All posts for the month November, 2024

Revelation 22:6-21 – Sermon Manuscript

-We did it! We’ve made it through the entire book of Revelation! After having someone tell me I should NEVER preach through this book because no one can understand, I was worried we’d end up with confusion and frustration every week, but I’ve already had a number of people tell me they finally feel like they have a grasp of how to interpret this book, which was my prayer when we started this.

-Today’s text serves as a summary, direct application to our lives, and some final reminders on what we’re supposed to do now that we’ve walked through this whole book, not only that, but it’s the last verse of all of Scripture, the last words God wanted us to hear regarding His plans for the reconciliation and renewal of all things. Because the reality is Jesus is coming soon. Now, it’s going to take us another 30 minutes to understand what that means!

READ/PRAY

  1. Look to the Word (6-11)

-The first thing we need to notice is there’s wording and themes here that should sound familiar. Look at the parallels between chapter 1 and 22. It’s almost like there was a plan, purpose, and direction to this entire book to communicate these ideas! This section also sounds very different from all the stuff we’ve been reading over the past number of months.

-Said this in the first sermon I preached in this series: combination of apocalyptic, prophecy, and letter. We’re back to the letter part.

-Begins with the reminder that these words are faithful and true, exact same phrasing we saw in 21:5. God communicates and identifies Himself through words. Words that come from a God who is faithful and true are also faithful and true. 

-Reflecting on why we have the written Word. What’s the best way to communicate something that can be saved and preserved for centuries? Write it down! Make copies of it! (working on digital stuff, have 3 copies of everything)

-Since God wants us to know Him, He had people write down what He wanted us to know, therefore the mark of a Christian is trusting that His Word is faithful and true. Friends, don’t give up on the Bible!

-God of the spirits of the prophets. What is that? True prophets only speak on behalf of God. John is identifying himself in that lineage. Just as God spoke previously to His prophets, He’s concluded His speaking here to John.

-Sent his angel, just like the beginning.

-Soon take place. Look I am coming soon. How soon?

-Is 2,000 years soon? God looks at time differently, think back to Rev. 6 where the martyrs beg God to return and He says “not yet.” My kids think waiting a half hour is FOREVER, and we laugh! Don’t you think that may be a picture of how God looks at time, even 100 years is nothing to Him! But whether it’s 2,000 or 20,000 years, the next step in salvation history is Jesus coming back. 

-If you just think through the primary events in God’s plan of redemption: creation, fall, redemption, salvation, and then consummation is the only thing left!  

-Blessed: Revelation beatitudes. Jesus gives beatitudes in Matt. 5, things like blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 

-6th of 7 blessings promised throughout this book. Review the blessings:

-Read, hear, and keep the words (remember there’s an end goal for us to DO something with this text)

-If we die in Christ we actually live!

-Alert and clothed: alert to not give in to the way the world works to seduce us, and clothed in Christ’s clothing (19:8: “fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.”)

-Invited to the marriage feast – those saved and washed by the blood of the lamb

-First resurrection, when Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom on earth

-Then here we’re back to the start: keep the words of this book (pointing back to the start), 1 more to come.

8-Reminder of who wrote this book: John! Once again, he’s tempted to worship an angel, one of God’s messengers. This happened once before in Rev. 19. 

-All of God’s creation is meant to have 1 aim and goal in life: worship God. Worship isn’t just what we do on Sunday morning (though it includes that), it’s not a type of music (though it includes music), worship is an orientation to our entire lives, it’s what we do all the time, everyone worships something or someone. The most dedicated atheist worships something, but generally their worship is geared/focused on themselves

-I think this focus of this book is to force us to answer the question: what are you worshipping? Some people worship politics (the beast from the sea) and some people worship the power and influence that comes from politics (the beast from the land) but we’re all tempted to worship in worldly categories instead of heavenly categories, the way God intended us to. The temptation is to worship the gifts God has given that point us to Him, because if we pursue them as an end in themselves we will always be lacking. Augustine: our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. That’s why Revelation is so timely! Do you think anyone is looking to politics for salvation today? Do you think anyone is looking to power and influence for salvation today? Pastors aren’t immune! Why do you think pastors always question how big each other’s church is?

-Friends, what are you worshipping?

-We glance by this: DON’T seal up. Why does that matter?

–Dan. 12:4. God is telling John that the end is now here. It has been the last days since this book was written, 1900 years ago. 

-Vs. 11 seems weird, doesn’t it? Where do we see God encouraging people to sin?

-Once again, John is picking up an idea from Daniel, where it’s not encouraging people to pursue sin, but it’s saying that sin blinds people, and until they are saved they will continue pursuing sin.

-Connection here is unrighteousness leads to being filthy, righteousness leads to being holy. The way you live has spiritual implications, we don’t just work to become a better human, we need a complete transformation. 

-I love the way Jeremiah 31 describes it, it says God will remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. He’s saying even a quadruple bypass isn’t enough, we need a transplant, an inbreaking of something completely new and alien to us, we need to be spiritually raised from the dead.

  • Look at Your Works (12-15)

-Once again, a reminder that Jesus is coming soon! While He comes in judgment, He also comes with a reward that’s only given to those who live according to His will and ways.

-This comes about only by a transformed heart. You can’t offer good works to God without His Spirit changing you from the inside out. We talked about this idea in Rev. 19, so if you want to hear more about that go back and listen to that sermon, but the core idea is that faith comes by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, but then as Calvin says the faith that saves is never alone because it’s always accompanied by new good works that God has called us to

-And all of this is possible because in 3 different ways, Jesus identifies Himself with God and as the author of history: alpha and omega (A and Z), first and the last (and everything in between), and beginning and the end.

-Time itself only exists in God, that’s why He can speak with confidence and authority about the way everything is going to happen. 

-Final Beatitude (blessing) in the book: wash their robes. What does that mean? Picking up a theme from the rest of the book.

-Multitude in Rev. 7 praising God, one of the elders asks John who they are, John says that the elder must know, so the elder responds: 

-The way our robes are washed is by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is picking up another theme that God spoke about back in Isa. 1. The means by which clothes are washed is through faith in Jesus Christ, the outworking of that is “the right to the tree of life” and “entering the city by the gates”

-Remember back to last week where we saw this odd combination of a city and a garden. Reflections back to Eden with the tree of life and the water of life, but now remade as a city. The perfect place, the new Most Holy Place where God lives among His people.

-I also think it’s significant that we enter “by the gates,” where angels watch over them, and they point to the historical validity of Christianity. One of the reasons I remain a Christian is because of history! 

-Think of this: for Buddhism, what would happen if we were able to definitively say that Buddha didn’t exist? Nothing! Hinduism, too many gods to articulate, but has no reflection in reality. Mormons: take away Joseph Smith and nothing happens to their faith (even when their religion is proven time and time again to be historically unverifiable). What is often called Liberal theology even argues that even if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead they would still be Christians (which honestly is just dumb!). Friends, part of the reason you should be a Christian is because of history. We look back to a definitive event where Satan was defeated, and we look forward to an end point in history where death will be no more! Where the gates will never be closed, where everything will be finally work in perfect peace and harmony.

-But not everyone will be there, only those whose lives are marked by Jesus, who are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, who realize that they can’t do anything in their own strength but need Jesus to work in them.

-For those people:

  • Look to Jesus to Come (16-21)

-Another reminder who’s in control: Jesus. Everything centers on Him, all of History hinges on Him, and the End is held off until He comes back. 

-He’s even in charge of the angels (messengers), notice that the angel’s job is just to serve as the messenger of Jesus.

-Who is the message to? Not to angels, to the churches, the churches which are comprised of those who have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. Picks up the same idea at the very beginning where John recounts that Jesus sent an angel to John, who recorded everything that was revealed (Revelation) to him.

-Jesus is the root and descendent of David (the Messiah), picking up a theme from Isa. 11:1, Jesus is David’s promised son who sits eternally on God’s throne.

-Bright morning star: Num. 24:17. Balaam’s prophesy (mentioned back in 2:14, letter to Pergamum) Balaam hired by a king to curse Israel, goes to do it, but only blessings come out. Friends, God can use even greedy, wealth-seeking false prophets to carry out His will and plan! And the prophesy here is that some star will come to destroy the enemies of God’s people. What has happened over the course of this book? God’s enemies have been destroyed! All of them! None are left. The descendent of David has won!

-What word do you see repeated in vs. 17? Come! This is to anyone who is hearing this message (all of you), and it gives both a command and a commission:

-First the command: Spirit and the bride (anyone remember who the bride is? The church!) they say to come. Come and align yourself with Jesus, wash your clothes in His blood so that He can bring you near.

-Next, the commission: anyone who hears join with the Spirit and the church to say “Come!” Friends, this is where all of us are a part of God’s reconciling plan to bring all things under His sovereign rule and reign. This book isn’t meant to be us sitting in a room by ourselves trying to figure out if we’re living in the last days, because we are living in the last day, and even if Jesus were to come back tomorrow, it would change nothing about what we should be doing today! We’re supposed to be bearing fruit and inviting others to come to have their clothes washed in His blood. I shared this idea a few weeks ago, but I want to say it again: the point of a sermon isn’t for you to walk away with 3 new things to try to “fix” your life in your own strength, the point of a sermon is for you to behold God and remember what Jesus has done for you! And then we are sent back out into the world to continue inviting others to come!

-Which gets us to the third invitation: anyone who is thirsty. Thirsty for what? John 4 – eternal life. Jesus provides the solution to all the deepest longings of your heart. Jesus’ offer is for any and everyone. So if you’re here today and you haven’t yet trusted Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, why not? Your life won’t have any ultimate purpose or meaning until you do, you won’t find the answer to the deepest longings of your heart until you do!

-Then there’s a warning: do not add or take away from any words of this book, but that could also be extended to the rest of the Bible. If God has spoken, we must respond. This actually picks up almost the exact wording in Deut. 4:2. 

-Tertullian: “Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so this doctrine of justification is ever crucified between two opposite errors.” 1 error is adding to God’s Word, this would be called “legalism.” This tells you not only what sin is, but how far you need to stay away from even the appearance of sin. But the opposite error is taking away from God’s word, this would be called “licentiousness” living however you want. We must be completely obedient to God’s Word alone, and the temptation is to lean one way or another and call it the gospel, but Jesus doesn’t allow us to do that, He perfectly embodies grace AND truth, not grace OR truth.

-Once again, we’re remined that Jesus is coming soon (in salvation history), and in response John (and we) respond with “Amen!” yes, we agree, come, Lord Jesus!

-This should be the prayer and cry of every Christian down through the ages. We’re supposed to live as Jesus comes back tomorrow, which means get busy being obedient to Him! Luther was asked if he knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow what would he do? He said he would plant a seed today. Where are you planting seeds today that will bear fruit in eternity? Where is God calling you to be faithful today so that you can be ready to see Jesus face to face? Because the reality is He is coming soon! No one knows when, but we need to faithful today because it’s one day closer to THE day.

-God’s grace (undeserving free gift) be with everyone. Amen. What an appropriate way to end this sermon! God’s grace is freely available to everyone! So come, and come Lord Jesus.

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by mikethestrand on November 24, 2024  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Theology, Worship
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 24, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/11/24/revelation-226-21-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 21:1-22:5 – Sermon Manuscript

-This American Life, the Sound of Music favorite movie, sharing it with a friend who agreed, minus the Nazis. The primary person said what Nazis? Turned out she’d only ever seen half the movie, so in here mind it was a charming flick about a nanny who brings order to this house, teaches children how to sing, and then rides off into the sunset singing “Good night!” When she was growing up, her family only had 1 of the VHS tapes and had somehow lost the second one.

-That’s the temptations of the human heart, to miss the end of the story. Think of the impulse toward “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” If this is the only life we have that impulse makes sense. Pursue pleasure and alleviate pain

-But the reality is much different than that. Friends, life is only going to get better, but I can’t promise that will happen before eternity. However, when we know what eternity is like, it makes it easier to endure whatever happens here.

-Norwegian rats and swimming. 

-Book on navigating the future “We tend to oscillate between naïve optimism and cynical pessimism (see the narratives of decline across the political spectrum or the alarming statistical trends in depression, loneliness, and suicide.” “It is only if we can reclaim a sense of Purpose that we will be able to articulate a fully human and cosmic sense of flourishing and address our crisis.” I would say that Purpose (capital P) is to prepare for a new heavens and a new earth.

READ/PRAY

  1. What is New (1-8)

-New heaven and new earth: there is an earth! 

-Passed away – some debate about the significance of this, I would argue that this is similar to the death we will go through. We’ll be raised again, we’ll still be ourselves, but purified.

-Sea: place of chaos, doesn’t mean there’s no water in the new heavens and earth! Probably best to refer to it as the new earth, because the point of this passage is that heaven comes down to earth so they’re now 1 place instead of 2, where right now they separated, they won’t always be

-The holy city, new Jerusalem

–Gal. 4:26 – “The Jerusalem above” Heb. 12:22 “the heavenly Jerusalem”

-We’re supposed to contrast this description with the other woman John saw: Babylon the prostitute. Here all of God’s people are described as a new city

3-The goal of this entire thing, the goal since the Fall has been this reality: God dwelling, tabernacling, living with His people.

-Promised back in Leviticus, promised again in Ezekiel, God is saying all those promises that He made in the past are fulfilled here in the new earth.

-Also shows us that in the new heavens & earth we’re in community. There’s no isolationism in Christianity, there’s no just me and God, it’s always WE and God

4-God will take away all sadness and pain. Those are gone, along with death.

-I want to just mention this briefly (if you want to talk more about this let me know) but one of the realities of heaven is we’ll understand God’s justice rightly, so there won’t be the sadness of knowing someone we loved is in the lake of fire

-Goes on to say that nothing is left out of this renewal! EVERYTHING is made new. Trees and bees and grass and buildings and stars and planets and galaxies, all made new.

-And He guarantees it “faithful and true.”

6-Just like Jesus “it is finished” God has been there from the beginning, He will be there until the end. He gives ridiculously generously to all. But there is a caveat:

7-The one who conquers. Remember that language from the beginning of the book? To each of the churches, God had promised something to the one who conquers, pointing here. Sonship isn’t saying men only, it’s signifying the familial blessing, that context women didn’t receive inheritance

-Unlike the one who conquers is those who go to the lake of fire, not a complete list but representative of a wide assortment of sins

  • What is Symbolic (9-21)

-Some debate about this section (again), is this referring to a literal city, or is it signifying something else. Probably won’t surprise you that I lean toward this signifying something else, we shouldn’t expect to see this giant cube city on the new earth (but again, I’m fine being wrong because God can do whatever He wants!) Just to give you some perspective, here’s the measurements as outlined in the book.

-Why do I think it’s symbolic? Because of vs 10, carried me away in the Spirit, that happened before! Rev. 17 where he saw the fight between the dragon and the woman in labor. Just like that was a symbol of something else, I think this is a symbol of something else.

-Beautiful city, without any of the vices or problems of cities today. Cities in the 1st century were places of protection and security, walls meant bad guys were kept out.

12-12 gates, 3 on each side, named for the 12 sons (tribes) of Israel (Jacob), and 12 foundations built on the apostles.

-God’s goal has always been to have a people living in His place serving under His rule and reign. This is signifying that the ways the world divides people no longer exists. God’s people have come from every nation and culture and all of them are given unmediated access to God Himself! 

15-Angel is given a measuring rod, need the original wording here to not miss the focus of the numbers (symbols not statistics): 12,000 stadia. Just like the 12 gates and 12 foundations, 12 x 103 ALL of God’s people. Not just square, a perfect cube (which has 12 sides)

-Did you know that there’s 1 other place in the Bible that’s a perfect cube? The Most Holy Place in the temple, 1 Kings 6:20 tells us the measurements of it. What’s significant about this is where the Most Holy Place was only accessed 1/year by 1 person, now the whole city is the Most Holy Place, and everyone is welcome there! Direct access to God’s presence!

17-144 cubits (again perfect, 12×12)

-What is the significance of the jewels? No one’s sure, there’s some overlap between this list and the jewels on the priestly garments, but what scholars have found is this exact same list used in the signs of the Zodiac, but backwards. So some think it’s John’s way of saying all the predictions the world offers are cheap imitations, but this is the reality.

-Pearls were the most costly jewel in the 1st century, and I think it should make us think of the parable Jesus tells of the pearl of great value! In the new earth gates are made out of them, and lastly the streets of gold. Picked up from 1 King 6:30

-The temple was meant to be a picture of Eden, which was thought to be modeled after heaven itself, and here we see we now have the full picture. Turns out it was modeled after heaven! 

  • What is Missing (22-27)

-John notices something that’s gone that he was expecting to see. After millennia of God only meeting with his people in a temple, now there’s no temple because there’s no need for one! God is the temple! We have full access to Him without needing anything or anyone else standing in between.

-Vs. 23 doesn’t say there’s no sun or moon, it says there’s no need for them. God’s light illuminates everything else.

-Then vs. 24 says that the nations will walk by its light. So here we see that nations still exist, which means if you haven’t gotten to travel on this side of eternity but there’s places you’ve wanted to visit, just wait. But I would also argue that what is meant by this isn’t just referring to illumination, but is referring to the way everyone’s living is according to God’s will and way. Think of Psalm 119 which says God’s word is a lamp for me feet and a light for my path. Doesn’t mean we hold a Bible to navigate when we go into a dark room, it means our life is guided by God. And think of what Jesus says in John 8 “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” 

25-Gates will never close by day, and no night. 

-What’s the point of gates if they never close? Gates are meant to provide protection, and night is the time when people are most susceptible to being attacked. See I don’t think John is saying there’s no more sunsets or sunrises in heaven, I think we’ll still be able to enjoy them, as well as sleeping. What’s meant (similar to the sea) is the negatives that come during night no longer exist. Again, I could be wrong, I’m making speculations based on all Scripture, but I have reasons to think these things!

26-Bring the honor and glory of the nations. Friends, this means things will be redeemed from here and brought there. We’ll still have technology, we’ll still have trees and grass and food and water, but they’ll all function perfectly without ever breaking.

-I read Heaven by Randy Alcorn this week, if you haven’t read it PLEASE get it and read it ASAP, it’s just beautiful. (don’t read “heaven tourism books though) But one of the words he uses in there that I want you to understand is what is being described here is very earthy. It says new heavens and NEW EARTH. I would postulate that what we’ll see there will look very similar to what we see here, but better. Colors will be more vivid, smells will be more potent, but it will be real. 

-Picture of this in The Last Battle of Chronicles of Narnia where Peter and Edmund are looking around at Narnia’s version of heaven where they start to notice familiar hills nearby, then looking closer they realize they are the exact hills they were thinking of!

-What I would argue based on Scripture, is that heaven is all around us, but our eyes can’t see it. Sometimes you can get glimpses, maybe it’s through a specific song or a conversation with a friend or a bite of the most delicious food you’ve ever had or a time of prayer where you get a sense of how wonderful God is, God allows us these glimpses to spur us on. I think there are 2 examples in the Bible that bear this out – think of the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. He’s giving a glimpse of heaven to encourage him as he faces death! And then 2 chapters later, I think Paul is given the same glimpse, but because he’s not saved he falls on his face. 

-I realize this sounds a little weird, but I truly believe that heaven is a different realm that we can’t see right now. Quantum physics even points us in this direction where they say that there’s all these quarks (real word!) that all interact and engage with each other across the universe. Over my head, so I’ll stop there, but I think heaven is real, those who have died in faith before us are there now waiting for the Lord to enact his Kingdom here just like it is there. There’s more, but let’s finish these last 5 verses:

  • What is Central (22:1-5)

-River of the water of life, where does it come from? Throne, God’s provision for His people. Straight through the heart of this city. Tree of life (apparently a LARGE tree, enough to go across the river) 12 seasons of fruit.

-Once again, I would argue science backs this up. People are trying to bio-hack their bodies to lower their biological age. I read a story this week of someone who celebrates his birthday every 19 months because that’s how long he believes it takes his body to advance a year. What if God has created a fruit that allows our bodies to live forever?

-Leave are for healing of the nations (once again, nations in heaven) 

-No curse, no thorns or thistles in response to our work

4-Right now, no one can see God and live is now changed to we will see His face and our entire orientation is toward Him.

-Finally, we will reign with God. God will have some area (I’m sure of varying sizes) delegated to us. Think of the parable of the servants who were left with talents to steward, then God commissions them with more. Some will be given oversight of a little piece of land, others will be given oversight of cities or nations, but everyone will have some oversight of something in the earth.

-So what? Why is all this important? Because we need to have hope in the midst of the uncertainty of this world. The movie doesn’t end in the middle where we sing “the sun has gone to bed and so must I” and ride off into the sunset, there’s a direction we’re heading. AND in Col. 3 we’re commanded to set our minds on heaven. I believe we’ve over-spiritualized heaven and neglected to read Scripture as God has actually revealed the new heavens AND EARTH to us. 

-And here’s what I mean when I say that. The primary thing we’ll get is being with Jesus, but there’s also additional benefits that are OK to hope for and look forward to. Things like time with dear friends, going for long walks where you knees don’t hurt, time to spend doing the things you love that you don’t have time for now. All those things will be redeemed in heaven. Here’s why I believe that, Heb. 11, the hall of faith: seeking a homeland, desire a better place. Friends, it’s ok to get excited about the gifts of God’s creation, He wants you to! That’s why there’s things that are enjoyable even on this side of heaven. That’s why sunsets are so pretty, that’s why the gentle lapping of the waves at the beach is so soothing, that’s why a perfectly cooked medium rare steak tastes so good, God gives us these things to point to Him and help us remember that He loves us extravagantly!

-But what’s even crazier about this is when can we start getting excited about heaven and preparing for that new home? Right now. Look up at vs. 5, what tense is the verb in? Present. God right now is enacting this new heavens and earth among us. Think of what Jesus said when He taught His disciples to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s eternal kingdom is breaking into this earth right here and right now. When you are a humble you’re living in heaven, when you are a peacemaker you’re living in heaven. When you live as God intends you to live, you’re living as a citizen of heaven instead of earth. You’re preparing yourself for life after life after death. God’s plan to redeem creation has already started, it started the moment Jesus rose from the dead. 

-So what are you doing today to take 1 step closer to living in the new earth? And not just for you, who else are you encouraging to grow 1 step closer to living in the new earth? You don’t need to wait to live for eternity, because eternity starts now. Friends, set your minds on heaven, and as the old hymn says “The things of earth (the old earth) will grow strangely dim.” By focusing on heaven we are able to live faithfully here and now.

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by mikethestrand on November 17, 2024  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 17, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/11/17/revelation-211-225-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 20:11-14 – Sermon Manuscript

-One of my favorite movies is Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), based on a ride that’s been at Disneyland since 1967. Who knew you could make a whole feature length movie on a theme park ride, but they did it! The reason I liked it is because it was the next movie from a LOTR star (had to get that movie in there somewhere)

-If you haven’t seen it, follows the story of Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate who is on a quest to recover his perceived rightful place as the captain of the Black Pearl, a ship from which he was mutinied. Early in the movie, Jack is shown arriving to town on a sinking ship where he quickly runs into trouble. After being cornered by a group of soldiers, a woman that he accidentally saved protests his arrest saying “Commodore, I really must protest. Pirate or not, this man saved my life.” Commodore: “One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.” Jack: “Though it seems enough to condemn him.” Commodore: “Indeed”

-I think this is the way many of us tend to view today’s topic: the final judgment, here called the lake of fire, otherwise referred to as hell. If we think of hell at all, we tend to view it as unfair condemnation, and I understand that impulse.

-Not something to take lightly, don’t joke about it, I understand that this topic often comes with much grief 

-I approach this topic with great fear and trembling

-At the same time, as I’ve shared before, where Scripture is emphatic, I’m going to be emphatic, so because it’s in here (and not just a periphery issue), it’s something we need to address.

READ/PRAY

  1. The Great White Throne (11)

-This is the 7th glimpse of the throne in Revelation, so when John mentions it this time he wants us to remember all the previous things we’ve seen:

-1: Rev. 4:2 – someone seated on a throne (no one else is allowed to sit there, and no votes for this position), rainbow around the throne signifying God’s mercy, 24 more thrones with elders on them, in the middle of the throne stands the slaughtered lamb. Centrality of Jesus on the throne, friends this cannot be overstated!

-2: Rev. 7:9 – great multitude who can’t be counted, who cry out that salvation belongs to God, shows us the central place that worship should have in our lives

-3: Rev. 8:1-5 – silence in heaven about a half hour, prayers of the saints rise up to God like incense, shows us that prayer is brought to God’s very throne

-4: Rev. 11:16 – elders giving thanks to God that He has begun to reign and the time to judge has come. Shows us the way God’s just judgment is worthy of praise

-5: Rev. 16:17-19 – voice from heaven “It is done,” praise to God for his ways are just and evil has been vanquished, goes on to recount the destruction of Babylon viewed from the throne. Even the most powerful human institutions can’t stand against God.

-6: 19:4-5 – God seated on his throne, voice from the throne saying to praise God, multitude responds who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb showing that there is a way to come before God’s throne: being his pure bride. People used to complain to me about “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs, and I would tell that the problem wasn’t that it was too intimate, it was that they weren’t intimate enough, because Scripture talks about Jesus as our husband.

-All that is now gone, and the focus is on the “great white throne” Great: large, impressive. White: purity

-One seated: the Lamb. That’s why it was important for us to think through all those other glimpses we had of the throne previously. 

-So pure that the corrupted earth and heavens can’t be in his presence. Think of some of the other examples we’ve seen of creation coming undone. 16:20 “every island fled, and the mountains disappeared” peals of thunder, millstones thrown to earth, hail, earthquakes. Think of Rom. 8 where Paul tells us that creation is groaning for this day. Creation was subjected to sin, to death, to decay because the people God created to steward creation destroyed His perfect plans

-Sin can’t be in the presence of holiness. Isa. 6 the prophet catches a glimpse of God seated on His throne and he becomes undone! He worries that he’s going to die because he can’t be in God’s presence and live. God has to send an angel with a burning coal to touch Isaiah’s lips so that he can speak to God. 

-And what’s amazing is because of the slain Lamb we can come boldly into God’s presence. We don’t need any other sacrifices, we don’t need coal from the altar, we can talk to God whenever from wherever! 

-Not a literal fleeing, but creation is coming undone, just like we’ve seen at the end of the seals, trumpets, and bowls. This is preparation for the new heavens & earth

  • The Dead (12-13)

-Throne is the predominant focus, but that’s not all John sees: there’s also the dead

-“great and small” not just wealthy or well known, this is everyone who has ever lived coming to stand before God waiting their turn to be judged.

-And books were opened? Maybe like me, you enjoy reading! Perennially, some of the best-selling books are biographies, and there’s always some bit of juice that comes out each time some new celebrity releases one.

-Look at the end of the verse, “according to their works by what was written in the books.” Apparently there’s a library in heaven with the biography of everyone who’s ever lived. You and me have book that recount our entire life story in them, and according to this everyone will be judged “according to their works.”

–Luke 12:2-3 “There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.” When I was growing up, the way this was taught to me was that someday there’s going to be a movie that plays for everyone to see what you did in your life, so be careful! But I don’t think that’s what’s meant here.

-Pointing that God is aware of everything. Every thought in your mind, every step you take, Jesus says He knows how many hairs are on your head! Nothing is hidden from Him, which means His judgments weigh everything, He knows everything that has ever happened and nothing escapes from His oversight. Friends, think just how comforting that is! When you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death, who is with you? God is! Nothing catches Him by surprise, nothing catches Him off guard, even your sins. He knew every sin you would commit, He knew that before sent Jesus to die for you, yet He still did it so that now nothing can separate you from Him.

-What this means is everyone will someday give an account for their actions, and the question for us is whose actions will you be judged by? Because all our actions are as useful to getting to heaven as garbage. Jonathan Edwards said “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary” Your contribution is the problem, but we’ll talk about that again at the end.

-Who else comes?

-Sea: if people weren’t given a proper burial, as was customary

-death and Hades: the storehouses of the dead (Rev. 1:18 – Jesus holds the keys to these places meaning He’s in charge of them) 

-These people are also judged according to their works

-How does this language fit with the belief that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and not according to works? 

-John Calvin: “It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone, because it is constantly conjoined with light.”

-How do you know if someone is saved? How do you know if someone just says they’re saved? And how do you know if someone isn’t saved? Jesus tells us how in Matt. 7:16 “You’ll recognize them by their fruit.” The question is: what fruit is being demonstrated? See, we’re not commanded to judge whether or not someone is saved, but if someone claims to be saved we do have room to ask if their lives are marked by the right fruit. Jesus says that people can claim to follow Him, prophesy in His name, and even perform miracles in His name, but still not be saved. It must change everything about us, including the ways we live. If we claim to be in Christ but don’t give any evidence of that in our lives (bear fruit) then people should ask us if we’re truly believers. 

-That’s what John is saving here. Salvation only happens by faith alone through grace alone in Jesus Christ alone, but then if we’re truly saved, there will be enough evidence in our lives to demonstrate that reality. 

-This connects to what I shared last week: Jesus wants to be with us in every area of our lives, which means everything we do is an opportunity to honor and glorify Him. Eating, drinking, sleeping, working, playing: all can be done as a way of honoring Jesus as your Lord. And if not, the Bible calls that sin, which as Jack Sparrow learned is enough to condemn someone.

  • The Lake of Fire (14-15)

-This section begins with death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire

-Joining the 2 beasts and Satan, the second death. Everyone dies once, but only those who are going to the lake of fire will die a second time. Similar to Jesus talking about being born again. Everyone is born once, but only those who put their faith in Jesus are born a second time.

-Just so we understand how all the Bible fits together: 1 Cor. 15:26 the last enemy to be abolished is literally death itself. Just as we’ve seen creation coming undone, death is now undone as well.

-Who else? Anyone whose name was not written in the book of life

-This took place before the earth was created. Referring to the beast: (Rev. 13:8) Notice WHEN this happened “from the foundation of the world.”

-Friends, what this means is the ultimate destiny for anyone who worships the beast is the lake of fire

-How could a loving God send anyone to hell? That’s a good and right question to ask! God describes Himself as love, as slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and mercy, as gracious, as patient, so why would He send His creatures to hell? We first need to address what it is we’re talking about, and then I have 7 things (in keeping with the theme in Revelation) we must believe about hell based on Scripture.

-First, when we talk about God we need to recognize that He is God and we are not. He knows more than we do and His judgments are completely right, even when we don’t agree. What that means is while God describes Himself as love, He gets to define love, and while God is love, His love also includes wrath and justice. Think of it like marriage. My wife loves me. If I were to be unfaithful toward her she would rightfully be full of wrath. Throughout this book we’ve seen spiritual idolatry referred to as harlotry, so God’s response to that is condemnation.

-Secondly, everyone believes that some people deserve hell. Hitler, Stalin, etc. THOSE guys deserve hell! Why do we get to go from there to determine who should be deserving of hell? Our judgments are going to be off, but not God’s. Anytime someone wants to debate this topic this is where I go.

-Emotional reaction to this. Emotions aren’t necessarily wrong, but our emotions can’t always bear up to the weight of reality. Pinnock, Stott

-EFCA SOF: “We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace.”

1-The lake of fire is real. While there is a lot of imagery that we shouldn’t take literally in Revelation, the lake of fire is a real place where the unholy trinity will spend eternity with all those he deceived in rebellion against God.

2-The lake of fire is eternal – both in existence and in terms of decision. Once someone dies there are no second chances. Heb. 9:27 tells us that people die once, and after that death face judgment. 

3-The lake of fire is just. No one can blame God (even though they will), no one is there who doesn’t deserve to be there because the judgment of God is perfect. We saw this in Rev. 19:2, the multitude praises God because His judgments are true and righteous. We will someday worship God because He judges everything as it is supposed to be judged. There won’t be any room to debate or defend yourself

4-The lake of fire is where God’s presence in wrath is poured out. We saw this back in Rev. 14:9-11. Undiluted wrath poured out on the unbelieving, and how long does it endure? Forever and ever. That’s a VERY long time!

5-Jesus believed and preached on hell, a lot! He had no issue telling people exactly where their destiny was! For the sake of time, just one example, but we could pick any of the Gospel accounts and find Jesus talking about the reality of hell.

6-People choose to spend eternity in the lake of fire we often quickly jump to the throwing into the lake of fire, but what we miss is that people willingly pursue it. Remember, people will give an account for how they lived, and even if they were given the choice to leave they would still want to stay in torment. You can see this in the parable Jesus tells of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. The rich man in hell never asks to be released. Hell is where he’s supposed to be. 

7-Eternity is the destiny for everyone. Everyone lives forever, some will spend eternity in the new heavens and earth, and some will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

-Once again, just as we’ve seen throughout this whole book, there’s only 2 ways to live: either for God, or opposed to God. You either willingly bow the knee to Jesus now and find the life you’ve been looking for, or you’ll be forced to bow the knee to Him later where you’ll get the life you deserve.

-But this isn’t something to gloat over, it’s not something to wish away, it’s something to remember because each day you’re helping point people (and yourself) to one of these 2 places.

-I shared the story of Jack Sparrow at the beginning, and we saw in the passage that everyone’s story is being recorded in heaven. But there’s a big difference in the story between someone who’s been washed by the blood of the Lamb, and those who have chosen to live their own way. In many cases, the stories would read exactly the same! Snapped at his kids here, gossiped about a friend there, cut someone off in traffic here, but for some people, next to the sins it says “forgiven.” Those sins are crossed out and in their place it says “read Jesus’ book here.” 

-If anyone here wants to have their story changed, now is the time! Don’t let this moment pass you by, believe in your heart that Jesus is who He said He was: the Savior of the world, and then confess that He rose again your book can be rewritten, you no longer need to worry about ever being condemned.

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by mikethestrand on November 10, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 10, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/11/10/revelation-2011-14-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 20:1-10 – Sermon Manuscript

-Think back to the most significant moments in your life. You can probably remember the smells, the feel, the emotions behind all of it, right?

-Receiving an award in high school, the day I got married, the day my kids were born (somewhat foggy due to lack of sleep after)

-In those moments, who was with you? Significant events don’t happen in isolation, it’s always with someone else, and Jesus wants to be that someone else for every human.

READ/PRAY

-What is this 1,000 years? One of the most hotly debated passages, with entire systems of theology built around interpretations of this.

-First thing to note: all of these positions are trying to make arguments from the text of Scripture, therefore none of them are heresy. You can believe any of these positions and still be a faithful, orthodox Christian, if anyone tries to tell you that you HAVE to believe certain things about the end times just give up the conversation because it won’t be worth your time! 

-Second is this 1,000 years is used 6x in the entire Bible, and they’re all in vs. 2-7 that doesn’t mean we just ignore them, but keep them in perspective!

-Third: the main point of this entire story isn’t the 1,000 years, it’s the new heavens and earth! In the timeline of eternity, 1,000 years is nothing! 2 Peter 3:8 “Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” When we have eternity, 1,000 years is as significant as we count a day. It matters, but it’s not the main thing.

-So what MUST you believe about the end times?

1. Jesus is coming back physically, for real. He will return bodily to enact His perfect, just, and eternal reign. His kingdom will be established, and it will be a physical reality, not just a spiritual one. Everyone agrees on this point.

2. No one knows the day or the hour. The only thing we can say with certainty is each day gets us 1 day closer to THE day. That’s it! And if you try to predict it you’ll ruin it for the rest of us because NO ONE knows!

3. Jesus isn’t going to become King. You can’t become something you already are. Jesus is already ruling from His throne, and He invites us to join with Him in His work of reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19)

-3 positions (all of which have subsets of thought): premil, amil, postmil. None of these positions require the 1,000 years to refer to a literal 1,000 years (numbers are often signs) This is the only time I’ll use charts in Revelation!

-Amillennial: many prefer to call this “realized millennialism” “a” means no, they argue that this 1,000 years refers to the time between Jesus’ 2 comings, not future. This was the predominant thought among the church from the 400s until the 1800s, due to the influence of Augustine. They argue that the binding of Satan took place when Jesus died, and since then, God has regularly been working to draw people to Himself and conform them into His image, literally stealing them from the domain of Satan (we’ll get there)

-Postmillennialist: the gospel will continually spread across the globe until we get “1,000 year” time period where God’s peace and justice are the predominant focus across the world.

-Premillennial: Jesus returns before (pre) His millennial reign. This one has a sharp divide between historic (classical) vs. dispensational premillennial. Historic appeal to early church fathers like Papias and Irenaeus for their support, and dispensational premil didn’t come onto the scene until the 1800s. Dispensational argue for a secret rapture 7 years before Jesus’ return, and that was what most evangelicals in America believed in the 20th century (if you ever heard teaching on Revelation it was probably this kind) I don’t agree with it for 3 reasons (1) partly because most of church history was dominated by amil, (2) nothing in Revelation points to a secret taking away of the church because the church remains throughout the entire book, and (3) the passages people appeal to for a secret rapture I would argue shouldn’t be interpreted as a secret rapture, but should instead be read as either punishment/judgment or being a part of God’s welcoming committee. If you want to talk more about that, let me know!

-There is a very tiny difference between postmil and classical premil, they both use the same interpretive tools for approaching all of Scripture, including this text. My caution to you is to not use this text as a way of trying to interpret the rest of Scripture. Remember: numbers throughout Revelation are symbols and not statistics. However, the reason I’m still in the premil camp (barely) is because nowhere in Revelation does time serve as a symbol for something other than time (which is my issue with amil), my issue with postmil is it’s too positive, and my issue with premil is it tends to be too pessimistic!

-Every interpretive option has “problem” texts, does better with some verses than others, as we work through today, I’ll be primarily arguing for the historical premil, but will also share how the other options make their arguments.

  1. Serpent Bound (1-3)

-We’ve seen lots of angels! And we saw an angel holding the key to the abyss back in Rev. 9 to allow the locusts to escape. This time, instead of letting things out, he’s throwing something into the abyss.

-Apparently different than the lake of fire, as we’ll see in vs. 10. 

-Binds Satan for a thousand years

-Last week we saw the 2 beasts captured and thrown into the lake of fire

-Lots of emphasis given to this binding: seized, bound, threw, closed, sealed.

-Premil believes this is part of Jesus’ return

-Amil believes this binding happened when Jesus was rose from the dead (based on Mark 3:27 “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.”)

-Do you think Satan is currently bound and not deceiving the nations? Seems to miss the way the beast has been the puppet master behind all the political persecution throughout this section.

-Released a second time, or is this recounting the same event we saw last week: the final “battle” where God’s rule is enacted? 

-I believe this is referring to a second battle, but you’ll need to wait until the end to see why! It comes up in vs. 9

  • Saints Seated and Share (4-6)

-John’s focus shifts from the dragon to the saints. Some work needed to understand what John’s saying here! 

-Thrones, people seated on them with authority. Rev. 2:26

-And the souls who had been beheaded, connects back to Rev. 1:2

-Don’t push the idea of beheading too far – most likely a stand in for all believers, who may be required to pay for their belief with their life, because the descriptions are true of all believers.

-They reigned with Christ, which we are currently doing! Eph. 2:6, right now we’re meant to serve as Jesus’ ambassadors, that is we represent Him and His rule and reign to the rest of the world. 

-If what I’ve proposed on vs. 4 is true, then vs. 5 refers to the resurrection of the unbelievers. John calls this the “first resurrection,” but he never goes on to talk about a second resurrection, so we need to do some inferring.

-Blessed – every other time it’s used in the book (6 others for total of 7) it refers to all believers. Priests – same, every other time it refers to all believers.

-“Second death” John never refers to a first death, so once again we’re speculating. 

-This is where the premil position is probably weakest and amil is strongest because there’s some things here that seem to not make sense to us. At face value, it appears that all believers will be resurrected to receive their glorified bodies, and will be living and judging on earth at the same time that unbelievers have their normal unglorified bodies for this thousand year time period (however long that actually is!) Is that even possible? Is that correct?

-I’m going to go ahead and argue yes! But why? Because God is FAR more patient than any of us, and once again in the grand scheme of eternity 1,000 years isn’t that long. I believe this 1,000 years is the final demonstration that even when people are no longer blinded and deceived by Satan, they’ll still reject Jesus and choose sin.

-The other reason I think this is because we already have an instance where a glorified body was here walking around the earth hanging out with people who didn’t have their glorified bodies yet, and people still didn’t believe Him, that’s Jesus. Believe it or not, we do have a picture of this reality and if God’s done it once, why wouldn’t He do it again?

-If this feels or sounds odd to you, it may be because of how culturally conditioned we are, and how much we tend to view the material as only bad and negative.

-I was at a funeral recently where the speaker mentioned that the important part, the spiritual and immaterial part was saved. But that’s wrong! That’s platonic philosophy, not Christianity! God’s plan is to renew both heaven AND EARTH. So God’s plan includes a period of time where the world will be operating as it should have been operating forever. Where He is on His throne and all of us are given a job to spread His influence across the world. 

-The hard part for me is that I’ll have to find a new job when we get to this point, because I theoretically won’t need to preach anymore! But anyone who has a job outside of ministry will be able to take that vocation with you (we’ll get there in a couple weeks, this is just a teaser!) 

-And remember, this isn’t the ultimate end for us. This is just a taste of how great it will be! Yet even when everything is as it should be, with Jesus on His throne and His followers faithfully following after Him, people will still reject Him. That’s just how depraved humans are, just how prone humans are to reject and walk away from Him, at the end of time no one will be able to blame God for being unkind or impatient with them.

-If you’ve ever read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, this is the closest you can find in the Bible as evidence for his beliefs in there.

  • Satan’s Demise (7-10)

-After these 1,000 years, Satan is released for what was earlier called “a short time” to conduct the true final battle.

-Similarities to last time, drawing the armies up, but where in 19 it only listed kings of the earth and their armies, now it says all nations. So interpreters argue that Gog & Magog are a stand in for the nations of the world (picking up on the terminology Ezekiel uses Ezek. 38-39). Much larger army than before!

-Shows that even after all this time where Jesus was ruling, the world was as it should be, as soon as Satan is released the people flock to him with their plans to attempt to overthrow Jesus’ perfect reign.

-“Beloved city” aka “encampment of the saints” which is Jerusalem, but not the Jerusalem we know today, because that’s a stand in/representative for the entire universe (which you’ll need to come back for in 2 weeks to see how!)

-Once again, a very anticlimactic battle. 

-Saved the illustration for this week: end of ROTK, Aragorn and a tiny army of men and elves (with a dwarf and a couple hobbits) draw up against Sauron and all the forces of evil. Aragorn whispers “For Frodo” and charges. Outnumbered, impossible odds, and then the moment the ring is destroyed the earth caves in on itself and Mordor is destroyed, leaving only the good guys standing.

-Similarly here: fire consumes the army, reminiscent of another showdown in the OT (1 Kings 18) where Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal and attempt to call down fire from heaven. Spoiler alert, Elijah wins, and to connect it to last week, he wins by speaking and asking God to respond.

-Devil, dragon, ancient serpent, Satan (deceiver) finally thrown into the same place as the 2 beasts. Place of never-ending torment “day and night forever and ever.”

-We’ll look at this more closely next week, but the lake of fire is the same place unbelievers are thrown, too. After all this time to repent and turn to God, even at this late stage they refuse.

-Shared a story before of someone I heard at school saying he would just wait until he was on his deathbed to confess and get into heaven, this shows us that won’t actually happen. His choices even up to the end will be to turn away from God and pursue his own sin.

-Friends, everything we do has consequences, either positive or negative. That’s why you have to walk by a sign that say “One Step Closer” each time you walk into our doors. Every day is a new opportunity for us to grow closer to Jesus. Unfortunately, it’s also an opportunity to walk further away from him.

-PDT life isn’t made up of a few major decisions, it’s made up of millions of tiny decisions that turn into your life. What decisions are you going to make today?

-Talking with staff this week about technology – how do we use technology as Christians, as something that draws us closer to Jesus? 

-Conversations with others: how do we engage with other people in a way that allows us to better model Jesus to them AND push them closer to Jesus?

-Watching the Vikings tonight, how can we walk that in a way that brings us closer to Jesus? 

-Friends, Jesus wants every tiny little part of your life to be a way of engaging with Him. Will you allow Him in?

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by mikethestrand on November 3, 2024  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 3, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/11/03/revelation-201-10-sermon-manuscript/