Well, good evening, church family. It is good to see you online here tonight as we worship the Lord and homes throughout our community this evening. And I hate that we are not together in person. There is nothing like the church gathering together each and every week for Bible study. But unfortunately, the road conditions, if you've by any chance been out and about, you would understand this.
The road conditions are still pretty dangerous. And we felt with our service being at night and things icing over because of low temperatures that it would put different people in danger coming. And so we felt that the Lord was leading us to be online. I am grateful for our team and for them being able to put this thing together and putting this online for each one of us here this evening and the resources that God has blessed us with. And we give Him praise for all of those things.
And so, but we are online tonight, but I am grateful that you are here. And a couple of things that I wanted to say before we dive. In. First of all, the Soup and Cornbread Fellowship. This is for our 50 and older crowd, our senior adults, is what we call them here at Union Grove.
We originally had a soup and cornbread fellowship scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday. That is going to be canceled. We are looking at the calendar to find the best date to reschedule, and we'll let you know when that is. And then also the weekend. This coming weekend, this past week, we started a brand new series entitled Emotions: Navigating Our Feelings with Biblical Truth.
And we were online this past weekend because of weather. And go figure, I'm looking at ahead to this weekend, and there is a potential another winter storm coming. And so, we will let you know about the weekend plans. We're working out some backup options and different things, and we're going to let you know a little bit more what that's going to look like tomorrow.
So, just be praying for wisdom as we make those decisions. And so, we are online tonight. And so, what I'd encourage you to do, we do this all the time. If you would, when you're online, if you would like the video, and then especially if you're watching on social media, if you could click the share button, that'll share it onto your profile. And let me just say this: you never know the difference a share will make.
And just a story, an example for you: this past week, some Somebody that's associated with our Christian school, they actually shared this past Sunday, our first week of our Emotions series. They shared that on their page, just like we instructed everybody to do. And it happened to fall upon somebody they were connected with online who was dealing with a serious bout of depression in their life. And they're not associated with our church, but they saw the share, they watched the video, and that individual has messaged us and just thanked us. And it really helped her spiritually deal with some different things that they were struggling with in their personal life.
And the only reason they would have ever seen that video was because somebody shared it.
So let me just tell you: you never know the difference a share might make. And then let me encourage you to engage in the comments. Let us know who's watching here tonight in the comments. And then also, if you see something or hear something that you agree with, feel free to comment below. If you see somebody in the comments that you typically would say hey to when you're in person, engage with them as best you can in an online format.
And we'll try to create as much space for community online here tonight as possible.
Well, tonight we are continuing our series through the book of Revelation. We have as a church, and I recognize that we have a group of people who gather each and every week for Bible study through the book of Revelation. And There's a bunch of you that probably typically serve in our student ministry or our kids' ministry or our preschool ministry on Wednesday nights, and you don't get a chance to be a part of that. And maybe tonight you're jumping in and you're kind of catching this as we're in Revelation 19 tonight, and you're missing those first 18 chapters and different things. And so I want to give you a little bit of a background.
But what we do on Wednesday is we always provide an outline to keep you as engaged. And so you can find, I emailed out the outline earlier this week, but you can also find it in the comments below, especially if you're on Facebook or YouTube. And you can download that, print it at your house, follow along, and things like that since we can't pass them out in person. But I want to give you a little bit of background just to kind of give us a runway to Revelation 19 to help some of our listeners tonight that typically aren't a part of our series. And so I'm going to do some background.
This isn't on your notes. here tonight, but I'm going to kind of give you some rapid fire. Backgrounds here this evening.
So, first of all, the book of Revelation, or actually, the word Revelation, it's a Greek word meaning apocalypsis. And that Greek word literally means a revealing or an unveiling. And so, what we have is not a revealing or revelation of the Apostle John, but actually a revealing or unveiling of Christ and who He is and the events that will one day unfold leading to His His second coming. John the Apostle is the writer here of the book of Revelation. He's writing this around A.D.
90, 98 or so A.D. And he's writing from the island of Patmos.
Now, mind you, he's not there on vacation. He's actually exiled there. The island of Patmos was an island that Rome would use to put some of their prisoners. They would treat it as a prison camp. And so he was in prison, exiled on the island of Patmos.
And the reason why the Romans would do that is they felt like they could put him there and he could make a difference for Christ. But little did they know he would write this book of Revelation and God would give him this revelation of future events. And we would all be listening to this and studying this here together. The purpose of the book is to give us hope. and anticipation regarding the return of Jesus.
The book of Revelation should not scare you. It does not have to scare you. It should fill your heart and your mind with hope and anticipation about Christ Return. When you read the book of Revelation, you can view it as almost a cheat sheet for an upcoming test. You know, if you're in school and you're taking a test and the teacher gives you everything like a cheat sheet for what's going to be on it, there's really no excuse for when the test comes because you knew everything that's going to be on it.
And that's kind of what the book of Revelation is. When Christ returned, there is not going to be an excuse because the book of Revelation tells us how things will unfold and how things will eventually be revealed. And so as we read this, it can fill you with hope and anticipation for what is to come. There's different interpretation methods that people and authors and preachers have taken at how they approach the book. And there's people that believe differently about this and fall on different sides of the fence.
And that doesn't mean they're ungodly or anything like that. There's really good people who interpret the book differently. The way that I'm interpreting the book in our study is the literal interpretation, a futuristic interpretation of the book, meaning that the events that we look at are going to be revealed in a literal way. And so that's the method of interpretation that we've been using in our study and that we will continue to use. As we move forward, I've provided an outline for us.
You're going to see this up on the screen here tonight that'll give you a picture of the book from Revelation 1 all the way through the end of the book. Revelation 1 through 3 is all about the church age. On our outline, you'll see that. I have it circled here because that is the age in which we are living in right now.
So what we have is that after Jesus' resurrection, he was on earth for about 40 days. And he revealed himself to the apostles many times. He revealed himself to just tons of different people during that 40 days. But then, after 40 days, he gathered the apostles in Acts chapter 1, and he gathered them there on the Mount of Olives, and he ascended up into heaven. in that moment.
And from that moment on, that's when we see the church age exist. That's what Revelation chapter 1 through 3 is all about. In Revelation 4 and 5, we have John kind of taken from earth and taken up into heaven. and getting a view of what is happening in heaven. We interpret that to be Revelation 4 and 5, the rapture of the church or the snatching of those who are left here on this earth when Christ comes to rapture the church.
And then in chapter 6 through 18, we have the seven-year tribulation period that is happening on earth. And so the good news is that if you know Christ, we believe that you are going to be taken out of here. That's the verse in Thessalonians and also in the Corinthians, the letter to the church of the Corinthians, when it says that we which are alive and remain at the coming sound of Christ, we will be raptured up to be with Christ when he comes.
Now, the rapture and the second coming are different events. At the rapture, Christ is going to come in the clouds and we will go to meet him in the clouds. But at the second coming, which is what we're going to be talking about here in a moment, Christ will actually return to the earth.
So don't get the two confused. Confused in this. But in chapter six through eighteen, the seven years of tribulation. God's wrath and judgment is going to be poured out on the earth for their rebellion.
Now, if you're just tuning in or if you're kind of new to church, it's not always fun to talk about God's wrath and judgment. I understand that that is something we all wrestle with because you could say that isn't God loved? How could he ever pour out his judgment?
Well, what we have to understand is because God ultimately is fully righteous and fully holy, and because of that, he cannot let sin go unpunished. And because of that, all the sin and rebellion that exists in our world, he is coming to eventually. Judge forever the wrong and the injustices of our world. Chapter 6 through 18 entails that of all the judgment that is happening here on earth. It's depicted in three ways: it's depicted in the seven seals that will be broken, seven trumpets that will be blown, and then also seven vials or bowls that will be poured out.
And that's how God's judgment is depicted in chapter 6 through 18.
Well, in chapter 19, we see the second coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ when he comes to the earth. And by the way, if you've been a part of our study, I'm grateful that we are through chapters 6 through 18. And it was a long study through the judgment of God. And now we get to the really good part where Christ is going to come back and forever. Make all wrongs.
Right. Chapter 19, if you have your Bible, is where we're going to be tonight. Chapter 19, it can be divided into two parts. And really, the whole book is all about what John sees and what John hears. And so it's divided into two parts: sights.
And sounds last week when we were together, we looked at the two sights that John mentions, two things that he sees. And or no, last week, sorry, we were in the sounds, two things that he hears. And then tonight we are going to look at three things that he sees. The two sounds that he heard in verses 1 through 10 of chapter 19 that we looked at last week was sound number one was heaven rejoicing at the defeat of the harlot.
Now, what John describes as the harlot was the Babylonian system that the Antichrist and the false prophet during the seven-year tribulation will lead the world in. The false prophet will lead the world into a one religious movement where everyone will have to worship the Antichrist. And so it's going to be a one-world religion, but then also there's going to be a one-world political system where we will buy and sell if you have the mark of the beast. The Babylonian system is the way that it was interpreted and the way that it was represented, and John calls it the harlot. The Babylonian system is an anti-God system.
And all things that are anti-God and in rebellion to God is really spiritual adultery. Because you and I were created to be fully devoted to God and to be fully devoted to God and alone. And any time something else grabs the attention or devotion of our heart, it is spiritual adultery, which is why that anti-God system is referred to. Referred to as the harlot. And so the first sound that he hears in verses one and two of chapter nineteen was heaven rejoicing at the defeat of that system.
And then, number two, the second sound, it is heaven rejoicing at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And this is going to happen. You see it in verses 6 through 10: the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we will all be reunited forever with Christ in this moment, and we will live forever with Christ. with him.
Well, now in ch in verses 11 through ch through verse 21, we see three sights that John sees. Three ways, and remember, this is all about the second coming of Christ. And as John is seeing these clusters of visions, if you would, he describes them in different ways, and he is going to describe them using three sights. The first sight is found in verses 11 through 16. And this is the second coming of Jesus with The saints.
If you have your Bible, verse 11 of chapter 19, it says this: And I saw. That's the first site. Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse. By the way, I mentioned this last week.
There's two times in the book of Revelation where heaven is open. The first time is in chapter number 4, and then in the second time is chapter number 19. The reason why I believe that that is the way that the events unfold is in chapter number four, the church is going up into heaven at the rapture. And in chapter 19, the reason why heaven is open is because Christ and the saints are coming out of heaven down to this earth. And so, what John sees is he sees heaven open.
Behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him. was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Verse twelve. 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 vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were 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, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Verse 16, And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written.
King of Kings. and Lord of Lords.
So the first sight that we see is the second coming of Jesus. With the saints.
Now, I want to kind of describe everything that's happening here because there's a lot of stuff here about the second coming in these verses. And in this first sight that he sees. The first one is the writer Jesus that I want you to see, and he's described in a bunch of different ways. First, he is riding on a white. Horse.
So the rider is obviously Jesus and he's on a white horse. Uh the reason the horse is white uh is obviously because of purity and because he is uh full righteousness. And any time you see the color white, it's typically a reference to his righteousness. And he is on this white horse. If you've ever wondered if there's going to be animals in heaven, this is your verse to kind of go to that you can build your theology about animals in heaven on.
Okay, I don't know if there's going to be a whole lot of animals in heaven, but clearly there are going to be horses in heaven and probably dogs. Let's just be honest. They're probably going to be there as well, right?
Okay, that's my personal interpretation, and that's neither here nor there. But here you have a horse, and I wanted you to notice because there's a lot of parallels in Jesus' second coming than with his first coming. When Christ came the first time, he came into Jerusalem. You remember this, riding on a donkey, meek. and mild.
And at his second coming, he's going to come riding on a white horse, pronouncing victory as a warrior.
So you can see his first coming, he came mild and meek, riding on a donkey. At his second coming, he comes riding on a horse pronouncing victory. Not only that, you see a name given to him. His first name mentioned here is faithful. And true.
Now, one thing that I'll tell you is in his second coming, right here in these verses that we just read, he's given five names.
Okay, five names. Four of them are revealed. One of them is concealed and not mentioned. It's a name that is only given to him that nobody knows. But four of the five names are revealed.
You see, faithful and true. You're going to see later he's called the Word of God. You're going to see later he's called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then there's one name given that no one knows that we'll look at here in a moment. But his first name here is faithful and true.
If you remember in our study in chapter number three of Revelation, you see that he was called this and he gave this name to himself as the faithful and true witness directly to the church at Laodicea. His testimony and words are true. And accurate, and because of that, you can take it to the bank, it is reliable. In a world that Lacks truth. It is encouraging and comforting to know that he who comes back, he who reigns over the world, is faithful.
And true.
You know, we live in a world that lacks truth and they don't have a standard of what absolute truth is. Let me just encourage you tonight that the standard for absolute truth is found in the 66 books that we hold here tonight: the word of God. That is where truth is to come from. And sometimes the truth found in this word might disagree with what is popular in our culture. And let me just tell you this: if we don't have a standard for absolute truth, Then we are going to live in a world that is chaotic.
And is that not the world that we're living in right now? And the reason why it is so chaotic is we have lost sense of where absolute truth must come from. And where absolute truth is from. And so, what I want you to know tonight is that He who is one day coming back to make all wrong right, He is faithful, and in Him exists all truth. But you see a description of Him, His eyes were like fire.
His eyes were like fire. Which basically portrays his judgment that is coming and his justice that is coming. Remember, at his second coming, he is going to make all injustices right. Aren't you excited about that? Listen, we live in a world where so much injustice is happening all around us.
People are being tried and accused for things that they haven't committed. You watch on the news and you see so much injustice is happening around the world. And let me tell you this: that one day, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He which is faithful and true, the very Word of God is going to come and speak. And when He speaks, all wrong is going to be made right. Right.
He is coming with eyes like fire. He is furious over the rebellion of the world. Notice the contrast to his first coming. In Luke 19, at his first coming, he came and his eyes had tears in them. In fact, you can see in other passages that he was moved.
In his heart, with compassion over the world, specifically the Jews in Jerusalem, because they were roaming around as sheep without a shepherd. And let me just tell you this: that the first coming, he came with tears in his eyes. The second coming, he's coming with fire in his eyes. eyes. On his head he's wearing many crowns.
Now you see this in verse 12. And just a note in Revelation 4. It says that the elders, which represent the saints, will be around the throne of God, and they will be laying their crowns down at the feet of God. It's interesting to note that the word crown in Revelation chapter 4 is the Greek word stephanos. It is actually more, when you look at what that word entailed, it was more of a wreath-like crown, much of which you would get if you ran in the Olympic Games of its day or something like that, and you would get a crown for winning first place.
That's the kind of crown that is mentioned in chapter number four. And it says that the elders, the saints, as we get those crowns, we are going to lay them at the feet of Jesus.
Well, the word here in Revelation 19, the word crown that Christ is wearing, is a different crown. In fact, it is a more meaningful crown. It is the Greek word here in Revelation 19, the word diadema. It has the idea of full royalty and kingship and lordship. And that is the crown that our Lord wears.
His crown is superior to the crowns that we will one day receive when we get to heaven. His clothing, you see that here, is a robe. Dipped in blood. You see his vesture dipped in blood.
Now, a contrast with his first coming that is so important for you to understand. Like, whose blood is on his vester at his second coming?
Well, when Christ comes the first time, we see in Matthew 27. That the scripture says his blood be upon us. Right. Well, here in Revelation 19, I want you to know that he comes at the battle of Armageddon, which is at the end of the tribulation, right when Christ comes at his second coming. The blood of his enemies.
Is now upon him because he is about to conquer all of his enemies, and in that, the blood of his enemies are upon him. Him. That's why his robes dipped in blood here in Revelation chapter number 19. His name, another name that's mentioned here, is the Word of God.
Now, the Greek word for word is the word lagos. And it means an expression. It has the idea of word or speech. It is revealing or a manifestation or an expression of God. And so, what you see here is He is the Word of God.
He is the full manifestation of who God is. If you want to know who God is, look to who Jesus is. And when Jesus came and by the way, this is so interesting to me because John, the writer here in Revelation, he wrote in his gospel, the Gospel of John, he opened the book in John I by saying, in the beginning was the The word And the word was with God, and the word was God. Lagos. In other words, he was saying that when Christ came, he was the full expression and revelation of who God is, he is the divine revelation of God.
to mankind. His weapon in verse 15 is a sword in his mouth. Listen, let me say this. At the sound of his voice. The enemies will be defeated.
Isn't that amazing? Like he doesn't need You know, all these other things. At the sound of his voice. All of the enemies of God will be forever defeated. He says that he's gonna rule over them with a rod of iron.
This was prophesied about by the psalmist in Psalm chapter 2, verse number 9. It's a messianic psalm talking about the coming return of the Messiah. And he says that he will rule with a rod of iron. And then you see this idea when you think of iron, you think of a potter with his clay, and that's the way that he is going to defeat his enemies, if you would. It's like a potter just pressing down on the clay.
Isaiah chapter number 63 supports it this way: that God is one day going to crush his enemies. Like uh like grapes in a wine press. Like a bunch of grapes going through a wine press, and as you're crushing them, and I know this is a little bit gruesome for our listeners tonight, but I want you to understand this is how it's going to be one day, and this is how the scripture interprets or reveals to us that one day Christ is going to crush his enemies. The way that grapes are crushed in a winepress. And if you think about it, the juice and the grape juice that is flowing out of the grapes that are being crushed in this winepress, that's the way that Christ one day will crush all of those who have rejected Him and lived in rebellion to Him one day, because remember, He is holy, and sin has to be judged, and sin has to be dealt with.
They will be crushed. And their blood will splatter if you would. By the way, there's a hymn about this. You would know this hymn. I think it's called The Battle Hymn in the Republic.
When it says these lyrics, mine eyes have seen. The glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are. are stored. And let me just finish that by saying his truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth will one day forever march. On. You see his other name here in verse number 16. I don't think I put it up on the screen for you, but you can add this to your notes if you're taking notes tonight.
He is mentioned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So you see this sight, and you see the rider being Jesus and how he's depicted here. But now you see the armies in verse number 14. It says that the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen. White and clean.
Now, if you picked up a commentary and perhaps you didn't know the author and maybe they were interpreting the book a little bit differently, you can find that in verse 14 there is some debate amongst scholars and theologians on who the armies R.
Well, the way that I interpret it is they are the The saints. And here's why. I'll give you a little bit of biblical support for it. The reason why I think they're the saints is because of what you see in verses 6 through 8 of the same chapter, what we looked at last week in our study. And remember, the best commentary on the Bible.
Is the Bible. And so anytime you're looking for it and you're kind of trying to figure something out, the best commentary that you can find on the Bible is the Bible itself. And if you look in verses 6 through 8, I'm going to read it for you. Same chapter, chapter 19. It says, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters.
And as the voice of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his, what's the next word? Wife. He's talking about the bride of Christ. Who's the bride?
Let me know in the comments. That's the saints, that's Christians, are the bride of Christ. And it says in verse 8, And to her, the bride was granted that ye she, the bride, should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And then here in verse 14, Those that are coming with him, with Christ. Are dressed in fine linen, white and clean, riding on white horses.
You see, the support is inevitable and so obvious that these are the saints that are coming with them. That's you. If you know Christ here tonight, that's you and me and all the saints that have ever placed their faith in Jesus Christ. One day we will come with him. By the way, you must be in Christ in order to come with Christ.
Let me say that again. You must first be in Christ in order to one day have the assurance. That you will forever come with Christ here in Revelation chapter number 19. And it says that we, as the saints, are going to come riding on horses. I mean, you can raise your hand.
I know we're all in different realms. Raise your hand if you've ever rode a horse before, right? And I don't know. I've ridden a horse a couple of times, never out and kind of like, it's always been a very organized ride, you know, like with a guide or with somebody and different things like that. And so I don't know what this is going to be like.
If you've never ridden a horse in your life, maybe you're afraid of it or whatever, let me tell you this: that if you know Jesus, one day you're going to ride that horse. And one day, I'm thinking about this when I was studying. What's that ride going to be like coming from heaven? Is it like straight down, you know, like in the clouds? What's that going to be like?
Are we going to be like experts? I don't know, but I'll tell you this: one day, one day. When Christ returns at his second coming to forever destroy evil once and for all, he's going to come with many crowns upon his head, coming to destroy evil for good and forever. And with him, We will return. As his army, dressed in white, not because of anything that you have done, because the scripture says there is none good in you.
There is none good in me. The best that I could ever deliver is but a filthy rag in the presence of God. And so the white raiment that you and I are going to be forever dressed with is only because of the righteousness of the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lords. But that's site number one, the return of Christ. Site number two, the destruction of the armies at Armageddon.
And I know I'm going a little bit long here. If you're still with me, can you comment amen? Or I'm with you in the chat here tonight. But the second site that he shows us in verse 17 and 18, the second and third sites are not near as long as the first one. is the destruction of the armies at Armageddon.
Now, we looked at the Battle of Armageddon recently in our study, and you can go back, and I'll link this in the comments below. You can see all of the previous sermons for this, but in verses 17 and 18, let me read it for you in Revelation 19. It says this: And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls. That fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together into the supper of the great God. that ye may eat the flesh of kings.
and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Now, this is the Battle of Armageddon.
So, remember, you got chapter 6 through 18 is about the seven-year tribulation. Chapter 19, where we're at tonight, is about the second coming of Christ. When he comes, the way that it was described in 11 through 16, he is going to judge and defeat the armies, all of his enemies, at the battle of Armageddon. And what you see here is that at that battle, all of the enemies will be killed. They'll be defeated.
And the angel here in verse 17 will call down vultures from heaven, and these vultures will come and devour the flesh of all that died in battle. The word flesh is mentioned five times here, and so you get this idea that these vultures are just going to destroy all the human flesh that is left. behind. And by the way, in verse 17. It says all men.
Mentions mighty men, the flesh of horses, them that sat on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond. Here's what I will tell you: is that God's judgment. It's for all that rebel. It's for all that rebill. Just like God's salvation, there is no respecter of persons.
It doesn't matter if you're rich, it doesn't matter if you're poor, it doesn't matter if you're free or if you're a slave, it doesn't matter if you come from a spiritual household. Or a non-religious household. It doesn't matter the environment you grew up in. It doesn't matter any of those things. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and salvation has come for the entire world, for anybody that believes.
Anybody that is willing to receive, there is no respecter of persons of the grace of God. And here's what I'll tell you: on the flip side of that, there's no respecter of persons for the judgment of God either. It's for all that have rebelled against God, he will judge. Verse 17 references it as the supper. In chapter 19, there's two suppers.
The first one is the marriage supper of the Lamb. The second one is the supper mentioned here. The first one. Is a supper of joy at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here, this is a supper of judgment.
That will one day come. Site number three, and finally is this: the punishment. of the Antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire. Verses 19 through 21, he says this, and I saw. the beast That's the Antichrist.
And the kings of the earth. That's the one-world governmental system. Remember, the world's going to be divided into these ten different empires. And he saw the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him. That's Christ, that sat on the horse, and against his army.
That's us. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast. And them that worshipped his image, these both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. Which sword proceedeth out of his mouth?
And all the fowls were filled with their flesh. Listen, at the end of the battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and the false prophet. will be forever cast into the lake of fire. And it says later in chapter 20, which we'll get to next week, in chapter 20. Satan, the devil, will also be cast into the lake of fire with them.
And it says that they will be tormented in chapter 20, day and night. Night. Listen, we get this sense. That Annihilation. and and destruction and death.
comes to those who rebel God. And yes, that is true physically. But let me tell you this. That Spiritually, every soul. We'll live forever.
Every soul will live forever. The question is where. For Christians, for followers of Christ, saints. We're gonna live forever. with the One who provided salvation and eternal life for us.
But those who choose to reject and rebel against the one true God. They will also, their soul will live forever. They'll physically die, but their soul will live forever and be tormented forever and ever, is what Scripture tells us here. There will be perpetual suffering. Forever.
and ever. Listen, we don't have time to go into it, but listen, Christ is coming back. If you believe that and you're still with us, can you comment amen in the chat here tonight? I tell you, I'm so excited about it. In fact, in Zachariah chapter number four, in verse number four, we see that one day his feet at the second coming will come from heaven down to this earth.
and he will stand on the Mount of Olives. What's so significant about that is that in Acts chapter number one, we see that as the apostles are gathered together and they're watching Christ ascend up into heaven. An angel appears to them and says, Why are you gazing up into heaven? That same Christ that went up will one day descend in the same manner. It's what the angel told him.
And from that day forward, we have been looking and longing for the return of our Lord and Savior. Christ when he will come back for us. And you know what? Philippians chapter 2 says that every knee will bow. In every tongue.
will Confess forever. I was thinking about that this week, and let me just say this: there is no better time to repent. than the present. And what we learn about knees bowing and tongues confessing is this. That if you bow now, if maybe you're watching this and you've rejected Christ or you don't believe in God and you're rebelling against Him, let me tell you this: if you choose to bow now, you receive grace.
You receive mercy. But if you wait And you bow then here at this moment at the second coming, you're going to suffer judgment forever.
So there's no better time than to bow and give your life to Christ than right now. Because now you may bow. Then You must bow.
Now you get the chance and the opportunity to bow. You may bow, but then you must bow. There is no other option. And now, if you bow, you receive grace, then you receive judgment. Listen, the returning king.
is coming.
Soon. Mm.
