Revelation – The End
September 24, 2006
Kurt Jones
"The end of all things is near." 1 Peter 4:7
Introduction
Revelation is a neglected book. The symbols belong to the 1st century, not the 21st. We find it difficult to understand and so we dismiss it as irrelevant. We read the complicated imagery of 10 horns and 7 heads on 1 beast and it is troubling. Some of the pieces do not fit well together, or even seem to contradict each other. We get frustrated by timelines, and repeating events, that make us want to throw up our hands and quit.
There are horses, lambs, calves, locust, scorpion, lion, leopard, bear, frog, eagle, vulture, fish, Earth, rivers, sky, fire, water. Sun, moon, stars, thunder and lightning, swords and sickles, lyres and flutes. The numbers 2,3,4,5,6,7... 7 used 54 times.... 7 churches, 7 lampstands, 7 stars, 7 spirits, 7 angels with 7 trumpets, 7 seals on the scroll, 7 bowls... and so on...
Was John writing in a symbolic "code" that only Christians in the 1st century could understand? Did the 7 churches all understand completely? Is the author trying to describe nuclear explosions? Helicopter gunships? Bar codes or implanted tracking devices? Throughout history, every generation has read through the pages of Revelation and interpreted the symbols in a way that has convinced them that the events of the books would happen in their time.
We must look for the meaning of the symbols. We don’t have to be able to visualize the symbol or recognize them. That was not their purpose. Their purpose was to convey ideas.
Context – The Gospel had been preached throughout the Roman provinces of Asia. People had believed and become Christians. They had been taught that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had lived a sinless life and had died on a cross to make a way to heaven for sin-filled people. He died, but rose again, proving his power over death, and claims to be God.
Rev 1:17-18 - I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore,
Having died, he rose triumphant, never to die again. He went back to heaven, but would return again. He would destroy the kingdoms of this world and set up God’s perfect kingdom.
It was inspiring and the Christians embraced it. They looked forward and longed for the promised return of Christ and the setting straight of the evils in the world. God’s will would finally be done perfectly on the earth.
...and nothing happened...
The evil empire continued on it’s wicked way. Oppression and wrong continued. Evil people prospered. God’s people suffered, in fact, even more so... Christians found themselves under intense persecution under the Roman emperor Domitian. They asked themselves, "Was Christianity a mistake? A delusion?"
"We must not think of it as a kind of intellectual puzzle sent to a relaxed church with time on its hands and an inclination for solving mysteries." Morris p. 60
The book of Revelation was sent to a persecuted, hurting church, that was meeting in secret back alleys, in caves, and holes in the ground and John was writing to them.
On the "Lord of the Rings" written by his friend J.R.R. Tolkein – "The Value of myth is that it takes all the things you know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by the veil of familiarity." You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness.
THEOLOGY OF POWER – WHO REALLY IS IN CONTROL? – The future belongs, not to a Roman ruler, not to a group of men, not to NATO, or UN, or Wall Street, or the President of any country... All people and All destiny belong to Christ!
Ultimate reality is not based on present appearances.
Review
1. The Son of Man and the Seven Churches. Rev. 1-3
ACTION: READ AND HEED.
2. The Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, Seven Signs, Seven Bowls. Rev. 4-18
ACTION: WATCH AND WORSHIP
CH Spurgeon – "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up, let it glow with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with His reflected glory. But when you speak of hell – well, then your ordinary face will do."
Today I get to do both.
3. The Return of Christ and the Triumph of the Almighty. Rev. 19-20
(When All Heaven Breaks Loose)
The Praise for God’s Righteous Judgments. 19:1-6 (He is Holy)
Do not SKIP over this... We say we worship God, He is Holy. Do we praise Him for his judgment? Do we praise God for his wrath against ungodliness?
a. We think that wrath is somehow unworthy of God. – Red faced, rage, wounded pride, bad temper... EX: me with kids.
But God’s wrath is never the capricious, self indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is.... God’s anger is always righteous.
We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. We know nothing like the divine holiness...
Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible, fullness of purity that is not capable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, all His attributes are holy.
b. We think that wrath is somehow cruel.
But God’s wrath is always just. It is giving out precisely what is deserved. Romans 2:5 who will render everyman according to their deeds.
God’s wrath is also something men choose for themselves. "Before hell is an experience inflicted by God, it is a state for which man himself opts, by retreating from the light which God shines in his heart to lead him to Himself...." Packer, Knowing God p. 138
The man thus confronted is brought down and overwhelmed and can only tremble and be silent. – tozer
(The Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 19:7-10) – bride has "made herself ready..."
The Coming of Christ. 19:11-20:15
The Description of Christ. 19:11-16
The Judgments of Christ
EX: Babylon, The Beast, The False Prophet, the kings of the earth and their armies, Satan... and then everyone!. V. 11-15 (read)
Everybody dies, and there will eventually be a judgment for everyone
WHERE? – Rev. 20:11 – Somewhere between heaven and earth. Rev. 21:1 says the first heaven and earth have passed away. Out in space?
WHEN? – After Satan is thrown into the lake of fire. At the end of the Millenium.
BY WHOM? – Jesus, John 5:22
WHY? – What will be the basis of judgement? "Books were opened..." (Rev. 20:12)
Book of Deeds? (like an X-ray video tape)
Eccl 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Heb 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (even motives)
Book of life
Rev 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
See also Luke 10:20
(Luke 12:47-48 indicate there are different degrees of punishment - Dante’s Inferno)
TO WHAT?
Finality, Eternality, Separation - "...forever separated from the Lord and His glorious presence" – 2 Thess. 1:9
C.S. Lewis – "Sin is a persons way of saying to God throughout life, "Go away and leave me alone." Hell is God’s finally saying to that individual, "You may have your wish."
Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment."
ACTION: BEWARE AND BE PREPARED
"And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God.
Salvation message -
<<TRANS>> Rev 21:1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
4. The New Heaven and New Earth. Rev. 21, 22
Q: How many of you want to go to heaven?
Q: How many of you want to go RIGHT NOW?
Five Symbols of the Life to Come
1 Cor 2:9 ... "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"
Stop thinking literally... We need to put on our "imagination caps" The imagery of these passages leave me cold. Heaven must be described by the things we understand.
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." C.S. Lewis. As good as it gets on earth, heaven is better...
Metamorphosis = RESTORE
Rev 21:5 - And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
Spiritually new.
Verse 4 points in this direction: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."
Physically new.
1 John 3:2 - But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,
1 Cor 15:42 - imperishable, glory, power, spiritual - We will be changed!!!
To be in God’s presence we will HAVE to be changed...
What will a Res body be like? look at Christ’s
John 10:25 – Thomas put his hands into the scars
Luke 24:39 – Flesh and bone
Will we be known? Jesus was recognized by his disciples
How old will we be? Will there be chocolate in heaven? GOLF?
What will we wear? – White robes – Rev. 3:4,5; 4:4; 19:4
Crown = _REWARD
A crown in that day was a reward for victorious acheivement
Here is where we receive the "Well done good and faithful servant"
2 Tim. 4:8 – crown of righteousness. No more sin.
James 1:12 – crown of Life. No more death
Rev. 21:4 " He will wipe every tear, no more death or mourning or crying or pain
EX: Greg dying of cancer
1 Peter 5:4 – crown of glory – We get to share in the victory. We are not just spectators, we are participants.
2 Cor 5:10- Judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-15)
What are the rewards? Mansions in glory?
Increased capacity to magnify God?
Home = REST
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."
"Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Rev 14:13
A place of acceptance and safety –
No more sea – separation, danger fear
Matt. 8:11 talks about sitting at a feast with Abraham, Isaac, and David.
EX: FAMILY TIME AT THE SUPPER TABLE!
Throne = REIGN
Rev 3:21
Rev. 22:3
We will help God manage the kingdom
Ever feel frustrated at work?
Creation of things fulfilling, creative, productive, and enjoyable...
One man writes that when we get to heaven, we will begin, "the endless and endlessly fascinating task of exploring, learning, and loving the facets of infinity, the inexhaustible nature of God."
Wedding = REJOICE
Rev. 21:2, AND 21:9
Rev. 7:9-12
ACTION: BELEIVE AND BE PATIENT
"And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book." Rev 22:7
From C.S. Lewis – The Last Battle -
All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.
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