Good morning.
How are you all doing today?
Awesome, I'm doing great. Thank you so much.
We'd like to start our Sunday mornings by saying welcome to any of you who are joining us here in our room for the very
first time or if you're joining us online. So glad you're here to worship with us.
I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we are continuing our look at the second coming of Jesus Christ in Revelation
chapter 19.
You know one day the world will
surprisingly
be surprised
by the second coming of Jesus Christ here to planet Earth.
And when he comes a second time his return is going to be a permanent one.
It's not going to be a short visit like his first time.
It's not going to be a short visit in his adulthood, which is three and a half years of ministry was the first time.
It's going to be a permanent arrival. He's coming to set up his kingdom.
The kingdom of God, a kingdom of perfect righteousness, of perfect joy, and it's going to be a perfectly righteous rule and reign.
We've talked a little bit about how the second coming of Jesus Christ is going to be quite a bit different than his first coming.
You know in the first coming of Jesus, and obviously we're entering into the season where we're celebrating the birth of Jesus,
he came really as a helpless child.
Born into the world as a man, born into humanity in very humble conditions, born into the world in a feeding trough for animals.
But in his second coming he's going to be arriving as the warrior king to rule all, to rule everything.
His first time he came gentle,
meek, but his second time he's going to be coming strong and powerful.
And as Revelation 19 tells us he's coming to make war and to judge.
Now we have said a lot during our study of Revelation how this book is primarily about one thing.
The very opening of Revelation tells us that this is a revelation of Jesus Christ.
And this whole book has been about a revelation of Jesus Christ.
And I think very specifically it's a revelation of who Jesus Christ will be upon his return to this earth as the future hope of all of his people for all of time.
Now as has been stated I think much of the world is familiar with the first coming of Jesus, even the unbelievers,
because every year we have what's called the Christmas season.
And every year we have battles between people who want to have manger scenes in front of their businesses or homes and people who think,
no get rid of that stuff.
And we have the battle among people going, is it Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, right?
The world is well aware.
That a man named Jesus came to the earth one time in history.
And they know the story of his birth.
They know the story of the wise man following the star, the gifts that they brought.
They're familiar with the shepherds gathering from the songs that are sung during the season.
They're familiar with the angels making proclamation.
But I think they know less about his second coming.
They know less about his second coming.
They know less about his second coming even though scripture talks more about the second coming of Jesus than it does the first.
But I think it's more than just ignorance on the part of the world because the world doesn't want the kind of Jesus that will arrive at his second coming.
They want a manageable infant that they can just put up in store windows and in their manger scenes,
whether it's at home and other places, and they just want to leave it at that.
Oh, how cute.
Oh, how wonderful.
Oh, what a wonderful excuse to get presents.
And that's all the world wants in Jesus.
And really the world is always ready to acknowledge the pale Galilean image of Jesus that they have in their minds.
This meager anemic messiah.
And they'll go, yeah, no, that's fine for you. That's fine for you.
But in Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 21, it presents a Jesus that is far beyond their imagined control.
It presents a Jesus who comes in power and glory, one who rightfully demands honor and demands a submission of all the kings and peoples of the earth.
The second coming of Jesus is the culmination of history on earth.
When all accounts are settled between man and their creator.
When the righteous are rewarded.
When the wicked are finally judged fully and completely.
When he, the king of kings, the Bible tells us that he is, sets up his everlasting kingdom,
and it is something that his people have looked forward to for millennia.
Something we long for when we see the injustices in the world and wickedness in the world.
And so this section of scripture in Revelation 19 answers many questions about the second coming of Jesus Christ, including what will it be like?
What will we, his people, be doing during this event?
What is the final fate of those who reject him?
And so this morning, this is actually part two of a two parts message here.
We've been looking at this whole section, Revelation 19, 11 through 21.
In our previous message, we looked at verses 11 through 16, which is really the description of Jesus at his second coming.
The names given to him at his second coming.
And today we're going to be looking specifically at what he does when he arrives.
The activity he undertakes at his second coming.
And what we're going to see is the king accompanied by the armies of heaven conquering in almighty power.
But before we get to that, we're going to spend some time praising the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
worshipping him because he is due, right?
He is worthy of all praise and all worship.
And we want to start this morning just letting him know how we love him and our gratitude for the salvation he's given us.
So pray with me.
Father, we thank you, God.
Lord, we're so grateful for who you are.
We're so grateful for what you've done.
And Lord, we're even grateful for what you're going to do.
Lord, as we've studied through this Revelation, God, and you have revealed to the Apostle John the end of time, really, Lord.
This tribulation period, this last seven years of this age of Earth's history where you're going to pour out judgment upon the Earth.
God, we've seen some very difficult things, some very horrific things.
And yet, Lord, we know that all of this judgment, all the judgment you bring that you ever bring is done in perfect righteousness, in perfect justice, Lord.
And yeah, we worship you for that.
We praise you for that, God.
So, Lord, today we want to open up our study, God, as we have finally arrived at your coming, your arrival back to this Earth.
As you come and put your feet back down upon this Earth the second time, Lord.
We want to praise you for what you do as you come to make war and to judge.
But, Lord, it's really to end all war for all time.
And so, God, we thank you so much for everything you're doing.
Of course, God, we're so grateful for our individual salvation, Lord, because we are nothing without that.
We are lost without that.
But, Lord, we also celebrate that you will one day finally and completely and totally judge sin and make an end to all wickedness.
So, Lord, we want to lift your name on high, God, because we love you and you are worthy.
Receive all the glory and all the blessing, God.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So, we are in Revelation chapter 19 today, and we've been studying the second coming of Jesus Christ, this momentous event
that all of history has been looking forward to for basically forever, all the way back in the very beginning.
All of this has been on the docket and something that we've been eagerly anticipating as His people.
Now, the actions that Jesus Christ takes when He arrives for His second coming are actions that are reflective of His character and who He is.
And that character, that description of who He is is what we looked at in part one of this message, which you could find on YouTube if you missed it there.
But that's verses 11 through 16 of Revelation chapter 19.
And so we saw this wonderful description of Jesus as well as four specific names or titles that were given to Him unique to His second coming
or at least characteristic of His second coming.
And those titles, if you remember, were faithful and true.
He was called the Word of God.
He was given a name we don't know.
And so stop arguing about it, right? We don't know.
And then He was also called King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We saw in that description His fiery eyes, the many crowns He wore upon His head, His blood-splattered robe.
We saw in that description that the word of His mouth was like a sharp, two-edged sword.
We also saw His shepherd-like but very firm rule that is coming over all of the earth.
We saw His fierce but righteous and sinless wrath against sin and the wickedness of mankind.
And much of those descriptive elements that we looked at in our last study, they are symbolic.
They are symbolically representing aspects, characteristics of the exalted Jesus Christ and who He is at His second coming.
One of those sayings is it said that when heaven opened up and John saw this rider come in on a white horse,
and this white horse that Jesus rides in on is specifically in contrast to the horse or the mount He rode in on during His first coming.
If you remember, during His first coming as He entered into Jerusalem, He came in riding on a donkey.
Second time He comes in riding on this powerful white war horse.
And so one of them obviously representing humility, one of them representing power and authority.
And it's specifically interesting because in ancient times donkeys were specifically ridden on by kings during a time of peace.
But during times of war is when they rode on white war horses.
And so we see that during Jesus' first coming, He was coming as a sign of peace.
He was coming to bring peace.
He was coming to bring reconciliation between us, His creation, who are fallen and sinful and Him, our Creator.
But the second time, it's a totally different story.
And so I think the white war horse or the white horse is a particularly vivid imagery selected here as John is riding during John's time.
This letter was written at the end of the first century, which was when Rome was pretty much at the pinnacle of its power.
And during that time, when Roman emperors would go conquer a nation, the emperors would typically ride on a white horse in the victory parade that would come after.
They would have this parade through Rome.
And so the emperor would be on this big white powerful war horse representing his power and his authority and the fact that he's already conquered as the spoils of war were brought in behind him.
And so the idea of Jesus being on this white horse was a very powerfully symbolic thing about who He is and what He was about to do.
And so all of this characterizes who He is and gives us the context to verses 17 through 21, which was hinted at in verse 11 of chapter 19, where it says, He comes with justice.
And it's with justice He judges and makes war.
That is what He's coming to do in His second coming, to judge and to make war.
Now, that's a very interesting statement to make about Jesus considering He's called the Prince of Peace.
You know, we often picture Jesus and see Jesus in our mind's eye as the Savior, the one who comes to rescue us and the one who comes to rescue mankind from the power of sin.
And that's all true.
But this picture of Him coming to wage war is a difficult one.
But what we're going to see is that He's not coming just to fight.
He's coming to end fighting.
He's coming to end war.
He's coming to end very specifically the rebellious war against Him that has raged since the very beginning of man's history.
And you remember in our last message, we said that that word justice there, when it says with justice, He judges and makes war.
That word justice can also be translated in righteousness, that it's in righteousness He judges and makes war.
That the moment of His second coming, the fight, if you will, is holy.
It's righteous.
It's just.
It's appropriate.
And it's an appropriate just response to a sinful world.
And I said all that or I say all that to set up the idea that when we see what He does at His second coming, there's a lot of death.
There are a lot of people who die.
But when He came the first time, it was wicked men that judged Him.
At His second coming, Jesus is going to judge wicked men.
In His first coming, He stood before Pilate, who is the ruler of the area, and He stood before then Caiaphas and then Annas as representatives of the religious elite.
And they judged Him unrighteously.
They judged Him without proper justice.
But here in the second coming, He's going to come back as everybody's King.
The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, ruler of all and the ultimate high priest, as we saw in chapter one, where He was clothed in those robes with that sash across His chest.
He comes as everybody's ruler and the ultimate high priest, and He brings judgment that is righteous and true and appropriate.
Now again, I want to address the idea of why does this have to happen?
Like, why does He have to come back with fiery eyes and judgment and making war and all of this?
It's not like Jesus has been waiting for this moment up in heaven, right?
Like, He's in a three-point stance, and He's like, Father, just let me go.
I'm just ready to crush Him.
I'm just ready, just lightning bolts in His hand, and Father's going, bro, hold on, right?
That's not the picture.
You see, when you look at God's Word cover to cover, what you find is that God's intent in Him coming to this earth as God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, clothed in flesh, the Bible tells us, the Word that had become flesh, Jesus Christ, He wanted to save.
That was why God came the first time.
The first overture to man, if you will, is I am here to save you.
I am here to forgive you.
You've broken my law.
You've sinned against me.
And you know what?
I am a just judge, and so I have to meet out penalties on that.
I have to bring justice.
But you know what?
God came the first time to die in your place, to take the penalty on your behalf so that I could satisfy my justice and yet extend grace and mercy to you.
And that was the first time He came.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost, the Scriptures tell us.
Because the world rejected Him as their Savior and has rejected Him as their Savior, there is nothing left for Him but to be the judge of the world.
The world's attitude has always been, we don't need a Savior.
We don't need a Savior.
We don't want a Savior.
And during the tribulation period, as we have seen through our study of Revelation, that mentality will reach a fever pitch.
It will reach a crescendo and thus, in a sense, God is finally saying, OK, you don't want me as your Savior?
You don't want forgiveness?
Then I'm going to come as righteous judge to make war.
And I'm going to conquer.
And I'm going to rule.
And then it tells us there in the previous verses, I think it's verse 15, that He's going to rule with an iron rod, that iron rod signifying that His rule is going to be absolute.
It's going to be unyielding.
He's in charge.
He runs the government.
He's the final judge.
He's the Supreme Court.
And there are no appeals.
That is what's going to be established when Jesus comes back.
And then it tells us that this is all going to come through this time where it says, a trampling of the winepress of the fierce anger of God the Almighty.
And again, we're like, oh, man, He's riled up.
Well, you imagine an entire history of creations rebellion against Him where they shook their fists and said, God, we know You're Creator, but we don't want to acknowledge You.
And then that turned into we don't need to acknowledge that You're real.
And we're going to do it our own way.
And it has just been wickedness and wickedness and wickedness and wickedness for millennia.
And God is finally going to be done with it at this point.
Now, this whole trampling of the winepress, this is imagery that would be very familiar to the original readers.
It was primarily a Jewish audience.
And Jews were familiar that every summer in Israel was the harvest of grapes.
And so the grapes would all be gathered up and they would be put into these big vats that you would have to climb into.
And the people would then climb into these vats and stomp the grapes.
And it was just this big, like, fun thing.
Stomp the grapes, crush the grapes.
And as they did that, the juice, the grape juice would go out.
And that's how they harvested the wine.
But in the process of stomping all these grapes, they were thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly smashed.
And the juice of the grapes splattered all over the vat, splattered all over their clothing.
In fact, it was such a great splattering, it even splattered out and got on people who were close by.
And this is the imagery of the Battle of Armageddon.
This is the imagery, I believe, as we see in the previous description that he has a white robe that is splattered with blood.
That as he comes to trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God's wrath against sin, against the rebellion,
that it's going to be a total, complete wipeout, an absolute victory.
Where the kings of the earth and all who stand against God will be thoroughly crushed, thoroughly crushed.
And so again, we see a different kind of Jesus at his second coming.
His approach is different.
The first time Jesus came with grace and mercy and patience and kindness and gentleness.
We read in the Gospels where he came healing the sick and ministering to the needy and casting out demons
and bringing peace to troubled hearts and speaking words that lifted people's spirits and eased burdens.
And this is wonderful, beautiful picture of the compassion of God, our creator.
But at the end of time, after his time of patience and waiting has run out, it's very different.
No longer on that lowly donkey, but on a powerful white warhorse.
No longer with eyes full of tears, but then with eyes full of fire.
No longer wearing a crown of thorns, but now wearing all the crowns of authority and rulership of the earth.
Instead of being beaten and bloodied by his enemies, he is splattered with their blood.
And instead of being abandoned by his followers like he was at the cross,
he is now accompanied with the armies of heaven who are gathered with him at his return.
It's a glorious moment.
And so that brings us to verse 17, what he does at his return.
Read with me in Revelation 19 verse 17.
He says, And then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice,
saying to all the birds flying high overhead, Come, gather together for the great supper of God,
so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty,
the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.
Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war
against the rider on the horse and against his army.
But the beast was taken prisoner and along with it the false prophet who had performed the signs in its presence.
He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs.
Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse,
and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.
Not a happy fun picture, is it?
Jesus arrives, his army is following him, and he's arrayed in power and glory for judgment on all those who oppose him.
And it says there in verse 19 that it's all the leaders in the armies of the world are gathered to wage war against God.
Can you imagine being so deluded that you would think that's a good idea?
God Almighty is here, and we're going to go fight him.
We're going to defeat him.
Such a delusion.
Now, you might remember that Revelation, the study of Revelation we've seen already in a couple places,
has indicated that during the tribulation time the people of the world come to know
and acknowledge and believe that it is God bringing these judgments to the earth.
We've seen that in a couple places where it's not that, oh, no, there is no God, there is no God.
No, people come to believe, wow, there is a God, but they still willingly choose to deny him and to defy him,
and then they go on to actively choose to follow the Antichrist and the false religion.
They go on to consciously and maliciously murder the people of God and kill believers, as we've seen,
these tribulation saints, people who give their life to Jesus Christ during this tribulation period,
get forced into a position where if they don't take the mark of the beast, they are killed.
They are murdered for that profession of Christ.
They are murdered for that rejection of the Antichrist.
We saw how the two witnesses that were proclaiming Jesus in Jerusalem are murdered,
and they're left in the street to rot, and everybody celebrates, praise Antichrist.
I don't know what they're going to say, right?
But the witnesses are dead.
And now, at the end of it, the leaders of the earth, the kings of the earth think,
well, if they could kill his people and God didn't do anything about it, maybe we can kill God too.
And so they gather together.
Now, it's just an interesting picture to me, this whole idea of this worldwide coalition,
this gathering together of all the kings of the earth,
because when we look at the nations of the world, what we've seen historically,
and even in our modern ages, they rarely agree on anything, right?
When it comes to peace or energy policy or economics, they rarely come together.
They try, but they will definitely one day absolutely unite in their hatred of God.
And we even see that today, little inklings of that,
where of all the different faiths and religions and beliefs in the world,
the one that is the most oppressed by governments is Christianity.
Everybody else can do their thing in schools, but you can't pray to Jesus.
Everybody else can have their religious expression and work, but not your Christianity.
And it's becoming more and more targeted as time goes on.
And we've seen that it's going to become aggressively, openly mandated,
endorsed by government, targeting against Jesus Christ and his people when we get to the end times.
But it's like pilot and herit, it tells us in the gospels, they were enemies.
Pilot and herit hated each other until Jesus Christ came on the scene.
After Jesus Christ came on the scene, pilot and herit were suddenly good buddies,
and they hated Jesus enough to see him crucified.
And then it indicates that they were friends long after that.
So at the end of the world, the entire world will agree that they should all gather their might
and their tech and their militaries and all of it and fight against God.
Now you might say, well, who are these armies, right?
We've looked at the armies of God.
We looked at that in the first part of Revelation 19 and the second part as well.
But who are the armies of the world here?
Who are these kings and these armies that are gathered together?
Well, it's a fairly simple interpretation, but based upon what we've seen through Revelation,
it's partly the armies of the ten nations that have gathered together to make up this coalition
that is the one world government in the end.
We've studied a lot about how these ten nations come together.
There's some different interpretation, whether it's ten nations in Europe,
whether it's ten geographical regions of the earth that are kind of, you know,
divided up to make governing easy.
We're not exactly sure, but it's the armies of these ten nations that come together
because Revelation 17 verse 12 said,
The ten horns you saw are the ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom.
That's during John's time.
But they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour,
indicating a short time of global control.
And it says these have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast,
and these will make war against the lamb.
But the lamb will conquer them because he is the Lord of lords and king of kings,
and those that are with him are called chosen and faithful.
So that's a part of the armies of the world.
There's also another place in Revelation 16 where it references the armies of the kings of the east,
which is something that is set up during the sixth bowl judgment.
In Revelation 16 verses 12 through 14, then verse 16 there, it says,
The sixth bowl, or the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates,
and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon's mouth
and from the beast's mouth and from the mouth of the false prophet.
For they are demonic spirits performing signs who travel to the kings of the whole world
to assemble them for the battle on that great day of God, the Almighty.
And then verse 16 says, So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
And we talked about that valley in Israel called the Valley of Megiddo, or the Valley of Armageddon.
It's this huge plain that military commanders for centuries have been saying,
This is the ideal battlefield.
And so many battles have been fought in the plain or the Valley of Megiddo.
And this final battle as the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered will be fought there,
or at least start the fighting there as well.
It's also including the remnants of the armies of Gog.
We didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about that,
but in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39, there's this prophecy that the armies of Gog,
of the land of Magog, will come down from the north and invade Israel.
And so it could be the remnants of this.
Some interpret that to mean like, well, Russia is north of Israel,
and so it's going to be a Russian army that comes in and attacks.
And this attack is something that people say could either happen right before tribulation happens,
or it could be part of the midpoint of tribulation.
But either way, this army, this final army gathered at the very end could be remnants of this army of Gog.
And so these armies are all gathered together in the nation of Israel,
beginning in the Valley of Armageddon and then moving towards Jerusalem to wipe it all out,
to destroy everything that is and of God.
But as we see here in Revelation 19, it's not really a battle.
It's just a wipeout, right?
It says they gathered to do battle against the Lord.
But the very next verse says, but the beast was taken prisoner.
Oh, and he took the false prophet too, and the rest were killed.
Right?
There's this indication there that there's no back and forth.
There's no ebb and flow of battle.
He just ends it.
And he ends it with his word, because you remember in verse 15,
it said a sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it.
And he will rule them with an iron rod,
and he will trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God the Almighty.
And so the picture here is that all the armies are gathered.
All the kings of the earth have brought all their military might together,
all their weapons, all their missiles, all their stuff.
And they bring it all together in this place,
and Jesus comes down from heaven accompanied by his armies.
Now, that's a plural word.
If you go back into 11 through 16, you see that it's his armies, plural,
that arrive with him, which is why I believe these armies make up the church
that has been raptured prior to tribulation,
the tribulation saints who got saved during tribulation,
the Old Testament saints who had been waiting, and the angels itself.
It's his armies standing against the armies, plural, of earth.
And those armies of earth point the weapons at Jesus,
ready to do battle, and Jesus just says, no.
I mean, we don't know exactly what he says, right?
But we do know that it's with his word,
because they're struck by the sword from his mouth, verse 15 tells us.
And then the imagery of the winepress, that at his word they are crushed,
they are trampled, they are stomped out, they are destroyed by the word of God.
And for those of us who go, well, I can't imagine that.
Well, do you believe Genesis 1, where God said light and light was?
If you believe that, why can't you believe him coming down and saying,
uh-uh, or whatever he says?
The destruction is absolutely thorough,
because you'll notice a word that is represented in verses 17 through 18.
I'm going to read it again, see if you pick up on the word.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice,
saying to all the birds flying high overhead,
come, gather together for the great supper of God,
so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders,
the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders,
and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.
Did you notice the repeated word?
The flesh, right?
And you're like, hey, birdie, birdie, it's dinner time.
And it's just like, what?
I mean, the picture here, it's like carrion birds, vultures,
you know, those types of birds that we know that will eat dead flesh,
and they would eat the flesh of the dead, and you're like,
oh, this is kind of gross, it's kind of graphic, right?
It's pretty intense, what's being described here.
But I think there's a very significant point in that repeated word.
Here is a world that has rejected God and lived after its flesh.
Here is a world that said, God, we're not going to obey you,
we're going to obey our own flesh and pursue the desires of our flesh
and pursue the indulgence of our flesh.
We're going to lift up our own flesh as God and worship ourselves
and our own wants and our own needs, and we, we are God, we are everything.
And he's like, you think so?
You think so.
What we see here is the, the fruition of the Scriptures that say,
you sow to the flesh, and then now you reap corruption.
And so we're introduced to the supper, right?
Come gather for the great supper of God.
Just earlier in this chapter, we were introduced to the marriage feast
of the lamb, right?
And it's, this supper stands in great contrast to the marriage feast of the lamb.
Now, interestingly enough, when it says the word supper here,
but it says the word feast regarding the marriage supper of the lamb,
it's the same exact Greek word.
I don't know why it's translated feast here and supper here.
I can't find out a reason why, but it's the same exact Greek word.
It's referring to a formal meal with guests in attendance.
But the picture is this in the contrast between the two.
Everybody that is alive at this time, everybody that has ever lived,
the reality is you will either accept his invitation to the marriage feast
of the lamb or you will be the feast in the end.
During tribulation time, we've read and we see people will scoff
and scowl and blaspheme God.
No, we won't accept your invitation.
We don't want you.
We don't want your salvation.
We don't need it.
In fact, we will destroy you.
We'll wipe out your people and all of that.
And we see a parallel passage in Matthew 24 pictures this moment.
Matthew 24, 27, it says,
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.
And the carcass is there.
I believe it's referring to these great armies of the earth that have
converged together in the valley of Armageddon and moved down towards
Jerusalem to dare fight against God Almighty, the creator of everything.
Verse 20, it tells us that the beast was taken prisoner and along with it
the false prophet who had performed the signs in its presence.
It says he deceived those speaking of the false prophet.
He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped its image with these signs.
Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider
on the horse and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.
Now, I think we've mentioned this a couple times, but there are three
distinct reasons that this tribulation period comes upon the earth.
There's three distinct reasons, purposes for it happening.
One, it's primarily to judge a world that has hated God, to judge sin,
to judge a world that has tried to push God out, a world that is presumed
upon His grace, a world that has stood against Him, a world that has said
no to His invitation over and over and over again.
That's one of the primary reasons for the tribulation period.
Now, interestingly enough, what we're reading about here is not their
final judgment, it's just their execution.
The final judgment of those who stand against God will come in Chapter 20
when we look at what's called the Great White Throne Judgment.
And this is a judgment, a final judgment that takes place after the
thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennial kingdom.
And so we'll get to that in Chapter 20.
But the second distinct reason for the tribulation time is it's a time of
God's final dealings and redemption of the nation of Israel, the Jewish people,
God's chosen people, the Bible tells us.
The tribulation time, the seven years, is referred to specifically as a
time of Jacob's trouble because it's a time of great difficulty for the
Jewish people specifically.
And as we've studied, it will indeed be a very terrible, horrible time.
It's going to be a time of worldwide mandated government-endorsed
persecution against Jews simply for being Jews.
We know that the first three and a half years kind of looks good, right?
The Antichrist comes on the scene, he makes a peace treaty with them, and we
look at that, they're going to be able to rebuild their temple, the third
temple will come, and we've talked about how that could possibly work out where
the Dome of the Rock is not even affected in any way, shape, or form, and
so there's the Jewish temple right next to the Muslim Dome of the Rock, and
everybody's happy for three and a half years.
But we've read about at the midpoint of tribulation when the Antichrist is
seemingly killed and miraculously resurrected and goes into the Jewish
temple, desecrates the place, sits in the temple and says, no, I am God,
worship me.
And of course, the Jewish people who are very passionate about the worship of
God, they'll be like, nah, some may.
But then from that point forward, heavy, heavy persecution against the Jewish
people takes place.
There's even a prophecy in Zechariah 13, 8, 9, which indicates that two-thirds
of the Jewish population on the planet will be murdered during tribulation time.
It says this, in the whole land, this is the Lord's declaration, two-thirds will
be cut off and die and a third will be left in it.
And I will put this third through the fire and I will refine them as silver is
refined and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on my name and I will answer them.
I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is our God.
I think one of the most beautiful things about the tribulation time, which there's
not a whole lot of beautiful things about it, but I see here in Scripture, is
that finally at the end of tribulation time, every Jewish individual that is
living upon the earth will finally go, Jesus Christ is Messiah.
That's so cool to think about.
I know today there's a lot of disagreement even amongst the Jewish
people, right?
Some reject Jesus, some accept Jesus, but there is a time coming where those that
are still alive are going to get through because they have confessed that Jesus
Christ is Messiah.
And what a stark contrast.
The first time Jesus came, Israel rejected him.
But at his second coming, prophetically, they will receive him.
So that's the second reason.
The third reason is to judge the Antichrist, right?
You remember the fifth bowl that was poured out, it says it was poured out to
judge the kingdom of the beast.
It's to judge the guy who would dare stand on the world scene and say, I'm
invincible.
I died, I came back to life.
I'm God, everybody.
Worship me.
The one who would dare say, I'm the one, I'm going to rule earth, I'm going to
wear all the crowns, I'm going to run the government, I'm in charge.
In Revelation 13, 4, we saw that this is what the world said.
They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast.
And they worshiped the beast.
So they're worshiping the Antichrist and who he represents, Satan.
But they said, who is like the beast?
Who is able to wage war against it?
Well, Jesus shows up and answers that question.
And maybe that's what he says.
I can.
Boom.
And they all fall down, right?
I mean, I don't know what he does there, but he is the answer to that question.
Who can wage war against the beast?
Jesus Christ, God Almighty.
Now, unlike the rest, verse 21, that were killed with the sword that came from the
mouth of the rider on the horse, it tells us here specifically that the Antichrist
and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire.
It's like there's a very special or at least they get the full punishment first,
in a sense.
Because we said already the rest that are killed, it's their execution, but their
final judgment is at the end of the millennial reign at the great white throne.
But the Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown alive here at the second coming
into the lake of fire.
Now, this is in contrast to the two witnesses that stood in Jerusalem in chapter 11.
It tells us that they were killed and then they ascended up to heaven and everybody
saw it.
But here, these two witnesses of Satan descend alive into hell.
And what a picture of the differences between following Jesus Christ and following
the devil, right?
That's where we get the images of going up and going down.
The idea of heaven and hell.
You know, Billy Sunday said, hell is the highest reward the devil can offer for being
a servant of his.
The highest reward the devil can offer is hell.
The Bible told us that.
Still tells us that.
The wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life.
And it's interesting here that this is the first mention of the lake of fire in the
book of Revelation.
Now, I'm not going to dig into it right now because it's going to come up a little more
detail in chapter 20 and we'll talk about it there.
But this idea of the lake of fire and hell and final judgment, this is a subject many
people don't like to talk about.
It's a subject, incidentally, that many make jokes about to try and denigrate the
concept and denigrate the ideas of heaven and hell and God and all of that.
A lot of people think that hell, oh, it's going to be a big party with all their
degenerate friends, right?
They think they're going to show up to hell and devil is sitting in the VIP lounge,
right?
The Antichrist is the DJ, the false prophets, the bartender.
And they're like, yeah, this is awesome.
And they think that's what hell is going to be like.
And it's not that at all.
When we look at these two false witnesses, the Antichrist and the false prophet,
those who led the charge against God, those who led the charge for pleasure and self
and indulgence and sin, it says that Jesus' second coming, they were thrown alive into
the lake of fire.
They're tormented.
And what we're going to see when we get through the Millennial Kingdom is at the
end of the thousand-year reign of Christ, they are still alive being tormented in
hell.
In other words, hell is not a place of annihilation.
It's not a place where you just cease to exist as some cults teach.
Hell is not a purgatory where you just go and cook for a little while and burn off
your sins and then you get released from it after you're good.
Hell is not a place that others here on earth can pray you out of.
Hell is not a place where someone here on earth can get baptized in your place and
that'll get you out.
None of that is true.
Hell is a place of everlasting torment.
And it's forever.
I want to close on this story.
There was a group of American soldiers once on board a warship that was heading to
a battlefield.
And there was a chaplain on board this ship.
And these soldiers turned to the chaplain and they asked him, do you believe in
hell?
And this particular chaplain wanting to be relational and enlightened said, no, I
don't believe in hell.
It's just a metaphor.
And so these soldiers said, well, will you please resign your position then?
And he goes, why?
He goes, well, if there's no hell, we don't need you.
And if there is, we don't want you misleading us.
You know, there is a truth in scripture that one day the whole world will be
judged.
There's a judgment coming in all who live and have ever lived.
Now, it will either be a judgment unto rewards, having been invited and in
attendance at the marriage feast of the Lamb, a part of the redeemed, whether
you're the bride of Christ today, the church, or you're saved somehow during the
tribulation period.
Or it will be a judgment unto destruction, having rejected his invitation to come
to the supper, the marriage feast of the Lamb.
And you will then become the supper of the vultures and suffer in eternity in
hell forever.
And the Bible tells us that it's a place of torment and gnashing of teeth and
suffering that is everlasting.
What hell really is, is God allowing those who rejected his payment for their
sin to make payment for their own.
That's what hell is.
Hell is a place where those who reject Jesus will get the opportunity to pay
the price for their sin.
And the reality is that they'll never be able to pay it off.
Their payment will never be enough and their torment will never end.
Hell is no joking matter, people.
It's not something to take lightly.
It's the ultimate reality for those who refuse to take the offer that God Almighty
has so graciously offered to them through Jesus Christ.
And the reality is Jesus Christ doesn't want any single person, any one of his
creation to go there.
In fact, the Bible tells us that hell wasn't even made for us.
Hell was created for Satan and his demons.
It was a jail made for them.
It was a punishment made for them because of their rebellion against God, because
of their rejection of God.
But because misery loves company, from the very beginning the devil has sought to
deceive as many as he can to drag them there with him.
And so many sadly choose that.
They choose to reject God.
And they'll believe all these different lies.
And sadly they end up realizing in the end it was true.
And there's nothing that could be done about it at that point.
God gave mankind the free will to choose.
God would never force anyone to love him.
But it is his blood shed for you and me that enables us to escape the wrath to
come.
It's his blood shed.
When we put our faith in that, we are able to escape the wrath to come because his
plan for humanity is not hell.
His plan for humanity is heaven.
That's his plan.
But he'll let you choose hell.
Because he wants to honor your free will.
You know, and all the pursuits that we pursue outside of God to satisfy the
longing of our soul are ultimately because I think we all have an inner thirst
we're trying to quench.
We're trying to find something that satisfies.
We're trying to find something that makes us feel alive, feel whole, feel
purpose, feel, right?
Because if there's no heaven and hell and we're just animals, then what is the
point?
What is the point?
And some get so caught up in that and they believe that there's no point that
they get suicidal.
They want to end it.
Because without God, what is the purpose?
But we have the point.
And that thirst that people have that they're trying to quench in everything
really ultimately is a thirst to be united and reconnected to their creator.
But it's selfishness, it's sin that keeps us separated from God and as we seek to
quench our thirst through everything but Him.
I'm telling you this morning, please realize that it is a thirst that can only
be satisfied by the living water of Jesus Christ, Him and Him alone.
That is the message we have as the church of Jesus Christ.
That is the message we share at Christmastime.
That is the message we share every day of the year.
That God is real.
And that before His second coming, we still stand and live under the grace of His
first coming where He came to bring peace and reconciliation.
And we have an opportunity, everyone has an opportunity to respond to that in
faith.
And we the church, we have an obligation to take that message and to share it
with people.
You know, this is a cliché thing to say but the most important Christmas
present you can ever give anybody is salvation.
Is to introduce them to the one who loves them so much.
The one who died for them so that they could be set free.
And so yeah, the second coming, it may not be the glorious picture that we
necessarily think of because it's going to be a time of war and judgment and
bloodshed.
But it comes at the very end of a long, long period of patience by our gracious
God.
And this time is coming quickly, I believe.
And so there's an urgency for us to get about doing what we're supposed to be
about doing.
And that's preaching the gospel, amen?
Let's pray.
Father, we love you, Lord.
And God, I would be remiss to not admit, Lord, that seeing you come like this
speaks to a part of me that cries out for justice.
When I see you coming like this, Lord, it speaks to a part of me that's like
finally, get them.
And yet, Lord, I can't forget that it would be me standing in the path of your
judgment if it wasn't for the salvation that you freely gave.
And so God, while we look forward to you coming and judging sin and judging
wickedness, we don't revel in the death that that is going to bring, Lord.
We pray, God, for the souls of those who don't yet know you, that they would
come to know you, that they would be forgiven and set free, that they would
receive the grace and mercy that you have for them, God, that they would have
the salvation that saves them from the wrath to come instead of being in the
path of that wrath.
God, we know you are glorious.
We know you are almighty.
Jesus, we worship you because, Lord, you came to this earth.
You lived and died.
You promised that you're going to come back.
And we know that when you come back, Lord, it's going to be in justice, in
righteousness, with purity and perfection.
But help us, God, not to have hard hearts against those who are wicked and
evil in this world, Lord, but to have broken hearts as you have a broken heart
towards the condition that they're in, that they're lost without you.
It would be people who take the gospel forth every day of our lives through how
we live, how we speak, how we engage with one another, how we are at home with
our spouses and our children, how we are at work.
But, Lord, also to take the opportunity to engage with people through tracks,
through conversation, through something, that people would come to know you for
who you are according to your word, not some pale misconception that the world
has put out.
Lord, we are so grateful and we're so thankful for your first coming.
And we look forward to celebrating that this whole month, Lord.
But, God, we are infinitely grateful for your second coming.
And those of us that know you now will come back with you to rule and reign with
you in perfection forever, God, something we definitely don't deserve.
But through your grace is granted to us, God.
Thank you so much for loving us.
Thank you so much for saving us.
Thank you so much for being you.
We love you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Let's worship, guys.