Amen. We have been seeing that the book of Revelation is not a book to discourage us and trouble us, but to cause us to have great hope and great reason for rejoicing. And if you want to follow along the reading from the Greek majority text, page 22 is the translation. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves, things that must occur shortly, and he signified it, sending it by his angel to his slave John, who gave witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, the things that he saw, both things that are and those that must happen after these. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, because the time is near. Amen. Father, we thank you for this, your Word, and we pray that as we look into it, that our hearts would indeed rejoice, be encouraged, that you reign over all, and that you are invincibly advancing the kingdom of your dear Son. It is for his kingdom, for your glory, that our passions arise and that we desire to be used, help us to be faithful bond slaves to you all of the days that we live upon this earth. Do bless the exposition of your word and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Let me try to, as concisely as possible, give a review of the eleven principles, the eleven presuppositions that we have looked at so far, and I'll try to summarize each one in one word. First, I've summarized the words the revelation or the unveiling with the word clarity. Second, the phrase of Jesus Christ shows where our focus should be, so focus is the summary of that point. Third, the phrase which God gave shows inspiration. Fourth, the word show poses Gnostic views of this book, so I've put down anti-Gnostic presupposition. Five, the phrase, show his slaves, shows accessibility to all Christians. This is not just for academics or experts, this is for all of his slaves, accessibility. Six, the clause, things which must shortly take place, shows that this book is dealing with history, not just with ideas, but history, and the word must shows it's providential history. God is the one who is in control. Eight, the word shortly shows that the bulk of this book was fulfilled or at least was beginning to be fulfilled very, very quickly in the first century. And so the word imminent is the word I summarize that point with. Nine, the word signified shows that it is a book filled with symbols. It is symbolic literature. 10, and he sent and signified it by his angel, introduces the whole realm of angelic beings. And we saw that this is a supernatural book. It opens up more than just the visible, the things that go on behind the scenes. 11, the clause, to his servant John, who bore witness, shows the human side to inspiration and shows the importance of understanding authorial intent or original intent. And what I've been doing as we've been going through each of these presuppositions, these rules of interpretation, so to speak, is I've tried to look at the book as a whole through the lens of each one of those points. And that brings us up to the word witness, which reveals a very important principle of interpreting this book, that revelation is a covenant lawsuit. And actually, the remainder of verses 2 through 3 have a bunch of intertwining, interrelated principles. We obviously can't look at all of them today, but they do assume each other. For example, principle 19 is that this book is called a prophecy. There's a lot of implications of that, but one of the implications is that, like the Old Testament prophecies, this is a covenant lawsuit. So it reinforces what we're going to be looking at today, principle 12. And prophecies refer to past revelation, principle number 13. They vindicate believers, principle 16. They deal with Essex, principle 18. And so even though we're not dealing with the word prophecy, we'll be anticipating a little bit that's involved in that word. So let's begin. Principle 12 states that we must see this book as a covenant lawsuit. It is an absolutely critical key to properly interpreting this book, and yet a lot of commentaries completely slip over this, despite the fact that the whole book is just packed with legal language. Futurist books especially you'll find will tend to overlook this. But even though we're going to see many, many evidences of this later on in the book, it is clearly seen in this word witness. Who gave witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ? Kendall Easley's commentary says of the word witness, John uses the language of a legal witness called to appear in a courtroom. His role is simply one who reliably testifies to everything he saw. And as this book begins to unfold, we see a courtroom drama unfolding as Christians are basically petitioning the throne room of God and asking God to judge in their favor against the persecutors of the church. And back in 2003, I gave two sermons on the whole concept of bringing people to the courtroom of heaven and bringing Satan to the courtroom of heaven. Here's the problem. Even though this book is just filled with this legal language of going to the courtroom of heaven, almost nobody does so today. Very, very few are doing this. This is more than simply a prayer. Prayer is very important in the book of Revelation. But this involves petitioning the court of heaven to open its doors to hear a craze. It involves having a formal meeting where we present evidence, we call witnesses, we lay out our case from God's law following all of the biblical principles of jurisprudence. We appeal to what kind of restitution from the law that the just judge says he's always going to give justice on. And we ask for that. We ask God then to the judge of all the earth to render judgment on our behalf. Major parts of this book stand as an instruction manual on how to begin and how to prosecute a court case in heaven where you're gonna get a successful verdict rendered on your behalf. And if persecution heats up in America, it's going to be very important that churches become united on this. So just that viewpoint alone makes this an incredibly valuable book. In chapter 4, John is called up to the heavenly court before God's throne. He's basically being subpoenaed. He's being summoned into the court. Elders of the church are already sitting on their thrones, and so this is not simply God judging. He invites the church to be involved in this judgment as well, and those guys are already dead. They're the church of heaven. And anticipating next week's principle that revelation is structured by the Old Testament, almost everyone agrees that chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation are based on the courtroom scene of Daniel chapter 7, where thrones are put into place, the court is seated, the books are open, judgment is given in favor of the saints, and Christ makes major forward progress in extending His kingdom. Now, futurists agree with this. I think almost everybody agrees with this. They put all of this off in the future. And I want you to turn with me to Daniel chapter 7. I want to read some scriptures in there. We obviously don't have time to go through the whole chapter, but I want to give you some examples that show this is in the first century. This is during the time of Daniel's fourth beast, Rome, exactly the same beast that Revelation will deal with in Revelation chapters 13 and 17. So Daniel 7, take a look at verse 13. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Notice that this is not the second coming when Jesus comes from heaven to the earth No, this is the ascension of Christ. Instead it says, he came to the ancient of days, they brought him near before him. So this is when he went in the last chapter of the Gospels and ascended on the clouds of heaven up into the sky to sit at the right hand of the Father. Look at verse 14, Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. So Christ is given the kingdom at his ascension, but like Joshua of old, who was given Canaan 40 years before he actually entered into it, Jesus has to deal with a generation that will actually apostatize according to Matthew 24 and a number of other scriptures prior to 70 AD. And he receives enormous opposition from the beast Rome. In fact, Daniel 7 verse 21 says initially the beast is going to win this battle for a period of time. I was watching, and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom." I want you to notice the timetable here. This occurs after Christ has inherited the kingdom, yet there is such persecution that the beast prevails against the saints. Prevails just means he's winning. That it's not in every period of history that the church wins. There was a wilderness generation that did not win every battle. Jesus picks up on this in Matthew 24 and he predicted a great persecution that would almost destroy the church prior to 70 AD. And this prevailing of the beast is describing the Great Tribulation against the church. That's different than the Great Wrath against Israel, a slightly different time period, right around the same time period, but slightly different. The Great Wrath was seven years against Israel from 6,000 BC. 6 through 73 AD, seven year period, and the Great Tribulation really went from, technically it started in 62, though it really starts heating up in 64, but 62 through 68, okay? So Jesus speaks of a Great Tribulation against the church that will almost exterminate the church. It begins in 62, really heats up in 64. By the time you get to 66 AD, it looked to those first century believers like the church of Jesus Christ would completely be exterminated. This is what prompted Jesus to say in Luke 18, when he's actually commenting on this Daniel 7 passage, and promising that the judge of heaven will judge the persecutors of their generation if they petition him to do so. He said, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? He's not talking about the second coming. He's talking about the soon coming and judgment upon Israel and Rome. So he promised that God will judge speedily if the church takes seriously Daniel 7's prerequisite of engaging in a covenant lawsuit. Will there be people with faith alive to do that? That's what Jesus is asking. Well, take a look at Daniel 7, 25. Describes three and a half years of persecution that Nero brought. That's from 64 through 68 AD. and Nero died in 68. And in connection with that persecution, verses 26 through 27 speaks of God's covenant lawsuit. But the court shall be seated, they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. So Christ is given the kingdom 40 years before, just as Joshua was given Canaan 40 years before he entered. By the way, I should just point out that the book of Hebrews uses Joshua as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the name Joshua and Jesus are actually exactly the same name. In fact, in the King James you'll see Joshua being called Jesus, Yeshua. It's the same name there. The church did have victories, just as Joshua had victories during the 40 years in the wilderness, but it was not until 70 AD, 40 years later, that the saints begin to possess their possessions. So Rome is given to the saints, it's destined to become a Christian nation, but Christians must possess their possessions, and the very beginning part of possessing their possessions is to take Rome to the courtroom of heaven. Now, earlier in Daniel 7, The actual vision of the courtroom scene that Revelation picks up on is given in these words, and I'm reading from Daniel 7 verses 9 through 10. I watched till thrones, I want you to notice the plural there, thrones, were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." Now I want you to notice how all God's people are involved in this covenant lawsuit, not just judges, but angels and the saints come in judgment against the beast. They come into agreement with God's covenant lawsuit. Well, the next verses give the result, verses 11 and 12. I watched then, because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking, I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." In other words, even though Rome was judged, and even though the demonic beast, which Revelation says come up out of the bottomless pit, well, what comes out of the bottomless pit? It's a demon, right? Even though that demon that was going to be the beast possessed Nero, and then later possessed Vespasian and Titus, even though he is cast back into the bottomless pit in 70 AD, and even though Rome itself dies, and we'll look at that a little bit later in the sermon, there is going to be a succession of other beast-like kingdoms It talks about the rest of the beast, beast-like kingdoms that will have to be taken care of similarly before the courtroom of heaven. So that's the background to Revelation's courtroom language. And with that as a background, let's take a look at Revelation. All through the book of Revelation, we have various participants in this courtroom. Now, obviously, John is a witness. But there are two other prophetic witnesses in chapter 11. And when I get to that chapter, we're going to be dealing with them being the last of the prophets, closing off of Inspired Revelation. But they had more than just a role of bringing inspired revelation. They were also witnesses bringing a covenant lawsuit with their focus being Israel. But it's not just prophets. The saints themselves present their court testimony before God's throne in chapter 6, verse 9, chapter 12, verses 11 and 17, etc. The book of Revelation also presents judges, plaintiffs, defendants, prosecutors, angels who meet out the penalties of the court. I mean it really is a fantastic book when you begin to examine it from the perspective of legal language with Daniel chapter 7 as being the background. And I would encourage you to read it through at least one time with that in mind. The first century reader who was reading this book would have immediately been clued into the fact with that word martyreo, that witness, hey there's probably going to be, if there's a witness here, there's probably going to be a court case somewhere in this book. But as we start reading through the book, we realize, wow, he's giving us a philosophy all through this age of bringing tyrants before the throne of heaven. And so this is a book that teaches us what we need to do during our own times of persecution and difficulty. Let me just back up a little bit here. I didn't define terms. Let me define the Greek word for witness. We tend to use the word witness for evangelism. That word has really nothing to do with evangelism. It is martureo and all of the related nouns and verbs deal with courtroom drama. Marturia is court testimony. Martureo means testify. Martureon is the evidence presented to the court. Dium marturumai is the solemn charge or abjuration given to a witness. Cata martureo is testimony or charges brought against someone. Su martureo is the opposite. It's the supporting testimony for a defendant. Pseudo-martyreo is to bear false witness in court. Pseudo-martyria and Pseudo-martus refer to false witnesses. So you can, just from the sounds, even if you don't know Greek, you could hear that word martyreo at the heart of all of those words that I have just read. Now let me read you on all of these interrelated groupings of words what the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology says about them. The original setting of the word group in the Greek world is clearly the legal sphere. Witnesses appear to give evidence in a trial in respect of events now lying in the past or are called in as so-called formal witnesses in order to provide substantiation in the future for legal transactions. It's clearly a courtroom word. And people might say, well, yeah, words change over time, and that's true. The essay in the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology shows that really the meaning of these terms have stayed fairly constant other than the Stoics. It points out that the Old Testament Greek Septuagint translation used these terms in exactly the same way that the classical Greeks did. They show the same meaning in the New Testament, especially in the writings of the Apostle John. And I want to quote from that same dictionary on their analysis of the Gospel of John. Dictionary says, the fourth gospel provides the setting for the most sustained controversy in the New Testament. Here, Jesus has a lawsuit with the world. His witnesses include John the Baptist, the scriptures, the words and works of Christ, and later, the witness of the apostles and the Holy Spirit. They are opposed by the world, represented by the unbelieving Jews. John has a case to present, and for this reason he advances arguments, asks juridical questions, and presents witnesses after the fashion of the Old Testament legal assembly. And I won't have the time to get into why this is so significant in terms of the structuring of the book. There's a huge significance to why I take Revelation chapter 6 as occurring because of the Gospel of John's covenant lawsuit, not because of Revelation as a lawsuit. This was the preliminary stuff, and they didn't repent of that covenant lawsuit. They didn't repent of the judgments that were happening all the way from 30 AD up through 60, yeah, 66 AD. They were not repenting, so God brings more. But the Gospel of John stands as a covenant lawsuit against Israel. But it's in Revelation especially that we see the court of God at work. Christ is the plaintiff bringing the charges, and there are at least three entities that are being tried before God's court. It's not just Israel. A lot of full preterist commentaries say that everything in the book is only dealing with Israel. That is not the case. Let me list some of the defendants for you. In chapters 2 through 3, we see the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia vindicated in court. But we see five churches that are actually declared guilty and they have to pay restitution. For example, if you look at chapter 2, verse 5, Ephesus was told that they need to repent and give restitution. Repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. So these seven churches are actually seven covenant lawsuits against churches, all of which are partially vindicated, but two of which are fully vindicated as law keepers. But the covenant lawsuit's not simply against churches, it's also against individuals and groups of individuals. For example, God brings charges against the Nicolaitans in chapter 2, verse 15. and against the moderator, the presbytery moderator's wife, Jezebel, in verses 20 through 23. By the way, in the majority Greek text, that's the ecclesiastical portion, there's a division in the majority text, but it's very, very clear Jezebel is the moderator's wife. I mean, it's really astonishing that they would let him get away with this, but that was the case. He also praises the church of Ephesus in chapter 2 verse 2 for bringing their own covenant lawsuit. He's talking about church discipline there against false apostles. So hopefully that gives you just a little bit of a feel or a picture of all that is involved in covenant lawsuits. So we see that God's courtroom decides judgments against individuals, groups of individuals, and entire churches of a region. But here is where it gets really cool in terms of settling the debate on theonomy. He also brings charges against nations. In chapters 4 through 19, we have God's covenant lawsuits against Israel and against Rome. And we're going to start with Israel. Because Israel refuses to repent over and over again, the judgments just keep racking up until finally she is given the death sentence as a repeat offender and is destroyed in 70 AD. Now, everybody agrees that in the Old Testament, the covenant lawsuits of the prophets were holding Israel's feet to the fire because of their violations of God's law. Well, if Revelation is a covenant lawsuit against Israel, then that means God still is holding them accountable to God's law. Now, we're going to look at the structure later in the year, but Revelation 6 through 11, and 16 through 19 follow the pattern given in Leviticus 26 that when Israel lacks repentance, God will prosecute again and afflict Israel sevenfold more. And if they still don't repent, He'll prosecute again, He'll afflict them sevenfold more. He does that four times, and we have four sevenfold judgments in the book of Revelation against Israel, each one getting worse. And after each one, He gives opportunities for repentance, When there is no repentance, he inflicts more judgments. So contrary to the recapitulationist theory, remember there's all these different, there's the idealist, the historicist, the preterist, the recapitulationist. Contrary to the recapitulationist theory on Revelation, which sees seven pictures of exactly the same thing. You know, he goes forward and then he goes back in time to 30 AD and he goes to the end of time. Seven times that he does this, I believe that this book demonstrates forward progress that is linear. And it's taken me quite a while to come to that conclusion and looking at the historical and other things that are involved in it, but recapitulationists claim that the seals, trumpets, and bowls are all exactly the same period dealing with the same period of history, because they deal with the same subjects. You know, the sun, and the sky, and the earth, and the, you know, the waters turning to blood, and all of that kind of stuff. But even though they deal with the same subjects, it's not dealing with the same time period. And there's a lot of evidence of this. Let me just give you one that's quite obvious. In the seven seals of chapter six, you have one quarter of all of those things I've just mentioned destroyed, one quarter. Then in the seven trumpets, you have one third of those things destroyed. That's more. That's an increase in intensity. In the seven bowls, you have an even worse judgment. And in the seven condemnations of chapters 16 through 17, you have 100% total destruction. Okay, that follows the pattern that's given in the covenant lawsuits in Leviticus 26. This increase in intensity is one of the reasons that's caused me to ditch the recapitulation. I used to be a recapitulationist preterist, mixing the two. And it's also made me ditch Ken Gentry's cyclical, not cyclical, what does he call it? He's got kind of a spiral, yeah, a spiral effect. And I think there really is a truly linear progress in history. But the description of the courtroom that is issuing these judgments is stunning. John is called up to bear witness in the courtroom in chapter 4, and as he describes this courtroom, You realize this is not a court that you want to mess around with. The Father is presented as the Ancient of Days who is awesome and majesty. And the Holy Spirit is presented as the person who can see into every human heart and from whose gaze no one can escape. And the bailiffs and the guards, they look scarier than anything you find in science fiction, you know. And you see these millions of warrior angels, they're just itching to bring out the judgments once the court gives them permission to do so. Okay, you do not want to be declared guilty before that court. And that's where chapter 5 comes in. The Lamb of God who has taken our place and in whom we are secure. He enters the courtroom on behalf of His elect. And I won't get into the whole exposition of that courtroom, but it is incredibly awesome. Your only safety before that court is repentance and pleading the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is a message that is so needed, a message of judgments in history. It's so needed in the modern church. Now, in your outline, I mentioned that the focus of the court in chapters 6 through 11 is Israel, though Rome is mentioned as well. And the focus of the court in chapters 13 through 19 is Rome, though Israel's destruction is still in view. So I don't really sharply divide between those sections like Some preterists do. There are concurrent judgments going on. So that's my overview of the covenant lawsuits issued in this book. And this word, martyreo, instantly clues us in that we need to read this book in terms of courtroom drama. But I want to end by giving you seven practical implications of this principle. First, nations are subject to the court's jurisdiction even during the New Covenant age. It's sad that this is an implication that even has to be said. It seems like it's so obvious. But the vast majority of Christians in America today act as if God does not bring judgments in history and as if He's not going to judge America. Well, that is a ludicrous idea. Many modern commentaries assume that nothing like this actually can happen until the Second Coming. They assume that God waits for justice until the Second Coming happens. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Consider this. All covenant lawsuits imply that the people being arraigned are within the court's jurisdiction and are subject to that court's power. The court does not ignore what's going on for 2,000 years, as some commentaries imply. Well, in this book, it wasn't just individuals and churches that are arraigned before God's courtroom. Whatever your interpretation of chapters 6 through 19 might be, it is clear that at least two nations are being judged in history. So it's clear that nations are not exempt from God's historical judgments. Now that's a huge implication that is ignored by many today. And I believe the implication is we have got to bring God's law to bear in our culture if we're going to be faithful to the message of this book. Second, for this to even be a legitimate biblical covenant lawsuit, the people being judged had to already be in existence, had to have already committed the crimes that they are being tried for. Okay? You don't indict a theoretical entity that's not even going to come into existence for another 2,000 years. Now, you might prophesy, you might foretell something that's going to happen, but you don't indict them. That would be unprecedented in the Old Testament covenant lawsuits. John is a legal witness which requires being an eyewitness. He witnesses to the crimes of these nations and the two prophets who serve as witnesses in chapter 11. They're doing the same thing and they're doing it before the temple has even been destroyed. Covenant lawsuits are brought against entities already in existence in the first century while the temple is still standing. In other words, you can't be a futurist on chapters 6 through 19. You must be a preterist on at least the first 19 chapters, which contain the bulk of the covenant lawsuit language. And of course, that's totally consistent with principle number 8 that we looked at two weeks ago. Verse 1 says that the things John is going to be a court witness about, that's the word, the things he's going to be a court witness about, must shortly take place. Now, not everything in this book of Revelation is a covenant lawsuit. So not everything has to occur shortly. But the things he's going to witness about, yes, absolutely, they have to occur shortly. And verse 3 says, Was it really near? Yes, it was. We're going to be seeing, it was within weeks, at a maximum within months of this book being written. That is shortly on anybody's books. That is very near. We're going to be seeing that the precise retribution meted out by the court against the nations of Israel and Rome came to pass in perfect detail. God promised to kill the beast, Rome, then to revive it after a period of time. Well, exactly that happened. When Nero died on June 9 of 68 AD, the Empire died. and was divided up into three parts, and the Roman historians repeatedly speak of the death and the resurrection of the empire. They say they didn't expect Rome to come back. It was dead for one and a half years. It no longer existed as an empire. But Vespasian defeated the rival armies with the help of his son Titus, and he was declared emperor on December 21, 69 AD, one and a half years later. Now, here's the thing. What happened during that one and a half years was a severe, severe punishment of Rome with famine, pestilence, war, and multitudes dying throughout the empire. It really is astonishing when you start looking at the history. Likewise, Israel was judged in the seven-year war from 66 through 73 AD. Well, this rules out views of Revelation that say that Revelation is describing judgments at the end of history. The covenant lawsuit model throughout the Bible implies nations already in existence that have already committed crimes against God's law. Well, just knowing that, you know, that it's a covenant lawsuit, I think, helps us to solve or interpret controversial issues like that. But third, that doesn't make this book irrelevant for us. Many people say, well, what's the point? If it doesn't deal with our generation, then it's irrelevant. And I'm thinking, well, what about the people 1,000 years ago? Was it irrelevant for them? It really is a ludicrous claim that if it doesn't deal with things in our day, it's an irrelevant book. They're not even consistent with that when it comes to the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets, most of their prophecies were fulfilled in the Old Testament, and they don't treat those as being irrelevant. Obviously not. In fact, it's the detailed fulfillment of those prophecies that makes them so relevant. You see, when we understand God is always faithful to His Word in the past, It makes us confident He will be faithful to His Word today. When we realize that the saints had the privilege of bringing covenant lawsuits in the Old Covenant and in the New Testament, it makes us have confidence, hey, maybe we can bring these tyrants before the throne room of God as well. But certainly all of the other applications we are looking at indicate that this is a very, very relevant book. Fourth, as we're going to see next week, all covenant lawsuits are based upon God's law. Well, if the law of God is done away with, as many evangelicals believe, then covenant lawsuits do not make any sense. A lawsuit and law belong together. They go hand in hand. The only cases that the heavenly court will even consider are cases in which God's law has been violated. God's law is the basis for everything done in the court. Nothing else is admissible before the court. Let me quickly read you three examples of the connection of God's law with whom the court judges or vindicates. Revelation 12, verse 17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So there's courtroom testimony, martyrion, and keeping God's commandments that are linked. Revelation 14, 12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Now what's the context? Well, the immediate context is the judgment that God pours out upon His adversaries at the petition of the church. He is saying the incredible judgments of that chapter are a vindication of His saints who have been petitioning Him and who have been keeping the commandments of God and who have faith in Jesus. Let me read one more, Revelation 22. 14 through 15, blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. So it's not just grace that divides between who is in and who is outside. It's also the law of God that divides between who is inside and who is outside. Outside are those who break God's commandments. Inside are those who keep God's commandments. So it's crystal clear in the text that God's law continues to be relevant in the New Covenant. If this book is a book of covenant lawsuits, then by definition the law of God continues to be binding upon all individuals, all groups of individuals, all churches, and all nations. Well, that means the modern church is in deep, deep trouble because they despise the law of God. We are in terrible trouble. We should not be surprised at the church's lack of success when the church does not take God's law seriously. God will throw out any court case that the church wants to bring before His court. If they're complaining about, you know, the tyranny of the civil government, You know, with regard to whatever, issues that may be coming up. If they're not appealing to the law of God, it's going to be thrown out of the courtroom of heaven. God could care less about our comfort. The court just deals with law. That's all it deals with. Revelation's covenant lawsuits require a belief in theonomy. They don't make sense whatsoever if antinomianism is true. Fifth, if Israel was subject to a covenant lawsuit, even though it claimed to be a nation under God, which it did so claim, so too can America. If ancient Pharisees had our song, God Bless America, I bet you they would sing it, they would substitute you know, Israel for America. But God does not bless rebellion no matter how much profession of loyalty we might make. It's not profession of loyalty to God that counts, but loyalty itself. And our nation is anything but loyal. It has been casting off the bonds of Christ since long before I was born. And it seems like Christians just don't care. They don't seem to think God's law should be brought to bear in civics. So it's no wonder we're losing the battle. In 1973, the Supreme Court of America decided that God was wrong on abortion. This year, it seems like the Supreme Court is deciding whether homosexual marriage is whether they agree with God or not on that. Now, when that is even a question that can be brought up before the Supreme Court, it shows that we are in trouble. The book of Revelation shows beyond any shadow of a doubt that America is in serious trouble with God. And I think we need to prepare ourselves to live through God's judgments and ask for God's protection. By the way, if you want to know a little bit about God's protection, you can read that how God seals on the forehead those he's going to protect in chapter 7. They're his commandment keepers. But if we ignore the need for judgment, we fail to hide ourselves, make contingency plans, we're part of the problem. Do not assume that America is exempt from judgment. I think that was a bad assumption that Israel made. When Nero died in 68 AD, they said, see, God's for us. He's destroying Rome. And it made them fight all the harder to their own destruction. Being one nation under God is an empty slogan if we are not a covenant-keeping nation, and in God we trust is a blasphemous claim. We have become a pagan nation. We are ripe for God's judgment. But it's my belief that the church on earth needs to come into agreement with God. We need to declare Christ to be our king and his law to be our law. Sixth, even if pagan Rome was subject to covenant lawsuit, so too can any pagan nation today. We don't need some weird, strange theology that America is God's new Israel. I don't believe that for a moment. In one sense it really doesn't matter whether America was a Christian nation like Israel or whether it was a pagan nation like Rome, we're still subject to covenant lawsuits. One of the things that the book of Revelation makes clear is the idea of covenant lawsuits is an inescapable concept. Well, when you read history with that in mind, you begin to see God's covenant lawsuits have actually been working out quite effectively over the last 2,000 years. God has been judging nations in history. Now, pagans might think, hey, I didn't make a covenant with God. I'm not in covenant with God. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, they are in covenant nonetheless. All nations have Adam's broken covenant imputed to them unless they plead Christ as their new covenant head. All nations are subject to Noah's covenant, which by the way applies capital punishment to all murder in every nation. And Nebraska has recently voted to throw out the death penalty. Well, what they're doing is they're fighting, they're breaking covenant with God. That's serious stuff, Genesis 9. There is no nation exempt from a covenant lawsuit. And this is why Leviticus 18 could say that the Canaanites were vomited out of the land because of their violations of God's law, including the sexual perversions that are taking over our nation. Well, that implies that the Canaanites were just as much subject to God's law as Israel was. They were just as much subject to God's courtroom jurisdiction as Israel was. And by the way, it wasn't just the Canaanites. Deuteronomy 2 tells us that the people that the Canaanites had many generations before dispossessed They had dispossessed them because the previous nations had violated God's law. Okay? There isn't any nation that is exempted from God's law. And Lord willing, as we go through this book, I'll be making application to America and to other nations as appropriate. But I do want to end by looking at Christ's admonition in Luke 18. In fact, if you'd turn there with me, I want you to see this, because this is important background. He calls us to have the faith to begin this covenant lawsuit process. And this is something I would really like the elders and the deacons to begin discussing. But anyway, please turn with me. Luke 18, and actually I'm going to start reading at Luke 17. The context of the war of 70 A.D. in the previous verses. There are numerous hints in this chapter that Christ was explaining Daniel 7 here, and I won't have the time to demonstrate, but just the mention of the term Son of Man, which is unique to Daniel 7, in connection with the coming, is one indication. We're going to begin reading at 17 verse 30. even so it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." Now this is not the coming of Jesus from heaven to earth, this is simply the apocalypsis, is the Greek word there, revealing or unveiling of Christ and His armies in the sky, which all of the Romans and the Jewish people testified happened in 66 A.D. at the beginning of that war against Jerusalem. Okay? Every eye saw Christ coming with His angelic armies in the sky. He didn't come to the earth, but He was revealed in heaven. And I believe that was when the battle of Revelation 12 between Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels took place. 66 A.D. at the beginning of the war. And that's precisely when the historians date these appearances of the heavenly armies. Anyway, verse 31. In that day, he was on the housetop, and his goods are in the house. Let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who was in the field, let him not turn back." At the Second Coming, there won't be time to come back to your house and pack up your stuff and leave. It's going to be instantaneous. This is not the Second Coming. This is talking about Christ's coming and judgment upon Israel in 66 through 73 AD and using the Roman armies to destroy it. He goes on. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed. The one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding together. The one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field. The one will be taken and the other left. Now this has nothing whatsoever to do with the rapture. This has to do with who will be killed and who will survive the first battle of the Romans when they invaded the northern parts of the country. Every other one was killed as an example. And if the Christians had not immediately fled, they would not have survived. Verse 37. And they answered and said to him, where, Lord? So he said to them, wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. And the eagles were the symbols for Rome. The eagle symbol was carried on their standards, and the Roman eagles would be present wherever the body of Israel was. No part of the land would be unconsumed by Rome, including Jerusalem. But now Jesus tells them a parable to encourage them to not lose heart with what he has just been saying, but rather to prosecute their enemies before the courtroom of heaven. There is a connection between this parable and the previous chapter. So beginning in chapter 18, verse 1. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying, There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying, Get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? The only passage in the Old Testament that talks about the Son of Man coming in the clouds is Daniel 7, and it speaks of Him coming to the Ancient of Days, that's the Ascension, and then shortly thereafter coming in judgment upon Israel and Rome. Since Daniel 7 promised that the saints would be persecuted and defeated, It is not an idle question for Jesus to ask, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Now, we might respond and say, well, yeah, there has to be a vast number, millions of Christians, there has to be a vast number of Christians by that time. Revelation 7 says that there is an innumerable Company of saints you can't even number them. So what's he mean? Will there be faith on the earth? well, you read the second half of Revelation chapter 7 and you discover all of these saints are dead and they're in heaven. They've been persecuted. They've come through great tribulation Now they are martyrs and they've joined the millions of saints who had preceded him. Christ was not talking about whether the church would grow. It was going to grow like crazy in those 40 years. He was asking, will there be any survivors with faith to engage in covenant lawsuits? Jesus was much later in Matthew 24 going to give them the answer to that question. He said this in Matthew 24, 21 through 22. For then there will be great tribulations such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Now I used to think that was describing just the destruction of Jews in Jerusalem. And I've realized in reading the context, he's talking about the greatest persecution that the church of Jesus Christ has ever experienced. And when I've read the original sources, there were millions and millions of Christians that were died. It almost exterminated the church in that period, especially started in 62, but especially 64 through 68 AD. So Jesus says that there would be some who would survive because he cut it short. How did he cut it short? Well, with the death of Nero. That's how he cut it short. The answer given in Revelation 8 is, yes, there will be some people left to prosecute. And as the smoke of their corporate prayer ascends to the throne, God gives an answer, and there are lightnings, thunderings, and earthquakes, and regiment after regiment of angels begin to go forth to the sound of trumpets, and they begin to bring judgments on the land of Israel. And that also leads to Nero's death that I just mentioned. So even though the faith was almost extinguished, By Jewish and Roman persecution in 66 AD, God ensured that there would be faith to present a covenant lawsuit before the throne of God. And God answered speedily, destroying Israel, killing Nero, making the Roman Empire fall apart, and in the process, giving relief to the church to regroup and begin the greatest advance of missions ever. Within 300 years, Rome as an empire would become a Christian empire. But I think that last question of Jesus is an important one for us today. When persecution comes to America, will there be faith to engage in covenant lawsuits or will Christians continue to scoff at such a notion? I think it's a worthwhile question to ask. If we do not have the faith to take Satan and his human evil pawns In the courtroom of heaven, we should not expect the court to act on our behalf. Just as it would be foolish to expect a human court to take justice on our behalf if we're not willing to prosecute, if we're not willing to bring or arraign somebody before the court, we should not expect the heavenly court to act without doing the same. So John served as a witness. In this book he calls all Christians to serve as courtroom witnesses who come into agreement with his law. Are we willing to do that? The Church of America cannot continue to be a bunch of mild-mannered people teaching other mild-mannered people how to become more mild-mannered. We have got to become once again the church militant and pick up the cross of Christ and engage in culture wars and engage in spiritual battle. and not neglect covenant lawsuits. It is our protection. And I'm going to close by reading just two verses that serve as the very heart and center of the whole book of Revelation. Maybe next week I may give you the entire chart of the book. It's a very intricate chart, but the whole book of Revelation is a chiasm. Chapter 12 is a chiasm, and it serves as the introduction to the central part of that chiasm. And at the very heart of chapter 12 chiasm are these two verses I'm going to read to you. So this, what I'm reading to you now, is the heart of the heart of the whole book of Revelation. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb And by the word of their testimony, that's martyrios, and they did not love their lives to the death. What we have been talking about today is at the very heart and core of the book of Revelation. Brothers and sisters, let us overcome Satan by grace and by law, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, and let us not love our lives even to the death. Instead, let us love the Kingdom of God and let us love the King of that Kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Father, we thank you for the encouragement of this book that we do have the privilege of taking our persecutors and the persecutors of the church elsewhere to the courtroom of heaven. I pray that you would wake up the church of Jesus Christ to the incredible tools and resources that we have and that we would, in faith, begin to prosecute against some of the wicked men and enemies and the wicked demonic powers that are over this nation and over other nations. We love You. We love Your kingdom. It is our desire to see it being extended to the far reaches of this globe. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.