Segunda venida, Milenio y Cielo y Tierra Nuevos.

John Macarthur.

Well tonight we're going to be looking at Revelation

chapter 19, you'll want to open your Bible to the
nineteenth chapter of Revelation. We're going to look
tonight at verses 11 to 16 and this is the glorious
return of Jesus Christ...the glorious return of Jesus
Christ. We've been waiting to get to this verse since
we started the book of Revelation. We've gone
through nineteen chapters and ten verses of
preliminaries just to get there in verse 11 where it
says, "And I saw heaven opened and behold a white
horse and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and
True and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
And His eyes are a flame of fire. And upon His head
are many diadems and He has a name written upon
Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is
clothed with a robe dipped in blood 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, and from His mouth
comes a sharp sword so that with it He may smite the
nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And
He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God,
the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has
a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF
LORDS." That tremendously graphic, powerful
description of Jesus Christ portrays Him in this vision
to the Apostle John in the glory of His Second
Coming.

So often I am asked the question, I guess people

know that I'm a preacher, a pastor, one who studies
Scripture and teaches the Bible and they often will say
to me, "Will things in our troubled world ever get any
better? Is it just going to continue to get worse and
worse or will there be an end to all the war, to the
hostility and the inequity and the crime and the
chaos?" And I always answer the question by
saying...It's going to get better, it's going to be better,
there's no question about it. I can give a resounding
yes to...will the world get better? But that yes is
directly associated with the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ. That and that alone is what is going to remedy
the problems of our world. That and that alone is what
is going to bring peace instead of war, justice instead
of inequity, righteousness instead of wickedness.
Jesus Christ will come and He will rule this world
some day. He will return to be the King and to
establish His kingdom. This particular passage, which
we just read, prophesies that greatest of all moments
in human history and in the saga of redemption.
As we have learned in our study of this incredible
book of Revelation, such a glorious event will not
happen without preliminary hostility of a very vast and
far-reaching nature. Prior to the return of Jesus Christ
there will be worldwide hostility generated by Satan
and demons and wicked men, as well as worldwide
hostilities generated by God Himself as He pours out
His wrath. We have learned about the efforts of Satan
during the coming time of Tribulation. We have
learned about the identity of Antichrist and the cohort
that he has called the false prophet. We have learned

about the demons that will be released to overrun the

earth. We have learned about the escalating
wickedness of men in the midst of the outpouring of
the fury and the wrath of God, they continue to
become more and more wicked, more and more
obstinate, harder and harder and more resistant
against the gospel which at the same time is being
preached to them like never before. We have learned
about how Satan with all of his hosts comes to fight
against the purposes of God and the people of God
and the plan of God, the angels of God and even the
Christ of God Himself. The forces of heaven and the
forces of hell will meet in final fury, involving the
nations of the world in a battle that we know as
Armageddon, as the darkness endeavors to stop the
King of light from establishing His glorious Kingdom
on the earth.
At the head of the unified forces of the world army will
be the beast or the Antichrist who marches in hostility
with the power of Satan against God and His
anointed. We find down in verse 19 that it says, "I saw
the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies
assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the
horse and against His army."
We also remember from the sixteenth chapter of the
book of Revelation and verse 16 that the great focal
point of that battle will be in a place called in the
Hebrew language Armageddon. So it is not without a
tremendous among of hostility, far beyond what we
have seen yet in our world, so when we are asked the
question...are things going to get better? The answer

is absolutely, assuredly they will get better and they

will get better in an instantaneous fashion at the
coming of Jesus Christ in one great cataclysmic
moment of redemptive history. But before they get
better, they're going to get worse...a lot worse. The
world hasn't even begun to understand how bad life
can be. How terrifyingly inequitable it can be. How
unjust it can be. How criminal it can be. How chaotic it
can be. How devastating and deadly it can be. If you
want to understand that, understand the book of
Revelation. Starting in chapter 6 the unfolding of
seven seal judgments and seven trumpet judgments
and seven bowls of the wrath of God culminating in
that which is called the day of wrath itself describe for
us how bad it is going to become.
Before the world gets any better in the return of Jesus
Christ, it's going to get far worse than it is today. And
sometimes we ask ourselves if it can get any worse.
And the answer is, it can and it will. And then in a
great moment of redemptive culmination, Jesus will
come and the world will immediately become a
paradise regained.
Now as we come to Revelation chapter 19 and verse
11, where the return of Jesus Christ is described for
us, we want to remember the prior passage. It has
been a number of weeks since we studied the book of
Revelation and I won't want you to lose the train of
thought here. You will remember that in the prior
passage there was some presentation of the great
event called in verse 9 the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb, a time when the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus

Christ, will join together with His redeemed people

and they will participate in this wonderful marriage
supper that in its fullness will be enjoyed in the time of
the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year reign as
Jesus establishes on the earth as the first phase of
His eternal rule. But the Marriage Supper of the Lamb,
as wonderful as it is, when the Lamb gathers His bride
and they enter into the glory of the kingdom and
participate in that wonderful time of celebration, before
that marriage supper can come to pass, the warrior
King must win the final battle.
He cannot take His bride into the kingdom, He cannot
establish that great event of the marriage supper, that
great and permanent celebration. He cannot enter into
that promised marriage and that promised culmination
until He returns from victory in the greatest battlefield
of all time. And so in anticipation of the great event of
the Marriage Supper, the great event of the kingdom,
the warrior King goes to battle one final time. And it is
at this time that the greatest...the greatest amassing
of enemies comes against the Lord Jesus Christ. For
now you have demons who have been loosed, and
you have demons that have been bound and now are
loosed. You have two hundred million demons who
have been released, who have been held captive for a
long period of time. You have the pit of hell opened up
and demons belching out of that who have been
incarcerated in chains until the hour of the time of
Tribulation. So the hosts of hell are more formidable
now than they have been. You have what is left of the
humanity of the earth, that which hasn't been
destroyed under the power of Antichrist or destroyed

by the furious judgments of God. And they gather

together in great armies and are led into the fields of
Megiddo, as it were, and stretching all the way there
into the south past the city of Jerusalem, they become
really fuel for the fires of the returning King.
This greatest of all human holocausts is commonly
known, and rightfully so, as the great holocaust of
Armageddon. And before the King can take His bride
to her supper in celebration, He has to make a final
triumph. The daring challenge of the Antichrist is
accepted by heaven itself, it is accepted by the King,
the warrior King and His holy angels. And He comes
in flaming fire to take His vengeance.
As we come to this event in chapter 19 and verse 11,
Babylon the great capital city of the empire of
Antichrist has already been destroyed. The world
economic and religious system has been devastated.
The empire of the Antichrist is in shambles as we
remember from chapters 17 and 18. The seven-seal
judgments have been opened and fulfilled. The seven
trumpets have been blown and their furious judgments
unfolded. The seven bowls of wrath have been poured
out. And after all of that divine wrath, the remaining
people of the earth are gathered into armies and
assembled for the last holocaust. Man's day is about
to end. The Great Tribulation to be over. Satan's time
as well has ended as Jesus Christ comes in glorious
triumph.
It wouldn't do justice to the intent of Scripture and to
the anticipation of all of the redemptive literature that

is before in the Bible if we didn't say at this point...this

is the culmination of God's plan that His people have
been waiting for throughout all of redemptive history.
This is that which has been anticipated since the very
beginning. This is the time when fully the serpent's
head is bruised. And that takes us back to Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 15. This is the time when the
scepter is given to the true King and that takes us
back to Genesis chapter 49. This is the time, also, for
example, that was anticipated in the great prophecy
given in 2 Samuel chapter 7, in that great chapter in
which David is told that there is going to come a King,
there is going to come a King greater than any other
King, and that King who will be a son of David will
establish a kingdom that will last forever. It will be a
kingdom that will never end. Second Samuel 7 then is
anticipating the very event described for us here in
Revelation chapter 19.
It is the very anticipation of this day and this moment
that was certainly in the heart of Isaiah when he talked
about the fact that there was going to come a great
servant King, a great One who would establish a
throne and a kingdom. Isaiah anticipates that in the
eleventh chapter and again in the forty- second
chapter.
This was anticipated by Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39.
It was anticipated by Joel in chapter 3 of his prophecy.
And by Zechariah in chapter 14. And certainly Isaiah
had it in mind in chapter 9 when he said, "The
government will be upon His shoulders." He talked

about a child who would come, who would reign and

rule.
The Old Testament also pointed out very clearly that
the center of this kingdom which the Messiah would
establish would be in the city of Jerusalem. Clearly the
prophet Zechariah let it be known that Jerusalem was
to be the place. In Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 3,
"It shall come about in that day I'll make Jerusalem a
heavy stone for all the peoples, all who lift it will be
severely injured and all the nations of the earth will be
gathered against it." In the battle of Armageddon there
is a focal point as well at Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is
going to be a place, of course, where Antichrist
establishes his rule. After desecrating the temple,
you'll remember, during the Tribulation, he sets up
himself as the one to be worshiped. He sets up the
center of his worship in that sense in the city of
Jerusalem. And so the conflict will hit that city as well.
Zechariah talked about it even Isaiah talks about it in
chapter 9 verse 7.
So the prophets were anticipating what was going to
happen, that there would come a day when Jerusalem
would be a place of judgment. There would come a
day when God would send His great King to establish
His eternal kingdom. And though they didn't fully have
the revelation, of course, they had to wait until the
New Testament even gave a greater revelation, that
which came in the Olivet Discourse, that which comes
in the book of Revelation. They understood how
human history would finely reach its culmination.
There would come One from heaven, the Anointed,

the Son of David, the promised King who would

dethrone the kings of the world and establish a
kingdom of righteousness in which the people of God
would be lifted up and exalted. Peace and justice
would prevail in the world. Certainly Isaiah as well as
the other prophets knew and understood as much as
they were told about this great event.
So the conflict is set. We understand it. We've learned
about it from the book of Revelation. But so is the
anticipation set. And Christians have longed for this
great day to come. And now we are reading about its
coming.
I think back to Matthew chapter 13 and how the Lord
early on in His ministry even began to talk about what
was going to happen in the future. You remember in
the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, verses 41 and 42,
He says, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels
and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling
blocks and those who commit lawlessness and cast
them into the furnace of fire, in that place there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth, but the righteous will
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Here is Jesus saying there is coming a day of
judgment, there is coming a day when the angels are
going to be the agents of judgment and the reapers in
the harvest. But it's also going to be a day of blessing
and the righteous are going to shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father.
And in that great Olivet Discourse where Jesus
preached a sermon on His own Second Coming, He

reminds again of what's going to happen in Matthew

25:41, He will say to those on His left, "Depart from
Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which as been
prepared for the devil and his angels." But on the
other hand He will say to those who know and love
Him, "Enter into My Kingdom, come who are blessed
of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you."
And so that day is a day of tremendous judgment but
also a day of tremendous blessing, tremendous joy,
tremendous anticipation.
In Romans chapter 2 as you remember the Apostle
Paul talks about the fact that there is coming a day of
wrath and day of revelation of the righteous judgment
of God. "And that day will render to every man
according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance
in doing good seek for glory and honor and
immortality will come eternal life. To those who are
selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey
unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." So again this
event signals judgment and it signals blessing. And
believers throughout the ages have anticipated this
monumental moment.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 7, it tells us
about a day when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
heaven. It's the very day we're looking at in Revelation
19, when He comes with His mighty angels in flaming
fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know
God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power. But on the other hand, He

will come to be glorified in His saints on that day, and

to be marveled at among all who have believed.
Again we hear the same rehearsing. It is a day of
terrible judgment on the ungodly and a day of
immense joy for those who know and love the Lord.
So it is the anticipated day of saints in the Old
Testament, the anticipated day of saints in the New
Testament, the day of judgment, it's the very day
which caused John to know sweetness and bitterness,
sweetness because Christ was coming, bitterness
because it meant the damnation of the ungodly was
sealed.
So our text then is monumental in the history of
redemption. It is the culminating event. It is the final
great event. It is the end of the whole saga, really. The
rest that happens in the kingdom and the end of the
kingdom, the satanic rebellion at the end of the
thousand years is really a sort of a final mop up
operation. This is that which establishes the
permanent end of man's day and establishes the
eternal beginning of the day of God and the day of
Christ when He will reign forever and ever. This then
is the culmination of all of the Scripture, of all of
Christian hope, of all of the hope of all the saints of all
the ages. This is the final culminating battle for
sovereignty in the universe, and this determines who
will rule forever and ever and ever. And it will be none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we should be loving this event. We should be
anticipating this event. The Apostle Paul spoke when

he was writing at the very end of his life to Timothy.

And he spoke some very, very important and practical
words. He said in 2 Timothy 4:8, "In the future there is
laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the
Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day
and not only to me but also to all who have loved His
appearing." In so saying, he defines a Christian as
someone who loves Christ's appearing, someone who
loves His appearing. When we think about it, when we
contemplate it, of course we do as Christians. But
certainly we don't demonstrate that kind of affection
because we get so caught up in this world, so
satisfied with this world, that I think for the most part
all of us if we were honest and looked into our hearts,
and the question we're asked...would you rather leave
this world and be taken to glory? Would you rather
that Jesus come or would you rather keep enjoying
life? We would be hard pressed to honestly say it is
clear cut, I would in one split second give up
everything in this world for the presence of Jesus
Christ. We don't love His appearing as we should. We
become comfortable and enamored by things in this
world.
And I think maybe more so in this kind of culture than
in many other cultures that are much more difficult
and much harder, much more depressing and much
less satisfying than our culture. Maybe...maybe the
fact that our society is rapidly changing, that the
golden era of American history is over, that the glory
days of this country and our society are in the past.
Maybe the fact that things are going to get worse and
worse is going to cause us to have a greater and a

greater love for the appearing of Jesus Christ and so

be it...if indeed that is the case.
And if we in our condition today can love His
appearing, imagine how the saints are going to feel
who live in the time of the Tribulation. Imagine what
it's going to be like for them to anticipate the coming of
Jesus Christ when they're having to experience all
that is going on. Antichrist will be operating in full
power, openly blaspheming and blatantly defying God
and Christ. The whole world will be worshiping Satan
and the son of perdition. And those who refuse to do
that who belong to the Lord will pay with their life.
There will be a massive martyrdom of believers. All
men and women on the face of the earth will be
enduring unbelievable and unimaginable carnage.
Remaining believers from Israel who have survived
the wrath of God will have come to the truth of Jesus
Christ and will be in the last extremities of their
persecution. They will, no doubt, be crying out with the
psalmist who said, "Keep Thou not silent, O God, do
not remain quiet, do not be still, for behold Thine
enemies make an uproar and those who hate Thee
have exalted themselves. They make strong plans
against Thy people and conspire together against Thy
treasured ones. They have said, Come and let us
wipe them out as a nation that the name of Israel be
remembered no more, for they have conspired
together with one mind against Thee and do make a
covenant."
No doubt the redeemed Jews of the Tribulation will
find their way into Psalm 83 and those first six verses

and be crying out to God...Keep Thou not silent, O

God. And living, believing Gentiles will join in that cry.
Those who have believed during that period and who
are still alive and haven't been martyred.
And then the martyred saints who are in heaven will
also be crying..."How long, O Lord, holy and true wilt
Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood?"
As they do in chapter 6 of Revelation and verse 10.
And so saints on earth, both Jew and Gentile, and
saints in heaven under the altar will be crying out for
Christ to come. And they will be anxiously loving His
appearing because life will be so horrifying. They'll
want the King to come back and set up His kingdom
and be honored and glorified. And they will be, of
course, saddened by their own experiences but even
more so by the defamation of the character of God
and the name of Christ and they'll want it all to come
to an end.
And the time will come, and the prayers of the saints
will be answered, and the cries of those under the
altar in heaven will be answered as well. And we see
the answer to it right here in chapter 19, the day will
come. As Jude put it in his little epistle in verse 14,
"When behold the Lord comes with many thousands
of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to
convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which
they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh
things which ungodly sinners have spoken of against
Him."

It's going to come. It's going to happen, this great

event.
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
Now as the scene opens in verse 11, you might want
to look at it, we are taken to heaven and we see
heaven opened. And right on the edge, a white horse
and He who sat upon it called Faithful and True and in
righteousness He judges and makes or wages war.
What is going to happen here is going to happen very
fast. Speedily and triumphantly the gates of heaven
are going to burst open and the Lord is going to
appear in glory with angelic and saintly hosts. There's
going to be a speedy triumph. There's going to be a
catastrophic and sudden collision as He comes out of
heaven and hits the earth. And I just want to
emphasize the suddenness of this text. Heaven
opens, He's there and He comes.
And as soon as He comes there is a holocaust that is
described in verse 17 as the great supper of God and
the birds of the heavens are called to eat the flesh of
the corpses that are going to be covering that part of
the world. Sudden capturing of the beast and the
kings of the earth, the false prophet, even Satan
himself and all of them cast into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. Then the slaughter of any who
remain in verse 21. And this whole thing is very
sudden and very fast. And that's important to point

out. It's not a prolonged engagement. It's not a seige.

It is an instantaneous battle that is fought really with
one weapon, and that one weapon is described in
verse 15 as a sword coming out of the mouth of Christ
and with it He smites the nations. And immediately
then He establishes His rule and His rule is that with a
rod of iron.
Now I want to emphasize the suddenness of this for a
very important reason, because I want you to
understand...biblical history does not tell us that there
is quiet sort of coming of the kingdom, that there this
sort of merging of this age into the next age, that
maybe we could even be in the kingdom and we just
really can't perceive it. We're just sort of sliding into it
and there's a bit of a transition period.
You say, "Who would believe that?" Many do. They
are called post-millennialists. They believe that things
will get better and better and there will be sort of a
spiritual movement and the church somehow will
capture some of the human institutions, and a gradual
merging into the setting up of the kingdom. That is
what post-millennialism is, millennium being the
thousand-year kingdom. They also could be classified
under the term reconstructionists. Sometimes you'll
read about reconstructionists. Those are basically
post-millennialists who believe that we as a church will
reconstruct society around a framework of spiritual
reality, and therefore usher in the kingdom of Christ.
Some of them are called theonomists, who believe
that somehow we can merge the economics of our
time, the economy of our time, the social structure of

our time with a theological reality and create a

theonomic kind of kingdom.
Some of them are called kingdom theologians and
they believe that somehow the church is going to gain
great miracle power. This is the John Wimber "signs
and wonders" kind of movement. And by this great
power we're going to overcome demons and we're
going to conquer the forces of darkness. And we're
going to rest them from the powers of Satan and
therefore we're going to establish the kingdom. And
this will be some kind of process. It gets wrapped up
in the spiritual warfare kind of mentality. And praying
against great cities and demons supposedly that hold
cities captive...and we want to rest these...these
human things away from the powers of darkness, or
away from the social architects of our time and create
by the power of the church either expressed
supernaturally against demonic forces, or naturally
against political and social forces and therefore gain
the kingdom, establish the kingdom, and offer it to
Christ.
That is utterly, in my judgment, foreign to Scripture.
The establishing of the kingdom in which Christ rules
with a rod of iron is a sudden immediately cataclysmic
event and cannot be described in any other way in
Scripture. Heaven opens. On the edge of heaven is
Jesus Christ seated on a white horse, bursting out of
heaven, collides with the earth, and merely with the
sword which comes out of His mouth which is nothing
more than His word, He devastates. He is able to
destroy with His mouth in the same way that He can

create with His mouth. Mark it then, history does not

quietly and gradually merge into the kingdom of
Christ, it comes with a fury and a viciousness, in a
cataclysmic divine intervention from heaven that is
sudden. The end will come violently in fiery judgment.
And furthermore, the end will not come because
things get better. The end will come because things
get worse. The church will never conquer the
kingdoms of this world, the church will never take over
the social institutions of this age. There are not going
to be better and better days ahead because of
Christian influence in the world. Nor will we by some
exercise of imaginary spiritual power conquer the
kingdom of darkness and bring the kingdom. We will
not do that. The world is not going to get better, it's
going to get worse. And it's clear in the book of
Revelation that it's getting worse and worse and
worse and worse until the King intervenes.
The last blow to a world already engulfed, neck-deep
in blood because of the slaughter and the murder and
the bloodshed and the violence that's already gone on
is the holocaust of Armageddon which is followed by
the establishment of the kingdom by the Lord Himself.
He alone can establish the kingdom. That's why we
say we are pre-millennialists. We believe Christ
comes at the beginning of the Millennium and sets it
up, not at the end of it after we've set it up. That's
what post-millennialism believes.
And then there are the amillennialists who don't
believe there is any kingdom. And then there are the

pan-millennialists who believe it will all pan out

somehow in the end.
But anybody who takes a chronological and literal
course in the book of Revelation is going to wind up
with a pre-millennial coming of Christ in which He
returns and sets up the Millennial Kingdom in which
He rules for a thousand years. Nothing else makes
any sense in the chronology of the book of Revelation.
Now the prophets tell us that when Christ comes the
battle will rage in Megiddo, in the plain of Megiddo.
Also that it will range down to Edom through
Jerusalem, the valley of Jehoshaphat. But Megiddo is
the place which seems to be the greatest battle field,
the greatest place of bloodshed. And those of us who
have been to that place are struck by the awesome
capability of that particular piece of real estate to be a
battleground. In fact, Napoleon said it is the greatest
battleground on the face of the earth, at least that he
had ever seen. There Barak and Deborah fought
against Sisera, there Gideon fought the Medianites,
there Saul was slain by the Philistines, there Pharaoh
Necco slew good king Josiah and so it goes. It's in
that place that much blood has been shed.
Through the years every battle fought there, whether
by the Drews or the Turks or the armies of Napoleon,
all of those battles combined were only a harbinger of
the great day of the battle of God almighty. So man's
day is going to end and God's day is going to begin.
The glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ whose
marks and description here identify Him as the same

Jesus who went into heaven from the Mount of Olives,

is going to come. And I have to believe that it's going
to come sooner than any of us really think.
Remember now, Christ came the first time, He was
despised and rejected, spit on, mocked and ridiculed.
But when He comes the second time, it's going to be
just the opposite...just the opposite.
Now the imagery of this section, and I won't want to
hurry through it, the imagery of this section is really
marvelous. It pictures Christ as a warrior King and
He's coming back in that sort of motif, or that sort of
mode. And it really is very similar to the eleventh
chapter of Isaiah. In fact, you might even think that the
writer John who is seeing this great vision was familiar
with the book of Isaiah and would have made in his
own mind a parallel. For in Isaiah we read in chapter
11, "A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a
branch from his roots will bear fruit." And, of course,
the line of Jesse was David and then the Son of
David, the Messiah, and so He came from the line of
Jesse. "And this one who will come out of the stem of
Jesse, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel
and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord and He will delight in the fear of the Lord and
He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a
decision by what His ears hear, but with righteousness
He will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the
afflicted of the earth. And He will strike the earth with
the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He
will slay the wicked. And righteousness will be the belt

about His loins and faithfulness the belt about His

waist."
That's very similar to the imagery. He is called Faithful
and True in Revelation. Here He is called the Faithful
One or having faithfulness, the belt of His waist. His
righteousness is celebrated in Revelation 19 and also
here. He smites the earth with His mouth here in
Isaiah 11, as well as in Revelation chapter 19. He
establishes His rule here as He does in Revelation 19.
So that same picture of the coming King, the warrior
King, the conquering King in Revelation 19 is certainly
very close to the imagery of Isaiah 11.
And Isaiah 11, also, the very next verse which I didn't
read, verse 6, describes the kingdom that He sets up.
"The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down
with the kid, the goat. The calf, the young lion, the
fatling together, a little boy will lead them." In other
words, no more hostility in the animal kingdom. It talks
about the cow and the bear grazing together. Their
young lying down together. The lion eating straw like
an ox, no longer a predator. The nursing child playing
in the hole of the Cobra. The weaned child puts his
hand on a viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in
all My holy mountain for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
And he goes on to describe more about it.
So it is definitely a kingdom picture in Isaiah 11, and
the coming of the King depicted in very similar terms
to Revelation 19.

Now go to Isaiah chapter 63 for a moment, and you'll

see another very similar set of pictures. I'm just
pointing out that this is imagery which is not brand
new. "Who is this who comes from Edom?" And this
tells us, of course, that the battle stretches from
Megiddo in the north to Edom in the south and the
east. "Who is this who comes with garments of
glowing colors from Bozrah?" Literally crimson red
garments. "Who is this coming who is majestic in his
apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? It
is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why
is Your apparel red and Your garments like the one
who treads in the winepress? I have trodden the wine
trough alone and from the peoples there was no man
with Me, I also trod them in Mine anger and trampled
them in My wrath. And their life blood is sprinkled on
My garments. And I stained all My raiment for the day
of vengeance was in My heart and My Year of
redemption has come, and I looked and there was no
one to help, and I was astonished there was no one to
uphold. So My own arm brought salvation to Me, My
wrath upheld Me and I trod down the peoples in My
anger and made them drunk with My wrath and I
poured out their life blood on the earth." And there is
the Messiah answering the questions...who is this one
to come to shed blood?
And that blood-shedding imagery of Isaiah 63, go
back to Revelation 19, appears here as well. Verse
13, "He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. And He
is called by name the Word of God." He is a bloody
conqueror, blood-splattered garments characterize
Him. This great event is not only previewed in Isaiah

11 and in Isaiah chapter 63, but it is also previewed in

Matthew chapter 24. And you remember that in
Matthew chapter 24 in that Olivet Discourse, Jesus
made a very important statement in verse 29. Matthew
24, "Immediately after the Tribulation of those
days...that seven-year period... the sun will be
darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will
fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken." The whole universe goes dark and then the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky then all
the tribes of the earth will mourn, they will see the Son
of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power
and great glory, and He will send forth His angels with
a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the
other." There too is a picture of the coming King. The
event of Revelation 19.
Over in chapter 25 as Jesus continues this sermon on
His Second Coming in verse 31, "When the Son of
Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him,
He will sit on His glorious throne." So the Old
Testament prophets anticipated it, and certainly the
Lord Jesus Christ anticipated it. Earlier in the book of
Revelation the Apostle John saw imagery related to
the coming of Christ. Remember chapter 14 verse 14?
"I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the
cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden
crown on His head and a sharp sickle in HIs hand.
And another angel came out of the temple crying with
a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, `Put in Your
sickle and reap because the hour to reap has come
because the harvest of the earth is ripe.'"

We find even in verse 20, "The winepress was

trodden outside the city and blood came out from the
winepress up to the horses' bridles for a distance of
two hundred miles." That's the distance from Megiddo
all the way to the south through Jerusalem and down
to the southern parts of what would be near Edom.
So plenty of previews. Chapter 16 verse 14, we find
there a battle of the war of the great day of God in
verse 14 of chapter 16. And then in verse 16 they're
gathered to the place called Har Magedon. Well all of
that sets us up to grasp the return of Christ. And, by
the way, we now get very chronological in the book of
Revelation. He returns in chapter 19. He sets up His
Kingdom. In chapter 20 we learn about the kingdom.
And then the kingdom ends and enters into the eternal
state in chapters 21 and 22. So the rest that is to
come is all wonderful, glorious fulfillment of the hope
and anticipation of all the believers of all time.
Would you believe I've gone through the introduction?
How long have I been talking? Our time is gone. It's
just incredible. And I don't want you to miss a thing so
I'm going to...I'm going to save what I planned to say
for next time. But I think you understand the setting of
it and the import of it, and that in itself is foundational.
I'm going to give you three great initial perspectives as
we go through verses 11 to 16...the return of the
conqueror, the regiments of the conqueror, and the
rule of the conqueror. And this is just the richest and
most wonderful truth and I want to have the time to

unfold it so I'm going to wait till next Sunday night to

do that. I don't want you to miss it.
It is, to be honest with you, a concern to my own heart
when we could say we're going to present the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ and have some people not
come. I can't conceive of not loving His appearing
enough to want to know every possible detail about it.
Between now and next Lord's day, you might pray that
the Lord will put it upon the hearts of His people to
demonstrate the love of this event enough to come to
hear about it. And I'm not talking for our sake,
because to be honest, and this is a good footnote to
close on, we who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ
are going to be raptured, right? We're going to be at
the Second Coming, but we're not going to be here
waiting for it, we're going to be coming with Him. That
even makes it more interesting. I want to know what
I'm going to be doing, what I'm going to be involved in.
Am I going to be part of the judgment? Am I going to
have a sword? Am I going to get in on the action? Or
am I not? Well I'm going to answer that question next
week. What is going to be my role? And wonderful of
all wonderful things is the fact that Jesus Christ is
finally going to be exalted. All the defamation, all the
slander, all the dishonor that's been against His name
is going to be over forever. And He will be vindicated
and glorified. That and that alone makes it a most
precious event of all events. Don't miss it. Let's bow in
prayer.
Father, as we think about this tremendous reality that
Jesus is coming, we are to grateful to know this, else

we would be in such despair, such confusion about

what's going on in the world. And how is it that in such
a time when we are educated, such a time when we
have elevated ourselves materially and economically,
we should have learned some things in the battle to
get along. Here we are killing each other at an
unbelievable rate, all the way from crime in the streets
to the massacre of a half a million people by a tribe in
Africa. There's something so wretchedly wrong in the
human heart that time doesn't fix and education
doesn't remedy and social structure can't control. It
doesn't get better, it's just the same only worse. And
where would we hope and where would we look for a
gleam of light if we didn't have the confidence that
Jesus was coming? That He was going to come and
make the world the paradise that You intended it to
be. But only for those who love His appearing, who
name His name. And we would say with the Apostle
John, "Even so, come Lord Jesus, the sooner the
better." Who needs anymore of this? The only reason
we're reluctant to say come now is that we would wish
that more could come to faith in Christ. We are not
eager for the damnation of the lost and nor are You.
And that's why during those final days of the
Tribulation the gospel will be preached more far and
wide than ever in history. And men will have a greater
opportunity to hear and believe than they've ever had
because You're not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance, You find no
pleasure in the death of the wicked.
But, Lord, we want the gospel preached, we want
people to believe but at the same time we want Christ

to come and be exalted and receive the honor that He

is due. And we want to be a part of the kingdom, the
glorious kingdom over which He reigns. We could only
wish that the thing we read about here in Revelation
19, that heaven was opened, was in fact a reality that
heaven was opened and Jesus was coming soon.
Thank You for the promise that we are not set for
wrath but before that unfolding wrath comes You're
going to take us to be with Yourself and that we'll
return with You in the glory of Your coming.
give us a love for Your appearing that affects our life,
the way we live, the way we think, the way we invest
our time and money. Help us to live in the light of
eternity and not the passing world. Help us to lay up
our treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not
corrupt and thieves can't steal. Help us to take that
which is carnal and purchase that which is eternal.
Help us to set our affections on things above and not
on the things on the earth, to remember that we are
not citizens of this world but our citizenship is in
heaven from which we wait for the Lord who will come
to change us into His own image. Give us a love for
the appearing of Christ that affects us. Knowing these
things shall come to pass, may we remember as Peter
did that we are to be blameless and holy in our living,
growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Help
us to live in the light of our returning King and until
then to be faithful to serve Him and to call many to
righteousness that they might glorify Him with us in
whose name we pray. Amen.
******************************

It is our great privilege tonight to open our Bibles to

the nineteenth chapter of Revelation and to look at
that great text which details for us the return of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 19 verses 11 through
16, I want to read this text, it's such a powerful text I
want you to have it in mind.
Starting in verse 11, John, of course, is given this
great vision while on the island of Patmos in exile for
the preaching of the gospel. And he says, "I saw
heaven opened and behold a white horse, and He
who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness He judges and wages war. And His
eyes are a flame of fire and upon His head are many
diadems and He has a name written upon Him which
no one knows except Himself. And He's clothed with a
robe dipped in blood 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. And from His mouth comes a sharp
sword so that with it He may smite the nations and He
will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the
winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And
on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written,
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Here is the great presentation of the vision of the
Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now to
show you how important this is on the pages of
Scripture, a total of one thousand five hundred and
twenty-seven Old Testament passages alone refer to
the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. There

are approximately eight thousand verses in the New

Testament and three hundred and thirty of those or
about one out of every twenty-five verses directly
refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In fact,
next to the subject of faith, no subject is more often
mentioned than the return of Christ. For every time the
first coming of Christ is mentioned, the Second
Coming is mentioned eight times. And the Lord
Himself refers to His coming twenty-one times and
over 50 times we are exhorted to be ready for that
great event. It is a major theme throughout the pages
of Scripture.
Clearly because of so much biblical testimony, we can
be certain that Jesus will come again. The promise of
God demands it. God who cannot lie promised that
the Messiah would come and that He would establish
a kingdom and that throne would be in Jerusalem and
from that throne He would rule the world. God
promised that He would set His King upon His holy
hill, Psalm 2; that the government would be upon His
shoulders, Isaiah 9; that He would reign and rule.
Daniel chapter 7 portrays Him coming, Zechariah
chapter 14 and other Old Testament passages. And
even the New Testament repeats that promise. It is
repeated to us in the gospel of Matthew in the Olivet
Discourse and also in the gospel of Luke.
So the promise of God demands the return of Christ.
Secondly, the statements of Jesus demand it. Jesus
Himself said that He would go away and come again
in John chapter 14. And again in Matthew 24 and 25

He described His own coming, the coming of the Son

of Man in heaven.
Furthermore, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit
demands it. The Holy Spirit it was indeed who inspired
the New Testament writers to write the promise of the
return of Christ. And it is the Holy Spirit in us who is
the guarantee or the down payment on that great
event that is yet to come. The word arrabon is used to
describe the Holy Spirit, He's called the earnest of the
Spirit. Arrabon can be translated "engagement ring."
He is the engagement ring that guarantees the
wedding between the bride, the church, and the
bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, the promise of God demands Christ's return,
the statements of Jesus demand He returns, the
guarantee of the Spirit demands He returns. And even
outside the trinity itself the program for the church
demands that He return. God has established the
program for His church. In fact, it is laid out in the New
Testament no more clearly than in the fifteenth
chapter of the book of Acts where the Scripture very
clearly tells us that the Lord has a wonderful plan for
His church. It unfolds starting in verse 6. "And the
apostles and elders came together to look into this
matter and after there had been much debate, Peter
stood and said to them, `Brethren, you know that in
the early days God made a choice among you that by
my mouth the Gentiles should hear the gospel and
believe; and God who knows the heart bore witness to
them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did
to us; and He made no distinction between us and

them, cleansing their hearts by faith.'" And so God

established His church, made up of Jews and
Gentiles. Down in verse 15, "With this the words of the
prophets agreed, just as it is written, `After these
things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of
David which has fallen and I will rebuilt its ruins and I
will restore it in order that the rest of mankind may
seek the Lord; and all the Gentiles who are called by
My name,' says the Lord, `who makes these things
known from of old.'"
God has a plan and it's a plan that involves His return
and the establishment of His glorious kingdom. And
we know that promise is laid out for us not only in the
book of Acts but it's unfolded for us even in the book
of Revelation, as we shall see in chapter 20. So God's
plan for the church demands Jesus' return, after all He
has to come back and take His church to be His bride,
marry His church, the promise of the Marriage Supper
of the Lamb, which we already saw in this chapter,
involves the church. He must return for that.
And then God's plan for the nations demands it. He's
coming back to judge the nations, Matthew 25 says
that, Joel 3 says that. He's coming back, He's going to
judge the nations, set up a Kingdom and rule over the
nations. God's plan for Israel demands that Jesus
return because the kingdom, after all, was promised
first to Israel, they would have a Messiah and they
would ultimately enter into the Messiah's kingdom. All
Israel, eventually, Romans 11 says, will be saved. The
dry bones will be revived, Ezekiel tells us and there
will come a time when Israel believes, when they look

on Him whom they've pierced, as Zechariah put it,

mourn for Him as an only Son and enter into their
kingdom.
So the plan for the church, the plan for the nations,
the plan for Israel demands that Jesus Christ return.
You could look at it another way, as well, the
humiliation of Christ demands that He return. The first
time He came He was scorned and He was hated and
He was despised and humiliated. And that demands
that He come back in the glory which He is do, with
the respect and honor and worship which should be
given to Him. Furthermore, the exaltation of Satan
demands the return of Christ. Satan who is the
usurper needs to be dethroned, who is temporarily the
prince of this world, the god of this world needs to be
taken off the throne and the rightful heir needs to be
placed on that throne. The serpent's head which was
bruised at the cross needs to be finally cut off and he
needs to know the execution that God has planned for
him.
So, the promises of God, the statements of Jesus, the
guarantee of the Holy Spirit, the plan for the church,
for the nations, for Israel, the humiliation of Christ, the
exaltation of Satan temporarily, all of those things
demand the return of Christ and the establishment of
His Kingdom. And finally, that this takes us right into
the wonder of this whole passage, the expectation of
the saints demands it. We are those who love His
appearing, according to 2 Timothy chapter 4. We are
those who wait for His coming. This is the Christian
hope, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you find

the saints not only in the New Testament, but

throughout the Old Testament, longing for and
anticipating the coming of the Messiah to set up His
kingdom. So in order to fulfill His promise, in order to
fulfill His own Word, the Lord Jesus Christ must come.
In order for Jesus to be true to that which He
promised He must come. In order for the Holy Spirit's
guarantee to come to pass, He must come. For God
to execute His program for the church, for the
Gentiles, and for Israel, He must come. And in order
to reverse the humiliation of Christ and the exaltation
of Satan, He must come. And to fulfill the anticipation
of the saints, He must come. And He will. And we see
the coming of Christ portrayed and demonstrated in
the majesty of the words which I just read to you in
chapter 19.
Now I want to divide these verses up into three
parts...the return of the Conqueror, the regiments of
the Conqueror, and the rule of the Conqueror...the
return, the regiments and the rule. However, before
we look any further into this text, I want to give you a
little bit of background, so I want you to turn in your
Bible back to Isaiah. Back in Isaiah chapter 11 we
have a text of Scripture that I mentioned to you last
time that is important for you to understand because it
lays the background for this vision. You remember
now, in Isaiah 11:1 a shoot will spring from the stem of
Jesse, that refers to the Messiah, coming from the line
of Jesse, He came through David who was Jesse's
son. "A branch from his roots will bear fruit and the
Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, and the spirit of counsel and

strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

Lord and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will
not judge by what His eyes see nor make a decision
by what His ears hear." In other words, He'll make no
superficial judgments. "But with righteousness He will
judge the poor and decide with fairness for the
afflicted of the earth and He will strike the earth with a
rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He will
slay the wicked and righteousness will be the belt
about His loins and faithfulness the belt about His
waist." And there you have the promise of the Messiah
and of His reign.
Go over to the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah and you'll
find another text of Scripture that is in some ways
parallel as well to the vision that John has. Verse 1 of
Isaiah 63, "Who is this who comes from Edom, with
garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who
is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness
of His strength?" Obviously it's the Messiah, this is the
messianic portion of Isaiah's prophecy. "It is I who
speak in righteousness, mighty to save." That's who's
coming. That's who is coming in garments of glowing
colors, literally in the Hebrew, crimson colors, red the
color of blood. Verse 2, "Why is Your apparel red, and
Your garments like the one who treads in the
winepress splattered?" as it were, with all the red juice
of the grapes. Why? "I have trodden the wine trough
alone, and from the peoples there was no man with
Me. I also trod them to My anger and trampled them in
My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My
garments and I stained all My raiment. For the day of
vengeance was in My heart, and My year of

redemption has come. And I looked and there was no

one to help and I wa astonished and there was no one
to uphold, so My own arm brought salvation to Me,
and My wrath upheld Me and I trod down the peoples
in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath and I
poured out their lifeblood on the earth." Pretty vivid
imagery, isn't it?
Blood splattered the Messiah comes and by Himself
tramples out His wrath. Those two scenes in Isaiah 11
and Isaiah 63 have some parallels to the vision here
in Revelation 19, and I only wanted to draw those
texts to your attention because of the common
expressions that we find and we'll see also in
Revelation.
Now this return of Christ that is given us in the
nineteenth chapter has already been anticipated. You
remember in the fourteenth chapter verse 14 John
looked and behold a white cloud, and sitting on the
cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden
crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
And down in verse 18, He took that sharp sickle and
He was told to put it in and gather the clusters from
the vine of the earth because the grapes are ripe. It
tells us the angel swung his sickle to the earth and
gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and
threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of
God and the winepress was trodden outside the city
and the blood came out from the winepress up to the
horses' bridles for a distance of two hundred miles.
Here is another blood-splattered scene where blood is
splattering up as high as the height of a horse, as the

Messiah Himself tramples out the winepress of the

wrath of God and grape juice becomes the picture of
spattering of blood.
Over in chapter 16 another vision of this, as I noted for
you last time, is given. Verse 15, "I am coming like a
thief." And when He comes, verse 16 says, they
gather them together to a place which in Hebrew is
called Armageddon.
So now we come to the scene which has been
anticipated by Isaiah, and anticipated as well by John
in the book of Revelation in those texts which I read to
you. Now we come to the actual event in its
chronological sequence, followed by chapter 20, the
establishment of the kingdom and flowing on into the
eternal state.
Let's look then, first of all, at verses 11 to 13 and look
at the return of the Conqueror..the return of the
Conqueror. Verse 11, "And I saw heaven opened and
behold a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and
makes war."
Again, for another time in the book of Revelation,
heaven is opened. And we're going to see a glorious
glimpse of heaven, a glorious vision of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's very different than the one we saw in
chapter 1 where He was ministering in His church.
Here He is obviously coming in fiery, flaming
vengeance. He is coming with a sword of judgment.
He is coming with blood-splattered garments. This is

the point of His return. This is the fulfillment of the

promise of Jesus Himself from His own lips in
Matthew chapter 24 where He said in verse 27, "Just
as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to
the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.
Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
It will be a time of great carnage. Immediately after the
Tribulation it will happen. "The sun will be darkened.
The moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from
the sky. And the powers of the heavens will be
shaken." In other words, the whole universe goes
pitch black. "And then the sign of the Son of Man
appears in the sky, all the tribes of the earth will
mourn and they'll see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He
will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and
they will gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of the sky to the other." That is that
which now is being described in Revelation 19.
So as the scene unfolds, our eyes are fixed on this
majestic, regal, mighty rider. Heaven is opened to us
and we see the white horse and on the white horse
we see the rider. Now let's talk about these details,
because they're important.
The reason heaven is opened this time is to not let us
in but to let Him out. A number of times in the book of
Revelation heaven has been opened and we've been
given access to that. We can go back, for example, to
chapter 4 and we remember, don't we, that John the
Apostle says in verse 1, "Behold, I looked and a door
standing open in heaven, the first verse which I heard

like the...the first voice which I heard like the sound of

a trumpet speaking with me said, `Come up here and
I'll show you what must take place after these things.'"
And so the door of heaven was opened in chapter 4
so John could go in and see. And now the door is
opened so the Son of Man can come out.
Jesus, the One who ascended to heaven as recorded
in Acts chapter 1, the One who has been seated at the
Father's right hand is now coming back. He is going to
receive the kingdom which the Father had promised to
Him, the kingdom to which He was entitled. As you go
back in to chapter 5 you remember that the Father
was seated on the throne in heaven, in His hand He
held a book which was the title deed to the universe.
And you remember no one in heaven or on earth,
verse 3, or under the earth was able to open the book
or look into it. In other words, no one had the right to
take possession of the universe. No one had the right
to open this sealed scroll and take possession. And so
John says, "I began to weep greatly because no one
was found worthy to open the book or look into it." In
other words, was the world always going to belong to
the usurper, to Satan, to sin? Was there no one who
could take it back?
And one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping,
behold the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root
of David has overcome so as to open the book and its
seven seals." And I saw between the throne with the
four living creatures and the elders a Lamb standing
as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes which

are the seven spirits of God sent out unto all the earth.
That too a reference to Isaiah 11.
"And He came and took it out of the right hand of Him
who sat on the throne." And there you have the Lamb,
the Son, Christ, the Messiah having the privilege and
the right to take the title deed out of the hand of God
because it is His right to take the universe. "And
everyone sang a new song, `Worthy art Thou to take
the book and break its seals, for Thou was slain and
did purchase for God with Thy blood men from every
tribe and tongue and people and nation, and Thou has
made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God and
they will reign upon the earth."
You have a right to take possession of the world. You
have a right to establish Your Kingdom. And so the
one who has a right now is on the edge of heaven and
heaven is opened and He is about to come. That
great and wonderful anticipatory prayer that comes
from the sixty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, this first couple
of verses, "O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and
come down that the mountains might quake at Thy
presence, as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire
causes water to boil, to make Thy name known to Thy
adversaries that the nations may tremble at Thy
presence." That's the prayer...O, that Thou wouldst
rend the heavens and come down. And what Isaiah
anticipated and prayed for in chapter 64 now unfolds
in Revelation 19 as heaven is opened and He's ready
to come.

And this time John doesn't see a Lamb in the midst of

the throne, rather He sees, according to verse 11, a
white horse. This is not a lamb, this is a white horse.
And riding on that white horse is the great Conqueror,
the Messiah. Riding no longer the way He rode when
He rode in His earthly life, but now coming as a
Conqueror in a typical fashion of Roman triumphal
processions.
Now let me mention something at this point. Would
you...capture this because it's very important. What
you have in the imagery of this vision is a mingling of
symbol and reality. And you have to comprehend that
or you can't comprehend this. There is language here
that is the expression of reality and there is language
here that is the expression of symbol. Of course, that
symbol points to a reality. People ask the
question...does this mean there are real horses in
heaven? The answer, no...anymore than it means that
when Jesus comes He's actually going to have
dangling off His head a whole lot of crowns, or that
when He returns He's actually going to have sticking
right out of His mouth between His lips some kind of
sword. Or any more than it means that all who come
with Him are going to be riding on a myriad of white
horses. Listen, there is nothing to indicate anywhere
in Scripture that horses get glorified, that horses get
eternally glorified and go to heaven. There is a
mixture here of symbol and reality. This is not
necessarily actual reality anymore than that Jesus
Christ when he sets up His Kingdom is going to roam
the earth with a huge iron stick in His hand, mashing

people's sculls with it. And yet it says He'll rule with a
rod of iron.
You have to understand that the symbolic language
here expresses reality, but in itself is symbolic of that
reality. And the symbol here, the majestic symbol here
is of a Roman conqueror who is coming back in a
triumphal procession. He's coming to a great battle, to
triumph and to enter into the glory of that triumphant.
A general would ride to war on his white horse, he
would come with his battle garb, leading his
tremendous battle troops, as it were. And they would
engage in war. And when the war was won, he would
then come to Rome and up the Via Sacra(?) the main
street of Rome, to the temple of Jupiter on the
Capitaline(?) Hill, and there he would enter into his
glory. So the imagery is vivid.
John sees Jesus no longer as a Lamb, no longer as
He was portrayed in Zechariah 9:9, coming in
humiliation, riding on the colt, the foal of an ass. But in
this case he sees Him as a conqueror. And white is
not only the color of war chargers, in the ancient
Roman world, but it is the symbol of purity, it is the
symbol of spotlessness, of unblemished holy power.
And, in fact, everything in that imagery is in contrast to
the humble foal of a donkey which Jesus rode into the
city. Now He comes as the conqueror, now He comes
as the warrior King, now He comes to destroy the
wicked, to overthrow the Antichrist, to bind Satan, take
control of the earth and the universe and establish
Himself as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
The horses are symbolic. The sword out of His mouth

is symbolic. The rod of iron is symbolic. The crowns

are symbolic. But the coming is reality. And the
psalmist himself wrote of this event when he wrote,
"And Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with
Thy glory and Thy majesty, Thine arrows are sharp in
the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people
fall under Thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever." Even the psalmist under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit could get a glimpse of the coming of God in
the glory of messianic rule to establish His eternal
kingdom.
And so He comes. Scripture tells us He comes in
glory. We read that in Matthew 24, Matthew 25. In
Revelation 1:7 it says, "When He comes every eye will
see Him." Obviously the whole world will have gone
black and dark, as we read to you, everything will be
turned out, the blazing glory of Jesus Christ will come
with such startling reality that everyone on the face of
the earth will see Him. And He will come not only in
glory, not only visibly, but He will come with
vengeance to judge and make war.
Now at this point I want to digress for just a moment
and just kind of talk to you about something you need
to keep in mind. There is nothing in this scenario that
matches descriptions of the Rapture of the church in
the New Testament. There are two Scriptures in the
New Testament that refer to the catching away of the
church. One is in John 14 and the other is in 1
Thessalonians 4. John 14:1 and following, 1
Thessalonians 4:13 and following. Both of those

describe the coming of the Lord for the church, the

coming of the Lord for His beloved.
In John 14 Jesus said, "When I go away I will prepare
a place for you and I will come again to receive you
unto Myself that where I am there you may be also."
That was not a warning, that was a promise. That was
not an event to be feared, that was an event to be
anticipated. I'm going to prepare a place for you and
I'm going to come and get you and take you to that
place. That's very important because whatever the
catching away of believers is, it is something we long
for, look for, love, anticipate, hope for because He's
going to come and He's going to get us to take us to
the place He's preparing for us.
Where is He now? He's in heaven. What's He doing
there? Preparing a place for us in the Father's house.
But when He comes to judge, He comes to the earth,
stays on the earth and sets up His kingdom here. The
Rapture is a very different event. It's a catching away
of the church into heavenly homes that have been
prepared for the believers. And that's why it's very
difficult to see these two things as the same event.
At the Rapture, furthermore, Christ doesn't come to
the earth, He meets us in the air. Here He comes all
the way to the earth. He doesn't come to meet His
saints, He brings them with Him. And they follow Him
as they come. In the Rapture He comes and meets
His saints in the air and takes them to heaven. In the
Second Coming He comes all the way to earth with
His saints and establishes their kingdom on earth. At

the Rapture there's no judgment, there's nothing in the

text of John 14 or 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 to speak
of judgment, but here everything is judgment. The
Rapture is a time of blessing. And this is a time of
cursing. There will be blessing for the godly when He
comes back, but the emphasis is here on judgment
and no such emphasis is made with regard to the
Rapture.
At the Rapture, as I said, He meets His own in the air.
And here He sets His feet on the Mount of Olives,
according to Zechariah 14. He puts His feet right on
the Mount of Olives, splits the Mount of Olives,
creates a valley in which He judges the world and
establishes His kingdom.
Furthermore, the event of the Second coming of
Jesus Christ is preceded by blackness, the darkened
sun, the darkened moon, the stars are falling, smoke
fills the universe, lightning and blinding glory introduce
the coming of Jesus Christ. Such aspects are not
associated with His coming for His saints in John 14
or 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And that's why we
believe that the coming for the church, which we call
the Rapture, the catching away, is a different event
that precedes the coming of Christ in judgment to set
up His Kingdom. And so we say we believe in a pretribulation Rapture, that is that Jesus catches away
His own before the breaking out of the terrible
judgments of His wrath during that seven period at the
end of which He comes back to earth with His already
raptured saints to set up and to reign with Him in the
Kingdom.

And so we see here then that Jesus is coming in

judgment fury. He's coming as a conqueror. Now let's
look again at verse 11 and see some more about the
return. It says that, He who sat upon this white horse,
this symbol of conquering and symbol of holy, pure
power is called "Faithful and True." He is called
Faithful and True. Really there couldn't be a more
appropriate name for the Lord Jesus. You remember
He is called back in chapter 3 verse 14 "the amen, the
faithful and true witness." So here for the second time
Jesus is identified as Faithful and True. He is faithful
to His promises, He is faithful to whatever He
promises. And He speaks only the truth. Faithful and
True returns.
In the third chapter of Revelation and the seventh
verse He is described as "He who is holy, He who is
true." Why is He called Faithful and True? Because
He's keeping His word, right? He promised He would
come, He promised He would come and He comes.
He is faithful to keep His word, He is faithfulness and
truth personified. And by the way, His name is
certainly in vivid contrast to the unfaithfulness and the
lying hypocrisy of Antichrist and Satan. Jesus always
tells the truth because He is the God who cannot lie.
He is always the faithful and true one. He will always
keep His word. He promised He would come. He
comes because He is faithful and true.
Today I am sure there are many who would be happy
to sort of sort out the teachings of Jesus that they like,
the teachings of Jesus that fit their sentiments. And

happily they would reject His solemn judgments and

His promises of fury and vengeance and wrath. But
He is just as faithful and just as true to those promises
as He is to the promises of salvation and grace and
mercy. He's faithful and true. And you're never going
to see it more clearly than when He returns because
He will be faithful and true to His promise, to bring the
righteous into a kingdom and to destroy the wicked.
The dragon is a deceiver. The beast is a false Christ.
The second beast is a false prophet. And the world is
filled at that time with false worshipers. But Jesus
Christ is faithful and true. And because He is faithful
and true, it says in verse 11, "In righteousness He
judges and wages war." If He is faithful and true to His
word, He has to act in righteousness. He has to do
what is right. He has to have a holy and righteous
reaction against sin, so He does. Faithful to His
righteous character, faithful to His holy nature, true to
His word, He comes and when He comes He has to
do what He promised to do, what righteousness
demands He do, He judges.
Once He came as Savior, then He comes as judge.
When He was here the first time, wicked men judged
Him. When He comes the second time, He will judge
wicked men. He will not only be the judge, by the way,
but He will also be the executioner. Remember that I
read to you in Isaiah chapter 11 that He treads the
winepress of the wrath of God alone? Angels are not
executioners. Angels are simply sort of the mop-up
crew. And they are the sorting crew, according to
Matthew chapter 13. But He alone treads the

winepress. He alone has the power to execute. He

alone has the power to bring final fury and the wrath
of God.
There was a time when in His first coming He was
brought before Pilate and Herod and Caiaphas and
Annas, and brought before the crowd who cried for
His blood, and they judged Him unrighteously. And
there will be a day when He comes back to judge the
world righteously. It will be different when Jesus
comes, different than it was the first time.
There's a warning of that in the seventeenth chapter
of Acts when it says in verse 31, "He has fixed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness
through a man whom He has appointed." What man?
"The man He raised from the dead." The man Jesus
Christ. So He's coming back to judge.
So He comes in fury to judge the world. And then this
most amazing statement, "And to wage war." To make
war. He comes as a warrior King. He comes to fight.
Back in chapter 2 verse 16, amazingly, astoundingly, it
is recorded that He said to the church at Pergamos,
"I'm coming to you quickly and I'll make war against
them with the sword of My mouth." He is a warrior
against the ungodly and against the unbelieving and
against the wicked and the sinful.
By the way, that mention of Him making war in
chapter 2 verse 16 is the only other mention of Him
making war in all of Scripture. And then it will be too
late for the rejecters, they will obviously have been

hardened beyond the point where they would respond

positively. Even in chapter 16 verse 21 when they are
at the very culmination of the horrors of the last
judgment, when the last seal has been opened and
the last trumpet blown, and the last bowl poured out,
and hundred pound hailstones are crashing down on
their heads, and you'd think they might repent. It says
they blasphemed God. And they are at the point of
absolute hardness. And this is when He comes, when
there's no more point in waiting, when nothing else will
cause them to repent, when no judgment moves them
and no preaching moves them and no preacher can
reach their hearts, He will come back and He will
make war.
It's really a different Jesus than we're used to seeing,
obviously. We're used to seeing Him ministering to the
needy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, casting
demons out of people, giving peace to troubled
hearts. We're used to hearing Him inviting those with
heavy burdens to come to Him for rest. But that's not
how it's going to be. He now comes on a war mission,
He comes to search and to destroy.
This is not new character for God, nor is it a different
personality than the God of Scripture. At the Red Sea,
remember, back in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3
when Jehovah destroyed Pharaoh and his hosts. You
remember that Israel said, "The Lord is a man of war."
The Lord is a warrior. It's an amazing title for God. It's
an amazing title for the Son of God, but a true one.

Alexander White commenting on John Bunyan's great

masterpiece called The Holy Warwrote this, "Holy
Scripture is full of wars and rumors of wars, the wars
of the Lord, the wars of Joshua and the Judges, the
wars of David with his and many other magnificent
battle songs, till the best known name of the God of
Israel in the Old Testament is the Lord of hosts. And
then in the New Testament we have Jesus Christ
described as the captain of our salvation. And then the
whole Bible is crowned with a book, all sounding with
battle cries, till it ends with that city of peace where
they hang the trumpet in the hall and study war no
more," end quote.
The Lord is a man of war. In righteousness He judges
and makes war. Frankly, the judging has already been
going on in the breaking of the seals, and in the
blowing of the trumpets and the pouring out of the
bowls. But now He makes a final war. He who for long
centuries had endured the scoffings patiently, the
insults the bad manners of men who contemplated
Calvary and, as it were, spit on Him, who displayed
human hatred and contempt, who threw millennia
have rejected the peace that He made through the
blood of the cross. They're now going to find Him a
warrior King. But there's not going to be much fighting
on their part, the end will come in a split second.
You see, heaven cannot be at peace with sin. God is
of purer eyes than to behold evil, cannot look upon
iniquity. God's patience has an end. He will not always
tolerate iniquity. Justice cannot always live within
justice. Truth cannot always live with lies. Rebellion

cannot always go on. And when sin is finally

incorrigible and man is incurable, will come the
destruction. And mercy abused will bring the
executioner. Here, says one writer, comes this sword
of insulted majesty, the wrath of rejected grace.
Furthermore, this Conqueror comes not as other
conquerors out of covetousness, ambition, pride or
the love of power, this Conqueror comes in utter
righteousness, in perfect holiness, in strict accord with
every holy interest. And that's where it's going to go,
this history of the world. That's where it's going to end.
Further in the description, verse 12, "And His eyes are
a flame of fire and upon His head are many diadems
and He has a name written upon Him which no one
knows except Himself."
He has eyes like a flame of fire. What is that? Well
nothing escapes His notice. He has penetrating eyes.
His eyes pierce through and see everything. That too
is said of Him in Revelation 1:14, "His eyes were like a
flame of fire." It has to do with piercing, penetrating as
well as purifying gaze. He can see into the recesses
of every human heart. His vision penetrates
everything.
In chapter 2 verse 18 of Revelation, to the church at
Thyatira, it says the Son of God who has eyes like a
flame of fire. When first He looked upon the earth,
when first He came, His eyes sparkled with
tenderness and joy as He gathered little children to
Himself, as He expressed His love to the poor and the

needy. His eyes glowed with compassion as when a

single look on guilty Peter melted Peter's heart and
made him weep bitterly. His eyes were filled with tears
as He looked over the city of Jerusalem and wept.
And as he shed tears from those same eyes at the
grave of Lazarus. But the day is coming when those
eyes flash with fire, when they are penetrating burning
eyes, probing the darkest recesses of every human
soul and purging and purifying with judgment. To
judge rightly He has to see everything. He has to
sound the depths of every heart. He has to see behind
every mask, under every facade. It is the flaming
vision of righteous omniscience and anger.
And then it says in verse 12, "Upon His head are
many crowns, many diadema, many king's crowns,
ruler's crowns. And this speaks of His royal rank and
regal authority. And it's the idea that He's just
collected all the crowns and they're all on His head
because nobody else rules anyplace. Here is the
ultimate symbol of sovereignty. All the crowns are on
one head. You will remember, won't you, back in
chapter 12 as we were looking at the description there
of Satan, we...we could see that he was a ruling
monarch. In verse 3, "The great red dragon had seven
heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven
crowns." And then over in chapter 13 we saw the
Antichrist and on his horns were ten crowns. So that
Satan wore some crowns and Antichrist wore some
crowns. But the day is coming when all the kings will
yield their crowns. Satan will yield his crown. And
Antichrist will yield his crowns. And the rulers of the

world will yield their crowns and all the crowns will be
on the head of Jesus.
And by the way, this was a custom in the ancient
world. When Ptolemy conquered Antioch, he set two
crowns on his head, the crown of Asia and the crown
of Egypt, signifying the comprehensive nature of his
rule. The dragon had seven crowns, the beast had ten
crowns, but Jesus will wear them all. He puts them all
on His head. The all become His and verse 16 says,
"He is the King of kings." There will be no crowns for
anyone else in that hour.
In chapter 11 and verse 15 we hear the same thought,
a different way. "The kingdom of the world has
become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ
and He will reign forever and ever." It's a fair
exchange, isn't it?, for a crown of thorns? A fair
exchange. And what it refers to is I suppose what you
could call unassailable sovereignty...unassailable
sovereignty. He is King and no one can do anything
about it. "Gird Thy sword on Thy thigh, O mighty One,"
the psalmist said as I quoted earlier. "And in Thy
majesty ride on victoriously." He is the King.
Further it says about Him, "He has a name written
upon Him which no one knows except Himself." I can't
tell you how many people have asked me what that
name is? And I have told them all the same thing...it is
a name that no one knows, not even me, and no one
else. We don't like something like that, do we? We
want to know. But this is something we don't know.
John could see a name there, but either he couldn't

read it, or he couldn't comprehend it when he did read

it. It was unintelligible to him. He didn't know what it
was. It was beyond human comprehension. It was
beyond human knowledge. It was beyond human
understanding. And listen, my friend, that's very
encouraging with all that we know of Jesus Christ, we
will not know the fullness of the mystery of His person.
John couldn't know it. Oh, maybe...maybe there are
things that we'll know in eternity, surely there are, that
we can't know now, but I'm quite confident that the full
mystery of His being may well never be known to us.
Yes we will know as we are known, to some degree,
according to 1 Corinthians 13:12, and that's wonderful
to think about. But here was John in an exalted vision
taken to heaven and there was a reality about Jesus
that he could not comprehend. There is an
incomprehensibility to the character of God that
perhaps even an eternally glorified human will never
know. Oh we'll know so much more than we know
now, but the full incomprehensibility of God will always
be incomprehensible. And so all John is saying is
there's something about Him that is way beyond
anything we can ever comprehend.
That's wonderful to hear. Sometimes I think we can
become overly familiar with Jesus. We can...we can
over...we can overstate our comprehension and think
we really know Him better than we do. There is a
profound nature in the Lord Jesus Christ that is
comprehensible only to God. Here comes the
incomprehensible One, the sovereign One, the faithful
and true One, the warrior King to do His judgment.

And then in verse 13, further describing the return, the

ruler who returns, "He is clothed with a robe dipped in
blood and His name is called the Word of God." He is
clothed with a robe dipped in blood, this is not the
blood that He shed on the cross, this is not a picture
of redemption, my friend. This is a picture of
judgment. And based upon what I read you in Isaiah,
clearly the imagery behind this in Isaiah 63 is of a
coming King with a blood-splattered garment. Jesus is
coming with His blood- splattered garment.
You say, "Now wait a minute, He's coming with a
blood- splattered garment, but the battle hasn't
started? Where did the blood come from?" May I
hasten to remind you, this is not His first battle, this is
His last battle. He has worn His battle clothes before.
Who but He has fought the dragon? Who but He
fought for Israel in the days of Joshua? Who but He
fought the kings of Canaan and Taanach by the
waters of Megiddo? Who but He vanquished six world
powers past and all the nations that have by this time
fallen? No, His garments have been splattered with
blood for a long time, who but He battled Pharaoh and
the triumph of the Exodus? It's the Almighty
Conqueror who has His war clothes on and His war
clothes bear the stains of prior battles. This is not His
first battle.
It's the same almighty Conqueror who battled with sin
at the cross and mingled His own blood with the blood
of His enemies on His battle clothes. And now these
battle clothes are to be stained again and the stains
now perhaps more far-reaching than ever before. He

is to tread the winepress of the wrath of God and

blood splattering in every direction in the holocaust of
fearful judgment.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:7 it says, "The Lord Jesus will be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in
flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not
know God and those who do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ." He's coming in the fury of
judgment to stain His garments again.
And then it says at the end of verse 13, "His name is
called the Word of God." His name is called the Word
of God. Just in case there's any question about who it
is, we know who the Word of God is, right? John 1,
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we
beheld His glory," right? "In the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was
God, all things were made by Him and without Him
was not anything made that was made." The Word of
God is none other than the second member of the
trinity, Christ, the incarnate One who is also the
Creator. He is the One with the blood on His
garments, He is the warrior King. And He comes in
judgment.
And so here again this name is so majestic. He...why
does...why does...why does God to choose to call Him
"the Word of God"? Because He is the expression of
God, He is the revelation of God, He's the declaration
of God. He is the one in whom we hear God speak
and see God act. He is the full expression of the mind
and the will and the purpose of God. He is God's

Word. Word represents that which is communicated.

He communicates God.
So the sum of His names really is a glorious picture,
isn't it? He has a name which no man knew which
expresses His essential deity. He has a name, the
Word of God, which expresses His incarnate deity.
And He has a name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
which expresses His sovereign deity. Frankly, the
gospel plan is in those three names. He is God who
revealed Himself to man and some day will come to
reign over the universe.
The sum of the names then is the sum of the picture
of the Conqueror. So the return of the Conqueror.
Then we see the regiments of the Conqueror. Briefly
in verse 14, "And the armies which are in heaven."
Now we've got some armies up there in heaven, who
are they? Well, they're clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, and they're following Him on white horses. Who
are these glorified troops? Well, get a little hint here
back in chapter 19 verse 8, just go back a few verses.
Here's the bride, verse 7, the bride is the church, as
well as the redeemed saints who have been brought
together for the great Marriage Supper to take place in
the kingdom. And it says the bride, that is believers
who have been redeemed, and it was given to her to
clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. Then it
says this, "For the fine linen is the righteousness or
the righteous acts of the saints." So down in verse 14
when it says that these armies in heaven were clothed
in fine linen, white and clean, who are they? They

have to be the saints...have to be the saints. And have

to encompass the bride. It has to be the church.
So we said the church is raptured and now the church
comes back with Him. They're coming back now
depicted not so much in bridal character as in
righteousness. This would, as I noted when we
studied that earlier text in chapter 19, also encompass
Tribulation saints who had been glorified. Because
you see them in chapter 7 verse 9 standing before the
throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes.
And in verse 13 they say, "Who are those in white
robes? And where did they come from?" And he says
they are the ones who came out of the Great
Tribulation and they've washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. So you've got
the church garbed in fine linen, white and clean.
You've got the Tribulation saints in their wonderful
robes...robes that have been made pure and clean.
And there's another group, Jude tells us that verse 14,
"The Lord comes with many thousands of His saints,
with many thousands of His saints." Literally, His holy
ten thousands, to execute judgment upon all and to
convict all, and so forth and so on.
Who would be the many thousands of His saints?
Well, we certainly could conclude that it could be Old
Testament saints. They've been there, too. And they're
going to have a glorious resurrection at the end of the
Tribulation. Daniel writes about that, a resurrection
unto life. So you could have the church, the bride, the
Tribulation saints, and even the Old Testament saints
coming with the Lord. And we have to add another

group, and that's the angels because in Matthew 25

and verse 31 it says, "When He comes all the angels
come with Him." Ten thousand times ten thousand of
the angels, two thirds of the original number, one third
fell with Satan, the two third remaining glorious angels
come with Him. All the saints of the Old Testament, all
the saints of the church age, all the saints of the time
of the Tribulation, all come blazing out of heaven with
Him.
If...if we...if we want to make the Jude passage refer
to the angels, we saw the little problem because then
we don't have to get the Old Testament saints in there
coming down from heaven, but rather we can have
their resurrection happen right at the end of the
Tribulation, which seems as the best time to have it
and then they enter right into the Kingdom
resurrected. But even if there is a gathering of these
Old Testament saints and a bringing back, no promise
was made to them that God had prepared a place for
them in heaven to which they would have to go in their
physical bodies first.
So it's best perhaps to see all of the saints coming.
The white horses again are symbolic, like the bloody
clothes are symbolic. I don't think Jesus will actually
return in dirty clothes. But that's symbolic of the great
warrior and the triumphant moment. Chapter 9, you
remember, introduced calvary from hell, why not from
heaven? Horses and chariots of fire protected Elisha
and Dothan and a chariot and a horse took Elijah to
heaven. That's symbolic of obviously of angelic power.

So the regiments of heaven come with the Conqueror.

And that's who they are, they're all the regiments
gathered in the glory up until that time.
You say, "What about the saints? What do we do?"
Well we've come to reign, 1 Corinthians 6:2,
Revelation chapter 20 has us sitting on thrones and
reigning. And so once the Kingdom is established, we
rule and reign in the Kingdom.
So we see the return and the regiments. And then just
briefly, the rule of the Conqueror, and it's obvious.
Verse 15, "From His mouth comes a sharp sword so
that with it He may smite the nations and He will rule
them with a rod of iron and He treads the winepress of
the fierce wrath of God the Almighty and on His robe
and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF
KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
The rule of the King is depicted in very graphic terms.
You see the return, the regiment and now rule. "Out of
His mouth comes a sharp sword," it's a symbol of His
slaying power. And John had seen that sword before,
back in chapter 1, in the vision of verse 16. "Out of His
mouth coming a sharp two-edged sword." In that
particular vision that sword was a defending sword, to
defend the church against the onslaught of Satan and
his powers, but here it is a sword of judgment. It is the
flaming sword of death. And it's the sword out of His
mouth because He speaks and it's done. The whole
thing is over in a second. Death-dealing power in His
words. Where once He spoke comfort, He now
speaks death. And though the saints, as I said, return

with Christ to reign and rule, they are not executors,

we are not those who carry out the vengeance. That is
His task. The angels may help in the gathering
process, but He treads the winepress alone. And John
wrote, "For this purpose the Son of Man was
manifested that He might destroy the works of the
devil." He carries the sword, He alone uses it, He
treads the winepress. The angels assist in the mop up
and we in the reign in the Kingdom. "Vengeance is
Mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
We don't see any weapons, by the way, in anybody
else's hands. None of the saints who come with Him
have any weapons. His word is enough. And He, says
Isaiah 11:4, will smite the earth with the rod of His
mouth and with the breath of His lips He will slay the
wicked.
So verse 15 says, "With this sword He will smite the
nations." Israel has been purged. The elect out of
Israel have been redeemed. And they will be
preserved into the Kingdom. The rest of the world He
will slaughter in an instant with His own word. Then
He will set up His Kingdom and rule them with a rod of
iron. That is to say there will be regenerated
Gentiles...there's a lot skipped in there, there will be
regenerated Gentiles, He's not going to kill them,
they'll go into the Kingdom. And through that Kingdom
He will rule those nations with a rod of iron. What
does that mean? It means instantaneous judgment, it
means swift punishment.

Chapter 12 verse 5 says, "The male child who is

Christ will rule all the nations with a rod of iron." Psalm
2 verses 8 and 9 is where that comes from. Back in
Psalm 2 is the promise that the Messiah would come
and He would break the nations with a rod of iron.
What that means is instant, swift, righteous judgment
will be the characteristic of the rule and the reign of
Jesus Christ. When He comes His judgment will be
sure. It will be swift, unyielding, absolute sovereignty,
immediate justice with severity. It's going to be a very
different world than it is today...when there's so much
rampant injustice and inequity. God will establish the
law, Christ will execute the law, justice will be
absolute, sovereign, instantaneous and severe. All will
be required to conform to that law or be judged.
And, of course, we will participate at that point in that
judging process. In fact, it says in Revelation 2:26, "To
him who overcomes, I will give authority over the
nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." So
we get in on that ruling process. He does the
execution, we do the ruling. The angels do the mop up
after the execution.
Then John gives a further description of His rule by
saying, "He treads the wine...rather of His judgment
by saying...He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath
of God the Almighty." That comment relates to His fury
and His wrath. He crushes the grapes in His wrath...a
very vivid symbol of judgment. In the ancient times
they would stomp on the grapes and they would
squish and spurt everywhere, that kind of vivid
bursting of the blood of people is the imagery here.

So He comes in fury and He comes in judgment. And

He tramples in an instant all the ungodly, out of the
mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ comes the sentence,
and the execution. And that puts Him in a position to
be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And it's written on
His robe and on His thigh that that indeed is His
name. Psalm 45:3 says, "Gird Thy sword on Thy
thigh, O mighty One." And on that same thigh is the
name King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He's identified in John's image as having a banner
that sweeps across and goes down on His thigh, and
it shows that He is ultimately the sovereign, He's
ultimately the King. So all foes are vanquished. The
slaughter is fearful, frightening, terrible thing. But
mercy abused and grace spurned reaches this point.
And when He came the first time they would have
preferred a murderer over Him and they killed Him,
killing the prince of life as the book of Acts says. They
openly blasphemed God, they become more and
more wicked as time goes on. Finally in the end their
wickedness reaches irredeemable proportions and the
executor comes back to execute. And the picture is
clear and unmistakable.
The psalmist saw this, and I close with this, in Psalm
2, he saw it so clearly that He was going to come with
a rod of iron and he said this, verse 11, or verse 10,
excuse me, "Now therefore, O kings, show
discernment, take warning, O judges of the earth,
worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with
trembling...and I love this...kiss the Son lest He

become angry and you perish in the way for His wrath
may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take
refuge in Him."
Father, we hear the words of the psalmist. How
blessed are all who take refuge in Him. We're thankful
that we're not looking for the judge in fear, we're
looking for the Lord Jesus in hope. We're not living
under the threat of doom, but under the promise of
joy. We thank You that in Your mercy and grace You
brought us to kiss the Son, do homage to Him, show
Him reverence so that He's no longer angry with us,
but loves us and seeks only our eternal good. Father,
we thank You that we will not experience this, that we
are not set for wrath, but we have been delivered from
the wrath to come by faith in Christ. We thank You that
we're looking for the Rapture, not the return. But, O
God, at the same time there's a world of people
headed for the holocaust of all holocausts and You're
not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance. And so, Father, make us like the
Apostle Paul, aware of the terror of the Lord so that
we persuade men to embrace Christ. Never let us
become complacent and content and satisfied, and
since all is well with us, and all is in Your sovereign
care, we have no obligation to a sinning world. May
we not be so presumptuous or so disobedient, but
rather to go everywhere pleading with men, be
reconciled to God, make God your friend so that He
need not be your enemy.
Father, commit unto us the ministry of reconciliation
that men and women, young people, children might

come to Christ while He is Savior and not face Him as

judge. We thank You for this clear word. We live in the
light of it. Make us faithful in His name. Amen.
Tonight again we return to the nineteenth chapter of
Revelation and the glorious return of Jesus Christ. Let
me read you the text that we will address tonight as
we look together to God's precious Word. It describes
for us the end of man's day. It describes for us the
holocaust of the battle of Armageddon. It describes
the effect of the return of Jesus Christ to earth in
judgment, it describes for us the final execution of all
the ungodly, including the death of the Antichrist and
the false prophet who are Satan's world leaders in the
end time.
Revelation 19 and verse 17, "And I saw an angel
standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice,
saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, `Come,
assemble for the great supper of God, in order 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.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the
earth and their armies assembled to make war against
Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.
And the beast was seized and with him the false
prophet who performed the signs in his presence by
which he deceived those who had received the mark
of the beast, and those who worshiped his image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the

sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat

upon the horse and all the birds were filled with their
flesh."
Now this, as you know, is the moment of the return of
Jesus Christ and the tremendous impact of that return
against the nations who have gathered to war against
Him. It is the day, the precise day that was spoken of
by the psalmist. Go back to Psalm 2, the second
Psalm, and here you have what is a prophecy of this
very event. Psalm 2, it says, "Why are the nations in
an uproar and the peoples devising a useless thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed." And there you have the battle scene,
the nations of the world, the kings of the earth, the
rulers coming together gathering to fight against the
Lord and against His anointed who is, of course, the
Messiah. And the response of heaven has let us tear
their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.
In other words, if they try to defeat us, take us captive
and bind us, we'll shatter such an effort.
And then this, "He who sits in the heavens," that's
God, "laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will
speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury.
But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My
holy mountain." God laughs and God installs His King,
the Messiah, on the throne of David in Zion.
Then verse 7 says, "I will surely tell of the decree of
the Lord. He said to me, `Thou art My Son, today I
have begotten Thee, ask of Me and I will surely give

the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of

the earth as Thy possession.'" That is He will make
Him the ruler of the world. "Thou shalt break them with
a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like
earthenware. Now therefore, O kings, show
discernment, take warning, O judges of the earth,
worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with
trembling, do homage to the Son lest He become
angry and you perish in the way for His wrath may
soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge
in Him."
There is the psalmist's prophetic picture of the very
event just described. And to borrow from that Psalm a
thought, this final judgment, this return of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as verse 16 identifies Him as King of
Kings and Lord of Lords, this frightening, deadly
judgment that takes place is the laughter of God. It is
the laughter of God against the climax of man's
blasphemous arrogance and unbelief. And you can't
help but see this supper called in verse 17 the great
supper of God, a supper offered to the birds to eat the
dead flesh in contrast to that supper earlier in the
chapter, back in verse 9 called the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb. What a contrast. The Marriage Supper of
the Lamb, a time of joy and rejoicing, a time of reward
and blessing, and the great supper of God, a time of
terrifying death.
Dr. Barnhouse wrote in commenting on this, "When
our Lord was on earth the first time He told His
disciples of a great feast to which all men were bidden
to come freely. Love set the table and compassion

was there to serve. Grace sat as host and joy poured

the wine. For almost two thousand years the Lord has
sent out His servants, crying the invitation to one and
all, and for almost two thousand years, men for the
most part have flouted the love that invited them and
despised the grace that pleaded with them. Still, they
bring forth the flimsy excuses of a newly married wife,
of an unseen field, of an unproven yoke of oxen, still
the carnal mind thus proves itself at enmity against
God. The Lord is the God of patience but patience will
not be mocked forever. The day of wrath must come.
And those who have refused the call of grace to the
banquet of love must be themselves the victims at
another great supper, where their flesh will be picked
clean by the fowls of the air."
Another great old commentator by the name of
Suisse(?) wrote irresistible words that I must share
with you. He said this, regarding this text, "This tells
an awful story. It tells of the greatest of manmade food
for vultures, of kings and leaders, strong and
confident, devoured in the field with no one to bury
them, of those who thought to conquer heaven's
anointed King rendered helpless even against the
timid birds. The great Conqueror comes down, He
rides on the bright horse and flies upon the wings of
the wind. Smoke goes up from His nostrils and
devouring fire out of His mouth. He moves amidst
storms and darkness from which the lightning howls
its bolts and hailstones mingled with the fire. He roars
out of Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem till the
heavens and the earth shake. He dashes forth in the
fury of His own incensed greatness amid clouds of fire

and smoke. The sun frowns, the mountains melt and

split at His presence. The hills bound from their place
and skip like lambs. The waters are dislodged from
their channels. The sea rolls back with howling fear.
The sky is rent and folds upon itself like a collapsed
tent. It is the day for executing an armed world, a
world in covenant with hell to overthrow the authority
and the throne of God and everything in terrified
nature joins to signal the deserved vengeance," end
quote.
It is the culmination and the climax and the final
moment of that which is called the day of the Lord.
Now this graphic description that is seen here is not
the first such description in Scripture. In fact, clearly
the prophet Isaiah saw this when in chapter 66 verses
15 and 16 he wrote, "For behold the Lord will come in
fire and His chariots like the whirlwind to render His
anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire, for
the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His
sword on all flesh."
Not only was this seen by Isaiah, but God allowed the
prophet Joel to see it. In Joel chapter 3, some of the
most graphic description of this event is given, starting
in verse 12, Joel 3:12, "Let the nation be aroused, and
come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will
sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the
sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come tread for the
winepress is full. The vats overflow for their
wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in
the valley of decision."

By the way, I might add that it's not a decision to be

made by men, it's a decision already made by God.
It's the day when God renders His decision, when God
brings in His verdict. God is the decider here, it's too
late for men.
"The sun and the moon...writes Joel...grow dark and
the stars lose their brightness and the Lord roars from
Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the
heavens and the earth tremble." That's the day that is
to come. That's the day of...verse 21 says...God
avenging blood. That's the judgment.
Even the prophet Ezekiel was given insight into such
an event that was to come at the end time. Listen to
how Ezekiel describes it in chapter 39 verse 1, "And
you, son of man prophesy against Gog, and say,
`Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, O
god, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; and I
shall turn you around, drive you on, take you up from
the remotest part of the north and bring you against
the mountains of Israel. And I shall strike your bow
from your left hand and dash down your arrows from
your right hand, you shall fall upon the mountains of
Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are
with you, I shall give you as food to every kind of
predatory bird and the beast of the field.'" Over in
verse 17, "As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord
God, `Speak to every kind of bird and every beast of
the field, assemble and come and gather from every
side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for
you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel

that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat
the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the
princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs,
goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. So you
will eat fat until you are glutted and drink blood until
you are drunk from My sacrifice which I have
sacrificed for you. And you will be glutted at My table
with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all
the men of war,' declares the Lord God." This
describes the judgment of God against the nations.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul spoke of it in
2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Jude spoke of it in verses
14 and 15 of his epistle. Jesus spoke of it in Matthew
chapters 24 and 25. And so there are a number of
other passages that give us previews of this very
descriptive event here in chapter 19 of Revelation. All
of those passages are pictures of this kind of
judgment, this coming end time judgment. There are
various phases of it, various aspects of it, but all of
those prophecies look forward to these judgments at
the end time, at the time of the return of Jesus Christ.
They give us perspective on the final destruction of
Satan's empire, the end of Antichrist's reign over the
earth and the deceptions of the false prophet.
Now let me see if I can't clarify in your minds exactly
what is going on here. This is not the final judgment of
the ungodly. This is simply their execution. This is not
their final judgment. Their final judgment does not
come until chapter 20 and verse 11, after the
thousand-year Kingdom, at an event called the great
white throne. They're very like a criminal in the sense

that they are taken captive in hell. They're sent there

by virtue of death and they are held incarcerated in
hell for a thousand years until they can be resurrected
and brought to the great white throne for their formal
sentencing. That's the scene as it is here. They are
simply executed here. They will be judged in a
thousand years and we'll say more about that when
we get into chapter 20.
This is not the final judgment. This is the execution of
the ungodly sinners of the world who have sided with
Satan during the time of the Tribulation, who have
sided with the Antichrist, who have taken his mark,
who have worshiped him, who have continuously
rejected the gospel. And God comes down and kills
them all. And these multitudes that Joel said are in the
valley of decision are not there to make a decision,
they are there to hear a decision that God has made.
The judge has decided and this is execution day.
Now it is this very judgment that is described so
clearly by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 25. So
let's go back to Matthew 25, it's important that we
understand the scriptural teaching about this event, no
matter where it might occur, and it does occur at the
end of chapter 25 in Jesus famous sermon on His
own Second Coming called the Olivet Sermon
because He preached it on the Mount of Olives.
First of all, we find the setting of the judgment
described in verse 31, "When the Son of Man comes
in His glory," and that ties us right into chapter 19, it's
right at the same time when He comes. "And when He

comes with all the angels with Him," and we saw

that's exactly how He's going to come in the prior
passage. "Then He will sit on His glorious throne, He
comes out of heaven with all His holy ones, sets up
His Kingdom. And at that point, all the nations will be
gathered before Him and He will separate them from
one another."
We move from the setting of the judgment to the
separation. And that is what He does. He's going to
separate. He's going to divide. And if we move from
the separation to the next point, we would move to the
subjects. His separation involves sheep and goats.
So Jesus Christ is going to come. He's going to come
as judge. He's going to come to establish His throne.
He's going to come with all His saints and angels with
Him. He's going to come back and separate. He is
separating in order that He might take into His
Kingdom the godly and that He might kill, execute the
ungodly.
Notice please in verse 32 that it says, "All the
nations." All the peoples. Take the word "nations" and
don't give it a collective meaning, just give it an
individual meaning. What He's going to do is judge
everybody in the world, all the peoples, all kinds of
peoples from all kinds of places and cultures and
languages and nations, He's going to judge all of
them. And I don't want you to think of this judgment as
a judgment on collective people groups. This is a
judgment on individuals from every people group who

have continually rejected the gospel. It is a judgment

of separation..a judgment of separation.
Let's look at how that works. "He will put the sheep on
His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will
say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed
of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.'" This is the valley of
Jehoshaphat, multitudes are there, Christ has come,
He's coming down the valley of Jehoshaphat has got
to be, we don't know exactly where it is, it's not a
historical term, it may be the valley that the Lord
creates when He hits the Mount of Olives and creates
that instantaneous valley there. In that moment in
which He comes to destroy the wicked, He is doing
the judgment that is here described. It takes a little
while to describe it, it doesn't take a little while for it to
happen. But He separates the sheep and the sheep
He doesn't kill, they just stay right on the earth and go
right into the Kingdom with Him. They are the ones,
then, who populate the Kingdom. They will be Jews,
of course, because many Jews will have been
converted, the nation Israel will be converted, they will
be saved and there will be many Gentiles and an
innumerable number have already been converted in
the time of the Tribulation, and many of them have
martyred and executed but still some of them are
alive. And so the sheep, or the saints, will remain
alive, He doesn't execute them, obviously, why would
He kill them? If they're still alive and they've been
preserved, and we know from Revelation 12 that
Israel will be preserved and there will be many nations
preserved as well.

You say, "How do you know that?" Because in the

Kingdom there are many nations and they have to
start somewhere so there have to be many people
groups who are brought into the Kingdom in order that
they might produce their own kind. So He takes those
who believe and they are left with the Kingdom, only
believers. All the ungodly are destroyed. And the
believers are called sheep, and that's consistent, isn't
it, with terminology used particularly by John. Puts the
sheep on His right and the goats on the left.
Now any good shepherd had to do that. You know
why? Because sheep tend to be docile and gentle and
goats are unruly and rambunctious. And they...you'll
often if you travel in the Middle East, you can
often...you can spot them because they're salt and
pepper. The goats over there are black, very, very
black and the sheep are white, and you can see them
mingled, but a good shepherd at some point has to do
the separating. And that's exactly the picture the Lord
uses. And He'll say to those on His right who are the
sheep, "Come, you who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world." It's Kingdom time and you
will live and go right into the Kingdom and I'll be
reigning on the throne of David in the city of
Jerusalem on a restored earth. You've got to have
some living people living on this earth to enjoy the
fulfillment of that prophecy in their natural condition.
And so the believers will go right into the Kingdom.
Jesus will initiate it right there.

The criteria by which He identifies His sheep, look at

verse 35. How do you tell the sheep? "I was hungry,
you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty, you gave
Me drink, I was a stranger you invited Me in, I was
naked, you clothed Me. I was sick, you visited Me. I
was in prison, you came to Me. That's how it's going
to be during the time of the Tribulation. There are
going to be believing people who are not going to
have any food. Why? Because they don't have the
mark of the beast, right? So they can't buy and sell.
And who's going to give them food? And they're going
to be thirsty and they can't get anything to drink, who's
going to give them drink? And they're going to be
strangers and they're not going to have access to a
place to stay because they're outcasts, they're going
to be...they're going to be hunted. They're going to
have to be refugees, they're going to have to hide to
save their lives. And they're going to need clothes and
they're going to be sick and somebody is going to
need to tend to them, and they're going to be
incarcerated in prisons by the system of the Antichrist.
And somebody is going to minister to them and you
ask the simple question...who will it be? And I'll tell
you who it will be, it will be other believers, right?
Didn't Jesus say in John 13:34 and 35, "They will
know us by our love," didn't He say that? "Obviously if
you love one another, they'll know you're
My...what?...disciples." And Jesus is simply saying,
the sheep are the ones who have evidenced their
regenerated life by the love of the brethren. John says
in his epistle, "If you say you love God and don't love
your brother, you're...what?...you're a liar."

And we say, "Well why does He say Me, Me, Me?"

Why? Because Christ lives in every believer. Is that
not true? In John 18 Jesus says, "Receive the least of
these little ones, you receive Me." How you treat
another believer is exactly how you're treating Jesus
Christ. And so He personalizes it and says, "I was
hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was
thirsty, you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, you
invited Me in. I was naked, you clothed Me. I was sick,
you visited Me. I was in prison, you came to Me." And
by the way they treated other believers, they
evidenced their own salvation.
And then the righteous will say, "Lord, when did we
see You hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You
drink, and when did we see You a stranger and invite
You in, and naked and clothe You? And when did we
see you sick, or in prison and came to You." And the
King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you...what...you did it to
Me." There's evidence that these are sheep because
of how they treat their brothers and sisters in Christ.
They're not saved by their good works, their good
works evidenced their salvation. And the love of the
brethren is a reality within the fellowship of faith. "How
dwells the love of God in you," John asks in his first
epistle, "if you don't meet the need of your brother?"
So the sheep then go into the Kingdom. And the good
deeds are the evidence of their salvation. Then in
verse 41 He will say to those on His left, this is the

goats who represent the unregenerate, "Depart from

Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has
been prepared for the devil and his angels." Why? "I
was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was
thirsty, you gave Me nothing to drink. I was a stranger,
you did not invite Me in. Naked, you did not clothe Me.
Sick, in prison, you did not visit Me. Then they
themselves also will answer saying, Lord, when did
we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or
sick or in prison and didn't take care of You? Then He
will answer to them, saying, Truly I say to you, to the
extent that you did not do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to Me and these will go away
into eternal punishment. But the righteous to eternal
life."
That's the same judgment you're seeing occurring in
Revelation chapter 19. And their works showed that
they never belonged to God at all. They never
belonged to Christ. Very similarly, a cross reference
would be Romans 2:5 through 10 where the Apostle
Paul says that God's going to judge in the future on
the basis of works. Not because we're saved by
works, but the evidence of our salvation is in those
works.
So this then is the destruction of the ungodly. He says
the sheep are going into the Kingdom, the ungodly are
going to be sent into the everlasting fire. This, as I
said, is the destruction of the ungodly.
So what Jesus was saying is the same thing that John
is seeing in the vision of chapter 19. It's important to

say that because I think there are people who assume

that Jesus is a much nicer person than some of the
other New Testament writers. There used to be
hermeneutic among liberal theologians called "The
Spirit of Jesus." And anything that was supposedly
attributed to Jesus that didn't fit the docile sort of
indifferent tolerant spirit of Jesus that they had
concocted as being true of Him, they just eliminated it
all together. But there obviously is a reality in the mind
and the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ that will deal as
firmly with vengeance as it dealt compassionately with
mercy.
So, in chapter 19 we are hearing really John's
description of the very same event that Jesus
described in Matthew chapter 25. Now if I may, I want
to take you back to chapter 16 of Revelation, and I'm
trying to fill in all of this so that you have a complete
understanding. Revelation 16 verse 13, "And I saw
coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the
mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false
prophet three unclean spirits like frogs." This, by the
way, is the sixth bowl judgment. Remember, seven
seal judgments, culminating in seven trumpet
judgments, culminating in seven rapid-fire end-time
bowl judgments. So we're right at the very end. Out
come these filthy scummy demon spirits performing,
verse 14 says, signs. And what do they do? They go
out to the kings of the whole world and they deceive
them to gather them together for the war of the great
day of God the Almighty.

The question often comes up, why do the nations of

the world when they've been so devastated through
the whole Tribulation think they can come and fight
against God? And the answer is because there are
hellish demons who go over the world and deceive
them and God allows that to happen. So it its these
demons who have gone over the world and they have
collected the remaining forces of humanity and they've
driven them all to the land of Israel, stretching to the
north from Armageddon, all the way down to the
south. Collecting themselves together under the
illusion that they can fight against the Lord Jesus
Christ who is about to come.
Verse 15 he says, "Behold, I am coming like a thief."
That means suddenly, terrifyingly, and with
devastating results. And verse 16 says, "They were
gathered together to the place which in Hebrew is
called Har Magedon, Armageddon, the valley of
Megiddo." And so again I'm just pointing you to the
fact that chapter 16 also speaks of the very same
event. You read it in Joel chapter 3 as we did earlier.
You read about it in Zephaniah chapter 3, you read
about it in Zechariah chapter 12, Zechariah chapter
14.
So demons gather the remaining forces of the
ungodly. Remember, their capital city Babylon is
already destroyed. But what is left of their worldwide
power is collected and gathered into the land of Israel.
They gather to fight or perish. Right now, folks,
it's...it's fight or die. The executioner is on the brink,
Christ rising from the throne gathering all of the holy

angels of heaven together is about to descend in

devastating judgment on the world. You say, "Do they
know that?" Sure they know that, the preachers have
been telling them that. And it's now fight or die. And so
they come armed to the teeth. And you can believe
that whatever nuclear capability they have, what ever
warheads, whatever exotic, sophisticated kinds of
powers they may be able to amass on the level of
weaponry, whatever "Star Wars" kind of operations
they can pull off from satellites and whatever else is
up in the sky, they're going to have it all. They're going
to get all of the cooperation of all of those who
possess nuclear armament and they're going to be
ready to destroy the Son of God when He comes.
And so, down in verse 17 we come to the conquest. In
spite of all of their efforts, in spite of all of the attempts
to victory, they're going to be terribly defeated. I just
want to speak of two things and maybe we'll just look
at the first one tonight and we'll have to do this one
more time. Conquest announced and then conquest
accomplished. Conquest announced and then
conquest accomplished.
Verse 17, "And I saw an angel standing in the sun and
he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds
which fly in midheaven, `Come, assemble for the
great supper of God.'"
Now here again an angel plays a key role, an
important role in the action of the final days in the
action of the book of Revelation. This angel is
standing in the sun. What does that mean? Does it

literally mean he's standing right in the sun and not

being burned up? Well it would seem to me that if he
was actually standing in the sun, we don't have any
reason to believe that angels who are spirit beings
could project any visible of themselves from a position
inside the sun that would be able to be seen by
anybody. I mean, a little angel standing in the middle
of the sun, firing off its flames thousands of miles into
space wouldn't be seen. I think the meaning here is
that in the proximity of the sun, perhaps...perhaps in
an eclipse fashion, blocking out the sun, stands this
angel. And he is doing to the sun what the moon does
to it in an eclipse. The sun glows nothing but an
outline around the silhouette of the angel.
He stands in a conspicuous place and he stands in a
commanding place. Now remember that Joel 2 verses
30 to 32 and Acts 2:19 to 20 says that the sun will not
give its light. Remember that? And the moon will go
dark when the sun goes dark because the moon is a
reflector. But the indication here is that the angel is
standing in the sun and the sun is still shining so we
assume this is before God turns out the sun.
The angel makes the announcement. And when the
announcement is complete and he has called the
birds together to eat the flesh, then the sun goes
black. The sun, Matthew 24:29 says, will be dark and
the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from
the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then appears the Son of Man.

So first the announcement then everything goes out.

And everything goes black. And then comes the
blazing glory of the Son of Man in heaven.
Now let's go back to this angel. He cried with a loud
voice. Something angels have been often doing in the
book of Revelation. Chapter 7, chapter 10, chapter 14,
chapter 18, angels were yelling a lot in the visions
John was having and always to introduce very
important words to announce judgment on very wide
scale. They're talking to the world. I mean, this is
going to be some kind of a heavenly megaphone and
the whole world is going to hear this. But who is the
angel addressing? The angel is talking to the birds.
Amazing. Which birds? The ones that fly in
midheaven. What's midheaven? It's where birds fly.
How is that for reasoning.
So if you wonder when you read chapter 8 verse 13,
and chapter 14 verse 6 where you have the Greek
term midheaven what he means, here he defines it.
Midheaven is where birds are. It's up there above us.
Why is this...why is this angel standing in the sun
yelling so the whole world can hear him and talking to
the birds? He's inviting them to feed on the carnage.
He's declaring the victory before the battle is ever
fought. He's inviting them to eat the carrion, the dead
corpses of all slaughtered in the return of Jesus
Christ.
And even this isn't new. No, even Jesus spoke this in
Matthew chapter 24. Amazing what Jesus said. He's

talking about verse 27, the coming of the Son of Man

and then in verse 28 He says, "Wherever the corpse
is, there the vultures will gather." Wherever the corpse
is, there the vultures will gather," Matthew 24:28. Also
Luke records Jesus' teaching in Luke chapter 17 that
at the time of the coming of the Son of Man, the same
kind of thing is going to happen. In fact, Luke tells us
when He comes two will be in a bed, one will be
taken, that means taken into the Kingdom, rather
taken into judgment, the other will be left to go into the
Kingdom. Two grinding at the same place, one will be
taken away into judgment and be sent to hell, the
other will be left to go into the Kingdom. And they
answering said to Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to
them, "Where the body is there also will the vultures
be gathered."
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
So Jesus on at least those two occasions and
perhaps more often talked about birds, birds of prey,
not only predatory birds but scavenger kinds of birds
eating the flesh of the corpses. Now it could be that
this is a metaphor for just the fact that the wicked,
rotten, world is seen as a decaying, filthy corpse that's
good for nothing but to be destroyed. But I think
there's no reason not to see this literally, as well.
The angel commands the birds. And he says, "Come,
assemble for the great supper of God." And by the
way, it won't be the first supper that birds have had on

human flesh, birds have eaten human flesh through

the history of the world. You can see a similar kind of
judgment. For example, go back just to the Old
Testament and you see it. Isaiah 18 talks about
judgment on Ethiopia and Egypt and in verse 6,
"There will be left together for mountain birds of prey
and for the beasts of the field and the birds of prey will
spend the summer feeding on them. And all the
beasts of the field will spend harvest time on them."
You have the same thing in Jeremiah 7:33. Through
all the wars of antiquity, all the wars of human history
up until the modern era, birds like the birds who will
eat the flesh of these in the end time have eaten the
flesh of others. Certainly through human history birds
of prey and scavenger birds have filled themselves
with flesh.
So it's a call to the supper of God. And the birds are
called to gather. The battle will be very brief, covering
a span of two hundred miles where the blood splatters
so high it hits the horses' bridles. Millions of dead
bodies strewn everywhere. The prophet tells us that
after the birds have done their work and eaten
themselves and glutted themselves, it will take seven
months to bury the dead bodies, seven months right
on into the Kingdom.
Now if you're curious like I am, you're saying to
yourself, "Where are all these birds going to come
from?" And I want to help you with that. You might be
interested to know, if you've ever been to the land of
Israel you're very aware of the Israeli Air Force, you're
very aware of the fact that they're flying over you all

the time. In fact, it takes an Israeli jet fighter pilot a

minute a half to fly from the western border to the
eastern border of Israel. So they just keep doing
this....a little longer from north to south. But it's a
matter of security to them and that's a matter of life.
And they have fought, as you well know, in all kinds of
wars in the Middle East and those pilots put their life
on the line. But I want you to know this. Far more
Israeli pilots have been killed by birds than by
enemies throughout the history of the Israeli Air Force.
And one of the most frightening realities in the Israeli
Air Force is the occasion when a bird goes right
through the plexiglass in a cockpit of a jet and takes
the head off the pilot. And it happens frequently, or did
up until most modern times.
You say, "How do you know that?" Because I have a
training film video produced by the Israeli Air Force
and by the government which was sent to every
airport in the world. And a copy given to every chief
pilot in every installation. I happen to come across the
chief pilot for American Airlines in Chicago. And he
said, "John, I have a video I want to give you, you will
find it absolutely fascinating. It's all about the birds in
Israel." They had such a major problem even in the
fear of losing airliners going into Tel Aviv because so
many birds were around the Tel Aviv the
Bengourian(?) Airport there, they were sea birds, sea
gulls and other birds around the sea. And because
there was water at one end of the runway, they would
literally swarm there and get caught in the props. And
pilots were losing their lives in that way. They showed

film of the bird literally would decapitate the head of a

pilot, cockpit film. It's incredible to see.
And they realized that they were going to have to do
something about this problem. And so...they are
ingenious, you know, and so they decided that they
would come across a plan and they got some people
together to study the whole problem. And what they
did was they developed gliders and they started to fly
with the birds. And they came across some amazing
discoveries.
First of all, all the birds from western Europe in the far
west, way into Siberia, all the migratory birds which
are the larger birds, all of them migrate south every
year. And all of them migrate through Israel. Millions
and millions of them. You say why? Because in their
migration they need food, for one. And there's no food
east of there because it is utterly barren desert. And
there's no food west of there because it
is...what?...sea. And so they fly down the narrow strip
of Israel. They come in the spring, the early spring
and they know what kind of birds come and they can
predict within a day or two when they will arrive. And
different bird groups come and millions and millions of
them come, all flying through Israel. Isn't that
amazing?
You say, "Are you saying that the Second Coming of
Jesus will be in the spring?" Might be in the spring, or
He might just call them early...or hold them till late. But
that's how they come.

There's another reason they always fly through Israel,

because Israel has thermals and they come in high
and they can literally glide right down the thermals
and then they dissipate across the north of Africa.
They ride the thermals. They come for the food.
And so the Israelis began to study these birds and this
is an incredible thing, it shows you the mind of God in
His creative power, but each type of bird group always
fly the same pattern at the same altitude at the same
time of year. And so now they have trained all the
pilots to fly at different altitudes at given periods of
time from the migrating birds, and they have solved
the problem. It's incredible. This training film was then
used by American Airlines to train all of their pilots
who fly in there to understand the patterns, the
patterns the inexorable on varying patterns of these
birds. But when the time comes for the feast, the birds
will know the path well. And they will come to the great
supper of God.
Now, let's look at verse 18. He says, "Come, birds,
assemble for the great supper of God," and here is the
extent of this judgment, "in order 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." And, of
course, you understand he's just collecting absolutely
everybody. Eat the flesh of kings, start at the top. It's a
terrible indignity for a king to lie unburied and for birds
to tear his flesh. That's precisely what's going to
happen. There's not going to be anybody to take care

of them. There won't be anybody left alive to take care

of them. This is the end of the kings, a desecrated
kind of end. The birds are going to eat their flesh.
And the rulers won't be able to lead their people, the
kings won't be able to give direction because the fear
will be so totally overpowering. The flesh of
commanders, we just kind of move down the ranks,
the flesh of mighty men, great soldiers, the flesh of
horses and the riders, that would be just the soldiers
themselves. Now obviously there's not going to be
armies on horses in the same way there are today.
Although there certainly may be some. They were the
ancient battle instrument, and are emblematic of
whatever battle instruments are used in the future.
Perhaps there will be horses there.
Then the flesh of all men is added, look at that in
verse 18. "The flesh of all men both free men and
slaves and small and great." And the terminology is
very
much
like
Revelation
chapter
6,
everybody...everybody in the whole world is going to
become food for vultures...the whole world. This is the
end.
Zephaniah the prophet described it, "Near is the great
day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly. Listen,
the day of the Lord, in it the warrior cries out bitterly, a
day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress,
a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day
of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and
the high corner towers. And I will bring distress on

men so that they will walk like the blind because

they've sinned against the Lord, their blood will be
poured out like dust, their flesh like dung. Neither their
silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the
day of the Lord's wrath. And all the earth will be
devoured in the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a
complete end, indeed a terrifying one...here it
comes...of all the inhabitants of the earth." There is no
way around this, this is the execution of everybody
who is not redeemed, everybody. Nobody escapes,
free men, slaves, small, great, nobody escapes. They
all become food for the feast.
Well, the conquest is announced, let's look quickly
then at the second point, the conquest is
accomplished. Verse 19, "I saw the beast and the
kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make
war against Him who sat upon the horse and against
His army." And John is looking at this incredible vision
and he says, "I saw the beast." Who's that? That's the
Antichrist, isn't it? The world ruler, one introduced in
chapter 11 verse 7 and then described in chapter 13
verses 1 through 8. The beast and the kings of the
earth, who are they? Well back in chapter 17 you
remember that there are ten kings, and the Antichrist
has somehow divided the world into ten sectors and
he has put somebody over those sectors who
answers to him. So the Antichrist who rules the world
and those who are immediately under him, these who
are ruling over the ten sectors of the world, and then
he says their armies. That's...that's everybody who's
collected there. Remember now, the sixth bowl,
chapter 16, the deception of the demons who come

out of the pit gather all these armies. So he says I saw

the Antichrist, I saw the ten kings, I saw the armies
from all over the world assembled to make war
against Him who sat upon the horse and against His
army. They have armies, He has an army, singular.
They're assembled for the purpose of making war
against Jesus Christ. And as I said, they'll be armed to
the gills, armed to the teeth. And the battle is set.
Zechariah 14:5 describes Christ's army as, quote: "All
the holy ones with Him...all the holy ones with Him."
So His enemies succeeded in killing Him when He
came in humility and grace, because it was the plan of
God for salvation that He die. They hated Him when
He healed and showed mercy. Imagine how they're
going to hate Him when He has been judging them
and is now ready to return to execute them. And so
they're armed and they're ready.
Then immediately it happens, verse 20, "The beast
was piazo, captured and with him the false prophet."
The first thing you do is take the leaders, and now
you've destroyed the head. And so the beast is
captured or seized and with him the false prophet. You
remember him, he performed the signs in the
presence of the beast by which he deceived those
who had received the mark of the beast and those
who worshiped his image. You remember the
description of the false prophet back in chapter 13
verses 11 to 13, how he performed signs and wonders
to convince people that the beast was a god. And then
you remember in chapter 13 verses 16 and 17 how

everybody who worshiped the beast was given a

mark, the mark of the beast on their head or in the
back of their hand. And by that they could buy and sell
and function in the society. Then in chapter 13 verses
14 and 15 it describes how they worshiped the beast.
So the beast was seized and the false prophet who
did the signs and wonders who deceived those who
received the mark and who caused people to worship
his image. In other words, the army loses its
leadership. These are two men, by the way, I don't
want to lose sight of that, they're two human beings.
They're demonically empowered and indwelt, but
they're human beings. One is the political leader of the
world, the other is the religious leader who has turned
the religion of the world toward the Antichrist so he is
both king and god. They are captured first, the armies
lose their leaders immediately. And these two were
thrown alive into the lake of fire.
Apparently they don't even die, they're has to be some
kind of transformation but Christ just takes them and
pitches into the lake of fire. This is the first mention of
that place which is the final eternal flaming hell. There
is a hell, there always has been a hell, being
separated from God, it is always a place of torment,
but this is its final form. It's called the lake of fire. Any
place separated from the presence of God is a hell of
some kind, but this is the final form of that hell. And
the first two to populate it are the Antichrist and the
false prophet.

Daniel 7:11, he saw the same thing. "I kept looking

until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and
given to the burning fire." So Daniel sees some kind of
destruction. John says they were cast alive into the
lake of fire. Their bodies may literally have been killed,
but, of course, their spirits go alive into hell. It's hard to
resolve those two texts. But the Lord knows the
significance of them.
But nonetheless certainly they'd have to be altered or
changed as they go into that hell in order not to be
instantly consumed. So maybe there is remaining
flesh in the world as they are executed and their
spiritual being is somehow transported to hell.
This is not Hades. Hades is a temporary place. This is
the final lake of fire. Later on, by the way, we'll find in
chapter 20 that the devil and all his demons will be
sent there because it was prepared for them. And
sad...sad, so will all unbelievers at the end of the
Great White Throne Judgment, be taken and sent into
the final lake of fire.
This lake of fire tells us several things that are
important. It's good evidence that there's no such
thing as annihilation of the ungodly. Some people say
when the ungodly die, they're annihilated. It doesn't
make sense because these two people, the beast and
the false prophet, are thrown into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. They're thrown in, then the
Kingdom begins. Down in chapter 20 verse 10, "The
devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of
fire and brimstone at the end of the thousand-year

kingdom where the beast and the false prophet are

also." So they didn't get annihilated when they arrived
there, did they? They're still there a thousand years
later.
And then verse 15, "Anyone's name was not written in
the book of life, he was thrown into the same lake of
fire." Isaiah looked at this lake of fire, chapter 66, and
says it's a place where their worms shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched. Jesus Christ
looked at this place and called it everlasting fire where
the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched, called
it Gehenna. That was a smoldering constant fire in the
city dump of Jerusalem that never went out. Jesus
said, "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned
in the fire, so it shall be in the end of the world. The
Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they shall
gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and
them that do iniquity and cast them into a furnace of
fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. The
chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable."
In Matthew 25:41 it's called "everlasting fire."
Revelation 14:11 says the smoke of their torment
goes up forever and ever. And John says this lake of
fire burns with brimstone. Chapter 20 verse 10 says
the same thing, "It burns with brimstone." Chapter 21
verse 8 says, "The lake that burns with fire and
brimstone." It's just to make a more graphic
description, brimstone, a sulfuric kind of chemical
thing that makes it explosively hot.

And that's what's going to happen to the rest of the

people of the world, not just these two, they have the
privilege of being the first two to populate the
final...the final place, the final place of destruction, the
eternal hell. How sad, how tragic. But then, after all,
they're the two most blasphemous human beings who
ever lived, they're the two who had the greatest
exposure to preaching and miracle power and
judgment and they are the first to be given the
distinction of being eternally separated from the
presence of God. And the rest of the world will follow.
And that takes us to the last verse, and we did make
it, how about that? Verse 21, "And the rest, all the rest
of these armies were killed with the sword which came
from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse and all
the birds were filled with their flesh." Remember now,
chapter 19 verse 15 says, "Out of His mouth comes a
sharp sword and with it He'll smite the nations." This is
His Word, isn't it? The whole world of sinners is killed,
not just the armies but whatever sinners are left all
over the globe. And not all of them will be gathered
there. The armies will be there, but there will be some
people remaining and they'll be killed as well. He'll
smite the peoples, chapter 19 verse 15 says, swift,
devastating death comes as He speaks.
John Phillips has written, "Then suddenly it will be all
over. In fact, there will be no war at all in the sense
that we think of war, there will be just a word spoken
from Him who sits astride the great white horse. Once
He spoke a word to a fig tree and it withered away,
once He spoke a word to howling winds and heaving

waves and the storm cloud vanished and the waves

fell still. Once He spoke to a legion of demons
bursting at the seams of a poor man's soul and
instantly they fled. And now He speaks a word and the
war is over, the blasphemous loud-mouthed beast is
stricken where he stands. The false prophet, the
miracle working windbag from the pit is punctured and
still. The pair of them are bundled up and hurled
headlong into the everlasting flames. Another word
and the panic-stricken armies reel and stagger and fall
down dead, field marshals and generals, admirals and
air commanders, soldiers and sailors, rank and file,
one and all they fall and the vultures descend and
cover the scene."
Just an incredible, incredible picture of how it's all
going to end. Zechariah 14 describes it with these
words, verse 3, "The Lord will go forth and fight
against those nations as when He fights on a day of
battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount
of Olives which is in front of Jerusalem on the east
and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from
east to west by a very large valley," I mentioned that
may well be the valley of Jehoshaphat. "So that half of
the mountain may move toward the north and the
other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley
of My mountains." In other words, God's people will be
able to flee from Antichrist and from the devastation
right through that valley. "To Azel, yes you will flee just
as you fled before the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah, king of Judah. The Lord my God will come
and all the holy ones with Him. And it will come about
in that day there will be no light, the luminaries will

dwindle. It will be a unique day which is known to the

Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that
at evening there will be light." It's all going to dark and
then boom, the light of Christ's coming. "It will come
about the living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half
of them toward the eastern sea and the other half
toward the western sea. It will be in summer as well
as in winter."
Somehow the whole topography of Israel is going to
change. He hits the Mount of Olives, splits the things
wide open, the people all flee, then the water flows
through that new valley and creates a blossoming
desert.
"And the Lord will be King over all the earth; in that
day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the
only one."
"Now this will be the plague...verse 12 says...which
the Lord will strike all the people who have gone to
war against Jerusalem." Here's how they're going to
die, listen to this. "Their flesh will rot while they stand
on their feet." Just like that. "Their eyes will rot in their
sockets and their tongue will rot in their mouth. And it
will come about in that day that a great panic from the
Lord will fall on them, they will seize one another's
hand and the hand of one will be lifted against the
hand of another." As they're rotting away, they'll kill
each other, strike each other.
It's a frightening scene. Certainly not something to be
relished, something to be dreaded and feared. This is

going to come at the end. But Daniel chapter 12 verse

12 extends it out, actually seventy-five days, if you
add it all up, past the end of the Tribulation. Some
kind of time period. It may well be that that forty-five
days, ultimately seventy-five days is the days when
the birds eat the feast of flesh, followed by the burial.
And then this passage closes the chapter, "All the
birds were filled with their flesh." Can you imagine
John seeing all this vividly before his eyes? And, you
know, you read all that and you're reminded of what
Peter said. He said, and it's just hard to imagine, he
said, "Know this...2 Peter 3...that in the last days
mockers will come with their mocking, saying, `Where
is the promise of His coming?'" There will always be
deniers, there are always going to be those who are
going to deny that Jesus is coming. "Where is the
promise of His coming." They are mockers. You know
what their argument is? It's the argument of ridicule,
it's not an intellectual argument, it's just the argument
of ridicule. They play on the disappointment of people
who have been waiting and waiting and waiting and
hoping and hoping. Their mockery comes out of their
ridiculing hearts.
And then their mockery comes out of the love of sin. It
says, "They follow after their own lusts." And anybody
who follows after his own lusts doesn't want a day of
reckoning, right? They want to pursue their sexual
pleasure and they do not like evangelical eschatology.
They want an eschatology that suits their behavior.
They don't want to hear about judgment on sin. So
they argue from ridicule, they argue from morality, or

immorality, and then they argue from uniformity. They

say, "Forever since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue just as they were from the beginning of
creation."
You know what their argument is? Well it will never
happen because it never has. It's like saying, I'll never
die, I never have. It's the argument from uniformity.
There can't be a divine judgment like that, there never
has been one. Why you, anybody understands
evolution, we've been around for billions and billions
of years and this deal just keeps going along. It's just
always been the same, no judge, no God, no
judgments, no eschatology, no accountability.
You see, that's what evolution is. And that's what
natural...natural approach to the world is. It's just a
way to escape accountability. And Peter says, "I think
they forgot the Flood. I think they forgot. This had
escaped their notice that God created an immense
catastrophe when He turned loose the heavens in the
Flood. Their foolish arguments, notwithstanding,
Jesus will come. And what are the argument of
believers? The argument from Scripture. He says,
"The Word spoken before by the holy prophets and
the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by
your apostles." In spite of what the mockers say in
their ridicule and their love of sin, and their belief in
uniformity, your argument is Scripture. Secondly, your
argument is history, the Flood. Thirdly, your argument
is eternity. What does that mean? God's not bound by
a clock, folks, don't let this one fact escape your notice
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and

a thousand years as one day. God's not operating by

your watch. And if you look at your watch and your
little calendar and say, "Well it never has happened, it
certainly never will," God's not confined to your
timetable.
And then you can argue from grace. "The Lord is not
slow about His promise, He's just patient because He
wishes not any to...what?...to perish." So we argue
from Scripture and history, we argue from eternity, we
argue from grace that Jesus is coming. And then
Peter says, 2 Peter 3:10, "The day of the Lord will
come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away
with a roar, the elements be destroyed with intense
heat, the earth, the works be burned up and since all
these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort
of people ought you to be?" That's the question, isn't
it? I think you want to be the kind of person who
escapes this judgment. That's only sensible. By God's
grace I pray you will be.
Father, thank You for this time tonight, as frightening
as it is, as fearful, as tragic, as horrifying to think
about people in eternal punishment, eternal hell. Yet,
Lord, we know that this gives You glory and brings
You honor. And we know that this comes at the end of
the greatest expression of the preaching of the gospel
in the history of the world. This comes at a time when
You have demonstrated Your power over and over,
Your miracle power, Your judgment power. You have
shown Your mercy, You have shown Your grace, You
have shown Your justice, Your wrath. You put it on
display day after day after day, the gospel has been

preached to every person from preachers and

evangelists to angels flying through the heavens. And
Your grace has extended itself patiently all the way to
absolute obstinacy and hardness of man. And then
when all they do is shake their fist and curse You, the
judgment falls.
O Father, we know You're not willing that any should
perish but that all should come to repentance. You
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And we
know that's why You sent Your Son Jesus Christ
because You so loved the world that You wanted to
provide a Savior, a way of escape, one who could
bring the forgiveness of sin so that sinners would
never have to experience Your judgment. I would pray
that even tonight, even in the hearing of this message,
You would be gracious to sinners and save them from
the wrath to come. We thank You, Father, that we
don't look for this event, we look for the Rapture when
You collect us out of this world and take us to the
place You've prepared for us in heaven, a place of
bliss and joy, not a place of eternal punishment. May
this message grip our hearts. And those of us who are
Christians, may we be filled with joy and a sense of
responsibility like Paul who said knowing the terror of
the Lord we persuade men. May it give us a desire to
speak the truth to those who are perishing. We bless
You for this day and all that it has brought to us and
give You praise in Christ's name. Amen.
***************************

Well, now it's our joy to turn to the Word of God and
most particularly to the book of Revelation. And we
come now to chapter 20 in Revelation, the coming
earthly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one
of the most significant chapters in all the Bible. It is in
every sense of the word a climactic chapter, bringing
us to the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth in His
coming glory in His Kingdom. His Kingdom is the
climax, it is the culmination of redemptive history, as it
unfolds in this world. And so we're really reaching the
climax, the culmination of all of human history. This is
a day that was described by the prophet Jeremiah in
chapter 23 and verses 5 and 6 with these words,
"Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when
I shall raise up for David a righteous branch and He
will reign as King and act wisely and do justice and
righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be
saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is His
name by which He will be called, the Lord our
righteousness. Behold the days are coming."
All of God's redemptive purpose since the fall of man
culminates in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ as
it
has
been
called,
paradise
regained.
Paradise...paradise lost...paradise regained. This
glorious paradise regained, this Kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ, this one-thousand year millennial reign
of the Savior over the earth is the fulfillment and the
climax of all redemptive promise and the realization of
the hope of all the saints of all the ages. Because at
that particular time, God will bring salvation and
righteousness and peace to the very center of the
universe. It is at that time that Jesus Christ will reign

fully as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all

creation. This thousand-year Kingdom is the end of
human history, the end of the present universe as we
know it. And after the thousand- year Kingdom is
completed, is over, everything as we know it now in
the created order will be completely destroyed
because it has all been tainted by sin, even though
Christ is reigning, He is reigning over a renewed and
regenerated and restored earth and universe, but not
a recreated one. And so it still bears the marks of sin.
And after the thousand years is over, the Lord will
destroy completely the universe and create a new
heaven and a new earth in eternal perfection,
unstained by sin. And that will become the everlasting
kingdom.
So redemptive history runs from the Fall of man
through this period of time until Jesus comes back in
judgment, judges the world, sets up His Kingdom. His
Kingdom lasts for a thousand years in a renewed and
rejuvenated world. And then the whole universe, as
we know it, even in its renewed state is destroyed and
makes way for the new heaven and the new earth
untouched by sin of any kind. And that is the fullness
of God's eternal paradise.
Now it is this thousand-year Kingdom known as the
Millennial Kingdom that is the theme of the chapter
that we look at, chapter 20 in the book of Revelation.
The final reign of the Lord Jesus Christ during that
thousand years is in the city of Jerusalem on the
throne of David over Israel as a nation and over the
whole world.

There are a couple of things that I need to say to you

before we look at the text itself because, of course,
this has been a theological battleground, this matter of
the Kingdom, for years. And I want to help you to get
an understanding of why we believe and teach what
we do.
First of all, let me say that foundational to any
understanding of the Kingdom is to capture the
chronological order of the book of Revelation. The
passage fits into the chronology of the book. If you go
into chapter 19 and verse 11, you have the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ comes.
At the end of chapter 19, that is described in great
detail, He arrives in verse 16 as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. There is an immense battle that
ensues. He is the conqueror and the victor. The
holocaust of that battle is described at the end of
chapter 19 as the carnage lays all over the place and
is devoured by birds. And then we read about the
beast and the false prophet in verse 20 being thrown
into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone and all
the rest were killed with a sword which came from the
mouth of the Lord who returned. All the birds were
filled with their flesh. So there you have the
devastating judgment at the return of Jesus Christ.
Over in chapter 21 and verse 1, "I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
passed away." Here you have the eternal state at the
end of the Kingdom. So you have the Lord Jesus
Christ returning in chapter 19. You have the creation

of a new heaven and a new earth in chapter 21. And

in the middle you have chapter 20. Chapter 20
describes the thousand-year Kingdom, the chronology
is very simple, you have a period of time called the
Tribulation, it started in Revelation 6, it ended in
Revelation 19. It ends with the return of Christ and His
total judgment of the ungodly. After that judgment,
chapter 20, He sets up His Kingdom. At the end of His
Kingdom He creates the new heavens and the new
earth.
That is the simple, clear chronology of the book of
Revelation. And certainly is an interpretive key.
Whatever you're going to do with this Kingdom, you
have to deal with the chronology that is here in the
book of Revelation. And clearly the Kingdom is placed
between the Great Tribulation, the return of Christ at
the end of the Tribulation, and the creation of the new
heavens and the new earth. It fits right in between
those events.
Having said that his must be understood in terms of its
chronology, I want to go outside the chronology and
mention also that the details of the Kingdom are only
given a summary fashion here in chapter 20. In fact,
it's a very limited presentation. It gives us just
some...some general perspectives here and does not
exhaust, by any means, all that could be said about
the character or the nature of that thousand years.
And yet there is instruction about the Kingdom itself
throughout the Bible. In fact, if we were to just study
all of the places in the Scriptures that deal with the
Kingdom, we would be at it for months and months. It

is scattered throughout the Old Testament and it is

scattered throughout the New Testament. I have been
in the process over the last several weeks of reading
just one book in particular, one of several books which
I have read through the years on the Kingdom. I think
the first book I ever read on the Kingdom was Alva
McClain's book, a tremendous book. And then there
are other books on the theocratic Kingdom and the
theme of Kingdom. Currently I'm reading a book by
Herman Ridderboss on The Coming of the Kingdom,
which is probably about 600 single-spaced pages of
intense preoccupation with this concept of the
Kingdom because it is replete from the beginning of
the Old Testament to the end of the New. So it's
everywhere.
And what you have in chapter 20 is not all that is to be
said about the Kingdom, but merely a placing of the
Kingdom in its chronology and highlighting some of
the very important elements of it. What we're going to
do in chapter 20 is use chapter 20 as an important
framework. And as we go through it we'll touch some
of the passages in the Old and New Testament that
will enrich and expand our understanding of the
nature of the Kingdom. There are what I would call
many explanatory texts that delineate the character of
the Kingdom more than we have right here in chapter
20. But it frames for us a marvelous chronological
skeleton on which to hang the flesh of the rest of what
Scripture says.
So remember now, chapter 19 closes with the battle of
Armageddon which is the culmination of the day of the

Lord which is a time of judgment in which the hand of

God intervenes powerfully and publicly by the coming
of Jesus Christ to destroy the ungodly who remain. In
that war the Antichrist and the false prophet lead the
armies of the ungodly to battle with Christ and they all
perish. They are all executed, all of them without
Christ. It is a horror of a slaughter that you see at the
end of the nineteenth chapter, and then the Antichrist
and the false prophet are thrown into the burning lake
of fire where they will dwell forever with Satan and the
demons and the ungodly from all the ages.
Then having executed judgment on the earth, the Lord
Jesus renovates the earth. And remember, it's been
being renovated during the Tribulation, right? All kinds
of horrible things have happened in the judgments of
the seals and the trumpets and the bowls and we've
gone through those in great detail for months and
months. But those, in effect, renovate the universe.
You have the sky collapsing. You have things flying
out of space. You have the earth in convulsions both
in the land and the sea and the fresh water. You have
all kinds of things catapulting into the earth and there
is a terrible chaotic disintegration of the universe as
we know it, and particularly the earth. And after the
day of the Lord comes, apparently the Lord then does
some more renovation. We remember reading, don't
we, about the fact that He will carve a valley from the
Mediterranean toward the Dead Sea and a new river
flowing through that period, or that location will turn
the desert into a blossoming place.

So there are a number of things that are going to

reconfigure the world. Eden will be restored. It will be
like the Garden of Eden again, paradise will be
regained. This renovated earth then will become the
place where Jesus rules. He will sit on the throne of
David in the city of Jerusalem, that great city from
which He will rule the world. And as we were saying to
you this morning, He will be truly the God of that age
and the whole world in all of its economics and all of
its labor and all of its social life and all of its morality
and all of its understanding and learning and opinions
and thoughts and ideas and concepts will reflect the
mind of Christ. It will be the opposite of a world like
ours today which has as the god of this age Satan and
everything in it reflecting him. It is this very utopia, this
golden age that men have longed for. From the
remotest point of antiquity, men have dreamed of a
golden age, they have longed for a utopia. They have
written about it. They have desired an age of
righteousness and an age of peace and an age when
oppression would cease and injustice would be gone
and war would end. Poets have sung of it and
singers...poets, I should say, have written of it, and
singers have sung of it, and politicians have promised
to bring it, prophets have predicted it, the world has
cried for it. But it doesn't come until Jesus comes
Himself.
By the way, that longing so strong in the human heart
is one reason why people will fall victim easily to
Antichrist. Because they will imagine that he will bring
the long-awaited utopia. The true era of blessedness,
however, cannot come until Jesus comes.

This thousand-year Kingdom then is the subject of the

twentieth chapter. It is called by many names in
Scripture. Just in the New Testament alone there are
verses that call it the regeneration, Matthew 19:28.
The times of refreshing, Acts 3:19. The times of
restitution, Acts 3:21. And the dispensation of the
fullness of times, Ephesians 1:10. And there are many
more Scriptures on the subject of the Kingdom age. In
fact, there are more Scriptures on this subject, than
most all other subjects that the Bible deals with.
In fact, you could argue that the Kingdom is the key
theme in all of Scripture. That all of Scripture really
moves toward the fact that God rules, that God is
sovereign, and that the goal of redemptive history is
an eternal Kingdom in which God rules. The Kingdom
then becomes a major, a major comprehension.
Anyone who is going to understand the Bible must
understand the Kingdom. It was Alva McClain who
correctly said when he wrote many years his book on
the Kingdom, he said, "The Bible is the book of the
coming Kingdom of God." Everything points toward
that. All through the Old Testament, vast numbers of
passages deal with it, far too many, as I said, to cover
in this message.
Now you can go to 2 Samuel chapter 7 and read
about the Kingdom. You can go to Psalm 2 and read
about the Kingdom. You can read about it in Isaiah 2,
in Isaiah 11, Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 40 to 48. You can
read about it in Jeremiah as we noted, 23 and 33. You
can read about it in Ezekiel in a number of places,

chapter 34 for example. You can read about it in

Daniel chapter 2, chapter 7. You can read about it in
Hosea chapter 3, Joel chapter 3, Zephaniah chapter
3, or Zechariah chapter 14. And those are but a brief
smattering of samples where you can read about the
Kingdom.
It was so much a part of Jewish thought, the Jewish
writers in the post-biblical times used to talk about the
malkuthshamayim, the malkuth shamayimis another
really a term for the Kingdom, it's the term Kingdom of
heaven. Malkuth shamayimis a Hebrew phrase
indicating God's coming world dominion. And even
after biblical times the Jews looked forward to the
Kingdom of heaven. They saw it as a time when God
would exercise power over the heathen, and when He
would subject the world to Himself. The malkuth
shamayimmeans the Kingship of God is extended
over all mankind, it is fully realized. And the malkuth
shamayimis a part of the prayers of Jewish people. It
is the object of Jewish prayers since ancient days.
The Kaddish, for example, opens with these words,
"Glorified and sanctified, be His great name in the
world He has created according to His own pleasure.
May He establish His royal dominion and start His
deliverance of His people and may He bring His
Messiah and redeem His people in the time of your
life and in your days and in the time of the life of the
whole house of Israel with haste and in a short time,
and Thou shalt say, Amen."
The Old Testament is so loaded with the anticipation
of the coming Kingdom of God on earth that the Jews

continue to pray that it might come to pass. Some day

God is going to reign over this earth and He's going to
reign through the Messiah. And His reign rises out of
His own sovereign nature. It rises out of His own
sovereign purpose. It was reflected in the Garden
before Adam sinned, when God reigned. And it will be
restored by the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and God will reign again. It is really in the biblical
doctrine of the Kingdom that we have the Christian
view of history. History is headed toward the reign of
God.
We find God exercising His sovereignty spiritually
throughout redemptive history. But He will exercise it
temporarily in the coming earthly Kingdom. But God
certainly exercised His rule in the Garden before the
Fall and even after the Fall He exercised His rule over
mankind in a spiritual sense by saving them from their
sin. The Kingdom of God is the sphere in which God
rules by means of His sovereign power. Now it is the
sphere, of course, of salvation as well.
So God rules spiritually now over the hearts of those
who know Him by faith. And that's been the case since
His saving work began. There is a spiritual element of
the Kingdom that has existed since God started
redeeming men. But this is not that spiritual Kingdom
of which we read here, but rather that earthly literal
Kingdom which comes at the culmination of human
history.
Now let me just take you a step further by helping you
to understand what is involved in this debate about

the Kingdom. If you just read the book of Revelation,

you're going to come up with what is known as a
premillennial view of the Kingdom. That is to say that
the Lord Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom, that
is His coming is premillennial. Millennium is simply a
word for a thousand, a Latin word at that. So the
thousand-year Kingdom, premillennialists believe,
follows the return of Christ. That is Christ has to come
and set it up. That is the chronology of the book of
Revelation. And that has been the hope of the hearts
of Jews, as I quoted to you from the Kaddish, the
Jews have said to God through this prayer, "Come,
come, come, bring Your Messiah and set up Your
Kingdom." So they understood the Old Testament
Kingdom promises were connected to the coming of
the Messiah. And the Kingdom could not come apart
from the arrival of the Messiah and then He would
establish His reign.
So we can say safely then that everything...everything
up to chapter 20 is premillennial. The Tribulation, the
day of the Lord, the return of Christ, it's all been
premillennial. Now chapter 20 is millennial. And
chapter 21 is postmillennial, the new heaven and the
new earth.
Now at this point let me see if I can't help you to
understand the three views that exist about the
Millennium. The first one, as I just mentioned, is the
premillennial view. And that just means Christ will
come before, preceding the Kingdom. Christ comes in
person, visibly, publicly at the end of God's wrath and
judgment on the world to set up the Kingdom. At that

time Satan is bound for a literal thousand-year

Kingdom. The Kingdom is set up on earth in the city of
Jerusalem on the throne of David. All of that is based,
and here's the key, on a literal interpretation of
Scripture. All of that comes out of a literal
interpretation of Scripture. If you just take what it says
obviously, interpret it in the normal manner of
interpreting, you'll come up with a premillennial view.
As I said, the chronology of Revelation is explicit and
the promises of the Old Testament about the Kingdom
identify the throne of David, the city of Jerusalem.
They talk about a real Kingdom. They talk about a
time of refreshing, of restitution, a time when Israel is
in the land and prospering and the real desert
blossoms like a rose, a time when the warfare and the
animosity and hostility in the animal kingdom is
ended, a time when people live prolonged lives and
someone who dies at a hundred dies as a baby. An
incredible time, a time with a completely renewed and
regenerated world.
If you just take all of that literally you come up with a
premillennial view. And one of the compelling reasons
to take it all literally is because there's no other way to
interpret the Bible because as soon as you say you
don't have to interpret the Bible literally, then what in
the Bible don't you have to interpret literally? I mean,
how do you...how can you just say, "Well we don't
interpret prophecy literally, but we interpret everything
else literally," on the basis of what? We maintain a
literal, historical, grammatical contextual hermeneutic
of interpretation because that's the only way that we
can understand the Bible, to take it at its historical,

contextual, linguistic face value. And when you do

that, you find you're drawn to be a premillennialist
because that's the literal aspect.
Now one of the compelling things is this, the Kingdom
in the Old Testament is promised over and over and
over and over to Israel. And when you look at the texts
in which God makes that promise to Israel, there is
also a corresponding negative promise. It kind of runs
like this. When you obey Me, when you follow Me,
when you truly worship Me, I'll bring you the Kingdom.
When you don't, I'll punish you, right? It's that old
blessing and cursing thing. And we only simply need
to ask one question, when you go to a passage where
the Lord promises chastening on Israel's disobedience
and promises the Kingdom when they obey, all we
have to ask really is one question, and the question is
this...did the promises of punishment and the
promises of chastening and the promises of judgment
on Israel come to pass literally? What's the answer.
Yes. I mean, they were all fulfilled in the actual, literal
nation of Israel.
Now if all of the promises of judgment and punishment
and cursing were fulfilled historically on the nation
Israel and that can be verified, if all of those were
literal then why would we imagine that those promises
of blessing would be figurative? Would be
spiritualized? Now you have no justification for
splitting your interpretive principle and saying, "Well all
the curses are literal and all the blessings are
figurative. All the curses literally will be fulfilled and
have been. We know that historically on the nation

Israel, but all of the promised blessing will be fulfilled

in the church. And Israel has no future."
That's one of the problems. The problem is really a
hermeneutical problem, that is to say that's...it's an
interpretation problem. If you just take the Bible at
face value, take the chronology of Revelation at face
value, you're going to come up with a real Kingdom for
Israel in the land in Jerusalem on the throne of David
with a Messiah who comes out of the line of David,
reigning not only over Israel, but over the whole world.
You're going to have the Apostles there, you're going
to have the redeemed there of all the ages, you're
going to have the glorious characteristics of the
Kingdom as they are clearly defined. It's going to last
a thousand years. It's going to follow the return of
Jesus Christ because that's explicitly what the literal
text yields.
By the way, the premillennial view says things will get
worse. Right? I mean, they're going to get worse. Just
read the book of Revelation. It's going to get worse
before He comes, not going to get better.
Let's turn to a second view. It's called
postmillennialism.
This
view
flourishes
generally...historically it flourishes in America and it
flourishes in American when it's been a long time
since we had a big war. Now that may seem a little
facetious but it's pretty much true. It sort of dies out
when we enter into a world war because then the
postmillennialists
have
a
problem
because
postmillennialism says this...Premillennialism says

things are going to get worse. The postmills say things

are going to get better. And things are going to get
better and better and better and we're just going to
waltzing into the Kingdom and Christ isn't going to
come till the end of the Kingdom, till the Kingdom's
over. He's going to come at the end.
You say, "Who's going to set it up?" We are. That's the
postmill view. We, the church, will bring about on the
world a period of righteousness, Christ will not be here
literally, only spiritually working through His church,
and by His power in His church He will triumph over
the world of men, He will triumph over the world of
demons, and He will bring about through His church
really a Kingdom. And His personal return will occur at
the end of that period. And they wouldn't be literal
enough to say it's an actual thousand years,
necessarily, but it's a period of time.
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
You say, "Is that based on a literal interpretation?" No,
it's based on a combination of literal and non-literal
interpretations and it utterly and totally ignores the
chronology of the book of Revelation.
You're, I know, familiar with this even though you may
not know it. Postmillennialism today has taken on the
form of Kingdom Theology. Sometimes it shows up in
a...in a spiritual warfare mode. That is to say we're
going to conquer the demons and we're going to

conquer Satan and we're going to bind Satan and

we're going to bind the demons and by this exercise of
the church's power, we're going to take the authority
of Satan and all of his demons and we're going to
push them down and we're going to stand on their
necks and we're going to bring the work of Satan to a
halt and we're going to take all these demon powers
captive and we're going to bring the Kingdom. That's
the Kingdom Theology concept. That's espoused by
the people in the signs and wonders movement who
believe that they are going to enter a spiritual warfare
with Satan and all of his demons and conquer them by
virtue of the power in the church, and that's going to
bring the Kingdom. It's a form of postmillennialism.
And it has a lot of different nuances, according to
whoever you might be talking to. So it's hard
sometimes to define this as a single thing cause it can
take many forms.
There's another form of it that you might even call in a
more liberal sense the liberation theology. Liberation
theology says we have to bring the Kingdom and so in
order to bring the Kingdom, let's go get machine guns
and mow down the establishment. And it was
liberation theology that the liberals espoused, for
example, in Latin America and they used it to start
some revolutions.
It is also a form of postmillennialism that would be
held by someone say like Pat Robertson who
believes...he said when he was running for President,
"If I'm elected President, we'll be well on way to
offering the Kingdom to Christ." His view would not be

that we capture the satanic world, his view would be

we capture the institutions of men. We capture the
government. We capture the Congress, the Senate,
the Presidential office, the judicial system and we take
control of all of that and we bring in the Kingdom
through the body politic. And so we are, as a church,
we need to mobilize, we need to spend millions of
dollars to capture the airwaves and the media and the
newspapers and all of that kind of thing and we need
to get all the places of influence and the universities
and we need to be the educators and we'll literally
take over society and we'll make it Christian, we'll take
control of the cultures of the world. And then when it
all gets into our hands, we'll give it to Christ. That's
postmillennial, that the church becomes the agent that
brings the Kingdom. At the end of that period of time
when the church as taken over the world, Christ will
come.
So the premillennialist says things are going to get
worse. The postmill says things are going to get
better. That's why it only flourishes when we're a long
way from a major war, cause it seems to me that in
my reading as soon as a major war, a world war hit,
the postmill people sort of disappeared, because
obviously things weren't getting better. And even
today, though they are vocal and they are writing and
speaking very rapidly on all their fronts, it doesn't
seem to be flying if you look at the trends in our
contemporary world.
Now the third view and the one that's probably more
worthy of our attention than the postmill view is what's

called amillennialism. That means those are the folks

who don't believe in any millennium. They don't...by
the way, the postmill would be both literal and nonliteral in the sense that they literally believe there will
be a Kingdom, they literally believe there will be a time
of peace and righteousness and all of that, but it is
also figurative because they don't think it's Israel, they
think it's the church and that it's...that it's not with
Christ on the earth, but only on the earth mediating
through His church, it's not a literal Jerusalem and it's
not a literal throne of David, but it is an actual time of
righteousness and peace. So it's kind of a
combination of the literal and the non-literal.
Now you come to the amillennialist and the
amillennialist basically says there is no Kingdom. Or
better and more fair, all the kingdom there is what
we've got now. Things...things are going to stay the
same. The premill says they're going to get worse, the
postmill says they're going to get better, the a-mill
says it's going to stay the same. It's how it is and it's
just the way it is, and it's just going to be this way and
it will keep being this way and Jesus will come.
Because they say the kingdom is now...the kingdom is
the church age...the kingdom is now. Christ is ruling
now. Christ is here. And at the end of this period of
time, it's not a thousand years, they would completely
reject a literal interpretation of Revelation with regard
to prophecy. They either would try to put it into history,
or make it all figurative. They would either take the
book of Revelation and make it describe the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., or they would just

make it figuratively, a non-literal interpretation of

kingdom passages.
They would say all the promises of the kingdom, for
example, to Israel in the Old Testament, all the
promises of the Kingdom to Israel will be fulfilled in the
church in the church age right now. We are the Israel
of God. There's no future for Israel. God will never
revive Israel. They'll never be redeemed as a nation.
They'll never go back into a kingdom. There never will
be a real throne in Jerusalem. That's all figurative
stuff. Everything is fulfilled in the church.
So as my mentor, Dr. Feinberg said one time when we
were together in Jerusalem at the prophecy
conference, right next to the Cenosite, and Teddy
Kollek the mayor of Jerusalem was there and David
Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister was there, and Dr.
Feinberg got up after a speech had been given by a
well-known amillennialist and he said, "I regret to
stand on this platform and have to acknowledge that
we have come all the way from America to announce
to you Jewish people that all of the curses were given
to you but all of the blessings will be given to us. It
seems like a long trip to make that announcement."
But that is the amillennial view, that things are going to
stay the same because this is the Kingdom, this is all
there is of it. The reign of Jesus Christ is figurative.
Christ is here ruling. And He'll just keep ruling in a
spiritual sense until finally He comes and takes us to
heaven. And it will all end in one moment.

Now that tends to be the view of most Reformed

theologians. Some of them are what we would call
historic premill, I might comment on that in a moment,
but traditionally Reformed theology which is great
theology, great soteriology, great pneumatology,
sometimes not so great ecclesiology and usually not
so great eschatology, but that is the tendency to be
the view of the Reformed and also the Puritan era.
And part of the reason for that is that by the time....or
at the time that they refined and defined their
theology, the eschatological debate had not really
engaged itself. There's a progress of dogma, I don't
want to lose you on this, but the doctrines of the
Scripture
have
defined
themselves
through
history...church councils, and writers, and scholars
and authors have dealt with doctrinal issues and
they've moved through the various doctrines until
coming ultimately to a study of eschatology which has
really been in the last couple hundred years. So the
Reformation and the Puritan era kind of came before
the crystallizing of eschatology as the church
hammered out its doctrine. Remember now, the
church was in the Dark Ages till about 1500. And so
from 1500 to the current time, there was the
development and understanding of all the great
doctrines of Scripture and the last to come along were
the doctrines of last things. And in the time of the
Puritans and the Reformers they weren't nearly as
fine-tuned as they are today.
So when you read Puritan literature, or read Reformed
theology, very often you find it to be amillennial. And
you want to ask this question, because this is what the

amillennials would say, "Has the kingdom already

come? Is it here? This is it? Are we in it right now? Is
this as good as it gets? Is this paradise regained? Is
this the rule of God? Is this Eden? Or should we join
the postmills and say it's just going to get better and
better and better and better?"
Frankly, either one of those two views is untenable if
you
interpret
Scripture
literally.
Frankly,
postmillennialism has nothing in the Scripture to
commend it...nothing. I remember when Dr. Feinberg
wrote his book called Premillennialism or
Amillennialism, and the few postmillennialists were
insulted because he didn't even deal with it. It's very
hard to deal with in the Bible since it doesn't really
have any Scripture to commend it. And it's sort of a
mishmash of a literal and non- literal approach.
Amillennialism spiritualizes the text to make its case.
And spiritualizing the text opens Pandora's Box
because once you deny the literal, if you say a
thousand years doesn't mean a thousand years, then
what does it mean? And...well you say it means this
and you say it means that and you say it means this,
and somebody else says it means the other, and we
have absolutely no way to tell. Once you have
escaped the literal there is no way to confine it.
Covenant theologians who espouse amillennialism
have one major problem that is introduced in our text,
and just so we can say we did it, let's read the first
three verses. Revelation 20 verses 1 to 3, "I saw an
angel coming down from heaven having the key of the
abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold

of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and

Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw
him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him
so that he should not deceive the nations any longer
until the thousand years were completed. After these
things he must be released for a short time."
Now let me ask you something very plain and very
straightforward? Where is Satan during the Kingdom?
In one word, bound, out of the picture. Now the
amillennialists say we're in the Kingdom. If we are in
the Kingdom, Satan is...what? Bound. That doesn't
make sense. And the postmillennialist says we might
be in the Kingdom and things are getting better and
better, but the clear word of Scripture is that during the
time of the Kingdom Satan is bound, verse 3 says he
is bound until the thousand years are completed, and
then he's released. Satan is bound during the
Kingdom.
Now that poses a rather significant problem
because...and of course they'll use Matthew 12:22 to
29, actually 29 says about binding a strong man, and
here's what they'll say. They'll say, "Well at the
cross...this is an amillennialist..."At the cross Satan
was bound." Is that true? In the first place, they're
immediately cast into a figurative role because the
cross is more than a thousand years ago, so that
ignores
the
one-thousand-year
period.
And
furthermore, how in the world can Satan be bound
when Acts 5:3 says Satan entered the heart of
Ananias and Sapphira and made them lie? And how
can Satan be bound when 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that

he is blinding the minds of those who do not believe?

And how can Satan be bound when Peter says he
goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour in 1 Peter 5:8? And how can he be bound
when 1 Thessalonians 2:18 says that the devil hinders
the ministers of God? And how can he be bound when
it says he goes around disguised as an angel of light
along with all the rest of his ministers? And if he's
bound, then the binding is useless.
Revelation 20 could never describe the present age.
The god of this world is alive and moving, he's
everywhere. Chapter 20 has to be future.
Amillennialists who try to tell us this is the kingdom
have a difficult time explaining Satan being bound.
And if he is bound, why are these folks going around
binding him again? And the postmillennialists...and the
postmillennialists who want to say we're probably are
in the Kingdom, it sure feels good, you know, we won
the election in some city. Or, you know, we knocked
off some demons the other night in our warfare
session, would say we might be in the Kingdom. If
that's true than is Satan really bound, are all of his
demons bound?
Just another question that comes to my mind. It's
basic to interpret numbers the way we would normally
interpret them. If you go into the book of Revelation,
for example here's a little exercise...everywhere in the
book of Revelation numbers are used literally. It talks
about seven churches having seven ministers. Seven
literal churches. The book of Revelation refers to
twelve tribes, does it mean twelve? Yes. And twelve

Apostles, does it mean twelve? Yes. And it refers to

ten lamps, five months, one third of mankind, two
witnesses, forty-two months, twelve hundred and sixty
days, twelve stars, ten horns, sixteen hundred stadia,
three demons, five fallen kings...now what are we
going to do with all those numbers? You say seven
isn't seven, five isn't five, a thousand isn't a thousand,
twelve isn't twelve? Then what are they and who do
we turn to tell us?
All those numbers are used in a normal sense. John
says I saw this many kings in the vision, and I saw
that many horns, and I saw that many crowns, and I
saw that many churches, and that many letters and
this many months and that many days and this many
years, and this many people, and a fourth, and a third,
and two thirds. The only symbolic numbers in the
whole book of Revelation are in chapter 1 verse 4
where it talks about the seven spirits, and it refers to
the seven-fold work of the Spirit of God, or the number
666 in 13:18. But apart from that all of their numbers
are used in a normal sense.
Now that doesn't prove that the one thousand years is
literal, but it forces those who say it isn't to prove it
isn't. There's certainly nothing in this text. By the way,
the term one thousand appears six times and what is
there in the text that would make us make it symbolic?
Never in the Scripture is the word "year" used with a
number that is not literal. The number "one thousand"
is not used in Scripture ever as a symbol, and it's
used in a number of places in the Scripture and it's
never used symbolically. Even St. Augustine in the

fifth century who popularized the idea that the church

received the promises to Israel in the Scripture and
sort of invented that concept, even Augustine who
believed that Israel got all the curses but the church
becomes spiritual Israel and gets all the blessings and
there's no more future for Israel, even Augustine
believed that the one thousand was a literal period of
time because there was no reason not to believe that.
From the earliest post-apostolic era, the church
understood the Millennium of Revelation 20 as a literal
one thousand years, Papias, Barnabas, Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian all give evidence of this fact in
their writings. And the church taught nothing else till
the fourth century. And then Augustine popularized it
even more. A literal Kingdom of one thousand years
after Christ's return and before the new heavens and
new earth is the subject of this chapter. And any other
viewpoint just gets so confounded that you can't find
your way through here without some magic.
Now another note, just to kind of fill up all this stuff
that probably three fourths of you don't care about, but
it's interesting. Some premills emphasize the
soteriological character of the Millennium. That is the
political aspect of it, or the Israel part of it, the
prominence of Israel are subordinated and they're
called historical premillennialists. They want to
emphasize this...that there is a Kingdom, that Christ
comes, they're premill, but they see that Kingdom not
in reference to Israel and not in reference to
necessarily the rule of Christ and the political aspect
of it. They see it more of a period of the expression of

God's great saving power. They would be called

historic premill. But a more accurate view of
premillennialism is that the Kingdom is not so much a
soteriological period, it is now, but then it is a
theocratic rule. It is the fulfillment of the promise of
God to David and Israel. Christ will literally reign in
Jerusalem. Israel will be prominent and all the nations
ruled by Christ and blessed.
The bottom line in all this discussion is to take a literal
interpretation of the Scripture and simply follow the
chronology of Revelation and you're going to come up
with a premillennial view. And John Wolvoord is
correct when he suggests, "The only reason for
denying such a conclusion would be to avoid being a
premillennialist."
So, as we come to this passage, the golden age
arrives. I just had to get all that out of the way
because I know some of you would be sitting there
and wondering whether you even accepted this
Kingdom, so I wanted to clarify that for you. We come
in the chronology and with the literal interpretation and
we take Scripture at face value because I'm sure not
going to tell you some secret meaning. This is it. As
the Kingdom opens, the temple has been built, the
nations of the earth are coming there to worship the
true God and Christ. Prosperity reigns from pole to
pole in a paradise regained. The Garden of Eden is
worldwide, it's back. Poverty is unknown, so is
injustice. Everyone has his heart's desire. Ah, it's an
incredible, incredible time.

We don't know exactly what it will be like. It could be a

time with no prisons, no hospitals, no mental
institutions, no barracks, no saloons, no houses of ill
repute, no gambling dens, no homes for the aged and
the infirmed. The bloom of youth is on everyone's
cheek. Cemeteries are crumbling relics of the past.
And tears are infrequent. The wolf and the lamb, the
calf and the lion, the cow and the bear, the child and
the scorpion are all at peace. Jesus is come. The
golden age has dawned. The earth is filled with the
knowledge of God. Jesus is Lord. He rules the nation
with a rod of iron. His reign is righteous and the
nations obey. Sin is visited with swift and certain
judgment. It's everything that you could never even
imagine beyond your wildest dreams...that kind of life.
This is the Kingdom. This is what we live for. This is
what we wait for. This is what we hope for. And,
beloved, this is what is really coming. And this isn't it.
We're not in it. And, believe me, Satan is not bound.
We're waiting for him to be bound, but he can't be
bound until Jesus comes.
Now, as this text unfolds and we run down through the
first ten verses, we're to talk about five things...the
removal of Satan, the reign of the saints, the return of
Satan, the revolt of society, and the resurrection of
sinners. That's going to be the framework that we're
going to deal with as we go through these verses. As I
said, it won't be comprehensive, but it will be
exegetical. And we'll expand it so that we understand
these areas.

Well I had hoped to do the first point, we'll save it till

the next time, the removal of Satan. Bow with me, will
you, and we'll have a word of prayer.
We thank You, Father, that You are the author of
history, that You have laid it out from before the
foundation of the world. We thank You that the
Kingdom will come. We're not in it, this isn't it, though
Jesus Christ reigns in the hearts of His own, and in
that sense the kingdom is here, and though in its
fullness soteriologically it operates now as all the elect
come to faith, yet in its earthly aspect it awaits the
return of Christ. You could never be satisfied until
paradise was regained. You could never be satisfied
until the earth was restored to the way you wanted it.
You could never be satisfied until man, the ultimate
man, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
becomes the King of the earth. You could never be
satisfied until it was the way it ought to be, till the God
of this age was dethroned and all of his demon hosts
with him and all of the wicked who followed him
destroyed and the world knew only the peace and
bliss and righteousness and joy of the Lord Jesus
Christ's dominance. And we thank You that we'll be a
part of the Kingdom, even though we be caught up to
heaven to be with Jesus Christ, we'll come back with
Him when He returns to reign for those thousand
years. And then after that, forever and ever in the new
heavens and the new earth.
We thank You that we can take Scripture at its face
value and know that You're in charge of history. We
don't have to bring the kingdom, only Christ can bring

it. Ours is not a political agenda, but ours rather is a

spiritual ministry. The Kingdom will come into the
hearts of those who believe and it's our task to bring
them the gospel. We're not to...we're not to accept the
mandate that comes at us so often to try to bring the
kingdom politically, but we must work to bring it
spiritually into the hearts of those who believe.
Father, we thank You that the kingdom has come to
us, we who love You, serve You, You are our God, You
are our King, You are our Lord and Master and we
obey You. You rule over us. You chasten us. And You
pour out great blessing, the blessing of inheritance
upon us. We thank You that we're the subjects of Your
kingdom and we can't wait until the whole world
knows it, for that glorious time when rebellion is over
and when Christ reigns. And we would pray for Your
kingdom to come, to come soteriologically, that is to
come in a saving way in the hearts of men now, and to
come temporally and earthly and in its fullness in the
consummation and the fulfillment of the great
Millennium. We would pray that it would come soon.
We live, Lord, in a disintegrating world. Things are not
staying the same and things are not getting better,
they're getting worse and they keep getting worse until
You intervene. We say with John, "Even so, come
Lord Jesus." Thank You for that great hope that we
too will live in the regeneration, in the restitution, in the
glories of the Kingdom and then on into the new
heaven and the new earth. What a blessed hope,
what a privilege for which we give You all the glory
and praise, in Christ's name. Amen.

*******************
As you know, we're studying the book of Revelation
and we have been doing so for quite a long time. We
find ourselves in chapter 20, a coming earthly
Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Revelation chapter 20, and
you'll want to be looking there in your Bible, following
along as we embark upon the beginning verses of this
tremendous, tremendous chapter. Let me just say the
promise of the earthly Kingdom of the Messiah fills the
Old Testament. It would be impossible for us to cover
even a portion of the Scriptures in the Old Testament
that direct their attention to this event, to this period of
time...2 Samuel, Psalm 2, a number of places in
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel,
Zechariah. And when you come into the New
Testament, particularly the twenty-fourth chapter of
Matthew focuses on the time when the sign of the Son
of Man appears in heaven, the Son of Man comes
with the angels, they gather the elect from the four
corners of the earth. And that is the beginning of the
great and glorious Kingdom.
So both Old and New Testament are just replete with
promises with regard to the Kingdom. And just to put
that in perspective, let me say something at the very
outset which will help you understand the nature of
God's promise to Israel and to all those who are in
Christ and those who belong to God.
God always promised a kingdom. He always promised
a kingdom that was eternal but He promised also that
it would be an earthly kingdom, and as well, He

promised the hope of eternal heaven. Now how can

God fulfill all of that? An eternal kingdom which is an
earthly kingdom and also a heavenly kingdom? Well
the answer is, the millennial kingdom is the earthly
part of that eternal kingdom. The thousand-year
millennial kingdom is really phase one of God's
eternal Kingdom. In the Old Testament, the promises
to Israel, the promises through the prophets speak of
a kingdom that is earthly...but they also speak of a
kingdom that is heavenly, a kingdom that is here on
this planet and a kingdom that is in a completely
different dimension, a kingdom that is measured by
time and a kingdom that is beyond time.
And so, when you look at the kingdom prophecies,
you will see that they are eternal and they stretch on
through ever...through forever and ever. But at the
same time the beginning of that kingdom fulfillment
has an earthly phase, and that is the thousand-year
Millennium that is the theme of this marvelous
chapter.
And it's necessary that God do it that way. He
promised an earthly kingdom so He will bring it. Into
that earthly kingdom will come people who are
physical just like we are, who haven't died. They will
survive the time of the Tribulation, they will be the
redeemed. They will come from the nation Israel and
from other nations of the world. They will go into the
earthly kingdom in the glorious renewed and revived
earth. They will have children. And so natural
reproduction will be going on, natural processes in life
will be going on. And so there will still be a group of

people on the earth who will have the right to believe

or not believe. And so the kingdom while it is in fact a
kingdom given to God's people by way of fulfillment of
His promise is also really the final time in which
redemption can occur in the lives of human beings.
And so there has to be in that kingdom the final
gathering together of the redeemed and then can
come the eternal state.
So we're looking at Revelation chapter 20. And then in
chapter 21 we'll see the eternal kingdom which is
called the new heaven and the new earth. But here in
chapter 20 we're actually looking at a restored earth,
restored to its...to nearly its original glory, ruled by the
Lord Jesus Christ and the saints of all the ages.
And so we said last time, up until Revelation 20,
everything has been premillennial. Everything has
been pre-kingdom. In this chapter, the kingdom comes
and is described in major features, if not specific
details...major features. There's a framework of the
kingdom on which you can hang the myriad of details
that come from the rest of Scripture. And I suggested
to you last time that a literal interpretation and a
simple acknowledgement of the normal chronology of
Revelation puts the kingdom on earth for a thousand
years after the return of Christ and before the new
heavens and the new earth, which is the eternal state.
You have the return of Christ in chapter 19 which
follows the Tribulation described in chapter 6 through
the first part of chapter 19. And you have the eternal
state in chapter 21, and slipped right in in chapter 20

is the kingdom. So a normal chronology, and a simple

literal interpretation yields premillennialism.
We told you last time that some people are
postmillennial, that is to say they believe Jesus comes
after the kingdom, post- kingdom. They say that the
kingdom is going on now or soon will be going on, and
at the end of the kingdom Jesus will come. It's not
Christ who brings the kingdom by His return, it's the
church that brings the kingdom and then offers it up to
Christ. It is not a literal thousand years, but it is simply
the power of Christ being expressed on the earth
through the church and at the end of that, Christ will
come.
There are people who hold that today. The most wellknown group would be called the Reconstructionists,
Reconstructionist theology or theonomy, if you're
familiar with those terms, Dominion theology, Kingdom
theology, there are various forms of postmillennialism.
It basically says things are going to get better and
better and better and better and then Jesus will come.
But that is not to interpret the Bible literally, that
demands a figurative symbolic interpretation,
spiritualizing it and also completely rejects the
chronology of the book of Revelation.
And then there are others who are amillennial who
say there is no kingdom at all. It isn't going to come
and then Christ will come at the end of it. The only
kingdom that ever will come is what is here right now.
It's just the church age and that's it, and at the end
Jesus will come. In some ways, it's not a lot different

than postmillennialism, in other ways it is. It makes the

church Israel, all the promises to Israel of a future
kingdom are fulfilled in the church, we are the spiritual
Israel. There's no future for Israel as a nation. The
church age is the only kingdom there is and when it's
over Jesus comes. Again, the amillennial view takes a
spiritualized rather than a literal interpretation and also
rejects the chronology of Revelation.
And so we go back to where we began with this brief
discussion and that is to say a literal interpretation of
the Scripture's Old and New Testament and a simple
understanding of the chronology of Revelation makes
us a premillennial because we see the return of
Christ, then the kingdom, then the eternal state. And
then the kingdom becomes the final stage on earth in
which the last drama of human history is played out
and everything is cleaned up to establish the new
heaven and the new earth and the eternal state.
Now with that as just a brief review of what we said
last week, let's go to chapter 20. And we're going to
be looking at the aspects of the kingdom that unfold in
the fifteen verses of this chapter. As I said, they are
somewhat skeletal and general and we'll do our best
to hang some specifics on them that will be
meaningful for you.
Let's talk about the first point in chapter 20, the
removal of Satan. The first matter of attention for John
as he looks at this vision of the Kingdom is to see the
removal of Satan. Verse 1, "And I saw an angel
coming down from heaven having the key of the

abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold

of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and
Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw
him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him,
so that he should not deceive the nations any longer,
until the thousand years were completed. After these
things he must be released for a short time."
Now a simple understanding of that at face value,
literally interpreting what was said, is very, very clear.
An angel comes down, has a key, has a chain, takes
hold of Satan, binds Satan, throws him into the abyss
for a thousand years. At the end of which for a brief
time he is released.
So the first thing we see that occurs in the kingdom is
the removal of Satan. Now that's going to dramatically
change the world, isn't it? Because Satan is the prince
of the power of the air, he's the god of this age, he's
the spirit that now works in the children of
disobedience. Up until this point, by the way, God has
already taken care of many of the rebels. Fallen men,
sinful men have all been slain in the process of
judgments through the time of the Great Tribulation,
and those who survive that will perish in the holocaust
around Armageddon described there in chapter 19. So
the unregenerate world has been destroyed. And then
the Antichrist and the false prophet, we find at the end
of chapter 19, have been seized and thrown into the
lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
So those ring leaders of this great worldwide rebellion
have been taken care. Now that leaves only Satan

and the demons still loose. And if the Lord is going to

establish His Kingdom, He's going to get rid of the
ungodly leaders, He's going to get rid of the ungodly
people and now He's going to get rid of the ungodly
powers of the heavens, namely Satan and all the
demons. If the Kingdom is to be all that God designs,
the enemy has to go. There can be no one thousand
years of peace and righteousness if he is at large. So
God removes the one who is the adversary, the
enemy, the one creating the conflict. In fact, his head
was bruised at the cross, as promised in Genesis
3:15, and now comes his incarceration before a final
exile at the end of the thousand years into the lake of
fire where Satan and his demons will dwell forever.
So here is the incarceration of Satan and all the
demons which is crucial to the reign of Christ and the
reign of the saints through the Millennial Kingdom
without any obstruction, without any hindrance. And
what a world that is going to be.
Let's look then at what it says about the removal of
Satan in verse 1. John says, "And I saw," now I just
stop there long enough to say that little phrase "and I
saw" is repeated and it is an indication of some
sequence of events. Back in chapter 19 verse 11,
"And I saw heaven opened.." And verse 17, "And I
saw an angel standing in the sun..." And verse 19,
"And I saw the beast and the kings..." And now
chapter 20, "And I saw an angel coming down from
heaven..." It's not too hard to understand there's a real
sequence here. Verse 4, "And I saw thrones..." Verse
11, "And I saw a great white throne..." Verse 12, "And

I saw the dead..." And John is just marching us

sequentially through this tremendous vision of the
establishment of the Kingdom one step at a time. The
major steps are indicated by that little phrase "and I
saw" which indicates another facet of this immense
vision that John is having of the return of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom.
Now it says, "I saw an angel..." We can speculate that
this angel is a particular angel, it could be, as noted
back in chapter 12 verse 7, Michael since Michael
there is indicated to be a uniquely gifted and uniquely
used angel in some significant role on behalf of God.
You find it in Jude 9, Michael is called the archangel.
Perhaps some would suggest this could be Michael
because of the very formidable event that is about to
happen. Michael who has been the archenemy of
Satan would like to be the angel charged with this
responsibility, but that is purely speculation since it
doesn't say. But it would have to be a mighty angel,
certainly endued with supernatural strength because
he comes down from heaven, having the key of the
abyss and a great chain in his hand.
Now he comes down from heaven with a very specific
agenda. He is going to do very, very specific things.
One, lay hold of Satan. Two, bind him for a thousand
years. Three, cast him to the abyss. Four, lock him
with a key. Five, set a seal on him. Six, loose him at
the end of the thousand years.
So his agenda just prescribed by heaven itself, by
God. He comes down, he has what is called the key of

the abyss, abussos, abussos, the abyss. And you

might be saying..."Well, what is the abyss?" Well
Peter calls it in 2 Peter 2:4 "The pits of darkness
reserved for judgment." It is the place where demons
are sent to be reserved for their final sentencing to the
lake of fire. It is not the final hell. And believe me,
fallen angels will go there because the final hell, the
lake of fire has been prepared for the devil and his
angels. And so ultimately they're going to end up in
the lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone
forever and ever. That eternal fire, Matthew 25:41
says, prepared for the devil and his angels. And down
in verse 10 of chapter 20 the devil was...who deceived
them was then thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are
also, and they'll be tormented day and night forever
and ever. But the devil doesn't get thrown into that
place until the thousand years is over. Here he is put
into the abussos, which is some other kind of place of
incarceration not the specific final lake of fire.
Because once you go to the lake of fire, you can
never come back because it burns with fire and
brimstone forever and ever, and no one is ever
released.
The abyss is mentioned also in Luke 8:31. You
remember when Jesus was casting demons out, the
demons said, "Don't send us to the abyss?" And again
I say, the abyss is not the final eternal lake of fire, it is
a place of torment, certainly a place of punishment, a
place out of the presence of God, a place of
incarceration, a temporary place where God sends
demons and where, in this case, He binds Satan.

Now just to give you a little bit of a review of things

that we've said in years past, keep this in mind. I'll
give you a little diagram, kind of follow it in your mind,
if you will. On one line if you were diagraming it you
could write "angels." And then you could split off a line
and divide those angels into two. There would be holy
angels and fallen angels. Take the line that says fallen
angels and split it into two. Loose and bound. The
loose ones are demons. The bound ones are those
incarcerated. Take the bound ones and split them into
two, permanently bound and temporarily bound. There
are permanently bound angels, permanently bound
fallen angels and demons. When were they
permanently bound? Well I believe they were the ones
who sinned in Genesis chapter 6 and are reserved in
everlasting chains. So they went into the abyss and
they will be there permanently until they're transferred
to the lake of fire.
There are other fallen angels who have been sent into
the abyss but they're only there temporarily. And we
find in the book of Revelation on at least two
occasions that they are released. In chapter 9, hell
belches out three unclean frogs that represent
unclean spirits. And then you have two hundred
million of them who have been bound at the
Euphrates and they are released during the time of
the Tribulation. So, there are some demons that are
loose, there are some that are bound. Of those that
are bound, some are permanently bound, some are
temporarily bound. The temporarily bound ones are
loosed for purposes of judgment during the time of the

Tribulation. They will then be reincarcerated in the

abyss until finally they are all cast into the lake of fire
prepared for all of them.
Now here this angel has a key which simply identifies
authority. If you have the key, you control the door.
The angel has the key and it signifies authority. He
can open it and he can close it. In fact, back in
chapter 9 verse 1 it says, "The fifth angel sounded
and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the
earth and the key of the bottomless pit was given to
him. And he opened the bottomless pit." There's the
same kind of thing. That bottomless pit, that abussos,
that place of torture and torment, not the final hell but
the place of incarceration of demons. May well be the
place where Jesus when He was crucified and you
remember He went and made a public display before
the demons while His physical body was in the grave,
He was alive in His spirit, Peter says, and He
descended and He proclaimed a triumph, kerusso,
over the principalities and powers, He went there and
while hell was holding a carnival because Jesus was
dead, He showed up at the party and brought His
words of judgment and condemnation.
Back in chapter 1 and verse 18 we read that Jesus
Christ is the one who has the keys of death and
Hades. And He dispenses those keys, in this case, to
an angel in chapter 9 to open the bottomless pit, and
here again in chapter 20 to open that pit as well, and
then to lock it again. Notice the angel also had a great
chain in his hand. The idea that it's great signifies the
greatness of Satan, in a sense, so that it takes a great

chain to bind him. It would be the same kind used as

noted in Jude to bind the demons. It says in Jude 6,
"Angels who didn't keep their own domain but
abandoned their proper abode He has kept in eternal
chains under darkness for the judgment of that great
day." So Satan then goes and he's bound in the same
place that these other demons have been eternally
bound in great chains. And again 2 Peter 2:4 says the
same thing.
Just a note, in Mark chapter 5 there's an interesting
reference that kind of ties in with this, I think,
interestingly. "They came to the other side of the sea
into the country of the Gerasenes and when He had
come out of the boat immediately a man from the
tombs with an unclean spirit met Him," that is met
Jesus. "And he has his dwelling among the tombs and
no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a
chain because he had often been bound with shackles
and chains and the chains had been torn apart by him
and the shackles broken in pieces and no one was
strong enough to subdue him, and constantly night
and day among the tombs and in the mountains he
was crying out and gashing himself with stones."
Here is a demon-empowered man who is so powerful,
so strong, so indomitable that the best chains of men
can't bind him. The point being, Satan's demons can
break the chains of men, but they cannot break this
chain in chapter 20. Satan himself can't break the
chain of God that is used to bind him.

Then verse 2, this angel comes down and this has got
to be a great moment for this angel, be it Michael or
whoever. This has got to be a monumental moment.
"And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who
is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand
years." That is the duration of the Millennial Kingdom.
He laid hold of the dragon. And again remember that
the term "dragon" is used back in chapter 12 verses 3,
4 and 17 to refer to Satan. Why does the term
"dragon" refer to Satan? Because it emphasizes his
bestial nature, it emphasizes his fierceness, his
ferociousness, his cruelty, his oppressiveness. Not
only is he called the dragon but he's called the
serpent of old. And what does that remind you of? The
serpent of old takes you all the way back to where? To
the Garden, the Garden of Eden, the snake in the
Garden of Eden who tempted Eve and started all the
trouble. The one, according to 2 Corinthians 11:3 who
deceived. And it is that dragon, that fierce bestial,
cruel, vicious, deadly old snake from the Garden of
Eden.
Further he defines him, "Who is the devil." Again
giving you another insight into him. Devil is diabolos, it
means slanderer. And you remember that the book of
Revelation also tells us he is night and day before the
throne of God accusing the brethren. He is a
malignant liar, this has been his character since he
fell. He is the father of all lies. He cannot speak the
truth except for lying purposes. The devil, it says in 1
John 3:8, has sinned from the beginning. He is a lying
deceiver.

So he is called the dragon, the serpent, the devil and

Satan. Satan means adversary, enemy. He opposed
God, he opposed Christ, he opposed the saints Job,
Peter, Paul, believers. Back in chapter 12 again,
verses 4, 9 and 10, we've gone through all of that. So
this is a triumphant moment, beloved, in God's
redemptive plan. This is the moment when the victory
of Christ is exercised over his archenemy and the
roaring lion is overcome by the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. And Satan is bound for a thousand years. This
is the first of six references to this period with the
number one thousand. And so Satan is bound during
this time of the Kingdom. That's going to dramatically
alter the world...dramatically change it because there
will be no satanic enterprise, there will be no satanic
ideologies, no satanic philosophies, no demonic
theories of anything. There will be no satanic theories
of morality. There will be no satanic theories of justice.
There will be no satanic theories of social behavior,
social life. There will be no satanic maxims, opinions,
ideologies of any kind existent anywhere on the globe.
The whole demonic world is incarcerated along with
their leader and Jesus Christ sets the agenda for all of
the world.
Now at this particular point I might just throw in a
footnote. Amillennialists tell us that we're now in the
kingdom, this is the only kingdom there's going to be.
This is it. This is all there is. There ain't no more
kingdom. The kingdom is the church age. We are the
Israel of God. All the promises to Israel are now
fulfilled in the church. We are spiritual Israel. And so
this is all the kingdom there will ever be. If that is true,

then Satan must be...what?...bound. I don't think so. I

don't think so.
The devil goes about as a roaring lion, currently
seeking whom he may devour. Luke 22, the devil
comes to Jesus and asks for Peter and Jesus says
the devil wants you to sift you. Acts chapter 5, Peter
says to Ananias and Sapphira, "Why has Satan filled
your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" Second
Corinthians 4:3 and 4, "The god of this world has
blinded the minds of those who do not believe lest the
light of the glorious gospel shine unto them."
Ephesians 2:2, "He is the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now is working in the children of
disobedience."
You think of the words of the Apostle Paul in 1
Thessalonians as he was decrying his difficulty. He
says, "We wanted to come to you more than once but
Satan thwarted us." No, Satan is now bound. This
can't be the kingdom. Satan is loose everywhere. But
he's going to be bound and he'll be bound during the
Kingdom which is to come. No more will Satan
establish a world system.
You say, "Well that means there won't be any sin?"
No, you don't need Satan to sin, that comes out of the
flesh. I don't believe Satan gets in your mind and
makes you sin. I simply believe Satan creates an
environment that stimulates the flesh. And when you
remove the environment, then the flesh is not going to
be stimulated in the same way. Righteousness,
peace, justice will rule the earth. And it will be a world

in exact opposite to everything we experience today. It

will be the time of refreshing, a time of restitution.
Now it says in verse 3, after binding Satan for a
thousand years, this angel, I like the terminology,
"Threw him into the abyss." You have to do that
because I guess the angel doesn't want to go down
there. Literally the word abussos, by the way, means
bottomless. He threw him into the bottomless. This is
the description of this place of incarceration, it's called
the bottomless pit. As I noted in verse 10, it's later at
the end of the thousand years that he's thrown into
the lake of fire.
Now all seven times this abyss or bottomless pit
appears in Revelation it refers to the place where
fallen angels and foul evil spirits are held captive. The
place where they await their final incarceration from
which they can never be relieved called the lake of
fire. It says in Isaiah 24:21 and 22 very interestingly.
"So it will happen in that day that the Lord will punish
the host of heaven." Who are the host of heaven?
Angels. These are wicked angels. The Lord will punish
in that day the wicked angels. "And they will be
gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon and
will be confined in prison and after many days then
they will be punished." So first they are confined...I
think Isaiah is seeing the same thing. They're confined
for a period of a thousand years and Isaiah says,
"After that then comes the eternal punishment." That
comes later, after the Great White Throne Judgment
at the end of the Millennium. All the unsaved of all the
ages will be resurrected, brought to the great white

throne and they along with all the fallen angels and
Satan and the false prophet and the beast will all be
thrown into the lake of fire.
Verse 3 also says that after the angel throws him into
the abyss, it says, John saw in his vision, "And shut it
and sealed it over him." He is chained with a great
chain. He is locked into the abyss with a key. It is shut
and sealed so that the world cannot at all be
influenced by Satan. The whole world will be
influenced only by those purposes of Christ.
You say, "Well won't everybody then who is born of
those redeemed people who go into the Kingdom
become Christians?" No. Amazingly there will be
fallen creatures who will reject Christ even though
they're living in that marvelous Kingdom itself. It
shows you the depth of sin.
But the point made here is this, all of this is done to
Satan, the middle of verse 3, "So that he should not
deceive the nations any longer." His deceptions are
over. His deceptions are over. So if people reject
Christ,
it
will
not
be
because
they
are...what?...deceived. It will be because they love
their iniquity. And he's kept there, it says in verse 3,
"Until the thousand years were completed."
Now what would the world be like? What's it going to
be like? Well, from a moral standpoint it's going to be
totally different. There will be no injustice. There will
be peace everywhere, righteousness prevailing. And
we'll talk about that in a moment. But before we look

at that, what will the world be like just

environmentally? All these environmentalists, you
know, who worry and worry and worry about
preserving the world, and I've told you before, if you
think we've messed up the earth, wait till you see what
Jesus does to it because in the Tribulation He's going
to destroy the thing. But what will the world of the
Millennial Kingdom be like?
Let me give you some insights from some in the field
of science. Just listen to this. "The violent earthquakes
and upheavals through the Tribulation time will have
leveled all the polluted cities of a sinful world, the
better to facilitate the erection of new, clean, peaceful
communities at the beginning of the Millennium.
These great land movements will also have eliminated
the great mountain ranges and islands of the world,
filling up the ocean depths and restoring gentle
globally habitable topography and geography all over
the world, as it had been in the antediluvian age
before the cataclysmic upheavals of the Flood. As
Isaiah the prophet has foretold, every valley shall be
exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The crooked shall be made straight, the rough places
plain. The prophets also say the islands will flee away.
"This reversal of the topographic upheavals of the
Flood, however, will not send waters over the
continents again." In other words, they won't flood the
globe. "Since much of the waters of the ocean will
already have been re-elevated above the atmosphere,
restoring in some measure the antediluvian waters
above the firmament, the canopy of water. The

worldwide draught of the first half of the Tribulation.

The cataclysmic splashdowns of bodies from the
heavens during the trumpet judgments and the
intensified solar radiations of the bowl judgments will
all have contributed to the translation of vast
quantities of water vapor far back into the skies. The
earth then would be sheltered, as it was before the
Flood. Sheltered from the ultra violet rays of the sun
and that's why people will live to be very old, like they
did before the Flood."
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
"Quite probably the immense tectonic movements and
the earthquakes and eruptions and landslides may
also have trapped vast quantities of water beneath
fresh sedimentary volcanic deposits, reinstating in
partial degree the primeval pressurized reservoirs of
the great deep, as the Bible calls it. Facilitating the
birth of copious artesian springs, including one which
will feed the vast river emerging from the millennial
temple in Jerusalem, described both Ezekiel and
Zechariah. And the seas of the millennial world will be
relatively narrow and shallow once again, as in
primeval days. Furthermore the restoration of the
vapor canopy should enlarge measure restore the
globally pleasant warm climate of that part of the...that
period of the earth again. No longer will great
atmospheric movements generate violent rainstorms,
blizzards, hurricanes and tornadoes because the

uniform temperatures of the global greenhouse will

inhibit air mass movements of more than local extent.
"In the original world the only rains were gentle mists
from localized daily evaporation and precipitation,
according to Genesis 2:5, keeping the world
everywhere at comfortable temperatures and
humidities and supporting an abundance of plant and
animal life in all regions of the globe. There were no
deserts or icecaps or uninhabitable mountain heights,
it was all very good. The cataclysm of the Great Flood
destroyed that beautiful world, but the global
upheavals of the Great Tribulation will restore,it, at
least in measure.
"Joel wrote, `Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice for
the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, you beasts
of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do
spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the
vine yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of
Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He hath given
you the former rain moderately and He will cause to
come down for you the rain, the former rain and the
latter rain in the first month.'"
Scientific expectation goes on. "The redistribution of
earth's topography and restoration of its vapor canopy
will result in the elimination of many if not all of its
wastelands and deserts. And the prophet said in
Isaiah, `The wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad for them and the desert will rejoice and blossom
as the rose, for in the wilderness shall waters break
out and streams in the desert and the parched ground

shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of

water.
"Somehow there will also come a great healing of the
lands and the waters of the earth. Healing from the
terrible judgment of the Tribulation. Before the Great
Flood the soils were rich in all the needed nutrients.
And the drinking waters all came pure and fresh from
Artisan springs, fed from deep underground
reservoirs. The destruction of these deep fountains
and the devastating land erosion of the Great Flood
largely destroyed God's primeval terrestrial ecology,
leaving the lands depleted and the waters polluted.
"Originally all animals as well as man were to
drive...derive nourishment only from plant foods, but
under the far more rigorous conditions of the postdiluvian environment, God authorized man to eat
animal flesh as well. Evidently for the same reason
many animals also had to become carnivorous. These
conditions were further aggravated during the long
centuries after the Flood. With the lands becoming
further impoverished and the waters further
contaminated,
requiring
increasingly
great
expenditures on fertilization and purification. The
traumatic upheavals of the Tribulation period will have
brought these conditions to a climax with devastating
famine conditions and with terrestrial waters so
depleted and poisoned that all the animals of the sea
had perished. Had such conditions been allowed to
persist much longer, all life on earth would become
impossible.

"In some marvelous way God will use the physical

convulsions of that awful period to purge and cleanse
the land and the waters of the earth, as well as its
moral and spiritual climate. Possibly the tectonic and
volcanic upheavals and perhaps even the
atmospheric bombardments will implant new supplies
of needed nutrients and trace elements in the soils.
Even the multitudes of dead animals and plants in the
lands and the oceans as well as the skeletons of the
millions of dead men and horses at Armageddon and
elsewhere may well become fertilizing agents for the
land as they remain scattered far and wide.
"Unprecedented global earthquakes and eruptions will
trigger vast and violent landslides and showers of dirt
and rocks, entrapping tremendous volumes of ocean
waters beneath great overburdens of solid materials
which will rapidly become pressurized, lithophied and
partially sealed. This will likely produce at least two
effects. In the first place, the sea bottoms will be
raised to higher elevation than at present.
compensating for the great losses of water caused by
the restoration of the atmospheric canopy and by the
entrapment of vast volumes beneath the huge
landslides which produced the great reservoirs of
fresh water. The entire crust itself will to some extent
have shifted and slipped over the earth's mantle,
rearranging the various continental plates to a more
nearly uniformed distribution of land and sea surface
areas. Second, this extensive rearrangement will
facilitate the development of a new terrestrial system
of springs and spring-fed rivers. Isaiah 41 says, `I will
open rivers in to high places and fountains in the

midst of the valleys, I'll make the wilderness a pool of

water and the dry land springs of water.'"
Somehow God is even going to repopulate the
oceans. We know that the second bowl judgment
resulted in the death of every living soul in the sea so
that those fishes who required a marine environment
were destroyed, eliminated. But we know that in the
great millennial river in Jerusalem described in Ezekiel
47, "It shall come to pass everything that lives, which
moves, wither soever the the rivers shall come shall
live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish."
Somehow the Lord is going to bring the fish back to
the seas. He's going to adjust them so they can live in
whatever the climate of that new water is. And so it
goes.
Well, you say, "Is that all absolutely true or is that a
little speculation?" It's a little speculation. But it may
not be too far off. This is the...this is the new creation,
this is the glorious liberation of the children of God.
This is when the creation is freed from its bondage.
That's the kind of world it's going to be in terms of
ecology or something similar to that, something like
that. And when Satan isn't here, beyond that it's going
to be a world of blessedness, a world of absolutely
blessed, blessed conditions. And we're going to look
at those, if we have time tonight, if not we'll look at
them next time. As we look at the next point, let's get
to it.
The end of verse 3, "After these things," that is after
the thousand years of being chained, "He must be

released for a short time." He must be released for a

short time. Why? Why release him?
Well, there's one final, final escapade. Satan is going
to have the opportunity to collect all of those who
would rather be in his kingdom than God's because
there will be people born during that time. Remember
now, when Jesus returns, He's not going to kill those
that are believers. Many will be martyred, but many
will still be alive. They're the sheep of Matthew 24 who
go into the Kingdom, the nation Israel that's promised
a literal earthly kingdom. And there will be people in
that Kingdom from every tongue and tribe and nation
and they'll all be a part of that Kingdom, they'll all be
believers initially, and they'll reproduce and they'll
have children. And the earth will multiply rapidly. The
exponential growth over that period of a thousand
years will populate the church...populate the earth in
the millions. And of all those people born during that
thousand years, it says anyone who dies at a hundred
years of age dies a child. They'll live long and
therefore they'll reproduce in vastly greater numbers
than anything we've ever known in our era of history.
Some of them will put their allegiance in the Lord
Jesus Christ who is reigning over the earth. And some
of them because of the love iniquity will reject Christ.
And so Satan comes back to collect the rebels. And
you see it down in verses 7 and 8. Satan is released
from his prison to come out to deceive the nations and
to gather them together for the war and the number of
them is like the sand of the seashore.

Isn't that amazing? Not too amazing. They didn't

reject...they didn't accept Christ when He was here
the first time, though He walked and talked with them.
And there will be those who will not accept Him then
as well.
As I was saying this morning, some people think that
everybody would accept Christ if He was only
presented cleverly enough. Not so. Who could be
more clever in presenting Himself than Christ? And
there are so many who reject Him they're like the
sands of the sea.
So we see then the removal of Satan. In the
meantime, he is not in chains. And we are not to be
ignorant of his schemes, 2 Corinthians 2:11 says. So
the first element then of the Kingdom is the removal of
Satan. Let's look at the second element, the reign of
the saints. From the removal of Satan to the reign of
the saints...down to verse 4. And this is in verses 4, 5
and 6. "And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and
judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded because of the
testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God
and those who had not worshiped the beast or his
image and had not received a mark upon their
forehead and upon their hand, and they came to life
and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest
of the dead did not come to life until the thousand
years were completed. This is the first resurrection,
blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first
resurrection over these the second death has no

power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ

and will reign with Him for a thousand years."
In verse 4, and then again in verse 6 it says we're
going to reign with Him. So the second feature of the
Kingdom that is delineated here for us is the reign of
the saints. Now remember, obviously, the supreme
One reigning is Christ. Go back to chapter 19 and
remind yourself in verse 16 that He has a name
written on His thigh, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF
LORDS. We're not questioning His sovereignty here
when we say that the saints will reign. The Scripture
says we will reign with Christ. Somehow we will be
involved in the expression of His will. We will be His
agents, carrying out His wishes, carrying out His will in
the world. He will, of course, destroy His enemies, as
we note at the end of chapter 19, set up His Kingdom.
He will become KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF
LORDS, but we will reign along with Him, carrying out
His will. He will be in that day the King, no one can
gainsay what He says.
In Luke 1:32 we read, "He will be great, He will be
called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will
give Him the throne of His father David and He will
reign over the house of Jacob forever and His
Kingdom will have no end." He came as a king, He
was rejected as a King, He died as a King scorned.
He will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to
reign and we will reign with Him.
To understand that we would simply have to say, all of
the world leaders, all of the governors, all of the prime

ministers, all of the potentates, all of the judges, all of

the chiefs of police, all of those who are responsible
for education, all of those who are responsible for the
judicial process, all of those who are responsible for
legislation, all of those who responsible for everything
that is going on across the face of the earth will be the
saints who will have the delegated authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself to carry out His will
everywhere. Then there will be truth in education, then
there will be justice in the courtroom. Then there will
be moral standards upheld in every area of human
life. Then there will be honesty in the newspaper.
Then there will not be pollution on the book stands.
Books will be filled with truth. And television will be
filled with only that which is true and which carries out
the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ. The saints will be
in charge of television, radio, education, social life, the
judicial process, the legislative process, every aspect
of operation. His saints will reign with Him.
What a world that's going to be. Marvelous. And the
saints won't have to try to figure out what to do
because they'll all be glorified and perfect and so they
will perfectly carry out the will of Christ. What an
incredible thought. We won't be having committee
meetings, or any meetings about any...we won't have
to figure anything out, we'll know everything because
we will already have been made to know as we are
known. We'll simply enforce the King's agenda which
will be abundantly and perfectly clear to all of us.
And as John then sees the vision of the reign of the
saints, he first looks and sees a panorama of all of

God's people resurrected, rewarded and reigning with

Christ. Verse 4, "And I saw thrones." That's the first
thing he sees. Thrones. Well there's only two kinds of
thrones, really. One is a judicial throne, we call that
the bench where the judge seats...sits. And there is a
regal throne and we say that's where the king takes
his place. It is either a judicial or a regal place of
authority. And we will rule, that is to say we will
enforce the will of God and we will adjudicate, we will
judge. And by the way, there's no need for checks and
balances because these leaders and judges are all
perfect. And righteousness will be executed perfectly
and swiftly. And the Lord will rule with a rod of iron
which means instantaneous, swift judgment.
He says, "I saw thrones," it's a time of reigning and
ruling. That...there's no way in my mind that you can
make this equate with the current age, is there in
yours? Are the saints ruling, reigning? Are we on
thrones? Not on your life. Is Satan bound? Impossible.
This is a completely different world. And it is perfectly
suited to the destruction of the world which now
exists. That's why my ecological concerns are very
limited. I want to do my little part to pick up the trash,
but I know where this deal is going. And we don't have
to save the earth and save the planet. What we would
rather be concerned with is saving the people.
"I saw thrones," and this is interesting, "and they sat
upon them." At first that "they" becomes an
interpreter's nightmare. And you say, "Lord, couldn't
You at least have told us who they are?" "I saw
thrones and they sat on them."

You know why it doesn't say anymore than that?

Because it's patently obvious who they are. You say,
"Who are they?" Well, to answer the question simply,
this is the way I approached it. "I saw thrones and
they sat on them." All right, then who are they? Well,
they're the people that the Lord put on the throne.
Well that's good. Well the next question is, who did He
promise that He would put on a throne, because if we
could out who He told He was going to put on a
throne, we could find out who these people are. Who
did He promise would reign? Who did He promise
would rule with Him? Who did He promise would be in
His Kingdom, glorified and exalted, standing alongside
their great King?
Well, go back to the Old Testament. Daniel chapter 7
and verse 18, "But the saints of the highest one, or the
Most High, will receive the Kingdom and possess the
Kingdom forever for all ages to come." Verse 22, "The
Ancient of Days came," that's God, "judgment was
passed in favor of the saints of the highest one and
the time arrived when the saints took possession of
the Kingdom." Verse 27, "Then the sovereignty, the
dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under
the whole heaven will be given to the people of the
saints of the highest one, His dominion, His Kingdom
will be an everlasting Kingdom and all the dominions
will serve and obey Him." Three times it says the
Kingdom will be given to whom? The saints...to the
saints. The sovereignty, the dominion, the greatness
of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be
given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

So, first of all, Old Testament saints...Old Testament

saints have to be included in "they."
Let's go over to Matthew and we don't have to limit it
just to that in Daniel, when Daniel says the saints of
the Most High he means all of them. But certainly that
includes the Old Testament saints who were reading
and hearing what Daniel wrote. Matthew chapter 19
verse 28, Peter is talking to the Lord about the
Kingdom, he says, "We've left everything and followed
You, what will there be for us? What's going to be in
our future?" Peter says not only for himself but all of
those who follow Jesus. Jesus said to them, verse 28
of Matthew 19, "Truly I say to you, that you who have
followed Me in the regeneration...that's another name
for
the
Kingdom,
the
restitution,
the
regeneration...when the Lord regenerates the whole
earth, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious
throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging
the twelve tribes of Israel and everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or
children or farms for My namesake shall receive many
times as much and inherit eternal life."
Now Daniel chapter 7 tells us that the Old Testament
saints are going to reign. Matthew chapter 19 looks at
that sort of period between the Old Testament and the
New, the time when Jesus was on the earth, and He
says all the Apostles and all who have left to follow Me
are going to reign.
Now let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6...1 Corinthians
chapter 6, verses 2 and 3. By the way, if the kingdom

is now, how in the world are the saints from the Old
Testament reigning? And if the kingdom is now, how
are the apostles and all who follow Jesus during His
lifetime reigning? And where are the twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel? You see, you have
to...you have to just ignore any literal interpretation to
come up with that view.
First Corinthians 6:2, "Do you not know," like this is
common knowledge, you're not ignorant about this,
are you? "That the saints will judge the world?"
Whoa...that's pretty explicit. Verse 3, "Do you not
know we'll even judge angels? How much more the
matters of this life,"...and this is the New Testament
saints. Second Timothy 2:12, "If we endure we shall
also reign with Him...reign with Him." First Peter 2:9,
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for God's own possession, we are a
royal priesthood..." royal, regal, reigning priesthood.
So what have we got? Daniel talking about Old
Testament saints. Jesus talking about the Apostles
and all who followed Him. And the Apostle Paul saying
the saints, the New Testament saints are going to rule
and reign. You come to the book of Revelation and
repeatedly we hear about that. Revelation chapter 2
and chapter 3 talk much about what is coming.
Revelation 2:26, "To him I'll give authority over the
nations," that is to Christ. "And He shall rule them with
a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to
pieces as I have also received authority from My
Father." Not just for Christ, "But he who overcomes in
Christ," that's believers. Revelation chapter 3 repeats

the same thing. Revelation 3 verse 21, "He who

overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with Me on
My throne." Revelation 5:10, "Thou hast made them,
that is the redeemed, to be a kingdom and priest and
they will reign upon the earth," Revelation 5:10, it
couldn't be more clear, they will reign and they will
reign upon the earth. They will reign upon the earth.
So Old Testament saints, New Testament saints, those
saints in the middle who follow Jesus, they're all going
to reign, all of them...all the saints of all the ages. By
this time, by the time the Kingdom starts will all have
been resurrected, they will all have their glorified
bodies. You have the Rapture of the church and they
are glorified. At the end of the time of Tribulation
Daniel 12:2, you have the resurrection of the Old
Testament saints to get them into the Kingdom in their
glorified form. All the saints of all the ages will reign.
You say, "Wait a minute, you left one group out?"
That's true, one group is left out but not for long. Go
back to verse 4. "And after I saw they, Old Testament
saints, those who followed Christ, New Testament
saints, and judgment was given to them, and then I
saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the
Word of God and those who had not worshiped the
beast or his image and had not received the mark
upon their foreheads and upon their hands and they
came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years." Who are they? Saints from what? From the
Tribulation. And you've got the last group included. He
says, "I saw their souls," first of all, because they

initially hadn't been raised. He said, "I saw their souls,

those who had been beheaded, those who were
martyrs because of the testimony of Jesus and the
Word of God, those who had not worshiped the beast
or his image, had not received the mark upon their
forehead," and we went through all of those features
in chapter 13, and upon their hand. "And they came to
life, there was resurrection, and they reigned with
Christ.
So you've got resurrected Old Testament saints,
you've got resurrected saints who followed Jesus
during His lifetime, you've got resurrected New
Testament saints, and now you've got resurrected
Tribulation saints and it's all the resurrected saints
who reign. They came to life and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. The martyrs who had been
beheaded. That word "beheaded," pelekizo, it actually
means to cut off with an axe. Technically it can be
used to behead someone, generally it means to put to
death. Those who have been killed by the Antichrist
and his enterprise by Satan during the time of the
Tribulation. You find them in chapter 6 verse 9, the
martyrs under the altar. You find them in chapter 18
verse 24, you find them in chapter 19 verse 2. All
those who were massacred by Satan's enterprise and
the Antichrist's reign of terror. He said I saw them.
Those who were killed because of the testimony of
Jesus and because of the Word of God. Those two
marvelous phrases you find in chapter 1 verse 9,
chapter 12 verse 17, chapter 19 verse 10, repeated
four times, because of their testimony of Jesus and
because of their devotion to the Word of God they lost

their lives. And they are the same ones who had not
worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received the mark upon their forehead or upon their
hand. Remember back in chapter 13 and 14, how that
the Antichrist demanded worship. He demanded...the
false prophet demanded that they worship this image
to the Antichrist, this talking idol. And that they receive
the mark on their forehead or on their hand. But these
are the ones who wouldn't take it. These are the
Tribulation saints. They wouldn't take it and so they
died, they were faithful to death. They too came to life.
By the way, when it says "came to life" there, it can't
mean anything but resurrection. The same word is
used in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life,
he that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall
he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall
never die." It's a resurrection word. But that's exactly
what the word means and it doesn't mean anything
but that. It is used that way in Romans 14:9,
Revelation 1:8, Revelation 2:8; 13, 14. And it's even
used that way in Revelation 20 right here in verse 5.
Now they'll have the Old Testament saints in glorified
bodies, those who followed Christ in glorified bodies,
New Testament Christians in glorified bodies,
Tribulation saints in glorified bodies, that whole mass
of resurrected rewarded believers reigning in the
Kingdom. And they reigned with Christ for a thousand
years. So during the time of the Kingdom then we
carry out the rule of Christ in the world. We reign for
Him.

It says in 1 Corinthians 15:24, "Then comes the end

and He delivers up the Kingdom to the God and
Father when He abolished all rule and all authority
and power for He must reign until He has put all
enemies under His feet." Ultimately Christ will reign
supremely but we will under Christ reign with Him until
finally the Kingdom is over on earth and He
establishes that eternal Kingdom where God is all in
all.
And this is going to be on earth in the very place
where Satan the usurper has ruled and from which he
has had to be expelled. The reign of the saints.
By the way, as a footnote, verse 5, "The rest of the
dead didn't come to life until the thousand years were
completed." Who would be the rest of the dead? Who
are the rest of the dead? If all the saints of the Old
Testament are resurrected and all the saints of the
period of Christ's time are resurrected, and all the
New Testament believers are resurrected, and all the
Tribulation saints are resurrected, who's not? The
unbelievers, the ungodly. They're going to have a
resurrection, too, but it isn't described until the end of
the chapter and we'll see it when we get down to
verse 11 and following.
But he says then at the end of verse 5, "This is the
first resurrection, and blessed and holy is the one who
has a part in the first resurrection." So you know what
the first resurrection includes? Really everybody.
Christ is the supreme one but all the saints of all the
ages are in the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is

the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Why

are they so blessed? Well I'll tell you next time
because I'm going to tell you what the Kingdom is
going to be like, not ecologically, not environmentally,
but morally and spiritually. But we'll have to save that.
Let's bow together in prayer.
Father, thank You for this wonderful, wonderful time in
Your Word tonight, transcendent time, lifting us out of
this world to that glorious world to come where Jesus
Christ will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. O
Father, how privileged we are, how blessed, how rich
to be able to live in the light of that great Kingdom, to
be able to anticipate it, to know that we'll be there with
all the saints of all the ages. We thank You for Your
marvelous plan and program. We give You praise for
Your grace that reached to us and made us citizens of
the Kingdom. Our citizenship isn't here, it's with You,
it's in heaven. We belong in this Kingdom to come to
reign and rule with You both then and forever. To that
we wait, for that we hope and say with John, "Even
so, come Lord Jesus." We long for the glorious
manifestation of the children of God. We long for that
redemption of our body which is resurrection. We long
for the time when the creation no longer groans,
waiting for the adoption. We long for Eden revisited,
we long for paradise regained. We long to see Jesus
exalted and ruling His world without hindrance. O
Father. until that hour, may He rule without hindrance
in our lives and in His church that He might be exalted
who is worthy. And we pray in His great name. Amen.
***************

For tonight we are in chapter 20 of the book of

Revelation. And I would invite you to turn there, if you
will. Revelation chapter 20, this is our third message
on this chapter, The Coming Earthly Kingdom of
Jesus Christ. And I want to remind you if you haven't
heard the prior ones, you should, so get a hold of
those tapes, it's such a wonderful, wonderful reality. It
is our great hope for the future that God has prepared
for them that love Him.
Just imagine a world where righteousness and
goodness dominate. A world where there's absolutely
no injustice, a world where everybody is treated fairly,
a world where no court ever renders an unjust or
undeserved verdict. Imagine a world where everything
is true and right and everything is noble. Every area of
life and society and commerce and education and
everything else is under complete control and directed
toward what is right. Imagine a world where there is
total and lasting and enforced peace, where joy
abounds, where health is widespread, where people
live for hundreds of years, a world where there are
lions and lambs lying down together and children can
play in snake pits, where bears and cows walk
together led by a child. Imagine a world where food is
profuse and well-being is common to everyone.
Imagine a world ruled by one perfect person, one
world ruler and where under that world ruler only
glorified perfected people are the agents who carry
out His will and His purpose so that perfection reigns
from the top right on through the whole system.

Imagine a world where sin is dealt with instantly and

firmly.
Well if you can imagine that kind of world you're
headed toward understanding the character of the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ...the Kingdom to
come on a restored and radically reconstructed earth.
It is coming because He is coming. And the chapter
before us presents the general character of that
glorious paradise regained.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, until Revelation 20
everything has been premillennial, pre-kingdom. Now
we have a vision of the Kingdom. There to any Bible
student has been a significant preview of this
Kingdom, even though everything up to here has been
premillennial, we've gotten a glimpse of this Kingdom
and that glimpse came in the incarnation of God in the
form of Jesus Christ and in His life and ministry on the
earth. We saw glimpses of the Kingdom.
For example, we saw Jesus cast out demons. We saw
Him heal, bring well-being to people. We saw Him
performing miracles. We saw prophecy and revelation
take place. We saw the overruling of normal natural
law. We saw the demonstration of the Spirit's power
bringing salvation. And we saw Christ ruling in the
domain of His spiritual influence over the souls of
those who placed their trust in Him. And all of those
were a foretaste of Kingdom glory. Even on the day of
Pentecost when the Spirit of God came, Peter says,
"This is that which was spoken of by the prophet
Joel." And the prophecy in Joel 2 was a prophecy of

the Kingdom and Peter was saying...this is a

foretaste, this is a preview.
Perhaps no place is there a better preview of the
Kingdom, however, than in Matthew chapter 16. Let
me read you starting in verse 28. Jesus says this,
actually in verse 27, "The Son of Man is going to
come in the glory of His Father with His angels." Then
verse 28, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those
who are standing here who shall not taste death until
they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."
Now that's a long time ago He said that. In what sense
could Jesus mean this? How is it that there were
some people standing there that day when He was
talking to His disciples who would not die until they
saw the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom? It
wouldn't be all of them because He said it would be
some of them. Some of the disciples would live until
they saw the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom?
How is that?
Keep reading, chapter 17, six days later. Jesus took
with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and
brought them up to a high mountain by themselves
and He was transfigured before them, or He was
transformed before them. His face shown like the sun
and there was the glory of God really shining in the
face of Jesus. His garments became as brilliant, as
dazzling as light. and behold, Moses and Elijah
appeared to them talking with Him, and Peter
answered and said to Him, "Lord, it is good for us to
be here, if You wish I'll make three tabernacles, one
for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he

was still speaking behold a bright cloud

overshadowed them, behold a voice out of the cloud
saying, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well
pleased, listen to Him." And when the disciples heard
this they fell on their faces and were much afraid. And
Jesus came to them and touched them and said,
"Arise, and do not be afraid." And lifting up their eyes
they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
I believe this the fulfillment of the promise at the end
of chapter 16. This is the Son of Man coming in His
Kingdom glory. There He was transfigured and like the
Kingdom, the Old Testament saints are represented
by Moses and Elijah, and the New Covenant saints
are represented by Peter, James and John. And as in
the Kingdom, Christ takes the preeminent place. He
takes the place of shining, blazing glory, the ruling
place. I think this was the remarkable preview of the
Kingdom that Jesus promised some would see before
they died.
So we have seen some previews of the Kingdom and
the character of the Kingdom, both in the prophecy of
Joel chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, in the ministry
of Jesus Christ as well as in the very transfiguration
which we just read. But here it is in its fullness and in
its reality.
As I noted for you a couple of weeks ago, it's only a
general framework. I mean, you can't cover all the
character of the Kingdom in just these ten verses. So
what you're looking at here is really the general
framework, sort of the skeleton outline on which you

can hang a lot of other passages and many of them

from the Old Testament, as we'll see in a few
moments.
But as the structure of the Kingdom unfolds,
remember that in chapter 19 is the return of Jesus
Christ. He comes back. He comes back to the great
battle of Armageddon which He engages in, it lasts a
very brief time. He destroys all the ungodly remaining
on the world as the end of chapter 19 tells us. And
then in chapter 20 He sets up His Kingdom.
And the first thing we saw in the setup of the Kingdom
is the removal of Satan...the removal of Satan, verse
1. "I saw an angel coming down from heaven having
the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand and
he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is
the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand
years, and threw him into the abyss and shut it and
sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the
nations any longer until the thousand years were
completed. After these things he must be released for
a short time."
One of the first things that we are to learn about the
Kingdom, of course, is that Satan's not going to be
around. The one who is the God of this world, the
prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this age will
not be the ruler of that age. He will not be the prince of
that age. He will not be the dominating force. He will
not run the world system, Jesus Christ will and Satan
will be incarcerated, confined in the abyss and held
there by unbreakable chains. He will be there until he

is released for a little time and then cast into the hell
that is the final hell as noted in verse 10.
So Satan is removed. That gives us a very, very great
insight into the character of the Kingdom. Those who
would tell us we are now in the Kingdom which is the
Amillennialist's view and also the view of many
Postmillennialists, that is to say Amillennialists say
there's no Kingdom other than this church age now, a
spiritual kingdom. Postmillennialists say Christ comes
at the end of the Kingdom so we might be in it, or it
might be yet to come. They have a problem. How can
you say this is the Kingdom when in fact Satan is not
bound? He goes about, Peter reminds us, as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter chapter
2...chapter 5 rather and verse 8. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 11 it says that Satan can take
advantage of us and we're not ignorant of his
schemes. So we have a scheming, roaring lion
moving around devouring everyone he can. He is
involved in our world. He is not bound and that
characteristic belongs to the future, not the present.
That's one reason why we don't believe the Kingdom
is here.
So the first thing we have then is the removal of
Satan. And we've gone into that. The second thing
that I noted for you in our previous study is the reign
of the saints. Look at verse 4. This is another
characteristic of the Millennial Kingdom, the thousandyear kingdom, not only will Satan be bound and
consequently the world will be run by Jesus Christ
Himself who imparts that rule through His glorified

saints from the Old Testament, the time of the

Tribulation and the New Testament as well. But we
see here in verses 4 through 6 the reign of the saints.
"And I saw thrones, they sat upon them and judgment
was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had
been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus
and because of the Word of God and those who had
not worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received this mark upon their forehead, and upon their
hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for
a thousand years." In that verse you have Old
Testament saints, you have those who lived during the
time and ministry of Christ, you have the New
Testament saints, the Tribulation saints, all of them
coming together. "And the rest of the dead didn't come
to life until the thousand years were completed. This is
the first resurrection."
So you have all of the godly resurrected before the
thousand years, as we noted, and you have the
ungodly resurrected after the thousand years is over.
The first resurrection involves only the godly, so he
says in verse 6, "Blessed and holy is the one who has
a part in the first resurrection." Over these, the second
death, that's eternal death, has no power, they will be
priests of God and of Christ's and will reign with Him
for a thousand years. Daniel chapter 7 tells us the Old
Testament saints will reign. Matthew chapter 19
verses 28 and 29 says the Apostles and those who
followed Christ in His life will reign. First Corinthians
6:2 and 3 says New Testament saints will reign. And
here in the book of Revelation we are told right there
in verse 4 that Tribulation saints will reign as well. So

all the saints of all those periods will come in glorified

form into the Kingdom to reign with Christ.
And that's the character of the Kingdom. As far as the
reign of the saints is concerned. A reminder that
Philippians chapter 3 and verse 21, we're still
reviewing, says that we will be transformed into
conformity with the body of His glory. So when we
come into that Kingdom we will have our glorified
form. New Testament believers are raptured and
transformed at the Rapture. Old Testament believers
and Tribulation believers are transformed at the end of
the time of the Tribulation in the resurrection Daniel
talks about in chapter 12 and verse 2. So we all come
in that new glorified form into the Kingdom. And so
you have Christ in His resurrection glory ruling and
then you have all the saints of all the ages in their
resurrection glory as His co-rulers, as it were, those
under Him carrying out His rule.
You say, "Well what are we going to be like? I mean,
how are we going to be different?" Well 1 Corinthians
tells us as much as we can know, starting in verse 35
of chapter 15. First Corinthians 15:35, "Someone will
say, `How are the dead raised? And with what kind of
body do they come?'" What are we going to be like?
"You fool, he says, that which you sow doesn't come
to life until it dies, and that which you sow you do not
sow the body which is to be but a bare grain perhaps
of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body
just as He wished and to each of the seeds a body of
its own." Now that's a very good analogy.

What he is saying is the seed that goes into the

ground doesn't look like anything that comes out. I
mean, there's no way to know by looking at a little
seed going into the ground, unless you're some kind
of expert, what is going to come out of that little seed.
And that's really in a sense the answer to the
question. "How in the world can we who all look like
common seed know what we're going to look like
when we can't see it until we experience it?" But it's
going to be different. You put a little tiny seed in the
ground and out comes this magnificent flower, or out
comes this blooming plant, or out comes this glorious
tree, and you have no way to see the majesty of that
tree, the beauty of that plant, the glory of that flower
when you look at the seed. And so he says it's a
foolish thing to ask. You're but a bare grain. You go
into the ground and God alone what's going to come
out. But you're going to be different. All flesh is not the
same flesh, verse 39, there's one flesh of men,
another flesh of beast, another flesh of birds, another
of fish. And just like there are those different kinds of
bodies, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies
and the glory of the heavenly is one and the glory of
the earthly is another. In other words, there's a
difference between a mountain and a star, the
difference between a rock and comet. And there's one
glory of the sun and another glory of the moon. And
another glory of the stars. And stars differ from star to
star. So it is in the resurrection. You're sown a
perishable body, you're raised an imperishable. You're
sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown in weakness,
raised in power. Sown a natural body, raised a
spiritual body.

And that's really all you can know. You're going to be

heavenly, verse 48 says. As is the earthy, so also
those who are earthy and as is the heavenlies, so also
are those who are heavenly. And just as we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly.
I don't know what we're going to be like. I don't know
what those glorified forms will be like. But they won't
be like we are now, and yet they'll be some
connection, some similarity. And so the saints are
going to come forth in resurrection glory. And it says in
verse 4 they're going to reign with Christ and they're
going to sit on thrones, the verse begins. "I saw
thrones." At the end of the verse, "They reigned with
Christ a thousand years." Again at the end of verse 6,
"They'll reign with Christ a thousand years."
It's going to be on earth, the very place Satan ruled
and from which he was expelled. And what's it going
to be like? Well we talked about something of the
physical character of the earth at that time. I took you
through a little bit of a perhaps scientific scenario of
what the restored earth is going to be like. I don't want
to talk about the physical earth, let me talk about the
character of the rule of Christ and His saints for a
moment.
It's going to be a...it's going to be a universal rule.
That is the Lord Jesus Christ through His saints is
going to rule the whole world. It's going to be totally
ruled by Christ. It's comprehensive. Psalm 2 tells us, "I

have installed My King upon Zion My holy mountain.

Ask of Me, I'll give Thee the nations as Thine
inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Thy
possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,
Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware."
In other words, it's a comprehensive global rule by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody is going to be outside that
rule. He will rule everywhere on this globe. In fact, it
says in Daniel 2:35 that, "When Christ comes into this
world, He is the stone that strikes the statue that
represents all the kingdoms of men, and that stone
becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth."
Again in the seventh chapter of Daniel you see the
comprehensive or universal character of His rule,
"And to Him was given dominion, glory and a
Kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of
every language might serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion which will not pass away. His
Kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." It is
comprehensive, it is indestructible.
In fact, even in the New Testament we get some
insight into that. I think it's the nineteenth chapter of
Luke, there are a couple verses of interest there.
Verse 17, "Well done, good slave, you have been
faithful over a very little thing, be in authority over ten
cities." And to the next He said, "You too have been
faithful, you may be over five cities." And there's a little
insight into the comprehensive rule that Christ has
over the world and how He dispenses it to those who
are faithful. He gives one ten cities to rule over, and
one five cities to rule over, depending on their

faithfulness. It is universal rule and it is mediated

through the saints.
It is also absolute rule. That is to say there are is quick
judgment on those who oppose it. It is absolute. It is a
rule with a rod of iron, as it said in Psalm 2. Psalm 72
verse 9 adds, "Let the nomads of the desert bow
before Him and His enemies lick the dust. Let the
kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents, the
kings of Sheba an Seba offer gifts. Let all kings bow
down before Him, all nations serve Him." And it's kind
of like an "or else" threat.
It is also going to be a righteous rule. It is going to
benevolent, it is going to be right, fair, just. It says in
Isaiah 11:3, "And He will delight in the fear of the Lord
and He will not judge by what His eyes see nor make
a decision by what His ears hear, but with
righteousness He will judge." In other words, He is
going to judge rightly, not because of what He hears
from somebody, not because of what He thinks He
sees or what someone reported has been seen, but
He will judge righteously because He knows
everything. "He will decide with fairness for the
afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the
rod of His mouth. With the breath of His lips He'll slay
the wicked. Righteousness will be the belt about His
loins and faithfulness the belt about His waist."
And so you have the political or the social rule of
Christ's universal comprehensive, absolute, righteous,
just, fair rule. But He will rule not only politically and
socially, He will rule spiritually. That is to say, when the

Kingdom begins the only people in the Kingdom are

going to be converted people. Jews and Gentiles who
survived the time of the Great Tribulation are the
subjects of the King. In fact, as we read in the
Scripture about the character of the Kingdom, here
are the things that we read about. Israel, first of all,
will be converted and restored to the land and that's in
a lot of places. Jeremiah 30...Jeremiah 23:5, she will
have the land that was promised to Abraham in
Genesis 13, and Genesis 15. According to Jeremiah
30, Jerusalem will be rebuilt. According to Ezekiel 40
to 48, a temple will be rebuilt on the proper site and
memorials will be held there to remember God's
marvelous redemptive work.
And the prophet Micah in chapter 4 and verse 2 says
this. "Many nations will come and say, "Come up and
let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob, that he may teach about His ways
that we may walk in His paths, for from Zion will go
forth the law, even the Word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples,
render decisions for mighty distant nations, hammer
their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and
never again will they train for war. Each of them will sit
under his vine, under his fig tree with no one to make
them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
And all the people each in the name of his God, as for
us we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever. In that day, says the Lord, I'll
assemble the lame and gather the outcasts," and so
forth. There's a spiritual movement.

Not only are all of those coming in believers, but they'll

have children and of those that are born, many will
come to faith in Christ, many will be led to the
knowledge of Christ. In fact, there will be ten Gentiles,
says the prophet, hanging on the garment of the Jew,
asking to please be taken to see the Messiah.
Israel will be blessed. The land of Israel, the city of
Jerusalem will come back to its glorious prominence.
And the time of God's promise to them will be fulfilled.
There will come about, Zechariah 14:16 says that any
who are left of all the nations that went up against
Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the
King, the Lord of hosts, and celebrate the feast of
booths, and it will be that whichever of the families of
the earth does not go to Jerusalem to worship the
King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
Instant judgment on people who don't worship.
Now that will do two things. Now that will be a very
good motivation for them to go and worship, and the
ones who don't will become more and more agitated
and irritated and hostile. And that's important, too,
because they're ready for war at the end of the
thousand years, those rejecters. Isaiah 61, Isaiah 62
also talk about the blessing that's going to come to
Israel.
So there's a special time for Israel and a special time
of salvation for the nations as well. Beyond that there
are some other spiritual characteristics I won't go in to
in detail, just to mention them. The presence of Christ

will be there. That's very clear according to Psalm 2,

Psalm 72 and the book of Revelation. The presence
of truth will be there, Isaiah 11:9. Righteousness will
flourish, again Psalm 72. Peace will reign, Isaiah 2:4,
Isaiah 32:17. Joy will about, Isaiah 12 and Isaiah 61.
The Holy Spirit will release immense power, Joel
chapter 2 verses 28 and 29.
So spiritual life is going to be glorious during that time.
And people are going to come and worship the
Messiah and those that are born are going to come to
faith in Him. And the rebels are going to feel the heat
of His judgment immediately. Obviously they aren't
slain immediately, some will be but not all. There will
be enough left to gather a rebellious force at the end.
Now looking at the Kingdom then politically and
spiritually, we can see how the Lord Jesus dominates
it. What about physically? What kind of life is going to
be going on? First of all, the curse will be lifted. Isaiah
chapter 11 verses 7 to 9, chapter 30 verses 23 and
24, then again in chapter 35. It talks about how the
curse will be lifted and it will be Eden all over again in
some measure. Joel 2:21 to 27 says there will be
plenty of food for everyone. Isaiah 29:18, 33:24, 35.
Isaiah 65, all of that section of Isaiah talks about
health and healing. Isaiah 30 talks about a high birth
rate. So it's going to be a remarkable, remarkable time
every way you look at it. And the saints, that's all of
us, are going to reign there. It is for that that we long
and wait and hope for. This world is a beautiful place,
this world is a wonderful place, even though its cursed
and even though its so troubled. Imagine what it will

be like when the curse is taken away, the topography

is altered and righteousness and peace rule
everything. Imagine what it will be like when we come
back and the Lord Jesus mediates His rule over this
world through us. Tremendous anticipation.
A little note in verse 5.. The unsaved sinners aren't
included in the Kingdom. The rest of the dead don't
come to life till the thousand years are completed. The
rest of the dead don't come back until the thousand
years are over and they come back, according to
verse 11, for the great white throne judgment. They
will be raised, even the ungodly, even the unsaved
through all the ages will be raised. They will have
resurrection bodies, bodies suited to suffer forever in
hell. We'll examine all of that when we get down to
verse 11.
This first resurrection then is the resurrection of the
just, the resurrection of the godly. This is the
resurrection that those who believe participate in,
whether they are Old Testament saints, New
Testament saints, or Tribulation saints. We are all in
the first resurrection. It starts with the resurrection of
Christ and then comes to the resurrection of the
church, then the resurrection of the Old Testament
saints and the Tribulation saints, but it's all the first
resurrection. It is called in Luke 14:14 "the
resurrection of the righteous."
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO

The resurrection of the righteous and it has several

parts but it's all the resurrection of the righteous. In
Luke chapter 20 verse 34, "The sons of this age marry
and are given in marriage, but those who are
considered worthy to attain to that age and the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are
given in marriage, for neither can they die anymore for
they are like angels and like the sons of God being
sons of the resurrection." It is a resurrection that's
going to put us into a different form where there's no
marriage anymore. It is what Jesus called in John
5:29 "the resurrection unto life." All of it is the same
resurrection. Wherever the righteous are involved, it is
the same resurrection.
Acts 24:15 talks about it. Hebrews 11:35 I would just
remind you, there's a verse there that's kind of
definitive. It says, "Women receive back their dead by
resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting
their release in order that they might obtain...here's
the key word...a better resurrection." It is the
resurrection of the just, it is a better resurrection.
All the righteous, all who have died through all of
redemptive history will be resurrected and brought into
the Millennial Kingdom. We will all be transformed and
we'll have a body like unto His body, a body of glory.
We will be transformed and changed and made like
Jesus Christ. This is that of which Peter said when he
says, "We are begotten unto a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain
an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled

and will not fade away." It is this to which we look. We

look for anastasis, that's a noun used over forty times
in the New Testament, it always refers to a dead body
coming out from the grave. We're looking for the rising
again of our dead bodies. So when they bury us, we'll
be back. People always ask silly questions like, "Well
if you've been there a long time, you're sort of
disintegrated, aren't you?" Yes, but if God can raise
the dead, the form they're in is a minor detail. Some
people have even said to me, "You know, I don't want
to be cremated and then scattered over the sea for
fear God can't find all the right parts." Don't worry
about it. Don't worry about it. You're going to be
different, you're going to be new.
And so it says in verse 6, "Blessed and holy is the one
who has part in the first resurrection." We are blessed
and we are the holy. "And the second death has no
power over us." What is the second death? It's the
dead described down in verse 14. "This is the second
death, the lake of fire." It's eternal hell. But we will be
priests of God and of Christ's and will reign with Him
for a thousand years. What does a priest do? A priest
brings people to whom? To God. That will be our
worldwide function. We'll be bringing people to God,
bringing people to the Lord, bringing people to the
knowledge of Christ, ushering them into His glorious
presence, bringing them to the truth. That will be our
function. We will be ruling as well. We will reign with
Him for a thousand years. We will be bringing people
to the knowledge of Christ, bringing people to
salvation, at the same time we will be ruling and
reigning and executing the King's wishes. We will be

combination priests and kings...rulers and priests.

That's a tremendous thing.
So the word is anastasis, my friend. When your body
dies your spirit goes immediately to be the with Lord.
Your body stays in the grave until the resurrection.
Just like Jesus said to the grieving sisters, in John
11:23, "Your brother shall rise again." And three times
in John chapter 6 Jesus said, "I'll raise him up on the
last day." Philippians 3:11 says, "The out resurrection
from among the dead." So a literal, physical, bodily
resurrection into a new eternal form like a seed that
goes into the ground and dies, and out of that dying
seed yields life. We will escape the second death,
hell, the lake of fire, eternal death and we will enter
into the Kingdom. And after the Kingdom is over, we
will live forever in eternal glory. It's a tremendous thing
to realize what is in store for us.
Well, that takes us to the third point. The removal of
Satan, the reign of the saints, is the character of the
Kingdom. But there's a third thing and that's the return
of Satan. We come down to verse 7...very important.
"When the thousand years are completed, Satan will
be released from his prison." The return of Satan.
Now I remind you again that during the Kingdom
Satan has no part, he plays no role, he's not there and
his demons aren't there with him. I think it's fair to
assume that it wouldn't do much good if our Lord
bound Satan and didn't bind all his millions of minions
who are running loose in the earth. I think the whole
system is bound.

Satan's binding ends, however, at the close of the

Kingdom. And it doesn't tell us how. It just says when
the thousand years are completed, Satan is released
from his prison. We don't know how he's released. It
doesn't matter how he's released. The next question
would be...why is he released? And that is the fair
question. Why would God release him?
Well that's more evident. Let me give it to you. No
unsaved person will enter the Kingdom. It appears if
you take all of the prophecies with regard to the day of
the Lord, the day of the Lord is exhaustive against the
wicked and all of them die. And that means the only
people going into the Kingdom are the people who are
believers...Jews whom the Lord has spared and you
know that He's going to do that, Revelation 12 tells us
how He hides them in the wilderness so that the
Antichrist can't destroy them. And Gentiles who have
come to faith in the true Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who escaped the treachery of Antichrist and all the
rest of the judgments that are going on. They go in in
physical bodies just like we have right now, they'll be
no different than us. They'll go into the Kingdom in
their normal physical form. All the ungodly will be
destroyed and so all you have in the Kingdom then
are believers. All you have are the godly, those who
belong to the Lord.
If you need a word on that from Scripture, you might
listen to Isaiah 60 and verse 21. "Then all Your people
will be righteous, they will possess the land forever." It
is only the righteous who go into the Kingdom. Verse
21 of chapter 19 after the slaughter of Armageddon

says, "The rest were killed with the sword." And that's
all of them. There is nothing in the Scripture that says
any unbeliever survives the day of the Lord.
You say, "Well then they come into the Kingdom and
they have children." Sure, and remember the
conditions are perfect, so they proliferate. And they
live long and they are productive for a long time. But
they produce...guess what?...sinners, because that's
all we can produce, right? Even in Millennial
conditions we're going to produce sinners because
we're fallen people. So their children are going to be
sinners and they're going to need to be saved. And
amazingly while many of them will come to faith in
Christ, and many of them will believe, many will not. In
a thousand years there can be millions of people on
the globe. The exponential reproduction growth will be
rapid. And many of them, sad to say, will love their sin.
And they are the ones that the Lord will judge in some
cases by killing them, in some cases by some other
kind of swift judgment, in some cases by holding back
the rains so that they have to experience harsh living
conditions, as we read earlier. They will love their sin.
They will refuse His grace and they will refuse the
Lordship of the King of all the earth.
It's an amazing thing to think about, actually. Though
Jesus Christ reigns in a totally renewed universe,
though He has absolute power over everything and
everyone, though it's a perfect world, His glorious
perfections are manifested through His person and
His will, and through all of the glorified saints who
carry out His will, even though everything is exactly

the way it ought to be, everything is right, everything is

peaceful, there aren't any wars, everybody's weapons
have been pounded into plowshares, everything is
flourishing, all the economies of the world are doing
very well, everything is prosperity on every front,
everything is bliss, utopia has arrived, people will
reject Christ. And it's important to make this reminder,
that
people
reject
Christ
because
they
love...what?...sin. They are rebellious sinners and
they love their sin. And it really is not an issue what
kind of world they're living in. I daresay there are
people in this society today, many of them, millions of
them who would choose this kind of society or a worst
kind of society over a society ruled by Jesus Christ,
would they not? They have no particular love for
righteousness.
In Romans 8:7, it says, "The mind set on the flesh is
hostile toward God." The mind set on the flesh is
hostile toward God. They will have ample proof all
around them that Jesus is God. They will have ample
proof all around them that He is the Savior. They will
have ample benefits by His loving kindness and
generosity and mercy and grace toward them. But in
spite of all of that, they will reject Him, they will have
all kinds of evidence of His miracle power, and of His
swift judgment, His equity. But like the willful sinners
on the earth when Jesus came the first time, they will
reject Him. The Pharisees, according to Matthew
chapter 12, said about Jesus, "He cast out demons by
Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." They said He's
demonic, we hate Him, kill Him.

How could they conclude that? Cause they loved their

sin. They loved their sin. And so it isn't the
environment that saves people, whether they're in a
terrible one or a good one. They rejected Jesus the
first time He came. And He showed them a glimpse of
what a perfect world would be like. He basically
banished disease from Palestine. He forgave sin over
and over, day after day. He taught truth. He
demonstrated loving kindness, generosity. He created
food for them to show them a little taste of what it was
going to be like in the Kingdom. He fed them fish and
loaves on the side of the sea. He gave them principles
to make their life rich and rewarding and when they
had their chance, they screamed for His blood
because they loved their sin. And that's the nature of
depravity. And no matter what the environment is, it
doesn't change that.
So Satan is loosed to offer cohesive leadership to
bring all the rebels together so that what is latent can
break loose. You say, "Why does God want it to break
loose?" So He can destroy it. You see, Satan is loosed
in order to pull together all of the rebels to reveal the
true character of these Christ-rejecting sinners, to
bring it into the light so that the destruction is
manifestly just. Do you see that? I mean, God could
just kill them all but that's not the way He does it.
Before they are executed, before they are killed, their
rebellion is manifest so that all the universe knows
that the execution that God brings upon them is a
righteous one.

So Satan is loosed to bring the rebels together,

provide a cohesive leadership in the demonic force, to
pull them together to fight against Christ so that their
latent opposition can be made manifest to the whole
universe and therefore God's devastation and
destruction of them is seen as just and righteous.
But a footnote here is appropriate, I think. The issue
regarding salvation is never a lack of information...I
want you to get that, it's not a lack of
information...Romans 1 says everybody has enough
knowledge of God to be without...what?...excuse. It's
not information. It's not a failure to have enough
evidence presented to you to make a convincing
enough case, or to make Jesus lovely enough or to
make the gospel winsome enough, or convincing
enough, or to make it attractive enough. The issue in
evangelization is that sinners love sin. John 3, "Their
deeds are evil, they love sin." Men love darkness
rather than light, He says, because their deeds are
evil.
All these...these modern postmillennialists that we call
Reconstructionists, all of these who are trying to bring
the Kingdom by capturing the institutions of men
through political power, all these Christian political
activists who keep saying, and I hear this over and
over and over again...We have to get control of this
country, we have to get our people in power if we want
to have the freedom to preach the gospel and if we
want to continue to see men come to Christ. And I
want to say to them, that is not the issue...that is not
the issue. Spending all your energy and all your time

and all of your money to seek to create a cultural

morality as if it somehow enhances the gospel betrays
a failure to understand the depravity of man. It doesn't
matter what the environment is. And when I read that
some politician spends twenty-five million dollars, or
thirty million or whatever amount of million they spend
to get them into political power for some noble
spiritual purpose, my conclusion is that that's a kind of
obscenity. That's irrelevant to the advancement of the
Kingdom of God. And I can only imagine what that
same amount of money might do were it directed
toward the gospel proclamation.
We do well to consider that in the most moral culture
this earth will ever know, man will love sin. Unless you
think that's shocking, go back to the perfect
environment in the Garden of Eden and remember
there were only two people and they both chose sin.
And they did it from innocence, what will humanity do
from depravity? It doesn't matter what age, it doesn't
matter what kind of world they live in, depraved
people love sin. And it shows you something else, too.
It doesn't take Satan. Whether Satan's present or
absence has nothing to do with depravity. People say,
"Well, you know, the devil's after me, and you know, I
fell into sin." I don't think so. If the devil was bound,
you'd fall into sin. It's not the devil that makes you sin,
it's the devil that creates the system that tempts you.
It's not like the devil runs into your mind and says, "Do
this, do this, do this, do this." I wouldn't know if he
does, frankly, I don't...I've never heard him. I wouldn't
know if he was there saying anything, I wouldn't know
how I would if he was saying anything. But I do know

this system which he has designed throws temptation

at me from every angle.
So you can take Satan out of the system and you've
still got depravity. And you can put the man with
depravity in a perfect environment and he's still going
to love sin, cause that's his nature. That's what
depravity is. It's not that everybody is as bad as they
could be possibly, but it's that everybody loves sin. Sin
blinds sinners in every age. You can work all you want
to make cultural morality in this country, it's not going
to redeem anybody. It's not going to change sinners,
they love their sin. In fact, it will just make sinners
mad. And haven't you see that happen? Wherever
there is the rise of some Christian in politics, or
whether it appears as though someone who has a
high standard of morality is about to get elected, the
battle gets really heated because sinners don't want
any encroachment on their freedoms.
So you have in the Kingdom a generation of
Christ...would-be Christ murderers rise. So man's
depravity is not affected by environment. Satan's
desperate wickedness and hatred of God in Christ are
not at all altered by being in prison for a thousand
years. He doesn't get any better, he gets worse. Now
he's madder than he's ever been. And when he's
released from the pit after this thousand years, he
comes out as evil as always and more hostile than
ever. He doesn't change. Hell doesn't change people.
Punishment doesn't change people, it's not meant to
do that. So you have the same wicked, vile, hostile
fallen angel and you have depraved people and they

get together at the end of the thousand years with the

view of killing Christ.
That takes us to verses 8 to 10, the revolt of
society...the revolt of society. And I'm just going to kind
of introduce it cause our time is really gone. But in
verse 8 it says that Satan when he's released from his
prison, "Will come out to deceive the nations." Now as
I said, nothing external can change men. Their
environment doesn't change them. It's like a pig, you
can give him a bath and put a ribbon around its neck
and he's still a pig. It's not going to change his nature.
You can put him in the purest environment and he's
still going to be what he is.
And so now you've got Satan coming out and he's
hating Christ more than he ever hated Him. And
you've got man who is unmoved by peace and the
rule of righteousness cause he loves his sin. And the
combination leads to this revolt. Satan comes out to
deceive the nations. Obviously he is a deceiver, he is
a liar, and that's what he always does and this is no
different. He's got to get them all to battle and he has
to do it by deception. He's got to convince them that
it's going to make sense. I mean, look, these people
know the power of Christ, they've been experiencing it
for whatever length of time they've lived in the world.
They've seen the rod of iron work. They've seen the
swift and hasty judgment. They've seen Him crack
down on sinners. They've seen what happens to those
who don't bow the knee to Him. They know who He is.
They've seen His miracle power. There's not a
question about that. There's no big debate about...is

Jesus really the King? Is He really God? That is not a

debate. It isn't a question of information. They know
who He is. They have ample information.
And there would be a natural hesitancy on the part of
these people to just go tackle Him. Take Him on. And
that's why it doesn't happen until Satan is released
and can go out and by some means deceive them that
this is a worthwhile enterprise. He has the ability to do
it. Back in chapter 12 verse 9 the great dragon was
thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He is a
deceiver. He's always been a deceiver. He's always
portrayed as a deceiver.
Somehow he goes out and pulls off this incredible
deception. Now back in verse 3 we saw that he had
been deceiving the nations all along. He hasn't
deceived them for a thousand years. Now he comes
back in verse 7. He's released in verse 8. His
deception begins again. His primary function is always
to lead people astray. Always to deceive them. But,
you know, just to remind you and it's...it's an amazing
thing to go back to this point, that no matter what
Satan does, he's just kind of carrying out God's
purposes.
Listen to what it says in Ezekiel 38:16, we're going to
go back to Ezekiel 38 next week in one of the most
fascinating studies in the Bible of Gog and Magog, but
let me just read you verse 16. Here God says, "Say to
Gog, thus says the Lord God, on the day that...verse
14...that My people and Israel are living securely, will

you not know it? And you will come from your place
out of the remote parts of the north, you and many
peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great
assembly and mighty army, you'll come against My
people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will
come about in the last days that I shall bring you
against My land." It's all within the framework of God's
will, like in the sermon that Peter preached on
Pentecost when he said, "You by the determinant
foreknowledge and counsel of God have crucified
Christ." You did it but it was in the plan. The plan is
that Satan is going to be released and Satan is going
to go out and deceive the nations but it's God who
brings them to Jerusalem against Christ.
Notice again in verse 8, these nations are in the four
corners of the earth. All four points of the
compass...east, west, north and south. And Satan
brings them all to this tremendous revolt.
They are called Gog and Magog and we'll stop at that
point and find out the incredible significance of that
next time and how the battle goes. And then we'll be
at the end of this great section on the Kingdom.
Let's bow together then in a final word of prayer.
What an amazing truth, Lord, it is that we are already
citizens of the Kingdom, we are already subjects of
the King by faith, that even right now in our hearts we
enjoy peace and righteousness, joy, power, truth and
wisdom. Lord, we are living in the Kingdom now
spiritually. O how marvelous and wonderful it is to

think about what it will be like to live in the Kingdom in

a glorified form literally. What a glorious future awaits
us. What an amazing glimpse into the coming
Kingdom.
Father, we thank You, we're literally overwhelmed on
the one hand that we have been chosen to such glory
and we are deeply grieved on the other for those who
do not enjoy the first resurrection but experience the
second resurrection and the second death, who will
never know Your Kingdom and Your rule either
spiritually or literally or eternally, but shall be cast into
outer darkness where there's weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth forever. Father, thank You for Your
mercy and Your grace, give us hearts of compassion,
may we like Paul plead with men and women to come
to Christ and escape the coming judgment.
O Lord, we thank You for that day in which You will
remove Satan, in which the saints will reign, in which
Satan coming back and leading a revolt will be finally
and eternally defeated and we'll enter into eternal
glory. Lord, we don't need to go through life wondering
about the future, You've laid it out so clearly. Thank
You that by Your mercy and grace You've made us a
part of it, for the glory of Christ in whose name we
pray. Amen.
*****************************
Well, we return now to Revelation chapter 20 and
we're going to be looking at the Word of God tonight
as it presents to us the coming earthly Kingdom of

Jesus Christ. This is Part 4 in our look at these first

ten verses of Revelation chapter 20, tremendous,
tremendous portion of Scripture.
The hope of the world is the return of Jesus Christ to
earth and the establishment of His great glorious
Kingdom. As we know, God made a paradise
originally, He called it Eden, and He will remake a
paradise finally called the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Man didn't write the first chapter in history, and
he won't write the last chapter. God wrote the first one,
and God will write the last one. God Himself will act to
end man's day on this planet. And that very act of God
in ending man's day and bringing about the Kingdom
of our Lord Jesus Christ is the theme of the book of
Revelation. In fact, we've called this book "Back to the
Future," and ancient prophetic book that is not only up
to date but takes us clear into the future right to the
very end.
Now remember the sequence in Revelation, if you will.
Chapter 1 introduces us to the book and gives us a
vision of Jesus Christ. And in chapter 1 Jesus Christ is
moving in His church. In chapters 2 and 3 He's writing
letters to the church. So we could say that chapters 1,
2 and 3 deal with the age of the church, in which age
we now are living.
And then we are transported in chapters 4 and 5 into
heaven. And when we get to heaven we are among
saints and angels. And the scene is one of high
interest. The scene is one of praise and adoration and
glory. Not just in general but because something is

about to happen. And what is about to happen is

judgment. Chapter 4 and 5 show us a heaven filled
with anticipation where things are being readied for
the Lord to act in the world.
And then we come to chapter 6 and from chapter 6 all
the way through chapter 18 there is judgment...a time
of great judgment. It unfolds in seal judgments and
trumpet judgments and bowl judgments and it ends
with a holocaust of horror called the day of the Lord in
which God's final fury is poured out.
Then you come to chapter 19 and the return of Jesus
Christ as He comes back to earth, destroys the armies
of the world and all the unbelievers. And then chapter
20, He sets up His Kingdom. His Kingdom is
described in chapter 20 down through verse 10. At the
end of His Kingdom there is a final judgment called
the judgment if the Great White Throne, the end of
this chapter. And then in chapters 21 and 22 you have
the eternal new heaven and the new earth which is
the final state in which the redeemed will live forever.
So this is a sweeping prophetic panorama, taking us
from the present time, the age of the church, through
the time of great judgment, the coming of Jesus
Christ, the establishment of His Kingdom and then on
into the eternal state. So in the flow and the
chronology of the book of Revelation, we come now to
chapter 20 and find ourselves learning about the
period of the Kingdom. It's a period of one thousand
years that is repeated over and over again in the first
part of chapter 20, the term a thousand years, or THE

thousand years is used numerous times...six or

seven, as I recall. This is a thousand-year period in
which Christ will reign over a restored earth and
universe.
And as we've been saying, this marvelous Kingdom is
not just introduced here. In fact, it is merely further
defined here, it was introduced among the prophets of
the Old Testament. They spoke about it, as we saw.
Jesus Himself spoke about it. New Testament writers
spoke about it. But nowhere in the New Testament is
there a clearer more unmistakable presentation of the
Kingdom than right here in Revelation chapter 20. And
here we have a framework, a sort of skeleton on
which we can hang all the other prophecies about the
Kingdom. This sort of gives us the basic structure.
And so as we looked at these opening verses, we
remember that in verses 1 to 3 as we are introduced
to the Kingdom, the first thing that happens is the
removal of Satan. "An angel coming down from
heaven having the key of the abyss and a great chain
in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the
serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound
him for a thousand years. And threw him into the
abyss and shut it and sealed it over him that he
should not deceive the nations any longer until the
thousand years were completed. After these things he
must be released for a short time."
So the first thing that happens in the Kingdom, and
this gives it its character, is the removal of Satan and
along with him all of his demons. It wouldn't do any

good to remove him and leave all his demons here.

They would be able to occupy the world with the same
kind of frenzy and the same kind of influence they
have currently. And since Satan himself is not
omnipresent, the work of demons could be
tremendously effective, as it is now when he's not
even present. So I believe that when Satan is
removed, so are all of his minions, all of his cohorts,
all of those fallen angels who are part of his kingdom
of darkness. So Satan being removed is going to have
an immense impact on the character of life in the
Kingdom. No longer will he be the god of this age, the
prince of this world, the prince of the power of the air,
he will be completely out of the picture. So we saw
that in verses 1 to 3. And that has an immense impact
on the nature of life during that thousand-year period.
Then in verses 4 through 6 we came to the reign of
saints. From the removal of Satan to the reign of
saints. "I saw thrones and they sat upon them...those
being the saints...and judgment was given to them. I
saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the
Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the
beast or his image and not received the mark upon
their forehead and upon their hand and they came to
life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." So
you have all the saints there, Old Testament saints,
saints who lived during the time of Christ on earth,
New Testament saints, and then even the Tribulation
saints. And they're all there, reigning with Christ for a
thousand years. "And the rest of the dead didn't come
to life until the thousand years were completed." But

all the saints are a part of the first resurrection and

blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first
resurrection, over these the second death has no
power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with Him again for a thousand years."
And we discussed quite in detail what that reign of the
saints means.
And then we came to the third point in verse 7, from
the removal of Satan, the reign of saints, to the return
of Satan, as noted back in verse 3, he would be
released for a short time. And here it says, "When the
thousand years are completed, Satan will be released
from his prison." And we know what happens. Satan
comes out of his prison. And horrible and frightening
things occur, as they always have when Satan had his
sway in society.
And we answered the question that is a very important
question. If you're in the Millennial Kingdom, how is it
that Satan's going to be able to come back and have
any influence? Isn't everybody a believer? No. The
only people who enter the Kingdom will be believers.
They will be the sheep in the judgments of Matthew
24 and 25 in the Olivet Discourse. The sheep who
enter into the Kingdom, only believers will enter the
Kingdom because when Christ returns He'll destroy all
the ungodly. Only believers will enter but many of
them, of course, will be in...still in their physical bodies
and all of them who enter the Kingdom immediately
on earth will be physically alive. And so they will
reproduce and have children. Their children will have
to confess Christ to be saved, like anybody in this

current age would have to. And many of them will

reject Christ, showing the depth of sinfulness as we
saw in our last study.
And even though there is a comprehensive cultural
morality, even though Christ rules with a rod of iron,
even though there is massive evidence that He is in
fact God in human flesh and the ruler of the world,
and even though theology will not be disputed, but
truth will reign, righteousness will prevail, peace will
encircle the globe, even though the truth will be
everywhere available to them, men will love their sin
so much they will reject Christ even while He's
present.
And having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, they will
then be a huge mass of unbelievers for Satan to
influence
upon
his
release
from
the
kingdom...released, I should say, to the Kingdom of
Christ from the place of darkness where he has been.
And we talked about the fact that man's depravity will
not be altered by a perfect environment. Man's
depravity will not be altered by a cultural morality. It
doesn't change man. And Satan will not have his
personality or his character altered by being in the
abyss, either. His wickedness is fixed for eternity. He
will just come out of a thousand years, or nearly a
thousand years of incarceration more irate, more
determined than ever to try to destroy the Lord Jesus
Christ. He doesn't change in his environment of
punishment, and men don't change in a perfect
environment of righteousness. And so here comes

Satan as bad as ever, and he goes after sinners who

are as lost as ever, even though christ is alive on the
earth. And so you have then, the return of Satan in
verse 7.
It says when the thousand years are completed he is
released from prison. It also says back in verse 3 that
he is released for a short time. So sometime near the
end of the thousand years he will be released. It
doesn't mean that the thousand years have to
completely be over, some time near the end he will be
released. And he will have some time to do what he
sets out to do.
Now that takes us to the fourth point in verses 8
through 10, and the culminating point in this skeleton
of the Kingdom, the revolt of society. We go from the
removal of Satan, the reign of saints, to the return of
Satan, and then the revolt of society. This is really an
incredible thing that happens. It reminds us, as I've
saying, that nothing external can change men.
Judgment in the Great Tribulation...think of that. God
is pouring out His fury, angels flying through heaven
preaching the gospel, a hundred and forty-four
thousand witnesses preaching the gospel who are
invincible, two witnesses preaching the gospel
worldwide who rise from the dead, right in full view of
the whole world. Incredible, miraculous judgments
falling all around people. They are hearing the gospel
like it's never been preached before. It is everywhere.
The truth is everywhere. Judgment is everywhere.
And people still hate God and hate Christ and will not
repent. They will not change in a time of judgment and

they will not change in a time of righteousness. They

will not change in a time of war. They will not change
in a time of peace. They will not change under
Antichrist's rule, they will not change under Christ's
rule. Men love sin in every age and under every
condition. They love sin.
And so, after a thousand year of a perfect
environment of the utopia, paradise restored, Satan
comes out. Verse 8 then, "And he'll come out to
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of
the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for
the war. The number of them is like the sand of the
seashore and they came up on the broad plain of the
earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the
beloved city and fire came down from heaven and
devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the
beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever."
Now there you have the revolt of society and its end in
very rapid-fire staccato presentation. The deception
comes in verse 8. The war in verse 9. And halfway
through verse 9 the destruction and then into verse 10
where Satan himself is dealt with eternally.
Now I want us to look at this and I think there's some
really wonderful things to understand about it as we
look about the details of this text. First of all, in verse 8
it says that Satan comes out to deceive the nations.
Now we're not surprised by that because that's what
he's made a career out of doing. He is a deceiver. In

fact, back in chapter 12 verse 9 it calls him Satan who

deceives the whole world. I mean, that is his
character, that is what he does. He is a deceiver, ever
and always. Back in verse 3 of this chapter, he is put
into the abyss so he should not deceive the nations
any longer until the thousand years were finished. And
now when he comes back, he will deceive people.
In other words, it will not be clear to them why they're
doing what they're doing. They will be under a
deception. His primary operation has always been to
lead people astray from the truth, from reality. You
wonder why, don't you, the world is just absolutely
filled with deception and lies, false religions
everywhere, false views of morality everywhere, false
understandings of virtue everywhere. Why? Because
the god of this age has blinded the minds of the
people of this age who are perishing and they have
bought into his deception because they love their sin.
And so Satan comes out and he deceives the nations.
So while Satan is released and Satan is the deceiver,
it is the plan of God that is being executed. It is no
different than when Jesus died on the cross and Peter
reminded the people who killed Christ that they had
done that, that they had killed the prince of life, they
had wanted a murderer rather than the prince of life,
but what they had done was by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And so God is
behind the whole thing. It was God, of course, who
gave the angel the authority to incarcerate Satan. It
was God, of course, who provided the means of
releasing him from the pit. It is God who allows him to

pull off his deception. And it is God who gathers by

allowing the enterprise of Satan to run its course, all of
these hosts against His people and against His land
and against His city.
So Satan, you will remember, always functions within
the sovereignty of God. He always functions within the
stated purpose and goal of God in His redemptive
intention.
Now it says also in verse 8 that he will come out to
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of
the earth. Obviously the earth is round, we don't take
this as some indication that people in the Bible times
thought the earth was square. It simply means east,
west, north and south...the points of a compass from
all over the globe. And you can remember if you were
with us back in chapter 7, four angels standing at the
four corners of the earth holding back the four winds
of the earth. And there again is that same reference to
east, west, north and south, meaning global, the four
points of the compass. So Satan's deception is global.
I don't know how he pulls it off, I don't know how he
dispatches his demons because the Bible doesn't tell
us. We don't know by what means he will bring about
the deception. But the deception is going to basically
at its heart be this kind of deception...we can conquer
Christ. That's at the heart of it. I mean, they would
have to believe that or they wouldn't do this. And that's
going to be a very, very interesting deception because
after all, they have lived under the rule of Christ for a
thousand years and many of them have surely lived

for hundreds of years because life will be elongated

again, as we discussed some weeks ago. And they've
lived a long time under the rule of Christ. They have
seen the rod of iron. It is well known to him that He
rules with justice and righteousness and swiftness and
there is no escaping. They understand His power.
They understand His invincibility. So the deception
has to involve the idea that they can actually
overthrow Christ. And they are so deceived by Satan
but that's all within God's plan.
So, back to verse 8. The nations from all over the
globe are deceived. And then it says, "Gog and
Magog." What is that? Well there's only one way to
see that. That has to be the title for these enemies of
the King of Kings. He gives them this title, they are
called Gog and Magog. The world is going to march
against Christ under that name, Gog and Magog.
Now that is not a non-descript or an obscure name.
That is not something just pulled out of a hat. That has
significance prophetically.
Now Magog we know. Magog was the grandson of
Noah. Magog was the second son of Japheth, you
remember Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and
Japheth. Japheth's second son, grandson of Noah
therefore, was Magog. And Magog, this child of
Japheth, founded a great kingdom. And the great
kingdom that Magog founded was north of the Black
and Caspian Sea. In ancient times it was known as
Scythia, in modern times it is known as Russia.

Scripture says little about this kingdom at all. All we

know about it is just a little bit of the history of the
name because he is a grandson of Noah. And we
know the location. We don't know much else. So from
a historical standpoint we don't know much. And
furthermore there is no way to know what Gog is. We
have nothing about Gog by way of descriptive in
Scripture. Perhaps it is best to refer to Gog as the
leader of the Magog power. Magog being this great
power, this great nation, this great group of people to
the north, and Gog perhaps being the leader of
Magog.
But we're not looking at history, we're looking at
prophecy. And here is a prophecy that in the future
Gog and Magog are going to appear. And so Gog, if
he is indeed the leader of the Magog power, here
refers not to someone in the past, but to someone in
the future. This name is given to the final rebelling
army of millions of people.
Now in ancient times Magog, Scythia, and even in
modern times Russia is north of Israel. And it may well
be that the reason this worldwide power is called
Magog, there's a number of reasons perhaps, but one
significant reason would be that it like all the other
enemies of Israel comes down from the north. All
those who have conquered Israel through history
always come down from the north because you come
down from the Heights, and they have immense
vulnerability at that point. And so here is the final great
conquering army, coming down into Israel from the

north against the land, against the holy city, the

beloved city, and against the reigning Christ.
Now the question that Bible students have pondered
through the years is what event is this? What event is
38 and 39 of Ezekiel? When does this happen? Some
suggest it happens before the Tribulation, some have
suggested it happens at the beginning of the
Tribulation, some have said it's in the middle of the
Tribulation. Some have said it's toward the end of the
Tribulation. Some have said it's...it's right after the
Tribulation. Some have said it's...it's in the middle of
the Kingdom. Some have said it's at the end of the
Kingdom. Some have said it's after the Kingdom. And
what that tells you is people are having a very difficult
time figuring this out.
And when you get down to the irreducible minimum,
the one compelling interpretation that you have of
Ezekiel 38 and 39 is Revelation 20 because that's the
only other place that Gog and Magog is mentioned.
And certainly the Lord must have assumed that we
would make a connection because in Revelation 20
He doesn't do anything to define Gog and Magog.
Well He would assume that anybody who understands
the Bible is going to get immediately back into Ezekiel
38 and 39 to find out what this Gog and Magog is all
about.
Now there are some who say that, however, the
events in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are not the same as the
events in the time of the Kingdom, but they're more
like the events of the Tribulation. Consequently there

is some discussion at that point. But let me just

suggest to you that I'm a simple man and if I see Gog
and Magog in Revelation 20 and I see Gog and
Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39, I'm prone in my simplicity
to make a connection. I think they're the same, and I
think there are some compelling reasons why we can
affirm that. And I want to share those with you.
Let's go back to Ezekiel 38 and I want to just help you
to see why I think this fits into the time of the end of
the Millennial Kingdom. Let me start reading for you.
"And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of
Man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog,
the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal and prophesy
against him, and say, Thus says the Lord God, behold
I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech
and Tubal and I will turn you about and put hooks into
your jaws and I will bring you out and all your army,
horses and horsemen, all your splendid attired...all of
them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler
and shield, all of them wielding swords; Persia and
Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and
helmet, Gomer with all its troops, Beth- togarmah from
the remote parts of the north with all its troops-- many
peoples with you. Be prepared and prepare yourself,
you and all your companies that are assembled about
you and be a guard for them.
"After many days you will be summoned in the latter
years you will come into the land that is restored from
the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered
from many nations, to the mountains of Israel, which

had been a continual waste. But its people were

brought out from the nations and they're living
securely, all of them. And you will go up, you will come
up like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the
land, you and all your troops and many peoples with
you. And thus says the Lord God, It will come about
on that day that thoughts will come into your mind and
you will devise an evil plan and you will say, I will go
up against the land of unwalled villages, I will go
against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of
them living without walls and having no bars or gates
to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your
hand against the waste places which are now
inhabited against the people who are gathered from
the nations who have acquired cattle and goods who
live at the center of the world. Sheba and Dedan and
the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say
to you, Have you come to capture spoil? Have you
assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry
away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods,
to capture great spoil?
"Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog,
Thus says the Lord god, On that day when My people
Israel are living securely, will you not know it? And you
will come from your place out of the remote parts of
the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them
riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army,
and you will come up against My people Israel like a
cloud to cover the land. It will come about on the last
days that I'll bring you against My land in order that
the nations may know Me, when I shall be sanctified
through you before their eyes, O Gog."

Just reading that gives me the same sense of what is

said in the book of Revelation, doesn't it you? A
collection of people from all over the earth coming
against Jerusalem, coming down from thebbutz north
which is where the conquerors always came from.
Let's just pick out some of the key ideas here.
Whatever is going on Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur
when Israel is living in safety. Verse 8, "In the latter
years you will come into the land that is restored from
the sword..." and so forth, and at the end of the verse,
"And time when they are living securely, all of them."
Verse 11, "I will go up against the land of unwalled
villages," that means they don't need protection. "I will
go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all
of them, living without walls and having no bars or
gates." Verse 14, "In the day when My people in Israel
are living securely, will you not know it?"
One very clear thing is it's a time when Israel is living
in safety. That is not true of the Tribulation, is it? There
is anything but safety in the time of Jacob's trouble.
The time of Jacob's trouble is what Jesus called the
worst time that has ever come on the face of the
earth, Matthew 24:21. It is a time when He warns the
Jews to flee and to hope and pray that it's not winter
or they're not bearing children because that would
hinder their escape.
Secondly, whatever this great war is, it occurs not only
at a time when Israel is living safely, but when Israel is
prosperous and flourishing. Verse 12, "They are going

to have spoil, these people are going to come to

capture spoil, seize plunder. They're going to come to
those who have acquired cattle and goods who live at
the center of the world." It's going to be then when the
people of God are back in Jerusalem and Jerusalem,
believe me, in God's eyes is the center of the world,
right? It's the throne of the Messiah. They're going to
come at a time when Israel flourishes and when they
have spoil. Down in verse 13, "Have you assembled
to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold and
cattle and goods?" And let me say this, that is not true
of Israel during the time of the Tribulation. They will
not be wealthy, they will be poor. They will be
slaughtered, they will be massacred, as we saw very,
very clearly. They'll be leaving anything they possess
where it is when they flee for their lives. They'll be
hustling off to a place in the wilderness to be
protected, taking nothing with them but bare
necessities.
Thirdly, whatever this event is in 38 and 39 it will occur
when Israel has been brought back from the sword. In
other words, when war is over. Verse 8, "It will come in
the latter years, in the land that is restored from the
sword." That is to say it will...it will come in a time
when the land is, literally in the Hebrew, shub,
returned...returned from war, from the sword.
END OF SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO

Time when peace reigned. That's not the kingdom

(Tribulation), according to Zechariah chapter 12,
Zechariah chapter 12 lays out for us that Israel is
trampled during the time of the Tribulation. Revelation
19, massive war during the Tribulation. This has to be
a time when war is over, when the nation is
redeemed, brought back from chastening wars,
disciplining wars, wars of God's refining. And certainly,
if you go back to chapter 36 and follow the chronology
of Ezekiel's prophecy, it was in 36 that Israel was
brought back, that the dry bones find life and they're
redeemed and delivered and gathered to the land.
And it's a great and glorious gathering, chapter 36.
Then in chapter 37 in the vision of the dry bones as
Israel is brought into the reality of the New Covenant,
saved, redeemed and given life. So the nation is
redeemed and gathered and wars are over.
And next, it has to be at a time when...when Israel is
gathered for, I want to use the right word, within the
framework of redemptive purpose. Verse 8 again,
"Whose inhabitants have been gathered from many
nations from the mountains of Israel." In other words,
it's the time after God redeems Israel, when Israel has
been gathered, kibbutzin Hebrew, when they
have...it's used frequently for the Lord gathering Israel
into the Kingdom. Isaiah talked about it, chapter 11,
chapter 43, chapter 54, chapter 56, Jeremiah talked
about it in chapter 23 and 29 and 31 and 32,
Zephaniah chapter 3, Zechariah 10, Malachi 4. It talks
about the gathering of Israel into the Kingdom. Surely
can't...surely can't refer to Israel...listen to this...being
regathered in unbelief to enjoy the false peace of

Antichrist. It has to be Israel being gathered to a true

peace and the reign of the Messiah, so it can't be a
time in the Tribulation.
Furthermore, it must be a time when Israel is invaded
by many nations, when Israel is invaded by many
nations. Notice in verse 2, Gog, Magog, Rosh,
Meshech, Tubal; verse 5, Persia, Ethiopia, Put; verse
6, Gomer and Togarmah, house of Togarmah; verse
6...verse 13 rather, Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish. This is a
massive global kind of thing, this isn't just some nation
in the north coming down as is described in Daniel 11
and that must be at a different time for a number of
reasons. First of all, it's just one people coming down
from the north, secondly, they come down and make
war with the Antichrist in Daniel 11, not with Christ. So
that power, the king of the north coming down in
Daniel 11 cannot be the same as this north power.
Furthermore, east, south, west, north are all involved.
He mentions here Ethiopia, that's south of Egypt. Put,
that's Libya, that's south. Sheba, that's northeast
Africa. That's Dedan or Saudi Arabia to the east.
Tarshish would be the Mediterranean area. You can't
be very specific about that but it could be Tarsus in
Cilicia. Gomer, modern Turkey; Togarmah, eastern
Anotolia which is a portion of Turkey, probably an
ancient city of the Assyrians, far removed from the
others mentioned. And some say it was the land
bridge between the Black and the Caspian Sea.
Meshech, other parts of Turkey; Tubal, other parts of
modern Turkey; and Persia which is modern Persia or
Iran.

The point is they come from all around, the four

corners of the earth. It must also be a time when
Israel's calamities have ended. Verse 8 says that they
are living securely. They have been brought out from
the nations and are living securely, all of them. That
could only be true if they were brought out from the
nations redemptively and were living under the
leadership of Messiah. Certainly can't be the time of
the Great Tribulation when Armageddon is about to
break out. We find a similar indication over in chapter
39. Furthermore it will be a time, and this is very
important, when Israel is unpolluted, when Israel does
not profane God's name. Chapter 39 of Ezekiel verse
7, "My holy name I shall make known in the midst of
My people Israel and I shall not let My holy name be
profaned anymore." It will be a time when Israel is
unpolluted, when God's name is not profaned
anywhere in the world. It can't be the Tribulation
because blasphemy reigns on every front.
It will be a time when Israel is being dealt with as a
nation. And that time has to be the Kingdom. Over in
verse 25 of 39, "I shall restore the fortunes of Jacob
and have mercy on the whole house of Israel." Verse
27, "I bring them back from the peoples, gather them
from the lands of their enemies and I will be sanctified
through them in the sight of many nations." It's a time
when Israel is lifted up and purified and purged and
redeemed nationally and dealt with as a nation,
reconstituted as a nation. That happens in the
Kingdom. It is a time when Israel is led by holiness as
we saw in verses 7 and 8.

The only period of time that I can understand that

happening is the Kingdom. And that's why I think if
you start with Gog and Magog in Revelation 20,
there's only one place to go, that's Ezekiel 38 and 39.
There are some features here that trip up some
people. Some people wonder about seven years in
verses 9 and 10 of chapter 39, seven years to burn
the weapons that are going to be used in that war.
Well that's not a problem. If Satan is released a few
years before the end of the thousand, and the war
starts and ends immediately, there can be a period of
time in which the weapons can be burned before the
Kingdom ends and the eternal state begins. There will
be, remember, believing people still alive on earth.
There will be a great multitude who will believe in
Jesus Christ and be saved. And when all the ungodly
are destroyed, they'll still be around to do that if that's
what God has purposed to do. That's certainly not a
point that would debilitate this argument.
Well, all of that...let's go back to Revelation 20. I want
you to know that because I think it's important when
we study the Word of God to be as accurate as we
can possibly be. And when the Lord gives us
something as specific as Gog and Magog, we want to
do our best to interpret it. I can't imagine any better
parallel to the event of Revelation 20 than Ezekiel 38
and 39. And as you read through Ezekiel 38 and 39, if
you took the time to do it in great detail, there
might...you might come across a few things that you
wonder how they fit. That shouldn't surprise you,
because that's the nature of prophetic truth. We can't
know all the details, we can't resolve all the issues.

You can imagine how the Old Testament prophet or

the Old Testament saint read everything that the Old
Testament said about the coming of Messiah and tried
to fit it all together. First of all, they would have one
massive problem because they would be reading the
Old Testament and they would read...King, King, King,
King...and then they would come to Isaiah and they
would find suffering servant which would pose for
them an immense conflict, which conflict exists to this
very day among Jews who don't know what to do with
that section of Isaiah. That's the nature of prophecy, in
that we can't see everything that could be known, only
God knows the future in its perfection.
So, back to Revelation 20. Satan then comes back,
collects a world of sinners from the corners of the
earth. They are given this title Gog and Magog
because that represents the ancient enemy that
descends on the people of God. Satan gets all these
people, gathers them together for the war, the
absolutely final battle. That's it, folks, there ain't no
more. Now we've seen a lot of battles through
Revelation, this is it...this is the last battle. The next
battle that occurs in the Bible is the battle you have to
find the right thing in the Concordance because after
this there aren't any battles left...the absolutely final
battle.
And it says amazingly, "The number of them is like the
sand of the seashore." Now that's hyperbole. It
doesn't mean that if you could count the number of
grains of sand on the seashores of the world you'd

know exactly how many soldiers there would be in

that battle. That's hyperbole, that is simply a way to
illustrate this massive number. And that is so tragic
that there will be a number, a massive number of
people who will join Satan's rebellion. By the way,
such hyperbole is used back in Genesis 22:17, God
says, "I'll greatly bless you, multiply your seed as the
stars of the heavens, as the sand which is on the
seashore." In other words, a tremendous, great
number, not necessarily equal mathematically to the
number of grains of sand. It came, it says in Joshua
11:4, they came out, they and all their armies...and
this is talking about some kings...and they came, as
many people as the sand that is on the seashore. Well
we know that army wasn't equal to the number of
grains of sand, it's simply a hyperbolic way to express
a large number, a massive number. We have the
same kind of use in 1 Samuel 13, it says, "The
Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty
thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and
people like the sand which is on the seashore in
abundance." The Jews just used that as a hyperbolic
way of expressing great number, a great horde
coming in a warring effort.
Back for just a moment, it came to mind, back in
Ezekiel 38 verse 9 it says that they'll come like a
storm, like a cloud covering the land. That's the same
kind of hyperbole. Down in verse 16, "Like a cloud
covering the land." So it's going to be a, there's going
to be a population explosion in the Kingdom. People
are going to live a long time, conditions are going to
be perfect. I told you the earth is going to be restored.

Things are going to change. There are not going to be

the natural enemies. I don't think the disease factor is
going to be there. I think when you saw Jesus coming
in His first coming and healing and healing and
banishing disease from Palestine, that was a taste of
the age to come. It will be an age of healing, of
wholeness, of long life, of high reproduction. It will be
a time of peace. People won't be dying as they die
today in wars and crime and all of that. And so people
will live long healthy lives. And they will be highly
reproductive. There will be a population explosion
exponentially that will create a massive population of
millions on the earth by the time that thousand years
is complete. The conditions of health and safety and
peace are going to make a lot of people available for
Satan to gather his hosts.
Then verse 9, "When the army was gathered," and it's
an amazing thing to see how he's able to gather them
from all over the earth. "They came up from the broad
plain of the earth." Now remember, the earth has been
reconfigured. We remember that. We remember back,
for example, in Revelation chapter 16 and verse 20,
"Every island fled away and the mountains were not
found." There has been during the time of the
Tribulation a rearrangement of topography and
geography. The holocaust of judgment has reshaped
the earth. Mountains have come down, and islands
have fled away. That indicates barriers being
removed, access being given, a feature of the
Kingdom. And so this tremendous army...it doesn't
mean there is no hill anywhere, it just means that the
earth is reconfigured. There is still a mount on which

Zion exists and which Christ rules and there may still
be some hills here and there as the prophets looked
toward that time. But in general the earth is flattened
out. And so they come up on the broad plain of the
earth and they surrounded the camp of the saints.
That's...that's what they're after. The saints
encampment would be, of course, nothing other than
the land of Israel.
You can believe that...that the world of true believers
is going to want to get as close to Jerusalem as they
can get, right? Because Jesus is there. I'll tell you one
thing, if I were alive in that Kingdom, I wouldn't be
living in L.A. if He was in Jerusalem.
If you're thinking about future property investment....
Of course, it's got to survive the Tribulation, may not
make it. And if we have an earth that is as peaceful as
far as weather is concerned as Eden was, we might
not even need to protect ourselves like we do in
houses today.
But anyway, they go up against the people of God, the
camp of the saints. That word "camp" is used in the
New Testament to speak of a military encampment. It
is used to speak of Roman barracks. It is used in Acts
21, Acts 22, Acts 23 in that same way. So they come
up against the camp of the saints and the saints will
have encamped around the city and around the throne
of Jesus Christ. They want to be where He is. They
want to be in His glorious presence.

And the Scripture makes this clear that that's what the
saints are going to do. Isaiah, for example, chapter
24, says in verse 23, "Then the moon will be abashed
and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and His glory will be
before His elders." His spiritual leaders, His elders,
His saints surely all gathered as close to His presence
as they can possibly be. Jeremiah 3:17, "At that time
they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord and all
the nations will be gathered to Jerusalem for the name
of the Lord." All those who believe out of the nations
are going to go there and they're going to live there
because He is there.
Zechariah, the last chapter, chapter 14 verse 9, "And
the Lord will be King over all the earth. In that day the
Lord will be the only one and His name the only one."
Marvelous. "And all the land will be changed into a
plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem." It will
all be a flat plain. "But Jerusalem will rise and remain
on its site." It will be a mount where He reigns,
everything else is flat. Verse 11, "And people will live
in it and there will be no more curse for Jerusalem will
dwell in security." And so he goes back to what the
psalmist said in Psalm 78:68, to Mount Zion which He
loves. Psalm 87:2, "The Lord loves the gates of Zion."
So the capital city of the Millennial Kingdom is the
point of attack where Christ reigns, where the saints
live, the battle is very brief. "Fire came down from
heaven and devoured them all." End of battle. Fast,
sudden, instantaneous and devastating.

It is a favorite judgment of God to send down fire from

heaven and devour people. You read about it in
Genesis 19, Leviticus 10, 2 Kings 1. It is a favorite
way for God to destroy the ungodly. In Luke 9 in the
New Testament in verse 54, "And when His disciples,
James and John, saw this they said, `Lord, do You
want us to command fire to come down from heaven
and consume them?'" Even they knew it was a
favorite of God's to do that. And so it says in verse 9,
"Fire came down from heaven and devoured them,"
killed them...killed them.
What do you mean by that? Well they were literally
physically killed which meant their body was dead and
their soul then went into the realm of punishment,
waiting to be resurrected. Because even the ungodly
will be resurrected, as we will see in the next section.
They were devoured. That means they were
physically annihilated.
It's a devastating and horrible judgment and it's the
last one.
And then the final feature, verse 10. "And the devil
who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire
and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet
are also, and they will be tormented day and night
forever and ever."
The devil, Satan who led them, who deceived them
was now thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, a
sulphur-like chemical fire, symbolizing torment. Satan
joins his cronies. You remember back in chapter 19

verse 20, the beast was seized, the false prophet was
seized, and they've already been in the lake of fire for
a thousand years. They've already been burning with
fire and brimstone. And now Satan joins them.
You say, "Is that a literal fire like we understand fire?
Is that literal brimstone like we understand it?" No. "Is
it literal anguish, literal pain, literal punishment?" Yes.
Remember now, these are spiritual beings. The nature
of their torment is spiritual. You say, "What about
humans? When they get cast into the lake of fire, is
theirs a literal burning and a literal fire?" Yes. We're
not talking about spiritual beings like demons now,
we're talking about physical beings who have
resurrected physical bodies. And we'll talk more about
that in the future. For human beings hell is a literal
place that burns their...their resurrected flesh and
never destroys it.
But for now, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone, prepared for him and his angels. He joins
his cronies, his head is finally bruised, as John 12:31
says, "Now the ruler of this world shall be cast out,"
and here is where that is fulfilled. And this is final hell.
This is the final place. This is the last place. Every
kind of imaginable torment will be there. In every
conceivable way in which this creature can suffer, he
will suffer, in every conceivable way in which a fallen
angel can suffer, he will suffer. And they are, frankly,
inconceivable to me because I cannot comprehend
how spiritual beings suffer in fire and brimstone. But
God knows that and I'm content not only to not know
that now, but never to know it. For those who reject

Jesus Christ who are among men, those human

beings in whatever conceivable way a resurrected
human body and a living eternal human soul can
suffer, they will suffer.
And so, Satan is cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are
also. And then this horrible statement, "And they will
be tormented day and night forever and ever." The
"day and night" means it's unrelieved, there's never a
moment when they're not tormented and they will be
tormented without relief forever...forever and ever.
Absolutely astounding thought.
In Revelation 14:11 it says, "Those who drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, their smoke will go up
forever and ever." The smoke of their torment and
they have no rest day and night. And here it's talking
about human beings, whereas in chapter 20 it's talking
about Satan. Hell for Satan and his angels is eternal.
But remember, the beast and the false prophet are
human and for them it is eternal as well.
You say, "Are you sure hell is eternal?" As sure as I
am that heaven is eternal. When it says forever and
ever it uses the same phrase in chapter 1 verse 6,
and there it says "To God be the glory and the
dominion forever and ever." And if hell isn't forever
and ever, then God isn't glorious forever and ever.
People want to come along and deny that hell is
forever, and to do that you have deny that God is
forever cause the same expression is used to
describe Him. In chapter 1 verse 18 it says, Christ

speaking, "I was dead and behold I am alive forever."

If hell is not forever, Christ is not forever, and neither
is heaven. But if God is forever and Christ is forever,
then heaven is forever and so is hell.
There's no way around it. The language of Scripture is
clear. Chapter 4 verse 9, "The living creatures gave
glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the
throne, to Him who lives forever and ever." Verse 10,
"We will worship Him who lives forever and ever."
Chapter 5 verse 13, "To Him who sits on the throne
and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and
dominion forever and ever." Chapter 7 verse 12,
"Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to
our God forever and ever. Amen." Chapter 10 verse 6,
"They swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who
created heaven and the things in it, earth and the
things in it, the sea and the things in it." Chapter 11
verse 15, "The kingdom of the world has become the
Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will
reign forever and ever." Whatever "forever and ever"
means in connection with God and Christ, it means in
connection with hell, eis tous aionos.
So, the demise of Satan, the destruction of Satan
was...was assured at the cross and executed at the
end of the Millennial Kingdom. So what have we
learned? About the removal of Satan, the reign of
saints, the return of Satan and the revolt of society. In
understanding that you have the picture of the
Kingdom. And we've tried to fill in a lot of details over
these four messages. This is the future of the world. It

never ceases to astound me how that so many people

in our society can run from poll to poll trying to figure
out the future and here it is. And what a wonderful
reality. We're already citizens of that Kingdom, right?
Our citizenship is already there. That's our place,
that's our home, He's our King. And we will come back
with Him in glorified form to reign alongside those who
are still living in human form. We will enjoy the
Kingdom even more than they and we will rule under
Christ, carrying out His wishes on behalf of those who
live in the world. We will enjoy the peace and
righteousness, the joy, the power, the truth, the
wisdom that reigns supreme. And we will rule with
Christ. What a glorious future. And it awaits us.
It's a very trivial comparison but I was watching some
commercial of some athlete, and after the
championship they said, "Now where are you going?"
And he said, "I'm going to Disneyland." And I thought
to myself, if they ever ask me that, I'm going to tell
them I'm going to the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen? Amen! Let's pray together.
Father, we thank You for a glimpse into the glories of
our future and at the same time our hearts are grieved
over the sinfulness of sin. Father, we...we are
overwhelmed, overpowered, shocked and startled by
Your grace to us, by Your mercy to us that has made
us citizens of the Kingdom. We are humbled by that
for there's nothing in us to make us worthy. O what
joy, O what love, O what fellowship, what hope we
have because we are citizens of the Kingdom and
subjects of the King. And You are our King now, and

You have been since we placed our faith in You. And

we are Your humble subjects. We don't have to wait
for the future for that, we just have to wait for the
future to enter into the eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled that fadeth not away and is
reserved in heaven for us. We just have to wait until
we can enter into the glories of Your Kingdom and
reign with You and rule with You. But until that time,
we thank You that we are children of the King,
subjects of the King, members of the Kingdom. What
a privilege.
Father, our hearts reach out to those who don't know
You, who are in the kingdom of darkness. We think of
the frightening eternal realities that await them and we
plead with You to be gracious and merciful to sinners
as You have been to us that You might be glorified.
And we ask these things in the name of Christ. Amen.
******************
Let's turn in our Bibles to Revelation chapter 20
verses 11 through 15, a marvelous and familiar text,
giving to us the most serious and sobering scene in all
of the Bible because it describes the most tragic event
in the history of mankind, the Great White Throne
Judgment. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, "And I saw
a great white throne and Him who sat upon it from
whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no
place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the
great and the small, standing before the throne and
books were opened, and another book was opened
which is the book of life and the dead were judged

from the things which were written in the books

according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up
the dead which were in them, and they were judged,
every one of them according to their deeds. And death
and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is
the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's
name was not found written in the book of life, he was
thrown into the lake of fire."
This is man's last day in God's court. This day of
judgment, this tribunal, this court, this trial will not be
like the familiar trials held on earth. For those on trial
this day will experience a very different kind of court.
There will be no debate about guilt or innocence.
There will be a prosecutor but no defender, there will
be an accuser but no advocate. There will be an
indictment but no case for the charged. There will be a
swift presentation of the convicting evidence but no
rebuttal, a testimony with no cross examination. There
will be an utterly unsympathetic judge and no jury.
There will be a sentence but no appeal, a punishment
with no parole in a jail with no escape.
The petty courts of earth fall far short of this one.
Somewhere unknown to us between earth and
heaven, between the world as we know it now and the
new heaven and the new earth, this judgment will take
place. And it is the last courtroom that will ever
convene throughout all eternity. After this no one will
ever be tried again and God will never again act as a
judge. The Scripture before us describes the event
and its significance. It is where all unredeemed human
beings will eventually arrive. All who have died in their

sins apart from the knowledge of God will be there

from all of human history.
And for all through the centuries, since man sinned
and fell in the Garden, Satan the liar above all liars
has endeavored to deceive man about the reality of
this coming event. He has done his best to convince
men that there will be no final tribunal, there will be no
final judgment. He has deceived sinners into believing
that they can live any way they like and there will be
no day of accounting, there will be no future
punishment, no time of sentencing, no moment when
they stand before the judge of all the earth.
Atheism or any invention of a religion that has a God
who is benign and poses no ultimate threat to them is
all part of Satan's deception. Evolution's popularity is
also based on that deception. It suits man just fine
that he came out of some piece of protoplasm. It suits
him just fine that he emerged out of some division of
cells in the middle of some cosmic ooze. It suits him
just fine that there is no God because if there's no
God then there is no one to whom he is accountable.
There is no one to whom he has to answer. There is
no one to sit in judgment. And man is free from the
fear of ultimate accountability and free to sin as he
pleases and then just pass out of existence.
If there is no Creator, if there is no moral judge in the
universe, that's just fine. And man will live as he wants
to live and go into oblivion. But that's not the case.
That is the deceiving lie of Satan and has been
through the centuries. Either there is no God and

there is therefore no accountability, or that the God

who exists is not a God who is going to judge us at all.
Or that there is a God but when we die, life is over
and we go into oblivion and annihilation.
All of those are the lies of the enemy. The Apostle
John must have shaken as he sat in a cave or on a
hillside on the isle of Patmos and put his pen to the
parchment to write down this vision, a vision of
resurrection of the ungodly, a vision of eternal
damnation. The language here is plain. The language
is stark. The language has absolutely no
embellishment. There are no gory details. It is missing
the adjectives that might be stacked upon one another
to make the terror all that it perhaps could be to
frighten us. It is plain, simple, straight-forward,
unembellished language.
The event that is described here in verses 11 to 15 is
the event that Jesus called in John 5:29 the
resurrection of damnation, or the resurrection of
condemnation. You could translate it either way. And
what John sees here in this vision is an event so
spectacular, so immense, so great that it is really
greater than any other event, so blazing in the display
of glory. So powerful is this event that the entire
universe disintegrates...the entire universe dissolves.
And the fire that fell from heaven to devour the rebels
of Gog and Magog, back in verse 9, the rebellious
army of the world that collected itself under the power
of Satan and his demons at the end of the thousandyear Kingdom, that fire that came and devoured all of
those ungodly rebels now becomes the glory of God,

blazing white energy that incinerates the universe.

What you have here is uncreation, dissolution, utter
annihilation.
As we look at this text a simple outline will help us
grasp the description. First we will see the scene, and
then the summons, then the standard, and then the
sentence. Let's look at the scene, verse 11. "And I
saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and
no place was found for them." And I saw a great white
throne and not only a great white throne, but in verse
12, "And I saw the dead, the great and the small
standing before the throne." That's the scene.
In one brief straightforward unembellished statement,
John sets the scene. A great white throne and
standing before it all the dead, great and small. This is
the uncreation of the universe and it is given in farfewer words than was the creation. The creation has
two chapters, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. The
uncreation, a handful of verses. And the God of
creation becomes the God of destruction. The God
who moved and brought into being becomes the God
who moves and eliminates from existence.
Notice how the verse begins with the little phrase,
"And I saw..." A very familiar phrase to introduce either
a new vision or a new dimension to a vision. And as
we have come down to the Second Coming of Christ,
go back to chapter 19 and verse 11, "And I saw..."
there it is, and he saw..."heaven opened and Christ
coming." Go down to verse 17, "And I saw an angel

standing..." And down to verse 19, "And I saw the

beast and the kings of the earth..." And into chapter 20
verse 1, "And I saw..." In verse 4, "And I saw
thrones..." And verse 11, "And I saw a great white
throne..." And verse 12, "And I saw the dead..." And
into chapter 21 verse 1, "And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth..."
Here is the sequence of visions or the sequence of
changes within the visions that sum up the end of
human history. "And I saw" triggers each new
phase...starting with the return of Christ, followed by
the thousand-year Kingdom and then the great white
throne, the judgment, and the new heavens and the
new earth.
Now remember that after the total destruction of the
rebels at the close of the Millennial Kingdom which
destruction is described there in verse 9, after Satan
is sent into the lake of fire where he will be forever
along with the beast and the false prophet, after all
earthly sinners have been destroyed, all of human
history then since the Garden of Eden is ended. It's all
ended. Satan is gone into the lake of fire, the beast
and the false prophet are gone into the lake of fire.
And along with Satan, of course, all of his demonic
forces. All earthly sinners have now been destroyed.
And all saints in the time of the Kingdom who were
still alive at the very end would be immediately
translated and transformed into glorified form and
that's the end of humanity. Humanity no longer exists.
A physical universe, as we know it today, then has no
reason to exist, especially a physical universe that has

been stained by sin, the sin of fallen angels who have

polluted it to the vast reaches of heaven itself where
they've had access to the very throne of God as
indicated by the book of Job.
The whole universe has been polluted and we've
already seen God begin the destruction process in the
time of the Tribulation with all of those frightening
events that we read about earlier in the book of
Revelation. It's time for the whole cursed universe to
be annihilated. The whole universe that was the
theater of redemption, the earth and all of its environs
which includes everything that we know in the vision
that we can have and see and everything beyond that
to the galaxies to the end of creation, the whole
universe is annihilated. That's how comprehensive
and massive this scene is.
Verse 11 he says, "First of all, I saw a great white
throne." Nearly fifty times in the book of Revelation
there is the mention of thrones. The book opened with
a throne in chapter 1 verse 4, now it closes with a
throne. But this is a very different throne. The throne
in chapter 1 verse 4 is like the throne in chapters 4
and 5, it's the throne of God in heaven, the throne of
majesty, the throne where He sits and reigns and
rules. This is a throne of judgment. This is a throne of
furious activity to annihilate the whole universe. It is
not like the throne of heaven described in chapter 4. It
seems to be a different throne. It is a throne
somewhere in the midst of an uncreated universe
because the universe has dissolved and the new
heaven and the new earth are about to be created.

But somewhere in there in the nothingness of that

moment, the throne exists. Some special judgment
throne set up in the unseen realm.
It is called a great throne, not so much because of its
size as because of its significance, its elevation, its
authority, its majesty, its power, its comprehensive
adjudication or judgment. It is white because of purity
and holiness and righteousness. From that throne
comes absolute righteousness. It is the throne of
majesty unlimited, it is the throne of sovereignty
unchallenged. It is the final judgment seat for the
judge of all the earth to sit and make His judgment. It
is the final place of reckoning. It is a dazzling, blinding,
blazing, pure, holy, divine throne of the presence of
God where He sits in utter and absolute judgment.
Perhaps the psalmist had somewhat of a glimpse of
this when in Psalm 9 verse 7 he wrote, "The Lord
abides forever, He has established His throne for
judgment and He will judge the world in
righteousness, He will execute judgment for the
peoples with equity." And certainly Daniel had this
throne in the vision that God gave to him in chapter 7
of his prophecy, when we find in verses 9 and 10,
Daniel writes, "I kept looking until the thrones were set
up and the Ancient of Days took His seat, His vesture
was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure
wool, His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels
were a burning fire, a river of fire was flowing and
coming out from before Him. Thousands upon
thousands were attending Him...the angels, the holy
angels...myriads upon myriads were standing before

Him, the court sat and the books were opened." It's
got to be the same throne.
And in fact, I think the Apostle Paul even in writing in
Romans chapter 2 and verse 5 was speaking of that
very same day, and that same throne when he said,
"You are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of
wrath and revelation of the righteous judgments
of...judgment of God who will render to every man
according to his deeds." There's the same throne
described as a throne where men will be judged
according to their deeds, as this throne is describing.
So the psalmist had a glimpse of it, Daniel had a
glimpse of it, even Paul understood it...a great, blazing
throne of divine holy energy that uncreates the whole
universe and damns the whole sinning humanity. The
immensity of it is incomprehensible.
And then writes John, "And Him who sat upon it." Him
who sat upon it, and this is a marvelous statement
and I want you to grasp it because it has tremendous
implications. Throughout the book of Revelation God
is the one sitting on the throne. You go back, for
example, into chapter 4 and verse 2 and he was in the
Spirit, says John, and the throne was standing in
heaven, one sitting on the throne who was like a
jasper stone and sardius in appearance and a rainbow
around the throne like an emerald in appearance. And
he describes the throne and the lightning and the
thunder and the Holy Spirit that is emanating there
from the throne like fire burning. And the sea of glass
like crystal and he paints the scene of the throne. And

then he has the four living creatures and what do they

say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty."
And therefore we conclude that He occupies that
throne. He is the one they praise. He is the one that
they worship.
You come into chapter 5, it's the same thing. There is
the one who sits on the throne and a book is in His
hand and it has to be God because He later hands
that book to the Lamb who is Christ. Come down to
chapter 5 verse 13 and they're blessing the one who
sits on the throne and the Lamb, so it is surely God
who sits on the throne.
Chapter 6 and verse 16, "Fall on us and hide us from
the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from
the Lamb." Chapter 7 verse 10, "Salvation to our God
who sits on the throne." And again in verse 15
mentions the throne of God.
God then is the one who sits on the throne. Back in
chapter 19 verse 4, it says that the four living
creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on
the throne. It was God in Daniel 7 who sits on the
throne, and it was God in Romans 2 verse 5 that Paul
referred to as well.
And Jesus adds to this when He says in John 8:50, "I
do not seek My glory, there is one who seeks and
judges." And that would be, of course, God His Father.
So the judge who sits on the throne is none other than
the eternal and almighty God. But, there is something

really marvelous about this because of some other

Scriptures. In Revelation 3:21 it says, "He who
overcomes I will grant to sit down with Me on My
throne as I also overcame and sat down with My
Father on His throne." There is an indication that
when God takes the throne, He's not on the throne
alone. That is the throne of sovereignty and not
necessarily the throne of judgment. But it makes the
point that where God sits in judgment...where God sits
in sovereignty, Christ sits in sovereignty as well. And
certainly we could assume that where God sits in
judgment, Christ sits in judgment also. In fact, if we
understand what the Bible teaches and we grasp the
great reality of the identity of Jesus Christ, we
understand the words of John 10:30 to be true, where
Jesus said, "I and the Father are...what?...are one."
So if God is on the throne, so is Christ on the very
same throne.
In fact, in chapter 22 we again see the throne of
sovereignty. Chapter 22 verse 1, it says, "Coming
from the throne of God and of the Lamb." Verse 3,
"The throne of God and of the Lamb." And we noted
that earlier in chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7, it's not just the
throne of God, it's the throne of God and the Lamb.
He and the Father are one, their sovereignty is equal.
And so we look to the throne and who do we see? We
see God absolutely, but we see God in the form of
Jesus Christ. We see God in the form of Jesus Christ.
In the Kingdom, Christ is on the throne. At the
bemajudgment, the judgment of believers' works, in 2
Corinthians 5:10, Christ is on the throne. And here, I

believe, when John looks and sees one sitting on the

throne, certainly it is God but it is God revealed in
Christ.
You say, "Why is that to be believed?" Well because
He and the Father are one, for one thing, but listen to
this, John chapter 5 and verse 22, listen as I read.
"For not even the Father judges anyone but He has
given all judgment to...whom?...to the Son." How
interesting. He has given all judgment to the Son.
Verse 26 of John 5, "Just as the Father has life in
Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life
in Himself and He gave Him authority to execute
judgment because He is the Son of Man."
In other words, the reason the Father gives the
judgment to the Son is because no one knows
humanity better than the Son of Man. For He was one
of them.
And so, "Do not marvel...he writes in verse 28...at this,
an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
shall hear His voice and come forth, those who did the
good deeds to a resurrection of life, and those who
committed the evil deeds, to a resurrection of
judgment." It is the Lord Jesus Christ who summons
them to judgment, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who sits
as judge. It is God then in the form of Christ.
In Acts 17 and verse 31, listen to this. It says, "God is
now...verse 30...declaring all men everywhere to
repent because He has fixed a day in which He will
judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom

He has appointed." He will judge but through a Man

He has appointed. What Man? Having furnished proof
to all men by raising Him from the dead, the Man He
raised from the dead, none other than Jesus Christ.
God is the judge and God sits on the throne in the
form of Jesus Christ and judges through Christ.
That's a tremendously important statement, my
friends, because beyond contradiction it affirms that
Jesus and God are one. The denial of which is he
mainspring of most aberrant Christian cults.
In Romans chapter 2 and verse 16, it says, "On the
day when according to my gospel God will judge the
secrets of me through Christ Jesus." God judges
through Christ. That's exactly how it works.
So John looks at the throne, back to chapter 20. And
Him who sat on it, it is God in the form of the glorified
Christ who sits in judgment. Why? Because He is the
one who has the best perspective, the best vantage
point as one who was man to judge man. So John
sees the blazing throne and the judge.
Then comes the startling reality. John says, "From
whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no
place was found for them." This is an incredible
statement. From the very presence of the one on the
throne, earth and heaven fled away. Sin cursed the
whole universe, as you well know, we've seen it again
and again. It was restored in the Kingdom. There was
a restoration and a refreshing and a restitution of all
things and a time of the regeneration of the world. And

you remember the globe was reconfigured, remember

that? And so was space because of the collapse of
the sky and the rolling up of heaven like a scroll and
stars flying around wildly and comets crashing into
earth. The earth was reformed. Mountains were
flattened out. Islands fled away. And the Lord
prepared the earth in a restored fashion for the
Millennial Kingdom.
But it is still the same sin-cursed universe. And so it
has to be obliterated because you cannot have sin
stained universe...a sin-stained universe throughout
eternity. It can't live eternally. Anything sin touches
does...what?...dies, disintegrates. And so it has to be
destroyed. And chapter 21 verse 1, "I saw a new
heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the
first earth passed away." Gone.
John is looking at the uncreation. It's like it never
happened. And there was no place found for them. It
doesn't mean they went somewhere, it doesn't mean it
was reshaped. It was uncreated. It utterly goes out of
existence. Here is the sudden, violent termination of
the universe.
God never designed it to last forever. It can't. It's very
temporary. Fled away...you see that term, "fled away,"
that is exactly the same Greek term as is found in
Matthew 24:35 where Jesus said, "Heaven and earth
will...what?...pass away," that is repeated in Mark
13:31, Luke 21:33. Gone. Jesus said it would happen.
Here it happens.

I want to take you to another passage. Second Peter

chapter 3...2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10, "The day of
the Lord...remember, the day of the Lord has an
element of it at the end of the Tribulation, but the final
expression of the day of the Lord doesn't come till a
thousand years later, the day of the Lord comes at the
end of the Tribulation, but the final expression of the
day of the Lord waits a thousand years, that shouldn't
be a problem because it tells us right there in verse 8
that one day is as a thousand years and a thousand
years as a day with the Lord....so the day of the Lord
can certainly stretch across a thousand-year
period...the final day of the Lord will come like a thief."
What does that mean? Suddenly, unexpectedly, and
devastatingly...that's how a thief comes. And what's
going to happen? "The heavens will pass away."
Now here is the first time we get any kind of indication
of any attendant phenomenon. It says it will pass
away, the heavens will pass away with a roar. That's
an onomatopoetic word, that means it's a word that
sounds like what it means. It will pass away with a
whizzing, it will pass away with a crackling, whistling.
It's...it's gone. And then the elements will be destroyed
or they'll melt with intense heat. The elements,
stoicheo, what does it mean? The basic elements, the
atoms, the electrons, protons, neutrons, the
substance of which matter is composed and whatever
might even be smaller than that that we don't know
about. The basic elements, the fundamental parts, the
components will melt. Literally the verb luo, they will
dissolve, disintegrate. And the earth and its works will
be burned up. Literally that means...it's a compound

verb, it means to be totally consumed. That's a very,

very graphic description of the end of the universe, as
we know it.
Go down to verse 12, 2 Peter 3, again he adds, "The
heavens will be destroyed by burning and the
elements will melt with intense heat." And then verse
13 says, "There will come a new heavens and a new
earth in which righteousness dwells." You've got to get
rid of the cursed universe.
Folks, there's no reason to save the earth. As I have
said before, if you think we're messing it up, wait till
you see what God does to it. Now science comes
along and science says...Matter can't be destroyed
and matter...they say...cannot be, in fact, created.
What scientists like to say is it can only be altered. But
it was created by God and the same God who could
create matter can uncreate it. Matter was created
once by God and it will be uncreated by God. Not just
altered. And I think that is inherent in the statement
there and "no place was found for them," in chapter
20 verse 11. No place, they were non-existent. What
else can that mean? It doesn't mean they changed
their shape or their form, they weren't anywhere.
Again Matthew 5:18, "Until heaven and earth pass
away...," they're gone...there's no place for them. They
don't just change their form, they are non-existent.
In Isaiah chapter 51 verse 6, "Lift up your eyes to the
sky, then look to the earth beneath for the sky will
vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a
garment and its inhabitants will die in like manner." It's

not a permanent earth. It's not supposed to last. It has

a very short life span. Isaiah 65:17, "For behold I
create new heavens and a new earth." And you know
something wonderful? "The former things shall not be
remembered or come to mind."
People always ask me, when we get into the eternal
heaven will we remember the past? No, because any
memory of the past would be tainted with...what?...sin.
It's going to pass away, it's gone, out of existence, just
like it came into existence by the creative power of
God, it will go out of existence. In the book of
Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 10 it says, "And Thou,
Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the
earth. And the heavens are the works of Thy hands,
they will perish. But Thou remainest. They all will
become old as a garment and as a mantle Thou wilt
roll them up, as a garment, they will also be changed."
One garment is taken off and it's gone, another one
put on. But You're the same.
Toward the end of the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter
12 verse 26, "His voice shook the earth then but now
He has promised saying, Yet once more I'll shake not
only the earth but also the heaven." And this
expression "yet once more" denotes, listen to this, the
removing of those things which can be shaken as of
created things...all the created things gone.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse said, "There is to be an
end of the material heavens and earth which we know.
It is not that they are to be purified and rehabilitated
but that the reverse of creation is to take place. They

are to be uncreated. As they came from nothing at the

Word of God, they are to be sucked back into
nothingness by the same Word of God."
You say, "Well, is science wrong when they say matter
cannot be destroyed?" Of course they're wrong.
Matter can be destroyed. And the non-eternity of
matter is discussed in the Bible. For example, I'm
thinking of some statements in the Psalms. Psalm
97:5, "The mountains melted like wax at the presence
of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole
earth." There's another picture of the disintegration of
the universe, of...starting at that particular point with
the earth. Psalm 102, I think it's verse 25, "As of old
Thou didst found the earth, and the heavens are the
work of Thy hands, even they will perish." Matter is
not eternal. It's not going to last forever. Pass away.
So that's an immense scene. The whole universe
disappears. And there in the middle of the
nothingness between the end of this universe and the
new heaven and the new earth is this judgment. Verse
12, "And I saw the dead." Now remember, there's no
living people left, I mean, because there's no universe,
right? There aren't just people floating around like
those astronauts that go outside their spaceship
because there's no universe for them to float in.
There's no nothing.
You say, "That's hard to comprehend." No, that's
impossible to comprehend. But there's nobody living
left. At the defeat of Gog and Magog in verse 9,
sinners were all killed at that time and there weren't

any sinners left. You say, "What about the saints?

What about the living righteous believers in the
Kingdom, what happens to them?" Well they certainly
wouldn't be killed in that battle. The saints would be
protected and the armies that came after them would
be killed. What happens to the saints? Obviously
they're immediately translated, glorified, like Elijah, or
raptured like the church into a state of resurrection
glory. And I think that's been going on all through the
Kingdom. Do you ever ask yourself what happens to
the believers who die in the Kingdom? There's only
one explanation, they would have to be immediately
transformed. So a funeral would be a wonderful event.
Someone would merely pass out of earthly existence
into glorified form. And so, at the very end, God would
just glorify all the remaining saints because there's no
universe for them. And the earth beneath them and
the universe above them goes out of existence.
But John says, "I saw the dead...I saw the dead." You
say, "Who are they?" Well they can't be saved people,
can't be. You say why? Well, I'll give you several
reasons. First of all, the church has already been
glorified, right? The Rapture's already occurred way
back before the thousand years, is that not true? At
the end of the time of the Tribulation the Old
Testament saints were raised, weren't they, at the
coming of Jesus Christ and they were ushered into
the Kingdom.
Not only that, the martyrs during the Tribulation have
already been raised as well. Back in chapter 20 verse
4, we saw the thrones and we showed you that sitting

on the thrones would be the resurrected church, the

resurrected Old Testament saints, and then are
described there the martyrs who died during the
Tribulation. So the judgment of the martyrs is already
over. And they've been translated into glorious form,
the church has been raptured, the Old Testament
saints have been transformed and resurrected at the
coming of Christ to establish His Kingdom, as Daniel
pointed out. And as I said, when any saint dies during
the Kingdom, they would be transformed on the spot
and taken into their eternal form.
I mean, to look at it another way, thrones have already
been given to the saints in chapter 20 verse 4, the
bride already has her garments and has met her
bridegroom in chapter 19 verses 7 and 8, the guests
are already at the wedding who would be the Old
Testament saints, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
has already embraced all the redeemed of all the
ages and been going on in its fullness through the
Kingdom. The godly have already received their
eternal reward. The first resurrection has already
passed. Verse 6 says, "Blessed and holy are those
who had a part in it." So they've already been blessed
and they've already been made holy, and that leaves
nobody left but the dead unbelievers. That's the dead
that John sees. Just the unbelievers.
And that is why it is called the resurrection of
damnation. It can't be saved people. They're already
taken care of. And furthermore, the Bible says that
Jesus said in John 5:24 that those who belong to Him
do not come into judgment. And in John chapter 3

when our Lord was talking to Nicodemus, there in

verse 18 He said, "He who believes in Him is not
judged." And in Romans 8:1 Paul says, "There is
therefore now no judgment to those who are in
Christ." We're not going to stand before the great
white throne judgment. We've already been to the
bemaseat, received our rewards, gone into our
glorified form. The godly have already been
transformed.
There are two resurrections. Go back to John 5 in
your mind again and remember, Jesus said there is a
resurrection unto life, and a resurrection unto
damnation. There are two resurrections. So we would
conclude there are two judgments. There is the
judgment of the works of believers described in 2
Corinthians 5:10, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And there is
this judgment.
Who are the dead then? Billions of ungodly sinners
from all of human history, all brought to the great white
throne. The sweeping mass of everybody who lived
since the fall of man that does not know God.
And to show the breath, he simply says in verse 12,
"The great and the small." The somebodies and the
nobodies. Position means nothing. God is no
respecter of persons. The judge has no favorites. The
rich and the famous stand along with the poor and the
obscure. John Phillips writes, "There is a terrible
fellowship there, the dead, small and great, stand
before God, dead souls are united to dead bodies in a
fellowship of horror and despair. Little men and paultry

women whose lives were filled with pettiness,

selfishness and nasty little sins will be there. Those
whose lives amounted to nothing will be there, whose
very sins were drab and dowdy, mean, spiteful,
peevish, groveling, vulgar, common and cheap. The
great will be there, men who sinned with a high hand,
with dash and courage and flair. Men like Alexander
and Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin will be present. Men
who went in for wickedness on a grand scale with the
world for their stage and who died unrepentant at last.
Now one and all are arraigned and on their way to be
damned. A horrible fellowship congregated together
for the first and last time."
All the ungodly sinners of all human history. And what
are they doing? Verse 12 says, "Standing before the
throne." That is the judicial scene. "Will the prisoner
please rise," says the judge, "and approach the bench
to be sentenced." And as Hebrews says, "It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of an angry God." That's
the scene.
You know, I really thought we'd get through this whole
text. But we didn't. That's the scene. We're going to
look into the details of that scene next time...the
summons, the standard by which people are judged,
and the final sentence.

Father, we thank You tonight that we can know Christ

and in knowing Him there is no condemnation. We
thank You, Father, that we have been saved from the
wrath to come, all of it, that which is described here

and that which is eternal, we thank You that there is

no condemnation for us. We thank You that we
participate in the first resurrection, not the second. If
there is a first resurrection, there has to be a second
resurrection. There therefore have to be two
judgments, one for the first and one for the second.
Thank You that we will be in the first resurrection and
the first judgment which is not a judgment of sin but a
judgment of our deeds to see what our reward will be.
When that judgment is over, all of our wood, hay and
stubble will be burned up and all that will be left will be
the gold, silver and precious stones by which we'll be
rewarded. And then we'll have praise from You.
We thank You that the only judgment we'll ever
experience is that determination of our works that will
grant to us an eternal weight of glory because the
judgment of on our sin has already taken place at
Calvary and Jesus bore it fully. But, Lord, knowing the
terror that awaits men at this judgment is indeed
frightening. What an unbelievable scene and we
would ask, Lord, that You would kindle afresh in our
hearts devotion to the souls of men to bring the
message of saving grace, a message of hope, to
show them the gospel of escape from the fury of the
Great White Throne. May we live in the light of these
realities, Lord, and may we not be distracted by the
foolishness of this world from the things that really
matter. May we like the Apostle Paul look not at the
things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen
because the things that are seen are temporal but the
things that are unseen are eternal. May we get our
eyes on the souls of men, on the eternal God, on the

Lord Jesus Christ and live for those things which will
really matter forever and ever.
We pray, Father, that the knowledge of these things
will be a great motivation to us. We know it causes us
to be more responsible and more accountable. And
should there be any attitude of indifference in us
toward those that face this day, we pray that You
would forgive it and replace it with a zeal and a
passion like the Apostle Paul who said he could
almost wish himself accursed for the salvation of his
people. And may we knowing the terror of the Lord
persuade men. Thank You for this revelation. Thank
You for letting us know the end. And now, Lord, enable
us since we do know to live in the light of this reality.
Again thank You for Your Word and for the grace that
is ours in Christ by no merit of our own, the grace that
saves us and delivers us from this judgment. We
praise and thank You in Christ's name. Amen.
********************
We return tonight to the study of the book of
Revelation. I just maybe could for a moment remind
you folks that most people in the Christian world never
study the book of Revelation. Most preachers never
preach on the book of Revelation. Most commentators
never write on the book of Revelation. So most people
don't understand the book of Revelation. And that is
sad. Particularly is that sad when at the very outset of
Revelation in verse 3 of chapter 1 it said, "Blessed is
he who reads and those who hear the words of the

prophecy and heed the things which are written in it

for the time is near."
People who don't study diligently and understand the
book of Revelation forfeit a blessing that is poured out
by God on those who grasp this truth in the light of the
imminent return of Jesus Christ. And if ever there was
a generation then who needed to read this, it is that
generation which is nearest to the return of Christ. It's
a sad thing to say but it's so true today that the book
of Revelation is ignored on most fronts. People do not
have interest in the book of Revelation. They're not
looking at the future, they're trying to suck everything
they can out of the present as if this was all there
really was to concern them.
But the book of Revelation is a tremendous, profound
statement on the return of Jesus Christ, the truth of
which should be comprehended as much as possible
by every believer. Of course there are things in the
book of Revelation that are mysterious to us and
incomprehensible, of course there are things that we
cannot fully understand, no more than the prophet of
the Old Testament wrote down his prophecy about the
Messiah and could only partly understand its
fulfillment because he was looking into a future and
not being able to experience its fulfillment himself.
In all of prophetic literature that is yet unfulfilled there
are certain things which are incomprehensible to us
and difficult to interpret. And to be honest with you, the
timing of these events is the most difficult thing of all,
trying to put everything in a neat order, trying to line it

all up in perfect chronology, trying to fix the time of all

events in relation to all other events is a very
challenging thing. But that's not the main thing. The
main thing is to get the sweeping reality that in the
future God is going to judge the world by that Man, the
Lord Jesus Christ whom He has ordained and that He
raised Him from the dead and that judgment is
imminent, that judgment is coming, it is on the
horizon. All of the events associated with that
judgment are given in the book of Revelation. And
then following that great judgment on the living in the
world is the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and at
the end of the Kingdom comes the Great White
Throne Judgment, or the final judgment. And we're
already at that point in the book of Revelation where
we're into the final and last judgment. It's in chapter 20
verses 11 to 15, we're going back to that text for the
second time tonight. We did it last Sunday night and I
want you to see the great reality that is here given to
us. We return to the most sobering and serious scene
in all of the Bible because the Great White Throne
Judgment is man's last day in God's court. It is the
day in which all sinners who have ever lived in the
history of the world will be sent to eternal hell.
Let me read the text to you again. Verse 11 is the
beginning of it. "I saw a great white throne and Him
who sat upon it from whose presence earth and
heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
before the throne and books were opened, and then
another book was opened which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged from the things which were

written in the books according to their deeds. And the

sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and
they were judged, every one of them according to
their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into
the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of
fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the
book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
This is God's final judgment and I want to emphasize
tonight very strongly that this is a very just judgment. It
is a just judgment. It is a just judgment because God
is just. Deuteronomy 32:4 says of God, "Just and right
is He." In Job 37 verses 23 and 24 we read, "The
Almighty, we cannot find Him out, He is exalted in
power and He will not do violence to justice." God
does not do violence to justice. He is just, therefore it
says in that passage in Job, "Men fear Him." He will
do what is just and guilty men fear His justice. God is
a just judge and all His verdicts are true and all His
verdicts are righteous, therefore men have good
reason to be afraid to face Him with the record of their
sin.
There are those who in reading a passage like this
and understanding the coming judgment of God might
say, "This is an injustice." But it is not for many
reasons. First of all, God cannot but be just. Why?
Because His holiness is the source of His justice.
Holiness, absolute perfection, will not allow Him to do
anything but what is right. He can no more be unjust
than He can be unholy.

Furthermore, God's will is justice. God's will is the

supreme rule of justice. God's will is the standard of
equity. His will is wise, His will is true, His will is right.
And God wills nothing but what is just and right and
true. Therefore it is just because He is holy and He
wills only that which is right.
Furthermore, God does what is just voluntarily. That is
to say justice flows from the nature of God. Men may
act justly because they are paid to act justly, or they
are made to act justly for fear of loss of reputation or
income. But God is not bribed, God is not forced, God
is not just because society expects justice. He is not
just because it enhances His reputation. He is just
because it is His nature to be just. If the whole world
cried for injustice, if men called for injustice, God
would still be just and in fact that is exactly the case. A
whole world of sinners calls for injustice, they don't
want the just due to their sin, they don't want the
reward that they have earned, they don't want to pay
for their iniquity. They cry out for a God who is unjust,
a God who looks over their sin and turns away and
leaves them alone and they will not have it. No matter
how they attempt to bribe God to be unjust, God will
be just.
Justice is the perfection of the divine nature. God
never has done anything unjust and He never will. His
justice has been wronged, but never has His justice
done wrong. God is just. He sets the standard. He
carries it out.

And those who refuse to deal with their sin in the way
that God has presented through the gospel of Jesus
Christ, those who do not repent and reach out for
divine grace, will experience justice. That is a just
punishment for their sin. As in the case of Israel who
rejected God's mercy and grace, God says to them in
Hosea 13:9, "O Israel, you have destroyed yourself."
Psalm 81:11, "Israel would have nothing to do with
Me." Jesus said, "You will not come to Me that you
might have life." He said, "You will die in your sins
because you believe not on Me."
In other words, man makes a choice and justice acts.
Genesis 18:25, way back in the very beginning in the
book of Genesis, says, "The judge of the earth will do
right." And ultimate and final justice is the right and
true and holy and righteous expression of God against
sinners who will not repent and receive the grace of
forgiveness. And it is that final justice that we are
reading about here in Revelation chapter 20, the final
act of a holy, righteous, just God who is giving men
exactly what they deserve and exactly what they have
chosen.
As I said last week, the absence of detail is surprising.
The words are starkly plain. The message is as
inescapable as the judgment. It's clear, it can't be
missed. And the judgment that is described here is
called the great white throne judgment, for obvious
reasons, it is the same judgment that is called the
resurrection to everlasting disgrace, or the
resurrection to everlasting contempt, that's Daniel's
title for it. It is also called by our Lord Jesus the

resurrection to damnation. This is that event, when all

the ungodly of all of human history are raised and
brought before the final tribunal to be sentenced to
eternal hell.
Now there are four elements in this text that we're
looking at. Let's go back over number one, only briefly
enough to make one very important point. First of all is
the scene. And in verse 11 and then just into verse 12,
the scene is presented. "I saw a great white throne,
Him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and
heaven fled away and no place was found for them,
and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne." That's the scene.
The judge is God in the person of Jesus Christ. We
made the statement, of course, that God and Christ
are one and God is certainly the judge of all the earth,
but He has committed that judgment to Christ. And so
the judge is God in the form of Jesus Christ.
And you'll notice that the scene takes place in the
absence of earth and heaven as we know it. There's a
great white throne, God in the form of Christ sitting on
it, and from the glorious, divine presence, earth and
heaven disappear and no place is found for them.
This is the uncreation. They go right out of existence.
Just as God brought them into existence they go out
of existence. And as I pointed out last time, this must
mean uncreation. This doesn't mean alteration or
reconfiguration, it means they disappear into nonexistence. Scripture says heaven and earth will pass
away, and it is here that the fulfillment is described.

Now science verifies this in a most fascinating way.

Remember last time we looked at 2 Peter chapter 3
and in that text Peter writes that when this event takes
place, the Great White Throne Judgment, the final
expression of God's wrath, the ultimate aspect of the
day of the Lord, heaven and earth will pass away.
Earth and heaven will flee and no place will be found
for them. Or to borrow the words of Peter, the
elements will melt or dissolve.
Now let me talk about that for a moment from the
scientific side so that you can see the rationality of
this. Peter tells us that the elements will be dissolved.
Now remember, the Kingdom has ended and that is
the end of time. We are now on the brink of eternity
when there will be, according to chapter 21 verse 1, a
new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven
and the first earth passed away and there's no longer
any sea. And then we enter into the eternal state, time
is no more. The thousand-year Millennial Kingdom is
the end of time. And the elements will dissolve.
When God closes the book on time the universe as
we know it has to come to an end. You say, "Why is
that true?" Time and creation began together because
scientifically you cannot have creation without time.
You say, "What do you mean by that?" Let's go back
to Peter's word "elements." Peter uses a term in the
Greek that means the basic units. The basic parts of
matter. Elements refer to the basic components of
creation, matter. And do you know what matter is? If
you have a scientific background you know this, let

me give it you simply...matter is particles in motion.

Most of what you see is space. It's hard to believe
that, even harder if you try to go through it. It looks
solid. But it is not. Matter is particles in controlled
motion. You learned that way back in your science
classes somewhere.
Listen carefully, science says motion requires time
because if something moves from one place to the
another there has to be time. It's here and it's there
and the fact that it was here and there demands the
passage of time, even it's only a fraction. You cannot
have matter unless you have time because you can't
have motion unless something can move from one
place to another, and it can't move from one place to
another unless there's a passage of time. No time, no
motion...no motion, no matter...no matter, no
elements...no elements, no creation.
So when time ends, creation as we know it ends and
you cannot have in the universe anything made up of
particles in motion. So, when the Word of God says
heaven and earth passes away, when the Word of
God says the elements dissolve and the universe
goes out of existence, it is because time ends. Time
began at the same time creation began. When time
ends, creation goes out of existence.
So the creation is uncreated. And somewhere in
timeless, spaceless presence, the great white throne
appears. And before it, the dead. And I marked last
time for you the note that there are no living people
remaining because there's no where to be alive, that

is in physical form. There's no earth left. There's no

universe, nothing's left. Everything is uncreated. So
the godly have all been translated to the glory of
God's presence and the ungodly are all gone out of
the universe as we know it. And now they appear, all
the ungodly in this scene.
Now terms that the Bible uses to describe the place of
the dead are familiar to us. If you study the Old
Testament, do you remember a term Sheol? That's
really the Hebrew equivalent of a New Testament term
Hades. It is a place where the dead go, the ungodly
dead. All the ungodly dead of all human history have
gone into a place called Sheol, or Hades. It is where
their eternal souls have been since they died. People
who died in the time of Adam or people who died
today are right now in a place called Sheol or Hades,
and they're there in their eternal souls. Their bodies
have not been raised. The bodies of the ungodly are
all over this globe in various states of disarray and
dissolution. Some of them utterly gone from existence,
their bones having disintegrated into the dust.
So the bodies of the ungodly remain somehow in the
dirt or in the bottom of the sea, or wherever. But their
souls are in Hades. But Hades and Sheol, follow this,
apparently are only a temporary place. They are not
the eternal hell, although they are a place of torment
because you remember when the rich man died in
Luke's gospel, immediately when he died he was in
torment, remember that? So that the Hades of the
present order of the universe is a place of torment,

remorse and anguish, just like the eternal hell, but not
the eternal hell.
So all the ungodly of all the ages, their spirits are in
Hades. But that's only temporary. And you see in
verse 13 here death and Hades give up the dead.
Why? Because verse 14 says, "Death and Hades go
out of existence, they are thrown into the lake of fire."
So what you have here is the end of the universe, as
we know it, including somewhere in this universe a
place called Sheol or Hades, a place of punishment
and a place of remorse and a place of pain and a
place of terror. And it's ultimately eliminated with the
elimination of this universe in favor of a final place
called hell.
The scene then is really incredible. As the universe
dissolves, Hades and the grave dissolves with it. And
all the bodies then come out because Hades is
emptied of the spirits and the bodies are emptied out
of the universe as it's uncreated, and actual
resurrection bodies are created for the ungodly dead.
That's why it's called a resurrection unto damnation,
or as Daniel called it, a resurrection unto contempt. It
is a resurrection. And the difference between the
Hades of suffering now and the eternal hell is that the
Hades of suffering now is the suffering of the soul,
whereas the suffering of hell will be the suffering of the
soul in a resurrected body. They will be body and
eternal...soul rather and eternal body fitted for the
eternal hell.

And so the scene gives way to the summons as all the

ungodly from all of human history are called before
the judge. This is the second feature then in this
astounding vision, the actual calling and gathering of
all these criminals from creation on to uncreation.
They come from the Old Testament age, the New
Testament age, the time of Tribulation, the time of the
Kingdom and they are summoned from their cells. For
since death they have been tormented in the place of
punishment until they are sent finally to the permanent
and eternal hell with resurrected bodies fit for eternal
suffering.
Look at verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it and death and Hades gave up the
dead which were in them." There's the summons. This
has to happen, by the way. The sea has to give up its
dead because in chapter 21 verse 1 it says there's no
longer any sea. The sea is uncreated and out of that
sea before it goes out of existence comes forth all the
resurrected bodies of the ungodly. And I think the sea
is mentioned here just to let us know that the ones we
would assume to be the most difficult to raise are
raised. They might have been chewed into little pieces
by the great white shark, but they'll be raised. God
doesn't need to find all the pieces to put them back
together, He'll bring forth a resurrection body for all the
ungodly. All whoever drowned, all whose bodies ever
drifted out to sea and sunk, all who ever fell
overboard, all whoever died in the universal Flood, all
who went down with the Lusitania(?), the Arizona, the
Titanic and all the rest, all that ever perished in the
sea will be brought out. And then death and Hades, or

death and the grave, simply referring to every other

place where the dead are, every grave including
Hades itself where their spirits are, are going to yield
up the dead. Up they come body and soul,
resurrected body and soul. The sea and the grave and
Hades are seen as veracious monsters that have
swallowed the bodies of all generations and are now
forced to disgorge their victims.
This is that which was spoken of in verse 5, "The rest
of the dead did not come to life until the thousand
years were completed." At the end of the thousand
years, at the end of time, at the end of creation as the
dissolution of the universe occurs, it yields up all the
bodies and souls of the dead and they have to come
before the throne of God. They are raised to
judgment.
Hades, again, is the state. It is a state rather than a
place, it is a state where souls suffer, where
unrighteous souls suffer until they are raised to the
great white throne in final sentencing to the place
called hell. Hades is a general term. In fact, the NAS
translators wisely left it untranslated. It is a general
term describing the abode of the dead spirits of those
who are separated from God and punished, it is like a
criminal being kept in jail until final sentencing, and off
to the penitentiary. Hades is the New Testament word
for Sheol, the grave. Hades appears ten times in the
New Testament, Sheol sixty-five in the Old. It is the
place in contrast to paradise, contrast to Abraham's
bosom, the place where the righteous dead have
gone. Hades is a state, really, it's a place for souls, it's

a state of souls in which they are punished while they

wait their final sentencing and their final experiences
that last forever in the place called hell.
Just to remind you of that Luke 16 passage, it says in
verse 23, "In Hades he lifted up his eyes being in
torment." Hades is a place of torment. It is the
headquarters,
frankly,
of
wickedness,
the
headquarters of evil because it is the place where
wicked and evil people dwell. In fact, when Jesus said
He would built His church He said the gates of Hades
couldn't prevent it. And what He was referring to there
is death itself.
All the places then that hold the unrighteous dead,
both body and spirit, are going to yield them up. The
grave, Hades, death, the sea, I think he's just
sweeping it all up. There's no more sea to keep them.
There's no more earth to act as a grave. There's no
more death to hold them. There's no more Hades to
imprison them. The whole universe is uncreated and
everyone comes to the great white throne.
And it says then in verse 13, "And they were judged,
everyone one of them...everyone of them." No one will
be excused. All the unrighteous dead of all the ages
will be judged there.
So we see the scene and we see the summons.
Thirdly I want us to notice in this text the standard.
And this is a very important thing to understand. What
is the standard by which they are judged? Well, it's an
absolute standard. And we see it in verse 12, we see

it in verse 13, and we see it again in verse 15. Look at

verse...first of all, verse 12, the end of the verse,
they're judged there, "according to their deeds." Verse
13, the end of the verse, "They were judged every one
of them according to their deeds." It is the judgment of
deeds, first of all. And then in verse 15 is added, "If
anyone's name was not found written in the book of
life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
But let's start out, first of all, with "according to their
deeds," both in verse 12 and in verse 13. God has
kept perfect and comprehensive records of every
person's life. In fact, at the end of verse 12 it says they
were judged from the things which were written in the
books according to their deeds. That is to say that
God is going to act justly right off the absolute and
perfect record of everything that every person has
ever done. It's all in the books. Omniscience has
recorded it all. God has kept perfect, complete,
flawless, comprehensive records of every person's
every thought and every person's every word and
every person's every act done throughout their entire
life. And sinners are going to be judged on the basis of
their deeds, measured against God's perfect standard.
And what is God's standard? Matthew 5:48, "Be ye
perfect." First Peter 1:15 and 16, "Be ye holy even as
your Father in heaven is holy and perfect." Or
Galatians chapter 3, where the Apostle Paul sets
again the perfect standard, "Cursed is everyone who
does not abide by all things written in the book of the
law to perform them." If you've ever broken one law
one time, you are cursed. People will have the record

of their works held up against the standard. "Be ye

perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." "Be ye
holy for I am holy." If you have ever one time broken
one law of God, you are cursed, you are damned for
violating the perfect standard. And Romans 3:23 sums
up the condemnation, "For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God."
So the whole world is going to be judged according to
their deeds. The ungodly are judged and we know
again that this is the ungodly because believers will
not be judged and sent to hell according to their
deeds, because our sins have been covered by
Christ. We will be rewarded on the basis of service
rendered toward God, but that is for rewards, not for
condemnation. The ungodly because they have not
turned to Christ have left themselves to be judged by
their works. Whether they kept the law perfectly,
whether they were as perfect as God, as holy as God
or not, if they never violated any of God's standard, if
they were as holy and perfect as He, they'll be all
right. But no one meets that challenge. They will be
judged on their thoughts. Luke 8 and verse 17, "For
nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor
anything secret that shall not be known and come to
light." God is going to bring every secret of every heart
right into the open on the day of judgment. In fact,
Romans 2:16 calls it "the day when God will judged
the secrets of men through Christ Jesus."
It will not only be a judgment of thoughts to see if
people are perfect, but it will be a judgment of words.

Matthew 12:37, "For by your words you shall be

justified, and by your words you shall be condemned."
It will also be a judgment of acts. Matthew 16:27, "The
Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father
with His angels and recompense to every man
according to his works."
God is going to judge every thought and every word
and every action. And no one can claim ignorance.
Romans 1 says, "Every man is without excuse." Why?
"Because that which may be known of God is in him
and around him." He is without excuse of Romans
2:14 and 15, "The law of God is written in his heart
and he has a conscience to lead him to the truth." No
man can claim ignorance because Christ is the light
that lights every man that comes into the world, John
1:9. The knowledge of God, the knowledge of the truth
about God, the knowledge of right and wrong, the
knowledge of Christ in some very primitive way, all of
that is in the heart of every man who if he follows that
knowledge will come to the truth. So they'll be judged
according to their deeds and no one will claim
ignorance successfully.
Back to verse 12. Early in the verse it says, "And the
books were opened...and the books were opened."
That's taken right out of Daniel 7:10. In the vision of
Daniel chapter 7 you have the same scene really. The
prophet Daniel saw the very same thing that John
saw. He saw this time of judgment. He saw the throne,
the Ancient of Days taking His seat. He saw the
angels coming around the court sat," he says in verse

10, "and the books were opened." The very same

statement that John makes.
What are those books? The record of every thought
and every word and every deed of every sinner. It
can't be the righteous, their sins are remembered no
more, buried in the depths of the deepest sea, no
longer in existence. The sea is gone and everything
buried there with it. But of the ungodly, every sin is
remembered, every sin is in the books of the
unrepentant.
The record, by the way, for each person will be unique
and so will the punishment. That's an important thing
to think about. Hell is not like some great big hole
where everybody gets thrown into the same place with
the same level of torment. No. Every person's life will
be evaluated uniquely and every person's punishment
will be consistent with that unique evaluation.
For example, and I need to explain this cause it's very
important to understand there are degrees of
punishment consistent with degrees of sinfulness. In
Matthew 10 verses 14 and 15, it says the words of
Jesus, "Whoever does not receive you nor heed your
word," He's talking to those He sends out to preach,
the Twelve, "whoever doesn't receive you nor heed
your word as you go out of that house or that city,
shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and
Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." In
other words, when the people who died, when God
buried Sodom and Gomorrah under fire and

brimstone, when those people are raised to stand

before the great white throne judgment, and the
people of some town or some village that rejected the
preaching of the Apostles are raised and they stand
there side by side, the punishment that comes to
Sodom and Gomorrah will be more tolerable than the
punishment that comes to those who rejected the
gospel, or the preaching of the Apostles.
So there is a more and a less tolerable punishment,
fitting the level of sin. However, I might hastily add it's
only the degree to which you gnash your teeth, the
degree to which you feel the pain and remorse in the
pangs of conscience and the fire of judgment.
In the eleventh chapter of Matthew, again verse 22,
"Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for
you." He's talking to the town of Chorazin, the town of
Bethsaida. "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted
to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades for if
the miracles that occurred in Sodom which occurred in
you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless
I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." You see,
there are degrees of toleration in punishment.
In Mark's gospel, as you come over to chapter 12, you
find another indication of this in verse 38. In His
teaching Jesus was saying, "Beware of the scribes
who like to walk around in long robes and like
respectful greetings in the market places and chief
seats in the synagogues...that's their spiritual

hypocrisy...they want places of honor at banquets.

They devour widows' houses and for appearance
sake offer long prayers...this line comes next...they
will receive greater condemnation." There is a greater
and a lesser condemnation.
In Luke chapter 12 you find the same truth again
reiterated in another fashion through means of a story
that Jesus tells, a story about a master and his
servants. And it says in chapter 12 verse 47, "That
slave who knew his master's will and didn't get ready
or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes.
The one who didn't know it and committed deeds
worthy of a flogging will receive but a few." Hell will
have few lashes for some and many for others.
Hebrews chapter 10 adds another passage to these. It
says, "Of how much greater punishment shall the one
be thought worthy who has trodden underfoot the Son
of God and counted the blood of the covenant an
unholy thing?"
In other words, if you hear the gospel and reject it, you
have a greater judgment than one who didn't hear it.
There will be greater and lesser degrees of
punishment in hell. And so the record is kept of every
person's life so that the judgment and the punishment
can fit the iniquity.
If a person is to remain unconverted, listen to what I
say, the sooner he dies the better. The less he hears,
the better because the longer he lives and the longer

the list and the books becomes and the more he

hears and rejects, the great the punishment.
Why? Romans 2:5, "By your stubborn and
unrepentant heart you are piling up wrath against
yourself for the day of wrath." You're just accumulating
it. And so I say if the sinner is to remain unconverted,
the sooner he dies the better, the less he hears the
better. Every day the sinner lives, every evil thought
he has, every unholy pleasure he enjoys, every
ungrateful breath he breathes, every selfish act, every
gospel word rejected, every divine truth spurned adds
to his eternal punishment.
I could sum it up by putting it this way. When God
allows the sinner to prosper, he is not making things
better for him, he's making things worse. Even time
spent trying to earn salvation while rejecting grace
only adds to the ultimate punishment. Therefore the
unsaved religious in Christianity will suffer the hottest
hell. The unsaved religious in Christianity will suffer
the hottest hell because they have trampled on Christ
and by means of self-righteousness attempted to
attain salvation. They know the most therefore they
suffer the greatest. All sinners in hell will be
completely miserable but not equally miserable. The
punishment fits the crime. And each crime brings the
eternal judgment according to the nature of that crime.
That's why the books were opened. The judgment fits
the record and God is absolutely and exactly and
precisely just.

And then verse 12 says, "And another book was

opened which is the book of life." Another book was
opened. This book is not unlike another kind of book
in ancient times. They had books in which they kept
the record of criminals, we have them today, don't we?
If you have a criminal record, it's on file, stored up in
books until we went to computerization. Computers
today fulfill the function of books. The criminal record
is there.
In ancient times they had those books and they put
the records of the criminals in the books. And every
unregenerate person in the history of the world stands
as a condemned criminal before God who has kept a
perfect record of his sins. But ancient cities also had
another book, it was typical of ancient cities to have
not only a book in which they listed the record of the
criminals, but they had another book which was the
book of the names of loyal citizens. They had a
register for the city and if you were a loyal,
upstanding, good and noble person, you were in the
book. You were not listed with the criminals, you were
in the book of the loyal. And John sees at this
particular scene in timelessness and spacelessness,
at the great white throne, there is also a book with the
name of loyal citizens.
This book has been referred to in the past. Daniel
makes reference to it. In Daniel 12:1, "When the time
of distress comes...he says...everyone who is found
written in the book will be rescued." All the noble, all
those written in the book of life, "And they will awake
to everlasting life."

Even Malachi talks about such a book. Malachi 3:16,

"Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another
when they heard about judgment and the Lord gave
attention and heard it. And a book of remembrance
was written before him for those who fear the Lord."
He put their name in His book and He said they'll be
Mine on the day that I prepare My own possession
and I'll spare them as a man spares his own son who
serves him and distinguish between the righteous and
the wicked, between the one who serves God and the
one who doesn't.
God has a book. In that book are the names of His
own, the names of those who believed in Him, who
were loyal to Him, who were faithful to Him, who came
to Him for grace. And Jesus said this, to His disciples
in Luke 10:20, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits
are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven." This is a special book. It's the book
that lists those who belong to the Lord, those who are
the loyal faithful servants of God. And he says the
book was opened which is the book of life.
This book contains the names of those who will not
die the second death. It contains the names of those
who will live. The book of life, by the way, has already
been mentioned in Revelation 3:5, Revelation 13:8,
Revelation 17:8, it will be mentioned again in chapter
21 verse 27 and chapter 22 verse 19, this book of life.
What is this book? It is just that. It is the listing of
those who will have eternal life, the listing of those

who belong to God. Philippians 4:3, Paul talks about

the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the
book of life. Hebrews 12:23, "To the general assembly,
the church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven."
It's the heavenly book recording the names of the
redeemed. And you remember, don't you, that God
wrote those names before the foundation of the world.
It is a list of the elect...the list of the faithful, the list of
the redeemed of all the ages, all who had their sins
forgiven because they've come to Christ.
But the dead, it says, verse 12, were judged from the
things which were written in the books according to
their deeds. The implication is that none of their
names were in that other book. It was there but their
names weren't. And the rest of the dead, all who
gather there, all who are not a part of the first
resurrection, the resurrection unto life, all who were
not a part of that are gathered and all the dead had to
be judged out of the things written in the books
according to their deeds. The implication, because
their names were not in the book of life.
Some of them are going to be startled. This is the
day...this is the event in which the Lord is going to
hear, "Lord, Lord, have we not done this...and done
that...in Your name?" And He says, "Depart from Me, I
never knew you, you workers of iniquity."
Over fifty times in the Bible the standard for eternal
judgment is presented as deeds, works. And the dead
are judged according to their deeds, all of which are
recorded. It says it again at the end of 13, "According

to their deeds." The sinner can either plead guilty

while he is still alive in this world, acknowledge his
guilt, repent and ask God for a complete pardon by
grace based on the substitutionary death of Christ or
he can go to trial after he dies. It's his choice. But that
trial will be on the basis of his having kept the
standard of God perfectly. He will fall short and hell
awaits. The pardon is there for the one who pleads
guilty and comes to receive the grace and forgiveness
of Christ. So you plead guilty now or later. You plead
guilty, cast yourself on the mercy of a gracious judge,
or keep pleading innocent and some day you'll stand
before God and be pronounced guilty.
The final comment on the judgment standard is in
verse 15. "If anyone's name was not found written in
the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
You see, the only hope to erase the record of damning
sins is to have your name in the book of life. The only
hope to escape the final trial is to have come
penitently, acknowledging your guilt, crying out to a
merciful God to forgive you for Jesus' sake, and
having your name written in the book of life.
Some on that bench standing before the throne of
God are going to ask, "Is my name there? Is my name
there indicating that my sin has been forgiven, that my
sin has been covered by the righteousness of Christ
through faith in His death? Am I in the book of
remembrance? Am I among the listed, loyal,
submissive subjects of the King of Kings? Am I
numbered among the holy children of God who wear
the robes of heavenly righteousness?" Sadly, none of

the names are there. They chose to go it on their own,

face the tribunal of God rather than plead guilty and
receive mercy and a pardon through Christ.
People talk like that so often. "I'm a good person, I
think when I get there I've done enough good things
for God to let me in." Oh what a tragic deception that
is. Either you come now, recognizing your sin, that
you are cursed, you have fallen short, you are not
perfect, you are not as holy as God, as perfect as the
Father in heaven, you have violated the law and you
plead for forgiveness and mercy and you receive the
gift of grace now or you go to trial and are eternally
damned. The folly of sinners is that they choose to
face the tribunal of God rather...and plead innocent,
rather than plead guilty now and receive a pardon
through Jesus Christ.
So, you see the scene and the summons and the
standard by which they are measured. That leaves us
with one other great reality, and I'll save it till next
time, the sentence itself--the sentence itself. What is
the lake of fire? And what does it mean to be thrown
into it?
Just to make sure we cover what the Spirit of God
would want us to say tonight and in this message, the
lake of fire is eternal punishment. There's more detail
than that, and we'll look at that next time. But suffice it
for this moment to know it is eternal punishment. And
that's what everyone receives who rejects the grace of
God in Jesus Christ. What a foolish thing, what a
horrible thing.

And you say, "Why would a loving God do this?" Well,

because a loving God is also a just God. "Why would
a loving God to this?" It's not that a loving God has
done this, that it's a sinning person has done it. In
order to get to the lake of fire you have to reject God
whom you come into this world knowing, at least by
the revelation that is in you and around you. You have
to reject moral law which is written in the fabric of your
heart. You have to reject conscience, the divine
warning system given to every human being. You
have to reject the revelation even of Christ that is in
the world. You have to reject the gospel, you have to
reject the free pardon. You have to pass through a lot
of gates to get to the lake of fire. You have to reject
the sweet words of Scripture, "That God so loved the
world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish
but have everlasting life." You have to reject the kind
invitation, "Him that comes unto Me I will in no wise
cast out." You have to reject the words of the Apostle
where he says, "The gift of God is eternal life, though
the wages of sin are death." You have to reject the
wonderful promise that the blood of Christ cleanses us
from all sin. You gave to step on the body of Jesus
Christ. You have to walk past the open tomb. It's not a
question of the justice of God, it's a question of man
and woman loving sin and buying the delusion that in
the end you'll be good enough. Don't blame God. Hell
is for people who forever will have no one to blame
but themselves. Let's bow together in prayer.

Father, as we think about this, it is so overwhelming to

us that words fail. We...we look at our own lives, first
of all, and we're just overwhelmed with gratitude. We
feel like bursting into a doxology of praise to thank
You for saving us. At the same time, Lord, we feel so
grieved, distressed deep down, sick at our stomachs
to contemplate the terrible end of the ungodly. No
wonder the Apostle John in seeing this felt bitterness
in his stomach, no wonder Paul said, "Knowing the
terror of the Lord we persuade men." O God, how can
we hold back, how can we not call men to
repentance? How can we not plead with sinners to
avoid the judgment? If we can, we are indeed callous,
and cold, uncaring, not at all like Christ who sat over
Jerusalem and wept because they were lost. And not
at all like You, for You cried through the eyes of
Jeremiah at lost people. Father, help us to understand
what's coming. Help us to understand what is coming,
not just in the final judgment but in the moment of
death for every ungodly person for they enter into the
temporary Hades of suffering, only to be ultimately
transported to the final hell.
Father, we ask that You would make us thankful on
the one hand, and zealous to proclaim the saving
gospel of a gracious, loving God who calls and calls
and calls and calls, though sinners will not hear. We
like Paul have been given the ministry of
reconciliation, to cry out to people to be reconciled to
You through Christ. We thank You that You've made it
possible and that You offer any sinner who will
acknowledge his guilt a pardon and a resurrection of
life rather than a resurrection to the great white

throne. May these truths sink deep into us and give us

a fresh new zeal for those outside who are headed for
such a terrible, terrible future.
And, Father, we know that this ministry is the thing for
which the church exists on earth and the reason we
live. Give us opportunity, O God. Open doors so that
we can share the pardon that is available in Christ.
And we ask these things in His great name. Amen.
*********************
I'm sure you've anticipated our subject tonight as we
come to the last message in the twentieth chapter of
the book of Revelation. And we look at part three in
our series on man's last day in God's court. This very
powerful, frightening text sets forth for us the final
judgment of all the ungodly of all the ages. This is
what John writes, starting in verse 11, "And I saw a
great white throne and Him who sat upon it from
whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no
place was found them. And I saw the dead, the great
and the small, standing before the throne and books
were opened and another book was opened which is
the book of life. And the dead were judged from the
things which were written in the books according to
their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were
in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged every one of
them according to their deeds. And death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire, this is the second
death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not

found written in the book of life, he was thrown into

the lake of fire."
It's a passage that ultimately consigns all of the
ungodly of all the ages to eternal hell. Hell is, of
course, as it is taught in the Scripture, distinctively a
Christian doctrine. But Christianity is not the only
religion in the world that speaks about punishment
after death. In fact, virtually every major religion in the
world teaches some form of punishment after death
for sins committed in this life.
For example, one strand of Islamic doctrine says that
each individual is questioned by two angels, one
named Mooncar(?) and the other Nakier(?), before
walking across a bridge that stretches over hell. The
faithful then cross safely into paradise while
unbelievers fall into a place with seven grades of
punishment, including being roasted, boiled and
afflicted with pus. Other Islamic teaching says that
they will be burned until their skins are destroyed at
which point they will be given new skins so the
process can be repeated.
Buddhism mentions many hells to be endured on an
unpleasant journey toward Nirvana, a kind of blissful
non-existence. Classical Buddhists' teaching has
seven hot hells, each surrounded by torture chambers
which include fiery pits and quagmires while other
versions of hell speak of cold hells which have less
traumatic punishment for minor offenders. According
to certain Chinese Buddhists, devils in human form
inflict all kinds of gruesome torture including pulling

out slanderous tongues with red-hot wires and pouring

molten lead down liars' throats.
In Taoism the god of walls and moats sends the
wicked to one of several hells where they are
punished for a fixed period of time. Hinduism has
twenty-one hells tailor made to match a person's
behavior on earth. Hinduism says if you fail to feed the
hungry while you were living, you might be chained to
a rock where birds come to eat your stomach. An
adulterer might be forced to embrace a beautiful
woman whose temperature is white hot while the
worst offenders face incarceration in a series of lower
hells where they are scorched in hot sand, boiled in
jars, or eaten by ravens. Janism(?) a spinoff of
Hinduism has no fewer that eight million, four hundred
thousand hells as well as a bottomless abyss where
the worse sinners are kept forever.
What does all this signify? It signifies that people have
an innate sense of justice. They have an innate sense
of retribution, a feeling that somehow some day, some
way they will pay, that perhaps on the other side of the
graves wrongs will be righted and evil will finally be
punished and crushed. Those grotesque guesses are
certainly not representative of biblical truth, but they
do point to the conscience and its activity in the
human heart that stirs up a sense of culpability,
shame, remorse, regret in view of future and perhaps
eternal accountability. And this is a stubborn instinct in
man that he may be punished for his sin.

What does Christianity say? Well, for example, Jesus

Himself who is the author of Christianity, in Luke 12:5
said this, "I warn you who to fear. Fear the one who
after He has killed you has the authority to cast you
into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him." Don't fear those
who kill the body, Jesus said, fear the one who can
destroy body and soul in hell. That is to fear God. God
is the one who ultimately will send everyone to hell
who is on the way, who is going there. The Bible tells
us that hell is a place of eternal punishment where
God will forever incarcerate the wicked. Hell is that
realm of life where just punishment is exacted, not by
any means with the warped and ignorant and weak
prejudices of human justice, but with perfect execution
alongside the standard of a holy God who alone is
perfectly just. And the violation of whom knows no
satisfaction. Unsaved sinners therefore will spend
forever punished in hell and that is what Christianity
teaches.
Truth, frankly, is not popular. The doctrine of hell is
more popular among Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus,
their warped doctrine, than the true doctrine of hell is
among Christians. You say, "What do you mean by
that?" Just this, here's a sample. In 1977 a poll was
published in Des Moines, Iowa, and it showed that
only five percent of those interviewed believed they
were going to hell. Sixty-five percent thought they
would go to heaven. And thirty percent were not sure
or had absolutely no opinion. One year later, in 1978,
a sampling in Minnesota revealed that just four
percent felt they were on their way to hell. Ten years
later in 1988 a Newsweek magazine survey

suggested that seventy-six percent of Americans

thought they had a good or excellent chance of going
to heaven, while only six percent felt they were on
their way to hell. In 1991 a Gallup Poll taken for U.S.
News and World Report produced almost identical
results, seventy-plus percent thought they were
headed for heaven, and four percent for hell.
Those percentages over that rather lengthy period of
time are significantly consistent and they yield to us
the understanding that most people think that if hell
exists, it is for somebody else, and not for them.
Maybe there is such a place as hell, but it's for Hitler,
or Stalin or Charles Manson, but not for just plain
people, good people. That's kind of popular opinion.
Beyond the popular opinion, it is amazing to me that
even theologians who call themselves evangelical,
theologians who would affirm belief in the veracity of
the Bible reject eternal hell. For example, it wasn't
many years ago that I read a book written by a wellknown evangelical writer by the name of John
Windham(?). The title of the book is The Goodness of
God.It is a book that tries to deal with the anger and
the wrath of God and eternal punishment and deals
with it, basically, by saying it isn't going to happen.
John Windham spoke in August of 1991 at the Fourth
Edinburgh Conference on Christian Dogmatics, this is
what he said, quote: "I believe that endless torment is
a hideous and unscriptural doctrine which has been a
terrible burden on the mind of the church for many
centuries and a terrible blot on her presentation of the

gospel. I should indeed be happy if before I die I could

help in sweeping it away," end quote.
Philip Edgecome(?) Hughes(?), a very astute
commentator on New Testament books has written a
book called The True Image, in that book he says this,
quote: "The everlasting existence side by side of
heaven and hell would seem to be incompatible with
the purpose and effect of the redemption achieved by
Christ's coming. The renewal of creation demands the
elimination of sin and suffering and death," end quote.
No hell.
Now some decide to believe in universalism,
everybody is going to be saved in the end. Others
decide to believe in annihilationism, as these two
writers I have quoted, that ultimately all sinners will
just go out of existence. Some believe in soul sleep,
which is a permanent state of unconsciousness. And
others would believe in a temporary period of
punishment. But no one can accept Scripture as true,
and deny eternal punishment. The same terms that
describe eternal punishment describe the eternal God.
The same phrases, the same original terms, the same
words that describe eternal punishment describe
eternal life. So if there is not eternal punishment, then
there is not eternal life and there is not an eternal
God.
If the ungodly are not punished forever, then the
righteous do not live forever and God does not exist
forever either. But God is the eternal God, heaven is

the eternal dwelling of the righteous and therefore hell

is also eternal.
For example, just to illustrate the point I made. In
Matthew chapter 25 and verse 46 it says, "These will
go away into eternal punishment, the righteous into
eternal life." You can't have eternal life, same term,
and not have eternal punishment. And one is as long
as the other and both will last as long as God lasts,
and He is the eternal one.
And the issue of hell is not to be decided by a poll. It is
not to be decided by emotion. It is not even to be
decided by reason. It is to be decided by revelation.
No one really likes the doctrine of eternal punishment,
it is a horrifying thing. All of us could wish from a
human perspective it didn't exist, but it does. And we
have to take the Bible at face value.
The text I just read to you sets the reality of eternal
punishment in place. It tells us about the lake of fire.
And this lake of fire is described back in verse 10 as a
place where the occupants will be tormented day and
night forever and ever. The event that we just read in
verses 11 to 15 is that event the end of which is the
godly being cast into eternal punishment. Here is the
vision that God gives John of the final divine judgment
on all sinners from all human history since creation. All
sinners will be raised, they will be given new
supernatural bodies suited to eternal torment in the
time of the great white throne, as it is called. This is
the last act of judgment and involves the ungodly of all
ages, coming before the final throne of God for their

final sentence. And God is rightly to be their judge

because it is against Him that they have sinned, as
Psalm 51:4 says, so that God is justified, says the
psalmist, when he speaks and blameless when He
judges them because they are genuinely guilty.
Now remember the chronology. The Bible teaches that
the Lord will come and take His church. Then will be a
period of Tribulation. Then the Lord will return, set up
His thousand-year Kingdom. At the end of the
thousand-year Kingdom, all the ungodly of all the
ages are brought before the great white throne. You
say, "Well where have they been since they died?"
And the answer is, they've been in a place of torment
and a place of punishment in their spirits, but not
joined with a final supernatural body fitted for their
punishment in the eternal hell which is another kind of
punishment from that which they are now
experiencing. We use the illustration, it's like a
prisoner who hasn't had his trial yet, he's still
incarcerated, he's incarcerated in a jail until his trial at
which time he is sent to the penitentiary to serve out
his life sentence. They are incarcerated now in a
place of torment away from God. They will be brought
before the tribunal of God, they will be given a new
body, a resurrected body fit for their eternal
incarceration in the final hell called the lake of fire.
Now as this passage unfolds, let's remind you, first of
all, we saw the scene in verses 11 and 12...the great
white throne, the one sitting on it, of course, God in
the form of Jesus Christ to whom has been given all
judgment. And then there is the dissolving of the entire

universe. Heaven and earth flee away and no place is

found for them. And John sees the dead, the great
and the small, they're all there standing before the
throne. That's the scene.
Secondly we saw the summons. In verse 13, "The sea
gave up the dead which were in it, death and Hades
gave up the dead which were in them." The sea, of
course, representing just that, death and Hades
representing all the graves over the whole world
through all of its history will yield up bodies. It doesn't
literally mean that out of every grave is going to come
a body right through the dirt, it just means that those
locations represent human lives and there will be a
body to come to join every eternal spirit of the
ungodly.
As the universe passes away then, it...it engorges all
the people who have ever died, all the ungodly come
out. This is what Jesus called "the resurrection of
damnation," or condemnation in John 5:29. This is the
resurrection that the Apostle Paul is referring to in Acts
chapter 24 and verse 15, the resurrection he calls "the
resurrection of the wicked."
Now remember, the godly of all the ages have already
been raised...the church at the Rapture, the Old
Testament saints at the end of the Tribulation, the
Tribulation saints at the end of the Tribulation with the
Old Testament saints, the Kingdom saints are
transformed when they die during the Kingdom. So all
the godly have already been glorified, they've already
received their glorified bodies, and they were all a part

of the first resurrection which is a resurrection unto life

and a resurrection unto righteousness. Now comes
the resurrection of the rest of the dead, as they are
identified back in verse 5.
Then we saw not only the summons but the standard
by which they are judged. Go back to verse 12, books
were opened, it says, and another book was opened
which is the book of life and the dead were judged
from the things which were written in the books
according to their deeds. At the end of verse 13, they
were judged everyone of them according to their
deeds. And then in verse 15, "Anyone whose name
was not found written in the book of life was thrown
into the lake of fire."
Judgment then is made against an absolute standard.
What is the standard? Perfect holiness. And anybody
who ever violates the law of God one time falls short,
and Paul says in Romans, "All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no
not one." We're all cursed. "Cursed is everyone who
breaks the law at any point," he says in Galatians
chapter 3. So the standard is perfection. Nobody
meets the standard, so all are damned by the record
of their own failures. And God has kept exacting
books which contain every sin of every ungodly
person ever committed. And it's with that record, that
literal indictment that they will be sentenced to final
hell.
The only hope would be if their record of sin was
overruled because their name was written in the

Lamb's book of life indicating they belonged to God

through faith in Jesus Christ. And if their name is not
in the book, they are cast into the lake of fire. The
tragedy is that none of the folks at this judgment have
their name in the book and so all they're left with is the
record of their sins. When the name goes in the book,
when we put our faith in Christ, the list of sins against
us in Colossians 2, it says, is erased, or blotted out.
But if one never comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, then
the list of sins is intact and becomes the standard of
judgment.
Thus the Lord will pass the verdict guilty and that
leads to the final point, the point that we want to look
at for just a brief time tonight, the sentence...the
sentence. The scene, the summons, the standard
we've seen, now let's look at the sentence. And I don't
want to beg the issue but I do want to be faithful to
what the Bible teaches to plant this in your mind.
Let's look at verses 14 and 15, "And death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire, this is the second
death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life he was thrown into the
lake of fire."
Now he starts out by saying, "And death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire." What are death and
Hades? Well it's just the grave and the place of the
ungodly dead, terms that any student of the Old
Testament would be familiar with, and any student of
the New would be familiar with. They just represent
the place of the dead which is a place of torment and

incarceration in flames of remorse, guilt, sin and pain.

And when he says they're thrown into the lake of fire,
he simply means they go out of existence, they're
swallowed up by the final hell. This is the eternal
realm of punishment.
And people who are suffering now are suffering in
their spirit only because there's been no resurrection
of their body. So that when the resurrection occurs
and they have some kind of a supernatural body
joined to that spirit, the conditions of their suffering
have to alter, that's why the eternal hell has to be
different than the current Hades. It's amazing how
specific Scripture is. This is the hell that is utterly
separate from and outside the prior created universe
in which exists the prior Hades. When the universe
goes out of existence, Hades goes out of existence
with it, the place of the ungodly dead goes out of
existence and a new place is prepared. Something
outside and beyond this created order as we know it.
You remember I told you that creation as we know it,
matter as we know it will cease to exist. It will turn into
energy, and that divine energy again will recreate a
new heaven and a new earth not like anything we've
ever understood or even comprehend.
You say, "Is God preparing hell now?" Yes. Hell is
prepared for the devil and his angels. We could
assume that it's prepared. There is an eternal heaven
already prepared outside the universe as we know it,
it would have to be because the universe is touched
with sin and fallenness and why not already a place

for the devil and his angels to occupy? But hell at this
point is unoccupied. The first occupants are indicated,
as you know, back in chapter 19 when it says in verse
20 the beast, that's the Antichrist, and the false
prophet who perform signs in his presence and so
forth, these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire
which burns with brimstone. Technically they become
the first occupants of the eternal hell. And then a
thousand years later, verse 10 of chapter 20 says the
devil is thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone
where the beast and the false prophet are also. We
can assume the devil and all of his angels go together
into that place.
Now while there is no one at the current time
occupying the final hell and the first occupants appear
to be, and this is just the best we can ascertain it, you
don't want to be overly dogmatic, but it seems as
though the final hell is not occupied now until the Lord
throws the beast and the false prophet alive into it and
transforms their bodies somehow to suffer eternally.
And until Satan and his angels go there in their spirit
forms, they too will suffer. And though hell is not
currently occupied, and it wasn't occupied any time in
the past, even during the life of Christ, Jesus referred
to it because it is the final place. And the New
Testament uses a particular word and that's the word
"gehenna," g-e-h-e-n-n-a, the clearest and most vivid
of the New Testament words which refer to the eternal
and final realm of punishment for the ungodly. It is a
place that includes soul and body in hell. And that is
the place that ultimately they will be cast. And that's
why in Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, "Do not fear those

who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, fear
Him...follow this...who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell." So that the eternal state is both soul and
body, whereas now the temporary thing called Hades
is only a place for the spirits of the ungodly dead.
That's why there has to be a resurrection of
damnation, a resurrection of the wicked.
So those who die now, follow this, in their sins in the
created world of time and space will die a second
death in a world where there is no time and there is no
space, and then enter into eternal punishment. They
have no part in the first resurrection, so they will
experience a second resurrection and with it a second
death, a second death as verse 14 says. This is the
second death. They died once and their spirit went
into torment, and they will, in a sense, die again when
spirit and body go into torment. The first resurrection
is the resurrection of life, the resurrection of
justification, the resurrection of glory. All believers are
in that one, including Christ the church, the Old
Testament saints, Tribulation saints, Millennial
Kingdom saints. All believers are in the first
resurrection and none of them experience the second
death. All unbelievers are in the second resurrection
and all of them experience the second death.
And what is the second death? He says, "This is the
second death." What? "The lake of fire...the lake of
fire." And he says it again in verse 15 at the end of the
verse, "The lake of fire."

Now when you talk about the final punishment, most

commonly fire is referred to. More than twenty times
the New Testament refers to the fires of hell, most of
those times the words of Jesus Himself. And people
always ask the question...will it be a literal fire as we
understand a literal fire? And the answer is, it's not like
the fire you see on a match or the fire you light in your
house, or the fire you see when something burns
because you have a totally different environment. The
created order as we know it is gone, whatever this fire
represents will be something that is as real as the
eternality in which it exists. It's enough to know that
it's like a lake of fire, that conveys what the Lord wants
people to understand.
It exists outside the created universe as we know it,
outside time and space. It is a place of fearful,
frightening, horrifying pain, agony and torment
illustrated by the concept of being thrown alive into a
lake of fire in which you can burn forever but never
die. And our Lord used the word Gehenna because it
was such a good way to illustrate the suffering.
Southwest of the city of Jerusalem, and I have seen
this place on numerous occasions and never look at it
without being very much aware of what the Bible says
about this, but southwest of the city of Jerusalem
there is a...there is a valley called the Valley of BenHinnom, the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. It was for a long
time the city dump of Jerusalem, the garbage, the
refuse of the city was taken to the Valley of BenHinnom. And it was then thrown into that valley and
there was a fire there that never went out. It was being

burned all the time. And that valley was known for fire
and smoke and maggots. Dead bodies were thrown
there, the corpses of criminals were thrown there. The
people who were not worthy to be buried, strangers
and so forth, were thrown there. And what you had in
the Valley of Ben-Hinnom was a filthy stench, an
unending fire, maggots eating the garbage and the
filth and the refuse and the corpses, it was the most
frightening and fearful place.
And when Jesus looked at that indescribable horrible
place where the worm never died, but fed on a
constant flow of refuge and the fire never went out, He
said that's hell, Gehenna. A very vivid term to describe
the indescribable. And the New Testament describes
that place as the place that is prepared for the devil
and his angels, the place that is prepared for the
ungodly. And the Bible says, as you notice there in
chapter 20 and verse 10 that the torment goes on day
and night. That means all the time, constantly,
unrelentingly, forever and ever. In other words, it
never ends and there's never any relief. It's constant
forever. It's not intermittent, it's constant forever.
Back in chapter 19 and verse 20 that fire, that lake of
fire burns with brimstone. The indication that it is
extremely hot. And what Jesus is trying to do and
what, of course, the vision the Holy Spirit gives to
John here is trying to do is to let you understand what
awaits the ungodly in frightening, paralyzing,
terrorizing pain and suffering.

Now let me just talk briefly about the elements of hell

that are outlined for us in Scripture. And I don't need
to say a lot but I just want to be fair to give you what
the Bible says. I need to discharge my responsibility
before the Lord in that behalf. First of all, it describes
the place called hell as a place of darkness. In
Matthew 8 verse 12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 25:30 it
is called outer darkness...outer darkness. I'm sure
night after night after night as the sun would go down
on the hill, the mountain or the plateau that is
Jerusalem and, of course, there would be no lights in
the Valley of Ben-Hinnom because no one would live
there, there would be no candles, there would be no
torches, there would be nothing there but the
smoldering burning refuse and the black billowing
smoke. There would be nothing to light the place
because there would be no life there. That was the
picture of the outer darkness of hell. Darkness that is
penetrating darkness you can almost feel.
In fact, in 2 Peter 2:17 and Jude 13 it is called the
blackness of darkness, as if to say it's not just dark but
it's black dark. And both Peter and Jude say it is
reserved for you. Again indicating that it isn't occupied,
it's reserved. Darkness. It's not going to be a place of
light and light speaks of life, and fellowship, and
communion, and socializing, and variety and being
able to see things and have different experiences. In
the blackness of darkness, nothing.
Secondly, it talks about the worm. Isaiah started that
when he said in Isaiah 66:24, "Their worm will not
die." And Mark 9:48 picks it up in the New Testament,

"The worm will never die." In other words, the refuse

will burn forever and the maggots, as it were, will eat
forever.
Some feel that the gnawing worm is emblematic of the
conscience. And as I told you in the series we did on
the conscience and in the book that I wrote on The
Vanishing Conscience, I really do believe that one of
the greatest components of eternal suffering is going
to be a fully informed accusing conscience that is
absolutely relentless. It could well be depicted in the
worm that never dies but just gnaws away.
Some feel the black darkness is the absence of
anything good, and the absence of anybody else to
see or be with. So you're all alone with a chewing
conscience forever. In addition to darkness and the
worm, the Bible as we noted talks about fire. The
psalmist spoke of the wicked in Psalm 11 verse 6,
coming to fire and brimstone. Isaiah said fire will
devour their enemies.
In Isaiah chapter 30, let me have you look at that
passage, Isaiah chapter 30. I just want to read you a
verse there that I think is important. As Isaiah is talking
about the judgment of God, he says in verse 30, "The
Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard,"
chapter 30 verse 30, "and the descending of His arm
to be seen in fierce anger and in the flame of a
consuming fire." In other words, God is going to come
in the judgment of fire. Then down in verse 33, further
describing, he says, "For Topheth has long been
ready." And that again leads me to believe that hell is

already in place, it's just not occupied because the

word "Topheth" is a very interesting word. You know
what Topheth refers to? It refers, would you believe
this, to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. It refers to the
Valley of Ben-Hinnom before it was the city dump.
You say, "What was it before it was the city dump?" I'll
tell you what it was, it was the place...the place where,
you won't believe this, people offered children as
sacrifices burned alive to the pagan god Molech. You
say, "You mean the children of Israel did it?" Yes. The
pagan nations in the land of Canaan had done it, and
some of the children of Israel joined in that
unbelievable worship. It was the Valley of Hinnom
where the altar to Molech was. That's one of the
reasons that the Jews put the city dump there
because it was such a vile and foul and desecrated
place.
And so Topheth has long been ready. Indeed it has
been prepared for the King, He has made it deep and
large. Who's the King? God. A pyre of fire with plenty
of wood, the breath of the Lord like a torrent of
brimstone sets it afire. Once the pagans made a fire
there to offer babies as living burnt offerings to the
god Molech, and the day is going to come when God
uses it as a place to give the resurrected ungodly to
burn in the fires of punishment forever and ever. That
Valley of Ben-Hinnom has some history, doesn't it?
Gehenna.
From the very beginning of the New Testament you
are introduced to the promise of eternal punishment.

The first preacher that ever arrives in the New

Testament, who is it? Before the Messiah? John the
Baptist. And what does John the Baptist says, he
promises when the Lord comes He will burn up the
ungodly with unquenchable fire, Matthew 3:12. Jesus
follows John and in Matthew 5:22 Jesus warns of the
fiery hell. And Jesus tells the parables in Matthew 13
and He talks about how the angels are going to gather
the people from all across the world and they're going
to sort out the righteous from the unrighteous and
they're going to turn the unrighteous over to be
burned. So is the angels in Matthew 13:40 to 42, and
again in verse 50, gathering the ungodly for burning.
And Jesus in Matthew 18:8 and 9 says the fire is
eternal.
Darkness, gnawing, unrelenting guilt, the worm that
never dies, an unquenchable fire of torment, and
there's more. The lake of fire is also associated with
some other things. It is associated with banishment. In
Matthew 8:12, in Matthew 22:13 the term is used "cast
out...cast out." The idea being that they are banished.
Being cast out of a society or a city, a town, or a
country meant you were banished. There's also the
idea of separation. When they are banished they are
banished into outer darkness, which implies that this
banishment separates them completely. Luke 16:24
says they will be tormented.
And then there's one other phrase that is used many
times, and that is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing
of teeth. And that indicates sorrow. The darkness, the
worm never dying, the fire, in a place of banishment

and separation and torment produces absolutely

unbelievable and I'm certain immeasurable sorrow.
And this is repeated a number of times in the record of
the gospels, this idea of the undying sorrow. In Luke
13:28, all the evildoers are cast out. The Lord says, "I
don't know where you're from, depart from Me, you
evildoers, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all
the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you
yourselves being cast out." You know what that says?
That somewhere, somehow before they're cast out,
they're going to get a glimpse of the glory of the saints
as a last vision before they're cast into hell so that
they will know exactly what they forfeited. And hence,
the weeping and the wailing. You find it in Matthew 8,
Matthew 22, Matthew 13, Matthew 25, Matthew 24.
What about gnashing of teeth? What is that? Well, I
don't want to read anything into this but if you just look
at the expression "gnashing of teeth" in the Bible, it is
associated with anger. Back in Job chapter 16, verse
9 says, "His anger has torn me and hunted me down,
he has gnashed at me with his teeth." It is an
uncontrollable anger. You can see that expression,
can't you? It is that grinding, gnawing anger and
hatred and hostility...gnashing of teeth.
With whom are they angry? Perhaps with Satan,
demons. In fact, in Acts 7:54 you remember the great
sermon by Stephen. What was the reaction of the
crowd after he preached? What emotion? Anger,
right? What did they do? They were so angry they
stoned him to death. But notice how they anger...they

rushed on him with one impulse, verse 57, but notice

how their anger is described, verse 54, "When they
heard this they were cut to the quick." What does that
mean? They were convicted, right? They were
convicted of their apostasy and they began gnashing
their teeth, anger. Anger over conviction. They'll be
angry at anything that causes them to feel the...the
conscience striking blows against them, any...every
cause there ever is in eternal hell for their...for their
remorse and their guilt and their shame will be a
cause for anger. They'll be angry about everything.
And so, when you think about hell you think about
banishment, separation, torment, sorrow, anger,
there's one more thing. There's one more term and it's
here in verse 15 of Revelation 20 and that is the word
"thrown...thrown." And it's used back in chapter 19
verse 20 to speak of the beast and the false prophet
who were thrown. And it's used in chapter 20 verse 10
and talks about the devil who was thrown.
Why does that term find its way? Because that is
precisely what's going to happen. Hell is God's cosmic
dump. It's where you throw the garbage, you don't
place it there, you don't set it there. You throw it there.
You stand on some higher place and throw it there.
We even talk about that in the vernacular today, we
say "throw out the garbage," or "throw out the trash."
It has the idea of discarding it at a distance from
where it's going to land. It speaks of its despicable
quality. Hell is God's cosmic dump and all who go
there will be the burning garbage of eternity.

Now all of this is not happy to think about but what it

reminds us is that God is not always the God of
immediately justice, but He is the God of ultimate
justice. And Amos had it right when he said in Amos
4:12, "Prepare to meet your God...prepare to meet
your God." Cause you're going to meet Him, you're
either going to meet Him in the glory or you're going to
meet Him at the great white throne. It's your choice.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10, and we'll close.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26. "For if we go on
sinning," we could put it another way, "If we go on
rejecting willfully after receiving the knowledge of the
truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." Did
you hear that? If you have heard the gospel of Jesus
Christ, if you have heard the truth concerning
judgment, and you reject the gospel and you reject
that message, there is no other way to deal with your
sins. Do you see that? There's no other sacrifice,
other than the one that Christ made. If you go on
sinning willfully, and what that means is rejecting the
gospel, after you have heard the truth, there's nothing
else that can offered to you to deal with your sins. So,
verse 27 says, "What you have to look forward to is a
certain, absolutely certain, terrifying expectation
of...what?...judgment and the fury of a fire which will
consume the adversaries."
Make a choice. Say no to God and no to Jesus Christ,
turn your back on the sacrifice that Christ has made,
"There is therefore no sacrifice for your sins and with
absolute certainty, you will be looking forward to a

terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire

which will consume the adversaries."
And then he says this, "Anyone who has set aside the
law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of
two or three witnesses." Severe enough, you violate
the law of Moses, you die without mercy. In other
words, even in the Mosaic law there was capital
punishment. When two or three witnesses stood and
affirmed and you indeed had violated that law, you
died without mercy, that was the law. You think that's
severe? Verse 29, "How much severer punishment do
you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot
the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the
blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified and
has insulted the Spirit of grace?" You think it was
severe to break the law of Moses. Wait till you see
how severe it is to trample Jesus Christ, to ignore
Jesus Christ, to step all over Him, to reject the blood
of the covenant by which He, that should be a capital
"H", by which Jesus Christ was set apart as the only
Savior.
If you want to insult the Spirit of grace who offers
salvation, insult the Son of God who was set apart as
the only sacrifice, insult the One who gave His blood,
insult the Son of God, then you can be sure that you
will receive a severer punishment than anybody who
broke the law of Moses.
You say, "Well who is going to exact that
punishment?" The same God offered grace, verse 30,
"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," and again the Lord

will judge His people. "It is a terrifying thing to fall into

the hands of the living God."
The judgment of the great white throne is coming. But
only those who choose to be there will go because to
be there you have to reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, as we conclude this most serious, sobering

portion of Scripture that shakes us to the very core,
we just ask that Your Holy Spirit would help us, first of
all, to examine our own lives, and, O God, if there's
anyone hearing this message who does not know
Jesus Christ, who is not genuinely forgiven, who is not
genuinely redeemed, bought back out of sin, and
headed for heaven, may they know that, may Your
Spirit make it abundantly clear to them so that they
aren't self-deceived and end up saying, "Lord, Lord,"
and hearing, "Depart from Me, I never knew you."
And, Lord, if there's anyone who hears this message
who is indifferent, who thinks you can just kick back
and not take this seriously, Lord, may they be shaken
out of such apathy and made to realize that they are
dealing with their eternal destiny. And this is reality.
And may they look at the future and make the only
reasonable sane judgment that heaven is the place to
be and not the lake of fire. And may they come to
Christ and repent of their sin and turn from their
wickedness and put their total trust and faith and
confidence in Jesus Christ to save them.
And, Lord, for those of us Christians who know this is
true, and are apathetic toward the lost, forgive us and

shake us and awaken us and help us not to kid

ourselves about how we care unless we care enough
to snatch people as brans from the burning. Lord, we
thank You, too, finally that You've rescued us due to
nothing which we have done and nothing in us worthy,
by Your mercy and grace alone You have saved us
from the great white throne, from the second
resurrection and the second death, and we give You
praise. And if our praise is genuine and our thanks is
genuine, then it must show up in the way we live. True
gratitude means obedience...obedience out of sheer
thankfulness and a desire to love and honor the One
who so graciously saved us from hell.
Father, I just ask that You work in every heart,
whatever it is that You need to do in the light of this,
save some, challenge others to a new and a fresh
zeal for the lost and fill us with gratitude,
overwhelming gratitude because we're in Christ, we'll
never know this condemnation. We thank You and
praise You for that. In our Savior's name we ask these
things. Amen.
***************************
I think throughout the history of the church, heaven
has been a preoccupation of God's people. Many
songs have focused on heaven. Because people
through the years in the life of the church have been
loosely tied to earth and so they have longed for
heaven. I suppose even this time in the history of the
world around the globe where Christians don't have it

as comfortably as we do, there is still a great

anticipation for heaven.
Most Christians, I suppose, through the centuries
could say with the psalmist in Psalm 73, "Whom have
I in heaven but Thee and besides Thee I desire
nothing on earth." That is the expression of the heart
that longs for God. Much like Psalm 42 where the
psalmist says, "As the deer pants after the water
brook, so pants my soul after Thee, O God." The
psalmist in the same Psalm 73 said, "Nearness to
God is my good." He said, "God is my portion forever."
Being preoccupied with the person of God, longing to
be in the presence of God was on the heart of
Christians.
In fact, the pure in heart, according to the words of
Jesus in the Beatitudes, are promised that they will
some day see God. Through the centuries that desire
to see God, to be in God's presence, to enjoy God
forever, that desire that there is nothing in the world
that can satisfy has been on the hearts of believers.
But it's not so in this culture.
Not in this society in which we live in the western
world. We are living in a society of instant gratification,
material comfort and endless indulgences. And the
church has become worldly. Nothing demonstrates
that, I don't think, anymore graphically than the lack of
interest in heaven. Most Christians are, to some
degree or another, more interested in laying up
treasure on earth than in heaven. They're more
concerned with their investments and their retirement

package and their own future on earth than they are

with heaven. I suppose most Christians sacrifice the
eternal blessing of glory on the altar of temporal
gratification. We don't talk about heaven much. We
don't sing about heaven much because we're really
not that interested.
The old song said "heaven on my mind," but that's not
really true anymore. Because believers do not have
heaven on their minds, they waste their lives, they
hinder the power of the church and they are
consumed with fading things.
We could address this issue of having lost the
heavenly perspective from a number of passages. We
could talk about Paul's words to the Philippians in
which he reminds them and us that our citizenship is
in heaven, chapter 3 verse 20 and that we are waiting
for the One who will transform the body of our humble
state into conformity with the body of His glory, or we
might even look at Colossians 3 where it says, "Set
your affections on things above and not on things on
the earth." Or we might even study 1 John 2:15 to 17
where it says, "Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is
not of God but is of the world and the world passes
away." We could even study the passage in James
where James says, "Friendship with the world is
enmity with God."
You see, everything connected to our spiritual life and
destiny is in heaven. Our Father is there. Our Savior is

there. Our Comforter is there. Our fellow believers are

there. Our name is there, our life is there, our
inheritance is there, our home is there, our citizenship
is there, our reward is there, our treasure is there.
Everything that belongs to us is there.
Consequently, Paul told the Romans that they should
be rejoicing in hope. That they closer they are to
heaven the more joy they should experience. I don't
know that we see that. I see even Christians close to
heaven trying desperately to hold on to this life. But
the preacher in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 1
was right. He didn't intend it this way but he was right
when he said, "The day of one's death is better than
the day of one's birth," and that is true for a Christian.
And though he may have approached it cynically,
what he said was indeed truth. It is better to die than
to be born because to die for a believer is to enter into
a better place than birth ushers us into. The Apostle
Paul understood that when he said, "For me to live is
Christ and to die is gain." Therein he voiced his
perspective.
The reason we should have a longing for heaven is
because God is there. And whom have we in heaven
but Him? And whom do we desire on earth but Him?
He should be our supreme affection, our supreme
love, our supreme desire. And if He's in heaven then
heaven should be the place we long to be.
In 1 Kings chapter 8, eight times it says that God is in
heaven. And if indeed He is the supreme object of our
affection, if He is our great love, if we love the Lord

our God in any proximity to loving Him with all our

heart, soul, mind and strength, then we would long to
be in heaven with Him. And we would say with the
psalmist, "I desire nothing on earth but You and whom
have I in heaven but You." I want to be there because
You're there, not because my friends are there, not
because my family is there, not because my relatives
are there but because You're there.
This has a powerful effect on our lives, to desire
heaven. And frankly, we could wish that we lived in a
less comfortable culture, we could even wish that we
lived in a poor culture, we could wish that we lived in a
persecuted culture so the world would not seem so
good to us and heaven would seem so much better.
In 1 John chapter 3 the first two verses, John says,
"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us
that we should be called children of God and such we
are. For this reason the world doesn't know us
because it didn't know Him. Beloved, now are we the
children of God and it has not appeared as yet what
we shall be. We know that when He appears we shall
be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is."
That's the attraction of heaven, we'll see Him just as
He is...no more veil, no more distance, no more
mystery, the complete revelation of God. And then
John says in verse 3, "He that has this hope in Him
purifies himself." It purges your life to hope for
heaven.
John Bunyan writing in that marvelous Pilgrim's
Progress which demonstrates such genius in making

the Christian life into a graphic illustration or allegory

has a conversation between two pilgrims who are on
their way to the celestial city, which, of course, is
heaven. One of the two pilgrims says to the other,
"When do you find yourself in the most wholesome
and most vigorous spiritual state?" To which the other
pilgrim says, "When I think of the place to which I am
going." Bunyan understood that. When he wrote that
he understood that heaven on your mind changes
your life. The living in a joyous anticipation of the
presence of God changes everything.
Sadly, I suppose most Christians are more like the
cynical Mark Twain who when told about heaven
remarked flippantly, "You take heaven, I'd rather go to
Bermuda."
A true and vivid longing for heaven has many
marvelous implications and many marvelous benefits.
A true and vivid longing for heaven, for example, is an
evidence of genuine salvation because when a person
longs for heaven, you know they're longing for God.
They're demonstrating love for the Lord. They're
showing you where their heart is.
And not only that, where you see a strong longing for
heaven there is incentive to the highest excellence of
Christian character. Why? Because anyone who loves
heaven and anyone who longs for heaven and anyone
who seeks that which is above and anyone whose
heart is in heaven is one who loves to commune with
the living God, one who travels there in meditation,
who travels there in devotion, who travels there in

prayer, who travels there in study, and that's a purging

fellowship.
Furthermore, a true and vivid longing for heaven is the
truest path to a life of joy because if you're really living
in heaven and if all your anticipation is there and you
recognize that that is the great desire of your heart,
then you can endure absolutely anything in this life
and never have your joy affected. What does it matter
what happens here in view of heaven's glories?
Furthermore, a true and vivid anticipation of heaven is
the best preservative against sin because the more
heavenly minded you are the less likely you are to
stoop to the degrading level of the world. The more
you set your affections on things above, the less likely
you are to follow fleshly impulses.
Furthermore, a true and vivid longing for heaven will
maintain the vigor of your spiritual service. Those
Christians who run slow, those Christians who work
little, those Christians who make a minimal effort at
serving God demonstrate little regard for eternal
things. Many of them work very hard at earthly things
and very little at eternal things. Why? Because they in
their minds have designed that the prize to be gained
here is more worthy of their effort than the prize to be
gained there. What a deception. You see, fervency in
service, diligence in service, faithfulness in service is
related to anticipation of heavenly benefit. I ask myself
that constantly...what is the heavenly benefit of my
life? What will be the heavenly benefit of that
endeavor? What does it matter for eternity?

Furthermore, a true and vivid longing for heaven

honors God above everything else because when
your heart is in heaven it is because He is there and
He is the supreme One. And a true devotion and
longing for heaven also repays God's goodness. You
say, "In what sense?" Well, when we set our affections
on things above, in a sense we have given back to
God what He has given us because His heart is
always set on us, and certainly ours should be set on
Him.
So when you want to find an evidence of genuine
salvation in someone's life and when you want to find
a motive or incentive to the highest excellence of
Christian virtue, and when you're looking for someone
who has true joy, someone who can stand against
temptation, someone who maintains the vigor and
diligence of spiritual service, someone who honors
God above everything else and someone who wants
to repay God for His goodness, you're going to find
somebody whose heart is in heaven. The noblest of
all Christians, the godliest of all saints, the most
virtuest of all believers are going to be heavenly
minded and they're going to life in the life of eternity.
So when we talk about heaven in our study of the
book of Revelation, having come to chapters 21 and
22, we're not just talking about pie in the sky, we're
talking about something that has immense
implications for how we live our lives. And, frankly,
we're talking about something that should bring great
conviction. It does disturb me, I confess, that every

single seat in this church isn't filled and people

pressing against the doors on the outside. It should be
enough to announce we're going to talk about heaven
that every believer would be here, if he had to paddle
his own boat. In some places in our world even today
that would be the case where people have suffered
much and where they love God much.
And so, as we come to the closing two chapters of the
book of Revelation after all these months and even
several years of study, we come now to the subject of
heaven. And my prayer is it will rekindle the fires in
every heart, the fires of preoccupation with the land of
glory which awaits us.
Let's get some foundational data first, okay? Heaven
is referred to 550 times or so in Scripture. Heaven is
referred to 54 times in the book of Revelation. The Old
Testament Hebrew word is shamayim, it means the
heights. The New Testament word is ouranosfrom
which we get the planet Uranus. It means that which
is elevated, that which is lifted up, that which is raised
up. Heaven is the raised up place, the heights.
Scripture simply delineates three heavens. In 2
Corinthians 12:2 it says Paul was taken up into the
third heaven, that's the heaven where God dwells,
that's the third heaven. The first heaven is the
atmospheric heaven, that's the atmosphere around
the earth, that's the air we breathe. The second
heaven is the stratospheric heaven, that's the heaven
of the heavenly bodies, the planets, the stars, the
moons and everything else. And when you've gone

through the atmospheric heavens and you've gone

through the stratospheric heavens and come to the
last heaven, it's the heaven of God, it's the divine
heaven, the abode of God and angels and saints.
And people have asked throughout the centuries:
where is it? Where is it? We believe it's a place
because there are some people there who actually
have bodies. Is that not true? Like Enoch who talk a
walk one day and walked right up to heaven. And the
prophet Elijah who went to heaven in a chariot. And
the Lord Jesus Christ who is there in a glorified body.
And there's going to be a lot more people there in
their glorified bodies because Jesus said in John 14
He went to prepare a place for us and some day He'll
come and bring us there. And when He does bring us,
according to 1 Thessalonians, our body is going to be
transformed, we're going to get a new body to go into
that heavenly place. It's a place.
You say, "Isn't it just sort of a spiritual
consciousness?" No, it's a place. It's a place where
the spiritual and the transcendent glorified bodies of
the saints will dwell with the glorified Christ and the
holy angels.
Now exactly where it is is not given, we just know
one...one detail, it's up, that's all we know. You say,
"How do you know it's up?" Because that's what the
Bible says. In Revelation, for example, chapter 4
verse 1, "After these things," John writes, "and behold
standing open in heaven, I looked and saw the door
and the first voice I heard like the sound of a trumpet

speaking with me said, Come up here." So, from

where John was standing, heaven was up. In 2
Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1 to 4 Paul says he
was caught up into the third heaven. It's up.
Now I know the next question: how far up? Well,
we've got to get through the atmospheric heaven and
we've got to get through the stratospheric heaven,
although we could conclude that heaven is in a
completely different dimension, and thus is very near.
I'll say more about that. But let's just assume that we
go through the atmospheric heaven and the
stratospheric heaven to get to the up where the true
heaven is. The moon is 211,463 miles, you could walk
to it in 27 years if you could walk 24 miles a day, it's
not that far. Now if we could just crank up your speed
a little bit to like 186,000 miles per second, you could
get to the moon in a second and a half, which is really
the better way to go if you're going to take the trip. At
that speed you could reach Jupiter in 35 minutes and
11 seconds cause it's only 367 million miles away. And
if you could go 186,000 miles per second you could
get to Saturn in 7...in one hour and 11 seconds cause
it's only 790 million miles away. Now remember,
you've got to go 186,000 miles a second to get there
in a hour and 11 seconds.
But you see, when you've gotten to Saturn and you've
gone beyond, and you've even gotten to Pluto which
is in to the billions of miles away, when you've arrived
at the very extremity of what we know is our solar
system, you haven't even gotten out of the front yard.
You're still at the very, very beginning of the

stratospheric heaven because Alpha Centauri which is

a star is 20 billion light years away, the North
Star...420 billion miles away, I should say...the North
Star, 400 billion. And then a star Betelgeuse, 880 quad
drillion miles away. And by the way, it's big. They have
discovered it has a 200 million mile diameter. And you
want to know something? When you get there, you're
still in our galaxy and there are billions of galaxies.
And they say that our galaxy probably has a diameter
of 100,000 light years, that's going at the rate of
186,000 miles a second for a year. And when you've
gotten through our galaxy there are billions more. So
when we say "up," it is up.
You say, "Well, it must take a long time to get there."
Luke 23:43 Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "In
100,000 light years you'll be with Me in Paradise." Is
that what He said? He said what? .... Isn't that
amazing? And the Apostle Paul said, "Absent from the
body, (snap), present with the Lord." Second
Corinthians 5:8, "Far better to depart and be with
Christ." Oh in a sense it's outside the created order as
we know it, it's in a different dimension than time and
space and so it's a little facetious to assume that it's
miles away, but you understand that the great heaven
of God is way beyond the created world and yet we
can be there in a split second. In fact, when the
Rapture comes it's going to happen in a twinkling of
an eye, that doesn't mean a blink, that's different.
Twinkling means the light...the time it takes for light to
refract off your pupil.

And what do we know about heaven? Well only what

the Bible says. Ezekiel tried, we give him credit, tried
to explain it in chapter 1. I'm not going to read it to you
because it's...you can read it yourself. He talked about
storms and he talked about fire flashing and jewels
and metal and glowing metal and living creatures and
bronze and spinning wheels inside of wheels. From
verse 4 down through 28 he gave his best effort at
describing the indescribable.
And Paul went there and came back in 2 Corinthians
12. And sad to say, the Lord didn't let him tell about it
because he says he was not allowed to describe it.
So Ezekiel is giving us a description that's very hard to
comprehend...shining, brilliant, blazing, glorious light
and jewels. Paul doesn't even get to tell us what he
saw. So the best look at it is here in John's revelation.
We're going to get the best glimpse of heaven
anywhere in Scripture here in chapter 21 verse 1
down through chapter 22 verse 5. This is a
monumental text of Scripture then because it
describes for us our future home.
Now remember, Jesus said in John 14 that He was
going to go away and prepare a place for us, and this
is the place He prepared for us. And we'll see how that
fits together in a moment. Let's turn to chapter 21 and
at least for tonight we'll take a shot at the first three
verses.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first
heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is
no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, 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 He shall
dwell among them and they shall be His people and
God Himself shall be among them.'"
Now, friends, that is enough for me to preach on for
months. It is so glorious. But let me just give you three
features that come out of these verses.
First of all, the appearance, or the vision of the new
heaven and the new earth. Let's call it the appearance
of the new heaven and the new earth. Verse 1, "And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth passed away and there is
no longer any sea."
Now remember, as this chapter opens, let me just give
you a fast review, as this chapter opens in the
chronology of end times, all the sinners of all the
ages, demons and men, including Satan, the false
prophet, the Antichrist and everybody else are now in
the eternal Lake of Fire. They are out of the presence
of God and the saints and the holy angels forever.
They have been dismissed into their own
disconnected isolated place of eternal punishment.
They are gone from the presence of God, the saints
and angels forever.

Additionally, the whole universe as we know it, the

entire universe, all the way out to endless space
through all the billions and billions of light years that
make up the stratospheric heavens, all of it has been
destroyed. All of it has been reduced to energy. All the
matter that makes up the entire universe has been
reduced to energy.
So the universe as we know it is gone. And all the
ungodly are gone. And God then takes the holy angels
and the godly of all the ages and creates for them a
new universe which is to be the eternal dwelling place
of the redeemed and of the angels who worship God.
This is what Ephesians 1:10 has in mind when it says,
"The fullness of times has come." That is the summing
up of all things, things in the heavens and things upon
the earth, Ephesians 1:10. This is it. This is the eternal
state. This will exist forever and forever.
Let's look at the verse, "And I saw," I have to stop at
that phrase. That little phrase is a technical phrase,
this is the seventh time it's been used since chapter
19 verse 11. Chapter 19 verse 11, "I saw heaven
opened and then Christ comes," this is the seventh
time that same little phrase is used. It's a very
important phrase because I think it is used to take us
step by step through the chronology of the coming of
Christ. It is used when the Lord returns. It is then used
at the defeat of Antichrist. It is then used to introduce
the banishment of Satan at the outset of the Kingdom.
It is then used at the introduction of the Kingdom, the
millennial Kingdom. It is used at the opening of the

release and the destruction of Satan. It is used to

introduce the scene at the Great White Throne. And
here for the seventh time it is used to introduce the
new heaven and the new earth. It's a technical phrase
that introduces each of the sequential events from the
return of Christ to the establishment of the eternal
state. And here is its seventh use. We'll see the eighth
use in the next verse. As you can see verse 2 begins
with the same phrase, "And I saw."
But here in the seventh use, "I saw a new heaven and
a new earth." Following the Lord's return, following the
defeat of Antichrist, following the banishment of Satan
at the beginning of the Kingdom, following the
Kingdom, following the release of Satan and his
destruction, following the Great White Throne comes
the new heaven and the new earth. And there you
have the sequence, the eschatological sequence
leading up to the eternal state, signaled by the little
phrase "and I saw."
And what did he see? A new heaven and a new earth.
Now this terminology is drawn from the Old
Testament. And I just remind you of two Scriptures,
Isaiah 65:17, "For behold, God said through the
prophet Isaiah, I create new heavens and a new earth
and so new that the former things shall not be
remembered or come to mind." People ask, "When
you get to heaven, will you remember what went on
down here?" What's the answer? No. Because if you
could remember, you would remember things that are
tainted with...what?...sin. "Be glad and rejoice forever
in what I create."

Then in Isaiah 66:22, "Just as the new heavens and

the new earth which I make will endure before Me,
declares the Lord, so your offspring and your name
will endure." And again there twice Isaiah refers to the
new heaven and the new earth. And so John is taking
that phrase right...right from, as it were, the pen of the
prophet. What Isaiah had predicted is now a reality in
the vision that John is having.
So there's coming a new heaven and a new earth.
And I say to you what I've said all the way along, the
earth we live on is temporary, disposable. We're not to
preserve it, that's pointless. I'm not saying that you are
indiscriminate in how you care for the resources
around you. I'm not saying that you should wantonly
pollute the world and make life difficult and things like
that. But I am saying the idea of preserving this world
runs contrary to the plan of God. It is disposable, it is
unraveling, it is declining, it is winding down. The law
of entropy which says that matter is always breaking
down and tending toward disorder is indeed occurring.
And consequently we are living on a disposable
planet. God does not intend for it to remain. The goals
of all those who want to save the earth, to save-theplanet people are really wasting their time because
this one will be replaced by an eternal new heaven
and new earth. In fact, the earth is not headed for an
ecological crisis. I want to take that burden off your
back, the earth is not headed for an ecological crisis, it
is not headed for an ecological holocaust, it is headed
for an eschatological holocaust.

Now the word "new" is important. It's not the word

neoswhich means new as opposed to old, it's the
word kainoswhich means new in quality, it measures
not the timeliness of something being new or the fact
that it is new on the calendar, it is new to this period of
time, but simply that it is new in quality. It is fresh. It is
different. There's coming a different heaven and earth.
Yes it is new in terms of chronology, but it is...the point
that the writer is making here is that it is new in terms
of kind, it's different, the quality of it is completely
different from the one we now know. And we won't
even have any remembrance of the one that now
exists. God originally made the universe and the
earth, I believe, to be the permanent home for
mankind. And Eden would have been his permanent
home and he would have lived forever, except that
men and women sinned in the Garden. Sin and death
entered in, corrupted the world and the universe. The
fall of angels, of course, added to the corruption. The
earth became a place that had to be destroyed. Decay
entered it. It started unraveling and decaying and
ultimately God has to wipe it out.
There will come a new heaven, think about it. A
heaven with no more tempests, a heaven with no
more storms, no more fierce winds, no more thunder,
no more rain and no more demons and devils
roaming. And there will be a new earth with no
miseries of godlessness, no longer smarting under the
curse. And earth whose forever hills will flow with
holiness and the river of salvation and whose eternal
valleys know only the peace of the paradise of God.
This has to happen. There has to be a new heaven

and a new earth. Why? Back to verse 1, "For the first

heaven and the first earth passed away." That was
described back in chapter 20 verse 11. "I saw a Great
White Throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose
presence earth and heaven fled away and no place
was found for them." At that point we discussed the
fact that the universe goes out of existence when God
gathers the ungodly at the Great White Throne and
then sends them in to the Lake of Fire.
And because the universe is gone, He has to create a
new one. The heavens and earth that we now know
must be destroyed. You remember how the Old
Testament prophets said the heavens are not pure in
His sight, Job 15:15. That was true. Leviticus 18:25,
"The land has become defiled." Isaiah 24:5, "The
earth is polluted." And consequently the psalmist
writing in Psalm 102 wrote, "Of old Thou didst found
the earth and the heavens are the work of Thy hands,
even they will perish but Thou doest endure and all of
them will wear out like a garment, like clothing Thou
wilt change them and they will be changed." The old
clothing a new garment will come. And by the way,
that identical passage is quoted in Hebrews chapter 1
verses 10 to 12, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst
lay the foundation of the earth, the heavens are the
work of Thy hands, they will perish but Thou
remainest." Jesus said in Luke 21, "Heaven and earth
will pass away."
So because heaven and earth, as we know it, this
whole massive universe will be uncreated. And when
you think about the creation of it, I mean, think about

the creation of a universe where you can go 880

quad-drillion miles, reach a star 200 million miles in
diameter and still be in your galaxy and there are
billions more galaxies beyond it. Imagine that massive
universe being uncreated. And then in its place a new
heaven and a new earth.
You say, "What's it going to be like?" He only gives us
one clue, end of verse 1, just...this is the only clue,
"There's no longer any sea." Humph, you say, "Is that
a clue?" Yeah, there's no longer any sea, that's all he
says.
Now that means it's going to be different because
three quarters of the earth's surface is covered with
what? Water. And you know something, I want to
announce to you that you're mostly water. Did you
know that? Your blood is 90 percent water and your
flesh is 65 percent water.
This then, this world in which we live is basically a
watery world. There's not only water in the oceans,
there's water in the land. And we're water and plants
are mostly water and animals are mostly water, and
the earth...did you know?...is the only place in the
known universe where there's water enough to sustain
man, plants and animals. Tell me that's evolution. It
can't be.
The sea is emblematic of a water-based environment.
Man's existence is water based. You'd die if you get
dehydrated. So what is he saying here? Well, what
he's saying is the new heaven and the new earth don't

operate on water anymore. Now that's enough to tell

you it's going to be different. No more evaporation,
distillation and condensation. New climatic conditions.
And whatever we are in our glorified form is not going
to depend on a process that demands consumption of
water. The new heaven and the whole new universe
isn't going to have to have a whole lot of oceans, it
won't have to have any, it won't have any. So in our
glorified form, no water is needed.
You say, "Well, is there going to be any water at all
there? I might get thirsty even there in heaven." Well
you probably won't but in Revelation 22 it says, "He
showed me a river of the water of life," that's the only
water, it's not the H2O kind, it's the water of...what?
Life.
So whatever...whatever the water of life is is what
gives us life but it's not the kind of water we know, it's
not a chemical called H2O. You say, "Well why does
he say that?" Just to point out that it's different. And
that's about as profound a way to express its
difference from the physical standpoint as any way he
could say it because if there's no water there and
there's no sea there, then life is going to be so
completely different than anything we could even
understand in its glorified form. The eternal state is
totally different.
So, verse 1, the appearance of the new heaven and
the new earth and I can't tell you anymore than that,
folks, because that's all there is there. First
Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says there's a body

terrestrial, that is an earthly one, and there's a body

celestial, a body in the glory, and they're different. We
will be literally raised, we will be literally given
resurrection bodies, we will dwell in an eternally new
heaven and earth that will be based on a completely
different life principle than what we know now in this
created universe.
Now let's move to the second point. He starts out with
the appearance of the new heaven and the new earth,
and then secondly, the capital of the new heaven and
new earth, the capital. Verse 2, and here is the eighth
use of this little phrase, taking us to the next in the
sequence of visions, "And I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
made ready as a bride adorned for her husband."
Now here we are introduced to the capital city of
heaven which is the new Jerusalem. Now you want to
mark something in your own mind, the new Jerusalem
isn't all there is to heaven because later on in the
chapter we're going to find out just exactly how large
the new Jerusalem is. It is even measured out down
there in verse 16 as 1500 miles cubed. But you've got
a whole new heaven and new earth, a whole new
created realm that is vast, that is infinite, that is
eternal and in the middle of it you have a capital city
called the new Jerusalem which is 1500 miles cubed.
You say, "Are you sure this is literal?" Well if it isn't, I
haven't got any idea what he's talking about cause if
you ask me to accept this as something that's not
literal, then how am I going to know what it is? You
read commentators who say, "Well he doesn't really

mean a real city." Well what does he mean? It says

"city." And who is going to unravel the mystery of what
he means when he doesn't say what he means? It
says here there was a holy city called new Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven from God. So you know
what I conclude? There was a holy city called the new
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. And
that's what John saw.
Notice "the holy city, new Jerusalem," there are three
Jerusalems, really, in redemptive history. There's the
old city of Jerusalem, the historic Jerusalem, the old
city of David the Jebusites once occupied in the land
of Palestine, that city that still exists today and can be
visited. People live there. There is that city, that old
city of Jerusalem, that historic city. And by the way,
even as the historic Jerusalem it is called the holy city.
That's right. It is referred to in the Old Testament,
Isaiah 52:1; Nehemiah 11:1; Daniel 9:24. It is referred
to in the New Testament, Matthew 4:5; Matthew 27:53;
Revelation 11:2. It is referred to, the historic city, as
the holy city. What that means is not that everybody
that's in it is holy but that it was set apart unto God. It
was set apart for divine purposes. It was to be
devoted to God. It's not that everybody in it was holy
or is holy or will be holy. Eventually it will become the
seat of Antichrist's desecration and the raising of false
worship of him. So it's holy in the sense that God set it
apart for divine purposes. But obviously nothing
beyond that.
The millennial Jerusalem which will come during the
thousand-year period will be holy as well because

Christ will sit on the throne of David in the city of

Jerusalem and rule with a rod of iron. And so there will
be a greater holiness to that city as Christ, the holy
One, reigns there and maintains order through swift
judgment.
But this is not the historic old Jerusalem and this is not
the millennial Jerusalem, this is the eternal city. It is
called the holy city, new Jerusalem. And this is holy
not because it is set apart to God, not because Christ
is there, but it is holy now because every person in it
is perfectly holy. And so Jerusalem would have gone
from a holiness by virtue of being devoted to God to a
holiness by virtue of being ruled by Christ to a
holiness by virtue by being occupied only by holy
people. Everyone in it will be perfectly holy. Chapter
20 verse 6 of Revelation, "Blessed and holy is the one
who has part in the first resurrection that takes people
to heaven."
Now it's hard to imagine a holy city, isn't it? Certainly
Los Angeles wouldn't qualify. The world's cities, in fact
just the opposite of being holy, of all of human society
the most unholy is in the cities, isn't it? The world's
cities are pockets of wickedness, pockets of unholy
living and unholy thinking. The world's cities are the
real symbol of decay and decadence and immorality
and crime, pollution. The world's cities are a swamp of
sin and iniquity, corruption, graft, thievery from New
York to Tokyo, from Los Angeles to Moscow, from Rio
to Paris. We don't know anything about a holy city, but
this city is the holy city, the sinless capital city of
eternity where everybody who lives in it is perfectly

holy. And the idea of a city talks about relationships

and activity, it talks about responsibility, unity,
socialization, harmony, communion, living together,
doing things, cooperating. And I think the Lord is
showing us it will have everything a city has in terms
of people living together and working together and
serving together and the difference will be they will all
be godly.
In Revelation 3:12 this city was first mentioned in the
book of Revelation. And the name of the city of my
God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of
heaven from God and he says it's promised to those
who are overcomers. But there is the same
description. It is the city called new Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God. Hebrews talks about
this. Do you remember Hebrews chapter 11? It says
that Abraham was looking for the city which has
foundations whose architect and builder is God. What
do you think he was looking for? He was looking for
what? For heaven. In chapter 12 of Hebrews verse
22, "You have come to Mount Zion to the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where there are
myriads of angels and the general assembly and
church of the firstborn are enrolled in heaven." And
God is there, the judge of all, and the spirits of
righteous men made perfect are there and Jesus is
there, that's all in Hebrews 12:22 to 24. This heavenly
Jerusalem where the angels are and the saints are
and God is and Jesus is, that's the new Jerusalem.
Abraham looked for that city and one day went there.
And all of the saints that have died are gone there

now and they're there in their spirits. It's that city. I

think the best way to understand this, beloved, is that
anybody who dies, any saint who dies goes to the
heavenly Jerusalem...that heaven is the heavenly
Jerusalem. In fact, we could say that all heaven is
contained currently in the heavenly Jerusalem
because the universe as it exists, which is an infinite
universe, is touched and stained by sin. So until there
is created a new heaven and a new earth, heaven
doesn't fill all of infinity.
To put it another way, think of John 14 and I think this
will begin to pull some things together in your mind, I
know it does in mine. In John 14 Jesus, of course,
was telling His disciples He was going to leave. And
you remember the little talk He had, "Let not your
heart be troubled, believe in God, believe in Me. In My
Father's house..." What's that? "Well, My Father has a
house and in that house are many rooms, I'm going to
get your room ready and then I'm going to come and
get you and take you there."
I believe Jesus left the earth, went back to the
heavenly Jerusalem, the city who has...that has a
foundation whose builder and maker is God...He went
back to the heavenly Jerusalem where there are just
men whose spirits are there and the angels are there
and God is there and, of course, Christ is there, and
He went back there to prepare a place for us. And
some day He's going to bring us to that place. It's
important then to see that the new Jerusalem exists
even now in some form, it's really heaven, it's where
God is. And when a believer dies, they go to the place

the Lord has for them. But some day when God
creates a whole new infinite universe, that heaven,
that third heaven, that Father's house, that new
Jerusalem, that city whose builder and maker is God
is going to come down and descend into the midst of
the new universe. And it will be the home of all the
godly, it will be where we dwell cause we're
not...you're not saying, "I'm living on Pluto and you're
living over on Saturn and somebody else is living over
in some galaxy somewhere..." We're all in the
Father's...what?...house. And so we'll all live in the
city, we can just go anywhere we want but home will
be the new Jerusalem. All the glorified of all the ages
will live in that city because they'll all live in the
Father's house where Jesus is gone. And if He's gone
now...listen carefully...if He's gone there now to
prepare a place now, it has to be being prepared in a
place that now exists. And the new heaven and the
new earth don't now exist. Do you understand what
I'm saying?
That's why the Scripture is so clear that the time is
going to come in the end when God creates a new
heaven and a new earth, a whole new universe and
down from Him into that new universe will descend
the heavenly city. Coming down from God out of
heaven. In fact, in chapter 21, look down at verse 10,
"He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high
mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem,
coming down...Jerusalem coming down out of heaven
from God," that's a third time it says that, back in
chapter 3 and here twice, that this comes down. It
indicates to me that it doesn't come into existence, it

just descends from God into the new heaven and the
new earth. Now that's just a technicality but I think it
shows you the explicit nature of the description here.
The Lord is now preparing a place for us in the
Father's house, the Father's house is in the heavenly
Jerusalem, or heaven as we know it, and some day
the whole thing will descend into the eternal state, the
new universe.
It is from God. What does that mean? It's a God kind
of city. It's a God designed and God made city. He is
the architect and He's the builder and it bears all the
marks of His holy glory. I'm telling you, when we get
down into verse 9 and go through the rest of the
description here, you'll see what that means.
So the heavenly city will have already been prepared.
Jesus is preparing it now. And when He comes for His
own, He's going to take His own into that place. And
when the Rapture of the church occurs, we'll go to that
place He's preparing for us and that will be our home
and we'll dwell there. Even during the time of the
Millennium we'll go back and forth into the earth in
glorified form and back to that holy city. And then
finally the holy city will become the capital city of
eternity.
In further describing the capital city John says in verse
2, "It was made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband." He borrows this magnificent imagery of a
wedding. Now in Jewish terms there were three parts
to a wedding. First was betrothal. And what
happened...that's like an engagement only it was real

serious. Families got together and they pledged the

two young people to one another and it was a binding
contract and it was signed and it was settled. And
there was a period when the couple did not come
together physically together at all during the betrothal.
It was followed by a period or event called the
presentation. Presentation was when the bride was
brought out and presented, the groom was brought
out and there was usually a week of feasting.
The end of the week there was the ceremony. So you
had the betrothal, the presentation, the ceremony. And
after the ceremony was over you had the
consummation. It is that magnificent imagery that you
see here. The betrothal took place in eternity past
when God wrote the names of His own beloved in the
Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the
world. The betrothal took place in eternity past when
God the Father pledged to give to the Son a
redeemed humanity that He would choose. The
presentation? The presentation occurred at the
Rapture of the church when the bride was taken to be
with the bridegroom. And for seven years there would
be a wonderful feasting.
At the end of that period the ceremony takes place.
You could liken the ceremony to the Millennial
Kingdom, the great celebration, the final great feast as
the bride and the groom are joined together. And it's
followed by the consummation which would be like the
eternal state.

So he says I saw the new Jerusalem coming down

and it's made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband. It's time for the consummation.
Why does he describe the city that way? Because the
city contained the bride and so he sees it as the
bride's city. You know when the very beginning of
God's redemptive plan you know what His purpose
was? To go get a bride for His Son, wasn't it? It was to
go get a bride for His Son. And He did. And by the
time you come to this point in the chronology of
Revelation the bride is collected, all the Old Testament
saints are incorporated into the final figure of the
bride, all the Tribulation saints are incorporated in it,
all of those who were converted during the time of the
Kingdom, all of the church is included and they're all in
the bridal city, they're all encompassed in the bride
that God has chosen for His Son and the city
descends with all the redeemed in it into the eternal
state.
Back in chapter 19, just briefly, verse 7, "Let us rejoice
and be glad and give glory to Him for the marriage of
the Lamb is come and His bride has made herself
ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine
linen, bright and clean, for the bright linen is the
righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, Write,
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage
supper of the Lamb and he said to me, These are the
true words of God."
When you're studying that in chapter 19, you realize
that not everybody who's at that feast, that initial

celebration is part of the bride because it says,

"Blessed are those invited." So you've got a bride and
some invited guests. So when we studied that we
pointed very clearly that the bride is the church...the
bride is the church. And the picture of Christ being
joined to His bride is the picture of Christ being joined
to His glorified church. The church is the pure faithful
bride, never a harlot like Israel. The church is the
bride during the presentation feast in heaven after the
Rapture.
But then when the church comes down to earth when
Jesus returns and sets up His Kingdom, you come to
the full final ceremony of the wedding. I believe then
all the saints are collected and gathered in and so the
bride becomes all encompassing and so does the
bride become all encompassing in the eternal state.
So here is the consummation. All things resolved in
Christ, all things resolved in the Father. And that's
what Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 15 where he
says, "All things are subjected to Him," verse 28, "the
Son Himself will be subjected to the One who
subjected all things to Him that God may be all in all."
At the final great event of the ceremony during the
Kingdom followed by the consummation, all the saints
of all the ages...of all the ages can be brought in to the
bride metaphor so that it encompasses all of them.
So John then sees the capital city and it is adorned as
a bride because it contains all the redeemed of all the
ages who ultimately are the bride that the Father has
sought to give to His Son. Marvelous. And the new
Jerusalem is a bridal city. The old historic Jerusalem

back in chapter 11 verse 8 was called Sodom and

Egypt because it was so rotten and so wretched. The
Millennial Kingdom didn't reach this level of perfection
either and the millennial Jerusalem was besieged by a
satanic rebellion, according to chapter 20 verse 3 and
following.
So we're dealing here with a new Jerusalem. This is
the holy new Jerusalem, more gloriously wonderful
than the present Jerusalem as Paul calls it in
Galatians 4, or the millennial Jerusalem.
So as we look at heaven then through the eyes of
John in his vision we see the appearance of the new
heaven and the new earth and the capital city. Then
one last point.
We see the supreme personality of the new heaven
and the new earth...the supreme personality. And I'm
only going to say something brief about this because
there's so much to say I want to keep it for next time.
Look at verse 3. "And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, `Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men and He shall dwell among them and they
shall be His people and God Himself shall be among
them.'" Who is the supreme person of heaven? Who
is it? It's God. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee,"
Psalm 73:25, "And who do I desire on earth but
Thee."
I heard a loud voice from the throne...that's about 20
times plus that that phrase has appeared that a loud

voice has come out of the throne, probably some

angelic announcer. And the announcement is,
"Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men." God
no longer is afar off, no longer in a different place. The
tabernacle is skene, the place of abode, the place
where you live. This is the Father's house. In the new
Jerusalem is the Father's house and the Father's
house is among His own.
Jesus went away to prepare a place for us in the
Father's house so that the Father could come and live
in His house with all of us. Behold, amazing, God is
living in the same house with men. It's an absolutely
unthinkable reality to a Jew who wouldn't even say the
name of God because of fearful reverence. And yet a
Jew should remember Leviticus 26:11 and 12 says, "I
will make My dwelling among you, I will also walk
among you and be your God and you shall be My
people." And though that had historic import and
historic significance, that is nothing compared to its
eternal significance. The Immanuel God with us is
really with us, not just in human flesh in the form of
Jesus Christ, but now Immanuel is with us in all His
fullness, no more veiled in flesh, no more in a Holy of
Holies in a tabernacle or a temple, no more in a pillar
by day or a cloud...a cloud by day or a pillar of fire by
night, no more is God transcendent. God comes and
makes His home with us, now this is the Father's
house and we're all in it together. That is the amazing
reality of heaven. "Blessed are the pure of heart for
they shall see God."

That means, according to verse 22 of this chapter,

look at it, there's no temple. John sees a new
Jerusalem and there's no temple. Why? Because the
Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb ARE the temple.
In other words, a temple would indicate that you have
to go somewhere to see God, or go somewhere as in
the Old Testament to behold the Shekinah, you don't
need a temple because you're in God's house. This is
so staggering that John's listening to this voice and
the voice repeats this thing several times...the
tabernacle of God is among men. And the voice says
it another way, "And He shall dwell among them."
God's going to dwell with His own. And what the
psalmist anticipated when he said, "In Thy presence is
fullness of joy, at Thy right hand are pleasures
forever," is going to become reality. When it says
"dwell" it's the same root as the word tabernacle and
it's related to the term for Shekinah, the very presence
of God. Shekinah means habitation, Deuteronomy
12:5.
He says it another way. First he says the tabernacle of
God is among men. Then he says He shall dwell
among them. And then he says, "And they shall be His
people." It's almost as if this thing is so mind boggling
he has to keep repeating himself. God Himself shall
be among them. If he had just said, "He shall dwell
among them," they might say, "Well, yes, in His glory
and perhaps in a veiled way because He's so great."
And when he said, "And they shall...He shall be
among them," "Well yes, yes He's going to move in
their midst, yes, we understand that." And then he

says, "And they shall be His people," personal

possession...personal possession.
And then as if that's not enough he adds again, "And
God Himself shall be among them." Haven't we
already heard that? God Himself is the addition. God
is among men. He dwells among them. They are His
people. Yes, you heard me right, God Himself. Wow!
God appeared in the theophanies of the patriarchal
time and God spoke to the prophets audibly and
personally. God led His people by day and by night
with His presence. God showed them His glory. God
came certainly in the flesh of Jesus Christ. And we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten full
of grace and truth. Evidently God who was
transfigured before them, in Matthew's gospel 17 it
tells about it. God has come to believers in the form of
the indwelling Holy Spirit. God has come in the form of
the reigning Messiah Jesus Christ in the Millennial
Kingdom, but this is God's presence like no other
occasion. And this then is the supreme personality of
heaven.
We want to be there because God is there. "Whom
have I in heaven but Thee?" Who do I care about up
there but You, You're the supreme One. First
Thessalonians 4 says when the church is raptured we
will ever be with the Lord, that is the issue, we will
ever be with the Lord. It is being with God that makes
heaven heaven. "Father," Jesus prayed in John 17:24,
"I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be
with Me where I am." I want them with Me where I am.
What a prayer and it is answered. No intercessors, no

mediators, absolute communion with God. No fear, no

restraint because there's no sin, eager approach to
His holy presence at all times. We'll be really in the
presence of God. That is incredible, marvelous,
unimaginable, but that is the promise of heaven.
Next Sunday night is going to be communion but I'm
going to spend the preparation for communion
finishing what I said tonight and showing you what is
going to happen when we are in the presence of God
in heaven.

Father, thank You for this great hope. Thank You for
what You have laid before us. O Father, how
awesome it all is. And, Lord, we do pray that You
would cause us to set our affections on things above
and not on things on the earth. We sap so much
strength, so much energy and so many resources
fussing about the trivialities of this life, instead of
investing our energies and our thoughts in that which
is eternal. Thank You for the hope of heaven which
enables us to endure anything here in the light of what
is to come. Thank You for the hope of heaven which is
the greatest incentive to excellence in our Christian
character which is the truest path to joy which is the
best defense against sin. Thank You for the hope of
heaven which strengthens our spiritual service and
causes us to honor you. Help us to live in the light of
the glory to come and to treat very lightly this world for
there is a far more eternal weight of glory. May we
hold lightly to the passing things and feel the true
weight of what is eternal.

And should there be anyone in our midst, Lord,

anyone who hears this message that is not on the way
to heaven, we pray that You would save them by Your
grace and turn their course from a course to
destruction to a path to glory for Jesus' sake. Amen.
******************************
As we prepare for the Lord's table tonight, I want us to
consider the same theme that we've been considering
as we move through the book of Revelation and find
ourselves now in chapter 21. And to introduce that
theme, or reintroduce it to us, I want you to turn to
Revelation 21. You remember that last Sunday night
we were considering the first three verses of this
immensely important revelation. And we came to
verse 3. And verse 3 describes the greatest reality
about heaven, the greatest reality about the new
heaven and the new earth. Verse 3 of Revelation 21
says, "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
`Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and He
shall dwell among them and they shall be His people
and God Himself shall be among them.'"
The great reality of the eternal state, the great reality
of the new heaven and the new earth, the great realty
of dwelling in glory in heaven forever is the presence
of God. And we considered the words of the psalmist
who said, "Whom have I on earth beside Thee? And
whom have I in heaven but Thee?" Who expressed
that his great longing and his great passion and his
great desire was for no other than the Lord Himself.

That's what makes heaven. That's why the Apostle

Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ but to die is
gain." Gain, why? Well, if "for me to live is Christ," "to
die" is gain because I am in the presence of Christ in
all His fullness...heaven.
Heaven is that place where we will live with God. Is it
any wonder that John said, "Even so, come, Lord
Jesus, to be with You."
When we think about heaven and its attractiveness,
well we might consider pearly gates and streets of
gold. We might considered...consider the jewels that
sparkle with the shining of the glory of God. We might
consider the reunion that will occur with beloved
redeemed friends, those who are the children of the
Redeemer. We might consider that we will be made
perfect and out of that perfection will come perfect
praise and worship.
But the best and the most glorious reality of heaven is
God Himself. And verse 3 simply says, "The
tabernacle of God is among men. He shall dwell
among them. They shall be His people and God
Himself shall be among them."
Now tonight, just briefly, as we prepare for the Lord's
table, I want to share with you the very, very important
reality of what it's going to be like to live in the
presence of God. Let me just give you several
features, maybe a handful.

First of all, we will be with Him. And that's what verse

3 is saying initially. We will be with Him. That's
fellowship. And this is the supreme joy of heaven,
fellowship with God who pitches His tent, who takes
up His residence with us. And if you remember in 1
John chapter 1 verse 3 it says that what we have seen
and heard, that's John talking about Christ, we
proclaim to you, that's the gospel, in order that you
also may have fellowship with us and indeed our
fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ. In heaven the fellowship will be full and
unhindered and more wonderful than anything we can
ever experience in the fellowship that we enjoy
spiritually in this life.
Listen to the words of John 17 verse 24, "Father, I
desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be
with Me where I am." In other words, when I come
back to You and the glories of Your throne in heaven, I
want My own to be there. That's what heaven is, it's
really not a place, it's a presence. It's being with Christ
where He is.
In John chapter 14 we all know very well the words of
Jesus, "In My Father's house are many rooms. 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." Always to be with Him,
to be with Him. That's what is paradise regained.
Remember the Rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians
4:13 to 17 where the Apostle Paul says, after talking

about how saints are going to be brought out of the

graves and picked up off the earth and meet the Lord
in the air and ascend into glory all in the twinkling of
an eye as he says to the Corinthians, he caps it off by
saying, "Thus we shall ever, or always, be with the
Lord." So the highest joy of heaven is not the beauty
of the place, although that is wondrous. The highest
joy of heaven is not the experience of corporate
praise. The highest joy of heaven is not reunion with
loved ones who have gone before. The highest joy of
heaven is to be with the Lord. That is the crowning joy.
If you go down in chapter 21 of Revelation to verse 22
and 23 it says, "I saw no temple in it," that is in the
new Jerusalem which is the capital city of the new
heavens and the new earth, he says, "I saw no temple
in it for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are
its temple." And that is to say God dwells everywhere.
It doesn't have to have a temple which is a place
where God dwells because all of it is a temple. The
city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine
upon it for the glory of God has illumined it and its
lamp is the Lamb. All of heaven, all of the new
heavens and the new earth and particularly the new
Jerusalem is the temple because the presence of God
and the presence of Christ is unconfined and fills it all.
In heaven there will be no distance, God will not be far
off, there will be no sense of removal. Heaven is the
place of enjoyment for the full presence of God.
And Richard Baxter, that Puritan writer, said, "As God
gives us glorified senses and enlarged capacities in
heaven, so will He advance the happiness of those

senses to fill up with Himself all those capacities."

Eternal, immediate, constant fellowship with God that
is intimate, unbroken, satisfying in every respect.
Again Richard Baxter opens to us a wonderful
perspective, listen to what he writes. The English is a
little archaic but the truth is very, very up-to-date. He
writes, "The things of God we handle are divine but
our manner of handling them is human. There is little
we touch but we leave the print of our fingers behind.
The Christian knows by experience that his most
immediate joys are his sweetest joys. What have least
of man and are most directly from the Spirit. Christians
who are in secret prayer and contemplation are those
of greatest life and joy because they have all more
immediately from God Himself the fullness of joy is in
God immediately being present." What he's saying
there is that in times of quiet contemplation,
meditation and prayer we draw as near as we can to
God and there we find our profoundest joy so the
proximity to Him is the source of that.
He goes on, "We shall then have light without a
candle and perpetual day without the sun. We shall
have enlightened understandings without Scripture
and be governed without a written law. We shall have
joy which we drew not from promises nor fetched
home by faith and hope. We shall have communion
without ordinances. To have necessities but no supply
is the state of those in hell. To have necessities
supplied by means of creatures is the state of those
on earth. To have necessities supplied immediately
from God is the state of the saints in glory," end quote.

No intercessors, no mediators, just the presence of

God. Intimate communion with God, intimate
communion with Christ. We heard from some of the
testimonies tonight that "I didn't know God...I didn't
know Christ, but once I came to the Lord Jesus Christ
repentant and embraced Him as Savior, now I know
God...now I know Christ." And that is only the initial
kind of knowing that finds its fullest realization in the
glory which is to come.
In fact, to be honest with you, it's sort of comfortable
to know God only from a distance. Were we to come
too close to Him even though we are His children in
our fallen condition, it would be too frightening for us
to bear. When Isaiah who was a true believer, the
truest of the true in his land, was assaulted, as it were,
by the presence of God in the temple as he went to
worship and to seek God's face in chapter 6, and
when the angels came out and cried antiphonally,
"Holy, holy, holy," he was so overwrought with fear
that he pronounced a curse and damnation upon
himself and said, "Woe is me for I am disintegrating."
When Job was brought face to face with God, closer
than he had ever been in his whole life, he said, "I
repent in dust and ashes." When Peter realized that
he was in the presence of the Creator God who
controlled everything in the world because He had just
controlled the fish in the Sea of Galilee, Peter realizing
that cried out from the depths of his heart, "Depart
from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And when a
sinner, even a redeemed one, gets into proximity with
God, it is a frightening, terrorizing experience."

Unholiness is always uncomfortable in the presence

of perfect holiness. And so it's...it's okay that...that the
intimacy of heaven is reserved for heaven because it
would be too frightening for those of us who are even
redeemed because of our sinful flesh to get very close
to Him. But some day we will. And some day we'll
walk up boldly into His presence in the shining of His
glory, some day we will take our room in the Father's
house and we won't bat an eye and we won't be
ashamed and we won't blush and we won't hide our
face and we won't turn our eyes and we won't fall on
our faces prostrate, we'll be able to look on whatever
of the glory of God we can see and feel comfortable
joy because we will be holy, with the very holiness of
Christ.
So, the glory of heaven is fellowship. We will be with
Him. Secondly, the glory of heaven is we will see Him.
The tabernacle of God is among men, He'll dwell
among them, they'll be His people and God Himself
shall be among them. Three times that phrase "among
them...among them...among them," we will see the
Lord. That's right.
You say, "I thought the Old Testament said no man
can see the Lord and live?" It does, Exodus 33. John
1:18, 1 John 4:12 says, "No man has seen God at any
time." First Peter 1:8, "We love the One whom we
have not seen." And, of course, you remember that
the Apostle Paul describing the character of God even
says that God is invisible. He is the One who alone

possesses immortality, dwells in unapproachable light,

whom no man has seen or can see, 1 Timothy 6:16.
If God is invisible, if no one can look on Him, if He is
too holy, too pure, too spotless and we are too
iniquitous, how is it that we can see Him? Well,
remember the words of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5
where Jesus said that there are those who will see
God. That's the promise from the very mouth of Jesus
Himself. And those who see God, He said, have to
meet a condition, they have to be pure. The day will
come when we will be pure and we will see God. For
the time being, all we can see is a veiled glimpse like
Moses who saw the glory of God veiled there in
Exodus 33, like those who saw Jesus Christ, who saw
God veiled in human flesh, like the Apostles on the
mount who saw the transfigured Christ and were able
to behold something of the glory. They could only see
a part but whenever they saw it, now mark this,
whenever they saw God they saw light, fire, a bright
cloud of light.
In Psalm 104 verse 2 the Bible says God covers
Himself with light, as with a garment. God who is spirit
cloaks Himself with light. Put it this way, He wears
light to be visible because He is the invisible God. He
can only be seen when He covers His invisible
essence with light. In Exodus 24:17 we read, "The
appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a
consuming fire on the mountain top." Psalm 36:9, "In
Thy light we see light." Whenever anyone has seen
God, whether it was on the mount in the Old
Testament, Mount Sinai, or whether it was on the

mount in the New Testament, the Mount of

Transfiguration, they saw light, brilliant, shining,
blazing, fiery light. And that is why we think of God as
shining glory because that is in fact how He revealed
Himself.
But when we are immortal and when we are noncombustible and when we are non-consumable and
when we have been made pure there will be nothing
in us that can be ignited by the light of God. And so
we will be given an eternal and expanded vision of
God manifest in light. And that's what we read about in
verses 22 and 23, the glory of God illuminates the
new heaven and the new earth and blazes its light
through the new Jerusalem which is a series of
transparent gold streets and a bejeweled city with
pearls for gates so that the shining light comes blazing
and refracting off of all the jewels and through the gold
and off the pearls. When Matthew 5:8 says they shall
see God, it uses the term opsonti(????), they shall be
seeing God for themselves, a future continuous
reality.
Frankly, in the oriental courts of ancient times, kings
were rarely seen. They were secluded and it was a
rare privilege to be admitted into the presence of a
monarch and to face him. Only very privileged people
were able to see the king. To have the privilege to see
God for oneself would be an unimaginable privilege.
It's hard for us to understand that. We see everybody
on television, in the newspapers, in pictures. There
was no television, no newspapers and no pictures. If
you didn't see somebody face-to-face, you didn't see

him. To have the privilege to see God for oneself, the

greatest imaginable joy. Psalm 42:1 and 2, "As the
deer pants after the water brooks," says the psalmist,
"so pants my soul after Thee, O God." And he says,
"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God," and then
he adds, "when shall I come and appear before God?"
If you're having trouble desiring heaven it's because
you're having trouble desiring to see God. There's
nothing here to compare with it. Even the disciples
had enough sense to say to Jesus, "Show us the
Father, that's what we really want to see, we want to
see God." And in this life we don't see Him...not with
the eye, we see Him with the mind and the heart, we
see Him in history and circumstances, creation,
providence, through revelation we see Him in grace
and mercy and love. But the day is coming when we'll
see Him. Hebrews 12:14 says we'll see the Lord.
Revelation 22, look at verse 3, "And there shall no
longer be any curse, the throne of God and of the
Lamb shall be in it and His bondservants shall serve
Him...verse 4...and they shall see His face." What was
forbidden in Exodus 33 is no longer forbidden
because as I said earlier, we are non-combustible.
You say, "Does that mean that we will see the
immense and eternal and endless infinity of God?" I
don't know. But I'll tell you this, we'll see all we can
see. And whatever limitations may exist on us as
glorified people, we'll be able to see to the limit of our
existence of our glorified form.

You say, "Do you think that we'll be able to embrace in

our glorified form the full infinity of God?" No, because
if we could we would be equal to God and even in our
glorified state we won't be, so we perhaps will not see
all of His immense infinity but all that our perfect eyes
can perceive in perfect holiness we will see. And what
we will see will be His being revealed in blazing light.
Now I know you want a preview and you wish I had
some slides but I don't have any. So let me give you
a...the best shot I can give you and tell you what
Ezekiel said. Verse 26 of Ezekiel chapter 1, now he
says, "Above the expanse that was over their heads,
the heads of angels that he saw, there was something
resembling a throne like lapis lazuli..." I love that, it
sounds like an Italian meal. Some kind of color, most
people think it's some kind of bluish color. "There was
lapis lazuli in appearance and on that which
resembled a throne, high up was the figure with the
appearance of a man and I noticed from the
appearance of his loins and upward something like
glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it,
and from the appearance of his loins and downward I
saw something like fire and there was a radiance
around him." What's he seeing here? He's seeing
something that has some shape and it's sort of
shaped like a man only it's just a whole lot of blazing
glowing shining fire which radiates.
And verse 28, "As the appearance of the rainbow in
the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of
the surrounding rainbow." So coming off the glory of
the appearance of God as he sees Him on the throne

is fire and from the fire comes light and light defuses
into a rainbow of colors. "Such was the appearance of
the likeness of the glory of the Lord." That's the only
description we've got. "And when I saw it, I fell on my
face."
That's all we know. In chapter 22 of Revelation and
verse 5 it says there won't be any night so you won't
need any light from a lamp or a sun because the Lord
God will illumine everything. Just blazing light.
John Calvin wrote, "Our glory will not be so perfect as
to be able to comprehend the Lord in His absolute
godhead. Even at the last there will remain an
impassable distance between Himself and us," end
quote. And yet this is more than we could ever
imagine. We will see God face to face. We will literally
be engulfed in the glorious light of His presence.
And there's something else. I believe that Christ will
be the focal point of the radiating glory of God. This is
a guess. What Ezekiel saw in the form of the
appearance of a man was very possibly Christ. God is
pure spirit but Christ took on the form of a man. But in
the glory of that final form He may have appeared to
Ezekiel in a preview of what we will see. Shining, fiery,
brilliant, blazing light defusing into colors, that will be
the glory of God shining through Jesus Christ.
If you think that's amazing, remind yourself that 1
John 3 says that when we see Him we shall be like
Him. Wow! What that means is we'll not only see the
glory of God face to face, we'll participate in it. Even

now in the process of sanctification, according to 2

Corinthians 3:18, we're moving from one level of glory
to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the
next and finally we'll enter into the glory of the Lord.
And seeing God with our glorified eyes we will be
overwhelmed and eternally awed by the effulgence of
His manifest light, particularly as it centers and blazes
through Jesus Christ and we'll be like Him.
No wonder the psalmist said in Psalm 17:15, "As for
me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness." You
couldn't behold it any other way. "I will be satisfied
with Thy likeness when I awake, I'll see You and I'll be
like You."
What satisfies you? I mean, really? A house, a job, a
promotion, enough money at the end of the month to
pay the bills, entertainment? How about to know God,
to see God, to see Him face to face to gaze on His
glory to be made like His Son? I mean, who would
need to think very long about whether it's better to go
or stay? No wonder...no wonder Peter wanted to stay
on the Mount of Transfiguration. We give Peter a bad
time. Poor guy. I mean, we label him, "The Apostle
with the foot-shaped mouth." We continually hear
Peter asking stupid questions and always seemingly
to be on the wrong side of God's intentions. But can
you...can you understand when he saw the blazing
glory of God shining through the person of Jesus
Christ something like the vision Ezekiel had that he
wanted to say, "Hey, guys, this is it! Let's build booths
and live here?" Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul

who visited heaven and came back said, "Far better to

depart and be with Christ?"
Blind Fanny Crosby wrote a song about that. I love it. I
don't hear it sung very much. She titled it, "My Savior,
first of all." This is how it goes:
When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling
tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall
see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the
other
side and His smile will be the first to welcome me.
Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless
white, He will lead me where no tears shall ever
fall, in the glad song of ages I shall mingle with
delight, but I long to meet my Savior first of all.
That's heaven.
So, we'll be with the Lord and we'll see Him. Thirdly,
we will adore Him. We will adore Him. Why? Because
heaven is a place of worship, it's just worship and
worship and worship and worship. That's what we'll do
forever and ever and ever. Every time you go into
heaven in Revelation, and we've been there a lot,
haven't we? We bounced up to heaven in chapter 4

and stayed through chapter 5. We were bumped up to

heaven again in chapter 7 and we returned in chapter
11, went back for a visit in chapter 15 and returned in
chapter 19. And now we're back in heaven in chapter
21 and we're going to stay in chapter 22 right there in
heaven. And every time we go there what we find is
worship...worship. That's what happens in heaven. It's
just praise and worship and honor and adoration to
God.
So it's very clear on our heavenly occupation. God,
you remember, according to John chapter 4, seeks
true worshipers who will worship Him. And that is what
we will do forever and ever in heaven. Listen to Luke
19:17 to 19, this is Jesus telling the parable that's
familiar to us about a nobleman who went on a
journey and gave stewardship to his slaves. But in
verse 17 of Luke chapter 19 he said to him, "Well
done, good slave, because you've been faithful in a
very little thing, be in authority over ten cities. And a
second came saying, Your mina, Master, has made
five minas...that was the one who made ten. He said
to him, You're over five cities." What is this? Well, it
appears that heaven is going to be a place
where...where authority is going to be given to people.
Now you say, "Well, what...what kind of authority?"
Well the only thing I can think of is we get to organize
the worship in a certain section. We're sort of in
charge. You've been faithful in a little way, now I'm
going to give you greater authority, greater leadership.
We'll all rise to the level of choir directors, worship

leaders. What is heaven? It's where God is going to

be, we'll be with Him, we'll see Him, we'll adore Him.
And then I want to add, we will serve Him. We will
serve Him. Verse 3 of chapter 22, there no longer will
be any curse, the throne of God and the Lamb shall
be in this city of new Jerusalem and His bondservants
shall serve Him. Doulos latreuo, the verb
latreuotranslated "serve" means priestly service. It's
used back in Revelation chapter 7 also. Our
occupation will be to serve...to serve. Verse 15 of
Revelation 7 talks about those who have washed their
robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb,
they are before the throne of God, they serve Him day
and night in His temple. And, of course, His temple
fills all of eternity. And so, we're going to worship Him
and we're going to serve Him.
You say, "Whoa, you mean there's going to be...you
mean we've got to work?" That's right. We will be so
creative, we will be more creative than you can ever
imagine. We will function to our fully glorified creative
capacities. We will have a sense of accomplishment.
We will be active. We will be working non-stop, we'll
never need to sleep, we'll never need to eat or drink,
we will be in a glorified condition. There will never be
a night, there will never be a day, it will all be eternal
light.
You say, "Well, what will be the nature of our service?"
I believe the nature and the extent of our service will
reflect our faithfulness in this life. In other words, I
believe our eternal capacity for service is the reward

for our faithfulness here. What you do to serve the

Lord here will determine what you're privileged to do
to serve Him there.
Now each of us will be rewarded, 1 Corinthians 4:5,
each will receive praise from God, but the rewards will
differ. As the Lord sorts out the wood, hay and stubble
from the gold, silver and precious stones, He will
determine the reward and the reward will be the
capacity we have to serve Him.
I don't know about you but I want to serve Him to the
greatest extent possible. Just to give you an
illustration of what I mean, and I don't want to take the
time tonight, I don't have it to give you a number of
them, but just take one, for example. Daniel 12:3,
"Those who have wisdom, those who operate wisely
will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of
heaven." In other words, when you live in this world
with spiritual wisdom and when you get in to the next
world, you're going to shine like the brightness of the
expanse of heaven. "And those who lead the many to
righteousness are going to shine like stars forever and
ever." In other words, eternal shining is connected to
faithfulness here.
I really believe that when you go to heaven the Lord is
not going to hand you a pile of crowns and you're
going to have to go home and find some heavenly
carpenter to build you a case to display them. Rather I
believe your crown and your reward will be service
capacity.

And then one other thing. There's much more that

could be said. This is the most astounding thing.
When we get into glory and when we see the Lord,
we'll have fellowship with Him, we'll see Him, we'll
worship Him, we'll serve Him. There's one other thing.
I want you to turn to Luke 12 because in Luke 12
verse 35 to 40 is so important. Jesus is giving us
some very important words starting in verse 35. "Be
dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight. And
be like men who are waiting for their master when he
returns from the wedding feast so that they may
immediately open the door to him when he comes and
knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master
shall find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to
you...here it is, folks, this is the most astounding thing
you will ever read about heaven...Truly I say to you,
he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at
the table and will come up and wait on them." Is that
astounding? It's not astounding that we'll serve Him,
what is astounding is...what?...He'll serve us. He'll
say, "Sit down at the table while I serve you."
Whether He comes in the second watch or even in the
third and finds them, so blessed are those slaves. Be
sure of this, that the head of the house had known at
what hour the thief was coming, he wouldn't have
allowed his house to be broken into. You too be ready
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you don't
expect.
Jesus takes the imagery of a great lord, a great
master returning to his palace and when he finds his
slaves serving faithfully in his absence, he serves

them. The lord coming back from the journey doesn't

seek rest. He doesn't say, "Please make my bed, I'm
weary, it's been a long journey, I want to retire for the
night." He twists the whole role and makes a feast and
he serves his slaves. And this is a picture of what the
heavenly Lord will do when we get to heaven. So it's
not just us knowing Him and fellowshiping with Him
and being with Him and seeing Him and worshiping
Him and serving Him, it's Him serving us.
And thus do we better understand, I trust, the richness
of these words, "And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, `Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men and He shall dwell among them and they
shall be His people and God Himself shall be among
them." Let's pray.

Father, we thank You for the wonderful promise of

heaven. We're so unworthy of it. And, Lord, as we
come tonight to Your table, we want to cleanse
ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. We want to purify our
hearts. We want to confess our sins as we think about
the cross. We want You to remember us and cleanse
us again, wash the dirt off our feet so that when Jesus
comes we'll be worthy servants to sit down at His
table and have Him serve us forever.
Thank You for the hope of heaven. And thank you for
the cross of Christ which is the reason for this hope. In
our Savior's name, amen.

********************
Well, let's look at Revelation chapter 21 in the time we
have left to us tonight, the new heavens and the new
earth. In our ongoing study of Revelation we're looking
at the final state, what is called the eternal state. And
it is described for us in the last two chapters of the
book of Revelation. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God
has set eternity in the hearts of men. That is to say
there is a longing in the heart of man for eternal life.
Without the hope of life after death, without the hope
of eternity, without the hope of heaven, life is reduced
to what Macbeth said after the death of the queen, "A
tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing."
And so the anticipation of a future life is very
important. The anticipation of heaven is the only
reality that can make life here and now have any
lasting meaning. As you come to the conclusion of the
Bible because Revelation is the end, you come to the
conclusion of the Bible you come to the description of
heaven. God's final word to us is here is what heaven
will be like. And the Bible then closes with a dramatic
presentation of the wondrous reality of heaven, the
hope in the future that makes life in the present worth
living. Here is the place, here is the sphere, here is
the habitation, here is the experience of the saints
forever.
Starting in chapter 21 and verse 9 you have a very
detailed description of the new Jerusalem, the capital
city of heaven, the holy city coming down out of God's

presence into the final state. But before we look at

that description which starts in verse 9, there's an
introductory in verses 1 to 8 which we have been
looking at. It is really introductory. It just introduces us
to the idea and some of the features of this final state,
and then more detail follows in verse 9. Let me read
you the first eight verses.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first
heaven and the first earth passed away and there is
no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, 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 He shall dwell
among them and they shall be His people. And God
Himself shall be among them. And He shall wipe away
every tear from their eyes and there shall no longer
be any death. There shall no longer be any mourning
or crying or pain; the first things have passed away."

And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am

making all things new." And He said, "Write, for
these words are faithful and true." And He said to
me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give to the one who
thirsts from the spring of the water of life without
cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things
and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for
the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and
murderers 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."
Now again having read that we are initially reminded
of the reality that we live in a world and in a universe
that will be totally destroyed. To use a word we may
well have coined, it will be uncreated. It will go out of
existence. That's what it says in verse 1, the first
heaven and the first earth passed away, they
disappeared, they went out of existence.

Now remember, this will occur after the thousand year

millennial Kingdom that is described in chapter 20. It
will occur at the time when God judges all the ungodly
at the Great White Throne. After the millennial
Kingdom is over, Christ destroys the last satanic
rebellion, the universe is destroyed and then all of the
ungodly are brought before God at the Great White
Throne judgment. After the Great White Throne
judgment, the first heaven and the first earth having
passed away, chapter 21 verse 1 says a new heaven
and a new earth come into existence.
To give you another view of this same great holocaust
in which the world is destroyed and the universe with
it, I want to have you turn to 2 Peter because you can't
really have the full picture unless you compare 2 Peter
chapter 3 with the book of Revelation. And I haven't
really done that and I want to do it tonight.
In 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 7, very similar to what
John saw in the apocalypse of Revelation, Peter
received by way of revelation from God. Second Peter
writes, "But the present heavens and earth by His
Word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of
judgment and destruction of ungodly men." Now Peter
could anticipate the dissolution of the present heavens
and earth. It would come in the time when God's final
judgment fell, the time we call the day of the Lord, in
the day when ungodly people are destroyed,
ultimately cast into the lake of fire. In verse 8, "Do not
let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with

the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a

thousand years as one day."
Now Peter is saying the present world system since
the Flood will be destroyed. It will be destroyed by fire,
a coming fire storm awaits this system. Matter will go
out of existence. All motion will stop and only divine
energy will remain. It will include the destruction of
ungodly men. Obviously the godly are not destroyed,
they're taken to glory.
And then in verse 8 he says that a day with the Lord is
as a thousand years and a thousand years as one
day. And that, by the way, is borrowed by Peter from
Psalm 90 and verse 4. And we can't confine God to a
set schedule. God is beyond time. And yet here is a
very clear reference to a thousand years being equal
to a day. Now remember that in Revelation chapter 20
we also discussed a thousand years because there it
talks about the kingdom and about how Satan will be
bound for a thousand years.
So as John is looking at the end time, he sees a
thousand-year period. As Peter looks at the end time
he comments on a thousand years. In fact, in verses 4
to 7, follow this carefully, of 2 Peter 3, in verses 4 to 7
Peter is describing the return of Christ in judgment,
that is before the kingdom. It's the judgment at the
return of Christ when He comes and destroys the
ungodly. Then in verses 10 to 13 Peter describes a
period at the end of the Millennial Kingdom and he
describes the creation of the new heaven and the new
earth. And he talks in verse 10 about the heavens

passing away with a roar, the elements being

destroyed with intense heat, the earth and its works
burned up. And then down in verse 13 he says, "We
look for a new heaven and a new earth."
Now it's very important to note this. Verses 4 to 7 talk
about something at the end of the Tribulation before
the thousand-year Kingdom. Verses 10 to 13 talk
about events at the end of the Kingdom. So you have
the day of the Lord, then, really starting at the end of
the Tribulation and finishing at the end of the
Kingdom. And people ask that question: how can you
have the day of the Lord separated by a thousand
years? In fact, some amillennialists will kind of poohpooh that viewpoint and Peter couldn't answer it any
more explicitly than he answers it by saying in verse 8
that one day is as a thousand years with the Lord and
a thousand years as one day. He is saying it shouldn't
be a problem to you that the first part of this
description occurs prior to the thousand years and the
latter part at the end of the thousand years when you
realize that with God a thousand years is as one day
and in this case, namely the day of the Lord.
And so, Peter looks and sees the coming day of the
Lord and he knows by way of revelation that there is a
thousand-year feature within this, although he
certainly wouldn't see it as clearly as John began to
see it because of further revelation. And then go to
verse 10, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief,"
that's a surprise break in. When the day of the Lord
comes it will come like a thief, unexpectedly. And this
is describing what has to happen at the end of the

Kingdom. The heavens will pass away with a...literally

with a whizzing whistling, it's an onomatopoetic word.
For those of you who aren't in English class,
onomatopoeia is an English word that describes a
word that is defined by its sound. In other words, its
meaning is its sound. And so there is a whizzing
whistling crackling as the uncreation takes place and
the elements which are the basic components, the
ABCs, the stoicheia, the irreducible minimum
structure, building blocks or structure of civiliza...of
creation, I should say. Those elements will be
dissolved with fervent heat, the earth and its works will
be burned up.
Then down in verse 12, again it talks about the
heavens being destroyed by burning and the elements
melting with intense heat...some kind of atomic
holocaust as God recreates or destroys really the
creation, uncreates the creation and breaks apart and
destroys the atomic structure as we now know it. The
uncreation reducing everything to energy which is the
power of God, used then, according to verse 13, to
create a new heaven and a new earth.
So Peter saw the same thing. Now you can return to
the book of Revelation. The new heaven and the new
earth which Peter saw is precisely that which John
sees in his own vision here in the last two chapters of
Revelation. Here we find then the best description of
the eternal dwelling place of the saints. Remember
now that the ungodly are already cast into the lake of
fire, they're out of the picture and this is the dwelling
place for the godly...for God, for Christ, for the Holy

Spirit, for the holy angels and for the redeemed. This
is the dwelling place of all believers forever. And John
sees the vision of it.
First of all, we noted that he saw the appearance of
the new heaven and the new earth in verse 1. He
says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the
first heaven and the first earth passed away and there
is no longer any sea." Now remember, as the chapter
opens all the sinners of all the ages are gone. They're
gone. Whether they be demons or men, including
Satan, they're all in the lake of fire, confined forever in
anguishing punishment. The whole universe has gone
out of existence. And in its place John sees a new
kainos, a new kind, a new quality of creation. And it is
identified as one in which there is no sea. We pointed
out the fact that that means it doesn't function as a
water-based existence such as ours does today.
Then we saw secondly not only the appearance of the
new heaven and the new earth but the capital of it. In
verse 2, "I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride
adorned for her husband." And I believe this is the
capital city of heaven, the new Jerusalem. This is
where the Father lives, this is where God dwells
among His people. This is what Jesus referred to
when He said, "I'm going away to prepare a place for
you, and I'll come again and receive you to Myself that
where I am there you may be also," this is the dwelling
place of all believers who have died. They're with the
Lord right now in this place and the place where they
are with Him now will survive the destruction, of

course, of the universe and descend into the new

heavens and the new earth from the heaven of God
which transcends any creation.
And so, this capital city then is seen coming down
because it already holds the saints of all the ages who
have died. They're already living there and dwelling
there. And we'll find more about that and its
description starting in verse 9. So we saw then the
appearance and the capital of the new earth.
And thirdly, the supreme reality. And this is kind of
where we left off the last two weeks. Verse 3 tells us
the supreme reality, "I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, `Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men and He shall dwell among them and they
shall be His people and God Himself shall be among
them.'" Three times it says God is going to be among
them. That's the supreme reality, fellowship with God,
seeing Him as glorious light, worshiping Him, serving
Him, and even being served by Him as Luke 12:35 to
40 pointed out.
Now that brings us to the text for tonight. Let's come
to a fourth point as we look at this description which is
introductory. And we have considered the
appearance, the capital and the supreme reality of the
new heavens and the new earth. Here's a fourth point,
the changes...the changes.
Now we're going to find out what life there will be like.
And the only way it can be described to us really is
with negatives. We cannot understand what we

cannot understand. We cannot understand what we

cannot perceive or what we cannot conceive or what
we cannot experience. And so the only way we can
understand what we can't see, what we can't
understand and what we can't experience is to
understand it by its difference from what we do
experience. And so you have a series of no mores or
no longers which will demonstrate for us the
difference.
Summing it up, an old human experience is gone
forever. It's gone forever. In verse 4 look at what John
says. "And He shall wipe away," and here come the
negatives, "He shall wipe away every tear from their
eyes and there shall no longer be any death, there
shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain, the
first things have passed away." And what John is
saying is it's not going to be like life here. It's going to
be different. All those things which make up life here
which are so much a part of life and the negative
features of life will be utterly absent.
John then rehearses the changes that describe such a
dramatically different life by rehearsing for us a series
of negatives. And again I say we can't really
comprehend something we can't comprehend so he
has to tell us what it won't be like and use what we
know as a starting point and back off from there.
Now the first thing he says is God is going to wipe
away every tear from their eyes. Some people have
said, "Well what that means is you're going to get to
heaven and you're going to start crying all over the

place, the Lord is going to come along and wipe your

tears away." No, that is not what it means. It doesn't
mean we'll arrive weeping. On what basis would we
arrive weeping? Well you say, "We're going to have to
face the record of our sins." Not so, the record of our
sins was put on Jesus Christ, He already paid the
penalty for it. "There is therefore now no
condemnation."
"Well," you say, "well wait a minute, we're going to see
our wood, hay and stubble burned up." Well after
wood, hay and stubble are burned up all that's left is
gold, silver and precious stones and Paul says, "Not
only that, every man will have praise from God," 1
Corinthians chapter 4. So we're not all going to be
moaning and groaning and weeping and wailing all
over heaven while the Lord comes around with a
supernatural handkerchief and mops up all our tears.
That is not what we are to comprehend by this.
He shall wipe away, pon dakron(??) every single tear.
What it means is there never will be a tear in heaven,
not one single tear. There will be nothing sad. There
will be nothing disappointing. There will be nothing
unfulfilling. There will be nothing lacking. There will be
nothing
wrong.
There
will
be
nothing
limitating...limiting. There will be nothing to cry about.
Tears of misfortune, tears of poverty, tears of
loneliness, tears over lost love, tears of sympathy,
mercy, pity, tears of persecuted innocence, tears of
remorse, tears of regret, tears of penitence, tears of
neglect, tears of yearning for what cannot be are all

gone forever. Bliss, joy and nothing but for eternity.

Tears, you see, are part of, what he says at the end of
verse 4, the first things that have passed away. They
don't exist.
To put it in a clinical form, you won't have any tear
ducts. Furthermore, you might not even have any
water in you. How about that? I told you there's no
more sea. It's not a water-based existence. No more
tears, gone, nothing to cry about.
And he adds, some more of the no mores, there shall
no longer be any death. The greatest of mortal curses
is gone. Death, as Paul promised in 1 Corinthians 15,
is swallowed up in victory. Death is gone. It is
eliminated. Nobody ever dies. In fact, go back to
chapter 20 verse 14, "Death itself is thrown into the
lake of fire." What that tells you is death dies. Death is
gone...gone forever...along with him who had the
power of death, Hebrews 2:14, namely Satan, who
used that power of death to put fear in the hearts of all
men. No more dying there, the song says, no more
crying there.
And there shall no longer be any mourning.
Somewhere below tears comes grief, sorrow, distress,
repression that leads to tears. There won't be any of
that, not at all. There won't be anything to get
depressed about. There won't be anything to get
distressed about. Now some of you are going to have
to figure out a new way to live because that does take
up an awful lot of your time, but the Lord will be glad
to give you some new things to occupy yourself.

This is a fulfillment really of Isaiah 53 where it talks

about this, now you remember Isaiah 53 speaks about
the death of Christ and it says He was despised and
forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and like one from whom men hide their
face, He was despised and we didn't esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He
carried. You see, on the cross He took away our sin
and He also ultimately took away our sorrow, didn't
He? Because when we get to glory and sin is in the
past and all the debilitating features of sin are gone,
there will be no reason for mourning. There will be no
depression. Nobody will ever be sad, down in the
mouth. Those of you who are moody will never be
moody again.
And he says, another no more just along the same
line, really almost a synonym, "or crying." Not only no
longer any mourning but he adds crying, just to make
sure he covers all the ground. No tears, no mourning,
no crying...all gone. And then he adds, "No more
pain." No more pain? No, because the healing
promise in the atonement is fulfilled. Back to that
same passage, Isaiah 53 verse 5, "He was pierced
through for our transgressions, He was crushed for
our iniquities," we know that, Jesus died for our sins,
but how about this? More than that, "By His scourging
we are healed."
You say, "Well isn't He talking about spiritual healing?"
Yes, but not just spiritual healing because if you go
over to chapter 8 of Matthew it says that Jesus took

the hand of Peter's mother-in-law, touched her and

fever left her. And He healed all who were ill. And then
in verse 17, "In order that He might fulfill what was
spoken through Isaiah, He Himself took our infirmities
and carried away our diseases." And that's exactly
what He did at the cross. We just don't realize that
until we get to heaven. But Jesus died for our
diseases and some day they'll all be gone. He died for
our tears and some day they'll all be gone, and our
mourning and our crying and our pain and death will
be gone and all sin.
That's the catalog of the "no mores." And at the end of
verse 4 he says the first things have passed away. He
just sums them all up as the first things. They belong
to the first heaven and the first earth. They belong to
this life which we now live. But they are the blessed
exemptions from heaven. They won't be there. It will
be absolute eternal bliss. Everyone will be as happy
as it is conceivably possible to be in the presence of
God in a perfect condition all the time...all the
time...unmitigated,
unrestrained,
unlimited,
unhindered, unrestricted, undiminished joy. We can
understand it by what it won't be.
And then John adds a positive statement of some sort
in verse 5. It doesn't give you any detail but here is a
positive statement nonetheless. "And He who sits on
the throne said, `Behold, I am making all things new.'"
And that's all that John can really say about the
positive side. Everything will be different. Everything
will be new. Who said so? "He who sits on the throne."
Oh. Who's that? Same one back in chapter 20 verse

11, "I saw a great white throne and He who sat upon it
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and
no place was found for them." He who sat upon the
throne, obviously the eternal God, the eternal Christ,
both of them are on the throne. The Son is sitting on
the Father's throne with the Father. God and God in
Christ, the One who created the first time will do so
again, the Lord Himself. And He says I am making all
things new, a whole new existence.
You remember this morning we talked about our new
body, that it's not made with hands? And what that
means is it's not of this earthly creation as Hebrews
9:11 says. That's exactly it. It's completely different
than the creation we know now, completely different.
This is a corruptible one, it's an incorruptible one. This
is a perishable one, it's an imperishable one. This is
an earthly one, that's a heavenly one. This is a natural
one, that's a spiritual one. Utterly different, utterly
unique, no entropy, no atrophy, no decay, no decline,
no used up energy, no waste, eternally fresh.
Now I suppose John get a little overwhelmed because
in the middle of verse 5, the voice from the throne, the
voice of the Lord, "And He said to me, `Write,'" like,
you know, John kind of lost his concentration for a
minute. It may be an indication that John was so
overwhelmed by this that he just dropped his quill.
And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and
true." Keep writing, John, you're almost done but not
quite. Keep writing, these are faithful and true words.

By the way, back in chapter 3 verse 14 it says to the

angel of the church at Laodicea write the amen, the
faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God says this...and that's Christ. You have that
same phrase back in chapter 19 verse 11 where
Christ in His return is called "faithful and true," and
here John is told "Write for these words are faithful
and true." As "faithful and true" is the living Christ.
You're not done, John, keep writing.
And so, as Luke 21:33 says, "Heaven and earth will
pass away but My words will not pass away." There
will be an end to the universe but not an end to the
truth that God speaks and He tells John to write.
And then verse 6, as we continue to think about this
third...this fourth point, rather, in our little outline, the
changes that are going to come in eternity. He says
this in verse 6, "And He said to me," again the voice
from the throne, the voice of the Lord God, the Lord
Christ, "It is done...it is done." They're very much like
the words of Jesus on the cross, "It is finished," one
word in the Greek, te teleiosti. It's over. When Jesus
said that on the cross, He had achieved the
redemptive purpose of God for His sin bearing, He
had done it. But here when it says "it is done," it is
really done, everything is done, this is the moment
when redemptive history ends. This is the end of all
redemptive history.
I think this is the moment clearly described in 1
Corinthians 15 verse 24, "Then comes the end" when
He delivers up the Kingdom to the God and Father,

when He has abolished all rule and all authority and

power, we must reign until He puts all enemies under
His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is
death for He has put all things in subjection under His
feet, but when He says all things are put in subjection
it is evident that He is accepted who put all things in
subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected
to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to
the One who subjected all things to Him that God may
be all in all."
That incredible description is a description of the end,
the very event that is signified by the term "it is done."
It's over, this is the end. Write it down.
And then He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end." In other words, I can say
it's the end because I'm in charge of the beginning
and the end. I am the One who started it, and I am the
One who ends it. God is simply unfolding in all of
human history His sovereign purpose and plan.
Remember Jesus in chapter 1 of Revelation verse 8
said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end." Over in chapter 22 of Revelation at the
very end, verse 13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
In other words, I can say it's over because I'm in
charge of when it starts and when it ends. And this is
the end. I am the One who is the source and I am the
One who is the summation. I am the One who is the
origin, I am the One who is the completion. All the
changes are done and the new heaven and the new

earth is in place and redemptive history ends. And the

rest is eternal bliss. And there's really no particulars to
tell, it's just eternal perfection.
So, in this vision John sees the appearance of the
new heaven and the new earth, the capital city, the
holy city coming down from heaven called the new
Jerusalem. He sees the supreme reality who is God
who will take His tabernacle with men. And he sees
the changes.
Now I'm going to bring you to a fifth point that is a very
important one...the residence...the residence. Who is
going to live there in this glorious eternal state?
People described in two ways and those two ways are
very clear. Look at verse 6 again. In the middle of the
verse, "I will give to the one who thirsts from the
spring of the water of life without cost." And then verse
7, "He who overcomes shall inherit these things and I
will be his God and he will be My son."
There are two descriptive phrases that tell us who is
going to be in heaven. One, the one who thirsts. Two,
he who overcomes. Those are the two descriptive
phrases. And they describe for us who will be in the
eternal heaven.
The one who thirsts. What does that signify? Well,
those people who recognize their need. Those people
who desire to drink. It's reminiscent, isn't it, of
Matthew 5 where Jesus said, "Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness..." But it goes
back even before the teaching of Jesus all the way

back to the words of the great prophet Isaiah who said

in chapter 55 verse 1, and this was an invitation to
salvation given by Isaiah the evangelist, "Ho! Every
one who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who
have no money, come by and eat, come buy wine and
milk without money and without cost." Verse 2, "And
delight yourself in abundance."
Isaiah said, "Come, you who thirst. You with the
parched souls." Simple imagery this...pictures a thirsty
man. We don't really know what it is to thirst. We've
got water all over the place. We've got every
imaginable kind of drink. We don't live in an arid
desert where we had to fend for ourselves, but they
did. There was a desperation in terms of water. And
people knew what it was to be thirsty. The Apostle
John is hearing God say, "It's the thirsty one, it's the
one who's not satisfied, it's the dissatisfied one, it's the
one who knows he doesn't have what he needs and
craves it with every part of his being." Like Psalm 42:1
and 2, "Like the deer pants after the water brook, so
my soul pants after Thee, O God." It's that same kind
of thing.
It's described by our Lord Jesus Himself in the words
that He gave to the Samaritan woman in John 4,
"Everyone who drinks of this water," that's the water in
the well there, "will thirst again, but whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But
the water that I shall give him shall become in him a
well of water springing up to eternal life." I have an
eternal water, I have a spiritual water. It's the same
thing that Jesus spoke of again in John 7 when He

said, "If any man is thirsty let him come to Me and

drink." He was talking at a time when they were
celebrating the...the provision of water that God gave
in the wilderness and as they were pouring out water
from these pitchers, the priests to remember the water
in the wilderness, Jesus said if you really thirst, come
to Me and drink.
And even in the book of Revelation this imagery is
repeated. There is down in chapter 22 and verse 17
an invitation, the last invitation of the Bible. "The Spirit
and the bride say, Come and let the one who hears
say come and let the one who is thirsty come. Let the
one who wishes to take the water of life without cost,"
just like Isaiah said.
I'll tell you what, it's a far better drink than that of
chapter 17 verse 4, a golden cup full of abominations
and immorality. It's a far better drink than chapter 18
verse 3, the wine of the passion of immorality. It's free,
too. It's without money, without price. And when you
thirst, He says, I'll give you from the spring of the
water of life. That's talking about eternal life. It means
I'll give you complete eternal satisfaction if you thirst.
That's the first thing. Heaven belongs to people who
recognize their need. Heaven belongs to people who
know their souls are parched by sin and bone dry and
who know that whatever they might have they don't
have what they need. It's reminiscent of what Isaiah
said, "If you seek Me with all your heart you'll find Me."
Those who thirst for salvation, those who passionately
seek its satisfaction are the ones who receive it. It

starts with a pleading, longing, begging heart arising

out of a deep sense of spiritual thirst.
Secondly, heaven belongs to those who overcome,
verse 7. "He who overcomes shall inherit these
things." It isn't enough to know you need it, there's
something else involved. He who overcomes. What
does that mean? Well if we go back to 1 John chapter
5 we find out what it means, verse 4, 1 John 5:4,
"Whatever is born of God overcomes the world...now
listen...and this is the victory that has overcome the
world, our faith." You say, "Oh, oh you mean faith is
what overcomes." Right. Somebody might say, "Well I
have faith." That's not...it's not quite enough, you've
got to qualify that faith with verse 5. "And who is the
one who overcomes the world, but he who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God." It is faith in the person
of Jesus Christ and His provision in the gospel. That's
the issue.
What you have then here is exercising faith. Faith in
Christ. That's what is meant by overcome. This is, by
the way, not the first time by any means that the idea
of overcoming has been addressed. You go back to
chapter 2 and you don't have to turn to it but in
chapter 2 verse 7, "To him who overcomes I'll grant to
eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God."
That's heaven. If you're an overcomer, you're going to
heaven. Verse 11, "He who overcomes shall not be
hurt by the second death." That's right, you won't have
the second death, you'll be in the first resurrection.
Verse 26, "He who overcomes I'll give authority over
the nations and he'll rule them with a rod of iron as the

vessel of the potter is broken to pieces, so I also have

received authority from My Father." Then in verse 28
he follows it up...verse 28, yes, he follows it up and
says, "I'll give him the morning star." The morning
star? I'll give him the morning star? Most likely a
reference to Christ. I'll give him Christ. I'll give him
heaven. I'll give him rule. I'll give him power. I'll give
him authority. I'll give him the paradise of God. I'll give
him the tree of life.
Chapter 3 verse 5 says essentially the same thing
with different words, "He who overcomes will be
clothed in white garments." I'll give him the robe of
eternal righteousness. Verse 12, "He who overcomes
I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God." In verse 21,
"He who overcomes I'll grant to sit down with Me on
My throne." All of that is heavenly promise. And it all
belongs to the one who overcomes. And who is he
that overcomes but the one who believes that Jesus is
the Son of God, and that implies the believing the
incarnation, the deity of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial
atonement,
His
resurrection,
all
that
that
encompasses.
So who is going to be in heaven? Those people who
have seen the parched character of their souls, that is
those people who recognize their sinfulness, those
people who come with a broken and a contrite spirit,
those people who come morally bankrupt, those
people who come begging, meek and lowly, those
people crushed because of their lack of satisfaction
and alienation from God in the absence of spiritual
water, and those people who exercise faith in the Lord

Jesus Christ. You have the two things that follow us all
the way through the New Testament, repentance from
sin, a turning from spiritual wasteland and faith
exercised in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the
people who will come into heaven. And He says, "He
who overcomes shall inherit these things." What
things? The new creation...the new creation, a new
body in a new place in the eternal state, the new
heavens and the new earth. They are the ones who
will receive what Peter calls an inheritance which is
imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away,
reserved in heaven, in 1 Peter 1:4, an inheritance
reserved in heaven. They are the ones who will
receive the redemption of the body, the glorious
manifestation of the sons of God, eternal glory.
Now he doesn't say anymore than that and I suppose
at this point we could briefly say, "Well what will we be
like when we get to heaven?" What will we be like?
Well in the end it will be perfection of soul and glorified
body. We've been discussing that in a morning
service, this morning, and we'll discuss it briefly
tonight. But look at the soul, first of all. We're two
parts, we're an inside and an outside. And in our
eternal state we will be spirit and we will be clothed in
an eternally glorious spiritual body. But we will have
perfection of soul. That's why Hebrews 12 says that in
heaven are the spirits of just men made perfect. When
a person dies their spirit goes to heaven. That spirit or
that soul becomes perfect...perfect freedom from all
evil, freedom from all human limits, a dramatic
change. Nothing to defile, nothing unclean, nothing

imperfect, perfect righteousness,

imperfection of any kind.

absolutely

no

Down in verse 27 of this chapter, "Nothing unclean in

heaven, no one who practices abomination and lying
shall ever come into it." None of that is there. None of
it whatsoever. Chapter 22 verse 14, "Their robes will
be washed before they ever come in." And verse 15
says, "Outside are dogs and sorcerers and immoral
persons and murderers and idolaters and everyone
who loves and practices lying." They're all outside the
new heavens and the new earth in the lake of fire.
Nothing ever defiling will enter heaven. No sin, no
suffering, no sorrow, no pain, no doubts, no fear of
God's displeasure, no temptation by Satan, the world
or the flesh, no persecution, no guilt, no abuse, no
division, no discord, no disharmony, no arguments, no
hate, no quarrels, no disappointment, no anger, no
effort, no loss of energy, no weariness.
Are you ready for the next list? No prayer, no fast, no
repentance, no confession of sin, no weeping, no
watchfulness, no concern, no anxiety, no teaching, no
preaching, no learning, no evangelism, no witness,
perfect pleasure, perfect knowledge, perfect comfort,
perfect love. That's heaven.
I guess we could sum it up by saying perfect joy.
Whatever joy comes in this life is always mingled with
sorrow and it's always temporary and in that life it's
perfect eternal joy. The joy of heaven is unmixed and
unending. It is, what I think, Matthew 25 has in mind
when it says, "Enter into the joy of Thy Lord." The

dominant characteristic of the soul in heaven is joy.

Joy...unending joy, that's what will most characterize
us, bliss, exhilarating happiness that knows no
bounds.
Back in chapter 7 we got another glimpse of this same
thing. It says when we go to heaven down in verse 15,
we will serve the Lord day and night in His temple.
Verse 16, no more hunger, no more thirst, no more
sun beating down, no more heat. The Lamb in the
center of the throne shall be their shepherd and guide
them to the springs of the water of life and God shall
wipe every tear from their eyes. Very similar. It's just
joy, unmixed joy, unending joy. And if you want to
know what hell is, it's just the opposite...utter total
absence of joy, unmixed pain and unending torment.
But what about the body? That's what the spirit will be
like but what about the body? Well it will be raised.
John 5:28 and 29 talks about a resurrection.
Revelation chapter 20 tells us about a resurrection.
"Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first
resurrection," verse 6. We're going to be raised. In
Romans chapter 8 Paul says that we wait, verse 23,
for the redemption of our body. Second Corinthians 5,
we looked at it this morning, we want our house from
heaven, don't we? Not made with hands, that is not of
this earthly creation. We want to be transformed. We
want what the Apostle Paul had in mind in Philippians
chapter 3 verse 21, we want a body that is like the
body of Christ, the body of His glory. We want our
humble body transformed into conformity with His
glorious body. We'll have a new spiritual body, not like

anything in this world at all to go with that soul, the

soul in a perfected state in a glorified body which
becomes the perfect expression of that soul.
You see, we were made for bodies. That's what we
are as humans. And ultimately God's intention in the
end is that we will be body and soul, or body and
spirit, soul and spirit used interchangeably, as we
express the joys and privileges of heaven. And again
we could ask the question, 1 Corinthians 15:35, What
will that body be like? What kind of body will we have?
How will the dead be raised, Paul said? And I will just
take you back to 1 Corinthians 15:36 and following, he
said it's going to be different, it's not going to be like
anything we've ever known or seen in this world. And
he uses, first of all, the illustration from nature
compares a little ugly brown hard seed to the glorious
flowers that it produces, there's really no comparison,
there's no way you can know one would lead to the
other. And so our glorified body will be infinitely
beyond anything we could ever imagine by looking at
the one we've got now. And then he gives a series of
contrasts, how throughout all the universe there are
varying kinds of bodies. And for that particular time
and place there will be one as well that is unique. And
then he gives a series of comparisons. It was in this
life that we bear...it is in this life that we bear a natural
body and in that life a spiritual. And then he gives the
prototype, doesn't he, at the end of that section that
runs from verse 36 in chapter 15, and the prototype is
the body of Christ, His resurrection body. First John 3,
we're going to be like Him for we see Him as He is.
And Jesus ate and He moved through walls and He

talked and He appeared and He disappeared and He

flew to heaven in a cloud and we'll be able to do all
that kind of thing.
No wonder Paul said, "We groan in this tent, longing
to be clothed with our habitation which is from
heaven." And so to fin our joy and our rest in this
world is irrational when we think about what is waiting
for us in heaven.
Who's going to be there? Those who thirst for
righteousness and those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Back to verse 6, "They are the ones who
will drink from the spring of the water of life, they are
the ones of whom it can be said, I will be his God and
he will be My son."
By the way, some time I need to preach a sermon on
that statement. That takes us all the way back to
Genesis chapter 17 and all through the Bible,
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
2 Samuel, Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and
in to the New Testament all over the place, John's
gospel, Paul's epistles, is this concept of "I will be his
God and he will be My son." That is the sinner's
greatest privilege. That is the sinners greatest reward.
That is his highest joy that a wicked, debauched,
depraved, rebellious enemy of God could become
God's beloved son. And that is just at the very heart of
what John intended to say in his gospel, isn't it, when
he say sin chapter 1 verse 12, "As many as received
Christ to them He gave the right to become the
children of God." What an immense concept to belong

to God. It's talking of intimacy, it's talking of love one

to one.
So the blessed promise comes to the thirsty that you'll
have plenty to drink. The blessed promise comes to
the overcomer that you will be a son of God, so much
a son that you will be made like His only begotten
Son, conformed to His glory. Some vision.
Then to close this introductory section, just briefly,
John goes from the residence of heaven to those who
won't be there, the outcasts from the new heaven and
the new earth. Verse 8, "But for the cowardly and
unbelieving and abominable and murderers 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." These are
the outcasts from the new heaven and the new earth.
And this obviously is a solemn, solemn verse. It is a
serious and solemn warning. And you notice it doesn't
just say those who don't believe, or those who aren't
thirsty. It identifies the character of those people so
they can know who they are.
It is the cowardly, deilos. What does that mean?
Those who don't have any endurance. It really
describes those who are like the hard ground where
the plant sprung up a little while when the gospel seed
is sown but when persecution started and the sun
began to beat and there was a price to pay to belong
to God, they vanished. Those who fear persecution,
those who aren't willing to accept the cost of
discipleship, those who won't take up their cross and

die, those why by virtue of the absence of bravery

demonstrate that they are devoid of salvation. Those
who went out from us because they never were of us.
Those cowards who don't confess Jesus as Lord and
don't endure to the end and don't continue in the faith,
firmly established and steadfast because they can't
stand the reproach of men and they have no
endurance. That's what that word actually means,
they don't have any endurance, they don't endure to
the end which is the mark of true believers. They fall
by the wayside.
People ask me all the time, "What about So-and-so
and they used to believe and they don't anymore, they
don't have any endurance." Well, but for those with no
endurance, they won't be there...they won't be there.
In John 8 Jesus said, "If you continue in My Word,
then you're My real disciple." I address that issue in
my book, The Gospel According to Jesus, then also in
the new edition of that book and in Faith Worksin
great measure. That is the issue which is addressed
there. And so He starts out by saying those people
who don't endure to the end.
He designates them then secondly as unbelieving.
They lack saving faith. They have doubts and fears.
Their faith is not sound and strong. Look at their life,
they are abominable. That term signifies someone
who is detestable, someone who is vile, someone who
is caught up in wickedness and evil, someone who is
described in Romans 1:24 to 32, someone who
having turned away from the Lord is characterized by
those kinds of sins listed there. He identifies them as

murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers from

the Greek term pharmakiafrom which we get
pharmacy, the use of drugs. It had to do with
witchcraft, spirit involvement, demon worship which, of
course, in Deuteronomy 18 in the Old Testament
required the death penalty.
Then He lists idolaters because...that's often listed
with sorcerers because in the pagan religions there
were drugs and witchcraft and spirit involvement and
drunkenness and demon worship all combined with
idolatry. And then He throws in all liars, all liars. That is
of particular concern to the Lord because He says that
over in chapter 22 verse 15, "Outside of the dogs and
sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers
and the idolaters and everyone who loves and
practices lying." Those people are on the outside. And
they're known by their works. They're known by their
life pattern.
First Corinthians 6, "Do you not know the unrighteous
will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be
deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor
thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers shall inherit the Kingdom of God."
They're going to be on the outside.
Galatians 5:19, "The deeds of the flesh are evident,
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,
dissensions,
factions,
envying,
drunkenness,
carousing and things like these and I have forewarned

you just as I forewarned you before that those who

practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of
God." It could not be anymore explicit than that, that is
as clear as it can be.
And so, the characterization of the people who aren't
there. Now remind yourselves again because this is
all throughout Scripture that these people who live
lives characterized like this aren't Christians. They
aren't Christians and they won't enter the Kingdom
and they won't be in the holy city, the new Jerusalem
because at the end of verse 8 it says, "Their part will
be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which
is the second death." And the second death, of
course, is worse than the first death. The first death is
a spiritual one, the second one is banishment from
God forever.
So, we've gone from joyous anticipation to paralyzing
fear here. But so is the design of God in this passage
that He give final warning. It doesn't mean that there's
never a time when we lose our boldness. It doesn't
mean that there's never a time when our faith might
waver or we might sin in some way. But He is saying
when people are characterized by lives that are
consistently lived in this fashion...it doesn't say that
only sinless people go to heaven, we know better than
that. But people whose lives are characterized in this
manner, and that's not a true Christian because Paul
said after giving a very similar list in 1 Corinthians 6,
"And such were...what?...some of you." Now you tell
me, were the Corinthians perfect? No. Were they
messed up? Yes. But these patterns had been broken

in their lives by the grace of God and the provision of

Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. It
doesn't mean they were sinless, but this pattern or this
continual exercise was broken. And that's what he's
talking about. People who live lives consistently in this
fashion will not enter heaven.
Well all of that is just introductory. And after that
overwhelming introduction in verse 9 he moves to
describe for us the capital city, and we'll look at that
next time. And we'll cover much more territory
because all we can say is what we read. It's very
difficult to go beyond that.
Father, thank You again for the day. How thrilled we've
been to fellowship with precious friends, those who
love You, Your children. How grateful we are for the
way in which Your mercy has been bestowed upon us
in Christ so that...so that we do not struggle like those
who have no hope, but we look with joy and
eagerness and anticipation to the glories of heaven
that await us. O Father, how grateful we are, how
thankful we are that in Your mercy and grace You've
redeemed us. We don't deserve it. There is nothing
we could do to deserve it. And we're overwhelmed at
such mercy, such kindness.
But, Lord, at the same time that we thank You that You
have made us thirsty and You've allowed us to be the
overcomers by granting us faith, our hearts are
grieving over those who are cowardly and unbelieving
and abominable, murderers and idolaters and liars
and people whose lives evidence that they don't know

You who will find their part in the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone, second death. Lord, help us to
be faithful to reach out to these all around us. If we
can hear a message like this and close our
compassion, oh how hard our hearts have become.
Give us a love for those who need to hear the
message of salvation and may we be firm and strong
in warning people, that's our duty. May it not just be a
positive message all the time but may it be an honest
one which includes judgment. Thank You, Father, for
what You've shown us in Your Word, now we're
responsible for it, may we live it out. In Christ's name.
Amen.

**************************
The description of the capital city of heaven starts in
chapter 21 verse 9 and runs all the way to chapter 22
verse 5. And though that is a long portion of Scripture
and you might think it would take us a long time to get
through it, there's really not much to add. You can
almost get the full picture by just reading it. It cannot
be embellished. There are few things that can be
explained and enriched as we move along. But
basically the Scripture itself is so magnificent that in
itself it says plenty for us to begin to understand the
glories of eternal heaven.
But before we look at the text itself, just some
introductory thoughts to get us running. Jesus made a
wonderful promise to all of those who believe in Him.
He said, "In My Father's house there are many

dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you.

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."
Now I want to extract out of that section from John 14
just the thought, "In My Father's house are many
dwelling places." The Father's house is really the new
Jerusalem because that's the abode of God, that's
where God will live with His people forever. Back in
the first few verses of chapter 21, remember we saw
in verse 2 the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God. And it says in verse 3,
"Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men." That's
the city where we live. That's the city where God
dwells. There's no temple in it, as we shall see over in
verse 22, because the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple so that is the house where God
dwells, that is His place of abode and that's where we
will live with Him.
So here, in fact, is the Father's house being
described. What was promised in John 14 is
described here in Revelation 21. The place that the
Lord has been preparing for His beloved now comes
down into the eternal state, descending out of the
heaven of heavens into the new heaven and the new
earth. And here it is described for us. Remember now,
the capital city of heaven is that, it's the capital city of
the new heavens and the new earth, the infinite final
state. And so, in John 14 Jesus was giving us the
promise of heaven. Repeatedly in the New Testament
we are told as believers we are citizens of heaven and

we are waiting to get to heaven where our Father is,

our Savior is, our dwelling is, where our names are
written, where our brothers and sisters are, where our
affections are, where our hearts are, where our
treasure is and where our inheritance dwells.
The country song says, "I want to go home where I
belong." And we should experience those kinds of
longings for heaven. Heaven is where we will live
forever and the Lord knows that we have a desire to
know something about it. Like a person traveling to a
foreign country wanting to know where they're going
to live when they get there, we excite ourselves when
we begin to see some of the details about the place
we're going to spend eternity. This is a description,
again I say, of the Father's house where He is
preparing dwellings for us. So God knowing our sense
of anticipation, knowing that we would like to know
what it's all about has given us a glimpse of heaven
with some very select details. And they're really,
frankly, absolutely staggering, mind-boggling and
overwhelming.
By the time, just a reminder, we come to chapter 21,
the Rapture of the church has passed, the period of
the Tribulation and judgment on the earth with all of
the death and destruction that went with it is passed.
Armageddon, the great battle is passed, it is only a
memory. The destruction that comes at the day of the
Lord is passed. The thousand-year Millennial Kingdom
is over. All rebellion is forever ended and all sinners
are in the eternal lake of fire, sent there from the
Great White Throne Judgment. Heaven and earth

have been uncreated, what is remaining of heaven

and earth after the holocausts of judgment. They are
reduced to divine energy and God has recreated the
new heaven and the new earth which is the eternal
state, introduced to us in chapter 21 verse 1. "I saw a
new heaven and a new earth." We have seen the
vision of the doomed, the damned and the unblessed.
We have felt the scorch of eternal hell and the
isolation of separation and the relentless pain of
everlasting punishment.
But now the vision is of the domain of the blessed.
The final eternal home of all the redeemed, the
beautiful new heaven and new earth. And in the
middle of it this diamond jewel capital city called the
new Jerusalem. Time is over and eternity is resumed
again.
Now in the first eight verses we already looked at the
introduction to the new heavens and the new earth.
And in that introduction we were given a glimpse of
the capital city, as verse 2 notes, the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God
made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And
what we said at that time, and I briefly remind you of,
is that the present heaven where the saints go who
die knowing the Lord, where all of them are, whether
they are Old Testament or New Testament, when
they've died they go into the current present heaven.
That place where God dwells with the holy angels and
with the spirits of redeemed men and women, will
descend into the new heaven and the new earth,
perhaps affixing itself someone on the new earth,

settling into that final new heaven and new earth, that
marvelous, marvelous new creation as the capital city,
the holy city, the place where we dwell, where the
Father's house is. We won't be confined to that, as
indicated by the gates, we'll move in and out but that
will be our dwelling place.
And so, because it is the capital city of eternity, it
becomes the focal point of the rest of the description
here. The new heavens and the new earth are briefly
described and then when you come to verse 9 and
you start to look at the holy city, it is described in much
more detail because it is the crown jewel, it is the
paradise, it is the glittering golden capital of the new
heavens and the new earth. It is the place where we
will live forever. It is that city referred to a number of
times in the book of Hebrews when it says in Hebrews
11:8 that Abraham when he was called, obeyed by
going out to a place which he was to receive for an
inheritance, he went out not knowing where he was
going. But that was only temporary. He wasn't really
looking for that place. Verse 10 says he was looking
for the city which has foundations, whose architect
and builder is God.
He was looking past any earthly city to the heavenly
one. In fact, down in verse 16 it talks about Abraham
and Sarah and other men and women of faith, it says
"Who desire a better country, that is a heavenly one,
therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God
for He has prepared a city for them." And Hebrews
chapter 12 and verse 22 we read about the heavenly
Jerusalem. And then in chapter 13 of Hebrews and

verse 14, "We do not here have a lasting city, but we

are seeking the city which is to come."
Three times then, in chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter
13, there is a Jerusalem to come. There is a city
whose builder and maker is God, a city with
foundations, a lasting city. And what was seen by the
faith of Abraham and Sarah and many others, what
was anticipated by the writer of Hebrews and those
who have been a part of the redeemed throughout
history is now given to us by way of description.
Now let's look then at verse 9. First of all we will see
the general appearance...the general appearance.
Verse 9, "And one of the seven angels who had the
seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and
spoke with me, saying `Come here, I shall show you
the bride, the wife of the Lamb.'"
Now the last mention of an angel was in chapter 20
and verse 1, a thousand years earlier, before the
Millennial Kingdom. Here we again meet an angel, of
course angels have been a very significant part of the
book of Revelation, they're scattered all throughout
this book. This is an angel that we already know. This
is one of the judgment angels. He is described to us in
verse 9 as one of the seven angels who had the
seven bowls full of the seven last plagues.
Now you remember that there were during the time of
the Tribulation unfolding judgments. First there are
seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments
follow and seven bowl judgments follow those. They

stretch over the seven-year period. The seal

judgments stretch over the whole period. The seven
trumpets are contained within the seventh seal and
occur toward the end. The seven bowl judgments are
all contained within the seventh trumpet, like a
telescope, and they are rapid fire in the last final few
days of the Tribulation period.
In chapter 15, and we won't go back into the detail of
it, but in chapter 15 those final rapid-fire judgments
are introduced. It says, "Seven angels who had seven
plagues which are the last...which are the last." Seven
angels appear, they have seven plagues which are
the last. Down in verse 7 of chapter 15 it says, "Those
seven angels had seven golden bowls full of the wrath
of God who lives forever and ever." They were flat
bowls that would be dumped, almost like a saucer.
And the judgment would come inundating the world.
And then when you come to chapter 16, "And a loud
voice from the temple saying to the seven angels,
`God and pour out the seven bowls of wrath of God
into the earth,'" and then the first angel, the second,
and so forth all the way through the chapter as the
final judgments are poured out in the world. Each of
those seven angels had a bowl of wrath, a bowl of
judgment which is described there in chapter 16 at the
very end of the Tribulation. They were very special
judgment angels.
Here we meet one of them, back to verse 9, one of
the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the
seven last plagues. One, by the way, also one of

those angels introduced the harlot Babylon back in

chapter 17 verse 1, so these angels are fulfilling
several functions. So one of those angels appears to
John, it says, "Came and spoke with me saying," and
evidently those angels were recognizable. John
remembered that this is one of the angels that he had
seen in his vision of the seven last plagues. And the
angel says, "Come here, I shall show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb."
Here is a formerly used angel, used in judgment to be
used in showing John eternal blessing. And the angel
describes the city, interestingly, as the bride, the wife
of the Lamb. That seems like a strange way to
describe a city. Well go back to verse 2, "I saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband."
Why is it called a city that is a bride? Because it draws
its character from its occupants. And its occupants are
the eternal bride of Christ, now enlarged beyond the
church to encompass all the redeemed of all the ages.
When you go back in to chapter 19 verses 7 to 9 and
you talk about the bride there and the marriage
supper of the Lamb, of course the bride is the church.
We find that very clearly in Ephesians chapter 5. But
as you move along in the unfolding of the
eschatological plan, the bride enlarges to encompass
all the redeemed.
Ultimately the bride that was defined as the church
widens, even at the time of the marriage supper, Old

Testament saints are invited as guests. And then when

the final great feast celebration occurs which we could
make equal to the Millennial Kingdom, the Old
Testament saints are mingled there as well with the
New. And then when the marriage is consummated in
eternity, all the saints make up the bride and the bride
then characterizes this city because its occupants are
the redeemed, joined together in the new Jerusalem,
all living in the Father's house as the bride of God, if
you will, all included in the consummation of God's
saving purpose. The city is like a bride because the
people are forever united to God and to the Lamb. It
takes on the character of its inhabitants. It is a city
with virgin beauty, virgin virtue and intimate
relationship to the living God and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
So the angel says to John, "Come here and I'll show
you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." He's going to get
a personal tour of the capital city of eternity. And verse
10 says, "And he carried me away in the Spirit." What
a rich thought that is.
What does that mean? Well it means he went on a
spiritual journey. Remember, John was on the island
of Patmos at the time he received all of this. He was
sitting there as a prisoner on that rock, and indeed it is
a rock in the middle of the Mediterranean. But he was
transported spiritually by means of vision to see things
and behold things that were not just dreams but
spiritual realities, perhaps very much like the Apostle
Paul being caught up into the third heaven. And the
angel carried me away in the Spirit, a true spiritual

journey to see what human eyes could never see, and

if they did they could never tell.
And he took him, it says, to a high, a great and high
mountain. I guess the idea there is that the angel to
him to as high a point as he could possibly take him
so he could get as close to this glorious celestial city
suspended in the new heavens and the new earth as
possible. And when he got him in this vision way up
on a great and high mountain, it says he showed me
the holy city Jerusalem, the city with foundations, the
city that lasts, the city whose builder and maker was
God.
And he says again, "It was coming down out of
heaven from God." That is repeated again from verse
2 and it is to remind you that it is not the creation of
heaven here, it is simply the descent of what already
existed from eternity past. God creates a new heaven
and a new earth in the sense of a created universe.
But descending into that created universe is an
already eternally existing dwelling place that has
always been the abode of God and the abode of the
redeemed and the holy angels. And even once was
the abode of Satan and demons who fell and were
cast out.
John then notices again that it is coming down from
God out of heaven. It is of divine origin, built by God
from all eternity and prepared to descend into the new
heaven and the new earth. And as I said, perhaps it
lands somewhere on the new earth and rests in that
very place. It has been existence forever as God's

home, as God's temple, as God's throne and now it

descends into its appropriate place.
And then verse 11, again we're just looking at the
general appearance, "Having the glory of God." Now
there is the most distinguishing characteristic of the
capital city of eternity. It has the glory of God in it. That
is heaven where the full expression of the glory of
God is manifest unlimited and unconfined, where the
glory of God is flashing from that city throughout all
eternity.
God's glory, remember now, is who He is. His glory is
simply His attributes. But when God manifests His
invisible spiritual attributes, He manifests them
as...what?...as light. And we see that throughout the
Scripture. God has revealed His glory in light. He
revealed His glory to Adam and Eve in the Garden, no
doubt in the Shekinah light of His presence. He
revealed His glory to Moses and to the people of
Israel in the sky and on the face of Moses. He
revealed His glory in the tabernacle when a cloud of
light came down into the tabernacle so the priests
couldn't even minister. He revealed His glory in the
temple when the temple was built in the holy land it
was filled with the glory of God, blazing light came
down. And the sad fact is that in each case where
God revealed His glory, He was rejected through
disobedience, pride and rebellion.
But He continually brought His glory back. His glory
returned to an apostate Israel in human form in our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we beheld His glory, the glory

as of the only begotten of God, John 1:14. And the

world hated Him and rejected the glory again. They
rejected it every time it came, they rejected it again in
Christ. Some day Jesus will return, Matthew 24,
Matthew 25 says He'll return in glory, blazing, blinding
glory. And at His return, of course, men will curse Him
and be destroyed. When the glory comes, according
to Revelation 6 it says they will cry for the mountains
and the rocks to fall on them to hide them from the
presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb.
God has displayed His glory as light numerous times.
The transfiguration of Jesus was the revealing of the
essence of His nature in light. But finally, in the new
heaven and the new earth, in the capital city which is
the new Jerusalem, the holy city, His glory revealed as
light will be full and limitless and unconfined. You
remember back in the Old Testament in Exodus
chapter 33 God said, "No man can see My face and
live." And Moses said, "I want to see You." So God
said to him, "You have to put a veil over your face, I'll
let a little of My afterglow shine on you because you
could never see the full glory."
Well now in this new heaven and new earth, radiating
from the center of this jewel called the new Jerusalem
is the blazing full glory of God. In fact, it is so great,
look at verse 23, "That the city has no need of the sun
or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has
illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb." Both God the
Father and the Lamb are the light of it. And it is a
blazing light. And that's why there's no need for sun or

moon or any other kind of illumination because the

glory of God is so comprehensibly and fully revealed.
Isaiah saw this in Isaiah 60 and verse 19. "No longer
will you have the sun for light by day, nor for
brightness will the moon give you light, but you will
have the Lord for an everlasting light and your God for
your glory," Isaiah 60 and verse 19. What a great
statement. You will have the Lord for an everlasting
light and your God for your glory.
So the first thing that strikes John as he is taken to
this high mountain and he looks up and sees the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, is that it has the glory of God.
The blazing out of the middle is this light. He is the
light of heaven, He is the light of the city. And it comes
out of that city and I believe it will fill all of the new
heavens and the new earth. And it calls attention to
His majesty and His wonder and His character.
Now John wants to kind of describe this light for us.
He makes this effort to do it, verse 11. "Her brilliance,"
...her referring back to the city where the glory
dwells..."Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as
a stone of crystal- clear jasper." Her brilliance refers
back to the light of God's glory. The word is phoster, it
means something in which light is concentrated and
from which light radiates. It would be like a light bulb,
something in which light exists is concentrated and
from which it radiates.
So John sees this city like a light bulb where light is
just pouring out of it. Only it comes not through some

thin film of plain glass, such as light bulbs that we

know, but it comes through what appears to him like a
very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.
That is to say that the whole city looks like one big
stone.
Now when you think about jasper you've got
to...you've got to think in terms of ancient
understanding because our modern jasper is opaque,
but this one is not. Iaspisis the Greek word and the
Hebrew word is almost identical, yashepheh. And
what you have here is not a translation but a
transliteration. The best understanding of that term is
that it's a diamond, crystal clear, it is a diamond.
Now I don't know a lot about diamonds but I have
shopped for one many years ago and another more
recently to celebrate an anniversary. And, in fact,
when I was in South Africa I went to a diamond cutter
place because that's a major industry there and
learned some things and we all who have shopped for
diamonds understand that as the thing becomes more
and more clear it becomes more and more expensive.
And when it is perfectly clear, it is perfectly ridiculous.
When it reaches the point where it has no blemish and
no spot and there's nothing in it except flawless,
perfect, crystal-clear refracted light, you have what is
called a perfect gem. That is precisely what is
intended by this little phrase "crystal-clear jasper." It is
a gem, it is flawless. It is like a diamond not with light
shining on it but with light shining from it, coming from
the inside and refracting its rainbow colors all over the
new heavens and the new earth.

So the city is like one massive perfect diamond gem,

flashing the reflection of God's glory in infinite light-the ultimate light show, believe me. All of eternity then
becomes bathed in the radiating splendor of God. And
that is the remarkable general appearance. It is like a
massive, and when I say massive, I mean massive
because it is 1500 miles squared, or cubed,
really...1500 miles cubed, one massive crystal-clear
diamond gem with the glory of God shining out from
the center of it and splattering its rainbow colors all
over the new heavens and the new earth.
Now I know God loves beauty, don't you? I know that
because I can see flashes of that brilliance in the
gems that I can see and flashes of His love for color in
a rainbow and in the myriad colors that ring the world
and the beauty of flowers and all the rest. And when
God is really turned loose, beauty is going to emanate
everywhere, blazing unbelievable incomparable
beauty.
Now that's the general appearance. Now the angel is
very good to John and to us because he doesn't just
stop with the general appearance. He lingers long
enough for John to get a closer look at this blazing
diamond. And we move from the general appearance
to a second category here, the exterior design...the
exterior design. And this is...this is astonishing stuff.
And here, folks, we have to acknowledge that human
words and human features really fall short. We...our
minds are going to have a hard time grasping this but

I think you're going to understand at least enough to

excite your heart.
And let me tell you something else. You can't mess
with this. I tell you, I've read maybe 30/40
commentaries on the book of Revelation. I have read
a myriad of prophetic books and various insights into
the theme of heaven and the subject of the new
heaven and the new earth. And what bothers me most
is when people start to say, "Well what it really means
is this..." And immediately I respond by saying, "Who
told you that? If it doesn't mean what it says, then
what does it mean? It means what you say it means?
Well where did you get that information?"
There is no way to say anymore than what this says.
And if it means something other than what it says,
then that's going to be...that's going to have to be left
to the time in the future when we experience it for us
to understand it. But I would venture to say God got
us as close to understanding the reality of it as our
minds could comprehend. And He didn't try to write a
riddle here, and He didn't try to write some kind of
mystical stuff that we would have to fuss to try to
interpret in our own feeble brains, He simply told us
this is how it is. And yet it is absolutely appalling to me
that some guy will say, "Well it says this but what it
really means..." and then he'll give some exotic
personal viewpoint. And I'm going to beg off on that
and simply say all I know is what the Bible says and
that's all I can tell you.

And verse 12 says, "It had a great and high wall." So

what does that mean? It had a great and high wall.
That's what it means and if it means anything else,
then I don't know what it means. "And it had twelve
gates and at the gates twelve angels and names were
written on them which are those of the twelve tribes of
the sons of Israel." Now is that too hard to
understand? No. By the way, everything has perfect
symmetry. Everything has perfect balance. Everything
is in perfect order. That reflects a God who demands
symmetry, balance and order. That's the way the mind
of God operates. The mind of God is incredibly
balanced and ordered...very different than the chaotic
kind of art and music that's characteristic of our
culture.
The scene is overwhelmingly impressive. And we take
it at face value. It had a great and high wall. That is to
say it is not amorphous, nebulous, floating place, it is
a place with dimensions. It has an outer wall. It has
limits. You can go in it and you can come out of it
because it has gates.
You say, "Well, if it has a wall, how high is the wall?"
How high is high? Well, fortunately it tells you in verse
17 something about the wall. "He measured its wall
seventy-two yards," that's 144 cubits, a cubit is from
the elbow to the tip of your middle finger, basically
about 18 inches. Well it's about 72 yards, about 216
feet. "He measured the wall seventy-two yards
according to human measurements."

You say, "Is that the height of it?" It doesn't say that,
does it? It doesn't say that's the height of it. Well come
back to that in a minute. But it does have a great and
high wall. It has twelve gates, and that's so we can go
in and out like any city. And at the gates there are
twelve angels. And I think they're there to welcome us,
to say, "Welcome home." Or when we leave to say,
"Have a nice trip. By the way, where are you going?"
"Oh I don't know, I'm just out for the day."
I think they're there to welcome us in and to welcome
us out. They're there to symbolize holiness and to
fulfill their duty of attending to the glory of God and
serving the glorified saints. After all, angels are the
servants of the saints, aren't they? Hebrews 1:14.
In addition to that, verse 12 says, "And names were
written on them." Each gate had a name written on it
and each of those names was taken from one of the
twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. That's pretty simple,
isn't it? You've got a great and high wall, it's got twelve
gates, and at the gates twelve angels. And each of
those gates has the name of one of the tribes of Israel
on it.
Verse 13 tells you the symmetry. "There were three
gates on the east and three gates on the north and
three gates on the south and three gates on the west."
It reminds me, doesn't it, remind you of the way God
organized the tribes around the tabernacle? Put the
tabernacle in the middle and had three tribes at each
side. And by the way, that is also the way God will

organize His people around the Millennial temple, the

temple that will be built in the Millennial Kingdom that
is described in Ezekiel 48. So here you see the same
thing. Each of the gates has the name of the tribe,
three on each side. And, of course, that celebrates,
doesn't it, for all eternity God's unique covenant
relationship with Israel.
And then verse 14, it says, "And the wall of the city
had twelve foundation stones and on them were the
twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." So
now you get down to the foundation stones. There are
twelve of those so we can assume there are three of
those probably under those three gates on each of the
sides. And at the top of the gate you have the tribe of
Israel. At the bottom of the gate on the foundation
stone you have the name of one of the twelve
Apostles. Again, celebrating God's wonderful
covenant relationship with His church. The Apostles of
the church being the foundation of the church,
according to Ephesians 2:20. So it shows God's favor
on those under the old covenant. God's favor on those
under the new covenant. And we learn something else
about the city, it had to be square, right?
Three...three...three...three, and we see the symmetry
of it again.
So we see the exterior design then. That the three
gates on each side have names above and names
below, tribes of Israel and names of Apostles. And
then a curious thing happens in verse 15. "And the
one who spoke with me, who was one of the seven
angels who had the seven plagues, had a gold

measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and

its wall."
Now the one who spoke to me again is that angel and
he had this measuring rod. Now this is an interesting
thing because we've seen this before. If we were to go
back, and we won't take the time, to Ezekiel chapter
40, from Ezekiel 40 to 48 you have a description of
the millennial temple, that is the temple that exists in
the Millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of
Christ. When you go back to chapter 40 and verse 3
you see God there and God is measuring the
millennial temple. He's got what is really in that
context a nine-foot reed and He uses that nine-foot
reed to measure that millennial temple.
When you go back to Revelation 11 and you might
look at that just briefly, go back to Revelation chapter
11. John says, "There was given me a measuring rod,
like a staff, and someone said, `Rise and measure the
temple of God and the altar and those who worship in
it.'" Now this would be the Tribulation temple, the
temple that exists during the time of the Tribulation.
John sees that in His vision. He's told to get up and
measure it.
So, the Tribulation temple was measured. The
Millennial temple was measured. What's the
significance of that? The significance of it is that it
belonged to God. In other words, God is measuring
out what was His. He measures out His millennial city.
He measures out His temple in the time of the
Tribulation. And here God is measuring out the capital

city of heaven, again an indication that it belongs to

Him.
Now when it says "a gold measuring rod," it's referring
to a reed which was the standard for measure, about
ten-feet long. Only this wasn't a reed, it was gold. And
this angel has a gold rod with which he measures the
city to indicate, of course, it belongs to God. As you
might plot out the lines on your own property, this
angel is measuring off, of course, the city which is the
possession of God.
Now let's see what he finds out. He's going to
measure the city and then he's going to measure the
gates and he's going to measure the wall. Verse 16,
"And the city is laid out as a square," tetragonos,
foursquare, all sides and all angels are equal. The city
is laid out as a square. "Its length is as great as the
width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen
hundred miles; its length and width and height are
equal."
It is 1500 miles measured in those directions. Now
some have suggested because it says length and
width and height it could be a pyramid. And it is
conceivable that that is possible. But it is best seen as
a cube, a perfect cube and I'll tell you why. Because
the closest earthly counterpart we have to this was
when God gave orders for the building of the holy
place in the tabernacle and the temple which was a
cube.

Henry Morris writes some interesting things about this.

"The pyramid whether in Egypt, Mexico or the stepped
towers of practically all ancient nations, seems always
to have been associated with paganism with the
pyramid's apex being dedicated to the worship of the
sun. The first such structure was the Tower of Babel
and the Bible always later condemns worship carried
out in high places...whether these were simply natural
high hills or artificially constructed hills in the form of a
pyramid or ziggurat. The cube, on the other hand, was
the shape specified by God for the holy place, such as
in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 6:20."
And I think that there's another reason for this that has
to be a cube and that is because the walls have to be
at least as high as the city. And what would be the
point of having three gates on each side if it was a
pyramid. And I'll show you why I say that. Because if it
is a cube you have to get access to all the layers, so
the gate has to run from the bottom to...what?...to the
top. And if it's a cube then it's sort of pointless, no it's
not pointless, but it's pointless, you understand.
It also needs to be remembered that we will in that city
apparently travel vertically as well as horizontally and
so streets will not just be going this way, they'll be
going up and down as well. They will not only be
going horizontal, they will be going vertical. The blocks
will be cubical blocks instead of square areas like they
are in our present life. And that makes it
understandable that we could all live there.

You say, "It's only 1500 miles cubed? Is that enough

to get us all in?" Listen to what Henry Morris says,
"This kind of geometry makes it easier to understand
how all the redeemed of all the ages could be living in
a single city. Although there's no way to know
precisely how many people will be there, one can
make at least somewhat accurate guess. It can be
calculated," he says, "of the total number of people
who have lived between Adam's time and our time is
about 40 billion. Then assuming that a similar number
will be born during the Millennium, because of the
conditions, and allowing another 20 billion who died
before or soon after death and never really populated
the earth, it is reasonable that about 100 billion men,
women and children could have been members of the
human race, past, present and future.
"Assume for the sake of argument that 20 percent of
these will be saved, including all of those who die in
infancy. It's obviously only a guess but the Lord Jesus
did make it plain that the large majority will never be
saved, right? If this figure is used then the new
Jerusalem would have to accommodate 20 billion
residents. Also assume that 25 percent of the city is
used for the dwelling places of the inhabitants with the
rest allocated to streets, parks, public buildings, etc."
Then he figures out in some exotic calculation, and
he's a scientist, that the average space assigned to
each person would be one over thirty cubic miles. This
would correspond to a cubicle block with about 75
acres on each face. Obviously there's adequate room
in the holy city for all who will be there.

Another way to calculate this immense city is shared

by an F. W. Borrem(?) and he shares this quite
interesting...in quite interesting terms. He says, "Now
if you work it out, 1500 cubed, you have an area of
two million, two hundred and fifty thousand square
miles. The only city foursquare," he says, "that I ever
saw is Adelaide in South Australia. The ship that
brought me out from the old country called in there for
a couple of days and I thought it was a fine city. But as
you know very well, the city of Adelaide covers only
one-square mile. Each of the four sides is a mile long.
London covers an area of 140 square miles. But this
city, the city foursquare, it is two million, two hundred
and fifty thousand times as big as Adelaide, fifteen
thousand times as big as London," and he goes on to
make some other comparatives.
Well, you get the picture. It's big enough. Plus we're
not all going to be there at the same time, I guess you
could say, since we're moving through the universe.
All of that is kind of silly, but it does give you some
perspective so that you don't come up and ask me a
question I can't answer anyway. What a place, rising
vertically, streets upon streets upon streets upon
streets, people going this way, going that way. The
distance would be from the tip of Florida to the tip of
Maine, which is about 1500 miles. Every street...every
street, the length of every street would be one-fifth the
diameter of the earth. So you would have millions of
golden miles going in every direction.

And then in verse 17 it says, "He measured the wall

and it was 72 yards." And my first reaction to that is
that's a very short wall, 21 feet high, what good is that
going to do when you've got a 1500 mile-high city. But
then I noticed that it doesn't say that's the height. And
I decided that it must be the width. It's better to see it
as the thickness. It is 72 yards, I love this, 216 feet
thick, isn't that precise? And I know somebody is
going to come along and say, "Well it really doesn't
mean that." I can just tell you that's what it says. And
to the person who says that he has an answer. "It is
72 yards according to human measurements, which
are also angelic measurements." So don't go
saying..."Well, of course, that doesn't count with the
angels." It's the same.
Do you realize that an inch is an inch whether you're a
human or an angel? A foot is a foot whether you're a
man or an angel? I love that, that's put there for the
spiritualizers who are going to say, "Well, of course,
angelic measurements would be different than human
measurements." No they're not. And if it's that exact,
folks, if it's exactly 144 cubits or 72 yards or 216 feet,
that's precise enough to let me know God wanted to
say that. Don't ask me what the mystical meaning of
216 is, there isn't any. Don't fool with the literal. It's the
same for the angels as it is for you guys down there.
Staggering, 216 feet thick and it rises 1500 miles. And
so the gate runs from the bottom to the top so you can
access anywhere you want to go.
What was the wall made out of? Verse 18, "Now the
material of the wall was jasper," where did we see

that? Back in verse 9. What's that? They were

diamond walls. It was a diamond wall. No wonder
when he saw it he thought he was seeing a diamond,
right? Because you've got 1500 miles walled on all
sides with diamond, and that's just one massive cube
diamond. Now normally a cube wouldn't necessarily,
just a simple cube wouldn't refract enough light, you
need more cuts than that. Well there are plenty of
other things that are going to contribute to that. The
material of the wall was jasper, and then look at this,
"And the city," the rest of what was in it, "was pure
gold like clear glass."
Now have you ever seen pure gold like clear glass? I
haven't. Gold is opaque, it's extremely opaque. It's not
clear and it's not like glass. You say, "Well what is
this?" This is some different kind. This is translucent
gold. You haven't seen it but you're going to live in it.
You say, "Well, why does it have to be clear?" You tell
me why? Because that city has one great purpose in
the new heaven and the new earth and that is to
do...what?...to radiate the glory of God and you can't
have anything blocking it. So the brilliant flashing color
of gold but transparent lends to the firing of that glory
of God through every...every component. Nothing can
stop or block the radiance of God, it shines out
through everything.
You say, "Well one thing strikes me immediately.
There won't be any privacy in that city." That's fine.
You won't need any...you won't need any. There will
be nothing that calls for privacy.

Then John takes us to the foundation in verse 19.

"The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned
with every kind of precious stone." Now he's down to
the foundations, the bottom. And this is amazing
detail, I mean, it's absolutely amazing detail. These
stones here, and I'll try to explain what they refer to
because some of them are...their names have
changed through the centuries and... Eight of these
twelve stones are found in the breastplate of the high
priest. Go back to Exodus 28, Exodus 39. Eight of
these are found in the breastplate of the high priest.
The four others are not even included in the Greek
Old Testament, the Septuagint, so they could still also
be connected with the high priest's breastplate, we
don't know. But there might well be a connection
between the glory that was displayed and the
breastplate of the high priest representing the glory of
God and what we see here.
First of all, again the first foundation stone was jasper,
yashepheh, iaspis, radiant, white, crystal-clear
diamond with its flashing colors. And then the second
was sapphire, a brilliant blue. The third was
chalcedony...Chalcedon is an old name for Turkey and
this was some kind of an agate stone, the best we can
tell, sky blue with...with translucent stripes of color.
And then the fourth was emerald which is, of course, a
blazing bright green. The fifth was sardonyx which is a
red and white stone. The sixth was sardius, a rather
common red stone that was from the quartz family.
The seventh was chrysolite, that's a...Pliny calls that a
transparent sort of lucid gold tone, or yellow tone

stone. And then it says the eighth, beryl, that's a sea

green. The ninth, topaz, transparent yellow green. The
tenth, chrysoprase, that's another shade of green. The
eleventh, jacinth which was a brilliant shining violet
color. And the twelfth, amethyst, which is purple.
Now what you have, of course, is just a blazing,
blazing panoply of these brilliant colors that the light of
God's glory is shining through as they make up the
foundation of the heavenly city. The general picture
then is one of just unbelievable beauty, indescribable
beauty, a spectrum of color blazing everywhere. The
light of the gold, the diamond transparent city shining
through the diamond walls, pushing its light through all
of these colored jewels forms a scene of dazzling
wondrous incredible beauty.
And then, we'll close with this tonight, John describes
the gates. And this is mind boggling. Now remember,
these gates could well run the full height of the city.
Verse 21, "And the twelve gates were twelve pearls."
That is some oyster. No, these have to be pearls of
God's own making. These pearls are like nothing ever
produced by an oyster. Each one of the gates was a
single pearl, a 15-mile-high pearl...1500-mile-high
pearl. Why? Well maybe there's some marvelous
spiritual symbolism there. John Phillips writes this,
"How appropriate. All other precious gems are metals
or stones, but a pearl is a gem formed within the
oyster. It is the only one formed by living flesh. The
humble oyster receives an irritation or a wound and
around the offending article that has penetrated and
hurt it, the oyster builds a pearl. The pearl, we might

say, is the answer of the oyster to that which injured it.

And the glory land is God's answer in Christ to the
wicked men who crucified heaven's beloved and put
Him to open shame. How like God it is to make the
gates of the new Jerusalem pearls. The saints as they
come and go will be forever reminded as they pass
the gates of glory that access to God's home is only
because of Calvary.
"Think of the size of those gates. Think of the
supernatural pearls from which they are made. What
gigantic suffering is symbolized by those gates of
pearl? Throughout the endless ages we shall be
reminded by those pearly gates of the immensity of
the sufferings of Christ Those pearls hung eternally,
as it were, at the access routes to glory will remind us
forever of One who hung upon a tree and whose
answer to those who injured Him was to invite them to
forever share His home," end quote.
Beautifully said, isn't it? Heaven is entered through
suffering by a wounded Redeemer. And we'll always
be reminded of it as we pass the pearls.
Well, so much for general appearance and exterior
design. Are you ready to go inside? Come back next
week and we'll do just that.
Father, thank You for this wonderful, wonderful thrilling
glimpse of our heavenly home. Oh how we rejoice in
the prospects that await us when we come to be with
You forever. And, Lord, we know that right now You're
preparing that place for us and some day You'll come

and take us to it. And we'll be in that wonderful place,

living with You when we leave this world. We'll be
there even before it descends into the new heaven
and the new earth because it's where You live now
with the spirits of just men, righteous men and women
made perfect. Oh how we long for the city of God, the
diamond city, the gates of pearl, the bejeweled city.
But most of all, how we long to be engulfed in Your
blazing glory, how privileged we are to have such a
hope. And we praise and thank You for it, in the
Savior's name. Amen.
************************
We come to Revelation chapters 21 and 22 and a look
at the capital city of heaven. When Jesus preached
the Sermon on the Mount, He included a marvelous
promise to believers. He said to them in Matthew
5:12, "Your reward in heaven is great." Jesus also
included in the Sermon on the Mount a command to
"Lay up treasures in heaven."
Later on in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew it is
recorded that Jesus told the rich young ruler these
words, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your
possessions and give to the poor and you shall have
treasure in heaven and come follow Me." In Luke 23 it
is recorded that Jesus said, "Be glad in that day and
leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in
heaven."
Interesting, isn't it, that Jesus talked about the
treasures of heaven, the reward of heaven, the riches

of heaven. The Apostle Paul followed up on that and

reminded believers that he was thankful for the hope
laid up for him in heaven. He talked about a crown
which is righteousness. He talked about a crown
which is rejoicing, a crown that belongs to all those
who love the Lord's appearing.
And Peter echoed the sentiment of Paul when he said
that we have an inheritance which is imperishable and
undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven
for us, 1 Peter 1:4. Heaven is our place. It's where our
inheritance is. It's where our reward is. It's where our
hope is. It's where our treasure is laid up. Heaven is
our eternal home and the place of eternal glory. So,
we're looking at heaven, particularly in Revelation 21
and 22, we're looking at the capital city of the eternal
state, none other than what is called the new
Jerusalem, the holy city, our forever home. It's the
place where we're going to spend eternity.
Now Revelation 21 opened with the announcement
that the present universe will be uncreated. John
says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the
first heaven and the first earth passed away and there
is no longer any sea." I told you the significance of the
statement "there is no longer any sea" is the fact that
in the new creation there will not be a water-based
existence. This existence in which we now live in the
present universe is dependent upon water. Most of
what we are is water, as you well know from a
scientific analysis perspective. And we are in a waterbased existence. The very fact that there is no longer
any sea in the future, new heaven and new earth,

indicates that it will be of a completely different order

than anything that we can understand in the life in
which we now live.
And so, we see then in the opening of this twenty-first
chapter the introduction of the new heaven and the
new earth. And immediately after that the jeweled city
of that eternal state is introduced. Verse 2, "I saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband." She comes down, as it were, out of heaven
in splendorous garb, taking her place in the new
heaven and the new earth, perhaps even settling on
some place on the new earth, settling into some
location on the new earth.
That city then that descends into the eternal state
becomes the focal point of attention for the rest of this
section, running all the way down to chapter 22 and
verse 5. Now keep in mind that we're talking about a
new heaven and a new earth. There will be a new
earth. And there will be a new heavens or heaven in
which that earth exists. It will be an infinite heaven, it
will be a vast...as I said infinite heaven...at the same
time it will be crowned in the very center on the new
earth or perhaps hanging over the new earth with this
glorious city called the new Jerusalem.
So when we talk about the new Jerusalem or the holy
city, we're not just talking about all that heaven is,
we're talking about the capital city within the infinity of
the new heaven and the new earth. The city then, as I
said, became the focal point of attention and we

started in verse 9 last time to take a look at this city.

And verses 9 through 11, actually a couple of weeks
ago, gave us a general appearance. And you
remember that general appearance is like a bride,
verse 10, "He carried me away in the Spirit to a great
and high mountain, showed me the holy city
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God. And her brilliance was like a
very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper,"
which we said would be like a diamond, perhaps a
diamond is exactly what is in mind here.
And so the general appearance of this city is like a
transparent lucid diamond in the center of which is the
glory of God blazing out through all the refractions of
that diamond and scattering light throughout the entire
new heaven and new earth. It is God revealed as light
because when God reveals Himself, you remember,
He reveals Himself as light. Jesus said, "I am the light
of the world." John said that, "In Him is light and there
is no darkness at all." He is...He is unlimited and
unmitigated and unhindered and non-obstructed light
and when He reduces His attributes to that which is
manifest or visible, it comes out as light or glory. God's
presence, God's Shekinah manifest as light. And so
the city itself is a diamond reflecting light coming from
the very heart of it. We saw that general appearance.
Then we came to verse 12 and we saw the exterior
design. That ran all the way down through verse 21,
and I'll just read it to you.

It had a great and high wall with twelve gates and at

the gates twelve angels and names were written
onthem which are those of the twelve tribes of the
sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and
three gates on the north and three gates on the south
and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city
had twelve foundation stones and on them were the
twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
So the city identifies the twelve tribes, pulling together
people from the Old Testament era, it names the
twelve Apostles, of course, representative of those of
the New Testament era. Verse 15: "The one who
spoke with me had a gold measuring rod," and we
noted that that occurs a number of times in prophetic
literature and shows God measuring out what belongs
to Him, marking off the boundaries of that which is His
possession. And so, the gold measuring rod was used
to measure the city and its gates and its wall. And the
city is laid out as a square. We talked about it being
symmetrical, three gates on every side. It is a perfect
square. It has twelve foundation stones as well,
corresponding, I'm sure, to the three gates, three
foundation stones on each of the four sides.
Its length is as great as its width.He measured thecity
with a rod 1500 miles its length and width andheight
are equal.
And we talked about the fact that it is a cube, 1500
miles in every direction.

And then he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, a

hundred and forty-four cubits.
And I suggested to you that that is not the height of
the wall. If the city is 1500 miles high it wouldn't do
much good to have a 216 foot high wall. That is, no
doubt, the measurement of the width of it, not the
height of it. And somebody at this point is going to say,
"Yeah, well this isn't actually literal." And so, just for
those folks who might say that, he says, "This is
according to human measurements which are also
angelic measurements." And I told you how I love that
kind of statement which just backs off anybody who
wants to tamper with the text.
And the material of the wall was jasper. So 216 feet or
72 yards in width, and again it is this diamond crystal.
And the city inside of these walls that run from the
bottom to the top, the city inside is made of pure gold
like clear glass. And again, the light can blaze through
the clear gold glass and come blazing through the
thick crystal diamond walls, blazing through the
foundation stones also. And you remember, there
were twelve of them and he names them, they were
every kind of precious stone, jasper, sapphire,
chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite,
beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth and amethyst. And
we gave you some idea of what those might mean.
Then the street of the city was like...pardon me, verse
21 says, "The twelve gates were twelve pearls." Verse
21 indicating the construction material of the gates
being twelve pearls. That is to say each gate was one

pearl. If they're 1500 miles high, then that is a fairly

large pearl...a 1500-mile-high pearl making a gate.
Remember now, the city is tiered and I talked about
the fact that we'll be in our glorified form moving
horizontally as easily as moving vertically...moving
vertically as easily as moving horizontally, and so the
gate will run all the way to the top so we can go in and
out and traverse the city in any way that we would
wish. Each of the gates was a single pearl. The street
of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
And I suggested to you a few ways to comprehend the
dimensions of the city and to understand that there's
going to be plenty of room for all of the redeemed to
have space there. Henry Morris calculates, "Each
believer could have a cubicle block a little over a third
of a mile in each direction," and that would be if there
were calculated a certain number of believers based
upon how many people have lived in the world and
just making sort of a good educated guess. So there
will be plenty of room. And besides, we'll all be coming
in and out of the city and there will be plenty of infinity
for us to traverse, so we're not going to get too
crowded there.
All right, now we come to the third feature, or the third
series of features and that is the internal character of
this city. We've looked at the general appearance
which is like a diamond with light blazing out of it. We
looked at the exterior design, the configuration of the
city and its walls and all of that. And now we're going
to go inside the city and see what is inside, what are
the internal characteristics. John takes us inside for a

glimpse of our future home. Verse 22, and the first

thing that he says is, "I saw no temple in it." I saw no
temple in it. Up to this point we would have to
acknowledge that there has been a temple in heaven.
Chapter 8 verse 3 talks about an angel standing at the
altar, holding a golden censer with incense given to
him that he might add it to the prayers of the saints
upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Now those are all the kind of features that you would
find in a temple. There would be an altar there and
there would be incense there and certainly we are
inclined to believe that there was a temple in heaven,
that there is indicated in the Scripture that God dwells
in heaven in some form of temple. There is in chapter
4 and verse 2 the indication of a throne in heaven.
There wasn't a throne in the temple and so we don't
necessarily associate that with the temple, but we do
associate the altar here and the golden censer with
things that were characteristic of a temple.
Over in chapter 11 of Revelation and down in verse 19
it says it very clearly. "And the temple of God which is
in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant
appeared in His temple." So at the time that John
sees the vision in chapter 11, he is literally taken by
vision into heaven and a temple opens up and he can
see into the temple. What we have to conclude then is
that in the eternal state that temple is gone. There's
no more temple there.
And why is that? Well there's no need for an abode of
God because God will literally occupy by blazing glory
the whole of the new heaven and the new earth.

There's no need for a temple. There's no need for a

cathedral. There's no need for a church. There's no
need for a chapel. There's no need for a house of
prayer. There's no need for a place of worship.
There's no need for a day of worship. There's no need
to for anyone to go anywhere to worship God. There
won't be any place where they'll be having services.
There won't be any facility at all. There won't be any
temple.
Why? Verse 22, "For the Lord God, the Almighty and
the Lamb are its temple."
You know what that says? That says literally that this
city dwells within the temple which is the very
presence of God and Christ. In other words, the
presence of God literally fills the whole new heaven
and new earth. Right now, as you know, God certainly
is omnipresent, but you also know that Satan is the
prince of the power of the air and that demons have
access not only to the earth but to heavens as well,
that the universe itself has been polluted. There is a
unique place which is identified as the temple of God
but in the new heaven and the new earth when the
glory of God fills the earth and the glory of God fills
the new universe with all of His infinity, there will be no
need for a temple because God Himself will be the
temple in which everything exists.
You see that back in chapter 21 verse 3 in different
terms, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men.
He shall dwell among them. They shall be His people,
God Himself shall be among them." We literally will

live in His presence. We will live in the temple of God

and Christ. They are the temple by presence and we
are in their presence forever.
So there wouldn't be any need to go to a church.
There wouldn't be any need to go to a cathedral or go
to a place of worship. Worship will be life. That's all
we'll do. We'll worship, worship, worship and that's all
we'll do. All of life, never a moment when we're
not...listen to this...never a moment when we're not
worshiping, never a moment when we're not in perfect
holy communion with the perfect holy Almighty God
and the Lamb, never a moment when we are not
engaged in rapturous joyous worship and service to
Him. Never a moment when those things are not
reality. We will be the true worshipers that the Father
has always sought. Our worship will be pure and true
and perfect. We will be worshiping in perfect Spirit and
in perfect truth in His eternal presence.
And I think it's interesting that that's the first thing that
John noted because it was important to him, it was
priority to him. After all, he was the one that wrote
about God seeking true worshipers. He was the one
who was so concerned about God being worshiped
and he was the one who had been taken through all of
these tremendous visions in the book of Revelation
and been instructed about how important worship was
and what happened to people who didn't. And he had
seen glimpses of heaven where worship was the
constant occupation.

And so, naturally the first thing he would look for when
he was taken to the inside of the capital city of heaven
would be to see if there was a place of worship there
and the answer is...there isn't any. It's not necessary.
Because there won't be anything but worship there
wouldn't be any need to go somewhere and worship.
And then in verse 23 he goes back to that glory that's
blazing out of the middle of the city which he talked
about in his initial perspective in verses 9 to 11. And
he says this, "And the city has no need of the sun or
of the moon to shine upon it for the glory of God has
illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb." Now that will tell
you a little bit about the new earth because whatever
the new earth is it won't be an earth like we know now
because the earth as we know it now depends upon
the sun and the moon, it depends upon time for the
sun to shine and time for darkness to run its normal
cycles. So whatever goes on in that new earth will be
dependent on a completely different structure, a
completely different creation than anything we know
today. There will be no sun, there will be no moon.
They're not necessary for light because the glory of
God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb. And
again it's God and the Lamb.
And you see that pretty much through all the visions of
the book of Revelation. You see the Father's throne
but the Lamb is sitting on the throne. And you see
them share the responsibility. The tabernacle of God
is with men but so is the tabernacle of Jesus Christ.
He dwells with them as well. You see the great White
Throne and Him who sat upon it is no other than the

Creator and yet God has committed all judgment on to

His own Son. So you see them together. The Creator
and the Lamb then are the light of that eternal city.
And remember now the new Jerusalem is a prism of
utterly dazzling light.
Then in verse 24 he says, "And the nations shall walk
by its light and the kings of the earth shall bring their
glory into it." Now this might take a little bit of
explanation. I'll do my best to make it as simple and
plain as I can.
Some people assume that this is a millennial
description, that this is describing something in the
MIllennium because it mentions the nations and the
kings. But if you make this the thousand-year
Millennium, you have a real problem because this is
the new heaven and the new earth which come after
the Millennium.
And you really can't do justice to the chronology of the
book of Revelation by going back. And I can't imagine
anything in the Millennium that could fit this
description because you still have physical human
beings living in the Millennium, don't you? Those who
went through the judgment because they are the
sheep and entered into the Kingdom and received the
earthly Kingdom and they could never live in a place
like this that is built on a different creative order than
anything we know today. This has to be the eternal
state.

You say, "Well then explain to me how the nations got

there and the kings got there?" Well, that's not really
that difficult. Nations is the word ethnae, and all it
means is "the peoples." It can be translated "nations,"
most often do you know how it's translated in the New
Testament? Most often it is translated by the
word...what?...Gentiles. It's the same word. It can be
translated "peoples," that's really all it means. In the
broadest sense all the peoples from every tongue and
tribe and nation and the world will all be walking in its
light. In fact, what he is really saying here is this is not
going to be limited to one group. This is going to
be...this is going to be the eternal capital where
everybody is welcome. There will be no more
divisions as we know them. All of the nations shall
walk by its light.
What it really is saying is that there will be no more
divisions. It will be the capital city for everybody. It's
not the idea that heaven is going to be organized by
political sections, but that all ethnic groups will be
moving in and about that city, no...no race, no culture,
no one left out.
And then it says, "And the kings of the earth shall
bring their glory into it." Some see this as
indicated...and I think it may well indicate that...no
social structure, no upper and lower class, all the
kings of the earth who come to that place, that would
be those mighty men, noble men, those leaders, those
great men, give their glory to that city. That is their
glory is gone. Everybody is at the same level. All
human glory dissolves into the glory of God. All races

dissolve into the people of God. And the character of

that city is universal in the fact that everybody there
belongs and there is no social strata. The kings give
up their glory.
There's another interesting possibility about this verse
and I suggest it to you. There will be believers living at
the end of the millennial Kingdom, think with me on
this, there will be believers living at the end of the
millennial Kingdom, right? In other words, when the
Kingdom starts there will be people on earth who will
have children, they'll populate the earth. Many of
those people who populate the earth will be
unbelievers and even though Christ is ruling in
Jerusalem, they won't believe in Him. Satan will be
released at the end of the thousand years. He'll
sweep through the earth with his demons. He'll create
a rebellion. He'll gather a huge army. And he'll fight
against the Lord Jesus Christ. But there still will be
millions of believers all over the world, all over the
world.
Now when the...follow this one...when the present
creation in its millennial form is uncreated, the
question is: what's going to happen to all those living
believers? And some commentators feel that this
verse, "And the nations shall walk by its light and the
kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it," is a
reference to the translation of those living believers on
earth, people and rulers, who are taken into the
eternal state. Perhaps that is what John had in ind, we
certainly can't be dogmatic about it. But it could refer
to those believer who simply are alive at the end of

the millennial Kingdom and are translated into the new

heavens and the new earth without going through
death and certainly they wouldn't be judged by God
and executed in the rebellion when God judges Satan
and all who fight with him.
It may well be that as the new heavens and the new
earth come immediately into existence and the old is
uncreated, they are translated instantaneously into the
descending new Jerusalem and it is those nations and
kings to which he refers. But in the end everybody is
going to be there, all peoples are going to be there
and all rulers are going to have their glory dissolved
into the glory of God which is all the glory that will be
in the eternal state.
Now I know some of you are counting big on the fact
that there's going to be variations in the social strata
because somewhere down the line you heard some
guy preach a sermon on whether you're building a big
mansion or a little one. I want to hurry to say that
when John went to visit heaven he didn't see any
mansions. He didn't see any.
You say, "What about...what about John 14, `In My
Father's house there are many mansions.'" That's one
of the saddest translations I've ever heard. What it
says in the Greek is, "In My Father's house there are
many rooms, or in My Father's house there are many
dwelling places." How could you have a house with
many mansions in it? It doesn't even make sense in
English. It's a house with many rooms. There will be

room for all of us. I don't think that we're going to be

up there saying, "Boy, I wish I had his house."
Verse 25 takes us a step further. "And in the day
time," and then to make sure you don't misunderstand
that, "for there shall be no night there," so it will
always be...what?...daytime. "In the daytime and there
will be no night there, its gate shall never be closed."
Now that's an important thing to say. You don't
understand that because you don't live in an ancient
time. Although some of you have learned the
importance of gates and you've got a...you've got a
place behind some kind of security system and you
know what that means to have those gates closed,
you feel secure and that's the way it was in an old
ancient city. They were walled cities and they had
gates and the gates were closed at night to keep
invaders, marauders and criminals and dangerous
people from coming into their city in the night. But the
point here is there's never any night and so you never
need to close the gate. It's a place of rest and safety
and security and refreshment.
The city gates were shut at night because they were
there for protection. Not in the new Jerusalem, no
night...by the way, nobody will ever sleep anyway
because
we
will
have
entered
into
eternal...what?...rest and be continually refreshed all
the time. Heaven is eternal rest and that's what it will
be. And so...in fact, Revelation 14:13 says, "We'll rest
from our labors while the ungodly in hell have no rest,"
14:11. So the gates never close because there's never

any night, and frankly there's never any danger. We

enter into rest.
Richard Baxter, the great Puritan writer, comments on
rest, eternal rest, with some interesting words that I
found. "Rest," he says, "not as the stone that rests on
the earth, nor as these clods of flesh shall rest in the
grave, so our beasts much rest as well as we. Nor is it
the satisfying of our fleshly lusts nor such rest as the
carnal world desires. No, no, we have another kind of
rest than these. Rest we shall from all our labors
which were but the way and means to rest, but yet
that is the smallest part. O blessed rest, where we
shall never rest day or night, crying, `Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of Sabbaths,' when we shall rest from sin
but not from worship. Rest from suffering and sorrow
but not from comfort. O blessed day when I shall rest
with God, when I shall rest in knowing, loving,
rejoicing and praising, when my perfect soul and body
together shall in these perfect things perfectly enjoy
the most perfect rest. When God also who is love
itself shall perfectly love me, yea, and rest in His love
to me as I shall rest in my love to Him and rejoice over
me with joy and singing as I rejoice over Him." That
kind of rest. And so, we will have protection, security,
safety, rest without ever sleeping.
Verse 26, not just the kings will give all their glory to
God but everyone will. Verse 26 says, "And they shall
bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it."
That is to say all people no matter who they are or
what country or nation they've come from will bring all
their glory, all that is good about them and it will

dissolve, as it were, in the eternal worship of God and

Christ. The glory and the honor of all the nations
dissolves, as it were, in the glory of God.
Now this tells us, I think, something about what this
whole matter of rewards means. When we receive our
eternal glory, when we receive our eternal honor, I
really believe that we receive it and yet it is defused
into the glory of God because after all, whatever good
we did, whatever we achieved for the cause of Christ,
the Spirit of God did in us, right? And He gets all the
glory in the end. So all of the redeemed who enter into
the eternal city and receive their eternal reward will
give...give that back to God and God will be all and all
and the eternal worship of God and the eternal
worship of Jesus Christ will be everything.
And so, it's a shining city. It has the glory of God and it
has all the glory of all the people who have ever
received from God honor and glory diffused into that
glory of God. It is a breathtaking glory, blazing
everywhere. And that above everything describes that
city.
The commentator Cise(?) writing many years ago
wrote a vision of this glory that stuck with me through
the years. In fact, I've never found anything to surpass
it. And I went back digging through my old notes to
find it and I found it. This is what he says about this
blazing jewel of the holy city. He says, "That shining is
not from any material combustion, not from any
consumption of fuel that needs to be replaced as one
supply burns out, for it is the uncreated light of Him

who is light, dispensed by and through the Lamb as

the everlasting lamp to the home and hearts and
understandings of His glorified saints. When Paul and
Silas laid wounded and bound in the inner dungeon of
the prison of Philippi, they still had sacred light which
enabled them to beguile the night with happy songs.
When Paul was on his way to Damascus, a light
brighter than the sun at noon shone round about him,
irradiating his whole being with new sights and
understanding and making soul and body ever
afterward light in the Lord.
When Moses came down from the mount of his
communion with God, his face was so illuminous that
his brethren could not endure to look upon it. He was
in such close fellowship with light that he became
informed with light and came to the camp as a very
lamp of God glowing with the glory of God. And on the
Mount of Transfiguration that same light streamed
forth from all the body and raiment of the blessed
Jesus. And with reference to the very time when this
city comes into being and place, Isaiah said, "The
moon shall be ashamed and the sun confounded,"
ashamed because of the out beaming glory which
then shall appear in the new Jerusalem, leaving no
more need for them to shine in it since the glory of
God lights it and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And so does John describe the general appearance,
the exterior design and the internal features. And
there are more. Continuing in our look on the inside,
let's go to chapter 22 verse 1. We're now getting our
city tour. "He showed me a river of the water of life

clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of

the Lamb." And again I point out that everything is
clear, everything is crystal so that the glory shines
through it all. "He showed me a river of the water of
life." Remember now there's no more sea so this is
not a river like we know. In order to have a
hydrological cycle, in order to have a river as we know
a river, you'd have to have a sea because the river
would go somewhere and then it would have to
dissolve into something and it would have to be
evaporated and picked up and brought back and put
back in the head waters to make the river go again.
There would have to be some cycle that moved the
water. But there's no sea. There's no hydrological
creation as we know it. So this is a different kind of
river. And it's clear it is because this river is filled with
the water of...what?...of life. That's not H2O, folks. You
say, "What is it?" I don't know, it's the water of life and
it's as clear as crystal. It's the water of life as clear as
crystal, that's all I know. It's ever flowing and it's ever
cascading. I see it as a cascading river. Why?
Because it comes down from the throne of God and of
the Lamb and it's tumbling like waterfall across this
crystal city, splashing across the transparent gold.
And, of course, you know how crystal clear moving
water refracts light at every change of flow. This just
adds to the blaze of glory.
You say, "What is the water in there?" It's the water of
life. It's a symbol of pure, holy, eternal life flowing
down through the city from the throne of God and of
the Lamb. That's one throne. And so the fountain head

or the source of this is the throne of God from which it

tumbles. It reminds us, doesn't it, of the Garden of
Eden. In the Garden of Eden there was a beautiful
river with four branches. And those four branches
watered paradise. So the heavenly paradise has its
river, too. It is a beautiful crystal clear celestial river of
eternal life that bathes the holy city as it flows down
from the throne of God.
Water symbolizes salvation. Water symbolizes eternal
life. You must be born of the water and the Spirit, it
symbolizes washing and regeneration. John really
understood the meaning of water in terms of its
reference to salvation for it was John himself
who...who wrote down the words of Jesus, "Unless
one is born of water and the Spirit he can't enter the
Kingdom." It was John who wrote down the words of
Jesus, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst
again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
them shall be come in him a well of water, springing
up to eternal life." So we know it's not H2O, that's in
chapter 4 of John's gospel.
Over in chapter 7 it was John who recorded the words
of Jesus who said, "If any man is thirsty let him come
to Me and drink," verse 37, "He who believes in Me as
the Scripture says from his innermost being shall flow
rivers of living water." It was John also in chapter 13
and verse 8 who wrote down the words of Jesus, "If I
do not wash you, you have no part with Me."

John understood the symbol of water, the symbolic

character as it pointed to salvation cleansing. This
river has no stagnation, this river has no pollution, no
obstructions, no murkiness. It is the symbol of the
constant flow of everlasting life from God's throne to
all the people in glory. He is the spring, He is the
fountain, He is the source of eternal life and this river
symbolizes that as it comes out of His throne.
No doubt it's what the psalmist had in mind in Psalm
46:4 when he said, "There is a river, the streams of
which make glad the city of God." God even gave the
psalmist a view.
And then verse 2, "In the middle of its street," literally
its path might be a better way to say that, "In the
middle of the path of this river," and there's some
punctuation issues here and some translation issues
in this verse that some folks have maybe disagreed
on. But let me give it to you as simply as I can. "In the
middle of its path," disregard that period, "and on
either side of the river was the tree of life bearing
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations."
In the middle of its path and on either side of the river
was the tree of life. So here comes the river tumbling
out of the throne and as it cascades and tumbles,
whatever it is, crystal clear, shining eternal life in some
appearance as water flashing the beautiful brilliance
of the glory of God, as it tumbles down its path on

either side of that path it says was the tree of life. Now
that's just another symbol.
You say, "Well, what kind of a tree is it?" Well it's not a
tree like we know because a tree like we know grows
in...what?...soil and there's no soil there. So this isn't a
tree like we know. This is the tree of life, it's not a tree
of the created order in this earth. This is the tree of
life.
There was a tree of life once, Genesis 2:9, remember
that? And God said, "You can eat of the tree of life but
if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, I'm going to throw you out of the Garden because
once you've eaten of that you can't dare eat of the
tree of life or you would be perpetually living in that
condition of sinfulness." So there was a tree of life,
according to Genesis 2:9 in the Garden. The tree of
life was a symbol of eternal life, a symbol of blessing.
This is a different one. This is a celestial one. But it
symbolizes blessing. When the Jews want to say to
you that you should be blessed they say, "La
Haem"(??)(chayyim). You know what that means? To
life...to life. This is La haem, this is the symbol of life,
the highest life, the best life, the greatest joys, the
most fulfillment, to life. This tree is the symbol of the
unbelievable, glorious life.
In fact, the Jews used that concept that way. Back in
Proverbs 3:18 it talks about wisdom and it says,
"Wisdom is a tree of life." What does that mean? A
source of blessing. It doesn't mean a literal tree, it

means a source of blessing. Wisdom is a tree of life. It

produces La Haem, rich full life.
In Proverbs 11 and we would agree that wisdom does
do that, in Proverbs 11 and verse 30, "The fruit of the
righteous is a tree of life." Get around a righteous
person and the product of their life produces blessing,
doesn't it? It produces the best of life.
Chapter 13 of Proverbs and verse 12, "Desire fulfilled
is a tree of life." What does that mean? When you
have something that you desire that you really long
for, and God fulfills it, life becomes rich and full and
meaningful, that's a tree of life.
Chapter 15 of Proverbs, as you can see, this is a
common concept. Chapter 15 and verse 4, I think it is,
"A soothing tongue is a tree of life." So you can see
that the Jews had this concept of a tree of life simply
referring to blessing. A righteous person produces a
tree of life. A soothing tongue produces a tree of life. A
desire fulfilled produces a tree of life. Wisdom
produces a tree of life. That's blessing, joy, fulfillment,
contentment, happiness.
So what that tells us is that it's going to be a happy
place. It's going to be a place of contentment, joy. It's
going to be "La Haem," everybody is going to be
going around saying, "La Haem," to life, to life, isn't
this marvelous, isn't this glorious?
And the richness of this thing is illustrated because on
either side of the river was the tree of life bearing

twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month and

the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations.
Now what do you mean twelve kinds of fruit? Well this
life is going to have variety. And I suppose that's an
important thing to say because when I was a kid I
used to think about heaven as boring. Did you ever
think about it like that? As a kid I used to say, "It won't
be any fun to play basketball because everybody will
make every shot. It won't be any fun to play golf
because every shot will be a hole-in-one." And you
couldn't possibly play tennis because an irresistible
force and an immovable object result in nothing. What
are we going to do up there?" We won't be able to
improve on anything because we'll be perfect at
everything. There won't be anything to make because
everything will be made.
You say, "We'll sing." Yeah, we'll all sing perfectly so
there won't be any reason to practice. You say, "Well,
I'm going to play a harp." Well you'll play it perfectly
from the first time you pick it up and you'll never make
a mistake eternally, and neither will anybody else.
It just seemed sort of boring. And I think just for
people like me there's a little hint here that this tree of
life is going to have twelve kinds of fruit, a different
kind every month. And what that means is heaven is
going to be filled with...what?...variety, variety.
By the way, somebody I know, I can feel it, is saying,
"Month, month, month, did I hear month? Isn't this

eternity? What's month doing there?" Well time has no

part of eternity but it does remind us that there are
cycles. I mean, it's just another one of those
anthropomorphic expressions to say something to us
in terminology which we can understand. There will be
a regular cycle of joyous provision, filled with variety,
changing all the time.
And then a most interesting comment. "The leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations." Healing?
From what? No more illness, no more pain, no more
disease, what is this healing? Well we know it's not
from sickness, don't we? The word "healing,"
therapeon. It means therapeutic, therapeon,
therapeutic. It doesn't imply illness. A better way to
translate it would be this, "And the leaves of the tree
were...were life giving, health giving, therapeutic."
They just enriched life. Like vitamins only supernatural
ones. You don't take vitamins because you're sick, you
take them because somebody told you it enhances
the well being of life, right? Make you feel better. Or
you take some dose of whatever you take, if you're
deficient in iron or whatever, it's not because you're ill,
it's not because you have a disease, you don't need
surgery, you just need a little zest in your life. I think
that's the idea. There's...there's going to be provided
in heaven infinite variety and they are going to be all
kinds of things available in heaven demonstrated by
the symbolism of the leaves of that tree that are just
going to energize life and just make it rich and full and
exciting.

And I can hear some of you saying, "But it says eat, or

it assumes eat, the leaves of the tree were for the
healing." It doesn't assume eat, maybe we just rub
them on our glorified body, I don't know. You say,
"Well, are we going to eat them?" I don't know
because it doesn't say. I do know that angels ate
Abraham's meat and Sarah's cakes in Genesis 16.
And I do know that a resurrected Christ ate with His
disciples, right? I don't...I don't really know how it's
going to work. But all I know is it says that they are for
the therapy, they're health-giving, they're energizing.
Heaven's going to have all kinds of variety. And it's not
going to be sort of droning on at the same pace.
They're going to be great explosions of energy as the
life of God is made available to us.
And so the leaves sort of symbolize the full enjoyment
of life in the new Jerusalem. We don't really need any
food, we won't need to be healed of anything. But
there's going to be endless variety and a constant
infusing of great exhilarating joy.
Now that brings us to the last point in John's vision.
Hear his description. He got a general look, then he
got the exterior design and then he got the interior
features. And now we come fourthly to the privileges
of the saints.
Now we're going to talk about what life's going to be
like in there, verses 3 to 5 and we'll be done. What's
life going to be like? Verse 3, "There shall no longer
be any curse," no longer any curse. Boy, is that

wonderful? Absolutely no curse at all. There's not

going to be, back in chapter 21 verse 4, any tears, any
death, any mourning, any crying, any pain, all of those
things fit into the category of first things and they are
all eternally gone. No longer any curse.
"And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it
and His bondservants shall serve Him." There's no
temple there but there is a throne there. We already
had a description of that throne back in chapter 4. And
I would only remind you to read it, I'm not going to go
through the detailed description but there is a throne.
Guess what? Verse 3, "He who is sitting on it was like
a jasper." Again, the blazing diamond, "And a sardius
in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the
throne like an emerald in appearance. And around the
throne are twenty-four thrones and on the thrones
twenty four elders sitting," and we discussed that
those were representatives of the redeemed, "clothed
in white garments, golden crowns on their heads and
from the throne lightning and sounds and peals of
thunder." And, of course, that was all when judgment
was about to fall. "There were seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne which are the seven Spirits
of God." So the Spirit of God will be represented there
as well. "And in front of the throne was a sea of glass
like crystal." And again there's that transparency. "And
then there were four living creatures," they're
described there, an incredible description of angelic
beings. "And holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the
Almighty who was and who is and who is to come,
they cry out as they surround the throne." And you
have all the praise going on around the throne.

So you already have that description of what the

throne is like and that's the throne that is in heaven
and that's the one that's there when the celestial city
descends. So we get a little hint as to what life is
going to be like in there, no curse. The throne of God
and the Lamb is there. And a sovereign God sits on
His throne and a sovereign Lamb with Him. And His
bondservants, verse 3, shall serve Him. His
bondservants shall serve Him.
That's what we're going to do. We're going to serve
Him. We're going to do whatever He wants us to do.
Bondservants, slaves, we're going to do whatever He
tells us to do. That's what we'll do forever and ever
and ever. And the infinite mind of God, listen...do you
understand how infinite God's mind is? Do you
understand the variety of God's mind? If you think for
one minute it's going to be boring in heaven, is it
boring down here? You haven't even begun to see
one billionth of what it will be like in a perfect world
when the unlimited creative mind of God sets itself
loose. I mean, it's going to be incredible to serve Him
in ways which are absolutely beyond our ability to
comprehend.
Back in chapter 7 of Revelation and verse 15 it says
that they serve Him day and night in His temple. And
He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle
over them. That's why there doesn't have to be a
temple or a tabernacle because He's going to spread
it over all of them and so the whole of the new heaven

and the new earth becomes His tabernacle or His

temple and we serve Him in that.
Rudyard Kipling who was a great poet and a lousy
theologian wrote these words, "When earth's last
picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
when the oldest colors have faded and the youngest
critic has died, we shall rest and faith we shall need it.
Lay down for an eon or two, till the Master of all good
workmen shall put us to work anew." That's great
poetry. That is lousy theology. That is a Rip-VanWinkle view of heaven. We're not going to be lying
around, we're going to be serving Him night and day,
that simply means all the time because there there is
no night, as you remember.
And you know, there's another interesting note I
mentioned to you, did you pick it up at the communion
service a few weeks ago? We're not only going to
serve Him, but this is the most mind-boggling thing of
all. Back in Luke chapter 12, I have to add this
because it's so wonderful, Luke chapter 12 verse 35,
Jesus says, "Be dressed in readiness, keep your
lamps lit, be like men who are waiting for their master
when he returns from the wedding feast so that they
may immediately open a door to him when he comes
and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the
master shall find on the alert when he comes. Truly I
say to you, he will gird himself to serve and have them
recline at the table and come up and wait on them." Is
that unbelievable?

You know what's going to happen? We're not only

going to serve Him, but...what?...He's going to serve
us.
And then John takes us further into the activities of
heaven. Verse 4, "And they shall see His face." They
shall see His face. Exodus 33, God said if anybody
looks on My face they'll die. They'll be consumed. No
man could see Me and live. That changes. Now we
can look at the blazing glory of God in all its fullness
and not die. Why? Because we're holy. We are
covered with His holiness. To see God's face as
sinners would be to be consumed with His holy
animosity to sin. But in heaven we'll see Him in all His
glory. John 1:18 says, "No man has seen God at any
time, but the day will come when we will indeed see
Him face to face." "We will see He who is...according
to 1 Timothy 6:15...the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone
possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable
light, whom no man has seen or can see." We will see
Him then. Matthew 5:8 says, "They shall see God."
In that city we will be engulfed in His presence. We
will be exposed to the full blaze of His eternal glory.
Christ will be the radiant focal point of that
manifestation. Christ will be the centerpiece, if there is
such a thing, of that diamond blazing glory of God.
And this then really is the joy of heaven. The hymn
writer said, "The bride eyes not her garment, but her
dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on
my King of grace." In other words, the believer is

going to follow the glory back to the face from which it

radiates. "Not at the crown He giveth," says the hymn
writer, "but on His pierced hand, the Lamb is all the
glory of Immanuel's land."
And then we look again and we see in verse 4 His
name shall be on their foreheads. "His name shall be
on their foreheads." What's that? Personal
possession. That's eternal security, friends. No doubt
who we belong to and we'll belong to Him forever.
Back in chapter 3 of Revelation when the Lord was
writing to the churches, He wrote a letter to the church
at Philadelphia and He said, "He who overcomes,"
verse 12, "I'll make a pillar in the temple of My God
and he will not go out from it anymore. And I will write
upon him the name of My God and the name of the
city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes
down out of heaven from God and My new name."
There you have the fullness of it. It says His name
shall be on their foreheads, in that verse it says you're
going to have the name of My God, the name of the
city of My God, and My new name. Hey, we're going
to have a whole lot of names written on our foreheads.
And what it all says is he belongs to Me and he
belongs to this city of which he is an eternal citizen
and he belongs to the Lamb and all of that is identified
in what is written on us.
And then it all ends, this description of the glory of the
holy city with a repeat of the real magnificence. Look
at verse 5, remember this, this is the essence of it and
this is the third time this has been mentioned in one

way or another. "There shall no longer be any night,

they shall not have need of the light of a lamp or the
light of the sun because the Lord God shall illumine
them." And then here's one more feature of what we
do, "They shall reign forever and ever." Not just
serving but reigning...reigning. What a tremendous
truth.
What does that mean? Well, Revelation 3:21 says, "To
him who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with
Me on My throne." Wow! We'll be reigning and He'll be
serving us as He is reigning and we're serving Him.
It's unbelievable that we could attain to such glory.
The gold, the jewels, the diamonds, the pearls are all
incidental to the glory shining, the glory is everything.
This is astounding truth, really. To be eternally
embraced in the arms of the glory of God,
unbelievable.
It was the Queen of Sheba who had reason to say of
Solomon's glory, "Happy are thy men, happy are thy
servants who stand continually before thee and hear
thy wisdom. Then surely they that stand continually
before God and see His glory and the glory of the
Lamb are truly happy."
You know something? If this isn't true, John is the
ultimate blasphemer. How blasphemous it would be to
speak of being with the eternal God, of having His
personal name written on your head, of having Him
serve you, of reigning with Him and sitting on His
throne? How blasphemous would it be to say that you

are a joint heir with Jesus Christ, that you reign on the
throne of God, that you are one with the Father were it
not true? What a hope.
So, we've seen the appearance, the design, the
interior life and the privileges. Now I know you know I
skipped a verse till now. One more issue, the
occupants. Who's there? Who's in this place? Back to
verse 27 of chapter 21, "And nothing unclean and no
one who practices abomination and lying shall ever
come into it but only those whose names are written in
the Lamb's Book of Life."
The inhabitants of the city are identified over in
chapter 21 verse 7 as those who overcome. And what
is it that overcomes in 1 John 5? It is our faith, faith in
Christ. They will inherit these things and I will be his
God and he will be My son. It won't be, verse 8 says,
the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and
murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and
idolaters and liars, their part will be in the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone which is the second
death.
God down to chapter 22 verse 15, "Outside this city
are the dogs," dogs were symbols of outcasts, "the
sorcerers, the immoral persons, the murderers, the
idolaters, everyone who loves and practices lying."
Outside, verse 19, are those who take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy because God will
take away their part from the tree of life and from the
holy city. No, there won't be any unclean there, there
won't be any who practice abominations, there won't

be any liars there, there won't be any murderers there,

there won't be any idolaters, any unbelieving,
cowardly, abominable, immoral, sorcerers. There
won't be any of those there. They'll all be in the lake of
fire, only those whose names are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life.
We've heard about that already. Chapter 17 and verse
8, "Whose name has not been written in the Book of
Life from the foundation of the world." In other words,
the judgment of God will fall on those whose names
are not written in that book. Back in chapter 13 verse
8, "All those who dwell on the earth will worship Him,
everyone whose name has not been written from the
foundation of the world in the book of the life...in the
Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain."
The only people who are going to be there are those
whose names are written in the Book of Life. When
were they written there? From before the foundation
of the world. It's the elect. They're described in
chapter 22 verse 14, "Blessed are those who wash
their robes that they may have the right to the tree of
life and may enter by the gates into the city." It's the
elect who have been cleansed, who have been
washed by the washing of regeneration. It's...it's the
thirsty, verse 17 of chapter 22, who come and take the
water of life without cost, those who come pleading for
spiritual thirst to be quenched. That's who will be
there. The elect who have come to be thirsty and cried
out for a drink, come to be hungry and cried out for
righteousness. It's the elect who have believed and
thus they've overcome the world. It is for them that 1

Corinthians 2:9 says, "Things which eye has not seen

and ear has not heard and which have not entered the
heart of man, all that God has prepared for those
who...what?...who love Him." It's the elect who come
to faith and who love Him and who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, it's those who belong to God, first of
all because they're chosen but they come by faith in
Christ and they've been transformed and sanctified
and made holy.
Do you want to be there? Then confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord, believe in your heart that God
has raised Him from the dead and you'll be saved.
You want to be there? As many as received Him, to
them gave He the right to be called the sons of God.
Do you want to be there? Put your trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the eternal home for the saved.
Everybody else is in the lake of fire, darkness,
weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. And I ask you,
what fool would choose that? One who so
consummately loves his sin that he is willing to pay
the price of eternal hell for it.
Hold on to hell if you want, I'll take heaven. Let's pray.

Father, what a picture, what a glorious picture of our

eternal home, all those who have committed their lives
to Christ, all those who have believed in You, who
have hungered and thirsted for righteousness, who
have come to drink and to eat, all those who by faith

have overcome the world, all those who believed, all

those whose names You wrote in the Book of Life
from before the foundation of the world. Heaven is just
for Your people, those who come to You by faith,
counting on nothing that they have done to gain
salvation or heaven but realizing that they have to
come as a thirsty sinner, a hungry sinner, a beggar,
pleading for Your grace and forgiveness which You
give them so freely because Jesus Christ paid the
penalty for their sins and satisfied Your just
requirement.
Father, we...we thank you for heaven. We thank You,
Lord, that it will be a place of absolute holiness. We
rejoice that only the pure will be there, those made
pure by Your grace. We thank You that it will be a
place of perfection. But that, Lord, is not to say we
don't grieve over those who are shut out because of
loving sin so profoundly that they would choose
eternal punishment in order to hold on to it, for the
brief flicker of this life. O God, I pray that You will
convict any such foolish sinner and may he let go of
hell and embrace heaven. May You be gracious to
that sinner, holding so tightly to his sin or her sin,
clinging to eternal punishment as if it were to be
desired and forfeiting heaven. And may they loose the
grasp and reach out to the Savior who can forgive
their sin and take them to the glory of the eternal city.
Life passes so fast, may we choose in the light of
eternity. Work You work in every heart, we pray in
Christ's name. Amen.
********************

I want you to look with me at Revelation 22 verses 6

to 12 and I'll read them and then we'll study them.
"And he said unto me, These words are faithful and
true. And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent His
angel to show unto His servants the things which must
shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly, blessed is he
that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And
when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel who showed me these
things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not for I
am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, the
prophets, and of them who keep the words of this
book, worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not
the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is
at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He
that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous,
let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be
holy still. And behold, I come quickly and my reward is
with Me to give every man according as his work shall
be."
Now in this particular portion we have some
tremendous stress laid on the suddenness of the
coming of Jesus. Now the Bible has much to say
about the fact that Jesus will come quickly, that He will
come suddenly, that He will come in a moment, in an
hour that you think not, that it will happen in the
twinkling of an eye, that it will be sudden, that it will be
swift and that it will be final.

Now as we come to this portion of the book of

Revelation, needless to say it's the end. By the time
we arrive at chapter 22 the great themes of Revelation
have already unfolded and the doors have been
opened. The rebellion, for example, of angels and
man is over. The rebellion has been finally smashed
by this point in Revelation. The Kingdom has already
been ushered in. The rebels are in the lake of fire. Not
only that, but the King of kings is on the eternal
throne, assuming His sovereign right as King of the
earth, King of the universe. Absolute and
unchangeable holiness characterizes everything
within the universal Kingdom of God, sin has been
deleted from existence. And the redeemed bought by
the blood of the Lamb slain at Calvary are now in
resurrection eternal glory. Everything is over that ever
dealt with man, except for the permanency of eternity,
it alone abides in chapter 22. And as we enter into
chapter 22, life is everywhere because here we find
infinite and eternal life and there's no way that death
can intrude on eternal life. And the chapter begins by
talking about the river of water of life. And we see
ourselves in heaven in the eternal place.
The earth and the heavens have been recreated by
chapter 22. The blazing prism of diamond transparent
light, the glory city Jerusalem, has settled down in to
the eternal state. Light, beauty, holiness, joy and the
presence of God and the Lamb, worship and praise to
God and the Lamb, service and likeness to Christ are
all eternal realities.

Earlier in the book of Revelation we saw in chapter 2

and 3 the church with all of its trouble, with all of its
problems. We saw its history. We saw its character.
And then we saw what happened in the Rapture. We
saw the church exalted to heaven in chapter 4 and
then we saw the Tribulation begin to unfold in chapter
6. And we saw the seals broken and the trumpets
blown and the bowls of wrath poured out and the
terrible horrible judgment that fell upon men so that
over half the earth died in three and a half years.
Monotonous scenes of wonder and horror.
Then we saw Satan's man, the Antichrist, coming up
out of the pit and capturing the world with his demons
and carrying it off into the worship of Satan and
running the course of unparalled blasphemy. And then
we saw them all cast into hell to sink there forever. We
saw the final deeds of Satan. We saw his release
during the Kingdom already in Revelation. And then
his final binding in the pit. We saw the breaking down
of all rebellion and the shaking down of the old
heaven and the old earth and the creating of a new
heaven and a new earth. And we've seen sin and
death and hell all set aside. We've seen redemption
complete, paradise regained in mortal peace.
You say, "Well that wraps it up." Yeah it does. You say,
"What's left?" Chapter 22 verses 6 and following is
left. You say, "Well what is it?" Well, it's a few closing
remarks and the basic emphasis is everything that
you've read here is going to happen. Now because it's
going to happen, you better do something, you better
respond, you better react to it. Jesus is coming. The

Tribulation will come when men will die and men

will...men who are alive will scream to die to relieve
them from the torment of judgment. And Jesus will
return in great glory and set up His Kingdom. It all will
happen. And the answer comes, "So what!" And so,
John answers..."Here's so what..." starting in verse 6.
And the characteristics of these verses basically are
simple. They are short, rapid fire, almost breathless,
fast shots with very pointed significance. They are
single statements independent, yet each dealing with
the needed response of men to the coming of Christ.
They almost give the feeling as you read through it of
a furious rush, a kind of a wild fury in a last desperate
moment and you see it because he says in verse 7,
"Behold, I come quickly," and that's a breathless
statement. Then you see it in verse 12, "Behold, I
come quickly." You get over in verse 20 and you read,
"Surely I come quickly." There's a kind of urgency
here. The genius of the Holy Spirit has made these
statements quick and pointed and fast that we might
catch the emotion along with the truth in the context.
And finally when you get to verse 20 there's almost
like a sigh and John says, "Even so, come, Lord
Jesus."
So the very passage is pregnant with urgency. It's
pressing the Christian to respond and take care of
some very important things. And it's also pressed with
the urgency of warning to the believer, to the
unbeliever I should say.

Now tonight we're going to look primarily at verses 6

to 12 and we're going to see that Christians immediate
responses to Christ's imminent return. If Jesus is
really coming, what does that demand out of me? If
His return is really near, what do I do? You say, "Well,
do you believe His return is near?" Indeed I do. The
Bible says that the Tribulation will be ushered in by a
great time of world peace, and the world is screaming
for peace. Lawlessness, false religions, devil worship
and apostasy are in the heyday and these are to be
signs of the end.
We've looked at a lot of signs and we believe Jesus is
coming. And if He's coming and if He's coming soon,
then it requires something of us. Let me give you four
things that it requires: immediate obedience,
immediate worship, immediate proclamation and
immediate service. Those are the four...obedience,
worship, proclamation and service. First of all, look at
verse 6 and 7 and look at immediate obedience. "And
he said unto me, These words are faithful and true.
And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent His angel
to show unto His servants the things which must
shortly be done." These are true things. "Behold, I
come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth or obeys,
takes to heart and to life, the words of the prophecy of
this book."
He says this is going to happen just like it says it is
and you better be ready to obey. You better put these
things into your life and make them part of your living.
The coming of Jesus Christ demands that your life
counts today. This is the day, this is the hour, work

while of this day and while you may for the night
comes when no man can work. We need to have a
real awareness of His return and it can change our
lives.
You know that when we really live in the light of the
coming of Christ it has a profound effect on us? I'll
give you an illustration. When I was a little kid I was
always making up stories...really wild ones. My Dad
was a preacher for Moody and we were back in
Philadelphia and I was going to a little school in
Rockledge(?) outside of Philadelphia. And I went one
day to school and I announced to the whole class that
my father had taken an axe and chopped off both his
feet, that he missed the log that he was swinging at.
And, of course, the whole school went into just frenzy.
And, of course, the teacher was calling and they were
sympathizing with my mother and all this kind of thing.
And so, as it turned out there was a meeting of the
PTA that week and my father showed up...which was
not too good for me. And so the teacher really let me
have it. And so I was angry with the teacher. And so,
as a result of my anger with the teacher I decided that
I would rebel a little bit. So I'll never forget one time
during that week she left the room, so I thought, "Now
I'm just going to really go," I was in the second grade.
And so I got up and I went from desk to desk, just
jumping, just running from desk to desk, see. And of
course I was a hit. Right? They loved it. They ate it up.
I mean, the kids were...I mean, they weren't even
involved, you know, she could come in and it wouldn't
effect them at all and they were having a great time.

And I'll never forget, she walked in and caught me

right in the middle of two desks.
Well, you know, I received quite an education as a
result of that...at that point. And you know, it altered
my behavior a great deal. I...from then on I...cause
when that happened I was...I was absolutely shocked
because I couldn't hear her coming down the hall. You
know, usually you can hear the patter of those
orthopedic type shoes. That's...I mean, she was kind
of an older teacher, you know, but apparently she had
the silent type, right? And I didn't...and I was shocked
and I lived for a long time in mortal fear that if ever I
did anything when a teacher was gone she'd catch me
doing it. So I began to live in the imminent return of
the teacher.
And, you know, it had a profound effect on my
behavior. Well this is something I think like the Spirit of
God wants to lay on us a little bit and it's not only...it's
not the fear idea at all, but it's the consciousness of
the presence of somebody who represents authority.
Jesus is coming and there needs to be a sense in
which we catch obedience as a result of that. The
anticipation of an authority or someone we really love
usually changes the way we behave.
I remember when my father would go away for
meetings when I was kid and my mom would come in
and announce that he was coming back the next day.
We would shape up. I mean, I'd take the trash out, my
sisters would make the beds. You know, dad's coming
home, let's get it all together and do right for one day.

And you know, mom would say, "Ah, they've been

great kids," you know, six days...whew! One day. But
the very sense that we knew he was coming changed
the way we behaved.
Now in verse 6 this is what he begins to say, these
words, all the words of Revelation, all these
prophecies are faithful and true, you can count on.
They're going to happen. "And the Lord God of the
holy prophet sent His angel to show unto His servant
the things which must shortly be done." This comes
from God, God is sending you this information and
God does what He says. This book is worthy of your
obedience because its truth is established. This isn't
something spun out of John's brain, these are from
God. This is no forgery, the book of Revelation, this is
no fairy tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
This is divine and authoritative.
You say, "How do you know it's not a forgery?"
Because forgerers don't write books that exalt Christ
and condemn humanity. They're not in the business of
doing that. This book is accurate. So says the angel
from God to John. At the very beginning we learned,
didn't we? Chapter 1 verse 1, "The revelation of Jesus
Christ which God gave unto Him to show unto His
servants things which must shortly come to pass. And
He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant
John." This is from God at the beginning and at the
very end full circle he says, "This is from
God...everything in here is from God." If God says
there's going to be tremendous hailstones, the size of
a hundred pound cake of ice, they're going to be. If

God says that there's going to be blood over a span of

two hundred miles to the depth of the horses' bridles,
there's going to be carnage and blood shed like you
can't believe. If God said there's going to be fire to
scorch the earth, it's going to be. If God says the third
of the rivers are going to turn rotten and sour and
polluted, it's going to be. And if God says the sea is
going to have the same thing, it's going to be. And if
God says one third of the men are going to be killed
and later on a fourth of the remaining ones are going
to be killed, then that's what's going to happen. And if
God says demons are going to come out of hell in the
blackness of the pit in chapter 9, is going to released
and demons are going run all over the earth to infest
the earth, then that's exactly what's going to happen.
You see, God has a perfect record. He bats one
thousand in terms of Revelation.
He said Adam and Eve would die, and they did. He
said the world would perish by water and it did. He
said Babylon would fall and it did. He said Tyre would
fall and it did. He said Jerusalem would fall and it did.
He said Messiah would come and He did. He said
Messiah would be born of a virgin and He was. He
said Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and He
was. He said Messiah would be slaughtered and He
was. The future record will be just as perfect as God's
past record, He's never missed anything yet and, you
know He won't miss anything in the future. He said
judgment will come on the land and the water and the
sea and men and it will. He says war will come killing
half the world and it will. He says nations will gather to
Armageddon to fight and they will. He says the

Antichrist will come and he will. He says believers will

be martyred and they will. He says Messiah is coming
back to reign and He is.
Get it in your brain, if God said it it will happen. The
book of Revelation isn't some kind of fairy tale, it's
true. And the very fact, mark this, the very fact that
God says it means it will happen because He said,
"My Word shall never return unto Me...what?...void. It
will always accomplish the purpose to which I send it."
Now look at verse 6 and let's look at some specifics.
He says, "These words are faithful and true and the
Lord God of the holy prophet sent His angel to show
unto His servants the things which must...here's the
word...shortly,
en tachei(?) ." We get a word
tachometer from this. You know what a tachometer is
on your car? It measures the RPMs of your engine, I
think. Speed is the word, en tachei , shortly means
rapidly, quickly. It measures speed, not soon. It's not
saying He shall come soon, it's saying He shall come
fast. It will come like a shot out of the blue. God is
patient and God is long-suffering. But when time
comes for Him to arrive, He'll come fast.
You know, there are people who argue that Jesus isn't
coming. That's a typical heresy of liberalism, that
Jesus isn't coming. And the argument Peter brings up
in 2 Peter chapter 3, he's writing and he's telling them
about these false prophets whom he calls "wells
without water," which is an interesting thing...clouds
that don't have any rain in them, and so forth. And
then he says to them, they're going to say in verse 4

of 2 Peter 3, "Where is the promise of His coming?"

See? All you people go around saying Jesus is
coming, where is He? We haven't seen Him around.
"For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation." Oh,
they say, "Well, He won't come because everything is
just going on like it always goes, you know." Which is
a ridiculous argument, it's like saying I'll never die
because I never have. And then he goes on to say,
"But they are willingly ignorant of the fact that by the
Word of God were of old and the earth standing out of
the water and in the water by which the world that
then was was overflowed with water and it perished."
They must have forgot that all things didn't continue
as they were. Back in Genesis 6 God wiped out the
whole world with water. Guess again, fellows. It hasn't
always been like you say it has. And he says, "In the
heavens and the earth which are now by the same
Word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." God
destroyed it once with water, He'll destroy it again only
not with water, with what? With fire.
"Yeah, but He's waited so long." And then he says
this, "Beloved, be not ignorant of this thing, one day is
with the Lord as...what?...a thousand years, and a
thousand years as a day." God doesn't have a clock.
You say, "Well why doesn't He come back if He's
going to come?" And he gives the answer. "The Lord
is not slack concerning His promise." It's not that He's
not going to do what He says, "But He's longsuffering, not willing that any should...what?...should

perish." And so the stupidity of the argument in 2

Peter that nothing is going to happen because nothing
ever has doesn't even begin to cover the ground. If
God says it will happen, it will happen.
Now he says this, at the end of verse 6, he says, "I
wanted to show unto His servants." Who are they?
Who are these doulos ? Who are these servants?
They're believers. Do you know that in Romans
chapter 6 it tells us that we're the servants of the
Lord? It says simply, and there's a lot more in that
sixth chapter, but let's just pull that one thought out,
chapter 6 and verse 17, "But God be thanked that
whereas you were the servants of sin you have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered unto you." Then verse 22, "And now being
made free from sin you became servants to God."
When you were saved you became a servant of God.
You are His doulos. You are His bondservants. And
He wants you to know what's going to happen. Why?
Because He wants you to obey these things. The
book of Revelation isn't for unbelievers...they can't tell
one end of it from the other. The truths of this book
are for you and for me that we might get a grip on
what's going to happen and immediately obey. Look at
verse 7, "Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that
keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Keep
these in your heart and mind, obey the spiritual
principles that are here. Give heed, tereo is keep
and it means to give heed or observe in your living the
principles that are here.Jesus simply said this, "If you
love
Me,
you
will
do...what?...keep
My
commandments." He said it three times in John,

chapter 14, He said it in verse 15, verse 21 and verse

23. And then when you get over to 1 John he repeats
it and repeats it and repeats it..."If you love Me you'll
keep My commandments. You can tell you're saved if
you
keep
My
commandments...keep
My
commandments...keep My commandments." I've said
it so many times, I'll say it again, the most important
word in the Christian life is obedience. That's what it's
all about...that's what it's all about and we'll say more
about that in a minute.
But we need to be obedient. We need to be keeping
the words of the prophecy of this book. We need to
give adherence to them, observe them, heed them
because He's coming. There are some direct
commands to the church in chapter 2 and 3 that we
need to obey. There are some principles that we see
through the book of Revelation that we need to obey,
giving God glory, praising Jesus Christ, occupying
ourselves with strategic things that matter. We need to
be obedient to the principles of this book.
Now let me talk a little bit about obedience. There are
many kinds of obedience. There's a kind of obedience
that is a threat, but that doesn't really get to the core.
You know, some guy was saying this week, I was
listening to some tape and he said, "There was a little
kid and he was standing in his highchair, just standing
right up there. And his dad said to him, `Sit down.' And
he just stood there. He said, `I said sit down.' He just
stood there. His dad said, `Sit down or I'll knock you
down.' And the kid sat down. And he said to his dad, `I
may be sitting down but I'm standing up in my heart.'"

Well, you see, that's obedience but that is not the

spirit of obedience. You got it? That's legalism. The
same person I was listening to said that he had a
person that was involved in his church and he said
that they made $120 a week and they gave to the
Lord $10.20. And he said that's obedience to an Old
Testament law but that's not the spirit of obedience.
That it almost...that almost sounds like a legalism,
which is an interesting thing.
You say, "Well what are you trying to say?" Well I'm
trying to say that there's a difference between
obedience and the spirit of obedience. I don't have
anything in my kitchen posted that says, "Don't smash
your kids with a rolling pin." Just so I remind myself. I
don't have anything that says, "Don't hit your wife with
the shovel."
You say, "That's horrible." I don't have to remind
myself of things like that. "Don't drown your children in
the bathtub." We don't have rules like that hanging in
the bathroom. There's a certain sense, you see, in
which love pervades everything and we don't need
those rules. I mean, I love my children and I love my
wife and because of that I don't need to do that. You
see? There's a different spirit. And, you see, I want to
obey in terms of my right relationships. If I make a
promise to my children, I want to keep them not out of
legalism to them but because I love them. And I think
my children feel the same to me. They want to obey
me not so much out of fear but out of a desire to obey
me because they love me. That's the difference and
that's exactly what Paul meant and I want to take a

minute to show it to you, the difference between

obedience and the spirit of obedience is in Romans 13
in verse 8, "Owe no man anything but to love one
another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the
law." Do you see? And he goes on to say the law says
don't commit adultery, don't kill, don't steal, don't bear
false witness, don't covet, etc., etc., etc. But he says
this, it's all comprehended in one saying, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." Love, verse 10, is the
fulfilling of the law.
You see, if I love somebody, I willingly submit myself.
And if I really love God, do I need to have the Ten
Commandments nailed up in my house? And do I
have to say, "Oh, I don't want to do that, God will step
on me?" No. You know, whenever...I don't know how
you are affected, but whenever I sin I don't react to sin
by saying, "Oh no, now I'm going to get it." That's a
foreign reaction. You don't react either do you? You
say, the first reaction is, "God, I'm sorry that I grieved
You," right? Sure. Because that's the spirit of
obedience. The spirit of obedience is that which...now
watch this and here's a definition...it is that which
permits me to obey in an area where there's no
enforcement. You get that? So the spirit of obedience
is committing myself to obey in areas where there's no
enforcement, you see? It's because I just want to
obey. It's because the love of my heart demands that I
obey...not out of fear but out of adoration and love.
And so, God doesn't ask us to get a bunch of rules
and tack them up and make sure we obey them. God
just asks us to love Him. And if we love Him we'll fulfill
the whole law.

And that's why...that's so different than legalism.

Legalism is doing it, doing it...oh I want to be holy, I
want to be pious, and if I don't do that somebody won't
think I'm pious and God will take three Brownie points
away from my score. You know, see. That is totally
foreign to God. That is nauseating to God. That's a
system of legalism. What God wants to see is a heart
that is so overflowing with love that it obeys out of the
natural flow of life, not out of fear. And so, the
Christian should have a spirit of obedience because of
his love for the Lord. We ought to read His Word and
we ought to learn the principles and we ought to obey
them.
You see, Revelation is not entertainment. So many
people think the book of Revelation is entertainment.
Oh, Revelation, whoppee, you know, we can all see
all those strange things, you know. Revelation is not
entertainment. You know what it is for me? It's
motivation. I study this book and I get motivated. I get
super charged to get a job done and get a job done
right now. We know these things are going to happen.
What did Peter say in 2 Peter 3:11? He says, "Seeing
that these things shall be dissolved, man, the end of
the world is coming, what manner of persons ought
you to be?" You don't just sit around speculating about
it, you do something. "You ought to be holy and godly,
you ought to look for and hasten to the coming of the
day of God." He goes on to say you ought to be, at the
end of verse 14, in peace without spot and blameless.
This is motivation...not entertainment.

And so, what does the Word of God say? Jesus is

coming. So what? Immediate obedience. Whatever
the principles are in the Word of God it's time to obey
them, right now because Jesus is coming.
Second thing, immediate worship. I love this, verse 8,
this is so human. "And I John," I've told you before
why John does this. He's so overwhelmed with the
stuff that he gets in on, he says, "And I John, I saw it
all, me." See. It's a shocking thing. It's the same
reason that he talks about himself like in John 21, you
know, where Peter was following Jesus and Peter
looked around and Jesus had just told Peter the
wonderful news that He was going to get crucified.
And so Peter looks around and says, "What about
him?" And it says that Peter turned...the text says in
John 21, "And Peter turned and saw the disciple
whom Jesus loved." The one who reclined on His
breast at supper. That's John. He could have said,
"John," but not John, he says, "You know the one that
Jesus loves, who was next to Him at the supper." See.
He adores the fact of his relationship to Christ. He's
overwhelmed about everything that he's involved
in...his whole thing with God is absolutely
overwhelming to him. So everything is this fantastic
thing. "You know me, I'm the one that Jesus loves."
See. He just adores that thought.
So he uses the same thing here, he says, "And I John
saw these things and heard them." And then he says,
"And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to
worship before the feet of the angel who showed me
these things." Well that's interesting. What is he doing

there? Well he's been there before. You go back to

chapter 19, he gets so carried away, this angel,
another angel came and showed him the marriage
supper of the Lamb in 19 and verse 10, he says, "I fell
at his feet to worship him." He's doing the same thing
again. "And he said unto me, See thou doeth not, I'm
thy fellow servant and of thy brethren who have the
testimony of Jesus. Worship God." Now they must
have thought it was getting to be like a broken record
because if you go back to 22 and verse 9, the same
thing. "He says unto him, See thou do it not." Cut it
out, John. "I'm thy fellow servant of thy brethren the
prophets and of them who worship...who keep the
words of the book, worship God." Get up, John, I'm
only an angel.
Now there are several beautiful things about that. I
don't think John meant to be idolatrous. He was just
so overwhelmed and so thrilled with what he was
learning that he had a hard time distinguishing
between the messenger and the one who sent him.
And in a very real sense that's a kind of a beautiful
thought, isn't it? Have you ever been mistaken for
Jesus Christ? I've been in the ministry for a few years
now and nobody yet has fallen down at my feet and
worshiped me. I've never had to say, "Oh, get
up...you're mistaken." That will be the day. But, you
see, there would be something beautiful about that.
They thought...they thought Paul was a God, you
remember. I'm sure there are some Christians who
are so Christlike that some people haven't been too
sure but that Christ wasn't around. And so John starts
to worship the angel and in verse 9 the angels gets

him up. He classifies himself, you see, with other

created beings who are also in God's service. And he
says, "Worship God...worship God." Listen, that's an
immediate priority in the Christian life is worship.
You say, "Yeah, I know, what is worship? Is worship
organ music and stained glass windows? What is
worship?" Well, a few weeks ago we did a little study
on worship in Psalm 26, let me just brief you on it.
Turn to Psalm 26 and let's see what worship is, just
simple...and here we have a beautiful picture of
worship. David is worshiping. And he gives us the
ingredients of worship. First we see the worshiper and
then we see his worship. There are four
characteristics
of
a
true
worshiper...four
characteristics of a true worshiper. First of all, trust. In
order to really worship God trust is the key to
everything. If you're not really trusting God, you're
worship is a sham. If you're saying, "O God, I praise
You for who You are and I thank You for all Your power
and I praise You for being the God You are," and then
you go out of there and chew your fingernails off
because you can't figure out where the next $10 is
going to come from...your worship was a mockery. Or
if you're praising God and praising God for all of His
power, all of His sustenance and then going around
like a nervous wreck and popping barbiturates,
something isn't right. There's something being lost
between the statement of your trust and the actuality
of it. Worship in its purest sense begins with actual
real trust in God. That is what pleases God above
everything else is that you really trust Him.

Now look at verse 1, "Judge me, O Lord, for I have

walked in mine integrity, I have trusted also in the
Lord." He says you look at my heart, Lord, I trust
You...I trust You. That's the basis of real worship,
trusting God. And there are a lot of people who sing
the songs and they get the kind of funny feeling that
you get on Sunday when something hits your
emotions and they come to church and they own a
Bible and they maybe read it and they may be
praying, they maybe praise God but they don't trust
Him...they don't really trust Him. True worship begins
with trust...total trust.
Then the second thing that makes up true worship is a
preoccupation with God's loving kindness. Verse 3,
"For Thy loving kindness is before my eyes." This is
the second characteristic of a true worshiper. He not
only trusts God but he's preoccupied with God's loving
kindness. He is totally absorbed in the grace of God.
There's a third thing about him, the end of verse 3,
"He walks in truth." You cannot truly be worshiping
God and living in sin. You can't be worshiping God
and living in error.
The fourth thing, we're just going fast, in verse 4, he
doesn't get involved with evil doers, "I have not sat
with vain persons, neither will I go in with hypocrites."
Four characteristics of a true worshiper...number one,
he trusts God, absolutely and completely. Number
two, he's preoccupied with God's loving kindness.
He's so overwhelmed with God's grace that he

wouldn't worry about anything because he knows His

grace is sufficient. Third, he walks in truth, he abides
in the Word, constantly constantly constantly. That's
true worship. Fourthly, he never fools around with evil
doers. Now that's the characteristic of a true
worshiper, and we could go a lot further than that but
just suffice it to say at that point. Now because David
is a true worshiper, in verse 6 he arrives to worship,
"I'll wash my hands in innocence, I'll encompass Thine
altar, O Lord." I'm coming to Your altar to worship.
Now there are four...well let's say five ingredients of
true worship. Four characteristics of a true worshiper,
here are the five ingredients of worship. Number one,
thanksgiving. You want to really worship God? Be the
right worshiper, first of all, and then give Him thanks,
verse 7, "That I may make known with the voice
of...what?...thanksgiving." You know what it is that is
worship? It is thanksgiving. "God, I just want to thank
You. I just want to praise You for what You've done."
Constant thanksgiving. Then he says in verse 7, the
second thing is praise, "Tell of all Thy wondrous
works." Have you ever recited to God His wondrous
works? You say, "Do I need to do that?" That's
worship. Remember how they used to pray in the Old
Testament? "O God, who made the earth and the sky
and the sea and the land and God who delivered
Israel out of Egypt and God..." You know how they
used to do? They used to recite the whole thing
sometimes, it seemed like they'd go on forever. You
can read some of the great...read the prayer of
Habakkuk, for example, in the little book of Habakkuk.
He goes on and on and on and on and on, he doesn't

even bother to ask God for anything,he just keeps

reciting everything God did. That's worship, that's
praise for His wondrous works.
There's a third thing...thanksgiving, praise, the third
commodity that makes up worship is the love of His
presence. Verse 8, "Lord, I have loved the habitation
of Thy house and the place where Thy honor
dwelleth." He was in love with the presence of God.
That's worship. Living every moment in the conscious
presence that He's there.
There's another one, and this gets us right back to
where we started, trust...verse 9, "Gather not my soul
with sinners, I'm asking You, God, nor my life with
bloody men in whose hands is mischief and their right
hand is full of bribes, but as for me I will walk in mine
integrity, redeem me and be merciful unto me." He's
trusting God. God, this is my problem, You're going to
take care of it.
And so, true worship is thanksgiving, praise, loving
His presence, trusting Him and then it wraps up in
verse 12 with the commitment. "My foot standeth in an
even place." In other words, I won't go where I'm
going to stumble. "In the congregations will I bless the
Lord." I'll stay on level ground and bless the Lord.
That's a simple, simple picture of true worship. It's to
be the right person and carry to God your thanks, your
praise, your trust, your commitment and to love His
presence...that's worship. And so he says to him
worship God.

Do you really worship God? Do you...it all boils down

to trust. Nobody else to worship but God. And it says
in Colossians 2:18, "Let no man beguile you of your
reward in the voluntary humility and worshiping of
angels." You could lose your reward if you're to
worship angels. There are some cults, are there not,
that revere and worship angels. That is not scriptural.
So, in all worship God is the object, verse 9, worship
God. The book of Revelation demands an immediate
response of worship and praise to God. You say,
"Well, do we have a song or a praise that we could
give Him?" Sure, it's all through the book of
Revelation. Just read chapter 4, 5, 7, 11, 15 and 19
and you can read the whole worship song of the
redeemed.
So what are we saying? His soon return demands
what? Immediate obedience and immediate worship.
Now we come to the heart of the thing...immediate
proclamation. Now this is not a message to be hidden,
it's a message to be spread. Look at verse 10, "And
he saith unto me, Seal not the words of the prophecy
of this book for the time is at hand." If you saw
somebody moving fast toward absolute destruction
and you were able to stop them and you didn't, that's
a serious serious indictment. And so we need to be
busy not sealing the words of this book, but preaching
it. Since there is tremendous warning, we cannot
close the book of Revelation, we must speak its truth.
The term "at hand" means imminent, it means the
next event on God's clock is the return of Jesus. And
because He's coming we need to spread the Word.

Now we've been studying Acts and you remember He

said, "After the Spirit is come upon you you shall be
witnesses unto Me." And then the Bible says that
Jesus ascended into heaven and two men stood by in
white apparel and they said, "Why stand ye gazing up
into heaven, this same Jesus who is taken up from
you shall...what?...so come in like manner as you've
seen HIm go." Why should you be a witness?
Because Jesus is coming back and you better get
busy, spread the Word.
The failure to proclaim the truths of this book and the
warnings of judgment that are to come is to disobey
God. This is not to be a closed book. This is not to be
a sealed book. It is to be open to men. And I honestly
believe in my heart that a Christian who fails to study
the book of Revelation, who fails to understand the
truths of judgment and to proclaim those truths is
disobeying God. And I believe that a great church will
always be a Second Coming church. I don't believe
that you can have a great church that does not
constantly proclaim the return of Jesus Christ. We
must live in the light of the return of Christ. That ought
to change our lives for two reasons. Number one,
because when He returns we're going to have to face
Him for the record of our deeds. And number two, the
godless are going to face Him.
Now he goes on in verse 10, "Seal not the words of
the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand."
Then a shocking verse, verse 11, "He that is unjust, let
him be unjust still; he that is filthy, let him be filthy still;
and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and

he that is holy, let him be holy still." You say, "What is

it saying?" It's a strange verse. It's simply saying this,
if a man is unjust and he rejects this message, let him
be unjust forever. If a man is filthy and he rejects the
message, let him be filthy forever. My dad always
used to say, "Death never changes anything, it only
crystallizes into permanency what you were in life." If
you lived your life unjust and filthy that's the way you'll
live your eternity. If you lived your life righteous and
holy, that's the way you'll live your eternity.
If the warnings of this book are not sufficient to
change a man, then God has no more to say, let him
be unjust forever. I have nothing else to say. It's a
sobering thought that a decision made against Christ
can become so much a part of a character that it
damns a man's soul and some day he's unable to
believe. And then every hearing of the gospel only
produces more antagonism. There's a shocking kind
of lingering sickness that comes into every one of us,
or should come as we read that verse. He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still. People say, "Is there a
second chance?" No there's no second chance. He
that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Eternal separation
from God.
We must proclaim this message. Jesus is coming. The
world needs to hear. And when they hear the gospel it
either makes them right or it confirms them wrong. If it
does not absolve of sin, it condemns of sin. If it
doesn't soften the penitent heart, it hardens and
hardens. If it is not, said Paul, a saver unto life, it is a

saver unto death. And so the angel says proclaim this

prophecy, preach it, preach it, preach it.
How long has it been since you sat down with
somebody and talked to them about the coming of
Jesus Christ? And I'm not just talking about the glib
happy-go-lucky bumper sticker approach. I'm talking
about how long has it been since you sat down and
talked to somebody about hell? How long has it been
since you warned somebody about the eternal
damnation that comes as a result of rejecting Jesus
Christ? How often do we soft pedal these things? I
believe, beloved, that it's time that we commit
ourselves to proclaim the truths of judgment because
Jesus is coming. So we see in these prophecies the
necessity of immediate obedience, immediate
worship, immediate proclamation. I don't know how
long we have. What we do we do now, or we don't do
it.
Lastly, immediate service, verse 12, "Behold, I come
quickly and My reward is with Me to give every man
according as his work shall be." Behold, I come
quickly...again suddenly, swiftly. And the Bible has so
much to say about this. The fact that when He comes
that nobody is going to be ready, the world is going to
be shocked when this happens. In Mark there is
indication of the urgency that is going to take place
when Jesus comes...the shock that's going to come
upon men. It says in verse 33 of chapter 13, "Take
heed, watch and pray for you know not when the time
is for the Son of Man is like a man taking a far journey
who left his house and gave authority to his servants

and to every man his work and commanded the porter

to watch. Watch ye therefore for you know not when
the master of the house cometh, at evening, or at
midnight, or at cock crow or in the morning, lest
coming suddenly he find you sleeping." Sad thing.
Over in Luke, just a thought out of chapter 12 verse
35, "Let your loins be girded about and your lamps
burning and ye yourselves like men that wait for their
lord when he will return from the wedding that when
he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him
immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the
Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily I say
unto you, he that...that He shall gird Himself and make
them to sit down to eat and will come forth and serve
them. If He shall come in the second watch, or come
in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those
servants. And this know that if the owner of the house
had known what hour the thief would come, he would
have watched and not have permitted his house to be
broken through. Be ye therefore ready also for the
Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not."
It's time to do what you're going to do for the Lord and
do it now. We're to watch, to be ready and to serve.
You say, "Well, what's this big deal about service?"
Well the Bible simply says that you need to be serving
Him because when He comes back, look at it, verse
12, "My reward is with Me to give to every man." You
say, "Well isn't that materialistic?" And I've talked
about this and I've maybe have shared with you this
before but people will always disparage that is a
motive when it is not a bad motive, to serve Christ for

a reward, that's a natural thing. This illustrates to me

so many times in athletics, if a guy runs a race, runs
his very best and wins, you don't say, "Oh,
materialistic, crass, selfish." You expect him to do that,
right? If a general takes his army out to battle and he
wins the battle, you don't call him materialistic. If a guy
loves a girl and comes to her and says, "I love you so
much I want to marry you," she doesn't say, "Oh,
materialistic, it's not enough to love me, you have to
marry me." That is strange because that's normal.
There are some things that are the natural reward of
other things and reward from our Lord is the natural
result of faithful service.
My grandfather had in his Bible a poem written and it
goes like this, "When I stand at the judgment seat of
Christ and He shows me His plan for me, the plan of
my life as it might have been, and I see how I blocked
Him here and checked Him there and would not yield
my will, will there be grief in my Savior's eyes? Grief
though He loves me still? He would have me rich but I
stand there poor, stripped of all but His grace, while
memory runs like a haunted thing down a path I can't
retrace. Then my desolate heart will well nigh break
with tears I cannot shed, I will cover my face with my
empty hands, I will bow my uncrowned head. O Lord,
of the years that are left to me, I give them to Thy
hand, take me, break me, mold me to the pattern that
Thou hast planned."
We need to be busy serving the Lord. We need to
orient our priorities. We need to strip out all the
garbage in our lives and get down to the business of

immediate obedience, immediate worship, immediate

proclamation and immediate service. Some of you
said, "Some day I'm going to start a Bible study...some
day I'm going to get going and study the Bible...some
day I'm going to witness to my neighbors...some day
I'm going to do this...and some day I'm going to teach
a class...and some day...some day...some day," and it
just fades. It's time to do it. It's time to do it.
You say, "Well, I'm not even a Christian, what do I
do?" Verse 17 says what you do, "Let him that heareth
come, let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will
let him take the water of life freely." It's still time to
come before Jesus gets here.
When Napoleon's army invaded Russia, they came to
a village. And in this village everyone had fled except
one man who was a farmer. He was a courageous
man. And he stood in the face of Napoleon's army.
And they saw his calmness and they saw his courage
and they decided not to shoot him. But they decided
they would mark him and brand him for life. And so
they had a branding iron which they heated and they
burned the letter "N" into the palm of his right hand.
"What does that mean?" he said.
"It stands for Napoleon," they said. "And you now
belong to him."
The man promptly picked up an axe and put his hand
on a block and chopped it off. He said, "The hand

belongs to him, I don't." That's courage. He believed

in something and he gave up his hand for it.
You say, "What are you trying to tell me?" I'm trying to
tell you this, if you have anything in your life that
belongs to anybody but God, cut it off. It's time to get it
together and do those things that need to be done in
these last times. I think we can spin our wheels and
as I said this morning, we can fool around with diddly
things that mean absolutely nothing to anybody and
not be ready when Jesus comes to receive a full
reward. Look to yourselves, said John, that you lose
not the things you have wrought but that you receive a
full
reward.
Immediate
service,
immediate
proclamation, now is the time to tell them about Jesus.
Immediate worship, now is the time to begin to trust
God and show Him you love Him. Immediate
obedience, now is the time to do the things you know
He wants you to do.
Our Father, we're so thankful tonight that we've just
been able to examine these thoughts. And, Lord, we
feel so inadequate. Lord, we feel that we fail You so
miserably. Father, I know in my own heart I just really
don't do those things that I ought to do so many times.
And, Lord, it's easy for me to say...Well, I'm so
involved in preaching to so many...and this and that
that I don't have time to witness to somebody who
lives near me or that I meet somewhere...it's easy for
me to just kind of slough off my responsibility. God, I'm
sorry when I've done that. I don't know when Jesus is
coming, Lord, but I know He's coming and He's
coming soon and I'm ready in my heart but I'm not

sure that I've done everything I should do. Father, I

want to be sure that I've shared Christ with all those
that need to hear that I can reach. I want to be sure
I've lived the fullest kind of service to You that I can
live, that I might receive a full reward, not for my glory
but that I might cast it at the feet of Jesus Christ. And,
Father, I know I haven't always been obedient but I
want to be and I want to have the spirit of obedience
that makes me obey because I love You not because
I'm afraid of You.
And, God, I want to worship you with a pure heart and
I want to say I trust You and I want to really be trusting
You so that when You come I'll have nothing lacking.
And, Father, I would pray that for everyone who is
here. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

********************************
Revelation chapter 22, getting close to saying
goodbye to this wonderful book. In fact, the only book
left in the Bible after this is the book of Concordance
and then theres Maps. We are at the end, as you will
see in the next couple of weeks. Theres nothing more
that needs to be said after this book is complete.
As we come to chapter 22, and verses 6 to 12, we
come to the epilogue, the wrap up on the apocalypse.
All of the glorious and gracious purposes of God
ordained from before the foundation of the world have
now been attained. The rebellion of angels and
mankind is all over. The rebels are all in the

everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire. The King

of kings is now sitting on the eternal throne as the
sovereign with His Father over the New Heaven and
the New Earth. Absolute and unchanging holiness
characterizes all within the universal and eternal
Kingdom of God, the redeemed, the chosen, the
glorified saints bought by the slain Lamb are now in
their resurrection bodies, dwelling in the glory of the
New Heaven and the New Earth, and particularly
living in the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city. Holy
life and praise fills the universe, the universe having
been recreated is the abode of God and His glory fills
it with blazing light, starting from inside, the diamond
holy city and splattering its beauty throughout the
whole new heaven and new earth. Light, beauty,
holiness, joy, the presence of God and the Lamb,
worship and praise, service, likeness to Christ are all
the realities of this eternal state. And thats what we
have seen as weve come through chapter 21 and
chapter 22 down through verse 5.
Now, backing up a little before that as weve gone
through the book of Revelation, we have seen the
church on earth in the first few chapters. And then it
appears in heaven in chapters 4 and 5. And we saw
starting in chapter 6 the breakout of a period of time
known as the Tribulation, a period with tremendous
judgment, that judgment that unfolds under the seals
and the trumpets and the bowls that represent Gods
wrath poured out. Culminating, of course, in the final
wrath in the Day of the Lord. We have seen the arrival
during that Tribulation time of Satans deceptive
counterfeit Christ, namely the Antichrist coming up out

of the pit, as it were, demon-possessed, capturing the

worship of the world and assisted by the False
Prophet who carries the world to worship him. And, of
course, behind it all is Satan himself, running the
course of unparallel blasphemy. And he and his false
prophet and Antichrist and all the rest of the ungodly
then sink forever into a deserved hell.
Weve seen the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings
and Lord of lords to destroy the wicked and the
ungodly in a massive massacre at Armageddon as the
Day of the Lord reaches its climax. Then we saw the
final glorious earthly Kingdom of Jesus Christ, called
the Millennial Kingdom on the restored earth which
included the arrest and imprisonment of Satan and his
final brief loosing to lead the last war against God, and
then his sentence with his angels into the Lake of Fire.
After that we saw the shaking down of the heaven and
earth in the work of uncreation. The Great White
Throne judgment of all the ungodly dead and their
resurrection and assignment to the Lake of Fire, sin,
death and Hades, the cursed demons, men all swept
out of the presence of God forever. Then came the
creation of the new heaven and the new earth, the
paradise of God, eternal glory, immortality, peace and
joy which we looked at in 21 and the first part of 22.
Nothings left, thats it. Were in the eternal state and it
perpetuates itself forever and ever.
All that can be said is epilogue. All that can be said is
a postscript, a P.S. And, in fact, it is very similar to the
prologue...very similar. If you go back with me, for a

minute, lets read the prologue. Its important because

the prologue and the epilogue bracket the heart of this
book. It starts out, The Revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave Him to show to His bondservants the
things which must shortly take place. And He sent it
and communicated it by His angel to His bondservant
John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the
testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the
words of the prophecy and heed the things which are
written in it, for the time is near.
Now lets read the epilogue, chapter 22 verse 6. And
notice the parallels. And He said to me, These words
are faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the
spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show to His
bondservants the things which must shortly take
place. And behold, I am coming quickly, blessed is he
who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.
And I, John, am the one who heard and saw these
things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down and
worshiped at the feet of the angel who showed me
these things, and he said to me, Do not do that. I am
a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the
prophets and of those who heed the words of this
book. Worship God. And he said to me, Do not seal
up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time
is near. Let the one who does wrong still do wrong,
and let the one who is filthy still be filthy, and let the
one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and
let the one who is holy still keep himself holy. Behold, I
am coming quickly and My reward is with me to
render to every man according to what he has done.

Now that is the first part of the epilogue. It runs all the
way down to verse 21, obviously, to close out this
book. But the first part of it, from verses 6 to 12 is
directed to Christians. The last part is directed to nonChristians. And so well break them up into those two
parts.
The first part, verses 6 to 12 which I just read, are
directed to Christians. The latter part, directed to nonChristians, and well take that in the future. The
character of these verses which I just read to you is
rapid-fire, breathless, you almost feel like John is
panting as he races his quill across the parchment to
get this down rapidly. They are single statements, brief
and independent, one after another. And they move
from theme to theme to theme to theme. Yet each
deals with a needed response, a response that every
Christian should have to the coming of Jesus Christ
which is the theme of this book. Remember now, it is,
as we read in the prologue, the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It talks about His Second Coming, that is the
theme of it. And here we find what our response is to
be to that Second Coming. And thats why weve
entitled it, The Believers Immediate Responses to
Christs Imminent Return. These verses, in fact, give
the feeling of a furious rush, a kind of a wild flurry in
an effort to call for immediate response to such vital
truth. Nothing makes that more evident than the fact
that he repeats three times, Behold, I come
quickly...Behold, I come quickly...Behold, I come
quickly. And then down in verse 20, Even so, come,
Lord Jesus. And so there is a rapidity and a repetition

and at the same time there is a series of statements

made on different themes.
The text is pregnant with urgency and specificity,
pressuring every believer to think quickly and
immediately about the truths that they have read and
to react with haste in the light of what is coming.
Jesus is coming. And the key word in this text is He is
coming quickly. You will notice it there in verse 7.
Behold, I am coming quickly. You will notice it in
verse 12, Behold, I am coming quickly. And down in
verse 20, Yes, I am coming quickly. The term is
tachu from which we get the term tachometer which
measures speed. Im coming speedily, Im coming
hastily, or Im coming quickly, or Im coming shortly, or
Im coming soon. Six times in the book of Revelation
that is stated, six times, twice it is a warning. In
chapter 2 verses 5 and 16 He is coming quickly with
judgment on His mind. Four times it is a promise...a
promise of blessing. The three that I read you here in
chapter 22 and one in chapter 3 verse 11. In all four of
those, He is coming to bless. In the first two, chapter 2
verses 5 and 16 He is coming to judge.
Also we read in chapter 3 verse 3 that His coming is
like a thief. That is repeated in chapter 16 verse 15, it
means He will come unexpectedly. Hes coming soon
and Hes coming when not expected. That is, of
course, the ploy that a thief has to count on is that he
is not expected, that he can get in and get out and do
what he wants to do immediately and hastily without
anybody able to make preparation, or put up a
defense.

Now what this is telling us is that the coming of the

Lord is soon, its coming shortly, its coming hastily,
you need to be ready. You say, Well wait a minute.
When this was written around 96 A.D., they might
have thought that but were here a long time, almost
two thousand years after that and Hes not here yet.
Yeah, well thats from the human viewpoint, isnt it?
From the vantage point of God, we remind ourselves
that a day with the Lord is as...what?...a thousand
years and a thousand years is as a day. And from
Gods perspective, its only been two days. In the light
of eternity, it is very, very brief. People in the New
Testament believed that Jesus could come at any
time. They believed that He could come in their life
time. That is very clear if you read the New Testament.
It was obvious to any reader of the New Testament
that believers felt Jesus could come at any time. They
didnt have such a highly refined and defined
eschatological scheme as to conclude that He couldnt
come in their time because this had to happen and
this had to happen and this had to happen, and there
was this very, very carefully laid out scenario of
sequences and until those took their proper place in
line, He couldnt come. They lived as if He could come
at any moment.
There are a number of New Testament texts, I think,
that support this view of what we call imminence, that
is to say He could come at any time. Imminence could
be defined as a certainty with an uncertainty. It was
certain that He was coming, but it was uncertain

when. They were living as if He might come at any

time, but didnt know when He would come.
Let me show you some New Testament texts that help
us to understand that they lived as if Jesus could
come at any moment, for indeed He could. Let me
take you back to 1 Corinthians. And its important to
capture this because otherwise the text doesnt have
its force, the text of Revelation. Back in 1 Corinthians
1:7, and this describes the Corinthian church here and
it says of them in verse 7 that they were not lacking in
any gift. What that meant was that every gift that God
through His Holy Spirit could bestow upon a church,
every ministerial gift, every spiritual gift, every gifted
leader and teacher that He could give to His church
they had received. They didnt lack any spiritual gift
from God. Youre not lacking in any gift.
And then he adds, Awaiting eagerly the revelation of
our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a typical description
of the attitude of a member of the early church,
waiting eagerly for the coming of Jesus Christ. They
didnt push the return of Christ for His beloved way off
in some eschatological future. They believed that it
was imminent, that it could come at any time, it could
certainly come in their lifetime.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5, Paul says,
Dont go on passing judgment. in other words, youre
not the person who can judge someone, Dont go on
passing judgment before the time but wait until the
Lord comes who will both bring to light the things
hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of

mens hearts. Literally, live in expectation of the

coming of Christ. And they did. They did.
Then I want you to go to the sixteenth chapter of 1
Corinthians for a very interesting note there. And it all
is built around one word. In 1 Corinthians 16 and
verse 22 you have the word Maranatha...Maranatha,
weve heard that word, havent we? Maranatha, and
interestingly enough that is not translated. Maranatha
is an Aramaic word, its an Aramaic word...thats
interesting because as far as we can tell, nobody in
Corinth would have spoken Aramaic except some
Jews who may have been living there. But basically
nobody in the Greek culture would have spoken
Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of the people
who lived in Palestine. And so why would the Apostle
Paul in writing an epistle to a Greek church in a Greek
culture include an Aramaic word untranslated? Its
interesting.
What it means, by the way, is The Lord comes, or
Lord, come. It was a word that expressed the hope
of the return of Christ. Thats very interesting. Why an
Aramaic, really an Aramaic phrase squeezed into one
word, why would an Aramaic phrase appear in a
Greek letter to a Greek church? The only answer is, it
must have been a word they were familiar with, right?
It isnt even translated. It must have been a watch
word, a byword, a proverbial anticipation of the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ that was so wellknown to everybody that Christians just said,
Maranatha...Maranatha....Maranatha. It summed up
the truth of the vital hope of believers that Jesus could

come at any time. It expressed their imminent hope.

They were saying to one another, Maranatha,
Maranatha, our Lord come, our Lord come, our Lord
come. They were living constantly in the light of the
return of Christ. It was their hope.
On a number of occasions the Apostle Paul expressed
the idea that he might live until Jesus returned. Lets
look at some of the things he said. Philippians chapter
3, for example, and verse 20, he says, For our
citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly
wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
waiting for Christ. He was waiting for the return of
Jesus Christ and he believed it could happen in his
lifetime, or he wouldnt have said that. From which we
eagerly wait for a Savior.
Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, here is Pauls
commendation of the Thessalonian church. And he
says about the Thessalonian church, verse 9 of 1
Thessalonians 1, You turned to God from idols to
serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son
from heaven. Listen, the early church was just filled
with anticipation that Jesus could come at any
moment. Chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians and verse 15,
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that
we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord. Whats he saying? He is saying, You know
what? Some of us may be alive at the return of
Christ. Thats what hes saying. We...
Look at 2 Thessalonians for a moment, chapter 3, and
Im just trying to plant in your mind the idea that the

early church believed in imminency, they believed that

Jesus could come at any moment and they lived in
that expectation. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and
verse 10, listen to this, For even when we were with
you we used to give you this order, if anyone will not
work, neither let him eat. Now weve got some
problems in the church at Thessalonica, some people
werent working. For we hear that some among you
are leading an undisciplined life doing no work at all
but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we
command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work
in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.
What does this have to do with the Rapture? The
whole Thessalonian church was preoccupied with the
return of Christ, werent they? And Paul had written
them his first epistle and told them Jesus is coming,
youre waiting for His coming. They were already
waiting for His coming, we saw that in chapter 1 verse
10 of the first letter. He said to them in that first letter,
verse 4:15 which I read to you earlier, We who are
alive and remain when He comes, they were living in
the anticipation of the return of Christ. And what had
happened was, some of them were so convinced that
Jesus would come in their lifetime that they
stopped...what?...working. Is that uncommon? We
have that today. Every time some guy comes along
and writes another book on when Jesus is going to
come, people do that. Remember back in 1988 when
the guy wrote the book, Eighty-Eight Reasons why
Jesus will Come in 1988? I mean, its one thing to
write a book and be wrong. Its another thing to write a
book and be wrong 88 times. And people sold their

property, you know, and got their pajamas on and got

up on the roof and with indolence and laziness did
what they did. I remember years before that when a
guy told me that Jesus was going to come on January
1 of a certain year, I think it was like 81, cant
remember exactly. And he had liquidated all of his
assets and he had gone and bought Bibles and
passed them out to everybody and sent out hundreds
of thousands little glow-in-the-dark praying hands and
he was kind of a bizarre character. And he had it all
pinned down, Jesus was going to come.
Well it was a similar kind of mentality last year in 1994
when a man named Harold Camping wrote a book
saying Jesus was going to come in September,
remember? Of 1994 and people did foolish things
getting ready for that? Well it was no different than
what happened in Thessalonica. People in
anticipation of the imminent return of Jesus Christ quit
their jobs. The point is, they lived in the light of the
reality that Jesus could come at any time.
Now look at Titus chapter 2 and I want you to capture
this in your mind because its very important. Now we
are living, according to verse 12, Titus 2:12, we are
living righteously and godly in the present age, okay?
This is where we live in the present age. But we are,
verse 13, Looking for the blessed hope and the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus. We are looking for Christ. Thats what
Paul says to Titus. We as believers living in the first
century are looking for the returning Christ.

Turn to the epistle of James, chapter 5, verse 7, Be

patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the
Lord. Verse 8, Be patient, strengthen your hearts for
the coming of the Lord is near...at hand. That means
next, soon. Then in verse 9 he says, The judge is
standing right at the door. From a human viewpoint, it
seems like 2,000 years is a long time. From Gods
viewpoint, its two days.
Look at 1 John chapter 2 and verse 28, And now,
little children, abide in Him so that when He appears
we may have confidence and not shrink away from
Him in shame at His coming. Again, living as if Hes
going to come in our lifetime was just the way they
lived. Chapter 3 verse 2, We know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him.
You see, thats been the churchs hope. Thats been
the churchs hope, that Jesus would come. The
church then, we say, believed in imminency, any
natural reading of the New Testament yields the fact
that the church believed Jesus could come at any
time. That is really unarguable, as far as Im
concerned. They didnt know when, but they believed
it could be at any time, even in their lifetime. And the
church has held on to that because it is such a great
motivation to live every moment knowing Jesus might
come in the next one.
And so, imminency is really what is on the mind of
anyone who reads carefully the New Testament. With
that in mind, lets go back to our text. Now when you
read, Behold, I come quickly...Behold, I come

quickly...Behold, I come quickly, three times in

chapter 22, you get the idea that God is reinforcing
this reality. Quickly, not so much as having to do with
the speed with which He comes, I mean what does
that matter? We dont care whether He comes at the
speed of light or ten times the speed of light. Its not
the speed with which He comes, that doesnt matter
because all were going to know is when He gets
here. If it took Him a year to traverse the heavens to
get here, wed only know Him when He arrived. If it
took Him a nanosecond to traverse the heavens
before He got here, wed only know Him when He
arrives. The issue isnt how fast does He come. The
issue is that we live in the light of the reality that Hes
coming soon, that the judge is at the door, that the
coming of the Lord is near. And we have to live in the
light of the nearness of that.
Now that is the sum up of this book, Hes coming,
Hes coming soon. With that in mind, look at verse 6.
And he said to me, These words are faithful and true
and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets,
sent His angel to show to His bondservants the things
which must shortly take place. There again the
emphasis...its coming, its coming soon.
Now in verse 6 he says, And he said to me, and we
have to identify the speaker, the very same angel
introduced in chapter 22...pardon me, yes 22, the
angel who was speaking to John. You go back to
chapter 21 verse 9, you meet that angel, one of the
seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the
seven last plagues came and spoke with me. Now

here is the angel, you remember, took him on the tour

of the heavenly city. Showed him in chapter 2 verse 1
the water of life clear as crystal, who took him down
through all of those marvelous realities inside the
place where He will dwell and all saints will dwell
forever. Its that very same angel who showed him the
holy city, that same angel who was one of the seven
angels who poured out the wrath of God in the sevenbowl judgments called the last plagues, that same
angel now speaks to him. Hes not showing him
anything, he talks to him.
This is what he said. These words are faithful and
true. What is that all about? That is a heavenly
confirmation, a heavenly attestation to what John has
heard and seen throughout the entire apocalypse.
Thats very important. The angel is saying, John,
what you have seen is reality. These words are faithful
and true.
Go back to chapter 21 verse 5. And he said, Write,
for these words are faithful and true. If you go back
to chapter 19 verse 11, Jesus Christ is called Faithful
and True. In other words, the angel is affirming the
validity of everything John has seen. Hes saying to
him, John, you havent just been wandering around in
some mystical fog, you havent just been having your
own bizarre dreams. You havent been imagining
things that arent really real. This isnt a case of an
extravagant imagination. Everything that you have
heard and seen in this revelation is faithful and true.
The scenes, the visions, the revelations, the
conversations with heavenly creatures have been so

startling and so graphic and so unearthly and so

supernatural and so frightening and so wondrous and
so amazing and so majestic and so transcendent that
some might consider them a fantasy and some might
consider them a series of dreams with some personal
spiritual interpretation or allegories that need a secret
spiritual meaning to be discovered. But the angel
says, What youve seen is exactly how it is.
Now that is a good word again to those who want to
allegorize the book of Revelation, or those who want
to shove it way back and make it all happen in 70 A.D.
It is exactly as John has received it. They are utterly
accurate descriptions of accurate events and
personages to come. This emphasis, by the way, on
the truthfulness of this is repeated in this final chapter.
Verse 16, I have sent My angel to testify to you these
things. Thats right, the angel has testified to these
things and told you they are faithful and true. Verse 18
says, If anybody adds to the words of the prophecy of
this book, Ill add to him the plagues that are written in
it. Verse 19, If anyone takes away from the words of
the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part
in the Tree of Life in the holy city. Dont tamper with
this revelation. It is exactly as you received it. These
words are faithful and true. And then he goes on to
say in verse 6, And the Lord, the God of the spirits of
the prophets sent His angel to show His bondservants
the things which must shortly take place. What hes
saying is it comes from God. Oh yes, God used His
angel to reveal it, but the source is God, the same
God...this is very important...who is the God of the
spirits of the prophets. That is the same God who

moved on the hearts of Old Testament prophets, the

same God who spoke His Word through New
Testament prophets is the God who has now revealed
this. In other words, this too is equally inspired. The
sovereign almighty God who revealed His Word in the
past through the prophets who then wrote the Old
Testament with all of its predictions, thats what I think
He has primarily in mind, His Old Testament prophets,
the same God who moved on the spirits or the minds
of the Old Testament prophets and they wrote down
the prophecies of the Old Testament...and
remember...which were all fulfilled, literally and
actually and are still being fulfilled. The same God
who had those prophets write with precision and
exactness, exactly how it would be has inspired these
visions and given a message to His angel to show to
His bondservants the things which must shortly take
place.
Bondservants,
by
the
way,
are
Christians...Christians are the bondservants. And so
thats why I said verses 6 to 12 is directed at
Christians, its for us.
Now theres a marvelous point to make here. The Old
Testament is full of prophecies, full of future
prophecies and literally those prophecies have come
to pass. All the prophecies about the first coming of
Messiah have come to pass. And scholars tell us
there are over 330 specific prophecies concerning
Jesus Christ that were fulfilled in His first coming. And
that then becomes the standard. The exactness and
the precision with which the Old Testament prophets
predicted the first coming is the standard by which
God has revealed His truth in this book to predict the

Second Coming. These things are as faithful and true

as the prophets of the Old Testament spoke about the
first coming of Christ because in both cases it is God,
the Lord, the Almighty God who has inspired the
revelation.
Now the end of verse 6 he says, These are the things
which must shortly take place. And there hes
referring to the whole book. That phrase, things
which must shortly take place, sweeps back over the
whole revelation. And so, God reminds John through
this angel what you have is from Me.
Now God hasnt given us the exact timetable, but we
are called to live in expectation. And the eternal God
who revealed His Word to the spirits of the minds of
the prophets has also revealed these truths to John
through the angels for us. The things they say in here
are real, the visions he sees are real, and they will
happen just the way Revelation says they will happen.
And Ive told you all the way along, this is not a
forgery, this is not a fantasy, these are not dreams that
need interpretation, this is not an allegory, these are
not fairy tales. The one who is faithful and true has
spoken truly. Back in chapter 1 verse 1, the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, God gave him to show to
His bondservants the things which must shortly take
place. Thats it. And He communicated it by His angel
to His bondservant John.
There was an angel coordinator who was in charge of
all of this Revelation to John. And it is true, it is as it is
written. And I emphasize that because theres a

certain weariness in people undermining the simple

straightforward realities of this great apocalypse. And
so weve come full circle, from the prologue which
said essentially the same thing, to the epilogue. And
we know now that brackets the main body of the book.
Now if God says this is faithful and true, He means it
will come to pass. Is that not true? It will come to pass.
I mean, after all, His prophetic record is perfect. He
said Israel would go into captivity and they did. He
said Babylon would fall and they did. He said Tyre and
Sidon would be destroyed, and they were. He said the
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and He was. He
said that Messiah would be born to a virgin and He
was. He said Messiah would be killed and He was. He
said judgment would come in the future on land, sea,
water, and, men, believe me it will. He said war will
come killing half the world, and it will. He said nations
will gather to battle at Armageddon and they will. He
says there will come an Antichrist who will rule the
world and he will. He says hell will belch forth its
demons to run over the earth and maim the world, and
they will. He says believers will be martyred and they
will. He says the King is coming, and He is. He says
He will set up His earthly Kingdom, and He will. What
it says in here is exactly what it means. It is faithful
and true and theres no reason to equivocate, theres
no reason to undermine the integrity of God as He
writes. In fact, it reminds me of Isaiah 46 where it says
in verse 9, Remember the former things long past, for
I am God and there is no other. I am God and theres
no one like Me declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things that have not been

done saying, My purpose will be established and I will

accomplish all My good pleasure. That is to say God
will do exactly what He says He will do.
And this is how it will be done.
And so, its coming, folks, the book of Revelation is
coming. Its coming. And were reminded three times
in this last chapter that from Gods vantage point it is
coming soon...soon. And sometimes it seems so
soon, so near.
In the light of that, in the light of the reality of verse 6
that its true and that its coming shortly, and its
coming soon and quickly and suddenly, what is to be
the believers response? Thats the question. What is
to be the believers response?
Four responses...four responses. Response number
one, immediate obedience...immediate obedience. Or
if you like a better word, immediate compliance. Verse
7 starts with And. By the way, and here seems to
mark a change in the speaker. You see and at the
beginning of verse 7, and at the beginning of verse 8,
and at the beginning of verse 9, and at the beginning
of verse 10. And that may be a key to seeing a
change in the speaker. Here we have an immediate
change because its obvious whos speaking here,
and its not the angel. The angel spoke in 6 but in 7
And behold, I am coming quickly. Its not an angel
whos coming, who is it? Its Christ whos coming and
so Hes the speaker. Behold, I am coming quickly. I
am coming...present tense, the theme is urgency...I

am coming quickly. And then He gives us what is the

sixth of seven Beatitudes. The Beatitude always
begins with the word Blessed. This is the six of
seven in the book of Revelation. Blessed is he who
heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. Thats
immediate obedience.
Jesus is at the door. The judge is at the door. He
could come at any time. Were looking for His
appearing. We love His appearing, as Paul told
Timothy. And in the light of His soon coming, in the
light of the fact that He can come at any moment,
were not waiting for some unfolding prophetic
scheme, the church wasnt like that. They didnt have
some chart or some timetable and they were sort of
putting themselves along the path and saying, Well, it
certainly is not possible for Him to come now because
weve got to go through all of this. No, they lived in
the light that He could come at any moment. And the
immediate response, first of all, was to heed the
words of the prophecy of this book.
Now that, just to make a brief note, indicates to us that
the words of this book are prophecy...the words of the
prophecy of this book. By the way, that is repeated
again in this chapter about the fact that this book is
Gods revelation of prophecy. You find it in verse 18,
In the prophecy of this book, you find it in verse 19,
The book of this prophecy.
Now certainly prophecy doesnt always mean
prediction, but in this case it certainly does. This is a
book of prophecy. This is a book of future predictions

and promises. In light of it, He says, we are to heed

the words.
Now what does it mean to heed? Well its from tereo,
it basically means to keep, to hold fast, or to guard.
Thats its meaning, to hold on to, to hold captive, to
make ones own, to possess. That same term is used
in chapter 14 verse 12 where it talks about the
perseverance of the saints who keep the
commandments of God, who hold on to them.
Now it does call, I think, to a certain guarding and I
dont want to beg this issue again, but I just want to
bring it up. When He says heed, it can be translated
to guard. And in that sense its a protective role. I
feel that way. I feel like I not only have to obey what
the book of Revelation says, but I have to protect it
from the people who want to destroy it. It calls for
guarding this great book from its detractors who would
deny it, guarding it from its critics who would ignore it,
guarding it from its false interpreters who would
obscure it...just as in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse
20. Timothy is told, O Timothy, guard what has been
entrusted to you. There is definitely a guardianship
here. In 2 Timothy 1:13 and 14, Retain the standard
of sound words, guard through the Holy Spirit who
dwells in us the treasure entrusted to you. This is the
treasure, this book of Revelation. And it must be
guarded against the detractors and the critics and the
false interpreters who want to destroy its meaning,
tamper with its interpretation, obscure its simple and
direct significance.

But its beyond that. Its not just talking about a

guardian responsibility, its talking about obeying. To
keep means to obey, to heed is a good translation.
You remember, dont you, that Jesus said in John
14:15, If you love Me, youll keep My
commandments. And that is repeated throughout that
section. Verse 21, He who has My commandments
and keeps them, he it is who loves Me, verse 21.
Same thing in verse 23, same thing in chapter 15
verse 10, and you find it in 1 John 2 and 1 John 5, if
you love the Lord, you keep His commandments. If
you
love
His
appearing,
you
keep
His
commandments. Thats the whole point. If we believe
Jesus is coming imminently, He could come at any
moment, and, of course, if the Rapture of the church
starts it all off, and the Rapture of the church is the
first thing and then comes the time of the Tribulation
when all the events are laid out, theres no event given
in front of the Rapture of the church...so it could
happen at any moment. And so we live every moment
as if Jesus could come in the next moment. We have
to live then obeying the mandates given in the book of
Revelation.
Now that leads me to ask this question, and you
would ask it, Im sure, if you were studying, what are
the commands were supposed to obey? You might
say to yourself, I dont remember a whole lot of
commands in this book, and youre right. In fact, if I
had you start in chapter 4 and track your way through
the book of Revelation all the way to this point, you
know how many commands youd find? None. No

really direct commands to a believer. There are some

commands to John to do certain things.
You say, Well where are the commands were
supposed to obey here? Well back in chapters 2 and
3 there are some direct commands given to the
church. Remember now, in chapters 2 and 3 have
letters to churches, symbolic of all the churches of all
time and the same commands and warnings that are
given to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 apply to us.
But beyond chapters 2 and 3, the book doesnt give
specific commands to believers until you get here and
youre told to heed the Words. Well then when youre
told to heed the book of Revelation, what does this
mean? Well what do you mean then heed the words
of the prophecy of this book?
Ill tell you what it means. He means this, you know
that Jesus Christ is coming, you know He could come
at any moment, so long for His coming...long for your
eternal fellowship, desire heaven, desire holiness,
desire Christ vindicated and glorified. Thats the spirit
of this book. Desire the end of the curse. Desire a new
heaven and a new earth. Live for the eternal state.
You should, after reading this book, love Christ more
than you ever loved Him for the sake of His coming
glory. You should live in the light of the fact that some
day youre going to face Him. You should by
comprehending this book disconnect yourself from the
perishing world and live in the light of the eternal
world. You should long for the day when youre made
like Christ, long for the time when He appears and you
see Him face to face. Long for the hour of your eternal

reward, long for your resurrection body, as Paul did in

2 Corinthians chapter 5, that he might be clothed upon
with his house which is from heaven.
You are to grasp also the fearful judgment on the
ungodly and call them to Christ before its too late.
That is keeping or heeding the words of this prophecy,
living in the light of the Second Coming, living in the
light of the return of Christ, living in the light of coming
judgment on the ungodly. See, God does not ask us to
read and understand and believe the prophecy of this
book so we can cater to our own curiosity. And I have
really tried to avoid that all the way through this study,
not getting caught up in all kinds of curiosities that you
read so much about when you read people who
comment on the book of Revelation. God didnt write
this book so we could feed our curiosity about the
future or so we could see helicopters and very evident
indications all around the world today of what every
little thing might mean. Nor was this book given to us
so that we might understand and parade our refined
and impressive eschatological charts. It wasnt written
so we could have our wonderful system in place. And
Ill tell you, folks, I have been in the ministry long
enough to have collected every imaginable scheme
from the book of Revelation. And you know
something? I rarely have a month go by when I dont
get another one. And some guy has got the final and
last word, rarely are they ever published by anybody
other than the author...and you always want to watch
out for self-published material.

Theres an endless ream of stuff coming out as people

try to come up with the latest scheme. God didnt write
this so we could define and refine impressive
eschatological charts. He didnt give us the book of
Revelation so that we could analyze our culture, so
that we could pinpoint social and political analyses of
current events. He wrote it so that we might catch the
spirit of the coming of Jesus Christ and live in the light
of it. Its much more important that this book affect
your life in terms of holiness and zeal for the lost than
that you figure out how to fix a chart that will wow your
friends. Thats not the issue. Seeing the glory of
heaven is the issue. Seeing the majesty of Jesus
Christ is the issue. Seeing the terror of hell, feeling the
heat of judgment on sinners, understanding the
seriousness of the rejection of Christ, and at the same
time feeling the joy of coming bliss so that we can
both long for heaven and witness to the lost, so that
we can live a holy life and give a testimony for Christ,
so that we can serve God with all our hearts because
we are going to receive an eternal reward. Thats how
you keep this book. Thats what Hes calling for.
Revelation is not entertainment. It is not high-class
fascination. It is motivation to live a godly life. It is truth
to shape you. And Peter said that in 2 Peter chapter 3
in verse 11, he said, Since all these things are to be
destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to
be? Thats the question. Not what sort of chart should
you draw. What kind of person are you going to be?
The timing of these events is very elusive. Thats why
there are so many viewpoints. And as I told you
before, even the men who wrote the Old Testament,

the prophets, Peter says, Searched what time they

wrote about. They couldnt even comprehend the
chronology of it. And they searched what persons
were they writing about? There was mystery even in
what they wrote and only those who were alive when
it was fulfilled saw it clearly and so it will be with this
prophecy.
The issue is, what kind of people are you going to be?
Are you going to be living in holy conduct and
godliness, 2 Peter 3:11 says? Because youre looking
for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
Youre so eager and youre anticipating it, and you
know its coming, and so you live holy lives. Verse 14
he says, Beloved, but since you look for these things,
be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and
blameless. Thats it. Are you living in peace? Or are
you using your eschatology to divide? Are you
blameless? Are you without spot?
No, the issue here is immediate submission to the
great reality of this tremendous book...immediate
obedience. Why? Because He could come at any
moment. The imminent return demands immediate
obedience. Theres no time to postpone, you better
get busy obeying now, you better get in the spirit of
the book of Revelation now because Jesus could
come at any moment and you want to receive a full
reward and you want to honor Him at His coming.
Second, and well just cover two of the four, second,
this is very important because this wraps the whole
book up and I dont want to be unfaithful to this part of

it. Immediate worship...immediate worship, verse 8,

And I, John, theres the and again that signifies a
change in speaker, And I, John, am the one who
heard and saw these things. And when I heard and
saw, I fell down to...what?...to worship at the feet of
the angel who showed me these things and he said to
me, Do not do that, Im a fellow servant of yours and
of the brethren and the prophets and of those who
heed the words of this book. Worship God.
John had the right idea, didnt he? I mean, he really
did. The right response was to worship, wasnt it?
Now the whole thing was so absolutely overwhelming.
I mean, the whole description of everything he has
seen in all these visions that he received when he was
on the island of Patmos in exile, the whole thing is so
overwhelming that when the angel gets through with
this affirmation and affirms that its going to happen
soon and he needs to heed the words, the whole thing
is so overwhelming that he collapses in worship. Hes
breathless. Hes absolutely overwhelmed. And so
should we be. It is a testimony to our indifference, isnt
it, when were not.
Look what he says, And I, John, I, John, Am the
one who heard and saw these things. You say, Why
did he say that? Well the angel gave testimony to the
fact that it was true and now John adds his. Its true,
folks, Im the one who heard and saw. Its his own
testimony to the reality, to the veracity of what was
revealed to him, seeing and hearing, saw and heard,
he uses those terms twice. Vision and voice, and
thats what Revelation is, its a vision and the voice

from heaven, form an angel, even from the throne,

even from Christ. Vision and voice, seeing and
hearing, hes so amazed. And I, its John, its as if he
says, I...can you believe it...John, me, saw and
heard. And he is captive to wonder and adoration. His
compulsion to worship is unrestrained. He is so driven
to worship that he just worships the nearest person.
And he says, I fell down to worship. Please notice, it
doesnt say he fell down to worship the angel, it says
he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel. I dont
think he was worshiping the angel.
Back in chapter 19 verse 10, he did it there, too. He
said, I fell down at his feet, only this time he said, I
fell down at his feet to worship...what?...him, and he
said, Get up...the angel did...dont do that. Im a fellow
servant of yours and your brethren and all the
testimony of Jesus, worship God, dont worship me.
So he had learned by now. But, you know, he fell
down again. I dont think he wanted to worship the
angel, he had already been instructed on that, I just
think he just collapsed, like Ezekiel, you remember,
who when he saw the vision in Ezekiel, collapsed.
Like Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when he saw the vision of the
glory of God, collapsed. Like the three disciples at the
transfiguration in Matthew 17, they saw the glory of
God revealed, they collapsed. I think he just crumbled
in worship. I mean, lost in wonder, love and praise...so
wonderful was the revelation of the knowledge of what
was going to happen, so profound and so prolific that
he just collapsed. He just collapsed. It says,
When...he was the one who heard and saw these
things, all of it.

Now you know what? He may have thought the angel

was Christ. He meant no idolatry. He just lost himself.
For a moment he was so overwhelmed he couldnt
discern between the messenger and the one who sent
him. You know what? He knew that youre not
supposed to worship angels, he had just been
instructed about that in chapter 19 verse 10 and my
guess is he probably read Pauls epistle to the
Colossians anyway. Somewhere along the path long
before this, he had read Colossians 2:18 which says,
Dont worship angels. He knew that was wrong. But
he just collapsed in worship. And the angel who
realizes that God alone is to be worshiped and feels
so self-conscience at Johns posture, verse 9, said to
me, Dont do that, stop. Im a fellow servant of yours
and of your brethren, the prophets and of those who
heed the words of this book. Im just another
creature...I love this...Im a fellow servant of yours and
of your brethren, the prophets. Isnt that wonderful
that the angels felt like they were brothers with the
prophets? Remember in the Old Testament where in
the book of Hebrews where God says when God gave
the law in the Old Testament, He gave the law through
the angels? Boy, the angels have been involved in so
many things, they even identify themselves as
brethren of the prophets, fellow servants of yours and
your brethren, the prophets. We serve alongside of
you. And Hebrews 1:14 says, They are sent to
minister for the saints. He said to me, Dont worship
me, Im just a creature, get up. I think John would
have said, I really wasnt worshiping you, I just lost it

there. And the angel

God...Worship God.

then

says,

Worship

If anything should be elicited out of an understanding

of the book of Revelation, it ought to be worship,
right? I mean, when we see what Gods going to do,
where the world is going, whats it going to be like in
the end and how its all going to wrap up and Jesus
will be glorified, and we see the millennial kingdom, at
the end of the kingdom the uncreation of everything
as we know it and the recreation, new creation, a new
heaven and a new earth, and the glorious new
Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God and
settling in to the eternal state and the glory of God
shining out from within that gold and diamond prism
and all of its bejeweled foundations and all of that
blazing through eternal glory and were there in holy
perfection like Christ forever, the only way to respond
to that is to worship. And the angel just wanted to
make sure that John knew you dont worship anybody
but God.
Just as a footnote. The Roman Catholic Church
advocates the worship of Mary, the worship of angels,
the worship of saints, they call it veneration but it is
indistinguishable from worship, is a violation of what
the Bible teaches. Worship God. All that John felt
should be directed to God alone.
And, you know, hasnt that been a theme all the way
through this book? You go back to chapter 4, what are
they doing in heaven? Worshiping God. You go back
to chapter 5, what are they doing? Worshiping God.

Go back to chapter 7, what are they doing?

Worshiping God. Chapter 15, worshiping God.
Chapter 19, worshiping God. So, the soon and
sudden return of Jesus Christ demands immediate
response. First, obedience not just to the commands
of the book in chapters 2 and 3, but to the whole spirit
of the thing, to heed it all and immediate worship.
When we live in the light of the return of Jesus Christ,
we will be obedient and we will be worshipful.
The third immediate response to Christs imminent
return
is
immediate
proclamation....immediate
proclamation. Verse 10, And he said to me, Do not
seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the
time is near, again emphasizing the imminency of it,
this is not a message to be hidden, it is a message to
be spread. It is to be proclaimed to Christians for
promised blessing. It is to be proclaimed, listen
carefully, to produce obedience and to produce
worship. That is its intention. The angel, most likely, is
the one speaking here when it says, And he said to
me, and he says, Do not seal up the words of the
prophecy of this book. Dont hide these things. Back
in chapter 10 and verse 11, John writes, And they
said to me, you must prophesy again concerning
many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
This has to be spoken.
If you go back to the book of Daniel, for example,
Daniel 8:26 and Daniel chapter 12 verses 4 through
10, there was a word from the Lord to seal up these
things. Not to proclaim them. That prohibition is
removed. Immediate proclamation is called for

because now it is abundantly clear what is to come.

And because it is imminent in every generation from
John until today, this book is to be proclaimed. And I
just give you a note here. It says in verse 10, Do not
seal up the words...the words, plural, meaning the
specific words of this book are not to be sealed up.
That reminds me again that were not looking into this
book for some kind of secretive meanings hidden
behind what is obvious. If the truth is not in the words,
then this command is nonsense. But the truth is in the
words and we are not to seal up these words, we are
to make them known. Way back in chapter 1 verse 11,
John was told to write in a book what you see and
send it to the churches. Spread it, spread this word,
Jesus is coming and with Him comes blessing for His
own and with Him comes horrifying judgment on the
ungodly. To fail to preach revelation, to fail to proclaim
revelation is not only foolish, because back in chapter
1 verse 3 it says, Blessed is he who reads and those
who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the
things written in it for the time is near. Not only will
you forfeit that blessing, it is not just foolish but it is
sinful.
If ever there was a day to proclaim its truths, it is now.
And tomorrow will be a more important day and the
day after that a more important day, and next month,
more important, and next year, more important as the
coming of Christ becomes even nearer. Any Christian
who fails to learn the truths of this book and to
understand the words of this book which are not at all
incomprehensible, as we have learned, is forfeiting

blessing and any preacher who fails to preach this

book of the glorious realities to come in the return of
Jesus Christ is sinfully unfaithful to his mandate. And
yet it is common, I suppose it is even normal in the
church today to have this book completely ignored. As
wonderful as the gospel record is, which tells us the
story of the first coming of Christ, as marvelous as the
epistles are which gives us the theology that comes
out of His work, this is the book that exalts Him most.
Not to preach the book of Revelation is to fall short of
exalting the Lord Jesus Christ with that exaltation due
to Him. It is not just a failure to teach the whole
council of God and to give His people the love of His
appearing, it is outright disobedience. The time is
near. It is imminent. It is soon. This must be preached,
dont seal it up.
A great church, a faithful church, a biblical church is
always a Second Coming church. In 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 it was said of that Thessalonian assembly
which was the noblest of all the New Testament
churches to which letters were penned, it says of them
that they had turned to God from idols, chapter 1
verse 9, to serve a living and true God in verse 10,
and to wait for His Son from heaven. They were a
Second Coming church, they were waiting for the
Son.
And then verse 11 fires a jolting rocket into this idea of
proclamation. Let the one who does wrong still do
wrong, and let the one who is filthy still be filthy and let
the one who is righteous still practice righteousness
and let the one who is holy still keep himself holy.

What is that strange statement? What is the point of

it? What is the meaning of it? The meaning of it is
when you proclaim the truth, people will respond to
that truth and fix their eternal destiny. For the one who
hears the truth continues to do wrong, he is fixed in
that. For the one who hears the truth and continues in
his filth, he is fixed in that. That is his eternal destiny.
For the one in hearing acts righteously, he is fixed in
righteousness. For the one who responds with a holy
response, he is fixed in his holiness. Thats the intent
of the statement. In fact, the word still some
commentators think could mean more. Let the one
who does wrong do more wrong, let the one who is
filthy be more filthy, let the one who is righteous be
more righteous, let the one who is holy be more holy.
And what it is saying is, if you are wrong in this life,
you are more wrong in eternity where there is no good
influence. If you are filthy in this life, you are more
filthy in eternity. If you are righteous in this life, you will
be more righteous in the next. If youre holy here,
youll be more holy there.
You perpetuate your response into an eternal destiny.
When the sinner refuses the message, the warning,
there is no cure for his wrong, there is no remedy for
his filthiness. He will continue in it and even be more
evil and more filthy. Once the Lord returns, or once he
dies, his character is fixed forever in hell where wrong
and filth are perfected. If the warnings of this book are
not sufficient to move men to repent, then let them
remain in their unrepentant sin. Gods Spirit will not

always struggle with sinners. The day comes when

judgment falls and crushes those who will not repent.
Its a sobering thought. Reject Gods warnings and
you fix your eternal destiny. Respond to his warnings,
and you set your eternal destiny in glory. Whatever
you are in life, you will be more of in eternity. Thats
the point. And God may just turn His back. In the Old
Testament, the prophet said, Ephraim is joined to
idols, let him alone. Jesus said about the leaders of
Israel, They are blind leaders of the blind, let them
alone, they are fixed in their blindness.
On the other hand, when these truths are preached to
the righteous and the holy, it confirms and strengthens
their sanctification as well as being the reality which
they enjoy in eternity. We could borrow from our study
of 2 Corinthians and say to those who respond
negatively to the gospel, the preaching of the gospel
is a saver of death unto death. For those who respond
positively, it is a saver of life unto life. Preaching the
warning message of the book of Revelation can make
the wicked more wicked, more blasphemous and
ultimately fix their wickedness in a form of wicked
perfection that will characterize life in hell. These
same truths when responded to and believed make
men righteous and more righteous and ultimately
perfectly righteous.
Preach it, he says. Take the lid off. Proclaim it. Dont
seal it. The time is near, preach it and the people who
wont hear it, fix their destiny and so do the people
who will. The first destiny is hell, the second is

heaven. The sad truth is that when Revelation is

preached, it has this great effect. It really draws the
line. One who refuses continually the truth of this book
and the reality of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb as Hes
portrayed in this book and as the coming King, the
one who refuses to bow his knee to Christ and accept
His sacrifice on behalf of sin sets his rejection in an
eternal mold and only becomes more deeply and
eradicably what he already is. So preaching the great
truths of Revelation becomes either an instrument of
salvation or an instrument of damnation. It is to those
who are perishing, Paul said, foolishness, but to those
who are believing, it is the power of God unto
salvation. So the angel said, proclaim the truth so men
and women can hear it while there is still time. It
certainly reminds me and perhaps you as well of
Matthew 25 and verse 10, Jesus telling the story
about the ten virgins with their lamps. It says in verse
10, And while they were going away to make the
purchase, they wanted to go buy oil because the
bridegroom had come, the bridegroom came, those
who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast
and the door was shut. The point here is you can fool
away your opportunity until you dont have an
opportunity any more. Preach and warn people that
what they do with the preaching of the book of
Revelation and its glorious truths will fix their eternal
destiny.
In Luke 13:25 Jesus said, Strive to enter by the
narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and
will not be able. Then listen to this. Once the head of
the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin

to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord,

open to us, and then He will answer and say to you, I
dont know where youre from.
The only thing that gives any sense to this is the
reality of an imminent return. Every preacher in every
generation since the Apostle John was to preach this
because Christ could come at any time. And men
needed to be ready. Immediate obedience, immediate
worship and immediate proclamation are called for,
and then one final responsibility or duty, immediate
service, verse 12. Behold, I am coming quickly and
My reward is with Me to render to every man
according to what he has done. Behold, I am coming
quickly. Again, imminence is the issue. Its not
describing the speed with which He leaves heaven
and arrives, its the suddenness, its the imminence,
its the soon-ness of it. And He says, Im coming. In
fact, back in Mark 13 Jesus said, Take heed, keep on
the alert for you dont know when the appointed time
is. Im coming...Im coming and My reward is with Me
to render to every man. What is that? Our complete,
eternal reward.
Here Hes talking to believers about our eternal
reward. And we will be given that reward according to
what we have done. Remember when we studied the
judgment seat of Christ, we saw that we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 2
Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9, to receive for the things
done in the body whether they are good or phaulos.
And then we went to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 9
through 15 and we saw that our activities in life could

be gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay and

stubble. And wood, hay and stubble is not evil, its not
wicked, its not sin, it just doesnt have any eternal
value. It will just get burned up when the testing fire
comes, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3. There will come
a time when all of our works will be tested, and the fire
will be put to them, and gold and silver and precious
stones will survive the fire because they have eternal
value. Thats our service rendered to God. The rest is
the trivialities of our lives that werent evil, but had no
eternal value. Only that which had eternal value
survives. And its on the basis of that test that we are
rewarded. We will receive praise from God, 1
Corinthians 4:5 says. We will receive a reward for the
gold, silver and precious stones. And I told you, and I
dont want to go back over it all, but I believe that
reward that we will receive in glory will be a capacity
to worship God and a capacity to serve Him. The
more faithful we are here, the greater will be our
reward there. And we will be given greater capacity for
praise and greater capacity for service.
And so, there will come a time for reward and
because we know that, because we look forward to
the judgment seat of Christ when He will reward us,
we serve Him diligently because we want to receive a
full reward. The Apostle John said, Look to
yourselves that you receive a full reward. Look at
your life and make sure your service is to the
maximum, 2 John 8. Our eternal reward is based on
our service that has eternal value. And again I say, I
believe that eternal reward, its not going to be a
crown on your head while youre walking around in the

New Jerusalem with a bigger crown than somebody

else, I believe it will be capacities for service,
capacities for worship and maybe capacity for joy.
Jesus talked about a parable where people were put
over greater and greater areas of responsibility based
upon their faithfulness. Remember that? And I really
believe that thats the essence of heavenly reward, as
well as knowing in your heart of hearts that your life
was well pleasing to Him.
So, Jesus could come at any time. And all of this
thats described in this tremendous book could begin
to unfold. In the light of that imminent reality we are
called to immediate obedience, immediate worship,
immediate proclamation and immediate service. As
we come to the Lords table tonight, those four things
should be our focus. Not so much looking back, weve
done that in the beautiful music that weve heard and
sung. As we contemplate the cross of Jesus Christ
and what Hes done for us, lets look forward. What He
has done for us is to give us a salvation that is eternal.
What He has done for us is to put us in a position to
be taken to heaven when He returns. What the cross
was intended to do was to give us the hope of eternal
life, which hope becomes reality at the return of Jesus
Christ. And we are to live in the light of that. And as
we come to the Lords table tonight, lets dedicate
ourselves afresh to obedience, worship, proclamation
and service in view of the soon return of our Lord.
***********************

We turn in our Bibles tonight to the twenty-second

chapter of Revelation, verses 13 and following under
the title, "God's Last Invitation." By the time we have
reached this point, the voices from heaven have
spoken, the visions are complete, the message has
been delivered, the sermons have been preached and
most powerful and compelling sermons they were.
The preacher was the divine omnipotent God of glory.
We have swept through the end of the world, through
this present age to the Rapture of the church, then
through the Tribulation judgments and seals and
trumpets and bowls. We have seen the day of the
Lord, the return of Jesus Christ in judgment power
and authority. We have been escorted through the
visions of the Millennial Kingdom to the great white
throne. And after that into the eternal state. For the
ungodly the lake of fire, for the godly the new
Jerusalem in the new heavens and the new earth.
And at the conclusion of all of this sweeping
panorama of prophecy and in light of its absolute
certainty, the book of Revelation closes with
invitations. It demands right responses. First of all,
from Christians and we saw that in verses 6 through
12. Four things were requested in the light of the
coming of Christ; immediate obedience, immediate
worship, immediate proclamation and immediate
service. And now as we come to verse 13 we come to
an invitation for non-Christians. Obviously since this
great apocalypse was written for the church, to be
given to the church, to be read in the church, to be
taught to the church, these are invitations the godly
must pass on to the ungodly. But in verses 13 to 21,

you have the Lord's final call, the pleading, urging

invitation, begging people to come to Jesus Christ and
receive the gift of eternal life before it is forever too
late. This is God's final plea.
Follow as I read. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed
are those who wash their robes that they may have
the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates
into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers
and the immoral persons and the murderers and the
idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying.
I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these
things for the churches. I am the root and offspring of
David, the bright morning star and the Spirit and the
bride say, `Come,' and let the one who hears say,
`Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come, let the
one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I
testify to everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them God
shall add to him the plagues which are written in this
book, if anyone takes away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God will take away his part
from the tree of life and from the holy city which are
written in this book. He who testifies to these things
says, `Yes, I am coming quickly.' Amen, come, Lord
Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.
Amen."
God's final call. God's last invitation. Now there are
two features to be considered as we look at this text.
First there is the invitation and then there is the
incentive to respond to the invitation. The invitation

itself in verse 17, and then all around it the incentives

to drive folks to make the right response.
Now the invitation then actually comes in the middle of
the passage. As you can imagine at the end of a book
like this and beyond that, at the end of all of the
revelation of God, the sixty-sixth book, the final
chapter, the final part of that chapter, you can imagine
that there is a gathering together of a number of
things. And indeed that is the case. But in the middle
of these final words there is a clear invitation and it is
the heart of the text. We find it in verse 17. Let's go
back to that verse.
"And the Spirit and the bride say, `Come.' And let the
one who hears say, `Come.' And let the one who is
thirsty come, let the one who wishes take the water of
life without cost."
Now the emphasis of that verse is "Come." We have
to understand, however, that there are distinctions to
be made in this verse because the term "come" has
two distinct meanings. The first part of the verse is a
prayer. The second part is an invitation. The first part
of the verse is addressed to Christ. The second part is
addressed to sinners. The two halves, then, do not
refer to the same persons or the same coming. And
that is a distinction that you need to make very
carefully.
The first part is the Spirit and the bride calling for
Christ to come. The second part is calling unbelievers
to come to Christ. Now look at it with that in mind.

"And the Spirit and the bride say, `Come.'" That's fairly
clear, the Holy Spirit and the church. The church has
already been identified repeatedly as the bride. We
have seen that as far back as chapter 19 where the
church was identified in verse 7 as the bride who
made herself ready, was clothed in fine linen, bright
and clean, which is the righteous acts of the saints.
And then the Marriage Supper of the Lamb was
introduced and we have read about that through these
final chapters.
So the bride is the church and the Spirit is, of course,
the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit and the bride say,
"Come." And to whom are they saying that? Well go
back to verse 7, "Blessed is he..." pardon me, the first
part of verse 7, "Behold, I am coming quickly." Then
verse 12, "Behold, I am coming quickly." And then as
we read a moment ago, verse 20, "Yes, I am coming
quickly. Amen, come, Lord Jesus." And so what we
have here is the Spirit and the church answering the
promise of the soon coming by saying, "Come, Lord
Jesus." They want the Lord to come. It is the desire of
the Holy Spirit, it is the desire of the church that Jesus
come.
Now, first of all, why does the Holy Spirit desire Jesus
to come? Why would the Holy Spirit be saying,
"Come, come, come?" Well the text doesn't tell us but
it doesn't take much to stretch our minds beyond this
one text and understand why the Holy Spirit wants
Jesus to come. There would be both a negative and a
positive reason. The negative reason would be that
throughout the years of the age of grace, throughout

the time up until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,

men and women of the world have continued to reject
Christ, ignore Christ, deny Christ. They've even
mocked and blasphemed the work of the Holy Spirit
whose task it is to point them to Christ. And even
before that in the Old Testament, you remember that
the Spirit of God was striving with men to lead them to
the truth before the Flood, that exhausted the patience
of the Holy Spirit who will not always strive with man.
And then there were the forty years of wandering in
the wilderness while Scripture says Israel provoked
the Spirit of God, according to Hebrews chapter 3
verses 7 and 8.
And so the Spirit has labored long to bring about
conviction and repentance and has been striving and
fighting and agonizing over sinful men, while they
have been provoking Him throughout the centuries.
But nothing, I'm sure, nothing in the Old Testament
era, even before the Flood, certainly after, nothing
through the church age as we know it today, nothing
has reached the apex of blasphemy that has been
true of the time described in the Great Tribulation in
the book of Revelation. And again nothing reached the
proportions of blasphemy that could equal the end of
the Millennial Kingdom when Satan was released and
gathered all the blaspheming multitudes from across
the earth for a final rebellion against the reigning
Christ. By the time you come to the great white throne
judgment, the accumulated blasphemy will have
reached its ultimate proportions. And all along the
Holy Spirit through the struggle would be wishing that
Jesus would come. So when the Lord says, "I come,"

the striving, grieved, quenched, blasphemed

agonizing Holy Spirit echoes, "Come. subdue Your
enemies and Mine, judge sinners, end this long battle
to produce conviction."
But then there's a positive side as well. It is the desire,
it is the work of the Spirit, as you know, to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ. He shows us Christ. He points to
Christ. And obviously the last time the world saw
Jesus lifted up, it was on a cross and He died in
shame between two criminals, rejected, despised,
mocked and murdered. And the Holy Spirit desires to
see His fellow member of the trinity exalted in beauty
and splendor and power and majesty and triumph. So
it's no wonder that He says, "Come, come and take
the glory due Your name."
This is a good indication that the purposes of God are
the purposes of the trinity of God. The Lord Jesus
says, "I'm coming." The Spirit says, "Come." The
Father has laid out the plan.
What about the bride? Why does the bride, why does
the church, the bride of Christ, the bridegroom say
come? For obvious reasons, we too are weary of the
battle against sin, as is the Holy Spirit. We too long for
the exaltation of Jesus Christ. We who are the church,
who belong to Christ, His sheep who love Him, who
long for Him to bring us to Himself, we have been
waiting and praying and hoping and watching and
longing for the coming of the Lord. God's people have
always longed for this. They've always longed for the
day when the serpent's head would be bruised,

crushed, he would be destroyed. God's people ever

since in the very beginning, when God announced
redemption, that there would be someone who would
come and bruise the head of the serpent, God's
people have longed for that destruction to come so
that righteousness could prevail and sin be destroyed.
So here you have then the Holy Spirit and the church,
the people of God, the bride, in harmony, together
longing for the return of Jesus Christ. They too want
no more sorrow, no more tears, no more crying, no
more pain, no more death. No more rebellion, all glory
to God, all glory to the Lamb, a dwelling place for
God's people in the Father's house, immortality,
Christlikeness, the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
and God dwelling among His people, the glorious new
Jerusalem, eternal riches, all of that. It's not wonder
that the church and the Holy Spirit long for the return
of Christ.
It's what Paul talks about in 2 Timothy 4:8 when he
says, "We love His appearing." In fact, I would
suggest that it's incongruous for a person to be a
Christian and to say they are a lover of Jesus and not
to look and long for His return. We are destined for
fellowship with Him and it should be that our
anticipation of that fellowship is our chief joy. The
church would never be satisfied until it is presented a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but that it should be holy and without
blemish. So the church and the Holy Spirit cry,
"Come."

Then the second half of the verse. "And let the one
who is...pardon me...and let the one who hears say,
`Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the
one who wishes take the water of life without cost."
Now we have a change. This is an invitation not to
Christ to come, but to the sinners to come to Christ.
Notice it carefully. The first one says, the first phrase
says, "And let the one who hears say, `Come.'" To
whom does this refer? It's somewhat difficult
admittedly, but the simplest and best explanation is
the one who hears the message. "He that has an ear"
simply means the one who's listening, the one who is
listening and believing, the one who's hearing with
understanding, the one who hears the Spirit and the
bride say come, the one who hears Jesus say I'm
coming. Let that one say come, let that one join in. Let
that one chime in and say come. And he can't chime
in and say come until he's come to Christ, that's the
implication.
The Bible frequently pictures unbelievers who have no
ears to hear but on the other hand, there are those
who do have ears to hear, and they are the ones who
become redeemed. And man must desire to hear. He
must want to hear the voice of God, to believe the
Word of God. And when he has ears tuned to hear the
voice of God, he can hear with faith and believe.
That's what he's talking about. Let the one who is
hearing with the ears of understanding and the ears of
faith join in with the church and the Spirit. It's all those
who are not yet saved, and not yet in the church. Let
them join and say come. And they're kind of the

transition group. They'll say come with the Spirit and

the church, but they can't say it until they have come
as those in the second half of the verse are invited to
do. You can't say come until you've come. No
unsaved man is going to say, "Come, Lord Jesus,
Come, Lord Jesus." They're going to scoff and mock
as they did in 2 Peter chapter 3, they're going to say,
"Ah, where is the promise of His coming for since the
fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the
beginning of creation." They're going to mock the
return of Christ. They're going to mock the fact that
Jesus is coming.
But the one who hears, who is that? Hearing is
associated with obeying. Hearing is associated with
obeying. In fact, often in the New Testament hearing is
synonymous with obeying. Those who obey the
gospel and come will join with the church and they will
join with the Spirit in longing for the return of Jesus
Christ. And if you apply that, for example, to people
today, if you apply it to people during the time of the
Tribulation it fits, all of those of you who are outside
the church and who are outside the ministry of the
Spirit of God, you come and you join and say come.
It's kind of a play on words. Before you can say come,
you have to come. And so the end of the verse, "Let
the one who is thirsty come." The one He's talking to,
the one who has ears to hear, now listen, is the one
who is thirsty. Let the one who's thirsty come. Let the
one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
And so he turns to that reality that before you can say
come, you have to come. But before you're going to
come you have to want to come, and that's all about

spiritual thirst. Here then is the invitation to sinners

made clear.
What does thirst indicate? It indicates a recognition of
need. When you say you're thirsty, you are identifying
your need. It is only when the sinner feels the dryness
of his soul, it is only when he knows his heart is
parched and barren that he's interested in coming to
drink. Here you have then the prerequisite of
repentance, understanding one's need. And it was this
that Jesus started really His ministry with. In Matthew
chapter 5, very familiar words, verse 6, "Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they
shall be satisfied." It all starts with a spiritual hunger, a
spiritual thirst. In John chapter 6 and verse 35, "I am
the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall not hunger
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." And in
the seventh chapter of John and verse 37, "If any man
is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." And all that is
doing is demonstrating the reality of need. You know
your soul is dry, your heart is parched and barren.
That's why you're listening. That's why you're hearing.
And then he adds another dimension to it in verse 17,
"And let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who
wishes take the water of life without cost." That's
hosthelon, that translates, "whosoever will." Whoever
wants to, whoever desires to, whoever wishes to.
You're thirsty and you wish to have your need met.
That, by the way, is an unlimited invitation. Typical of
the gracious and wide offer of salvation that you see
in Scripture. It is essentially what Jesus said in John
6:37 where He said, "All that the Father gives Me shall

come to Me and the one who comes to Me I will

certainly not cast out." If you're thirsty it's because the
Father has begun to move on your heart and you've
recognized your need. And if you come because you
want to take the water, it's because you've been
prompted to come and there's no way the Lord would
ever turn you back. So whoever wants to come, He
receives.
In other terms, Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28, He
said, "Come unto Me, all you that labor under heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest." He uses another
metaphor to describe the same thing. Not thirsty, but
weary, not needing water but needing rest. And all you
have to do is come. If you sense the need and you're
eager to come and you desire to come, then come. It's
not something that you have to find out about first,
like...are you qualified? Here is, by the way, human
volition in salvation. I don't ever like to use the term
free will because man has a will, it's just not free. But
here is human volition, God saves but not apart from
our desire. Salvation then is offered to those who
know they are parched and barren and who desire to
have that changed.
And then there's one final component. First is the
recognition of need, second is the desire to have the
need met. And thirdly, he says let the one who wishes,
or whosoever will take the water of life. Take the water
of life without cost. That's appropriation. You
recognize your need, you know where the supply is,
and you take it by faith. That's what "without cost"
means, free to you. The only prerequisite, a

recognition of need and a desire and a willingness to

take. Your heart is parched for forgiveness, your mind
is thirsty for truth, your soul is thirsty for purpose, and
the Lord Jesus waits to quench your thirst eternally,
and the water that He gives you is so fulfilling that
you'll never thirst again. That's all it takes. It's without
cost. As Isaiah said, "Come, without money and
without price." There's the invitation. You see your
need, and you see the supply and you take it by faith
and not by works. The price has already been paid by
Christ. Very simple terms.
And so the invitation is there in verse 17. The church,
the Spirit say come, anyone who is hearing with
believing ears who has come, joins in and says come,
and the invitation then is extended to everyone who is
thirsty, who sees where the supply is, to come and
take the water of life freely. That's the invitation.
Salvation is free cause the price was paid.
Now surrounding that invitation in verse 17 are the
reasons to accept it, the incentives to the invitation.
The invitation and then the incentives. What moves us
to that invitation? To be honest with you, it is not easy
to pull all of this material together, but I think the best
way to understand it is that it circles this invitation. And
the invitation is the heartbeat of the text and all the
rest kind of surrounds it.
Now let me show you how that kind of falls together.
First of all, the first incentive to accept the invitation is
because of Christ's person...because of Christ's
person. The first reason to accept the invitation to

come and take the water of life which is eternal life, as

we've already learned, the first incentive is because of
who Christ is. It's because of who's inviting you, none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven,
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the glory of the
eternal new Jerusalem. I mean, think about it. What
he's going to say to us here is as simply understood
as this...we get invitations to go to various places,
some we accept and some we don't. I suppose our
acceptance has a lot to do with who invites us, is that
not true? And if whoever invites us is important
enough in our judgment, we are more likely to accept
the invitation.
How bout if the eternal incarnate God, the King of
Kings, the Lord of heaven, the glorious Lord Jesus
gave you an invitation. Would you respond? Purely on
the basis of who He is? A response is demanded.
Verse 13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first
and the last, the beginning and the end."
Now here the Lord is speaking personally...personally.
And He's identifying Himself with the same
terminology we found back in chapter 1 and verse 8,
right at the beginning. This closing has many
components from the very beginning of this great
apocalypse. In chapter 8 verse 8, "I am the Alpha and
the Omega." Here again He reminds us of that.
Chapter 21 verse 6, He said it again, "It is done, I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the
end."

Why this? Well, the readers of the book of Revelation,

the original readers were, of course, Gentiles.
Because of that in that part of the world, they spoke
Greek. And so the Lord in His inspiring of this
designation of Christ identifies Him by the first and last
letter of the Greek alphabet, Alpha being the first and
Omega being the last.
What is the point of that? It expresses infinity. It
expresses eternity. It expresses the boundless life of
God which embraces everything, includes everything
and transcends everything. And it is then explained in
verse 13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega means I am
the first and the last, I am the beginning and the end."
Now that's just three different ways to say basically
the same thing, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
beginning, that is to say the source of all things. He is
the end, that is the goal of all things, the
consummation of all things. He is the eternal
transcendent infinite God. That kind of designation
identifies completeness, timelessness and sovereign
authority. He is not just another man, He is not an
angel, He is not a created being, He is not some
superhuman genius, He is not a distinguished martyr,
He is God eternal and almighty...the beginning and
the end, the first and the last.
Such identifications, by the way, are also given by the
prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 4, "I the
Lord am the first and the last, I am He." And then in
Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 10, again, "Before Me
there was no God formed and there will be none after
Me, even I, even I am the Lord."

In Isaiah chapter 44, the very next chapter, verse 6. "I

am the first and I am the last." What does that mean?
It means there's no God beside Me. And then over in
chapter 48 and verse 12, "Listen to Me, O Jacob, I am
He, I am the first, I am also the last and My hand
founded the earth," and so forth and so on. He is the
only God. He is the Alpha/Omega. He is the beginning
and the end.
Jesus Christ is the everything. If there is an ark in
which the family of Noah is saved, that ark is a picture
of Jesus Christ. If there is a lamb slain at the
Passover, that lamb is a picture of Jesus Christ. If
there is a kinsman redeemer, that kinsman redeemer
is a picture of Jesus Christ. Before time, after time,
and all during time He is the theme of everything. He
is the everything. And at His designation as Lord, Paul
says to the Philippians, "Every knee shall bow." To be
saved is to be saved by Christ Jesus. To be a
Christian is to be in Christ Jesus. To have forgiveness
is to be forgiven by Christ Jesus. To have hope is to
hope in Christ. To live is to live in Him.
To leave Christ out of a life is to leave the sun out the
day, is to leave the moon out of the night, is to leave
the waters out of the sea, the floods out of the rivers.
To leave Christ out of a life is to leave the grain out of
the harvest, the sight out of the eye, the hearing out of
the ear, the life out of the living. He is the everything.
And when He gives you an invitation, it's an invitation
you ought to respond to.

Verse 16 further identifies Him in His own words,

verses 13 and 16, "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to
testify to you these things for the churches. I am the
root and the offspring of David, the bright morning
star." He is the author, He is the source behind
everything that's been described in Revelation. I,
Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these
things. The angels have brought the Word but the
source is Jesus. It is Him who gives this revelation
and this final invitation.
This is not a human call, is what he's saying. This is
not a human call, this is the Lord Jesus calling. I
cannot imagine anybody getting an invitation from the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end, Jesus Himself and not
responding to it. This is not a human fantasy. This is
not all written by some committee. This is not a
concoction of John's imagination. This is not a fake.
This is not a forgery. "I, Jesus." That is a unique
expression in Scripture, showing how personal this
revelation and this invitation really are. My angel, they
all belong to Him, all the holy angels, has brought it
but it is from Me.
Now notice He says, "My angel has come to testify to
you these things for the churches." Of course we note
all the way through the book is written to all believers,
but its message must be preached to the whole world.
But believers have to preach it so it's written to them
to preach to the rest.

And then to further identify Himself, the one who is the

author of this and of all Scripture, says, "I am the root
and the offspring of David." That is an absolutely
astounding statement. What He means to say is, "I am
both the ancestor, the root, and the descendant, the
offspring, of David." How could you be an ancestor
and a descendant at the same time? As the root, He is
saying I am the source of David's life and line. That is
deity, my friend. But as the offspring, He was the Son
of David's life and line, and that is humanity. There
you have one of the clearest statements of the fact
that Jesus is the God/Man. He is the root of David's
life and line, that is He is deity who created David. He
is the source of David. And He is also the Son of
David, and that is to say He is human, He was born
into this world in the Davidic line. Only the God/Man
can be both the root and the offspring of David. Isaiah
talks about Him as a root, as a branch and an
offspring.
And He is both. In 2 Samuel, and I would just have
you turn to it for a moment because it's a text that
shouldn't be overlooked. Second Samuel chapter 7
verse 12, this is that great text of Messianic promise.
Verse 12 of 2 Samuel 7, "When your days are
complete," speaking here to David, "and you lie down
with your fathers," you die, "I'll raise up your
descendant after you who will come forth from you
and I'll establish his kingdom. He shall build a house
for My name and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom forever." He was looking at Solomon but he
was looking past Solomon to the Messiah. There was

more here than just Solomon because this kingdom

was going to be forever.
and down in verse 16, "And your house and your
kingdom shall endure before Me forever, your thrown
shall be established forever." The promise of the
eternal kingdom.
Jesus then was the source of David and also the very
fulfillment of David's prophecies as one born in the
Davidic line, His mother was in the line of David and
so was His father Joseph.
In Psalm 132 verses 11 and 12, "The Lord has sworn
to David a truth from which He will not turn back of the
fruit of your body, David, I will set upon your throne."
Out of your loins will come kings and the ultimate
King. And so it is that Jesus fulfills all messianic
requirements. He is both God and Man.
Paul emphasizes that same reality in 2 Timothy 2:8
when he says, "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from
the dead...that refers to His deity...descendant of
David...that refers to His humanity."
Who is giving the invitation? The transcendent,
eternal, infinite Lord. Who is giving the invitation? The
One who brought David into existence and the One
who was born in his family...the God/Man.
And beyond that, He says in verse 16, "I am the root
and the offspring of David, the bright morning star."
And this, beloved, is a title with rich meaning. For a

Jew to call someone a star was to exalt him. We do

that even today. We say this person is a star. We even
put a star in the pavement down in Hollywood. And we
could debate about whether those people are really
stars, but in somebody's mind they are. I guess in the
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce they are. We talk
about a star in athletics. We talk about a star in the
music field. Someone who shines brightly for all to
see.
And the Jews did that. They used that term "star" to
refer to someone they wanted to lift up and exalt. For
example, the rabbis used to call Mordecai a star.
Mordecai, you'll remember, was the one that God
used to deliver Israel from what amounted to
genocide. And Mordecai was such a hero he garnered
the name star.
The covetous prophet Balaam, we all remember him
because his donkey talked to him, you remember that
Balaam was moved by the Holy Spirit, contrary to his
own wishes, and he made a prophecy. That prophecy
is in Numbers 24:17. And what he prophesies is that a
star will come out of Jacob. That star shining more
brightly than any other was none other than the
Messiah, the hero of all heroes. That's what He
means, "bright morning star," the shining one, the one
who stands out against the backdrop of all others.
It says of Him, Luke 1:78, "Because of the tender
mercy of our God with which the day star from on high
shall visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death." That's a messianic

anticipation. The day star is coming, the shining one is

coming. How marvelous.
Malachi predicted this. In 2 Peter 1:19 we have the
prophetic word, "Made more sure by which you do
well to pay attention to a light shining in a dark place
until the day star...till the day dawns and the morning
star arises in your hearts." The day is coming and the
morning star is going to rise. That morning star, that
day star is none other than Christ, the star of stars, the
hero of heroes. And when it says in Revelation 2:28
that faithful believers will be given the morning star, it
means they will be given Christ.
The morning star, by the way, is the brightest star and
it announces the arrival of the day. And that is
uniquely fitting for the Lord Jesus Christ because
when He comes, the brightness of that star shatters
the darkness of man's night and heralds the dawn of
God's glorious day. The dawn of Kingdom glory. He is
the morning star who appears right before the
Kingdom dawns. Remember back in John 8 He said,
"I am the light of the world, and whoever walks in this
light will never be in darkness." This is the glorious
person we're talking about. What a glorious person
who has called us to drink of the water of eternal life.
And we have to ask the question, how could anyone
turn this down? How could anyone turn down an
invitation from the eternal transcendent infinite God of
the universe, the source and goal of all that exists, the
creator God and yet the Son of David, God/Man, God
in human flesh, the day star who signals the kingdom

of righteousness, none other than the Lord Jesus

Christ, the highest star in the whole galaxy of persons,
the only light in the darkness who brings the glory of
God? When this one says, "Come to Me and take the
water of life," how can you refuse such an invitation?
The invitation that I give to you as a preacher, the
invitation that any believer gives to you who speaks to
you about Christ is only an invitation that we offer in
behalf of Christ. He said, "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest." He
said, "O everyone that thirsts, come and drink." He
said, "Him that comes to Me I'll in no way turn back."
So, that's the issue. Here the invitation because of
who offers it to you, because of the person of Christ.
Secondly, here the invitation not only because of the
person of Christ, but because of the exclusivity of
heaven...because of the exclusivity of heaven. Not
only because of the ultimate nobility of the person who
offers the invitation and the deserving honor and glory
that is His when you respond, not only because of that
but because of the exclusivity of heaven. Notice
verses 14 and 15. "Blessed are those who wash their
robes that they may have the right to the tree of life
and may enter by the gates into the city," and of
course we know those things are in heaven, the tree
of life, the gates. "Outside are the dogs, and the
sorcerers, and the immoral persons, and the
murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves
and practices lying."
This section begins with the last of seven beatitudes
in Revelation, a beatitude is something that begins,

"Blessed are," or "Blessed is." And this is likely Jesus

speaking. If I were doing a red-letter Bible, I would
have made red verses 14 and 15 as well. But verse
14 said, "Blessed are those who wash their robes."
Blessed are those who wash their robes. That's simply
a symbol of being forgiven. Back in chapter 7 verse 14
we have that symbol defined for us. When the
question by John is, "Who are these clothed in white
robes and where did they come from?" verse 13. "And
I said, `My lord, you know.'" One of the elders asked
the question and John says, "You're going to have to
tell me, I don't know." And the elder said to me...the
elder said, "These are the ones who come out of the
Great Tribulation...here it is...and they have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb." That is simply a graphic way to say they have
participated in the death of Christ, right? We've been
learning all about that in our study of the
substitutionary death of Christ. The people whose
robes are washed are those who have been cleansed
by the blood of the Lamb, those who have been
placed into Christ and He has paid the penalty for
their sins.
Blessed are those who have washed their robes, who
have been forgiven of their sins by being united with
Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 64:6 and in Zechariah 3:3,
soiled robes represents sinfulness. And the idea of
removing sin by cleansing is given in Psalm 51 verse
7, and Isaiah 1:18. The writer of Hebrews also refers
to the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, that is to
say being immersed in His death is how we are
purged from sin, how much more will the blood of

Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself

without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from
dead works? First Peter 1, wonderful statement, 1
Peter 1:18 and 19, "Knowing you were not redeemed
with perishable things like silver or gold from your
futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but
with precious blood." That blood cleanses from sin.
And so, He says then in verse 14, "Blessed, happy,
are those who washed their robes that they may have
the right to the tree of life." The tree of life is where? In
the New Jerusalem. That is correct. It is indicated to
be in the New Jerusalem very clearly in the
description of heaven, in chapter 22. "Either side of
the river was the tree of life with its twelve kinds of
fruits."
And so, what He's saying is the only people who are
going to be in heaven eating the tree of life are the
ones who have a right to it. The only ones who have a
right to it are the ones who have been forgiven of their
sin, who have been cleansed, who've been immersed
into the death of Christ, whose blood is therefore
satisfied God as an atonement for their sin.
And then He adds, in verse 14, "And may enter by the
gates into the city." Back in chapter 21 and verse 21,
the twelve gates were twelve pearls and, of course,
they were the entrance into the new Jerusalem, the
capital city of the new heaven and the new earth. So
what He's showing you here is simply heaven and the
capital city, the tree of life, the gates and the only one
who will go through the gates and eat the fruit is the

one who has been cleansed. They're the only ones

who have the right to enter and the right to eat.
Nobody else. That is the exclusivity of heaven.
If your sins are not forgiven, you won't be there. It's
that simple. You have an invitation, it is offered to you
by the Supreme Being of the universe. He has
prepared an eternal home that is only for those who
have been forgiven, who have been washed, who
have been cleansed, who have been purified, whose
sins have been removed by the precious blood of
Jesus Christ. And if your sin is not dealt with, you can't
come in.
So now we have extended these magnificent images.
We started out with thirst and water meeting the thirst,
that's a felt need and that's part of coming to Christ.
Being overwhelmed with your sin and knowing your
soul is barren and parched and wanting to have a
quenched...a quenching water for that thirst. But
that...that's to satisfy us. Now we're coming to the side
of redemption that is to satisfy God, and those who
enter into that place are not only those who sought for
their own soul satisfaction but for whom God has been
satisfied, because in putting their trust in Jesus Christ
their sins were covered by their atonement. And
heaven is exclusively for them.
Well, there's more to say but I'm going to stop at this
point because I can't finish and I want to leave enough
for another message. Verse 15, I believe our Lord is
still speaking, continues the discussion of heaven's
exclusivity by saying, "Outside are the dogs, and the

sorcerers and immoral persons and murders and

idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying."
Boy, there are some fascinating things there. Just a
hint, the word "dogs" refers in Deuteronomy 23:18 to
homosexual male prostitutes who were considered
the lowest of the low in terms of perversion. There are
many other things in those terms that describe who
won't be there if their sins are not forgiven.
But I want to close, in case someone listens to what I
just said, by saying this, even a male homosexual
prostitute can be forgiven and cleansed because in 1
Corinthians 6 the Apostle Paul writes that there are
some people who are not going to make it into the
Kingdom and here they are, "Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the
Kingdom of God." Listen to the next verse, 1
Corinthians 6:11, "And such WERE some of you but
you WERE washed, but you were sanctified, but you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." It
can happen to anyone who comes.
The invitation is from the Supreme One of the
universe, how can you turn it down? And heaven is
exclusive. On the inside are those who have been
washed. On the outside are those who haven't. Let's
bow together in prayer.

Father, we acknowledge that we are not worthy to be

considered as citizens of heaven because we don't

deserve it. We should be on the outside, actually we

are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral
persons and idolaters and the ones who love and
practice lying, but we've been washed. That washing
took place when we were so profoundly thirsty and
burdened over our own sin and we saw that there was
forgiveness in Christ and we came and drank like a
thirsty man. And all we had to do was come and take
freely. And we know You offer us the water of life, the
water of salvation. You offer us forgiveness and
cleansing from sin. You offer to any who will come to
Christ, confess their sin, accept His sacrifice on their
behalf, repent and submit all to Christ. And let the one
who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take the
water of life without cost. What an invitation. No cost,
free. And all that's required is that we want it and that
we ask and receive. May that be the response of
many hearts in the name of Christ. Amen.
*******************************
Well let's open our Bibles to the final chapter of the
Bible,
the
twenty-second
chapter
of
Revelation...Revelation chapter 22, God's last
invitation. The Bible opened with a promise, the
promise of a coming Savior, the promise of a coming
deliverer who would rescue people from their sin. That
promise came in the third chapter of Genesis and the
fifteenth verse. "He shall bruise you on the head, and
you shall bruise Him on the heel." That is a promise of
a deliverer, that is a promise of a Savior, one who
would come and rescue men by destroying the
enemy, Satan himself.

The Bible then begins with the promise of a Savior

and that is how it ends. Verse 20 of this last chapter,
"Yes I am coming quickly." Only this is the promise of
His Second Coming whereas Genesis 3 was the
promise of His first coming. W.A. Criswell wrote this,
"First the Savior is to come that He might be crushed,
bruised, crucified and made an offering for sin. He is
to come to die as the redeemer for the souls of men.
After God made that promise in Eden, hundreds of
years past, millenniums past, and the Lord did not
come. When finally He did arrive, He came unto His
own and His own received Him not. He was in the
world and the world was made by Him and the world
knew Him not. The thousands of humanity had
forgotten the promise or else they scoffed at its
fulfillment. When finally announcement came that He
had arrived, the learned scribes pointed out the place
where He was to be born, but never took the time to
journey the five miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to
welcome the promised Savior of the world. But
however long He delayed and however men forgot
and scoffed and however few of a faithful band waited
for the consolation of Israel as old Simeon, yet He
came. In keeping with the holy faithful promise of God,
the Lord Jesus came.
"It is thus...says Criswell...in the text that God speaks
in closing His Bible, `Surely I come quickly.' Here a
second time. However infidels may scoff, however
other may reject and however the centuries may grow
into the millenniums, this is the immutable Word and
promise of the Lord God, `Surely I come.'"

And it is all throughout Scripture reiterated. In the Old

testament there are many prophecies of His first and
second coming. In the New Testament, many
prophecies of His Second Coming. In Jude 14, for
example, it says, "Behold, the Lord came with many
thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon
all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly
deeds which they have done in an ungodly way." He is
coming not as a Savior, but next time as a judge. And
thus you have at the end of the book of Revelation,
not so much a promise as a warning.
We have been looking at this tremendous closing
invitation. The whole book of Revelation, of course, is
the prophecy of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It
is the apocalupsis, it is the apocalypse, the revealing,
the manifestation of Jesus Christ. It is the final
statement on the unveiling of the glory of the Son of
God when He returns and every knee bows and every
tongue confesses that He is Lord. And this book which
is all about His Second Coming ends with a final
invitation in the light of that reality. As the revelation
reaches its end, and the certainty of Christ's return is
now clear, the Holy Spirit calls for a response. First of
all, in verses 6 through 12 a response from Christians,
the response of immediate obedience, immediate
worship, immediate proclamation and immediate
service.
But secondly, beginning in verse 13 and down to the
end, a response from non-Christians. God's final plea
is given to those who are still rejecting. This final

section we can divide into simply two points...the

invitation and the incentives to respond.
The invitation comes in verse 17. And I'm just going to
briefly review what we talked about a couple of weeks
ago. The invitation comes right in the middle of this
passage, from verse 13 to 21, surrounded by the
incentives. But we have to start with the invitation.
Verse 17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, `Come.'
And let the one who hears say, `Come'. and let the
one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes take
the water of life without cost." We suggested to you
that there are two parts to this verse. The first half is
the plea for the Lord to come. The second half is the
plea for sinners to come to the Lord and join the plea
for Him to come.
First of all in verse 17, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and
then the bride which is the church, they desire the
Lord to come because they want to see the end of sin,
they want to see the exaltation of righteousness, they
want to see the glory of the Kingdom, they want to see
the majesty of Jesus Christ, they want to see the
enemy Satan destroyed, sin dealt with and the eternal
glory of God manifest throughout the universe. So the
Holy Spirit and the church are crying, "Come." The
striving, convicting grieved quenched and blasphemed
Holy Spirit says, "Come." And the struggling,
burdened, troubled, sinful, weak church says, "Come."
The Holy Spirit wants Christ to come because He
wants the work of redemption completed, the enemies
of hell banished. The church wants to be a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,

but holy and without blemish. And so the Spirit and the
bride say to Christ, "Come, come, come."
And then the verse shifts in the middle and others are
invited to say come. Anybody who hears the message
of the gospel and joins the church and joins the Spirit
can say come, Lord Jesus. And then comes the call to
sinners, let the one who is thirsty come, let the one
who wishes to take the water of life without cost. And
there is the call for sinners to come, to recognize their
need, to see the source of help for that need in Jesus
Christ and to take of the water of life without cost.
Salvation, we noted last time, comes to those who
recognize their desperate threatening condition in sin
which is here pictured as thirst. Salvation comes to
those who understand the provision God has made in
Christ, who see Him as the living water and who
repent and believe, taking and drinking what is
provided for them.
So
there
is
the
invitation
to
sinners,
come...come...come, join the Spirit and join the bride,
eagerly awaiting the return of Jesus Christ. You don't
need to look at the return of Christ as a frightening
reality, if you'll come to Christ you can love His
appearing and you can anticipate it.
So, first of all, we looked then at the invitation.
Secondly, and what occupies the surrounding text is
the incentives to respond. There is the invitation to
come and the incentives to come. And there are a
number of incentives.

We began to look at them last time, and let me remind

you of the first one. We are to come, sinners are to
come, because of Christ's person...because of
Christ's person. Remember verse 13 He said, "I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end." And down in verse 16 He
says, "I am the root and the offspring of David, the
bright morning star."
What is the significance of that? It is this, it is not just
anyone who is calling the sinners to come, it is none
other than the Alpha, the Omega, the first, the last, the
beginning, the end, the root and offspring of David,
the bright morning star. And those are all titles for
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the living Lord, the
eternal, infinite transcendent one, He is the source
and end of all, He is the goal and consummation of all.
He is the root of David, that is He is the source of
David, that is to say He is deity, He is God. He is also
the offspring of David, that is to say He is a child of
the line of David, that speaks of His humanity. He is
the God/Man. And then He is called the bright morning
star. I told you the Jews used the term "star" to
describe a hero. He is the hero of heroes, the
brightest star, the morning star that shines brightly to
shatter the darkness just before the herald of the
dawn.
It's not just anybody who is inviting the sinner to come,
it is the majestic living Lord of heaven. The preacher
is not the inviter, He is. He is the One who has sent
the invitation, we just deliver it. O what a majestic one

calls you to eternal life, calls me to eternal life, calls

every sinner to eternal life, to turn down the invitation
is to spurn the Supreme Being in the universe. And
such an affront to Him comes with an immense cost.
Secondly, the incentive to come is because of Christ's
person, and secondly because of heaven's
exclusivity...because of heaven's exclusivity. And this
is really where we stopped last time.
There's another compelling reason to come to Christ,
another compelling reason to believe in the One who
died and rose again, to repent of your sin and
embrace Him as Savior and Lord. And that is because
of what verse 14 and 15 says. "Blessed are those who
wash their robes that they may have the right to the
tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and immoral
persons and the murderers and the idolaters and
every one who loves and practices lying."
What that tells us is about the exclusivity of heaven. It
is not a place for everyone, everyone doesn't go there.
There are some people in verse 14 who are inside,
participating in the tree of life, there are others who
are outside, shut out, according to verse 15. It is likely
that in verses 14 and 15 Jesus is still speaking, and if
I had been the editor on a red-letter Bible, I would
have made sure that all the words from verse 12 clear
through verse 16 were in red, because I think there's
no reason to assume our Lord is not continuing to
speak right here.

Look again at verse 14, "Blessed are those who

washed their robes." This refers to the idea of
removing sin by purging by cleansing, such as we saw
in Psalm 51 verse 7, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, and
other places in Scripture. And we noted that the only
agency by which such cleansing can be accomplished
is by the blood of Jesus Christ. First Peter 1, very,
very familiar and very important Scripture says, "You
were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or
gold from your futile way of life, inherited from your
forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." It is
the blood of Jesus Christ, it is the death of Christ, His
atoning work that alone can wash away our sins.
This is again repeated in the book of Hebrews, in fact,
many times. I think of just one verse, Hebrews 9:14,
how that the blood of Christ who through the eternal
spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanses
us from dead works to serve the living God.
It is only those then who have been washed, it is only
those who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ
who have the right to the tree of life and may enter by
the gates into the city. Only the cleansed have the
right to enter, only the cleansed have the right to eat.
The new Jerusalem and as well the new heaven and
the new earth is only for those who are cleansed of
sin. So forgiveness is the requirement for anyone who
would enter into heaven. That's why the gospel
promise includes forgiveness.

Listen to it in the words of Paul. It says in Ephesians

1:7, "In Christ we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses." If our sins are not
washed away, cleansed away, absolutely and totally
forgiven, we cannot enter into heaven. And the world
is full of people who assume they're going to get to
heaven apart from that, but they're not. One sin shuts
you out. This is a compelling exclusivity. The only way
to heaven is to have your sins forgiven by faith in
Jesus Christ and in His death and resurrection. That is
the only way.
Then verse 15 on the other hand says,
"Outside...outside the new Jerusalem, the new
heaven and the new earth are the dogs and the
sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers
and the idolaters and everyone who loves and
practices lying." Outside.
Look at chapter 21 verse 27, the last verse of that
chapter. You remember that chapter described for us
the new Jerusalem, describes for us the eternal
heaven, the new heaven and the new earth. And in
verse 27 it says, "Nothing unclean and no one who
practices abomination and lying shall ever come into
it, but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life."
Heaven is exclusively for those who have been
cleansed, those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life. Now where are these people that
are outside? Verse 15 of chapter 20 tells you, "If
anyone's name was not found written in the book of

life, here's where he was, he was thrown into the lake

of fire." Heaven is exclusively for those who are
forgiven. And it is abundantly clear from verse 15 of
chapter 22 that if there's any sin to be held against
your account, you're going to end up in the lake of fire.
Verse 15 gives you a list of sins, a list of descriptive
sins. Mark this, it is not exhaustive. Somebody might
read it and say, "Well let's see, I'm not a dog, a
sorcerer, an immoral person, a murderer, an idolater,
or one who loves and practices lying, I'm just a thief
so I'm not included." That's not the idea. These are
not exhaustive, but these are representative.
Over in chapter 21 verse 8, the cowardly and
unbelieving and abominable and murderers 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. So again
we know that being outside means to be in the lake of
fire and the list there is a little bit different, indicating to
us that this is a representative list and not an
exhaustive one. These are people who will still bear
their sins and the punishment for them.
Now I want you to look at this list because while it is
very apparent, what He's talking about in most cases,
there is at least one word here that might baffle you a
little bit and that is the first one, "Outside are the
dogs." We have domesticated the dog pretty much in
our culture so we might not understand that. In fact,
you might have a little dog that is more friendly to you
than other members of your family. That seems to be
true in some cases. You may look at your dog almost

as if your dog had a personality and something more

than just instinctive behavior. And you might cherish
your little dog, taking very fine care of it. That was not
how dogs were treated in the ancient world. They
were often called curs. They were scrounges. They
milled around the garbage of the city and they were
despicable creatures, for the most part. And calling
someone a dog was referring to the person of the
most low character. Dogs were not particular about
what they did in view of everyone. They had no desire
to hide the list...the lest desirable functions, and you
well know that. Dogs will leave their mark anywhere
and everywhere. And they were synonymous with the
lowest, the scum. Such indications are found even in
the Old Testament as well as in the New.
For example, and I won't read a lot of them, but just a
couple to give you the idea. Second Kings chapter 8
and verse 13, "Then Hazael said, `But what is your
servant, who is but a dog that he should do this great
thing?" To call someone a dog was the lowest. In fact,
the Jews would call the Gentiles dogs and that was an
epithet that infuriated them and demeaned them. In
Isaiah 56:10, talking about unfaithful men who were
supposed to be in spiritual leadership, it says of them,
"All of them are dumb dogs, unable to bark." It is used
as well in the New Testament with similar kinds of
significance. It is used, I guess we could say, and I
was looking for some words to describe it as simply as
I could, it is used to describe the impudently impure. It
is used to describe those who were blatantly impure.

Now this may really surprise you. The first reference

where dogs are used to describe humans because of
their impudently impure behavior is Deuteronomy
23:18. You can write it down if you want to look it up.
Deuteronomy 23:18, and it refers to homosexual
prostitutes, male prostitutes for homosexuals and they
were the lowest of the low...the lowest of the low.
They're going to be outside the Kingdom.
And so are sorcerers, that refers to people engaged in
magic, drugs, pharmakiais the word from which we
get pharmacy. Magic was associated with drugs,
supposedly to induce some euphoria and some
ascent to the deities. It engaged them also in demon
activity.
Outside are immoral persons, pornosfrom which we
get pornography, those who commit immoral sexual
acts. Outside are murders, that's pretty clear. Outside
are idolaters, those who worship other than the true
God. Outside is everyone who loves and practices
lying. And here then we have then another
representative list like the one I mentioned earlier in
chapter 21 and verse 8, a representative list very
much like 1 Corinthians chapter 6. The New
Testament is full of these. Neither fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals,
thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers shall
inherit the Kingdom of God, that's 1 Corinthians 6.
Galatians chapter 5 has another such list. It talks
about those people who will be outside the Kingdom,
immoral, impure, sensual. It talks about their sin of
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, outbursts of

anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying,

drunkenness, carousing and things like these. You
have a similar list in Ephesians 5:5.
Now the point that I want to make out of verses 14
and 15 is simply this, hear the invitation, my friend,
because heaven is exclusively for people whose sins
have been cleansed. It isn't that none of us have ever
done those things, it is that we have been forgiven.
Who doesn't want to be forgiven? The one who
cherishes that sin. And if it is unforgiven, if you do not
come to the foot of the cross and embrace Jesus
Christ, you will die in your sin, Jesus said in John 7,
and where I go you cannot come. You will not go to
heaven, you will burn forever in the lake of fire.
And so, the invitation is...let the one who is thirsty
come and let him take of the water of life without cost.
There's no charge, just come and drink, receive
eternal life, receive forgiveness. And you should be
compelled to do that because of the person who
asked you and because of the exclusivity of heaven.
You will be left out if you are not forgiven, and you will
not be forgiven unless you come to Christ who alone
grants forgiveness.
Thirdly, and this too is a vital incentive. Come because
of the glory of the person who invites you, come
because of the exclusivity of heaven, and come
because of the truthfulness of Scripture. Come
because of the truthfulness of Scripture. It is so
important that the Bible ends with an affirmation of its
truthfulness. And that is found in verses 18 and 19. "I

testify to everyone who hears the words of the

prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God
shall add to him the plagues which are written in this
book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
from the tree of life and from the holy city which are
written in this book."
Now these words are to be heeded. This is not the
first affirmation of Scripture in this chapter. Go back to
verse 6. The angel who is speaking to John says,
"These words are faithful and true." And then in verse
10, and he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of
the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." The
words are true, they must be proclaimed and they
must not be altered. Don't add to them, and don't take
away from them, they are true, proclaim them.
Sinners need to respond because of the truthfulness
of these words. This is the Word of the living eternal
God. And you better respond. If in endeavoring to
avoid the clear revelation of God you add something,
shall be added to you the plagues that are written in it.
If endeavoring to avoid what it says you take away
from it, you will have no part in the tree of life.
Now all through Revelation we have faced the doom
of those who reject Christ. The world has been
destroyed, as we have seen through this panorama of
the future. People have been plagued and tortured
and starved and shaken and demonized and scared
and maimed and killed and damned and consigned to
a lake of fire. And all of those pictures, all of those

visions, all of those prophecies are true. That is

exactly what will happen, that is exactly what is
happening now as people are going to hell without
Christ.
And then Jesus Himself adds a further statement
about the permanence of this truth. Verse 18, and I
believe this too should be in red letters, "I testify," I
don't think that's John, I think that's Jesus speaking.
Why? Because verse 20 says, "He who testifies to
these things says yes, I am coming." Here our Lord
Himself offers an extended word of testimony
regarding the authority and finality of the prophecy. He
had commissioned John to write it, but He was the
author of it. "I'm telling you, this is true, don't tamper
with it, don't add to it and don't take away from it."
Now notice what He calls it. "I testify to everyone who
hears the words of the prophecy of this book." First of
all, obviously He has the book of Revelation in
mind...the book of Revelation is prophecy. It says it
there. The words of the book of this prophecy. These
words make up a book that is prophetic. This is a
prophecy.
Do you realize there are people who don't even want
to admit that? This is a prophecy. It was given through
John the Apostle who was the prophet. It was a
prophecy that came through a prophet. And John was
that prophet. He was that spokesman.
Back in chapter 1 verse 3, it says, "Blessed is he who
reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy."

And here it is a prophecy in the predictive sense. This

is a prophecy put in a book, authored by God through
a prophet not to be tampered with. This is a warning.
It's really a way to guard the book. This is very
important. It's not a new way to guard a book, it's an
old way. In fact, way back in Deuteronomy, in the
Pentateuch, the first collection of books that God ever
inspired, listen to what you read in Deuteronomy 4:2.
And Deuteronomy, remember, was the last book in the
Pentateuch which was the first book, really, the first
volume given by God through Moses. But listen to
what it says in Deuteronomy. "You shall not...verse
2...you shall not add to the word which I am
commanding you, nor take away from it." That's the
same thing precisely. Don't add to it, don't take away
from it. Don't touch it. Take what it says exactly as
God gave it. In Deuteronomy 12 again comes the
warning. Verse 32, "Whatever I command you, you
shall be careful to do, you shall not add to, nor take
away from it."
In the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs, this, too, I find very
interesting. The thirtieth chapter of Proverbs and
verse 5, "Every word of God is tested, He is a shield
to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His
words." Isn't it interesting? For the Pentateuch there is
such a warning. Here in the wisdom literature, there is
such a warning.
And then in Jeremiah, I'll give you one other
illustration of this, in Jeremiah 26 and verse 2, "Thus
says the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's House
and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to

worship in the Lord's House all the words that I have

commanded you to speak to them, do not omit a
word." Not a word, not a single word should be
omitted.
Now here you have the same kind of thing at the end
of the Scriptures, don't touch a word, don't add to it,
and don't take away from it. The warning forbids any
alteration of this book, but this is not just this book,
because we've heard this warning repeated over and
over in the passages I just read you and we could
safely extend it to all of Scripture.
You say, "Well why didn't He put it at the end of
Romans? Why didn't He put it at the end of
Ephesians? Why didn't He put it at the end of the
book of Acts? Why didn't He put it at the end of
Hebrews?" He put it at the end of Revelation because
Revelation is at the end of revelation. It's at the end of
the New Testament. It's the end of all scriptural
revelation and so it goes to sweep across all that has
been given. And He also put it at the end of
Revelation because Revelation, God surely knew,
would be the book most assaulted, and that is the
case.
The warning forbids any alteration of this book and
any alteration of anything that God has ever written,
which goes for all sixty-six books. These words of
Jesus then head off any attempt to add or subtract
from the book's content through some deliberate
falsification, some distortion of the teaching in it. And

that would go for a purposeful, falsification and

misinterpretation.
Now remember, this book of Revelation when it was
written, immediately when it was disseminated to the
seven churches, it would have been very unpopular,
for example, with Jezebel and her followers who were
at Thyatira. It would have been very unpopular with
the propagators of the false religion of the
Nicolaitanism. It would have been very, very
unpopular with those at Thyatira who had embraced
the deep things of Satan. It would have been very
unpopular with the Jewish slanderers mentioned in
chapter 3 verse 9. And it would have been very
popular...unpopular with many others. And so they
would have immediately began to assault it, and they
did. And they're still assaulting it.
And so, is the warning...don't tamper with it. It refers to
Revelation, now listen to this, but since
Revelation...follow my thought...takes the biblical
story, takes biblical history, takes redemptive
history...follow this...all the way to the very end,
doesn't it? This book takes us all the way to the
eternal state, all the way to the end, the eternal lake of
fire, the eternal new heaven and new earth. This book
takes us all the way to the very end. That's why it's the
last book written, written several decades after the
earlier New Testament books. It takes the account of
God's plan all the way to the end, so there's nothing to
be added to it.

Then we could also say, anything added anywhere in

the Scripture to any book in the Scripture would have
to be added to Revelation because Revelation is the
end. If you wanted to add to Scripture, it would have
to be post the book of Revelation, wouldn't it? So
anything added anywhere is added to Revelation
which is the end, and there's no need to add anything
because the story goes clear into the eternal state,
nothing more needs to be said.
Dr. Thomas has just completed his second volume, he
teaches, of course, at the Master's Seminary, and
completed his second volume on Revelation and in
that volume he has a paragraph, it's not yet published
but will be in a few months. This is what he says, "The
predictive portions project from John's life time all the
way into the eternal state. Any type of prophetic
utterance would intrude into the domain of this
coverage and constitute either an addition or a
subtraction from Revelation's content. So the final
book of the Bible is also the concluding product of
New Testament prophecy. It also marks the close of
the New Testament canon since the prophetic gift was
the divinely chosen means for communicating the
inspired books of the canon," end quote.
That really sums it up. No more revelation, no more
gift of prophecy in its revelatory sense. Nothing needs
to be said because everything is said clear out to the
end. There's nothing more to add. No more Scripture
to be given. And now we can take the delivered
Scripture and give it to the saints intact.

"If anyone," verse 18, "adds to them, God shall add to

him the plagues which are written in this book."
There's nothing more to add. The canon is closed.
The gift of prophecy in its revelatory sense is ended,
no more prophets to speak, not more apostles to
write, no more words from heaven, no more spiritual
visions. And the pledge here, the warning here is to
those who do add to Scripture...whether they are
liberals or higher critics or false prophets or frauds or
fakes. Those who tamper with truth, to falsify it, to
mitigate its message, to alter it or going to feel the
vengeance of God. There's nothing that you need to
add to this. And to add to it is to incur its judgments.
Then verse 19, "If anyone takes away from the words
of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part from the tree of life from the holy city which are
written in this book." It's equally dangerous, of course,
to diminish Scripture.
There are some people who wouldn't want to add to it,
they just want to take away from it. I remember when I
was in seminary, studying liberal theology, we came
across a theologian who had finally concluded there
were only twenty-three verses in the whole Bible that
were actually inspired by God. And there was a great
effort made to inform all of us as seminary students
about German(?) higher criticism, which set its
goal...set as its goal to demythologize the Bible.
Liberalism,
old
liberalism,
new
liberalism,
neoorthodoxy, whatever you want to call it, higher
criticism, the Groffwell(?) House and JAPD(?) theory,
all of that kind of stuff that you learn about in

philosophy and in seminary, sets out as its objective to

strip from the Scripture everything that offends the
sinner. But God shall take away his part from the tree
of life and from the holy city which are written in this
book. Those kind of people won't be in heaven.
"Take away" is a play on words. You take away from
the words of this book and God will take away your
part in heaven. The part you might have had if you
hadn't tampered with Scripture. Now you have to
understand a true believer wouldn't tamper with
Scripture. You see, anyone who knows God, anyone
who knows Christ, anyone who is on the way to
heaven is going to treat Scripture with great respect,
is going to say with the psalmist, "O how I love Thy
law." Is going to say, "It is my delight every day." You
see, God's Word is absolute, true, faithful, permanent
and complete, not to be altered, not to be changed,
not to be added to, not to be taken away from. And
true believers understand that.
Now the fact that this warning is here indicates
several thins to me. First of all, it indicates that men
would be prone to tamper with Scripture, and probably
prone to tamper with Revelation more than any other,
and that has been true. Secondly, it indicates that men
would deny its validity because it is so specific,
prophetically. And that has been true.
But it also indicates to me that the Holy Spirit wants to
make a final sweeping statement about what you do
with Scripture all together. And the bottom line is, God
has written it, don't erase it and don't expand it.

You say, "This concerns me a little bit because maybe

I've been guilty of that." Maybe you are saying that
and maybe you have. Let me help you to sort some
things out. First of all, our Lord is not threatening
those believers who make an error in judgment. He's
not threatening those who make an error in
discernment. He's not threatening those who have
rendered an inadequate interpretation. What He is
doing is threatening unbelievers who engage in
deliberate falsification and emasculation, and
deliberate and deceptive misinterpretation, those
whom Paul calls corrupters of the Scripture. No real
believer, no real lover of the Lord of the truth, no one
born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of
God, no one washed by the cleansing blood, no one
regenerated by the washing Word would willfully
mutilate the Scripture. He wouldn't willfully poison his
own food. He wouldn't do that.
A true believer would say, with David, "O how I love
Thy law." A believer may say I don't understand it all, I
am not able to explain it all, I may not interpret it
exactly with precision every time, I may not always
touch the depths of it, I may not be able to understand
its mysteries, but I love it and I would never tamper
with it. That is the sign of a true believer.
Jesus even said that. In John chapter 8 and verse 31,
Jesus said this, "If you abide in My Word, then you are
truly disciples of Mine." If you abide in My Word. If you
rest in My Word. If you hear and obey My Word.
That's what He's talking about.

Over in John 14 verse 23, "If anyone loves Me, he will

keep My Word." And then at the very least it's true of a
believer, that the Word of God is everything to us, as
babes we desire the milk of the Word that we may
grow. No, believers don't adulterate the Word of God.
Believers don't tamper with the Word of God. True
Christians keep it, honor it, love it. We may wrongly
understand some parts of it, our theology could be off
here and there, but this is not a willful assault on the
truth.
The great commentator of years past named Seiss, Se-i-s-s, wrote what I think is a very helpful paragraph.
Listen to this. "With an honest and prayerful heart and
with these solemn and awful warnings before my
eyes...he writes...I have endeavored to ascertain and
indicate what our gracious Lord has been so particular
to make known and defend. If I have read anything
into this book which has not been put there, or read
out of it anything which He has put there, with the
profoundest sorrow would I recant and willingly burn
up the books." He was a writer. He wrote this
commentary, he wrote A commentary on Revelation.
Further he says this, "If I have in anything gone
beyond the limits of due subjection to what is written,
if feebleness or rashness or overconfidence in my
own understanding has distorted anything, I can only
deplore the fault and pray God to send a more
confident man to unfold to us the truths which here
stand written. According to the grace and light given
me, I have spoken. If I err, God forgive me. If I am
right, God bless my feeble testimony. In either case

God speed His everlasting truth," end quote. Isn't that

a great statement?
The Word is true. Revelation in all of Scripture is true.
True Christians believe it and keep it and love it and
obey it. The fact that it is true is incentive enough that
the sinner better come because what it says is going
to happen is in fact going to happen. And you will
have no part in the tree of life which is the picture of
eternal life. You will have no entrance into the gates of
the eternal city.
So the invitation and the incentives, respect for the
person who gives you invitation, the exclusivity of
heaven, and the truth of the Word of God. And finally,
one last point, sinners should come because of the
certainty of Christ's return...the certainty of Christ's
return. One final time, verse 20, "He who testifies to
these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly."
"Amen...says John...Come, Lord Jesus."
One last reminder, the last words Jesus spoke, these
are they. One last reminder. John hears from the Lord
Himself, the last words Jesus spoke heard on earth,
the next will be the shout when He comes for His
church. The last words, "Yes, I am coming quickly,
soon. It's going to happen, folks, exactly the way the
book of Revelation describes it. It's certain. And John
affirms...Amen...that means, so let it be, let it be,
"Come, Lord Jesus." What does that mean? It means,
I'm ready...doesn't it?...I'm ready. Like Paul it means,
"I love His appearing. I long for His appearing." Peter
recognized that there were false prophets, who

scoffed at the coming of Christ. Their love of

sensuality, their greed caused them to mock the return
of Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter chapter 3 these mocking
scoffers come and say, "Where is the promise of His
coming, for ever since the fathers fell asleep, all
continues just as it was from the beginning of
creation." Everything is just going along, it will keep
going along, it's the theory of uniformity, it will always
be the same. It won't. And Peter reminds them, "Have
you forgotten the Flood that destroyed the whole
world?" Things aren't going to continue the way they
are. Jesus is coming and when He comes everything
in Revelation will happen. Can you say, "Amen,
Come, Lord Jesus?" I can. I trust you can.
And then the benediction of the Bible. And wouldn't
you know...wouldn't you know that if the Lord was
going to pick a last word it would be grace? And you
just thought we arbitrarily named this church. The last
word is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
Amen." And the last thing the Bible says that there is
available to sinners...what?...grace...grace. After all
this, grace. Is it yours? Are you ready?
You know, as we think about these prophecies,
prophecies in Scripture, it's like looking at a sky full of
stars and you look up in the sky and sometimes on a
very clear night and you see all these stars all over
the place and for all you know, if somebody hadn't
looked up there with a telescope or flown around in
one of those tin cans that are in orbit up there, for all
you know we could just be inside a globe and all of
those are just little dots painted on that surface. They

really all look like they're kind of out there in the same
location, like the lights in this building as we look up at
them. But the fact of the matter is, you're looking at
stars that all appear to be just kind of shelf, on the
underside of the roof of the sky, in reality they are
billions of light years apart from each other. They don't
appear that way to us. But they are. Billions of light
years separated from each other.
And you know, that is how it is with prophetic truth.
We look at the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel,
the Olivet Discourse of Jesus, we look at the things
that Zechariah said and the other prophet Scriptures,
Isaiah, Jeremiah. And we see this tremendous
panorama of stars. But what we can't see is the
distance that separates all these prophetic things. And
so I just remind you in the end, the timing of these
events and the spacing of these things, unless it's
particularly stated, is not known to us. So we live all
the time with expectancy. And yet sometimes
wondering...Well why doesn't it happen? And
everybody who tries to figure out the sequence gets it
wrong.
The point is, everybody all the time better be ready,
and watchful and alert because He comes in a time
that no man knows and in an hour when you think not.
Until that hour there is grace. May the grace of the
Lord Jesus be with you all. Let's pray.

It's been a joy, Father, to spend these several years in

this book. Little did we know the adventure we were in

for when we began. But how it has changed us, how it

has shaped us, how it has given us a whole new
sense of time and eternity, a whole new view of the
future and consequently the present. O how we
rejoice that Jesus is coming and how we say with
John, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." I pray for sinners,
unrepentant and unredeemed, unforgiven that they
might hear the invitation to come and they might know
that it is You, the living Lord of heaven, inviting them.
What a magnanimous and amazing thing that You, the
eternal Holy One, would invite sinners to come. May
they realize the exclusivity of heaven, that's it's only
for those who have been forgiven and none of the
others will ever enter but will spend eternity in the lake
of fire. And may they know full well that the Bible is
true, that the Word You have written is true and that
You are coming very soon. We just don't know how
soon.
May all of us be prepared and watchful for the One
who comes like a thief in the night, may we be ready.
And may we be looking and loving the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our God and Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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