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When studying a series together called I believe. And today we’re going to get to the end of our Bible in the Book of Revelation. And so I want to encourage you this morning, if you brought a Bible with you to go ahead and flip. It’s the very last book of the Bible. It’s the easiest to find other than Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible. You can tell when we get to the end of a series, because we’ve we’ve started in the book of Genesis and now we’ve, we’ve sort of got an idea and grasp of what all the Scripture communicates to us. And that is God is passionately pursuing us as people in a relationship with him, all the way to the point of the book of revelation. And I got to be honest with you, out of everything that we’ve studied together throughout this series, this has been the most difficult for me because at this point, everything that we’ve studied has happened in history. It’s things, and as it exists in the places and points in time in which we can go back and investigate and study things which have happened, we talk about God reigning, we talk about heaven That’s still in the future to come. For many of us, for all of us here today. It’s something that’s not talked about experientially, but only expressed within Scripture. And today, I have no experience to enlighten on the idea of heaven. But there are a few simple truths from the book of revelation as we think about God reigning, and what that means for us as people that I want to express this morning.
Revelation is an interesting book. It’s sort of an unmasking of the spiritual world. It’s as if God pulls back the umbrella of heaven and allows us to see everything that’s taking place. In the end, what we discover in the book of Revelation is that Jesus wins and his kingdom rules. All kinds of teachings about heaven exist in philosophy and society today. Question. We start with this morning as we think about God. Reigning is what exactly is heaven like What is heaven like? My favorite expression I think of heaven. This is not not serious. By favorite I mean not not my favorite. Um, is the angelic American picture that we oftentimes think of heaven. To me, it’s sort of a hellish version of heaven. To those of us who think that heaven is a lot like you turn into a a chubby baby and you wear a diaper and you play a harp and you get these tiny little wings, like, like they say on Bug’s Life. Look at me. I’m a beautiful butterfly, right? Playing a harp, if that is your picture of heaven. None of that is true except for the harp part. There is a little bit of harp talked about in revelation, but when you ask people what the idea of heaven is, or you walk into homes and you see some sort of angelic presence of of a heavenly being in their home, it sort of gives this image you will not turn into babies, okay? You will not wear a diaper.
Yes, these pictures are wrong When you ask other people about heaven there or afterlife there, the beliefs that people hold universalism meaning from here on out, the only thing that people experience is nothing but goodness or whatever heaven is. Everyone goes. There’s annihilationism which believes that no one goes. This is all that we experience in life. And when this life is over, um, it’s over for all of us. There’s soul sleeping when you die. You sleep for a long time, an undetermined amount of time. And some. Some point in time. Someone comes and wakes you up. And then you get to experience whatever heaven is like. There’s a teaching on purgatory. Meaning, from here you go to a hellish type place and you earn your way, or you work your way into whatever realm or celestial presence that God carries himself in to live there. Some people believe in a reincarnation, which is another type of purgatory, only it exists here on Earth. You don’t live a good enough life, so you got to come back and do it again and again and again until. Until you’re good enough to get to heaven. What is heaven like? I can remember my first thoughts as a child of heaven.
I remember sitting in front of cable television. I was probably watching Disney Channel or something, and all of a sudden from the kitchen, my mom screamed, hey, do you want to? Do you want a popsicles? A nice hot summer day. And I’m thinking, yes, I want a popsicle. And I run into the kitchen and I grab a popsicle, and it was a creamsicle. And I ran back in the living room, my dad sitting there, and I sit on my dad’s lap and my dad’s bouncing me on his lap, and I’m sitting here trying to eat my popsicle, thinking, man, this is just what heaven is going to be like. Creamsicles and bouncing on lap it. If Jesus does that to me one day, I invite you all to come watch. It will be entertaining. But what is heaven like? In your outline? You’ll notice just a few verses that describe to us. Give an idea of a little bit of what will take place once we leave this world. In Daniel chapter two and verse two, it says, many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Daniel’s point is, when we die, you’re going somewhere. Some people will go to heaven and eternity with God, and some people will experience a hell and eternity without God. Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27. It tells us it’s appointed unto a man to die once, and then comes his judgment.
Meaning when you die, then comes your judgment before your maker. You don’t earn your way. There is no no purgatory. There is no trying to merit God’s favor. Once you leave this world, this is the world to determine where you will spend eternity. And it says, once you die, then comes the judgment. Second Corinthians five eight tells us to believers, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord There is no soul sleeping. Once you die, you’re in the presence of God. To those who have trusted in him, first Corinthians 1542 and 44 tells us that when we die, our spirit will exit our body. It tells us in James, faith without works is dead, and so the body without the spirit is dead. Once our our spirit leaves our body, our body dies. Our body goes to the grave. It says in first Corinthians 15, our spirit goes to be with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And at one point in history, Jesus will resurrect our our earthly bodies. It’s referred to in Corinthians 15 as your terrestrial bodies. And he’ll resurrect that terrestrial body, and he will place it into eternity with him in heaven as a celestial body. It tells us in first Corinthians 15, And Jesus will resurrect your body and put it into a glorified state. Now the question is, will you look like what you look like today? And the answer is, I have no idea.
I do know this. That when Jesus was resurrected from the grave and he walked upon this earth in a physical body, people at some points didn’t recognize Jesus and at other points did recognize Jesus. When Jesus went on the Mount of Transfiguration to pray. It tells us that Moses came down upon that mountain with him, Moses and Elijah. And as he he prayed on the mountain, the apostles recognized them. Will you look the same as you look today? I don’t know, maybe you will be a baby wearing a diaper. But the Bible tells us, and these are scriptural principles for us to look at that once we die, we we are going to be judged. And if we believe in Christ, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And one day God will take both body and spirit united together for us to experience eternity with him. Why do we believe this versus all the other beliefs about heaven? Annihilationism. Universalism. Purgatory. Soul. Sleep. Reincarnation? Our American picture of heaven. Why do we choose to believe this? Well, it’s because the Bible shares it. When the Book of Revelation starts in chapter one and verse one, it tells us this is a revelation of Jesus. Jesus is pulling back the curtain of heaven to reveal to us what it looks like in eternity, in the future, as we rule and reign with him.
In verse seven it says that all eyes will see Jesus upon the throne. And as you enter into the Book of Revelation, in the first three chapters of the book, it writes to seven churches, appealing to them and and declaring to them that they need to continue to pursue after Christ, no matter how difficult life may seem, because in the end, they win. This world is such a short moment of time and expression to the rest of eternity, and Jesus wanted to make certain that his church placed their hope in him, no matter what happened or excuse me around them. Revelation focuses on two aspects. One is the spiritual world and the other is the physical world. I can tell you as a pastor, one of the books that drove me crazy to talk about sometimes is the Book of Revelation. Because when people get stuck on this hobby horse, I don’t feel like they ever get off of it. Some people get so fixated on the physical part of this world that these are the type of people that when they read revelation, theologians refer to them as maniacs and they they go out and they buy shotguns, right? And they make statements like, you can have my guns when when my bullets are all gone and they build bunkers in the back of the yard, and they hoard all kinds of food because they’re so worried about the things that are going to happen in this physical world.
And can I say to you, revelation never tells you to go buy guns, okay? Or build bunkers or anything like that, okay. Revelations point is to share with us everything that’s to happen in the spiritual world from here forth that Jesus wins. No matter what happens in your life, no matter how difficult it seems, if you place your faith in the Christ, in the end you win. We can’t dictate all the circumstances that we experience in life, all the difficulties and trials that come our way. But the one thing that we know for certain is that in the end, Jesus wins. And so I’m clinging to him. Heaven is a very valuable place for us to talk about, as we consider this morning, because many of us can think of loved ones who are waiting for us on the other side. We gather together and worship Christ. We can think that this morning, on Sunday morning, as we’re here in his church, the rest of his church is in glory, worshiping him face to face. Heaven is a very valuable place to us as we stop and think about loved ones that we have lost. So what’s it like? What are they experiencing this morning as they gather together to worship God? Now, as I think about heaven, we can just say with certainty that one of the reasons that we long for such a place is because we know that the world that we live in has something desperately wrong with it.
And no matter how hard we try to fix the situation, we’re never going to make this world perfect. But Jesus will. When you think about heaven this morning, I want you to picture three things in your mind. Three words all start with w we alliterate to make it simple. We think about heaven. We think about worship. We think about heaven. We think about a wedding. We think about heaven. We think about a warrior. Let’s talk about worship for just a moment. As we enter into the Book of Revelation in chapter four, it engages us with the idea of what worship is all about. In the beginning of this book, it starts with Jesus ruling and reigning at the end of this book, it starts with Jesus ruling and reigning. And the centerpiece mentioned over 30 times in the book of Revelation is the word throne. The throne of God is constantly reflected upon within these passages of Scripture, because all of worship is engaged around the throne of Christ. Worship is no longer toward someone we can’t see, but worship is face to face. It says for us in revelation chapter four and verse two. Behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone, and a Sargis in appearance as a really rich stones.
Guys are wondering maybe what these look like. Rich people wear these, right? And there was a rainbow. And around the throne. Like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns. On their heads. And out from the throne come flashes of lightning, and sounds of peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. You know, when I read a passage like that, I get to the end and I scratch my head and I think I have nothing to compare that to. A kiss concert. Maybe, I don’t know. There there is nothing in this world that we could imagine that would even come close to what this heavenly throne looks like. It’s better than any kiss concert, I should say. This theatrical, theatrical display of God’s glory can’t even be captivated by our mind. Even though I appreciate that John wrote it in passages of Scripture. One thing I think about and remark upon as we consider heaven in this passage of Scripture and the worship that’s taking place, is that heaven is both artistic and beautiful. To those of you who appreciate the art, heaven should bring you great joy because its glorious beauty reigns for all eternity.
Heaven is not a boring place by any stretch of the imagination, and God is not boring by any stretch of the imagination. Anything that we could think of as being glorious seems to be captivated in this passage of Scripture as God’s radiating presence, as seen within heaven. I don’t like it when I come to church and it’s boring. I don’t feel like our God is that way. I love when we get together and we get excited, and we refer to our Sunday morning as a celebration service, because when I see about the worship that’s taking place in heaven, it seems to me that they are celebrating through the artistic glory and the theatrical display that God has manifested in their presence. This is what Heaven is about. It goes on and tells us in verse ten that the response of the people who are gathered and worship. In chapter four it says, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, worthy are you, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things because you your will. By your will they existed and were created. And I don’t know. I’ve studied this and studied this. I’ve read people’s opinions on this. And when I look at these elders, I reached this conclusion.
I don’t know who they are. I have no idea who they are. Some people have guessed they represent the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles in the New Testament, and they represent all the people who followed after Jesus in that way. And so they’re here worshiping Christ. I have no idea. But this is what I do know is, if given the opportunity to stand before Christ and kneel before him and worship and take any crown of offering that that he has given to me because of works we’ve done in this world, I long for the opportunity just to place it at his feet in worship. God’s desire for us in this world is to continue to worship. When we get to heaven, we have the opportunity to lay our crowns down and just worship. In revelation chapter five, it says in verse eight, when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp. There’s your harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And look at this. And they sang a new song. When I talk about the artistry of heaven, the artistic beauty that exists in heaven, it’s interesting to note that when you read in the book of Revelation that the people who gather and worship around the throne of the lamb continue to sing new songs.
One time in our church, I decided, you know, we kind of play a contemporary type music. And so I thought, you know, our church is different than any church I ever I’ve ever been in. And so I’m going to ask which it is I love our church family. Right. This is the best church ever. And and um, thank you. And and so I decided I was going to ask people in our church, you know, what kind of music do you like? Or what music do you think that we should sing here at church? And? And after I asked five people, I realized that all five people had given me a different answer. And I was never going to ask that question again. Everyone has an opinion of what type of music we need to sing here at church, but one of the things I love about the way that we sing, we sing songs that oftentimes you’ll hear on K-Love, the radio you can worship together as a family driving down the road, but there are newer songs and that’s just like heaven. You know, we want to sing some older songs in the tradition. Remember what Jesus has done in the past, the people. But God is still doing something in our lives, and so it creates within us a desire to sing a new song unto him. And it says in revelation that the church gathered together for new songs. And to those of you who who love the old songs, thank you for being patient with us as we sing new songs sometimes.
And the new song people, sometimes we need to sing old songs, but in heaven what happens is they do sing old songs. And then you also see in revelation they’re singing new songs and worship together with the Lord. That’s what heaven’s like. The artistic hand of God doesn’t end when we enter in heaven, but people will see the artistry and the beauty of God, and it inspires them to to do new things artistically and praise to God. And notice this. We’re all in the band, right? No longer do you have to watch American Idol as a participator or as a viewer. You get to participate in the worship band, right? To those of you who really want to get up and sing, you get the opportunity. This on Sunday morning is an opportunity for you to practice, and some of you need to practice. That’s right. You’re going to be in the band one day. I know the age of our crowd. A lot of you probably grew up in the 80s. You know, whether or not if you’re really good at the air guitar, right? You’ve practiced singing in the in the hairbrush at some point in your life in front of the mirror, but God is telling us we got the opportunity to be in the band, to praise his name and to sing a new song and worship to him.
It’s great. Bible goes on and tells us as well. Chapter five. Still in chapter five and verse 11. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them were, as was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom and might, and honor, and glory and blessing. And every created thing which was in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne, and to the lamb be blessing, and honor, and glory and dominion for ever and ever. Remember last week we talked about worship, and I talked about things that would have the opportunity to praise God, even if we desired not to. And we mentioned the God awful cat. Cats are going to praise Jesus, and you better not let a cat beat you. And it tells us in revelation five, and if you wonder where that verse came from in verse 13. Everything in heaven. Under the sea, on the earth. All of it is singing praise to God collectively in worship. Do you know one of my favorite things about singing in the morning? One, because it reflects, it reflects heaven. They’re singing in heaven.
And so as a church we sing praise to God. But one of the things that I really appreciate about music and worship is when I don’t play and I don’t sing, and I get to stop if I’m on stage and just listen to God’s church sing to me. Have you ever been in a congregational meeting of thousands of people? We’ll be there one day, right? You’re sitting in the midst of thousands of people, all harmoniously singing the same song and praise to God. You ever just take the opportunity just to stop and listen, and you think about what’s being created here in revelation. If just a couple thousand people singing one song together and praise to God can sound beautiful before the Lord. Imagine all of the earth and everything under the earth and everything in heaven, giving praise to God. Heaven is about worship. We can worship with the cats and we can worship louder than the cats. And it says, I don’t apologize for my cat statement. Revelation chapter seven and verse nine. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every nation, and all tribes, and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches, were in their hands. Palm branches are significant in the Bible. Whenever a warrior would go to battle with an army, it was. It was taught that when he reached the ocean he would reach the palm trees, and if he collected the palm trees, he could go home victorious and say, we have conquered from here to the ocean and taken everyone down.
And so when they would come back and celebrate, they would wave the palm branches to say, as this warrior has gone into battle and he has defeated everything from here to the ocean, and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Notice they’re worshipping at the throne. Notice they’re saying the word amen, which means we agree. Everyone in the world at this point in heaven is agreeing. Could you imagine such a place? No way. It doesn’t exist. Republican and Democrats. Could you imagine? Revelation 19 one it says, after these things I heard something like a voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! This is the only place in the New Testament. The word hallelujah exists comes from the word give praise to. Hallelujah! And then Yale, which is for Yahweh. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality.
This is false religion, and he has avenged the blood of her bond servants on her, and this false religion has massacred the church. And the second time they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever in the 24 elders, and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah! And a voice came from the throne saying, give praise to our God, all you, his bond servants, you who fear him, the small and the great. Both young and old, are gathered together in worship to God tells us that their worship response is to fall down. It tells us in this passage of Scripture that they’re crying out, Hallelujah! Giving praise to God. Finally, for the first time in history, false religion is destroyed and and the God who created everything is receiving all praise from all people he has created. What is heaven like? Even after I read passages of scripture like that, I can say my mind still can’t fathom what is described in these verses. But we can say that heaven must be one spectacular place for everyone, all of creation, to praise his name That is an awe inspiring moment surrounding around the throne of of Christ. And if your picture of heaven is floating on clouds and in small wings as a chubby baby, you have no concept of what revelation talks about in these passages of Scripture.
Heaven is about worship. Second thing is heaven begins with a wedding. Usually when we talk about a wedding, it’s the beginning of a relationship between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. When they talk about the enjoyment of their time together, they reflect back on the time in which they began their life in a marriage and then experienced the journey. Revelation 19 if we were just to look just a few verses further, excuse me, I’m not going to go there yet. A few verses further, it describes to us the wedding that is to take place with the church. We see in the book of Genesis, this description that unfolds of God’s pursuit of our of a relationship with man all the way to the point of revelation. It’s described to us in many ways as a wedding or a marriage. Christ refers to us as the groom, and we, the church, are his bride. We lost our relationship with God. It tells us in Genesis chapter three when sin entered the world, and from that point forward, Jesus was promised to come and pay his life for our sins, that we may we may experience that relationship with him. Again, it’s referred to in Scripture as a betrothal. In our society. We might compare it to an engagement. Whenever someone was betrothed in the Old Testament and New Testament times, there was a dowry to be paid for your bride.
Once the dowry was paid for the bride, then the couple would partake of the covenant together, symbolizing their desire to be married. And once they were betrothed, though the marriage wasn’t consummated at that point, they were looked at in the eyes of Jewish people as having been married. Mary and Joseph, in the New Testament you’re familiar with when she became pregnant with Jesus, were betrothed to one another. Though their marriage hadn’t been fully consummated, Mary was still a virgin. But in the eyes of Jewish people, once you were betrothed, you were considered legally married. And to to end that betrothal period from from your spouse, you had to get a legal divorce. That’s how serious a betrothal was in the eyes of the Jewish people. And Jesus, knowing that we lost our relationship with him, came to this world, and he died for our sins. Jesus paid a dowry for us, his life. And it says in Mark chapter 12 that once Jesus came to pay that dowry, he established his covenant with us, which we call communion. When a betrothal was established between a future groom and bride, they would gather together. They would sit at a table. They would partake of a communion cup and break bread When Jesus entered into the upper room with his disciples the last night of his life, and he partook of communion, a covenant with his disciples, symbolizing his betrothal with him. It says in Mark chapter 12, while they were eating, he took some bread, and after blessing he broke it and gave it to them and said, take it, this is my body.
And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it. New in the kingdom of God. Jesus promises us that this covenant, that he will drink it new with us in his kingdom in heaven. In John 14 it tells us that once a betrothal was established between a husband and wife, that the groom would then leave, and for the next, about roughly a year, he would build a home in which he would go back for his future bride and take her to this home. They would be married and consummate their marriage relationship. It says in John 14, Jesus shared with his disciples that communion. He says, do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also.
The same picture exists for Christ. He’s taken his bride, and he’s prepared a place for her, which is for us in heaven. Jesus promises to come back and receive his bride and take her into eternity with him. Heaven begins with a wedding. And so when you enter into revelation chapter 19 and verse seven, it says, let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to to him. For the marriage of the lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. Jesus, when he goes to prepare a place for us, it reflects to us the purpose of the church in this verse. While Jesus is preparing a heavenly place to receive his church and to himself for all eternity, it says that the church is also preparing herself as a bride in the way that we prepare ourselves as a bride, as we adorn ourselves with works because of everything that Jesus has done for us, because of the salvation that he has brought forth into our lives, we we live for him. And it tells us that the wedding dress that we wear at the wedding day with Jesus is the righteous acts of the saints.
Why at Christian weddings do we wear white dresses? It’s a reflection of our relationship to Christ as we see the bride here wearing white. White from the purity and honesty of just pursuing Jesus. Something interesting happens in the book of Zephaniah in chapter three. It tells us that as we’re in heaven, as we’re celebrating this wedding feast, as we’re singing praise to God, as we have our amazing harps, and some of you are playing the air guitar, that Jesus, as we’re engaged in that worship, steps down from his throne. It says in chapter three that he’s viewed as a victorious, victorious warrior, and he exalts over you with joy, and he will be quiet over you with love. Heaven is about worship. Heaven is about the intimacy of a wedding, but heaven is also about a warrior. If you read on in chapter 19, it begins to express to us everything that Jesus is. And can I say this morning, if your picture of Jesus is a hippie with long hair, um, your picture of Jesus is far too small because it tells us in revelation chapter 19 and verse 11 that Jesus doesn’t come back as a humble servant hippie. He comes back as a warrior. Matter of fact, if you read revelation chapter nine and verse 11, you can look at that other picture of hippie Jesus and say, My Jesus can beat your Jesus up. In chapter 19 and verse 11, you know, I find a lot of times in churches, churches predominantly are filled more with women than men.
Um, and so you guys that are here, thank you for being here. You know, one of the reasons I think that it’s filled with more women than men is because a lot of times, Jesus is portrayed as a sissy hippie. Jesus is a warrior. Jesus hates sin. And to those of us, as we’ve looked at the worship that takes place in heaven and the glory that exists there in the wedding, that’s there, Jesus is still angry at sin, and Jesus is going to bring justice against sin. And he’s about to open a can, and it happens in verse 11. And he says, and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. Any man that rides a white horse is an incredible man, right? I can’t stand horses, but Jesus is on a white horse. They scare me. It’s like John Wayne and Jesus ride white horses, man. And. And he who sat on it is called faithful and true and righteous. He judges and wages war. And look at this in verse 12. This is may Jesus here. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. And this is really cool. Look at this. I wouldn’t mess with this. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood.
You watch that walking down the street, you think? Put me ten steps back at least. And one guy in front of me as this person approaches and it says, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. Anybody that goes in the battle. Tough dude. Right. Anybody dipped in blood? Tough dude. Anybody that wears white to fight tough. And Jesus says not only is he wearing it, but this entire army that’s following him is ready to do battle. I like how Isaiah pictures it in Isaiah chapter six. He says, um, Lord of hosts. He calls him the Lord of hosts, which is a, a Hebrew word which means a leader ready for battle or leader ready to do war. And Isaiah says in chapter six, woe is me, I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. And so he acknowledges before God as he sees this warrior sitting upon his throne, which John 12 tells us is Jesus. And he sees this warrior ready for battle to wage war. And when, when Isaiah says, woe is me, I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. He’s saying before this king, this king is coming to wage war on sin. I am a dead man because I am a sinner. Jesus is coming back to do battle It says in verse 15, from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations.
He may rule them with an iron rod, and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. You can get to this point, and some of you say, wait a minute, wait a minute. I’m going back to my hippie version of Jesus. He was a lot nicer. We’ll talk about that in just a minute. But I just want to make note here of something important. When it talks about Jesus and His, the sword coming out of his mouth. Ladies, it’s okay for your kids to play with swords. That’s the point I want to make. It’s okay for your kids to play with swords. Here’s why. Micah six eight says he has shown thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee. To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. In the summertime we do those booths. You know, we get a lot of requests for swords. And after about 3 or 4, I start teasing with the kids. But usually at some point when I’m talking to them, if I’m talking to them, sometimes there’s too many, but I’ll make a sword and I’ll hand it to them and I’ll say, now, only fight the bad guys. You know, that’s exactly what Jesus is doing. He’s bringing justice. We need to teach young kids the importance of justice.
It’s okay to play with swords, but don’t beat up the good guys. Love justice and love mercy. And walk humbly with a God who is about to open up a can. Right? That’s what we teach men. That’s what we reflect in our lives. He has shown the old man what is good and what God requires of you. Verse 16, it it goes further in describing this Jesus to us, this Jesus that’s different than all the pictures that we’ve seen. And it says on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I think Jesus got a tattoo. Now advocating tattoos and kids. If you live in homes and you really want one, if your parents say no, that is a no, right? But Jesus, when he comes back, if you picture this for a minute, a guy on a white horse wearing all white, just the robe whipping around everywhere on his thigh is this king of kings, and he’s dipped in blood. I mean, what does that say about the way Jesus feels about sin in this world? In verse 17 it says, then I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, come, assemble for the great supper of God. I’m going to share a private story for just a moment. But when I was a kid, there was this haunted trail near where I used to grow up.
And we’d always beg this close relative of mine to take us out of embarrassment. I won’t tell you it was my mom, but we would go on this haunted trail every couple of years. And I really appreciated my mom. My mom was the coolest girl on this haunted trail with us. Remember the little kid that was right next to this old, um, uh, asylum of a hospital that had closed down, so it made it really spooky. And so every couple of years, my mom would take us. I can remember starting off 9 or 10 years old going down this trail, but every time a the first monster would jump out and scare us on this trail, my mom, Lord bless her, would always pee your pants, right? It was a scary moment for her and I’m glad she’s not here today. But when we would go through the rest of the trail, we didn’t have to worry about anybody else scaring us because my mom did it at the beginning. Sometimes when we read verses in the Bible like this, then I saw an angel standing in the sun. We read over passages of Scripture like this, and we just we just read it and not think anything about it. But could you picture this for just a moment? I know my mom would get scared on a little haunted trail, but. But could you imagine seeing this sight, all of Jesus running back in his glory with hatred and vengeance and justice against sin.
And this angel just standing, radiating in the sun. Tells us in verse 17, I saw the angel standing in the sun. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in heaven, come, assemble for the great supper of God. In verse 18, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great. You know, I read a verse like that, and then I get somewhat scared, somewhat concerned, a little worried. Not for myself, but I think about the rest of this world tells us in verse 18, the reason that Jesus is coming to do war against these people is because they have made war against him. God is just and anything he chooses to do to judge sin at the moment, we as human beings sinned in Genesis chapter three. God could have been just at that moment, bringing his vengeance against us, but it tells us, second Peter chapter three and verse nine, God is longsuffering towards us, not that any should perish, but that all come to repentance. The reason that God has delayed in bringing his vengeance for as long as he has, is that we would come to him as Saviour to meet our needs.
There’s a reason the Bible calls Jesus Saviour. He’s saving us from something horrific to something glorious. There’s a reason when you read the New Testament, it says the word justice and righteousness continuously because before God right now we are unjust. But what God desires to do is to make us just and righteous, not because of anything that we’ve done, but because of everything that he has done for us on the cross or on the cross. Excuse me? And that’s what Jesus says, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It’s all by his grace. But to those who refuse to acknowledge Christ in their lives, I fear for their future. Which leads us to a place to talk about hell. And can I tell you the most unpopular thing to talk about is hell? I don’t like talking about hell. But to be quite honest, if we really believed in a hell and that this passage would come into existence someday, a lot of us would be living our lives a lot differently than we do today. And the scary thing about talking about a place like hell is that if hell exists, and I try to tease you and suggest you that we’re all Universalists and we’re all going to a perfect place, then I do a great disservice to God’s church. And if I if I tell you that hell exists when it doesn’t exist, then I do a great disservice to God’s church.
Jesus tells us that when we die, we will be judged and we will go somewhere. To those who trusted in Jesus. That’s an eternity with him. To those who haven’t trusted in Jesus and an eternity without him. It tells us in revelation chapter 20. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And you kind of ask the question, well, is he talking about me and this passage of Scripture? Because one thing for certain today, the book of Revelation is saying to us as people, Jesus is coming, Jesus will reign. The big idea is, which side are you on? You can stand in the glorious presence of God, worshiping forever and enjoying the feast of a wedding, and seeing a mighty warrior and standing behind that rather than in front of it. It says in chapter 21in verse eight, but look at this. But for the cowardly and unbelieving, like it’s not just bad people. It’s not people that we’ve judged on our own standard of what goodness is. He says to cowardly and unbelieving. Jesus gave this promise while he was on earth in the Gospels. If you deny me before your family, I’ll deny you before the father. I see some people make a decision of whether or not they’re going to follow after Christ with their life, based on what their family thinks of who Jesus is.
Jesus is saying in this passage of Scripture, let’s just say none of that matters because none of it matters. What matters is if you choose to follow after me because I am the one that wins, not your family. Sounding harsh, isn’t it? Maybe I’m trying to provoke the cowardly, but it says before the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers. I can’t even begin to think we’ve got clumped here. The cowardly and the murderers, All for one reason, is because they’ve rejected Christ. And it says, and immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Verse 27, it says, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into his kingdom, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. How are we getting to heaven? Bible has it simple for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You can never earn your way there because you’ve sinned. There’s nothing that you’ll ever do in your life to undo the sin in which you’ve conducted. But Jesus, by his grace, has given you the opportunity. If you trust in him to experience the joy forever and ever. And so let’s close. Not with hell, but with heaven. It tells us in revelation 21, Jesus deals with sin Jesus wants to destroy sin, but Jesus also wants a relationship with you.
And his ultimate goal is not to destroy us as people, but to enjoy a relationship with us for all eternity. That’s why in second Peter three nine it says, but he’s willing that none should perish, but everyone come to repentance and turn to him. In revelation 21, verse two, John describes to us this heavenly kingdom that’s coming down. It says, I saw the holy city, which is the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and I will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. Let’s stop for just one moment and say, you know, we can wake up each day with excitement because God has given us hope in him. No matter how bad today gets, we always have a future to look forward to because we have hope in Jesus. And then in my life, every time someone has ever passed away, I’ve always turned to this verse because I think about the people who are left behind, whose hearts are breaking, and I think about the person who has left this world and whose heart will no longer break. And it says in verse seven, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and they will no longer be any death.
They will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. And as a pastor, I always stop at this verse and I say, God, man, bring it. I’m so tired of watching people hurt. I’m so tired of watching hearts break. I’m so tired of seeing people go through this world with just a heaviness on them. God, please, please bring it. I love the way the Book of Revelation ends. Genesis starts with God creating everything and all the promises of the world of experience, having a relationship with him and he ends it with all the promises of the world, of experiencing a relationship with him because of one word, which is grace. And it says in verse 21, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Do you know the last book of your Bible? The last thought of your Bible is all about God’s grace. And by the grace of God, may we experience the worship and the wedding and the glorious God who will rule forever and ever. I want to close in just a word of prayer, and we’re going to end this morning by taking one opportunity as a church family to dedicate, um, a baby to the Lord. If you want, Stacey, will you go grab. Okay, let me close this in a word of prayer. I’m going to invite the Santana family up after we’re done. God, we just thank you that we could study heaven to see your picture of such glory to come. And even though our minds.