Holiness, Wrath, and Mercy

Ai Transcript

Mark Oshman (00:00.494)

Good morning. Good to see all your faces. feels maybe the overcast, you feel a little muted today. So I'm going to need you to help me out a little bit. Just a little. Give me a little bit more. Okay, so we're in Revelation, the last book of your Bible. If you have a Bible, you can begin to turn there. I'm going to read our passage this morning and then we will jump in. If you're just joining us, we're working our way through this last book.

as a encouragement to our souls. And so we're in Revelation chapter 15 and 16. I'll read chapter 15. It's just eight verses. As I read, ask you to listen carefully. This is God's Word.

John writes, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last for with them, the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, and nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the Tent of Witness in heaven

was opened. And out of the sanctuary came the seven angels and the seven plagues clothed in pure white linen with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and

Mark Oshman (02:09.597)

No one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, now as we come under your word, I pray, Lord, that you would meet us in this space. Lord, you know every person here. You know every life circumstance they find themselves in. You know their past, present, and future.

And so Lord we ask now that you would give us what we have not. What we are not you would make us what we know not you would teach us for the glory of your name we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well what do we do when we come once again to a passage that is hard or at least in our cultural moment and the cultural air that we breathe. What do we do with the hard passages. The passages that talk about.

God's wrath so openly and freely or what do you do with those passages maybe in the Old Testament that that are difficult to read and you kind of win said or or even the hard sayings of Jesus. You know we have a picture of Jesus in our mind but there are times in the Gospels where he says things and does things where you're like that doesn't seem very Christ like. What do you do with your Bible when it.

confronts your cultural narrative. I mean, I think there's some options that there is the option to ignore it, right? Like, let's just not go there. Let's you know, after all this, this book has a lot of words and and there's so many words and verses that that we do like we can throw them on t shirts and our coffee mugs, can go find them at Hobby Lobby. Not today. It's a Sunday, but you get the point, right? Like there's plenty here to just look at let's just kind of

Let's ignore that. The problem with that option is, well, the things that we do love, the words that we love, the phrases that we love, the sentences and verses that we love that talk about, for example, the mercy and the grace of God. you ignore the hard things and you just point to those, what actually happens is the mercy and grace of God gets muted. Those words actually lose their meaning. Mercy and grace and love, they lose their meaning.

Mark Oshman (04:35.804)

without some context. So I don't think we can ignore ignore them. so others will try to explain them away. They'll say things like, well, you know, God was different back then. You know, the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. He's he's come along a little bit. And maybe he's he's kind of progress. He's a progressive God. He's changed his view on things. He's adapted his sexual standards and all these things like that's a obviously a terrible option.

as well. We know God is unmutable. That means he's unchangeable. This book, Revelation, has told us on repeat that he is the Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the end. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so explaining away the verses and passes we don't like isn't helpful either. So what do we do? I think what we do is recognize that this word, all of it from beginning into end,

is God's Word. It is meant for us. It is actually for our good. And so we sometimes need to put in some work. We need to wrestle with that which kind of confronts us or confronts our own thoughts, our own desires for how we would want God to be and ask the question, well, why is God like this? Today I want to put in some work. We have been working our way through the book of Revelation and

If you're just joining us, it's this apocalypse in this apocalyptic genre. It talks about how the world is both past, present and future. But it does it in such a way as to reach us at a different level. So this book, Revelation, was written at the end of the first century to a church that was being persecuted, a church that was seeing family members dragged off and put to death because of their faith in Christ, a church that had

cultural pressure to compromise, to just go along with the flow so that they could get all the benefits and blessings of being in the Roman Empire. And so John gets this vision and he writes to churches to strengthen them, to show them there's actually a lot more going on than meets the eye. And the whole point of Revelation really is to give some strength, some encouragement to those Christians and all Christians throughout the ages and to you and to me.

Mark Oshman (07:02.744)

Book of Revelation was meant to help us persevere to the very end. And the way John does it, I already said, is through this genre of apocalyptic literature. And it's just this way of using symbols and imageries that that teach us stuff that the Bible teaches us everywhere, but in a way that goes past just our our mental ability to understand and into our hearts and our emotions and our imaginations. And so there's all sorts of this graphic and visual

imagery that we're seeing. And again, we see that here today. And one of the ways that John does this is through what's called recursive parallelism. Recursive parallelism. is this, if you've been with us, there's been several times already where it seems like we've gotten to the very end. Jesus is on the throne. All the saints are gathered. They're worshiping God. You think it's over, only to start over again and again. It's recursive parallelism. So if you've ever seen

the movie Groundhog Day. That's recursive parallelism. It comes back to the same day, February 2nd, Bill Murray, but with nuance and there's some development even in the same day. Tolkien does this in The Lord of the Rings. You have these epic battles, but then they're retold through different people's perspectives. And just when you think it's over, the battle at home, Steve is good, Frodo slips out the back and here we go again. like, it's been like six hours. What's going on? Here we go again. Or...

The best example I can think of is the movie Inception. If you ever went to the movie Inception, you didn't know about recursive parallelism. Your brain just hurt and you came out. You're like, I don't know what just happened there. Welcome to the Book of Revelation. Right. It is again just going deeper and deeper, illuminating more. But again, this is happening. And so we're in this these sections. There are these three sections of seven judgments or wrath from God. And we saw the seals.

the trumpets, today we come to the bowls. Now they're not one after the other. They actually go back in and retell it from a different perspective. So the seven seals were from the perspective of the church that Jesus, the lamb of God, is worthy to open the seals and he's showing the church who is under persecution that God sees and God cares and God is actually at work. Even though it seems like Rome is winning, God is at work behind the scenes.

Mark Oshman (09:29.795)

And then we saw the trumpets. The trumpets are from the perspective of the unbelieving world, where they're experiencing the wrath of God. And instead of like turning to God in repentance, they continue in their rebellion. And so God pours out his wrath. But today, today we get to see the bowls. And if you were to take the bowls and put them right over the trumpets, if you put them in a table, you'd see, these are actually the same things, but different and more complete. In fact,

totally complete. And the perspective of the bulls is from the throne room of heaven. What does heaven think about these judgments? What does God think about them? What does the redeemed people of God in heaven? What do the angels think about these judgments? we see far from being like, an unnecessary part of the story. They actually delight in them. Like this is good. We are so

happy. Did you pick that up at all in this? We're going to kind of look at this. One of the things I want us to see today in Chapter 15 and 16, these get poured out in 17, 18 and 19. They get explained more. So we're not going to try to explain the bulls now, but I want you to see the backdrop behind all this. The thing that we have to begin to understand and wrap our minds around so it all can start to make sense. There is something going on.

behind the scenes that if we understood that we would see these bulls this wrath of God from God's perspective and we too would rejoice. Did you notice how they rejoiced. So the rescued and redeemed saints in heaven they're rejoicing in in chapter three they're they're saying great and amazing are your deeds O Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways O King of the nations who will not fear O Lord.

and glorify your name for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you and your righteous acts have been revealed. They're celebrating. It's this celebration of the song of Moses and the lamb. The Book of Exodus was a foreshadow of our Exodus into heaven. But in Chapter 16, we see angels are also excited about all this. They sing some songs down in verse five when the angel sings, Just are you, O Holy One.

Mark Oshman (11:56.435)

who is and who was for you brought these judgments for they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And I heard the altar saying yes Lord God the Almighty true and just are your judgments. Again they are excited about this but they give us a clue why they are excited both the saints and the angels. Did you pick it up.

In the Song of the Saints, they said, For you alone are holy. In the Song of the Angels, it starts out, Just are you, O Holy One. This is the clue. In fact, in our chapter, we see again what John does so often. He reaches back to Old Testament imagery to bring truth to us. So in verse five of chapter 15, says, After this I looked and the sanctuary

of the tent of witness in heaven was open. The sanctuary of the tent of witness. And if you were a first century Christian reading this, you would immediately think of some passages in the Old Testament. You would think of the tabernacle and the temple, the sanctuary of the tent of witness. So after the Exodus, when God is with his people, he instructs his people to create a tabernacle. And the tabernacle and the temple are actually

just shadows of the ultimate reality that God is on his throne in heaven. But the shadow teaches us some things. What happened in the tabernacle? That's what we should ask. What was going on there? There's a few things that we need to recognize what's going on there. So in Exodus chapter 40, verse 30, sorry, verse 34 and 35, I'll put it on the screen. It says this. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting.

And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So you have this manifest glory of God coming down and dwelling in this place. And it's so overwhelming that Moses can't go in. No one can go in. We see this at the dedication of the temple as well. The glory comes down.

Mark Oshman (14:23.48)

No one can go in. I was thinking about this this week. How amazing it would be if we built our church building and then we just couldn't go into it for a week because the glory of God's in there. We can't go in there like it's too much. What's happening there. What's being communicated. Well there's a few things we need to think about and realize what's happening in there. So in this tabernacle or in the temple you go in it's the holy place but then you go in further into this inner sanctum.

the inner sanctuary, the inner holy place, the holy of holies and in there you might remember what's in there. There's the arc of the covenant that manifests presence of God on the earth is there and in the arc of the covenant is what? The tablets and on the tablets is the law of God, the standard, the holy standard of God. Now you need to know some things about the law of God. It is an exposition not an imposition. Let me explain that.

The law of God is an exposition on an imposition. So God created us. He created the universe. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He knows all things and it is his desire for his image bearers to flourish in the world. And he knows how he created us to flourish. And so God creates a law not to keep us from joy, not to keep us from happiness, but to give us a path to joy and

happiness. That's why I said it's not an imposition. We all, because of our sinful state, think it's an imposition. Why does God say, I can't do this? I want this. I go after that. We treat it as an imposition, but it's an exposition. It means this is the path to flourishing for my people. It is for your good. But of course, we know, we know all of us in thought, word, and deed have rejected that. We've all

gone down paths that are not for our good that lead not to our flourishing but to our destruction. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Romans chapter 1 saying essentially the same things he says this Romans 1 18 for the wrath of God and we're talking about wrath the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Mark Oshman (16:49.372)

Ultimately the problem that we have is that we have the truth but we suppress the truth. Paul will go on in Romans one and say for what could be known about God is plain to them. Since the beginning of creation what has been seen in creation both in our conscience and the light of creation that there has been truth revealed to us and what have we done with that truth? We've suppressed it. We've denied it to pursue our own thing.

We think God is holding out on me. And if I go after this thing, I will really be happy. And we've all done this in different ways. What is suppressing the truth look like for you? It looks like something for me. looks like something it can look like all sorts of things like I'm to go down this path. I'm going to have one drink, two drinks, five drinks. It's going to turn into a lot. What started out as kind of fun has now kind of dominated your life. That's a result of suppressing the truth.

I'm going to go after these things. I'm going to look at these images online and that's going to that's going to be joy for me. But but I'm to continue to give myself to those. I'm going to continue to suppress the truth. I know it's wrong but but I can't help myself. I'm to go down this line. And Paul says that's actually God handing us over to ourselves. And the wrath of God is coming in the brokenness of that path. We all go down those paths. It could be greed.

could be power, could be status, could be any number of things that we said, God, I don't believe you. I know what will make me happy. And we go down there and if you go further, far enough, you will feel the brokenness. So what do we do when we feel the brokenness? Well, what we see in chapter 16 of Revelation, what we do is we blame God. Three times in chapter 16, as God's wrath is revealed,

Look at verse nine. were scorched by the fiery heat and they cursed the name of God. They we curse God. Verse 11. They curse the God of heaven for their pain and sores. did not repent of their deeds. The very end verse 21 and great hailstones about 100 pounds each fell from heaven on people. Not that there are actual hailstones but this is a graphic apocalyptic image of giving ourselves to sin.

Mark Oshman (19:12.628)

wrath of God coming down, the brokenness that we've invited into our world coming. And it says, they cursed God for the plague and the hell stones because the plague was so severe. This is what we do. So that's the first thing about the tent of the sanctuary. Back in chapter 15, it says, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were there. The glory of God.

in the tabernacle and in the temple is where the manifest glory of God was. Now you and I were originally created to behold the glory of God. The problem is in our sinful state we can't possibly do that and survive. Like we are undone in that moment. In fact we'll see this in another scene where the glory of God comes into the temple in Isaiah chapter six. In Isaiah chapter six

says in the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah goes into the temple. What you need to know is Isaiah is the most righteous man in all of Israel, one of the most righteous men who has ever lived. And so he goes to do his priestly duty. He goes into the temple. And this day, something radically different has happened. In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe

filled the temple above him stood to serve him each had six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. there's these angelic beings who themselves are are glorious and and terrifying but but even then they have these wings they they cover their eyes that they cannot even look at the glory of God they cover their feet that they know that to even be in his presence there is

There is danger there. one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The backdrop by which we need to see everything and start to grasp is the absolute holiness of God. God is holy. Yes, we sing about it.

Mark Oshman (21:38.713)

But have you ever thought about it? Holy, holy, holy. In Hebrew and Greek, they didn't have exclamation points. The way you emphasize something is by repetition. You really wanted to make a point. You repeat it twice. Jesus would say, truly, truly, I tell you, when he says truly, truly buckle up, listen to what he's about to say. This is really important. You know, the only attribute of God that is thrice repeated in the scripture is his holiness for everything else proceeds.

from His holiness. He is holy, holy, holy. What is holiness? You might think of holiness as moral purity. That's true, but that's not essentially what holiness is. The word actually means to be set apart, to be distinct. There is nothing more distinct in all the universe than the Creator who stands apart. is

totally separate, totally other. He is holy, holy, holy in everything he says, does, and how he lived. The holiness and glory of God. We struggle with the wrath and judgment of God because we don't understand the holiness and glory of God. We don't get it, right? So we will say things or hear people say things or we might think things like

Man, I read this in the Bible and I saw this and man, you if I was God, I would do it differently. You're like, what? You would do it differently than the one who is eternal, the one who is omniscient, the one is omnipotent. You have some, you have some suggestions for God, right? You barely graduated high school, but you have suggestions for God. Now that's me. I'm the one that barely graduated high school. True story.

But because we don't understand the absolute blazing holiness and purity of God, we actually don't understand anything. We don't understand ourselves. If we don't come to have this kind of same experience that Isaiah has in some way, or form where we have just the briefest glimpse of God. In the moment that we get the briefest glimpse of the holiness of God, everything changes.

Mark Oshman (24:08.511)

moment we see God like that we actually see ourselves rightly for the first time. This is what what happens with Isaiah after he sees this he he isn't like that was awesome can't wait to run that back hopefully let's make a song about that no no he is terrified and rightly so says and the foundations of the threshold shook and the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke again we have an echo

of revelation 15 and he I said Isaiah said woe is me for I am lost again in the moment he sees God for who he is he sees himself for who he is again this is the most righteous man on the planet and in that moment he sees everything clearly your old translation might say I am undone that's a good translation I'm literally

unraveling at the seams. have seen God. In fact, that's what he says. For I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. When you see God as absolutely holy, holy, holy, it changes everything.

If the holiness of God is his intrinsic nature then the glory of God is God's holiness made visible and public. This is what we talk about when we say the glory of God holiness is what God is. Glory is what holiness looks like when it shines when it goes public. Let me give you two quotes. says when we understand God's holiness we'll begin to understand his wrath. So Leon Morris says this about the wrath of God one of the commentators I read this week he says the wrath of God.

is God's and settled opposition to all that is evil. His strong and settled opposition to all that is evil arising out of God's very nature. God's wrath is a burning zeal for the right coupled with a perfect hatred for everything that is evil. A burning zeal for the right coupled with a perfect hatred of everything that is evil.

Mark Oshman (26:31.307)

Another theologian, TF Torrance, puts it this way, the wrath which the angels are about to pour out upon the earth is a pure and sinless wrath, priestly in its function and golden in its integrity. No bestial passion, no spite, no hate, no anger of sin at all in it. It is perfect. This is why from the perspective of heaven, there is rejoicing that God is about to pour out wrath.

Again, though, remember the context to a church wondering, does God see, does God care that the idolatrous pagan Babylon, Rome, is dominating the people of God? Does God care at all? And the emphatic answer is yes, absolutely. God will deal with it. This is good news. Wrath is good news. Yesterday, my wife was

teaching in Montreal at a women's conference for church planting wives there and at the end of one of the sessions a woman came up to her. She introduced herself. She says I'm from Nigeria and she began to tell her story. Said I had to flee Nigeria because Boko Haram came into my village, took my daughter, murdered her. They went to the next village where my mother was and they burned her in her house.

and I barely escaped.

Mark Oshman (28:02.588)

One of the reasons why in the West we're like, I'm not comfortable with the wrath of God, because we're not confronted with absolute evil that often.

This is good news to that woman. God sees he will not leave any injustice hanging in the universe. But there is a problem. The problem is that God's standard is not our standard. His standard is absolute perfection. we want God to judge sin, just other people's sin. Not ours.

So we're in a predicament here, right? So we try to convince ourselves, well, I'm not that bad. I mean, I generally try to do good. And when we look around for morons, I'm better than him or her. I didn't mean to point at anyone here.

You see what I'm saying? We try to, oh, let's lower the bar as far as possible and then just hop over that. Yeah, see? I didn't murder anyone. I didn't commit adultery. I was a good dad. Like we do all these things to try to put our resume forward and Isaiah, Isaiah, who actually saw the glory of God, what does he say? He says, there's none who are righteous. No, not one. No one seeks after God. No one.

He says later on he'll say, even our good deeds, the ones that we think are actually good, they're helping people out, they're doing all these things. He says they're like filthy rags before a holy God. So we have a problem.

Mark Oshman (29:39.802)

On one hand God's holy wrath is absolutely perfect and good on the other hand we are under it. But even in Chapter 15 and 16 we see there is good news. It's bracketed actually maybe you saw it in the first verse there of Chapter 15. So then I saw another sign in heaven great and amazing seven angels with seven plagues which are the last for with them the wrath.

of God is finished. then in chapter 16 verse 17 says the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and the loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it is done or your translation might say it is finished.

How is the wrath of God finished? It is finished. It is finished. Where have we heard this echo before? John the apocalypse writer is now calling back to John the gospel writer. John chapter 19. Jesus on the cross. Look what Jesus says as Jesus goes willingly in our place. He's put on flesh. God had veiled in veiled in flesh.

The one who is the glorious one, the one who spoke the universe into existence, puts on our flesh and willingly goes to the cross and willingly invites the sin of man on himself. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. He goes on the cross and on the cross he is bearing the full weight of the wrath of God. And in verse 28 of John chapter 19 it says this, after this Jesus knowing that all was now finished.

said to fulfill the scriptures, I thirst a jar full of sour wine. Or your translation might say bitter wine. Think about the wrath of God and the wine of God. The sour wine stood there and they put a sponge full of this sour bitter wine on a hissa branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour bitter wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up.

Mark Oshman (32:00.449)

Spirit. See, even in this passage about the wrath of God, that there is this offer, there is mercy and grace on the table for you and for me this morning. See, when we see God as holy, holy, holy, how much more glorious are concepts like grace and mercy. It's not until you understand what you actually deserve

that grace and mercy mean anything. We presume upon the grace and mercy of God. God doesn't owe any of us grace or mercy. God would still be God. He'd still be holy, holy, holy if there was no grace and mercy, if there was no Jesus on the cross. But there is a Jesus on the cross and there is an offer of grace and mercy. You mean to tell me that though I deserve the wrath of God, that Jesus took it in my place? Grace, grace, grace, praise God. You mean to tell me

that I deserve the bowls of wrath on my head, but Jesus took those in my place. Praise God. This is why grace and mercy are so glorious because God is holy. Our sins, are many. His mercy is more. His mercy is more in your life today. So I want to pray in a minute. I'll invite the worship team to come back up here now.

But there's two people, two groups of people I want to just talk to about. So where's the worship team? Come on up here now. They weren't, I didn't tell them ahead of time, but because I'm about to pray. But I do want to just take a moment and give you a chance to respond. So you might not be a believer here. The Bible will call you a suppressor of the truth.

If you are someone who are realizing maybe for the first time that yeah I have suppressed the truth. I have gone down paths that I thought would lead to life and have only led to death. There's mercy on the table for you this morning. I'm going to in a moment I'm going to pray but you can pray with me and and turn your life to Christ. And the Bible says that in the moment you do that you will become a new creation. Today you can become a new creation.

Mark Oshman (34:24.317)

And the moment you do that, when you stop suppressing the truth and turn to Christ in faith, the Bible says that God will transfer you from the domain of darkness and bring you into the kingdom of the Son he loves. He will put his Holy Spirit in you to live a life that honors and glorifies him. You don't have to be a suppressor. There's mercy on the table. So in a minute, I'll deal with that. The other one is for Christians. If you're a follower of Jesus.

My heart for you as your pastor is that you would recognize our sins. There are many. His mercy is more. I think so many of us live, though we're Christians, we live like we're still under wrath. We live defeated lives. We live bound up. We live kind of frustrated in our souls. when our head hits the pillow at night, we don't feel mercy and grace. We feel condemnation and struggle and brokenness and sin.

What I want you to do this morning is just to realize His mercy is new every morning. Amen. Every morning. That's good news because we spend it every day. I do. I already have this morning a little bit. I've had to go to God and be like, thank you for your mercy. Like the ocean waves just coming in rolling after after one after your other after another. I want to live out of that reality that I'm not under wrath. I'm under

Mercy because of what Jesus has done because it is finished. So again, I want to pray for us in this moment. I want to pray for suppressors. I want to pray for those that need mercy and just give you an opportunity to in your seat respond. So let's bow our heads and pray.

The Gravity And Glory of The Gospel

Ai Transcript

Mark Oshman (00:00.366)

you have your Bible, let's turn our attention to God's Word this morning. in Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14. A years, not a few years ago, earlier this year, I heard about something that had a kind of confluence of two of my passions. World War II history and surprisingly enough, church architecture. And when I saw that these two met in one place, I said,

I told my family, we need to make a day trip of this. It's about an hour south of Paris. this church site first had a church on it in the end of the third century. So it goes way back. Had different churches built on it over the years. Fires burned them down. But the current cathedral that is there now began construction in 1194. It only took

This is surprising for the enormity of it. It only took 30 years to build and it has some of the oldest and most well preserved stained glass and Christian sculptures in the world. so I knew I wanted to see that. But then I heard this story from World War Two. A guy by the name of Colonel Wellborn Barton Griffith is the center of the story. I mean, he just looks like a gangster, right? Like this guy.

I want to be him when I grow up. Well, here's the deal. In August 1944, as the Allied troops are pushing out of Normandy and beginning to make their way into various towns and to push the Nazis out, the Nazis were beginning to, and the Allies were finding that the Nazis were going into these towns and going into cathedrals and going up their tall spires and they would have spotters there to see the battlefield and they would have snipers there to take out

the allied troops. And so it became protocol policy for the the allied forces to just bomb these places out. Just take them out because they pose too much of a risk to the US troops and otherwise. And so one day in August 1944, Colonel Barton's in this meeting and they said, OK, we're about to go into this town called Chartres, France, and we need to bomb this this church because it's got these tall towers.

Mark Oshman (02:21.766)

And Colonel Barton was like, well, well, do we know for sure? They're like, well, we don't know for sure, but this is what the Nazis have been doing and we can't risk it. So, well, this is kind of a big deal. Like, maybe maybe we should go like confirm that there are Germans in in the church before we bomb it. They're like, it's too risky. It's too too much risk to our troops and otherwise. And besides, who is going to go?

And Colonel Griffith said, well, I'll go. And at great risk to his life, he and an enlisted guy went undercover, went into the town, went into the cathedral, searched it from the crypt to the spires, and reported back on the radio immediately, no enemies found. Hold off as the bombers were literally warming up to bomb the place. Because of truth and beauty, Colonel Griffith

risked his life. Later that day in a battle outside of Chartres, he died in battle. But he lived for truth and beauty. And I love that. So I had to go see this place. And we went there. I took my kids there. about an hour outside of France. It's hard to capture the enormity of this cathedral and its significance. Next picture here. This is one that I took.

Again, it's known for its oldest, most preserved stained glass in the world. That blue that you see is really, it's like trademark. And so I would take all these pictures. My daughters called me this week just to make fun of me. They're in college and they're like, hey dad, we were calling because we were laughing because you took us to this cathedral. And then after spending hours in the cathedral, you took us next door to the museum of stained glass for hours and we were going crazy.

Like why are we looking at so much of this. But I liked it. Next one. You can kind of see it again and then one more. Next one outside the church I think. OK so as you come into the west entrance you have these scenes that are above the doors as you come into worship and each one of them is a picture of Christ. So on the right we have Christ's incarnation. On the left you have the ascension of Christ but in the middle and we'll zoom into the middle here.

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In the middle is a picture from the book of Revelation. Christ on the throne surrounded by the four living creatures and the 24 elders. if you if we had a bigger picture you'd see those that are raised to righteousness and those that are condemned to hell. And imagine that symbolism and that imagery if you came to church every week and as you come into worship you are reminded of the ultimate reality that Christ is on the throne.

that there's more going on than meets the eye. Yeah. I don't think we're going to have this at our church, but that would be pretty awesome. Reformed church traditions have at least this one thing that I do think we'll have. As you go into the church and you go into the sanctuary, the doors of the church sanctuary are painted red to be a reminder that you enter in through the blood of Christ. Well, what this

that church is doing in sculpture. The Book of Revelation is doing for us in word it's pointing to symbols and that are pointing to the ultimate reality symbols and signs that point to that. And we're in this section in the Book of Revelation Revelation 12 13 and 14. There's it's kind of an interlude where John is getting this vision and he's pausing the movement and he'll pick it up again next week. But.

He's pausing to explore this idea that there are powers and principalities, real powers and principalities at work in the world making war against the kingdom of light. We saw that with the woman giving birth in Chapter 12. We saw that with governmental institutions and religious institutions in Chapter 13. And we'll continue to see through symbols and imagery pictures of what is actually going on behind the scene. And like so often in this book, we come to

Revelation 14 or at least I do and I read it at first and I'm like man that is bizarre and graphic in fact the most gruesome verse in all of the Bible is in Revelation 14 and so my first impulse is to kind of pull back but as I've dug deep into this chapter this week I am convinced it is absolutely gospel saturated absolutely gospel saturated before we started this series Rick and I were reading this commentary and

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The author, Daryl Johnson, if I was on a deserted island and I could only have one book of the Bible for the rest of my life, it would be the book of Revelation. And Rick and I looked at each other and we're like, I don't know about that. The author went on to say, the book of Revelation preaches the gospel more powerfully than any other book in the Bible. And again, I was like, OK, that's a big statement. And each week I've become more and more.

Convinced and that was the case this week as well this week. We're gonna see it's it's simple breakdown We're gonna see three angels proclaiming the gospel and then we're gonna see two harvests And it's gonna show us that the gospel is bigger than we think it is not just the ticket to get into heaven when we die There's more going on in the gospel. So we'll pick it up in verse 6 verse 6 the first angel

Says then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth to every nation and tribe and language and people. If you've been with this that phrase should sound familiar. But this is interesting. It says the angel and in Greek it just means messenger. Angel is the same as messenger. It says the angel goes out and proclaims an eternal gospel.

So I thought that was our job. I mean, that is the Great Commission, right? So is it the angel or is it us or is it both? Think about this. We often think about spiritual warfare, right? When we think of the realities that there are forces at work that are working against us and our family and even our country and the world, there's darkness in there and those are fallen angels. Why wouldn't it make sense that God's

angels also are fighting on behalf of the kingdom of light. This should fill us with confidence as we fulfill the great commission, as we open our mouths and tell people about Jesus. Not only do we have the commission from Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we actually have supernatural help in the spiritual world and the spiritual realm through angels. I don't know why we think of demons working against us, but we don't think of angels working

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for us as often. And so this is what he's saying. And here's the gospel it's reclaiming with a loud voice for seven. And he said with a loud voice fear God give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water fear God give him glory worship. This is gospel. Absolutely. It's a picture of.

what God always intended for his image bearers to be in right relationship with him to rightly fear him to give him glory to worship him when the gospel come it makes the world renewed and redeemed. So that's the first message. A second angel comes in verse eight a second follow saying fallen fallen is Babylon the great she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.

This is gospel to yes this is gospel to fallen is Babylon. By the first century Babylon as we know from the Old Testament there is this picture of a kingdom set against the kingdom of light a kingdom of darkness that that that told God we don't go your way we don't follow you we'll do our things we'll have our own sexual ethics. It is Babylon now by the first century it is represented by Rome the Roman Empire.

And when John writes this, there is no indication to these Christians at the end of the first century that Rome was anywhere close to being fallen. And yet the promise is any kingdom that sets itself up against the kingdom of God eventually falls. And this is good news because kingdoms that set themselves up against the kingdom of God do not promote the flourishing of humanity but suppress it. And so good news, Babylon falls.

It will always fall. Now the message of the third angel is the hardest one for us to see and it too is gospel. Remember who this is written to. This is written to believers under oppression persecution at the end of the first century and the angel comes and has a message. Verse nine. And another angel a third follow them saying with a loud voice.

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If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. This is something that's come up before and will continue to come up in the book of Revelation. But it is this God is love and therefore he has wrath. He is righteous.

He is holy. He is just. There will be no injustices that are left hanging in the universe. And so it is good news that God will come. But this is also a warning to the Christians, the Christians who might be tempted to go the way of Rome, that might be tempted to compromise their faith so that they can participate in all the blessings, earthly blessings of Rome. And it says, whoever has the mark of the beast. Again, that's not some...

strange esoteric mark on your hand or forehead. It is a lifestyle that is marked by the beast. It is a lifestyle giving yourself away to the things of darkness as opposed to the mark of the spirit. In the end, there are only two kinds of people, those that have the mark of the beast and those that have the mark of the spirit. And this passage begins to unpack a little bit more what that wrath is like.

said the person who has the mark of the beast when they received the wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger, he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lord. Tormented with fire and sulfur. Do I think it will be actual fire and sulfur? I don't know. I think that might be a sign, but if that is a sign, it is a sign of something far worse.

than fire and sulfur. Furthermore, sometimes maybe you've heard preachers say hell is the absence of God. God removes his presence. Well, there's two problems with that. Just the doctrine of God being one. God is omnipresent. He cannot not be somewhere. And furthermore, this verse not only says that God is presence in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb, he is fully present in hell.

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But He is withholding the manifest grace and mercy that He offers to us now. And He is a just and righteous judge in this moment. It is still gospel, but Jesus is there. He is warning His people, do not take the mark of the beast. Do not give up your faith. Persevere or else this is what's going to happen. Verse 11 is even scarier. It says,

goes up forever and ever.

It is eternal. It is conscious torment for those that take the mark of the beast. This should sober us. That there is an eternal wait to the gospel.

And when we as God's people read this verse, we should not be indifferent. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And some say, well, smoke, that might mean annihilation. That's what's happening here. Except for the very next verse. Not only does it go on forever and ever, they have no rest. There is no rest. Day or night, it's this picture of ongoing, eternal conscious torment. These worshipers of the beast.

and its image and whoever receives the mark of the beast.

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We said throughout this series that the book of Revelation does not teach us any new doctrine or truth. It just shows us in a different way. The person who speaks most about hell and its eternality is Jesus as he warns people. And even today, if you are under the wrath of God, you have embraced the mark of the beast, I plead with you to come out under the wrath of God and under the

waterfall of His grace and mercy. This could be grace to you this morning." Again, nothing is new that Jesus didn't first teach. Let me give a few quotes here. First one I was thinking about this week was from Marcy Sproul's book, The Holiness of God. In the holiness of God, we'll put that on the screen.

He writes this and this is one of my all-time favorite books. says this, Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the one to whom we owe everything. To the one who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the slightest sin of the most minute peccadillo? What are we saying to our Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point?

We are saying no to the righteousness of God. We are saying, God, your law is not good. My judgment is better than yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and beyond your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do and what you command me to do. Yeah. Jesus talked about the eternality of hell in Matthew chapter 25.

But the Bible also talks about those that are there are there by their own choosing. John chapter three, we know John chapter three, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life. But if you drop down to verse 19, it says this, this is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

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Again, one of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, in his book, The Great Divorce, says this, there are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, thy will be done, and those to whom God says in the end, thy will be done. All that are in hell, choose it. Without the self-choice, there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek, find.

those who knock it is opened. Romans chapter one talks about God handing people over to do what ought not to be done, calling God's wrath on themselves. This is a weighty passage and again it as the big idea of this whole section is that the gospel declares both the gravity of eternity and the glory of the lamb who saves. Like eternity

Eternity is at stake in our lives and in our world. Look at the next verses. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Why is this recorded for us as God's people? To remind us that this life has eternal implications. Every moment of our lives has eternal implications.

There is a weight to it. Verse 13. I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the spirit, that they may rest. Those in Christ, they get to rest. Those outside of Christ, they do not rest. Eternal conscious torment. Why is it eternal? Well, one, it is against the ultimate, holy, righteous sovereign. But beyond that, it is also eternal.

conscious punishment because they are eternally in rebellion to God forever. They are never turning to God. There is nothing in them that comes to God. They're continuing to deny His kingship and lordship forever and ever and ever. As C.S. Lewis says, the gates of hell are locked from the inside. Eternal rebellion deserves eternal judgment.

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go on to the two harvests. Now the first one is easy to understand. It's the second one that I want to spend some time in. 14, then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man. This is Jesus with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come.

The harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. This is a picture of salvation. Jesus reaping his own. Jesus died on the cross for his own and he knew his own. Jesus' death on the cross. He wasn't just hoping that some would be saved. We can look back at chapter 13 and see that those whose names are written before the

foundation of the earth have their names in the Lamb's book of life. This is a picture of salvation. But salvation when at the very end? Yes, but also now and in the past. John chapter four verse 35, Jesus says to the disciples, the fields are ripe for harvest now. So as we go out and we proclaim the gospel by the spirit and empowered by the angels and people come into the harvest, Jesus is swinging his sickle.

Well, there's a second harvest here. I'll read it. You think about what it's saying here, and then we'll jump into it together. Verse 17. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle.

Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 1,600 stadia.

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Verse said, was the most gruesome, gory verse in all the Bible. What is happening here? What do you think? Well, if you are like me, you come to this verse and you see a picture of judgment. And I think it is that, but I think there's more going on. But as I studied this week, early in the week, and as I read commentaries of men much smarter than me, that's exactly what they said.

One of them said, this is definitely a picture of judgment. I said, yes, I see that. is Jesus is going to come back on a cloud. He's going to judge the living and the dead. But then I looked deeper into it, read some other commentaries and I shifted my thought. Now you don't have to agree with me. Again, I could be wrong in where I'm landing here, but let me show you what I think is actually happening here. In the first one, we have Jesus coming with the sickle.

and he's harvesting his own. The creeds tell us that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. But did you notice Jesus isn't the one swinging the sickle here? So another angel came out. He too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar. The angel who has authority over the fire. So Jesus is not seen in this passage, and yet there's a harvesting going on. And the other angel is from the fire. You could say,

That's from the fire earlier in the chapter. That's the fire, the eternal conscious torment. Yes. But what else does fire represent throughout the Old Testament? Spirit, the presence of God, the burning bush, the pillar of fire. And he called out with a loud voice to the one who with a sharp sickle, put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. But there's a problem with that imagery, right? Do you know what the problem is?

Grapes are not harvested with a sickle. They are harvested by hand. So John is signaling to us that he has more in mind than just an agricultural parallel here. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. One of the things that's perplexing and super interesting to me that

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is that throughout the Old and the New Testament, the wine is often this metaphor for two, in my mind, equal and opposite things. It is often a metaphor for God pouring out his justified judgment and wrath against sin, like we see here, but it's also a metaphor for God pouring out his mercy and grace. Same thing, two symbols.

I actually think both of are at play here. So the great wine press of the wrath of God, and verse 20 is the most important part of this. says, the wine press was trodden outside the city. Outside the city. Pay attention to the details. What do we know about outside the city or outside the camp? In the Old Testament, outside the city, outside the camp, that is where the unclean were, the lepers, the sinners.

outside the campus where those that don't belong to the community are. You fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus tells this parable of this vineyard and these wicked vineyard tenants and they're mistreating all that the owner sends and then eventually the owner sends his own son and the vineyard workers take the son. Where do they kill the son? Outside the city. It's a picture of Jesus.

In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us just this. Hebrews 13, verse 12. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city. Outside the city gate to make the people holy. How? Through His own blood.

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And Revelation says, blood flowed from the wine press as high as horses bridle for 1,600 stadia, 184 miles, which just happens to be the traditional length of Palestine from Tyre to Egypt, a river of blood. Whose blood is here? Is this judgment or is this salvation?

And the answer is yes. But in this picture, who is being judged? Well, sin is being judged, but it's a picture of Jesus on the cross who went outside the city and he bore the full weight of the winepress of the wrath of God in himself, in our place, and his blood flowed. And why is there so much blood? Again, it's an apocalyptic image. It's a river of blood, six feet deep, 184 miles. Here's what I think it's saying.

There is more than enough blood to cover your sin in Jesus. He took the wrath of God that you deserved. Come out from under the wrath of God and into the bloodbath that is Jesus. If you're visiting and you're not a Christian, you're like, what is going on? This is weird. You're absolutely right. But friend, I just want to say this is the only way to get right with God to...

Get into the river of Jesus's blood. He died for you. He bled for you. There is more than enough blood to cover every one of your sins. So now, how should we live? I told you chapter 14 was gospel saturated. Graphic imagery. How now should we live? In light of all this, in light of the message of the angels and the message of the harvest, how should we live? I've already alluded to it. First of all, we should live with urgency.

Our life bears an eternal significance. There should be some weight to it. But we should live with urgency because we have been given this commission by God to go out and to call people out of the wrath of God into the mercy and grace that God offers. So there's urgency. But not only that, we should live with confidence. Confidence.

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Like nothing can happen to We already saw this. are those who die in the Lord, for they will receive rest. Like this, the worst thing that can happen to you in this life is not that you would die. The worst thing that could happen to you in this life is that you would waste your life and live like this is all there is. We have confidence because we are indwelt by the Spirit. We are battling a battle with an army of angels behind us. And so we go out.

So Redemption Parker, I want to challenge us to be a problem. Be a problem for the enemy. If you have no urgency and you have no confidence, you're not a problem. You probably don't notice any spiritual warfare in your life because why would they? Let's just keep them sedated. But you go out and you begin to prayer walk your neighborhood, you start to become a problem.

You go and pray for each house and pray that God's mercy would enter in. You go and as you're meeting your neighbors, you begin to get to know them and you have good God-Gospel conversation. That's a problem for the enemy. Right? I love that scene in Acts chapter 16 or 19 where the Jewish itinerant teachers hear about casting out demons and apparently that was a thing, right?

And there's these guys called the sons of Sceva. They're like, let's try to do this ourselves. And they go try to cast out a demon. find someone demon possessed and they try to cast it out in Jesus name. And the demon says to him, Paul, Jesus, we know and Paul, we've heard about. Well, who are you?

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I love that scene just because.

It's not a bad thing for the demons to know your name. Because you're causing a problem.

Brothers and sisters, let's cause some good trouble. Amen. For the glory of God and the joy of all people, let me pray for us.

The Unholy Trinity

AI Transcript

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Good morning, welcome. If you are just joining us, you're new here, my name is Mark, it's my privilege to open up God's Word with you. We are in the book of Revelation. We are in Revelation 13. If you're like, no, we just jumped into Revelation, don't worry. I promise you, it's not as intimidating as it may first seem, and God has a Word for us and for you this morning in Revelation 13. So you can begin to make your way there.

About 15 years ago, we were preparing as a family to move. We were moving from Japan to the Czech Republic to go plant churches among the most atheist country in the world. We got connected with some Czech Christians, an older couple, to just learn from them. They were up in Westminster. They invited us over for dinner. And we heard their story and just were like blown away by all of it, how they had to escape communist oppression.

how they had to their her father was a pastor and was in prison for several years in the Czech Republic. Their property was taken away from them. They this woman who when she was a little girl they had to live in a tent in someone's backyard in Prague for a couple years in the winter in Prague. That's cold. It's real cold. This was all because of their following of Jesus. But so they escaped through Austria and then came over to America as refugees.

where they were put in public housing in the projects of Chicago. So they're in the project of Chicago, new to the country, and they don't speak the language or know the culture yet. And then all of sudden one day, they get some knocks on the door. What they didn't know, and what we know, is that it was Halloween. And they don't have Halloween in the Czech Republic. And so these children were dressed up, and they did not know why. They didn't know what they were asking for.

And so they're trying to communicate with these kids. She told us they she thought, maybe these children are really, really poor. Look at their clothes. And so they were like, they're asking for something to eat. And so she's like, OK, come on in. She brings the kids into the apartment and starts making sandwiches for these kids. they sit down and start eating the sandwiches. And then more kids come and they're like, there's more hungry kids. So bring them in. they.

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made more sandwiches for the kids. then after a while of doing this for a few times, they realized, hey, something is going on here culturally that we're not aware of. Let's just turn off the lights, close the door and hunker down for the rest of the night. And they did. They later come to learn about Halloween. But if you've ever lived cross-culturally or spent time cross-culturally, you know, this sort of thing happens all the time. It certainly happened to us oftentimes, but...

There's just something about learning a culture and learning a context that opens your eyes and says, this is what they're doing and why they're doing something. Even then, sometimes it's like, man, that's confusing. That's kind of hard to understand. And I think when you if you can kind of get that, then you can start to understand how we approach a of the Bible, the Bible in general, but a book of the Bible like Revelation. At first, it can seem

very particular, very odd, very difficult to comprehend and understand. so part of this series, what we're learning is not only how to interpret Revelation, but we're learning how to interpret the whole Bible. It is showing us that you cannot just pull verses out of context and try to slap them on your life and apply them to your life. There has to be some context. So there's this principle. you get this principle, it will...

it will immediately help your understanding, interpretation, and application of the Bible. And it's what I call the then always now principle. And it's simply this, what was going on then that this letter, this book was written to these people? What were they facing? So how did this land on these people? So we said throughout this series, this book cannot mean to us what it did not first mean to them. It just can't. And then,

From that, what's the eternal truth that crosses borders and boundaries and time and all that? What's the always principle? And then when we understand those things, then we can start to bring it home. Like, okay, what does this word in line of those things have to do with now, my life? That's where we want to get to, but you can't start there or else you will miss the narrative. And this is where so many people lose the narrative in Revelation. There's so many bizarre things because

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It's a particular kind of genre. It's apocalyptic genre, which was common at the end of the first and second century BC and into the first and second century AD. We've seen apocalyptic genre uses these kind of graphic images and symbols to communicate something deeper than just statements of fact. Right. And, and that's what we said. Like this, this, the Bible has a lot of statements of fact, but this tells the same story, but

in a way that goes past our just our minds into our hearts and illumines our imagination right so so we've seen this throughout the book of revelations so far we saw a giant jesus standing among his seven churches with fire in his eyes and a sword coming out of his mouth and we're like what is happening there a giant jesus well it's communicating jesus is with his people he is protecting his own he is the king of kings

and Lord of lords. You're like, yeah, I get that. We saw a scroll with seven seals. No one was worthy to open the scroll until an angel found the lion of the tribe of Judah. And when John's turned, what did he see? Not a lion, but a lamb who had been slain. But this lamb is standing. It is the crucified resurrected Jesus that hits us in a different spot. Right? We saw the four horsemen of the apocalypse, apocalypse unleashed on the earth and riding through the earth. And we're like,

This is how that works in our world today. And if you were here last week, or if you heard Pastor Rick's message on Revelation 12, it was an apocalyptic Christmas, right? Like it's not not silent night, all is bright, all is calm, you know, all that stuff. No, no, there was a dragon waiting for the baby to be born to devour the baby Jesus, but God protected Jesus, took him.

took him up and so this dragon is raging against Jesus. He can't get to Jesus but he now turns his attention to that which is most prized to Jesus, his bride, his church. When you start to understand that you're like, this is communicating something that hits me on a different level. That's how apocalyptic literature works. Or for example if I was to show you this picture, this next picture, we put that up there.

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And you were to look at this picture, you'd be like, okay, what's going on there? And you knew no context. You would say, well, there's a dragon that's about to devour a city. But you know enough context from just cartoons in general. You're like, probably not a real dragon about to devour a city. But if you knew a little bit more context, you're like, well, there's mountains in the background and I recognize some of those buildings. That's Hong Kong. You're like, okay. And now that means something else. Well, what if I told you...

This was a political cartoon. Okay, now you know a context of political cartoons. And what if I told you this was published on July 1st, 1997? You'd say, what was going on in July 1st, 1997? Well, after 156 years of British rule over Hong Kong, it was being handed back to, it was handed over to the Chinese communist government. And so this cartoon, actually, this isn't a real one. I had to GPT make this one.

because I couldn't find the real one, but I've heard about them. These cartoons were common on July 1st, 1997 in LA Times, for example. It was this idea, what is the dragon of China going to do to Hong Kong? Ah, now you start to see what it's communicating. Similar with our passage today and really the book of Revelation. When you start to understand that, you're like, oh, chapter 13, even though it has bizarre and graphic imagery, it's actually quite easy to understand.

Chapter also has maybe some of the most infamous passage in the Bible where it talks about the mark of the beast and 666. What are we to do with that? Well, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. So if you have your Bible, we're in Revelation 13. We saw in Chapter 12, Dragon, the dragon who is represented by Satan is raging against Jesus and against his people. And now he turns his attention to.

his people on the earth. But he doesn't do so directly. He does so indirectly through two beasts, a beast from the sea and a beast from the earth. What we're going to see is what scholars commentators, what I've titled this sermon, an unholy trinity. It is an intentional mockery, mimicry, parody of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now we have the dragon, the beast from the sea and the beast from

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the earth. So as I read, ask you to listen carefully. This is God's word. Verse one, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. This beast has risen from the sea. 10 horns. This represents power. This is a powerful

beast that has come out of the sea. The sea in the Hebrew mind was a place of darkness and evil and out of the place of darkness and evil this beast comes. He's got ten horns, he's got power and he's got ten diadems. This is political power on his horns. Blasphemous names on its heads. What is happening there?

Well, we'll see in the next verse what this beast actually represents and how this beast functions in our world today and throughout history. verse two, it says, the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. What is happening there? Like a leopard, like a bear.

like a lion. What's going on? Again, if you were to just come to this verse without understanding how this would have landed on those who first read it, you would be left to your own devices to come up with all sorts of wild speculation. Well, what could be a lion? What could be a bear? What could be a leopard? But again, those that first read this would have immediately thought of a specific passage that mirrors this.

Daniel chapter seven, I'll put it on the screen. Daniel chapter seven is prophesying. And in verse two, it says, Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were sitting, stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Then as I looked, its wings were plucked off.

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And it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man. And the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second beast, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And it was told, arise and devour much flesh. After this, I looked and behold, another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back.

the beast had four heads and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night vision and behold a fourth beast terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong." What is happening there? Well you see the mirror right? It's actually just reversed in reversed order but there's a bear, a leopard, and a lion. Daniel is prophesying in his time about the empires that would rise up. The first one would have been the Babylonian Empire.

This is identified and seen in history, the Babylonian Empire as a lion. But after that, the Medo-Persian Empire rise up and takes its place. And after that, the Greek Empire rose up under Alexander the Great and took its place. And now John is writing about these empires that rise. There's a fourth beast. And John in his revelation compares the first three to make a mega beast.

John is speaking of the Roman Empire. This is what he's talking about. And all beastly empires that would rise after that. This beast functions in our world through oppressive, demonic, global governmental scale. There are empires that come and go and rise and fall that seek to put to death an oppression of God's people.

In John's day, that would have been Rome. said, this beast is like all of these together combined. And so they would have known again. But John has to write in the Roman Empire in a way that his people will understand, but that the Roman censors will let pass. And so that's what he does. He's identifying Rome as the great beast, the fourth beast. goes on, verse three. Well, before I get that, let me give you one quote from

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A commentary I read this week from Daryl Johnson. says this. John is opening up for us a sobering unseen reality of the present. Governments which step out from under the rug of God do not become more divine. They become demonic. Government that exalts humanity as the measure of all things do not become more humane. They become more bestial.

Whenever government steps out from under God's good design and government is part of God's good design to order the flourishing of humanity across the world. But when it steps out of that purpose, it becomes beastly. It becomes demonic. We see this throughout history. We see this all over the place and we'll continue to see it. It's like my Czech friends whose father was in prison because of his following of Jesus.

They had to escape the beast of the communist atheistic regime. Well, he goes on again to mirror and parody the Trinity. says, one of the heads of this beast seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. The whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

This is just, again, a mockery of Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection. But this beast seems to die. This beast seems to die often, many times, but always comes back. This beast is always raging on the planet. In the Old Testament, it was Egypt, and then Babylon, and then Assyria. We could go throughout history. In the first century, it was the Roman Empire. A hundred years ago, it was Nazism rising up.

We put that beast to death and then the beast rises again through communistic atheistic regimes and so on and so forth. This beast will always rise again. And so the people are fearful of it. The people submit themselves to it. The people are even worshipping of this beast. says, they worshiped the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying, who is like

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the beast and who can fight against it? This certainly would have been the pressure that the first century Christians were feeling when being inside Rome and Rome turning its attention to the oppression of God's people and the people, the others just kind of bowing down to Rome. They literally had emperor worship instituted in the first century.

And it was tied to all of Roman life. It was tied to their commerce and to even go make trades in the marketplace. You had to make offerings to the gods and you had to make a worship offering to the emperor. And most of the people did that. The Christians tried to hold out. This is what John is getting at. Well, we got to keep moving here. says, they worship, they go on verse five, and the beast was given a mouth.

uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. Again, we know that is shorthand for John in Revelation to be from the time of Christ's first coming to his next coming. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is those who dwell in heaven. Also, it is allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given to it, given it over every tribe and people.

and language and nation. Again, we've heard this before. There is a cosmic battle at play. The King of Kings, Lord of Lords is rescuing and redeeming people and there will be a crowd before the throne from every tribe, tongue and nation and the beast is likewise trying to secure his own worship from every tribe, tongue and nation. What John is wanting us to see is that there are demonic

forces at work, not just on our personal level, not just that hate you or hate your marriage or hate your family or even hate our church, that those forces are at play, but there are cosmic global forces at work in this beast. And he goes on, he says, and all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of lamb who was slain.

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So again, there will be a great separating between the sheeps and the goats, those who worship the dragon and those who worship Jesus, the king. So that's the first beast, the beast of the sea. The beast of the sea represents demonically empowered political forces and movements and empires throughout history. So what's the third beast or the third member of the unholy trinity, the second beast? Verse 11. Then I saw

another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb. Again, this is an intentional mockery of Jesus, the lamb who was slain and yet standing. It looks like Jesus, but its speech betrays himself. And it spoke like a dragon. It looked like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. This beast not only mimics Jesus, but more so he's going to mimic the role and purpose of the Holy Spirit.

So we ask ourselves the question, what's the role and purpose of the Holy Spirit? The role and purpose of the Holy Spirit is to make much of Jesus, to illumine our hearts and our minds, to point us to Jesus, to bring us to repentance and turn us to the way of life. This is what the Spirit does. You want to see a church that is full of the Holy Spirit? You have people repenting of sin and celebrating Jesus. That's the mark of a Spirit-filled church. Amen.

Since we want to be a spirit-filled church, are repenting of sin because the Spirit empowers that. We worship Jesus because the Spirit empowers that. Now, let's look at this false, false trinity. Verse 12, it exercises authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast. That's what Holy Spirit does for Jesus. This is what the second beast does for the first beast.

whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven. Think of Pentecost. The spirit brings fire down at Pentecost, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. And by the signs that it is allowed, my eyes are going crazy again, to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast.

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that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak, might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. So if the first beast represents demonically empowered governmental institutions and empires, what does this beast represent in the world and on the stage of history?

What did it represent in the first century? Here's what it represents. Demonically empowered religious institutions. That's what it is. Demonically empowered religious institutions. In the first century, there were literal temples built in the first century for the worship of the emperor. They are the ones who drove the worship of the emperor. But this has been true throughout the ages.

It's true in all false religions. They're demonically empowered. But it's true. We see this in churches. We see this by priests and pastors who give themselves over to demon. Now, what does that look like? Again, you don't have to think of the movies. It looks like... Well, looks, in some cases, at first it looks good. And then it turns evil.

We see this all the time. Anytime you lose the narrative, you stop preaching the gospel, you preach something else, the beast is at work there. So, again, go back a hundred years. After World War I, Germany is humbled and they're looking to regain their confidence on the world stage. Of course, we know history that...

Hitler rises up, Nazism rises up, it begins to spread, it stokes a patriotic religious fervor among the German people. So you ask the question, well, what did the church do in that moment? Certainly the church would be the people that would step up and push back against this, but sadly, no. The vast majority of churches, the vast majority of...

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Germans who called themselves Christians did not push back against this beast but welcomed the beast in. They called themselves the Deutsch Christians, the German Christians. They married Nazism with their theology. They began to say that patriotism to Germany was patriotism to the kingdom of God. And we know that's not true. Why did they do it?

Well, probably many reasons. Some of them actually believed it. Like, yes, this is our political Messiah on par with Jesus. so pulpits and pastors who were meant to proclaim the majesty of Jesus ended up proclaiming the majesty of the beast. Horrific. Others did it to save their lives. If you don't worship the beast, you will be put to death. And so they

compromised the truth, they compromised the gospel to stay alive, but either way you have sold out the king of kings for the beast. Religiously empowered demonic institution, mean, demonically empowered religious institutions. This is why we have to be very careful about who we are and who we are and how we worship. It goes on.

Verse 16, these are again, what everyone's like, what's going on with the mark of the beast and the 666. We actually don't have a lot of time to spend here, so I'll go quickly. Verse 16. Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark. This is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

This calls for wisdom. Let one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. And his number is 666. the infamous 666. the mark of the beast. What is the mark of the beast? Again, maybe you're like me growing up and you were taught, you're going to have to take a tattoo on your hand or get like 666 tattooed on your head so you could just...

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go buy stuff at King's Supers. Like that's what I was taught. And I was like, oh yeah, that must be it. Or no, it's not that. It's going to be more so you're going to have to take a microchip implanted in your hand or in your forehead. That's going to be the mark of the beast. So whenever they come out with microchips, don't put them in your hand or your forehead. Or some in recent years are like, it's the COVID vaccine. That's the mark of the beast. If you took that, you have the mark of the beast.

And they're going to track you and all that. As I said before, hey, listen, if you're worried about being tracked, get rid of your smartphone. All right. So I have good news for you and I have potentially bad news for you. The good news is that's not the mark of the beast. You're not going to have to take a tattoo on your hand or your forehead. If there are biomedical implants and microchips, it's not going to be the mark of the beast. And the COVID vaccine is not the mark of the beast.

That's not the mark of the Well, what is the mark of the beast? Again, how would have this landed on the first readers? Well, they would have thought one of a passage, perhaps the most famous passage of the entire, one of the most famous passages of the entire Old Testament, the Shema, Deuteronomy chapter six. It's called Shema because the first word here is in Hebrew is Shema. And it says this, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your hearts. You shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as front lengths between your eyes. You shall write them.

the doorpost of your house and on your gates. What is happening here? Orthodox Jews today, they will literally bind a little scroll of the Torah on their hand and some will even bind them on their forehead and they'll have a little box with a little scroll. Is that what Deuteronomy 6 is getting at? I don't think so. I think what it's getting at is that God is saying for God's people they should be so

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marked by the Word of God, the way of God, the will of God, that it is obvious in our thinking, in our beliefs, in our worship, and it is obvious in our living, in the way that we work with our hands and we live in the world. We should be so marked by God that it is obvious we belong to Him. In fact, we've seen this already in Revelation, Revelation chapter 7, and in very next verse, Revelation 14, we see about 144,000

had his name and his father's name on their forehead. So the question here's the deal you are either marked by God or you are already marked by the beast. That was the bad news. You already have the mark of the beast on your life. How? Well if you do not take the things of God seriously.

If you do not keep take the kingdom of God seriously, if there's no pursuit of holiness in your life, you have the mark of the beast. If you have these secret sins that are little pets for you that you just try to keep alive and you don't bring those out, that's the mark of the beast. Where you have adoration and affection for the things of this world and not the kingdom of God, you have the mark of the beast on your life. You need to repent.

You need to repent in your thinking and in your doing in your whole life. Are you marked by the beast or are you marked by and sealed by the father? This is what he's getting at. So whose mark do you have? Who do you show by your life, by your thinking, by your affections, by your pursuits, by your bank account, by your calendar? Whose mark do you have? So there's the mark of the beast.

Then he goes on, this calls for wisdom. us, let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and his number is 666. Again, all sorts of wild speculation on this one. And again, we don't have time to get into it all. But again, what I was taught growing up was like, there's going to be some dude, he's going to be the antichrist and you're going to know, cause he's going to somehow have 666 somehow. I don't know what that's going to look like.

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but he's going to have 666. That's the Antichrist. Well, first of all, the word Antichrist, did you know it's nowhere in the book of Revelation? John actually mentions it in some of his epistles, but he also says there are many Antichrists. So anyone who is Antichrist is an Antichrist, especially on a global scale, right? So do I think there'll be an Antichrist in the future? Probably, yes. But he's part of a long tradition of Antichrist. Well,

Well, who's this? What's this 666? And every time there's a new political leader on the world scale, they're like, that must be the Antichrist. Ronald Reagan. His name, each letter of his name has, even his middle name, 666. That's the Antichrist. Did you know he lived on a street that said his address was 666 something, something, something? And so he had it changed. And people are like, Ronald Reagan. No.

No. Well, who is this Antichrist or what is that? Okay. So there are a few options and maybe the whole of it has been lost to history, but it could be that this is what's called in Hebrew, gematria. In the Hebrew kind of mindset in the first century that they would take Hebrew letters and give them numeric values. So A, B, C, that they all have their own value.

So if you transliterated, for example, Caesar, Nero, Nero Caesar into Hebrew and then gave them the numbers, you would get 666. And John does say calculate, calculate the number of the beast for anyone who has understood. So it's possible, it's possible that John is writing, say Caesar, the Xanadichrist. The problem with that, the problem with that is that Nero had been dead at this point a couple of decades.

There was a rumor that he was going to come back to life, but that would have required the Christians in the first century to do quite, maybe, maybe. So what is it getting at? Well, I know this is going to blow your mind, but six is less, one less number than what? Seven. I know that's what you guys pay for when you give to Redemption Parker.

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But again, numbers, colors, they have symbols in the book of Revelation. Seven is the number of completion, of perfection. It's the number of God. Six is the number of man. On the sixth day, man was created. Six is one less than seven. It is incomplete. If God is perfectly complete, if God is triune, He is seven, seven, seven. But this false

on Holy Trinity is perfectly incomplete 666. So, I think that's what is happening with the number. But we come to the time now, then always now, okay, Mark, what does this have to do with my life here and now? What would God want for God's people in 2025 in Parker, Colorado in light of these truths?

probably many things. I kind of pulled out three of them. I'll put them on the screen. The first one we see from verse 9 and 10 that I skipped over originally is the whole purpose of this whole section. He gives us an application in verse 9, if anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear. We've seen this before in the message to the seven churches. If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear. Then look what it says.

If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. God is reminding God's people that ultimately he is sovereign over their lives. See, the message of Christianity is not come to follow Jesus and your life will go swimmingly.

It'll be easy. You'll be healthy. You'll be wealthy. Your wife will give birth to many children. Your cows won't die. All these things. That is a false gospel that is preached all over the world today. The message is not that this life will be easy. The message of the book of Revelation is that God preserves His own eternally. Some will die. Some will suffer on this side of eternity. But the promise is we have a King and a Kingdom that is forever.

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ever and ever. This is a call for the endurance of the call for the endurance and faith of the saints. So the first thing is I say this often we must be a people that plan our perseverance. Plan your perseverance. We assume so often we assume we're gonna be Christians five years from now ten years from now all the way to our deathbed we're gonna be Christians but unless you plan it unless you

Fight with the weapons that God has given you to fight with unless you're aware that there's an actual spiritual battle raging for the soul of your own life and your family and your marriage and your church. Unless you engage in that, you should not presume upon your perseverance. So we have to know who we are and whose we are. We remind ourselves of that. I am bought by the blood of Jesus. I am a son of the King. We have to become so familiar with God's truth.

Not looking for the beast, but so familiar with the truth about who God is. When the beast rises, we spot it from a mile away that it's a counterfeit. It's a counterfeit trinity. And we fight with the weapons that God has fought with us. We fight with the Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God. We get into this Word deeply. We get this Word into us. We make it a priority. The people of God. We tie ourselves in a covenantal way with God's people in a local church.

fight together for the perseverance of one another and one another's families and marriages and so on and so forth. And the Spirit of God, we are a people of prayer. These are the weapons God has given us to fight for our perseverance. So plan your perseverance. What's your plan? What's your plan in these areas? You got to have a plan. Number two, as Christians, we should maintain a healthy skepticism toward government and political

loyalties. I put your political

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Why did I put your political because listen, you already have a healthy skepticism of the other side. Like whoever you didn't vote for, you probably have a very accurate assessment of how the beast is at work in that person. I'm not arguing that. But we live in such a polarized all or nothing society. The church. Listen, I, I, I love America. love being an American.

I love that I got to minister to American military for 10 years of my life. So hear me out. I am patriotic to the core. But at the end of the day, my allegiance is not to the kingdom of America. It is to the kingdom of God. And so I want to be aware of the beast, not just the beast of the side that I didn't vote for. There are beasts at work. Now, I don't want to speak too hyperbolically. America is great. There are very clear

Evidences of this beast at work in our world and in places like North Korea and Iran and some some countries in Africa and some countries in Southeast Asia that are literally oppressing and putting to death our brothers and sisters in the world right now We should pray for them We should we should combat that as far as possible We live in a time in a place in a country where we've been invited into the political process And so we should vote we should vote according to God's way and God's will we should

Call out that which is beastly. Right? We should name names. This is not being partisan. Right? Where moral issues have become political issues, we stand with clarity. This is what John the Baptist did. He had his head cut off because he called out a sexually immoral person that was accepted in the day, and he had his head cut off. And Jesus did not say, hey, John, you should have just kept preaching the Gospel.

He said, no, John's the greatest prophet who ever lived. So where there are moral issues that the beast is raging, it's OK to call them out. In a platform in our world that promotes a Holocaust of our day, the abortion of image bearers, we should call that out as a horrific evil. You're like, Mark, you're just being partisan. That's not partisan. That's kingdom values. But.

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We should be skeptical of our own allegiances. We should recognize and be a voice for those, for even the party we vote for, we should be a voice for the kingdom and not a mouthpiece for the party. That's all I'm getting at. Okay, rant over. Let me go to the last one. We should renew and refocus our worship. Renew and refocus our worship. The question over Revelation, the whole question, the whole time is, who do you worship? Do you worship the beast?

The dragon or do you worship the lamb? So when I say renew our worship, I'm not just talking about singing. Those singing is part of it. I'm talking about with your whole life. Are you marked?

with your mind and your thinking and your affections and what you're pursuing in your life. Are you marked by worship of the King? Are you marked on your right hand by what you do with your life? How you serve? How you advance the kingdom, push back darkness? Are you marked by that? That's worship. Our whole lives are worship. So we have to renew and refocus our worship daily. And every week as we come together, we remind ourselves of what is true.

666, the number of man. 777, the number of perfection. But the gospel says this, Jesus who is seven emptied himself and took on a six. He entered into our world to live a life that you and I could never live, a life of perfect obedience to the Father. Then one day on the sixth day of the week, the

beast of the sea and the beast of the earth conspired together to crucify him, to put him to death. The beast of the sea and the beast of the earth, the beast of the sea represented in the person of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, given the power of Rome to put to death Rome's enemies. The beast of the earth, demonically empowered religious institutions, the high priest, Caiaphas hands over

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Jesus to be crucified. And on the sixth day, in the sixth hour of the sixth day, Jesus was murdered. He took his last breath. And the beasts of the sea and the beasts of the earth celebrated. They thought they had finally won. What the dragon tried to do at Christmas, they thought they had accomplished on Good Friday, but we know that's not the end of the story.

We know that on the third day by the power of God, Jesus conquered sin, death, and the grave. He rose again to show that those are defeated enemies. It is finished. And He took His place back at the right hand of the Father. This is a call for the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Amen? Let me pray for us to that end.

A Cosmic Christmas

AI Transcript
Mark Oshman (00:00.206)

Why don't you open up to Revelation chapter 12. That's where we'll be this morning. Revelation chapter 12.

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Well, it's officially November. Anyone already have their Christmas decorations up? Okay. Couple. I love it. The Boffman's. That's it. Okay. Cool. Cool. I respect that. Once, once Halloween ends, my sister-in-law is all in. Like my brother's California home is turned into a winter wonderland. Every square inch of their house is decorated. Like

The day after Halloween yesterday stockings up lights up trees up deck the halls. It's go time. It's a little intense. If you asked me, I told her that yesterday, though this year I do think Holly and I are going to start a little earlier than we have in the past. It'll be the first year in the last nine that we don't go into the mountains with a group of friends to cut down our tree.

Yes, we're going fake tree heresy. know, but, this means we can put it up whenever we want. We don't have to wait for our friends to be ready in the middle of December. And as we begin to think about Christmas decorations for this year, of course, my mind goes to our nativity scene. Holly is the captain of all the decorations in the home, except the nativity scene. This is my baby. Now over the years, this scene.

has changed. First we brought King Herod into our home. Next I began spreading people and animals everywhere in our house. You literally need a compass to find the wise men from the East. Because if you read your Bibles, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the animals, the wise men, the shepherds were not all in the same place at the same time. My house has little trinkets everywhere.

And of course, a couple of years ago, I had to pull out my artist brush and the dark paint to make this first century Middle Eastern family well look Middle Eastern. Well, this year I've added a new addition. The passage I'm preaching this morning, Revelation 12, and as we're going to find out shortly, Revelation 12 is the story of Christmas. The story we find in Matthew, Mark.

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and Luke, but the stories in Matthew, Mark and Luke are where we get our nativity sets from, not Revelation 12. I literally, looked online to see if I could find a nativity set, Revelation style, nothing. So what do you do RP? If you need something, if you've been in this church long enough, you know the answer. Hit up Brian Call.

Well, with Brian's 3D printer, here's what he made for me.

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using a prop today for my sermon. I'll just keep this right here. This is the scene we have before us. Revelation 12 is the story of Christmas taken from an apocalyptic angle meant to hit us in our gut and spark our imagination. And for us, RP meant to get us ready for Christmas a little early this year.

If we're honest, sometimes by the time we get to Advent, our hearts and minds are somewhere else. Having a worshipful Advent is not for the faint of heart living in Douglas County, not getting sucked into Babylon's vortex of consumption and distraction. So a pre-Advent sermon from Revelation could be just what we need.

My hope this morning is that John's apocalyptic version of Christmas, we would get our hearts and minds ready to celebrate Advent well this year. Tish Harrison Warren says this, to practice Advent is to lean into an almost cosmic ache. Our deep.

wordless desire for things to be made right and the incompleteness we find in the meantime. We're going to practice Advent a little early this year. So if you're not already there, open your Bibles to Revelation 12. Revelation 12, we will start this cosmic Christmas there in verse one. And for you note takers, here's my outline. We have two signs.

cosmic battle and in two advent reminders, two signs, a cosmic battle and two advent reminders. Let's look at sign one, verse one. And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

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As we continue to work through this series and the book of Revelation, we're seeing more and more metaphors. This book is very symbolic. Who is this woman? Well, this is Israel, the people of God, clothed with the sun, moon under her feet, 12 stars.

on her crown. If you know your Old Testament, this might remind you of Joseph in Genesis when he has that dream with the sun, the moon and the 12 stars. This woman here in Revelation 12 is the Old Covenant people of God. This is Israel. Twelve stars represent 12 tribes. What about sign number two? Look at verse three.

And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven tiadims. Yikes. Who is this dragon? Certainly this must be Russia, right? Maybe North Korea. Context is always king. So look ahead, verse nine. John actually tells us exactly who the dragon is.

And the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who's called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world. What a scene we have for us this morning this gnarly seven headed ten horned crowned red dragon and like a scene out of a horror movie meant to hit something deep in our gut. Church this is.

a picture for Satan, our enemy. Satan, the most powerful created being this world has ever seen. Satan, the one who the Bible calls the God of this world. Satan, the one who, according to Peter, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour someone. This seven headed monster is no joke. So what's

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going on here. People of God and the devil. Well verse two gives us a really good clue as to what in the world is going on. Look at verse two. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. If you know your Bibles maybe your minds just went to Genesis 3.

after the fall God tells Eve I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain you will bring forth children. But what does this Genesis 3 pain of childbearing have to do with this sci-fi scene in Revelation 12? Everything. John's using this language of birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

intentionally. He wants us to think back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis three in the Garden of Eden. And if you know Genesis three, right after God makes a covenant with humanity, the ancient serpent makes his move. He deceives Adam and Eve in a single act of rebellion. God's very good world cracked.

Open. What was once filled with light and harmony was now flooded with darkness and decay. I mean, look around. This world is a mess, y'all. From wars to greed, abuse to addiction. That all started here.

And it's not just out there. It's in here, right? From pride to prejudice, from bitterness to betrayal, that all started here. I had a conversation with a neighbor a few days ago who just lost her brother to suicide. Her son walked into the room and found him.

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This world is broken. We're at the acts 29 conference in Dallas earlier this week where, where I was informed that that this beloved pastor and his wife who's associated with our network lost their 13 year old son a week ago to suicide. This world is groaning friends, all the brokenness in this world and in our lives rooted.

Here, Genesis three, where Satan deceives humanity. This is what it means to live east of Eden. Life is hard. And God is good. Before God tells Eve childbearing is going to suck, honey. He tells something to Satan, the ancient serpent, the seven headed dragon. Genesis.

315 it'll be up on the screen. God speaking to Satan says, will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God is good. From Genesis three all the way through the old Testament. The question the people of God are asking is this, where is the skull crusher?

Where is the seed of the woman? Where is the one who is going to make all things right? Which takes us to our next point, a cosmic battle. Look with me at verse four.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was caught, who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. Well, that's intense. But with the context of Genesis 3 fresh in our minds, it's understandable why this dragon wants to kill this baby, right? The promise that Eve's son would

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one day come and crush the dragon's head is here at last. This verse is speaking about what happened 2,000 years ago when Jesus was born. Christmas. The mother who is the people of God from Eve to Mary. And here she is in labor pains about to give birth to the skull crusher.

But seven headed dragons don't go down without a fight. His goal, devour this child, ruin God's plan. Remember King Herod killing every little baby boy two years and under in Bethlehem? Yeah, this dragon was fired up using any means possible to devour this child. But God's promise?

for all things to be made right, for everything sad to come untrue. Look at verse five. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Again, you can't get this nativity set at Costco. But here in Revelation 12, this is Christmas, Quentin Tarantino style.

The long awaited Christ has come and what does he do? Look with me at the rest of verse five. her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Hmm. That's it. Seems a bit anticlimactic or is it? This is actually John's shorthand for the gospel. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

This is speaking of Jesus's ascension, the climax to the gospel. We know from scripture that the seed of the woman did crush the serpent's head and in doing so his heel was bruised. The red dragon Satan thought he won the battle when Jesus hung naked on the cross. Jesus did die. His heel was most definitely bruised.

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brutally bruised. The worst kind of death imaginable crucifixion. The red dragon did devour this child. But this was all part of God's plan. In dying on a Roman cross, Jesus deals a fatal blow to sin, to death, and to Satan himself. This is what skull crushing looks like.

in his kingdom. And he writes says quote, contrary to what casual onlookers might have thought when Jesus was crucified, it was he who was leading the principalities and powers in his triumphal procession, celebrating his victory over them, not the other way around. Because early Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead and then 39 days later,

He ascends to the right hand of the Father, his session as King of Kings and Lord of Lords begins. praise God that he was caught up to God and to his throne. The doctrine of Christ's ascension is one of the most important and yet neglected doctrines we have. Murray Harris says the resurrection proclaims he lives.

And that forever the ascension proclaims he reigns and that forever he reigns church. Yes, he reigns in deed. Death has died. Sin is atoned for Satan is defeated by the life death resurrection and ascension of the son of God.

New Testament scholar Patrick Shriner says, arc of the moral universe is long, but the ascension determines its finale. Without the ascension, Christ's work is incomplete. Without the ascension, a huge hole stands open in the story. Jesus didn't just live, die, and rise again. He was caught up to God and to his throne. And in doing so, he crushed the dragon's

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or rather heads. The red dragon has been defeated. The ancient serpent TK.

And this royal king, this child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron has been enthroned. The ascension is a big deal because at the ascension, Jesus's kingdom has been inaugurated. Amen. Amen. Now you might be thinking, well, that's great, Rick, but that's not.

quite the world we live in. seems like the serpent is alive and well, seven heads in all. Well, let's finish our passage, verse six and following will be our final point, two Advent reminders.

Look with me at verse six and the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days. The woman who I've called the people of God, faithful Israel. Now the woman and her offspring, well, post ascension is in the words of the apostle Paul, the Israel of God, namely the church.

Jew and Gentile, these seven churches in Asia Minor whom revelation was written and well, you and me, the church today, what a blessing, right? To be the wild olive shoot and grafted into the olive tree Israel. See it for yourself. Look down at verse 17. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring.

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on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. The woman and her offspring, these are followers of Messiah, followers of Christ, the new covenant people of God. And where does she go? She, she flees into the wilderness for

1260 days. This period of time in Revelation also spoken of as three and a half years or 42 months or times, times and half a times is the entire time between Christ's first and second coming. Three and a half is half of seven, the number of completion.

perfection, the 1260 days tells us that these days in the wilderness will be intense, but limited. They will end. Christ is coming back a second time. This is what Advent is all about, friends. That God's people in the wilderness, we look back at His first coming.

And we look ahead to a second when his kingdom will be consummated. Well, this next section, John's explaining what has just occurred in verses one through six from a different vantage point. Look at verse seven.

Now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back. And he was defeated. And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan. The deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.

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For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short. Advent reminder number one, the

battle has been won. Don't bow down to the false gods of consumption and distraction this holiday season when Advent calls us to remember the battle has been won. When Christ died and rose and ascended to God's right hand, the Satan who we see in the book of Job accusing God's people

Having some leashed authority through Christ and what he did on the cross Satan and and and the principalities and the powers of the air have been dealt a fatal blow First John says the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil my brothers and sisters in Christ that has

The accuser of God's people has nothing to say about you. So, so, so my question is what voices are you listening?

If you're honest with yourself, how do you think God really feels about you?

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How does God really feel about you? We don't have to listen to the voice of Satan any longer. The ascended King of glory who is reigning right now says this about you,

You're mine.

Bye.

If you're trusting in Christ this morning, you are not ultimately defined by anything except that you belong to Him. Amen? Amen. Well, let's finish our passage, verse 13.

But the woman was given the two wings of the great Eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. Advent.

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Reminder number two, though the battle has been won, the war rages on, Yes, ultimately this passage reminds us that while the church may suffer persecution, it will never be overcome. God will spiritually preserve His people to the very end.

So as the war rages on, the question is, how shall we, the people of God, how shall we live in the wilderness? Two things, and then I'm done, I promise. First, we must know that we live amidst the dragon and live accordingly. Jesus' kingdom is already and not yet.

Exactly. Yes, the dragon is a defeated foe and when Christ comes back he will be finally thrown into the lake of fire. But until then he's our foe nonetheless. One extreme in the church sees Satan behind every nook and cranny and will blame him for just about everything. Had a good fantasy football week? Not today Satan. But...

On the other side of the spectrum, often the more theological folk, we can live like he doesn't even exist. We need to walk and chew gum church. The apostle Paul in second Corinthians says this in order that Satan might not outwit us for we are not unaware of his schemes. Scott Davidson asked our men.

at Life Together last month and quick ad for Life Together. It's our men's ministry at RP. We meet every Sunday night at, you guessed it, Brian Call's house. From seven to nine, come as you are. We're not in the middle of a study. You can show up and hopefully be known and...

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But Scott asked this question, what is Satan doing in your life right now? This morning, I want us to think about that question. That's a good question. In light of this passage, what is the red dragon up to? What is Satan doing in your life right now? Are you even aware of his schemes?

Jesus and John says Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Holly and I just started praying with each other every morning. And don't give the pastor credit. This is, this was Holly's idea, not mine. Lord willing, we'll be certified, we'll be a certified foster family this upcoming week because our family's mission is to push back darkness and

usher in light. we'll take it one day at a time and your prayers are appreciated. But I say all that to say this lately, marriage has been hard. Holly and I have just been missing each other. Well, after Mark preached the sermon a little while back, Holly's like, maybe some of this is not just us missing each other. Maybe there's some spiritual attack going on as we inch closer to foster care. Principalities.

powers of the air, the red dragon. How about we start praying every morning? Good idea.

What is Satan up to in your life? And what are you doing about it? Jesus' brother James says, the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. And second, our wilderness season is coming to an end, Jesus is...

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coming back at the Ascension, his kingdom was inaugurated. But the day of consummation, the marriage supper of the Lamb awaits. Coronation day in all its fullness is still a future event. The Puritan John Owen says, it is at the day of this coronation that his church is the crown by which he is

Church, Bride of Christ, Crown of Christ. Can we get our eyes on that day? Can this pre-advent sermon from Revelation 12 reorient us as we head into the holiday season?

Amy bird says we are living as the wilderness bride between this age and the age to come. We're headed to something unfathomable. We're on our way to the heavenizing of earth, the union of heaven and earth redemption Parker. are a wilderness traversing congregation moving toward our homeland for here.

We have no lasting city. We seek a city that is to come. And for those in the room right now who are not followers of Jesus, I'm so glad you are with us this morning. But, but revelation says this place that we live right now, this is your heaven. The future for

Earth dwellers, the term John in Revelation gives to unbelievers, people who aren't following Jesus. Your future does not

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things are about to get real bad. Even this passage says, woe to you. Judgment is coming. Wrath is coming. Christ is coming. But there's good news, This morning, today...

You can turn from from trusting yourself, your your resources, your ability, your good works to the one who loves you. The one who made you for himself, the one who died for you, the one who's calling you home by faith and faith alone. One of my pastoral heroes is is John Newton.

the ex-slave ship captain turned pastor activist. Other than being a wonderful husband, father, friend, an amazing preacher, a soul care expert, a huge influence in the abolition of slavery, he also dropped bars. Dude wrote hymns. Hymns for his sermons.

He did this every week for 15 years.

His reason quote, a verse may find him who a sermon flies. It's my kind of guy. Like, like amazing grace, the song we all know and love. Did you know that was a hymn he wrote when he preached first Chronicles 17? Well, since we get no Advent song this morning and it's never too early for a little Mary, did you know? I thought it would only be fitting to end our time in this

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passage with the woman and the dragon with a Mary did you know revelation remix.

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Mary, did you know that the child you bore would face a dragon with seven heads? Mary, did you know that the cry from Bethlehem stable echoed through heaven as a battle cry instead? Did you know that Herod's rage was the dragon's roar? That your yes to God declared war on well darkness? Mary, did you know?

That when your son took his first breath, the ancient serpent began gasping for his last. That when your beloved son cried, it is finished. Every accusation lost its voice, and the deceiver was cast down, head crushed between nails feet. Did you know that the one you fed would feed the world with his own flesh? That the one you rocked sleep would one day rain and never sleep again? That the manger cradled God himself?

and a Roman cross would crown his reign, that your son would be devoured by the dragon, yet rise as a victorious lamb slain, that he would be caught up to God to take his seat upon the throne, his session as king has started, and one day this kingdom will be fully known. And church, redemption, Parker, do you know this crucified king now reigns? Enthroned?

above while we his beloved walk this wilderness of ache and pain protected though pressed persecuted yet preserved imagine church if enjoying jesus wasn't simply our mission statement but became our daily bread if making disciples wasn't something we talked about but got to work instead if

Our lives themselves cried out as one, your kingdom come, your will be done. Mary knew some things. She knew her son was Israel's messiah. She knew her child was holy. She knew he was going to crush the serpent's head. But church, do we know that he's still crushing snakes through us? That that every moment of faithfulness

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pushes back darkness and ushers in light. So as we enter this Advent, may we remember the war is won, the King is coming, and until that day, let us pray, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Let me pray.

How Will The Nations Enter The Kingdom?

AI Transcript

Hey, good morning. Good morning. It's good to work with Revelation 11. That's where we're going to be at. We've got some work to do here. Every week as I prepare these...

and I practice it, it's usually about four times longer than it could possibly be in this setting. So all that to say is, if you like those kids and some things, we have on our website, on the Revelation page, resources for you to go deeper.

for the series.

for a family of heroes in mind in modern day times is the Staines family. Ram Staines, when he was 24 years old, left his family in Queensland, Australia to go and follow Jesus' call to the nations to work among his two passions, sharing Jesus and helping the least of these. so he went to northern India, in a region of India.

up and he said he worked with lepers and that's still a problem even in the world today though and a cure has come over 500 people in this region a day of contracted leprosy. So Graham labored among the

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So 60 villages with about 60,000 people, one school and in school about 60 kids. And he just labored there and shared the gospel and met the needs of the least of these. And along the way, there was some opposition to the worldview of this is their karma and this is the caste system that they're a part of. And so why are you doing that? And many of them were coming to know Jesus and put their faith in Jesus. so opposition grew.

As Staines labored there, later in his life he actually met another single missionary woman named Gladys and they very late in life. had three children. had Esther, we've got Esther and Timothy and...

1999, 10 or 20th, Graham took his two sons to a village called Baropod to go and work with some of the believers in a very small church there. And it was a missions conference, not like our missions conference. They were put up in the high egregious sea and told about how...

He went there and said, how are we going to reach these 60 villages? And there was no place for him to stay. So Graham and his sons set up in their station wagon slash Jeep bed for the night. And in the middle of the night, midnight, 52 Hindu militants, extremists came and they locked the homes of all the people. So they locked the people in their homes and they then surrounded Graham and his sons and his car.

7.05.

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When they found his remains, the next day they saw Grandma's huddled over his two sons as they perished in that fire.

35 years of grand ahead.

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can't imagine the level of...

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13 years old and glad to be back in home to receive that.

And you think about that and maybe you feel really lost. This is what you do. Someone gives their life to following the mission for 35 years and this is their reward.

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Sometimes it can appear as evil as triumph.

It's one thing to suffer in this world just with accidents and medical things and even our own stupid choices, but there's a particular kind of pain that some of you know this, particular kind of pain that it is in following the call of Jesus and you suffer because of it. Not in spite of that, but because of it. That could come in a thousand...

Lord, I thought if I did this, this, and this, then things would go well. I thought we had a deal. It looks like evil is triumphing at times. It looks like we're not making any progress. It looks like we're just taking loss after loss after loss. And the book of Revelation was written to repeal, to pull back the curtain, and to remind us as followers of Jesus.

that there's more going on than meets the eye. There's more happening than we can sense with our five senses or connect with our dots. God doesn't always show us in every circumstance, here's how I'm at work, here's what I'm actually doing. But Revelation is a reminder that there is more going on. God is at work.

So we've been working through this book and we're in this section of threes, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bulls. actually at the very center of the book here and each one of these like nesting dolls, the next context, the seven seals contain the seven trumpets which contain the seven bulls. And we saw that there's this rhythm to these seven, seven, seven, between the

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the and the seventh one, there's an interlude, there's a pause in each one of them. And you may remember if you were here a couple weeks ago, at the end of the sixth seal, the question the nations were asking in light of the forehorses of the apocalypse, in light of God allowing and releasing judgment on the heart, the question in chapter six, or chapter seven was this, in this interlude. Who can stand?

Who can stand? light of all that is going on in this broken world, who can stand? And we saw in chapter 7 the answer to that question. We can stand. We're the ones that can stand forever.

Because we've been sealed by God, we are saved by God, and we are secure in Him forever. So that was the question and answer. Now we're in the trumpets, and there's this question that has to be answered in chapters 10 and 11. We're only focused on 11, but this question is, okay, in chapter seven, we saw something amazing. He hears that there's 144,000 that are going to be saved, but when he turns and he looks, what does he see? He sees a multitude that he can't

count from every tribe, tongue, and language and nation gathered before the throne. But at the end of the sixth trumpet, if you were here last week, remember, there's mercy in the judgment. There's opportunity to look at the world and the brokenness of this world and be like, I need God. I need to find myself. But we saw at end of chapter nine this very sad conclusion.

He says, the rest of mankind were not killed by these plagues that echo Exodus. They did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality.

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So even though there was the opportunity in the judgments of God to turn and repent, they don't. The vast majority of the people across the world, they don't repent. They just continue to, in rebellion they continue to blame God for what's going on in their lives. They don't repent. So then the question becomes, how? How do the nations from every tribe, from the nation, how do they actually come before the throne?

If it's not through the wrath of God, how do they make it into the kingdom of God? This is what chapter 10 and 11 are going to answer. So if you your Bible work in chapter 11, again, as we come to this, as always, the way to understand Revelation is not to look forward and try to speculate how is this going to all play out. The way is to always look backward.

first readers of this book would have had revelation on one hand and the Old Testament another. In fact, it was a spiritual discipline for the people of God, for the Jewish people to be people who remember.

It was built into their rhythms and their liturgy and their calendar to always remember, remember what God has done. The word zakar is this Hebrew word to remember. A hundred times it's used of God, he remembers his covenant with his people. 60 times it's commanded to the people of God, remember God's covenant. So all these festivals and feasts and rhythms of their life was to look back and remember what God has done.

The Jewish people would back into the future as they fixed their lives. We tend to be a forward-saving people, but there's a danger if you look the wrong way. And there's a danger in coming to this book, looking the wrong way. Every now and again, you hear these stories. Americans travel to the UK or Japan or vice versa, and they get hit by a bus. Why?

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Because they're used to looking one way and they step off the road and the bus is coming the other direction. This can happen to us if we don't look the right way. God's people are to be a people that back into the future. In fact, this is not just a Jewish thing. This is what Jesus instituted for God's people. They gather every time. What do we do? We remember his broken body and his shed blood. We back into the future. you have the right perspective, then you can start to understand.

So we remember. With that, as I read through some of this, I want you to think, and then I'm going to ask you, what pops out of you? I want you to think about what you know of the Old Testament. What stories are coming to mind? What is happening there? Because the echoes from the Old Testament in the book of Revelation would have been signs for people to say, what was God doing then and teaching the people then?

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John's going give us two what I'm going call apocalyptic parables. Jesus would often talk in parables. To communicate with you, he'd often put parables together that were different stories to make the same point. I think that's what he's doing here, but I want you to look for the echoes of the Old Testament. So there's the first one, and then the first two verses.

He says, then I was given a measuring rod like a staff. And I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar of those who worship there. So what do we know about the temple? Go ahead, just throw it out.

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Okay, we do know at this point in 96 AD, the temple's destroyed. So he's told to measure a temple. So it must not be the actual temple in Jerusalem.

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That's in the future in chapter 21. said, look back. It's the Old Testament. Why don't we go over the Old Testament about the temple of God? Okay, so manifest the presence of God on earth. What else do we do?

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Yeah, there's measurements, furniture in it. There's a good work there. And what they do there? Yeah, so it was a place of sacrifice, it was a place of worship. So all of these things should stay in your mind. Did you know of any stories in the Old Testament where they were to measure the temple? It's everyone's favorite prophet that no one reads, easy ye. Is he guilty?

No? You don't know Ezekiel? Ezekiel, yeah, you probably don't read it. You know why you don't read Ezekiel? Because it's apocalyptic. You close your eyes and listen to it, you think, oh, is this Revelation? What is going on here? Well, in Ezekiel chapter 40 to 48, there's this man that, our eyes, he's commanded to measure the temple. And at that time, it was to look for...

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John is getting this vision and he's reinterpreting the vision from Ezekiel. So it was a place with the manifest presence of God. It was a place where was sacrifices and worship, where the people of God came. And so he says, measure the temple.

we know in the New Testament about the temple.

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Actually, yeah, Jesus came down, but then Jesus did something else. On repeat in the New Testament, it's the people of God who are referred to as the temple. So, knowing what happens in the temple, knowing who it doesn't, that the measuring of the temple is this symbol of God knowing and protecting his own.

He knows who are his own and he will protect them and ultimately deliver them. And so this is the first thing, we as the temple of God, by the spirit of God, the manifest presence of God, by the worship happens, where the people...

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But that doesn't mean we don't suffer. It doesn't mean that we don't even die on this side of eternity. We will die, but ultimately for the Christian, they are sealed, saved, and secure forever. And this is what he could say in verse two, but do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out. For it is given over to the nations and they will...

trample the holy city for 42 months. And though we are known and measured and protected by God, that there is a kind of raging of the nations against the kingdom of God. This is what we've seen laid out in church history the last 2000 years. There's this raging. Now again, as I said at the beginning, can't go into all the information in detail, but you're going to see some numbers here.

The numbers have symbolic meaning. They happen to do with Daniel chapter 9, if you want to go back and look at that, but you're to see 42 months. You're going to see 1,260 days, which is the same. Do the math on the 30-day month. You're going to see times, times and a half, which means three and a half years. You're going to see three and a half years. You're going to see all this on repeat, and it is representative of the church age. The tribulation.

From the birth of Christ till the second coming of Christ, we are under the pressure. The kingdom of God is clashing with the kingdoms of this world and it represents that. So that's the first sign. God's people will be protected and yet the nations will still rage. As Jesus said, we will give up our lives for the sake of the kingdom.

when we are determined to cure. And now we shift gears to the second apocalyptic parable. Again, look for the echoes of the Old Testament. says, and I will grant you, grant authority to my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for 1,260 days. Float in sacral.

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These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days that they're prophesying, and they have the power of

to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire. Don't look forward but look back. What echoes do you see in these verses?

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So we got Elijah, Elijah in the calling down of fire. What else do we see? Exodus in the plagues. We got Moses. Anything else? What does Sappho, Sappho represent? Mourning, what else? Repentance, humility. What else do we have?

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If you knew your prophets, you would know that this is also an echo from Zechariah chapter four. In Zechariah chapter four, Zerubbabel, the king Joshua the Freistar are in the temple and they get this vision of two olive trees and two lampstands. And that they are.

the olive tree and the lampstand. They are a kingdom and a priest. We are repeatedly called both in Revelation and elsewhere in the New Testament that we now are the kingdom and priests of our God. This is a picture of us. What else do we get? What do you get from olive trees? It's not a trick question. Olives. What do you get from olives? Oil. What does oil represent in the Old Testament? It represents a million things, which represents what?

Holy Spirit. Okay. And what about lampstands? What do lampstands do? Where do we see those in the Old Testament? In the temple, so it brings light to the darkness. In the Book Revelation, we also have lampstands mentioned. We'll get to that in a second. So the question then becomes...

Are we talking literal to and only to witnesses for an exact amount of 1,260 days or is there more going on that meets the eye as I've throughout this time? I said yes, I believe there is more. Two witnesses, why two witnesses?

comes from the Old Testament principle that for a matter to be established in any court of law, you needed two witnesses. You needed two to affirm. Jesus would talk about this often in the Gospel of John, the witnesses that would affirm him, John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, in his works would be witnesses. We'll talk about this in Matthew chapter 18, in the case of church discipline.

Mark Oshman (19:47.366)

You need witnesses where two or three are gathered in my name in this case. There I am in their presence. So the witnesses represent testimony. But I also think that this is not just too and too specific, though it does represent Elijah and Moses. I don't think this means that God will miraculously resurrect them.

Jerusalem ending for exactly 1260 days sorry that behind the series prophesy and then at the end of that they'll die they're going to be resurrected again a second time and then they'll be resurrected a third time at the final resurrection when we're all resurrected with them so what's going on here well these are

the two that have the Holy Spirit, the two lampstands. This is the greatest thing. In Revelation chapter one, who is called the lampstands? The churches. There's a direct reference. The churches are the lampstands. So we see that this represents us. Again, we are the lampstands. I think in the reference to Exodus and the reference to calling down a fire, it represents Moses and Elijah, but...

Yeah.

Mark Oshman (21:17.067)

talk about that for a second. Their character. It says they are dressed in sackcloth. That this is a picture of humility. The church is supposed to be a picture of humility. It's a picture of repenting. We are a repenting people calling the world to repentance. We don't stand far off and say, how bad the world is.

I'm so glad we don't get any of their nastiness on us. No. It's like we are those beggars, short of another beggar where bread is. This is...

embrace the character of Moses and Elijah. Not only that, we should embrace the confidence of Moses and Elijah. And it's not a confidence in our own selves, in our own strategies, in our own way of doing things, because both Moses and Elijah...

they turned inward in both cases that they had no confidence. Like they stuttered before God, they didn't think they could make it. They had suffered spiritual depression, all these things in and of themselves. They had no power, no confidence. But when they turned their eyes and faith to God and the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that they could call down a fire, that they could stop the rain, that they could call down the place.

you

Mark Oshman (22:44.53)

This is our confidence church. This is the power that will turn the world upside down. The power that resurrected Christ from the grave in his church, in his witnesses, has the power to turn Harvard upside down. name is the moral. The question is...

we engage in? Is the world being turned upside down by redemption Parker or are we upside down by

Mark Oshman (23:16.674)

like church, this passage is calling us to lean in on faith and trust and tap into the power. We have the power to heal by this spirit. have the power to raise the dead. We have the power to bring dead people to life. The proclamation of the gospel, where's your...

to the witnesses, wherever their confidence was. And then finally, our commission. We see there's power and there's witness. Where else in the Bible do we see this idea of power and witness combined?

If this is the Apostle John, it may or may not be, but even so, he would have had the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Acts.

seeing this combination of power and witness. Acts chapter one verse eight, and you, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. We have power to be witnesses in Jerusalem and today in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. We are empowered to be witnesses.

This is our call as followers of Jesus. You're empowered to be a witness. To be a witness is to go and testify on someone's behalf. By the way, you and I are not the ones on trial anymore. Jesus is. Jesus is the one on trial, for he's the one that claimed he is the way, the truth, and the life that no one comes to the Father except through him.

Mark Oshman (24:51.918)

Jesus is on trial because he has upset the status quo of the world. Jesus is on trial because he said that I will conquer sin, death, and the grave. And he came back and testified to that. Now we are.

to testify, to stand up and testify this is who Jesus is. We have power, we have character, confident power.

And the mission is unstoppable. Even if they kill us as individuals, the mission will not be stopped. We see this as the story continues. And when they have finished their testimony, their witnessing, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit, what will we talk about that? In chapter 14, 13, well, 12, 13,

about this beast, so we won't get into it. The beast that rises from the bottom of this pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt where the Lord has crucified. Now this is interesting because it's symbolic because Sodom and Egypt and Jerusalem are not in the same place at all. But yet there's something to that. We'll get into that in the coming weeks.

for three and half days, some from the, notice the language here from chapter 7, some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations, the same people that will be gathered before the throne as rescued and redeemed people. At this point, some of those people will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb.

Mark Oshman (26:34.594)

And those who dwell on the earth, this is John's way of saying, the unbelievers, they will rejoice over and make merry and exchange presents because the two prophets that witnesses us have been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. The world celebrates.

when those who testify to the truth are put to death. This is a celebration that they create a holiday. It's like Christmas for them. If let's exchange presents, when we put them to death, they can't torment us anymore by calling us to repentance. They can't torment us anymore by pointing us to the way, the truth, and the life. Verse 11. But after the 3 1 2 days,

A breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven, to them, Come up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched. And now look what happens after seeing the testimony, the martyrdom. That's, by the way, that's what it means to be a witness. The Greek word is martyrios. We get the word martyr from.

Because in church history, so often those who testify have become the martyrs, now they're still overcoming, they're conquering. The church goes forward, the mission goes forward, and now the people of the earth dwellers are looking at this and they're watching. Look at verse 13.

And at that hour, there was a great earthquake. And a tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake. The rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven. Now pay attention to the details here. Because if we're thinking Old Testament, what would you expect? You would expect not a tenth of the city to fall. You would expect nine-tenths of the city to

Mark Oshman (28:45.774)

and only a remnant to remain. There's gospel here, the witness and the martyrdom of the people, the sacrificial service of the people to the nations, a temple.

That means 9,000, 910,000 are saved. 7,000 people were killed. They killed Elijah again. There were 7,000 that were made, but now there are 63,000 that were made. There is a gospel working here, and the rest were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven. They finally see. So how will the nations come into the kingdom of God?

a prophetic, persistent, and powerful lamb-like witness of the Church. That's how. They don't come into the Kingdom of God looking at the judgment and wrath of God, but they come looking at the Church who reflects their Savior, the Lion of Judah, that the Lamb was slain.

The world turns to Jesus when they see the church overcoming in the same way Jesus overcame this. And it means through mercy and grace. There's just something powerful. When we lay down our lives before people, even if they kill us, we still win. Let's go back to prayer.

Mark Oshman (30:13.816)

So I witnessed testimony of that night because there were some villagers that saw it and one came to Gladys and said, and I can't verify this, I can't verify this, just said when the flames were going up on that tree, I saw it.

seen or in mind.

I believe in that moment, God was welcoming my husband and my sons.

Mark Oshman (30:48.59)

Can you imagine that moment?

that moment where Graham and his sons enter into glory and in waiting for them at the doorway of heaven is the most radical cross-cultural missionary the world has ever seen. He heaven in glory and lives among us and he understands. He understands what it's like to be surrounded by an angry mob at

He understands what it's like to be tortured and to die from a simple message of love, grace, and mercy. He gets all that. And it would make perfect sense to them in that moment that they would give his life, give their lives to him. And it makes perfect sense to Jesus that they would give their lives for him.

still has nail stars in his hand. he said, welcome Timothy, welcome Philip, welcome Brad. I'm so glad you're here in the body of his head.

Mark Oshman (31:52.174)

still seems like kind of a waste.

No one has said anything about dying.

Jesus did. He would come after me and must take up your crops. That's all it means. So we shouldn't be surprised.

I don't think maybe anyone here is probably gonna die, but we shouldn't be surprised.

Well, seems like a way as well. 35 years, he still had so much more work to do. Still had people to say, he still had all this, like, why would God do that? It doesn't make sense. was like...

Mark Oshman (32:33.496)

But as news came back to Gladys and Hester, to this day Gladys will say, something of a spirit came upon me and immediately filled my heart with mercy and grace.

Mark Oshman (32:48.526)

And this is a mercy and grace and forgiveness that the caste system of karma and works and all that. I've never seen before the likes of this kind of mercy and grace in the country of India. And so the mercy and grace that Gladys began to extend made its way all the way to the prime minister of India.

When he heard that he said, I want Gladys' words to be printed on the front page of every newspaper in India.

most populated country in the world. Over a billion people. I want them all to hear the words of this Christian missionary. On the front page, guy who labors 34 years in Northern India doesn't know if he's making a difference at all. And on the front page, his sacrificial death, land-like death, on the front page, his wife's words, say this, and I quote.

Mark Oshman (33:53.262)

I have one great desire that each citizen of this country should establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who gave his life for their sins. Let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ.

Mark Oshman (34:16.778)

I'm glad you take that exchange.

Mark Oshman (34:21.88)

God can move, continues to move through the late Gladys and Esther State for another five years until Esther was 18 before they moved back. But in those five years, so much began to happen. And this came across the AP Newswire. You won't get this at CNN or Fox News or anything, but it said this, five and half years, the Grand Touring Desire was to build a referral hospital in the area. It says, five and half years after the brutal killing of Australian missionaries,

his dream project of a referral hospital was inaugurated.

Mark Oshman (34:58.575)

Thanks for watching!

Mark Oshman (35:02.316)

This past July, Christianity Today ran another article on this kind of reflecting of the aftermath of interviewing some of Graham's Indian friends from that region. And the spread of Christianity among those 60 villages, that one village of Barapada where they died, are now three churches most...

Mark Oshman (35:28.408)

This is the story a gunshot

Mark Oshman (35:43.861)

I'll move the nation.

sacrificial and faithful land-like goodness to the nations who rage against the human race.

How will Parker come to know if you got...

find out.

We all call to recall that one simple thing, to be faithful witnesses. To have the kind of character, the confidence, the commission of Moses and Elijah.

My prayer as your pastor is that God would raise up some of you to go to the nations. I know that won't be all of you, won't be many of you, it be one or two of you. My prayer is for that. And maybe even now the Spirit is moving in you. This week on Wednesday, I got an email from this guy named David. He ever get an email where it's like, must have had some interaction with this guy. It took me a while as I'm reading it. What is this guy saying? I don't know. Well, what is he doing?

so much for planning that scene. I want you to know I'm on the mission field now and I just traced it back to your email. like, who are you? I don't know who you are. That's when you scroll up to the, correspondence did I possibly have with this guy? It was December 15, 2020. He had applied for a pastoral residency at redemption park. was graduating in seminary and I said, hey.

said, David, but the role's already been filled. I said, what, have you considered going to the mission field? If you wanna talk about that sometime, I'm not about to talk to you. That's all I said. See, I'm kind of embarrassed, like, hey, you can have a job in America, but you should go away.

know your evil just stirred something in.

And I decided to And I'm here now. I just wanted to...

But put a rest.

Thank you.

that Christ is glorified and we...

Judgement and Mercy

AI Transcript

Amen. If you have a Bible, you can begin to make your way to the book of Revelation, Revelation, Chapter eight and nine. We're going to cover two chapters this morning. So buckle up. I read these chapters last Sunday as I was right after the service and I said, oh, it's time to buckle up. So I immediately went home and began to do some work, try to understand, engage. What is actually going on here? And as I was starting that work, I got a text from a friend.

who is now a pastor down in southern Colorado. And in the text, he sent me this picture. It's this picture of this little two inch Jesus. And he said, hey, I was standing in line at Burger King today. And the guy in front of me turned around, pulled this Jesus out of his pocket and handed it to me and said, Jesus loves you. That's what the sash says. And he said, I immediately thought about you, Mark, because 10 years ago you preached a sermon at my church.

And in it, you talked about a two inch pocket Jesus. And here it is. And I in no way want to demean or discredit the guy that turned around at Burger King and handed this guy, handed my friend this Jesus. I'm sure his heart is to just share the love of Jesus. I commend that. But in that sermon, in that sermon, I was kind of lamenting the state of modern Christianity, specifically Christology, that there is this cultural pressure to

redefine, reshape, reimagine Jesus in all the ways that we want him to be for us and not in the ways that he is portrayed in the totality of scripture. And I said in that sermon, it can be like we have a two inch pocket Jesus where we pull out this Jesus to kind of coach us along, give us what we need, whatever our current circumstances are. When we need him, we have him. But when we don't need him, we could just put him back in our pocket.

And let's say, Jesus, I don't need you in that area. In fact, I don't want you really to press in on this area of my life. And so I was kind of lamenting the two inch pocket Jesus mentality. You know, I think it comes there is this pressure. There's this pressure that we feel if you've ever tried and I hope you have if you've ever tried to share Christ with someone, there is this pressure to say, OK.

here's all the things that I want you to know about Jesus. And really to try to put forward a Jesus that really appeals to their felt needs, that really is palatable. And again, I think that comes from a good heart. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, some churches and church growth gurus were saying, how do we reach a lost culture?

They came up with what was known as become known as the Seeker Sensitive Movement and behind the movement again I think it is from the right heart like we want to reach people with Christ and they said they postulate there's seekers out there that have spiritual hunger and needs and real life needs that Jesus can speak to and so they began to reshape their worship experience reshape their churches reshape their sermons and messages to appeal

to those things. And again, I think it came from the right heart. But what you got was a bunch of messages and sermons and worship styles that really appealed to the individual like, here's how God can help you in your marriage or here's how Jesus can help you with your finances or with your health or in any number of felt need ways. And these churches, they did reach a lot of people. A lot of people grew. And by the way, that is part of what is true in the Bible.

When we align our lives with the reality that God has set in place, like a lot of those things do get better. Like relationships get better. Your finances get better. All of that is true. But the problem is, that's not the whole truth. Like there are moments, you followed, if you have followed Jesus long enough, there are moments where Jesus isn't so palatable. Life isn't so easy.

Things don't get better. And so as another friend of mine often says, Mark, what we win people with, we win them too. What we win people with, we win them too. And so if you win people with a gospel that says, here's all the ways that God can enhance your life. Here's how Jesus is kind of like a divine life coach. Then you better stick with that. You've got to stay with that because

And every week and every time you've got to begin to make it so appealing to the person that they continue to come. And then the gospel begins to get truncated. You get you get a distorted view of who Jesus is. More than that, worship becomes about the people in the pew than Christ on the throne. This is a tragedy. So.

I want to push back on that. In fact, we're in this section of scripture that we have to push back on that because chapters six through 18, maybe some of the most difficult chapters in all the Bible, especially because of the cultural air that we breathe. They're difficult to understand because it's apocalyptic literature. But what we do understand, it's difficult to embrace because of the cultural air we breathe. My favorite sermon title of all time.

comes from Jonathan Edwards in 1736. He was preaching a sermon on Revelation five and he entitled it this, and they were just so gangster with their sermon titles. I need to do better. But here's what he entitled his sermon from Revelation five. The admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Christ Jesus. That's quite a mouthful, right? Let me say it slower. The admirable conjunction.

of diverse excellencies in Christ Jesus. And what he was saying from Revelation five is one of the glories of Christ is that in the same divine person he is both lion of Judah and lamb of God who takes away the sins. And he goes throughout the rest of the scripture and he shows Jesus is the holy one, the righteous one, the one who is worthy of all glory and the one who humbles himself. This is diverse excellencies. Jesus is

all truth and he is mercy, he is justice and he is grace and it is the full and complete picture of these diverse excellencies that make him even more praiseworthy. It's what we need. We need to see Jesus in all of his glory, even the parts that are hard for us to swallow. So for example, in the Gospel of Luke, we recently studied Luke.

There is a line that Jesus says that I can almost guarantee no one gets tattooed. Like you're not going to see this verse on the bottom of your in and out cup. Sorry Rick. But in Luke chapter 12, Jesus says, came to cast fire on the earth and wood that were already kindled. Hello? No one's got that tattooed? This is about the judgment of Jesus. I came to bring judgment. I don't like that pocket Jesus.

No, no, we like Luke chapter 19 for the son of man came to seek and save the lost. But both are true. He is both the judge and savior. He is righteous in his wrath and gracious in his mercy. The admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Christ Jesus. Now, I learned a while ago that God does not need me.

God does not need you to be his defense attorney. The line of Judah does not need to be tamed. The line of Judah is the line of Judah whether we try to tame him or not. He is God on the throne. And what God has called us to in this time and in this place is to be a faithful witness. Here's who God is to the world.

Revelation 6 through 18 as I said are difficult to understand they're difficult to embrace but they are for our good that they're part of God's Word that they show us that God cares about sin and because God is love he has wrath because God is love he has wrath and I've said this before but let me just explain like you you have this too

So good parents, good fathers, good mothers, you love your children and so you give them commands and instructions and boundaries for their flourishing because it's out of your love. And you discipline when they go out of that because you love them. And if someone was to mistreat, take advantage, abuse or even try to kill your child, then the righteous wrath would rise up in your heart and soul.

defend them because it's out of your goodness and your love now if God is infinite in his goodness and infinite in his love then his wrath is also good and right this is what we're gonna see in the next several several chapters now one of the problems with with the book of Revelation is it of all the books of the Bible it's very easy to miss the forest for the trees

What I mean by that is you can start to nail down on specific verses and be like, well, what does this mean? What is that? That's really bizarre and start to get lost in the weeds, right? Again, I think this is one of the reasons why Calvin never wrote a commentary on Revelation, because when you write commentaries, that's what you do. You commentate on every verse, but it's easier to actually preach Revelations than commentate, because we can go...

at a 30,000 foot view and explain and understand what is actually happening here. So there's two lenses that you can come to this section or the whole book of Revelation. One is a futuristic lens. This is the typical lens that most American Christians come to the book of Revelation. Speculate, how is this thing going to play out in the end? What does this verse mean? What could it possibly, is it talking about Apache or?

Apache helicopters in this chapter. Is that what's going on here? We could speculate like that. And by the way, we're in the chapter where the Apache helicopters are speculated upon. Just a heads up for you on that one. Or again, as we've said throughout this book, this book cannot mean to us what it did not mean to the first readers. There's another lens and when you see it through the other lens, it becomes so obvious. The other lens is you have the Book of Revelation in one hand, you have the

Old Testament in the other. And when you see clear echoes from the Old Testament into the book of Revelation, you say, I see what's going on. What was going on then? What did that teach us about? Teach God's people about God then that is applicable in this case, 92 A.D. or 2025 Parker, Colorado. And when you come to chapters eight and nine,

What immediately would have jumped off the page was these are echoes of two books, primarily the book of Exodus and then secondarily the prophet Joel. When you start to understand, okay, well, what was happening in Exodus? What was happening in Joel? What does that teach us about God there that is true today? You start to say, I see what's happening in this book.

Did you know Revelation actually does not give us any new doctrine or actual revelation about the fangs of God? I love how Eugene Peterson puts it in his book on Revelation. says this, do not read the Revelation to get additional information about the life of faith in Christ. I've read it all before. Everything in the Revelation can be found in the previous 65 books of the Bible.

The revelation adds nothing of substance to what we already know. The truth of the gospel is already complete, revealed in Jesus Christ. There is nothing new to say on the subject, but there is a new way to say it. I read the revelation not to get more information, but to revive my imagination. This apocalyptic literature sets our minds on fire with the truth of God in ways that epistles or even gospels

Do not. We're going to see that in this passage as well. Again there's going to be an echo from Exodus. So if you remember the Exodus God had spared his people from famine and they had come down to Egypt and they had lived in prosperity for a while but eventually the kings the pharaohs they changed and as Israel grew that there would there became a animosity towards the Israelites and they were enslaved.

And in their slavery, they felt just the brokenness of this world. They begin to cry out to God. at the end of chapter two, verse 23 says this, during those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning.

And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God, I love this last verse, God saw the people of Israel and God knew. And God knew. Keep that in mind as we turn to Revelation 8. But also later in Exodus, remember there's the 10 plagues. I'll put them on the screen here. These plagues are God's judgment on

the Egyptians. We had water followed by frogs and gnats and flies and pestilence and boils and hail and locusts and darkness and death of the firstborn. Again, keep these in mind as we look at Revelation 8 and 9. But also keep in mind what was happening in Egypt during these things and what was the purpose of these judgments. Part of the purpose was to call Pharaoh

call the Egyptians to repentance. Right at the end of each one that they it was like are you going to repent and and they kind of half-heartedly did sometimes but then their heart was hardened and the next one came and their heart was hardened. What was God teaching us in Exodus in Exodus that is true in the first century. Well in Egypt it was the most powerful army in the world the most powerful nation in the world and it had set its oppression on the people of God.

Well, what's happening in the first century? The most powerful empire that the world has known, the Roman Empire, has set its oppression on the people of God. So there's an echo. And what did Exodus teach us? God hates sin. He hates all sin. God hears the prayers and the cries of his people. You can go on and on and see the echo between Revelation and Exodus. So with that,

Let's turn our attention to Exodus chapter eight or Revelation. chapter eight. We've had seven seals. We're to have seven trumpets. We'll have seven bowls. I'll put those up on it. I break these up because it's interesting because again, this does not happen in chronological order, but recursive, repetitive. They're cyclical.

They're not telling what's happening. Then this happens, this happens, this happens. But they're telling the whole story of the church age from the death, burial and resurrection of Christ until he comes again. We see this in each one of the seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls are different judgments from God and they break up in this way. All of them. There's four that go together and then there's a pause. Then two that are totally unique and then a pause and then a

at the end comes Christ returns. So we get to the end three times and we start over. We start over. But they're telling the same story but from a different perspective. We saw in chapter six to eight that the seven seals tell the perspective from the church. Here's what's affecting the church. Here's explaining the church's experience in the last 2000 years. But now we're in the seven trumpets and that's going to tell the perspective from

the unbelieving world from what Revelation is going to say, the dwellers of the earth, from those that are in rebellion to God, His rule, and His reign. This was just helpful for me to see, because normally I read through Revelation and I'm like, that was weird, that was weird, that was weird. But to see there's actually a pattern, a rhythm to each one of these three. Okay, so let's jump in to chapter eight.

said when the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer. And he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense

with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Did you hear the echo from Exodus chapter 2? The people were oppressed. They cry out to God and it rose to the throne room of God. This is significant. God saw them then and in the first century and now and

What we see immediately is that the prayers of God's people are significant, far more significant than you could think or imagine. Right. So far in the visions of the throne room of God, we've seen this continuous loud like thunder worship of God. Holy, holy, holy. But now the prayers are there and there is silence. God is hearing.

prayers. We see this from the sixth seal. The martyrs under the altar are praying. They're calling out, Lord, how long until you avenge us? How long before your righteous wrath comes to the earth? And now in response to their prayers, the seven trumpets are about to be blown. Look at verse five. says, then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth.

And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The judgment of God is falling on the earth.

Now we see the seven trumpets, verse six. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. Again, they're in groups of four and then two and then one. says the first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood, think Exodus. And these were thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up.

Remember in Revelation the numbers are symbolic. So we should ask the question why a third a third a third a third. We'll come back to that. The second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. Think of the River Nile turning to blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Verse 10, the third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet and the third of the sun was struck. That's the ninth plague in Exodus and the third of the moon and a third of the stars.

so that a third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be kept from shining. And likewise, a third of the night. This is a picture of creation gone berserk. It is what we see. We see it today. We've seen it for 2000 years when nature is broken itself. Romans chapter eight says all of nature itself, the creation itself is groaning.

redemption but there is brokenness in the world there are earthquakes that happen there are there are floods there are famines there are all these things and in the brokenness of the world that there should be a crying out to God it should be a wake-up call to the world like things are not right how are things going to be put right again it's an explanation of creation gone wild

Verse 13, then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead. Whoa, whoa, whoa. To those who dwell on the earth. Again, unbelievers on the earth. At the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow. So now we come to the fifth angel, the fifth with the fifth trumpet. And just a heads up, this is where we're going to see the Apache helicopters. Not really.

I promise you these are not Apache helicopters, but we'll get to that in a second. This is in the fifth angel blew his trumpet and they saw a star falling from heaven to earth. And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit. Again, this should stir your imagination. And from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace.

and the sun and the air were darkened and with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth. Again, the prophet Joel or Exodus. These locusts come up, but they're not ordinary locusts. Look at what it says. And they were given power, like the power of scorpions on the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree.

Clearly these aren't locusts because that's what locusts do. They eat all the grass and harm the plants and eat the trees but not these locusts. In fact they're not locusts at all. We'll see in a minute. It says but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So they torment but they don't torment God's people. Remember we saw that last week. We are sealed. We are saved and we are secure forever. This is

from the perspective of the unbelievers. It says, were allowed to torment them for five months. Again, we'll come back to that. But not to kill them. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days, people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. This is the peril of the unbeliever. Life can be miserable.

but they're afraid, terrified of death. They want death, but they don't want death. Verse seven then begins to explain these locusts. Again, this is where some are like, well, that must be Apache helicopters. No, it's actually a picture of the demonic world. And it's intentionally a ghastly, gruesome, and horrific image of demonic forces in this world.

So in appearance, the locusts were like, he's reaching for words, it's simile. And what he describes is far more horrific than anything Stephen King has ever described. The locusts were like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces. Their hair like women's hair. And their teeth like lion's teeth. They had

breastplates like iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people for five months in their tails. They have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abedon and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

This is probably Satan, this demonic whore that has been released out into the world to afflict unbelievers. But remember what Eugene Peterson said, revelation doesn't tell us anything new. What's being described here, it's what Paul described in Ephesians. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, the principalities, the dark forces.

in this world and in this apocalyptic vision you're like my gosh this is terrifying that there is a real spiritual battle raging all around us with horrific beings seeking to destroy, distort, and blind those who do not know Christ. When you start to feel the weight of that you start to have a little hopefully a little bit of compassion with those that seem like they're in total rebellion to God.

And you start to see there is a demonic presence behind that. And so you're reminded our struggle is not against them, but against these dark forces. They're afflicting the unbelievers. Verse 12 says, the first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to come. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. And I'll let you on your own time read that, but it's this picture of this 200 million

warrior army coming across the far reaches of the Roman Empire at that time, the Euphrates River. Rome was obsessive about their control and power and dominance and they were always trying to expand it more, but they always had this deep fear in the hearts that there was some unknown army just outside their border ready to roll in and the Revelation says, oh, it's an army of 200,000 strong. It's a demonic army.

that is going to roll into Babylon, roll into Rome. It's a horrific, scary picture here. But let's get back to the numbers. One third, five months. What's going on there? Just like in Exodus with the plagues, they were limited in scope and in time. It does affect the whole world, but not all of the world, a third of it.

These judgments are mixed with mercy. The idea is that you should see the brokenness of the world. You should see the brokenness of our heart. You should feel the demonic oppression and that should press you on to turn to repent and to come to God to find mercy in God. That's the hope. But that's what makes Revelation 9 verses 20 and 21 some of the saddest verses in the Bible. It says the rest of mankind

who were not killed by these plagues did not repent. They did not repent.

They did not repent of their works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. They had their hearts.

They persisted like Pharaoh. The vast majority persist in the rebellion. They don't see the judgments for what they are. An opportunity to turn to God. They did not repent. Now John isn't saying that no one ever repents. There are some that repent but the vast majority don't. Did you know in Exodus chapter 12 as the people are leaving Egypt it also tells us that

There were some Egyptians that went with them. Some Egyptians saw the plagues and they're like, Ra is not God. Whoever is the living God of the Israelites, that is God. And they went out with the Israelites. The vast majority did not. This is true of our world, right? The vast majority will not repent, but some will. Some will. Which leads us to the question. Revelation 8 and 9. How should we

as believers respond to these chapters. Well, what is this calling us to in this time in this place? think three things. One, I think it's obvious. We are called to pray. We should respond with prayer. John is showing us the significance of prayer, that it rises before God in his throne room. It silences heaven and he hears, he sees

And he responds that if we took to heart the vision of prayer from Revelation, we would be a praying church. It would not be an add on to our spiritual life. It would be our life. It would be our breath. It would be what we would do all the time. Lord, you hear our prayers, you see, you respond, you react to how we pray and then let us be a praying church. We should pray. Number two.

Because God hates sin and has wrath for all rebellion. We should repent. We should regularly repent. See the difference between those that are sealed and the dwellers of the earth isn't that we we are we don't sin and they're they just sin. No the difference between a believer and unbeliever is a believer has the Holy Spirit is constantly convicted of sin and constantly turning away.

from sin and turning to God. This is what it looks like to be a believer to repent to take sin seriously. God knows your sins your sins omission and commission. He knows your heart. He knows the rebellion. He knows the wickedness. If any of us had the thoughts of our last week played on the screen we would all be embarrassed. God sees it all and God's people repent continually. This is what

Martin Luther said in his 95 Thesis, 508 years ago this month, when he nailed the 95 Thesis on the church doors at Wittenberg, number one he said this, when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, Matthew 4.17, he willed that the entire life of believers be one of continual repentance. These chapters and the ones to come remind us that God's

people repent. We take sin seriously because God takes sin seriously. And then finally we'll see this more next week. But these chapters remind us that this is the time and this is the place that God has called us and placed us to be on mission in the world. So we warn the world in rebellion to repent that that that there is a way to life and hope. We don't take up a sword.

to defeat our enemies. When we don't go online to try to defeat everyone on X who doesn't agree with us theologically, because that works so awesome. No, we don't pick up a sword. We point a finger to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We alone have a message for the world. There is hope, there is forgiveness, there is a path to life.

In our culture, in our day, and even in our own church, we're asking this question, are we on the verge of revival? What evidences of grace do we see that could be a national revival or a churchwide revival? Now, to be clear, there is revival happening in many places throughout the world. Brazil is blowing up with the gospel. Many are getting saved every single day. The fastest growing church in the world right now is in

one of the most oppressed countries in the world in Iran. Iranians are coming in droves to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. We praise God for that. Sub-Sahara Africa is coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior like no other place. But our question as Americans in this time and this place, and hopefully our prayer is, Lord, would you bring revival here? Would you stir here and somewhere like, well, I see this and this and this. But here's the thing. At least

Historically, how does revival happen? It happens on the twin rails of prayer and repentance in the local church. Show me a church where there is a growing culture of prayer who understands that prayer silences heaven and leans into it. Then I'll show you a church that God is on the move. Show me a church where there is a culture of confession.

and repentance among one another. And I'll show you a church where God is on the move. But you show me a church where there is prayer and repentance. Buckle up. May God do that in our day. Amen. Let me pray for us.

Sealed, Saved, and Secure

AI Summery

Mark Oshman (00:00.367)

Welcome. My name is Mark. If you have a Bible, we're in Revelation chapter seven this morning. You can begin to make your way there. Um, I don't know. Anyone, anyone on tick tock? Any tick tock? I didn't, I didn't guess that we would have a huge tick tock crowd. Don't be afraid. I know some of you on tick tock. Come on. Some of you on tick tock. Well, uh, apparently a few weeks ago, uh, there was a something kind of blowing up on tick tock, a hashtag rapture talk. Did you see this?

Rapture Talk, there was a South African pastor who said he got a vision from God that said that the rapture would happen during Rosh Hashanah, September 23rd. And this began to get some traction and spill over to Instagram and YouTube shorts and others. And people were sharing their anxieties about the rapture. Others were sharing tips, how to prepare and what to do with your pets, apparently, when you get raptured.

Others were mocking Christians that you believe in a rapture. Of course, September 23rd came and went and there was no rapture. Then this pastor said, that was the Julian calendar or the Georgian calendar. I meant the Julian calendar. So it was going to be this week, October 7th, when the rapture was supposed to happen. Of course, we're all still here. So either we're not Christians or it didn't happen.

I remember in middle school, this is before the internet, 1988, before things went viral on the internet, there was a viral thing going on. remember talking to other middle schoolers about how in September of 1988, there was going to be a rapture. I was like, what is that? they're like, the Christians are just going to get sucked up into the sky. It's going to be awesome. And so we were all like, OK, rapture's coming. And that came from a guy who was a

former NASA engineer who kind of became a self-proclaimed, hey, you threw me off here. Who's running the slides? Who's running the slides?

Mark Oshman (02:07.463)

No, actually because I need to get some instructions. Okay.

Mark Oshman (02:14.606)

Alright, okay.

You can throw that up there, he wrote this book.

Mark Oshman (02:22.702)

So Edgar Weisenhunt, he was a former NASA engineer, became a self-proclaimed Bible prophecy scholar. He wrote this book, gave out millions of copies, and so eventually made its way to Powell Middle School over here in Littleton. We heard about this. 88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988. I love the subtitle, The Feast of Trump. There you go. That's also what Rosh Hashanah is called. And he was just arguing there, was, it's going to happen. And of course,

88 came and went. the next year he said 89 reasons the rapture. was off on one. It's going to happen in 1989. And of course that came and when he did this two more times in 1993 94 came and went this this kind of happens all the time. And and that's one particular view one particular framework to approach the book of Revelation and and before kind of digging into this book with you guys over the last couple of months and

digging deeper I kind of thought well that's one view not kind of seeing that but by but I'm starting to come to see that bad theology is not just bad because it misses the point of revelation it's bad because it hurts people. mentioned to you last week that there's a silent persecution going on in the world right now a silent genocide rather of Nigerian Christians in.

at hands of Boko Haram. Well, they heard about this prophecy from the South African pastor. And I saw one video of these Nigerian believers who are under intense persecution right now. They had gone out to the forest and they were waiting for the rapture that day in September and they were crying out to God and they were begging and just waiting and waiting and waiting. And of course it didn't happen. And I felt my heart broke for these people.

because they were about to go back into their village and go back to the face of persecution. And in their mind, either this guy was wrong or God had failed them or all these things. It's bad theology hurts people. And it misses the point of the book of Revelation, which is not to hurt anyone, but to actually encourage us deeply. See, the book of Revelation is a discipleship manual for how God's people can overcome.

Mark Oshman (04:45.452)

tribulation, trials and temptations in a world that is opposed to God's kingdom. It's a discipleship manual. It's meant to comfort, encourage and strengthen Christians that are facing these kind of trials and temptations. Rightly understood that the book of Revelation should be the most comforting book to those Nigerian Christians right now. Because it's meant to give them strength in the face of tremendous evil.

Tremendous evil. I believe chapter seven, this encouragement, this comfort, chapter seven is meant to do just that and maybe to do that more than any other chapter in the whole Bible to strengthen our spines, to give us hope and encouragement as we press on together. So we're going to go to seven and in chapter seven that there's going to be a shift. Last week the first six seals were open but there's going to be a pause and

And movie directors or authors would say this is a framing device. John's doing something to frame the context of what's going on. So let me give you an example of a couple of framing devices that I came across this week. So my wife was traveling a lot this week. She was speaking with her mom in Canada. So was a bachelor at home by myself. And I did that. was scrolling through Netflix like what show could I watch? And I came across this show Zero Day.

I only watched three minutes of it, so I don't know if it's good. I'm just saying. it's Robert De Niro. He's a former president. And the show opens where he's frantically, he's in probably his own library. He's trying to open a safe. And while he's trying to get this safe open, the doors are being pounded on and they're giving way, they're giving way. And he's scrambling. He has to go find the code again and he gets the code. And as he's opening the code, as soon as the safe opens, the doors

bust open and then the scene cuts and it says three days earlier. That's a framing device. As a viewer, you're like, well, what's going to happen in those three days to get us to that point? Or think of another one, the best war movie of all time, Saving Private Ryan. It starts with James Ryan as an old man walking with his wife, his children, his grandchildren through the

Mark Oshman (07:07.682)

graves of Normandy with the crosses and the stars of David and he's visibly shaken, emotional. Eventually he falls to his knees before one particular cross and starts weeping and then Steven Spielberg zooms in on his face and it goes to D-Day. But you know, seeing that, you know, okay, this man survives in the midst of so many that gave their lives. What's the story behind that? It's a framing device.

So this is what happens in Revelation chapter seven. If you remember in Revelation six as the seals were broken the horse the four horsemen of the apocalypse start to ride across the face especially against the kingdom of God. False teaching false doctrine in the white horse. You have the anger rage and war and the red horse. You have the famine in the black horse and you have sickness suffering and death in the green horse. And then finally.

The martyrs crying out how long lord will you will you wait to avenge our blood and God answers their prayer in the day of the Lord in the judgment the Decreation of the universe and what happens is all of the unbelievers that they They start scrambling in the day of the Lord and we saw that in all the places that our world tends to look for in moments of crisis whether it's the rich and the powerful the kings and the Queens the government's the armies

poor, so anyone, there's no way to, there's nowhere to look for hope and so they all flee to the mountains, they go in the caves and they start crying out, not to God, but to the mountains, fall on us, fall on us, maybe if you fall on us then we won't have to stand before the Lord in his wrath and his judgment. That's how chapter 6 ended but the unbelievers asked the question at the end of chapter 6. In light of all this,

In light of the horses, in light of the decreation and the judgment of God, who can stand? Who can stand? And here John pauses and does a framing device. He is going to flash backward and he's going to flash forward in the narrative and answer that question. So Revelation chapter 17. Listen carefully, this is God's word.

Mark Oshman (09:30.498)

Seven, sorry. Thank you.

Yeah, chapter seven, verse one. He writes this, after this I saw. So after they said, who can stand? says, after this I saw. Remember in Revelation, doesn't always happen in chronological order. It's not what happens next, but what does John see next? And what he sees is actually a flashback. Chapter seven happens well before, in eternity before chapter six. And he says, after this I saw.

four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. This is they're holding back the judgment of God, the releasing of the horses, all those things. This is before chapter six. They're holding this back. It says, then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God.

This word seal becomes very important over the next few verses. We'll see it six times. Take note of it. I saw another angel rising from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

I heard the number of the sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed. Same for Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. Okay. What is going on? This

Mark Oshman (11:30.946)

This idea of sealed from eternity past has happened and to understand all that the metaphor and language of sealed means, it's very important in the New Testament and in the Old Testament there are multiple layers to this. And I think all of them are in view to some degree in this idea of being sealed. And the first one is sealed is a sign of protection. It is protection. So.

particularly in this passage, there's a flashback to the book of Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel chapter nine, God is going to send these six warriors into Jerusalem to judge the people of Jerusalem who are idolaters. That they've given themselves over to false worship and these six warriors are gonna come and destroy all the idolaters. But.

With them, there is another man who's got a writing device on its side. And he's been given this command to go and seal some people, to put a mark on their head. And here's what it says in chapter nine, verse four. It says, throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it. And he says to these six warriors, do not touch anyone who has the mark.

So those that are repentant, those that are grieving over their own sin and the sin of the city, they receive a mark or a seal on their forehead and they are spared from the judgment of God in this case. You think also of the Exodus when God has them put the blood of the lamb on their household so that they are in a sense sealed from the destroying angel. They're protected. This is the first thing that sealed implies, protection.

The other thing that sealed implies is ownership or belonging. So kings and governors and noblemen, they would have their own signet ring and they would seal their documents. And you would know that this belongs to whoever has the seal on it. Think of even chapter six, that the scroll had seven seals on it and only one who was worthy to open up the seals. This is...

Mark Oshman (13:56.142)

This belongs to someone. those that are sealed belong to someone. Slaves in the first century had marks or seals on their hand or their forehead to show who they belonged to. I think this is in view here as well. Seal implies a kind of character or nature. We see in chapter 14 that this seal is actually a metaphor for the name of God and the Son. So in chapter 14 verse 1,

Says then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the lamb and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. And I think this is metaphorical but to have a name in the Old Testament it meant your character your nature and so that the people of God had the character and nature of God. You looked at them and they like oh they represent the kingdom of light they represent the kingdom of of goodness. Look at their.

behavior, their nature, their speech, as opposed to those that have the mark of the beast who represent the kingdoms of darkness and the kingdoms of this world. But also throughout the New Testament, the way the apostle Paul uses sealed most often is in relationship to the Holy Spirit. Let me give you a few verses from there. Ephesians chapter one, verse three. It says, in Jesus, you also, when you heard

the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Again, all these things are in mind, protection, ownership, character, and the Spirit. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory? Later in the book of Ephesians, he'll say this, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed.

for the day of redemption. So the Spirit is the seal on our lives. And then 2 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come, to be sealed. His protection, is ownership, its character, its presence and power.

Mark Oshman (16:22.382)

of Holy Spirit and John says that he saw all those were sealed. says that was 144,000. Again, we should keep in mind a few things here. This is debated meaning behind this. So there are some like the cult of Jehovah Witnesses, when they started they said, oh, you have to be one of the 144,000 to be saved in the end.

And as they grew and once they got to 144,000, they said, oh, you have to know or be friends with one of the 144,000. It was very specific. And then others are like, well, this means that there's going to be 144,000 exactly that amount, exactly 12,000 from each one of these tribes. But there's a problem with that. There's a few, now, of course, God could do exactly that from exactly those.

But in the year 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the Northern 10 kingdoms. So the Northern 10 tribes scattered them, intermingled them with all the Gentiles. They intermarried. Those that stayed got intermingled with other Assyrians conquered people. They became known as the Samaritans, kind of half-breed Jews. They were hated, in some ways, hated worse than the Gentiles. The 10 Northern tribes are the lost tribes. No one knows who they are.

There's no way of telling. Of course, God could tell and say, you have a little bit. That's a possibility, but that's probably not what's going on here. The number twelve is very significant throughout the entire book of Revelation, right? We've seen this already. We'll see it again in chapter twenty one. There are twelve tribes. There are twelve disciples. In Revelation twenty one, there are twelve gates. Each gate has the names of the twelve tribes. There are twelve foundations. Each one has the name of the twelve disciples. Twelve times twelve.

The number thousand throughout the book of Revelation and even in the first century, even in Jesus's own teaching, the multiply of the thousand just means a really, really big number. Doesn't necessarily mean a specific number, but if you take 12 tribes times 12 disciples times a thousand, you get 144,000. Furthermore, us Gentiles probably didn't catch this at all, but that list of tribes is not anywhere in the Old Testament.

Mark Oshman (18:49.858)

That's not the list of the 12 tribes. Many of them there are there. But notice what it says. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed. What's the big deal? The big deal is Judah never comes first. Judah is the fourthborn son. But of course we've seen Judah being a preeminent, the line of the tribe of Judah. And so maybe that's why he put it there. Reuben's the firstborn. And we have Gad and Asher, Naphtali. Then it should be Dan. Dan is missing. Instead he puts Joseph's.

son Manasseh but not Ephraim so one of the sons and not the others then Simeon Levi Isk'ar Zebulon Joseph and Benjamin what's going on here when a Jewish man like John is writing a genealogy which they were obsessive about genealogies and he begins to tweak it he's signaling to you and us I'm communicating something else here something else is going on so pay attention to that

So I believe and we'll see, I think we'll see this throughout the book of Revelation that 144,000 represents the totality of all of God's people, Jew and Gentile going forward. Say, okay. And if you don't think that, then I think the very next verse proves this. So this is the flashback and now he's going to flash forward. Remember in verse four, he says, I heard the number of the sealed 144,000.

Verse nine, after this I looked and behold, this is a pattern we've already seen. I heard about the line of the tribe of Judah, but when I looked, I saw a lamb as though he was slain. It's not what John hears that's important, but what he sees that's important. After this I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.

standing before the throne and before the lamb. What he hears is 144,000 but what he sees is, man I cannot possibly count all of this. This is a massive number from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. This is a fulfillment of the promise to the Jews. All the way back to Abraham. Abraham, when God calls Abraham this pagan living in the land of Ur, when he calls Abram.

Mark Oshman (21:15.476)

out of the land of Ur. gives him this promise in Genesis 15. says and he brought him outside verse five and he brought him outside and said look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to them so shall your offspring be. In verse 20 chapter 22 verses 17 18 says I will surely bless you. God speaking to Abraham and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.

your offspring shall possess the gates of the of his enemies and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed it was always God's plan to bless all of the people of the earth through Abraham through Israel again for those of you that are currently in Rick's Israel and the church class you get this already but but for some reason others are like no this is just the tribe of Israel and then this is the nations no

I heard 144,000 but what I saw was people from every tribe, every nation. They are clothed with white robes and with palm branches in their hands. This is a celebration of victory. And who's the victorious one? Well Jesus is. Verse 10, crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and

the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever and ever and ever, amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come? I like John's response. I said to him, sir, you know.

He said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes and made made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Those that are sealed are saved. They have the righteousness of God. They're coming out of the Great Tribulation. Again, some would say, that that is a seven year period after the rapture that that that is.

Mark Oshman (23:40.75)

what's going on here and I don't think that's what's going on here. The word tribulation, phalipsis, just means pressure. And it's a great pressure. So think of tectonic plates. When two tectonic plates smash together, earthquakes happen. Great pressure happens. And it says they are coming out of the tribulation. It is present tense ongoing. So it is whenever the kingdom of light,

runs up against the kingdom of darkness. We see this at the birth of Jesus. There is a great tribulation. Herod says, we're gonna kill all the firstborn sons and all the babies in Bethlehem. That's tribulation, that's pressure. Kingdom of light running up against the kingdom of darkness. It happened in the year 70 AD when Rome rolls into Jerusalem and destroys Jerusalem.

It continues to happen in the year 92 AD as the church is under intense pressure from the Roman government. It's happening today in Nigeria, it's happening in Iran, it's happening in North Korea and on and on and on. Whenever the kingdom of light bumps up with the kingdom of darkness, there is a great pressure, a great tribulation that is happening. And they come out of it, they come out of it having their robes made.

their robes made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This is a great image that we get righteousness, cleansing from the blood of the Lamb. We are saved by the blood. Well, again, the question though, at the end of chapter six was who can stand? It's the question of unbelievers. That they are terrified to stand before a holy

just God but you know who is standing we saw it in verse 9 I think that was verse 9 yeah I saw people from every tribe tongue language standing before the throne and before the lamb those that are sealed those that are saved are standing they're standing with absolute confidence why because they have been washed in the blood of lamb they have no fear of judgment because Jesus was judged

Mark Oshman (26:02.548)

in their place on the cross and so they stand in victory. That's who's standing. All those who are sealed and saved, who will stand? You know, this is incredibly good news. As much as we in the West like to read ourselves into the text all the time and sometimes in very poor ways, like, there we are. No, this is the verse where you're in the Bible. Like if you zoom down enough, if you drill in, you might see

You can see Redemption Parker in this verse. You can see us standing with the multitudes from every tribe, tongue, and nation, the multitudes out of South America and out of Africa and out of Asia and even the multitudes out of Parker, Colorado, standing before the throne because we have the righteousness of Christ. have Christ's victory as our victory. His salvation belongs to us because he

gave it to us. Christ's cleanses us. Christ's Spirit has sealed us and saved us. So we should be comforted. We should be encouraged. In the face of the writers who seek to destroy us and the church, the kingdom of God continues to advance. What false teaching has derailed the church so that it has destroyed the church? Nothing.

What red rider has put so much anger and rage and war on the earth as to totally destroy the church? None. We stand in the face of the red rider. What famine, what plague, what sickness, suffering, or death in the face of the black and the pale rider has totally decimated the church? None of them have. We continue to stand. Jesus taught this, that in the end, the kingdom of...

of God will continue to increase and the kingdom of darkness will continue to increase until the very end. There will be greater and greater tribulation and yet we will stand. We will stand because we are unstoppable. I love what Eugene Peterson says about this. says these people are not only secure they are exuberant. This is a curious but holy biblical phenomenon.

Mark Oshman (28:24.876)

The most frightening representations of evil in Revelation six are set alongside extravagant praise. Revelation seven Christians sing. They sing in the desert. They sing in the night. They sing in prison. They sing in the storm. Any evil, no matter how fearsome is exposed as weak and pedantic before such songs. We see. And this is in no way to soft sell the tribulation.

suffering that we face, that our brothers and sisters are facing. We don't soft sell that at all, and yet we get to sing in the face of the writers because we know this is not the end of the story. I you've been there. I remember when my mom was dying of ALS and Matt Redmond's song, 10,000 Reasons came out. It's just this beautiful song that kind of takes you from life to death into eternity.

And literally as the days were approaching where she was about to die, she would sing this song. She was singing in the face of the Pell Rider. I will stand. You won't win. It's not the end of the

Let's conclude. So we are sealed, we are saved, we are secure. Look at verse 15. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence, literally translation, be a tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. That's a wild image. The lamb will be their shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He will lead me besides quiet waters. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water. It's what Jesus promised the woman at the well in John chapter four.

Mark Oshman (30:42.104)

Follow me and I'll guide you to streams of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. This is a flash forward. This is Revelation 21. This is where the people of God will stand in joy having been sealed, having been saved, having been now secure forever and ever and ever. Imagine though, imagine redemption.

Imagine how we could advance the kingdom of God among our neighbors and the nations if we held on to these two great truths. we have been sealed. From eternity past, we have been sealed and we have been saved. And that will last forever and ever and ever. These are the realities by which we live. Imagine how fearless we could be in this world now.

Imagine the risk that we would take in this world now for the sake of the name of King Jesus because we know in the end there is no risk. There is no risk when this is our future and our past. And so we live in light of these realities. Imagine how eternally secure we are in Christ. So brothers and sisters, this is meant to encourage you, to comfort you. Hold fast. You have been sealed.

In Christ you are safe. You say, I don't know if I am. I don't know if my name's in the book of life. I could tell you right now, just trust in Christ and I promise you, your name is in the book of life. You don't have to get worked up about that. Turn to Him in faith. Say, I take everything I know me and I turn to you and I confess my sin. I repent of that. I want your life in my life. I want to be sealed. Bible says you will be sealed. In fact, you will have been sealed from eternity.

and then you hold on to this future vision, a day is coming where you will wipe away every tear. This is our reality and we get to live into that as a church, amen? Amen, let me pray for us to that end.

The Seals Are Broken

AI Transcript

Amen. Amen. If you have a Bible, you can go to the book of Revelation. Again, the last book of your Bible, chapter six is where we're at. We've been the last five weeks working our way through this last book, this apocalypse. And I've been I've been deeply encouraged by it. I've never taught through preach through this before. So it's given me time to dig deeper than I have before. I've been encouraged by the vision of Jesus standing among his churches, defending them, encouraging them.

wooing them. I've been encouraged the last couple of weeks in chapter four and five of God on the throne worship by all creation. The lion of Judah, who is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world also worshiped. I've been encouraged by all that. I've been encouraged by many of you. Many of you have shared. Hey, I really enjoying this. last week after I finished preaching, one of you came up to me and said, Hey, I'm really digging this.

Revelation series. Thank you so much. And I knew where we were going the following week. And so I said, well, just keep that same energy. Because in the book now we're going to shift a little bit. It's going to get apocalyptic. It's going to get in some ways difficult. But it is a good word for us and to us. We say often with this book, we have to realize that actually it wasn't

written to us, but it was written for us. was written to the church at the end of the first century that were facing all sorts of persecution, trials, and temptations in their life. so we've said that the book of Revelation cannot mean to us what it did not mean to them. So that's our first kind of point of interpretation, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So yeah, keep that same energy, because if we were on an airplane right now,

And the flight would be smooth sailing so far, but this is the point where the captain would put on the fasten seatbelt sign and he would come on and he's, this is your captain speaking. Yeah, the flight deck has told us that there's going to be some turbulence. It's going to get bumpy. We're surrounded by thunderstorms and we can't go around them, but we'll go through them. We'll make it, but just buckle up.

I think that's what the captain would say to us if we were to do that. again, we come to this book, this book that was meant to encourage, literally to put courage into the saints. And they needed it at the end of the first century. These small churches, this small movement called Christianity, facing this giant of an empire that has now set its

aims to destroy this movement and they are dying for their faith. They are feeling all sorts of pressure from their own family members that aren't Christians, feeling pressure from their pagan neighbors, but feeling internal pressure like, hey, why don't I just compromise or why don't I just be silent about my faith in Jesus? That way I can have it all. I can get to heaven when I die, but no one will really

persecute me and I get to participate in all the blessings of the Roman Empire. This would be the temptation that they face when you start to understand that you like. We get we get nervous if we think our co-worker might look at us funny if we mention that we're a follower of Jesus. These people were dying for their faith. So the temptation was real. so Jesus comes in and gives John who's on the island of Patmos this vision he's on the island because he's been

persecuted for his faith and he's going to spend his last days there. But in that moment Jesus gives him a vision and he shows him I am standing among my churches. I am fighting for you. He gives him a vision of ultimate reality that we looked at over the last couple of weeks that that just on the other side of the veil right here in our midst that there is God on the throne. The line of Judah the lamb who was slain he is being worshipped by all of creation. This is what's

actually true. And so I don't know about you. Again, I was deeply encouraged by that scene of ultimate reality, that what we live in is actually the shadowlands, but that is the real life. But I imagine as they read that and heard that, they said, that's good, that encourages me. But it's really hard for us to get beyond our five senses.

It'd be really hard if you're like, man, I know God is on the throne, but my wife was just dragged off by the Roman authorities yesterday. That's what feels real. I know God is on the throne. Maybe you're here today, but I just got this call from the doctor and things don't look well. That's what feels real. And so what do we do with this tension? One of the themes of the book of Revelation is that

Not all is as it seems. There's more going on than meets the eye. More happening than we can diagnose with our five senses. And this is going to be true in our passage as well. Starting this week and really for the next several months, there's some truths that we're going to have to grapple with. And we'll start today and I won't even pretend to say, well, we'll answer all the questions that come up today.

We live in a time where you have 140 characters to explain theology and that just doesn't work. But there's some truths that we do need to begin to grapple with and we will today to some degree. We have to grapple with the truth that God is sovereign over all things. Not just things we like but over all things that the sovereignty of God we have to wrestle with that. We'll have to grapple with God's judgment and wrath are necessary.

Again, we live in a time and a place where we don't like to think about judgment and wrath, but we're going to get a lot of judgment and wrath for the next few months. And we're going to see that they are necessary. And beyond that, number three, God's judgment and wrath are good. It's actually a very good thing that this is who God is. And so with that, fasten your seatbelts and turn with me to Revelation, Chapter six. Last time.

we saw that there was a search out in heaven for who was worthy to open the scroll to break the seals. And we found that it is the Lion of the Tribachuta. It is the Lamb of God. And so he begins to break the seals. In chapter 6, says this. And now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come. And I looked, and behold, a white horse.

And its rider had a bow and a crown was given. Keeping my underliner highlight was given. This is going to become important. A crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. This begins the introduction to what's known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They show up in different ways in our culture and our

movies and video games and songs and poets. But who are these four horsemen? Well, again, this is a vision given to John to help explain, hey, there's more than more going on behind the scene than meets the eye. Yes, God is on his throne. Yes, he is being worshipped for all creation. But the four horsemen kind of represent the chaos, the suffering, the sickness, the persecution that is

being unleashed all over the world. Now, of the four horsemen, the first one, the rider on the white horse, is the most difficult to interpret and understand. And I think that's intentional. Some scholars and people in church history, church fathers, they say, well, the first one must be, it must be Jesus.

Because the only other time we see a rider on a white horse is Revelation 19. And Jesus, it is Jesus. He comes riding on the white horse to conquer at the Battle of Armageddon. And so this must be Jesus. But in those scholars and church church history, people are much smarter than me. And I read those. And in fact, it was the first one I read this week. I was like, OK, let's go. I think that's Jesus. But then I began to read all the other commentaries. I no, this is not Jesus.

This is a counterfeit Jesus. This is a false gospel. And you begin to think, actually that makes sense. And so the rider on the white horse is a false Jesus, false gospel. That's the first thing that we see. Now, why do I say this? Well, a few reasons. First of all, this passage, again, the book of Revelation is steeped in imagery and allusions to

verses of the Old Testament. We could go and trace all these down and look at the horses and Zechariah and all this stuff. But again, we tend to read Revelation in one hand and like the news or newspaper in the other hand. the first readers would have read Revelation in one hand and the Old Testament in the other. And that's how they would have made sense of it. But we actually don't even need to go to the Old Testament to make sense of this. Matthew 24, Jesus actually

In his teaching on how the end times are going to roll out, it parallels Revelation six. So in Matthew 24, as as his disciples asked Jesus about the end times, Jesus begins to answer. in verse four of chapter 24, he says, Jesus answered them. He says, See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.

And then at the end of his teaching, at end of chapter 24, he says, if anyone says to you, here is the Christ or there he is, do not believe it. false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Jesus's first teaching about the end times is there's going to be false messiahs, false gospels, and it's going to lead people astray.

this makes sense. Paul says Satan appears as an angel of light. This is one of his greatest tactics, to show himself as good but to twist the truth. So, anytime we add to the biblical Jesus or subtract from him, now we've got a different Jesus, a Jesus that cannot save, a Jesus that is not reigning and ruling. This happens throughout every century.

You know, of the 27 books of the New Testament, all of them to at some level explicitly explicitly call out false teaching. This was a problem in the first century and the second and the third and the fourth and today. Right. So one of the most historic, famous examples of this is Mohammed goes goes and he gets a vision of an angel of light. And this angel tells him, hey, this is the way. And Jesus is not the savior of the world. He's a great prophet. That's a false Jesus.

And it's a lie from the pit of hell. You fast forward to America in the 1700s, East Coast, Joseph Smith gets a vision from God and it says, this is what Jesus is. And it's adding to and subtracting to the biblical Jesus. It's a false Jesus. It's from the pit of hell. It's the rider on the white horse. Jehovah Witnesses, the same thing. anytime, anytime Jesus is presented as something that he is not,

The rider on the white horse is riding. And we see this all over in churches all over the place. There's false Gospels. There's the health, wealth and prosperity of gospel straight from the pit of hell. This tells you that if you just have enough faith, then God will make you healthy, wealthy and prosperous no matter what. And if you don't have enough faith, then that's why you don't have those things. That's a lie. It's the.

The opposite is true as well. The false gospel of the poverty gospel. God only wants you to be poor and to have no attachment to this world. That's a false gospel. There's the false gospel of the word of faith movement that that your words have power and you can manifest reality into your life by what you say. And so be careful what your words say. No. God's words have power but you are not God.

Your words don't manifest reality. That's a false gospel. We could go on and on. The false gospel of self-actualization. I can dream it, do it, believe it. If I have enough faith, it's going to happen in my life. The false gospel of self-affirmation. Whatever I desire, especially when it comes to my sexual ethics, whatever I want, God must bless that and affirm that. It's a false gospel. That's the rider on the white horse. A false gospel of a Jesus who is just your

personal life coach who comes alongside you to affirm you and encourage you in whatever you want to do. That's a false Jesus. And all of these are the rider on the white horse meant to lead you astray. No, we worship the true Jesus, the one that we find in Scripture. So this is the first rider. Now let's go on to the others. Number two, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come.

Mark Oshman (14:22.74)

and out came another horse bright red and its rider was permitted that's an important phrase again was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another and he was given a great sword this is the rider on the red horse this represents anger rage war this rider has been riding since the ascension of christ to

to dominate God's people, also dominate all image bearers to ride across the planet. We see this on a global scale, right? No matter how many advances we have in humanity, no matter how much we think we've grown as a people, no matter how many peace treaties are signed, this rider continues to ride. I we just have to look at the last hundred years and look at the massive

Massive genocides and tragedies and six million Jews or or 10 million Ukrainians that were starved to death by Stalin. We can look at the 60 million that died at the hands of Mao Tse Tung. We can just keep going on and on and on and on and see that this writer is writing. He rides on a global scale. He rides on an individual scale. He fuels anger and rage.

in our hearts that boil over. It destroys communities, it destroys families, it destroys ourselves. Are we not a people given over to anger and rage? Right? I mean, as the first readers read this, they would have thought immediately of the Roman Empire, who dominated their enemies through intimidation, terror, and violence. The cross was not just an execution instrument, it was a terror instrument. It was a torture instrument.

It was used by Rome for the sake of Rome's enemies. Don't mess with us or this is how you will die. But not just for the enemies. Violence in Rome was used to placate its own people. It was used as entertainment. Philip the Colossum. We have the barbarian games. You get to see blood and violence and you get to be entertained by it. You get to be desensitized by

the red horse. Are we not? Are we not that people as well? Right? Are we not a people given over to rage and anger and we're told that it that's just the way it is. Right. You know there's these things called rage rooms. I looked it up. I found no less than a half a dozen rage rooms in Colorado. These are places where you can go and you can fully venture rage. The first one I looked at was called All Out Smash in Denver.

And this is on their front page. This is what it says. Don't just manage your stress, channel it. Imagine stepping into our Denver Rage Room armed with a sledgehammer or a baseball bat, ready to demolish everything from office printers to a framed photo of your ex.

Mark Oshman (17:35.534)

Some of you are like, what was the place called again?

And then says, it's all about breaking things and breaking free. If you could just release your rage, you'll be fine. But that's not the way. fact, medical professionals have showed us like giving yourself over to rage actually changes the chemistry in your brain. changes you. It's not good. It's not for your health. But the rider on the red horse, we hear hits hoof beats on the planet and even in our own hearts and lives and homes.

This is the rider on the red horse. Let's look at the next rider. Verse five. he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say come. I looked and behold a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a court of wheat for a denarius and three courts of barley for a denarius.

Do not harm the oil and wine. What is going on here? This is the black horse. The black horse represents famine, but also injustice. Famine. So it says a quart of wheat for Denarius and three quarts of barley for Denarius. So Denarius was a day's wage for the average person in the first century. And so they're saying it's going when this rider rides, there's going to be famine, but it's not a

It's not a natural disaster caused famine, happens, drought or flooding or other things. notice because why? Do not harm the oil and wine. Those are luxuries. So it's a scene of people can't get the essentials for their daily bread, but the wealthy and the rich have all that they need. They have an abundance or not what they need or what they desire that they have their oil and wine. This is a picture of not having

enough of what we actually need and having an abundance of what we don't need. Again, this described the first century, but it certainly describes us as well. Isn't that what we live with now? We have so much more than we actually need, but what we, I'm sorry, we have so much more than what we don't need, but what we actually need, there's a kind of famine behind it. One writer who writes under a pseudonym,

In an article I read by called his name pseudonym was Elijah del Megito Says this the brutal painful fact is this the average person living in a western country Increasingly has nothing to live for he has little family few friends No neighborhood no community and no God he exists mostly as a ritual of economic activity a number on a balance sheet

It's this overabundance of what we don't need and a scarcity, a famine of what we do need. Let's go to the fourth horse. Number seven, verse seven. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth living creature say, come. And I looked and behold a pale horse. And its rider's name was Death. And Hades followed him. And they were given authority. Again, were given.

They were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild bees of the earth. The pale horse literally translates the green horse or it's the color of gross. It's the color of someone fighting and battling and losing to a disease. This is what this horse looks like. It's this picture of sickness, suffering and

Death. And since the ascension of Christ, this horse has been riding all over. No matter how many medical advances we get, this horse is undefeated. Everyone dies. This horse goes throughout the whole earth. It is riding even today. Well, these are the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And then with the fifth seal, something shifts.

The view shifts back to the throne room of God. And in verse nine, it says, he opened the fifth seal, saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had born. So he sees that the souls that this is they don't have their resurrected bodies yet, but they're under the altar. So the altar in the temple was the place where twice a day the priest would go and make sacrifices.

to God and the blood of the sacrifice would drain down and go under the altar. he gets this vision, this apocalyptic vision of the souls under the altar because they had been slain. They'd been martyred. Because of their faith in Christ and their perseverance to the very end, they have lost their lives. Verse 10. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true.

How long is this question that has been asked by God's people since the dawn of time when they've encountered the brokenness of this world and of their lives? How long? How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Now, these souls are sinless. They've been delivered. They're in the throne room of God. They're not sinning when they're asking this

question. They're genuinely confused. They're genuinely wondering how can God who is sovereign, notice that, sovereign Lord, how can God who is holy and true, how can this God put up with this level of injustice in the world? It's the question Job would ask. It's like, Lord, what are you doing? It's a question of Abacuk asks, what are you doing?

It's a question many of the prophets and many of the people, maybe many people in this room have asked when faced with the brokenness of this world, Lord, here's what I believe is true about you and there seems to be a massive disconnect. And this is what they're saying. You're sovereign, you're holy, you're just, and you just keep letting your people die. How long ago?

And like with Job and Habakkuk and maybe you, the infinite one doesn't try to explain to the finite ones all of his reasoning. And that can be very dissatisfying. That's where we have to remember some things about who this God is.

We'll come back to that in a moment. Here's how God answers in verse 11. God just says, just wait. Not all the martyrs are here yet.

There's a set number of martyrs and they haven't filled up the number yet. Okay. Well, it's with the sixth seal that we start to see the answer to the cry of the saints under the altar. Verse 12. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked. Behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth at the moon.

The full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that was being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. What in the world is happening here? If you're just visiting a redemption park and you're like, what is this church? What are they talking about? Again, this is apocalyptic imagery.

that rooted in Old Testament apocalyptic imagery. This is the end of the story, the end of the world as we know it. This is de-creation. It's a reversal of Genesis 1 and 2 where things are in chaos and coming to order. This is the end of time. So again, remember in Revelation, there's these windows that we look through. They don't happen in chronological order, but in the window, we get to the very end of history several times.

This is the first time we get to the very end of history. The earth is disintegrating. is metaphoric language. This isn't actual. Like, it says a third of the stars of the sky are thrown to earth. Like, one star into our solar system destroys everything. So that's not actual language. It's this picture of at the end, when God decreates to recreate, and it's also the time.

the prophets would speak of what's called the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord. The time when God brings history as we know it to a close and in His righteousness, He brings His justified wrath against sin. All sin. And notice who is judged. Everyone. Starting in verse 15, from great to small.

Says, the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, everyone who thinks that they're above it all, that they can do whatever they want. And everyone, slave and free, covering all the bases, they hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains. Notice they don't call to God.

They don't turn to the Lamb and ask for His mercy to fall on them. No, they're calling to the mountains from the caves that they're in. Calling to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. That's an image. Right? The wrath of the Lamb?

the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?" This is the answer to the cry of the martyrs below the throne. I will bring history to an end. I will respond with my judgment. Did you see what they asked for? They appealed to the character and nature of God. He's sovereign. He's holy and true and they're asking for

God to judge, to avenge their...

The great day of wrath has come and who can stand? Next week, the answer comes more fully. But let's deal with some things here. What I said at the beginning, we're going to deal with three truths we must begin to grapple with throughout the rest of the book. That God is sovereign over all things. That God, not the horsemen who ride, who seem to be in control, is actually God who is in control. This is

the passive language was given, was permitted, were given authority. See, the horsemen that are sent out are still under the sovereign reign and control of God. He's allowing them to rage war, to revolt against it for a time, but they're on a leash. All evil is on a leash. It falls under his sovereign reign. Sometimes we think, well,

It'd be better if God wasn't sovereign over evil because then it would just be kind of this cosmic battle that we hope God wins. we couldn't, you know, we couldn't make any accusations against God. No, God is not the author of evil, but he is able to use evil to bring about ultimate good. This is what Paul says to the Romans in Romans chapter eight. For those who love God and are called according to his purposes, he works together all things for their

good. It doesn't necessarily answer every detail of how this is going to be worked out for your good, but there is one massive example that we must always turn our eyes to to know, even if we can't understand our own circumstances and our own suffering and how the horses are riding over us right now. There is one massive example. In fact, it is the worst atrocity that the world has ever seen, the greatest injustice that the world has ever seen, when the Holy One

The one who took on flesh, the perfect one, the one who was without sin, went to the cross. It was the most evil event in the history of humanity. And on the cross, he's tortured. And on the cross, he bleeds. And on the cross, it becomes the place of our salvation, the greatest good that the world has ever seen. God is sovereign. He's sovereign over evil. He's sovereign over what the doctor says to you.

He's sovereign over car accidents and everything else. He's working it all together for good. doesn't always answer us every detail of every suffering we face, but we can look to the cross and know He is sovereign overall. The victory of the Lamb is absolutely secure. So that's the first thing. We're going to have to wrestle with God's sovereignty over all things. Number two, we have to wrestle and grapple with the truth that God's judgment

and wrath are necessary. Because as the martyr said, you are sovereign, you are holy, and you are just. When the end of history comes, there will be zero injustices left hanging in the universe. He will deal with it all. After all, what kind of universe would we live in and what kind of God would we worship who turns a blind eye?

the brokenness and injustices of the world. Every single one of them. Every single one of them. This is why the victory of the Lamb is absolutely secure. This is why the third point is that God's judgment and wrath are good. And the reason we struggle with that as a church in 21st century America is because we're so disconnected.

from the reality of what so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the ages and even in the world today are facing these great evils that are persecuting them. For example, are you aware right now of the silent genocide going on in our world right now? It doesn't get much news time. But since 2009 in Nigeria, Christians have been under massive persecution.

Since 2009, 19,100 churches have been burned to the ground in Nigeria. 100 churches a month from Islamic Boko Haram movement. Christian persecution. Can you imagine that happening in America? 100 churches being burned down every month? 62,000 or more Christians have been put to death in Nigeria since 2009.

In 2025 alone, this year, over 8,000 Nigerian Christians have been kidnapped. And who knows what is happening to them right now.

Now, if you are a Nigerian and you've seen your wife taken away by Boko Haram and you've seen your children put to death,

and you open up your Bible and you turn to Revelation 6 and you hear the cry of the martyrs, you say, yes! Yes, Lord, how long before you avenge their blood? You're crying out for God's judgment and wrath to come because it's right and good because God is love. Wrath is necessary.

And that's just one example. I mean, we could talk about what's happening in northern India, Iran, North Korea, parts of Asia. We could go on and on and on and on. This is why for the first century Christians and for Christians under persecution today, the Book of Revelation is such a treasure for them. It's not entertainment. It's not speculation of how things are going to happen. It's life for them. And they, with the martyrs, cry out, so the judgment of God.

and his wrath are good. So two responses two responses that we should have as God's people here in this time and place to Revelation 6. Number one we should remember rehearse and share the gospel. Remember rehearse and share the gospel. We've said this all the time but it's true. We have to remember what's true that that Christ did die for us to the question who can stand. It's no one no one can stand unless they first fall before.

Christ now. Like the only way you stand at the end of time before the throne of God is if today you fall before the feet of the Lamb and you trust in Him. You come to Him. You plead His blood over yourself. You remember the gospel. You rehearse the gospel. You're reminded that He is sovereign over all. He controls history and the universe. And then that should also fuel us to share the gospel.

How will your family member or your coworker or your neighbor or your a stranger that you come to, how will they stand at the end of time? It's because you will share the gospel and they will fall before Christ as Lord and Savior. That's the only way they can stand. So this is meant to encourage us to share the gospel, remember the gospel, rehearse the gospel. And then secondly, a second response I think to Revelation six is that we do not need to be surprised.

We need to keep the end in mind. We need to know that God is sovereign. He controls history. We win in the end, right? We know that the riders on the horses don't have the last word. We know that Russia doesn't have the final word. Iran, North Korea, they don't have the final word. Terrorism doesn't have the final word. Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, Hezbollah, they don't have the final word. We know who has the final word because we saw it. It's the

only one who is able to open the scroll. It's the lamb who was slaughtered because he controls everything. We're not on the losing team. So church, let us be encouraged to live out what we believe, amen? Let me pray for us to that end.

Who is Worthy?

Ai Transcript

Hey, good morning. It's good to be with you this morning. you have a Bible, we're in the book of Revelation. Revelation five is where we're at this morning. So you can begin to make your way there.

My name is Mark. If you're just visiting, it's my privilege to open up God's word. I'll say this about this passage. It's always my privilege to open up God's word with you. But this chapter in particular has stirred my soul, my affections for Jesus, my joy in Jesus and my prayer for you this week is that you would get a bit of that, a bit of what I had the privilege of experiencing this week in God's word. So Revelation five is where we're going to be at now.

Every summer there's a formula for a blockbuster. It's usually a superhero movie. One of the reasons that the movie studios do this is because it's so financially lucrative. It's a tried and true formula, but it's lucrative because we...

In the end, it's our story. In the end, it's a story that we want. I say this all the time. Every superhero movie is a longing in our hearts, a cry for Jesus. It's what we want. And so whether you recognize it or not, there is this angst in us that's desiring us as image bearers of God for someone, someone who is worthy, usually someone from outside of us to come and rescue and redeem. And so every superhero movie falls

as a narrative arc, which really reflects the gospel. Some call this a memory trace, that there is this longing, there's this place, there's this angst for someone or something that we can't quite get our hands on here, but we know it's out there somewhere. And again, it doesn't matter whether you're a Christian or not, across time and place and culture, this memory trace just kind of resounds in the mind of humanity.

C.S. Lewis, who was a master of the English language to say the least, he knew that there was not an English word to describe this, but there is a German word. It's called Sehnsucht.

Zane's here's how C.S. Lewis puts it. Zane's look is that unimaginable something the desire for which pierces us like a pain, the inconsolable longing for we know not what it is the secret signature of each soul.

the incumminable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work and which we shall still desire even on our deathbeds. Lewis would often talk about how there is this longing for something that is not in this world, which means that we are probably made for another world.

We see this all over the place the the rightful king that returns whether it's Aragorn or Beowulf or King Arthur the chosen one Neo from the matrix the sacrificial leader could be Broto or Harry Potter we see it in our poetry like Dylan Thomas rage against the dying of the light or and we hear it in our songs even songs that are written today or Maybe a few years ago 20 30 years ago you too. I still haven't found what I'm looking for

If you listen carefully, you'll hear it in so many Taylor Swift songs. Honestly, there is this existential angst. There is this longing. There's this longing for some sort of deliverance. And there's this question, who is worthy? Who is worthy to do it? Who is worthy to...

bring me to the spot where I think I need to go. We all feel the brokenness of this world. I don't need to belabor that. Like we can turn on the news and we can see that there are wars and famines and preschools being bombed across the planet. And we become numb to it because we can't possibly enter into all that pain, but we see it in our own country. And we see a brother assassinated and we see the Colorado's 13th school shooting on the same day. But we don't even have to go beyond that, right?

This week I was going to play tennis and as I was going there all of sudden cops blocked off the road. There was a dead man on the road after a road rage incident and someone was shot right a few minutes before I got there. Brokenness. But we don't need to go there. We can go in our own homes. We can go in our own relationships. We can go in our own minds and our own hearts and all of that just stirs this longing again. Like who is worthy to set it right? Who is going to...

set things right. We echo the psalmist, how long lord, how long will you forget me forever? And it stirs in us, zane zucht as CSU would say, it stirs in us the question of our passage, who is worthy, who is worthy to do this? Well, we're in Revelation 5 and it's the second half of

the scene in Revelation of the throne room of God. So if you weren't here last week, let me just recap what we saw last week after Jesus gave his message to the seven churches, the first apocalypse, the revealing happened for John. He was taken up and he gets this vision of heaven and in the vision he sees God is on the throne and it really is too awesome for words. The best that John can do is,

it seemed like or it had the appearance of a sea of glass and there's lightning and thunder and there's these four creatures with different faces and there's the 24 elders that are all worshiping and there's these angels and they're worshiping God as creator over all. is the theme of chapter four. God is worshiped as the creator and sustainer of all life. It's so it's so awesome and so beyond our finite minds it almost seems

like a dream. It almost seems like a fantasy. But here's the thing that you and I have to really get our hearts around this morning. It's not a dream. It's not a fantasy. It is actual reality.

And we are the ones that are living in the fantasy, the dream, the shadow lands as C.S. Lewis would call it. Or let me help illustrate it another way. So the TV show on Netflix, Stranger Things, Spoiler alert, but it's been out for a few years. It takes place in this kind of idyllic, nostalgic Midwestern town in the 80s and things seem good, but it doesn't take long to realize that in this

Midwestern town that there is a parallel reality running alongside them and it's called the what? The upside down right and in the upside down the upside down is a world of darkness and evil and shadows and monsters and there's this tension that's the whole plot of the TV show but here's the thing

The Bible, what we see in Revelation four and five, that there is that same kind of parallel, but we're the ones living in the upside down. We think we live in the land of solid reality and light and goodness, but just stepping back, no, we're in the darkness. We're in the land with monsters and evil and all the brokenness. And Revelation four and five shows us what is ultimate reality. This is what's really, really true.

And this is what we need to wrap our lives around this morning. So let's jump into this because as the scene continues to unfold in chapter five, we realize some things are happening that we did not see in chapter four. There's new details that emerge in chapter five in this scene of ultimate reality. This reality that isn't far off, some place in the universe, some place we will go one day when we die, but this ultimate reality that is

present now but like if we could pull back the veil and see into the throne room of God in this place right now it's happening now this isn't a future hope this isn't something that will happen one day right now in this room God is being worshipped

Whether you join in that worship or not, God is worthy of your worship right now. And every now and again, there's some convergence where or the old Celtic theologians would call it thin places. Every now and again, the veil between heaven and earth where we see in our five senses every now and again, that veil gets very, very thin and you sense the ultimate reality. You sense the transcendence, but most of the time we don't.

That doesn't mean it's not there. It doesn't mean that it's not running parallel to our lives right now. This is what's happening right now. So the vision continues to unfold. Verse one of chapter five, listen carefully. This is God's word. John writes, then I saw.

And remember in the book of Revelation, it's not what happens next because what happens next isn't always chronological. But what does John see next? He says, then I saw something that he hadn't seen in chapter four. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

John sees that in God's right hand, however that looks, this unapproachable light, in some way, or form, in the right hand, that's his power, his authority. He's got this scroll, and on the scroll, it's written.

on the front and back. is odd that this is this is communicating something to what's on the scroll. Well it doesn't tell us explicitly what's on the scroll but from context most common most theologians think what's on the scroll is the plan of God the plan of God for the redemption restoration the judgment of evil that the restoring of all things. This is the plan of God but it is sealed and it is sealed by seven seals.

seven in Revelation is this symbolic number for perfection for completion so it is perfectly sealed the plan of God to rescue and redeem and restore all of creation and set the universe right it is on this scroll it's perfectly sealed and then a search goes out in verse 2 I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice our question who is worthy

Who is worthy? Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal? He goes on this search in the throne room of God, but beyond that to the ends of the universe with this loud voice searching for the worthy one. Now what we need to do as we enter this passage, John intentionally slows down the narrative.

Don't jump ahead. Enter into it. If you're a follower of Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we need to ask the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and our imagination to feel what John is feeling in this moment. This is why he's slowing it down. There's this universal search. There's this angst like someone has to come. Someone who is worthy has to come and break the seal so that the plan of God can move forward. Verse three says, and.

No one, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. The search goes out to all the universe and there's no one.

Again, if we slow down and we try to feel what John feels, the next verse will make sense. Verse four, and I began to weep loudly. Or you could say, I began to wail because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it.

He's been told that he's going to see the things that must soon take place. He's been told that the plan of God is going to be revealed to him and now the plan of God is in the scroll, but there's no one worthy. And he's desperate. He's broken. Imagine how you would feel if there was no redemption, no hope.

that there was no savior, that there was no future. Humanity just ends in a inglorious death, maybe by at the hands of one another or some asteroid or something. And the atheists are right that it's all meaningless and pointless and pointless. This reality, this feeling is hitting John like a brick and he's undone. There's no one worthy in all the universe for the plan of God to move forward.

And then it says, verse five, and one of the elders, so remember these elders, 24 of them, 12 representing the 12 tribes of Israel from the Old Testament, 12 representing the disciples, these angelic beings, one of them comes to John and gets his attention. so John takes his eyes off the center of the throne room and he turns towards this angel, this elder. And the elder says, weep no more.

Weep no more. Behold, it's the command of Revelation. Look, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered.

so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. The lion of the tribe of Judah. This is fulfillment of the prophecy. In Genesis 49, Jacob is blessing his sons. And when he gets to Judah, he gives this, I think it's verses 10 through 12. He gives this blessing on Judah. And he says, Judah, you're going to be like a lion. You're going to raise up, you're going to defeat the enemies, you're going to rule over not just Israel, you're going to rule over all the nations. You are a lion, Judah.

It's coming true.

Not just that, he's the root of David. The promise to David is that one would come who is worthy to sit on your throne and rule and reign forever. That one is the Messiah. He has come. And in fact, he has conquered past tense. Remember the message to the seven churches. If you overcome, if you conquer, then this blessing will come into your life. Well, we can conquer. We can overcome because the lion of the tribe of Judah first has conquered.

so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. So the line of the tribe of Judah. Think of the image that might come to your mind in that moment.

What does this look like? I was thinking about this this week and trying to picture what I would be feeling when the elder would say that to me. And so I asked Chachi Petit to help me out here. So I've got this lion. He's got a crown. He's got blood on his face from having just devoured his enemies.

This is what John, I think, is feeling and picturing and very, very slowly now as he's been told this great news that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Messiah has come and conquered and is able to open the scroll. he has been told all that, he begins to lift his eyes, turn his eyes back to the throne. And we see this in verse six. This is very important because this is disorienting.

says in between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb. What? I've been told that the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered and he lifts up his eyes and he says I saw a lamb. In fact the word there is not just lamb it's Arneon it's used 25 times in the Bible 24 of which is in Revelation it means little lamb.

I saw a little lamb. didn't see, remember the important thing is what did he see next? He thought he was about to see a lion with blood on his face and a crown on his head, majestic and regal, but as he looked up he sees a little lamb standing as though it had been slain. This is wild, right?

This lamb does have blood on his face. This lamb's neck has been slit. This lamb has blood on its chest. But it's not the blood of his enemies. It's his own blood. He's been slaughtered, but he's not laying there dead. He's standing. It's Jesus. Death. Burial. Resurrected.

And this lamb has seven horns. Again, seven perfection, completion. Horns represent power, authority, and might. This little lamb has omnipotence. He is all powerful. And with seven eyes, eyes represent wisdom. He has perfect wisdom. He is omniscient. He knows all things.

This lamb has seven spirits of God. saw that that's the Holy Spirit of God sent out to all the earth. This lamb by the Spirit of God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. This is a distorting kind of apocalypse for John. He thought he would see a lion and this would make sense, but he sees a little slain lamb. But this lamb is all powerful, all knowing, all

omnipresent all the things. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each holding a harp. is they're worshipping him now and the golden bowls full of incense which are prayers of the saints and they sang a new song.

Of course they sing a new song because new revelation has come to them. And they tell us why this lamb is worthy to open the scrolls. For reasons. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain. You were slaughtered. This is the lamb.

Mark Oshman (19:36.78)

The lamb imagery is the fulfillment of all the lamb imagery leading up through the Old Testament. This is when Abraham is with Isaac, his son on Mount Moriah, and God stays his hand and doesn't sacrifice his son. Genesis 22, eight says God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. This is Exodus 12, five, the Passover lamb where the blood of the lamb was put over the doorway of the houses and the destroying angel would pass over all that had recovered by the blood.

of the Lamb. This is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. The Lamb led like a slaughter to his death. This is the Lamb that John the Baptist said in John 1.29, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You are worthy because you were slain. You laid down your life. Number two, and by your blood.

by your own blood you ransomed people for God. Number two he ransomed people for God. His blood was the purchase to to buy people back from the penalty and the payment of sin and death. He ransomed people back but not just a people like Israel. Number three people from every tribe and language and people and nation. He is the lamb who ransomed people back. And finally number

Verse 10, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth by his blood, by his sacrifice. He has made them a kingdom. It is the original intention of God for God's image bearers that we would be a kingdom of God's people on the earth and that we would also be priests on the earth. By the Lamb, this is our role. Not someday in the future, today.

Today, this is our role that we are co-heirs with Christ. are representatives of the kingdom. We have been purchased by the blood. We have been transferred from the domain of darkness, the stranger things, upside down world, and brought into the kingdom of the Son God loves as co-heirs with Christ to reign with Him and to be priests. What did priests do? They offered up prayers. They mediated between God and man.

that they represented. So this is our calling, our role today to mediate, to buy the proclamation of the gospel, buy our good works, buy our loving of our neighbors and the nation to usher more into the kingdom of God so that they too can become a kingdom of priests and heirs with Christ. This is why the Lamb is worthy.

But the worship service now for the lamb does not stop. It gets bigger. The worship circle expands and it expands exponentially. Look at verse 11. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voices of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

Maybe you were counting there. That's seven blessings. It's a perfect blessing. This is perfect worship of the lamb. Now, this is really important. What we saw in chapter four, God on the throne, at very end,

This is an echo of chapter four. God on the throne worshiped as creator. Verse 11 of chapter four. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. John as a Jew is fiercely monotheistic. And yet the worship of God on the throne is now worship of the Lamb. And he has no problem with that.

Because the Lamb is God. This is our triune God. This is the Trinity on display. Don't let anyone ever tell you, whether from the kingdom of the cults or false teachers, that Jesus isn't to be worshiped, that Jesus isn't God. Point them to Revelation 4 and 5.

He gets all of the praise, all of the glory, all of the same things of God on the throne because he is God. But did you also notice he's worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and might? We can't give those to God. But we can and we must give the last three an honor and glory and blessing. This is our role. We honor the Lamb. We give him glory. We bless the Lord.

And it says, myriad of angels, of thousands of thousands. So this worship scene from the throne expands and all of sudden, 100 million angels show up to worship the land.

That's quite a worship service, but it goes beyond even that. Verse 13, and I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever and ever. This is all of creation.

Paul talks about this in Romans 8, that all of creation is groaning as a woman in the throes of childbirth, pangs of childbirth, longing for this day. Well, this has come now in the Lamb to rescue and redeem. says, and the four living creatures said, amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped him.

This is an amazing passage of present reality that is happening right now and we're invited to join in. We have to ask the question though, and I said this in week one, that the book of Revelation was not given so we could speculate about the future. It was not given so that we could be kind of entertained by these apocalyptic images.

The book of Revelation was given to those seven churches and by extension to us to make a difference in our lives. So we should ask the question, what difference should this make now that we know what ultimate reality is in Revelation four and five? What difference is this meant to make in our lives?

It's meant to not only give us a vision of ultimate reality, it's meant to give us a lens by which we see our own lives, to see earth clearly. So how is the vision of heaven, how does it help us see earth clearly? I'll say five ways. There's many more, but at the center of reality is one who suffers. This is how God

chose to display himself as a little lamb, yes an omnipotent lamb, an omniscient lamb, an omnipresent lamb, but a little lamb who's one who suffers. Our God is, this is just a reminder, our God is not a God who is indifferent to our suffering, who is indifferent to the brokenness of the world. Our God isn't even a God who doesn't know of that. He knows of all suffering intimately.

Like we see the suffering on the other side of the planet. We can't possibly enter into that. We don't have the capacity for that. But God sees every tear, every heartache, every brokenness, everything that is wrong in the world. He sees it and he feels it. He's suffered more than all of humanity combined. And he knows that that means he knows where you're at this morning. He knows what you've been through. This is really important.

He was a lamb who was slain. He carries with him into all eternity the wounds that he suffered for you and for me. This is why the old slave spiritual song rings true. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. At the center of reality is one who suffers.

Which brings us to the second one. At the center of ultimate reality is grace. Costly grace. The lamb goes to the cross because of us. The lamb goes to the cross instead of us. This is costly grace. There is no cheap grace on the throne room of God. He laid down his life. This means that God is not keeping score.

He's not wondering if you're gonna, if your good deeds are gonna outweigh your bad deeds. He's not wondering if you're gonna do enough to get your life together to come to him someday. You never could do that. But you can come to him through the blood of the lamb, grace upon grace upon grace. At the center of reality, we work from victory, not toward victory. Did you see this already, the past tense?

The Lion of Judah has conquered, has overcome. The victory has been won in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lamb. The victory is there and we partake in the victory. We're not hoping someday that we'll overcome. We're not hoping someday that victory will be ours. Victory is ours today, right now.

number four at the center reality we see that the way to fullness of life is the way of the lamb.

This is important for us. This would have been really important for the seven churches facing persecution, suffering, a tyrannical government that was burning our brothers and sisters alive, that was throwing them to lions to be devoured, that they had no power, they had no political influence. It was really important to them. But what about us?

What if we do have power and political influence? We don't rule like the lion. We go in the way of the lamb. The lamb.

The is not just the means of our salvation, it is the model of our sanctification. I'll say it again. The cross doesn't just save us, our lives are to be cross-shaped. This is the upside down nature of the kingdom. We give ourselves away. We get low. We sacrifice ourselves because our King sacrificed himself. This is what Jesus said all the time. If anyone would come after me, he must...

take up the throne and dominate his enemies. No. If anyone would come after me, he should knock out anyone that's opposed to me. No. He said things like this, if anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross daily and follow me. Here's the thing about taking up a cross.

It requires some humility. You got to get low. It's heavy. You cannot carry a cross and a sword at the same time. Anyone carrying a cross in the first century was going to one place and everyone knew it. Their death. This is the upside down nature of the kingdom. We exercise the power of the kingdom by laying ourselves down for the sake of others, even our enemies. Listen, that...

That is not a message that will build churches today, but it is the message of the kingdom. We get low. We get low. This is why Jesus teaching that the greatest power in the universe is weakness of sacrificial love.

When Jesus taught on the kingdom of heaven in the sermon on the mount here's how he started it. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of peace of God. Blessed are those who are

persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven at the center of reality we see that the weight of fullness is life is not

as dominating but as the lamb who was slain. brings us to the last one. At the center of reality we realize where history is going. All of history is going to the feet of the lamb. He is worthy of all praise. All creation will praise him. We could either join him in glad praise now or in forced submission later but he will be praised. It's where it's going.

So let's join him now. Let's join him in his upside down kingdom with his upside down values so that the kingdom of God expands. Imagine if we wrapped our lives around these truths at Redemption Parker. What if we wrapped our lives around ultimate reality? Imagine how purpose-filled your life would be.

It would be full of purpose. You would be living for a different kind of king in a different kind of kingdom. Imagine how passionate our worship would be as we join in the course of four living creatures and the hundred million angels and 24 elders and all of creation. If right now we join in that course, imagine if we lived into the reality that right now we are a kingdom and priest to our God interceding and reconciling our neighbors and the nations to God.

Imagine how fearless we would live if we held before us ultimate reality. Even death could not stop us. If you had no fear of death, no fear of losing anything in this side of eternity, and you knew this was your promised inheritance and you lived like that, how much different our lives and our mission would be here. Who is worthy? Jesus alone.

Who is worthy to open the scrolls? Jesus alone. Who knows all things? Jesus alone. Who is all powerful? Jesus alone. Who is everywhere at all times? Jesus alone. That's why he is worthy for all worship. If you haven't met Jesus today, you can get that thin place and come into the kingdom of God by grace alone through faith alone. You simply just say, Lord, I want you as the king of my life. I believe you are the lamb who was slain for my sins in my

place. trust you. I give my life to you." And the Bible says, in that moment you will become a new creation. In that moment you will be transferred from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son of God. Don't wait for that. If that's already your story, renew your mind to that truth. See, Mary had a little lamb. His soul was white as snow. And anywhere his father sent, the lamb was sure to go.

He came to earth to die one day, the sin of man to atone. And now he reigns in heaven alone. He's the lamb upon the throne. Amen. Let's pray.

White Hot Worship

AI Transcript

Good Redemption Parker. Good morning. morning. Happy New Year on Tuesday. Rosh Hashanah, New Year. Happy New Year guys. Why don't you begin by making your way to Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4 is where we will be.

I received some, some unexpected mail the other day, the September edition to world magazine. I get random magazines here and there that show up in my mailbox. And quite frankly, I have too much stuff to read. Ain't nobody got time for magazines, but the September edition of world magazine. It should be up there. There it is. The world's last night subtitle.

Apocalyptic thinking surges amid worrying trends in culture and technology As I opened up the pages this magazine I was reminded how much the book of Revelation impacts the way we understand everything from from politics to war from vaccines to to conspiracy theories and I was reminded as I read some of these articles how dangerous

Some of these views can be the rapture is coming. say, how, how can we do all we can to speed up this process to usher in the end times? So we look around, we, we read revelation with, one eye on the text and one eye on the world scene. We need to know who are the players, who is our president? Cause of course America has to be at the center when everything goes down.

And the most important question, what in the world is going on with the nation state Israel? One article in September's edition, World Magazine called Trump number four to 45 modern Cyrus who began the restoration process. now Trump number 47 is Darius who will rebuild the temple usher in the Messiah, the rapture, the church, and the end of the ages. the words of one prominent preacher.

The bombing in Iran, for instance, is not just world news, quote, it's end times fulfillment. This is the labor pains and quote for many Christians in our country. Revelation helps us realize the, like one article says, the church must grow in influence, power, and glory so that it can establish and prepare the kingdom for Jesus to return.

This is where we get things like the seven mountains of influence. And though not all of this is bad per se, my fear with these end times understanding is that we can totally miss the point of revelation. With so many wild theories and crazy charts and false predictions on the last book of the Bible, like one theologian says, our batting average is zero.

It's no wonder why someone like Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer would say, quote, revelation is neither apostolic nor prophetic. I can no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it. They are supposed to be blessed who keep what is written in this book. And yet no one knows what that is. Christ is neither taught nor known in it. And unlike his anti-Semitic rhetoric towards the end of his life, I can actually be sympathetic.

towards Luther here in Revelation. Though in both cases I think he's wrong. The Holy Spirit did produce it and read correctly. This book is for the church. This book is for us, the bride of Christ and Revelations friends, Revelation friends is all about Christ. If we have ears to hear what

the spirit is saying. Yes, many today use this book to gain influence in politics, wed the church to the state, grow in power and build a kingdom and completely miss the point of revelation, the upside down kingdom of Jesus. But this is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As we jump into Revelation four this morning, things are going to get a little

crazy, a little apocalyptic. But this should not deter us. Rather, like Mark said in week one, we need to let the apocalyptic genre do what the Holy Spirit intended for this genre to do, namely hit us deep in the core, spark our imagination, evoke worship, white hot.

worship like we've been saying. Revelation is a book that that asks us a question. Are you a citizen of New Jerusalem or Babylon? Are you with team lamb or with the beast? This morning things are going to move from earth to heaven from Satan's throne to God's throne. This morning where we're going to be confronted with another question and that's this where

is your worship? Where is your worship? Like the theologian Bob Dylan sung years ago, you're going to have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're going to have to serve somebody. Through this apocalyptic vision of the throne room of God, that's our question. Who are you serving?

Where is your worship? Well, if you're not already there, Revelation 4, let's jump in. Start here in verse 1.

After this, looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. After what? Well, those who hold to a dispensational theology, a very popular view since the release of content like left behind novels say that that verse one,

of chapter four, what I just read is where the rapture takes place. The time where all the Christians are caught up, zapped up into the sky to be with Jesus as the end times, the tribulation is ushered in. It's right there in the text, they say. Look at verse one. Jesus literally says, come up here. Clear as day.

I remember when I saw Left Behind for the first time, was tripping. I was 20 years old. I'd been a Christian for maybe six months. And in those precious early months of my discipleship, I remember two things were really clear. The presidential nominee that my friends didn't want to win, he was the Antichrist. And don't get Left Behind. Well, first off,

Christians can disagree on these secondary issues, but we shouldn't get our theology from a novel. Second, there's no rapture happening in verse one of chapter four. What we do have in the verse I just read for you was a word that might be the most important word in Revelation if we're going to grasp this book.

Daryl Johnson says, quote, the key to the structure of the whole book of Revelation is the verb open. Let me read verse one again. After this, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

This verb open is going to appear four times in revelation, creating for us a beautiful structure for this book. These four windows that that open to John will divide this book into five sections. If you can go back to the last one, divide this book into five sections. The picture of the windows. yeah.

that we're dividing this book into five sections. And then if you're a note taker, you can go to the next slide. Now, if you're a note taker, right, these verses down chapter four, verse one, what I just read chapter 11, verse 19, chapter 15, verse five, chapter 19, verse 11, every verse, every verse you're going to see that word open appear. You, you remember these four verses. You'll be able to keep this entire book in front of you as you read through each

hard. It will help us not see, for instance, Locus as the Apache helicopters and every president we don't vote for as the Antichrist. Well, if the rapture did not happen in verse one, what is going on? John, who is on the island Patmos on planet Earth, is given a vision of heaven. And from verse one here in chapter four,

all the way to the end of the book, Revelation 22 in the New Jerusalem could actually be seen as an expansion of the Lord's Prayer. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This week and next, Revelation 4 and 5, we're going to see the part of the Lord's prayer that confesses God's will be done in heaven as we enter holy ground, the throne room of God. And in these two chapters of Revelation, we're going to see all of heaven acknowledging God's sovereignty, His will, and His reign. And then for the rest of the book,

Revelation 6 through 22 will tell us the story of how heaven becomes a reality on earth. You guys tracking? Cool. All right, let's do this. Look with me at verse 2. At once I was in the spirit and behold the throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne.

John is taken by the Holy Spirit himself to the throne room of God. Exactly how this occurs I don't know. Whether this is some trance John is in or not, he really is transported to the royal throne. And when exactly is this taking place? Michael Byrd reminds us John is now granted access to the throne room of heaven itself.

He is not as some have supposed looking into the ultimate future rather he is seeing what is going on in God's presence throughout the present time. If you remember from last week Mark ended his sermon with that wonderful promise that Jesus gave the church in Laodicea to the one who overcomes I will grant him to sit with me on my throne.

As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. What a promise, right? God's throne, but the promises don't hit our imagination quite like what we see now. These believers in Asia minor in the first century and us in Parker, Colorado, 2025 are given a vision of well, the throne room itself. Verse three.

And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. The importance of these stones is that they signify divine glory and splendor and God's presence. Some of them also point to stones that will be picked up again in the new restored Eden, new

Jerusalem, paradise of God, where God will once again dwell with his people in all his glory. John's audience, who knew their Old Testaments, would have thought immediately of Ezekiel's vision. It'll be up on the screen. I'll read it. saw, this is Ezekiel, I saw, as it were, gleaming metal.

like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. I saw as it were the appearance of fire and there was brightness around him like the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud on the day of rain. So was the appearance of the brightness all around. I love the language of Ezekiel and John here in Revelation. Lots of the appearance of seemed like

I love what New Testament scholar Thomas Schreiner says here, quote, this language demonstrates that no attempt to describe the indescribable God is being made. Or Richard Bauckham on this scene says the image as a whole combined with the fact that the author avoids any direct description for God's appearance conveys the sense of God's transcendence, his total otherness and unfathomable mysteriousness.

Over the course of these next two weeks, we are going to get some revelation. This morning here in chapter four, a revelation of God. And next week, we're going to get a revelation of Christ. And before we go any further, this picture is already showing us deep in our core that God is incomprehensible. In the words of John Calvin, the finite mind cannot

comprehend God in His infinite essence. As John enters the throne room of God in heaven, he's reminded of the good news, that God is holy other, that God is fast, that God is beyond our understanding. And I know we think we're smart, but our finitude

And God's divine incomprehensibility is really good news. In his wonderful book, Light Unapproachable, Ronnie Kurtz quote, the otherness of God means his glorious well of all that he is will never run dry. Contemplating God's beauty will never be exhausted. For for all of eternity, we will never

plumb the depths of God. Each moment will be sweeter than the last or like C.S. Lewis famously says in Narnia's last battle, further up and further in forever. Some of us in here this morning, we need a big God theology.

We can so easily see ourselves, others, our problems, our fears, our worries and anxieties as huge. And God is rather small. but a vision like this is meant to shake us up. When we feel the weight of God's glory, the weight of His transcendence and His beauty, everything else begins to

pale in comparison. Let's keep reading. Verse four. around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumbling

peals of thunder and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was, as it were a sea of glass like crystal. What a scene, right? As we read this at our GC on, on Wednesday and the words were read aloud almost on cue, the sky outside cracked with thunder lit up with

lightning. It was intense. If I ever thought the rapture was about to happen, it was on Wednesday night. And as crazy as this scene is, what's at the center of it all? The throne. There's a lot going on here, but there is a throne above all the thrones and the throne will become a major theme in Revelation from here on out. The word throne is literally going to keep

coming up for the rest of this book. It appears 19 times in just chapters four and five alone. But around this throne, John sees 24 other thrones and seated on those thrones, 24 elders. Now these aren't humans. These are heavenly beings and they are representatives. Why 24? 12 tribes of Israel, 12...

apostles of Jesus, these 24 heavenly beings, these elders are representing God's people. They are wearing white, conveying righteousness, victory, worship. They have golden crowns depicting their share in God's reign. All these things Jesus just promised to the churches who overcome.

24 elders are are standing in holy ground. are amidst the presence of God lightning and thunder taking readers back to Mount Sinai when God's presence was seen was was heard was felt don't don't think for a minute that that the presence of God himself is just some warm and fuzzy feeling we get when we go to Estes Park

know that this God is a consuming fire. We also have seven torches of fire, are the seven spirits of God, the Holy Spirit. In this chapter, in chapter five, we have a beautiful vision of the Trinity. Here we see the Father and the Spirit. Next week we will look right at the Son. The scene is mind blowing, really. Can you sense the majesty of our

Triune God. I know many of you guys have been in some pretty impressive rooms with some very important people. Nothing like this. Now as we'll see, the sea in Revelation comes to mean different things at different places. But here the sea of glass like crystal, it's the vault of heaven itself.

The sea of glasses is what seems to separate the one who is transcendent, the one on the throne from, well, everything else in creation. Let's keep reading. Middle of verse six. And around the throne, on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox.

the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

Who the heck are these guys? Well in short, like the elders, these are heavenly beings. And as the elders represent the people of God, these creatures seem to represent all of creation. So this scene of God's throne room in heaven. We have this magnificent yet unapproachable light who is the Lord Almighty on His

throne and around the throne you have the people of God and all of creation. And before we move to the climax of this scene and see what these creatures are doing in the throne room of God, we do need to understand what to make of this scene thus far. What is going on? Well, the throne...

is a political image. We're talking sovereignty and kingship here. God's throne portrays God's sovereign rule. think about this for a second in light of the context of revelation written to these seven churches, these struggling.

Christians living in Babylon where Satan's throne is there they're given a vision of the capital T Throne and though they they may have had all sorts of doubts as to who really is in control this picture of God's sovereignty his total control of all things reminds these Christians and us that that the

The one who might seem to be absent at times is far from removed. John's vision here is actually a parody of the Roman court scene. Talk about a Jesus flex. Jesus is countering the imperial claims that these Christians are hearing, namely, Caesar is Lord.

And with this vision of God's throne, he's pulling a coach prime and calling bull junk. Nah, Jesus is Lord. That the gospel is political because God is sovereign because Christ is King. Amen. Well, let's finish out our passage this morning. Let's see what is taking place in the throne room of heaven. Look with me at verse eight and follow me.

and the four living creatures. Each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him.

who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created.

white hot worship 24 7 365. Can you imagine like like right now as we speak this is going down these creatures these elders ceaseless praise and worship as revelation scholar Michael Gorman points out the worship of God is the heartbeat of the cosmos.

Even when we humans are do not see it, participate in it or value it. Only God is worthy to receive what others, especially powerful political figures may want or demand our total devotion, our praise, our crowns. love that only God is worthy to receive our total devotion, our praise, our crowns. And this is happening as we speak.

I want you also to see that, that, this epic worship party taking place, this doc thology, namely the praise of God is not happening apart from theology words about God. Many people are like, I don't like theology. just want to worship God, but it's right theology friends of who God is that

produces what we see here. Adoration, affection, praise, white, hot worship. I mean, look at these heavenly hymns. One focuses on God's eternality. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. The other, while on their knees, crowns before the Lord. Zoom in on another doctrine of God as creator. Worthy are you?

our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. You are the eternal creator before anything was you were and everything exists only because of you theology.

producing doxology. When we realize who this God is, what else can we say but holy

at our GC last week after the lightning and thunder, Frank Mendez had this cool realization after spending time in the text, we broke off into our groups, his realization was simply this, we were created for worship. Yes and amen. And if it's true friends, that all our hearts, every single

one of us that all our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. If that's true, then it's also true that this endless worship party is the most satisfying event possible. And that right now, we friends can get in on this. You don't need to let your FOMO settle in. You don't need to worry about

missing out or being left behind. This is not simply for these four creatures and the elders. This is for all of creation. This is for all of God's people. Where is your worship?

ask yourself, where is your worship? It's unbelievably sad, tragic really. And I'm preaching to myself as well that this is our offer and we settle for so much less. I love what C.S. Lewis said in The Weight of Glory. Many of you guys love and know this quote. It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. are far too easily pleased. We are far too easily pleased.

Maybe you're just thinking, can I, how can I access this throne room? I'm not a heavenly creature or one of the elders. I know what I did last week. I'm a sinner. Now next week, we're going to zoom in on, on Jesus in chapter five, but how does a sinner access the throne room of God? What, what does it look like for us to enter into this Holy of

The Bible tells us that God's good creatures, we turned on him. Sin has separated each one of us from this holy, holy, holy God. And yet, the Son of God, who likewise is God, who never had a beginning, who was and is and is to come, took on another nature and began as the God man.

the Son of God incarnate entering into his own creation. Like this is crazy. As Mary was nursing her baby Jesus, he was sustaining her every breath, upholding her very life. Those who yelled, crucify him, only spoke because he, the word himself, gave them a voice. And the soldiers spit.

on Jesus it was spit that he kept flowing in their mouths. When he was struck again and again until his body was unrecognizable it was by men that he fashioned in his own image. When Pilate declared don't you know I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you Jesus Jesus answered you would have

no authority at all unless it had been given you from above. When he was crucified on a piece of wood, it was wood that he once spoke into existence. And then the son of God incarnate died.

that sink in. He died. The son of God incarnate died for you and for me for the purpose that we would have a seat at this table of worship. And even in his death, he was not defeated. He was still in control earlier on in his ministry. He said, I have authority to lay down my life.

and I have authority to take it up again." And take it up again he did. He's alive and well, enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So when, for instance, the author of Hebrews says, come boldly to the throne of grace, we can.

church, would we be laid down everything that vies for our attention, our affection, our adoration, and would we come to this throne, this throne of scandalous and sovereign grace, praising the one who was and is and is to come, the one who created all things and the one who by grace alone through

faith alone in Christ alone saved us. Let us like the churches. This letter was read to be encouraged. God is not absent. is far from removed. Matter of fact, quite the opposite. Whatever you might be facing this morning, whatever you might be facing Jesus.

is King. Jesus is sovereign in control of all the details working out everything for the good of his people and for the glory of his name. This is true on the grand scale of world history and this is true over every area of

let's be a church that doesn't let Babylon dictate our worship, but let's give our allegiance, our devotion, our worship to the King of Kings. Let's join in the praises that are already taking place. Holy, holy, holy. Amen. Amen. Let me pray.

Overcomers Part 2

AI Transcript

Amen. If you have a Bible, let's get started here. Revelation chapter three is where we're at. If you're just joining us, we're working our way through this book, this apocalypse. And we are in the midst of these seven messages to seven churches. So that's where we're at. We'll cover the last three churches today. Have you ever noticed how pervasive culture is at shaping a people and their values and their thoughts?

We may not notice how much we are shaped by our culture, but we can certainly notice it in others. My wife has a whole degree in this, cultural anthropology, so she notices it. But have you ever noticed how nations have culture about them? And the people of that nation think certain ways and act certain ways. And in those nations, states have cultures and cities have cultures and towns and churches have...

Cultures that shape people. Families have cultures. You can think about like New York City and you can think, well, what's the culture there? What's the cultural value? Well, you might say it's economic power in New York City, but then you think about DC and you think, that's political power that shapes that culture. You think about red states and blue states and you think there's some different culture there. You could think about just how culture is shaped by history and even geography.

We're in the US West in Colorado. And so there's a kind of individualism. There's a kind of cowboy, lonesome, a lone ranger kind of individualism that is the cultural air we breathe. And that's why Denver is the third loneliest city in America. Because we're on our own, but that shapes us as a culture.

It shapes us that we do not want to be tied down by anyone or anything. We don't want to have obligations or commitments to others. And this is why in the US West and in Colorado, church membership is so difficult to sell people because we're like, no, the Bible actually calls us into something together. And we're like, no, I'm on my own. I'll do it myself. mean, culture shapes us. Do you ever think about how Parker is shaping you?

Mark Oshman (02:25.336)

Probably not, but it is. Did you know that 80134 zip code was like the, in the top 10 most moved to zip codes in America in the last six months? People are coming here for something. They're going to be shaped by something. They're gonna shape you like culture shapes the people and sometimes in good ways and sometimes in not so good ways. We're in these messages to these,

seven churches in the book of Revelation at the end of the first century and they're real churches with real problems facing real persecution and real dark days ahead. But they're also in cities and in a culture in the Roman Empire and sometimes that culture unbeknownst to them is shaping them and forming them in ways that is not great. And so these letters are written and you see these like historical and cultural

things being played out and Jesus is calling these churches out in most cases sometimes commending these churches for pushing back reminding these churches that yes you live in the world but you're not of the world you are called to be a culture a colony of heaven amidst a kingdom of death this is what we're called to we should be culture shapers not shaped by our culture and this is where where

Jesus is going at with these people. In the book of Revelation, see that there, as Rick already talked about, are glimpses of unseen realities, not just in the future, but in the present. There are unseen realities happening. When we see evil unfold before our very eyes, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. There is something going on. There are forces. There are demonic forces. There are...

powers and principalities that work in this world and Revelation helps us understand some of that that's going on and renews our mind renews us to be a colony of heaven amidst a kingdom of death. So these seven messages there's some repeated themes and the theme is how are we going to be conquerors or overcomers in the midst of the land and the culture that we live in how will we persevere in the end and in each

message it is both timely for them and for us and timeless it applies across time and space to the church of Jesus so at the end of every kind of message there's this repeated refrain for example in our passage today verse 6 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches so it was a message in this case to Sardis but it was a message to the churches now here's the thing

These seven messages apply across time and space, but they don't all apply equally to every church. There are some churches where a message, a particular message to a church that they would really hold on to. For example, today, the message to the Church of Philadelphia, a church that is small and persecuted and powerless, but they are faithful and so.

What happens in the world even today, not here in America, but elsewhere where the church is persecuted, where the church is oppressed, they go to the letter to the Philadelphians and they hold tight to the promises of that. Well today we don't have time to dig too deep into Sardis and Philadelphia because I wanted to spend most of our time on the last one, maybe the most famous message, but it is also the message that is the clearest mirror to the church.

in the West and maybe to us and maybe to us individually as well. So let's go ahead and jump in and see. Again I will just go quickly through these first two but you'll see this pattern that we saw last week. There's this pattern where Jesus addresses Jesus has shown up and it's pointing back to chapter one where Jesus stands among his people. He addresses some problem that they're facing. He gives them.

commendation or confrontation he gives them a solution and then a promise pointing to Revelation 20 21 and this is the pattern so look for that pattern even as we go quickly through these first two churches listen carefully this is God's Word says then to the angel of the church in Sardis the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars this is Jesus from

Chapter one, seven spirits of God just means the Holy Spirit. Seven is this symbolic number throughout the book of completeness and wholeness. The seven stars we know from chapter one are the angels of the seven churches. He says this, know your work, Sardis. You have the reputation of being alive. were well known. that church is killing it. Look at all that they're doing. Look at their services. Okay, I told you I wouldn't preach this, so I gotta keep going.

You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. The Spirit has left the building. Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. So there's the problem that they are doing works apart from the Spirit. John 15 says, apart from me, you can do nothing and they're doing things, but they are spiritual zombies. But this is Jesus' grace to them to call them back.

Here's the solution. Verse three. Remember then what you have received and heard. What did they receive and heard. Remember the gospel. Remember the gospel. See a church that moves on beyond the gospel is on a certain path to death. They might do a lot of stuff but it's on a path to death. So remember and repent. If you will not wake up I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you still have a few names in Sardis. People who have

not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. Here's the promise. Verse five. one who conquers or overcomes will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot out his name from the book of life. And we see this later in Revelation. I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the church. So Sardis.

Remember and repent. Now we move to Philadelphia. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the words of the Holy One, the true one who has the key of David, that becomes important, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. So Sardis had nothing but confrontation.

that there was nothing good to say about Sardis and now in Philadelphia there's nothing bad to say about Philadelphia. Says, I know your works, behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not.

but lie, behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Here's what's going on. This is why Jesus stands with the key of David. This is why Jesus says, I will open a door for you. Here's what's happened in Philadelphia. Remember, the Jews in the Roman Empire had legal protection. They did not have to worship the emperor as Lord, but these Christians, many of them Jews themselves,

We're in the synagogue pointing them to the Messiah and they rejected the Messiah. In fact, they didn't just reject the Messiah. They kicked the Christians out of the synagogue and shut the door in their face. And they were exposed to Roman persecution. They were dying for their faith. And Jesus says, Hey, I have the keys to David. I have the key.

the keys of David. have the real keys to the kingdom and I'm going to open a door and you can come in. The synagogue might be shut in your face, but it's not a true synagogue. It's the synagogue of Satan. They don't follow me. They don't really know me, but I'm going to open a door and you can go in and you will find salvation there. He says, because you have kept my word, you've been faithful about patient endurance in the midst of your suffering. have not

Given up you've been faithful about patient endurance. I will keep you From the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth now Let me just say something real quick about this because some will say well see verse 10 there says that this church is going to be raptured before the the trials and tribulations come that that may be an interpretation or it may be more like the history of

God's people more like the Old Testament. So for example it isn't that God takes his people out of persecution and suffering but rather preserves them in the midst of his righteous judgment on the land. So you have Noah and Lot. Noah and Lot aren't raptured but they are preserved amidst God's righteous judgments coming. Or you have Israel in Egypt.

They are still there when all the plagues come on Egypt, God preserves his people in Egypt. But most likely this refers to Daniel chapter 12, verse one and following where it says, my people who are faithful amidst a land that is persecuting them, I will preserve them. So when God's righteous judgment comes on the earth in these great trials and tribulations, it won't fall on the people of Philadelphia because they are.

persevering in their faith. God will preserve his people. Well, here's the solution to their problem. It's not really a solution. It's just an encouragement to keep on keeping on. Verse 11, I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. Keep on keeping on. Persevere. Verse 12, the one, and here's the promise, the one who conquers or who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my

God never shall he go out of it and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own my own new name he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. So in Philadelphia there was all these pagan temples and and someone with a.

of good reputation. would set up a pillar in the temple and put their name on it so everyone could see. But in Philadelphia there were a lot of earthquakes and so these temple these pillars would always fall and break. But Jesus says hey I've opened the door for you to go into the actual temple of the true and living God and I'm going to set up a pillar and I'm going to put your name on it. And guess what it's an unshakable temple. It will be there forever. I'm to put your name on it. I'm to put God's name on it. It's just this promise. You are apart.

of the kingdom forever if you overcome. So now let's look at Laodicea. Again, look for who Jesus is, what the problem is, what the solution is, and what the promise is. This is verse 14. To the angel of the church in Laodicea, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness and beginning of God's.

creation. is Jesus. is the amen, the truth. He is faithful. What he's about to say is true. He is the beginning of God's creation, meaning he's the Alpha and Omega. He is the creator of all things. This is who stands and is about to address the Laodiceans. Again, he doesn't have any words of commendation for them. These are actually very hard words for a church, but you need to know this. They are hard words from a soft heart.

You will see in this passage, Jesus will say himself, what I'm saying to you is hard, but it's because I love you. Again, when we think about which of these seven churches most maybe reflect in general, the church in the West and maybe us and maybe some of us individually, Laodicea is probably the one that has the clearest echo. So let's see what the problem is. Verse 15.

I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. Again, he's speaking about a well-known cultural, historical, geographical phenomena in Laodicea. Jesus isn't saying, I wish you were on fire for me or I wish you really hated me. He's not saying that. Here's the deal, Laodicea was this.

on a superhighway of sorts in the Roman Empire. It was this center of economic and cultural hub. It had so much going for it, but it did not have its own water supply. It had to get that from elsewhere. Nearby, five miles away, Colosse had a fresh river going through there. And so you could go there and get a refreshing drink of cold water that has come down the mountain, and it would refresh your soul.

Or you could go by to nearby Heropolis. in Heropolis, they had these hot springs where you could go in and sit and receive all the healing properties of the hot springs. But not so in Laodicea. You either had to carry water five miles away from Colosse, or there was an aqueduct that would carry water in. But as it traveled those five miles, it got warm, it got stale, it started to take on a sulfur type of...

to it. even though Laodicea had all this wealth, all this power, they were lacking this one thing. This one thing that could either revive people physically or heal people spiritually. And Jesus says, I know you're neither hot nor cold, just like your water source. that you were either hot or cold? And then verse 16. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Wow. And in fact, that translation is pretty benign. The word is spew or vomit. You disgust me.

You initiate my gag reflex. Jesus says this to a church. I will spit you out of my mouth. These are hard words. No doubt when Laodicea received this and it got to them, they were wondering what Jesus was going to say because they would be shocked by this. Like, what are you talking about, Jesus? We're doing well. Our services are full. We've got programs for husbands and wives and children and we're...

doing well in this city. What what why would you say that he goes on for you say I am rich I have prospered I need nothing I am rich I am proud I have prospered and I need nothing. This was the cultural heir of Laodicea not just of the pagans but in the church. This was a wealthy city Laodicea was known for three things. It was known for one for their wealth just

that they had a tremendous wealth. One time the temple in Jerusalem needed some repairs and they asked the Laodiceans, Jews to send some money. They sent 22 pounds of gold, like 22 pounds of gold to help in the repair of the temple. In the year 60 AD, when an earthquake kind of leveled some of the temples and buildings of Laodicea, the Roman imperial empire said, hey, we'll come and help you rebuild that. And they said, no thanks.

We got this. We can do it on our own. We are self-sufficient and self-satisfied. This is what Laodicean said. This was the cultural air that they breathed. And this is what has shaped the church in Laodicea. So they were wealthy. The other thing they were known for is their textile industry. They were a hub of fashion. They had produced this kind of glossy black wool. And so that they were the envy of the Roman Empire in their dress and their clothing.

They were known for that. And the third thing they were known for is one of the pagan temple gods, had a medical school in there. And in this medical school, they had developed a salve, an eye salve for anyone that had kind of eye irritants and stuff like that, that they would travel to Laodicea, put this in their eyes, and it would have this healing and antibiotic properties to it. It actually worked in many cases. And so this is what they were known for. Wealth, clothing.

eye healing. And Jesus says this, for you say I am rich. The people of Laodicea and the church would say that, we're rich, we don't need anything, I have prospered, I need nothing. I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

You think you're rich, you're poor. You think you have good clothing, you're actually naked spiritually. You think you can see, you're actually blind. These are hard words from a soft heart. There's some irony here. Where does this compromise come from? Where have they gone off track? Well, they've compromised with the surrounding culture.

They've become so much like the culture outside the walls of their church that you couldn't really tell a difference. They had the same values, the same pursuits, the same goals, the same ideas. Hey, we're rich. We got this. So they compromised with their culture. They also ignore the spiritual dangers of wealth, security, and comfort.

This is like Jesus's number one topic, by the way. On repeat. Hey, it's actually dangerous for you to be wealthy. It's actually dangerous for you to be comfortable. It's actually dangerous for you to think that you don't need anything. Because you can blind yourself to the fact that you have need of me. Jesus says this is the greatest danger.

This was the greatest danger for the Laodiceans. And is this not the greatest danger of living in Parker, Colorado? Like, it's spiritually dangerous for you to have money in your bank account. We don't think so. It's spiritually dangerous for you to be comfortable. It's spiritually dangerous. And when I say spiritually dangerous, I mean like eternally dangerous. Like your soul is at risk. And we say, well, no, I need nothing just like the Laodiceans.

I need nothing. say often times when was the last time you prayed the Lord's Prayer give me this day in my daily bread and mint it. No we don't mean that. I'm good. I'm rich. I'm well clothed. I can see Jesus says don't you get it. Don't you get it. You can't see that. See when Christians from other parts of the world come to America that they're appalled by our lukewarmness.

Did you know that? They're appalled by our lukewarmness. They're appalled by our prayerlessness. Why? That's born out of self-sufficiency. Why should we pray when there's no sense of urgency to pray? This is what the Laodiceans felt. They're appalled by our greed. They're appalled by how much we make and spend most of it on ourselves or store most of it for ourselves in the future. They're appalled by that.

They're appalled by our lack of bold witness. We live in a country that says you have religious freedom. You can tell anybody, you can tell your neighbors and anyone else about Jesus. And they're like, no one's telling anybody here. Back in our country, we tell people and then we get arrested and we get thrown into prison.

This is lukewarmness. Jesus says, I vomit you out of my mouth.

Maybe sometimes, maybe I've already made the mistake and done too much exegesis and explained things and you're like, oh yeah, that's the hot water and the cold water. But do you see the plain reading of the scripture here? You're like, well, are they Christians? I don't know, you tell me. Where else is Christians described as being vomited out of Jesus's mouth? Right? Or a wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

I once was blind and now I'm still blind. That's not how the song goes. Like these are hard words, but they're gracious words. See, our struggles mirror the struggles of the Laodiceans.

Probably worse, right? Like if we go on a time machine and live back there, we're like, you guys actually don't have that much. I don't know what you're talking about. Just because you have some nice clothes. Come to 2025 Parker. That's where it's at. They would have been, you know, seeing the temples, you know, in the temples, there would have been statues of different gods. I think this picture would have fit well in one of the statues in Laodicea.

except for you won't find that in Laodicea. You'll find that a half a mile away from here. This is the statue of the self-made man. You can walk down Parker and get to Main Street and Parker Road and you'll see this statue. The self-made man. Is this not the air that we breathe? I mean, if he hammers down far enough, he might chisel out some bootstraps and pick himself up, right? We love it. We are self-made. I need nothing.

Jesus says, don't you know? That's a very dangerous place to be. Don't you feel that at all? Don't you care about the worth of your soul? What does it gain a man to get the whole world and lose your soul? Consider what the Laodiceans knew about Jesus. Just consider for a moment.

So at the end of Colossians, don't put it on the screen yet, this is at the end of Colossians. So Colossae is five miles away. So listen what Paul writes to the church at Colossae at the very end. says, he's just wrapping up his greeting. says, give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea. And when this letter has been read among you, so when you get this letter of the Colossians among you, have it also read to the church of the Laodiceans.

and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. So a couple of things we know from this. Paul had written a pastoral epistle to the Laodiceans. So they've been taught by the apostle Paul. Not only that, they have a copy of Colossians. And so we know from Colossians one, and I'll put this on the screen, we know that they know this about Jesus. Where do I start? Verse 15. Can we get to the Colossians one? Yeah, verse 15. Well, that's Philippians.

Let's try this again. Okay. Here's what we know. They knew about Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation for by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together and he is the head of the body.

the church. is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. That's an echo from the letter to Laodicea. That in everything he might be preeminent, meaning nothing is above, more valuable, more beautiful than Jesus. For in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his.

They knew this about Jesus. And they were like, meh, yeah, that's not gonna really shape my day to day. I'm glad I got Jesus so I get to go to heaven when I die, but have you seen the latest fashion trends on Main Street of Laodicea? That's where my affections really are. They knew about Christmas morning.

that Jesus left his throne and glory, put on flesh, and was born among us to live a life of poverty among us. They knew that. They knew about Jesus' teaching and his miracles. They knew what happened on Good Friday when he went to the cross and bore the sins of the world and took their sins on the cross for him and gave them his righteousness. They knew that. They knew three days later that Jesus had conquered sin, death, and the grave and had rose again.

They knew that 40 days later Jesus appeared in the flesh to His disciples and He gave them the great commission, go make disciples of all nations. They knew that He then ascended to the right hand of the Father and He reigns and rules from there. They knew all of that. And they're like, meh. What I really like is what's in my bank account.

As C.S. Lewis said about Jesus' life, Jesus Christ produced mainly three effects. Hatred, they hated him. Terror and adoration. There was no place, there was no trace of people expressing mild approval.

mild approval, hat tip to Jesus, tip Jesus when the offering box comes by.

And Jesus says, that lukewarmness? it makes me sick. It makes me sick.

Maybe you're here. We should ask the question. Listen, I don't know anyone's heart. I've just been wrestling with this all week and wrestling with my own heart. it's really dangerous for me to be in Parker, Colorado. I have a really nice house. I've got, I mean, I was a financial advisor, so I've got a Roth IRA that I put money into every year and it's grown a lot. But Lord.

Can I survive in a place like Parker, Colorado? I don't know. This may be the most dangerous, most difficult place to reach on the planet. Because you say, I am rich, I have need of nothing.

Do you sense any lukewarmness in your affection for Jesus?

If you do, then that's God's grace to you this morning. That's God's grace to you this morning. There's going to be a solution. There's going to be a hope for you. You don't have to live in that space. You don't have to be spit out of Jesus' mouth. That's awesome. But here's the thing that keeps me up at night as a pastor in the wealthiest place, in the wealthiest time in the history of the world.

Maybe, maybe there's some here that sense some lukewarmness and you're okay with

You're okay with

It's so dangerous. And even worse than that, as Francis Chan preached on this 20 years ago, you're lukewarm and you're loving it.

Luke warm and loving it. I get to have it all. I get to have all of the promise of the American dream and I get heaven thrown in when I die. This is awesome and Jesus is not awesome. It's so dangerous. Do you not care about eternity. Did you really think that all that matters is this little speck of dust in the cosmic universe and your little plot of land and your your bank account. Do you think that's all that really matters.

Jesus is saying hard words to wake them up, to shake them, to call them to Himself. And this is where the solution begins to come. Look at verse 18.

Sasa.

You're not realizing that your wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, actually rich, and white garments so that you may be clothed, actually clothed, so that you may clothe yourselves, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Now this is an odd command.

buy from me. How do you buy gold with no gold? Well the key word there is from me. It's a way of Jesus say come to me with your empty hands and your recognition that you have nothing to offer and say Jesus I need your gold. need true riches that only come from you. Jesus I need your clothing not my clothing. I need to be covered in my sin. I need your

righteousness to cover me. Lord, I need to see. I need your eye ointment to open my eyes because apart from you I can do nothing. So buy from me. Buy from me. See verse 19 says, those whom I love I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Jesus tells us. He's telling this church this because he

loves them. He's not trying to be mean. He wants their eternal best. He wants their eternal joy. Those whom I love, I reprove in discipline. So be zealous. Have a zeal and repent. Turn back. Jesus is nauseated by our lukewarmness, but he doesn't stay there. He moves towards us. This is the gospel. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. He is coming.

close. Look what he says in verse 20, behold, look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. Sometimes we use that as an evangelism verse, but he's saying this to a church, a church with Jesus on the outside. He says, I'm coming to you, I'm knocking, I'm inviting myself in, all you have to do is let me in.

Let me in and I will come in and I will eat with you and you with me." This is the promise. This is grace to us. This letter has the most stinging confrontation of all the letters, but also the sweetest invidation.

says, you do that, if you have this intimate relationship with Me, if your zeal rises again, if you don't trust in your own wealth and your own clothing and your own seeing, if you come to Me, here's the promise. The one who conquers or overcomes, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne.

Now, if that doesn't stir you at all, it's one of two things. You have no idea what he's talking about.

or you don't care. Next week chapter four the apocalypse is going to be pulled back and we're going to go into and see the throne room of God. Here's the promise Jesus said if you overcome if you if you don't let this world become your whole thing and you you renew your zeal and you repent and you come to me I will bring you into the very throne room of God. We're to get a picture just a glimpse of what that looks like.

where God is on his throne and there's there's there's lightning and smoke and fire and rainbows and and diamonds and and the 24 elders and they're falling down and and the angels the multitude upon multitudes the the millions of angels singing holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come and they're falling down and then there's this is this picture of worship of the the eternal God and Jesus says you'll be there right there with me.

Yeah, but I'm thinking about a mountain house. That's what really captures my attention. Stupid! That is the stupidest thing. Anything of this world is so dumb compared to being with Jesus on the throne room of God. Like, do you get that? Does that stir you at all? If not, man, you should be on your face right now desperately pleading to the Lord. Lord, I am lukewarm. I am lukewarm, but I don't want to be. I don't want to be lukewarm.

I want to live for you. I want to live forever with you on your throne.

how will we be invited into the throne room of God? Because Jesus earned it for us. The second half of verse 21, as I also conquered, as I also overcome and sat down with my father on his throne, Jesus earned it for us. How will we get his riches? Because he who was rich became poor, that we might become rich in him.

Why will we be clothed in His righteousness? Because He who is clothed in glory in heaven laid that aside and came down and went to a cross and was stripped naked to have His shame exposed before the world to take away our shame and to give us His clothing, His righteousness. He earned it for us. How will we see?

Because on Good Friday he was beaten in the face, his eyes was closed shut, he went to the cross, he plunged into the darkness of darkness so that we might be brought into the light and see he earned it for us.

And so the invitation is to open the door.

however that looks like in your life today, right now, this week, open the door, invite the Lord of all to be Lord over all of your life.

Jesus is persistent about this. He's not just your Savior. He's your Lord. That means everything. Every area. Every spot. Every relationship. Every dollar. Every spot on your calendar. Jesus is Lord. Let's pray.

Overcomers part 1

AI Transcript

Good morning Redemption Parker. Good to see you guys. My name is Rick. I'm one of the elders. If you're new here, you can begin making your way to Revelation chapter 2. It's been a minute since I preached and we are in the book of Revelation. So buckle up. This could be a long and bumpy ride.

Growing up in, in Southern California, my, my favorite day of the year was a yearly field trip that was not put on by our public schools. Rather, my dad once a year would let us play hooky and he would take me and my two siblings to six flags magic mountain. And there was a roller coaster, one roller coaster that I eagerly anticipated each and every year.

Colossus. Yes, Colossus. Now Colossus was a beautiful white wooden roller coaster. The term Colossus means something gigantic or massive in scale. This roller coaster was just that. When it opened in 1978, it was the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in all the world. As a kid, as far as I was concerned, this was one of the wonders of

the world, this and maybe Dodger Stadium. Little did I know it was named after Colossus, the statue located off the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. We have a pic of it here. It's a small pic. It is a big statue, though. This was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Colossus represented Helios, the Greek sun god, this beautiful

bronze statue was built in 280 BC after the Greeks won a huge military victory. It stood about 110 feet tall, roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty, built in 280 BC. And though 50 years after its inception, it was toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC, its fame as a wonder of the world, its visible ruins and the stories and

cultural pride that Colossus brought to the Eastern Mediterranean world would not have been missed by any of John's hearers in these seven churches scattered just across the same sea. Writers like Pliny the Elder in the first century described the fallen Colossus as an awe-inspiring

He said even after the collapse, quote, people could barely wrap their arms around its fallen bronze thumb. This thing was huge. When John, on the island of Patmos, not far from where the statue lay in ruins, in prison because of his witness to Christ, gets a revelation on the infamous Lord's Day.

Jesus is like, you might be imprisoned on this island, John, but you're not done pastoring your flock. My people, you are faithful and you did not compromise. That's why you're here, John. And I'm going to give you a vision that will help them likewise be faithful to fortify them in these last days. Let me remind you what we read last week after John hears a loud voice like a trumpet.

And when he turns around, he sees a colossal vision. He's told to write what he sees and send it to the seven churches. Verse 12, this is chapter 1, verse 12. Then I, John, turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like the Son of Man.

clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Colossus.

ain't got nothing on this colossal vision John gets of the colossal Christ. And this is not just some gnarly picture of Jesus. This vision is filled with Jewish metaphor. This picture of Jesus is not so that we can understand what Jesus looks like when we see him one day. If so, that would be interesting, to say the least.

White hair, fiery eyes, sword for a tongue. A couple chapters later, we might have to add some lamb features and eventually we'd have to give him some lion attributes. No, these metaphors, these symbols in this vision are meant to hit us deep in our core. They should spark our imagination. John's vision of Christ draws from Daniel chapter seven, the son of man.

and the Ancient of Days. His robe and stash reveal him as both priest and king, clothed in majesty, robed in authority. He oversees the seven lampstands, drawing us back to Zachariah's vision of the temple lampstand. But now, because of the seven spirits, namely the Holy Spirit, the lampstands signify his new temple, the church. And Christ himself

is walking among his churches. His white hair reflects the ancient of days. This is not just the son of man. This is the ancient of days. Our culture despises age, but here age is glory. Wisdom without beginning, the alpha and omega. This is a vision of God, the God-man. But unlike us, when we age, his power does not...

His power does not fade. His eyes blaze like fire, piercing every pretense, judging with perfect vision. His bronze feet glow, but unlike the colossus which fell in an earthquake, his bronze feet proclaim that he is unyielding, unshakable, immovable. In his hand, he holds

the seven stars, these messengers, these angels of the churches showing his sovereign grip over all things. And from his mouth comes the sword, the double edged sword. He is the word, the word of judgment and the word of salvation. This vision leaves no doubt redemption Parker that Christ is the reigning king, the sovereign

judge the shepherd God who walks among his churches. John's vision is meant to evoke white hot worship. Like John who fell on his face, we likewise need to see this colossal Christ for who he is. Now as John begins to write what he sees and send this to these seven churches in chapters two and three, so for us,

today and next week, John is going to be constantly looking back to this colossal vision of Christ in chapter one and looking ahead, far ahead to the end of all things, Revelation 22 and the New Jerusalem. Now if you weren't here last week, please listen to Mark's

sermon, it's, it's a must not only because it's the first sermon of a sermon series, but because we need to understand how to read this book. It's a different genre. It's a few different genres. This book is Mark shared last week and it is, we'll find out in weeks to come is not chronological. I think even for today, it'll be helpful to, to ground ourselves a bit before we jump in.

to chapter two. A lot of theologians say we should read Revelation backward or at least start with chapters 17 through 19 to get acquainted with some of the characters. The unholy trinity or this idea of Babylon. Ultimately this book is about living as exiles in Babylon.

John will make it very clear that Babylon is Rome, but what will also become clear is Babylon is anywhere Rome-like. And so like New Testament scholar Richard Baucam says, if the cap fits, wear it. The question all throughout the book of Revelation is this, are you a citizen of the New Jerusalem or Babylon? Or another way to put it, are you rocking with the lamb or?

beast. This morning as we hear Jesus address four of these seven churches in Asia Minor, let's remember what Mark said last week. This was written to these seven churches, but this is for us. Redemption Parker, I believe God has something to say to us this morning from the apocalypse. And as you hear how these churches who are called to live for the lamb, namely

Jesus amidst the presence of the beast, aka Satan, called to live as citizens of the New Jerusalem, that is to say heaven, while they live in Babylon, namely Rome. I want you to see how the beast makes his moves. What temptations does he throw at these churches? Because though our world in 2025 does not look exactly like

Asia Minor in the first century under Roman Empire. The beast is using the same playbook today and he is here to kill, to steal, to destroy you, your family, your church, your faith. My prayer is that we would be humble enough to see how Babylon can and does get into our midst.

and that we'd be bold enough to ask Jesus this morning, examine us. But my end goal is to show you that the promise of New Jerusalem from the colossal Christ Himself gives us all we need to be overcomers. So if you're not already there, Revelation 2 is where we will begin. Starting in verse 1.

to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Each of these letters are going to have a very similar outline. I'm going to try to follow that flow as we go this morning. First, Christ wants them to get their eyes on him. So he's going to point back to each church.

to the colossal vision of himself. Remind the church who he is. Second, Christ is going to examine the church, strengths and weaknesses. And third, finally, Christ gives each church a promise. And what's wild, I've been reading Revelation for almost 20 years, never noticed this till this week, but each promise he gives to each church is found in Revelation 22 in the New Jerusalem. He's pointing them.

ahead. He's getting their eyes on where they are headed, where they must be living for now. Well, let's get rolling here in Ephesus to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Wait, what? The angel of the church. Now we can't build an angel ology here and that is a word angel ology, but angels are prominent characters in apocalyptic literature. would be

blown away if we could see what was really present. And if we knew our Old Testament, Deuteronomy 32 and Daniel 10 seem to give us the idea that there are angels that are over certain regions. There's one passage in Matthew's gospel that might give us a clue that each child has an angel. Again, not enough here to build out a theology of angels, but Revelation...

two and three in light of this crazy chapter in first Corinthians 11 seem to make the case that each church has an angel. Kind of cool to think about, right? I wonder what the RP angel is like. But before we start to speculate, it's not what we want to do here. What is much cooler than that, and I guarantee the angel, the RP angel would agree, is what the Ephesian church is told about their savior.

He holds the angels and walks among us. Christ is present in His church. Let that sink in. Christ is present among His church. Even now. Well, after this, he's going to examine this church in Ephesus, verse two.

I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know that you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. So far, so good. It seems like on all fronts, these guys are checking off the boxes, working hard for the Lord. Check. Patient endurance.

Check, not growing weary. Check, not compromising in sin. Check, not believing false doctrine. Check. mean, look at verse six. hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Again, this church is killing it. And wouldn't you expect that? The church in Ephesus was one of the most significant communities in the entire New Testament. mean, Paul planted this church for crying out loud.

This is where Aquila and Priscilla preach. Apollos ministered here. Timothy pastored this church and according to the sign outside some ancient landmark when Holly and I visited Ephesus, the apostle John posted up here along with Mary, Jesus' mama. And the ink spilled here, second to none. For instance, Ephesians is a letter we have from Paul for this church. First and second, Timothy.

letters addressed to Timothy while pastoring this church. First, second, third, John, possibly written from this city. Yes, of course, they're killing it. And yet look at verse four, but I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen.

Repent and do the work you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. Yikes. This sounds intense like come on Jesus. But then you remember the importance of love. mean, their founding pastor, Pastor Paul once says the only thing that counts is faith.

expressing itself through love. Now scholars are all over the place on the question for the Ephesian church. Is this love for God or love for others? I think the answer is very clear. Yes. mean, Jesus says the most important command singular love God, love others, plural or first John. can't say you love God unless you love

your brothers and your sisters and this powerhouse church in Ephesus has abandoned. This is a strong word. They haven't left. They abandoned their first love, the love they had at first. this morning I feel like a dying man preaching to dying men and women. I remember like yesterday the love I had at first.

I remember walking into that mega church 18 years ago. was lost, broken, looking for answers to life's biggest questions. And as I searched for answers to no avail, next on my list, check out a church. So I showed up for a Saturday night service, joint in my pocket, ready to get out of there and go party. God had other plans. Ain't no.

party like a Holy Ghost party because the Holy Ghost party don't stop. That night I heard the gospel and by faith alone in Christ alone I received life. And that season was filled with well love overflowing overwhelming love love for God and what he did to save my soul love for my new brothers and sisters and his family called

church and love for the lost world around me. I love for them that they would know Jesus. This week has been convicting to me to say the least. What about you? Can you remember the love you had at first? Is it still intact?

If not the call for us is the same that it was for this church. Repent, turn back, turn to the one who loved you and gave himself for you. And finally, look at the new Jerusalem promise there in verse seven. love this. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers or overcomes. I like that translation.

This book is for the overcomers church to the one who overcomes. I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. The whole Bible can be summed up in four words, Eden lost Eden restored the tree that was taken away in the garden will be restored again in the new Jerusalem see revelation 22. And I love.

church history because sometimes it helps us answer these questions like I wonder if the church at Ephesus had ears to hear. Well about 20 years after John penned these verses the bishop of Antioch Ignatius was arrested for his faith and was sent to Rome for execution. On his way he stopped in Smyrna not far from here while there the Ephesian church sent a team to care for him. In response he wrote a letter thanking them in it he said

The Ephesians were quote characterized by faith in and love for Christ Jesus our savior. He rejoiced that they quote love nothing in human life only God. He praised one of their elders as a man of inexpressible love and said that that he could see the love of the whole Ephesian church reflected in the love of the team they sent. I it seems that they had ears to hear what the spirit said to.

their church. Let's move to the next church. Look with me at verse eight. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. Here we see the heart of the gospel. The first and the last died and came to life. The one who has always existed as the son of God, the second person of the Trinity took on flesh and became

the Son of God incarnate. And as the God man, He lived and died as the suffering servant. The one who died for our sins came to life for our justification. Well, in verse nine, He examines the church in Smyrna and only commends them. But verse nine, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.

And the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Y'all are suffering. Jesus is saying, and this is a mark of my church. So you're doing well. Smirna. J.I. Packer sees each church in revelation two and three exhibiting a different mark.

These are the marks of a healthy church. Love in Ephesus, suffering here in Smyrna. The next two churches will be the marks of truth and holiness. But here, Smyrna is holding it down. They are suffering well. Because they will not succumb to the pressures around them, they are being slandered. Because they won't call Jesus Lord, they are in poverty.

And according to Jesus, are only going to get worse. Physical persecution is going to be more intense. Yet what does he say? Y'all are rich, filthy rich, spiritually speaking, that their ultimate citizenship is not in Babylon, but rather New Jerusalem. And then his Revelation 22 New Jerusalem promise comes in verse 10. with me.

faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. If your home is Babylon.

If your home is Babylon, and some of us need to hear this. If your home is Babylon, you will be hurt by the second death. Don't let this be home because if here you have no lasting city, but you seek the city that is to come, you will gain the crown, namely eternal and abundant life, faithful unto.

Death again, one more church history story. was a dude sitting in these pews in Smyrna in his twenties at the time, Polycarp. He would have heard John's letter read out loud. They didn't just come to church twice a month back in those days. He would have heard loud and clear, be faithful unto death. Well, Polycarp eventually became the pastor of this church and fast forward more than 50 years, another

Another wave of persecution came rolling in. Ten days was not literal, FYI. As the pastor, Polycarp was taking to the local stadium where the sport of burning Christians was underway. The story is told like this. The crowds roared in the stadium. The procouncil pressed the old man. Swear by Caesar, curse Christ and I will release you. Polycarp replied, I love this.

86 years I have served him and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? Pressured with wild beasts, warned with fire, he declared, you threaten me with fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched, but you do not know of the fire that awaits the ungodly in the judgment to come. Remember, he knew he wasn't going to be touched by the second death and

As the flames rose, Polycarp lifted up his eyes and prayed, Lord God Almighty, I bless you that you have counted me worthy this day and hour to share the cup of Christ. And with that, the pastor Smyrna entered glory, faithful unto death. You might be thinking that that's inspiring, Rick, but look around.

What does this have to do with us?

everything. We might not be living in severe persecution, at least not right now, but are we willing to embrace suffering? Have you counted the cost of your discipleship? Are we dying the little deaths of ego or are we clinging like many in our town for dear life to ourselves?

We do not receive the life of Christ without the death of self. So to even get more practical, have you died to your control? Our town statue is the self-made man. We love being in control.

Have you died to your comfort? Again, we're doing everything we can to build more comfort. Have you died to what others think about you? Are you truly willing to embrace suffering for the sake of Christ? Because the Christ's life does not come to those who preserve themselves. It comes to those who lose themselves for his sake. Amen. Next up.

Pergamon and we gotta pick up the pace. I still got two more churches

Look with me at verse 12. to the angel of the church and Pergamon write the words of him who has the sharp two edge sword. This time Christ wants his church to focus on his double edge sword. So he reminds them right away. I am the one who judges. I am the one who saves. Verse 13 examination time. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Let's pause here real quick. I know we live in bougie.

Douglas County, everything is clean and nice and we like it this way. The last days, this phrase that John is going to keep using throughout the book of Revelation, this phrase, the last days, which is used by all the New Testament authors is the time from Christ's ascension after his resurrection to his second coming. Friends do the math. We are living in the last days.

Theologian slash rapper slash author, Lecrae Moore interprets the phrase last days to mean quote, it's ghetto down here. Yes. And amen. This is true even in Parker, Colorado, where Satan's throne is. Let's keep reading. Yeah. You hold fast my name.

And you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells. These are solid Christians holding down the faith once delivered to the saints, even had a member of their church killed for the name of Christ. Imagine what that would do to our church. Just think about that for a second, right? And Joe gets killed for being a Christian. Man, that's a good church.

So chill.

But verse 14, I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balaam to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so they might eat sacrifice food to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I'll come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Unfortunately, we don't have time to get into the details of all the teaching here. And quite frankly, it is a little vague, but in short, some from this church were being sold a bill of goods. Don't think for a minute that teaching doesn't matter. Truth matters. Doctrine matters. If you don't care about theology, you don't understand that you are a theologian. Are you a good one?

According to this passage, there's a lot on the line. We must be good theologians, church. What story are you believing? Is it the one in scripture or is it something else? What is holding your affections? What are you believing about yourself, about God? And where are you getting it from? Verse 17, Jesus again, pointing this church.

to the New Jerusalem promise says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. When I told my oldest Eden about this passage, she was a little bit confused, but dad, I like my name. Again, metaphors in revelation. This is speaking of nourishment.

and protection, namely life in New Jerusalem. Well, we've had three marks of the healthy church so far. Love, suffering, truth. Let's look at the final one, holiness. Verse 18. The angel, the church, and Thyatira write, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Jesus is now getting their eyes on his

Stability, having them look into his eyes of perfect judgment tells them this. Verse 19, I know your works, your love, your faith and service and patient endurance that and that your latter works exceed the first. Again, really good start. Sounds like gospel culture to me. But first 20, but I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel.

who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrifice to idols. gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her, will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children dead. Jesus speaking.

And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart. I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thaia-Taira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden, only hold fast to what you have till I come. Yowsers.

Again, more Old Testament allusions and we don't have time to get into everything here. But what is clear from this exhortation is this. God cares about our holiness. God cares about your holiness. Like Luther says, we're saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never

alone or like he says in our passage, I will give to each of you according to your works or like my dude, Dr. Craig Blomberg at Denver seminary says, being a disciple means he's Lord of your wallets and your zippers. One example, but in Babylon where we live, if you're okay with a little porn in your life, and I'm speaking to men and women, the numbers show that this issue affects both.

sexes and this is an issue in the church. But if you're okay with some porn or some erotica and you think Jesus is okay with it, meditate on these verses. Spoiler alert, he's not. What kind of shows and movies are you okay watching? What type of thoughts are you okay thinking or fantasizing about? Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount,

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. And what's the New Jerusalem promise here? And this is where I'll land the plane this morning. Look at verse 26. The one who conquers, the one who overcomes and who keeps my works until the end. To him I will give authority over the nations. What?

And he will rule with them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father. Wow. What a promise to reign with Christ in the new Jerusalem, given a glorified body like his and to reign with him forever. And if that's not enough, look what he says next. Verse 28, and I will give him the morning star.

It's easy to read this verse and be like, Whitestone, new name, Morning Star, where are we going for lunch after church? But if you read Revelation 22, Jesus will tell us He is the Morning Star.

The promise is more than just a promise. is what theologians call the beatific vision, the doctrine of all doctrines. It's the blessed hope that one day we will see God. That one day, Redemption Parker, we will be given the morning star. Namely, we get Christ himself in all his glory. This is our

This is New Jerusalem. So are you a citizen of New Jerusalem or Babylon? Are you rocking with lamb or the beast? Imagine, Church, if we took these promises of New Jerusalem from the colossal Christ himself to these churches and for us, imagine if we took these promises seriously. Imagine.

the kind of overcomers we would be. Amen? Amen. Let me pray.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

AI Transcript

Amen. Amen. How are we Okay, good. Buckle up. Go to Revelation chapter one if you have a Bible. I hope you do. If not, we do have some Revelation books. If you're a note taker, you can get up and grab one right now. This is the scripture journal that we provide for you in the back there. But Revelation one. And as I always say, if you, if that's not the last book of your Bible, come talk to me after this sermon.

We'll just chat. We'll chat about that. But Revelation 1, I'll go ahead and read the first chapter. Listen carefully. This is God's Word.

Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia.

grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold.

He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him even so. Amen. I am the Alpha and Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. I John your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos.

on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna, to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands.

And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest, the hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun, shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to of death and Hades. Right therefore the things that you have seen and those that are those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands.

The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's Lord again we we come before you under your word. Lord we ask that you would give us what we need most in this series today that you would give us Jesus Lord help us to see and savor him in our time together and in this week.

We pray in Jesus name, amen, amen. Well, as we start a new series, maybe you're asking, why now? Why do Revelation now? And maybe depending on your background and where you come from, and maybe churches you've been involved with before, maybe you're thinking,

Maybe Mark's unlocked some things. Maybe, you know, the whole thing with Hamas and Iran and the bear of the North Russia coming down and all these things. Maybe Mark has pieced some things together and he's going to show us what's about to happen. Sorry to disappoint. That's not why we're doing this book. And I have not unlocked any special codes or clues to that. So that's not why I'm doing this book. Now, for 25 years as a pastor, this has been the

the number one requested book for me to preach on and I've never done it until now. 25 years. I think that the request comes from some good motivation and maybe not so good motivation sometimes depending on the request. I think it's good motivation to be like, hey, this is part of God's word. And especially in the New Testament, we understand the rest. Like we can get that, but Revelation is a different beast, no pun intended, all together.

We want to know what God has in His Word. That's a good motivation. Now, oftentimes I think the request is more speculation. What's going to happen? How is this going to roll out? Entertainment even. Like, this is bizarre. And indeed, there are a lot of bizarre things happening in Revelation. It's one of the reasons I've been hesitant for 25 years to jump into this. There are four creatures around God's throne, each with different faces.

There are locusts from the abyss shaped like horses prepared for battle with human faces, women's hair, lion's teeth, iron breastplates, wings like thundering chariots and tails like scorpions. Revelation nine. A beast rising from the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, blasphemous names written on him. Leopard-like body, bear's feet and lion's mouth. Revelation 13. There's the beast from the earth who performs signs, makes fire fall from heaven and forces everyone to receive a mark.

in Revelation 13. There's the woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars giving birth while a great red dragon with seven heads waits to devour her child in Revelation 12. There's the great prostitute Babylon. She's riding a scarlet beast dressed in purple and scarlet drunk with the blood of the saints. In Revelation 17 there are

There are hailstones weighing about 100 pounds falling from heaven in this book, Revelation 16, a new Jerusalem descending from heaven as a perfect cube shining with jewels and with streets of pure gold like glass. And at the center of this book, there's a slain yet standing lamb with seven horns and seven eyes taking the scroll from the throne. What is going on in this book?

Often when people ask me, you do that book? My first response is, it's probably not what you think. It's probably not what you think it is. What do you mean by that? said, the book of Revelation is made up of 402 verses and there are over 500 direct quotes or allusions to Old Testament passages. You cannot understand the book of Revelation without being steeped in and understanding the whole of the Old Testament. And as a people, a new covenant people,

In the West, we are not really steeped in the whole of the Old Testament. Therefore, we are left with speculation and wondering what's going on. so this has been some of my hesitancy to teach this book. And then after all, I have some good company in church history. Martin Luther and John Calvin, they taught extensively, wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible, and both of them barely touch revelation at all.

So listen, if Calvin and Luther are like, that's too much for me, who am I? Mark Auschwitz in Parker, Colorado. No. So I've been intimidated. Yeah, I'll admit that upfront. And I am still intimidated. I am on a journey of learning with you on this. But if we neglect any part of God's Word, that creates a vacuum for other teachings to come in, maybe not so helpful teachings to come in that can kind of mislead us.

Now the most popular understanding of Revelation and the Bible, particularly among Western American evangelicals that are non-denominational, so we would fall under that, the most popular understanding is a world view or a biblical view called dispensationalism. It is relatively a new view.

that has come about in the last couple centuries. It isn't a historic view. It isn't what the church has taught for 2000 years. in 1830, a guy named John Nelson Darby kind of systematized the Bible to be dispensations, that God works in different ways throughout history and throughout his word for his people. And so he had a very strong distinction between Israel and the church.

He had a futurist interpretation of the book of Revelation. this was all to take place sometime in the future. And he taught a pre-tribulational rapture. That before a tribulation comes, the true church of God will be raptured up into heaven and then tribulation comes. Well, his...

His teachings kind of spurred on a lot of interest in end times thinking and theology. There were a lot of Bible conferences and seminars. 1909, there was basically a study Bible called the Schofield Reference Bible. And it codified John Nelson Darby's teachings so that now you had a study Bible that taught these dispensations. Fast forward in 1918 to 1940s and the rest of the 19th century.

Many Bible conferences teaching this and many Bible colleges, seminaries and parachurch ministries were founded in this time and most of them, probably the majority of them were founded on this paradigm of dispensation. In fact, I was part of one of them after seminary. So I get that. In 1970, Hal Lindsey wrote a book called The Late Great Planet Earth and in it he shows this in graphic detail how

the book of Revelation comes alive and how the end is going to come. there's a lot of fear there, but like there's all these things that are going to happen. Also in the 60s and 70s, the Jesus movement begins to take place on the East, rather the West Coast of America. All these hippies start to get saved and they come into these churches called Calvary Chapel. And Calvary Chapel holds to this dispensational teaching of how we are to understand.

the end times and this book in particular. More recently, the Left Behind books and movies with Kirk Cameron have repopularized this idea of how the end will come and how we are to read the book of Revelation. Now, I want to just say this. I love my dispensational brothers and sisters. I love them. I've been mentored by them. I've learned a lot from them. I have a deep respect and appreciation for them. They tend to

love the Word of God. They love Jesus. I just think that they have a bad interpretation and a bad interpretation of this book in particular leads to a missing out on what God actually has for his church not only back then but throughout the centuries and today. So with that said depending on your background and maybe where you went to school or where you went to college.

church or maybe this this view this dispensationalism is all that you've ever been taught. So what I'm about to say might sound like man I'm really off base here but just stick with me. Stick with me. It's six months. You can handle it for six months. Worst case scenario you're going to learn what the church historic has has held to for 2000 years. You're going to learn why both now and throughout history when the church has been oppressed

and persecuted, they've turned to this book for comfort and hope. And it's not because they're trying to figure out how America plays out in all this thing. No, there's a message for God's people down through the ages in this book and for us today. So that's worst case, best case scenario, you will be deeply encouraged and strengthened in your trust and love for Jesus.

This book was not written to entertain us or to fuel our speculation. It was written to strengthen Christians. Then, always, and now to remind us that we are in the midst of a battle raging all around us. This is what this book is for. So as we jump into the text in an opening series, you always want to properly understand any book of the Bible. You need to do some work. What's the context?

Who is the audience? Why was it written? These are important questions to understand before we can start to say, how does this apply to where I'm at here and now? Now, one of the ways that we do that is we ask the question, what's the genre of the book? Well, how was it written? So for example, the book of Proverbs is proverbial truth. That's interpreted different than say poetry in the Psalms or narrative literature of the gospels or Exodus or.

apocalyptic literature of Ezekiel or Daniel and so on. What is the genre? And then that starts to help inform how we're to read this. Now, Revelation is unique because it actually has three, three genres. It's a letter, it's a prophecy, and it's an apocalypse. A letter, a prophecy, and an apocalypse. And they all kind of come together. So that makes it a little bit more difficult for us to piece out. But nonetheless, we have to deal with each one of those.

Look at verse four, it says,

John. So this this may be John the apostle who is with Jesus or maybe another John who was a leader of the church in the first century. We're not sure for sure. We're not for sure but it doesn't matter. He is a leader of the church and it says John to the seven churches that are in Asia and in chapter in verse 11 says write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia.

and to Laodicea. First and foremost, this book is a letter. Like the other letters of the New Testament, we call them epistles, it is a letter from a pastor to a church, or in this case, churches that he loves. It's a letter that John wants to write to encourage and instruct the churches. So as a letter, that means it's to real people from a real person to real places facing real problems in need of

real encouragement. So this this at its base means it cannot mean to us the book of Revelation cannot mean to us what it did not mean to them. This is Bible interpretation 101. It can't what we come to in this cannot be totally foreign to the first recipients of it. That's not how we read the Bible how narcissistic our Western individualistic lenses that we think this was written to us.

No, it was written for us, but not to us. Does that make sense? It was written to the people of God through the ages, but this is not about us. Revelation is not trying to figure out America's place in history. I'm sorry. It's just not. Let me give you some historical context. After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in about the year 33 AD, the church experiences growth and the gospel is expanding.

There are pockets of persecution we read about in Acts, but overall the church is expanding throughout the Western Empire. And it is planning churches and it's going from one place to the next. Peace, prosperity, expansion. Well in the year 64 AD, Nero in Rome goes crazy and he burns down half of Rome and the Romans are about to revolt and put him to death and so he blames Christians. And now in 65 AD, the first state-sponsored persecution of Christians unleashes and it was horrific.

be a follower of Christ. It meant that if you don't deny Christ you could have your land taken from you, you could be exiled, you could be put to death in graphic and horrific ways, you could be crucified, you could be fed to lions. Nero would have Christians dipped in oil and then put up on poles and lit on fire so that the Vatican garden, not the Vatican garden, what's the place where the Vatican's at? Yeah, anyway, where the Vatican is currently at.

It was a garden and he would light Christians on fire so that they could the Romans could have nice stroll in the garden at night. This was real persecution. This is real pain. Well, in the year 70 AD might be the darkest year in all of church history. The Romans roll in with their army into Jerusalem. They're tired of the different revolts by the Jews, and so they decide to decimate Jerusalem.

They destroy and take out the temple. destroy just all of Jerusalem. Those people scatter. In 70 AD, Paul, Peter, and Timothy are all publicly executed as leaders of the church. Can you imagine? In the year 81 AD, a new Caesar rises to the throne. His name is Domitian. And Domitian, like a lot of Caesars before him, was also a megalomaniac, narcissist, and he believed...

the press. believed what everyone said. You're so great, Domitian. He's like, I am great. I'm God. And in fact, here's my decree. I want temples to be constructed all throughout the Roman Empire and all the major cities to my honor. And here's what I want. I want people to come, the Romans to come into the temple, to take a pinch of incense and to throw it on the fire and say, Caesar is Lord. That's all you had to do. Now for the

vast majority of Romans this was no problem at all. They were polytheists, they believed in many gods and after all they were the beneficiaries of the peace and prosperity and the security and the excess and the wealth and the indulgences of Rome and they're like we're not gonna give that up. Yes Caesar is Lord and they do that. This wasn't even a problem for the Jewish people because they would never do that but they were a recognized state historic religion and they weren't they weren't subject to this decree.

They just had to pay a special tax. They always had to just pay these special taxes. But Christians, on the other hand, they did not have such protection. Christians were commanded to go into the temple of the mission and to take the pinch of salt and proclaim Caesar is Lord. But if you do that, you're selling out Jesus because the cry of the Christian is Jesus is Lord and there can only be one Lord.

But now you start to see the pressure that the church is feeling. And if I don't do that, you know, I could, I mean, I could lose my property. could be cast out to an island like Patmos. I could lose my own life. And if I do do that, I get to participate in all the goodness of Rome. I get to enjoy the peace and the roads and all the excesses.

Mark Oshman (20:34.144)

So there's real pressure to give up on Jesus. And this is what has happened to John. see John is on the island of Patmos. It's a labor camp. He apparently will only proclaim Jesus is Lord. They don't have him put to death, at least not initially. Instead, they send him to Patmos because he says Jesus is Lord. And he writes this letter to encourage the church and it becomes this deeply held

and cherished book of the Bible for the persecuted church. Then, always, and now. Over the next couple of centuries, persecutions will break out against the Christians and it will be bad. So we must keep this context in mind if we're to rightly interpret, understand, and then apply this book. We can start to see how even that might apply to us. Have you ever felt any pressure to maintain your

prestige, your job maybe, your status amongst friends, and just kind of put Jesus in a box, your private little personal faith box, then you can start to see, no, Jesus is actually calling us to more than that in this book. So first thing, it's a letter. Second, it's a prophecy. We see this in verse three. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. Blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written.

in it for the time is near. Now again, when we hear the word prophecy, because of the influence of dispensationalism, we almost immediately think future. Prophecies, they get fulfilled in the future. But biblical prophecy, that's actually a minority of cases. That is part of the case and it's part of the case in the book of Revelation. But prophecy in the Bible, both Old Testament and New, is a thus says the Lord. It is a

Forth telling here's what God has to say rather than a foretelling. Here's what's going to happen when you understand that what John is saying is the message I have for you churches doesn't originate with me. It comes through me but it comes from the Lord like all the Old Testament prophets. It is a fourth telling not a four time because how cruel how cruel would it be understanding just the just getting a slight glimpse of the.

the kind of persecution and temptation and trial that the church in the end of the first century was facing. Just bloody death, losing family, losing property, going into exile. How cruel would it be for God to write a letter to these churches and say, hey, don't worry about it. In 2000 years, there's going to be a place called America and it's all going to work out. Well, they don't have any persecution there. And we don't. Listen, no, I better not say anything. That'll get me in trouble.

I was going to say something about the vaccine, but I'm not. Okay. I'm just saying it's not the mark of the beast. Okay. Can I just say that? Listen, if you're worried about being tracked, get rid of your cell phone.

We've to edit this out. But he says, he says in verse one, that this must soon take place. These things must soon take place. And he also says at the anniversary, the time is near. Well, how are we to interpret that? Was John wrong? Because it's been 2000 years. It doesn't seem like it must soon takes place. It doesn't seem like the time is near. And so some will try to...

like skirt that issue by quoting Peter who quotes the Psalms. In 2 Peter 3, 8 he says, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. They're like, see, it's only been two days in God's eyes. Except Peter's talking about God's perspective on time. John is bringing us man's perspective. A day feels like a day for us.

And he says it must soon take place. What's going on here? Well, it is like it is like how Jesus would often teach like in Luke 10 nine when he comes and he says the kingdom of God has come near to you in the coming of King Jesus. The kingdom has also come near. It's already here but not fully here. It's the already not yet tension that we live in right now. And that's how we should understand this book that this.

Word was very much a word for the people that received this. It was very much a word in the fifth and sixth and 12th century. It's very much a word for us. It's an already not yet tension. And this is a word for all Christians through all the ages facing similar trials, tribulations and temptations. It's also so it's a letter, it's a prophecy and then it's an apocalypse. We get this from verse one and really the rest of the book but

The first one in the Greek, word is apokalypsos. It's one word. It says the apokalypsos of Jesus Christ. Apocalypse means revealing. Picture you go to a play and when the curtain opens, that's an apocalypse. It's here it is. It's an apocalypse of Jesus, by Jesus, about Jesus. What's important to know here is that it's not a concealing. It's an apocalypse. It's not a concealing.

So many people come to this book like, there's a mystery here. If we could just unlock the mystery, God has kept it hidden from us. No, God wants us to see something. God wants to reveal things to us. God doesn't want to hide things from us in this book. It's a revealing. And one of the big ideas of this book is that things are not only as they seem. Things are not only as they seem. I should have that on the slide here.

And I put not only as they seem because the revelation does not deny that your temptation, your trial, your suffering is real. It's real. Like it's real when you see your loved ones dragged off because they follow Jesus and they're put to death. That's real pain, real suffering, but that's not all that is happening in that moment. See, these are dark days for the church at the end of the first century. The gospel is under pressure. The gospel means

Good news, but it doesn't feel like good news. It doesn't feel like this is, God is for me. It's the gospel, we talk about the kingdom advancing. It doesn't seem like the kingdom of God is advancing, but shrinking. It seems like the Roman kingdom is advancing. We talk about Jesus is king, but where's the evidence of His kingship? Where's He doing? How do we know He's king? This is what they're wrestling with. It seems like Rome is winning. They're debauchery.

their false worship, their power, their oppression. It seems like they're winning, but the book of Revelation is things are not what they seem or not only what they seem. There's a cosmic battle raging and Jesus, Jesus stands among his churches. Did you see that? We'll come back to that. Apocalyptic literature is not like a letter or a prophecy. We read a letter from beginning to end, a prophecy, here's what the Lord says. Okay, we've got that.

Apocalyptic literature is different. If you've ever tried to read the second half of Daniel or parts of Ezekiel or Isaiah, you're like, man, something else is going on here with this. It's not what we're used to in our post-enlightenment Western minds. We want things to progress in a systematic way. And that's why it appeals, why dispensationalism appeals to us. this happens, this happens, this happens, and then this happens. That's not how Revelation was written.

Rather, the question that we should ask is not what happens next in the book of Revelation, or the question we need to constantly ask is what does John see next and what does John hear next? And what he sees next and hears next isn't necessarily what happens next. Whoever's running my slides, can you go back to the very first slide, the title slide? Revelation is broken up into five windows. John's going to open up five windows, we're gonna...

look through these windows and we're going to see some bizarre things and a lot of stuff happening and they're kind of cyclical. About five times it looks like the end is here, like everything's getting wrapped up only to open another window and to start again and the windows aren't in chronological order. Let me show you. At the theological crux of this book, at the center of the book is Revelation 12. It is the fourth window. So there you go, the fourth window.

Like what's going on there? We got a baby and a dragon. it's bizarre. It's a red dragon. It's got these horns. He's frothing out the mouth. This woman is about to give birth and the dragon is about to devour the baby. But before the dragon can devour the baby, the baby is taken up into that throne room of God and the woman is taken out to the wilderness and protected. What in the world is happening there? Well, John is describing with graphic imagery something that

doesn't take place in the future. Something that took place 90 years before he writes. John is describing Christmas Eve. Like that's not like how I've heard Christmas Eve. You're right. It's not. What is going on there? No, Christmas Eve is a silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Like let's get the candle, right? No, imagine, I mean, we're always going to do that on Christmas Eve, but imagine if we just kind of went with Revelation 12 Christmas Eve.

Welcome to church. We've got dragons chasing babies on the stage and there's fire and like that's that's a wild Christmas. What is going on there? Well, in Revelation, symbols and imagery are the key to apocalyptic colors and numbers have symbolic significance. Colors and numbers have symbolic significance. We'll see throughout even in

chapter one we see this seven seven seven seven angels seven churches seven horns seven like seven. What's going on there. This is an image of wholeness completion perfection. It's not what John sees next but not what John not what happens next what John sees and hears next and it's often graphic in nature. Go back to our Christmas Eve story. Like why why can't John just be like hey.

What Luke said, know, all is calm, all is bright, there's no room in the end. Like that's a sweet story. Let's just sit in the sweet story. What's with the graphic imagery? Well, because graphic imagery hits us on a different level emotionally in our imagination and it communicates some things that simply telling the story and narrative prose do not communicate. Let me see if I can help illustrate this.

So this summer we were in Paris again and we got to go to the best art museum in the world. It was our fourth time, the Louvre. If you've ever been to Louvre, if you've gone the first time, you'll do what most people do. There are 35,000 masterpieces of art on display. Did you know there are another 550,000 in storage that you just never see? This is wild, right?

But when you go to Luluv, it's just massive and you feel this pressure and the crowds, you feel this pressure. I got to see it all. I got to see all the most popular ones. I got to see, you know, the Mona Lisa, which is like the Kardashians of the art world. I don't know why it's famous. It's famous because it's famous. That's why. But you go through and you see, you check the box. I saw that. saw that you get about a tenth of a second for each piece. that's awesome. That's awesome. You get through it done and you're like, whoo. Yeah, I've been to Luluv. I got it. Well, this time.

having gone a few times, I'm like, I'm not gonna do that.

I had read this book, Rembrandt is in the Wind about Christian and art and all this stuff. I said, there's four paintings that I want to look at. That's my whole priority this time. I want to just go sit in front of these paintings. And we would find them and we'd sit before them and something different happens. It was the best experience I've ever had at an art museum where you just sit before it. You're like, whoa. You start to notice details. You start to see.

things that you didn't see before, it starts to speak to you in ways that only the image can speak to you. And after you sit there for a while, I take out my phone, I take a picture and I asked you at GBT, I'm like, what else should I know about this? And it's like, look here, look here. Okay, well, what was going on? Why did they write it? Like, why did he paint it like this? What was this? Like, and you just, you start to take in the image and you're like, it comes alive. So that if I were to describe any images to you, it would just.

do a disservice because it's meant to be seen. The same is true in apocalyptic imagery. Let's go back to Revelation 12 and the Christmas Eve that something different happens to you when you're like, no, there is a cosmic battle. There's a dragon about to eat the baby, but God is sovereign and he's controlling, he's fighting our battles.

for us and you're like, well, there's a dragon that wants to take us out. There's a dragon that hates our families and our marriages and our church and hates the advance of the gospel. And we're in the middle of a battle that stirs you on a level that silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright doesn't stir you. we need both. But now you start to see symbols and imagery. Here's a quote by one of the books that we've been working through to get ready for the series, Daryl Johnson.

writes this, says, has the power to hook us deep inside. Images can quickly and effectively convey that which we struggle to put into words. Imagery goes beyond the intellect and through the emotions into the imagination, grabbing hold of us at the deepest recesses of our being. It's cool. And the imagery that gets painted for us is

the language of the Old Testament. Again, in the 402 verses, there's over 500 references to or allusions to the Old Testament. Now, why did he do that? Again, he's a religious exile on Patmos and he desperately wants to get a message of hope and encouragement and perseverance to the churches he loves. He can't just come out and say, Jesus is Lord, Caesar doesn't know what he's talking about.

He's got to speak in a language that the churches will understand, but that the censors of Rome will not understand. Enter the Old Testament. They would get this and be like, man, this is the ramblings of a crazy man. Maybe that's how you've read Revelation before. But as the church receives it, they're like, I know what he's talking about. He's referencing Exodus in.

and God's deliverance of the people then and he's pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Exodus and so on and so forth. is the imagery that he draws from. Revelation is a call to hope filled perseverance. It's the only book of the Bible that starts and ends with a blessing for those that engage it. Verse three blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this. So the reader of it. The words of this prophecy.

And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. There's a blessing to this. And so as such, I want to encourage you, I want to challenge you this week as you engage this, begin to engage this word to receive the blessing. So read the whole book this week. If possible in one setting, if possible, read it out loud. That's what it says. Blessed is the one who reads aloud and those who hear.

back in the first century, most people couldn't read aloud, but we can. So read it aloud, go through it, ask some questions of the book as you go through it. What is this teaching me about King Jesus? This is ultimately about Jesus on his throne, that there's more going on than meets the eye. What is it teaching me? Number two, what's confusing or what do I not understand here? And if you're like most of us,

You'll have a lot of question marks. A lot of it will be confusing. Again, it's hard for us, but it's still good for us to have these questions. And in this series, hopefully we'll answer some of those questions. I promise you we won't answer all the questions. Sorry to disappoint, but at least you'll recognize, hey, what's confusing here? Number three, what does it look like for me to obey this word? Remember the third blessing, blessed are those who do it.

who put it to practice in their lives. Normally when we read the book of Revelation, or at least me, I'm just kind of an observer, like, whoa, this is all bizarre. But it actually is calling us to something as a church. It's calling us to faithfulness, to perseverance, to understand that more is going on than meets the eye. So we've got some resources for you through this series. We've got some scripture journals in the back. If you are a note taker, this is just...

The book of Revelation. You can see I took my notes for my sermon here as I was working through it. You can grab one of those. If you're not a note taker, don't grab a book. We don't have one for everybody. But if you are, feel free to take one. We have a webpage full of resources that we, can we go on to the next place, the resource page. We've got a webpage that lists our different resources that you can get if you want to go deeper on any of this.

And then finally, if you have any questions, can scan the bulletin QR code or email us at revelation at redemption Parker. And we'll try to answer some of the questions. We're going to try to do a, like a 10 minute podcast each week answering some of these questions. Okay. Let me land the plane here. Even in revelation chapter one, we get what we need most. Look at verse eight says this, I am the alpha.

and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty down in verse 12. says then I turned to see the voice of that was was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man. This is a reference to Daniel clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was full, what was like the sun shining in full strength.

I say Revelation gives us what we need most because no matter who you are today, no matter what you face, no matter what your past is, no matter what your future is, what you and I need most is a big vision of our big God. We need to see Jesus as who he is because most of the time what we see big in our life is our own struggles, our own temptations, our own

problems. These seem to loom large in our eyes. But if we could lift our eyes beyond that and we could see the Jesus who stands among us, even right now with fire in his eyes and a sword from his mouth and his face shining like the sun, when we see the glory and the majesty, the sovereignty, the providence of King Jesus who is with us and for us and fighting with us and for us right now, man, everything else gets put into proper perspective.

It's what you need most. It's what revelation is going to give us. And when we see this God as who He is and what He's doing for us, then with the apostle Paul, for example, in Romans, when he says, if this God is for us, then who can be against us? That is our God. Amen. Amen. Let me pray for us as we prepare to leave here.