Bible Guys Classics: Revelation - Honeymoon & Final Judgement

So, Jeff, where did you guys go on your honeymoon

when you get married.

We had a three day honeymoon and we went to

Flint and Detroit.

Okay, so mine is just as bad. I wanted to

go to Disney World or maybe even like go extravagant

and go to like Tahiti. Right, we had like seven

grand back then, and instead we went to Toronto, Canada.

Oh that's not as bad as Detroit.

You're right, yours is worse. Yeah.

Yeah, we went and saw the Phantom of the Opera

in Detroit.

It was that tour you win, or I should say

you lose.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah it was bad. So and then

I've just been letting Bonnie down ever since. Jeez.

Yeah, we'll say we're talking about the honeymoon.

Yeah. So he's Chris and I'm Jeff, and we're the

Bible guys. So, Chris, you know how we want to

bring the most important news to our people. Yes, and

our listeners are committed to to real news. So sometimes

we read, you know, important news from the Babylon B

that they need to be updated on. But hey, we

wanted to bring a heartwarming story from the Babylon B

and you know that we believe that the Babylon Bee

is as accurate as all the other news out there.

Yes, absolutely so, National Inquirer.

That's right. So Babylon b is a cheer satire if

you don't know. But anyways, here's the headline. The headline

is this heartwarming dog finally reunited with owner who left

for thirty seconds to grab the mail. Isn't there so true?

It's so true dogs grieve when we walk out the door,

it says in a touching scene. Local dog Texts was

overcome with joy after being reunited at last with his owner, Tom,

who had briefly walked outside to check the mail. Text

hasn't been this happy since the last time Tom checked

the mail, said Tom's wife, Allison. It's like homeward bound

all over again.

Geez.

According to Alison, five year old Texts had fallen into

despair the moment Tom walked out the door. Text pecked

all five stages, agave into about ten seconds out, and

he whimpered, hung his head and finally accept that he

may never see Tom again. But Text stood faithfully by

the door to wait for Tom, and twenty seconds later

it was the happiest reunion this world has ever witnessed.

Animal scientists have been amazed at the ability of dogs

to overcome remarkable obstacles to reunite with their owners. There's

so many incredible stories of dogs waiting years for their

owners to return, or traveling hundreds of miles to find them,

said animal researcher doctor Meghan Platt. Dogs, however, are just

as elated about seeing their owners when they've been gone

for two minutes to the bathroom. Dogs are amazing creatures,

but also quite dumb that publishing time text had decided

Tom was a magical wizard after Tom had appeared to

throw a ball but the ball disappeared. Jeez, that's so funny. Cats.

I love cats and dogs, but cats couldn't care less

that you leave, And when you come back, they're like, oh,

you're back, Can you give me something to eat?

Right?

That's it. Yeah, But dogs are thrilled to see you

every day.

When Mike Cat looks at me, I feel like she's

saying you are mostly tolerable humans. It's it's just the

way it is, right. So, and I always say this comment.

I always say, like, when we get married, I want

I really wanted dogs Liz really wanted cats, so we

compromised and we got five cats. So that's what we did.

And then and then we have five cats, which by

the way, is like three cats beyond socially acceptable, yes, exactly,

and then and then and then finally, finally they're dying off,

and so I'm not down to three. And then one

of them is pretty old too, and so and so.

Yeah, so you're almost acceptable.

I'm almost acceptable. And I told them we will not

get any more cats. So, I mean, you know, I

love my cats a lot, I really do. I'm a

cat dad, I'm a big pet guy. I love all that.

But I love dogs. I just don't. I just feel

like I'm past dog time, Like like I don't want

to start the habit of king the dog.

Dogs need you. That's the problem with the dog. Yeah, right,

you can throw some some kitty litter in the corner

and throw some cat food in the other corner and

leave them for a week, yes, and they don't care,

which but which we've done.

Yeah, but dog we just have people check on them

like once a day.

Yeah. But dogs they need you, you know, all day

or day. They're dependent on you. So yep. Anyways, that's

a funny one. Our dogs do that, man, Our dogs

will stand at the door and whine and we're just

outside the glass. You know. Watering flowers in the front

yard is the dumbest thing, you know. And then when

you walk in there jumping around and it's a party

and they run and bring it a toy back to play,

and you know it's that that article is the true thing.

It's a warming. So hey, yesterday we talked about the

marriage Supper of the lamb, this big banquet, right, the

wedding of Christ and the church is really what this

is about. And then here we are with what's called

the millennium, right, so give us an update. So there's

a lot of different views on the millennium.

Yeah, so some people think the millennium is not literal,

and they would say that the millennium is something to

summarize the life that we've already lived on the earth,

that we've already lived out the millennium. And then some

people believe that the millennium is a literal millennium and

it happens right when Christ comes in chronological order, as

sort of we're addressing it. And then there are people

who believe that the millennium comes earlier than that, right,

so's there's a question on placement. There's a question on

whether it's literal or not. Some people would say they

don't really believe there is a millennium at all.

So in the same way that people would talk about

the rapture, there's people that are pre tribulation, mid tribulation,

post tribulation. With regard to the millennium, it's all about

when does the millennium happen and when does the Great

White Throne judgment happen? Right, we're talking about both those

things today. So some would say the Great White Throne

Judgment happens before pre millennial. Some believe that it happens

post millennial. Some would say say, ah, millennial, meaning I

don't believe a millennium is going to happen. And to

be clear, we're going to read about it. But a

millennium is just it's a thousand year reign of Christ

is what this is, right. A millennium is a thousand years.

So anyways, the Bible does talk about it, and it

talks about it directly after the Marriage Supper of the

Lamb in Revelation nineteen.

And it literally says that Satan's bound for a thousand years.

Yeah, so here we go, let's read about it. Yeah.

So right after verse ten of Revelation nineteen is where

the marriage supper of the Lamb ends, and the verse eleven,

it says, then I saw heaven opened, and a white

horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True,

for he judges fairly and wages of righteous war. His

eyes were like flames of fire, and his head. On

his head were many crowns. A name was written on

him that no one understood except himself. He wore a

robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word

of God. The armies of Heaven, dressed in the finest

of pure white linen, followed him on white horses, and

from his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down

the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod.

He will release the fierce wrath of God the Almighty,

like juice flowing it from a wine press. On his

robe at his thigh was written the King of Kings

and the Lord of all lords. And then I saw

an angel standing in the sun shouting. The vultures flying

high in the sky, Come gather together the Great banquet

God has prepared come and eat the flesh of the kings,

generals and strong warriors. Didn't we already read this passage?

Yeah, but it goes on.

Yeah, of horses and their riders, and of all humanity,

both free and slaves, small and great. Then I saw

the Beast and the kings of the world and their

armies gather together to fight against the ones sitting on

the horse and in his army. And the beast was captured,

and with him the false prophet, who did mighty miracles

on behalf the beast, miracles that deceived all who had

accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.

Both the beasts and his false prophet were thrown alive

into the fire lake of Sulfur, and their entire army

was killed by the sharp sword that came in the

mouth of the one riding the white horse, and all

the vultars gorged themselves on the dead bodies. So this

is where he defeats, yes, the Antichrist, And then it

picks up immediately in chapter twenty, which is maybe where

we could have started. It says, then I saw an

angel come down from heaven with the key to the

bottomless Pit and a heavy chain in his hand, and

he seized the dragon, that old serpent who is the

devil Satan, and bound him in chains for one thousand years.

The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he

then shut and locked, so Satan could not deceive the

nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward, he

must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones,

and the people sitting on them had been given the

authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those

who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and

for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped

the beast or a statue, nor accepted his mark on

their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again,

and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. This

is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead did

not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.

And holy are those who share in the first resurrection.

For them, the second death holds no power. But they

will be priests of God and of Christ, and will

reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand

years it comes to an end, Satan will be let

out of his prison. He will go to deceive the

nations called Gog and Magog in every corner of the earth,

and he will gather them together for battle, a mighty

army as numberless as sand along the seashore. And I

saw them as they went up on the broad plane

of the earth and surrounded God's people and the beloved city.

But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies

and consumed them. Then the devil who had deceived them

was thrown into the fire lake of burning sulfur, joining

the beast and the false prophet. There they will be

tormented day and night forever and ever.

So wow, so it's very clear that the thousand years

of celebration and of peace is because Satan is captured

and thrown into captivity.

That's right.

And then they said he'll have to come out a

little while. But he comes out and then he tries

to rebel and then he loses.

Yes, ultimately, that's right.

And so that's why people believe in a literal thousand

years of peace and prosperity, because it describes this, you know,

because you know, think about it. If and this is

just you know, makes sense to me. This is just

one opinion. But if the millennium refers to a life

already lived, Satan had not been bound for a thousand years,

that's right, that's right. So that's really the big indicator

as to an actual literal millennium.

And then it seems to talk about those people that

were already believers. It talks about those who were martyred

during the tribulation are raised from the dead, But those

who died during the tribulation were not right, they were

not brought They're not going to be brought back to

life until the Great White Throne judgment at the end

of that thousand years. But then Satan does get loosed, right,

and he goes out among the nations and he leads

a bunch of people astray, and then the nations turn

against Jesus again. This is the second time that humanity

turns against Jesus, and it's because Satan is so slick,

he's so compelling, and he gets him. So the question

is who are these people? It hasn't everybody already trusted Christ.

So I think that the answer there would be, these

are the people who were born during that thousand years, right.

So these are people who had not yet made a

choice to receive Christ or reject Christ right during this time.

And so those people it's not believers that turned against Christ.

It's not the martyrs that turn against Christ. They've already

died for him, right, So who else is it? It's

the people who were born during that thousand year millennium. Everybody,

everybody is going to face a moment where Jesus said,

Remember Jesus said to Peter, who to people say I am?

And so some people say you're prophet, some people say

that you're you know, John the Baptist rased from the dead,

and Jesus goes, great, Now who do you say I am?

Every one of us is going to have to stand

in front of Christ and determine who is he to us.

And you don't get in based on mom and dad's

belief system, you don't get in based on on your

friend's belief system or whatever. And you don't just get

in because God just decides to let you in. You

get in because you determined that to you, Jesus Christ

is the son of living God, right. And so I

think that it's those people that are the ones who

actually Satan's able to tempt and pull away, and.

A thousand years is a long time. Yeah, I have kids.

Yeah yeah.

Look look at our population increasing just just in our lifetime, yeah, right,

by billions.

Right, yeah, so that's that's it. And then he finally

he defeats Satan for the final time. Right, So firstly

he had beaten the anti Christ and the and the

false prophet. And now I love how it describes, you know,

that that old dragon, that old serpent, that Satan the devil,

right and defeats him. And then after that, all those

that had died during the tribulation, they are raised from that. Everybody. Now,

every human that's ever lived goes and stands before the

Great White Throne judgment. This is different from the judgment

Seed to Christ. Judgment. Seed of Christ is just every Christian,

but the Great White Throne is every human. Remember, there's

a time when Jesus says that God's going to sort

out the sheep from the goats, right, that's this time.

That's this time, right, And just to.

Be clear, this is the very next verse from the

passage we just read. Yeah, so we literally read everything

in sequential order all of chapter nineteen, Chapter nineteen eleven

to twenty one.

But we had read the Marriage Supper of the day before.

Oh yeah, yeah, the day before.

I was about today, yeah, and then and then this complete,

this will complete all of revelation twenty yeah.

And so he says in verse eleven, and I saw

a great white throne, and the one sitting on it.

The earth and the sky fled from his presence, and

they found no place to hide. I saw the dead,

both great and small, before God's thrown. And the books

were opened, including the Book of Life, and the dead

were judged according to what they'd done as recorded in

the books. The sea gave up, it's dead, and the

death and the grave gave up they're dead. And all

were judged according to their deeds. Then Death and the

grave were thrown into the Lake of fire. And this

lake of fire is the second Death. And anyone whose

name was not found recorded in the Book of Life

was thrown into the lake of fire.

There it is, and the great way thrown judgment. It's

not a feel good moment for people.

Who don't know God, for lost people, right, And.

So we're going to really get into that tomorrow, talking

about heaven and hell and a little bit more tomorrow,

so we'll save that part for that. But the idea

that the Great White Throne judgment is referenced and it

is real, and it is the time where you're going

to be. So we believe that this is the time

that is referred to in the New Testament where he says,

depart from me, for I never knew you.

Yeah.

Right, So we stand in front of God and they says, God,

I've prophesied in your name and I've done great things.

And then God says, depart from me, for I never

knew you. So those who even think they know about

God or they've heard about the things of God, and

yet they've not put their trust in Jesus Christ, we'll

get to heaven assuming that they've been around religion enough.

And this is the moment at the Great White Throne

judgment where God says no.

Yeah, And this is also where Jesus says that God

will say, well done, good and faithful service. Enter into

my rest right that I've prepared for you. So you

have the sheep and the goats being separated, the sheep

being followers of God, the goats being pretender in the chef. Yeah.

Thea in the chief that Jesus talks about. So in

this situation, then, just to remind you as you read

through this, we're not saved by deeds. We talked about

that in Ephesians chapter two yesterday. But deeds are seen

as clear evidence of a person's relationship with God. Right,

James tells us that faith, how works, is dead. You

can claim to be a Christian, but if you're not

living for God, maybe not right, So faith ought works

is dead. And and it's kind of one of those

deals where in this situation, what he's measuring is whether

or not our name is in the Book of Life, right,

and and that our name being written in the Book

of Life is because of placing our faith and trust

in Jesus Christ. That's the ultimate deed. Right. So we

haven't done any other work to get to Heaven. But

whether in our names in then in the Book of Life,

it's all about whether our faith has been christ We.

Had a traveling evangelist that came to our church one

time on a Sunday night, you know, in this little

Baptist church, and he was talking about the Book of Life.

He was talking about salvation, and you know, you can

get saved today, and he says, just remember he was

talking about eternal security. Just remember when God writes your name,

when the in the Lamb's Book of Life, he doesn't

have an erasaur.

That's right, that God's pencer, God's pencer and sharp we wrote.

He wrote your name in the blood of the Lamb.

That's really is what he did. But yeah, so then

he throws death in hell and the grave hades is

is kind of including the hell thing thrown into the

lake of fire. And then this is God's judgment finished,

It's complete, and it says that those whose name is

not found written in the Book of Life are also

thrown into the Lake of Fiance, the second death. So

we're going to talk about that tomorrow. But it's the

ultimate destination of everything wicked, Satan, the Beast, false prophet, demons,

death Hades, all those whose names are not recording the

Book of Life because they didn't place their faith in

trust in Jesus Christ. And quite honestly, the Book of Revelation,

of all books, the Book Revelation gives no room for

middle ground. There's no gray areas in this. Either your

names in the Lamb's Book of Life or it is

not right. And that's why it's so important. This is

why if you're either your name is in the Lamb's

Book of Life or it is not. This is why

when the disciples say to g An Acts chapter one,

Hey tell us, are you about ready to come back?

He goes this, none of your business. I'm going to

send you the Holy Spirit. Get to work. Tell everybody,

because at the very end, the only thing that will

matter about you, about the people you love, about all

the people in the world, is is your name in

the Lamb's Book of Life or is it not? And

there's no gray area at that point. That's huge.

Yeah, that's huge. Yeah, And you know what, it's a

great reminder that all of us should not be afraid

to bring up spiritual conversations.

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting because I think I referenced this

so long ago on HD Daily podcasts that I had

a neighbor and he knew I was a young pastor.

And then after years, as we're cleaning up leaves in

my front yard and he was helping me, he said,

I have a question, why have you never talked to

me about God? And I was like, because I didn't

want to be the weird, creepy neighbor who's a religious fanatic,

and he's like, yeah, I sort of have wished, and

I was waiting for you to bring up God to

me because I've always wondered about it. And he's basically admitted,

and he didn't say it directly, but he basically admitted.

That's the reason why he hung out with me. That's

the reason why he was helping with the leaves. He

was waiting for me to bring it up. And I

think that oftentimes people don't bring up God because it's

an uncomfortable subject for some people. They don't like to

think about those things. They push it off, or they

have all these objections that they don't want to really

get into, and people have all this baggage attached to it.

But at the same time, I think that most people,

deep down inside want to know, which is why when

I bring up I bring up the question. By the way,

I do this at every funeral unless the family requests

that I don't do it right. It's my job to

serving the family. And if they say don't do this,

don't do that, I'm like, hey, that's fine, so they've

chosen a funeral, you know, not like that, but for

the most part, ninety eight percent of all funerals I've

ever done, I spend my last five or six minutes

with the exact same speech, literally verbatim. I can quote

it to you right now, and and I basically the

intro to that is one sentence I say, I'd like

to spend my last few remaining moments together by answering

one simple question, which is this, how can any one

of us know for certain that we can go to

Heaven when we die? How can anybody in this chapel

have any confidence that that could actually be true. That's

what's That's the where I start. And here, but here's

what I see. I see that at funerals people are there,

and which is why I know it sounds strange, but

I actually think that funerals are one of my favorite

things to do. And it's because of these reasons. Number One,

I always give the gospel ninety eight percent of the time.

Number Two, I give it to people who most likely

will never set foot in church, right right, I mean

the people these are people who are forced right and

then and then number three, I'm giving the gospel at

a time when people are our most received to it.

Because they're thinking about death, and then they don't normally.

And then the fourth reason is kind of a strange reason.

I actually think it's a good on ramp to hear

a pastor who is relatable in such things, because sometimes

there's pastors who get up and they're just not the

best representative. And it's like people think, that's why I

don't go to church because of this, because of this guy,

and you know he's talking about you know whatever. So

I so anyway, bottom line is is, here's the point

of that entire narrative. Is that when I say that

intro question, how can anybody know for certain? How can

anybody have any confidence that that could be true? I'm

not even kidding the people who are glazed over because

we're talking about Aunt Bertha's you know, like of planting flowers. Finally,

when I when I ask that question, I see the

eyes shift, and even even the most like non typical

person who would be in church to listen to you,

the hardest of you know, the the roughest, gruffiest guys, right,

they'll look up and they're like, wow, he really said

that in a compelling way, and then they just lean

in like Okay, what's the answer, And I'm telling you

it most people want to hear about it. So anyway,

I'll just end with this thought. That was a long

rant to say that all of us should have courage,

all of us should understand what's at stake, and all

of us should understand the assignment that God has given

to us, which is, tell everybody you.

Can't at the Great White Throne. It's not going to

matter to us anymore. Was that embarrassing? Was it awkward?

Did I bring up a topic they didn't want to

talk about? Right when God is sorting us out and

we turn right and they have to turn left and

we're separated. The only thing that's going to matter at

that moment is I wished i'd spoken up. I wished

I told them right. Yeah, it's going to be huge,

and so hey, everybody in your life, everybody you care about,

it's going to spend eternity somewhere and you have the answer,

so share it.

Well, that is a great place to wrap up, and

we're going to tackle heaven and Hell tomorrow, so hopefully

we'll see you then on the Bible Gush