Story of the Tree(s) - Revelation

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And thank you for being part of what God is doing at His hands.

Father, we just praise you.

We thank you that you are the answer, that you are the solution.

That you are victory.

Come as a man for us.

That you are a perfect Father.

That you are our rescue.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Nathan.

That was great.

Wow, this stool's taller than I'm used to.

I'm a short guy.

I'm gonna fall right off.

That'll be entertaining.

But I've got three quick announcements before we dive in.

Uh you probably could guess these three, but we've got coming up uh Christmas Eve service, and that's gonna be on uh December 24th, believe it or not, Christmas Eve service.

We've got two of those.

Uh it's four and six.

That's right.

It's on the big sign on the outside of the of the building there.

And this is a huge thing.

If you're new to his hands, and this is maybe your first year, it's kind of a big deal.

Uh it's there's a lot of people that kind of come in and out of the church, and maybe they've been involved in other years, but it's kind of like everybody comes home, and this is a really encouraging fun time for us.

The music is great, keyboard player is really good.

Just kidding.

And this would really be an encouragement uh to everybody, feel free to invite anybody that maybe hasn't come uh to his hands before.

You think this would would really be a blessing to them.

And we make that easy, by the way.

If I encourage you to do that, um, if you go to Facebook, then go to the His Hands page that we have there and just share that link right there.

And like Justin's been reminding us, if a whole bunch of us do that, that's probably the best marketing we could do.

Rather than mail a bunch of stuff or put a bunch of signs up, that would be perfect because you're already connected in with all the people that would want to be reminded about this.

So please do that.

It'll only take you a second.

You could do it while I'm doing the message, but probably don't have a good connection in here.

Just wait.

So, Christmas Eve service.

Uh, second one is uh Christmas Angels.

Nathan's already mentioned that a couple times.

Just as a quick reminder, so if you're gonna deliver, we encourage uh anyone and everyone to do that.

Uh just take your cars and start uh a circle around the building.

Go go this way, like you're going by the office.

I think I'm saying this right, and then you'll make a big line, and then you'll you'll grab everything that they need and they'll give you instructions and make the delivery there.

That will be a blessing to all of you that can do that.

And finally, uh just a quick reminder about giving.

And we mention this uh from time to time, but we don't pass a plate if you're brand new uh this morning.

Uh but we have these columns in the back, three or four columns.

And if you'd like to give, that's the place to do it.

And we've even got an app online, you can go to the website, and uh it's it's an important thing because that's that's worship for us.

And and my encouragement to you there is just to give out of joy.

We don't want this to be uh fear or guilt or any of this kind of kind of thing.

We just want everything that we do in our relationship with God to be about joy, and giving is just like that too.

So just pray through that and enjoy uh just enjoy being a part of what we do here at his hands.

Well, let's pray and we'll get started this morning.

Father, I'm just uh so thankful already for uh what we've heard this morning and just being encouraged, like that last song that we just sang.

Just give me Jesus.

And uh anything that's said this morning, we just pray that uh that you just give us a clear picture of Jesus.

That's the essence of everything.

So just to boil it down.

And we want a clear view of you, and uh I want to be encouraged and have joy at Christmas because of that.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, a few years ago, um I don't know, this is six or seven years ago, uh, one of my boys, I won't say which one it was, because I probably would be breaking a promise for not telling stories about them on stage, but one of them, we were having uh the kind of nighttime, bedtime routine, and uh I was in there and we had just read a book.

This was Christmas Eve.

So we just read a book and we were uh just about ready to turn the lights out and all that, and I could tell he was he's wanting to ask me something, and and he finally got up the courage and he said, you know, Dad, would you mind staying in here for a little bit?

And so I I tried to question him a little bit to see what was was going on there, and finally I got some details out of him, and what I realized was this is Christmas Eve, and and his uh his bed at the time was kind of diagonal in the room, and so he had this clear view out of his door, which is on the other opposite side of the room diagonally.

So he had this view straight through the foyer and all the way into the living room, across the living room, and in the corner of the living room, you know, 40 feet away, is the fireplace, Christmas Eve.

And we had just read, you know, in book form the twist the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

And we had just completely set that scene.

And as he gave me details of what was in his mind, you know, this four-year-old or whatever this this was at the time, I realized that I had just, you know, in essence, prophesied to him that in just a few moments our home is gonna be broken into.

And and it's the intruder is going to appear right at that spot that you have this dim view of.

And and he can probably see the first thing he's gonna see is you over there.

And he's gonna proceed to vandalize the house, but in a good way, and you know, eat some of our food and drink some of our milk, and then he's gonna come go back out, hopefully, the way that he came.

And from his perspective, he was just like, I I wouldn't mind if I just slipped through that whole thing.

And so this one poem that was supposed to bring joy and encouragement, instead, it was kind of like, I'm just kind of scared of this, and I want Christmas to come, but all this stuff in the middle I'm not so sure about.

Well, that's that's the analogy I want us to have in mind.

Today is uh the last day of us going through uh the Bible.

We've done this in eight or nine weeks, uh, and this is the last Sunday that we have.

So we're on one book of the Bible is left, Revelation.

So this, I have a unique challenge this morning, talking about Revelation in 20 minutes or so, and make it kind of Christmassy.

So no big deal.

But but Revelation, to me, Revelation is kind of like Christmas Eve for grown-ups.

It's we we read the story and it's given to us as a poem, and all these swirling symbols, and it's amazing, and it's meant to be an encouragement, but for a lot of us, it's just kind of scary too.

And we don't secretly, you know, we don't talk about that, but we'd rather just kind of sleep through the whole thing and get to the end.

And but that's not at all the original intention of the book of Revelation.

Uh it's meant to be an encouragement, and it's a great gift that the the book is written with all these symbols.

Because if it was not written in this symbolic way, then it wouldn't be something for every generation between, you know, to Jesus and the Gospels and the same Jesus that we have at the end of Revelation.

All these symbols, each generation can latch on to and resonate with.

It was, if it was written in all this technical kind of detail, like some cold timeline, then it wouldn't really accomplish its original purpose.

So, to set the scene of the book of Revelation, uh, this is written by John.

And traditionally, this is the same John, like Apostle John, that we have in the Gospels, but some people think it was different.

But if it was the same guy, then he was pretty old at this point.

And he was uh in exile on the Isle of Patmos, in the Mediterranean there.

So he was probably experiencing some of the same persecution that a lot of the churches uh in Asia Minor had experienced.

These churches in Asia Minor, the same kind of churches we talked about a few weeks ago with uh Philemon, Colossians, and all that.

So there's seven specific churches that John, I guess, is uh tied in with that Jesus wants him to write this letter to.

So John's this old man, he's in exile.

We don't know if he's in prison or if he's just stuck somewhere, and you would think that this would be a time of defeat for him, but instead, he redeems this time and he just digs in with God.

And he is praying through and worshiping, and he has all of this in his head.

He's probably reading a lot of uh the prophecy that's in the Old Testament, it's written in the same kind of language that we'll see here in this book.

And then he has this moment.

It's a Sunday on the island, and he has this revelation.

And Jesus gives him this revelation.

It says at the beginning of the book that uh God gives this revelation to Jesus, and then Jesus gives the revelation to an angel, and the angel passes it on to John, who gives it to the churches, and then by extension to us.

So there's a lot of steps there.

God to Jesus to the angel to the churches, to John, to the angel, to the churches to us.

Yeah, I get mixed up.

But this is this is a great gift of encouragement that Jesus wants to give to these churches in Asia Minor, because life is hard for them.

They are typically poor churches, and life is is difficult for them, but they're living in the midst of a culture where it's people are building these lavish temples to Roman gods just to impress Roman authorities, and it's it's just the whole empire is set up with it's just these dramatic differences in the in the people.

And it's not uncommon with what we see somewhat in our country and certainly in a lot of other countries, but they had it in a big way.

And so it was so easy for them to be discouraged.

They believe this deeply, but then again, these nagging thoughts of, is this really what I should be doing?

Is this real?

Is what I do as a believer, is it really important?

So Jesus feels this and hears these prayers, and he wants to remind them that this is amazingly important, what you do.

And he wants to pull back the veil, and that's what the word revelation means.

It's it's the unveiling.

And to see from heaven's perspective what's really going on when they do these everyday uh experiences as believers.

So, a couple things I want us to kind of keep in mind before we dive into Revelation, because obviously I'm not going to try to get into all the details and the different symbols here, but I just want to really underscore if this is a book of encouragement, then how can we make the book of Revelation joy for us?

So, first thing to remind us of is Revelation is it's Jesus speaking.

This is a revelation of Jesus that's given, you know, to John.

So this is the same Jesus that we have in the Gospels.

It's not, I have to explain this to people sometimes, it's not that the Jesus in the Gospels is the tricky Trojan horse Jesus that comes loving and forgiving, but really one day the real Terminator Jesus is going to show up.

You know?

And I'm exaggerating there, but it's it's almost like we read this and we don't know how to put it together.

But that is Jesus.

His model of victory and the cross, and we can't wrap our heads quite around how that is the power of God.

That's the same Jesus in Revelation.

So everything that Jesus says in the Gospels, especially about when he's gonna come again, has to completely square with the way that you read Revelation.

So, as an example, you know, you could read a lot of these powerful symbols and this dramatic violent stuff in Revelation, and you could easily assume that this must mean, uh just logically, this must mean that Jesus is gonna come back after this big uh ramp up of violence in the world.

And that should be a pretty easy indication of when Jesus is gonna come back, because we're gonna have all these huge violent things, but not necessarily, because Jesus says in Matthew 24, he says, However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen.

Not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.

Only the Father knows.

And when the Son of Man returns, it'll be like it was in Noah's day.

In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings, right up until the time when Noah entered his boat.

People didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept it all away, and that's the way it'll be when the Son of Man comes.

So, completely true in Revelation, everything that you see, but also completely true that this whole time that all of Revelation is going on, parties and banquets and weddings.

So it's a mystery to us.

So the second thing is, you know, there's a lot of judgment in Revelation.

There's no getting around that.

And that word comes back over and over again.

But we have to remember, we've already learned from the Bible that judgment, God's judgment, not our judgment, but God's judgment is joy.

Judgment equals joy.

And I know that seems, might seem kind of backwards, but in Psalm 96, there's several Psalms that talk about this, but Psalm 96 says, Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound and all that is in it, let the fields be jubilant and everything in them, and let all the trees of the forest sing for joy, let all creation rejoice before the Lord.

Why?

I mean, it sounds like you know you've met the love of your life or something.

Why all this joy?

The reason all this joy?

For he comes, and he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

So judgment is joy because everything that God does is good.

Everything is good, so there's not this loving side of God and then the angry side of God, and you don't really know who's gonna show up.

This is not this schizo god that we're gonna we're gonna worship.

It's all the same.

So we're so it's so difficult to wrap our heads around that because that's not the way we are.

I mean, if I fly off on the handle and it can happen, that's a whole nother, where did that come from?

But when God judges, it is absolutely loving and gentle.

And we'll see an example of that in these seven letters that Jesus gives to the churches.

Another thing to keep in mind is just have some humility when you hear about all these symbols, these huge mental images that you have in Revelation.

Have humility in how you interpret them, kind of an open hand.

And this is probably the one book of the Bible we get a lot of maybe disagreement and some honest, great opinions if we had more time to discuss it between everyone in the room here.

But as an example, like imagine you know, you're hundreds of years before Jesus, and you're in the nation of Israel, and you hear a prophecy from someone like Isaiah.

And you hear Isaiah say in like Isaiah 63.

He says, Who is this that comes from Edom, from the city of Basrah, with his clothing stained red?

Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength?

It is I the Lord announcing your salvation.

It is I the Lord who has the power to save.

So that verse completely true, right?

So be honest with yourself.

If you read that, and what would you think?

It would be so easy to imagine that the Messiah that's gonna come is gonna be this huge terminator type that is gonna slay all your enemies and his clothing is stained in crimson because he's killing a bunch of people.

And that's what a lot of people in Israel thought.

But, you know, if you've been more prayerful about it and read through uh other prophecies, you could have had a much different picture.

But it's so, it's so easy to take something and read the different context.

And in that example, what you realize is now that we've seen Jesus looking back on it, reflecting on that verse, the reason Jesus' garments are stained crimson, it's because of his own blood.

And that would, it's hard to even imagine that on the front end of it, but that's why his garments are stained crimson.

So we might very well misunderstand some of this stuff in Revelation in the same earth-shattering kind of ways that when we get there and see it, we're like, oh, that is so much better and wonderful.

But it's not like this, it's not that the symbol fails at all.

The symbol's perfect.

There's no better way to say it.

But our assumptions can really let us down.

Uh finally, remember that Revelation isn't entirely just about all the things that will happen soon.

Uh, Jesus uh tells John in the first chapter of Revelation, verse 19, he says, write down what you've seen, both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen.

So that's from Jesus.

So some of this stuff in Revelation is describing things that are already going on uh in the first century when all this is written.

And you can debate how much that was, but it has to be at least a category if Jesus volunteers that.

So for the structure of the book, it's all pretty basic.

It's uh a series of sevens, seven letters to the seven churches, seven seals broken on a scroll, seven trumpets, a dragon, a couple monsters, mother and a child, two witnesses, 144,000 people, seven bulls, a prostitute, Jesus, white throne judgment, New Jerusalem, tree of life, river flowing down from the throne of God.

See?

That's that you've got it.

We're good.

So it's a lot to get into.

Merry Christmas, you know.

But remember, this is a book of encouragement to the churches, to pull back the veil and to see just how important their relationship with God is.

So that's the focus that we want to have this morning.

So it starts with these letters to the seven churches.

So Jesus instructs John to hear the message that he's gonna give and take these seven letters, one for each church, and bind them in one scroll and send that one scroll to all seven churches, and then by extension to us.

And then it also contains, you know, the rest of the book of Revelation.

So you can read the letters as specific to each town, and a lot of the references that are given in there are have lots of neat geographic references that we won't get into.

But the promises that are given there are meant to be for all the churches and meant to be for us too.

So the structure for each one, this is the first few chapters of Revelation, Jesus announces himself, and then he talks about anything that is commendable in the church, and then anything that needs to be rebuked, he mentions that, and then he commands them to persist in everything that they're doing, and then he gives them this uh an amazing promise, one or two promises for each church, that if you persist and you're patient, the one who uh is persistent till the end will inherit this.

And it's really encouraging to read uh all seven of those promises.

So, and these are kind of out of out of order here.

Uh, to everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

Whoever's victorious will not be harmed by the second death.

To all who are victorious, I will give authority over all the nations, and they'll have the same authority I receive from my Father.

So already I'm like, that's I don't even know where to go with that.

I'm not even sure I want that.

His dreams are so much bigger than ours.

All who are victorious will be clothed in white, and I will announce before my father and his angels that they're mine.

Imagine eternity starting like that.

It's like you show up at a party at the door and you're not sure who's gonna be there.

Uh it's just gonna be uncomfortable, and as soon as you walk in, the guy that owns the house that's throwing the party sees you and says, Ben, and he stops everybody else at the party and says, Ben is here and introduces you, and instantly you feel, All right, this evening's not gonna be a disaster.

All who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.

And I will also write on them my new name.

Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne.

I can't even wrap my head around that.

Sitting with Jesus on his throne, like a kid jumping up in the lap of his father and not really fully understanding who the father is and the authority that he has, but we will there.

And then this this last one, this one is maybe my favorite this morning.

To everyone who is victorious, I will give some of the manna that's been hidden away in heaven, and I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.

That's just that's really amazing poetry right there.

So I don't know what I remember years ago, it's probably in college, I was uh reading C.S.

Lewis, and when he's describing this white stone name, the way he describes it is uh the God who loves infinitely loves all uniquely.

So that's what God does with his infinite love, is that he's able to love each person in a way that is somewhat unique.

And your story and what you've been through and who you are and how you were made reflects a distinct part of who God is and his glory.

And so, I don't know what you know mental image you have for how eternity begins, but it might be kind of scary.

You might want to swap it instead for this.

You know, it's like you show up and and this is there's this big table, and this is the name tag you're given for eternity.

And Jesus hands this to you, this white stone name, and you look at it, and for the first time you realize, now that is who I am, and you just know it.

That is so perfect.

Everything that you've been through in your life, it's all been redeemed, and there was there was purpose in it.

And this is who, not just who I've been, this is who I've been made to be in eternity.

For what whatever Jesus has planned there.

And then you look at Jesus and you have this kind of unspoken conversation, you lock eyes and just like, yeah, you nailed it.

That's who I am.

And then Jesus stops everybody and announces you before the Father, and that's how you enter in.

And then for the rest of eternity, that's that's the joy that we have, is I get to try to understand your name and who you are.

And it's, and we're jealous to know that in a good way of each other, because we all have this distinct understanding that we can bring of God.

So then we have this uh picture before the throne of God.

And God is sitting on the throne, we've got you know elders, and it's a vivid picture, and God is holding in his right hand a scroll.

And we presume this is probably this uh, well, he's I'm gonna come back to the scroll here in a second.

So God has a scroll in his right hand, and and then everyone in around the throne asks, who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll?

And John is upset and he weeps before the throne.

I don't see anyone that can do this.

And and finally someone says, Don't stop weeping, because the lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy to break the seals.

And he says, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and then he announces, look, here is the Lamb of God.

And then we see Jesus as a lamb, as if a lamb about to be has been slaughtered.

So you gotta hold that image.

That's a really great poetic image, too.

Did you catch the difference there?

Jesus is announced as the lion, but he shows up as the lamb.

He's the lion, lamb.

Lion-lamb.

So that's the mystery.

He is as powerful as a lion, but the way that he wins his victory is not the way that we would think, which is good news because we have a huge history of all of our victories end up just being messes.

But his victory is as a lamb.

And you also see this, you know, whenever Jesus shows up prominently in Revelation, he makes this huge appearance at the beginning and another huge appearance at the end.

And in both cases, Jesus appears with this sword.

But what people forget is the sword that Jesus has is coming out of his mouth in both instances.

So this is the way Jesus wins his victory.

It's the sword of his mouth.

And when we remember that, then that's the Jesus we know in the Gospels that wins his victory with his word.

He is the word of God.

This is the same Jesus spoke creation into being, and the same Jesus that wins his victory and speaks forgiveness.

It looks like weakness, but he goes right up to all of our sin and all of that that is broken, and he speaks life.

So then Jesus begins to open these seals.

And each seal that's opened up, it's this fearsome thing that happens in the scene before heaven.

But I don't think these symbols are meant necessarily to be taken literally.

I mean, some of this is like the stars in the sky fall to earth, which can't be literal.

I mean, there would, that would be the end of the story right there.

So we have to kind of have an open hand when we read all of this.

So between the fifth and the sixth seals, we have a scene where the souls that have been martyred are seen before the throne of God.

And they sing this song before the throne, and they come, and I love that it's, by the way, Jesus is doing this amazing thing.

The father has this scroll, and this is an important thing at the end of time, and Jesus is breaking the scrolls, and he gets between the fifth and the sixth seal, and then all the kids just kind of rush in and interrupt.

That's how comfortable we are before the throne of God.

And it and they say, How long?

You know, it sounds like my five five-year-old, you know, at the time, how long?

Christmas Eve.

How long do we have to wait until all that's happened to us is avenged?

How long until you come?

When is this going to be wrapped up?

And even before the throne of God, it's not like we don't have any desire.

We still have that.

We're just comfortable enough to not take it out on each other and we bring it right to Jesus.

And then the answer that's given to the question, how long?

He says, You have to wait a little bit longer so that the number of the martyrs will be complete.

And that I think is encouraging.

It's encouraging to me, and it just makes so much, so much common sense because we all bring that argument to Revelation and just to God in our own lives over and over again.

Why is this taking so long?

Why don't you just wrap everything up?

Let's just be done with this.

You know, this world's broken.

But I am thankful that God is so patient.

You know, if God had not been patient through 1971 years, I would not have even been born.

If he had not been patient through 2002 years, you know, my first son would not have been born.

So this is, and I know that's a mystery, and how, you know, I guess God could work it out differently.

But I'm kind of glad to be here and in a relationship with God.

And he is still doing really wonderful, amazing things in this world, and you are one of those things.

And so God's patience is not our patience.

So then finally, the seventh seal is unlocked, and at this moment, uh, seven angels are given seven trumpets to blow.

So it's like all these series of sevens unlocks another group of seven.

But before the trumpets are blown, uh, there's this scene where incense is brought up from the prayers of the saints, and the incense is brought before the altar, and it's lit on fire and hurled back to the earth to great effect, and there's thunder and lightning and earthquakes.

And as this happens, uh it unleashes these plagues, the trumpet blasts.

Each trumpet blast is one of these plagues, kind of like the plagues that you have in Egypt when the nation of Israel is coming out.

But again, this is encouragement for the churches.

I mean, back up to what we just described there.

The prayers of the people come before the throne of God and are presented in symbolic form as incense.

And that incense is lit on fire from God and thrown back to the earth, and that is earthquakes and thunder and lightning.

So, you know, it's it sounds scary.

Earthquakes, thunder, and lightning, but that, from heaven's perspective, is what happens when we pray.

You know, we we tend to think sometimes that I think of our prayers as if they're little pebbles we're trying to throw into the sea, and we hope they're not lost, you know.

But really, John's showing the churches through Jesus that your prayers are like this.

They are brought before God's throne, and he hears them, he lights them on fire, and throws them back to the earth to become effective.

So we're really, we're part of a really epic battle here in all of these churches in Asia Minor.

So the seven trumpet blasts, after the seventh one, uh, a mighty angel is seen with a small scroll in his hand.

And we assume this is the same scroll that came from God the Father that Jesus has unlocked here.

And it takes this scroll and he instructs John to eat the scroll.

And then he needs to make sure this message gets out to the churches.

So he says, eat the scroll, it's gonna taste sweet as honey at first, and then it will be will be bitter.

And that's encouraging.

This is this message that is only Jesus can unlock.

That this message is not just Jesus, it's also for us.

And it's meant to be consumed, it becomes a part of us.

It's kind of like the Lord's Supper.

And so this is who we are.

It's not an easy message, but it is sweet.

And that's just that's just really true.

So then there's a story of uh two witnesses that arise on the earth, and these two witnesses prophesy for a time, and then a beast comes out of a pit, declares war on them, conquers them, and kills them.

So these two witnesses they lie uh unburied in the street three and a half days, and everyone mocks them.

And then God calls up from heaven and says, Come here, come, come to heaven, and then they're uh sent to God, resurrected, and life comes back into their bodies and they go back to heaven.

And this is a huge, uh glorious thing.

And at that site, all the world responds in praise to God.

So this scene, uh, I mean, to me, I think these two witnesses represent us.

We are represented in the smallest possible form by these two people.

It's like, you know, maybe a man and a woman.

This is us.

It's kind of like the book ends of the Bible.

Adam and Eve walking with Jesus, then you have Jesus in the middle, you know, the maybe the Emmaus walk, two people there.

It might have been a man and a woman.

And it's again, we're right back to where we started, but it's so much bigger and better now.

And then here we have in Revelation these two witnesses, and their life story, their little teeny life story that's given here, it's kind of basically Jesus' life story on earth.

And they prophesy and they boldly say these things.

It's like the sword from their mouth, and there's persecution that's there, and then they die, and then they're resurrected, and Matt speaks life into the world.

So, as believers, we share in Christ's death.

We share in his difficulties also.

We're part of him.

We are in Christ, but because of that, we're in Christ, and we share in his resurrection too.

And so we are brought into this story.

Eat the scroll, make it a part of you, and this is who we are.

So finally, the the seventh trumpet sounds, and the victory is completely won.

Revelation 11 says, the world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

This is Handel's Messiah, big moment right here.

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God.

The kingdom of our God might be the translation you remember there.

So this is the middle of Revelation, and it kind of feels like the story is over here.

And in a sense, it is.

It's from this point on, it's like we back up and we see the same scene through a set of different symbols.

And honestly, we just don't have time to get into all that at this point, so I'm gonna kind of fast forward a little bit.

But this next section, it's like what we've just described, but but seen differently.

Uh, this is the part that has the uh you know, the woman and the dragon, and there's a couple uh monsters, and it's wild stuff.

I'm trying to think how much I want to try to describe here.

But basically, it's like a it's like a shell game.

You know, you've got there's the dragon who is specifically identified as Satan.

There's the dragon, and then there's the beast that comes up from the from the sea, and then there's the beast on the land.

And the beast that comes up from the sea gets his authority from the dragon, but he's like he takes all the attention.

And then the beast from the land comes up and he gets his authority from the beast from the sea, but he takes the attention for a moment.

And it's like this little shell game that's going on.

And you don't really know who's standing behind.

Beast number one or two is standing behind beast number one, beast number one standing behind the dragon.

And that's and it seems strange in the symbols, but really, isn't that what evil always does?

It's always trying to hide its true origin.

And that's what the enemy does to us.

It's this constant distraction.

Look over here, this is what's important, look over here, this is what's important.

Look over here.

And does that not resonate with all of us in our lives?

We'll just think, oh, all I care about is I just want this at work, and I just had that, and then in a split second, man, if I just had this new thing at the store, I'd be fine, you know?

And it's just back and forth.

It's this shell game.

And Jesus is just the opposite.

Jesus is turn the lights on, and here's what's true.

So if we fast forward a few chapters here to uh chapter 19, Jesus appears.

Riding a white horse named Faithful and True, and he's wearing a robe dipped in blood.

And from his mouth again comes a two-edged sword, and the name that's written on him is a name that no one understands except himself.

So just like our white stone name, Jesus has the same name that's been given to him by the Father that only he fully understands.

So the same gifts that have been given to him are given to us.

So here we get the final battle here.

And the beast that comes out of the sea, he assembles all the armies of the world and the kingdoms for this one grand battle with Jesus.

And Jesus shows up on this white horse, and all of the saints behind him, or these angels.

So you got the two sides lined up, and I love this in Revelation.

So here's the final battle.

Jesus, remember, shows up again prominently, has the sword coming from his mouth, and here's how it all ends Jesus takes his sword and wins the entire battle.

That's it.

His one sword, Jesus wins it all.

I'm not even sure why these other guys were standing behind me.

It's like, you know, emotional support.

That's that's the Jesus that's coming back.

That's the Jesus that we're excited to see.

Jesus creates with the power of his word, and his victory is like that.

You know, and this is the same Jesus in the Gospels.

This victory reminds us of the cross.

And it might, you know, be even completely echoing that.

This is Jesus, like the Easter story, it's the ultimate, the ultimate one-man show.

Because, you know, the entire Roman Empire just decides one day, hey, this guy has to go down.

He's calling himself king.

They all are line themselves up against Jesus.

All the religious leaders, this guy has to go down.

He's blaspheming God.

All of his friends, almost all of them, desert him, and Jesus is left alone.

The whole city decides, this is what we're going to do today.

This man has to be killed.

And Jesus is left there on the cross, and it's at that moment, the sword from his mouth, he speaks forgiveness.

And you are forgiven.

And in one swipe of his sword, anything that could possibly separate you from a relationship with God.

In his death there, in his resurrection, his forgiveness that's spoken and that's given, then that's how he wins the battle.

So that's the same Jesus that's going to show up and make this world new.

So here we are at the end of the story, and finally, eternity arrives.

I know I'm truncating a lot of stuff here.

Some of you are thinking, wasn't there a millennium in there?

I know.

It's just not, there's not time here.

So finally, eternity arrives.

And this is where the story has been heading for the entire Bible.

This is the moment when heaven and earth are joined together.

To remind ourselves, our hope is not heaven when we die.

That's awesome.

But our hope is, our final hope is heaven and earth joined together.

That's where the story is going.

So first we we see that the death is defeated.

And that's the hope that went all the way back to the book of Genesis.

That's made true in eternity forever.

Then we see that this New Jerusalem that's descending from heaven to earth, it's described as a perfect cube.

1,400 miles in length and width, height.

And that's about the size of the entire known world at that point, size of the Roman Empire.

So this is how big the victory is.

And there's no temple because God's there with Jesus directly.

There's no need for a sun or a moon because God and Jesus are the light.

So the gates to the city are never closed.

The love that we learn from being in God's presence is now the light that surrounds us.

His laws are written on our hearts.

So it's like that promise in Genesis, the first chapter we have, that hope, death is defeated.

That's what eternity looks like.

That's why he made that promise.

Because he knew Jesus was going to win it, and he knew that's what he wanted eternity to look like.

And then the laws are written on our hearts, like we saw in the burning bush with Moses, because that's the example we saw in Jesus, who he was, and that's what eternity looks like for us too.

And here, this is the last painting that we've had had Marlon do.

He's done one each week, and this is a perfect picture of these last two points here in eternity.

It describes a river that flows from the throne of God down the center of the main street.

And this is kind of like the river in Ezekiel 47 that Justin described last week.

So the curtain, the veil in the temple is torn, and this flood of God's Spirit comes into the earth.

And it floods the earth, kind of like the example that Jesus gave there in Matthew.

And this is the river of life that brings healing.

And the tree of life is seen on both sides of the river, however, that works.

So Marla has that as the two trees that are shown there.

And the leaves of this tree and the fruit each season is meant for the healing of the nations.

So think about that for a while.

The nations are there in eternity, but they're healed.

No more curse on anything.

And then finally, the one perfect king, Jesus, is seen on his throne right in the center of town.

And that's the promise that we saw in the fourth chapter a few weeks ago with David, the one perfect king that reigns forever.

So here we are at the very end.

So what's John's response to all of this, this amazing scene that we've tried to describe?

What's John's response at this moment?

Anyone remember this?

John's response at this glorious moment is to fall down and worship the angel that gave him the picture.

His response is idolatry.

And the angel says, No, oh my goodness, this is not what you want to do.

Don't worship me.

And the angels give some really amazing advice at this moment.

And this is what I want to leave us with today.

Revelation 19.

This is the angel responding.

He says, Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, No, don't worship me.

I am a servant of God just like you and your brothers and sisters who testify about their faith in Jesus.

Worship only God.

For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.

That's about the best advice you could get about what's the Bible all about?

How do I approach it?

How do I read it?

How can I possibly teach that to anybody else?

Take the advice of that angel right there.

First of all, you're probably going to make some mistakes.

If even the Apostle John, after seeing this amazing vision, would still, at times, he actually did this twice in the book of Revelation, resorts to idolatry.

It's that easy for us to fall into worshiping the creation and rather rather than worshiping the creator.

But that's what it's about.

The angel's advice is that the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.

So just like Nathan's saying, just give me Jesus.

That's what the Bible is about.

And we can read through Revelation, and it is joy for us.

Jesus is coming, joy to the world, because that's who Jesus is.

The same Jesus that we've seen and love from the Gospels is coming back.

So y'all ready for Jesus to come back?

Amen.

This morning.

Kind of makes you feel kind of like a kid on Christmas Eve, you know.

It won't be long.

Just a few more hours.

He's coming.

And I I might not even go to sleep.

I'm going to try to watch the whole thing.

I don't want to miss a thing.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much.

That you're coming back soon.

That the victory that you win is not something we understand.

And we don't want to serve a God that we understand.

Because that would just be a God that's just like us.

And we mess up so many things.

We want a God that surprises us and that is mysterious and wonderful.

But a God that we know is good.

And that's who you are.

And that's what we see in the Bible.

What we're honored to see in every chapter of the Bible.

It just gives us a clear picture of Jesus.

Give us Jesus.

Amen.