His Time is Short

Series: Revelation 101

Message: His Time is Short

Author: Brandt

Key: Media Scripture Slides Production Story

INTRODUCTION

Series. I’ve got a character question for y’all, how many of you are the type of people that read the last chapter of a book first? Or you look up the ending of a series before you watch it? That’s just crazy to me. Sometimes my wife will look up the ending of TV shows that we start just so she’s free from it haha. A lot of students that I talk to struggle understanding the Bible, and so they flip to the last book to try to see if it helps clear things up, anybody ever try that before?

The last book of the Bible is a book called Revelation, and on the surface it is confusing and CRAZY. It is 21 chapters of weird symbolism punctuated by some really cool moments. The first time I read it, I was lost by chapter 5 haha. This month we’re spending three weeks to talk through the main idea of the book to help you understand the book a little better, but more importantly to help you live the lesson that the book teaches.

Last Week. The main idea from last week, and really of the whole book is that God is in control. Here’s the statement that the book begins and ends with:

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The book begins and ends with a statement of the ultimate power of God, and everything in the middle rests on that. Revelation is like a big painting that lets us see the end of our story as Christians, reminds us that God is in control of the story, and shows us how we’re supposed to live in the middle.

TENSION

[Communicator Note: Share a story, movie, etc. where being in the middle of it messed you up.]

The Middle. Personally, I really like the beginning and the end of stories, because things are resolved, the story is in a good place. I get really into shows and movies and books, and more attached to characters than I should, so when things are going poorly I feel it. Anybody else?

That’s why I was physically unwell for a while after watching Avengers: Infinity War in theaters. If you haven’t seen that movie by now, I have no problem spoiling it. It’s a two-part movie, so the end of the movie is really the middle of the story, and it ends TERRIBLY. Everybody you love in the story dies and the villain wins! They kill Tom Holland!!! Any time I watch a movie I expect to leave happy and resolved, I left in utter shock, because I wasn’t left at the end of the story, I was left in the middle of it, where there is nothing but problems.

The truth is the middle of stories is messy. Maybe you’re in the middle of a situation that isn’t resolved, and you put on your happy Christian face, but the truth is things are hard right now. God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, but we live in the middle of the story. Here’s the truth: We live in the middle of the story, and the middle is messy. Revelation reminds us that God is in control of all things so that we can have hope, but it does more than that, it teaches us how to live in the messy middle of our unfinished stories, where there is no happy ending yet, and life is hard.

In fact here are a few verses from the middle of the book of Revelation that describe what life is like in the middle of the story:

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

(Revelation 12:7-9, 12 NIV)

That’s the context of our life, not peace time, but spiritual war. This passage shows that evil doesn’t win, the end of the story is victory, and a lot of the time we make more of the devil than we need to, because God didn’t even need to step in to beat him, his angels put a whooping on him! Heaven is going to be perfect, but Satan was cast from heaven to earth, which means he’s out here messing up our stories. The truth is the middle isn’t just messy, life isn’t just messy. Messy isn’t a strong enough word. Sometimes life feels like hell on earth.

When you’re walking through the very middle of a situation that feels hopeless, that doesn’t look like it has an end, that feels like it will be with you for the rest of your life, it’s not just messy, it’s hell. And the book of Revelation reminds us that God is in control and that the ending is happy, but when you’re in the middle of it, hearing that isn’t really helpful is it? So here’s another question that Revelation answers that we’re going to talk about tonight: How do we live in hell on earth?

TRUTH

And the key lies in verse 9 that we just read:

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

Satan’s goal isn’t just to devastate our whole life and make us suffer on earth, his goal is to keep us from heaven, to lead us astray from loving and obeying God, because God’s presence is where everything is set to rights and clicks into place.

Eph. 2 explains this a little bit more:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

Satan wants to bring hell to earth by making the middle of God’s story as messy as possible for us. The beginning and end might be peace and eternity with God, but he’d love nothing more than to mess up the middle and steal a happy ending.

His first strategy is to lead the whole world astray from God. We have a spiritual enemy who tempts us, accuses us, and creates hell on earth in and around us. Then we’re fed a lie that we can have heaven on earth, things will be better if we just follow the current, if we work hard enough, if we are moral enough, if we earn enough money, if we amass enough power and influence, if we marry that person, or go to that college, and on and on and on. Following the devil’s plan for heaven on earth just leads to more hell on earth.

Some of you are going through difficult stretches right now, and your solution is to cope, numb the pain as best you can, and gut it out. You’re fighting loneliness with gaming or porn consumption because it provides an escape. You’re fighting off the pain of your traumatic past or family brokenness through drug and alcohol use, but you know it only works for a moment. All of us in our own ways turn to the ways and things of this world when we’re in our own life’s mess, because we’re told the lie that we can have the “heaven on earth” that we know we’re made for if we just do this one thing. Sin always over-promises, but it under delivers, and following that plan doesn’t lead to heaven on earth, it just compounds the hell we’re already in.

And right about now you’re thinking, “wow Brandt, this message is a huge bummer. I thought the message of Revelation is that God wins and I can have hope even when things are hard? I’m not feeling very hopeful.” Haha we have to acknowledge that life is hard, because we live in the world that likes to pretend everything’s fine. It’s not. But have you ever stopped to consider that you can actually overcome the hell on earth going on in and around you? Stop. Look at me for a second.

Did you know that your secret sin struggle doesn’t have to define you for the rest of your life?

Did you know that your traumatic past doesn’t have to remain unknown and unhealed forever?

Did you know that the mess in your story doesn’t have to keep creating messes in the lives of people you care about?

Did you know that God hasn’t left you without the power to overcome even in the midst of your hell on earth?

Verses 10-11 talk about those who conquer the devil on earth, and in these verses we discover how we live in hell on earth. Check it out:

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

This passage in Revelation tells us life is going to have hell on earth moments, because we are in a real spiritual battle with a real spiritual enemy. But it also says that ANYBODY, yes you, can overcome by the blood of Jesus and the word of your testimony.

Satan deceives, and the world will try to convince you while you’re in the messy middle that the way to set things to rights is by worshiping the things of this world and living for them. But we triumph by holding fast to the truth: to the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf, and to the word of our testimony about Him.

Earlier we asked: How do we live in hell on earth? I’ve got one thing I want you to know, and one thing I want you to do. And this is so important. It’s what we’ve already talked about, but this is what you NEED to know if you are going to have victory over your spiritual enemy. The people of God overcome in the world by living for heaven. We don’t need heaven on earth, because we realize our heaven is in heaven, and one day it will be ours if we’re faithful.

18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.

Again, Scripture is saying that those who live for the things of this world will perish with the things of this world. If your whole life is built on satisfying your desires, the current of the world will make that life really easy for you, but it leads to a waterfall! The end of those things is hell on earth, and hell afterwards!

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

But if you are a Christian, your life is not about those things. Scripture says that you have died with Christ, and as a result the accusations of the devil, the loss of worldly things, suffering, verbal or even physical attacks on your faith, death itself cannot overcome you because Christ already overcame it. And here’s the good news, even when life feels like hell on earth, you can overcome in the midst of it, the things your facing don’t have to overcome you, because they won’t last forever, God’s kingdom will. Check out verse 12 again:

V.12 “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! His is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

We suffer not because our spiritual enemies are too strong, but because they are too weak, and the devil knows that his. time. is. short. The book of Revelation is a reminder that when life feels like hell on earth, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await our savior from there.

APPLICATION

So how do overcomers talk and live? I told you the one thing I want you to know, here’s what I want you to start doing: Talk back to sin and suffering. When there’s just one voice talking, it’s easy to assume that voice is right, and sometimes the hardest part of walking through hard things is there’s no positive voice in our life to get us back on track.

We spiral because not only is it hard, we feel powerless, like we’re overcome completely, life will always be this way, and there’s no hope. It says that the Christians of Revelation 12 overcame by the blood of the lamb, and one other thing, who remembers? That’s right, the word of their testimony. They reminded themselves of the truth, and they spoke back to sin and suffering in their lives.

So give the devil his diss track! When you are walking through difficult things, have some words in your heart from Scripture to answer, and maybe you want to take them from our passage today. Remind your spiritual enemies that their time is short.

When you sin and feel ashamed, remember that there is no condemnation left for you. Christ paid for your sins, and nothing can separate you from the love of God. Speak your testimony: Christ died for me, and I conquer in the midst of Satan’s accusation, because there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. You can keep talking smack if you want, but the kingdom is coming, and what? your time is short.

Mourning: We don’t mourn without hope. Losing people, being disappointed, missing opportunities, breaking up with somebody or being broken up with, those things are hard. But we can talk back when Satan tries to turn our healthy grief into despair. The one I follow came out of the grave, and I know one day I’ll follow him out of my own. You can’t tempt me to despair, because the kingdom is coming, and what? your time is short.

Whatever the enemy plans for you, if you are a Christian, the book of Revelation reminds us that we can overcome in the messy middle of life, when it feels like hell on earth, because we don’t live for this world, and Christ has overcome it. Next time you’re in the fight, practice overcoming by remembering Christ’s sacrifice for you, and sharing the word of your testimony. Tell sin, suffering, and every spiritual enemy in your life: Christ's kingdom is coming, and your time is short!

Let’s pray.