Back To The Future – Sermon #27

 

Revelation 11:15-19

HEAVENLY REJOICING ON THE EDGE OF ETERNITY

Intro: We have spent the better part of a year in the book of Revelation. I don’t know about you, but this book has been speaking to my heart and I am enjoying our study. This message brings us to the half way point of the book of Revelation. It also brings us to the end of a very long section that began back in Rev. 10:1. In this passage, the seventh trumpet, which was announced in Rev. 10:7, is about to sound. When it is sounded, this trumpet will unleash God’s final acts of judgments upon the earth.

      The seventh trumpet will bring about a devastating wave of judgment. It will fulfill the ancient prophecies of Joel 2:1-2, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; (2) A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.” When it is sounds, the seven bowl judgments are revealed. These bowls contain the final, awesome, awful judgments of God, Rev. 15:1. The sound of the seventh trumpet alerts the world that King Jesus is about to reclaim everything that belongs to Him.

      Now, the seventh trumpet is sounded here in Rev. 11:1, but the events it brings to pass are not recorded until we get to Rev 15. Chapters 12-14 are a retelling of the Tribulation story from a different perspective. In Rev. 6-11, the focus has been on the Lord Jesus. We have learned about the process He uses to take possession of this earth. Rev. 12-14 takes the focus off the Lord and places in on the Antichrist. We have been observing the Tribulation from God’s perspective. For the next few chapters we will observe that awful period of time fro Satan’s perspective.

      This passage takes us forward in time to the very edge of eternity. We are transported ahead to the end of the age to a time when Jesus has taken possession of the world and judged sin and sinners. As we look ahead to that blessed day, we find Heaven in a state of rejoicing.

      Today, we want to look into these verses, and by virtue into Heaven itself. In doing so, we are allowed to witness Heaven’s reaction to the reign of the Lord Jesus. I want to show you the great reasons why we see worship, praise and excitement in Heaven as time comes to an end. The words “great voices” translate the Greek words “mega” and “phonay”. We get the word “megaphone” from these words. It refers to shouting and loud speech. This is a picture of loud, vigorous praise in glory, v. 15-16! I want to preach on this thought: Heavenly Rejoicing On The Edge Of Eternity.

 

  I.  v. 16-17       THERE IS REJOICING OVER A RULER

(Heaven rejoices because God and His Son Jesus have taken possession of a world that was lost to sin and Satan thousands of years ago.)

A.  v. 15  The Scope Of His Kingdom – “kingdoms of this world” – In the Greek, the word “kingdoms” is singular. There are many rulers, leaders, kings and presidents in this world, but there is but one true kingdom. Men think they rule, in reality, Satan rules this world today. Satan is called “the god of this world” in 2 Cor. 4:4. The Lord Jesus called him “the prince of this world” three times in John’s Gospel, John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.

      The truth of Satan’s rule can be seen in the hatred that is being leveled against Jesus Christ and His Gospel in this world. People have no reason to hate Jesus. They do so because they are led to by the devil! He is the ruler of this world today.

      I praise the Lord that His kingdom is to be short-lived. Jesus Christ will come in glory and power and assume His rightful place as King, Lord and God of this world! There is just one rightful King and one day, the whole world will bow at His feet and worship Him, Phil. 2:9-11!

B.  v. 15  The Span Of His Kingdom – “He shall reign for ever and ever” – Jesus will not be like a human ruler. All human rulers eventually reach the end of their reign. They die or are deposed and replaced by another. Not Jesus! He will reign eternally, “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations,” Psalm 145:13.

 

(Ill. The Republicans have held the reigns of power in Congress since 1994. It looks like they are about to lose their power, at least in the House of Representatives, to the Democrats. There will be a lot of sad people after the election because their side lost. Those who give their allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ need never fear that He will be overthrown! He is and ever will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!)

 

C.  v. 17  The Strength Of His Kingdom – God is called “Almighty”, “Thou hast taken to the Thy great power, and Thou hast reigned.” Every human kingdom fails because it is built on the limited power of men. Saddam Hussein ruled by the power of fear, but he was overthrown. Kim Jung Il rules by intimidation and ruthlessness, he will be defeated.

            God’s kingdom is established on One Who holds all power, Matt. 28:18. He will never be overcome by any enemy, for He has placed all His foes under His feet, Heb. 2:8. He will never be deposed by any rival, for He has no rivals, Psa. 86:10.

D.  The Stability Of His Kingdom – “Which art, and wast and art to come” – God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom! He has always reigned! It may look like Satan has his hands on the wheel in this world today. It may look like he is in control. Even Satan is the servant of Almighty God and he operates within a limited sphere of activity. He does only that which God allows him to do. His activity is limited by the providence, sovereignty, purposes and power of God. (Ill. Satan had to get permission to attack Job – Job 1-2.) Satan is a finite, limited, created being. He must always yield to the One Who has reigned by eternity past; the One Who will always reign!

      Ill. Heaven rejoices in this truth. If we really believed it, we would rejoice as well. We would know, without a doubt, that our God reigns and that He is in absolute control of everything in His universe! (Ill. Col. 1:16-17) (Ill. Psa. 93:1-5)

E.  The Surety Of His Kingdom – The verb phrase “are become” is in the “proleptic aorist” tense. This tense is used to describe future events that are so certain; they can be spoken of as they had already happened. This tense is used in Isa. 53:3-9. Though the ministered 700 years before Jesus, he writes of the sufferings of Jesus as though they had already happened!

 

(Ill. People can believe what they will, one day the kingdom of this world will be given over to the Lord Jesus. He will rule and reign on the throne of this earth forever. Praise God! No wonder Heaven rejoices. I thank God that I will be there when Heaven bubbles over with praise. But, I thank Him that I can praise Him today! You see, He may not b recognized as the King of the world yet, but He is the King of my heart!)

 

II.  v. 18           THERE IS REJOICING OVER A REWARD

A.  The Sinners Will Be Rewarded – This world hates Jesus and demonstrates that hatred against Him when He comes to reign. This verse looks ahead to that day when the armies of the world will gather themselves together to fight against the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming, Rev. 16:14.

      The hatred of the world is clear to see in our day. Everywhere you look; this world is trying to eradicate the name of Jesus and anything to do with Him from the public arena. They will not bow to Him! Their hatred is expressed in Psalm 2:1-3. There, we see that they will rise up against Him and attempt to conquer the Lord. But, Psalm 2:4-9 tell us that God will have the final say in the matter.

      In the end, lost sinners will be rewarded for their rejection of Jesus by having to face Him in judgment, Rev. 20:11-15, v. 18b. God will have the final word and all lost sinners will receive the due reward of their sins, Rom. 6:23. What a tragedy, since they could be saved if they would only come to Him!

 

(Note: We may wonder about the saints in Heaven rejoicing over the punishment of sinners. It bothers us when we see scenes like that. After all, we do not want to see anyone go to Hell. We want to see people saved. All I can say is that when we arrive in Heaven, we will possess a mind like that of the Lord Jesus. We will think like He thinks and we will agree with His plan to judge all those who reject Him! When He pronounces their sentence, we will say “Amen!”)

 

B.  The Saints Will Be Rewarded – While the lost sinners will face the Lord in judgment, faithful believers will be honored for their devotion to Him. He will reward His servants (“prophets”). Those who have faithfully preached His Word will be rewarded by the Lord one day. He will also reward His saints (“them that fear thy name, great and small”). One day, every act of devotion to Jesus will be rewarded by Him. Nothing was so small that He missed it. He saw every sacrifice, every labor of love, every gift, every deed, which was done in His Name, and He will reward all those who faithfully serve Him! (Ill. Even something so small as a cup of cold water given in His name will be rewarded some day, Mark 9:41.)

 

III.  v. 19           THERE IS REJOICING OVER A REALITY

(Ill. This verse almost seems out of place in this chapter. It just doesn’t seem to fit in with the seen of rejoicing in Heaven. But, this verse is important. The mention of the Temple places us back on Jewish ground. You see, the church does not have a Temple, we are the Temple! This verse contains two great realities that I want to touch on for just a moment.)

A.  The Reality Of Access – The open Temple and the vision of the Ark serve to remind us that in Heaven, we will have access to the Lord. We will see Him and be able to worship Him. There will be no veil to separate us from Him. There will be no flesh to separate us from Him. There will be nothing to keep us away from Him in that day! We will have free, unfettered access to the God of glory, Rev. 22:3-4!

B.  The Reality Of Affirmation – The mention of the Ark places us squarely on Jewish ground. You see, for the Jew, the Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God, the communion of God and the redemption of God. Here, the Jews are reminded that God is not finished with them. He will complete His plan for Israel and He will keep His covenants with the seed of Abraham!

 

(Note: In the Bible, there are five different names for the Ark of the Covenant mentioned. These five names reveal what God is doing in these verses.

1. The Ark of the Covenant – Num. 10:33 – The ancient Ark contained the Law. In these verses we see a world that has transgressed God’s Law. The world has angered the Lord and He has come down to judge them!

2.  The Ark of the Testimony – Ex. 25:22 – The Ark testified to God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness. God is still holy and man is still a sinner. As a sinner, man will be judged by a holy God.

3.  The Ark of God – 1 Sam. 3:3 – The Ark was the only visible throne of God on the earth. This vision of the Ark reminds everyone that God is still on His throne!

4.  The Ark of Strength – Psa. 132:8 – It was called this because of the miracles and great works associated with it. We are reminded here that God is still Almighty God and He still reigns in power.

5.  The Holy Ark – 2 Chron. 35:3 – It was called the Holy Ark because it is where God dwelt! This vision of the Ark reminds us that God is still alive and well!

 

Conc: Verse 19 closes with premonitions of impending disasters. More horrors, worse horrors, than those we have seen thus far, are on the horizon. We are at the half-way point of the book and of the Tribulation. We have seen things from God’s perspective, now we will see things from Satan’s perspective.

      These verses have literally taken us to the very edge of eternity. The question that must be faced today is this: Which group mentioned in verse 18 are you a part of?

      Are you a part of that group that will be doomed and damned to Hell? Are you lost today? If you are, you need to know that the wrath of God already abides on your life, John 3:36; 3:18; Eph. 2:3; Rom. 1:18. You also need to know that you do not have to stay in that condition for another minute! If you will come to Jesus, He will save you by His grace! Come now, if He is calling you to come to Him.

      If you are part of that group that will be rewarded and rejoicing one day, then praise the Lord! You ought to bow before Him and tell Him how thankful you are that He has saved you.

      If you are lost today, you may be here for the Tribulation and you may not. But think about this: You are one heartbeat away from eternity. Have you ever thought about that? All that has to happen for your heart to stop and the moment it stops and your spirit will leave your body you will be in eternity.  Up in Washington, D.C., at the depot there is a strange mark on a wall. That mark is there because many years ago President James Garfield was in that depot. An assassin walked in, saw the President, and fired a shot. The shot went through President Garfield, killing him, and the bullet hit the wall and left a mark, and mark is still there. It identifies the place where President Garfield stepped from time into eternity.

      And dear friend, for every one of us, somewhere on this earth there is a mark.  It may be on a death bed in a hospital somewhere.  It may be on an interstate highway where an accident will occur. There is some point in time where your time will cease and your eternity will begin.

      If you came to the place where your mark is located today, how would it be with your soul?  Are you saved?  Do you know that you know you're saved? Let’s mind Him today!