Let's open our Bibles now in the book of Revelation again. Now we will read chapter 19. The book of Revelation chapter 19. In the morning we cover the first chapter and now we are going to chapter 19 of Revelation. This is the word of the living God, and he speaks to his church by saying, 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 a great prostitute who corrupts the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." Once more they cry out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the twenty-four 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, O God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, small and great!' Then I heard what seemed to be a 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. 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 line, bright and pure. From the fine line 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 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 deepened in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine line, 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 treat the winepress of the furry of the rod of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his side 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 direct 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 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 is in its presence, has done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. Then 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 guarded with their flesh." Let's pray again. Close your eyes. Our Heavenly Father, we read the Holy Scripture. And now we ask you, Lord, that you can guide us while we meditate on it. Through the Holy Spirit work, God, break the walls of our hearts and help us to see how great you are, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So we are in the same book, Revelation, but in a very different situation. In the morning we saw a church who was in fear because they were facing tribulation. And now in the end of this book, we are not seeing this church fearing anymore because now they are seeing all the glory that Jesus Christ will bring to this world through his judgment. But before going to this text, I want to remind you about one of the most important questions that a lot of us already faced during our journey in this world, especially when we go, for example, to college, when we grow to these universities around the world. One of the most important questions that this world brings to show us that our God doesn't exist It's the fact that they say God is not dealing with the evil of this world. They say, look around you, you will see poverty in many places. You will see people destroying themselves. You will see war. You will see so many things. And apparently, they say, God is just ignoring this evil. And through this, they want to show to the Christians that God is not with them anymore. They want to make them imagine that God is not dealing with evil because actually God doesn't exist. Of course, this is a false allegation. They are corrupting everything that God is showing and, of course, they are ignoring texts like Revelation 19. They are ignoring not only this one, but they are ignoring a lot of other texts that will show us how God already deal with the evil of this world, but also how he said that he will not destroy the world because of the evil of man anymore after what happened during the flood. We remember that very well. God will not destroy the world because of evil, but He will come to judge the world because of their sin. And this is why we have Revelation 19. And for these people, for the Christians in their time, this was something that they need to listen. We must not forget that they were facing one of the worst tribulations in all the history of the church. They were being completely destroyed, their bodies, their minds. But they were also questioning why God was not saving them from those who were committing this evil. And God here, through the book of Revelation, is answering also this question. He's bringing to them that for a while they will need to endure persecution, but He will come to judge those who are involved in the suffering of the church. And then we come to Revelation 19. Revelation 19 starts with songs, with three specific songs that we will not listen if we are in this world. The great multitude, the 24 elders and the four living creatures, they cannot be reached by a physical body. They are in heaven in the presence of God. And there they will sing and they will glorify his name. But there they will sing about something that John is seeing here and he's showing to the church for the church of all the time. He is bringing the attention that by the same time that Jesus is the one who saved the world, He is also the one who will come to judge the world. He is both. He is the Savior and the Judge. When He acts like a Savior, we will see the people of God praising His name and rejoicing in the presence of this God. The songs here, they are songs of praise. All of them will show and speak about the greatness of God. But the first song, there is something, in the first song there is something very important. They are glorifying God because of his salvation, glory, and power. But they are also singing about the judgment of the great prostitute. And we need to go back to chapters 17 and 18 to understand that better. We don't have time to cover these chapters, but you can read it later. But the idea here is They are praising God because God was already doing His judgment. His judgment didn't start when He comes to this world in the white horse to fight the final battle. We will see soon that it was not a battle, actually. It will not be a battle, but you will understand that later. But the idea is God started to judge by destroying the great prostitute and the great city which is named Babylon here in chapter 18. They, the prostitute and Babylon, they were spreading their evil around the world. And they were trying to convince Christians that their God doesn't exist. but also they were persecuting the church, they were destroying the church, they were committing violence against the church. And now, in chapter 17 and 19, the same Christ, he brought judgment to the city and judgment to the great prostitute, and Jesus destroyed the city completely. The words that the scripture brings, it's words that show that there is no hope for this city. If we go to chapter 18, verse 22, it's very close from our test. And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpets, will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of a bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more." The idea is God destroyed completely the great city and here in verse 2 of chapter 19 we see the reason for this. and they sing, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." God was providing the first answer that the people of God need through all the ages. God will bring justice for those who persecuted the church. He's not closing His eyes to them. He's not closing His eyes to their evil. He's not just allowing them to do whatever they want while He's seated in His throne. He's not ignoring the church. He's just saving His wrath for the right time. God is a very patient God. And He does everything in the right moment, in the perfect moment. We can see that when He sends Jesus Christ our Lord in the perfect time. He came in the exact moment where Christianity could be spread everywhere, because of the Roman Empire, and also in the perfect moment to make all the Scripture be sent to everyone in many parts. We have today a Bible and this is a very faithful Bible because of the time when they wrote these letters. They made so many copies, and of course Satan tried to destroy these copies, but still we have the Word of God until today. It's the Word of God, the perfect Word of God, because God chose the perfect time to send His Son to bring His apostles to send his word to the Christianity and God makes everything in the perfect time. So, the judgment is also in the perfect time. We are still seeing wars, we are still seeing evil, we are still seeing Christians being killed, murdered around the world. The judgment will come in the future. But they continue to cry, to cry out, singing, hallelujah. And they pray, not only the great multitude, but also those who are around the presence, the throne of Jesus Christ on heaven. And they pray, calling Everyone, all the saints, all the servants of the Lord who fear Him to praise His name because He's coming to judge. And this is something that is not very well accepted nowadays. A lot of people think that as Christians we should rejoice when we see God saving the world, but we should not rejoice when we see God judging the world. A lot of people believe that when we see God judging, this is something bad and that makes God also a bad God. If we believe for a moment that the final judgment is something bad, we will not understand the reason and the motive that will bring Jesus Christ to judge this world. Our God is not a bad God. He's not evil. There is no evil on Him. And everything He makes, it's because of His grace, His mercy, His sanctity, and His holiness. His perfection cannot allow to Him to avoid His judgment. And when we deal with perfection, that's our problem. We cannot understand the judgment of God as something that will bring perfection. One day, Jesus Christ is showing on these verses, and the creatures, they are calling us to praise because of this. Through His judgment, we will see the glory of God. Because one day, He will make the evil come to justice. And all those who murder, who persecute the church, who destroy so many families, who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and those who fight against Jesus Christ during all their lives, they will meet Jesus Christ. not as we are meeting Him today as a gracious God who's calling us to repentance, but they will meet Jesus Christ, the one who comes to judge. And through His judgment, He will bring perfection to His work. Praise our God, all His servants. Small and great, praise God, because He is coming to judge. Then we have two suppers at this chapter two. The first one is the Supper of the Lamb. The First Supper is the one who we will find grace, mercy, and the love of God. A great multitude. Once again, he uses the idea of the roar of many waters, like expressing something so loud that only a roar of many waters could express. The idea is thousands, millions, maybe billions of people crying out a song to their God. And in this song, they are glorifying their God because they are coming to the marriage of the Lamb. They are not coming as not prepared people anymore. They're not coming like you can imagine that you are right now not ready to be in the presence of this holy God. But they are coming as a bride who had made herself ready. Here, of course, we are bringing together all the idea of grace, because he is gracious and he is forgiving all our sins. We don't have anything to offer to Christ. But by the same time, we are making ourselves ready when we change our hearts, when we change our minds, after God's call, after Jesus' call, and we become ready to offer Him a good sacrifice. This is what Paul speaks about in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10. There you remember probably he said, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, nor is it result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." So we were called by grace, we cannot be saved by our own works, but by the same time He is preparing good works for us, so we will work for Him, serve Him, And through these works, we will make ourselves ready. Ready for the day when the bride will find Jesus Christ, the Lamb. And there, we will be clothed with fine line, bright and pure. Here, there is no sin, there is no condemnation, there is nothing then anyone can speak against the church of Jesus Christ. We became ready. We will become ready. And the angel, this angel will explain better for John what is the meaning of this, what is the purpose of this, and he will speak about the marriage supper of the Lamb. One day, we will be there, not only as individuals, but we will be there as the whole people of Jesus Christ. We saw today the youth here singing for us. It was beautiful. But can you imagine all the Christians in all the eras, all of them together before Jesus Christ, singing these songs, praising His name, exalting Him, the completeness of believers, all of them together, John, Paul, Abraham, Isaac, you, me, we will be there. And we will sing together. And this voice, these voices together will be glorifying the name of our Lord. Because finally we found the marriage of the bride. We found our Savior and no one else can take us from His hand. There is no fear anymore. There is no Satan or no forces in this world who can take us from His hands anymore. There is nothing who can take eternity from us, because finally we will belong to Him. And this is the picture of grace. God being a gracious God, saving people who didn't deserve to be there. It's not by their work, but it's by the works of the Lamb. When we see this, we must praise His name. This is the only answer. Rejoice in His presence because after our journey in this world, we will be there with Christ forever. And there will be only joy and grace and mercy and nothing else can take us from His hand. So God, it's a wonderful and a grateful God. It's a gracious God. He's excellent in everything He does. But by the same time, in the same day, there will be another supper. Another supper that will bring justice to this world. And then we will see another image of Jesus Christ. If you were here in the morning, you can compare some of the phrases that we find here. The names, the appearance of Jesus Christ, some of them are the same, some of them are different. But the idea now, it's not of the ruler of this world anymore. Although we have in verse 16, for example, his name written and his name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But here, we are not seeing him seated on his throne, ruling the world. We are seeing him prepare to battle. He's coming not as a lamb, but He's coming in a white horse. He's coming with all His power to bring war, to make war. This is the expression that verse 11 will say. Righteousness He judges and makes war. He's coming as the faithful and the true. His eyes, they again are a flame of fire, so he can penetrate everything. His head comes with diadems again. His name is written, but here we cannot know his name. Actually, no one knows but himself. This is very important because forever we will continue to learn from our God. We will never be able to comprehend God completely. So eternity will be we continually learning more and more from God, but never we will be able to say, okay, now we know everything. because he's giant and any creature can understand completely the greatness of God. His coat, it's not white anymore. Verse 14 says, 13 says that his robe now, his robe is deepened in blood. And he continues coming as the Word of God. He's coming as the Word, the same Word that John uses in the beginning of the Gospel, speaking about the creation. The God who creates, now is the God who judges. The God who made everything, now is the God who is coming to show to his creatures that they reject their creation. And because of this, we will see him with the same sharp sword coming from his mouth, but not to bring the truth to the world, but to fight, to make war against those who reject him. We have many other things, but the full idea here It's that God now is coming to make war. Make war against who? Well, the prostitutes, Babylon, they were already destroyed. But other enemies, they were organizing themselves somehow, believing that they would be able to attack the God of the universe. We have the beast and the Antichrist. They are here trying to organize a battle. They were with their armies gathered to make war against him. And this is something that sometimes many believers don't understand. If you are not with God, if you are not part of the people of God, you are necessarily acting against this God and fighting against this God. The Bible doesn't say that there are good people if they don't have Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. You can say that you know people good, like I already heard that many times, I know someone, he's so good, he seems like a Christian, but he's not. Well, in their hearts, in their minds, they are making war against God. They are rejecting our God. They are rejecting the Messiah. They are rejecting the salvation. And they are acting against God in every movement they make. And here, God is showing clearly what those kings, what those when they were doing, they were gathering to make war. The war today is gathering to make war against God. They are attacking the Scripture. They are attacking our Lord. They want to convince Christians that our Lord is dead, for example. They are using all their resources to prove about a Jesus who died 2,000 years ago and is still dead. And many believers, believing in science instead of believing in the Scripture, in the Word of God, They are being convinced for these lies. Lies, they are spreading everywhere. But the truth is, they are making war against God. Well, God is bringing His army. But it's funny, because His army, it's an army of one man. I know we saw Jesus coming and with Him all together, all the creatures that were behind Him, probably angels, the Christians who were already in His presence, they were coming with Him. But the difference is, Jesus has His robe dipped in blood, and all the other ones, they are with their clothes clean, their horses are clean, everything is clean. They are not there to fight. There is only One who will fight. And we see this at the end of this chapter. The beast was captured. The false prophet was captured. They were sent to the lake of fire to burn in sulfur. And all the others, they were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. Jesus is the one who judges. He is the one who has the power to judge, because he is the one that everyone, besides Christianity, are rejecting and making war. We are not allowed to make war against the world, but he is. And this is the greatness of this chapter. This is the greatness of what is happening here because finally Christianity can see that God is not closing his eyes to all the evil of this world. Almost every week I receive notice of a family or a pastor or a missionary who had his head taken off, cut off, or they were just killed by many shots, or they were tortured to death because of the name of Jesus Christ. This is happening until today, weekly, daily, in many places in the world. God will not allow to see his church being destroyed and not bring the punishment for the crimes of his enemies. The hell is not something evil, But how is it necessary to bring balance to this situation? God needs to bring justice to this world. He needs to bring His power and everything that Christianity is bringing to His presence Because he is a holy God and his law is a law not only for Christians but for all the believers that exist in this world. What to do then with truths like this? What should we do when we understand that God is coming for two suppers, one for the believers and one for those who reject Him and are making war against Him? Well, the first thing is to rejoice as we said already. Rejoice because we are being called to the supper of the Lamb. We already found His mercy. We already know about our sins. We already know that we desperately need him to find salvation. We already know that nothing in this world can bring joy and salvation to ourselves besides Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He's the only way, and that's why we should respond to Him with praise, because even being like we are, He's saving us. He's being merciful to us. kind to bring us to His presence and He's offering for us something that any of us deserve. We don't deserve salvation. We don't deserve His love. But we will still receive it because of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. But we also have something urgent to do. We also have something very important to do before the time of our Lord to come again. When we realize what is happening here, we also realize that there is no other chance for those who are rejecting our Lord right now. There will be no other chance. They need to learn and they need to listen about the gospel and they need to believe in Jesus Christ before the day of the Lord. Because once the day of the Lord comes, there will be no one to preach, there will be no one to teach, The gospel will not be spread anymore. There will be only justice and a rightly justice because God is coming to judge the nations. We must then look around us and remember about all of those who are rejecting Jesus Christ and we know them. Those who are working with us. Those who are our neighbors. Those who are our friends from school. Those who belong to our family. And they are saying explicitly that they reject Jesus. They don't know about Him. They don't accept Him. And they don't believe in Him. We cannot just be okay with that. Because we know what is coming to them. We know what is coming to them. There will be no chance anymore for them. The chance they have is right now to listen the gospel of Jesus Christ from me and you. To learn about this great Savior who can change their lives completely. to learn about the supper of the Lamb. The day where people who doesn't deserve to have supper with Him will be in His presence and they will find mercy and grace. And maybe, maybe they will change their way. Maybe they will believe as we believe. And maybe they will join us in this chorus to praise the Lord Almighty forever and ever. We cannot avoid the idea that there is only two ways. Or we are with Christ. Or we are against Him. We are by His side. We are called to serve Him and may we will see salvation coming for those who are around us. The only way to avoid that those that we love will meet Him in the last day of judgment is to teach them about Jesus, the Savior of the universe. So, Church of Jesus Christ, We praise the name of the Lord, but we also need to serve this Lord to find the elect, to bring salvation, and to see his mercy coming again to this world. It's urgent because his day is coming. We don't have two more lives or one more life to do our work. We only have what He has been giving for us and this is now and today. Let's pray. Close your eyes. Our Heavenly Father, what a strange text we can see from the scripture. What a powerful text when we see salvation and judgment walking together. We want to praise you, Lord, because we already found your salvation. We want to glorify your name, God. because you take us from our sins. We were slaves of this world, slaves of Satan, slaves of our desires and our minds and our hearts. But you gave us freedom from everything that was slavery in us. And now we can come to your presence as a holy people, as a completely different people, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and saved by the work of Jesus Christ. We want to praise your name because we know about your salvation. And that only can make us rejoice and glorify your name forever and ever. But we also pray, God, for those around us that we love and are still rejecting your name. We pray God that may your Holy Spirit with the preaching of the gospel can break their hearts and their minds and make them believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Make them abandon their lives and their desires and their sins Help them to find the light of Jesus Christ and use this congregation to do that. Use us, God, to guide those around us to find your salvation. And then we will praise with them because once again miracles will happen in this world and we will see sinners coming to you asking for forgiveness and finding mercy and grace. Give us boldness, God, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and help us to be good servants of the Lord while we are still in this world. We pray in Jesus' name.