This morning, as we just read, we're going to be in Revelation 15.
So would you turn there in your Bibles?
Revelation 15, 1 through 8, it's a short chapter, only eight verses, but it's an important one,
a pivotal one in this part of the book.
Today is April 7th, and if I have this right, we're only a couple of weeks away from the KUSD spring break.
And then, only, I think, six weeks after that, it will be time for summer vacation.
Even if it's been a long time since you've been a student in school, I'm sure you remember the glory, the joy of those breaks,
and what it's like on that last day of school when you know that you have all this freedom stretched out in front of you.
That joy of spring break or summer vacation when you sleep in and eat snacks or whatever you do, I don't know.
I'm a teacher, so I live by this academic calendar, and I know this rhythm of the hardship of the semester
and the joy of these breaks that come up.
I teach at Trinity, and one of my friends and colleagues there who teaches theology, his name is David Louis.
Louis, and he has a theory that I call the Louis Doctrine.
The Louis Doctrine says that the joy we experience when we are released for spring break or summer vacation,
the joy that we experience is directly proportionate to the pain that we experience during the semester.
So in other words, the worse my semester, the longer the projects take, the sleepless nights, the hardship of the work,
the worse it is, the sweeter that break will be when I'm finally released from it.
We're staying up late, we're tired, and our eyes are bloodshot, and we're thinking to ourselves,
how long, how long are we going to have to keep this up before we have that sweet break that lies ahead?
We just can't wait to celebrate that.
Well, school is hard, but it is nothing compared to the difficulty that we experience in life.
From the moment we're born, we are wicked toward other people, and we are victims of their wickedness.
And often the greatest hurts that we experience in life are the ways that we mistreat each other.
Children are neglected and abused and mistreated by the same adults that are supposed to care for them and protect them.
Teenagers go to school and are bullied and tormented by the cool kids.
And then when we grow into adulthood, that's when the trouble really begins.
We disrespect and hate each other.
We treat each other with racism.
We mock each other.
Those of us who have influence and connections and money
take advantage of people who are in vulnerable situations and make it worse.
Poor women are trafficked and abused.
People steal what they don't have and murder people that get in their way.
They lie and they cheat each other, and our government officials are corrupt and make backroom deals.
People kill their unborn babies to try and cover up bad decisions.
Nations go to war against each other to try and claim influence or land,
and they leave battlefields strewn with dead bodies and leave orphans and widows behind at home.
Governments oppress their people and enslave and imprison them.
And all of this suffering, it only takes a couple of days of reading the news to just get depressed,
because all of this suffering that takes place in the world comes from the sin that we carry in our hearts like a disease.
It just keeps manifesting itself in this wickedness that we do against each other.
And even though all of us have unfortunately some kind of experience with these things,
the hardships of daily life, those are common to all of humanity,
there is a particular animosity that the people of the world have historically brought forth against the church.
Followers of Jesus Christ have always been the target of outrage and rejection
from the time that they were thrown to the lions in the Roman period,
thrown in prison, churches burned.
Even in our contemporary world, I mean, even in our country,
lawyers are now taking Christians to church for what they believe,
and I'm sorry, taking them to court for what they believe,
and trying to put them out of business.
In North Africa, militia groups burn villages and kidnap women and take them off who knows where.
In North Korea, the government throws Christians into these terrible concentration camps
where they just languish for years.
And not long ago in the Middle East, radicals took Christians down to the beach
and in front of video cameras, they cut off their heads.
So we live in a world that is in rebellion against God,
and often it just seems like the wicked are just getting away with it, doesn't it?
Sometimes it just seems like there is just no recourse
for the evil that people mete out against each other.
The psalmist knew about this.
Billy already read part of Psalm 73.
Let's look at a few verses at the beginning.
You can just listen.
Psalm 73.
Listen to what the psalmist says here.
He says,
In other words,
What is the point of trying to faithfully follow God
when these arrogant, wicked people just prosper and flourish in their lives
and they seem to just get away with it year after year?
What is the point of that?
For all the day long, I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
And when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task.
It is hard to live among the wicked.
How are we supposed to think about that?
How are we supposed to live our lives in this world
when people are so evil against each other?
We may wonder,
When is God finally going to do something about this?
In Revelation 6, 9 and 10, it says,
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain
for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
They have already been killed because they were following Jesus.
And they cried out with a loud voice,
O sovereign Lord, holy and true,
how long before you will judge and avenge our blood
on those who dwell on the earth?
Well, our passage this morning in Revelation 15 is an answer to that.
It's a celebration of God's victory over the wicked.
Revelation 15, 1 through 8 introduces chapter 16,
which we'll actually focus on next week,
in which God pours out his ultimate anger and judgment on the earth.
In our passage, Revelation 15,
is a prospective celebration of that judgment.
It's a victory song
that God will judge and destroy evil once and for all.
If a difficult semester brings all kinds of joy and happiness
when the summer finally arrives,
then can you imagine the celebration
when God finally puts down all evil?
Can you imagine the joy and the praise
when God brings justice and destroys all wickedness
and sets the world right?
That's the topic of our passage this morning.
Now, if you look at Revelation 15,
you'll see that it is structured
with three occurrences of the phrase,
I looked or I saw.
Look at 15, 1.
He says, and I saw.
And then if you look at 15, 2,
he says, and I saw.
And then in 15, 5, he says,
after this, I looked.
See that?
So these phrases divide the passage into three parts.
The beginning in verse 1
and the end in verses 5 through 8
are an introduction to the bowl judgments
which are coming in chapter 16.
So the beginning and the end of our passage
is looking forward
and the middle of our passage
in verses 2 through 4
are the celebration of what is coming.
The celebration of the judgment.
So this is how we're going to proceed.
We're going to go a little bit out of order here.
First, we're going to look at
what God's people are celebrating
in verse 1 and 5 through 8.
And then we're going to look at
why God's people are celebrating
in the middle in verses 2 through 4.
First, let's look at
what God's people are celebrating.
In verse 1, John sees a sign in heaven.
There are seven angels with seven plagues.
Previously, we read about seven angels
with the seven churches in chapter 1
and the seven angels with seven trumpets
in chapter 8.
But these are different
because these are the last, it says.
John has seen the seal judgments
in chapters 6 through 8
and he's seen the trumpet judges
in chapters 8 through 11
and now this is the end.
With these seven, it says,
the wrath of God is finished.
It is completed.
These aren't just the last judgments
in the sequence
and they're not just the last judgments
in the book.
These are the last judgments ever.
This is the end.
The word finished here means completed.
It means God is going to have finished the job.
It means his wrath,
his righteous anger
will be completely expressed.
Now, if we skip to verse 5,
John says that he looked
and heaven was opened.
This is what happens
in the book of Revelation
before each new phase.
Before the seal judgments,
heaven was opened.
Before the trumpet judgments,
it opened.
Before the woman and the dragon.
And now heaven is opened again
and John can see in this vision
into heaven
and he sees a vision
of the tent of witness there,
the tabernacle.
In the Old Testament,
when God saved his people
from slavery in Egypt,
he established this tent,
this tent of witness
or tent of meeting,
a tabernacle
that represented his dwelling
on the earth
with his people.
He made a covenant with them
and he said,
if you obey me,
then I will bless you
and I will live with you
and we will be in relationship together.
But if you disobey me
and you break this covenant,
there are going to be
terrible consequences.
So this tent of witness
is a symbol
that the nations
have broken the covenant of God
and now those consequences
have arrived.
And the point of this,
the point of John looking into heaven
and seeing the tent
is that these judgments
that are being introduced
are from God.
It's not just that the earth
is getting old and tired.
It's not just that
they're having a bad year
or that the sun
is just about to burn out
or something like that.
The terrible things
that John is about to describe
are coming from heaven.
And actually,
John is more specific than that
because if you look at verse 6,
he says that the terrible plagues
aren't just coming from heaven,
they're coming from Jesus.
How do we know that?
It's because the seven angels
are clothed in pure bright linen
with golden sashes
around their chests.
In chapter 1, verse 13,
that is exactly what Jesus is wearing.
So in other words,
these angels represent Christ.
They're in the same uniform as Christ
and they are carrying out his work.
And then in verse 7,
it says,
four living creatures
give seven golden bowls
to the seven angels.
Now that idea of four living creatures
reminds us of some things
in the earlier part of the book,
in chapter 4,
when four living creatures
are standing around the throne of God
and they're saying,
holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty
who was and is and is to come.
And in the book of Ezekiel,
in the Old Testament,
the four living creatures
move with God's throne.
They move with God's glory
and they represent him.
In Isaiah chapter 6,
there are these heavenly creatures
standing around God's throne
and they're saying,
holy, holy, holy.
So what we have here
is a tying together of these images,
of these four living creatures
who are in the inner sanctuary
by God's throne.
They stand around the throne
praising him
and calling him holy,
holy, holy.
And the point is
that these plagues
are coming from God.
So John sees the tabernacle
and he sees the angels
dressed in the same apparel
as Jesus Christ
and he sees the four living creatures
which are in the inner sanctuary
of God's throne room.
And then, in verse 8,
he concludes,
And the sanctuary
was filled with smoke
from the glory of God
and from his power
and no one could enter
the sanctuary
until the seven plagues
of the seven angels
were finished.
Again, this is imagery
that's coming from
the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament,
when the people
finally finished
building the tabernacle,
setting up that tent,
then God's glory
moved into it
and it was filled with smoke.
And then later,
when Solomon finally finished
building the temple,
God's glory moved into it
and it filled with smoke.
In Isaiah chapter 6,
when the train of God's robe
came down,
it filled the temple.
And in Ezekiel,
when Ezekiel was describing
God's glory in the temple,
he says there was a cloud
that filled the temple.
So in other words,
God is there.
He's there.
And until his seven plagues
are finished,
no one can even go in.
The plagues are coming
from God.
He's not sitting by thinking,
oh boy, I hope I could do
something about that.
I wish I could stop that
in some way.
They're coming from him.
They're not coming
from the creatures.
They're not coming
from the seven angels.
They're just his messengers.
The plagues are coming from God
and no one can stop him.
No one can hold back his hand.
This is God's wrath.
It's his incredible power
and even his own angelic servants
who stand around his throne
in normal times
can't be in his presence
because his wrath is too great.
And all of this
is just the introduction.
Because as we get into chapter 16
in the next chapter,
then the seven angels
begin to pour out
their golden bowls
of God's wrath.
When the first angel
pours out bowl number one,
then painful sores break out
and boils break out
on those people
who worship the beast.
Then the second angel comes
and pours out bowl number two
and all the sea turns to blood
and it kills all the creatures
in the sea.
God is destroying
his own creation.
Then the third angel
pours out bowl number three
and all the rivers
and the springs,
all the places
where you might hope
to find drinking water
turn to blood.
And the angel of God
who is in charge
stands there and says,
these people
on the earth
have shed the blood
of the saints
and prophets.
Now you, God,
have given them blood
to drink.
Yikes.
And then the fourth angel
pours out bowl number four
and the sun
heats up
and burns people
with fire
and scorches them
with its heat.
But the people
don't repent.
They curse God.
Then the fifth angel
pours out bowl number five
and the earth
is covered
in total darkness
and the people
have these
unbelievable burns
from the sun
and boils
and they're thirsty
and the sea
stinks like blood
and now they're
in total darkness
and it says,
they gnaw
at their tongues
in anguish
and they curse God
for their pain.
Then the sixth angel
pours out bowl number six
and the Euphrates River
dries up
so that all the nations
of the whole earth
can gather together
to attack God's people.
But what they don't know
is that they've just
made themselves
a really good target
and God wipes them out.
They have only gathered
for their own destruction.
And finally,
the seventh angel
pours out bowl number seven
and there's a great earthquake.
It says,
greater than any earthquake
in history
and the cities
of the world
are split apart
and gigantic hailstones
fall from heaven
and the people
underneath
are cursing God
because the plague
is so severe.
So God is pouring out
his wrath on the earth
and he inflicts people
with painful boils
and takes away
their drinking water
and burns them
and keeps them
in total darkness
and then gathers them
together
and rips apart
the earth
and hurls giant
hailstones down on them.
This is the God
who created the world.
He has created people
in his own image
and now he is
destroying them.
It sounds terrible.
It really does
but the wrath of God
is not the problem.
The wrath of God
is the cure.
Imagine that someone
who,
someone visits you
who grew up
on a deserted island
somewhere
completely cut off
from civilization
and for some reason
I don't know,
I don't know why
we take them
on a tour
of a cancer unit
in a hospital.
We show them
rooms with needles
and claustrophobic
MRI machines
that no one wants
to get into
and we show them
the surgery area
where people are cut open
and we show them
chemotherapy
that makes people
nauseous
and weak
and miserable
and they just
shake their head
and they say
this is terrible.
This is terrible.
Why would you do
these things to someone?
And we would say
I know it's harsh
and we're not
always successful
but the thing
that we're attacking
is worse
because we're
killing cancer
and cancer
is a terrible
disease.
See in some ways
our extreme attempts
at a cure
for cancer
only make sense
if you know
how terrible
the disease is.
Even though
the cure seems harsh
the disease
is worse
and we are trying
to kill
the cancer.
God's judgment
looks harsh
at first glance
if you think
that sin
is not a very big deal.
If you think
that sin
is just a little
lie
or a little
unkind thought
then we might
look at the cure
and say
how can God
be so ferocious?
I don't know
if I want to serve
a God
of wrath
like that
but we may not
understand the full
weight of the problem
because sin
is a cancer
that infects
the heart
and God
offers to kill it.
God offers
to kill it
in our hearts
by the power
of Jesus Christ's
death and resurrection.
He wants to kill it
but if we say no
then it starts
to grow
and it metastasizes
until there is
nothing left to do
but kill the entire person.
Sin is rebellion
against God
the creator
of heaven and earth
and these are
unrepentant people
who persist
in evil
and violence
and systematic
injustice
and persecution
of God's people
and God is not
going to allow
that to continue.
He is going
to put a stop
to it
and notice
that even now
even now
in the midst
of judgment
look at how
these people
are responding
they're not
responding by
begging God
for mercy
they are responding
with curses
they are cursing
God
and rebelling
against him
to the very end.
They would not
let him kill
the sin
in their hearts
and so he has
no choice
but to kill them.
this is what
God's people
are celebrating
in verses 1
and 5 through 8.
Now let's go back
and look at the middle
section of our passage
in verses 2 through 4
and think about
why they're celebrating.
In verse 2
John looks
into heaven
and it says
These are God's people
who have given
their lives
in faithfulness
to him.
The reason they're
in heaven
is because they have
already been killed
for their faith.
We have seen
this group before
in Revelation
in Revelation 11
it says
when they finish
their testimony
the beast
that rises
from the bottomless pit
will make war
on them
and conquer them
and kill them.
So from an earthly
perspective
it looks like
the beast
has already won
that it has conquered
them.
But then we learn
in chapter 12
in the next chapter
that they have
conquered the beast
that all is not
as it seems
they have conquered
by the blood
of the lamb
and the word
of their testimony.
They persevered
in their faith.
even though
they were persecuted
and killed
and when they died
they were victorious
because the blood
of Jesus
saved them.
Notice in this passage
here in verse 2
notice that it tells us
two times
that they are standing
on the sea of glass.
That tells us
two important things.
First of all
we saw back
in Revelation 4
that the sea of glass
is before God's throne.
So it tells us
that these saints
these martyrs
who have died
for their faith
are in the presence
of God.
The second thing
it tells us
is that everything
is peaceful there.
In the Old Testament
the sea
is considered
to be frightening
and unpredictable
and dangerous.
Think about the little boats
that the people
rode around on.
I mean it's a dangerous thing.
It's unpredictable.
But this sea
is not like that.
This sea
is a sea of glass.
It is completely still.
There is no turbulence
or trouble at all.
Here we are
at the end of all things.
He's already
brought the seals.
He's already brought
the trumpets.
He's about to pour out
the bowls.
It's a time of judgment
and God's wrath
and smoke
is filling the temple
on the one hand
but on the other hand
everything
is completely peaceful.
There is no stress.
There is no anxiety
at all.
God has everything
under control.
There is total safety
and total peace.
God never sits
in heaven
no matter what
the circumstances
he never sits in heaven
chewing on his fingernails
or wondering
what he's going to do next.
Actually that's worth
remembering.
Think about that
in your own life.
When you
are going through
incredible hardship
no matter how stressed
you are
in heaven
there is total peace
with God.
He has complete
control of the situation.
These martyred saints
are holding harps
to sing the song
in verse 3.
It's called
the song of Moses
to connect it back
again to the Old Testament
when the Israelites
sang a song
of victory
after God
saved them
from the Egyptian army.
Remember
after they came
out of Egypt
Pharaoh and his army
were chasing them
through the desert
and they were cut off
because there was
a large body of water
in front of them.
At the last minute
God opened
the Red Sea
and the Israelites
hurried across
on dry ground
and then God waited
until the Pharaoh
and the Egyptian army
were in the middle
of the water
and then he let
the water close
and he drowned
them all.
He killed them.
And by killing
the Egyptian army
God saved his people.
And so the people
respond.
Moses and the people
sing a song
to the Lord.
They say
I will sing
to the Lord
for he
has triumphed
gloriously
the horse
and rider
he has thrown
into the sea.
And now we have
another song.
It's a song of Moses
because it's a victory song
but it's also a song
of the Lamb
because it's a song
of God's great
deliverance
in Christ.
In this victory song
the saints
are celebrating
three things
about God's
coming judgment
and they're also
giving three reasons
why.
So let's look
at those briefly.
First
in this song
they say
great and amazing
are your deeds
O Lord
God the Almighty.
God's acts
of judgment
are powerful
and incredible.
He is God
the Almighty.
He is a powerful God.
You know
in history
many times
God has not
intervened.
Maybe there have
been times
when we've wondered
why
why doesn't God
do something
about that evil.
Why doesn't
He stop
those people
from doing that?
Why
if He is
if He's in heaven
watching
why does He
let that go on
for so long?
Maybe we wonder
is it because
God really
can't do anything?
No.
That's not true.
He has
incredible power.
He has been
waiting
and now
He will bring
His powerful
anger on the earth
like no one
has ever seen.
No one
will question
His ability.
He is the King
the Almighty
the Lord
of armies.
Second
not only
is God
powerful
but at the end
of verse 3
they say
He is just
and true.
Just
and true
are your ways
O King
of the nations.
In other words
God is not
only powerful
He is also
good.
His great
and amazing
deeds
at the beginning
of verse 3
are not just
demonstrations
of power
to impress us
they are
expressions
of His character.
God doesn't
desire that
anyone
should perish.
He resists
judgment.
He waits.
He waits
for people
to respond
to Him
in faith
and repentance
sometimes
until the
very end
but when
He does
judge
it is
just
and right.
When
He pours
out His
wrath
on the earth
and burns
His enemies
and takes
away their
drinking water
and brings
total darkness
and hurls
hailstones
on them
He is being
just
and it's
because
He is
righteous.
Maybe
you've
wondered
why
doesn't
God
do
something
about
that
injustice
that I'm
reading about
on the news?
When
that person
was hurting
me
why
didn't
God
intervene
and stop
them?
Why
is He
letting
this go
on for
so long?
Maybe
we wonder
He might
be powerful
but maybe
He isn't
good.
Maybe
He sees
evil
and He
just
doesn't
think
it's
a very
big
deal.
That's
not
true.
He
sees
and He
cares
and He
has been
waiting
but now
He will
act.
He will
do what
is right
and true
by pouring
out His
judgment
on the
earth
and setting
everything
right.
The third
response to
God's judgment
comes at the
beginning of
verse 4.
The saints
say,
who will
not fear
O Lord
and glorify
your name?
This is a rhetorical
question with
an obvious
emphatic
answer.
Everyone
will fear
and glorify
God when
they see
His angels
pour out
the bowls
of wrath.
People
have not
always taken
Jesus very
seriously.
The Roman
soldiers
spat on
Him.
The Jewish
leaders
mocked
Him.
People
use His
name as a
swear word.
He sometimes
flips through
the channel
and you
see Jesus
there as a
ridiculous
cartoon on
some television
show.
But when
He pours out
His wrath
on the
earth,
everyone,
everyone
will know
who He
is.
Everyone
will give
Him the
honor that
He is due
because He
will show
Himself to
be the
mighty God
with unlimited
power and
unlimited
good.
God
will
give us
a victory
song,
a celebration,
and they
say,
God is
powerful,
God is
good and
just and
true,
and everyone
will give
Him the
glory that
He deserves.
And then
they give us
three further
reasons,
three more
reasons to
celebrate.
If you
look at the
end of
verse 4,
there are
three occurrences
of the word
for here,
kind of the
word because,
and I think
probably only
two of them
are translated
in most of
the English
versions.
It says,
for you alone
are holy,
for all the
nations will
worship you,
and for your
righteous acts
have been
revealed.
Three reasons.
For you alone
are holy.
God is set
apart from
the world and
He stands
above it,
outside of it,
He cannot
look on
evil.
And so now
He is
destroying it.
For all
nations will
come and
worship you.
Remember in
verse 3,
they said,
He is the
King of
the nations.
This picks
up on an
important theme
in the Old
Testament
prophets,
that those
among the
nations who
submit to
God will
stream to
Jerusalem at
the end,
come to
the New
Jerusalem to
worship Him.
It says,
all nations,
because everyone
is invited,
all people
from every
land,
from every
language,
God has
always intended
for His
salvation to
go to the
ends of the
earth.
When you
know,
when you
see this,
when you
know that
God is
powerful and
good,
and He is
bringing justice
on the earth,
then you have
the opportunity
to submit to
Him and to
come and
join Him,
and that is
what He wants.
And then
finally,
they say,
for your
righteous acts
have been
revealed.
Some people
might say,
I don't know
if I want to
worship a God
who judges
like this,
but these
martyred saints
in heaven are
saying,
we worship
God because
He judges
like this.
He is
righteous,
and He does
what is good.
It is a good
thing for God
to judge evil.
It is right.
It is because
He is good
and loving
that He will
not let evil
prevail forever.
So I think
one way to
sum up this
passage is
to say that
God's ultimate
judgment is
something to
celebrate.
God's ultimate
judgment is
something to
celebrate.
Let's talk
briefly about
three points
of application
for this.
Number one,
celebrating God's
judgment increases
our loyalty to
Him.
It increases
our loyalty
to Him.
Is it wrong
to celebrate
the suffering
and destruction
of the world?
Aren't we
supposed to
love the
people of the
world just
like God
does?
Yes.
But there's a
tension.
If you're feeling
that tension,
it's because
that tension
exists in the
Bible.
On the one
hand,
we know that
God loves
the world
and sent
His Son
to save
it as a
ransom.
It says in
John 3.16,
for God
so loved
the world.
And He
wants His
people to
live in this
world as
good citizens.
He says in
Jeremiah 29.7,
seek the
welfare of the
city where I
have sent you
into exile.
You're living
there temporarily.
Seek its
welfare.
That applies
to us as
well.
Paul says in
1 Timothy 2,
pray for
your civil
authorities.
Live peaceful
and quiet
lives.
But on the
other hand,
the world is
opposed to
God and
to His
people.
In John
15.19,
Jesus says,
if you were
of the
world,
the world
would love
you as
its own.
But because
you are not
of the world,
but I chose
you out of
the world,
therefore the
world hates
you.
And in
1 John 2.15,
He says,
do not love
the world or
the things in
the world.
If anyone
loves the
world, the
love of the
Father is not
in him.
If we love
our sin,
if we love
our sinful
world,
God,
if we
assimilate
and we
consider this
to be our
home,
if we adopt
the mindset
that this is
the good
life and
we're unclear
about who
it is that
we really
belong to,
and we
lose our
sense of
true citizenship,
then we
will find it
difficult to
celebrate the
destruction of
the world.
But when we
are properly
aligned with
God,
and we
love the
same things
that he
loves,
and we
hate the
same things
that he
hates,
then we
will love
people.
We will
love the
worst of
sinners,
because we
also were
the worst
of sinners.
We will
love them,
but we
will also
love God's
glory and
his victory.
We love
it when
God destroys
evil and
stops
evildoers
from what
they do.
Listen to
this quote
from Martin
Luther,
the
reformer.
He says,
we should
pray,
we should
pray that
our enemies
be converted
and become
our friends.
We should
pray for
them,
and if
not,
that their
doing and
designing be
bound to
fail and
have no
success,
and that
their persons
perish rather
than the
gospel and
the kingdom
of Christ.
God's
judgment
creates a
little bit
of a
hard edge,
doesn't
it?
It's a
little bit
of a
hard edge
there that
forces us
to choose
our side.
And when
we celebrate,
that helps
us to
choose a
side and
to grow
in our
loyalty to
God.
Second,
celebrating
God's
judgment
in the
future
helps us
to persevere
now when
things get
hard.
God's
love.
The book
of Revelation
is written
to a
church that's
under attack.
For a long
time, in
this country,
we have had
a lot of
peace and
a lot of
freedom,
and so we
have to use
our imaginations
a little bit,
although things
are heating up
a bit now.
But like the
saints in
Revelation 6,
we also ask,
how long
until you
judge?
How long
will God
let the
church be
persecuted?
And right now
he's waiting,
and we have
to wait too.
But someday
he will pour
out his
wrath on
the earth
and bring
terrible
judgment,
and when
God's
enemies are
destroyed,
God's
people will
finally be
safe.
The people
in our
passage who
are celebrating
God's
judgment have
already
persevered.
They have
already clung
to their
faith and
clung to
their relationship
with Jesus
Christ,
even though it
has cost
them their
lives.
They have
already died
for him,
but it was
worth it.
Their
suffering was
worth it
because now
they stand
in God's
presence and
cheer him
on as he
puts down
evil and
destroys his
enemies,
and we also
must persevere.
We must hold
on to our
faith no matter
what.
We also have
to be willing
to suffer and
die for Jesus.
And you know
what?
This celebration
in Revelation 15
helps.
It helps.
Because it's like
we know that
there's a party
that has already
started,
and we
will be
there soon.
We know
how this
story turns
out.
Any discomfort
or suffering
that we
experience for
Jesus now
is going to
be worth it
because we
know that
someday there
will be a
great celebration
as God
puts everything
right.
Number three,
it is not too
late to join
the celebration.
God's people
say in verse
four,
for all nations
will come and
worship you.
It's interesting
that even here
in the midst
of judgment,
even here
when the people
being judged
are cursing
God,
not everyone
is being judged
and not everyone
is cursing him.
Some from the
nations are coming
to Jerusalem
to worship him
as he deserves.
And so there
is an implicit
call here
in the passage
to respond
to this future
knowledge
with repentance
and faith.
God kills
evildoers,
and when he
does that,
it is right
and good,
but he doesn't
want to do
that.
He wants
to take you
into surgery.
He wants
to kill
the sin
that lies
in your heart.
He wants
to kill it
by the power
of Jesus.
He knows
that if he
doesn't,
it will grow
and metastasize
and you will
be lost.
It has
to be killed,
but the only
cure
is the power
of Jesus'
death and
resurrection.
You might
think to
yourself,
it sounds
like you're
urging me
to accept
Jesus so
that I
escape his
anger.
Yeah,
that's right.
You might
say,
I don't know
if being
afraid of
God's judgment
is a good
reason to
follow Jesus.
That just
sounds inappropriate
for some
reason.
No,
it's not.
It's a
perfectly
good reason.
That's what
this passage
is saying.
God is
going to
pour out
his wrath
and he
is going
to inflict
terrible
suffering
and death
and he
will be
right to
do so
when he
does.
But he's
offering now
for you
to defect,
to join
him and
to submit
to him
and to
allow him
to perform
that surgery
and then
to live
with him
as his
child
in peace
and joy
forever
and ever.
It is a
gracious offer.
It is an
offer of
love.
But there
will come
a time
when it
is too
late for
that.
And so
this morning
if you
feel uneasy
about where
you stand
with God,
I urge you
come and
talk to me,
to Mike,
to one of
the other
pastors or
elders,
to the
person sitting
next to
you.
We would
love to
help you
know for
sure that
you can
have peace
with God.
So God's
judgment is
something to
celebrate.
It encourages
us to
reinforce our
loyalty with
God.
It helps us
to persevere
while we
wait,
and it urges
us to join
him while we
still can.
Let's pray.
Father, as
we work
through this
passage, it
raises mixed
emotions in
us.
Because we
know that we
are the
rightful targets
of your
wrath, and
we grieve our
own sin that
causes us to
be enemies
with you.
So we
grieve that
sin that you
hate.
And we
also love
our family,
and our
friends, and
our neighbors.
On the one
hand, we
celebrate your
right judgment.
On the other
hand, we
love them.
And we
want you to
be victorious.
And so all
we can say
as we work
through these
conflicted
things is
that we
are dependent
on your
mercy.
We have
nothing to
boast about.
We have
nothing to
offer to
you.
There's no
reason for
us to be
a part of
your people
other than
your grace
that you've
shown to
us in
Jesus.
We love
you only
because you
loved us
first.
So Lord, we
thank you for
your grace.
We thank you
for the
encouragement of
this passage.
We thank you
that you are a
great and
powerful God,
that your
deeds are
amazing,
that your
ways are just
and true.
We worship
you this
morning,
for your
righteous acts
have been
revealed to
us.
We pray
these things
in your
name.
Amen.