Revelation Unveiled: Understanding God's Plan for Judgment

And we're in the book of Revelation. We're excited about what God is doing in

our midst. And I'm excited about this time of year. I love Christmas time.

I love the opportunity that we have to celebrate and the Christ's birth and

him coming to us like we talked about this morning.

But I also enjoy what's coming up next, even more probably.

But we couldn't have it without Christmas. And that's the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, right, at Easter time.

But tonight, again, we're in Revelation. We're in chapter 11.

We left off in verse 18 and the second part of that verse, and we're really

looking at a plan for judgment tonight.

And it's what it says there in that latter half of that verse. It says,

and your wrath came and the time came for the dead to be judged and the time

to reward your bondservants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name,

the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.

So the coming of God's wrath, like the coming of Christ's kingdom that we looked

at in verse 15, is so certain.

I don't know if you remember this from the other week. It's so certain that

it can be spoken of as if it had already happened.

That's how certain it is.

And so that verb translated came is another, somebody remember what was called

last week, proleptic aorist, right?

And basically, that's what we're talking about here. It describes a future event.

This verb came, it describes that event as if it has already been accomplished fact.

That's how sure God's word is. That's how sure his coming kingdom is.

And so that's something I think we should take comfort in as we look at the,

even the languages here that's used and the verb tenses, all that stuff that,

that just points to, wow, thank you, Lord.

What assurance we have. And so we're.

As we see that, describing a future event, like I said, is already an accomplished fact.

It's so certain that those who think that a loving God will not pour out his

wrath on them, I guess you could look at it that way, cling to a false and dangerous hope.

This morning, we're talking about the hope that Christ brings into the world.

But these here in the Great Tribulation, if they think that a loving God,

Because by the way, God is not all loving. You get that, right?

That's just not all he is. He is love, but he's not all loving.

No more than he, you know, remember we realized he has all the attributes and

it's not like, you know, he's got, he's this here and he's that there.

He, all of them accomplish themselves in God, right? All the attributes.

God is loving and God is love, but God is also what? He's also just,

he's also holy. You can't separate those.

Yes, his love that he has, all the other attributes go through that,

every bit of it, but it all works together.

And so he's not just, you can't just say, oh, well, God is just all loving. That's it. Okay.

But he does have an everlasting love and his love never ends.

And that's the whole reason that he came to redeem us.

And the whole reason he came to redeem everyone that will put their faith and trust in him.

But these people here on the earth at this time that think that a loving God

will not pour out his wrath on them, they shouldn't think that,

right? Because there's already being poured out.

They've already experienced, but they're at a point now where they've gotten

angry, where they refuse to repent and they become, you know, indignant, right?

They become very, very, very angry.

And that God will one day judge unbelievers, right?

It's a constant theme of scripture, isn't it? Remember, Isaiah had a lot to

say about that future day when God's going to judge the world in righteousness, right?

In fact, if you don't remember, I want us to just kind of refresh our memory here just a little bit.

And we're going to look in just a passage here I'm going to read for you.

It says, terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

And this here's in Isaiah.

And he says, then it will be that he who flees, the report of disaster will

fall into the pit. And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare.

For the windows above are opened and the foundations of the earth shake.

The earth is broken asunder. The earth is split through.

The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard.

And it totters like a shack. for its transgression is heavy upon it and it will

fall never to rise again.

So it will happen in that day that the Lord will punish the host of heaven on

high and the kings of the earth on the earth. They will be gathered together

like prisoners in the dungeon and will be confined in prison.

And after many days, they will be punished.

Then the moon will be abashed and the son ashamed for the Lord of hosts will

reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.

That's in Isaiah 24, 17 through 23.

And then he says something else that really, I think, helps us to see this passage

in Revelation even more clearly.

He says, come my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you.

Hide for a little while until indignation runs its course.

For behold, the Lord is about to come out from his place to punish the inhabitants

of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will reveal her bloodshed and

will no longer cover her slain.

And that's in Isaiah 26, 20 and 21.

And then behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place.

Burning in his anger and dents in his smoke.

His lips are filled with indignation and his tongue is like a consuming fire.

His breath is like an overflowing torrent, which reaches to the neck to shake

the nations back and forth in a sieve and to put in the jaws of the peoples,

the bridle, which leads to ruin.

You will have songs as in the night when you

keep the festival and gladness of heart as

when one marches to the sound of the flute to go

to the mountain of the Lord to the rock of Israel and the Lord will cause his

voice of authority to be heard and the descending of his arm to be seen in fierce

anger and in the flame of a consuming fire in a cloud burst downpour and hailstones.

For at the voice of the Lord, Assyria will be terrified when he strikes with

the rod, and every blow of the rod of the punishment which the Lord will lay

on him will be that with the music of tambourines and lyres,

and in battles brandishing weapons, he will fight them.

For Topeth has long been ready. Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.

He has made it deep and large and a power of fire with plenty of wood.

The breath of the Lord, listen to this, like a torrent of brimstone sets it afire.

It's in Isaiah 30, 27 to 33. Let me just ask y'all real quick.

Is God going to judge the world?

Is God going to judge all unrighteousness? Yes.

You see, I don't want you to make the mistake and think, and,

you know, a lot of people say, you know, well, you know, God,

he's just this lovey-dovey, you know, just happy-go-lucky.

I mean, he's holy.

He's pure. He is loving. He is love.

And by the way, y'all know this, I know, but love, love itself.

Love itself. If you really love, guess what?

You're going to desire righteousness, truth, all of that. That's all a part of love.

You know, it's just like we think about with our kids, right?

If you don't punish your kids in the sense of discipline, you know,

disciplining our kids, right?

When they do something wrong, what does that say to your kids?

I don't love you enough to discipline you.

In other words, if you don't have boundaries, if God didn't have boundaries

for us, like we have boundaries for our kids and we guide them along, right?

If he didn't have boundaries for us, he would not be a loving guy.

And the consequences for us going across, for some things in life are pretty trivial.

We say, I say trivial in the sense of like, sometimes you get a slap on the hand, right?

But other times, what can someone who grows up without discipline, where can they end up?

Where? In prison, dead, right?

Because look, there are certain things, you know, in this world,

I mean, you're going to die, right?

In fact, the wages of sin is death, Scripture tells us.

So that's the payment of a life filled with sin, right?

I mean, without separating from Christ, without repentance, without the hope

of the gospel that's been offered to us, you know, that's it. The payment is death.

And, you know, Ezekiel 38 and 39 actually depicts the gathering of unbelievers

to fight against Christ and his people Israel at the Battle of Armageddon.

And it should be noted that another invasion at the end of the millennium is

also said to involve Gog and Magog, right?

In Revelation 20, we hadn't got there yet. But the same names are used to indicate

that this later invasion will be similar to the one during the tribulation.

And we'll look at that when we get to it. But listen to this.

He says, you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land.

It will come about in the last days that I shall bring you against my land in

order that the nations may know me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.

Thus says the Lord God, are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through

my servants and the prophets of Israel who prophesied in those days for many

years that I would bring you against them.

It will come about on that day when God comes against the land of Israel,

declares the Lord God, that my fury will mount up in my anger,

in my zeal, and in my blazing wrath.

I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land

of Israel, the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beast of the field,

all the creeping things that creep on the earth.

And all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at my presence.

The mountains also will be thrown down. The steep pathways will collapse and

every wall will fall to the ground.

I shall call for a sword against him on all my mountains, declares the Lord

God. Every man's sword will be against his brother.

With pestilence and with blood, I shall enter into judgment with him.

And I shall rain on him and on his troops and on the many peoples who are with

him a torrential rain with hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

I shall magnify myself, sanctify myself, and make myself known in the sight of many nations.

And they will know that I am the Lord.

That's in Ezekiel 38, 16 to 33.

All of this pointing to this period where we're talking about here in the book of Revelation.

Y'all, man, the sounding of the seventh trumpet marks the fulfillment of the

great judgment event that the prophets foresaw and saints of all ages have longed for.

It'll be the time when God pours out his wrath on his enemies.

You see, what's been happening, y'all help me as we review for a second.

What has been happening all through the tribulation so far?

I mean, the church has been raptured before, right? The rapture first.

And then what's been happening here as far as people? Has God just said,

look, enough's enough. No one can be saved.

What's been happening? What's people? People have been saved.

People are being saved, right?

144,000 are sharing the gospel or preaching the gospel.

I mean, we saw that the two witnesses are preaching the gospel,

the angel flying in midheaven, all that.

People have a chance to come to Christ.

And they will throughout the tribulation. but then it comes here to this time

that we're looking at that it's showing us it's coming that now God is going

to pour out his wrath on his enemies,

and judgment comes and there will be no more time to repent,

right? It's all coming to an end.

Not only will the seventh trumpet signal the outpouring of God's wrath on earth,

it'll also indicate that the time has come.

For the dead to be judged. Time translates keros, which refers to a season,

an era, an occasion, or an event.

And the establishing of Christ's kingdom, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Remember that?

On earth as it is in heaven. This is the on earth as it is in heaven, this coming, right?

And so the establishing of Christ's kingdom will be a fitting time here for

the dead to be judged, the great white throne judgment.

And we'll look at that also in chapter 20. When we get there,

it's down the road a little bit.

But it's not in view in this passage, as some do argue that it is,

but I don't believe it is here at this point.

Since that judgment explicitly involves only unbelievers, it's best to see the

reference to judgment here in this passage, I believe, as a general reference

to all future judgments. is what he's given here.

The elders, if you remember here in their song, they make no attempt here to

separate the different phases of judgment as they are separated in the closing

chapters of Revelation, which is coming.

We'll look at those. But they simply, what do they do? They simply sing of future

judgments as though they were one event.

In the same way that other scriptures, they don't distinguish future judgments from each other.

I mean, some examples of that, John 5, John 28, 29, Acts 17,

all talk about different judgments that are going to take place,

and they don't distinguish it from each other as far as the final judgment.

But the judgment will, first of all, be the time for God, think about this,

to reward his bondservants.

Now, who are his bondservants?

Those who repent and put their faith and trust in christ

right so guess what if you

know jesus christ if you're a child of god you are god's bond servant you know

in fact in scripture it talks of us you know as slaves of christ right his bond

servant and so it'll be a time for reward for his bond servants and the prophets

and the saints of those who fear his name the small and the great right?

As it says here, you know, through the power to serve God in a way that's worthy

of a reward is a gift of God's grace.

It's totally a gift of God's grace. Still, all through the New Testament,

by the way, believers are encouraged, that's all of us, to work in view of these promised rewards.

In fact, in chapter 22, verse 12, Jesus actually declared this,

and we'll see this, Behold, I'm coming quickly.

This may be a familiar verse to some of you. And my reward is with me to render

to every man according to what he has done.

To the Corinthians, if you remember, Paul wrote, Now he who plants and he who

waters are one, but each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

So the reward promised believers here is that they will inherit what?

The kingdom, right? They will inherit the kingdom in both its millennial and

eternal phases here that we're going to look at.

And so believers, they're also promised what else?

The promised crowns, right? Including the crown of righteousness as it talks

about in 2 Timothy chapter four, the crown of life.

It talks about in James chapter one in Revelation two that we saw already and

the crown of glory as it talks about in 1 Peter 5, four.

So the phrase your bond servants and the prophets, it says here,

It encompasses all, y'all,

all who have proclaimed God's truth throughout redemptive history from Moses

to the two witnesses that we saw back in verses 3 through 13 of this same chapter,

chapter 11 of Revelation.

So scripture frequently designates prophets as the Lord's servants, by the way.

And so all the times it talks about that, the time has come for them to receive a prophet's reward.

As it talks about in Matthew 10, all those faithful men and women who stood

for God in dark days and against opposition will then find their work revealed and rewarded.

But y'all, I hope you see here that even the reward, even that reward is an act of God's grace.

You know even those who take a stand and who stand firm against persecution

and trials and all the things that come against them you know what we would

not even be able to do that were it not for god's grace would be.

None of us would. And, you know, that's why we see, you know, that's why I think that,

you know, we're going to realize people who are rewarded, whatever that is,

they're going to want to throw those crayons right down to his feet,

realizing that it's only through Christ and only through his enablement that

anyone can accomplish anything.

Because, you know, we think of these verses we're reminded of,

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, right?

We think of that, and we realize that without me, Jesus said, you can do nothing.

Nothing.

Man, I thought I could do this little bitty thing, Brother Arthur,

but no, he says nothing without me.

In other words, you can do nothing of eternal value, right?

Without Christ, it's all just crumbling. It all fades away.

And another group to be rewarded is the saints.

You know, their Father divine is those who fear your name. Look at that.

I mean, we looked at it in this passage, but it talks about this in Psalm 34,

85, 103, all throughout the Psalms and Ecclesiastes and Luke even,

it talks about those who fear your name.

See, they're going to be rewarded.

What does it mean to fear God's name? What do you think? Y'all feedback with me just a little bit.

Complete awe. Yeah. Having that complete awe, that reverence there of that God

is holy, that God is God and we're not, right?

And in fact, I'm reminded of the verse in the New Testament where Paul says,

you know, that it's through the fear of the Lord that men actually depart from iniquity.

That word iniquity means lawlessness, right? And there's a healthy fear,

y'all, that we need to have of the Lord, right?

And those who do fear his name, he's telling us here at this great tribulation,

there's going to come a time where those are going to be rewarded.

There's a future time that those who fear his name will be rewarded.

Saints is another common biblical description for the redeemed in both the Old and New Testaments.

And by the way, how many of you have been redeemed? Let me just ask it tonight, right?

You put your faith and trust in Christ. You've experienced that redemption.

You've experienced God's salvation.

And so all of God's saints, that's us, if you know the Lord,

from the small to the great, it's an all-inclusive term, will receive rewards.

And so the judgment will also here, look what it says here. It says it will

destroy those who destroy the earth.

In the passage we started out with, it will destroy those who destroy the earth.

Now, that's not a reference to those who pollute the environment,

but to those who pollute the earth with their scent.

I remember, and this just triggers a memory for me, that there was this girl

who was, yes, even back in 1990, and thank God for those who are concerned about our environment.

I mean, yes, we need to take care of the earth. We definitely do.

But we all know sometimes we can kind of cross that line to where we become

kind of obsessed with that instead of with the creator, right?

We become obsessed with the creation.

But I remember this young lady. I think she was sincere, but she was hearing

the gospel. And it was like her passion was just the environment.

And she was like all concerned about the world and the environment and all that

was going on, you know, and all the destruction and all this.

And was concerned about the environment out there. And that was just her passion.

It was like that's all she could think of. And I remember the Holy Spirit moving

and just kind of like here, talking about those who destroy the earth,

not specifically referencing polluting the environment, but polluting the earth with their sin.

And I remember one of my brothers there said, you know, God cares about that too.

He does care about the environment. In fact, he's given us charge over it.

We are supposed to care for it. But you know what?

God not only cares about the environment, but God cares about the environment

inside of you, the pollution and the sin inside of your heart.

And I remember it's just like, bang, the Holy Spirit just worked in that girl's

heart. Her eyes were opened.

It's like, I never thought about the environment inside of me.

I've been thinking about the environment out here in the world,

but I never thought about the one inside of me.

And you see, this passage here, that's referring to that, those who pollute

the earth with their sin.

And so that includes all unbelievers, by the way, all, especially in the context

of Revelation, the false economic and religious systems called Babylon.

That Antichrist, right, and his followers and Satan himself,

the ultimate destroyer,

as we've seen, the Apostle Paul wrote that the mystery of lawlessness or that

iniquity, like I told you earlier in 2 Thessalonians, is already at work in the church age.

But during the tribulation period here, it's going to reach that pinnacle,

y'all, of destructive activity.

It's shredding the very fabric of society in every evil way.

And given stewardship, if you remember, and dominion over the earth,

that happened all the way back in Genesis chapter what?

One, right? Verse 28, man instead fell into sin and throughout his history has

continually, what, corrupted the earth. He talks about that in Romans 8.

When that corrupting reaches its apex, if you will, God will destroy the earth

and he will create a new one.

He talks about that in Revelation 21. We'll see that. He talks about it in Isaiah 65 and 66 in 2 Peter 3.

So that promise of judgment, y'all, that plan of judgment there,

all things are going to be set right. God is going to bring it to an end.

That should bring peace and comfort to his believers.

But it also, again, it also reminds us that we have to share the good news with people.

We need to share it because there is not going to always be an opportunity for people to repent.

Because God is concerned, like we said earlier, about that sin that pollutes

the world here. but in a sense also it pollutes our hearts, right?

Our hearts are desperately wicked. Who can know it, right? Don't trust your heart.

You know, if it feels good, or you hear that always say Disney theology, right?

Just follow your heart. That's the worst thing you can do because your heart

will lead you to the pit of hell.

We follow Christ. We follow what he's revealed in his word. And then he gives us a new heart, right?

He gives us new desires. He gives us a new perspective.

Well, we also come upon the promise of communion, but I want to pick up there

next week because I think that sometimes we need to kind of digest some things,

right? We need time to process it.

And so as we see that God is going to bring this kind of judgment,

he is going to be thorough and he is going to be swift when it comes time to execute his judgment.