Coming Soon: The Great White Throne Judgment!

Introduction:

The Last Trial in History (Rev 20:11-15):

1. The Judge. (Rev 20:11)
2. The Trial. (Rev 20:12-13)
3. The Sentence. (Rev 20:14-15)

The more you know, the more you reject, the more you suffer.

Matt 10:15 - Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Matt 11:20, 24 - Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. "But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Heb 10:29 - How much worse punishment,do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  01:04-01:05

  Revelation 20.

  01:06-01:16

  Following the millennial reign of Christ we studied last week, we saw earth as it was meant to be.

  01:17-01:25

  And following those thousand years, Satan leads a revolt with all of the unredeemed on the earth.

  01:27-01:46

  And after that revolt is squashed, Satan is cast into the lake of fire with the Antichrist, a false prophet, and then every God-rejecting sinner from all of history will be resurrected to stand trial.

  01:48-01:51

  Remember, all believers are resurrected before the Millennium.

  01:52-01:58

  The Bible says at the end of the Millennium, all unbelievers will be resurrected for trial.

  02:00-02:04

  we're going to be talking about the last trial in history.

  02:07-02:11

  At this trial, there will be no defense.

  02:13-02:14

  There will be no appeal.

  02:15-02:18

  There's no grounds for complaining.

  02:19-02:21

  There's no outcry of injustice.

  02:22-02:31

  At this trial, a sentence will be passed and it will be immediately carried out.

  02:33-02:42

  And concerning this trial, concerning this passage, you know, Satan, his tricks haven't changed, like ever.

  02:43-02:54

  And even in the very beginning of creation, Satan sought to deceive mankind regarding God's judgment.

  02:54-02:56

  You remember that scene, Garden of Eden?

  02:57-02:58

  Did God really say...

  02:58-03:22

  I remember Eve was like, "Yeah, we're not supposed to have anything to do with that tree, because if we do, God says we'll die." And Satan says, "You will not surely die." And you know, right now, I know, getting up and speaking on this passage right now, Satan is whispering in people's ears right here, saying, "This stuff isn't true.

  03:24-03:32

  You surely will not die." And He's continuing to try to deceive you regarding the upcoming judgment of God.

  03:33-03:35

  But God has promised to judge.

  03:37-03:43

  And He's going to judge righteously in what is known as the great white throne judgment.

  03:44-03:45

  This is it.

  03:46-03:58

  This is the most sobering, the most intense, the most heart-wrenching passage in the entire Let's talk about the great white throne judgment.

  03:58-04:01

  This is the last trial in history.

  04:01-04:05

  And first of all, following the text, we need to take a look at the judge.

  04:06-04:09

  Look at verse 11, Revelation 20.

  04:09-04:24

  John says, "Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who was seated on it, From His presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

  04:25-04:30

  Over 50 times in Revelation we see a throne, a throne, a throne.

  04:30-04:42

  Well, seated on the throne is God Himself, but many times throughout Revelation, we see that Jesus Christ shares the throne with His Father.

  04:43-04:47

  You know, we saw that back in chapter 3, verse 21.

  04:47-04:49

  We'll see it again, chapter 22, verse 1, verse 3.

  04:50-04:52

  Jesus shares the throne with His Father.

  04:52-05:01

  So when you see this image in your head of this great white throne, you're like, "Who's sitting on it?" Well, the answer primarily in this passage is Jesus Christ.

  05:03-05:13

  Because Jesus said, John 5, many other places in the New Testament, He has been given the authority and the power to be the judge.

  05:14-05:17

  So this is Jesus Christ seated on the throne.

  05:20-05:22

  We saw the throne back in chapter 4.

  05:23-05:30

  And we just sang some of the verbiage of Revelation 4 with a Revelation song.

  05:30-05:37

  Around the throne - you remember Revelation 4 if you've been with us through this series - around the throne was a rainbow.

  05:39-05:44

  And if you recall, we discussed the rainbow as a sign.

  05:45-05:48

  It's a picture of God's grace in the midst of judgment.

  05:51-05:56

  And when you get to Revelation 20 and we see the throne again, there's no rainbow.

  05:59-06:00

  Because there's no grace here.

  06:01-06:01

  This is it.

  06:03-06:04

  The day of grace is right now.

  06:07-06:43

  coming, then it's over. So John then speaks of, I guess for lack of a better term, "uncreation" - did you see that? From His presence, earth and sky fled away. It's this new heaven, a new earth is going to be created. We're going to talk about that next week. But in this vision, it's like He sees the one seated on the throne and His glory is like radiating and as His glory goes out, it absolutely washes away.

  06:44-06:52

  Actually, the Bible says, "melts and disintegrates everything in its presence." Can you see that picture in your head?

  06:52-06:54

  It's just like He radiates His glory.

  06:55-06:58

  Everything before Him just melts away.

  07:00-07:02

  It's a process of uncreation.

  07:04-07:27

  You see, with the new heavens and the new earth coming, Jesus isn't going to get duct tape and staples and kind of take this broken world and say, "Let's see how we can fix this up." Actually, according to 2 Peter 3, He's going to absolutely vaporize this world.

  07:30-07:31

  He's going to create a new one.

  07:32-07:41

  Like, "Well, wait a second. What about the believers who were on the earth during this time?" Well, obviously, He's going to remove them first, right?

  07:43-07:46

  Some other rapture-type event? I don't know.

  07:48-07:55

  But that's the judge, and everything melting away before His awesome glory.

  07:58-07:59

  So every trial you need a judge?

  07:59-08:01

  Well, number two, let's talk about the trial itself.

  08:03-08:04

  Let's talk about the trial.

  08:05-08:06

  Look at verse 12.

  08:07-08:13

  John says, "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

  08:14-08:24

  Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.

  08:25-08:28

  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it.

  08:29-08:43

  Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done." So in the trial, first of all, let's talk about the defendants.

  08:44-08:50

  You know, somewhere between the end of this world and the beginning of the next world, like, what did that look like?

  08:50-08:53

  There was no world. It's gone at this point.

  08:53-09:03

  It's like this vast nothingness, and literally the only thing you see is the throne and the defendants.

  09:04-09:11

  And John witnesses the verdict that will be passed on the unredeemed.

  09:13-09:17

  Now if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, I have some incredible news for you.

  09:18-09:19

  You are nowhere in this seat.

  09:20-09:34

  If you have received Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, if you've been born again, the Bible says in Romans 8.1, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." You're not here.

  09:36-09:38

  You will never face God's judgment.

  09:38-09:41

  This is not for you.

  09:41-09:43

  But let's talk about who is mentioned here.

  09:43-09:52

  First of all, verse 12, mentioned first, are the last living unbelievers at the end of the millennium who die in Satan's last revolt.

  09:53-10:04

  Mentioned second, and this is verse 13, "Every single other sinner from all of human history." Look back at the text, verse 13.

  10:04-10:15

  First of all, it says, "The sea gave up the dead." Before the sea was uncreated, God resurrects every person who died in the water.

  10:18-10:32

  Then He says, "Death and Hades gave up the dead." Death is just another way of saying "the grave." Meaning people who died and they didn't die at sea or in the water, they died, they were buried on land.

  10:34-10:41

  Hades is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word "sheol," which means the realm of the dead.

  10:44-10:47

  The word "Hades" is used ten times in the New Testament.

  10:47-10:56

  And every time, it refers to a place of punishment where the unredeemed go, where they're awaiting trial for this moment right here.

  10:57-10:58

  That's what Hades is.

  10:59-11:01

  Luke 16, Jesus talks about it.

  11:04-11:08

  So all of these unredeemed souls are given resurrection bodies.

  11:09-11:16

  We saw that last week, verse 5, the second resurrection that will be destroyed forever in the lake of fire.

  11:18-11:19

  So what's the basis of the judgment?

  11:21-11:24

  We've got the judge, we've got the trial, we've got the defendants.

  11:24-11:25

  Are you in the scene?

  11:25-11:27

  What's the basis of the judgment?

  11:27-11:30

  The Bible says God opens up all of these books.

  11:33-11:42

  We see that God's judgment is based - He says it twice, you can't miss it - His judgment is based on what they had done.

  11:44-11:46

  What they had done. Every sinful deed.

  11:49-11:53

  Every wrong thing you've ever done.

  11:54-12:00

  Those of you sitting here and listening to this podcast later, if you have not received Christ, understand what's going to happen here.

  12:00-12:04

  Every wrong thing you've ever done, God has it recorded.

  12:07-12:11

  Every evil thought you've ever had, according to Romans 2.16.

  12:12-12:15

  Every evil thought, God has it recorded in His books.

  12:18-12:25

  Every evil word you've ever spoken, according to Matthew 12.37, laid out in His books, He's got it all written down.

  12:28-12:31

  perfectly described in full detail.

  12:33-12:38

  And by the way, God doesn't need the books.

  12:38-12:40

  He's omniscient, right? Doesn't God know everything?

  12:42-12:48

  So, if God's omniscient, why does He have the books?

  12:51-12:54

  Well, it's a simple answer. Because this is a trial.

  12:55-12:56

  And what do you need at a trial?

  12:56-12:59

  You have the judge, you have the defendants, what do you need?

  13:00-13:02

  You need evidence, right? You need evidence.

  13:02-13:10

  What am I being charged for? God says, "I have it all written down right here." Perfect, full detail. A testimony to everyone.

  13:12-13:13

  God has the evidence.

  13:15-13:33

  And you know, as a pastor, I've been doing this over two decades, and I meet a lot of people in various settings, and those of you who are Christians, you can totally relate to this, but when you meet somebody and start talking to them, you can kind of get a sense about where they are with the Lord.

  13:34-13:36

  You know what I'm talking about? Not perfectly.

  13:36-13:45

  None of us can see in anyone's heart, but you kind of get a sense based on how they talk, what they talk about, how they spend their money, what their hobbies are, some of their passions in life.

  13:46-13:51

  When you spend time getting to know people and talk to people, not perfectly, but you can get a sense.

  13:51-13:56

  I really think that this person is a sincere believer.

  13:57-14:01

  This person doesn't seem like they want anything to do with the Lord or Bible or church.

  14:02-14:06

  I just really don't get any impression that they have any spiritual sense about them.

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  And I don't know about you, but I've been wrong before, right?

  14:12-14:13

  Have you? Have you ever been wrong?

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  But that's the thing here.

  14:19-14:22

  God knows exactly where you are.

  14:23-14:24

  You might be able to fool me.

  14:25-14:30

  And you might be able to fool your grandma into thinking you're some super spiritual person.

  14:30-14:35

  But on this day, you are not fooling the judge because he has it all written down.

  14:38-14:40

  Perfectly described in full detail.

  14:41-14:45

  By the way, there are no secrets.

  14:47-14:47

  No secrets.

  14:48-15:02

  That thing right now in your life that you're doing, you're involved with, that person you're involved with, that habit you're involved with, that thing that, as far as you know, nobody knows about, and it's a secret.

  15:02-15:03

  Well, God knows.

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  God not only knows, but He has it written down.

  15:09-15:13

  And apart from Jesus Christ, you're going to stand trial for that.

  15:15-15:17

  Have you ever been busted for something?

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  And you know you're guilty, and everybody else knows you're guilty.

  15:21-15:23

  Have you ever been... come on, just show of hands.

  15:24-15:25

  Confession time, this is going to be healthy.

  15:26-15:28

  How many people here have been busted?

  15:29-15:33

  And you're like, "I am so busted, and I know I'm busted, and everybody knows I'm busted." How many people here?

  15:34-15:37

  Yeah, yeah. So we kind of know that feeling, right?

  15:37-15:41

  You know what I was thinking about when I was working through this passage?

  15:42-15:44

  As I'm going through college, I worked at Walmart.

  15:44-15:48

  I don't covet, but I worked at Walmart when I was going through college.

  15:48-15:51

  And a lot of times, there was a loss prevention guy.

  15:52-15:56

  And he's basically the undercover store security guy to catch people stealing.

  15:56-15:59

  And he would just dress like anybody else.

  15:59-15:59

  And he's pushing the cart.

  15:59-16:04

  He acted like a shopper, but he was really employed to catch people stealing.

  16:04-16:05

  But he would often grab me.

  16:06-16:24

  He goes, "Hey, I need you to take your vest off and come with me, because we got a guy." And I'm like, "Well, why do you need me?" He goes, "Because I think this guy's going to try to punch me and I want you to grab him." And I'm like, "Oh, it's time for my lunch." But anyways, so we went through this so many times.

  16:25-16:28

  That we'd get the guy and we'd take him to that little room in the back of the store.

  16:29-16:35

  And the loss prevention guy, then when we sat the guy down, the loss prevention guy would lay everything out for the person.

  16:36-16:39

  He's like, "Okay." He goes, "Here's what you did.

  16:39-16:46

  I saw you walk down the aisle with the oil filters and you had that pocket knife that you took from the aisle with the knives and it was in a box.

  16:46-16:53

  And I saw by these oil filters, you took it out of the box and you put the box behind these filters.

  16:53-16:54

  Actually, I have it right here.

  16:54-16:57

  And then you looked around to make sure nobody was looking.

  16:57-17:04

  Then you doubled back through this other aisle, went through the camping aisle, and then you snuck out register 17 thinking.

  17:04-17:14

  And I used to watch the person's face while this guy was giving blow by blow by blow, and the guy was just like, "I got nothing to say.

  17:15-17:36

  He knows, this guy knows every single movement that I've made for the past ten minutes, and I'm so busted." And if you can sort of understand what was happening in that story, that's just a taste of what's coming in the great white throne judgment.

  17:37-17:40

  When God says, "I know exactly what you did.

  17:41-17:44

  Here it is." And there's no excuse.

  17:45-18:02

  God's like, "Here's exactly these thoughts you had, these attitudes you had, these words you said, and you're just sitting there..." So besides the book of sins, In the center of sins, there's another book that's going to be opened.

  18:02-18:04

  I'm sure you saw that, the book of life.

  18:04-18:06

  We've talked about this so many times in Revelation.

  18:07-18:14

  It's been mentioned in 3.5, 13.8, 17.8, 21.27.

  18:14-18:15

  We're going to talk about it again.

  18:15-18:19

  But this book is written and talked about.

  18:20-18:27

  It has every name of every person who's ever lived and scribed in it.

  18:29-18:34

  When you reject God's grace, your name is blotted out of the book.

  18:35-18:37

  Just jot this reference down.

  18:38-18:44

  Exodus 32.33 Exodus 32.33 That's what the Lord says.

  18:44-18:49

  You reject Him, He blots your name out of the book.

  18:50-18:56

  And if your name is not written in the book, You will be eternally condemned.

  18:59-19:01

  And that takes us to the last point today.

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  We see the judge. We see the trial.

  19:06-19:08

  This is it, people. This is the sentence.

  19:11-19:23

  It says, "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." This is the second death.

  19:25-19:29

  into the lake of fire." So the sentence is passed.

  19:29-19:30

  It's immediately carried out.

  19:31-19:34

  Now, this is one of my most favorite parts of the entire Bible.

  19:34-19:36

  Some of you guys know this, but you're going to hear it again.

  19:37-19:38

  But this is one of my favorite parts of the Bible.

  19:38-19:42

  It says, "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

  19:42-19:57

  The grave and this temporary place of punishment for sinners who were awaiting this moment are thrown into the lake of fire." And I have to ask myself, what in the world did that look like?

  19:59-20:08

  What did it look like for John to see the grave, to see death itself thrown into the lake of fire?

  20:08-20:10

  What do you think that looked like?

  20:12-20:15

  What was the personification of death?

  20:17-20:18

  I don't know.

  20:21-20:31

  we saw some manifestation of death thrown into the lake of fire.

  20:32-20:49

  I get this fantasy, and you probably have fantasies too, this is mine here, but I get to thinking, maybe there are other things, other enemies of God and enemies of righteousness that are so personified that we see those things thrown into the lake of fire as well.

  20:50-20:50

  Things like cancer.

  20:52-20:53

  Things like abuse.

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  Things like racism.

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  Personified like death.

  20:59-21:00

  Thrown into the lake of fire.

  21:00-21:07

  I don't know if that actually happens, but I just have to wonder if we see death thrown into the lake of fire, are there other things?

  21:09-21:10

  Some of you know my fantasy.

  21:12-21:21

  That autism is personified as a thing like death, and that the Lord - this is my fantasy - and throws it into the lake of fire.

  21:21-21:28

  But in my fantasy, as autism is heading to the lake of fire, it catches itself and doesn't go in.

  21:29-21:30

  It's right on the edge.

  21:31-21:33

  And it saved itself from being thrown into the lake of fire.

  21:34-21:39

  And then the Lord motions to me and allows me - BAM!

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  To finish the job.

  21:43-21:45

  Hey, you've got your fantasies, alright?

  21:46-21:47

  I've got mine.

  21:48-21:52

  for every parent that we've met that has suffered.

  21:54-21:56

  I drag him out, I want to kick him in again.

  21:59-22:08

  But he sees, obviously the point is, the day is coming that there will be no more death.

  22:09-22:13

  Because even death itself will be eliminated.

  22:13-22:14

  Amen?

  22:16-22:17

  Look at verse 15.

  22:19-22:35

  "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." It emphasizes the same point that he made earlier.

  22:37-22:45

  You know, I heard somebody say one time, or one of two whosoever's in the Bible.

  22:47-23:00

  John 3.16, probably the most famous verse in the Bible, says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." You could be that whosoever.

  23:01-23:11

  The alternative is the King James translation of this verse that says, "Whosoever was not written in the book of life thrown into the lake of fire.

  23:12-23:15

  You are one of the two whosoevers.

  23:16-23:26

  And if you die without receiving Jesus Christ, you will experience the second death.

  23:29-23:32

  Hell is described as fire.

  23:33-23:42

  John 15:6 "Where the worm does not die." Mark 9:48 as a place of darkness and sorrow.

  23:44-23:46

  Matthew 8, verse 12.

  23:49-23:51

  It's eternally dying.

  23:53-23:59

  It's always burning, never being consumed.

  24:02-24:32

  Getting a glorified, resurrected body that's as indestructible as those who will enjoy theirs in heaven, this one will burn, but never be consumed." And of course, when we say things like that, somebody says, "How could a God of love do something like that?" "How could a God of love do something like that?" And the answer is, hey, hey, hey, God's love is not in question here.

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  Okay?

  24:33-24:35

  God's love is not in question.

  24:35-24:37

  God demonstrated His love.

  24:38-24:50

  Do you realize when Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, He literally experienced the pain and suffering of hell on Himself?

  24:51-24:56

  While He was on the cross, He experienced that separation from God.

  24:57-25:05

  He experienced what it meant to be judged for sin, not because of His, but because of Mine, because of yours.

  25:05-25:17

  Jesus willingly tasted hell in the most brutal and horrific way because of His love for you.

  25:17-25:22

  So don't look at this passage and say, "How can a God of love do this?" God demonstrated His love.

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  His love isn't in question.

  25:26-25:27

  Your love for Him.

  25:27-25:29

  See, that's the love that's in question.

  25:29-25:30

  My love for Him.

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  That's the love that's in question.

  25:33-25:36

  God's love for us is not and never will be in question.

  25:39-25:46

  God loves you so much that He offers His salvation as a gift to anyone who would come to Him.

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  God doesn't have hoops for you to jump through.

  25:50-25:54

  He doesn't have works or religious acts for you to do.

  25:54-25:56

  It's a gift that He wants you to receive.

  25:57-25:59

  And it doesn't matter who you are.

  26:01-26:02

  It doesn't matter what you've done.

  26:05-26:06

  You can be forgiven of your sin.

  26:07-26:10

  Because Jesus Christ took your place on that cross.

  26:13-26:28

  But, when someone would reject this grace, when someone can see what God has done, and say, "I'm not interested in that." Or when somebody would say, "You know what?

  26:29-26:42

  I'd rather have my sin over your son." There is no punishment that's severe enough for a crime like that.

  26:45-27:08

  No punishment could balance such a terrible crime than to have God give up His Son for you You spit in God's face and say, "I'm not interested." By the way, there are different degrees of punishment in hell.

  27:08-27:09

  Did you know that?

  27:10-27:13

  Did you know the Bible teaches that hell is going to be worse for some people than for others?

  27:16-27:19

  What determines the degrees of punishment?

  27:20-27:21

  Here it is.

  27:22-27:27

  The more you know, and the more you reject, the more you suffer in hell.

  27:28-27:36

  where you know about the gospel, but reject the worse you suffer.

  27:37-27:40

  There are so many verses in the New Testament to talk about this.

  27:40-27:41

  I just want to give you a couple here.

  27:43-27:48

  You can look this up, do some more study on your own, and you'll see that this is absolutely true, and it's absolutely horrifying.

  27:50-28:16

  But Matthew 10.15, as Jesus was sending out the apostles and saying, "If the people you go to reject you, Jesus said, "Surely I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." He says it's going to be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment, because they didn't have ambassadors of Jesus Christ Himself show up at their doorstep.

  28:16-28:18

  The more you know, the more you reject, the more you suffer.

  28:20-28:21

  Matthew 11.

  28:23-28:29

  Verse 20 says, "Then he began to denounce the cities Most of his mighty works have been done because they did not repent.

  28:29-28:37

  Verse 24 says, "But I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and for you." Same principle.

  28:40-28:56

  In Hebrews 10.29, he asks, "How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace.

  28:58-29:08

  All of us say this, "You're responsible for what you know." You are responsible for what you know.

  29:09-29:13

  And the more you know and the more you reject, the more you suffer.

  29:14-29:22

  Typically when I share this, I get objections, a very common objection I get here is, "Hey, what about that guy in Africa?

  29:23-29:29

  You hear that guy in Africa, that he's in some tribe in the middle of the jungle and he ain't never seen a Bible and he ain't never heard the Gospel?

  29:30-29:30

  What about that guy?

  29:33-29:34

  You know the Bible has an answer for that?

  29:36-29:39

  The Bible very clearly has an explanation for that guy.

  29:41-29:43

  But we're not talking about him this morning.

  29:45-29:46

  We're talking about you.

  29:49-29:53

  The question is not how much does that guy in Africa know, The question is, how much do you know?

  29:56-30:09

  And I think it's interesting that as soon as we talk to people about their sin, their need for Christ, their need to repent, all of a sudden, there's some hypothetical guy in Africa that we get to talk about this guy all of a sudden.

  30:09-30:12

  Like, how much have you thought about that guy in the past week?

  30:12-30:14

  Now all of a sudden, he's the topic of conversation.

  30:15-30:15

  Distraction.

  30:17-30:18

  It's not about that guy.

  30:20-30:23

  The Lord will righteously deal with that hypothetical guy.

  30:25-30:26

  But how much do you know?

  30:28-30:30

  Because you're responsible for what you know.

  30:32-30:33

  It's all written down in God's Book.

  30:36-30:52

  And if you haven't received Jesus Christ, and if you won't, You cannot stand before Him on this day and say, "You know, I just never knew.

  30:54-30:56

  I didn't know any of this stuff, God.

  30:57-31:03

  I didn't know this is how it was, God." Do you know what God will have written down in His book?

  31:05-31:16

  He'll say, "June 16th, you were at 1233 Perry Highway, You eat 100, and some billy goat looking preacher told you exactly what was going to happen.

  31:18-31:20

  You're responsible for what you know.

  31:21-31:28

  So this is bad news for many people on this day.

  31:28-31:31

  But, here's the good news.

  31:33-31:34

  That day's not here yet.

  31:35-31:38

  And today, today isn't the day in court.

  31:39-31:40

  Today is the day of salvation.

  31:42-31:43

  Today. Today.

  31:44-31:51

  You can cry out to God and ask for mercy, believing that Jesus Christ died for your sin.

  31:51-31:52

  You can do that today.

  31:53-32:02

  And if you do that today, you will never face the events that are outlined in this passage we looked at.

  32:03-32:07

  I want you to bow your heads with me please as the worship team makes their way up.

  32:09-32:10

  Everyone would bow their heads.

  32:12-32:17

  The reason I'm asking you to bow your heads and close your eyes, we're not looking around.

  32:20-32:23

  Because truth be told in the great white throne judgment, we're not going to be looking around.

  32:24-32:28

  What God's doing with the next guy is about what God's doing with us.

  32:30-32:32

  If you haven't received Jesus Christ.

  32:36-32:44

  I would ask, is there anyone here that says, "I need to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

  32:45-32:54

  I need to cry out to Him for forgiveness so I don't face this day in court." Is there anybody here that would confess that?

  32:57-33:03

  If that is you, to acknowledge that before the Lord, would you raise your hand?

  33:04-33:15

  Is there somebody here who would say, "I am crying out right now for mercy and forgiveness." Is that somebody here?

  33:16-33:17

  Raise your hand.

  33:20-33:20

  Thank you.

  33:21-33:23

  I see. God sees.

  33:26-33:32

  Father, we thank You for Your grace in Jesus Christ.

  33:35-33:41

  Father, this passage of Your Word is absolutely...

  33:43-33:58

  it's terrifying to think that there are some people that will roll the dice, thinking that they're going to get things squared away with You someday after they die, but this life and this time is for them, not for You.

  34:03-34:09

  purchased the lie of the devil, you will not surely die.

  34:12-34:17

  Father, let the truth of Your Word permeate every heart here.

  34:19-34:21

  Father, we thank You.

  34:22-34:25

  In Jesus Christ, there is now therefore no condemnation.

  34:27-34:35

  That You have taken the wrath You've taken the punishment that I deserve.

  34:35-34:46

  You've taken the judgment that I deserve, and you've put it on your son so that I could be pronounced not guilty, forgiven, free, adopted.

  34:49-34:49

  Thank you.

  34:51-34:57

  Father, for those of us here who know You and know what's coming for the unredeemed, I pray that You would light a fire under us.

  34:59-35:01

  That we would be Your ambassadors.

  35:03-35:11

  to do as Jude tells us, to snatch some people from the fire, thanks to the glorious gospel of your Son.

  35:13-35:17

  And it is in Jesus' glorious and holy name we pray. Amen.

Small Group Discussion

Read Revelation 20:11-15

GROUP

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message? What stood out to you / what was new information to you?

2. Rev 20:11 - why was there no rainbow around the throne (see Rev 4:3)? What does this tell you about the Great White Throne Judgment?

3. Since God knows everything, why does He have the books of deeds and the book of life (Rev 20:12-13, 15)? What is their purpose?

4. How would you reply to someone who says, “How could a God of love cast people into the Lake of Fire?”

BREAKOUT

Pray for the lost that you know. And pray for opportunity for you to reach the lost that you know.

Coming Soon: The Reign of the King!

Introduction:

Three Things You Need to Know About the Millennium (Rev 20:1-10):

1. Satan is Locked  Away. (Rev 20:1-3)

   Isaiah 65: 20-23, 25

2. Believers will Reign with Christ. (Rev 20:4-6)
3. It ends with a "Battle". (Rev 20:7-10)

James 1:14 - But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  01:04-01:06

  Alright, open your Bibles with me, please.

  01:09-01:10

  Revelation 20.

  01:13-01:24

  Last night after a long day of yard work in the beautiful weather, sat down on the couch, turned on, it was the Cubs and the Cardinals.

  01:25-01:27

  It was like the sixth inning, it was 4-4.

  01:28-01:30

  I'm just going to sit here for a couple of minutes, I'm going to watch this game.

  01:33-01:34

  (snoring noise)

  01:36-01:53

  I woke up what felt like a second later, but obviously some time had passed, and it was 4 to 4 when I passed out, and I woke up and Erin was sitting beside me, and it was 7 to 4, and I'm like, "What happened?" And she explained to me what I missed.

  01:55-02:00

  She's like, "Why are you telling us this?" Because that could happen during the sermon.

  02:01-02:15

  If you tune out, by the time you snap back to, you're going to be like, "What is going on?" So I want to encourage you right now to ask the Holy Spirit to help you be tuned in.

  02:16-02:26

  This is the most controversial passage in the book, because how you interpret all of Revelation really centers around what you do with Revelation 20.

  02:27-02:32

  And I'm going to say this on the front end, I'm not going to say it again.

  02:34-02:41

  You might disagree with some of these things depending on your view of Scripture and your view of eschatology and end-time events.

  02:42-02:45

  And you are still my brother.

  02:45-02:46

  You are still my sister.

  02:47-02:54

  But I am committed to believing and teaching the Bible straightforwardly.

  02:56-02:59

  And because of that, that affects the way that I look at Revelation 20.

  03:00-03:02

  and we'll be preaching it straight forward.

  03:03-03:20

  If you disagree with me, and you want to talk about these things, I would love to have you buy me Chick-fil-A, and we'll sit down and we'll talk about it." You're like, "Well, that was really nice of him." Revelation 20, judgment on earth at this point is finished.

  03:21-03:24

  It culminated with the battle of Armageddon.

  03:25-03:28

  And the question is, what's next?

  03:30-03:38

  I think sometimes as a church, and if I don't really stop and think about God's Word, I can be guilty of this too.

  03:39-03:48

  We think it sort of goes like this, I live life on earth, and if I gave my life to Christ, when I die, I go to heaven, and that's it for all of eternity.

  03:49-03:51

  And that's not true.

  03:54-03:57

  There's another chapter that's coming up.

  03:58-03:59

  Can we have that graphic on the screen, please?

  03:59-04:01

  We've showed this in the past time.

  04:02-04:05

  First gold box, Old Testament area.

  04:05-04:10

  That second box with the dotted line, that's the church age that wasn't seen in the Old Testament.

  04:10-04:12

  And that's the age in which we live now.

  04:14-04:23

  But we've spent the last several months talking about the tribulation - that's the third box over - seven years of God's judgment upon the earth.

  04:23-04:27

  That's what the Lion Sheriff Revelation talks about.

  04:28-04:34

  And then Armageddon, the return of Jesus Christ, Revelation 19, that was last week.

  04:35-04:42

  But that last box is another future period of time that is coming, and it's called the Millennium.

  04:43-04:45

  Now I know the word "Millennium" isn't in the Bible.

  04:46-04:49

  The word "Millennium" just means a thousand years, okay?

  04:49-04:51

  It's the same thing.

  04:52-04:55

  that's spoken of throughout the Old Testament.

  04:57-05:06

  There's more than 400 verses in the Old Testament in about 20 different passages talking about this concept of the millennium.

  05:07-05:12

  It's in the New Testament, Matthew 19.28, Acts 3.20-21.

  05:12-05:14

  And here's the truth that we're going to look at today.

  05:16-05:25

  that after the tribulation, Jesus Christ is going to reign on the earth for a period of a thousand years.

  05:27-05:34

  This is a subject that's very seldom thought about and much less discussed.

  05:37-05:47

  But God's Word tells us what the coming thousand years of Jesus' rule on the earth is like.

  05:48-05:50

  Alright, so we're going to look at Revelation 20.

  05:50-05:53

  Here's three things you need to know about the millennium.

  05:54-05:57

  And there's going to be more teaching than preaching today.

  06:00-06:03

  Number one, jot this down, first of all, Satan is locked away.

  06:05-06:07

  Look at the first three verses.

  06:09-06:12

  Getting the context, John just saw Armageddon, right?

  06:12-06:23

  The battle and millions of enemies of the Lord slain by the returning Jesus Christ, and the birds were stuffing themselves, eating.

  06:26-06:34

  John says, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

  06:36-06:57

  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

  06:57-07:01

  After that, he must be released for a little while.

  07:02-07:04

  Satan is locked away.

  07:07-07:17

  Now, a lot of the controversy surrounding Revelation 20 has to do with the term "thousand years." I believe that the thousand years are literal. Why?

  07:18-07:26

  Because he says six times in this passage, "A thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years." Six times you're going to see it.

  07:27-07:30

  Play Bible bingo. Circle it every time we see it today.

  07:31-07:31

  Six times.

  07:32-07:43

  So I believe in reading it six times, I mean, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but after reading a thousand years six times, I start to think maybe God wants me to know something about this period of time.

  07:43-07:46

  Maybe it lasts a thousand years.

  07:46-07:47

  That's what I came up with. All right.

  07:49-07:49

  Party on.

  07:50-08:08

  So God somehow at this point revitalizes the earth for the kingdom, but before we actually get into the text here, I thought it would behoove us to get caught up on where everybody is at this moment so we understand what's going on. You ready?

  08:10-08:19

  Where is everyone? Well, first of all, the beast and the false prophet, remember at Armageddon, they were thrown directly into the lake of fire.

  08:19-08:25

  Done. It's over for their influence here, but their eternity in hell is just beginning.

  08:25-08:27

  First Residence, Lake of Fire.

  08:27-08:38

  All human rebels, everyone who has rejected God during the tribulation, has either been destroyed through the judgments or the battle of Armageddon.

  08:38-08:42

  The human rebels that died during the tribulation are in Hades.

  08:42-08:48

  That's a temporary place of punishment that Jesus talked about.

  08:50-08:52

  What about the believers?

  08:53-09:11

  Well believers who died before the tribulation are resurrected at the rapture, receiving a glorified body, and then we will return with Christ at the battle of Armageddon.

  09:13-09:26

  Those who come to Christ during the tribulation, but are killed for their faith, they are resurrected at the beginning of this millennium.

  09:26-09:28

  We're going to see that in just a second.

  09:29-09:38

  The question is this, what about people that are still alive on the earth at the end of the tribulation who are not executed at Armageddon?

  09:39-10:02

  Okay, so at the end of the tribulation, you're going to have Christ followers who have avoided death, they've hidden, they've fled, they've escaped, and so you're going to have Christ followers still alive at the end of the tribulation, and you're going to have maybe people that received the mark of the beast, but they didn't show up for the battle of Armageddon.

  10:03-10:08

  So what happens to the people alive on the earth after Armageddon?

  10:09-10:12

  Well, that is the sheep and the goat judgment.

  10:12-10:13

  I'm not going to turn there, but just jot that down.

  10:14-10:16

  Matthew 25, Jesus talked about that.

  10:17-10:22

  "Those alive at the end of the tribulation are going to be separated, saved, unsaved, sheep, goats.

  10:22-10:24

  The unsaved go to punishment.

  10:25-10:32

  The saved enter the millennium." Not receiving a glorified body yet.

  10:32-10:45

  They enter the millennium, and they're going to live longer lifespans, and they're going to have children during the millennium, and they're going to fill the earth during the millennium.

  10:47-10:58

  Like I said, there are like 400 verses in the Old Testament about the millennium, and I thought, "Wow, this is a concept that probably some of us have never even studied." Like, where do you even start?

  11:00-11:03

  I just want to share a few verses out of Isaiah 65.

  11:04-11:06

  And we're going to have them on the screen for you.

  11:06-11:11

  But Isaiah 65 describes some of the conditions in the millennium.

  11:11-11:14

  And this is another reason I believe that the millennium is literally true.

  11:14-11:23

  Because if the millennium wasn't a literal period of time, then all of these verses we see in the Old Testament, they don't make any sense.

  11:24-11:27

  So Isaiah 65, these are millennium conditions.

  11:27-11:28

  Just look at verse 20.

  11:30-11:38

  "No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days." Is that late-term abortion thing?

  11:40-11:41

  Gone forever.

  11:42-11:45

  "For an old man who does not fill out his days.

  11:46-11:57

  For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed." See, they're longer lifespans.

  11:58-11:59

  Next verse.

  12:00-12:01

  This is verse 21.

  12:01-12:02

  "This is happening during the millennium.

  12:02-12:04

  They shall build houses and inhabit them.

  12:04-12:10

  "They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit." Normal earth life activities going on.

  12:10-12:14

  Verse 22 says, "They shall not build and another inhabit.

  12:14-12:17

  They shall not plant and another eat.

  12:18-12:30

  For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands." So there's no social injustice.

  12:32-12:34

  It's not you build and somebody comes and takes it from you.

  12:35-12:40

  It's not you plant a garden and somebody comes and steals it, or the government removes it from you.

  12:40-12:42

  It's yours. Right?

  12:42-12:44

  And again, there's the long life thing.

  12:46-12:47

  Look at the next verse.

  12:48-12:53

  It says, "They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity.

  12:53-13:06

  They shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them." the children. Again, believers alive during the tribulation, making it all the way to the end, entering the Millennium, are going to have children. That's important.

  13:06-13:09

  We're going to talk about these kids here in just a couple of minutes.

  13:10-13:14

  Next verse. Skipping down to verse 25.

  13:14-13:17

  You can read the whole section. I just want to make some highlights here.

  13:18-13:21

  "The wolf and the lamb shall graze together.

  13:22-13:27

  The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food.

  13:28-13:30

  to change even in the wildlife.

  13:31-13:43

  "They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountains." Earth as it was meant to be, with Jesus Christ as King on the earth.

  13:45-13:57

  And we saw just from Isaiah 65, long life, children, social justice, no violence or wars, but the only thing that's left to do before the Millennial Kingdom is set up to take care of Satan.

  13:59-14:02

  And that's what John talks about, first of all, what he sees in Revelation 20.

  14:03-14:06

  He says he sees an angel lay hold of Satan.

  14:06-14:08

  Which angel is it? We don't know. We didn't get a name.

  14:09-14:17

  This angel lays hold of Satan and chains him and locks him into the abyss for the duration of the millennium.

  14:18-14:25

  You're like, "Wait, what's the abyss?" Just recall the abyss as a place of incarceration for certain demons.

  14:26-14:27

  We've talked about that before in Revelation.

  14:28-14:37

  We know that demons are scared to death of being there from Luke 8:31, when Jesus was driving demons out of the man.

  14:37-14:42

  Remember they cried out, "Don't send us to the abyss!" They knew of it, and they were scared to death.

  14:43-14:44

  It's a prison for demons.

  14:46-14:56

  Even in our study in Revelation back in chapter 9, and saw that some demons were released from the abyss at the sounding of the fifth trumpet.

  14:59-15:07

  So Satan is chained up and locked up and put away in the abyss for the millennium.

  15:08-15:12

  Why? Why would God do that?

  15:12-15:14

  Well, your Bible tells you.

  15:14-15:16

  Look at the phrase in verse 3.

  15:18-15:21

  He threw him into the pits, shot it, and sealed it over him." Look at this next phrase.

  15:21-15:35

  "So that he might not deceive the nations any longer." Satan is locked up during the millennium to stop his influence over people.

  15:38-15:46

  Lest he continue the same line of work that he's been doing from the very beginning of creation, which is deceive.

  15:47-15:49

  Satan does. He deceives. He deceives.

  15:51-16:06

  But, even with Satan bound, we already saw in Isaiah 65, there's still going to be sin during the millennium, but that sin is going to be swiftly and perfectly dealt with.

  16:07-16:27

  That's why the Bible says Jesus is going to rule, we talked about this last week, rule, or pastored, or shepherd, with a rod of iron." Meaning Jesus is going to rule the earth, but He's going to do it not tolerating any sin.

  16:31-16:38

  After a thousand years, we're going to see Satan be released for a little while.

  16:39-16:41

  We'll see that later in the passage here.

  16:41-16:42

  Why is he released?

  16:43-16:50

  He says here, after that, "He must be released." Why must He be released? Can't we just leave Him in there?

  16:51-16:53

  All in favor of just leaving Satan in there?

  16:54-16:56

  Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but here's the reason.

  16:58-17:09

  People born during the millennium have to face the ultimate test in the same way that the people during the tribulation had to face the ultimate test.

  17:10-17:11

  And it's who are you going to love?

  17:12-17:13

  Who are you going to serve?

  17:14-17:15

  Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord?

  17:18-17:22

  Or do you serve self, which is really serving Satan?

  17:23-17:25

  Who do you love? Who do you serve?

  17:25-17:27

  Christ or the devil? Ultimate choice.

  17:29-17:31

  But for the millennium, Satan is locked away.

  17:34-17:38

  Number two, three things you need to know about the millennium. Satan is locked away.

  17:38-17:44

  And number two, believers will reign with Christ.

  17:45-17:47

  Believers will reign with Christ.

  17:47-17:48

  Look at verse 4.

  17:50-17:58

  John says, "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

  18:00-18:17

  Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

  18:18-18:33

  They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." So John sees God's people resurrected, rewarded, and reigning with Jesus Christ.

  18:34-18:38

  We saw thrones. These are positions of authority.

  18:42-18:57

  Like, I guess to use familiar vernacular, it's like mayors and governors who rule underneath Jesus Christ, who rules over the world.

  19:00-19:03

  These mayors and governors are going to be enforcing God's rule.

  19:04-19:20

  "Well, who are these saints on the throne?" That's the question. "Who are these saints?" Well, the answer to that question is, when you look at God's Word, who did God say was going to reign with Him during the millennium?

  19:21-19:25

  Well, we know it's saints from the Old Testament, from Daniel 7.

  19:26-19:27

  Verse 27.

  19:29-19:36

  Jesus promised the apostles reigning and judging with Him. Matthew 19.28.

  19:37-19:45

  And if you've been with us through the study of Revelation, the promise for us to reign with Christ has been given over and over and over.

  19:46-19:50

  Revelation 2.26, Revelation 3.21, Revelation 5.10.

  19:51-19:57

  This theme keeps coming up, that we will reign alongside Jesus Christ.

  19:58-20:04

  There's also another group specifically mentioned here, the martyred believers from the tribulation.

  20:07-20:11

  The Bible says they came to life, they physically resurrected to reign with Christ.

  20:13-20:21

  Remember those who die before the tribulation are resurrected at the rapture and returned.

  20:24-20:25

  The church of the Bible makes it clear.

  20:26-20:36

  Reigning with Christ, the authority that's doled out to reign is assigned in proportion to faithfulness.

  20:36-20:40

  Just jot this down, Matthew 25, Luke 19.

  20:43-20:49

  Sometimes as a pastor people ask me, "Well, the Bible says you get rewards in heaven, and you're rewarded for faithfulness.

  20:49-20:57

  What are these rewards?" One of the rewards for faithful living is authority.

  21:00-21:16

  I encourage you to look up those passages, because Jesus made it very clear that we, through our faithfulness, will someday have the opportunity to reign beside Jesus Christ.

  21:18-21:28

  I could spend a few hours just talking about how awesome of a concept that is, and how gracious of an invitation that is.

  21:30-21:31

  I'm going to go on to verse 5 right now.

  21:33-21:38

  "The rest of the dead did not come to life..." That's resurrected.

  21:38-21:45

  "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended." This is the first resurrection.

  21:46-21:58

  The rest of the dead, these are unbelievers who face the resurrection unto judgment after the millennium, after the thousand year reign of Christ.

  21:59-22:05

  going to raise from the dead in order to experience the second death.

  22:06-22:07

  That's the lake of fire.

  22:09-22:12

  Jesus talked about this back in John 5.29.

  22:13-22:15

  Jesus said there are two resurrections.

  22:17-22:27

  Everyone, literally everyone, is going to get an indestructible, glorified body that they're going to have for eternity.

  22:29-22:48

  You're either going to have an indestructible glorified body that you will enjoy in heaven, or on the earth during the millennial reign, to enjoy in the presence of and in the service of God, or you will have an indestructible glorified body that will be thrown into the lake of fire.

  22:52-22:58

  Verse 6 says, "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.

  22:59-23:07

  "Over such, the second death has no power." The second death.

  23:08-23:09

  Maybe you've heard this phrase.

  23:09-23:10

  This is where it comes from.

  23:11-23:18

  Somebody once said, "If you're born once, you die twice." How many people here were born at least once?

  23:19-23:22

  Oh, you're still listening. Okay, that was a test.

  23:23-23:23

  Very good.

  23:24-23:25

  We've all been born at least once.

  23:26-23:28

  If you've only been born once, you will die twice.

  23:29-23:37

  You will die a physical death, and you will die an eternal death in the lake of fire, and that's the second death spoken of here.

  23:38-23:39

  So if you're born once, you die twice.

  23:41-23:44

  But if you're born twice, you die once.

  23:46-23:48

  We've all said we've been born at least once.

  23:48-23:49

  Jesus said you must be born again.

  23:51-23:57

  But understand, Christianity, the Gospel, It's not about getting religious, being a church member.

  23:59-24:00

  Are you born again?

  24:01-24:03

  Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

  24:04-24:11

  Has His Holy Spirit come and indwelt you and changed you and made you a new person that's being born again?

  24:13-24:15

  That's the second birth.

  24:16-24:18

  So if you're born twice, you're only going to die once.

  24:18-24:21

  Yes, you're going to die a physical death, that's true.

  24:23-24:33

  "You will never experience the second death." And that's why he says, "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.

  24:34-24:41

  Over such, the second death has no power." Somebody say, "Amen." Thank you.

  24:42-24:44

  The second death has no power.

  24:47-25:10

  But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years." Part of the authority that believers exercise during the millennium is serving as priests.

  25:12-25:24

  meaning with earth's population growing, with these people entering the millennium having children, we're going to have the privilege of teaching them about Jesus Christ.

  25:25-25:29

  The three things you need to know about the millennium, first of all, Satan's locked away.

  25:29-25:33

  Second of all, believers are going to reign with Jesus Christ.

  25:34-25:37

  And thirdly, it ends with a battle.

  25:38-25:40

  that battle in quotes. You'll see why in a second.

  25:43-25:49

  This is very important, and this is important to really understanding this whole thing and everything we saw from Isaiah 65.

  25:49-25:50

  So listen to this.

  25:53-26:10

  Even though the only people who enter the Millennium from the tribulation are going to be believers, that's true, you're like, "Wait, where's the battle going to come from?" Everyone entering the Millennium, yes, believers.

  26:12-26:23

  But those entering the Millennium from the tribulation, people who did not die, are still going to have their normal bodies with a sinful human nature.

  26:25-26:30

  And as we saw from Isaiah 65, they are going to have children.

  26:30-26:32

  They are going to have lots of children.

  26:33-26:35

  They are going to have lots and lots of children.

  26:36-26:43

  because they're going to have a prolonged lifespan, and the millennium is going to last for a thousand years.

  26:44-26:49

  So the population of the earth is rapidly going to grow.

  26:50-26:59

  But some of these children, some of these people born during the millennium, some are going to come to salvation in Christ, and other people are going to reject them.

  27:01-27:04

  Oh, they're not going to outwardly reject him.

  27:05-27:06

  They're ruling with a rod of iron.

  27:06-27:12

  But they're going to inwardly reject Jesus Christ.

  27:15-27:18

  So right now you might be thinking, "Wait, wait, wait, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.

  27:18-27:21

  There's a lot of stuff going on here." Yeah, there is a lot of stuff going on here.

  27:23-27:24

  "What about me, Pastor Jeff?

  27:24-27:28

  Am I going to sin in the Millennium?" I don't believe you will.

  27:29-27:53

  If you die and are resurrected at the rapture "Return with Christ at the battle of Armageddon, you're going to have your glorified body, which is not going to have sinful flesh as we dwell in currently." So I don't believe resurrected believers are going to sin during the millennium.

  27:55-27:57

  Let's look at the text, verses 7 and 8.

  27:58-28:05

  "When a thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison.

  28:06-28:16

  And will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.

  28:17-28:20

  Their number is like the sand of the sea.

  28:21-28:25

  So after the millennium, Satan is going to be released from the abyss.

  28:26-28:32

  Satan, did you learn your lesson for being grounded for a thousand years, chained up and in prison?

  28:32-28:34

  "Did you learn your lesson?" He did not.

  28:35-28:43

  He comes right out and immediately starts the same stuff he's done from the beginning, deceiving people.

  28:46-28:58

  Those who rejected Christ during the Millennium, the children of believers born during the Millennium that have rejected Christ, are going to be led by Satan for a worldwide rebellion.

  28:59-29:05

  So just like the tribulation, the millennium is going to end with an assault on Jesus Christ.

  29:05-29:10

  And this huge army is given a symbolic title, Gog and Magog.

  29:12-29:14

  Like, what is Gog and Magog?

  29:15-29:20

  It's a name for enemies of the people of God.

  29:20-29:25

  That's a whole other lesson, but it comes from Ezekiel 38-39.

  29:27-29:28

  Look at verse 9.

  29:30-29:36

  So you have the scene, Satan's out of prison, he deceives the nations, they gather for battle.

  29:38-29:52

  Verse 9, "And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints." Now that word for camp is a little bit misleading.

  29:52-30:13

  In the Greek, it's better translated "castle" or "military installation." When I first read this, I'm thinking, "Okay, Jesus is in this sweet palace in Jerusalem, and we all have these pop-up tents around, which would be way cool to even be in a tent near Jesus, but it's not that kind of camping, alright?

  30:14-30:17

  It's more like a military camp.

  30:20-30:23

  I think the word "castle" is a good word to think of.

  30:25-30:32

  "They surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city..." That's Jerusalem, where Jesus will reign over the earth.

  30:34-30:37

  This countless multitude surrounds.

  30:41-30:42

  Look at the rest of the verse.

  30:43-30:47

  "But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

  30:49-31:12

  The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." So the rebels come to Jerusalem where the saints are with Jesus, and like Armageddon, it's just not much of a battle.

  31:15-31:17

  are consumed by fire from heaven.

  31:20-31:22

  Now these people who are consumed are about to be judged.

  31:22-31:25

  That's the sermon next week, next passage.

  31:25-31:34

  But the devil is immediately thrown into the lake of fire to join the beast and the false prophet who are already there.

  31:37-31:39

  And that is Revelation 20:1-10.

  31:40-31:41

  Did you get all of that?

  31:44-31:47

  Anybody that wants me to start over and take another run at it?

  31:49-31:50

  One of you.

  31:53-31:55

  This is going to be awkward for everybody else.

  31:58-32:06

  Fortunately, due to technology, we have the ability to listen to this again because I know it's a lot of content.

  32:09-32:11

  I had a question when I was looking through this.

  32:13-32:28

  Looking at the scene straightforwardly, we saw that people sin during the millennium, I get that, because people that enter the millennium from the tribulation, they have their sin nature, and they have kids who inherit their sin nature.

  32:28-32:31

  I get that, okay? I understand that.

  32:31-32:38

  But what I was struggling with is, how could someone reject Jesus Christ?

  32:39-32:42

  wholesale reject Jesus Christ in an environment like this.

  32:43-32:49

  Jesus is ruling over the earth. The curse is being reversed.

  32:51-32:56

  There's no crime. There's no injustice.

  32:57-33:01

  Everything is happening exactly the way the earth was intended to be.

  33:02-33:07

  So how could people reject Christ in such an environment?

  33:08-33:11

  It's almost like the Garden of Eden.

  33:11-33:20

  So in an environment like that, how could people reject Jesus Christ?

  33:22-33:27

  That question itself demonstrates the problem.

  33:29-33:38

  It presupposes a lie that people have believed for literally all of human history.

  33:41-33:44

  The question is, how could someone reject Christ in such an environment?

  33:47-33:54

  The problem is, we're blaming our sinful condition on our environment.

  33:56-33:57

  Here's what I mean by that.

  33:59-34:11

  In the Garden of Eden, go back to Genesis 3, in the Garden of Eden when God confronted Adam and Eve regarding their sin, do you remember what Eve did?

  34:12-34:14

  She blamed the serpent, right?

  34:17-34:19

  Then God turns to Adam, do you remember what Adam did?

  34:20-34:21

  But first he blamed Eve.

  34:21-34:27

  He's like, "That woman?" Setting a precedent for husbands throughout history.

  34:29-34:35

  "Wrongly! Wrongly, men! Wrongly!" Everybody say, "Wrongly!" Okay, wrongly.

  34:37-34:42

  He blamed Eve, but then Adam, he kind of blamed God.

  34:43-34:56

  He says, "The woman that you gave me?" "You know, God, the garden was pretty good before Eve came." And I'm not criticizing you, God, I'm just saying.

  34:56-34:58

  I mean, I'm just saying.

  34:59-35:00

  Things were great until she showed up.

  35:03-35:06

  See, we're always looking for something or someone to blame.

  35:07-35:10

  How could someone reject Christ in such an environment?

  35:11-35:18

  We are so used to thinking, "It's the environment that's my problem!" and the environment is not your problem.

  35:19-35:20

  You are the problem!

  35:22-35:24

  Oh, we do this all the time.

  35:25-35:33

  And if you, by God's grace and His Holy Spirit, will recognize it in yourself...

  35:34-35:34

  God help us.

  35:36-35:37

  You see it everywhere.

  35:38-35:43

  I struggle with drugs because my parents never showed me affection.

  35:44-35:45

  Whose fault is it?

  35:46-35:48

  It's my parents' fault.

  35:48-35:48

  No!

  35:49-35:50

  It's your fault!

  35:52-35:56

  I lust because my wife doesn't meet my needs.

  35:57-35:58

  Whose fault is it?

  35:58-36:00

  It's my wife's fault. No, it's your fault.

  36:02-36:05

  I lose my temper because my kids won't behave.

  36:08-36:09

  Oh yeah, let's blame the kids.

  36:10-36:11

  Let's blame the kids.

  36:13-36:17

  I'm impatient because people are slow and stupid.

  36:17-36:19

  That's why I'm so impatient.

  36:22-36:24

  Admittedly, that laugh sounded very nervous.

  36:27-36:30

  I'm bitter and unforgiving because of my family.

  36:31-36:32

  You know the family I grew up in?

  36:32-36:34

  That's why I act this way.

  36:36-36:37

  Dude, you haven't lived at home in 30 years.

  36:40-36:42

  I'm an alcoholic because of my job!

  36:44-36:46

  Now listen, church, please.

  36:48-36:52

  I am not trivializing difficult circumstances.

  36:53-36:54

  We all have them!

  36:55-36:56

  Every one of us have them!

  36:56-36:58

  And I'm not trivializing them.

  36:59-37:05

  But you have no one and nothing to blame for your sin but yourself.

  37:07-37:19

  And yes, Satan is a deceiver and he's a destroyer, but one thing we learn from Revelation 20 is that people don't need Satan to sin.

  37:21-37:25

  Satan is still prowling around today, the Bible is clear on that.

  37:25-37:43

  But even for us, church, we can't file every sin that we commit under "the devil made me do it." As I heard one preacher say, "The devil gets credit for things that he would be embarrassed to admit to." The devil did not make you do it.

  37:44-37:52

  You're like, "Well, then who made me do it? Who's the problem?" James 1.14 says, "Each person is tempted to sin.

  37:52-38:04

  Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." Whose fault is it? Point to whose fault it is.

  38:06-38:12

  I'm like this, and you're like, "Oh, we pointed to Pastor Jeff." No. I'm pointing at myself for my sin.

  38:14-38:15

  And you do the same.

  38:17-38:27

  The Millennium proves the truth about ourselves that we deal with today, that our sin problem comes from the inside, not the outside.

  38:29-38:30

  And why is this truth so critical?

  38:33-38:39

  Because you will never come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin if you believe that you're not really guilty.

  38:41-38:54

  You will not own up to your sin and seek the Lord for true transformation if you have resolved yourself to believe the lie that you are not really guilty.

  38:56-39:04

  So as I close, I just want to say this, it's time for us to own up to it.

  39:06-39:09

  Your sin, it's time for you to own up to it.

  39:11-39:14

  My sin, it's time for me to own up to it.

  39:16-39:20

  And thank God for the forgiveness that He offers in Jesus Christ.

  39:22-39:35

  and embrace the change that comes when we are willing to be honest with ourselves, and we're willing to be honest with God, and say, "My sin is on me.

  39:37-39:48

  Please, Holy Spirit, change my heart." Because Revelation 20 also provides us the motivation.

  39:50-40:02

  Through the transformation, through the renewed faithfulness, we will someday reign alongside Jesus Christ.

  40:02-40:05

  Who's excited for that? Amen.

  40:07-40:09

  Will you bow your heads and pray with me please?

  40:09-40:15

  Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

  40:16-40:20

  Passages of Your Word like this, Father, can be difficult for us.

  40:23-40:25

  But I pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit is our teacher.

  40:26-40:34

  We're just sort of laying out the verses and trying to understand, but Father, Your Holy Spirit is the one who takes these things and teaches us.

  40:34-40:39

  So Father, I pray that You would give us understanding.

  40:41-40:50

  Father, I pray that we would be motivated greatly today by the glorious future truth that we will someday reign beside Your Son.

  40:52-40:59

  We thank You, Father. We praise You in the glorious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior forever. Amen.

Small Group Discussion

Read Revelation 20:1-10

GROUP

1. What was your big "take-away" from this passage / message?

2. Looking at Revelation straightforwardly, can you write a timeline of events from the Battle of Armageddon to the moment the devil is thrown into the Lake of Fire?

3. If Satan is bound, how is there sin in the millennium? What does this say about the human heart?

4. Tell of a time you've blamed your sin on someone or something else. Why do you think people are so quick to look for someone to blame? Why is it critical that we learn to take responsibility for our own sin?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Coming Soon: Armageddon!

Introduction:

Armageddon

1. The prelude HYMN . (Rev 19:1-10)
2. The RETURN of the King. (Rev 19:11-16)

Isaiah 63:3

3. The VICTORY of the King. (Rev 19:17-21)

2 Chronicles 20:15

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:03

  Open up your Bibles to Revelation chapter 19.

  00:03-00:08

  The bowls have been poured out, and judgment on earth is finished.

  00:09-00:13

  We also had a two-chapter focus on Babylon's destruction.

  00:13-00:20

  And we moved from the funeral on earth in Revelation 18 to the party in heaven, which is Revelation 19.

  00:21-00:23

  If you're taking some notes, I want you to jot some things down.

  00:23-00:31

  Today we're talking about Armageddon, the battle at Har-Megiddo, the hills of Megiddo, which we call Armageddon.

  00:31-00:35

  Revelation 19 is one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible.

  00:35-00:38

  Let's look first of all at the prelude hymn.

  00:38-00:52

  "After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!

  00:52-00:55

  For His judgments are true and just!

  00:55-01:31

  for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of His servants.' Once more they cried out, 'Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!' And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who was seated on the throne, saying, 'Amen! Hallelujah!' And from the throne came a voice saying, 'Praise our God, all you His servants, "You who fear Him, small and great." That is actually the voice of Jesus right there.

  01:31-01:32

  We know from Psalm 22.

  01:33-01:47

  Verse 6, "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of many peals of thunder, crying out, 'Hallelujah!' For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

  01:48-01:56

  Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him glory, For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready.

  01:56-02:01

  It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.

  02:02-02:06

  For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

  02:06-02:09

  And the angel said to me, 'Write this.

  02:09-02:18

  Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.' Then I fell down at his feet to worship him.

  02:18-02:20

  But he said to me, 'You must not do that.

  02:20-02:25

  I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.

  02:26-02:32

  Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'" This is the prelude hymn.

  02:32-02:34

  And to what shall we compare this?

  02:34-02:42

  It's almost like, if you'll pardon the analogy, it's almost like if you're a sports fan, when the boxer goes to the ring to music, right?

  02:42-02:43

  Why does he do that?

  02:44-02:46

  To pump himself up and to pump the crowd up.

  02:46-02:56

  Or you think, "When the Steelers take the field, there's music." Or, "When the Penguins hit the ice, there's music." Well, this isn't just music for the sake of pumping up the crowd.

  02:57-02:59

  This is the crowd being pumped up to worship.

  03:00-03:09

  And appropriately, I'm sure you saw four times in these verses the word "Hallelujah." You know, this word "Hallelujah" shows up 22 times in the book of Psalms.

  03:09-03:14

  And this is the only place in the entire New Testament the word "Hallelujah" is used.

  03:14-03:16

  And I think there's a reason for that.

  03:16-03:26

  I think because the events that we're going to talk about in just a minute, there's no other word that could capture the awesomeness of this event that's about to come.

  03:26-03:29

  You remember we studied the word "Hallelujah" a few weeks ago.

  03:29-03:30

  Do you remember what that means?

  03:30-03:31

  If you remember, shout it out.

  03:31-03:32

  I hear some murmuring.

  03:33-03:35

  That's not confident shouting out.

  03:35-03:36

  All right, I'll remind you.

  03:37-03:40

  "Hallelujah." That's okay, I only remember it because I've written it down here.

  03:40-03:44

  "Hallelujah" means everybody, praise the Lord!

  03:44-03:47

  It's a command to the congregation.

  03:47-03:53

  "Hey, all of you people, listen, let's together praise the Lord." That's what "Hallelujah" means.

  03:54-03:55

  It's like a command.

  03:55-04:03

  "Hey, everyone, let's worship!" And that's why I love verse 4 where it says, "Amen, hallelujah." That's another word we learned the meaning.

  04:03-04:06

  Who remembers what the word "amen" means?

  04:06-04:06

  Shout it out.

  04:07-04:09

  Oh, we got some people more confident about that one.

  04:09-04:11

  That was more recent, wasn't it?

  04:11-04:41

  Amen means so be it or to put it in more modern vernacular amen means yes Yes So you get to verse 4 and literally it is yes Everyone praise the Lord They're pretty fired up. You know, I've talked to people over the years. They've said Pastor Jeff I have business on this is on sound too bad Heaven sounds pretty boring. Yeah, just stand out singing all the time and and I'm gonna tell you pastor Heaven just sounds pretty boring.

  04:41-04:47

  If you've ever thought that, you're going to see just how wrong that statement is this month.

  04:47-04:52

  But for now, I want you to notice in this passage what heaven is compared to.

  04:52-04:53

  Look at verse 9.

  04:54-04:58

  It's the marriage supper of the Lamb.

  04:59-05:03

  Heaven is compared to a wedding reception.

  05:03-05:05

  And we can't miss the significance of this.

  05:05-05:11

  You see, in Jewish culture in these days, here's how a marriage went down or a wedding went down.

  05:11-05:12

  Now catch this.

  05:12-05:15

  A Jewish wedding in these days was usually arranged.

  05:15-05:21

  The couple gets betrothed or engaged as a price is paid for the bride.

  05:21-05:29

  Then the man goes away to prepare a place for them and comes back unexpectedly to take his bride.

  05:29-05:33

  Then there's a week-long party paid for by the father of the groom.

  05:33-05:36

  And then the couple stays together forever.

  05:36-05:38

  You see the parallel in the Bible.

  05:38-05:41

  You see the wedding supper of the Lamb, the marriage supper of the Lamb.

  05:42-05:46

  Jesus too has a wedding that's been arranged by His Father.

  05:46-05:55

  And He bought the bride with His own blood, and then He went back to heaven to prepare a place, right? John 14.

  05:55-06:01

  And He's going to return unexpectedly to take His bride as the rapture.

  06:01-06:02

  We've talked about that.

  06:02-06:05

  And then, what's left? It's the long party.

  06:05-06:15

  And in this case, it is eternity long, paid for by the father of the groom, where the bride and the groom are going to be together forever.

  06:16-06:19

  By virtue of my position, I've been to more weddings than most people.

  06:20-06:25

  And if anybody wants to challenge that, you're like, "I'm a DJ!" Okay, maybe, maybe.

  06:26-06:29

  I'm just saying, more weddings than most people, all right?

  06:30-06:33

  And I've been to more wedding receptions than most people.

  06:33-06:39

  And I can honestly tell you, after 23 years of pastoral ministry, something I've never seen.

  06:39-06:42

  I've never seen someone bored at a wedding reception.

  06:43-06:44

  I've just never seen it.

  06:44-06:45

  I'm not saying it's impossible.

  06:46-06:49

  I'm not saying maybe it doesn't happen and I'm just not noticing.

  06:49-06:52

  I'm just saying, and I don't know if people watch, I like to watch what people are doing.

  06:53-07:08

  Every wedding reception I've been to, it's laughter and joy and dancing, And it just seems like people just don't want it to end because we're with people that we love so much and we're enjoying this time together so much.

  07:09-07:11

  And the Bible says heaven's like that.

  07:12-07:13

  Heaven's like a wedding reception.

  07:14-07:17

  So if you think heaven's going to be boring, I'd encourage you to take another look.

  07:17-07:19

  It's going to be awesome.

  07:20-07:29

  And then John sees what every believer in Jesus Christ has been anticipating, the return, The return of the King, just as He promised.

  07:30-07:34

  Now this return, this second coming, is different than the rapture.

  07:35-07:37

  The second coming is different than the rapture.

  07:38-07:42

  The rapture takes place before the seven-year tribulation.

  07:42-07:46

  This second coming takes place at the end of the seven-year tribulation.

  07:47-07:51

  And in the rapture, Jesus comes for His saints.

  07:51-07:56

  And you're going to see in this passage, in the second coming, Jesus comes with His saints.

  07:56-07:57

  We're going to talk about that.

  07:57-07:59

  But this is a different event.

  07:59-08:02

  In the rapture, Jesus comes to deliver His people.

  08:03-08:07

  In the second coming, Jesus comes to judge those who've refused Him.

  08:08-08:10

  So, number two on your outline, let's talk about the return of the King.

  08:11-08:15

  Verses 11-13, "Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!

  08:16-08:21

  The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

  08:21-08:26

  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems.

  08:26-08:29

  And He has a name written that no one knows but Himself.

  08:30-08:39

  He is clothed in a robe, dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is the Word of God." Again, John saw heaven open up.

  08:40-08:46

  John saw heaven open up in chapter 4, verse 1, and heaven opened up in chapter 4 to let John see in.

  08:46-08:50

  Heaven opens up in Revelation 19 to let Jesus come out.

  08:51-09:02

  Interestingly, where it says Jesus has a robe that's dipped in blood, maybe you're like me, as soon as you hear "Jesus" and "blood," your mind starts to think, "Oh, the blood of redemption, right?

  09:03-09:10

  The blood of Christ. We are bought with the precious blood of Christ." And that's obviously what this blood refers to.

  09:10-09:11

  And actually, it doesn't.

  09:11-09:17

  Because at this point, this isn't Jesus' blood at all that's being talked about.

  09:18-09:19

  This is actually the blood of His enemies.

  09:20-09:23

  Like, "Well, how do you know that?" Because this comes from Isaiah 63.

  09:23-09:25

  Do we have that verse we can put up on the screen?

  09:25-09:36

  Isaiah 63, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath.

  09:36-09:45

  Their lifeblood splattered on my garments and stained all my apparel." The first time that Jesus came, He wore a crown of thorns.

  09:46-09:51

  The second time Jesus comes, He's going to be crowned with many crowns.

  09:52-09:58

  The first time Jesus came, He rode into Jerusalem in humility on a donkey.

  09:59-10:01

  The second time Jesus comes, He's riding a white horse.

  10:02-10:04

  That's victory! That's triumph!

  10:04-10:11

  The first time Jesus came, wicked men passed sentence on Him and condemned Him.

  10:11-10:16

  The second time Jesus comes, Jesus passes sentence and condemns wicked men.

  10:16-10:26

  The first time Jesus came, He was the suffering servant, but the second time He's coming as the warrior king, the first time Jesus came, it was to be a Savior.

  10:26-10:28

  And the second time, it's to be a judge.

  10:29-10:39

  I'd like to remind you, if you're sitting here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I need to remind you that you're going to encounter Jesus Christ.

  10:39-10:46

  And you can either encounter Him today as a lamb, or you can encounter Him later as a lie.

  10:47-10:57

  V. 14 says, "In the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on a white horse." So the armies of heaven are coming with Jesus.

  10:57-10:58

  Who are the armies of heaven?

  10:59-11:01

  It's God's people. It's the saints.

  11:01-11:06

  It's going to be some of us coming with Jesus.

  11:06-11:08

  We're going to talk about this army here in a minute.

  11:09-11:11

  It's God's people following behind Jesus.

  11:11-11:12

  Verse 15 and 16.

  11:12-11:20

  It says, "From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

  11:20-11:24

  He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

  11:24-11:35

  On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, 'King of kings and Lord of lords.' The nations will be struck down at Armageddon.

  11:35-11:45

  The rest of the unredeemed all over the earth who did not assemble for this fight, They're going to face the sheep and the goat judgment that Jesus talked about in Matthew 25.

  11:45-12:11

  A couple of things I want to point out, interesting about this passage here, it says in verse 15, "He will rule them with a rod of iron." That's interesting, that word for "rule" literally in the Greek, the best way we could translate it in a word that we would understand would be the word "shepherdize" or "pastor." That this is saying Jesus will lovingly pastor the world, His people.

  12:11-12:16

  He will. During His millennium kingdom, He will pastor the world, but it will be with a rod of iron.

  12:17-12:20

  It says His robe and His thigh, there's a name written.

  12:20-12:33

  What people said, "It's a tattoo." Or is it a banner that's hanging over Him, like some kind of a sash, that while He's sitting on a horse, it's sort of hanging over His chest and draped over His leg? I don't know.

  12:34-12:36

  That's not really the important part of that, is it?

  12:36-12:38

  What's important is the name that's written on it.

  12:39-12:49

  The name written is "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Take every king who's ever lived, they have a king, and his name is Jesus Christ.

  12:49-12:57

  You take every lord, everyone that's had authority and power over people, they have a lord, and his name is Jesus Christ.

  12:58-13:03

  This is the third name, explicitly, third name that's given in this passage.

  13:04-13:06

  Verse 12 was the mysterious name.

  13:07-13:09

  A name no one knows but Himself.

  13:09-13:12

  Verse 13 was the Word of God.

  13:12-13:15

  Verse 16, "King of kings, Lord of lords." Let's talk about these for a second.

  13:16-13:18

  The first name, the mysterious name, speaks to His deity.

  13:19-13:21

  He has a name written that no one knows but Himself.

  13:21-13:26

  My understanding is that name is written on the crowns because it seems to be associated with the crowns.

  13:26-13:28

  I don't know, that's just how I take the text.

  13:29-13:39

  But somebody's like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, what's that name?" It says, "No one knows but Jesus." So we could guess until He returns, and it would mean nothing.

  13:39-13:42

  But here's what it does speak to. It speaks to His deity.

  13:42-13:43

  Because here's the point.

  13:44-13:48

  Even all the names that we do know of Jesus, and we know a lot of names, right?

  13:48-13:51

  The Bible gives us a lot of names and titles for Jesus.

  13:51-13:56

  Even all of that does not exhaust everything that He is.

  13:56-14:03

  Every name the Bible gives of Jesus, even all of those names, They don't totally describe His fullness.

  14:03-14:08

  The first name speaks to His deity, the second name, the Word of God, speaks to His power.

  14:08-14:10

  Think about what the Bible says about the Word of God.

  14:11-14:14

  The Word of God. Everything the Bible says about that, think about that.

  14:14-14:17

  The Bible says the Word of God created everything.

  14:17-14:20

  The Bible says the Word of God became flesh.

  14:20-14:34

  The Bible says it his power. The third name, King of kings, Lord of lords, that speaks to his authority.

  14:35-14:41

  Again he's not just a king, he's not just a lord, he is at the absolute top of the heap.

  14:41-15:03

  Matthew chapter 28, Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." All authority. And some people want Jesus as their savior, but not their lord. And that's not an option. Because receiving Jesus Christ means receiving him for who he is. Yes, he He is the Savior of the world. Yes, He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

  15:03-15:05

  Yes, that's absolutely true.

  15:05-15:09

  But, at the same time, He is King of kings and He is Lord of lords.

  15:10-15:25

  And you need to get to that place where you don't just say, "He's King of kings and Lord of lords." You say, "He's my King. He's my Lord. He has authority over me." Rejecting His authority, well, that's a losing battle. Hence, Revelation 19.

  15:25-15:33

  Those are the names of Jesus that are given, and I feel like I wouldn't have enough time in the world to fully explain how awesome all of this is.

  15:33-15:38

  But look at verse 17. Let's talk about number 3, "The Victory of the King." Talk about the victory of the King.

  15:39-16:05

  He says, "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, 'Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and the riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.

  16:05-16:18

  And I saw the beasts and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse (that's Jesus) and His army (that's His people with Him).

  16:18-16:27

  At this point, for the beasts, for the kings of the earth, for the unredeemed, we talked about this a little bit the last couple of weeks, there's no desire for salvation here.

  16:27-16:30

  And there's no opportunity for salvation here.

  16:30-16:38

  Understand, these assembled enemies of God, they have one thing that they're clinging to, and that is this.

  16:38-16:40

  We've got to defeat Jesus Christ.

  16:40-16:41

  We've got to take Him out.

  16:41-16:42

  We've got to kill Him.

  16:42-16:48

  We have to world together, united assault against Jesus.

  16:48-16:56

  Just a reminder, if you're like, "Wait, why in the world would anybody think that's a good idea?" Do you remember the sixth bull back in chapter 16?

  16:56-17:05

  The sixth bull, these demons that kind of looked like frogs, went and deceived all of these world leaders to gather together to fight against Jesus.

  17:06-17:08

  These demons were like, "Look, you guys can do it.

  17:09-17:10

  Look at your numbers. Look at your power.

  17:10-17:12

  You got the beast. You got the false prophet.

  17:12-17:15

  Have you seen this guy? Have you seen how awesome he is?

  17:15-17:24

  And these demons are going to deceive the world into gathering together at Har Megiddo, the hills of Megiddo.

  17:25-17:26

  He's going to gather everyone together.

  17:27-17:33

  Like, "Look, we can win this. We can win this." But the angel cries out to the birds, first of all.

  17:33-17:38

  Did you notice that? He cries out to the birds, "Hey, come and eat!" Like ringing the dinner bell.

  17:38-17:40

  You know what's so interesting about this?

  17:40-17:43

  The angel calls to the birds before the battle even starts, right?

  17:43-17:53

  He's like, "Hey guys, you're going to want to fly here, because Ponderosa is about to open up before the battle." And that's showing you that victory is that certain.

  17:54-17:58

  Like there's anybody that really was questioning, "I wonder who's going to win?" Like, yeah, right.

  18:00-18:03

  But once again, we see that victory proclaimed ahead of time.

  18:04-18:06

  You know, it's a bit ironic, isn't it?

  18:06-18:11

  that these people refused the invite to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

  18:12-18:17

  Now, you're going to attend the great supper of God.

  18:17-18:18

  It's ironic, isn't it?

  18:18-18:22

  So one way or the other, you are joining the Lord for supper.

  18:22-18:29

  It can be at the wedding reception, or it can be in Armageddon as the main course.

  18:30-18:31

  But you're joining God for supper.

  18:31-18:34

  Kings and captains brought low.

  18:34-18:36

  And that's really what's being highlighted here.

  18:37-18:49

  These mighty people of the earth, these people that thought they were so awesome and so powerful, and that had the audacity to think they could show up and assault our Lord, and the angel's like, "Yeah, you know what you are?

  18:50-19:05

  You're bird food. That's what you are." Look at verse 20, "And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image.

  19:05-19:15

  These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse.

  19:15-19:23

  And all the birds were gorged with their flesh." It's over before it even begins.

  19:23-19:30

  The Antichrist, the beast, and the false prophet are immediately, the Bible says, thrown alive into the lake of fire.

  19:30-19:34

  This is the first reference in the Bible to the lake of fire as such.

  19:35-19:38

  What is the lake of fire? It's the final form of hell.

  19:39-19:40

  And these two are the first two residents.

  19:41-19:49

  Unlike Hades, which is the current place that we call hell, the lake of fire is not a temporary holding place.

  19:50-20:00

  Because we're going to see that a thousand years later, when Satan is cast into the lake of fire, we'll see that in chapter 20, the beast and the false prophet are still there.

  20:00-20:10

  And that's important, because some people teach in annihilationism, which means at some point the unredeemed are just going to cease to exist.

  20:10-20:15

  But here's more proof of what the New Testament teaches over and over, "Hell is eternal." Hell is eternal.

  20:16-20:20

  These men are thrown into the lake of fire, and again a thousand years later they're still there.

  20:20-20:22

  But let's get back to this scene, the battle.

  20:22-20:33

  Can you imagine the panic that sets in in the battle when the beast and the false prophet are leading the world into battle with Christ.

  20:33-20:39

  And all of these people are sold out to the Antichrist, and they're sold out to the false prophet.

  20:39-20:42

  And all these people show up, and they're ready to fight.

  20:43-20:45

  And then suddenly, their leaders are gone.

  20:46-20:52

  Could you imagine the panic? It's like, "We're going to take them!" Where in the world did our leaders go?

  20:52-20:56

  Well, they were plucked and thrown into the lake of fire.

  20:56-21:04

  And then the leaderless armies are going to be slaughtered by the sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ.

  21:04-21:07

  And the birds, they gorge themselves.

  21:08-21:10

  Jesus is coming back.

  21:10-21:14

  And those who have rejected Him are going to meet a violent death.

  21:14-21:16

  But that's really only the beginning of their problems.

  21:17-21:18

  But His return will be glorious.

  21:19-21:22

  There's one thing about this scene that was always a little strange to me.

  21:22-21:41

  There's one thing in particular about this whole scene that I always thought, Okay, look, we've got the crowns and the horse, and we've got the sword from the mouth, and that's not the stuff that bothers me, because God is God and I am not, and He does what He wants, and He has the power to do what He wants, and that's not the thing that bothers me at all about this passage.

  21:41-21:49

  But there is something that really has always sort of bothered me about this passage, and it's in verse 14. Look at verse 14 again.

  21:49-21:57

  It says, "In the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses." And again, the armies of heaven, that's us, that's the saints.

  21:57-22:01

  The Bible is so clear on that. Those are God's people coming with Jesus.

  22:01-22:04

  Do you see why that bothered me? Do you see why that kind of bothered me?

  22:04-22:07

  Why does Jesus have an army following?

  22:08-22:10

  You see what I mean? He's Jesus!

  22:11-22:13

  Why does He have an army following Him?

  22:14-22:16

  I mean, they're not armed, right?

  22:16-22:21

  I mean, He's got the sword, but He's the only one that shows up at this battle with a weapon, and we're not armed.

  22:22-22:25

  The army's not armed. They're not even dressed for battle.

  22:25-22:29

  They're not like wearing armor. They're wearing like robes.

  22:29-22:33

  And I mean, you read the same passage I did. They didn't do anything.

  22:34-22:36

  Because reality is, Jesus didn't really need them to do anything.

  22:37-22:40

  So why are they/we, why are we even there?

  22:41-22:43

  Does that bother anybody else? Has anybody else ever been kind of bothered by that?

  22:44-22:47

  Or just me? Just me? Thanks for that. Just me?

  22:47-22:48

  Alright, you are loved. Just go.

  22:49-22:50

  But you know I thought about that a lot this week.

  22:51-22:57

  Especially this week because I'm preaching this passage and there's this verse in here that's always bothered me.

  22:58-23:00

  And I've really thought a lot about that.

  23:00-23:05

  When it hit me about three days ago, why is the army with Jesus for this battle?

  23:05-23:07

  And here it is, you ready?

  23:07-23:08

  This is the reason.

  23:09-23:21

  It's to show one more time, one last time, perhaps the greatest example of a truth that we see cover to cover in your Bible.

  23:22-23:26

  And that truth is this, the battle belongs to the Lord.

  23:27-23:28

  Here's what I mean by that.

  23:28-23:31

  2 Chronicles 20, these are the days of King Jehoshaphat.

  23:32-23:35

  Some of you might know him by his nickname, Jumping Jehoshaphat.

  23:35-23:45

  So enemies surrounded Israel and the nation prayed and a prophet named Jehaziel reminded them of something that we all need to hear.

  23:45-23:46

  And here it is.

  23:47-24:15

  2 Chronicles 20 verse 15, "Thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, but God's.'" And he says later in verse 17, in case anybody missed it, he said, "You will not need to fight." So I started flipping through the Bible when I realized, Man, this theme is everywhere!

  24:16-24:23

  And this theme is right under our noses in some of the most well-known passages of the Bible.

  24:24-24:39

  A couple of examples, one is, you remember when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and God led them to the Red Sea, and here comes the Egyptians, so the Israelites were like, "Okay, we got the sea here, and here come the Egyptians." You remember that story, Acts 14? You remember what Moses said?

  24:40-24:56

  Moses said to them, "The Lord will fight for you." And the funny thing about that, for us maybe, not the Egyptians, but in verse 25, after God poured into the Red Sea, the Egyptians are like, "We're going to chase them!" They're after them in their chariots, and their chariot wheels get stuck in the mud.

  24:56-24:58

  Do you remember what the Egyptians said?

  24:58-25:04

  They're like, "It's like the Lord is fighting for the Israelites!" You see that with Joshua.

  25:04-25:07

  He was charged to conquer the Promised Land, be strong and courageous.

  25:07-25:09

  The Lord will be with you.

  25:09-25:14

  And probably the story that is most famous with Joshua is Jericho, right?

  25:15-25:17

  Do you know in its essence what the story of Jericho is about?

  25:18-25:21

  It's about the power of God fighting on behalf of his people.

  25:22-25:23

  They didn't knock the walls down.

  25:24-25:27

  God did. The battle belongs to the Lord.

  25:27-25:29

  And I thought, "Well, what about David and Goliath, right?

  25:30-25:33

  How did David kill that giant?" Well, it wasn't because of Saul's armor.

  25:33-25:35

  Didn't fit right, didn't wear it, didn't need it.

  25:35-25:39

  I don't even think it was because of David's slingshot skills.

  25:39-25:46

  David even said to him, "I'm coming after you in the name of the Lord." It's over and over and over in your Bibles.

  25:47-25:57

  Deuteronomy 3, "The battle belongs to the Lord." Deuteronomy 20, "The Lord will fight for you." Joshua 23, "The Lord will fight your battles." Proverbs 20.

  25:57-26:11

  Verse 22, "Do not say, 'I will recompense evil.' Wait for the Lord, and He will save you." The truth is, cover to cover in your Bible, all the way up to the very last battle of the Bible, here's the truth.

  26:11-26:14

  The battle belongs to the Lord.

  26:15-26:16

  Do you believe that?

  26:16-26:22

  Then why are we so quick to take up our own battles in our own lives?

  26:22-26:24

  Like at the workplace, you have an unfair boss.

  26:25-26:26

  What do we say?

  26:26-26:32

  "I'm going to file a grievance. I'm going to sue. I'm going to ruin them!" You're taking up your battle.

  26:32-26:34

  Or you have that jerk co-worker.

  26:35-26:39

  "I'm going to make sure that he gets fired." You're taking up your own battle.

  26:39-26:49

  You have a family conflict because you've got hard-hearted people, or a prodigal child, or whatever, and you think, "You know what? I've had enough. I'm setting her straight." You're taking up your own battle.

  26:50-26:55

  You have a neighbor who's made your life difficult, and you say, "That's it. I'm going to settle this.

  26:55-27:01

  They are not going to win. I'm going to win this." You're taking up your own battle.

  27:01-27:14

  You have a teacher or a professor that's making your school experience absolutely miserable, and you think, "You know what? He is not going to get away with this." You're fighting your own battle.

  27:14-27:18

  We are so quick to defend ourselves. We're so quick to put people in their place.

  27:19-27:21

  We're so quick to try to control the situation.

  27:21-27:23

  We're so quick to try to control people.

  27:24-27:27

  We're so quick to try to win our own battles.

  27:27-27:44

  And a reminder for us from God's Word today is, "The battle is not yours." Oh, people might look like they're your enemies, and circumstances might look like your enemies, but the battle is not yours.

  27:45-27:47

  The battle belongs to the Lord.

  27:47-27:52

  And if you truly believe this, it's literally going to change every day of your life.

  27:53-27:54

  Yeah, Jesus, He'll bring an army with Him.

  27:54-27:58

  But it's to remind us again, the battle belongs to the Lord.

  27:59-28:01

  I want to ask you, what battle are you fighting right now?

  28:01-28:05

  What battle do you have in your life right now that you're fighting?

  28:06-28:07

  You're fighting! You're fighting!

  28:08-28:17

  Well, maybe it's time to get out of your fighting stance, and maybe, maybe it's time to get on your knees instead, and just pray this simple prayer, or something like this.

  28:17-28:24

  Maybe you need to get on your knees and say, "God, I'm going to trust You to fight my battles." You promised to do it. You have the power to do it.

  28:25-28:30

  God, let me get out of your way." That is why prayer is the most powerful weapon that we have.

  28:30-28:36

  That's why 1 John 5, verse 4, "The victory that overcomes the world is..." what?

  28:37-28:38

  Our faith.

  28:38-28:46

  Because, here it is, you aren't leading the charge into battle, hoping that Jesus is following you.

  28:46-28:47

  No, no, no.

  28:47-28:49

  You're letting Jesus fight your battle.

  28:49-28:52

  And like Armageddon, you're just following Him.

  28:52-28:54

  And there's something we learned about Jesus today.

  28:54-28:56

  He is quite good at winning battles.

  28:57-28:59

  So why don't you let Him fight yours? Pray with me.

  28:59-29:10

  Father in Heaven, a sermon that lasted 100,000 hours could not adequately capture the glory that is demonstrated in this passage describing the return of Jesus Christ.

  29:10-29:14

  We've been going through this book of yours in Revelation since October.

  29:15-29:20

  And this is like the thing that we are looking forward to, not just in reading it and studying it and preaching it.

  29:20-29:24

  This is the thing we're looking forward to actually happening when you come to make everything right.

  29:24-29:38

  Father, I pray today for myself and for my brothers and sisters here who might be battle-worn, who might be exhausted from so much fighting, have been trying so hard with no results to fight their own battles.

  29:38-29:41

  I pray, God, that You would bring us to this truth that we see throughout Your Word.

  29:42-29:43

  The battle belongs to the Lord.

  29:43-29:44

  These are Your fights, God.

  29:45-29:46

  You have the power.

  29:47-29:48

  Only you can change hearts.

  29:49-29:53

  Only you can sovereignly organize circumstances.

  29:54-29:55

  Only you can do that.

  29:56-30:04

  Father, I pray that we would be a people that fight our battles on our knees, trusting You to be the one who's going to give the victory.

  30:04-30:06

  Father, I pray that we would get out of Your way.

  30:06-30:11

  And as an act of faith, as an act of trust, we would allow You to do what You've told us You will do.

  30:12-30:13

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion

Read Revelation 19

GROUP

1. What was your big “take-away” from the passage / message?

2. What was the best wedding you have ever attended? What made it so good? With that in mind, why do you think Scripture compares heaven to a wedding reception (“the marriage supper of the Lamb”)?

3. Verse 15 - what does it mean that Jesus will rule (literally “pastor”) with a rod of iron?

4. What battle have YOU been fighting that you need to allow the Lord to fight for you?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Coming Soon: Babylon's Funeral.

Introduction:

Coming Soon: Babylon's Funeral. (Revelation 18)

1. The COMMENCEMENT . (Rev 18:1-3)

2. The CALL to escape. (Rev 18:4-5)

3. The CAUSE of death. (Rev 18:6-8)

4. The CELEBRATION. (Rev 18:20)

5. The CRYING. (Rev 18:9-19)

6. The COMMITTAL. (Rev 18:21-24)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:18-00:20

  Revelation 18, coming soon.

  00:21-00:22

  Babylon's funeral.

  00:22-00:24

  Revelation 18.

  00:24-00:29

  Last week, we were reintroduced to the city Babylon.

  00:30-00:33

  It's a city. It's clear from God's Word.

  00:34-00:37

  But in this vision, she was depicted as a prostitute.

  00:38-00:42

  And the city is going to be the headquarters of the Antichrist empire.

  00:43-00:46

  It's a city of idolatry and worldwide commerce.

  00:47-01:02

  Just as the first Babylon back in Genesis 11 was man's attempt to build a city to exalt himself with a one-world religion and a one-world empire, so will the last Babylon become.

  01:02-01:05

  We called it Vegas on steroids.

  01:05-01:10

  It's going to be the hub of immorality and consumerism.

  01:10-01:16

  After the Antichrist uses this one-world religion to get into power, he's going to demand worship.

  01:16-01:19

  We talked about that several times throughout Revelation.

  01:19-01:24

  The Antichrist is going to fake his own death and resurrection to get the world to follow him.

  01:24-01:32

  And once the world worships the Antichrist, he's going to destroy Babylon, this false religious system, he and the ten kings.

  01:32-01:33

  That was the sermon last week.

  01:34-01:40

  So when you get to chapter 18, at this point, Babylon has endured the direct judgments of God.

  01:41-01:45

  And God sovereignly had the Antichrist and the ten kings destroy her.

  01:45-01:49

  So the only thing left for this prostitute is her funeral.

  01:49-01:51

  Let's talk about funerals for a minute.

  01:52-02:00

  Years ago, I got a call from a local funeral home for an individual who died but did not have a pastor.

  02:01-02:06

  I would get those calls all the time, like, "Hey, they don't have any church affiliation, they don't have a pastor.

  02:06-02:12

  Would you be willing to come and hold a funeral service?" And I always looked at it as a great opportunity, right?

  02:12-02:17

  meet some people, share the gospel, love people through a very hard time.

  02:18-02:28

  So I got to the funeral home and I met the family and friends, and I could just get a sense - and you'll know how I mean this - I could just get a sense that there wasn't much church background here.

  02:29-02:32

  And I felt like - I mean, wonderful people - but I felt like here's an opportunity.

  02:33-02:37

  I just really felt like maybe they haven't really been exposed to the gospel.

  02:38-02:41

  So the funeral service came, and I laid it out.

  02:42-02:45

  Just like passionately sharing the Gospel.

  02:46-02:53

  And as I'm sharing the Gospel, I'm looking out at this room full of people at the funeral home.

  02:53-02:54

  And what were they doing?

  02:55-02:55

  Nothing.

  02:56-02:58

  They were not even looking at me.

  02:59-02:59

  None of them.

  02:59-03:00

  They weren't sleeping.

  03:01-03:03

  They just weren't paying attention at all.

  03:04-03:12

  Looking at their fingers, or looking at their cell phones, and looking at the little memorial card and looking around the room.

  03:13-03:17

  Not one person in this room full of people was looking at me.

  03:17-03:24

  And my natural tendency - I'm just being honest - my natural tendency is like, "They don't care, let's just wrap it up, call it a day." I don't know.

  03:25-03:33

  I'd like to think the Holy Spirit lit a fire in me, because at this time I'm like, "No." I'm not letting them walk out of here disinterested in the Gospel.

  03:33-03:35

  I'm going to crank it up.

  03:35-03:57

  So I cranked it up, And I'm like, "Do you realize the love of God that He has showed up?" And I've got straight Southern Baptists, and I'm screaming and stomping, and I'm in their faces, and I'm like, "You have a hope for eternity!" And still, nobody was looking at me at all.

  03:58-04:05

  So I cranked it up a little bit more, and still, nobody in the room was looking at me.

  04:06-04:11

  It was... the looks on their faces were like I was trying to sell them a timeshare.

  04:12-04:22

  And have you ever been talking to someone, and you're in the middle of talking, and you realized while you're talking that they had stopped listening a couple minutes ago?

  04:22-04:24

  Has that ever happened to you? That happens to me a lot.

  04:25-04:31

  Well, just imagine a whole room full of people like that.

  04:31-04:33

  So we got through the sermon.

  04:33-04:41

  And after I closed in prayer, everybody just sort of got up, put their coats on, and I stood by the door. Everybody sort of shuffled out the door.

  04:41-04:55

  Still nobody looked at me. Like, "Is there something on my face?" They sort of shuffled out, and one man, one man, he was dressed like the best way I can describe it, as a fancy cowboy. You know what I mean by that? He had the little leather rope tie.

  04:55-04:59

  What's that thing called? Yeah, whatever, that's the thing. And he had the fancy cowboy boots.

  04:59-05:00

  Looked real nice.

  05:01-05:04

  Anyways, he didn't look at me either, but as he was walking by, he never broke stride.

  05:05-05:12

  As he was walking by, he slapped me on the shoulder and went, "Nice job, Padre." And I thought to myself, you know, I didn't lose them.

  05:13-05:13

  I never had them.

  05:14-05:18

  No one was listening, no one was crying, no one even cared.

  05:19-05:24

  Revelation 18, this chapter is a funeral, okay?

  05:24-05:25

  But there's a difference here.

  05:26-05:56

  You're going to see with this funeral, entire world is weeping and wailing uncontrollably at this funeral. This, this is the end of the tribulation. So with every funeral, so Babylon's is going to have sort of an order of service. If you're taking notes, here's sort of a funeral order of service. You can keep this, reproduce it, maybe if you're asked to do a funeral, here you go. Babylon's funeral order of service, number one, the The commencement.

  05:56-05:57

  The commencement.

  05:57-06:01

  That's the opening or the summary that sort of kicks it off.

  06:01-06:03

  And here's the summary that kicks off this funeral.

  06:03-06:04

  Look at chapter 18.

  06:04-06:12

  He says, "After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.

  06:13-06:18

  And he called out with a mighty voice, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great.

  06:18-06:28

  She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

  06:28-06:47

  For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living." So here's a new vision. John says he sees another angel.

  06:47-06:53

  This might be the angel from chapter 14, verse 8, because this angel says the exact same thing.

  06:53-07:01

  "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." And in this introduction, we see that Babylon has sort of become a spiritual ghost town.

  07:02-07:08

  There's nothing there but demons lurking around, and animals picking at human remains.

  07:09-07:12

  And the angel reminds us of the reason that Babylon was wiped off the map.

  07:13-07:20

  She's been a place of idolatry and obnoxious materialism, Because wickedness is very profitable during the tribulation.

  07:20-07:22

  Hold that thought, we're going to circle back and see that again.

  07:23-07:25

  As a commencement, secondly, here's the call to escape.

  07:25-07:29

  Now this isn't part of a typical funeral, but it's going to be part of this one.

  07:29-07:30

  Look at verses 4 and 5.

  07:30-08:01

  He says, "Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven.' And God has remembered her iniquities." Right before her death, God calls for His people - these are people that come to Christ - during the tribulation, He says, "Get out of there." We've talked about this before, but God has this track record when He's about to pour judgment on the earth, He removes His people, right?

  08:01-08:02

  Remember Noah's day?

  08:03-08:04

  Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?

  08:05-08:09

  God has a way of removing His people before He judges the earth.

  08:09-08:10

  And here it is again.

  08:10-08:20

  Just like the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 trying to reach heaven, here it says Babylon's sins are piling up to heaven.

  08:20-08:22

  And somebody's like, "Wait, wait, wait, hang on.

  08:22-08:33

  You're telling me the people who come to Christ during the tribulation are in Babylon and God tells them to get out?" That's right. Well, why are Christians in Babylon in the first place?

  08:33-08:34

  Why are they in this city?

  08:35-08:36

  Was it a chance to make money?

  08:36-08:38

  Was it a witnessing opportunity?

  08:39-09:07

  Like, "Hey, I'm going to work here because I know there's lost people." I don't know. I don't know why there were God's people in Babylon, but God didn't say, "Hang out there and attract them and try to woo them with the gospel." God says, "Get out of there. Get away from her sin, and get away from the hammer of judgment that's about to come down on this city." And I would say there's a time to witness, and there's a time to remove yourself from people who refuse to come to God.

  09:08-09:11

  And God makes it very clear in this passage, "Get out. Get out.

  09:11-09:15

  this thing's coming down, and I want my people out of there." The call to escape.

  09:15-09:16

  Thirdly, the cause of death.

  09:17-09:19

  The cause of death, look at verses 6-8.

  09:19-09:25

  "Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds.

  09:25-09:28

  Mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.

  09:28-09:39

  As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen.

  09:39-09:44

  I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.

  09:44-10:00

  For this reason, her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her." So the angel turns from John to God, and he calls for vengeance on Babylon.

  10:00-10:02

  He says, "Okay, pay her back.

  10:02-10:09

  Actually, more than pay her back." He says, "Double down. Give her double." We see the cup highlighted again.

  10:09-10:12

  Babylon used a cup to deceive the nations.

  10:12-10:15

  We saw it in v. 3, 14, 17.

  10:16-10:23

  Babylon, this prostitute is talked about as having this cup that she uses to deceive and allure the nations.

  10:24-10:36

  And in that very cup, God says, "Here, I'm pouring My wrath into that cup, and you're going to choke every last drop of that down." Babylon is guilty of three major sins.

  10:36-10:37

  Here's the cause of death.

  10:37-10:40

  Here's the three major sins. The first one is pride.

  10:40-10:51

  Verse 7, it says, "She glorified herself." That's pride. Like, "Look at how awesome I am." I mean, just look. I have everything going on.

  10:51-10:54

  It's pride. I am powerful. Self-glory.

  10:55-11:04

  Number 2, "She lived sensually." It says, "Lived in luxury." And as we've seen throughout this study, sexual immorality is going to be at an all-time high.

  11:04-11:07

  and living in luxury, living sensually.

  11:08-11:09

  It's living for the flesh.

  11:09-11:11

  That was her second sin.

  11:11-11:12

  And thirdly is self-sufficiency.

  11:13-11:16

  Her quote actually comes from Isaiah 47.

  11:16-11:19

  In her heart, she says, "I sit as a queen.

  11:19-11:21

  I'm no widow. Mourning I shall never see.

  11:22-11:25

  The sin is self-sufficiency." I don't need anyone. Look at me.

  11:25-11:27

  I am the queen bee.

  11:28-11:29

  These are three things.

  11:29-11:34

  These three sins, These are three things that God absolutely will not tolerate.

  11:34-11:36

  And it should cause us all to listen up.

  11:37-11:41

  Because these things rob God of His glory - they try to rob God of His glory.

  11:41-11:44

  And these things seek to make yourself an idol.

  11:44-11:53

  And I would say to be thankful that God will not tolerate these things because these are three sins that will keep you from coming to Jesus Christ.

  11:53-11:59

  If you're sitting here right now, and you have not come to Christ, it's probably one of these three reasons.

  11:59-12:00

  One is pride.

  12:01-12:02

  You think you've got it going on.

  12:02-12:06

  You think that you're great, and you're awesome, and you're good enough.

  12:06-12:08

  You're not going to come to Christ if that's what you think.

  12:09-12:10

  You're wrong in your self-assessment.

  12:11-12:12

  And it's condemning.

  12:12-12:15

  Secondly, is living sensually or living in luxury.

  12:15-12:17

  Jesus said you worship God or you worship money, right?

  12:18-12:24

  And you can either live for your Creator, or you can live to fulfill your sensual desires.

  12:25-12:25

  You can't live for both.

  12:26-12:28

  Self-sufficiency - I don't need God.

  12:28-12:29

  I don't need Jesus.

  12:30-12:32

  I'm good enough. I can take care of myself.

  12:33-12:38

  Religion is a crutch or whatever." That's what Babylon was guilty of.

  12:38-12:50

  And that's what God says, "I can't tolerate that, because they rob Me of My glory and they make Yourself an idol, and they keep people from coming and receiving My grace." And church, it's our very nature to go after these things.

  12:51-12:53

  And coming to Christ means you have to abandon them all.

  12:53-12:57

  Due to her sins, did you notice this is going to come up a lot in this passage?

  12:57-13:31

  Verse 8, "For this reason, will come in a single day. What this means is Babylon, this awesome metropolitan city, this hub of the world, she's going down, but it's not going to be like fading away, like over the course of ten years, "Yeah, it seems like things have sort of gone downhill a little bit." Single day. It's death blow. It's God shows up, boom, it's over. And people are not only astonished that she's gone, as you'll see here in a second, they're doubly astonished because of how fast she went.

  13:31-13:31

  Note that.

  13:32-13:34

  You're going to see that in verse 10, verse 17, verse 19.

  13:35-13:37

  God is about to wipe this city off the map.

  13:38-13:39

  We talked about this last week.

  13:40-13:44

  And people are going to be astonished at how quickly everything happened.

  13:45-13:46

  Babylon was an amazing, powerful city.

  13:47-13:48

  Here's another reminder.

  13:48-13:49

  Who really has the power?

  13:49-13:50

  Did you see that at the end of verse 8?

  13:50-13:59

  "For mighty is the Lord God who has judged her." Cause of death, pride, sensual, luxurious living, and self-sufficiency.

  14:00-14:01

  Babylon's funeral number four.

  14:02-14:04

  You can't have a funeral without some crying, right?

  14:04-14:06

  Well, I just told you about one that I had where there was no crying.

  14:06-14:08

  But there's a lot of crying at this one.

  14:08-14:12

  Again, these groups are making crazy money from this empire.

  14:12-14:16

  And now you're going to see they're watching her burn at her funeral.

  14:17-14:23

  And there's three groups mentioned here, and I just want you to see as we go through here if you can pick out something that they all have in common.

  14:23-14:25

  The first group are the kings.

  14:25-14:26

  Look at verses 9 and 10.

  14:27-14:35

  as the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.

  14:36-14:51

  They will stand far off in fear of her torment and say, "Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon, for in a single hour your judgment has come." We have the 10 kings that were with the antichrist.

  14:51-14:55

  We have other world leaders, and they fearfully stand off.

  14:55-14:57

  This city is burning. They see the smoke.

  14:57-15:04

  And I believe standing off from a distance also includes TV, Internet, all the other ways that we watch these things.

  15:05-15:07

  And again, they're shocked.

  15:07-15:09

  They're shocked at how quickly it's over.

  15:10-15:13

  This was our city and it's gone.

  15:13-15:17

  It says that they, verse 9, they weep and wail.

  15:17-15:23

  Actually, the Greek is literally sobbing and beating their chest.

  15:23-15:29

  They weren't just like, tear down the eye. These people are despondent!

  15:29-15:46

  They're just like, wailing. "I can't believe it's gone! These are grown men! Why are they crying?" "There goes my life of luxury. There goes all my money. What am I going to do now?" Those are the kings. Secondly, the second group are the merchants.

  15:46-15:48

  Look at verses 11-16.

  15:48-15:55

  merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore." Don't you see a trend?

  15:56-16:24

  Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots and slaves, that is, human souls.

  16:24-16:32

  The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again.

  16:32-16:43

  The merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud.

  16:43-17:05

  "Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls, for in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste." So with the city destroyed, all sales are going to stop.

  17:05-17:08

  All economic activity is going to stop.

  17:08-17:19

  And remember we saw back in chapter 13, In verse 17, this city, the Antichrist, his empire, is in control of the entire world's economy.

  17:20-17:24

  And the destruction of the city means the destruction of the economy.

  17:24-17:25

  Now he gives a list.

  17:26-17:28

  Did you see this starting in verse 12?

  17:29-17:30

  He gives a list.

  17:30-17:34

  There's actually, I think, 28 items on this list.

  17:34-17:40

  And I just want to take a few minutes on each one of these and sort of lay out what exactly people are losing here.

  17:41-17:43

  I thought for sure I'd get backlash on that.

  17:43-17:48

  All right, there's just two that I wanna draw your attention to that I find particularly interesting.

  17:48-17:49

  Look down at verse 13.

  17:50-17:51

  There's the word chariots.

  17:51-17:58

  Interesting thing about that word is the word in the Greek for chariots literally is four-wheeled vehicle.

  17:58-18:06

  You're like, "Well, what's interesting about that?" Well, it's not a typical word that you would have expected John to use because the chariots in John's day didn't have four wheels.

  18:07-18:12

  When we think chariot, we think the thing pulled by a horse, but I'm not sure that that's what was communicated to John.

  18:12-18:16

  What was communicated to John was a four-wheeled vehicle.

  18:17-18:18

  So what do you think he's talking about?

  18:18-18:21

  I think he's talking about the automotive industry, right?

  18:21-18:22

  Four-wheeled vehicles.

  18:23-18:26

  Another thing that stuck out to me is the very last thing on the list.

  18:27-18:29

  It says slaves, human souls.

  18:30-18:38

  You know, in our day, human trafficking, Sex trafficking is a huge and horrible and wicked source of income.

  18:39-18:41

  And it's only going to get worse.

  18:41-18:45

  And we see that even in the last days, people are being sold. Horrible.

  18:45-18:49

  The good news is, as of this moment, it's over. It's over.

  18:49-18:55

  So like the kings, the merchants stand far off in fear, weeping over the city.

  18:55-18:57

  And what are they crying for? Why are they crying?

  18:57-19:01

  "There goes my money. There goes my money." They're not repenting over their sin.

  19:02-19:07

  They're not crying over the destruction that their lifestyle has brought upon them.

  19:07-19:10

  They're crying because they're out of business.

  19:10-19:13

  Verse 17, let's talk about the third group, the sailors.

  19:13-19:22

  "For in a single hour, all this wealth has been laid waste." We saw "Tail End," the merchants, and then it goes right into the next group, the shipmasters.

  19:22-19:31

  "All the shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors, and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning.

  19:32-19:37

  'What city is like the great city?' And they threw dust in her heads as they wept and mourned, crying out.

  19:38-19:45

  Alas, alas for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth.

  19:45-20:03

  For in a single hour, she has been laid waste." To the third group, her people who make their living by the sea, sailors standing far off, astonished at Babylon's destruction, because no stuff to sell means no stuff to transport.

  20:04-20:06

  So here we're talking about FedEx.

  20:06-20:08

  We're talking about UPS.

  20:08-20:10

  We're talking about the USPS.

  20:11-20:16

  We're talking about all of these organizations whose job it is to transport.

  20:17-20:18

  And once again, why are they crying?

  20:19-20:20

  Why are they crying?

  20:20-20:21

  There goes my money.

  20:21-20:22

  They throw dust in their heads.

  20:22-20:24

  It's an expression of grief.

  20:24-20:27

  again, not over their sin, over their personal loss.

  20:27-20:31

  And you know, this is the last lament in the Bible.

  20:31-20:33

  The Bible is full of laments.

  20:33-20:35

  This is the very last one.

  20:35-20:49

  And I would suggest to you it's the very saddest one, because in this last lament, hopeless souls know that they're lost and doomed as they're watching God judge the earth, but they are completely unable to care about their sin.

  20:49-21:03

  They're completely unable to acknowledge that their rebellion against God has brought them to this place of ministry, and their only thought at this point is, "My wealth is gone." That's all they can think about.

  21:04-21:09

  Somebody might be looking at these people who are watching Babylon go up in smoke.

  21:10-21:11

  They've lost everything.

  21:12-21:19

  They know this is God, and maybe some are thinking right now, "Well, why don't they just repent?" I mean, think about it. They're not making any more money.

  21:19-21:21

  They know God's a-coming. It's obvious.

  21:22-21:24

  So why don't they just repent? I'll tell you why.

  21:25-21:27

  Because they don't want God. They don't want God.

  21:28-21:31

  They don't want righteousness. They don't want justice.

  21:31-21:34

  They don't want the things of God.

  21:35-21:39

  That's one thing this chapter is teaching, is there's only one thing they wanted, and it's money.

  21:40-21:43

  That's why they didn't just repent. They're not interested.

  21:44-21:50

  They are completely oblivious to what's really important.

  21:50-21:52

  We saw this last month.

  21:52-21:53

  I'm not making this a political thing.

  21:54-21:55

  Let's just step back and be objective.

  21:55-21:57

  And this isn't a political thing at all.

  21:58-22:01

  But I just thought it was interesting and it certainly fit.

  22:02-22:10

  Last month, in order to combat human trafficking over the US-Mexico border, the president had threatened to close the border.

  22:11-22:12

  I'm just going to close the border.

  22:14-22:19

  to fight human trafficking, one of the most horrible evils man can do to another man.

  22:19-22:25

  The president said, "I'm gonna shut the border." And do you remember the outrage that was the backlash from that comment?

  22:26-22:28

  All the people did not, they did not reply.

  22:28-22:31

  You know what, Mr. President, I'm with you.

  22:31-22:34

  How else can we save and protect the innocent?

  22:34-22:35

  That's not what they said.

  22:35-22:40

  They didn't say anything that needs to happen to stop this horrible evil.

  22:40-22:41

  That's not what they said either.

  22:41-22:42

  Do you remember what they said?

  22:43-22:48

  They said, "What if this keeps me from getting avocado toast?" Like, really?

  22:48-22:55

  We're having a conversation about stopping human trafficking, and the only thing you can think about is your stupid toast?

  22:56-22:56

  Really?

  22:57-23:00

  It's almost laughable if it wasn't so pathetic.

  23:01-23:03

  But that's where people's minds went.

  23:03-23:07

  What if the price of avocados goes up?

  23:07-23:10

  Oh, boo-hoo, you don't really like avocados anyways.

  23:10-23:11

  Nobody really does.

  23:11-23:12

  It's like kale.

  23:13-23:20

  We pretend to like it because we're told it's the superfood and we all have to let people know that we like it.

  23:20-23:24

  We pretend to just so people think that we're trendy, but nobody really likes avocados.

  23:25-23:27

  You just eating that to get to the toast.

  23:27-23:30

  We start playing around, but you see the point.

  23:30-23:34

  No outrage, no outrage over people being sold.

  23:34-23:39

  Much outrage on the prospect that our precious avocados might go up in price.

  23:40-23:40

  What's the point?

  23:40-23:41

  Here's the point.

  23:42-24:11

  At this point in Revelation, if worldly people's state of mind is still in question, if God's judgment still seems rash, I think it's fitting that the thing that God chooses to highlight to John and to us is that after experiencing all these manifestations of God's wrath on the earth because of sin, People still only care about themselves.

  24:11-24:12

  I think that's the whole point.

  24:13-24:24

  He's showing us that there's worldwide mourning, not over sin, not over the destruction of sin, but over the loss of dollars, over the loss of avocado toast.

  24:25-24:27

  And if you really do like avocados, I meant no offense.

  24:28-24:29

  But you see the point.

  24:29-24:35

  Jesus said in Mark 8.36, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" You can have it all.

  24:36-24:38

  and you're going to die, and where does your stuff go?

  24:39-24:41

  You forfeited your life in order to pursue stuff.

  24:42-24:46

  And that's just the mark of those who have the mark of the beast.

  24:47-24:50

  Number five, wrapping up here, two more parts, the celebration.

  24:51-24:56

  The celebration, verse 20, now, this isn't part of a typical funeral either.

  24:57-24:58

  Just throw that out here.

  24:58-25:05

  If you're going to use this as an outline, like if somebody in your family dies, and you're like, "Yeah, Pastor Jeff asked me to do the funeral." I would say don't put this in the funeral.

  25:06-25:12

  This is the part of the funeral where there's rejoicing over the fact that the person is deceased.

  25:13-25:16

  Not typical, but we have a shift.

  25:16-25:18

  The angel is speaking again.

  25:18-25:19

  Look at verse 20.

  25:20-25:29

  It says, "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her." Rejoice.

  25:29-25:37

  "The redeemed in heaven rejoice over the triumph of righteousness." Rejoice over the prayer that we studied "Clear back in chapter 6.

  25:38-25:41

  How long until you do something about all this, God?

  25:41-25:43

  How long?" Chapter 6, verses 9-11.

  25:44-25:46

  "How long?" It's finally answered.

  25:46-25:48

  It's finally answered, and there's great celebration.

  25:49-25:52

  Like, "Well, wait a minute, I thought God didn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked.

  25:53-26:02

  So if God doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, why is all of heaven celebrating the downfall of this city?" Well, God doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked.

  26:02-26:05

  In fact, God would rather people turn to Him and receive Christ.

  26:06-26:08

  But something God does delight in is righteousness.

  26:09-26:16

  Something God does delight in is to see the suffering of His people finally come to an end.

  26:16-26:20

  All of heaven delighting in justice finally being carried out.

  26:21-26:25

  All of heaven delighting in the truth that the wicked are no longer shedding blood.

  26:25-26:29

  And then finally, this is the last part of a good funeral service, you've got to have the committal.

  26:29-26:30

  You've got to have the committal.

  26:30-26:32

  We usually say these at the graveside.

  26:33-26:34

  This will be the last few verses here.

  26:35-26:50

  "Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, 'So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more.'" Quick demonstration, picturing Babylon's destruction.

  26:50-26:56

  A millstone was about four or five feet in diameter, and it was about a foot thick.

  26:56-27:02

  So this angel takes this giant millstone and says, This thing represents Babylon.

  27:03-27:05

  Bloop! Into the water.

  27:05-27:10

  Point is, here it is, and suddenly and instantly and totally, bloop! Gone.

  27:10-27:12

  We'll be found no more.

  27:12-27:19

  Look at verse 22, "And the sound of the harpists and musicians of flute players and trumpeters will be heard in you no more.

  27:19-27:23

  And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more.

  27:23-27:27

  And the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more.

  27:27-27:30

  And the light of a lamp will shine in you no more.

  27:31-27:35

  And the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more.

  27:35-27:42

  For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.

  27:42-27:52

  And in her was found the blood of the prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth." Recurring phrase there, "no more." No more. No more!

  27:52-27:54

  You lived how you wanted.

  27:54-27:59

  You deceived and you hated and you abused and you murdered.

  27:59-28:01

  No more. It's over.

  28:01-28:02

  Nothing will be left.

  28:02-28:04

  No music. No working.

  28:04-28:06

  No making food. No light.

  28:07-28:09

  No weddings. No more.

  28:10-28:11

  You've rejected your Creator.

  28:11-28:13

  You've despised the blood of Christ.

  28:14-28:15

  And you've killed His people.

  28:16-28:18

  No more. Fallen. Fallen.

  28:19-28:20

  Is Babylon the Great.

  28:21-28:24

  This concludes the funeral service for Babylon.

  28:24-28:28

  I'm not going to say, Well, she's in a better place.

  28:28-28:34

  And I'm certainly not going to say, "Well, she'll be missed." I usually just close a funeral with a prayer.

  28:34-28:35

  Shall we?

  28:35-28:39

  Father in Heaven, You are merciful, and You are slow to anger.

  28:39-28:48

  But the day is coming when You will say, "No more." And today, Father, I pray that we would all take a look at Babylon and see if there are any of Babylon's ways in us.

  28:48-28:53

  Pride, self-sufficiency, living according to the lusts of the flesh.

  28:54-28:56

  Father, show us if there's any way of Babylon in us.

  28:56-28:57

  Grant us repentance.

  28:58-29:08

  God, we thank You that You don't tolerate these things, because tolerating these would keep people from coming to Christ, would keep justice and judgment from truly happening.

  29:08-29:10

  So Father, let Your Holy Spirit bring us to the place.

  29:11-29:13

  Let Your Holy Spirit grant us repentance.

  29:13-29:14

  We thank You, Father.

  29:15-29:19

  In the glorious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 18

GROUP

1. What was your big “take-away” from the passage / message?

2. Review the sins of Babylon for which she faced judgment (v7). How do you see these sins in our culture? Be specific.

3. If God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), why is heaven rejoicing over Babylon’s destruction in verse 20?

4. Why exactly are the people of earth crying in verses 9, 11, 15, 18, and 19? What does this tell you about those facing judgment during the Tribulation?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another. Pray for God’s mercy on our nation.

Coming Soon: The End of Religion.

Introduction:

1. The INTRODUCTION of the Prostitute. (Rev 17:1-6)

2. The EXPLANATION of the Prostitute. (Rev 17:7-14)

Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome.

Antichrist’s world empire.

3. The DESTRUCTION of the Prostitute. (Rev 17:15-18)

Why did God choose to destroy Babylon this way, with the beast and the kings, instead of a direct blast with a plague?

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  01:04-01:09

  Alright, open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation 17.

  01:11-01:12

  Here's a universal truth.

  01:14-01:20

  No matter where you go, geographically, no matter where you go in history, here's a universal truth.

  01:20-01:22

  Everybody worships something.

  01:24-01:25

  Everybody worships something.

  01:25-01:35

  And if people don't want to worship God, the true God, the Creator God, They're going to fill that void with something else.

  01:37-01:39

  Have you ever heard people say something like this?

  01:40-01:43

  "I'm a spiritual person. I don't go to church.

  01:44-01:47

  But I'm a real spiritual person." You ever heard anybody say that?

  01:48-01:50

  You know what they're really saying?

  01:50-01:55

  And if that's you, look, I'm not trying to intentionally offend you, but...

  01:55-01:56

  Here's what you're saying.

  01:58-02:04

  I don't think of myself as spiritual, but I don't want any authority or accountability in my life.

  02:07-02:08

  And that is idolatry.

  02:10-02:15

  Coming to spiritual realities on my own terms.

  02:17-02:25

  During the tribulation, as we've seen, God's judgment is being poured on the earth, and there's going to be a lot of people turning to religion.

  02:26-02:30

  but turning to religion to try to deal with what's happening.

  02:31-02:33

  And Satan is going to give people religion.

  02:33-02:39

  Satan is going to give people idolatry to sort of satisfy their spiritual hunger.

  02:41-02:49

  There's coming a one-world religion that the unsaved are going to rally behind.

  02:50-02:51

  She has a name.

  02:52-02:55

  Her name is Mystery Babylon.

  02:58-03:03

  She's a city, and she's the subject of the next two chapters.

  03:04-03:07

  Now we're going through the chronology of Revelation.

  03:07-03:30

  Remember chapters 12 through 14 were sort of a break from the action, and then we got back to it with 15 and 16, but now we're taking another break from the chronology with chapters 17 and 18 because these two chapters aren't looking at God's judgment, these two chapters are looking at what God is judging.

  03:31-03:32

  And that's Babylon.

  03:34-03:36

  Let's talk about Babylon for a second.

  03:36-03:40

  Babylon is the mother of false religions.

  03:41-03:42

  Where did it come from?

  03:44-03:48

  We're not going to turn there today, but it comes clear back from Genesis chapter 11.

  03:50-03:59

  You remember in those days, a man named Nimrod, yes, that was his name, became a great insult for children of the '80s.

  04:00-04:01

  Nice job, Nimrod.

  04:01-04:08

  But he had this idea with several others, "We were going to unite the world together, okay?

  04:08-04:21

  And we're going to build this city, and we're going to have a one-world government, and we're going to have this one-world religion," God said, "Spread out, fill the earth." And they were like, "No, we're not going to do that.

  04:22-04:23

  We're going to stay right here.

  04:24-04:25

  We're going to establish our own thing.

  04:26-04:37

  Thank you very much." God said, "I don't think you are." You remember the story? He confused their languages, and they couldn't understand each other, so they spread out all over the world.

  04:37-04:38

  But here's what happened.

  04:38-04:43

  When they spread out, they all took that idolatry with them.

  04:44-04:52

  That's why we can say Babylon is really the mother of all religions, of all false religions.

  04:53-05:18

  So when we get to Revelation 17, and this is important, we get to Revelation 17, we see the final false religion, which is tied into a world government, which is connected to a city, is called Babylon.

  05:20-05:27

  Just like in Genesis 11, we get to Revelation 17, and really what we see is God's story has come to be certain.

  05:28-05:37

  We started with a one world religion, one world government, city, And that's how it's going to end.

  05:38-05:47

  And this city, this Babylon, and this vision in Revelation 17 is depicted as a prostitute.

  05:49-05:51

  So let's get to the text here.

  05:52-05:53

  The introduction of the prostitute.

  05:56-06:00

  Now look, I believe, this is just my opinion, I believe this is the hardest chapter in Revelation.

  06:02-06:04

  But we're going to get through this, okay?

  06:04-06:06

  We're going to get through this together. You with me?

  06:07-06:08

  All right, let's do it.

  06:10-06:11

  Revelation 17, verse 1.

  06:12-06:38

  He says, "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters.'" Okay, so obviously this is coming from the previous vision John saw last week, we saw the bold judgments of God.

  06:38-07:04

  And John says, "Okay, then one of those angels came and spoke to me." He says, "I want to show you something. I want to show you a vision, show you the judgment of the great prostitute." Now in the Old Testament, spiritual adultery, which we call idolatry, Spiritual adultery was often symbolized by physical adultery.

  07:06-07:10

  This is so key - don't tune out already - this is so key to understanding this passage.

  07:10-07:21

  In the Old Testament, oftentimes places were referred to as prostitutes because they were very idolatrous places.

  07:22-07:24

  Can you give me an example of that? I sure can.

  07:25-07:27

  You see that with Nineveh and Nahum 3.

  07:28-07:33

  Nineveh is called a prostitute because she was so idolatrous.

  07:35-07:39

  You see Isaiah 23, the city called Tyre.

  07:39-07:44

  Tyre was so idolatrous that God compared her to a prostitute.

  07:45-07:54

  Instead of being faithful to your husband, God, You are a harlot.

  07:54-07:58

  You are selling yourself out for anyone.

  08:00-08:04

  So this Babylon that we're going to look at in Revelation 17 is a city.

  08:06-08:15

  Now look, I know you can get ten preachers in a room talking about Revelation and you can get twelve different opinions about what is going on in this passage.

  08:15-08:16

  I get that.

  08:16-08:17

  But here's what I don't get.

  08:17-08:24

  When people try to say, "Well, here's what it really means The text actually tells you what it really means, right?

  08:24-08:26

  That's what I don't get.

  08:26-08:36

  Because if you looked at verse 18, it says, "And the woman that you saw is the great city." I'm like, I wonder what the woman represents.

  08:36-08:38

  Tell me, what does a woman represent?

  08:39-08:40

  The great city, right?

  08:42-08:44

  Like, well, maybe great city's like a symbol for something.

  08:45-08:49

  No, the woman is the symbol for something, and the something she is a symbol of is the?

  08:50-08:51

  The great city, right?

  08:52-08:55

  Which is called Babylon, as you'll see in a second.

  08:56-08:58

  Verse 15 explains what the many waters are.

  08:58-08:59

  They're the peoples of the earth.

  08:59-09:05

  It's showing that this woman, her idolatry, has a global impact, all right?

  09:06-09:20

  Verse two, "With whom the kings of the earth "have committed sexual immorality, "and with the wine of whose sexual morality "the dwellers on earth have become drunk." That's more symbolism.

  09:20-09:23

  for the idolatry that this woman propagates.

  09:24-09:34

  And what John sees here, kings and regular Joes worldwide are allured into idolatry.

  09:36-09:40

  And I imagine in these days, idolatry is an easy sell with all of these plagues going on.

  09:41-09:45

  People looking for spiritual answers, they're going to be provided.

  09:46-09:47

  Now let's get to verse 3.

  09:47-10:00

  And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

  10:02-10:11

  John sees this woman, symbolizing this idolatrous city, sitting on or supported by a beast.

  10:11-10:15

  You're like, "Well, what's the beast?" Well, we know what this beast is from chapter 13.

  10:15-10:17

  That's the exact same description.

  10:19-10:22

  This is the Antichrist and his kingdom.

  10:23-10:31

  So the point here is John sees the beast and the woman coexisting.

  10:33-10:36

  Meaning that the beast is going to establish a one-world religion.

  10:38-10:41

  That's what's going to happen during the tribulation, one-world religion.

  10:42-10:44

  Look at verse 4.

  10:47-11:08

  It says, "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality." So this spiritual prostitute appears very attractive.

  11:10-11:15

  She's adorning herself like actual prostitute.

  11:15-11:19

  She's presenting herself to the world and to John in this vision.

  11:19-11:25

  She's presenting herself as very wealthy, very wicked at the same time.

  11:26-11:34

  And it says she has a gold cup full of abominations, idolatries, and sexual immorality.

  11:36-11:39

  Okay, so she's a city.

  11:40-11:42

  I think we can totally understand the analogy here.

  11:42-11:48

  Can you think of a city that's sort of personified as a place of idolatry and sexual immorality?

  11:49-11:50

  Can you think of a city like that?

  11:51-11:57

  When I was studying this, no offense if you're from there or whatever, I thought of Las Vegas, right?

  11:57-11:59

  I mean, what's Vegas known as?

  12:00-12:02

  Sin City, and what's Vegas known for?

  12:02-12:08

  Gambling and prostitution, There's wonderful people in Vegas, I'm sure.

  12:08-12:12

  But Vegas just has this reputation of being a city of immorality.

  12:13-12:16

  And that's kind of what's going on here in Revelation 17.

  12:16-12:23

  The Babylon is sort of like, I have in my notes, she's like Vegas on steroids, okay?

  12:24-12:30

  She's not just like Las Vegas, she's like Lots Vegas, if you know what I mean.

  12:30-12:35

  He's just like all of that, but so much more and so much worse.

  12:36-12:37

  And that's what's being depicted here.

  12:39-12:41

  That helps me make sense of it anyways.

  12:41-12:42

  Look at verse 5.

  12:43-12:53

  "And on her forehead was written a name of Mystery Babylon." That's actually a title that goes together in the Greek, okay?

  12:53-12:55

  Her name is Mystery Babylon.

  12:55-12:56

  We're going to talk about what that means in a second.

  12:57-13:06

  "Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of Earth's Abominations." Okay, "Mystery" is part of the title. What does that mean?

  13:06-13:09

  It means that she wasn't part of any previous Babylon.

  13:09-13:14

  "Mystery" means something that was not revealed before is now being revealed.

  13:14-13:20

  Like you've never seen her in this form before, but here she is.

  13:22-13:26

  It's a yet-to-come version of Babylon.

  13:28-13:37

  And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs, getting back to her wick.

  13:38-13:46

  Somehow this city is directly connected to not just idolatry, not just sexual immorality, but to killing God's people.

  13:48-13:54

  that she's depicted as enjoying it so much that she's drunk on it.

  13:56-13:57

  John says, look at the rest of verse six.

  13:58-14:01

  When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

  14:02-14:03

  And I'm like, yes, I get that part.

  14:04-14:06

  I understand that part, right?

  14:06-14:08

  Like, he sees this image, could you imagine?

  14:09-14:10

  Like, we're seeing it in written form.

  14:11-14:13

  He was looking at all of this and he's describing it for us.

  14:13-14:20

  He says, when I saw this image, you got this woman and this beast, And he goes, I'm marveled greatly.

  14:21-14:24

  Whoa, what in the world is going on here?

  14:24-14:25

  What is this?

  14:27-14:28

  Well, let's look at the explanation.

  14:30-14:33

  The explanation of the prostitute, you're taking notes.

  14:36-14:44

  Now here, here is where you've got to laser focus, because there's a lot going on here, all right?

  14:44-14:45

  You with me?

  14:46-14:47

  You with me?

  14:47-14:48

  All right, let's do this.

  14:49-14:50

  Verses seven and eight.

  14:51-14:51

  Here's the explanation.

  14:51-14:53

  We kind of look over John's shoulder and sees it.

  14:55-14:59

  Verse seven, "But the angel said to me, "why do you marvel?

  15:01-15:22

  "I will tell you the mystery of the woman "and of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns "that carries her." He says, "The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

  15:23-15:40

  And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beasts, because it was and is not and is to come." Okay, so John sees this picture, but he didn't quite make the connection.

  15:42-15:52

  The angel has to, remember that horrible word that people were using a few months ago, maybe a year ago now, mansplaining.

  15:52-15:54

  Remember that? How many people remember mansplaining?

  15:55-15:59

  What? Terrible concept, ugly word.

  16:00-16:05

  But what we have here is this angel is going to explain some things to John.

  16:08-16:16

  John's like, "What in the world is going on here?" The angel says, "Okay, let's talk about the beast." Much greater detail than we saw in chapter 13.

  16:18-16:25

  The angel wants John to see who the beast is and how the prostitute is connected to the beast.

  16:26-16:28

  So the beast, as we know, as we've said, is the Antichrist.

  16:28-16:29

  It's Satan's man.

  16:30-16:38

  You're like, "Well, what's that phrase, 'was' and 'is not' and 'is about to come'?" We see that phrase twice in verse 8, and we see it once in verse 11.

  16:39-16:40

  What does that phrase mean?

  16:40-16:43

  I believe in allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

  16:43-16:51

  And if you go back to chapters 12 and 13, we see that the Antichrist, during the Tribulation, is going to fake his death.

  16:53-16:55

  And he's going to fake his resurrection.

  16:57-16:59

  And it's the ultimate form of blasphemy, really.

  17:00-17:01

  That's what Satan's doing, right?

  17:02-17:03

  Because what do we do when we come together for church?

  17:04-17:08

  We say, let's worship the one who died and rose from the dead.

  17:08-17:10

  Let's praise His name, right? Don't we do that?

  17:11-17:14

  Jesus Christ died and rose. That's like our whole thing.

  17:14-17:15

  That's our whole message.

  17:15-17:18

  During a tribulation, Satan's going to imitate that with the Antichrist.

  17:19-17:22

  And that's going to be the message being broadcast to the world.

  17:23-17:31

  To say, "Worship this guy because he died and he rose from the dead." And we saw that the false prophet is going to use that to deceive the whole world.

  17:32-17:37

  It's Satan's way of trying to imitate Jesus Christ.

  17:38-17:39

  the ultimate blasphemy.

  17:40-17:43

  But he's going to use that to have the world worship the Antichrist.

  17:43-17:46

  Isn't that just disgusting?

  17:47-18:00

  Satan would say to God, "They're not going to worship your Christ, they'll worship mine." Well, at this point, the Antichrist empire coexists with Babylon.

  18:00-18:04

  That's why verse 7 says that the beast carries her.

  18:06-18:16

  we're going to see after the resurrection, the fake resurrection, the Satan-empowered Antichrist is going to become the only object of worship.

  18:17-18:28

  He's going to destroy the prostitute, we'll see that in a second in the text, and eventually he's only going to allow one religion on the earth, which is the worship of himself.

  18:28-18:29

  That's where this is going.

  18:31-18:39

  How can we get the world from all following the same religion to all worshiping the same guy.

  18:40-18:42

  That's what's happening in this passage.

  18:44-18:50

  The Antichrist, after his fake resurrection, after the death of the two witnesses, he's going to seem unstoppable.

  18:51-18:56

  We see twice in this passage, verse 8 here, we're going to see it again in verse 11, he's just being set up.

  18:58-19:05

  Verse 9, he says, "This calls for a mind with wisdom." Good call.

  19:06-19:07

  This call is reminded with wisdom.

  19:07-19:09

  The seven heads...

  19:09-19:12

  Okay, so now he's explaining the beast a little bit in more detail.

  19:13-19:20

  The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

  19:22-19:26

  So apparently these seven mountains have been a support for this woman.

  19:26-19:57

  He says, verse 10, "They are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come, he must remain only a little while." He says, "Okay, mind of wisdom, pay close attention." And I really believe that only the believers who are alive during this time, people who come to Christ during the tribulation, I think they're really the only ones that are going to be able to fully comprehend what's going on.

  19:58-20:00

  for the symbolism, jot some things down.

  20:01-20:05

  The mountains represent seven kings.

  20:07-20:16

  These are world empires embodied in their rulers who have notoriously opposed God.

  20:16-20:20

  Again, the prostitute is seated on them.

  20:21-20:31

  All of these throughout history have been wicked, idolatrous kingdoms through time.

  20:33-20:34

  Like what kingdoms are they?

  20:35-20:38

  We can guess, my best guess is this.

  20:38-20:40

  He says five have fallen, right?

  20:40-20:43

  These are world kingdoms that have opposed God, opposed God's people.

  20:44-20:45

  He said five have fallen.

  20:45-20:52

  I believe that these five are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire.

  20:53-21:01

  I believe those are the five that fall, meaning in John's day when John was getting this revelation, these empires had come and gone.

  21:03-21:08

  Then the angel says that one existed, one is, meaning one of these was present to John.

  21:10-21:11

  And what would that empire have been?

  21:11-21:12

  That would have been Rome, right?

  21:14-21:22

  But he says that there's one that's yet to come, and that's the Antichrist's world empire.

  21:24-21:29

  When he says he'll remain a little while, He's talking about the seven year tribulation.

  21:31-21:33

  Look at verse 11 again.

  21:35-21:52

  He says, "As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eight, but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction." Like, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  21:54-22:08

  Okay, so there's seven global empires, five came and went, one exists, that's Rome, that's six, one's yet to come, that's seven, and now there's one that's an ape that's part of the seven, like, what's he talking about?

  22:10-22:14

  Well, notice he keeps using the phrase that the beast was and is not.

  22:14-22:25

  I believe what he's talking about is the beast being in power, the Antichrist being in power before his fake death, and then after his fake resurrection, comes into power again.

  22:25-22:30

  So the Antichrist is like king number seven, and then he's king number eight.

  22:31-22:34

  But eight really belongs to the seven because it's the same guy.

  22:35-22:45

  And I believe that because once again in verse 11, he says, "And it goes to destruction." Same terminology used to talk about him back in verse eight.

  22:47-22:48

  All right, verse 12.

  22:50-23:04

  and the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beasts.

  23:06-23:12

  These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beasts.

  23:12-23:27

  They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

  23:29-23:38

  So we know the woman is Babylon, the city of idolatry and wickedness.

  23:38-23:44

  The beast is the Antichrist, and we see the symbol of the heads, but what are the horns?

  23:46-23:52

  Well, he says the ten horns are ten kings, not known to any earlier generation, they have not yet received a kingdom.

  23:53-23:55

  They're part of the Antichrist's future kingdom.

  23:55-23:59

  They're going to reign for a short time, he says, for one hour.

  23:59-24:08

  I don't think it literally means 60 minutes, it's just a figure of speech that they're going to come on the scene, and their time is going to come and go quickly.

  24:10-24:13

  They dedicate themselves to the Antichrist's rule.

  24:14-24:15

  Like for what purpose?

  24:16-24:18

  Well, their purpose is to fight against the lamp.

  24:19-24:21

  You're going to see that here in just a second.

  24:22-24:32

  But the goal that God has is to get everybody assembled for one final showdown at Armageddon.

  24:32-24:34

  We talked about that last week.

  24:34-24:39

  Remember the demons that look like frogs, deceiving them, getting them to come.

  24:40-24:48

  So there's this ten-nation kingdom in the future that's going to back the Antichrist that God is going to use.

  24:50-24:52

  And God is going to destroy.

  24:54-25:02

  The Lamb is going to overcome them, and those with the Lamb are called and chosen and faithful.

  25:04-25:05

  That's what John saw in the vision.

  25:07-25:08

  How do I get all that?

  25:10-25:16

  I know it's a lot of stuff, but these messages are available on our website, and maybe you want to listen to it again.

  25:16-25:18

  There's a lot of stuff happening.

  25:21-25:22

  There's one more thing we have to cover.

  25:22-25:29

  Not only do we meet this prostitute, and he sort of explains her by explaining the beast and everything that's going on with the beast.

  25:31-25:35

  This is the main point that he's driving to, finally, the destruction of the prostitute.

  25:37-25:38

  the destruction of the prostitute.

  25:39-25:40

  Look at verses 15 and 16.

  25:40-25:51

  It says, "And the angel said to me, 'The waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.'" Again, global impact stuff.

  25:52-25:57

  "And the ten horns that you saw..." Remember the ten kings that are yet to come?

  25:58-26:05

  "The ten horns that you saw, they and the beast, the Antichrist, will hate the prostitute." Wait, wait, wait, wait.

  26:08-26:09

  That's the part where-- OK.

  26:09-26:13

  It's complicated, and we're kind of tracking the images.

  26:14-26:15

  But then you get to this point, like, wait a minute.

  26:16-26:21

  All this time, they have been sort of supporting the prostitute.

  26:21-26:23

  Why do they hate her all of a sudden?

  26:24-26:26

  It says, not only do they hate her-- look at the next phrase.

  26:27-26:35

  "They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

  26:36-26:46

  So this alliance that the Antichrist has with this mystery Babylon, with this idolatrous world religion, it's only going to be temporary.

  26:48-27:08

  He's going to use mystery Babylon to get into power, going to be the ultimate union of church and state worldwide but eventually, he's going to, and he and the 10 kings are going to hate her and destroy her, and he's going to set himself up as the only object of worship, as we saw back in chapter two.

  27:09-27:13

  It's going to get to the point that the Antichrist says, we don't need religion.

  27:15-27:15

  I'm your religion now.

  27:17-27:21

  You don't need to go to church, you worship me.

  27:24-27:37

  Like, well, why in the world, if they were on the same team here, like a couple of verses ago, "Why all of a sudden do they hate her and destroy her and burn her down?" Well, here's the answer.

  27:39-27:47

  Where there's power to be had, wicked people will kill, even each other.

  27:50-27:52

  And this is where the Antichrist sees his opportunity.

  27:53-27:55

  He doesn't need the idolatry anymore.

  27:56-27:58

  He's got the death and resurrection gimmick.

  28:01-28:02

  He's like, "They're gonna worship me.

  28:03-28:04

  So we don't need her.

  28:05-28:34

  We're going to get rid of her." Verse 17 says, I love this, "For God has put it in their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled." And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.

  28:37-28:40

  I love this verse because it reminds us that God is still in control, right?

  28:40-28:59

  We're sort of reading through, getting this image and seeing what's happening with these world powers, and then it's, "Oh, by the way, by the way, God's still in control of all of this." These ten kings think that their best course of action is going to be, Let's get rid of religion and let's throw in with this guy, with the Antichrist.

  29:03-29:06

  God is the one that put that in their hearts, because he wanted his word fulfilled.

  29:10-29:18

  It reminds us of the reality that men fulfill God's will, even while they oppose God's will.

  29:19-29:22

  And that is God's will.

  29:25-29:28

  "Really?" Like, remember the cross of Jesus Christ?

  29:29-29:33

  They thought, the people thought that they were killing Jesus.

  29:34-29:37

  We don't want Him, get rid of Him, we'd rather have Barabbas.

  29:38-29:42

  And they thought they were doing their thing by killing Jesus.

  29:43-29:51

  The Bible said God was using that for all Jesus to become the sacrifice, the Lamb of God to take away the sins.

  29:53-29:58

  So those men thought they were opposing God's will, but they were actually fulfilling God's will.

  29:59-30:00

  See, that's what's happening here.

  30:02-30:08

  The Antichrist and his ten kings, his ten kingdoms, saying, "We don't need Babylon anymore.

  30:08-30:16

  We're going to wipe her out." And God's like, "Yeah, this is all playing exactly how I planned." That's called sovereignty.

  30:19-30:26

  So God uses Satan and the Antichrist and the world's forces to destroy Babylon so that they all unite together.

  30:28-30:28

  Why?

  30:30-30:32

  So God can destroy them in one final strike.

  30:35-30:36

  That is Revelation 17.

  30:39-30:51

  And when we look at passages like this, we get to thinking, do some reading, maybe you're like me, you look at this and think, What city is this?

  30:53-30:55

  I mean, Mystery Babylon, you have to come back.

  30:55-30:59

  What city is Mystery Babylon?

  30:59-31:00

  Is she...

  31:00-31:03

  A lot of people say she's Ancient Babylon rebuilt.

  31:05-31:55

  Ancient Babylon is rebuilt, and one of the reasons given for that is Ancient Babylon, somebody did the geographical math on this, I did not, but somebody had said that Ancient Babylon is actually the geographic center of the Earth's landmass. I don't know. Here's what I do know though. Do you remember Saddam Hussein? How many people remember Saddam Hussein? Okay, most of us in here. Younger people, he was like a big deal like a while ago, but Saddam Hussein had this dream that he was going to rebuild Babylon. Do you know that? And it started somewhere around 1983, he's like, "We're going to rebuild Babylon." He actually put $5 million into rebuilding Babylon.

  31:57-31:58

  Like, what happened?

  31:59-32:02

  Well, the same thing happened to Babylon that happened to Saddam Hussein.

  32:05-32:09

  I mean, if you heard any news about the rebuilding of Babylon lately, I haven't.

  32:11-32:15

  The whole project just vanished when he was taken.

  32:16-32:28

  It just doesn't seem like it's poised to be the global idolatrous significant empire some people think it's going to be.

  32:31-32:33

  What city could it be?

  32:36-32:39

  Well, I'm going to give you some food for thought this week.

  32:41-32:49

  Before you throw tomatoes, People still do that at churches, but before you throw tomatoes, I want you to hear me out.

  32:52-33:00

  Before you turn to your neighbor and say, "Looks like Pastor Jeff needs fitted for another tinfoil hat." This is food for thought.

  33:01-33:02

  I want you to look this stuff up.

  33:03-33:12

  This isn't my opinion because trust me, I spent a lot of time this week studying this from as many different sources as I can.

  33:12-33:13

  I'm like, "Is this really true?

  33:13-33:25

  I don't know if this is true." from as many different sources as I can, not just religious Christian sources, but from... I was looking for very secular sources to see what did they say about this.

  33:25-33:31

  And this is food for thought. You can do with this what you will, but at the very least, you're going to find this interesting.

  33:34-33:43

  Do you know what is the largest handmade idol in the world?

  33:43-33:43

  Do you know what it is?

  33:44-33:48

  When I say handmade, I mean like some people worship the mountain or worship the rock.

  33:48-33:49

  I'm not talking about that.

  33:49-33:54

  I'm talking about a statue representing a God, the largest one ever made.

  33:55-33:56

  Do you know what it is?

  33:57-34:05

  I guarantee you know what it is because it is the symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty.

  34:06-34:15

  Like, "I know it! Pastor Jeff has been sniffing glue in his office or something." Listen to this. Now you can look this up.

  34:17-34:25

  The Statue of Liberty was designed by a French man who was a Mason.

  34:28-34:30

  You ever wonder what he designed the statue after?

  34:31-34:32

  That wasn't his grandma.

  34:33-34:38

  Like, "Hold still, Grandma, we're going to make a statue that looks like you, and it's going to be awesome." That wasn't his sister.

  34:39-34:48

  He designed the statue, this Mason, this French Mason, designed the Statue of Liberty after something very specific.

  34:49-34:54

  The Babylonian goddess named Ishtar.

  34:55-34:56

  Look it up. Not now.

  34:57-35:00

  Ishtar, write this down now. I-S-H-T-A-R, look that up.

  35:03-35:07

  Now she's had different names throughout history, Ishtar has.

  35:08-35:16

  Because you know how gods sort of get passed down from generation to generation, from civilization to civilization, and they all sort of put their name on it?

  35:18-35:21

  Here's a really interesting name that she got from one culture.

  35:23-35:30

  It actually translates to the English word "liberty." That was what the one culture called her.

  35:30-35:32

  And you're like, "Well, liberty is great!

  35:33-35:35

  Land of the free, home of the brave!

  35:35-35:41

  "America the beautiful!" That's not how it's meant.

  35:42-35:49

  You see, the goddess representing liberty, Ishtar, it's sexual.

  35:50-35:53

  Meaning, you can do whatever you want.

  35:54-36:00

  And that's why in some of these ancient religions, they've had cult prostitutes.

  36:00-36:19

  It's disgusting and I wish I didn't have to talk about this, but it was through indulgence of that you got close to the gods and goddesses, and that's why you had the prostitutes at the churches, and that's where liberty comes in.

  36:19-36:21

  It was freedom, you do whatever you want.

  36:21-36:22

  You do whatever you want.

  36:22-36:32

  So in New York City, we have this giant statue patterned after Ishtar and we call her Liberty, And we're like, nothing suspicious there.

  36:35-36:42

  Ishtar, the idol by the way, she was called the mother of harlots.

  36:43-36:44

  That was her name as an idol.

  36:44-36:45

  She was called the mother of harlots.

  36:46-36:55

  And I got to tell you, with that in mind, you get sort of a chill when you go to Revelation 17 and the angel says, hey, come and see the harlot that's sitting on the waters.

  36:58-37:05

  You know, originally, the design of the Statue of Liberty, the original design, she was holding a cup.

  37:06-37:07

  Did you know that?

  37:08-37:10

  Like, now she's holding a torch.

  37:10-37:11

  She wasn't originally holding a torch.

  37:11-37:12

  She was originally holding a cup.

  37:13-37:14

  Here's what happened.

  37:16-37:29

  The New York Harbor Patrol said, instead of a cup, can we have her holding a torch so that it sort of illuminates the area and ships coming in, and it's sort of like this beacon of light thing.

  37:30-37:31

  And I'm like, yeah, we can do that.

  37:31-37:41

  And I read somewhere that the actual cup that was designed ended up being sold to the Russians, and they sort of-- they put it on eBay or resold it or something to pay off some national debt.

  37:41-37:43

  But the Russians had the original cup.

  37:43-37:46

  But originally, the Statue of Liberty was designed to hold a cup.

  37:47-37:53

  And then we turn to Revelation chapter 17, verse 4, and it says the prostitute is holding a what?

  37:55-37:56

  You can say it.

  37:56-37:57

  She was holding a what?

  37:58-37:59

  She was holding a cup!

  38:01-38:11

  The original Babylon in Genesis 11, it became a great place by people coming together from everywhere.

  38:14-38:15

  Kind of like America, right?

  38:16-38:19

  Greatest country in the world from people coming together from everywhere.

  38:23-38:24

  Every false religion.

  38:26-38:31

  Every false religion has two things, two common denominators.

  38:34-38:38

  It's sexual immorality and child sacrifice.

  38:41-38:44

  Do I have to give you a sales pitch for the sexual immorality of our country?

  38:44-38:50

  Do you know that the United States is responsible for 65% of the pornography production in the world?

  38:51-38:54

  For the world being produced here.

  38:56-39:01

  You're like, "Oh, I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff, but child sacrifice, we don't do that.

  39:02-39:08

  We don't do child sacrifice." And I would say, "Under which rock have you been living?

  39:10-39:12

  What was the hot button last week?

  39:12-39:13

  What was everybody talking about?

  39:13-39:14

  Was everybody talking about?

  39:15-39:16

  Oh yeah, I remember.

  39:16-39:20

  It was all of these mothers protesting for the right to murder their own babies.

  39:21-39:22

  That's what they were protesting.

  39:22-39:29

  And I look at that and the legislation for late-term abortion in New York City, and do you know what I see?

  39:31-39:39

  You can paint it up or try to describe it as whatever you want, but it's just child sacrifice to the prostitute.

  39:41-39:42

  That's all it is.

  39:45-39:50

  Another interesting thing is verse 18 says that this city, this Babylon, has dominion over kings.

  39:52-39:59

  You see that? "She has dominion over the kings of the earth." Now that's interesting. Where's the United Nations located?

  40:02-40:05

  You can look this stuff up. No. Hear me.

  40:07-40:11

  I'm not saying emphatically that New York City is Mystery Babylon.

  40:12-40:13

  I am not saying that.

  40:14-40:16

  I'm saying this.

  40:17-40:27

  If you're like Pastor Jeff, looking at all the clues in the Bible, and looking at all the clues currently in the world today, where do you connect the most dots? I'm like, hmm?

  40:31-40:31

  We don't know.

  40:33-40:34

  Yet to be revealed.

  40:37-40:39

  I just want to close with one question.

  40:40-40:54

  I know this was long today. This was a very hard passage, but I do want to close one question that's sort of It sort of bothered me, and I thought maybe in sharing this it might bother some of you.

  40:55-41:05

  The question is this, why did God choose to destroy Babylon in the way that he did in Revelation 17?

  41:05-41:16

  Meaning, why did God choose to destroy Babylon with the beast and the ten kings instead of a direct blast with a flag?

  41:17-41:17

  That was my question.

  41:18-41:19

  All through Revelation, what have we seen?

  41:20-41:21

  Plagues, right?

  41:21-41:33

  Seals and trumpets and bulls and seals and trumpets, and we've seen all these plagues, and then all of a sudden you get to Babylon, like Vegas on steroids, and God's like, we're gonna do something different here.

  41:33-41:36

  We're gonna use the antichrist and the 10 kings to destroy her.

  41:37-41:41

  Why didn't God just drop a giant rock on this city?

  41:41-41:43

  Like, he could have.

  41:44-41:48

  I mean, you're like, well, it says right here why he did it, it was in order to fulfill his word.

  41:48-41:49

  And again, I get that.

  41:50-41:52

  But why is this his word?

  41:53-41:55

  Why did he want it this way?

  41:58-41:59

  Here's the answer I came up with.

  42:01-42:24

  I wrote down in my notes, perhaps it's God's way of showing that sin and idolatry and everything that people worship that isn't named Jesus Christ, it all ends up self-destructing and bringing even more misery upon itself.

  42:27-42:30

  That prostitute, she reminds us something else about sin.

  42:32-42:35

  We dare not say in church that we're going to.

  42:37-42:38

  Sin is attractive.

  42:40-42:40

  Attractive.

  42:42-42:54

  That's why this prostitute was depicted as attractive and alluring and promising and fulfilling and that's why the world buys in and church, that's why you and I buy in.

  42:55-42:55

  Sin.

  42:56-42:57

  Because she's attractive.

  42:59-43:01

  She's never depicted as she really is.

  43:02-43:09

  empty, ugly, unsatisfying, condemning.

  43:11-43:16

  So as we close today, I want you to pray.

  43:18-43:20

  Not just today, today yes, but throughout this week.

  43:21-43:23

  I want you to have one prayer, if you would do this for me.

  43:23-43:29

  I want you to have one prayer that no matter what else you pray, I want you to include this one prayer in your prayers this week.

  43:29-43:30

  Will you do this?

  43:30-43:34

  I want you to pray that God will give you eyes to see your sin.

  43:38-43:55

  That we stop looking at sin like it's this attractive, vivacious woman, and seeing her for what she is, an ugly prostitute that brings nothing but misery.

  43:58-43:59

  You can't see it for what it is.

  44:02-44:06

  I want you to pray this week that God would give you eyes to see your sin for what it really is.

  44:08-44:14

  That unforgiveness in your life, maybe you've excused it and justified it.

  44:17-44:19

  Pray that God lets you see it for what it is.

  44:20-44:21

  Do you know what it is?

  44:22-44:22

  It's hatred.

  44:23-44:25

  It's murder according to Jesus.

  44:26-44:28

  It's the opposite of Christ-like behavior.

  44:30-44:32

  Pray that God will let you see your sin for what it is.

  44:33-44:40

  Pornography, as we've discussed, it has seduced you into bondage.

  44:42-44:46

  It destroys your walk with God, and it destroys your relationship with your spouse.

  44:47-44:50

  If you're not married, it destroys your relationship with a future spouse.

  44:53-44:55

  Pray that God would open your eyes I see it.

  44:59-44:59

  Idolatry.

  45:00-45:14

  Anything you've allowed to be more important in your life than Jesus Christ, even if it's something that looks like a good thing, but this thing has become more important in my life than worshiping Christ and walking with Christ and working for Christ.

  45:17-45:20

  Pray that God will let you see that thing for what it is.

  45:21-45:21

  as an idol.

  45:25-45:33

  And after you pray for God to open your eyes to see things as they are, pray for this nation to open its eyes.

  45:35-45:47

  Because God will make sure that everything that pathetically competes against Him will ultimately be destroyed.

  45:49-45:54

  In chapter 17, we see that God is going to destroy Babylon.

  45:55-46:01

  In chapter 18, what we're going to see is how her destruction devastates the entire world.

  46:03-46:15

  Father in heaven, we simply want to close our time in the Word here, asking that you would give us eyes to see.

  46:17-46:21

  Father, we are masters of being blind to our own sin.

  46:23-46:32

  We excuse it, we justify it, and there's a reason it's okay for us, or it's somebody else's fault, or whatever.

  46:34-46:36

  But sin is sin. It's idolatry.

  46:38-46:44

  And I pray, God, that You would give us eyes to see it for what it is.

  46:46-46:47

  Let us start there.

  46:49-47:06

  Father, after you do that work in our hearts, I pray that we would be people who pray for our nation, a nation of sexual immorality, a nation that fights about whether it should be legal to murder a baby.

  47:10-47:16

  Sort of like Isaiah, "I am a man of unclean lips, I dwell among a people of unclean lips.

  47:16-47:17

  God, open our eyes.

  47:19-47:25

  Open our eyes in ourselves, in our families, in our church, in our community, and Father of this nation.

  47:28-47:30

  Please, God, let us see sin for what it really is.

  47:31-47:32

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  47:33-47:33

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 17

GROUP

1. What was your big “take-away” from the passage / sermon?

2. Explain: the prostitute, the waters, the beast, the heads, and the horns. What do they symbolize? What is their connection?

3. Rev 17:16-17 - Why does God put it in the 10 kings’ hearts to unite with the beast? Why does God choose to destroy Babylon THIS way, instead of with a plague?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another to have eyes to see sin as God does. First for yourself, then for your nation.