This is the seventh and final sermon in this series covering the broad themes of Revelation. In this story, the greatest ever told, we’ve seen the set up, the conflict, and the climax so far. Today we see the resolution, the conclusion, the happily ever after.

Revelation 21-22

The New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21:1-8). … It’s not just a New Heaven. There will also be a New Earth. We won’t be just floating around in Heaven with our spiritual bodies, we will have physical bodies on a physical earth that bares similarities to this earth, but is glorified and perfect. … The sea represents separation from God. On this New Earth, there will be no separation from God, no sin. We will dwell with God in Heaven and on Earth. God will make everything new and perfect. … Those who are victorious, those who persevered for Christ, will inherit the New Heaven and New Earth. Unfortunately, not everyone will make it to Heaven. Some will go to Hell. Heaven and Hell are both real. Those who repent of their sin will go to Heaven and the others will die a spiritual death in Hell.

The New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22-27). … We get an image of a dazzling city. Gemstones. Kingly Splendor. Work without frustration! … Once again we are reminded that not everyone will be there, but only those who have repented.

The River of Live and Tree of Life at the Center of the City (Revelation 22:1-5). … This tree was in the Garden of Eden. Humankind was kicked out of there for disobeying God. In the New Heaven though, there will be many trees of life to eat from.

The Conclusion:

Jesus says, “I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:12). … Jesus says that three times in the last chapter. That should

The Spirit and the Bride invite anyone who is thirsty to drink the water of life (Revelation 22:17). … The Spirit has always been inviting people drink of the living water. Now the Bride, the church, also has the authority to invite others to drink of this living water.

This is week six of seven looking at the greatest story ever told. All the other great stories follow a similar template, but they are all echoes of this one. All great stories have conflict and we’ve seen that the last three weeks. Every great story also has a climax where the hero somehow saves the day. That’s what we will see today.

Revelation 16-20

The Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:13-16; 17:14) … God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Holy Trinity. Well, Satan is an imitator and there is an unholy trinity formed by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. These two trinities will go to war. … The scripture says it will be at a place called Armageddon. It may be literal or symbolic. Armageddon is an actual place that has seen some crucial battles in history. When this was written, Armageddon was symbolic of any big battle.

The Return of Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:11-16, 19-20) … Christ will return, bringing justice and vengeance with Him. He will judge the world and all of the wrongs done will be corrected. He will fight battles and the blood on His robe won’t be His own. When it looks like the armies of the world are overwhelming the armies of Heaven, Jesus will defeat them with the words He speaks. The beast and his false prophet will be captured and thrown into Hell. … How much of this is symbolic and how much is literal? It’s hard to know for sure, but it definitely gives quite the image.

The Binding, Release, and Defeat of the Devil (Revelation 10:1-3, 7-10) … It’s hard to know if the events in the visions are sequential or if they are overlapping visions, each telling a different perspective of the same events. Regardless of everything else, if you stick with Jesus, you’ll be good.

Judgment Day (Revelation 20:12, 15) … There will be judgment for everyone. There is a book that contains all of our sins, but for those of us who have accepted the salvation that Christ offers, the sins will be unreadable because they are covered by His blood.

Revelation 6-18

This is our fifth week in this series and third week covering the middle chapters of Revelation where the conflict is at its height. This week we will see that God will protect His people from His wrath.

Before God unleashes His wrath He sends an angel to put a seal on the foreheads of those who are His servants (Revelation 7:1-4, 9-10, 13-14). … The angels are about to release more of God’s wrath but they pause for a moment so that the servants of God may receive a mark, separating them from the followers of the Antichrist. … Let’s look back to Exodus for a moment. When God sent the plagues, the people of Israel were unaffected, then on the last plague, they were required to put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts for protection. This appears to be a similar thing.

This is a seal of ownership and protection like that in Ezekiel 9:4 and like the sealing of all believers with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). … We don’t know what the seal will be or even if it will be visible.

The 144,000 mentioned in chapter seven has many interpretations. It might be literal. It may represent all believers. It may be just a group of believers from Israel, 12,000 from each tribe. … Regardless, it appears there will be a group of believers who will receive a special mark.

Three audiences:

1. First Century Christians: The people who were reading this when it was written would be warned that they would have to suffer persecution, and they did suffer bad persecution.

2. Christians of all Ages: Even today Christians face some persecution. Depending on where you live in the world, it will be to different extents.

3. The Last Generation: Christians in the end times will face great persecution.

This seal is related to the name of God, and it contrasts to those who are marked with the name of the beast (Revelation 14:1, 9-11). … God will essentially put His name on those who are sealed. It is a mark of ownership and protection.

Christians and non-Christians alike get the flu. We all suffer due to the curse of sin in this fallen world.

Without the mark of the beast, we will be persecuted on Earth, but with the seal of God, we will be protected from God’s wrath, which is a better deal.

Revelation 6-18

This is the second of three weeks we’ll spend in this middle section of Revelation where the conflict reaches its height. Last week we saw that evil will win some battles, but this week we see God release His wrath upon the earth in judgment. … When we see injustice in the world, we feel a righteous angry towards those who commit the injustice. That anger comes from being made in God’s image. If we have trouble accepting injustice, just imagine how God feels towards injustice and those who commit them.

Wrath is God’s intense hatred of all sin. There are two aspects to God’s wrath:

1. God’s wrath is expressed every day (Romans 1:18; Psalm 7:11). … God judges people everyday and His wrath is poured out a little everyday.

2. God’s wrath is being stored up (Romans 5:25). … God’s patience allows him to store up wrath so He doesn’t pour out all that we deserve every day. Revelation shows God pouring out all of His stored up wrath.

In Revelation, God’s wrath is poured on the earth in three series of sevens:

1. Seven seals (Revelation 6:15-17) … The first four seals release the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

2. Seven trumpets (Revelation 8:1-2). … The trumpets herald judgments that affect creation.

3. Seven plagues/bowls (Revelation 15:1-4; 16:1) … The seven bowls release plagues upon the earth.

God’s wrath is described as a cup which sinners must must (Revelation 14:9-10).

On the cross, Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for us (Luke 22:42; John 3:36). … Today we took the Lord’s Supper as a way to remember what Jesus did for us. Jesus knew the wrath of God and that all sinners deserved it. But Jesus took our cup and drunk it. Jesus has already endured and absorbed the wrath of God for those who have accepted Him as savior.

Revelation 6-18

These chapters will take three weeks to get through. They hold the conflict part of the story. The best stories always have some sort of conflict. Those are just shadow of this story though. … C.S. Lewis was an atheist and one of the big factors in his conversion to Christianity was J.R.R. Tolkien explaining to him how all the stories he loved so much were just shadows of this one.

The forces of evil strike back against the Lamb. The key word in Revelation (nike: conquer) is used two times in this section of the forces of evil conquering God’s people. … There are three audiences the same as the previous sermons.

A red dragon seeks to destroy a male child, but Go protect the child. There is war in Heaven. The dragon is thrown down to the earth and wages war on the followers of Jesus (Revelation 12:1-5, 7-9, 13, 16-17). … The dragon is Satan, the devil. It is commonly thought that the stars he swept from the sky represent angels that followed him in his rebellion, but we don’t know that for sure. It may be symbolic that a third of the Trinity died for our salvation. … The dragon is kept from harming the child and is then hurled to the earth where he pursues the mother of the child and all her offspring. The child is Jesus and the mother is Israel. The offspring of Israel is representative of Christians.

A beast come out of the sea. He is given great power. He conquers God’s people (Revelation 13:1, 4, 7-8). … The beast represents a great political power that serves the forces of evil. In the time this book was written, it was the Roman empire. It has also been Hitler and other leaders who do the bidding of the forces of evil. Today it’s Kim Jong Un and others. There will be more, including one that is worse than all the others

A second beast comes out of the earth. He makes the earth worship the first beast. (Revelation 13:11-12, 16-7). … This second beast appears as a lamb but speaks like a dragon. It pretends to be a force of good, but points everyone to the first beast. In first century Rome, it was a priesthood that encouraged people to worship Ceaser. Today it’s churches that teach values that go against the Bible.

God appoints two witnesses to preach. The beast conquers and kills them (Revelation 11: 3, 6-7). … God will raise up two people to preach the truth, but the beast will conquer them and have a sort of Anti-Christmas.

Applications:

1. Evil is strong: don’t take it lightly. … 1 Corinthians 12:10 also expresses this idea. Don’t underestimate the ability of evil to take hold of you.

2. We are in a spiritual war. Expect to get shot at. We will lose some battles. … War is ugly and there are casualties on both sides. This won’t be easy.

3. There are only two sides in the battle. You must choose a side. … It’s easy to straddle the fence while the battle doesn’t appear to be affecting us, but a time is coming when that won’t be an option.

This seems a bit gloomy, but just remember our key verse: Revelation 17:14. God prevails in the end.

Revelation 4-5

The  word “nike” is the key word in the book of Revelation. It means “victory” and is translated a few different ways in Revelation, but it always has something to do with victory.

John is allowed a glimpse into Heaven. This vision is given to encourage God’s people when the world seems out of control. … We don’t often get to peer into Heaven, but John was and his vision was also in the future.

God is on His throne in Heaven (Revelation 4). … John attempts to describe what he sees, and it sounds like a glorious sight, full of diversity in color and even angels. The throne that God sits on is surrounded by four angels who appear to be leading worship. Surrounding them are 24 elders who we do not know much about. These elders have crowns but they fall down and cast their crowns at the feet of God. God is being worshipped as the creator of all things. God is in control. … It doesn’t always seem like God is in control, but He is. This vision is given to help us realize that truth.

Jesus is in control of the future (Revelation 5). … The scroll in the right hand of God likely represents the future. An angel asks who can open and read it, but no one worthy was found. John wept hopeless tears as he as he sees no one is worthy of controlling the future. Then an elder tells him not to worry because the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” has triumphed and is worthy and is coming. Then a lamb that appears as if it had been slain appears. The elder said a lion was coming, but a lamb showed up. Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. The symbolic description given is quite amazing as it shows the power and wisdom Jesus holds. The Lamb stands in the middles, next to the throne while everyone else bows down. The Lamb takes the scroll. The angels and elders break out in song, praising the Lamb. Then every creature everywhere joins in on this praise and worship song.

These chapters show us that God is on His throne and Jesus is in control of the future. It is a reassurance that God is in control and that Jesus will be triumphant over evil. When John cried tears of hopelessness, the Lamb brought hope with Him and does the same for us.

This is the first of seven sermons where we are going to look at seven broad themes in the book of Revelation. This is a book of Revelation is a book of encouragement. It also speaks to three audiences:

1. The first century christians … This book contains letters written to seven churches of that time and also provides hope for the future.

2. Christians of all ages … Timeless truths within the book still speak to us, as does the hope of a future in Heaven.

3. The last generation … The book also contains end time prophecy and much symbolism of the end times.

The Greek word “nike” is in this book quite often. The word, often associated with shoes, means “victory” and is translated into a few different words in our English translations.

Revelation 17:14 is the key verse in Revelation and shows us the final outcome of the battle between Good and Evil, God vs Satan.

Revelation is a vision God gave to John that is symbolic of the end times.

Revelation 1-3

Revelation 1 reveals Jesus as the Living One who holds the keys to death and Hades. He walks among the seven churches and holds their angels in His right hand. … The lampstands represent seven literal churches, churches that actually existed. What does a lampstand do? It holds up the light. … The stars could mean a couple of different things, but is most likely the elders or pastors of the seven churches. … Jesus lives and walks among them. Jesus is alive and talking to John. … Some people will say they love Jesus but hate organized religion. These verses show that Jesus is among the churches; He is in organized religion. Elsewhere in the Bible we see Him say that wherever two or three gather in His name, He is there. We were meant to worship God together with other humans. The church is far from perfect (as we are about to see), but that is where Jesus chooses to make His presence known.

Revelation 2-3 record the seven letters from Jesus to His churches. The letters all follow the same outline:

• Jesus knows the particular circumstances of each church (Revelation 2:13). … Jesus knows the circumstances of our lives too. He knows what you have gone through and what you are going through.

• Jesus praises almost every church. The main thing Jesus commends in the churches is perseverance/faithfulness (Revelation 2:13). … There’s one church of the seven He has nothing good to say about. All of the churches have at least one commendable quality.

• Jesus criticizes almost every church. … Two of the seven churches receive no critique.
  Jesus’ three major complaints involve:

• False teaching (Revelation 2:20). … Jesus cares about what we believe.

• Sexual immorality (Revelation 2:20). … Jesus cares about how we live and condemn sexual immorality.

• Spiritual temperature (Revelation 3:16). Jesus cares about our passion for Him.

• Jesus challenges (or warns) every church (Revelation 2:5; 3:19-20). … He gives us challenges and warnings that are meant to draw us back to Him. To one of the churches, He says He is knocking at the door id they would only let Him in

• Jesus offers a promise to those who overcome (nike) (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). … Jesus promises eternal life and glory and honor to all who overcome sin and follow Him.