Because of His Glory
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The End
The End
Well, tonight we come to the end of the Multiply series, and hopefully, you can sit here tonight with even a little bit more confidence in your knowledge and understanding of these very words of God
What have we seen?
What have we seen?
We have seen the damaging effects of Adam and Eve’s rejection of God as their king
We’ve seen God’s plan of redemption take root from the moment of that rejection
We’ve looked at his promises to Abraham, also known as a covenant,
We’ve talked about the Exodus of Israel, the Law of Moses, the royal throne of David and his Messianic Line.
And we’ve also talked about God’s plan of redemption culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
To the Holy Spirit, and it’s role in the lives of those who put their trust in Jesus Christ
To the life of the church, and it’s role in the world today, as it spreads the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth
But ultimately, God’s comprehensive plan of redemption was to reverse everything that sin had ruined in this world…including the opportunity to reverse our death sentence and offer us eternal life
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
We can’t talk about the last book of the Bible without talking about Jesus Christ…because what we read in Revelation is ultimately this truth: “Our final salvation, and Christ’s triumphant victory, is coming when Jesus returns”
Our salvation is already purchased and secured (Jesus told us “It is finished”)…we know that, but our final salvation when we will be glorified is coming upon Christ’s return
And so, we have HOPE
Because there is zero doubt that Christ will reign victorious.
If there was any doubt, our hope wouldn’t be true hope, it would be in question.
The Truth
The Truth
Here’s the honest truth though, as you read the book of Revelation
Christians have disagreed since it was written, and Christians will disagree until Christ returns on how to interpret many of the passages in the book of Revelation
For instance, my pastor in Virginia does not agree with Pastor Dave on the exact understanding of the timeline of events that will take place
But…what they both agree on is this, Christ will return, Christ will be victories, and Christ will finally redeem His people and we will be with Him forever
AND THAT IS THE BEST NEWS I HAVE EVER HEARD…because my peace comes from that truth…regardless of whether I’m here for some of the tribulation period or not.
Because think about what we’ve talked about in this series....for all of history, mankind has known that something is broken, something is wrong.
And they’ve tried to blame everybody and their brother for it, they’ve tried to shake that feeling by pursuing money, fame, sex, etc....and they can’t, because THERE IS SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WITH THE WORLD…and we know that is sin.
And as believers, we’ve been forgiven our sin, we’ve been released from bondage to that sin as talks about.
We can now choose to follow Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit
The Return
The Return
As you read through Revelation though, you’ll quickly discover that Christ’s return is nothing like His first coming.
In His first coming, no one really knew about it, but tells us that every eye will see Him
In His first coming, He came as a baby, and was human like we were, but in His second coming, we will see Him as He really is. John writes about this in , “ one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
See, Christ is returning as the undisputed, unchallenged, undefeated, conquering King of the world
But, was there any ever doubt?
This is God’s World; He created it; He vowed to redeem it; He died to purchase us as His people, and He will come back and take the world by force.
The world will experience the wrath of God, the wrath that we too deserved before the grace of Jesus Christ
And that is what much of Revelation talks about, God’s wrath playing out on earth
And that is where we get into much of the strongly debated points of theology amongst Christians
“What does this mean, and this, and this”
“Will we be here, or will we be gone, who are the 144,000, etc
And those things are important, but if you read the book, don’t ever lose sight of this fact, God will reign victorious, and He deserves all the glory and honor and praise
That’s what the end of the world is all about, God finally stamping out sin and those of us who are His finally giving Him the glory that He deserves
The New Heaven and New Earth
The New Heaven and New Earth
The end of Revelation paints a picture of creation restored.
And what’s cool, is the first chapters of Genesis and the last chapter of Revelation are so so similar.
In , God created all things and called them good.
And people were created to have ongoing fellowship with God himself, and to reflect His glory to all creation
Conversely, in , John sees a picture of a new creation, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth”
John sees this new earth, this second earth, and the perfection that it was intended to be!
He goes on to say this in , “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
And remember the statement God made to Israel, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
See, this is God’s longing, to dwell with man, so that we can glorify Him!!!!
And John gets to see a picture of this playing out in the future, and trust me, it will be glorious, and I cant wait!
Day of Judgement
Day of Judgement
However, it won’t be for everybody, most of us hopefully know that by now. There will be many people who will be placed in everlasting judgement, Hell, separate from God, because of the sin in their lives.
tells us that each person will be judged
And tells us that those who rejected salvation will be cast into the lake of fire.
See, as loving as God is, He is a just God, a God who will punish those who chose to continually go their own way
And you were there at one point, weren’t you?
Guilty of going your own way, guilty of rejecting God.....”But God, as Ephesians tells us, He stepped in and saved you....and He used somebody in your life to do so, to declare to you His good news
Maybe a parent, a friend, a SS teacher, a youth leader....
Living with the End in View
Living with the End in View
Which is why God’s actions that are in the future should shape how we live our lives today.
You guys know it by now, our mission is to take God to those who need to hear it, whether it be a person you have a locker by, or a man on a mountain at the ends of the earth, they need to hear of God and His salvation
See, your life as a believer is to be all about God’s glory
And we aren’t driven by guilt, but by His glory
We don’t tell people bc we feel guilty if we don’t, but we should tell people so that more people can give Him glory…because that’s what it’s all about, the glory of God
That’s what this book is about, the glory of God
And one day this world will be over, and He will receive all glory, and honor, and praise that He deserves
What part will you play in that story?
How will you glorify Him now?
Are you living with that end in view? Or are you still more interested in yourself than in telling others about how they can glorify God as well?