Book of Revelation EPS 4

Chase: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. I'm here with Pastor Sam. We were off last week as Pastor Sam took a well deserved break. And but today we're gonna be jumping back into our series here called The Signs of the Time. Yep. And you wanna catch people up of where we left off definitely. Yeah, so we're studying through the book of Revelation, and as we just did that recap, since it has been two weeks, chapter one was like the introduction of Jesus fully revealed in his glory. And that's what again is like starts the book off saying, Okay, I'm speaking with authority as one who is God, who is the one that will be talked about in the story, you know, the line of Judah, the lamb who was slain, first and the last, the holder of the star, you know, all these things. Like This is why he has authority to say and do these things. Two and chapters two and three are the seven you know churches in Asia Minor that we've talked about. Again, he's looking for faithfulness. Four and five are pulling back the curtain to see what's going on in the throne room of heaven, you know, almost like the the war room, if you will. Like what are the the plans to you know, not war on people, but war on evil and how do we, you know, remove evil from the world and, you know, bring about new heaven and new earth. Yes. And when all is right and ready, the one who sits on the throne, God, hands out a scroll with seven seals on it. Yep. And says, Time to open these plans. But no one can be found worthy to do it. So then that's when, you know, the line of Judah The lamb who was slain, you know, Jesus is the one who's like, okay, I can carry these out. Mm-hmm. And then now we're at the part where the seven seals are being broken, which means the seals to unroll the scroll. Yes. And saying like as each one gets cut, you'll see this is you know, pointing to different things that are or different points that are moving the story along. The first four begin with where we are now. Yep. Like the problem of the world. seal five is talking about like those who see the problem of the world and want God to do something about it. Seal six is God's answer to the problem. Mm-hmm. And then the seventh seal is where we'll end. But so it's again it's trying to tell a story. So as we've said before, don't get tripped up on the details. Yeah. You know, it's almost like we're we're climbing a mountain. Yeah. S sometimes we can get a little too focused on the rocks. But what we're trying to understand is like that God's in charge. He's in full control. Yes. And he is able to remove evil and the evil one and evildoers from his creation. Yeah. But this is how it's gonna happen. Yeah. And midway through he's gonna talk about, well, how can human beings survive when all of us have done evil and the eyes of God, yeah, how can we survive this day of judgment? So that's that's where we're going. And yeah, and today we're getting into like the real thick of it. I would say we called it the beginning of the end. The beginning of the end. huh. Yeah. And just as a quick reminder too that we will today jump around and we will be diving into deep parts of it. Yep. but to always go back if you want like the full thing Is a s there's gonna be a sermon on Sunday and this is the deep breakdown of that sermon, stuff that you could add in. Sunday is a lot of preaching, yes what this means for you today, getting your heart right, the motivation, understanding the scriptures. This is I don't want to say purely academic, but this tends to be more of like how we can understand it and then let it sink down from our our minds to our hearts. And we always encourage you to keep learning and keep looking into this. Yes. and So yeah, so do you wanna open here at Revelation six? Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, so if you want to go ahead and read it, sixteen you wanna start at sixteen seventeen or do you want to talk about the first four seals first and kind of what they yeah, what they mean. So I'm gonna read down to the first four and if you wanna follow along in your Bibles, we're in Revelation chapter six, starting in verse one. Yeah. Let me say this before we start, because when you read this, you may not in your twenty twenty six American mind fully understand what is being communicated, what's being described, what the readers would have understood, that's not in the text, but doesn't mean it's yeah, unbiblical, is the consequences of rebelling against God. Yes. These are this is the fallout of not listening to God. Yes. So it's not like God is releasing this. He is showing this is what is happening in the world. So with that understanding, these first four seals will make a lot more sense. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And I am reading from the ESV version. so it reads, Now I watched when the lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come. And I looked and behold, a white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown. was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. So the first horse, again, air quoting, it's not a literal horse. I compared it on Sunday to like the black riders in Lord of the Rings who are out looking for it's not that. It's not a literal. Yep. But it's again representing something very powerful. a powerful force in our world, which if you look at it's a crown There's a bow, like a bow and arrow, a white horse, which is the horse of the color of victory. Victory. Yeah. So God is saying there is this force in the world about conquering. People want to conquer. They want to take what's not theirs. Yes. So that's the fur when we rebel against God, we are tempted to take what's not ours. What's not ours? In verse three it says, When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come. And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another. And he was given a great sword. Again, saying these are the consequences. This is free will that we freely chose to rebel against God. Free will leads to consequences. So now when someone tries to take what's not theirs, That means someone's gonna have to defend it and you go to war. Mm-hmm. God is allowing that. Yep. He is allowing this to happen. He's not causing it. No, but he's allowing it. But he's allowing it. He's allowing it. Yep. verse five says, When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come, and I looked and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hands. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. Again, if you're reading this for the first time, you're like, What's Okay, okay. And then you just keep going. Yeah. Yeah. What's happening again is a day's wages, a denarius, now will not buy you a full day's amount of bread. Yeah. So we're like, What? Well, what's the big thing in the news right now that's been in the news since COVID? Inflation. Things cost more than they do. Well, why do things cost more? Because there's instability in our world. Yep. COVID nineteen Created instability. It messed up food chain supplies. It messed up, you know, shipping routes, you know, all that stuff. Now it wasn't because of conquest, but it was because we live in a broken fallen world that now things just cost more. Yeah. That's what all these political figures are trying to figure out. Mm-hmm. What God is saying here is this world is broken. Mm-hmm. It's so broken that people can't even afford to eat. Yeah. And again, for this first century audience, inflation was common because Roman Empire was always expanding, they're always being taxed more, they're always going to war. And one of the commentaries I read, I think it was the Tim Chester one that we've talked about on this podcast was he he was saying when you go to war, all able bodied men Grab their sword, they grab their shield or spear, and all of a sudden and it doesn't matter if you're a farmer or not, you gotta go to war. Yep. But if all the farmers are at war, who is farming. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So that's gonna cause inflation, which just creates a cycle. So God is again describing the brokenness of this world. Mm-hmm. He's not causing it. No, he's allowing it. Allowing big difference. In verse seven it says when he opened the four But that's sorry, but that's the whole thing about the scales. Yes. When you go to the market, yeah, this is how much this costs. Well, hold on. It it didn't cost this much two weeks ago. Well, yeah, this is the new price. Yeah. So he's saying again, people are starving peop 'cause most suburban listeners are like, that stinks. That groceries cost more. But for the poorest of the poor, it could be the difference of life and death. Yeah. So God is saying the least off are being impacted the most. Yeah. Yeah. Because of the brokenness of this world. yeah. In verse seven it says, When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him, and they were given authority over the f a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine, and with press was that pressus plague. And by wild beast of the earth. I have it circled, so it's I can't I can't see it. Yeah. So the you have conquest, which leads to war, which leads to famine, which leads to death. The world experiences death. In the Garden of Eden before the fall there was no death. Yes. But now he's just listening. you could be killed by the sword. Or with a famine, you could give you killed by a plague, you could be killed by wild bees, showing all of creation has fallen. Yeah like do you think that Adam and Eve were afraid of being gored to death in the Garden of Eden before the fall? No. Like they lived at peace. Correct. With all of creation. But now creation has fallen. Yeah. So this is again a retelling of the tragedy of the world. And what's actually I find quite comforting. Is when I used to read this, I would think, my gosh, this sounds horrible. This is gonna get so bad. But historically, the church has held to an Augustinian view on this. So Saint Augustine, you know, the titan of you know the church. Yeah. He said, This is our world now. Yeah. You're already in it. Yeah. And you made that point on Sunday, which I think is a great point. Yeah, that it's like this is not a future i reality. This is happening today. Yeah. And you think to yourself, well, it's not that bad. Well, maybe not that bad if you live where you live. Yeah. Go to Somalia. Yeah. Nigeria. Go to Nigeria. Go where there's a civil war. Go go to, you know, where there's they're like, no, this is hell. Yeah. This we're in apocalypse now. Yeah. Like this is we just aren't enduring it today in our space. So we are blessed in that way. Yeah. Like the average American is blessed in that way. But Again, mm-hmm. Go to the slums of India. Yeah. I mean go to the the sh streets where the murder capital of the world is. Like there is it it it it's not it we don't need no this to come at some point. We're living it now. Yeah. And I think that really opened up a lot of people's eyes when when you said that because I think a lot of times that when we read this, we can think of It just being in a future thing. Which I I think for the first time I read it, like that's how I thought of it. Well, that's how we tend to think of it because it's a revelation. So like of things go and you're like, wait. Well, we also tend to look at it through the lens of our present moment. Yes. And right now I can pick up my iPhone and order food from Uber Eats or I could have clothes dropped off at my house from Amazon. So you're like wow, this sounds really bad. At some point this is all gonna happen. Well, it's already happening. We just are so insulated that we don't have to deal with the reality of it. Yeah. And again, COVID, I think, woke a lot of people up to the reality that this world is broken and we have very little control. And even the most powerful among us do not have control over Nature, disease over you know what I mean? Like there is chaos that still reigns in our world. So this is the problem happening in our world. Yeah. That's that's what God is addressing and saying this w how did I think it was N T Wright put it that this if when you see that this is the world, it prevents you from getting comfortable. Yeah. In thinking that you're in peacetime, you're not. No. We are not in peacetime. We are not in a war-torn world. Yep. And the war, I I had to cut this part on Sunday. I wish I didn't, but I'll put it here. our world is at war. So sleep with your boots on. But the war is not between political parties, as we've talked about over and over and over. And the war is not between even nations. While nations rage, as we read on Psalm two, The true, true, true war that the apostle Paul tells us is against the enemy, the Satan, Satan, the devil, and his, you know, followers, the demons. That's the true war. Yes. Is between, you know, the evil, the fallen, and Jesus Christ and all of his followers. But that's the thing where people are being divided, the sheeps and the goats. Are you loyal to the lamb or are you a goat following? And all of us were goats at one point, following the ways of the enemy until Jesus Christ came and rescued us, which is why we preach the gospel the way we do, saying, Hey, I I was on that side too. And then I gave my heart to Jesus. It doesn't matter what got you on that side, whether it was a you know, something that gets publicly shamed or like, it's kind of socially acceptable. It's okay. All of us, all of us, we're dead. Mm-hmm. And in the enemy's camp. Yep. And Jesus went into the enemy's camp and rescued us. So now we are being sent back. Hey, come on, come on, come out of this, come out of darkness. That is the message of scripture over and over and over. And that's the same thing here. Don't get comfortable. We're in war. The world is full of darkness. Yeah. Come into the light. And I I I preached on this a while back, but I I pointed out that it every one of us can point to darkness. Yes. But only one can go in the darkness and rescue. Correct. That is Jesus. Yes. And it's it's a powerful reminder of that. The light has entered the world, but the world has not overcome him. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's not our light. It's the light of Jesus. That that's why arrogant Christians are just such an oxymoron. And they can get people When like or the the self righteous, Jesus is like, Who are you fooling? Yeah. Like you have nothing in you. That's like I don't really need Jesus. I'm I'm pretty good on my own. That's why he railed against the Pharisees and Sadducees so hard. And again, it's I know we're kind of on a tangent now, but like it's but this is trying to summarize in about or summarize in about eight verses, the world is broken. Yeah. And the fifth seal is helps us understand the heartbreak of this world. Yeah. So let's dive into that fifth seal. it it reads, When he opened the fifth seal. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for w the witnesses they had borne. They cried out with loud voices, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given white robe, and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their follower fellow servants and their brothers should be complete complete. Who were to be killed as they themselves had been. So right there. What is being described is again the average when you when you see it for what it is, it makes so much sense. Yeah. And it answers so many questions in your heart. Cause again, like I said on Sunday, and it feels like I'm kind of repeating it, but it's just worth repeating. Who has not, even if you're an atheist, said this world's broken? Yeah. Like there was a scandal we were talking about as a staff, not a scandal, it's that sounds nice. an atrocity in the state of Ohio with like children being like held captive. Yeah. In a twelve by twelve. And it was like a thirteen year old mother who'd been gr like just horrible. Evil on full display. Who doesn't cry out, even an atheist in their heart? It's not supposed to be like this. No. Something has changed. And now the solution we know is the gospel, the message of Jesus that God came into the world to save and rescue sinners. Mm-hmm. And even he was put to death. Yeah. So so what these martyrs are saying is we tried to bring about the answer to the problems of the world and we got killed for it. God, how much longer are you gonna let this go on? Yeah. Again, who hasn't prayed that? And so God says it's not time yet. This is where to understand revelation is to understand the right things and to still question what's not being answered. We don't know why. We don't. We don't know why God is allowing this world to still continue. The best answer we have is from Peter, in in his epistles says, remember One day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Yeah. God is slow in bringing his judgment so that all may come to repentance. That's the love of God on display. The fact that the world's allowed to continue is actually an act of love because he knows once the curtain drops, that's it. Yep. And so he's like, I am allowing you to endure this now because once the curtain drops, it's so much worse. Yeah. So please get out there, be on mission, tell people the good news that you know, Jesus, you don't have to endure this life alone and you don't have to endure eternity alone. No. So like that that's the I think this is why people are starting to see the urgency. Yeah. Because it's also amazing that COVID really kind of began kick starting this quiet revival we're seeing, especially in our country. Yeah. People were like, There's chaos, there's brokenness, there's evil. I've been comfortable, but now I'm not. I need to seek for something outside myself. And that's when you see these younger generations especially being like, Yeah, I found something real. Yeah. And now I gotta tell everybody. There's just a there's more passion. Yeah. It broke the veil of their comfortable of being comfortable. Yes. Like they weren't really popped the bubble. Yeah. Like they weren't really comfortable, but they lived under this. Well, you could live the life script. Yeah. Pretty easily. Yeah. And then that life script got thrown out and thrown out the window. Very quickly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Where everything was taken. Yeah, it was like mid April. We'd been locked down for like a few weeks. Yeah. And people were rewriting their life script. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Okay. continuing on to that verse twelve there. It says, When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake and let's pause just for a hot second. Yeah. So this is God's response when he says how long? Once it's time, this is what's gonna happen. So this is when we say, God, when are you gonna make it right? Yeah. there's an Andrew Peterson song called The Reckoning. Yeah. It's it's a tricky song because it's actually very peaceful. Mm-hmm. But the lyrics you're like, ooh. But he in the chorus says, how long, how long? before the reckoning, I am ready for the reckoning. You know, just for this world to be right. We all want that. But then at the end of the song he says, I know I don't know what. Asking. Yeah. Like I know I don't know what I'm asking, but I still want it. Yeah. So that's the and you'll see why. We're like, we're not ready, but we need it and we want it. Yeah. it says I l I looked and behold. Sorry, I hit a button. No, you're fine. I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as a sackcloth. The full moon became Like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones of and the generals, and the rich and the powerful, and everyone slave and free Hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Yeah. So at first it might be tempting to think this is only talked about in the book of Revelation. Yeah. It's not. No. This is an event. A day that is going to happen. Yeah. This is either going to be the worst day of creation or the best. Yeah. And we're going to see why it could be the best for those who are in Christ. But if you are not in Christ, it is the worst day in the history of the world, and there's nothing close that compares. Yeah. It is not only in the book of Revelation, but it's talked about, Jesus talked about it. Yeah. Matthew 20. So Just as little slide bar when people are like, I like Jesus, but I'm not a big fan of this old testament God. It's the same. It's the same. It's just that, you know, like Yeah. Jesus talks about all this stuff and he talks about Matthew twenty four, mm-hmm, the day before his last meal, I believe. Or it's during Holy Week. So it is one of those ones that we would have covered. It's Matthew twenty four, when he goes up on the hillside, he's overlooking Jerusalem and they say, When are all these things gonna happen? 'Cause it's after he predicts Look at all these stones that in the temple, it's all gonna be thrown down and you know the world is going to end. And his disciples are like, When? Yeah. Good question. He's like, no one knows the day or the hour except the Father. Not even me. Not even me. Yeah. But this is going to happen. He's like, my assignment is to do it. I don't know when. So so it talks about Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and Luke 23. Luke 23 is especially fascinating because Luke twenty-three. Jesus is talking about it after he's whipped. Yeah. Before he like on his way to be crucified. So this is how critical this moment is. And he used the same language the rocks, you will cry out for the rocks to fall on you and hide you, cover you. He's talking about this on the like he's just been tortured. Yeah. And he's like, you st you have to know how important this is. Yeah. If a man. Just a hypothetical, is being waterboarded. Mm-hmm. And he's about to die. In between gasping for breath, if he's like, I have to tell you something. He's not gonna tell you something mundane. Yeah. He's trying to tell you the most important thing. Mm-hmm. And what Jesus is doing in the middle of his torture is saying, This day of the Lord is coming. Yeah. And you think my crucifixion's bad, mm-hmm, y you are not ready. Yeah. The other thing is it's talked about in the old testament is When you look at I mean, this cosmic language of judgment, I I I went and just referenced a few is all the prophets. That's what prophets did. Prophets were the mouthpiece for God. Yeah. And they were sent to the people of God with the message of God to say, return to God. If you don't return to God, here's what's going to happen. It's a choice. Yeah. Isaiah talks about it. Joel, Ezekiel, Amos. It's also hinted a little bit. At Jesus' actual crucifixion and death, sky goes dark. Yeah. We talked about this on the last season. Yeah. Almost the unraveling of creation. There's an earthquake. The temple splits. Like the sun or the moon comes out and the sun goes you know, the moon is red, like there's this eclipse. So Jesus is saying, not saying, showing, even in death on the cross, things changed in the actual atmosphere. Yeah. This is a precursor to this day. It was like a little glimpse. Exactly. Yeah. Saying this is how my life ends, and I'm ushering in a kingdom right now at my resurrection. And that time between Resurrection Sunday and this Lord's Day will be marked with the same signs. Yeah. Earthquake, darkness, red. You know what I mean? So like that's when you know the Lord's Day is here, his final judgment. The other interesting one is you see this in the Old Testament. plagues of Egypt. Mm-hmm. Specifically. Exodus. Yeah. There is blood. Yeah. There is hail. Yeah. There is darkness. Yeah. Death of the firstborn. Yeah. And who feels the least powerful in Egypt? Pharaoh. Because his own son, he can't prevent the spirit of God or the spirit of death from taking his own son. Yeah. And it starts right here. The kings of the earth are the first to run for the hills. Yeah. Those who know in their hearts how little control they actually have, they've deceived themselves into thinking they have control. Don't. Yeah. They're the first ones to run for the hills when God shows up. Same with Pharaoh. in our kids, the Jesus Storybook Bible that we give out to our kids. And it sounds like it's very macabre. It's not. It's just helping kids understand the the scriptures is You know, Exodus is the second book of the Bible. So you Genesis the creation story and it tells you a beautiful creation story in a way that kids can understand. It's incredible language. They still have the snake in there and everything. Like it teaches the Bible, like a hundred percent. But I love that it talks about the plagues of Egypt, saying as if the world was being ripped apart. Yeah. Yeah. Like this is God. Saying, I am trying to save people. And it looks like I'm ripping the world apart in order to save people. This is what God has to do. So, like this is again like Exodus was a precursor to this. Yeah. you see this in the prophets, you see this in Jesus' own language, but now he's finally like to save people from evil and death, it looks like destruction. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I think too, just hopping back a little bit to Jesus' crucifixion. I I I think a lot of people 'cause I know I didn't learn it till later, like how amazing. Again, how amazing that is that his crucifixion was showing what was going to happen. Yeah. Like later on. Who could have orchestrated this? No. Like these are things that are verified scientific facts that like The moon did this. There was a earthquake like that was recorded by s by historians who were not Jewish or Christians. Yeah. These things happened. Yeah. And if you were faking being a god or prophet and you're crucified, you can't make an earthquake happen. No. You can't change the color of the moon and the sun. Like you can't create a split in the temple curtain. So That leads us to believe that he is who he said he was. Mm-hmm. And if he is who he says he is, then he has authority to do the things he's doing. Yeah. And we need to stop reimagining him in our image. Yeah. And be like, Okay, if Jesus said that and he can do and say all these things, I need to start listening and and get Get on his side. Yeah, you know. Who wouldn't want to be on his side? Yeah. You start reading this, you're like, I I don't necessarily wanna go and hide and and say the you know that fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated at the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. Like I don't wanna be on the side of the wrath. I wanna Right. Wow. Yeah. So so just as a recap of chapter six, chapter six really is telling the story of the world. Yeah. It's a lot. That's a It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. But it ends with that great question, who can withstand this moment? When God shows up to judge the world, who's innocent, truly? And we know that there's only one. There's only one. If you're honest with yourself, there's only one and it's not you. Yep. so then The Bible answers that question, who can stand? And that's chapter seven. Yeah. So then it says who who can withstand? It says after this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea. Do not harm the land, see your trees, until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God. Then I heard the number of those who were sealed. It was 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. Then it says 12,000 from each tribe. numbers are very important in the scriptures. Yeah. So twelve. Is a a number that communicates divine perfection or completeness. Yeah. This is why twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles, twelve so think perfection and complete. Yes. Is what twelve means. Yeah. They multiply perfection and complete against itself. Mm-hmm. So extra, extra complete and divine and perfect. Yeah. And then the number 10. constitutes a multitude. Like tens tend to represent like especially repeating. So 10 times 10 times 10 times 10 is how you'd get to that 10,000. So it's a multitude of people who have been made whole and complete and perfect by the Lamb of God and are marked as God's own people. So he hears, he hears again 144,000 And there are some denominations who believe there will only be 144,000 saved. They take that literally. Yeah. But that's very silly reading, in my opinion, because the next verse after it says that, it says, I heard 144,000, but verse nine says, Then I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. Well, I can count to 144,000. It's gonna take a while, but I could do it. I'm not a mathematician, but I can count that high. Yeah. our son loves counting in the car. You know what I mean? Like right now he's counting equinoxes because we just got one, and so we're up to one thousand one hundred and like seventy-two. Pretty good. Yeah, it's it's it's fun and annoying at the same time, but like give that kid enough time, he could count to 144,000 and he's seven. Yeah. John's saying no one could count this amount. This is the same language as Abraham's covenant, stars in the sky, grains of sand on the beach. In the first part of chapter seven, he's communicating there's gonna be a multitude of people who are marked with completeness, perfection, and holiness. And then it's but it's not just the tribes of Israel the gospel's for, it's for every tribe, nation, and tongue. That's why the gospel goes out into the world. Why would Jesus send the apostles out into the world if he's like, hey, through the course of history, there's only gonna be 144,000, so good luck finding them. Yeah. No, he's saying it's like a needle in the haystack. Exactly. That that would be silly. What that would totally contradict everything that Jesus tells them with the Greek grace. It's not anything, yeah. You're just cooked. Yeah. Most likely. Like so no, he's saying in the first part what the people are like. They're an army, this is military language. Mm-hmm. But who makes up the army is not as the amount of people that matters. It's it's a huge number, but they're from everywhere. Yep. So the gospel's for everyone. Every tribe, nation, tongue. Yeah. The addict. Jesus is for the divorce. Jesus is for the person who looks like they have it all together, but they don't. Jesus for the African. Jesus for the Asian. Jesus for the Latina. Like Jesus for everybody. Every single person. Yes. And there's a book called Whose Religion is Christianity by Laman Sene, who was a professor at Columbia. Kind of a dry academic book, but very interesting. He talks about why is it that Christianity is the only major world religion that has not had the same geographic center throughout its history. Yeah. Islam has always been rooted in the Middle East. Hinduism always been rooted. Buddhism, always been rooted. But Christianity is the only one that has moved its epicenter several times. Yeah. Started in the Middle East, went over to Rome, to Europe, Asia, Asia. Right. Now then it went to the Americas. Mm-hmm. Now where Christianity is thriving the most, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South America. It's the only religion. Yeah. And and what he was describing was beautiful. He says that he went to a tribal nation in I can't remember the country. I don't even know if it exists anymore. Because he wrote in the eighties and they s were describing how they you know, they play drums around their village. And he's like, When we were introduced to Jesus, now we we used to beat our drums for our gods. Now we beat our drums for Jesus. Amen. Yeah. It so there's no one way to like no worship Jesus. You don't have to have the same language, whereas every other religion you have to assimilate to the center language or to the center. Jesus is the only one who's like, I meet you here as you are and I change you to become like me with your culture. So Jesus the argument was Jesus makes you more of who you were created to be in your culture. He makes you the argument was he makes you more of a Rwandan. He makes you more of a Chinese. He makes you more of an American. Like he doesn't replace and say now you have to act all this way. Like you have to look like an American. He's like, No, no, no, no. You become like me, and becoming like me brings out the beauty of your own culture. Yeah. That's why every tribe, nation, and tongue comes together. Mm-hmm. This is why again the upper room. Yeah. When Israel Yes, exactly the upper room, but when Israel was captured and sent off to Babylon, he said, Don't be afraid to move into the city. Yeah. Don't become like the Babylonians, but support And become the best citizens. This is how they navigated Rome. This is how they've navigated, you know, empires. This it's just incredible. So that's what Jesus is doing. And what they are doing as part of the Lord's army, they don't have a sword and they don't have armor. Instead, what they're waving in their hands isn't a sword but a palm branch, which is the sign of victory. Yeah. Welcoming the king. Yep. What they're wearing isn't armor, what they're wearing is white robes showing that they've been made righteous by the conquering king. Yeah. The white horse, but the good white horse in a way is the King Jesus. That's who we're called to be. People who don't armor up and hold the sword and say, This is how we'll, you know, expand the kingdom of God. Yeah. No, ours is King Jesus, the way of the Lamb. Yeah. So So that's that's how that that's who answers the question. Who can endure? Those who have been made righteous and pure. Yeah. That's who can endure. Yeah. So give your heart to Jesus. I tried to I was like on the verge of tears on the stage being like, there is yeah, like if you get this, it should jump out to you and make it like, I need to be on this side. Yeah. Because I mean he goes on and I I read it in the script. on Sunday, so I don't wanna necessarily go over it, but he's like for those who are in Christ on that day, mm-hmm, he's gonna shield them. Yeah. And to the point where they won't even feel hunger again. No. Or thirst again or pain again. This is the wipe away every tear from their eyes. Mm-hmm. That you're like, this will either be the worst day when he comes back to judge or the best day. Yeah. And then the seventh seal opens and That's the beginning of chapter eight and there's just complete silence in heaven. And so that's where we'll leave off because then we get into the trumpets and it it it just gets very interesting, but yeah, we've covered a lot of ground. We have. We have and it's it's it's just really amazing. And again, we're coming at this with this should be a a hope book. This is about bringing us hope that Jesus is coming again. Yeah. Hope in your heart and steel in your spine. We are in Christ, that should bring us great hope. 'Cause there's not gonna be I mean it just And it's not up to your goodness. No. It's up to what he's done. Once you drop that veil of, you know, earning your way into heaven or earning your earning God's love, that's when you start to experience God's love. And you start to learn God's love and his wisdom and everything, is when you stop that act. It's like when you see this of the state of the world, the cry of the martyrs, the Lord's Day, and then you go back And read the words of Jesus, you're like, it's all an invitation to come onto his side. Yeah. Yeah. Which is incredible. So And you don't only get the benefits then, you get now. Mm hmm. Yeah. That's about I think that's probably one of the best parts is you don't have to wait till heaven to experience the goodness of God. Yes. You can have it right here. Correct. Right here. Correct. Today. That's what I always try and say. If it feels like hell now this could be your invitation to Jesus. Yeah. And C. S. Lewis has something where he says, For some people, earth is the closest they'll ever get to heaven. Yeah. But also for those who are in Christ, earth is the closest they'll ever get to hell. Yeah. It can go both ways. Yep. It can. So like this is the Like whatever you're enduring in this life, yeah, is the worst you'll ever experience if you're in Christ. Amen. But if you're not in Christ, whatever you're enduring right now is the best you'll ever experience. Yeah. Your choice. It's your choice. Yeah. It's your choice. the video today is not working. so totally fine. Yeah. Well, we just we just want to thank you guys all for joining us. Today, as we is there any closing thoughts that you want to leave or just probably the same over and over that Jesus is so for you. Like you you can probably hear the passion in my voice and I definitely like let it out on Sunday, but it's like, man, when you read this stuff, you're like, This is scary, yeah, this is frightening, but it doesn't have to be your reality. No. It doesn't have to be your loved ones' reality. Just just run to Jesus As you are, don't clean yourself up first. Just just get just get into that camp. Like I had almost the image of we were talking to Austin about Harriet Tubman. yeah. Yeah. In many ways. Yeah. Like getting getting to freedom doesn't look like I better put a suit and tie on first and then go. Yeah. You just get there. Yeah. Yeah. tha so like just over and over and over, we can't say it enough. Just if you're listening to this podcast, if you're part of our church family or you know, you're somewhere around the world and it feels like maybe you're the only one who's trying to walk for the way of righteousness, just continually sprint back to Jesus over and over and just be with him wherever he is. Wherever. Yeah. Wherever. So with that we thank you for wherever you're tuning in. We are incredibly Thankful that we get to do this and whoever listens, we just pray for you each and every day. And we can't wait to see you next week. So with that, we'll close out today's episode.