Sermon 5 - 15th Annual Bible Conference

It's good to see you here tonight, our last night of our Bible conference. Before we begin tonight, let's just bow and ask God to meet with us, and that He would open our minds to His truth tonight, alright? Let's pray. God, You are our Father only because of Your mercy in Jesus. and we thank you that you have called us in him and that we can now call you Father.

We are thankful that whatever comes from your sovereign hand also comes from the hand of a loving Father. That all that happens in our lives, all that comes our way is because you love us and because you have claimed us. and we thank you that because you sovereignly intervene in our lives we can be here tonight and enjoy hearing the story of redemption we confess to you Father that we don't love it and we do not love you as we ought and yet because of your grace in Jesus we can yet come to you with confidence and ask you to work in us So work in us tonight, we pray. Accept our worship as we sing and as we give to you, as we look into your Word.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. If you want to follow along, you can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Isaiah, chapter 25. Again, let's stand as we read God's Word. There are echoes in this chapter of a future day, and so listen carefully to what the prophet Isaiah says. O Lord, You are my God.

I will exalt You and praise Your name. For in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. you have made the city a heap of rubble a fortified town, a ruin the foreigner stronghold, the city no more it will never be rebuilt therefore strong peoples will honor you cities of ruthless nations will revere you you have been a refuge for the poor a refuge for the needy in his distress a shelter from the storms, a shade from the heat for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert you silence the uproar of foreigners as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud so the song of the ruthless is stilled on this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples a banquet of aged wine the best of meats and the finest of wines on this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples the sheet that covers all nations he will swallow up death forever The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth.

The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, Surely this is our God. We trusted in Him and He saved us. This is the Lord. We trusted in Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.

The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, But Moab will be trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure. They will spread out their hands in it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands. He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low. He will bring them down to the ground.

To the very... This is our last night with Dr. Greer. And if you've been here these previous evenings, you have heard the Word of God and the story of our redemption told. And tonight, we hear the end of that story. My friend Rick Wilson, most of you know Pastor Rick, has said this about the book of Revelation.

You can sum up the book of Revelation in two words. we win. So, Professor Greer, come and minister the word of God. Well, I want to express to you my thanks for the invitation to be here. Especially to Glenna and Paul for the hospitality of their home. and for those of you who have opened your homes for meals, I've been most appreciative. But I have to be honest with you, to be with Tim and Becca again is a great delight in life.

I rejoice at God's good hand on his life and on the life of this church. Well, tonight we do come to the consummation. We have talked about this and we've put it into a model. I believe it's a canonical model. It was developed by the Spirit. You start with creation, perfection.

Then comes sin and judgment. Then we had redemption, old covenant. Redemption, new covenant. And then last night we looked at judgment to remove sin. And the Bible ends with the consummation and with perfection once again. Now we have to be sure that we don conclude that the perfection at the end is one to one the same as at the beginning Because grace has given us so much more than what we lost in Adam So the consummation is grace plus believe me And as we look at the book of Revelation tonight, especially chapters 21 and 22, we'll get a little bit of a feel for that.

Some of the wonderful titles of God in this book. The Father only speaks twice in the book, and it's amazing to look at it. And twice he says, I am Alpha and Omega, and Christ says, I am Alpha and Omega, first and last. The Christology of the book is very high. This was the symbol for I am Alpha Omega that existed in the early church. The A and the W are the Alpha and the Omega of the Greek language.

The big letter through the middle is the letter Rho from Christos and Kurios. And this was the symbol that they used to demonstrate that Christ was indeed the beginning and the end. Now, I don't know if this strikes you or not, but it suggests that the beginning is not an event, it's a person. And the end is not an event, it's a person. And both the Father and the Son claim to be the beginning and the end.

We also find that God identifies himself as the one who is and was and is to come. It appears multiple times, in particular in chapter 4, verse 8. In chapters 4 and 5, we have the longest throne room scene in the Bible. And in chapter 4 in particular, as John goes through the door into heaven, he is just overwhelmed with the sight. He saw the throne of God, and the one seated on the throne, he couldn't find words to describe him.

He said, when I first looked, he looked like a jasper stone. Now that kind of stone is a translucent stone stone that the light goes through and it refracts the full spectrum of the rainbow. And he said, I looked again and it looked like a carnelian stone. Now that's a red stone, an opaque stone that reflects the red back. And John's experiencing the color and the magnitude.

He can't find the words and you have to use your imagination. and before the throne there are seven torches burning. There's a great emerald rainbow around it and lightning and thunder is going out from the throne and there's a sea in front of the throne and it's so pure it looks like crystal. There are four cherubim around the throne to guard the holiness of the seated sovereign.

They have eyes in front and in back and they have many wings. And they sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. It's almost the whole model we have used, isn't it? Creation, redemption, consummation. And it's just fascinating to see how John uses these names of God. The name, the Lord God Almighty, which is the equivalent of the Hebrew phrase, the Lord God of hosts.

It's used seven times. These titles. The one who sits on the throne. So you get a little bit of feeling right at the beginning of this book. that we are going to be facing the centrality of heaven and the throne of God. And tonight, this is what I would like to look at with you, this pattern of the New Jerusalem, and in particular, the detail of 21.1 through 22.5.

Now, in saying that to you, here again, John is experiencing vision, and he's experiencing it in the kind of images and imagination that he doesn't have vocabulary to work with. So he tells us at the beginning of chapter 21 that he saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven to the earth. And he said, it was filled with the glory of God.

And an angel with a loud voice said, Look, God has pitched his tent with men. He will be their God. He will dwell in their midst. They will be his people. He will give them light. now ladies and gentlemen whether we ever think this conceptually the Bible teaches that heaven is a temporary abode for believers not permanent the permanent abode of believers will be on the new earth Right now, the created heaven is where the throne of God is, and the throne of God is the center of the universe.

And after the judgment by fire, when the heavens melt with fervent heat and the earth burns up, and we have new heaven and new earth. John says, I saw a city coming down. It was the one that Christ said, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many men. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go to prepare, I will come again and receive you unto myself. that where I am, there you will be also. Well, the city is prepared. And the city is a kind of a city the magnitude of which we can't even begin to grasp. John says later in this chapter that an angel took him to a mountain and he said to him, Come and I will show you the city, the bride of the Lamb.

And the angel had a reed to measure. And the city was 12,000 stadia high and 12,000 stadia wide and 12,000 stadia deep. Now when we translate stadia into mileage, We're talking about a city that is 3,000 miles long, 3,000 miles wide, and 3,000 miles high. It's a cube. There's only one other cube in the entire Bible. Anybody know where it is?

The Holy of Holies is a cube. And who dwelt in the Holy of Holies? The glory and the presence of the living God. Now, can you imagine describing a city of that magnitude as a bride? Hey, fellas, when you get married and she comes down the aisle, don't look at her and say, you know, you're beautiful. You're as wide as you are high.

I suggest to you that'll get your marriage off on the wrong foot. So you can't begin to think imagery of a city like that and a wife or a bride. And yet John runs it all together for us. And as he looked at the city, the city had 12 foundations, three on each side. And on the foundations there were all kinds of beautiful stones. They are the same stones that appear in the breastplate of the high priest.

Each of those foundations is named after one of the apostles of the Lamb. He looks at the gates, and there's 12 of them, three on each side. And each of them is made of a single pearl. You can't begin to fathom that. And each is named with one of the twelve tribes of Israel. And there's an angel at each gate.

But it also says the gates are never closed. Now that ruins one of my favorite hymns. He the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in. They're never closed. You see, gates are closed for protection. sin has been removed. The gates are open.

The street, it looks like the kind of gold that's transparent. We're talking about the main street. I don't know how you picture this city. I'm sure John doesn't want us to think in terms of skyscrapers and everything like that and how a city can be that high, it's almost impossible to think about. But this is the holy city. In this book, you could say the book of Revelation is a book about two cities, Babylon and the New Jerusalem.

And you've got a handout there that will show you the contrasts. And whenever I think of that, and I think of Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, which starts with that wonderful phrase, it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. And that's where we are, ladies and gentlemen. We are in the best and worst of times in the city of Babylon, anticipating the coming of the city of God. so after John hears all of that and he comes to grasp that this is going to be the permanent abode of the redeemed and that God is going to tabernacle there and that the center of the universe is going to be the holy city then at the just past that first paragraph of chapter 21 he tells us that God like a merciful father is going to wipe away all tears from our eyes I don't know about you, but these eyes have shed a lot of tears.

Mostly over my own corruption. At the death of my father, the death of my mother, the death of my brother. in funeral after funeral that I have done, in hospital rooms as an ethicist with death and dying, the failure of my own son to walk appropriately with his God, 33 cousins in Scotland who won't listen to the gospel, people I have prayed and prayed and prayed for who have died with a fist of rebellion in the face of the living God. Can you imagine what life will be like without tears?

Please understand, this is taking place on the new earth. Don't get it too early. Right? he's going to wipe away all tears from our eyes. Talking about the Father here. And there's going to be no more death. How could we live without death?

Right? I thought death was normal, didn't you? Death is abnormal. Life is normal. death is going to be gone. Pain. Some of you have walked the road of pain, physical, emotional, sorrow.

I want you to know life in this city is going to be so different than what we're accustomed to. And it's not just going to leave. God is going to be actively engaged in the movement. And what makes this possible? The redemptive victory of Jesus Christ. It is on the basis of his redemptive work that the tears will be gone, that death will be no more, that pain and sorrow and suffering will be gone.

And then, And the father says, look, I make all things new. Now, aren't you glad he didn't say, I make all new things? You're not going to feel like an alien on the new earth. It's going to be new, but the things that we are very accustomed to are what's going to be new. So it's not going to be creation out of nothing again. If he creates it out of nothing, then the victory of Christ was useless.

But Christ has reconciled all things to God, consequence of which is, now we have new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness, and God removes all of these things, and he makes all things new. he says to John, John, it is finished. It is done. It is complete. It has been sealed in the death, burial, resurrection, coronation, ascension, in giving the scroll to Christ the Lamb, Pentecost, all of the work of Christ through this age, the destruction of the works of evil.

John, it is finished. You heard those words before, did you not? On the cross. So John, you write it down, because these words are blessed and true. So when you finish chapter 21, you have some grasp of the changes in the character of the consummation. But it's in chapter 22 where we come to what to me is the most amazing aspects of it. before I leave 21.

Drop down with me to verse 6. And he said unto me, It is finished. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. And the person of faith shall inherit all these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my child. Did you notice in verse 6, right here, as we're coming to the very consummation, and John's seeing it and hearing it, and he's overwhelmed by it, the promise of the gospel still rings into John's ears.

Although it is all finished, John, we are still in the time period where the church is carrying on the ministry of Christ. And John knows this. Anyone who is thirsty, I will give him of the fountain of the water of life freely. Spurgeon loved this text. He would say to that vast audience, If you have no thirst for Jesus Christ, go home and pray God will give you thirst.

I just can't help but be utterly amazed after I've heard God say he's making all things new we're still back to the invitation of the gospel the thirsty can receive the water of life now come with me to chapter 22 he showed me a pure river of the water of life it was clear as crystal and it proceeded out from under the throne of God and of the Lamb and it ran down in the midst of the main street of the city and on either side of the river there were the trees of life and they bore 12 kinds of fruit every month. And the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations. Now let me see if I can get this picture into our mind.

In the main street of the city, which is transparent gold, there's a garden. The father and the son aren't in the penthouse at the 12,000th stadium. Like it or not, on the new earth we're going to be street people. He's right down on the main street of the city. The throne of God is there in the garden park. the river flows out from under the throne. And it is the median that separates the main street into two sides.

And on each side of the river, the trees of life are growing. And these trees bear 12 different kinds of fruit every month. Now, go back with me to Genesis 2. Yahweh God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And the river flowed through the midst of the garden. and in the middle of the garden was the tree of life. Here we are in the consummation.

Can you imagine standing on the main street and looking down through the park and there seated on the throne is the Father and the Lamb. John tells us one of the striking things things that is missing from this city is there is no temple. For God pitches his tent with us. You talk about the glory has returned. I don't know if we'll swim in the river. I know most of you hope you'll fish in the river.

Not much is said about that. Is there going to be life in the water? I think probably. Will there be birds? Yes. Trees?

Yes. Animals? Yes. But there, anytime we're in the garden, we can pluck the fruit of the tree of life. I've spent a lot of time teaching in Asia. And ripe mangoes in Asia are the best fruit in the world.

And they're better in the Philippines than anywhere else. You just bite it and it's huge. Can you imagine a tree that bears 12 different kinds of fruit? and what about this every month? I thought time was no more. Huh? That phrase, and time shall be no more, if we translated the Greek a little more carefully, it would say, let there no longer be any delay.

My friends, creatureliness necessitates time. we will always live in time. How we ever got the notion that we're going to step into eternity and therefore be like God without beginning or end, I don't know where that came from. It didn't come from the Bible. As one of the old theologians said, we got the wrong feather in our hat. Time is here. It says there's no need of the sun, but it doesn't say there isn't any sun. and monthly production of fruit.

There going to be no scarcity And I don know if you can fathom this but this is going to be the access point This is the city that prepared for us This is our habitation here on the earth with God with us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And in that whole structure of that city, we will worship, we will carry out our tasks. I suspect that I will be a teacher on the new earth.

And I suspect I'll have better students on the new earth than I've had in life before. The notion that the eternal state is work days all done and endless leisure is not biblical. Man without task is not the image of God. I don't know about you, but I couldn't stand endless leisure. I could stand it for a while, probably, but not for real long. Well, let's pick it up because it just becomes almost overwhelming.

There shall be no more curse. That means the ground here in the street, Maru, the curse on it will be gone. No more curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. the antecedent to the personal pronoun his is God, not the Lamb. Apparently, we will be able not only to see the Lamb, but to see the Father.

Now, I know the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. He's an immortal, invisible spirit. But I'm also aware that Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You imagine in that day, be able to gaze into the face of the Savior, not on a field trip, but a part of everyday life. and seated on the throne with him as the father, and his name is going to be inscribed on our forehead.

Right now, our names are unalterably written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but in that day, his name will be here. nothing marks us more as the people of God than to possess the name of God. Remember what happened at your baptism? What did you get baptized into? Oh, I know the water. But into the name of the Son and Holy Spirit. Do you realize that in the waters of baptism, the triune name of God is called upon you?

And that triune name of God gives you access to all three persons of the Trinity? And to have his name means that we can call on his name, we can pray in his name, we can praise in his name. Everything we do is related to his name. There's no other name under heaven given among men that would bring salvation to any man. That name is going to be here. And it says his servants will serve him.

Now serve is one of the multiple words in the Old and New Testament that are used for worship. The primary emphasis on this isn't that you're still going to be doing carry-in meals at church. The primary emphasis here, that all of life will be to honor, adore, to express, to celebrate, to worship, to express gratitude and joy. I don't know how it's possible today that people say, I get tired of worship.

I get tired of hearing the gospel. I know the hymn writer caught it when he said, sing them over again to me. wonderful words of life. You're going to be ill-prepared for the new era if you find worship before you. See his face. His name will be on our foreheads. there shall be no night there and no need of a lamp no need of the light of the sun for the Lord God will shine on them and they shall reign forever and ever The Lord God will shine on them.

You remember the Aaronic blessing that Zechariah didn't get to pray? Yahweh bless you and keep you. Yahweh lift up his face upon you and be gracious unto you. Yahweh cause his face to shine upon you and give you peace. Can you imagine? The source of light will be the glory of God.

That shouldn't surprise us, should it? Did light precede the sun? When was light created? And when was the sun created? Day four. Isn't that amazing?

Now it doesn't say there isn't any sun, but the day-night cycle is not going to be the cycle we'll be accustomed to. Time will be there. Months will be there. Work will be there. Worship will be there. Reigning with him is what he created us for in the beginning so that when we contemplate it, the purpose for which he made man to give man vice-regency over the earth to extend his glory, we're going to have the great joy of doing that forever.

Wow. I don't know if that excites you, but it excites me when I contemplate that. and then we come again to the affirmation that these sayings are true but note verse 7 look I am coming soon verse 12 look I am coming soon and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall bleed. Down to verse 17. The spirit and the bride say what? Come.

Let him that hears say, come. and let the one that is thirsty and whosoever or the one indeed who is thirsty let him take of the water of life freely. Are you struck with the fact that in the consummation the urgency of the invitation of the gospel is still present? So that the churches that John is writing to, even in light of the imminency, the soon coming, are still offering to everyone who is thirsty the water of life.

Spurgeon called this the double come. the spirit says and who else says the bride who's that us is that what you're known for here is LaRue Baptist Church known for being a church that invites all the thirsty to come and receive the water of life by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The double come is, there's the come of the invitation to salvation and there's the come of the coming of Christ. Whitfield would talk about when he'd preach, outdoors at the commons.

He would write in his diary, I had run out of words. I didn't know anything else to say. And people by the hundreds were in tears. And all I could do was stand there with my hands up and tears coursing my face and say, come, come, come to Jesus. We need to catch that, my friends. We've lost that urgency.

We look at the consummation as being our final vindication. I want to pick on Rick. It does mean we win, but it's not here because the battle's not over and the work of the gospel is not complete. And you can't miss it here. is the spirit and the bride related? Does the spirit indwell the body of the bride? Wouldn't it be terrible to be the people of God when the spirit is saying, come, and the bride isn't?

I know you didn't expect the consummation to bring back the urgency of the gospel, but it's here. And anyone who hears, let him say come. And the one who takes the water of life will come into the family of God Then the book comes to its end. For the third time now, Jesus says, look, I am coming soon. Three times here, the end of this chapter. I am coming soon.

Now please, that quickly implies that it's, the Greek word there is the word for soon. It's not going to be an endless time period. I know it's a lot longer than probably any of us anticipated. My father was sure that the Lord would come before he would die. He was sure that Russia with her missiles was Magog and Gog, and Israel was going to bury her, and Christ was coming.

And when my father faced death, he was one disappointed man. I'd like to not face death, but not because I'm so interested in Christ coming as much as I am a wimp. And I would just as soon not have to go through it. because let me assure you, death is here because of sin. And when sin is removed, death will be removed. So although the fear of death is gone and the sting of death is gone, death is not going to be pleasant.

And if Shirley were here, she would tell you, men are different, but all husbands are wimps. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus. I am coming soon. Hear John. Amen. Amen.

Even so come, Lord Jesus. You know the word Maranatha? Shortest prayer in the Bible. Actually, it's an Aramaic word. It's not a Greek word, and they just transliterated it. Actually, it's two words.

It's the word marana and the word thot. So it's actually pronounced marana thot. It means our Lord comes. John doesn't use the Aramaic word here, but uses the Greek equivalent. as all of this comes to the end. Creation to consummation. The success of the redemptive work of the Lamb.

His enthronement. His investiture. All of it brought to its consummation. Everything made new. It is done. The city.

The throne. the garden, the tree of life. Even so come. Come. Not only do we need to be concerned with the invitation to sinners to come to Jesus, not only do we need to pray that people who have no thirst for the gospel would get thirsty but we need to have that anticipation of the consummation whereby in truth no matter what it is we still want to do you would think by my age you would be have concluded that there's very little left to do there's still a lot I'd like to do but let me assure you that in relationship to the coming of the Lord it has total insignificance if through the Bible conference we have gotten a grid to interpret reality in a way to think through creation to consummation I would be very very happy but if that's all we did if there hasn't been an effective response internally if there hasn't been a change in our values and thus in our decisions then whatever value has been to the Bible conference will be lost.

And there's two effective domain things I would like you to think about very, very, very seriously. And that is the mission of the church in the world and the need with the Spirit. He said, come. Come, come, come, come. Jesus said it this way, come unto me, all you who are double burdened and weighed down, and I will give you rest. Strange rest, take my yoke upon you and learn not about me, but from me.

Learn from me, and you will find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And the second affective domain change is is that we need to get to the place where in truth, no matter where we are in life, we can pray without reservation. Even so come. Father, Father, Father, What we have seen with our mind's eye and our imagination through the content of John's vision and the work of your spirit seems impossible.

It is so different than anything we call normal, anything we are accustomed to. not only have you rescued us from damnation and taken us out of the kingdom of darkness and placed us into the kingdom of the Son of your love, but you have given us a living hope and not a hope that's based upon self-gratification, but a hope that is based upon your name being central in the world, your kingdom coming, and your will being done without fail here on earth, even as it is right now in heaven. No tears, no death, No pain, no crying, no curse, no need of the sun. You will shine upon us.

We shall see your face. Your name will be on our forehead. Oh, dear God. What a great, great salvation you have made for us in our brother Jesus Christ. But as we contemplate it all and we see it all go together, we can't escape the present ministry of reconciliation. May this church and its people seek the thirsty, offer them the water of life.

Be concerned in constantly inviting people to come to Jesus. Would you also help us to get the urgency that your coming is soon. may we with John in stammering tongues tonight as your people be able to pray we love you we express our gratitude and we wish from now to the consummation to worship you and to serve you and to carry on Jesus' continued ministry. Thank you for the days we have shared together.

We're pleased to use your truth for our hearts. Amen. Thank you. We're going to have one great shock, for God will avenge the blood of his people at the hand of the martyrs. Hallelujah. Then it comes to earth The faithful in earth join the chorus and they sing Hallelujah Now I know when you get to Revelation 19, you don't think believers are on the earth because it doesn't fit your eschatology.

And you want to interpret the book of Revelation like a chronology. May I say this to you once and for all? There's no chronology in the book of Revelation. John did not write a chronology of the future, and he is not interested in answering your questions about when certain things are going to happen or not. If you want to understand the book of Revelation, you say, don't get excited.

Well, I'm sorry I am. If you want to understand the book of Revelation, you read it from beginning to end. You don't stop and ask questions, because you always stop and ask the wrong questions. you must let yourself be inundated with this book. This book is a book of images. It's not a book that fits a literal chronological category. You need to just let it overwhelm you and read it and read it and read it and read it.

Understand that it's written to seven churches that are suffering. It has a historical context. It's not there for left behind or for all of the garbage we have going on today. But now you get, and you hear, they're singing hallelujah on earth. And there's two reasons. The Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns.

That's what Handel took, right? Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah.

Should I sing it for you? If I do, the room will be empty in no time. John says, When I heard the singing on earth, that singing sounded like many waters rushing over a great cataract. This is Victoria Falls in Zambia. This is the dry season. There's only about one-third of the water.

If you look, you can see people and how small they are. John says, He said, not only did it sound like mighty rushing water, but it sounded like mighty peals of thunder that got closer and closer until it shook where we actually stood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. For the marriage supper of the Lamb has come. Can you sing hallelujah to that?

Huh. This is after judgment. The marriage supper of the Lamb has come. And then John gives us his beatitude. He says, blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage supper. That's us.

That's us. You say, well, we're the bride. How can we be the invited guests? Wrong question. If you don't like mixed metaphors, don't open the book of Revelation. Because they're mixed constantly and they don't fit our nice categories.

You can't make Israel the guests and the church the bride. It's not possible. The bride is invited and she is also the bride. And she's prepared in white linen, clean and pure. What does a marriage feast say to you? Celebration?

Joy? Intimacy? Can you imagine at that celebration, we will never again, under any condition, be separated from our brotherhood? Never. Never, never, never. Hallelujah. chapter 19 and 20 brings us to the removal of sin by judgment The chapter ends in 11 through 21 with a picture of Christ on the white horse.

In all, the armies of the earth are gathered together. Say, where did they come from? Wrong question. Just let the images come. Here they are. You say, it's going to be a big battle.

There's going to be blood everywhere. Let me ask you, what is Christ clothed in? White linen. No armament. No shield. No Uzi. he has a sword and it's in his mouth.

The armies of heaven are behind him and they too are in white linen. And all of the armies of the earth are arrayed against him. We are told his name is the word of God. And yet he has a name that no one knows. and on the sash of his garment is written the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this garment has been dipped in blood, his own blood, representing his substitute.

Before the scene develops, an angel stands in the sun and he cries to all of the birds of heaven, come and gather for the feast of God. You'll be able to eat the flesh of captains, of soldiers. You'll be able to eat the flesh of kings, of the mighty, of the poor. There's going to be a great carnage and death and the carry on. What a contrast to the marriage supper of the lamb The nations are reigned under their leaders against Christ, and he's coming from heaven, and they're going to end up dead in food for the birds of prey.

You say, literally? Of course not. It's drawing for us the image of the terrible, terrible destruction and judgment that is coming for the removal of sin from this world. I'm so glad we sang A Mighty Fortress, because nobody caught this better than Luther. The prince of darkness grim. We tremble not for him.

His rage we can endure. For look, his doom is sure. One little word. the word that comes out of Christ's mouth slays all of the armies of God. It's not a pretty scene. We have no delight in the damnation of the image of God. I find no delight in understanding that close friends and family are under the wrath of God.

I do know this. Knowing the end brings urgency to the present. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Babylon has fallen. Your judgments are true and just.

You will avenge the blood of the martyrs. Come on. Whole earth, enter in and sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. not Barack Obama, not the leader of China, not the leader of North Korea, not the Shah of Iran, not the head of the World Bank, but Lord God, the Almighty. He reigns. Hallelujah I wish we could get out of the boundaries of this room and get a little feel for what going on elsewhere in God created order But the final one.

Hallelujah. The marriage supper of the Lamb has come. And it's been given to us to be clothed in white raiment, clean and pure. which is the righteousness of the saints. And then that middle beatitude in the book, blessed. Did you hear me? Blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage, the supper of the Lamb.

It was as the Lamb he bore our sin, and it is as the Lamb we will be united with him. Father, for us, hallelujah and judgment don't go together. Somehow for us we have bought the notion that evil has as much right as righteousness. and we know that the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, includes the reconciliation of all things, and that sin and evil has no rights in the world, and it will be destroyed and removed, and it will be by that same powerful word that came to us in the darkness of our sin that brought us the light of the glory of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ and by your spirit caused us to repent and believe.

It is unthinkable that we are the bride of the last day. It is beyond comprehension that we should have eternal felicity with him. Never, ever to be separated from him again. and that his glory in its fullness will return to this earth. We anticipate that. But as we do, we realize what our task is. In this day, when the invitation to repent and believe in Christ is over, Would you help the Rue Baptist to find ways to accomplish that mission here in this community?

Would you help us all not to get fat on spiritual food in and for itself, but to develop our ability to carry on Christ's continued ministry? blessed Savior, we thank you for your spirit who is with us and in us and who is the same kind as you because the two of you were so formed for each other that when he came, he came for us. Help us not to demean your spirit, but to live honestly with great joy of the presence of your glory in our midst. It was a good night of rest, contemplation of the truth that we have talked about, and anticipation of another day to transcribe your glory in the world.

And we'll thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen. I think you're just dismissed, okay? You don't have to say anything, do you? Oh, 20 after 8. I'm sorry.

Probably be 20 after 9 tomorrow night. All right. you