SCRIPTURE: Revelation 19-20

SERMON SUMMARY

Today, we come to the second to last message in our Revelation series. The sequence of scenes in chapters 19-20 clearly picture King Jesus’ return to earth to put an end to evil and to establish His kingdom of righteousness, justice, and truth. The question we will seek to answer is this: How do the scenes of the final defeat of evil that we see in Revelation 19-20 encourage us to stay faithful to Jesus when we face the evil in our world today? Or said another way: How does knowing that God will bring a final end to evil encourage us to persevere in a world system growing more and more evil every day?

SERMON SCREENSHOTS & KEY POINTS

It’s a common question that we’ve all asked—Why doesn’t God do something about all the evil in the world? If there is a God who is powerful and loving, then why doesn’t he do something to fix all that’s wrong in this world? In Scripture, we hear God’s people praying and asking, “God, how long? How long until you set right things right?” We all feel the weight of that longing, don’t we? In Revelation 19-20, we don’t get a clear answer to “how long,” but we are given the assurance that when Jesus returns, He will bring an end to evil and will make all things new. This raises an even better question for us; How does not knowing that Jesus will end evil and make things new encourage us to stay faithful to Him in the midst of the evils we face today? Before we jump into our text, let me share two insights that were discussed in our Revelation Bonus Night on July 16 (be on the lookout for our next “Jesus on Display podcast episode).

First, in this series, we’re not doing a study of End Time Prophecy or of eschatology. We are doing an expositional study through the book of Revelation, and there is a difference between the two. In an End Time study, you need to work through many different texts (e.g., the prophecies of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, et al., 1Thess 4-5, 1Cor15; Revelation, etc.), and that can be a fruitful study. When we study a book of the Bible, try to discern the message that the original author wanted to get across to his original audience. We look for his “big idea(s)” and his “big takeaway(s).” In Revelation, we’ve seen how John is concerned for his Christian friends who are experiencing ever-intensifying suffering, hardship, and persecution from the Caesars and from the beastly empire of Rome. John writes to encourage them to stay faithful to Jesus no matter how bad things get. He paints word pictures of Jesus sitting on the throne in heaven, ruling over everything that’s happening in this world. He sees visions of God’s judgment being poured out on the world and a final judgment when Jesus comes to set things right in a new heaven and new earth on this earth. John’s “big idea” is that Jesus will return as King to bring an end to evil to set up His kingdom on this earth, and his “big takeaway” is, “Therefore, don’t give in, don’t give up, hold fast to your faith, Jesus wins, and that means you win!

Second, what we’ve seen in this series is that there is beauty and brilliance in the way the Holy Spirit inspired John to write down this simple “big idea.” Like the prophets of old, John writes in an “apocalyptic” style—using word pictures, symbols, and imagery to get his points across. There’s no question that Revelation is full of symbolism, which is not the same as allegory, by the way. Read Revelation 17:9-18, and you’ll see how John explains some of the symbolism to us. Much of the symbolism he unpacks in these verses would have been understood by John’s first-century readers as having direct application to the Caesars and to Rome. But there are parts of this passage that point forward to a future day (see vv12-18 and notice how they speak of things in Rev17-21). The present and future tenses here fit well with what Jesus said in chapter 1 when He tells John to write down what he saw, “the things that are, and the things that are to come.” What all this means is this: The way Revelation is written makes it accessible and applicable to Christians all through Christian history. The book has applications for then and now and for the future. But the future tense of Revelation is not so much about “predicting” the future as it is about showing you that, no matter how bad things get, God is in control of the future. And, that one day, Jesus will crush all His enemies underfoot. 

Now to today’s passage—Jason did a great job last week, unpacking the first part of Rev19 (vv1-10) where, once again, there’s a great Hallelujah worship service in heaven when “Babylon” falls to its utter destruction. At that time, an invitation goes out inviting all of God’s people to attend the “wedding feast/marriage supper” of the Lamb. The wedding invitation has been extended, then the Bridegroom makes His appearance (Read 19:11-16). (I encourage you to spend some time this week, meditating on this glorious picture of Jesus as a Warrior King, as a holy and righteous Judge, and as Kings and Lord of Lords. Read for five days straight. Use different translations. Make this a matter of praise and factor this picture of Jesus into your prayer life).

Then another invitation goes out from heaven. This time the invitation is to a very different kind of feast. (Read 19:17-21). Here we read about the “Final Battle,” pt1). Again, this is a scene of cataclysmic judgment, ending with the beast and the false prophet being thrown into the lake of fire. The judgment scenes continue all through chapter 20. In the first part of chp20 (vv1-10), the devil is bound and thrown into a bottomless pit. Christ sets up a millennial kingdom (millennium = 1,000 years). Then Satan is released to deceive the nations once again. There’s the “Final Battle,” pt2, and this time, the devil is cast into the lake of fire, and at that point, all evil in heaven and earth is done away with. Then 20:11-5 takes us to the Final Judgment (the Great White Throne Judgment), which is the judgment of those who refused to trust Christ and receive the salvation He offered them. And so, death and Hades are destroyed along with anyone whose name was not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Whew! Heavy stuff. But the Good News in all this is that one day, Jesus will return as Judge to do away with all evil in the heavenly and earthly realms. He will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to set right what’s wrong and to make all things new. And the Good News gets even better. If you have put your faith and hope in Jesus to forgive your sins and to give you His eternal life, you’ll be a part of that great day of victory. If not, there’s still time for you to turn from your sin to Jesus. There’s still time for you to accept His invitation to come to His wedding. All you need to do is say, “Yes, Jesus, I do. I do accept your invitation. I do take you to be my Savior and Lord. I do want to follow you all the days of my life.”

*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.