a guy here visit. He worked with Homeland Security. He lived in St. Louis, and he was on the planes flying around. That's what he did, undercover. And he came to visit and worship with us, and he sat back there. Now, Mike Strickland's a big guy, and Mike Strickland looked like a little girl next to this guy. I mean, I say that because we all know how big Mike is. This guy was a monster. He was, you're just like, oh my goodness. I mean, I couldn't even get my hand to, it was a joke. It was like, the fingers were like this. He looked like the thing, I think that's what, the guy, the rock guy? Isn't that him? Yeah, he looked like him without the rocks. He was just massive. And you think, whoa, whoa, now that's power. Well, yeah, until the earthquake crushes you, right? I mean, then all of a sudden you realize you're not that powerful. You're powerful only when you're comparison to something else. This is the beast. He's powerful, but now he's with Christ. He's nothing. He's just what the Bible says. He is a flowering grass. He is a wisp of steam, and it's done. All of these people that you fear right now, the people and beings and events that you might get trapped in sheer anxiety and worry, they're not anything, beloved, if you keep a mind that's focused on the person of Christ. He casts them into the lake of fire. What is that? Well, it's not the abyss, and it's not Hades. That's where everyone who dies right now goes to. and they're temporarily held until the lake of fire is opened for business. And now it's starting to open. This is what you would call hell or the lake of fire. It's also known as Gehenna, which was one of the questions asked Pastor Matt. So Gehenna is just another word. It's actually of a locale there in Jerusalem. And I won't get into all the details now, but it's just known as hell or the lake of fire. Now, I would say to this to any of you here that don't believe the Antichrist or the false prophet are actual persons. It's very common that people will say this, that they represent the Roman Empire, the beast is the Roman Empire, and the imperial cult where you would worship the Caesar is the false prophet. Very, very common. And so they don't treat these people as beings. But I want you to notice, it actually takes time to describe how they're cast into the lake of fire. Somebody shout it out. They're cast alive. It's not talking about just some system or thought pattern. These are people, and they are taken, and they are judged, and they're cast alive into this place of punishment. And then Jesus turns his attention to the massive army, and can you imagine what that's like? They just watched their most powerful guys just get seized, and they're gone. It's like, whoa, whoa, Antichrist, he was right here. Yeah, I don't know where he went. Well, how'd he go? I don't know. Well, dude, you were supposed to be watching him. I was, I was watching him. Whoa. And then you look up, you're like, oh, man. Oh, man, and now those flaming, fiery eyes are looking at you. And it says that they are slain. How? By the power of his mouth. He just kills them. I don't know what he says. Does he say be gone? Die? We don't know. But he doesn't even invite the armies to fight with him. We're all just witnesses to it. We're all there, arrayed with them, the angel's there, and they're gonna watch one person, the Son of God, stand against all of the enemies, and he just makes them go away. He's like, you're gone, you're done. Think of the arrogance, and then think of the humiliation. Beloved, if you are one of those who loves to raise your voice in complaint against God, if you are one that likes to complain and think that you can speak arrogantly, oh, if he was real, why doesn't he strike me dead right now? Well, he's so real that he doesn't need to strike you dead right now. But he will. And there's nothing you will do. This army is so vast it's daunting to anyone, but it means nothing to Him. So what do we take from all of this? Well, two points. If you're a non-Christian here or you're hearing me online, I will say again that whatever you think you will do on that day when you're confronted with God, whatever you think you will do, you're not gonna do. It won't be your day, it's the day of the Lord, and He will judge you. There's no time of joy, there's no argument, there's no anything. It will just be a time where you will begin for all eternity to gnash your teeth at the horror of the wrath of God that is justly and rightly pouring out upon you, and you'll know it. Beloved, every one of our lives hangs by a thread, and it's his patience and his purpose that keeps you alive, that's it. I have no meaning to be crass here, but 17 lives were snuffed out very, very quickly down in Florida. None of them had on their calendar, today I die, and every one of them died and are now before their maker. It just, do not be so arrogant as to think that you have even this afternoon. You possess no rights over your time. So if you are an enemy of God, if you are just simply an ignorer of God, there will be that day that you will not be able to ignore him. So my call is to come and repent. Now for the Christian, the Bible says that these doctrines are for you to have comfort. Here are two passages. In Titus 2 it says, for the grace of God has appeared, that's the first coming of Jesus, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desire and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in the present age. That's how we as Christians are called to live. Looking for the blessed hope, not just a hope, it's the blessed hope. and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. While we live in a sober manner now, it's with an eye toward the sky waiting for Him to come. In Philippians, he says it this way in verse chapter three, for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly, are you, that's my question, are you eagerly waiting for the Savior? the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble estate into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. On that day of his return, everything you hate about yourself because it's proneness to sin and it's weakness and frailties and sicknesses are gone. In that day, you are transformed into that glory. So I can say this, let us dwell on this and let us train our minds to anticipate the coming of our Lord.