Heaven Celebrates Christ’s Coming Reign

Transcript

GR 2023
11/12/2017
Heaven Celebrates Christ's Coming Reign
Revelation 11:15-19
Gil Rugh

We're going to be looking into the book of Revelation and chapter 11. We serve an awesome God, He not only has provided salvation for us in the finished work of His Son Jesus Christ, but He has also unfolded for us the revelation of Himself, His purposes and plans in His Word. And there is no more exciting portion of the Word of God than the book of Revelation which tells us in more complete and systematic way how He will bring all things to their appointed conclusion. Sometimes it seems like the world is in turmoil, confusion, disarray and everything is out of control. But we as believers know that everything is under control and God is working all things according to His perfect purposes.

The book of Revelation is confusing to many people. Foundational to understanding the Word of God is being committed to interpreting it very simply, literally, by which we mean historically in its historical setting, grammatically according to the rules of grammar, basically just like we communicate to one another today, like we talk. We use figures of speech, we use analogies and so on; we basically understand one another. We read the newspaper, we basically understand what is being said. When we come to the Word of God, God who created us to communicate, intends to communicate to us with His Word. It would make no sense for the God who created us with the ability to communicate to communicate with us in a way that we couldn't understand. So the Scripture from beginning to end is a word from God. Now note here, because of sin, man's ability to understand and know God has been blackened, but by God's grace when we hear and believe in the salvation He has provided, our eyes are opened. The Spirit of God dwells in us and He enables us to understand truth.

So we come to the book of Revelation, and that doesn't mean there aren't areas that aren't yet clear to us, but basically God says His blessing is on those who read it, those who hear it and those who put it into practice. We are to live in light of it. Now it would not be reasonable for Him to communicate in a way that we can't understand and yet require us to live in light of it as His children. All of this to say, we are in an area of prophecy. Prophecy is just God telling us what He is going to do in the future. We don't want to make it any more complicated than it is. So what He has to say about the future is basically clear.

We are in a section of the book of Revelation called the tribulation, that seven years of God completing His program with Israel. Maybe you could put up that chart on the 70 weeks. This lays out God's program, basically, in an overview. Now with that up there come back to Daniel 9. Verse 24 is where this overview is given, Daniel 9:24, this section in here gives us really the backbone of God's plan for the nation Israel from Daniel's day going forward.

So he says in Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks,” literally 70 sevens, and as we have studied, they are seven year-periods, not seven day-periods. So 70 sevens, 70 seven-year periods, 490 years “have been decreed for your people, your holy city.” This is for Daniel's people, the Jews, and for the city Jerusalem. Six things will be accomplished—“to finish the transgression, make an end of sin, make atonement for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, anoint the most holy place.” Basically complete God's program for the nation Israel, and all that has been prophesied and promised regarding the nation Israel. So these 490 years, 70 x seven years, will complete God's program for Israel. So he gives us the starting point in verse 25, and we know the date, it's about 444 B.C. And he carries that until the coming of the Messiah, he breaks it down into 7 and then 62, 7 weeks and then 62. So when you pick up verse 26, “After 62 weeks,” which was after the 7 weeks, so after a total of 69 weeks, 483 years the “Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.” So here Isaiah 53 elaborates on this, the death of the Messiah. You'll note it wasn't in the 70th week, it was after the 69th week the Messiah will be executed.

Then in verse 27 there is a coming prince from verse 26 “who will make a firm covenant with the many,” referring to the Jews, “for one week,” one seven-year period. Now you see what has happened here. We have the Messiah who is crucified here, He is cut off and has nothing. He was crucified, He was raised from the dead, He ascended to heaven. He is not ruling on a throne in Jerusalem, He doesn't have a kingdom on earth over which He is ruling. So after 69 weeks the Messiah was cut off.

Then we jump down to here, this is the rapture of the church and then there is the signing of a covenant with the Jews for one seven-year period. So this period in color here is the church age, it does not appear in Old Testament prophecy. That doesn't mean it wasn't part of God's plan. Some people criticize what I am teaching here and say you think God has to change His plan because Christ was crucified. No, I don't, I'm saying God didn't reveal this part of His plan in the Old Testament. It basically is not revealed in the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Apostle Paul said this truth wasn't fully revealed until God revealed it to him. So it is not really an issue here. But I want you to see we jump here in Old Testament prophecy from Christ's ascension back over to here when a man is going to sign an agreement. Revelation 6-19 is solely occupied with this seven-year period.

Now in the middle, Daniel 9:27, “He'll make a firm covenant with the many for one week,” one seven-year period. “In the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering,” and so on. So it is divided into two 3½-year segments. This is where we are in Revelation 10-14, we 're talking about what is going to happen from here on because there are a number of things that are going to happen in this last 3½-year period that are of focal importance for the nation Israel, that will bring about those six things that have been prophesied in Daniel 9:24.

Put up that second chart, if you would, this is one we have used before, and come to Revelation 5:1, “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book, written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals.” In Revelation 4-5 we are transported to heaven, John is carried there in his vision and what he sees in chapter 5 is God the Father on the throne and a scroll in His right hand. And it is rolled up, and every time it was rolled they put a seal on the end. And they would roll it again and would put another seal. And you could tell it is written on the inside and on the back, it is full. And the question is asked at the end of verse 2, “who is qualified to open the scroll and read it?” Verse 3 says, “no one,” but verse 5 says there is One, the “Lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David.” It's the Lamb of God. Down in verse 9, “heaven declares that Christ ‘is worthy to take the book and break its seals, for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, they will reign on the earth.’”

Now what that seven-sealed scroll is, is Christ's, we called it, title deed to the earth. It contains everything to bring to completion what God has prophesied. So this chart is just that last seven-year period unfolded. We'll start with the seven seals and every time a seal is opened, a judgment came out. Out of the seventh seal come seven trumpets. So important to see this seven-sealed scroll contained everything. So everything through the rest of the book, all the way down into the kingdom here is part of this seventh seal, to bring us into the kingdom. It is possible because of Christ's redemptive work.

Out of the seventh seal will come seven trumpets. We have come through six of the trumpets. Revelation 9:13-21 contains the sixth trumpet. Verse 13 said “the sixth angel sounded,” every time a trumpet sounded a judgment came out. And you see under this trumpet a third of the earth dies. We have seen by the time we add up these, just the ones that have numbers with them, we have half the earth's population dying by this time. We've come to the middle here. Now there is an interlude with Revelation 10, we break. He doesn't start chapter 10, and the seventh angel sounded and then tell what happens. So we are going to have a break because this is a momentous time here in the middle because a number of things take place. Remember in the middle of the seven years that prince who is to come breaks that seven-year covenant he had with Israel and so for Israel these last 3½ years are the worst that they have ever experienced. We'll see when we get into Revelation 12, the devil will make an all-out attempt to destroy all the Jews. Revelation 13 will reveal the key figures in his program of destruction of the Jews.

So what he is doing here is telling us about things that pick up particularly in the middle here, halfway through the seven years, and will carry us down here to the return of Christ in Revelation 19. They are not moving along the judgments, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls here that will take place, but there are things that are going to be going on here you need to know if you are going to understand all that is taking place along with these judgments. Because what is happening in these last 3½ years, God is putting such great pressure on the Jews that by the time you get to the end here, the Jews as a nation will acknowledge their sin in rejecting their Messiah, place their faith in Christ and call upon Him to come rescue them from destruction. Christ returns in Revelation 19 and we have Armageddon and so on. Revelation 20-22 we move into the kingdom that will be established.

We do this because when we come to Revelation 11:15 where we are as we move through the book, you'll note the seventh angel sounded. So now we get the seventh trumpet. We had the sixth trumpet back at the end of chapter 9, then we've had a pause because we are being told this is a momentous event.

Come back to Revelation 10:7. The end of verse 6 says “there will be delay no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he is about to sound.” So when the seventh angel finally blows his trumpet, “then the mystery of God is finished as He preached through His servants the prophets.” When that seventh angel sounds his trumpet, out of that trumpet, what comes, those judgments that will bring everything to the appointed end, what the Old Testament prophets prophesied about with the coming of Israel's Messiah to destroy Israel's enemies and set up a kingdom, the destruction of the wicked.

The mystery of God is what was revealed by God that could not have been known unless God had revealed it. So a mystery is not a puzzle or something confusing, a mystery in the Bible is something that requires revelation from God or you don't know anything about it. This is what God had revealed and preached through His servants the prophets, about a Messiah who would come and rule and reign in glory, destroy the enemies of Israel and establish a kingdom which will have no end. That will all be finished and completed, the six things of Daniel 9:24 to be accomplished in the seven weeks. That last half of the seven years is crucial.

So when he says “the seventh angel sounded,” now we are going to have those dwelling in heaven rejoicing and celebrating. They realize we are at the end of the end. If the seven years is the last chapter, the 3½ years at the end are the conclusion of the last chapter. And this is what is particularly pertinent for Israel because remember during the first 3½ years Israel has had a good life under the protection of the agreement with this prince who is to come. They have had a temple rebuilt, they have established a priesthood, they are offering sacrifices. But it is in the middle of that when he breaks that agreement.

So “the seventh angel sounded,” in verse 15. There were “loud voices,” great voices, “in heaven saying, ‘the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He will reign forever.’” There is great celebration, there is great anticipation. Now verses 15-19 record the celebration of heaven but we are not told what comes out of the seventh trumpet yet. Revelation 12-14 will be filling in information we need to know about that last 3½ years. So it is part of what I have called that interlude from Revelation 10-14 because when you come to chapter 15, do you know what will be happening? We will have more of the recording of the celebration of heaven in anticipation. This sounding of the seventh trumpet is so momentous that you have all this information filled in. Then when we get to chapter 16 we will have the bowls that come out of the seventh trumpet. That will bring us to the return of Christ in chapter 19 and Armageddon, so we can have the kingdom in chapter 20.

One more thing in background, come back to Revelation 8:13. If you have been here for the study, in verse 13 John looked after the fourth trumpet had sounded. So four of the judgments have come out under the trumpets. Remember, “I heard an eagle,” Revelation 8:13, “flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘woe, woe, woe’ to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels that are about to sound.” We noted these last three trumpet blasts are particularly significant and serious, they are called woes.

Now when you see the disasters that have already occurred, you realize how serious it is getting. So two of them have occurred in chapter 9, the fifth trumpet and the sixth trumpet sounded. So when you come over to Revelation 11:15, this trumpet sounding, this is the third woe. This is that climactic event. So with the sounding of that trumpet with the great voices in heaven in Revelation 11:15, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord,” that's referring to God the Father, “and of His Christ.” And that's a Messianic title, the Christos, the Anointed One, the One anointed by God to fulfill the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 where the descendant of David would establish a kingdom and sit on a throne forever. And He will reign forever and ever.

I want to say a couple of things here. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of the Lord and His Christ. We ought to recognize that God has always ruled in the realm of mankind, that has never been the issue. The issue is the appointed ruler by God in a kingdom on this earth that carries out His will. Remember we go back to the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. Adam created in the image of God, walking in fellowship with God to rule over God's creation. Satan comes into the picture and lures Adam into rebellion against God. In doing so Adam submitted himself to the devil and under the devil's authority and control. Now God still has absolute rule, but the one that was created and appointed to rule over His creation as His representative now has chosen to have Satan as his god and ruler. And that has been the history of mankind down to this day. Now that doesn't mean God is not ruling in the overall picture, we call it the universal kingdom of God in the sense He is ruler over all. But I just want to remind you of a few verses.

Come back to Daniel, and this connects to where we are as well, we'll be in Daniel several times. Daniel 2, we break in here, primarily Daniel dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is the ruler of the empire of the time, a glorious empire, a powerful ruler. But verse 19, Daniel saying, this is about the dream and so on, we don't have time to go into further detail, we've looked at it. But verse 19, “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs.” You'll note He is in charge of what happens through history, various times and settings and so on. “He removes kings and establishes kings.” So God has not abdicated His authority, but in His plan He has allowed Satan to usurp authority over man. But even the work of Satan is ultimately under the control of God and ultimately God decides who will reign, even though they will be men who serve the devil. That is what Daniel is saying.

Come over to verse 37, Daniel addresses Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. “You, O king, are the king of kings to whom,” note this, “the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, the glory. And wherever the sons of men dwell, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, He has given them into your hand, caused you to rule over them all.” There is no question of who has ultimate authority in the world, it is God. So in that sense His kingdom has always existed, will always exist. He is the ultimate ruler. But you see He has appointed Nebuchadnezzar, a godless man who lived in rebellion against God, His truth, His people. And he was the one who cast Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego into the furnace of fire because they worshiped the God of Israel and not Nebuchadnezzar. So there is going to be a change brought about in him, but you see God has appointed him and Nebuchadnezzar as a sinful man lives under the control of his sin and the devil. But God's sovereignty includes all the sinful actions of men and His plan for that so that His will is accomplished.

Daniel 4:2, and here Nebuchadnezzar has undergone a change. And I expect in light of this we will see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. As he came to the end of his pride and says in verse 2, “It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs, how mighty are His wonders.” Note this, “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, His dominion is from generation to generation.” He has recognized the sovereignty of the living God over everything. And I don't rule everything as king of Babylon, the God of heaven rules everything.

Come down to verse 17. Nebuchadnezzar continues what brought him to this point. A couple lines down, “in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.” Be careful about getting too frustrated over who gets voted in, voted out, or who is here or there. Scripture already tells us God appoints and puts men into positions for His purposes, not because they are, we would say the most honorable, the most qualified. He bestows it on whom He wishes. The end of verse 25, you see this repeated reminder “that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, bestows it on whomever He wishes.” The end of verse 26, “Your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is heaven that rules.” Down in verse 32, the end of the verse, “Until you recognize the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, bestows it on whomever He wishes.”

Then finally Nebuchadnezzar in verse 34 raises his eyes toward heaven, “I bless the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” Note this, “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. No one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done?”

God's authority cannot be challenged, it cannot be questioned. Those who rule today rule by the appointment of God. I don't think God would put a man like that into power, look what he has done to people, look what he has done. . . I believe what the Scripture says, God appoints. Because of sin, the rebellion of Adam, the work of Satan, the plan of God is at work in the world.

But recognizing this truth, it will come up under Belshazzar as well, same thing said in Daniel 5:21, the importance of recognizing God rules. That's why in Romans 13 God instructs believers to be submissive to all the rulers at whatever level because He appointed them. And when you rebel against them, you are rebelling against God. So we better be careful how we talk about those who are in authority over us because we don't want to be speaking against God and talking like we don't believe God knows what He is doing, that God made a mistake. That's true for whoever it is, we have to be careful we don't cross the line and imply by that this person is always doing what would be pleasing to God because these are fallen beings like Nebuchadnezzar was when Daniel says you are in power because God put you there. And He intended to use him even in his sin to accomplish the purposes God determined.

With that we have Satan exercising rule in the world and it's the plan of the sovereign God to allow Satan to rule in the realm of fallen humanity. But with that we keep in mind it is God's purposes that are always accomplished, even in the work that Satan is doing.

Come over to Matthew 4, and this is the temptation of Christ. Early in His ministry Satan tries to lure Him into what he did with Adam. Satan recognizes who Christ is, he knows that if he can have Christ submit to him, he will have usurped God's authority. So in Matthew 4:8, “The devil took Him to a very high mountain,” this is Christ, “and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” You see something of the power of Satan. He can transport Christ in His physical, earthly body to a high mountain and then have the ability to display before Christ all the earthly kingdoms in the earthly beauty and glory they can have. He is an awesome being with great power. And then what's the catch? “He said to Him,” Satan said to Christ, “All these things I will give to You if You fall down and worship me.” You see Satan has been, in effect, delegated authority in fallen creation and Adam in effect passed that on to the devil. It was his intention to rule. In Genesis 1 God says that Adam and Eve, created in the image of God, were to rule over the creation. But Adam subjected himself to the devil and Christ responded to Satan in verse 10, “Go Satan, it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” Adam did not follow, Christ did.

Come over to John 12, we're going to get to Revelation 11, we'll go quickly when we get there. John 12:31, Jesus is anticipating His imminent crucifixion, “Now judgment is upon this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” He will be defeated, and in the redemption Christ accomplished, remember what we just read in Revelation 5, there is “only One who was qualified to take the book,” the scroll with the events that would bring all creation to God's appointed end, redemption, with a kingdom ruled by One who always does the will of His Father. So it takes the redemptive work of Christ to make possible, not only the salvation of individuals, but the restoration and establishing of the kingdom as God originally intended it.

There are many other verses that talk about the rule of Satan, but come to Revelation 11. So when this loud, great voice, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.”

Remember we talk about the prophetic past in the Old Testament? Often when the Old Testament prophets prophesied about a future event, maybe long in the future, they prophesied it in the past tense, they prophesied it as something that had happened, showing the certainty of what God says. It is just as sure as if it had been done yesterday, in effect. So what we have here, the kingdom of the world has become, it is in aorist tense. It's a way you say something in the past, if you want to talk about something that happened this week you would talk about it in the past tense—we had turkey on the holiday. But you wouldn't normally say, in 2025 we had turkey. But when a prophet was saying that, he would use the past tense to talk about what was going to happen in the future because it is as good as done. God said it, that settles it.

So here “the kingdom of the world has become,” don't think the kingdom already started. The universal kingdom of God has been eternal by nature of who He is. But the kingdom that is prophesied for this world has become. That's what they are celebrating, with the sounding of that trumpet heaven recognizes and realizes we have come to the end. Finally the closing pages of the last chapter are here. “Of our Lord and His Christ, He will reign forever and ever.” So we have had rulers like David and Solomon in Israel's history, but now we come to that one Son of David in 2 Samuel 7 who will reign forever and ever. So that's the eternal dimension.

Go back to Daniel 2, and we have in Daniel 2 in the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, remember the empires of the world beginning with Daniel's day in Babylon. And he goes through four major empires, bringing us to Rome in verse 40, the fourth kingdom was Rome. And this fourth kingdom will have, in this image there are feet and toes so you have ten toes, and we know it is ten because in Daniel 7 he will say ten. And so you have this Roman Empire and out of it comes a ten-nation confederacy, we'll be talking about this as we move into Revelation 12-13 in detail. And it is part of the Roman Empire because it has the iron that was characteristic of the Roman Empire in verse 40. Then in verse 44, “in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. That kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, it will endure forever.” So that's what they are celebrating in heaven when the seventh trumpet sounds. We will have Christ coming in Revelation 19 and crushing His enemies and establishing a kingdom, and it will not be a kingdom that gets replaced. He will reign forever. So we know it is future, it is in the days of those kings. When Daniel is writing, we are still 500 years away from the Roman Empire, as we have it in the New Testament, approximately 500 years, that's good enough for right now. But you see there are breaks here. In verses 40 and 41, there are 2000 years between there. What we saw as the church age, not revealed in Old Testament prophecy. And you have Rome ruling and then you have the feet and the prince who is to come that we read about in Daniel 9 is connected to those toes, those ten kings or kingdoms that are present in the last days. And then in the days of those kings the Messiah will set up His kingdom.

Come over to Daniel 7. Same picture. We have different imagery, instead of an image of a man we will have wild beasts. But you have the same kingdoms following one another—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. Then you come down, verse 7, the fourth beast which is Rome. At the end of verse 7, “It had ten horns.” Just like you had ten toes in Daniel 2, you have ten horns. And then in verse 8 you have the little horn come up among the ten. That is the prince who is to come that we read in Daniel 9. And we are going to talk about him in detail in Revelation 13 because he will be the beast out of the sea. And I've prepared a list of some of the names of him in Scripture we'll put up on the screen. And you'll note when we get to these ten kings or kingdoms, nations brought together as a revived Roman Empire, ultimately dominated by this one individual, then you keep looking, verse 9, “until thrones were set up, the Ancient of Days took His seat” and you have that glorious scene of heaven. Then you come down to verse 13, “I kept looking in the night visions. Behold with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming. He came to the Ancient of Days, was presented before Him. To Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom so that all peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”

So you see even though God always rules all the time and His will is being done even in the rebellion of sinners, doesn't mean God is the cause of their rebellion or is responsible for that rebellion, but you can't frustrate God's plan. Even your rebellion has been included by Him to accomplish His purposes. They didn't frustrate God's plan by crucifying His Son on a cross, they carried out His plan. So that sovereignty of God and work in the world, even as we have the sin of the world being magnified.

Come back to Revelation 11, there are some other verses but we'll leave those for another time. Christ will reign forever and ever. The 24 elders, Revelation 11:16, who sit on their thrones before God “fell on their faces and worshiped God.” Back in Revelation 4-5 we talked about the 24 elders in heaven, noted that they represent the church that has been raptured from the earth and is glorified in God's presence. Here they are in the presence of God. We have joined the celebration, they fall off their thrones onto their face before the throne of God and they are saying “We give you thanks, oh Lord God the Almighty.” He is the One who is totally sovereign because He has brought about everything. “Who are and who were because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.” I mean again, it's done.

Of course God has always reigned, He is reigning today in the sense of His universal reign. But in the kingdom that He has promised and prophesied, ruled on this earth by His appointed representative, that is yet to come. But we'll be celebrating in heaven. Do you want to get ready? When you go home this afternoon memorize Revelation 11:17 and what follows because this is what we are going to be saying in heaven. We are going to fall on our faces, it's a glorified church, and say “We give you thanks, oh Lord God, the Almighty, who are, who were because you have taken your great power, you have begun to reign. The nations were enraged, your wrath came. The time came for the dead to be judged, the time to reward your bond-servants, the prophets, the saints, those who fear your name, the small, the great, to destroy those who destroy the earth.” I mean, this is celebration. We realize we have come to the appointed conclusion with this seventh trumpet. Now there are 3½ years. . . This marks the end, that trumpet sounds and now we will move through this last 3½ years and the reign of Christ will be established.

And you'll note what he does here, he pulls together a number of things. When we get to Revelation 20 we'll talk about the resurrections of the Bible, there are a number of them, judgments that occur in connection with the return of Christ, resurrections that occur in connection with the return of Christ, the establishment of the kingdom and so on. So we'll look in detail. He puts everything together here, the destruction of Israel's enemies. You'll note the nations were enraged.

We didn't stop at Psalm 2 because of time but take time to read that. It pictures about the Son and the nations enraged against Him. I love the way it is put here, “The nations were enraged,” they are filled with wrath, and the contrast to that, “and Your wrath came.” So as in Psalm 2 the nations are in wrath against God and His anointed Son who is going to rule. And we will see at Armageddon when the nations of the earth and their armies join together to battle against Christ and He who sits in the heavens will laugh. Remember we read in Daniel that they are counted as nothing. One of the other prophets writes that the nations aren't even like a speck of dust on the scale, they don't move it. That God is concerned about the United States or Russia or China or these powers and what they can do? And how am I going to work this out? What am I going to do now? It is nothing, it is nothing.

So the nations were enraged, Your wrath came, the time came for the dead to be judged. There will be resurrection and judgment. The time to reward Your bond-servants, the prophets, there will be resurrection of Old Testament saints, rewards given. Those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and also those who destroy the earth will be destroyed.

So really he hasn't broken it out here, the celebration of heaven, it's just about everything that is going to happen now to bring this to right conclusion. When all is said and done the last chapter is concluded, finished, all the enemies of the Lord will be destroyed, all the saints will have been rewarded and Christ will be reigning. So there is celebration in heaven, finally coming. How often you think, you look at the sin and wickedness and violence in the world and you say, how can it get much worse. What is the Lord doing? And you realize everything is on schedule, it is right where God appointed it. All these crazy people doing crazy things and sinful actions, everything . . . It is hard to grasp, even for us as believers, such an awesome, powerful God. That's why celebration in heaven. “We give You thanks, oh Lord God the Almighty. You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”

So in verse 19 you have a picture here, “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened.” In one of our prior studies we had a floor plan of the temple, Solomon's temple, just to remind you. Remember when Moses built the tabernacle he was given the pattern from heaven. So really what we have in the tabernacle and then the temple built by Solomon and expanded by Herod is what heaven is like. And we are using this because when they talk about the ark we are in the Holy of Holies, we are in the very presence of God in heaven. Remember out here you have this court, then you come into the Holy Place, and then back here beyond the curtain which was rent, torn, from top to bottom you had the high priest come once a year. So what comes out of the temple where the ark is, the very presence of God.

So with heaven being opened we have pictured here that this is God dealing in faithfulness because you can't think of the Ark of the Covenant without what was built reflecting heaven for Israel. And remember this is mainly about Israel, this 70th week and then these last 3½ years, God bringing to completion what He promised, what He prophesied.

So this is the picture we have in heaven, you remember the cherubim covered the ark of the covenant where the presence of God was manifested and the Law given to Moses and Israel was contained therein. So we are in heaven now and coming out of the temple with the ark appearing there in the very presence of God “there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, earthquake and great hailstorm.” And often these things accompany God's presence. Remember on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19 there are dark clouds, there is thundering, the earth shakes. The people are terrified. He is a God to be feared, revered, honored. And now He is bringing about the final phase of what He has prophesied, which is going to be horrendous judgment, the casting of the prince who is to come and his false prophet into hell, Revelation 19, and the casting of the devil into hell in Revelation 20. It is an awesome scene.

Someone commented to me after my first hour class, what do you think about the devil? He reads this stuff, he knows. He is a being of brilliance, he knows something of the plan of God. He intervened even though he had been in Eden, the garden of God, to corrupt Adam and turn him away from faithfulness to God. He has pursued a course in the history of the world of leading rebellion against God. He moved men to crucify the Son of God, everything attempting to replace God and frustrate God's plan. It is amazing how sin blinds our eyes. The devil probably could quote the book of Revelation, I don't doubt that, he may be able to quote the whole Bible with the greatness of the intellect God has given him. He has read the last chapter, he loses, he ends up in hell. Why does he keep at it? What's the point?

You know there is no rationale to sin. Stop and think about it, you may be sitting here, have heard the truth of God, have heard that you are a sinner, that hell will be your destiny, and yet Christ came and died so that you could be cleansed and forgiven, and you walk out. You don't care. Why would you choose to go to hell? And when you think about it like that, you can understand about the devil. He is a being blinded by his sin. And 2 Corinthians 4 says that the devil has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so that the light of the glory of the Gospel of Christ doesn't shine in. It could be a young person raised in this church. You have heard from our parents how Christ died for your sin. Yes, I know. You have heard from your Sunday School teacher, you have heard it all your life but you never placed your faith in Christ. You have never trusted Him. Why does that make any sense? Sin doesn't make any sense. I have no answer except sin. Why would the devil persist in rebellion when he knows he will lose? Because his sin deludes him into thinking, I'll change the last chapter. He won't. Your sin deludes you into thinking you'll be all right. I don't believe this like my parents did, I don't think that way. You can delude yourself, you can be deluded by your sin, you can be blinded by Satan, but you can't change the last chapter. You either end up in hell or you end up in heaven, those are the only two destinies. And the only way to heaven, to be cleansed from your sin is to place your faith in Christ.

So I don't have an answer for the devil and he has no Savior to turn to. But you do. So your resistance and refusal makes less sense than the devil. The devil is doomed, there is no Savior for the devil and his demons. But there is a Savior for you. So it makes less sense for you to continue to reject Him.

Let's pray together. Father, You have graciously revealed Yourself, You've made known our condition, You have laid before us the future. And Lord we see unfolding us in our day the awesome rebellion of man in his sin, in his persistent rejection of You and the Savior You have provided. Lord, we are in awe that in a world that seems in confusion there is no confusion with You. Your purposes are being carried out, Your plans are being accomplished, everything is on time, everything is on schedule and everything will conclude as You have appointed and revealed. Lord, may we as Your people rejoice and give You praise that You are the God who is all powerful, You are the God we serve, You are the God that we honor. May we be faithful, not caught up in the confusion and turmoil and uncertainty of the world around us, but constantly live with the confidence in anticipation of the hope You have promised. Lord, for any who are here who don't have that hope, who as irrational, as foolish as it is have continued to reject the salvation You have provided, may this be a day their eyes are opened, You accomplish for them what only You can do. We pray in Christ's name, amen.