Week 9 | “Jesus Sets the World Right”

Revelation 21.3 says, Or pain for the old order of things has passed away. All right. Good morning. Great to have everybody here. I want to welcome all of our Willow locations. Big shout out to our friends in Huntley and Crystal Lake, North Shore, South Lake, Wheaton. Great to have everybody. Also want to welcome those of you joining online. And as always, a very special welcome to our brothers who join us at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Great to have everybody here with us. Now, we've been on this journey for now. This is week number nine in our journey through the book of Revelation. I'm glad that you're here today because we've just survived 12 chapters of the Tribulation. And the Tribulation is now behind us in Revelation. And now this is kind of the climactic week of all the Revelation. We get to kind of see a glimpse of what happens at the end. And I think the reason why God gives us a glimpse of what happens at the end is if you understand how it ends, it changes how you experience it today. Now, I've shared this with you before. So if you've been around for a long time, you've heard me share this illustration. But I think it's really applicable for today. Many of you know that I'm a diehard Cubs fan. I grew up in Texas, but I'm still a diehard Cubs fan. I'm one of those kids that watched WGN where the Cubs used to play on that channel every single day. And so I was ruined as a kid. And so I grew up with this avid Cubs fan and so fell in love with the lovable losers. And as anybody who's been a Cubs fan for a long time, you know, it's a hard journey being a Cubs fan. And so always next year, somebody says, you're totally right. And so it was, you know, quite the journey.

But then, but then 2016 happened, right? So we're celebrating the 10-year anniversary of it right now and the Cubs finally made it to the World Series. I was ecstatic, but then it got to game seven of that World Series. And I will tell you, there's never been a more stressful day in my entire life than November the 2nd, 2016. I'm pretty convinced watching game seven of the World Series, I shaved off about five years to the end of my life because of how much stress I experienced on that day. Now, I lived in Vegas at the time. And so a lot of people around me didn't care about the Cubs, but they knew I was an avid Cub fan. So people came over, not to watch the game, but to watch me watch the game. Because I was a basket case watching the game. And so people didn't care about the game, but they were snapping photos of me. Haha, look at this loser, you know, who's just like going crazy about it. So here's a couple of the photos. They snapped with me. I mean, I'm just like on my knees. I can't stand it. That's when Rajee Davis hits home run at the time. And I'm like, I can't even believe it, right? And I was just so incredibly stressed out, not knowing what was going to happen. But then the rain delay happened. God love us, right? And then we'll never forget the moment where the ground ball went to third base, Chris Bryant throws across the diamond, Anthony Rizzo catches it, and the Cubs win the World Series for the first time in 108 years. Now, I remember watching that moment. And then I think everything went blank for me. I don't know why, but I fell on my living room floor. My wife just covers me up with the Cubs W flag, and they were just like, let him be. I don't know. I don't even remember this moment. I kind of passed out.

I don't really know what took place. But eventually I came to, and I got to stand in the victory of what it looked like. But the Cubs win in the World Series. Now, the reason why I share that story is I've actually gone back and watched game seven of the World Series a number of times. What's interesting is you go back and watch it. I can't remember every at-bat. I can't remember every pitch. There's still a lot of unknowns for me, but I have almost no anxiety watching it back. Why? Because I know how it ends. Here's why that matters. For some of us, we're walking through life with something very uncertain right now. We don't know how it's going to end. We don't know how our marriage is going to wind up. We don't know if our relationship with the child will be reconciled. We don't know if we're going to be able to figure out what's going to happen when we get the result. results of that scan. And so we live in all kinds of uncertainty, and sometimes we live with all kinds of anxiety. And I would argue that if you're here facing something that has a lot of anxiety, then this week is for you, because I think that God gives us a picture of the end. It doesn't resolve the uncertainty. But if you can understand how it ends, it changes everything with how we experience it today. And Revelation continues to push us back to these powerful images of Jesus. Again, we started here week one. Let me just give you these anchoring pictures of Jesus all throughout the book of Revelation.

Revelation will tell us this, that Jesus is, he's the high priest. He's the high priest that walks with us, that he understands your needs, that he's with us, that he's present with us every single moment of every day. That he's also the lamb who died for us. That he's the one that holds all of history in his hands, and it's actually because of his sacrifice that ensures what ultimately is to come. But here we are, baby, we're in chapter, I'm sorry for calling you baby. But here we are, chapter 19. That Jesus is the king who returns for us. And he gives us this picture of the end. If we can understand this, this king who comes for us, I would argue that it changes everything by how we choose to live today. So let's dive in. Revelation chapter 19, we're gonna start at verse 11. It says this, these are John's words. He says, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head there are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He's dressed in a robe, dipped in blood, and his name is the word of God. The armies of heaven were following him,

riding on the white horses, and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress to the fury of the wrath of the God Almighty. And look what it says, it says on his robe and on his thigh, he has the name written. He's the king of kings, he's the Lord of lords. Now there's a couple things that are referenced about who he is in this passage. Almost like names given to Jesus as he is this coming king. So let me go back through them just really quickly and highlight a couple things. He's called Faithful. My friends, in a world that is full of broken promises, he is faithful. The one who's never fallen short of any promise that he's ever given us, he is faithful. He's also true. In a world that's full of counterfeits, in a world that sometimes promises us things but comes up short, he is always true. It says that he is the word of God. He's the one through whom all of creation was spoken into existence, and his word is also the final word. Evil doesn't get the final word, he is the final word.

It also says this, I love this on the next page. It says that he is the king of all kings. He's the Lord of all lords. In other words, in our world, there will be all kinds of kings and kingdoms. That's true of any period, of any age, of any country, of any culture. There are kings and kingdoms in this world. But he's not just any king. He's the king of all kings. He's the Lord of all lords. It reminds me of the words of Paul in the book of Philippians where he says, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Is the Revelation 19, is that moment? Is that moment that all the kings that sought for power for themselves are all bowing to the one true king? He is faithful, he is true, he is the word of God, he is the king of kings, he's the Lord of lords. And because that's true, I would argue that it changes everything. So when you walked in today, hopefully across all of our locations, you received a card like this. This card is my outline of where I'm going today. But it's important enough for me to put it in print for you so that you have it,

because again, if we understand the end as described in Revelation, it changes everything about who we are today. So I'm gonna walk through these, and I'm always gonna say the first phrase, and I'm gonna need you to say the second part of the phrase out loud with me. Let's try it real quick. I will say this, victory is certain, so? Victory is certain. It's certain. So stay faithful. Even when it feels somewhat uncertain. Maybe you've heard the term, sometimes in our world, you've heard the term the Battle of Armageddon. Have you ever heard that before? A few of you have, right. We hear that because they've made movies about it, they've made books about it, maybe you've heard the term the Battle of Armageddon, right. And what's interesting about this battle is we typically think it's the final catastrophic conflict, right. Where really it determines the ultimate fate of the world. And though the movies have sensationalized it, the books have been written about it, sometimes we get detached from what scripture actually says about it. So let's read about it. It's in Revelation 19, here's what it says. It says, then I saw a beast and the kings of the earth

and their armies, they gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had been performed these signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Do you notice what's missing in the Battle of Armageddon? The battle part. There's actually no battle at all. It describes like the kingdoms of this world, like gathering their armies. It talks about like the beast, the false, they gather these armies. But do you notice that there's never actually a battle fought? And the reason that there's no battle that's actually fought that if the battle was fought, that would indicate that the outcome is not yet determined. My friends, the outcome has already been determined. The outcome was determined before they ever gathered the armies. The reality of it is nobody, nobody can rival the king who came to get his people. There's no rival to him. There is not a shot fired. There's not a bomb dropped. It's just that the rider comes and he captures the beast, the prophet, and he puts them into a place

of eternal punishment. The reason why this is true is because this is actually not the place where victory was won. A victory was not won in Revelation chapter 19. Victory was won outside of Jerusalem on a Friday on a cross on a hill called Calvary. That the victory was decided before the battle ever assembled. And so I would argue that the battle of Revelation 19 is not where Jesus wins. It's just where he publicly displays what he already won on the cross. Scripture actually gets to this idea in another part of the Bible. In Colossians chapter two it says, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over the, because of the cross. That's who he is and what he's done. Victory is certain because of his work that has already happened some 2,000 years ago on the cross. And because of that certainty of that victory, there's actually never a battle that plays out in the end. It's just a king who stands and culminates that victory. Now I want to take us back to one image that was in the kind of first section that we read that was describing this one who's faithful and true, he's the word of God. Look what it says. It says he's dressed in a robe that's been dipped in blood and his name is the word of God.

Now this image, dipped in blood, that would have been a reference back to what would have been known in the Roman Empire. You know that Rome was an empire that conquered a lot of other nations. And what happened is when a king in that day conquered other nations, oftentimes they would return with the blood of their enemies on their robe. It was a sign of victory. It was a sign of triumph. I've taken down my enemies. But notice this rider on the white horse, which is Jesus, when he shows up to the battle, the blood on his robe is not of his enemies. The blood that's on his robe is his own robe, is his own blood. His victory was not through shedding the blood of his enemies. His victory came by the sacrifice of himself for the sake of those he loves. It's what distinguishes his king Jesus. in his kingdom compared to every other king and kingdom of this world. We might say it this way, that every other king asks people to bleed for him, but Jesus is the one who bled for his people. And it's because of his sacrifice that he is victorious. And so I would say victory is certain, so people stay faithful. The cross is not a prelude to victory,

the cross actually is the victory. Let me give you principle two, it's on your card, so help me out with the second phrase. Judgment is good news, so? Judgment is actually good news. And because that's true, I think that we can live without fear. Now if you turn the page into Revelation chapter 20, the first part of Revelation 20, we'll talk about something called the millennium. Now for the sake of time, I don't have time to describe the hotly debated theories around what the heck the millennium even means. But it describes this thousand year reign of Jesus, and people take it a lot of different ways, and again, it's widely debated about what you try to understand it as. Let me kind of talk about it in a very simplistic way. Some people would say that the millennium should be taken literally. In other words, Jesus is literally gonna return, he's literally going to set up a kingship in Jerusalem, likely at the Temple Mount, and he's gonna reign on this earth for a thousand years. Other people take it figuratively, and they say that Jesus is gonna return, and that his reign is figurative, he's actually been reigning for lots and lots of years, not exactly a thousand, his reign is like a thousand years. Now whether it's literal, whether it's figurative,

and what exactly it means, again, we won't settle that debate today, because I think we can all agree on this. We can agree about the millennium is this, that Jesus is going to return, we believe that Jesus is going to reign, he actually already is, and that reign will usher in judgment. Now judgment's what's described next in Revelation chapter 20. It's a little unsettling, but I think that we'll see it actually as good news. Here's what it says. Then I saw this great white throne, and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. Then it says, then I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and the death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, and that lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Okay, everybody take a deep breath.

Okay, we're gonna be okay. It talks about judgment. Judgment's a real thing that all of us will face at the end. But I would argue that judgment is actually good news. Here's why. Some people read this and they're like, man, what's up with that kind of God? I thought God was loving, that God was kind. What's up with this God that feels somewhat vindictive or maybe even mean-spirited? But I would argue that our loving God is actually because of his radical love that radical love demands justice. Here's what I mean. If you are somebody who lost a family member to murder and they never figured out who did it and that case went cold, it felt like you never got a sense of justice. Or if you were somebody or know somebody who was exploited as a child and nobody ever did anything about it. Or if you were somebody who was abused along the way and you told people but nobody ever really believed you. There's so many situations in life that people experience just atrocious things that are never really fully addressed and reconciled and it feels like it's not just. Now think about a God who deeply, deeply loves his kids. A God who deeply loves his kids,

who sees what evil has done to harm his kids, that love demands justice. If you've experienced those atrocities, what you don't need is a God that goes, sorry. You need a God who cares. You need a God who will make it right. You need a God who will punish. evil, so that evil doesn't get the final word. Judgment is not the bad news at the end of the story. It's the good news that evil does not get the final word. And that's why judgment's actually good news, especially for the life of the believer. Now, if you remember the details that we just read in Revelation chapter 20, it actually describes what I would believe to be two different judgments. You remember this talk about these books that contain all these things that we've done, and then there's another book that's called the Book of Life. Do you remember that? And so it's kind of this picture. If you can just imagine with me, imagine like on this side is like this wall of books, like volume after volume after volume. And in it are written everything that you and I have ever done in the history of our entire lives. All the good moments, all the proud moments, all the hmm moments, like they're all written. Like it's all here. And then over here, there's a single book.

It's the Lamb's Book of Life. Here's the question. Do you want to be judged by all of this? Or do you want to be judged by what he did for you? And so again, what's described in Revelation 20 are two different judgments. I would say judgment one is this. It's the question of salvation. So when the believer, when the follower of Jesus shows up at the end and stands before God on that great white throne of judgment, the believer will not be judged eternally for all the things that they've ever done. That their salvation will be decided because of what Jesus has done for them. It's not based on who I am and what I've done, it's based on who he is and what he has done for me. It's what Paul gets to when he writes these words. For it's by grace that you've been saved through faith. And not from yourselves, it's the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. One's name is written in the Book of Life when they give their life to follow Jesus. When I repent of my sin, when I give my life, when I surrender my life to him, my name gets written in the Book of Life. So when I stand before God, I'm not condemned because of what I did, I'm delivered because of what he did. Now I wanna be candid with you.

Somebody who is not a follower of Jesus, whose name is not written in the Book of Life, that person faces the first judgment based on what they have done. And my friends, there's not a single one of us that by our good works is worthy to spend eternity with God. And some of us, we might think, well that doesn't seem overly fair, does it? I love how C.S. Lewis thought about this. What C.S. Lewis says is the choice that we make today is the choice that will ultimately echo into eternity. For those who say yes to relationship with Jesus today, they say yes to relationship with Jesus for all eternity. For those who reject a relationship with Jesus today, ultimately reject Jesus from all eternity. And so in other words, God allows our choice to play out as an eternal choice. But what we choose today echoes for all eternity. And so as we read Revelation 20, we know what the end is. We don't have to be afraid of it, but it should create some urgency in us to ask ourselves the question, is my name written in the Book of Life? I would say this about judgment. At judgment, we will either stand before Jesus and see him as a stranger, or we will stand before him and see him as our Savior. You and I get to choose how we will stand before him one day. And so the first judgment is about our salvation.

It is about our eternal destiny. But I get a sense from this passage, but also from all of Scripture that there's actually a second judgment as well. I would say the second judgment is a question of, next slide, the second judgment is a question of, a question of faithfulness. In other words, our eternal destiny is not dependent on who we are or what we've done, it's dependent on who he is and what he's done for us. However, there is a sense that God will look at what we've done. according to all those other books, and we will be rewarded, connected to our faithfulness. Corinthians says it this way. It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. You get the sense from all of Scripture that the choices we make actually do matter. That every time we choose integrity, when it would have been much easier to take a shortcut, or every time we choose forgiveness when bitterness felt like the easier option, or every time we choose to give generously to somebody who is in need, every single thing that we ever do, Jesus takes note of that.

In other words, that gets rewarded in the end. It doesn't determine your eternal destiny, but it does shape what you experience once you're there. I would say it this way. The cross determines whether we enter the kingdom, but our faithfulness shapes the reward we experience in the kingdom. So what we do now actually matters. As I say, victory is certain, so stay faithful. Judgment is good news, so live without fear. Here's the third piece. Help me out with the second phrase. Eternity starts now, so? So love with urgency. Here's why I think this matters. Again, we get the fortunate benefit after already seeing the end. We know the result of game seven. And because we know the result, it does impact how we engage life today. And I would encourage you, because we know about this rider on the white horse who's gonna come, and because we know he's faithful and he's true and he's the word of God, he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords, we know that there's not even a battle that plays out because the victory was already sealed at the cross. We know this because we know that there's a judgment that's coming. It actually can challenge us

and encourage us to live differently today. Now, I think sometimes we either explicitly or implicitly have been taught somewhere along the way that heaven is really an escape from the mess that we experience here on this earth, that life's hard and we kind of hold on if you put your faith in Jesus, then one day you get to escape this world to heaven. And though there's some truth in that, I actually think that that's actually not the profound teaching of scripture, that the scripture teaches not just to escape the mess of this world, but actually to partner with God to bring as much heaven as possible into this world. It's what Jesus prayed in what we now call the Lord's prayer. Do you remember these words where it says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven? It's kind of the statement because you and I know how this ends, it actually creates a greater urgency in me to actually live today, not to try to escape this world into heaven, but to partner with God, to bring as much heaven as possible into this world so that people can experience the love, the grace, the mercy of Jesus, so they might turn to him, so they can experience a very different judgment day

because of it. It's what causes me to love with greater urgency. There are people in my life that don't yet know him. And I care so deeply about them that I want to love them urgently to give them the opportunity to come to know him because I don't want them to see Jesus as a stranger, I want them to see Jesus one day as their savior. It's why, it's why we live out the absurd teachings of Jesus that are so different than how our world operates. It's why we love our enemies. Why would we do that? Because maybe, just maybe, that enemy gets a taste of the kingdom. And if they get a taste of the kingdom, maybe they would come to know him not as a stranger, but as a savior. It's why we extend forgiveness. It feels so absurd sometimes, doesn't it? But why do we do that? Because we are kingdom people living for an end that changes everything. And though this moment in our culture says that situation doesn't demand forgiveness, the thought is forgiveness actually releases something in our hearts and potentially causes somebody to experience what they didn't expect. And maybe, just maybe, they would get a taste of the God that we're committed to serve so that one day they would show up to experience him

not as a stranger, but ultimately a savior. We live and we love with urgency today. Changes everything. I would say this about the gospel. The gospel eliminates earning. You don't have to earn it, but it doesn't eliminate effort. In other words, we get to boldly, clearly partner with God in the greatest mission on planet Earth. Bringing God's eternal kingdom in the way that people can taste, touch, and feel it every single day. That's why loving people matters. It's why welcoming the stranger matters. It's why caring for the poor and marginalized matter, because it's a taste of what heaven ultimately is going to be. N.T. Wright says it this way. He says, every act of love, every work of justice, every act of beauty and truth done in the name of Jesus, none of it is wasted. It will be taken up into the new creation. It's not thrown away when this age ends. It becomes a part what God is ultimately building. That's what we love with urgency. Here's what I love at this kind of climactic moment in the book of Revelation. This climactic moment, we realize that in the end, what is God ultimately trying to point us to? He's not actually trying to point us just to heaven, as amazing as it is.

He's not just trying to point us to the defeat of evil, as beautiful as that is. What he's trying to point us to is to Jesus, the one who is faithful, the one who is true, the one who's the word of God, the one who's the king of kings, the Lord of lords. And Revelation begs this question, do you know him? Have you given your life to him? Have you chosen to follow him? Because we know how it ends. So be faithful to him today. I wanna give you the opportunity. If you've never said yes to Jesus, man, today is your day. The beautiful thing about that moment of judgment is we can appear before God and not be judged by our worst mistake. We can actually be judged because of God's greatest act on our behalf. The beautiful thing with the Bible describes is that salvation is a free gift from God made available to us through Jesus. So the Bible describes to repent of our sins, to turn to God, to surrender to him, to follow his ways. And when we do, we have nothing to fear when judgment day comes because we will see him not as a stranger. We will see him as our ultimate savior. So if you've never said yes to Jesus, I wanna give you the opportunity to say yes to him today. And so if you've never said yes to him,

I would encourage you to bow your head, to say a prayer. You can do it out loud. You can do it in the context of your heart. I'll say the prayer. You can literally pray the prayer with me, giving your life to follow him. Father, we say thank you for loving us. God, we believe that you died on the cross for our sins. And that was actually the moment of victory because God, we believe that you also rose again. And when you took up new life, you gave us the opportunity to experience new life with you for all of eternity. So God, would you forgive us of our sins? Would you give us the gift of eternal life? Would you help us overcome what we're up against? God, we give our life to you. We pray that in Jesus' name, amen, amen.