The Finale | Selvin Cortez

Wow, it is here, guys.

Uh I have been longing for this day.

Uh, it is the finale of our three-week series on the end times.

Now, I want to invite you to log in, subscribe, go into the podcast, go back to the last two messages because they have been so powerful.

We've had so many testimonies of what God is doing.

And my prayer, my prayer, even before we get into the message, my prayer is that there would be a level of urgency, urgency in our hearts to know that that He is coming back.

His eminent return is on its way.

It's going to happen.

It's going to happen.

And what we've been looking at is the rapture of the church.

That moment is going to happen in the twinkling of an eye, in the blink of an eye, in the flash of a light bulb, it's going to happen.

And the church is going to be lifted up.

And in that moment, we are going to see our King of Kings.

And the Bible calls him for us, we are his bride and he is the bridegroom.

And we're going to be united with our bridegroom, the bride and the bridegroom together.

And we're going to celebrate seven years in the clouds.

The Bible says that we will see him in the clouds.

And while that is happening here on earth, something historic like has never been seen in the history of mankind, a devastation, a wrath that is going to come down on earth and all the unbelievers that were left behind.

Now, God is so faithful that even in that time of reckoning, that time of wrath upon the earth, those seven years, God is still going to have a remnant.

A remnant means a people that are still going to believe in him, that are going to come to belief in Christ.

And that's going to start with the preaching, like the incredible preaching of these 144,000 that we looked at, plus two witnesses, and that's all happening down here on earth.

They are evangelizing the world while we are up in heaven.

So you don't want to miss the first ride.

You don't want to miss the first bus.

Uh, there is a second bus, but it's going to be really tough.

Really tough to get on that one.

And so the first bus is at the rapture.

And so after that comes the the coming of the Lord.

And so then we come back.

We come back to this earth.

Now we come back with Jesus.

Jesus is riding on the clouds.

He's going to be coming down on a white horse.

And the Bible says that his army, now we're no longer his bride, we're still his bride, but the Bible calls us his army, the angel, the army of God is coming behind him, and we're going to we're going to reign and rule with him.

And on his uh his name is called faithful and true.

And on his leg is the name that is above all names, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And he's gonna come down, and and that's where that's where we're at right now.

We're at the moment where where we come down and we reign with Christ.

Now, the the beginning of this series started like this.

Why show us?

Why show us all of this?

You see, God could have just said, Christ is coming back, don't worry about it, you'll be okay, everything's gonna be fine, that's it.

End of story.

But he doesn't.

He goes in in deep details as to why it's going to happen, what does it mean?

What are the events that are going to come through that?

And in that, we go back to Revelation chapter one, verse three.

Uh, the reason why God reveals all of this scripture, all of all of the book of Revelation, is because the Bible says, Blessed are those who read, hear, and keep the words of this prophecy.

Blessed are the ones who read, hear, and keep the words of this prophecy.

I heard a testimony this week uh of a of a preacher who was invited to go to Brazil to preach.

And this is a massive church, like like not like like in the States, massive.

I mean like like huge, massive.

And so he was invited to go preach.

His name is John Bevere, and he was invited to go preach at this church.

Uh uh, and and uh the church has like six gatherings um all over the country.

In total, they're close to almost 200,000 people.

Like, that's how big that church is.

And so, and so he's there preaching, and and uh I'm sorry, he arrives and somebody opens the door to the car, he gets in the car, they take him to the hotel later that night, they have a dinner, and at that dinner, he says to he says to the the people organizing, the people that invited him uh who are at that dinner, he says, Man, how did you do it?

Like, how do you grow?

Because they started with like 30 people, like four families.

How do you go from four families to 200,000 people?

Like, I wish, I wish I could have met, I wish I could have met the founder.

Like just to just to see and talk to him and and and see how he did it, his vision, and the people sitting at the table said to him, You did meet him.

And he says, What?

What do you mean I did meet him?

When did I meet him?

He said, He was the guy that opened the door to the car.

He's the founder.

And you met him, he opened the door, he let you in the car, and then you took off.

Um, but he wanted to be here tonight, they said to him, but this is his prayer moment.

So, so he he doesn't really interrupt his prayer moment for anything or anyone.

And so, so the reason, and so he said, Oh my good, you guys did this in one generation?

He said, Yeah, then how did you do it?

And they said, Oh, well, that's easy.

Um, we believe in in in we've got we've got our our our core beliefs of the church, and the first one is saved by grace through faith.

So it is not by works, but by what Jesus did.

The second thing that we believe is baptism.

We believe in baptism that you that Christ has called us to be baptized, and the third thing that we believe, and the third thing that we teach every single day, every single Sunday, is the coming of Jesus.

And he's like, that that's it.

Like, like I he said, I believe that too.

Mine's like order number nine, number ten.

Like on my list, it's like number nine or ten.

Um, I've got a couple of other things that I do before that.

He said, they said, no, we that's what we preach.

That's what we believe.

We believe that people should come to Christ by grace through faith, that it's not by their works, nothing they can do to uh to gain salvation, but but uh from there we go into baptism, and then you need to know where you're going.

You need to know where you're going to spend eternity.

That knowing why you need to know that, knowing that you're going to spend eternity somewhere gives us a sense of urgency today as to how am I going to live?

What am I going to do for the kingdom of God?

And that's what this message, and that's what the book of Revelation is all about.

It's about establishing the kingdom of God here on earth.

Now, watch this.

Um, we've been preaching that Christ has been like even from when I was young, I remember there was there were campaigns, evangelistic campaigns that would go around, and and there was one really specific one.

Those of you that have been in church a while, you know this one Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames.

And they would this was a play that would go from church to church to church, and it was wonderful.

And we've been preaching about the coming of Jesus for forever.

Now, watch this.

Peter, Peter says this in 2 Peter, um, it says that there will be there will be scoffers.

There will be in the end times, there will be scoffers.

People that say, Where is the Lord Jesus?

Haven't you been preaching that he's coming back and nothing has changed?

2 Peter chapter 3, verse 3.

2 Peter 3:3

Nothing has changed.

Where is the Lord that you're calling on?

And nothing has changed from the time of our fathers till now.

And so let me tell you something.

That that's a really interesting phrase or sentence because people uh believe that Christ is coming, and some people they're like, well, maybe he's coming, but when is he coming?

And and he hasn't come, so so maybe I shouldn't do, uh shouldn't shouldn't plan for my future.

Maybe, maybe I should plan for my future, maybe, maybe I should be afraid, maybe I shouldn't be afraid.

And so there's this this whole idea that um he he if he says he's coming back, why hasn't he come back?

Um and when is he going to come back?

And so there are there are so many lines of thought that are surrounding this one event, but we know that he's c he's going to come back.

We know we don't know when.

And and if you're really interested, at the end of the service today, we're gonna go to the auditorium if you have questions specifically on the end times.

And I have some answers that I'm not gonna preach from up here because that would take us into uh some other avenues, but I've got some answers that God has just uh shown through his word about what that means for our life.

So I invite you after the service to our QA.

So we've got uh we've got this idea that that there's scoffing going on in the end times.

When is he coming back?

Is he even coming back?

But the answer to that is yes, he's coming, and he is coming quickly.

He is coming soon.

The clock of the Lord Jesus, the clock of his coming is right around the corner, and I believe it's already there, and we are living in a time of grace where God is holding back his coming because he's waiting for more and more people to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his grace.

And so we see this that the kingdom of God is coming.

So, so watch this.

Uh, the the the heavens open up.

That was last week's message.

The heavens open up, the king is coming down, and there's something really interesting because the Bible says that when Jesus ascended to heaven, he ascended from the Mount of Olives.

Okay?

The Mount of Olives, if you remember back from our um, it would have been the Passover message.

It would have been the Passover message.

We talked about the the East side, and and Jesus leaves the city, Jerusalem, through the east gate.

And the Bible says that he's going to come back into Jerusalem through the east gate.

Okay?

That's what the Bible says.

So Jesus is coming down.

The Bible says that He he puts his feet on the Mount of Olives, and as soon as he does that, the Mount of Olives splits in half.

Now, Jesus, if he were to come right now, if if you were to go to Jerusalem right now and you would see the East Gate, this is what the East Gate looks like.

The East Gate.

The other picture.

It's coming, it's coming.

There it is.

Okay, so so this is Jerusalem right now, okay?

This is Jerusalem right now.

And and in the middle, you see that the dome of the rock?

That place is a mosque.

The dome of the rock is a mosque.

It's it's a it's an Islamic temple.

Now, on that gate, right here, right here, this is where this is where the temple of Solomon needs to be.

And this is the only place that God would allow his temple to be.

And so there is no temple right now, therefore they can't do any sacrifices.

When Jesus comes back down to earth, here's what the Bible says.

The Bible says that he's going to come in through this door right here.

This is the east gate.

Now, if we zoom into the east gate, that's what it looks like.

And in the 16th century, the the Ottoman Empire, the the Sultan Suleiman, they they called him Suleiman the Magnificent.

I wish somebody said Selvin the Magnificent.

Um his name was Suleiman the Magnificent.

He said this.

He went into the scripture and he said, Whoa, the Messiah has to come through the East Gate?

Not on my watch.

And so what he did was he he boarded it up.

Now watch this.

He was he was he was pretty he was pretty fixated and not letting the Messiah come in through the East Gate.

Because the Bible says he's got to go through the East Gate.

That's the one.

And so what he did was he he stoned up the entrance.

And then to make matters worse, in front of it, he made a graveyard.

So in front of the east gate is a graveyard.

So so the Messiah cannot go through there because it's a graveyard and it's closed off.

Now, when Messiah comes back, when the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes back, and us with him, the Bible says that the earth is going to, this is the view, by the way, by the way, right here, this this angle looking in this way, this is the Mount of Olives.

This is exactly what Jesus is going to see when he comes back down to earth.

And so he's going to put his feet on the ground, and as soon as he does that, the earth is going to split.

And then that door is going to open.

And Jesus is going to walk right through it.

Now, in that moment is the moment that you've you've seen it in movies, you've heard the name, the term, Armageddon.

The war to end all wars.

Not World War One, not World War II.

This is Armageddon.

And during the Armageddon War, the Antichrist gathers an army of men, and it's just an army that has no number.

There's just so many people that are coming up against Israel.

And in that moment, when all hope is lost for Israel, when all hope is lost, Jesus, the King of Kings, comes back.

And in that moment, something incredible happens.

In that moment, he opens up his mouth and destroys all of the armies.

And the Antichrist and the false prophet.

Okay, there's gonna be two entities that are going to be very, very heavy satanic beings during that time.

The Antichrist and the false prophet.

Both of them are taken immediately.

There is no resistance here, it's Jesus.

Okay, so so it's not like, oh, I'm gonna fight back and uh no, there is no resistance.

It's it's like a hot knife on butter.

That's how easy it's going to be.

And so he's going to take the Antichrist and the false prophet, he's gonna take them and he's going to throw them into the lake of fire.

Now stay with me because the lake of fire is gonna come back in a moment.

And in that moment, in that moment, once the Antichrist and the false prophet are launched into the lake of fire, there is a judgment that is going to happen.

Now, last week we looked at the bhima seat, right?

The bima seat, if you remember, that's where we receive rewards.

In this judgment here, it's called the judgment of the sheeps and the goats.

I know it doesn't sound very dramatic, uh, but it's called the judgment of the sheep and the goats.

Now, how many of you have been in church long enough to know the Bible verse that says, um, I was in prison and you visited me.

I was naked and you dressed me, I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.

Right?

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

Now we use that Bible verse awesome to go out and minister.

And and prison ministries are founded on this verse, and and and giving and generosity is founded on this verse.

Can I say this?

That verse is actually an eschatological verse, which means that it is a future tense verse.

And so when Jesus sits on his throne in Jerusalem, he's going to separate the nations, the nations that came up against Israel, the nations that persecuted Israel during those seven years.

He's going to separate those nations from the nations that helped Israel during those seven years.

The nations that saw the Jewish people and the Christians and saw them naked, saw them uh uh um needing uh water and food and clothes.

Those nations are what Jesus calls the sheep.

And the nations that persecute Israel during those seven years are called the goats.

And those nations and the peoples in those nations are cast into ready the lake of fire.

And the only people that are left are the sheep.

The ones that survived the seven years of tribulation and great tribulation, the church that survives that moment.

I'm sorry, not the church, the believers that survive that moment.

They are human beings, and they are the ones that Jesus allows to enter into what we now call the millennial kingdom.

And so we will reign with him.

Armageddon uh uh is is in Revelation chapter 19.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

In fact, let's let's let's go back just a second.

Zechariah 14:4.

Zechariah 14:4

Zechariah 14.4 describes to us what that day is going to be on.

So, so on that day, Zechariah 14:4, on that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving to the north and the other half moving south.

Zechariah 14:4

You will flee by the mountain valley, for it will extend to Azelle.

You will flee as you fled from the earthquakes.

And so on that day, the Bible says there will neither be sunlight nor cold nor frosty darkness.

The day of the Lord has now come, and his kingdom is now being established, and then Armageddon happens, the sheep and the goats happen, and then something incredible.

So now we've got the people that are entering into a kingdom, the kingdom of Jesus.

And in that moment, Satan is bound.

Now he's not destroyed, stay with me.

He is bound.

Literally, he's gonna be bound.

And the Bible says that the archangel Michael, uh, gave uh Michael is going to take him and throw him into an abyss.

Not the lake of fire just yet.

He's going to be bound and thrown into an abyss, and in that abyss, he won't be able to come out for a thousand years.

And this is what we call the thousand-year reign of Jesus.

In that thousand year reign, there is peace on earth like there has never been in the history of earth.

Because the one that's ruling earth is Christ and us with him.

We will reign together with Jesus during that 1,000 year reign.

And so look.

Let's go to the graphic for a second.

We're gonna go to this graphic.

This is where we are at.

The rapture happened, the tribulation is happening on earth.

The second coming of Jesus has now happened, and now we are here.

Christ reigns for a thousand years, right here.

Christ is reigning for a thousand years.

Do you know what's going to happen during that reign?

The Bible is very clear.

Isaiah prophesied this thousands of years ago.

And he says that the lamb will lie down with the lion.

And and the the tiger will lie down with the sheep.

It's like there's not going to be any any um danger.

It says the children, it says the child will be able to put his hand in the pit of a cobra and play with it.

You don't believe me?

Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 11.

Let's go to Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 11.

Uh we're gonna go one tonight.

This is a pretty long one.

Um let me go to verse 2.

The spirit of the Lord will rest on him.

Um the spirit it's talking about Jesus, and then uh it goes here.

Uh verse six.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them, the cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

This is going to be a full-on utopia.

And it's going to be Christ reigning, and it's going to be awesome because we're going to be reigning with him.

And so the reason that God is showing us this is so that we know we are standing on victory.

Like the devil is going to be bound.

And there is no more, no more pain, no more suffering for a thousand years.

Now you're probably wondering why a thousand?

Like, why not just get rid of him altogether?

If you have that question, guess where I'm inviting you?

To the QA.

There is a reason why it speaks on the thousand-year reign.

And some of you, that word one thousand is triggering something in your mind to God.

One day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day?

Yeah, hold on to that question for the after party.

Okay?

So afterwards, hold on to that question and I'll explain to you why.

But it is awesome.

It's going to be one thousand-year reign of Christ.

Now, now, what's interesting is that after that thousand years, after that thousand years, there's a rebellion that happens.

So if we go back to the image, we are here.

Right now, in this moment, we're we're in the storyline, we are in the millennial kingdom, and then after 1,000 years, there is a final rebellion that happens.

And that final rebellion, you're probably thinking, like, like, who in who in their right mind?

They're seeing Jesus.

He's sitting right there.

They're seeing us, the church.

And as a church, we are immortal.

We are, we, we, we take on, the Bible says that we shed mortality and we take on, we are dressed with immortality at the rapture.

At the rapture back there.

So we are dressed with immortality.

So we are living all thousand years.

Okay?

But the people that survived the tribulation, they are still humans.

And they will continue to reproduce.

And they will reproduce for a thousand years.

The difference with that type of human and us today is that they're not going to have the influence of the enemy over their lives.

They're not going to have oppression of the demons over their lives.

So they're going to see literally the throne of Jesus, him sitting there, and us glorified and reigning and ruling together with him, and yet they're still going to rebel.

You see, the problem, the problem with humanity isn't the devil.

The problem with humanity is the heart.

And so we were born into sin because we inherited it and we are given over to sin.

The Bible says that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

And so the problem isn't the devil influencing.

What the devil does is he takes that sin that is already inherent in you and he makes you uh work at it.

He makes you, he makes you uh uh produce more of it.

And so he influences our decision our decisions that way based on the sin nature that we have.

And in this moment, he's not even around.

He's bound, he's not even around.

And yet the rebellion starts coming up.

We don't want to accept him, we don't want his lordship, we don't want him uh to reign and rule over us.

We don't want that.

We want to reign and rule over our own lives.

And it reminds me, it speaks of the lion here.

We spoke of the lion a couple of times.

It reminds me of going to Gramby Zoo.

Yeah, you guys have been to Gramby Zoo, right?

Some of you, some of you have had closer encounters with lions than you would uh that than you would want.

Um but but but check this out.

We all go to Grammy Zoo, and there's there's lions there, okay?

Now, now watch this.

I'm not an animal activist, okay?

That's not who I am.

I just don't like zoos, okay.

The reason I don't is not because of the zoo itself, it's because I know that a lion needs a lot of space.

Now, I would love, like, like like just just hear me out for one second.

One second.

This part this isn't part of the message.

The lion at Gramby Zoo is right here.

Do you know, do you know what's next to the lion at the Gramby Zoo?

The zebras.

Like, you don't think he smells them?

Like, you don't think he knows they're there, but he can't have access?

Like, that's what kills me.

Like, I I would go to Gramby Zoo every single day if they opened up the gate.

Just open the gate, let them do what they do.

Um, and so so we go.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry if there's kids.

Uh but but I know they can smell.

I know they can smell.

So, so we go, we take our families, we take our young children, we take our babies to the zoo, and we see the lion in all its glory.

And I don't know if you've ever had the chance to to hear the lion roar.

And I'm thinking of of of the the movie.

What's the the movie?

Madagascar, you know, when he's like and everyone's like, ah yeah.

Um if you've ever heard a lion roar, it is awesome.

Okay, like it is just amazing.

And then you're like, yay! And then you turn around and go home, right?

You see the lion, you admire the lion, you might be in awe of the lion.

But what if that lion, that same lion, was in your living room when you got home?

Who who who is who is lord of your living room if there is a lion sitting there?

The lion.

If the lion is in your living room, right now, tonight, you go home, open the door, bang, lion sitting right there.

You're going to be, you're gonna be like, what is going on?

What do I do?

What do I do?

And and I think I think that's how we treat Jesus sometimes.

I think, I think we come to church, worship, awesome, music, awesome, lights, awesome, sound, awesome, everything awesome.

In fact, we bring our families, look at, look at, look at look at Jesus.

We stand in awe of him, we raise our hands, we worship him, but but ultimately, ultimately, is he sitting on the throne of your heart?

Because if he isn't, he is Lord of your heart.

And in the moment where he becomes Lord, he's the one that reigns and rules in your living room.

He's the one that reigns and rules in your decisions, he's the one that reigns and rules in everything you do.

So it's not about admiring, that's great.

We worship him, but we worship him because he is our Lord and He's coming back.

That's why we worship Him.

And He may be sitting in my living room right now.

He has all control.

Now, now you might not want to give that up.

But I know I want to.

He has control over what I watch.

He has control over what I write.

Yeah.

He has control over what I read.

He has control.

He reigns and rules.

Because he's gonna do that anyway.

And so these people they're they're looking at the lion sitting on the throne and they're saying, I don't want him.

I don't need him.

And so the problem is the heart, not Satan.

And after a thousand years, and again, stay with me in the QA if you want, after the thousand years, Satan is released.

And he goes on and he starts deceiving thousands upon thousands upon thousands.

The the sin was already in their heart.

The desire to rebel against Christ and us as as his kings and his priests, that desire was already there.

He just comes in and deceives them even greater.

And so they arm the last rebellion, the last time.

And again, it's not much of a rebellion, it's just a lot of deceit, a lot of of deceit that is going on right in this moment.

And at that moment, guys, at that moment, something incredible happens.

Jesus says, That's it.

No more.

The Bible says that the heavens roll away from him, and the earth rolls away from him, from Jesus.

The heavens and the earth, all of creation, the universe, everything that is in existence today is wiped out completely.

There is nothing that is going to be left over except one last throne.

The great white throne.

And this is the only thing after one thousand-year reign that is going to remain.

And in that moment, it's the great white throne of Jesus.

And the Bible says that he takes, ready for this?

He takes Satan.

He takes Satan, grabs him, and ready, launches him into where?

The lake of fire.

That was designed specifically by God for him and his angels, him and the demons.

The lake of fire was designed for Satan.

By who?

By God.

And this is the eternal torment.

The Bible calls it the second death.

And this place is an eternal torment for Satan and all of his demons.

And then it's called a great white throne.

Because the Bible says that hell, Hades, gives up its dead.

So let me be real specific here.

Right now, when somebody dies that is a believer, they go to heaven.

They go to a resting place, they go to heaven.

When somebody dies that is an unbeliever, they go to hell.

But hell, as awful as it is right now, is just the jail house.

And so what's going to happen, just like today in our judicial system, if somebody commits a crime, they go to jail.

They see a judge and receive the sentence.

That sentence could mean prison.

Yes?

So the jail, right now, hell is a holding place that is awful.

But it's not the end.

The Bible says that after those thousand years, hell will give up its dead.

And they will receive a body.

The people that are in hell right now, it's their souls that are being tormented.

The Bible says that in this moment their bodies are going to be resurrected, flesh and bone, and they will also be thrown into the lake of fire.

Everybody whose name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be cast out and thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity.

Now can you imagine a place where Satan himself is being tormented?

And multiply that by infinity.

And that's what's destined for him, his angels, and all who reject the lordship of Jesus.

It's a very sobering thought.

It's a very sobering thought.

And then the question becomes again, why tell us this?

Why tell us that there is a lake of fire?

The most infinitely unimaginable place of suffering.

Because if that place exists, so does heaven.

So does.

And when I say heaven, what I mean by that is after everything has been judged, the Bible says that that hell gives up its dead, and hell is launched into the lake of fire.

The Bible says that death gives up its dead and it is launched into the lake of fire.

So now there is no more, literally, no more Satan, no more demons, no more hell, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death.

And in that moment, the Bible says that Jesus turns around and he creates a new heaven and a new earth.

And a new heaven and a new earth.

Guys, that is where eternity begins.

That's where our eternal place starts.

It starts after the thousand years.

It starts after that all that judgment.

The great throne, the great white throne is now done, and Jesus makes a new heaven and a new earth.

And in that new heaven and in that new earth, we will not need of sunlight or the moon because he will be the light.

He will be our warmth.

He will be our presence.

He will be our provider.

We will spend all eternity with him.

And the Bible says that we will see him face to face as he is without sin.

There will be no more sin, no more suffering, no more death, nothing for all eternity.

That is what is awaiting us as a church.

That's what's awaiting you when you accept Christ in your heart, the Lordship of Jesus over your life.

When you do that, that's what's waiting for you on the other side.

And what a glorious moment that's going to be.

What a glorious moment that's going to be.

Blessed are you.

There is a blessing when we read the book of Revelation that God wants you to have and to obtain.

He doesn't want you to be afraid because you have been sealed and marked by the Holy Spirit to live eternally with Jesus Christ for all the ages.

You have been sealed and marked.

You have been purchased.

See, salvation right now is free.

Right now, salvation is free.

It's yours.

All you have to do is say, I believe that Christ came to this earth.

I believe that he is my Lord and Savior.

And I confess with my mouth that he was risen on the third day.

That's it.

That's all it takes is for you to believe in your heart and to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

It's free.

But it came with a price.

And that price was the blood of Jesus.

His sacrifice at Calvary.

That's why we get to be in heaven.

That's why he's showing us all of this.

Because ultimately, guys, the blessing of the book of Revelation is to understand relationship.

It's to understand that He wants to be with you.

To understand the book of Revelation, we gotta go back to Genesis.

He made a garden.

The Garden of Eden.

He made it.

And he said, Let us make man in our own image.

In Genesis.

Let us make man in our own image.

And man rejected Jesus.

And so he has to cast them out of the garden.

And years go by, years go by, years go by.

And all of a sudden, he takes his people out of Egypt and into the wilderness.

And he says, Let them make for me a dwelling place, a tabernacle, that I may dwell with them.

You see, the heart of God has always been to be with us.

In Genesis, the Bible says that he walked with Adam.

He walked in the stillness of the day, in the coolness of the day.

He walked with him.

Adam rejected him.

Then in Moses and in the wilderness in the desert, he walked with them.

He told them, Build me an ark, build me a temple, build me a tabernacle where I can literally the word tabernacle means a place of meeting where I can meet with you, so I can be with you.

And so they built the tabernacle, and God descended and was among his people, and they rejected him.

And then in the Gospels we see Jesus taking on a human body, becoming himself the temple, bringing the presence of God down to earth.

Literally, his name is Emmanuel, God with us.

John says, and the and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He was here on earth, and what did man do?

Crucify him.

The greatest sin humanity has ever done was to murder the Son of God.

That's the greatest sin of all time.

The darkest day of all time was when he was on the cross.

But leave it to God to make of the darkest day the most glorious day.

Because of the darkness that happened on the cross, he looked forward.

The Bible says that because of the joy that was placed before Jesus, he endured the cross.

The joy that was presented before Jesus was to see you and me together here, praising his name, worshiping his name, gathering together in corporate worship to lift up the name of Jesus.

That was the first joy.

The second joy was to know that he would spend all eternity with you and with me.

So he restores.

On the cross, Jesus cried out, to telestai, which means it is finished.

Yes?

Great, it is finished.

Do you want to know something?

There are three times that he says this.

On the cross, he says, it is finished.

The power of death no longer reigns.

The power of sin no longer reigns because now I live in them through the Holy Spirit.

I live in them.

There's no more power of sin over your life.

It is broken over your life.

It is finished.

At the end of the seven years, at the last bowl that is poured out, the last bowl, we saw the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bowls.

The last bowl is literally a shout from heaven that says, It is done.

The wrath is done.

It is finished.

And then at the great white throne of God, everything is finished.

No more sin, no more devil, no more Satan, no more demons, no more oppression, no more hurt, no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering.

All done.

Behold, I make all things new.

And that's what's waiting for you, church.

And that's what's waiting for us.

And so the urgency of this moment, the last, the last book of the Bible, in the very last verse of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22, it says, Surely I am coming soon.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Jesus is saying, Surely I am coming soon.

I am coming soon, and I'm taking you with me.

I'm coming soon because I want to be with you.

I'm coming soon because you are my bride and I love you and I know you and I know the suffering that you've been through.

I know the pain and the hurt that you've been through, but it's just for a moment.

Stay with me.

I will be with you, and I'm going to be with you.

The one that knows your name.

The one that has called you into salvation is saying, Surely I am coming soon.

He is coming soon.

Jesus is coming soon.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to see Him?

And listen, in as much as God gives me the strength and the time, I am here to get you ready.

That's the calling that God has placed over my life, is to make sure that you are ready for His coming.

When that blast trumpet sounds, that you would be lifted up and taken up into heaven.

That's my job.

I want to make sure that you are ready.

Would you allow Jesus to be Lord of your heart?

Would you allow him to come into your heart today?

And you may have been a Christian all your life, and you're observing the church from far from the safety of the barrier between you and the Lion of Judah.

Maybe you're holding back.

There are areas that I want to keep to myself.

I love coming to church.

I love the songs.

I love the music.

I love the worship.

The preacher's okay.

But maybe you've got Jesus just at arm's length.

There are areas in your heart, in your life where he says, Let me, just let me take over.

Let me take over.

Let me show you heaven on earth before we get there.

And my prayer for every single Sunday is, Lord, let heaven come down for one hour and a half, that we would be able to feel and see your majesty, that we would by faith see your miracles, your wonder, your health, your restoration, your love, your grace, your mercy, your healing.

That we would see it for an hour and a half.

That's all I need.

So that you would go from this place with that power, with that certainty, with that assurance that you're going to see him and spend the rest of eternity with him.

I want to be there, but Paul, Paul says something that I cannot understand.

Paul says to God, I would give up my place in heaven to see your church there before me.

Paul saw all of this and his heart wept and said, I'll give it up.

Whatever place, whatever reservation I have in heaven, give it to somebody that needs it more.

I will gladly give up my place.

And you not there with me.

How can I be worshiping him without you?

Without my family.

You need Jesus.

I need Jesus.

We're going to spend eternity with him.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The last quote in the Bible.

Amen.