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Now, let's turn our attention back to the book of Revelation. Today, Pastor JD unpacks the implications of the great wedding feast as well as the 1,000-year earthly reign of Christ. We're nearing the end of this teaching series, so stick with us. Here's Pastor JD. Then I saw heaven opened.
And behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire. and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.
and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. and the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written.
King of kings and lord of lords. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. and threw him into the pit. and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on the foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Well, if you got your Bibles this morning, and I hope that you do, I want you to open them to the very end because that is basically where we are. If you get to a section that has a bunch of maps in it, you've gone too far. But otherwise, we are in the final pages of our Bibles, Revelation 19 and 20. These chapters are all about the return of Jesus to earth, the second coming of Christ. The Apostle John tells us four main things happen in the return of Christ: there's a gigantic wedding feast, there's a gruesome battle, there's an earthly kingdom, and there is a final judgment.
First, let's look at a gigantic wedding feast, a gigantic wedding feast. Look with me, if you will, at verses six and seven. Six, seven. I just made $10 because two 15-year-old boys bet I could not work that into a message. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, for the Lord God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself. Ready, it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, Write this. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of The lamb. The first of the four elements that John focuses on in these chapters about the return of Christ to earth. Is the reunion of Christ with his people? It is put in the terms of a Jewish wedding feast.
Weddings have always been a big part of my adult life. When Veronica and I were in our early, mid-20s, it seemed like every weekend we were getting invited to some college friend's wedding. It was kind of exhausting, to be honest. And then I became a pastor of a young and growing church, which I loved. But I got asked to perform probably two to three weddings a month.
And y'all, I used to work so hard on my marriage homily. And on the way home, I would always ask Veronica, you know, how she felt about what I said and if my words really connected with the people. And finally, one day she told me, you said, you were fine, but literally no one is paying attention to what you're saying one way or the other. At a wedding, everybody's so distracted by many other things, they're just hoping that you won't go on too long. For any of you younger pastors out there, wedding sermons are basically a pass-fail.
Less than 15 minutes, pass. All right. Over the years, over the years, I've learned a lot about different wedding traditions because couples sometimes want these traditions mixed into their ceremonies.
Some German weddings, for example, incorporate the tradition of Baumstom Sagen. And I'm sure I'm not pronouncing that right. But anybody ever seen this one? Means literally log sawing. At the end of the ceremony, the newly married couple saws through an actual log together.
Supposed to represent the first obstacle they faced together, emphasizing the need for communication and for teamwork. I am quite sure Veronica and I would not have made it through this phase, okay? Our marriage probably would have ended right there. In Southeast Asia, where I lived for a while, there's a growing fad to use fast food restaurants in your wedding. This is not a joke.
McDonald's franchises in Indonesia and Hong Kong, for example, now offer wedding packages. Wedding packages. And I quote, let me in fact read to you what is in one of these advertisements. It includes 50 invitations, rental of the restaurant dining area for two hours, a pair of McDonald's wedding rings made out of balloons, character gifts for 50 guests, a party MC, and best of all, a wedding cake display made entirely out of McDonald's apple pies. It has gotten so popular that other fast food restaurants have followed suit, including, and I kid you not, Taco Bell.
Could we all just stop for a moment and get our minds around a Taco Bell wedding? I know some of you dads in here might be like, you know, after getting the bill for my daughter's wedding, that actually doesn't sound that bad. Every guest gets five tacos for a dollar or whatever. As a dad with three daughters, I hear you. The imagery of chapter 19 in Revelation does not have a baumstom sagen or a Taco Bell buffet, but it is laced with Jewish wedding imagery.
Jewish weddings went in three phases that stretched out over several months, sometimes even years. Phase one was called the kid you seen, the kid you seen, and it's when the boy asked the girl to marry him. If she said yes, a marriage contract was signed by the two families. This is what today we would call the engagement. Except back then, if the girl said yes, The groom and his father had to pay the bride's father a bride price called a mohar.
And that bride price could be quite substantial. Again, as a dad with three daughters, that's a tradition I wish we had kept alive. They would celebrate the engagement then with a small party where they would drink a ceremonial cup of wine together. In Jewish tradition, this engagement commitment was legally binding. You were basically considered married from that point on, but you then entered into phase two.
which was the time of preparation and waiting. That began when the groom left to go home and prepare a new place for he and his bride to live together. It was usually a room that was built onto his father's house. In a day without cell phones and FaceTime, she, who had remained there in her home, the bride to be, did not know when he was gonna come back. And so she was supposed to just stay ready.
It was part of the process. When he showed up, it would be a surprise. He'd show up with a lot of fanfare. It was usually at night. There'd be a big entourage and trumpets and torches and a shout.
He'd stand out in the street and shout for her to come out and come home with him. They would then enter phase three, which was called the Nisuween. The Nisuween. And it's this big party that was waiting for the bride and groom back at their new home. This was not just a meal and some dancing and some awkward dancing with some old white people doing the electric slide.
This was a days-long festival with dancing and wine and gobs and gobs and gobs of Taco Bell tacos. When I lived in Indonesia, their wedding ceremonies were a little bit like this. Traveling over there was not quite as easy as it is here.
So if they made a long journey somewhere, they're staying for a while. I'd go to a wedding, and after an hour or so, when I just could not handle any more karaoke, I'd be like, Okay, I think I'm done. And they'd be like, Done. Everybody else is staying to next Thursday. But they had a great time at their weddings, maybe even better than we have at ours.
All right, Revelation 19. is the Jewish Nisawin. That's what you're seeing. You see, we entered as believers the kid yachin when we accepted Christ. 2,000 years ago, Jesus asked us to be his bride when he died on the cross.
And when we accept Christ personally for ourselves, that's like us accepting the engagement. The bride price was paid when Jesus went to a cross to purchase us back from slavery to sin and death. This contract is considered binding. Jesus promises never to leave or forsake us when we celebrate our engagement. Often with a ceremonial cup of wine.
That's what we're doing. Every time we take communion, we are celebrating our engagement to Jesus. We then enter phase two, which is the phase that we're in right now, the time of preparation, which is where Jesus is away preparing a place for us. Y'all, so much of New Testament teaching is built on this imagery. Like John 14, when Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you.
And when I'm finished, I will come again and take you to myself. When Jesus said that, he was conjuring up images of this marriage phase. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us Jesus will return for us in the clouds with the sound of the trumpet and a shout. When he says that, he is drawing on this imagery of the groom showing up unannounced with an entourage and trumpets and shouting. to pick up his bride.
Jesus' story in Matthew 25 about the bridesmaids, some of whom he said were ready when the groom returned, and others who weren't, is all built on this wedding tradition. Phase three, the Nisuen. The marriage feast is what we're seeing in Revelation 19. The feast of all feasts. which celebrates our forever life with Jesus.
Now, before we take a turn. and go into the other things that happen at the return of Christ. Can I just ask you a couple questions? First, is this how you see your relationship with Jesus? You see, I ask that because a lot of people think that becoming a Christian means starting to do religious stuff or reforming yourself morally.
And the Christian life contains those things, of course, but the essence of being a Christian from start to finish is falling in love with Jesus. God did not create us primarily as servants to get tasks done for him, or students to learn about him, or robots that he could program to obey him. He made us as people in his image to love him. And see, my fear is that some of you know very little about this part of Christianity. Your Christian life is little more than a series of boxes you check, doctrines you learn, and you check those boxes quite well, but it feels to you like drudgery.
Listen, the Christian life is hard. If you're doing it right, it involves a lot of self-denial and self-sacrifice. The only thing that makes it worth it. is being in love with Jesus. Love for Jesus is the one thing that will give you the power to do the hard things in the Christian life.
In 1 John, which is the letter that the Apostle John, who wrote Revelation, wrote to the church, he said that those who anxiously await Jesus' return keep themselves pure as he is pure because they can't wait to see him. When he says that, he is drawing on wedding imagery. If you've got a girl totally in love with the boy that she's engaged to. She is not susceptible to the advances of other boys. When Veronica and I were engaged, she was finishing up her time at the University of Virginia, and I was finishing up my seminary years in Wake Forest.
The University of Virginia has a bunch of good-looking, overachieving guys up there. But I was not worried about any of them. Because I knew that she was head over heels in love with me.
Okay? I mean, when you own a Lamborghini, you're not tempted by a bunch of Volvos, am I right?
Okay? Just kidding, just kidding, just kidding, just kidding. She at least convinced me that she was in love with me. And see, her love for me kept her immune to the advances of other guys. If you are in love with Jesus, you work hard to keep your heart pure as he is pure because you just can't wait to see him.
And you live ready for his return with your bags packed and ready to go. You never really get too attached to this world here because your real home is somewhere else with him, and you just can't wait for your divine groom to come and take you to your new home because your heart is already there. What an incredible time of joy awaits the followers of Jesus. By the way, interesting textual thing here you may not know. The word hallelujah.
Hallelujah only shows up four times in the New Testament. And all four of them are in this chapter. It is fitting that this ultimate expression of praise. has been on hold for all of the New Testament. Until the marriage of the Lamb, because this is the ultimate moment of the consummation of joy.
An unjoyful Christian is a terrible testimony to Jesus. Probably even worse, I think, than the hypocritical Christian. William Kernall, who was a Puritan, and Puritans are not typically known for their giddiness. Here's what he said Christian Do not give unbelievers a reason to imagine as they see you moping through life that they must forfeit happiness if they become Christians and spend the rest of their lives with a team of losers. Let your life show that you just can't wait to see Jesus.
Okay, that's the gigantic wedding feast.
Next, we have number two. A gruesome battle. A gruesome battle. Chapter 19 ends with a great battle called the Battle of Armageddon. Christ not only reunites himself with his people, he faces off with the armies of the Antichrist.
And utterly destroys them. We call it a battle, but it's not really much of a battle. Jesus simply speaks and they are destroyed. Just like Jesus spoke creation into being, so he speaks the final act of decreation into being as well. And John describes it like this: verse 17.
Then I saw an age. Standing in the sun. With a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead: come and gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of all men. both free and slave, both small and great. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse.
And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. I know that is a disturbing image. But Scripture puts it in there for a reason. The fate of those who oppose Jesus is a disturbing reality. And it stands in sharp contrast.
to the joy-filled feast that opened this chapter. You see, one of two fates awaits every person. unspeakable joy or indescribable misery. We meet Jesus either as a loving bridegroom. or as a mighty warrior.
Number three, an earthly kingdom is the third thing that we encounter. An earthly kingdom. Chapter 20 tells us about something they call the millennium. Millennium means 1,000, and it refers to a thousand-year earthly reign of Christ.
Now, throughout our Revelation series, I've told you that there are a couple of main ways to read the book of Revelation. There's actually a few different ones, but I've zeroed in on the two primary ones, premillennialism. And ah, millennialism. Revelation 20 is probably where these two ways of reading Revelation come into the sharpest relief. And their main disagreement is on how to understand this thousand years that is referred to here in chapter 20.
Premillennialists believe that the millennium is something coming in the future after Jesus returns. Thus, right now, because Jesus hasn't come back yet, we are in a pre-millennial era. By the way, premillennialist is hard to say. That is a six-syllable word, so I'm just going to shorten it to pre-mills from this point onward, okay? I was going to say premies, but that didn't sound right.
Okay? Amillennialists believe that a thousand years here are symbolic. 10 times 10 times 10. They say that's a symbolic number describing the age that we're living in right now. Everything between Jesus' ascension and his return is included in that thousand number.
So technically, they say there's no coming millennium. Thus, ah millennial, since ah in Greek means no. No millennium, no actual millennium is coming.
So I'm just gonna call them omills from this point forward. You dragging?
Now, as I've told you, both pre-meals and odd meals agree on the essentials. And people I genuinely respect are on both sides of this question. We all agree that in the end Christ will return, evil will be defeated, and God's people will reign forever with him. And we all agree that the Millennium Falcon is imaginary and bears no relevance to the events of chapter 20, in case that was a question for you. But let me briefly walk you through how each group reads this chapter.
And then I will briefly tell you why my perspective is correct. And then I will draw some conclusions that we can all agree on.
Okay, you in for this? Listen, I need to take you real deep to theological submarine hole crushed level. for about seven minutes. And then I will bring you back up for air, okay? Just hang with me.
For some of you, just when you think you cannot stand it any longer, I'll bring you back up for air. I promise, okay. Pre-mills. Read Revelation 19 and 20 in a straightforward chronological way. After Christ returns in Revelation 19 and defeats the Antichrist, he inaugurates the millennium.
He brings the great tribulation to an end and he establishes his reign on earth. Chapter 20, verse 2 says that Jesus starts this millennium by seizing the dragon and binding him for a thousand years and throwing him into a pit and shutting it up and sealing it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years are over. During this thousand-year millennium, the power of Satan is totally restrained on the earth.
Now, look at verse 4. I saw the souls of those who had not worshipped beasts of the image or had not received the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and they reigned with Christ for these thousand years. That means we. Along with other believers who died during the tribulation, we're gonna be bodily resurrected and we're going to reign with Jesus for this thousand years on earth.
John tells us in verse 5: this is the first resurrection, and it only involves believers. The rest of the dead. The unbelievers did not come to life until the thousand years were over. Verse 7: When the thousand years were over, Satan will be released from prison again. He will come out to deceive the nations, to gather them for battle.
After the thousand years is done, Satan comes out with a vengeance. to stir up one final rebellion on earth. You say, well. Who exactly is he stirring up a rebellion? Weren't all the unbelievers destroyed at the end of the Great Tribulation?
Wouldn't that mean that only believers entered into the millennium? Yes. But see, lots and lots and lots and lots of people will be born on the earth during those thousand years. and not all of them will come to know Jesus personally. And when Satan is released with full power on earth, he will deceive a lot of these people and convince them to rebel against Jesus again.
Verse 9 then tells us that Jesus puts this final rebellion down by sending out fire from heaven. Then, verse 11, John says, I saw a great white throne at the end of that, and him who sat on it. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne. Before the throne, this is the second resurrection. And it's when unbelievers are resurrected to face judgment.
Now, no good series on the book of Revelation by a premillennialist is complete without a graph.
Okay, so here is mine. Here we go. Pre-mills. This is where we are. This is Jesus died on the cross.
You are here if you find yourself on the map, okay, you're right here in this time, somewhere in here. After this comes the tribulation.
Somewhere in the middle of this is going to be the second coming. Right, then you got the millennium. That's gonna be a thousand-year reign, right? Then you've got the final judgment. That's how.
We read that. They see the millennium coming. We see the millennium something coming in the future. Our Mills read Revelation 20 a little differently. They see the millennium not as something coming in the future, a thousand-year earthly reign of Christ.
They see that as a metaphor for the age we're living in right now. For them, the thousand years in verse two refers to the entire time between Jesus' first and second coming. We're in the millennium right now, they think. And they believe, obviously, it's already a couple thousand years long. They say Satan is bound, verse 2, during this time in a limited sense.
He's not literally bad, but he's just not allowed to deceive the world like he used to. You say, well, wait a minute. Didn't verse 4 say that believers are going to be resurrected during this time to reign with Christ? And no believers have been bodily resurrected yet? John says, hey, I saw the souls of those who died worship of the beast that came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
This is the first resurrection. Like, I don't see any believers that have been raised from the dead. Omills believe this refers not to an actual bodily resurrection of believers. They believe it refers to a spiritual resurrection in which we're united to Christ now. We already reign with Christ spiritually, they say, from heaven.
Here's our graph again, okay? If you're an omnial, this is your graph. The advantage of being an omillinealist is you don't really need graphs, because everything's symbolic. Right, there's Jesus, he's coming back, and everything in here, it's all just the same stuff. It's just all different pictures of the same thing.
Think about how much of life revolves around relationships. Family, friendships, dating, marriage, even the way we handle conflict with people we care about. Relationships shape so much of our daily lives. But if we're honest, they're also one of the areas where people feel the most uncertainty. What does healthy dating even look like?
Is marriage the ultimate goal? How should Christians think about sex? And how do you handle disagreement without damaging the relationship? Those are the kinds of questions Pastor JD addresses in our new resource called From the Beginning, God's Design for Relationships. It's a collection of practical, gospel-centered articles covering topics like the myths of singleness, the purpose of friendship, preparing for marriage, redeeming dating, and even 10 ways to fight like a Christian.
Each chapter also includes reflection questions to help you apply these truths in your own life. We'd love to send you from the beginning as our thank you when you give to support Summit Life this month. Visit jdgreer.com to give and we'll email it to you immediately.
Now, let's get back to Pastor Chady. Yeah.
Now, real quick. Let me explain why I take the premillennial approach.
Okay, first.
So much of Revelation is written in sequential, futuristic language. Chapter 20 opens up by saying, then I saw. And then this happened, and then this happened. The whole thing reads like something that's gonna happen sequentially in the future. It doesn't read like a bunch of overlapping symbols that are all happening at once.
Furthermore, John told us at the beginning of Revelation that he was writing about things that must soon take place, meaning future things. He's not writing about symbols of what's already happening. Second, The New Testament doesn't seem to present Satan as bound and sealed and shut up in a pit right now. Right, I mean, remember verse 2 of chapter 20 says: Satan is bound and shut up in a pit with the tops sealed over him. That is a state that our millennials believe that Satan is in right now.
But just consider these verses. 1 Peter 5:8, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Two things to notice there. First thing he's talking about right now. Second, every time, every time God chooses an animal metaphor for Satan, it's always in the cat family.
Okay. Let the wise understand. Acts 5, verse 3. Peter attributes Ananias' deception directly to Satan. He's like, Satan filled your heart.
To deceive this, which means it's Satan himself doing it. 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul calls Satan the God of this age. He says that he's the one at work in the sons of disobedience, Ephesians 2, 1 and 2.
Now here's my question. Does this sound like a Satan that is chained up and sealed in a pit? Not to me. Third, and related to the previous one. Is Satan really bound during the time of the Great Tribulation?
Remember, all millennials believe that the thousand-year reign of Christ and the seven-year tribulation are really just two overlapping depictions of the exact same period. When they say that to me, I'm supposed to say, really? These are two descriptions of the exact same period. I mean, it seems like they could not be more different. The millennium is Christ ruling in victory.
The seven-year period has the beast ruling in terror. And all millennials are saying that during that time. That the Antichrist and false prophet are reigning, Satan is bound and shut up and sealed in a pit so that he can't deceive the nations? Isn't that the very thing the Antichrist and false prophet do during the tribulation? Don't they deceive the nations through the power of Satan?
See, as I see it, there's just no way you can say that during the time of the tribulation, Satan is bound, shut up, and sealed in a pit. Finally, letter D. Anastasis is in the New Testament. always means physical resurrection. The word used for resurrection in verse 4 is anastasius.
They came to life and remained with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first Anastasius. That word occurs 42 times in the New Testament. In literally every other place, it refers to a bodily resurrection.
So to suddenly treat it here as a purely spiritual metaphor Seems kind of arbitrary and convenient. You're saying every other time the word means bodily resurrection, but here and here alone. It means a spiritual resurrection.
So see, that's why I take a premillennial pro approach to this book. And if you take the opposite approach, okay, Jen Wilkin does, she's a friend of mine. That's okay. You'll probably have to spend the first hundred years or so of the millennium in remedial theology classes. Taught by me and Kurt Cameron as we reign with Jesus, okay?
But I promise it won't be too bad. At least you'll be there, and we'll have plenty of years up there to get you set straight, okay? All right, the fourth and final thing. that John says happens after Jesus gets back. is the final judgment.
The final judge here, pre-mills and omnimals. come back together and they agree again. Verse 12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the great white throne. And the books were opened, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according.
To what they had done. Apparently, there are books in heaven, whether metaphorical or not, I don't know. But books in heaven that record every action, every word, every deed, and every thought by every person. And one day, All people, including You and me. will be judged out of those books.
It's a judgment that every person surely will fail.
Now, it's not hard to imagine why you would fail, right? Just imagine if all your secret thoughts, all your deeds... All your desires. Every word you've spoken on a text message. On a DM quietly with a friend, spoken to yourself.
are one day put on full display and measured against the holiness of God. Paul says in Romans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The only reason you feel good about yourself. is because you compare yourself to other centers. But when all the hidden things in our hearts are finally seen, all the stuff that we thought and we said, and when it's all held up to the light of the glory of God, you're going to see how woefully insufficient it was.
I remember one of my science teachers explaining to me that when you look at a needle, With the naked eye, it just looks like perfect flawless steel. But if you zoom in on it with a microscope, You'll see that this perfect steel is full of all kinds of imperfections and pocks. This is how even the best of us on the very best of days look to God. William Gurnall, the Puritan I quoted a minute ago, used to say it this way: even our tears of repentance. Have to be washed in the blood of Christ.
Y'all think about it. Could there be anything more pure coming out of your heart than your tears of repentance? Yet, even they are mixed with wrong motives and impurities. Even they must be cleansed by the blood of Christ. In fact, maybe a metaphor here: our tears, they say, have a lot of bacteria in them.
They're actually not clean at all. That's a microscopic picture of one of your tears. All those things you see there are bacteria. One day, when our good works are put on display, we're going to see that they were filled with all kinds of mixed motives.
So, bottom line, nobody's going to pass this judgment. You say, well, what about believers? Surely they're going to pass. No, believers would fail this judgment also, but praise God, we don't have to sit through it. You see, there was a little phrase I skipped in verse 12.
Look at it again if you got your Bible. I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the great white throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. There's a book with all of our deeds, and then there's another book.
There's another book, the book of life, where your name gets written when you accept Christ as your Savior. You see, on the cross, Jesus got judged in the place of sinners. He died for every sin committed by the human race. All the things that we had done, he was judged for. And when you accept Christ as your own, he applies that to your account.
That means there is no book in heaven of my sins, or if there is, it is locked and sealed with a stamp on it that says, paid in full by the blood of Jesus.
Okay. Verse 15 says, If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. If your name is found written in the book of life, because you let Jesus be judged in your place, you will pass. Through this judgment. If not, You will be judged for your sins eternally.
So, let me give you three solid things that you should take away from these chapters. Number one. It is insane. For you to stand against Jesus. This is where and how it all ends, friend.
Consider the description of Jesus, if you will, that is given in Revelation 19 that we read at the very beginning. You know, in my Christian high school, which I've told you a little bit about during this series. I told you we were obsessed with Revelation. We had to memorize this passage. We didn't do a senior thesis.
We didn't have any AP classes. But we came out of our senior year knowing these verses. And for that, I was grateful. And I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, that he should rule them with a rod of iron.
And he treadeth out the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. By the way, I know the way I said it is slightly different than the translation I put on the screen, but I memorized it, of course, in the King James Version because that was the language Jesus spoke, okay? And by the way. By the way, I noticed this when I was in high school.
Apparently, the Jesus who's coming back for us in Revelation has a leg tattoo.
So you tattoo haters out there, something to ponder, okay? The first time Jesus came. He came as a servant washing feet, not a king holding cord. He came as the friend of sinners, not their judge. He came to bear judgment, not to dispense it, to save and not to condemn.
But make no mistake, my friend, what you see in Revelation 19 is who he has always been and who he always will be. Behold the humble. Servant carpenter of Nazareth, behind him was the mighty God of eternity. The biblical message is simple if you do not respond to him as savior. then you must meet him as judge.
Listen, he does not want to judge you. That's what the whole Bible is about. But if you will not receive his offer to save you, you leave him no option. The first time he came as a lamb. The second time he comes as the lion.
The first time, humble, lying in a manger. The second time, mighty, reigning on a throne. The first time, a man of sorrows, despised and acquainted with grief. The second time, faithful and true, and in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. The first time, born in obscurity and noticed only by shepherds.
The second time, on a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven. The first time a servant, meek and mild. The second time a sovereign, mighty and magnificent. The first time crucified. The second time glorified.
The first time to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. The second time treading out the wine press of the fury of the wrath of Almighty God. The first time with nail prints in his hands and his feet and a crown of thorns on his head. The second time with a tattoo on his thigh and colors on his robe that say King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Which is why I say.
It is insane. for you to stand against Jesus. 1856, a sermon preached by Charles Spurgeon. He said it this way, it's a bit of an extended quote, but it's totally worth it. He who would place himself in front of a fast-moving railway car.
Would be crushed and would be no more foolish. than you who oppose the gospel. If the gospel is true, truth is mighty. And it will prevail. Who are you to attempt to stand against it?
You will be crushed. And let me tell you, when the railway car runs over you, the wheel will not be raised even an inch by your size. For what are you? A tiny gnat, a creeping worm. Which that will crush to less than nothing and not leave you even a name as having ever been an opponent of the gospel.
Let everyone in the world know assuredly that the gospel will win its way, whatever they may do. Poor creatures, I don't care what their names are: Vladimir, Putin, Kim Jong-il, whatever they are, their efforts to oppose the gospel are not even worthy of our notice. We need not fear they can stop the truth. They're like a gnat who thinks he can quench the sun. Go, tiny insect, and do it if you can.
You will only burn your wings and die. Likewise, there might be a fly who thinks it could drink the ocean dry. Oh fly, more likely, drink it if you can, oh fly. More likely you will sink in it and it will drink you. It is insane for you to stand in opposition.
to the mighty king returning to the world that he created. Which leads me to number two. God threatens terrible things for those who refuse to be insanely happy in Him.
Now I got this in quotes. Because it's actually a quote from a theologian named Peter Craft who's summarizing C.S. Lewis's teaching. in the weight of glory. It's a troubling quote, I admit.
But it's an accurate description of Revelation 19 and 20. This is part of what John described as the sweetness that's mixed with the bitterness. Is it possible to imagine two destinations for people more staggeringly opposite? One group is invited to the Feast of All Feasts, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a time of love and peace and reunion with our loved ones and complete healing and seeing Jesus face to face and the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
Some are resurrected to everlasting joy, others are resurrected to everlasting judgment. It's like I've told you throughout this series: this world is the closest that believers will ever come to hell. It's also the closest unbelievers will ever come to heaven. You get to choose. Which group you're in?
Jesus doesn't want to see you destroyed. If you harden your heart and you refuse to come to him, though, what other choice does he have? I'm telling you, the last voice that you will hear as you step off into eternity will be Jesus' voice saying, you don't have to do this. I paid the price to save you if you will just turn from your sin and receive it. But if you won't receive his offer to be saved, what other option is there?
You choose where this road ends. In this sense, you are in charge of your destiny. And that brings me to number three. Only one life to live will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last.
I hope this phrase is familiar to you. In fact, I'd like to embed it. into your subconscious the way my mom and dad embedded it into mine. The line comes from a missionary named C.T. Studd.
C.T. Stubb was one of England's most celebrated athletes in the early 20th century. Think the LeBron James or the Caitlin Clark of his generation. And by the way, if you're going to be the greatest athlete of your generation, having the last name stud is a great place to start, right? At the very height of CT studs, cricket career.
When he was about as famous as anybody could be in the athletic world, he shocked the world by walking away from all of it to serve as a missionary in China, then in India, and later Africa. Just imagine one of today's global sports icons, LeBron James or Caitlin Clark or Ronaldo, whoever, holding a press conference to announce, I am leaving the game. I'm giving up all the endorsements because God has called me to the mission field. That's the kind of choice C.T. Studd made.
When people asked him why he would do that, C.T. Studd gave his now famous answer. Only one life to live will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Y'all, it's a point I've made almost every week in this series.
Live with the realization that your life is short and eternity is forever. Because a day is coming.
Soon coming. When the only thing that's going to matter is what you did for Jesus. There's a little detail tucked into chapter 19 that we skipped. Let's go back and pick it up. Chapter 19, verse 8.
It says that believers are clothed in fine linen, bright and pure. And then it tells us what those bright, pure clothes are. For the fine linen, John says, Those are the righteous deeds of the saints. The clothing that we wear for eternity, John says. is the righteous deeds that we did on earth.
We carry with us into eternity what we did for Jesus' kingdom. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that all believers will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be evaluated. For how they contributed to Jesus' kingdom. We won't be judged for our sins. But our works will be evaluated.
They will, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 3, all our works will pass through the fire. And those things done for ourselves will burn up like wood, hay, and stubble, and only what's done for Christ and his kingdom will come out of that fire now glowing like diamonds or purified gold. That means that $50 you gave to show off that you had it to give. That social media post you put up to show everybody how spiritual and how woke you were, yeah, that's going to burn. Tithing from faith when you barely had any money.
That quiet text you sent to encourage a weary brother or sister in Christ, that Uber driver you shared Christ with, yeah, that's going to last. That five bedroom castle that you built for yourself. The one where three of those bedrooms mostly stay empty now. Yeah.
And I suspect that's going to burn. Opening your life up in hospitality, giving away your possessions so that others can hear the gospel. Yeah, that'll last. That leadership position you took in the church because it chuffed your ego, yeah, that'll burn. Giving time to minister to recovering prisoners and fatherless orphans.
Yeah, that'll last. Those hours you spent obsessing over your fantasy football lineup or playing golf, all those hours you spent watching football. By the way, I'm not talking about getting some necessary RR. God commands that for all of us. I'm talking about when you pursue a life of leisure.
You're only barely involved in your church because you're at your mountain house every weekend. I hate to tell you this, but all that stuff's going to burn. Those hours you spent volunteering in our kids and our student ministry to teach kids the word of God, yeah, that'll last. Am I getting the point across? Only one life to live will soon be passed.
Only what's done for Christ will last. Only two things in life are going to last forever: things that are built on the Word of God for the glory of God and the souls of people. Everything else is going to burn.
So that's the question. What are you going to take with you into eternity? I'll talk more about this in our final revelation message, but. Y'all, does it really make sense? This is going to be a radical thought for some of you.
Does it really make sense for a Christian to have a bucket list? I hear everybody talking about it. Oh, that's on my bucket list. Because the idea is that there's all this stuff you got to get done before you die, because you'll never have a chance to do it again. Yeah, but the Bible presents the new heavens and the new earth, which is what we're about to get into in Revelation 21 and 22.
It presents it as a better redeemed version of everything we have down here. That means whatever I miss out on down here, I get to do a superior version of up there. I don't need a bucket list and neither do you. In fact, I would say truly having a bucket list. I'm not talking about when you just use it as fun, but if you truly have a bucket list, that is a sign of unbelief in these promises.
Which is why I think preachers need to preach on revelation more. Actually, I should clarify. There's one thing you should have on a bucket list. One thing you can do now that you will not be able to do after you die. Bring people to Jesus.
You can only do that right now. Bible teacher Jada Edwards points this out about Revelation 19. I love this. There's no limitations on your plus one at the wedding feast. Bring as many as you can.
Invite as many as you can because you only get one chance to do this one time right now. How can I use these days, these hours, these treasures, this talent? How can I use this to bring people to Jesus? Because only one life to live will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last summon.
You can apply this right now. by inviting people to Church of the Dome. I'm telling you, invite as many as you can. If you can't get tickets, you tell us. We'll find them for you.
In fact, just show up at the door, we'll figure it out. I promise, okay? Bring all you can. But let me circle back to the final verse of chapter 20. If anybody's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Jesus says there's a book up there. John says there's a book up there. Listen to me. Your name is either in it or not. Right now.
I'm talking to people. There are people listening to me right now whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. Those whose names are written in this Lamb's book of life have no judgment ahead for them because the Lamb was judged in their place. And I'm telling you, the only thing that matters really this morning is if your name is there. In fact, would you just picture with me right now that book, whatever it looks like?
Imagine you're flipping through the pages. Remember how when you were younger and you were looking on a list to see if you made the team, made the squad, made the honor roll? You're going down the place where your name should be. And see the there it's not. For looking at this book of life right now, right now, this morning, there are names in there.
Is your name there or is it not? You're not sure if it is. You can be. If you repent of your sins and trust Jesus as your Savior. If you receive his engagement request.
If you say yes, Jesus, I'll take you, you take me, I'll take you. If you've never done that or you're not sure you have, I'm going to give you a chance that you can do that right now. I want you to bow your heads with me at all of our campuses. Bow with your heads. If you're not sure if you've ever received Jesus as your Savior, You're not sure your name's written in the Lamb's book of life.
You're not sure if you've ever received his offer. To become his child, to become his bride, to become his... Forever. Right now, you can say this to Jesus. You can use my words if you mean them.
Jesus, I surrender to you. I receive you as my Savior. You said yes to me two thousand years ago. I say yes, and I receive you as my Lord and Savior. We'll continue this teaching series next time on the Summit Life podcast.
Remember, if you'd like to receive Pastor JD's new resource titled From the Beginning, God's Design for Relationships, we'd love to send it to you today. It's filled with practical biblical wisdom for singleness, dating, marriage, and friendships, along with reflection questions to help you apply what you're learning. We'll send it right to your inbox as a thank you for your support. We'll see you next time here on the Summit Life podcast. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D.
Greer Ministries. Yeah.
