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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
Skip Heitzig

Revelation 11 (NKJV™)
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth."
19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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Let's turn to Revelation 11 and we look at verse 15 through 19 this morning, a short section, a great, great section. "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever!" And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth." Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail."

I've noticed that kids sometimes have more insight into spiritual things than we do. And you have probably, as parents, been impressed from time to time that your child will say something and you'll think, man, that's profound. That's pretty insightful. Jesus said out of the mouth of babes God has ordained praise. One third grader wrote to his class just a little bit about God and his perspective on life. He said one of God's main jobs is making people. He makes these to put in place of the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think it's because they're smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn't take up His time teaching them to walk and talk. He can just leave that up to mothers and fathers. I think it works out pretty good. God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on as some people, like preachers and things, pray at other times besides bedtimes. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV on account of all this. As He hears everything, not only prayers, there must be a terrible lot of noise going into His ears unless He has thought of some way to turn it off. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy so you shouldn't go wasting time by going over your parent's head and ask for something they said you couldn't have. Now atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in my town; at least there aren't any who come to our church. If you don't believe in God besides being an atheist, you'll be very lonely because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It's good to know He's around when you're scared of the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases. And that's why I believe in God.

This section of Revelation is in the middle of the great tribulation and it's for those who would be scared of the dark, so to speak. They're in the midst of tribulation, great noises have gone into the ears of God for so long that God would take over the earth, that He would send the coming King to reign. And God answers the prayers and this is for those who would be in the midst of tribulation, frightened because of what's going on around them. I've entitled this message "Light at the End of the Tunnel" because really that's what it is. It provides for those who will be going during the tribulation through that time, a great light as they see what is coming up in the future. I like to look at verses 15 through 19 as a good commercial break. You know what it's like in the middle of a movie to have a commercial and you think I hate these commercials. That's what you think if it's a good movie. If it's a bad movie you kind of welcome the commercial breaks because sometimes they're more interesting than the movies or if the movie is particularly intense it's a welcome break and the intensity of the tribulation provides the welcomed response as these verses come to pass. The announcement that is made and the worship that ensues. The tribulation itself will last for seven years. The last three-and-a-half is called the great tribulation. That's only three-and-a-half years. To read about it doesn't take long but when you're going through it, it must seem like forever. Just like when you're perhaps in a hospital or you're sick, days can seem like an eternity. And so for those who would be suffering during that time, probably these verses are given, they are prescribed. And it is a future prediction of future events as if it has already happened. It's a declaration of something that God looks into the future about but declares as if it's past tense.

It's sort of a forecast. It's like the weatherman would come on and say the weather in heaven today is 75 degrees and sunny. All is fine and earth is clearing up. And it promises to be a fine day. Those in the midst of the tribulation will need to hear these words. Let's begin in verse 15 and it's only five verses, 15 through 19, but it's divided up into three sections. There are two things that John hears and one thing that John sees. First in verse 15, the voices of heaven's announcers. We don't know who they are but it says, "the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices," perhaps all of God's creation, "saying, "The kingdoms of this world," and some translations have it singular, the kingdom of this world, "have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" Now this is the seventh trumpet. And we've been waiting for this for a long time. In fact, ever since chapter 8. Four trumpets sounded and after the four terrible trumpets sounded, the angel came and said, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of what's going to come. And the three woes were the next three trumpet judgments. You remember the first trumpet judgment is when there was destruction of the greenery of the earth. The second trumpet judgment was when the sea was destroyed. The third trumpet is when the freshwater sources were destroyed. The fourth trumpet judgment is when the sky was involved. And then there were three woes that were given. The first woe is the fifth trumpet. The fifth trumpet is when hordes of demons will be released on planet earth. They will torment men for five months who will be unable to die. That's the first woe. And that is understandable as a woe. The second woe is also devastating. It's the sixth trumpet when the angels that are reserved by the Euphrates River are released and they kill people upon the earth. Now when the first angel was about to sound it says there was silence in heaven for a half an hour. It's like, this is heavy. Now we come to the seventh trumpet. The final woe. And yet when we come to it there's loud praises in heaven. Instead of silence there are loud noises and you wonder, man, with all of the woes that have come so far, why on the seventh does everybody get so excited? A woe is not a good word. And yet they rejoice simply because it's the end. It's over. It's about curtains. A couple weeks ago I sat in a dentist's chair and he was working on a crown and it wasn't fun but when he said it's almost over I got excited. And here I am numb, my mouth is open, and I'm all excited. Why? Because it's almost done. That's why. And so worship goes on in heaven.

Chronologically, the seventh trumpet brings us to the end of the tribulation period. It encompasses it all even to the reign of Jesus Christ. That's the announcement. The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. And Christ will reign forever. That's chronologically. But now when the seventh trumpet sounds and the events that follow, in fact, they're written about over in chapters 15 and 16, as the seventh trumpet sounds judgment takes place. But this is like telescoping past it into the future after the events in heaven the rejoicing takes place. Turn back with me to chapter 10 let's get the full view of it. Chapter 10 verse 7: "But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets." It's almost over, the mystery is almost over, the reality of God's reigning is about to set in. now let's go the other direction. Turn to chapter 15. Verse one: "Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete." These seven last plagues issue out of the seventh trumpet when it sounds. And the idea is the seventh trumpet brings all of God's wrath to its completion--it's over. When the seventh trumpet sounds, there's a rapid fire judgment of bowls being poured on the earth at the very end of the tribulation period and when it's over, it's over. And chapter 11, those last few verses that we're reading, is the anticipation of it coming to a completion.

Now it says in our verse, verse 15, that a mighty chorus is heard. There were loud voices and a great, great announcement. It's a victory chant. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Now if you were to read right after that all the way through the end of the tribulation, you'd have a big question, you'd go, where? Because that announcement doesn't really take place until chapter 19. So again this is a telescoping prediction. This is what we read about at the end of the tribulation period. But verse 15 is exactly what creation has always wanted to hear and one day will hear it. Ever since the Fall of man and sin marred the earth and scarred God's creation, people have wondered, when is God going to take over and rule the earth? When will He quit being silent? When will He quit being absent? When will He show up in glory and finally really reign? And the announcement here is that it has happened. He had spoken about in past tense but for us, of course, it is still future tense. It's the same kind of thing that Nebuchadnezzar heard from Daniel after he had a weird dream. Here's Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the world, the king of Babylon, who thought nobody else could conquer him, and one night God gives him a vision of the future. And he tells it to Daniel. He said, Daniel, I had a weird dream. I saw this huge statue. It had a head of gold, it had a chest of silver, the stomach was made out of brass, the legs were iron, and the feet were iron and clay. What does that mean, Daniel? Daniel said you had a vision of what's coming after you. You're the head of gold and more world kingdoms will come until finally, at the end of time, there will be ten nations banded together. He said yeah but Daniel something really bugs me about this dream. I dreamt I saw this great statue, then a rock came out of heaven and hit the statue and it disintegrated. And that rock grew into a huge mountain. What does that mean? And Daniel said in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. The kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. When Jesus does return to the earth in chapter 19, when He comes at his Second Coming with all of His saints, all of man's kingdoms, all of man's governments will come to a screeching halt. No negotiations. It will be a total and absolute takeover.

Man has been unable to govern himself. No matter what form of government he chooses, whether a monarchy or democracy, man over a long period of time proves incapable of governing himself well. The ultimate form of government that will rule over the earth will be a theocracy. God calling the shots and men living in obedience to Him. And one day that will happen when Jesus comes back. When all the kingdoms of this earth end and He will be able to say to all of the presidents and prime ministers and senators and congressmen, move over, it's My turn. and He will rule and reign forever. George Washington was right when he said it's impossible to rightly govern the world without God or the Bible. That will ultimately be proven one day. Now Christmas is coming up and it's funny how at Christmastime everybody suddenly gets religious. And even unbelievers will bring out the mangers and dust it off and even spray paint the manger scenes on their business windows. It's sentimental to focus on that little baby being born in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, let's celebrate the Christmas Child. And that's fine and that's sweet and sentimental and all but we should never forget the ultimate purpose for His coming was to reign as King. In fact, when the angel came and visited Mary a prediction was given. Here it is: And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end. So from the very onset, the prediction that this baby would be the ultimate King of kings was given to Mary. And Jesus when He was on the earth loved to speak about His kingdom. In fact, I think that was the major theme of His ministry. The kingdom of God. In His first message, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand! Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 4, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent. In Matthew chapter 13, there's a whole section of kingdom parables where Jesus tells stories. The kingdom of God is like and He gives several analogies. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 it's the kingdom manifesto. This is how life is lived in the kingdom of God. Even to Pontius Pilate who looked at Jesus and said, are You a king? He said, you rightly say that I am a King. But then He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would rise up and fight but My kingdom is not of this world. Then when Jesus rose from the dead, He's with His disciples, Luke tells us, for forty days teaching them things pertaining to the kingdom of God. It was a major theme and thrust of His life.

Now Jesus taught His followers, that would be us, right, how to pray. They came to Him one day and said teach us how to pray. He said when you pray, pray like this: Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's how Jesus taught us to pray. Ok now when you think of that prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, look around. And there's an obvious fact. Things ain't done on earth like they're done in heaven. God's kingdom has not come. His will, though He has a will for His creation, is not reflected right now in His creation. This is not what God intended when He put man upon the earth originally. We're marred by sin, we're scarred by rebellion, and that will change one day. Until then the church prays, Your kingdom come, Your will be done. And whenever you pray that, and you should, you are praying for the return of Christ to set up His kingdom and this announcement to be made. But I think you're praying for more than just that because the kingdom of God is not something that begins later, it begins now. The minute the King resides in your heart, the kingdom of God has come to your life. Jesus on one occasion said to the multitudes, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. And to the Pharisees He said the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And because a couple translations say the kingdom of God is within you a lot of people love to twist that Scripture and lift it out of its context and kind of isolate it and say, well you see, the kingdom of God is in everyone and when you attain a Christ-consciousness, that's the kingdom. That's baloney. What Jesus was saying is this: I am the King and I have come in your midst and I have followers who have received Me and follow Me as King thus the kingdom of God is here in your midst. Because My subjects have made Me their King. So the kingdom of God, though it is yet future, is something that we enjoy now with a promise of something a lot better to come. And so I ask you this question: has your own kingdom become His kingdom? Could you say my kingdom has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ? You see when a person comes to Christ, there is a kingdom shift that takes place. You've followed your own kingdom, your own ways, your own desires, your own plans in life and God says repent, which means turn around, change, about-face. And you shift now your priorities from your life, yourself, your kingdom to His kingdom. Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. A shift takes place.

So when we pray Your kingdom come it implies control. You're Sovereign God, You're the King, You take over my life, and I will be Your loyal subject. One author put it this way, "I cannot say our in our Father if I live only for myself. I cannot say Father if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say who art in heaven if I am laying up no treasure there, I cannot say hallowed be thy name if I'm not striving for holiness, I cannot say thy kingdom come if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful event, I cannot say thy will be done if I am disobedient to His Word and I cannot say on earth as it is in heaven if I'll not serve Him here and now." So the key is to establish the kingdom of God by receiving the King, Jesus Christ, as your ultimate Sovereign Lord, Master. And you abdicate control to Him which gives you that future confidence that you will rule and reign with Him forever. So kingship here implies first of all sovereign control.

Verse 15 at the very end has a phrase I've really come to love. His kingdom is delineated here as forever and ever. "And He shall reign forever and ever." You know forever is a long time. We elect a president--he lasts four years, sometimes eight. But it won't be forever. And I'd say that no matter who got elected. He will reign forever and ever. That's a long time. 393 times the Bible uses the term forever. 47 times it uses the phrase forever and ever, as describing His reign over the earth. I want to be on the right side of that forever and ever. David Hume, the atheistic philosopher, in 1776 mocking Christianity, he said, I see the twilight of Christianity. David's dead. Christ lives on and His cause lives on and His kingdom lives on. He said I see the twilight of Christianity. He couldn't tell the difference between the sunset and the sunrise. It was growing more than ever before during that time. Nikita Khrushchev, former Russian republic leader, president, he vowed that by 1965 he would display the last Christian believer on Soviet television. That would be the last one. He'd find him and get rid of him. he'd destroy Christianity from the kingdom. Nikita's gone. He's facing the Judge. It's over for him. He shall reign forever and ever.

You know throughout history kings have come and gone. They've strutted across the stage of history. I have a great kingdom they have said and they're gone. In Psalm 145 it says Your kingdom, O Lord, is an everlasting kingdom and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. That's awesome. So verse 15 then is the voices of heaven's announcers. Beginning in verse 16 we have a response by the twenty-four elders and this is the veneration of heaven's occupants. "And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."

Now we come to twenty-four elders. We see them often in the book of Revelation. They sort of pop up in heavenly scenes to give worship. it's best to see them as the glorified church in heaven. They are not angels. Angels in the Scripture never sit upon thrones. These twenty-four elders do. It's probably the interpretation I'm most comfortable with--the glorified people of God. They give praise. This is the third time they give praise so far. The first time, the first song, was in chapter 4 as they worshiped God because He's the Creator. The second time is chapter 5; they worship Him for being the Redeemer. And now they worship Him for being the Judge and the King of all the earth. Notice how they phrase it: We give thanks O Lord God Almighty. This is sort of like Thanksgiving service in heaven and it's very lively. There's a lot of commotion. There are loud voices and as I read the Bible, God likes worship with guts. Make a loud noise unto the Lord! And there's a lot of commotion going on in heaven and it's thanksgiving. We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty. Well since that is part of the heavenly scene, I think that we ought to get geared up for it now. If we're God's people and the kingdom of God has come to us because we've received the King, we ought to be thankful people. Thanksgiving ought to be second nature. I love Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving service coming up this week. I love it because it gives every one of us a new perspective. I hear more people after the service say, man, that's so awesome. God has been so good! And I like Thanksgiving service so much and the day of Thanksgiving so much I think we ought to reverse it. I think we ought to have just one day a year called Complaining Day because it seems that we just have one day called Thanksgiving and it's almost like we have license to gripe and moan and groan and complain the rest of the year. Oh but it's Thanksgiving today! Hey I say get it all out of your system one day. Think of all the things you want to gripe about it and just get it over with and then thank God the rest of the year because so often we forget all of God's benefits.

My mom gave me this article from a local paper in California. It's a Dear Abby column. This guy writes: when I was in law school I shared an apartment with three other graduate students who, like myself, held part-time jobs and had little time and money and cooking ability or interest in preparing meals. Each of us got his own breakfast and we took turns preparing dinner which usually consisted of canned vegetables, hamburger meat, and a baked potato or the like. It was barely edible. I lost 25 pounds going through law school. But no matter how poor the meal was, my roommate Joe invariably said, that was a mighty fine dinner. One evening when the meal that I had prepared was even worse than usual and Joe had nevertheless complimented me, I said, Joe, you know, that food was hardly fit for human consumption. Why do you always say it's so good? I come from a family of 11 children, Joe answered. My mother would spend all afternoon in the kitchen preparing the evening meal. Then one night she calls us to the table and there was only a plate at each place with a pile of hay on it. My father looked at it and asked her, Jessie, what is this hay doing on our plates? Mother said, oh you noticed! She went on, this is the first time any of you have given any indication that you knew what was on your plate. I vowed then and there, Joe added, that I would always express my appreciation to the person who prepared my meal. The writer says ever since then I've followed Joe's example. Fortunately, I married a great cook as well as the best wife a man ever had.

Here they are surrounded by an equal number of chapters of tribulation and judgment and here right in the middle is this psalm of thanksgiving. We give You thanks! Why? It says because You have taken Your great power and reigned. They're thanking God for His sovereign power and that He's using it. He's able to reign and so they give Him thanks. Now verse 18 is really comprehensive. It encompasses the entire tribulation period. In fact, I would say it encompasses over a thousand years because it talks about the rewards of the just, the judgment of the unjust, the wicked, and all of that later on we'll see is separated by a gap of a thousand years. Verse 18: "The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth." There is mention of national and international hostility. The nations were angry. The nations were angry. In fact, during the tribulation period the nations will be angry. The world will hate the two witnesses we read about last week. Their greatest time of joy is killing God's prophets and letting their bodies lay in the streets for three-and-a-half days. So they'll be angry with them. they're going to be angry with the great multitude that is won to Christ by the 144,000 because they are witnesses. The world will kill them, the Bible says. They're going to be angry at God. In fact, turn over to chapter 16. Let's look at a few verses to see a couple of things that take place as part of this final round of judgments. Revelation 16 verse 9: "And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. Verse 11: "They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds." Down to verse 21: "Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great."

Even to the very end man will be rebellious and stubborn and shake their fist at God instead of turning. The nations were angry. Now as you read this, this feels like Psalm 2. A prediction is made that really is fulfilled here. Psalm 2 goes like this: why do the nations rage or why are they so angry and the people plot a vain thing. The kings of the earth have assembled themselves together against the Lord and against His Christ saying let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords far from us. The psalmist goes on to say the God who sits in heaven shall laugh. He shall hold them in derision. In other words, no matter how they rebel against God, God is still in control and will squelch that rebellion.

Alright let's go now to the next phrase which says, Your wrath has come. This speaks of judgment, "and the time of the dead, that they should be judged". Now look at that and think of what's going on here. Heaven is rejoicing and the twenty-four elders worship as they fall down and they're worshiping God and thanking God for judgment. Why would the church get so excited about a God who would judge the earth? Well I can understand it. I've spoken to people groups in India and the Philippines and Thailand who have had their families butchered, who have been persecuted and killed because the world hated them. the souls under the altar cry out, we read about it earlier in chapters before. God, how long will You let this go on? When are you going to avenge our blood on the people who dwell on the earth? We've lived for You, we've loved You, and yet they've killed us. When will You do something? Well now the announcement comes. The kingdoms of this world are over and now God reigns and the twenty-four elders worship for judgment. You know, God could, we've mentioned this before, destroy every wicked person right now. A guy came up to me last week and said, a girl asked me a question. She said, why doesn't God do something about wickedness and evil? Why doesn't He intervene now? Why is there so much wickedness around? And I said well there's wickedness because there are wicked people. why doesn't God stop them? I said, well, how did you answer her? He said I told her I'd come and talk to you and I'd tell her what you said. I said, the answer is fairly simple. God could judge now and destroy every wicked person who has a wicked thought so there wouldn't be wickedness. Or God could wait to see if those wicked people would turn to Him and give them a chance in His great love and mercy. And for God to destroy all wickedness would not be a God of love because God to be a God of love must give His creation choice instead of making them robots. And so in giving us choice some choose wickedness, some choose God. But God, to be loving, maintains that choice.

But there will come a time, as we have said so often, when it's over. One day God will judge and His wrath will be unmistakable and all the people that say look I've gotten away with so much, there's no God, if there was a God why didn't He stop me or this and that when I do this and that? I heard about a farmer who was proud to be a person who didn't believe in the ancient myth of God. And he wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper. He wanted it published. He paid for the ad. The ad said, I plowed on Sunday. I planted on Sunday. I cultivated on Sunday. I hauled in my crops on Sunday but I never went to church on Sunday. Yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else, even those who were God-fearing and never missed a church service. The editor printed it and afterwards the editor put in his own words: God doesn't always settle His accounts in October. God has lots of patience but one day the announcement will come: the kingdoms are His. And the elders will worship, we will worship God. We thank You that You're finally starting an end to all of this wickedness and of Your judgment.

Next rewards are given. It says in the same section, "And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints". Now right there you have two events separated by a thousand years because we're going to read later on that there's something called the first resurrection. It's the resurrection of the just. We get rewards or those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him will be rewarded for their service upon the earth. Then there will be a thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. After that, it's what's called the Great White Throne Judgment where the wicked are judged, their names are not found written in the book, and they punished forever. But this is the reward judgment. Jesus will say in Revelation 22, behold I come quickly and My reward is with Me. It's called the bema seat in Christ--the reward seat. You're not going to stand before God if you're a Christian and God's going to say, now when you were three years old, we have it on video here. That judgment is taken by Jesus Christ. He's paid for all of your sins. But you will be rewarded or you will not receive rewards depending on what you did or didn't do for Christ on the earth. It's not a judgment on sin, it's a judgment on rewards, on activity that is done. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. What's the reward? To inherit the kingdom, to rule and reign with Him. Now I want to make a point. You're going to receive rewards one day. I don't know what exactly it will look like. The Bible speaks about different kinds of crowns and maybe positions in the kingdom. I don't exactly know. But I do know this. Most of your rewards aren't here! So if you're the kind of a person who needs notoriety or a pat on the back before you'll get involved in doing God's work in His body, you're going to be a miserable dude because there will be people who will misjudge you, misunderstand you, misinterpret what you're doing, you'll get flack for it, you won't get rewarded here. In fact, the world will hate you because you love God and serve Him. so if your rewards are coming later, we ought to be storing up and thinking about that--living for that. Didn't Jesus say store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust don't corrupt where thieves don't break in and steal? There's a legend about a very wealthy Christian woman who died, sweet gal. She didn't really do much for the Lord on the earth and she died and she went to heaven and there's Peter, as the famous Peter story, he's checking names off at the gates. And he says, oh yes, we have your name here and here's your house. And it was a little hovel. I mean, it's heaven and it was great but it was a small little place. And she said, excuse me, I'd like to protest. I had a huge home on earth and I'm not used to something like this and besides that, there's a big mansion next to it. Who's that for? Peter said, that's for your gardener. My gardener? Why does my gardener get so big of a house and I get so small of a house? Peter said well, these homes, we didn't choose them for you. You chose them for yourself. In fact, we prepared these homes based on the materials that are sent up from earth. You send us the materials and we build and if you store up treasure in heaven then there's lots to build with.

By your faithfulness upon the earth. Whatever those rewards will be, now is the time that they are doled out. and finally it says, "and destroy those who destroy the earth." That's not speaking about anti-environmentalists. God isn't saying, oh, those people who polluted the ocean, I'm going to really judge them now. That's not the idea here because, folks, the greatest pollution isn't smog or oil. It's sin. The idea is that Satan usurped in the Garden and by the Fall of man brought sin into the world and all of those people who aligned with Satan by rejecting Christ are those who ruined the earth because sin destroys the heart of man. And everything else is a byproduct of that. That's the really the idea. Finally, we get to in verse 19, the vision of heaven's temple. "Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail." It's like open house in heaven. The curtains are opened, you can see the Holy of Holies, as in the temple and tabernacle and the ark of the covenant. Now either, a, this is a literal temple or this is figurative language. It could be literal, the book of Hebrews belabors the point that the tabernacle on earth and the temple was a model of the true temple in heaven. And we've already seen a throne and altars and all sorts of things that John sees in heaven. A glassy sea. The seven flames and spirits of God before His throne. Or this could be figurative language of the fact that God's full covenant in heaven will be realized by us. It'll be available in its fullness. We will enter into unbroken fellowship with God. Now it mentions here the ark of the covenant. If you've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, that ark was in the movie, the idea of the ark that was in the tabernacle. It was the main piece of furniture in the temple. And once a year a guy named the high priest would walk into that room and sprinkle blood on that ark of the covenant and a miraculous transformation would take place. That ark which was the throne of judgment because the Law that was broken was in it was transformed into a mercy seat and God forgave the people's sin. Now only one guy could go in there, the high priest, only once a year. It's like God is saying everybody can come in. there will be unbroken, intimate fellowship based upon the blood of My Son, the blood of the covenant. It has found its fullness here in heaven.

It seems as we look around that people go on living their lives as if nothing's going to change. Life will just continue to go on unbroken. There will be no catastrophe, no cataclysm. The doctrine of uniformitarianism: all things continue as they were before. My grandmother said Jesus was coming and He didn't come then and my parents and now you're saying it. And so we elect our officials and we have hope in human government. Man does reign presently--but not ultimately. There will come a day when He will reign forever and ever and of His kingdom there will be no end. So human history's going somewhere. And I would add that it's dead on schedule. It's in control. The earthly kingdoms are temporary. If that's true then why don't we invest in our future? If what is coming down is an eternal kingdom, why not get ready for it? Why not, as Peter said, seeing that all these things are going to be destroyed, the new car, the home, the investment property, not that those things are bad but they're going to be burned, destroyed. Seeing that all these things are going to be destroyed what manner of persons ought we to be in all godliness and holy living? C.S. Lewis once said, "If you aim at heaven, you'll get earth thrown in. if you aim at earth, you'll get neither." Neither Heaven nor earth. His kingdom is coming. Let's get ready by knowing and worshiping and serving the King.

Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/17/1997
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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/13/1997
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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
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A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.
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4/20/1997
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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/11/1997
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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
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"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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