Good morning, everyone.
It's always such a joy to be able to worship with you guys on Sundays like this.
Yeah, I'm always just so blessed by the loud voices that we sing our worship in.
Yeah, truly just an honor to be with you.
Please turn with me to Revelation chapter 11, verse 14 to 19.
Since the fall, our church has been going through a series in Revelation.
And this week we have reached, finally, the midpoint of the book.
And so we find ourselves, once again, Revelation chapter 11, verse 14 to 19.
Please, I want you to pray with me for the reading and the preaching of God's word.
Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for your word,
which is breathed out by you, which seeks to instruct us, to guide us,
to rebuke us and encourage us, and to fill us with hope of your coming kingdom.
Lord, we thank you so much for your Holy Spirit, which illuminates scripture in our lives,
that guides us in how to live out the gospel faithfully, even unto death.
And Lord, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, whose name is above all names,
whose name is sweeter than honey on our lips,
whose name is like refreshing waters to our soul.
Lord, we ask that your word speak to us this morning and remind us of your coming kingdom
and all the implications behind that, both on this physical world
and in terms of the eternal consequences, Lord.
Be with us.
I want your Spirit to speak to our hearts.
We thank you.
We love you.
And we pray all of us in Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you are willing and able, please stand for the reading of God's word.
Revelation chapter 11, verse 14 to 19.
The second woe has passed.
Behold, the third woe is soon to come.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God
fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying,
We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
The nations raged when your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name,
both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple.
There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
When I first read this Revelation passage,
a certain scene came to my mind from the movie Avengers Endgame.
I thought of, specifically, the final battle,
with that epic scene where all of the Marvel superheroes,
they gather together to fight against the evil villain, Thanos.
Captain America, he holds his hand down,
Thor's hair comes rushing into his hand,
and he calls out,
Avengers!
Assemble!
I remember watching this movie at the theater,
and as Captain America cried out this battle cry,
chills went down my spine.
And I wasn't alone.
The entire theater was clapping and whistling and whooping,
like, yeah!
The Avengers are here!
They're gonna win!
And how can they not lose when they have all the heroes gathered together in one battlefield?
But even with such an epic scene,
there still is no guarantee that the Avengers would win.
For another 30 minutes in the movie,
the Avengers continue to struggle against Thanos,
and we're still left in unsureness of the Avengers victory,
until finally,
Iron Man takes possession of the Infinity Stones
and snaps his fingers to defeat Thanos
and restore the world from the destroyer.
This movie is five years old.
If I'm spoiling anything,
I'm not sorry.
Going back to our Revelation passage,
in John's vision here,
God's triumphant kingdom and reign has come to the world.
And without delay,
the destroyers of the earth are destroyed,
and those who have been faithful to the Lord are rewarded.
And God's temple and His ark of His covenant,
His presence is revealed for all to see.
Unlike in Avengers Endgame,
we have absolute confidence in the end of our story.
That God will rule over the world.
That He will avenge those who have been persecuted and killed in His name.
And that He will judge with absolute justice
those who deserve eternal life
and those who deserve eternal death.
There's no unsureness or insecurity about this.
When the Lord's kingdom comes to earth,
His victory and His reign is guaranteed.
And so with this in mind,
our main point of this passage is this.
We should join in the worship of the Lord,
knowing that He will destroy our destroyers
and reward the faithful,
and that His kingdom will come with His very presence.
I'll be covering four points in this sermon.
First, the third woe.
Second, the worship of God and His Christ reign.
Third, the wrath and reward of God.
And fourth, God with us.
Before I get into these four points,
I wanted to do a recap of where we are in the book of Revelation.
And so we're at the end of the seven trumpet judgments,
which are a series of end-time judgments from God
onto our wicked and idolatrous world.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpet blasts
have been called the three woe judgments,
as we see proclaimed by the eagle
in Revelation 8, verse 13.
It says,
Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth
at the blast of the other trumpets
that the three angels are about to blow.
Woe, woe, woe.
Doom, doom, doom.
These three final woes accentuate
the increased intensity and severity of the judgments,
leading to the climactic final judgment
of God at the seventh trumpet.
At the first woe, the fifth trumpet,
a fallen star, presumably an evil angel or Satan,
was given a key to the bottomless pit,
from which demonic locusts flew out
and tormented mankind for five months,
to the point that men desired to die.
But death continued to evade them.
And then we see something even more intense.
At the second woe, the sixth trumpet,
four angels and their armies killed
one-third of mankind,
while the rest of mankind
continued to be unrepentant of their sins.
For 42 months, the wicked nations
trampled over the courts outside of the city temple,
and the two witnesses were killed
for proclaiming the gospel,
only to be resurrected by God
three and a half days later.
Then a great earthquake shook the city,
killing 7,000 wicked people,
and while the remaining survivors
could do nothing but acknowledge God's power
and be in awe of his judgment.
All these events of the fifth and sixth trumpets
lead to the blowing of the seventh and final trumpet,
the third and final woe.
If we look at the outline of Revelation
that John had shared with us before,
our passage of the seventh trumpet
is right at the center of Revelation.
We've reached the midpoint.
John's vision in this passage
will represent, as I said before,
the climactic conclusion of God's judgment,
in which God's kingdom comes down to earth
and overtakes the kingdom of the world.
And this leads to my first point,
the third woe.
Verse 14,
The second woe has passed.
Behold, the third woe is soon to come.
While the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments
had verses that signaled the first two woes
in Revelation 9 and Revelation 11,
there is no explicit mention in Scripture
of the seventh trumpet being the third woe.
Still, I think that there's strong evidence in the text
that Revelation 11, chapter 14,
I've heard verse 14 to 19,
is indeed the third woe.
For one thing, we have in verse 14,
Behold, the third woe is soon to come.
It's soon to come.
Revelation 8 and Revelation 10
also say that the woe judgments
would occur at the final three blasts
of the angels' trumpets,
and that in the days of the trumpet call
to be sounded by the seventh angel,
the mystery of God would be fulfilled.
The mystery of God from Revelation 10
is God's kingdom being fully established on earth.
The short and brief description
of the seventh trumpet and the third woe
compared to the other two woes
should not undermine the ultimate severity
of this passage.
The seventh trumpet,
which is supposed to be the most intense judgment
that we have seen so far in Revelation,
signifies the end of the end,
the eschaton.
This is the final judgment
where the Lord brings his kingdom onto earth
and immediately the living and the dead
are judged for eternal reward
or eternal death.
This is final.
And so what John sees
in this vision of the seventh trumpet
and the third woe judgment
must have been both so glorious
but also so terrifying
that John cannot even describe in words
what happens at the final judgment.
This vision of judgment
is far more intense
than that of demonic locusts
or the death of our two witnesses
or the earthquake that killed 7,000 people.
It's unspeakable.
Church,
the third woe
is a reminder
that we need to be considering
the eternal consequences
of how we live here in the present.
There will come a day
where we face
either eternal joy
and life
that is beyond
our ability to explain in words
or eternal death
and suffering
that will render us speechless.
But God is so gracious to us
that he shows us
through scripture
how to follow
the way to eternal joy
and life in him.
And that is through believing
in Jesus Christ
as our Lord
and Savior.
until the day
that we are left
awestruck
and without words
by God's glorious presence
among us.
Let's proclaim the gospel
with our voices
and with our lives
to those around us
being cognizant
of the eternal consequences
of the coming Lord
and of his kingdom.
This leads to my second point,
the worship of God
and his Christ frame.
Verse 15,
Then the seventh angel
blew his trumpet
and there were loud voices
in heaven saying,
The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom
of our Lord
and of his Christ
and he shall reign
forever and ever.
The loud voices in heaven
are most likely
the same voices
that cried out
in Revelation chapter 7.
Salvation belongs
to our God
who sits on the throne
and to the Lamb.
The heavenly voice
of the declaration,
it refers to
the prophet Daniel
vision in Daniel chapter 7.
Behold,
with the clouds of heaven
there came one
like a son of man
and he came
to the ancient of days
and was presented
before him.
And to him
was given dominion
and glory
and a kingdom
that all peoples,
nations,
and languages
should serve him.
His dominion
is an everlasting dominion
which will not pass away
and his kingdom
one that shall not
be destroyed.
this one
like a son of man
is Jesus Christ,
the son of God
and the promised king.
During his life
and ministry,
Jesus proclaimed
that the kingdom
of God
is near,
is at hand.
It was Jesus
who inaugurated
the kingdom of God
and invited us
into that kingdom
by dying for us
on the cross
and resurrecting
from the grave,
thereby defeating
Satan,
sin,
and death
and adopting us
into his kingdom.
Now in this
revelation vision,
Christ has returned
and the kingdom
of God
has been fully established
here on earth
just as Jesus
had prophesied.
The kingdom
of the world
which Satan
had authority
over for a time
is now fully
taken away
from him.
The kingdom
of the world
has become
the kingdom
of the Lord God
and his Christ.
While Satan's rule
was only temporary
for a time,
God and Christ's rule
will be forever
and ever,
marking the end
of the age.
Verse 16 and 17,
And the 24 elders
who sit on their thrones
before God
fell on their faces
and worshipped God,
saying,
We give thanks to you,
Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken
your great power
and begun to reign.
The 24 elders,
as we see in Revelation
chapter 4,
could be referring
to the 12 tribes
of Israel
in the Old Testament
and the 12 apostles
in the New Testament.
Altogether,
all 24 elders
represent
the complete
people of God,
his community
of believers.
believers.
The elders,
having heard the proclamation
from the voices in heaven,
they fall from their thrones
onto their faces
and worship God,
thanking him
for consummating the kingdom,
taking his great power
and beginning to reign.
And the elders say,
We give thanks to you,
Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was.
For those of us
who may have grown up
reading scripture,
we're typically used
to hearing this phrase
in a threefold pattern,
that God is the one
who was,
who is,
and is to come.
The threefold pattern
describes God's sovereignty
over all history,
the past who was,
the present who is,
and the future
who is to come.
But in verse 17,
the elders worship
the Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was.
Where is who is to come?
Well, the phrase
who is to come
is replaced
with a different line.
For you have taken
your great power
and begun to reign.
If we put that entire sentence
back together,
the elders are thanking
the Lord God Almighty,
who is,
who was,
and has taken
his great power
and begun.
to reign.
The elders worship
is emphasizing
that the future,
the God who is to come,
is now here.
God's people's hope
of the future
has come true
because God
has come down
and he has begun
to reign
over the entire world.
And because God's reign
is eternal,
there is no more future
as we understand it
in our human concept
of time and history.
God will reign forevermore
and nothing will change
or can change
or alter that final reality.
The elders have realized
this amazing truth
and they step off
their thrones
to bow down
before God
and worship.
The first thing
the elders say
in their worship
is,
we give thanks
to you, God.
They give thanks
for God's presence
in the past,
in the present,
and in the future.
Church,
do we worship God
in the same way?
Do we think of God
as being sovereign
over the past,
the present,
and the future?
Do we thank him
for his presence
in all three times?
I'm going to confess
this to you guys.
Lately,
I myself
haven't been doing well
in being thankful,
especially in my own
private,
individual time.
Outside of our
Saturday community group
or Wednesday night prayers,
where we intentionally
gathered to spend time
to thank God together,
I've been so lacking
in posturing myself
toward Thanksgiving.
I've taken God's
daily grace and mercy
for me,
for granted,
as if God owed this to me.
That's so far
from the case
because I'm a sinner
also,
who's indebted to God
for saving me
through Christ.
And so,
reading this passage
of the elders'
worship and thanksgiving
to God
makes me realize
that just like the elders,
I need to step off
of my throne
in humility
before God.
I want to bow down
and worship,
thanking God
because he saved me.
Back when I was
15 years old,
he helped a self-destructive
teenager like me
encounter the great
love of the Father.
I want to thank God
for how he continues
to sustain me,
and sanctify me today
that I don't go back
to my old ways of sin.
And I want to thank God
for how he will prevail
in the end
and bring his people
into his eternal kingdom
forevermore.
God's ultimate reign
has not yet come,
but it's already
been guaranteed
to us.
There are many of us here
who long
for this not-yet reality,
but we face struggle
in our lives
because of the evil
in our current world.
some of us here
may be feeling harassed
by evildoers around us.
Some of us
may be weary
from fighting
our own sinful flesh
and the devil.
And some of us
may be actively
persecuted
for our faith
within our family,
within our workplace,
for those of us
who may be overseas
by the government.
To those of you
who are struggling
in this way,
God sees,
hears,
and knows
of our hardships.
Living in this space
of not-yet
really is difficult.
But for this reason,
God promises
those who remain
steadfast in him
that there will be a day
when that waiting
is over
and the long-awaited
Christ is now here.
This will be the sign
and seal
that God's kingdom
has come
to full reign
and our trials
will be met
with great reward
from God.
So brothers and sisters,
let thanksgiving
be a daily discipline
of how we worship God.
Let's count it all joy
when we meet trials
of various kinds,
clinging to Christ
with thankful hearts
as we wait on him
to come.
Psalm 107 says
to give thanks
to the Lord
for he is good
for his steadfast love
endures forever.
God's love for us
has endured
since the very beginning
when he created
the universe
and his love
stretches forward
to all eternity
long after this world
has come to pass.
Let's give thanks
alongside all the saints
and elders
in worship
to the Lord God Almighty
who is
and who was
and who will
take his great power
and reign
for all eternity.
The 24 elders
thank God
and then
they proclaim
of the wrath
and reward
of God.
Verse 18
the nations
raged
but your wrath
came
and the time
for the dead
to be judged
and for rewarding
your servants
the prophets
and saints
and those
who fear your name
both small
and great
and for destroying
the destroyers
of the earth.
Verse 18
starts and ends
with the judgment
of God's enemies
as his wrath
came upon
the raging nations
and he destroyed
the destroyers
of the earth
and then in the middle
there is an emphasis
on the rewarding
of the faithful.
First I'll talk
about the wrath
and judgment
of God's enemies.
The image
of the nations
raging
should again
bring to mind
the prophetic vision
of Daniel chapter 7
in which the four
terrible beasts
each representing
a tyrannical nation
raged against Israel
and God's people.
And yet
just as these four beasts
were subdued
by the son of man
in Daniel 7
the elders
in Revelation 11
proclaiming
that God's wrath
came upon
these raging nations
and he destroyed
the destroyers
of the earth.
One of these
raging nations
in the Old Testament
was Babylon.
Jeremiah 51
verse 25
proclaims a prophecy
against Babylon
similar to the
elders' proclamation
here in Revelation 11.
Behold,
I am against you
O destroying mountain
declares the Lord
which destroys
the whole earth.
I will stretch
out my hand
against you
and roll you
down from the
crabs
and make you
a burnt mountain.
God will destroy
the destroying
mountain
that's destroyed
up to earth
Babylon
and all the
raging nations.
And that's because
God
is infinitely
fair
and just.
He will exact
his judgment
on the nations
and the destroyers
in an eye
for an eye
better.
In last week's
sermon,
right before
the seventh
trumpet,
a great
earthquake
killed 7,000
wicked people
who have killed
the two witnesses
of the gospel.
The 7,000
who were killed
by the earthquake
are equivalent
to the 7,000
faithful people
who God
had preserved
in 2 Kings
chapter 19
in the days
of Elijah
when they refused
to bow down
to the Babylonian
idol.
Here in verse 18,
God's
lex talionis,
eye for an eye,
judgment is again
evident.
In the original
Greek,
the words for
rage and wrath
come from the
same root.
And so God
punished the raging
nations with his
own righteous
rage.
He punished the
wrathful nations
with his own
wrath.
The same goes
for the word
destroyers.
God dealt
with the
destroyers of
the earth
by destroying
them.
He gave them
a punishment
worthy of
their crimes.
In a way,
this is actually
a pretty funny
and ironic
way for God's
enemies to be
finished off.
The raging
nations are
ended by God's
rage.
The destroyers
of the earth
are destroyed.
They had one
job,
and they got
it back to
them.
They were
beaten at
their own
game.
It's like
watching a
pickpocket
thief get
pickpocketed
himself.
Or,
you guys know
of these
YouTube videos
where the
YouTuber
scam calls
the scam
callers?
The panic
and frustration
on the scam
callers' faces
as they realize,
oh my gosh,
I'm about to
lose $10,000
or whatever.
they've been
bamboozled
at their
own expertise,
and they've
received punishment
equal to their
crimes.
Psalm 2
asks,
why do the
nations rage
and the people
plot in vain?
The kings of the
earth set
themselves,
and the rulers
take counsel
together against
the Lord and
his anointed.
He who sits
in the heavens
laughs.
the Lord
holds them
in duration.
Then he will
speak to them
in his wrath
and terrify
them in his
fury.
It's like
watching a
colony of
ants trying
to topple
over the
empire state
building.
It's not
going to
happen.
The wicked
nations and
the destroyers
of the earth
are doomed
to fail.
God will
punish them
accordingly.
We too,
then,
can be
reassured and
endure
when we
are wronged,
when we
are defrauded,
when we
are unfairly
treated by
our destroyers
because we
know that
God's justice
will come.
Verse 18
also speaks
of the time
for the dead
to be judged,
which arrives
as God's
wrath comes.
Daniel 12
and Revelation
20 attest
to the final
judgment in
which the dead
are judged
according to
what they
have done
when they
were alive.
The destroyers
of God's
people and
the unbelievers
of Jesus
Christ will
be judged
in front
of the
great white
throne
where the
dead,
great and
small,
stood before
the throne
and books
were opened.
Then another
book was opened
which is the
book of life
and the dead
were judged
by what was
written in the
books according
to what they
had done.
If anyone's
name was not
found written
in the book
of life,
he was thrown
into the
lake of fire.
Revelation 20
anyone who
is not in
Christ,
who does
not believe
in Christ,
is an
enemy of
God and
will not
find their
name written
in the book
of life and
will be cast
into the
lake of fire.
This is the
eternal suffering
that God's
enemies will
experience because
they were
idolatrous against
God and
his people and
they did not
believe in
Christ according
to the books
that testified
of their
action.
On the
other hand,
Revelation 11
verse 18 also
speaks of the
time in which
the faithful are
reborned,
servants,
prophets,
and saints,
and those who
fear God's
name, both
small and
brave.
I believe that
all of these
categories, the
servants, prophets,
saints, and those
who fear God's
name, are
referring to the
entire church of
God, all
believers.
As Christians, we
are called to be
servants to God
and his will.
Just like the two
witnesses who are
killed, the whole
church is called to
bear prophetic
witness of the
gospel to the
world, even if the
world should kill
us for our
testimony.
And by God's
grace, we have
been counted as
saints or holy
ones through
Christ's death and
resurrection.
And as followers
of Christ, we
fear and worship
God's name and
his name only.
There is no
other name.
Jesus.
If we are
indeed a church
and community of
believers, of
servants, prophets,
saints, and those
who fear God's
name, we will be
rewarded with the
eternal rewards of
heaven and the
eternal fellowship
with the Lord God
Almighty.
And also, as we
see here in verse
18, surrounding the
promise of rewarding
the faithful, we'll
also receive and
witness great
vindication for the
tribulation and
persecution we
endured through our
witness of the
gospel.
In Revelation 6,
during the fifth
seal, the souls of
those who were
killed for their
witness of the
gospel cried out,
O sovereign Lord,
holy and true,
how long before you
will judge and
avenge our blood
on those who
dwell on the
earth.
And the Lord
responded by
clothing them in
white robes and
assuring them to
wait a little
longer.
God's final judgment
on the dead here is
the climactic answer
to these martyrs'
prayers.
We as Christians
won't simply be
taken away by God
from the evil
things of the
world, but we
will witness God
vanquishing evil
through his
judgment and
firmly establishing
his kingdom on
earth so that no
evil thing can or
may remain.
And this is my
favorite part over
here.
God will reward the
entire community of
God, those who
fear God's name,
both small and
great.
We have been
saved through
Jesus Christ,
who in obedience
to God, bore the
weight of our sins
on the cross,
died and was
resurrected from
the dead, freeing
us from our debt
to sin.
And whether king
or servant, anyone
who believes in
Jesus is in union
with him, and he
will receive every
spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places,
including the rewards
of eternity that
Jesus himself
merited.
The faithful will be
rewarded both small
and great.
faith.
We tend to be in
awe of the heroes
of the faith throughout
the history of the
church.
The twelve
apostles, Paul,
Martin Luther,
John Calvin,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Billy Graham,
Tim Keller, and so
on.
And rightfully so,
all these people
deserve to be honored
to a degree because
they all played a
significant role in
faithfully bringing
the gospel to the
world.
But God rewards
even the least and
the smallest among us
for being faithful to
him.
Personally, I don't
think I've done
anything spectacular or
earth-shattering or
world-changing as a
Christian.
I'm part of the
small squad.
But even the
smallest of us will
be rewarded, and
not one of our
small acts of faith
will go unrewarded.
Jesus says in
Matthew 10,
verse 42,
and whoever gives
one of these little
ones even a cup of
cold water because he
is a disciple.
Truly, I say to you,
he will by no means
lose his reward.
Whether it's Apostle
Paul, whether it's
Tim Keller, whether it's
Sean, Ed, Kathy, me,
or you guys, if we
believe in Jesus and
his death and
resurrection, God
has sealed the
promise that we
will prevail and
receive his reward at
the very end of the
age.
So let's continue to
cling to Christ in the
face of persecution and
temptation until that
time comes.
to those of us who are
joining this morning who
do not believe in
Jesus Christ and the
gospel, we as a
church really do
believe in all these
things that are said in
the book of Revelation
and in the Bible.
We believe that there
will be a final day of
judgment, whether we're
dead or alive, in which
the Lord God Almighty will
judge us because he's an
infinitely holy and
righteous God.
There was a time when
all of humanity, us
included, were doomed to
eternal death because no
one is perfect and no one
has been fully righteous in
the eyes of the holy God.
But just as God is holy
and righteous, he's also
gracious and merciful.
For God so loved the
world that he gave his only
son Jesus to die for our
sins, to give those who
believe in him another
chance to be redeemed and
share an eternal life with
him.
Those who believe in Jesus
will gain the eternal
rewards of heaven.
But those who do not will
suffer the eternal death
and the lake of fire.
I don't say all this to
condemn, but to plead with
you, to consider the
eternal consequences beyond
our physical life in the
now, to turn to Christ and
to accept him as your
Lord and Savior.
After our Sunday services,
we usually have people up
front praying for those who
want prayer.
For those of you who feel
convicted or even curious,
please feel free to come up
to talk with us or talk with
any of our church members if
you'd like to hear more about
Jesus or hear more about how
you can be saved and be in
right relationship with our God
because he's so worth living
for.
This leads to my final point,
God with us.
Once the elders finished their
worship, verse 19, God's
temple in heaven was opened
and the ark of his covenant was
seen within his temple.
There were flashes of lightning,
rumblings, peals of thunder,
an earthquake, and heavy hail.
After the judgment of the
wicked and the rewarding of the
faithful, John sees in his
vision, God's temple in heaven
opened and the ark of his
covenant was seen inside of
the temple.
In the Old Testament of the
Bible, the ark of the covenant
was a core part of the
Israelites' identity and
relationship with their God,
Yahweh.
The ark was a golden chest
located in the innermost room
of the great Jerusalem temple,
the holy of holies, and it was
only accessible to the high
priest of Israel.
And even the high priest of
Israel himself could only enter
the holy of holies once a year
to offer sacrifice in front of the
ark on behalf of the atonement
and forgiveness of Israel's sins.
In Exodus chapter 25, when God
instructs Moses to construct the
ark of the covenant, he says that he
will meet with Moses on the mercy
seat of the ark between the two
terebin constructed on the top.
This is where God promises his
presence will be, where he will
grant mercy over his people.
The ark, therefore, is a
representation of God's presence
with his people.
In the Old Testament, God's people
could only view a representation of
God, because as God explains later in
Exodus 33, you cannot see my face,
for man shall not see me and live.
God is an infinitely holy God, that
any sinful human in his direct
presence cannot be able to stand even
a second in front of him without being
wiped out by his holiness.
But here in Revelation, the ark of
God's covenant, and therefore God's
actual presence, is on full display.
The temple is opened, and the holy of
holies, and the ark, which no one could
enter into and stand before, is visible
for all to see.
Church, this is so significant, because
it symbolizes God's merciful and gracious
presence among his people.
The community of believers at the
Eschaton, its presence will be enjoyed
fully by all the believers for a time
infinitely greater than what was
possible in the Old Testament.
It's no longer that the priest will go
and stand before God once a year on
behalf of the entire congregation.
God has come down from heaven, from his
temple and the ark, to live among his
entire people as their God.
Once the temple is opened, the
preceding flashes of lightning, the
rumblings, the peals of thunder, the
earthquake, and the heavy hail further
highlight God's presence on earth.
Throughout the Old Testament, these
cosmic phenomena were seen as theophanies,
symbols of God's presence.
In Exodus 19, God's presence at
Mount Sinai was signaled by thunder and
lightning flashing.
In Psalm 18 and Isaiah 30, God is said to
bring his judgment with a great storm and
hailstones raining down.
In Revelation, these cosmic signs consistently
appear at the end of the seven seal judgments,
the seven trumpet judgments, and the seven
bowl judgments, each signifying the very end of the age.
While these signs themselves are part of the final judgments,
they also signify the presence of God.
God is here, and his kingdom is here on earth,
no longer hidden within the temple or the ark of the
covenant.
In fact, in John's vision of New Jerusalem, the new city in
Revelation 21, there is no longer a great temple present in the
city.
New Jerusalem no longer has a temple, for its temple is the
Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.
The temple is not needed anymore at the Eschaton, the end of the
age, because God has come down himself, and he himself is present with his
people.
God is with us.
Good point.
All these seemingly artificial and incomplete interactions while being masked
with friends and family, it was incredibly difficult and frustrating for me.
But I also remember when COVID started to be more under control, when masks
regulations were lifting and social gatherings were starting to be allowed
again.
This was right when I started to attend Trinity Cambridge Church.
To be able to take off the masks, to be able to see individual faces,
to be able to see unique smiles, and share in direct fellowship with one another in person,
even with a new church community for me, was so freeing, was so liberating, and was so joy-giving.
Church, the difficulties of seeing each other's face in the age of COVID lasted for a few years.
How much greater, how much more joy-giving, and how much more glorious will it be then
for us to finally see God face-to-face and dwell with Him forever at the end of the age?
1 John 3, verse 2 says this,
Beloved, we are God's children.
We are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
All our lives, we can't see God's face, and yet we pray to Him.
We sing songs of worship to Him.
We talk to Him, and we tell Him how much we love Him and trust Him.
And we share so many powerful testimonies of God at work in the Bible and in our own lives.
Many of us spend so much time, if not the majority of our lives,
committing ourselves to someone who we cannot see.
How amazing, then, is the glorious reward of meeting with God and finally taking the mask off
and seeing God face-to-face and being glorified with Him forever and ever.
That's an ending to a story far better than any Avengers movie,
far better than any fairy tale, far better than anything this life has to offer for us.
Seeing God's face and dwelling with Him forever
is the happily ever after worth living and dying for.
Church, the seventh trumpet as the third woe is the climax of God's salvation plan for us.
Once God's kingdom comes to earth, both great judgment and great vindication will be carried out.
As enemies of God are destroyed, evil is undone,
and those who are faithful to God are eternally rewarded.
And finally, the temple of heaven will be opened.
The ark of His covenant will be revealed,
and God will reveal His full presence to His people,
and He will dwell with them forever and ever.
We're not quite at that final day yet.
But as God's people, we're called to live,
we're called to prepare for His return,
and we're called to worship Him with thanksgiving and reality of this future.
So let's continue to live for the name of Jesus,
proclaiming the good news of the gospel,
and clinging to Christ in the midst of trials and tribulation,
knowing that when that final day comes,
God's kingdom will be established on earth.
His victory will be immediate and eternal,
and we will see Him face to face
and reign with Him in resurrection power
for all eternity.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
we worship You,
Lord God Almighty,
who was and is
and is to come
with Your kingdom on earth.
Lord,
we confess
that many of the visions that we see in Revelation
are terrifying and glorious at the same time.
Some of the judgments past
are beyond our imagination
and leave us
speechless
and awestruck at our power.
Lord,
amidst all these fearful visions,
amidst all these powerful judgments
that You pass over the earth,
we ask that You
give us hope,
that You fill our hearts with thanksgiving,
and we're able to come before You
and bow down in worship,
realizing
the great reward
and the eternal reward
that we have in You
on that final day.
Lord Jesus,
we wait Your coming in glory.
Lord,
we ask for You to
fill us with hope,
to help us to persevere,
to give us the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit,
that continues to sanctify us,
that continues to guide us,
that continues to illuminate Scripture
right in front of us.
that we're able to live
in this physical realm,
faithfully stewarding the Gospel
unto death.
Won't You continue to be with us, Lord?
Speak to us
and remind us
of Your great love for us
in the coming of Your Kingdom.
We thank You, Lord.
We love You.
And we pray all of us in Jesus' name.
Amen.