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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Revelation chapter 22. Yes. The last chapter of the Bible. I've never preached on this chapter. Are gonna preach on it today? As0:11 we close out a series called Maranatha, this the last message in this series. Take out your notes. Looks like this. Started this message series when our trip to Israel got canceled because war broke out. And so the title0:22 of the message is kind of in line with all that, how to be happy when hell breaks loose. Yeah. Alright. That's that's some kind of title right there. And you will notice on your notes0:34 that the the book Revelation has no chapter number. You see that? Anybody see that? This that that means I am going to do something I've never done before. I am going to preach0:46 to you in 1 sermon the whole book of Revelation. All 22 chapters. That's the good news. The bad news is it's gonna take me 36 hours to do it. So0:58 cancel your plans. No. We're gonna do We're gonna do a flyover. A 10000 foot view of this wonderful book. Stand with me at all locations, if you will. Here's1:10 the passage that we're gonna read from verse 16 right through the end of the book. And when I saw this this week, this passage, I was gripped. I was gripped with the reality that this is God talking to his1:22 people. Last words that he wants to write down for all of church history. Here they are. Verse 16. I, Jesus Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you1:33 about these things for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star. And then look at this verse. This is the 1 that grabbed me this week. The spirit and the bride say, what? Come. Yes.1:46 And then and let the 1 who hears say, come. And let the 1 who is thirsty, what? Come. Let the 1 who desires take the water of life without1:58 price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone asks of them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this2:07 prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.2:19 That's Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. And if you have a and a New King James version bible, verse 20 says this, surely I am coming soon.2:32 Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Even so. In other words, I've read the book. There's some darkness ahead. We got to go through it.2:44 When Jesus comes, it's gonna get worse. But even so, even so, Lord, come. We're ready to have you return to this earth. And everybody said, Amen.2:55 Amen. This is God's word. Let's pray. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that the Holy Spirit will lead my words. Set a guard over my mouth. Help me to speak. Help me to teach. Help me to lead your people to you. And may3:07 the words of my mouth, the meditation of all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. Open our ears, soften our hearts, renew our minds, and help us to see Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name we pray, and3:19 everybody said Amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a seat in the Lord's house in the presence of each other. The Bible ends with an invitation. The Bible ends with the spirit of the3:31 bride saying, come. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from. It could be your first week at Waters Church. It could be your thousandth week. God wants you to3:43 hear Him say, come. Be a part of this. I want you to be in my family. At the same time that God says, come, we say, come,3:55 Lord Jesus. So invitations all around at the end of the book. Jesus inviting you. We're inviting Jesus. And both Jesus and the Holy Spirit saying to the4:06 world, come. There's a door open through the blood of Jesus. The veil is torn. The way has been made. Good people can come. Bad people4:18 can come. Republicans can come. Democrats can come. Anybody can come. Drug dealers can come. Murderers can come. Addicts can come. It4:30 doesn't matter where you come from. You can come through the blood of Jesus Christ. And you wanna come because if you haven't read the book of Revelation, it's gonna get bad.4:43 It's gonna get dark. Anybody have this feeling over their head? Everybody have this looming sense? Something is about to happen. Said that to the church last night. They were all like,4:55 And Saturday night tends to be a quiet church. And even they were like, I have a sense of there's this looming in my heart. Anybody bear witness to that? Something's going something's going on.5:07 And the and the reason is it's not a sense. It's not an intuition. It's not a gut feeling. What you're experiencing is an orthodox 2000 year old biblical Christian5:19 doctrine. Something big is going to happen. A lot of people don't want to read Revelation because it's dark. And, I want to let you know that you should have no5:31 fear and no intrepidation about reading this wonderful book. This is a book that is here to help you, bless you, and empower you to be5:43 ready when Jesus comes. Revelation chapter 22. There's the there there it is. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. But but this is why we're doing the whole book5:54 today. The bookends of the book are a beatitude. Now what is a beatitude? A beatitude is a pronouncement of blessing on anyone who does what is said in the beatitude. So Jesus unpacks6:06 9 beatitudes in Matthew 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are6:13 those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Right? And you can go on. Those are beatitudes. And the word blessed means is in Greek. It means happy, fortunate. If you do these things, you are happy. You are fortunate.6:24 And Revelation has a front end and a back end beatitude. The front end of beatitude is Revelation 1 verse 3. Blessed. Somebody say blessed. Blessed. Macharios, happy, fortunate. That's what that6:36 means. Fortunate is the 1 who reads aloud the words of the prophets of this prophecy. So I've got an extra blessing because I get to read this out aloud to you. That's my blessing. But notice, I'm not I'm not leaving6:48 anybody out because it says this, and blessed, this is this is for you, are those who hear. And then blessed are those who keep what is written in this book for the time is near. The book of Revelation is the only7:00 book in the Bible, 66 books. The only book of 66 that says, if you do it, if you read it, if you keep it, you're blessed. That's big. But it doesn't just begin like that. It ends like that. The last chapter7:11 in Revelation 22 verse 7 says, and behold, I'm coming soon. Again, Macharios, fortunate, blessed is the 1 who keeps the words of the prophecy of the book. So Revelation is bookended with blessing.7:24 So we're gonna do the whole book. 3 quick facts, so that can teach you how to read this book. 3 quick facts. I want you write these down. Number 1, Revelation is apocalypse. The word in Greek is apocalypsis. It's7:36 an apocalypse. When people say, oh, the apocalypse, they're talking about Revelation. The coming of Jesus. The end of the world according to the Bible. Now the word apocalypse means unveiling.7:48 It is an unveiling of of what Jesus is going to do as His return begins, as He comes back. And the word apocalypse is8:00 referring also to ancient literature that was very familiar to first century Jews. In fact, there is some Old Testament passages that are apocalyptic8:12 in nature. You understand that the Bible is made up of many types of literature. There's historical narrative. There's poetry. There's wisdom literature. There's laws. There's covenants. There's8:23 old old ancient covenantal, you know, formula formulas in the text. You can't read the Bible like it's just 1 big long story. There's multiple kinds of genres. Well, there's a8:35 particular genre, very interesting kind of genre. It is what Revelation is. It is also what the last half of Daniel is. On many parts of Ezekiel are. Some parts of Ezra are8:47 apocalyptic. And what that means is that the Scripture will use symbols, signs, and listen, numbers and names and time8:58 frames to teach you about something that is secret. This is really cool about Revelations. It's God's way of giving His people a message9:10 that only His people will understand. And you can't read the book of Revelation. And this is so important. I hope you hear this. End times buffs. You I know who you are.9:22 You're in our church and you love the end time. You've got a chart in your bedroom that has the millennium and the plagues and you got you know, all these dates and all these9:34 pins and you're, you know, you've got a picture of Obama up there and you've got, you know, Biden Trump is somewhere. Everybody, you know everybody who's everywhere. And you are expecting Jesus at any moment, but you9:45 probably have a date in your mind as to when He's coming in. And you need help. Okay. I'm just telling you. I'm here to help you. Because because you can't read you can't read the Bible. You can't read the book of9:55 Revelation without knowing the rest of the Bible. Scripture interprets scripture. And so so this is very important. So this is what the scripture says about Revelation. The first verse, it says, the revelation of what?10:06 Of Jesus Christ. Notice, it's not the revelations. It's 1 revelation about 1 person, and that person is not the antichrist. Okay? This is not your10:18 secret decoder ring to discover. Okay? If if the next president is the antichrist, or if, you know, the head of the UN is the antichrist, or whatever. This is about Jesus, and it's and10:30 it's for his servants. He wants to show his servants what will soon take place. Fact number 2, Revelation is about what always happens. Write that down. What always happens.10:42 Again, Revelation buffs. End Times buffs. This book is not just about I know you wanna say it, but it's not true. This book is not just about the last 7 years of human history. There are 410:54 interpretive ways to read this book. And if you go to my channel on YouTube, youtube dot com slash tim hatch live, I have done this series, 22 part series through the book of Revelation verse by verse, interpreting11:06 the book through those 4 different views. The Preterist view, which means AD 40 to AD 70. The Hysterist view, which means AD 0 to right now. The futurist view, which means the last 7 years of world11:17 history. And the idealist view, which means it is just about a spiritual, ideas that we must inhabit as we wait for Jesus' return. Those 4 views. But but here's what I want you to understand about Revelation. The book11:28 itself tells us. The book itself tells us that it's not about the future only. And it's not about the present only. It's about the past, the present, and the future. Look at this verse. Revelation11:40 1 19. It says, write therefore the things that you, what? Have seen. That is the past. And then he says, I want you also to write the things that are. That is11:52 the present. And the things that are to take place after this. So past, present, future. When you study the book of Revelation, have to understand that God is teaching you not12:04 just about what's going to happen, but what always happens. As the whole Bible tells us, the Bible is not a book about what happened in the past. The Bible is a book about what's happening right12:16 now. We are in a spiritual battle. The reason why we can't control our physical reality is because the physical reality is the fruit of the spiritual reality. And12:27 there is a war in the unseen realms against principalities and mighty forces of wickedness. And they're coming against you, and they're coming against nations. And we need to take up arms in the Holy12:39 Spirit. You can't fight a spiritual battle with physical weapons. So so this is what the revelations is about, past, present, future, and what always happens and what always happens. Are you ready for it?12:51 There's a war that's always going on until Jesus shows up. And the Bible says in Thessalonians, you know what? He's not even gonna have to pick up a He's not even gonna have to pick13:03 up an AR 15 for all my South Carolina friends. Amen, traveler. He's not even gonna have to pick up a rifle for all of my, you know, Northern New England friends. Okay. He's just gonna The13:15 Bible says he's just gonna defeat Satan with the breath of his mouth. I love it. I love it. Jesus is gonna show up on a white horse, and he's gonna come out to the battlefield, he's gonna go, done.13:27 Armageddon over. Let's get this party started. I mean, that's gonna be it. That's it. I mean, it really is so cool. So anyway, number 3 fact.13:39 Revelation helps me understand the present and light of the future. And we need this now more than ever because we are too tied, too strangled by our present.13:53 Some of you gotta listen to me. You're you're you're tied up in knots about what's going on, what's not working, where you are. This is where anxiety comes from. Some14:05 of you are tied up by the past. That's where depression comes from. You gotta live with the future in mind. You gotta live with the future in mind. A woman gets engaged. She's thinking about the14:16 future. Think about the future. Think the future. About the future. She's looking forward, not to what she was, not to who she is. She's making preparation. Well, the bible says we are the pride of Christ. We're getting14:26 married. We're heading to a wedding. We're heading to a feast. Live with that in mind so that you can go through what you're going through right now. Too many people are tied, stranglehold. This this phone keeps us14:37 moment by moment attached to the moment that we are living in. We need to put it down and pick up God's best selling work and read the last chapter. Good things are on the way. When you're in when you're in college, you14:48 you you gotta remember you're gonna walk that, you know, you're gonna walk that that that stage, and they're gonna hand you that useless diploma that now you have to spend the rest of your time playing off. You know what14:58 I'm talking about? I know right now it's tough. You're taking, you know, courses, and you're writing papers, and you're trying to figure out what gender you are. And it's very difficult to do all that kind of stuff. But15:07 you gotta keep that end in mind. And and some some people gotta really think about this. The end is not when you graduate college or high school or or marriage or when you have children or when you retire. No. No.15:19 No. No. The end is when Jesus returns, and a new heaven and new earth show up. If you live with the end in mind, you'll get through whatever the devil has in mind now.15:32 So those are the 3 quick facts. That's how you're supposed to read this book, and it helps you. And there's a blessing to be had. So let's go through the whole book in the next, 25 minutes15:44 or longer. Number 1, 3 truths to be happy about when hell breaks loose. Jesus wants to have a word with his church. Jesus wants to speak to you. That's the first thing that15:56 Revelation tells us. When I started a Revelation study way back in believe it or not, way back in 2005 in this church when we used to have Wednesday night Bible study, I remember we had a whole bunch of people show up,16:07 like record crowd for Wednesday night Bible study. But then the first 4 weeks were the letters to the churches. And so everybody was like, this is boring. I just wanted to find out who the Antichrist was, so they didn't16:15 come back. But but this is how revelation opens because, before we talk about how it's gonna end, we need to talk about how you're doing.16:27 Jesus wants you prepped for the apocalypse. And so he doesn't open up with, bam, lightning, cosmos, fallen, sun16:39 darkened. No, no, no, no. It opens up with, send 7 letters to 7 churches. And every time the letter opens, it says, to the angel of the church16:51 of Ephesus, Pergamum, Sardis, Thyatira, these 7 churches. To the angel of the church of whatever, write. Now the word angel, angelos in the Greek. It could mean angel. It could also17:03 mean messenger. Many times in the Bible, that word is translated messenger. So many people think, and I like to think of this, that there is potentially an angel over every church. I like to think17:15 that's true. I like to think that there is an angel of the church of Waters Church. Amen? Some interpretations say that the angel refers to the pastor,17:27 because he is the messenger of God to the church. Which means that you should learn to treat your pastor.17:39 I won't go there. I'll just let your mind just simmer. Just simmer in that cauldron for a little while. Okay? But 7 churches get 7 different letters. And every church is different. How many17:51 know every church is different? Water Church is not the only game in town. I I I love our church. Of course, I'm here. But I we're not the only church. And and and so God has a heart. And this is what somebody told me a18:03 long time ago when I was getting this church going. And I I remember it just struck with me. The guy was on stage and he said, look, loves many different kinds of churches. You're not the only 1.18:15 I like that. Too many denominationalisms in the church. You know what I'm saying? The denomination wars. When Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be 1. But every church is different, and every church18:27 has failures. Every church needs correction. Let me go through the list of the churches. And if you wanna skim through with me in Revelation 2 and 3, you can. But the church at Ephesus was doing great18:38 works, but they lost their love for the Lord. Sometimes we can be there. Amen? So busy, in the work of the Lord, we forget the Lord18:50 of the work. Then the church in Smyrna was persecuted, and they they needed to endure. Sometimes they're gonna be hated on, and the message is endure. And then the19:02 church in Pergamum, they were backsliding, and and Paul and John writes, or Jesus writes to them and says, I know where you dwell. Here's what he says. You dwell where Satan has19:14 his throne. You gotta understand that Satan is not omnipresent. He can He emphasizes certain areas of the world. Maybe right now he's in19:25 Jerusalem, you know, with everything that's going on. But I think that a lot of times he comes back to Washington, DC. And I've said that funny to be joking, but I don't think that's a19:37 joke. I really do think like he's got a condo somewhere on, you know, Pennsylvania Avenue, and he's there. You know you know, Al Pacino, look, you know, he's walking through. Anybody remember that movie? And he's, you19:48 know, he's making deals with congressmen and senators all the time. Because if he can get this nation, he can ruin all the other nations. But yet there is a church in Washington DC. You see? We don't20:00 hate the cities because our brothers and sisters are in the cities. So then the church in Thyatira was corrupted by a woman named Jess Jesus calls her Jezebel. That probably wasn't her name. But he calls her Jezebel20:11 because he's referencing the Old Testament. By the way, 407 verses in the book of Revelation. 407 verses in the book of Revelation. And this is why you can't read it in isolation. 278 of the 407 verses20:23 are direct or indirect verses references to the Old Testament. It's not about what will happen. It's about what always happens. And then to the church in Sardis, they were20:35 he says, you have the reputation of being alive, but I know you're dead. You look like you love me. You look like a great church, but inwardly, you're not even connected to me. And then20:47 the church in Philadelphia, faithful, small, but tired, weary. They had been struggling, and trial was coming on the world. Tribulation. And Jesus says, because I know you've held on through all this hardship, I'm20:59 gonna spare you. I'm gonna hold that back from you because it's been too hard on you for too long. And then famously, the last church in the list, Laodicea, the what church? The lukewarm21:11 church. You're neither hot nor cold. I wish you were 1 or the other. I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. And by the way, to that church, the famous passage, we misquote this all the time, where Jesus says, behold,21:23 I stand at the door and knock. And pastors and leaders and maybe even me by accident in the past have said, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and he wants to get it. That's21:35 not what the verse is talking about. The verse is saying that Laodicea had grown so complacent and so prideful and so arrogant that there was no more room for Jesus, and he was on the21:46 outside of the church wanting to get back into the church. Let us not be that kind of church. Let us keep the door wide open. Jesus, come in. Have your way at Waters Church.22:00 So all 7 churches get 2 phrases from Jesus. I've put revelation 2 7 in your notes. Let's put it on the screen. It says this. He says to all 7 churches, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to22:12 the churches. And then he also says to all the 7 churches, to the 1 who conquers. He introduces this idea of conqueror, in Greek, which we get Nike from. It means victory. He says, I want you to22:24 win. Jesus wants to talk to you so that you will win. But winning is not what you think. Winning is not getting, you know, millions of dollars in the bank and22:36 having a wonderful home and a wonderful family. I mean, are great blessings, but that's not winning. Winning is standing for Jesus in such a way that nothing the devil throws at you can22:47 tear you down. That's what Jesus wants for you. And that's why he wants to talk to you. And so I want you to write this down because all 7 churches, different places that they're in, and Jesus brings a corrective22:59 to 5 of the 7 churches, comfort to 2 of the 7 churches. But here's what I want you to write down. No matter where I am in my spiritual life, Jesus wants to talk. Because some of you are like, I know I'm23:10 lukewarm. I'm lukewarm. I'm I know he's gonna spit me out of my mouth. No. He wants to talk. Don't you understand in that same church to that same church, he says, those whom I love, I rebuke.23:23 Some of you gotta get a theological room opened up in your brain today, because you're not familiar with loving rebuke. You think that23:35 only encouragement is love. Only words of support are love. Only words of, you know, you can do it. You're a champion. You're wonderful. Nobody like you. You think23:46 that's only the times when Jesus loves you. No. No. No. Sometimes sometimes Jesus loves you by saying, what's wrong with you? You know what I'm saying? Anybody have an old Italian mom and you know, pinch23:58 the cheeks and smack you. My parents used to spake me. I was raised old school, baby. That's how you got under control as a child. Good old fat sometimes24:10 if I was really naughty, bare bottom spank it. My parents would be arrested today. But straighten me out, got me right, put me on the right path. Thank God for the24:22 love of a spanking parent. I always have to qualify this with the saying, of course, the parents can go too far, and I'm not condoning that.24:35 But Jesus never goes too far. He will correct you. He will he will confront you. He will rebuke you because he loves you. Some of you are dead. You're thinking you're alive, but you're dead. Some of you are24:47 sliding into sexual morality. God wants to pull you back. He's talking to you to pull you back onto the right. You know, in GPS, when you have your GPS, you go the wrong way. What does the GPS do? Reroutes.24:58 It doesn't give up on you. And I'm very thankful for that because I have no sense of direction. My GPS would be like, I cannot stand you anymore. I am out of here. You never25:10 listen. No. The GPS just reroutes. That's what Jesus does with you. He reroutes. Okay. You've gone off this road now rerouting. And some of you you're like somewhere in the woods, you're worried about some guy coming25:22 out with a machete at any moment. Yeah. You should be worried. You've gone off the path. Get back on. Write this down. If I can hear there's still hope.25:34 Some of you like I should even be at church today. I was totally I feel guilt. I feel shame. I feel no, no, no. What you feel is conviction. Conviction is not a curse. It's a blessing.25:46 Conviction is God's provision for your direction. Somebody should tweet that out. I did yesterday. You can retweet it for me. Conviction is God's provision for your direction. He wants you on the right25:57 path, on the right road. It doesn't give up on you. So this is the first part of Revelation that Jesus is like, look, church, it's gonna get really bad. It's gonna be like it has been in26:09 the past. It's gonna be like it is now, but ad infinitum. Like it's gonna get really bad. And all that you've seen throughout the course of human history with wars, and26:21 plagues, and pestilence, and judgments, and serious diseases, and suffering, man, you ain't seen nothing yet. So if you wanna make it through, you better listen to your shepherd who's here to correct26:32 you, and reroute you, and get your feet on solid ground. Point number 2, Jesus wants his church to see the26:44 world for what it really is. This is so important. When you read the book of Revelation, it is begging the church, Don't26:56 be seduced by your generation. I know they can dress up a certain way and present certain things.27:08 And some of you people, you've got marketing degrees. You know what I'm talking about. You know how to convince people that they need things that they don't really need. That's the27:19 world's system. Gonna get to that in just a moment, but let me back up and talk to you about how Jesus unpacks this for his church in, some sub points here under number 2. The first thing27:31 Revelation is gonna tell you tell us is this world is under judgment, letter a. This world is present tense, friend, under judgment. You say, I27:43 thought that judgment's coming later. It is on a whole another level. But listen to me. The world is under judgment now.27:56 Now. And the world has been under judgment since Adam and Eve ate the fruit. Judgment came. And it came in Noah's28:08 day, and it came in Lot's day, and it came in Isaiah's day. This is nothing new. And so you have to understand something about the world. It could put all28:20 the lights and glitter on the most beautiful person, and sing the most wonderful songs, and entertain you, and floor you, and overwhelm you, and28:31 tickle all your sensitivities in all the right places. But don't fall for it. The devil is not ugly. You know that. Right?28:45 You got to understand that the Bible says the devil can disguise himself as an angel of light. He's beautiful. Ezekiel describes him. He's clothed with the jewels of all28:57 the glorious jewels of this creation. There was no 1 else like him. He was he was pinnacle of God's creation. And so the music of our age and the allure, the attractiveness of our age,29:08 don't you understand that it's just an illusion? It ends in death, and it ends in judgment. And 1 of the things that people fail to understand is judgment is not29:20 future. Judgment is present. What does Romans chapter 1 say? That that they decided not to worship God, and they decided to worship created things as God. What does God do? He29:32 hands them over to what they want. Sometimes this is gonna sting. Sometimes God's God's judgment29:44 is he just gives you exactly what you want, And he lets you feel the pain that that brings. You chase29:55 adultery. You're not you're not just chasing pain. You're chasing hell. You're chasing pornography. You're chasing hell.30:08 You're money and greed and fortune. You're not chasing the good life. You're chasing hell. This is what Revelation is begging us to see. Revelation 330:20 10, he says, because you have kept my word about about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the world. This is Revelation 3. We haven't even started the revelation. We haven't even30:28 started the plagues yet. He's already talking about judgment. Jesus said, when he went to the cross in John 12 31, he said, now. Somebody say now. He says, now is the judgment of30:40 this world. What do you see on the streets of America's cities right now? Tent cities, homeless encampments. It's growing. What what do you see with our30:52 open borders and who knows what kind of drugs are coming into our country, left, right, and center right now? What do you see in our university system when when you have confused professors confusing the kids and31:04 tearing them away from their parents? What do you see? You don't see just society. You see the judgment of God. And God is saying, come out of them. You are my31:16 people. You are not sons and daughters of this generation. You are sons and daughters of the almighty father in heaven. Come away. This is why first John31:27 chapter 2 verse 13, it says, do not love the world or the things in the world. He says, if anyone loves the world, the love of the31:39 Father is not in him. For everything in the world, he says, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life is not from the Father, it's from the world.31:51 And then this verse, and the world is what? Passing It's passing away with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.32:05 Come on out of this generation. Young people, don't let what's cool in your age be your regret in the age to come.32:18 Don't fall for the looks and the attraction. This is what the devil's been doing for thousands of years. You understand? He's very good at it. He's had a lot of practice, and he32:29 allures you and tries to swallow you. But judgment is coming. I've been to Pompeii. Pompeii is just south of Naples, Italy. It sits in the shadow of Mount32:41 Vesuvius, a volcanic mountain. I was on vacation with my wife, and and we got to Naples, Italy, and she wanted to go to the Alafia coast, and I ruined her day by going on an32:52 archaeological trip through Pompeii. They said, honey, I'm sorry, but this is for the Bible. This is for my work. I gotta do some work. I'd always wanted to go there, and the archaeological ruins of that city. You33:03 understand that Pompeii was the sun summertime resort for Roman elite in the first century. Judgment always comes. Here's how that works. In AD33:14 33, Jesus Christ was put on a cross, handed over to the Romans by the Jewish leaders. 40 years later, the Roman emperor Titus marches into the city, besieges it, destroys it, rapes,33:26 destroys what Hamas just did to Israel, they did to Jerusalem, 80 33, a complete wipeout, a complete destruction of the city. Here's what it was. God was judging33:38 the city that he sent his son to, and they crucified him. And then this is the most amazing thing. Are you ready? That happens in a33:50 d 79 years to the day that Titus entered Jerusalem and destroyed it. Mount Vesuvius erupted.34:02 It erupted and wiped out the city of Pompeii instantly, and the Roman elites who destroyed the city of Jerusalem were judged for their mistreatment of God's34:14 people in that city. Judgment, ping pongs from nation to nation and people to people as God keeps showing us the error of our ways. And it ironically, in34:25 Pompeii, it happened in August during a festival for Caesar Augustus, whom the Roman elites had just decided was God. And34:37 God had the last word. Revelation is not about what happens next. It's about what always happens.34:49 Don't be a Lord. This world is under judgment. Let it be. This world is a devouring beast. This is not happy speech, but it's true. This world will chew35:01 you up and swallow you if you let it. This is why your wage against sin, your war against sin has got to be taken seriously. It is a it is a war for your soul.35:13 And so there's 3 images here that I gotta unpack. First, a ruling dragon. Write it down. First symbol. And again, apocalyptic imagery. Symbols, numbers, names, all mean something35:25 different than what you think. A ruling dragon, Revelation 12 3, and another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a red great red dragon with 7 heads, 10 horns. 7 means completion. Horns means he's going to rule. And he has35:36 7 diadems. That means he had crowns on the 7 heads. So he has complete, listen, complete rule of this earth. And it says, his tail swore the third of the stars out of heaven. This35:48 is hearkening back to when, Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven and took a third of the angels with him. Down to where? Down to earth. Not to hell. Down to earth. Where are the fallen angels? Here, in36:00 chains and bondage. Yes. Helping Satan deceive the nations. And the dragon stood before the woman. Who is the woman? I will shorten the illustration here quickly for you. That's the nation of Israel. That is the36:10 Jerusalem, the the Israeli people, the Jewish people who through whom came Jesus Christ. And it says, the woman was about to give birth, so that when she bore the child, the the dragon might devour it. Okay.36:22 This is a picture of Satan. He has authority on this earth. Or at least it appears that he does, because John sees the diadems, and he sees the crowns, and36:34 he sees the heads. And then he sees that he wants to devour. And then it goes after, later on in the passage, goes after all the people of God who follow the child that was born to Israel. And this is what you have to36:45 understand, that there's a dragon that's coming after you. And he rules. And yes, he has been given authority over this world. How? Because Adam and Eve abdicated their authority and gave it to him in the beginning.36:57 And so listen to me very carefully though. This is the this is the best part. I love the fact that the Bible says he's a dragon. Because here's what you need to know. Fact number 1 about dragons. Are you ready? Fact37:08 number 1. They don't really exist. Here's what that means. Satan's rule looks real, but37:20 it doesn't really exist. Because we know the 1 who rules over Satan, and we are connected to the 1 who rules over Satan. That37:32 means that nothing Satan throws at you, God has not allowed for you. And if he allowed it for you, there must be an ultimate reason and purpose in it for you that he might produce something through you and in you. And37:42 that means that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes. And by the way, this devil, this dragon has no authority over you because just skip down to verse 10.37:54 Says, and I heard a loud voice in Now salvation and power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of Christ have come. For the accuser of the brothers have been thrown down, who accuses them when? Day and night. You38:04 you feel guilt, you feel shame, you feel accused, that's because the devil's after you. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's been thrown down who accuses them day and night before God, and they have conquered him. They38:15 didn't lose to him, they conquered him. How? By the blood of the lamb, and the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives even unto death. In other words, even if you have to kill me devil, I'm not bowing the38:26 knee. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's how you conquer. That's how you win. The second symbol is a blasphemous beast. Now when we talk about a blasphemous beast, the book of Revelation is all about this beast, is a large38:37 part of it is about this beast. Blasphemy means that you claim to be God. So what Revelation is telling us is that there are going to be people who will claim to be God, not just in38:49 the future. Now and as it's always happened in the past. Look how this this blasphemies blasphemous beast comes about. Verse 1 ofShow more
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