This morning, we're going to do recognizing what a difficult and complicated book Revelation can be every few chapters. What I like to do is a kind of a survey so we can get the big backup and get the big picture of what this all means. And also, today, during our Sunday school hour, instead of the normal question and answer time, I have put together the long promised cast and terms and related items of the revelation. I'm going to start kind of going through that. But there will still be opportunities to ask questions. Those who are viewing from home, you can email those questions on the Branch of Hope web page. Matter of fact, if you're here and you just don't really like asking questions in front of people, you can email with your phone. And even if you're in the room, and we'll we won't identify who you are. Well, maybe we will, but. I'm going to just read Revelation 1.3, which I think is, it's not really the outline of the revelation, but I think there's the great promise attached in this verse, and then we'll, that'll be a springboard into our survey of the entire book. Revelation 1.3, hear now the word of God. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near. Thus far the reading of God's word, let us pray. Father in heaven, we do pray that by your spirit, you would reveal to us, that you would unveil to us the depth and the heart and the meaning of the words contained in this book, that we might, Father, be the recipients of this great promise, this great blessing that is associated with the knowledge of who is truly on the throne of history and what we can expect, Father, from you. So we do pray that we would understand this morning more or less the big picture in the revelation, that when we get into the details, we would understand those things more fully as well. that we would understand what we are to think in regards to who you are and how we are to respond as your children. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Engaging with an unbelieving world, Christians will often have it explained to them that Christianity, and maybe you've heard this, I've heard it many times, Christianity has not cornered the market on morality. What appears to be meant by that assertion is that one needn't look to the church or look to religion to find morality or to find moral people. And I have to say, that does appear to be self-evidently true. Many of us know irreligious people who are good and reliable and faithful. I mean, more so than many of our Christian friends. I mean, not to be jaded, but sometimes when somebody has a fish, you know, when a plumber has a fish on his truck, I'm not sure if I'm gonna, I'm not impressed. So we know that that is the reality in which we live. It's not as if automatically somebody who's not a Christian is not to be trusted. Of course, it is not, or at least it should not be the assertion that Christianity is a land appealing or a kingdom that appeals to the morally superior. That's not what Christianity is. Jesus was not unclear that he did not come for people who were morally superior people. This is something he taught over and over again. We read in Luke chapter five, and Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The Christian faith is tailor-made for sinners. Which means, in a certain sense, it's tailor-made for everybody, right? But Jesus is dealing with an audience of people, and a lot of them thought they were quite fine. Be merciful to me, the sinner, must be the refrain of the Christian. And I would argue, the more mature we are, the more we'll say it. The more our eyes are open to the holiness of God, the more aware we are of our own sin. If you're arriving at a place in your life where you think you need Jesus less today than the hour that you first believed, friend, you're moving in the wrong direction. Now, this should not be understood, even as the Apostle Paul was accused, as a license to continue in sin. The fact that the Christian faith is tailor-made for sinners doesn't, shouldn't yield in us, well, If God really likes forgiving and I really like sinning, we have a great relationship going. There is, to be sure, a call in the life of the Christian to live a life of faithfulness. As Paul would write, to walk in newness of life. There is a call to live in a manner consistent with who you are as a child of God. But prior When I say prior, I think both chronologically and in terms of importance, prior to the moral direction that we find in Christ, we find redemption in Christ. Prior to him being our teacher is Jesus being our savior, right? We even see it in the Great Commission, right? Make disciples. Then what? Then teach them to obey all that I have commanded. There's an order to that. but though the acknowledgement and aberrance of our own sinfulness really should be an elementary principle in our faith. I mean, it should be obvious. What I'm saying here shouldn't be like eye-opening for us. We should recognize our own sinfulness and need for a savior. What the world seems to fail to wrestle with, and what I think Christians often ignore, is that even though the Christian faith has not, quote, cornered the market on morality, at least outward observable morality, it uniquely provides a justification for morality. And what I mean by that is an explanation for why morality even exists in any absolute sense? That's a different question. The fact that certain people might be more or less moral is different than going, well, how do we figure out what morality is? And how do we know that it is, in fact, morality? You might be asked, from whence does morality originate? That's a different question. And why should it be considered moral? Things, by the way, that when I was a kid seemed obviously immoral are no longer immoral. So you've got a kind of a problem kind of going, you know, it's one thing to try to do the right thing. It's quite another thing to go, well, where do we figure out what the right thing is? How do we know that? I've noticed recently an upsurge both in my interactions with people and in things that I watch and read, an upsurge in the quoting of Nietzsche. Nietzsche, he's back on the market. I mean, when people are trying to jettison God as a participant in our reality, Nietzsche is always brought into the discussion, right? God is dead. I mean, and who doesn't sound smart? quoting Nietzsche, as Nietzsche said, like we're all supposed to bow. But this really highfalutin appeal to Nietzsche and his nihilism, and I know that's kind of a big word, nihilism. Nihilism comes from the Latin nihil, which means nothing. Nihilism is there is no wrong, there is no right, there is no nothing. That's kind of what nihilism is. I mean, if we get right down to the basics, there's no right or wrong. But what I have found is the nihilists, the people quoting Nietzsche, the people who are like, well, you know, the Christianity hasn't cornered the market of morality. are pulling a wagon of indignation into the depot regarding some conviction or some behavior of the simpletons on the farm of religious hee-haws. In other words, there is no right, there is no wrong, and you are wrong in thinking that it is, and you're a simpleton for thinking that way. Now hopefully, it becomes obvious what a self-refuting statement that is. That knife cuts both ways. You can't tell me that I am wrong in believing in absolutes and that I'm absolutely wrong in believing in absolutes. You can't do that, it doesn't work. All this to say, I may not be very good at morals or ethics. Morals is generally referring to individuals, ethics is referring to kind of a culture like the ethos. I may not be very good at it, but at least I know from whence they hail. Like I may not be very good at following my master, but I know who my master is. And I remember watching the old Three Stooges. Who's here has heard of the Three Stooges? I know, you never know these days what they're teaching in school. But the Three Stooges, for those of you who don't know, they basically had, they must have made 50 movies, and they were all the same story every single time, with all the same jokes, and they were still pretty funny. But one of the jokes they would always have would be the pretty secretary would walk out, and they'd be sitting in line waiting to see the doctor or the lawyer or whoever, and the secretary would say, walk this way. And then she would walk all, you know, And of course, the three stooges would walk that way. And that's kind of the way I feel when Jesus says, walk this way. I feel like one of the stooges, you know? Because he's telling me how to walk, and I'm walking. But the thing is, they all ended up in the office, even though the way they walked wasn't quite the way they were told to walk. But they knew they were going. They knew who their master was. And that's a critical difference between the believer and the unbeliever. I'm going to tell you, and I've asked this hundreds of times, the vast majority of the world cannot, even if they're moral people, they cannot give an account or a justification for the morality that they hold, for the morality that they hold dearly, for the morality that they will fight for, and even the morality for which they may die. If you're asking me to die for something, I'll tell you what, I wanna know in a very absolute sense that this is worth dying for. And I don't wanna just get caught up in the moment of the culture because of some social contract or something along the lines of that. I wanna know that there is infinite, eternal, absolute significance to the decision that I'm making. And let me tell you something, you might say, oh, I'm willing to die for this or I'm willing to die for that. But I'll tell you this, if you're not willing to live for it, you're not willing to die for it. And I want to take this just one step further. You see, it's one thing to have a master, whether you know who it is or not, who you're going to trust with your ethics. There are a lot of people out there who are religious leaders and politicians and rock stars and movie stars who are promoting ethics. And you may or may not believe them. Sometimes they accidentally get it right. But it's an entirely different thing to trust somebody with your soul. I may or may not trust you with right and wrong. But the question is, should I trust you with my soul? Now, any honest person who looks at Jesus, who was the ultimate keeper of the law, any person who looked at Jesus and then looked at themselves would arrive at some type of statement that we see with Peter where he said, depart from me for I'm a sinful man. Anybody who really saw the truth of Christ and then looked at themselves, and that's where Jesus as a teacher is way different than us. Many of you know I coach volleyball. And there was a time when I was actually pretty good at playing myself. And I would demonstrate how to do something. And there was a time when I was better than the people that I was teaching. That's not the way it is anymore. As a matter of fact, sometimes I have to bring other people in to demonstrate because of this or that. See, now when I'm demonstrating, they're looking at me kind of going, well, I can do that better than you. I mean, most of the kids on my team could do it better than me. But when Jesus would demonstrate, nobody ever said, well, there was no sense in which he said, look it, do as I say, not as I do. I don't think in the Bible, at least not from the words of Jesus. So when they looked at Jesus, it was very consistent with the excellence of his teaching. And they would look at him, and the more they saw, well, with Peter, when he had a close encounter with the power of Christ, what he said was, depart from me. For I am a sinful man. It was almost as if Peter kind of got this inkling that he was in company that was above him. Depart from me. You know what's interesting about that encounter? Jesus didn't obey Peter when he said, depart from me. I mean, I hope we understand that if we had an encounter with the living God, That's what we would say. Every time you see that in the Bible, you're like, whoa, I'm a sinful man. I'm a man of sinful lips, and on and on. When the glory of God is revealed, we crumble. And we would say, along with Peter, depart from me. But Jesus didn't depart. What Jesus did was he offered words of comfort and then a call. We read later, in just a couple of verses later, in Luke 5, 10, and 11, And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. All right, so there you have the comfort. From now on, you will be catching men, right? Peter was a fisherman. And when they had brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed him. Fear not, do not be afraid. These are the same words that the Apostle John heard in Revelation 1, 17, when he saw and had an encounter with the glorified Christ. Do not be afraid. Let me see if I can unpack this a little bit for us. In order for Peter and James and John, and really all the apostles, and really every Christian, I would argue, in order to harbor a proper frame of mind in their commission to fish for men in a hostile environment. Keep in mind that they weren't being told to go down Crenshaw and turn right and go into that neighborhood. It was a hostile environment where they were going to probably, and all of them except for maybe John, met death. So they're walking into a hostile environment, but in order for them to have the proper disposition, in order to engage in this, there had to be this recognition of the great fear of God. And that fear is then quelled by the loving and tender hand of Christ, who in Revelation, right, with his right hand, he lifts up John, he says, do not be afraid. And now John is ready. to go on the path that he's been called. Christians are not ready to go on the path of a hostile environment unless they have had the prerequisite of the fear of God that is then quelled by God himself. You know, in one respect, Jesus was a contemporary. But in another respect, he was not anything like a contemporary. Like, I'm fond of saying, you know, Jesus says, I no longer call you slaves, but friends. Right? But you never hear any of the apostles refer to themselves that way. Paul, in writing his letters, doesn't say, Paul, a friend of Jesus. Paul is slave. Paul in chains. They recognize what a magnificent condescension that was for Jesus to say, I call you friends. And we need to be careful when we have too casual of a disposition toward Christ. Now, you're probably wondering, if we're doing a survey of Revelation, when are we gonna get into it? And I realize this is a very lengthy introduction, but we're gonna get through it really rapidly, I'm gonna tell you once we get into it. But as I read it and reread it and reread it, what I'm trying to convey to you in a very ministerial sense, how it ministers to me. And to whatever extent, because we're all kind of in the same boat in this respect, and I want that to happen. Because in all of the sensationalism surrounding the book of Revelation, I have my own fears. I fear that we have lost what the book actually meant to its original readers. I feel like that's almost never in the discussion. And if we lose what the book meant to the original readers, we're gonna lose what it means to us when we find ourselves in a similar situation. We are so comfortable, but if we were other places in the world right now in terms of a hostile environment, This book would have an entirely different and richer impact upon us. Now it is not in vogue today, and I realize that, in the Western church to herald the fear of God. But we learn in Proverbs that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. We don't somehow figure things out and then get to God. It's the fear of God where we actually start thinking clearly. I mean, I think Reverend Schroeder brought it up a few weeks ago, you know, he's quoting Augustine, you know, I believe in order that I may understand, and I don't know how clear that was to all of us, but until you acknowledge who God is and what God is, you don't really understand anything. I mean, you might understand like the tail end of collateral things, but in terms of the depth of the meaning of who we are, why we're here and so forth, you don't even get going. You're not even started. And because of that, the church is disastrously parroting the world. by which we are surrounded. Because we don't know who our master is, because we don't understand that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, especially the knowledge of God and our relationship with God, because that is kind of weaving its way into the church. The church, instead of transforming the world, is being transformed by the world. Instead of being salt in the stew of humanity, The stew is emptying itself on the salt. And we're just being kind of distilled to nothing. And we need to be aware of that. And I mentioned that because that was the danger of the seven churches in Revelation. They were beginning to mimic the world by which they were surrounded. That's all the warnings that we see in the seven letters to the seven churches. And we need to take warning as well. When we look at the condition and the direction that the church is taking. The seven churches were surrounded by a religious community, a religious community that had been the covenant people of God. So these weren't pagan religions. This was the covenant people of God that had become, according to Jesus, satanic. Their churches had become synagogues of Satan. So the religious community by which these churches were surrounded was dark. And it was influencing the church to engage in loveless, immoral heresy. These are the things that are happening in those seven churches, all but one or two, when we went over all of that. Also, these churches were surrounded by a powerful political empire that was also satanic. I mean, we talk about how bad the world is. I think when John wrote that you know, that the devil is the prince of this age, or the whole world lays under the sway of this wicked one. I think that was the condition then. I don't think it's the condition now. I think we're moving in a different direction as a result of the cross of Christ. But at the time, religion was dark, politics were dark, and the whole world lay under the sway of the wicked one. And this powerful political empire wanted to mother the church. This Rome, the empire of Rome, they wanted to be the protector and the provider and the caregiver of all people. Does that sound familiar? And the only cost for the service of this mega nanny was your heart and your labor. And your heart and your labor would be spiritually communicated as a mark on your forehead and on your hand. In other words, the way you think and the way you behave. That's what he's talking about with the hand and the forehead. So I have my question. My question for us is, would we even see this coming? Will we recognize, I mean, there are places in the world right now, there are nations in the world where it's obviously the case. But would we be able to see the direction that the nation would take in order to play that role in our lives? I don't want to sound uncharitable or mean-spirited, but in today's eschatological dog-and-pony show, I think the ringmasters have us nervous about tattoos and subcutaneous computer chips. That's what we're looking for. I don't want to get my hand stamped. What we really need to be doing is concerning ourselves with who owns my heart? Who owns my mind? And if you're having a hard time evaluating who owns your heart, look at your hand and see what your hand finds to do. And what your hand is doing will tell you where your heart is at. What's coming out of your mouth will tell you where your heart is at, right? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. You could delude yourself into thinking, oh, my heart's in the right place. But if your hand and your feet aren't in the right place, your heart's not in the right place. Well, again, in an effort to not lose the forest for the trees, I'm going to do now a brief survey. Why do you guys sound like that's so incredulous that I would write your brief? If there's any word you have not interpreted correctly, Pastor Paul in the Bible, it's the word brief. Well, I'm gonna tell you, and I've said this numerous times, I'll say it again, I agree with Dr. Greg Bonson in terms of the theme of Revelation, which is summed up in the triumph of Christ over all opposition or evil. That's the theme of Revelation, the triumph of Christ, the triumph of that which is good over all that is evil. And the real quest for the readers for the original readers and for us is, what side of the battle are you gonna plant your flag? There is going to be a victory. That's what revelation is about. There will be a victory. And those seven churches, they had to decide what side of that are they gonna be on? Because they're beginning to imitate the world. They're beginning to imitate the side of the battle that's gonna lose. And Jesus is saying, don't get on that side. That's the wrong side. Well, there's an outline that John gives. It's found in verse 19 of chapter one, right there for the things that you have seen, those that are are, and those that are to take place after this. So we see a three-point outline given by John himself. And in terms of pure, devoted literary space, this outline does not unfold evenly. The things which John had seen, chapter one. The things which are, chapters two and three, and the things that are gonna take place after this is the rest of the book. So it doesn't unfold evenly. In chapter one, what do we see? I think the apex of chapter one is we see the glorified Christ in the midst of seven candle stands holding the seven angels. So before we get into everything else, it's kind of like John is going, look it, you need to have an interaction with the glorified Christ. You need to understand the power and the glory of your advocate. Before all this other stuff is written, know this. Know who is in your midst and know that he is holding you up when we, if we could just manage to get an inkling of the glory and the power of our advocate, the drop in the bucket distresses of this world, the drop in the bucket desires of this world to win our hearts will fade to nothing. If we could just have at some level the experience John had in chapter one, it changes everything. The fear of everything goes away. The fear of death itself goes away. If we can just fix our minds and our hearts upon the power and the glory of Christ, we need to know who our master is. And we need to know that He is not only our Master, but He is our Savior. He is our Advocate. And let me tell you, there's nothing casual about it. Keep this in mind. Of all the terrors and all the monsters that John saw in the 22 chapters of Revelation, there was only one vision that had him fall down as if he was dead, and that was the vision of the glorified Christ. It was almost like these big gigantic dragons and stuff, they're nothing compared to chapter one. That's the first part of the outline, the glory of our advocate. Section two, the darkly influenced churches. The things that are are referring to the current conditions of those seven churches. Now, I am aware of the fact that, at least the way I understand the angels, you know, to the angel of the Church of Ephesus, to the angel of the Church of Pergamon, to the angel of the Church of Sardis, I understand that the angel, it's my view that the angel is the pastor. I understand that makes me the angel. That's not lost on me, okay? And I would say, you know, that would include, you know, the elders at some level. And it may sound a bit inflating, hey everybody, I'm the angel. But I think that when pastors, when elders begin to grasp at a very boots on the ground level what it means to be held accountable to God for the souls of the people in their churches, let me tell you where that takes me. It takes me to this place where I rejoice in the fact that I'm told that I'm held in his hand. I can't tell you how many times in session meetings, we all feel like we're at the end of ourselves. Like we don't have the answer. I wish we had the answer. We don't have the answer. And you just kind of feel like, you know, you're coming up short. And you just take refuge in the fact that Christ has you in his right hand, his hand of power, his hand of protection, his hand of guidance. I think that should help us recognize the depth of capacity of what it means to be held accountable rather than something inflating to us. Now these seven churches, these seven churches would hear of the soon to come devastations that would fall upon their detractors. They're being told by, they're about to be told what's gonna happen to those who are who are oppressing them, who are persecuting them, who are killing them. And what we see really essentially in those two chapters was that they were beginning to imitate, as I said a minute ago, the world by which they were surrounded. And Jesus in those letters is saying, don't do that. You need to understand who I am. And the theme there is you need to overcome. You need to persevere. Regardless of what's going on around you, you need to listen to my voice and follow my voice and trust in me and not try to become like the world by which you're surrounded with all of their bells and whistles. And we delude ourselves if we think that we are not vulnerable to that ourselves, our own church, this church. You always have to be aware of, at what point am I going to imitate the world by which I'm surrounded? And at what point do I recognize that I need to fix my eyes firmly upon Christ, firmly upon his word, and follow through with that, regardless of what's going on around me? Otherwise, I will find myself on the wrong side of these judgments. And let me tell you this, and you can ask me this when we get into the Sunday school hour. And the wrong side of that is both in eternity and history. It's not just on the wrong side eternally, although more importantly, it's on the wrong side historically as well. And if that's unclear to you, ask me about it during our Q&A time. Well, section three, a tale of two judgments. First, Jerusalem. These soon to come devastations are the final point of the outline. So we are in the final point of the outline. These are the things that are to take place after this. That's really the next 19 chapters. So again, it's not equally spread out, right? We got a three-part sermon. We're in the third part right now. So let's briefly survey these 19 chapters. And I think in these 19 chapters, we see the judgment of the two oppressors of Jerusalem and Rome. In chapter one, as I said, we see Christ, as it were, on earth, inhabiting his church, walking among the churches. In chapter four, we see Christ in heaven. Chapter four, John, and only John, is invited to heaven. Friends, this is not the rapture. of the church. It is John, and only John, who's invited in chapter 4. And what chapter 4 begins to do is reveal to those seven churches who is on the throne of history. 63 times in the New Testament we see the word throne. 47 times in Revelation. 14 times in this chapter alone. The throne, the throne, the throne. Who was on the throne of history? These churches needed to hear this. We need to hear that. We need to hear who's actually in charge. In chapter 4, He is on the throne. He is being praised as Creator. Then in chapter 5, we see the Lord Christ being praised as Redeemer. He's praised as Creator. He's praised as Redeemer. In chapter 6, we see the Lamb begins to open He's told that he's the only one worthy to open a scroll. So now you're following me, right? Chapter one, the glorified Christ. Chapters two and three, the church. Chapter four, we're swept into the throne room of God. Chapter five, we see Christ is the lamb. the Redeemer, and then in chapter six, we're kind of introduced to this seven-sealed scroll, and the seals of the scroll, there are seven seals, and they're being opened, and each time there's a seal open, you're getting a preview of what's about to happen to the immediate oppressor of the church, which was Jerusalem. So we see this being conveyed. What we're seeing here, And I know I've said this before, but I know it's also difficult. What we are seeing here is the beginning of the end of the obsolete and vanishing Old Covenant. That's what we see in the Revelation. What we see in the Revelation is the Old Covenant is coming to an end, and the New Covenant is beginning. The world would call this the transition from BC to AD. the most significant event in human history. Even the world recognizes our very date is based upon what was taking place during that turning point, that fullness of time, even as Mike had prayed. That's what's going on in the revelation. And we see these seals being broken as the scroll is being previewed of what's gonna happen to those who are seeking to put the church to death. In chapter 10, verse seven, we see an interesting, and we're not there yet, right, in our series, but we see this thing that if you read your whole New Testament, you recognize what he's talking about. What he's kind of saying here is that the mystery of God would be fulfilled. What's the mystery of God? If you read your New Testament, more times than not, almost maybe even unanimously, the mystery of God is the fact that the Gentile and the Jew would form one church. The two would become one. As Paul would say in Ephesians, one new man. For some reason, even though it was taught in the Old Testament in seminal form, that was mysterious. That was like, well, wait a minute, you're saying that the new covenant is not gonna be just Israel, it's going to be faithful Jews and Gentiles? Yes. And what we see in the Revelation is that is what is happening. The kingdom is now becoming an international kingdom. It would no longer be restricted to one nation, but all nations will come and worship him, Revelation 15, 14. So that's what we see in chapters six through 11. We see the deposing of the initial religious enemy of the church, which was Jerusalem, the first enemy. of the church, apostate Israel, is judged. I wanna notice two things before we move on to the second portion. John is told that he's gonna prophesy again. So you've got the scroll with the seven seals. And then he's told in chapter 10, he's like, you're gonna prophesy again. You had the scroll, now you're gonna have a little book. And that second prophecy is gonna be more international in nature. He says it'll address many peoples and nations and languages and kings. So when we get into chapter 13, we're moving into something that goes beyond Jerusalem. It goes into something that is international in nature. The prophecy regarding Rome, and I argue that it's Rome, I know there are people who don't agree with that, but I think Babylon is referring to Rome. I think the city on Seven Hills is Rome. I think that the fact that it's international in nature makes it Rome. There are a lot of reasons why I think it is Rome, but that would follow the prophecy regarding the judgment of Jerusalem. Now we have this parenthetical chapter, chapter 12. If you were here for our Christmas Eve service, you heard me talk about that. Because the natural question that the people in these churches would ask is, okay, wait a minute, we are minuscule. How in the world is all of this actually gonna take place? I mean, you're talking about Jesus, the one who is worthy to open the scroll. What happened in order for this to actually be achieved? And that's what we see in chapter 12. In chapter 12, we see, you might wanna call it the other side of Christmas, right? We read the Christmas story, right? Jesus is born and we got a nativity scene and all that. But we tend to not focus upon when we read the Christmas stories is how Herod wanted to kill the baby. and then kills all the babies in the surrounding area, all the male children two and under. But what we see in Revelation chapter 12 is the spiritual side of that. We see this dragon who sees the baby being born and seeks to devour it and then fails in that effort. And what we also see in chapter 12 is Satan, in some level, being thrown out of heaven. Matter of fact, the apostles would say the same thing when they came back to Jesus after seeking to minister. He's like, well, he goes, even the evil spirits respond to us. And Jesus says, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. You're like, well, what is that? What we have to recognize was at the cross, at the birth and the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ, the devil was given a crippling blow. I think we need to kind of recognize that. We just want to give this world to the devil. And I'm telling you, that is not what the Bible teaches. The Apostle Paul put it this way, in terms of the victory in Christ, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. And it, the antecedent of it, is the cross. We've got to recognize something very significant happened at the cross, in terms of the defeat of Satan. Well, moving on. In chapter 13, we're introduced, and you all have heard this, right, to the beast. So in chapter 13, we have the beast, and I would argue that that is the Roman Empire, and probably referring to whoever the current emperor might have been at the time, probably Nero. And we have the dragon in chapter 13, who is the devil. And the dragon gives the beast power. And then we see another beast, which is probably the emperor cult, where they are requiring, this second beast requires worship of the first beast. So you've got this emperor cult, kind of going, look it, everybody, we need to acknowledge the supremacy of Caesar. All Christians recognize Polycarp and how he would not say what? What would he not say? He would not say Caesar is Lord. He wouldn't say it. That's what's being promoted. You gotta go look at your ultimate savior. The place you go to in order for you to have what you need is your government. and to the point where the government becomes deified. The government becomes your God. An allegiance must be given to the beast in order to just conduct your life. You can't buy and you can't sell. Unless you have that mark, what you believe and how you behave must be given to your government. And they're not going to let you buy, and they're not going to let you sell unless you bow the knee to your government. Now, I'm saying your government. That's what they were going through. Of course, we're nowhere near that, right? We see also the number 666, and we'll get into that in detail when the time comes. But another reason why I think that this was primarily addressed to them and not us is that John seems to be under the impression that there were people in that church who could calculate who that was. Let him who has wisdom calculate who this is. And his number is 666. Now, when we get there, I'll give you the different views on that. But people in those churches had a pretty good idea of who John was talking about. And I would argue that one of the reasons why the Revelation is written so cryptically is because it was going down a Roman postal route. And if Roman soldiers got a hold of this, and they knew, for example, if in fact it's Nero, that Nero was referred to as a beast, I don't think that would fare well for those churches, right? It was like only the people in the churches who understood the Old Covenant could read this and go, I know exactly what he's talking about here. the Romans wouldn't be able to figure it out. So I think there's a good reason why the revelation was written so cryptically and difficult to understand. I don't think it was quite as difficult for them as it would have been for Rome or as difficult as it is for us. And a lot of the reason I think it's difficult for us is because we've been, in our culture, promoting a view that just wrenches this out of the natural reading of the text. Well, we read in chapters 14 through 18 the deposing of Rome as the enemies of Christ's kingdom. And it's not as if Rome is happy about this. Many Christians will be tempted and threatened to yield. That's why we read here, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Talking about kind of going, look it, if I'm gonna die for something, I know what I'm dying for. If I'm gonna believe in something, I know who I believe in. And there's a blessing. to die, as many of our brothers and sisters have throughout the course of history, to die for your faith. The great persecutor of the church will find themselves subject to, quote, the seven angels and the seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God. So we have these bowls of wrath that are gonna fall upon the Roman Empire. I have visited Rome. Is there a reason we're putting this up? Is this like Academy Awards where the music starts playing and it's time for me to... There we go. My wife and I have visited Rome a couple of times. Years ago, I went there. There's a mural on one of the old buildings of the Roman Empire. and at the time of its apex, which would have been during the time of Christ, right? And it went West all the way to like Spain, and it went South into Egypt, and it went North into Great Britain, and it went East into Asia Minor, and all the way to the Caspian Sea. I mean, it was the whole world, the whole civilized world, at least they referred to it that way, was the Roman Empire. And then on this mural, it showed, what it looked like in 300, you know, when Constantine showed up, and then in 500, and then in 800, and it's getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. And then finally, when I was there, the Rome, Rome is what? It's a dot. The kingdom of God, on the other hand, which when this was written was a dot, gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And so I would argue that this is what we're seeing in the revelation. It is the Lord saying, look it, those kings and kingdoms that take rank against the Lord's anointed one, they need to kiss the sun lest they perish. And if they don't, their kingdoms will shrink and shrivel out altogether. But there is only one kingdom that will endure throughout the course of history and then fold into eternity, and that is the kingdom of God. And that is the promise. And God, by his own divine sovereign hand, will protect his bride. And that is a promise we see in Genesis chapter 12. I will curse those who curse you, and I will bless those who bless you. We see that curse falling upon those who were seeking to curse the church. Finally, we see in chapter 19, the Great Commission. So we have with the initial persecutors deposed. Chapter 19 reveals all heaven breaking open. Christ is called faithful and true. He's on a white horse. His name is called the Word of God. And a sharp sword from his mouth strikes the nations. and the Great Commission now races forward through history. There's such a consistency in the Bible. The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 so corresponds to what we read in Revelation chapter 20. The assurance that the Great Commission is going to be fulfilled would be a question they would have. What needs to happen in order for the righteousness of God to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea? What needs to happen in order for that to take place? In order for the God of this age to be deposed, what needs to happen? Well, we see that in chapter 20, that Satan is bound. that strong man, as Jesus taught in the Gospels in Matthew 12, is bound. He's bound that he might not do what? That he might deceive the nations no further. So what we have here is a commission given, I'm gonna put it this way, David has gone down and crushed the head of Goliath, and now the armies of Israel are called to go into the valley and take over that which belongs divinely to them. The enemy of God's people has been crushed, and we are called now to go and bring that message throughout the course of the world, recognizing the sure victory that will come through the great commission, because the enemy of God's people has been cast down. Well, at the end of that, in chapter 20, you have this thing called the millennium. You can ask me about that. I would argue that it literally means 1,000 years, but I would argue that the millennium is the period between the first and second advents of Christ. So the number 1,000 in the Bible generally just means a very long period of time. And at the end of the millennium, Satan will be released for a short period, and people scratch their heads about that as if that's ridiculous. And it's almost as if God is doing that to reveal to us, no matter where we get as a people, wherever we get in humanity, we need to be reminded that we need Christ, that it's not us It is only what God has done by his spirit through us, not us. And so Satan is released for that short period. And then finally we have the great white throne judgment. And whatever your position is in terms of your eschatology, whether you agree or disagree, it is universally agreed that regardless of whatever your eschatological convictions are, that only those who are clothed in the robes made white with the blood of the lamb will endure that judgment. So we can't lose that central message in the Revelation. And the book concludes in chapters 21 and 22 with a reference to the full consummation of the new heavens and the new earth. The struggling saints in every age can look to their eternal glory. We read in 21-4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. What we see in Revelation is what was lost in Genesis is now restored in Christ. We are to find our comfort. We are to govern our lives. And we are to ever persevere in light of that glorious promise. 21, seven, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we do pray that we would recognize that no matter how overwhelmed we might feel by that which surrounds us and even that which is within us, that they are all a drop in the bucket compared to the glory of our advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous. and we pray we would ever be encouraged in light of this to walk faithfully all the days of our lives, we pray in his name, amen.