Good morning.
Good to see everyone here this morning.
Take your Bibles, if you will,
and open them to Revelation chapter
nineteen.
Going to begin with a word of prayer as we
open our class.
If you will, bow your heads. Our gracious
God
and Father of all mankind, Lord,
we come to you grateful for your word,
for the revelation that you have supplied,
the knowledge that we need in order to
serve you acceptably,
in order to understand what your will is
for.
Our lives, for our nation, for this
congregation,
for those peoples throughout the world,
for the ministry of the church and for the
teaching of the lost.
Lord, we pray that as we go through our
daily lives,
may we be the light that is set on a hill,
may we be the salt of the earth.
May you help us to be those who
Serve one another and love one another in
spirit.
And Lord, we pray that you will be with us
as we work daily in your kingdom.
We pray that you will bless the work and
the labor of our hands,
and that we might serve you in a way that
is acceptable in your sight.
Lord, we pray for those who are sick and
those who are ill,
those who have
ailments and and injuries and pray that
those things be healed and they
be returned back to their desired health.
And Lord we pray that you be with the next
generation as it as they grow.
May they be taught the word of God and may
they be taught to follow
in right paths and to hold faithful to
your truth and your word.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
As we get into our brief review,
as we get into ~ chapter 19 and chapter
20,
we’re just setting a few of the background
items that we’ve already discussed,
level setting as we move forward.
The book was written according to what
John writes and what Daniel
~ in conjunction with what Daniel
prophesied,
it was written in the days of Vespasian.
Towards the end of his reign, Titus was
about to come to the throne,
being the seventh head.
~ and then there’s going to be an eighth
head.
The eighth head is going to look like one
of the heads in the seven.
It was going to look like it was from the
seven,
but it’s going to be the head in which the
city of Rome,
the nation of Rome, the persecutor that
was the instrument of Satan,
which was Rome, would be judged.
And that’s going to be in the head that is
Domitian.
We find John in chapter one. He is simply
and it’s interesting
to take into perspective. John is simply
worshiping when
all of this vision transpires.
And just just take a moment and think
about it,
not correlating identically dreams and
visions,
but have you ever been in a dream that in
the dream it seemed like it was
one or two minutes of an entire day that
you were in the dream,
but then you’ve slept all night when you
wake up?
And vice versa, you feel like you’ve been
in the dream for a month and
you wake up and it’s been two hours and
you’re like,
~ no, I’m not gonna get any more sleep
tonight.
Because you just feel like, wow,
I’ve been asleep for a month. The brain,
the mind does interesting things with
time.
The vision is given while John is
worshiping.
And we’ve been, you know, we’ve been
studying the details of it for weeks.
And all of these things John sees,
and we’re told that he sees them while
he’s worshiping.
And then he’s told to write them down.
So John is on the Isle of Patmos.
For the testimony of Christ, and he is in
the kingdom,
he is a brother in the kingdom,
and he will say, in the tribulation.
Indication is that John will, though in
his old age,
live through a good part of this
experience and this tribulation.
Some have suggested that perhaps John was
actually the youngest of the apostles.
~ and and some attribution of that based
upon the fact of him outliving
by all indications all of the other
apostles.
Also giving a special consideration to the
idea that he was
the apostle whom Jesus loved. He shows a
level of affection for Jesus
at the Last Supper as we read that he laid
his head on Christ’s chest,
that perhaps he’s the youngest.
Of all the apostles. And so there’s a
special rec relationship here between
Christ,
who would have been older than all of
them,
most likely, and John, who might have been
the youngest of all of them.
So interesting thought process there,
drawing some things from passages.
As he is there worshiping and he s begins
to hear a voice behind him,
he turns to see the one who speaks.
And it looks like a glorified Christ.
He has in his hand the seven stars that
are the seven churches.
He is surrounded by the seven golden
lampstands.
And Christ tells John to write to the
seven churches of Asia Minor.
He gives the messages that John’s going to
write in chapter two and chapter three,
individual introductions to the vision.
Okay? When you read those seven letters.
Those weren’t like, hey, John,
write this, all right, cut that out,
send that to ~ Ephesus. All right,
write this, cut that out, send that to
Pergamus.
No. This is an introduction for Ephesus
and Pergamus and Thyatira.
All of these are their direct
introductions to what’s coming after.
Okay? It’s their context for what they’re
all going to share
in the experience of the persecution that
was coming.
But they’re all starting, if you read
those letters,
they’re all starting from a different
position.
Some of them are starting from a position
where God says,
if you don’t repent, you’re the enemy.
And I’m going to fight you with the words
of my mouth.
And some of them, He says, I’m laying no
further burden on you.
And it didn’t mean they weren’t going to
go through the things that were being
talked about. It didn’t mean that they
weren’t going to suffer persecution.
It’s God saying, Listen, you’re doing all
you can,
you keep doing it. And then you have
Churches like Ephesus where God says,
Hey, you’ve left your first love,
and I’m about to tell you you’re about to
go into persecution,
and if you don’t get your love situation
corrected.
You’re going to find yourself worshiping
the beast.
You’re going to find yourself on the other
side.
And you’re not going to be provided
through this persecution.
So, as those letters of introduction go
forth,
then we open to chapter four. Chapter
four,
John is told basically to go through this
door that he sees in heaven.
He goes through the door.
He finds himself in the throne room of
God.
He sees the one who sits on the throne.
The one who sits on the throne is reigning
right then.
He has been reigning.
Since the beginning of time, he will
continue reigning forever.
He is already King of kings and Lord of
Lords.
He is already on the throne.
He is already victorious.
He’s just going to tell John how that’s
going to work out in the very near future
because these things are shortly to come
to pass.
Okay? So
The elders cast their crowns before the
one who’s on the throne,
and they worship him day and night,
continually, forever. Then John sees the
book
in the right hand of the one who sits on
the throne.
It’s sealed with seven seals. So John
desires to know what’s written on the
book.
No one in heaven or earth is found who can
read the book,
but they search heaven and earth,
and under the earth, no one’s found.
John begins to weep, but one comes to John
and says,
wait, wait, wait.
We found the one who’s worthy.
And it’s the Lamb who was slain,
the Christ, the Messiah, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah,
the second person in the Godhead,
the one who was alive and died
and is alive forevermore. So he takes the
lamb,
takes the scroll from the one who sits on
the throne and begins to open the scroll.
And the seals are opened, and we first see
in these seals.
As we’ve already discussed, a forecast of
what’s coming.
Then we’re going to see after the seals
are open,
we get in the seventh seal, a full
examination of what’s coming.
Then when you get into the seventh seal,
the rest of the book happens in the
seventh seal.
So we’re still in the seventh seal.
When you say, hey, what happens in the
seventh seal?
The answer is everything from chapter
seven all the way to the end
of chapter 22 happens in the seventh seal.
Okay?
But as those seals are open, one of the
things John sees is John sees
in the fifth seal, the well actually let
me back up.
First thing that John sees is John sees a
white horse,
and that white horse is, and the one who
rides on it goes forth and conquers.
Okay? The beginning of the revelation,
John says, the one who rides the white
horse is conquering.
Seal two opens, and now the devil’s
pushing back.
Now hardship is coming. But when it’s all
over,
the one on the white horse is gonna be
conquering again.
Okay? We’re about to get to that last
part.
Now notice in the fifth seal, we have the
saints under the altar that have been
dying for the cause of Christ,
for the testimony of the word of God.
And they’re crying out, how long,
O Lord, the sixth seal is open.
God says, here, let me tell you how this
is going to work out.
They’re going to be running and hiding
from the wrath of the Lamb.
Then there’s a pause. God says,
wait, wait, wait, hold on. We gotta mark
all of our people.
So the angels that are holding back the
wind are told to hold back the wind,
to hold back the judgment of God until all
the people of God are marked.
Over in Revelation chapter 3, we’re told
that the church is going
to receive the name of God on their
forehead.
And in chapter 7, they receive the name of
God on their forehead.
The vision in chapter 3 is the vision in
chapter 7,
is the vision in chapter 19. It’s just a
picture of the people of God.
God saying, I know who belongs to me.
Okay?
So then we have the seven trumpets,
and the seven trumpets are seven partial
judgments that happen inside
the seventh seal, and those seven partial
judgments begin to sound.
With every sounding of the trumpet,
another partial judgment, a third of this
or a quarter of this,
is judged and destroyed. But God’s not
telling the church,
hey, when you see a third of all humanity
die off,
that’s when you know that that’s partial
judgment.
No.
He’s using pictures from Egypt.
He’s using pictures of the plagues and the
events that occurred in Exodus to say,
listen, I’m gonna judge this nation.
And I’m gonna judge them however I choose
to judge them,
but you’re gonna recognize my judgment
because you’re going to have known
the scriptures. Remember Revelation
chapter,
sorry, Romans chapter 15, verse 4?
Paul would write that the scriptures,
the things that were written aforetime,
were written for our learning.
that we through patience and comfort of
the scriptures might have hope.
Paul’s making it clear when you read the
Old Testament scriptures
and when you educate yourself in the Old
Testament scriptures,
you can now look at the world around you
and go,
not a problem. I have hope.
God’s got it under control. Okay?
So we see some of the visionary images.
We see the ~ the devil loosed from ~ the
bottomless pit.
We see all of these things occur and
coming up.
In the midst of these judgments,
in the midst of these partial judgments,
and it looks like God’s people are done
for.
So then John says, Wait, wait.
Or God says to John, Hold on, you need to
know something.
So he sends the mighty angel with another
revelation,
and John’s told to take the revelation and
to eat it and to consume it.
And John’s going to be told through that
revelation,
the church is going to preach.
The church is going to testify concerning
the name of God,
and then the church is going to suffer.
It’s going to be a witness, like the Old
Testament witnesses,
like the Old Testament prophets were.
And while those prophets prophesied,
and some of them lived natural lives,
many of them were killed because of their
prophecy.
And God said, I took care of them and take
care of you.
So while it looks like the church is going
to be persecuted to death.
And while it looks like they’re going to
be defeated,
God says, listen, I’m in control.
It’s all handled. Yeah, you might die,
but not forever. Because I’m going to
resurrect you back to life.
And then you’re untouchable. Then chapter
12 opens,
and the devil is there, pictured as the
red dragon,
the great beast with seven heads and ten
horns,
and he’s waiting to consume.
The child of the woman. The woman has 12
stars around her head.
She looks like the people of God.
And she brings forth the Messiah.
And the devil wants to kill the baby,
but fails. And eventually the baby ascends
up into heaven,
and the devil can’t reach him anymore.
So the devil instead tries to make war
with the woman,
but fails at that because after he’s put
back down to the earth.
The woman is taken away by God.
You you can’t fight somebody you can’t
reach.
And so he says, You know what,
I can’t get to her, but I can make war
with her children.
Who are the children of the people of God?
Christians. The Christians that are alive
in the world today and we’re alive
in the world in the days of Rome.
They’re the ones that belong to God.
They’re the ones that are the offspring of
the people of God.
And so the devil says, Fine, I’ll make war
with them.
In order to do that, he needs some allies.
So he goes and gets the sea beast and the
land beast,
and we have there a picture of the
persecuting power of Rome and
the false prophets of Rome.
Bear in mind, when you see the sea beast
and the land beast,
you’re dealing with the persecuting
corporate power of Rome
and the religion and false prophets of
Rome.
So when you see them defeated,
what gets defeated? The persecuting
corporate power of Rome and
the false prophets of Rome get defeated.
We’re gonna see that. We also see the
people who ally themselves because
of the work of the land beast.
~ will have the the number of the ~ the
number of man on their head.
All right. So chapter 14 opens and you see
the lamb on Mount Zion
and there’s rejoicing going on.
And they’re singing a new song.
And the declaration is Babylon has fallen
and the reapers begin to gather.
And it looks like judgment’s about to
commence because judgment’s about to
commence.
Then you have the seven angels giving the
seven plagues and the seven bowls,
and the song of Moses and the Lamb comes
forth.
Basically, God says, I’m commencing full
judgment on Rome,
and they’re going to receive all the
plagues that are written in this book.
Now, when you get into these last three
chapters,
19, 20, 20, last four chapters.
I can do math. 19, 20, 21, 22.
You have promises that anyone who alters
the words
of the prophecy of this book will receive
the plagues that are written in the book.
Now that’s interesting.
Because those who hold to a dispensational
premillennial view
say every bit of this is coming in the
future.
I have met more than.
Three or four business people in the
general community who have told
me that the signs of the times of the book
of Revelation are all over
the place and that all this is at hand and
AI’s bringing it and blah blah blah.
Interesting.
Because if that’s true, then that would
mean anybody who altered
the prophecies that were made in the book
for the fur last two thousand years didn’t
receive the things that were written in
the book.
Because the things written in the book
haven’t happened yet.
They’re still st they’re still waiting.
What’s God gonna do? Resurrect those
people that have been dead
for nineteen hundred years so that they
can go through some nuclear war?
If you believe in dispensational
premillennialism,
you’re going to have to believe that.
Because otherwise, they didn’t get the
plagues that were written in the book.
The point is this: the book is written to
a people who are alive and who are going
to go through these things. And God says:
if you take what I tell you and you alter
it anyway,
I’ll tell you which side you’re going to
be on.
When this all happens, and it won’t be
mine.
So the warning is you get on the right
side and you stay there,
or else. Now,
chapter 16 opens, and the seven angels
pour out the seven bowls on the earth.
Chapter 17 opens, and John is shown the
mystery
of the great harlot that rides upon the
beast,
which is
Again, that picture of the devil and
Satan.
She is endued with the power of the devil
and his ends,
but she’s Rome and she is defeated in
the head that is Domitian.
Then we see again, as we’re about to see,
the going forth and the conquering of
Christ.
We’re gonna see that some more.
Chapter 18 discusses more concerning the
great city’s defeat.
Chapter 19, we have the marriage feast and
victory.
Okay? So as we’ve gone through this,
we’re dealing with more detail about what
we’ve already seen
happen. Back in chapter 16, the boar the
bowls are poured out.
The victory is completed. God wins.
But now we’re examining more detail about
what occurs when
God wins. Okay?
Chapter 19, we’ve already noticed that it
opens up with a shout,
as it were, of hallelujah for God.
The pronunciation by the Christians is
Christ reigns.
God reigns, He’s undefeated.
One of the things we celebrate in the
sports world,
not that I’m a big sports fan,
but it happens sometimes, is when somebody
goes.
undefeated for an entire season.
Or some teams that go undefeated for
multiple seasons.
They they just spectacular in their
performance,
never fails. They win.
But they’ve never quite reached the level
of God.
He’s never lost. Not once.
Not ever. Not for a period of time.
Not for a short while. Not temporarily.
Never. Now there are times where
it looks like God lost.
You know, when Jesus Christ was hanging on
a cross.
With the back of his body ripped open and
shredded,
with a crown of thorns nailed deep into
his skull.
with nails punched through his hands and
his feet.
Struggling every moment just to extend his
body into an upright position,
just to take a breath, to make one more
declaration from the cross?
You wanna know what it looked like?
Looked like Satan won.
You want to know what it was? The exact
polar opposite.
The assurance that Satan loses.
So chapter 19. We’re going to pick up down
in verse 7.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give him
glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his wife has made herself ready.
Who’s the wife of Christ? The church.
Who’s the bride of Christ?
The church. Who’s the betrothed bride of
Christ,
as we examined ~ last week? The church.
Who’s the married wife of Christ?
The church. Because they’re all just
different pictures of the church.
So by the way, when John over in chapter
21 is told by one of
the people in heaven, hey, let me show you
the great city,
the
Bride. Who do you already know it is?
The church. All right,
just getting you ready for it,
’cause it’s coming. Verse seven Let us be
glad and rejoice and give him glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his wife has made herself ready,
and to her it was granted to be arrayed in
fine linen,
clean and bright, for the fine linen is
the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, Write, blessed are
those who are called to
the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he said to me, These are the true
sayings of God.
A number of blessings occur, as some have
termed them the Beatitudes of
the Book of Revelation. This is one of
them.
And this is a blessing pronounced on
everybody who’s invited to the marriage
feast.
And everybody who comes to the marriage
feast.
Did Jesus ever give a parable about a
marriage feast?
Yeah. And do you remember in the parable
who didn’t come?
Who did the king initially invite to the
marriage feast?
All the supposed friends.
He sends out his servants and sends
messages to the friends.
What do the friends reply?
I’ve married a wife and I can’t come.
I’ve bought a pair set of oxen and I need
to go go test the I
I have bought property. I I’m sorry,
I can’t make it.
So when the one whose son is getting
married hears that no one’s coming,
what does he tell his servants to do?
He says, you go through the highways and
byways,
you find anyone in the ditches,
doesn’t matter. You bring the people and
you fill this feast.
Now, hold on to that because
the description here was incredibly clear.
Notice this again. Hold on to the parable,
hold on to the end. We haven’t talked
about it yet,
but think about it. And think about what
you just read.
As we read, then he said to me actually,
let’s go back to verse 7.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give him
glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his wife has made herself ready.
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in
fine linen,
clean and bright, for the fine linen is
the righteous acts
of the saints. Then he said to me,
Write, Blessed are those who are called to
the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Now go back in your mind to that parable.
How does it end?
It ends with a man who arrives at the
wedding feast,
but he’s what?
He’s not arrayed in marriage garments.
He’s not arrayed in,
you see, that here’s here’s what you’re
supposed to understand from the parable.
The king not only said,
invite everybody, he also,
by implication of the text, said,
and supply them everything they need.
You don’t show up at the marriage feast in
the clothes that you were laying
in the gutter in.
But that’s okay. You don’t have to have
better clothes because the king
has provided the better clothes.
But this man refused to wear
the wedding garments. This man chose to
ignore
the demands of the appropriateness of this
marriage feast.
And so the king casts him out.
Now, over here in Revelation, we’re told,
you want to know what that fine array is?
Those are the righteous acts of the
saints.
In other words, if you were to put these
two together,
these two stories, what God is saying
through Christ is listen,
if you’re not a holy one, if you’re not
arrayed in
the righteousness of my son,
You’re not gonna have access to the feast.
So then we read
Verse ten and I fell at his feet to
worship him.
Now who’s who’s falling and at whose feet?
All right. So these things are being shown
to John by an angel.
And John in the vision sees John falling
at
the feet of the angel. Why do I say John
sees himself in the vision falling
at the feet of an angel? Well,
the answer is because John, the apostle,
knows better than to worship an angel.
But just the same way Paul will often use
himself as an example as he’s writing
to the churches, John’s going to see
himself in the vision as the example.
And the example is quite clear:
you don’t worship anybody but the Lord.
You don’t worship an angel. Notice what we
read.
He said, and I fell at his feet to worship
him,
but he said to me, See that you do not do
that.
I am your fellow servant, and of your
brethren who have the testimony of Jesus,
worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy.
So the one who’s speaking to him says,
Don’t worship me. I’m just one of your
brethren.
I’m just like you are. I’m a servant of
God.
You don’t get to worship the messenger.
You worship God.
And so
That continues. By the way, you’re going
to see it again over in chapter 22.
You’re going to see John fall down again
and begin to worship somebody that what
you’re what you’re supposed to be getting
from that is this.
John’s relief
and awe at what is being shown to him.
His marveling at God’s success
in bringing the church through this,
his wonder at all of the things that he’s
been shown,
and all of the things that God has done is
an overwhelming thing.
And just like you go back to the days of
Moses,
what did Moses do when Moses approached
the burning bush?
He fell down on his face as dead.
There’s your picture. So
Now, As I saw heaven open, ~ verse 11,
and behold a white horse. Now,
as you get into the end of this,
John is going to see the white horse
again.
There’s only one white horse in the book
of Revelation.
You say, no, no, We’re about to be
introduced to a whole lot of white horses.
Yes, there’s only one singular white horse
in the book of Revelation.
And the one who rides on him is about to
be very clearly stated.
So the white horse in chapter 19,
when we find out who’s riding on him in
chapter 19,
we know who was riding on him in chapter
6.
It wasn’t the Antichrist,
it was the Christ. Chapter 19,
verse 11: Now I saw heaven opened,
and behold, a white horse. And he who sat
on him was called faithful.
And true, and in righteousness he judges
and makes war.
You go back to what Jesus said in the book
of John.
Jesus said that judgment had been placed
into whose hand?
His. But he wasn’t going to judge of
himself.
He was going to judge the judgment which
God had given him.
So this is the person who is faithful and
true.
This is the person who judges and makes
war.
His eyes were like a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns.
He had a name written that no one knew
except himself.
Hold on to that.
idea. We’re we’re gonna come back to that
one.
He was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood,
and his name is called
The word of God.
You don’t have to make any guesses as to
who this is.
Because John wrote another letter.
And it opened with the words,
In the beginning was the Word.
And in Revelation nineteen, John,
as he pictures the one who’s on the white
horse,
the one who wears many crowns,
the one who’s faithful and true,
the one who judges and makes war,
he says his name is the word.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without
Him was not anything made that was made.
This is the Creator.
This is the Word of God, and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory as of the only
begotten of God.
The Word is Christ.
The one on the horse is Christ.
The one who rides the white horse is
Christ.
Not the Antichrist. It’s Christ.
And notice, by the way,
before I
go too much further. Just to make mention,
the w the term Antichrist doesn’t show up
anywhere in the book of Revelation.
The only people who’ve ever put it there
are people from
the denominations that insert it from one
of John’s other letters.
You’ll you’ll read in all the Baptist
material about the Book of Revelation
and all the Jehovah’s Witnesses book
material about the Book of Revelation.
You’ll read about the Antichrist and the
Antichrist and the Antichrist.
He’s never here. Except John says who the
Antichrist already is,
and it’s false prophets. So I guess
technically he’s here because
all the false prophets that are mentioned
are here.
But there’s not a singular antichrist.
There is a spirit of those who oppose
Christ,
which is what Antichrist means,
and it’s false prophets gone out in the
world.
And those were certainly in abundance in
John’s day,
and they are today. Now,
he was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood,
and his name is called the Word of God.
This robe dipped in blood, what do you
think it is?
What’s the significance of its dipped in
blood?
All right. You have salvation.
All right, you have the picture of of
victory.
If you were to think about this.
It is in the moment of
Christ’s crucifixion and his suffering.
Where both his original garment was on
him,
and then that was removed. Then they
placed a purple robe on him in mocking.
Then that was removed. Then they cast lots
for his garments. But it is in this
bloodied state
in which Christ is victorious.
But I think there’s perhaps another part
of this vision that’s a little
bit more Old Testament-like. Do you
remember what the Hebrew writer writes
concerning the Old Testament sacrifices?
That everything in the Old Testament that
was holy was consecrated with what?
Blood. The altar had blood sprinkled on it
to consecrate it.
The people.
had blood sprinkled on them to consecrate
them.
You go back and look at the old testament
picture and you have everything made
holy with the blood of the sacrifice.
So I think probably you have two things
here.
You have a picture of holiness and
consecration.
He, in his very person,
is the holiness of God.
But you also have it a picture of
the carnage of war and the complete
victory of Christ.
You don’t go through war.
As a victorious person, as a victor in a
battle,
having never come in contact with blood,
not in those days, you come out covered in
it.
So whose blood is it? Well, it could be
the blood of the sacrifice.
It’s most assuredly the blood of his
enemies.
But the point is, he wins. Notice,
we read, he was clothed with a robe dipped
in blood,
and his name is called the Word of God.
And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine
linen,
white and clean, followed him on white
horses.
Now notice he’s not the only one on a
white horse.
All the Christians are riding white
horses.
He’s just the only one who’s singled out.
Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword,
that with it he should strike the nations,
and he himself will rule them with a rod
of iron,
he himself treads the wine press of the
fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty
God,
and he has on his robe and on his thigh
a name written King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.
When Augustus was on the throne,
Christ reigned.
When Tiberius was on the throne,
Christ reigned. When Vespasian was on the
throne,
Christ reigned. When Domitian was on the
throne and the church
was going through persecution,
Christ reigned.
When Mao was on the throne, Christ
reigned.
When Hitler was all over Europe,
Christ reigned.
When Biden was elected or Trump was
elected,
Christ reigned.
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,
Christ reigned.
We spend a lot of time worrying
about this world, about the state of the
world.
Christ doesn’t.
Because Christ has handed to us the
instrument of destroying nations.
Did you catch what it was?
It’s not an army, it’s not horses.
It’s the sword of his mouth.
You want to bring down the tyrannical
leader?
Teach all of his people to be Christians.
You want to bring down a tyrannical
leader?
Teach him to be a Christian.
You want to topple governments and bring
peace to the world?
Teach them to obey God.
You wanna know what governments are for?
God tells us we don’t have to guess.
Turn to Romans chapter thirteen.
Romans chapter 13, let every soul be
subject to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority except from God.
And the authorities that exist are
appointed by God.
Hey, did you know that Christ was reigning
and God was on his throne when Paul wrote
the book of Romans? Huh. How about that?
And verse 2: therefore, whoever resists
the authority,
resists the ordinance of God, and those
who resist will bring judgment
on themselves.
For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of
the authority?
Do what is good, and you will have praise
from the same.
For he is God’s minister to do f for good.
But if you do evil, be afraid,
for he does not bear the sword in vain,
for he is God’s minister and avenger to
execute wrath on him who practices evil.
You wanna know what governments exist for?
The suppression of evil.
Now, do governments sometimes get
overtaken by the evil people?
Sure. And when they do, guess what?
God’s got another government around to
come take care of them.
See what we’re supposed to learn from the
book of Revelation?
And we’re supposed to realize is that yes,
these things happened in the days of these
people.
These things were shortly to come to pla
to take place.
These were these things were at hand.
And these people were gonna live through
them.
Some of them were gonna die in them,
and some of them were going to live to see
the other side of them.
But the thing they were supposed to come
out of it knowing was.
Is it doesn’t matter what the government’s
name is.
It could be Babylon, it could be Rome,
it could be Egypt. Wouldn’t matter.
The outcome’s always the same.
Governments come and go.
Powers rise and fall. Satan will try his
hand with any of them he can get a hold
of.
But he never wins. Because there is one
King
of Kings and one Lord of Lords.
And Satan will never be him.
Thank you for your attention.
