REVELATION 18-22 THE END2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 18-22 The End

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. We are here this evening in the book of Revelation. We'll be looking at verses 18 through 22, or chapters 18 through 22, finishing off the book of Revelation.

This book was written by the Apostle John near the end of his life to the churches of Asia. And we saw those churches in chapters 2 and 3 as Jesus wrote some specific words to them. But he also sends the rest of this book to them to relate the vision that he had on Patmos.

Now we saw the outline of the book of Revelation back in chapter 1 verse 19, where Jesus tells him to write down the things which he had seen, and that is the vision of Jesus, and then the things which are, and that's the things in chapters 2 and 3, which are the letters to the seven churches. But then the third section, the big section of the book of Revelation, is the things which will take place.

And these are all the end times events, and we studied many of those over the past couple of weeks, and then we'll be finishing that up this evening. What are these things that are yet to come, the things which must shortly take place? Well, first, what we're looking forward to is the rapture of the church. And that's what we see happen or take place in Revelation chapter 4. Then in chapters 6 through 19, the bulk of the book of Revelation says,

We see recorded for us the seven years of tribulation. And so we studied most of that already. We'll finish that up this evening, looking at those tribulation years. Now, after the tribulation, we'll have the return of Jesus Christ, his 1,000-year reign.

the final rebellion of Satan, the great white throne judgment, and then finally the new Jerusalem and eternity. And so these are the things that we'll be looking at this evening as they'll kind of fall in place in these final chapters. Now as we finish up the tribulation period, the tribulation is really centered around or based upon three sets of sevens. You have the seven seals.

And there was this scroll that was in the hand of the Father that Jesus took. And as he opened each seal, there were judgments that were brought upon the earth. And we saw this in the chapters over the past couple weeks. And so the introduction of the Antichrist...

The peace taken from the earth, famine and martyrs, a quarter of the earth being killed and so on and so forth. And so we got to see in these seven seals the destruction that was being brought out upon the earth, which is the wrath of God. Now, when the seventh seal was opened, then seven angels came forward with seven trumpets.

And in like manner, as each trumpet sounded, then a judgment was poured out upon the earth. And these became more devastating as the vegetation was burned, the sea was turned to blood, the water was made bitter, the stars were darkened. There was five months of torment that was so terrible that people wanted to die but were unable to.

the six trumpets sounded and then four angels killed a third of mankind. And so in the seals, a quarter of mankind was killed. And then now in the trumpets, a third of mankind was killed. And we did some of the math and that worked out to be, well, that would be about half of the people that entered into the tribulation would be killed at

at those two events, aside from the rest of the catastrophes and stuff that were happening. And so there was great devastation, or there will be great devastation, as assuming, you know, there's 7.2 billion people on the earth right now. Assuming 32% who claim to be Christian really are Christian, then they'll be raptured. That means about 5 billion will enter into the tribulation and

And so after these judgments, it will be about two and a half billion people left just from those two events. Now again, that's just rough math, you know, making lots of assumptions. But it gives us a glimpse of the kind of things that will be happening. Can you imagine two and a half billion people dying over a span of seven years? It's going to be incredibly devastating.

Well, the third set of judgments is the bowl judgments. And here's the seven bowls that are brought forth as the seventh trumpet sounds. And then as these bowls are poured out, again, wrath is being poured out upon the earth. And so there's a foul and loathsome sore for those who have taken the mark.

Now,

We've been looking at these kind of in sequence and following along with all of these judgments as they're being poured out. But as I've been sharing throughout the book of Revelation, it's like John hits the pause button. And it's like when you pause a movie to explain some of the backstory and what is to come to someone who's not quite getting it.

And I'm not going to name Richard's name this time, so you don't make fun of him, okay? I'm just kidding. But, you know, you have to pause a movie sometimes to say, well, here's this character, and here's his story, and this is why he's saying this right now, and that's why they're talking about him that way, because, you know, this is what happened. And so we've been paused for a couple chapters now, and here in chapter 18, we're kind of getting a glimpse of the aftermath of

of the final bowl being poured out and Babylon being destroyed. And so here in chapter 18, as we begin our chapters, verse 21 is the key verse. It says, "'Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "'Thus with violence, the great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore.'"

And so we're talking about Babylon. Now we finished last week talking about Babylon as well in chapter 17, but it's a religious system that we were talking about in chapter 17. It's different than what we're talking about in chapter 18. The religious system that's established in chapter 17 is going to be destroyed in the middle of the tribulation period whenever the Antichrist goes into the temple and proclaims himself to be God. Now Antichrist

He is the religious system, and you are to worship him. Now in chapter 18, there's a different kind of Babylon. We often refer to it as commercial Babylon. And this is going to be destroyed at the end of the tribulation period. Again, in that final bowl being poured out upon the earth. Now there's lots of discussion that we could have. Is this biblical?

literally Babylon located in Iraq? Or is this a major commercial city that will be, you know, the core, the headquarters for the Antichrist and his kingdom? There's lots of discussion, but if you want the real answers, you can talk to Tom after the service. But the point here is that there's going to be this commercial center that deserves radical judgment. You

You can see in this chapter, just calling out a couple things, the spiritual idolatry or fornication that is referenced. The great sins that are mentioned that are piling up all the way to heaven. The glorification of self, the enslaving of people, the deceiving of nations, the killing of Christians.

And so you see from this that judgment in the way that is about to be described is absolutely deserved. And so in verses 1 through 8, John sees this angel cry out that Babylon the great is fallen.

Now again, this is part of the seventh bowl back in Revelation chapter 16. As the bowl of wrath is being poured out, it tells us that Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And so this is kind of elaborating on what we saw in that seventh bowl being poured out and specifically Babylon being destroyed.

In verse 8, it tells us that this destruction will come in one day. This isn't going to be kind of a gradual decline. It's going to be overnight, you know, at one occasion and one hour that the city of Babylon, this commercial center, is going to be destroyed. In verses 9 through 20, we see the people mourn. Kings, merchants, traders, they weep and lament.

Now they're not mourning for their sin here, but they're mourning for their loss. They're mourning because, well, they won't have the luxuries that they used to have. There'll be no more buying and selling, it tells us in verse 11. And so the merchants mourn. No more profits. And so they're lamenting, but still not lamenting or mourning for their sin, but mourning because, well, their covetousness will not be fulfilled.

And so God says the judgment will be complete. In verses 21 through 24, it says that Babylon shall be thrown down and not be found anymore. And so the destruction of this commercial system is going to be complete. It is going to be final and Babylon will be no more from there on out. Well, now in chapter 19, verse 11 is the key verse.

It says, In verses 1 through 10, John says, It means praise the Lord.

In verse 1, he says, As Babylon is destroyed, as the final bowl of wrath is poured out upon the earth, heaven begins to celebrate. There's this multitude in heaven.

Now, it doesn't tell us specifically, but we know there's a multitude of angels in heaven. We know the church is in heaven. We know the Old Testament saints are in heaven, and we know the martyred saints are in heaven. And so it's reasonable to understand that all of us, saints throughout all history, will be just breaking out in praise. This is going to be something to rejoice in. Now, not always.

so much the destruction, but the righteousness of God. Rejoicing in God's plan coming to completion, in God's glory being brought forth in

And all of heaven, the multitude is going to rejoice. And I don't know when the last time you were in a crowd or where there was a multitude of voices, but there's that awesome roar. I always love it at the pastor's conference whenever you walk into the dining room and you can imagine, you know, having like a thousand pastors who all like to talk, laughing and talking and all in the same room at one time. It's like this like roar.

roar. It's very hard to hear the person next to you. It's so loud, and it's just like, just like constant, like a, like a rushing water. And that's kind of what I picture here. Just this awesome praise to God as he unfolds his plan. Well, then in verses 11 through 16, it says, "...behold the king of kings on a white horse."

And so at the climax of this, as heaven worships and praises and rejoices, now Jesus returns. In verse 11, he says, I saw heaven opened. Behold, a white horse. He who sat on it was called Faithful and True. In righteousness, he judges and makes war. Jesus comes this time to make war. The first coming, he came as a humble servant, right?

to die upon the cross. He came to deal with sin and he did so with great humility, humbling himself far more than any of us can fully understand. But when Jesus comes this second time,

He returns as the conquering king, as the king of kings and lord of lords. I always like the way that Pancho Juarez mentions it. He says, in the first coming, there was the song in the background, Silent Night. We sang it a few moments ago. But in the second coming, it's going to be P.O.D. playing the background music. He's got a tattoo on his thigh. He's coming to conquer and to make war.

And that's what he does. Remember the sixth bowl as it was poured out upon the earth, it was the gathering together of the kings to the battle of Armageddon. And the Antichrist is there, the kings of the earth that are left at that time, the armies of the earth that are left at that time are all gathered to this one place to battle. And as Jesus returns, he wipes them out.

But Jesus doesn't come back on his own or just by himself. Verse 14 says, Who are the armies of heaven? Well, we can rejoice in this because this is us.

When Jesus comes back, the saints will be riding with him, are going to be joined with him as he returns to the earth. Jude tells us in Jude chapter 1 verse 14, behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints, that we're going to be coming back with Jesus. But notice, we're the armies of heaven, but we're wearing linen. Now, what kind of soldiers wear linen?

That wouldn't be very effective in a battle. But that's the point. As we come back with Jesus, we don't need any armor. He fights the battle. You know, right now, Paul says to put on the armor of God, right? We need armor. We're in a battle and it's constant. But in that day, there is no more battle for us. We'll be dressed in linen. Jesus fights the fight. Jesus has won the victory. And so we get to rest in that battle.

Well, then in verses 17 through 21, the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire.

In verse 19, he says, And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. And so they turned their arms against Jesus, which is not a wise thing to do. In verse 20, it says, The beast was captured, with him the false prophet, and that these two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

And so as Jesus wipes out these armies, he singles out two of the people here, the beast, also known as the Antichrist, and the false prophet. Remember in chapter 13, as we saw the beast that came out of the sea, and then the beast that came out of the land or came out of the earth, and there was these two beasts that John was talking about. These are these two beasts, the Antichrist and the false prophet.

And Jesus begins to deal with them right now as they, as he returns, they're singled out and they're cast into the lake of fire. Now the lake of fire is a place of permanent eternal judgment. It's a real place. We don't maybe like to think about it or talk about it too much, but it is something that is for real. There is a real lake of fire that is eternal judgment. And

Now, it was originally created for Satan and his angels, Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 25, verse 41. But it's also the place where those who reject Jesus Christ will end up. It's the place of eternal judgment. Now, notice what it says there in verse 20. It says, these two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

This is a place not of oblivion where things are burned up and then no longer exist, but this is a place of eternal judgment that they are alive as they're cast in. And then 1,000 years later,

When the devil's cast in, these guys are still alive. And it still talks about them as being in the lake of fire. And so this is an ongoing eternal judgment, not something that is over with quickly. And so this lake of fire is going to be the final place of judgment. And the first two to be placed there are the Antichrist and the false prophet. Revelation chapter 20 now, verse 12.

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. In verses 1 through 3, John says, I saw Satan bound for 1,000 years. So Jesus comes back. And what does he do? He wipes out the army. But then he establishes his kingdom.

He's going to be literally here in Jerusalem ruling the whole earth. And during this thousand years, it's going to be a time of renewal of the earth.

There's going to be a renewing of the vegetation and the crops. There's going to be a renewing of the population. As we saw earlier, the population of the earth will be reduced greatly in the tribulation period. But now, under the reign of Christ, things are going to flourish once again. And one of the reasons that things will flourish again is because Satan will be bound during this time.

I think this part is important to remember because, well, in verses one through three, we see very clearly Satan is not God's opposite. Sometimes we kind of think of, you know, good versus evil and kind of they're at war with each other, but Satan is not God's opposite. It tells us that an angel here comes and grabs Satan and then throws him in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Okay?

And so God just has some unnamed angel, not some, you know, angel that is infamous, that everybody knows, that, you know, has a name and a reputation. He just sends some angel because God's the one who's in control.

And we saw that all throughout the tribulation as we were going through Revelation, as everything is measured. Everything is under God's control as he, well, he brings about justice and righteousness while giving people the opportunity to repent. I kind of liken it in my head to popping popcorn. You know, when you pop popcorn, you want to find that perfect balance, right? Where you're

As many of the kernels are going to pop as are going to be popped, but you don't want to burn the kernels that are popped, right? And you don't also want to leave a bunch of kernels unpopped. And so there's like this balance, you know, you got to find that perfect spot where you can get the most popped without any being burned. And that's kind of how God works when it comes to judgment, that he brings enough judgment to

to bring people to repentance without burning or without leaving a bunch behind. You ever think about that? Like, why doesn't Jesus just catch us up right now? Well, because he's waiting for some more kernels to pop. And so he's, you know, waiting, giving opportunity. And that's how it was through the tribulation. And so here as well, God's in control. And at any time he can grab Satan. He doesn't even have to do it himself. He can just send, hey, what's your name? I forget your name. Go get Satan, throw him in the bottomless pit.

and he's going to be there for a thousand years. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you guys get the point, right? God's in control. And so this dragon, this serpent of old will be bound for this thousand years and there will be peace on the earth as Christ rules and reigns. But then at the end of the thousand years, it tells us that he must be released.

Now, why must he be released after being bound for a thousand years? Again, God is in control. And so it's not that Satan finally figures out a way to escape and, you know, thwarts God's plans. No, God lets him go at the end of a thousand years. And many wonder why, and you can ask him when you get there. But it seems that God is really seeking to give people a real choice. That Satan is released and he leads one final rebellion.

Because you have to remember that there's going to be many people who are born in the millennium. They're going to be born during this thousand year reign of Christ. And they're going to grow up worshiping God because, well, it's going to be now part of their culture. There's like, you know, like we can understand. There's a lot of people who are culturally religious, not because they've made a deliberate choice, but just because that's what they've grown up with. That's what they've known. And during the millennium, that's going to happen. There's going to be people who just, that's how they grow up.

But here at the end, when Satan is released, now they get to make a choice, whether they're going to follow God or whether they're going to be deceived by the enemy. And so he's going to be released and he's going to lead one final rebellion against the Lord. We'll see that in just a couple of verses. In verses four through six, it tells us those who are beheaded reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.

It's referencing the martyrs from the tribulation who were put to death for their faith in Jesus Christ. And so they're going to come back with Jesus. They're part of the armies of heaven that return, and they're going to rule and reign with him. But it's not just them. In verse 6, he says,

Over such, the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. There's a little bit of, you know, first and second and what's going on here, right? So he says, blessed is he who has part in the first resurrection. The first resurrection is the resurrection of the saints. It's not just like a one-time event. You know, it happened on this date, 1934 or whatever. It's the resurrection.

resurrection of believers in Jesus. Now there's a second resurrection that's coming and that happens later. It's the resurrection to judgment. That is the resurrection that happens at the great white throne judgment and we'll see that as well in just a few verses. And so there's two resurrections. The resurrection of the righteous unto life and the resurrection of the unrighteous unto death.

And so he says, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Some have put it this way. If you are born once, you will die twice. But if you are born twice, you will die once. That is, if you're born once physically, but you're not born again, as Jesus said, you must be born again, then you will die twice. You'll experience the physical death,

but then you'll experience spiritual death as you are cast into the lake of fire. But if you're born twice, you're born naturally, which all of you are, but then also if you're born again, you're born spiritually as you believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit regenerates you and he gives you spiritual life, you're born again.

And so then you only die once. Yeah, your physical body will still die, but you will have eternal life. And so blessed are you if you have part in the first resurrection. But then it goes on to say, they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. And so here's how we know. Believers in Jesus will rule and reign with Christ for 1,000 years. As Jesus establishes his kingdom, amen.

We'll be there with him, ruling and reigning here upon the earth. We don't know exactly what we're going to be doing, maybe spending some time surfing if Tom has his way, but we'll be having a great time ruling and reigning with Christ here on the earth in our new bodies without sin. It's going to be amazing. Well, then verses 7 through 10, it tells us that the devil was cast into the lake of fire.

So at the end of these thousand years, Satan is released. Again, just to reiterate, he doesn't escape. It's not like he finally finds a way out. He finds a loophole and, you know, God's like, oh no, what am I going to do? No, he's released. He goes out, he deceives the nations and he gathers them to battle against the Lord.

And of course, that is quickly defeated. In verse 10, the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Notice where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And so here we see the lake of fire again. It's a real place. It's a place of torment. It's a place of eternal judgment. And

These two, the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in a thousand years earlier, are still there. And so it's not oblivion, but it's ongoing eternal judgment. Now, I know we don't like to consider these things, but we need to because this is reality. Eternal judgment is real, and it awaits everyone who does not turn to God by faith in Jesus Christ. And this is the reality that we need to understand.

Well, then in verses 11 through 15, he says, then I saw a great white throne. It's the final judgment where the dead, small and great, all unbelievers throughout all history died.

From the very beginning in Genesis, all the way through the tribulation, all the way through those who rebelled against God at the end of the millennium, will stand before God. And it tells us that whoever's name was not written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. And so whoever does not believe, whoever is not in the book of life, will join the Antichrist, the false prophet, and Satan in the lake of fire.

And that is Revelation chapter 20. Kind of a downer, but we'll get there.

better things in chapters 21 and 22. Some quick diagrams, though, to kind of just help us picture and understand the different groups that are there during this time. So first, you have the church. That's us. And what we are looking forward to as far as future events is the rapture of the church. And we believe it's very clear from the scriptures, and we went through that a couple weeks back, that the rapture will take place before the tribulation. And

And so we are looking forward to entering into eternity with God before all of this starts to unfold. Now, we will still have troubles in this life. There will still be persecution and things could get a whole lot worse and still be consistent with that. But this specific seven years of God's wrath being poured out upon the earth will not be something that the church will be part of. We are looking forward to that rapture.

But then in the tribulation period, there will be opportunity for people to turn to Christ and be saved.

And so you will have martyrs, those who have believed in Jesus, but now have to die for their faith. And they'll have to make a choice to swear allegiance to the Antichrist or stay faithful to Jesus Christ. And there will be many who are martyred and put to death for faith in Jesus Christ. Now, when they're martyred, we saw earlier in Revelation, they're going to enter into eternity with God as well. There will be other believers who...

through the tribulation because they turned to Christ after the tribulation began. And so these believers, some of them will die just from the events that are going on, the catastrophes that are happening, not necessarily being martyred, but, you know, a rock fell on them during the storm or whatever. You know, there's going to be those kinds of casualties as well. And those believers will enter into eternity with God. But

But there will also be some believers who will survive the tribulation. And so they'll make it through to the end. There's not going to be, you know, a ton of these people, but there will be some who survive and make it through these seven years of tribulation. But then we also have the 144,000.

These are the ones that God has set apart, 12,000 from each tribe of the nation of Israel. They're sealed, they're protected, and so they are surviving these seven years of tribulation as witnesses of Jesus.

Now, unbelievers, pretty much at any time, and that's kind of why I have all the arrows. So before the tribulation period, an unbeliever who dies goes to Hades. It's the temporary place of judgment until the great white throne.

In the tribulation period, those who die that are unbelievers will go to Hades temporarily. And then at the end of the tribulation, when Jesus returns and wipes out the armies, those unbelievers who die will go to Hades, the temporary place of judgment until the great white throne. Well, after the tribulation period, then comes the millennium. And here's what that looks like.

The millennium will be populated by those who survive the tribulation. It will only be believers at this point. So believers, they turn to Jesus after the rapture. They've believed in Jesus. They've survived these seven years of wrath. And now they get to enter into this thousand-year reign of Christ. And they're going to be

And they're going to have normal lives, kind of like what we would expect. They're going to get married. They're going to have children. They're going to farm. They're going to be productive. They're going to live on this earth for that thousand years. And lifespans will be...

restored once again. Remember in the Old Testament, you know, people would live for hundreds of years, a thousand years. That's going to be restored as Christ rules and reigns upon the earth. And so these tribulation believers will enter into the millennium and repopulate it. Now, there will also be the opportunity for

even though Christ is ruling and reigning, there will be opportunity to rebel against God. And so there will be unbelievers. And when they die during the millennium, then they also will go to Hades, the temporary place of judgment, until the great white throne. The believers who survived the tribulation and enter into the millennium will then also enter into eternity with God as that thousand years comes to an end.

But at the end of that thousand years, all of Hades, so it's all unbelievers who have died from all history, Hades is going to be emptied out. All of the dead, small and great, will stand before God at the great white throne judgment. And those who are not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. So hopefully that kind of clarifies a little bit the different groups that are there in these different periods that are coming up.

Well, now chapter 21, verse 1, it says, Now we get to begin the good stuff. Verses 1 through 8, John sees a new heaven and a new earth.

The former have passed away. These are fading away. These are going to be destroyed. But a new heaven and a new earth is created. And this new earth is going to be very different because he says there is no more sea. Now,

Currently, about 72% of the earth's surface is water, but apparently that's going to be changed. That's going to be different. And life on earth right now is dependent on that, but things are going to be different. The ecosystem is going to be radically changed in this new heaven and new earth. Now, in addition to the renewing or the new earth that is here, in verse 2, he says, I also saw a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven and

from God. And so there's a new heavens and a new earth that is, you know, the environment, the universe and such. But also what we typically talk about as heaven is this new Jerusalem that John sees here in verse 2.

This is the place where the streets are paved with gold. And that's what we often talk about when we talk about heaven. It's the eternal home for believers. And so there's going to be this new Jerusalem as well as the new heavens and new earth. In verse 3,

John says,

And here we see the restoration of what God intended when he created us, when he created humanity. That is for us to be with God and for God to be with us. And now that is finally going to be the case for eternity forever.

God will be with us and we will be with God. It's full fellowship with God, full access to God. That's the whole point of our existence. And we're gonna experience the glory of it here in this eternity. In verse four, it's a famous verse we often read. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away.

Can you imagine no more tears? Now, maybe you're a tough guy and you say, well, I don't cry, you know, but for the rest of us, yeah, it's going to be nice. Dave, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more death, no more loss, no more suffering, no more difficulty. It's going to be glorious as we enter into the presence of the Lord. He says in verse seven, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son.

It's an inheritance, but notice that's given to his children. I will be his God and he shall be my son. You know, an inheritance is received by birthright. And so again, here's why Jesus said, you must be born again. This eternity is not something that we can work for or earn or deserve.

It's inherited. And so we must be children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. He says, I will be his God and he shall be my son. Now, as cool as we might think streets of gold might be or these descriptions of heaven, wow, it's going to be so amazing. The real truth

the real awesomeness of eternity is going to be this relationship that we have with God. And we need to remember that that's what we're striving for. That's what we're looking forward to. It's gonna be that time with the Lord.

But then we have the inverse of that in verse eight. He says, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

And so once again, like we see many times in scripture, we have two options here, life or death. And that's what's set before us. Life is inherited by believing in Jesus and walking with Jesus and death. Well, that's inherited in a different way by rebelling against God. And God makes it very clear here and throughout the rest of the scriptures, what you do in this life matters, right?

And if you turn to him in repentance, he receives you. But if you continue to practice these things, then you're not his child and you have no part of the inheritance of eternal life. And so it's a reminder for us to draw near to the Lord and make sure that we're walking with him and not continuing to live out our own lives and deceiving ourselves.

Well, then in verses 9 through 21, he says, an angel showed me Jerusalem. And he goes into detail here about all these different aspects of Jerusalem. He says in verse 16, it's laid out as a square. It's length as great as its breadth. So it's long and it's wide at the same measurement. He measured the city. It's 12,000 furlongs.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with furlongs. Is that on your speedometer in your car? It's not on mine. So it's 1,420 miles is 12,000 furlongs. So 1,400 miles, if you could think about from LA to Dallas,

or from LA to Vancouver is 1400 miles. And so that square is going to be the size of this new Jerusalem. Now, uh, many have speculated, you know, is it going to be a cube? Is it going to be like a pyramid? You know, um, that the 14 by 14, that's the base. And then it comes to a point or is it cubed? I kind of think it's cubed, uh, like the Holy of Holies because that's the presence of God. Uh,

in the tabernacle in the temple. But anyways, we don't know the details, but this new Jerusalem is going to be the place where we get to dwell in the presence of God. In verses 22 through 27, he says,

because the glory of the Lord shines in it. That's going to be amazing. The city doesn't need some external light source, but the glory of the Lord is just going to be shining throughout the whole city. It's going to be very amazing. He says in verse 22, there was no temple in this city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Currently, you know, we have churches, a place where we go, and here's where we congregate and spend time with the Lord. And

In the Old Testament, they had the tabernacle. They had the temple. That's where people would go to meet with the Lord. But in this eternity, there's not going to be a need for a temple because God's going to be right there in the midst of us in the city of this new Jerusalem. It's going to be very amazing.

Well, now Revelation chapter 22, verse 12 is the key verse. He says, Here, as we go on into chapter 22, it's continuing on. So we saw the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem. And now we also see that there's this river of life in verses one through five. He showed me a pure river of life.

He says, And then in the midst of this river is the tree of life. And so the tree of life, remember going back to the Garden of Eden? Again, what God had planned, you know, what God intended for humanity,

with the tree of life in the garden of Eden, that's going to be restored. That's, it's going to be the completion of God's plan, which is, you know, what he began with there in the garden. And then notice verse three, he says, there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him. There shall be no more curse. Again, the restoration of what God intended. Remember in Genesis chapter three,

That was the curse when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God. And all humanity, all of creation were now subject to the curse because of our sin against God. During the millennium, when Christ rules and reigns, there's going to be a renewal of the earth, but there's still going to be the curse. But now in eternity, there's no more curse.

during the millennium, there'll still be opportunity to turn against God and sin. But now in eternity, there will be no more opportunity. We will be righteous. We will be holy. A new eternity, a new earth with no more curse, no more effects of sin at all. You know, it's really hard for us to picture heaven. Sometimes, you know, as you look at Revelation here, he's talking about heaven, right?

And so you read it all excited, like, all right, here's all the details about heaven. And then you get to the end and you go, I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be looking forward to here. I mean, I'm trying to picture the square city and colors and light and it's glimpses, but I don't have a clear picture. Like, what's it really gonna be like? But you know, we couldn't understand what heaven is gonna be like fully or even 50% or 10% because all we know is

is affected by the curse. Our bodies, our minds, we're limited. We're affected by the curse. All the paradise places that you could find on earth, affected by the curse. It's impossible for us to really understand or grasp what heaven is going to be and how awesome it's going to be because we've been subjected to the curse. But now that is no more. No more curse.

it's going to be far more glorious than our minds could handle. Paul the Apostle, as he was caught up into the third heaven, caught up into paradise, he came back and he said, you know, I heard lots of things. He didn't even talk about what he saw. He said, I heard lots of things and I couldn't even begin to share what I heard. It wouldn't be lawful because there would be no justice done to what I heard with the words I tried to explain. It just...

It doesn't compare. There's nothing in our language that could describe. There's nothing in our minds that could comprehend how amazing eternity is going to be without the curse. Then notice verse four. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. Are you ready to see Jesus face to face? Again, this is what's gonna make eternity awesome. The presence of the Lord. To be with Jesus face to face.

In verses 6 through 11, he says, do not seal the words of this prophecy. Here, John is instructed not to seal up this prophecy. You might remember if you were with us in the book of Daniel, that as Daniel was receiving very similar visions from the Lord, at the end, God instructs him, okay, seal up this book. Daniel, these things are not for you.

These things aren't for many generations to come. These things are going to begin to make sense later on in history. But seal it up, Daniel. It's not for this time. It's not for right now. But John is given the opposite instruction. Not, hey, seal this up, John. This isn't going to happen for a long time. You don't need to worry about it. You don't need to think about it. You don't need to pray through it. No, he says, don't seal it.

Make sure this is opened. Make sure this is distributed. Make sure you send it on to those seven churches and they send it on to churches beyond them. Make sure because he says at the end of verse 10, for the time is at hand. We're living in the time of the end, the last days. The time is at hand and revelation will be fulfilled at any moment. We're living in exciting times.

Verses 12 through 17, Jesus says, Jesus says, okay, so wake up, pay attention, be alert, because I'm coming quickly, and I'm going to reward everyone according to their work. He's coming quickly, which means suddenly or in an instant, unexpectedly. And so he's going to come back like that. Any moment, he could come back. He could return. He could return.

and he will have his reward with him. Again, the Lord reminds us that what we do in this life matters, and we will be rewarded for the things that we did for God. As the saying that Pastor Chuck would often quote, only one life to live, it will soon be passed, and only what is done for Christ will last. Because those things that we do for the Lord have great reward. Here in this passage,

Well, verse 14, he says, And so blessed are those who do his commands. Who wants to be blessed? Enter in by being faithful to walk with God. Do his commands. What's his command first and foremost? To love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. We talked about that on Sunday.

What you do in this life really does matter. So love one another, love God, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him, repent of sin, humble yourself, do his commands and you will be blessed. In verse 17, he says, the spirit and the bride say, come. It's an invitation. Let him who hears say, come and let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. He ends this book saying,

with a reminder. He's coming quickly. We need to be ready, but also it's an open invitation. Again, God is seeking to pop as many kernels as he can. He's giving opportunity. The invitation continues to be out there, up to the rapture of the church, on into the tribulation,

He's giving opportunity. He's extending mercy and grace and calling people to righteousness and right relationship with him, fellowship with him, and the blessings of eternity. And so in the midst of that, he's working in us to make us more like Jesus as he delays his coming to invite the world to eternity with him. In verse 18 and 19, we have a warning not to add to this prophecy or take away from it,

So don't mess around with the word of God. It's very serious judgment if you do. And then he reminds us again in verses 20 and 21, surely I am coming quickly. Jesus wants us to know he's coming quickly.

Quickly, in our mind, we think of kind of like soon. If I'm going to do it quickly, it happens in a, I'm going to be doing it very soon. But the idea that Jesus is giving here is not so much it's going to happen in the next couple days, because this is now 2,000 years later, right? But it's going to happen in a moment. When it happens, it's all going to happen at once. When it happens, the floodgates are going to open.

And it's going to begin to happen very quickly. The rapture of the church is going to happen. Then the tribulation is going to happen. Then the millennium is going to happen. It's all going to unfold very quickly. And Jesus says, I'm going to be there in an instant. You're not going to have time to prepare. You're not going to have warning. There's not going to be a Paul Revere saying, Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Except for what we're looking at right now. This is the Lord saying, I'm coming. And the time is now to get ready. And so Jesus says, prepare yourself.

And then he concludes in verse 21, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What an awesome way to end the book, to end the scriptures, the grace, the goodness of God, which we don't deserve, which we can't earn from Jesus to us. He says, may that grace be with you all. And may we receive that grace and be blessed

beneficiaries, to receive the inheritance of eternal life that God has in store for us. Amen? I don't know about you, but I'm super excited this evening. We finished the Bible in three years. Praise the Lord. God is so good. So to conclude, I'm just going to do a backflip off the stage. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to do it. That'd be good, right? Finish with breaking my neck.

To celebrate, we got some desserts and stuff on the table in the back by the sound booth. And so we hope you'll hang out and just kind of enjoy and just celebrate and rejoice in what God has done and maybe talk amongst yourselves about some of the things that God has shown you through this journey, through the Bible in three years. But let's close in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you've done. We thank you for your goodness towards us. We thank you for all that you have in store for us. And we recognize that it is by your grace. It's your goodness towards us. We can't earn it. We don't deserve it. But Lord, you offer it to us.

by your grace. And so, Lord, we come to you once again this evening and we say, yes, Lord, we believe in Jesus. We know he's coming again. And so we want to turn from this life and this sin and all the things, Lord, that we've been caught up in. And we want to follow you and to know you and to walk with you and to glorify your name. And so, Lord, we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus, and help us to be ready for your return. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.