and look at our summary statement for the book of Revelation. So this is what we set out as we started to walk through the book of Revelation, is that Revelation of John is a Christocentric book. It's a book that centers on Christ, and it shows us the pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming, or as I'll say, from Christ to Christ. And so that's what the content of the book is about, and the purpose of the book is this, that John wants us to see the spiritual realities around us, to recognize the dangers that face us, but in the face of both of those, to know that God is going to win. And so the exhortation, the call of the book is this, Revelation calls us then, to wisdom, to understand rightfully the things that are going on around us, to perseverance. When things get hard, when we face enmity and the world hates the gospel, we keep following Christ. And ultimately, to worship. We see that the whole of history is going towards a time when Christ will be worshipped perfectly and we will get to join in that chorus together. And so as we've gone through Revelation, we've gone through a lot of Revelation so far already. So we started with the prologue, Christ himself appeared to John in power and glory and revealed himself as the one who walks among the lampstands, the one who cares for his church. And then we started a series of what I called seven sevens, or more perhaps correctly, six sevens and a seventh. But we have these seven sevens and we enter into the first seven. If Christ is the one who walks among the lampstands and we get the seven letters, to the seven churches that warn us of dangers that will face the church throughout the period from Christ to Christ. But the call of the seven letters was this. In the face of those dangers, we are to keep our eyes on Christ, loving his promise and following his command. And if we're to keep our eyes on Christ, then we entered an interlude that called us to see Christ for who he was. So we entered into the throne room of heaven, where we saw first God, the creator, worthy of eternal praise, but then second, Christ, the lamb, that was slain, the lion of the tribe of Judah that looked like a lamb who was slain, who is worthy first for worship, but also worthy to open the scroll and to break its seven seals, the one who is worthy to proclaim the purpose of God for the rest of history. And so out of that, if the lamb is worthy, then we are going to open the seven seals. So that's the second seven of Revelation was the seven seals. We thought about those as a pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming. It will be marked by war and famine and plague And we shouldn't be surprised by those things. Christ himself promised that those things will happen. But in the face of those, we hear the saints cry out, how long, O Lord? And God says, until the fullness of your brothers are brought in. And then he promises that he will bring judgment, and the world will come to its meted end. And so if the saints cry out, how long, O Lord? Our next interlude shows us that it won't last forever. There will be 144,000 gathered with Christ, 144,000 sealed out of the earth, which is, again, in the numbers of Revelation, 12 times 12 times 1,000, a full number. Yes, a full number, a big number. And so it's then restated in the next paragraph. It's a great multitude, not only from the tribes of Israel, but from every tribe and tongue and nation and language that are gathered before the throne. And they enter into the same song that the throne room of heaven was singing in chapters 4 and 5. But then we enter into the third seven. We have the seven trumpets. The seven trumpets are very similar to the seven seals. They deal with the same kind of themes. In fact, we can make a lot of parallels between the trumpets and the seals. But one of the things that we see is there's an intensification. In fact, in the seals, we have this number one-fourth that marked the destruction of the seals. One-fourth of the earth was destroyed. One-fourth of mankind was killed. But then we come to the seven trumpets, and it's intensified. It's come to one third. One third of the earth is destroyed. One third of the sea is turned to blood. One third of mankind is brought down by plagues and by death. And so we thought about the fact that, yes, these judgments will overlay all of history, but they will get worse over time. There's an intensification as we go through the history of the world. It's, as Paul would say, the pains of childbirth that intensify until the culmination. But in the face of this intensifying judgment, we then enter into another interlude, the two witnesses. And so the question in the back is, well, what does the church do during this intensifying period of judgment? And the answer is, they just continue witnessing to the truths of Christ. And there's a promise God will preserve his church until they have finished their mission. But on the flip side, there's also a, the church won't win in this world. that's a promise that the world will eventually turn against the church and destroy it, but the world doesn't have the final victory that Christ raises them up on the last day. So then we entered into the fourth seven, which is the central seven, the seven at the center of the book of Revelation. It's a very different seven, but it's a story. We take a big step back and say, okay, how did we get here? Where are we? Where did we get here? And where are we going with the story? And we get the sevenfold saga of the woman and the dragon, where we have a great sign in heaven appear, a woman crowned with 12 stars. and with the sun and the moon under her feet. And then we have this story about how the woman bore a child and the dragon hated the child and the dragon tried to kill the child but the child was brought up to God and the child went up to, or the dragon went up to war but he lost the war and he was cast down to earth. And so that was a retelling of the gospel, but then we thought about the results is that the dragon was cast out of heaven. He no longer was able to accuse the brethren, but he was let loose on earth and he was full of wrath because his time was short and he went to chase down the children of the woman. And so then we thought about the beast, the first beast, the second beast, the powers that the dragon uses to defeat the church in this world. And we're called to love not our lives, even unto death, and keep pursuing Christ. But the end of the story is this. Christ wins. The dragon loses. And so we get to the second interlude, or the, I'm sorry, the fourth interlude. where we get to the saints beside the sea. In the face of this enmity on earth, the saints are gathered with Christ beside the sea. Again, 144,000. 12 times 12 times 1,000. A full number. Yes, a full number. A large number of the saints. All that were chosen will be brought there beside the sea. Then we entered into the fifth seven of the book of Revelation, the seven bowls. And the emphasis there, the exact quote is, with these, the wrath of God is finished. If God's judgment hangs over all of history from Christ to Christ, it intensifies as time goes on. There will be a time once God's wrath is poured out and is complete, and all of the earth will be destroyed. There will be nothing left. God's wrath will be complete. And so we have the fifth interlude. In the light of that, we hear the call. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. The city of man was brought down and is no more. Those who hoped in it will be destroyed. So that's where we left off last week. So we're ready for a sixth seven. The last seven before the culmination at the end of the book of Revelation. What I've called this is seven scenes of victory. I could give it slightly different names, but I think that's the best name. So we'll be in seven scenes of victory. We'll do that for the next couple weeks, but that's going to be Revelation 19 and 20. And this is the seven. As you go through this, the sevens have been fairly easy to identify. The seven-fold story of the woman and the dragon might have been a little harder, but once you see that there's seven stories in a row, it's pretty easy to see. When you get to Revelation 19 and 20, the seven is not on its face. But if you start looking, it actually becomes pretty clear. John uses a phrase, seven times, to denote seven different scenes. So we go through here, we're going to go to Revelation 19.1. He introduces Revelation 19.1 with, after this I heard. I don't know what he heard, we'll come to that in a few minutes. But, and then we go a few verses later, Revelation 19.6, then I heard. Revelation 1911, then I saw. Revelation 1917, then I saw. Revelation 21, then I saw. Revelation 24, then I saw. Revelation 2011, then I saw. This is a phrase that he's used in the book several times already, but actually at really low frequency. In fact, in the rest of the book of Revelation, it appears less than half a time per chapter in the book of Revelation. Then we get to these two chapters, and we get it seven times. I don't think that's an accident. This is the marker of the seven stories that are going to be told in this last seven of the Book of Revelation. And so as we go through these stories, we're going to see seven stories of victory. The first one is the saints are vindicated. They look back at the fall of Babylon, and they praise God for being the one who brings salvation. We see the marriage feast of the land. When the world has fallen, then the church will be joined to Christ. We see a rider appear on a white horse whose name is Faithful and True. We see the defeat of the beast and then cast into the burning pit. We see the dragon bound and unable to deceive the earth anymore. We see the thousand years and the final judgment on the dragon and his followers. And then finally, we see the great white throne. So as we look at this seven, this last seven of the book of Revelation, this is going to be the theme that kind of lays out what we're looking at in this seven. As God's judgment reaches its end, John sees seven scenes that display God's victory. We're going to see God's people vindicated. We'll see them join to Christ. We'll see Christ return as the glorious king. The beast and the dragon are going to be defanged and defeated. And God is going to be declared the judge of all. So we're getting ready for the culmination of all things. God is the judge. He has won the victory. And so, this morning, we're actually not going to cover all of that, because that'd be a lot to cover. In fact, this is going to be one of the most controversial sections of Revelation as well. I'm going to try to push that controversy off to next week, so we'll come back to that. But we'll go through Revelation 19 this morning, the first four, because as you recall, all of the sevens have not only been seven, but they've been four, and then two, and then one. And so the first four usually go together, and then there's two that go together, and then the last one is the culmination, the ultimate of the seven. And so we'll go through those first four this morning. They kind of tell a story. And then the next two are going to be a recursive. We'll get to that next week. And then we'll get to the last one next week as well with the Great White Throne. So we'll be in Revelation 19 this morning and the first four scenes of victory. But as we go into this, this actually, as I've pointed out several times, is drawing on the Old Testament. So we have to have the Old Testament in mind as we go into this and see what the Old Testament, what he's pulling out of the Old Testament to show us what will happen. And I think the underlying verses for all of Revelation 19 and 20 are this, in Daniel 2, verses 26 through 27. This is the end of the judgment in Daniel. I think that's supposed to be Daniel 7, sorry. This is the end of the judgment in Daniel 7, but it says this. But the court shall sit in judgment, and his, that is the beast's dominion, shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed until the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. Their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom. and all dominion shall serve and obey him." That's what we're going to see as we go through Revelation 19 and 20 as the culmination of Daniel 7, 26, and 27, the judgment on the kingdoms of this world. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and pull it out. We'll be in Revelation 19 this morning, or I'll have the words up here on the screen if you want to follow along. Revelation 19. After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For His judgments are true and just. For He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged the blood of His servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was sitting on the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, hallelujah, for the Lord God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, then the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in his presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. So as we look at Revelation 19, we get these first four scenes of victory. This is going to be my main point this morning. When God's victory is displayed, the great things of this world will be destroyed. When God's victory is displayed, the great things of this world will be destroyed. The saints will be vindicated, the covenant will be consummated, and Christ will appear in glory as Lord of all. When God's victory is displayed, the great things of this world will be destroyed. The saints will be vindicated, the covenant will be consummated, and Christ will appear in glory as Lord of all. Therefore, all of our lives should be lived in light of this day. That's what we'll try to get through this morning. We'll have five points. We'll just look at these four stories, work through them for a few minutes, and then do an application at the end. So we'll see the saints vindicated. We'll see the marriage feast of the Lamb. We'll see a rider come on a white horse. And we'll see the defeat of the beast. And then finally, we'll do some application. What does Revelation 19 mean for us here today? So let's start with the first point. The saints are vindicated. We're going to hear a song granted heaven. Salvation belongs to our God. So it'll be in Revelation 19, verses 1 through 5. It says, after this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying, amen, hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. So as we go through this first scene, this first scene is obviously reflecting back on what we went through in Revelation 17 and 18. The Fallen Fallen is Babylon the Great. We've had this long song, the weeping of the people who had seen the fall of Babylon. But now we turn to heaven and we see the saints gathered before the throne, singing before God. And we see this great multitude. That great multitude we've seen several times. Back in Revelation 7, we saw it in Revelation 15 at the end of the Saga of the Woman and the Dragon. And they're going to sing together, the same great multitude. And their song, I'm going to skip over the first song. This is actually the theme of the song is this. Hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up. forever and ever. Seems like a really weird song to sing. Hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up forever and ever. But they're looking back at Babylon the Great and saying, our enemy has fallen. The one who tried to defeat us, to separate us from Christ, to cast us out forever, has fallen. And we stand and rejoice because God's judgments have been true and just. He judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. And importantly, this is the end. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. And so they're looking back and seeing a song of vindication saying, the enemy tried to destroy us, the enemy tried to cast us out, to defeat us, to bring us down, but our God rescued us. And so that's where it starts. It's a song first of deliverance, but it starts with this, hallelujah, a word that means praise be to Yah, praise be to God above. Why? Because salvation and glory and power belong to our God. The saints gather together and they look at the destruction of the city of man, they look at the destruction of the earth, the judgment that has fallen, and they say, praise God. He has brought salvation for us. He has defeated the enemy forever. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. And so it's a song of deliverance and a song of praise. And we get this once more, a command, praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. And so we look back at the judgment that God has brought and say, God has done well. God has done good. God has saved us. Salvation and glory and power belong to him. So that's short. I'm not going to dwell on this a lot because we worked through a lot of these things last time I was in Revelation. So we'll move on to the next scene. Got through that scene really fast. A scene that calls for celebration that God has vindicated the saints. They're no longer under the thumb of the worldly powers. But then we have another scene, the marriage feast of the Lamb. We're going to see the covenant being consummated. So we come to Revelation 19, verses 6 through 11. It says, then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. It's really hard to say those without singing them. I know great songs that are done to all these words. Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So as we go through this, we hear first this second note of praise, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. So we get a first set of praise, a first scene of praise for the vindication, the judgment that has fallen. But now they're going to turn and sing another song of praise, hallelujah, the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory. And now they've got a new reason for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And so we're looking at kind of two sides of the same coin. The world has been cast down, and now we're ready for the consummation to happen. The promises of God are all going to be fulfilled now. The marriage that was promised for so long in the past is now going to come true. So we can look across the entire Bible and say, yeah, we've had this picture of Christ and the church as a bride and a bridegroom being joined together to enjoy each other forever. And we look at places like Ephesians, and it's written as though it has already happened. We can go to Ephesians and look at Christ as already the bridegroom. The church is already the bride. They have already been joined together. But there's also a now and not yet. That is true, yet we're still waiting for it. And so even the New Testament talks about waiting for that day when Christ will be joined to his bride. Paul tells the Corinthians this. He's actually pretty upset with them at the moment. But he tells them this. He tells them, this is why I'm so upset with you. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do you bear with me? For I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." He says, you have been set apart for a marriage to Christ. You have been set apart that you will be joined to Christ as part of the church at the last day. You need to keep yourself pure so that you can go and join your husband. on the last day. So he looks at the urns and says, you're not doing very good at that right now. Maybe you should think about what you're doing. That's the story of Corinthians. But we'll come back. That was the New Testament hope. But we can look and say, it was the Old Testament hope as well. When you go through a biblical theology, go back to Exodus 19 through 24, see the covenant made with Moses, or the covenant made with the Israelites at Sinai. And as we went through Exodus several years ago, we looked at how that was a marriage covenant, a covenant that joined Israel to Yahweh and made them one together. But then the story of the Old Testament is a story that that covenant was not enough. That covenant failed. That covenant did not purify the people. It did not join them to God in a way that was sufficient. And so the story of the prophets then looks back and says, that was a good covenant, but we need something better. God joined himself to Israel, and yet he needs to join himself to his people in a greater way. So we come to Isaiah 54. Just to set this in context, we all know Isaiah 53. Many of us can quote most of Isaiah 53. This is the next word after Isaiah 53. In fact, it just keeps flowing. There's no break here. It says, sing, O barren one who did not bear her. Break forth into singing and cry it aloud, you who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood. You will remember no more. Then here's this promise. For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he has called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment, I deserted you. But with great compassion, I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment, I hid my face from you. But with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. And so we're looking at this wealth of Old Testament hope, this wealth of New Testament hope, that one day God would be bound to his people like a husband is bound to his wife, in a way in which they will be forever joined in a joyous relationship. And we come to Revelation 19, it says, that day's now. The marriage of the Lamb has come. God's judgment has fallen. We have destroyed the powers that were against Christ and the marriage of the Lamb has come. Now that's the first reason. That's the first reason why the saints praise God in this. But then there's an and. One reason, the marriage of the Lamb has come. But then second, his bride has made herself ready. So those two are going to go together. The marriage of the Lamb has come. And when that day came, we find that the bride had prepared herself. Unlike what we were looking at in Corinthians, where maybe the bride wasn't doing the best job of preparing herself. So Paul's chastising her a little bit. When we come to the last day, we'll see that the bride has prepared herself, has made herself ready. And in fact, specifically, was given her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. And in case we don't understand what that means, defines it for us, the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. It's found that on the last day, the saints did persevere. They did continue following Christ. They did continue living according to his command and following his path. And so she's made herself ready. It's a joyful day, a day when Christ returns and finds his bride ready to join him. But specifically, I want to look at this. The bride made herself ready, but it was granted. It's a passive sense. It was granted. It was given to her to wear fine linen, bright and pure. So there's an active. We'll get this back in the applications when we get there. But there's an active sense. The bride made herself ready. There's also a passive sense. The bride was given what she needed to be ready. We'll come back to that in a few minutes. But this was an Old Testament hope as well. We come to Isaiah 61. This is another famous passage. We hear Christ start the beginning of this prophecy when he quotes it. But we come to Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flock. Foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers. But you shall be called the priests of the Lord. They shall speak of you as the ministers of our God. You shall eat the wealth of nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame, there shall be a double portion. Instead of dishonor, they shall rejoice in their lot. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess a double portion. They shall have everlasting joy. For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrong. I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. I will gratefully rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God." In fact, he's almost quoting here. You can hear that. I shall gratefully rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress. as O'Brien adores herself with jewels. The Old Testament looked for a day when the people of God would be made pure, so that they would be ready to be joined to their God. And it looked and said, that hasn't happened yet, but it will happen on a day in the future. But again, we get that passive sense. He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. And so we come to Revelation 19. We see the marriage feast of the Lamb. First, we praise God because that day has come. The consummation of all the promises of God are now. And then we come and say, and we praise God because the bride made herself ready. But the bride making herself ready was ultimately not up to her. It was again up to Christ because it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linens, bright and pure. She was given righteousness that she could put on. And so there's a rejoicing here that the promises of God have come true, but it roots it in the gospel to say the promises of God all flowed from the gospel. The gospel said, you are not righteous, but Christ will provide righteousness for you, both in a judgment sense and an absolute sense you have been made righteous, but also give you righteousness to live out, which is the second part of that celebration, that the righteousness of Christ was given to his church, and the church lived that out as it was given to her. And so then we have this. We have several blessings pronounced in Revelation, and here's another one. We've gone a long time since we've heard the last blessing, but here we are to another blessing, important points of Revelation. It says, and the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Really simple statement, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Some people would dive into this and then start to try to parse it apart and say, OK, just a second, we have a bride and we have guests. I don't think that's the point here. I don't think we're supposed to start pulling things apart because even Jesus, when he used parables, sometimes he referred to the church as the bride, sometimes he referred to the church as the guest, sometimes he referred to the church as the bride and the guest. These things got intermixed a lot together. The point here is not who's the guest and who's the bride. The point is the ones who show up they're going to be blessed. This is going to be the people that are going to rejoice forever. So now we're separating into two. We have those who have been destroyed, fallen, fallen as Babylon the Great. We have those who are blessed. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. The promises are sure. Then John did this. John was overwhelmed. He said, then I fell down at his feet to worship him. I thought a long time, why does John record that? Like, John could have done that, but he could have just left it. I was like, oh, I was told that was the wrong thing to do. We don't need to worry about that. But John records it for a reason. There's a reason he leaves this in there. He said, you know what? When I saw all of this, I fell down at his feet to worship him. And then he told me, no, you can't do that. I'm not God. You better be worshiping God. But the reason I think he recorded that was this was how overwhelmed John was at the goodness of what he was seeing. He saw an image of the marriage feast of the Lamb, an image of the saints rejoicing as the marriage came. And he said, this was such a great thing that I was spurred just to fall down and worship and I worshiped this great being who was sitting in front of me because he was there and he was showing me this. But then the being told me, no, that's not what you're supposed to do, worship God. But it's an emphasis of how good this is. Something that I think sometimes we get familiar with and we read through this and say, yeah, that's good. We're waiting for that. But John says, when I saw it, I was completely overwhelmed to the point where I forgot who I was supposed to be worshiping. And the angel says, no, worship Jesus. And then there's an interesting post-log to this little scene. It says, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. Then John kind of writes this kind of note on the side, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. John takes a step back and he actually says, you know what? This whole book has been a prophetic book. We're going to have people that run after prophecy and get into trying to figure out prophecy and figure out what does all this stuff mean. He says, here's the thing. The end result of all prophecy is this. We're going to rejoice in Jesus more. We're not going to get tied up in all these other things. If we have prophecy, the purpose of prophecy is to support the testimony of Jesus, to focus us on Jesus, to keep pointing us towards him in alignment with the scripture. Any part of prophecy, however we would understand prophecy, and we could go into multiple sermons about that, but whatever we do with prophecy, it has to come down to this. The purpose of it is to focus us on Jesus and the testimony of his death, resurrection, and return. And so I'll leave that there. We aren't going to dive into that too much more. So that's the second scene. First, the saints are vindicated. Their enemies have been destroyed. Second, the marriage supper of the lamb has come. His saints are getting the promises that were promised. Then third, we have a rider on a white horse. So it would be in Revelation 19, 11 through 16. Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so we've had two scenes so far. We have this next scene. He says, then I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. A white horse. And so John says, this is the sum of what I saw in the third vision. It's a white horse. And that white horse was full of meaning. It's the symbol of a conqueror. One riding on it is a symbol of a conqueror, one who is coming to declare his victory. The one who would enter into a city and say, the city is mine. I have won it. And so we see this one sitting on a white horse. And we told his name. The one sitting is called Faithful and True. That's an interesting phrase, one that implies that he's keeping his promises. He's going to be true to his word. But I think it's implying more than that. We go back to John 1. John 1, verse 14, again, a verse we mostly all know. And it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of both grace and truth. That's how Jesus was introduced in the book of John. He's the one full of grace and truth, the one who is coming to be faithful to the promises of God and to bring grace and mercy to provide salvation to his people. A great introduction to an introduction we'd love to quote, but actually this is pointing back to something farther back. When John pulls out these words grace and truth, he's actually pointing back to some Hebrew words that happened in Exodus 34, which was the proclamation of God's name. And so we know the story. In Exodus 19 through 24, the Israelites make covenant with God. Then Moses goes up on the mountain to hear the judgments of God, to bring them back down to the people. But the people get bored. So they make a golden calf, and they worship the golden calf. And God obviously doesn't like that. And he judges the people. And Moses stands between and pleads for the people and says, if you'll not go with us and don't send us up. And Moses says, here's what I need. I need you to show me who you are. Tell me your name. Let me see your face. God says, you can't see my face. You would be destroyed. But he says, come up on the mountain, and I'll pass before you. So we come to Exodus 34. God's coming to visit Moses in a powerful way. It says, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, Yahweh, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and to the fourth generation. So we have this proclamation of the name of God. But what I want to focus on is this phrase, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Those Hebrew words are hesed and emet, which would faithfully be translated in Greek as grace and truth. steadfast love and faithfulness. When John says, he came with the glory of God, the glories of the only son from the father, he was full of grace and truth. John's pointing back and saying, Jesus is fulfilling what Exodus 34 was saying, that our God is a God merciful and gracious abounding. and grace and truth, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. But then we notice something. We have this tie. And so we come to Revelation 19. The one who sits on the horse is called faithful and true. Two words that could faithfully represent this last word, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, full of grace and truth. And so we see that there's this dual promise of who God is. He is a God that is full of mercy and grace, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, But we also have a second half, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. So what John's doing in Revelation, he says, his name is faithful and true. He's looking back at John, and then he's looking back at Exodus and saying, he came, he was full of grace and truth. But that time's over. He's coming now as the one faithful and true. the one who will execute the second half of God's name, the one who will bear God's wrath out on those who refused him. And so we have the one called faithful and true, and so it says this. He is faithful and true, therefore, this is what he does. In righteousness, he judges and makes war. He will perfect God's name. He will be the representation of God's name. He came the first time to bring grace. The second time, he will bring judgment. So his eyes are like flames of fire. His eyes are like flames of fire, and on his head here are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows by himself." That's another weird phrase. So first, we have a first name. His name is faithful and true. But then we have a second name. In the second name, we aren't told what it was. In fact, we're told that no one knows what it is except the one who's riding on the white horse, who we can easily identify as Christ. But the purpose of this isn't to be like, oh, I wonder what that name is. There's some sort of name that he has that none of us know. I wonder what that is. No, the purpose of this is to name something is to have authority over it. To name something is to have control over it. That belongs to me. I am able to name it. We see that all across the Bible, in fact, from the very first stories, the animals were brought to Adam to name. And then Adam names the woman. And then we go through this ability to name as given. In fact, we've seen it in Revelation already that the saints are given a white stone with a name that is given to them by God that no one but them knows. And so we have this authority over them. But this writer has a name that no one knows. No one gave him that name. No one has authority over that name. He is sovereign over all things. No one has control over him. His name belongs to him himself. And so it's a declaration of sovereignty. So first, there's a declaration that he's going to bring the wrath of God. Second, there's a declaration of sovereignty. But then third, we get to this. He has a robe dipped in blood. Now, we could go a lot of different ways with that, but I think this is actually going back to something that's quoted in the Old Testament. And so I'll pull out another phrase out of here. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty. So we'll go back to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63, verses 1 through 6. Another vision given to Isaiah. It says, who is this who comes up from Edom in crimson garments from Basra? He who is blended in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. It is I, that is God, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples none was with me. I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood splattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help. I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger. I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." So when we come to Revelation 19, and it says, his robe was dipped in blood, it's again a symbol that he's coming to destroy the enemies of God. He's coming to trample out the winepress of God's wrath. He's coming to cast down every pretender and take the throne for himself. So we've had two names. He's called Faithful and True. He has a name that no one knows but himself. He's coming to bring the wrath of God, and he is sovereign. No one is going to be in control of him. But then we have a third name given, the name by which he is called is the Word of God. It's no accident that John wrote Revelation, and John wrote the Gospel of John. I think John is going back and thinking about things that he's written before. He said this, John 1, 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glorious of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He's looking back, he said, if you haven't caught on to this issue, this is the one that I spoke about in my gospel. This is the word of God, incarnate, made flesh. Coming back, he came a first time to bring salvation. He's coming back a second time to bring war. So the name by which he is called is the word of God. We see him coming with all the armies of heaven, who are a rain of fine linen, white and pure, and following him on white horses. Then we have this. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. and he will rule them with a rod of iron. His purpose is steadied out clearly. He's going to rule the nation, strike them down, cast down every pretender. But again, these are prophetic words, Isaiah 49-2. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he called my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. And he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. This is right in the center of the servant songs in Isaiah. We've been going through those on Wednesday nights. This is what he said. The servant, the one who will represent Israel, the one who will embody Israel, he will be a sharp sword in my hand. He will be sent out for judgment. And then it also is a reflection on Psalm 2. Psalm 2, I'll read verses 1 through 9. Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart, and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in heaven laughs, and he holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So Revelation 19, the appearing of the rider on a white horse is the appearing of Christ in glory at the end of the ages to declare that he is the ruler of all, to declare that all other pretenders will be cast down and to execute God's judgment on the world. And so it ends with this. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's coming in glory a second time to destroy those who would reject him and to take his throne. So we have a rider on a white horse, and we've got four names, faithful and true, a name that no one knows but himself, the word of God, and king of kings, and lord of lords, four names that are caused to see the glory of Christ in a big turn, no longer to bring salvation, but to consummate salvation and destroy the pretenders. So then we have the fourth scene, the defeat of the beast. So we had the vindication of the saints, the marriage feast of the lamb, the rider on the white horse, Now that the white horse is here, we're going to see what the white horse does. Revelation 19, 17 through 21. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead. Come, gather, for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And they saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured. And with it, the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. So as we come, we have a fourth vision, and this fourth vision here is, here's a voice, call out to the birds. Okay. Interesting side. Had all these great visions, but now he's talking to birds. And he tells them this, come gather for the great supper of God. But this is actually, again, pointing back to the Old Testament. We read it this morning already. This is going back to Ezekiel. A lot of Revelation and Ezekiel start to overlap. In fact, next week I'll probably pull that overlap out a little bit stronger. But this is pointing back to Ezekiel 39, 1 through 6. The end of Ezekiel, before the final temple is built, we have this prophecy that these rulers Gog and Magog are nations, or whatever you want to call them, because no one really has any idea who Gog and Magog are. But Gog and Magog, the chief princes of Tubal and Meshach are arrayed against Israel, and they come to make war against Israel. And God says, yeah, you're going to make war against Israel. But here's the thing. I'm going to completely flat out destroy you. And then the birds are going to come and eat your flesh. Ezekiel 39, 1 through 6. And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, thus says the Lord God. Lord God. It's hard to say Gog and God together if you don't notice. Thus says the Lord God. Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and drive you forward and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall in the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beast of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands. And they shall know that I am the Lord. That's the judgment given against Gog and Magog. And then we'll go to the end of the chapter, verses 17 through 20. As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God. Speak to the birds. Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field. Assemble and come. Gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel. And you shall eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of earth, of rams, of lambs, of he goats, of bulls, all the fat beasts of Bashan. And you shall eat fat till you are filled and drink blood till you are drunk at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors, declares the Lord God. So that was said back in Ezekiel, that there was going to come a day when all the kings of the earth, under these two great kingdoms or kings, Gog and Magog, representing the whole of earth. We could go through where Gog and Magog came from. We'll probably go through that next week more. But we have this hallmark that there is a prophesied last battle, that despite all the judgment of God that has fallen against the earth, the earth will not turn and repent. In fact, they try to take one last gasp and try to conquer the white rider. It says, no, we're going to conquer you. And God says, no, you're not going to conquer him. As for me, I said, my king on Zion, my holy hill. The Lord laughs and holds him in direction. He says, come on, birds. We're going to have a feast. And so then we have a talk through. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, with their armies gathered to make war against him, who was sitting on the horse and against his army. I don't want to go in and say, this is what's going to happen. I don't know. I don't know what this means. I don't think we need to know what this means. Other than to the very last breath of the world, the world will reject Christ and try to war against him. But that war, even when all are gathered together under the beast, and one will be nothing against Christ. The beast was captured, with it the false prophet, who in his presence had done signs by which he had deceived those. who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. What happened to them? They were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. They fought against the white rider and they were completely destroyed forever. And everyone who followed them, the rest that were slain by the sword, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse and closing out the prophecy, all the birds were gorged with their flesh. The purpose of this vision, this fourth vision, is to close the book. It says, we open this story with, He was tried to be destroyed by the dragon, but he was caught up to heaven. Then we've had this story playing up from Christ to Christ. And we've gone through all these visions that tell us, what is the time from Christ to Christ going to look like? And we have these great enemies of the church rise up, the first beast and the second beast, ruled by the dragon who are trying to destroy the church. And the church has to persevere. They have to love, not their lives, even unto death. so that they can keep following Christ. But then we have this last vision, this fourth, and this vision of victory. And it says, here's what's going to happen to that enemy of yours. Here's what's going to happen to the first beast and the second beast and all who allied themselves with them. They're going to be destroyed and cast out forever. They will not always be your enemies. You will persevere, and they will be destroyed. And so that's the fourth vision. in Revelation 19. And so what I want to do is stop. We haven't finished all these scenes of victory. We're going to come to some challenging ones next week and start thinking about those a little bit more. But all I want to do is pause here and say, what does this have to do with us? We're looking at the future. We have no idea how far into the future. It could be tomorrow or another 1,000 years from now. I have no idea. But what does this mean for us who are looking forward to these days when we will sing in victory over our enemies, when the marriage of the lamb will be consummated, when the white horse will appear and Christ defeats every enemy? And so what are we going to do with applying our eschatology? What do we need to do with these things? So I have three applications I want to make this morning, three ways that eschatology is important instead of just something to argue about. First, we should heed the warning and exhortation of Revelation 19. We should heed the warning and exhortation of Revelation 19. And the exhortation is this, be clothed with Christ. So we come back, Revelation 19, verses 7 through 8. We've already gone through this. But do we have the second vision? Have praise given to God? Why? Because the marriage of the Lamb has come, but second, his bride has made herself ready. His bride has made herself ready. That's the hallmark of the end of the ages, is that the bride was found to be pure. The bride was found to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The bride was found to be living out what Christ has given to her. So to put it another way, we could say this comes up in 2 Peter 3, verses 11 through 13. This is Peter's exhortation at the end of 2 Peter. It says, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, Peter looks and says, the world is going to melt as it burns. Just think about that for a second. The world's going to melt as it burns. Nothing here really matters that much. Don't get caught up in these things, and don't run after people who love the things of this world. It's all going to melt as it burns. And so, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, since the world is going to melt in fire, what sort of people ought you to be? Here's what he says. You should live lives of holiness and godliness. If the whole world is burning in fire, don't pursue the things of the world. Instead, pursue the things of Christ. Then he says this, as you pursue lives of holiness and godliness, what you're doing for is you're waiting for, and in fact, not only waiting for, but also hastening, running towards the day of God, running towards, so waiting for and hastening, hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells. So Peter says, if we know that judgment, final judgment, is coming, the white rider is going to appear, the marriage supper of the lamb is going to come, then if the bride will have made herself ready, we should be making ourself ready. We should be pursuing holiness and godliness, setting aside the things of this world and running after Christ all the more. To say, no, my life isn't oriented towards the things of this world. My life is oriented towards that day, and I want to be ready for that day. Or I read Psalm 2, verses 1 through 9, verses 10 through 12 are actually an exhortation as well that I think fits in here very well. It says, the Lord sits in heaven and laughs at those who would conquer him. And so this is the warning at the end of Psalm 2. Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him. And so as we look at Revelation 19 and say, final judgment is coming, final victory for Christ is coming, both in destruction of his enemies and in consummation for the church, we should say, we ought to be putting on the things of Christ. Whether it's for the first time, because you look here this morning and you say, I'm not in Christ. I need to hear this warning to the kings. Be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with prayer. And kiss the sun lest he become angry. And say, I need to embrace Christ and say, he is the king. I'm not going to. try to cast off his bonds from me anymore. I'm going to embrace the gospel, and then for those of us who embrace the gospel, we say, we're waiting for that day on which we are consummate a marriage with the Lamb, and we're going to be making ourselves ready by living out the righteousness that he has given to us. And so that's the first thing, as we look at this declaration of final victory, is we should heed the warning and exhortation, be clothed with Christ. Reorient your purpose in this world, that that's what I'm running after. holiness and godliness, not the things of this world. But then, in light of that, we should hope in the promise and victory of Revelation 19. For those who are running after holiness and godliness, there's a great hope here. Our king's going to win. The beast may look powerful now. The dragon may have come down with great wrath and great fury. But we can just fast forward a little bit, go look at the end of the movie, find out how this all ends. Jesus wins. The world loses. So Revelation 19 verses nine, or verse nine, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb. That's what you're looking for. Don't get caught up in the trials and tribulations, the persecutions of this time. Do all those with joy running after Christ because blessed are all those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Or we can look a few verses earlier. We know that he will avenge the blood of his saints. We persevere saying that's our great hope. is that our King will return. So we sing, hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Or we see the white horse appear, and we simply rejoice. You can't read this without feeling a note of trembling as you hear it. Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, he judges and makes If you're one of Christ, you should hear that and tremble with rejoicing, with eager anticipation, saying, our King's going to appear. And he's going to appear on a white horse. And he'll be glorious beyond all of our imaginations. And he'll cast down all of his enemies. We can go to the fourth vision and say, the beast is strong now, but the beast will be destroyed. The beast may try to capture us and destroy us now, but it will fail. And it will be destroyed. Or we can go back. beyond Revelation 6, if all this is true, if we're looking forward and saying, these things are going to happen and they are our hope, then we can go back to the seven seals and say, that's where we are right now. What should be our response to this? It said, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and the witness they had borne. And they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And so right now, that's our hope, looking forward and saying, our God will come. Christ will return. He will judge his enemies and save his people. And we cry out, how long, O Lord? A phrase that's echoed over and over again in the Psalms, how long, O Lord? I'm waiting for that day. I'm orienting my entire being around that day. Or the end of Revelation then comes to the same conclusion. Last verses in Revelation, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. And John's response is this, amen. come Lord Jesus. Yes, we wait for that day. Our hope is in that day. Our victory, our vindication, our rejoicing, and our glory is in that day, because on that day, our King will win. And that's actually what spurs our following of the exhortation. Say, Christ is going to win. We are going to share his glory. We'll be married to him forever. So that's going to fuel my ability to say, you know what? Right now, I'm going to pursue holiness and godliness. As Dan preached last week, I think, We'll discipline ourselves for holiness and godliness. My sense of time isn't great. So our fuel is that we know our king is going to win, where we see the victory that it holds present not only for the present life, but also for the life to come. And so we hope in the promise and victory of Revelation 19 our king will win. And then finally, and this happens almost every week in Revelation, but it's a point of Revelation, we can, and in fact we should, sing our God's victory. Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Again, that hope in the promise and victory of Christ fills both of these. We say, Christ is gonna win, so right now I can live lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. And right now, in anticipation of that victory, I can sing right now. I don't have to wait till that day to sing salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because I know it's true, that hope is sure. So I'd say this is the main one. hope in that day, and because you hope in that day, live lives of holiness and godliness, and sing the praises of our Redeemer. And so, over and over again through Revelation we've said this. In fact, the answer to almost everything in Revelation, Revelation throws all sorts of dangers, all the way up till death and, you know, complete destruction of your body here on Earth. And it's answer to all those things is, you know what you should do? Probably sing. Something's happening, what should you do? Probably sing. That's what Revelation does over and over again, so we have songs. Revelation 19, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up forever and ever. Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, small and great. Or in the next vision, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory. So, I thought I had one more slide in there, sorry. So our final application is seen. We have a perfect hope in the coming of our Redeemer. And so we sing in anticipation of that day, because on that day, those who are in Christ will definitely sing. We wait for that day in hope. And so kids, here's your kids' question for this morning. What do we, that is the redeemed, what do we hope in? The answer is this. We hope in the return of Christ. We hope in the return of Christ when every enemy will be destroyed. and will be gathered and joined to him forever. We hope in the return of Christ when every enemy will be destroyed and will be gathered and joined to him forever. And as I said in my main point, therefore, we live our lives in light of that day. Let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful for this word from Revelation. Father, that you have declared your victory over all of history. Father, you've declared that Christ will return. He will defeat his enemies. He will gather his church. He will fulfill all of his promises, and we will be with him forever. Father, we gather this morning because we hope in that. We testify together that that's our joy and our hope, our desire. And Father, we also gather because it's not perfectly our desire. The world is still around us. It still wants us to look at it, run after its things. So Father, I pray that as we hear your word this morning and gather as your people, that you would be rooting that desire in our heart evermore, that that desire would fuel a desire to run after holiness and godliness, would fuel a desire to run after the things of Christ, because our hope is not here but in that day. Father, I pray that your spirit would be filling us towards that end as we nod from this place. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. It's open now for any questions or comments or other discussions. I just wanted to add one thing. Yeah. First of all, let me say thank you so much for preaching through Revelation. When I first became a believer, Revelation was a book that absolutely terrified me. Still terrifies me a little bit. Because? Intentionally didn't go through Revelation 20 today. I feel like a lot of people misrepresent it and make it feel like it's this great puzzle box that needs to be, can't fully be understood. But I thank you that you've shown numerous times that if you understand the Old Testament, that you'll see all the pictures that constantly point towards Christ. And one of my favorite promises in all of scripture is in John chapter 14. And it says, do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have For I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. But where I am, there you may also be. And you know the way where I am going. I love that the culmination of that is in the marriage of Jesus. When you understand the culture and the context of what Christ is, it is a husband who is betrothed to his wife. And he is going away to make a room on his father's home for his wife to come and dwell with him forever. And he may be gone for a while, and it may take him some time, but he is coming not to get disheartened. And when I look in this world, it is really easy to get disheartened. And so I cling to those verses. So thank you for being preached through Revelation 19. We are encouraged that one day all those things will come before him. So as we come to a time of preparation to be at the Lord's table,