Thy Kingdom Come (3)
Notes
Transcript
I want to ask you a question for you to answer in your own heart. Why is God worthy of worship? Why do you worship Him? The reason I ask that question is because as I have dug into the Revelation, I have constantly been reminded of the back and forth between John’s vision of the future judgments on earth and John’s vision of the worship in heaven. and as I have studied that I have realized that we usually think of worship as a response to God for saving us, keeping us, providing for us, fellowshipping with us, etc. We praise him that one day we will go to heaven. We worship him for all the things that we consider blessings. But once again, I am reminded in the heavenly scene of worship in Revelation 15 that God is also worthy of worship, not only because of His love to those He calls His own (we love Him because He first loved us) but he is worthy of worship because He is just, righteous, and He is our King who will one day put away every Kingdom to be the LORD OF ALL. And in my heart that moves the worship of God from what HE DOES to who HE IS!
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!
16 The 24 elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell facedown and worshiped God,
17 saying: We thank You, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry, but Your wrath has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear Your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.
Trumpet sounds
Trumpet sounds
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!
This seventh trumpet contains EVERYTHING that happens to the end of the book. All the way through chapter 15 we will see several different characters who appear in the great tribulation. And starting in chapter 16 we see 7 bowl of judgment. ALL of this falls under the 7th trumpet sound. In a nutshell the 7th trumpet covers the 2nd 1/2 of the tribulation.
There are people who confuse this 7th trumpet from the angel (which leads to this progressive unfolding of the next 3.5 years) with the “the last trumpet of God” in relationship to the rapture. That event is described as so sudden that it in the twinkling of the eye.
This event really marks the beginning of the end that unfolds for 42 more months.
Voices Shout
Voices Shout
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!
This proclamation is a cooperate announcement that God is taking back what rightfully belongs to Him.
His world, and his kingdom.
Several times throughout my preaching of the Revelation I have reminded us of the song “This is MY Father’s World”
This is my fathers world o may I never forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong he is the ruler yet.
This 7th trumpet that encompasses the rest of the tribulation is seen as God’s Kingdom overruling the kingdom of the world
Why not Kingdoms? Verse 18 is going to say that the nations were angry. So why singular here and plural there. Simple. All the nations of the world (including America at its best, whenever you think that was or is) are really once Kingdom, and its not God’s Kingdom.
When the church gets in the bed with political parties, the church gets pregnant, and the baby does not look like the heavenly father.
There is only one earthly Kingdom no matter how many nations rise and fall, and the ruler of that Kingdom is Satan.
These voices in heaven see that the end is in sight.
And HE WILL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER.
Elders Worship
Elders Worship
16 The 24 elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell facedown and worshiped God,
17 saying: We thank You, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry, but Your wrath has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear Your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.
Revelation 4.4 24 elders seated on throne around the throne
Revelation 4.10 Elders worship God at the throne
Revelation 5.5 Elder tells JOhn to quit crying because Jesus was worthy to open the scrolls.
Revelation 5.6 elders with the lamb in their midst
Revelation 5.8 Elders prostrated in worship before the Lamb
Revelation 5.11 Angels and elders around the throne
Revelation 5.14- Elders prostrate in worship
Revelation 7.11 Elders around the throne in worship
Revelation 7.13- asking who those are around the throne
Here elders bow in worship.
A few significant observations.
I believe the elders represent all followers of Jesus Christ.
They are seen interacting with John 2 times. once to tell him Jesus was worthy and once to explain that the people gathered around the throne were saints who come out of the tribulation.
All the rest of the times we see the elders, these representatives of all who follow Christ, they are seen worshipping. Over and over again we see them responding to God in worship. We see them giving God the glory. In the book of Revelation we see the scenes of judgment on the earth as God pours out his wrath and justice on a defiant and rebellious world, and we see scenes in heaven of God’s people worshipping Him.
The worship of the elders is described in two ways
Their posture-fell facedown. I don’t want to let this slide. The thought that God was God, that His Kingdom was THE Kingdom, and that they were in the presence of the King cause a physical response. I really believe worship should do that. To be honest with you, I notice more and more that there is a physical response during our singing. This doesn’t label us as “charismatic” It simply reflects that we are thinking about, and entering into what we are saying or singing as we worship. But what about during the preaching, or during the invitation.. I don’t mind telling you that lately I have felt like I was giving it my all, and then NO one gives a physical response. A call to pray for VBS… crickets. A call to repentance… crickets. When we have met with King Jesus, we should respond with all that we are.
Their proclamation.
Thanksgiving because God is beginning to reign. Not that He hasn’t always ultimately reigned, but now He is taking the reigns.
The world didn’t like it. I was reading this week where someone was talking about worshipping “their God” and said you may worship a different God but its still our God. That is such stupid doublespeak. All I could think of was what God told Moses to communicate to Israel that they (and us) were to have no other god before Him. Let me say it bluntly. Quit inventing a god that fits your agenda. Learn the God of the Bible and follow him.
Time for judgment. God is going to perfectly judge every unbeliever one day. And you will notice that the elders are worshipping Him because he is the righteous judge.
Time for reward. Again Salvation is not a reward. we are saved by grace, but there are rewards given to those who ARE saved.
Time to destroy the destroyers. Please don’t mistake this as some environmental application. This is not about the pollution of the earth although the Bible is clear that we are to take care of the world God gave us. This is about those who have polluted the earth with sin.
Application
We have seen that God is going to judge lost people, and they will end up in destroyed. Have you listened to these sermons and recognized your own lostness, but you are putting off giving your life to Jesus?
Are you worshipping the Lord? These elders represent all believers and they have no higher priority than worship. What about you?
Are you broken for the lost? We have seen more people saved and baptized in the last few months than in a long time, but I think we are just scratching the surface. If we truly believe that they lost will be judged to Hell, and that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords shouldn’t we be pointing people to him?