The Kingdom Hope
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
I want to start by looking at this chart.
kingdom chart
We have seen the big picture of the kingdom develop throughout these sections within the scriptures.
This has been a constant, amid a year of variables.
We will finally finish this 18/19 week series.
Next week we will be getting ready for Advent—for Christmas.
But today, we will look at a book, that has been a book of fascination for years.
It’s a book that is full of controversy.
I am those who know the book I am talking about may see the book and have questions, or even fear.
This book has been misinterpreted.
Look at the title of this book:
REVELATION
What comes to mind?
Yes, maybe you think of end times type of stuff.
About earthquakes and firestorms
But for know just focus on the word:
REVELATION
Revelation comes from the idea “to reveal.”
Something is being revealed within this book.
If we think about the book in Spanish, we know that the book says
REVELATION - APOCALIPSIS
Interestingly, Apocalipsis, or apocalypse is the type of literature that we would classify the book of revelation as.
When we think of
Apocalypse
What do you think of?
We have probably been influenced by culture, by movies, by maybe other things we have heard.
We think of end times, end destruction, left-behind- type of things
The title of revelation comes from the first verse of Revelation.
If you have your Bible, please go with me to the last book of your Bible.
The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
The word revelation here comes from the Greek word
Revelation = Ἀποκάλυψις
Apocalipsis - Apocalypse - Revelation
They are all the same
And the meaning of this word is...
Apocalypse - making fully known, revelation, disclosure
In other words, when you hear about the book Revelation, don’t think “ouu scary.”
No, think, “God has unveiled something here—He has revealed something here.”
Consider these words that I have found helpful while reading the book of Revelation:
The goal of apocalyptic literature [literature like that of Revelation] is not prediction, but unmasking—unveiling the realities around us for what they really are.
But, specifically, what does the book of Revelation reveal?
What does the book of Revelation unveil?
Well, let’s see.
Go to
Illustration Revelation 1:5-6
First, Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth.
While kings and presidents, dictators and prime ministers, believe that they are the ultimate authority—they are not.
They are all under the rule of the king of kings—Jesus Christ.
And something wonderful about this king is that even though he is beyond all these kings,
He still loves us.
And unlike kings who makes empty promises about making our lives better.
Jesus Christ has freed us from our sins, by dying on a cross.
And now, not only are we free from sin.
But Jesus has made into a kingdom and made us priests to serve his God and Father.
what a beautiful truth...
It would’ve been enough for Jesus to save us...
But he didn’t just save us.
He has shared his royal power, something those in authorities don’t want to do
But that is what the one with most authority has done.
Jesus, the kings of the earth, has shared his power for us to be a kingdom.
Now how does this power look like in our lives?
Well, one thing we can certainly say about Jesus Christ is that he was victorious.
He was victorious over death.
And now, he makes us victorious.
Since we are victorious, look at what happens:
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Think back to Genesis 1.
We humans were not supposed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We were supposed to flourish—eat from the tree of life—live in paradise.
But, instead we fell under the authority of the serpent—ate from the tree of knowledge—rebelled against God.
But now, there is a sense of restoration—restoration to what we had lost at paradise.
Those who have become victorious in Christ can experience paradise.
Also, those who have become in Christ will not suffer the second death.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
There is life beyond death.
While it may appear that life ceases upon death, there is something innate within us that tells us that there is something beyond death.
And the Bible confirms that there is something beyond death.
Those who die without Christ, await another day where they will suffer another death, as we we will see in a few chapters.
But those who are victorious in Christ will not experience the second death.
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star.
Those who are victorious in Christ will gain authority to rule over the nations.
What were humans supposed to do in the beginning?
They were supposed to rule and care over the land, but we lost and corrupted our authority.
Yet, according to Revelation, we will, one day, gain authority again.
And we will receive the authority that Jesus had received from the Father.
I like the imagery of Revelation 3:21-22
This verse could help us envision this transfer of power.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
This is Jesus speaking.
And he says, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne all those who are victorious.
And he gives the comparison, that
As Jesus was victorious and sat down with his Father on his throne, we who are victorious will sit with Jesus and on his throne.
We will finally rule as humans were supposed to rule.
We will rule here on the earth, in partnership with God, as our Father had intended in the beginning.
Now, we should not get the idea that we are gods.
Yes, we will rule with Christ, but Christ will not worship us.
Look at the scene of
At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
This is a pretty crazy scene.
John of Patmos saw God seated upon the throne as the supreme king.
There were four creatures that surrounded the king, and they bowed down to him—the creatures do not bow down to mere men.
The creatures worship God because his Creator and he is King of all things.
And they worshipped God- day in and day out—because God is just that worthy.
I could only imagine.
Here at Encounter, we encounter a snippet of how beautiful it is going to be as we worship our Lord.
A few verses, John noted that there was this scroll.
According to Patrick Schreiner,
The scroll is the instrument of judgment on the enemies of the King.
Yet, no one can open this scroll.
Except for the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
He is also a lamb who has been slain
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Here we find a human one who can open the scroll.
He is both a lion and lamb.
I like what one person said on this (Robert Mounce):
In one brilliant stroke, John portrays the central theme of NT revelation—victory through sacrifice.
Remember, Jesus was victorious, but not in the way we would expect.
He was like lion when he resurrected and defeated death, but he defeated death as a slain lamb.
What happened when the scroll opened?
Judgment
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
No one could escape from the wrath of the lamb.
The Lamb was defeating evil here.
In Genesis, we read about creation. In Revelation, we read about de-creation.
Human rebellion had cursed the earth.
And the natural course of human evil led to calamity.
But this is not the end.
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Yes, there is de-creation, but it’s not the end of the story.
There is destruction for all that is evil.
But, there is change.
The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.
Rather than seeing de-creation as the demise of everything, see the de-creation as the cleansing of the earth.
In Revelation 12-14, the Lamb continues to cleanse the earth.
The dragon, the embodiment of all evil—Satan—died at the hand of the Jesus.
In the midst of the cleansing, John saw that those who victorious over Satan were victorious because of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
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.
You will have victory over the enemy.
Just rely on the blood of the Lamb.
Rely that Jesus died on your behalf
That he took your mistakes.
When the devil comes to tell you about your sins
point to the blood of the lamb
And also show your testimony—Look Jesus has saved me. He is in control.
Satan, you have no rule over my life.
Remind Satan about his future.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Satan and those who are not found written in the book of life will be removed from this world. And the image that John sees is that Satan and his followers will be thrown into the lake of fire.
All of evil has been dealt with now.
Earth has been cleansed.
This earth without Satan and his influence, without the serpent and his followers, appears as a new heaven and a new earth.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
John saw it as a new heaven and a new earth.
The old, cursed, deteriorating earth had passed away.
The sea was no longer.
What does this mean?
Well, remember back to Genesis 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void—it was tohu vabohu
And the idea of chaos was pictured with the seas, and the darkest points of the sea.
But, the picture of the seas, that represented tohu vabohu would be no more.
That is, there will be no more tohu vabohu — no more chaos and futility.
And the scene that follows is beautiful
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
God is with his people.
This similar to the paradise of the Garden of Eden—Man and God walked together.
God will dwell with us.
And we will be his.
We will represent him well.
And in this future,
God will personally wipe every tear from your eyes.
The pain of death will be no more because there will be no more death.
Mourning, crying, or pain are gone—these things belong to a world that is tohu vabohu.
Those who are victorious in Christ will inherit this future.
And we will be God’s children.
This reminds me of the promise God had made to David.
God told David that he would have a son who would be a son to God and God would be his father.
We know this is fulfilled with Jesus.
Jesus was God’s Son, and God was his father.
But what’s neat here is that now we are involved.
We have been adopted in Jesus.
Now, God is ours and we are his children.
I love how C.S. Lewis brilliantly put it:
The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.
Jesus came so that we would have the relationship he has with God.
He came as the Son so we could be sons and daughters of God.
We have gone from Genesis to Revelation, and I think we can conclude this:
God is king.
And he has a plan
In Genesis we had creation. It was good.
But then it was corrupted.
God, however, has a plan.
In Revelation, we see that God is working to bring about a more glorious creation.
Maybe, you’ve struggled during this series because you’re America.
We don’t like monarchies.
But the Bible, nevertheless, presents God as king.
He’s not a bad king though.
He is a good king.
And he wants to bring kingdom here on the earth.
And how does it do it?
God does it through a cross.
Through cross, a human, Jesus, becomes king.
And He has launched the kingdom.
He shows us what the kingdom is all about.
He eats with sinners, provides food, heals people’s bodies, washes the disciples’ feet, and gives them his body and blood—sacrificial love.
Paul and James tell us how to live in the kingdom.
How do we do it?
We are to wait for the return of our king.
We are to eat together.
We are to bear one another’s burdens.
We are to share with the poor.
We saw a lot of images of the kingdom throughout our series,
but I want to conclude with the words of Patrick Schreiner:
The kingdom is not simply social ethics, or heaven, or the church, or God’s sovereignty; the kingdom is much larger. Only when we connect the dots from the first page of the Bible to the last do we begin to see that on every page the kingdom concerns the King, his people, and their place. And at the center of this kingdom plan stands a wooden cross covered in blood.
And I will you ask this: will you be victorious with Christ—victorious by relying on his sacrifice? Will you pick up your cross, deny your selfish tendencies, and follow him?
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