Christ Returns in Power & Glory

Transcript

GR 1564
04/18/10
Christ Returns in Power and Glory
Revelation 19:11-16
Gil Rugh

As we reflect back on the first coming of Christ in anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ, there couldn't be any greater contrast between the two events. At the first coming of Christ He is born in a little out-of-the-way town, Bethlehem, and basically no one among the Jews is even aware of His birth. The angels come and announce it to some shepherds in the field and they come and offer their worship, but the shepherds outside of Bethlehem don’t amount to much in the way of recognition. Sometime later even with the passing of time when Mary and Joseph have left the stable in which Christ was born and are living in a house, wise men from the east came and asked, where is the One who was born King of the Jews? No one has any idea that He has been born. They have to call a meeting and find out where He be born if He had been born. And then they examine the scripture and say, the Messiah will be born at Bethlehem and the wise men went and worshiped Him.

When we come to His Second Coming to earth it will be strikingly different. There it will be with the display of glory and power that the Jews anticipated with the coming of their Messiah. They chose to neglect and disregard the passages that talked about His coming to Bethlehem, His humility and death at His first coming. Turn back to Matthew 24; this great section that Christ gave called the Olivet Discourse on the Mount of Olives. And He talks about His Second Coming, events associated with His Second Coming to this earth and the events associated with the tribulation are unfolded. In verse 15 He talks about the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, events that will occur that we have seen as we have moved through the book of Revelation. We're told down in verse 24 that false christs and false prophets will arise and mislead people. Verse 25: “Behold, I have told you in advance.” So if they tell you He has come again, He has arrived at earth don't believe them. Why? Verse 27: “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” In other words it will be with such a display of glory and power everybody will be aware of it. It will be after “the tribulation of those days,” verse 29. Then verse 30: “and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”

We come to Revelation 19, we have come through the tribulation of those days, and we are ready for the Second Coming of Christ to earth. Stop at I Thessalonians 4. Just a reminder, Jesus Christ is going to come in the air for the church, the event we call the Rapture, the Greek word harpadzo, referring to being caught away, caught up, which we noted will occur before the 70th week of Daniel. And that is a distinct event. Verses 16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” We call this the first phase of the Second Coming. He comes in the air, calls believers to meet Him in the air and they are taken with Him to His Father's house. At the Second Coming the saints will be returning with Christ to the earth, as we'll see when we come to chapter 19.

So come to Revelation 19. Really from verses 11-21 we have the events of the Second Coming, but verses 11-16 will talk about the person of Christ. And that will be the focus in those verses. Then verses 17-21 will talk about the judgment that Christ brings on the Antichrist and his followers at the Second Coming. So two aspects, as you might expect the first part focuses on the person of Christ, the glory of His person, the power of His person, who He is as He returns to take His rightful position as verse 16 tells us—King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One who rules over all, who is sovereign overs all.

Back in Revelation 14:14-15: “And I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap because the hour to reap is come because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’” And you have the events that culminate in verses 19-20: “And the angel swung his sickle to the earth, and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the winepress up to the horses' bridles for a distance of two hundred miles.” This passage anticipates this awesome event that is now unfolding for us in chapter 19.

In Revelation 16:13-16 you have the armies of the world gathered together in anticipation for this event at what we call Armageddon, a focal point for what takes place here as the armies of the world have assembled together in conflict, really, with one another. But they will unite with the sign of the coming of the Son of Man in the heavens and the war will be between Christ and His enemies.

Come back now to Revelation 19:11. The anticipation for this has been the hallelujahs in the first six verses. Repeated “hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise the Lord; praise the Lord.” Then we have the announcement of the marriage of the Lamb and the impending marriage supper of the Lamb. And in verse 9: “…blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” as Christ now comes and all the friends of the bridegroom will be invited and the marriage supper of the Lamb will be in the coming millennial kingdom which will be recorded in the first part of Revelation 20.

Verse 11: “And I saw heaven opened; and behold a white horse and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” The background for this is back in the prophecy of Isaiah, turn back there for a moment, Isaiah 64. This is a verse that is often taken out of context. And if you read revival literature and people crying out for revival, they will often quote or refer to Isaiah 64:1-2: “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble in Your presence.” And when used that way they are really not taking this verse literally, but they want a spiritual impact of the Lord from heaven in a dramatic way. But what he is talking about is what we just read in Revelation 19:11. The Lord will “rend the heavens,” or part the heavens. The heavens will be opened so that God Himself, God the Son can come down. The mountains indeed quake at His presence. And now His adversaries will be dealt with and the nations will tremble in His presence. We have to be careful we don't take verses and allegorize them and spiritualize them in the sense of not taking them literally and miss the beauty of what is being said.

So when you come back to Revelation 19, the cry to God is “oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” I saw heaven opened and behold God is coming down, God the Son. And behold a white horse. Now at His first coming Christ presented Himself to the nation, really at the end of His earthly ministry on Palm Sunday as we refer to it, when He came in on a donkey, the foal of a donkey, colt and rode in in fulfillment of Zechariah 9. Come back to Zechariah 9, because there is an interesting connection of verses here separated by some 2000 years. Verse 9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” That's what was quoted in Matthew 21 when the events that resulted in Christ riding in to Jerusalem. But look at verse 10: “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” That's talking about the Second Coming. Verse 9 happened at the first coming, verse 10 will not happen until the Second Coming when Christ will put an end to war and will establish peace from sea to sea. He will rule and reign.

So you can see when Peter wrote and said the prophets really had a hard time understanding how He could come and suffer and die, ride into Jerusalem humble and mounted on a donkey, and yet come with power, destroy His enemies and set up the kingdom. How will we fit all this together? So verse 10 is what we are reading about in Revelation 19, but it's an interesting connection with the two verses there, talking about the first and Second Coming.

In Revelation 19 He is on a white horse, the victorious conqueror. We saw the satanic counterfeit of this in Revelation 6 in the first seal judgment of Revelation with the rider coming forth on the white horse. The symbol still is significant of power, victory, and conquering. But Christ comes on a white horse. We can't get into any discussion on whether there will be horses in heaven but He's coming out of heaven on a white horse. I prefer to think about we drive up in our cars. And the event, I don't know that it says anything particularly about animals in heaven. But on this occasion it has particular significance and I take it that it will be literal, even as Zechariah 9:9 was literal. When it talked about a donkey and the colt the foal of a donkey, it just wasn't symbolizing humility; it was actually going to occur. I take it here we have an actual event.

He is on a white horse, and He who sat on it is Faithful and True. He is the one who is faithful and fulfills the promises of God. He is true, He is reliable; He is the Messiah of Israel. This is the One who is returning. Come back in Matthew 24. We have a number of verses to look at in our study together. Verses 23-24: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is’ do not believe him. For false christs and false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” The point here is these are false christs, and false prophets. Now we have the One who is faithful and true that comes. Up to this point there are those who on the border of being able to deceive even the elect, you see how careful we want to be in our handling of scripture. How will the elect not be deluded by these great signs and wonders, by a false christ when they should be ready for the One who is faithful and true? Well, when He says “I told you in advance,” verse 25, when the One who is faithful and true comes you will know it. This is the same principle that we have to operate on. With all the error and falsehoods that's around, how do we sort it out? By very carefully looking at the scripture and not being caught up in the emotion and the feelings and so on. But this is what God says, so this is the way it is.

Faithful and True are words that have already been applied to Christ several times in the book of Revelation. Revelation 3:14: “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write: ‘The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:” So this is His character, He is the faithful and true Witness. We'll see it later in Revelation as well, 21:5 and 22:6. But right now we should come back to chapter 19.

Heaven opened, a white horse, the victor is here, the conqueror is here, the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, prophesied to come lowly and humble to bring salvation, to bear the sins of many. But now He comes, not as the One to bear the penalty for sin, but to mete out justice and to take His kingdom. He comes on a white horse, He is called Faithful and True and in righteousness He judges and makes war. This Second Coming to earth is an awesome event, and what is set forth first is judgment and war, the war being the result of the judgment. He's going to bring destruction on His enemies. This is a bloody event. We read earlier in Revelation about the blood running to the horses' bridles. We're going to see it further brought out as we move through this, that this is the wine press of God. People are like grapes being crushed and destroyed, and so their blood will flow like the juice from grapes that are crushed in a wine press. We like to have this idea that a loving God would never do something like this. Some of you read the article in the paper yesterday on heaven and they asked a number of people around their thoughts of heaven. And everybody just has these beautiful thoughts of heaven and how lovely it is going to be and pleasant it's going to be. And you know everybody thinks they are going there. And now we read about Jesus Christ coming to earth and He is coming as judge to wage war and bring destruction. In righteousness He judges and makes war.

Back up to Revelation 15:3: “And they sang the song of Moses the bond servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, You King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy…” Revelation 16:5: “And I heard the angel of the waters saying, ‘Righteous are You who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judge these things.’” You see in righteousness He judges and wages war. And we're being reminded through the judgments that have been taking place that God is righteous in dealing so violently with His enemies. Down in verse 7: “…Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” Over to 19:1-2: “…salvation and glory and power belong to our God because His judgments are true and righteous…” And that's reflected when He brought judgment on the great harlot Babylon and destroyed her.

You know, it’s amazing how people can claim to believe the Bible and just pick out portions on God's love and the beauty of the promises of glory and heaven in the presence of God for those that belong to Him. And they are all true. We see how much the Bible warns us of righteous judgment to come and there is no comparing. We have the song, the love of God and how would you write of the love of God, if the oceans were ink. But you understand the wrath of God as we've talked about is an infinite wrath, just like the love of God is an infinite love. And here we see the display of this wrath of God now in His righteous judgment being poured out on unregenerate, ungodly men.

In righteousness He judges and wages war. He is the judge and He is always righteous and true in His judgments. So the war that He wages is righteous and just. Revelation 19:12-13: “And His eyes are a flame of fire and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.” This is an awesome picture.

“His eyes are a flame of fire.” This had been the description earlier. Come back to Revelation 1:14. John the beloved disciple had this appearance to him of the resurrected Christ as we began the revelation to John. Look at verse 14: “And His head and His hair were white like wool, like snow and His eyes were like a flame of fire.” Look in 2:18: “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire…” Now as He returns to earth in righteousness to bring judgment and wage war, His eyes are as a flame of fire. He knows all, He cannot be deceived. This is a serious matter. His eyes are as a flame of fire searching, evaluating, and judging. He cannot make a mistake, He cannot be deceived. His judgment will be righteous and those eyes as a flame of fire.

Come back to Isaiah 11. This is another of those passages that brings together the first coming of Christ and the Second Coming of Christ. Verses 1-5: “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord and He will not judge by what His eyes see nor make a decision by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.” You see the context here, righteous judgment. When it says “He will not judge by what His eyes see or by what His ears hear,” in other words He doesn't need information with those eyes as a fire. It's not like our eyes, we look around and try to make a decision on the basis of what we can determine by what we see, what we're told. No, He knows everything. Remember Jeremiah 17:9, we looked at in our earlier study today: “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it?” Then verse 10 tells us, “I, the Lord, search the heart.” He's the One who discerns accurately and correctly. And in this context of Isaiah 11:4, when He brings judgment and with fairness He acts, He'll strike the earth with the rod of His mouth. Remember this, we'll come to it later, but we won't come back. And the “breath of His lips He'll slay the wicked.” You see in the context here of the judgments we are talking about.

Stop at Hebrews 4:13: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Now that's an awesome, fearsome thought. That's true for everyone, not just the wicked who are going to come under the righteous judgment of God, but you understand He sees us as we are. And all things are open and bare. He sees everything. And we understand that as His children, and that is to be a cause of holy fear for us, to be pleasing to Him. We can hide actions and activities from one another, but nothing is ever hidden from our God. All things are open and bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

And this is the One we are reading about when you come back to Revelation 19, and we're told His eyes are a flame of fire. We go on to verse 12, and on “His head are many diadems.” There are two kinds of crowns: the “stephanos” crown is the crown of the victor and the “diadem,” the crown of the ruler. And He has many diadems on His head. You know some of these descriptions as you try to draw them out you say, how would you do this? But He has many diadems on His head because verse 16 tells us He is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” So ultimately He is the ruler of all. So everywhere there is a king, Jesus Christ is really the king. So His sovereignty is over all, He has many diadems. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

“He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.” So we can dispense with that rather quickly because nobody has any idea what the name is, what its significance is. We are told it is here, for a reason that name is there. John could say He has a name written there but I don't know what it is. And no one knows except Christ Himself. Now whether that name then will be revealed at a future time, we're just not old. Back in 2:17 we get something similar in the promise to the overcomers of the church at Pergamum, “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” So we, part of the overcomers as those who are believers in Christ are going to get a name written for us and we will be the only ones who know it. Obviously God does but others won't know the name. It's for us personally. The significance of that event and then with Christ having a name but no one knows it, we'll have to see what is unfolded when the event comes. There are names revealed here but there also is a name not revealed, not made known.

Look at Revelation 19:13: “And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called The Word of God.” The robe dipped in blood here is not a reference to His sacrificial death; it is in anticipation of the bloody event that is unfolding. He's covered with the blood of His enemies is where we are going. It will come out in verse 15 in particular. So it anticipates it here, He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And the Second Coming of Christ to the earth is a bloody event, the destruction of the enemies of God. Now we've seen great destruction in the seven-year tribulation already, and now we come with the greatest destruction of all that takes place at Armageddon.

You have to come back to Isaiah 63. Remember we have hundreds of references and allusions to Old Testament passages but no direct quotes in the book of Revelation. But much of the difficulty in understanding Revelation is either a lack of familiarity with the Old Testament or the failure to take the prophecies of the Old Testament literally, like we had an example of with “O Lord come down and rend the heavens.” And people pray for revival—oh Lord, rend the heavens tonight and come down with Your Spirit. But it's talking about a literal event. So look at Isaiah 63:1-6: “Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is Your apparel red and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath. And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments and I stained all My raiment. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come….And I trod down the peoples in My anger, and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” That's what is being fulfilled here and was anticipated in Isaiah 63—the events of Armageddon, the bloody destruction of the enemies of Christ.

Come back to Revelation 19:13. “His name is called The Word of God.” So He had a name written which no one knows but Christ Himself. But He has another name written and that is made known. He is called The Word of God. Interestingly, John the Apostle is the only New Testament writer to use this as a name for Christ—The Word or The Word of God. Back in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” We come down to verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Word of God who had been with God became flesh. That's His first coming, and John was among those who saw His glory, “glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And while we're here we'll pick up verse 18: “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father; He has explained Him.” “He has explained Him,” He has exegeted Him. Gives us insight in what it means to be The Word of God. What do words do? They reveal. Jesus said we will be judged by our words. Why? It is because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So our words are revealing what is in us. Jesus Christ is the Word of God because He is the revelation of God; He is the One who makes God known in a fuller more complete way than has ever been done before. That's why verse 14 said we saw “His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” No man has seen God at any time but Jesus Christ is the Word of God and He has revealed Him, He has explained Him, exegeted Him, given us a clarity of revelation that had not been given before.

I John 1:1-2: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life-- and the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” So you can see the similarity to what John said as he opened the gospel that the Lord used him to write. He is called here the Word of Life, the One who is the Word. He is the revelation from God, about God, about the life of God.

Back up to Hebrews 1 and note how this letter opens up. Verse 1: “God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways” So down through the history of the Old Testament He spoke at various times through various men—many portions, many ways, dreams, visions, angelic revelations, and so on. But verse 2: “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,” far superior to any other form of revelation that had been given. The prophets, their word is true and the dreams they had and so on, but now you have the very Son of God. He has spoken to us in His Son. So you see He is the Word of God because He's the one through whom God is speaking and making Himself known. Verses 2-3: “…whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory; and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” He is the Son so when the work of redemption is done where is He? At the right hand of the Father, the Majesty on high. He is the Word of God, the One through whom the revelation has been given to its fullness. People who reject Christ are rejecting God. There is no other way around because He is God revealed in His fullness as the Son can do because “He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature.” You can't get a fuller or clearer revelation of God than that.

Come back to Revelation 19. Look at verse 14: “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen white and clean were following Him on white horses.” More horses from heaven. And I'm going to be one of these. I guess they'll be glorified horses, heavenly horses. Much easier to ride than the ones I tried and failed. I just have pictures of myself coming out of heaven, sliding off this side and this side and bouncing, coming down when that saddle is coming up and thinking, why would anyone do this? But it's going to be glorious. Who are these armies? Well first we are talking about the church. In verse 7 we are ready for the marriage of the Lamb, it has come or has occurred and ready for the marriage supper. His bride has made herself ready. Verse 8: “And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” So in the immediate context, when you see these armies from heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean, you naturally, and remember this was written by John, didn't even have verses. So you think; what are we talking about here? Well what did he just talk about, a little earlier? Verse 8, the church, the bride of Christ clothed in this glorious way. We're coming from heaven with Him.

Revelation 17:14: “These will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings and those who are with Him are the called, the chosen and the faithful.” So when you come to this battle that was anticipated in 17:14, those who are waging war against the Lamb as He returns in glory from heaven, who are with Him? It is “the called, the chosen, the faithful.” But it's us, those He has called to Himself, chosen for Himself; faithful to Him as evidence, and a manifestation of the work He has done in us.

Back up to I Thessalonians 3:11-12: “Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” So there we are talking about the coming of our Lord Jesus with His saints, the called, the chosen, the faithful. They are returning in glory with Him at this awesome event. This could also include the angels. They can also be part of this vast army even though we're focused on the saints.

Go to II Thessalonians 1, the first part of chapter is talking about the coming kingdom which we're going to be a part of. Verses 6-10: “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day…” You see the angels are included at that return in glory. We see here the armies of heaven, the pride of Christ returning with Christ, the angelic host from heaven returning. What chance do the armies of the world have as they are assembled to make war with the Lamb, as we read in Revelation 17? Is there any way to explain the foolishness of sin and sinful mankind? Here you have the Creator of all joined with the innumerable host of heaven, the armies of heaven.

Look back in Matthew 25:31: “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” So there we are told the angels will be part of this assembly even as we were told the saints are part of this assembly.

Revelation 15:6: “and the seven angels who had the seven plagues come out of the temple, clothed in linen clean and bright…” So they are also in similar kind of garb as we the saints have—“linen clean and bright.” For us it was identified as the righteous acts of the saints, but the garments that suit us for the presence of God and His glory in heaven and we have the angels similarly attired. So in the description given there it would include angels as well.

So when you come back to Revelation 19, the armies “which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following Him on white horses,” I take it you have the church the bride of Christ as described in verses 7-8 returning with Christ. We are going to the marriage supper. And you have the angelic host and how innumerable would that be. Jesus said on the cross that if He would ask His Father, He would give Him thousands of thousands, ten thousands of ten thousands of angels. They're coming now to bring judgment. Will this not be a terrifying event? And the destruction will be awesome.

We'll stop here and we'll pick up with this and the destruction that is going to come on the peoples of the earth. Then the destruction and casting into hell of the Antichrist and the false prophet, the first beast and second beast of Revelation 13. They will be the first to be cast into hell in judgment. Then the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and that will prepare the way for the judgments, like the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. And when we're done with this all the wicked are removed from the earth so that we can go into the kingdom in Revelation 20 where Satan will be bound and not have a place and you have thrones established. And we'll begin a thousand-year period, and when we begin that period there won't be an unsaved person on the face of the earth. There will be glorified saints and there will be redeemed saints in physical bodies. Think about a world with not an unredeemed person and Jesus Christ reigning. That's how we'll start out the thousand years; it's not how we'll end the thousand years. But it will be a thousand years of glorious reign. But there will be hearts there that haven't been changed, but we have to wait to get to that.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, that in the salvation You provided for us in Your Son You have delivered us from wrath to come. You have promised us salvation, You have promised us glory. Lord, we are amazed when we contemplate the awfulness of Your wrath, the terribleness of judgment as You bring destruction on Your enemies. And we realize we were just like they are, children of wrath, sons of disobedience, by nature deserving Your wrath. Yet we've been spared wrath to come, wrath of the judgments poured out on this earth, the ultimate wrath of an eternal hell. So great is our salvation, so wonderful is the Savior that loved us and died for us, so complete is the work of salvation that has been given to us as a gift through faith in Him that we are completely and totally cleansed from sin and its penalties, its power. And we look forward to the return of our Lord and Savior to call us to meet Him in the air and to take us into the glory of Your presence. May our lives this week be lived in light of the truths of Your Word. We pray in Christ's name, amen.