A Dress Rehearsal for the End of the World

Welcome

Well, good morning Lifepoint fam. Glad to be here with you today. If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve here as one of the pastors along side Jason Phillips and we’re very grateful to have you here today. Real quick if this is your first time at Lifepoint, or maybe you’ve been checking us out from a distance over the last couple of weeks, we would LOVE to get to know you a little bit…get to hear your story, share more about who we are, and talk about what we believe God has called us to in this community.

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Alright, if you have a bible with you, why don’t you open up to to the New Testament book of Revelation.

It’s the very last book in the Bible. Revelation. And we’ll be in chapter 19 today.

We’ve been studying this book at Lifepoint for about 9 weeks in a series we’ve called “New” because that’s the ultimate story the book of Revelation is telling: that God is at work, though Jesus, to make all things right and all things new.

And we’re headed in to the last two weeks of this series…we’ve got this week and next week and then we’re done. Now…those of you who know this book well are probably thinking— “Dan, there’s a lot left in this book…how are we gonna to talk about all this stuff?”

The simple answer is, we’re not. And it’s not because we’re shying away from any hard questions…I promise! I’m more than happy to sit down and talk with you about any of these things. The bottom line is that I think there are a few different ways to teach through this book…and we’ve made the decision to get the birds eye view.

And what we’ll see today…is that when all is said and done…the over arching storyline of the Revelation…and, in fact, the entire bible…is that the day is coming when God will once and for all put an end to evil, all pain, all suffering, and hardship…and gather His people to celebrate the world set right.

Introduction

And while you’re turning there...

I feel like this last week has had me glued to the news. I’m not normally like that…but there are certain moments that just arrest our attention…and I think we’re living in one of those moments right now as we watch what is taking place on the global stage.

The recent attacks in Israel have been another reminder of the brutality of the world we live in…and while I’ll spare the details today…I think many of us have read about the reprehensible violence of Hamas. Our own president calling the attack sheer evil.

And while there are many very concerning elements of this…one of strongest for me is that, in this cultural moment, we’re not really sure what to do with this kind of news.

I know we all have different perspectives and so we have different responses—but I think there are two responses in particular that we’re likely to have when hear stories like this…some of us envision some kind of dystopian future based on different countries getting involved a global conflict…as things escalate at an exponential pace…and the more you think about it that way, the more terrifying the prospects become. There’s a very deep sense of fear and panic.

Others, though, hardly seem to posses the capacity to process what’s happening. And like many other stories of evil that hit the news cycle, you may be shocked, disgusted, appalled…and then keep scrolling because we’re not quite sure what to with any of this stuff!

And I think that is an increasingly prominent way of dealing with evil in our society. That it becomes so common and we get so used to it that we’re almost numb to new stories…and it’s not that you don’t care…it just feels like the problems are so vast and complicated that we feel lost! We’re stuck. We want it to stop…we just don’t know what that’s even possible.

But I bring this up, because I think part of what it means to be human, is an innate longing for an end.

For those you following the unfolding storyline in Israel, think about how you’ve heard other world leaders respond to this so far. There is some variation of “this needs to end.” Or, “it can’t keep going on like this.” Even if they can’t agree on how it’s supposed to stop…or what it would take to make it stop.

You see, part of what it means to be human is to have this longing, for a world made right. This is what we talked about a few weeks about when we looked at the justice and judgement of God—the universal longing for justice that exists within each and every one of us is almost stamped into our DNA…we can’t help but crave it.

Well what we start to see in Revelation 19 is the that this longing we all have will be met. The day will come when there is a complete and utter end of evil. But the astounding thing is that we don’t just have to sit back and wait for it…but, even today, before you leave this room, we can have a foretaste of the that kind of world…

So if you’re not there yet, open up to Revelation chapter 19.

I’ll read a part of this passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

Revelation 19:1–5 ESV

1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

PRAY

Rejoicing over the End of Evil (Rev. 19:1-5; 11-21)

Alright, let’s get started.

Here’s the first thing I want us to see. Revelation 19 invites us to rejoice over the future end of evil.

Now, if you’re just joining us today for the first time and you’ve missed other messages in this series, let me encourage you to go back and listen to some of them…specifically the last two weeks because that will give A TON of context for what we’re talking about today.

Babylon, like we talked about last week, represents the all that is evil and powerful at work in our world today. And John here is rejoicing over the final victory of God over the defeat of Babylon. This is the victory song at the End of Evil. Look at the end of v. 1 (Revelation 19:1-3)

Revelation 19:1–3 (ESV)

1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

Babylon…that great city…that represents all that is evil…has an end date.

And while John is seeing part of what will happen at some time in the future…the point for us today is that there is an end, fixed by God Himself, who will put a stop to all the chaos and madness and brokenness.

And this, I think helps us to start to make sense of the world around us, doesn’t it? I said last week that one of the challenges we have in American church today is that we seem to constantly underestimate how strong Babylon is…and what we should expect today is that Babylon will throw it’s weight around…and in the wake of that, there is profound suffering and hardship in every sense of the word that we will experience. Some of you here today bare the scares and even open wounds inflicted by Babylon.

But the hope in Revelation is that Babylon does not get the final word. Babylon does not go unchecked…but that God hears the cries of his people…he knows the suffering…and He will act.

And this song in Revelation 19 is not simply a victory song…that would be far too simplistic…it is the chorus each and every follower of Jesus will one day join…through tears…while it pulls together all the unspoken pain and suffering we’ve endured and rejoices that God has put an end to it. It’s over.

It’s hard to even put into words what this will be like because it all falls short of the incomprehensible reality of world without evil, pain, and suffering. Think about that a moment. Honestly, can you even imagine that?

I’m not just talking about a world where everyone is nice to each other and Aldi never runs out of Avocados…

I’m talking about a world where there is no more pain. Where you are never again diagnosed with anything. Where you never find out you’ve been betrayed by spouse because it doesn’t happen. A world where you have no fear, where you never question what people really think of you. Where there is no more longing, not because you’re numb but because you are perfectly content and completely satisfied. A world of joy and beauty and wonder.

Rehearsing the story of the Victory of God (Rev. 19:6-10)

What would that even be like?

How do you picture that?

And if Revelation is book meant to give us hope here and now for what we experience here and now, how do we hold on to the hope of something that we cannot even imagine?

Well, I love what John describes next. Because in a few short words, he gives us this incredibly rich image and says, “If you want to know what that day will look like…if you want to know what that day will be like…think about it this way.

Look with me starting at v. 6 (Revelation 19:6-9)

Revelation 19:6–9 (ESV)

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

He says it’s like a wedding. Look at that phrase in v. 7, “…for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come…”

That the culmination of what God has been, is, and will do in this world….the full arch of that story is like a wedding.

And we need to understand that he’s talking about something that is a bit more involved than what we typically think of today with weddings.

Today so much planning goes to venues, clothing, menus and made up colors you’ve never heard of and decor. And it all culminates in about a 35 minutes service and a several hour long party.

All good.

But weddings in John’s day were up to 7 days long! And not just one moment of celebration, but this ongoing party with different elements happening on different days…a highlight being the Marriage supper, or Feast.

And so when John starts talking about a wedding, his original audience would not have thought of a single moment, but more of an extended, drawn out season—which actually helps makes sense of the rest of the book of Revelation…it’s really describing an on-going wedding celebration…while sometimes cutting out of the wedding description to describe what’s happening outside of the wedding…more on that later.

But the focal point, again, is the meal…the same thing John talks about in v. 7…the marriage supper of the Lamb. And this is not some random illustration John is using, but when you think about it, meals show up all over the Bible in these significant moments in lives of God’s people. So often, meals are used to tell, retell and relive the story of God’s people.

After all, its the first meal in Genesis, when Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden, given freedom to choose from any tree except one…and just like any of our kids would do today, they immediately do the one thing they were told not to do…they eat the fruit as the first act of human rebellion against God as they TAKE and EAT from the tree…breaking their relationship between them, the rest of humanity and God Himself…it is a meal that first plunges us into the infinitely intensified brokenness we see and feel in the world around us.

But it’s also a meal that signifies God’s providence in the lives of His people in the end of Genesis as Joseph, sold by his own family into slavery, WHAT THEY MEANT FOR EVIL, GOD MEANT FOR GOOD…and Joseph the salve is brought into prominence in Egypt, providing grain for his family, a meal to sustain them through famine.

It is a meal in the book of Exodus that tells the story of freedom from Egypt as the Israelites prepare their food before they are led out into the Wilderness. The Passover meal that they are supposed to eat every year, without fail, with their shoes on to remind themselves of how quickly and powerfully they were brought out of slavery…eating bitter herbs to remember the pain and suffering they experienced…and the Passover lamb, whose blood they put on the doorpost so the Angel would pass over their homes, having died in their place…

It is a meal in the book of Numbers that tells the story of God’s preservation of the people through extraordinary means…as the people find Manna on the ground each day from which they are able to make bread and are preserved through their 40 year journey in the wilderness.

It is a meal that the prophet Isaiah proclaims when he looks forward and sees the ultimate work of God coming to completion saying in Isaiah 25:6-9…

Isaiah 25:6–9 (ESV)

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

It is the time after time, that in the most unexpected ways, Jesus himself shows up to homes and parties to have meals with all the wrong kinds of people as if to say to the watching religious communities, the Kingdom of God is far broader than you imagined…and not just for one kind of people but for those from every tribe, language, nation, and tongue.

It is the last meal that Jesus eats with his own disciples, huddled together in the upper room, on the night he was betrayed…while celebrating the same passover meal we just talked about. And while they finished eating and reflecting on the sacrificial lamb, He took some of the bread sitting there, broke it apart and passed it along and said, when you eat this, I want you to remember me. I want you remember the sacrificial lamb who died in YOUR place, for YOUR sin and brokenness. And then he passed the around the wine and said I want you to drink this…and remember me…remember the blood of the lamb that signifies a new covenant and new kind of relationship between God and man.

And it is the Apostle Paul, picking up on that last meal…instructing the churches he’s planted that when they gather, often they should relive the story of Jesus death on their behalf by taking bread, breaking it and remembering Jesus body that was nailed to a cross..instead of our own…in our place, for our sin…and then to take wine and pass it around and remember Jesus blood…the blood of the lamb that washes away the stain of our sin and celebrates the new life and new kind of life we have in Jesus.

And so by the time we get to Revelation 19, there is this trail of meals all telling a piece the greatest story of Fall, Forgiveness, and Freedom, and the final piece of the puzzle comes into place…with a meal…the marriage supper of the lamb…as all the people of God, from every Tribe, Nation, and Tongue, from every generation, are gathered together to celebrate the world made right.

Friends, this is the “marriage supper of the Lamb” and it’s beautiful.

Now, let me pause here for a moment, because you may be wondering why I’m camping out here for so long. After all, there are a lot of things to talk about in Revelation…and digging in to this one image of banquet hall probably seems a little odd compared to how many others things we could chase down today.

I mean, I’m not even going to talk about the Millennium! What kind of preacher am I?!

We can have a follow-up conversation about that.

But I’m camping out here, because I think there is something really powerful about what author and philosopher, Jamie K. A. Smith calls, “Imagining the Kingdom.” Today, as followers of Jesus, one of my concerns is that can get so caught up in the brokenness and chaos of this life…that we unintentionally deflate our longing for the next.

And so, for just a moment…I want to plead with you to see that what is right now, is not what will always be. For a moment, in Revelation 19, we are invited to imagine the world made new…that even now, while we experience hunger pains…and deep cravings…friends, we have the hope and promise that we will one day be satisfied.

See, the invitation of Jesus is that there is a different way life that does not end in craving, but ends in satisfaction. There is a new way of life that actually makes sense of the strongest hunger pains we have for a world made right…that way of life is found in Jesus.

And that way is open to any who would trust Him and His work on the cross…that when you put your faith in Jesus…pledging your allegiance to Him and Him alone, you are invited to this banquet…you are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb where all will be made right, and all will be made new.

For some of you, today is the day

Application

Now, let me close with this…what are we supposed to do with any of this business about a wedding and a meal? Other than being hungry, is there anything for us here and now?

Fellowship in the Home

I think one way for us is to participate in the ancient christian practice of table fellowship…Koinania. This is in part what we are getting after when we talk about AUTHENTIC community through Lifegroups. We don’t just want you to meet with people and talk about bible things…we want you to experience a real kind of connectedness with one another…

When we gather around the table, we are doing one of two things. We are modeling the way of Jesus, practicing contageous holiness with those who don’t follow Jesus and demonstrating the kindness and affection of Jesus [EXPAND]

Communion as a Rehearsal Dinner

Finally, I said before we left this room, we could experience a foretaste of the world made right. This is what we are doing with the longstanding practice of Communion. It is a like a mini-meal that tells a story…

[Communion Set-Up ]

Prayer

Communion

Song