Revelation 22

We have come to the final chapter of the Bible. We are reading these words as people that need to persevere through the three and a half, the thousand years of the present phase of the kingdom of God. That means that we still feel pain and loss. We struggle with anxiety and we are continually repenting about our sin. We have opportunities for faithfulness, but evil people may be prospering around us.

There may come a moment when our property, our freedom, our well-being, or even our lives will be in danger simply because we gather together with others who call upon the Name of the Lord. To keep our bodies and souls fed may be a struggle. We may even find that our love for Christ and our hope for heaven grow cold.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the current divide, the number of people rejoicing in heaven continues to grow. New people are being brought by Jesus to their eternal rest every day. They are aware of our struggles, but they rejoice in the Lord with the perfect assurance of His divine promises, They no longer battle against sin or oppression. They look with complete confidence for the vindication of Christ and His faithful.

They do long with a holy eagerness for the Grand Finale. But they have a perfect thirst for God's glory. They are filled with perfect love for God and even for us as we seek to be faithful to the end.

This is the way life is now, but it is not the way that it will always be. There will be a renewed heaven and earth, and that new heaven and earth shall be one. We will have access to a river that flows from the Father and the Son. We will walk the streets of the new holy city, and we will eat the fruit of the tree of life.

Look at what the blood of the cross has purchased for you! Consider the cost that the Savior paid and live!

Now we see signs of the curse of God in a world that He subjected to futility because of the sin of Adam. Now we feel the distance between our present life and the throne of God, even though Jesus has promised us, “Never will I leave you.” Now, many may find the worship of God and even the message of the gospel tiresome. How could that be? The yawn of the church is noticeable and her glazed eyes can be seen wherever the city of man is deeply entrenched in those hearts that believe that they have already heard enough about Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. Now many people even in the church are more interested in tax policy, celebrity weddings, and beautiful pictures of little children than in the pleasure of the living God. The church seems to be almost swallowed up in distraction and deception. The city of man appears to be thriving. As far as God, Christ, and eternity are concerned, many consider themselves all set.

But when the trumpet sounds, and the new Jerusalem descends, and the eternal light shines, you will be grateful to be found at your post in the service of the King of kings and Lord of lords. And you will see the face of the One who was faithful to the end for you. You will reign with Him forever and ever.

This is the Word that has come from on high to you from God. This is the Word that God spoke in the garden when sin first entered the world and paradise was lost. This is the message of Moses and the prophets. This is the kingdom that Jesus came preaching and teaching. This is the eternal purpose of God that Paul wrote about in Ephesians 1: “to unite all things in Him (Christ), things in heaven, and things on earth.” This Word is, and always has been, trustworthy and true.

The return of Christ has been imminent since His departure on clouds of glory, Regardless of the date when He returns, you are one day closer to that day today then you were yesterday. Furthermore, today may be the day that you particularly are called home. Today you may be in God's hands in a different way, and your body will rest in the grave, and those who love you will mourn.

Keep the words of this book. They are surprisingly simple and clear. In this world of suffering and temptation, be faithful to Jesus, and worship and serve God.

Some will just continue in evil. Why should you be in that number? Are you righteous and holy in Jesus? Then do what is right and be holy. He says to the seven churches toward the end of the first century, that He is coming soon. He is still coming soon.

Jesus, the Morning Star has spoken. The Holy Spirit and the church in heaven, together with the faithful upon the earth, have a word for you: “Come.” Do you have any thirst for Jesus, for His Word, for the new heavens and the new earth? “Come.” The worldwide city of man will be destroyed. Your own death is swiftly approaching. “Come.”

Meanwhile, go where the words of this book go, and follow where the full counsel of the Word of God takes you. Don't take anything away from the Lord's Word. Don't add anything to it. Fear God, and then let the perfect love of Christ cast out all fear. Keep God's commandments, and then consider how Christ is your perfect righteousness forever. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always. Amen.

Revelation 21

Throughout this book we have come to the Grand Finale of the Lord's purposes more than once. First there was a deep and prolonged silence at the opening of the seventh seal (8:1). Then as the seventh angel blew his trumpet it was already announced that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (11:15). Again after the bowls of God's judgment had been fully poured out, the King of the kingdom came riding on a white horse, and on His robe and his thigh He had a Name written: “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16).

But now, in the last two chapters of the book, we see the fullness of the Lord's good plans in the brightest colors. The aged Apostle describes the new heaven and earth. The old world is gone, or at least so completely renewed that it can be spoken of as having passed away. Something like a resurrection to immortality has taken place.

The resurrection power of Jesus has come down upon the old world, and death has been swallowed up in a victory that changes everything. Once again, heaven and earth are one, as the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven from God. This new Jerusalem is the perfected church, those who have passed through the first death (natural death on earth), and have been enjoying the life of the first resurrection (existence in the present heaven). They will never experience the second death (the eternal punishment of hell), for Jesus suffered the pains of hell for them. The second death can have no hold upon them. They are returning with the Lord now as His glorious bride. The time of the second resurrection has come, the fullness of immortal bodily living for the people of God on earth.

This state of eternal blessedness is not one of separation between God and man, with the Lord in His heavens and His people on a new earth. The dwelling place of God is with man. He will live with them. This is the great and everlasting Tabernacles, the new life of eternity, in a creation completely cleansed from all the stains of sin, misery, and death. Truly the former things will have passed away, and the will of the Lord will be entirely fulfilled according to these wonderful words: “Behold, I am making all things new.”

The time for concealing will be over. This is a time for the fullness of revelation. The divide between eternal blessing and eternal curse could not be clearer. Do you want the springs of eternal glory and the solid joys of the godly with the Father, or do you want a portion with the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars? They will have the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. You will have God's greatest benediction in the land of second resurrection.

In that day, the church, the Bride of the Lamb, will be the spotless holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God. On her twelve gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and on her walls, her foundations, are the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Here is the fullness of the Jews and Gentiles, perfected in the blood of the Lamb, and saved for the eternal purposes of God by His matchless grace.

This heavenly city, now come down upon the earth, is the perfection of God's holy plan. Notice the 12,000 stadia, the measurement of not only the length, but also the width and the height of the city. It is a 12, (the the full number of tribes, and the full number of apostles), times 1000, (the number that should impress you because of its enormity). It is a large and perfect new realm of order and beauty. The wall around it (how can we envision a wall around a cube of such enormous dimensions?) is 12 times 12 cubits, 144 cubits high. Consider the worth of all its gold and precious jewels. It is all beyond measurement. It is what eye has not seen, it is the answer to something beyond our prayers, more than we ask for, or even imagine. Every gate made of a gigantic solitary pearl, every street of pure gold, yet transparent as glass; heaven has come to earth, and we are glad.

The whole new creation is a place of the presence of God, Ezekiel's visionary temple, perfected and writ large, but without the Old Covenant temporary ordinances. There is no need for a special holy spot in the Lord's final land. It is as if the Name of the whole city is “The Lord is there.” See the end of Ezekiel 48. It is a realm of perfect light, where the inhabitants live in the Father and the Son. This is what Jesus came to win for us through His blood.

There is a communal order there, with nations and kings, but there is no warfare or oppression, for everyone in that place lives in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we see as danger today, requiring soldiers at the gates, all that makes darkness frightening to the heart of a child (or an adult), has no place in this perfect order. Nothing unclean will ever enter there.

Today we manage in the midst of what is detestable, and we despise every lingering trace of death and sin in our own bodies and souls. One day, we will have no such trouble. And we will all be together. Everyone in the Lamb's book of life will be there. No one will be missing who is a true citizen of this great city, for Christ has shed His blood for all the inhabitants of His glorious eternal kingdom.

Revelation 20

As we come to the final few chapters of this book, we remember that the Apostle John has shown us the end of all things more than once, sometimes very briefly, and then has returned to the whole period of struggle that is the New Testament age. Revelation 20 is one of those times when we learn again what it is like to live in a world where we face intense opposition and where we need to endure, persevere, and remain faithful to the Lord.

That period of New Testament life has earlier been symbolically defined as three and a half, following an Old Testament prophetic model. See Daniel 12:14. But just as the people of God can be represented by a number of 12 times 12,000 and also as a much larger number in a different vision, the gospel age can be spoken of in one place with the number of three and a half, and in another place as having a duration of a thousand years. In the second case the point of such a large number is to inform the readers of Revelation that this period could continue for a very long time, even well beyond the lifespan of any of the original recipients of this book.

During that “thousand years” Satan is bound in this specific way, “so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.” At the end of the New Testament age it would appear from here and from 2 Thessalonians 2, that there will be a period of apostasy where Satan and a man of lawlessness will play a particular role in a period of distress for the church that will end in the return of Christ and in final judgment.

During this thousand years of gospel life, the Word will be brought to the nations, but not without the kind of cost that messengers of Christ faced even in the first century. There will be some who will lose their lives because they bear the testimony of Jesus and proclaim the Word of God. Also during that time the church in heaven will be continually growing. The lives of those who suffer for Christ on earth shall never die. They live and reign with Him in heaven during this period. Those who are not in Christ will not be with them in the present heavens. They will be in a place of death, and not a place of life. When Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in paradise,” He was acknowledging the existence of the Paradise of God, the present heavens. To be in that great place is to experience the first resurrection. Those who are there had to experience their own bodily death, a first death, but they will never know the second death of hell. Hell has no power over them. They are servants of Jesus in the place that He told us about as He was getting ready to leave. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you may be also.” This is where we spend our time during the New Testament age once our days on earth are done.

But soon the end will come. Satan will have His brief release before the return of the Lord, and there will be a great apostasy as the nations are deceived once more. He will gather together the enemies of God for battle, deceiving many who will not abide in Christ. They will make war against those who do proclaim the message of the Lamb of God and call upon the Name of the Lord. But God will bring about the final defeat of those who oppose Him, and will rescue the faithful.

Then the devil will be utterly separated from the people of the kingdom of God forever. Like the beast and the false prophet, he will be cast into the lake of fire, and will face eternal torment together with all who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of the Savior who gave His life for us. See 2 Thessalonians 1.

How will the earth be judged? As God has promised, an appointed Day of Judgment is coming. All the dead will come before the King of Life, Jesus Christ. The only hope for anyone on that day is that the righteousness of the Lord Jesus would be credited to his account. Those who have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be counted as righteous and their deeds of faith working out in love will be remembered. See Matthew 25.

What a gift of love! Before you were born, the gift of God's love for you in particular was written in His eternal decree. In the fullness of the Old Covenant age, God sent His Son. Your name was written on the palms of His hands. Your sin was atoned for. By the work of the Spirit of Life sent forth from the Father and the Son, you were granted faith and you called upon the Name of the Lord. You were immediately credited with all the righteousness that God demanded according to His plan for you in Christ. Throughout your days you have lived for Him, loved Him, worshiped Him, and some have even been granted the privilege of dying for His Name. And when the fullness of time comes again, this time at the end of the New Testament era, when the three and a half times are over, when the thousand years are completed, when the false prophet, the beast, and even the devil are removed from this earth, you will be openly acknowledged and acquitted before the throne of God in Christ, for you are a son of God in Jesus.

When that work of final judgment is finished, death will die, and the grave will be buried beyond the reach of man and beyond the borders of the renewed earth. You will never have to face the second death. Jesus did that for you on the cross. You will live with Him and with all the people of God forever.

Revelation 19

It is important for us to understand that God's judgment is coming upon the worldwide city of man. But that story is a prelude to a bigger story. A great multitude in heaven is crying out “Praise the Lord!” Almighty God is bringing about the fullness of His saving plans. The biggest news is not the Lord's justice upon the worldwide city that has persecuted the church for so many centuries. Heaven rejoices about that, but that event clears the way for the culmination of all that is the city of God.

God's justice is worthy of great celebration in its own right. It is right that the blood of the martyrs will be avenged. The Lord God, who loves His people, and who is perfect in wisdom and holiness, is the One who knows what must be done, and how to do it. Heaven celebrates the goodness of God in all His frightening justice. But the people of God also rejoice in the permanence of the Lord's destruction of evil. The image of the smoke from the city of man going up forever and ever means that the people of God will no longer be persecuted by the wicked who have hated and killed the innocent.

The people who call God “our God,” those who fear Him in reverence and holy worship, whether they are small or great, recognize the truth that all that God does is good. People in heaven are beyond sinful doubting. They know that whatever God ordains is right.

The beauty of the Lord's perfect plan of redemption is that His people will see all things under His feet. Today we do not see that, and we wonder. There is a day coming when the faith becomes sight, and the rejoicing of the church will be full. The church will be with her Bridegroom and He will have His holy bride. The long awaited marriage of Christ the Lamb and His people will be a cause of unambiguous celebration.

Until that day comes, the people of God need to make themselves ready for Jesus. Clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, we are to live out the power of the blood of the Lamb in a world where faithfulness may lead to persecution. The victories we experience now through faith will be ornaments of beauty in the heavenly consummation. In simplicity and gentleness we do deeds of righteousness today. These have been granted to us, together with the gift of suffering for Christ that proves the genuineness of our faith. We are blessed, and we will be blessed, for we have been invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

John was so moved by everything that He saw in this vision that He fell at the feet of the angel! His message is overwhelmingly good. Even the apostle was confused as to who was speaking at that moment. He was redirected to the worship of God and to the testimony of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whose Word is the very Spirit of prophecy.

Then out of heaven He saw the coming of the Word Himself. One day you will see Him come. Faithful! True! Righteous! Powerful! Victorious! Look at His garments dipped in blood for your sake. Hear the voice of the perfect Word of God Himself. He has a sharp sword to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. See Psalm 2. Who will dare to stand in His way? The King will come.

His enemies will be utterly destroyed, consumed in His holy anger, yet they will face a wrath that is eternal. Somehow we are there as part of His victorious army. We are not afraid of enemy soldiers, kings, or the beast. Our Savior is with us.

How can we celebrate the destruction of so many? How can we participate in such holy judgment? Who are we to be there? The Apostles and prophets will be there. The man who was Saul, who persecuted Christians, how will he be among the victorious soldiers of heaven in the company of the sinless Lamb of God? How will Peter be there, who denied the Lord three times?

How will you and I be there? And we will not be alone. Many weak sinners who called upon the Name of the Lord and were saved will be there as well. People who could never stand on the merits of their own lives will be there. How is it that we end up with Christ, cheering for the vindication of God and His people, when so many others will receive the full weight of the unbearable holiness of God? How is it that we are judged as righteous in the sight of a holy God who demands perfect and perpetual obedience? Only by the grace of the Lord, but by that grace, we stand, if by that grace we believe, and surrender.

What can we say about the others who will face the judgment of the Lord when there is so much in our own record that could be evidence that would demand our just condemnation? “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

It is so important to be in Jesus for eternal life. And if we say that we are in Him, then we should walk in His ways. He was wounded for our transgressions, but one day He will come with a sword of His Word, and that sword will decimate the city of man. But we are not those who live for the city that will be destroyed. We love the city of God. When that city comes it will be the Lord's finest hour. And the people of God will shout, “Praise the Lord!” Hallelujah!

Revelation 18

The city of man must fall. She has expressed her alluring power even before these words were ever uttered that we have recorded in Genesis 11:4, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” She is the imperial city where men go to make a name for themselves. She is Nineveh, Babylon, and Rome. It is a horrible scandal, but she is also Jerusalem of old, as well as Samaria to her north. She certainly was that great merchant city of Tyre on the seas, but she was also Corinth and Ephesus. Wherever commerce is king and idols are worshiped she is there. She has been Leningrad, London, Paris, and New York. She loves herself and she will not sincerely bow before anyone else.

As the centuries have progressed, she has suddenly become the whole world. When the Puritans came to New England, the leaders thought that their colony would be a new Jerusalem, a city on a hill, an example to all, but interfering in the internal affairs of none. They supposed that other nations, including old England, would see the light, and imitate the good land. What has proceeded from that seed has instead become a one-world city of commerce. Her brand names are everywhere, and with them come her new culture, a way of life marked by the latest technology, moral license, and godlessness. The meaning of all of the individual cities of the world must now yield to this new worldwide city of man.

Yet this Babylon too will fall. No one can say how many more cities like her must come and go. Her idols are impressive, but God has known about her from of old. He is working out His purposes. There is a better city coming, the city of God, and the city of man, the world-wide city of cities, must fall.

Look at what she has become! She is “a dwelling place for demons,” full of every idol and unclean way of thought and life. No nation remains untouched by her. They have all become unclean because she touches the whole world. Along the way she spreads her wealth everywhere. But what do men buy with all their winnings? Nothing that cannot be easily swept away by the Lord.

The church, the people of the Lord, must be different than this city of man. We are the Lord's heavenly kingdom on the earth. We need to come out of the city of man, even though, of necessity, we still live in it throughout the present age. Yet we reject her sinful ways, and we know that God will repay her for what she has done.

The wrath that is coming upon this city of man will be her destruction. She will be paid back double for her murders and her blasphemies. The cup that only Jesus could drink, that cup of God's justice, will be far more than Babylon can handle. Our Lord suffered on the cross, and then said, “It is finished.” But when God's true displeasure comes down on the world-wide city of man, though she thinks of herself as the fruitful queen of the earth, her demise will come all at once.

For centuries she scoffed at the Lord, pretending to honor Him when that brought her wealth, and quickly turning to false gods for her amusement and profit. She lived for bread and circuses, but a fire will destroy her proudest entertainments and objects of devotion. The Lord of hosts will judge her.

The people of the world who loved her wealth, who lived in luxury with her, they will mourn when she burns. They will remember the good times of this great and mighty city, and they will be shocked that her judgment has come upon her in a single hour.

How will they buy and sell without the city of man? She brought exotic goods from far away, and provided outlets for all their produce. From spices to slaves, she had it all. Everything was a product to her with a price, even people, and she bought and sold them like bread. She satisfied the fleshly longings of the rich everywhere, all for a price. When this worldwide city of man burns, merchants all over the earth will weep.

The world will be shocked by this sudden disaster, and people all over the planet will mourn, but heaven will rejoice. The world will see the smoke of her burning, and they will receive the news of her destruction like many must have taken in the shock of the news of the fall of Rome. They will say, “What city was like the great city?” But heaven will not be surprised, and the inhabitants of the world above will not mourn.

Why will heaven rejoice? Justice will have finally come upon the city of man. Babylon was God's agent of judgment against Judah in the sixth century BC, but she was to be judged by God for her own iniquities when her time came. This is what will happen to the world-wide city of man. She had her day of glory, but that day will come to an end. Though the earth will weep, heaven will see the justice of God's ways, and the inhabitants there will celebrate.

Just like that, like a great weight being thrown off the necks of the Lord's suffering servants and cast into the sea, the great city of man will be gone. No more of her music, her art, her manufacturing, her bright lights, her celebrity marriages... And no more of her sorcery that had such a hold on the world. She will not kill one more follower of Jesus Christ.

The Lord has won for Himself a far greater kingdom than the world and the devil could ever have offered Him. He purchased that new world with His blood. He will soon take possession of what He owns. He will not allow any imposter imperial city of evil to stand forever. May Jesus reign in the fullness of His perfect eternal purpose. May His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Revelation 17

Throughout the centuries of the existence of the church of Jesus Christ, there have always been great temptations to choose the glory of the powers of the earth that we can see above the glory of heaven promised to us by our Lord. The world wears plenty of make-up. She makes herself attractive to the church, and many are deceived. Our lives here below are brief and confusing. When the church is brought face to face with the judgment of God, or when a man finishes his brief time in his mortal body, he must face his Maker. How attractive is the face of the alluring world on that day?

The system of living for today's wealth, pleasure, and fame is pictured as a great prostitute who seems to have power over a very tumultuous earth. Kings have been enticed by her, and have lost their way. Regular people who dwell here below have become drunk on her wine. Now they are gone. What would they say to us today if we could talk to these victims of her seduction from previous generations?

There is no rural hamlet where the charms of this prostitute are unknown, yet she seems to thrive especially with the rich and the famous. The capital of the empire is just the place for her. She is that city. Everything that she sells is there within a very short reach. Is she religious? She might be if she needs to be. She rides the beast that is full of blasphemous names. But she knows nothing of the true power of the cross. Her specialty is lust, though she may whisper words of sacred love.

She is the great city of man, and she wants to be your mother, your lover, your friend, and your supplier. Watch what she does with those chains in her hands. She makes slaves of those she kisses, and she will not be finished with you until she sees you dead.

Watch out for her beautiful clothing. Stay far away from her gold and her jewels. Never drink her wine. It is more than you can handle. Better a simple life with a Friend who is closer than a brother than spending eternity with this prostitute.

She is Babylon in the sixth century BC and Rome in the first century AD. What city shall we call her today? She is full of secret knowledge that you will do well to ignore. Wherever she goes she makes sin look sophisticated and holiness look ignorant. She hides it well, but you can catch the slurring of her words. She is drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Her pathway is a road of death. She murders.

She is something to look at though. Even John marveled when he saw her. But the angel tells the apostle that there is no need to be impressed by any supposed mysteries connected with who she is, or who she is with, or what she represents, or what will become of her. She has been in league with the same beast that was seen earlier, the one who was, was not, but who would be again, the masquerade messiah who deceives so many, and who is only an expression of the demonic realm of the old serpent, the dragon.

Keep this in mind: There are those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, and there are those who will face the judgment of the dragon, the beast, and the prostitute. There is only one thing beyond this simple fact of the difference between the righteous and the wicked that you need to know: Jesus is the One who has secured that life for us which is life indeed. He is the Lamb. He has eternal blessing in His hands. The book where our names are written is His book. Stay far away from every alluring imposter who is always ready to sell herself to you. Ignore the makeup, and see the cosmic prostitute for what she is: a demonic deathtrap where fools are led off to their appointed end.

She has the power of Rome, and the mystery of Babylon, but she is nothing more than evil. She will be expressed in as many regimes as God sees fit, but her judgment is coming. When some great nation or people serve on her team, they are given their hour in a divine drama. But the story is ultimately God's story, and it will soon come to an end.

This prostitute may seem inseparable from the dragon and the beast, but eventually they turn against her. Until that day, they all agree on this: They hate the Lamb who gave Himself for those whose names are written in His book of life. They are not in that book, and they make war on our Captain. But that Lamb will conquer them. All the imposters, the kings that love the prostitute, the prostitute herself, the beast, the dragon, the crowds of the world that insist on something other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, all of these will be conquered by the one Savior of sinners. All of their power, wealth, and glory, can be swept away in a moment. The true Lord of lords is the real Man of Power. The true King of kings has the authentic title to all authority in heaven and on earth. Did we think that He would lose? He won on the cross for us. He won when He rose from the grave. He won when He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of glory. He will win again when He comes to judge the living and the dead.

Eventually the waters of the nations of the world, the kings of many polluted regimes, and the beast itself turn against the prostitute. They always will. They will destroy the city of man themselves. They will hate the Babylon they thought they loved. They will be the end of Rome, her empire, all her successors, and all her idolatry. Everything must give way to the final beast. Then his awful, oppressive, murderous kingdom will be destroyed in a moment by the One who alone is sovereign and true. Who is the victor after all? The prostitute? The beast? No, Jesus is the final King, the King who knows how to judge evil, and who is full of kind compassion for His suffering children.

Revelation 16

Seven seals, seven trumpets, and now finally seven bowls of the wrath of God...

When the Son of God suffered for sinners, He eventually came to the end of that suffering. We know that our Lord faced physical pain for us, but even the most detailed and accurate analysis of His bodily injury by the most knowledgeable eyewitness would not reveal to us enough of what Christ actually went through for us.

Jesus of Nazareth took the judgment of God that we deserved. The pouring out of these final seven bowls of the Lord's wrath upon the earth are only the beginning. The punishments of hell are eternal. These bowls are temporal. Somehow, in the death of Jesus, an eternal penalty, which is what we have earned, was given to Christ in a brief space of time. And when it was completed, He was able to say, “It is finished.”

Any suffering that we personally feel, witness in others, or read about in the Scriptures, is just a portion of what Jesus has faced for us. The seven final bowls being poured out on the earth, if we consider them rightly, may tell us more about the soul suffering of Christ for His people throughout the world than even the most detailed and accurate eyewitness account of His deprivation, torture, and death could ever accomplish. Perhaps this is why the gospel writers avoid detailed descriptions of the Lord's physical trials, stating the facts in the most plain and minimal way possible.

When the judgments of the Lord were poured out upon the Land of Egypt so long again, those who did not have the mark of the blood of the passover lamb on their homes experienced the death of the firstborn. In the day of the Lord's final judgment, there will be many who have submitted to a different mark, the mark of the beast, in order to avoid the trouble that would have come to them from insulting the powers of the world system that insisted on their worship. But when God comes to judge, that mark of the beast will bring no man safety. On the contrary, painful sores will come on the bodies of the those who have aligned themselves with the world's system of false worship.

In the days of Moses, the rivers of Egypt turned to blood. Now the seas themselves will become blood, and everything in them will die. There will be no relief from an alternate supply of water, for the rivers and the very springs of water that feed them will be come blood in that day. The angels who bring about these acts of divine justice will proclaim the righteousness of the Lord, and His dedication to the martyrs who have remained true to the Name of Christ, even at the cost of their lives. The world celebrated to shed the blood of the faithful. Now they shall have so much blood everywhere that there will be no fresh water left. “It is what they deserve,” comes the voice of the angel, and the very altar in the heavens where the martyrs safely abide in Christ, will testify that the judgments of the Lord are just and true.

Who can live through these great displays of God's righteous anger? The sun will bring forth the most fierce heat, and men who feel the pain will not repent. They will not give God the glory. They will curse the Name of God. Is this all too horrific to consider? This horror of pain and divine displeasure that seems like hell on earth was once centered upon one innocent Lamb for our sake. In that day so long ago our sins were atoned for. In the Day of Judgment that is coming, the system of darkness and evil in the world will be utterly and finally overthrown. The beast and his kingdom will be judged, and sent away into outer darkness. We may turn away our hearts at the thought of such devastation, just as we might have turned our eyes away from the cross, yet both God's judgment against His holy Son for our sake, and His destruction of the world system in one final death blow are necessary in order for the holy purposes of the Lord to be accomplished.

This great work of the Lord against the demonic and societal evil that so polluted His creation will provoke a desperate response among men and angels who hate the Lord and who love their own kingdom of idolatry and evil. They will bring the power of kings and kingdoms against God. They will perform signs to gather their host in a war that they could never win. They will feel the strength of their numbers, but the Lord Himself will come like a thief in the night. His people will wait for him in that desperate hour, and He will come.

When the final bowl of God's judgment is poured out on the earth from the Lord's heavenly throne, a loud voice from on high will announce, “It is done.” The sky will be filled with lightening. The earth will shake as never before. The cities of man will be split apart, and the Babylon of man's idolatry and oppression will have to drink the cup of the wine of the fury of God's wrath.

Will the people of the world repent in that day? No, they will curse God for the earthquake and for the massive hailstones that He sent upon the earth. This will be the response of those devoted to the beast.

The suffering of our Savior on the cross, the way that He took our judgment and accomplished our redemption, it should take our breath away. But when we see it in the truth of the Word preached to us, by the grace of God we receive His great love for us, we repent of our sin. We turn away from all the glory of Babylon, and we rejoice in the Jerusalem that is above. If we have to suffer in order to stay with the Lamb, so be it. If our blood must be shed, it is the will of the Lord. But one day His answer will come from heaven, and the beast of this world system will be crushed.

Revelation 15

It is good to be reminded that what we have recorded in this last book of the Bible are the signs in heaven that the Apostle John himself saw. The man who was the disciple that Jesus loved, the young follower to whom Jesus entrusted His mother as He was dying on the cross, the faithful proponent of Christian love who gave us the gospel account that bears his name, this man who was sent into exile on the Island of Patmos because of the Word that he preached, this John saw all these things. If we would not ignore the letters of Paul, we should not think it wise to ignore the great and amazing visions of John. They are reliable, and we need to take them in.

Many of these signs, including those in Revelation 14, impress upon us the fact of the divine judgment that is coming upon the earth. Notice that the plagues that come down upon the earth are in the hands of angels sent from heaven on a mission from above. The wrath that they bring is not the wrath of the dragon, but the wrath of God, who is bringing His anger to a culminating display of divine justice against the Lord's enemies. No one has a right to accuse the Lord concerning these events. He is right to be angry about the sinful rebellion of mankind, and He warned us for many centuries that He would one day bring a Day of Judgment against the earth.

It is perverse for sinful men to think that we have the right or ability to enter into judgment against the Almighty. He is the ultimate Law-Giver. He is in heaven, and He does what pleases Him. Far from thinking that we have the wisdom and knowledge to critique the Lord, we should listen to the chorus of the redeemed in heaven who extol the Lord.

Those who have resisted the devil and the beast on earth, those who would not worship the world but who loved to call on the Name of the Lord, they are there around the shore of the sea of glass mingled with fire in John's vision. They are engaged there in extolling the most worthy Recipient of all our love and admiration.

They have conquered the beast. This is an amazing statement since some of these worshipers have lost their lives on earth at the hands of ungodly oppressors. They were involved in a struggle that ended in their death. Everyone thought that the beast won, just like it looked in the struggle between the priestly faction and Jesus. He was the one who ended up on the cross. Yet He won. He conquered. Martyrs who have followed the Lord have seemed to be the losers in their earthly struggles. But all who live and die in the faith of Jesus are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Now they sing on high the Song of Moses, the Old Covenant mediator, and the Song of the Lamb, Jesus of Nazareth, the New Covenant Mediator. These are not two different songs, but one, since the message of the Law has been fulfilled in the Prophet, Priest, and King about whom Moses testified. The Lamb of God has come, and the saints in heaven are singing to Him and to the Father.

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

The Son of God is the Lord. He is the Almighty One. He has all of the justice and truth of His Father. And now He has become the King of the nations. We do not yet see all things in submission to Him, but His Name is to be feared and glorified together with the Name of the Father. He has completed all of the righteousness required under the Law, and now as the risen Lord of heaven and earth, all nations shall worship Him.

Even today, we really do know that is a great joy to praise the Lord! Some people who truly do believe, may yet have trouble feeling the joy of worship the way that others within the family of faith do. That's alright. We don't live on our feelings. Surely we all know that God is worthy. But when we get to heaven, we will all feel it and know it in the fullness of joy and truth that is the very air of that place.

A prominent element of heavenly truth is that the judgment of God Almighty is coming out of heaven and is descending upon the earth. This final devastation of the seven golden bowls proceeds from the very center of the glorious community of worship above, coming out of the heavenly sanctuary in the hands of seven angels bringing the fullness of seven plagues upon the earth.

God is in the midst of the judgment of the earth. As hard as it is for us to fathom today, this is a matter of God's glory and character. He does not run away from it, though He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is so very present in His heavenly sanctuary as these angels are sent forth, that His glory and power are overwhelming in that place.

This same glory and power also came against our Savior on the cross when He died for us. How can we cheer about that? The Innocent One suffered for sinners. Yet we do boast in the cross, and now alongside of the glory of God's justice, we have come to know the glory of His mercy and grace, and we are moved to praise Him even now, as we see in these words what John once saw with his very eyes. Believe in the testimony of God, and rejoice in the Lord always.

Revelation 14

We have seen that one of the major themes of the book of Revelation is that the gospel era, that period between the death and resurrection of Jesus and the final Day of the Lord, is a time of great struggle for the church on earth. Most recently, in Revelation 13, that fact was communicated to the churches by a vision of two beasts, one from the seas, and a second from the land who had a supportive role in promoting the worship of the first beast.

In this time of struggle for the church, a time when it is very conceivable that one might lose his life for standing firm against emperor worship, or any other popular idolatry of a given time and place, there will be occasions when the church will face active and obvious persecution. There will be other times when we will be largely ignored as irrelevant. Through all of this, people will be suffering, mourning, and dying, both inside and outside the Lord's assembly of worshipers.

If one of the main directives of this book is perseverance in the midst of trial, it is of great usefulness for the people of God to have a glimpse through the door to heaven to see what happens to those who suffer for their faith on earth after their adversaries have done to them all they can do. Intimidation and torture can only go so far. Death itself limits the power of the enemies of the gospel.

Seeing the perfected church, already in the present heavens, reminds us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” We can learn that lesson very plainly from Romans 8, but we can also learn it through these visions given to John.

What is beyond the door to heaven today? John sees a Mount Zion that is above, and standing on that place of the Lord's presence is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. There are people there with the Lamb. They are the perfected force of that new Israel with the symbolic number of such powerful fulness, 12 times 12,000. They no longer face the wrath of the dragon or of the beast of this world. They are not subject to their own doubts and the severe discouragements that come to the church when our own plans for good are not in line with the Lord's better purposes. They have on their foreheads, not the name of the beast, but the perfect Name of the Father and the Son.

They have ears to hear in that place, and they have lips that speak. Even better, they are singing before the throne of God. They are the beloved who have been redeemed from the earth. They accompany Christ wherever He goes, and they have the perfect purity of those who are undefiled. They are a symbolic representation of the church, or perhaps some segment of the church above. This vision should excite our imagination and encourage our hearts through times of the greatest distress. The saints above are even now living for the Father and the Son, and they are happy and blameless.

This vision of heavenly glory must now be combined with the reality of the church on earth. Here the eternal good news of Jesus Christ is still being proclaimed, sometimes in the midst of open hostility. The church here below has a job to accomplish. It is the Lord's will that men would hear this sacred message through vessels of clay. He uses people to preach to other people all over the earth. That message looks ahead to the fact of a coming judgment. It looks back to the One who is the Lord of creation. By this Word proclaimed through the church, people everywhere are called to worship God, the Alpha and the Omega.

In that Word that somehow comes from heaven but is heard through the lips of men, the false hope of the world in the Babylon of this present age is confronted. Are you supposing that the power of people and the force of mighty governments will solve the serious problems that confront humanity? The Babylon of mighty rulers and armies will be a safe refuge for no one. The city of the world, with all her pride and her obvious accomplishments will not stand in the Day of Judgment.

During her few years of power, her three and a half of the New Testament age, she was very intimidating to many. If she withheld food, you would starve. If she sentenced you to death for crimes against her authority, you would die. She once caught people in the snare of her charms. But now suddenly she is fallen forever.

There was a day when it seemed that the only safe course was to worship the beast, to bow down before its image, to receive the mark, and to drink from the blasphemous cup. But God's wrath is now coming against the Babylon of the world.

Christ has taken that cup of wrath for all who are in the Lamb's book of life. He has entirely consumed the deadly brew for our sake. The rest must face that cup full strength. Who can stand such a punishment? We should turn again to Christ with renewed resolve every day, keep the way of God, which is love, and imitate the faith of Jesus.

If we die in the Lord, what more can the beast do to us. Much worse to play the game of idolatry today, and then face the torment of God's wrath forever. Will we rest in Christ, and find one day that our death is precious in His sight, and our labors not in vain, or will we face the winepress of the wrath of God forever? There will be no end to the blood on that Day of Judgment. But we worship a Savior who, when He was giving His own blood in His death for our sins, uttered these words: “It is finished.”

Revelation 13

God rules the raging of the sea. The waters may roar, together with all the creatures that fill the oceans; the restless world and all who dwell in it. But when the Son of God came to atone for our transgressions, He was able to still the sea with the power of His voice. When God sent forth His messenger earlier in John's vision, he did what man could not do. He stood securely with one foot on the sea and the other on the land. Jesus can defeat any beast that rises up against us.

Revelation 13 speaks of two beasts that are on the same evil team. The first comes out of the sea crowned with ornaments of power and authority, standing against God with blasphemous names on his heads. This beast has the power of the old dragon, Satan. If the beast seems to be dead, do not imagine that his story is over yet. The world worships the beast as well as the dragon who is the one who empowers him.

That beast has his three and a half times of the current age during which he is able to speak against God and His heavenly church. Yet the beast and the dragon are not above the Lord. Their pretense at absolute majesty and divinity fits into a larger sovereign plan that is beyond them. We are told that the beast is “given” a mouth to say certain things, and that it is “allowed” to exercise authority for a defined period of time. It was “allowed” to make war against the church on earth and even to conquer them. Remember that God allowed Babylon of old to conquer Jerusalem. That was part of His larger plan as well. We can trust Him even through overwhelming setbacks.

This beast is not only allowed to plague the church. He is also given an extraordinary friendship with the world beyond the church, everyone “whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” This phrase is worthy of your careful consideration. God has known His people long before they were born. He also knew that His Son would be the Lamb slain for our salvation. All of the central truths of sin and redemption were part of the eternal decree of Almighty God. It should not surprise us that the suffering that comes to us in our lives was also planned by God.

Some will be taken captive, as the Israelites were so many centuries before. Some will be slain by the sword, as was James the brother of the writer of this book in the early years after the ascension of Jesus to heaven. The call to the church is not to safety and ease, but to faith and endurance.

There is a second beast who now appears rising out of the earth. The role of this being is to make “the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.” He performs spectacular prophetic, Elijah-like, power encounter signs that impress and deceive many people, leading them to make an image of the beast and to worship that image.

This image is more than a lifeless idol. Just as the serpent in the Garden had capabilities beyond what would have been expected from a being lower than mankind, this image inspires fear in the hearts of those who fall for these spectacular displays. It can kill you if you don't worship it.

Christ is the true image of the true God. He speaks to us as the Word of peace who was willing to suffer the pains of hell for us. He looks on us in our trembling need and says, “Fear not.” And we are marked through baptism in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The idolatrous image also demands that the people be marked, claiming absolute authority over everyone. Small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, they must all have his mark. If they do not then they cannot buy or sell. Do you want to make something of your life in this world? Even more than that, do you want to be able to eat, to have a place to live, to engage in necessary acts of commerce? Sorry, the law is the law, and there are people ready to enforce it. You need to get with the program. That bit of incense to Caesar. That sign in the shop window that assures the authorities that you are a loyal comrade. Participation in customary observances that display the right kind of patriotism. Don't you just love the world? Won't you stand up for the great beast that came out of the tumultuous seas? Would you dare to defy the voice of this second beast. He calls all the people to give appropriate respect to the image of the one who has done powerful deeds.

Behold the man! Here is the new Adam. His number is six. He is one and many. He defies the living God and stands against the true Son of David, our Messiah. But he must do all this according to God's permission. Every opportunity for authority must be given to him by the real God. How humiliating!

But what a test for all those who would follow the Suffering Servant of the Lord! What a difference between Christ and the beast. The beast seems to be able to bring about impressive displays of the spectacular. He can make you starve. He can kill you. But Jesus died for you. He is the Lord of love.

As for the spectacular, the true resurrection is a worthy achievement. And the kingdom of heaven above is the very definition of matchless glory. Do not be fooled by any usurper demanding your worship. Stay with the one King who gave His life for your eternal well being. Here is a call to patient endurance.

Revelation 12

The church has a job to do as witnesses to the grace and justice of God. This job is undertaken within an environment that may be very hostile. As God told us so long ago, there will be enmity between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

A sign of this battle appears in the heavens during John's revelatory vision. Who is this woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars on her head? Is this Eve, the mother of all living? Is this the Old Covenant Community of Israel, from whom the Messiah has come? Is this Mary, the mother of Jesus? Is this the church throughout the ages, or is it some combination of these possibilities? We will have to gather the clues as they are presented in this chapter, letting Scripture interpret Scripture, as the key points of this episode are revealed to us.

The appearance of the woman displays her heavenly grandeur, but her story is one of earthly danger. She is destined for glory, but she faces the agony of pain in the gospel age. That travail is especially connected to the birth of her child, reminding us of the curse of Genesis 3. Christ has also warned the church that her current sufferings are like birth pains. A new temple, a living temple, is coming to life, and that involves pain.

The woman's opponent is that dragon of old, Satan, and all his team. He stands against the woman, her singular Child, and the plural children that are spoken of at the end of this chapter. This dragon is angry and fierce. He is waiting to devour that one Child, like Herod was eagerly seeking the infant who was born to be the King of the Jews, not to worship Him as he pretended, but to kill Him. The woman gave birth to a male child, as Mary did, that one male child who would rule not only the Jews, but all the nations with a rod of iron, See Psalm 2. The dragon was not able to finally defeat the Seed of the woman, and He was caught up to God and to His throne in the present heavens. The ascended Jesus now reigns from heaven.

Meanwhile the woman, this Eve, this Israel as the mother of the Messiah, this Mary, fled into the wilderness, like the Hebrews who were delivered from the bondage of their captors in Egypt so long ago. Like the New Testament church, she has her time of three and a half where she suffers, but where she is kept alive by God, and where her people are brought one by one to the place that Jesus has prepared for us above.

Now that Christ has cleansed the heavenly sanctuary, it is more sure than ever that Satan has been defeated. Yet the Son of God is still engaged in warfare through His church on earth. Satan and his fallen angelic host cannot find any place left for them in heaven, where the church is safely protected, but they are wreaking havoc upon the beloved of the Lord all around us. The accuser of the brethren can no longer defame the children of the Lord from heaven, but he does wage his losing battle below. Yet he is no match for the blood of the Lamb, which is our strong refuge against every accusation, together with the Word of the testimony, now completed for us with this final book of the New Testament.

The church will win even this battle on earth. We are not more crafty than the devil, but we are willing to suffer for the Name. That is powerful. We do not love our lives more than we love Jesus. Nonetheless, the battle is intense. The church is willing to die for the truth of Christ. The devil, full of wrath, is seeking to express his murderous anger. He knows that his time is short.

He has heard the words of Christ on the cross, “It is finished.” He knows that he has lost access on high. Whoever the woman is, the devil pursues her, for she has given birth to the male Child that is the Savior of the world. The woman is more than just Mary. She is a symbolic representation of the Lord's true Israel, just as Mary herself is like a second Eve, and a living icon of the Old Covenant faithful. Out of the Jews, Jesus has come, and the dragon is full of wrath against them.

God is protecting His people during this time of three and a half. Though Satan would desire to express His wrath against the Jews and against all the faithful people of the Lamb, the Lord has limited our suffering according to His wise decrees. God can cause the earth to open up, swallowing up the serpent's venom, and saving the Lord's people out of many dangerous waters. Yet every act of God that displays His loving and powerful care for the true remnant of Israel and the full number of the people of God, causes the enemy of the woman to hate the Lord's church all the more.

There is one singular Child of the woman who is our salvation. He is the Seed of Eve promised so long ago. He is the only truly faithful Son of the Old Testament Covenant Community. He is the Son of Mary and the Son of God. In Him, many Jews and Gentiles have found their sure salvation. In this one Christ we have become the children of the Lord. We share in His glory, but we also share in His struggles as we face the enmity of the serpent for a little while longer.

With that secure hope, let us keep the commandments of God, and let us hold to the testimony of Jesus. We have the wonderful privilege of a strong association with that singular Child of the woman. It comes with pain, for there is a battle going on, and that one male Child has many enemies.

Revelation 11

God uses His lampstand, the church, to be a witness of things that they have not yet seen. They speak of Christ, but they have not seen Him. They preach about the fact and the significance of the event of the cross that took place so many centuries earlier, but they have only heard about it from others who came before them. The talk about the resurrection of Jesus, about the present heaven, and about the general resurrection that is coming at the return of Christ, and they bear witness about things that they have never seen with their own eyes. How can this be? The church speaks based on the Word of God, and that Word is a better source of truth than anything that any of the preachers of the church could testify to from their own experience.

Who are the two witnesses that John speaks of in Revelation 11? Before we get to that important question, we see John doing something that reminds us of the chapters at the end of Ezekiel, where the prophet is brought to measure a visionary temple that in Ezekiel 47 is shown to be beyond this creation. The same heavenly temple in Revelation is within the world in a way, as the New Testament church exists within the world. It has its duration of half a time, whatever that may signify. God is not going to tell us here how many years the New Testament age of the gospel will continue until our Lord returns. It is presented to us as three and a half somethings, half of seven. Here it is 1,260 days, which is three and a half years. Later it is said to be three and a half days. The point is the same. There is a defined period of time for the preaching of the Word after the great events of Christ have taken place. God knows this time, and we do not.

The two witnesses clothed in sackcloth are also called two olive trees and two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. See Zecheriah 4. They are representatives from heaven, full of the Holy Spirit and the prophetic Word, who speak among men. They seem weak to men, but the Lord is able to give them a powerful Word. Like Elijah and Moses in the Old Covenant era, they can show forth the power of God in life and death.

The world and the devil hate what these men represent, because they will not submit to the Word that comes from heaven. Therefore these trees face suffering and even death. Yet the gates of hell will never prevail against the prophetic Word that is preached by the Lord's church.

Men thought that they were finished with the Christian movement when they killed our King on the cross, yet He was the one who had the victory, and His resurrection was a display of His vindication. If His ambassadors are killed, does anyone think that He cannot bring forward a renewed witness from His church?

The great city of man, that Rome, that Sodom, that Egypt, that Jerusalem that is below, the world, thinks they are always winning. Yet powerful rulers still die and face the Lord against whom they railed and whose servants they have persecuted. They kill those who bring the testimony of the Word, treating them like the Philistines treated the bodies of Saul and Jonathan. But they cannot win against the God that these two witnesses serve. After their brief trial is over, they will enjoy a breath of life from God in the present heavens. While the earth continues to face the Lord's judgment, His faithful church will be safe with Christ. Eventually, when our King returns, all the children of God from all ages will be revealed. Those who have proclaimed the Word and faced the hatred of men will be greatly blessed in resurrection glory. Yet even before that final moment, the church triumphant will be up in heaven. Christ knows just when to call us home.

Meanwhile the judgment of God upon the earth continues for as many centuries as He has determined. Finally the seventh trumpet will blow, and the rebellion on earth will be put to an end. Then Jesus will reign forever and ever, for the kingdom of this world will have become the kingdom of Yahweh and the Messiah.

This is one of several points in this visionary account when the final culmination of God''s eternal purpose is anticipated. The great assembly of all those who call upon the Name of the Lord in heaven love this report of God's complete victory and His plan to restore glory and holiness to the earth by His reigning over all of creation in the fullest way. We hear of this news on the other side of the divide, We have loved the words of the Law and the prophets. We have rejoiced in the message of Jesus, His death, and His resurrection which is being sacrificially proclaimed everywhere. Therefore we join with the heavenly chorus giving thanks to the Lord. We celebrate His eternal existence as the great I-AM. We look forward to the fullness of His everlasting reign.

By the preaching and hearing of the Word of God, we see things that our eyes haven not yet seen. The nations that rage against God, His church, and those who bring His Word, will be judged. Those who have believed and have been faithful in service to God will be rewarded. Those who have destroyed the earth will themselves be destroyed.

All of this that we have not yet seen is secure in the heavens, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. The events of our age unfold first from that place of glory. We will soon see this from the better side of the divide, but we look for the day when the divide between heaven and earth will be removed, and we will all be together with the Lord.

Revelation 10

The word for angel means “messenger” or “envoy.” What kind of representative of God comes down from heaven at the beginning of Revelation 10 as a part of the story of the Lord's trumpets of judgment? This mighty angel from heaven seems to be wrapped in the presence of God, with the glory cloud of the Lord all around Him. Above His head is the rainbow, the emblem of the Lord's covenant faithfulness to not destroy the earth again with a flood. His face is shining like the sun, for He is the radiance of the glory of God.

This messenger begins to sound to us like Jesus, the final Word, the Messenger of the covenant in whom the Lord delights. He has in His hand a scroll that He alone could take and open. His legs are like pillars of fire, the sign of God's presence to His people in the wilderness. He seems to straddle the entire earth in complete authority, with one foot on the sea and the other on the land. His voice is like the roar of a lion. The Lord roars from Zion according to the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus Himself is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. When He speaks, the fullness of the frightening thunder of God sounds throughout the earth. When this Messenger of God comes, no one can miss His appearing.

The thunder of God had intelligible content connected to it, but John is not allowed to write down that message as a part of this book. That word will be revealed to man at another time according to the Lord's choosing. For now it is sealed up in the hidden things of God.

The events contained in this vision of judgment are known to Him, and they are sure. The Lord Himself has sworn with upheld hand in the Name of Almighty God. This is a most solemn act, assuring John that when this final messenger comes, there will be no more delay. God is not slow in bringing about His judgment, but He is patient, insistent that not one of His children will perish, but that all will be drawn into the wonder of everlasting light.

Brothers and sisters, when it feels like everything in your life is falling apart, when a third of your day has turned to night, there is a divine Messenger of the Lord who has one foot on the land and the other on the seas. He is more than a messenger. Though He comes again to judge the living and the dead, He is the Prince of Peace to you today. Surrender to Him now lest you have to face Him when He comes in fury. He has sworn by the Name of God that there will be no more delay. Bow before Him while it is still called today. A trumpet is coming. It will sound, and it will be one blast too many for those who will not abide in the Lamb.

The God of the universe has sent Jesus once to save. Soon He will send Him again to destroy. That is a solemn promise. No one should assume that God is kidding about this. His determination to judge evil is as serious as the cross. Remember Lot's sons-in-law. The old man seemed to them to be joking when He told them to flee from the wrath of the Almighty. They would not listen, and they were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. Do not be like them and ignore the seriousness of the Lord's Messenger. One day there will be no more delay. The Day of the Lord will come. This was announced long ago to His servants the prophets. It will come to pass.

This message of impending judgment is not like an ice-cream sandwich. If you take it into your mouth, it is not pure delight. John was given the little scroll to eat. He was not given a choice as to whether he would consume it. He received this command: “Take and eat it.”

Today the Lord serves us the delicious food of His divine peace from heaven when we gather together on the Lord's Day for worship. He says, “Take, eat, this is My body.” He gives us the cup after the bread. He says, “This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. Drink of it all of you.” This good meal is a participation in the body and blood of our Savior. His death has become our life. The cup of God's wrath that He drank on our behalf has become for us a cup of blessing.

But this scroll of God's judgment that is coming against the unrepentant does not sit well in a feeling man's stomach. Even if it is as sweet as honey in your mouth, it will make your soul bitter with disgust. It will not sit well even in the heart of a man who thinks he knows and understands the goodness of the Lord's justice against sin. It is certainly stronger medicine than we can take for ourselves, and it may be too much for us to watch others consume that cup that only Jesus can bare.

One day we may be strong enough to rejoice in the glory of God's justice upon the unrighteous. Nonetheless, today, even though there may be words from God that trouble us, we must be faithful messengers of the one Messenger who will one day show that He is the King of heaven and earth.

We must preach the Word even about the bitter providences of God that touch people groups all over this tired planet, where things fall apart. This coming holy wrath is a portion of a full story that is most glorious. Those who will embrace the revelation of heaven coming upon the earth in a day of perfect renewal, must understand that until that day there will be great strife and horrible loss. We mourn with those who mourn, and we taste the bitterness with them of a world that has never been the same since the day when a man and a woman believed these lying words: “You will not surely die.” But we also rejoice with the inhabitants of heaven who celebrate before the angels of God, when even one lost sinner repents.

Revelation 9

When the people of Israel were delivered from their bondage in Egypt, God made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The Lord continues to distinguish in the New Covenant era between the church and the world in which the church now lives. One of the great messages of the book of Revelation is that a day is coming when there will be a permanent divide between the church and the world.

Even when some of the judgment of God seems to come from the pit of darkness, we are reminded that the Lord is in charge of the events that are taking place that have such a devastating impact upon the earth. In the previous chapter four trumpet blasts brought great trouble upon the earth. Now the fifth trumpet blows. The action begins in heaven, with some angelic figure who unleashes upon the earth plagues from the abyss.

God has kept evil under His sovereign control since death and sin entered the world. He rules over the events that touch the lives of His beloved children, and though some agent of evil might desire to sift them as wheat, that enemy is never allowed to go beyond what the Lord in His wisdom and love has permitted. This is not just true of particular individuals. W hole nations and people groups live and die according to the command of God in heaven.

If the Lord closes up some shaft of death and evil, people live and prosper. If He determines to open a door for the expression of His judgment upon the earth, an entire way of life can swiftly be removed from the earth. Has the judgment come from the bottomless pit? Yes, you can look at it that way, and you would be right. Does it originate first from the order established by God in heaven? Also yes, since an angel from above is the one blowing the trumpet, and subordinate authorities are “given power” from above. They are told what they can and cannot harm, and if they bring trouble upon anyone, it is because they were first allowed to do so.

The frightening images that John sees may be difficult to interpret, but the basic point is clear enough. The judgment of the Lord, whatever form it may take, is coming upon those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. That symbol is a sign that is visible to John only as a part of the vision. There is no real moment prior to the final resurrection when the elect will be known to all by a visible mark of God upon their bodies. The circumcision of the heart comes to us by the Spirit, and is known to God perfectly, but is expressed visibly among men only in the life that the faithful live in accord with the blessing of God's Spirit.

The judgments that are depicted here upon those who do not have the Lord's mark upon their souls are very significant. People will long to die, but death will elude them. To face the sting of whatever is symbolized here by the scorpion, tormenting people for five months but not permitted to take life, is a picture of horrific suffering.

Who can understand hell? Who has an adequate explanation for the level of suffering upon the earth even now? Those who answer quickly are too smart by half. It is enough to acknowledge the facts of divine justice as they are revealed to us, and to flee from the wrath of God to the sure safety that can only come in the cross of Christ.

Whatever the enemies may be that inflict such pain on the bodies of men in John's vision, they have a leading figure who is king over them. He is the fallen angel of the bottomless pit. He is a destroyer, and his name is destruction. Even he has his limits.

The sixth angel also blows the trumpet. Again destruction actually begins from the place of the Lord's authority in heaven. The command unleashes much trouble and destruction upon the earth. Four deadly angels, prepared for this moment, are sent to do the damage that God has ordained for that time and place, the killing of a major portion of mankind.

Who can live through such an assault that is sent forth from heaven? The number of powerful spiritual beasts bent on the destruction of so many people is simply overwhelming to contemplate. How much wrath from God is coming against man?

Yet with all of the horror of this day, it does not bring about repentance among those who are still alive. This is the depth of sin in the heart of man. This is how difficult it is for any man to find spiritual life. Even with such a great struggle and and such a deadly trial, so many are unwilling to acknowledge the Lord and to turn from their sins. They will not repent of their idolatry. They will not turn away from murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, or theft.

This display of the visionary wrath of God is only a small indication of the punishment our sin deserves. It is still not the fullness of what is due against us because of our rebellion against God and His ways.

This full weight of the righteous justice of God against us is what Jesus Christ carried on His body and soul on the tree of His great sacrifice. That cross was more horrible than anything that man alone could devise. Yet Jesus endured that hour for us. This is our great hope as we wait for a judgment against mankind that is surely coming: Christ has died for me. The light of His love shines most brightly with the backdrop of the Lord's divine wrath. We see a part of this with John in this difficult vision. But Christ has taken more than a part of what we deserve. He has taken it all, and that is far beyond anything that John has described in his book.