The Return of The King

Intro

Illus: Lego Movie

young boy who creates an imaginary world. He takes the legos and makes his own little world with misfit pieces.

His Dad gets on to him for mixing things up and actually puts things in order and glues them so they are neat and in order.

We are like Dad. We want our world the way we want it. We like things locked in and neat.

Reality:

We create our own little kingdom.

We live in the past. We have a propensity to look back ward and see things all nice and neat.

Problem: We think of things as ours instead of Gods.

Sometimes we have too narrow of a view of what was accomplished in the resurrection of Jesus.

Drama

Seven -

Churches - means the complete churches - or all of the church

spirits - HS

Revelation 3:1 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Revelation 4:5 ESV

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,

Revelation 5:6 ESV

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Structure:

Starts with John sharing who God is and concluding with God’s agreement about himself

Revelation 1:4 ESV

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

This descriptor refers to

Doctrine

Eternal Kingdom

Led by an Eternal God

Who was, is and is to come.

Unchanging

Revelation 4:8 ESV

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Trinity

Revelation 1:4–5 ESV

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Compare to the kingdoms of this world

Afghanistan and the fight for an earthly kingdom. Many fight against democracy mainly because it contrary to what they know and see.

Established Kingdom

to found, institute, build, or bring into being on a firm or stable basis:

Establish - to found, institute, build, or bring into being on a firm or stable basis:

Jesus Work

Revelation 1:5 ESV

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Jesus Kingship

Effectuated Kingdom

Effectuated - To Bring About

Now and Not Yet

Work of Christ

Demonstrates His Love for us (5)

Frees us from sin by his blood

Makes us a Kingdom (6)

priests to God

- Parable of the Net

You are a fish in the kingdom

a stinky smelly fish

Consummation

Jesus will return and win the final victory

Revelation 1:7 ESV

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

- Satan’s defeat promised

-16 - Coming King

He was raised from the dead so that one day he might come and conquer Satan and all of his enemies

Matthew 16:27 ESV

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Matt 26

In the meantime we

Jesus is King

We are priests - servants of the Kingdom

Doxology

How do we live then in light of these truths?

When we look back upon the Resurrection of Jesus we should be instantly reminded of God’s Kingdom.

John, who wrote Revelation, starts with looking at the work of Jesus on earth and understanding that there is a bigger picture. He doesn’t look backward long, he looks forward. He looks back at the work of Jesus and quickly remembers that what was accomplished was partially realized and would ultimately come in victory:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7

When we look at the work of God, we should immediately be brought to a mindset of living by faith - Kingdom mentality.

We should be encouraged. The God who raised Jesus from the dead and redeemed the world is in control.

It is not our job to fix the world or even solve its problems.

Don’t live in the past, live in the present and see all things as God’s work in His Kingdom. Even the little things you do.

Put your faith and hope in what we know is coming and prepare for that. Jesus will return, the resurrection makes that happen.

We should serve as priests. Serve one another as we serve Jesus.

Serve Jesus the King.

Let others see and hear that you are kingdom people.

Serve our fellow believers

Remember what the resurrection accomplished most - that when we fail to do all of the above, we are part of a kingdom of people who have been forgiven. Nothing we do or fail to do removes us from this kingdom.

Serve our fellow man

We should live as a kingdom people

An understanding that we are in a Kingdom that is eternal, established and effectuated. These

This is us!

Live as priests to God as a part of the kingdom. The Kingdom is not something out there, it is us.

Live as priests to God as a part of the kingdom

This is us!

"This Is Us" chronicles the Pearson family across the decades: from Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as young parents in the 1980s to their adult kids - Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) - searching for love and fulfillment in the present day. This grounded, life-affirming dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who we become, and how the connections we share with each other can transcend time, distance and even death.

We are a forgiven people, living together and serving an Eternal King. We are the kingdom.

Lego Movie: Ends with the Father and Son playing together with these mismatched toys, misfitted together to create a new kingdom. We are mismatched people thrown together by a God who has all things in control.

We are the Kingdom of God. God has gathered us and like Christ, we will be raised on the last day to rule with him in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Illus: Notre Dame Cathedral burning. Why are we so sad? This will happen to all things as we await Jesus’ return. This is His world.

Let us live as God’s kingdom people as we await the return of our Risen King, Jesus our Lord. AMEN.

Be encouraged.